At the G20 summit Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta urged President Obama not to go to war with Syria, but instead to push for a political solution through the UN. Mr. Letta is concerned about potential damage to the world economy from a war in Syria.
In other news, Germany’s new anti-euro party Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AFD) is surging in the polls, and may well qualify for seats in parliament after the next elections.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Takuan Seiyo, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Germany Set for €200 Billion Trade Surplus
Germany is on course for a record trade surplus of €200 billion this year, but its export success threatens to surpass a threshold set by the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Greatest Fear? The Euro Debt Crisis
Germans say they worry about the European debt crisis more than anything else, according to a survey released on Thursday revealing the country’s biggest concerns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Loses 3,000 Engineers in the Last 3 Years
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 4 — The Greek construction industry, hammered by the country’s economic crisis, is seeing an exodus of engineers, with some 3,000 estimated to have left in the last three years looking for work and a better life elsewhere as GreekReporter website writes. Scientists and craftsmen have also also emigrated seeking professional stability and decent wages in countries with booming construction business such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Germany as well as Eastern Europe. “According to my estimates, about 3,000 to 4,000 engineers have left Greece in search of a decent standard of living,” said Ioannis Foteinos, SALFO & Associates SA CEO, a leading Greek Engineering and Consulting firm aiming at providing services of the highest quality and one of the first Greek companies that entered the Middle East market. Construction engineers said they can’t live with wage cuts of 30 to 40% and with housing starts and building development slowing to a near standstill.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Applications for Jobless Benefits Jumps 20%
Number of Italians seeking helped jumped 1.1 million over 2012
(ANSA) — Rome, September 6 — As Italy’s deep recession continues, the number of people seeking unemployment assistance jumped by almost 20% in the first seven months of the year, national insurance agency INPS reported Friday.
The agency said that it received 1.1 million applications for benefits between January and July, an increase of 19.8% over the same period last year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Letta Says Italy’s G20 Commitments Include Less Red Tape
Pledges to simplify civil laws, pay public debts made at summit
(ANSA) — St. Petersburg, September 6 — Italy has made a series of commitments at the G20 aimed at stimulating growth and boosting confidence in “Destination Italy,” Premier Enrico Letta said Friday.
During a news conference at the end of the G20 summit of leading economies, Italy committed to measures to simplify doing business, he said.
That includes payments of public debts to private businesses, providing incentives to boost investment, as well as the “simplification and improvement of administrative and civil” justice systems, said Letta.
These and other labour and public administration reforms will be aimed to encouraging businesses to see Italy as a good investment destination.
Letta recently announced his new project, “Destination Italy” involving several ministries working together to lure foreign direct investment into the country.
Investment in Italy is lower than in its competitors, with rigid labour laws, slow justice and red tape frequently blamed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Record 90.5 Million Out of Labor Force as Half a Million Drop Out in One Month
While the Establishment survey data was ugly due to both the miss and the prior downward revisions in the NFP print, the real action was in the Household survey, where we find that the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 516,000 in one month, which in turn increased the total number of people outside the labor force to a record 90.5 million Americans.
Whether or not this means the Fed will continue QE at this point is largely irrelevant: what is more relevant is that the Fed so far has failed miserably at its core mandate: to boost real employment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
San Bernardino Bankruptcy Ruling is a Blow to CalPERS
Over objections from CalPERS, a judge last week declared that the city of San Bernardino is eligible for bankruptcy, paving the way for a historic showdown over the sanctity of public employee pensions.
The ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Meredith Jury means San Bernardino officials will now negotiate a payment plan in the coming weeks with CalPERS and other creditors. Experts say the city is expected to develop a plan that would “impair,” or reduce the amount of money paid to CalPERS. That would translate into lower pension benefits for retirees and current employees — shattering decades of precedent over public pensions in California.
“The feeling is they’re going to have to impair pension obligations because that’s their largest liability,” said Karol Denniston, a San Francisco lawyer and expert on municipal bankruptcies. Any plan ultimately will require the judge’s approval.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Study: “Beginning of the Longest Period of Economic Decline in American History”
According to a demographic study from economists at Cornell University and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, the recovery that many Americans believe is taking hold right now may not actually be happening. In fact, it could take another 30 years or more…
Keep in mind that the study takes into account only the demographic factors over the next several decades and does not include additional government taxation, currency devaluation, and overall global economic supply & demand factors.
“The next few decades could be uncharacteristically bleak, according to a new study…
“Demographic factors — which have largely aided the U.S. economy in the past — could end up pushing incomes down for the next 30 years or more.If other factors don’t force incomes up, we may be at the beginning of the longest period of economic decline in American history.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Added 169,000 Jobs in August, Slightly Below Expectations
The nation’s employers added 169,000 jobs in August, slightly below what economists were expecting, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.3 percent from 7.4 percent.
The growth was about in line with the average hiring rate seen so far this year, which has been mediocre but steady. If the economy were to fill the jobs gap left by the recession within the next four years, around 300,000 jobs a month would need to be created, according to the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
Employment gains in the recovery have been disproportionately in lower-wage sectors like food service and retail, causing concern about not only the quantity of the new jobs but also their quality. The industries are more likely to hire part-time workers and operate on just-in-time schedules, making it difficult for employees to predict how many hours they will have from week to week.
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Chicago Isn’t Safe Despite “Safe Passage” Signs
Editor’s note: If Chicago wasn’t a “Second Amendment Free Zone” this sort of nonsense would not be necessary.
“Safe Passage” is a feel-good slogan dreamed up by Chicago Police Chief Garry McCarthy and the mayor Rahm Emanuel to foster a sense of safety where there is none.
They have dragged city employees off their jobs and forced them to man positions along designated “safe passage” routes — everyone from firefighters to sanitation workers.
Yes, the garbage men and firemen are acting as cops.
The Chicago Public Schools have also hired hundreds of people (screened for drugs and criminal histories, we’re sure!) to watch the routes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Communism: Stalin, And the Great American Mistakes of World War II
by Andrew Bostom
Hanson W. Baldwin (d. 1991), was a military-affairs editor for The New York Times, who authored over a dozen books on military and naval history and policy. Baldwin, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, joined The Times in 1929, and in 1943 won a Pulitzer Prize for his World War II reporting from the Pacific.
Before retiring from The Times in 1968, Baldwin reported on the strategy, tactics and weapons of war in Korea, Vietnam, the Middle East and other theaters. Earlier, after covering the European and Pacific battles of World War II, as well as the immediate postwar transition period, so astutely, Hanson Baldwin had already earned recognition as one of the nation’s leading authorities on military and naval affairs.
In 1950, Baldwin published a pellucid World War II post-mortem strategic assessment monograph of 114 pp., entitled, Great Mistakes of the War. Baldwin’s summary analysis identifies the four “great—and false—premises, certainly false in retrospect and seen by some to be false at the time,” as the following:…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Documents Confirm NSA Inserts “Back Doors” Into Web, Software
The latest top-secret documents leaked to the media by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden reveal that United States and British spy agencies have invested billions of dollars towards efforts to make online privacy obsolete.
The New York Times, the Guardian and ProPublica all reported on Thursday that newly released Snowden documents expose the great lengths that the National Security Agency and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, have gone to in order to eavesdrop on encrypted Internet communications.
According to the latest Snowden leak, the NSA and its British counterpart have circumvented the encryption methods used to secure emails, chats and essentially most Internet traffic that was previously thought to be protected from prying eyes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EPA SWAT Team Raids Gold Miners in Alaska
Paramilitary task force “reminding” miners not to put too much mud in the water.
Heavily armed Environmental Protection Agency SWAT teams are now raiding gold miners in Alaska in a search for “possible violations” of the Clean Water Act.
The latest raid, according to the Alaska Dispatch, involved four to eight armed officers, equipped with body armor, ambushing and intimidating miners from the remote town of Chicken, which only has 17 permanent residents.
“Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say POLICE emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms,” C.R. “Dick” Hammond, one of the victimized gold miners, said.
The EPA disclosed that the raids were part of the “multi-jurisdictional” Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force set up to investigate possible violations of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the amount of mud discharged into waterways.
When members of the Alaska Congressional delegation asked why the EPA equipped the task force with armor and weapons, the agency claimed that the Alaska State Troopers advised them on “rampant drug and human trafficking going on in the area.”
The state police agency publicly refuted this claim.
“The Alaska State Troopers did not advise the EPA that there was dangerous drug activity,” Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said. “We do not have evidence to suggest that is occurring.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Sheriff Speaks Out Against Federal Gun Laws
The Tea Party hosted a nationally-known guest at its meeting in St. Joseph Thursday night.
Sheriff Richard Mack took the federal government to court back in the 90s, and now he travels the country, sharing his thoughts on the power of the people.
“I don’t care who they are. If they don’t know the basic fundamentals of the second amendment, then [they should] go home. You are an enemy to freedom and you are an enemy to America, go home,” said Mack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Google Argues for Right to Continue Scanning Gmail
Google’s attorneys say their long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of people’s Gmail accounts to help sell ads is legal, and are asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the practice.
In court records filed in advance of a federal hearing scheduled for Thursday in San Jose, Google argues that “all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hitler’s Ruby Swastika Ring on Offer for $100,000
A gaudy ruby swastika ring which once belonged to Adolf Hitler will go on sale next week, with American auctioneers hoping to get bidders to shell out up to $100,000.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Reagan Exposes the Liberal Hollywood Lies in ‘The Butler’
Josh Grossberg of eonline.com published “President Reagan’s Son Slams Lee Daniels’ The Butler “ on August 27, 2013 stating, “Supporters of Ronald Reagan aren’t happy with the way Lee Daniels’ The Butler portrays the 40th president, but none more so than his son, Michael Reagan.
“The latter penned a scathing editorial for conservative website Newsmax titled ‘The Butler from Another Planet,’ in which he blasted the historical drama’s suggestion that his father was racist…
“The film, scripted by Danny Strong (Game Change), is inspired by the life of real White House butler Eugene Allen, who worked at the White House from 1952 to 1986 and whom the younger Reagan knew. Which is why he can speak with authority on the subject.”
I don’t think I am on any island alone in my thinking that the Hollywood scene is totally and unashamedly anti-American and rabidly communistic with the destruction of American patriotic ideals as their ultimate goals in all they do. In addition to the anti-American theme they are now following the mandates of our Dictator in Washington who is demanding a downsizing and demonizing of all things Christian in our country.
Getting back to Grossberg’s publication, and affirming my contention that Hollywood is primarily concerned with advancing communistic lies about the conservatives who epitomize our founding fathers’ ideals and issues adherence, here is what is said about Ronald Reagan’s son:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Freedom of speech, which includes the right to freely share information with others without interference or threat from the state, is one of the most fundamental tenets of American civil society. But this foundational and constitutionally-protected principle is under attack in a growing number of states where state licensing boards are increasingly trying to restrict freedom of health speech and limit it only to those who first receive permission from the government to give it.
One of the first major incidents of this in recent years involves the North Carolina Board of Dietetics / Nutrition (NCBDN), which, in 2012, decided to go after health blogger Steve Cooksey for posting information online about how he cured himself of diabetes through diet. The medical establishment in North Carolina, which is among the most restrictive and domineering in the nation, actually threatened to file a lawsuit against Cooksey in an attempt to shut him up.
Cooksey later filed a complaint in district court against NCBDN for violating his First Amendment rights, which was ultimately dismissed on the grounds that Cooksey allegedly did not suffer an actual or imminent injury-in-fact. But Cooksey appealed this ruling, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently decided that his case does, indeed, have merit and can move forward, which is a major win for health freedom.
But, unfortunately, Cooksey is not the only one being harassed by state licensing boards for speaking his mind.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Natural News Exclusive: Phosphoric Acid Used in Soda Pop Shown Dissolving Teeth in Rare Video
(NaturalNews) Get ready for another breakthrough investigation from the Natural News Forensic Food Lab, where we’ve put mammalian teeth under the microscope as they are being bathed in phosphoric acid — the same acid used in sodas and soft drinks and found in both Coca-Cola and Pepsi products.
I completed this research and microscopic videography roughly a week ago and was shocked to discover just how easily phosphoric acid destroys teeth. See the mind-blowing photos and video below for more details.
As the director of the Natural News Forensic Food Lab, I want you to know that these photos are not altered in any way. In addition, no animals were harmed or killed to make this video. The acid used in this science experiment is 85% pure phosphoric acid, the same kind of acid used in soft drinks and soda pop. Absolutely no other acids were used in this experiment. These results are reproducible in any science lab…
- The teeth were bathed in a solution of 85% phosphoric acid for a period of 12 hours. This concentration of phosphoric acid is much higher than the concentration typically found in soda products, so the effects you see here are accelerated compared to the effects you would see with the lower concentration acids typically found in soda.
- According to a 2012 Gallup poll, nearly half of all Americans drink soda daily, thereby bathing their teeth in phosphoric acid each day.
- According to these published soda facts, the average American drinks 45 gallons of sugary drinks each year. Each 20-ounce bottle of soda contains 16 teaspoons of sugar.
- Coca-Cola reportedly claims the actual amount of phosphoric acid in its sodas is “proprietary information” and thus not available to the public.
- A doctor quoted in ABC News confirms that the phosphoric acid in soda can destroy bones. “Phosphorus helps leech the calcium out of the bone, when it’s absorbed very well in the sodas that people drink,” said Dr. Loren Wissner Greene of New York University’s Langone Medical Center.
- The pH of Coca-Cola is 2.525, just slightly higher than that of battery acid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NSA Cracking Encryption With Supercomputers
U.S. and British intelligence agencies have cracked the encryption designed to provide online privacy and security, documents leaked by Edward Snowden show.
In their clandestine, decade-long effort to defeat digital scrambling, the National Security Agency, along with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), have used supercomputers to crack encryption codes and have inserted secret “back doors” into software with the help of technology companies, the Guardian, the New York Times and ProPublica reported Thursday.
The NSA has also maintained control over international encryption standards.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
SWAT Team Takes on “Native Born Terrorists” In Florida Exercise
Move to demonize American citizens as domestic extremists accelerates
A SWAT training exercise mounted by the Broward Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, and the FBI portrayed “native born” Americans carrying out a terrorist attack on Port Everglades, part of the accelerating demonization of American citizens as domestic extremists.
The drill was based around “sovereign citizens” attempting to steal a shipment of ammunition traveling through the facility by seizing hostages and planting bombs as part of their wider agenda to overthrow the government.
“These weren’t foreign-born America-hating terrorists. These were native-born America-hating terrorists. And they were making things difficult for the good guys,” barks a dramatic Florida Sun Sentinel report…
As we have documented, the trend of the federal government portraying American citizens as terrorists in both training exercises and promotional material has gone hand in hand with the increasing militarization of law enforcement.
Last month, former Marine Corps Colonel Peter Martino, who was stationed in Fallujah and trained Iraqi soldiers, warned that the Department of Homeland Security is working with law enforcement to build a “domestic army,” because the federal government is “afraid of its own citizens.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tampa Muslims Push for Early School Dismissal Every Friday for Prayers
A non-profit Islamic group in Florida is requesting that Muslim students be released early from public schools “every Friday” so children can attend mandatory prayer services, for under Islamic law, it is “sin” to miss the obligatory prayer sermon. The Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area published an official permission slip on its website for parents to “request early dismissal every Friday” for their children to “attend and perform the mandatory Friday Khutbah (sermon) and prayers starting at 12:30 pm until 3:00 pm.” The permission slip cites Fla. statutes and Hillsborough Township public school policy related to excused absences for religious observation, but fails to recognize other statutes and policies that state 180 days of school and a certain amount of hours are mandatory for each child.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US and UK Spy Agencies Defeat Privacy and Security on the Internet
US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.
The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have broadly compromised the guarantees that internet companies have given consumers to reassure them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to criminals or governments.
The agencies, the documents reveal, have adopted a battery of methods in their systematic and ongoing assault on what they see as one of the biggest threats to their ability to access huge swathes of internet traffic — “the use of ubiquitous encryption across the internet”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wal-Mart Fires Assistant Manager of N.Y. Store for Criticizing Muslims on Facebook
HAMBURG, N.Y.Wal-Mart has fired an employee of a western New York store after he posted derogatory comments about Muslim customers on Facebook.
The firing follows a request by the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations for Wal-Mart to discipline the assistant manager of the store in Hamburg, a suburb of Buffalo. Along with a picture of Muslim women in traditional dress, the manager’s expletive-filled posting read: “Halloween came early this year. … Do they really have to … dress like that.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Warning: D.C. Cops Under Orders to Arrest Tourists With Empty Bullet Casings
Washington police are operating under orders to arrest tourists and other non-residents traveling with spent bullet or shotgun casings, a crime that carries a $1,000 fine, a year in jail and a criminal record, according to a new book about the city’s confusing gun laws.
“Empty shell casings are considered ammunition in Washington, D.C., so they are illegal to possess unless you are a resident and have a gun registration certificate,” pens Emily Miller in her investigative book, “Emily Gets Her Gun: … But Obama Wants to Take Yours.”
Under the law, live or empty brass and plastic casings must be carried in a special container and unavailable to drivers. Having one, for example, in a cup holder or ash tray is illegal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Where are common sense, logic, critical thinking, belief in God, accountability, and the Rule of Law? Have they been replaced by the Fabians’ Social Justice Doctrine, controlled chaos, endless corruption, good is bad, evil is good, mindless propaganda, and political correctness?
The Rule of Law is the cornerstone of our Republic and, without the Rule of Law, there is tyranny. Sen. Rand Paul wondered about the Rule of Law on the floor of the Senate: “Either we’re a nation of laws or not.” He continued, “If we ignored our own laws, are we in any position to preach to the rest of the world about democracy and the Rule of Law?” (C-SPAN radio 7/31/13)
The Rule of Law is necessary for freedom, justice, and equality to prevail, without it we are ruled by a government of men and women who make arbitrary decisions on a whim. When the Rule of Law is not respected, nobody is truly safe from government encroachment, intrusion, and abuse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bigger and Healthier: European Men Grow 11cm in a Century
LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) — The average height of European men grew by a surprising 11 centimetres from the early 1870s to 1980, reflecting significant improvements in health across the region, according to new research published on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christians ‘Will be Minority in Germany’
Christians in Germany will become a minority in the next 20 years, a report claimed on Friday. Less than 50 percent of the population will belong to the Catholic and Protestant churches as congregations slowly die out.
Around 60 percent of the country is currently Christian with 24 million Catholics and 23 million Protestants. But that number is falling by 500,000 a year through deaths, the Welt newspaper reported on Friday.
The decline is expected to sharpen over the next decade as the bulk of church members are already elderly.
By 2033 churches will have less than 40 million members making Christianity a minority, the paper said.
And out of those that identify themselves as Protestants, the number of people who go to church regularly is far smaller with four percent of Protestants attending church on Good Friday, the paper reported.
It is a similar picture among Catholics. Back in the 1950s one in two German Catholics regularly attended church services. The number has now fallen to just 12.3 percent, according to the German conference of bishops.
The decline in Christianity is also having an effect on church upkeep. In March The Local reported that churches were being auctioned on eBay.
In formerly Soviet-controlled East Germany religious people are already a minority with 52 percent of people saying they did not believe in God in a study for the University of Chicago last year.
Just eight percent of East Germans surveyed said they believed in a God “personally concerned with every human being.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Call for ‘National Pact’ To End Marseille Drug Wars
France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls has called for politicians of all sides to unite in a ‘national pact’ to end drug trafficking and violence after Marseille was hit by another gangland killing when the son of Marseille’s football chief was gunned down on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Son of Marseille Sporting Director Gunned Down
The son of the sporting director of the French football club Olympique de Marseille has become the latest victim of gun violence in the Mediterranean city, according to French media reports on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
From England to France: The Attraction of Swimming the Channel
For mountain climbers, Mt. Everest is the ultimate challenge. For swimmers, it’s crossing the English Channel. Every year, more and more people attempt the journey, but only one in five make it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Right-Wing Surprise: Anti-Euro Party Surges Before Election
A recent poll shows Germany’s anti-euro Alternative for Germany party closing in on a place in parliament. This could cause a huge upset for the established parties — and dramatically alter the German political landscape.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Dell’Utri Sealed ‘Mafia Pact’ To Protect Berlusconi — Court
Sentence explanation says aide mediated with Cosa Nostra
(ANSA) — Palermo, September 5 — Former aide Marcello Dell’Utri sealed “a pact of protection” with Cosa Nostra for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi at a meeting in May 1974, according to the explanation of the Palermo appeals court’s decision in March to sentence Dell’Utri to seven years in prison for Mafia collusion.
The explanation added that the 1974 meeting “formed the genesis of the relationship that linked the businessman and the Mafia with Dell’Utri’s mediation”.
Dell’Utri, 71, is appealing against the conviction to the supreme Court of Cassation. In Italy convictions are not considered definitive until the two-tier appeals process has been exhausted.
The March verdict was the result of a retrial after the Cassation said Dell’Utri’s legal rights were not respected in the previous appeal.
Prosecutors say Dell’Utri was the intermediary with Cosa Nostra for the ex-premier, handing on “substantial sums” of money for protection.
Former Senator Dell’Utri is the former head of the media magnate’s advertising arm who is credited with creating the three-time premier’s first party, Forza Italia, in 1993, six months before it swept to victory in general elections.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s Party Sees Govt Crisis Approaching
Napolitano ‘trusts’ centre-right leader not to sink executive
(ANSA) — Rome, September 5 — Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) Party said Thursday the government of centre-left Democratic Party (PD) would fall if the PD votes to eject Berlusconi from the Senate.
One of the media magnate-turned poltician’s closest aides reiterated that the government will collapse if the PD votes to have the ex-premier stripped of his Senate seat after a tax-fraud conviction. “If the PD does not do its duty to take an in-depth look at the judicial questions and declares that Berlusconi should be stripped of his seat, the government is over,” said Francesco Nitto Palma, a senior member of the PdL, which has been in a fragile government alliance with long-term foe the PD to end a two-month post-election stalemate in April.
Nitto Palma is also chair of the Senate justice committee.
Berlusconi risks losing his parliamentary seat under the terms of an anti-corruption law approved in 2012, which bans anyone with a conviction like the three-time premier’s from holding office for six years. The PdL claims the law is being applied retroactively in Berlusconi’s case, although it became effective before his definitive four-year conviction for fraud on film rights for his Mediaset empire on August 1.
The PdL says the offences for which Berlusconi was convicted took place before the law was passed, and so it is being applied retroactively, which they say is against the Italian Constitution.
The PD has dismissed arguments from jurists sympathetic to the PD as “quibbling” and says the law must be applied to Berlusconi as it would be to anyone else.
A Senate panel will start examining the case Monday and is expected to reach its conclusions soon, unless an appeal by Berlusconi to the Constitutional Court is admitted. A full Senate vote is required to make the ban effective but the PdL says it will not come to that if the PD votes against Berlusconi on the panel, because it would immediately pull out of the unprecedented left-right coalition.
PdL Senate Whip Renato Schifani said he could “see the moment of crisis approaching”.
He scoffed at the notion the PD could form a new coalition with parts of comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) but added that if a “wonky, patched-together and contradictory” alliance was set up, it would not be able to pass key reforms and the PdL would be in “staunch” opposition.
The Pdl would prefer another election instead of that scenario, Schifani said, even with an electoral law widely blamed for February’s inconclusive result, which Letta’s government had pledged to reform.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was reported to have said late Thursday he hoped a government crisis would be averted.
The government, in whose formation Napolitano played a key role, has had the president’s unwavering support, presidential sources said.
Napolitano was reported to have said he “trusted” Berlusconi not to sink the government. Presidential sources said Napolitano is not weighing what to do in the event of a crisis because Berlusconi has stated he will continue to back the government.
A crisis would bring “very grave risks” for Italy, which is struggling to emerge from a vicious recession and needs deep reforms, Napolitano was reported to have said.
The PD said it would be “a crime” to scupper the government amid efforts to boost the economy and just after a hard-won agreement to scrap an unpopular property tax, whose abolition was Berlusconi’s election rallying call. Premier Letta said he was not thinking about a looming crisis but concentrating on the goals to be met at the G20 summit he is attending in St Petersburg.
“I would hurt Italy if I got distracted from these goals,” Letta said.
But he acknowledged that a crisis would “return Italy to the dock” of countries having to defend themselves against financial speculation, reviving fears that forced Berlusconi from office in late 2011. The Mediaset conviction, Berlusconi’s first definitive verdict in 20 years of battling magistrates he says are left-wing, is not the only case pending against him.
He is appealing a seven-year sentence for paying an underage prostitute for sex and a one-year term for involvement in the publication of an illegally obtained wiretap involving a bank takeover and a previous centre-left leader.
Berlusconi is not in danger of actually going to prison, as he is over 70 and will be given the option of serving the remaining year of the Mediaset sentence — cut from four by an intervening amnesty — under house arrest or doing community service.
He has refused to serve it in either form and is busy revamping the PdL to relaunch it under its initial name, Forza Italia.
A Palermo appeals court on Thursday issued its explanation for a March verdict for Mafia association by a former close aide of Berlusconi’s, ex-Senator Marcello Dell’Utri.
Dell’Utri sealed “a pact of protection” with Cosa Nostra for Berlusconi at a meeting in May 1974, according to the explanation of the seven-year sentence.
That meeting “formed the genesis of the relationship that linked the businessman (Berlusconi) and the Mafia with Dell’Utri’s mediation”.
Dell’Utri, 71, is appealing against the conviction to the supreme Court of Cassation. In Italy convictions are not considered definitive until the two-tier appeals process has been exhausted.
The March verdict was the result of a retrial after the Cassation said Dell’Utri’s legal rights were not respected in the previous appeal.
The court ruling said Dell’Utri was the intermediary with Cosa Nostra for the ex-premier, handing on “substantial sums” of money for protection.
The explanation also reiterated that Berlusconi had hired an alleged stable manager, the late Mafia member Vittorio Mangano, not for his knowledge of horses but to provide protection.
Former Senator Dell’Utri is the former head of the media magnate’s advertising arm who is credited with creating the three-time premier’s first party, Forza Italia, in 1993, six months before it swept to victory in general elections.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi’s PDL Party Holds Steady at 27.9% Voter Support
SWG survey says PD gained 2 points, but PdL still leads
(ANSA) — Rome, September 6 — Italian voter support for Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom Party (PdL) remained stable compared to a week ago at 27.9%, a survey conducted by the polling company SWG for broadcaster RAI 3 revealed on Friday.
The PdL remains the most popular political party in Italy, although the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) gained two points to reach endorsement by 26% of those surveyed.
The anti-establishment Five-Star Movement, led by ex-comedian Beppe Grillo, slipped 0.3% in the last seven days to 19.8%.
The left-wing Freedom Ecology Left (SEL) party, PD ally across the country but not in government, led by Puglia governor Nichi Vendola, was supported by 5.6% of those polled, down one percentage point.
The PdL’s ally, the anti-immigrant, federalist Northern League party, lost 0.4% of its support, garnering 4.7% in the SWG survey.
Support for ex-premier Mario Monti’s Scelta Civica (Civic Choice) party came in at 3.9%, a loss of 0.6%.
The Communist Refoundation party was supported by 1.6%, sinking 0.3%.
The SWG political survey was conducted exclusively for the television programme Agora’ Estate on RAI 3.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Divided Over Berlusconi Politics Ban
Italy’s fragile coalition government faces rising tensions but may survive, experts said, as a parliamentary committee prepared to start meetings Monday on expelling Silvio Berlusconi from the Senate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Spots Virgin Mary in Wall Damp Patch
Luigi De Ianni was chatting on his mobile phone in his back garden in Benveneto, Campania, when he saw what he believes to be an image of the Virgin Mary, the 22-year-old told The Local.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Genetically Modified Insects Set for Release
Just when you thought genetically modified mosquitoes and mutated dinner entrees were the extent of biotech’s hunger to manipulate the genetic coding of the planet, scientists have now unleashed a plan to launch thousands of ‘frankenfly’ style insects into the wild in order to combat pests.
And just like we saw with the release of genetically modified mosquitoes, the altered insects are actually being pushed as a ‘green alternative’ to the use of chemicals. You see, British scientists claim that mutating the genetic code of the insects is actually a way of substituting for the use of chemical pesticides. Chemical pesticides used to lower the population of olive flies in Britain. The reality here, however, is that you are taking something damaging like chemical pesticides and replacing it with something far worse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Rejects ‘Small Island’ Jibe
British leader Cameron in St Petersburg Friday rejected the idea, reportedly uttered by a Russian official, that Britain is “a small island which nobody listens to.” He said: “Britain may be a small island, but I would challenge anyone to find a country with a prouder history, a bigger heart.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MP Blames Van Ads for Attack on Mosques
The Government’s “go home” vans have been blamed for a racist attack on a Northamptonshire mosque by a local MP. Labour MP for Corby Andy Sawford said he was “appalled” to see a mosque was targeted shortly after the Home Office’s controversial vans toured the country. He said during an urgent question on border controls: “When I visited a week after the Home Office’s racist go home vans had been touring English cities — (at) the mosque in Corby I was appalled to find the words in very large letters ‘go home’ outside the mosque.”
Mr Sawford suggested the culprits were motivated by the vehicles. “That act was the act of a tiny minority of the people in my community spurred on by this Government’s racist attack on the people of this country,” he said.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper disagreed with Mr Sawford’s description of the vans. “I simply don’t agree with you and, actually, if the polling is to be believed neither do the British people,” said Mr Harper. “Most people in this country do not agree with the characterisation of our pilot: asking people who have no rights to be in the country — it was aimed at people who have no right to be here, not British citizens, not people who are here lawfully — very clearly aimed at people here illegally asking them to leave the country.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Poor White Children Fall Further Behind: Benefits Culture is Blamed for Failures at School
Pupils from poor white families are falling further behind boys and girls from ethnic minorities in their schooling, a think tank claimed yesterday.
It said the performance of white British boys from the poorest families — already the lowest achievers — has slipped further over the past five years.
They are now half as likely as boys from impoverished Chinese or Indian families to get good qualifications and far less likely to succeed than boys from the worst-off black Caribbean or African families.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This is the moment social services took a baby away from its parents when it was just six hours old.
The infant at the centre of the Munby judgment, known only as J, was removed from its parents after his birth in April.
The father secretly filmed the seizure on a webcam attached to the family computer.
The parents said social workers removed their baby because they decided their mother was incapable of bringing them up because of her learning disability.
The video shows the father holding the newborn infant at their home when social workers and police come to take it away.
In the video, the mother is clearly distraught and holds onto her baby and rocks it as her husband remonstrates with officers and council staff.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist Takeover of Town in Egypt Leaves Christians in Fear
The Coptic Orthodox priest would only talk to his visitor after hiding from the watchful eyes of the bearded Muslim outside, who sported a pistol bulging from under his robe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rep. Jeff Duncan: Kerry ‘Hostile’ When Asked of Syria Link to Benghazi
At Wednesday’s House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) pressed Secretary of State John Kerry on America’s potential military intervention in Syria — especially what he considers its ties to 2012’s Benghazi terrorist attack.
Duncan opened his line of questioning by accusing President Barack Obama’s administration of having “a serious credibility issue,” referencing scandals like Benghazi, Operation Fast and Furious — in which Obama has asserted executive privilege over documents to keep them from Congress — the IRS scandal, the NSA scandal, and the scandal surrounding surveillance of journalists from Associated Press and Fox News reporter James Rosen.
“I’m upset because from now on, I can’t believe you,” Duncan said in opening his line of questioning of Kerry. “These issues call into question the accountability of this administration, its commitment to the personnel on the ground, and the judgment that it uses when making these determinations.”
Duncan held up a photo of former Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, who was murdered in Benghazi almost a year ago along with Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The representative posed a couple questions to Kerry about the ties between the Benghazi scandal and the situation in Syria. Duncan also pointed out Kerry’s traditional history of caution before heading into any armed conflict.
“The reason that I say Benghazi is germane to our discussion on Syria is this: Secretary Kerry, have there been any efforts on the part of the United States directly or indirectly to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels? That would also include facilitating the transfer of weapons from Libyan rebels to Syrian rebels,” he asked.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mark Twain reputedly quipped that, although History does not repeat itself, it often rhymes. Such is surely the situation today. Everything that transpires within the Disgrace of Columbia seems in an uncanny manner to echo what transpired during the late 1930s — albeit in Germany, not the United States.
In particular, Americans are now confronted with the possibility that Mr. Obama, as the putative “President of the United States” and “Commander in Chief”, may seek the authorization or other approval of Congress for an order directing American Armed Forces to launch some kind of attack against Syria — but also that, based upon his supposedly inherent and independent “war powers” as “Commander in Chief”, he may order such an attack, whether Congress approves or not, or even if Congress specifically disapproves.
To describe Mr. Obama’s position as “absurd” would be to exercise the greatest excess of Christian charity. For it does not rise to the level of absurdity. To demonstrate this, one need merely ask, “To exactly what ‘war powers’ independent of Congress does Mr. Obama refer?” As usual in such inquiries, the answer is to be found in the Constitution…
Thus, rather than constituting some all-embracing authority that elevates the President to the level of a Führer over the United States as a whole, but absolves him of responsibility to anyone other than himself — and overall renders somehow irrelevant Congress’s powers “[t]o declare War” and so on — the office of “Commander in Chief” amounts to merely the thinnest residue of the prerogatives the British King enjoyed:
- The President is “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States”[10] — but is always subject to the power of Congress “[t]o make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces”.[11] (And Congress, of course, can make no such “Rules” that violate the Constitution.)
- The President is “Commander in Chief * * * of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States”[12] — but is always subject to the power of Congress “[t]o provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States”.[13] And the President may take up his authority with respect to the Militia (such as it may be) only after Congress has exercised its power “[t]o provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions”, [14] and only on the terms which Congress sets out in its exercise of that power.
[Comment: Two part article; well worth reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is planning to launch a major lobbying campaign to push wayward lawmakers to back the resolution authorizing U.S. strikes against Syria, sources said Thursday.
Officials say that some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists will storm the halls on Capitol Hill beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that Congress must adopt the resolution or risk emboldening Iran’s efforts to build a nuclear weapon. They are expected to lobby virtually every member of Congress, arguing that “barbarism” by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated, and that failing to act would “send a message” to Tehran that the U.S. won’t stand up to hostile countries’ efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, according to a source with the group.
“History tells us that ambiguity [in U.S. actions] invites aggression,” said the AIPAC source who asked not to be named. The source added the group will now be engaged in a “major mobilization” over the issue…
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron today announced an additional £52 million in UK aid for victims of the civil war in Syria, as the G20 summit in St Petersburg saw stark division over the international response to allegations of chemical weapons use by the regime of President Bashar Assad.
The US and France are so far the only nations attending the G20 to have backed the use of military force against the Assad regime, with Russia and China insisting that any action in the absence of UN Security Council approval would be illegal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Sends Warships to Coast of Syria
China has reportedly sent warships to the coast of Syria to “observe” the actions of US and Russian ships as tensions build in preparation for a potential military strike on Syria which could come as soon as next week.
According to the report, the ship has not been sent to engage in any aggressive actions but is merely there to “observe” the actions of Russian and US warships. However, the Jinggangshan is equipped for combat, has conventional armaments and secondary cannons, and was utilized as part of a “show of force” in maneuvers aimed at defending the South China Sea earlier this year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Secret Service Has No ‘Hard Evidence’ About Syria Gas Attack
Dutch security officials have no hard evidence the Assad regime in Syria carried out a poison gas attack on Damascus last month, MPs leaving a special briefing on Wednesday told reporters. The two Dutch security services have analysed all the information presented by the US and briefed the various party’s foreign affairs spokesmen. The contents of the briefing are secret, Nos television reported. ‘I am not allowed to say anything, but I am still not convinced,’ ChristenUnie MP Joel Voordewinde told the Nos. Socialist MP Harry van Bommel said he had not heard anything new.
Lessons
Foreign minister Frans Timmermans has said repeatedly the Netherlands must draw its own conclusions about what happened in Syria. ‘The past has taught us that we must not automatically accept what other countries tell us,’ the minister is quoted as saying. The minister was referring to claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction made in 2003. They later turned out not to be true. A final effort first has to be made to persuade the UN security council to take action against Syria, Timmermans said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Erdogan: Almost All G20 Leaders Are for Strike on Syria
(AGI) St. Petersburg, Sept 6 — Almost all the G20 leaders are in favour of a military intervention in Syria, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a press conference at the end of the summit.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
G20: ‘Syria: Europeans Abandon Hollande’
Le Figaro, 6 September 2013
“The European Union, which is a full member of the G20, has abandoned France in the middle of nowhere, leaving François Hollande more isolated than ever,” remarks Le Figaro in the wake of the opening of the G20, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg.
Speaking on behalf of the EU on September 5, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Commission President José Manuel Barroso both rejected the use of force in Syria, and called for a diplomatic solution within the framework of the United Nations: a position already supported by Germany.
In its editorial, the French daily argues that —
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Premier Urges Obama to Avoid Syria Military Strike
Letta tells US president to seek UN political response
(ANSA) — St. Petersburg, September 6 — Italian Premier Enrico Letta urged US President Barack Obama to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis at the G20 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Italian premier insisted there was still maneuvering room for action through United Nations in a bilateral meeting with the US president, Italian government sources told ANSA.
The US president is pushing for a military strike on Syria after hundreds of deaths and thousands of illnesses pointed to an apparent use of chemical weapons, which the US retains were deployed by Bashar Assad’s military forces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Propaganda War Against Iran Begins Ahead of Syria Attack
The establishment media is now targeting Iran, claiming the Islamic Republic will engage in acts of terrorism after the United States attacks Syria.
The Daily Mail and other corporate news outlets are quoting Alireza Forghani, the former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province, as stating there will be mass kidnapping, amputations and murders if the U.S. attacks Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Putin: Kerry’s Lies ‘Pathetic’
On the eve of the G-20 Leaders’ Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin had some harsh words regarding U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s campaign for Syrian intervention.
“We talk with these people. We assume that they are decent. But he lies,” Putin said of Kerry’s drive to go to war, according to Time Magazine. “And he knows that he lies. That’s pathetic.”…
According to Time, Putin also took issue with Kerry’s denial that Al-Qaeda forces were infiltrating ranks in the Free Syrian Army, a fact that Infowars and others have consistently driven home.
“They lie beautifully, of course. I saw debates in Congress. A congressman asks Mr Kerry: ‘Is al Qaeda there?’ He says: ‘No, I am telling you responsibly that it is not’,” Putin said, according to a Reuters report covering a meeting of Russia’s Presidential Council of Human Rights.
“Al Qaeda units are the main military echelon, and they know this,” Putin stated. “It was unpleasant and surprising for me — we talk to them, we proceed from the assumption that they are decent people. But he is lying and knows he is lying. It’s sad.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: US Strike on Syria to be ‘Significantly Larger Than Expected’
ABC News reports the US is planning a strike that includes an aerial campaign of missiles, long range bombs from B2, B52 bombers, in addition to a salvo of 200 Tomahawk missiles from Navy destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Says It’s Sending Warships to Med for Evacuations From Syria
Flagship of the Baltic Fleet on its way toward Syria
Following several reports of Russia sending warships to the Mediterranean Sea over the past week, The Kremlin’s chief of staff has officially told reporters that the intention is to prepare to evacuate Russian citizens from Syria.
AP reports that Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted senior official Sergei Ivanov as saying that Russia is upping a naval presence in the region to “primarily” be prepared to rescue Russians should a US military bombardment take place.
Yesterday it was reported that Russia is sending three more ships to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster its fleet. The additional deployments include two destroyers, one of which is the flagship of the Baltic Fleet, as well as another missile cruiser.
The information came via a Interfax report that cited an unidentified Russian Navy official, who also admitted that the ships would improve Russian surveillance capability over U.S. ships and submarines deployed in the area.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Warns of Nuke Disaster if Syria Attacked
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, has issued a statement warning that a military strike on Syria by the United States will result in a nuclear disaster.
Lukashevich said a miniature reactor near Damascus and other nuclear facilities pose a threat of radioactive contamination if attacked. “The consequences could be catastrophic,” he said.
The attack, now under consideration in Congress, “might affect targets sensitive in terms of nuclear security and nuclear non-proliferation,” including the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) near Damascus, Lukashevich said in a statement, according to RIA Novosti.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sen Graham Warns of Nuke Strike After Missing Warheads Report
Senator Lindsay Graham has warned South Carolinians about the threat of a ‘terrorist nuclear attack’ on the same day that our exclusive high level military intel revealed to us that nuclear warheads were being shipped to South Carolina from a major Texas airforce base under an ‘off the record’ black ops transfer.
Found in the CBS report entitled ‘Graham: Nukes In Hands Of Terrorists Could Result In Bomb Coming To Charleston Harbor’, the report details Graham’s warning that a lack of military action in Syria could result in a nuclear ‘bombing’ in Charleston, South Carolina — the very destination of the black ops nuclear transfer. The CBS report reads:
“He [Graham] says if there is no U.S. response [to Syria], Iran will not believe America’s resolve to block Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Graham also says those nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists could result in a bomb coming to Charleston Harbor.”
Graham is quite literally saying that if we do not launch a war with Syria, South Carolina may be nuked. And this ultimately reeks of yet another false flag being orchestrated by the United States government in order to send us into war, or at the very least a threat. Except this time, we’re talking about nuclear weapons. Amazingly, we were the first to get intel on this from our credible and extremely high level military source, who told us the following:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: * Disturbing Content.* ]
Video footage has emerged which shows the moment seven of President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian soldiers are executed on camera by rebels fighting to overthrow the regime.
The soldiers are stripped, bound and pushed to the ground where a number of rebels stand over them pointing guns at their bodies. Some bear vicious injuries on their backs and arms.
Just before they are killed, the ring-leader Abdul Samad Issa — known as ‘The Uncle’, recites a poem before he fires the first bullet.
‘For fifty years, they are companions to corruption’, he says. ‘We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.’
The horrific scene filmed in April 2012 was documented in a video smuggled out of Syria only a few days ago by a former rebel who says he had become horrified by the brutality of the tactics his one-time comrades are using. He gave the footage to The New York Times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Maaloula: Christians Flee Village Where People Still Speak the Language of Jesus
A village priest tells AsiaNews about the mayhem caused ​​by Islamists. Of the more than 3,000 residents, only a few hundred remain in the village. By destroying “the cross, they want to send a clear message: it is now the turn of the Christians. Now anything can happen
Maaloula (AsiaNews) — Maaloula, the only village in the world where Aramaic from the time of Jesus is still spoken, is now deserted after an attack by Islamic extremists, who in recent days have started to destroy the village on behalf of the Free Syrian Army. Of the approximately 3 thousand residents, a few hundred have remained to guard their homes.
“This morning, the terrorists destroyed the crosses on the dome of the monastery of St Sergius,” a local priest told AsiaNews on condition of anonymity (for security reasons). “Their act is a declaration of war against the Christian community. By removing the cross, they want to send a clear message: it is now the turn of the Christians. Now anything can happen.”
The priest said that the rebels had been near the village for more than seven months, but only now started the war against the Christians (video)..
“Last night,” he said, “they tried to invade the village’s neighborhoods, but withdrew. Our young people defended the houses but they are for peace, they are not warriors. Everyone is fleeing from Maaloula, because we can no longer live here. “
The priest slammed the Free Syrian Army, which has always denied links with al- Qaeda, for posting a video on YouTube showing militias defending the churches and Christians, pure propaganda in his view.
“The Free Army is free in name only. In fact, it has been a threat to Christians for a long time, saying repeatedly that sooner or later our turn would come.”
What hurts the most, the priest said, is the presence of some Muslims from the village in the ranks of the Islamists.
“So far, most Muslims are with the Christians,” he explained. “The sheikh condemned the attack saying that what is happening is against Islam: ‘Violence cannot be carried out either in the name of Allah or Muhammad,’ he said. Unfortunately, these fighters do not respect local Muslim leaders, who, like us, are powerless in the face of all this hate. “
Classified as a UNESCO heritage site, Maaloula is located some 40 km north of Damascus. The village is famous throughout the world as one of the symbols of Christianity in the Middle East.
It is home to the monastery of St Taqla (Thecla), inhabited by Orthodox nuns, and the convent of Mar Sarkis (St Sergius) run by Greek Catholic (Melkite) priests.
For centuries, both have been a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims.
Considered a symbol of religious coexistence, the village is the only place in the world where Aramaic is still spoken. (S.C.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: US-Russia Military Escalation in Eastern Med
Another 10 warships joining those already deployed near Syria
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, SEPTEMBER 6 — As diplomatic tensions over the Syrian crisis rise between the US and Russia, the escalation between the two superpowers is also playing out in terms of their respective warships in the waters off the embattled Arab nation ahead of a possible strike against the Damascus regime.
While there were 19 warships in the eastern Mediterranean just a few days ago — eight American, five Russian, five British and one French — that sector is about to get much more crowded in the next few hours with the arrival of four US ships, including an aircraft carrier, and six Russian ones.
THE US’ nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is in the Red Sea along with four ships from its strike group: the Princeton cruiser plus the William P. Lawrence, Stockdale and Shoup destroyers. They are awaiting orders to enter the Mediterranean in case of a strike. The USS Nimitz has 3,200 seamen, 2,480 pilots and 90 aircraft, both warplanes and helicopters.
The USS Princeton carries 390 troops and is armed with Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles, while the other three ships have 380 crew and marines on board and are packing Tomahawk missiles.
This group has joined five missile-equipped destroyers already in the area: the USS Stout, Mahan, Ramage, Barry and Graveley, each with 280 troops on board. They can intercept ballistic missiles and launch Tomahawk missiles, and will team up with two nuclear-propelled guided-missile submarines, the USS Florida and Georgia, each with a crew of 140. These are ported at the Souda Bay naval base on the Greek island of Crete, along with the USS San Antonio, an amphibious landing ship carrying 700 seamen and 360 Marines.
RUSSIA has deployed four large but aging landing ships: the Kaliningrad, the Shabalin, the Saratov and the Avoz. Each with a crew of 90-100, they can transport up to 200 tanks and 350 soldiers, and are equipped with surface-to-air missiles. Also in the area is the Smetlivy submarine destroyer, which hails from 1967 and has a crew of 300. It is armed with Uran anti-ship missiles and is transporting an anti-submarine Kamov Ka-25 helicopter. They will be backed up within days by an anti-submarine destroyer (probably the Admiral Chabanenko) and the Moskva guided missile cruiser. The Admiral Chabanenko (manned by 300) is armed with SS-N-14 Silex anti-submarine missiles and SA-N-9 Gauntlet surface-to-air missiles.
The Moskva (500 men) is equipped with 8X8 S-300 PMU Favorit missile launchers, which can intercept cruise and anti-ship missiles. It is also packing 16 P-500 Bazalt anti-ship missiles, each with a range of over 500 kilometers. Three Russian amphibious assault ships yesterday crossed from the Black Sea into the Bosphorus Strait: the intelligence and reconnaissance ship Priazovye with 140 men on board, and two landing ships, the Novocherkassk and the Minsk, each with a crew of 90 and capable of transporting up to 10 tanks and 340 soldiers. Also on Friday, Russia’s large landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov left Sevastopol for Novorossiysk, from where it will depart for the coast of Syria.
THE UK’s Royal Navy has deployed the Illustrious helicopter carrier (685 men), the Bulwark landing ship (325 men) and two frigates, the Montrose and the Westminster (185 men each, armed with Harpoon and Sea Wolf missiles). They are supported by a submarine which is almost certainly the Tireless, with 130 men and armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
FRANCE’s ultra modern anti-aircraft Chevalier Paul frigate is also deployed off the Syrian coast. Carrying 200 men, it is armed with 32 Aster-30 long-range missiles, 16 Aster-15 mid-range missiles and eight MM 40 Exocet Block III anti-ship missiles, guided by a powerful three-dimensional radar that can frame targets over 200 kilometers away.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Backlash to Sen. Graham’s “Nuke Threat” Spreads as Opposition to War Goes Viral
In yet another example of the emerging power of alternative media, Americans are openly rejecting Sen. Lindsey Graham’s “us vs. them” rhetoric that if the U.S. doesn’t attack Syria, terrorists could nuke South Carolina.
Many of the article’s commenters have openly called out Graham for “fear mongering” and linked his statements directly to our report, with some even suggesting that a false flag could be in the making:
These comments showcase the devastating effect that the alternative media, such as the Drudge Report, Natural News, and World Net Daily, is having on the government’s ability to control the news in order to influence the viewpoints of Americans.
No longer is the public lining up front and center behind the “official stories” promoted by politicians which trend away from the truth.
Instead, they are starting to think for themselves and, as Benjamin Franklin so eloquently put it centuries ago, “it is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top Chemical Weapons Expert Highly Skeptical of U.S. Case Against Syrian Government
Jean Pascal Zanders is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s top chemical weapons experts, having been quoted in the last two weeks about Syrian chemical weapons by McClatchy, Time, theLos Angeles Times, Post-Gazette, Huffington Post, Der Spiegel, Agence France-Presse, Global Post, theTelegraph, and many other publications.
We interviewed Zanders by phone.
Q: You were quoted in the Huffington Post on August 30th as saying that the Youtube videos cited by the American government were not conclusive, as you couldn’t tell where or when the videos were taken … or even whether they were from the same incident or different incidents.
Do you still hold that view, or have you seen other videos that change your mind?
Zanders: No, I have not changed my mind. The general observation still stands, and it will stand until we have the actual report from the U.N. investigation.
I do not deny that a chemical with toxic chemicals has taken place. But I am just as concerned about how people are interpreting things in terms of a particular goal … which in this case is military intervention.
Living in a democracy we have the rule of of law, and we collect and analyze a variety of evidence collected at certain scenes before passing any kind of final judgment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Transatlantic Deal to Cost Turkey USD 20 Bln, Study
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, SEPTEMBER 5 — A transatlantic free deal trade currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States could cause the Turkish economy to lose USD 20 billion if Turkey is left out of a final agreement, daily Hurriyet reported quoting an analysis prepared by the U.S.
Brookings Institute and the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD). The EU and the U.S. kicked off the talks to initiate a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in July. Since the potential partnership would force Turkey to open up its market to export goods from the U.S without being granted reciprocal preferential access for Turkish goods, the Turkish government and business leaders have been advocating that Ankara be included as well. Turkey, which will be one of the main losers in the U.S.-EU trade alliance, should engage in a parallel deal with the U.S., Kemal Kirisci, the author of the study, said in research published by the Brookings Institute and the TUSIAD. The research demonstrates that Turkey’s potential income loss would be 2.5%, which would amount roughly to a USD 20 billion loss based on Turkey’s GDP last year. “One immediate consequence that would be expected is that the current USD 8.5 billion deficit that Turkey had in its trade with the U.S. in 2012 would most probably grow,” the study said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: ‘Erdogan Not a Man of His Word’, PKK Halts Retreat
Turkish government did not respect September 1 deadline
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, SEPTEMBER 5 — Accusing Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan of not honoring his agreements, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Cemil Bayik announced Thursday that Kurdish rebels have suspended their retreat from Turkey to northern Iraq, local media reported.
Kurdish rebels began retreating in April as part of a negotiated deal with Turkey, which had agreed to enact far-reaching political, cultural and constitutional reforms in their favor by September 1.
“The Turkish government has still not acted. This proves they are not looking for a solution. We are interrupting the retreat,” Bayik said, adding he has been “tricked”. Such reforms were to be a first step in ending the conflict, which has killed 30,000 people in 30 years, most of them Kurdish.
Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, held in the Imrali island prison, has been negotiating for a political solution to the conflict with the Turkish government since the end of 2012.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish Police Shoot Teargas on University Students
(AGI) Ankara — Turkish police fired tear gas at university students protesting in Ankara .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Obama-Backed Rebels Seize Bibles, Food Aid
A new video out of Syria shows piles of bibles and food aid seized by opposition rebels, another reminder that militants who are being supported by the Obama administration are hostile to the country’s Christian community.
The clip shows a member of a militant group that has been responsible for terrorist attacks and other atrocities picking up the bibles which are translated into Arabic before stating, “A large quantity of evangelization and christianization books have fallen into the hands of the Mujahideen of the Islamic State [of Iraq and Syria]… The Holy Bible.”
The sign at the top left of the video frame reads, “There are things even more dangerous than chemical weapons — beware the preaching campaigns.”
Increasing hostility and brutality on behalf of the western-backed rebels towards Syria’s Christian population has caused outrage, perhaps peaking earlier this week when reports emerged of Al-Qaeda-linked rebels attacking the ancient Christian village of Maaloula, where residents still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Syrian Rebel Admits Using Chemical Weapons
“We’ll kill their women and children like Osama Bin Laden said”
A video has emerged of an opposition rebel militant in Syria apparently confessing to using chemical weapons in order to follow Osama Bin Laden’s mantra of killing women and children.
The individual in the clip, Nadeem Baloosh, is a member of an insurgent group called Riyadh Al Abdeen, which is active in the Latakia area of Syria.
Baloosh speaks of “chemicals which produce lethal and deadly gases that I possess,” before going on to state, “We decided to harm them through their women and kids.”
Baloosh ponders if it is acceptable to harm women and children before quoting the Koran, “Fight them as they fight you. “ He goes on to quote Osama Bin Laden (whom other rebel groups have openly praised).
“We’ll kill their women and children like Sheikh Osama Bin Laden said — “until they cease killing our women and kids,” he states.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
War in Syria to Cause Financial Market Instability, Letta
(AGI) St. Petersburg, Sept 5 — A war in Syria would create volatility and instability in financial markets, Italy’s Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Thursday ahead of the G20 summit.
“This is something we cannot afford. This is why I think the consequences are not only political but also financial,” Mr Letta said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
War on Syria Means Victory for Al Qaeda
President Obama’s proposed military strike means, practically speaking, that the U.S. will intervene on behalf of al Qaeda in Syria. Why is this dangerous proposal being taken seriously by Congress?
If the proposal were somehow designed to save the Christians and other minorities in Syria, that would be one thing. But there has been no announced intention to do that. In fact, as we have argued, the proposed strike on the Syrian regime puts Christians at more risk of genocide. Obama’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt demonstrates that he has no regard for the rights of Christians in the Middle East.
But the proposal goes forward in Congress because very few Republicans are willing to stand up to media-hungry politicians such as Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a war hero from Vietnam who assumes the high ground in any military crisis or conflict.
McCain, however, said something the other day on Fox News that, in the words of “Jihad Watch” director Robert Spencer, demonstrates his “appalling ignorance” on Middle East matters.This wasn’t just a gaffe but a deliberate comment. More than that, it demonstrate show the media shower McCain with praise and respect when none is deserved.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Obama, Biden Did After ‘Strike Syria’ Speech Even Disgusts Media
Apparently there is no crisis, no threat to national security — nothing — that will stop President Obama from playing golf.
Four American diplomats slaughtered in Benghazi? He played golf. A terrorist attack in Boston that killed four, including a young child? He still played golf. Holy hell reigning down in Egypt? A vacation to Martha’s Vineyard to play lots of golf.
And on Saturday, literally within minutes of announcing he had decided the U.S. should engage in a military strike in Syria and asked Congress to approve that strike, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden hightailed it out of the Rose Garden to, yes, go play golf.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House Lobbied 185 Lawmakers to Back Syria Strike
Top administration officials — including President Obama himself — have now reached out to 185 lawmakers as part of the White House effort to win congressional support for a military strike against Syria, according to a White House official.
The official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke on condition of anonymity, said senior White House officials have held meetings or taken part in calls with 60 senators and 125 House members as part of their outreach effort on Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Noted Indian Writer Killed: She Denounced the Horrors of the Taliban
Sushmita Banerjee, 49, was well-known for her memoir about her escape from Islamic extremist in 1995. Married to an Afghan businessman, after years of self-exile she returned to Afghanistan to live with her husband. The militants executed her in front of her house.
Kabul (AsiaNews) — Sushmita Banerjee, Indian woman who wrote a popular memoir about her escape from the Taliban, has been killed yesterday in Afghanistan by Islamic extremist. The woman, 49, has been shot dead outside her home in Kharana (Paktika province). No group claimed responsibility for the attack. However, according to preliminary reports Taliban militants arrived at her home, tied up her husband and other members of the family, took Ms. Banerjee out and shot her, police said. Afterwards, the militants dumped her body near a religious school.
The diarist was married to Afghan businessman Jaanbaz Khan, whom she met in Calcutta. A senior police official told that Ms. Banerjee, who was also known as Sayed Kamala, was working as a health worker in the province and had been filming the lives of local women as part of her work.
She became well-known in India for her memoir, A Kabuliwala’s Bengali Wife, which recounted her life in Afghanistan with her husband and her escape from Talibans in 1195. In 2003 the book was the subject of the Bollywood film “Escape from Taliban”.
Ms. Banerjee went to Afghanistan in 1989 after her wedding. She wrote that life was “tolerable” until the Taliban crackdown in 1993, when the militants ordered her to close a dispensary she was running from her house and branded her “a woman of poor morals”. In early 1994 she tried to escape a first time, but her brothers-in-law tracked her down in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, where she had arrived to seek assistance from the Indian embassy. They took her back to Afghanistan, where is kept under house arrest and branded as “immoral woman”.
It was shortly after that that she tried to escape again. One night, she made a tunnel through the mud walls of the house and fled. Close to Kabul, she was arrested. A 15-member group of the Taliban interrogated her and many of them said that since she had fled her husband’s home,she should be executed. She was able to convince them that since she was an Indian, she had every right to go back to my country.
Next morning she was taken to the Indian embassy from where she could go back in Calcutta, where she was re-united with her husband. (NC)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Taliban Murder Author of Book About Her Escape From the Taliban
KABUL Suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan on Thursday shot dead an Indian woman whose memoir about marrying an Afghan and life under the Islamist militia was made into a Bollywood movie, officials said.
The killing of Sushmita Banerjee was the latest in a string of attacks on prominent women in Afghanistan, adding to fears women’s rights in a country where many are barely allowed outside the house will recede even more after U.S.-led foreign forces fully withdraw in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Suspected of Killings in Maidiguri
(AGI) Maidiguri — Boko Haram is suspected of killing 20 people in the villages surrounding Maidiguri in Nigeria ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain Backs Argentina in Falklands Dispute
Spain has offered Argentina its support in seeking to win control of the Falklands from Britain, likening the dispute to his own country’s conflict with London over Gibraltar.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Administration Rebrands Controversial Immigration Post to Skirt Funding Cut-Off
The Obama administration is being accused of trying to pull a fast one on lawmakers by re-branding a controversial immigration job — a “public advocate” for both legal and illegal immigrants — after Congress explicitly voted to defund it.
The administration over the summer quietly changed the name of the position, first created in February 2012, from “public advocate” to deputy assistant director of “Custody Programs and Community Outreach.” It was a change in name only. The administration kept the person in charge and the job description the same.
By doing so, the White House has been able to keep the post off the congressional chopping block — a move Judicial Watch called “sneaky” in a recent report.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 47 Asylum Seekers Picked Up in Puglia
Crossings from Africa continue
(ANSA) — Lecce, September 6 — Italian police on Friday picked up 47 asylum seekers in Puglia including two children and five women.
They are believed to have crossed from North Africa.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Will Take in 16,000 Asylum Seekers, Says Alfano
(AGI) Siracusa — Interior Minister Alfano told Sicilians that Italy will accept 16,000 asylum seekers .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Coming Flood of Syrian Refugees to Sweden
By Bruce Bawer
Another week, another jaw-dropping development in Sweden. A couple of weeks ago it was the cockamamie “hijab solidarity” campaign, in which non-Muslim women all over the country donned head coverings in tribute to a Muslim woman who claimed a man had yanked hers off.
This week, the eyebrow-raising news is that Sweden is offering instant permanent residency to any and all Syrian refugees who apply. These newly minted residents, moreover, will be entitled to bring over their spouses and kids. The reasoning behind this new policy is that the situation in Syria is extremely dangerous right now and not likely to improve anytime soon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Usual Suspects: Hamburg Police Accused of Racial Profiling
Residents of an immigrant neighborhood in Hamburg recently took to the streets in protest of what they say is prejudicial policing by local authorities. Are the police guilty of racial profiling?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Union Dumps AFL-CIO for Its Positions on ObamaCare, Immigration Reform
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union has cut ties with the AFL-CIO, citing in part the private-sector union’s support for ObamaCare and immigration reform.
In an August 29 letter to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, leaders of the 40,000-member union said they have become “increasingly frustrated” with the federation’s policy positions on such matters as immigration and health care reform.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Tourism Festival Kicks Off on Capri
Rainbow event focuses on attracting LGBTs
(ANSA) — Capri, September 6 — A three-day tourism festival focusing on gays and lesbians kicked off with cocktails and a concert on the southern Italian island of Capri Friday.
“Capri Rainbow” will include tours, art shows, debates, gastronomy, and sightseeing and is expected to draw hundreds of people working in the sector.
A conference on gay tourism, including how to interest the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, is a highlight of Saturday’s program.
“Tourism is gay,” said Costanzo Sorrentino, promoter of the weekend event.
“The meeting will take stock of the LGBT tourism in the world, the needs and offerings of gay and lesbian travelers, and experiences of the tourism network”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
How State and Federal Money is “Empowering” Troubled Young Men in Dangerous Lives as “Transgenders”
This is one of the most troubling articles we’ve published. The public school programs that encourage children to experiment with cross-dressing and transgenderism are often just the beginning of a terrible journey that can lead to disease and even early death.
We have reported how the radical “LGBT youth programs” in the public schools are encouraging troubled kids to begin dressing as the opposite sex and then take on a “transgender” identity. In Massachusetts, after the Transgender Rights Law was passed the Department of Education immediately began taking steps to force public schools to officially embrace and support such behavior by kids, letting them use opposite-sex locker rooms and restrooms and changing their names on official records. At the same time, they are imposing radical diversity training on others, and intend to punish students and faculty who voice any disapproval…
In recent years, one major way that these homosexual and transgender groups attract and engage troubled youth has been through so-called “ballroom” or “ball culture” events.
They are sort of a mix of a fashion show and a free-for-all solo dance contest. There are various categories of prizes given out at these events — for costume, hair, etc. — and particularly exotic dancing (posing as the opposite sex) which is done on a runway in the middle of the crowd.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is ‘Family Guy’ Programming Young Voters to Despise Republicans?
Whittle charted the decline and fall of American values on our TV screens:
“Any audience of people that grew up with classical Superman automatically love this country, because Superman is about the best America we can be,” he said. “When Superman was all over the pop culture, we were a nation that loved this country. Now, twenty years after the peak of Superman’s popularity, along comes Gilligan’s Island. That’s pretty neutral in terms of politics…”
“But if you’re a young person out there today and you can finish the theme song from Family Guy, then all the anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian, anti-morality messages of Family Guy are in your head as completely and thoroughly as that theme song is,” Whittle said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Singer: Babies Are a Commodity, So Abortion and Infanticide Okay
Eugenics has always been about promoting desired utilitarian outcomes. The old eugenics wanted to improve the human herd through the crude manipulation of who could and should be parents. And, it also promoted the idea of infanticide — to rid the society of those who would drag it down. Margaret Sanger infamously referred to these as “the human weeds.”
The new eugenics doesn’t use such a crude lexicon, but still has the old goal of improving the human herd — as well as a new one of satisfying the personal desires of parents — through the more sophisticated weapons of genetic manipulation, eugenic abortion, and someday, infanticide. Of course, Peter Singer is very there.
He is asked with infanticide and abortion, babies are becoming a “commodity.” — From an interview of him in Salon (my emphasis throughout):
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sacrificing Military Women on the Altar of ‘Diversity’
Last January, outgoing Secretary of State Leon Panetta lifted the 1994 Combat Exclusion Rule that had prohibited women from serving in frontline combat units. This paved the way for women to join elite units such as the Army Rangers and Navy SEALs. It also does not merely lift restrictions on women’s integration in direct ground combat, but allows women to be assigned — or forced — into such situations. A compliance deadline was set for June 2016.
The need for increasing “inclusiveness” is belied by the reality that 88 percent of Navy jobs are open for women, as are 99 percent of jobs in the Air Force. And even though the goal is to open every job up to women, no matter how risky, the services were given the option of requesting an exception necessitating approval by the Secretary of Defense.
In the course of developing a timeline for total integration, the real and potentially devastating agenda behind this push was revealed. The services are developing new job-specific standards for combat units.
Those standards will be “gender neutral.”
Robert Maginnis, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and West Point graduate, cut through the political facade erected by those two words in his book, “Deadly Consequences: How Cowards Are Pushing Women into Combat.” In an interview with Time, Maginnis insisted that “Pentagon brass are kowtowing to their political masters and radical feminists to remove exemptions for women in ground combat in defiance of overwhelming scientific evidence and combat experience.“ He completely dismissed the Obama administration’s contention that they won’t lower standards to accommodate women in combat roles. As evidence, he cites the “diversity metrics” outlined in the 2011 Report of the Military Leadership Diversity Commission…
A Marine colonel revealed the sobering statistics the diversity mavens are determined to ignore, noting that “on average, women have 47% lower lifting strength, 40% lower muscle strength, 20% lower aerobic capacity (important for endurance), and 26% slower road march speed.” He further noted that “both female attrition/injury rates during entry level training and discharge (break) rates were twice those of men, and non-deployability rates were three times higher.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Students: Run From These Universities!
Dr. Walter Williams wrote about an English professor’s comment: “One of the items that I assigned was a two-page essay that described a favorite vacation or holiday. One college student turned in two pictures drawn with crayon depicting the beach. When I gave her a failing grade, she was indignant and said that she put a great deal of work into the pictures. When I told her that she did not do the assignment and that she was supposed to write an essay, she said, ‘But I don’t know what an essay is!’“ That was a college student not an elementary student!
At America’s major 55 liberal arts universities it was found that 98 percent could identify rap “artist” Snoop Doggy Dogg and Beavis and Butt-Head, but only 34 percent knew George Washington was the general at the battle of Yorktown. It’s time to arouse from sleep and get your students out of those schools before they become lazy, lobotomized losers for a lifetime.
Parents and students need to know what a college has to offer before writing that tuition check. The core subjects will usually be offered (but don’t count on it) but remember that the school is in the business of selling worthless degrees. So the courses offered will run the gamut — soup to nuts, with an emphasis on the nuts.
American universities have trashed or minimized core subjects and emphasize “Black Studies,” “Disability Studies,” “Queer Body Politics,” “Men’s Studies,” (at about 100 universities), and “Whiteness Studies.” David Horowitz says: “Black studies celebrates Blackness, Chicano studies celebrates Chicanos, Women’s studies celebrates women, and white studies attacks white people as evil.“ Are you funding that?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“I have a drone.”
@UK: Poor White Children Fall Further Behind: Benefits Culture is Blamed for Failures at School.
Thirty years of ultraliberal socioeconomic genocide against the indigenous white working class instigated by all three mainstream political parties – Conservative, Labour and Liberal.
The Multikulti project could not have been actioned without first degrading the associations and socioeconomic values of the white working class – cage a lion in a zoo and it will be welfare dependant, the entrapment is not welfare dependency it is the degrading and genocidal socioeconomic policies that are the bars of the cage.
The end result is a conditioned and debased white working class that on release from the ultraliberal “dependency” cage is then only fit for the dependency of deference and enslavement. The institution of white working class deference is the ultraliberal strategy, the red herring charge of the indigenous white working class being inherently welfare dependant is the ultraliberal warrant for their enslavement and eventual socioeconomic destruction.
@AfD (Alternative für Deutschland):
Some interesting alternative polls for AfD:
http://www.wahl-radar2013.de/ – [weekly poll] Sep 02: AfD 7.6%
http://wahl-o-meter.com/Willkommen.html – [poll based on twitter-flow] Sep 07: AfD 11%
Best of luck to AfD!