The ISIS Islamic terrorist organization has overrun Mosul in Iraq and taken control of part of the city. Tens of thousands of refugees, including overwhelming numbers of Chaldean Christians, are fleeing Mosul. The terrorists have reportedly taken 48 Turkish citizens as prisoners. Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, is also said to have been overrun.
In other news, suspected Islamic terrorists from Boko Haram in Nigeria have attacked a village in neighboring Cameroon, burning churches and looting buildings.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, JP, RR, 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.
19 Reasons Why You Can Laugh When Anyone Tells You That the Economy is in Good Shape
Have you heard the one about the “economic recovery” in the United States? It’s quite funny, but it is not actually true. Every day, the establishment media points to the fact that global stock markets have soared to unprecedented heights as evidence that the economy is improving. But just because a bunch of wealthy people have gotten temporarily even richer on paper does not mean that the real economy is in good shape. In fact, as you will see below, things just continue to get even tougher for the poor and the middle class. Retail stores are closing at the fastest pace since the fall of Lehman Brothers, the rate of homeownership in this country is the lowest that it has been in 19 years, one out of every five families do not have a single member that is employed, and one out of every five children is living in poverty. We are working harder, earning less and going into more debt. With each passing day, the middle class gets a little bit smaller and the ranks of the poor get a little bit larger. But at least the stock market is doing great, eh?
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, government dependence would not be at epidemic levels.
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, we wouldn’t have more than a million public school children that are homeless.
If the U.S. economy really was doing well, the percentage of Americans that have a job would not be lower than it was when the last recession supposedly “ended”.
Nobody that takes an honest look at the numbers can honestly say that the U.S. economy has recovered. The following are 19 reasons why you can laugh when anyone tells you that the economy is in good shape…
#1 RadioShack just announced that it is going to close an additional 200 stores on top of what it was already planning to close.
#2 During the first quarter of this year, reported earnings by major U.S. retailers missed estimates by the largest margin in 13 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GDP Report Confirms We Now Have a $2 Trillion Obama Growth Deficit
This morning’s depressing revised calculation of the growth of the economy in the first quarter of 2014 (-1.0 percent) makes it official: The Obama expansion is now $2 trillion short of where we would be if growth in this recovery had matched the Reagan recovery that started in 1982.
That is to say the average family would have about $5,000 more income each year to spend if it were not for this slow recovery. The Census Bureau reports that median household income is down by $1,800 since this so-called recovery began.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Fed-Induced Demise of the American Dream (In 1 Simple Chart)
Thanks to free and abundant credit to those at the front of the line, home prices have soared in the last few years as “smart” hedge fund managers have bought homes-to-rent in a yield-grab with both hands and feet. This — as we have noted numerous times — priced out the ‘real’ buyer; who this time, instead of being driven by a “fear of missing out”, would rather not play (only to be left holding the bag). Another unintended consequence courtesy of The Fed’s “main-street-helping” actions that has destroyed the American Dream for a declining middle class.
Fewer Americans think it’s a good time to buy a home than at any time in the last 4 years… “recovery”!
The trickle-down is not working… the middle-class is tapped out (and releveraging just to get by)… and the Fed’s key transmission mechanism to the masses (housing) has now been broken… let’s hope the market doesn’t drop ever again (or the economy).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
If the “Matrix” of the film was a dream world created by a malevolent artificial intelligence, the real matrix is the fantasy world created through a largely falsified history (designed to hide the Fabians and minimize the effects powerful banking interests have had on the world economy); a concatenation of bogus statistics about a “recovery” that doesn’t exist outside Wall Street; public education designed to produce obedient debt-slaves; corporate (“mainstream”) media designed to tranquilize via myriad distractions (sports, celebrities, etc.); bread-and-circus elections every couple of years to fool the public into believing “democracy” is real and that they have choices over “their” country’s prevailing policies…
In 2008 I chanced to read a book that had been out a few years: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. That book confirmed something I’d begun to suspect, which is that the situation was at least a magnitude worse than even I had thought!]…
When currency was backed by gold, people advanced their economic interests through productive work. They did not get rich by creating money out of thin air. Fractional reserve banking changed all that, of course. The process has been explained many times; a good explanation along with its corrupting effects on a culture can be found here.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank Warns of Food Riots as Rising Food Prices Push World Populations Toward Revolt
(NaturalNews) A new report issued by the World Bank (1) warns that food prices are skyrocketing globally, with wheat up 18 percent and corn up 12 percent this quarter. Ukraine, one of the largest wheat exporters in the world, has suffered a 73 percent increase in domestic wheat costs. Argentina has seen wheat prices skyrocket 70 percent.
According to the World Bank, these price increases have been caused primarily by three factors: 1) Sharply higher demand for food in China, 2) U.S. drought conditions that hammered wheat production, and 3) unrest in Ukraine due to the near state of war with Russia.
According to the World Bank, rising food prices have caused 51 food riots in 37 countries since 2007. These include Tunisia, South Africa, Cameroon and India, among other nations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Acting VA Secretary: 18 Vets on Phoenix Wait List Died
PHOENIX — Investigators have determined that more than 100,000 veterans nationwide were kept off waiting lists for medical appointments, and Acting Veterans Affairs Secretary Sloan Gibson said the nation will learn Monday how many patients were relegated to “secret lists.”
During a news conference Thursday at the Carl T. Hayden Medical Center in Phoenix, where the VA medical scandal erupted, Gibson also disclosed that at least 18 Arizona veterans died while awaiting doctor appointments, though it remains unclear whether the delayed care is to blame for those fatalities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al Franken vs Julianne Ortman: Slavery vs Freedom
This weekend, the state convention will decide if State Senator Julianne Ortman will climb the next step up the ladder to the August 14 primary to become the Republican U.S. Senate nominee to ultimately defeat toxic flaming-liberal Democrat Al Franken in the general.
Ortman released her Twelve-Point Turnaround Plan for Minnesota and America. Upon comparing Ortman’s plan to Franken’s failures 2009-2014, the contras was striking. I thought, “Oh my gosh. Franken equals big government controlled slavery. Ortman equals liberty and freedom!”
The battle between Franken and Ortman really comes down to slavery vs freedom.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
America — Dictatorship by Bureaucracy
“It doesn’t always take guns and chains to enslave people. It just takes a zillion unconstitutional laws and a bureaucracy to enforce them, to which the people blindly comply without resistance.” — Ron Ewart
Government, at least in what is left of the Constitutional Republic of America, is (or was) about preserving, protecting and defending the individual, God-given rights of the people. Government is (or was) also about service, service to the people for functions that only government can accomplish. In America, the people established the government and the government was and is supposed to be the servant for the people. But alas, it is a fact, the servant has become the master without a shot being fired.
Government has sent hither swarms of officers and bureaucrats to pass millions of unconstitutional laws and eat out our substance. The ironic part is, these bureaucrats that harass the people were the creation of past and current Congresses and presidents, in direct violation of their solemn oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the rights of the people.
The duty of those Congresses and presidents was to provide oversight to the bureaucracies, but as anyone can see from observing just the current scandals with the Veterans Administration, the Justice Department, the NSA, the INS, the Border Patrol, the USDA, the DOE, the DHS, the IRS, the BLM, the EPA, etc., oversight is a mirage and out-of-control bureaucracies with dictatorial powers are the reality. In fact, it has gotten so bad, that bureaucracies have become an irreversible power unto themselves and the Congress, much less the president, appear to be powerless to rein them in, or stop them. It is almost as if the Congress and the president don’t want to rein them in. What exists today is a culture of criminally wasteful and corrupt bureaucratic employee entitlement, funded at great expense by the hapless and virtually helpless American taxpayer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Marcia
Diana West, author of American Betrayal, graciously consented to an interview with Marcia. While garnering enthusiastic reviews, Ms. West has been excoriated by some members of the conservative media, accused of being a crackpot and closet John Birch Society member. Apparently many of her critics never bothered to read her book, though, or check her voluminous research. This reviewer has read her book and the subsequent rebuttal addressing her attackers — reviewed here and here, respectively.
Marcia: I’d like to start by inquiring about the mechanics of writing the book. Before conservatism was much more than a gleam in Bill Buckley’s eye there was scarcely a conservative publication or organization that didn’t have M. Stanton Evans’ fingerprints. Did he encourage you to write the book?
Diana: Perhaps you’re thinking of Stanton Evans’ father?
Marcia: Yes I am. Sorry, my confusion. They both wrote books about McCarthy and I conflated the two.
Diana: I didn’t get to know M. Stanton Evans until after I was already at work on American Betrayal. That said, I consider his seminal book, Blacklisted by History, an inspiration, and not only because it sheds new and vindicating light (and documents) on McCarthy’s career, and offers a damning case against his political enemies. What Evans’ McCarthy book also demonstrates is that it is possible, through much hard detective work, to assemble an archive of facts, primary-source materials, from which to reconstruct reality-based history — as opposed to the endlessly recycled “court history” our professional historians tend to produce. The “conventional wisdom” may be conventional but it is also, I find more and more, usually wrong…
| [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Gun Networks Downplay Armed Citizen Who Confronted Vegas Shooters
The mainstream media, which has spent the past day falsely blaming libertarians, the Second Amendment and even Alex Jones for the Las Vegas Shooting, was slow to report on the third victim and hero of the tragedy: Joseph Robert Wilcox, the concealed handgun license holder who lost his life while confronting the shooters.
Wilcox, 31, was armed with a concealed weapon and confronted Jerad Miller after the Millers entered the Wal-Mart he was shopping at and threatened everyone to leave.
Unfortunately, as Wilcox approached Miller, Amanda Miller came from behind and shot him several times, killing Wilcox almost instantly.
Nevertheless, his bravery in the face of danger was under-reported in the mainstream media and only came to prominence through alternative media sites.
In a 12 minute segment of The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, for example, host Rachel Maddow only referred to Wilcox as a “victim” without any indication of his heroic act.
Instead, she elected to spend the majority of the segment targeting the Second Amendment, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and constitutionalists whom she falsely labeled as part of the “sovereign citizen” movement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cantor to Step Down as Majority Leader Representative
Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 House Republican, will resign his leadership position, effective July 31, following a stunning defeat in a primary election Tuesday in which voters rejected him in favor of a more conservative candidate, congressional sources say.
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“The difference between communism and socialism, except in the way of achieving the same ultimate goal: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism by voting. Its’ the same difference between murder and suicide.” — Ayn Rand
A pamphlet published by Alfred G. Meyer at Harvard in 1953, and designed to teach young people about the subversion and evils of communism, revealed that “communists in disguise have slipped into influential places in our country.” At that time, the movement was modest, with little influence, and a membership of 35,000 people, about 1/50 of one percent of the population. At its membership height, there were around 200,000 communists in the U.S. It is hard to estimate a number today, however, judging by those who are constantly in the limelight and voting for communist policies, the numbers are growing.
Membership and influence are growing because the New York based Communist Party USA’s rhetoric appeals to the lowest denominator, to those who are already on welfare, illegal aliens, and permanent residents coming from third world dictatorships, and union members who are controlled by communist leaders. A constant and highly successful propaganda is waged by the Democrat Party and progressive elites, using the communist slogans of “hope and change,” “forward,” “social justice,” “environmental justice,” “white-privilege,” and “income inequality.”
Communists appear so successful because Americans have a short collective memory, short attention span, and know, thanks to a socialist academia, very little of their own non-revisionist history, and even less world history. College graduates are hard pressed to answer correctly basic questions about history, geography, and government. Yet they know what the latest Hollywood celebrity ate for supper yesterday. The MSM, academia, and Hollywood are the main propaganda arm of mass indoctrination, comprised of “useful idiots,” a term coined and used by Stalin…
If you think such a practice of loyalty watch and speech compliance is dead, consider the city of Barcelona, from the state of Catalonia, Spain, who created recently the “Anti-rumor Agency” and certified 436 “anti-rumor” volunteer agents to catch and punish those whose beliefs are not in line with the “consensus,” with “groupthink.” “The agents will patrol the streets, butt into certain conversations, and spread politically correct information.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Death Penalty a Possibility in Bergdahl Case
This is a not a situation of mixed-up formation or blown assignments causing some injuries, this is a flagrant violation of standing orders of maintaining a soldier’s post, which has already caused the command the loss of SIX PERSONS all active duty combat assignment people. It gives more credence to the validity of the death penalty for A PERSON who violates orders and directly causes death for SIX OTHERS.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Detroit Motorists Under Siege in Carjack City
DETROIT (AP) — When they pull up to a gas station these days, Detroit drivers are looking beyond the price per gallon at a far more threatening concern: carjackers.
The armed auto thieves have become so common here that parts of the bankrupt metropolis are referred to as “Carjack City,” and many motorists fear getting out of their vehicles even for a few moments to fill a tank…
Authorities blame many of the carjackings, ironically, on improvements in vehicle security. Anti-theft equipment, GPS systems and advanced locks now prevent many vehicles from being driven without a key in the ignition.
That makes it difficult or impossible for thieves to steal parked cars, leading them to target vehicles that are occupied, said Jonathan Parnell, of Detroit’s auto-theft squad.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Education Victory in California: Teacher Tenure Ruled Unconstitutional
In a ruling with major implications for the rest of the nation, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has declared that tenure, teacher disciplinary policies and seniority-based job protection as they currently exist in California public schools are unconstitutional.
“Evidence has been elicited in this trial of the specific effect of grossly ineffective teachers on students,” Judge Rolf M. Treu wrote in his ruling. “The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience.”
Part of the compelling evidence in Vergara v. California was a “massive study” conducted in 2013 by Dr. Raj Chetty, a William Henry Bloomberg Professor of Economics at Harvard. Treu noted that according to Chetty’s testimony, “a single year in a classroom with a grossly ineffective teacher costs students $1.4 million in lifetime earnings per classroom.” Harvard Professor Dr. Thomas Kane, who based a study of his own on Chetty’s groundbreaking work, came to equally damning conclusions. He testified that students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) taught by a teacher whose competency level is in bottom 5 percent “lose 9.54 months of learning in a single year compared to students with average teachers.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Enemies on the Left, False Friends on the Right
“If there is to be any future for America as an independent nation, somebody must tell the truth. That truth is painful to most Americans who have been silently reeducated over the last one hundred years. -The Don Bell Report
As I mentioned in Part 2, the CNP still has CFR members on their membership lists today. It is populated by neo-con Trotskyites and corporate fascists, along with Dominionists/Reconstructionists, and cultists. There was a long and planned process of destroying old right Constitutional conservatism which has unfortunately succeeded. Here’s what happened:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Latest to Criticize US Embargo on Cuba
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has joined a growing chorus of continental voices that are against the US-imposed embargo on Cuba, and she claims that it only benefits the island nation’s government by providing it with excuses.
Clinton, who was Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and also a former US Senator and First Lady (1993-2001), is releasing a collection of memoirs this week entitled “Hard Choices.”
From those memoirs, an excerpt was released, and that excerpt contained information about conversations held between Clinton and President Barack Obama about Cuba and the embargo.
“The embargo does not serve any United States interests or promote governmental change on the communist island,” Clinton writes that she told the Commander-in-Chief. She urged him, she adds, to either lift the embargo or at least ease the economic sanctions associated with it.
Clinton also raised the other argument that has widely been used by advocates of change in US policy toward Cuba: keeping the same half-century-old attitude toward the Castro-led island, both Fidel and now Raúl, has distanced the US from the rest of Latin America, a region strategically important to Washington.
The US stance on Cuba and the Cuban government is “hampering” the US’ agenda on the rest of Latin America, Clinton recounted.
“We should pass onto the Castros the responsibility to explain to their people why they are continuing to rule in an abusive and antidemocratic way,” she says.
Indeed, Clinton has a shared history with Cuba as her husband, former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), oversaw a period of deteriorating relations with the then-Fidel Castro-led Cuba. Bill Clinton instituted the wet foot/dry foot policy, which ensured haven for all Cubans that make it to US shores, and intensified sanctions along with strongly pressuring allies to do the same.
Clinton’s revelations came just a day after a group of Cuban-American businessmen, traditionally virulently against normalizing relations with Cuba, made their opinions known that they had changed their views.
Driven by corporate hunger rather than legitimate interest in democracy, the group of wealthy entrepreneurs is pushing for change in the US agenda in order to not be completely ousted in the eventual liberalization of the Cuban economy by the likes of Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia and various EU nations.
These nations have normalized, or never severed, ties with Cuba and their companies stand to profit when the planned economic reforms eventually come into law on the island.
The US-based economic concerns are not unfounded: just over a month ago, the Cuban government signed a pact with the European Union that established a “roadmap” to the normalization of relations between the two sides. This was confirmed by Christian Leffler, the Director General of European External Action Service’s Americas division and Cuba’s Abelardo Moreno, the Deputy FM.
The warming in relations has taken place over several years now. Following a souring in relations in 2003, the EU lifted any remaining economic sanctions on Cuba in 2008. In January of 2013, Holland’s Foreign Minister Franciscus ‘Frans’ Timmermans, urged the European Union to encourage more dialogue with Cuba in the first Dutch Foreign Ministry visit to the island nation since the Cuban Revolution of 1959.
Then in February, after deliberation and persuading doubtful EU members like the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, the 28-member bloc’s European Commission ruled in favor of opening formal dialogue with Raúl Castro’s administration in a vote. The eventual goal is to have a new framework for relations, including political, social and economic dialogue, by the beginning of 2015.
Whatever the new agreement is, if and when it is agreed upon, it will replace the current EU policy toward Cuba called the Common Position which was ratified in 1996 and developed by the conservative government of José María Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. The Common Position is akin to a much leaner version of the US embargo.
Cuba rejects the Common Position as it is unilateral and equates the policy to an interference in Cuban internal affairs. The Cuban government’s stance is an understandable one, given that the Common Policy is also applied by the EU to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda but not a single other sovereign nation.
Russia has always maintained close relations with Cuba, as did its predecessor, the USSR, and so has China. Mexico, too, has traditionally enjoyed warm relations with Cuba, with Cubans fleeing across the Caribbean to Mexico as political refugees prior to the Cuban Revolution, including the Castro brothers, Che Guevara, and many others from the same 26th of July Movement (M-27-6), who later sailed from Mexico and claimed victory over the Batista dictatorship.
In addition, Mexico was the only Latin American country to maintain diplomatic ties with Cuba throughout the Cold War, and one of only two Organization of American States nations, along with Canada, to ignore the embargo placed on Cuba by the United States from the beginning.
A cooling of relations, however, set in during the three prior adminstrations of Mexico, led by the right-leaning Zedillo (1994-2000), Fox (2000-2006) and Calderón (2006-2012) administrations.
However, a warming occurred with the rise of Peña Nieto after he took office in December of 2012. In September of 2013, José Antonio Meade, Mexico’s Foreign Minister, traveled to Havana and his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez, made the trip to Mexico City shortly after, thanking Mexico for opposing the US embargo. The meetings produced dramatic results as Mexico’s Finance Ministry announced in late November that they were forgiving approximately $340 million of Cuba’s $500 million debt to Mexico.
Shortly after, the Economic Minister of Mexico, Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal, traveled to Cuba with a powerful team of financial experts and entrepreneurs to explore investment opportunities on the island.
Thus, Mexico has established itself as a future economic powerhouse in Cuba. Brazil has done the same with the South American nation’s Grupo Odebrecht building the massive and modernized Mariel ‘Megaport,’ a symbol of progress and investment in the nation some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Havana. The firm, along with subsidies from the Brazilian government, has invested well over $1 billion in the project so far.
The powerful consortium of US businessmen, then, sees their potential future payday in the Cuban economy being threatened by non-US companies.
The group of nearly 20 Cuban-American millionaires and billionaires, all of whom are barred from doing business in Cuba due to their US citizenship, wrote that “the confrontation tactics and the embargo have only been useful for the Cuban government, allowing them to obtain a level of legitimacy that they would not have been able to obtain otherwise.”
Then, Thomas J. Donohue, the President of the influential US Chamber of Commerce, a mostly-conservative pro-business lobbying group, traveled to Havana in the first visit by a Chamber of Commerce leader in 15 years. “It is time to open a new chapter in US-Cuba relations,” Donohue told a full hall during a speech at the University of Havana.
Just before his trip, another group of 40 individuals from different sectors of US society signed a letter penned to President Obama, asking him to consider a change in US policy.
Among the signees were former political and military leaders, both Democrats and Republicans from many administrations including those of Bush, W. Bush, Clinton and Obama, business leaders and analysts.
The group petitioned the US President to take “specific unilateral actions” that would: ease travel restrictions in order to expand travel to Cuba, increase support to Cuban civilians in the form of unlimited remittances and the free movement of people, goods and services, prioritize areas of mutual interest like security and humanitarian issues and finally, ensure the legalization of financial transactions with Cuba.
Obama has an “unprecedented opportunity” to achieve significant change, the group said, but they also warned that it is a fleeting opportunity and that the US is becoming “increasingly isolated” in its relations with Cuba.
Indeed, the island has been running a P.R. campaign of sorts for a significant time. Besides hosting the leaders of powerful and influential nations like China and Russia, Havana hosted the Summit of the Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC) or the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in January.
At the summit, the Cuban government was received with overwhelming positivity from its Latin American and Caribbean neighbors, which led international experts and observers to say that the summit was seen as the legitimization of its government as an important regional player after years of castigation and isolation by many of its neighbors at the behest of the United States.
Just two months prior to the CELAC Summit, the United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn the United States’ half-century embargo on Cuba by a vote of 188 to 2, with the only ‘no’ votes coming from the US and its staunch ally Israel. This was the 22nd time in a row that the General Assembly condemned the embargo by majority, but with unenforcable results.
The US government, meanwhile, seemingly ignores the rest of the world’s opinion toward Cuba as just this month, the State Department included Cuba on its list of “terrorist sponsoring” countries once again, like it has every year since 1982. This is because the US believes Cuba is a “safe haven” for members of the Basque ETA and Colombian FARC rebel groups, both of which are considered terrorist organizations by the US government.
This was done despite the fact that even Washington admitted the links between the groups and the Cuban government are “far more distant and in some cases non-existent” than in years past but that Cuba’s inclusion in the list is because the island nation still “shelters fugitives of US justice.”
The US and Cuba, only approximately 140 kilometers (90 miles) apart, cut formal diplomatic ties more than five decades ago after Washington disagreed with Fidel Castro’s policies that he instituted following the victorious uprising he led in 1959 against the US-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
The US embargo, instituted in 1960, was signed into law and targeted commercial, economic, and financial aspects of US-Cuba relations, which included the US threatening to cut off ties with countries who dealt with Cuba.
An improvement in Cuba-US relations was predicted when a handshake took place between Cuban leader Raúl Castro and his US counterpart Barack Obama at a memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela and calls by Castro for “civilized relations” with the US and an “equal dialogue.”
Trouble followed in 2011, however, as US government subcontractor Alan Philip Gross, detained in 2009, was prosecuted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Gross traveled to Cuba as an employee for United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US governmental agency that doles out foreign aid to civilians and is subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President of the US and other high-ranking officals.
Gross was arrested for bringing in and setting up equipment like satellite phones, computers, and connectivity tools without the permission of the Cuban government. USAID’s mission in Cuba has called for regime change in Cuba and swelled in funding during the Bush years before Obama took office.
He was officially charged with “acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state,” which carries a maximum fine of 20 years in prison, meaning he would be released in 2026 if he serves the full sentence.
Cuba seems to condition the release of Gross on the release of the remaining imprisoned members of the “The Cuban Five,” a group of Cuban intelligence officials detained, convicted and sentenced to long prison terms for espionage charges in the US.
The men, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González and René González, were tasked with infiltrating anti-Castro groups based in the Miami area and were arrested in 1998 and sentenced in 2001.
Cuba admits that they worked for the state but say they only spied on the exile groups, not anything involving the US government, and that they were sent to Florida following a spate of terror in Cuba caused by US-based anti-Castro activists.
René González served 13 of his 15 years in prison and was on probation for almost 3 years when he was allowed by a federal judge to fly to Havana for his father’s funeral. The same judge told González that if renounced his US citizenship in Havana, he did not have to return to finish his probationary period. Fernando González was released and deported on February 27 of this year after serving 16 of his 18 given years in prison.
Hernández is still serving two life sentences, Guerrero is to be released in 2020 on a reduced sentenced while Labañino is serving a 30-year-sentence with release planned for 2028.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
How Covering Up Minority Crime Leads to Gun Control
So what’s the answer we don’t want to hear? The critical difference among these regions and nations is explained right in Sowell’s title: it’s “not guns.”
“It’s people.”
What “people” differences are relevant? Let’s start with race and ethnicity. In the cases of homicide in 2012 in which the races of the perpetrators were known, 55 percent were committed by blacks, 62 percent of whom were under 30 years of age. Black youths are 16 percent of the youth population, but constitute 52 percent of those arrested for juvenile violent crime.
The statistics for Hispanics are more difficult to ferret out because, unbeknownst to many, law enforcement agencies tend to lump them in with whites in crime statistics (the FBI has announced that it will finally categorize Hispanic crime — in its report on 2013). However, there is some information available. Examiner’s Ken LaRive tells us that “Hispanics commit three times more violent crimes than whites,” but that the disparity could be even greater because of their often being classified as white.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Long Before the Founding Fathers’ America Disappears?
One of my readers sadly remarked that this is no longer America that she grew up in. And the change that occurred at a dizzying pace happened relatively overnight.
It was not a gradual transformation born by normal change over time; it was a fundamental forced transformation from a constitutional republic to a rule by a corporatist and international banking oligarchy that pulls the strings of the former branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial.
A soft coup has occurred that had been planned for years, unbeknownst to most Americans who are still busy thinking that, if they just elect the right candidate this time and energize the vote in one more election, things will turn around and the rule of law will be restored. They are not taking into account the millions of illegal aliens who are registered to vote, the deceased vote, and those who are bussed from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and dropped off in Arizona, including young children to be housed on military bases at considerable cost per child to the U.S. taxpayers. These children will be reunited eventually with their families here, doubling, tripling, and quadrupling any estimates of the illegal vote. The newly amnestied Dreamers have already cast their votes in the last presidential election and helped re-elect our President.
The MSM across the board has morphed into the cheering promoters and excusers of the regime, the de facto propaganda arm of this fast change to a soft tyranny. Few Americans have noticed the not-so-subtle rhetorical changes. One recent example is the capitalist phrase “middle class” has become the communist “working class.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Irrefutable Proof That Influenza Vaccines Routinely Given to Pregnant Women Still Contain Mercury
(NaturalNews) Believe it or not, there are still millions of people, doctors, pharmacists and even journalists who do not yet realize there is a very high concentration of mercury in influenza vaccines given to pregnant women. Most people, you see, have been lied to by the media which has stated over and over again that mercury was removed from all vaccines.
Not true.
It’s still there. And toxic mercury is present in influenza vaccines at a level that’s literally 25,000 times higher than the EPA limit of mercury in drinking water. (1) It’s 100 times higher than the highest level of mercury contamination I’ve ever tested in ocean fish.
To prove the presence of mercury in influenza vaccines, I’m going to show you four irrefutable pieces of evidence:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The latest and full on assault against America is against our Veterans who have been denied and delayed care by the thousands. Now, the U.S. finally knows that ‘Death panel’ waiting lists and false reports by Veterans Administration management and leadership are peppered all through the VA. Vets have not been seen and have died. Forms have been fraudulently sent in to get more Federal money, daring to say the Vets have already been cared for. It is called fraud and murder and only a sign of what is unfolding in the death machine of Obamacare for the rest of us.
We heard the usual response from Obama saying he was horrified and didn’t know anything about it. He would get to the bottom of it. Tragically, Obama knows everything about this since like all the other tainted scandals in America, he is leading and orchestrating them all. He just puts useful fools around him, taking any heat so he can play ‘plausible deniability’ and ‘we will get to the bottom of this’ games.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kansas is Leading the Way in Securing Students’ Data!
The puppeteer-controlled media propaganda machine has attempted to convince concerned parents, grandparents, guardians, teachers, administrators and states’ legislators that a couple of states have opted out of Common Core, when, in fact, they haven’t. So, it is exciting to learn that there is positive news on the education and Common Core fronts. While the Kansas legislature continues to uphold nationally imposed, Common Core control of education, in place of local control, it has taken a major step in restricting the data abuse that is embedded within Common Core. Because of this, the state of Kansas is leading the way in securing students’ data with legislation that may be a template for other states to copy.
I had an opportunity to visit with Paul Schwartz, who was a major contributor to the legislation that Kansas Governor, Sam Brownback, signed into law on May 14, 2014. Paul shared how he became involved in fighting ‘the Octopus’ of Common Core, and how we arrived at the signing of the legislation to protect children/students from the abuse of their data.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mindfulness, Buddhist Method of Indoctrination
If you are regrouping, in the massive effort necessary to mount an opposition to the Common Core national “standards” that are socialized dumbed-down education for the masses, add to your watch list Mindfulness Training.
An invitation to attend “Managing Stress: How Mindfulness Training in Our Schools Can Benefit Students, Educators, and Parents” at the local high school in Fairfax, Virginia captured my attention. Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio and author of “A Mindful Nation” is the featured speaker. The event on June 9, 2014 is advertised as a partnership between MINDS, The Josh Anderson Foundation, and Fairfax County Public Schools.
Various sites present mindfulness as a simple breathing meditation of 4-5 minutes at the start of every class, “replacing instant work demands with the expectations that students simply be.” What is “simply be” and how do you replace work demands instantly by existing? My indoctrination radar came on. I was not sure yet what “simply be” was, but I did find out that you can get a Master’s Degree in Mindful Studies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Mercury tests conducted on vaccines at the Natural News Forensic Food Lab have revealed a shockingly high level of toxic mercury in an influenza vaccine (flu shot) made by GlaxoSmithKline (lot #9H2GX). Tests conducted via ICP-MS document mercury in the Flulaval vaccine at a shocking 51 parts per million, or over 25,000 times higher than the maximum contaminant level of inorganic mercury in drinking water set by the EPA.(1)
The tests were conducted via ICP-MS using a 4-point mercury calibration curve for accuracy. Even then, the extremely high level of mercury found in this flu shot was higher than anything we’ve ever tested, including tuna and ocean fish which are known for high mercury contamination.
In fact, the concentration of mercury found in this GSK flu shot was 100 times higher than the highest level of mercury we’ve ever tested in contaminated fish. And yet vaccines are injected directly into the body, making them many times more toxic than anything ingested orally. As my previous research into foods has already documented, mercury consumed orally is easily blocked by eating common foods like strawberries or peanut butter, both of which bind with and capture about 90% of dietary mercury.
Here are the actual results of what we found in the influenza vaccine:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama May Free Cuban Spies and Terrorists
Just a few blocks from the White House, in the basement of a black Baptist church, the chief of the Cuban Interests Section plotted with former terrorists and members of the communist Workers World Party this past week to convince President Obama to release communist spies and terrorists from American prisons.
Coming in the wake of freed U.S. Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl, in a trade for terrorists arranged by the Obama administration, these possible developments cannot be dismissed out of hand.
The conference dramatized how the far-left “progressives,” operating under the direction of Cuba, have calculated that Obama’s last two or so years in office represent the perfect opportunity for their comrades to leave prison with presidential pardons, clemencies, or commutations, and then return to the “struggle,” or “resistance,” in the streets.
The two-day event, the main focus of the “Five Days for the Cuban Five” campaign, was open to the press, enabling this columnist to attend and film the activities of the hard left as they operated under the watchful eyes of José Ramon Cabanas, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., and his agents. About 150 people attended the event.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Endorses Australian-Style Gun Confiscation
Invoking his role as parent, Obama also pushed the notion that American gun owners are collectively responsible for mass shootings.
“This country has to do a lot of soul searching,” Obama said. “This is becoming the norm. And we take it for granted in ways that, as a parent, are terrifying to me.”
The President even went as far as praising Australia’s gun confiscation program, claiming that “very severe” gun laws have helped the country…
In reality, the President’s comments and actions once again conflict with actual statistics regarding gun crimes.
Obama’s claim of “off the chart” gun violence is in complete opposition to countless studies that have found a 49 percent drop in gun homicide since 1993.
A similar study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that non-fatal gun crimes have dropped nearly 70 percent over the same time period.
Ironically, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on gun violence ordered by the President last year reached similar conclusions.
[Comment: The collapse of the Dollar cannot proceed until the serfs have been dis-armed.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Environmentalist Attack on America
Apparently the reality that America’s economic output declined by 1 percent in the first quarter, retail and home sales are plummeting, and a record-setting 1 in 8 (or 10 million) American men in their prime working years between ages 25 — 54 aren’t working or looking for work will be no impediment for a president determined to impose a radical environmentalist agenda on the nation.
On Monday, the Obama administration announced the first-of-their-kind national limits on carbon emissions from the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. The proposed regulation, implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will demand a 30 percent cut in emissions by 2030.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Outrageous Conference Focuses on White Privilege
What would you think if your 8-year-old came home and told you that “white privilege is something that white people have, meaning they have an advantage in a lot of things and they can get a job more easily”? You would have heard that at the recent 15th annual White Privilege Conference in Madison, Wisconsin, attended by 2,500 public-school teachers, administrators and students from across the nation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Psychologist Concerned About Mental Stability of President: Obama May Not be “Sane” (Video)
As the U.S. government pushes for regular mental health screenings for American citizens to ensure we are not terrorists and that we are capable of owning firearms or raising children, perhaps we should start at the top of the hierarchy — with the President of the United States.
He is, after all, the “decision maker” for our nation and is the sole person responsible for determining if and when the “red button” needs to be pushed.
But what if such a health screening determined that the American people elected a mentally unstable individual to its highest office?
Here’s the scary version. According to psychologist Dr. Gina Loudon this may well be what has happened.
Speaking on Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dr. Loudon says that President Obama is displaying “erratic” and “irrational” behavior that may be indicative of someone who may not be “sane.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
States Can Stop EPA’s War on Coal
Fleecing the Taxpayers with green energy
Since these new carbon regulations will have a devastating effect on multiple aspects of the human environment, the EPA cannot unilaterally apply them as proposed. The EPA must negotiate with state and local governments — they only have to ask. Not only will conventional energy sources be gravely weakened, but our nation will be set on a course to use more and more solar, wind and other exotic power generation. These are three to four times more expensive than traditional energy, and will send residential electricity rates through the roof. If you recall, candidate Obama promised this very thing back in 2008, saying that “electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.” Obama added, “So, if somebody wants to build a coal plant, they can — it’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
Solar and wind facilities require huge amounts of space to generate even tiny amounts of electricity. For example, the Ivanpah solar farm in southern California provides 1.1 percent of California’s residential energy needs, but requires five square miles of ground. And every bit of those five square miles is filled with moving, tilting mirrors that follow the sun. High maintenance costs are assured. A solar farm scaled up to serve all California homes — never mind industry — would require 500 square miles, an area almost half the size of Rhode Island.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The problem with writing a book about President Obama’s lawlessness, as I have just done in Faithless Execution (which will officially be published Tuesday), is that eventually the author has to stop writing so the book can be printed. The administration’s illegal conduct, by contrast, rolls right along — so by the time the book comes out, I find myself several impeachable offenses behind.
At the moment, we are still processing the latest executive malfeasance: the president’s release this weekend of five senior Taliban jihadists in exchange for a U.S. soldier who is alleged to have abandoned his post in 2009 after complaining that “the horror that is America is disgusting” (and whose father is on a campaign to free all anti-American terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tea Party Victory Dashes Barack Obama’s Lingering Hopes for Compromise With Republicans
Stunning defeat of Eric Cantor is a reminder of Tea Party’s power and its determination to defeat Republicans seen as dealing with the White House
President Barack Obama’s few remaining hopes of finding compromise with Republicans were in tatters today after the Tea Party claimed a stunning victory over the party’s more moderate leadership.
In one of the greatest upsets in recent US political history, Eric Cantor, the deputy Republican leader in Congress, was defeated by a little-known conservative academic. The result is a stark reminder of the Tea Party’s power and its determination to defeat even conservative Republicans if they are seen as making any concessions to the White House.
Republican leaders are now unlikely to take the political risk of any negotiations with Mr Obama, effectively dooming the prospects of a deal to reform America’s immigration system or deal with the deficit while he is still in office…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The “You Didn’t Do That” Society
Elliot Rodger did not kill because he had guns. He bought guns because he wanted to kill. And he wasn’t very good at it, wounding more people than he killed. Like many on the left he believed that guns would make him invincible. They didn’t. And it was the same good guys with guns the left sneers at who put a stop to his killing spree.
We aren’t rethinking the First Amendment because of Rodger’s YouTube videos and manifesto. Why are we supposed to rethink the Second Amendment every time some psycho includes guns in his killing spree? The problem was not with Rodger’s computer, his smartphone, his hammer, his machete or his handguns. They were only the tools that he used. The problem was with him.
The solution to horrifying crimes is not collective guilt, but individual responsibility. Instead of transforming individual acts into a social problem, we should instead remind ourselves that the keystone of morality is individual responsibility. Collectives are not moral. Individuals are.
People don’t kill because there is a gun shop around the corner. They kill because they make a choice.
Elliot Rodger’s family doesn’t want to deal with their own choices. Elliot Rodger certainly did not want to deal with his. However if we want a moral society, we won’t get there by pretending that choice doesn’t exist. We won’t get there by banning guns. We won’t get there through abstractions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Bundy Affair — Vetting the Millers
The shootings that occurred in Las Vegas, on Sunday, June 8, 2014, were initiated by Jerad (age 31) and his wife, Amanda (age 22) Miller. There has been speculation of ties between the Millers and the Operation Mutual Aid support of the Bundy family and ranch. This is to set the record straight.
The Millers arrived at Bunkerville between April 12 and 14, though were never admitted to the ranch property or the operational militia base until the following events occurred. After a few days, questions were raised by other participants about the Millers. They were then brought to the area of the ranch and were interrogated by Jerry DeLemus, Ryan Payne, Booda, and Jack Stobel (OathKeeper).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Bundy Standoff — A Century of Abuse
At the direction of a powerful group of progressive northeastern financiers and industrialists, called the northern core, Congress deliberately scrapped the Equal Footing Doctrine embedded in the Northwest Ordinance and the U.S. Constitution.
AS THE ABUNDANT WEALTH IN WESTERN territories became known, powerful forces attempted to manipulate the federal government so they would have total control over the West’s resources. These industrialists and financiers were known as the northern core. The northern core was aided in their efforts by the tumultuous pre and post-Civil War and the very fluid politics and events surrounding it.
Key Legislation Affecting Land Ownership West of the Rocky Mountains
Forest Reserve and General Revision Acts of 1891. Gave the president the unconstitutional power of creating vast federal reservations of forest and range land to be managed by the federal government. It also revoked all preemption laws passed and established earlier in the century that allowed homesteaders to keep the land and water rights they had historically used. (See Part I) This turned the federal government into an unconstitutional landlord.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Perhaps unknown to some readers is a most notorious experiment that took place in America more than forty years ago.
Commonly referred to today as “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” in 1971, a group of student recruits participated in a study at Stanford University, where they were instructed to act out roles of detainees and guards in a makeshift prison in the basement of the school. What resulted in the test was an unexpected and almost immediate breakdown in normative social behavior that illustrated such astonishing cruelty on the part of the participants that it was quickly shut down, leading the organizer and director, Professor Philip Zimbardo, to embark on a larger quest of discovery regarding how “the majority of us can be seduced into behaving in ways totally atypical of what we believe we are.”[i] The program graphically illustrated that, given the right set of circumstances, a majority of people are capable of monstrous inhumanity against others. The Wikipedia entry on the Stanford Prison Experiment explains what happened:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Regulatory Death of Energy in America
Before President Obama took office in 2009, the amount of electricity being produced by coal-fired utilities was approximately fifty percent of the total. Today it is approximately forty percent and, when the Environmental Protection Agency regulations take effect as of June 2, more such utilities are likely to close their doors. The basis for the regulations is utterly devoid of any scientific facts.
Indeed, even though the amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere has increased, Forbes points out that “Close examination of past records shows that temperature tends to rise before carbon dioxide content rises, sometimes centuries earlier.” Significantly, at the same time Greens have been crying out against emissions of CO2 from coal-fired utilities and other sources, the Earth has been in a cooling cycle now verging on eighteen years!
The EPA is lying to Americans regarding carbon dioxide and, worse, its proposed regulations will reduce the number of coal-fired utilities and drive up the cost of electricity for Americans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Revolution Will be Televised… And Green
Van Jones’s affiliation with the Revolutionary Communist party or any other revolutionary Marxist organizations
Jones’ activities caught the attention of fellow Marxist community organizer Barack Obama after Obama became president, appointing Jones his Green Energy Czar. However, as President Obama went to work packing the government with as many fellow Marxists as possible, Jones soon had to resign his position once his revolutionary Marxist background was exposed.
Taking a look at Jones’ background, let’s see how he explained it to the East Bay Express in 2005:
“I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th [1992], and then the verdicts came down on April 29th. By August, I was a communist…I met all these young radical people of color — I mean really radical: communists and anarchists. And it was, like, ‘This is what I need to be a part of.’ I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary.”
One of the leading groups in the Bay area promoting violent revolution through civil unrest has been the Revolutionary Communist Party, a Maoist-Stalininst group led by Bob Avakian, who has delusions of himself being a modern day Vladimir Lenin, and the U.S. as his future Soviet Union.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) Truvia sweetener is made from about 99.5% erythritol (a sugar alcohol), and 0.5% rebiana, an extract from the stevia plant (but not at all the same thing as stevia). A shocking new study published in the journal PLOS ONE (1) has found that Truvia, an alternative sweetener manufactured by food giant Cargill, is a potent insecticide that kills fruit flies which consume it.
The study is titled, Erythritol, a Non-Nutritive Sugar Alcohol Sweetener and the Main Component of Truvia, Is a Palatable Ingested Insecticide.
The study found that while fruit flies normally live between 39 and 51 days, those that ate the Truvia ingredient erythritol died in less than a week.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two Lies Do Not Make One Truth
A LIE is defined as a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.
As a teacher I watched as new texts moved away from history and fact into emotion and fiction. History altered in texts, were forced upon unsuspecting students. Today little resembles the American experiment full of pride, patriotism and self confidence. The words, “think outside the box are no longer uttered in halls and classrooms.” Today students are taught to be common while legislators refuse to listen to Americans scream, stop experimenting on my child. Their career, their wallet is more important than being a statesman protecting the people.
Instead, legislators protect special interest with one goal, screw the people and steal their land. They use environmental lies to promote this goal while unsuspecting true environmentalists become useful idiots incapable common sense relying only on the lies they learned in school.
In 1989, Shirley McCune of the McREL Foundation under George Bush 41 as President and Bill Clinton as president of the Governors Association changed the face of education. Shirley proclaimed:
“Students are HUMAN CAPITAL Education’s purpose is to train students to work.”
The purpose of education is to teach people how to think not what to think. Training is not education
* Purpose of Education was to Transform Society from individualism to collectivism
Individualism is the core of American exceptionalism. The concept of America is that exceptional people working together will create exceptional things which we did until now.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Does Rep. Eric Cantor’s Primary Loss in Virginia Really Signify?
Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s hopes to replace House Speaker John Boehner were crushed with his defeat by Randolph Macon Economics Professor David Brat by 11 points, 56% to 45% in Virginia’s Tuesday primary. After the stunning upset victory in suburban Richmond, Virginia’s 7th Congressional District by Republican challenger David Brat, a self-styled Tea Party libertarian, Republican Party leaders are confounded about future prospects. They are concerned about House contests and national mid-term and Presidential elections in both 2014 and 2016. Long term Virginia 7th C.D. incumbent Republican and US House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor has no choice but to resign forcing the House GOP majority to elect a new leader. Because of the immigration issue raised in this defeat of Cantor by Tea Party upstart Brat this could be a further warning to House Speaker John Boehner that he might face similar prospects in his home district in Ohio this November.Polarization at the extremes of both parties has vaporized bi-partisan resolution of major public policy issues perhaps reflected in the low approval ratings of Congress. More ominously it may presage the emergence of an autocratic executive branch of our government relying on executive orders. That could translate to a majority of Independents and moderates in the country being turned off, not voting and both Congressional and Presidential race outcomes determined by activist minorities…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
What if Obama Had Been Compelled to Speak the Truth at West Point?
I began to wonder what Obama’s speech would have sounded like if he, like the fictional compulsive liar Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) in the movie “Liar Liar,” suddenly found himself unconsciously compelled to speak the truth about himself and his real intentions. Such a direct and honest speech on Obama’s part would have gone something like this:
Yours is the oldest academy, established in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson, a man whose principles it is most important for me to undermine in order to achieve my Marxist objectives. Jefferson lacked the vision for a New World Order. His staunch defense of individual liberty and his notion that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed are outmoded concepts in this new age of collectivism.
I have decided that you may retain your motto “Duty, Honor, Country” with the understanding that your primary Duty is to me and my Marxist ideals, and not to the Constitution or to the defense of the people of the United States of America. Already I have purged 200 top military commanders who disagree with my anti-American agenda, and I intend to purge more. You must understand also that true Honor consists in the reward of carrying out my will, ignoring any outdated moral code involving — to use a key phrase from my college days — bourgeois personal integrity.
As to “Country,” you must no longer think of your homeland as an independent nation, but rather as a pliable entity subordinate to my Marxist objectives, the mandates of the United Nations, and the glory of the New World Order.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Scary University & Military Experiments Prove About Obedience to Authority Figures
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Similar to the findings of the Stanford Prison Experiment but in many ways more disturbing was the 1961 “Milgram Experiment” that has since been repeated on numerous occasions with consistent results.
The Milgram test measured the willingness of participants to obey authority figures who ordered them to go against expected restrictions of human conscience in performing acts of cruelty against other study participants…
He then summarized his findings and warned in his 1974 article, “The Perils of Obedience”:
The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience are of enormous importance, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations. I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects’ [participants’] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects’ [participants’] ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.
Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.[v]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The biggest hurdle we have in maintaining the safety of gridlock is that the Progressives have captured the leadership of both major parties
Gridlock is one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon us by the Framers. It is a natural result of the checks and balances built into the system to stop any temporary majority from fundamentally changing the country.
If it wasn’t for the checks and balances FDR would have completely socialized the country back in the 1930s. If it wasn’t for them now BHO would simply impose his agenda on us. Wait a minute I think he is.
Living as the occupants of an occupied nation those of us who believe limited government, personal freedom, and economic liberty are good things have to face up to the fact that a cadre of political savants who advocate for the collectivization of the American experiment have maneuvered their way into the halls of power. They have captured the media, the unions, Hollywood, and a large segment of education. The elections have been gerrymandered into a parody of democracy. Political Correctness dries up free speech and affirmative action uses racial quotas and discrimination while saying they are doing it to increase integration.
It takes a conspiracy theory wrapped in a spiral of silence to pretend the foregoing isn’t true.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Team Obama Was Blindsided by the Bergdahl Backlash
Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Down Wind, A Sun News Network Documentary
DOWN WIND deals head on with how Ontario politicians rammed through green energy laws and dashed forward with installation of thousands of wind turbines across the province’s farmland and countryside.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kathleen Wynne’s $317 Million Secret Bailout
Toronto, Ontario — “Kathleen Wynne approved a $317 million bailout to a private company without the public’s knowledge or approval of the Legislature,” said former Ontario PC MPP Frank Klees. “She needs to explain why this secret deal was never made public.”
This morning, Klees released a series of confidential Cabinet documents outlining Kathleen Wynne’s secret plan to bailout the MaRS office building in downtown Toronto.
“Kathleen Wynne approved a multi-million bailout without the public’s knowledge and in a Cabinet room right before an election,” said Klees “Not only was this hidden from the public, she needs to explain why this secret deal was made after she dissolved the Legislature.”
The McGuinty — Wynne Liberals gave $234MM to MaRS and Alexandria Real Estate, Inc. to build a brand new office tower on prime real estate in downtown Toronto. Now that the private company and MaRS are unable to repay their loans, the government is using tax dollars to secretly bail them out to avoid political embarrassment.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Almost 5,000 children — including babies — have disappeared from council care in the past two years, new figures have revealed.
Nineteen babies have vanished for months at a time, and one infant — just a few months old — has still not been found two years later.
The figures have been unveiled under a freedom of information request.
They show that 4,852 looked-after children were reported missing between January 2012 and December 2013, the Sunday Times reports.
[Comment: Sounds like Saville’s network is still around…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Farage Enthusiastic Over Possible Alliance With Grillo
Italian and UK Euroskeptic parties ‘share an overall vision’
(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) said on Wednesday that he hoped Italy’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) would agree to a political alliance with his party, noting that the two had much in common including a belief in direct democracy and the harmfulness of Brussels.
The Euroskeptic UKIP garnered the most votes of any party in the UK in European elections last month. M5S leader Beppe Grillo, whose party got 21% of the Italian vote to finish 20% behind Premier Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) in the elections and is also critical of the EU, has been looking into a possible alliance with either the Greens or UKIP. Farage said that he and Grillo differed only on a few policies but shared an overall vision. He rejected out of hand accusations that his party was racist. Farage told ANSA on Friday that UKIP is “a democratic organization…the classic liberal party of the 1800s,” in which “any form of racism, sexism or xenophobia is not tolerated”. As proof he pointed to the fact that UKIP’s constituents recently elected a Muslim businessman, an openly gay man, an individual of Roma origins and “many women”.
Grillo has come in for criticism from the Italian press in recent weeks after announcing the possible alliance.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Rejects Indian Jurisdiction of Marines Case
Pinotti says Italian pair immune as were on anti-piracy mission
(ANSA) — Rome, June 10 — Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti on Tuesday reiterated that Rome rejected India’s claim to jurisdiction of the case of two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen during an anti-piracy mission in 2012. “Our government confirms the rejection of Indian jurisdiction,” said Pinotti about the case of marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, who have been prevented leaving India for over two years even though no charges against them have yet been presented. “They were on an anti-piracy mission and therefore covered by the immunity of being State officials and this certifies the international ambit of the case”.
The Italian government has said it hopes that India’s newly government of Narendra Modi will be open to negotiations, while stressing that it will take the case to international arbitration if the pair are not allowed to come home soon.
“It’s still possible to seek an agreement with the new Indian government, but if an agreement isn’t possible and we find ourselves faced with attempts at deferment or rejection, we’ll go ahead with the arbitration procedure and we hope to have them here as soon as possible”.
Pinotti also spoke via video link to the marines at a Navy event and showed the pair Italian national team World Cup shirts with their names on the back.
Latorre and Girone are accused of killing fishermen Valentine (aka Gelastine) and Ajesh Binki after allegedly mistaking them for pirates and opening fire on their fishing trawler while guarding the privately owned Italian-flagged oil-tanker MT Enrica Lexie off the coast of Kerala on February 15, 2012.
The marines have been living and working at the Italian embassy in India pending charges in the case that has stressed relations between India and Italy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Roche’s Avastin Approved for Coverage Amid ‘Collusion’ Probe
Swiss pharmaceutical company accused of cartel with Novartis
(ANSA) — Rome, June 10 — The Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) on Tuesday approved putting a Swiss eye drug under the country’s national health service (SSN) amid a probe into its manufacturer for unfair business practices. The move means patient expenses for Avastin, produced by Roche, will be covered by the government. Roche is currently under investigation along with fellow Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis for suspicion of collusion to hamper use of Avastin in favour of a more expensive one.
The alleged cartel promoting Novartis’s Lucentis over Avastin is believed to have cost Italy’s national health service over 45 million euros in 2012 alone, while future costs could potentially reach 600 million euros a year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Takes Part in Europe-Wide Taxi Strike Against Uber
‘App doesn’t even pay taxes in Italy’ say Milan cabbies
(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Taxi drivers across Italy were part of a Europe-wide strike on Wednesday against the Uber cab-hailing app they fear is co-opting their livelihood while sidestepping regulations. In Milan, the country’s most heavily trafficked city, protests were planned to continue through the night “in order not to lose our sector to a multinational that cares about profit and not service, without even paying taxes in Italy,” said a statement from the cabbies union. Only the ill, disabled, pregnant, and those with small children were offered rides in Milan, Rome, Naples, and other cities spanning the peninsula. Licensed cabbies in London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Lisbon join their Italian colleagues in similar strikes on Wednesday over the introduction of Uber, a service allowing passengers to connect with nearby drivers at the push of a button on their smartphone.
Opponents say it violates laws setting out the roles and characteristics of taxi drivers and chauffeur car rentals.
Based in California, Uber allows users to see where the closest participating car is and book it after agreeing a set fare paid by credit card.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Maroni Shrugs Off Renzi Criticism About Expo Complaints
Lombardy region ‘did what it had to do’ raising questions
(ANSA) — Bologna, June 11 — Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni shrugged off criticisms from Italy’s premier, saying Wednesday that the region “did what it had to do” in raising concerns that Milan Expo 2015 may not be ready in time for the event’s opening.
“We did what we had to do…so his accusations are totally unfounded,” Maroni said in response to complaints from Premier Matteo Renzi that Maroni was creating controversy.
One day earlier, Maroni said there is a risk that Milan Expo 2015 structures may not be complete by the April 30 deadline.
The World’s Fair is scheduled to open on May 1 and continue through October 31 next year in an area of more than 100 hectares near Milan’s massive Rho Pero trade fair exhibition centre. Renzi, on a trade mission to China, responded Tuesday by saying that Maroni should not raise “sterile controversy” but instead “reflect on the responsibility of Lombardy” to ensure a successful Expo.
The pair come from different political parties: Renzi leads the centre-left Democratic Party while Maroni represents the regionalist Northern League.
So far 144 countries, representing 94% of the world’s population, and three international organizations are set to put their best on show. Maroni’s deadline warning comes as prosecutors probe alleged bid-rigging and corruption among Expo organizers in Milan. Expo is expected to attract over 20 million visitors and to be a massive money spinner for Italy’s business capital.
Preparations on the site have been underway for years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nina Dyulgerova: Bulgaria to ‘Close Its Doors’ Without South Stream
Interview by Angel Petrov
An interview of Novinite with prof. Nina Dyulgerova, an expert in International Relations and Geoeconomics of Global Energy, on the latest events around South Stream.
Since April 2001, Dyulgerova has been Professor of International Relations at the Varna Free University Chernorizets Hrabar. She is also teaching at a Master’s program titled National and International Security at the New Bulgarian University.
She has published a number of works on energy, as well as on geopolitics and security in the Caucasus and the Black Sea Region.
Prof. Dyulgerova, mixed reactions could be heard from ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in the last few days over the South Stream project and relations with Gazprom. For instance, Rumen Ovcharov, a key member, rebuked critics by saying it is of political essence. So is South Stream rather a political or an economic one?
I think we could use both terms to define South Stream. We live in the 21st century, an energy century, and all forecasts show that consumption is set to rise. This means it is an economic project, as the more diversification we have, the better comsuption goes, and this pushes prices down. As for the political essence of the project — yes, it is imminently present. Judging by the fact that we are the first country in the EU route of South Stream we can conclude that has to do with politics. Europe is subjected to a growing Russian-American confrontation in the field of energy. The Ukraine crisis, for instance, was a geostrategical object of impact from the US side which led not only to escalation and through radical means, but also to an increased US participation in the most important element of Washington’s interest in the field of energy, namely — the gas transportation system of Ukraine. Coincidentally [Hunter Biden], the son of US Vice President Joe Biden, is a member of the board of directors at the Ukrainian gas company [Burisma]. The fact that a process of buying up parts of Ukraine’s energy system by American firms, and European ones close to them, also increases the pressure on the construction of South Stream, because it would mitigate or put an end to this complicated game. As a result, we are witnessing brutal policies in which means and methods used have no limits in the approach toward the governments of certain states within the region. Bulgaria and Romania are also part of the American puzzle; in the last few days there was a visit by three US senators in such key states bordering the post-Soviet space as Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. In our country we could take as a recent example the statement by Prime Minister [Plamen] Oresharski announcing that the South Stream gas pipeline is to be frozen…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rowling Gives One Mn Pounds to Scottish No Campaign
‘Denial of risks’ in Yes drive
(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Harry Potter author JK Rowling on Wednesday gave one million pounds to the ‘No’ campaign against Scottish independence.
Edinburgh resident Rowling said the Yes campaign to end the 1707 union with Britain showed a “denial of risks”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Core British Values That Define Our Nation
by Telegraph View
Schools are being told to promote British values. Here are 10 to start with…
We have never been especially good at defining what constitutes British values. For more than two decades — and especially since the July 2005 bombings in London — politicians have sought, with varying degrees of success and enthusiasm, to articulate the defining characteristics of the nation. There was a time when this would not have been necessary, since they would have been inculcated into everyone in the land through their schools and shared cultural experiences. In an era of mass immigration and the segregation of some communities from mainstream society, as exposed by the so-called Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham, this is no longer so straightforward…
[Reader comment by polysyllabitic on 11 June 2014.]
We English are an ethnic group. We are defined by kinship, not by culture. Africans and Asians who adopt our culture remain Africans and Asians. They are not us. We do not live on through them in an England in which they become the majority.
It is our blood, our very being which defines us and which we must respect. We die if we do not do that, and today we are not doing it.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Mega Mosque’ Public Inquiry for West Ham Site Starts at Excel Centre
A public inquiry into Newham Council’s rejection of plans for a mosque in West Ham has opened with supporters and opponents of the so-called “Mega Mosque” making their case.
The Abbey Mills Riverine Centre application for a 29,227sq m mosque in Canning Road was turned down by councillors in 2012 unanimously after local residents protested against plans. But this prompted counter protests by local Muslims in favour of the new centre, which would cater for 9,000 worshipers in a site more than three times the floorspace of St Paul’s Cathedral…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bradford School Governors ‘Promoted Islamic Agenda’
Teachers in Bradford have reported instances of governors promoting a more Islamic ethos, the BBC has learned.
Governors at Carlton Bolling College, which has a mainly Muslim intake, asked whether a broad religious agenda met the spiritual needs of students…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cambridge University’s China Funding Row: ‘Foreign Donations Must be Regulated’
Calls are growing for an independent audit of university financing from abroad, after The Telegraph highlighted how an anonymous £3.7 million donation to Cambridge University came from a charity controlled by the daughter of China’s former prime minister
Foreign funding of universities should be regulated by the government, a leading academic has said, as concern mounts over China’s growing sponsorship of British educational bodies…
More than 80,000 Chinese students are studying at university in Britain, constituting the largest group of international students. As a result, they are responsible for a significant proportion of the more than £10bn a year that international students contribute to the UK economy…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lee Rigby Memorial: Victory at Last for Campaigners
Councillors have change of heart and drop their opposition to plans for a tribute to Fusilier Rigby to be created in Woolwich
A memorial for fusilier Lee Rigby is to be built near the scene of his brutal murder last year, it has been revealed. Councillors have had an apparent change of heart and dropped their opposition to plans for a fitting tribute to be created in Woolwich, South East London…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trojan Horse: Ofsted Probe Widens to Luton and London
Ofsted confirms that its investigation into extremism in schools has widened to Bradford, Luton and east London following the publication of reports into a “Trojan Horse” plot in Birmingham
An Ofsted investigation into classroom radicalisation has spread to schools in the north and south-east of England in the wake of the alleged Trojan Horse plot, inspectors confirmed today.
The education watchdog said it was carrying out “dawn raid”-style inspections on schools outside Birmingham amid concerns over intimidation of staff, a narrowing of the curriculum and pupils becoming emotionally “dislocated” from the wider community…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Trojan Horse Debate: We Were Wrong, All Cultures Are Not Equal
For years, we all turned a blind eye to the segregation of Muslim pupils. Now it is time to stand up to propagators of barbarism and ignorance
If I have learnt one thing working with children as a teacher, a volunteer and, more recently, a parent, it’s that what children want above all else is to fit in. The desire not to be different must be hard-wired, so urgent is the need of your average nine-year-old to have the same pencil case as every other nine-year-old…
[Reader comment by Dobunnichris on 11 June 2014.]
If it is racist to want to see British schools teach and promote British culture and British values as the overriding and paramount culture, then I am a racist.
If it is racist to desire to live amongst people of my own ethic background, then I am a racist.
If it is racist to see sensible limits on immigration from third-world countries, to protect our infrastructure, our healthcare, our education, our services, then I am a racist.
If it is racist to want our major cities to remain free of multicultural ghettos and the social problems associated with them, then i am a racist.
If it is racist to want to live in a country that is not overwhelmed by adherents of a mediaeval religion and social structure, then I am a racist.
If it is racist to expect that the law, its enforcers, and the social services behind them, treat those who have lived and contributed to this nation at least as well as it treats incomers who have arrived in droves solely to suck at the taxpayers’ teat, then I am a racist.
If it is the decision of those of our leaders who hate their own people and seek to have them replaced by outsiders, to call me a racist in the hope of silencing me, then let them; for we will one day have our revenge. They themselves will be cast out and reviled for always and replaced by a party that puts British values , British culture and the historically indigenous people of Britain FIRST.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Can the Computer Brainwash Your Child?
Click on following video link from Bosnia, formerly part of Communist Yugoslavia. The time spent viewing this video may be the best time you ever put into studying what is really going on in your child’s classroom now that books have been removed, and each child will have his/her own computer, connected with the central offices’ data base. Be sure to check my new blogabcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com for Anita Hoge’s pending excellent submissions related to assessment, data collection, and the use of your child’s and your family’s most private information: to whom it is being given, and for what purposes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Al Qaeda Threat in Libya is Real, Says EU Representative
(AGI) Brussels, June 11 — The threat posed by Al Qaeda in Libya is real and is terrible, said Bernardino Leon, the EU’s special representative for the southern Mediterranean region. Speaking at a conference in Brussels dedicated to Libya, Leon added that “the presence of terrorist groups in Libya deserves more attention.” Leon did not answer a question about whether the EU should put the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia on its list of terrorist organisations, as the United States has done.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Britain Starts Military Training for Libyan Security Forces
LONDON, June 11 (Xinhua) — British Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced Wednesday that the British Army is to train more than 300 members of the Libyan security forces in the coming six months.
The Libyan forces, who arrived in Britain on Tuesday, will learn basic infantry skills and military leadership at Bassingbourn Camp in Cambridgeshire of England…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Tourism Seeking Stability, Marsa Alam Supports Sisi
Italian-Egyptian ‘United for Egypt’ convention on the Red Sea
(by Luciana Borsatti) (ANSAmed) — MARSA ALAM (EGYPT), JUNE 11 — Egypt’s new president Sisi is the solution, according to retailers in Marsa Alam, the Red Sea resort hosting on Wednesday the “United for Egypt” convention, an Italian-Egyptian event to promote tourism in Egypt organized by Astoi Confindustria Viaggi, Italy’s business union in the tourism sector, AINeT (the association of Italian networks), the Egyptian tourism ministry and agency, together with tour operators and four airlines.
This unprecedented union of forces is aimed at re-launching an area which has not been affected by a travel warning of the Italian foreign ministry and where everybody — from hotel personnel to employees in firms operating in the sector — speak Italian. Small shop owners in a commercial district next to the elegant hotels — an oasis in the desert just a few hundred meters from the coral barrier — also talk in Italian. And, though in different ways, they stress that after three years of political instability and the short rule of the Morsi government ousted by then-defense minister Abdel Fatah al Sisi, who has just replaced him as a democratically elected president, they trust the former general.
They confide in the miraculous power of the new strongman of Egypt even claiming, like a souvenir vendor, that since the last presidential vote “Italians have started coming back to Marsa Alam”. His statements are not surprising as he is a member of the Coptic community which has immediately sided with Sisi when he jailed his predecessor on July 3 last year.
Three years of uprisings and democracy which culminated with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, have been a nightmare for another retailer of locally-produced objects. And the devoted Muslim selling spices right next to him has no doubts the new president will just need a few months to put the economy back in shape. “Egypt needs a strong man”, he said, referring to the new head of State, a former member of the army and the right man to preserve the nation, according to a majority in the public opinion.
The retailer wears the traditional Galabeya tunic in grey and comes from Assuan. He is about to head back home for Ramadan and is optimistic aboutthe future. Tour operators and airlines gathering today in Port Ghalib to attract attention on a traditional destination for Italians are also confident tourism will pick up. The area has not been subjected to travel warnings by the Italian foreign ministry, like resorts close to the Sinai peninsula including Sharm el-Sheik, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba.
Along with Italian operators, Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou and Italy’s ambassador to Cairo Maurizio Massari will also attend the event on Wednesday and be the protagonists tonight of a debate moderated by journalist Paolo Mieli, president of Rcs Libri.
At the centre of the debate will be strategies on how to invert the negative trend registered over the past few years: arrivals, minister Zaazou recently stated, have gone down from the 14.7 million tourists registered in 2010, with revenues totaling 12.5 billion dollars, to 9.5 million visitors and revenues worth 5.8 billion dollars in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sisi Visits Sexually Assaulted Survivor, Apologizes to Egyptian Women
Cairo — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi personally visited on Wednesday a woman who was sexually assaulted and stripped naked in Tahrir Square on Sunday during his inauguration’s celebrations.
“We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we’re not good, don’t be sad,” Sisi said. In a statement on Tuesday the new president had asked the Interior Ministry to take whatever measures necessary to combat sexual harassment in Egypt…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Airstrike on Northern Gaza Kills One, Wounds Two
GAZA, June 11 (Xinhua) — An Israeli airstrike on a motorbike in northern Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded two others late Wednesday, medics and witnesses said.
Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of Gaza emergency, told reporters that a 25-year-old young man was killed and two others, including a child, were wounded in an Israeli airstrike targeting a motorcycle in northern Gaza area…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rocket Fired From Gaza Damages Road in Southern Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A rocket fired from Gaza that landed on a major road in southern Israel caused significant damage.
The Wednesday morning attack is the third incident of rockets fired on southern Israel from Gaza in the past five days. No injuries have been reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Imam Calls for Units to Defend Religious Sites in Iraq
(AGI) Najaf, June 11 — Powerful Shiite Imam Moqtada Al-Sadri, who led the once-feared Mahdi Army militia, has called for the formation of peace units to defend religious sites in Iraq.
Formerly a fierce opponent of U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Mahdi said he was now prepared to collaborate with the Iraqi government to form peace units to defend the holy places of both Muslims and Christians. His appeal followed an announcement by Iraqi Premier Nuri Al-Maliki’s that the government would provide weapons to volunteers prepared to fight Al-Qaeda-linked militias.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Refugees: Scarred and Desparate, The Families Fleeing the Tide of Terror
As tens of thousands of families flee Iraq’s second city, now overrun by members of ISIS and other jihadist militias, refugees tell the Telegraph of the chaos and anarchy that is now sweeping northern Iraq
Abu Mustafa fled the Iraqi city of Mosul with his family after the armed men of Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham executed his son-in-law with three shots to the head. On the highway out, the family found others who had met the same fate: dozens of bodies, burned or shot, were strewn on the tarmac and left to rot…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq at Risk of Civil War as Al-Qaeda-Led Uprising Pushes to Within Striking Distance of Baghdad
Fears of collapse of Iraqi state reignites debate over sacrifices made by Britain to topple Saddam Hussein
Iraq is facing a return to its darkest days of civil war after al-Qaeda-linked militants seized a vast swathe of the country’s northern region in a lightning advance which took them to within striking distance of Baghdad.
A day after snatching control of the northern city of Mosul, fighters were on Wednesday night within 60 miles of the Iraqi capital, encountering little resistance from government troops…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Crisis: Al-Qaeda Forces Seize Mosul and Tikrit — as it Happened
US and UK speak of deep concern as al-Qaeda take swathes of northern Iraq, sparking a mass exodus of civilians — follow latest developments
22.10 Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, is calling for the international community to stand behind Iraq. A spokesman said: The secretary-general urges the international community to unite in showing solidarity with Iraq as it confronts this serious security challenge.
21.35 Here’s some Youtube footage purportedly showing abandoned Iraqi military positions in Mosul and ISIS fighters driving openly through the streets with their black banners flying…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Peshmerga Forces Deployed to Mosul
by Dana Mikael
A source in the Peshmerga who requested anonymity has told BasNews that Kurdish military forces were deployed to Mosul on Monday morning.
According to the source the Peshmerga have been given orders to remain on the outskirts of the city and maintain a close eye on Kurdish Shabaks, who have become prime targets for the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS).
On Sunday the head of Mosul Province Council Bashar Kiki requested Kurdish help against the violence sparked by ISIS in Mosul.
“We are officially asking for help from the Peshmerga to protect Mosul from ISIS militants. They are armed and have taken over part of Mosul,” said Kiki.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Chaldean Archbishop: Christians and Muslims Fleeing Mosul, Occupied by Islamists
Msgr. Nona appeals urgently for aid because supplies of food and water are running scarce. The Islamists have taken control of the city. Police and military have abandoned their weapons. Faithful, priests and nuns have left the area, the churches are closed. The prelate prays for a “strong state” that is a guarantor of peace and unity. Premier Al-Maliki declares a state of emergency.
Mosul (AsiaNews) — The situation is “very difficult”. First of all, there “is an urgent need to help these people who have fled” from the city, because “within two or three days supplies of food and water will be finished” goods and basic necessities “will be nowhere to be found”. This is the dramatic appeal, entrusted to AsiaNews, of Msgr. Shimoun Emil Nona, Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, in northern Iraq.
Over the last few hours the city of nearly three million inhabitants has fallen into chaos, following the descent of hundreds of Islamic fighters who have taken control of large areas. The militiamen met with no resistance, because the army and police forces — although present in mass — laid down their arms and abandoned their posts, stripping their uniforms and mingling with the crowd.
The situation of the Christian minority is “dramatic” in a diocese that has previously mourned the violent death of faithful and pastors, including the former Archbishop Msgr. Faraj Rahho (who was kidnapped) and Fr. Ragheed Ganni.
Latest eye-witness accounts speak of at least 500 thousand people who have fled the city, located about 360 km north-west of Baghdad and the second most important city in all of Iraq, given its strategic position in an area rich in oil and gas natural. Mosul, is a stronghold of Sunni Wahhabi fundamentalism, which has woven close ties with Saudi Arabia. Attacks on oil pipelines and other sensitive targets are common practice among groups linked to al Qaeda and jihadism.
Yesterday, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked parliament to declare a state of emergency after the Islamic militias took control of the city. On the night between June 9 and 10 hundreds of armed men belonging to the Al Qaeda faction of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), took control of the provincial government buildings. In the raid, the extremists also devastated several police stations, before occupying the airport and the army headquarters.
The militants now control much of the plain of Nineveh, imposing duties on the passage of goods and demanding protection money. The governor has fled and launched a television appeal to the people, urging them to resist the onslaught. However, black flags with the image of jihad are visible on several government buildings, while militants have begun broadcasting messages claiming that they have “come to liberate Mosul”.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Msgr. Nona describes a “very difficult” situation on the ground, exacerbated by a mass the sudden abandonment en masse “of the army and police”. The prelate is located in a small town three kilometers from Mosul, “which is part of my diocese, which I have no intention of abandoning” he adds. “People are terrified — he says — almost all of the Christians have fled and many Muslims have also left their homes. A city of nearly three million people is now almost emptied, many have fled”.
The Archbishop said that the militants “entered the city without even having to fight” although the army and police were out in force before the invasion. He describes the military’s behavior as “very strange”, they “left everything without even a feeble attempt to defend the city”. This is why “people got scared and started to run away”.
The situation is “particularly difficult” for Christians: families, priests and nuns are all gone and the churches are now closed. Many have sought refuge in Kurdistan, others on the plain of Nineveh and “this is the result of a policy of gradual abandonment.” Unlike previous years, such as in 2008, continues Msgr. Nona, today there are no NGOs or humanitarian organizations ready to help the population, or refugees. Today, “there is no one” and the inhabitants of these towns “feel the trouble of having to accommodate other people, food and water will soon be lacking, it is impossible to give refuge to everyone …”.
The archbishop of Mosul hopes for “a real and lasting solution of the Iraqi crisis,” a long-term project “for a nation divided between religious, political and ethnic groups”; There is an urgent need for a “strong state”, he concludes, that “puts an end to killing and violence … The Iraqi people are good people and deserve a common vision and a solution that is a source of peace”.
The attack in Mosul comes at a time of severe crisis for all of Iraq, a country marred by sectarian violence, which — according to UN estimates — has recorded at least 800 dead, including 603 civilians, in the month of May. Last year, there were more than 8,860 victims of violence equal to the death toll from 2006/7 the worst years of unrest in Iraq. (DS)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Islamists Attack Saddam’s Birthplace Tikrit After Mosul
ISIS ‘in control of parts of city’ near Baghdad
(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — Islamist militia on Wednesday attacked Saddam Hussein’s hometown Tikrit after overrunning Iraq’s second city Mosul Tuesday.
Insurgents believed to be part of al-Qaeda offshoot the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) took control of some parts of Tikrit, 150km (95 miles) north of Baghdad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has vowed to fight back against the jihadists and punish police and soldiers who have deserted.
ISIS controls a lot of territory in eastern Syria and western and central Iraq.
It is trying to set up an Islamist enclave straddling the border.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: 5 Killed in Two Bombings in Baghdad Shiite Bastion
BAGHDAD, June 11 (Xinhua) — At least five people were killed and some 24 others wounded in two bomb attacks in a Shiite- predominant district in the capital Baghdad on Wednesday, a police source said.
Late in the afternoon, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at a funeral tent in Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad, leaving at least two people killed and 16 others wounded, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Militants Expand Across Northern Iraq, Seize Tikrit and Capture Turkish Nationals
An Al Qaeda-linked militant group has overrun the Iraqi city of Tikrit as 500,000 people flee in the wake of their march towards Baghdad.
Tikrit is the second city in as many days to fall to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) — Sunni militants waging sectarian war on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian frontier…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic Militants Seize 48 Turkish Citizens in North Iraq
(AGI) Ankara, June 11 — Militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have seized 48 Turkish citizens, including the head of the diplomatic mission, staff members, special forces and three children, at the consulate in Mosul, north of Baghdad.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadis Loot $429m From Iraq Central Bank
Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) becomes richest terror group ever.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: No Modesty in ‘Elastic’ Hijabs
Sometimes I happen to be in some crowded places where I notice a very annoying sceneextravagant hijabs. With all due respect to the value of hijab, I notice that some veiled women look more like clowns wearing very tight outfits and ‘elastic’ hijabs topped with caps that look more like swimming bonnets, as if those women are preparing to plunge into a swimming pool inside malls and restaurants!
The hijab aims at modesty, but what we see in real life is far from this as many veiled women are dressed in flashy attires with their heads looking like that of a maharaja’s and overdone makeup and everything.
The reason for this is that the decision to wear hijab should be made from within instead of forcing women to wear it because most women forced to wear it do it with unusual extravagance.
Since many women only wear the hijab upon family orders, they do not respect it. So, families must not impose such a decision upon their daughters to avoid such disrespect. A wish to be religious and decent is something that must come from within as you cannot ‘borrow’ faith from your mother, father or even neighbor! Unless coming from deep within, some feelings are worth being expressed. You can impose many things upon your family except for the hijab, which should be worn upon conviction and not threats.
Unfortunately, some parents force their daughters to wear the hijab as a social tradition and habit. They are never keen on having them perform their rituals though they force them saying: ‘Wear the hijab, woman!’ A woman should initially shield herself from sins before wearing the hijab. She should also wear it normally without extravagance or twisting it in ways that may offend her as a Muslim woman.
There is no use of hijab while you are backbiting others at breakfast every day. There is no use of hijab while you treat your domestic worker badly. There is no use of hijab while you bribe your son’s teachers. Religion is far much deeper than mere attire and beards. It initially comes in the form of how we treat people, and then in how we look so, what if we lack both?!
Finally, Maj Gen Abdul Fattah Al-Ali’s decisions are becoming more contradictory and random than road bumps on Kuwaiti streets. He is appearing in the media more than the Egyptian movie star Hussein Fahmy, so we advise him to focus more on the corruption of some MoI men who unleash their psychological complexes on the public around Kuwait’s streets!
— Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Jarida
By Arwa Al-Waqayan
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Public Outcry Flares Up as Crises Deepen in Yemen
SANAA, June 11 (Xinhua) — Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi ordered a partial cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday coinciding with public rage and unrest in protest against deepening fuel shortage and power cuts.
The protesters, including those whose cars have been parked on streets for days, closed many roads in the capital Sanaa and burned tires in protest against the government’s slowness in addressing the fuel crisis which has been hitting the country for months…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Mystery Over Dall’Oglio, Italy Denies Contacts
As claimed by Lebanese daily. Jesuit disappeared a year ago
(by Lorenzo Trombetta) (ANSA) — BEIRUT, JUNE 11 — Italian Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio is alive, according to a Syrian-Iranian source in Lebanon which claims an “Italian delegation” met with him. The report on Wednesday, one of many contradictory claims on the priest’s fate made over the past few months, was published by Lebanese daily al Akhbar, a mouthpiece of the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah which says it is fighting al Qaeda in Syria alongside the troops of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
The priest disappeared from northern Syria almost a year ago.
After being “re-elected” a few days ago, Assad has presented himself more than ever as the most trustworthy protector of Christians in the Middle East and as the best solution against al Qaeda which is gaining ground across a wide area from Mesopotamia to the Orontes. The Beirut daily, which did not quote any source, said that a month ago an “Italian delegation met” the priest together with his abductors and spoke with him for about two hours.
The Italian foreign ministry and intelligence service say they are not aware of such a meeting taking place. Dall’Oglio’s family and the Jesuit Curia say they cannot confirm or deny the report because they have had no news.
A number of reports have suggested that Dall’Oglio has been held by al Qaeda militants controlling the northern region of Raqqa since his abduction on July 29, 2013. Since then, conflicting claims have been made on his alleged death or his good health conditions.
According to Akhbar, the meeting between the “Italian delegation” and the Roman Jesuit took place in the northern region of Raqqa at the border with Turkey, near the border crossing of Tal Abyad.
Dall’Oglio had travelled to Raqqa, held by al Qaeda-linked militants, shortly before disappearing, for a delicate mediation with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) for the release of some Syrian activists. Well-informed sources with Italy’s security services noted that al Akhbar “is not reliable” and said efforts to take the priests back home are continuing.
Nevertheless, al Akhbar appears to have privileged contacts with ISIS militants: over the past few days, the Lebanese daily stated that two Syrian Orthodox bishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Bulos Yazigi, who disappeared from north-west Syria in April 2013, were in Tal Abyad and were being held by the same al Qaeda militants detaining dall’Oglio. This detail is far from marginal as al Akhbar’s report on Wednesday also cited the names of the two Orthodox high prelates. Hezbollah’s newspaper states, as if suggesting a possible solution, that the “Italian delegation” discussed various options with the abductors, including the possibility of releasing the Syrian bishops as part of the agreement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
United States Praises Kurdish Response to Mosul Crisis
In a statement on Tuesday, the United Stated expressed its concern over the recent events of the take-over in Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), and praised the KRG response.
“We also commend efforts by the KRG to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” the statement read.
“The situation remains extremely serious. Senior U.S. officials in both Washington and Baghdad are tracking events closely in coordination with the Government of Iraq, as well as Iraqi leaders from across the political spectrum including the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and support a strong, coordinated response to push back against this aggression,” the U.S. State Department said.
ISIS has gained strength from the situation in Syria and is increasingly gaining control over Iraqi territory in the so-called Sunni triangle and other disputed areas.
According to recent information, ISIS has made gains in the Diyala, Kirkuk, and Mosul provinces, and is engaging in fights with Iraqi security forces on the borders of Kurdish-controlled areas.
ISIS has carried out several attacks against Kurdish security forces. To combat the ISIS threat, security forces in the Kurdistan region are on high alert. Moreover, the Peshmerga forces have been sent to some areas of Mosul and are engaging ISIS in areas close to the Iraqi-Syrian border.
Despite tensions with Baghdad regarding claims made by the Kurds over disputed territories as well as past massacres carried out against the Kurdish population by Baghdad, the Kurds have hosted refugees from Anbar and now Mosul. Moreover, several civilians and wounded soldiers are being treated in the hospitals of Mosul and Erbil.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia is Doing it — Russia is Actually Abandoning the Dollar
The Russians are actually making a move against the petrodollar. It appears that they are quite serious about their de-dollarization strategy. The largest natural gas producer on the planet, Gazprom, has signed agreements with some of their biggest customers to switch payments for natural gas from U.S. dollars to euros. And Gazprom would have never done this without the full approval of the Russian government, because the Russian government holds a majority stake in Gazprom. There hasn’t been a word about this from the big mainstream news networks in the United States, but this ishuge. When you are talking about Gazprom, you are talking about a company that is absolutely massive. It is one of the largest companies in the entire world and it makes up 8 percent of Russian GDP all by itself. It holds 18 percent of the natural gas reserves of the entire planet, and it is also a very large oil producer. So for Gazprom to make a move like this is extremely significant.
When Barack Obama decided to slap some meaningless economic sanctions on Russia a while back, he probably figured that the world would forget about them after a few news cycles.
But the Russians do not forget, and they certainly do not forgive.
At this point the Russians are turning their back on the United States, and that includes the U.S. dollar.
What you are about to read is absolutely stunning, and yet you have not heard about it from any major U.S. news source. But what Gazprom is now doing has the potential to really shake up the global financial landscape. The following is an excerpt from a news report by the ITAR-TASS news agency…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Rejects Russian Gas Discount Offer
(AGI) Brussels, June 11 — Ukraine’s government has rejected the ‘discount’ of 100 dollars per thousand cubic metres of gas offered by Russia. The deal would have lowered the price to 385 dollars per thousand cubic metres from the current 485.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Yury Prodan said Kiev will now turn to the International Arbitration Court in Stockholm. Russia’s Gazprom has moved a deadline for Ukraine to start paying in advance for natural gas supplies to next Monday.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Bad Bedfellows: The Sultan of Brunei, America and Sharia.
Brunei has implemented Islamic law.
Islamic law, that legal system that requires adulterers and homosexuals to be stoned. It also requires that Muslims who convert to Christianity be executed. It also provides for cruel and unusual punishments, such as amputation of limbs.
The Sultan of Brunei, who is the leader and head Oligarch of Brunei, owns the famed Beverly Hills hotel. Locals and Hollywood celebrities have been protesting in front of the Hotel for days. A boycott has gotten underway and now the hotel is losing millions of dollars.
But there is something worse and even more offensive going on than the ownership of the Beverly Hills hotel by a despot who has imposed Islamic law.
Last month, Barack Obama made his Pacific trip. This is the only trip he made this year that wasn’t a vacation. The purpose of this trip was to among other things, try to save the Trans Pacific Partnership.
The Trans Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a free trade agreement that will allow certain nations unbelievable access to American markets.
One of nations in the TPP is Brunei.
That’s right. This nation that just imposed Islamic law on its people will get the right to have preferred access to American markets if the TPP is passed.
That is not all Brunei might get.
What else could it get?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Bergdahl Declared Jihad in Captivity, Secret Documents Show
U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl at one point during his captivity converted to Islam, fraternized openly with his captors and declared himself a “mujahid,” or warrior for Islam, according to secret documents prepared on the basis of a purported eyewitness account and obtained by Fox News.
The reports indicate that Bergdahl’s relations with his Haqqani captors morphed over time, from periods of hostility, where he was treated very much like a hostage, to periods where, as one source told Fox News, “he became much more of an accepted fellow” than is popularly understood. He even reportedly was allowed to carry a gun at times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Afghan War’s Dismal End; Blame Bush Too
by Daniel Pipes
Barack Obama’s announcement today that the number of U.S. troops will be reduced to 9,800 by year’s end and to zero two years later virtually declares that this war, which will have lasted slightly over 15 years and nearly all of four presidential administrations, will end in total American failure.
That’s because the Taliban and other Islamist forces have already made a substantial comeback; because the coalition-sponsored Afghan leaders have proven themselves corrupt and inept; and because Americans and other Westerner populations remain unconvinced that this war is worth their lives and treasury. As I have often predicted, about both Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s only a matter of a few more years before the impact of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars devoted to their liberation will disappear with little more than a trace.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Bergdahl Story You Haven’t Heard
The commander-in-chief endangers even more American lives over Bergdahl.
“A few days later, we (FTF) conducted a daylight raid on some tents looking for Bergdahl. We took heavy small-arms and RPG fire on approach and ran off the CH-47s in contact. Our entire element engaged the enemy, who turned out to be a Taliban shadow governor and his bodyguards. . . . Multiple people died that day. . . . All of this happened because Bergdahl got tired of playing soldier. The remainder of that deployment was focused on recovery efforts. Countless members of the brigade were wounded, and we lost good friends, among them PFC Matthew Martinek and 2LT Darryn Andrews. I have no doubt these great men would be alive if Bergdahl did not leave.”
In addition to Andrews, Casillas, Fairbairn, and Martinek, Private First Class Morris Walker and Staff Sergeants Clayton Bowen, Kurt Curtiss, and Michael Murphrey died as a result of Bergdahl’s abandonment. That’s eight dead American soldiers (not six, as the rest of the media have reported) betrayed by selfish Bergdahl and reckless President Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) As Natural News has exhaustively demonstrated this week via ICP-MS laboratory results and vaccine documentation, influenza vaccines manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline still contain 50 ppm mercury.
We find it interesting, therefore, that the Australian government’s limit on mercury in complementary medicines is set at 0.5 ppm, as described in this TGA document:
www.tga.gov.au/pdf/foi/foi-314-1112-1…
The document explains that “Incidental metals and non-metals” must be less than 5 ppm total, and mercury in particular must be under 0.5 ppm in order to meet the TGA’s “acceptance criteria.”
Yet influenza vaccines contain 50 ppm mercury — 100 times the Australian government’s limit of 0.5 ppm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Mosque Power Struggles Set Backdrop to Cleric Killing in Mombasa
Nairobi and Bosire Boniface in Garissa — Gunmen in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on Tuesday (June 10th) shot dead Mohamed Idris, an influential moderate Muslim preacher who was a vocal opponent of al-Shabaab and extremist ideology…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Malta Establishes Diplomatic Relations With Somalia
VALLETTA, June 11 (Xinhua) — Malta and Somalia have established diplomatic relations, a government statement said, in a move which Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called “an important step forward” in the context of the immigration crisis, local media reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: 8 Christians Killed and Church in Flames
(AGI) — Abuja, 11 June — Armed men killed at least 8 Christians in their attack on a church in the central state of Plateau, and afterwards set the church on fire. The police made their statement, saying that for now they have not assigned the blame for the action, even though the MO and the aims of the attack lead to presuming it was the work of the Boko Haram Islamic Fundamentalists, who have killed thousands of people since 2009.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected Boko Haram Insurgents Attack Cameroon Village
More than 300 heavily armed men suspected to be members of the Nigerian radical group Boko Haram have attacked the locality of Gorsi Tourou in North Cameroon, burning churches and looting property…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Uganda and Kenya: Churches Warned of Potential Attacks
Security has increased in recent days in Uganda and Kenya after authorities were warned by Western countries that an Islamic militant group is planning to attack churches.
The U.S. embassy in Uganda warned that churches there may face “specific threats” from al-Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group. The threats against the two East African countries are said to be due to each having peacekeeping troops in Somalia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Senate Motion Calls for Mare Nostrum ‘Exit Strategy’
‘Necessary response to emergency but not a definitive solution’
(ANSA) — Rome, June 11 — A motion under discussion at the Italian Senate on Wednesday calls for the government to look into ways to move beyond the search-and-rescue operation Mare Nostrum.
The motion, lodged by the government majority, notes that the operation was a “necessary response to the emergency but can in no way constitute a definitive solution”. It would require that the government draw up an ‘exit strategy’.
Mare Nostrum (Our Sea, the Romans’ term for the Med) was launched in October 2013, spearheaded by 782 Italian Navy personnel aboard a flotilla of vessels supported by carabinieri, coast guard, police and air force units after hundreds of migrants lost their lives earlier that month when two boats sunk not far from the Italian island of Lampedusa. Thousands of lives have been saved by the operation in a period seeing ever more undocumented migrants attempting to flee conflicts by crossing the Mediterranean in unsafe sea vessels. Almost 40,000 migrants landed on Italy’s shores in the first five months of this year — almost as many as the total for all of 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado Orders Christian Baker to Make Wedding Cakes for Gays
DENVER (AP) — Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission on Friday ordered a baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding his religious objections to the practice did not trump the state’s anti-discrimination statutes.
The unanimous ruling from the seven-member commission upheld an administrative law judge’s finding in December that Jack Phillips violated civil rights law when he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012. The couple sued.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Colorado Baker Who Won’t Make Gay Wedding Cakes Ordered to Sensitivity Training
Colorado bakery owner Jack Phillips never sought out a gay person to discriminate against, nor to harm in any way. He has no desire to do so.
But because he serves Jesus Christ above all else, Phillips was not about to be forced into participation in celebrating the “marriage” of two gay men. So when they entered his store to place an order for a wedding cake, he simply told them they would have to find a different bakery.
We’ve told you this story before, and it’s now reached exactly the point many people feared it would all along. Phillips is being ordered by the State of Colorado not only to undergo sensitivity training, but to enact new policies for him and his staff, and to file quarterly reports with the state that prove he has not turned away any business from homosexuals.
The fascism plays out as follows, with reporting from Todd Starnes writing for Charisma Magazine:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Culture Upside Down: There Has Been a Colossal Shift in America’s Values Since 2001
The United States is becoming a place where “anything goes”, and most Americans are okay with that. No matter which side of the “culture war” that you are on, you have to admit that our culture is being fundamentally transformed. In fact, new numbers from Gallup confirm that there has been a colossal shift in America’s moral values just since 2001. Over the past 13 years, we have become a dramatically different country. Many of the things that used to be considered “evil” are now considered to be “good”, and many of the things that used to be considered “good” are now considered to be “evil”. In other words, our culture is literally being turned upside down, and the “values” that our national leaders speak of today are far different from the “values” that our grandparents grew up with. So is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Every year, Gallup conducts an “annual Values and Beliefs survey”, and the survey results for 2014 have just been released. When you compare the numbers from 2001 to the numbers for this year, the difference in quite a few of the categories is quite striking. Here are a few examples…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fla. District Rethinks, Retracts Bible Ban
A controversy concerning a Bible ban began when fifth-grader Giovanni Rubeo was told Bible reading wasn’t permitted during “free reading time.” The teacher who instructed Giovanni to “put [the Bible] on my desk” also left a phone message for the student’s father, telling him “those books” — meaning religious books — weren’t allowed in “my classroom.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gay’ Teacher Had Sex With Student, Exposed Him to Aids (Video)
HOUMA, La. (WWLTV) — A Louisiana school teacher is behind bars for having sex with a student and exposing him to the AIDS virus.
Terrebonne Parish sheriff’s deputies arrested Derrick Nesby, 37, Wednesday at H.L. Bourgeois High School, the school where he teaches.
The 37-year-old is accused of having sex with a 16-year-old male student at the school.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Legal Defenders of Traditional Marriage Back Nebraska’s Refusal to Grant Same-Sex Divorce
OMAHA, Neb., — Yesterday, the Nebraska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Nichols v. Nichols, a same-sex divorce appeal that challenges Nebraska’s marriage law. Attorney Martin Cannon of the Thomas More Society-Omaha branch, filed an amicus brief earlier this month in support of Nebraska’s Constitution. In 2000, Nebraska citizens voted with a 70-30 margin, to amend the Constitution to reserve marriage to unions between a man and a woman.
Nichols v. Nichols may determine whether Nebraska courts can grant divorce or dissolution in a same-sex marriage entered into in another state. Bonnie Nichols and her same-sex partner, Margie Nichols, residents of Nebraska, were married in Iowa in 2009, several months after that state legalized same-sex marriage. Bonnie Nichols filed for a divorce in Nebraska in 2012. Last year, District Court Judge Stephanie Stacy turned down the request for divorce, because a divorce cannot be granted without recognizing the marriage itself, something Nebraska’s Constitution prohibits.
“The trial court’s refusal to grant the divorce in Nichols v. Nichols is correct. Any other ruling would ignore the Nebraska Constitution and trample the people’s will. The ruling is also consistent with the U.S. Constitution and federal case law, which have reserved the definition of marriage to the states,” said Cannon. “Nebraska’s marriage amendment was upheld in 2006 by the federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. We urge the Supreme Court of Nebraska to affirm the trial court’s ruling.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mother ‘Shocked’ And ‘In Tears’ Over Sexually-Charged School Awards Ceremony
“I sat there with my mouth open in shock, and the final straw was when a joke was told on stage about a teacher, a lawyer and a priest on a plane,” the mother wrote in an email to the outlet. “The plane was going down and the teacher says we have to save the children. The attorney says ‘F*** the children!’ and the priest says ‘Oooh … Do we have time for that?’“
She also stated that some of the awards were inappropriate, such as “the horniest stud” and “the horniest girl.” One prize was a box of condoms.
“We need to get the word out there that this is the kind of trash that is being taught in our schools,” the mother, who wishes to keep her identity secret until after graduation on Friday, said. “I am so shocked right now I am in tears.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Special Summer Camp Actually Trains Boys Under Age of 10 to Become Homosexual
Do you have a young male child who occasionally walks around in heels and plays with a barbie doll from time to time? According to some you need to send him to a secret summer camp to have him trained to be homosexual.
No… this is not a joke. Unfortunately, it’s the real deal…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Constitution Does Not Support Same-Sex ‘Marriage, ‘ Homosexuality (Part 1)
When asked for the legal justification and judicial authority upon which the recent same-sex “marriage” court rulings have been based, the typical homosexual will invariably appeal to the Constitution. Likewise, many are quick to cite Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, which described “a wall of separation between Church and State,” when it suits their secularist, anti-religion agenda. Therefore, as we debate the marriage issue all across our country, it would be prudent to examine the underlying meaning and intent of this foundational document along with the other relevant writings and actions of our Founders.
As the historical evidence will clearly indicate, there was not a single Framer of the Constitution who would have ever sanctioned the concept of same-sex “marriage.” So deeply ingrained in their psyches, consciences and legal understanding was the idea of marriage as the union of one man and one woman that they would shudder to think that our nation’s founding social contract, which they carefully drafted in an almost divinely-inspired way, was being terribly twisted to support such sexually aberrant behavior. To say, that they’d be spinning in their graves would be a gross understatement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cellphone Exposure May Harm Male Fertility
Men who carry a cellphone in their pants pocket may harm their sperm and reduce their chances of having children, a new review warns.
The research team analyzed the findings of 10 studies that examined how cellphone exposure may affect male fertility. Among men with no exposure to cellphones, 50 percent to 85 percent of their sperm had a normal ability to move towards an egg.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The full story concerning “Britain’s Missing Babies: How Thousands of Children Have Disappeared…” has been censored on your website by the Thai military government. It is not possible to access the source article. Instead we get card saying that access has been blocked by the authorities. Why only that one, I wonder?
Perhaps the cellphone companies can turn up the radiation a bit and advertize the service as birth control.
The takeover of Iraq by Islamic crazies makes me very unhappy.
Lt. Ron Winchester was the first usna to be killed in Iraq. He had the lower part of his body blown off by an IED. I was his pen pal…
Mr. Obama has made that all meaningness.
meaningless. Yes, very meaningless.
I can’t tell you how unhappy I am that Lt. Winchester was sacrificed for nothing.
Is this the America that I grew up in? I don’t think so.