An Egyptian court has outlawed all activities of the terror group Hamas — the Palestinian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood — within Egypt. In the months since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian army has destroyed most of Hamas’ smuggling tunnels leading from Sinai into Gaza.
In other news, the Islamic terror group Boko Haram burned eleven people to death inside their homes. A Roman Catholic bishop in Nigeria says that Boko Haram jihadists have burned down twenty churches in their attacks.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, KP, 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.
Budget Proposal Won’t Tame Debt, Interest Would Soon Exceed Military Spending
President Obama’s latest budget proposal paints a troubling picture of America’s fiscal future.
Here’s a startling snapshot:
- By 2024, the total national debt would rise from $17.4 trillion to nearly $25 trillion.
- By 2020, U.S. taxpayers would be paying more in interest on the debt than they would on the entire Defense budget.
- By 2017, those interest payments would be bigger than the budget for Medicaid.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Italy Lost 111,000 Firms in 2013’
7.3% more than 2012
(ANSA) — Milan, March 4 — Some 111,000 Italia companies went bust in 2013, one of the worst years since the 2008 global financial crisis, according to figures from the Cerved research agency obtained by ANSA Tuesday. Bankruptcies and liquidations were 7.3% up on 2012, beating all records, the survey said, with industry particularly hard hit, especially in the once-booming north-east.
Italy’s longest postwar recession officially ended with flat growth in the third quarter of last year and a 0.1% rise in the last quarter but unemployment is still running at a record high and businesses are struggling to recover.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
When Our Government Commits Fraud
By Richard A. Epstein
Excerpt: This audacious deal ensured that the two corporations [Fannie & Freddie] would never pay off their debts to the United States, no matter how much money they earned. The Third Amendment has been subject to withering criticism, most recently by David Skeel who, writing in the Wall Street Journal, rightly charged the federal government with “astonishingly duplicitous behavior.” By way of full disclosure, I consult with several hedge funds with positions in Fannie and Freddie. From that perspective, as I have already ready written in previous Defining Ideas columns, the government shenanigans fairly leap out of the text of the Third Amendment. But Gretchen Morgenson’s New York Times piece, “The Untouchable Profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” contains two new revelations that only add fuel to the fire.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
America is a Communist Country
By Nicholas James Pell, Takimag.Com
Excerpt: The upside is that I learned a lesson about the left’s essentially fascistic nature. They might wear Birkenstocks instead of jackboots, but their methods were largely the same: When confronted with an uncomfortable opinion, shoot the messenger. So while it wasn’t terribly surprising to me when Sandra Y. L. Korn penned an article in The Harvard Crimson explicitly calling for an end to academic freedom, it did seem like an intensification of the decades-long leftist witch hunt.
Leftist academics have long Marxsplained how, through the magic of critical theory, speech with which they disagree (“hate speech” or whatever they’re calling it these days) doesn’t count as “speech.”
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Bloomberg Moves to Ban Pro-Gun Speech
Facebook now working with former N.Y. mayor to censor support for the Second Amendment
Facebook is currently working with two anti-gun groups to further restrict firearm discussions on its various pages in a move that will likely lead to the outright censorship of gun topics throughout the social media site.
After Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action spent the past month pressuring Facebook to censor gun-themed fan pages, the company finally agreed to reconsider its current policies, according to the anti-gun publication Venture Beat.
An insider told the publication that the ongoing talks between the gun control groups and Facebook were “progressing” and that they have already made agreements yet to be disclosed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bold, New Ideas From Republicans?
Consensus-minded Republican legislators — ever afraid of appearing “divisive” — believed they could achieve common ground with and their liberal-left opposition. It boiled down to a misunderstanding, Republicans said, coupled to miscommunication.
But American ideals and principles were under attack, not misunderstanding. The Democratic Party had swung wildly leftward, and more troubling, its leadership had started equating concepts like self-reliance, self-sufficiency, patriotism and individualism with mental illness. Folks still harboring such beliefs were characterized as loners, sociopath’s and fundamentalists — “a danger to themselves and others.”
Yet, Republicans clung stubbornly to the hope they could find common ground with leftist Democrats — poster-children for a “hostile environment.” Republicans predictably settled for “losing ground,” and mostly caved on the issues.
Republicans’ largest error was underestimating the education factor. Even good, conservative leaders simply did not comprehend how schools were the key factor in molding public opinion. Instead of boldly jump-starting a plan for franchising rigorous schools, they ignored half a century of leftist indoctrination and then were surprised to encounter a population of little socialists instead of constitutional republicans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Try Wooing Ones Who Got Away: White Men
Even in places like Michigan, where it has been decades since union membership lists readily predicted Democratic votes, many in the party pay so little attention to white working-class men that it suggests they have effectively given up on converting them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DHS Allows German Home-Schooling Family to Stay in US
A German home-schooling family facing deportation following the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear their appeal is being allowed to stay in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security has granted the family “indefinite deferred status,” their attorney confirmed to Fox News.
That means the Romeike family, who claim the German government is persecuting them because they want to raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs, can stay in the United States without the threat of being forced return to their home country, the family’s legal team told Fox News.
The family moved to Morristown, Tenn., in 2008 after facing fines and threats for refusing to send their kids to a state-approved school in Germany, which is required by law in that country. If the Romeikes had stayed in Germany, they risked losing custody of their children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Drop the A-Word’ Campaign Urges Arab-Americans to Stop Using Anti-Black Slur
A Muslim American group in the Detroit area is trying to combat racism in their community with a campaign urging them to stop using a derogatory Arabic word for African-Americans.
“Drop the A-Word” is asking Arab-Americans to stop using the slur “abed” which means slave or servant, or its plural form “abeed,” when referring to African-Americans. The word has been described in the local media as being used as a sort of Arabic equivalent for the N-word.
The Middle East news site Al Arabiya quoted Majed Moughni of Dearborn, MI who supports the new initiative. “We should stop using ‘abeed’ to describe or reference people of African descent,” Moughni said. “It’s being used in a racial sense, and that’s derogatory,” Moughni added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
FDA Study Shows Pertussis Vaccination Spreads Pathogenic Bacteria
(NaturalNews) In a failed attempt to explain away why vaccinated individuals seem to be the only ones contracting and spreading whooping cough during major outbreaks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently launched an inquiry aimed at better understanding how the controversial vaccine works. But what the agency ended up discovering is that the vaccine for whooping cough, also known as pertussis, spreads the very same pathogenic bacteria that causes whopping cough in the first place, which in some people can lead to serious infections.
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the new FDA study claims to demonstrate that vaccines for acellular pertussis are effective at preventing the disease in those who are vaccinated. But at the very same time, the agency admits that, based on its findings, the vaccine itself spreads Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria responsible for triggering the highly contagious respiratory disease.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federalist Paper Predicts Federal Newsroom Monitors
The insights contained in The Federalist Papers never cease to amaze me. It is the best psychology text I have ever read. They not only predict how societies evolve and behave, they explain why they evolve and behave in specific ways.
Amendment 1 seems perfectly clear: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” Yet Federalist Paper #84 argues that some people will use this clause in the bill of rights to say that regulation of speech and the press is a federal responsibility. For example, on February 10, 2014, Ajit Pai wrote: “Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its ‘Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,’ or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring. The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about ‘the process by which stories are selected’ and how often stations cover ‘critical information needs’, along with ‘perceived station bias’ and ‘perceived responsiveness to underserved populations’.”[2]
The idea of putting federal monitors in media newsrooms is not new. From 1949 to 1987, the “fairness doctrine” was in effect. I worked for a radio station in San Francisco in the early ‘70s. Since we played music and had a tiny staff, we conformed to the “fairness doctrine” by never saying anything that might, in any way, be construed as political or controversial. I don’t think that was the intention of the Founding Fathers when they promoted freedom of speech.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Top Strategist Become Microsoft Top Strategist
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: There’s something all too appropriate about a strategist for a bland and uninteresting presidential candidate whose only virtue is that she is the 800 lb gorilla in the room because of her name recognition……going to work for a bland and uninteresting company whose only virtue is being the 800 lb gorilla in the room because of its name recognition. Hillary Clinton could be said to be the Microsoft of presidential candidates, boring, poorly designed, prone to crashes and desperately pretending to be cooler than she is.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Time for Another Expensive Obama Family World Tour
WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama will travel to China this month with her daughters, Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, her office announced today.
The March 19-26 trip will include a visit with her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan, who is a popular folk singer and the second wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The trip will be Michelle Obama’s first to China. Her itinerary includes stops in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on March 20-23, Xian on March 24 and Chengdu on March 25-26.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Molon Labe: Connecticut Gun Group Issues Ultimatum to Government
Either enforce gun ban or repeal law
After gun owners in Connecticut revolted against a gun control law by refusing to register their assault rifles and high capacity magazines, one Second Amendment group is calling on the government to either enforce gun confiscation or repeal the law in full…
“State officials look down the barrel of the laws that they created, and it is very probably that they now tremble as they rethink the extremity of their folly. Connecticut Carry calls on every State official, every Senator, and every Representative, to make the singular decision: Either enforce the laws as they are written and let us fight it out in court, or else repeal the 2013 Gun Ban in its entirety,” states the group’s press release.
In calling the state’s bluff, gun owners are setting the stage for a showdown that could sink the draconian law and set the precedent for the rest of the country…
When one woman asked Connecticut State Police Spokesman Lt. Paul Vance if police would engage in door to door gun confiscations during a phone call, Vance labeled her “anti-American.”
“I want to know, if it comes down to it, will the police go to my home if my husband refuses to give up a weapon that was formerly legal and now has been made illegal by a corrupt legislature?” she asked. “Will the police actually go to my home and threaten my family, ‘cause I’m scared to death?”
“Ma’am, it sounds like you’re anti-American, it sounds like you’re anti-law. I can’t answer your question,” Lt. Vance answered.
When the woman reminded Vance that he was a public servant, he churlishly shot back, “I’m the master, Ma’am, I’m the master.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Magnetic Material Could Boost Electronics
A highly sensitive magnetic material that could transform computer hard drives and energy storage devices has been discovered. The metal bilayer needs only a small shift in temperature to dramatically alter its magnetism — a tremendously useful property in electronic engineering.
“No other material known to man can do this. It’s a huge effect. And we can engineer it,” said Ivan Schuller, of the University of California, San Diego.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Yorkers Bought $1 Billion in Florida Property Since De Blasio Win
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Considering that a small number of wealthy people pay most of New York City’s taxes, it shouldn’t be a problem if they leave. It worked out fine for Motor City, it’ll work out great for the Big Apple. One friend says 10 wealthy people have told him they are leaving and another says disgusted New Yorkers bought $1 billion in residential property in Florida since the November election.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
North Philadelphia Meeting Addresses Gentrification
PEOPLE FROM all over Philadelphia came together Saturday to tell their stories about gentrification at the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia. Organizers had issued fliers calling for an “emergency town hall” to confront a “crisis facing black Philadelphia: the demise of our neighborhoods.”
In gentrification, some neighborhoods are targeted for revitalization — but the new development leads to huge rent or property-tax increases that often force longtime residents out.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: President Obama came to California. He saw a drought. He announced the cause to be global warming and left. How accurate was the president’s diagnosis of harmful, man-made climate change in stopping rain and snow? First, a bit of a reminder about what the president has called “settled science.”
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Oklahoma House Votes to Nullify Agenda 21, 66-26
A bill that would nullify Agenda 21 in Oklahoma passed through the state house today.
HB2805, the “Oklahoma Community Protection Act,” would prohibit any state agency or political subdivision from adopting or implementing “policy recommendations that deliberately or inadvertently infringe upon or restrict private property rights without due process.” It also would void any previous commitments which may have been made under Agenda 21 or a similar program. It reads, “any debt or commitment to an international or federal entity whereby the citizens did not have the ability to exercise their constitutional rights shall be considered null and void.”
The bill passed by a vote of 66-26.
“This bill protects your private property from being acquired by eminent domain from without a public vote or public hearing,” said bill sponsor, Rep. Lewis Moore.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ronan Farrow: The Young Man Only Old People Like
By Eliana Johnson
Excerpt: Farrow was mentored since his mid-teens by the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke. After Holbrooke’s sudden death Farrow was appointed to a murky role as “special adviser” to Hillary Clinton during her tenure at the State Department. He certainly knows how to charm sexagenarian elites, but young people don’t seem to like him much. The New York Times has aptly labeled him “the youngest old guy in the room.” Griffin had hoped the 26-year-old would help draw younger viewers to MSNBC, but after his first week on the air, Farrow’s ratings in the 18-49 demographic fell far below those from the comparable week a year ago, when Andrea Mitchell Reports was running in the same time slot.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Should Government Force Businesses to Hire Felons? Obama Nominee Debo Adegbile Says Yes
The Senate will soon vote on President Obama’s nomination of former NAACP Legal Defense Fund official Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. There are a number of reasons many Republicans oppose the nomination, most prominent among them Adegbile’s passionate and continued advocacy on behalf of Philadelphia cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. But one objection to the nomination has received little public notice, and it involves a quiet but growing controversy over the issue of criminal background checks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Cop Upholds Oath to Constitution (Video)
Officer chats it up with open carry advocates instead of harassing them
An Austin police officer is being hailed as a hero for abiding by the Constitution, upholding Texas gun laws and not overreacting to open carry advocates carrying rifles just down the street from the capitol building.
In a surprising taped interaction, APD Officer Mark Dale did not harass members of Come and Take It Texas when he responded to a call that “suspicious” persons were carrying rifles out in the open, something perfectly legal in Texas.
Instead, Officer Dale began chatting up the friendly rifle-wielding activists and admitted he and other citizens actually felt safer with them there.
“Just checking you guys out. I already know the law,” the officer told the open carry proponents as he inspected them.
The officer openly discussed Texas law with the rally participants and acknowledged that he wasn’t concerned when he heard the initial dispatch call or when he approached the activists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Democrats’ War on the Two-Party System
How Obama and the Left are working to create one-party tyranny
While conservatives are divided on the political path forward, Democrats are showing themselves to be united in a war against the Republican Party — with one-party rule for America as the endgame.
One need only look to the political priorities Democratic lawmakers have recently adopted to gauge this reality. Led by the Obama administration, a party hijacked by far-left radicals is determined to pass comprehensive immigration reform, prevent the passage of election integrity laws, and use the IRS as a billy club to suppress free speech. Republicans who are inclined to dismiss this agenda need only look to California to see the cost of complacency and denial. Mass immigration and sweeping amnesty initiatives are the Democrats’ primary tools for realizing their ambitions
Mass immigration and sweeping amnesty initiatives are the Democrats’ primary tools for realizing their ambitions. A devastating report produced by Phyllis Schlafly, “How Mass (Legal) Immigration Dooms a Conservative Republican Party,” details that reality in no uncertain terms. Citing surveys from the Pew Research Center, the Pew Hispanic Center, Gallup, NBC News, Harris polling, the Annenberg Policy Center, Latino Decisions, the Center for Immigration Studies and the Hudson Institute, Schlafly reveals that immigrants have always been the mainstay of the Democrat Party, emphasizing that this dynamic has been occurring for at least a century. Furthermore, as a result of the current rate of accelerated immigration that brings 1.1 million newcomers to America every year, the GOP will be reduced to fringe status within a decade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: How the FDA, FCC, And Mega Banks Are Spying on You
Whistleblowers are now the number one threat to the crumbling government establishment and corrupt corporate system, as any leaks that mimic that of Snowden or others can mean the death of their unconstitutional operations. That’s why we now see even the FDA and the FCC going and spying on the general public and employees alike (in the case of the FDA). We’ve even leaked how Bank of America has a secret spying ring that rounds up the profiles of social media users who dare to question the government and shares them with the feds.
Anthony Gucciardi joined The Alex Jones show in studio to talk about how the alternative media, whistleblowers, and reasonable thinkers are now the enemy
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Anonymous Misogynist Online Army
By Kathy Shaidle, Takimag.Com
Excerpt: Like all these women—like most writers I know, male and female—I’ve been insulted and threatened by angry readers, mostly (but not exclusively) male. Like Burchill, I’ve learned to welcome these comments and emails, but for a different reason. Each instance has built up my tolerance to the point where they have to be particularly pointed to so much as sting slightly. I don’t bother reporting death threats to the police, because the police are incompetent at best and corrupt at their worst. My response to rape threats is to simply reply, “I doubt you could manage it.”
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
A Homeless Person Dies ‘Every 20 Hours’ In France
France’s growing problem of homelessness was laid bare by new figures released this week, which show that a person living on the streets dies every 20 hours. Life expectancy for homeless people is also 30 years lower than for those people with fixed homes, figures revealed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Cyber-Jihadist in Court on Terror Charges
A French webmaster was due to stand trial in a landmark case in a Paris court on Tuesday on charges of inciting and glorifying terrorism. The Muslim convert translated Al Qaeda propaganda into French before uploading it onto the web.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Second Oldest Church Uncovered
MAINZ, GERMANY—Traces of a 1,200-year-old church have been discovered incorporated into the 1,000-year-old “Old Cathedral” in Mainz. The older walls, which date to the time of Charlemagne, stretch from the basement to the roof. “This is the only surviving Carolingian cathedral in Germany,” Rhineland-Palatinate state curator Joachim Glatz told The Local. Two burials dating to the time of the earlier church have also been found. The building was severely damaged during World War II.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Many People Would Lay Down Their Lives for the European Union?
By Ed West
[…]
The irony is that lots of people love Europe, but it is a Europe that the Commission finds repulsive; the real Europe, that of Greece, Rome and, most of all, Christendom, not a post-national world without borders but one that has always identified itself by its separation from the lands of Islam and to a lesser extent the Asiatic empire of Moscow…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-Lombardy Governor Indicted for Alleged Corruption
Formigoni sent to trial along with nine others
(ANSA) — Milan, March 3 — Former Lombardy Governor Roberto Formigoni was among 10 people sent to trial by a Milan judge on Monday for alleged graft in the region’s health sector.
Formigoni, a Senator with the New Centre Right (NCD) party of Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, is accused of criminal association and corruption. Former executive regional councillor Antonio Simone and businessman Pierangelo Dacco’, a friend of Formigoni’s, are also among the people implicated in the case relating to the Pavia-based Maugeri healthcare trust.
The trial will start May 6. Last year a Milan appeals court sentenced Dacco’ to nine years in prison for embezzling money through the San Raffaele hospital in Milan.
According to the court, Dacco’ helped create the so-called “San Raffaele system”, whereby entrepreneurs who worked under contract for the hospital would intentionally overbill clients and give the difference to Dacco’ who used the money for slush funds.
He was also found guilty of misappropriating assets and tax fraud.
Formigoni has consistently denied wrongdoing and says he paid for holidays on a boat provided by Dacco’.
Formigoni and the whole Lombardy government and parliament resigned at the end of 2012 after a wave of scandals.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Furore Over Undersecretary Causes Turbulence for Renzi
Gentile accused of pressuring paper to pull story on son
(ANSA) — Rome, March 3 — A furore over alleged attempts by a new undersecretary to stop a damaging newspaper report being published is causing turbulence for Premier Matteo Renzi’s young government. Senator Antonio Gentile, who was named transport and infrastructure undersecretary on Friday, is facing calls to quit following reports he pressured local daily L’Ora di Calabria not to publish a piece about allegations his son was implicated in corruption in health-sector contracts.
In the end the whole edition of the newspaper, including the story about Gentile’s son, did not go out on February 19, officially because of a technical problem at the printers, although many doubt this version of events.
Several members of Renzi’s own centre-left Democratic Party (PD) have called for Gentile to quit or be removed, along with several top Italian journalists.
And the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) is preparing a motion of no confidence in the Senator, a member of Interior Minister’s New Centre Right (NCD) party, the junior partner in Renzi’s coalition government. The NCD is standing behind Gentile, who says he has no intention to resign from the government and is the victim of mudslinging. “I didn’t exert influence on the publisher, on the journalist or on the editor of the newspaper,” Gentile said Monday, adding that his son had received no notification that he is being probed. The government has also been hit by controversy about the appointment of culture undersecretary Francesca Barracciu, a PD member who is under investigation for allegedly embezzling party funds.
A long series of corruption scandals have hit parties from all sides of Italy’s political spectrum in recent years and the row over Gentile and Barracciu could hurt the ability of Renzi, the country’s youngest premier at 39, to present himself as the face of change.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Grillo Wants Probed PD Undersecretaries’ Heads to Roll
Demands Renzi allies quit as prized election bill nears floor
(ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — Beppe Grillo, the head of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), called for the resignations of four more members of government Tuesday after an undersecretary stepped down Monday amid accusations he attempted to stop a damaging newspaper report. Senator Antonio Gentile, who was named transport and infrastructure undersecretary on Friday, bowed to calls to resign following reports he strong-armed local daily L’Ora di Calabria not to publish a piece about allegations his son was implicated in corruption in health-sector contracts.
Gentile is a member of the New Center Left (NCD) party, the junior partner in Premier Matteo Renzi’s coalition government, headed by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano.
“Alfano set the example, Gentile quit as undersecretary.
This necessary act brings honor to the NCD,” said Grillo, saying it was now the turn of Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) to follow suit and oust PD government appointees whose records have recently been called into question. Culture Undersecretary Francesca Barracciu is under investigation for allegedly embezzling party funds. Transport Undersecretary Umberto Del Basso de Caro and Health Undersecretary Vito De Filippo are both under investigation for missing expense reports. Interior Undersecretary Filippo Bubbico is under investigation for abuse of office. A long series of corruption scandals have damaged the image of parties from all sides of Italy’s political spectrum in recent years, making the row a potential threat to the ability of Renzi, the country’s youngest premier at 39, to present himself as the face of change.
The controversy has also caused tension during a crucial test for the government, with a bill for a new election law set to reach the floor of the Lower House later Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ferrari Chairman is Helping to Save Alitalia
The chairman of Italy’s famous sports carmaker said on Tuesday he was helping to clinch a deal for Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways to invest in the struggling Alitalia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Billionaires Thrive on Style and Chocolate
Fashion designer Miuccia Prada and chocolatier Michele Ferrero have been named among the world’s richest people in the annual global ranking of billionaires by the business magazine, Forbes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jews Jump at Chance of Spanish Citizenship Offer
Spain’s offer of citizenship to the descendants of Jews who were expelled from the country over 500 years ago during the Inquisition has sparked a flurry of global interest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nineteen Swedes Make Forbes Billionaire List
H&M owner Stefan Persson was the highest placed Swede on the Forbes billionaire list published on Tuesday, with five more Swedes making the annual list compared to the year before.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegians Abroad Pose Risk of Terror Attacks
Norway’s intelligence service says the threat of a terrorist attack in the country is growing and that Norwegians involved with al-Qaida-linked groups abroad could pose a threat in other nations.
In the 2013 shopping mall assault by terrorists in Nairobi, Kenya, which killed nearly 70 people, one of the gunmen was identified as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a Norwegian citizen who had returned to his native Somalia in 2010.
The agency said that the greatest terror threat in Norway comes from extreme Islamists in and around Oslo, but it did not give further details.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trojan Horse Thieves ‘Major Threat to Europe’
Europe’s top crime fighting body has been alerted by Spanish Civil Guard Police of a new style of cargo theft happening on roads across the continent: the Houdini-like ‘Trojan Horse’ method.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Truffle Wars: Fraudsters Anger French Growers
French truffle growers are up in arms over cheaper imports from China which they say are being doctored by unscrupulous chefs and passed off fraudulently as the hugely prized local variety.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Sexual Child Abuse Does Happen in Our Community’
Film director thinks black families need to open up about taboo topic
A DIRECTOR of a new film highlighting child abuse in the black community believes that people need to start talking more about the taboo subject. Fredi ‘Kruga’ Nwaka earlier this month released Some Things — a short film focusing on the sexual abuse of a young girl in London at the hands of her stepfather…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Chris Joannides, a councillor for Enfield, in north London, also upset colleagues by complaining that his job as a local councillor was interfering with his social life…
[JP note: Osama bin Laden bin bags?]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Brixton Fridge Bar Owner: Our Clubs Are at Risk
By Afia Asha
Staying silent on violence is a high price to pay, writes business owner
HG WELLS once stated that ‘moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.’ This quote came to mind when I perused the media frenzy that engulfed my business as a result of a post that I inserted on Facebook.
The Evening Standard, BBC, Huffington Post and a phalanx of over-eager ‘journalists’ attempted to contact me for a quote on articles that had already been written. Clearly, they were seeking quotes in order to legitimise their ‘investigation’ or lack thereof. None were forthcoming for reasons that I will shortly make clear.
The Facebook post that I wrote quickly went viral with support coming from a host of other businesses similar to my own. What was written you may ask?…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boy, 9, ‘Showed Signs of Extremism’ As British Muslims Claim to be Targeted by Authorities
ANTI-TERROR experts fear children as young as nine are exhibiting signs of Islamic extremism.
And police have revealed a total of 2,653 young people aged 15 to 24 were referred to government-funded de-radicalisation programmes between 2006 and 2013. According to a report by Islamic campaign group CAGE, schoolchildren are being reported to the authorities by schools, youth workers and doctors, amid concerns they are exhibiting signs of extremism. Research included in the 56-page document claims children with extreme political views are being sent for “deprogramming”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron Tells of Shock After Aide Patrick Rock Arrested Over Child Abuse Images
Downing Street faced a storm today over a “cover-up” of the arrest and resignation of one of the Prime Minister’s oldest friends over allegations of child abuse images. Patrick Rock quit his senior post in Downing Street on February 12, hours before he was arrested and questioned by police.
Mr Rock, 62, was involved in drawing up government policy on internet filters to stop children accessing pornography. His arrest came after No 10 was “made aware of a potential offence relating to child abuse imagery”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mosque Calls for Safe Crossing to Protect Worshippers
Leaders of the Darussalam Mosque in Southall say a pedestrian crossing is needed before someone gets seriously injured crossing the busy Hayes Road
Leaders of a mosque visited by up to a thousand worshippers a day claim people are risking their lives crossing a busy road to get there. The Darussalam Mosque and Cultural Centre opened at a former office block in Hayes Road, Southall, just over four years ago…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Official Who Drew Up Guidelines for British Internet Filters Arrested on Child Porn Charges
A senior aide to British Prime Minister David Cameron has resigned after being arrested on suspicion of child pornography offences, Downing Street confirmed Monday.
Patrick Rock, 62, was arrested by officers from the National Crime Agency last month.
“On the evening of February 12, Downing Street was first made aware of a potential offence relating to child abuse imagery,” said a Downing Street spokesman.
“It was immediately referred to the National Crime Agency.
“Patrick Rock was arrested at his home in the early hours of February 13, a few hours after Downing Street had reported the matter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: PC Keith Blakelock Murder Accused Wrote Rap Saying ‘We Chop Him All Over’, Court Hears
The rap was discovered in Nicky Jacobs’ prison cell in 1988 when he was serving a sentence for affray in the Broadwater Farm riot three years earlier, a court hears
A man accused of murdering Pc Keith Blakelock during the Broadwater Farm riots wrote a rap saying “we chop him all over”, a court has heard. The rap was discovered in Nicky Jacobs’ prison cell in 1988 when he was serving a sentence for affray in the riots three years earlier.
Extracts of the rap poem were disclosed for the first time in the Old Bailey. Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, read out lines from the rap which described how the 40-year-old police officer begged for mercy before being hacked with weapons all over his body.
The extracts, using slang and little punctuation, said: “PC Blakelock him never smell the danger and when we fly down upon him he start scream and holla everybody gather round and av pure laughter he try to head out but we trip him over and he start beg for mercy but it didn’t matter.”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Taking Radicalised Children From Their Parents is a Dangerous Idea
Boris Johnson’s comments about radicalisation of Muslim children miss the point: parents are the best antidote to extremism
[…]
[Reader comment by StVitusGerulaitus on 3 March 2014.]
Parents are often the last ones to spot the radicalisation of their children
Sure, but Boris Johnson was talking about children who are at risk from radicalisation by their parents. So this piece shouldn’t be linked to his comments.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Without More Ethnic Minority Votes, Can the Conservatives Ever Win Again?
The biggest barrier to a Conservative majority in 2015 is simple: 18 million voters would never, ever vote for them. According to a new Ipsos-Mori poll, 40 per cent of voting age Britons would never consider voting Conservative. Only 33 per cent would never consider voting Labour.
The revelation is nothing new, but it does put the Conservative Party’s challenge at the next election into perspective. The party faces the “Romney problem” — it needs a rising proportion of a diminishing share of the electorate to win. That’s because of its complete failure to engage with ethnic minorities: only 16 per cent voted for the party in 2010.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP Says it’s Not a Racist Party. So Why is it Channelling the Ghost of Bernard Manning?
by Damian Thompson
I’ve just got off a plane from the States — where my luggage still is, thank you, American Airlines — and caught up with the latest accusations of Ukip “racism”: that is, the furore over the after-dinner speaker who told the sort of jokes about foreigners that were embarrassing even in the 1970s…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘UKIP is Racist, M’kay?’ Says Dan Hodges
By Raheem Kassam
Dan Hodges, a Blairite media commentator now in apparent exile from a left-lurching Labour Party, has used his column in the Telegraph today to follow up the Sunday Mirror’s world-beating scoop about alleged “racism” at the UKIP conference. He writes:…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Wales is a Nightmare Vision of Ed Milaband’s Britain
By Charlotte Leslie, Spectator UK
Excerpt: If you need an ECG to check out a suspected heart problem in England, a situation in which every day can count, you have less than a one-in-a-hundred chance of waiting over six weeks for your scan. If you are in Wales, there’s well over a one-in-three chance it will be more than six weeks before you get your potentially life-saving ECG. A desperate focus not to tackle these issues, but to put all effort into covering them up reveals the fundamental instinct of Labour — to protect the reputation of the ‘System’ and the State, over patient lives — which is exactly what we saw in the case of the last Labour Government’s approach to hospitals like mid-Staffs. Sadly, we have seen that cover-up and communist-like control seems to be engraved in their DNA.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean is Our Future, Renzi Tells Tunisian Women
Europe is not just economy but also ideals,Premier says in Tunis
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday told representatives from Tunisian women’s groups that Europe needs to change course and “put the Mediterranean at the center” of its policies.
Europe is not “just economic parameters”, the young premier said on what is the first foreign mission of his fledgling administration. “We must work together so that Mediterranean countries can become the link between Europe and Africa”, Renzi said, adding that this is one of the reasons he chose Tunisia as his first destination.
“I think the first challenge for Europe is to have an ideal vision, and not just an economic one”, the premier continued. “So far, the debate has been solely on economic parameters, and this must change”.
Italy’s duty EU presidency, said Renzi, will place the Mediterranean at the center of its agenda.
“The Mediterranean is not a border, but the future of Europe and of our countries”, he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cairo Court Imposes Temporary Ban on Hamas Activities in Egypt
Relations between the Palestinian Islamist group and the Egyptian authorities have soured since the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013; Hamas condemns decision.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin Jailed in Egypt; Claims Police Broke Her Arm
Excerpt: Code Pink had worked with the Muslim Brotherhood to over throw Egypt’s former President Mubarak. The current government of Egypt has declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization after Brotherhood leader Morsi was removed from the presidency. Perhaps that is why Benjamin was detained. Last night her twitter feed read:…
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Court Bans Hamas Activities in Egypt
The court shuts down the movement’s offices in the country. Hamas slams the Egyptian court’s decision because it “harms the image of Egypt and its role towards the Palestinian cause”. In recent months, Egyptian authorities destroyed most of the 1,200 tunnels with Gaza.
Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) — An Egyptian court today “ordered the banning of Hamas work and activities in Egypt” and the seizure of its assets. The Palestinian organisation controls Gaza Strip.
The court also shut down Hamas offices in Egypt, but did not label it as a terrorist group since it had no jurisdiction in the matter.
Hamas condemned the ruling. “The decision harms the image of Egypt and its role towards the Palestinian cause,” said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Gaza-based group.
The reasons for the court’s decision have not yet been disclosed, but the latter stems from the new attitude towards the group, which is tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, by the authorities in Cairo after the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi.
Since then, the Egyptian government has, among other things, destroyed most of the 1,200 tunnels (pictured) used to smuggle food, cars and weapons into the coastal enclave, which is under an Israeli blockade.
Egypt’s current rulers have accused Hamas of plotting with Morsi to organise terrorist attacks in the country.
Several Hamas members are among the defendants in the trial against the former president.
Similarly, the Palestinian group has been accused of supporting Islamist groups close to al Qaeda in the Sinai, charges it has rejected.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Court Bans Hamas Amid Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood
Palestinian group, a close ally of Brotherhood, outlawed in sign of further deteriorating relations since Mohamed Morsi’s removal
A court in Cairo has banned the hardline Palestinian Islamist group Hamas — a movement closely bound to the Muslim Brotherhood — from working within Egyptian borders. Hamas was outlawed in Egypt by judicial order on Tuesday, formalising the rift between the Egyptian government and the militant group that governs the neighbouring Gaza Strip…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Military Chief Sisi Hints at Presidential Bid
Egypt’s armed forces chief, Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, has said he cannot ignore calls by the majority for him to run for president. He was quoted by the state news agency Mena as revealing that “official procedures” regarding his candidacy were expected in the coming days.
It is the clearest indication yet that he will stand in the election which is scheduled to take place by mid-April. He led the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in July.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Bans Hamas, Labels it a Terrorist Organization
An Egyptian court has banned all activities by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Egypt. Cairo’s relations with the group have fallen apart since president Morsi’s military-backed ouster.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Official: Libya National TV Station Comes Under Attack by Gunmen
Gunmen launched an attack on Libya’s official television station on Tuesday, firing shoulder-propelled grenades at the troops guarding it before they were driven off by reinforcements, officials said. There were no reports of casualties.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Open Season on Christians in Libya
By Raymond Ibrahim
It’s open season on Coptic Christians in Libya.
A few days after seven Copts were identified as Christians, pulled out of their homes by “unknown gunmen” and taken out and executed in Jarutha, some 20 miles west of Benghazi, Egyptian Copts are still being singled out and killed.
This comes after the Islamic jihadi group, Ansar al-Sharia—which appears connected to Egypt’s now ousted Muslim Brotherhood—offered a reward to any Benghazi resident who helps them round up and execute the nation’s few Christians, according to Egyptian human rights groups.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Warren Beatty (Not the Liberal Actor)
Excerpt: In a recent New Yorker interview: That the Obama administration’s continuing engagement in the Israeli Palestinian peace process seems to be driven more by the need to burnish Kerry’s ego and and less by a consideration of core national interests became clear when President Obama told a New Yorker interviewer recently that there the chances of of Kerry brokering a peace deal was “less than fifty-fifty” (imagine President Kennedy telling the world that the chances of resolving the Cuban missile crisis was “less than fifty-fifty”). So it looked as though the time and effort that Kerry was putting in all this amounted to nothing more than going through the motions
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Stakelbeck Interview With Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambasador to U.S.
My report on Israel’s new ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, aired on CBN News today.
I interviewed Dermer last week on a number of issues, with a particular focus on the Iran threat and Israel’s strong relationship with American Christians.
He is a Miami native who attended the University of Pennsylvania and eventually rose to become Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest advisor. Now he’s Israel’s voice in DC.
Click the link above to watch.
| — Hat tip: Erick Stakelbeck | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Storm Government Complex in Iraq’s Samarra
(Reuters) — Gunmen in military uniform broke into the city council and court house in Samarra in northern Iraq on Tuesday, holding the facility for four hours until police and army stormed the compound, the mayor and police officials said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Rouhani’s “Moderate” Slaughterhouse for Young Men
The Case of Shahrokh Zamani
Shahrokh Zamani, sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda” and “participating in illegal organizations” for attempting to build a Trade Union for him and his fellow painters, is presently serving his time in Rajai-Shahr prison, known for its devastating conditions and inhumane treatment of prisoners…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
For Mar Sako, “Our future is here, not in the countries of the Diaspora”. He slams mafias and traffickers who “encourage emigration”, bemoaning the fact that without the people, only empty churches and dead stones are left. Better education, jobs, housing and investment are the bases to revive the Christian presence.
Baghdad (AsiaNews) — “If we leave Iraq then we are cut off from our origin and our history” because the “future depends on our commitment and our impact” on this country, said His Beatitude Mar Raphael I Louis Sako, Chaldean Patriarch of Iraq. Indeed, “Our future is here, not in the countries of the Diaspora,” he added in a strong, decisive and heartfelt plea made during a meeting with the faithful at St Joseph Parish Church in Baghdad.
Attended by several leaders of the Chaldean Church, the conference was held on 26 February to address the nation’s “crisis” and the “challenges” posed by emigration.
The endless exodus of Iraq’s Christians, whose population has dropped by half since the US invasion in 2003, is in fact one of the patriarch’s key issues, a challenge around which the survival of Christian communities is being played out across the country and around the Middle East.
For His Beatitude, the Christians of the Middle East are different from their Muslim compatriots because they have had to preserve the faith “with great sacrifices”.
It is “regrettable” that “Islamic regimes [have] considered them as second class citizens in their homeland,” and that the Crusades and colonialism have strengthened their (alleged) “ties with the West,” he said.
In addition to security, persecution and violence, Christians now face local mafias and crime groups who encourage their emigration “by offering inducements and facilitate it for a specific agendas and interests”.
However, “Leaving the country,” His Beatitude explained, “means a break with the history and civilisation of the country — homeland, culture and society — as well as the difficulty of coping with the Western mind-set in terms of language, customs, morals, society, family, culture, and education.” In short, “Immigration is eradication from the roots, and a form of death.”
“We were born in Iraq,” Mar Tues Sako pleaded. “We are here because of a Divine Plan, and we have a call, i.e. a message: The responsibility of carrying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those we live with. [. . .] If we leave, then who will bear witness for Christ in this country? Our churches will turn into museums and dead stone, that if they are not completely destroyed. [. . .] Isn’t immigration a betrayal of the nation and an escape from responsibility?”
Finally, “The alleged happiness in migration is a mirage,” Mar Sako noted. “The misery of alienation, the trouble with work, and the risks of being lost might lead to losing everything. Don’t think you’ll find work, money and prosperity easily,” the Chaldean Patriarch warned.
Instead, he suggested some key points to revive the Christian presence in Iraq and the Middle East, namely better education, greater investment and more economic activities, new homes and jobs.
Greater cohesion and unity of purpose among the various political groups are also needed. This could take the form of a League Chaldean to defend the rights of Christians in difficult situations.
The symposium, attended by prelates like the Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad Shlemon Warduni, ended with the Patriarch’s invitation to sing the national anthem and a hymn to the Virgin Mary titled ‘Under your protection’.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Primarily Muslim, the Tatars of Crimea were instrumental in making the peninsula one of the centers of Islamic culture. They were also known as slave traders who raided lands as far north as modern-day Poland.
The Tatars didn’t fare well in the Crimean War or in later conflicts, and many fled the region. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin may have dealt the Tatars their cruelest blow: By shipping food out of Crimea to central Russia in the 1920s, Stalin starved hundreds of thousands of Tatars.
During World War II, Crimean Tatars were deported by the thousands to serve as laborers and other menial workers in Russia under inhuman conditions — about half the Tatar population reportedly died as a result.
After the fall of the Soviet empire, Tatars began to return to their ancestral Crimean homeland, where they now number about 250,000 — roughly 12 percent of the Crimean population.
For obvious reasons, the Crimean Tatars take a dim view of renewed Russian incursions into their homeland, and are likely to put up some resistance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Erick Erickson, Red State
Excerpt: While the circle of jerks from New York to Washington to London to Brussels came up with exciting new ways for nations to work together, some national leaders in some countries had other ideas — they’d work for national interests. The West, particularly the United States, started viewing militaries as avenues for social experience instead of instruments of death and destruction. Meanwhile, other nations grew bolder. China is now more and more allied with Russia with both countries lusting after previously lost territories. China may soon risk war with Japan over some islands and Russia, knowing the West will do nothing to stop it, has invaded Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
As Military Threats Grow in Crimea, Ukraine Reaches Out to Russia
Ukraine’s interim prime minister says his government has made contact with Russia to resolve tensions. Officials announced that Ukraine has reinforced protection of nuclear plants because of security threats from Russia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Biggest-Ever Virus Revived From Stone Age Permafrost
As if there weren’t enough problems with thawing tundra. A virus of unprecedented size has been isolated from Russian permafrost 30,000 years old and reactivated. Dubbed a pithovirus after the Greek pithos, meaning a large earthenware jar like an amphora, the virus infects amoebas but does not appear to harm human or mouse cells.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Reportedly Says Russia Sees Treaty as Justifying Ukraine Moves
The difficulty in predicting the Russian military moves echoed a similar intelligence gap in August 2008 when Russian troops backed separatist forces in South Ossetia against the republic of Georgia in a five-day war. The CIA was caught off guard at the time, officials said later.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Crimea’s Anti-Russian Muslims Gather Arms
The Tatar minority is forming defense units and talking with allies in Turkey
Russian sabre-rattling on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula this weekend is unleashing age old ethnic enmities and political divisions. The peninsula’s long-suffering Tatar minority, who oppose Russian influence in the Crimea, are forming defense units. And there are signs they may have support from Turkey…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU vs. Moscow: Russia Tries to Woo Back Moldova
As Moldova prepares to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, Russia is stepping up attempts to keep the country in its fold. It has found some willing helpers in the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-CIA Chief: Why We Keep Getting Putin Wrong
Blame a myopic mindset—and an intelligence corps focused on terrorism, not Moscow.
The last time Russian troops invaded one of its neighbors, the U.S. intelligence community was also caught off guard.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gas Flow From Ukraine Not Affected by Crisis
‘System could cope even if it were cut’
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 4 — The flow of natural gas to Italy from Russia through Ukraine has not been affected by the crisis between the two countries, Industry Undersecretary Claudio De Vincenti said Tuesday. “There have been no interruptions,” he said, adding that “the system is more than sufficient (to cope) if there were (cuts)”.
Earlier Tuesday the CEO of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Alexiei Miller, said it would scrap in April the discount on natural gas it gave Ukraine in December. The move, which escalates the Russia-Ukraine crisis over Moscow’s intervention in Crimea, raises the risks of Kiev defaulting on its international debt and turning to the IMF for a bailout.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It Takes a Rogue Nation to Stop a Rogue State
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: England and France’s diplomatic outreach to Nazi Germany led to the seizure of the Rhineland, the annexations of Austria and a portion of Czechoslovakia, followed by the invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland. American diplomacy and sanctions on Japan led to Pearl Harbor. The issue isn’t whether the United States should intervene in Ukraine, but whether it should have the option to do something more meaningful than draw faint red lines and threaten worthless sanctions. Every mob throwing things at soldiers and police isn’t necessarily composed of the good guys just because they have photogenic protesters and colorful flags.
Our instinct to automatically support the underdog is just another dangerous figment of the multilateral mindset.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
Kerry: US Will Stand With Ukraine
John Kerry has reaffirmed US support for the interim government in Kyiv and the Ukrainian people. The US has no interest in conflict with Russia, the secretary of state has said, but it will levy sanctions if pushed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kleptocracy at the Root of Ukraine’s Problems
Many things caused Ukrainians to rise up in protest over the past several months. Dismay at seeing Yanukovych embrace Russia instead of the European Union had a big part. But so did a collective revulsion against the profound corruption of Yanukovych and his inner circle.
Nothing epitomizes the excesses of Viktor Yanukovych more than his palatial estate, Mezhyhirya. The massive house and its 137 hectare estate on the Dnieper River outside Kiev have been valued at more than $75 million (US). And, The New York Times says Yanukovych has recently been building yet another mega-mansion at Laspi, on the shore of the Black Sea near Sevastopol.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moscow-Kiev Direct Talks Difficult But Key, Says Italian FM
‘Intense diplomatic action essential’
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, March 4 — Intense diplomatic action is key to start direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to defuse the crisis, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said on Tuesday.
“We are all trying to push the two capitals, Moscow and Kiev, towards opening direct talks, something which is very complicated but not impossible and which could be key in resolving” the situation, Mogherini said, briefing the foreign affairs commissions of Italy’s Lower House and Senate on an EU Council Monday which focused on Ukraine.
An extraordinary EU summit on Ukraine in Brussels Thursday will weigh “possible targeted measures”, Mogherini announced a day earlier.
The EU is considering sanctions over Russia’s action in Crimea and has already decided to stop preparations for a G8 summit in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Strategy of Fomenting Revolution in Ukraine is Backfiring Dramatically
When the Obama administration was plotting to overthrow the democratically-elected government of Ukraine, what in the world did they expect to happen in the aftermath? Did they just expect Russia to roll over and play dead as the U.S. and the EU installed a rabidly anti-Russian government in Kiev? Over the past few years, the U.S. government has chosen to foment violent political revolutions all over the globe. We have seen violent revolutions overthrow governments all across the Middle East and Africa, but when the U.S. government decided to do the same thing in Ukraine they went way too far. When you mess with Ukraine, and when you mess with Crimea in particular, you are crossing a huge red line as far as the Russians are concerned. By crossing that red line, the Obama administration has ensured that the relationship between the United States and Russia will never be friendly again.
If you have not listened to the conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Ambassador to the Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt that was leaked a little over a month ago on YouTube, please click on the video posted below. As Robert Wenzel recently discussed, this video is solid proof that Obama administration officials were plotting who the new leaders of Ukraine would be several weeks before a violent revolution ousted President Viktor Yanukovych from power…
And Obama especially looks foolish since his “democratic revolution” is starting to backfire dramatically. Just consider the following facts…
- It is estimated that approximately 675,000 Ukrainians have fled into Russia during January and February. Why would they be going into Russia for protection if Russia is the “bad guy”?
- The head of Ukraine’s navy has defected and is now working with the Russians.
- The flagship of the Ukrainian Navy has switched sides…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Calls Events in Ukraine an ‘Unconstitutional Coup’
As Secretary of State John Kerry headed for embattled Kiev to meet with Ukraine’s fledgling leadership, President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday described the crisis there as the result of an “unconstitutional coup,” throwing his support behind ousted President Viktor F. Yanukovych and reserving the right to use force as “a last resort,” news reports said.
In televised remarks reported by Reuters, Mr. Putin also said there was no need to use force at the moment in Crimea, Ukraine’s southern region on the Black Sea where Russian troops and naval vessels have encircled Ukrainian military facilities, saying they were protecting ethnic Russians.
Mr. Putin’s remarks came after declared the scheduled end of a surprise military exercise he ordered in western Russia near Ukraine’s border last week, telling military units that participated to return to their permanent garrisons.
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Putin’s Claim of No Russian Troops in Crimea Stuns Kerry
In a somewhat stunning press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that none of his troops had moved into Crimea — a statement that stunned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
When informed by a reporter of Putin’s claim, Kerry — who arrived in Kiev on Tuesday — smiled and said, “He really denied there were troops in Crimea?”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Plays Nazi Card to Marginalize Ukraine’s Revolution
In the propaganda war raging over Ukraine’s revolution, Russia is playing up claims of neo-Nazi involvement in the protests that toppled Viktor Yanukovych, alleging the far right is on the rise in the former Soviet republic and was crucial in the Ukrainian president’s downfall.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Secretary of State John Kerry, Arriving in Kiev, Offers $1 Billion in Loan Guarantees to Ukraine
KIEV — In a demonstration of support for Ukraine’s fledgling government, Secretary of State John Kerry arrived here on Tuesday with an offer of $1 billion in American loan guarantees and pledges of technical assistance, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday.
The purpose of the loan guarantee is to support Ukraine’s efforts to integrate with the West and help offset the reduction of energy subsidies from Russia, which has assailed the new government’s legitimacy and occupied its Crimea Peninsula.
The United States will also send technical experts to help Ukraine’s national bank and finance ministry, provide advice on how to fight corruption and train election monitors to help establish the legitimacy of Ukraine’s upcoming election.
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Stop Gun Barrel Politics, Kerry Warns Putin
The United States warned Russia to stop its “gun barrel” strategy in Ukraine on Tuesday night, as pro-Russian soldiers came close to firing on their Ukrainian counterparts.
On a visit to Kiev that sent a clear signal of support for the country’s new pro-European government, John Kerry, the US secretary of state, accused Vladimir Putin of deliberately engineering the crisis as a pretext for a Russian invasion.
Mr Kerry arrived bearing the gift of a $1billion energy subsidy package for Ukraine, which is currently in emergency talks with the International Monetary Fund over a $35 billion black hole in its finances. Meanwhile, Russia’s gas giant, Gazprom, said it would cancel a price discount on gas it sells to Ukraine, which could effectively double prices.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Crisis: Russia Warns of Dropping US Dollar as Reserve Currency if US Imposes Sanctions
A Kremlin aide was quoted on Tuesday as saying that if the United States were to impose sanctions on Russia over Ukraine, Moscow might be forced to drop the dollar as a reserve currency and refuse to pay off any loans to US banks.
Mr Sergei Glazyev, who is often used by the authorities to stake out a hardline stance but does not make policy, was cited by RIA news agency as saying Moscow could recommend that all holders of US treasuries sell them if Washington freezes the US accounts of Russian businesses and individuals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Warren Buffett: Ukraine Won’t Stop My Stock Buying
“You’re going to invest your money in something over time. The one thing you can be quite sure of is if we went into some kind of very major war, the value of money would go down. That’s happened in virtually every war I’m aware of. The last thing you’d want to do is hold money during a war. You might want to own a farm, you might want to own an apartment house, you might want to own securities. During World War II the stock market advanced.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Washington’s Arrogance, Hubris, And Evil Have Set the Stage for War
In some quarters public awareness is catching up with Stephen Lendman, Michel Chossudovsky, Rick Rozoff, myself and a few others in realizing the grave danger in the crisis that Washington has created in Ukraine.
The puppet politicians who Washington intended to put in charge of Ukraine have lost control to organized and armed neo-nazis, who are attacking Jews, Russians, and intimidating Ukrainian politicians. The government of Crimea, a Russian province that Khrushchev transferred to the Ukraine Soviet Republic in the 1950s, has disavowed the illegitimate government that illegally seized power in Kiev and requested Russian protection. The Ukrainian military forces in Crimea have gone over to Russia. The Russian government has announced that it will also protect the former Russian provinces in eastern Ukraine as well.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why is the Mainstream Media Ignoring the Rabid Anti-Semitism in the New Ukraine Government?
In World War II, the United States fought against rabidly anti-Semitic fascists. In 2014, the United States helps them overthrow democratically-elected governments. And the sick thing is that the mainstream media is acting an an accomplice because it is purposely ignoring or greatly playing down the rabid anti-Semitism in Ukraine. The anti-Semitism of many of the “reformers” that have seized power in Kiev does not fit with the narrative that the U.S. government is trying to push, so the mainstream media conveniently turns a blind eye to the fact that the United States is essentially helping neo-Nazis take power. In fact, leaders of the Svoboda Party have been appointed to numerous important positions throughout the new government. As you will read about below, the head of the Svoboda Party has denounced the “criminal activities” of “organized Jewry”, another top Svoboda official regularly quotes Joseph Goebbels, and the Party itself was known as “the Social-National Party” (in reference to National Socialists) until 2004. There is a long history of anti-Semitism in Ukraine, but our politicians in Washington D.C. don’t seem to care about that. All they seem to care about is making sure that there is not a pro-Russian government in Ukraine no matter what the cost.
There is a reason why Russian President Vladimir Putin cited “ultranationalists” as one of the reasons why Russian troops had to intervene in Ukraine. What we are seeing in Ukraine right now is eerily reminiscent of what we saw in Nazi Germany before World War II. The following comes from a recent Gawker article.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Singapore Named the World’s Most Expensive City
Singapore has topped 131 cities globally to become the world’s most expensive city to live in 2014, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The city’s strong currency combined with the high cost of running a car and soaring utility bills contributed to Singapore topping the list.
Other cities making up the top five most expensive cities to live in are Paris, Oslo, Zurich and Sydney, with Tokyo falling to sixth place.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Human Rights Commissioner ‘Worried’ About Marines
Pillay concerned about length of time pair have been in India
(ANSA) — Geneva, March 3 — The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is “worried” about the case of two Italian marines who have been held in India for over two years, as yet without charge, for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012, spokesman Rupert Corville said Monday.
Italy is appealing to the UN to intervene in a case that it says should not be handled in India, as the incident took place outside Indian territorial waters.
Rome also says that, regardless of the jurisdiction issue, marines Massimiliano Girone and Salvatore Latorre should be allowed to return home and, if necessary, face justice in Italy, as they are servicemen who were on a mission for the State.
Corville said Pillay was “worried about the respect of human rights” given the length of time the pair have been kept in India, after the commissioner met Italian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Benedetto Della Vedova in Geneva.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala in February 2012.
The two marines have been living and working at the Italian embassy in India pending charges.
The case has led to a major diplomatic row between the two countries and rallying of the European Union in Italy’s support.
Rome has protested over a long series of delays, the latest when the Indian supreme court last month adjourned hearings for two weeks after prosecutors dropped a tough anti-piracy and anti-terrorism law that could have mandated the death penalty.
Although the anti-terrorism law has been dropped the case, it is currently still in the hands of India’s anti-terrorism police pending a ruling.
Indian prosecutors say the pair might face up to 10 years in jail.
Italian media have speculated that international support for Italy could wane now India has dropped the anti-terror law — which had serious implications for the global anti-piracy fight.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Sex Industry Flourishing Despite Dangerous Conditions and Corrupt Police
Up to 20 million people could work in the sex industry, according to some estimates
Because of its large population, China has the most sex workers in the world. But the country’s sex industry operates entirely underground, because the Communist Party-led government bans any kind of sex trade. Experts say the ban — coupled with institutionalised corruption and rampant abuse by police with the power to order detention without trial — makes the working environment of those in the trade much tougher.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Iranians Came to Deal Drugs in Japan
In Japan’s underworld of organised crime, there is of course the infamous Yakuza, but there are also foreign nationals, including Iranians. For more than two decades now, they have been dealing drugs on behalf of the lower rungs of Japanese criminals. An Iranian with insider knowledge of these activities explains how this came about.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kunming Massacre: Has the Global Jihad Reached China?
Was the massacre of 29 people at a railway station in south west China a sign that China has become a target for Islamic militants?
No one at the railway station in Kunming noticed the men and women wearing black until they drew their knives and began slashing throats. Working together, according to Chinese witnesses, the group seemed well-trained: they knew exactly where to stab and cut…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Appeals to Japan, South Korea to Improve Relations
The United States appealed Tuesday to its closest Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, to improve their strained relations, saying there’s an urgent need to show restraint on “difficult historical issues.”
Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel’s comments reflect growing angst in Washington over the widening gulf between Tokyo and Seoul over Japan’s attitude to its wartime and imperial past.
Deepening that standoff, the nationalist government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently announced it is reviewing evidence on which a landmark 1993 apology over forced prostitution during World War II was based. South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has warned that a review of the apology would only isolate Japan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Liberty Alliance, Backed by Anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders, Set for Launch
CONTROVERSIAL anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has revealed that a new party defending western values will be launched in Australia.
In a Youtube message, Mr Wilders said he would visit Perth next year to help launch the Australian Liberty Alliance, which he described as a freedom party.
“Many of you are disappointed with current political parties and have had enough of politicians who sell out western civilisation,” he said.
Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party is popular in the Netherlands, was the subject of rowdy protests by far Left groups when he toured Australia in February last year. His views were condemned by several political leaders and in some cases he had to find new meeting venues when worried hosts cancelled bookings.His visit was sponsored by the Q Society, an Australian “Islam-critical” group which is organising an international seminar this weekend in Melbourne.
Mr Wilders said he had been working with Q Society leaders on the new party, which would counter views such as all cultures are equal.
“It may seem like a big task but the winds are changing,” he said.
Q Society president Debbie Robinson said her group would remain separate from the new party as an educational civil rights group.
“(However), individuals connected with the society are in the process of forming a political movement,” she said.
Speakers at this weekend’s conference include Stop Islamisation of Nations leaders Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from the US. They were barred from entering Britain last year to speak at an English Defence League rally because their presence was deemed to “not be conducive to the public good”.
Also participating are Babette Francis from the Endeavour Forum and social commentator Bill Muehlenberg.
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Islamic Militants in Northeastern Nigeria Burn 11 People to Death in Their Homes
Officials say Islamic militants have burned 11 people to death inside their homes in northeastern Nigeria, where frequent attacks have claimed at least 130 lives in the past four days alone.
Violence has escalated in recent weeks in three northeastern Nigerian states that have been under emergency rule for over nine months. Officials and residents blame the attacks on Boko Haram, an Islamic insurgent group that has killed thousands of people in the past four and a half years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Ideological Battle Brewing in Mombasa Mosques
NAIROBI — The Muslim community in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa has been shaken up as a youth movement has taken control of an influential mosque in the city. A police crackdown on alleged radicals has also created tension in the community. A battle for religious ideological supremacy is brewing as Kenya continues a crackdown on suspected al-Shabab terrorists in the country…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Malawi: Mzimba in Pork Selling Saga, After Mangochi Muslims Successfully Fought for the Same
BLANTYRE(MaraPost) — Muslims in the Northern region district of Mzimba have threatened to take unspecified action if Mzimba district council does not establish separate selling points for pork.
According to Chairperson of Mzimba Halaal Committee, Ishmael Mponda, the plea to have separate pork selling points was first petitioned to the M’mbelwa district council in 2007 but nothing has been done since then…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria Bloodshed Continues With 32 Dead
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Ending a weekend of violence, 32 people were killed in the northern Nigerian village of Mafa Sunday night after soldiers fled the area, outgunned by suspected Islamist insurgents, officials said.
Additionally, “a bomb exploded this morning and two policemen were killed while trying to evacuate injured victims,” Senator Ahmed Zannah said Monday. Thatched roofs were set ablaze as gunmen rolled into town shooting at about 8 p.m., according to Mafa resident Modu Yuraim…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: 119 Students Escape Death as Another Students’ Hostel Burns at FGGC Umuahia
It was yet another lucky escape for students of the Federal Government Girls College, Umuahia as 119 girls escaped death when a school hostel housing them was razed by fire. No life was lost in the fire incident as the students were said to be in their classrooms observing their night prep when the fire started. THISDAY gathered that the fire incident occurred at about 8.30p.m. on Sunday. It was the second fire incident in the school in less than three months…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigerian Bishop: 20 Churches Burned in Attacks
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: A Catholic bishop says Islamic insurgents have destroyed 20 churches in northeastern Nigeria in recent attacks.
Bishop Oliver Dashe Dome says than 500 of his parishioners have been killed since insurgency in the region began in 2009. At least 180 people have been killed in less than two weeks, including 60 children.
Boko Haram insurgents advocate a harsh version of Islamic law and have threatened the Christian minority in northern Nigeria in the past. However, their victims have also been Muslim.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chasing the Comandante’s Canal: Jehad Nga’s Photographs From Nicaragua
By Genevieve Fussell
Excerpt: Tasked with the difficult assignment of photographing something that doesn’t yet exist, Nga set off with Anderson from Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, to look for evidence of Ortega’s elusive canal. Travelling by jeep, prop plane, and speed boat, they zigzagged the country and spoke to several Nicaraguans who had never heard of the canal or its Chinese sponsor. In Brito, on the Pacific Coast, Anderson met “five Chinese men in gray coveralls unpacking generators and long tubes from wooden crates covered with Chinese characters”:
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
105 Migrants Rescued South of Lampedusa
Two people traffickers arrested
(ANSA) — Lampedusa, March 4 — The Italian navy on Tuesday rescued 105 African migrants south of Lampedusa.
Two people traffickers steering the dinghy from Libya to the island south of Sicily were arrested.
Migrant crossings to Lampedusa, which is closer to Libya than to Sicily, are set to rise as better weather sets in.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘80,000 Illegals at Our Border’ Says Spain
Trying to enter EU through Ceuta, Melilla says interior minister
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 4 — Some 80,000 Moroccan and Mauritanian illegal immigrants are seeking enter Europe through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said Tuesday in a speech to 127 new Catalan police officers. The numbers came from Spanish, Moroccan and Mauritanian intelligence, the minister said.
Diaz yesterday called on the European Union to give Spain 45 million euros to handle the ‘‘grave crisis’’ it is facing in its two cities, which are located within Moroccan territory.
The immigrants hail from Morocco and Mauritania in equal measure, and many are being trafficked by criminal organizations, the minister said, qualifying the situation in the two Spanish enclaves as ‘‘an absolute emergency’’.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boehner: Immigration Principles Not ‘Amnesty’
Speaker John A. Boehner strongly defended his immigration principles released in January against charges from conservative Republicans that they amount to “amnesty.”
“Some want to call it amnesty,” the Ohio Republican told the Cincinnati Enquirer in a wide-ranging, hour long interview. “I reject that premise … If you come in and plead guilty and pay a fine, that’s not amnesty,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Boehner Promises to Push for Immigration Changes
House Speaker John Boehner told agriculture businesses in his home district that he’s pushing for a rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws, despite opposition and skepticism among some swing voters and GOP supporters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Plead for Canada to Let Them Immigrate
Chinese millionaires on Tuesday pleaded for the Canadian government not to throw away the immigration applications of thousands of Chinese nationals as part of its plans to end a backlogged investor program.
At a news conference, 10 investor applicants delivered their crestfallen message — that their faith in Canada as a “trustworthy country,” with its attractive rule of law, environment and welfare system, was wavering.
Last month, Canada announced its intention to terminate its immigrant investor program and eliminate the longstanding backlog of applications — amounting to more than 65,000 people, most of whom are Chinese.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Integration Minister to Focus on Honour-Related Conflicts
Manu Sareen says he will focus more on honour-related conflicts due to a growing number of requests
The equality and integration minister, Manu Sareen, plans to focus on honour-related conflicts in his new equality plan due to a growing number of requests from young immigrants. The plan (in Danish) was sent to parliament on February 28.
Honour-related conflicts arise when family members invoke the honour of their family code to compel other family members to obey them. Matters of education, employment and marriage are all sources of conflicts, and in extreme cases, committing a crime or even murder.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Assault on Spanish Border ‘Biggest Ever’
Police stopped more than 1,600 migrants trying to cross the border from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Tuesday, an official said.
The migrants were the latest in a tide of desperate people trying to breach the frontiers with Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish-held cities perched on the north African coast.
On Friday, more than 200 migrants stormed across a triple-layer border fence into Spain’s other north African territory, Melilla, in what Spanish authorities said was one of the largest such crossings in years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
National Council of La Raza Leader Calls Barack Obama ‘Deporter-in-Chief’
President Barack Obama has lost the nation’s largest Latino advocacy organization. The National Council of La Raza is set to declare Obama “the deporter-in-chief” and demand that he take unilateral action to stop deportations.
NCLR, the nation’s largest Latino advocacy organization, had been the last significant progressive grass-roots immigration-reform organization publicly defending the White House immigration stance. NCLR President Janet Murguía will on Tuesday night demand Obama put a halt to his administration’s deportations.
“For the president, I think his legacy is at stake here,” Murguía said in an interview in advance of NCLR’s annual Capital Awards dinner, where she will deliver a speech lambasting Obama’s deportation policy. “We consider him the deportation president, or the deporter-in-chief.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Southern EU States Offload Refugees on North
Sweden’s immigration minister told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Monday that nine member states receive 90 percent of all asylum applications. He wants the European Commission to sanction southern member states for offloading their migration responsibilities to others. Sweden is second to Germany in receiving Syrian refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Evening Standard Debate: London Needs More Immigration
Immigration has become one of the most central — and divisive — issues ahead of next year’s general election. So does London need more immigration? That is the topic for a major public debate, jointly hosted by the Evening Standard and the City of London at the Guildhall…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UKIP May be a Bunch of Little Englanders, But Worrying About Mass Immigration is Not Racist
By Iain Martin
My colleague Dan Hodges has declared that the time for prevarication and politeness is over when it comes to Ukip. It is time to brand it an openly racist party, he said, in a piece that has already got the Ukip hordes hyperventilating in the comment section beneath his post…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A Solution to Gay Wedding Cakes
Public Accomodation, Liberals, Millions who are not homosexual themselves are just using gays to destroy traditional America
Now, liberals want to force conservative and Christian bakers to make wedding cakes for gay weddings, photographers to cover the wedding, florists to decorate it, etc. And now at last — if anyone didn’t already figure it out — the real purpose of the push for homosexual weddings is unmasked. The gay marriage issue is only about left-wing fascism.
Yet the solution is surprisingly easy. All across the nation, we need conservative activists with a little funds to launch the following campaign:
(1) Search for left-leaning or homosexual-wedding-friendly bakeries, florists, photographers, etc.
(2) Approach those bakers to bake cakes with conservative or Christian messages or photographers to photograph right-wing political conferences, conventions, or events.
For example, order a sheet cake for church or an event (maybe a party) with Christian messages or scriptures such as “Children need a mother and a father” or “Marriage is one man and one woman.” Or: John 3:3 “You must be born again” or “Jesus is Lord.”
Or order a sheet cake with conservative messages or candidates, like “Ted Cruz / Sarah Palin 2016.” Or “The Second Amendment: It’s the Law.” Or “Global Warming Hoax R.I.P.” Or “Happy Birthday Tea Party.”
(3) When a baker refuses to do the job or photographer refuses to cover a conservative or Christian event (or intentionally screws it up), file exactly the same type of lawsuit as homosexual activists. And of course tell the press, mostly the conservative media and talk radio.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
African American Christian Leaders Urge Eric Holder’s Impeachment
A group of African American religious and civil-rights leaders on Tuesday called for the impeachment of Attorney General Eric Holder, himself an African American, for his alleged lawlessness, according to the Beltway news organization The Hill.
The Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) claim they are gathering signatures on a petition to impeach Holder for his same-sex marriage crusade when there are no federal laws regarding the legality of marriage being anything but between a man and a woman.
CAAP is joined by other faith-based organizations such as the Family Research Council and Illinois Family e-zine.
“From his imperial throne, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has proclaimed that heretofore state attorneys general need not enforce state laws that define marriage as a sexually complementary union. Holder said that “officials who have carefully studied bans on gay marriage could refuse to defend them,” said political commentator Laurie Higgens of Illinois Family.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biotech is Creating GMO Human Babies: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
With the human race slowly being killed off by GMO food, environmental poisons, petroleum, plastics, chemtrails, pharmaceuticals, vaccinations, radiation, and weaponized warfare, the powers that be are working on new strain of stronger ‘humans’ to carry on our existence. Forget designer babies with specific gene preferences determined by parents, we’re talking about the utter transformation by a technocracy of the human genome. It is called transhumanism and scientists in the UK and US have already submitted proposals to legally create GMO babies. Actually, GMO human embryos have already been created.
Techno-eugenics, you might call it — a way to appropriate humanity for the use of an elite class. It seems innocuous at first — using stem cells to help women with fertility issues get pregnant or to help develop a healthy fetus in a woman who has damaged DNA, but it isn’t something to be taken lightly, or without deep moral concern.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Girl Scouts Hire Lesbian as Chief ‘Girl Experience Officer’
As millions of moms consider digging into pocketbooks for Girl Scout cookies this year, they may be interested to know about the hiring of Krista Kokjohn-Poehler in the Girl Scouts executive office in New York City.
Kokjohn-Poehler is an out lesbian married to a woman named Ashley Kokjohn. And, given her sexual preference, it may strike some as odd that her job title is “Girl Experience Officer.”
Her hiring five months ago was largely missed by the coterie of Girl Scout critics around the country who make the claim that the Girl Scouts have drifted leftward in the past 20 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sex-Obsessed Lefty Horrified by ‘Toxic Purity Culture’
Hey, gals, want to avoid being raped? Put away that Lady Smith 38. No need for pepper spray. Self-defense classes? Not necessary. The solution is simple. The best defense against rape is to just cast away your “deeply troubling” Christianity and become a secularist slut.
So goes the advice of one Katie McDonough, Salon.com assistant editor, fertile fount of millennial wisdom and — well — and whatever else.
In an article published at Salon Feb. 20 titled, “The right’s warped ‘purity’ culture: 4 ways evangelical views of sex took over America,” Ms. McDonough provides an unvarnished glimpse into the profligate mind of the postmodern “progressive.” (Yes, you read that right. Purity is warped and biblical sexual morality has taken over America.)
In what amounts to little more than an anti-Christian hit piece on Patrick Henry College — or “God’s Harvard” as the evidently prone-position-prone journo pejoratively pokes — Ms. McDonough says that it’s time for American women to reject all those biblically imposed “gender complementarian” norms and do away with our “toxic purity culture” once and for all. (Because, just look around. That dang ol’ toxic purity is everywhere. What America really needs is more debauchery.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UN’s ‘Post-2015 Development Agenda’ Aims to Imprison the World
The UN never uses plain English or Swahili when they can confound citizens with legalese and gobbledygook — even when the plan is to take over the world.
But this is the plan in a nutshell: the inexorable creation of an all-encompassing new set of “sustainable development goals” for the planet that will require an outlay of trillions of dollars on poverty and the environment; a radical reorganization of economic production and consumption — primarily in rich countries — and mammoth funding for a newly-energized war on climate change.
What it all boils down to is the UN is putting the wraps on a “profound transformation” of human society and plots to “dramatically alter” your views and behaviour so that you won’t find it necessary to fight it off. (From Vision to Action — Priority Transformations For A Post-2015 Agenda, pg. 10).
Among the chief designs of of a Post-2015 Agenda is the end of America — even though America will largely finance it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Angry People ‘Risking Heart Attacks’
Having a hot temper may increase your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, according to researchers. Rage often precedes an attack and may be the trigger, say the US researchers who trawled medical literature. They identified a dangerous period of about two hours following an outburst when people were at heightened risk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gates Up, Saudi’s Prince Alwaleed Down in Forbes Rich List
Bill Gates has regained his crown as the world’s richest person — but Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed has fallen in Forbes magazine’s annual billionaire ranking. The list found that Microsoft co-founder Gates has a net worth of $76 billion, overtaking Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu, who holds an altogether more modest $72bn.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Moon’s Radio Glow Could Keep Muslim Calendars in Sync
Is it Ramadan yet? Muslim communities look for the new moon to decide, and radio waves could settle the matter.
The Islamic calendar is based on lunar months, with sightings of the first sliver of the waxing moon marking the start of each month. It is possible to calculate when this thin crescent will theoretically be visible, but many Muslims will only accept visual confirmation.
Religious authorities in each country conduct their own lunar observations, so cloudy skies can delay the start of a new month by a day or two in some countries relative to others. This means that Muslims around the world can get slightly out of sync when marking festivals and the start and end of the holy month of Ramadan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Most Stars in the Universe Host an Alien Planet
Fans of exoplanets have had an exciting few days. First the long-awaited Kepler results were announced, confirming over 700 new worlds outside our solar system. Exciting! That was tempered just a day later, however, by the news that many of the “super earths” astronomers have discovered over the years — worlds larger than Earth, but smaller than Neptune — may in fact be inhospitable, even within their stars’ habitable zones.
But the latest exoplanet news buoys hopes of off-Earth habitability: a new study indicates that potentially habitable exoplanets are much more common that we’d thought.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly Every Star Hosts at Least One Alien Planet
The vast majority of stars in our Milky Way galaxy host planets, many of which may be capable of supporting life as we know it, a new study suggests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine, Israel and the Worthlessness of International Agreements
By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Ukraine is protected by agreements signed by Russia and by NATO countries. Those agreements are worthless because Russia decided to ignore them and the NATO countries under Obama are not about to go head to head with Russia. When Hitler and Stalin invaded Poland, France and the UK finally did the right thing because the political conditions were now right for it. If the conditions hadn’t been right, Hitler would have gotten a pass on Poland the way that he had on Czechoslovakia and the way that Stalin got a pass on all of Eastern Europe. All of this has wider implications beyond Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: KP | [Return to headlines] |
On Connecticut’s anti-constitutional gun grabbing. Lt Paul Vance of the CT State Police had better take a long hard look in his dresser’s mirror if be believes he is the ‘master’.
I once worked with cops like him – because I had to – so let me tell you the reader that their superior attitude to everything that they have no right to be superior about is more than a part of the problem that we all face, because they are a major part of the problem that goes all the way to the top!
“Organizers had issued fliers calling for an “emergency town hall” to confront a “crisis facing black Philadelphia: the demise of our neighborhoods.”
“In gentrification, some neighborhoods are targeted for revitalization – but the new development leads to huge rent or property-tax increases that often force longtime residents out.
“Sister Empress Phile, one of the organizers, said the group will host more town halls and ask for more public meetings, including congressional hearings.
“Ultimately, she said, the activists plan to appeal to the United Nations that gentrification is a human-rights violation – when economic-development policies displace one ethnic group with another.”
Given that logic, white people should appeal the economic-development policy of affirmative action to the United Nations as a human rights violation that displaces whites in the workplace – particularly the federal government – with non-whites….
It would set a great precedent.
Regarding “A Solution to Gay Wedding Cakes”:
Simply retaliating with the mirror-image, childish, spiteful tactic of the militant LGBT (“gay”) activists surrenders the moral high ground. I believe in freedom of (and from) association; so possibly subjecting an unsuspecting non-militant baker who happens to be gay to the same petty tantrums as dished out by the activists is merely wrong.
The acceptable response to a disingenuous customer with a tangential agenda is to provide the absolute minimal service/product – bordering on failure – at the full price . . . and then to invite them to please come back for more of the same shabby treatment. Just keep up the standards for the real customers.