The movement to turn the Basilica of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul back into a mosque is gathering momentum once again, although it does not enjoy the support of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The basilica became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, but was converted to a museum in 1935 as part of the secularization campaign launched by Kemal Ataturk.
In other news, a Chinese couple are in court facing charges that they sold their baby daughter so that they could buy an iPhone and shoes.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Nilk, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
33 Stats That Prove That Something Desperately Needs to be Done About the National Debt
The U.S. national debt is 36 times larger than it was just 40 years ago. That is not a misprint. That is actually the truth. We are literally destroying the future of America, but most Americans don’t really seem to care. In fact, the most hated politicians in America are the Tea Party politicians that recently tried to take a stand against the out of control borrowing that the federal government has been doing. Pew Research has just released a new survey that shows that the popularity of the Tea Party is at an all-time low.
So while many Americans may say that they theoretically want something to be done about the national debt, when push comes to shove they don’t actually mean that. You see, the reality of the matter is that about 128 million Americans get money from the federal government every month. That accounts for the majority of all government spending. Anyone who tries to take those goodies away is going to be hated. So we are going to continue down this crazy path until the system completely crashes someday.
The “deal” that was just made in Congress does nothing to reduce our spending or control the growth of our debt. It just kicks the decisions about government spending and the debt ceiling down the road for a few months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Budget Crisis Has Its Roots in Erosion of Values
The evidence abounds that a lifestyle that reflects personal responsibility and traditional values — like traditional sexual attitudes and marriage and family — reduces dramatically chances that an individual will wind up in poverty.
I hope people live according to these values. But if they don’t want to, that’s their business.
But those on the left don’t think so. They want to foster a culture that says do what you want. They think to promote traditional values in schools and popular culture is inappropriate and small-minded and at times even unconstitutional.
Then they say it is only fair that everyone pay the costs of the mess this culture of moral relativism makes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two Thirds of Italians Save on Clothing, 14% on Food
But 47% buy low-cost food products, study says
(ANSA) — Cernobbio (Como), October 18 — About two Italians out of three, around 68%, this year decided either not to buy any clothing or cut down spending on fashion, some 53% dispensed with holidays or technological gadgets yet only 14% cut food expenses amid Italy’s longest recession in over two decades, according to a survey by farmers’ association Coldiretti with polling institute Ixe’ released on Friday. The study on ‘The perception of the crisis and Made in Italy’ presented at a forum on agriculture and food in Cernobbio, northern Italy, found that consumption of low-cost food however grew 47%.
Clothing and travel were also the two sectors in which the greatest number of Italians decided to save, 13% and 10% respectively compared to last year, according to the research.
Almost half of those polled, 49%, cut nights out at a disco along with bar and restaurant meals, 42% did not renovate their homes, 40% did not buy a new car or motorcycle and 37% skipped furniture shopping. Culture also suffered with 35% foregoing to attend cultural events and 29% cutting sports activities.
Nevertheless, 38% of Italian consumers chose to buy products made in third world countries and 24% tried ethnic products. Some 67% remained averse to genetically modified organisms.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Debt Jumps $400 Billion, Tops $17 Trillion for the First Time
U.S. debt jumped a record $328 billion on Thursday, the first day the federal government was able to borrow money under the deal President Obama and Congress sealed this week… The giant jump comes because the government was replenishing its stock of “extraordinary measures” — the federal funds it borrowed from over the last five months as it tried to avoid bumping into the debt ceiling.
Under the law, that replenishing happens as soon as there is new debt space.
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10 Ways the ObamaCare Train Wreck is Screwing the American People
Obamacare is a big government boondoggle that will empower the nanny state to extort, intimidate, harass and surveil Americans like never before. Here are ten ways in which the Obamacare train wreck is screwing the American people.
1) Research by the Manhattan Institute documents how average insurance rate premiums will rise 99 per cent for men and 62 per cent for women under Obamacare. In states like North Carolina, men face a whopping 305 per cent average rate hike, whereas women in Nebraska will be paying on average 237 per cent more. Studies by the Congressional Budget Office found that some Americans will face premium increases of 203% under Obamacare. The new law will increase health care spending by over $7000 for a typical family of four. When we asked Americans on Facebook and Twitter if their costs would be higher or lower under Obamacare, virtually all said they would be paying significantly more.
2) The Obama administration claims that federal subsidies will counteract these rate hikes, but according to health care expert Avik Roy that’s simply not true. “You hear all these excuses from the [Obama] administration — that people are exaggerating the effect of the law,” Roy told CBS News. “But real people are getting notices from their insurers now. My blog is flooded with comments from people saying that they just got a huge premium hike,”
3) The Obama administration lied to the American people when it claimed that existing health insurance plans could be kept. Obama’s promise that, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what,” was complete baloney.
4) Numerous analysts have concluded that the complete train wreck that was the launch of Healthcare.gov was in fact designed to fail in order to avoid a sudden backlash from Americans irate at the massive premium increases.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Would Let More Officials Carry Concealed Guns in Restricted Places
State corrections officers, prosecuting attorneys and certain federal law enforcement officers could be added to the list of people who are allowed to carry concealed guns in the state’s weapons-free zones.
The changes are part of a package of bills being considered by lawmakers in the state House. But an outspoken supporter of gun rights said he’d prefer to eliminate the state’s weapons-free zones rather than create “more special state privileges” for “special state actors.”
Michigan law prohibits carrying concealed firearms in certain locations, such as schools, day care centers, sports arenas and stadiums, bars, entertainment facilities, college dorms, casinos, hospitals and places of worship. However, 10 categories of law enforcement-type officials are exempt from that law, such as county corrections officers, sheriff’s deputies, police officers and judges.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Adviser: Tea Party Has ‘Christianist Xenophobia’
‘White-identity types’ have problem with ‘black president, brown Mexicans’
Department of Homeland Security adviser Mohamed Elibiary has warned the tea party movement against attempting to change the U.S. political landscape through “Christianist Xenophobia.”
Elibiary further charged some “white identity/privilege types” have a problem with a “black president” and “brown Mexicans.”
“If #TeaParty wants US revived then we must swing Blue seats Red & that is only achievable thru Libertarianism, not Christianist Xenophobia,” Elibiary tweeted.
Asked by WND in an email to clarify his remarks, Elibiary replied: “‘Christianist’ is a term coined about a decade ago and like ‘Islamist’ (for Muslims) and ‘Zionist’ (for Jews) refers to Christians who mix theology and nationalism.”
Last month, he used his Twitter profile to defend the Muslim Brotherhood while accusing Egypt’s persecuted Christian minority of inciting against Islam, WND reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Navy Seal: Government Provoking Vets to Bring on Martial Law
Former Navy SEAL Ben Smith participated in the “Million Vet March” last weekend, and on Tuesday he told Fox News’ he thinks the government is trying to provoke veterans into a situation where martial law may be used.
Smith told America’s Newsroom anchor Bill Hemmer the administration is going after vets’ Second Amendment rights, and have interfered with voting rights by not getting ballots to and from the military overseas. He referred to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who suggested using martial law to end the government shutdown last week.
“They want to discredit the military,” Smith said. “And get us to do something stupid, so they can lock us down.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Illinois Law Would Heavily Restrict Possession of Firearms Outside Home
In a bid to fight against criminal and gang possession of firearms on the street, Illinois state rep. Mike Zalewski (D-21st Dist.) is set to propose legislation that essentially labels all firearm possession outside the home illegal.
This measure — HB 2265 — does not differentiate between possession by law-abiding citizens and possession by criminals or gang members. And the NRA warns that this creates a situation where a law-abiding citizen who has a gun in his or her car for self-defense — but no concealed carry permit or Firearm Owner Identification Card (FOID) — could “face serious penalties for an innocuous mistake.”
In other words, someone who has moved to the state but has yet to receive their carry permit or FOID could face extensive jail time for the victimless crime of exercising their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Obama Creating a Martial-Law-Ready Military?
The Obama administration has given affirmative action in the military a dose of steroids, promoting minorities and women — and, I believe, homosexuals and lesbians — at the expense of white men. By the way, is this yet another reason why Obama wanted homosexuals to be able to serve openly? After all, you can’t target them for special treatment if you don’t know who they are.
But the point is this: if I were that hypothetical hard-left-wing leader, I’d know that one way to change the military’s political climate is the same way you do it in the nation at large.
Demographic manipulation.
White men generally vote Republican, white military men even more so, and white military men who are practicing Christians, well, that’s a recipe for a left-behind left. Minorities, women, atheists and the LGBT* crowd, however, are reliable liberal constituencies. So what would I do if I were that hard leftist?
I’d create a military climate friendly toward groups that are my constituencies and hostile toward those that aren’t.
And I’d do more than subordinate white men to other groups in the promotion process. I’d clamp down on Christian expression — which had often been robust in the military — and punish servicemen who transgressed against my separation-of-church-and-everything policy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Madonna Begins Studying the Q’ran
Singer Madonna has revealed she is studying the Q’ran, the holy scripture of Islam, to better understand the religion as her charitable foundation builds schools in Islamic countries…
She told Harper’s Bazaar magazine: “I am building schools for girls in Islamic countries and studying the Q’ran. I think it is important to study all the holy books.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Homeland Security Chief OK’d Drone Strikes on Americans
If the ubiquitous voice of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in the metro (or Walmart, etc) demanding that you say something if you see something wasn’t frightening enough, if TSA’s cancer rays and gropings were not outrageous enough, if Homeland Security military vehicles on US soil were not disgusting enough, Obama has a real treat in store for you.
His pick to lead the currently headless DHS is called Jeh Johnson. He was, according to the Washington Post, the Pentagon’s top lawyer. In that capacity he and a team of Pentagon experts concluded that the president did indeed have the right to use drones to kill American citizens without charge or trial. Thanks to Johnson’s determination, at least three American citizens have been killed without trial by their government.
Now he will be in charge of the “homeland.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama administration has been caught red-handed engaged in software piracy. Computer code used on Healthcare.gov was stolen (and then modified in an effort to conceal the theft) from a UK company called Spry Media.
To my best knowledge, this story was broken by WeeklyStandard.com in a blog authored by Jeryl Bier.
The computer code that was stolen is called DataTables, and it is exclusively provided under a GPL v2 license which requires anyone who uses the software code to keep the copyright notice visible in the code itself. This allows the original author of the code to receive attribution for creating it.
An analysis of the code running Healthcare.gov reveals that the Obamacare development team maliciously removed the copyright notice and credit attributions from the code while copying and using the rest of the code. In the field of journalism, this would be called “plagiarism.” In the field of computer software, it’s called “piracy” according to the U.S. government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schwarzenegger Wants Constitution Changed for a 2016 Presidential Run
The New York Post claims that Schwarzenegger has been publicly discussing his plans to file suit that would overturn the rule written into the Constitution that bars foreign-born citizens from taking the office of President or Vice President.
“Schwarzenegger has been talking openly about working on getting the constitutional rules changed so he can run for president in 2016. He is ready to file legal paperwork to challenge the rules.” the Post notes, citing an unnamed source.
Section 1 of Article Two of the Constitution sets forth the eligibility requirements for serving as president of the United States:
“No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”
The Twelfth Amendment also states, “No person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thomas S. Foley, Former House Speaker, Dies at 84
Thomas S. Foley, who as speaker of the House sought to still the chamber’s rising tide of partisan combat for five years before it swept the Democratic majority, and Mr. Foley himself, out of office in 1994, died on Friday in Washington. He was 84.
Jeff Biggs, Mr. Foley’s former press secretary, confirmed the death. His wife, Heather, told The Associated Press that the cause was complications of a stroke he suffered last December. She said he was hospitalized with pneumonia in May and had been under hospice care at his home virtually since then.
When he became speaker on June 6, 1989, Mr. Foley, from Washington State, appealed to “our friends on the Republican side to come together and put away bitterness and division and hostility.” He promised to treat “each and every member” fairly, regardless of party, and by most estimations he lived up to that promise to a degree unmatched by his successors.
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Alleged Scare at PMO Shocks Toronto Suspect’s Wife
TORONTO — The wife of a Toronto man who allegedly threatened to blow up the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa says her husband has been mentally ill for the better part of two decades.
Fos Elmi, 44, told the Toronto Sun Thursday she doesn’t know why her husband, Mohamoud Hirsi Jimale, 45, allegedly ventured into the government building housing the PMO on Wednesday with a briefcase he said contained a bomb and began threatening people.
Elmi called her husband of 18 years a gentle man dedicated to his Muslim faith.
“I don’t know why he went to Ottawa,” Elmi said outside the Weston Rd. apartment she shares with Jimale and their seven children.
Through an acquaintance who acted as an interpreter, Elmi said it was “a surprise to us that this man has been in Ottawa doing these things.”
Jimale’s struggles have left him unable to work, said Elmi, who is a stay-at-home mom.
She wouldn’t say how they support their family.
Both Jimale and Elmi came to Canada from Somalia.
The acquaintance, a local business owner who’d only identify himself as Abdi, said Jimale regularly attends the mosque at the nearby Bukhari Islamic Centre, in the Weston Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. area.
The mosque’s acting imam, Jama Shire, said he didn’t recognize Jimale’s name.
Abdi was quick to stress that Jimale was a gentle Muslim who isn’t radical in his religious views, and that the only thing that seemed to anger him lately wasn’t being able to access English-language training.
Still, Jimale is no stranger to the law.
He was convicted in 1998 in Toronto for communication for the purposes of prostitution, was fined $250 and ordered to pay a $37.50 victim surcharge fee.
He faced several other charges over the years, but they were withdrawn.
Jimale is now charged with one count of uttering threats and one of mischief after Wednesday’s incident.
He has also been ordered to see a psychiatrist.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Father Killed With One Punch After Being Mistaken for a Pedophile
MONTREAL — The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch.
The victim, Iqbal Ahmed, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile.
A judge will decide Francis Belanger’s fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week.
Ahmed, who was in his fifties, had followed his teen daughter through south-end Montreal on April 8, 2011, believing she had gone out with two friends without permission.
The friends joined a larger group of teens and said a pedophile was chasing them.
Ahmed tried to flee but was accosted by two people, including Francis Belanger, who punched him without warning. Ahmed died and Belanger was arrested and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
As his relatives sat in the public gallery Thursday, Belanger told the court he regretted his actions.
“I learned from my mistakes,” he said in a timid voice, reading from a prepared statement.
The Crown wants Belanger to be sentenced to six years in prison. The defence asked Judge Linda Despots for two years less a day to be served in the community.
Lawyer Clemente Monterosso told the court Thursday that his client has expressed “sincere remorse” and “empathy for the victim.”
“It’s closer to an accident than a murder,” Monterosso argued.
But Crown attorney Jean Sebastien Bussieres pointed out that Belanger has been charged three times with violating bail conditions since his arrest.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
English ‘Too Nervous’ To Celebrate St George’s Day
The think tank British Future believes the English are “too nervous” to celebrate St George’s Day, after a poll found they were more likely to be able to correctly name the date of the US Independence Day and St Patrick’s Day than they are their own national saint’s day
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Students Protest Kosovo Roma Girl’s Expulsion
Row in government; interior minister denies wrongdoing
(ANSAmed) — PARIS — Four secondary schools in central Paris were blocked access to by students Thursday morning protesting the expulsion of a 15-year-old student of Kosovo nationality. The case of Leonarda Dibrani, a 15-year-old girl from a Kosovo family who had been attending school in eastern France for three years with high marks, is dividing the French left and weakening the government. It is also gaining ever more attention in French society and media. Leonarda was stopped by police while on a school trip, taken to the airport where her family had also been brought and then repatriated to Mitrovica on the first flight back. Various associations as well as many in the government and socialist party are calling for her family to be brought back immediately. Interior Minister Manuel Valls has firmly insisted that the procedure was carried out in line with regulations but has opened an inquiry into the matter.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Government Targets Golden Dawn State Funding
Greece on Thursday backed a proposal that would suspend state funding of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, reports Kathimerini. The proposal found broad support among the coalition and opposition parties although leftist groups voiced concerns others could be targeted if Golden Dawn is not explicitly mentioned in the bill.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Former Premier Mario Monti Quits Helm of Civic Choice
Budget dispute pushes former premier from party
(ANSA) — Rome, October 17 — Former Italian premier Mario Monti resigned as head of the small centrist Civic Choice Thursday, citing differences with party Senators over the nation’s budget. “I cannot but consider the declarations” of party Senators as “a motion of no confidence towards me,” said Monti, who founded the party. “I resign as president of Civic Choice”. The reins of the party will be taken over by vice-president Alberto Bombassei until a new president is selected, he added. Monti said he would remain in the Senate within its mixed party grouping. Monti has criticized the recent budget bill, suggesting it did not do enough to stimulate growth.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Chinese Woman Nabbed With 80,000 Euros Hidden in Nappies
Varese resident had declared ‘no income’
(ANSA) — Milan, October 17 — A Chinese woman was caught at Milan’s Malpensa Airport Friday trying to take 80,000 euros out of Italy illegally, hidden in a pile of nappies. Police ran a check which showed the woman, 30, had declared no income in recent years.
Resident at Varese north of Milan, she was heading for Shanghai.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Five French Black Block Militants Stopped in Rome
Capital braces itself for two days of mass demonstrations
(ANSA) Rome, October 18; Five French nationals stopped by police in Rome during security checks in the lead up to two days of protests in the Italian capital are members of the so-called Black Block movement, a group of hooded militants that have provoked unrest across other European nations in past years, according to authorities. Two of the five are currently being investigated in France for terrorism acts, whilst another two have already been flagged in the past as participants the No-Tav protest movement events in Northern Italy in protest over a plan for a high-speed rail link between Italy and France. Rome residents are bracing themselves for two days of strikes and protests some fear could revive memories of the Italian capital’s worst street violence in years, exactly two years ago. Aside from the reported Black Block influence, militant grass-roots unions called COBAS are also planning a march against government austerity policies and for jobs through Rome Friday, with police coming out in force — more than 4,000 in all — to squash attempted violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Probe Into Alleged MP Physiotherapy-Expenses Fiddle
Sources say former centre-right lawmaker under investigation
(ANSA) — Naples, October 18 — A Naples prosecutor has opened an investigation into an alleged expenses fiddle by one or more Italian lawmakers, judicial sources said Friday.
The alleged fraud concerns reimbursements for physiotherapy treatments that allegedly did not take place but were claimed for with false receipts.
A former MP for Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party is among a number of people being probed, the sources said.
Parties from various parts of Italy’s political spectrum have been hit by a series of corruption scandals in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Sparks Boom in the Name Francis
Francis, or Francesco, is now the most popular name among newborn baby boys in Italy thanks to the arrival in March of Pope Francis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scathing Report: Turkish Kids ‘Put in State Care Illegally’
Politicians in Ankara have accused several European countries — including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands — of illegally taking children of Turkish origin from their families and putting them into foster care. The children are being alienated from Turkish culture, the report claims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: EU Investigation on Girona and Reus Airports
To verify if marketing agreements are in line with EU rules
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, OCTOBER 18 — The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess whether marketing agreements concluded between public authorities and airlines using Girona-Costa Brava and Reus airports in Catalonia are in line with EU State aid rules. In May 2012, the Commission received a complaint from an airline with operations at Barcelona-El Prat airport about marketing agreements related to Ryanair’s operations at the nearby Girona and Reus airports. The complainant alleged that the agreements amounted to illegal state aid in favour of Ryanair. However, the EU Commission will investigate all airlines that have signed similar agreements with public authorities linked to Girona and Reus airports. Barcelona, Girona and Reus airports are all operated by Aena Aeropuertos S.A. The agreements relate to the advertising of the regions concerned and contain various conditions related to the presence and scale of operations of the airlines at the two airports.
In the investigation, the EU Commission will also verify whether Girona and Reus airports themselves may have benefitted indirectly from the marketing agreements, since the agreements might relieve the airports of costs that they would otherwise normally bear in developing their activities.
On the basis of the information at its disposal the EU Commission cannot exclude that the marketing agreements give the airlines or the airports involved an undue advantage vis-à-vis their competitors, and are thus incompatible with the internal market.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Police 17 Times More Likely to Stop Blacks
Spanish police are under fire after an investigation has shown racial profiling is still a way of life for the country’s law enforcement agencies despite recent attempts to stamp out the practice.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Refugees Stranded at Milan Rail Hub
Syrian asylum seekers are living camped out in between commuters and tourists at Milan’s busy rail hub, their number growing by the day as charities and city officials try to help.
Dozens of migrants are turning into hundreds at the city’s central train station, their attempts to reach longed-for destinations in northern Europe thwarted by stepped-up border controls.
Many of them landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa, where twin shipwreck tragedies this month killed at least 400 migrants, and have since gradually made their way up the peninsula.
“We left Homs five months ago,” said a 29-year-old woman, who is camping out with her husband, 35, a construction business owner from the devastated Syrian city, and their two daughters, 10 and 12.
“We passed through Jordan, Egypt and Libya where we lived for three months,” she said, speaking to AFP through an interpreter in Arabic.
“We arrived on Lampedusa on October 3rd” — the same day that at least 364 fellow asylum seekers from Eritrea and Somalia on a different boat drowned.
One woman who arrived at the station with her husband gave birth on the boat to Lampedusa. The family have been put in temporary housing in Milan.
Local charities have rushed to help, distributing hot food at meal times and providing clothes and blankets. Milan city hall on Thursday set up a special “crisis unit” to deal with the situation.
“The problem is exploding here at the central station,” Alberto Sinigallia, the head of one of the charities, Fondazione Progetto Arca, told AFP.
“The influx started about a fortnight ago. Until the day before yesterday, it was only 30-40 people arriving per day. They spent the night here and left the next day,” Sinigallia said.
“But since then the borders are being closed in Switzerland, Austria and France. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow but today people are still coming back from the borders,” he said.
He said there were currently 150 Syrian asylum seekers living in the station, but by Friday he expected their number to rise to up to 220…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Exception: How Denmark Saved Its Jews From the Nazis
Denmark was the only European country to save almost all of its Jewish residents from the Holocaust. After being tipped off about imminent roundups by prominent Nazis, resisters evacuated the country’s 7,000 Jews to Sweden by boat. A new book examines this historical anomaly.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Well-Known British Muslims Offered Police Protection After Death Threats
Choudary makes an appearance in the video calling David Cameron and Therese May ‘pathetic foolish leaders’ and saying that the British Prime Minster and President Obama treat ‘Muslim blood like water.’
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Italy Playing Lead Role in Libya Says White House
‘Helping Tripoli restore order, rebuild institutions’
(ANSA) — Washington, October 17 — Italy is playing a lead role along with the US, Britain and Turkey in helping Libya’s efforts to restore order and rebuild its institutions, the White House said after talks between President Barack Obama and Premier Enrico Letta Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Military Police Chief Killed in Benghazi
Politically motivated murders continue in eastern region
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 18 — Colonel Ahmed Mustafa Albaragthin, the head of Libya’s military police, was assassinated this morning in front of his home in Benghazi, report Libyan media outlets. Armed men shot Albaragthin in the head and he died shortly after being taken to the hospital, report security sources. Since the end of the Gaddafi regime following the 2011 uprising, eastern Libya has been a focal point of clashes and numerous politically motivated homicides targeting members of the security forces, judges, journalists, and political activists.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: IMF: Political Instability, Security Halt Recovery
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 16 — Political instability and fears over security are halting Tunisia’s economic recovery, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund on the Middle East-North Africa released on Wednesday.
The report confirmed previous studies highlighting the difficulties faced by the country in solving its economic problems within a difficult political scenario.
The political and security context are weighing on Tunisia’s financial prospects halting budget, economic and structural reforms, the IMF report said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
By Caroline B. Glick
Speaking to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Wednesday, Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz explained Israel’s concerns about the nuclear negotiations with Iran in Geneva. “We’re worried Geneva 2013 will end up like Munich 1938.”
Well, the time for worrying has passed. The statements from the Obama administration and the EU following the closing of the first round of talks all made clear that Geneva 2013 is Munich 1938.
The White House was unable to restrain its excitement at the prospect of a deal with the genocidal, nuclear weapons-developing mullocracy.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said, “The Iranian proposal was a new proposal with a level of seriousness and substance that we had not seen before.”
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who led the six-power delegation that faced the Iranians, said that the talks were “the most detailed we have ever had, by a long way.”
Ashton also said that she is committed to making concessions to Iran as quickly as possible. In her words, “When we have been talking and in our discussions in these last days we know that we have to look for a first step, a confidencebuilding step, and we know we have to be clear about the last steps and to do that in the context of the objective overall.”
The stunning talks even included a one-on-one discussion between the chief US negotiator Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman and the Iranians.
The only problem with all these exciting developments is that all the “serious Iranian proposals” would result in the same outcome: a nuclear-armed Iran…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
November 4th will mark the 18th remembrance of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at a Tel Aviv Peace Rally. Rabin had received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 together with current President of Israel Shimon Peres and the late Yassir Arafat PLO Chairman for what became the failed Oslo Accords orchestrated by former President Bill Clinton. This commemoraion comes at a time when, once again, the US is facilitating another round of peace discussions between the Palestinian Authority and Israel under the aegis of Secretary of State John Kerry. On the occasion on this 18th remembrace, the Times of Israel interviewed a former aide to Rabin, Eitan Haber, in which he made the case that Israel’s national interests were highly dependent on those of the US.
Au contraire says David Isaac, at the Shmuel Katz.com website . As he points the late Shmuel Katz wrote “that between the United States and Israel there subsists a condition of interdependence.”
In his latest post, Isaac criticizes former Rabin aide, Haber by presenting the views of the late Shmuel Katz and the arguments of former Israeli Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger. Ettinger conveyed similar ones that mirror those of Katz at a presentation in February 2013 at First Pentecostal Church here in Pensacola emphasizing the mutual relations andf respect between America and its special ally in the Middle East, Israel…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Notorious Grand Mufti’s Ideology Was Islam, Not Nazism
by Andrew Bostom
CHEPACHET, RHODE ISLAND. It is widely believed that the virulent Jew-hating ideology advanced by the Grand mufti of Jerusalem and other Islamic leaders and institutions after him was a result of Nazi influence. An extensive textual analysis by American scholar Andrew Bostom proves that it not the case. Islamic Jew-hatred is rooted in Islam’s canonical texts.
During his October 6, 2013 speech at Bar Ilan University in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini. Mr. Netanyahu characterized al-Husseini as, “the undisputed leader of the Palestinian national movement in the first half of the 20th century.” The Prime Minister highlighted the ex-Mufti’s role in fomenting pogroms (dating back, in fact, to the so-called “Nabi Musa” riots of 1920) during the decades leading up to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Netanyahu’s address also focused on al-Husseini’s World War II era collaboration with the Nazis, the clear implication being that the Mufti’s murderous, Jew-hating ideology was simply another manifestation of Nazi evil, transplanted to a local “nationalistic struggle” in the Middle East. I have just published an extensive analysis, which demonstrates that Netanyahu’s rehashing of such conventional, pseudo-academic “wisdom,” does not withstand any serious, objective scrutiny.
On June 30, 1922, a joint resolution of both Houses of Congress of the United States unanimously endorsed the “Mandate for Palestine,” confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestin — anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Congressional record contains a statement of support from New York Rep. Walter Chandler which includes an observation, about “Turkish and Arab agitators . . . preaching a kind of holy war [jihad] against . . . the Jews” of Palestine. During this same era within Palestine, a strong Arab Muslim irredentist current — epitomized by Hajj Amin al-Husseini —promulgated the forcible restoration of sharia-mandated dhimmitude for Jews via jihad.
Indeed, two years before he orchestrated the murderous anti-Jewish riots of 1920, that is, in 1918, Hajj Amin al-Husseini stated plainly to a Jewish coworker (at the Jerusalem Governorate), I. A. Abbady, “This was and will remain an Arab land . .. . the Zionists will be massacred to the last man. . . . Nothing but the sword will decide the future of this country.”
Despite his role in fomenting the1920 pogroms against Palestinian Jews, al-Husseini was pardoned by the British and subsequently appointed mufti [high judge] of Jerusalem by the British high commissioner, in May 1921, a title he retained, following the Ottoman practice, for the remainder of his life. Throughout his public career, the mufti relied upon traditional Koranic anti-Jewish motifs to arouse the Arab street. For example, during the incitement which led to the 1929 Arab revolt in Palestine, he called for combating and slaughtering “the Jews” not merely Zionists. In fact, most of the Jewish victims of the 1929 Arab revolt were Jews from the centuries-old communities (for example, in Hebron), as opposed to recent settlers identified with the Zionist movement…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Italian FM Warns Against Iran Optimism
Bonino says focus on facts, not announcements
(ANSA) — Rome, October 17 — Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino on Thursday called for optimism over developments in Iran to be contained and for attention to be paid to facts and not announcements. But Bonino acknowledged the situation, after a change of tone and outreach by new President Hassan Rouhani that has triggered hopes of a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme, was different from under his predecessor, firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry to Meet Friends of Syria in London on Tuesday
(AGI) Washington, Oct 18 — Friends of Syria, a group of Western and Arab countries backing moves to remove President Bashar al-Assad, will meet in London on Tuesday, said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. “We are trying to move the process forward,” he said. “I’ll have meetings next Tuesday in London with the support group of the opposition. We’re working towards this Geneva [peace] conference, not that we know what the outcome is.” The last meeting of the Friends of Syria was in June.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Missile Deal With Turkey Highlights China Rising Middle East Presence
China’s likely sale of sophisticated missiles to Turkey over the objections of its Nato allies might have angered Washington and other capitals, but it should not have been a surprise. Even as the US has spent billions of dollars and lost hundreds of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, Beijing has been quietly upping its presence in the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Al-Qaeda Proliferation Threatens Turkey
Erdogan pro-rebel policy backfired, Turkish army bombs jihadists
(by Francesco Cerri) (ANSAmed) — ANKARA, 18 OTT — The Syrian civil war is turning into a nightmare for Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a firm supporter of the rebels since the conflict began in spring 2011.
Erdogan was certain the rebels would bring about the rapid demise of his former friend and ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, replacing him with an Islamic regime run by his fellow Sunnis from the Muslim Brotherhood. More than two years and 100,000 fatalities later, things have not gone according to Ankara’s plan: the entry of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Shiite movement into the field at Assad’s side has turned the battle to his advantage.
In spite of Turkey’s efforts, a US-led intervention against Damascus was averted, while Syrian Kurds have seized part of the north. Should they succeed in declaring their independence, they might one day claim Turkish Kurdistan as part of their new entity.
The rebel Free Syrian Army, which is ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, is losing ground and authority to represent the uprising, as another 60 resistance groups have just dissociated themselves.
The 11 most powerful of these have already allied themselves with al-Qaeda, with the foundation of a caliphate based on sharia or Islamic law as their declared objective.
A good part of the rebel-held areas along the Turkish border are falling into the hands of the two major al-Qaeda linked jihadist formations: the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Atrocities are being denounced, and the rise of a jihadist zone so close to home is setting off alarms in Ankara.
“Turkey has a new neighbor, the decapitators” said Sozcu opposition daily.
Instead of a Muslim Brotherhood-run Syrian state, Turkey now discovers an Afghanistan of sorts has cropped up just across its border: no matter what the results of the planned Geneva II peace conference, it will be hard to get rid of it in the years ahead.
Opposition leader Kemal Kilicadaroglu has charged Erdogan and his “sectarian” Syria policy with spawning this disaster.
Along with Syrian Kurds now engaged in battle with the jihadists, Erdogan’s principle of “any enemy of Assad is my friend” has de facto led to his supporting the jihad, allowing free passage of militias, arms and money through the border.
The brains behind this strategy, which has also caused tensions with the United States, is National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Hakan Fidan, according to The New York Times.
Ankara has repeatedly denied it is supporting the jihad, but Human Rights Watch recently charged Turkey could be held responsible for al-Qaeda’s atrocities in Syria.
The Turkish army for the first time announced recently it has raided al-Qaeda positions near the border city of Azaz in response to a mortar shell that fell in Turkish territory.
Erdogan may have “looked the other way” while al-Qaeda proliferated across the border, “but now those times are over” wrote Hurriyet daily. Turkey is increasingly in jeopardy, and the danger is no longer Assad, but al-Qaeda.
“The Turkish people are asking themselves what the government — which previously gave logistical support to radical Islamists fighting Assad — is doing to combat this threat”, Hurriyet editorialized.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Islamic Hagia Sophia Campaign Restarts
Sultan Ahmed imam calls for it ‘to become a mosque once more’
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — Conservative Muslims in Turkey have launched another campaign to transform the Hagia Sophia basilica, a jewel of Byzantine architecture that is a symbol of Greek Orthodox Christianity, into a mosque. Formerly a Greek Orthodox basilica from the date of its construction in 537 AD, it later became an imperial mosque, and is now a museum in Istanbul. After Islamic nationalist Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan put an apparent stop to the debate over whether to change Hagia Sophia back into a mosque, the imam of the Sultan Ahmed or Blue Mosque, Mustafa Akgul, has taken up the gauntlet once more.
“See, Sultan Ahmed mosque is packed, while Hagia Sophia is deprived of morning prayers”, the imam told a full house during a sermon for Eid al-Adha, or the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice.
In May, Erdogan told MPs from his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to “leave Hagia Sophia alone and focus on filling Sultan Ahmed, which is next door”.
Hagia Sophia “should be allowed to operate as a mosque. I call on the government to do so in the name of you all”, the imam told the crowd, echoing demands being made by Islamic conservatives from the Anadolu Genc organization, whose members are conducting sit-ins at the Byzantine basilica every Friday. A petition has been submitted to Parliament. The basilica has already been a mosque for half a century, beginning with the May 29, 1453 conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II.
It was converted into a museum in 1935 under the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the secular Turkish republic in 1923.
Erdogan during his decade in power has had thousands of new mosques built, and is having one with the world’s highest minarets built in Istanbul, which already has 3,000 mosques.
While the opposition accuses him of trying to re-Islamize the country, Erdogan’s prolific building projects do not seem to appease his Islamic voters. The sole defender of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom in Greek) is the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. However the Orthodox pope has just lost a similar battle over the ancient and precious Trebizond basilica, which has been turned into a mosque.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Whole Families From Kazakhstan Travelling to Syria for Jihad
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is organising family trips to Syria for Muslims from Central Asia. In some cases, as many as 150 people, including women and children, have travelled in the past few months. In one video, a young Kazakh says he came to Syria with his parents to become a martyr for Islam.
Astana (AsiaNews) — A new trend is emerging in Syria’s civil war. As hundreds of thousands of Syrians flee the war in their country, outsiders are doing the opposite, coming to the war-torn country on a ‘family jihad’ with women and children.
In recent months, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has run virtual “travel agencies” online, offering those who want to go to Syria the opportunity of staying with affiliated groups.
On Monday, the ISIL uploaded a propaganda video titled ‘Letters from epic battlefields, the hospitality of a jihadist family’ that has gone viral among jihadist social networks.
The video is the first real evidence of a new trend among jihadist groups. Instead of travelling alone or in pairs, thus raising suspicions, jihadists are now moving as families.
The video, which praises one family, shows a group of 150 people who arrived in Syria from Kazakhstan with women and children, in the past few months.
A young man who goes by the nom de guerre ‘Abdel-Rahman the Kazakh’ explains that he came to Syria “to fulfil his duty as set out by the precepts of Islam”. In his mid-teens, he also recites a verse on the glory of martyrs.
The video then moves on to a third jihadist, “Seif al-Din the Kazakh”, who explains that “it is every Muslim’s duty to join jihad to defend Muslim lands across the world when they come under attack.”
In another scene, a man, perhaps the head of the family, praises God for “allowing the family to emigrate and to be together in Syria to fulfil its duty of jihad”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Why Did Saudi Arabia Snub the U.S.?
By Benjamin Weinthal
There were some precursors over the last several months to Saudi Arabia’s decision today to decline its seat on the United Nations Security Council. The Saudi regime was angered when President Obama backtracked from his red line on military action against Syrian president Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons. It is worth recalling that the petro kingdom informed Secretary of State Kerry that it would even fund a full-blown invasion of Syria.
In unusually non-diplomatic language, the Saudi regime accused the Security Council of practicing “double standards” and “allowing the ruling regime in Syria to kill and burn its people by the chemical weapons.”
To protest political inertia at the U.N. over Syria, the Saudis had pulled the plug on their address to the General Assembly in September.
While the Saudi regime sent a backhanded slap at Russia and China — two of the five permanent Security Council members — for blocking punitive measures against Syria, the Gulf monarchy also aimed to express its dissatisfaction with an erratic U.S. foreign policy.
Saudi ruler King Abdullah now sees President Obama’s cordial relations with Iran’s new president Hassan Rouhani (Syria’s main supporter) as a growing existential threat to the preservation of his Sunni monarchy. After all, Iran’s Shiite clerical regime has perfected the delay tactic of negotiating with the U.S. to secure more time to build a nuclear-weapons device.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Skull of Homo Erectus Throws Story of Human Evolution Into Disarray
The spectacular fossilised skull of an ancient human ancestor that died nearly two million years ago in central Asia has forced scientists to rethink the story of early human evolution.
Anthropologists unearthed the skull at a site in Dmanisi, a small town in southern Georgia, where other remains of human ancestors, simple stone tools and long-extinct animals have been dated to 1.8m years old.
Experts believe the skull is one of the most important fossil finds to date, but it has proved as controversial as it is stunning. Analysis of the skull and other remains at Dmanisi suggests that scientists have been too ready to name separate species of human ancestors in Africa. Many of those species may now have to be wiped from the textbooks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two Die in Mosque Explosion in Russian Caucasus
(AGI) — Nalchik, Oct 18 — At least two people died when a bomb exploded outside a mosque in the village of Dugulugbei in the Russian Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria. Body parts of two men belonged to the attackers who blew themselves up accidentally while planting the bomb, said police. A Kalashnikov rifle found near the bodies had been stolen from police troopers in a recent attack.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rocket Attack on Italian Afghan Base
No one hurt
(ANSA) — Rome, October 18 — Suspected Taliban militants fired two rockets at an Italian base in the Shindand District of the western Afghanistan Herat Province Friday but no one was hurt.
Attacks on Italians have fallen in the last two years, while rising against US troops.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Couple on Trial for Selling Baby to Buy iPhone
A man and woman in China were in court on Friday, defending allegations they sold their baby girl to go on a shopping spree that included the purchase of an iPhone and top-of-the-line footwear.
The Telegraph reported that the couple, known only as Mr. Teng and Ms. Zhang, admitted the baby was given to another family — but they claim it was given away not for money.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Elite French Wine-Makers Plant Roots in China
Some of France’s elite wine-makers are looking beyond the vineyards of Bordeaux and Côtes-du-Rhône to grow the grapes that go on to become their world-famous merlots and cabernet sauvignon, planting roots in China, the “New World” of the wine industry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Launches Anti-Radiation Underwear After Fukushima Crisis
Japanese company launches anti-radiation swimwear and underwear as Fukushima nuclear crisis continues.
The new swimwear has been crafted from a unique biorubber material that claims to protect the wearer from radiation exposure in contaminated waters. The wetsuit-style garment, which contains micron-sized bubbles, blocks almost 100 per cent of beta rays, according to its makers Yamamoto Corporation, a swimwear company based in Osaka.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Radioactivity Level Spikes 6,500 Times at Fukushima Well
Radioactivity levels in a well near a storage tank at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan have risen immensely on Thursday, the plant’s operator has reported.
Officials of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Friday they detected 400,000 becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances — including strontium — at the site, a level 6,500 times higher than readings taken on Wednesday, NHK World reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Very Public Cut Made for World Vasectomy Day
An Adelaide man got the snip, streamed live on the internet, to help promote World Vasectomy Day.
Dr Doug Stein from the United States visited Adelaide to perform the operation on Chris Wirren, as his wife Jodie kept a close eye on the proceedings.
Dr Stein has performed more than 31,000 vasectomies and says he wants to demystify the procedure, so streaming it live to the world seemed a good option.
His patient was not alone; about 1,000 men in 25 countries have been getting vasectomies as part of the awareness day, which also is being used to promote population control and its environmental benefits.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Dhuhulow Named as Norway’s Westgate Killer
The Norwegian citizen under investigation by intelligence agency PST for his role in last month’s attack on Kenya’s Westgate shopping centre has been named by the BBC’s Newsnight programme as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow.
Dhuhulow, 23, was born in Somalia, only moving to the town of Larvik as a refugee in 1999, when he was ten years old. Relatives told the BBC that he had left Somalia in 2009, since when the only contact they had had had been through occasional phone calls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Investigates Possible Assailant in Kenya Mall Siege
LARVIK, Norway — The trail in the investigation into the deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping mall leads all the way to Scandinavia, where the Norwegian police have identified a man who may have been among the assailants.
Investigators are questioning relatives and friends of Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a Norwegian citizen born in Somalia, to try to determine whether he was one of the four militants captured on surveillance footage inside the shopping mall, calmly killing shoppers on a Saturday afternoon last month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Norwegian Al Shabaab Suspects Revealed in Nairobi Westgate Mall Attack
Both the New York Times and CNN have new reports discussing Norwegian Somali émigrés, including the planner involved in the Al Shabaab attack on the Nairobi Westgate mall, September 21, 2013. See our NER report in the current October 2013 edition, “Al Shabaab is a Threat to the World at Large.” These latest reports resulted from Norwegian Intelligence (PST) investigations in both Norway and Kenya.
These latest reports also reflect the forensic remains that were found of only four Al Shabaab fighters secured from the rubble of the Westgate Mall in the rampage that killed 67 and wounded hundreds. More than 1,000 escaped the upscale Nairobi mall that sustained significant and extensive damage from the counter attack by Kenyan security forces.
Both Ikrima and Dhuhulow benefitted from generous international and Norwegian refugee resettlement programs that granted them citizenship while they allegedly were recruited by radical Imams in the Scandinavian country. We have seen young Somali Muslims from émigré communities in the US recruited as al Shabaab fighters to fight and die in their homeland. A number of those who have returned only recently have been prosecuted and convicted in federal courts for material support for terrorism. The palpable threat is that small teams of such Émigré Muslim Jihadis could undertake attacks on malls and other public spaces here in the US. One of these attacks occurred in Salt Lake City, others have been attempted in Columbus, Ohio and in Rockford, Illinois…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
400 African Migrants See Spain Dream Dashed
Moroccan police drove back 400 African migrants who tried to rush across the country’s border into Spain on Thursday, an official said. It was the latest in a wave of desperate bids by Africans to reach Europe that have left hundreds dead and police and migrants injured.
The crowd of “sub-Saharan migrants” rushed at the crossing from northern Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta at dawn and “were stopped by the Moroccan security forces,” a Spanish government official in Ceuta told AFP.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Minister Says EU’s Migrant Law Needs Revising
Kyenge says situation puts refugees, locals ‘on knees’
(ANSA) — Brussels, October 17 — Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge on Thursday called for the European law on asylum seekers to be revised to help Italy cope with thousands of migrants arriving on its shores from North Africa.
The question is a hot topic after at least 400 people were killed in two separate migrant-boat disasters close to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa this month.
Kyenge, who was born in Congo and is Italy’s first black minister, said the European Union’s Dublin regulation, which states that only one member state is responsible for the examination of asylum applications, needs changing.
The aim of the regulation is to stop asylum seekers being sent from one country to another and help prevent abuse of the system. But some have said it is preventing the countries most exposed to migrant arrivals benefiting from the solidarity of their fellow EU member States. “The Dublin regulation remains a fundamental question,” Kyenge said at a conference in Brussels.
“It’s necessary to reopen the debate, because the (current) situation puts the migrants and all the people in the area (where they arrive) on their knees.
“I hope this is talked about at the summit of EU leaders on October 24 and 25”.
Premier Enrico Letta has said he will push for the EU to provide more help to Italy to deal with the migrant crisis at the summit.
This week the Italian government launched a new mission with intensified patrols in the southern Mediterranean to try to prevent disasters like those that occurred this month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Look Beyond Europe to Stop Migrant Deaths’
After more than 300 migrants drowned off Italy’s coast last week, the government and EU promised to boost efforts to prevent further tragedies. The Local looks to East Africa, where the victims came from, and Libya from where the boat departed, to find out what could be done beyond Italy’s borders.
Over the past 20 years, between 17,000 and 20,000 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Generation of Immigrant Advocates Take Radical Approach
The frustration, say immigration advocates, is reaching a fever pitch.
That is why, many say, recent weeks have seen activists use chains and pipes to tie themselves to the tires of buses that carry immigrants slated for deportation to court, block traffic on Capitol Hill and get arrested, surround Tucson police when they targeted two immigrants during a traffic stop, and chain themselves and block the entrance of a federal detention center.
More such actions, they vow, are coming.
[Comment: Notice — the word illegal is not mentioned.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Angry Mother Files Bill in Mass. Legislature After Son Was Referred to Outside “Gay” Club by School.
The outrageous promotion of homosexuality to extremely vulnerable children in the public schools — without concern about how it affects them — has become legendary, particularly in Massachusetts.
This is the story about how one angry mother, with support from MassResistance, is fighting back. She is confronting the Massachusetts Legislature, pushing a bill she had her State Representative file to protect other children and their families from going through what happened to her family.
Certain traumas during the formative years are known to cause sexual identity issues during adolescence. Most children outgrow this confusion unless otherwise influenced, which is why homosexual activists want unfettered access to public school children.
When the Splitz family’s son had experienced such traumas, their pediatrician referred him for counseling and by all accounts it was working wonderfully. The boy was happy, vibrant and quite active in church and other extracurricular activities. He excelled in school and also very close to his family — a model teenager.
But then, while attending high school at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne, Massachusetts, things changed dramatically. He suddenly became distant, angry and disrespectful to his parents as well as to other adults he had once respected. He quit his church activity and many of his other activities, and almost flunked his junior year of school. Life at home became stressful and chaotic.
His parents learned that he had mentioned to the school’s “adjustment counselor” that he thought he might be “gay.” The counselor then gave him the business card of a local “gay youth” club run by adult homosexual activists and suggested he look into it.
At the “club” he was told in very strong terms that he was born gay, could never change, that trying to change was dangerous and apparently was introduced into the homosexual lifestyle by the activists there. Furthermore, he was instructed that anyone who didn’t embrace his “gay” sexual identity was a hater and a homophobe including his parents. He was also provided with sexually provocative homosexual literature as well as anti-Christian literature.
He now considered himself “gay” and rebelled against his parents for not embracing his “identity.” The high school continued to subvert the parents, taking further steps to alienate their son from them.
The Splitz family’s nightmare continued as guidance counselors, administrators, and the Department of Education stonewalled them, lied to them, and manipulated them in ways that deeply wounded the family and put their son at risk.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Rules Mayors Cannot Refuse to Marry Gay Couples
France’s Constitutional Council has ruled that the country’s mayors cannot refuse to officiate at same-sex weddings, rejecting a bid by a group of mayors who claimed gay marriage went against their moral or religious beliefs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Top Court Compels Mayors to Marry Gay Couples
Paris, 18 Oct. (AKI) — Local officials may not refuse to marry gay couples if this goes against their consciences, France’s highest court, the Constitutional Council ruled on Friday.
The lack of a “conscience clause” for opponents of a controversial law recognising same-sex marriage that entered into force May was constitutional, the court said.
A group of mayors and registrars had appealed against the legislation, saying it should include a “freedom of conscience” clause allowing officials not to conduct same-sex marriages if this clashed with their personal religious or moral beliefs.
The group of officials will now take their case to the European Court of Human Rights, the mayor of the southwestern French city of Arcangues, Jean-Michel Colo, was quoted as saying on Friday by daily Le Monde.
Gay marriage aroused stronger than expected opposition in France, with opinion polls suggesting nearly half of the population were against it.
By the end of August, some 600 gay marriages had taken place in France’s fifty largest towns and cities, around 1 percent of the total
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Planned Parenthood Celebrates 97 Years of Eugenics, Overt Sexualization of Children
Earlier today, Planned Parenthood happily announced it has reached 97 years of running its highly successful eugenics campaign — a campaign which has promoted and normalized birth control, sterilized Americans by the thousands and helped cull the population by killing infants — in addition to its pervasive efforts to teach children about sex at an early age.
Here’s to 97 more years of care — no matter what. pic.twitter.com/iGX8eXLL4a
— Planned Parenthood (@PPFAQ) October 16, 2013
One is reminded of the words of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, who during her lifetime extolled “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda,” and its effectiveness at “[improving] the quality of the race.”
Indeed, the individuals who long for a reduction in the world’s population — like Ted Turner and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — are likely ecstatic at the eugenics front surviving this long without facing major upheaval by the masses.
Last year, the American Life League produced a great video report exposing Planned Parenthood’s sex-education programs, which start at an extremely young age and actually encourage things like sexual promiscuity, homosexuality and anal sex, to name a few, in efforts to create a generation of sex addicts that will feed an endless cycle of abortions and profit. See video below:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hagia Sophia is not a basilica; that is not its architectural configuration. It is, though, a Christian church and thus suffers along with Constantinople and the rest of the once-civilized Levanant from the outrage of Moslem domination.
Hagia Sophia is a basilica. It was originally an Orthodox Church which doesn’t require particular architecture. Nor is it required under Catholic tradition as it is the Pope who elevates it to that status.