Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/12/2013

Jang Song-thaek, the uncle of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, was once his nephew’s political mentor. He fell out of favor recently, however, and some of his associates were reportedly executed last week. Now the North Korean government has officially reported that Jang Song-thaek himself was executed yesterday after being tried by a military court.

In other news, a blind man in Saskatchewan is filing a complaint with the Human Rights Commission after Muslim cab drivers refused to take his custom because of his guide dog.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, 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
» American Dream: R.I.P.
» House Approves Bipartisan Budget Bill
» India’s Inflation Rate Spikes to 11.24 Per Cent
» Italian Interior Minister Warns of “Spiral of Rebellion” After Fourth Day of Social Unrest
» Obamacare’s Date With Destiny Approaches
 
USA
» 8-Year Study: Black Federal Judges ‘Conditioned’ To Go Easy on Fellow Blacks
» A Conspiracy So Vast
» Colleges Can’t Ban Guns, Rules Florida Court
» Cooking With Splenda Found to Release Cancer-Causing Dioxins in Food
» Ecoscience PDF — John Holdren Really Did Say Those Things
» Ex-Monsanto Employee Involved in Discrediting Study Linking GMOs to Cancer in Rats
» Flu Shot Kills 19-Year-Old, But Vaccine Industry Still Has Total Immunity Against Lawsuits
» Google Wants to Move Into Your Home
» Hawaii Health Director Loretta Fuddy Dies in Small Plane Crash
» Holton: Now Maybe They Will Pay Attention to the Gulen Schools
» Homeland Security Employee Who Called for Mass Murder of Whites Finally Fired
» NASA Cash Changes Leave Planet Science Up in the Air
» New York City to Force All Children to be Injected With Mercury in the Form of Flu Shots
» Only US Copy of Magna Carta Featured in New Museum Gallery
» Rep. Issa Accuses Sebelius of Criminal Obstruction in ObamaCare Investigation
» Retired Judge Confesses He Was Acting on ‘Reverse Racism’ When He Convicted White Man of Killing a Black Man as He Calls for His Release
» Someone’s Been Siphoning Data Through a Huge Security Hole in the Internet
» Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says
» USTR Says TPP Must be Kept Secret, Because the Public is Too Stupid to Understand it
» Why Oprah Never Had Kids
» Yes, America, We Have a Dictator
 
Canada
» Blind Man Files Complaint After He Says Muslim Cabbies Repeatedly Refused Service to Him and His Guide Dog
» Canadian Government to Fund Project to Offer Seal Meat at Grocery Stores
 
Europe and the EU
» Dismantle the Euro, Says Nobel-Winning Economist Who Once Backed Currency Union
» EU Parliament OKs Eur 51 Bln for 2014-20 Foreign Policy
» France: Hotel for Cats to Open in Paris, 25 Euros a Night
» GMOs Cause Horrible Deformities, Birth Defects in Piglets
» Government Spies Are Forcing Privacy Email Services to Shut Down Because They Can’t Spy on Emails
» Italy: New Northern League Chief Slams Letta Amid Protests
» Italy: Police Probe Pensioner Hypothermia Death
» Italy: Clashes With Fans as Pitchfork Protests Enter Third Day
» Scotland: Model of Chopper That Crashed Into Glasgow Pub Grounded, As 10th Person Dies From Injuries
» Spain: Barcelona Land £15.3m Deal for Putting Sponsor’s Logo Inside Shirt
» Sweden: Muslim Gardener Reports ‘George Michael’ Warning
» Sweden: Facebook Page Targets Innocent ‘Paedophiles’
» Swedes Uncover Disqus User Security Breach
» UK: Differences in Educational Achievement Owe More to Genetics Than Environment
» UK: Father Sentenced to Life in Prison for ‘Murder’ After Daughter Dies Following MMR Vaccine
» UK: NHS Surgeons Carried Out Heart Surgery on Wrong Patient
» US ‘Totally Dictates’ Swedish Surveillance
» Why Don’t We Make War Films That Celebrate British Courage Any More?
 
North Africa
» Talk to the Hand: Global Information Operations for the Post-Coup Muslim Brotherhood
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation Resumes
 
Middle East
» At Least 40 Killed in Yemen in Clashes Between Rebels, Militants
» Insiders Reveal Obama Framed Assad for Chemical Weapons Attack
» Iran’s Human Rights Abuses Offer Glimpse Into Tehran’s Power Struggle
» Missing American in Iran Was on Unapproved Mission
» Qatar-USA: American Soldiers Stay for Ten More Years
» Syria: Jihadists Seize Border Crossing With Turkey Claims Monitor
» Syrian Rebel Spokesman Decries US-British Decision to Suspend Nonlethal Aid
» US Drone Strike Kills at Least 13 in Convoy Heading to Wedding Party, Yemeni Officials Say
» ‘Western-Backed’ Syrian Leader Flees to Qatar, WSJ
 
South Asia
» Victims of Acid Attacks in India Saying New Law Restricting Sales Being Ignored
 
Far East
» Fukushima Continues to Contaminate Environment; Cleanup Expected to Take Decades
» North Korea Says it Has Executed Uncle of Kim Jong-un
» North Korea Says Jang Song Thaek, Uncle of Leader Kim Jong UN, Executed
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Castro Handshake? What About That Obama Photo Op With an African Cannibal?
» Interpreter at Mandela Event: I Was Hallucinating
» Kenya Celebrates 50 Years of Independence From UK
» Nelson Mandela Memorial: Empty Seats Embarrass South Africa
» Sign Language Interpreter for Mandela Memorial Says He Was Hallucinating, Often Becomes ‘Violent’
» South Africa Mandela Event Translator Wasn’t a Professional
» UK: Black Chef Suing Employers After Boss Used Word ‘Golliwog’ During Conversation About Robertson’s Jam
 
Latin America
» Norway Asked to Pay Up for Slave-Owning Past
 
Immigration
» Obama Will Extend Amnesty for Young Illegals, Says Top White House Aide
» Sweden Grapples With Rise in Syrian Refugees
» The Swedish Group That Blew the Lid on Hateful Online Comments
 
Culture Wars
» ACLU: College Cancelled Concert Because Band Members Were ‘Not Black Enough’
» College Under Fire for Cancelling Concert; Band Members ‘Not Black Enough’
 
General
» 200-Kilometer-High Jets of Water Discovered Shooting From Europa
» First Water Plume Seen Firing From Jupiter Moon Europa
» Speedy Stars Escaping the Milky Way Could Probe Dark Matter
» Sun’s Current Solar Activity Cycle is Weakest in a Century
 

American Dream: R.I.P.

We noted in 2010 that the American Dream had moved abroad … since social mobility between generations is dramatically lower in the U.S. than in many other developed countries.

We reported last year that both conservatives and liberals are worried about the collapse of social mobility in America.

Income inequality has increased more under Obama than under Bush. Inequality in America today is worse than it was in Gilded Age America, modern Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen, many banana republics in Latin America, and worse than experienced by slaves in 1774 colonial America. It is twice as bad as in ancient Rome — which was built on slave labor. Background here and here.

As Bloomberg reports, the American people know what’s going on:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

House Approves Bipartisan Budget Bill

The House on Thursday approved a bipartisan budget accord and a Pentagon policy bill that would strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault as it wrapped up its business for the year. But if left unfinished a major piece of domestic policy — the farm bill — making it likely that the law would lapse at the end of the year.

Republicans and Democrats hope the budget pact will act as a truce in the spending battles that have paralyzed Congress for nearly three years, as leaders in both parties sought to marginalize hard-line conservatives opposed to any compromise.

[Return to headlines]
 

India’s Inflation Rate Spikes to 11.24 Per Cent

Rising prices and contraction in output complicate policy

India’s battle with inflation and weak economic growth became more challenging on Thursday with a sharp spike in the cost of food driving the highest retail price rises on record and a worse-than-anticipated contraction in industrial production.

Sharply higher food prices drove up retail inflation to 11.24 per cent in November from 10.17 per cent in October. Food prices, politically sensitive in a country still marked in parts by extreme poverty despite its growing middle class, soared by an annual 14.72 per cent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Interior Minister Warns of “Spiral of Rebellion” After Fourth Day of Social Unrest

Ventimiglia on the Italian-French border is the latest place to be hit by the so called “pitchfork “ anti-government protests which have spread across Italy. Police fired tear gas and clashed with demonstrators on what was the fourth day of rallies.

The Interior Minister Angelino Alfano warned parliament the unrest could “lead to a spiral of rebellion against national and European institutions.”

In Rome hundreds of students took to the streets outside a university where government ministers were attending a conference. “Our university isn’t a catwalk for those who peddle austerity” read a banner.

The “pitchfork” movement began as a loosely organised group of farmers from Sicily and their aims remain vague beyond demanding the government be replaced and parliament dissolved. Larger demonstrations are planned in the capital next week.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obamacare’s Date With Destiny Approaches

Is America being set up for a bailout of the insurance companies?

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who remains as determined as ever to substitute Obama administration talking points for the truth, gave it her best effort in yesterday’s session before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. It was an underwhelming performance at best. As key dates approach and more facts about the government overhaul of the health care system emerge, it is becoming apparent that the ObamaCare scheme is headed for structural disaster — and will take tens of millions of Americans with it.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

8-Year Study: Black Federal Judges ‘Conditioned’ To Go Easy on Fellow Blacks

Black federal judges, inspired by racial “solidarity” and “conditioned” in life to sympathize with other blacks, side with African-Americans filing discrimination cases in significantly higher percentages than white judges, according to a first-of-its-kind study.

The California State University, Northridge study of 516 discrimination cases in federal courts over eight years found that black federal judges side with black claimants 32.9 percent of the time. For white judges it was 20.6 percent.

But when the study looked at how black and white judges ruled on discrimination claims made by “non-black claimants,” there wasn’t any difference.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

A Conspiracy So Vast

By Andrew P. Napolitano

Readers of this page are well aware of the revelations during the past six months of spying by the National Security Agency (NSA). Edward Snowden, a former employee of an NSA vendor, risked his life and liberty to inform us of a governmental conspiracy to violate our right to privacy, a right guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

The conspiracy he revealed is vast. It involves former President George W. Bush, President Obama and their aides, a dozen or so members of Congress, federal judges, executives and technicians at American computer ISPs and telecoms, and the thousands of NSA employees and vendors who have manipulated their fellow conspirators. The conspirators all agreed that it would be a crime for any of them to reveal the conspiracy. Snowden violated that agreement in order to uphold his higher oath to defend the Constitution.

The object of the conspiracy is to emasculate all Americans and many foreigners of their right to privacy in order to predict our behavior and make it easier to find among us those who are planning harm.

A conspiracy is an agreement among two or more persons to commit a crime. The crimes consist of capturing the emails, texts and phone calls of every American, tracing the movements of millions of Americans and foreigners via the GPS system in their cellphones, and seizing the bank records and utility bills of most Americans in direct contravention of the Constitution, and pretending to do so lawfully. The pretense is that somehow Congress lessened the standard for spying that is set forth in the Constitution. It is, of course, inconceivable that Congress can change the Constitution (only the states can), but the conspirators would have us believe that it has done so.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Colleges Can’t Ban Guns, Rules Florida Court

The Florida appeals court ruling that the University of North Florida was violating state law when it prohibited a woman from storing a gun in her vehicle while she attended class will spill over to cities and counties statewide, an attorney said Wednesday.

And it’s one of many nationwide where anti-gun activists are trying to do at the local level what they can’t do in the statehouse — restrict Second Amendment rights.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cooking With Splenda Found to Release Cancer-Causing Dioxins in Food

(NaturalNews) The long-term safety of the popular artificial sweetener Splenda (sucralose) has been called into question by a new review study published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) discovered that sucralose essentially releases cancer-causing dioxins in food when baked or otherwise heated, which is one of its primary marketed uses.

Citing an earlier study published by researchers from the Department of Pharmacology at Duke University in North Carolina, the review challenges a number of claims made in support of Splenda’s alleged safety, including the claim by its manufacturer, McNeil Nutritionals, that sucralose passes through the body completely undigested. Evidence shows not only that this is false but also that sucralose is hardly the innocuous substance that we have all been led to believe it is.

“The study asserts that in human and rodent studies sucralose was shown to alter levels of glucose, insulin and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1),” writes Laura Sesana for the Washington Times (WT). “The authors also warn that when sucralose is used for cooking at high temperatures it generates chloropropanols, a class of chemicals that may be linked to a higher risk of cancer.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ecoscience PDF — John Holdren Really Did Say Those Things

EcoScience: Authored in 1977 advocates for extreme totalitarian measures to control the population

p787-8: Adding a sterilant to drinking water or staple foods is a suggestion that seems to horrify people more than most proposals for involuntary fertility control. Indeed, this would pose some very difficult political, legal, and social questions, to say nothing of the technical problems. No such sterilant exists today, nor does one appear to be under development. To be acceptable, such a substance would have to meet some rather stiff requirements: it must be uniformly effective, despite widely varying doses received by individuals, and despite varying degrees of fertility and sensitivity among individuals; it must be free of dangerous or unpleasant side effects; and it must have no effect on members of the opposite sex, children, old people, pets, or livestock.

P942-3 Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime — sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist. Thus the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade, perhaps including assistance from DCs to LDCs, and including all food on the international market.

The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.

More examples and specific page numbers to checkout can be found here (zombietime.com/john_holdren/)

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ex-Monsanto Employee Involved in Discrediting Study Linking GMOs to Cancer in Rats

(NaturalNews) Remember the explosive 2012 study published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology (FCT) journal, in which Gilles-Eric Seralini and other researchers proved (with photographic evidence) that rats fed a lifetime of GM corn grew horrific tumors? It turns out that the study was retracted from the FCT in November 2013 — less than a year after the journal appointed Richard E. Goodman, an ex-employee of Monsanto, as the editor tasked with reviewing its biotechnology papers…

It’s not difficult to understand why someone who has dedicated his career to pushing GM poisons would want to cover up Seralini’s study. After all, the study found, among many other things, that:

1.) Rats that drank trace amounts of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide experienced a 200-300 percent increase in tumors.

2.) Rats that were fed GM corn suffered extreme organ damage, including kidney and liver damage.

Unfortunately for Goodman, the study went viral on the Internet. Its findings have been reprinted on countless health sites, and its photographs — arguably the biggest reason for its success — can be found on virtually all comprehensive anti-GMO essays published since mid-2012. The cat is out of the bag, and removing the study from the FCT’s archives is a desperate measure that can do little but attract renewed attention to its conclusions.

Moreover, the cover-up has actually compromised the FCT’s reputation. For example, the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility, a reputable network of scientists in Europe, has publicly condemned the journal for its corrupt actions:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Flu Shot Kills 19-Year-Old, But Vaccine Industry Still Has Total Immunity Against Lawsuits

(NaturalNews) The flu shot has claimed its first victim in the state of Utah, at least according to state health officials who insist that there is no official record of any individual ever previously dying as a result of the annual jab. 19-year-old Chandler Webb, a formerly healthy young man who worked out at the gym daily, reportedly suffered violent reactions and slipped into a coma just one day after getting his first flu vaccine ever, which prompted his death just a few weeks later.

Chandler was given the flu shot as part of a routine physical he received in preparation for an upcoming mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Salt Lake Tribune (SLT) reports that the young man suffered his first adverse reactions on October 16, just one day after getting jabbed. His symptoms included violent shaking, headaches and vomiting, all of which were the worst he had ever experienced.

“He said he never shook so hard in his whole life,” sobbed Lori Webb, Chandler’s mother. “He had the worst headache, throw up.”

Chandler’s health continued to decline in the immediate days following the vaccine, prompting his parents to take him to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray. A team of six neurologists ran a battery of tests on the young man, testing him for every known virus, bacterium and fungus, but came up with nothing.

After weeks of being in a coma, Chandler eventually died as a result of severe brain swelling, which just so happens to be a common adverse effect associated with vaccinations. Though the hospital and the state say they cannot talk about the details of the case, Chandler’s parents have since ordered a brain biopsy to verify the cause of death, which they believe was the vaccine.

“We’re angry because we believe it’s the flu shot that [caused] it,” said Lori. “I’ve never been so scared in all my life to see my son go through so much.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Google Wants to Move Into Your Home

Google is already heavily criticised for trying to know almost everything about us, and now the firm wants to get inside our homes, literally.

Engineering director Scott Huffman told The Independent that in his vision of the future Google users would have microphones fitted inside their homes.

Huffman envisages houses with microphones fitted to the ceiling that act like personal assistants; responding to voice queries and connecting to phones, tablets and other smart devices.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hawaii Health Director Loretta Fuddy Dies in Small Plane Crash

Loretta Fuddy, director of the Hawaii Department of Health, reportedly died due to injuries she received in the crash of a small commuter plane shortly before 4:00 p.m. local time Wednesday, December 11, 2013. Confirmation of her death occurred at approximately 8:00 p.m. local time (1:00 a.m. Eastern time The plane crash occurred about a half-mile off shore of the north shore of Molokai, shortly after taking off from Kalaupapa, Emergency officials responding to the crash site reported seeing eight people floating in the water wearing life vests.).

According to initial news reports, Fuddy was one of eight other people — including the pilot — in the plane and the only person to succumb to her injuries. Based on reports from EMS sources, three survivors were taken to Oahu, three to Molokai General Hospital and two members of the plane’s party declined treatment.

Fuddy was at the center of controversy in the birth certificate controversy as she was the person who reportedly granted “an exception” to Barack Obama, allegedly witnessing the copying of Obama’s birth certificate and attested to its authenticity. Her involvement in the alleged fraudulent activity pertaining to the long form birth certificate of Barack Hussein Obama, was the discussion of The Hagmann & Hagmann Report , along with numerous others, as detailed in this report.

A more detailed report will follow.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Holton: Now Maybe They Will Pay Attention to the Gulen Schools

Christopher Holton writes in Louisiana Hayride about an FBI raid about the Kenilworth Science and Technology Charter School in Baton Rouge , “Now Maybe They Will Pay Attention To The Gulen School”.

This is an important expose and pushback against .the Islamist Gulen Islamist movement that has relentlessly penetrated and exploited both the H1-B Visa and Charter school programs throughout the US. Chris Holton’s report on the FBI raid on Kenilworth Scence and Technology School in Baton Rouge, also addresses similar Charter school problems in Louisiana and failure to pass restrictive legislation in the 2013 Louisiana legislative session. He also notes that other states have passed similar Visa restrictive legislation while local communities have rejected similar Gulen Charter school applications. As Holton’s report implies there should be Congressional oversight hearings should focus on the abuse of H1-B visa program, the Islamist doctrine of the Gulen movement and its shadowy billionaire Turkish Islamist leader Sheik Muhammad Fethullah Gulen. Gulen has been a resident since 1999 of a fortified compound in the Poconos Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. He is considered “the world’s most dangerous Islamist”. See our Iconoclast post on Tennessee laws adopted in 2012 pushing back on the Gulen movement abuse of the H1-B Visas for employees of Charter Schools in the Volunteer State. That also contains a 2010 New English Review Interview with Professor Raphael Israeli about Gulen ideology and the movement’s exploitation of Charter Schools in the US…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Homeland Security Employee Who Called for Mass Murder of Whites Finally Fired

A Department of Homeland Security employee who called for the mass murder of white people has finally been fired over four months after it first emerged that he was running a website which advocated a genocidal race war.

Back in August, it emerged that Kimathi had been making $115,000 dollars a year in his job as an acquisitions officer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a position he had held since 2009.

The DHS first received complaints two years ago that Kimathi was behind the racist website, and his former supervisor told the Southern Poverty Law Center that “everybody in the office is afraid of him,” and worried that he would “come in with a gun someday and go postal.”

It’s ironic that while the Department of Homeland Security circulates training guidelines and material that instruct their employees to treat “liberty lovers” and constitutionalists as terrorists, actual domestic extremists can remain in jobs with the agency for years while publicly spewing violent racial hatred.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NASA Cash Changes Leave Planet Science Up in the Air

WHILE NASA basks in glory after announcing the best evidence yet that Mars was once habitable (see “Surprisingly youthful Mars surface helps alien hunt”), the future looks bleak for the scientists who make such amazing discoveries possible.

Last week, NASA’s Planetary Science Division announced a shake-up of its grant system, leaving many up-and-coming researchers wondering where their next round of funding was coming from. Many fear they will be forced to leave the field.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New York City to Force All Children to be Injected With Mercury in the Form of Flu Shots

(NaturalNews) Of all the toxic heavy metals, mercury is the most devastating to the brain. No legitimate scientist would ever argue that mercury is safe to inject into a child at any dose, and the CDC has never established any “safe” level of mercury in human blood for the simple reason that there’s isn’t any safe level.

Yet the New York City Board of Health has now decided that all children in New York City need to be injected with a devastating dose of toxic mercury as part of their twisted “public health” measure. Flu shots, of course, still contain the neurotoxin heavy metal known as mercury, yet virtually the entire medical establishment blatantly lies to the public and claims — with a straight face — that “all the mercury has been removed from vaccines.”

That is an insidious lie. It’s still in flu shots.

The CDC even reluctantly admits that on its own thimerosal page where it states that the 2013-2014 flu shot “contains thimerosal to safeguard against possible contamination of the vial once it is opened.”…

If cars were sold in the same way as vaccines, every 1 in 88 families who bought a car would find their child permanently maimed by the child seat sold with the car, to the point where that child could no longer function in society. And then, when they tried to sue the manufacturer for selling them a faulty, dangerous product, they would be told, “Sorry. The car industry has been granted blanket immunity from all lawsuits. You have no due process.” That’s how the vaccine industry works.

Today, 1 in 88 children now have autism. Vaccines aren’t the only cause of autism, but they seem to be the trigger in many cases. Yet vaccine companies and vaccine-pushing public health officials continue to carry on the big lie, claiming that vaccines have ZERO link to autism — yet another false piece of medical propaganda designed to keep the medical mafia rolling in cash while your children suffer lifelong brain damage from their faulty products.

Words of wisdom:

Beware of any product so dangerous than the government says “you can’t sue the manufacturer even if it kills you” but then that same government turns around and says, “Oh, by the way, you MUST inject your child with this substance, too.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Only US Copy of Magna Carta Featured in New Museum Gallery

WASHINGTON — The only copy of the Magna Carta in the United States is the centerpiece of a new museum gallery that opened Wednesday at the National Archives and traces the evolution of U.S. rights and freedoms for African-Americans, women and immigrants.

Magna Carta was the first English charter to directly challenge the monarchy’s authority with a declaration of human rights. Noblemen came together in 1215 to declare their rights to King John.

The declaration was reissued in 1297 under King Edward I, and the copy now at the National Archives was one of four surviving copies made that year. There are 17 surviving original copies of Magna Carta, including 15 in Britain and one displayed at Australia’s parliament.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rep. Issa Accuses Sebelius of Criminal Obstruction in ObamaCare Investigation

In a letter sent late Wednesday, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa reminded Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime.

Issa’s Committee has been looking into the details of how Obamacare was implemented, along with the major problems with Healthcare.gov and has requested a number of documents from HHS, none of which he’s received. The documents requested pertain to companies hired by HHS to build and operate Healthcare.gov.

“The Department [HHS] subsequently instructed those companies not to comply with the Committee’s request. The Department’s hostility toward questions from Congress and the media about the implementation of Obamcare is well known. The Department’s most recent effort to stonewall, however, has morphed from mere obstinacy into criminal obstruction of a congressional investigation,” Issa wrote.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Retired Judge Confesses He Was Acting on ‘Reverse Racism’ When He Convicted White Man of Killing a Black Man as He Calls for His Release

A judge has said he wants a white man he convicted in 1999 of killing a black man to be freed because he found him guilty due to his own reverse racism. Frank Barbaro, a retired Brooklyn Supreme Court judge, said he convicted Donald Kagan, now 39, of shooting Wavell Wint, 22, because he saw the man as ‘a bigot’. He said that he had denied Kagan a fair trial because of his own civil rights activist opinions.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Someone’s Been Siphoning Data Through a Huge Security Hole in the Internet

In 2008, two security researchers at the DefCon hacker conference demonstrated a massive security vulnerability in the worldwide internet traffic-routing system — a vulnerability so severe that it could allow intelligence agencies, corporate spies or criminals to intercept massive amounts of data, or even tamper with it on the fly. The traffic hijack, they showed, could be done in such a way that no one would notice because the attackers could simply re-route the traffic to a router they controlled, then forward it to its intended destination once they were done with it, leaving no one the wiser about what had occurred. Now, five years later, this is exactly what has happened.

“The stakes are potentially enormous, since once data is hijacked, the perpetrator can copy and then comb through any unencrypted data freely — reading email and spreadsheets, extracting credit card numbers, and capturing vast amounts of sensitive information.”

Hijacked traffic went all the way to Iceland, where it may have been copied before being released to its intended destination. The green arrows show the path the traffic should have traveled; the red arrows show the path it took.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Texas Plan to Execute Mexican May Harm U.S. Ties Abroad, Kerry Says

HOUSTON — The scheduled execution next month of a Mexican national by the State of Texas threatens to damage relations between the United States and Mexico and complicate the ability of the United States to help Americans detained overseas, Secretary of State John F. Kerry has warned Texas officials.

The Mexican, Edgar Arias Tamayo, 46, was convicted of shooting and killing a Houston police officer who was taking him to jail after a robbery in 1994. Mr. Tamayo, who was in the nation illegally, was not notified of his right to contact the Mexican Consulate, in violation of an international treaty known as the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

USTR Says TPP Must be Kept Secret, Because the Public is Too Stupid to Understand it

While TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) negotiators had hoped to finish off the negotiations in Singapore over the past few days, it appears that did not happen, though they claim to have made substantial progress and will meet again next month.

– From the reports of people there, the negotiators made sure that public interest groups were excluded from even the press briefing about the negotiations, which should tell you all you need to know about what the negotiators think of the public. But, in case you weren’t sure, the USTR (United States Trade Representative), Michael Froman, has finally explained why the TPP negotiating positions must be kept secret. Apparently, all of us in the public, are too f**king stupid to understand the important work that he’s doing, and we might “misunderstand” it. Therefore, we peons must be kept in the dark, while important people like himself negotiate on our behalf. According to Jamie Love:

Froman said if the text was public, people would misunderstand “negotiating positions.”

In other words, the USTR is not a fan of democracy.

If you think the public is too stupid to understand the public policy positions you’re negotiating for, then you shouldn’t be in that job.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Oprah Never Had Kids

In a candid interview, Oprah Winfrey has responded to allegations that she had a nervous breakdown, revealed why she never had kids and detailed what she wants to do in the future.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the 59-year-old media mogul admitted that she’s never had a burning desire to be a mom, preferring instead to focus on her career.

“If I had kids, my kids would hate me,” Winfrey said.

“They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something (in my life) would have had to suffer and it would’ve probably been them.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yes, America, We Have a Dictator

Yes, America, we do have a dictator, and thanks to some Republicans his path to power has been made that much easier

The handshake between Barack Hussein Obama and Raul Castro that is drawing oohs and aahs from the left came as no surprise to me. It was a congratulatory handshake from one dictator to another. The time has come for us to open our little minds and grasp the whole truth of what has transpired in this country and realize that, “Yes, America, We have a Dictator”.

We are living under the tyranny of a man who sees himself as the equivalent of Castro, the late Hugo Chavez, and the Kings and Emperors to whom he bows. While it’s easy to blame Obama and the far left, his rise to power could not have been achieved without the help of the Republicans in Congress. The premier “aide-de-camp” to the Obama dictatorship has been none other than Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Minority leader of the Senate during the five years of Obama’s reign.

While he has been given the moniker “The Cowardly Lion of the Senate”, I believe the real Mitch McConnell is an evil, scheming hypocrite that, while professing to be a Conservative that stands for smaller, limited government, relishes the power that a bloated government gives him over We the People. But, not to worry, America, after going after the tea party and calling us bullies, on Tuesday McConnell told Neil Cavuto, “I’m a big fan of tea party”. Well, I certainly feel all better. I’m sure his statement has nothing to do with the fact he has a strong, tea party backed challenger for his Senate seat by the name of Matt Bevin. To learn more about Mr. Bevin and learn how you can help in his bid to unseat McConnell, visit his website Mattbevin.com

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Blind Man Files Complaint After He Says Muslim Cabbies Repeatedly Refused Service to Him and His Guide Dog

A blind Canadian man has filed a complaint with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission after he says he was denied service from taxi drivers who would not transport him and his guide dog for religious reasons.

Mike Simmonds told Canada’s Sun News Network that though he has been blind for 17 years, he just adopted his service animal Graham in July. Since then, he says he’s been refused transportation three times from a local company. When he traveled without a dog, Simmonds says he never had trouble ordering a taxi.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Canadian Government to Fund Project to Offer Seal Meat at Grocery Stores

Canada is planning to spend $500,000 on a project that will offer seal meat in groceries stories in Canada and overseas next year. According to GlobalNews.ca, Ottawa, Newfoundland and Labrador will participate.

The plan is for a broad campaign starting next year to offer frozen and vacuum-packed seal meat for wholesale and in ‘niche market’ stores in Canada and other countries, the report said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dismantle the Euro, Says Nobel-Winning Economist Who Once Backed Currency Union

A Nobel prize-winning economist will on Thursday withdraw his support for the euro saying it has created a “lost generation” unemployed youngsters and should be broken up.

Sir Christopher Pissarides was once a key proponent of a single currency but will on Thursday accuse the euro of “dividing Europe” and say action is needed to “restore the euro’s credibility in international markets” and the “trust that Europe’s nations once had in each other”, according to the Daily Mail.

Speaking at the London School of Economics, where he teaches, Professor Pissarides will say: “The euro should either be dismantled in an orderly way or the leading members should do the necessary as fast as possible to make it growth and employment-friendly,.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU Parliament OKs Eur 51 Bln for 2014-20 Foreign Policy

Development cooperation, enlargement, neighborhood policy

(ANSAmed) — STRASBOURG, DECEMBER 11 — The European Parliament has approved 51.4 billion euros in funding for EU foreign policy instruments for the 2014-2020 period. Development cooperation, aid for EU enlargement and relations with neighboring partner countries are the three major areas that the aid package passed by a broad majority in the Strasbourg Assembly will focus on.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said that the funds would make it possible to “accompany in an effective manner” reforms and efforts made by neighbors countries to the east that are attempting to bring their policies in line with EU standards while bolstering democratization and social and economic development in the bloc’s southern neighbors.

Some 19.662 billion euros have been allocated to the development cooperation instrument, which covers all developing countries and programs on a geographical basis in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and South Africa. Another 15.433 billion will go to the neighborhood policy instrument, which covers 16 countries to the east and south of the EU.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Hotel for Cats to Open in Paris, 25 Euros a Night

Hotel Aristide will have comfortable rooms, play area, menù

(ANSAmed) — PARIGI — A hotel for cats, with comfortable rooms, a play area, menù cards and cuddles at will: in February the Hotel Aristide will open its doors in Paris, exclusively to feline guests.

The idea came from young French entrepreneur Gauthier Berdeaux, a 32-year-old ex-communications specialist. “I couldn’t find an ideal place to leave my cat when I was away, without bothering my parents or friends or having to go to a special agency,” said Berdeaux. “That’s when I thought of creating a hotel for cats.” The hotel will have about twenty rooms of 4 sq m each, custom-prepared for the felines and equipped with all the amenities: lofts, platforms for climbing, toys, scratching posts, and soft pillows. In addition, cats will have access to a 20 sq m recreation room for relaxation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

GMOs Cause Horrible Deformities, Birth Defects in Piglets

(NaturalNews) When Danish pig farmer Ib Pedersen first noticed the sudden uptick in disease, deformities and death among his farrow, his immediate reaction was to investigate the diet of his pigs to look for possible causes. And what he found confirms what a growing body of evidence also suggests: that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in conventional animal feed are increasingly responsible for triggering birth defects, deformities, spontaneous abortions and other growth and development abnormalities in both pigs and cattle.

With 13,000 pigs on his farm, Pedersen knows the ins and outs of how to properly raise swine, as well as what is considered normal in terms of pig health. This is why he grew particularly alarmed when many more of them than usual began to come down with strange illnesses. Besides noticeably lower birthrates, Pedersen observed more of his pigs than normal being born with strange defects like spinal deformities and limb problems, and many more pigs than usual were dying.

“When using GM feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhea, pigs born with deformities,” explained Pedersen to The Ecologist’s Andrew Wasley, who recently conducted an in-depth investigation into the link between GMOs and animal health problems. “But when I switched [to non-GM feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Government Spies Are Forcing Privacy Email Services to Shut Down Because They Can’t Spy on Emails

PrivateSky developers speak out after being issued national security warrant

GCHQ, the British counterpart and facilitator to the NSA, has forced a privacy focused email service to shut down because it could not effectively spy on the encrypted emails people were sending.

As the blog IT Security Guru reports, a beta version of the PrivateSky service from London-based web security firm CertiVox was shut down early in 2013 following a government order.

The secure email encryption service, which worked with both web based email and Outlook, had “tens of thousands of heavily active users” before it was targeted by government spooks, according to the developers.

Brian Spector, CEO of CertiVox, tells reporters “Towards the end of 2012, we heard from the National Technical Assistance Centre (NTAC), a division of GCHQ and a liaison with the Home Office, [that] they wanted the keys to decrypt the customer data.”

“So they had persons of interest they wanted to track and came with a RIPA warrant signed by the home secretary. You have to comply with a RIPA warrant or you go to jail.” Spector adds.

“It is the same in the USA with FISMA, and it is essentially a national security warrant.” Spector further notes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: New Northern League Chief Slams Letta Amid Protests

‘Demonstrators should enter parliament’

(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, December 11 — The newly elected leader of the regionalist and Euroskeptic Northern League slammed the government of Premier Enrico Letta amid rising anti-government sentiment, encouraging protesters to occupy parliament after government confidence votes.

“Letta is digging a ditch by obeying all the orders from Brussels,” he said as protesters from the Forconi (Pitchfork) Movement mounted their third day of protests against austerity-driven tax hikes, and while the government awaited a confidence vote in Senate after surviving one in the House.

“And then he’s surprised by the Pitchfork Movement,” added the opposition figure. “(The protesters) should come inside parliament after the confidence votes”. Protesters have threatened to mount a large-scale demonstration in Rome if the government survives both votes. Salvini, a 40-year-old MEP, beat Northern League founder Umberto Bossi in a vote of party supporters at the weekend to become the League’s new leader.

Pitchfork Protesters have ranged from disgruntled truckers and farmers to far-right-wing elements.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Probe Pensioner Hypothermia Death

Lived in unheated apartment, couldn’t pay gas bills

(ANSA) — Fano, December 11 — Police in the seaside resort of Fano, in the central Marche region, on Wednesday opened an investigation into the death of a 77-year-old man who died of hypothermia Tuesday in hospital.

The retiree lived with his 69-year-old wife and two daughters aged 47 and 43 in an unheated apartment in a residential neighborhood.

The family’s gas was cut off a year ago after they were unable to pay their bills. The man received a monthly 800-euro pension, and his wife did occasional jobs. The family apparently never requested aid from social services.

The extreme-right Forza Nuova (New Force) movement called for a manslaughter investigation into whether or not the gas company and social services should be held responsible.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Clashes With Fans as Pitchfork Protests Enter Third Day

Berlusconi urges government to deal with ‘regressive’ policies

(By Sandra Cordon) (ANSA) — Rome, December 11 — As anti-authority protests in several Italian centres by the so-called “Forconi” (Pitchfork) movement attracted hard-core soccer fans Wednesday, the government demanded respect for elected officials and for law and order.

In the face of mounting anti-government, anti-tax and anti-austerity protests across the country, Premier Enrico Letta called for respect for elected officials and denounced suggestions that police stop protecting politicians. “This republican parliament and our offices demand respect in such bitter times,” Letta told parliament ahead of a confidence vote Wednesday on his government’s plans for 2014.

One day earlier, 5-Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo encouraged police to refrain from protecting politicians, after officers in riot gear at Pitchfork protests doffed helmets in several separate episodes, which was widely interpreted as a sign of solidarity with demonstrators.

However, speaking before the vote that aims to consolidate his power after political reshuffling in the last two weeks, Letta stressed that the “loyalty” of Italy’s police force to republican values is “unquestionable”. House Speaker Laura Boldrini backed Letta’s anti-Grillo stance while acknowledging the legitimacy of the Pitchfork protestors’ concerns.

“The protest cannot be ignored, but heard. It is the duty of those with public responsibility to give them an answer,” said Boldrini, who also referred to former South African president Nelson Mandala.

“What cannot be done, as Mandela has taught us, is to sow hatred. Oppositions are a sign of democracy, but you should not stir up, nor exploit the anger and discontent or fuel dangerous feelings,” Boldrini said.

Still, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano warned that the government will not hesitate to “suppress” criminal behavior by the protesters whose demonstrations have stretched from Italy’s south to the north, where cities such as Milan and Turin have so far shown the greatest turnout. Protestors have shouted opposition to austerity-driven tax hikes, voiced complaints about tax-collection agency Equitalia, and denounced capitalism and the euro. Recent protests have also attracted rightist groups and hard-core “ultra” soccer fans.

Supporters of Dutch club Ajax clashed with protesters ahead of their side’s Champions League match against AC Milan later Wednesday. The clashes occurred after around 20 Ajax fans got off a bus that had been held up by the protesters and started to insult them. Alfano, who is also deputy premier, said that if the line is crossed from peaceful protest to criminal acts, the State will take action.

“We will ensure, through the means of the State, peaceful demonstration…but we will not have any qualms about suppressing threats and intimidation that may be an expression of criminal attitudes,” said Alfano. Some protesters had vowed to mount a large-scale demonstration in Rome unless MPs abstain from Wednesday’s confidence vote, which apparently had no effect as the vote carried on as scheduled.

There had also been reports that ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, who is trying to bring down the government from the helm of his revived Forza Italia party, was considering working with the Pitchfork movement.

But Wednesday Berlusconi, who was ejected from the Senate in late November following a definitive conviction for tax fraud, said he postponed a scheduled meeting with protesting truck drivers “to avoid any possible exploitation”.

Still, he urged the Letta government to deal with what he called the legitimate concerns of people who have had to deal with “two years of regressive policies” since Berlusconi was driven from office in late 2011.

Across Italy, the Pitchfork demonstrations have varied in style and number between cities, with some turning violent, including rocks thrown, and property damaged.

In the northern industrial city of Turin, where protesters opposed to austerity-driven tax hikes have snarled traffic, a large group of student demonstrators was at the forefront of earlier marches. In the port city of Genoa, demonstrators occupied the central square, and in nearby Savona they organized in front of the offices of tax-collection agency Equitalia. The Pitchfork movement started among struggling Sicilian farmers early last year and has since spread to their counterparts in northern Italy, enlisting disgruntled or bankrupt truckers and small businessmen as well as swathes of recently impoverished citizens along the way.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Scotland: Model of Chopper That Crashed Into Glasgow Pub Grounded, As 10th Person Dies From Injuries

A 10th person has died following the crash of a police helicopter into a Glasgow pub, police said Thursday, as a British transport company briefly grounded its helicopters of the type involved in the crash after detecting a technical problem on a recent flight.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Barcelona Land £15.3m Deal for Putting Sponsor’s Logo Inside Shirt

Barcelona have agreed a sponsorship deal said to be worth £15.3m with Intel under which the chipmaker’s logo will be printed on the inside of players’ shirts. The idea behind the unusual positioning of the logo is that it will be revealed when a player lifts his shirt to celebrate a goal. Barcelona’s players would be under no obligation to display the logo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Muslim Gardener Reports ‘George Michael’ Warning

A gardener in Gothenburg who said he suffered months of racist and sexual abuse at work has taken his case to Sweden’s equality watchdog, stating he was told to cut his Islamic beard to resemble George Michael in order not to upset “racist Swedes”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Facebook Page Targets Innocent ‘Paedophiles’

Police in Malmö are trying to put a stop to paedophile rumours about a local man with no convictions or suspicions of child abuse, after Facebook users were egged on to beat him to death in the woods.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedes Uncover Disqus User Security Breach

A group of Swedish journalists are sitting on a goldmine of 29 million online comments, with information about users’ identities, from news sites around the world thanks to a security flaw in debate moderation service Disqus.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Differences in Educational Achievement Owe More to Genetics Than Environment

The degree to which students’ exam scores differ owes more to their genes than to their teachers, schools or family environments, according to new research from King’s College London published today in PLOS ONE.

The study, which took place in the UK, looked at students’ scores for their GCSE’s (General Certificate of Secondary Education), a UK-wide examination at the end of compulsory education at 16 years old.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Father Sentenced to Life in Prison for ‘Murder’ After Daughter Dies Following MMR Vaccine

(NaturalNews) A U.K. father has been sentenced to life in prison after being falsely accused of murdering his own daughter, who reportedly developed mysterious head injuries just one day after receiving the high-risk measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, more commonly known as MMR. Investigative journalist Christina England reports that the father was basically denied his right to defend himself with evidence and witnesses and instead just assumed by the court to have shaken his baby to death with no real proof to support these allegations or the final judgment.

Known around the world for her expertise in vaccine adverse effects, England stepped in to try to help the father after he and his wife recently came forward asking for help. The father was already on trial for murder at the time, and just two weeks later was sentenced by the court to life in prison. But the story leading up to his false conviction needs to be told, because, with enough publicity and support, this father may be able to appeal his conviction and actually have a legitimate day in court.

It all started back in May of 2012 when the child in question, who is being referred to as Amy in news reports, developed a strange lump on the back of her head just one day after receiving the MMR vaccine. Prior to the vaccine, little Amy was healthy and lump-free. Amy’s father Darryl took her to the local hospital to have the lump checked out but was unable to provide answers as to how it formed, which was the beginning of his subsequent horrors.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: NHS Surgeons Carried Out Heart Surgery on Wrong Patient

Surgeons at an NHS hospital carried out heart surgery on the wrong patient, it was revealed today, following the release of new statistics on major errors within the health service.

Overall there were 148 “never events” — medical mistakes that according to guidelines should never happen — at NHS trusts between April and September this year.

Foreign objects such as needles, swabs and even a glove being left inside a patient were the most common type of error — occurring 69 times.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

US ‘Totally Dictates’ Swedish Surveillance

The US dominates Sweden during joint surveillance cooperation, as the Swedes give information but ask for nothing in return, claimed journalist Glenn Greenwald on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why Don’t We Make War Films That Celebrate British Courage Any More?

As someone who writes screenplays, I’m forced to draw the conclusion that there is a disturbing tendency for the British film industry to ignore the heroic exploits of our brave men and women in uniform.

This question has been occupying my mind following the success of my first film, Chalet Girl, a romantic comedy starring Bill Nighy, Felicity Jones and Brooke Shields.

In its wake, I was considering what to write next. As I well know, there is always a market for romcoms, and as someone who needs to pay the rent, I decided to write some more.

But as any good writer knows, you also have to find a new gap in the market, and try to fill it. And what puzzled me — and continues to do so — is that there is a huge gap marked ‘Great British War Film’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Talk to the Hand: Global Information Operations for the Post-Coup Muslim Brotherhood

By Kyle Shideler

News reports claim that one of the last senior Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders was taken into custody in late October, which may lead some to believe that the radical Islamist organization had been effectively defeated by the new Egyptian military government..

But Eric Trager, a Washington Institute for Near East Policy analyst and a specialist on the Egyptian MB’s hierarchy, has noted on Twitter that Erian’s influence was primarily that he spoke English, and was well known to Western journalists. Other, far more senior MB leaders remain at large in Egypt. So while it may be true that the Brotherhood has been heavily rocked in the aftermath of the coup, which ousted MB president Mohammed Morsi, how badly off is the group really?

While many senior MB leaders have been arrested, the fact is that the organization is used to its senior leaders facing prison. Ex-President Morsi, although far from the most senior of the Muslim Brotherhood leader, was himself broken out of prison during the events of the Arab Spring.

More troubling for the Brotherhood is the breakup of the usras, the cell-like groups to which each Brother member belongs. Usras are tight-knit almost familial groups, which serve to rapidly transmit information from senior leaders to even the lowest ranking members. The Egyptian security forces know this, and have been seeking to disrupt Brotherhood operations by targeting these key structures…

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Hamas-Fatah Reconciliation Resumes

Ex-Knesset deputy Bishara mediates talk in Qatar

(ANSAmed) — GAZA — The arduous process of reconciliation between al-Fatah and Hamas has resumed in Qatar, according to Hebrew-language daily Maariv. The newspaper reported that in recent days, Azmi Bishara, an Arab ex-deputy of Knesset (the Israeli parliament) mediated a talk in Qatar between negotiator Saeb Erekat of the PLO and Khaled Meshal, political leader of Hamas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 40 Killed in Yemen in Clashes Between Rebels, Militants

SANAA, Yemen — Ultraconservative Sunni Muslim militants and rebels belonging to a branch of Shiite Islam battled each other in northern Yemen with artillery and machine guns Thursday in clashes that killed more than 40 people, security officials said.

The violence between Islamic Salafi fighters and Hawthi rebels has raged for weeks in Yemen’s northern province of Saada, but the latest sectarian clashes marked an expansion of the fighting to the neighboring province of Hagga. The government brokered a cease-fire last month to try to end the violence, but both sides have repeatedly broken the truce.

Officials said Thursday’s clashes began when ultraconservative Salafis took over a Hawthi stronghold in a mountainous area near the border with Saudi Arabia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Insiders Reveal Obama Framed Assad for Chemical Weapons Attack

Top Secrets documents and high-level insiders in the Pentagon and CIA reveal that Obama, using doctored Syrian army communications, framed Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad for the August 21, 2013 chemical weapons attack.

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Seymour Hersh, it was actually the al-Qaeda-linked Syrian rebel group al-Nusra — funded by Obama — trained by none other than our own CIA — and not al-Assad — who was behind the attack.

Shockingly, this was known by Obama hours after the attack.

But it gets worse.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iran’s Human Rights Abuses Offer Glimpse Into Tehran’s Power Struggle

President Hassan Rouhani is the public face of the leadership, but is he the moderate reformer the West hopes he is, or is he, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, a “wolf in sheep’s clothing?” And does it even matter if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and his hard line allies are really running the show?

According to the IHRDC, at least 529 people have been executed in Iran this year (Iranian officials admit to about 400 of those). Nearly half of the death toll has occurred since Rouhani took power on Aug. 4. The frenetic pace of executions, often of rapists, drug dealers and petty criminals, works out to a little over 13 executions every week, or about two per day.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Missing American in Iran Was on Unapproved Mission

An American who vanished nearly seven years ago in Iran was working for the CIA on an unapproved intelligence-gathering mission that, when it came to light inside the government, produced one of the most serious scandals in the recent history of the CIA — but all in secret, an Associated Press investigation found.

The CIA paid Robert Levinson’s family $2.5 million to head off a revealing lawsuit. Three veteran analysts were forced out of the agency and seven others were disciplined.

The U.S. publicly has described Levinson as a private citizen.

That was just a cover story. In an extraordinary breach of the most basic CIA rules, a team of analysts — with no authority to run spy operations — paid Levinson to gather intelligence from some of the world’s darkest corners. He vanished while investigating the Iranian regime for the U.S. government.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Qatar-USA: American Soldiers Stay for Ten More Years

Renewed agreement for military cooperation

(ANSAmed) — DOHA, December 11 — On Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Qatar Minister of Defense Hamad bin Ali Al-Attiya signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement, which will keep American soldiers on the military base of Al Udeid in Qatar for the next ten years. The agreement, which also includes training of Qatari military forces, is of significant importance since Al Udeid allows the US to keep watch over military and commercial activity in the Persian Gulf, particularly in Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria.

US Air Force Colonel Mike Schnabel, director of combat operations, told The Wall Street Journal, “There is no active fight going on in the Arabian Gulf but we are prepared if there was some type of flare-up.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Jihadists Seize Border Crossing With Turkey Claims Monitor

Bab al-Hawa, 11 Dec. (AKI) — A new Islamist alliance has captured the Bab al-Hawa border crossing with Turkey, UK-based opposition watchdog the Syrian Human Rights Observatory said Wednesday.

Turkey closed the Cilvegozu border crossing with Syria after the newly formed Islamic Front seized the gate on the other side of the border, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.

The seizure came after the alliance seized arms depots from the rebel Free Syrian Army last week and prompted the United States to suspend all non-lethal assistance to the opposition in northern Syria, a US embassy spokesman in Ankara.

The Islamic Front was formed last month by six rebel groups that merged with the goal of overthrowing the al-Assad regime and establishing an Islamic state.

The alliance, which claims to have an estimated 45,000 fighters, rejects the authority of the Free Syrian Army, the first major rebel force formed after the outbreak of Syria’s civil war by army deserters and civilians.

The Islamic Front’s seizure last weekend of the FSA arms depots is reported to have heightened tensions among the fragmented Syrian opposition.

The alliance does not include Al-Qaeda affiliates like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and the al-Nusra Front.

Last week it announced that it had withdrawn from the command of the FSA’s Supreme Military Council which is aligned to Syria’s main opposition National Coalition.

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

Syrian Rebel Spokesman Decries US-British Decision to Suspend Nonlethal Aid

A U.S.-British decision to suspend nonlethal aid to opposition fighters in northern Syria was taken impulsively and in haste, a spokesman for Syria’s main Western-backed rebel group said Thursday, adding that he hoped it would soon be reversed.

The decision came after Islamic militants seized warehouses containing U.S. military gear that was intended for the Western-backed main rebel faction. It reflected Western fears of the growing strength of Al Qaeda-linked forces among the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad’s troops.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

US Drone Strike Kills at Least 13 in Convoy Heading to Wedding Party, Yemeni Officials Say

Yemeni officials say a U.S. drone strike has hit a convoy heading to wedding party, killing at least 13 people. Officials told Reuters that 15 people were killed. “An air strike missed its target and hit a wedding car convoy, ten people were killed immediately and another five who were injured died after being admitted to the hospital,” a security official told Reuters.

According to the report, five more people were injured. The officials say Thursday’s attack took place in the Yemeni city of Radda, the capital of Bayda province. The city is known as a stronghold of Al Qaeda militants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Western-Backed’ Syrian Leader Flees to Qatar, WSJ

General Idris forced to leave after jihadists make gains

(ANSAmed) — NEW YORK, DECEMBER 12 — General Salim Idris, the head of the Free Syrian Army, has reportedly left the country after jihadists took control of a headquarters of the Western-backed rebel group.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Idris crossed over into Turkey from Syria and then fled to Doha, Qatar. The move resulted in the US and Great Britain suspending all ‘non-lethal military aid’ with immediate effect.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Victims of Acid Attacks in India Saying New Law Restricting Sales Being Ignored

Highly concentrated acids are readily available in India for use as household and industrial cleaners. The liquids are often produced locally and are dirt cheap.

Some 1,500 acid attacks are reported worldwide every year, according to the London-based charity Acid Survivors Trust International. The group says the actual figure is likely to be far higher because so many victims are too scared to speak out.

India has no official statistics on the matter, but reports of acid attacks appear regularly in the media. Attackers often target the head and face in order to maim, disfigure and blind their victims, often because of spurned sexual advances.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fukushima Continues to Contaminate Environment; Cleanup Expected to Take Decades

(NaturalNews) Cleanup efforts at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility were taken up a notch recently, as crews began hauling the spent fuel rods out of the infamous Reactor 4, which sustained terminal damage when the tsunami struck it back in 2011. But this is just the beginning of a massive remediation effort at the site, which experts say could take many decades to complete due to the catastrophic destruction caused by the massive earthquake and storm surge.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea Says it Has Executed Uncle of Kim Jong-un

North Korea announced early Friday it had executed the uncle and one-time mentor of its top leader Kim Jong-un, calling him a traitor.

The announcement, reported by the official Korean Central News Agency, said the uncle, Jang Song-thaek, was put to death on Thursday after a special military trial.

The execution came less than a week after Mr. Jang, who was more than twice Mr. Kim’s age, was dismissed from the ruling party and arrested in a surprise purge that unnerved neighbors of North Korea, one of the world’s most hermetic and secretive countries.

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North Korea Says Jang Song Thaek, Uncle of Leader Kim Jong UN, Executed

(Reuters) — North Korea said on Friday Jang Song Thaek, the uncle of leader Kim Jong Un and previously considered the second most powerful man in the secretive state, has been executed after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason. “The accused Jang brought together undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said.

Earlier this week the North stripped Jang of all posts, accusing him of criminal acts including mismanagement of the state financial system, womanizing and alcohol abuse.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Castro Handshake? What About That Obama Photo Op With an African Cannibal?

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Obama lines up for a photo op with Teodoro Obiang, who stands accused of cannibalism for eating parts of his opponents to gain power, because the global elite are keen on extracting a bonanza of recently discovered oil in the Gulf of Guinea. Castro, who had his political opponents executed, is nothing short of saint when stacked up against Obiang.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Interpreter at Mandela Event: I Was Hallucinating

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The man accused of faking sign interpretation while standing alongside world leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service said Thursday he saw “angels” at the event, has been violent in the past and suffers from schizophrenia.

But he also apologized for his performance that has been dismissed by many sign-language experts as gibberish.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kenya Celebrates 50 Years of Independence From UK

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya celebrated 50 years of independence Thursday with its leaders praising the progress the country has made since its freedom from Britain, though some citizens feel the country would have done better had it not been for corruption.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nelson Mandela Memorial: Empty Seats Embarrass South Africa

Empty seats at national stadium are blamed on rain, an unpopular president in Jacob Zuma and his failure to declare a national holiday

It was supposed to be standing room only, but the memorial service held to honour the life of Nelson Mandela was remarkable for the large number of South Africans who failed to turn up.

Tens of thousands of seats in the venue, the FNB football stadium in Johannesburg, remained empty throughout five hours of eulogy. Even at the height of the service, only two thirds of seats were taken, a major embarrassment for the government of South Africa, which had billed it as the centrepiece of a week of events marking the death of Mandela.

The memorial service was also marked by a noticeable lack of white participants, denting South Africa’s claim to be a fully integrated ‘Rainbow Nation’, at ease with itself two decades after the fall of apartheid.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sign Language Interpreter for Mandela Memorial Says He Was Hallucinating, Often Becomes ‘Violent’

A man being criticized by sign language experts for providing fake interpretations while standing close to President Obama and other heads of state at Nelson Mandela’s memorial says he becomes violent “a lot” and was hallucinating during the event.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

South Africa Mandela Event Translator Wasn’t a Professional

The sign-language translator who stood near President Barack Obama and other world leaders at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service wasn’t a professional interpreter and told South African news organizations he suffers from schizophrenia.

The interpreter, identified as Thamsanqa Jantjie, stood next to Obama, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other dignitaries as they delivered tributes to Mandela at the memorial on Dec. 10. His sign language was derided as “meaningless” and a “disgrace” by the Deaf Federation of South Africa.

His presence on the same stage as world leaders raised questions about security at one of the largest such gatherings of heads of state since the funeral of assassinated U.S President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Black Chef Suing Employers After Boss Used Word ‘Golliwog’ During Conversation About Robertson’s Jam

The chef’s lawyers are battling to convince judges the word is inherently offensive to black people and almost always discriminatory — no matter in what context it is used

A black chef is claiming racial harassment after her manager used the word ‘golliwog’ during a conversation about the old label on Robertson’s jam. Denise Lindsay, 45, was working for the London School of Economics when chef manager, Mark McAleese, said the controversial word in front of her.

Now her lawyers are battling to convince three top judges that the word is inherently offensive to black people and almost always discriminatory — no matter in what context it is used.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Asked to Pay Up for Slave-Owning Past

A commission set up by countries in the Caribbean announced on Tuesday that it planned to sue Norway for its involvement in plantation slavery from the 17th to the 19th century.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Will Extend Amnesty for Young Illegals, Says Top White House Aide

President Obama will extend his mini-amnesty for young illegals, said Cecilia Muñoz, White House director of domestic policy. “As long as this president is president… you’re going to be able to renew your deferred action,” Muñoz told one illegal immigrant 23 minutes into an online question-and-answer session on immigration conducted via Skype.

So far, Obama’s deputies have granted the two-year “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” amnesty to at least 567,563 illegals aged between 15 and 31, giving them the right to get jobs in every state, get drivers’ licenses in some states, to enroll in school and to receive government aid. Only 21,162 illegals have been rejected.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Grapples With Rise in Syrian Refugees

As Syrians fleeing civil war stream into Sweden by the thousands, the country faces both practical and political challenges in dealing with the influx, AFP’s Tom Sullivan discovers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Swedish Group That Blew the Lid on Hateful Online Comments

A small group of Swedish investigative journalists helped expose thousands of anonymous commenters espousing online hate, prompting resignations and renewed debate, making the Research Group our pick for Swede(s) of the Week.

On Tuesday, Swedish tabloid Expressen made waves with a report they had identified the people behind more than 6,000 anonymous accounts tied to a number of far-right websites. Among those outed were several members of the Sweden Democrats, one of whom resigned immediately, with Party Secretary Björn Söder warning that more members of the populist, anti-immigration party could be purged as a direct result of their racist and xenophobic comments.

While Expressen received the lion’s share of the spotlight for the report, the tabloid’s revelations were only made possible by the efforts of the Research Group (Researchgruppen), a group of journalists who take seriously what its members call “the journalistic tradition of examining power”.

“We saw an opportunity to find the truth about who was leaving all these hateful comments,” Martin Fredriksson, the Research Group’s publisher (ansvarig utgivare) tells The Local. The group, which now consists of about 16 journalists, started to form in 2009 when working together on a story about the online activities of a convicted neo-Nazi after his release from prison.

Since then, the debate in Sweden about online comments and internet bullying has continued to flourish, further piquing the interest of Fredriksson and his colleagues.

“There was this huge discussion going on about the impact of internet hate and how these comments were shaping the climate of debate in Sweden,” Fredriksson explains. “But no one was really looking at who these anonymous commenters were.”

Work on the project that led to Expressen’s articles this week began in earnest back in February 2013. Taking advantage of features provided by popular comment-moderation service Disqus, the Research Group started downloading user comment data from Disqus servers, something anyone can do.

“We wanted to perform a statistical analysis of the comments to learn more about how many comments people were leaving and what sort of comments they were,” Fredriksson explains.

But he and his colleagues soon realized that the comment data also included metadata that made it possible for them to find the email addressed linked to the accounts — in other words, not just to analyse the comments but find out who was leaving them.

The group then set to work focusing on comments linked to a number of websites linked to Sweden’s far-right, although the researchers also obtained data on Disqus accounts from a number of other news sites that use the service.

“The hate sites were interesting to us. We really wanted to reveal these internet haters and clear up the mystery behind all these anonymous comments,” says Fredriksson.

He adds that the Expressen reports have helped bring the group “out of the shadows”.

“For the first time we’ve become known to the general public,” he says, welcoming the praise — as well as the donations — the Research Group has received in the wake of the reports.

The group’s financing is almost non-existent, says Fredriksson, explaining that “we have no money, so any money we get is big money”. Much of the time he and his colleagues put into the Research Group is voluntary, with donations, lecture fees, and fees from news organizations who want to use the data as their only income, although he was unable to provide any concrete figures on the costs of the operation.

“Our expenses are much higher than our income,” he says.

The Research Group’s grasp of how to find and utilize data has earned comparisons to the hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander of the famed Millennium crime novels by Stieg Larsson.

“It’s fun to be compared to an anti-hero like Salander. She does things her own way, and so do we,” said Frediksson, who emphasizes that the Research Group doesn’t engage in hacking to obtain data.

The Expressen expose has also resulted in the Research Group being the target of various threats, as well as accusations that their work constitutes a violation of people’s privacy. Fredriksson is quick to point out that it was Expressen, not the Research Group, which published the names of the people behind racist and hateful comments on the far-right sites.

“These sites spread hate, reveal the identities of others, and advocate violence,” he explained, agreeing that the hateful anonymous commenters now have to deal with getting a taste of their own medicine.

“They shouldn’t expect not to have to be faced with the consequences of what they’ve written,” he says, while at the same time defending anonymous online comments in general.

“They should be allowed. In many case anonymity is important. But nowhere does that mean people can express whatever they want like hate speech, threats, and slanderous accusations.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ACLU: College Cancelled Concert Because Band Members Were ‘Not Black Enough’

The decision to cancel was based on the band’s ‘insufficient representation of people of color’ according to the ACLU

Administrators at Hampshire College (Hampshire) cancelled a Halloween concert last month because the lead singer of the band scheduled to perform was “not black enough,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) alleged in a letter to the school’s president.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

College Under Fire for Cancelling Concert; Band Members ‘Not Black Enough’

Administrators at a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts are being accused of canceling a Halloween concert last month because the lead singer of the band was “not black enough.”

In a letter to Jonathan Lash, president of Hampshire College, the American Civil Liberties Union criticized the school’s decision to cancel the event, saying it was clearly race-based, according to Campus Reform.

“The genesis of the decision, as you know rested on the accusation that this afro-funk band had insufficient representation of people of color,” the letter read.

MassLive reported that the performance “was canceled after some students voiced concerns that the band, which has a black singer but is predominantly white, was appropriating black music.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

200-Kilometer-High Jets of Water Discovered Shooting From Europa

Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may be showing us its insides. Data from the Hubble space telescope suggests that enormous jets of water more than 200 kilometers tall (roughly twice as high as Earth’s atmosphere) may be spurting intermittently from the moon’s surface.

The frozen body Europa is known to have a vast liquid water ocean beneath its cold crust, a potential home for life. Should these newly observed water plumes be tapping into some Europan sea, they could be bringing material to the surface that would otherwise stay hidden.

But if the jets are real, the frozen world would join the tiny number of others known to have active jets, including Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Neptune’s moon Triton.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

First Water Plume Seen Firing From Jupiter Moon Europa

An icy moon of Jupiter has been caught spitting into space. For the first time, a towering plume of water vapour has been seen coming from Europa. The discovery strengthens the case that the moon has a liquid ocean beneath its icy crust, and may even offer a way to taste its seas and search for signs of life.

Now images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed a large cloud of hydrogen and oxygen — most likely in the form of water vapour — extending from the moon’s south pole. A model suggests that it is a plume 200 kilometres high that is spouting 3000 kilograms of water per second.

“This is a big discovery,” says Cynthia Phillips at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, who was not involved in the find but had looked for plumes with Galileo. “If there are plumes erupting, there’s got to be liquid water, and it’s got to be pretty close to the surface.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Speedy Stars Escaping the Milky Way Could Probe Dark Matter

Stars racing out of the galaxy could offer clues about dark matter

All stars are in motion, but some have a little more oomph than others. In recent years astronomers have identified a handful of stars that are moving so fast that they will someday flee the galaxy altogether. On their way out, these escapees may tell us a thing or two about the nature of dark matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up nearly 85 percent of all matter in the universe.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sun’s Current Solar Activity Cycle is Weakest in a Century

The sun’s current space-weather cycle is the most anemic in 100 years, scientists say. Our star is now at “solar maximum,” the peak phase of its 11-year activity cycle. But this solar max is weak, and the overall current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, conjures up comparisons to the famously feeble Solar Cycle 14 in the early 1900s, researchers said.

“None of us alive have ever seen such a weak cycle. So we will learn something,” Leif Svalgaard of Stanford University told reporters here today (Dec. 11) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]