Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/3/2013

A young dental hygienist from Connecticut came to Washington D.C. today with her baby, and for unknown reasons tried to crash her car through the barrier in front of the White House. She was pursued to Capitol Hill, and after crashing and being boxed in by police cars, was shot to death by officers. She did not have a gun herself. No motive for her suicidal actions has yet been determined.

In other news, two 14-year-old Muslim pupils at a Catholic school in Lancashire were banned from the classroom for refusing to shave off their beards. The boys cited the commandments of their religion as a reason for their obstinacy.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Kitman, 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.

Financial Crisis
» Boehner Tells Republicans He Won’t Let the Nation Default
» Italian Spending Power Plunges to Lowest Level Since 1990
» Italy: Jobless Baker Shoots Wife Dead and Injures Son Before Killing Himself
» New Reserve Bank of India Head Raises Repo Rate to 7.5pct
» Privatizations: Greece: Huawei Affirms Interest in Piraeus
» The Real Crisis is Not the Government Shutdown
» Treasury Says Mere Prospect of Default Endangers Economy
 
USA
» Barrycades: Feds Try to Shut Down Privately Owned Mount Vernon
» Chief DHS Privacy Officer: Government Called Privacy Office “Terrorists”
» Continued Shutdown, Paralyzed Politicians Reveal Just How Close the U.S. Government is to Total Collapse
» Federal Judge Rules Against N.J. Township in Dispute With Mosque
» Female Student Ordered to Change Out of ‘Offensive’ NRA T-Shirt
» Government Shutdown: Wall Street Angry at Tea Party it Has No Influence Over
» Government Shutdown? 36 Facts Which Prove That Almost Everything is Still Running
» Iowa: Random Cars to be Selected in Traffic Checkpoint Friday
» IRS Targeted Dr. Ben Carson After Prayer Breakfast Speech
» It is Time to Veto Obama
» Meet the Drone That Can Fly for Five Years
» Obama Invites Boehner Over to Tell Him He Will Not Negotiate
» Police Suspect Dental Hygienist Miriam Carey Was Behind the Wheel of Capitol Chase
» Shots Fired in Front of U.S. Capitol
» Stunt at WW II Memorial Shows More Evidence Obama is a Thug
» Tom Clancy Questioned 9/11
» Twitter Discloses Its I.P.O. Plans
» War Vets Show the World True Face Behind Obama Mask
» Who Do They Think They Are?
» Woman in Washington Shooting is Dead, Law Enforcement Officials Say
» Woman With Baby Rams Gates Near White House; America Freaks Out
» Yellowstone Supervolcano Alert: The Most Dangerous Volcano in America is Roaring to Life
 
Europe and the EU
» Austria: Man Dies From Tick Bite
» Austria: 15 Years Prison for Rape of Woman in Park
» Cyprus: Islamic Hotel to be Built in Occupied Area
» Denmark: Forced Removal of Children From Criminal Families Proposed
» Greece: In Golden Dawn’s Lair
» Greece: Bill Paves Way for Building in Forests
» Italy: Pompeii Tombs for Sale
» Italy: Mayor of Pompei Charged With Malfeasance
» Italy to Deploy Military Against Anti-TGV Protests
» Minorities: Sweden’s Shameful Secret
» Norway Whalers Take Bumper Catch
» Spanish Cathedral Evacuated After Explosion
» ‘The Fox’ Is Norway’s Second Ever US Top 10
» UK: ‘It Was Like Watching Grand Theft Auto’: Dramatic Moment Three Pedestrians Were Knocked Over by Speeding Driver Who Wanted to Kill in Revenge Attack (Video)
» UK: Bullied Schoolboy, 16, ‘Plotted British Columbine-Style Massacre Targeting Schools, Mosques, Cinemas and 19 Teachers and Pupils’
» UK: Conservative Conference: UKIP and Thatcher Give David Cameron a Headache
» UK: How Typically Hypocritical of the Left, Who Danced on the Grave of Mrs Thatcher, To be Upset About Debate Over Red Ed’s Marxist Father
» UK: Interpal and Uthman Lateef
» UK: Muslim Pupils, 14, Banned From the Classroom at Catholic School for Refusing to Shave Off Their Beards After Claiming Their Religion Forbids it
» UK: Muslim Supermarket Workers Win Discrimination Case Against Tesco After Bosses Locked Their Prayer Room and Made Them Sign in and Out
» UK: UKIP is a Racist Party, Says Heseltine
 
North Africa
» Egypt Removes Wall Barricading Downtown Cairo
» Russian Embassy in Libya Attacked
» Tunisia Blocks Ansar Al-Sharia Websites
 
Middle East
» Gulf Nations Top Up Egyptian Coffers
» Italy-S.Arabia: Disaccord on Women and Death Penalty, Bonino
» Qatar 2022: After the Massacre of Migrants Kathmandu Recalls Its Ambassador
» Qatar Erects 5-Meter-High ‘Head Butt’ Statue of Zidane
» The Wave From Syria: Flow of Refugees Destabilizes Lebanon
» Turkey: Waiter Jailed for Double Murder
 
Russia
» Danish Greenpeace Activist Charged With Piracy
» Milestone in Floating Nuclear Power Plant Development
» Stalin’s Gulags and His Left Wing British Apologists
 
South Asia
» 12 Killed, 8 Injured in Suicide Attack in NW Pakistan
» India: Mumbai: Catholic Church Desecrated
» India: Pogrom in Orissa: Life Imprisonment for Seven Innocent Christians
» Indian Army Fights Militants on Kashmir Loc
» Pakistan: Attack on Anti-Taliban Guerrillas: 15 Dead
» Textbooks in Pakistani Government Schools Teaching Hate Against Christians and Hindus, Jihad and Martyrdom to Young Students
 
Far East
» Giant Asian Hornets Are Killing People in China, Breeding in Larger Numbers: Reports
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Liberia: Chinese Riot Police Here
» Madagascar Mob Kills Two Europeans Over Child Murder
» Nigeria: Court Adjourns Arraignment of 17 Boko Haram Suspects
 
Latin America
» South America, Arab League to Rev Up Education Cooperation
 
Immigration
» At Least 13 Migrants Drown Off Coast of Sicily
» Dozens Killed as Migrant Boat Sinks Near Italy
» Italy: Immigrants Suffering From Crisis, Says CGIL Union
» Italy: Northern League Member Calls EU and Government Hypocrites
» Italy: Migrants’ Deaths a European Issue, Says Alfano
» Italy: Resume Migrant ‘Push-Back’ Policy Says Ex-Minister
» Majority of French Believe Roma Should Leave France
» Over 130 Dead in Migrant Boat Disaster Off the Italian Coast
 
Culture Wars
» Gay Centre Says Pope’s Comments Revolutionary
» Italy: Barilla President Says Won’t Ever Use Gay Families in Ads
 
General
» Are Our Political Beliefs Encoded in Our DNA?
 

Boehner Tells Republicans He Won’t Let the Nation Default

With a budget deal still elusive and a deadline approaching on raising the debt ceiling, Speaker John A. Boehner has told colleagues that he is determined to prevent a federal default and is willing to pass a measure through a combination of Republican and Democratic votes, according one House Republican.

The lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Boehner had said he would be willing to violate the so-called Hastert Rule if necessary to pass a debt limit increase. The informal rule refers to a policy of not bringing to the floor any measure that does not have a majority of Republican votes.

Other Republicans also said Thursday that they got the sense that Mr. Boehner would do whatever was necessary to ensure that the country did not default on its debt.

[Return to headlines]
 

Italian Spending Power Plunges to Lowest Level Since 1990

Disposal incomes, propensity to save also down

(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — The spending power of households’s in recession-hit Italy dropped 4.7% last year, taking it down to its lowest level since Istat starting using its current calculation method in 1990, the national statistics agency said Thursday.

Istat said disposable incomes dropped 2% in 2012 and Italians’ propensity to save money fell to the lowest level in 22 years.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Jobless Baker Shoots Wife Dead and Injures Son Before Killing Himself

Caltagirone, 2 Oct. (AKI) — An unemployed baker in Sicily shot his wife dead with a hunting rifle and seriously wounded his son before committing suicide, according to reports on Wednesday.

Gaetano Sortino, 67, shot his 64-year-old wife Concetta Zimone in the neck and shot his 44-year-old son Giuseppe in the face. He took aim at his 45-year-old daughter but missed, before turning the gun on himself, Il Giornale di Sicilia daily reported.

Father-of-two Giuseppe Sortino was on Wednesday in a hospital intensive care unit in a coma with a fractured skull after the bloodbath.

Neighbours in the town of Caltagirone called police to the family home after hearing gun shots.

Sortino, had reportedly been suffering from depression and in recent days had been in a confused state.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

New Reserve Bank of India Head Raises Repo Rate to 7.5pct

(AGI) Bombay, Sept 20 — The new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, made a shock announcement that he would be raising the repo rate, the rate at which central banks lend money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds, by a quarter point to 7.5 percent. The decision, which is likely to displease investors, aims to keep inflation at bay.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Privatizations: Greece: Huawei Affirms Interest in Piraeus

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 20 — Chinese communications giant Huawei Technology is mulling to set up a logistics hub at the port of Piraeus as well as a research and development center in cooperation with Greek universities, as Kathimerini reports.

Company officials visited Deputy Development Minister Notis Mitarakis on Thursday and affirmed the contents of the memorandum of cooperation signed by the Chinese group and the Greek government during Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s visit to China in May. Although there is no specific timetable yet, sources say that the company will make a final announcement in early 2014.

Regarding its plans for a logistics hub, Huawei has examined the possibility of setting one up at a number of ports, including those of Thessaloniki and Patra, but is now closer to picking Piraeus as the country’s biggest port already has the necessary infrastructure, such as the Cosco container terminal and the railway network for transport. The company is also in talks with various Greek universities, including Patra, for a new research and development center. Huawei expects to spend some 500 million euros on the acquisition of products and services from the local economy during its first five years of operation in Greece. The Chinese company is the world’s No 1 in the production of telecommunications material, and in 2012 it enjoyed sales of USD 35.4 billion. Huawei has two transit centers in Europe — in Hungary and the Netherlands — and five research and development centers.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Real Crisis is Not the Government Shutdown

The real crisis is that jobs offshoring by US corporations has permanently lowered US tax revenues by shifting what would have been consumer income, US GDP, and tax base to China, India, and other countries where wages and the cost of living are relatively low. On the spending side, twelve years of wars have inflated annual expenditures. The consequence is a wide deficit gap between revenues and expenditures.

[…]

The real crisis is the absence of intelligence among economists and policymakers who told us for 20 years not to worry about the offshoring of US jobs, because we were going to have a “New Economy” with better jobs.

As I report each month, not a single one of these “New Economy” jobs has appeared in the payroll jobs statistics or in the Labor Department’s projections of future jobs. Economists and policymakers simply gave away a good chunk of the US economy in order to enhance corporate profits. One result has been to create in the US the worst distribution of income of all developed countries and of many undeveloped ones.

In the scheme of things, the enhanced profits are a short-run thing, because by halting the growth in consumer income, jobs offshoring has destroyed the US consumer market. As I noted in a recent column, on September 19 the New York Times reported what I have reported for years: that US median family income has not increased for a quarter of a century. The lack of consumer income growth is why 5 years of massive monetary and fiscal stimulus have not brought economic recovery.

The real crisis cannot be addressed unless the jobs are brought back home and the wars are stopped. As powerful organized interests oppose any such measures, Congress will pass a new debt ceiling and the real crisis will continue.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Treasury Says Mere Prospect of Default Endangers Economy

The debt-limit impasse could cause credit markets to freeze, the dollar to plummet and interest rates to rise precipitously, the Treasury Department said in a report released Thursday. A default might prove catastrophic, the report said, and could potentially result “in a financial crisis and recession that could echo the events of 2008 or worse.”

“As we saw two years ago, prolonged uncertainty over whether our nation will pay its bills in full and on time hurts our economy,” said Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew in a statement urging lawmakers to act. “Postponing a debt ceiling increase to the very last minute is exactly what our economy does not need — a self-inflicted wound harming families and businesses.”

The report shows that the Congressional debt-limit standoff in 2011 hurt consumer confidence, small business confidence, household wealth and the stock market, with ramifications for lending and the economic recovery.

[Return to headlines]
 

Barrycades: Feds Try to Shut Down Privately Owned Mount Vernon

The National Park Service erected barricades to shut down parking lots surrounding Mount Vernon despite the fact that the tourist destination is privately owned, another example of how the feds are deliberately worsening the government shut down.

Mount Vernon is the former plantation of George Washington and is owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which doesn’t receive any government funding. The attraction’s official website reads, “NO SHUTDOWN HERE — The Federal government may be shut down, but Washington’s home remains open. Mount Vernon has remained a private non-profit for more than 150 years.”

However, a dispute began when the National Park Service began putting up barricades to block off the facility’s car park, blockading the entrance as well as a spot where tour buses turn around.

The parking lots are co-owned by Mount Vernon and the NPS, but require no immediate maintenance at all, meaning the decision to close them down was completely unnecessary.

After blogger Stephen Gutowski exposed the situation, Newt Gingrich got in on the act, tweeting, “The tour bus turnaround at Mount Vernon has been closed by federal police. This is deliberate effort by Obama to hurt the public. Disgusting.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Chief DHS Privacy Officer: Government Called Privacy Office “Terrorists”

Wall Street Journal reporter Jennifer Valentino tweets:

Former DHS Privacy Officer Mary Ellen Callahan: DHS Privacy Office was accused monthly of being “terrorists” by DHS, IC

“DHS” stands for the Department of Homeland Security; “IC” stands for the intelligence community.

This is not an isolated or melodramatic statement. Rather, it is how the homeland security and intelligence communities look at privacy.

For example, former NSA and CIA boss Michael Hayden compared privacy advocates to terrorists:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Continued Shutdown, Paralyzed Politicians Reveal Just How Close the U.S. Government is to Total Collapse

(NaturalNews) Anyone looking for evidence of the impending total failure of the U.S. government need look no further than the shenanigans taking place right now in Washington D.C.

To summarize:

  • As the nation hurtles toward an inevitable debt collapse, the Obama administration insists the answer is to pile on more debt by raising the debt ceiling. Anyone who disagrees with this is being characterized an “anarchist.”
  • Unless the debt ceiling is raised, the U.S. Treasury will default on hundreds of billions of dollars in debt obligations in less than a month. Such a default would absolutely wreck the credit worthiness of the USA, causing the future debt burden to start wildly multiplying in a runaway mathematical blowout that can only end in financial collapse.
  • Obamacare, a broken system of coerced, unconstitutional health insurance mandates, is already causing widespread economic disaster across the country as tens of millions of people are losing their jobs, having their hours cut, or seeing their company-sponsored health plans cancelled. But the socialist philosophy of Obamacare is so central to the political left that they are viciously defending it at all costs. If Obamacare fails, the socialist fantasies of the left go down the drain with it, and they can’t let that happen… not even if it means medically bankrupting millions of Americans thanks to the outrageously high costs of health insurance everyone is now forced to buy.
  • As political leverage in all this, the federal government is supposedly “shut down,” but the IRS is still collecting money, the TSA is still groping travelers at the airport, and billions of dollars in government waste is still accruing each week. To make the shut down appear worse, the Obama administration erected tall barriers around World War II veterans’ memorials, desperately attempting to dramatize the shut down while blaming the Republicans. (This also shows the utter disrespect for American veterans who fought for the very freedoms Obama seems to enjoy destroying at every opportunity.)

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Federal Judge Rules Against N.J. Township in Dispute With Mosque

A federal judge this week blocked a central New Jersey township from enforcing a zoning change that prevented a mosque from expanding into a residential neighborhood. The ruling handed a hard-fought victory for the Al Falah Center, which has spent years trying to get approval for a new mosque in Bridgewater Township, N.J.

Granting the mosque’s request for a preliminary injunction, a judge on Monday said the township failed to justify why the need for the variance outweighed the religious burden it imposed. The township must now consider the mosque’s original application. The mosque alleged that township officials scrambled to change its zoning rules to scuttle the project, claiming the ordinance was motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice. The al Falah congregation currently rents space elsewhere in Somerset County…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Female Student Ordered to Change Out of ‘Offensive’ NRA T-Shirt

A female student at Canyon High School in Anaheim Hills was ordered to change out of her t-shirt because it promoted the NRA.

According to CBS Los Angeles, Haley Bullwinkle said she was sent to the principal’s office in September “for violating the school’s dress code that forbids offensive, violent, or divisive clothing.”

The “offensive” shirt was a gift from Bullwinkle’s father, which he gave her after he became a member of the NRA.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Government Shutdown: Wall Street Angry at Tea Party it Has No Influence Over

Wall Street is clear about who’s to blame for the government shutdown and a looming debt default: tea party Republicans.

What’s less clear is what Wall Street can do about it.

The reality is that deep-pocketed financial services executives and their lobbyists have little leverage against tea party lawmakers who don’t much care for financiers or big banks and don’t rely heavily on the industry for campaign cash.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

Government Shutdown? 36 Facts Which Prove That Almost Everything is Still Running

All of this whining and crying about a “government shutdown” is a total joke. You see, there really is very little reason why this “government shutdown” cannot continue indefinitely because almost everything is still running. 63 percent of all federal workers are still working, and 85 percent of all government activities are still being funded during this “shutdown”. Yes, the Obama administration has been making a big show of taking down government websites and blocking off the World War II Memorial, but overall business in Washington D.C. is being conducted pretty much as usual.

It turns out that the definition of “essential personnel” has expanded so much over the years that almost everyone is considered “essential” at this point. In fact, this shutdown is such a non-event that even referring to it as a “partial government shutdown” would really be overstating what is actually happening. The following are 36 facts which prove that almost everything is still running during this government shutdown…

#1 According to U.S. Senator Rand Paul, 85 percent of all government activities are actually being funded during this “government shutdown”.

#2 Approximately 1,350,000 “essential” federal employees will continue to work during this “government shutdown”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iowa: Random Cars to be Selected in Traffic Checkpoint Friday

Illegal checkpoints continue to spread across the nation

The Central Iowa Traffic Safety Task Force is planning a traffic safety checkpoint in western Polk County on Friday night.

Authorities said vehicles will be systematically chosen by officers to enter the checkpoint. For example, it may be decided that every fifth vehicle will be directed to a station within the checkpoint.

Authorities said that once stopped, drivers can expect a brief visual verification that turn signals, brake lights, and headlights are functioning properly and that current licensing, registration and insurance documentation check.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

IRS Targeted Dr. Ben Carson After Prayer Breakfast Speech

Just months after he gave a speech earlier this year that challenged America’s leadership in President Obama’s presence, Dr. Ben Carson was targeted by IRS agents who requested to review his real estate holdings and then conducted a full audit without finding any wrongdoing.

“I guess it could be a coincidence, but I never had been audited before and never really had any encounters with the IRS,” Dr. Carson said in an interview Thursday with The Washington Times. “But it certainly would make one suspicious because we know now the IRS has been used for political purposes and therefore actions like this come under suspicion.”

Dr. Carson is a world-renown neurosurgeon whose rise from poverty and a single family home, and his medical work with pediatric patients was celebrated in a movie called “Gifted Hands.”

He has electrified the conservative world with speeches and columns since his February National Prayer Breakfast speech in front of Mr. Obama, in which he decried the “moral decay and fiscal irresponsibility” of America in recent years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

It is Time to Veto Obama

Here is the bottom line for some of you slow 50-yard line thinkers. The Progressive Democrats and establishment Republicans directly caused the Government shut down because they were not willing to negotiate with the House at all. The House was willing to talk delays with the Senate and Obama instead of only defunding but the negotiation door was slammed shut. No talk— no delay…all Obama’s way or nothing.

Obama and the progressives in the Senate continue their blame fest and disinformation campaign. Obama screams with his dictatorship tonsils that he will VETO all ‘piecemeal’ appropriation bills that the House is now putting together to keep Government essentials going. Notice that it is the House working on Sundays not the Senate to try and keep things going. It is the House putting together small and quick bills to fund national parks, National Institutes of Health and to pay the National Guard and military reserves.

In response, Obama promises to VETO every funding bill the House passes to him. All because the Narcissist n’ Chief isn’t getting his supreme way with ObamaCare. Obama and the Senate know ObamaCare is an unaffordable failure only causing harm to the nation. That is exactly what Obama intended to do— cause harm to our nation and force the desperate masses to his one payer system—the final control dragon.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Meet the Drone That Can Fly for Five Years

With a wingspan of 164ft and weight of 500lbs, the solar rechargeable “solara” can fly at 65,000 ft for five years at a time.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Invites Boehner Over to Tell Him He Will Not Negotiate

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said President Barack Obama told congressional leaders at a White House meeting Wednesday “he will not negotiate.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Police Suspect Dental Hygienist Miriam Carey Was Behind the Wheel of Capitol Chase

She had a toddler with her, confounding everyone who watched her black sedan crash through barriers and lead police through the heart of high-security Washington.

Law enforcement officials said the Infiniti was registered to a young mother named Miriam Carey, a 34-year-old dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn. They believe it was Carey, with her 1-year-old daughter sitting behind her, who flattened barricades outside the White House, striking officers and then leading others on a high-speed pursuit up Constitution Avenue. D.C.

Police confirmed that the driver was shot and killed after careening around the Capitol grounds and crashing at Second Street NE. There was no sign that she was armed, police said.

Video images showed a young child, her hair in braids, being carried by an officer to the back of a patrol car…

[Return to headlines]
 

Shots Fired in Front of U.S. Capitol

At 2:18 p.m. this afternoon, law enforcement reported according to NBC News, a woman in a black Lexus attempted to drive through White House security barriers at 15th St. and E. The black Lexus sped up Constitution Avenue toward the Capitol, according to a tourist who witnessed the incident. The witness related that gunfire rang out.

According to Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), he was moving across from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office building when he saw police running up Constitution Avenue on motorcycles. Casey related, “Within seconds of that, we heard three, four, five pops.” Overall, the female driver was chased for approximately 12 blocks before she crashed into a Capitol Police vehicle at Second St. and Constitution Ave., then continued along until she slammed into barricades near the US Capitol. When her car stopped, she reportedly opened fire before being shot and killed. The Associated Press reported that according to Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer, the woman “had a child with her.”

The Associated Press reported, according to Bradley Klapper and Laurie Kellman of the Associated Press, that a police officer had been shot outside the US Capitol during the incident. Police say that the shooting was not terrorism.

Police ordered passersby and people in the Capitol and Supreme Court to find shelter. Within two minutes, everyone outside had been shifted to the Capitol. The Capitol was then put on lockdown, with Capitol Police wary in the aftermath of the Navy Yard shooting two weeks ago during which a civilian contractor for the Navy opened fire with a shotgun, killing 13. The Associated Press reported, “As a warning was sounded, the House abruptly went into recess and lawmakers left the chamber floor. The Senate also suspended business.” The Republican House had just finished passing a bill that would have paid National Guard and Reserve members.

[Return to headlines]
 

Stunt at WW II Memorial Shows More Evidence Obama is a Thug

Imagine you are a veteran of World War II approaching your 90th birthday. This may be your last opportunity to visit the memorial that was erected to honor your service. You have come to your nation’s Capital, only to find that your president has ordered that memorial barricaded to keep you out.

As a teenager, you jumped off a landing craft into the surf at Omaha Beach and watched as your buddies were cut to pieces in the sand. Or maybe you endured the horrors of Iwo Jima or Guadalcanal battling the Japanese in the Pacific.

You did your duty, endured the horrors of war, and miraculously survived it all to come home, asking only for the opportunity to start a family, perhaps build a business, and generally enjoy the liberties you had fought so hard to defend. You paid taxes all your life to support your government.

So why would the Obama administration choose to close your memorial? Because it was calculated that it might be useful to this man’s propaganda campaign to convince the American people that the current government “shutdown” is the fault of the opposing political party. It’s as simple as that. And yes, he really is that petty…

It is long past time for the American people to embrace the reality that Barack Obama is a Chicago street thug in a thousand dollar suit. He is ruthless, arrogant, imperious, and filled with disdain not only for those who oppose him but also for the ignorant voters who put him in office. Anyone who would deign to work for his administration has sworn allegiance to an ideology that is anathema to the Founders of this country and the Constitution they crafted.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tom Clancy Questioned 9/11

Iconic author Tom Clancy questioned the Bush administration’s claim that they knew nothing about the 9/11 plot in advance because he had written a book 7 years beforehand based around that very premise, his co-author Steve Pieczenik told the Alex Jones Show.

[…]

Pieczenik said that Clancy finished a book before his death which revolves around the slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and that this will be published soon.

[Watch for Hollywood to recast the “bad guys” as they did in “The Sum of All Fears”.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Twitter Discloses Its I.P.O. Plans

Twitter has taken the cover off its initial public offering, making public its prospectus and setting the clock on one of the most anticipated stock sales of the year.

Twitter’s prospectus — whose filing was initially disclosed in a 135-character post on its own service last month — offers the fullest look yet at the privately held company.

With the regulatory filing late on Thursday, Twitter now has about three weeks until it kicks off a road show to potential investors across the country, in what is expected to be a series of standing-room-only meetings.

[Return to headlines]
 

War Vets Show the World True Face Behind Obama Mask

Cruel, self-centered and cold-hearted president

In the end history will remember that it was the league of grandfathers and great grandfathers with time-creased faces—35,000 World War II veterans who dropped the mask on a cruel, self-centered and cold-hearted president, showing the world for once and for all who President Barack Obama really is.

Not only did Obama personally have barricaded the War Memorial the vets came to Washington, D.C. to honour, his government shutdown closed the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial where tourists travelling to Omaha Beach come to pay their respects to the 9,387 military dead.

“The site overlooking the D-Day invasion beaches is one of 24 U.S. military cemeteries overseas that have closed to visitors since Monday. Ten more cemeteries in France, as well as others in various European countries as well as Mexico, Panama, Tunisia and the Philippines, will remain closed for the duration of the shutdown.” (AP, Oct. 2, 2013)

Honouring the war dead is anathema to Marxists on the rise.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Who Do They Think They Are?

School officials in Virginia Beach, VA, recently suspended a 12-year-old boy for playing with a plastic toy gun… at home. They’re even thinking of expelling him for the whole year—for playing with a toy gun, at home. If he’d been playing with a little girl’s undies, they would have given him an “A.” Especially if the girl was still wearing them.

When I reported this story on my blog, “Your Public Schools at Work…Again,” Sept. 24), readers contacted me to ask, “Who do these ‘educators’ think they are?”

You can find out exactly who they think they are.

They think they are “change agents.” You know—puffed-up fat-heads who want to change the world, never mind that no one asked them to. Just search that simple phrase on your computer, and you’ll be amazed by what you find. Go ahead—try it today.

By way of one example, you’ll find a blog actually named “Teachers as Change Agents.” It belongs to the New York Collective of Radical Teachers. Does that name set off any little warning bells?

The blog has links to all sorts of crazy teacher blogs, including one by domestic terrorist Bell Ayres, now an honored “educator,” and friend and mentor to the big change agent in the White House.

What do they want so much to change? It ain’t their sheets and pillowcases. They want to change America. The most effective way to do it, they believe, is by befouling children’s minds.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman in Washington Shooting is Dead, Law Enforcement Officials Say

Law enforcement officers shot and killed a woman who had been chased in her car from the White House, law enforcement officials said.

The woman, whom the authorities did not identify, had “attempted to pass a barricade” near the White House, said Kim Dine, the chief of the Capitol Police, and struck an officer in the process.

Despite attempts by Secret Service officers to pull her over, she sped away from the White House, officials said.

Chief Dine said that the woman’s vehicle, a black Infiniti, also struck a police car on Capitol Hill before it crashed into a barricade. Shots were fired, the woman was struck and the authorities took her to a hospital.

A young child was found in the car, the authorities said. It was not clear whether the woman was armed when the authorities fired on her.

“We have no information that this is related to terrorism or is anything other than an isolated incident,” Chief Dine said.

[Return to headlines]
 

Woman With Baby Rams Gates Near White House; America Freaks Out

Given the fact that not so long ago, the United States faced down the threat of imminent nuclear war, you’d think the mainstream media would put the threat posed by a woman ramming some gates near the White House in some kind of perspective.

Instead, the incident prompted a contrived freak out with alarmist rolling news coverage which went from characterizing the incident as a potential terror attack with attendant gun battle to clarifying that it was in fact a mentally disturbed woman with a baby who tried to ram some gates somewhere near the White House. It is now confirmed that the woman was unarmed and police were responsible for firing all of the shots.

The woman was killed at the scene, according to reports. The child was unharmed.

“We have no information that this is related to terrorism or is anything other than an isolated incident,” US capitol police chief, Kim Dine later acknowledged.

The urgency and hand-wringing freak out that followed courtesy of the network news media once again underscores how the corporate press thrives on turning comparatively minor criminal incidents into crises of apocalyptic proportions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Yellowstone Supervolcano Alert: The Most Dangerous Volcano in America is Roaring to Life

Right now, the ground underneath Yellowstone National Park is rising at a record rate. In fact, it is rising at the rate of about three inches per year. The reason why this is such a concern is because underneath the park sits the Yellowstone supervolcano — the largest volcano in North America. Scientists tell us that it is inevitable that it will erupt again one day, and when it does the devastation will be almost unimaginable.

Image: Yellowstone Volcano.

A full-blown eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano would dump a 10 foot deep layer of volcanic ash up to 1,000 miles away, and it would render much of the United States uninhabitable. When most Americans think of Yellowstone, they tend to conjure up images of Yogi Bear and “Old Faithful”, but the truth is that sleeping underneath Yellowstone is a volcanic beast that could destroy our nation in a single day and now that beast is starting to wake up.

The Yellowstone supervolcano is so vast that it is hard to put it into words. According to the Daily Mail, the magma “hotspot” underneath Yellowstone is approximately 300 miles wide

When most Americans think of volcanic eruptions in the United States, they remember the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens back in 1980. But that eruption would not even be worth comparing to a full-blown eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano.

And now the area around Yellowstone is becoming increasingly seismically active. In fact, Professor Bob Smith says that he has never seen anything like this in the 53 years that he has been watching Yellowstone

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Man Dies From Tick Bite

A man has died months after being bitten by a tick in the Mühlviertel region of Austria. The 53-year-old family father from Neumarkt im Mühlkreis died after not waking from the coma he was in.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: 15 Years Prison for Rape of Woman in Park

Four men who brutally raped a woman and filmed the attack have each been sentenced to 13 to 15 years in prison by a court in Graz, Styria.

The 40-year-old woman who had been drinking on the night of the attack remembered the video being made of her attack. The defendants, two Indians, a Pakistani and a Turkish man aged between 23 and 33 years old were caught months after the attack after DNA at the scene linked them. One of the men in the meantime had been in court on charges of attempted murder.

The group of men passed the blame amongst themselves. The video had been taken on a mobile phone.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cyprus: Islamic Hotel to be Built in Occupied Area

(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, OCTOBER 3 — A conservative hotel specialized for women who cover or veil themselves due to their Islamic believes is going to be built in the area of Cyprus under Turkish military occupation since 1974, Famagusta Gazette reports today quoting Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi. The news on the issue was published in the weekly Economist magazine in Turkey. According to the publication, the hotel which will have a 1.700-person bed capacity will be constructed by the Turkish Bulut Constructions firm which is known for undertaking various projects both in Turkey and in the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark: Forced Removal of Children From Criminal Families Proposed

Leading members of Venstre back up their Odense mayoral candidate who called for the removal and subsequent adoption of children born into persistently criminal families

Venstre’s mayoral candidate in Odense, Jane Jegind, wants to forcibly remove children from families with persistently criminal backgrounds and put them up for adoption. She pointed to figures from Odense Council that show that 40 percent of the criminals living in the city’s Vollsmose ghetto came from, or were controlled by, only two families.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: In Golden Dawn’s Lair

Mediapart Paris

Although it claims allegiance to the Military Junta [1967-74] and is hostile to trade unions, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party is gaining ground in working class districts, where it has struck a chord with the primary victims of a never ending crisis. A French journalist reports from Piraeus, where unemployment and misery are grist to the Golden Dawn’s mill. Excerpts.

Amélie Poinssot

On Tsaldani Street in Keratsini, in front of a bakery, someone has laid fresh flowers. It was on this street that, in the early hours of the morning of September 18, a young rapper, Pavlos Fyssas, was murdered by a member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.

Pavlos’ murder, although it shocked public opinion and revealed — if need be — the criminal nature of the neo-Nazi organisation, was part of an planned strategy. For several months, the party, which is founded on nostalgia for the Military Junta, has attempted to spread terror and to gain ground in the Piraeus region, in the working class suburbs and trade union bastions that are today stricken by the collapse of the naval industry and by the economic crisis. In Keratsini, Nikaia and Perama, three neighbouring communities, where the unemployment rate is over 40 per cent, most of the men used to work in the dockyards or in the metal industry.

The Communist-affiliated union, the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME), ruled over hiring practices; it had the power to defend the workers and their working conditions. In the naval yards, a day’s work was paid €100 and work was never scarce. But at the end of 2008, everything went haywire. Employers began to relocate to Turkey, Cyprus or China. Work days became less common, the union dug in its heels to maintain the same level of wages and working conditions but was unable to make the employers renew the previously-bargained collective agreements. Most of the workers soon found themselves unemployed.

Simplistic explanations and promises

Four years later, the rate of pay for what little work there is the dockyards is less than half of what it used to be, several key businesses have shut down and jobless workers, after one year of obtaining benefits, are no longer eligible for unemployment or even healthcare payments. “Many hold the unions responsible for this situation, and behind them the Communist Party,” says Takis Karayanakis, a former union official who used to work in the Perama yards. Golden Dawn, with its virulent anti-communism and its rejection of the political system, “expresses the disarray, the frustration, of these people who have lost everything,” he says…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Bill Paves Way for Building in Forests

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, SEPTEMBER 19 — A draft law put to public consultation by the Greek Environment Ministry Wednesday relaxes the restriction on building in public and private forests, even if they are considered protected areas, as daily kathimerini reports. The bill, which will be available to the public for eight days, introduces a number of changes that allow the development of forestland. Under the would-be legislation, hotels would be able to expand into forested areas and new tourism developments such as golf courses and spas could be constructed. This builds on a 2011 amendment that allowed 10% of forestland to be used for similar purposes. The bill forbids the installation of photovoltaic panels in forests but allows areas to be used for recycling building material and creating dairy or livestock farms.

The legislation also benefits mining companies, which no longer have to pay for the use of the entire area they mine but only the surface area affected. It has been common practice for governments to declare reforestations in forested areas that have been damaged by wildfires but the bill allows this process to be suspended, therefore allowing construction to take place, if authorities deem that the aim of the reforestation has been achieved. Similarly, reforestation will not take place after a wildfire if approval has been given earlier for construction to take place in the forested area in question. After public consultation, the bill will be put to a vote in Parliament, where the coalition holds 155 of the 300 seats.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Pompeii Tombs for Sale

Character property for sale, exceptional condition given age. Many original features and prestigious location. No chain.

Are you a bit of a collector? Not satisfied with visiting ancient monuments but feel a need to acquire them? Or perhaps you are looking for an original gift for someone who really does have everything. What would you say to a couple of Roman tombs, the genuine article? And these are not just any Roman tombs, they are associated with one of the most evocative names from the ancient world: Pompeii. If you have some spare cash, a unique opportunity may be about to come your way. Sotheby’s and another international auction house have been contacted about the possibility of selling two of the city’s tombs at auction.

The city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD has been in the news many times this year due to fears that the remains preserved for almost two millennia by volcanic ash are now crumbling under the weight of tourist feet and institutional neglect. But this time it is a site outside the walls that is the centre of a row.

Like all Roman cities, most of the major roads leading out of Pompeii were lined with necropolises. The majority of the major sites were discovered and excavated long ago, but two tombs outside the Stabian Gate had remained hidden beneath an orange grove. And it is these that could soon be under the hammer.

The tombs have been at the heart of a legal battle for around a decade. In 1999 the Archaeological Superintendent for Naples and Pompeii claimed the right to occupy the 1,400 square meters of gardens around Signora Antonietta Nunziata’s villa while excavations were carried out. The signora’s lawyer told the ANSA news agency that the occupation was supposed to last for a year, but the period was then renewed twice. The now 82-year-old has been fighting to get her land back ever since. She finally seemed to have won in July, when the regional court of Campania decided in her favour and awarded her €151,000 in compensation. On Thursday the Archaeological Superintendent’s office finally coughed up, but only €103,000 of what was owed. What is more, the landowner is now responsible for preserving, protecting and restoring the archaeological remains among her orange trees. Signora Antonietta had had enough and instructed her lawyer to contact the auction houses.

The authorities are not happy and claim the delays in settling the matter were caused by Signora Nunziata haggling over the amount of compensation she was owed. Hopefully, the threat of such an important part of Roman history ending up in private, possibly foreign, hands will concentrate minds and finally bring the dispute to an end. If not, start saving up for that once in a lifetime purchase.

Twitter @viewfromRome

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Mayor of Pompei Charged With Malfeasance

(AGI) Naples — Pompei’s Mayor Claudio D’Alessio, who heads a centre-left coalition, has been charged with malfeasance.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy to Deploy Military Against Anti-TGV Protests

(AGI) Chiomonte (Turin), Sept 25 — When necessary, the military will be deployed against protests targeting the construction of a high-speed train line (TGV) in the northern Susa Valley, said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano while visiting the construction site.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Minorities: Sweden’s Shameful Secret

Sydsvenskan Malmö

The recent revelations about the police registry of Roma lifts the veil on the persecutions the Roma have been subjected to down through history — and the discrimination they are still facing today. The revelations call into question the state of integration into Swedish society and the image the Swedes have of their own country.

Rakel Chukri

In January 2011 [Sweden’s] Minister of Integration, Erik Ullenhag, decided to publish a white paper “on the aggression and abuse suffered by Roma in Sweden in the 20th Century”.

Ullenhag got straight to the point in his talk: “Throughout history the Roma have been victims of unacceptable abuse, such as forced sterilisation and being deprived of the right to educate their children. If we want to move forward, it is important that we draw a line under that, and that the state recognise the wrongs that have been committed.”

Honestly, what does the broader Swedish public know about these injustices? Throughout Europe, as well, there has been an alarming spread of prejudice — and resentment — against the Roma. In Hungary, citizen militias have murdered Roma while the police have remained indifferent. In other countries, the Roma are victims of virulent discrimination in employment and housing.

This is the backdrop to any analysis of the Dagens Nyheter’s revelations of the Roma registry in Sweden. Once more, a vulnerable group is reminded of its unwanted special treatment.

The Roma ‘threat’

It is difficult to imagine a plausible explanation for registering two-year old children — unless Swedish police want to see original sin written into the legislation. In this case, when was the crime committed? When their parents failed to come up with the right family name? Erik Ullenhag seems to have no reason to postpone the publication of the white paper…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Whalers Take Bumper Catch

Norwegian whale hunters announced a big increase in their annual catch on Wednesday, spearing nearly 600 whales over the summer.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spanish Cathedral Evacuated After Explosion

MADRID, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — Security authorities on Wednesday evacuated a cathedral in northeastern Spain which is one of the country’s most popular religious and tourist attractions, after a device exploded inside the cathedral, causing some damage but no injuries. The explosion took place at around 13:45 local time at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pilar in the city of Zaragoza. An previously unknown anarchist group named “Comando Insurreccionalista Mateo Moral” has claimed responsibility for the incident. The explosion occurred just three days before the city’s yearly Pilar festival, which attracts tens of thousands of people.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘The Fox’ Is Norway’s Second Ever US Top 10

Norway’s Ylvis brothers have gone where only A-ha has gone before, with their electropop hit ‘The Fox’ making the US’s Billboard top-ten list in an update on Wednesday. ‘The Fox’ became the second Norwegian song ever to make the list, after it leapt from 13th to 8th place. The feat was last achieved by A-ha’s ‘Take on Me’ back in 1985.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘It Was Like Watching Grand Theft Auto’: Dramatic Moment Three Pedestrians Were Knocked Over by Speeding Driver Who Wanted to Kill in Revenge Attack (Video)

[WARNING: Disturbing video]

Three pedestrians were struck by a car in a deliberate Grand Theft Auto-style revenge attack, a shocking video revealed today.

The friends — one of them partially blind — were crossing the road after a night out in Manchester city centre when the Vauxhall Corsa was used as a lethal weapon to knock them over ‘like skittles’.

Aqab Hussain, 21 — who was today convicted of four counts of attempted murder — – drove straight into the victims, who were hurled through the air, before he sped off and left them for dead.

Eyewitness Corey Gordon, 26, who watched the attack from inside his car, later compared it to a sequence from the violent computer game series in which users play the role of car thieves.

He said: ‘It was like ten pin bowling where you hit the skittles and they go up in the air. I can only describe it as unreal — a computer game like Grand Theft Auto — as he swerved off line to hit the men. It knocked one of the men at least 7ft into the air.’

Hussain even wobbled his vehicle so he could shake off one of the men who was still on the bonnet, Manchester Crown Court was told.

It left Michael Ward, 28, — who was already partially sighted — with skull fractures. He spent 20 days in intensive care after emergency brain surgery and is now paralysed on his right side.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Bullied Schoolboy, 16, ‘Plotted British Columbine-Style Massacre Targeting Schools, Mosques, Cinemas and 19 Teachers and Pupils’

A schoolboy plotted to carry out a ‘new Columbine massacre’ — bombing schools, a university, mosque and cinema, a court heard yesterday.

The neo-Nazi fanatic stockpiled an arsenal of weapons at his home in Loughborough, including pipe bombs, petrol bombs, air rifles and a crossbow in preparation for a wave of atrocities, the Old Bailey heard.

The boy, who was 16 when he was arrested, is accused of planning to unleash terror at a sixth-form college where he was studying A-levels and a former school where he had been bullied…

On a later recording he said: “How the **** could anyone treat a fellow person like people’s treated me. That’s a question you want to be asking, that’s what drives people to do this. Look at all the ******* things in the past … Columbine, Virginia Tech, numbers of others. All because of bullying and how people are treated.’…

The teenager, who is now 17, cannot be named for legal reasons, had a giant swastika flag above his bed and was a member of the extremist English Defence League…

The notebook contained essays on his apparent hatred of Muslims.

He allegedly wrote: ‘There’s too many Muslims in the UK and Europe, so we must stop them coming over here and send the ones already over here back home before they take over European governments and put Sharia Law in place.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Conservative Conference: UKIP and Thatcher Give David Cameron a Headache

‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead,” scream the protesters as they file past the Midland hotel in Manchester. It is a cruel greeting for the Conservative party as it gathers in this most un-Tory city. “Filth, you’re a waste of space, a waste of oxygen,” they shout at the shiny young delegates as they pass. I suggest to a policeman that this constitutes intimidation, especially the bloke in the “Kill Tory scum” T-shirt who is filming people as they enter the secure zone. “We have to protect people’s right to protest, but it’s a fine line,” he admits…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: How Typically Hypocritical of the Left, Who Danced on the Grave of Mrs Thatcher, To be Upset About Debate Over Red Ed’s Marxist Father

Listening to Ed Miliband and his henchmen in the BBC and elsewhere, you would think that this newspaper was guilty of a smear against his late father unprecedented in the annals of human history.

Some hysterical commentators have suggested that the Right in British politics is well-versed in throwing rotten cabbages at its opponents, dead and alive, whereas the virtuous Left never said a nasty thing about anyone.

Of course, in asserting in a headline that the Marxist academic Ralph Miliband ‘hated Britain’, the Mail was merely offering its interpretation of the facts. Others, including some of his friends and Ed Miliband, have a different interpretation.

But I would not have thought it the most damning or surprising suggestion in the world that a Marxist internationalist might regard this country’s institutions with a jaundiced eye. His utterings bear this out.

Compare the Left’s reaction to this supposedly disgraceful smear to its response to the death of Margaret Thatcher in April. The former Prime Minister was put through the mangle in a way Miliband senior certainly has not been.

Her body was barely cold, and her distraught family were mourning her, as various Lefties poured out their bile.

After Lady Thatcher’s death, Ed Miliband was relatively statesmanlike in his remarks in the Commons. Good for him. But a photograph taken nearly two years earlier shows him with his arm around a Labour councillor, Keir Morrison, who is wearing a T-shirt on which these words are emblazoned: ‘A Generation Of Trade Unionists Will Dance On Thatcher’s Grave.’

Mr Miliband must surely have seen this inscription, and yet was happy to put his arm around Mr Morrison. Both men are grinning in the photograph. Perhaps they are amused by the idea of dancing on Lady Thatcher’s grave.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Interpal and Uthman Lateef

It is hard to imagine a less suitable speaker for charity fundraising events than the extremist preacher Uthman Lateef. Unless we’re talking about Interpal, of course. Lateef is perfect for the Hamas supporters of Interpal and helped them raise funds just ten days ago, as he has on other occasions in the past. (Click images in this post to enlarge them.)

Readers will remember that Lateef repeatedly appeared at Islamic conferences alongside al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki right up to 2009, when Awlaki had broadcast his allegiance to al-Qaeda for all to see. You can read about those nasty moves and more of Lateef’s past exploits here and here.

Lateef hasn’t changed since those posts. Not at all. In recent weeks he has hailed one terrorist after another on his Facebook wall. Consider this

[…]

[[Reader comment by Stephen Rothbart on 1 October 2013.]

I don’t know why anyone is surprised about this. Other than the two Americans banned by Teresa May during the summer from coming to the UK to talk about people like this, who seem to literally get away with hate crimes on a daily basis.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Muslim Pupils, 14, Banned From the Classroom at Catholic School for Refusing to Shave Off Their Beards After Claiming Their Religion Forbids it

Two teenage Muslim pupils have been put into ‘isolation’ and banned from lessons after refusing to shave off their beards for religious reasons.

Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School, in Accrington, Lancashire, has said the two 14-year-olds are in breach of the dress code, which bans beards as well as false nails, fake tan, make-up, dyed hair and inappropriate jewellery.

But the boys’ families have said they are suffering discrimination because beards are a symbol of faith and their religion forbids them to shave.

The school has said after conducting its own research it has concluded they are not required by the Koran to wear beards, and are making a choice to do so. The school remains adamant they will not be allowed to go back until the matter is resolved.

Around a third of the 750 pupils at Mount Carmel are from ethnic minorities, mostly Pakistani, according to the 2012 Ofsted report.

Xavier Bowers, head teacher at the school, said governors had decided no exceptions could be made to the uniform policy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Muslim Supermarket Workers Win Discrimination Case Against Tesco After Bosses Locked Their Prayer Room and Made Them Sign in and Out

Two Muslim Tesco workers have won a discrimination case against the supermarket after bosses kept their prayer room locked.

Abdirisak Aden and Mahamed Hasan, both aged 27, were among a number of devout Muslim employees who had lobbied for a prayer room since 2006.

In 2008 managers agreed to set aside a security office at the distribution depot in Crick, Northamptonshire, as a prayer room for Muslims.

But in 2012 bosses set new restrictions on the use of the room which included keeping it locked when it was not in use.

Muslim workers were forced to tell managers when they were going to pray and had to ask for the key and fill in their names in a book every time they entered the room.

They also claimed they were forbidden to worship in groups and were only allowed to pray one at a time.

Mr Aden and Mr Hasan took the supermarket giant to a tribunal claiming discrimination on the grounds of their religion.

Bedford Employment Tribunal found Tesco was guilty of indirect discrimination and awarded the men an undisclosed sum for ‘injury to their feelings’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: UKIP is a Racist Party, Says Heseltine

The UK Independence Party is racist, Lord Heseltine claimed today.

The Conservative peer said “we have seen Ukips before”, as he drew parallels with Enoch Powell in the 1960s and politicians such as Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Lord Heseltine, who advises the Coalition on economic growth, told the BBC: “Of course it’s racist, who doubts that? Farage isn’t racist but his party is very attractive to a racist agenda.”…

[Reader comment by Maria21 on 3 October 2013 at about 8 am.]

Thank you Heseltine — another few hundred thousand more votes for UKIP. Not that many people would take any notice of a treasonous old twxt like you!

Love Maria — A women “of some form of ethnic extraction” and proud to be British

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Removes Wall Barricading Downtown Cairo

The Egyptian authorities removed on Wednesday one of the security walls, located in Qasr al-Aini street, which had been built by the military in downtown Cairo to prevent recurring confrontations from reaching state buildings. Army bulldozers began removing one of the concrete wall to reduce traffic congestion in this crowded part of the city. In November 2011, the military erected a number of cement walls following a series of violent clashes between security forces and protesters, which are better known as the Cabinet and Mohamed Mahmoud clashes…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Russian Embassy in Libya Attacked

MOSCOW, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — The Russian embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli was attacked on Wednesday evening, with no injuries reported among diplomatic mission so far, the Foreign Ministry said. A group of unidentified gunmen fired at the embassy and attempted to penetrate its territory, the Itar-Tass news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying. “According to preliminary available reports, no employees of the Russian diplomatic mission were hurt,” the spokesman said.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia Blocks Ansar Al-Sharia Websites

The Tunisian interior ministry blocked access to websites and social network accounts that could be used by Ansar al-Sharia, Tunisie Numerique reported on Monday (September 30th). The disabled sites include Facebook accounts that published information on the banned salafist movement and the activities of security services. On August 27th, Prime Minister Abu Iyadh officially designated Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organisation tied to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Gulf Nations Top Up Egyptian Coffers

Qatar’s offer rejected; Kuwait sends USD 2 billion

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 26 — Egypt’s central bank has received the two-billion-dollar deposit promised by Kuwait, after the seven billion received from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait following the July ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, reported central bank governor Hisham Ramez. Ramez said that foreign currency reserves stood at 19 billion dollars in August, rendering the country’s financial position “stable”. The funds, which came from Gulf states after Morsi’s ouster, will be of immense help to the struggling state coffers of Egypt after it decided last week to refuse the two billion dollars offered by Qatar. Relations have grown more strained between the two countries since Morsi was taken out of power, since Qatar is considered to be one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s major supporters in Egypt, while other Gulf monarchies have long been hostile to the movement.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy-S.Arabia: Disaccord on Women and Death Penalty, Bonino

FM hopes gap between positions can be narrowed soon

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 3 — Foreign Minister Emma Bonino said Thursday before meeting with her Saudi counterpart Saud Al-Faisal that the two countries still diverge on their positions as concerns women’s rights and the death penalty. The comment was made just prior to the Italy-Saudi Arabia forum underway at the Italian Senate.

However, the minister said that she hoped the differences could soon be narrowed, noting that the Saudi government had already initiated reform.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Qatar 2022: After the Massacre of Migrants Kathmandu Recalls Its Ambassador

From the poorest villages of Nepal to the yards Doha 2022 host of the next World Cup; Qatar promotes a modern form of slavery. More than one million migrants ‘ trapped ‘ in the country: thousands are Nepalese.

Kathmandu ( AsiaNews) — In the face of inhuman living conditions imposed on foreign workers in Qatar , the authorities in Kathmandu yesterday decided to withdraw its ambassador from Doha .. “We recalled our diplomatic representative following a controversy over his ability to work — said Madhay Poudel , government spokesman — he was unable to protect and promote the interests of our people in Qatar .”

In a survey carried out by the British newspaper The Guardian, the country is described as the worst place in which a Nepalese can emigrate to find work. Between 4 June and 8 August this year , at least 44 foreign workers have died from heart problems or accidents in the workplace and the trend is clearly worsening since FIFA has decided to award the 2022 edition of the World Cup to Doha. They are 4 thousand immigrants who have already lost their lives in the building yards of Doha , 2022. “ We are using all our diplomatic channels — added Poudel — if the situation gets worse we will take measures after talking with the Qatari authorities .”

The country has well-established system of kafala (or sponsor) , under which a migrant workers are deprived of their passport and submissive to their employer. They are subject to minimum wages, inhuman hours and working patterns. Without the permission of their ‘ sponsors ‘ they can not resign , leave the country or file a complaint in case of abuse , under penalty of arrest or deportation. These are just some of the most dramatic aspects of a form of modern slavery which now traps more than a million people. The 75 billion dollars of investment planned for the World Cup in 2022 — already agreed on with major Western and Brazilian companies — have only encouraged this trend ..

FIFA , which will meet in Zurich on October 3 , nonetheless is trying to reassure international public opinion expressing its will to fight this trend : “The health , safety and dignity of every employee who contributes to the creation of the infrastructure for the next world cup is a priority of our committee — it said in a statement that appeared on the BBC on behalf of the organizers — we want to ensure that the event will be an example of sustainable development and will help to improve the working conditions of migrants in the country. “

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Qatar Erects 5-Meter-High ‘Head Butt’ Statue of Zidane

Depicts player fighting with Materazzi

(ANSAmed) — DOHA — A five-metre-high statue of French footballer Zinedina Zidane as he gives a head-butt to the Italian Marco Materazzi was put up on the Qatar seafront Thursday morning. The scene is taken from fighting between the two players during the 2006 World Cup that led to the red card for Zidane and — at the end of the match — Italy’s win. The statue “Coup de Tête” (“Head Butt”) by the Algerian artist Adel Abdessemed was purchased by the Qatar Museums Authority to be put up on the Corniche on Doha’s main bay. “It’s a huge sculpture, and it’s done in the same style as Greek Mythological statues, but this glorifies human defects instead. It shows that although we sometimes treat footballers like gods, they’re not — they’re just human beings,” Jean Paul Engelen, QMA’s director of Public Art, told Doha News.

Immediately after the installation of the statue was announced, controversial comments and criticism appeared online.

“I am somewhat bewildered at the choice of subjects. Talk about applauding violence,” reads one comment on the Doha News site. Some also say that this statue shows the worst side of football, in a country slated to host the 2022 World Cup but which does not yet have a consolidated sports culture.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Wave From Syria: Flow of Refugees Destabilizes Lebanon

The war in Syria and its wave of refugees is destabilizing and overwhelming Lebanon. Now there are fears the hundreds of thousands of newcomers will never want to leave, and the sectarian conflict will worsen.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Waiter Jailed for Double Murder

A Turkish waiter who murdered two Co Down women in a frenzied knife attack must spend a maximum of 30 years in jail for the brutal double murder, it has emerged…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Greenpeace Activist Charged With Piracy

Greenpeace accuses the Russian government of overreacting after it charges activists with piracy after they attempted to board a Gazprom oil rig.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Milestone in Floating Nuclear Power Plant Development

By Diarmaid Williams

Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant has moved a step closer to completion after the two reactors were installed on the Akademik Lomonosov in St Petersburg. The milestone event saw the first 220-tonne steam generating unit — including a 35 MWe KLT-40S reactors placed in the vessel’s reactor compartment at the Baltiysky Zavod-Shipbuilding shipyard in St Petersburg.

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Stalin’s Gulags and His Left Wing British Apologists

The Gulag Archipelago, by the Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn, is one of the greatest books of the 20th century.

It begins by describing the notorious Kolyma prison camps in the farthermost north-eastern corner of Siberia.

The camps were the Soviet gulags at their worst, where temperatures dropped below minus 50f — colder than at the North Pole.

The Kolyma region had been chosen because of its gold mines, and the Communist leaders forced skeletal and ill-clad prisoners to produce 80,000 kg of refined gold.

This was the mainstay of Stalin’s economy. Almost every kilogram cost a human life.

The camps, which were built in the late 1940s by the inmates themselves, often in the middle of nowhere, were surrounded with barbed wire and watchtowers.

Provided that prisoners were shot so that their feet faced towards the perimeter fence, guards could claim their deaths were the result of an escape attempt.

These gulags (the Russian acronym for ‘Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps and Colonies’) signified the whole Soviet slave labour system — a regime that reached its deadly peak under Stalin’s despotic rule and saw millions of men and women transported to Siberia and other outposts of the Red empire.

These horrific camps — there were more than 2,000 in total — had a joint economic and punitive purpose, whose prevailing philosophy was: ‘We have to squeeze everything out of a prisoner in the first three months; after that, we don’t need him any more.’

This dark penal empire existed from 1929 to 1960, during which period 14 million people were incarcerated.

[…]

Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb.

They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision.’

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12 Killed, 8 Injured in Suicide Attack in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) — At least 12 militants were killed and eight others injured on Thursday morning in a suicide attack in Pakistan’s northwestern district of Hangu, local media reported. According to the reports, the incident took place when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the central building of a militant group Mullah Nabi Hanfi in Tul area of Hangu district…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

India: Mumbai: Catholic Church Desecrated

Unknown looters desecrated the sacrament of the Church of St. Joseph in Juhu, to steal the monstrance and ciborium, both gold-plated. In his homily for the Mass auxiliary bishop asks the faithful to “pray for the guilty and invoke the mercy of God.”

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — A group of unknown persons desecrated the church of St. Joseph in Juhu (Mumbai), more specifically the Sacrament located in the Adoration Chapel. The fact was discovered yesterday at 5 o’clock in the morning when the priest found the open tabernacle, some consecrated hosts scattered on the ground and the box with the offerings unhinged and empty. Even the monstrance and ciborium — containing the sacred species — were taken away. The police are still on the trail of the culprits.

On the same day Msgr. John Rodrigues, the new auxiliary bishop of Mumbai, celebrated a Mass of reparation. During the homily, the prelate urged the faithful to “pray for those who committed this act and invoke the mercy of God.”

“It was clearly a theft — the parish priest, Fr. Vincent D’Mello explains to AsiaNews — because the monstrance in the chapel of Adoration and the ciborium of the tabernacle that is in the church are gold-plated. Even the consecrated hosts contained in the ciborium were stolen, we have found some in a corner of the parish. “

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

India: Pogrom in Orissa: Life Imprisonment for Seven Innocent Christians

Retired bishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar promises: “We will appeal”. The convicted men are accused of the murder of a Hindu leader, which triggered the anti-Christian violence of 2008. Against them there is no evidence. The Maoists have always claimed reponsibility for the assassination.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Condemned to life imprisonment: this is the ruling issued today by a court in Orissa against seven innocent Christians, accused without evidence of the murder of Hindu leader Laxamananda Saraswati, whose death triggered the violent anti-Christian pogroms of 2008. The immediate reaction of Mons. Raphael Cheenath, retired archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar: “We will appeal to the High Court against the unfair and unacceptable verdict”. “The Maoists”, he said to AsiaNews, “have twice claimed responsibility for the murder of the Swami Laxamananda and his four followers”.

After dozens of postponements and sham trials, on October 1 the judges of the regular Session Court of Phulbani condemned the seven Christians for the murder of the Hindu leader, deferring the reading of the sentence to today.

To AsiaNews Sajan George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), defines the sentence “a mockery, the sad demonstration of how the Indian judicial system works”. The judges, he adds, “were undeniably abetting with the saffron forces and purposely have delayed hearings and trials on a regular basis. We all agree that the basic principle of a democracy is to give equal protection and justice under the law: in our case, these seven men were not judged according to this principle.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Indian Army Fights Militants on Kashmir Loc

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — Indian army Wednesday said they were fighting infiltrators on line-of- control (LoC) dividing Kashmir for the past nine days. “The holed up militants would be flushed out and the area is under control of Indian army,” said Lt Gen Gurmeet Singh, the General officer Commanding (GoC) of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, addressing a press conference at Badamibagh cantonment. The press conference was addressed in wake of media reports that Pakistani troops have occupied Shala Bhata village near LoC in Kupwara and Indian army was using Air Force to vacate the area…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Attack on Anti-Taliban Guerrillas: 15 Dead

Main target of attack was tribal chief Nabi Hanfi, leader of battle against Islamic extremists in the area of Orakzai : the man was unharmed. Yesterday two more attacks on the regular army . Islamabad points finger against the fundamentalists and separatists fighting for the independence of Baluchistan .

Islamabad ( AsiaNews) — A suicide bomber blew himself up this morning in a car full of explosives inside the headquarters of a tribal military commander in the Pakistani territory of Orakzai Agency. The blast killed at least 15 people. It is not clear who organized the attack , according to some sources it is the Taliban group Tehrek — e-Taliban ( TTP ), who reportedly sent a message to the international media to claim the gesture.

The bombers’ main target was the commander Nabi Hanfi , who, with the support of the central government, is waging a tough offensive against Islamic extremists in the north- west of the country. Wajid Khan , a local official , confirmed that the guerrilla leader is safe : “He was not in the area at the time of the explosion”.

The area is not far from Peshawar , theater of violent attacks against the Christian community in recent weeks. Some Islamic militants killed two Pakistani soldiers yesterday who were traveling in the south- west of the country to bring basic necessities to the victims of last week’s earthquake that killed at least 515 people. In another attack , which occurred on the border with Afghanistan , 6 people were killed.

The increase in violence in the country is linked to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the resumption of fighting for the independence of Balochistan . According to Islamabad authorities in fact, the Taliban and the tribal groups are fighting each other for supremacy of the various parts of Pakistan , and sometimes team up to attack the national army ..

The bishop of the Indian diocese of Pune , in an interview with AsiaNews , said that in the violence “is the failure of the Pakistani authorities to protect the country’s vulnerable Christian community . The integrity and moral authority of a nation depends on its firm commitment in ensuring the rule of law and defending its minorities”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Textbooks in Pakistani Government Schools Teaching Hate Against Christians and Hindus, Jihad and Martyrdom to Young Students

By: Tufail Ahmad

Study By Pakistani NGO: Textbooks Teaching Jihad And Martyrdom To Primary School Children Include Desired Learning Outcomes Such As: “Must Be Aware Of The Blessings Of Jihad, And Must Create Yearning For Jihad In His Heart”; “Recognize The Importance Of Jihad In Every Sphere Of Life”

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Giant Asian Hornets Are Killing People in China, Breeding in Larger Numbers: Reports

According to The Guardian, at least “28 people have died and hundreds have been injured in a wave of attacks by giant hornets in central China.” The hornets, also known as Vespa mandarinia, have reportedly “chased (victims) for hundreds of meters… and stung (them) as many as 200 times.” The venom from the stings can cause anaphylactic shock and kidney failure, the Guardian reported (as if you wouldn’t die from sheer terror).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Liberia: Chinese Riot Police Here

The Chinese government said it was sending 140 members of a police unit to deploy alongside U.N. peacekeepers in Liberia. The U.N. Mission in Liberia is ensuring the sustainability of a 2003 cease-fire ending a civil war in the country that left around 150,000 people dead. Its mandate was extended for another year in mid-September by the U.N. Security Council. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said Sunday a 14-man team is on its way to Liberia and the remaining members of the riot squad unit would deploy “in a few days,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. China is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Madagascar Mob Kills Two Europeans Over Child Murder

A mob in Madagascar on Thursday killed two Europeans suspected of mutilating and murdering a young boy at the country’s main tourist resort, security forces said.

Hundreds of residents on Nosy Be island off the northeastern coast of Madagascar went on the rampage after an eight-year-old who disappeared last Friday was reportedly found washed up on a beach with his genitals and tongue cut off.

Witnesses said rioters tortured and beat two Europeans before throwing the pair alive onto a bonfire on one of the paradise white sand beaches that have turned the islet into a magnet for foreign tourists.

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Nigeria: Court Adjourns Arraignment of 17 Boko Haram Suspects

A Federal High Court Lagos, Wednesday, fixed October 9 and 10, for the arraignment and trial of 17 suspected Boko Haram members, charged with acts of terrorism. The accused are Ali Mohammed, Adamu Karumi, Ibrahim Usman, Bala Haruna, Idris Ali, Mohammed Murtala, Kadiri Mohammed, Mustapha Daura, Abba Duguri, Sanni Adamu, Danjuma Yahaya, and Musa Audu. Others are Mati Daura, Farouk Haruna, Abdullahi Azeez, Ibrahim Bukar and Zula Diani…

[JP note: High Mohammed Co-efficient.]

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South America, Arab League to Rev Up Education Cooperation

LIMA, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) — The 2nd meeting of Education Ministers from South American-Arab Countries (ASPA) opened here Wednesday, with a mission to improve cooperation between the two regions via sharing experiences and discussing communication technology. During the three-day meeting, participants are expected to discuss information and communications technology to improve learning, promotion of higher-education cooperation, as well as Arabic, Spanish and Portuguese language studies, said Fernando Rojas, deputy minister of Institutional Management at the Peruvian Education Ministry, at the meeting’s opening ceremony…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 13 Migrants Drown Off Coast of Sicily

Coast Guard scouring area, two suspected traffickers detained

(updates previous) (ANSA) — Scicli, September 30 — At least 13 migrants drowned Monday as they tried to swim to the shore at the Sicilian town of Scicli after their boat ran into trouble. Italian emergency services recovered the bodies of 13 adult men after a bather sounded the alarm when migrants started pouring out of a boat that ran aground just metres from the shore.

A coast guard helicopter saved 14 migrants in the water.

Coast guard crews and divers are looking to see if there are more people to be saved or corpses to be recovered.

The boat was reportedly carrying around 200 people, most of whom are said to have fled on foot after reaching the shore. ANSA sources said two people suspected of being human traffickers have been detained. The disaster took place in an area that provided the setting for an episode of the popular Italian TV detective series Montalbano.

In November 2005 25 migrants died in a landing here.

Monday’s disaster was similar to one in which six migrants died in waters near Catania in August. Waves of migrants arrive in Italy from North Africa every year, especially in the summer months when sea conditions are better, although many die attempting the hazardous crossing.

In his first papal visit outside the Rome area in July, Pope Francis travelled to a migrant processing center on the southern island of Lampedusa to greet refugees and commemorate those who died while trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Dozens Killed as Migrant Boat Sinks Near Italy

At least 92 people died when a boat carrying up to 500 African migrants caught fire and sank off the coast of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, in southern Italy, on Thursday, and many remain missing, officials say.

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Italy: Immigrants Suffering From Crisis, Says CGIL Union

Half looking to migrate elsewhere

(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 2 — A research study conducted by the Italian union CGIL and the Trentin-ISF-IRES Association has found that over 1.2 million immigrants are classified as “suffering” and or “experiencing employment difficulties” due to the crisis. The situation is “extremely difficult,” CGIL underscored, “and almost one in every two immigrants are trying to move elsewhere.” The study was on “work quality and the impact of the crisis on immigrant workers”. Over 1,000 immigrants in ten regions were included in the survey, which CGIL Secretary Vera Lamonica said “looks at one of the negative effects of the current social situation in Italy. Migrant workers are paying disproportionately for the effects of the crisis: more of them are unemployed, underpaid and exploited, and more are paid under the table.” Trentin Association President Fulvio Fammoni echoed her words, saying that “the situation migrant workers find themselves in during the crisis is getting markedly worse”. The survey shows that with the continuation of the economic crisis, the employment rate of foreigners has dropped by 1.7% while the rate of activity has remained unchanged overall, and unemployment rose by 2% — from 12.1% in 2011 to 14.1% in 2012.

There are some now over 527,000 immigrants “suffering” (13.7%), an increase of 101,000 since 2011. Immigrants of working age who are “experiencing difficulties” number instead over 706,000 (18.4%), some 90,000 more than the previous year (+14.5%). CGIL defines as “suffering” those “of working age but who are unemployed, discouraged, available for work and on the redundancy fund”, and for those “experiencing employment difficulties” those who work but only in temporary positions or part-time. Some 85% of survey participants said that the crisis had led to negative effects in their employment position. Many of them have experienced a decrease in wages (31.5%) or days of work (25.5%), or their working conditions were made riskier (19.1%) or hours longer (22.2%). Moreover, some of the respondents felt that the crisis is causing a more generalised loss of rights (12.8%), while recourse to irregular work has increased (12.1%). In the eyes of 94% of respondents, the crisis also has an effect on living conditions, such as a reduction in consumption (62.3%) and the need to request a loan (14%). To the question of “given the current situation, do you think you will have to emigrate again?”, 45.6% of respondents answered “yes”. Only 2.3% of participants said that they are not frightened by the crisis.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Northern League Member Calls EU and Government Hypocrites

(AGI) Milan, Oct 3 — Northern League member Matteo Salvini commented on his Facebook page on the the reaction of the government and EU institutions to the death of the immigrants in Lampedusa: “Europe says it mourns the loss of those people at sea. They are disgustingly hypocritical. They foster illegal immigration and attack the Northern League, then they cry.

Murderers. We’ve heard enough. Putting an end to illegal immigration is a must, for the sake of the Italians and of those desperate immigrants. The Letta-Boldrini-Kyenge government should stop being hypocritical too”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Migrants’ Deaths a European Issue, Says Alfano

Politicians call for greater support for Italy with migration

(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — Thursday’s migrant boat disaster off Italy’s southern coast should serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the European Union, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said.

Italy cannot continue to shoulder the increasing burden of major waves of migrants into Europe that lands on the island of Lampedusa, said Alfano, follow news of the deaths of at least 94 people jammed into a ship that caught fire and sank.

“We hope that the European Union realizes that it is not an Italian but a European drama,” said Alfano, who rushed to the scene with Premier Enrico Letta.

Many migrants die every year attempting the hazardous crossing between North Africa and southernmost shores of Italy. Italian politicians often complain that the EU does not provide Italy sufficient assistance with managing the waves of migrants who arrive from North Africa every year trying to start a better life in Europe.

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Italy: Resume Migrant ‘Push-Back’ Policy Says Ex-Minister

Napolitano ‘called for stopping boats’ claims Maroni

(ANSA) — Rome, October 3 — Former interior minister Roberto Maroni said Italy should resume a controversial policy of turning migrant boats back to Africa to avert disasters like Thursday’s wreck of a craft carrying 500 people off the stepping-stone island of Lampedusa.

The toll from the Somali and Eritrean asylum-seeker disaster was approaching 100 with around 150 survivors and 250 missing in the worst incident for years.

Maroni, leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League, said Italy’s former ‘push-back’ policy to late dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, criticised by human-rights groups, had been effective in stopping people smugglers. He said President Giorgio Napolitano’s appeal for a crackdown on trafficking was a call for “guarding the coasts the illegals leave from”.

“That’s what I did when I was a minister: turn back the boats and save lives”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Majority of French Believe Roma Should Leave France

Controversy surrounding Roma immigrants is heating up in France, as a new poll shows more than three-quarters of French people agreeing with a recent statement by a top Socialist minister that Roma are “different” and should leave the country.

A new poll published on Saturday finds a whopping 77 percent of French people agreeing with a recent statement by Socialist Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who said that Roma immigrants are inherently “different” and “will have to return to Bulgaria and Romania” .

According to the survey, carried out by French polling agency BVA and commissioned by TV channel i-Télé and daily newspaper Le Parisien, only 22 percent disagree with Valls, saying “he should not stigmatise a segment of the population”.

As for the issue of how well this particular group of immigrants adapts to French society, 93 percent of those polled responded that the Roma are poorly integrated. That opinion crosses political lines, with 98 percent of right-leaning participants and 84 percent of left-leaning participants in agreement on the question.

The poll referred specifically to Valls’ September 24 statement, which said it was “illusory to think that we will solve the Roma problem through integration”, since, according to the interior minister, only a minority of Roma want to assimilate into French society.

French left voices outrage

The comments set off a storm of indignant reactions from fellow left-wing politicians…

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Over 130 Dead in Migrant Boat Disaster Off the Italian Coast

A boat carrying 500 East African asylum seekers caught fire on Thursday off coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, leaving 130 dead and at least 200 still missing

Lampedusa is one of the main entry points into the European Union for asylum-seekers crossing from Africa or the eastern Mediterranean. The UN estimates some 20,000 migrants have died at sea trying to reach Europe since the late 1990s, crossing on rickety fishing boats or dinghies.

Survivors said they were from Eritrea and Somalia and had left from the Libyan port of Misrata.

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Gay Centre Says Pope’s Comments Revolutionary

Interview with Jesuit journal ‘encouraging for human rights’

(ANSA) — Rome, September 20 — Pope Francis may be changing attitudes towards homosexuals with a recent interview suggesting a broad-minded approach to gender differences, a spokesman for a gay centre said Friday. The Pope has started “a revolution,” with an open-mindedness that is “ahead of many politicians,” said Fabrizio Marrazzo, a spokesman for Rome’s Gay Center.

“In these recent years, we have been accustomed to punitive (references) towards homosexual people by the Church,” he said.

In an interview published Thursday in a Jesuit journal, Pope Francis said the Catholic Church should not be “obsessed” with preaching about such issues as gay marriage and abortion but instead, should reach out to individuals.

“We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the Church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel,” Francis said.

Marrazzo said that only time will tell if the pope’s words will lead to concrete changes.

But, he added, they seem to present an opening.

“The words of Pope Francis are an opening to a new way of understanding the relationship between Catholic doctrine and life of people,” added Marrazzo. But “surely this Pope is ahead of many Italian politicians who refer to the Catholic tradition (as justification) to attack gays”.

A statement from Rome’s Arcigay centre said the pope’s greatest contribution on the issue of gay rights “is not a moral (argument) but a social one”.

“In fact, even the pope recognizes and condemns the social stigma that gay people suffer,” in Italian society and from politicians forming laws.

Arcigay suggested that with his words, Pope Francis is signally to the Church that it must temper its anti-gay rhetoric.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Barilla President Says Won’t Ever Use Gay Families in Ads

‘Classic family fundamental’ says world’s biggest pasta maker

(ANSA) — Rome, September 26 — The president of Barilla, the world’s biggest pasta maker, said Thursday he would never make ads that portrayed gay families. “I would never make a spot with a homosexual family. Not out of a lack of respect but because I don’t see it like they do. (My idea of) family is a classic family where the woman has a fundamental role,” said Guido Barilla on Italian radio program La Zanzara. “We have a different concept with regard to the gay family.

For us, the concept of the sacred family remains a fundamental value of the company”. Show hosts responded that gay people also eat pasta.

“That’s fine if they like our pasta and our communication, they can eat them. Otherwise they can eat another pasta. You can’t always please everyone,” said Barilla, one of three brothers who control the privately held company. “I respect everyone who does what they want to do without bothering others. I’m also in favor of gay marriage. But not adoption in gay families. “As a father of multiple children, I believe it’s very hard to raise kids in a same-sex couple”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Are Our Political Beliefs Encoded in Our DNA?

If genopolitical analysis holds up under continued scrutiny, its explanatory potential is enormous. Not only can the field add to the understanding of polarization and the sources of conflicts that have now shut down the federal government, but analyses like these might also shed light on the logic of, say, supporting abortion rights while opposing the death penalty, or opposing food stamps “giveaways” while supporting subsidies to agribusiness.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]