Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/20/2013

Two culturally enriched gentlemen in Ohio have been indicted on several charges related to a scheme involving kickbacks, bribery, and money laundering. One of them has pleaded guilty, and the other will go on trial in March. The case has a Mohammed Coefficient of 50%.

In other news, North Korea has threatened to launch “merciless” attack “without notice” on South Korea in retaliation for a recent demonstration held in downtown Seoul.

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

Thanks to Caroline Glick, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Kitman, LS, Rembrandt Clancy, Steen, 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
» Boskin: ObamaCare’s Troubles Are Only Beginning — WSJ.Com
» Italy’s Recession Caused as Much Damage ‘As a War’
» Third-Quarter U.S. Growth Revised Up to 4.1% Rate
 
USA
» How the West Was Lost by the Selfie President
» Is America in the Grip of Cowardice?
» Judge Ruling Means Obama Social Security Card Fraud Questions May Finally Have to be Answered
» Kickback Scheme Benefits Canton-Based Broker
» Reagan Shooter Granted More Time Outside Mental Hospital
» Recent Charges of Sexual Abuse of Children in Hollywood Just Tip of Iceberg, Experts Say
» Sleep’s Role in Obesity, Schizophrenia, Diabetes… Everything
» The Fruit Does Not Fall Too Far From the Tree
 
Canada
» Orcs From OHRC
 
Europe and the EU
» Italy: Ex-Berlusconi Councilor Denies ‘Sex Contract’ With Secretary
» Italy’s Proposed ‘Web Tax’ May Breach EU Rules
» Netherlands: Wilders Anti-Islam Sticker Met With Anger
» Two Former UK Soldiers Jailed for Firebomb Attack on a Mosque in the Wake of Soldier’s Killing
» UK: ‘Police Ignored Victims of Rochdale Child Sex Grooming Gang Because They Were From Council Estates’ Shocking Report Reveals Failings Allowed Abuse to Continue
» UK: ‘He’s Only Playing’: University Lecturer Stood by as Her Seven Stone Doberman Mauled and Dragged Fellow Dog-Walker to Ground
» UK: Alcoholic Who Dialled 999 Over 170 Times in 16 Months is Banned From Swearing… Even in His Own Home
» UK: Former Soldiers Who Firebombed Mosque in Aftermath of Lee Rigby Killing Are Jailed for Six Years After Being Caught on Their Own CCTV Preparing Molotov Cocktails
» UK: MI5 Tried to Recruit Rigby’s Killer
» UK: Toddler Killed After Taking His Parents’ Heroin Was ‘Failed by Social Services Staff Who Knew His Parents Were Drug Addicts’
» UK: Unemployed Man Who Used Landlord’s Bank Details to Pay for Adult TV Channels Jailed
» UK: Why is the BBC Giving This Man a Platform?
» UK: What Turned Two Boys From Decent Christian Families Into Murderers in the Name of Islam?
 
Balkans
» Bosnian Islamic Extremist Given 45 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack at Police Station
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Caroline Glick: The Left Against Zion
 
Middle East
» Hero Iraqi Policeman Wraps His Arms Around Suicide Bomber and Save Lives of Dozens of Shia Pilgrims in Blast That Killed Five in Town North of Baghdad
» Iraqi Catholic Leader Asks West: ‘If They Kill Us All, Will You Do Something Then?’
 
South Asia
» Germany Raises Tajikistan Car Theft Claim
 
Far East
» North Korea Threatens to Strike South ‘Without Notice,’ Sends Warning via Fax
» Sickened by Service: More US Sailors Claim Cancer From Helping at Fukushima
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Mandela in the Mirror
 
Latin America
» Pope Francis Makes Amateur Video Praising Recycling
 
Immigration
» UN Joins Condemnation of Lampedusa Migrant Treatment
 
Culture Wars
» Another Target for the Gay Lobby
» Duck Dynasty: It’s Not About the First Amendment
 
General
» The Future is Curved: Samsung and LG Claim New Range of Concave TVs Will Deliver Images Four Times Sharper Than Hdtv
 

Boskin: ObamaCare’s Troubles Are Only Beginning — WSJ.Com

Be prepared for eligibility, payment and information protection debacles — and longer waits for care.

The “sticker shock” that many buyers of new, ACA-compliant health plans have experienced — with premiums 30% higher, or more, than their previous coverage — has only begun. The costs borne by individuals will be even more obvious next year as more people start having to pay higher deductibles and copays.

If, as many predict, too few healthy young people sign up for insurance that is overpriced in order to subsidize older, sicker people, the insurance market will unravel in a “death spiral” of ever-higher premiums and fewer signups. The government, through taxpayer-funded “risk corridors,” is on the hook for billions of dollars of potential insurance-company losses. This will be about as politically popular as bank bailouts.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Recession Caused as Much Damage ‘As a War’

Employers’ confederation says country still on ‘a razor’s edge’

(By Sandra Cordon) (ANSAmed) — ROME, DECEMBER 19 — Italy’s deep recession has caused as much damage to the country as a war and, although signs of recovery may be emerging, it is too soon to declare that a recovery has begun, the head of powerful industrial employers’ group Confindustria said Thursday.

“I see a lot of optimism — but beware,” said Squinzi as his organization’s research centre released an economic outlook suggesting recovery is imminent.

The centre also warned that Italy “is on a razor’s edge” with a risk of social breakdown due to falling real wages and high unemployment and taxes, creating damage “commensurate with that from a war”.

It revised down its estimates for 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) to a contraction of 1.8% from a previous forecast of -1.6%, followed by a small recovery in 2014.

“At this moment we cannot say that the recession is over and that there is a recovery,” Squinzi added. “Let’s see what happens in the next few months”.

His caution seemed to contradict recent statements by Italy’s Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni, who said the recession was over after seeing statistics showing that after eight consecutive quarters of economic losses, GDP in the third quarter was flat. Building on that, on Wednesday Premier Enrico Letta said the seeds of recovery are beginning to sprout and the government expects that in the fourth quarter, Italy will return to positive growth.

All of that means the economy may have hit bottom, but it does not necessary prove the recession is truly over, said Squinzi.

Even if the economy has stopped falling, Italy must now cope with the severe damage wrought by economic weakness that dates back to 2007, he added.

“The deep recession, the second in six years is over, but the effects are not,” said Confindustria’s research centre. If the economy does resume growth at the pace Confindustria expects — 0.7% growth in 2014 and 1.2% in 2015 — it will take at least seven years to regain GDP levels equivalent to what Italy recorded before the global economic crisis, said Squinzi.

Evidence of the damage caused by the deepest recession in Italy since the Second World War came Thursday in the form of updated figures from the national statistical agency showing that over one million additional people were looking for work between 2008 and 2012, said Istat.

That meant a total of 2.744 million people were looking for jobs last year — the highest level since 1977, said Istat.

The national unemployment rate in October reached a record level of 12.5%, and youth under 25 have been especially hard hit with a jobless rate of over 40%.

Istat also noted that Italian hourly contract wages were flat in November with respect to October and just 1.3% higher than in the same month in 2012, making this the lowest level of year-over-year salary rises since 1992. At the same time, expenses such as taxes have been rising.

According to recent data provided by the Bank of Italy, the average tax burden climbed to 44% of GDP in 2012 compared to 42.5% in 2011. Recent reports have also shown a steady rise in poverty and in the numbers of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion.

That has contributed to an increase in social unrest including a number of protests, some violent, that have occurred in recent weeks around Italy.

Some have coalesced around the Pitchfork Movement, a loose collection of anti-austerity and anti-euro demonstrators. Confindustria also predicted that Italy’s deficit-to-GDP ratio would hold steady at 3% this year, in line with the limit set by the European Union; then, fall to 2.7% next year and 2.4% in 2015.

That forecast on Thursday came as Italy’s Lower House was preparing to vote on the Letta government’s 2014 budget package.

While Letta has said the budget measures will help stimulate economic growth, Squinzi has criticized the budget for not doing enough to reduce labour taxes.(ANSAmed).

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Third-Quarter U.S. Growth Revised Up to 4.1% Rate

The United States economy grew at an astonishing 4.1 percent annual rate, the federal government said Friday in its third and final revision of gross domestic product for the third quarter.

The rate was the fastest in almost two years.

The Commerce Department said business spending was stronger than it originally thought, leading to the revision up from 3.6 percent. Economists had expected the final estimate of growth to be unchanged from that 3.6 percent.

[Return to headlines]
 

How the West Was Lost by the Selfie President

My bookshelves sag with encyclopedic volumes arguing that America and the West are in decline. But proving that a picture is worth a thousand books, the “selfie” seen ‘round the world ends the argument.

It’s official — the government of the United States of Obama consists of boobs and bores and is led by a narcissist. It is no consolation that Great Britain joins us in racing to the bottom.

President Obama’s flirting with Denmark’s prime minister would be shameful on any occasion. That it happened at the memorial for Nelson Mandela only adds to the embarrassment.

But the “selfie” episode also symbolizes the greater global calamity of Western decline. With British prime minister David Cameron playing the role of Obama’s giggling wingman, the “look at me” moment confirms we have unserious leaders in a dangerously serious time.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Is America in the Grip of Cowardice?

Americans, by the millions, are getting hammered by Obama Care through no fault of their own. Why do they take it? Why isn’t there a massive uprising? Why aren’t lawsuits flying all over the place? Why aren’t the people demanding that heads roll with the large, unified voice of millions?

Our school children are being brainwashed and indoctrinated by a federal government-created curriculum (Common Core Standards, Race To the Top and No Child Left Behind programs) that emphasize socialism, collectivism and multi-culturalism. Why aren’t the parents crying foul? Why don’t they take over the local school boards and reverse this garbage? Why aren’t they at the state legislatures creating all kinds of Hell? Do they just not care … or are they afraid?

Landowners are being treated like criminals and going to jail for minor code violations on THEIR property. They are forced to fight a tyrannical government, whether it be local, state, or federal, all on their own. They seldom win. But you never hear of these individual battles waged against an arrogant and abusive government, a government that has become the master instead of the servant, a government that blatantly ignores the constitutional limits on its power…

Why aren’t Americans rising up by the millions to find out the truth? Once again, why haven’t there been multiple lawsuits by harmed individuals over these egregious violations of our constitutional rights? There should be class action lawsuits exploding all over the place? Why aren’t there?

Winston Churchill said at a time of great sacrifice and often quoted: “If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

We do not believe that America is in the grips of cowardice because after all, we are Americans. We have a chance to right these wrongs peacefully, before the only action left to us is war. But do we have the will, the courage, the commitment and the resources to right these wrongs before war is our only option? Or, “Will we have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Judge Ruling Means Obama Social Security Card Fraud Questions May Finally Have to be Answered

The fact that a judge actually is forcing the federal government to respond is a first. Usually, the efforts to bring the actions of Obama and his enablers to light have been stymied by judges who appear to have been unduly influenced. The ruling of this judge now puts the Social Security Administration employees in the uncomfortable position of having to produce documents or face personal consequences.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kickback Scheme Benefits Canton-Based Broker

Federal authorities say an Ohio attorney and lobbyist has pleaded guilty to his role in a kickback scheme at the state treasurer’s office in which a former deputy treasurer also has been charged.

Mohammed Noure Alo entered his plea to a wire fraud charge on Friday in U.S. District Court. The 35-year-old Alo faces up to 20 years in prison.

Alo admitted that between January 2009 and January 2011 he conspired with his friend Amer Ahmad and others to use Ahmad’s role as Ohio’s then-deputy treasurer to direct state brokerage services to a Canton-based broker in exchange for more than $123,000 in personal payments.

Ahmad was indicted on fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and other charges in August. He has pleaded not guilty. His trial begins in March…

           — Hat tip: LS [Return to headlines]
 

Reagan Shooter Granted More Time Outside Mental Hospital

The man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan will get to spend more time outside a mental hospital where he has been confined for most of the past three decades, a judge ruled Friday.

John Hinckley will be allowed to visit his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Va., for up to 17 days at a time. Hinckley has been allowed to spend increasing amounts of time at his mother’s house in recent years, but previous visits were capped at 10 days.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Recent Charges of Sexual Abuse of Children in Hollywood Just Tip of Iceberg, Experts Say

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

If a spate of recent allegations proves true, Hollywood may have a hideous epidemic on its hands. The past two weeks have brought three separate reports of alleged child sexual abuse in the entertainment industry…

Revelations of this sort come as no surprise to former child star Corey Feldman.

Feldman, 40, himself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, unflinchingly warned of the world of pedophiles who are drawn to the entertainment industry last August. “I can tell you that the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia,” Feldman told ABC’s Nightline. “That’s the biggest problem for children in this industry… It’s the big secret.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sleep’s Role in Obesity, Schizophrenia, Diabetes… Everything

Is sleep good for everything? Scientists hate giving unqualified answers. But the more sleep researchers look, the more the answer seems to be tending toward a resounding affirmative.

The slumbering brain plays an essential role in learning and memory, one of the findings that sleep researchers have reinforced repeatedly in recent years. But that’s not all. There’s a growing recognition that sleep appears to be involved in regulating basic metabolic processes and even in mental health. Robert Stickgold, a leading sleep researcher based at Harvard Medical School, gives a précis here of the current state of sommeil as it relates to memory, schizophrenia, depression, diabetes—and he even explains what naps are good for.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Fruit Does Not Fall Too Far From the Tree

If you thought the U.N. International Baccalaureate and federal No Child Left Behind educational schemes were bad enough, you might want to look a little deeper.

In light of the 9/11 attacks, you would think the current administration would use a little prudence if it were sincerely concerned about a radical Muslim threat. When Obama took his oath of office, he instead defied America in numerous ways. He has given $1.5 billion to Muslim-led Egypt in foreign aid, shortly after the Muslim Brotherhood declared war on the United States. This is the same man that said America is “no longer a Christian nation,” followed by a reference that America may be described as a Muslim nation.

Muslim indoctrination in public schools

Interestingly enough, in recent years American public schools have been indoctrinated with the Muslim religion. Studies have shown over 500 historical errors in public school textbooks, giving an Islamic slant to our youth.

As a result, our youth are subject to the following teachings and practices:…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Orcs From OHRC

If you still have any doubt that the nations of the world are governed by lunatics and fools, consider this from Canada, from the official website of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Under “Guidelines on developing human rights policies and procedures,” we find a section on “Barrier prevention, review and removal.” For sheer daft, incoherent, power-hungry mania, you can’t beat this.

Remember, please, that the following drivel comes from Canada, a civilized country — not Zimbabwe, North Korea, or a science fiction novel…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex-Berlusconi Councilor Denies ‘Sex Contract’ With Secretary

‘Paid to sleep with him once a week’

(ANSA) — Pescara, December 19 — A lawyer representing a former regional councilor in central Italy on Thursday denied allegations he stipulated in his secretary’s contract she sleep with him. “We are baffled. It’s not true. We don’t understand the point or the aim,” said Domenico Frattura.

Italian daily La Repubblica on Thursday reported that former Abruzzo culture councilor Luigi De Fanis paid his 32-year-old aide Lucia Zingariello 3,000 euros a month on top of her regular salary of 1,200 euros in exchange for sex once a week, something she allegedly agreed to in writing.

“He was obsessed with me. He forced me to sign it. I could not refuse. I was afraid,” the daily cited Lucia Zigarello as telling prosecutors.

According to the daily, police found the contract in her home.

De Fanis, who was put under house arrest along with his secretary in November for bribery, is deciding whether to press civil or criminal charges, his lawyer said. The pair are accused of taking bribes in exchange for regional grants and using an official car for private trips.

De Fanis belongs to the center-right Forza Italia party of three-time premier Silvio Berlusconi.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Proposed ‘Web Tax’ May Breach EU Rules

Original version of measures have been watered down

(ANSA) — Rome, December 19 — The European Commission said Thursday that Italy’s plans to introduce a so-called Web tax to generate fresh inflows into state coffers from Internet companies may contravene European law.

Emer Traynor, spokeswoman for EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta, said the measure contained in Premier Enrico Letta’s 2014 budget bill was “contrary to the fundamental liberties and the principles of non-discrimination inherent in the (EU) treaties” in his current form.

The Web tax it aims to force companies that advertise products over the Internet in Italy to do so only through companies that have a registered tax presence in the nation. It was changed earlier this week to exclude taxes on the sale of goods online following complaints about the plan, leaving the law applicable to advertising only. As such, companies like Amazon would not be harmed by the measure, though ones like Google, Yahoo Inc, and Facebook Inc will likely face higher taxes locally.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Wilders Anti-Islam Sticker Met With Anger

A tweet from PVV leader Geert Wilders featuring an Anti-Islam slogan written in Arabic has drawn the ire of many on the social network. Wilders, who last week told the BBC, “A responsible politician I believe never stirs up any problems in any society,” was showing off a bumper sticker affixed to his office door.

The sticker is designed to look like the flag of Saudi Arabia, and says, “Islam is a lie. Mohammed is a crook. The Quran is poison,” reports Hart van Nederland. Wilders tweeted out an email address where the sticker may be ordered for free.

Many responded to Wilders accusing him of being no better than the Nazis, while Twitter user Nimueh asked, “Isn’t this rhetoric a bit old and boring now?”

Marina Alings asked if Wilders could “place the anti-Islam sticker on his mouth,” while others asked for a reprint of the anti-Wilders stickers handed out by the group, Anti-Fascistische Actie, in 2010.

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Two Former UK Soldiers Jailed for Firebomb Attack on a Mosque in the Wake of Soldier’s Killing

LONDON — Two former British soldiers have been sentenced to six years in prison for firebombing a mosque in northeastern England. Stuart Harness, 34, and Gavin Humphries, 37, made petrol bombs and threw them at the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Center.

The two were jailed Friday after admitting arson. During their trial, jurors were shown video footage of the pair carrying the bombs and launching them at the door of the building. No one was injured during the incident.

The attack took place in May amid other mosque attacks and racially aggravated offenses across the U.K. days after a British soldier was murdered on a London street by two men in an Islamic extremist attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘Police Ignored Victims of Rochdale Child Sex Grooming Gang Because They Were From Council Estates’ Shocking Report Reveals Failings Allowed Abuse to Continue

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

One of Britain’s worst child sex-grooming gangs was allowed to flourish in Rochdale because police ignored their victims when they found out they were from council estates, the local MP has said.

Labour’s Simon Danczuk said officers’ class snobbery was one of a catalogue of failings by Greater Manchester Police and other agencies in their handling of the scandal, highlighted in the Serious Case Review published today.

According to its findings, a ‘significant part’ of the sexual exploitation committed against young girls should have been predicted and prevented…

In June MPs said public officials must stop ‘tip-toeing’ around race when tackling child sex gangs and claimed that there is a trend of Asian gangs targeting youngsters.

A dangerous trend of Pakistani men grooming young white girls does exist, according to a Commons home affairs committee report.

Police, prosecutors and social workers must be able to raise the issue without fear of being accused of racism, the committee said.

But it warned against stereotyping offenders because there is no straightforward link between race and child sexual exploitation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: ‘He’s Only Playing’: University Lecturer Stood by as Her Seven Stone Doberman Mauled and Dragged Fellow Dog-Walker to Ground

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A university lecturer brushed off a dog-walker’s cries for help as her seven-stone doberman dragged her to the ground and told her not to worry as the animal was ‘only playing’.

Dr Sharon Money, 53, calmly watched as her dog Blitzen bit fellow dog-walker Anna Robinson, 39, in the leg, dragged her to the ground, and tore at her clothes, Canterbury Magistrates’ Court heard.

Miss Robinson, of Chartham, Kent, described fearing the huge animal would ‘tear her throat out’ and thinking she was going to die during the attack.

But Money, also of Chartham, insisted the dog was trying to play with a plastic ball catcher in Miss Robinson’s hand, saying she had overreacted and become ‘hysterical’.

Money has since been sacked from her job teaching psychology at Kent University.

The dog, called Blitzen, had been running around off the lead around Money when Miss Robinson approached them with her spaniel to chat.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Alcoholic Who Dialled 999 Over 170 Times in 16 Months is Banned From Swearing… Even in His Own Home

An alcoholic has been banned from swearing in his own home for five years after calling 999 over 170 times in 16 months — only to abuse them when they came to his aid.

Paul Crick, 45, was finally arrested in August when his relentless calls to the emergency line, which started in April 2012, showed no sign of stopping.

Neighbours in Waltham Abbey, Essex, also complained about Crick’s constant shouting and swearing.

Today, Essex Police revealed he has been given an ASBO that bars him from swearing anywhere — even in his own home.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Former Soldiers Who Firebombed Mosque in Aftermath of Lee Rigby Killing Are Jailed for Six Years After Being Caught on Their Own CCTV Preparing Molotov Cocktails

Two former soldiers have been jailed for six years each for firebombing a mosque in the aftermath of Lee Rigby’s murder.

Stuart Harness — who was once based at Woolwich Barracks — and Gavin Humphries were caught on camera throwing petrol bombs at an Islamic centre, having previously filmed themselves making the weapons on their own CCTV system.

They were jailed today at Hull Crown Court by judge Mark Bury, who criticised them for targeting ‘law-abiding Muslims’ in a misguided attempt at revenge for Rigby’s death at the hands of Islamic terrorists…

‘This was a crime of violence where a particular religious group was deliberately targeted in an act of retribution,’ the judge said.

‘This kind of attack cannot be tolerated. A severe sentence is required to punish but, more importantly, to deter.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: MI5 Tried to Recruit Rigby’s Killer

Agents were courting Islamic fanatic just weeks before Woolwich horror

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

The security services were in the dock last night for missing a decade of opportunities to stop the fanatical killers of Lee Rigby

Just three months before the appalling murder in Woolwich, MI5 was trying to recruit Michael Adebolajo as an informant.

He had been on their radar for ten years and in 2010 was even arrested with fellow Al Qaeda followers in Kenya.

Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, face dying behind bars after they were yesterday convicted of butchering Fusilier Rigby outside his barracks in South-East London.

The pair are feared to be part of a new wave of so-called ‘just do it’ terrorists who can explode into action without warning…

The full story of how the two men slipped through the fingers of Britain’s security services can now be told for the first time. MI5 is being investigated by Parliament’s intelligence and security committee and its chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, has said it has serious questions to answer…

Over the following years he cropped up again and again at Islamist events. But it was in 2010 that MI5 appears to have missed the most glaring opportunity to stop Adebolajo after he was caught trying to enter Somalia.

The arrest linked him to some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world, including Lewthwaite. Yet, despite being openly accused of terrorism and being deported to London, he was given free rein to continue on his radical path. Mombasa’s anti-terror chief Elijah Rop said he warned the British not to allow his release.

He said: ‘We gave very honest advice but the High Commissioner ignored us.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Toddler Killed After Taking His Parents’ Heroin Was ‘Failed by Social Services Staff Who Knew His Parents Were Drug Addicts’

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A toddler killed when he took a fatal heroin overdose in the house where he lived with his drug-addicted parents was failed by social services, according to a report.

In May last year, 23-month-old Daniel Jones ingested a tiny but lethal amount of heroin at the family’s home in Wolverhampton…

The report’s authors also said despite the parents’ long-standing drug addiction, none of the care workers involved in the case foresaw the risk that Daniel might be exposed to heroin, or other substances.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Unemployed Man Who Used Landlord’s Bank Details to Pay for Adult TV Channels Jailed

A man living on benefits used his landlord’s bank details to pay for subscriptions to adult TV channels.

Abdul Shahid has been jailed for three years, after carrying out a £192,000 fraud.

The 34-year-old set up a series of direct debits and used a national social housing firm’s details to pay for them.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Why is the BBC Giving This Man a Platform?

Backlash after hate preacher Anjem Choudary is invited onto Radio 4 after two Muslim converts are found guilty of hacking soldier to death

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Angry listeners have today questioned why BBC bosses chose to give hate preacher Anjem Choudary the prime interview slot on the Today programme after two Muslim converts were found guilty of hacking a British solider to death.

The radical Islamist appeared on the corporation’s Radio 4 show where he refused to condemn the horrific murder of Lee Rigby on the streets of London, despite repeated calls from presenter John Humphreys to do so.

Muslim converts Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were yesterday convicted of the young soldier’s brutal murder.

But the 45-year-old former leader of Islam4UK, a banned Islamist group, refused to condemn their actions, instead blaming the barbaric murder on British foreign policy.

As the interview aired at 8.10am, listeners immediately took to Twitter to share their disgust.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: What Turned Two Boys From Decent Christian Families Into Murderers in the Name of Islam?

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Even at the end he refused to show any remorse.

As the verdict of murder was delivered, Michael Adebolajo smirked and kissed his copy of the Koran — the teachings of which he had twisted to justify his savagery.

He then looked to the heavens as if obeying Allah’s command before being led away to the cells. It was a final act of defiance from the 29-year-old convert who used the trial to peddle his hatred of Britain and his love of Al Qaeda.

Again and again he told Lee Rigby’s family how he will never regret killing the fusilier because he is a ‘soldier of Allah’.

It is an image completely at odds with his Christian upbringing in a loving lower middle class family in a London suburb where he once dreamed of becoming a policeman.

Last night a family friend told Mail: ‘He had been brainwashed to the point of madness. How can someone raised with middle-class values go from wanting to be a policeman to this?

‘His mother raised him as a Christian with good manners and respect. She still doesn’t understand how he turned into a monster.’

Adebolajo, 29, was born in Lambeth, South London, in 1984 to parents Anthony, a mental health nurse, and Tina, a teacher, who both emigrated from the south-west of Nigeria.

By all accounts he enjoyed a happy upbringing in Romford with his brother Jeremiah and sisters Blessing and Christiana…

As Adebolajo reached his mid-teens, however, the first signs emerged of a young man beginning to rebel against the Christian orthodoxy.

He left school at 16, moving to Havering Sixth Form College for his A-levels. It was around this time that he fell in with a Nigerian gang…

Michael Adebowale’s mother told last night how she had ‘lost’ her son to radical Islam and warned that extremists were ‘turning our children into terrorists’.

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, Juliet Obasuyi wept as she said: ‘I lost my son. He’s not dead, he’s still alive, but I lost him to the Jihad people.’

The Christian church chorister also revealed that she had confronted the imams her son visited because she was worried about his behaviour, but they simply told her he was a ‘good boy’.

[…]

When he was 16, he was attacked by crack addict Lee James, a professional bare-knuckle fighter.

He was stabbed twice and his friend Faridon Alizada was killed in front of him.

Adebowale was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and claimed he saw ‘jinns’ or evil spirits. He claimed they were tormenting him for having once read the Bible and he began hearing voices in his head.

Convicted of drug dealing in 2009, he eventually served six months in young offenders institutions.

[Commenter: vitalspark, sandown — Hate preachers function as the opposite of exorcists. ]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bosnian Islamic Extremist Given 45 Years in Prison for Terrorist Attack at Police Station

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — A Bosnian court has sentenced an Islamic extremist to 45 years in prison for terrorism.

Haris Causevic was found guilty of planting and triggering a powerful improvised bomb behind a police station in the central Bosnian town of Bugojno three years ago. One police officer was killed and several others injured in the explosion.

The explosion caused serious damage to nearby buildings and vehicles.

Causevic was also found guilty of plotting to commit other crimes — including kidnapping police officers and their children — with the aim of forcing Bosnia to introduce strict Islamic laws.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Caroline Glick: The Left Against Zion

In the 1960s, the American Left embraced the anti-Vietnam War movement as its cri de coeur.

In the 1970s, the Left’s foreign policy focus shifted to calling for unilateral nuclear disarmament by the US and its Western allies.

In the 1980s, supporting the Sandinista Communists’ takeover of Nicaragua became the catechism of the Left.

In the 1990s, the war on global capitalism — that is, the anti-globalization movement — captivated the passions of US Leftists from coast to coast.

In the 2000s, it was again, the anti-war movement. This time the Left rioted and demonstrated against the war in Iraq.

And in this decade, the main foreign policy issue that galvanizes the passions and energies of the committed American Left is the movement to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Hero Iraqi Policeman Wraps His Arms Around Suicide Bomber and Save Lives of Dozens of Shia Pilgrims in Blast That Killed Five in Town North of Baghdad

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

An Iraqi policeman has been hailed a hero after throwing his arms around a suicide bomber to shield others from the blast.

The bomber struck in Khales, northeast of Baghdad, killing five people and wounding 10 on a Shia pilgrimage, a police colonel and a doctor said.

But the toll would almost certainly have been higher were it not for the officer’s selfless actions, police said.

The police hero was named as Ayyub Khalaf, 34, who was married and had two children, aged six and nine.

‘Ayyub was martyred while defending pilgrims,’ his friend Saad Naim said.

‘His name will be an eternal symbol because he saved the lives of dozens of innocents. We will take revenge on the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation,’ he added.

Khalaf’s cousin Hassan Jassem also praised his actions.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqi Catholic Leader Asks West: ‘If They Kill Us All, Will You Do Something Then?’

Iraq’s most senior Catholic leader pointedly called on the West to show greater concern for suffering Christians in the region.

“We feel forgotten and isolated,” said Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, head of Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church.

“We sometimes wonder, if they kill us all, what would be the reaction of Christians in the West? Would they do something then?”

Sako made clear he’s not asking for a mobilization “to protect Christians,” but rather Western efforts to support “harmonious societies for all human beings”, based on “a civil state in which the only criterion is citizenship grounded in full equality under the law.”

Sako said that at the moment, the influence of Western nations in the region seems to be based primarily on self-interest.

“All they do is create problems, sell weapons and take oil,” he said, adding bluntly, “This is a sin.”

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Raises Tajikistan Car Theft Claim

German officials say stolen cars from Germany may have ended up with people close to the family of Tajikistan’s president.

Berlin regional justice minister Thomas Heilmann’s office confirmed a report Thursday by daily Bild that he alerted the Foreign Ministry to the issue in May after Tajikistan ignored requests for legal assistance.

Heilmann wrote that some cars are in the hands of “people with business and family ties to the Tajik president’s family.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea Threatens to Strike South ‘Without Notice,’ Sends Warning via Fax

North Korea has threatened to attack South Korea “without notice” in response to demonstrations held in the South to mark the anniversary of its former leader’s death.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said a letter from the North’s National Defense Commission was faxed early Thursday via a military communication link between the two sides, warning of a “merciless” attack on the South, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The letter objected to the “repeated extra-large provocations to North Korea’s highest dignity taking place in the middle of Seoul” and threatened “a merciless retaliation without warning,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told the newspaper.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sickened by Service: More US Sailors Claim Cancer From Helping at Fukushima

When the USS Ronald Reagan responded to the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011, Navy sailors including Quartermaster Maurice Enis gladly pitched in with rescue efforts.

But months later, while still serving aboard the aircraft carrier, he began to notice strange lumps all over his body. Testing revealed he’d been poisoned with radiation, and his illness would get worse. And his fiance and fellow Reagan quartermaster, Jamie Plym, who also spent several months helping near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, also began to develop frightening symptoms, including chronic bronchitis and hemorrhaging.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mandela in the Mirror

Feeling soaked after the gushers of drenching hagiography that crashed over the world on the death of the Nelson Mandela, I have been trying to reconcile what I know with what we are supposed to believe.

For example, I know Mandela was a founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the combat wing of the African National Congress, which was closely allied with the South African Communist Party. Starting in 1961, MK carried out hundreds of bombings, including of civilian targets. When Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1964, I know his crime was sabotage and related charges — not political opposition to apartheid, as we are supposed to believe, at least if those comparisons to symbols of non-violence, from Martin Luther King to, yes, Jesus Christ, are to stick.

Another founder of MK was Ronnie Kasrils, a Soviet-trained, South African Communist agent and militant, who, decades later, would serve President Mandela and then President Thabo Mbeki (also Soviet trained) in post-apartheid South African governments as a senior defense and later intelligence official. I mention Kasrils because two years after Mandela’s 1990 release from prison, Mandela and Kasrils were filmed in a group singing an MK song pledging to “kill the whites” — referring, of course, to white South Africans.

You can find this shocking singalong on Youtube, even if it didn’t appear on CNN — or, for that matter, Fox. Clearly, even such old footage complicates the hagiographic process. Meanwhile, in 2012, the current president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, also an MK alumnus, took the public occasion of the 100th anniversary of the ANC to sing “Shoot the Boer” — a variation on this same theme. Weirdly, visible in the Zuma video (also on Youtube) is the same fake sign language “translator” whose bizarre appearance at the Mandela funeral caused a large security breach and even a small media ruckus.

What still escapes the world’s lens, however, is what this means. A rainbow did indeed arc over the building where Mandela lay in state, as the media breathlessly reported, but they continue to ignore the fact that in post-apartheid South Africa, white farmers, their families and farm workers are being targeted and brutally murdered in alarming numbers. The respected human rights organization Genocide Watch last year investigated and categorized the crisis as Stage 6 out of 8 stages of genocide. Mandela will always be known for striving for racial reconciliation, but, as South African-born journalist Ilana Mercer has pointed out, he never condemned this systematic, ongoing murder campaign.

In other words, there is more to see than what appears in the Mandela mirror…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Francis Makes Amateur Video Praising Recycling

Pope Francis has made an amateur video praising the world’s “cartoneros” — the poor people who pick through garbage to find recyclable and reusable goods. He says their work is dignified and good for the environment.

Francis recorded the video Dec. 5 while meeting with members of the Excluded Workers’ Movement of his native Argentina, which released the video this week at an annual meeting of trash recyclers.

Francis, known for his simple habits, has denounced today’s “throw-away culture” and said in the video that food that is tossed aside each day could feed all the world’s hungry.

Francis has a long relationship with Argentina’s “cartoneros” — literally “cardboard people.” He would celebrate Mass for them as archbishop and invited them on stage during World Youth Day in July.

           — Hat tip: Rembrandt Clancy [Return to headlines]
 

UN Joins Condemnation of Lampedusa Migrant Treatment

‘Deeply shocked by degrading images’

(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA)- Geneva, December 20 — The UN High Commission for Human Rights on Friday called on the Italian government to promptly punish those responsible for what it called the “degrading” treatment of refugees in its Lampedusa island migrant-reception center.

“We are deeply shocked by the footage showing asylum seekers being treated in degrading ways. We exhort the Italian government to immediately investigate the incident so that those responsible may answer for their actions”. On Monday a video broadcast on Italian television revealed migrants who appeared to be forced to remove their clothes outdoors in the cold of winter before being hosed down with disinfectants. Investigations have been launched into the incident and the government has said it is terminating its contract with the cooperative that had been running the centre, which argued that the migrants decided to strip off of their own free will.

“The treatment we were doing, performed under the terms of a protocol, was taking an hour and a half and, at a certain point, some of the immigrants ran out of patience and took off their clothes,” Cono Galipò, the chief executive of Lampedusa Accoglienza, told Radio Città Futura on Wednesday. The government has said the International Red Cross may take over.

Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has called the images in the video, shot with a cell phone by a Syrian refugee and aired by Italian State broadcaster Rai, were “appalling and unacceptable”. The man who filmed the scene told Rai the procedure is repeated every few days on both men and women in mixed company against scabies, a skin condition. He said migrants are treated “like animals” at the permanently overcrowded centre, which houses migrants from Africa and the Middle East who survive the perilous crossing to Italy by boat.

Among them are survivors from two disasters in October off the coast of Lampedusa that together killed around 400 people when their boats sank.

Italian Premier Enrico Letta said Friday that the video was “an intolerable ugly incident”. He added that he agreed with Interior Minister Angelino Alfano’s decision to terminate the contract with the cooperative running the centre.

The head of the powerful Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) also joined the conversation Friday, calling on the European Union to become more involved with, rather than judge, the Lampedusa refugee centre in southern Italy. “I hope that Europe will involve itself in the situation and not just judge from the outside,” said Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of CEI. He spoke after the European Commission threatened to halt the 30 million euros the EU has earmarked for aid to Italy in dealing with the thousands of migrants who arrive every year on the island between Tunisia and Sicily.

Meanwhile Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Friday the government will continue hiring private contractors to run its migrant reception centers.

“But we will tell them that immigration is not a business, and we will step up our oversight procedures,” the minister said.

Also on Friday, House Speaker Laura Boldrini told Vatican Radio that the center has been set on fire more than once, and blamed the abuses that occurred there on overcrowding. “Overcrowding made it impossible to provide dignified living standards. It’s a short step from there to the horrible dysfunctions we witnessed,” said Boldrini, a former UNHCR spokeswoman. “If those are the working conditions, it’s no wonder people are made to strip naked in winter weather for medical treatment”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Another Target for the Gay Lobby

After suspending Robertson from the reality show, which emphasizes outdoor and family activities, A&E Networks said it has “always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.” LGBT refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.

An article about the controversy by conservative writer Gary DeMar said Robertson is saying “what millions think but are afraid to say.”

Whether these people stay silent remains to be seen. The fate of their program hangs in the balance.

Speculation is mounting that the homosexual lobby will now demand a halt to production of the entire program in order to demonstrate that criticism of the homosexual lifestyle will absolutely not be tolerated by anyone with a significant presence in the media.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Duck Dynasty: It’s Not About the First Amendment

Since the late 1960s, gay activists have demanded society not only accept their lifestyle unquestioningly, but provide affirmation. “We are no longer seeking just a right to privacy and a protection from wrong. We also have a right — as heterosexual Americans already have — to see government and society affirm our lives,” said homosexual spokesperson Jeff Levi in 1987 before the National Press Club in Washington.

Acceptance of the gay lifestyle necessitates indoctrination. Soon after gay marriage was codified in Massachusetts, the government sanctified validity of homosexuality was merged into grade school curriculum. First grade teachers were instructed that they must “be aware of varied family structures, including… gay or lesbian parents,” and “children must be taught to acknowledge the positive aspects of each type of household.” Books for children with names like “Heather Has Two Mommies” and “Gloria Goes to Gay Pride” included the gay ethic in public education regardless of often vociferous opposition by parents.

The gay agenda, largely designed and promoted by the global elite and the establishment intelligentsia, has worked on multiple levels to erode Christian-based morals, rollback legal statutes with religious foundation, and modify laws to legalize homosexual marriage, force business to hire openly gay people, and in general make negative opinions by individuals regarding homosexuality illegal.

Salon does not tread this territory because it enthusiastically supports the gay agenda, as does the rest of the so-called left.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Future is Curved: Samsung and LG Claim New Range of Concave TVs Will Deliver Images Four Times Sharper Than Hdtv

Ahead of the grand unveiling at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show, more details are emerging about Samsung and LG’s respective 105-inch ultra high resolution TVs.

Both screens are said to use the 21:9 ‘CinemaScope’ aspect ratio and both will have resolutions of 5,126 x 2,160.

This resolution provides 11.1 megapixels per frame. By comparison, HDTV screens have 1920 x 1080 resolution screens with 2.1MP per frame.

[Comment: Now you can watch the same propaganda in ultra HD.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

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