The trial of Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood mass workplace violence incident, began today in Texas. Maj. Hasan acknowledged that he was the shooter, and referred to himself as a mujahid. He is acting as attorney for his own defense, and in that capacity cross-examined some of the witnesses called by the prosecution.
In related news, the State Department is urging American citizens to leave Yemen — the last place of residence for Maj. Hasan’s mentor Anwar al-Awlaki before he was killed in a drone strike — because of the risk of terror attacks by Al Qaeda.
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40 Percent of U.S. Workers Make Less Than What a Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker Made in 1968
Are American workers paid enough? That is a topic that is endlessly debated all across this great land of ours. Unfortunately, what pretty much everyone can agree on is that American workers are not making as much as they used to after you account for inflation. Back in 1968, the minimum wage in the United States was $1.60 an hour. That sounds very small, but after you account for inflation a very different picture emerges. Using the inflation calculator that the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides, $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $10.74 today. And of course the official government inflation numbers have been heavily manipulated to make inflation look much lower than it actually is, so the number for today should actually be substantially higher than $10.74, but for purposes of this article we will use $10.74.
If you were to work a full-time job at $10.74 an hour for a full year (with two weeks off for vacation), you would make about $21,480 for the year. That isn’t a lot of money, but according to the Social Security Administration, 40.28% of all workers make less than $20,000 a year in America today. So that means that more than 40 percent of all U.S. workers actually make less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968. That is how far we have fallen.
The other day I wrote an article which discussed the transition that we are witnessing in our economy right now. Good paying full-time jobs are disappearing, and they are being replaced by low paying part-time jobs. So far this year, 76.7 percent of the jobs that have been “created” in the U.S. economy have been part-time jobs.
[…]
So raising the minimum wage would not solve our problems. It would just redistribute our problems.
What we really need to do is to return to the principles that once made this country great. In early America, we protected our markets with high tariffs. Access to the U.S. market was a privilege. Foreign domination was kept out, and our economy thrived.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s GDP Shrinks for Eighth Straight Quarter
The Italian economy shrank by less than feared in the second quarter of 2013, boosting hopes that the end of recession is in sight, but marked the eighth quarterly contraction in a row.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison: U.S. Isn’t Broke, It Just Hasn’t Been Able to Confiscate Enough Money
The United States isn’t broke. There’s lots of money out there. The problem is that private individuals are holding on to it. If the government would just confiscate all that personal wealth, we’d be back on the road to prosperity. Heck, we could probably even have yet another “recovery summer.”
That’s the mentality of people like U.S. Representative Keith Ellison — a cash grabbing tax-and-spend liberal who represents Minnesota’s 5th district.
“The bottom line is we’re not broke,” Ellison told a gathering of Minnesota Democrats. “There’s plenty of money, it’s just the government doesn’t have it. The government has a right, the government and the people of the United States have a right to run the programs of the United States. Health, welfare, housing — all these things.”
In other words, the government has a right to take whatever privately-held wealth it deems necessary to continue it unconstitutional expansion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The bottom line here is this: Buying “Made in China” — whether steel for our bridges or dolls for our children — entails large costs that most consumers and, sadly, even our leaders don’t consider when making purchases. This is hurting our country — and killing our economy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Republic, If You Can Keep it
H. L. Mencken (born 1880 — died 1956) was a journalist, satirist, critic, and Democrat. He wrote this editorial while working for the Baltimore Evening Sun, which appeared in the July 26, 1920, edition: “As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.“ — H. L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
Ben Franklin was right when he stated, “We’ve given you a Republic, if you can keep it.” We haven’t kept it, and the total destruction is almost complete. Every day our state and federal governments pass more egregious and abusive laws negating our God given freedoms and the Bill of Rights. The speed at which our Constitution is being destroyed is impossible to keep up with, much less trying to urge fellow citizens to stand up against this travesty.
In an email I received recently, someone mentioned that we must educate the American people. What do they think the old-right conservatives have been doing for the last 100 years? Personally, I don’t believe the majority of today’s American citizens give a damn about what the local, state, or federal government is doing. Why? Because the majority of them don’t have a clue of what our God given and Constitutionally guaranteed rights are, much less the ones we’ve already lost.
Tea Parties have acted stupidly and incorporated with 501(c)3’s and 4’s, thus negating their original intent and effectiveness, and willingly accepting government chains. From before their formation, the change agents were waiting to infiltrate and neutralize, and only a few have remained true to their cause. For more information, read my four part article, The Tea Parties.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are Police in America Now a Military, Occupying Force?
On an average day in America, over 100 Americans have their homes raided by SWAT teams
Consider that in 1980, there were roughly 3,000 SWAT team-style raids in the US. By 2001, that number had grown to 45,000 and has since swelled to more than 80,000 SWAT team raids per year. On an average day in America, over 100 Americans have their homes raided by SWAT teams. In fact, there are few communities without a SWAT team on their police force today. In 1984, 25.6 percent of towns with populations between 25,000 and 50,000 people had a SWAT team. That number rose to 80 percent by 2005.
The problem, of course, is that as SWAT teams and SWAT-style tactics are used more frequently to carry out routine law enforcement activities, Americans find themselves in increasingly dangerous and absurd situations. For example, in late July 2013, a no-kill animal shelter in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was raided by nine Department of Natural Resources (DNR) agents and four deputy sheriffs. The raid was prompted by tips that the shelter was home to a baby deer that had been separated from its mother. The shelter officials had planned to send the deer to a wildlife rehabilitation facility in Illinois, but the agents, who stormed the property unannounced, demanded that the deer be handed over because citizens are not allowed to possess wildlife. When the 13 LEOs entered the property “armed to the teeth,” they corralled the employees around a picnic table while they searched for the deer. When they returned, one agent had the deer slung over his shoulder in a body bag, ready to be euthanized.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are Republicans Representing Their Constituents?
Republicans have failed: Allowing redistribution of wealth, entitlement spending, out of control government spending, expansion of corruption, crony capitalism
The Republican Party, in its quest to better represent its constituency, has launched a questionnaire to feel the pulse of the voters by asking specific questions in order to streamline their message. The message is always very important, the actual implementation of goals depends on the elected representatives and senators and the powerful lobby in Washington.
The GOP wants to know if “Americans support efforts to reform entitlements, cut spending, and put our nation on track to a balanced federal budget without raising taxes.” Judging by the anemic economy, the weak and statistically manipulated GDP, the high unemployment rate, the huge welfare rolls, the alarming part-time labor force, the answer is yes.
Conservatives have been faxing and calling their Congressmen, protesting around the Capitol, rallying around the country, holding town hall meetings, writing op-eds, but their wishes have fallen on deaf ears. Efforts to cut entitlements are non-existent; on the contrary, 11 plus million illegal immigrants will be added to the welfare rolls and to Social Security via blanket amnesty which Republicans cannot wait to pass if we are to judge by their constant radio and television ads in support of amnesty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Billionaire Foreigner Profits Off Obama Phone Socialism
Sued for millions in unpaid interest
Carlos Slim, named the world’s wealthiest man for four consecutive years, is the mastermind entrepreneur behind the U.S. government assistance program Assurance Wireless, also known as the Lifeline Assistance program.
According to the program’s website, around eight million people are currently subscribed to and are receiving complimentary phones supplied to them by the following providers: Safelink Wireless, Assurance Wireless, Q Link Wireless, Care Wireless and Reach Out Wireless.
The affluent Mexican capitalist, who has an estimated net worth of $73 billion, is the owner of the Mexican telecommunication company América Móvil, which provides mobile service to 17 Latin American countries and is headquartered in Mexico City.
TracFone, a subsidiary of América Móvil, is the provider of what’s widely become known as the “Obama phone,” which went viral after a Cleveland woman crashed a Romney campaign voicing her support for the man who helped her obtain a complimentary government cellphone. The Obama lady, Michelle Dowery, also appeared on the Alex Jones Show last January…
TracFone makes approximately $10 per month per customer earning nearly $450 million a year in federal support payments. The company stands to profit even more under the roll out of Lifeline’s newly offered broadband service.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congress Pulls a Fast One; ObamaCare Premiums Won’t Apply to Them
Is it any wonder that the American people are fed up with politics? Barack Obama’s approval numbers are terrible, but American’s feelings toward Congress are even worse. So, it shouldn’t be hard to believe that members of Congress (with the help of Obama) are hard at work to make sure that sky-high Obamacare premiums will NOT apply to them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DHS ‘Constitution Free’ Zones Inside US Ignored by Media
In what should be front page news blasted out nationwide as a breaking news alert, the DHS has openly established extensive ‘Constitution free zones’ in which your Fourth Amendment does not exist.
It’s not ‘conspiracy’ and it’s not fraud, the DHS has literally created an imaginary ‘border’ within the United States that engulfs 100 miles from every single end of the nation. Within this fabricated ‘border’, the DHS can search your electronic belongings for no reason. We’re talking about no suspicion, no reasonable cause, nothing. No reason whatsoever is required under their own regulations. The DHS is now above the Constitution under their own rules, and even Wired magazine authors were amazed at the level of pure tyranny going on here.
This ‘border’ even includes where the US land meets oceans in addition to legitimate borders with Mexico and Canada. As a result, you have over 197 million citizens suffocated in these 100 mile ‘border zones’ that include major cities like New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Checkout the graphic below for a visual representation, with the orange area representing the Constitution free zone as designated by the DHS:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eyewitness to Hastings Crash Reported “Giant Explosion”
Federal agency now investigating death of Rolling Stone journalist
Newly released transcripts of 911 calls made by eyewitnesses to the fatal crash of Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings describe the vehicle blowing up, with one noting that a “giant explosion” took place during the incident.
The reports are consistent with recently uncovered surveillance footage that appears to show the journalist’s Mercedes suffering several explosions before crashing into a tree.
After initially refusing to divulge the tapes, the Los Angeles Police Department was forced to release the 911 calls to San Diego 6 news channel yesterday after an FOIA request. Out of the seven calls released, three eyewitnesses described the car exploding…
Analysis of the surveillance footage of the crash shows three large explosions before the vehicle comes to rest and begins to burn, fueling speculation that Hastings’ car was booby trapped with some kind of incendiary device.
The LAPD’s response to San Diego 6 also indicates that a federal agency is now investigating the death of Hastings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Trial Turns Bizarre as Shooter Grills Witnesses
The trial of the Fort Hood gunman, who is acting as his own attorney, took a surreal turn as the former Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 in the November 2009 attack grilled witnesses — including his former boss in the military and a fellow Muslim who spoke to him the day of the shooting.
After a short opening statement in which ex-Army Maj. Nidal Hasan called himself a “mujahedeen,” admitted to the rampage and said “the dead bodies will show that war is an ugly thing,” Hasan cross-examined prosecution witnesses, including retired Lt. Col Ben Kirk Phillips, his former boss. When pressed by the defendant, Phillips acknowledged that his officer evaluation report had graded Hasan as “outstanding.”
But he declined to cross-examine one of his shooting victims, Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who provided the day’s most damning testimony.
Lunsford — who was shot seven times during the incident — described what happened that day, saying he first saw Hasan sitting in a chair, with his arms on his knees while looking at the floor.
He said Hasan then jumped up and ordered the one civilian in the room to leave before shouting, “Allahu akbar” and opening fire. Panic set in among the soldiers, who crowded toward a rear door, which was jammed.
Lunsford said he sprinted for the door at one point while Hasan was shooting, then turned around to see the gunman’s laser sight pointing at him before being shot in the head. Lunsford testified he tried to appear dead, then later decided to flee because, “dead men don’t sweat.”
He then made another sprint for the door as he was shot six more times before being pulled to safety.
Earlier, Hasan cross-examined Pat Sonti, who met Hasan at the Killeen Islamic Center in Fort Hood the morning of the shooting. Sonti said Hasan took the microphone at the mosque and called for prayer.
“After call to prayer, he bid goodbye and told the congregation he was going home,” Sonti said. “I found that odd.”
Hasan asked Sonti to describe the difference between the call for prayer and actual prayer, then asked who is supposed to lead the call.
“Whoever the imam looks at,” replied Sonti. “But you know that, sir.”…
| [Return to headlines] |
Impeachment: All You Need to Know, And Don’t Need to Know
1. It is NOT necessary that the President, other officers in the executive branch, or federal judges commit a crime before they may be impeached & removed from office.
Federalist Paper No. 66 (2nd para) and Federalist No. 77 (last para) show that the President may be impeached & removed for encroachments, i.e., usurpations of power.
Federal judges may also be impeached & removed for usurpations of power (Federalist No. 81, 8th para).
Throughout The Federalist Papers, it is stated that impeachment is for “political offenses.”
2. The House has the SOLE power of impeachment (Art. I, Sec. 2, last clause). The Senate has the SOLE power to try all impeachments (Art. I, Sec. 3, next to last clause). The decision to convict is not reviewable by any other body — and common sense tells us what that means! The House may impeach, and the Senate may convict, for any reason whatsoever; and their decision cannot be overturned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Multinational Corporations and the Loss of Sovereignty, Part 1
In 1967, Business International issued a research report stating: “ …the nation-state is becoming obsolete: tomorrow…it will in any meaningful sense be dead — -and so will the corporation that remains essentially national.”
Until this time, American political parties, even the business-oriented Republican Party, had been concerned about protecting American jobs. In the 1972 Republican Party platform, there was the following provision: “We deplore the practice of locating plants in foreign countries solely to take advantage of low wage rates in order to produce goods primarily for sale in the United States. We will take action to discourage such unfair and disruptive practices that result in the loss of American jobs.” However, this plank in the 1976 platform was omitted! What had happened?
In GLOBAL REACH: THE POWER OF THE MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS (1974), authors Richard Barnet and Ronald Muller quote IBM French spokesperson Jacques Maisonrouge as commenting: “In the forties Wendell Willkie spoke about ‘One World.’ In the seventies we are inexorably pushed toward it.” In 1973, David Rockefeller formed the Trilateral Commission. And the next year, Trilateralist Richard Gardner wrote in the Council on Foreign Relations’ (CFR’s) FOREIGN AFFAIRS (April 1974) that to build the “house of world order…an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more that the old-fashioned frontal assault.” Barnet and Muller also quote Trilateralist and CFR member George Ball (former Undersecretary of State and chairman of Lehman Brothers International) as saying the nation-state “is a very old-fashioned idea and badly adapted to our present complex world.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Senators Ponder if Bloggers Deserve First Amendment Protection
As the U.S. Senate continues to debate a national law to protect journalists from protecting their sources, two Senators believe unpaid bloggers and websites like WikiLeaks shouldn’t get extended First Amendment protections.
The Senate Free Flow of Information Act of 2013 would establish a national “shield law” that would give journalists protection from testifying in situations when investigators want the sources of confidential information used in media reports.
The Free Flow of Information Act was introduced earlier this year by Senator Charles Schumer, who had introduced a similar bill in 2009 with the late Senator Arlen Specter. Back then, Feinstein and Durbin wanted strict definitions of the word “journalists” after the WikiLeaks story broke.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Soap You Should Never Use — But 75% of Households Do
Triclosan, a high production volume ingredient used as a bactericide in personal care products such as toothpaste, deodorant, and antibacterial soap, has been linked to heart disease and heart failure in a new study.
Yet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that “Triclosan is not currently known to be hazardous to humans.”
What this means is that until action is taken to get this common additive out of your toiletries, you could be applying a chemical with proven toxicity to your body multiple times a day …
Tricolsan impairs muscle function and skeletal muscle contractility, researchers report in a new study done at the University of California Davis. Although the study was done in mice, researchers said the effects of the chemical on cardiac function were “really dramatic.”
After mice were exposed to one dose of triclosan, heart muscle function was reduced by 25 percent, and grip strength was reduced by 18 percent. Fish were also exposed to triclosan — about the equivalent dose as would be accumulated in a week in the wild — and this led to poorer swimming performance. Researchers also exposed individual human muscle cells (from heart and skeletal muscles) to a triclosan dose similar to everyday-life exposure, and this, too, disrupted muscle function and caused both heart and skeletal muscles to fail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Toddler Dies in CPS Captivity After Being Taken From Marijuana-Smoking Parents
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
The Texas division of Child Protective Services may be ultimately to blame for a child’s death this past week after the child was taken from her parents because they smoked pot and put in foster care with the woman that would eventually end up killing her.
Round Rock, Texas resident Joshua Hill received an urgent call last Monday, July 29 requesting he rush to the Scott and White Children’s Emergency Hospital in Temple, about an hour north of Round Rock. Hill was only told it concerned his daughter, and was kept in the dark as to exactly what to expect.
“They wouldn’t tell me what condition she was in or what was wrong or what had happened. The only thing they would tell me is I needed to be there. When I got there, I found out that Alex was in a coma,” Hill told Austin ABC affiliate KVUE News.
When Hill arrived, he discovered his daughter was on life support, bruised and with head injuries…
While some blame stringent drug laws for Alex’s unfortunate tragedy, but the true culprit may ultimately be the CPS system that facilitated her abduction.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
VIP Treatment: Accused Fort Hood Shooter Gets Daily Helicopter Rides
NBC 5 Investigates has learned the accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Hasan receives extraordinary treatment in jail while victims of the attack argue they have been forgotten and mistreated by the U.S. Army.
While a prisoner awaiting trial, Hasan is ferried by helicopter nearly every day, complete with an additional helicopter escort and security detail, for the 20-mile journey between the Bell County Jail and Fort Hood, courtesy of the United States Army and American taxpayers.
The Army told NBC 5 Investigates the daily helicopter rides are necessary because the jail does not have the proper facilities for Hasan to work on his legal defense and transporting Hasan by car creates additional security concerns. Fort Hood does not have its own jail, so Hasan is being held at the Bell County Jail under a special Army contract.
Inside the Bell County Jail, the Army requires the Bell County Sheriff provide a private guard for Hasan at least 12 hours a day. He lives in a special room that, using U.S. Army funds, was equipped to specifically accommodate the injuries he suffered after he was shot by officers responding to the attack on the Army post.
[Plus, this varmint gets eighty grand a year in Army pay at his PC-inflated rank — and the service members he murdered and mauled are denied the honors and benefits they deserve. To quote the late great Jeff Cooper, “There is a word for that, but it sticks on the throat of one who had thought better of his country. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Brothers Strangled to Death by Python That Escaped From Canadian Pet Store
A criminal investigation is underway into the deaths of two boys who were killed by a python that escaped its enclosure at a pet store in Canada, police said Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Call for Muslim Veil Ban in French Universities
France could be set to go a step further in its ban on the wearing of religious symbols in state schools. A new report has recommended banning the Islamic headscarf and other religious symbols in the country’s universities, a French newspaper claimed on Monday.
France could be set to go a step further in its ban on the wearing of religious symbols in state schools. A new report has recommended banning the Islamic headscarf and other religious symbols in the country’s universities, a French newspaper claimed on Monday.
France has been urged to consider extending its contentious 2004 ban on Muslim headscarves in schools by also forbidding students from wearing the garments in the country’s universities, French newspaper Le Monde claimed on Monday.
According to Le Monde, a report by the High Council of Integration (HCI), which is set to be delivered to the government later in the year, makes 12 recommendations aimed at defusing a “growing number of disputes” stemming from religious differences at higher education institutions.
The key and almost certainly most controversial recommendation HCI makes is to forbid the “wearing of religious symbols openly in lecture theatres and places of teaching and research” at French universities.
A controversial 2004 law prohibits the wearing or open display of religious symbols in all French schools and colleges, inlcluding crucifixes, Jewish skull caps and the Muslim headscraf — the Hijab, but does not apply to universities.
A similarly contentious law was introduced in April 2011 which effectively banned the wearing in public of the full face veil, the niqab. It did not however forbid the wearing of the hijab headscarf.
The authors of the HCI report have been made aware of a number of problems and disputes centred around religious differences that are occuring at universities and are keen to ensure “religious neutrality” in France’s establishments of higher education.
Among the issues faced in French universities according to the HCI are “underground acitivity of religious groups”, “demands to be excused from attendance on religious grounds” and “disagreements over the curriculum”.
There have also been reports of students refusing to work in mixed sex study groups.According to Le Monde, the HCI says the freedom of expression granted to users of higher education “should not affect educational activities and public order”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron Strategy Guru Attacks Clarke’s UKIP Remarks
David Cameron’s campaign chief Lynton Crosby has drawn up plans to unmask potential “racists” and “paedophiles” within Ukip as he criticised a senior Cabinet minister for previous unauthorised attacks on Nigel Farage’s party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark’s Largest Mosque Nears Completion
The first mosque with a minaret and dome will open later this year but critics are concerned about its connections to conservative Islamic groups
A mosque in Copenhagen’s Nordvest district is approaching completion and, with its minaret and dome, will be Denmark’s first “real” mosque.
So says Mohamed al Mainouni, the media spokesperson for Dansk Islamisk Råd, the organisation responsible for building the mosque.
“The minaret and done are two important aspects of the mosque,” al Mainouni told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. “They have an important symbolic meaning and demonstrate that we have a proper place to be and that we are recognised.”
Under Danish law, minarets cannot be used to broadcast a call to prayer.
The 6,800 square metre Sunni mosque on Rovsingsgade will house class rooms, a restaurant, a cinema, childcare facilities and more in what al Mainouni says is the largest mosque in Scandinavia.
The mosque was only possible because of a 150 million kroner donation by the former ruling emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, which has led critics to voice concern that the mosque will be used as mouthpiece for the Islamic state’s conservative views.
Al Mainouni dismissed the criticism, however, and said that without the investment the construction of the mosque would not have been possible. He added that the mosque plans on raising its own money by renting out rooms and facilities.
“The emir donated the money personally from his private bank account but he won’t dictate anything political or ideological. Denmark is the only country in Europe that does not have a (large) mosque and he wanted to give the opportunity to Muslims in (Denmark),” al Mainouni told Jyllands-Posten.
He added that the Friday prayer, which will be spoken in both Arabic and Danish, will be led by Danish imams who would have to be trained abroad.
“Islam in the Middle East is not Islam in Europe,” al Mainouni said. “The mechanisms that work in Europe are not the same as those in Morocco, the Middle East or North Africa. Islam in Europe has its own identity and we want our imam to have that understanding.”
But City Council member Lars Aslan Rasmussen (Socialdemokraterne) questioned al Mainouni’s promise that there won’t be any outside influence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Pickpockets Targeted Gay Pride in Amsterdam
Police in Amsterdam arrested 47 pickpockets during the Gay Pride week, the Parool reports on Monday.
Of those arrested, 42 were from Romania.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Breivik Needs to Pass Maths to Get Uni Place
Far-right terrorist Anders Breivik still has to pass a maths exam before he will become eligible to study at the University of Oslo, one of his lawyers has said.
The extremist — who dropped out of the prestigious Olso Handelsgymnasium aged 17 before picking up his leaving diploma — has spent this summer cramming mathematics ahead of the exam later this year, Vibeke Hein Bæra told Norway’s Dagbladet.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sex, Lies and Cannibalism in Sweden: Was it All Just a Miscarriage of Justice?
He was known as Sweden’s Hannibal Lecter. He confessed to murder, rape and cannibalism. Now Sture Bergwall has been cleared of the last of 8 convictions for murder; so was this a huge miscarriage of justice?
DW: He was known as Sweden’s Hannibal Lecter. Sture Bergwall, or Thomas Quick, as he used to call himself, confessed to sometimes raping, murdering then cutting up, and eating, more than 20 victims in the country’s worst ever serial killing case. Far outdoing anything that fictional detectives like “Wallander” might investigate. He was convicted of eight murders over the years, in trials starting in 1994, and has been locked up in an institution for the criminally insane in Sweden ever since. But earlier this week, his last conviction was overturned, in what has turned now into Sweden’s worst miscarriage of justice.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wales: Doctor Secretly Filmed Female Patients During Medical Examinations, Court Told
Suhail Ahmed pleaded guilty to 11 counts of voyeurism after admitting filming at least eight different women while he was working a hospital last year
A hospital doctor’s career is in ruins after he admitted filming women patients secretly during medical examinations.
Dr Suhail Ahmed, aged 27, admitted filming at least eight different women, some of whom have not been identified, while he was working a hospital last year.
Ahmed, of Cyncoed Road, Cardiff, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of voyeurism and denied one similar offence when he appeared at Exeter Crown Court.
All the charges allege that he recorded private acts without the consent of the women for his sexual gratification.
He denied two counts of sexual assault by touching, which are alleged to have been shown on the secretly filmed footage.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, adjourned the case for four weeks to allow the Crown Prosecution Service to consult with the two complainants before deciding whether to take these cases to trial.
The assault charges relate to putting his hand near the groin of one patient during an examination of her abdomen and adjusting the clothing of a second.
The charges of voyeurism which he admitted allege that he filmed six named complainants and two unnamed women on dates between March 26, 2012 and June 14, 2012 at Torbay Hospital in Devon.
He also admitted recording the private acts of unidentified women for his personal gratification between 2007 and June 22 last year.
Ahmed is currently suspended from practice and his defence counsel Mr David Martin told the judge his career as a doctor is over, regardless of the sentence.
He said:”He is a doctor. The most serious aspect of this case is the taking of photos of young ladies. What must be of concern to the young ladies is that they may have been distributed, but they were not.
“His career is ruined. The pleas he has entered today have ruined him.”
Ahmed was required to sign on the sex offender’s register before leaving the court building and is now on bail until the next hearing in September…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Benghazi and the Al Qaeda Resurgence
According to sources talking to CNN, “including those with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings,” 35 CIA agents were on the ground in Benghazi the night ambassador Christopher Stevens, Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, and diplomat Sean Smith, were killed in a terrorist attack.
As a result, the agency is making an “unprecedented attempt” to keep what they were doing there a secret. “You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation,” revealed one of those sources.
That pressure apparently includes subjecting agents who were on the ground to “frequent, even monthly” polygraph tests to see if they’ve been talking to either Congress or the media. Former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer puts the number of tests in perspective. “Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that,” he said. “If somebody is being polygraphed every month, or every two months it’s called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something, or they’re looking for something, or they’re on a fishing expedition. But it’s absolutely not routine at all to be polygraphed monthly, or bi-monthly,” he added.
Another source described the frequency of testing as pure intimidation, noting that any unauthorized leak could cost someone his career. The source further noted that intimidation was not limited to the individual leaker. “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well,” the source warned.
The CNN story broke last Thursday. Later that evening, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) took it one step further. In an exchange with Greta Van Susteren, Gowdy alleged the Obama administration is “creating aliases” for the Benghazi survivors, as well as “dispersing them” across the nation in an effort to keep them from talking. “
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Five Lessons From Egypt and the Arab Spring
Don’t Believe Anything You Hear, It’s Not Democracy, It’s Permanent Chaos, Fanatics and Democracy Don’t Mix, Muslim World Has No New Ideas
The Arab Spring represented political chaos in a lawless society, not social change or cultural enlightenment. Pundits and columnists fell to scribbling nonsense about the transformation of the region because they didn’t understand that simple fact. They made the same mistake that Americans have been making with democracy promotion all along. Culture and society don’t follow political systems. It’s the other way around. Politics grows out of a culture and a society. Even tyranny. Or perhaps, especially tyranny…
The Muslim Brotherhood, which has been the beneficiary of unprecedented American support, is also denouncing America, even though the White House and the State Department are furiously working to rush through new elections and free Brotherhood detainees.
The reason why the Muslim Brotherhood is doing this is telling.
The Muslim Brotherhood hates America. Period. Not for anything we’ve done. This hatred is widely shared in Egypt. It will always be widely shared in Egypt. Denouncing America is one of the safest political positions to take. It’s the Egyptian equivalent of motherhood and apple pie.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stand Down: Two Theories About the Incident at Benghazi
With the recent news there were dozens of CIA employees at Benghazi when the attack took place, the mystery of what they were doing continues. Furthermore, “CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.”
Based on what has been made public, there are at least two competing theories about the Incident at Benghazi: The State Department Theory and the CIA Theory. Both theories have merit because they show us the administration’s explanation of what happened at Benghazi is a lie, a lie told not only at the United Nations, but also to the families of four dead Americans.
The State Department Theory sees the attack from the point of view of the globalist conflict between Russia and the USA with its British and Saudi allies. Russia sent a warning by killing ambassador Stevens. This is an attractive theory and will rise or fall once we know more about the arms dealing going on at Benghazi. If the CIA was involved in channeling arms to Syrian rebels, then Russia and its cronies who support Assad may have attacked the compound to stop that arms transfer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘And How Are We Feeling Today?’ ‘Squawk! Kiy-Ee!’
ON SOME airlines in the Middle East, falcons are permitted in the main cabin of the aeroplane. They perch on the armrest and their owners pay heavily for the privilege. In a region where falconry permeates so deeply into public life, it is perhaps not a surprise that there is a hospital devoted entirely to falcons. And it is one of which many human patients around the world would be envious.
The Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital in the United Arab Emirates has more than 250 rooms devoted to falcons, treating more than 7000 feathered patients a year. This one, under anaesthetic, is a saker falcon (Falco cherrug), its name coming from the Arabic word for falcon, “saqr”. The birds have been flown in the Middle East for more than 6000 years.
A large bird — its wingspan can reach 130 centimetres — the saker falcon hunts by chasing its avian prey horizontally, rather than swooping from on high like peregrines.
Among the diseases the birds suffer from is a falcon pox virus, and the hospital has a dedicated pox unit. It also has an X-ray unit, two endoscopy rooms, a small surgery and 11 intensive-care units. Sakers are highly susceptible to H5N1 bird flu, because their prey, such as pigeons, are commonly infected during outbreaks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Moved Libya Missiles to Syria Rebels
The CIA was transferring surface-to-air missiles from Libya to the rebels in Syria through Turkey when the deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi took place, a report says.
As investigation into the death of US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans last September carries on, the CNN reported on Thursday that dozens of CIA spies were working in an annex near the consulate on a project to supply missiles from Libyan armories to Syrian rebels.
The details of US government activities in Benghazi have since the incident been the issue of controversy with some Congressional leaders pressing for a wide-ranging probe into the attack and the secret operations of the CIA in the African city.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Smartphone Ready for Launch
The soon-to-be-launched “Peace Mobile,” an Islamic smartphone, is a useful media gadget that reconciles Qur’an with modern science.
Demand for the Islamic handset is scaling among Muslims in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of people have already ordered the gadget online, while hundreds are talking about it on various media platforms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Official: Israel Capable of Unilateral Strike on Iran, If US Not Committed
Israel is capable of carrying out a unilateral military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities without operational support from the United States, a senior Israeli official said to Israel Radio on Tuesday morning.
Although, such a strike would render less effective than one conducted by America, the unidentified official said.
The diplomatic official doubted US intentions to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons at all costs.
American conduct regarding Syria, contrary to declarations by President Barack Obama, shows Israel that it cannot rely on US assurances, the Israeli source said.
Israel fears the development of direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran would ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for concessions, and would not satisfy the requirements imposed by Israel, the unnamed official added.
Jerusalem and Washington differed on Sunday over the significance of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s inauguration, with Washington ready to work with Iran and Jerusalem warning that the new regime — like the old — is a threat to world peace.
The US hoped the new Iranian government would “heed the will of the voters by making choices that will lead to a better life for the Iranian people,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement shortly after Rouhani was sworn in.
This conciliatory tone was at odds with the tone coming from Jerusalem, where Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu again urged the world not to be “taken in” by Rouhani’s perceived moderation.
“On Friday, the Iranian president said that Israel ‘has been a wound on the body of the Islamic world,’“ Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting.
“The president of Iran has been replaced, but the goal of the regime has not been replaced, it remains as it was,” he continued. “Iran’s intention is to develop a nuclear capability and nuclear weapons in order to destroy the State of Israel, and this constitutes a danger not only to us and the Middle East, but the entire world, and we are all committed to prevent this.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
State Department Urges American Citizens to Leave Yemen Amid Terror Threat
The State Department on Tuesday ordered all non-essential personnel to leave the U.S. Embassy in Yemen and urged all American citizens currently in that country to depart following the threat by Al Qaeda that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Middle East and Africa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Govt in Turmoil Over ‘Big New Al-Qaeda Plot’ While Obama Funds Them
The mainstream media is reporting on the latest ‘big terror’ threat from al-Qaeda that is apparently the ‘most significant’ threat in years, yet they simultaneously fail to mention that the Obama administration is all the while funding al-Qaeda through arming and financing Syrian rebels that have major ties to the group.
Surely this essential point is at least worth mentioning when you consider the fact that Obama even initiated the large-scale arming of the al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebels through a ‘secret order’, which was reported by mainstream news outlet Reuters back in 2012.
It was this ‘secret order’ that began the steady stream of arms and resources towards the Syrian rebels group that even the mainstream media admits goes around killing all Christians and innocents who fail to submit to their cause via public beheadings.
These barbaric rebels are truly a respectable group that Obama has chosen to fund with taxpayer dollars, equip with assault weapons (which he meanwhile attempts to ban in the United States), and is now pushing for yet another year of full-fledged funding despite the reports of beheadings and boundless bloodlust exhibited by the rebels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: ‘Rejection Doesn’t Mean You Scar a Woman’s Face’
India’s top court has ruled authorities should regulate the sale of acid, which is often used in attacks on women. But that’s not enough, says Suneet Shukla, a campaigner with Stop Acid Attacks. Society needs to change.
Customers are now required to present a photo ID when buying acid; retailers have to register the customer and write down name and address, India’s Supreme Court recently ruled. Acid burns the victim’s skin and leads to horrible injuries. There are no official statistics about acid attacks, as they are not documented as distinctive crimes. According to the Stop Acid Attacks campaign, about three to four cases are reported every week in India. The New Delhi-based campaigners are lobbying for stricter regulations and a change in society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India Launches Vast Food Aid Program
India’s government has launched a program to provide subsidized food to two-thirds of the population. However, critics believe the plan undermines the country’s small farmers and is a political move to win votes.
It is arguably one the largest food aid programs in the world. India’s ruling party, the Indian National Congress called it a “game changer in terms of poverty eradication.” The National Food Security Bill approved by the Indian government on Wednesday, July 3, is the latest attempt to tackle the problem of endemic hunger in a country where nearly half of its children under the age of five are chronically malnourished, according to the government’s own estimates.
Despite the remarkable growth rates of the past two decades, India ranked 65 out of 79 nations on last year’s Global Hunger Index issued by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Furthermore, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization reported that an estimated 217 million Indians were undernourished in 2012.
Food for 800 million people
The bill, which was passed by ordinance and still requires ratification by both houses of parliament, is set to provide subsidized food to nearly 67 percent of India’s population. There are already many food guarantee schemes for the poorest of the poor. However, the new bill is expected to vastly increase the target group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Unveils New Carrier-Like Warship, The Largest in Its Navy Since World War II
Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier. The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 250 meters (820 feet) long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) A newly-published study has revealed that Merck & Co., the corporate mastermind behind the infamous Gardasil vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), conveniently forgot to research the effects of this deadly vaccine on women’s reproductive systems. And at least one young woman, in this case from Australia, bore the brunt of this inexcusable failure after discovering that her own ovaries had been completely destroyed as a result of getting the vaccine.
Published in the peer-reviewed British Medical Journal (BMJ), the harrowing recount of this young 16-year-old girl’s experience should give pause to all parents currently being pressured by their doctors into having their young daughters jabbed with Gardasil. Robbed of her natural ability to experience full womanhood, this young woman experienced early menopause, in which her ovaries completely shut down before they were even able to fully develop.
Entitled Premature ovarian failure 3 years after menarche in a 16-year-old girl following human papillomavirus vaccination, this latest case study provides solid evidence that Gardasil is, at the very least, a serious threat to normal ovarian function. Not only was the damaged girl examined and verified to have had healthy ovaries prior to the shots, but there were no other identified factors besides Gardasil that could have possibly been involved in her sudden ill-fate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brother Can You Spare a Drone?
WITH WELL-ARMED radical Islamist insurgents closing in last winter on Mali’s capital, Bamako, French President François Hollande suddenly decided to defend Western civilization. Plunging in the polls as the most unpopular French president since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958, he just might have had ulterior motives; diverting hostile public opinion at home with a military escapade abroad is a tried and true tactic for floundering chiefs of state. Be that as it may, French troops, mainly Foreign Legion, began deploying to Mali in Operation Serval on January 11. The French applauded his unwonted boldness. He got a brief bump in the polls.
But it quickly became clear that Hollande, for maximum go-it-alone swagger, had ordered the operation without prior consultation with his potential allies. Even less had he assembled an operational coalition. France’s great new friend Germany quickly ruled out sending combat troops, proving that the ballyhooed Franco-German Brigade is useful only for creating a façade of European military cooperation and parading down the Champs-Elysées on Bastille Day. The European Union hemmed and hawed, finally promising a modest training mission for African troops in Mali. Even NATO, eager for new missions to justify its existence in the absence of the Cold War, declined to get involved.
[…]
France simply did not have enough military transport aircraft to ferry in promised reinforcements, including those from African nations like Chad and Togo. Nor did it have the aerial refueling capacity to allow its Mirage F-1 jets to make planned bombing runs against insurgent convoys and cells. And when it came to that weapon of choice for today’s proliferating asymmetrical wars, the drone, it had virtually nothing. Hollande had his day playing commander in chief, but once the operation was launched he didn’t have the hosses.
[Finally the U.S. came to the rescue, with aerial refueling and troop transport. Mali, whose rich musical culture was viciously persecuted by the jihadists before they were stopped, deserved better. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
High Housing Costs Drive Argentines to Squatting
Affordable housing options in Buenos Aires are becoming increasingly scarce. That has led many of the Argentine city’s poor and working class residents to move into abandoned buildings as squatters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Slams Obama’s Backdoor Amnesty
Despite his court decision in favor of the Obama administration, a U.S. federal judge in a border state has slammed President Barack Obama’s “backdoor amnesty” that prevents the deportation of about one million illegal aliens, ruling that it’s “contrary to congressional mandate,” a Beltway public-interest group reported on Friday.
The court case pitted the plaintiff Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council, the union that represents Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers, against the defendant Janet Napolitano, the secretary of Homeland Security, according to the civil action’s seven-page document.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Dark Ones’: The Left Attacks Hillsdale’s President Because They Can’t Control Him
Liberals hate Michigan’s Hillsdale College, which not only celebrates a decidedly conservative point of view, but also galls them by refusing to take government funding — which means they have no way of threatening Hillsdale and trying to force it to fall in line. It’s no surprise, then, that liberals and their media allies are trying to manufacture a scandal over Hillsdale President Larry Arnn’s use of the phrase “dark ones” during testimony before the Michigan Legislature.
They are trying to say Arnn is racist because he “described minorities as ‘dark ones.’“ What he actually did, however, was describe the arguably racist actions of state bureaucrats who invaded his campus to play diversity police.
Arnn told a legislative committee at the state capital that bureaucrats from the Michigan Department of Education showed up at Hillsdale’s campus in 2000, wandering around with clipboards looking at the faces of students and writing down what they saw.
“What were they looking for besides dark ones?” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Students: Run From These Universities!
School is in the business of selling worthless degrees
The road to “miseducation” in American, Canadian, and British universities is paved with bad intentions.
Universities used to be places where youth with almost blank minds could have discussions, deliberations, and debates enabling them to form their policies, practices, and politics for a lifetime. But those days are long gone and today’s schools don’t plan to really educate students. Public instruction equals pedagogic indoctrination! The result is a society that has fallen in love with ugliness, incivility, anger, mediocrity, illicit sex, and death. Young people should not be exposed to all that in the name of education and pay exorbitant sums for the “privilege”!
Universities are almost held in reverence, a reverence that is not justified. The basic message emanating from most secular universities: “People of color are automatic victims; whites are villains and should feel guilty for undeserved white privileges. Homosexuality is commendable and abhorring that behavior is contemptible. Minorities have privileges that no one else has and to question their special treatment is prima facie evidence of bigotry. America is a selfish, evil nation taking advantage of poor people everywhere.” Every parent can expect their children to be taught such balderdash at all state colleges, Ivy League universities, and many Christian universities. Plus the education received will be third rate and would not have been acceptable in the average high school 50 years ago!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Time Magazine Promotes a Childless Lifestyle as the Path to the Good Life for U.S. Couples
There is a relentless assault on the family in America today unlike anything that we have ever seen before. For decades, the entertainment industry and the mainstream media have been portraying marriage as the time “when your fun is over” and they have been encouraging young adults to put off marriage for as long as possible. So now the marriage rate in the United States is at a record low and the average age for a first marriage is at a record high. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry and the mainstream media have been heavily promoting the philosophy that having fewer children is better, and they have been teaching our young people that abortion is a really good option if an unwanted pregnancy comes along. The whole idea is that children are going to keep you from enjoying the kind of life that you really deserve to have.
This philosophy is taken even further in a new Time Magazine article. The article is entitled “The Childfree Life: When having it all means not having children”, and it openly promotes a “childless lifestyle” as the path to the good life for young U.S. couples. The following is how the article begins…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Al-Qaida Affiliate Possesses Highly Undetectable Liquid Explosive
ABC News reports two senior US officials on potential threat.
Al-Qaida, or one of its affiliates, may use a new liquid explosive in a possible attack in the near future, according to an ABC News report citing two unnamed senior US officials. According to the report, clothes may be dipped into the liquid explosives, and become explosive themselves once the liquid dries. This type of “ingenious” explosive is particularly worrying to security agencies because it would be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to detect, the officials warned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |