Our Winter Fundraising Week has finally closed. Now maybe I’ll be able to devote my time to some serious blogging! A big thank-you to everyone who dropped a groat in the cup — I’ll have more to say tomorrow (assuming the ice storm doesn’t nobble us).
The big news story today concerns yesterday’s terror attack in the Chinese city of Kunming. It has now been determined that the attack was carried out by knife- and sword-wielding Islamic terrorists from Xinjiang. The death toll has risen to thirty-three, with four of those being terrorists killed by police. One of the alleged assailants was captured and is in custody, and at least five more are believed to have escaped.
In other news, 675,000 Ukrainian citizens have reportedly fled to Russia to escape the chaos and unrest in their country. Meanwhile, in response to the movement of Russian forces into the Crimea, Ukraine has mobilized its reserve troops.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, 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.
Italian Taxpayers Pay Nearly 2 Billion Euros Extra a Month
(AGI) Rome, March 1 — Italy’s tax authority raked in nearly an extra 2 billion euros a month in 2012 and 2013, compared to 2011. According to a study by the National Confederation for the Craft Sector and Small and Medium Enterprise of Italy (CNA) on “Treasury and local revenue with an impact on fiscal pressure”, 2012 was an ‘annus horribilis’ for Italian taxpayers, with fiscal pressure jumping from 42.8 to 44.3 percent, partly from the drop in GDP. In 2013 the tax burden remained essentially the same as in 2012.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal: Protests Against Government in Many Cities
Premier’s resignation demanded over austerity measures
(ANSAmed) -LISBON, FEBRUARY 28 — Protests were registered in Portugal against austerity measures approved by Parliament and to demand the resignation of Premier Pedro Passos Coelho.
Thousands demonstrated in Lisbon, Porto and Lieira in protests organized by Portugal’s main union, CGTP.
Particularly under attack were measures adopted by the conservative government accused of “subservience” to the Troika (EU, ECB and IMF) which had demanded an anti-crisis plan in exchange for a loan of 78 billion euros granted in 2011 at the request of the then-ruling centre-left cabinet.
Unions — also representing police forces — opposition parties and citizens complained in particular against public salary and pension cuts and the fact that austerity policies worsened the population’s already difficult economic situation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi: Italy Must Balance Books for Sake of Its Children
(AGI) Rome, March 1 — Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told a Party of European Socialists (PSE) conference that the country will have balanced its books by the next European Semester for economic policy coordination. He stressed that the country owed this to future generations, it was not a response to demands from the institutions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Why Bitcoin True Believers Are Still Delusional Even After the Collapse of Mtgox
(NaturalNews) To all those who are still swooned by Bitcoin’s false hope, I offer you this letter of compassionate but stern wisdom. My aim is to help you learn from the harsh lessons that have now undeniably unfolded with the bankruptcy of MtGox and help save you from being harmed by similar mistakes in the years ahead.
As we all know by now, nearly half a billion dollars worth of Bitcoins vanished last week as MtGox declared bankruptcy. Currency holdings simply vaporized for 750,000 customers, reports the Wall Street Journal…
For the record, I actually love the concept of a peer-to-peer crypto currency. I’m well aware of the criminality of the central banks and the reality of the U.S. financial police state under which we all suffer today, complete with the government tracking our financial transactions as if we were suspected terrorists. I strongly oppose the Fed’s bailout of the corrupt, criminally-operated cabal of Wall Street banks and investment houses. If our world is ever truly going to be free, it needs a free currency that can’t be manipulated by central banks and corrupt governments.
In this context, Bitcoin was promising, and I was an early promoter of its core concepts. But Bitcoin has some fatal flaws which have now caused the collapse of one of the currency’s largest exchange house, plus the theft of nearly $500 million worth of Bitcoins.
I am very confident this theft was orchestrated and planned either by MtGox insiders or by the U.S. federal government. Keep in mind that the NSA already has quantum computer decryption prototypes which can easily crack 128-bit encryptions in mere seconds. This is not yet publicly acknowledged, but it is real. Your crypto currency is not as “crypto” as you think.
The global money changers have every incentive to discredit Bitcoin by staging a massive theft and crashing a major exchange house. In fact, the very same attacks that brought down MtGox have been replicated across all other major Bitcoin exchanges. A coordinated, massive attack is under way against the virtual currency, and all the power of the establishment is being brought to bear against it. Or, perhaps more accurately stated, brought to “Bear Stearns” against it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ADHD: A False Paradigm Projected Onto the Minds of a Generation
A very misleading paradigm has been imposed on the minds of the public and has been facilitated through the Western medical institution in the past three decades. This misleading mindset is leading many children to be labeled with ADHD, which stands for “attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.” This fabricated “disorder” has morphed into a pill-popping craze in the 21st century, and it is addicting more and more children to dangerous stimulant drugs. ADHD, first coined by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual in 1980 as “attention-deficit disorder,” has since then skyrocketed. In 2003, 7.8 percent of children were labeled with ADHD, and by 2011, that number spiked to 11 percent.
This false paradigm is now being planted in the minds of one in every nine children. Two-thirds of the diagnoses are in boys. This is an alarming trend of misdiagnosis, especially when drugs like Adderall and Ritalin are prescribed. The more a child takes these drugs, the more they will develop a tolerance to them, which can lead to a dangerous addiction spiral…
The new book, titled ADHD Does Not Exist: The Truth About Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, is the culmination of Dr. Saul’s half-century of experience treating patients.
In his own words, “Not a single individual — not even the person who finds it close to impossible to pay attention or sit still — is afflicted by the disorder called ADHD as we define it today.”
In one example, Saul told the New York Post about a girl who was being treated for ADHD because she was disruptive in class because she couldn’t see the blackboard. In the end, all she needed was glasses, not drugs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Creepy New Weapons the Police & Military Will Increasingly Use to Subdue, Destroy Unarmed People
The US is at the forefront of an international arms development effort that includes a remarkable assortment of technologies, which look and sound like they belong in a Hollywood science fiction thriller. From microwave energy blasters and blinding laser beams, to chemical agents and deafening sonic blasters, these weapons are at the cutting edge of crowd control. The Pentagon’s approved term for these weapons is “non-lethal” or “less-lethal” and they are intended for use against the unarmed . Designed to “control crowds, clear streets, subdue and restrain individuals and secure borders,” they are the 21st century’s version of the police baton, pepper spray and tear gas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Desalinization Plants in California and Fukushima
I was born and raised in California; lived there 40 years. When my husband was transferred to Ft. Carson as the new DEH (Dir. Engineering and Housing) at Ft. Carson in 1989, I left for Colorado. The destruction of that beautiful state is all but complete.
California’s state legislature has been controlled by socialists and Marxists for decades — since 1970, except for two years, ‘95 & ‘96. During that time, four governors were Republican, two Democratic/Communist Party USA. The whole country has watched California implode financially because of the never ending regulations slapped on businesses who can no longer stay in business, pension obligations and the cost of illegal aliens. The 2008 bust didn’t help, but California was headed towards insolvency before that because of insane spending for decades.
What California Recovery? January Sales and Use Tax DOWN 9%
“You can tell the vibrancy of an economy by looking at the sales tax and use tax revenues. In January those were done 9% in California. That means while income tax collection were up, sales were down. People are either paying off debt or see the next hard Depression hitting the State and savings money for that reality…
“Californians have not built a major reservoir since the New Melones Dam more than 30 years ago. As the state subsequently added almost 20 million people, it assumed that it was exempt from creating any more “unnatural” Sierra lakes and canals to store precious water during California’s rarer wet and snowy years.
“Short-sightedness soon became conceit. Green utopians went further and demanded that an ailing 3-inch bait fish in the San Francisco delta receive more fresh oxygenated water. In the last five years, they have successfully gone to court to force millions of acre-feet of contracted irrigation water to be diverted from farms to flow freely out to sea.
“While the rains have not come down in the amounts needed, pouring 800,000 acres feet of water into the ocean last year because of the delta smelt is downright dumb. The Central Valley needs water, yet 50% of its water goes to the protection of fish. California has not been allowed to build a new water storage facility since 1972 — when the environmentalists win the people of the State lose — and we have been losers for more than 40 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Famous Liberal Constitutional Attorney Scorches Obama’s ‘Dangerous’ Misuse of Power
“A dangerous change for our system” is how a constitutional scholar who voted for Barack Obama described the president’s use of executive orders to bypass Congress. Nationally acclaimed constitutional scholar Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School is the second-most cited law professor in the country.
Testifying before a House Judiciary Committee looking into whether the president is faithfully executing the law, Turley flatly stated, “We are in the midst of a constitutional crisis with sweeping implications for our system of government.” He also said that while he may agree with many of Obama’s policies, he has grave concerns about the way the president is implementing those policies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FDA Spies on Whistleblowers to Protect Big Pharma
Took Screenshots of Whistleblowers’ Computers Every 7 Seconds for YEARS.
We reported in 2012:
When one of the most respected radiologists in America — the former head of the radiology department at Yale University — attempted to blow the whistle on the fact that the FDA had approved a medical device manufactured by General Electric because it put out massive amounts of radiation, the FDA installed spyware to record his private emails and surfing activities (including installing cameras to snap pictures of his screen), and then used the information to smear him and other whistleblowers.
Democracy Now did a good segment on this scandal in 2012:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who owns our genes? According to the final Human Genome Publication (No. 12), published in February 2002, the “First International Conversation on Enviro-Genetics Disputes and Issues,” sponsored by the Einstein Institute for Health and Science, met in Kona, Hawaii. The meeting took place in July 2001 and was attended by more than eighty judges and forty scientists — all there to discuss the legal and ethical ramifications of the Human Genome Project’s results. These legal and scientific experts joined together from all over the world to dissect the New World Order of the post-genome era. Shortly thereafter, attendee Justice Artemio V. Panganiban of the Philippines presented a paper with the assigned topic, “Paradigm Shifts in Law and Legal Philosophy,” in which he recounted some of the opinions expressed during the Kona conference.
Justice Panganiban’s comments succinctly summarize those of many globalists:
“I believe that the major transformational shifts in the world have been brought about mainly by the informational and technological revolution unfolding even now as I speak. I refer to computerization, minuterization [sic], digitization, satellite communications, fiber optics and the Internet — all of which, taken together, tend to integrate knowledge on a worldwide scale. This international integration of knowledge, technologies and systems is referred to as globalization.”
Amazingly, Panganiban has here distilled this section so far in that knowledge, travel, and commerce have increased exponentially since the turn of the twentieth century. He goes on:
Professor Anne-Marie Slaughter of Harvard Law School, says that modern judges should “see one another not only as servants or even representatives of a particular government or party, but as fellow professionals in a profession that transcends national borders”… Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dube of the Supreme Court of Canada — in a speech before the “First International Conversation on Enviro-Genetics Disputes and Issues” sponsored by the Einstein Institute for Science, Health and the Courts (EINSHAC) and held in Kona, Hawaii on July 1, 2001 — opined that it is “no longer appropriate to speak of the impact or influence of certain courts on other countries but rather of the place of all courts in the global dialogue on human rights and other common legal questions.”
The immediate impact of statements like these is that the legal representatives that you and I elect, or those appointed by such elected representatives, appear to owe their allegiance not to the electors but rather to “each other” and to the globe at large — to the “New World Order.” So while you and I may still wish to believe that the act of writing to one’s congressman precipitates action in Washington, the sad but obvious truth is that globalism rules our world, condemning our meager participation to the scrap heap of idealism and Judeo-Christian ethics.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Working to Supplant God?
Barack Hussein Obama is doing what Satan has been trying to do down through the ages: supplant God.
Urging young Organizing for Action (OFA) volunteers deployed to the task of persuading Americans to sign up for new health insurance plans created by the President’s Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama pressed his young fans to sign up as many people as possible before this year’s March 31 enrollment deadline. “The work you’re doing is God’s work,” he said (Wall Street Journal, Feb.26, 2014)
How can it be God’s work OFA volunteers are doing when under a mandate issued under the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama is still trying to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to violate their religious beliefs? The Little Sisters are nuns who run a nonprofit nursing home and hospice and are resisting the government’s order to pay for birth control, which they oppose.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Raleigh Muslims Share Heritage, Religion at Islamic Center Open House
In a beautiful songlike chant, 11-year-old Sabrina DeHart stood behind a microphone and recited in Arabic what Muslims consider the 99 names of God…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Steven Seagal: If the Truth Was Not Covered Up, Obama Would Have Already Been Impeached
Famed actor Steven Seagal, whose dozens of film projects feature action and violence but also have an underlying theme of seeking justice, says President Obama would be impeached if the truth about Benghazi was revealed.
His comments came during an appearance in Phoenix, where he told attendees at the Western Conservative Conference on Feb. 22 that the president’s White House tenure could not withstand the release of the Benghazi truth. There the ambassador and three other Americans were killed by radical Islamists who attacked U.S. interests in Libya in what was pinpointed as an organized terror attack. But the White House charged for weeks after that it was a mob that was irate over an obscure online video about Muhammad.
Seagal said, “Never in my life did I ever believe that our country would be taken over by people like the people who are running it this day.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism Trial to Begin Blocks From Ground Zero
The trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law Sulaiman abu Ghaith, accused of being an Al Qaeda propagandist, may be New Yorkers’ only chance to see a Sept. 11-related case decided on their home turf.
WASHINGTON — Weeks after he took office, President Obama met privately with 40 grieving Americans, many clutching photographs of loved ones lost in terrorist attacks. The new president told them he would be closing Guantanamo Bay military prison within the year and putting many of the detainees there on trial in the U.S., where justice would be swifter…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The Progressive Destruction of the U.S.
Barack Obama is the final piece of the map in the progressive movement’s century of steady destruction of the U.S. dollar, income taxation, and massive liberal intrusion into the lives of all Americans from birth to death. The Great Withdrawal: How the Progressive’s 100-Year Debasement of American and the Dollar Ends
An excellent analysis of this is found in “The Great Withdrawal: How the Progressive’s 100-Year Debasement of American and the Dollar Ends” by Craig R. Smith and Lowell Ponte ($19.95, Idea Factory Press, Phoenix, Arizona). Together they have written eight books on economic topics.
There is a great backlash to the Obama administration’s efforts to impose a socialist economy on America in which the federal government essentially controls all elements of it. The most recent and dramatic example is Obamacare, the takeover of one sixth of the economy. The Tea Party movement emerged to protest it in 2009 and has steadily grown as a political movement…
“Either we successfully reboot the original operating system of individual freedom, free enterprise, and small government that America’s Framers built into the U.S. Constitution or the Progressives will by manipulation and force continue to impose their failed collectivist ideas on humankind’s future,” writes Smith in the introduction to his book. Make no mistake about it, “collective ideas” is another way of describing Communism, often referred to as Socialism.
“They aim to replace Capitalism, private property, ‘selfish’ individualism and God with a human-made Eden, a utopian humanist society where an all-powerful State would equally redistribute the world’s wealth and power to the working elite.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Agents Strip-Search and Publicly Humiliate Cancer Patient
(NaturalNews) A man’s wife wrote up an account of what happened to her and her husband when they attempted to board a flight recently. Her husband is a prostate cancer victim undergoing conventional treatments that usually make things worse.
One of his side issues includes incontinence, or the inability to control one’s bladder, resulting in wearing incontinence undergarments that are similar to diapers, just in case. Not the type of thing a grown man looks forward to disclosing.
The wife posted her commentary about the TSA encounter anonymously on a blog called CafeMom.com. It appears as though that commentary is no longer available on that blog. But it was posted on RT.com. Here’s part of the account in the wife’s own words.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FIFA Approves Headscarves But Bans All Slogans on Undershirts
(CNN) — Football’s world governing body, FIFA, has officially sanctioned the wearing of religious headscarves. The announcement made at the Annual General Meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Zurich, Switzerland follows a successful trial period which began in July 2012.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Founder of Liberation Theology Hailed at Vatican
The founder of liberation theology, the Latin American-inspired Catholic theology advocating for the poor, received a hero’s welcome Tuesday at the Vatican as the once-criticized movement continues its rehabilitation under Pope Francis. The Rev. Gustavo Gutierrez of Peru was the surprise speaker Tuesday at a book launch featuring the head of the Vatican’s orthodoxy office, Cardinal Gerhard Mueller; one of Francis’ top advisers, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga; and the Vatican spokesman.
The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spent much of his tenure at Mueller’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith battling liberation theology and disciplining some of its most famous defenders, arguing that they had misinterpreted Jesus’ preference for the poor into a Marxist call for armed rebellion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: 3rd Person Dies After Attacks on Lawyers
German authorities say a lawyer wounded in a series of stabbing and shooting attacks has died — bringing the death toll to three. Police announced the 51-year-old man’s death Sunday, news agency dpa reported. He was one of two lawyers attacked Friday at an office in the western city of Duesseldorf.
A third person was killed at another lawyers’ office in nearby Erkrath before the suspected assailant, a Chinese-born resident, was arrested at a pizzeria near the Dutch border after threatening the owner with weapons…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Kill French National in Libya’s Benghazi
(Reuters) — Gunmen killed a French national in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday, a security official said, the latest slaying of a foreigner in the restive area…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Has the Voynich Manuscript Been Decoded?
For decades, researchers have been trying in vain to decipher ancient texts written on the Voynich manuscript — and a British researcher claims he has cracked it. The world-renowned 600 year old manuscript is full of illustrations of exotic plants, stars, and mysterious human figures, as well as many pages written in an unknown text. Now Stephen Bax, Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Bedfordshire, say he has decoded words in it for the first time. Professor Bax is using linguistic analysis to work on the script letter by letter ‘I hit on the idea of identifying proper names in the text, following historic approaches which successfully deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs and other mystery scripts, and I then used those names to work out part of the script,’ he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Hopes to be ‘Last Premier’ To Need Senate
New premier wants to strip Upper House of law-making powers
(See previous) (ANSA) — Rome, February 24 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday that he hopes he will be the “last premier” to seek a confidence vote from the Senate. Parliamentary reform, including stripping the Senate of its law-making powers, is on the agenda of his new government, sworn in on Saturday.
Renzi, Italy’s youngest premier at 39, faces the first of two key votes with the Senate casting ballots Monday night, followed by the House Tuesday night.
Renzi wants to change the Constitution to strip the Senate of its powers to make laws in order to make it easier to pass legislation, turning the Upper House into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives.
He also wants to abolish the country’s provincial governments and bring some powers back to central government from the regions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lombardy Healthcare Bigwigs in ‘Luxury-Car Insurance Scam’
46 cited for 3m-euro fraud after Lloyd’s complaint
(ANSA) — Milan, February 28 — Italian police have cited 46 people including some of the best-known healthcare professionals in Lombardy over an alleged three-million-euro scam on insurance for luxury cars.
The probe was opened after a complaint from Lloyds of London, who became suspicious at the high number of cars stolen from the group.
Police established they were fake thefts.
Among those cautioned was top hospital department chief Aldo De Amicis, brother-in-law of Milan provincial government chief Guido Podestà, who is not implicated in any way.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi’s PD Joins Party of European Socialists
Request accepted with ‘unanimous’ vote — Stanishev
The PD, the biggest party in the Italian parliament, had previously stayed out of the PES due to differences within its ranks, which include former communists and ex-supporters of the centrist Christian Democrat (DC) party that dominated the country’s politics before collapsing in corruption scandals in the 1990s.
But Renzi, a product of one of the several small groups that emerged from the wreckage of the DC, made a request for the PD to join the PES soon after winning leadership of the party in December.
PES President Sergei Stanishev, the former prime minister of Bulgaria, told ANSA Friday that the party’s executive had voted “unanimously” to accept the PD’s request to join. He added that the PD would have “full voting rights” during the PES congress currently taking place in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Fiat May be Planning $2-Bn Convertible Bond, Stock Down
‘Carmaker in preliminary talks with banks’
(ANSA) — Turin, February 27 — Fiat stock slumped Thursday after Bloomberg reported the carmaker may plan to roll out a $2-billion convertible bond.
The business outlet also said Fiat is in preliminary talks with banks to assist it on the transaction if it proceeds with the launch. Shares fell 1.8% to 7.60 euros after dropping as low as 7.49 euros during the day’s trading.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Wall in Ancient Pompeii Collapses After Heavy Rain
Top Italian culture officials are calling for swift action to save Pompeii, the ancient Roman city encased in volcanic ash, from further ruin after heavy rains reportedly caused part of a wall to collapse.
Giancarlo Galan, the head of a parliamentary culture commission, on Sunday lamented the latest collapse at the archaeological site near Naples.
Italian media reported that Saturday’s rainstorm provoked the partial collapse of a wall around a necropolis and caused some stones to fall at The Temple of Venus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
RFID: The Benefits vs. The Dangers
It seems that Swain has not thought this process all the way through. Would not making one’s physical body “machine readable” allow any future totalitarian entity to monitor the whereabouts of everyone implanted with an RFID? Not even the Thought Police in 1984 possessed such capabilities! Since British scientist Kevin Warwick had an RFID implanted under his skin in 1998 in an experiment that allowed him to control lights, doors, heaters, and other devices, many individuals have expressed concerns about the potential abuse of such implants, regardless of what beneficial uses they may have.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Several Thousand Pigs Feared Dead After Massive Fire at Sty in Sweden
Up to 5,000 pigs are believed to have been killed by a single fire that raged for three hours in Sweden on Sunday morning. Police and fire services were called to the sty in Kalmar at around 3.30am, but arrived to find several central buildings already engulfed in flames…
Police told reporters they do not currently suspect arson, though the cause of the fire remains unknown.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Shoah: Greece: Thessaloniki’s Jewish Community Suing Germany
For the return of a huge ransom paid during the Nazi occupation
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 25 — The Greek Jewish community of Thessaloniki has decided to sue the German state for the return of a ransom which appears to have been paid during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II, as GreekReporter website writes. As the president of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community David Saltiel noted, the papers were filed at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg last Friday. A two decade struggle in Greek courts, including the Greek Supreme Court, has led the Jewish community to address the European court since previous court decisions ruled that Germany was under international convention immunity. “It is the end of a long process. We have finished with the Greek courts and now hope that the Human Rights Court can help restore the ransom money that the Jewish community paid to Germany,” said Saltiel.
The ransom paid to Germany was meant to free about 9,000 Jewish men of Thessaloniki between the ages of 18-45 who were forced to labor when the Germans took control of the city in 1942. Max Merten, the then German civilian administrator of Thessaloniki appears to have demanded about 2.5 billion drachmas to release them. According to Saltiel’s statements, those men were sick, dying, starving and working without food, thus the community collected the money to pay for their freedom. The total amount of money paid to Germans before they started transporting Jews from Thessaloniki to concentration camps was 1.9 billion drachmas which converts today to about 70 million US dollars.
Eventually, more than 49,000 Jews of Thessaloniki were deported and only less than 2,000 survived.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Small Biz Group Blasts Italy’s Gasoline Tax of 60.5%
Second highest fuel costs in Europe
(ANSA) — Venice, February 28 — At 60.5%, Italy has nearly the highest gasoline taxes in Europe, a Venice-based, activist small-business association said on Friday. CGIA di Mestre blasted the tax burden on the eve of a predicted 0.29-cent price rise per litre at Italian gas pumps, bringing the cost per litre to an average of 1.721 euros.
Of that cost, 1.041 euros goes to state coffers, or 60.5% of the total.
Gasoline taxes among EU members averages 46.3%.
The only European country with a higher gasoline tax than Italy is Croatia at 60.6%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Islamist Plot to Take Over Schools’
From the Sunday Times and the Huffington Post
AN APPARENT plot by Muslim fundamentalists to destabilise and take over state schools in England is being investigated by council officials and monitored by police. Birmingham city council began an inquiry after the circulation of what purport to be strategy documents outlining ways of ousting head teachers in Muslim areas of the city in order to establish schools run on Islamic principles…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farage Defends Jokes About Foreigners at UKIP Conference
Nigel Farage defends a series of jokes about foreigners and Muslims told by a stand-up comedian at the Ukip party conference
Nigel Farage has defended a string of jokes about foreigners and Muslims made by a stand-up comedian at the Ukip party conference and warned against “censoring” humour. Paul Eastwood, a comedian, appeared at the gala dinner to mark the end of the party’s spring conference and was greeted with rapturous applause…
Referring to the Olympics, Eastwood said … “Team Somalia — they did well, didn’t they? They had to apologise. Didn’t realise sailing and shooting were two different events.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: How Paedophiles Infiltrated the Left and Hijacked the Fight for Civil Rights
A 1970s campaign to lower the age of consent has returned to haunt Harriet Harman, Patricia Hewitt and Jack Dromey. But in such a liberal climate, it wasn’t hard for a small, determined group to exploit a commitment to free speech.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour MPs’ Child Sex Link Row Deepens
New details have emerged showing how Patricia Hewitt tried to defend a policy that would have legalised sex with 10-year-olds
Labour has been plunged into further controversy after new evidence suggested one of its former Cabinet ministers once defended a policy calling for the legalisation of sex with children as young as 10…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Life Term for Lee Rigby Murder is ‘An Injustice,’ Says Brother of Killer Michael Adebolajo
Abdul Jaleel, the murderer’s younger brother, told the Daily Star Sunday the punishment was the “decree of Allah” and warned it would not make Britain safer. Abdul Jaleel, born Jeremiah Adebolajo, told us: “It was the qada of Allah — the decree of Allah. “It was an injustice and a move away from the rule of law which got Britain into this situation of insecurity (in the first place) and so no further injustice will make them safer.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mosque Bid for Nelson Masonic Hall
Nelson’s former Masonic Hall could be converted to a place of worship and religious tuition — but planning officers are recommending a planning application for a change of use be refused
The Bradshaw Street hall, which had been used by Freemasons since the 1940s, closed in 2012 and the application for a change of use goes before Pendle Council’s Nelson Committee on Monday night…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mainstream Charities Have Donated Thousands to Islamic Group Fronted by Terror Suspect
by Esmerelda Weatherwax
A controversial Islamic rights group fronted by a man charged with attending a terror training camp in Syria is being bankrolled by two mainstream British charities, including a foundation set up in the name of Dame Anita Roddick.
CagePrisoners, an organisation founded by Moazzam Begg — who has just appeared in court on terror charges — has been given £120,000 by the Anita Roddick Foundation, which distributes part of the former Body Shop owner’s £100 million fortune…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Children Taught at Home About Murder and Bombings
The law should obviously treat radicalisation as a form of child abuse. It is the strong view of many of those involved in counter-terrorism that there should be a clearer legal position, so that those children who are being turned into potential killers or suicide bombers can be removed into care — for their own safety and for the safety of the public.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Mustard Gas Nearly Reached Syrian Rebels
Libyan Islamists caught as they tried to send deadly chemical weapons to Syrian terrorists.
Libyan officials recently caught several members of a Muslim extremist group as they attempted to send deadly chemical weapons to Syria, Channel 2 reports. The report quoted Colonel Mansour al-Mazini as saying that the extremists had been caught with a container of mustard gas. The gas was confiscated by Libyan soldiers.
The collapse of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya was followed by a growth in Islamic extremist groups, as various terrorist factions fought to increase their power. Several of the groups fought against Gaddafi’s government, and are now fighting the new central government as well.
Terrorist militias pose a serious challenge to the still-weak central government, which has repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — called on them to disarm. Dozens of extremist Islamic groups are involved in fighting in Syria, as well; some include veterans of the Libyan revolution in their ranks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shukrallah First Woman Elected Egypt Political Party Chief
Mona Mina head of doctors syndicate, also first woman and Copt
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 25 — The election of the 59-year-old Coptic sociologist Hala Shukrallah as head of the Dostour (‘Constitution’) Party on Friday marks a first that can in some way be connected with that of the first female and Coptic head of the doctors syndicate: Mona Mina. Dr Mina is also known as a strong, decisive woman, who resigned from the post on February 9 saying that the “ranks of the syndicate are divided and torn”. She retracted her resignation less than two weeks later following a general assembly vote of confidence. Having studied in Canada and Great Britain and worked as director of the Development Support Center, Hala Shukrallah was elected with 107 votes out of a total of 204 against her competitors, the journalist Gamila Ismail (57) and the physician Hossam Abdal-Ghaffar (239).
“This is a party that will be based on participation built on consensus,” she underscored in a newspaper interview. “We will develop it in several governorates. It will not be a party based in Cairo.” In saying this, Shukrallah drew attention to one of the major weaknesses of other parties: a lack of attachment to the territory and population of rural areas, in which the Muslim Brotherhood have long predominated.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Mass Anti-Draft Protest
Jerusalem at a standstill as men and boys take to streets
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews took to Jerusalem’s streets for a mass prayer vigil on Sunday in protest at plans to conscript their young men for Israeli military service…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
18 Killed in Violent Attacks in Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 1 (Xinhua) — At least 18 people were killed and 16 others wounded on Saturday in separate attacks across Iraq, mainly in the western province of Anbar and central the country, police said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
5 Civilians Injured in Roadside Bomb in Southeastern Yemen
ADEN, Yemen, March 1 (Xinhua) — At least five civilians were injured as a roadside bomb struck a vehicle in Yemen’s southeastern province of Shabwa on Saturday, a government official told Xinhua. “A mine planted by terrorists hit a civilian car at a main street in Shabwa’s provincial capital of Ataq city. As a result, five people were injured,” the local official said on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
5 Indians Killed in Blast in Qatar
NEW DELHI, March 2 (Xinhua) — At least five Indians were killed among 11 expatriates in a blast in Qatar, local media reported Sunday. The blast happened at Turkish restaurant near a shopping mall in Qatar’s capital Doha Thursday, in which 35 others were also injured, the reports said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Is the Turco-Iranian Friendship Real?
Turkey at the Crossroads
by Burak Bekdil
Ostensibly, the 312-mile border between Turkey and Iran has been one of the most stable and peaceful in the volatile Middle East. Recent years have often seen official language from the two countries about prospering bilateral trade and common anti-Israeli ideological solidarity. But mostly out of sight have been indications of rivalry, distrust, and mutual sectarian suspicion between the two Muslim countries—factors that have proved a formidable obstacle to a genuine Turco-Iranian friendship.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Forces Poll Tax (Jizya) On Christians of Al-Raqqa/Syria
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which controls the city of Al-Raqqa, announced that it had signed a “Security” pact with the Christian residents of Al-Raqqa in return for their embracing the laws of dhimma — protection. In a statement dated February 23, 2014, that ISIS published in the city, the organization said that it posed three alternatives to Christians who had fled Al-Raqqa, but now sought to return:
- Convert to Islam
- Accept the conditions of dhimma
- Reject these offers and face war
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Muslim rebel groups in Syria reportedly are shaking down the Christian population for protection money in the form of gold.
In a document released by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the groups stated that a “protection pact” or “Aqed al-Thima” was coordinated and reached in a meeting last Thursday with 20 Christian leaders from the northern province of Raqqa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kremlin Hopes Escalation in the Ukraine Will Stop
(AGI) Moscow, Mar 1 — Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov has once again seemingly played down the possibility of a Russian armed intervention in the Ukraine. He stressed that President Putin “has not decided” anything, despite obtaining the authorisation from parliament to proceed with the attack. Mr. Peskov added that Russia hopes there will be no further escalation in the Ukraine. The same goes for the Federation Council’s request to recall the ambassador to the U.S.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Defends Russia’s Response to Ukraine Crisis as Gunmen Surround Military Bases
Russia’s government on Sunday defended its decision to move military forces into Ukraine, with President Vladimir Putin calling the measures taken so far “fully adequate” despite calls from NATO and Western governments to withdraw.
A Kremlin statement posted online said Putin spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone, and that Putin “directed her attention to the unrelenting threat of violence” to “Russian citizens and the whole Russian-speaking population.” The statement said Putin had stressed that measures taken by Russia so far were “fully adequate.”
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a press conference that Russia should pull back its forces and refrain from interfering elsewhere in Ukraine, according to Reuters. NATO is urging the two countries to seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secretary of State John Kerry to Visit Kiev on Tuesday
Secretary of State John Kerry plans to visit Kiev on Tuesday in a gesture of support for the new Ukrainian government, a senior United States official said on Sunday.
The announcement came just hours after Mr. Kerry had warned that Russia risked eviction from the Group of 8 industrialized nations and that assets of Russian businesses could be frozen if the Kremlin did not reverse its military occupation of Crimea in Ukraine.
Mr. Kerry had been scheduled to travel on Tuesday to an international meeting on Lebanon but will instead leave Washington on Monday for Ukraine, his first trip there as Secretary of State.
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Some 675,000 Ukrainians Fled to Russia Amid Crisis — Report
MOSCOW, March 2 (RIA Novosti) — Russia’s border guard service said Sunday that some 675,000 Ukrainian citizens have migrated to Russia since the beginning of 2014 amid fears of uncertain future in crisis-hit Ukraine.
The border guards said the majority of refuge-seeking Ukrainians took up temporary residence in neighboring Belgorod, Rostov, Bryansk and Kursk regions as well as in Krasnodar Territory…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands March in Pro-Invasion Rally in Moscow While Dozens Detained at Anti-Invasion Protest
Thousands are marching in a pro-invasion rally in downtown Moscow one day after Russia’s parliament gave President Vladimir Putin a green light to use military force in Ukraine.
At least 10,000 people bearing Russian flags marched freely through Moscow on Sunday, while dozens of people demonstrating on Red Square against an invasion of Ukraine were quickly detained by Russian riot police.
The Associated Press witnessed over 50 detentions and spotted at least five police vans, which carry between 15 and 20 protesters, driving away from the square.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Mobilizes Reserve Troops
Russia’s move to seize control of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula on Saturday led Ukraine to call up its military reserves on Sunday and warn Moscow against further incursions as Western powers scrambled to find a response to the crisis.
A day after the Russian Parliament granted President Vladimir V. Putin broad authority to use military force in response to the political upheaval in Ukraine that dislodged a Kremlin ally and installed a new, staunchly pro-Western government, the Ukrainian government in Kiev threatened war if Russia sent troops further into Ukraine.
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Video: Armed Neo-Nazi Groups Patrol Kiev
Video of Armed Neo-Nazi Groups Patroling Kiev. Far-right groups have been responsible for the most organised and violent protests.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Modi Trumpets His Zero Riot Record in Last 10 Years
NEW DELHI: India’s Narendra Modi, the opposition frontrunner to become the country’s next prime minister, has highlighted his state’s record on religious tolerance, saying “not a single riot” had occurred in the last 10 years…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Hindu Nationalist Modi Turns to Muslim Voters
(Reuters) — Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader tipped as India’s next prime minister, appealed to Muslim voters on Sunday and hit out at rivals accusing him of bias against the country’s largest religious minority…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Shifts Gears in Tackling Militants
Islamabad reshapes its foreign policy and security outlook
Dubai: The ghostly echoes of war drums in troubled Waziristan have already begun to resonate across Pakistan.
As always at the brink of a new offensive, the threat of reprisal attacks also looms large this time around. But the difference at this point is that the government seems to be prepared to face the repercussions. Last week it announced a counter-terrorism policy that will entail the formation of a rapid response force among other intelligence supported measures to deter and respond to terror attacks…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Focus: Lawmakers, Political Advisors Urge Harsh Crackdown After Deadly Terrorist Attack
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) — China’ s legislators and political advisors have expressed their support for an iron-fist crackdown on terrorism after a bloody killing spree by Xinjiang separatists left 29 civilians dead in the country late Saturday.
“We should launch a nationwide campaign against such terrorist activities and resolutely fight the terrorists,” said Yin Zhuo, director of the Expert Consultation Committee of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy.
“The well-planned attack was not an issue of ethnics or religion, it was an issue of terrorism with links to the terrorist forces out of the country,” said Yin, who is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China: Striking Terrorism With Zero Tolerance
By Xinhua writer Huang Yan
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) — A terrorist attack against civilians in southwest China Saturday night warns that terrorists deserve no sympathy and should be punished with zero tolerance.
The terrorists have stabbed to death at least 29 people and injured 130 in Kunming Railway Station, where some victims were migrant workers who planned to return to their factories after family reunions during the Spring Festival which falls on Jan 31 this year. And some others were almost stepping on the door mat of their homes…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China Blames Islamic Militants for Deadly Terror Attack
China today blamed Islamic militants from the volatile Xinjiang province for an unprecedented mass knife attack by “terrorists” at a railway station in Kunming city that left at least 33 people dead and over 130 injured.
A group of knife and sword-wielding attackers, dressed in black, burst into the station in Kunming, the tranquil capital of south-west China’s Yunnan province last night and began stabbing and slashing people at random.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Separatists Blamed for Kunming Knife Rampage
Chinese officials have blamed separatists from the north-western Xinjiang region for a mass knife attack at a railway station that left 29 people dead and at least 130 wounded. A group of attackers, dressed in black, burst into the station in the south-west city of Kunming and began stabbing people at random. Images from the scene posted online showed bodies lying in pools of blood. State news agency Xinhua said police shot at least four suspects dead.
Authorities described the incident as an “organised, premeditated, violent terrorist attack”. Some of Xinjiang’s minority Uighur Muslims want autonomy from Chinese rule and an end to state suppression of their religion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Death Toll Rises to 33 in Knife Attack on China Train Station
Authorities on Sunday blamed a slashing rampage that killed 29 people and wounded 143 at a train station in southern China on separatists from the country’s far west, while local residents said government crackdowns had taken their toll on the alleged culprits.
Police fatally shot four of the assailants — putting the overall death toll at 33 — and captured another after the attack late Saturday in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. But authorities were searching for at least five more of the black-clad attackers.
State broadcaster CCTV said two of the assailants were women, including one of the slain and the one detained.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Train Station Mass Stabbing Attack ‘Was China’s 9/11’
The chilling violence at a Chinese train station which left at least 29 people dead is being seen in China “as a 9/11 style event” says Telegraph’s Tom Phillips
Officials said a group of knife-wielding “terrorists” from the restive Xinjiang region launched a premeditated attack at the Kunming Railway Station in China’s southwest on Saturday night. More than 130 people were wounded…
Telegraph’s Tom Phillips reporting from the scene said the attack recalled the fear and chaos felt after the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on 11 September 2001. “This is very much being seen here as a 9/11 style event. It’s by far the worst incident of its kind in China and it will have a huge impact on what will happen here,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
51 Killed in Car Bombs in North Nigeria
Twin car bomb blasts at a bustling marketplace killed at least 51 people in Maiduguri, the northeast Nigerian city that is the birthplace of Nigeria’s extremist group Boko Haram, a Red Cross official said Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Extremists Kill at Least 90 in Northeast Nigeria
At least 90 people are thought to have been killed in twin attacks in Borno state
Almost 100 people have died in a series of attacks across the north of Nigeria. At least 51 people were killed in one attack, in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, after Islamic extremists set off two car bombs in a busy market.
Officials expected the death toll to rise, as many more people are thought to be buried under rubble from collapsed buildings. The victims included children dancing at a wedding celebration and people watching a football match at an outdoor cinema, according to witnesses…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Over 70 Killed in Nigerian Terrorist Attacks
(AGI) Milan, March 2 — The number of terrorist attacks carried out in north-eastern Nigeria has increased significantly in a region where the Islamic extremist Boko Haram group is most active. The name Boko Haram means “western education is a sin.” A number of witnesses reported that on Saturday evening a large armed group attacked the inhabitants of Mainok, a village in the Borno state, using Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa: Somali Shops Looted in Nelspruit
Several shops belonging to Somali nationals at Pienaar, outside Nelspruit, have been looted. The attacks followed the death of a 20-year-old man, allegedly at the hand of a shop owner. The looting started after the victim was buried. Somali business owners’ representative Ali Mohamed says police are not doing enough to protect them…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mexican Police Break Up Planned Demonstration in Favor of Captured Drug Lord ‘El Chapo’ Guzman
Police in northern Mexico have detained about 40 people who were apparently planning to demonstrate in support of captured drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The move comes after a similar march demanding Guzman’s release last week drew about 1,000 enthusiastic supporters into the streets of Culiacan, the capital of northern Sinaloa state.
The Sinaloa state public safety department says 40 people were detained in Culiacan on Sunday after they gathered at a shrine to Jesus Malverde, a folk saint viewed as the patron or protector of people involved in the drug trade.
Some of those present were shouting “Long live Chapo!” and refused police orders to disperse. Public safety spokesman Daniel Gaxiola says they were detained for disturbing the peace.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela: Italian Reporter Detained in Caracas Clashes
(AGI) Caracas, Mar 1 — An Italian reporter was among the 41 people arrested during the protests in Caracas against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which have claimed 18 victims since they began three weeks ago. Francesca Commissari was following the demonstrations for the Venezuelan daily El Nacional when she was stopped in the Plaza Altamira area in the wealthy Chacao neighbourhood. The Italian Foreign Ministry’s crisis unit and embassy in Caracas have provided assistance to the reporter, who is constantly being flanked by Italian officials.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Vomitous and Terrifying: The Lifeboats Used to Turn Back Asylum Seekers
The new lifeboats are Australia’s latest weapon.
The bulbous orange lifeboat wallowing in the shallows off the coast of Central Java is an unlikely looking weapon — but it’s proving highly effective in Australia’s military campaign against asylum seekers. To the people forced to travel in them, though, it is a vomitous and terrifying experience…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: 1700 African Migrants Give Up and Leave
‘Voluntary returns’ says Interior minister;not so, says activist
(by Aldo Baquis). (ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 28 — The Israeli government has been trying to stem a wave of African migrants (mostly from Eritrea and Sudan), and it is sure it has come up with a formula to induce them to gradually return to their countries of origin without formally expelling them.
Interior Minister Gideon Saar (Likud) has announced that there were 1,705 “voluntary returns” in February (out of a total of approximately 55,000 asylum seekers), a distinct increase over the previous months. As an incentive, each departing adult is given $3,500 to cover primary needs.
The phenomenon is being monitored with concern by the Assaf Center for refugee aid, in the belief that those returning to Africa are exposed to many dangers, including long detentions.
“We certainly can’t call these ‘voluntary departures”‘, Sudanese migrant Mutassem Ali, who is active in protests against the Israeli government, told ANSA. “They are doing everything they can to make our lives bitter. Some people have been reduced to utter despair”.
In a first attempt to stem migrant entries on land, which totaled 1,500-2,000 a month, Premier Benjamin Netanyahu two years ago ordered a barrier built at record speed along the Egyptian Sinai border.
Illegal entries did in fact cease as soon as the barrier was completed, but this still left the problematic presence of tens of thousands of Africans living in the poorer districts of Tel Aviv, Eilat, and Arad. To deal with them, the government opened the Holot ‘Welcome Center’ in the Neghev desert. While the gates are left open, it is seen as a de facto jail, because internees are forced to sign in three times a day. So far, several hundred single men have been placed in Holot, for an indeterminate amount of time. Mutassem Ali, a geologist who obtained his degree in Khartoum and who has been living in Israel for more than four years, was among those slated to be moved to Holot, but fought his relocation in court. He no longer feels he has a future in Israel, and hopes to be welcomed by a US university. People must not worry about the fate of migrants who return to Africa, according to the interior minister. From what he has been told, they are able to fend for themselves.
But Mutassem Ali says that those who returned to Sudan (and Eritrea) were put on trial, or threatened with legal action.
They risk up to 10 years in prison, according to his estimates.
He has heard that a small number of migrants have reached Uganda: but what status they will be granted, or how long they will be allowed to stay, is still unknown. Demoralization is rife among Mutassem Ali’s acquaintances around Levinsky Square, in a working class district of Tel Aviv.
Some are getting ready to leave, “it doesn’t matter where, Ivory Coast, or even Rwanda”. Others hope international pressure will induce Israel to recognize them as refugees, a status it has granted only to a fortunate few. On the streets, tension is on the rise: not only because of constant police pressure, but also because of the latent hostility of Israeli residents, who in turn feel threatened by the “African invasion”. The Levinsky Square police station has so far been able to avert any incidents from occurring. But it is about to be shut down, and on the street, the air is heavy with anxiety.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Liam Fox Tells PM: Create Clear Narrative on Immigration or We’ll Lose to UKIP
David Cameron must ditch the pledge to bring net migration down to tens of thousands and instead focus efforts on curbing the number of low-skilled workers heading to Britain to stave off the threat from Ukip, a former defence secretary has said.
Liam Fox warned the Prime Minister he would be guilty of “dangerous complacency” if he failed to address the damage Nigel Farage’s party could do at the ballot box…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US State Department Slams Greece on Human Rights Violations
Report details abuse against refugees and discrimination
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, FEBRUARY 28 — The US State Department’s annual report on human rights is anything but positive for Greece, with the report making reference to refugee abuse, anti-Semitism and discrimination against Roma gypsies.
As daily To Vima online reports, The US State Department is particularly concerned about violent attitudes towards migrants.
In the report it is stated that despite the efficient inspections of Greek authorities, there are instances of members from the country’s security forces being involved in human rights violations. Among others, the report details refers to the dire living conditions in migrant detention centers and prisons, abuse against refugees, prisoners and demonstrators, as well as the actions of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
Regarding freedom of speech, the report stresses that while it is regulated and legally protected, there have been “exceptions”, in reference to race and social distinctions.
Other findings include the excessive use of police violence against demonstrators and attacks against journalists.
The report cites a number of reports from other international groups, such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dad May Join Two Moms in Designer Babies Experiments
A new technology aimed at eliminating genetic disease in newborns would combine the DNA of three people, instead of just two, to create a child, potentially redrawing ethical lines for designer babies. The process works by replacing potentially variant DNA in the unfertilized eggs of a hopeful mother with disease-free genes from a donor. U.S. regulators today will begin weighing whether the procedure, used only in monkeys so far, is safe enough to be tested in humans. DNA from all three — mother, father and donor — would remain with the child throughout a lifetime, opening questions about long-term effects for this generation, and potentially the next. Ethicists worry that allowing pre-birth gene manipulation may one day lead to build-to-order designer babies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hijacking the Establishment Clause
Today we live with Alice in Wonderland, where up is down, and down is up, and little in the world makes logical sense. Nowhere is this more evident than the twisted logic used by progressives to literally hijack the “establishment clause” in the 1st Amendment, and then use it to establish a religion of their own.
The clause is very straightforward:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”…
By these definitions, there is absolutely no logical argument that can be made that the Federal Government ever has nor is currently engaged in specifically, permanently, and firmly erecting laws, regulations, institutions, rules, or ordinances to “establish” a religion as this nation’s official religion. A rational mind cannot even conceive that, understood as originally intended,this clause has ever been violated by the Federal Government.
Yet, the progressives today have successfully hijacked the clause through their propaganda and the public education system. They have redefined it to mean, “No governmental agency or property shall in any way reference religion, Christianity in particular.” This is the new operative definition of the “establishment clause,” and progressives are feverishly using it to drive out any reference to the Christian religion from anything considered “public.”
There’s only one problem. There are no laws establishing Christianity as our nation’s religion. That is why the battle is not being fought in Congress. There is no legislation to overturn. Instead, progressives, led by the ACLU and atheist organizations, have strategically moved the battle to the courts.
These judges have no laws to cite that are unconstitutional. Instead they cite the “establishment clause” which has been killed, redefined, and resurrected as their straw man…
Progressives have twisted the establishment clause, creating an environment where they use the clause as a pretense to do exactly what it was meant to prevent — in this case, establishing a state mandated religion of secular humanism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis and the Emerging One World Religion
Is Pope Francis taking steps that are laying the groundwork for the emergence of a one world religion? If that question sounds quite bizarre to you, I urge you to read the rest of this article. We live at a time when globalization is advancing rapidly. The global economy is more integrated than it has ever been before, and with each passing year new economic treaties tie us even more closely together. And “global governance” (as the elite like to call it) is also steadily gaining ground. Through a whole host of global institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and the Bank for International Settlements, global governments are working together to a degree that is unprecedented. Well, what about religion? Is there evidence that we are also witnessing the globalization of religion? Well, yes there is. In fact, it appears that Pope Francis intends to lead the way.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Orwellian Doublethink and Controlled Insanity
In order to control millions of people totalitarian governments find it necessary to somehow prod their subjects into accepting that which is not true. Intelligent people will naturally see the truth and thereby comprehend when government lies to them — and so that’s the rub — how does totalitarian government deal with intelligent people when they must be lied to? George Orwell provides the answer — intelligent people must be conditioned to reject self-evident truth — to reject the sanity of common sense — to accept the insanity of Orwellian Doublethink — to accept the lie and the truth in their minds simultaneously — “with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.” In the early stages of totalitarianism the use of Orwellian Newspeak is preferred to blatant in-your-face lies because Newspeak is the clever manipulation of words which mean one thing to the speaker and it’s opposite to the listener — Newspeak lies thereby tend to confuse or escape the notice of unsuspecting people. For example…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
1. Never heard of Paul Eastwood before. I’ll keep an eye out and tell my friends in the UK to support him. It would be a shame to see him go the way of Benny Hill, Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning.
2. “To allah we pledge our complaint” says Jeremiah Adelolajo. Sounds like a new angle on islamic grievance mongering – especially as allah doesn’t exist.
On those Aussie ‘life boats’ which are being used to return illegal immigrants back to their original point of departure, Indonesia – only a left wing rag like the Sydney Morning Herald could write up such bleeding heart drivel.
And only a bleeding heart trumpet like the Herald would call what are obvious illegal immigrants, Asylum Seekers!
Dear Baron,
I would like to share something funny with all readers, it’ s carnival, after all.
I made a translation( with timeline) of two sketches of german top-stand-up comedian Dieter Nuhr about islam, together with a nine minute video on youtube, but before I copy and paste it, tell me if It is worth trying to post it.
yours faithfully
herb
We had a top German stand-up comedian in the UK last week –
Immigration Officer: Name?
Visitor: Angela Merkel
Immigration Officer: Purpose of visit?
Visitor: Guest of honour.
Immigration Officer: Occupation?
Visitor: Er, only a preliminary assessment.
Re: “Hijacking the Establishment Clause” -I’m puzzled by the article’s description of secular humanism as a “religion”; strikes me as akin to defining neutrality as partisanship.
Maybe humanists in the US are a different breed; on this side of the pond most of us are simply opposed to religion’s being granted preferential treatment (which should make us natural allies of the counterjihad, since Islam is the faith most inclined to demand such treatment). Some, such as Pat Condell, literally put themselves at risk, in the face of repeated death threats. With “friends” like the writer of this article, we surely don’t need enemies.