A seventh “Dutch” mujahid has reportedly been killed while fighting in the jihad against the Assad regime in Syria. Meanwhile, the Danish intelligence service PET warns about the danger posed by “Danish” jihad fighters who return to Denmark from Syria.
In other news, the ruins of the largest monastery in Istanbul will be converted to a mosque after restoration.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, TV, 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.
Italy: Generali Under S&P Observation
Italian insurance giant risks downgrade
(ANSA) — Milan, November 26 — Standard & Poor’s put Italian insurance giant Generali under observation on Tuesday. The rating agency said Generali risked a downgrade along with eight other European and African insurance groups S&P put under observation. The move is related to planned stress tests in order to take into account exposure to sovereign debt, S&P said in a statement.
S&P revised Generali’s rating to A- from A in July with a negative outlook. At the time S&P said it continues to view Generali as having “a very strong business risk profile based on international diversification”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Raising Retirement Age Has Stabilized Pensions, Says OECD
Fornero reforms an important step in sustainability of finances
(ANSA) — Paris, November 26 — Italy’s public pension spending has been stabilized by reforms two years ago that included raising the retirement age, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.
In a report on retirement and pensions, the Paris-based OECD said that increasing the age at which Italians can draw a pension was “a major driver” towards improving the sustainability of public pensions.
In December 2011, Elsa Fornero, minister of labour at the time, took the controversial step of gradually increasing the 2012 retirement age in Italy to 66 for men and 62 for women in the public sector, in an effort to begin to reduce an extremely expensive social program.
It also increased the minimum number of years of pension contributions needed to retire early, to 42 years for men and 41 years for women.
With those measures, “Italy took an important step to ensure its financial sustainability over the medium term,” stretching until about 2050, the OECD calculated.
It figures that the cost of pensions in Italy was 15.4% of gross domestic product (GDP), among the most expensive compared with the OECD average of 7.8% of GDP.
However, reforms including the higher retirement age will reduce pension costs as a percentage of GDP to 14.5% in 2015 and 14.4% of GDP in 2020.
Spending appears to be on track to slowly rise again after that, but should remain below 15.9% of GDP, it added.
Still, raising the retirement age is not enough if Italy is to continue to improve the sustainability of public pensions and encourage retirement savings, the OECD said.
It urged government to also implement policies “to promote employment and employability and to improve the ability of individuals to have longer careers,” in which they can pay into pension plans.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: The Great Sell-Off: Milan Mired in Crisis of Money and Spirit
The days when Milan could call itself a bastion of growth and progress in Italy seem to be gone. As the crisis swells the ranks of the poor, members of the city’s business elite are jockeying for foreign investors while squabbling with courts over various legal entanglements.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
28 Tiny Satellites Launching Together in December to See Earth From Space
The world’s biggest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites has arrived at its launch site in preparation for liftoff just a few weeks from now.
San Francisco-based startup Planet Labs delivered the 28 tiny satellites that will make up its “Flock 1” fleet to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia earlier this month. The constellation is slated to blast off for the International Space Station aboard a private cargo vessel on Dec. 15, then be deployed from the orbiting lab a month or so later, Planet Labs officials said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
46 Senators Attempt to Destroy Americans’ Second Amendment Right
In a little known U.S. Senate vote to uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, 46 U.S. Senators voted against the legislation earlier this year.
Not surprising based on their track records,all of those voting against Senate Amendment 139 (S.Amdt. 139) were Democrats. As with Obamacare, not one Republican went along with the U.N. power-grab, according to gun law expert and former editor for the National Rifle Association’s magazines, John Snyder.
The U.N. Small Arms Treaty, which has been championed by the Obama Administration, would have effectively placed a global ban on the import and export of small firearms. The ban would have affected all private gun owners in the U.S., and had language that would have implemented an international gun registry on all private guns and ammo.
List of the 46 Democrat Senators voting against the Second Amendment:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Turned Al-Qaeda Double Agents at Guantanamo Base Called ‘Penny Lane’
‘Penny Lane’ was a row of comfortable eight cottages complete with private kitchens, showers, and pornography, on Guantanamo Bay where al-Qaeda terrorists were “turned”
The CIA used a secret base at Guantanamo Bay nicknamed ‘Penny Lane’ to turn some of al-Qaeda’s most dangerous terrorists into double agents, US officials have admitted
Inmates languishing under Guantanamo Bay’s harsh regime were offered cash rewards, “hotel” style rooms and even pornography if they agreed to help the CIA track down and kill fellow al-Qaeda operatives.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Everybody Loves to Hate Home Owner Associations
I am not sure if the HOAs in this country were modeled after the communist HOA or vice versa. What I am sure is that a handful of people got to dictate policies for the majority whether they agreed to it in principle or not. Obviously, if you wanted to rent an apartment under communism, you had to sign the rental contract that included the participation in the HOA.
If you want to buy a house in certain urban areas in this country, you have to sign an HOA contract dictated and formulated by a small group of busybodies with vested interests or who like to control and tell other people what to do with their properties under the guise that it keeps uniformity of code and maintains property values without the display of pink flamingoes. HOA manuals can be quite thick and include many asinine provisions that infringe on our liberties as homeowners.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Judge: Clergy Tax-Free Housing Allowance is Unconstitutional
(RNS) A federal judge has ruled that an Internal Revenue Service exemption that allows clergy to shield a portion of their salary from federal income taxes is unconstitutional.
The clergy housing exemption applies to an estimated 44,000 ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and others. If the ruling stands, some clergy members could experience an estimated 5 to 10 percent cut in take-home pay.
The suit was filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation on grounds that the housing allowance violates the separation of church and state and the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The group’s founders have said that if tax-exempt religious groups are allowed a housing subsidy, other tax-exempt groups, such as FFRF, should get one, too.
U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb on Friday (Nov. 22) ruled in their favor, saying the exemption “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.”
The case, decided in the District Court for the Western District Of Wisconsin, will likely be appealed to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the states of Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Frivolous Lawsuits in New York City
NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) — New York City has often been referred to as ‘sue city’ because of frivolous lawsuits. In one example, a 220 pound teacher sued the school district saying he was beaten up by a first grader.
Another woman sued the city after trying to commit suicide.
Yasmin Rahman tried to commit suicide in 2001 by jumping in front of a subway train. NYPD officers saved her life. She was 15. Now, 27, she’s suing the city for $7 million, claiming the city and the NYPD posted pictures, police reports and hospital records of her failed suicide attempt on a database open to the public. She claims that has prevented her from obtaining a job.
“It still haunts me,” Rahman says
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Halperin: Death Panels Built Into ObamaCare
Democrats who said Sarah Palin is a lunatic and death panels don’t exist are uniformly silent
Mark Halperin, a senior political analyst for Time magazine, told Newsmax TV that Democrats and the corporate media did not level with the public on death panels built into Obamacare.
Halperin said the death panel concept is a cornerstone of Obamacare. “It’s built into the plan. It’s not like a guess or like a judgment. That’s going to be part of how costs are controlled,” Halperin told Steve Malzberg. Halperin makes his comments eight minutes into the above video.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Newtown Gunman ‘Obsessed With Mass Murder’
Prosecutors investigating a brutal shooting spree at a Connecticut elementary school in December 2012 said on Monday that 20-year-old assailant Adam Lanza suffered from mental health problems and was obsessed with firearms and mass murder.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Traveling Circus Now Includes Hecklers on Script (Video)
For Barack Obama’s orchestrated public appearances, first came ‘The Faint’. Now it’s ‘The Heckler’.
Video exists proving that no matter how slick Obama’s act, people do not faint dead away just at the sight of ‘The One’.
The Barack Obama Traveling Circus was on full display in San Francisco at the Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center yesterday. The event, staged to promote his stalled immigration reform — complete with phony hecklers — took place on the same day it was announced that Obama gave Iran his $6-billion blessing to continue building its nuclear weapon.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Politico: Congressional Democrats on the Verge of Abandoning President Over ObamaCare
If you want to know what Democrats are thinking, and you don’t want to subject yourself to the horrors of MSNBC, the Politico is the place to do it. There you can find hopes, fears, and realities, all wrapped up in bite-sized left-leaning nuggets. So, when they start reporting that congressional Dems are feeling the heat due to Obamacare, you can bet that all the little rank-and-file liberals will stand up and take notice.
Today, they dropped a doozy. According to their sources, Democrats are terrified of the ACA implosion, they’re well aware that things are currently going from bad to worse, and they have no confidence in the President’s ability or willingness to create a plan B. If they’re to be believed, Dems are scrambling to find a way off the sinking S.S. ObamaCare and the President has until next week to make sure everything is running smoothly. After that, all bets are off.
[Comment: It will be interesting to see if Democrats will be successful if falsely claiming they had nothing to do with ACA since it only passed with 100% of their votes.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sustainable Development to “Regionalism” — New Frontier of Evil in Florida
Sustainable development is the infrastructure and indoctrination program for transforming America, from a democratic Republic free person society whereby the individuals vote and tell their representative what to do allowing the individual to control their own life. Into a member of the fascist-communist order whereby the government controls life and tells the people what to do…
Regionalism comes from the communist Soviet Union also called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR). Those of us that have read true history know that the USSR ended in the starvation and death of millions and the desolution USSR. Regionalism eliminated borders so the individual will not have allegiance to their home town, community or county. They will live in a region controlled by unelected people.
Regionalism denies the right of representative government by denying the vote of the people giving the power to make rules and regulations to unelected bureaucrats also called administrators. Regionalism can be traced to 1945 and the United Nations, which was founded by communists with money from the Rockefeller Foundation. Regionalism eliminates borders and countries like the European Union, a failing program. Currently the US pays 22% + of the UN budget to a group of people trying to eliminate America…
In 1965 the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association of Counties (NACo) created the National Association of Regional Council (ASRC) which proclaims to be the Voice of Regionalism in their documents. J.l Walter Tejada is the elected directed, and his job is to bring regionalism to the United States. All 11 regional councils in Florida belong to this organization. It’s Communism ! giving no voice of the people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Taking of America One Two Three
In late 1974, the movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, based on a novel of the same name, was released. The main plot involves four men, using colors as codenames, boarding the subway at Pelham station in New York at 1:23 pm., (hence the name) where they ultimately take a subway car full of hostages. They demand one million dollars or they will begin killing hostages.
Today, America appears to be in a similar position. The United States is that subway car and we, as citizens, are the hostages under the control of a small group of people. The difference, however, is that our intended fate will be decidedly different than the hostages in the movie. Our captors simply want us dead…
Against the backdrop of a Constitutional Republic known as the United States, the story begins by a rapid historical recap of the founding of a nation, the creation of an immutable document known as the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights, and slows in the early years of twentieth century. Then a small group of powerful men, aided and abetted by government insiders and the press, conduct an “end around” our national sovereignty and capture the nation’s economy through the creation of central banks and an income tax that lines the pockets of the bankers, despite reports to the contrary.
This same group, operating under the codename “The Committee of 300” as meticulously documented through the extensive research of Dr. John Coleman, becomes more entrenched in nearly every aspect of American government and society. Through their wealth and power, they influence U.S. politics to the extent that U.S. presidents are first selected before they are elected, as are the Secretaries of State appointed by each president. This “Committee of 300” creates and nurtures sub-organizations, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and many others. Like a destructive virus, these cretins infect the host bodies of our political, financial, corporate, religious and societal institutions. This infection causes national immunodeficiency, or the state in which our national immune system, the U.S. Constitution, is compromised.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The commercial production of eggs for fast growing GM salmon has been given approval in a crucial step to bringing ‘Frankenfish’ to the world’s kitchens.
The salmon have been genetically modified to include genes from the eel-like Ocean pout and Chinook salmon, which means they grow more quickly than their wild or farmed equivalent.
The US authorities are in the final stages of an approval process to allow the first genetically modified animals for human consumption.
While salmon are the first GM fish soon to be approved, plans are also in place to create fast-growing trout and tilapia.
Biotech companies believe there are huge riches to be had from tapping into the fast growing fish farming industry, which is said to be worth $100 billion a year.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
If Obamacare produces as many losers as winners, its future will be in doubt.
Washington, D.C. — “These people don’t understand what the government is trying to do for them,” said then-chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Dan Rostenkowski in August 1989, after senior citizens angry over a federal health-care law booed him and chased him down a Chicago street. That law was repealed a few months later by a Democratic Congress and a Republican president who had supported it just the year before.
Everything old is new again. We are starting to hear in D.C. that today’s unpopular health-care law might be in real trouble, spelled with a capital T, as The Music Man would put it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bayer in Talks to Buy Partner Algeta for $2.4 Billion
Bayer AG (BAYN) is in early talks to acquire Norwegian partner Algeta ASA (ALGETA) for about 14.8 billion kroner ($2.42 billion), a move that would give Germany’s biggest drugmaker full control of a prostate cancer medicine and a pipeline of experimental radiation therapies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Car Firms Take on US in Race for Iranian Market
The lifting of sanctions against Tehran has given French car makers an opportunity to re-establish themselves in the lucrative Iranian market, but they could find themselves overtaken by US rivals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gaming Piece Discovered in Anglo-Saxon Royal Hall
KENT, ENGLAND—A seventh-century gaming piece has been recovered from an Anglo-Saxon royal side hall in the village of Lyminge. Gabor Thomas of Reading University said that the beautifully crafted piece, made of a hollow piece of bone closed with a wooden cap held in place with a bronze pin, may have been imported from the Lombard kingdom.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hate Preacher Anjem Choudary ‘Encouraged Young British Muslims to Fight for Al Qaeda in Syria’
Groups linked to hate preacher Anjem Choudary have been labelled, the ‘single biggest gateway to terrorism in recent British history’.
The radical Islamist has been identified as the link between groups who encourage the safe passage of British and European Muslims into Syria where they join Al Qaeda-linked forces.
According to a study by Hope Not Hate, organisations affiliated with Choudary have encouraged in the region of 80 young British Muslims to join the fighting in Syria.
They may also have had a hand in the recruitment of 300 more on the continent, the report said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-Governor of Sicily Ordered to Pay Damages to Region
Palermo, 25 Nov. (AKI) — A Palermo oversight court on Monday ordered Sicily’s former governor Salvatore Cuffaro to pay 150,000 euros in damages to the region’s image.
Cuffaro was jailed in 2010 for abetting the mafia.
“There can be no doubt that serious damange has been wrought upon the Region of Sicily’s image by its [ex-] governor’s criminal behaviour,” Palermo’s Court of Accounts said in a statement.
The role of the court is to safeguard the public finances and uphold respect for the judiciary.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ryanair Opening Hub at Rome’s Major International Airport
Asks cash-strapped Alitalia for ‘feeder’ flights
(ANSA) — Rome, November 26 — Low-cost European carrier Ryanair is launching a new hub at Rome’s major international airport Fiumicino, offering three new connections to southern Italy, and hoping to join cash-strapped Italian carrier Alitalia in a flight-sharing partnership, the company announced Tuesday. Flights at Fiumicino, also known as Leonardo Da Vinci, will be offered starting December 18, gradually rerouting pre-existing domestic Ryanair flights from the Ciampino airport over the course of the next year. The Ireland-based carrier said the move aims to free up Ciampino for more international connections. Daily business routes to Brussels (Zaventum) and Barcelona (El Prat) were among the first on offer from Fiumicino. The three new destinations are Catania, Lamezia and Palermo. Ryanair also said that it will increase its daily frequencies if Alitalia cuts back during its restructuring phase as it seeks a 300-million-euro capital increase to reduce its towering debt.
The low-cost carrier is offering so-called feeder flights that would fit into Alitalia’s’ international network to and from Rome Fiumicino. “Since Ryanair is Italy’s No. 1 airline, it is important that we respond to our airport partners, who are looking to ensure that they have secure domestic routes and feed to/from Rome Fiumicino, particularly as Alitalia continues to restructure,” said Ryanair Deputy CEO Michael Cawley. “We hope Alitalia will take up our offer to cooperate with them…Ryanair believes that by offering to feed Alitalia’s international hub at Fiumicino and by searching for opportunities to work with and assist Alitalia in its turnaround, that we can help the new investors and the management of Alitalia to return that airline to profitability and viability”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Norway Will Not Ban Circumcision’: Minister
Noway’s foreign minister has assured Jews worldwide that the country will not ban circumcision when it brings in new legislation next year.
“The Norwegian government recognizes the importance of ritual male circumcision for the Jewish community in Norway,” foreign Minister Børge Brende wrote in a letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish campaign group. “It will not propose a ban on ritual circumcision.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Contracts: German Scientists Accused of Naivete
German research institutions have accepted more than $10 million in contracts from the Pentagon since 2000 to cover seemingly benign topics like congenital tumors. But it appears some of these projects also have controversial military applications.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
PET Warns About Danish Fighters Returning From Syria
Domestic intelligence agency is looking for evidence to prosecute Danish fighters in Syria who may pose a threat against national security
Domestic intelligence PET’s Centre of Terrorism Analysis (CTA) says that fighters returning from the Syrian Civil War pose a significant risk to domestic safety.
A new report from CTA assesses that at least 80 people since 2012 have gone to Syria to fight in that country’s ongoing civil war, and that at least seven Danish nationals have died fighting there. A significant number of the fighters have learned military skills that they could potentially use to plan acts of terrorism back home.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Denounces ‘Trickle-Down’ Economics
Pope Francis has released a sharply worded take on capitalism and the world’s treatment of its poor, criticizing “trickle-down” economic policies in no uncertain terms. In the first lengthy writing of his papacy — also known as an “apostolic exhortation” — Francis says such economic theories naively rely on the goodness of those in charge and create a “tyranny” of the markets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Säpo: WMD Spies Target Swedish Universities
Foreign powers interested in developing weapons of mass destruction are regularly targeting Swedish universities in hopes of obtaining sensitive technology, Swedish intelligence officials say.
Anti-proliferation experts with the Swedish Security Service (Säpo) mention Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea among the countries that are actively seeking nuclear technology in Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland’s Nationalists to Set Out Independence Vision
Scotland’s nationalist government aims to establish an independent state by March 2016, breaking away from the 306-year-old United Kingdom and keeping the pound as its currency, according to the blueprint it published today.
While the most recent TNS BMRB poll showed one in four Scottish voters favor spurning the U.K., First Minister Alex Salmond said regaining sovereignty would boost economic growth and narrow inequalities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Decision From Greek Supreme Court
By Abed Alloush
The Greek Supreme Court, with a recent decision, puts the sacred law of Shariah above the laws of the Greek State, thus Greek Muslims cannot draw up a will, as this is something that is not included in the Shariah law. This complicates the situation since in 1946, Greek Muslims draw their wills according to the Greek civil law.
This case was brought to light by Komotini’s newspaper “Chronos.” The newspaper reveals that the Greek Supreme Court annulled a will that was drawn up by a Muslim man before he had passed away, as this is not determined by the Islamic Inheritance jurisprudence. The deceased Muslim lived in Thrace and in his will made clear that he left all his belongings to his wife, as the couple did not have any children.
The proceedings against the will begun by the sister of the deceased Muslim, as she claims that Shariah does not determine inheritance jurisprudence, and as a result the will is invalid and she wants to take her fair share of her brother’s fortune.
Shariah is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Shariah deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting. Though interpretations of Shariah vary between cultures, in its strictest definition it is considered the infallible law of God—as opposed to the human interpretation of the law. In secular jurisprudence, Sharia is classified as religious law, which is one of the three major categories that individual legal systems generally fall under, alongside civil law and common law.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
A 12-year-old boy tried to re-enact scenes from a porn film he watched in school on the internet by raping his younger sister, a court heard.
The schoolboy searched for the hardcore films with a classmate — before going home to copy what he had seen.
The boy admitted three charges of rape when he appeared before Newport Crown Court yesterday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boy, 15, Was Shot and Stabbed in His Own Home ‘After Being Mistaken for Gang Member’
A 15-year-old boy was shot and stabbed in his home by a gang of masked attackers in what police believe may have been a case of mistaken identity.
The teenager is in a serious but stable condition in hospital after he was shot and repeatedly stabbed at his east London home.
Five men wearing balaclavas and armed with kives and a gun forced their way into the home in Plaistow just before 3am on Friday.
A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Detectives believe the attackers were looking for a member of a gang and attacked him by mistake.
This morning a Scotland Yard spokesperson said: ‘The person who may have been involved in a gang was staying at the address and they may have been the target, but the boy who was attacked had no criminal background.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A great grandfather has been asked for ID in a supermarket to prove he’s old enough to buy alcohol.
War veteran Tony Ball, who is 92, didn’t have anything to prove he is over 18 — – — so he was told he couldn’t buy the two bottles of vodka he wanted.
Mr Ball — who has 16 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren — was buying the bottles for Christmas presents and at first thought the checkout girl at Tesco in Feltham, West London, was joking.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
A partially-sighted woman who suffered crippling back pain killed herself after her disability benefits were stopped following an assessment lasting just two minutes, it has been claimed.
Despite being in almost constant agony, Jacqueline Harris, 53, was told she was told fit for work in November 2012 following a Government health assessment.
Ms Harris’s sister claims that the ruling drove the former nurse, from Kingswood, Bristol, to take her own life.
Widow Ms Harris was only able to walk with the aid of sticks after she suffered slipped discs in her back and neck.
She was also unable to use one wrist properly after she was later attacked by a dog.
Her sister Christine Norman, 57, says arthritic Ms Harris was asked just one question in the ‘lightning-speed assessment’, carried out by private firm Atos Healthcare.
Mrs Norman said: ‘They asked her one question — “Did you get here by bus?”.
‘Jacqueline replied with one fateful word — “yes”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Seats should be ripped out on the most overcrowded train services to create cheaper ‘standing only’ carriages, ministers have been urged.
The railways should follow the model of budget airlines like Ryanair and easyjet who offer cheap, no-frills travel in contrast to the high-end services run by the likes of British Airways or even private jets.
Passengers in the new economy class carriages would pay up to 20 per cent less than those sitting in standard class, under plans drawn up by the Institute for Economic Affairs.
[Commentet: Liz, London: Idiots. My commute is an hour on the train I’m not standing for that long.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
Slaughtered rabbits found ‘bent in half’ by mother Michelle Grogan
A family’s pet rabbits had their necks broken by thugs who kicked their way into the animals’ cages and left their bloodied bodies strewn across their owner’s garden.
The rabbits, which belonged to schoolchildren Lauren and Shay Green, were discovered ‘bent in half’ with visible footprints marking their white fur after the pets were snatched from their locked cages during the frenzied attack.
Mother Michelle Grogan said she was physically sick when she saw the remains of her children’s beloved pets, Rosie and Raggles, lying on their garden lawn in Shipley, West Yorkshire.
After breaking the news to Lauren, 12, and six-year-old Shay, Ms Grogan, who is also mother to 15-year-old Nathan, discovered two of her neighbours [rabbits] had also been targeted.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
Britain’s worst gang hit neighbourhoods are seeing levels of sexual violence as bad as in war zones, it was claimed today.
The warning came following the publication of a report for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner that found girls as young as 11 are being systematically groomed, exploited and raped.
Lead researcher Professor Jenny Pearce, of the University of Bedforshire, said: ‘In some areas the level of sexual violence and the types of violence inflicted are comparable to how sexual violence is used in war-torn territories.’
She added that the ‘sheer levels of sadism’ uncovered by the inquiry had been shocking.
The survey of 500 people aged between 13 and 28 gave examples of young women being forced into having sex.
One 18-year-old told researchers: ‘Once they’ve implemented that fear into them it’s easy to get what you want.’
[…]
She adds: ‘We have found shocking and profoundly distressing evidence of sexual assault, including rape, being carried out by young people against other children and young people.
‘While we have published chilling evidence of this violence in gang-associated contexts, we know too that it is more widespread than that. This is a deep malaise within society from which we must not shirk.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A mother says she gave birth to a perfectly healthy daughter despite doctors advising her to terminate her pregnancy because the baby was ‘brain damaged’.
Liane Stooke, 38, says it was only her mother’s instinct that saved baby Miley, two.
Mrs Stooke said: ‘We were told Miley was probably severely brain damaged and wouldn’t be able to communicate with or recognise us…
After the birth, the couple, from Bristol, were amazed to discover that, far from being physically deformed, their daughter was perfectly well.
Mrs Stooke said: ‘The midwives were baffled. The doctors ran the standard tests and Miley passed them all with flying colours.
‘Two days later Miley had another MRI scan and we were told she didn’t have holoprosencephaly at all. In fact, she was completely healthy.
‘The only explanation is that the original imaging and diagnosis had been completely wrong.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: EU: 45 Mln to Support Civil Society and Media
Fule, strengthening crucial elements of a democratic society
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 26 — The European Commission will provide 45 millions to Jordan to support civil society and media as well as assisting the government in efforts to reform the justice and security sectors. The three new financing agreements were signed in Brussels.
“The EU has already provided substantial support to Jordan in these areas. This signature is a significant step in further strengthening crucial elements of a democratic society such as as civil society, media and the rule of law,” the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Fule, said.
A first financial agreement is to support Civil Society & Media (10 million euros) and is aimed at strengthening democracy in Jordan through increased participation of citizens in political life and through building capacity for an independent, quality based media sector. The second agreement is to support the justice sector (30 million euros) to enhance the rule of law, judicial independence as well as the development of an efficient, transparent and integrated justice sector. The third agreement covers support to the Security Sector (5 million euros) aimed at reinforced application of the principles of the rule of law in the security sector that is based on accountability and transparency, respect and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
These agreements form part of the EU’s bilateral assistance in the framework of the Annual Action Programme. Apart from this the EU is also providing extraordinary assistance to Jordan to help it to deal with the consequences of the Syrian crisis. For this purpose the EU and Member States have provided some 220 million euros so far.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Takes Aim at Brotherhood’s Foreign Backers
Cairo (AFP) — Locked in a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood since president Mohamed Morsi’s ouster, Egypt has launched a diplomatic offensive against the movement’s foreign backers armed with funds from its old foes.
In their first salvo soon after Morsi was toppled, the military-installed rulers took aim at Qatar — the only Gulf monarchy that openly supported the Brotherhood — by closing the Egyptian channel of Al-Jazeera television. The authorities also detained some journalists working in Cairo for the Doha-based network.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: American Girl Could Win ‘Arabs Got Talent’
The audience chuckled when Jennifer Grout, a white, shy 23-year-old from Massachusetts, first walked on the stage of Arabs Got Talent with her oud. Although she professes to speak no Arabic, Grout then stunned the judges with her rendition of Umm Kathoum’s “Baeed Anak,” and now actually has a chance at winning the finale which airs in less than two weeks.
“You don’t speak a word of Arabic, yet you sing better than some Arab singers! “ exclaimed Najwa Karam, a famous Lebanese singer and judge of the panel, after her 28 September performance. “We have for so long imitated the West, and this the first time that a person who has no link whatsoever to the Arab world, an American girl who does not speak Arabic, sings Arabic songs!”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lara Logan and ‘60 Minutes’ Producer Put on Leave After Discredited Benghazi Report
CBS News confirmed on Monday that correspondent Lara Logan and producer Max McClellan had been effectively suspended from 60 Minutes after a discredited report on Benghazi that the network was later forced to retract.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Logan, McClellan Taking Leave of Absence From CBS
One month after “60 Minutes” aired a controversial and now-retracted story about the events of the 2012 attack on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, it seems as though the final shoe has dropped on the beleaguered network. Correspondent Lara Logan and Producer Max McClellan are taking a leave of absence from the network, “60 Minutes” Executive Producer and CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager announced in a memo to staff on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
After the Nuclear Deal in Geneva Comes War
by Lars Hedegaard
The Obama administration has sold out to the Iranians lock, stock and barrel. Even if you add up all the other scandals this administration has managed to orchestrate — domestic as well foreign — they will pale in comparison with the sellout in Geneva, says leading Iranian commentator. This will eventually lead to war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Free Syrian Army Says No Ceasefire for Geneva Talks
BEIRUT, Nov 26 (Reuters) — The commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said on Tuesday his group would shun a planned peace conference in Switzerland in January and would pursue its fight to topple President Bashar al-Assad regardless.
The Western-backed FSA is an umbrella group encompassing many rebel units, but opposition sources and analysts say its influence has already been eroded by Islamist groups which are forging alliances among the most powerful rebel forces.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Istanbul Monastery to Become a Mosque
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL — The largest Byzantium monastery in Istanbul, the Monastery of Stoudios, also known as the Imrahor Monument, will be converted into a mosque after its restoration next year and be titled Imrahor Ilyas Bey Mosque as daily Hurriyet columnist Vercihan Ziflioglu reports today. The renovation of the mosque, which forms part of the Hagia Sophia Museum, will follow the same fate as that of Hagia Sophia churches in Trabzon and Iznik, which had been already turned into mosques. “I wouldn’t like to speak as a member of a council but my personal opinion is that cultural heritage shouldn’t be reflected as an antagonistic heritage. If we reflect it like this, it will damage societies on a macro level,” said Laki Vingas, acting as representatives of the Directorate General of Foundations. Vingas added that the issue creates grief within society, and it was not only the Greek community’s problem.
“Cultural heritage is universal heritages, meaning that they are humanity’s common heritage,” he said. Imrahor’s conversion into a mosque came at a time debate continues as to whether to reopen Hagia Sophia as a place of worship. Most recently, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has expressed his hope to see the Hagia Sophia to be used as a mosque. The Monastery, which dates back to the fifth century, was the most important monastery of Istanbul during the Byzantium era, also serving as the center of Byzantine intelligentsia. The basilica was converted to a mosque, during the period of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II. After two major fires in the 18th and 19th centuries, the monastery was mostly destroyed. In 1946, it was turned into a museum in line with a ministerial cabinet decision.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It isn’t surprising that the US and the other five powers signed a deal with Iran on Saturday. Over the past few weeks, US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry made it clear that they were committed to signing a deal with Iran as quickly as possible.
And it isn’t surprising that the deal these overeager leaders signed with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism makes the world a much more dangerous place than it was before the agreement was concluded…
The negotiations with the Iranians that culminated in Saturday night’s agreement went on for a year.
And yet, the final deal reflects Iran’s opening positions.
That is, over the course of the entire year, American and European negotiators were not able to move Iran’s positions one iota.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Man Arrested for Giving Out Free Hugs
A man who decided to offer ‘free hugs’ in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh has been arrested by the state’s religious police.
Abdulrahman al-Khayyal went out onto the streets along with a friend carrying a placard saying ‘free hugs’, apparently inspired by a viral video of a campaign posted on YouTube earlier this week.
In that video Bandr al-Swed was filmed hugging young men, in a three minute clip that racked up over a million views in three days.
Inspired by the cuddling campaign, 21-year-old Al-Khayyal announced on Twitter that he was going to offer free hugs in Tahliya, one of the main shopping streets.
However the two men were arrested and their ‘free hugs’ banners seized, CNN Arabic reported.
Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested the two men in Riyadh for violating local laws and engaging in “exotic practices”, Al Hayat newspaper said. They were then made to sign a pledge that they would not go out again.
Abdulrahman al-Khayyal posted a picture of him drawing the placard on his instagram account.
Despite this, al-Khayyal told The Independent that he would continue to give out free hugs and he was proud of what he had done. He said he considered it an act of charity…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabian “Romeo and Juliet” Seek Refuge in Yemen
After the parents of a Saudi Arabian woman rejected her love for a Yemeni man, she fled across the border to be with him.
Huda al-Niran, 22, sought asylum in Yemen to marry her Yemeni boyfriend, Arafat al-Qadi. The two met in 2010 while he was working in a mobile phone store in Saudi Arabia. Her father refused Radfan’s marriage proposals, and once she heard plans to marry her off to another man, she fled to Yemen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seventh Dutch Combatant Killed in Civil War in Syria
A seventh Dutch combatant is reported to have been killed in the civil war in Syria.
The death of the 26-year-old man from Delft was reported on the website dewarereligie.nl under the headline ‘Seventh Dutch Mujihadeen obtains martyrdom in Syria.” He was named as Abu Jandal, also known as Abu Fidaa, who had been a spokesman for Dutch Muslims fighting in Syria and given an interview to De Volkskrant in June.
In his June interview, he said he was fighting to bring down the regime of Bashar al-Assad and establish sharia law in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
William Hague’s Appeasement of Iran’s Mullahs is a Historic and Terrible Mistake
by Douglas Murray
Well, I wondered in this place last week if David Cameron knew what he was doing in relation to the Iran nuclear negotiations in Geneva. And now the answer is clearly, ‘no’. America and Europe’s overwhelming desire to declare a deal meant that there had to be a deal to declare. The P5+1 countries, with the ludicrous Catherine Ashton speaking for Europe, have indeed made a historic and terrible mistake.
The mullahs did not come to Geneva because they wished to give up their capability. And they did not come to the table because after 34 years of revolutionary Islamic governance they have seen the error of their ways. They came because international sanctions were beginning to hurt. Those sanctions — which took years to put in place — have now fallen apart thanks to a few days of incompetent negotiating on the part of the P5+1 plus some simple common sense from Tehran. People tend to say at this stage that the Iranians are ‘master negotiators’. They aren’t especially. They are simply fortunate to be playing against Catherine Ashton and a generation of other weak and short-sighted American and British politicians.
The result is that the Iranian regime has managed to walk away with a deal to relieve the pressure of sanctions at the very moment that the pressure was working and the very moment that it should have been kept up and ultimately used to break them. They now have the breathing hole they need to reinforce their power at home and continue their search for nuclear weaponry.
At the root of this debacle is the fact that the Iranians went into the sanctions knowing exactly what they wanted: time and the bomb. The P5+1 countries, by contrast, were riddled by doubt and muddled thinking…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
11 Pakistani Teachers Kidnapped During Polio Campaign Released: Officials
(Reuters) — Militants released on Tuesday 11 teachers who had been kidnapped in Pakistan’s lawless northwest during a polio vaccination campaign last week, local officials said.
The teachers were seized by Islamist militants on November 21 from a school in the Khyber tribal agency, one of the semi autonomous tribal areas along border with Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Takes a Small Step in Lunar Exploration
China is to launch the country’s first ever unmanned probe on the moon next month, an official said on Tuesday. The probe has been named “Jade Rabbit” in a nod to Chinese folklore.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Planned launch of lunar rover follows a string of triumphs for the country’s space programme.
Next month, a Chinese spacecraft called Chang’e-3 is scheduled to use braking rockets to lower itself gently onto the plains of Sinus Iridum, a broad swathe of lava flows on the near side of the Moon. The probe will then roll out a six-wheeled rover — the first machinery to explore the Moon’s surface since 1976, when the Soviet Luna 24 mission scooped up a handful of soil and flew it back to Earth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Flies B-52s Through China’s Expanded Air Defense Zone
Two long-range American bombers have conducted what Pentagon officials described Tuesday as a routine training mission through international air space recently claimed by China as its “air defense identification zone.”
The Chinese government said Saturday that it has the right to identify, monitor and possibly take military action against aircraft that enter the area, which includes sea and islands also claimed by Japan. The claim threatens to escalate an already tense dispute over some of the maritime territory.
American officials said the pair of B-52s carried out a mission that had been planned long in advance of the Chinese announcement this past weekend, and that the United States military would continue to assert its right to fly through what it regards as international air space.
| [Return to headlines] |
Politicians take action on poaching in Africa as tusk seizures approach record numbers
It has been a bad year for Africa’s elephants. Thousands have been killed as poachers rush to cash in on soaring ivory prices, which have reached hundreds of dollars per kilogram. The cyanide poisoning of up to 300 animals at watering holes in a game park in Zimbabwe last month served as a particularly unpleasant reminder of the lengths to which poachers are willing to go.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Peru to Buy Two Military Aircraft From Italian Company
(AGI) Rome, Nov 25 — Peru’s defence ministry will buy two C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft from Italian aerospace company Alenia Aermacchi. The deal is worth around 100 million euros and includes logistical support, said parent company Finmeccanica.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
150,000 Say No to EU Migrants: Daily Express Readers Demand Block on Migration Tidal Wave
A HUGE army of Daily Express readers has called on David Cameron to defy the EU — and stop a new wave of migration into Britain.
By Alison Little
More than 150,000 people have backed this newspaper’s crusade urging the Prime Minister to maintain controls on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants.
Fears are growing that tens of thousands of people from the eastern European countries will come to the UK when employment restrictions are lifted next year.
But our incredible surge of support proves the nation wants Mr Cameron to dismiss the edicts of Brussels by keeping the controls in place. And this week the message will be sent straight to the heart of Government when our petition is delivered to Downing Street.
In a sign of the groundswell against further loosening of restrictions, it emerged yesterday that Mr Cameron could as early as this week unveil new proposals to deter immigrants by making it harder for new arrivals to claim benefits. Options he is said to be considering include dramatically increasing the three-month residency requirement people must now meet to qualify for benefits — possibly ensuring they have lived in the UK for a year.
That would also put Britain at loggerheads with Brussels, which is already challenging residency tests we apply to certain benefits on grounds that they break EU law by treating other European citizens differently from Britons.
MPs leading calls for action on Romania and Bulgaria welcomed any benefit crackdown — but said it would not be enough…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Almost half of Britons think the right to work and live in the UK should be blocked for Romanians and Bulgarians, a survey has shown.
It comes as Downing Street confirmed it is looking at a possible extension of the length of time new arrivals from the EU have to stay in the UK before claiming benefits.
And the Romanian foreign minister urged David Cameron to reject the ‘racist attitudes’ which can dominate the political debate on immigration.
Concerns have been raised in Westminster over the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians who might come to the UK when movement controls imposed when they joined the European Union expire in January.
But Mr Cameron’s official spokesman appeared to reject suggestions the Prime Minister was prepared to defy European courts to impose tougher conditions.
‘The Government acts within the law,’ he told reporters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Immigrant Children Disappearing Without Trace After Entering Spain
DNA tests reveal adults are traveling with minors who are not their own
Sexual and economic exploitation suspected
Tests carried out on people at the temporary immigrant holding center (CETI) in Melilla have led to the conclusion that illegal migration into Spain is, on occasion, also human trafficking. DNA samples taken from a group of sub-Saharan immigrants at the center who had arrived with children proved that there was no genetic link between the adults and the youngsters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Bishops Against Barbed Wire at Border
Spanish church condemns Melilla gov’t hard line against migrants
(ANSAmed) — MADRID — The new secretary and spokesman of the Spanish Episcopal Conference on Tuesday condemned the use of new, razor-sharp barbed wire fencing to try to keep migrants from crossing into the Spanish enclave of Melilla. “A great many highly educated young people are forced to emigrate from Spain”, José Maria Gil Tamayo told Cadena Cope radio. “What would happen if they received the same kind of treatment?” The priest said he feels “personally involved” in the migrants’ destiny because his father “died an immigrant in Germany in the 1960s”, when Spanish “conditions were extremely difficult after the war”.
Tamayo went on to call on the Spanish government not to treat migrants as enemies.
“The Mafias that are trafficking with their lives are the real enemy”, he said. The government should “make an effort to regulate immigration and protect immigrants’ rights”. The Spanish government of Melilla recently installed razor-sharp barbed wire fencing along the border with Morocco, a popular crossing for illegal sub-Saharan migrants hoping to reach the European enclave.
Detractors of the measure said the new fencing will not stop people from attempting to cross the border, but will merely cause horrendous injuries.
Situated in North Africa, Melilla is Spanish sovereign territory and part of the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Britain risks returning to the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘rivers of blood’ speech, Archbishop Desmond Tutu has warned.
The Nobel peace laureate said the intense debate over opening borders to new migrants from Romania and Bulgaria risked overshadowing the ‘opportunity’ presented by new arrivals to Britain.
The intervention comes as a poll showed almost half of Britons think the right to work and live in the UK should be blocked for Romanians and Bulgarians…
Archbishop Tutu warned: ‘We are beginning to hear the same kind of tune that we had when Enoch Powell was doing his stuff.
‘I thought that was one of the worst moments of your modern history.’
Speaking on a visit where he was granted the Freedom of the City of London, he added: ‘I hope you do not miss the opportunity [of immigration].
‘Opposing it would be just for short-term returns. People are worried, rightly of course, about economics but in the end those who do not share end up not actually enriched. They are certainly going to be impoverished in their humanity.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gender Quotas: How German Firms Help Women Get Ahead
Germany’s plans to introduce a gender quota will cause fewer problems for companies than some critics are willing to admit. Many firms have already made changes, promoting female talent and bringing women into management.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mennonite University Considering Policy Change to Allow Homosexual Faculty
HARRISONBURG, Va. — A Mennonite university in Virginia is considering making a change to its current hiring policy to allow faculty members to be in same-sex relationships.
Eastern Mennonite University issued a news release on the matter last week, noting that it has decided to open up a 60-day listening period “to review current hiring policies and practices with respect to individuals in same-sex relationships.” President Loren Swartzendruber was authorized unanimously by the school board to design and oversee the process, which will begin in January.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Morning After Pill Touted by Liberals Doesn’t Work for Women Over 176 Pounds
In a major blow to birth control proponents, the European equivalent of Plan B — known as the “morning after pill” — now includes a warning that the contraceptive is not effective for women over 165 pounds and does not work at all for women over 176 pounds. The implications are staggering: according to the Centers for Disease Control, the average weight of an American woman over 20 is 166.2 pounds.
HRA Pharma, the European manufacturer of a drug essentially identical to America’s Plan B, has followed up on the findings of that study and concluded that it is time to warn women that “the drug is completely ineffective for women who weigh more than 176 pounds and begins to lose effectiveness in women who weigh more than 165 pounds,” reports Mother Jones.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Okla City Will Not Cancel Pornographic Play Mocking Bible
In a letter to pastors who object to a play opening next week at Civic Center Music Hall, the city says the best course for those with concerns is to contact the producer.
The Oklahoma City Theatre Company’s production of “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told” opens in preview Dec. 5 in CitySpace, a small theater in the Civic Center’s basement.
Several dozen pastors have signed a letter objecting to the play, which has homosexual characters and satirizes biblical stories.
They call the play “gross pornography” and ask in their letter why it is “necessary to mock the Bible in the Christmas season.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Attacks Capitalism and Calls for Church Reform
Pope Francis laid out his platform on Tuesday in an “exhortation” in which he attacked capitalism and called for church reform but ruled out women priests and said abortion was not open to discussion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Contraception Cases, In Challenge to Health Law
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a pair of cases on whether corporations may refuse to provide insurance coverage for contraception to their workers based on the religious beliefs of the corporations’ owners.
The cases present a new challenge to President Obama’s health care law. The Supreme Court in 2012 upheld another part of the law, one that requires most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.
The Obama administration has exempted many religious groups from the law’s requirements for contraception coverage. But it said for-profit corporations could not rely on religious objections to opt out of compliance with the law. The lower courts are divided over whether such corporations may object to generally applicable laws on religious liberty grounds.
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Texas Education Board Sanctions Textbooks That Endorse Evolution
AUSTIN — The Texas Board of Education has endorsed science textbooks that sanction evolution and no longer include scientific criticism of evolutionary theory.
On Friday, members of the Texas Board of Education (TBE) considered several proposed textbooks for use in state high schools.
Historically, TBE members have chosen science textbooks which describe evolutionary theory but also mention several of the theory’s scientific weaknesses. Advocates of the method say that this allows students to consider the options and make informed, critical decisions.
However, after hours of debate, TBE members approved books that fully endorse the theory of evolution. In total, the board approved 400 math, science, and technology books — 18 of which were biology-related. Two of the biology books are currently undergoing further review, but are expected to eventually receive approval.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
3D-Printed Kidneys Take Small Steps Toward Organ Replacements
A model of a 3D-printed kidney drew wild applause when a surgeon first held it up at a TED conference in 2011. But the dream of creating replacement human kidneys using 3D-printed technology still remains years away, even as the technology has enabled the rise of “bioprinting” aimed at building organs suitable for transplantation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fire Ants Writhe to Make Unsinkable Rafts
Fire ant rafts hold together by constantly breaking apart. Swarms of the insects link up in vast groups to float across water, sometimes forming rafts the size of dinner plates. But how they withstand waves and other forces that threaten to sink them wasn’t known.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Milk and Dairy Hold Potential for Improving Nutrition of World’s Poor
Governments urged to make milk and dairy products more accessible to the most vulnerable households
Milk and dairy products hold huge potential to improve nutrition and livelihoods for hundreds of millions of poor people across the world, according to a new FAO publication launched today.
Although the term ‘milk’ has become almost synonymous with cow milk, milk from many other species is consumed in different parts of the world. The book covers the milk composition of other major dairy species such as buffalo, goat and sheep, and species that are currently underutilized in dairy production such as reindeer, moose, llama, alpaca, donkey, yak, camel and mithun.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The secrets of owls’ near silent wings has been revealed by scientists who could now use the technology to develop quieter aircraft.
A new study has shown how the bird of prey’s naturally evolved plumage gives the hunting advantage of ‘acoustic stealth’, allowing it to sneak up on targets.
Research found that many owl species have developed feathers which can effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings as they cut through the air.
It is work that may one day help bring ‘silent owl technology’ to the design of aircraft, wind turbines and submarines.
Doctor Justin Jaworski, assistant professor in Lehigh University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, who worked on the research said: ‘Owls possess no fewer than three distinct physical attributes that are thought to contribute to their silent flight capability.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The UN Global Warming Hoax is Slowly Dying
In 2007 Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner was interviewed on the subject of sea levels. He is the head of the Paleogeophysics and Geodynamics department at Stockholm University in Sweden. He is past president (1999-2003) of the INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution, and leader of the Maldives Sea Level Project. Dr. Mörner has been studying the sea level and its effects on coastal areas for some 35 years.
“You have Vanuatu, and also in the Pacific, north of New Zealand and Fiji — there is the island Tegua. They said they had to evacuate it, because the sea level was rising. But again, you look at the tide-gauge record: There is absolutely no signal that the sea level is rising.. If anything, you could say that maybe the tide is lowering a little bit, but absolutely no rising.”
The most recent edition of Bloomberg Businessweek features a cover that says “This entire country is about to be wiped out by climate change. It won’t last.” It is devoted to Kribati, a Pacific island chain, and it is a total lie.
The media has been a co-conspirator to the global warming hoax and I take this latest example as one that reveals its utter desperation to maintain the greatest hoax of the modern era. The facts mean nothing to them. Real science means nothing to them. But reality is intruding on theirs and the United Nations environmental program just wrapped up Conference of Parties-19 in Warsaw, where more nations are now in open revolt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Quote:
“Cultural heritage is universal heritages, meaning that they are humanity’s common heritage,” he said.
end
Islam is not humanity’s common heritage at all.
Another day, more Muslim contempt.
The Turk is always the Turk.
He makes the claims of a conqueror just as he did in 1453.
I have to laugh at the Scottish independence lark, they absorb more taxes than they contribute to the UK so dump them I say but they want english money still so how does that make them independent??
Desmond Tutu scolds Britain about its resistance to endless immigration? Gee, does South Africa open its doors to endless immigration from Zimbabwe? Does South Africa have an open invitation to all those refugees fleeing dictators and civil wars in the rest of Africa? Does South Africa tax its own people at such high rates that they can’t afford to raise and educate more than one child per family, and then spend that tax money on the large families of unwanted immigrants? Britain ought to answer Tutu’s complaint by rerouting all their “refugees” right to Tutu’s doorstep!