I’ve been working intensively on so many other things today that I didn’t have time to do anything except collect the news feed. I expect to post a long, complicated essay tomorrow, so stay tuned.
In the news items below, pay special attention to the Chinese crackdown on the Uyghurs prompted by last week’s attack in Tiananmen Square, and also the story about the two French journalists who were kidnapped and then killed in northern Mali.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Kitman, Nilk, 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.
Tunisia: Fitch Downgrades Sovereign Debt on Instability
Agency cites political deadlock, terrorism, inflation, debt
(by Diego Minuti) (ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 31 — Fitch Ratings has downgraded Tunisia’s sovereign rating to BB- from BB+, with the outlook negative. The ratings agency however affirmed Tunisia’s short-term rating at B, while lowering the country ceiling to BB from BBB-, outlook negative.
Fitch cited “the political transition, which has been further delayed, and increasing uncertainty over the ultimate success of the process”.
The assassinations of two opposition politicians, secular leftist Chokri Belaid on February 6 and Socialist Mohamed Brahmi on July 25 have “triggered a political crisis, paralyzing decision-making and delaying the political transition”, Fitch said on its website. The outlook might have been worse had the agency issued its report after two bombing attacks in the cities of Monastir and Sousse on Wednesday. Fitch also pointed to the fact that presidential and parliamentary elections initially expected in 2013 have been postponed, probably until spring 2014, and to the uncertain outcome of negotiations between the government and opposition parties to form an interim government.
In this scenario, foreign debt continues to grow while the Tunisian dinar has started depreciating against the major currencies, the euro first and foremost.
Fitch has revised down its real GDP projections in 2013 and 2014, while inflation has risen and is expected to reach an average of 6% in 2013.
While the agency assumes that the IMF standby agreement signed in June 2013 will cover Tunisia’s debt, it expects the current account deficit to continue high at 8.1% of GDP in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A Ridiculous Common Core Test for First Graders
My speech teacher came to see me. She was both angry and distraught. In her hand was her 6-year-old’s math test. On the top of it was written, “Topic 2, 45%”. On the bottom, were the words, “Copyright @ Pearson Education.” After I got over my horror that a first-grader would take a multiple-choice test with a percent-based grade, I started to look at the questions.
The test provides insight into why New York State parents are up in arms about testing and the Common Core. With mom’s permission, I posted the test here. Take a look at question No. 1, which shows students five pennies, under which it says “part I know,” and then a full coffee cup labeled with a “6” and, under it, the word, “Whole.” Students are asked to find “the missing part” from a list of four numbers. My assistant principal for mathematics was not sure what the question was asking. How could pennies be a part of a cup?
Then there is Question No. 12. Would (or should) a 6 year old understand the question, “Which is a related subtraction sentence?” My nephew’s wife, who teaches Calculus, was stumped by that one. Finally, think about the level of sophistication required to answer the multiple-choice question in No. 8 which asks students to “Circle the number sentence that is true” from a list of four.
Keep in mind that many New York State first graders are still 5 years old at the beginning of October, when this test was given.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
American Betrayal Goes to the 36th Annual Pumpkin Papers Irregulars Dinner
by Diana West
I am very happy to reveal that at this year’s gathering of the Pumpkin Papers Irregulars, a deluxe dinner held in Washington by intelligence experts and interested observers to honor the memory of Whittaker Chambers and his triumph over the traitor Alger Hiss, I was given the annual honor of lighting the pumpkin and later addressing the assembly about American Betrayal.
Highlights of the evening included warm tributes to fallen Cold Warriors: M. Stanton Evans on the late Herbert Romerstein (1931-2013), and Paul Kengor on the late Judge William P. Clark (1931-2013). This year’s “coveted” Victor Navasky Award, presented by Ken deGraffenreid, went posthumously to Saul Alinsky, whose spawn (HRB, BHO, among others) continue to subvert the remnant republic. Regrettably, former Sen. Jon Kyl was unable to appear as scheduled. Al Regnery and Sebastian Gorka MC’d the evening’s presentations.
I gave Cliff Kincaid permission to tape my talk, which is about the Communist threat yesterday and the Islamic threat today. Thanks to Cliff’s hand-held camera work, it is presented below. Cliff has also written his weekly AIM column about the event here.
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Charles Krauthammer: ObamaCare Laid Bare
Hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters went out to people who had been assured a dozen times by the president that “If you like your health-care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.”
The cancellations lay bare three pillars of Obamacare: (a) mendacity, (b) paternalism and (c) subterfuge…
(a) Those letters are irrefutable evidence that President Obama’s repeated you-keep-your-coverage claim was false. Why were they sent out? Because Obamacare renders illegal (with exceedingly narrow “grandfathered” exceptions) the continuation of any insurance plan deemed by Washington regulators not to meet their arbitrary standards for adequacy. Example: No maternity care? You are terminated.
So a law designed to cover the uninsured is now throwing far more people off their insurance than it can possibly be signing up on the nonfunctioning insurance exchanges. Indeed, most of the 19 million people with individual insurance will have to find new and likely more expensive coverage. And that doesn’t even include the additional millions who are sure to lose their employer-provided coverage. That’s a lot of people. That’s a pretty big lie.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Key House Committee Threatens Obama Administration With Subpoena Over Health Care Data
House Republicans suspect the White House has more Obamacare data than they’re letting on, a tug-of-war that’s playing out amid new fears Medicaid enrollment could far outpace requests for private insurance under President Obama’s program.
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, Michigan Republican, sent a stern letter Friday to Marilyn Tavenner, the federal official closest to the health care law’s implementation, that threatened to subpoena the records from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“The Committee is not prepared to wait until ‘around mid-November’ for the Administration’s scrubbed and spun numbers,” Mr. Camp wrote.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
LAX Shooting: Police Trained for ‘Exact Scenario’ 3 Weeks Ago
The rapid police response to today’s deadly shooting at a terminal in the Los Angeles Int’l Airport (LAX) was no accident, according to LAX Police Chief Patrick Gannon, because his officers prepared for an event identical to the shooting weeks in advance.
“We practiced to this not more than 3 weeks ago,” said Gannon at a press conference hours after the shooting. “We took every one of our patrol officers and a couple hundred officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and we practiced the exact scenario we played out today.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan Man Wants $25 Million Reward for Bin Laden’s Death
Two years ago, U.S. special forces killed Usama bin Laden. Now, a Michigan man wants his cut. A gem merchant who claims he tipped off the FBI to bin Laden’s location says he’s entitled to the $25 million reward that was previously offered by the U.S. government, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Tom Lee, 63, of Grand Rapids, says he tipped off the FBI in 2003 that bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to a letter sent in August to FBI Director James Comey from the Chicago-based law firm of Loevy & Loevy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Uses Executive Order in Sweeping Takeover of Nation’s Climate Change Policies
Through the stroke of a pen, President Obama on Friday used his executive powers to elevate and take control of climate change policies in an attempt to streamline sustainability initiatives — and potentially skirt legislative oversight and push a federal agenda on states.
The executive order establishes a task force of state and local officials to advise the administration on how to respond to severe storms, wildfires, droughts and other potential impacts of climate change. The task force includes governors of seven states — all Democrats — and the Republican governor of Guam, a U.S. territory. Fourteen mayors and two other local leaders also will serve on the task force.
All but three of those appointed are Democrats. The task force will look at federal money spent on roads, bridges, flood control and other projects. It ultimately will recommend how structures can be made more resilient to the effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and warming temperatures.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Signs Dictatorial Executive Order Imposing Debunked Climate Change Policies
Another arrogant violation of Article I Section I of the Constitution
The Obama administration on Friday once again disrespected the Constitution by signing an executive order that circumvents Congress and the American people.
The latest move defiantly ignores a decision by Congress in 2009 to not establish a cap-and-trade system that would have supposedly discouraged greenhouse-gas emissions. The Waxman-Markey bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate. At the time, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress.
The latest unconstitutional EO establishes a task force of state and local officials “to advise the administration on how to respond to severe storms, wildfires, droughts and other potential impacts of climate change.” according to Fox News.
The EO lumps extreme weather events under the discredited rubric of climate change. It will mandate new federal building codes under Agenda 21’s “sustainability” and promises to “address climate impacts and infrastructure needs.” The order was praised by the EPA and its administrator, Gina McCarthy, who said it serves as a “roadmap for agency work” and forces the nation to face what it deems are “climate-related challenges.”
The EO will withhold money expropriated by the federal government from the states if they do not sign on to the latest climate scam proposals…
Article I Section I of the Constitution unambiguously states that Congress, not the executive, has legislative power. An executive order is not lawful legislation.
“An Executive Order is a policy or procedure issued by the President that is a regulation that applies only to employees of the Executive Branch of government,” notes the Tenth Amendment Center. “When a President issues an unconstitutional Executive Order and Congress allows the order to stand they are violating their oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Fires Off Email in Defense of Student Forbidden From Handing Out Copies of Constitution
On Constitution Day (Sept. 17th), a student of Modesto Junior College, Robert Van Tuinen, was prevented by Modesto Junior College administration from handing out copies of the Constitution. The college apparently believes free speech is limited to a single small concrete slab on campus, generously named the “Free Speech Zone.” Contrary to the First Amendment (and the state’s laws governing public university policies), MJC restricts free speech to no more than two people per day, subject to approval of the administration.
Van Tuinen set out to challenge the stupidity of this policy and MJC administration obligingly played its part, resulting in a story that spread across blogs and news sites. As a result of its actions, the staff at MJC was “subjected” to insults, death threats, and even worse, an “unfair and negative portrayal” by the media. While no one condones death threats, one would be hard pressed to agree with Jill Stearns, the president of MJC, that the portrayal was “unfair” or that the school’s willingness to place policy above all else, including the Constitution and common sense, wasn’t deserving of a few disparaging remarks.
Shortly after MJC went into damage control, Van Tuinen sued the school for violating his First Amendment rights. Van Tuinen is seeking a permanent injunction against the school’s unconstitutional policies, as well as damages and court costs.
Now the organization that originally brought the Van Tuinen’s experience to national attention (FIRE) brings news that a Modesto Junior College professor has written a lengthy email to all Modest Junior College faculty members to call attention to the college’s actions which the administration seemingly wants to let recede into the background.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Property Rights: The Most Important Rights We Have
In issues of primacy, i.e. whose rights are more important, the owner of the land or the user of the land? It is clear; today’s consumerist view has won out. Today, neither legislators nor judges feel constrained by the principle of Stare Decisis, to stand by that which is decided, i.e. the original constitutional precept. Rather, they abide by Stalin’s Law, “A promise is like a pie crust, it is meant to be broken.” Feelings rule, not intellect. As a society we seem totally taken in by Goebbels like style over Jeffersonian and Madisonian substance.
The Federalist, that gathering of essays explaining the Founders ideas, is replete with philosophical entreaties that, within natural law, property is primal. A natural law is one which each person is born with, a law that no government can take away because natural law is higher than government law and all government law must first adhere to the basic premise that government exists to defend a person’s Life, Liberty, and Property. People do not exist to serve government; that is the Socialistic view. Property is held to be primary amongst man’s natural rights. The ability to defend and retain control over one’s property is the most important of our natural rights, for it undergirds all the others. A basic aim of Life is to gather property so as to sustain oneself. Liberty means nothing without the ability to improve one’s lot, primarily through the acquisition of property. The admonition against government rulemaking over property is stated in several places in the Constitution. Probably the single most voiced line in American history is Jefferson’s assertion that amongst man’s natural rights are his “rights to Life, Liberty and” Property, expressed as a term of art as “the pursuit of Happiness.”…
It is not yet fashionable to label one as Fascist, but you decide if our governments, at all levels, deserve this label. Webster’s 1961 New World Dictionary defines Fascism as that form of government which “controls the means of production,” i.e. the economy. The control comes in the form of edict and regulation. The Founders expressly forbid regulation of this type because it leads to dictatorship and avoiding dictatorship was the main reason they sought independence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The push to brainwash the public on gun confiscation i.e. Eric Holder is rearing its ugly head once again. But fact is stronger than fiction. The spin on the NRA and bogus research studies can’t stop the liberty of the American people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece’s Golden Dawn Accuses Government of Neglect
(AGI) Athens, Nov 2 — Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party has expressed anger after two of its members were killed on Friday in a drive-by shooting outside the movement’s offices in Athens. In a statement released on its website, the party accuses the government of neglect, claiming that requests for police protection after recent threats against the party were ignored.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Police Identify Semi-Automatic Pistol Used in Slaying of 2 Extreme Right Party Members
Police investing the slaying of two members of the far-right Golden Dawn party and the wounding of a third say the gun used in the Friday evening attack had not been used in previous terrorist attacks.
The assailant fired 12 rounds from a Zastava Tokarev type semi-auto pistol, police say.
A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity because officers were not authorized to comment on the ongoing investigation, said Saturday that a video from a nearby security camera confirmed accounts from Golden Dawn lawmakers that the assailant started firing from 15 meters (yards) away and finished off his victims from point-blank range. The gunman fired at a fourth Golden Dawn member, who managed to enter a building unharmed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Green Energy Triples UK Fuel Prices, May Kill Thousands Over Winter
By Daniel Greenfield
While Prince Charles preaches the cant of Global Warming and admires the lifestyles of the poor in the Third World, the United Kingdom is headed deep into a well of frozen misery.
Green Energy has meant Electric Poverty as cheap and efficient sources of power and heat are traded for hideously expensive and inefficient solar and wind power that’s fine for those cashing in, but prices energy out of the range of many ordinary people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Justice Minister to Answer Influence Accusations
(AGI) Rome, Nov 2 — What Justice Minister Annamaria Cancellieri has to say with regard to accusations that she used her influence to have the daughter of a friend released from jail will undoubtedly convince both houses of Parliament and dispel all doubt, a statement from the Italian Presidency said. It also said that the minister’s comments thus far had already served to shed light on the matter.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Six Chinese Tourism Operators Sample Umbrian Luxury
Central region continues drive to attract Asian visitors
(ANSA) — Perugia, October 26 — Six Chinese tourism operators representing five major companies have travelled to Umbria to sample the opportunities the central Italian region offers for the “luxury” segment of the market.
Luxury Umbrian style means, among other things, top-class wellness experiences, as well as excellent local wine and chocolate.
Accompanying the tourism operators is a famous blogger with more than 570,000 followers and a journalist from a national weekly.
“The promotional activity for the Chinese market that was launched last year continues thanks to a fruitful collaboration that ranges from tourism food safety, fashion and design sector training, to the protection of our cultural and environmental patrimony,” said Umbrian Regional Tourism Councillor Fabrizio Bracco in a statement.
“We maintain that it is fundamental to offer a real experience with the creation of ad hoc packages in the region in which various points of excellence converge, knowing that the Chinese market is essential and strategic for our businesses,” Bracco added.
The Umbrian programme for the Chinese guests includes ice cream at the Universita’ dei Sapori (University of Flavours), the Eurochocolate festival, bicycle rides in Assisi, and the chance to see lace bracelets, vineyards in the area of Montefalco, truffles in Citta di Castello and the Marmore waterfall.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Leaning Tower of Pisa Might One Day Stand Straight
Straightened by 2.5 cm in 12 years, engineer tells Daily Mail
(ANSA) — Pisa, October 29 — At least one Italian official thinks the Leaning Tower of Pisa will one day straighten up, thanks to modern engineering.
Giuseppe Bentivoglio, technical director of the monument, said the 56-meter bell tower’s lean towards the south is shrinking thanks to an 11-year restoration project completed in 2001.
“The tower is moving. It is straightening towards the north. Between 2001 and 2013 it has recovered 2.5 centimeters of its incline”, the structural engineer told the Daily Mail newspaper.
“In theory it would be possible to straighten it completely”, he added.
The free-standing cathedral tower began tilting during construction, in the 12th century, because of an inadequate foundation on ground that was too soft on one side.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: San Gennaro’s Treasure Leaves Naples for First Time
More valuable than British crown jewels
(ANSA) — Naples, October 29 — The famed Treasure of San Gennaro, estimated to be more valuable than the British royal family’s crown jewels, has left Naples for the first time and will be on show at Rome’s Museo Fondazione until February 16.
The collection, made up of lavish gifts given by popes, kings, emperors and ordinary people in gratitude for the alleged intervention of Naples’ patron saint, will be moved from the Duomo in Naples.
Among the more interesting items are a mitre (bishop’s hat) in which diamonds, ruby and emerald are embedded, and a collection of silver busts, composed of about 70 pieces made between 1305 till the modern era.
Once hidden away, the priceless haul found a new permanent home in 2003, a 300-sqm-area underneath the restored Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, which houses a sealed vial alleged to contain the saint’s blood which miraculously liquefies three times a year.
The treasure includes jewels, busts, statues, paintings, tapestries and other valuable gifts made by the devout over the past 700 years.
Among these are the silver objects made by Neapolitan craftsmen between the 14th and 19th centuries. The objects demonstrate their makers’ incredible skill in sculpting and forging busts of the saint, candelabras, chalices, plates, crosses and other altar ornaments.
The Chapel of the Treasure is a popular Naples attraction with 1.7 million visitors a year.
The treasure was also the subject of a successful 1967 Italian comedy film by Dino Risi, Operazione San Gennaro, known in English as The Treasure of San Gennaro.
The ‘miracle of San Gennaro (St. Januarius) traditionally takes place three times a year: on the Saturday before the first Sunday in May; on the saint’s feast day, September 19; and on December 16, the anniversary of an eruption of Vesuvius believed to have been halted by saintly intervention in 1631.
St Januarius was a Christian martyr, the Bishop of Beneventum (today’s Benevento, to the south-east of Naples), believed to have been decapitated during the persecution ordered by Roman Emperor Diocletian around the year 305.
The legend goes that after his arrest, Januarius was thrown into a furnace but the flames did not burn him. He was then sent to an area to face ferocious wild beasts, but the animals would not harm him. Finally, it was ordered that he be beheaded.
According to tradition, the man who ordered the beheading suddenly went blind, but Januarius cured him before going under the axe.
On his feast days, a silver bust believed to contain the saint’s head is placed on the altar in the Duomo and a vial allegedly containing the relic of his blood is held up to view and sometimes inverted while the faithful fervently pray for the ‘miracle’ of liquefaction, a sign of the martyr’s blessing which sometimes is withheld.
The first historical reference to the liquefaction of the martyr’s blood is dated 1389.
One group of Italian scientists have established that the substance in the vial is blood but have been unable to explain its liquefaction and the fact that its volume and weight can vary.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Tourists Cited for Writing on Ponte Vecchio
Latest in series of cases
(ANSA) — Florence, October 30 — Two Ukrainian tourists were cited by police Wednesday for writing on Florence’s famed Ponte Vecchio bridge in indelible ink.
It was the latest in a series of similar incidents.
In the last two cases the tourists, a German on October 8 and a Turk on October 16, were forced to clean the iconic bridge.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Dario Fo Says Vatican Won’t Let Him Stage Late Wife’s Play
Spoils ‘joy Pope Francis is giving us’ says Nobel winner
(ANSA) — Rome, October 31 — Nobel prize-winning playwright and actor Dario Fo said Thursday the Vatican was blocking a play written by his late wife and stage partner Franca Rame.
The play, about Rame’s disillusionment with politics after a spell in the Senate, was to have opened shortly at the Auditorium Conciliazione, a theatre owned by the Holy See on the avenue leading up to St Peter’s.
Fo, 87, who won his Nobel in 1997, accused the Vatican of censorship.
Leftist activists Fo and Rame, who died aged 83 in May, collaborated on many satirical works savaging Italian politics, the Catholic Church and the downtrodden status of women.
On Thursday Fo said the alleged censorship spoiled “all the joy Pope Francis is giving us”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fonsai Owner Ligresti’s Daughter to Strike Plea Deal
(AGI) Turin, Nov 2 — Jonella Ligresti, Fonsai owner Salvatore Ligresti’s daughter who is in jail since last July, reportedly intends to plea bargain a 3-year 4-month sentence. Her sister Giulia Ligresti already plea bargained a two-year 8-month sentence last September.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Justice Minister Cancellieri Says She is Not Resigning
(AGI) Chianciano Terme, Nov 2 — Italian Minister of Justice Annamaria Cancellieri, speaking on the sidelines of the XII Congress of the Radical Party in Chianciano Terme, said: “I’m not resigning, that’s something someone guilty would do. Should I become a burden for the country, I will leave. If Giulia Ligresti had killed herself, would I have been to blame?” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Breivik’s Father Slams Controversial Book
Jens Breivik, father of Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Behring Breivik, spoke out Friday against a book about his late ex-wife in which he is negatively portrayed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Warns of ‘Peeping Tom’ Drones
Norway’s privacy watchdog has warned that high-tech ‘peeping Toms’ are starting to use drones to peer through peoples’ upstairs windows, raising new privacy issues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ahead of Britain opening its borders in January, weekly jobs fairs are being held in the capital Bucharest.
And dozens of recruitment websites are advertising low-skilled jobs in this country — some offering the promise of ‘cash daily’ and others claiming knowledge of English is ‘not necessary’.
The roles vary from minimum wage bartending to a £34,000-a-year job as an NHS midwife — which comes with a ‘relocation package’, raising questions over the costs of such overseas recruitment.
One advert reads: ‘Britain will remove restrictions on the labour market from 2014! Do not miss the start!’
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Surrenders Unique Ottoman Art
The Swedish National Museum has lost its appeal to keep a ‘unique collection’ of Turkish art from the 1700s in Sweden, as a court ruling opened the door for the London-based heir to sell off some 100 Ottoman portraits and landscapes piecemeal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Coordinated European Intelligence Network Since 2008
(AGI) London, Nov 2 — The U.S. National Security Agency was right when it recently accused European countries of being the ones which provided the United States with the intelligence data requested. Proof lies in the embarrassing documents recently published by the British newspaper The Guardian, which form part of the information leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bishop Fears Sharia Bonds Pave Way for More Islamic Law
David Cameron’s plans to issue sharia-compliant bonds open the way to Islamic law being enforced at the heart of government, a senior clergyman has warned.
Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the former bishop of Rochester, said proposals to make Britain the first non-Muslim country to sell a bond that complies with sharia could trigger a series of “unforeseen consequences”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Scandal That Labour Can No Longer Ignore
This was the week the Mail exposed the return of 1980s Scargillism to Britain, with our revelations of the bully-boy tactics endorsed by Ed Miliband’s chief union paymasters.
Raising deeply worrying questions for the Labour leader, we have revealed how Unite’s specialist intimidation squads, known as ‘leverage’ teams, have been deployed to terrorise families, friends and neighbours of executives involved in industrial disputes.
Today we reveal that these squads have targeted more than 60 businesses across the UK, disrupting restaurants, family functions and even a children’s charity fun-run, yelling through loudspeakers and distributing hate-filled leaflets.
So contemptible are these tactics that they have prompted a former Labour candidate to quit the union in disgust.
Disturbingly, it has also emerged that the teams — for whom union boss Len McCluskey has avowed his full support — have been supplied with free mobile phone calls by a company founded by Andrew Rosenfeld, the millionaire Labour donor and close friend of Mr Miliband.
Of course, Unite is also the union at the heart of the Falkirk vote-rigging scandal, whose details were hushed up by the Labour leader’s whitewash inquiry.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Two Men Who Ran a ‘Sophisticated’ Forgery Factory Are Jailed
Two men who ran a ‘sophisticated’ forgery factory which produced passports, cash, bank cards and an array of official documents have been jailed.
Belkacem Lakehal, 41, and Mohand Said Mouchache, 45, who have dual British and Algerian nationality, previously pleaded guilty to various offences following an investigation by detectives from the Metropolitan Police.
Sentencing the pair at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court, Judge Joanna Korner said: ‘This was a well planned and well executed operation that is shown clearly by the type of equipment and the number of documents and also by the orders that were being placed for these documents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two days before coming to London, Hollande had announced that if elected French president, he would introduce a soak-the-rich 75 per cent tax rate for those earning more than a million euros a year (about £850,000), the sort of policy that has Socialists such Mr Miliband salivating.
He had also attacked ‘the indecent wealth’ of leading businessmen, and called big business his ‘adversary’. Hollande was already on the record as saying he didn’t like rich people — despite their paying the taxes that would allow him to finance his redistributionist fantasies — and now he was showing how he proposed to put his class war into effect.
In May 2012, Hollande was elected French president by a narrow margin and he set about pursuing that ‘different way forward’. There is just one problem: the results have been truly catastrophic.
Consumption is weak and property prices have nose-dived. Unemployment is up to more than 11 per cent; growth down. Productivity down. Factories closing. Investment down. Record bankruptcies. Rocketing social security spending. Debt at 97 per cent of GDP. Wealth creators relocating abroad in their countless thousands to avoid penal personal and business taxes.
[Commenter: ‘Socialist shambles’ in France is an apt description. Commenter ‘patriot’ suggests “Send the socialists to china.they can march round tiananmen square together waving red flags”. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Daniel Pipes: Global Ramifications of the Anti-Muslim Brotherhood Campaign in Egypt
Since General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi overthrew Mohamed Morsi on July 3, the military-led government has been engaged in a ferocious crackdown of the Muslim Brotherhood and more broadly of Islamists (though some, like the Salafis of the Nour party, playing their hand carefully, have generally avoided trouble so far).
Not only has this assault been violent, with hundreds of deaths, and legal, with the Brotherhood banned and its top leadership jailed, but it has also been broadly cultural, economic, and religious. Even the mildest approbation of the Muslim Brotherhood can get one in trouble, with one’s neighbors if not with the state. A very large swath of the population supports the crackdown and pushes for it. A few of the many, many examples:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Cairo: Muslim Brotherhood Violence Targets Church of Virgin Mary in Zaytoun
Islamists tear down banners and spray insults against the patriarch, Copts and the Armed on its walls. An attempt to storm the building is stopped. The church is a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims because of an apparition of the Virgin Mary
Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Egypt’s churches came under attack once again yesterday when a procession of students linked to the Muslim Brotherhood attacked the church of the Virgin Mary in Zaytoun , in the eastern part of Cairo, which marks the site of a famous apparition of Our Lady . The group — which came directly from Friday prayers in the mosque next door — clashed with some young Christians, who prevented the Islamists from storming the building. Thanks to the intervention of some passers-by, who calmed the brawl, a more serious incident of violence was avoided, but the situation remains tense. On 20 October last 5 people were killed in an attack on the Church of the Virgin Mary in Al- Warraq ..
The Zaytoun attack was filmed and posted online. The video shows the Islamists marching on the place of worship, shouting slogans against the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros . On arriving in the square in front of the Church they are seen tearing down a banner from the front of the church and covering the façade with graffiti insulting the patriarch, the Copts and the Armed Forces .
Local sources said that every Friday after the midday prayer, the Islamists always pass in front of the church hurling insults and anti-Christian slogans . To avoid problems Christians bar the doors of the building. Near the church there is the el- Aziz Bellah mosque, whose faithful militate in the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood. Yesterday, Zaytoun district police arrested a man who had over well 108 thousand posters insulting Christians and the army hidden in his home.
As is the case with the church of the Virgin Mary in al- Waaraq, the Zaytoun church is famous throughout Egypt for a miracle: on June 2, 1968 Our Lady appeared on the dome. From then on , the place became a pilgrimage site for Christians and Muslims .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: World Bank OKs USD 200 Million Loan
For transparent, efficient governance reforms
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 31 — The World Bank has green-lit a 200-million-dollar loan to Morocco for its governance reform program.
The announcement was made yesterday in Washington, MAP news agency reported.
The reforms will make management of public resources more transparent and efficient, and promote “open” governance, according to MAP.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Morsi Protests Aim to Shake Egypt: President Mansour
Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour tells Kuwaiti News Agency that ongoing Islamist protests are ‘unpopular’
Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour said on Saturday that recurring protests in support of deposed president Mohamed Morsi aim to “shake” the country. Mansour said in an interview with the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that these protests are “not popular” and only represent “limited groups,” that want to give the impression that the “government is unable to run the country.”
This comes as the pro-Morsi National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL) vowed to stage daily protests until Monday, when the deposed president’s trial is due to begin.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Prominent Egyptian Statesman Criticizes TV Station for Suspending Program of Popular Satirist
A prominent statesman in Egypt has criticized a private local TV station for suspending a widely popular satire program, describing its decision as unwise and harmful to the country.
Amr Moussa, a former presidential candidate who currently chairs a panel tasked with amending Egypt’s constitution, urged broadcaster CBC to reconsider its decision, saying it has upset many and raised concern for freedom of expression in Egypt.
CBC suspended Friday the program of Bassem Youssef, often described as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, saying he violated its editorial policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fuel Shortage Shuts Down Gaza Power Plant
(AGI) Gaza, Nov 1 — Gaza’s main power plant halted production on Friday due to a fuel shortage, reported the Hamas energy authority. People in the Palestinian enclave were told electricity would be cut back to as little as four to eight hours a day in future. The power plant accounts for a third of the Gaza Strip’s power supply with other limited sources provided by Israel via the Palestinian National Authority.
However, the sources fail to cover even half of Gaza’s energy needs, said Hamas.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In Midst of Syrian War, Giant Jesus Statue Arises
In the midst of a conflict rife with sectarianism, a giant bronze statue of Jesus has gone up on a Syrian mountain, apparently under cover of a truce among three factions in the country’s civil war.
That the statue made it to Syria and went up without incident on Oct. 14 is remarkable. The project took eight years and was set back by the civil war that followed the March 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwaiti Woman Caught Driving in Saudi Arabia
KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia after she was caught driving in the kingdom where ultraconservative laws ban women from taking the wheel. According to a Khafji police report, the woman was caught driving a Chevrolet Epica on the ‘Sitteen Road’ in front of a hotel in the area located near the border with Kuwait, while a Kuwaiti man was in the passenger’s seat. The woman told the officers that the man was her father, adding that he is diabetic and cannot drive and that she had to take him to the hospital for treatment. The woman remains in custody pending investigations.
Saudi authorities have warned women of legal measures if they defy a long-standing driving ban in the kingdom. At least 16 women were stopped by police last Saturday and were fined and forced along with their male guardians to pledge to obey the kingdom’s laws, as more than 60 women said they defied the ban.
A growing number of men are quietly helping steer the campaign, risking their jobs and social condemnation in the conservative kingdom. Some of the men have even been questioned by authorities, and one was detained by a branch of the Saudi Interior Ministry — a move that sent a chill through some of the activists working to put women behind the wheel. In the run-up to last weekend’s protest, men played a key role in helping wives, sisters and female friends to enjoy what they believe is a fundamental right. Since the campaign was launched in September, they have produced videos of women driving and put them on social networks. They have helped protect the female drivers by forming packs of two or three cars to surround them and ward off potential harassment. And some have simply ridden as passengers with the women as they run their daily errands.
| [Return to headlines] |
Report: China Agrees to Use Oil Money for Iran to Finance $20b of Development Projects
A report by an Iranian media website says China has agreed to finance $20 billion in development projects in Iran using oil money not transferred to the Islamic Republic because of international sanctions.
The U.S. and its allies have imposed oil and banking sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Iran frequently uses barter arrangements because of the sanctions.
China is Iran’s top crude oil importer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Accepts Any Syrian Leader With Popular Support
(AGI) Moscow, Oct 31 — Russia will accept any Syrian leader who has the backing of the people, said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov. “The Russian Federation never interferes in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” said Bogdanov in an interview with Bloomberg, carried on the foreign ministry’s website.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Offers USD 2mln to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Arms
(AGI) Moscow, Nov 1 — Russia is ready to contribute two million dollars to pay for the destruction of Syrian’s chemical weapons, said diplomatic sources reported by the newspaper Kommersant. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has dismantled the equipment used by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to produce non-conventional weapons. This completes the first step of the Russian-American plan to be finalised by Nov. 1. The ambitious plan envisages the elimination of the arsenal by the middle of next year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Khan Said is New Head of Pakistani Taliban
(AGI) Islamabad, Nov 2 — The Pakistani Taliban promoted their second-in-command, Khan Said, to replace leader Hakimullah Mehsud killed in a U.S. drone strike, security sources said.
Said, also known as Sajna, is believed to have led an attack on a prison in northwest Pakistan in 2012 to free nearly 400 prisoners, as well as an attack on an air force base in Islamabad in the same year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Nepali Hindu Leaders Ban Women From School During Menstruation
Extended to public schools in the country’s north and west, the ban touches teachers as well. Those who refuse to comply risk expulsion from their villages. For Hindu leader Chintamani Yogi, the practice is phony and “is not part of Hindu tradition.”
Kathmandu (AsiaNews) — Hindu leaders have banned thousands of Hindu female students from going to school when they menstruate because they are deemed impure. Once limited to confessional schools, now the ban covers many public schools in Nepal’s western and northern districts. A sham for many a Nepali religious leader, this controversial practice has victimised thousands of female teenagers and young women.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Hindu leader and educator Chintamani Yogi said, “such a practice is not part of Hindu tradition”. Anyone who uses religion to impose it is lying.
The ruling by religious authorities in the western and northern districts has raised eyebrows in the government as well. For this reason, it “is taking action to avoid these phony practices, but it will be a gradual process,” Nepali Education Minister Madhav Poudel said.
According to the minister, the ban related to female menstruation is unfortunately prevalent in many parts of the country, including the poorest areas of urban centres.
Poudel explained that his ministry does not have accurate data on how many schools have joined the ban, but it is estimated that thousands of girls and young women are victims of these absurd traditions.
The Catholic Church has been on the forefront in the fight against religious traditions that discriminate against women, especially the Society of Jesus, which runs hundreds of schools and colleges in the country.
The Jesuits have been involved in local education for over 30 years, Fr William Robins said. However, the number of their schools and teachers is too small to counter in an effective way Hindu religious bans.
“We are doing our best,” he said, “but we are few in number and cannot reach all parts of the country.”
One of the cases that has caused a lot controversy in Nepal involves Sambhusunanda Secondary School in Jukot-7 (Bajura District, western Nepal).
For several weeks, “Hindu religious authorities have prevented not only female students but also teachers from coming to class during their menstrual period,” said School Principal Tula Ray Rokaya.
Similarly, “teachers are not able to stand up to religious leaders,” said schoolteacher Durgeshwori Shah.
“We are very embarrassed,” she added, because “For seven days a month, Hindu leaders do not allow us to go into the classroom and to touch the books used by our students.”
Few women or female students complain about it, fearing retaliation, she added.
“The whole community has threatened to expel anyone from the village if they do not comply with the ban, including our parents,” said Nita Rokaya, a young student. “Unfortunately, we are forced to endure this kind of discrimination.”
In view of the situation, for the young woman, the international community should take up the cause of Hindu women’s right to an education, regardless of gender.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Punjab: Christians Hunted for Blasphemy: Fireworks Wrapped in Koran Pages
The two Christians and their families have fled for fear of being killed. The two fireworks vendors say they are innocent: they bought them from a factory owned by Muslims.
Islamabad ( AsiaNews) — Two Pakistani Christians and their families are fleeing for their lives after being accused of blasphemy against the Koran. The two proclaim their innocence and fear for their lives.
Arif Masih and Tariq Masih are owners of a store where they sell fireworks in Thatta Faqirullah (Wazirabad , Punjab ) . On October 27 they sold Muhammad Zahid a set of fireworks for his wedding party. Since some of them failed to go off, some of the wedding guests opened them to see why they did not work and found that the powders were wrapped in pages containing verses of the Koran. The discovery shocked the newlyweds and their guests who immediately destroyed the store of both Christians and denounced the two to the police.
Tariq Masih tells AsiaNews : “We do not manufacture fireworks, we buy them from a factory near Gujranwala and we do not know what materials they use. Moreover, these factories are owned by Muslims and no Christian works inside there.”
Tariq adds : “We have not even touched the pages of the Koran. The idea of using these pages for fireworks is beyond all imagination because we are well aware of the consequences.”
The people of Thatta Faqirullah did not believe the two Christians and called on the police to arrest them and an exemplary punishment for those who insult Islam. Several have threatened that if the police do not act, they will hunt and kill them to the two blasphemers themselves.
Arif Masih and Tariq Masih, along with their families, fled from the area, fearing for their lives.
Fr. George James, of the Diocese of Sialkot, comments: “This is a sad incident that the marginalized are being victimized, a poor vendor is being targeted for something he has not done, the violent and aggressive mobs are hunting them down to kill them. For how long will the minorities have to face the abuse of the law? The concerned authorities should act responsibly and ensure that the law and order situation remains in control and no innocent has to suffer”.
In Pakistan, the blasphemy law is often used against Christian minorities , Sikhs, Ahmadis, but also against Muslims in order to pursue personal vendettas .. Last month a Christian was beheaded in Karachi, accused of blasphemy, for reasons related to professional rivalry .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 53 Arrested Over Tiananmen Square Attack
(AGI) Urumqi (China), Nov 2 — At least 53 people have been arrested by police in Xinjiang since the attack carried out on Monday in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square that left five dead and injured 38, World Uyghur Congress spokesman Dilxat Raxit said on Saturday. The World Uyghur Congress is an international organisation of exiled Uyghur groups that represents the interests of the Uyghur people globally. The Uyghur are indigenous to the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, with capital Urumqi.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islamist militants from China’s restive Xinjiang province who carried out a suicide car crash at the iconic Tiananmen square visited the area thrice and bought knives and 400 litres of petrol before the attack, police said today. A group of eight people, hailing from Muslim Uygur majority Xinjiang came together in the provincial capital Urumqi, watched a terror video and later swore to join Jihad, state-run CCTV quoted police officials as saying as more details emerged about the October 28 incident.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The event will be sponsored by AMP, and recorded by the ABC. It will also be broadcast by the BBC.
Uthman Badar, who will take part in the IQ Squared debate put on by the St James Ethics Centre in Sydney, has also called on Muslim Australians to boycott Anzac Day because it celebrates British colonialist attempts to seize Muslim land from the Ottoman Empire…
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
East African Pirates Took Up to USD 413 Million Since 2005
(AGI) Washington, Nov 2 — Pirates from the Horn of Africa have raked in 413 million dollars in ransom in the 2005-2012 period, with most of it used to finance global scale criminal operations, a new study said on Friday. The joint study by the World Bank, UN and Interpol said that between 30 and 75 percent of the money ends up in the hands of financiers, with only a small amount going to the pirates themselves.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mozambique Army Takes Over Rebel HQ and Base
(AGI) Maputo, Nov 1 — The headquarters of the Mozambican National Resistance Army, Renamo, in Beira, central Sofala province, has been taken over by the Mozambique army. They also took control of the residence of the head of the former rebel movement, Afonso Dhlakama. Gunshots were heard but AGI has not received any reports of victims. The buildings have been cordoned off and are being searched, said Portuguese news agency Lusa. The operation triggered fears in the surrounding area because there are ordinary homes behind Renamo’s headquarters.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two French Journalists Kidnapped in North Mali
(AGI) Bamako, Nov 2 — Two French journalists have been kidnapped by four armed men in Kidal, in northern Mali, announced local Governor, Colonel Adama Kamissoko. The two journalists were abducted while travelling from Bamako to Kidal on Tuesday. In January, France launched a military intervention alongside the troops of its former colony in order to win back the northern Mali region from Tuareg rebels and Al Qaeda-linked Jihadist groups. Another four French hostages were freed in Niger only a few years ago after having been held prisoner for over three years.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Two French Radio Journalists Killed in Northern Mali
Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, two journalists reporting from the northern Malian town of Kidal for Radio France Internationale, were killed after gunmen abducted them on Saturday.
Two French journalists were killed on Saturday afternoon in the northern Malian town of Kidal.
Reporter Ghislaine Dupont and sound engineer Claude Verlon of FRANCE 24’s sister station Radio France Internationale (RFI) were abducted by unknown gunmen after they interviewed a leader of the Tuareg separatist movement MNLA.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cuba Orders Immediate Ban on 3D, Other Movies, Video Games in Privately Run Businesses
The Cuban government is ordering the immediate closure of privately run cinemas and video game salons that have mushroomed on the island in recent months.
There are around 200 areas of private enterprise that are legal on the island under President Raul Castro’s economic changes. An announcement in Communist Party newspaper Granma on Saturday says explicitly that the movie and video salons are not allowed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Niger Arrests Illegal Migrants En Route to Algeria
(AGI) Niamey, Nov 2 — Nigerien police have arrested several illegal immigrants en route to Algeria, government sources said. About 100 migrants, including children, were taken into custody. In October, 92 people were found dead from dehydration in the Sahara. The government said it will close illegal migrant camps in the north of the country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Niger Arrests 150 Migrants in Crackdown Over Sahara
Niger has arrested close to 150 people crossing the Sahara to Algeria over the past couple of days. The crackdown comes after the bodies of 92 migrants were found along the same route last month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Schulz Promises More Help for Greece on Immigration
Ahead of a visit to Athens, European Parliament President Martin Shulz has admitted that Europe needs to do more to help Mediterranean countries deal with irregular immigration following the Lampedusa disaster in which more than 300 migrants lost their lives.
“Lampedusa must be a turning point for European immigration policy,” Schulz told Kathimerini. “Firstly, we need to get humanitarian aid to the survivors. Then we have to support the Mediterranean countries that receive migrants and arrange so they are allocated fairly between member states,” he added.
Schulz is due to speak at the Athens Concert Hall on Monday as part of the “South for Growth” conference.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Whatever Happened to Theresa May’s ‘Illegal Immigrants Go Home’ Campaign?
As many people will know, the Home Office, under the leadership of the Home Secretary, Theresa May, carried out a campaign to to get illegal immigrants to return home.
Vans displaying the message ‘Go home or face arrest’, drove around the London boroughs known to be home to many illegal immigrants, and there was also a plan to use the vans all around the UK. Predictably, the plans were ditched after critics condemned them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Police Arrest Smokers in Mass
Bus stops are now patrolled Gestapo zones where citizens who dare light-up heavily taxed cigarettes face arrest for daring to violate the hallowed dictates of political correctness and the manipulated sensibilities of passing yuppies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Without Morals, Everything is Normal
Not until Franklin D. Roosevelt came to power in 1933 did the whole Communist propelled and communist-managed drive again begin to take visible and tangible and positive steps in their program to make the U.S. ultimately succumb to a one-world Communist Tyranny. In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis) whipped fear into frenzy, charging that communists occupied high-ranking positions in the State Department and other government agencies. He was demonized and eventually stripped of his power influence. The House Committee on un-American Activities once investigated communist and other subversive organizations. Of the 45 declared goals of the Communists to take over America, Goal 34 eliminated this committee.
[…]
In his 1961 book Communism and Your Child by Herbert Romerstein indicated in the Introduction that our children were the Red Target and how Red-run summer camps for children had existed in the U.S. continuously since 1925 and unsuspecting parents placed their children in these camps run by hard-core Communist agitators whose job it was to work among children to combat religious influences among them. On the cover of his book he placed his 1948 Membership Card from the Communist Party U.S.A. signed October 30, 1947.
He went on to explain during the 1930’s the “Workers Child,” a Communist magazine for teachers and children’s group leaders suggested “the best method to combat the effects of religion among children was to introduce Scientific ways that blast religious teaching. Enter sex expert Alfred Kinsey, who we now know was a pedophile using science as a cover for the indulging of his perversion. He claimed that children are sexual from birth, that relations with adults don’t harm them, etc. Kinsey was a scientific fraud and misrepresented data for the purposes of legitimizing perversion and formative years have far-reaching consequences. Goal 17 for the Communist Takeover of America was to get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in the textbooks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t read too much into this. Being retired from a career in the advertising and a related business I can assure you this photo was done merely as a “stopper” and used its shock value to do this. Many years ago we needed a poster with “shock value” to get noticed and did a photo of a black woman wrapped in a Confederate flag. It did the job that was intended. Its an old PR/advertising trick that companies and even movie stars use continuously to get noticed.