Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called once again for more help from the European Union in dealing with the massive wave of migrants arriving in Italy. Meanwhile, two illegal migrants were drowned and 25 more were missing after their boats capsized in the Mediterranean off the Greek island of Samos.
In other news, the leader of the Nigerian Islamic terror group Boko Haram threatened to sell more than two hundred abducted schoolgirls on the market.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, IW, JD, JP, RR, Steen, The Observer, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Italian Inflation to Hit Historic Low in 2014, Predicts EC
(AGI) Brussels, May 5 — Italy will have a slight rise in inflation to 0.7 percent this year, an historic low, said the European Commission, lowering its forecast. It said inflation would rise 1.2 percent next year, higher than its estimate in February. Prices rose 1.3 percent last year.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Consumer Spending Power Up First Time in 6 Years Says ISTAT
Trend to continue in 2015, 2016
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, May 5 — Consumer spending power in 2014 will be positive after six straight years of falling, national statistics agency Istat said Monday in its latest economic predictions. The trend is projected to continue in 2015 and 2016, Istat said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 80-Euro Bonus Likely ‘Neutral’ In Short Term Says EU-Update
‘But could have positive long-term effect’
(see related) (ANSA) — Brussels, May 5 — Italian tax cuts equal to 80 euros per month for low earners will “probably have a neutral effect on short-term growth, but they could have a positive long-term effect if funded by streamlining and improving the efficiency of spending,” said Siim Kallas, interim EU commissioner of economic affairs, on Monday. The majority center-left administration of Premier Matteo Renzi is hoping to spur growth through reforms including a 10-billion-euro tax cut that recently went into effect, giving low earners the equivalent of 80 extra euros per month.
Earlier on Monday, national statistics agency Istat predicted the cuts will produce “a minimal positive effect” on consumer spending in 2014. Renzi responded that the bonus was just “an antipasto”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal Exits Bailout Without Standby Line of Credit
(ANSAmed) — LISBON — Portugal will exit its three-year bailout plan, which expires on May 17, without asking European partners for a standby line of credit, Portuguese Premier Pedro Passos Coelho has said.
‘‘The government has decided to exit the assistance programme without seeking any kind of precautionary programme’’, the prime minister said in a televised speech. The decision, he added, was ‘‘the best for the interests of Portugal’’, he added.
May 17, when the 78-billion-euro bailout agreed with the troika (ECB, EU, IMF) about three years ago ends, ‘‘will be a day to homage all Portuguese’’ nationals for their sacrifices, and will be an occasion for the country to re-conquer its autonomy after regaining its credibility, added the conservative premier.
Passos-Coelho cited as priorities in this new phase ‘‘employment and economic recovery’’.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal and Greece: The Odd Return to Markets
BRUSSELS — In the past few weeks, Portugal and Greece have returned to the markets in moves seen in Brussels as heralding a rebound in Southern Europe. In reality, a fragile recovery has barely begun and will take years.
After it shortly takes its final installment of a €78 billion bailout package, Portugal hopes to have a “clean exit” from its three-year rescue programme.
In 1980, Portugal’s per capita income was twice as high as that in Malaysia or South Korea. By the end of this decade, it is currently projected to be 40 percent behind South Korea but only 15 percent ahead of Malaysia. Portugal’s per capita income will rank behind that of Oman, the Czech Republic, and Estonia.
In 1980, the Greek per capita income was almost four times as high as that in Malaysia or South Korea. By 2020, it will be only 25 percent ahead of Malaysia, but 30 percent behind South Korea. It will rank behind Slovakia and Lithuania and barely ahead of Poland and Gabon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul: Why We’re No Longer Number One
Last week World Bank economists predicted that China would soon displace the United States as the world’s largest economy. The fact that this one-time economic basket case is now positioned to surpass the US is one more sign of the damage done to American prosperity by welfare, warfare, corporatism, and fiat money.
Some commentators have predicted that China’s reign as the world’s largest economy would not last long. This may be true. While China has made great strides since adopting free-market reforms in the 1970s, China is still run by an authoritarian government whose economic policies distort the market in order to benefit state-favored industries. These state-favored businesses are often controlled by politically-powerful individuals.
What many of these commentators fail to notice is that the American government pursues many of the same flawed policies as the Chinese. For example, because of the increase in regulations, subsidies, and bailouts, many American businesses are putting more resources into manipulating the political process than producing goods and services desired by consumers. Many big businesses even lobby Congress and the federal bureaucracy for new regulations on their industries. They do this because big business can more easily absorb the costs of complying with the new regulations that force their smaller competitors out of business.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Columbia Mosque Opens Its Door for ‘Share Islam Day’
A Columbia mosque is openings its doors Saturday to non-Muslims who want to learn more about the religions and its prophet Mohammad.
The Islamic Center of Columbia, also known as Masjid al-Muslimiin, 1929 Gervais Street, will provide dinner and socializing with its members, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Share Islam Day, an event that has drawn those interested in the area’s diverse spirituality…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
High School Has Students Wear Transparent Backpacks in Effort to Make Them ‘Feel Safe’
The school backpack procedure is changing a bit at Franklin Regional High School.
Students will still be allowed to carry traditional backpacks to and from school, but the way they carry their belongings between classes will be different.
For years, students have been using small bags of their choice to carry items such as computer cords, but now they will use new clear bags.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Infiltration of the U.S. Government, Part 1
The announcement that the House will vote on a special congressional committee to investigate Benghazi is long overdue. Accuracy in Media’s two special conferences on Benghazi helped mobilize the public and the press to demand this outcome.
In addition to identifying the Obama operatives in charge of the cover-up, a critical question is why the Obama administration facilitated the flow of weapons to al Qaeda in Libya. Indeed, answering this question could help explain the nature of the cover-up and why a video was falsely blamed for the deaths of four Americans.
It will take a lot of public pressure to uncover the dimensions of what one member of the Citizens’ Commission on Benghazi called evidence of the “infiltration” of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is because some of those who want to investigate Benghazi, such as Senator John McCain (R-AZ), have no interest in uncovering Muslim Brotherhood operatives in the U.S. Government. McCain defended Hillary Clinton when one of her aides, Huma Abedin, was publicly identified as having personal and family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has also defended Abedin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Bundy a Racist or Are the Conservative Media Cowards?
One of the most horrifying examples of blame-shifting by progressives occurred April 17, 2014 when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy “domestic terrorists.” By doing so he was saying that the sovereign state must be protected at all costs from average citizens. Somehow in a complete disconnect, Nidal Malik Hasan can scream Allah Akbar while killing 13 people and attempting to murder 32 more at Fort Hood, Texas, and it is officially “workplace violence.” But Cliven Bundy and his supporters are “domestic terrorists?” Reid’s hate-filled comment was either born in insanity, or a carefully crafted effort to take the spotlight off the horrendous actions of the BLM and put on Bundy’s supporters.
To set the record straight, the only ones who committed violence and destroyed property in the standoff were BLM jackboots, not the peaceful citizens.With over 200 armed BLM, some hotheads pointing guns at citizens atcitizens, things got to a hair trigger. Most people don’t know how bad it was. Sheriff Richard Mack, who went all the way to the Supreme Court to successfully get the Brady Bill declared unconstitutional, was driving to the Bundy ranch when one of the members of his CSPOA organization called him with an update: “Sheriff, these agents are going to kill us. At first, they threatened to arrest us, but now they are threatening to shoot us. There is no question in my mind; they are going to kill us. Please, just tell my wife that I love her.” He suddenly hung up.
Thankfully, that did not happen. Only the BLM lost control and tasered Bundy’s son and knocked down his near90 year old mother. Only the BLM systematically shot and killed at least a dozen head of Bundy’s cattle, some in ways that brought maximum pain suffering to the cows as they slowly died. Only the BLM deliberately destroyed water tanks and corrals, which they knew were Bundy’s private property. Except for a select group within these agencies, agency personal do not have any constitutional right to have police power and be armed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is the U.S. Being Colonized by Red China?
For the past few decades the Communist regime of China has been driving toward world supremacy, both economically and militarily. The regime’s main target has been, and is, the United States of America. China’s plan to grab power has been clever and unprecedented, seeking victory without firing a shot, reducing its targets to mere frogs in a boiling pot.
Pundits and politicians alike, when excusing their strategic dealings with China, are quick to remind their audiences that today’s China is a “centuries old civilization” rich in tradition and ancient religious discipline. A Confucian civilization that is still upset over wrongdoings during the European colonization period.
Such a view is wrong. The China we are confronted with today is nothing like that pre-nineteenth century nation. Since the reign of Mao Tse-tung began in 1949, Communist China, much to the dismay, torture, and death of its own citizens, has been governed by tyrannical thugs, thirsty to expand their dictatorial regime and unrelenting in their hatred of Western Civilization and the United States.
Militarily, China has literally surrounded the US. Once there was a Monroe Doctrine to forbid any foreign power to exert influence in American’s back yard, meaning South, Central and North America. All nations respected that doctrine as America vigorously imposed it. That is until China played on the growing weakness of American foreign policy, as when Jimmy Carter gave away the Panama Canal and scuttled all American bases in one of the most the strategic locations of American defense. Since then, China has established relationships and bases in several South and Central American nations…
Now, however, that Chinese economic power is taking a bizarre and exceptionally dangerous turn right in local American communities, America, it appears, is on the brink of being colonized, because China is fast becoming the largest land owner in America…
ENN Energy Group wants to build a 5 billion dollar solar farm in the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone, on which Bundy’s farm is located. Who are the investors for ENN? The Chinese, using the EB-5 program. Who represents ENN in its negotiations? Rory Reid, Harry’s son. This little band has already run 52 other ranchers in the area. Bundy is the last one left. So was the BLM there in force for turtles or as the private enforcement machine of a corrupt Senator seeking to fill his pockets with cash? Senator Reid is the one who said, “This isn’t over yet.” He’s apparently in a position to know.
However, Reid isn’t the only public figure involved in EB-5 schemes. A little research will also reveal an EB-5 deal by Anthony Rodham, Hillary Clinton’s brother and former son in law of Barbra Boxer. Also in that deal was Terry McAuliffe, former Clinton advisor and now Governor of Virginia. These two gained EB-5 investments for their car company. And then there is Alejandro Mayorkas, who helped push through the deal for McAuliffe and Rodham and is under investigation for it. Mayorkas is now the number two man at the Department of Homeland Security, aided in getting that position though some questionable maneuvering during his confirmation hearings by none other Senator Harry Reid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
LA County Sheriff Admits Big Brother is Here “But We Kept it Pretty Hush Hush”
In a secret test of mass surveillance technology, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sent a civilian aircraft over Compton, California, capturing high-resolution video of everything that happened inside that 10-square-mile municipality.
Compton residents weren’t told about the spying, which happened in 2012. “We literally watched all of Compton during the times that we were flying, so we could zoom in anywhere within the city of Compton and follow cars and see people,” Ross McNutt of Persistence Surveillance Systems told the Center for Investigative Reporting, which unearthed and did the first reporting on this important story. The technology he’s trying to sell to police departments all over America can stay aloft for up to six hours. Like Google Earth, it enables police to zoom in on certain areas. And like TiVo, it permits them to rewind, so that they can look back and see what happened anywhere they weren’t watching in real time.
If it’s adopted, Americans can be policed like Iraqis and Afghanis under occupation…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nevada Democrat Calls on Officials to Oust Cliven Bundy Militia
A Nevada congressman is calling on elected officials in the state to rid a town in his district of militia members who have rallied around rancher Cliven Bundy in his battle with federal land managers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
1st Mosque Opened in France’s Basque Region
It was launched in the city of Bayonne in a ceremony attended by local officials and representatives of France’s Islamic institutions, the desdomesetdesminarets website reported. Construction of the mosque had started in 2008 by the Basque region’s Cultural Society of Muslims. Built on a 2000-square-meter plot of land, the mosque has two prayer halls- one for men and one for women- and can accommodate 300 worshippers…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: “36 City Gangs in Brussels Region Last Year”
Last year, there were 36 city gangs in the Brussels Region. That’s according to a report in the Brussels daily La Capitale, citing statistics supplied by the Interior Office. The number is 7 up on the year and has reached a record high.
Detailed statistics on the subject are hard to find. The latest figures were collected at the request of Interior Minister Joëlle Milquet.
The latest increase is striking. 7 new gangs is a lot, considering the Brussels Region had been confronted with “between 2 and 4 new gangs” each year between 2009 and 2012. The number of new members is also on the rise.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Tycoon Keen to Buy Chunk of Norway
A Chinese property tycoon shut out by Iceland after he sought to buy a vast tract of the country is turning his attention to Norway, he told AFP on Monday.
Huang Nubo, founder of Chinese property firm Zhongkun Group, said in a telephone interview that he still wants to develop high-end resorts in northern Europe and plans to invest 80 million euros ($111 million) in Norway over the next five to 10 years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Can Seaweed Burgers and Potato Mayo Feed a Growing World Population?
The recent ‘Food in the Future’ arrangement at Aarhus University offered some examples of what we will be eating in the future, including a seaweed burger and mayonnaise made from potato proteins.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Outsourcing to China Doesn’t Pay Off
Danish companies are barking up the wrong tree when they shift their production to China. There is actually more profit in sending part of the production to expensive countries such as Germany, new study suggests.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Did the Vikings Travel to Madeira?
Dates for a sample of fossilized bone from a house mouse suggest that the rodents were carried to the island of Madeira by European colonists before 1036, or 400 earlier than previously thought. (The Portuguese took possession of Madeira in 1419.) “Current populations of house mice on Madeira show similarities in mitochondrial DNA with those in Scandinavia and northern Germany, but not with those in Portugal,” Josep Antoni Alcover of the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies told Phys.org.
Could the mice have traveled to the island with the Vikings? Further morphologic and genetic studies of the fossils are needed. “There are no historical references so far about the Vikings traveling to Macaronesia,” Alcover added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European States ‘Should Recognize Islam’
Islam should be legally recognized in all European countries to end hostility against Muslims, a religious affairs leader has said.
Speaking at a conference about hate crime, Austrian Religious Affairs Director Fuad Sanac told Anadolu Agency that Muslims faced problems related to wedding ceremonies, funerals and other Islamic traditions not being legally accepted.
Government officials, police, NGOs and Muslim community representatives were attending a conference called ‘Enhancing Community-Law Enforcement Relations in Combating Hate Crimes against Muslims’ held in Vienna last week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Far-Right Dutch MP Seeks Tie-in With UKIP
Geert Wilders, who has a fatwa issued against him for his views on Islam, wants to form an anti-EU bloc with Nigel Farage’s party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Eurosceptic Finns Party Looking for Election Breakthrough
The European election campaign gets into full swing today. Yle is providing extensive coverage, with each party allocated a day of in-depth reporting across Yle platforms. The first to take centre stage is the Finns party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hedegaard Reflects on Danish Resistance to Nazi Totalitarianism & Acquiescence to Totalitarian Islam
Lars Hedegaard, the intrepid Danish historian and journalist, who was nearly assassinated last year by a jihadist (who was just recently apprehended), gave an impassioned speech yesterday (5/4/14), commemorating Denmark’s Day of Liberation from the World War II-era Nazi occupation…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Compares Grillo to ‘Jackal’ Dividing Workers, Unions
Italian premier tells PD cadres they need to provide hope
(ANSA) — Rome, May 5 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday compared anti-establishment political rival Beppe Grillo to a “jackal” pitting unions against workers at a failing steel factory in an address the comedian-turned-politician made late last month.
Italian political leaders are engaged in a fierce campaign for European Parliament elections May 25. Renzi, who is also head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), rallied party cadres in Rome saying they must distinguish themselves from the head of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) by offering solutions and hope to Italians rather than fatalism, like Grillo, who Renzi characterized as an opportunistic carnivore. “We must be the ones we want to give hope to Italy while all around, no matter what is happening, there are those who throw themselves with a cat-like instinct to say there is nothing left to believe in, the state no longer exists. In Piombino, Grillo went to act as a jackal, but one does not put workers against unions in a factory in crisis,” said Premier Matteo Renzi, making reference to an April 26 address Grillo made at the Lucchini steelworks, which is shutting down, on the Tuscan coast south of Livorno.
On that occasion, Grillo slammed the government and unions for allegedly doing nothing to save the factory. The anti-euro populist figure accused unions of betraying workers, and urged them to boycott union elections.
Renzi said, “It is well known that I am not partial toward unions, but the last place to go and be a jackal is where a company like Lucchini is closing. We have proposed a solution.
This is the difference between those who bet against and those who bet in favour of Italy”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: US Ambassador Says Italy Needs F-35 Jets for Defence
Purchase of fighter aircraft could be slowed but not stopped
(ANSA) — Rome, May 5 — Italy has a strategic role in regional defence and for that reason, it must go ahead with its plan to purchase F-35 fighter jets, John R. Phillips, the United States ambassador to Rome, said Monday.
“The F-35 are the aircraft of the future, the fighters which will replace the existing (aircraft) over the next 15 to 20 years,” Phillips said during an interview on public broadcaster Rai. The Italian government froze spending on the F-35 program in March, and said that as a cost-cutting measure, it is considering reducing the number of fighter jets it will purchase.
The aircraft, at an estimated $200 million US per unit, are among the costliest jet fighters in the world and are developed jointly by a number of allied nations including Italy.
That would mark the second time Italy has reduced the number of its Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, a budget item which is currently worth about 11.8 billion euros over 45 years beginning in 2015.
Italy in 2012 announced plans to cut its order to 90 from the 131 jets originally agreed to in 2002, saving the country some five billion euros.
Phillips said that it would be better to lengthen the contract period rather than outright cut the purchase plan.
“We have agreements with the Italian Army, we may have to slow down the acquisition, but I do not think there is interest in reducing it,” said Phillips. “Italy plays a large role in the defense, it has a strategic location and needs the ability to deal with situations,” he said, citing nearby Libya and Lebanon as examples.
Because of those obligations, Italy cannot reduce the number of new jets, said Phillips.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Killer Hornets From China That Eat Up to 50 Bees a Day Are the Latest Threat to Britain’s Hives
Government scientists are drawing up a rapid response plan to combat the arrival of the deadly Asian hornet on our shores.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen Threatens to Block All EU Legislation
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen will attempt to curtail all EU legislation by pulling together a “blocking minority” of far-right MEPs, reports The Independent. “We are going to prevent all further construction of Europe,” she said. Austrian, Belgian and Dutch nationalists are in alliance with her National Front party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
No Bids for Italian Defence Ministry Maserati Cars on eBay
Three days left on auction, no offers on luxury VIP cars
(ANSA) — Rome, May 5 — No bids had been made by Monday for any of the nine luxury Maserati automobiles that the Italian defense ministry had put on the online auction Website Ebay on April 28.
The auction for the former ‘auto blu’ — chauffeured vehicles for high ranking public officials — is due to expire Thursday.
Starting prices range from 23,000 euros for a 2005 sedan to 96,000 euros for a 2011 armour-plated vehicle.
Cheaper vehicles earlier flew off the online auction block. The first 25 State cars to be put on sale yielded gross proceeds of 250,000 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘No Careerists: Dirty Money-Grubbers’ Says Pope
Self-styled benefactors ‘took so much money’, Francis recalls
(ANSA) — Vatican City, May 5 — There is no place in the Catholic Church for careerists or “dirty” money grubbers, Pope Francis said Monday in his latest denunciation of people who use spiritual status for material benefit.
“Those who want to climb mountains should go somewhere else,” the pope said at a Mass in the Vatican.
He slammed “those who follow Jesus for money, who try to make economic profit from their parishes, from the Christian community, from hospitals, from colleges”.
Every period in Church history, Francis noted, has seen “real money grubbers who have made so much money.
“They presented themselves as benefactors but they took so much money and not always clean money,” said the pontiff, who is trying to clean up Church finances. Francis has been warning about people trying to use the Church to satisfy their desire for power or money ever since he became pontiff in March last year after the shock resignation of Benedict XVI.
A year ago, on May 8, he stressed that careerism is harmful to the Church, especially when used as “a springboard for personal ambitions”.
The pope invited a crowd in St Peter’s, including 800 nuns from parishes around the world, to “think of the damage caused to the people of God, men and women of the Church, by careerists and climbers”.
In his homily in St Martha’s House Monday, Francis again warned that there are people in the Church that follow Jesus for vanity or thirst for power and wealth, and he prayed the Lord to give us the grace to follow him for love.
Francis took his cue from the Gospel reading of the day in which Jesus tells a group of people who were looking for him that they are doing so “ not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled”.
This episode, the Pope said, invites us to ask ourselves whether we are following the Lord for personal gain or because we love Him, because, he said, we are all sinners, and we need to make an effort and look into ourselves in the way we live our Faith.
Jesus — Pope Francis pointed out — mentions three attitudes that we must avoid when we follow God or search for Him. The first — he said — is vanity. In particular he refers to those who are in public positions who give alms or fast because they want to be seen doing so: “This is not the right attitude. Vanity is not good, vanity causes us to slip on our pride and everything ends there. So I ask myself the question: and me? How do I follow Jesus? When I do good, do I do it under the public eye, or do I do it in private?” And the Pope said, “I also think of pastors, because a pastor who is vain does not do good to the people of God: even if he is a priest or a bishop, he does not follow Jesus if he is besotted by vanity”.
And the other attitude Jesus warns against — the Pope continued — is thirst for power: “Some of those who follow Jesus do so in search of power.
Perhaps they do not do so with full consciousness. A clear example of this is to be found in John and James, the sons of Zebedee who asked Jesus to seat them in places of honour, one on His right and one on His left in his Kingdom. And in the Church there are climbers, people driven by ambition! There are many of them! But if you like climbing go to the mountains and climb them: it is healthier! Do not come to Church to climb! And Jesus scolds people with this kind of ambitious attitude in the Church”.
Pope Francis noted that only when the Holy Spirit came, did the disciples change. But, he warned, sin remains in our Christian lives and we must continue to ask ourselves the question: “in what way do I follow Christ? Only for Him, even to the Cross, or do I do it for power? Do I use the Church, the Christian community, the parish, the diocese to gain some power?” The third thing that takes us away from the righteousness of our intentions — Pope Francis said — is money: “Those who follow Jesus for money, trying to take economic advantage of the parish, of the diocese, of their Christian community, of the hospital, or the college… Let us think of the first Christian community that was swayed by this intention: Simon, Ananias and Sapphira… this has been a temptation right from the beginning. And since, we have heard of so many good Catholics, good Christians, friends and benefactors of the Church that — it has been revealed — acted for personal profit.
They presented themselves as benefactors of the Church and made money on the side…” Pope Francis concluded asking the Lord for the grace to follow Jesus with the right intentions: without vanity, without desire for power, without lusting for wealth.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway’s Crown Prince is a ‘Lefty’: Populist Leader
Per Sandberg, the deputy leader of Norway’s Progress Party, has attacked Norway’s Crown Prince and Princess for being “on the left”, in a new book in which he calls for the country to become a monarchy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Faces Lemming Explosion: Scientist
Scientists expect an explosion of lemmings in southern Norway this summer, after a mild winter allowed the arctic rodents to breed rapidly under the snow.
Nina Eide, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), told Norway’s NRK that her institute was expecting a rapid rise in lemming numbers in southern Norway — a so-called ‘lemming year’.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK, EU, and US Governments Fund Group Pushing Anti-UKIP Propaganda
The European Commission is pumping propaganda money into Britain, trying to interfere in the elections to the European Parliament.
International Alert, an international “peace building” group set up in 1986 in response to ethnic conflict and genocide in Asia and Africa, and part-funded by the EU, has now set up a propaganda operation in Britain which claims it will “counter racist and xenophobic discourse in the UK in the run-up to the European elections.”
The reference is thought to be a veiled reference to Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party (UKIP), as many europhiles and left-wing organisations refer to the eurosceptic party as “racist” or “xenophobic”.
The aim of the operation appears to be at British politics, since the group is advertising on a jobs website, w4mpjobs.com, which is meant to help people finds jobs with MPs, or “obtain the sort of experience they would need to get a job in parliament” or help those already in Parliament “to progress their career.”
International Alert is offering a short term job starting “immediately,” and finishing after the elections at the end of May. Applicants must be social network enthusiasts who can “disseminate messages and materials” and “mobilise campaigns.”
The social media propaganda campaign is funded by the Open Society, an organisation established by the billionaire George Soros, whose aim is for nations to surrender ever more power to global organisations.
International Alert recently launched its “eUnify” campaign on Twitter, which has a paltry 72 followers, and tweets parodies of UKIP posters, and pushes propaganda efforts of anti-UKIP organisations such as ‘Show Racism the Red Card’.
Further details on the propaganda job are offered on the group’s website, but on a page blocked for anyone not authorised by International Alert. The website does not disclose the total amount of funds the group receives from EU institutions, and a request by Breitbart London for information was unsuccessful…
| — Hat tip: IW | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Karol Sikora, who used to run a cancer programme for the UN, said that tight budgets and the sheer array of treatments on offer mean that the NHS ‘can’t do everything for everyone’.
[Comment: So, the elderly paid into the NHS for their whole lives only to robbed of treatment when they need it most.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s black and ethnic minority communities could account for almost a third of the population by 2050, according to a report published today.
The number of people from minority groups could as much as double by then, it says.
One in four children under the age of ten in the UK is already from a minority group and over the next few decades the proportion will soar, according to think-tank Policy Exchange.
Currently, eight million people, or 14 per cent of the UK population, are from ethnic minorities. But they now account for 80 per cent of population growth, while the white population remains constant.
Experts predict that as a result, by the middle of the century between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of the population — up to 16million people — will be from a minority community, the report says.
Ethnic minority communities predominantly live in three main cities, with 50 per cent living in London, Manchester and Birmingham alone. They are seven times more likely to live in an urban area than someone who is white.
But over time, ethnic minorities will move out of deprived inner city areas and into suburbs and surrounding towns, echoing the way that white groups migrated in the past with the growth of the middle classes, the report predicts.
Ethnicities are increasingly mixing: one in eight multi-person households contains people from more than one ethnic group.
The report draws on survey, census, academic and polling data to build up a comprehensive picture of the five largest black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in the UK — Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African and Black Caribbean…
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jeremy Clarkson, The ‘N-Word’ And the Creeping Tyranny of Political Correctness
by James Delingpole
On the day the Jeremy Clarkson “N” word story broke, I was sitting with friends of the same age in their kitchen, trying to remember when it was that the children’s choosing rhyme “Eeny meeny minie mo” (or however you spell it: there are myriad variants) transmuted into its politically correct, N-word free modern version…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Dean Roche needed four metal plates screwed into his face after the violent assault, launched on him as he waited in a taxi queue at the end of a night out with friends in Poole, Dorset.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: New Tower Hamlets Race Row Fizzles as ‘Witness’ Defends Biggs
The latest race row to break out among Tower Hamlets politicians fizzled out after the key “witness” came to the defence of the alleged offender.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s party, Tower Hamlets First, claimed it had a secret Labour memo from 1995 from then-council leader Cllr Michael Keith, accusing Labour mayoral candidate John Biggs of racism over “the production of an inflammatory election leaflet”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pregnant Woman Who Was Brutally Mugged for Packet of Cigarettes Lost Her Baby
[WARNING: * Disturbing Content *]
Lynsey McConnell, 24, of Kirkcaldy, Fife, was nine weeks pregnant when she was attacked by two women who beat her so savagely she suffered a miscarriage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wife Who Drugged Her Husband Then Doused Him in Petrol and Set Him Alight is Jailed for 22 Years
A woman who drugged her husband before dousing him in fuel and setting him alight has been jailed for 22 years.
Karen Lyle, 50, searched the internet for ‘ways to poison somebody’ before secretly administering a strong anti-depressant to husband Andrew.
She waited until Mr Lyle, 47, became drowsy and fell asleep on their bed — and then continued with her plot to murder him.
The father-of-two was only saved by the fact he woke up halfway through the ‘horrific’ attack, which left him traumatised and with life-changing burns, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Tells UN Its Jurisdiction Doesn’t Cover All Priests
Holy See faces second grilling on abuse by United Nations
(ANSA) — Geneva, May 5 — The Holy See has jurisdiction over the small territory of the Vatican City state only, and not over Catholic priests around the world, including those accused of abuse, a senior Church official told a United Nations committee on Monday.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, papal envoy to the United Nations in Geneva, told a UN Committee against Torture “that the Holy See has no jurisdiction…over every member of the Catholic Church”.
“The Holy See wishes to reiterate that the persons who live in a particular country are under the jurisdiction of the legitimate authorities of that country and are thus subject to the domestic law and the consequences,” he said. However, victims’ groups have argued that sexual abuse of children falls under the terms of the UN Convention against Torture, which the Vatican acceded to in June 2002.
This is the second time this year that the Vatican has been called before the UN to explain its record in dealing with decades of abuse of children by priests.
Victims of sexual abuse have argued that the Church itself has failed to protect children and has even shielded accused priests in order to protect the Church’s reputation.
Monday’s report by the Holy See to the UN marks its first under the convention on torture and in a statement earlier in the day, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that the Holy See has shown “strong commitment against any form of torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment”. Lombardi also said the UN committee must not give in to pressure “exercised over the committees and public opinion by (non-governmental organizations) NGOs with a strong ideological character and orientation,” that he said will aim to impose their agenda on this week’s proceedings.
Such groups, said Lombardi, will try to “bring the issue of the sexual abuse of minors into the discussion on torture, a matter which relates instead to the convention on the rights of the child”. The Vatican is expected to respond on Tuesday to questions and issues raised during Monday’s session.
The Vatican has, for too long, sheltered priests to protect itself, complained an organization of victims, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
“Throughout the world, children and vulnerable adults have been and continue to be subjected to widespread and systemic rape and sexual violence by priests and others associated with the Roman Catholic Church,” SNAP said in a statement Monday. In February, a UN human rights committee denounced the Vatican for adopting policies that it said allowed sexual abuse of tens of thousands of children by clergymen.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child demanded immediate action and urged the Vatican to hand over its archives on sexual abuse so that culprits and “those who concealed their crimes” could face justice.
In a wide-ranging report, it also called on the Holy See to “immediately remove” all clergy who are known or suspected child abusers and turn them over to civil authorities, adding that it was “gravely concerned” that the Holy See had not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed.
Nor has the Church taken measures to protect children and deal with sexual abuse, it added.
In response, the Holy See’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin pledged to consider the report carefully while a Vatican spokesman said that a plan to improve Church transparency in how it deals with cases of child sex abuse was in the works.
Since his election in March 2013, Pope Francis has said that dealing with sex abuse in the Church was crucial to maintaining its credibility.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Kuwaiti Passenger Held With Items Used to Make Bombs
KUWAIT: A Kuwaiti man was arrested at Cairo International Airport with possession of items that could be used in making improvised explosive devices. Egyptian authorities reportedly decided to search the man’s luggage after noticing that he was nervous. They found electric circuits, resistors, wires as well as nine 9V batteries and magnets. The man was arrested after explosives specialists at the airport confirmed that the items could be used to manufacture explosive devices. The man, who had arrived on a flight from Beirut, said during questioning that the items are for his hearing aid. He remains in police custody pending further investigations.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Coptic Pope Will Not Back Any Presidential Candidate
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, MAY 5 — Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II said on Monday that he would not be taking the side of either presidential candidate in the upcoming Egyptian elections. The Coptic Church leader was one of the backers of the military ouster on July 3 last year of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi and supported the political ‘road map’ that was to have followed.
In an interview with the El-Resala newspaper, the head of the Coptic church urged Egyptians, “both Copts and Muslims, to read the electoral programs of both candidates” — El-Sisi, who is leading in the polls, and leftist leader Hamdeen Sabbahi — “well, and then make a choice as you see fit.” His church’s participation in the July 3 ouster was of a “national” and not political nature, said Tawadros, who sided with El-Sisi at that time, as did Al-Ahzar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayyeb.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Confirms New Prime Minister After Election Row Chaos
Ahmed Maiteeq confirmed as Libya’s fifth prime minister since fall of Muammar Gaddafi after political row over recount exposes deep-seated divisions in troubled state
Libya’s parliament has confirmed businessman Ahmed Maiteeq as the country’s new prime minister, one day after a deputy speaker had declared Maiteeq’s election invalid. The appointment would make the Islamist-backed Maiteeq Libya’s youngest and fifth premier since long-time autocrat Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas-Fatah Agreement, Abbas Meets Meshal
(ANSAmed) — RAMALLAH — The Palestinian reconciliation process gained new momentum on Monday with a meeting in Qatar between President Mahmud Abbas and the political leader of Hamas Khaled Meshal. Also, al-Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad was dispatched to Gaza.
‘‘President Mahmud Abbas will meet Meshal to discuss with him the steps to be taken in order to implement the agreement that has just been signed’’ at the end of April, the leader of the political committee of Fatah at the Palestinian legislative council, Abdullah Abdullah, told ANSA.
Abdullah added that on Monday the head of the PLO delegation, Azzam al Ahhmad, ‘‘will go to Gaza to agree with representatives of Hamas on a future prime minister’’ to lead a national unity government, formed by experts, which should be formed in five weeks with the external support of Hamas and al-Fatah.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas: Do Not Believe Abbas; We Want Jihad
by Khaled Abu Toameh
Will Hamas change its ideology and recognize Israel’s right to exist after signing the “reconciliation” agreement with Fatah?
According to the Palestinian Authority (PA), the answer is yes. But according to Hamas, the answer is a big no and a pledge to pursue terrorist attacks against Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Wants to Give Mount Zion and the Tomb of David to the Vatican?
What would make Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want to hand over Mount Zion and the Tomb of David to the Vatican? One member of the Knesset has publicly stated that Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef has informed him that Netanyahu has formally asked for halakhic permission to give the Tomb of David to the Roman Catholic Church.
And there have been persistent rumors of secret negotiations between the Israeli government and the Vatican regarding Mount Zion and the Tomb of David. So why would Netanyahu want to do such a thing? In any peace deal with the Palestinians, the Tomb of David and the Mount Zion complex should remain under Israeli control. So what is Netanyahu thinking?
Of course the Israeli government is formally denying that there is a secret deal in the works, but that has not stopped the media in Israel from reporting on these persistent rumors for months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
29 Killed in Wave of Attacks Across Iraq
BAGHDAD, May 4 (Xinhua) — A total of 29 people were killed and 20 others wounded in violent attacks across Iraq on Sunday, police and medical source said.
The police found the bodies of seven family members who were kidnapped two days ago in the predominantly Sunni area of al- Madain, some 30 km southeast of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fatwa Prohibiting Traveling Abroad Causes Controversy in Saudi Arabia
A Saudi preacher’s religious edict, or fatwa, that prohibits traveling abroad has caused controversy in the kingdom, with one Saudi columnist denouncing it as “extremist bacteria.”
Sheikh Abdullah al-Suwailem, who is part of the Saudi Arabian Munasaha program that aims to rehabilitate al-Qaeda members held in prison, expressed “fear that whoever dies in the land of infidelity could go to hell,” in statements to the London-based al-Hayat newspaper last week.
“Travelling abroad is forbidden in Sharia except in cases of necessity and with conditions,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Security Agent Killed in Yemen: Foreign Minister
A French security agent was shot dead in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and a second French national was injured, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Condemns ‘Cowardly’ Killing of Frenchman in Yemen
French President Francois Hollande on Monday condemned “in the strongest terms the cowardly attack” in Sanaa, Yemen, that left one Frenchman dead and two others injured.
“In liaison with Yemen’s authorities, the state will use all its powers to shine a light on circumstances of this odious act so that its authors are rapidly identified,” said the president in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The ruling AKP party’s infamous project to regain Turkish Muslims votes and presidency for Erdogan. The Ecumenical Patriarchate refuses to “barter” for opening of Halki Theological School. West only concerned with gas pipelines; in Turkey no one dares to voice any criticism.
Istanbul ( AsiaNews) — A little-known independent deputy from the Burdur district, Hami Yildirim, has filed a motion in the Turkish parliament to transform the Istanbul Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia is known to all as an architectural masterpiece, a symbol of united Christendom, built by Emperor Justinian in 537 AD.
The news was broken by Haber Turk and so far has not been denied. On the contrary, there are other worrying signs: a few days ago, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his desire to celebrate an Islamic function in Santa Sofia on 29 May, the day that commemorates the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmet II.
The motion of the unknown Yildirim will have to go through a series of stages: approval in parliament, where Erdogan’s party, the AKP, holds the majority (325 seats out of 550); publication in the Official Gazette; entry into force following the ratification of the Premier.
It is interesting to note that the resolution is being proposed exactly 80 years after Kemal Ataturk’s decision in 1934 that turned the Hagia Sophia into a museum: almost a symbol of change in Turkey, from a secular country to Muslim country. And in fact, the reasons expressed in the motion are historical in nature and centered on the conquest of Constantinople by the Conqueror Mohammed II, who — as Yildirim states in his motion — was the first to pray according to Islamic rituals, after the conquest of the city, May 29, 1453.
This anniversary is becoming increasingly popular in Turkey, celebrated as a success, even though the newspaper Sabah notes that the event recalls, “that we are strangers in this land”.
According to sources in Istanbul Muslim leaders and personalities from around the world will be invited to celebrations for the transformation of the church into a mosque. According to the same sources, the Hagia Sophia will have a dual role of mosque (for the prayer of nazim and Kurban Bayram and seker) and museum. In short, like the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
The news, of course, is quite worrying. Moreover it is indicative of the general climate and current political situation that exists in Turkey, which is also by no means reassuring. Erdogan ‘s arrogance seems to know no limits. Having averted damage in the last elections — dogged by the scandals of widespread corruption which erupted on December 17 last and involved families of AKP members and that of the Prime Minister — he has now set his sights on the presidency, ahead of the August elections.
These elections will be by direct universal suffrage. However, Erdogan does not seem to enough votes. Going on the figures from the last vote, he is short by 5% . This is why he finds himself having to appeal to the lowest levels of Turkish society who have always identified being Turkish with Islam.
Another important fact that strikes the observer is the following: in the history of Turkish political affairs, it is no coincidence that every time an important motion is tabled, it is always made by a little-known and independent deputy, to be able to probe the possible internal and external reactions to the motion presented.
The “external reactions”, are those of the western world in general and the “Christian” world in particular, who are familiar with the geopolitical and strategic importance of Turkey, a veritable hub of gas pipelines from various sources , which have become even more important today in attempts to limit Russian dominance.
To help swallow the bitter pill of the Hagia Sophia’s transformation into a mosque, the AKP government is preparing to offer the reopening of the Halki Theological School unjustly closed in 1971 by the Turkish government, a highly acclaimed “trade” by Western politicians.
However, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has always opposed this option. Indeed, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has always opposed the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Regarding internal reactions, any comment is now banned in Turkey. In this part of the world silence is a must.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
America Backed Fascists in Ukraine 70 Years Ago
Oliver Stone’s documentary Untold History notes:
Truman approved the creation of a guerrilla army code-named “Nightingale” in Ukraine. Originally setup by the Nazis in 1941, it was made up of ultra-nationalists. They would, as Stone describes, wreak havoc on the “famine-wrecked region where Soviet control was loose, carrying out the murder of thousands of Jews, Soviets and Pols, who opposed a separate Ukrainian state.” The CIA would parachute “infiltrators” into the country as well to further “dislodge Soviet control.”
Sounds nuts, right?
But American historian and former Under Secretary of the Air Force Townsend Hoopes and Rice University history professor Douglas Brinkely confirm:…
The leader of the Nightingale group was Stepan Bandera.
The leader of the “protests” in February 2014 which ousted the president of Ukraine is a neo Nazi and follower of Stepan Bandera.
In other words, 70 years ago, the U.S. supported the types of fascists who are now in control of Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Big U.S. Banks Pull Billions of Dollars From Russia
U.S. banks have trimmed billions of dollars from their exposure to Russia as violence in Ukraine intensifies and the U.S. government ramps up sanctions against Russia.
Western cash is being removed from the economy at a difficult time — Economic growth has stalled, while capital outflow reached $63.7 billion in the first quarter, about the same as over the whole of last year. Major Russian companies are facing a sudden unwillingness by Western lenders to refinance their debt, and many have been forced to delay or cancel plans to raise new capital by floating bonds or shares.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Four Ukraine Soldiers Killed in Sloiansk
Pro-Russian militants retreat after heavy clashes
(ANSA) — Four Ukraine soldiers were killed Monday in heavy clashes with retreating pro-Russian militants just outside Sloviansk.
Government forces took control of a TV tower in the suburbs and rebels were pulled back deeper into the city, the Russian Interfax news agency said.
Earlier reports told of heavy gunfire, apparently closer to the centre than in recent days. Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 30 injured in an incident at Sloviansk, the interior ministry said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
IMF Plan to Loot Ukraine Revealed
Amazingly, this “aid” is simply the same plan of IMF shock doctrine we have seen over and over, as Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitz (former chief economist of the World Bank) revealed back in 2001. That revelation first appeared through BBC reporter Greg Palast’s famous article, “The Globalizer Who Came in From the Cold. The documents summarized there outline the multi-layered plan the IMF takes to attack, destabilize and reorganize (ie, loot) through “aid” packages that result in extensive debt slavery and privatization. Palast explains of the IMF plan in regard to Russia in the 90s:
“Each nation’s economy is individually analyzed, then, says Stiglitz, the Bank hands every minister the same exact four-step program.
Step One is Privatization — which Stiglitz said could more accurately be called, ‘Briberization.’ Rather than object to the sell-offs of state industries, he said national leaders — using the World Bank’s demands to silence local critics — happily flogged their electricity and water companies. “You could see their eyes widen” at the prospect of 10% commissions paid to Swiss bank accounts for simply shaving a few billion off the sale price of national assets…
After briberization, Step Two of the IMF/World Bank one-size-fits-all rescue-your-economy plan is ‘Capital Market Liberalization.’ In theory, capital market deregulation allows investment capital to flow in and out. Unfortunately, as in Indonesia and Brazil, the money simply flowed out and out. Stiglitz calls this the “Hot Money” cycle. Cash comes in for speculation in real estate and currency, then flees at the first whiff of trouble. A nation’s reserves can drain in days, hours. And when that happens, to seduce speculators into returning a nation’s own capital funds, the IMF demands these nations raise interest rates to 30%, 50% and 80%.”
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Fighter Jet Presence Triples in Baltic States
With even the Ukraine authorities no longer denying civil war has broken out, the next two escalation steps are clear: first Russia, whose involvement is now just a matter of time and tactics, and then NATO.
Both of these two events are not quantized, and instead have been proceeding in gradual steps, with Russian involvement allegedly facilitating the local resistance militias, both with weapons and funding, if not personnel. NATO has also not been sitting on its hands, and while the US has so far been instrumental in providing naval support in the Black Sea with two warships patrolling just off Russian naval territory, it has been NATO’s task to defend the skies in the regions neighboring Russia.
The clip below explains that in response to Russia no longer following the globalist playbook, NATO has tripled its air policing mission assets guarding the skies over the Baltic region.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Calls for ‘Non-Partisan’ Response to Ukraine Crisis
‘Peace, stability, democratic development’ at risk in Europe
(ANSA) — Moscow, May 5 — The Russian government on Monday called for a ‘non-partisan’ international response to the crisis in Ukraine.
Moscow warned of “destructive consequences for peace, stability and the democratic development of Europe” in a document denouncing mass violation of human rights by “ultra-nationalist, extremist and neo-Nazi forces”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tatar Leader Says Erdogan Pledged to Solve His Problem Entering Crimea
Mustafa Abdülcemil Kirimoglu, a Tatar political leader who was prevented on Friday and Saturday from entering the Crimean Peninsula by pro-Russian forces, has stated that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to resolve the matter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Media Covers Up Mass Murder in Odessa
[WARNING: * Disturbing Content *]
Yesterday in Odessa, Ukraine, more than 30 anti-Kiev protesters were burned alive, as a US-backed pro-Kiev mob set fire to the trade union building into which they ran to escape the pro-Kiev crowd. It was the largest loss of life in Ukraine since the US-backed coup in February, and it may well be a turning point in the east versus west struggle that ensued.
The pictures from the scene were ghastly (warning: graphic), as desperate protesters tried to claw their way out of the building as they were burned alive. Also ghastly were the photos of the young girls happily making the molotov cocktails that were thrown into the building.
More ghastly still, was the US media coverage of the savage event. Even when 25 minutes video available clearly demonstrated what happened in Odessa, clearly demonstrated who was responsible for the incineration of unarmed protesters, the US media all hewed to the State Department line that pointedly refused to pin any blame on the pro-Kiev mob supported by Washington. Said the State Department release:…
LA Times spins it like burning more than 30 protesters alive was a purely defensive measure. But if they were all snipers, why did they not shoot their way out?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
5 Suicide Bombers, One Policeman Killed in W. Afghan Attack
ZARANJ, Afghanistan, May 5 (Xinhua) — Six people including five suicide bombers and one policeman were killed and two others wounded in a coordinated Taliban attack on a government agency building in western Afghan province of Nimroz on Monday, police said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: Man Stabbed for Opposing Construction of Mosque: Sons Say Police Apathy
Yousuf Ahmed was stabbed 34 times for opposing a mosque next door. No one took cognisance of his complaint or the threats he received.Two of his cars were burnt down near their house and cops did not act.
He’s dead, right? Everything is over now, let it be.” This, allegedly, was a police inspector’s response when the two youngsters called him up on Wednesday minutes after an armed gang stabbed their father 34 times, muting his voice forever after he first raised it in 2010 in protest against a mosque and single-handedly carried on a relentless campaign thereafter…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sultan of Brunei’s Hotels Boycotted Over Sharia Law Plan
(AGI) Kuala Lumpur, May 5 — Celebrities, including Virgin Group boss Richard Branson, have decided to boycott the Sultan of Brunei’s super-luxury hotels after he said he intends introduce Islamic Sharia law in the country.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Pushing Norway for Nobel Guarantee
China is pressuring Norway’s government to guarantee never to congratulate a Chinese dissident who wins the Nobel Peace Prize, the country’s NRK news channel has reported.
According to the channel, the refusal of Norway’s government to meet the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, when he visits the country this week, has not been enough to normalize relations between the two countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Rejects Vietnam’s Call to Stop Oil Drilling
Vietnam demanded China stop oil drilling operations in a disputed patch of the South China Sea, saying on Monday that Beijing’s decision to deploy a deep sea rig over the weekend was illegal. China dismissed the objections, saying the activity was being carried out in its territorial waters.
Beijing’s increasingly assertive territorial claims to the waters, which are thought to have large oil and gas deposits beneath them, have angered Vietnam, the Philippines and other claimants. The region is widely seen as a potential area of conflict.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: Muslim Villager Dies as Shots Fired Over Mosque Access
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — A Muslim protester was killed in the Southern Philippines on Saturday when local residents and workers for a logging firm fought over access to a local mosque.
Zamboanga City Police Chief Sr. Supt. Angelito Casimiro said the man died when an unidentified resident threw a grenade into the compound of the company, a firefight then breaking out as workers and security guards retaliated…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Report: N. Korea Has Nuclear Warheads for Missiles
North Korea has developed nuclear weapons capable of being launched on its ballistic missile forces, according to a new report by a defense analyst.
The Obama administration is seeking to hide the fact that North Korea possesses nuclear missile warheads, according to a report by Mark Schneider, a former Pentagon strategic analyst and director for forces policy at the office of the secretary of defense. Schneider’s statement came in a report published April 28 in the journal Comparative Strategy.
According to the 16-page report, “The North Korean Nuclear Threat to the United States,” the Defense Intelligence Agency stated in an unclassified assessment made public a year ago that “DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North [Korean government] currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
They’re Fierce, Furry and Ready to Protect China
They’re fierce. They’re furry. And they’re ready to protect the motherland. The People’s Liberation Army revealed Monday that it has trained a small unit of macaque monkeys to protect a northern air force base from birds.
The monkeys’ handlers call their newest recruits the Chinese military’s “secret weapon,” and state-run media highlighted the primates’ impressive skills in photos that were by turns cute, menacing and odd.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Authorities Asking Muslims to Dob in Extremists Who Plan to Fight in Syria
AUTHORITIES trying to stop Queenslanders fighting in Syria are seizing passports and asking Muslims to “do their bit for Australia” by dobbing on extremists.
A mother-of-four from Brisbane’s south, who allegedly tried to take cash and equipment to her husband, is the sixth local to have been accused of a role in the bloody civil war.
The woman, 29, whose Calamvale home was raided after her arrest at Sydney’s international airport at the weekend, will remain in NSW until her next court appearance on June 2. She is charged with “supporting incursions into a foreign state with the intention of engaging in hostile activities”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
New Mosque in Blacktown Aims to Help Troubled Youth
After years of attempting to build a mosque in the heartland of Sydney’s western suburbs, Blacktown Mosque has finally opened its doors.
The mosque has taken 15 years to build because of financial constraints and council issues such as community objections about noise and traffic…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Terror Strikes Home as Australian Mother Arrested and Charged With Supporting Terrorism
POLICE had to call in reinforcements after a group of hardline Muslims gathered at a Sydney police station clamouring for the release of a woman later charged with supporting terrorism.
The mother-of-four was arrested as she allegedly tried to board a flight in Sydney carrying cash and equipment — believed to include camouflage gear — for her husband fighting in Syria.
Joint Counter Terrorism detectives stopped the 29-year-old and her four young children as they attempted to board the flight about 8.30pm on Saturday.
A police spokesman said the Brisbane woman was taken to Mascot police station and later charged.
Three search warrants were also executed — two in Sydney and one in Brisbane.
Hardline supporters arrived at the police station after news of the woman’s arrest was posted on social media, with police forced to call for back-up to deal with them.
She was granted strict conditional bail by police and will appear at Downing Centre Local Court on June 2.
“The Brisbane woman was taken to the Mascot police station, where she was charged under the Crimes (Foreign Incursions and Recruitment) Act 1978,” the spokesman said.
“She was charged with supporting incursions into a foreign state with the intention of engaging in hostile activities.”
Sources have confirmed the mother was allegedly carrying an amount of cash and other supplies — believed to include camouflage gear — on behalf of her husband, who is in Syria.
The Al-Risalah Facebook page — a meeting place for young Muslims — yesterday claimed the woman’s passport had been confiscated…
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Claims Responsibility for Kidnapping of Nigerian Girls
Boko Haram’s leader on Monday said in a video that the Islamist group is responsible for last month’s abduction of 276 of schoolgirls in northern Nigeria, adding to fears after reports emerged suggesting that some of them had been sold off as wives. “I abducted your girls,” the group’s leader Abubakar Shekau said in the 57-minute video obtained by AFP.
Reports this week indicated some of the students have been forced into “marriage” with their extremist abductors, who paid a nominal bride price equivalent to $12. Other reports that also could not be verified said some have been taken across borders, to Chad, Cameroon and to an island in Lake Chad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Wants War Between Christians, Muslims in Nigeria — Jonathan
President Jonathan said he has enlisted foreign support to tackle Boko Haram.
President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday said the objective of the terrorist sect, Boko Haram, is to ignite a war between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. Speaking Sunday at his seventh presidential media chat, Mr. Jonathan said when Boko Haram started launching attacks at Christian worship centres, many Nigerians thought the group had a religious agenda…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria Faces Security Challenge as it Hosts World Economic Forum
Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls, a day after President Goodluck Jonathan ordered a three day shut down of the capital Abuja during the World Economic Conference.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria’s Boko Haram Threatens to Sell Schoolgirls on Market
The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Monday for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria last month and threatened to “sell them on the market,” the French news agency AFP reported, citing a video.
The brazenness and sheer brutality of the school attack shocked Nigerians, who have been growing accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video, according to AFP, which is normally the first media outlet to get hold of Shekau’s videos.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
2 Dead, 25 Missing as Boats With Migrants Capsize Off Greek Island: Coast Guard
ATHENS, May 5 (Xinhua) — Greek Coast Guard launched a wide search and rescue operation early Monday for the 25 undocumented migrants who went missing as their boats capsized off the coast of Samos island in the eastern Aegean Sea.
Local officials said 34 passengers were rescued while two died and their bodies have been retrieved.
Survivors said the two capsized boats were carrying about 60-65 illegal immigrants while the shipwreck occurred. But their nationalities have yet to be identified and no other details are released…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi Calls on Europe to Aid in Migrant Rescues
Premier asks if EU ‘has a heart’ ahead of EP elections
(ANSA) — Rome, May 5 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday again upped calls for Europe to come to Italy’s side in managing the influx of migrants from across the Mediterranean. Speaking to leaders of his center-left Democratic Party (PD), Renzi said the PD was “defending Mare Nostrum”, Italy’s large-scale search-and-rescue patrol, in its campaign ahead of European Parliament elections May 25. “It’s allowed us to avoid counting the dead at the bottom of the sea…and to arrest 207 traffickers,” said Renzi. But Mare Nostrum, which translates to ‘Our Sea’ as the Romans called the Mediterranean, cannot remain entirely “ours”, added the premier. “Enough. If Europe has a heart, it must understand that the you can’t play with human dignity in the Mediterranean”. The interior ministry projects that migrant landings will set a record number in 2014. Mare Nostrum was implemented after disasters off the coast of Sicily involving migrant ships left roughly 400 dead. Opponents of the program, namely the anti-immigrant Northern League, argue it is not worth the cost, and that those to benefit the most are human smugglers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi, EU Must Care for Mediterranean
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 5 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday said Italy is ‘‘playing its part on immigration and we defend Mare Nostrum’’, Italy’s surveillance-and-rescue operation in the Mediterranean which ‘‘made it possible not to count victims at the bottom of the sea’’ and to ‘‘arrest 207 human traffickers’’.
However, Renzi added that ‘‘Mare nostrum cannot just be nostrum (ours in Latin) and, if Europe has a heart, it must understand dignity is being challenged in the Mediterranean’’. The search-and-rescue operation for migrants at sea was launched by the Italian government in October last year after several rafts carrying migrants shipwrecked off the country’s coasts, resulting in some 400 deaths. The operation includes amphibious ships, unmanned drones and helicopters with infrared equipment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul: “Common Core is Really the Last Straw”
Former Congressman slams deliberate plan to create dumbed down, obedient population
In this exclusive interview with Infowars, former congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul talks about the failure of and alternatives to public education, how politicians want an obedient population dependent on the government, the continuing rise of alternative media, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s statement calling supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy “domestic terrorists” and the expansion of government power at the expense of individual rights.
To counter the federal government’s takeover of public education through Common Core, Dr. Paul has introduced the Ron Paul Homeschooling Curriculum for students from kindergarten to 12th grade which features courses that are self-taught through daily lecture videos. To find out more and to enroll, please click here.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Allows Opening Prayer at Town Board Meeting
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a town in upstate New York may begin its public meetings with a prayer from a “chaplain of the month.”
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority in the 5-to-4 decision, said “ceremonial prayer is but a recognition that, since this nation was founded and until the present day, many Americans deem that their own existence must be understood by precepts far beyond that authority of government to alter or define.”
In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the town’s practices could not be reconciled “with the First Amendment’s promise that every citizen, irrespective of her religion, owns an equal share of her government.”
Town officials said that members of all faiths, and atheists, were welcome to give the opening prayer. In practice, the federal appeals court in New York said, almost all of the chaplains were Christian.
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Thinking Outside the Box at the End of the World
The average person is programmed from birth to think inside of a box. They live under the delusion that they are free and independent thinkers, but they are unable to perceive that their thoughts and beliefs have been manufactured on the cerebral assembly line of what I term the “Mind Factory.” Despite minor variations of “The Product,” their beliefs are pretty much the same as everyone else’s. In addition, the thoughts and beliefs of the average person have been carefully programmed so they will fit neatly into what Aldous Huxley called “The Scientific Dictatorship.” If you doubt the existence of this “Scientific Dictatorship” please keep reading.
The primary manner which is used to program people to think inside of the box is to dumb them down through social engineering, education, and media. Let’s compare the intellectual life of the father of the First Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards (1668-1759), with the cultural, business, political, and religious leaders of today. Edwards, who had been home schooled, entered Yale College in 1716 at the age of thirteen. He aggressively studied theosophy, science, religion, history, and many other subjects. In his personal notebooks he wrote extensively on subjects like the human mind and atomic theory. Edwards graduated as the valedictorian of his class at Yale at the age of seventeen.
Although Jonathan Edwards was exceptional, the majority of the cultural, business, political, and religious leaders were far more educated in diverse fields than their counterparts are today. Benjamin Franklin was a philosopher, author, political theorist, scientist, inventor and publisher. He was widely regarded as a polymath, which is a term that refers to a “Renaissance Man,” one of the world’s great thinkers. Conversely today there has not been one single political leader in over a hundred years who could even remotely be considered one of the world’s great thinkers. Those that are applauded as “deep thinkers,” such as Al Gore or Newt Gingrich, are not even in the same league as men like Edwards and Franklin. In contrast to Franklin, the journalists and politicians of today read carefully scripted talking points from teleprompters. So what happened?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fertility Guru’s IVF Warning: Rich Could Pay to Have Brighter Babies, Says Lord Winston
Breakthroughs in IVF could ‘threaten our humanity’ by prompting parents to demand designer babies, Robert Winston has warned.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On Sydney counter terrorism detectives; Since I have left the ‘job’ it is apparent the police have learned nothing when it comes to dealing with Muslims. Whenever I was required to arrest a Muslim/s I would always have the ‘backup’ with me at the time of arrest, not after the arrest and processing at the police station was taking effect!
Bloody idiots!
No bloody swearing!