Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/26/2014

General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the head of the Egyptian military, has resigned from his position in order to run for president of Egypt. Gen. el-Sisi took control of the reins of government after the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi from power last summer.

In other news, Suleiman Abu Graith, the son-in-law and former advisor to the late Osama Bin Laden, was convicted of terrorism offenses in a New York courtroom.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Diana West, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, Kitman, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Bank of England, People’s Bank of China in Deal to Settle Yuan Trades
» Deutsche Banker Explains Why He Committed Suicide
» Italy: Recessions Claimed About 350,000 Jobs, Says Economy Ministry
» Italy: Profumo Says MPS Will Raise 3-Bn Euros of Capital in May
» Italy’s Recession Claimed 350,000 Jobs
» World Bank Looks at Russia Economic Downturn Scenarios
 
USA
» Apple, Google, Microsoft, NFL: Suicide by Greed
» Big Pharma Profiteering Gone Wild: $1,000-a-Pill Hepatitis Drug in USA Sells for Less Than $10 in Egypt
» Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law Convicted in Terrorism Conspiracy
» Bin Laden Son-in-Law Found Guilty on Terrorism Charges
» Burger King Baby Finds Her Birth Mother From Facebook Post
» Councilman Suspects Assault on London Man in Brooklyn Was ‘Knockout’ Attack
» Court Rules Teachers Can Have Sex in School Rooms as Long as Kids Don’t Catch Them
» Customer With Gun Rescues Home Depot Security Guard From Syringe Attack
» Elusive Whales Set New Record for Depth and Length of Dives Among Mammals
» Facebook Accused of ‘Astroturfing’ Reddit to Silence Criticism
» Facebook is Buying Oculus VR, a Startup That Makes Virtual Reality Headsets, in a $2 Billion Deal.
» FDA Finally Changes Prescription Recommendations for High-Dose Acetaminophen
» Harry Reid to Return Campaign Funds Paid to Granddaughter for ‘Holiday Gifts’
» Homeland Security is, Fittingly, Moving to an Old Insane Asylum
» How Much is NSA Spying Costing in Lost Productivity?
» Judge Rips Teen With Rare Disease From Family, Awards State Permanent Custody
» Man Struck, Killed by NJ Transit Train in New Brunswick; 3 Hurt by Flying Body Parts
» NASA Announces 2014 Tribal College and University Awards
» Number of People Confirmed Missing in Washington Landslide Drops to 90
» Osama Bin Laden Son-in-Law Convicted on Terror Charges in NY
» Report: NY Schools Are Most Racially Segregated
» Seattle Police Secretly Keep Drones Despite Promise
» Soylent Green: Company Wants You to Eat Your Favorite Celebrity
» The Constitution is Not a Self-Enforcing Document.
» This Common Core Math Problem Asks Kids to Write the ‘Friendly’ Answer, Instead of the Correct One!
» Troops Practice Storming University Building in Fort Lauderdale
» Victim ID’d in Naval Station Norfolk Shooting
 
Canada
» Muslim Father Ordered to Leave Canada After Choking and Threatening His Daughter
 
Europe and the EU
» ‘Botched’ Care Lowers Schumacher’s Chances
» Britain Has Lost Every Attempt to Stop Draconian New Laws From Brussels
» British Scientists Unveils £43m Supercomputer — a New Generation of Machine That Can Make One Million Billion Calculations a Second
» First Batch of Syrian Refugees Arrive in Britain
» Foreign Minister Insists Marines Must be Tried in Italy
» France: Learn From Poll Failure, Hollande Tells Socialists
» Frogs’ Legs: French Police Bust Poaching Ring
» Germany: ‘Black People Ban’ At Berlin Pub Ignites Tension
» Germany: ‘Bling Bishop’ Tebartz-Van Elst Resigns
» Government Agency Recommends Mass Fluoridation of England’s Water Supply
» Ireland: Thomas Sheridan: The “Brand” New Purple Pill (Audio)
» Italians Losing Centuries-Old Grip on Vatican
» Italy Makes No Progress in Marines Talks With India
» Italy: Cabinet Approves Confidence Vote in Bill Nixing Provinces
» Italy’s PM to Talk to Obama About Marines Held in India
» Italy’s Five Star Party to Chose EU MP Candidates Online
» Italy: Right-Wing Anti-Obama Posters Appear in Rome
» Italy Expected to Raise Marines Issue With Obama
» Italy: Sister City Inspires Pompeii Rescue
» NATO Next for Sweden and Finland?
» Netherlands: Killer of Dutch MP Fortuyn to be Freed
» Norway: Stoltenberg Alone in the Race to Lead NATO
» Police in Britain’s Biggest Force Drop 70 Per Cent of All Robbery Investigations
» Pope Appoints New Head of Italian Bishops Conference
» Renzi Says Italy Must Change Approach on EU Funds
» Stoltenberg an ‘Excellent’ Choice for NATO: Cameron
» Sweden: Police Humiliated and Beaten up in Muslim Area
» Sweden: Man Charged After Malmö Man Dangled Off Bridge
» Sweden: ‘Drunks’ Hired to Scare Off Rival Flathunters
» Swedes Catch 40cm ‘Rat From Hell’ In Their Kitchen
» Sweden Jails Nazis for ‘Obvious’ Instigation
» Swiss Railways Pass Million-Passenger Mark
» Switzerland: Avalanche Victim Dies After Night in Alpine Igloo
» Switzerland: Patek Philippe Threatens Geneva Exit Over Taxes
» The War on Wilders, Part 1
» UK: Father Who Faced Bankrupcy in 16-Year Legal Battle Costing £250,000 Over a £1,499 PC World Laptop Finally Wins Damages… of Just £8,000
» UK: Former Dustman Salvaged More Than 5,000 Historic Photographs of WWI Heroes in Action From Rubbish Dumps
» UK: Iraq War Crimes Lawyers Made £2.5 Million Over Claims British Soldiers Murdered Prisoners Despite Inquiry Collapsing Due to Lack Evidence
» UK: Jihad Murderer’s Brother Says His Brother’s Life Sentence is Islamophobic
» UK: Labour MP: ‘My Party Doesn’t Trust Voters Over EU Referendum’
» UK: Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage Clash Over EU in Live LBC Radio Debate
» UK: Pensioner With Broken Back Was Told Off by Paramedics for Calling Ambulance
» UK: Two Carers Slap, Jab and Humiliate Brain-Damaged Patient at Priory Hospital
» Vatican Library Plans to Digitise 82,000 of Its Most Valuable Manuscripts
» Viking Twilight Compass Helps Navigate North Atlantic
» Will French be the Most Spoken Tongue by 2050?
 
Balkans
» Albania Has an Al-Qaeda Problem & It’s Starting to Fight Back
 
North Africa
» Egypt: What Happened When a Blonde Woman in a Sexy Pink Top Walks Through a Cairo University Campus?
» Egypt Continues Crackdown on Sinai Militants, Smuggling Tunnels
» Egypt’s Army Chief El-Sisi Stands Down, Seeks Presidency
» Egypt: Sisi to Run for President, Vows to Tackle Militancy
» General Who Led Takeover of Egypt Will Run for President
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Obama Making Secret Plans to Replace Israel’s Netanyahu?
 
Middle East
» 10 Killed, 20 Wounded in Attacks Across Iraq
» French Police ‘Bust Riviera Terror Plot’
» ‘I Did a Good Deed by Killing Turkish Gendarme’
» Muslim Brotherhood Supporter, Qatar, Turns to U.S. For Support
» Saudi Arabia: Indonesian Migrant Risks Beheading
» Turkey: Orthodox Church Vandalised in Istanbul
» Turkey vs. Syria: NATO’s Last Gasp?
 
Russia
» As G-8 Goes Back to G7, Russia Turns to China and India
» Crimean Military Dolphins to Serve in Russian Navy
» Ex-KGB General: Edward Snowden ‘Collaborated’ With Russian Intelligence
» Former Blackwater Mercenaries Hired as Thought Police in Eastern Ukraine
» In Military Rout, Russia Seizes 51 Ukrainian Ships in Crimea
» In Russia, Boys Learn to Use Military Equipment — In America, Boys Learn to Play Video Games & Ogle Women
» Russia’s Yakov Sinai Wins Maths ‘Nobel’
» Siemens ‘To Invest Long-Term in Russia’
» U.S. Gives Russia Free Military Equipment Used by Army, Marines
» Ukraine Only Has Enough Gasoline for a Month
» Ukraine. Recalling Night of Long Knives
 
South Asia
» Indonesia: West Java: Islamists Block Construction of a Catholic Church
» Possible MH370 Objects Found by French Satellite
» Satellite Spots 122 Possible Objects in Malaysia Jet Search
 
Far East
» A Disappointing Mrs. Obama in Beijing “Deliberately Ignored Egregious Women’s Rights Abuses”
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Bound in Chains Next to Corpses, Nigerian Kidnap Victims Found in House of Hell Where They Were Due to be Sacrificed in Black Magic Rituals by Human Organ Traffickers
» Curbing West Africa’s Ebola Outbreak
» South Africa Mediator Resumes Talks With Striking Platinum Union
 
Latin America
» 19 T&T Muslims Held in Venezuela
» Brazil: Troops Enter Favela Near Rio De Janeiro Airport
 
Immigration
» Denmark Avoiding Muslim Refugees
» Grasso Calls for New Immigration Law for Italy
» Italy to Speed Up Procedures as Migrant Flows Continue
» Sessions Report Demolishes Obama ‘Deporter in Chief’ Myth
» Sweden: ‘EU Needs to Take in More Refugees’: Billström
» UK: 30 Foreign Criminals Dodge Deportation Each Week, Up by a Fifth in a Year
 
Culture Wars
» Government Above the Law
» Sailors Leaving Navy Over Stress on Social Issues, Top Gun Instructor Says
» UK: Gay Marriage Says Something Deep About the Sort of Country We Are, Cameron Says Ahead of First Weddings This Saturday
» UK: Rory Stewart MP, ‘Children Are Opium of the Masses’
 
General
» Human Evolution: The Neanderthal in the Family
 

Bank of England, People’s Bank of China in Deal to Settle Yuan Trades

Agreement Boosts London as Trading Hub for Renminbi

LONDON—Britain moved a step closer Wednesday to cementing its status as the Western hub for financing and trade in the Chinese yuan with an agreement to set up the first official clearing service for the currency outside Asia. Chancellor George Osborne said the Bank of England and the People’s Bank of China will sign a memorandum of agreement on Monday to cover how they will share in the operations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Deutsche Banker Explains Why He Committed Suicide

The dismal list of financial executive deaths has recently increased to 11 in the last few months.

Speculation has surrounded many of these deaths (and suicides) as to the reasoning; none more than the first — William Broeksmit, an executive who worked in Deutsche Bank’s risk function and advised senior leadership who hanged himself in his South Kensington home in late January. However, as the WSJ reports, we now know why this poor man felt compelled to take his own life: he was “anxious about various authorities investigating areas of the bank where he worked” (and yes, we are well aware of the grammatical and temporal impossibilities suggested by this article’s title)…

Here are all the recent untimely financial professional deaths we have witnessed in recent months:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Recessions Claimed About 350,000 Jobs, Says Economy Ministry

Gap widened between rich in poor during 2008 to 2012

(ANSA) — Rome, March 26 — About 350,000 Italians lost their jobs, more people became self-employed, and the gap between rich and poor widened dramatically as a result of Italy’s double-dip recession, the economy ministry said Wednesday.

In a report examining income statements between 2008 and 2012, the ministry said that tax declarations revealed that the number of self-employed grew by 128,000 during the four-year period.

Over the same time, 350,000 workers lost their jobs, while 190,000 fewer people were drawing retirement income.

Italy endured two recessions during that period, the second dip the worst since the Second World War.

But 2008 was also a difficult time in the Italian economy, which recorded three quarters of losses, after reporting a gain of 0.5% in gross domestic product (GDP) in the January through March 2008 period, according to national statistical agency Istat. The subsequent recession that began in the fourth quarter of 2011 and continued through to 2013 led to a GDP loss of 1.9% last year.

The economy ministry found that in 2012, half of taxpayers during this period declared annual income of less than 15,654 euros, while the average annual income reached 19,750 euros.

That suggests a strong divide between the rich and poor in Italy, with about 5% of taxpayers reporting 22.7% of total income, said the ministry.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Profumo Says MPS Will Raise 3-Bn Euros of Capital in May

Troubled bank cheers purchase of shares by US Blackrock

(ANSA) — Siena, March 26 — The troubled bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) will proceed with a share offering to raise three billion euros in capital in mid-May, its President Alessandro Profumo said Wednesday.

“We can start after May 12,” Profumo said on the sidelines of a conference.

Meanwhile, the purchase of a 5.748% stake in MPS by United States fund Blackrock is “an important signal” that demonstrates a renewed interest from international players in the world’s oldest operating bank, said Profumo. “Blackrock is one of the largest asset managers in the world,” he said. “It’s very important to have them wanting to invest,” and sends a sign to other investors that MPS is bank that “did its homework,” said Profumo.

The planned share issue has been tied to repaying part of the 4.1-billion euros in State aid that MPS received from the Italian government as part of a plan to turn the lender around.

Analysts have said the bank may risk nationalization if it fails to generate enough capital to repay State aid.

He also commented on investigations by market regulator Consob and the Guardia di Finanza into the scandal-hit bank’s previous management.

“We have always had a great confidence in the work of the court, always giving our full cooperation,” he said.

Italy’s third-largest bank was thrown into crisis in January 2013 when it emerged that a shady series of derivative and structured-finance deals produced losses of 720 million euros.

Siena prosecutors have been pursuing charges of alleged bribery, corruption, tax evasion and other illicit operations at MPS, which were either related to the bank’s nine-billion-euro acquisition of rival Antonveneta in 2008 or the period following the takeover.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Recession Claimed 350,000 Jobs

Figures released from Italy’s economy ministry on Wednesday revealed that 350,000 Italians lost their jobs during the country’s double-dip recession, while more people became self-employed.

Three quarters of the jobs were claimed in 2008, as the first recession got underway, with most of the rest being lost during the second and longest post-war recession that began in the last quarter of 2011.

The details were revealed as part of the ministry’s report into tax declarations between 2008 and 2012.

But as the recession took hold, more people set up their own ventures, with the number of self-employed growing by 128,000 during the same period, while there were 198,000 fewer people drawing retirement income.

The country’s jobless rate also hit a record 12.9 percent in January.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

World Bank Looks at Russia Economic Downturn Scenarios

In a first estimate by a leading international institution, the World Bank has gauged the potential economic damage the Kremlin’s standoff with the West may cause to Russia. But not all problems are linked to Crimea.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Apple, Google, Microsoft, NFL: Suicide by Greed

PandoDaily has uncovered a wide-ranging scandal among tech giants. It’s basically an illegal scheme to limit wages by agreeing not to lure employees away from each other with the promise of higher salaries (see also this link).

Companies involved? At first, just a few. But Pando has found evidence that many giants are in on the scheme, and “all told, the combined workforces of the companies involved totals well over a million employees.”

The companies? Google, Apple, Microsoft, Pixar, Intuit, Lucasfilm, IBM, Dell, eBay, Comcast, Clear Channel, Dreamworks, Adobe, Genentech. That’s quite a list.

Obviously, these corporations fear dents in their bottom-line, because prior to wage-fixing agreements, they were engaged in escalating bidding wars to grab employees from each other.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Big Pharma Profiteering Gone Wild: $1,000-a-Pill Hepatitis Drug in USA Sells for Less Than $10 in Egypt

(NaturalNews) The financial raping of America by Big Pharma has just achieved a new milestone with the impending launch of a Hepatitis C drug that costs $1,000 a pill. If you’ve ever wondered why U.S. health care is so unaffordable and inaccessible — and why health insurance costs are bankrupting businesses and municipalities across the nation — this is exactly why. The same drug that sells for $1,000 a pill in the USA — named “Sovaldi” — sells for just $10 in Egypt, or 1/100th the USA price.

Drug companies are, of course, granted FDA-enforced monopolies on the treatment of anything considered a “disease.” As such, drugs are pushed into the marketplace at monopoly prices. Because if you’re the CEO of Gilead Sciences, Inc., makers of the Sovaldi drug to be sold at $1,000 a pill, your job is to maximize revenues by any means necessary. When you’re handed a monopoly by the FDA, the strategy for achieving that is simple: Raise the price to whatever you can get away with, then bill the insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid for $100, $500 or even $1,000 a pill.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bin Laden’s Son-in-Law Convicted in Terrorism Conspiracy

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the most senior adviser to Osama bin Laden to be tried in a civilian United States court since the Sept. 11 attacks, was convicted on Wednesday of conspiring to kill Americans and providing material support to terrorists.

Mr. Abu Ghaith, a 48-year-old Kuwaiti-born cleric known for his fiery oratory, had recorded impassioned speeches for Bin Laden after Sept. 11, in which he praised the attacks and promised that future attacks would be carried out.

The defendant unexpectedly took the witness stand last week, offering a vivid account of being summoned by Bin Laden on the night of the attacks to meet with him in his cave in the Afghan mountains.

[Return to headlines]
 

Bin Laden Son-in-Law Found Guilty on Terrorism Charges

Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law has been found guilty on terrorism charges by a court in New York. His three-week trial has been the most-high profile al Qaeda case to reach a US federal court.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Burger King Baby Finds Her Birth Mother From Facebook Post

A woman who is known as the Burger King baby has now found her mother through Facebook. Years ago her mom left her in the bathroom of a Burger King and she wanted to be reunited. This is one very important relationship that she never knew if she would be able to have and now she has found her mother. On March 26, NBC Chicago shared about this great update for Katheryn Deprill.

It only took her three weeks to find her mom.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Councilman Suspects Assault on London Man in Brooklyn Was ‘Knockout’ Attack

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A tourist from London in town for a wedding was attacked and beaten in Brooklyn early Tuesday, in what a City Councilman said might have been another “knockout” attack.

As 1010 WINS’ Sonia Rincon reported, the 65-year-old man was attacked on McDonald Avenue near 18th Avenue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, as he left the wedding around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Court Rules Teachers Can Have Sex in School Rooms as Long as Kids Don’t Catch Them

As long as the kids are away, teachers can play, a panel of judges said Thursday, ruling that educators shouldn’t be fired for having sex with one another — even in their classrooms. The Manhattan appellate judges said foreign-language teachers Alini Brito, 34, and Cindy Mauro, 38, were treated too harshly when they were dismissed for engaging in a topless classroom tryst inside Brooklyn’s James Madison HS in 2009. “The penalty of termination is shockingly disproportionate,” said the ruling, which noted that “engagement in what appeared to be consensual sexual conduct with an adult colleague is not in and of itself criminal or otherwise improper.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Customer With Gun Rescues Home Depot Security Guard From Syringe Attack

When a drug-addled man caught shoplifting at a Home Depot in Roseville, Ill., began violently resisting detainment Monday, a quick-thinking, gun-toting customer came to the rescue.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Elusive Whales Set New Record for Depth and Length of Dives Among Mammals

A new long-term study looking at the elusive Cuvier’s beaked whale reveals the deepest and longest dives ever seen among mammals.

The new records indicate behavior that is much more varied and extreme than scientists expected for this species, says Simone Baumann-Pickering, a marine mammal biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. One exceptional whale dove to 9,816 feet (2,992 meters), while a second stayed down for 138 minutes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook Accused of ‘Astroturfing’ Reddit to Silence Criticism

Facebook has been accused of “astroturfing” Reddit by flooding the website with fake comments praising the company’s move to purchase virtual reality headset maker Oculus in a $2 billion dollar deal.

Last night it was announced that the social networking giant had agreed to acquire Oculus for $400 million in cash and $1.6 billion in shares.

Reddit users responded to the acquisition by expressing fears that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s control of Oculus could ruin the company’s progress.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Facebook is Buying Oculus VR, a Startup That Makes Virtual Reality Headsets, in a $2 Billion Deal.

Oculus doesn’t make a consumer product yet, but its headset called the Oculus Rift for video game developers has completely changed the way many feel about video games.

The device is nearly impossible to describe. It makes you feel like you’re truly immersed in a virtual environment. It’s one of those things you have to try to fully understand. And we guarantee it’ll blow your mind.

Console gaming companies have sensed the threat of Oculus, which is why Sony announced a similar headset for its new PlayStation 4 gaming console. However, it’s unclear when Sony’s headset will launch.

The question now is: why would Facebook buy a video game hardware company?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

FDA Finally Changes Prescription Recommendations for High-Dose Acetaminophen

Acetaminophen, sold under the brand name Tylenol, among others, may be among the most dangerous medicines on the market. I’m sure this comes as a surprise to most of you, as virtually every single household keeps a bottle on hand for the occasional ache and pain, and doesn’t think twice about taking it.

Not thinking, it turns out, could cost you dearly… Acetaminophen overdose is actually the leading cause for calls to Poison Control Centers across the US — more than 100,000 instances per year — and, each year, is responsible for:1

  • More than 56,000 emergency room visits
  • 2,600 hospitalizations
  • An estimated 458 deaths due to acute liver failure

In fact, according to data from the Acute Liver Failure Study Group registry, acetaminophen poisoning is responsible for nearly HALF of ALL acute liver failure cases in the US.2 As stated in a paper published in the journal Hepatology3 an entire decade ago:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Harry Reid to Return Campaign Funds Paid to Granddaughter for ‘Holiday Gifts’

Forced by the Federal Election Commission to explain where $17,000 from his campaign went, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged giving the money to his granddaughter for “holiday gifts” in late 2013, and finally reimbursed the money to his campaign.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Homeland Security is, Fittingly, Moving to an Old Insane Asylum

It’s “a boondoggle of epic proportions,” an exasperated Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) told Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson at a recent congressional hearing, “if you’re in the middle of a huge mess, you stop digging.”

The specific object of Hudson’s ire was department’s massive new headquarters complex in southeast Washington, the biggest federal construction project since the Pentagon. As the Washington Times reported Sunday, the project — featuring amenities like eco-friendly “rainwater toilets” and sustainable Brazilian hardwood decking — is running at least a decade late and over a billion dollars short.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

How Much is NSA Spying Costing in Lost Productivity?

Spy Agencies Are Spying On All Of Us, Taking Screenshots of Our Webchats, Creating Vulnerabilities On Our Computers and the Internet, and Intentionally Disrupting Some of Our Functionalities …

NSA spying is costing the U.S. tech industry tens of billions of dollars.

And see this and this.

It also undermines trust in U.S. companies, fellow Americans and our government. Given that trust is the foundation for a prosperous economy, this is really bad for our economy.

But there might be another big cost to mass surveillance: loss of worker productivity.

Specifically, top computer and internet experts say that NSA spying breaks the functionality of our computers and of the Internet. It reduces functionality and reduces security by — for example — creating backdoors that malicious hackers can get through.

Remember, American and British spy agencies have intentionally weakened security for many decades. And it’s getting worse and worse. For example, they plan to use automated programs to infect millions of computers.

How much time and productivity have we lost in battling viruses let in because of the spies tinkering? How much have we lost because “their” computer programs conflict with “our” programs?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Judge Rips Teen With Rare Disease From Family, Awards State Permanent Custody

The judge in a year-long custody battle over a Connecticut teen has awarded permanent custody to the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

Judge Joseph Johnston issued the ruling Tuesday afternoon, in response to a motion, presented by the 15-year-old’s court-appointed lawyer and the lawyers for her parents, Linda and Lou Pelletier of West Hartford, Conn., which called for the parents to be awarded “conditional custody” of their daughter Justina.

It’s now up to DCF to determine if or when Pelletier should be allowed to go home or whether she can be moved to a foster home closer to her family in Conn.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Man Struck, Killed by NJ Transit Train in New Brunswick; 3 Hurt by Flying Body Parts

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) — A man was struck and killed as he leaned into the path of a NJ TRANSIT train at the New Brunswick station Tuesday afternoon. Three others were hospitalized after they were hit by the man’s flying body parts.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NASA Announces 2014 Tribal College and University Awards

NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has awarded approximately $2 million in new cooperative agreements to three tribal colleges and universities (TCUs).

These new agreements provide opportunities for TCU students, faculty and staff to engage in NASA-related science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) activities.

The awards, made through the NASA Tribal College and University Experiential Learning Opportunity (TCU-ELO) program, has a three-year performance period and range in value from $512,700 to $783,000. The agreements will assist these tribal colleges and their partners in the creation of experiential learning opportunities for students.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Number of People Confirmed Missing in Washington Landslide Drops to 90

Rescuers sifting through debris at the site of a massive landslide in Washington State recovered no bodies on Wednesday, leaving the death toll at 16, the authorities said.

The authorities said 140 people in the small community of Oso who were earlier believed to be missing were safe and well. Ninety people remained unaccounted for and the status of 35 people was unknown, officials said.

Rescuers were not able to recover 8 other bodies that were believed to be buried, officials said.

[Return to headlines]
 

Osama Bin Laden Son-in-Law Convicted on Terror Charges in NY

US jury convicts Suleiman Abu Ghaith of conspiring to kill Americans after trial in which the al-Qaeda propagandist described cave meeting with Osama bin Laden just hours after 9/11 attacks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Report: NY Schools Are Most Racially Segregated

NEW YORK (AP) — New York state has the most segregated public schools in the nation, with many black and Latino students attending schools with virtually no white classmates, according to a report released Wednesday.

In New York City, the largest school system in the U.S. with 1.1 million pupils, the study notes that many of the charter schools created over the last dozen years are among the least diverse of all, with less than 1 percent white enrollment at 73 percent of charter schools.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Seattle Police Secretly Keep Drones Despite Promise

FOIA request proves police still have drones despite year old promise to return them

A Freedom of Information Act request published Tuesday revealed that the Seattle Police Department has secretly kept two surveillance drones despite assuring residents that they would return them to their vendor last February.

In 2010, Seattle police used federal grant money from the Department of Homeland Security to quietly obtain two Draganflyer X-6 surveillance drones as well as flight training for select officers. After a 2012 lawsuit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed the acquisition, public outcry ensued.

While attempts were made by the embattled department to quell public concern, former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn ordered an immediate halt to the program in early 2013, also announcing that both drones would be returned to their vendor.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Soylent Green: Company Wants You to Eat Your Favorite Celebrity

A company is aiming to take advantage of the mindless celebrity worship culture by planning to feed fanatics their favorite celebrities.

Hundreds of people are petitioning celebrities to donate tissue samples to BiteLabs.org, a company that says it will produce “artisanal salami” from celebrity tissue samples for human consumption.

[Comment: End Goal: Non-nutritious synthetic-food for masses; real food for elites.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Constitution is Not a Self-Enforcing Document.

Although the Constitution is the supreme law of our land and provides limits on the powers and authorities of our federal, state and local governments, its words cannot and will not leap off the page and enforce themselves.

The common folk of America must be the champions of their own liberty.

The people of America, if they would choose to enjoy the Blessings of Liberty, must first choose to study, understand, and then apply the principles of the American View of law and government.

It has always been so, that the greatest threat to the people’s liberties, is the centralized power of civil government. It is strikingly apparent now that the agenda coming from Washington, D.C. represents an attempt to centralize and extend the control of the few over the many.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

This Common Core Math Problem Asks Kids to Write the ‘Friendly’ Answer, Instead of the Correct One!

A second grader’s answers to a Common Core-aligned math worksheet were marked as incorrect because they weren’t “friendly” enough… even though they were the right answers.

A screenshot of the worksheet was posted to Twitter. The teacher wrote that even though the questions — addition and subtraction problems — were solved correctly, the student used the wrong technique to arrive at the answers.

“Correct answers, but let’s find the ‘friendly’ numbers,” wrote the teacher.

The teacher wanted the student to solve “530 — 270 = ?” in the following manner: First, add 30 to both numbers, changing the problem to “560 — 300 = ?”. These numbers are the “friendly” numbers, because they are supposedly easier to work with.

The student, however, simply subtracted 270 from 530 the good old-fashioned way, arriving at the same answer. Unfortunately, this is not a Common Core-approved technique.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Troops Practice Storming University Building in Fort Lauderdale

Fallujah came to Florida this week as residents in Fort Lauderdale were shocked to see Navy SEALS practicing storming a university building from a Black Hawk chopper as part of military drills taking place this week in Broward County…

While the DoD says the exercises are designed to train U.S. troops in urban warfare techniques for use overseas, local reporter Chris Joseph said the drills served the dual purpose of “scaring the crap out of people,” just as similar drills in Miami in 2012 terrorized residents. Such drills habitually stoke concerns that authorities are acclimating Americans to accept a state of martial law.

News of the planned exercises first broke last month, but the city refused to release details due to “national security concerns”. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the drills, which run until tomorrow, will also involve “flash-bang devices and the sounds of gunfire”.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Victim ID’d in Naval Station Norfolk Shooting

NORFOLK, Va. (WTVR) — Commanders call the 24-year-old shot and killed during a shooting at Naval Station Norfolk Monday a hero.

WTKR reports Norfolk Naval Base commander Robert Clark said that Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Mark A. Mayo sacrificed himself to save others.

“It was incredibly extraordinary,” Clark said.

The shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Monday at Pier 1 onboard the USS Mahan.

Officials said Mayo was protecting a sailor who first confronted a civilian intruder, a truck driver that tried to board the destroyer. The suspect disarmed the watch stander and then turned the watch stander’s gun on Mayo.

“He jumped into the way between the gunman and the petty officer of the watch. She fell to the ground. He covered her and he basically gave his life for hers,” Clark said.

Mayo and the intruder were killed in the shooting.

Agents said they know who the man is, but are still uncertain as to why he boarded the destroyer and wrestled a gun away from the sailor.

“We have been able to rule out any additional threat to the Navy pertaining to this civilian. We have ruled out any link to terrorism. And preliminary facts do not indicate this was a pre-planned attack,” officials said.

[Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Father Ordered to Leave Canada After Choking and Threatening His Daughter

by Robert Spencer

An earlier NTV report stated that Khalaf Alshaek threatened his daughter for marrying a non-Muslim, but this report suggests that what enraged him was simply that she married without his knowledge. In any case, this was an Islamic honor killing in the making. Note that the Judge Walsh cites “cultural differences,” but does not allow them as a mitigating factor, unlike Magistrate Ron Saines in Australia. If followed consistently, that could be a sign that there is life in Canada yet.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Botched’ Care Lowers Schumacher’s Chances

Formula One’s former chief doctor has said “serious lapses” in early treatment may have worsened Michael Schumacher’s condition and warned his chances of recovery from a skiing accident are decreasing over time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Britain Has Lost Every Attempt to Stop Draconian New Laws From Brussels

Official figures show that the British government has failed to stop 55 new laws being introduced by the European Council since 1996.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

British Scientists Unveils £43m Supercomputer — a New Generation of Machine That Can Make One Million Billion Calculations a Second

A brand new supercomputer worth £43million which is capable of more than one million billion calculations every second will be unveiled today.

The multi-million pound ARCHER (Academic Research Computing High End Resource) supercomputer will be seen at the University of Edinburgh.

It is the most powerful computer system in the UK and will provide high performance computing support for research and industry projects across the country.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

First Batch of Syrian Refugees Arrive in Britain

LONDON, March 25 (Xinhua) — The first batch of Syrian refugees arrived in Britain Tuesday, as part of a government scheme aimed at supporting several hundred “most vulnerable refugees” over the next three years, the British Home Office said Tuesday.

The refugees will be granted five years’ humanitarian protection under Britain’s Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme, with the rights and benefits that go with that status, including access to public funds and the labor market and the possibility of family reunion, the Home Office said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Foreign Minister Insists Marines Must be Tried in Italy

(AGI) The Hague, March 25 — Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini has said that the “internationalisation of this trial is the path we are following,” and that the jurisdiction must be Italian. Mogherini added, “We do not acknowledge Indian jurisdiction, and if there is conflict then internationalisation is the path needed.” Following her meeting with her Indian colleague, Salman Khurshid, in the Hague on Tuesday, Mogherini said that there had been a “frank exchange of opinions.” ..

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

France: Learn From Poll Failure, Hollande Tells Socialists

French President Francois Hollande told his ministers on Wednesday they needed to “learn a lesson” from the Socialists’ poor showing in local elections, the government spokeswoman said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Frogs’ Legs: French Police Bust Poaching Ring

A large-scale poaching operation of one of France’s most prized delicacies, frogs’ legs, has left a trio of Frenchmen facing jail. The French hunger for frog parts has left certain species in danger.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: ‘Black People Ban’ At Berlin Pub Ignites Tension

A landlord has ignited already strained tensions around drug dealing in a Berlin park by telling a newspaper he had banned black people from his pub. But on Tuesday he told The Local he had been misquoted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: ‘Bling Bishop’ Tebartz-Van Elst Resigns

Germany’s most controversial clergyman, who earned the nickname the “bling bishop” for spending €31 million on a new headquarters, has resigned from his post.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Government Agency Recommends Mass Fluoridation of England’s Water Supply

A governmental health authority is urging English cities to consider mass fluoridation of their water supplies in what they say will be a “safe and effective” way to increase public health.

Officials with Public Health England, a governmental entity purporting to be all about “helping people to stay healthy, and protecting them from threats to their health,” have cited figures they say indicate adding the industrial toxic waste chemical is not as bad as once perceived…

Harvard research, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in 2012, for example, showed “children in high fluoride areas had significantly lower IQ than those who lived in low fluoride areas.”

Another Harvard study, covered by the London Observer in 2005, also found that “Fluoride in tap water can cause bone cancer in boys,” and that “boys exposed to fluoride between the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma — bone cancer — between the ages of 10 and 19.”

No matter the obscene volumes of literature highlighting fluoride’s ill effects, Public Health England officials are set to start urging city councils to “consult their local populations on the issue.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ireland: Thomas Sheridan: The “Brand” New Purple Pill (Audio)

Thomas Sheridan is an artist, writer and musician from Ireland. He is the author of Puzzling People: The Labyrinth of the Psychopath and The Anvil of the Psyche. We’ll discuss Russell Brand’s interview on British Brain Control (BBC) where he advocated a SOCIALIST EGALITARIAN system based on the massive redistribution of wealth to solve today’s political problems. We’ll talk about why a socialist egalitarian system will most definitely not solve problems or free the people. Thomas explains how Russell Brand, the arm chair socialist, is not waking people up. Brand is put on the TV screens to placate the ones already ‘awake’, and to put you back to sleep in the belief that this is some kind of victory. It’s isn’t — it is showbiz being used as a social engineering tool yet again. We’ll talk about Brand’s connections, including The New Statesman, started by the Fabian Society, the London School of Economics, symbolism around him and his ideas of a new age collective utopia.

[Comments: Interesting interview.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italians Losing Centuries-Old Grip on Vatican

A quiet revolution is afoot in the Vatican. With many of Pope Francis’s new appointments, control over the powerful city state is slipping, slowly but surely, from the centuries-old grip of the Italian hierarchy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Makes No Progress in Marines Talks With India

Mogherini meets Khurshid in The Hague

(ANSA) — Rome, March 25 — Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said Tuesday that no progress was made in “frank” talks with her Indian counterpart in The Hague on the case of two Italian marines held in India for over two years for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission. “No steps forward or striking developments (came during the talks),” she said in Rome after meeting Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid during a summit on nuclear security. Lately Italy has been trying to rally international support among the EU, the US, NATO and the UN to bring home Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who have been held in New Delhi since February 2012, after they allegedly opened fire on a fishing trawler they mistook for a pirate vessel.

It is also planning to try to have international arbitration on the case, which has seriously strained Indian-Italian relations, especially before prosecutors ruled out the death penalty as a possible sentence earlier this year.

They now face up to 10 years in prison, prosecutors say.

Italy argues that the case sets dangerous and wide-ranging precedents for any country involved in anti-piracy missions overseas.

The incident occurred while the marines were guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.

The pair have been living and working at the Italian embassy in India amid a long series of delays in the case.

Rome says the marines should be allowed to return home and argues India does not have jurisdiction over the case as the incident took place outside its territorial waters.

“We reiterated our determination to explore all the political and legal actions (possible) to see our rights recognised and to exercise jurisdiction over the marines case,” said Mogherini.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Cabinet Approves Confidence Vote in Bill Nixing Provinces

Part of effort to trim expenses, simplify governance

(ANSA) — Rome, March 26 — The cabinet of Premier Matteo Renzi authorized a confidence vote in a bill to eliminate Italian provinces on Wednesday after struggling to drum up support in the Senate a day earlier. Putting the bill to a confidence vote obliges supporters of Renzi to approve it or risk toppling the government.

The bill is part of a wider effort to trim spending and make the country easier to govern. It also aims to encourage mergers of municipal governments.

Other planned measures meant to streamline government include a bill to eventually strip the Senate of its lawmaking ability, leaving that role to the Lower House. The weaknesses and pitfalls of Italy’s complex political system were brought into sharp focus in February last year, when a virtual three-way tie in national elections brought parliament to a grinding halt that lasted for two months.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s PM to Talk to Obama About Marines Held in India

(AGI) Rome, March 26 — Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is to discuss the case of two Italian marines held in India pending trial for murder during a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Rome’s Villa Madama on Thursday. “I’m sure the issue will be raised tomorrow,” Staffan De Mistura, the government’s special envoy to India, told Italy’s Chamber of Deputies. “The Americans are very sensitive to the issue,” he said. The marines are accused of killing two Indian fishermen.

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

Italy’s Five Star Party to Chose EU MP Candidates Online

(AGI) Rome, March 26 — Candidates to become European MPs will be chosen online, said the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, Beppe Grillo. “The Five Star Movement promotes participation to the 2014 European elections asking applicants selected online, according to the rules laid down below, to list their names below the five-star symbol,” he wrote on his blog in a post titled “Political Communication number 54”.

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

Italy: Right-Wing Anti-Obama Posters Appear in Rome

Organizations blame US for economic crisis, side with Putin

(ANSA) — Rome, March 26 — Pro-Russia, anti-United States posters signed by right-wing associations appeared in Rome Wednesday ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama, who lands at Fiumicino airport later in the day.

“Rome is with Putin. Obama unwelcome guest,” read the posters, referring to friction over Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

“Obama symbolizes the worst American imperialism. To those who would demonize Putin, we answer that Europe is still occupied by more than 110,000 American soldiers and 170 American bases. Europe has no say in its foreign policy outside of what NATO dictates. The economic crisis is the price paid for submission to the American economic model”, the organizations said in a communique.

It was signed by Roma Nord, Movimento Sociale Europeo, Contro Tempo, XX Flotta, Comunità Militante Formello, Ostia. The city authority quickly set about removing the posters.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Expected to Raise Marines Issue With Obama

Envoy says America understands problems with India

(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 26 — The Italian government will raise the case of two Italian anti-piracy marines held in India for the deaths of two fishermen during meetings Thursday with United States President Barak Obama, Italy’s special envoy in the case said Wednesday.

“I am certain that the case (of two marines) will be raised tomorrow,” during the formal meetings, Staffan de Mistura said.

“The Americans are very well aware of how important this issue is for us, and they have also had their difficult times (with India),” added de Mistura.

On Friday, the Indian Supreme Court will examine an appeal filed by the Italian marines accused of killing two Indian Earlier this month, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone filed a petition to prevent the Indian authorities from permitting that country’s NIA anti-terrorism police to probe the case.

The court is also expected to review the marine’s request to return to Italy to await the beginning of the trial.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Sister City Inspires Pompeii Rescue

Ancient Pompeii, which suffered three wall collapses this month, may look to its smaller sister city Herculaneum for tips to ensure its survival. Both cities, located on Italy’s Neapolitan coast, were simultaneously destroyed and preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ad 79, but the historic site of Herculaneum is faring much better, thanks to a sustainable conservation project.

Now an international research consortium is planning a similar pilot scheme for Pompeii. And researchers and officials are hoping that a €105-million (US$145-million) European Union project to restore Pompeii will also draw on lessons from Herculaneum.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NATO Next for Sweden and Finland?

Russia’s annexation of Crimea has prompted non-aligned Sweden and Finland to weigh defense options such as beefing up partnership with NATO or formally joining the alliance. Analysts say it’s up to Russia what’s next.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Killer of Dutch MP Fortuyn to be Freed

Volkert Van der Graaf, serving an 18-year sentence for the 2002 murder of openly gay Dutch MP Pim Fortuyn, could be freed in May.

The man who killed flamboyant far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn more than a decade ago could be freed as early as May. Volkert Van der Graaf, 44, is serving an 18-year sentence for the 2002 murder of the outspoken and openly gay Fortuyn, an act that shattered the liberal Netherlands’ image of itself as a unified and secure society.

Van der Graaf “can be freed on parole from May 2,” junior Justice Minister Fred Teeven told journalists, after rejecting freeing him in October as he still “posed a threat to public order.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Stoltenberg Alone in the Race to Lead NATO

Norwegian former prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is now the only candidate left in the race to be Secretary General of NATO, Norway’s DN newspaper has reported, citing “numerous sources with knowledge of the process”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Police in Britain’s Biggest Force Drop 70 Per Cent of All Robbery Investigations

Figures for the Metropolitan Police show almost three-quarters of 29,662 robberies reported to Scotland Yard in 2013 ended in no further action.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Appoints New Head of Italian Bishops Conference

(AGI) Vatican City, March 26 — Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Nunzio Galantino Secretary General of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) for five years. The Bishop of Cassano allo Jonio has held the position on an interim basis since late December. The Pope has decided for now not to change the procedure for the appointment of the secretary of the CEI, making it an elective office. The Permanent Council of Bishops has prepared proposals to amend the statute on the appointment of the president. The announcement was made on Wednesday at the end of a meeting of the Permanent Council.

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

Renzi Says Italy Must Change Approach on EU Funds

Premier says ‘bureaucratic’ approach must be left behind

(ANSA) — Scalea, March 26 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday that Italy needs to change the way it manages European Union funding. “Let’s look at ourselves in the eyes, because it’s necessary to have the courage to say that we have to totally change approach with the management of European funds, leaving behind a bureaucratic way of managing them,” Renzi said during a visit to a southern school.

There are frequent complaints that Italy fails to pocket its full allocation of EU funds and mismanages parts of the money it does receive.

Renzi added that Italy no longer goes to EU meetings like a naughty child that has not done its homework as regards to putting its public finances in order.

“I go to Europe with my head held high when I represent Italy, a great country,” Renzi said, reiterating that Rome will respect its budget commitments to the EU.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Stoltenberg an ‘Excellent’ Choice for NATO: Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday declared that former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was “an ex cellent” candidate for the Nato leadership, the first time the leader of a leading Nato country has made a public comment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Police Humiliated and Beaten up in Muslim Area

Radical imams, patrolling Muslim father groups and Sharia courts are safe in Europe’s Muslim-ruled areas, while non-Islamic authorities are regularly attacked. Bergsjön is one of Sweden’s many infamous, out-of-control Muslim-dominated districts. Via 10news.dk, translated from Avpixlat by Nicolai Sennels.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Man Charged After Malmö Man Dangled Off Bridge

A man has been charged on the suspicion of aggravated assault after another man was badly beaten and nearly thrown off a bridge in Malmö, while his 18-month-old son looked on.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ‘Drunks’ Hired to Scare Off Rival Flathunters

A bunch of men “squealing like stuck pigs” showed up at 6pm on the dot only to meander off when a flat showing in a trendy area of Stockholm concluded 30 minutes later — with their howls prompting the estate agent’s suspicion.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedes Catch 40cm ‘Rat From Hell’ In Their Kitchen

PICTURES: A Stockholm family was horrified to find a monster “viking” rat living in their kitchen. Pest controllers who were called in to catch the beast found it measured 40 centimetres — not including the tail.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden Jails Nazis for ‘Obvious’ Instigation

A Swedish court on Wednesday jailed the Stockholm head of the Swedish Resistance Movement (SMR) and said that the neo-Nazis present at the Stockholm demo gone awry were “obviously” the ones to attack.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Railways Pass Million-Passenger Mark

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) carried more than a million passengers a day in 2013 for the first time in its history, the state-owned rail operator said on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Avalanche Victim Dies After Night in Alpine Igloo

A 40-year-old Fribourg man who survived an avalanche in the Swiss Alps died after spending a night in an igloo he built with his girlfriend, police said on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Patek Philippe Threatens Geneva Exit Over Taxes

The family that owns Patek Philippe, one of the world’s most prestigious watch brands, is threatening to move its headquarters away from Geneva or to sell up because of “high taxes”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The War on Wilders, Part 1

by Diana West

Behold the statue of The Dockworker in Amsterdam (found here via here). It stands between the Portugese Synagogue and the Jewish Historical Museum on Jonas Daniel Meijerplein Square.

Of course, all eyes are drawn to the black flag of Al Qaeda, that elongated and Arabian-curled swaztika, waving beside it.

Back to the statue for a history lesson that makes the appalling symbolism apparent. Below is a screenshot from A Travel Guide to Jewish Europe. It tells us that nearly three-quarters of a century ago, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Dutch dockworkers went on strike to protest the Nazi seizure of 400 young Dutch Jews for deportation and all but certain death. The dockworkers’ strike, the guidebook tells us, was “brutally put down by the Germans.” The statue commemorates this Dutch protest of yore to save Jewish citizens from the genocially anti-Semitic and supremacist Nazis.

Pause a moment to consider the Islamic ex-Mufti’s alliance during World War Ii with Nazi Germany. Such anti-Semitism and supremacism is mirrored in centuries of canonical Islam, which is exemplified in its most violent form in that black flag of jihad.

Think about the popularity of Mein Kampf in Islamic countries today, and Hitler, too. Consider also the Islamic anti-Semitism that undergirds the Iranian drive for nuclear weapons, the Iranian drive to destroy Israel. The black flag of jihad, an abomination anywhere, could hardly be more offensive than here in this Dutch square.

What’s going on? The short answer is a protest, but it’s hard to imagine that occupation, anti-Semitism and supremacism are being protested as they were in Amsterdam on that day long ago. On the contrary, after decades in the Netherlands of Islamizing waves of Muslim immigration and Marx-inspired multiculturalism, this Amsterdam gathering last Saturday was called to oppose “racism” — specifically, the purported “racism” of Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV), the leading Dutch opponents of Islamization and multiculturalism.

Put another way, these anti-Wilders protestors came together to ensure that Islamization, multiculturalism and, thus, also anti-Semitism and supremacism, continue to transform the Netherlands. How? By demonizing Wilders, the truth-teller about Islam — and, not at all incidentally, one of the all-time greatest political champions of Israel in Europe. They are trying, once again, to make political opposition to Islamization and mutliculturalism anathema…

           — Hat tip: Diana West [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Father Who Faced Bankrupcy in 16-Year Legal Battle Costing £250,000 Over a £1,499 PC World Laptop Finally Wins Damages… of Just £8,000

An oil worker who has been facing bankrupcy by spending £250,000 on legal fees today won a 16-year court battle over a laptop.

Richard Durkin, a 44-year-old father of two, claimed that HFC Bank ruined his credit rating after he tried to back out of an agreement to buy a computer from PC World for £1,499.

He took his case to court and initially won, but it was overturned. However, today the Supreme Court in Central London allowed his appeal and ruled he should receive damages of £8,000.

Mr Durkin said that he was disappointed the Supreme Court did not restore the damages of £116,000 awarded by a Scottish court in 2008.

But he added in a statement: ‘This decision is a great victory for all consumers and I am proud to have been the driving force behind it. Long battle: Father-of-two Richard Durkin claimed that HFC Bank ruined his credit rating

Long battle: Father-of-two Richard Durkin claimed that HFC Bank ruined his credit rating

‘As a result of the decision, no consumer will have to endure again what I had to put up with — the loss of the ability to buy a family home because of wrongful blacklisting of me.

‘Taking a case to any court is a huge stress, but taking it to the highest court in the land with all the risks that go with it was the most stressful thing that anyone could voluntarily put themselves through. But sometimes you have to do what is right, and not what is easy.

‘This case was not all about me. It was about principle for all consumers. I always felt that PC World and HFC Bank had acted disgracefully towards me, and I have now been proved right.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Former Dustman Salvaged More Than 5,000 Historic Photographs of WWI Heroes in Action From Rubbish Dumps

Bob Smethurst, from Sussex, spent 36 years working in refuse and began saving the remarkable images from landfill because he could not bear to see them destroyed.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Iraq War Crimes Lawyers Made £2.5 Million Over Claims British Soldiers Murdered Prisoners Despite Inquiry Collapsing Due to Lack Evidence

Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers represented the relatives of more than 20 Iraqis who claimed the men were taken prisoner by British soldiers, and later mistreated and murdered.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Jihad Murderer’s Brother Says His Brother’s Life Sentence is Islamophobic

The brother of one of Lee Rigby’s murderers said today that the decision to give his sibling a whole life prison sentence was Islamophobic.

The British-born extremists mowed down Fusilier Rigby in a car before hacking him to death in the street in front of horrified onlookers near Woolwich Barracks in south-east London in May last year.

They both claimed that they were ‘soldiers of Allah’ and were motivated by the plight of Muslims abroad to carry out the killing, and have shown no remorse.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Labour MP: ‘My Party Doesn’t Trust Voters Over EU Referendum’

Labour’s “elite” won’t offer a referendum on Europe because it doesn’t trust the electorate to vote the right way, one of the party’s own MPs said yesterday.

Ian Davidson said some of his colleagues believe voters cannot be “trusted” on the issue despite widespread concern about Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

           — Hat tip: Kitman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage Clash Over EU in Live LBC Radio Debate

The Lib Dem and UK Independence leaders repeatedly disagree about the facts and figures of EU membership in a debate on LBC Radio

Nick Clegg insisted that European Union membership and European migrants are a boost for the British economy as he clashed with Nigel Farage in a live debate. The Lib Dem and UK Independence leaders repeatedly disagreed about the facts and figures of EU membership in a debate on LBC Radio…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Pensioner With Broken Back Was Told Off by Paramedics for Calling Ambulance

Geoffrey Sharp, of Oxford, called 999 after falling over at his home — but the medics who attended told him ‘ambulances are for emergencies’, before leaving him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Two Carers Slap, Jab and Humiliate Brain-Damaged Patient at Priory Hospital

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Rita Page, 68, and Lynette Crook, 33, were secretly filmed smacking the young victim’s legs and swearing at him as they changed his bedding in Bury.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Library Plans to Digitise 82,000 of Its Most Valuable Manuscripts

A rare Roman manuscript featuring the poems of Virgil dating back to 400AD is among thousands of historic items the Vatican’s library plans to publish online. Vatican Apostolic Library, founded in 1451 and considered one of the world’s most important research libraries, is hoping in the next four years to archive its entire collection of 82,000 manuscripts, comprising more than 41 million pages. The €8 million (£7 million) project will mean that the Roman Catholic Church’s most precious documents will be available to the public for the first time.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Viking Twilight Compass Helps Navigate North Atlantic

The Uunartoq disc was discovered in an 11th century convent in Greenland in 1948. It is thought to have been used as a compass by the Vikings as they traversed the North Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Greenland.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Will French be the Most Spoken Tongue by 2050?

A recent study by a French bank has caused a stir after it concluded that French, not English or Mandarin Chinese, will be the world’s most spoken language by the year 2050. But will it really?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Albania Has an Al-Qaeda Problem & It’s Starting to Fight Back

Police detained most of the suspects during dawn raids on two mosques in the Albanian capital earlier this month.

The eight people arrested included two radical imams, Genci Balla and Bujar Hysi, believed to be the spiritual leaders of an extremist Islamist group.

They’re suspected of recruiting dozens of militants for Al Qaeda-affiliated groups fighting in the Syrian civil war.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: What Happened When a Blonde Woman in a Sexy Pink Top Walks Through a Cairo University Campus?

Viral video captures crowds of baying men swarming around female

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Cairo University students reportedly tried to rip the clothes off a blonde woman as she walked across the campus, sparking outrage across Egypt.

The unnamed woman, who was wearing a long-sleeved pink top and fitted black jeans, was recently filmed being abused by a large group of male students as she made her way through the university, one of the country’s largest.

The men, some of whom were reportedly law students, went wild, wolf-whistling and jeering as she hurried to get away from them.

Fathi Farid, a member of the ‘I saw harassment’ anti-sexual harassment group, said male students had verbally attacked the woman and attempted to undress her, according to AFP.

[Comment: Should be shown non-stop in Sweden.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt Continues Crackdown on Sinai Militants, Smuggling Tunnels

Security forces in North Sinai have arrested 21 suspected militants and destroyed eight tunnels connecting the border town of Rafah with the Palestinian Gaza Strip, the Egyptian army’s spokesman Ahmed Ali said on Wednesday. Ali said that four of the 21 detainees were jihadi militants tasked with monitoring the army’s movements in the town of Sheikh Zuweid in preparations for an attack on security forces.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt’s Army Chief El-Sisi Stands Down, Seeks Presidency

Egypt’s army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has tendered his resignation. In a television address he announced his intention to run for the presidency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Sisi to Run for President, Vows to Tackle Militancy

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared his candidacy on Wednesday for a presidential election he is expected to win easily. Sisi, who toppled the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi last July after mass protests against his rule, vowed to fight what he called the terrorist threat facing Egypt, a reference to attacks that have spiraled since last summer.

Sisi had to resign his posts of army chief and minister of defense so he could contest the election.

Seeking to cap some of the sky-high expectations, Sisi warned he could not perform “miracles” in a country of 85 million that is steeped in poverty.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

General Who Led Takeover of Egypt Will Run for President

Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, the defense minister and military officer who led last summer’s takeover of the elected government in Egypt, formally announced on Wednesday that he is resigning from the army and running for president, taking a critical step in his consolidation of power.

Mr. Sisi, who held the rank of Field Marshall, is almost universally expected to win the election and thus formalize the de facto power he currently holds. He has been the government’s pre-eminent decision-maker since he led the ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected leader, President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, on July 3 of last year.

But by resigning from the army on Wednesday, Mr. Sisi ended his direct command of the armed forces, which until now has been the main base of his power.

[Return to headlines]
 

Obama Making Secret Plans to Replace Israel’s Netanyahu?

In recent weeks, representatives for the Obama administration have held meetings with a senior politician here in which the U.S. delegates brought up the possibility of replacing Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister, according to an informed Jerusalem diplomatic source. The meetings were held with Israel’s popular finance minister, Yair Lapid, founder and leader of the Yesh Atid Party, which became the second-largest party in the Knesset winning 19 seats in the last election. The diplomatic source said the Obama administration identified Lapid as a moderate who could be helpful in pushing the Israeli government into accepting the framework to create a future Palestinian state. According to the source, the talks included the possibility of Lapid bolting Netanyahu’s government if the prime minister rejects the U.S.-brokered regional talks.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

10 Killed, 20 Wounded in Attacks Across Iraq

BAGHDAD, March 26 (Xinhua) — Ten people were killed and 20 others wounded in separate violent attacks across Iraq on Wednesday, police and medical sources said. In Anbar province, four civilians were killed and seven others wounded by artillery bombardment on several neighborhoods in the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

French Police ‘Bust Riviera Terror Plot’

French anti-terrorism police believe they have foiled a plot to attack the French Riviera, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Wednesday. The planned attack, described by sources as “imminent”, was reportedly being masterminded by a jihadist who had returned from Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘I Did a Good Deed by Killing Turkish Gendarme’

A 23-year-old Swiss citizen has admitted to killing a soldier in an attack last week in the centre of Turkey that left three people dead and five others wounded, Turkish media reported on Tuesday.

He was with two alleged accomplices, a German-Chinese and a Macedonian in a pickup truck, Swiss media said.

“I did a good deed by killing the Turkish gendarmerie soldier,” the Swiss man, originally from Kosovo, told police, the Dogan News Agency said. A soldier and a policeman were killed in the attack, the agency said.

“I don’t render an account to anyone but Allah,” the Swiss suspect said. “I will not give any testimony — you are all pagans,” he was quoted as saying. He reportedly said that Turkey was considered an enemy for being a Nato member.

The assailants, who were captured within hours, are suspected of being members of a jihadist group linked with al-Qaeda known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Hürriyet said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Brotherhood Supporter, Qatar, Turns to U.S. For Support

By Raymond Ibrahim

Qatar, which is under fire by fellow Gulf States and Egypt for its material and propaganda (Al Jazeera) support to the Muslim Brotherhood — which has again been reclassified as a terrorist organization by said Arab states — is now turning to the United States and Obama administration for support.

The Qatar Royal family has sent an official letter “requesting urgent help and US mediation in the crisis between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.”

Of course, all Qatar need do to avert this “crisis” is to stop supporting the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood; stop inciting violence, regional chaos, and terrorism (or “jihad) through its Al Jazeera network and Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. It is specifically for these reasons that the tiny state, which aside from its Al Jazeera network has little influence, is under fire by its neighbors.

Yet instead of ceasing its pro-Muslim Brotherhood support, Qatar, rather tellingly, prefers to turn to the U.S. Obama administration.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia: Indonesian Migrant Risks Beheading

The 40-year old Satinah Binti Djumadi is on death row for murder and theft. The execution is scheduled for April 3. At President Yudhoyono’s request, the Saudi king has already pardoned her. But under Islamic law the forgiveness of the family is needed and they want 2 million US dollars.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Top Indonesian diplomats, at President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s request are activating every possible channel to save the live of Satinah Binti Djumadi , 40-year old domestic worker in Saudi Arabia sentenced to death for theft and murder. The woman (photo) is on death row on charges of murdering her employer and stealing the — miserable — sum of 37 riyals (less than 10 US dollars). The sentence of death by beheading , will be executed on April 3, the governments and embassies in Jakarta and in Riyadh made contact to obtain the grace of the Saudi king and the forgiveness of the victim’s family , two essential elements for her release.

Satinah’s story closely resembles the drama of Ruyati binti Saboti Saruna, the Indonesian migrant worker executed in Saudi Arabia in June 2011 for complicity in murder. Her death sparked fierce controversy at home over the inertia shown by President Yudhoyono and the manner in which the execution took place, with Riyadh failing to inform the Indonesian Embassy or the government in Jakarta.

However, in Satinah Binti Djumadi’s case Yudhoyono immediately took steps to stay the execution, a choice dictated by political and electoral issues ahead of the parliamentary and presidential elections in April and July. There are still eight days left and the woman’s fate seems to hang on the amount to be donated by way of compensation. It appears that the Saudi king, at the request of the Indonesian president, has already pardoned her. However, the forgiveness of the family is also needed, who at first asked for at least 41 billion rupees (over U.S. $ 3.5 million). The figure then dropped to 30 billion, and finally to 21 (just over $1.8 million).

So far, Jakarta has already earmarked 12.1 billion rupees, meanwhile groups and associations have launched a fundraising campaign to reach the required amount and save Satinah, a native of Ungaran Regency, in central Java. Human rights activists report that there are at least 256 Indonesian citizens who emigrated abroad in search of work, who are currently on death row waiting to be executed. “They are in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia”, confirms Wahyu Susilo , of the Center for the care of migrants ..

Poverty and expectations of a better standard of living push many people to try their luck abroad — both men and women — in construction or as domestic helpers. In Satinah’s case it is not just a question of a woman’s life, but a principle of social justice and care of all migrant workers outside their country of origin.

There are at least 1.2 million Indonesians in Saudia Arabia, 70% of whom are employed as waiters or domestic workers. The international movement against the death penalty reports that in 2011 alone at least 27 people were beheaded in Saudi Arabia for crimes of various kinds. That number, however, is down from 2008 when 67 people were killed.

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

Turkey: Orthodox Church Vandalised in Istanbul

A group of youth break into a church. After causing mayhem, they stole sacred objects and left two pro-Kurdish party flags. The incident could be a pre-election provocation. The police refuses to act. Patriarch Bartholomew reacts with pain and anger.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) — A group of young thugs, apparently from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), vandalised an Orthodox Christian church in Istanbul. Although informed of the incident, the police refused to intervene.

The desecration took place last Sunday. The church, Agia Paraskevi, is located in Kazliçesme, just outside Constantinople’s ancient Byzantine walls (photo by Nikos Manginas).

The church is famous for its source of water, deemed holy according to Eastern Byzantine tradition.

Church custodian Athanasios Ozkaremihologlu said that a bunch of young men forced their way through the building’s front door. After causing mayhem, they took several sacred objects and the bell of the historic church.

Eventually, he sought refuge at a nearby police station. However, the agents on duty at the time refused to intervene, saying that such action would make matters worse.

The regrettable act of vandalism took place a week before next Sunday’s local elections, during celebrations marking Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, which falls on the first day of spring, and is widely celebrated across the region.

Before leaving the holy place, the vandals left two HDP flags. The party has many Kurdish members.

For some observers, incidents like this one are nothing new. Acts of provocation are commonplace at election time.

In fact, Turkish voters are getting ready to cast their ballots next Sunday, a vote that will determine the fate of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has ruled the country since 2002.

When informed of the incident, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I expressed his regrets and indignation, calling on law enforcement agencies to shed light on what happened.

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

Turkey vs. Syria: NATO’s Last Gasp?

Tensions have risen once again along the Syrian-Tukrish border as Turkey downs a Syrian warplane and terrorists backed by Turkish troops storm across the border and down Syria’s western coast in Latakia province. Turkey’s renewed vigor appears to be in part a result of pressure placed on Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by US-backed mobs who have been taking to the streets for months seeking his ouster…

That the plane was shot down while conducting air raids against militants crossing over the Syrian-Turkish border, and even fell within Syrian territory — suggests that not only did Turkey unreasonably target a Syrian warplane it knew posed no threat to Turkey, but did so while providing anti-air support for internationally designated terrorists it is harboring within its territory.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

As G-8 Goes Back to G7, Russia Turns to China and India

Following Moscow’s suspension, the upcoming G-8 meeting in Sochi is cancelled, a decision Russian Foreign Minister dismisses as irrelevant. Concerns emerge over sanctions given the interdependence between EU, US and Russia in oil and gas. Sechin travels to India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. China remains a good customer for Russian oil.

The Hague (AsiaNews) — The group of most industrialised nations has suspended Russia. Now the G-8 is back to being the G7.

Meeting in The Hague (Netherlands) yesterday, the leaders of the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and Japan (pictured) cancelled the next G8 summit in Sochi (Russian resort town that hosted the recent Winter Olympics) and set the next G7 meeting in Brussels.

Moscow’s suspension is one of the measures the great powers took to punish Russia for its annexation of the Crimea. The group threatened further sanctions if Moscow attacked other parts of eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Mr Lavrov met for the first time Mr Deshchytsia, Ukraine’s interim foreign minister, on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in The Hague. Speaking to reporters, he said he saw “no great tragedy” if Moscow was expelled from the G8 group.

Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the United States imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 31 Russians and Ukrainians, including political and business figures close to Putin, and barred Bank Rossiya. The European Union has put 51 people on its blacklist.

Although Russian shares lost 13.7 per cent since the start of the year and the ruble dropped 8.9 per cent against the US dollar, Western sanctions are only a nuisance to Moscow. In order to hit Russia, the West should stop reduce its dependency on Russian oil and gas.

In fact, Russia is the European Union’s main trading partner, the fifth for the United States.

Russia meets 34 per cent of the EU’s oil and gas needs whilst, the US imported 167.5 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia in 2013.

Still, the threat of economic and trade sanctions is pushing Russia to seek new markets for its oil and gas with China and India as its main potential partners.

China already imports a lot of Russian oil, which now represents 12 percent of China’s crude imports. Last month, it imported a record amount: 2.72 million metric tonnes, almost three times what it did ten years ago.

In March 2013, Moscow and Beijing signed several agreements to increase oil exports to China and undertake exploration in the Arctic.

Yesterday, Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russia’s state oil giant Rosneft and close friend of Putin, travelled to Delhi hoping to conclude multi-billion dollar deals. After that, he is expected in Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, in Crimea Russian forces seized the naval base at Feodosia, the last military outpost under Ukrainian control in the region.

In Kiev, interim President Oleksander Turchinov told parliament that he had ordered a military pull-out from Crimea because of “Russian threats to the lives of military staff and their families”.

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

Crimean Military Dolphins to Serve in Russian Navy

SEVASTOPOL, March 26 (RIA Novosti) — The combat dolphin program in the Crimean city of Sevastopol will be preserved and redirected towards the interests of the Russian Navy, an employee at the facility where the dolphins are trained told RIA Novosti.

The program, dating to the 1960s, was previously scheduled to be disbanded by the Ukrainian navy in April, but the facility and the dolphins themselves have now become Russian following the reunification of Crimea with Russia last week.

“The oceanarium’s engineers are developing new instruments for new applications to boost the operational efficiency of the dolphins underwater,” the employee said, requesting anonymity. The employee added the animals are currently outfitted with extremely outdated equipment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ex-KGB General: Edward Snowden ‘Collaborated’ With Russian Intelligence

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has certainly collaborated with Russian intelligence officials, a former KGB general said Tuesday.

But Oleg Kalugin, who once managed spy operations out of the Soviet Embassy in Washington, said Snowden’s significance has been “exaggerated,” and the Russians likely already knew much of what he revealed.

“Well, he did collaborate, obviously, but I’m not sure what he provided was not known to the Russians before he came,” Kalugin told the Washington Examiner. “He may have confirmed something, but I don’t believe they were informed for the first time by Snowden.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Former Blackwater Mercenaries Hired as Thought Police in Eastern Ukraine

Hired to suppress protest mood and neutralize leaders and activists

ITAR-TASS, Russia’s state-owned news agency, claims the junta in Kyiv has hired a Blackwater spin-off to act as political police force in the eastern part of the country.

The Voice of Russia reported on Tuesday:

“Ukrainian authorities believe that the Security Service is not able to suppress the protest mood and neutralize the leaders and activists of the pro-Russian movement in the eastern regions. In particular, the source said, the acting president Alexander Turchinov shares this opinion. “Therefore it was decided to attract foreign mercenaries, who will serve as political police and state security protection, “ said the representative of the Security Service.”

On March 10, Infowars.com reported the presence of corporate mercenaries in Donetsk, an industrial city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius River. A video posted on Youtube showed men with weapons and body armor on a street where a pro-Russian demonstration was held. A Russian diplomat told Interfax 300 employees of Blackwater, now known as Academi, had arrived in the pro-Russian city.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

In Military Rout, Russia Seizes 51 Ukrainian Ships in Crimea

In its invasion and annexation of Crimea, Russia has seized 51 vessels belonging to the Ukrainian navy, according to information compiled by Dmitry Tymchuk, director of the Center of Military and Political Research in Kyiv.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

In Russia, Boys Learn to Use Military Equipment — In America, Boys Learn to Play Video Games & Ogle Women

The way that boys are raised in Russia is very different from how boys are raised in the United States. In Russia, boys as young as five years old are taught survival skills, learn how to use military equipment and are trained in hand to hand combat.

Boys as young as twelve are taught to fire assault rifles and some of them even get to experience real paratrooper training. In the United States, on the other hand, we tend to baby our boys. They become experts in skills such as ordering fast food, playing video games and ogling women. In many cases, American boys never even learn how to act like men, and that becomes glaringly apparent once they grow up. So in the long run, which nation do you think will be better off — Russia or America?

By nature, men are hunters. We are not meant to be cooped up indoors all day long. We were created with an inner desire for adventure and activity.

The Russians understand this. In Russia, boys are raised to be strong, physical and active…

Our public schools have been transformed into government propaganda centers where children are trained to be wimpy, subservient cogs in a “Big Brother” police state.

We baby our boys, we don’t teach them right and wrong, and when they bother us we just pump them full of mind-altering pharmaceutical drugs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Russia’s Yakov Sinai Wins Maths ‘Nobel’

Russian mathematician Yakov Sinai won the prestigious Abel mathematics prize for his work in dynamical systems and mathematical physics, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Siemens ‘To Invest Long-Term in Russia’

German industrial giant Siemens will be pouring long-term investment into Russia despite outcry over Crimea, the company reportedly told President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Gives Russia Free Military Equipment Used by Army, Marines

Behind closed doors the U.S. government is giving Russia free military equipment — also used to train American troops — even after President Obama announced punitive sanctions against Moscow and, more importantly, a suspension in military engagement over the invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Only Has Enough Gasoline for a Month

Nothing to see here, move along. While it appears the Russians are willing to pay the price of modest sanctions from the west to ‘liberate’ their fellow countrymen, the fallout from further tension with Ukraine could “boomerang” once again on the divided nation. As RBC Ukraine reports, the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Yuriy Prodan said at a press conference today that “oil reserves will last for 28-29 days” in Ukraine. After that, the negotiation begins as Ukraine already owes billions for previously delivered gas — as Ukraine’s storage levels more than halved in the last 3 months.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine. Recalling Night of Long Knives

Like the German stormtroopers headed by Ernst Röhm, Ukrainian militants want to acquire control over state power structures and the armed forces. They want Pravy Sector troopers to get access to military warehouses, as well as a chance to use military installations for combat training. Like in Germany it sparks a conflict with regular military that flatly refuse the idea of granting Pravy Sector formations the status of regular armed forces units.

Actually the Kiev junta acts the same way as Hitler did preparing for his purge against the Rohm’s stormtroopers. On the one hand, the Yarosh-led formations quell protest in Novorossiya (literally New Russia, a historical term denoting an area north of the Black Sea which was conquered by the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century) and crash on political opponents making it impossible for the weak regime to refuse cooperation. On the other hand, the government wants to put the Maidan militants under its control. One of the Yatsenyuk deputies said that H-hour is near when Maidan and national TV will announce that the Pravy Sector formations are illegal and the militants will be detained to face justice.

The police and security service have ordered to give in all weapons and the parliament has taken a decision to form a National Guard to include all Maidan self-defense units. But the militants refused to comply. According to Yarosh, the Pravy Sector formations number about 10 thousand people across the country and nobody has joined the National Guard as yet. To make the Ukrainian scenario fully repeat the events in Germany, Pravy Sector is to suggest that the regular armed forces, police and special services join its ranks. I believe the offer is to be announced soon.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: West Java: Islamists Block Construction of a Catholic Church

Fundamentalists target Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Cibubur, Bekasi regency. The local court points to danger of “sectarian violence”, gives in to intimidation and stops the project. The priest presents all of the necessary permits and confirms: “The construction will continue, so far 70% of the structure built”.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Under pressure and intimidation from Islamic extremists, a civil court in West Java revoked the building permit — the infamous Izin Mendirikan Bangunan, IMB — for the Catholic Church of St. Stanislaus Kostka in Cibubur, Bekasi regency. During the hearing, a crowd outside the courtroom threatened the judges, shouting that their demands be met. The president of the court Edi Firmansyah decided to revoke that permission to avoid episodes of “sectarian violence” between different religious communities. This is just the latest episode in a long series of violations and abuses of religious freedom, which have characterized the recent history of Indonesia since the end of the Suharto regime. The phenomena have increased in recent years under the Yudhoyono presidency. The Head of State is accused of being overly soft with Islamic extremists.

Judges of the Pengadilan Tata Usaha Negara (PTUN) — the local administrative court — revoked the permit issued in 2012 by the Bekasi mayor Rachmat Effendy. The ruling is the result of a lawsuit brought by Islamic extremist groups in Jatisampurna in a class action with other groups from several other cities in West Java.

The new church was built under the patronage of the parish of Saint Servatius of Tongeren , in Kampung Sawah , approximately 10 km from the area of construction. Speaking to AsiaNews, the parish priest Fr. Rudianto explains that he followed all the legal procedures to obtain the IMB: “All procedures were properly done and all parties were also involved. We have all recorded videos to prove that nothing wrong or ‘illicit’ gestures have been exercised”. He also accuses extremist groups, which have opposed the construction of the church of “hostile acts” against the Christian community, fomenting riots and divisions in society.

Local sources said that there is a progressive increase of tensions in the area, with dozens of extremists ready to “seal” the construction site, the building is still under construction and about 70% of the overall structure has been completed, as confirmed by the parish priest Fr . Rudianto . The project will go ahead, he adds, because the judgment that annulled the IMB has not imposed the halting of the project.

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Increasingly however, it has become the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or belong to other faiths. Aceh is the only Indonesian province where Sharia (Islamic law) is enforced, yet, in many other areas of the country, a more radical and extreme vision of Islam is spreading among ordinary Indonesians.

Certain rules such as the infamous building permit have been used to prevent the construction of Christian places of worship or stop construction already underway, as was the case for the Yasmin Church in West Java. Catholics are a small minority of about seven million, or 3 per cent of the population. Although the country’s constitution recognises religious freedom, Catholics have been the victims of violence and abuse.

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

Possible MH370 Objects Found by French Satellite

New images from a French satellite have turned up 122 ‘potential objects’ in the Indian Ocean that could be tied Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which crashed earlier this month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Satellite Spots 122 Possible Objects in Malaysia Jet Search

Malaysia says a satellite has captured images of 122 objects in the Indian Ocean that might be from the missing plane. Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says the objects were seen close to where three other satellites previously detected objects.

He said Wednesday the sightings together are “the most credible lead that we have.” Hishammuddin said the images were taken Sunday and were relayed by French-based Airbus Defense and Space. Hishammuddin says the objects ranged in length from one meter (yard) to 23 meters (25 yards).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

A Disappointing Mrs. Obama in Beijing “Deliberately Ignored Egregious Women’s Rights Abuses”

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, criticises the First Lady’s visit to China. “As the mother of two daughters, she could have taken aim” at “the intense suffering of hundreds of millions of women who have been victims of forced abortion, [and] involuntary sterilization”. And “As the wife of a Nobel Peace Prize winner, she could have visited Liu Xia, wife of jailed 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.” Instead, she chose to enjoy the trip and do nothing.

Washington (AsiaNews) — First Lady Michelle Obama is now concluding a week-long tour of China with her mother and two daughters, a “real treat” for three generations of Obama women, according to Mrs. Obama’s Chief of Staff, Tina Tchen. While Mrs. Obama and her family were treating themselves to the best China has to offer, hundreds of millions of women are suffering at the hands of a brutal, totalitarian regime. The White House had stated from the outset that Mrs. Obama would not be addressing human rights issues “at all.”

Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, stated: “I am extremely disappointed that Mrs. Obama has deliberately ignored egregious women’s rights abuses while in China. Mrs. Obama has positioned herself as an international women’s leader. She could have done so much good if she had been willing to use her position to advance women’s rights in a nation that tramples them. Previous first ladies have used their positions of influence to speak out for human rights in this totalitarian regime.”

In 1995, then First Lady Hillary Clinton publicly condemned forced abortion, forced sterilization and gendercide at the Fourth Women’s Conference in Beijing, China. In 2008, then First Lady Laura Bush implicitly criticized China by visiting a camp for Burmese refugees en route to Beijing. She then urged the Chinese government to sanction the Burmese generals for human rights violations.

Littlejohn continued: “As the mother of two children, Mrs. Obama could have spoken out against forced abortion under the One Child Policy. As the mother of two daughters, she could have taken aim also against gendercide — the sex-selective abortion of baby girls. She could have given condolences to the grieving family of Ms. Cao Shunli, a respected human rights activist who died just a couple of weeks ago after having been denied medical treatment. As the wife of a Nobel Peace Prize winner, she could have visited Liu Xia, wife of jailed 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.”

Liu Xia has been languishing under illegal house arrest since her husband Liu Xiaobo’s illegal arrest in 2009. She was recently hospitalized after suffering a heart attack, but then returned to house arrest. According to an Amnesty International report of March 25, 2014, Liu Xia has finally received medical evaluation. Doctors have warned that her condition will not improve unless her current living situation changes.

Littlejohn concluded: “It is disheartening to see Mrs. Obama leave China without conveying any message on behalf of women’s rights. Instead, Mrs. Obama has chosen to ignore the intense suffering of hundreds of millions of women who have been victims of forced abortion, involuntary sterilization, gendercide and sexual slavery; and she has chosen to ignore the plight of Liu Xia and the family of Cao Shunli. These choices seriously undermine any claim that she is a champion of women’s rights.”

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

Bound in Chains Next to Corpses, Nigerian Kidnap Victims Found in House of Hell Where They Were Due to be Sacrificed in Black Magic Rituals by Human Organ Traffickers

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Police also rescued several severely malnourished people founded wandering in the bush near the building in the southwestern city of Ibadan, and more were found shackled in leg-chains inside.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Curbing West Africa’s Ebola Outbreak

DAKAR, 26 March 2014 (IRIN) — As health authorities and aid groups work to contain the spread of Ebola in Guinea which has killed 59 people and infected scores of others since January, suspected cases have emerged in neighbouring Liberia, prompting calls for a regional response.

Authorities in Guinea and Liberia have urged citizens not to panic, but many are scared of contracting Ebola, which has emerged in West Africa for the first time.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

South Africa Mediator Resumes Talks With Striking Platinum Union

(Reuters) — South Africa’s government mediator met with the striking Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on Wednesday to restart talks aimed at ending a crippling platinum strike now entering its tenth week.

Crucially, there are still no scheduled face-to-face talks between the two sides and the Lonmin chief executive told staff to take voluntary leave, as there appears to be no end in sight to the strike that has cut 40 percent of global platinum output.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

19 T&T Muslims Held in Venezuela

AT LEAST 19 Trinidadian Muslims are now in the custody of the Venezuelan intelligence service SEBIN (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional), under the suspicion of being terrorists.

Well-placed intelligence sources in Venezuela confirmed the arrests of the Trinidadians, along with two other non-nationals at Plaza Hotel in Sabana Grande, Caracas. The arrests followed a daytime raid last Wednesday.

The Express and TV6 News understand that three Trinidadian imams were among those held during the raid. They are all being detained at SEBIN headquarters in Caracas…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Brazil: Troops Enter Favela Near Rio De Janeiro Airport

(AGI) Rio de Janeiro, March 26 — Police officers and members of the Brazilian armed forces have entered the large ‘favela’ near Rio de Janeiro’s airport. The operation is addressed at eradicating crime and drug trafficking in view of the Football World Cup that starts on June 12. Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff has confirmed that the army is assisting the police as requested by Governor Sergio Cabral.

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

Denmark Avoiding Muslim Refugees

Since 2006, the Danish government has stopped accepting refugees from countries in the Muslim world as part of its annual refugee quota, according to a new report from the Justice Ministry.

The report — composed for parliament’s immigration and integration panels — documented that Muslim refugees are rarely among the 500 refugees that Denmark accepts every year as part of the annual refugee quota list drawn up by the UNHCR.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Grasso Calls for New Immigration Law for Italy

Senate President says citizenship should include new generations

(ANSA) — Rome, March 26 — Senate President Piero Grasso said Wednesday that it is time Italy creates a new immigration law to better integrate newcomers, and generations born to immigrant parents.

“It’s time to think about a new path to citizenship for foreigners who have been integrated here, and second generations,” born to immigrant parents, he said after the release of a report on immigration from the International Centre for Family Studies. “Our rules on citizenship are among the most stringent in Europe and are likely to excluded from rights (of citizenship) thousands of people who with their honest work contribute to the welfare and progress of our society,” he added.

“I think young people born in our country, studying here, speaking our language and our dialect, cheering or playing in our football teams…I have always wondered bitterly why these young people are fighting for justice and for the future of a country of which they are not and will never be citizens”.

Children of immigrants, even when born in Italy, are not automatically granted citizenship under the current law.

Italy’s former minister for integration Cecile Kyenge pressed hard for changes to Italy’s 2002 Bossi-Fini immigration law, which was ratified under a previous center-right administration in which the anti-immigrant Northern League was a minority coalition partner.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy to Speed Up Procedures as Migrant Flows Continue

Latest wave rescued off coast, global conflicts rage on

(By Christopher Livesay) (ANSA) — Rome, March 25 — As the latest wave of migrants arrived on Italian shores Tuesday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano called for a reduction in the time they spend in detention centres. “Legislation is needed to reduce the time spent in centres for identification and expulsion (CIE)” by speeding up procedures, said Alfano. The government also intends to boost the system for asylum seekers so responses to applications “arrive sooner”, the minister, who is also the leader of the New Centre Right (NCD) party, said. “We must protect the Mediterranean border, which is a European border, and therefore avoid open (migrant) landings,” said Alfano. “On the other hand we must identify the migrants, grant asylum rights to those who are fleeing war and expel those who enter illegally”. Introduced under the 1998 Turco-Napolitano immigration law, Italy’s centres for identification and expulsion — initially known as temporary reception centres (CPT) — have come under repeated criticism for alleged inhumanity and abuses of migrants’ rights.

Fifteen North African migrants made international headlines when they sewed their mouths shut with needle and thread at the Ponte Galeria CIE outside Rome before Christmas.

They have since been deported.

“Everyone made promises, but in the end, everyone forgot about them,” said the Prisoner Rights Guarantor of Lazio, the region around Rome, when their deportations were ordered last month.

“They are forced into a terrible game of shoots and ladders. They emigrated from their lands passing through Libya and arriving first at Lampedusa,” the rights supervisory body wrote, referring to the Italian island off Sicily, that is closer to North Africa than mainland Europe.

“Now they go home without ever committing a crime.

Expelled because they are considered undesirable on Italian territory”.

Protests were mounted in December after authorities emptied a controversial holding facility on the island of Lampedusa, south of Sicily, which was at the centre of an international furore when a video was broadcast showing naked migrants being sprayed with disinfectants outside in the cold of winter.

Meanwhile migrants continue to come in great numbers. Last week, Italian Navy ships rescued approximately 1,000 migrants in small boats off Italy’s southern coast in less than 24 hours. That rescue operation came after more than 2,100 migrants were rescued days earlier by the Italian Navy and Coast Guard vessels, as they fled North African across the Channel of Sicily. Tens of thousands of migrants arrive in Italy from North Africa every year and many others die attempting the crossing in often unstable vessels. Boat arrivals in Italy more than tripled last year from the previous year, fuelled by the conflict in Syria and strife in the Horn of Africa.

Despite Italian sympathies to their plight, the issue of undocumented immigration has been made more sensitive amid the global economic crisis, as many locals worry that migrants will compete for Italian jobs, as unemployment nears 13%, and is over 40% among the country’s youth. Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s regionalist Northern League, on Tuesday called on allies across Europe to join in fighting “mass immigration” in the run-up to May’s European Parliament elections.

His anti-immigration party was bolstered over the weekend by victories in local French elections for Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front, a Northern League ally. The League presented a motion of no-confidence in Alfano on Tuesday, accusing him of overseeing the “emptying of prisons…dismantling of security policy”.

Last week, Northern League activists demonstrated against the arrival of a group of North African refugees, due to be sheltered in a local hotel in the town of San Genesio in the Pavia area south of Milan.

The Northern League and anti-EU parties like it are expected to do well at EP elections on May 25.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sessions Report Demolishes Obama ‘Deporter in Chief’ Myth

Fully 98 percent of individuals deported from the United States in 2013 were either criminals, apprehended while illegally crossing the border, or had been previously deported, according to a new analysis from Senate Budget Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ‘EU Needs to Take in More Refugees’: Billström

Sweden has said its EU neighbors’ failure to help more refugees could prove disastrous, with Migration Minister Tobias Billström on Tuesday urging European nations to take in more people fleeing for their lives, especially from Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: 30 Foreign Criminals Dodge Deportation Each Week, Up by a Fifth in a Year

Home Secretary Theresa May issued instructions telling courts that overseas convicts should normally be deported regardless of their family circumstances.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Government Above the Law

We have seen firsthand the effects of what the federal government has been doing on a daily basis through the illegalities of educational schemes it brings forth — in an attempt to implement a “game changer” on a defenseless population behind the backs of the American people. (Read Article 10 of the Bill of Rights.)

For example:

1) No Child Left Behind, which should rightly be named “No Child Left Un-indoctrinated,” is nothing more than equalizing the playing field where all students become equal (communism), and is a program that shoots for the floor and not for the stars.

2) International Baccalaureate. International Baccalaureate is an educational scheme that was contrived and developed in Sweden in 1968.

Here is what International Baccalaureate teaches:

  • Earth worship
  • Evolution
  • Socialized medicine
  • World government
  • Animal rights (animals seen as bothers and sisters)
  • Redistribution of American wealth to other nations
  • Contraception and “reproductive health” (legal abortions)
  • Debt forgiveness to Third-World nations
  • Adoption of the gay rights agenda
  • Elimination of the right to bear arms
  • Setting aside massive amounts of private land where no human presence is allowed

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sailors Leaving Navy Over Stress on Social Issues, Top Gun Instructor Says

A Navy F-18 fighter pilot and former Top Gun instructor is publicly warning admirals that retention is beginning to suffer from the military’s relentless social conditioning programs.

Cmdr. Guy Snodgrass, until recently a Pentagon speech writer for the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, said sailors are becoming fed-up with the constant emphasis on social issues — an apparent reference to gays in the military, women in combat and ending sexual harassment.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Gay Marriage Says Something Deep About the Sort of Country We Are, Cameron Says Ahead of First Weddings This Saturday

The Prime Minister said he backed the change because he ‘didn’t want to see people’s love divided by law’ , as hundreds of gay and lesbian couples prepare to tie the knot.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Rory Stewart MP, ‘Children Are Opium of the Masses’

Rory Stewart, 41, MP for Penrith and the Border, told saidTimes that having children is ‘neither a purpose nor a meaning’.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Human Evolution: The Neanderthal in the Family

Thirty years after the study of ancient DNA began, it promises to upend our view of the past.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/26/2014

  1. USA – from Puritans to Impure-itans

    Is there a connection between beautiful New England and entire American cities turned into smoking rubble? There is.
    Take same-sex marriage. I would have guessed that a “sin” city (San Francisco? Las Vegas?) would have been the first to legalize it.
    Oddly it’s been the place where America started that’s wanted to be the first place to help bring about the end of America and its values! It’s been a Nor’easter of Perversion (helping to fulfill the end time “days of Lot” predicted in Luke 17) that began in (you guessed it) Boston in 2004.
    New England has gone from the Mayflower Compact to the Gay Power Impact, from Providence to decadence, from Bible thumpers to God dumpers, from university to diversity to perversity, and from the land of the Great Awakening to God’s Future Shakening that will make the Boston bombings look like Walden Pond ripples by comparison!
    The same Nor’easter has been spreading south and as far west as Washington State where, after swelling up with pride, Mt. Rainier may wish to celebrate shame-sex marriage by having a blast that Seaddlepated folks can share in lava-land!
    The same Luke 17 prediction is tied to the Book of Revelation which speaks of the cities that God will flatten because of same-sexism – including American cities – a scenario I’ll have to accept since I can’t create my own universe and decree rules for it.
    I’ve just been analyzing the world’s terminal “religion” that has its “god,” its accessories, its “rites,” and even a flag. It’s an obsession that the infected converts are willing to live for, fight for – and even die for!
    Want more facts? Google “God to Same-Sexers: Hurry Up,” “Universal GAYety is Coming,” “FOR GAYS ONLY: Jesus predicted” and “The Background Obama Can’t Cover Up.”

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