Our tipsters are still on vacation, sipping their frosted drinks on sunny strands in exotic locales while we toil away in our sweatshops. In other words, the news feed remains light.
The second day of the trial of Major Nidal Hasan adjourned early after members of his legal team — he is representing himself in the trial, but has a court-appointed team of legal advisors — told the judge that their client is seeking martyrdom, and is deliberately angling for a death sentence. The lawyers asked that they be excluded from further participation, and the judge adjourned for a day to consider their motion.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AAA, Fjordman, JD, Jerry Gordon, LS, Papa Whiskey, RR, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
11 Examples of the Escalating Crime and Violence That Are Plaguing Communities Across America
Even though the United States has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the world by a very wide margin, hundreds of communities all over America are being overwhelmed by crime and violence. For many years, violent crime had actually decreased in the United States, but now the trend is going the other way. Violent crime in the U.S. increased in both 2011 and 2012, and it is being projected that it will increase in 2013 as well. The frightening thing is that crime statistics are going up even though police departments in some major cities have publicly announced that they will not even respond to certain crimes anymore. This has the effect of making crime statistics look lower than they actually should be. For example, in the city of Chicago police will no longer respond in person “to 911 calls reporting vehicle theft, garage burglary or simple assault”. So if someone steals your car or breaks into your garage, you can file a report over the phone if you want, but it probably won’t do much good.
So what is causing the rise in crime and violence? Well, we live at a time when economic opportunities for young people are extremely limited. The younger you are, the more likely you are to be unemployed, and poverty in America has been steadily rising even in the midst of this so-called “economy recovery”.
When people are poor and feel like they are out of options, they tend to get desperate. And desperate people do desperate things.
Meanwhile, the condition of the family in America continues to deteriorate. We have the highest divorce rate in the world and approximately one out of every three children in the United States lives in a home without a father. Without stable families to depend on, our young people have become increasingly vulnerable to other influences.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Apartment Complex Bans Weapons and Firearms: No Self-Defense Allowed
A Colorado apartment complex has sent out a letter to all tenants (and future disarmed slaves) stating that starting October 1, “firearms and weapons are prohibited” from the complex.
Retired Marine Art Dorsch, 77, contacted 9News in Castle Rock, Colorado after receiving the “updated community policies” notice which turns his fine abode into a “victim disarmament zone.”
“I’m a hunter. I’m a licensed conceal and carry person,” Dorsch said to the news channel.
That didn’t matter to the apartment manager who apparently wants to create a mini-Chicago.
A handwritten note on the typed letter emphasizes that even handguns for licensed concealed carry are included in the ban.
Firearm bans at apartment complexes could encourage criminals to perform “home invasions” after realizing that the apartment dwellers are likely unarmed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A startling new Reuters story shows one of the biggest dangers of the surveillance state: the unquenchable thirst for access to the NSA’s trove of information by other law enforcement agencies.
As the NSA scoops up phone records and other forms of electronic evidence while investigating national security and terrorism leads, they turn over “tips” to a division of the Drug Enforcement Agency (“DEA”) known as the Special Operations Division (“SOD”). FISA surveillance was originally supposed to be used only in certain specific, authorized national security investigations, but information sharing rules implemented after 9/11 allows the NSA to hand over information to traditional domestic law-enforcement agencies, without any connection to terrorism or national security investigations.
But instead of being truthful with criminal defendants, judges, and even prosecutors about where the information came from, DEA agents are reportedly obscuring the source of these tips.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Pushing Real-Time Metadata-Harvesting ‘Port Readers’ On Service Providers
The FBI seems to be of the same mindset as the NSA — it’s better to have it all and not need it than to show any sense of restraint when it comes to harvesting data. Declan McCullagh at CNET has uncovered yet another surveillance program aimed at collecting vast amounts of data simply because the current legal climate allows it.
“The U.S. government is quietly pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep inside companies’ internal networks to facilitate surveillance efforts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FEMA Demanding 24 Hour Delivery of Emergency Food Reserves
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is contacting storable food suppliers requesting immediate delivery of food reserves within a 24 hour period, increasing suspicions that the federal government is accelerating its preparations for social disorder or an environmental calamity.
While it’s certainly not unusual for FEMA to be buying storable food, the rushed manner with which the federal agency is now conducting such business has raised a few eyebrows, prompting the owner of My Patriot Supply to ask, “Why the sudden sense of urgency? What do they know that we do not?”
“I’m not one to cry that the sky is always falling, but when DHS/FEMA make a move to quietly buy up emergency food supplies and ask how much we can ship within 24 hours…I think this is far enough outside the realm of what is “normal” to beg some questions,” remarked the company’s owner.
“In recent years the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been regionalizing disaster supplies and rapidly procuring hundreds of millions of ready-to-eat meals, blankets, and body bags. Coupled with the Department of Homeland Security’s suspiciously massive purchases of ammunition, firearms, and riot gear, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. government is positioning itself in advance of an as of yet unknown widespread calamity,” writes Mac Slavo.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Gunman’s Apparent Death Wish No Surprise to Veteran Prosecutors
The apparent death wish of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, which brought his court martial to a temporary halt Wednesday, came as no surprise to veteran prosecutors who have handled high-profile cases involving terrorists.
Hasan is representing himself but is advised by a team of attorneys appointed by the military court trying him for the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting at a Texas military base that left 13 dead and 30 injured. On Wednesday, members of his legal team told the military judge the former Army psychiatrist appears to be angling for the death penalty as he represents himself in the military trial.
One of the attorneys, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said he is willing to step in and serve as Hasan’s attorney, a day after Hasan gave an opening argument that lasted less than two minutes and included an unambiguous admission that he “was the shooter” who killed 13 and injured 30 in the Nov. 5, 2009, attack at the Texas Army base. Hasan’s court-appointed legal team is refusing to be part of a process in which Hasan seems determined to become a martyr, according to one former prosecutor experienced in terror cases.
“This is his soapbox,” said Andrew McCarthy, who, as a federal prosecutor, made the government’s case against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. “He’s really doing a performance to the world here, to the jihadists of the world here, and, secondly, he wants to get their case out there.”
McCarthy predicted Hasan will get the death penalty, regardless of how his legal team feels.
Former U.S. Air Force Col. Morris Davis, who was chief prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions from 2005-2007, said he saw the same stretegy employed by 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, and noted that military law does not allow guilty pleas in cases where the defendant faces the death penalty.
“You have to figure that anyone so committed that he’ll kill unarmed people believes he’ll be rewarded for being a martyr for the cause,” said Davis, now a law professor at Howard University School of Law. “That’s one reason I’m not in favor of giving the death penalty to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or Major Hasan … why give them exactly what they want? A real punishment would be for them to live for many, many years locked away being totally irrelevant.”
Hasan, who was left paralyzed in the attack, and is making his way around the courtroom in a wheelchair, didn’t even bother to cross-examine several of the military’s witnesses on Tuesday.
A day later, just minutes after testimony began, Judge Col. Tara Osborn cleared the courtroom and later said the trial would be in recess until Thursday so she can consider Poppe’s motion.
| [Return to headlines] |
Inch by inch it is a cinch. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Many planners realize that nothing monumental is quickly achieved and dogged persistence over time is needed to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of a valued goal.
Nobody has utilized the principle of incrementalism better than the globalists in the pursuit of their goals related to the establishment of the New World Order.
Gun Confiscation has begun. In two different geographical locations in two differing countries, the authorities have confiscated guns without probable cause or the exigent circumstances required by constitutional law. But alas, I almost forgot, there is no rule of law in the United States. There is not one amendment in the Constitution that has been left intact.
Can there be any doubt that the United Nations is behind these gun grabs? How do we know that the United Nations is behind this beta test related to the disarming of private citizens? Read about the United Nations intent to control all guns here. I implore that all of you heed this warning and use it as a guiding principle in the months and years ahead. The United Nations is the enemy of humanity. I have this rogue organization, which is controlled by mafia bankers, in my sights and am planning to expose their anti-humanist agenda to all that will listen with an open mind. The United Nations is behind national health care which is going to bankrupt millions in this country, or result in the early demise of millions of people through treatment exclusions and denial of care. The UN (UNESCO) is behind the sabotaging of the American education system in such ill-conceived programs as No Child Left Behind and now Common Core. And the United Nations seeks to disarm all citizens prior to enacting their planned nightmarish tyranny upon the world.
History clearly demonstrates that widespread gun confiscation, in any form, is an ominous sign for any country. The following is a brief synopsis of gun control…
I would remind the reader that gun confiscation is not an end unto itself. It is a means to an end. For when the people are finally disarmed, the banking mafia that runs this country can have their way with this country with very little opposition. And if that ever happens, you will soon learn why the NSA is engaged in massive data base collections of your communications. This Sunday evening, on my talk show, I am interviewing someone who worked for DARPA at Arizona State University and he knows about the threat matrix scores which are being assigned to individuals and groups. This is real and yet, our people continue to remain in a slumber as the eye of the storm approaches.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Homeland Security Criticized Over ‘Sexy’ Spy Ad
The Department of Homeland Security is facing criticism over an ad for its ‘See Something, Say Something’ campaign that features a woman in a low cut top, prompting jibes that the federal agency is trying to ‘sex up’ the task of encouraging Americans to spy on each other.
“It looks more like an ad for a spa treatment, or possibly, Match.com,” joked Buzzfeed, noting that, “The ad features a woman who looks more bemused than worried, checking out…something. She’s wearing what appears to be a sexy, deep neckline dress or top.”
Instead of informing the public about exactly what they are supposed to be looking out for, the ad seems solely designed to attract attention and characterize the whole process of tattling on your fellow citizen as sexy and seductive — like you’re playing the starring role in a spy thriller.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is GM Corn Responsible for Causing Epidemic of Debilitating, Inexplicable Disease Symptoms?
(NaturalNews) It took Caitlin Shetterly almost four years to discover why she was suffering from frequent headaches, nausea, chronic fatigue, and insomnia, among other baffling disease symptoms without an overtly identifiable cause. But what this writer and mother eventually learned about her unusual condition has vast implications for the thousands, if not millions, of others out there who suffer from a similarly inexplicable fate: Genetically-modified (GM) corn and its derivatives are silent health destroyers that could be costing you, your health and quality of life.
After visiting every type of specialist for chronic symptoms that simply would not relent and taking all sorts of pills, including an array of dietary supplements, without any success, Shetterly was desperate for a solution. That was when she found Dr. Paris Mansmann, M.D., an allergist from Maine who helped her identify GMO corn as the primary cause of her ailments. What the best of conventional and even alternative medicine had failed to solve diagnostically, Dr. Mansmann was able to identify personally and most importantly, patiently.
“Mansmann explained that, starting in the mid-1980s, the biotechnology giant Monsanto began to genetically alter corn to withstand its herbicide Roundup — — the goal being to eradicate weeds but not crops — as well as to resist a pest called the corn borer,” writes Shetterly for Elle. “These small changes in the DNA of [GMO] corn are expressed by the plant as proteins … that can act as allergens, provoking a multisystemic disorder marked by the overproduction of a type of white blood cell called an eosinophil.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Time to Emulate Our Forefathers
“We the People are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but the men who pervert the Constitution.” — Abraham Lincoln
Parallel the abuses of tyrant King George III in 1776 to what is happening to the American people under Obama’s administration, and you will see the same tyrannical measures stemming from the same tyrannical ideology.
Replacing King George with Obama, the Declaration of Independence states:
“The history of the present [president of the United States] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted. … “He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.”
Operation Fast and Furious: Obama, as an accessory to criminal activity, including murder, asserted executive privilege where law as well as court precedent clearly shows it unlawful.
Obama has used criminal measures to attack American immigration law and illegally usurped constitutional laws by unashamedly announcing he will issue work permits to illegal aliens.
As the chief law-enforcement agent, Obama has refused to enforce the Defense of Marriage and the Voting Rights Act against a domestic terrorist group, the New Black Panthers.
Obama has been held in contempt of court for refusing to lift the Gulf of Mexico oil-drilling ban.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Who Accepted Private-Prison Bribes to Send Black Kids to Jail Sentenced to 28 Years
In 2009, I wrote about Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, one of two Pennsylvania judges who was paid bribes by a private prison contractor to send black children to prison and keep the for-profit prisons full. Ciavarella, who once sent an African-American child to jail for three months for posting negative comments about her assistant principal on MySpace, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison. He was convicted of racketeering, and has been stripped of his state pension.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Ron Ross
A mind exercise in how they go hand in hand.
There is an organic connection between liberalism and lies. Lying is the lifeblood and mother’s milk of liberalism. Liberals and the left lie effortlessly and naturally. They are far more comfortable with lies than the truth. Speaking the truth is almost impossibility for them. It’s in their DNA.
The fraudulently labeled “Affordable Care Act” is typical of the millions of lies liberals have told over the years. President Obama and Democrats made promises and predictions they knew were untrue. They lied about what motivated the embassy attacks in Egypt and Libya. They lied, and continue to lie, without a second thought and without the slightest remorse.
Barack Obama took a sacred oath to uphold the Constitution. He never had the slightest intention of adhering to the Constitution, as we now well know. One of the traits liberals find endearing about Bill Clinton is his skill at lying and his ability to get away with it.
On his second day in office President Obama said, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” On the contrary, it has been the most opaque and duplicitous presidency in history. What he claimed could not have been further from the truth. The best way to evaluate what liberals say is to realize that what they say is really the polar opposite of what they believe.
Liberals cannot tell the truth, and in this context the word has two meanings…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Navy Drops Plans to Repair Fire-Damaged USS Miami Sub
PORTLAND, Maine — The Navy has decided that it will not repair the nuclear-powered submarine USS Miami after concluding that the cost of repairing damage from a fire set by a civilian worker is more than it can afford due to mandated budget cuts.
The decision to scrap the Groton, Conn.-based sub comes after a damage assessment by the Navy found that estimated repair costs, originally estimated to be about $450 million, have risen dramatically, a Navy official told The Military Times.
Rear Adm. Rick Breckenridge, director of undersea warfare, said Tuesday that repairing the submarine would have meant canceling work on dozens of other ships because of new budget constraints. He said that would’ve hurt the Navy’s overall readiness.
“The Navy and the nation simply cannot afford to weaken other fleet readiness in the way that would be required to afford repairs to Miami,” Breckenridge said in a statement.
Inspections revealed a significant number of components in the torpedo room and auxiliary machinery room would require replacement, further driving up the repair costs for the USS Miami. The Navy originally said it planned to repair the submarine but the discovery of additional damage raised the cost.
A shipyard worker, Casey James Fury, of Portsmouth, N.H., was sentenced to 17 years in prison after admitting he set fire to the Miami, which was in dry dock during a 20-month overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.
It took 12 hours and the efforts of more than 100 firefighters to save the Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Seven people were hurt.
The fire, set on May 23, 2012, damaged forward compartments including living quarters, a command and control center and the torpedo room. Weapons had been removed for the repair, and the fire never reached the rear of the submarine, where the nuclear propulsion components are located.
| — Hat tip: AAA | [Return to headlines] |
Nidal Hasan Hopes for Death in Fort Hood Killings, Lawyers Say
Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) — The backup legal team for admitted Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan asked to withdraw from active participation in the case Wednesday, telling a judge that Hasan wants to be sentenced to death.
The request brought Hasan’s court-martial to a screeching halt on what would have been the second day of testimony. The presiding judge, Col. Tara Osborn, recessed court until Thursday to hold a closed-door hearing with Hasan and his lawyers.
Hasan is representing himself on charges that he shot and killed 13 people and wounded 32 in the November 2009 rampage at the installation, near Killeen, Texas. But Osborn ruled before the court-martial began that defense lawyers would act as stand-by counsel during the proceedings.
The lawyers’ roles had been limited to helping Hasan file motions and coaching him on procedural matters. But after Tuesday, when Hasan used his opening statement to declare “I am the shooter,” they filed a motion to step aside.
The head of the legal team, Lt. Col. Kris Poppe, said Wednesday that Hasan was “working in concert with the prosecution to achieve a death sentence.”
[Of course he wants a death sentence — which is exactly why he shouldn’t get it. He wants his entrée into Islam’s celestial Playboy Club, and for his name to become a byword throughout the Muslim world. What he should get is life in the Supermax slammer in Colorado, with no Qur’ans, prayer rugs, arrows to Mecca, or any other Gitmo-style fripperies. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama in Action: Domestic Charges Against Benghazi Terrorists?
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has filed the first criminal charges in the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, two U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The officials confirmed that a sealed indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against an unspecified number of individuals in the September 2012 attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. One official said those charged included Ahmed Abu Khattala, the head of a Libyan militia. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a sealed indictment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Cops Can Take Away Your Cash, Car, Or House — Even if You’re Never Convicted of a Crime
The New Yorker’s Sarah Stillman has a heartbreaking story out on an appalling police tactic — civil forfeiture, which lets local police departments make tons of money from taking supposed criminals’ property.
Civil forfeiture is largely a product of the war on drugs. In 1984, Congress passed an omnibus crime bill that gave local police departments a cut of the assets seized during drug raids and other investigations.
Through civil forfeiture, cops can take property they believe was obtained illicitly before you’re convicted of any wrongdoing in a court of law. The people whose assets have been seized then have to go to court to try to get it back, which may cost more money than the property itself.
In many cases, civil forfeiture affects poor minorities who have little recourse.
The New Yorker profiled one elderly West Philadelphia couple, Mary and Leon Adams, whose home was seized after their son allegedly sold $20 worth of pot on their porch. (They received an eviction notice but were able to stay in their home during the forfeiture proceedings because of Leon’s health conditions.) They were never even charged with a crime.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Only Effective Weapon — Massive Disobedience
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty, as cooperation with good.” — Mahatma Gandhi
We’ve all been taught to obey the law because in a nation of laws and not of men, following the law is the strength of the nation. In a free nation, following the law is paramount because not following the law leads to chaos and anarchy. But there is another scenario that is not taken into account with the necessity of following the law and that scenario occurs when those that make the law exceed their authority for creating law, or go berserk in passing laws, as is happening today.
All over America, law is being created without legal authority and in violation of constitutional limits on power, driven by an international mindset that manifests itself in the flawed ideology of social justice and radical environmental restrictions and limitations. This flawed ideology believes that man is a plague on the earth and must be severely regulated. One way to regulate the world population is to get them to believe that they are causing the pending catastrophe of global warming and their activities need to be scaled way back, but more particularly, American activities. The ideology also includes the implementation by law to make all humans equal under the guise of social justice, an impossible condition without the use of excessive government, totalitarian force.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Invades Train Terminals, Sporting Events, Music Festivals and Rodeos
It is said the Transportation Security Administration was originally established as a response to the September 11, 2001, attacks. If this is the case, then the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency now exercising authority over the agency, must think al-Qaeda will soon target rodeos.
On Monday, the New York Times reported the TSA’s widely covered mission creep has infested “sporting events, music festivals, rodeos, highway weigh stations and train terminals” and admits not “everyone is happy” about the Americanized version of the Gestapo fanning out across the nation.
The Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — also known as VIPR teams — are so pervasive even members of Congress are beginning to complain and question their deployment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tsarnaev Narrative Change: Instead of a Radical Muslim, Tamerlan a Rightwing Extremist
In now familiar echo chamber fashion, the establishment media today is hyping a story about Tamerlan Tsarnaev posted by the Wall Street Journal. Hidden behind a pay wall, the story claims Tamerlan read “ring-wing literature” and delved into antigovernment conspiracy theories prior to the attack in Boston on April 15, 2013…
According to the International Business Times, The Wall Street Journal story claims the elder Tsarnaev read 9/11 conspiracy theories, antigovernment literature, and “other far-right wing literature.” In addition, according to the report, an “article in his possession discussed ‘the rape of our gun rights,’ while another white supremacist-oriented piece claimed ‘Hitler had a point.’“…
The transmogrification of Tamerlan Tsarnaev from a radical Muslim into a rightwing extremist conforms with the government’s ongoing effort to shift the locus of domestic terrorism over to its political enemies, who are demonized as contemptuous racists and hate criminals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two Faces of Conservatism, Part 2
Cruz talked about how throughout the entire Senate race the pundits said there was no way he could win. He said the pundits were right. That he could not have enjoyed the ultimate victory if Conservatives all over the State of Texas had not come together. He was emphatic that it was they, not he, who won that election.
That — the coming together of the Texas Conservative base — he said, was an example of the paradigm shift that took place in the past and he believes it is continuing and is currently playing itself out in the United States Senate. He believes it will continue in the future. That paradigm shift offers, Senator Cruz said, a path for Conservatives to turn the country around. It begins, he said, by standing for principles.
What is this “paradigm shift” of which Cruz speaks? He talked about standing for principles — and that is the core of a paradigm shift. The question is, for which principles do you and I and the majority of Americans stand? That issue is seldom addressed in politics and I like the fact that Senator Cruz made it of central importance in his speech.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Säpo Targets Leftist Militants
Säpo, the intelligence unit of the Swedish police force, is making a concerted effort to come to grips with Leftist extremists in the region west of Stockholm who have conducted some 30 attacks against their political opponents since February, reports Swedish Radio News.
“We do not feel that any of these figures represent a genuine threat to democracy, in terms of starting a revolution or trying to change our form of government. But they are a serious threat to individual democratic functions,” says Ahn-Za Hagström, senior analyst with Säpo.
Among the actions carried out by the militants are telephone threats, attacks with chemicals, and beatings of their opponents. In the most recent incident, an apartment in the city of Västerås was vandalized over the weekend.
A Leftist extremist interviewed by Swedish Radio News said that a number of activists went to a certain apartment in order to attack the person who lives there. When they found he was not at home, they destroyed the apartment’s interior.
“We don’t consider a person who is a Nazi as a bad person who has made the wrong personal choices, but instead view him as a political opponent, a political enemy,” the 27-year-old Leftist activist explained.
Säpo analyst Ahn-Za Hagström notes that the current situation in Sweden is not as serious as it was at the end of the 90’s, when Sweden was rocked by serious political violence. During that period, police were murdered in the wake of an armed robbery by Nazis, and a union leader was assasinated in Stockholm.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police Mobilize After Left-Wing Attacks
A string of violent attacks by extreme left-wingers in Västerås has local police ready to mobilize with the help of the national intelligence agency against the activists’ self-professed political campaign of terror.
Sveriges Radio (SR) reported on Wednesday that Mälardalen region police suspect the same group of people to have orchestrated around 30 crimes — including threats by telephone, chemical attacks, and assault.
“A Nazi isn’t just a bad person or someone who has made bad personal choices,” a member of the network told SR after his associates vandalized an apartment belonging to a person they considered to be an extreme right-winger. “We see them as a political opponent, a political enemy.”
While the police do not see the group of leftwing attacks as posing any real threat to Sweden, they are keen to get to grips with the string of crimes.
“We don’t consider these actors pose any real threat to democracy, in terms of staging a revolution or changing our political situation,” said security police Säpo intelligence agent Ahn-Za Hagström. “But they do pose a relatively grave threat to individual democratic functions.”
SR reported that the attacks began in February, and fears that the violence will escalate has Säpo cooperating with local authorities.
Hagström, however, told the radio that the level of political violence across Sweden was nowhere near the levels reached during the early 1990s — with the murder of police officers in Malexander, and the murder of syndicalist union activist Björn Söderberg.
“Today the extremism milieu is not at the level of gross violence, although there is systematic violence between members of different extremist groups,” she told SR.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mainstream Media on Benghazi: It Was About Gun-Running
The mainstream media in the United States have increasingly come to the conclusion that the Benghazi attacks were related to a secret gun-running operation managed by the U.S. government to ferry weapons used by Libyan rebels to Syria. Establishment media outlets reporting on the reputed CIA gun-running operation over the past week included Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera, London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, and CNN television. The New American reported the same likely theory back in October and December 2012.
The September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks against the U.S. government compound in Benghazi in Libya resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Stevens was officially on a diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, though it has become abundantly clear that the U.S. “Special Mission Compound” building had more to do with the CIA than diplomacy. The idea that Stevens could have been involved in redirecting arms from Libya to Syria is hardly a stretch. He had the perfect résumé for gun-running, as he had helped manage gun-running to the Libyan rebels during the insurgency against former dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The White House named Stevens liaison to the Libyan rebels in March 2011, months before Gadhafi’s August 2011 ouster.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai: Court Gives Kissing Couple One-Month Sentences
Man spotted 31-year-old woman kissing her 19-year-old colleague in car parked behind mosque
Dubai: A 31-year-old banker and her 19-year-old colleague have been given a one-month sentence each after they were caught kissing in a tinted car behind a mosque in Al Muhaisna.
An Omani man was said to have spotted the Emirati woman’s car with its engine on and parked suspiciously between two trucks.
The man claimed that he saw a couple clutching intimately to each other but he doubted that they were having sex. He called the police.
Prosecutors charged the Emirati woman and her fellow countryman with kissing inside the car on January 21.
The pair denied exchanging kisses and pleaded not guilty at the Dubai Misdemeanour Court, which sentenced them to one month each.
The defendants were immediately taken into custody when they appeared in court.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is There a Connection Between Nairobi’s Airport Blaze and AQAP’s Terror Bomb Engineer?
Yesterday morning at a monthly early breakfast with local greybeards here in Northwest Florida , I was asked if there was anything that might have provoked the closure of US Embassies and legations in the Muslim Ummah. The US Embassy in Sana, Yemen had just been ordered closed in response to a spike in chatter between Al Qaeda core and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and an unknown, yet specific, threat. I speculated that it might have been more than just intercepted calls between Ayman al- Zawihiri at AQ ‘core’ in Pakistan and the ‘emir’ of AQA) , Nasir al- Wuhayshi. In particular I cited the reports about a virtually undetectable liquid explosive developed by a Saudi chemist, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. I raised the subject of al-Asiri because he has successfully evaded CIA drone attacks in Yemen. Moreover, could this latest virtually undetectable bomb have been responsible for a possible terrorist attack at Nairobi International airport in Kenya that triggered a massive blaze shutting it down and diverting flights to Mombasa? Lest we forget AQ bombed the US Embassies in both Nairoibi and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on August 7, 1998 that brought US criminal charges against the late Usama bin Laden and AQ. Al-Asiri, I pointed out to my breakfast club colleagues was the engineer behind the creation of fiendishly clever shoe, underwear and computer printer bombs that had successfully evaded international airport security and even sniffer dogs. The Atlantic had a profile of al-Asiri that made him the AQAP equivalent of the late Hezbollah terrorist mastermind, Imad Mughniyah. Mughniyah was allegedly taken out by a bomb in February 2008 that Mossad may have planted in the headrest of his Mitsubishi Pajero SUV in Damascus.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwaiti Fighter Killed in Syria
KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti fighter died in Syria during army bombardment against rebels in Lattakia Monday morning, a local daily reported yesterday. Al-Rai also confirmed that family of Nasser Falah Al-Dousary, a young Muslim preacher, started receiving condolences yesterday (Tuesday) in Subahiya after being notified about his death.
Meanwhile, the report quoted a source close to Al-Dousary who indicated that he was killed during a battle between members of President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces and rebel fighters at areas near the city of Lattakia. “The martyr had participated in a forum organized by the Dawaser tribe in Kuwait to support the Syrian people, after which he decided to head to Syria seeking martyrdom”, said the source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Reports last June identified a Kuwaiti Islamist named Badr Al-Bathali to have also been killed while fighting alongside rebel fighters in Syria, and quoted a family member who confirmed that they knew about his plans six months before his death. On the same month, former Islamist lawmaker Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei posted pictures on his Twitter account which he said were taken from Syria, showing him in military suit and fighting alongside other people he said were members of the Free Syria Army.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and the Jesuits Make Common Cause: Engage Iran
One group that supports such engagement with Iran is the Society of Jesus (SJ), from among whose ranks the Vatican Roman Curiae elected Pope Francis I, former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina. In the current edition of America Magazine, produced by the US arm of the SJ an editorial presents Jesuit views on this issue, “Making Peace with Iran”: .. . . perhaps the most important relationship the United States maintains, the one likeliest to have the greatest short- and long-term impact on global peace, is with Iran. That is not to say that it is a positive relationship—yet. But even a “relationship” based on animus and suspicion can be important. A Venn diagram of the geopolitical world seen through American and Iranian eyes would show overlapping cultural, political and military interests in Syria, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and multilateral concerns such as nuclear proliferation, reducing tensions with the world’s Sunni Muslims and converging economic and trade interests and conflicts…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen’s Government Says it Foiled Al-Qaida Plots
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Authorities foiled plots by al-Qaida to take over key cities in southern Yemen and attack strategic ports and gas facilities, a government spokesman said Wednesday amid a heightened alert that has seen Western embassies evacuated and a new suspected U.S. drone strike that killed seven alleged militants from the terrorist group.
Al-Qaida planned to target the cities of Mukalla and Bawzeer, then send militants disguised as Yemeni troops to attack two strategic oil ports in the impoverished country on the Arabian Peninsula, government spokesman Rageh Badi said.
Other al-Qaida militants would also try to sabotage pipelines to “create panic among Yemeni army and Yemeni security services,” Badi told The Associated Press, adding that authorities managed to foil the plots in the past 48 hours.
Details of the plot were first reported by the BBC.
His remarks came hours after Washington apparently stepped up its drone strikes in Yemen in the covert fight against militants from al-Qaida’s branch, which is considered the most active of the terrorist network…
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Obama Cancels Meeting With Putin as Snowden Adds to Tensions
President Obama has canceled a planned summit with the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, senior administration officials said Wednesday, a response to frustration with the Russian government for refusing to send Edward J. Snowden to the United States to face charges of leaking national security secrets.
The move is also a reflection of growing tensions between the two countries on a series of other issues, including Mr. Putin’s continuing support of Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to be in St. Petersburg for a meeting of the Group of 20 set for Sept. 5 and 6, and had planned to go from there to meet Mr. Putin.
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North Korea Expanding Nuclear Plant, US Institute Says
A U.S. institute tracking North Korea’s nuclear weapons program says recent satellite photos show Pyongyang is doubling the size of its uranium enrichment plant, jibing with the country’s announced plans to expand technology that can be used both to create energy and the core of nuclear weapons.
The imagery comes from two sources, satellite companies Digital Globe and Astrium Geoinformation Services, and was seen by The Associated Press ahead of publication by the Institute for Science and International Security on Wednesday. In an accompanying note, ISIS said the photos of the Nyongbyon nuclear complex show construction under way to “effectively double” the size of the enrichment hall.
That, said ISIS, would allow North Korea to also double the number of centrifuges now enriching uranium. Revealing the existence of a uranium enrichment program three years ago, Pyongyang said the plant contained 2,000 centrifuges — machines that are linked up in series and spin uranium gas into material that can be used either to power reactors or arm nuclear weapons, depending on the degree of enrichment.
That means the 4,000 centrifuges that the space is apparently being expanded for could potentially make twice that amount, giving them the capacity to build up to four bombs a year — should the country decide to use them for that purpose.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Official: TEPCO Plan Could Cause Fukushima Reactor Buildings to “Topple”
Tepco’s ill-considered efforts to change soil permeability and water flow have caused severe problems at the site … including highly radioactive groundwater bubbling up to the surface.
NHK notes:
The vice governor of Fukushima Prefecture has asked the government to take the lead in handling the matter and stop the leakage. Masao Uchibori told an official from the Nuclear Regulation Authority that some of Tepco’s measures have increased the risk of further leaks…
But there is another — stunning — threat.
Specifically, BBC points out:
Engineers are now facing a new emergency. The Fukushima plant sits smack in the middle of an underground aquifer. Deep beneath the ground, the site is rapidly being overwhelmed by water.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Air Force Transports 24 Tons of Cocaine to Miami
Airlift destined for ‘Cocaine Capital of the World’ “shrouded in secrecy”
The US Air Force recently airlifted nearly 24 tons of cocaine from Costa Rica to Miami, the cocaine capital of the world, in a program described as being “shrouded in secrecy”.
According to the Costa Rica Star, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III out of Dover Air Force Base landed at the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport (LIR) on Saturday July 27, loaded almost 24 tons of cocaine in pallets and then set off for its ultimate destination of Miami, but not before stopping in Nicaragua and Honduras.
The US Air Force agreed to transport the cocaine after a successful Costa Rican program that was destroying 300 kilos of the drug an hour had to be suspended because of a broken incinerator.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Immigrant Charged With Kidnapping, Sexual Abuse in Fayette County
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
An illegal immigrant who was living in northeast Iowa under an assumed identity is now behind bars, accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reports 23-year-old Rodrigo Sandoval Estrada had been living in Ossian, where residents knew him as Ramon Marcus Perez.
His girlfriend, 35-year-old Holly Ann Yonkovic, is also charged in the case. Karla Kelly lives across the street from the couple in Ossian. “It’s really sad. It’s like a gut-wrenching sad, but mad kind of day,” Kelly says. “We knew something was going on, like ‘oh my gosh, something is finally being done.’“
Janet Monroe also lives across the street from Estrada and Yonkovic, who has children. Monroe says neighbors repeatedly contacted authorities about suspicious activity at the house.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Accepts Migrants Refused by Malta
Italy has agreed to take in 102 migrants rescued from a leaking dinghy after Malta refused to admit them despite EU pressure, the Maltese government said on Wednesday.
The migrants, including a five-month-old baby and four pregnant women, were rescued from their badly damaged inflatable boat on Monday by the Liberian-flagged Salamis oil tanker 80 kilometres off the Libyan coast.
In a statement released overnight, Malta said the Salamis, which had been moored off the Mediterranean island nation in international waters, was heading for Syracuse in Sicily.
“This development came as the Italian authorities accepted to welcome the migrants who are aboard the MV Salamis. It followed diplomatic contacts between the Italian, Maltese and Greek governments,” the government said.
It said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat personally thanked Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
“Malta’s position during this crisis was always strong, consistent and legitimate. Through this position, Malta sent a strong message,” Muscat was quoted as saying in the statement.
Muscat has sparked controversy with his hardline approach to boat migrants.
In July he said the government was considering expelling them, insisting he had to “get the message across that Malta is not a pushover”.
The country refused to allow the 102 migrants aboard the Salamis to land despite a call from the European Commission to do so “as soon as possible” to save lives.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said it was Malta’s “humanitarian duty” and sending the ship back “would be contrary to international law.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia’s Treatment of Gays Comparable to Nazi Germany?
In a broad-ranging interview on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama addressed Russia’s recently passed anti-gay laws by saying he has “no patience for countries that try to treat gays or lesbians or transgender persons in ways that intimidate them or are harmful to them.”
The comments come about six months before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia — a global event that has increased the amount of international attention being paid to Russia’s new laws, one of which makes it illegal to spread “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Empowered Apostate
Excerpt from Dr Andrew Bostom’s book, Sharia versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism, published by Prometheus Books in 2012.. Dr Bostom expands upon his two previous groundbreaking compendia, The Legacy of Jihad and The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism, with this collection of his own essays on Sharia — Islamic law.
The book elucidates, unapologetically, Sharia’s defining Islamic religious principles and the consequences of its application across space and time, focusing upon contemporary illustrations. A wealth of unambiguous evidence is marshaled, distilled, and analyzed, including: objective, erudite studies of Sharia by leading scholars of Islam; the acknowledgment of Sharia’s global “resurgence”, even by contemporary academic apologists for Islam; an abundance of recent polling data from Muslim nations and Muslim immigrant communities in the West confirming the ongoing, widespread adherence to Sharia’s tenets; the plaintive warnings and admonitions of contemporary Muslim intellectuals — freethinkers and believers, alike — about the incompatibility of Sharia with modern, Western-derived conceptions of universal human rights; and the overt promulgation by authoritative, mainstream international and North American Islamic religious and political organizations of traditional, Sharia-based Muslim legal systems as an integrated whole (ie, extending well beyond mere “family-law aspects” of Sharia).
Johannes Jansen, Professor for Contemporary Islamic Thought Emeritus at Utrecht University, says this book “will prove sobering to even staunch optimists”…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
A comment on the civil disobedience. I have thought for a while now that you could have, perhaps still could, stop the TSA in their tracks – simply refuse to fly !. It would take less than a week to bring the airlines to their knees. Can’t think why it hasn’t been done. If enough people simply refused to put themselves through that humiliation.
I read that they are appearing on other forms of transport, and at sporting events too. Where will it all end ?. I’ll tell you – it won’t – unless every time you go to use a form of transport, you see the TSA there, you turn on your heel and go home – no matter what it costs you. Every time you go to a public event, ball game, football game, see the TSA there, turn and go home – even if you’ve paid for tickets. Empty trains, buses, and especially empty sports stadia – they’d be squealing like stuck pigs. You would defeat them in DAYS. – NO squaring up to gun toting cops, NO risking injury, jail, DEATH, NO humiliating climbdowns. If you all did that the TSA would simply melt away.