Gates of Vienna News Feed 11/8/2013

The European Central Bank has dropped its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% from 0.5%, which was already a record low. Inflation has dropped to 0.7%, which has financial analysts concerned about a possible deflationary trend. Italian industrialists are worried that deflation is coming to Italy, and are lobbying for a reduction in employment taxes to ease the crisis.

In other news, police seized a suspicious package outside the Quebec national assembly and arrested the man who was carrying it. There’s no word yet whether the incident was connected with the proposed law to ban the wearing of religious attire by public employees, which would impact Muslimas who wear the hijab.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, Kitman, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Cyprus and Venezuela, Castro Care
» European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rate to Spur Economy
» Four-Year Italian Bond Sale Sets Record
» How China Can Cause the Death of the Dollar and the Entire U.S. Financial System
» Squinzi Says Italy in Real Danger of Deflation
» The Student Loan Bubble is Starting to Burst
» UK: Ed Miliband’s Top Adviser Calls for Swing to Left and End to Austerity
» Which America Do You Live in? — 21 Hard to Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America”
 
USA
» America’s First Openly Marxist Big City Mayor
» Another ObamaCare Surprise: Major Hospitals All Across the Country Not Included Under New Insurance Plans
» Arab American Group Says Coachella Valley High Mascot is a Stereotype
» Chinese Troops Will Have Boots on the Ground in Hawaii on Tuesday
» Claim: ‘Unions May Get Health Law Tax Relief’
» Cops Tase Father Trying to Save His 3-Year-Old Son From House Fire
» Cops Now Enforcing Anal Probing on Americans Routinely
» Democrat Win in Virginia Signals New Attack on Second Amendment
» DHS Publicly Denies Preparation for Riots, Civil Unrest
» DHS to Hire “Top Secret” Domestic Security Force
» Does Saying ‘New World Order’ Make You a Terrorist?
» ENI Signs Deal With Quicksilver for U.S. Shale Oil Search
» F.D.A. Moves to Ban Trans Fats, Citing Health Concerns
» Feds Subjected Innocent Woman to Finger Probe of Vagina & Anus
» Finding the Way Out of the Dark
» Health Care for the Pushy
» HHS Computers Take Control Away From Doctors
» Hundreds Prepare Protest Against Islam Chapter in Volusia Co. School Textbook
» Imaginary Problems, Disastrous Solutions
» IRS Refunded $4b to Identity Thieves
» Krauthammer: ObamaCare a Tool to Intentionally Destroy Wealth and Create Democratic Voters
» Kudos to Sheriff Finch and the People of Liberty County, Florida
» Lawsuit: Police and Doctors Conduct Illegal Cavity Search, Colonoscopy on Innocent Man
» Lord Monckton: Feeling Impeachment in the Air
» Media Uses New Goetz Arrest to Mold Public Opinion — Again!
» Military Purge: Obama Wants Troops to Obey Him, Not the Constitution
» Nearly 250,000 Colorado Healthcare Plans Cancelled Under ObamaCare
» Obama Accelerates Purge of U.S. Military
» Obama Secret Service Agent: “It’s Worse Than People Know… and I’m Not Trying to Scare You Either”
» ObamaCare Price Hikes Hit ‘Red States’ Hardest
» Obama Says No More Healthcare… No More Choice
» Ohio Man Found Guilty of Hate Crime Murder of Mother, Toddler, And Baby
» ‘Purge Surge’: Obama Fires Another Commander
» ‘Spanish Winery Will Destroy US Redwoods’
» The National Security Agency: Spying for the Rockies
» TSA Sought Firing Range for Firearms Training Two Weeks Before LAX Shooting
» Turning Mass Shootings Into a Police State and Other Games
» Video: Next-Generation Flash Mobs: The Breakdown of Law & Order
» We Are Heading for the Greatest Doctor Shortage in American History
» Will Americans Put Up With Americans Being Trained to Attack Them?
 
Canada
» Cops Seize Suspicious Package and Arrest a Man Outside Quebec’s National Assembly
» Quebec Introduces Legislation to Prohibiting Public Employees From Wearing Religious Symbols
 
Europe and the EU
» Can the Weirdo Who Hid £1bn of Nazi Art Solve the Mystery of the Tsar’s Lost Treasure Trove?
» Fear in Greece as Shock New Poll Puts Golden Dawn in First Place
» France Orders Google to Block Mosley Orgy Photos
» Italian Population Rapidly Ageing
» Italian Cities Among World’s Worst for Traffic
» Italy: Mafia Turncoat Urges Citizens to Vote for Grassroots Five Star Movement
» Italy: Farmers: Producers Slam ‘Anti-Southern’ Pomì Tomato Ad
» Italy Spent 47.5% of Available EU Funding, Report Says
» Italy: Alfano Says Berlusconi Party Risks Becoming Extremist
» Italy: 2000 Revellers Trash Industrial Sheds at Bergamo Rave
» Italy: Ex-Anchorman, Berlusconi Pal Found Guilty of Slander
» Italy: No Convictions Among 28 in Campania Trash Trial
» Italy: Berlusconi Says Napolitano Has Time to Grant His Pardon
» Italy: Bridge Posts Robbed: Venetians Wade Through ‘High Water’
» Italy: Head of Camillian Order Arrested With Five Others
» Italy: Palermo Has Fourth Worst Traffic Jams in Europe
» Italy: Foreign Billionaires to Save Roman Sites
» Killer MERS Coronavirus Found in Spain
» Letta Says Europe Credits Him With ‘Balls of Steel’
» Norway: Magnus Carlsen: The Mozart of Chess
» Prominent Blacks Sound Alarm on ‘Racist France’
» Spies Uncovered: 34 Terrorist Plots Against UK Thwarted Since 7/7 Bombings, Says MI5 Head
» Sweden Democrats: Ban Begging by Foreigners
» Sweden Puts Weight Behind Turkey EU Bid
» Swedes to Sniff Out Terrorists in Sewers
» Sweden: Södertälje Shooting Rekindles Mafia Fears
» Teen Poet Sparks New Debate on Islam in Denmark
» UK: Backwards Society: Sombrero Halloween Costume Branded Offensive While 9/11 Attack Costume Wins Award
» UK: Burka Fugitive is Suing UK for £1m: Just Sickening! MI6 Chief’s Verdict as Judge Rules Terror Suspect Can Use Legal Aid to Make His Claim
» UK: Fanatic Cut Off His Tag… And May Have a Passport: Details of How Easily Terror Suspect Got Away Pile Pressure on Home Office
» UK: Johnny Depp Cake: Woman Bakes Giant Jack Sparrow
» UK: Lucy Was Kidnapped, Gang Raped — And Then Cruelly Betrayed by the British Justice System
» UK: When We Trust Someone, We Imagine They Look Like US, Says New Study
 
North Africa
» CBS Correspondent Apologizes for Report on Benghazi Attack
» Copts: Ousted President Morsi Sought Terrorist Support
» Tunisia: Crisis: National Dialogue Suspended
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Daniel Pipes: Obama Turns on Israel
» NBC Joins Al Jazeera in Anti-Israel Propaganda
» The Greatest Threat to Israeli Democracy
 
Middle East
» Denouement: P5+1 Appeasement of Nuclear Iran in Geneva
» Pakistan ‘Ready to Deliver Nuclear Weapons to Saudi Arabia’
» Saudi Nuclear Weapons ‘On Order’ From Pakistan
» Saudi Arabia Has Nuclear Weapons ‘On Order, ‘ Ready to Deliver From Pakistan: Report
» Saudi U.N. Envoy Demands Permanent Security Council Seat for Arabs
» Syria: Italian Hospital Continues to Operate in Damascus
» Turkey: Shepherd Kills Anatolian Leopard Thought Extinct
» UAE Close to Achieving Schengen Visa-Free Travel
 
South Asia
» Where Allah Rocks: Indonesia’s Tolerant Take on Islam
» Woman Killed Over Dowry ‘Every Hour’ In India
 
Far East
» China: Tiananmen Square Jihad Attack Revenge for Police Raid on Xinjiang Mosque
» Fukushima Cleanup Efforts Put Northern Hemisphere on Alert
» Made-in-China Kitchen Appliances Found to Contain Hidden Wi-Fi Circuitry That Installs Malware on Your Home Network
» ‘Severe’ Air Pollution Hits Shanghai
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Mali: Al-Qaeda in ‘Plausible’ Claim Over French Deaths
» Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct
 
Latin America
» Luis Fleischman: Is the Defeat of Kirchner’s Party a Small Step Towards the Extreme Left’s Gradual Retreat?
 
Immigration
» Asylum Seekers Barred From Norway Bus
» Feds Spent $29 Million on Prescription Drugs for 4,139 Illegal Aliens
» Italy: Immigrant Man Arrested for Beating Wife in Front of Children
» Lampedusa Boat Tragedy: Migrants ‘Raped and Tortured’
» Northern Europe Beckons to Desperate Syrians
» Obama: No Reason We Can’t Do Amnesty Before End of Year
» Sweden: Syrians Boost Stockholm Population Growth
» UK: Just One in 67 Suspect Illegal Immigrants is Sent Home: Officials Are Not Properly Following Up Tip Offs in 94% of Cases
» What America Will Look Like in 2050?
 
Culture Wars
» Families Threatened With Police “Monitoring” Over Transgender Complaints
» Film Critics Divided on Swedish Gender Bias Test
» Gay Students Pundit Paid $24k to Talk Fisting, Gorilla-Suit Fetishes With Students — Jennifer Kabbany
» Senate Approves Ban on Antigay Bias in Workplace
» Swedish Cinemas Launch Feminist Movie Rating
» Video: Gay Activist Calls for Mandatory Abortion
 
General
» Aussie Explorer ‘Boiled and Ate Swiss to Survive’
» Environmentalism: The Science With No Basis in Science
 

Cyprus and Venezuela, Castro Care

Cyprus, a tiny island of less than one million people, is a small scale study in “big banking out of control,” “insane spending like there is no tomorrow,” coupled with “socialism runs out of other people’s money.” While researching the bailin and bailout of early summer, I found disturbing accounts of their socialized health care.

In return for a 10 billion bailout for Cyprus, the EU bureaucrats have demanded a bailin (read confiscation) of Cypriots’ savings and checking accounts. One bank offered worthless shares but another did not. Cypriots felt that they were used as “guinea pigs” to test if the scheme worked before they tried it in other places like Italy, Spain, and Greece. The confiscation of depositors’ money was euphemism-dubbed in Cyprus, “the haircut.”

The European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, a.k.a. the Troika** (Russian for a three-way alliance) have required 40-60 percent confiscation of depositors’ money from the Bank of Cyprus in exchange for worthless shares and 100 percent confiscation from the Bank of Laikh; if a person had 100,000 euros in the bank, he/she was lucky to get a few cents back, said The Foreign Correspondent in a 30-minute documentary. Even the capital of small businesses had been commandeered and frozen, leaving employers unable to meet payroll and thus resulted in laid off workers. The economy became so depressed, the unemployment grew to thirty percent.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

European Central Bank Cuts Interest Rate to Spur Economy

The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low Thursday, moving more quickly than expected to stimulate the euro zone economy in the face of falling inflation.

The E.C.B. cut its main rate to 0.25 percent from 0.5 percent, which was already a record low.

Inflation in the euro zone unexpectedly declined to an annual rate of 0.7 percent in October, well below the E.C.B.’s official target of about 2 percent, raising the specter of deflation — a sustained fall in prices that can destroy the profits of companies and the jobs they provide.

[Return to headlines]
 

Four-Year Italian Bond Sale Sets Record

Inflation-linked offering snapped up by Italian investors

(ANSA) — Rome, November 6 — Almost 23 billion euros in a new four-year inflation-linked bond were snapped up by mid-Wednesday, setting a new sales record and leading the Italian Treasury to end the debt sale early.

A total of 22.27 billion euros of the new bond were purchased before the sale was concluded at 2 p.m. local time, providing much-needed funding for the Italian government.

On Tuesday, first day of the scheduled four-day offering, sales totaled 16.84 million euro, and another 5.43 billion euros were sold Wednesday.

That pushed the value of entire offer above the previous record of 18-billion euros collected in a four-day offer in October 2012.

This week’s sale to retail investors marked the fifth issue of the Italian Treasury’s inflation-linked bond, dubbed BTP Italia, with this series offering a guaranteed base yield of 2.15%. Final yield will be announced later but will not go below the base set for these bonds, which mature in November 2017. The strong demand for the BTP Italia helped the overall market for Italian government securities, which rose Wednesday for the first time in three days, reducing the spread between Italy’s benchmark 10-year bond and its German equivalent to 240 basis points.

The yield on 10-year Italian bonds dropped to 4.14 % by early afternoon.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

How China Can Cause the Death of the Dollar and the Entire U.S. Financial System

The death of the dollar is coming, and it will probably be China that pulls the trigger. What you are about to read is understood by only a very small fraction of all Americans. Right now, the U.S. dollar is the de facto reserve currency of the planet. Most global trade is conducted in U.S. dollars, and almost all oil is sold for U.S. dollars. More than 60 percent of all global foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars, and far more U.S. dollars are actually used outside of the United States than inside of it. As will be described below, this has given the United States some tremendous economic advantages, and most Americans have no idea how much their current standard of living depends on the dollar remaining the reserve currency of the world. Unfortunately, thanks to reckless money printing by the Federal Reserve and the reckless accumulation of debt by the federal government, the status of the dollar as the reserve currency of the world is now in great jeopardy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Squinzi Says Italy in Real Danger of Deflation

Confindustria says lower labour taxes would boost growth

(ANSA) — Brussels, November 6 — Italy is in a dangerous condition of deflation that could cause real harm to the struggling economy, the head of big-business lobby group Confindustria said Wednesday. “The fact that inflation is decreasing although there has been an increase in (value-added taxes) means that we are in a situation of real deflation, and this is worrying,” Giorgio Squinzi said outside meetings in Brussels with European Union officials. Deflation, a general drop in the costs of goods and services, is a sign of a very sluggish economy such as Italy is enduring — the country recently recorded its ninth straight quarter of economic loss. Growth would be boosted by lower employment taxes, something that still may be possible despite disappointments in the initial version of the budget bill from the government of Premier Enrico Letta, said Squinzi.

He said because that bill is still being revised and redrafted, there is hope of improvement.

The priority for business is an “intervention on the cost of labour (because) we need to rediscover growth,” said Squinzi.

Business and labour groups have called on the government to reduce labour costs for both employers and workers, to stimulate job creation and increase incomes.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

The Student Loan Bubble is Starting to Burst

The largest bank in the United States will stop making student loans in a few weeks.

JPMorgan Chase has sent a memorandum to colleges notifying them that the bank will stop making new student loans in October, according to Reuters.

The official reason is quite bland.

“We just don’t see this as a market that we can significantly grow,” Thasunda Duckett tells Reuters. Duckett is the chief executive for auto and student loans at Chase, which means she’s basically delivering the news that a large part of her business is getting closed down.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Ed Miliband’s Top Adviser Calls for Swing to Left and End to Austerity

In a hard-hitting speech, Lord Stewart Wood, pictured, strongly hinted that a Labour government would return to tax, borrow and spend policies.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Which America Do You Live in? — 21 Hard to Believe Facts About “Wealthy America” And “Poor America”

Did you know that 40 percent of all American workers make less than $20,000 a year before taxes? And 65 percent of all American workers make less than $40,000 a year before taxes. If you work on Wall Street, or have a cushy job with the federal government, or work for a big tech firm out on the west coast, life is probably pretty good for you right now. But the truth is that most Americans are not living the high life. In fact, most Americans are just trying to figure out how to survive from month to month. For many Americans, making a choice between buying food for your family and paying the light bill is a common occurrence. But if you don’t live in that America, hearing that people actually live like that may sound very strange to you. After all, if everyone around you has expensive cars, the latest electronic gadgets and million dollar homes, the notion that America is in the midst of a very serious “economic decline” may seem very bizarre to you.

On Wednesday, the Dow hit a brand new record high, and Wall Street celebrated. Since the financial crisis of 2008, stocks have been on an unprecedented run. The top performers in the market have not just made millions of dollars — they have made billions of dollars. Luxury apartments in Manhattan and beachfront homes in the Hamptons are selling for absolutely astronomical prices, and it seems like life in the good parts of New York City is one gigantic endless party these days.

Meanwhile, life is quite good down in Washington D.C. as well. The wealth is spread more evenly, but on average the D.C. region actually has the highest standard of living of any major U.S. city. The reason for this is the obscene growth of the federal government. Over the past couple of decades, the U.S. government has ballooned in size and so have government salaries. During one recent year, the average federal employee living in the Washington D.C. area received total compensation worth more than $126,000.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America’s First Openly Marxist Big City Mayor

If you think Barack Obama has gotten a free ride from the press, consider the case of Bill de Blasio.

The New York Post revealed at the last minute that the Marxist frontrunner for mayor of New York City visited Communist Russia in 1983. But the paper’s bizarre cover headline, “Back in the USSR,” complete with a hammer-and-sickle, seemed to make a mockery of the discovery.

International communism, which claimed more than 100 million lives, is not a laughing matter, nor just the subject of a 1968 song by the Beatles.

Described by CNN as the “unabashed liberal,” de Blasio is actually to the left of Barack Obama, in the sense that de Blasio didn’t disavow his communist background once it came to light. At least Obama tried to cover up his ties to communist Frank Marshall Davis.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Another ObamaCare Surprise: Major Hospitals All Across the Country Not Included Under New Insurance Plans

(NaturalNews) As if the millions of Americans set to lose their existing health insurance coverage as a result of Obamacare was not bad enough, a recent survey by Watchdog.org has found that many top hospitals across the nation will no longer be accessible to the average person with a new “eligible” plan. In fact, many major hospitals are being excluded from Obamacare coverage altogether, which means that millions of previously covered individuals will have to settle for subpar care at other “in-network” facilities.

Based on the results of the survey, most of the nation’s top hospitals, including renowned facilities like Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, will only be accepting insurance from one or two companies included as part of Obamacare. This means that all the other insurance plans offered on the Obamacare exchanges will be ineligible, and many patients will be required to go to other facilities, even if their previous insurance plans were accepted by these same hospitals.

“Americans who sign up for Obamacare will be getting a big surprise if they expect to access premium health care that may have been previously covered under their personal policies,” explains U.S. News & World Report about the report’s findings. “Most of the top hospitals will accept insurance from just one or two companies operating under Obamacare.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Arab American Group Says Coachella Valley High Mascot is a Stereotype

Coachella Valley High has received a letter from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington complaining about its Arab mascot. The mascot is a caricature that has a hook nose and a turban. During halftime of games, a girl dressed as a belly dancer dances for the mascot. Coachella Valley High has apparently had the mascot for about 90 years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chinese Troops Will Have Boots on the Ground in Hawaii on Tuesday

Aloha Hawaiians! If you see what you think are soldiers from the Communist Peoples Republic of China Army wandering about in your neck of the woods Tuesday through Thursday next week, your imagination is not playing tricks on you.

For the first time in history the U.S. Army will host the Communist Peoples Republic of China’s Army on American soil Nov. 12-14, 2013.

But don’t worry while Chinese soldiers will have boots on the ground in Hawaii, they are only really “simulating”.

“Simulating humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to a fictional third country”.

You can’t make this stuff up when GridEx 2 is doing it for you.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Claim: ‘Unions May Get Health Law Tax Relief’

It looks like labor unions might be getting tax relief from Obamacare, according to a report from kaiserhealthnews.org.

“Weeks after denying labor’s request to give union members access to health-law subsidies, the Obama administration is signaling it intends to exempt some union plans from one of the law’s substantial taxes,” reads the report.

Buried in rules issued last week is the disclosure that the administration will propose exempting “certain self-insured, self-administered plans” from the law’s temporary reinsurance fee in 2015 and 2016.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cops Tase Father Trying to Save His 3-Year-Old Son From House Fire

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

“It’s just heartless. How could they be so heartless?”

A Louisiana, Missouri father was prevented from saving his 3-year-old son from a house fire when cops tased him three times for attempting to enter the burning building.

The fire started in a ground floor play room while the parents were asleep in the living room. The toddler was asleep upstairs in his bedroom.

After waking up to the smell of fumes, the parents managed to get outside before calling 911. Stepfather Ryan Miller then kicked down the front door to the building as police and firefighters arrived.

The house was too hot for firefighters to enter, but when Miller attempted to rush in to try and save his stepson, he was restrained and then tased three times by a city police officer.

“He tried to get back in the house to get the baby,” grandmother Lori Miller told KHQA. “They took my son to jail because he tried to save his son.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cops Now Enforcing Anal Probing on Americans Routinely

As second horror story emerges, doctors face being banned from practicing medicine

Earlier this week we covered the story of an innocent New Mexico man who was forced to endure 14 hours of enforced anal probing at the hands of doctors, on the orders of cops looking for narcotics, and was then billed by the medical center. It has now emerged that this was not an isolated incident, and that ANOTHER person was treated the exact same way in the same medical center.

In October, Timothy Young was pulled over by cops in Lordsburg, N.M for not using his blinker. According to police reports, the same drug sniffing dog that featured in David Eckert’s ordeal, described above, again reacted in Mr Young’s case.

KOB Eyewitness News 4 reports that Young was immediately taken to the same hospital, the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, and just like Eckert, was subjected to anal exams and x-rays of his stomach, without giving his consent.

The examinations again turned up nothing, and it again turned out that the “search warrant” obtained by the cops was issued in a different county to where the medical exams took place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Democrat Win in Virginia Signals New Attack on Second Amendment

Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s win for governor of Virginia was bolstered big-time by the anti-Second Amendment crowd led by billionaire Nanny Mike Bloomberg and his Independent USA PAC. The pressure group is led by the current poster child for gun-grabbers, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat shot in the head during a campaign event in Tucson two years ago.

Congrats @TerryMcAuliffe. Mark and I look forward to working with you to prevent gun violence. #responsiblesolutions #VAGov

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) November 6, 2013

Bloomberg’s organization threw in half a million dollars to make sure McAuliffe won the race. Bloomberg personally spent $3 million in the state to inundate voters with mailers and television ads attacking Kenneth Cuccinelli, McAuliffe’s Republican opponent.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

DHS Publicly Denies Preparation for Riots, Civil Unrest

The Department of Homeland Security has denied that it is preparing for domestic unrest despite the purchase of riot gear and the hiring of armed guards which the federal agency freely admits are for “riot control situations” and “civil disturbances”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

DHS to Hire “Top Secret” Domestic Security Force

Is the Department of Homeland Security building a mercenary unit?

The Department of Homeland Security is to spend $19 million dollars on a private security force in Wisconsin and Minnesota, an armed unit that must have a “Top Secret” security clearance according to an official solicitation.

According to a solicitation posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website, the Federal Protective Service, a sub-agency of the DHS, intends to hire “armed Protective Security Officer (PSO) services at various locations throughout the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin.”

“The project will have a requirement for the contractor to have a Top Secret facility clearance by the start of performance,” states the FPS notice.

Unlike previous solicitations, which normally detail how the guards will be deployed to protect government buildings, the document does not divulge what role the armed security force will undertake.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Does Saying ‘New World Order’ Make You a Terrorist?

Mainstream news outlets are blaming Alex Jones and Infowars for the TSA shooting that took place at LAX last Friday due to an alleged manifesto, which shooting suspect Paul Ciancia supposedly carried with him, citing New World Order “conspiracy theories.”…

However, Alex Jones and Infowars were not the ones who gave a name to the idea which promotes one-world global governance.

Numerous prominent politicians and world leaders were embracing the “shadowy subculture” of New World Order and one-world government “conspiracies” long before Infowars was weathering flimsy accusations. Will they too be blamed for the LAX shooting?

Don’t just take our word for it; most quotes are substantiated with links to original sources.

Vice President Joe Biden

“The ‘affirmative task’ before us is to create a New World Order.”

— speech Import Export Bank, April 5, 2013

“How I Learned to Love the New World Order”

— article by Sen. Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Wall Street Journal, April 1992

President George Bush Sr:

[…]

Georgia Rep. Larry P. MacDonald, killed in Korean Air Lines 007, 1983

…the drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control… Do I mean a conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, incredibly evil in intent.”

– Introduction to “The Rockefeller File,” by Gary Allen

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ENI Signs Deal With Quicksilver for U.S. Shale Oil Search

Italian energy giant to spend up to $52 million on American oil

(ANSA) — Rome, November 5 — Italian energy company Eni will spend up to $52 million US in a joint agreement with Texas-based Quicksilver Resources to search for shale oil deposits in the United States, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The agreement will see Eni assess, explore and develop deposits of shale oil through its 50% stake in a 21,246-hectare property held by Quicksilver in the West Texas region of Leon Valley near the city of San Antonio.

Eni’s initial investment will cover all costs of drilling and seismic prospecting on the property. The agreement says any future projects will be jointly financed.

Eni, which is controlled by the Italian government through a 30% stake, also has an option to purchase half of another Quicksilver property stretching 3,035 hectares through the Leon Valley.

Under the agreement, the three-phase project will begin with drilling as many as five exploration wells involving three-dimensional geophysics to try and determine the amount of oil in the property.

Eni seems optimistic about its investment.

It said the Leon Valley licenses are located within “the prolific Delaware Basin, where current production amounts to almost 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day,” both from conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

It is estimated that the production of the Delaware Basin is likely to double over the next five years, thanks to the rapid growth of production of non-conventional deposits.

The Italian government has said it is considering selling a 4% share of its Eni holdings, if it can do so without losing its control over the oil and gas firm.

The government is the largest single shareholder in Eni and the sale of a 4% chunk would raise about 2.6 billion euros for the Italian treasury.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

F.D.A. Moves to Ban Trans Fats, Citing Health Concerns

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday proposed measures that would all but eliminate artificial trans fats, the artery clogging substance that is a major contributor to heart disease in the United States, from the food supply.

Under the proposal, which is open for public comment for 60 days, the agency would declare that partially hydrogenated oils, the source of trans fats, were no longer “generally recognized as safe,” a legal category that permits the use of salt and caffeine, for example.

That means companies would have to prove scientifically that partially hydrogenated oils are safe to eat, a very high hurdle given that scientific literature overwhelmingly shows the contrary. The Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no safe level for consumption of artificial trans fats.

[Return to headlines]
 

Feds Subjected Innocent Woman to Finger Probe of Vagina & Anus

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

THIRD victim of sexual molestation at hands of New Mexico authorities comes forward

A third victim of anal probing and sexual assault at the hands of New Mexico authorities has come forward, with the ACLU representing a woman who says federal agents pressed their fingers into her vagina and anus without consent and without a warrant.

Laura Schaur Ives, Legal Director for the New Mexico Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, is representing a New Mexico woman who wishes to remain unnamed because she says she is a victim of sexual assault.

The incident happened when the woman crossed the border at a Port of Entry from Juarez, Mexico into El Paso.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Finding the Way Out of the Dark

Don’t buy for even a nano second that Democrats hate Republicans and Republicans hate Democrats.

That’s the Act they use to keep you enthralled; the political game that is being played out to keep the masses from ever realizing that they are being played as pawns in an end game that is ruling civil society in every human aspect imaginable.

With no class themselves and driven by power lust, greed and deceit, the politicians have placed the people they were elected to serve, in a class that unwittingly pays the freight for all their disastrous, self-serving policies.

Politicians of the day in the U.S., and in other Western countries like Britain, have captured their constituents, duct-taped their mouths shut and are holding them hostage.

Let’s take a brief look at some of their scripted theatre in action:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Health Care for the Pushy

So now it turns out Obama knew that 93 million Americans would have their health insurance canceled the whole time he was claiming, “If you like your insurance, you can keep it. Period.”

Obama lied. Period. “Hope and Change” was actually “A Sucker Is Born Every Minute.”

Even without the 2010 Health and Human Services (HHS) report admitting that 93 million Americans would lose their health insurance, anyone with half a brain (which is a pre-existing condition) knew that millions of Americans would be thrown off their insurance plans under Obamacare. Under the law, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is to determine what every health insurance plan must cover — and any plans that don’t are illegal.

As a result, gay guys are now going to be forced to buy plans that cover maternity care. Mormons will have to buy plans that cover gambling addiction therapy. Elderly couples can buy only insurance that includes pediatric dental care. Catholic hospitals will be required to provide birth control and abortions.

Our federal overseers, led by the arrogant and smug gender-feminist Sebelius, know what’s best for us. (Which is so nice of her since, as she recently pointed out, she doesn’t work for us.) Her idea of flexibility is not requiring Catholic priests to perform abortions. Not yet, anyway.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

HHS Computers Take Control Away From Doctors

90-year-old woman put on diabetes medication when she didn’t have diabetes

The following happened to someone in my extended family but we have withheld the name to protect privacy. This concerns my extended family member’s 90-year-old mother who went in for her annual exam and high blood pressure meds. The doctor asked her if she was ready to go and get her blood work done. She stated that she had eaten that morning so it would throw off the results of her “fasting blood sugar” test. His wife was with her and witnessed this conversation. The doctor said, “Don’t worry about it.” She proceeded to the lab area and mentioned that she had eaten prior to the test. The lab tech did not respond and drew the blood sample…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hundreds Prepare Protest Against Islam Chapter in Volusia Co. School Textbook

Hundreds of people in Volusia County are preparing a protest against a textbook that’s in public schools across Florida. They believe a world history book dedicates too much material to Islam and doesn’t focus equally on Christianity and other religions.

The controversy started unraveling after a 15-year-old Deltona high school student showed her mom her 10th-grade history book, which has an entire chapter dedicated to Islam but none of the other world religions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Imaginary Problems, Disastrous Solutions

If you’re one of the 93 million American’s who’s going to lose your health insurance because of Obamacare, remember — it all started out as the solution to a “healthcare crisis” that never existed outside the rhetoric of politicians.

To solve the imaginary crisis, they’ve created a real one.

In our time, government has become a deadly parasite that lays its eggs on the living body of the nation. The eggs hatch into bureaucrats, U.S. Senators, and other creepy-crawlies that burrow into the body of the host and devour it from within.

Among the parasite’s favorite tactics is to addle and distract the nation by making loud noise about some terrible crisis that can only be averted by quick and vigorous government action. Most of them, like the “healthcare crisis” that spawned Obamacare, are totally imaginary. By the time the host realizes that — if it ever does — it’s too late: the eggs have hatched and the larvae are into the body, gnawing away at its vitals.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

IRS Refunded $4b to Identity Thieves

The Internal Revenue Service issued $4 billion in fraudulent tax refunds last year to people using stolen identities, with some of the money going to addresses in Bulgaria, Lithuania and Ireland, according to a Treasury report released Thursday.

The IRS sent a total of 655 tax refunds to a single address in Lithuania, and 343 refunds went to a lone address in Shanghai.

In the U.S., more fraudulent returns went to Miami than any other city. Other top destinations were Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta and Houston.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Krauthammer: ObamaCare a Tool to Intentionally Destroy Wealth and Create Democratic Voters

During the online-only portion of Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” on Wednesday night, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer laid out his theory on what Obamacare’s real intended purpose is: an instrument to redistribute wealth.

Krauthammer made that claim in his column last week, but he explained how it works in practice to host Bret Baier and co-panelists former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano and The Hill associate editor A.B. Stoddard.

That panel was presented with a viewer who asked what would happen if an individual couldn’t pay an insurance provider in the event of some medical situation that limited that individual’s ability to pay.

But that might have been part of the plan, Krauthammer said. If an upper-middle class income earner is making too much to receive Obamacare subsidies, but winds up in a situation where they lose a significant amount of their wealth, that is part of the redistribution mechanism.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kudos to Sheriff Finch and the People of Liberty County, Florida

“Nick Finch, the Florida sheriff arrested in June after he defended the Second Amendment, has been declared ‘not guilty’ of the charges brought against him by the State of Florida, according to [former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff] Richard Mack.

“The Liberty Co. sheriff was charged with felony ‘official misconduct’ and ‘falsifying public records’ after he released a suspect arrested on an unconstitutional gun charge and removed the arrest file.

“After closing arguments by prosecutors and the defense, the jury took less than 90 minutes to reach its verdict.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lawsuit: Police and Doctors Conduct Illegal Cavity Search, Colonoscopy on Innocent Man

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A Southern New Mexico man has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Deming and several Deming Police Officers after a January police stop turned into a complete nightmare.

According to the lawsuit, David Eckert was pulled over by Deming police January 2 after failing to make a complete stop at a stop sign outside a Wal-Mart parking lot. After ordering Eckert out of his vehicle, police began insisting that Eckert was clenching his buttocks, claiming the action was probable cause to suspect illegal drugs were hidden inside his anal cavity.

During an interview with KOB 4 Eyewitness News, Eckert’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said law enforcement then successfully obtained a cavity search warrant after contacting a local judge. Police then drove to a local hospital where a doctor refused to carry out the search, telling police the task was “unethical.” Despite the warrant only covering Luna County, Police illegally drove Eckert to Silver City’s Gila Regional Medical Center in Grant County, where he soon underwent what many would consider outright torture.

[Comment: Nightmare is an understatement…]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lord Monckton: Feeling Impeachment in the Air

FEELING IMPEACHMENT IN THE AIR Exclusive: Lord Monckton ‘plenty of grounds’ for removing Obama from office Read… http://t.co/e7fetLvc3E

— WND News (@worldnetdaily) November 6, 2013

I call Hawaiigate the central ground of impeachment for two reasons. First, the dishonesty is shameless and in your face. Mr Obama’s advisers, once they realized the “birth certificate” was as bogus as a $3 bill, knew that if they simply went on pretending that $3 bills are legal tender the hard-left-dominated news media would carefully and continuously look the other way, pausing occasionally to sneer at anyone who pointed out that, in this constitutionally crucial respect, the “president” has no clothes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Media Uses New Goetz Arrest to Mold Public Opinion — Again!

Most readers know that public opinion is molded by the mainstream media, by schools, and by most TV news anchors. What most people don’t know is precisely how the deed is accomplished so systematically and pervasively.

The technique itself is called “perception management,” a topic on which I wrote last fall (“It’s About Perception Management, Stupid”). Just this past weekend, a breaking news it emprovided an opportunity to see the process at work up close, in the form of an arrest of one of conventional journalism’s favorite nemeses: Bernhard Goetz. For those still not quite clear as to the means whereby distorted information gets a free pass — so much so that no amount of evidence to the contrary, presented by credible experts after the fact, alters the originally planted misrepresentation — the following should serve as Exhibit One…

Most readers faintly remember Bernhard Goetz. But almost 30 years has elapsed since the original story, so the details get fuzzy. Only a couple of major media outlets bothered to get the story right, even in 1984…

Now here’s what really happened,along with the background context of the story that sparked so much angst in the press in 1984:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Military Purge: Obama Wants Troops to Obey Him, Not the Constitution

Service members given litmus tests designed to purge officers who place the Constitution above Obama

The Obama administration is currently purging the military by giving officers tests to identify which ones are more likely to defend the Constitution rather than support the president’s policies.

For at least two years, top military brass have been giving litmus tests to officers, from generals down to sergeants, asking them if they will disarm or even fire on U.S. citizens.

“Going back to the beginning of this administration, I’ve had friends within the community talking about how they were brought in and questioned with people from more towards the top side,” Benjamin Smith, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, said on the Oct. 23 edition of the Alex Jones Show. “The questioning resulted in … do you feel comfortable disarming American citizens?”

“You can see that now with the shoving of a lot of the officers and stuff like that. We don’t have 100% track on it, but there’s a lot of funny things happening within the military.”

This likely explains the unprecedented removal of at least 197 military officers by the Obama administration in the past five years.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Nearly 250,000 Colorado Healthcare Plans Cancelled Under ObamaCare

There are nearly 250,000 Coloradans whose health care policies have been or will be cancelled as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the state’s Dept. of Insurance announced on Wednesday.

Many of the policies are being cancelled because of stipulations under the new law that force insurers to cover certain things that weren’t covered under the old policies; other plans are being cancelled by insurers because they’re no longer cost-effective.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Accelerates Purge of U.S. Military

Obama is traitorously attempting to emasculate the U.S. military by conducting a purge of the top ranks, according to retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady.

“There is no doubt he (Obama) is intent on emasculating the military and will fire anyone who disagrees with him,” Brady told WorldNetDaily last week.

Disagreeing on issues such as “homosexuals, women in foxholes, the Obama sequester” will result in early retirement. In the past year alone nine generals have been purged from the Pentagon’s ranks. “They are purging everyone” a source told WND.

“Over the past three years, it is unprecedented for the number of four-star generals to be relieved of duty, and not necessarily relieved for cause,” retired Army Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin told F. Michael Maloof. “I believe there is a purging of the military,” he added. “The problem is worse than we have ever seen.”

Boykin also cited reports indicating 197 military officers had been removed by the Obama administration over the last five years…

In January of this year 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jim Garrow told Alex Jones and Infowars he was informed by a top military veteran that the Obama administration’s “litmus test” for new military leaders hinges on if they will obey orders to fire on U.S. citizens.

“I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new ‘litmus test’ in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders,” Garrow wrote on his Facebook page. “The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not. Those who will not are being removed.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Secret Service Agent: “It’s Worse Than People Know… and I’m Not Trying to Scare You Either”

You may have your suspicions about what’s going on behind closed doors at the White House.

But according to one of President Obama’s former body guards it’s much worse than we can even imagine.

Dan Bongino has protected numerous Presidents over his career, including President Obama. He has been within ear-shot of many a discussion in the Oval Office, but up until this administration has stayed out of the lime light. Apparently, however, the activities of this administration are so abhorrent that he could no longer keep quiet.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ObamaCare Price Hikes Hit ‘Red States’ Hardest

Experiencing sticker-shock at the price of insurance on ObamaCare exchanges?

That’s more likely if you live in a “red state” that didn’t vote for Obama, according to price data compiled by the Heritage Foundation. In red states, premiums for 27-year-olds rose an average of 78% on ObamaCare exchanges, whereas in “blue states” that voted for Obama, premiums rose a smaller 50%.

Senate critics of ObamaCare say the difference is one way in which the bill is unfair.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Says No More Healthcare… No More Choice

Solution to ending ObamaCare? Let the beast Die…

It has been an out in the open “secret” for years. Except for the now-reported disclosures of the inveigling lies issuing forth from the deceitful mouth of Barack Hussein Obama, it might never have been apparent to those who have worshiped this patent usurper. But, now more and more who believed in and voted for Dictator-in-Chief Obama are finally experiencing a harsh awakening to truth.

He has lied to them, all along, and continues his lies today. Along with the destruction of the USA, lies are perhaps the only other things Obama actually does well. Americans have now lost and are — every day — continuing to lose their health care entirely. Despite the smiling and persuasive visage of the man who has assumed the role of president of the United States telling us all “If you like your healthcare program you can keep it…period! If you like your doctor you can keep him or her…period!” nothing was further from the truth. Tragically, all too many missed another part of his anatomy while he continued to spread his falsehoods…his cold dead eyes. ObamaCare NOT about Healthcare

ObamaCare is not and never has been about health care. Many of us have been warning about this for years. It is, instead, about control of humans, their bodies, their property, their ability to come and go as they please, the diminishing or end of their religious practices (if they do not subscribe to Islam), their liberty in general (including the Bill of Rights which has been summarily stripped and destroyed by the Obama regime), the ability to keep their homes and their earned money.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ohio Man Found Guilty of Hate Crime Murder of Mother, Toddler, And Baby

A black man in Sandusky, Ohio raped and murdered a 23 year old white woman and then murdered her three year old toddler and 18 month baby in 2012. If the races were reversed, this trial would have been a major national news story. Instead it was a minor local story.

The perpetrator, Curtis Clinton, spent thirteen years in prison for strangling another woman to death in 1999. He had been released from prison only six months before the triple murder. He also raped a seventeen year old girl one week before the murder.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Purge Surge’: Obama Fires Another Commander

After multiple top generals described to WND what they regard as a full-scale “purge” of the U.S. military by the Obama administration, the commander of U.S. Army Garrison Japan was summarily relieved of duty and his civilian deputy reassigned, pending a “misconduct” investigation.

Nine generals and flag officers have been relieved of duty under Obama just this year — widely viewed as an extraordinary number — and several sources put the total number of senior officers purged during the five years of the Obama administration as close to 200.

In response, prominent retired generals — ranging from Army Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, a Fox News senior military analyst, to Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a founder of the Army’s elite Delta Force, to Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Gen. Patrick Henry Brady — have all gone on the record with WND, characterizing Obama’s actions as nothing less than an all-out attack on America’s armed forces.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Spanish Winery Will Destroy US Redwoods’

Spanish wine conglomerate Codorníu says environmentalists are wrong to claim that the creation of new company vineyard in California will do away with over 150 acres of redwood forest.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The National Security Agency: Spying for the Rockies

Since its very creation, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company — which other oil producers used to call “a gang of thieves”[4] — , worked like an intelligence and espionage organization. It had created a cult of silence and deception and enforced a policy of total secrecy[5] It is known that some of the people who did business with John D. were forced to sign an oath of secrecy, promising to keep any deals strictly private.[6]

John D. Rockefeller pioneered the use of industrial espionage to advance his business interests[7] According to author Gary Allen, the “Rockefeller’s industrial espionage system was by far the most elaborate, most sophisticated and most successful that had been established.”[8]

According to some witnesses, Rockefeller recruited agents everywhere, among competitors, politicians and in the media. In its continuous effort to monopolize the oil industry by eliminating all competition, Standard employed spies who gathered information about foreign and American markets,[9] as well as analysts who evaluated the raw information and produced useful intelligence.[10]

In his book The Rockefeller Syndrome, Ferdinand Lundberg expanded on John D. Rockefeller’s abilities for intelligence and espionage. According to Lundberg:

[…]

On December 1955 Nelson Rockefeller decided to become the next president of the U.S. and resigned to his position as the President Eisenhower’s Assistant of Foreign Policy and as head of the secret “Forty Committee” in charge of overseeing the CIA’s covert operations.

Just after sending his resignation, he also sent a two-page memorandum to the President in which he expressed his conviction that the normal approach of the secretary of state in control of foreign policy was not adequate at a time when the U.S. had become a global power. His recommendations to fix what he saw as a problem are quite revealing: Nelson suggested replacing the different cabinet agencies of the government with a sort of super government secretly acting behind the backs of the American people, responsible to a single man, the president.[22] Obviously, Nelson’s idea was to become America’s first dictator.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

TSA Sought Firing Range for Firearms Training Two Weeks Before LAX Shooting

Agency now has the resources to potentially arm airport screeners

Two weeks prior to the LAX airport shooting on Friday, the Transportation Security Administration was searching for a firing range to conduct ongoing “firearms training” using an estimated half-million rounds of ammunition annually…

Yet these solicitations and the Department of Homeland Security’s stockpile of two billion rounds of ammunition suggest that these firing ranges will be used to provide firearms training to TSA workers who are not yet armed.

Yesterday, a union for government employees demanded that more TSA workers should be armed and even given arrest powers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Turning Mass Shootings Into a Police State and Other Games

Now that everybody knows (cough, cough) the LAX shooter was “anti-government,” it follows as night from day that a) he must have developed his political views from conspiracy websites and b) those sites are culpable…right?

[…]

Any day now, I’m expecting the White House to announce the formation of a new cabinet post: the Inflammatory Rhetoric Department.

Hiring: analysts, evaluation experts, and SWAT teams trained for home and workplace invasions.

“What are you contemplating, Mr. Smith? Where did you get your information?”

Mass communication psychologists (aka psyop specialists) are working overtime to forge connections between accused criminals and their prior “influences.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Next-Generation Flash Mobs: The Breakdown of Law & Order

As local police departments cut personnel due to excessive spending and budgetary restrictions, cities all across America are rapidly degenerating into gang infested war zones.

In the city of Chicago, which has been one of the hardest hit during the opening stages of a greater depression sweeping the country, law enforcement officials compared the situation on the ground to the kind of tribal warfare one might see in places like Iraq. With law and order breaking down, residents of the city have been caught in the middle. The crime wave has gotten so bad, in fact, that earlier this year the Chicago PD announced a new response plan, or rather, a NON-response plan, wherein police will not even show up at crime scenes unless someone has been critically injured or the perpetrator is still on the scene.

This, of course, has been a boon for criminals looking to take advantage of the situation. And earlier this week they did just that…

Some city officials in Chicago have even appealed to the state and federal government for help, recently calling for martial law to be declared and for the military to intervene.

In 2011, a large flash mob targeted patrons of the Wisconsin State Fair. Witnesses report that the racially motivated mob involving hundreds of individuals was, “attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever.” Most of the victims were white.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

We Are Heading for the Greatest Doctor Shortage in American History

The United States already has an emerging shortage of doctors, and thanks to Obamacare that shortage is about to become much, much worse. Right now, the U.S. has close to a million doctors, and about half of them are over the age of 50. Many of them are beginning to wonder if practicing medicine is worth it anymore. In some specialties, treating Medicaid and Medicare patients pays so little that many doctors are now turning them away.

Other doctors are charging their regular patients enormous amounts in order to make up for the money that they are losing on Medicaid and Medicare patients. And of course the paperwork and the red tape imposed on doctors by the health insurance companies and the federal government gets worse with each passing year. Some doctors actually spend more time filling out paperwork and dealing with red tape than they do seeing patients. On top of everything else, there is the constant and never-ending threat of being sued by predatory lawyers and losing everything. The giant malpractice insurance premiums that many doctors have to pay are an extreme financial burden on many practices. When you add it all together, it really is not surprising to learn that large numbers of doctors all over the nation are being driven into bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Obamacare is going to make all of the problems that I have just discussed even worse. This is going to result in much longer waits to see a doctor, and the level of health care in this country is going to go down substantially.

Most Americans don’t realize that we already have a shortage of doctors in this country. According to CBS News, right now there is “a shortage of 20,000 doctors nationwide”.

But that isn’t too bad. We could get by with that.

Unfortunately, at the moment close to half of all doctors in the United States are over the age of 50. And thanks to Obamacare and other changes in the health care industry, many of them are fed up and would like to retire.

And this comes at a time when our population is rapidly aging and our nation will need more doctors than ever.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Will Americans Put Up With Americans Being Trained to Attack Them?

The answer may unfortunately be a resounding “Yes”

As evidence mounts that the U.S. military is being trained to engage citizens domestically, the lack of outcry from the American people has been astounding.

Exactly why the military is undergoing training in this regard is still unclear.

It could be related to a potential welfare state collapse, which could be triggered by cuts to food stamps or social security benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, “9 out of 10 individuals age 65 and older receive Social Security benefits.”

The arms buildup could also be in response to the slow motion financial collapse, which can only be accelerated through the implementation of Obamacare and which banks have already been warned to prepare for.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cops Seize Suspicious Package and Arrest a Man Outside Quebec’s National Assembly

QUEBEC — Police have arrested one man with a suspicious package just outside the national assembly in Quebec City.

It is not immediately known whether the incident is related to this morning’s tabling of the bill on Quebec’s charter of values.

Provincial police set up a perimeter and are analyzing the package.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Quebec Introduces Legislation to Prohibiting Public Employees From Wearing Religious Symbols

The Quebec government moved forward Thursday with a proposed law that would ban public employees from wearing overt religious symbols, setting the stage for a showdown over the place of religion in the province.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Can the Weirdo Who Hid £1bn of Nazi Art Solve the Mystery of the Tsar’s Lost Treasure Trove?

Hitler. A cache of missing art. A mysterious recluse. The story of how a £1 billion hoard of Nazi-confiscated paintings was found in a Munich flat could have come straight from a film script. Yet it seems the tale is even more extraordinary than we thought.

For yesterday it was revealed that the eccentric 79-year-old who guarded the paintings claims to know the whereabouts of a priceless piece of missing art dubbed ‘the Eighth Wonder of the World’.

Cornelius Gurlitt is said to have told his family he knows what became of the long-lost Amber Room, installed by Peter the Great in the Summer Palace outside St Petersburg in the 18th century.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fear in Greece as Shock New Poll Puts Golden Dawn in First Place

Between 25-29th of October, 1,423 Greeks were polled about their voting intentions. Golden Dawn scored 22%, followed very closely by Syriza. New Democracy (the governing Party in Coalition with PASOK) came a very poor third. Men and older respondents are significantly more likely to vote Golden Dawn than women and the young.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

France Orders Google to Block Mosley Orgy Photos

In a landmark ruling, a French court has demanded that Google filter out links leading to images of an allegedly Nazi-themed sadomasochistic orgy involving British former Formula One racing mogul Max Mosley.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Population Rapidly Ageing

(AGI) Rome, Nov 7 — The average age of Italians is rising rapidly. In the past ten years, the total population grew by 4.2 percent to 59.4 million. However, the group of Italians over 65 rose by 15.8 percent in that period, a study based on the latest data released by national statistics office Istat showed. The northwestern Liguria region houses the oldest population, with 404,502 over-65s, 25.8 percent of the total.

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

Italian Cities Among World’s Worst for Traffic

Rome and the Sicilian capital of Palermo are among the top 10 most congested cities in the world, a new report has found. Palermo is the second-most congested city in Europe, after the Polish capital Warsaw, and the fifth-worst in the world.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Mafia Turncoat Urges Citizens to Vote for Grassroots Five Star Movement

Naples, 7 Nov. (AKI) — A Naples mafia boss turned informant has called on Italian citizens to vote for the anti-establishment Five Star party and shun the main centre-left and centre right parties.

“I tell the Italian people to vote for the Five Star Movement or a party that is not the Democratic Party or the People of Freedom (PdL),” Carmine Schiavone told the Tv Luna 2 channel in an interview.

His remarks came after cases of the Naples mafia burying cancer-inducing toxic waste in the Campania region surrounding Naples recently made headlines.

“They don’t intend to do anything other than appropriate European Union funds,” said Schiavone.

He was referring to politicians from the centre-left Democratic Party and the centre-right PdL of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, which are currently governing Italy in coalition.

Beppe Grillo’s grassroots party took over one-quarter of the vote in Italy’s split February national elections, causing a political earthquake, but has since slipped back in opinion polls.

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

Italy: Farmers: Producers Slam ‘Anti-Southern’ Pomì Tomato Ad

‘Made in Italy’ is one and indivisible, says agriculture min

(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Producers’ associations and even a government minister on Monday berated an ad by Pomì tomato sauce company that says its produce comes only from Italy’s North, and not from the heavily polluted South.

“We firmly condemn such ads, which seriously damage the entire Southern canned vegetable sector, particularly in the Campania (region),” said canned vegetables employers association ANICAV, whose membership represents 50% of all Italian processed-tomato producers.

Recent media reports have said Italian consumers are being fed contaminated produce laced with toxins from the so-called Land of Fires, a term coined by crusading anti-Mafia writer Roberto Saviano to describe a stretch of farmland lying between Naples and Caserta that is constantly dotted with burning trash fires.

“Most tomatoes are actually grown in the Puglia region. The recent environmental issues regard an area that represents just 3.85% of fresh tomato processing in Italy”, ANICAV added.

“There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ tomatoes in Italy. In fact, 100% of processed Italian tomatoes have passed mandatory health ministry chemical residue testing”, added Coldiretti, which represents one million Italian farmers.

Italy has the cleanest bill of health in Europe and the world in terms of food safety. Just 0.3% of national products tested above the chemical residue limit, against an average of 1.5% in Europe and 7.9% outside the EU, Coldiretti pointed out.

“Someone once posited the question of whether the tomato is left- or right-wing. Now we even have ‘ethnic’ tomato discrimination: it seems to me that common sense is being scuttled”, commented Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies Nunzia De Girolamo (People of Freedom — PdL).

“‘Made in Italy’ production is one and indivisible, and if anyone thinks they can access international markets based on a provincial identity then they live in a world that no longer exists”, the minister added.

“Perhaps that company did not realize the extremely serious damage it has done thousands of honest producers, who overcome a thousand obstacles on a daily basis to guarantee a healthy product. They should apologize to workers first, and then to consumers”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Spent 47.5% of Available EU Funding, Report Says

Spending 4 points higher than national target

(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Italy has spent 47.5% of available EU funding, the Department for Development and Economic Cohesion (DPS) made known Monday.

The certified spending report Italy submitted to the European Commission in Brussels on October 31 showed spending was four points higher than the national target, and slightly higher than spending as of May 31.

“This improvement, while not particularly significant, is in line with Italy’s previous spending reports. Additional measures to increase the performance of Italian programs were taken in April”, the DPS said in a note. As in the past, “important differences remain between North and South (and within the two areas). More developed regions spent 58.1% of EU funds while the less developed ones spent 43.1%. However, significant long-range infrastructural projects are underway in the latter, which will require longer periods of time to show up on the bottom line”.

The EU will automatically disinvest from any projects that have not met its targets by December 31.

“The DPS is actively intervening in support of all local administrations who may need help in avoiding a loss of resources”, said Minister of Territorial Cohesion Carlo Trigilia.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Alfano Says Berlusconi Party Risks Becoming Extremist

Deputy premier leads doves against hawks

(ANSA) — Rome, November 4 — Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano says there is a risk of Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party becoming extremist.

He also believes a question mark raised over Berlusconi’s continued position as undisputed leader amid legal tangles could be solved by holding primaries.

Alfano, until recently touted as Berlusconi’s dauphin, is the leader of pro-government doves within the party who have clashed with Berlusconi and his loyalists over whether to bring down Premier Enrico Letta’s grand-coalition government.

The minister was recently stripped of his role as secretary of the People of Freedom (PdL) party after Berlusconi announced he was launching a new party under the PdL’s former name, Forza Italia — and after Alfano led an unprecedented rebellion against the centre right’s charismatic leader to keep Letta in the saddle.

“Our party has always been a big, prevalently moderate movement,” Alfano said in excerpts of an interview contained in a book by broadcast journalist Bruno Vespa that is set to be published this week.

“It’s not a good thing that it ends up in the hands of extremists. “Berlusconi isn’t one, but there’s a risk of it taking that direction in the practical, day-to-day management of the communications”.

PdL hawks include MPs who have neoliberal economic views, tough stances on immigration and opposition to European Union diktats on Italian economic policy.

The doves are, as their names implies, more moderate and centrist on a slew of policy points.

The main issue they stand firmly together on is to back Berlusconi’s fight for judicial reform because of an alleged witch hunt by leftwing elements in the judiciary.

Another leading dove, House Whip Fabrizio Cicchitto, chimed into the debate Monday by saying that the famously hands-on entrepreneur Berlusconi, often accused of running a party of yes-men beholden to him for their political existence, actually invited internal debate and the idea of North Korean-style imposition of absolute conformity was “anathema” to him.

“Forza Italia should be a party in which it is possible to have a free and open debate, seeing as how it aims to be a liberal party, and therefore should be so in its political and programmatic initiatives and, all the more so, in its internal arrangements,” said Cicchitto, a one-time ultra-loyalist who like Alfano has migrated towards more independent thinking.

“I don’t think Berlusconi would like a North-Korean-style party that some (PdL members) would like to build with a mystic spirit and authoritarian practices, evidently not realising what kind of world we’re living in”.

On the issue of primaries, Alfano said he remains in favour of the fractious party holding them the next time general elections are held.

The PdL was set to hold primaries before February’s general election but it called them off when three-time premier and media magnate Berlusconi opted to come out of political retirement and lead the campaign.

In the event, he led a barnstorming recovery to place a narrow second to Letta’s Democratic Party (PD), which had been regarded as a shoo-in to lead the country.

Berlusconi is expected to be ejected from parliament this month after a tax-fraud conviction against him was upheld by the supreme court.

His other legal problems include two separate convictions, which he is appealing, for sex with an underage prostitute and publishing an illegal wiretap; and an indictment for bribing a Senator to switch sides. The 77-year-old has said he will continue to lead his party and be “personally committed” in a future election campaign, although the one-year tax-fraud conviction — which he is expected to serve doing community service — will probably make him ineligible to stand as a candidate.

“My mind has not changed since the end of 2012, when we launched the primaries,” said Alfano in other excerpts of the interview with Vespa.

“At the next elections, our candidate should be chosen via primaries that are as open as possible, with the participation of the highest number of supporters possible”.

One of the most vociferous hawks, Senator Anna Maria Bernini, shot back: “Talking about primaries in PdL-Forza Italia now is a provocative and untimely exercise, as if the leadership were up for grabs, when it is firmly in the hands of Silvio Berlusconi.

“It would be really serious,” she said, “if a part of the PdL thought there was a succession problem and we should go beyond Berlusconi”.

The loyalists’ leader, former minister Raffaele Fitto, said “the final decision will always be Berlusconi’s”.

Alfano, who met Italian President Giorgio Napolitano Monday afternoon, was set to have talks with Berlusconi at his villa outside Milan Monday night.

Alfano’s doves forced Berlusconi to back down on a bid to scupper the left-right administration last month with a mutiny that ended with the ex-premier making an embarrassing U-turn and opting to back a confidence motion in it to avoid the party breaking up.

Berlusconi had forced the confidence vote by insisting he could no longer work with the PD because of its stance on applying the law, and therefore the office ban, after the tax-fraud conviction.

The party is still in danger of splitting, although the hawks and doves are trying to smooth their differences, working from their shared indignation at Berlusconi’s alleged judicial persecution.

A showdown is expected to come at the National Council meeting on December 8 — the same day that Florence’s young and charismatic mayor, Matteo Renzi, is likely to be elected as the PD’s leader.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: 2000 Revellers Trash Industrial Sheds at Bergamo Rave

3-day rave leaves mountains of rubbish and major damage

(ANSA) — Bergamo, November 4 — A mountain of rubbish and damage estimated in the tens of thousands of euros were left on Monday by a massive, illegal, three-day rave party held in two abandoned industrial sheds near the northern Italian city of Bergamo.

Roughly 2,000 people are believed to have attended the party in the former sheds of the TNT courier service.

Carabinieri police have identified and filed charges against about 100 alleged participants for squatting and trespassing on private property, including eight people identified as the organizers of the bash.

Investigators say ravers took drugs, abused alcohol and committed other illicit acts.

The owner of the property, a Neapolitan real-estate manager, will be assessing the damage.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex-Anchorman, Berlusconi Pal Found Guilty of Slander

Emilio Fede sentenced to pay model Imane Fadil 10,000 euros

(ANSA) — Turin, November 4 — A civil court on Monday handed former TV anchorman Emilio Fede, 82, a 10,000-euro fine for slandering Moroccan model Imane Fadil.

Fadil sued Fede after he accused her in an editorial of attempting to extort 50,000 euros from him in exchange for not disclosing what went on at the so-called “bunga bunga” sex parties at the home of tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, who was the prime minister of Italy at the time.

Fede’s blackmail accusation was later proven to be unfounded.

A Milan court on July 19 sentenced Fede and two other Berlusconi associates, former talent scout Lele Mora and the ex-premier’s former dental hygienist and ex-Lombardy councilor Nicole Minetti, for procurement of prostitutes, one of whom was underage at the time.

Judge Ivana Pane also granted Fadil provisional damages of 40,000 euros ahead of a ruling in her civil case against Fede, Mora and Minetti. Fadil is suing the trio for two million euros in psychological damages for allegedly exploiting her and pressuring her to have sex with Berlusconi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: No Convictions Among 28 in Campania Trash Trial

Statute of limitations frees many, waste co. fined 750,000 euros

(ANSA) — Naples, November 4 — A court in Naples on Monday dropped charges for 28 defendants in a trial regarding the rubbish-management crisis in the Campania region. The ex-governor of Campania, Antonio Bassolino, was among the defendants as was Raffaele Vanoli, ex-commissioner for the garbage crisis.

Bassolino had been accused of failing to terminate a contract with the public contractor supplying rubbish management.

Prosecutor Paolo Sirleo asked that Bassolino’s charges be dropped under the statute of limitations even though he claimed Bassolino’s actions contributed to the commission of crimes.

Charges for other defendants included public-supplier fraud and forgery, but a large number of those charges were also dropped due to the statute of limitations, as they allegedly took place from 2000 to 2005.

Pierluigi Romiti, ex-manager of Impregilo, as well as Armando Cattaneo and Angelo Pelliccia, the ex-chief executive and the ex-general director of Fibe, respectively, also emerged sentence-free despite the prosecutor’s plea for conviction.

The Impregilo Group, parent company of Fibe, which won the bid for the handling Campania’s waste management, was slapped with a 750,000-euro fine and banned from public-administration contracts for two years.

Campania, the region around Naples, has suffered repeated trash crises in recent years after running out of places to put its waste.

In January 2008, the region suffered a collapse in the rubbish-collection system.

Despite drafting in the army to clear the streets, reopening old dumps and moving containers of waste out of Campania by ship and train, an estimated 40,000 tonnes of rubbish continued to line the region’s streets.

The government of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi adopted hardline measures to cope with the crisis, including the opening of temporary dump sites, the building of four new incinerator power plants and the option of using armed forces to protect dump sites and refuse treatment facilities.

Residents in towns where some of the sites are located, worried about repercussions on their health, staged protests, often clashing violently with the police.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Berlusconi Says Napolitano Has Time to Grant His Pardon

Journalist says ex-premier has not formally requested help

(ANSA) — Rome, November 5 — There is still time for President Giorgio Napolitano to pardon him for his fraud conviction, ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi said in comments released Tuesday.

Berlusconi, whose conviction was definitively upheld by Italy’s supreme court, will likely be ejected from his Senate seat after a vote on the subject later this month.

“They tell me that the sentence must begin before the pardon can be granted….Thus, (Napolitano) would still have time,” Berlusconi said in comments released by broadcast journalist Bruno Vespa, whose book about the media mogul is to be published this week.

He did not say when the comments were made. The 77-year-old ex-premier must serve the remaining year of his four-year sentence by performing community service as he is too old to actually go to jail.

The other three years were commuted due to an amnesty.

Vespa’s manuscript notes that neither Berlusconi nor his family nor lawyers have formally requested a pardon.

But Napolitano received “a discreet survey” on August 9 from Berlusconi supporters about a pardon, suggesting that if the president did not move, there could be a mass resignation of politicians from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia political movement.

The threat was later withdrawn. Berlusconi, who was convicted of fraud for dodging taxes on film rights at his Mediaset empire, has said he will not ask for a pardon from Napolitano because that would be an admission of guilt.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Bridge Posts Robbed: Venetians Wade Through ‘High Water’

Thieves’ handiwork ties up busy Zattere area

(ANSA) — Venice, November 5 — Thieves made off with temporary bridge stands right before “high water” hit Venice early Tuesday, forcing pedestrians to wade through ankle-high floods on the south end of the city.

According to police, 38 metal stands used to form emergency elevated passageways went missing around the busy Zattere area along the Giudecca Canal, where massive cruise ships routinely pass by the lagoon city and disgorge thousands of tourists daily. Police said each stand costs roughly 70 euros.

Meanwhile the high tides reached 105 centimeters, and tides of 95 centimeters were expected Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Head of Camillian Order Arrested With Five Others

Group accused of staging fake police check to rig vote outcome

(ANSA) — Rome, November 6 — Italian finance police on Wednesday arrested Father Renato Salvatore, current head of the Camillian Catholic order, for allegedly having a role in an election-rigging plot for his reinstatement as head of the healthcare-oriented Catholic order.

Five others were also arrested.

Investigators believe the group staged a fake police check on two priests who were against renewing Salvatore’s mandate, detaining them long enough to prevent the priests from casting votes. The scheme’s alleged orchestrator was Paolo Oliverio, who is believed to have an interest in running the order’s hospitals, especially in the southern Italian regions of Campania and Sicily.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Palermo Has Fourth Worst Traffic Jams in Europe

Moscow in top spot, followed by Istanbul and Warsaw

(ANSA) — Rome, November 6 — Palermo is the fourth most chaotic European city traffic-wise, according to the TomTom Traffic Index survey of 169 world metropolises.

Moscow, where drivers spend 174 hours a year stuck in traffic jams, tops the European list with 65% urban traffic congestion, according to TomTom.

Istanbul is second with 57% congestion and 118 hours a year, and Warsaw is third at 44% and 110 hours a year. Palermo commuters spend 90 hours a year in traffic jams, the index revealed. Within Italy, Romans are likely to take 84% more time getting to work during morning rush hour than during regular hours. Milan followed with a 73% increase, Palermo clocked in at 65%, Naples at 42% and Turin at 41%. Evening rush-hour commuters are likely to spend 67% more time on the road in Rome and Palermo, 56% more time in Milan, followed by Genoa at 40% and Turin at 35.5%.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Foreign Billionaires to Save Roman Sites

Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino is seeking private sponsorship from abroad to finance the restoration of the ancient Roman Forum, Italian media reported on Thursday. The mayor said he had spoken to three multinational corporations this week and had received offers of support from Azerbaijan and the United Arab Emirates.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Killer MERS Coronavirus Found in Spain

Spain said on Wednesday that a woman who just returned from Saudi Arabia has been infected by the MERS coronavirus in the country’s first case of the deadly disease.

The patient, who was born in Morocco but lives in Spain, is receiving treatment at a Madrid hospital and is in a “stable” condition, the health ministry said in a statement. She had spent October in Saudi Arabia, where the disease first appeared in September 2012, it added.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has so far claimed 64 lives worldwide, with the greatest number of deaths in Saudi Arabia, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Letta Says Europe Credits Him With ‘Balls of Steel’

Premier tells Irish newspaper that his job is not easy

(ANSA) — Dublin, November 7 — Italian Premier Enrico Letta told an Irish newspaper that he has been viewed as possessing “balls of steel” in confronting and allegedly defeating ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Letta, who was meeting Thursday with Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny, told the Irish Times that he knew he was being described by many European leaders as a rare example of someone who had crossed Berlusconi — and won. “Oh yes, they say that Letta has balls of steel,” the newspaper quoted Letta as saying in an interview.

Last month, Berlusconi -the three-time premier and founder of the People of Freedom (PdL) party — tried and failed to bring down the fragile coalition led by Letta and his Democratic Party (PD).

The coalition was formed after an inconclusive national election in February, and Letta was appointed in April by President Giorgio Napolitano to try and hold the centre-right PdL in a coalition with the centre-left PD.

Letta told the newspaper that he never thought the task would be a simple one.

“I knew right from the beginning that this would be difficult and that has certainly been the case but I think that Italy needs us to do the job that we’re doing at the moment”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Magnus Carlsen: The Mozart of Chess

Determined to dethrone India’s world chess champion Viswanathan Anand, Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen admits two weaknesses: not being a good winner or a good loser. AFP profiles the “Harry Potter-type super-talent”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Prominent Blacks Sound Alarm on ‘Racist France’

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira (pictured left) and news presenter Harry Roselmack (right) have spoken out in the past few days against what they see as a resurgence of racism in France.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spies Uncovered: 34 Terrorist Plots Against UK Thwarted Since 7/7 Bombings, Says MI5 Head

BRITAIN’S secret services have foiled 34 terrorist plots since the July 7 London bombings in 2005, the head of MI5 revealed today.

Speaking in an unprecedented joint appearance before Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, the heads of MI5, MI6 and the GCHQ answered questions in public. The committee heard that Syria has become a haven for jihadists since the outbreak of the civil war, and hundreds of British citizens have travelled to the country as a result.

MI5 chief Andrew Parker said there are thousands of people living in Britain today who support al Qaida, and the head of MI6 Sir John Sawers warned the threat of terrorist attacks against Britain is increasing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Democrats: Ban Begging by Foreigners

The far-right Sweden Democrats on Wednesday proposed jailing or deporting foreigners caught begging in public in Sweden. “Make begging in Sweden an offence for foreigners and impose the punishment of expulsion or an entry ban” for a certain amount of time, the party wrote in a political programme.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Puts Weight Behind Turkey EU Bid

The Turkish prime minister has held talks with his Swedish homologue in Stockholm, with the Swedes strong supporters of Turkey’s bid for EU membership. Silence on press freedom, however, has irked Swedish critics.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedes to Sniff Out Terrorists in Sewers

Swedish researchers hope that sniffer devices in the sewers can one day put a stop to terrorists who are cooking bombs at home.

“If you make bombs at home, particles leak into the air and you might flush things down the toilet, so we are simply trying to find these chemicals and then trace their origin, “ research head Henric Östmark at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (Totalförsvarets forskningsinstitut — FOI) told The Local on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Södertälje Shooting Rekindles Mafia Fears

Swedish police has confirmed that the 41-year-old man shot in front of his young son in a central Södertälje garage on Thursday afternoon was living under potential threat, due to ties to the brutal 2010 executions of two brothers in a local community centre.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Teen Poet Sparks New Debate on Islam in Denmark

By Clemens Bomsdorf and Ellen Emmerentze Jervell

COPENHAGEN — Yahya Hassan was about 10 years old when cartoonistKurt Westergaardattracted passionate criticism from Muslims world-wide with his cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb as his turban. It ran in a Danish newspaper.

Hassan — the 18-year-old son of Palestinian immigrants who are Muslims — is now creating his own brand of controversy in Islamic circles and elsewhere with a new book of poetry that was published in Denmark last month. The writing student’s self-titled book contains around 150 poems, many of which are severely critical of the religious environment he grew up in.

His book has been a surprise strong seller since it hit the relatively small Danish market Oct. 17, with 32,000 copies being sold in about two weeks. The publisher, Gyldendal, says books of poetry in Denmark are lucky to hit 500 copies. In televised interviews, Hassan has been anything but tempered in his comments about what he views as a culture of hypocrisy underpinning Denmark’s Muslim population. His words have prompted arguably the largest debate on religion in the small Scandinavian nation since the Westergaard cartoon.

Like Westergaard, Hassan’s safety is on the line…

[My hat is off to this guy. He certainly has a bigger set of cojones than American newspaper editors, the vest majority of whom declined to print any of the Danish Muhammad cartoons during the 2006 uproar over them. They were too cowardly either to push back against Muslim demands for self-censorship or to show solidairty with fellow journalists.]

           — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Backwards Society: Sombrero Halloween Costume Branded Offensive While 9/11 Attack Costume Wins Award

Two stories today regarding Halloween fancy dress costumes sum up the state of degradation our society is collapsing into.

While a university guild in Birmingham, England, banned students from wearing sombreros, saying they are racist, two other students were awarded a prize for dressing up as the Twin Towers being destroyed on 9/11.

The Telegraph reports that The University of Birmingham guild of students banned several items of clothing in a “crack down” on “discriminatory behaviour”. According to the report, many were turned away from the Halloween ball for dressing as Mexicans…

Meanwhile, two students in Chester, England, just a few miles north were awarded a £150 ($240) best fancy dress prize and commended by organisers at a nightclub for dressing up as the smoking twin towers, depicting the 9/11 attacks.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Burka Fugitive is Suing UK for £1m: Just Sickening! MI6 Chief’s Verdict as Judge Rules Terror Suspect Can Use Legal Aid to Make His Claim

Burka-wearing fugitive Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed provoked fury last night by demanding up to £1million in compensation from the taxpayer in yet another human rights fiasco.

To astonishment at Westminster, the High Court yesterday ruled the terror suspect can make a claim for civil damages using legal aid — despite being on the run.

It came as Sir John Sawers, the head of MI6, told a public hearing that the intelligence agencies had been ‘sickened’ by terrorists getting large payouts through unfounded compensation claims.

Mohamed alleges he was ill-treated after his arrest in Somaliland in 2011.

The jihadist, linked to the murderous Al Shabaab gang, is suspected of receiving terror training overseas and plotting attacks against western interests.

But his lawyers claim he was mistreated by his Somaliland interrogators with the knowledge of British security agents and are demanding huge sums in compensation for breach of Labour’s Human Rights Act.

The fact Mohamed is on the run — after cutting off his tagging device at a London mosque last Friday — has not halted the case.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Fanatic Cut Off His Tag… And May Have a Passport: Details of How Easily Terror Suspect Got Away Pile Pressure on Home Office

Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed may have been in possession of his passport when he gave authorities the slip by cutting off his ankle tag with a sharp instrument.

The details of how easily he got away heaped fresh pressure on the Home Office and police yesterday.

Theresa May was forced to admit inadvertently misleading Parliament when she said on Monday police had seized the fanatic’s travel document. In fact, officers were never able to find one.

The Home Office said Mohamed’s passport had been cancelled — but refused to say if this happened before or after he fled.

Sources revealed how the terror suspect removed the ankle tag, fitted as a condition of his terrorism prevention order (T-Pim), after entering the An-Noor mosque in West London last Friday.

He had arrived at 10am and left at 3.15pm.

The tag sent a ‘tamper-alert’ to its maker, private security firm G4S, which then rang Mohamed to check where he was.

It was only when he did not respond to the call that police and the Home Office were alerted.

But by the time officers arrived he had disappeared.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Johnny Depp Cake: Woman Bakes Giant Jack Sparrow

A woman has baked an “almost life-sized” Johnny Depp cake for a competition. Lara Clarke, an amateur baker from Brownhills, West Midlands, made the Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired creation for the Cake International competition in Birmingham.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Lucy Was Kidnapped, Gang Raped — And Then Cruelly Betrayed by the British Justice System

[WARNING: *Disturbing Content.*]

In 2011, Lucy Walsh was gang raped by three men (right). It’s a story that will horrify parents and young women. But the repercussions for Lucy went beyond her physical injuries…

That evening, in June 2011, she’d enjoyed a fun night with friends at a club in Preston, Lancashire. When she decided to call it a night, and walked alone the short distance to a taxi rank outside, no one was concerned. It was something Lucy, and thousands of young women, do without thinking every weekend.

‘The town was well-lit and lots of people were milling around, so I felt safe,’ she says.

Lucy’s confidence was tragically misplaced, however, since two Kurdish men — Rezgar Nouri, 27, and Mohammed Ibrahim, 23 (a third — Araz Latif Najmaden, 21 — – is still wanted in connection with the attack) had seen her in the nightclub and followed her out, and were caught by the club’s CCTV cameras.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: When We Trust Someone, We Imagine They Look Like US, Says New Study

They say that in life you can only truly rely on yourself. And, if new research is to be believed, you’re also more likely to trust someone who you think looks like you.

Published in Psychological Science, the research by psychologists at Royal Holloway University shows that if we deem a person trustworthy, we perceive their face to be similar to ours.

So if we trust someone, we not only feel more socially close to them, but imagine they resemble us.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

CBS Correspondent Apologizes for Report on Benghazi Attack

The correspondent for the disputed “60 Minutes’’ segment about the attack on the United States Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year apologized on the air Friday morning, saying it was a “mistake’’ to put on a security officer whose credibility has since been undermined by his diverging accounts of his actions that night.

The reporter, Lara Logan, said on “CBS This Morning’’ that the news division was misled by the officer, adding, “We will apologize to our viewers, and we will correct the record on our broadcast on Sunday night.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Copts: Ousted President Morsi Sought Terrorist Support

by Lars Hedegaard

Judges at the up-coming trial of former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will be presented with tapes proving that he held secret negotiations with al-Qaeda leader Aymen al-Zawahiri and promised to turn Egypt into a sharia state, says Coptic website.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia: Crisis: National Dialogue Suspended

Over irreconcilable rift between majority and opposition

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — Talks between Tunisia’s majority and opposition coalitions were officially suspended on Monday night. The decision was taken by the four groups mediating negotiations — Ugtt, the industrialists’ union, the national attorneys’ association and Human rights league — after the umpteenth failed negotiation.

The key issue was the appointment of the next premier who should replace Ali Laarayedh, a member of Ennahda, and control the speedy approval of a new Constitution and prepare for political elections.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Daniel Pipes: Obama Turns on Israel

Barack Obama’s March 2013 trip to Israel had a too-good-to-be-true feel about it. While barely pressuring on Israel, he instructed Palestinians not to set preconditions for negotiations and admonished them to “recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.” It felt out of character, suggesting a price to be paid later.

Well, that price has now, eight months later, been revealed and it has two components. If I might paraphrase the U.S. position: “First, sit by quietly as we reach an accord with Tehran that freezes but does not dismantle its nuclear buildup. Second, stop the illegitimate residential construction on the West Bank or the Palestinian Authority will, with American acquiescence, start a third intifada.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NBC Joins Al Jazeera in Anti-Israel Propaganda

Polonium-210 is the deadly substance the Russians used to kill Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy and KGB dissident who blamed the Putin regime for acts of alleged Islamic terrorism in Russia. Now that the poison has reportedly been found in the remains of Yasser Arafat’s exhumed body, NBC News has decided to blame Israel, based on questionable reporting done by Al Jazeera, the Muslim Brotherhood channel.

The NBC Nightly News report on Wednesday night was done by reporter Ayman Mohyeldin, and showed a Palestinian official saying, “We need proof that Israeli occupation is responsible, that Israeli government killed him as a result of an official decision.” But NBC didn’t wait for any proof.

As part of its sensational coverage, NBC even featured an “investigative reporter” from Al Jazeera by the name of Clayton Swisher, who has been pursuing these charges for over a year.

The major flaw in the work of NBC News and Al Jazeera is the failure to point out that the Russians had access to the substance and also had a motive to get rid of Arafat.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Greatest Threat to Israeli Democracy

by Caroline Glick

On Wednesday, after the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court cleared Avigdor Liberman of corruption charges, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the not-guilty verdict “ends a persecution that has lasted years.”

The state prosecution first announced it was investigating Liberman for alleged graft in 1996. Since then, he was placed under open-ended investigation after open-ended investigation that never led to an indictment.

Finally, last year Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein announced that he was indicting Liberman on corruption charges and so forced his resignation from the Foreign Ministry.

Liberman was indicted for allegedly abusing his power by exerting untoward influence in the appointment of Ze’ev Ben-Aryeh to serve as ambassador to Latvia. From the outset, legal experts raised doubts about whether Liberman’s alleged actions were even a criminal offense.

Liberman’s acquittal puts 17 years of defamatory leaks by state prosecutors in stark, frightening perspective. It was a legal witch-hunt. And in the end, they couldn’t even find his broomstick.

After Netanyahu bemoaned the longstanding persecution of his political comrade, he praised the very same people who undertook the persecution.

“The law enforcement system and the attorney-general,” he gushed, “do their work diligently…. Everyone must continue to respect the legal system to protect the viability of Israeli democracy.”

On its face, Netanyahu’s support for the prosecution makes no sense. If Liberman was the victim of persecution, then why should his persecutors be accorded respect? And if they are respected professionals and guardians of Israel’s democracy, then how could Netanyahu say that Liberman was the victim of a 17- year-long persecution?…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Denouement: P5+1 Appeasement of Nuclear Iran in Geneva

President Obama is desperate these days given the damage to his credibility domestically over the debacle of the launch of his keystone legislation, the 2010 Affordable Care Act. The launch of what has been tagged as Obama Care on October 1, 2013 has been an abysmal failure potentially depriving millions of irate Americans of health care insurance coverages.

This despite the emphatic representations of President Obama to the contrary. His approval ratings in polls taken in the aftermath of the launch of the Insurance

Exchange websites and cancellations of potentially millions of insurance policies have plummeted. A lame duck Obama Second term might eventuate with no resolution of the stalemate over domestic issues. Even an alleged apology statement by the President in an exclusive interview with NBC correspondent Chuck Todd on Thursday, November 7, 2013 left pundits and Democrats on Capitol Hill uneasy about the backlash from constituents concerned the failed launch and core problems with Obama Care.

That domestic policy debacle over a keystone program might be behind the drive by the Obama Administration seeking a dramatic breakthrough in the Middle East. That effort might result in a possible short term nuclear freeze in the decade long wrangling with Iran over its nuclear program given the P5+1 round of discussions in Geneva, November 7th and 8th. The proposed P5+1 agreement with Iran for a six month freeze on nuclear enrichment comes at an inauspicious time for Israel and most Jews. Saturday, November 9th, is the 75th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, “the night of broken glass”, that occurred throughout Germany and Austria. The prevention of a Second Holocaust from a nuclear Iran compels Israeli PM Netanyahu to defend the sovereignty of the Jewish nation of Israel against an Iranian nuclear threat…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan ‘Ready to Deliver Nuclear Weapons to Saudi Arabia’

AQ Khan dismisses claims that Pakistan-made nuclear weapons are ready for delivery to Saudi Arabia as part of its efforts to counter Iran’s atomic programme.

The founding father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme has dismissed reports that his country has reached a secret deal to provide Saudi Arabia with warheads in the event that Iran produces a bomb. Rumours of a deal have long circulated in the Middle East, amid Saudi anxiety at its principal regional rival Iran developing a “Shia bomb”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Nuclear Weapons ‘On Order’ From Pakistan

Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects, and believes it could obtain atomic bombs at will, a variety of sources have told BBC Newsnight.

While the kingdom’s quest has often been set in the context of countering Iran’s atomic programme, it is now possible that the Saudis might be able to deploy such devices more quickly than the Islamic republic.

Earlier this year, a senior Nato decision maker told me that he had seen intelligence reporting that nuclear weapons made in Pakistan on behalf of Saudi Arabia are now sitting ready for delivery.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia Has Nuclear Weapons ‘On Order, ‘ Ready to Deliver From Pakistan: Report

Saudi Arabia has reportedly invested in the Pakistan nuclear program and has atomic weapons “on order” ready to be delivered.

The Saudis have long been interested in obtaining nuclear weapons to counter the possibility of an nuclear-armed Iran.

The BBC quotes a senior NATO source saying Pakistani nuclear weapons are ready and waiting to be delivered to Saudi Arabia.

The Newsnight report also cites former chief of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin, who told a conference in Sweden last month that if Iran acquired a nuclear bomb, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring.”

Saudi Arabia purchased nuclear-capable ballistic missile launchers in the late 1980s from China, the report says.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi U.N. Envoy Demands Permanent Security Council Seat for Arabs

Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the United Nations demanded on Friday a permanent seat for Arabs at the Security Council, saying the U.N. body has failed tackle Middle East issues. The Saudi envoy criticized the Security Council as “crippled” by the veto power, which only five countries hold. He said a “just international representation” is needed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Italian Hospital Continues to Operate in Damascus

Salesians treat wounded and help poor families in the capital

(ANSAmed) — DAMASCUS — The Italian Hospital of Damascus has been operating in the Mazraa area of the Syrian capital since 1913 under the direction of Salesian nuns. The surgical center has treated Palestinian and Iraqi refugees as well as Syrian citizens, and for the past two years it has been providing free treatment to those injured by attacks on the capital. “There have been days in which 30 injured arrived and we had to put them in the corridors and work as well as we could — all of us, doctors, nurses and nuns,” said the head of the nuns, Mother Annamaria Scarsella, who moved to Syria in 2011 after 41 years in Mexican schools and missions including in the Chiapas region. One can hear, from time to time, the cannons being shot from government positions at the suburbs held by rebel forces, who in turn hit the central areas of the capital on an almost daily basis with mortars and rockets. One the latter hit the apostolic nunciature on Tuesday a few kilometres from here, but did not cause any casualties. However, on other Christian areas lying further out the bombardment is unceasing. Like in Jaramana in the southern part of the city, where 2,800 Howitzer shells have fallen since the beginning of the conflict.

The Syrian nun Widad Abiad told ANSA about the hospital, located in an old but well-kept building, with its 55 beds and 70 doctors. “This year marks the hospital’s 100th anniversary. It was founded by the Egyptologist Ernesto Schiapparelli. During WWII, it was occupied by the British and only one nun remained. Later its activities resumed.” The hospital is now one of the few things the population can count on in the conflict shaking the capital. There is also the nearby Salesian oratory and catechism center attended by 200 children and 300 adolescents, which also hands out food to families in need and provides psychological assistance, training courses and academic support.

“We accept Christian children of any denomination,” said the director, the Venezuelan priest Alejandro Jose’ Leon.

Aleppo-born Munir Hanashi, 29, helps him out after just being ordained following five years of study in Turin. Another Salesian from the community is Luciano Burati, 65, who spent 25 years in Qamishli near the Turkish border and who now runs a home in Kafrun in the Homs province. There, in Wadi al-Nasara (The Valley of the Christians) 40 displaced Christians from Aleppo are housed. “There are many families from our community that are struggling,” said Father Leon. “Many of those working in tourism and in European embassies that have closed have lost their jobs. All of this adds to the daily dangers.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey: Shepherd Kills Anatolian Leopard Thought Extinct

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 4 — An Anatolian leopard was killed by a shepherd in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir yesterday, drawing attention back to a species long thought extinct within Turkey’s borders, as daily Hurriyet reports. The shepherd, KasÕm Kaplan, said the animal had suddenly attacked him from behind while he was outside his village grazing his cattle. “We were on a cliff when all of a sudden something jumped on me. I wrestled with the animal that I did not recognize. We fell around 1.5 meters and rolled for 10 meters. I was injured by his claws when he jumped again on me where we fell,” Kaplan said. At this point, his cousin Mahmut Kaplan, who was accompanying him, shot the animal with his rifle. A biologist from Diyarbakir’s Dicle University analyzed the dead animal’s body, and said it was the first time he had seen such a leopard since another one was killed in the nearby Siirt province in 2010. That had been the first leopard seen in Anatolia for more than 35 years. “It’s the first time that a leopard has been seen (in Diyarbakir). We don’t know how he came here, but it’s an itinerant type of animal. We know that they live in Iran,” professor Murat Birecik said. Birecik’s colleague, Ahmet Kilic, said the animal may have offspring and called for their protection. “The reappearance of the Anatolian leopard, which we have thought of as extinct for centuries, is very exciting. It’s appearance in Diyarbakir is a miracle.

Officials should immediately protect the zone,” Kilic said. One of the causes of the leopard’s extinction is thought to be trophy hunting, which was widespread until the 1970s. Leopards once also populated the Aegean and Mediterranean regions, according to scientists, some of whom maintain that around a dozen still remain in the wild in Turkey’s eastern provinces.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

UAE Close to Achieving Schengen Visa-Free Travel

If endorsed, the UAE would be the first Arab country whose citizens receive the visa waiver

The United Arab Emirates is close to realising a Schengen visa waiver which will allow Emiratis visa-free travel to any of all 26 Schengen states, said a senior official.

Continued efforts of UAE diplomats, indefatigably working under the chief of UAE foreign policy, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have resulted in an overwhelming majority vote in favour of marking the country on a list of countries exempt from Schengen visa requirements.

If endorsed, the UAE would be the first Arab country, second in the Middle East and third among Islamic countries whose citizens receive the visa waiver, said Sulaiman Al Mazroui, UAE Ambassador to the European Union, a diplomat who has been hard at work towards abolishing the travel restrictions imposed on UAE citizens.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Where Allah Rocks: Indonesia’s Tolerant Take on Islam

The Southeast Asian island nation of Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, which practices an open-minded, gentle version of Islam in urban areas. But elsewhere Islamists are beginning to encroach.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Killed Over Dowry ‘Every Hour’ In India

A woman is killed every hour in India because her family failed to meet her husband and in-laws’ demands for higher dowry payments and lavish gifts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China: Tiananmen Square Jihad Attack Revenge for Police Raid on Xinjiang Mosque

Could the attackers responsible for a deadly assault on the heart of the Chinese capital on Oct. 28 have been motivated by revenge? That is the theory offered up by a former local official from the hometown of Usmen Hasan, the man identified by the Chinese police as the driver of a car that struck and killed two tourists before going up in flames at Tiananmen Square.

Mr. Hasan, his wife and his mother — all of them ethnic Uighurs from the far western region of Xinjiang — died at the scene, according to the official media.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fukushima Cleanup Efforts Put Northern Hemisphere on Alert

(NaturalNews) At an estimated cost of $150 billion, the Fukushima nuclear power plant ‘cleanup’ efforts have suspicious ties to organized crime and many on-site workers lack the required expertise to handle such nuclear disasters safely or effectively. With over 7 layers of poorly-supervised sub-contractors, like Tepco, Kajima and Obayashi Corp. — workers are routinely being exposed, in less than 1 hour, to deadly levels of radiation. But, there’s more to this story and the truth needs to be told.

An unprecedented threat to humanity is about to unfold — in the next 18 months. Contractors, already proven to be incompetent, plan to move a huge stock-pile of damaged (highly-radioactive) fuel rods to ‘safer’ ground. Once you understand the magnitude of this project — you quickly realize what’s at stake.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Made-in-China Kitchen Appliances Found to Contain Hidden Wi-Fi Circuitry That Installs Malware on Your Home Network

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, Russian investigators say they have discovered hidden microchips in Chinese-made household appliances that have been imported into the country, designed to transmit spam and other malware into wireless networks.

The paper said officials in St. Petersburg claim to have discovered 20 to 30 kettles and irons that contained “spy chips that send some data to the Foreign Service,” Russian media reported.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Severe’ Air Pollution Hits Shanghai

Photos shared by Shanghai locals on social media showed an extremely murky atmosphere

Heavy smog blanketed Shanghai as air quality in the country’s financial hub reached “severe pollution” levels on Thursday morning. Photos shared by Shanghai locals on social media showed an extremely murky sky — an image usually associated with the city’s long-time competitor Beijing — as visibility shrank and pollutants soared.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mali: Al-Qaeda in ‘Plausible’ Claim Over French Deaths

France said on Thursday it was “plausible” that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the north African division of the terrorist network, had killed two French journalists in Mali last weekend — as the group earlier claimed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Western Black Rhino Declared Extinct

London (CNN) — Africa’s western black rhino is now officially extinct according the latest review of animals and plants by the world’s largest conservation network. The subspecies of the black rhino — which is classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species — was last seen in western Africa in 2006.

The IUCN warns that other rhinos could follow saying Africa’s northern white rhino is “teetering on the brink of extinction” while Asia’s Javan rhino is “making its last stand” due to continued poaching and lack of conservation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: Is the Defeat of Kirchner’s Party a Small Step Towards the Extreme Left’s Gradual Retreat?

President Cristina Kirchner’s party suffered a major setback in the legislative elections that recently took place on October 27th.

Indeed, one half of the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate was up for election. . While Kirchner’s sector, also called “Frente Para La Victoria” (Front for Victory) still maintains a majority in both houses of Congress, it was defeated in the main urban centers of the country, particularly in the province of Buenos Aires where 15 out of 40 million Argentineans live. This result could have implications for the 2015 presidential elections.

Kirchner, an admirer of Hugo Chavez, most likely lost the election due to the country’s high inflation rates, her semi-authoritarian governing style, her vice-president’s corruption scandal, and the split within the Peronist party.

Kirchner has not only tried to concentrate her power throughout the government but also within her own party. She refused to name a successor that could run in the next presidential election (since according to the constitution she cannot run for a third term) while also planning to reform the constitution in order to be able to run for a third time. Although, as we pointed out, Kirchner’s faction still maintains a majority in Congress, that majority is below the two thirds needed for a constitutional reform. However, the fact remains that she was planning to stay in power for a long-time and blocked the rise of any alternative candidate within her own party.

[Return to headlines]
 

Asylum Seekers Barred From Norway Bus

The Norwegian bus company hit by this week’s fatal hijacking has come under fire after it emerged that it cancelled plans to take a group of asylum seekers to Oslo in the wake of the killing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Feds Spent $29 Million on Prescription Drugs for 4,139 Illegal Aliens

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spent almost $29 million to cover Medicare Part D prescription drugs for 4,139 individuals “unlawfully present” in the U.S. and thus ineligible to receive federal health care benefits, according to an audit by Daniel Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health & Human Services.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Immigrant Man Arrested for Beating Wife in Front of Children

Woman reports husband near Bergamo

(ANSA) — Bergamo, November 6 — Italian police on Wednesday arrested a man for allegedly beating his wife in front of their three young children.

The Egyptian immigrant, 43, was known to the police for similar incidents, judicial sources said.

His 36-year-old wife, also Egyptian, called police at a small town near Bergamo after the latest assault.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lampedusa Boat Tragedy: Migrants ‘Raped and Tortured’

People traffickers tortured and raped African migrants whose boat later sank off Lampedusa with the loss of more than 360 lives, Italian police say. The police have arrested a Somali man on Lampedusa accused of committing crimes with the armed gang.

Most of the victims on 3 October were Eritreans and Somalis. Their fishing boat capsized near Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island off North Africa. The migrants each paid thousands of dollars to the gang, police said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Northern Europe Beckons to Desperate Syrians

Thousands of Middle-Class Syrians Are Trying to Get to Europe’s Northern Countries to Seek Asylum

It took Mohamad Simo eight months, $15,000 and five forged passports to get from war-torn Aleppo, Syria, to the sleepy town of Vetlanda in the Swedish countryside.

Now the software engineer has refugee status and access to one of Europe’s most generous welfare systems. He lives in comfortable state housing, studies Swedish on the government’s tab and dreams of opening a chain of coffee shops.

More than a thousand miles to the south, Fares Ayyub is spending his nights with other refugees in a bus station in Sofia, Bulgaria. He, too, was trying to reach Northern Europe. But the civil engineer says he was swindled by smugglers in Turkey, then arrested by Bulgarian police and deposited for months in a detention center in a border town. He is stuck in the European Union’s poorest country, unable to work legally.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama: No Reason We Can’t Do Amnesty Before End of Year

(CNSNews.com) — Speaking to a group of business leaders at the White House on Tuesday, President Barack Obama said he did not see any reason a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens could not be enacted before the end of this year. To make his point, he argued that there are “some very conservative folks” who “believe that now is the time to get this done.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Syrians Boost Stockholm Population Growth

Stockholm’s population will hit 3 million residents by 2045, in large part due to migrants from Syria and Afghanistan, a figure that has surprised even the most hardened city planners. If the study by Stockholm Regional Growth, Environment and Planning (Tillväxt, miljö och regionplanering — TMR) is correct, the influx will mean the city will need some further 2,000 new pre-schools within ten years.

The study has surprised experts because it foresees a much faster growth rate than previous predictions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Just One in 67 Suspect Illegal Immigrants is Sent Home: Officials Are Not Properly Following Up Tip Offs in 94% of Cases

Only one in every 67 reports of illegal immigration result in a person being booted out of the country, a damning report by MPs reveals today.

Incredibly, in 94 out of every 100 cases, immigration officials are not even bothering to properly follow-up on tip offs from concerned members of the public.

This is despite David Cameron personally urging people to ‘report suspected illegal immigrants’ a to new Border Agency database so they could be deported.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

What America Will Look Like in 2050?

Few Americans understand what their children face within 37 years with the addition of 100 million immigrants to the United States of America. The ramifications of passage of mass Amnesty Bill S.744 guarantee devastating consequences to our country. I hope, as you read this series, you understand that your children will become victims of your apathy and inaction.

Instead of this crisis standing front and center at the national leadership and media levels — America’s population predicament remains the most ignored, evaded and suppressed issue of our time.

I’m not exactly certain why we stand in denial of the effects of adding 100 million immigrants. You could ask the average American on the street about the implications of S744 and he or she wouldn’t possess the slightest idea of what you’re talking about.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Families Threatened With Police “Monitoring” Over Transgender Complaints

Parents & daughters face retribution for expressing concerns about boy using female bathroom at Colorado high school.

Parents who complained over a boy who identifies as transgender being allowed to use the same public bathroom as their daughters at a Colorado high school have been threatened with police “monitoring” of their social media discussions.

As we reported last month, parents of daughters attending Florence High School said they were threatened with hate crimes charges when they complained on behalf of their daughters over a boy who identifies as transgender being allowed to use the female bathroom.

According to the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative civil liberties organization, the school is now threatening families that their social media conversations about the issue are being monitored by police.

Parents and students involved in the case spoke out in an emotional video released by PJI, who also claim that the supposedly “tolerant” LBGT community has bombarded them with hate mail for representing parents.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Film Critics Divided on Swedish Gender Bias Test

A new gender equality rating system being used in some Swedish cinemas has made world headlines, but critics on the home front have said the ratings shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Gay Students Pundit Paid $24k to Talk Fisting, Gorilla-Suit Fetishes With Students — Jennifer Kabbany

[WARNING: The following contains graphic material. Please be advised. ]

The notoriously raunchy and popular homosexual sex advice columnist and pundit Dan Savage visited the University of Oregon in mid-October, and more recently it was revealed thanks to a public records request that he was paid $24,000 for his talk, which included discussions with students about the art of fisting and gorilla suit fetishes…

Keep in mind, all this “sex ed” is on the taxpayers’ dime.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Senate Approves Ban on Antigay Bias in Workplace

The Senate on Thursday approved a ban on discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity, voting 64 to 32 in a bipartisan show of support that is rare for any social issue. It was the first time in the institution’s history that it had voted to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the country’s nondiscrimination law.

Despite initial wariness among many Republicans about the bill, 10 of them voted with 54 members of the Democratic majority to approve the measure.

[Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Cinemas Launch Feminist Movie Rating

The director of art-house movie theatre Bio Rio in Stockholm, Ellen Tejle holds a Bechdel test approval A certificate, in this photo dated Oct. 19, 2013. Cinemas in equality minded Sweden are introducing the new Bechdel test rating to highlight gender bias, or rather, the absence of it.

To get an “A” rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, name from American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man, promoting gender equality by addressing how women are portrayed in the public sphere.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Gay Activist Calls for Mandatory Abortion

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

During an appearance on an Australian television show, a prominent gay activist called for abortion to be made mandatory for 30 years in order to reduce global population.

Author and media pundit Dan Savage was asked by an audience member, “Which so-called dangerous idea do you each think would have the greatest potential to change the world for the better if it were implemented?”

“Population control. There’s too many god — — people on the planet!” responded Savage as the audience applauded. “And I don’t know if that’s a — you know, I’m pro-choice. I believe that women should have the right to control their bodies. Sometimes in my darker moments I’m anti-choice.”

He continued: “I think abortion should be mandatory for about 30 years. That’s a dangerous idea. She wanted a dangerous idea. So throw a chair at me.”

Savage’s previous exploits include vowing to inseminate his husband for God, wishing that “the Republicans were all ing dead,” and expressing the desire that a political candidate “should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there’s nothing left but the rope.”

Savage’s favored policy of mandatory abortion is already in place in Communist China, where women who flout the country’s infamous one child policy and cannot pay huge fines are kidnapped off the street by government goons, beaten up,dragged off to state hospitals and subjected to horrific forced abortions.

A recent case which attracted media attention involved a woman who had her home raided in the middle of the night by government officials, before she was abducted, taken to a hospital and forcibly injected with an abortion-inducing drug, terminating her baby which was just three months from being born.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Aussie Explorer ‘Boiled and Ate Swiss to Survive’

A new book claiming that Australia’s greatest explorer may have starved a colleague to death on a 1913 Antarctic foray in order to eat him has captured attention in Swiss media because the alleged victim was from Switzerland.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Environmentalism: The Science With No Basis in Science

We need to oppose the efforts by the Warmers to destroy our economy, reduce our standard of living, bring our people into economic, and political slavery

What is ironic is that those on the Left — who pat themselves on the back for “believing in science” while oftentimes knowing very little about it — are the ones who approach the issues from an unscientific mindset and viewpoint. Indeed, those on the Left are the ones who generally approach scientific issues with what one might call the “wishful thinking,” or even “magical,” mindset. Most liberals approach scientific matters with the attitude of “our worldview says this has to be this way, so we will ignore anything that contradicts this.” They do this with gun-related issues, choosing to ignore all the evidences that gun control does not work to stop crime but that armed citizens do. This is their approach to economics, completely ignoring the visible evidences of the failures of socialism, nationalized health care, wealth redistributionism, and the rest. And this is how they approach science — the physical world, according to liberals, ought to bend to conform to left-wing ideological preconceptions rather than working as it actually does.

When liberals accuse conservatives and liberty lovers of “opposing science,” what they really mean is that we’re disagreeing with left-wing ideas about what science “ought” to say, rather than the empirical facts on the ground of what it actually says.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the general set of fields known as environmentalism. Since the 1960s, the Left has worked arduously to invest environmentalism with cloaks of authority and sanctity. Springboarding from the respect that the average person has for “science” as a concept, environmentalists have sought to give themselves that same respect, even though much of their “science” is in fact contradicted by genuine scientific discovery.

[Comment: Recommended reading.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

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