Today was Super Bowl day. Two teams played; one won, the other lost. I forget which was which.
A famous actor was found dead after overdosing on heroin. The now-grown adopted daughter of another famous actor revealed details of the sexual abuse she endured from her father as a small child.
Click below for all the details. I’m sick of the news.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP, MC, RR, Steen, The Observer, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Dead at 46
Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Oscar-winning actor actor who played everything from a maverick CIA agent to a drag queen, has died. He was 46. Hoffman was found in his Manhattan apartment at 35 Bethune St. in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan this morning morning, according to the New York Police Department, which is investigating.
The cause of death has not yet been determined, but according to NYPD sources, there was evidence of injectable drugs found at the scene.
Hoffman won the Best Actor Academy Award and the Golden Globe Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for his leading role in the 2005 film “Capote,” which detailed the five-year period during which author Truman Capote penned “In Cold Blood.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Adopted Daughter Accuses Woody Allen, In Times Post, Of Assaulting Her at Age 7
(CNN) — The adopted daughter of Woody Allen, in an open letter posted Saturday on a New York Times blog, recounted her allegation that she was sexually assaulted by the film director.
Billed as the first time Dylan Farrow has publicly written about her allegation that she was assaulted in 1992 at age 7, the letter was released the same day as the Writers Guild Awards — where Allen had been nominated for best screenplay for “Blue Jasmine,” but did not win.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Are Losing Their Freedom
Americans fought a war to end slavery. Will we have to fight to resist becoming slaves?
Short of another Civil War, Americans have reached a point verging on the loss of their Constitutional freedoms as ever before. The issue then was slavery, but Americans are rapidly moving toward having their Bill of Rights annulled by a President intent on ruling as a despot, making them slaves of a regime that rules as he wishes, ignoring the Constitution and Congress.
His actions have been supported by the Democratic members of Congress and because Republicans only control the House they have seen their legislative efforts to oppose the regime blocked, often by one man, Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader. The nation’s media with few exceptions have supported or ignored the President’s actions.
Why is this happening? A brief review of the means put forth in Saul Alinski’s “Rules for Radicals”, written by a “community organizer”, outlines what Obama is doing as he seeks to turn America into a socialist state. It is a process that progressives/liberals have been pursuing since early in the last century.
1. Healthcare — Control healthcare and you control the people. 2. Poverty — Increase the poverty level as high as possible, poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them to live. 3. Debt — Increase the debt to an unsustainable level. That way you are able to increase taxes, and this will produce more poverty. 4. Gun Control — Remove the ability to defend themselves from the Government. That way you are able to create a police state. 5. Welfare — Take control of every aspect of their lives (Food, Housing, and Income). 6. Education — Take control of what people read and listen to — take control of what children learn in school. 7. Religion — Remove the belief in God from the Government and schools. 8. Class Warfare — Divide the people into the wealthy and the poor. This will cause more discontent and it will be easier to take (tax) the wealthy with the support of the poor.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Beer-Delivery Drone Grounded by FAA
(CNN) — Ice fishers in Minnesota are reeling from a recent FAA decision prohibiting beer delivery by drone.
Local brewery Lakemaid was testing a new drone delivery system to airlift frosty cases of beer to fishermen holed up in ice shacks on Mille Lacs Lake. After spotting a Lakemaid YouTube video that went up last week of one of the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on a test run, the Federal Aviation Administration contacted Lakemaid and told the company to stop.
Unfortunately for Lakemaid fans and anyone else dreading a walk to the corner store, it’s currently against the law to fly drones for commercial purposes or above 400 feet in the United States. The FAA is working on a comprehensive set of rules and regulations that will pave the way for commercial drone flight, but the legislation won’t be ready until at least 2015 and drones might not be in the skies until 2017.
Until then, thirsty fishermen must obtain their beverages through old-fashioned terrestrial delivery methods.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hospital Charges Snake Bite Victim $89,000 for Treatment
According to the hospital, Lake Norman Regional, their pricing is where it needs to be. They defended their prices in a statement to the local newspaper: “Hospitals only collect a small percentage of our charges, or ‘list prices.’ We are required to give Medicare one level of discount from list price, Medicaid another, and private insurers negotiate for still others. … If we did not start with the list prices we have, we would not end up with enough revenue to remain in operation. … Our costs for providing uncompensated care are partially covered by higher bills for other patients.”
So what makes one think more government intervention via the Affordable Care Act is going to help?
The couple found out that they were paying excessively more for the vials of antivenom to cover for uncompensated care provided through the government’s Medicare and Medicaid programs.
They were paying $20,000 for each vial of antivenom, and they found that this was to ease the prices for the Medicare program, which pays around $9,460 for the same treatment.
Also, the couple found out that the retail price of the vials could be found for as low as $750, showing how bloated the hospital prices were in the first place.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Conan O’Brien Segment Exposes Media Scripting Yet Again (Video)
Once again, the Conan O’Brien show has revealed countless examples of local media reading off the same script, proving that most corporate news outlets do nothing more than push national talking points.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NFL: Microcosm of the Corporate Class
Alexis Garcia has produced a video for Reason.tv showing how an NFL franchise is not a good idea, especially for cash-strapped cities.
“The NFL is good at fleecing taxpayers,” ESPN columnist Gregg Easterbrook and the author of The King of Sports: Football’s Impact on America told Garcia. “It’s about a billion dollars a year I’ve calculated in public subsidies to NFL owners and this is a group that consists almost entirely of billionaires and yet receiving significant public subsidies every year.”
The organization closely resembles the corporate class sucking the life blood out of America. Like banksters and transnational companies, it depends of corporate socialism. It buys politicians who agree to use tax dollars to subsidize operations and build lavish stadiums. It is owned by billionaires. (See an interactive Muckety map here.)
“Judith Grant Long, a Harvard University professor of urban planning, calculates that league-wide, 70 percent of the capital cost of NFL stadiums has been provided by taxpayers, not NFL owners. Many cities, counties, and states also pay the stadiums’ ongoing costs, by providing power, sewer services, other infrastructure, and stadium improvements,” Easterbook writes.
The NFL does not pay a dime in taxes. The IRS says it is a 501(c)(6) tax-exempt organization. Like the Rockefellers and the elite, the NFL exploits the tax code to avoid paying taxes the rest of us pay at gunpoint. The tea party may have difficulty gaining tax exempt status, but it is not a problem for the billionaire owned NFL.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon, McDonald’s Capitulate to Sharia Law
Islamofascism: Caving to pressure from Muslim groups, the Pentagon has relaxed uniform rules to allow Islamic beards, turbans and hijabs. It’s a major win for political correctness and a big loss for military unit cohesion.
Also, the sharia-compliant regulation threatens to expand the jihadi Fifth Column that counterintelligence already is dealing with in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre. The FBI is tracking more than 100 suspected jihadists within the military.
Making special accommodations for Islam will only attract more Muslims into the military at a time when two recent terror cases highlight the ongoing danger of Muslims in uniform.
Earlier this month, a former Army soldier was sentenced to seven years in prison in a terror investigation. Craig Benedict Baxam, a Muslim convert, was said to have trained with al-Qaida’s branch in Somalia. In statements to federal agents, he justified violent jihad and vowed to fight the U.S. to defend Islamic lands.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Actor, Dies at 46
The actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment on Sunday morning of an apparent drug overdose, according to a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because he was not certain the actor’s family had been informed of the death.
The official said Mr. Hoffman, 46, had been found in his West Village apartment around 11:30 a.m. by a friend who had become concerned at not being able to reach Mr. Hoffman.
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Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been found dead in his Manhattan apartment after an apparent drugs overdose.
Hoffman, who was 46, won the Academy Award for Best actor for the 2005 film, Capote.
The American actor and father of three was found in his bathroom on Sunday morning on the 4th floor of his West Village Apartment according to law enforcement officials with a syringe still sticking out of his arm surrounded by bags of heroin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As Republicans look ahead to the 2016 presidential race, they are hoping to avoid the kind of chaotic and protracted nominating battle that dismayed party elders and damaged the eventual candidacy of Mitt Romney.
That, however, could be a hard thing to prevent.
The party is divided and in turmoil, with a civil war raging between its establishment and insurgent factions. For the first time in memory, there is no obvious early favorite — no candidate with wide appeal who has run before, no incumbent president or vice president, no clear establishment pick.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Seahawks Defeat Broncos, 43-8, In Super Bowl XLVIII
In what was expected to be a competitive game between the N.F.L.’s best offensive team, the Denver Broncos, and the team with the league’s best defense, the Seattle Seahawks, the Seahawks dominated from the first snap in a 43-8 victory.
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Growing scandal at the heart of the solar power industry
Everyone has heard the pitch for solar energy, install solar cells on your roof and get free electricity from the sun. Sure they cost a lot up front, but they will last 25-30 years — which just happens to be about the payback time given current electricity rates from coal, nuclear and natural gas. So when the solar panels start failing in two or three years the economics of solar power collapses like a house of cards. That is exactly what is happening around the world. Cheap Chinese solar panels have flooded the market and are now starting to fail at an alarming rate. Solar panels covering a warehouse roof in Los Angeles were only two years into their expected 25-year life span when they began to fail. Worldwide, solar power adopters are reporting similar problems and the $77 billion solar industry is facing a quality crisis reports Doug Hoffman. (1)
In May 2013 The New York Times exposed this growing scandal at the heart of the solar power industry. No one is sure how pervasive the problem is since there are no industry wide figures about defective solar panels. And when the defects are discovered, confidentiality agreements often keep the manufacturer’s identity secret, making accountability in the industry all the more difficult. (2)
Most of the concerns over quality center on China, home to the majority of the world’s solar panel manufacturing capacity. Inspections of Chinese factories on behalf of developers and financiers revealed that even the most reputable companies are substituting cheaper, untested materials. Others are outsourcing production to smaller, less reputable companies. SolarBuyer, a company based in Marlborough, Mass., discovered defect rates of 5.5% to 22% during audits of 50 Chinese factories over the last 18 months notes, Todd Woody.(2)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Micro Brown-Out: Yes, Utilities Are Cutting Off Power With Smart Grid
Long considered rumor and conspiracy gossip, utilities are now confirming they can indeed control the flow of electricity into homes using wireless communication with the Smart Grid. Under pilot programs in cooperation with the Department of Energy, regional power companies such as EPB in Chattanooga, Tennessee may cut the flow of electricity to specific appliances in the homes of their customers during times of peak use.
According to Danna Bailey, spokesperson for EPB, homeowners who voluntarily enroll in these schemes can save money by giving the utility the option of limiting power to high usage systems in the home or on the property when strain on the grid is most pronounced.
Specifically targeted for efficiency are water heaters, air conditioning systems and heaters for outdoor swimming pools, said Bailey. In a recent program offered by EPB, which was funded by a grant in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, customers could save money by adding a wireless device, approximately the size of a garage door remote, onto the assigned appliances which would allow the electric flow to be controlled by the utility company.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead in Manhattan Apartment
US actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has died. The 46-year-old was found dead in his New York apartment. The cause of death was an apparent drug overdose, according to local authorities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Welcome to the United States of Paranoia’
Feel like Big Brother is watching you these days? You’re not alone.
“This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario,” wrote the late William Safire of The New York Times in 2002, in the panicky aftermath of 9/11. “Here is what will happen to you: Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive … will go into what the Defense Department describes as ‘a virtual, centralized grand database.’“
Twelve years on, this is the world we live in, but worse. Through a combination of fear, cowardice, political opportunism and bureaucratic metastasis, the erstwhile land of the free has been transformed into a nation of closely watched subjects — a country of 300 million potential criminals, whose daily activities need constant monitoring.
Once the most secret of organizations, the NSA has become even more famous than the CIA, the public face of Big Brother himself. At its headquarters on Savage Road in Fort Meade, Md., its omnivorous Black Widow supercomputer hoovers up data both foreign and domestic, while its new $2 billion data center near Bluffdale, Utah — the highly classified Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative Data Center — houses, well, just about everything. As James Bamford wrote in Wired magazine two years ago, as the center was being completed:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Socialism is a Pseudoscience
That America today has committed itself to a type of socialism is shocking and deeply troubling. In the aftermath of the discovery of ObamaCare’s myriad failures, does no one recognize that ignorance and failure are the coins of the realm of Marxism? This is yet another step on the long road of subjugation and slavery. If not repudiated, our descent will cause future generations of Americans to fall under the whip hand of incompetent Marxist slave drivers. One can never tell the story of the evil of Marxism, and its bastard children — socialism, communism, and fascism — enough to help recall their innocent hundreds of millions of victims.
There really is no such thing as a functional “Socialist Economics,” or Marxist economy. In fact, socialists have always struggled to even define the word “economy,” let alone create a system to express their ideals. According to Marx, socialism is the phase after capitalism, and the step right before full-fledged communism is instituted. Marx never really addressed what an economics of socialism would look like, according to a Econlib.org article Socialism:
It is often thought that the idea of socialism derives from the work of Karl Marx. In fact, Marx wrote only a few pages about socialism, as either a moral or a practical blueprint for society.
To understand this, let’s consider the first Marxist state, the USSR. The first true attempt at a Marxist economic system was created by Vladimir Lenin after the Russian Revolution:
[…]
Neither Lenin nor Stalin knew anything about economics. Marx himself never received any training in economics, but was self-taught. It was the blind leading the blind. To put the problem in a nutshell, Marx’s socialism is not even theoretically possible. In a socialist economy, there is no manner to efficiently price the various items and services, nor guess which products and services to offer the public, or in what amounts. These flaws, outside of any other problems, makes certain such a system cannot work in practice, according to Mises and Hayek:
Ludwig von Mises in particular contended that a socialist system was impossible because there was no way for the planners to acquire the information — “produce this, not that” — needed for a coherent economy. This information, Friederich Hayek emphasized, emerged spontaneously in a market system from the rise and fall of prices. A planning system was bound to fail precisely because it lacked such a signaling mechanism…
Faulty Information Cascades occur when waves of shared ignorance sweep aside common sense. For instance, such beliefs as Global Warming are examples, where the vast majority of those who support this theory are directed by the media, various experts and celebrities…
The support for and belief in the efficacy of ObamaCare is another unsavory and undeniably hilarious example of false Information Cascades. When Barack made his pitch for healthcare reform, the left was smitten and instantly persuaded by the project. Today, despite the fact the all ObamaCare was sold as a shiny fairytale upon an enormous raft of lies, the left refuses to let go of their dream. The simple conjuring up of the phrase universal healthcare, Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act caused even elderly politicians with a lifetime of experience to guarantee its delivery, sight unseen. In fact, not only were the details of the program unknown to these leftist polticos, but the bill itself remained famously unread before passage. This is certainly an example of toxic informational cascade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Woody Allen’s Daughter Dylan Farrow Breaks Silence on Details Alleged Sexual Abuse in Letter
Dylan Farrow penned a letter on a New York Times blog, describing how the famed director allegedly sexually assaulted her for the first time at age seven as she lay on her stomach staring at a train set.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Woody Allen’s Adopted Daughter Renews Sex Abuse Claims
The adopted daughter of Woody Allen has publicly repeated claims that the filmmaker sexually abused her as a young child. The renewed accusations come shortly after Allen received a prestigious award.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Yellowknife Imam Gets 33 Months for Fraud
A trusted member of Yellowknife’s Muslim community is heading to prison. Mohammed Basha is a former president and imam of the city’s Islamic Centre. He was sentenced this morning for defrauding the centre of more than $117,000…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
About 39% of Italians Agree With Attacks by M5S on President
Disapproval of efforts by Grillo to impeach Napolitano at 38%
(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, January 31 — As many as 39% of Italians surveyed said they agreed with the substance of recent attacks by the 5-Star Movement (M5S), led by former comedian Beppe Grillo, on President Giorgio Napolitano, according to the results of a public opinion poll released Friday.
But that same group said they did not agree with the tone of the attacks, according to the survey by pollsters Ixe for RAI 3 television’s program Agora.
An almost equal number — 38% — said the attacks by the M5S, which is trying to impeach Napolitano, and the party’s tone were out of line.
The survey was conducted on 1,000 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%.
Among confirmed M5S supporters, only 10% said the attacks were unjustifiable, while 38% said the tone was wrong but the attacks were legitimate.
The anti-establishment M5S submitted a petition to parliament on Thursday seeking to impeach Giorgio Napolitano for “attacking the Constitution”.
The M5S said Napolitano had breached the Constitution by failing to send back unconstitutional laws to parliament and abusing his power of pardon, among other things.
The 88-year-old statesman is serving an unprecedented second term as president after being re-elected last spring to help overcome the political deadlock resulting from inconclusive parliamentary elections in February.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Sees 208 Burglaries Per Day
On average, there are 208 reported cases of burglaries in Belgium each day. That’s according to a report in De Zondag, that cites figures supplied by Interior Minister Joëlle Milquet (Francophone Christian democrat).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain is Changing Fast — Schools Must Adapt
Out of 15,288 primary and secondary schools, an astonishing 1,755 have a majority of children who only speak English as a second language
This week, David Cameron said that the number of Bulgarians and Romanians arriving in Britain since the lifting of work restrictions was at a “reasonable level”. He has also been keen to stress that he wants to cut net immigration, suggesting that we are moving on from the days under Labour of record levels of mass migration. What, then, is the state of our society in the post-Labour era?…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s Collusion With Radical Islam
by Paul Stott
Spend any time at an anti-war demonstration in England, and the view that there is a global war on Islam, or against Muslims, will be articulated. The protagonists are seen as the United States, Israel or the UK (or any combination thereof). Mark Curtis turns these conventions upside down, with a withering expose of how Britain has historically looked to work with and alongside Islam, and in particular its most conservative adherents…
Review of Mark Curtis’ book Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion With Radical Islam, which appeared in Vol 21 No:1 of Anarchist Studies, 2013.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Taking some of the bestselling brands of birth control tablets means women are nearly twice as likely to suffer blood clots compared to those who use older varieties.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Female Defence Ministers Pledge to Break Europe’s Old Boys’ Network
Dutch politician tweets image of Norwegian, Swedish and German counterparts from Munich summit, saying ‘things are changing’
It happened at around 3pm on Saturday, in one of the conference rooms at Munich’s Bayerischer Hof hotel, where politicians from around the world had gathered for an annual security conference. The female defence ministers of Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands had all met at previous conferences, so they decided to welcome Ursula von der Leyen, their new German counterpart.
When Belgium’s (male) defence minister, Pieter De Crem, spotted the group of women, he quipped: “Oh, I’ll better get out of the picture.” That’s when the Dutch defence minister, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, asked someone to capture the scene on her phone.
Hennis-Plasschaert told the Guardian: “(The Dutch politician) Neelie Kroes once said to me that old boys’ networks are the oldest form of cartels we have in Europe. She was right, but things are changing, and women can do similar things now.” Her tweet with the photograph soon went viral.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — The growth of the population of mankind and urbanization can pose serious security challenges, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said here on Saturday. Addressing diplomats and military officers here at the Munich Security Conference, Schmidt warned that the explosive growth of population and urbanization might cause security related problems…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Amid Clashes in Athens, Kasidiaris Announces Backup Name for Golden Dawn
If Golden Dawn is banned, the name National Dawn will do instead. Ilias Kassidiaris, lawmaker and spokesman for the extreme right party, has announced the founding of National Dawn, a party that would serve as a way to circumvent a possible ban on Golden Dawn.
“Patriots will have a party to vote for in the next election if (authorities) go ahead with the coup to ban Golden Dawn,” he told a gathering of about 3,000 Golden Dawn supporters Saturday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A salvage diver has died while working on the Costa Concordia wreck after it is believed he cut himself on metal sheeting 10ft underwater and bled to death.
Widely named in Italian and Spanish media as Israel Franco Moreno, from La Coruña, Spain, he was part of a team attaching 30 huge flotation tanks to the side of the 114,500-tonne ship. He is the first person to die in the salvage operation since the cruise liner hit rocks two years ago off the holiday island of Giglio, Italy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police Recover Stolen Cloth Stained With Pope John Paul II’s Blood
Police in Italy have recovered a piece of cloth stained with the blood of the late Pope John Paul II from an assassination attempt in 1981. Officers in L’Aquila, east of Rome, said they found the relic in the garage of two men who were detained for having stolen its gold and glass case last weekend. The case, or reliquary, was recovered on Thursday.
Bishop Giovanni D’Ercole said he had pieced together the reliquary and the cloth. The recovered piece of fabric was missing just a few filaments of cloth and gold thread, he said. “I think John Paul (II)has forgiven them. I think we have to do the same,” D’Ercole said of the men, believed by police to be drug addicts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Imam Tells Muslim Clerics: ‘Don’t be Slaves, Join a Union’
Muhammad Sajjad Asim, who sued Edinburgh Central Mosque for breach of contract, said many imams are not paid the minimum wage, are not given holidays, are expected to supplement their pay with benefits, and sometimes given accommodation that is no more than a rolled-up mat in a corner of the mosque…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Baby P Killer ‘Grows Beard and Becomes Muslim’ To Gain Protection From Islamic Inmates
ONE of the three people jailed over the horrific death of little Baby P has become a Muslim to protect himself from prison attacks, it was reported today.
Jason Owen has converted to Islam, grown a beard and started carrying a copy of the Koran around to stop attacks from fellow inmates.
The 42-year-old allegedly turned to the religion to gain protection from powerful Muslim prisoners at Stafford jail.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, a source said: “He changed his faith about two months ago and is growing a beard.
“Everybody knows what he did to that little boy.
“He’s always with a few other guys.
“There are about 30 Muslim prisoners in the jail and I think he’s converted so he gets some protection from them.”
Owen was jailed in 2009 for causing or allowing little Peter Connelly to die but was released after three years after serving half his sentence.
He returned to prison last April for breaching strict conditions of his release…
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
More than a dozen properties on one of London’s most expensive streets are currently standing empty after being abandoned by their super-wealthy owners, it has emerged. The Bishops Avenue in Hampstead, north London — dubbed ‘Billionaires’ Row’ — has at least 16 giant mansions standing vacant, with a combined value of an estimated £350million.
Some of the homes have been unoccupied for up to 25 years, with the interiors left to rot and rooms taken over by plants, according to a new investigation.
Among the empty houses on the road — home to media baron Richard Desmond as well as members of the Saudi and Brunei royal families — is Heath Hall, currently on sale for £65million.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cameron’s EU Hokey Cokey Continues
Cameron and Obama favour the idea of going forward with an EU-NAFTA bi-lateral agreement possibly moving toward a merger
A private members bill by Conservative MP James Wharton to force a referendum on Britain’s continued EU membership has been rejected by the House of Lords, principally by members from the Labour and Liberal-Democratic parties.
Ultimately the lower house is capable of finding away around the Lords but due to the convoluted system of approving legislation it must be completed in the current session (that has just over a year to go) and there is now not enough time for the Bill to get through all its stages in both the Lords and the Commons in time to become law; subsequently it has died a bureaucratic death.
David Cameron and the Conservative Party ran on introducing an EU referendum in 2010 but when forced into a coalition government, were unable to get their Liberal-Democratic party members to go along with it. After waiting three years Cameron supported the idea of a Private Members Bill (by James Wharton) to try and force the issue, but opposition from The Lords caused the play clock to expire.
Despite his recent push for the referendum, similar to the lead up to the last election, Cameron’s sincerity has to be seriously questioned. The strategy could have been employed earlier, leaving time to push this through but the Prime Minister waited so that this scenario would play out.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Disorder at EDL March in Slough Town Centre
Two officers were injured and four people arrested in Slough following disorder at an English Defence League (EDL) march and counter-demonstration. Thames Valley Police said officers in protective gear dealt with a “large gathering” at Queensmere and “incidents of minor disorder” at about 14:00 GMT…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fudge is More of a Threat Than Dominic Raab’s Rebellion
by Janet Daley
There is a widespread belief in the US and Britain that politics has become a conspiracy against the people
In the end, David Cameron blinked, and the whole Tory rebellion thing ended in a goal-less draw with pretty much everybody discredited in the short-term. Dominic Raab, who sponsored the amendment to prohibit foreign criminals from avoiding deportation on the grounds of their “right to a family life”, with which almost everybody in the country agreed, was subjected to public character assassination that stopped just short of libel…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Is the Muslim Brotherhood Spinning Spinwatch?
by Paul Stott
Earlier this week Harry’s Place reported on the recent meeting between President Obama and the Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, which was attended by a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure in Britain — Anas al-Tikriti. One thing missing from the analysis was the extent to which the Muslim Brotherhood, via al-Tikiriti’s Cordoba Foundation, has been seeking to pursue its politico-religious objectives in the United Kingdom, developing support and influence on the political left…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lee Rigby Killer Tried to Gouge Doctor’s Eye Out With a Pen
WOOLWICH killer Michael Adebowale tried to gouge out a doctor’s eye with his own pen.
DRAMA: The hospital where the doctor almost lost an eye
The 22-year-old, who butchered Fusilier Lee Rigby, flipped during a hospital visit.
He lunged at a consultant at the Royal London Hospital after being asked to sign a patient consent form.
The doctor handed him his own silver pen despite being warned Adebowale, below, could use it as a weapon.
The killer had been taken to be treated for an infection to his leg.
The male doctor’s eyesight was only saved by the prompt action of prison officers.
Two guards, who were handcuffed to the killer by short chains, yanked Adebowale’s arm away with just inches to spare.
Armed police, who were outside the room, rushed in and one pulled a Taser gun and threatened to shoot.
The prison officers, fearing they would be hit by the 50,000-volt weapon, persuaded them to hold fire.
Adebowale was finally restrained by his prison guards and a dozen police officers.
A source revealed: “The doctor came within a whisker of losing an eye. He had been told not to give Adebowale a pen because it was feared he would use it as a weapon.
“However, he ignored the advice and insisted he needed patient consent before any medical intervention.
“Adebowale only had about four inches of movement due to being restrained by the chains. But as soon as he got the pen he launched himself at the doctor like a madman.
“Fortunately, a prison officer yanked his hand back and then all hell let loose.
“Officers armed with machine guns and Tasers stormed the room and everybody feared the worst.”
The incident happened at the hospital in Whitechapel, east London, after Adebowale developed an infection and high temperature due to his injuries.
He had been shot by armed police after Drummer Rigby was hacked to death on May 22 last year in Woolwich.
Adebowale is being assessed by psychiatrists prior to his sentencing.
The two killers are expected to be sentenced in the next few weeks after an appeal court decision.
Five judges are due to consider a number of cases involving whole-life jail terms. After the decision, the Woolwich killers will be sentenced.
The judge will take into consideration the psychiatric reports, including a number of psychotic episodes suffered by Adebowale.
They will also look at Adebowale’s pen attack.
Psychiatrists are said to recommend he be moved to Broadmoor Hospital. Last week Adebolajo lodged an appeal against his conviction.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lee Rigby Murder: Michael Adebolajo Applies to Appeal Against Conviction
Having admitted the killing, Adebolajo had wanted to claim he was not guilty of murder because a state of war exists between Britain and Muslims, making his attack a military strike, not a criminal act.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: RSPCA Risks Losing Power to Prosecute
Independent reviewer considers stripping charity of its right to prosecute following string of controversial court cases
The RSPCA’s role in prosecuting cases of animal cruelty could be overhauled to restore public confidence. Stephen Wooler, a former HM chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service, suggested the charity could be stripped of its prosecution rights because of increasing concern over its approach. Another option was for it to be scrutinised by an independent watchdog, he said…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The BBC Just Loves Swearing — Until it Gets a Dose of Its Own @!X*! Medicine
The corporation refused to accept a complaint about bad language on national radio because the complainer’s letter used the same words that they had used on air.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two police officers were injured and four people arrested when violence broke out between English Defence League marchers and counter-demonstrators today.
Bottles and railings were hurled and at least one smoke bomb was set off as the anti-Islamic group marched through the centre of Slough, Berkshire, where antifascists were waiting.
Officers were forced to don riot gear and let dogs loose in an effort to quell the violence, which resulted in four people being held for public order offences.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Wild About David Attenborough: Presenter, 67, Is the ‘Most Trustworthy Public Figure in Britain’
Wildlife presenter Sir David Attenborough is the most trustworthy public figure in Britain, according to a study. The public was asked to vote on a list of 84 well-known people, judging them on traits such as likeability, trust and courage to create a list of modern heroes and heroines called the Freuds Heroes Index. Sir David came out on top in the trust index, ahead of broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald and the Queen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Two Extremists Killed, 20 Arrested in Sinai Crackdown
Two extremists were killed in a crackdown on Saturday south of Sheikh Zoueid in North Sinai, security sources said. Security forces arrested 20 others during the security crackdown as part of operations to eliminate terrorist elements that have been targeting authorities since former President Mohamed Mursi was deposed last July.
Ten huts and 61 houses were destroyed in the crackdown, the source added. Among the arrestees is an extremist who was found in possession of an automatic and a wireless device and was involved in killing 10 police and army members following the June 30 events.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Mona Eltahawy, Like Irshad Manji, Creates Her Own Private Islam
Mona Eltahawy, who has flaunted her lesbianism, thinks she is bravely confronting and analyzing the problems of Egyptian, and other Arab, societies. But she can’t discuss what Islam teaches about the status of women — that they are inferior to men in abilities, and that that their testimony is worth less than that of a man, they are entitled to less in inheritance than their brothers, they are regarded by Muhammad as objects of booty (think of his Jewish and Coptic sex slaves, and much more, in the Qur’an and Hadith, and these teachings, and the example of Muhammad, the Perfect Man (al-insan al-kamil) with his own nine wives and two concubines, is well known to Muslims, as Eltahawy herself knows…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Precarious Calm in Algeria’s Strife-Hit Ghardaia
GHARDAIA, Algeria, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — Calm has returned to the old Algerian desert city of Ghardaia, after some 40 days of ethnic clashes, but everyone remains cautious.
With violence erupting between the Chaamba community, of Arab origin, and Mozabite Berbers of the Muslim Ibadi sect, police and national gendarmerie’s anti-riot forces have been deployed in the area — 600 km south of Algiers and not far from the country’s largest oil and gas regions, including Ouargla and Tamenrasset…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘John Kerry Solutions’: Build a New Western Wall
After wowing Israelis with their John Kerry Solutions video, featuring a salesman modeled on US Secretary of State John Kerry, hell-bent on offering his customers solutions that only make their problems worse — grassroots Zionist NGO My Israel has come out with a new video, in which “John Kerry” tours Israel to peddle his peace initiatives.
“Kerry” visits Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and Tel Aviv, and as usual, spouts wisdom and brillant solutions at every turn. Without further spoilers…
[Watch the videos ]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry’s Boycott Threat Slammed as ‘Classic Anti-Semitism’
A leader of the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) has harshly criticized United States Secretary of State John Kerry for his declaration that Israel could face international boycotts if it does not succeed in making peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Kerry’s boycott threat shows that he has bought into anti-Semitic thinking regarding Jews and Jewish motives, said Yesha Council official Adi Mintz.
“Until now, I thought that Kerry just didn’t understand the Middle East, that he was deluded, obsessive and messianic,” Mintz began, referencing comments by Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, in a post to his Facebook page.
“I thought that was why he is concerned solely with the Israeli-Arab conflict and not the violent conflicts of the world, such as the ongoing genocide in Syria,” he continued.
However, he said, “Tonight I realized that he is motivated by anti-Semitism, too. ‘Hit the Jew in his pocket’ — that has always been an anti-Semitic slogan.
[The real antisemitism is in expecting Israel to make ALL the concessions, and the PA none, these are not negotiations, these are dictated surrender terms. What other nation in he world would would be treated like this? Iran?]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Fighters in Syria Kill Rival Rebel Leader
Al Qaeda fighters killed the leader of a rival Islamic brigade in a twin car bombing near Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, an attack likely to further exacerbate rebel infighting even as government forces continued their intense shelling of opposition-held areas of the city on Sunday.
Syrian aircraft bombed buildings, burying people underneath rubble in the Bab Neirab area, said the Aleppo Media Center. It wasn’t immediately clear how many casualties there were.
The bombings came after military aircraft dropped barrels packed with explosives over rebel-held areas on Saturday, killing dozens, including an attack that killed 34 people in the rebel-held neighborhood of al-Bab, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group collates the country’s war death toll.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Car Bomb Kills at Least Three in a Shiite Town in Lebanon
Shiite town of Hermel in northeast Lebanon victim of second bomb attack as explosion kills three people and injures 18 others
A car bomb exploded on Saturday near a gas station in a Shiite town in northeast Lebanon, killing at least three people, officials said. The bomb was the second to hit the town of Hermel, in the latest attack that appeared linked to the war in neighbouring Syria…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
This is the latest trend in marriages in Kuwait among expatriate women and Arab Muslim men! I’m not against mixed marriage, but I have my doubts over the success of these kinds of marriages, especially if each party has his or her own agenda to hook themselves to a stranger into a serious bond like marriage.
The Islamic marriage goes this way — the female is a Christian woman in her late forties, fifties or above, with no family back home or a spouse waiting. The male is a Kuwaiti or Arab man. The man, of course, has been married once if not several times.
For them, it is an easygoing marriage in which they don’t have to spend much money and fulfils their fantasies of getting married to a Western woman with blue eyes and blonde hair.
In fact, the men feel that they are undertaking a noble mission because these women convert to Islam in order to marry these Muslims men. Men feel proud, and the women could not find a better source to cover their expenses, needs and a secure shelter in case she is lucky to get pregnant and have a baby.
According to some of the sources, these woman are most likely homeless back home and broke. So they use Islam to solve their personal troubles. And this is why I reject and deny these kinds of marriages.
In fact, most of the men, especially the Kuwaitis, don’t reveal their marriages with these women to their families and first, second and possibly third wives.
The fact that these women accept to stand in line with other women shows how desperate they are and I can’t blame the man because legally he is permitted to have four wives, but ethically I have never witnessed any successful marriage of this kind, Arabs or otherwise…
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
German Citizen Kidnapped From Yemeni Capital
A German citizen has been kidnapped from the Yemeni capital, Al Arabiya News Channel learned on Sunday. The man, in his 60s, is believed to have been kidnapped on Friday and is now being held in a tribal region in the east. He had been pressing Yemeni authorities to release his two detained sons, a foreign ministry official told Agence France-Presse.
Hundreds of people have been kidnapped in Yemen over the past 15 years, mostly by tribesmen who use them as bargaining chips in disputes with the government. Nearly all have later been freed unharmed.
Most of these kidnappings have purely been for profit rather than political reasons, said Mustapha Noman, Yemen’s ambassador to Spain. “I don’t think there’s a political motivation behind the kidnappings… It’s just a lucrative job. if a gang can kidnap and make money, why not?” Noman told Al Arabiya News.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Nuclear Talks Reach Sidelines of Munich Security Conference on Its Final Day
The US Secretary of State and his Iranian counterpart have met on the last day of the Munich Security Conference on its last day. The face-to-face came just ahead of the next round of talks on Iran’s nuclear program.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Commander: We Have Targets Within America
A top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards boasted Saturday that his forces have plans in place to attack the United States from within, should the U.S. attack the Islamic Republic.
“America, with its strategic ignorance, does not have a full understanding of the power of the Islamic Republic,” Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said in a televised interview. “We have recognized America’s military strategy, and have arranged our abilities, and have identified centers in America (for attack) that will create a shock.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Jabhat Al Nusra Claimed Responsibility for Hermel Attack
The Jabhat al Nusra movement claimed responsibility for the yesterday’s attack in Hermel, saying that it is a retaliation to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria. In a statement released on Twitter, the Lebanon branch of the Al Qaeda-inspired group said that it wanted to hit Hezbollah’s stronghold so that the party “can re-evaluate its position in Syria”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Made Cars Are on the Way!
ALTHOUGH Saudi Arabia is still the largest car importer in the region with an estimated 777,000 cars at the end of 2013, there are indications that car manufacturers are keen to start some local operations in order to make use of abundant energy and support industries. As of 2017, cars made in Saudi Arabia could be in the market.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UAE Summons Qatar Envoy Over Al Qaradawi
Dubai: The UAE Foreign Ministry on Sunday said it had summoned Fares Al Nuaimi, Qatar’s ambassador to the UAE, to protest its inaction on stopping a cleric from continuing to insult the UAE.
Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, expressed the UAE Government’s “extreme resentment” over Yousuf Al Qaradawi’s statement against the UAE that was aired on Qatari state TV, WAM reported.
The Egyptian-born Al Qaradawi, speaking live on Qatari state TV from a Doha mosque, criticised the UAE for supporting the current Egyptian government. He claimed that the UAE “has always been opposed to Islamic rule”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UAE Summons Qatar’s Envoy to Protest the Comments of Outspoken Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Cleric
The United Arab Emirates has summoned Qatar’s ambassador to formally protest the comments of an outspoken pro-Muslim Brotherhood cleric.
The official WAM news agency reported Sunday that UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash told Qatar’s ambassador that Egyptian-born Youssef el-Qaradawi should be stopped and condemned by Doha’s leadership for expressing comments critical of the UAE.
The Qatar-based el-Qaradawi often uses his Friday sermons, which are broadcast on television, to criticize Egypt and the UAE’s clampdown on the Brotherhood. He recently accused the UAE of being opposed to Islamic rule. Gargash said it was “shameful” that the cleric is allowed to continue to insult the UAE.
The UAE has been one of the staunchest supporters of Egypt’s new military-backed leadership and taken action against the Brotherhood’s branch in the UAE.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia has always prided itself on being a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. So where does the apprehensive attitude to Islam come from?
Muslims are the second largest religious group in Russia and they have peacefully coexisted with Orthodox believers over many centuries. However, in recent decades, some Russians have started behaving suspiciously towards Muslims, especially in the wake instability in certain regions and terrorist attacks…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
168 Killed, 401 Injured in 42 Bomb Attacks Across Pakistan in January
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — At least 168 people were killed and 401 others injured in 42 bomb blasts across Pakistan during the first month of the year 2014 as the militants accelerated the number of deadly suicide attacks across the country, according to official statistics…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesian Militants Drawn to Muslims Battling in Syria: Report
JAKARTA — Indonesians who have joined fellow extremists fighting in Syria could help reinvigorate a once-powerful militant group responsible for major bombings in the world’s most populous Muslim country, a report said. “The conflict in Syria has captured the imagination of Indonesian extremists in a way no foreign war has before,” said a report by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Presidential Election Campaign Starts in Afghanistan
KABUL, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — A two-month campaign started Sunday in Afghanistan for the upcoming presidential election slated for April 5 while insecurity and unfriendly weather in part of the mountainous country remained the main challenges for the event…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Disrupt Voting in Thai Election
Ballot-box blockades and a shortage of election staff prevented the smooth running of the Thai general poll. The full result won’t be known for weeks, meaning little change to current political crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Muslims Murder Three Soldiers and Election Official in Jihad Bomb Attack
PATTANI, Thailand (Reuters) — Suspected Muslim rebels in southern Thailand killed three soldiers and a district election official in a bomb attack on Sunday as a general election was being held around the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Voting Ends in Divisive Thai General Elections
Voters in Thailand have been to the polls in highly contentious elections. Whatever the outcome, it is unlikely to quell the political tensions that are causing violent turmoil in the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Analysts Fear Escalation of China-Japan Dispute
Analysts from Japan’s National Institute of Defense Studies call on Tokyo and Beijing to discuss a shared crisis management system, arguing that increased regional tensions may cause minor incidents to escalate rapidly.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Japan in Danger of Missing 2020 Budget Target
Japan is on course to break a pledge to balance its budget by 2020, according to a new government forecast that sets up a battle between fiscal hawks at the ministry of finance and doves in the cabinet of Shinzo Abe, prime minister.
Private-sector economists have long seen as ambitious the government’s goal of erasing its primary deficit — the gap between revenues and expenditure, excluding debt payments and bond issuance.
Yet, last week the ministry of finance (MoF) made its first admission that the target was unlikely to be hit, saying that even with the most optimistic assumptions for growth and cuts to spending, the deficit would be as wide as Y6.6 trillion ($64 billion) in the 2020 fiscal year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Powerful Bomb Planted by Muslim Rebels in S. Philippines Defused: Military
COTABATO, Philippines, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — Philippine government forces defused Sunday a powerful homemade bomb planted by breakaway Muslim rebels along the highway in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao a day after 12 people got injured in their bomb attacks, a military official said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
How the Staff Captured the ABC
by Keith Windschuttle
When the left’s long march through the institutions arrived at the ABC, Allan Ashbolt was there to lead it. The national broadcaster as we know it today — infused with a green-left bias and populated very nearly exclusively by the like-minded — is his creation and his legacy…
[JP note: As easy as ABC. See http://quadrant.org.au/opinion/opinion-post/abcs-marxists/ ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Man Charged Over Three WA Bushfires
A man has been charged with lighting three separate bushfires in six days near Albany in WA’s Great Southern. Last month, firefighters battled two fires near along Settlement Road in Narrikup, between Albany and Mount Barker, which began within an hour of each other…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Police Horse ‘Blaze’ Punched in Northbridge Then Catches Car Hoon
It was a busy night for police horse “Blaze” who was punched while on duty before chasing down a hoon driver in Northbridge.
Police media spokesman Samuel Dinnison said Blaze was assaulted while officers were issuing a move on notice to a member of the public, on the corner of James and William streets at 10.35pm on Saturday.…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gunfire Erupts as Police Raid Radical Kenyan Mosque
MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) — Gunfire erupted in and around a mosque in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Sunday following a raid by armed police who had received a tip-off that Muslim youths were being radicalized and trained for militant attacks.
The raid sparked violent protests inside the Masjid Mussa mosque in the city’s run-down Majengo neighbourhood and in the surrounding streets. Police fired teargas and live rounds over the heads of taunting crowds, who hurled stones back.
Breaking up Islamist militant networks among its Muslim minority has become a priority for Kenya as it tries to end attacks by Somali militants and their sympathizers bent on punishing it for sending troops to fight al Shabaab rebels.
The cost of failure was laid bare when al Shabaab gunmen attacked a Nairobi shopping mall in September, killing at least 67 people. Western investigators said local militant networks helped the attackers carry out the assault.
“They attacked our mosque, but they’re not going to kill our spirit,” one youth shouted from behind a wall in the mosque’s compound. “Jihad is the way to go.”
More than four hours after the initial police swoop, gunshots continued to echo around the neighbourhood of ramshackle buildings and garbage-filled gutters.
Mombasa’s police chief Robert Kitur said the raid followed a tip off. When his officers burst into the mosque, where radical clerics regularly preach, they came under gunfire.
Kitur said ringleaders shielded themselves behind children and infants, the first time he had seen such a tactic used.
“We found them engaging in radicalization and training of youths,” Kitur told reporters close to the mosque as the operation went on.
Jihadi Banners
Police seized black banners emblazoned with jihadi slogans, laptops and DVDs during the raid. Outside the mosque shoes, teargas canisters and spent bullet cartridges were strewn on the ground.
Many Muslims in Mombasa’s poorer neighborhoods feel marginalized by the predominantly Christian Nairobi government, while the forceful crackdown on Islamist militant recruitment networks in the tourist hub is fuelling resentment.
But Kenyan security officials say the Masjid Mussa mosque is a hotbed of militant activity, in particular recruitment into local Islamist networks and al Shabaab in Somalia.
Masked gunmen in August 2012 shot dead a firebrand cleric, Aboud Rogo, who often taught at the mosque and whom the United States and Kenya accused of recruiting and fundraising for the al Qaeda-linked Somali rebel group.
A year later, Rogo’s protege was gunned down in a strikingly similar attack. Both murders triggered violent unrest in the city.
Worshippers at the Masjid Mussa mosque accuse the security services of operating a death squad, a charge the police denies.
Kitur said the security forces had arrested more than 100 people during Sunday’s clashes and two officers had been wounded. One policeman was found sprawled in a pool of blood in a bathroom inside the mosque and was in critical condition.
“We found him locked up in a bathroom after we heard him groaning. It appears like they slaughtered him,” said one armed policeman who withheld his name.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Red Cross Ordered to Suspend Work in Sudan
The International Committee of the Red Cross says Sudan’s government has ordered it to suspend its activities in the country. ‘Technical issues’ have been cited. The relief organization said on Saturday it had been ordered to stop work in Sudan…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Riot Outside Kenyan Mosque Linked to Terrorists
At least one police officer has been injured in a riot at a mosque linked to recruiting Islamic extremists in Kenya’s coastal resort of Mombasa. Police apparently are trying to break up a meeting Sunday inside the Masjid Musa mosque, which has been the recent site of violent confrontations between young Muslim radicals and police.
An Associated Press reporter saw a police officer being led out with a bloodied face, perhaps the victim of a stabbing. Last October, gunmen killed a Muslim cleric and three others in a hail of bullets in Mombasa, sparking street violence by youths who accused the police of targeted killings of Muslim leaders.
Kenyan police have linked the Masjid Musa mosque to recruitment of militants for Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorist organization.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia: Heavy Fighting Occurs in Kismayu City
Kismayu — At least 5 people have been confirmed dead and scores injured after a heavy fighting broke out on Saturday evening between Alshabab fighters aided by the locals of Gobweyne against their opponents against the troops of the interim Juba administration…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Zimbabwe: Why Zanu-PF Will Rule for the Next 50 Years
A SOLIDLY empowered and economically liberated majority has been emerging at the same time as opposition politics in Zimbabwe has been relegated to bedroom buffoonery and Diasporan duplicity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Is the GOP Really Going to Pass Immigration Reform?
It is perplexing to watch the Republican leadership falling all over themselves trying to come up with an immigration reform plan that won’t look like they’ve totally caved to the Democrats.
But the ultimate question has to be “why?” Just because the Chamber of Commerce and a few other business groups are leanung on the GOP to get something done on immigration reform doesn’t mean they should jump throught those hoops. The issue is far down the list of priorities according to the polls, where job creation is the #1 concern.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Dossier Reveals EU Migrants Are Cheating UK Benefits System
The unpublished Home Office report states that immigrants from the European Union have used false documents to receive state handouts (file photo).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tory MPs Express Concern About ‘Stateless’ Plan for Terror Suspects
by Isabel Hardman
Concern is growing across the House of Commons about Theresa May’s last-minute amendment to the Immigration Bill rendering foreign-born terror suspects ‘stateless’…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France Prepares for Anti-Government Demonstrations — Again
France’s “Manif pour tous” (Demonstration for all) — the movement that spearheaded mass demonstrations to protest President François Hollande’s gay marriage law in 2013 — is gearing up for round two. A mass rally is scheduled to take place in Paris on Sunday, February 2 to protest the Socialist government’s so-called “anti-family” stance, i.e., the recent liberalization of abortion laws and upcoming parliamentary debates to legislate medically assisted procreation and surrogacy for gay couples. Manif members are also fired up about a polemic — albeit unfounded — rumor that the government is pushing for the introduction of “gender theory” in elementary schools…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Future at Risk From ‘Unnatural Families’, Say Conservative Protesters
Interior minister Manuel Valls dismisses tens of thousands of demonstrators on streets of Paris and Lyons as ‘anti-republicans’
Under a sea of fluttering pink and blue flags, the Manif Pour Tous (Demo for all) movement’s complaints were eclectic and apocalyptic — with a dash of paranoia and conspiracy for good measure. “If we don’t stop this government there be no future for France,” said Mederic, 20, a student. “The family is at risk. France is at risk. You wait. It’ll be euthanasia next.”
On Sunday, protesters — 80,000 according to police, 500,000 according to organisers — again took to the boulevards of Paris and Lyon in a show of force against the French government and in support of “the family”. In case anyone was in doubt about what those words meant, the logo on the fluttering flags, badges, stickers and banners showed a “traditional” family: father, mother, son, daughter…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
French Conservatives March Against Government ‘Family-Phobia’
(Reuters) — Over 100,000 conservative French marched through Paris and Lyon on Sunday accusing the government of “family-phobia” for legalizing gay marriage and other planned policies they say will harm traditional families.
The marchers, expressing growing frustration with the unpopular left-wing government, denounced new sex equality lessons in schools and urged the government not to legalize medical procedures to help same-sex couples have children…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Pro-Traditional Family Demonstrations in France
(AGI/AFP) Paris, Feb 2 — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in France on Sunday to defend the traditional family and to protest against the legalisation of gay marriages and the amendments to the law on abortion, introduced by socialist president Francois Hollande, who the demonstrators accused of being “family-phobic”. Police stated that about 80,000 took part, while the organisers put the figure at 500,000. At least 20,000 people took to the streets in Lyon, many holding banners with the slogan “There’s nothing better than a mother and father for a child”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
San Francisco’s Gay Icon Larry Brinkin Guilty of Felony Child Porn Possession
WARNING: Some of the language in this story is graphic and disturbing.
(CNSNews.com) — Larry Brinkin, who worked at the Human Rights Commission for the City of San Francisco for 22 years and was a prominent homosexual rights activist for more than 40 years, pleaded guilty to felony child pornography possession last week.
Brinkin is expected to serve six months in jail, five years of probation, and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life when he is sentenced on Mar. 5. But he likely will get to keep his city pension because possessing and viewing child porn apparently is not considered a crime of “moral turpitude” under San Francisco’s retirement/pension rules.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Somali family say that Harrow council in London placed their daughter with the couple despite protests, and four offers from extended family members.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thanks for your Super Bowl comment, had a good laugh. .)
“Today was Super Bowl day. Two teams played; one won, the other lost. I forget which was which.”
LOL. Those are exactly my sentiments.
@Britain’s Collusion With Radical Islam
Swapping out Empire for Caliphate, a domestic and foreign policy that has been full of spectacular failures. Domestically a ruling class that despises its own people and is so afraid of ceding power that it has slowly but surely opted for the sociopolitical control tool of Islamification. A master has to draw authority from a source beyond his mortal self.
The Jack of all faiths has become subservient to evil.
On Sunday, protesters — 80,000 according to police, 500,000 according to organisers — again took to the boulevards of Paris and Lyon in a show of force against the French
Not quite right.. it is not just France.
500,000 in Paris, 40,000 in Lyon. Hundreds in Brussels, Madrid, Rome, Warsaw
and dozens in Jerusalem and Texas no less…
Hilarious intro!