Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/28/2014

An Egyptian jihad group in the Sinai known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis have beheaded four people, whose headless bodies were later discovered. The group announced that the victims had been agents of the Mossad.

In news from England, a respected Tory MP named Doug Carswell caused a new crisis for his party by resigning his seat, switching to UKIP, and announcing that he would stand for the same seat in the resulting by-election.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, RR, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» French Unemployment Rate Hits New Record
» German Inflation Rate Remains at Record Low
» Hollande Calls for Special Summit on Eurozone Growth
» Italian Premier and Gelato Montage Decorates Economist Cover
» Italy’s Top Banks Seeking up to $36 Billion From ECB
 
USA
» American Who Died Fighting for ISIS Showed Hate for White People and Gays
» Bill Gates & Wife Take Sides in Gun Control Debate [Duh…]
» Ron Paul Interview: “Americans Must Choose Non-Interventionist Free Markets for Peace & Prosperity”
» Sharyl Attkisson Schools ABC, CBS, NBC on How to Cover the IRS Scandal
» Sister of Accused Boston Marathon Bombers Arrested Over Alleged Bomb Threat
» Soros Clones: 5 Liberal Mega-Donors Nearly as Dangerous as George Soros
» The Virginia “Food Freedom Act” And the Agricultural ‘System’
» When is a Self-Described Libertarian Not a Libertarian?
 
Europe and the EU
» Belgium: Biometric Scanners to Stop Bogus Travellers at Zaventem
» Britain Poorer Than Every US State
» Denmark: Nervous Student Causes Manhunt in Copenhagen
» Douglas Carswell’s Defection to UKIP is a Seismic Shock to the British Political System
» Douglas Carswell’s Shock Defection to UKIP Triggers by-Election Battle
» EU to Help Dairy Sector Hit by Russian Food Import Ban
» Finland’s Poor at Nearly One Million
» Germany to Ban EU Citizens Who Abuse Welfare System
» Germany: Berlin Struggles to Sell Former Goebbels Villa
» Germany: Police Suspect Arsonists Were Behind Mosque Fire
» Germany: Arson Attack Causes Berlin Train Chaos
» Interview With an Auschwitz Guard: ‘I Do Not Feel Like a Criminal’
» ISIS Gang of Four Sparked Norway’s Terror Alert
» Italy: Calderoli Says He Needs ‘Exorcist Against Kyenge Hex’
» Italy: Doctor ‘Worked 15 Days in Nine Years’
» Italy: M5S Leader Accuses Journalists of Disinformation Campaign
» Norway: Mohammed is Most Popular Name in Oslo
» Norwegian Brewery Pulls ‘Fart-Smelling’ Beer
» Tory MP Defects to UKIP — Live Updates
» Tory MP Douglas Carswell Switches to UKIP
» Tory MP Douglas Carswell Defects to UKIP
» UK: Rotherham Child Sex Scandal: These Children Were Victims of ‘Anti-Racism’
» UK: Tory Whips Tell MPs: We Will Fight Carswell Vigorously
» Unblock Italy Covered Says Lupi
» Vikings Used Boat Timbers to Build Houses in Ireland
» Welsh UKIP MEP Urges Politicians Across Wales to Follow Douglas Carswell’s Lead and Defect
» ‘Yes’ Or ‘No’? a Divided Scotland Confronts Independence Vote
 
North Africa
» Egypt: Jihadists Claim Responsibility for Four Beheadings
» Tunisia Improves Security, But Terrorist Threat Remains
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Factory and Lab: Israel’s War Business
 
Middle East
» Erdogan: EU Membership Top Priority for Turkey
» GCC Rift Between Qatar and Other Members Grows Wider
» Hollande Says Assad Cannot be Partner Against Terrorism
» Hollande: Assad is No Anti-Jihadist Ally of West
» Islamic State ‘Executes Dozens of Syrian Soldiers’
» Kuwait: Interior Source Denies IS Rumors
» Lebanon Plans Law to Stem Growing Child Marriage Trend
» NGO Emergency Opens Refugee Health Centres in Northern Iraq
» Opinion: Turkish Prime Minister at Erdogan’s Mercy
» Syria Rebels Seize Border Crossing With Israel in the Golan Heights
» Turkey’s Erdogan Aims to Expand Presidential Power
» UN Peacekeepers Hostage in Golan, IS Kills Syrian Soldiers
 
Russia
» Germany and US Voice Concern on Russian Troops in Ukraine
» Ukraine Reintroduces the Draft
 
South Asia
» Higher Commissions, Fewer Passengers: The Struggle to Save Malaysia Airlines Deepens
» Malaysian Women Join Middle East Jihadists as ‘Comfort Women’, Reveals Intelligence Report
» Pakistan: Missing the Wood for the Trees
» Search Area for Missing MH370 ‘Refined’
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Ebola Virus Mutating Rapidly as it Spreads
» Ebola Could Infect 20,000 People, WHO Says
» New Ebola Case in Nigeria Brings Death Toll to 1,552
 
Immigration
» Alleged Human Smugglers Caught After Posting Selfie
» Another 204 Immigrants Saved in Strait of Sicily
» France to Demand UK Help Ease Calais Crisis
» Italian Navy Rescues 546 Migrants in Strait of Sicily
» Italy: Opposition Slams Frontex Plus Amid New Migrant Landings
» Mare Nostrum to be Replaced by Frontex Plus Says Alfano
» Obama’s Illegals Swamp Blue-Collar City in Massachusetts
» Obama Crafts Legal Rationale for Immigration Steps
» Peña Nieto in California: “Immigration Reform is a Matter of Justice”
» Tent Cities Considered for Austria’s Refugees
 
Culture Wars
» Breast Cancer-Abortion Link Frenzy
 
General
» How Fish Can Learn to Walk
 

French Unemployment Rate Hits New Record

France’s unemployment rate rose for the ninth consecutive month in July, hitting a record high of 3,424,000 people out of work, according to new statistics released on Wednesday by the country’s Labour Ministry. The number of jobless people increased by around 26,000 in July compared to June.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Inflation Rate Remains at Record Low

Germany’s inflation rate remains mired at dangerously low levels, with the threat of deflation looming large. The possibility of ECB action to stimulate the eurozone economy seems increasingly likely.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hollande Calls for Special Summit on Eurozone Growth

French president Francois Hollande has called for a summit on eurozone growth, warning that “Europe is threatened by a long and possibly interminable stagnation if we do nothing.”

In a speech to his ambassadors in Paris on Thursday (August 28), Hollande said the summit is needed to co-ordinate efforts across EU capitals to stimulate growth.

“The recovery is too weak. Inflation is too low. The (value of the) euro is too high,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Premier and Gelato Montage Decorates Economist Cover

ECB President Draghi depicted bailing out eurozone

(ANSA) London, August 28 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi holding an ice cream features in a photomontage decorating the cover of the current issue of the Economist news magazine.

Also in the montage photo are pictures of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and ECB President Mario Draghi, who is depicted trying frenetically to bail water out of a boat made of a 20-euro bank note with a bucket.

The cover carries the headline “That sinking feeling,” in reference to the economic difficulties the eurozone is going through.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy’s Top Banks Seeking up to $36 Billion From ECB

Italy’s seven biggest banks are seeking to borrow as much as 30.3 billion euros ($40 billion) in the European Central Bank’s first auction of cheap cash designed to boost loans to companies and individuals, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

UniCredit SpA (UCG), the nation’s largest lender, is asking for 7 billion euros in the September auction, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Italy’s third-largest lender, will bid for 3 billion euros, about half of the total it’s targeting this year, another person said. Mediobanca SpA is seeking 1.5 billion euros, according to another person.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

American Who Died Fighting for ISIS Showed Hate for White People and Gays

The Twitter account of Douglas McAuthur McCain, the American who was killed last week in Syria while fighting for the terrorist group ISIS, provides a glimpse of the hatred which likely motivated the 33-year-old to join forces with the terrorist organization.

McCain’s posts to the social media site, which began in late 2012 and ended this month, show a man with very little going for him besides hate and Islam.

After watching the 2011 movie “The Help,” which followed a group of black maids working in the South in the 1960s, McCain, who was black, decided that he disliked white people.

McCain’s Twitter feed shows that he went offline in early 2013. When he resumed using the site in May, his messages were focused more on Islam. In his first tweet back after the hiatus he called for “#oneummah,” or one Muslim nation.

Also in May, McCain tweeted a message saying that he had converted to Islam ten years ago, calling it “the best thing that ever happen [sic] to me.”

According to several reports, McCain, who bounced back and forth between Minnesota and San Diego, traveled to Sweden and Canada last year and had become more radical.

Authorities have said that they were not aware that McCain had traveled to Syria until he arrived there.

McCain, who was once an aspiring rapper, was killed by members of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group fighting the Assad regime as well as ISIS. According to the New York Times, the rebels beheaded six ISIS fighters but not McCain…

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Bill Gates & Wife Take Sides in Gun Control Debate [Duh…]

Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $1 million to a gun control campaign working to expand background checks in Washington state.

The Initiative 594 campaign now has close to $6 million thanks to the Gates donation, the New York Daily News reports. It would make background checks a universal requirement for gun sales in the state.

I-594 “will be an effective and balanced approach to improving gun safety in our state by closing existing loopholes for background checks,” the Gates said in a statement Monday.

A counter initiative, I-591, would prevent Washington from adopting background-check requirements that exceed national standards, according to the Daily News, and has about $1 million so far.

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Ron Paul Interview: “Americans Must Choose Non-Interventionist Free Markets for Peace & Prosperity”

Originally posted at Voices Of Liberty, powered by Ron Paul

Ron Paul and Mark Spitznagel are passionate about non-interventionism, free markets, and Austrian economics. In spite of their years, these passions former Congressman Paul and Mr. Spitznagel hold dear are growing in popularity among the youth of our nation.

Congressman Paul served many years as a U.S. Representative from Texas, spanning 1976 to 2013, and was a Republican presidential candidate in 2008 and 2012. He has written extensively on liberty and politics, including The Revolution: A Manifesto and End the Fed. Spitznagel is the founder of Universa Investments, an investment advisor that specializes in tail-hedging, and is the author of The Dao of Capital, for which Paul wrote the Foreword.

The longtime friends (and friends of freedom) recently had the opportunity to catch up in person on topics ranging from the liberty movement and agricultural policy, to the consequences of Federal Reserve monetary policy. Here is a transcript of their conversation:

Mark Spitznagel: Ron, you have been the galvanizing force of a resurgent liberty movement in the United States. Yet, we find ourselves in this world where interventionism is on the rise, and much of America remains complacent about it. For instance, I think we would agree that today’s crony-capitalism and monetary-interventionism by central banks is at an unprecedented scale that will once again leave destruction in its wake. Why is America letting this happen, and moving away from its Jeffersonian ideals? Moreover, I have to ask you, has the liberty movement stalled, or even failed?

Ron Paul: Mark, on the surface and in Washington it may appear that interventionism is on the rise but in reality it’s on the defensive, more so than ever. Indeed there is a lot of complacency as that is frequently the rule for the majority of people regardless of the system. Where there is little complacency is with the intellectual leaders now leading the charge against the foreign and economic interventionists who have been in charge for decades and created the major crisis that we face today…

philosophy of non-intervention is growing significantly and that is crucial since ideas do have consequences. The obvious failure of the current system, and the current intellectual leaders of the younger generation who are more favorably inclined toward non-intervention, provide the encouragement we need to clean up the mess. During my presidential campaigns, I was always quite pleased when students held up signs saying: “You cured my apathy.”

A question for you, Mark: I know you and a very few others like Jimmy Rogers know about authentic non-intervention in the economy, but what are Wall Street traders and investors like? Are they helpful in exposing crony-capitalism or are they part of the problem?

Mark: Unfortunately, Wall Street can’t help but respond to monetary intervention, like puppets to the Federal Reserve puppet master. Not only has the Fed turned just about every investor into a crazed gambler desperate for any yield above today’s artificially low interest rates, for professional investors the desperation is compounded by the career risk associated with underperforming in the very next period. If you’re fired for not having played the Fed’s game in the next round, who cares about what will happen in future rounds, and who cares about the long-run implications of this crony-capitalist game?

[…]

Ron: Sustainable farming and libertarianism are a natural mix. I know that you yourself, in addition to being a hedge fund manager, are a pasture-based dairy goat farmer and artisanal cheese maker. Sustainable farming recognizes the perils of tinkering with the complex interactions of natural systems. And it rejects the notion of dependency on the government and emphasizes the principle of self-reliance. Of course, if this principle were to be followed in all areas of the economy we wouldn’t have to worry about prosperity or a shrinking middle class.

Mark: Do you think your background as a physician has influenced your acceptance of the idea of having reverence for a system’s natural resiliency, and not messing with that through tinkering?

Ron: There is no doubt that it did. I kept a copy of the Hippocratic Oath hanging on the wall at my medical practice of about 35 years. We know that today the government has little reverence for the economy’s natural resiliency, what Adam Smith referred to as the “invisible hand” of the market. Interestingly, in modern times the Hippocratic Oath has been changed to be more in tune with today’s legal system. The Oath now shows less reverence for life than it did originally. Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Once we restore the principles of a free, self-adjusting market, we’ll have to check and see if the Hippocratic Oath has been restored to its original form.

Speaking of doing no harm, I followed the story last June when you were blocked from trying to help a struggling, blighted neighborhood in Detroit by bringing in a herd of goats from your farm in Michigan, Idyll Farms. The goats would have cleared the neglected overgrowth, and the project was providing jobs and education to the community. But the Detroit City Hall chose to enforce an ordinance banning all livestock and immediately kicked your goats right out.

Mark: I’m a big believer in urban farming, especially for large open and economically-challenged areas like parts of Detroit. Call it a return to Jefferson’s yeoman farmer. One of the previously unemployed people I hired there told me he wanted to use his earnings from the summer to purchase a house. It was a win-win. By the way, we didn’t ask the city for permission to bring in the goats—and the local community encouraged us not to ask—because we knew what their answer would be. Hopefully we provided some momentum to change this bad ordinance.

[…]

[Return to headlines]
 

Sharyl Attkisson Schools ABC, CBS, NBC on How to Cover the IRS Scandal

Unlike her colleagues at the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks, investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, on Tuesday night, actually dug into the finer points behind the big bombshells revealed in the IRS scandal this week.

Invited on Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss the revelations of a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyer confirming the existence of Lois Lerner’s “missing” e-mails and the IRS’s destruction of her Blackberry (stories the networks through Wednesday morning have yet to touch) Attkisson also did a great job of explaining the conflict of interest going on at the DOJ.

Laying down the trail of bread crumbs for any network reporter to follow, Attkisson told Dobbs that at the same time the DOJ was “defending the IRS in court in the civil case with Judicial Watch” it was “also investigating the IRS. So at the same time it’s supposed to conduct a fair and impartial investigation on the one hand…it is defending the IRS in court on the other hand on the missing document cases. I think there is a potential appearance of a conflict of interest there.”

Not only have the networks not examined the conflict of interest case at the DOJ, they haven’t even bothered to report on the big revelations in the IRS scandal this week.

On Monday, Judicial Watch’s president Tom Fitton told FNC’s Shannon Bream that a Justice Department attorney told them the missing Lois Lerner e-mails do exist. On that same day it was also revealed that the IRS destroyed Lerner’s Blackberry after the congressional probe had begun.

Big Three network coverage of these stunning developments through Wednesday morning? 0 seconds.

  • Follow the Money: Liberal billionaires funded a wide range of political organizations and media groups. These groups were then considered authorities by major media outlets, including ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN. Instead, reporters should challenge the biases of these groups.
  • Treat Public Figures Equally: Media outlets are quick to report on funding by Charles and David Koch to conservative organizations, but they often completely ignore the wide range of funding by liberal donors. Among them, these five liberal donors are worth more than $109 billion dollars, and they aren’t alone.
  • Dig Into Backgrounds of Both Sides: The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states that journalists should “Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.” It is incumbent upon journalists to analyze the background and funding sources for groups and individuals on both ends of the political spectrum.

[…]

[Return to headlines]
 

Sister of Accused Boston Marathon Bombers Arrested Over Alleged Bomb Threat

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The sister of the accused Boston Marathon bombers was arrested in New York City for threatening a woman over the phone, saying she could “put a bomb on you,” police said on Wednesday.

Aliana Tsarnaev, 23, sister of Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was facing charges of aggravated harassment, a New York City Police Department spokesman said.

Tsarnaev, of North Bergen, New Jersey, was accused of calling a woman in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood and telling her “I have people that can go over there and put a bomb on you,” the spokesman said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Soros Clones: 5 Liberal Mega-Donors Nearly as Dangerous as George Soros

As the 2014 midterm elections approached, the media were quick to criticize conservative donors like the Koch brothers for backing issues important to them. But journalists largely ignored the incredible financial power being used to promote the liberal agenda.

Five top donors — Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, Pierre Omidyar, Tom Steyer and George Soros’s own son, Jonathan — are major funders of the left. Together, they have contributed at least $2.7 billion since 2000 to groups pushing abortion, gun control, climate change alarmism and liberal candidates.

That’s not how major media depicted them. Broadcast networks applauded when billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer promised $100 million to influence environmental policy. CBS News praised Steyer for “giving back” and ABC News called the billionaire an “everyman.”

Steyer wasn’t alone. Buffett has donated more than $1.2 billion to the abortion industry, with contributions stretching back until at least 1989. Yet, since 2001, ABC, CBS and NBC have only mentioned Buffett’s abortion funding once, out of 545 stories about him or interviews with him. And when former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to devote $50 million to limit American gun rights, the networks praised his efforts as “grassroots” and as a way to “combat gun violence.”

All five donors were also actively involved with media. Collectively they either supported or owned 88 separate media outlets. Those organizations had a combined print circulation of 3.6 million and a digital circulation several times larger.

The Media Research Center’s Business and Media Institute thoroughly researched these five top liberal donors. The findings included:

46 Newspapers in Swing States, 88 Total Media Outlets: Soros and his allies learned long ago that those who control the media control the national conversation. Buffett made headlines, in more ways than one, when he began buying up 75 small and mid-sized newspapers throughout the country. Bloomberg and Omidyar also own small media empires in their own right, while Steyer and the younger Soros have poured millions into liberal media outlets including Mother Jones, Media Matters and Think Progress.

$2.7 Billion to Push Liberal Causes: Tom Steyer promised to spend $100 million to “make climate change a top-tier issue” in the 2014 election, and donated at least $20 million to political campaigns in 2012 alone. Buffett gave more than $1.2 billion to pro-abortion groups. Bloomberg pledged $50 million to campaign against gun rights and Omidyar donated a whopping $286 million to his favorite liberal causes. Meanwhile, George Soros’ son, Jonathan, is funneling millions through his Friends of Democracy PAC to unseat conservative politicians.

No Negative Network Coverage: Although ABC, CBS and NBC have mentioned Buffett in 545 stories since January 2001, the three broadcast networks only once alluded to his connection with abortion during their morning and evening news shows. These same three networks praised Bloomberg for his $50 million “grassroots” effort to fight the NRA, and dubbed Steyer and Jonathan Soros an antidote to the “secretive” Koch brothers. Omidyar hasn’t even been mentioned by the networks since 2011.

Recommendations for Journalists

The Business and Media Institute has the following recommendations for journalists who are reporting on political organizations, donors and funding.

[…]

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The Virginia “Food Freedom Act” And the Agricultural ‘System’

This will be an interesting fall, educating people on the Virginia Food Freedom Act and on how the agricultural system works.

I think it will be much easier than I thought, with a news aggregate of Virginia Public Access Project, I get some pretty interesting articles with Secretary of Agriculture Todd Haymore’s quotes along with some select politicians’ and of course, Farm Bureau’s take on their version of agriculture.

As many of you know, the Virginia Food Freedom Act has been introduced in the General Assembly twice, and previous to that, my delegate, Margaret Ransone, was aware of it and although she promised that she would introduce it, she chose not to at the last minute — or at least strung me along, until the last minute. The bill would help many small farmers because the profit is in the processing.

If small farmers have a government enemy, it’s the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Farm Bureau would have you believe it’s the Environment Protection Agency. They say that because they want to keep the corn and bean subsidies, and keep Big Foods’ control on the processing. The profits for them are in the stock investment that the insurance company holds, not the risk targets policy holders are.

What it is really about is a CAFO, or Confined Animal Feeding Operation. When someone raises 200,000 birds at a time — three or more times a year — you get a lot of poop … combine that with cocktails of toxic chemicals the animals are fed along with their corn, and the chemicals to sanitize the floors (if indeed they do) and you are ripe for nasty RUNOFF situations that you don’t want near your children or your water sources.

You better believe CAFOs are where the MRSA bacteria came from, of course it will be denied, but just use common sense.

Lots of antibiotics used sub-therapeutically (not acute situations — only for feed gain and to keep the animals alive in such crowded conditions) kills off all the weaker strains of bugs, leaving only the super bugs. When cattle live in feedlots up to their knees in manure for months at a time gorging themselves on subsidized corn and beans, there is no grassy green carpet to slow or retain storm water. IT RUNS OFF.

The problem with the “Rule” regarding the “Ditch the Rule” campaign from the Farm Bureau is that they are pulling small farmers into THEIR problems. Small pasture based or very small feed lot operations that have natural buffer zones — they don’t need onerous rules, Big Agriculture does. And of course, the small farm and ranch sell directly … and they know their customers — the customers know them, they even pet the animals.

Farm Bureau’s poster girl for the Ditch the Rule campaign was based off of Lois Alt’s problems with the EPA. She is an eight-house contract grower with Pilgrims Pride. Warehouse operator seems more in line with occupational description rather than farmer. She doesn’t even own the chickens. And JBS, a South American company, now owns 75 percent of Pilgrims Pride. JBS is the largest food processing company in the world, leading in sales. So please note, this is really not about “small farmers,” it’s about complete control of the meat and poultry food supply. Those small farmers are just the pawns in a very large game of Cargill, JBS and the like.

[…]

[Read the rest to find out what happens to small farmers who go up against Big Agra and Big Meat]

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When is a Self-Described Libertarian Not a Libertarian?

A new report by the Pew Research Center finds that about one-in-ten Americans describe themselves as libertarian — and yet hold views that do not differ much from those of the overall public. As Pew’s Jocelyn Kiley says, “Self-described libertarians tend to be modestly more supportive of some libertarian positions, but few of them hold consistent libertarian opinions on the role of government, foreign policy and social issues.”

Overall, 11 percent of Americans describe themselves as libertarian and have a general idea about what the term means. Another 3 percent who described themselves as libertarians were unable to choose the correct term that applied to “someone whose political views emphasize individual freedom by limiting the role of government” (choices were: libertarian, progressive, authoritarian, Unitarian, or communist). Unfortunately, they weren’t the only ones confused: only 57 percent of those polled were able to choose the correct term; 1 in 5 thought the term applied to “progressive” and 6 percent thought the answer was “communist”(!).

Almost twice as many men as women self-identify as libertarian (15 percent of men and 7 percent of women). The percentage of Whites and Hispanics who self-describe as libertarian is almost identical (12 and 11 percent, respectively), while only 3 percent black Americans refer to themselves using that term. Libertarians are also more likely to consider themselves political Independents (14 percent) than either Republican (12 percent) or Democrat (6 percent).

The beliefs held by these self-described libertarians were somewhat surprising…

[NOTE: For further contradictions, read on at the URL]

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Belgium: Biometric Scanners to Stop Bogus Travellers at Zaventem

More and more people are trying to enter Belgium using somebody else’s passport. Last year 214 people were stopped at Brussels Airport with somebody else’s passport.

An explanation is easy to find: forging a passport is proving increasingly difficult. As a result it’s easier to impersonate somebody else and use their passport.

Last year 1,419 travellers were stopped at Brussels Airport travelling on a false, forged, stolen or fraudulent passport or ID.

In order to stem the flood the airport is introducing six biometric scanners next year. Police officer Peter De Waele explains: “The scanners compare proportions on the photo with the actual proportions of the head of the traveller. In future it will also be possible to compare finger prints.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Britain Poorer Than Every US State

At the height of power, circa 1922, the British Empire was the largest empire in history, covering one-fifth of the world’s population and almost a quarter of the earth’s total land area. Yet almost one hundred years later, Great Britain is not so great, having lost much of its previous economic and political dominance. In fact, if Great Britain were to join the United States, it’d be poorer than any of the other 50 states — including our poorest state, Mississippi.

Fraser Nelson discovered that fact by using a “fairly straightforward calculation” (see the end of this article for an explanation, and what Nelson missed). The result, as Nelson explains, is that all but one income group in America is better off than the same group in Britain:

It’s not surprising that America’s best-paid 10 per cent are wealthier than top 10 per cent. That fits our general idea of America: a country where the richest do best while the poorest are left to hang. The figures just don’t support this. As the below chart shows, middle-earning Americans are better-off than Brits. Even lower-income Americans, those at the bottom 20 per cent, are better-off than their British counterparts. The only group actually worse-off are the bottom 5 per cent.

Tim Worstall notes that similar findings have shown that the bottom 10 percent in the US have the same incomes (PPP adjusted) as the bottom 10 percent in either Sweden or Finland. “While the top 10% have very much larger incomes than the top 10% in either country,” says Worstall. “All that redistribution hasn’t made the Nordic poor richer than the American poor but it has made the rich poorer.”

Unfortunately, I suspect “soaking the rich” might be the real reason many people still support redistributions schemes that go far beyond what is necessary to adequately support the social safety net for the poor. If the primary concern of redistributionists was to help the poor become wealthier, rather than making the rich poorer, they’d have long ago abandoned the idea that massive transfers of wealth is a long-term solution to poverty.

Addendum…

[See URL for methods used in calculations.]

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Denmark: Nervous Student Causes Manhunt in Copenhagen

Armed police officers searched throughout the city for a man reported as behaving suspiciously on the train. After finding him it turns out he was “completely clean”.

A 21-year-old University of Copenhagen student set off a city-wide manhunt involving police officers armed with machine guns on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Douglas Carswell’s Defection to UKIP is a Seismic Shock to the British Political System

by Peter Oborne

There are very few MPs I admire more than Douglas Carswell. He is principled, decent, and has gone into politics for all the right reasons. He believes in all the things to which ordinary politicians pay lip service, but in reality frighten them to death. Above all, Mr Carswell is an advocate of popular democracy: that is, that politics is an activity which concerns ordinary voters and not the views of the Westminster elite. He is a fountain of original ideas, many of which are to be found in his very important book The Plan: Twelve months to renew Britain. It is very interesting to note that the book was co-written with the brilliant conservative MEP (and fellow Telegraph blogger) Daniel Hannan.

But Mr Carswell cannot be dismissed as a naive or out of touch intellectual. Let us remember that it was five years ago that it was Carswell who set in motion the movement which swept Speaker Martin from office in the wake of the expenses scandal…

[Reader comment by RB on 28 August 2014.]

Carswell has integrity and the interests of us peons at heart — he wants a democracy that involves and includes people not just politicians — he is the right sort of MP and I wish him luck in the by-election.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Douglas Carswell’s Shock Defection to UKIP Triggers by-Election Battle

Douglas Carswell claims that David Cameron has ‘made up his mind’ and wants Britain to stay in the European Union

Douglas Carwell, the Tory MP, has defected to Ukip and triggered a by-election after accusing David Cameron of failing to be “serious” about European reform.

Mr Carswell, the MP for Clacton in Essex, said that he is determined to disrupt the “cozy Westminster elite” as he accused David Cameron of having “made up his mind” on Britain staying in the European Union…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

EU to Help Dairy Sector Hit by Russian Food Import Ban

The European Union has proposed emergency measures to help dairy producers affected by a Russian ban on Western food imports. It comes after similar support was pledged for fruit and vegetable growers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland’s Poor at Nearly One Million

Only highly educated middle-class citizens and labourers are safe in Finnish society, according to sociology professor Juho Saari. Depression and loneliness caused by unemployment are up in Finland, and the poor are not treated well, the professor says.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany to Ban EU Citizens Who Abuse Welfare System

The German government on Wednesday (27 August) approved draft legislation aimed at curbing ‘welfare abuse’ by other EU citizens coming to the country.

“Freedom of movement is an indispensable element of European integration, which we fully support. But we must not close our eyes to the problems linked to it,” German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a press conference when presenting the bill and a 140-page report on the problems relating to freedom of movement and access to welfare for EU citizens.

So far, such bans could only be demanded by German authorities for individuals who were a threat to national security or public safety.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Berlin Struggles to Sell Former Goebbels Villa

After two failed attempts, Berlin is trying again to sell the sprawling estate and villa once known as Joseph Goebbels’ illicit love nest, but so far, nobody’s buying.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Police Suspect Arsonists Were Behind Mosque Fire

Investigators now believe a fire which damaged a mosque in Berlin earlier in August was started deliberately.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Arson Attack Causes Berlin Train Chaos

Travellers in southeast Berlin can expect disruption on the S-Bahn until Sunday morning after an arson attack damaged a cable duct on Thursday morning, affecting services on six lines.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Interview With an Auschwitz Guard: ‘I Do Not Feel Like a Criminal’

As a young man, Jakob W. worked in the watchtowers of Auschwitz. Charges against him were recently dropped, but he described to SPIEGEL what it was like to be a cog in the Nazis’ horrific machinery of death.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Gang of Four Sparked Norway’s Terror Alert

Four terrorists connected to Isis were responsible for the recent terror alert in Norway, claimed a media report on Thursday.

Dagbladet reported they know the identities and backgrounds of four Isis terrorists with nationalities outside of the Middle East. The group were on their way to Norway and this triggered a terror alert on July 24th, according to newspaper sources.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Calderoli Says He Needs ‘Exorcist Against Kyenge Hex’

Anti-immigrant MP facing trial for racist defamation

(ANSA) — Milan, August 26 — Deputy Senate Speaker Roberto Calderoli said he needs an exorcist to lift a hex placed on him by the father of MEP Cecile Kyenge, Calderoli told Oggi weekly in an interview, excerpts of which were published Tuesday. Calderoli, who is from the anti-immigrant Northern League, last year likened Kyenge — who was Italy’s first black cabinet member at the time — to an orangutan, triggering a criminal probe that currently sees him facing charges of defamation aggravated by racial hatred and discrimination.

Since then, Calderoli has undergone six operations, been twice in intensive care, broken two ribs and two fingers, and his mother died, Calderoli told Oggi weekly in the interview to be published Wednesday.

The run of apparent bad luck culminated with the discovery of a two-meter snake in his kitchen last week.

“Maybe it’s time to send Kyenge’s dad a message of detente,” the former minister for reforms and for simplification under Silvio Berlusconi told the magazine.

“I’m not a superstitious man, but after the macumba (hex) Kyenge’s dad put on me, I’ve been through hell and high water,” Calderoli said in a recent Facebook post.

“I need an exorcist,” the MP said.

“I could call Bergoglio (Pope Francis), but he may be too busy inviting immigrants into our homes”.

“It seems to me that I am still being persecuted,” replied Kyenge, who will be in court September 30 to testify against Calderoli in his defamation trial.

“I will see him in court”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Doctor ‘Worked 15 Days in Nine Years’

ER man used ‘permits, grants’

(ANSA) — Catania, August 27 — A doctor only turned up 15 times in nine years for his nominal job at an ER near Catania, police said Wednesday.

They said the unnamed doctor had used permits and grants to justify his absences from the hospital.

He devoted his time to a thriving private practice, they said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: M5S Leader Accuses Journalists of Disinformation Campaign

Compares TG1 news program to “worst South American dictatorship”

(ANSA) — Rome, August 27 — Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) party, writing in a post on Grillo’s blog Wednesday, compared national television news program TG1 to a “regime worthy of the worst South American dictatorship”.

In the blog post, M5S MP Alberto Airola wrote, “I’m furious over the obvious and outrageous disinformation that goes on in this country, and for the fact that so many citizens continue to drink down the fabrications of this riff-raff”.

Last Monday, M5S MPs and Senators including Airola signed an interrogation calling for the firing of TG1 director Mario Orfeo and journalists Alberto Matano and Claudia Mazzola.

The move came after the journalists referred to an August 16 article by M5S MP Alessandro Di Battista in which he suggested that Western powers should negotiate with the Islamic State (ISIS) fundamentalist militia that published a video of one of its cohorts beheading American journalist James Foley.

Orfeo responded to the call for his resignation by saying that M5S was orchestrating a situation similar to that of 12 years ago, known as the “Bulgarian edict,” when three popular TV figures — veteran journalist Enzo Biagi, TV presenter and journalist Michele Santoro and satirist Daniele Luttazzi — disappeared from RAI’s airwaves in 2002 after being criticised by then premier Silvio Berlusconi on a visit to Bulgaria.

All three were accused by Berlusconi of having slashed his May 2001 election lead by making “criminal” use of state TV.

In the post, Airola claims that Orfeo is a political “puppet” and wrote, “These lowlifes will pay, maybe not now, but definitely someday.” One of the journalists cited in Wednesday’s post, Rainews24 director Monica Maggioni, told ANSA on Wednesday, “The tone and quality of the M5S attacks are what really resemble a South American dictatorship, but if the objective is to intimidate us, once again they haven’t succeeded”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Mohammed is Most Popular Name in Oslo

For the first time in the capital city’s history, Mohammed is the common name for boys and men, said a study on Thursday.

Statistics Norway (Statistisk Sentralbyrå — SSB) has counted the population of Oslo and found that Mohammed is the most common male name in Oslo for the first time ever. Jørgen Ouren of SSB said to NRK: “It is very exciting.”

The name has spent four years in a row at the top of the list of baby names in Oslo, but this is the first time that Mohammed tops the men’s name list for Oslo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norwegian Brewery Pulls ‘Fart-Smelling’ Beer

A Norwegian brewery has removed all stock of one of its beers on Thursday after drinkers complained of its foul-smelling aroma.

Mack brewers, based in Tromsø, produced the “Isbjørn” (“Polar beer”), but a flaw in the manufacturing process created a drink with stomach-churning properties.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tory MP Defects to UKIP — Live Updates

  • Douglas Carswell resigns as Clacton MP forcing byelection
  • Tories ‘not serious about real change’ Carswell claims
  • Nigel Farage urges other MPs to follow ‘noblest move’
  • Bookies make Ukip favourites to win Clacton byelection
  • Conservatives say Carswell’s defection is ‘regrettable’

1.30pm BST

Matthew Goodwin, an academic who co-wrote a book on the rise of support for Ukip, claims that Clacton represents the party’s best chance of winning a seat.

Speaking on the World at One he said: “Clacton is the most favourable seat for Ukip in the country…I do not think he will struggle at all to win.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tory MP Douglas Carswell Switches to UKIP

Tory Douglas Carswell has defected to UKIP and quit as MP for Clacton, saying he will contest the subsequent by-election for Nigel Farage’s party.

If he wins the support of voters he will be the first elected UK Independence Party MP in the Commons. The maverick Eurosceptic backbencher said he wanted to “shake up” the cosy Westminster “clique”.

Mr Carswell added he did not believe Prime Minister David Cameron was “serious about the change we need”. The surprise announcement was made at a press conference in central London…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Tory MP Douglas Carswell Defects to UKIP

by Isabel Hardman

This is a surprise for a number of reasons. The first is that Ukip had given all impressions that they’d stopped trying to tempt MPs over after talks with several backbenchers failed. The second is that Carswell had appeared increasingly loyal to David Cameron after the Prime Minister pledged to hold a referendum in the next Parliament. In a long address covering his dissatisfaction with politics and the Conservative party, Carswell told the press conference that he thought ‘they’re not serious about it’ and that the Prime Minister was only aiming to get sufficient changes that would get British voters to support staying in the European Union.

‘David Cameron has made up his mind, he wants to stay in. This is all about positioning for the election.’

Update, 11.15: Carswell has announced that he is forcing a by-election in his constituency. This is a real Black Swan moment for David Cameron…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Rotherham Child Sex Scandal: These Children Were Victims of ‘Anti-Racism’

by Daniel Hannan

At least — at least — 1,400 children were abused in Rotherham. The word “abuse” is flexible, but we are talking here, in some cases, of the nastiest forms of exploitation: gang rape, people trafficking, threats against girls’ families to ensure their compliance.

The council, we now learn, was more worried about promoting “community cohesion” than about protecting children. (This is the same council that removed children from Ukip-supporting foster parents.) The police, we now learn, acted against some of the men who attempted to rescue their daughters rather than against the abusers. (This is the same constabulary — South Yorkshire — that managed to find eight officers to search Cliff Richard’s house.)…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Tory Whips Tell MPs: We Will Fight Carswell Vigorously

by Isabel Hardman

The Tory whips have just sent their line-to-take on Douglas Carswell to MPs. Seen by Coffee House, the email repeats the Tory spokesman line that this is a ‘regrettable and frankly counter-productive decision’ as the only way to get a referendum is to vote Conservative…

[Reader comment by Ray Veysey on 28 August 2014.]

UKIPS Damnbusters have opened the first crack in the conservative damn, Apres Carswell le Deluge, j’espere (pas des accent dans la clavier Anglais)

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

Unblock Italy Covered Says Lupi

‘Justice reform to be both civil and penal’

(ANSA) — Rome, August 28 — The government’s Unblock Italy package to release entrepreneurial energies has the financial cover required by budget laws, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizo Lupi said Thursday. “I confirm the financial cover is there,” he said. As well, the government’s justice reform package will address both civil and penal law. “We still have 24 hours. I trust we will fit everything in,” Lupi said amid talks to finalise the plan for Friday’s key cabinet meeting.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Vikings Used Boat Timbers to Build Houses in Ireland

CORK, IRELAND—The results of the excavation of an eleventh-century Viking settlement in Cork show that the settlers reused the wooden planks from their long-boats to build jetties and houses in a marshy area of the River Lee. Mud and wattle walls, door posts, sections of the bow of a Viking ship, fragments of decorated hair combs, metal artifacts, coins, bronze clothing pins, shoe leather, fish bones and scales, and cat skulls were also recovered in the excavation. “We also found an ax head nearby which showed that they were working the wood for the jetty on site,” archaeologist Ciara Brett told The Irish Examiner.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Welsh UKIP MEP Urges Politicians Across Wales to Follow Douglas Carswell’s Lead and Defect

Welsh UKIP MEP Nathan Gill claims Conservatives do not trust David Cameron on Europe and want to leave the EU

Douglas Carswell’s shock defection from the Conservatives to Ukip was welcomed by the anti-EU party’s Welsh MEP.

Nathan Gill, from Llangefni, called for politicians across the party spectrum in Wales to follow Mr Carswell’s example and join Ukip.

Mr Gill, who won his seat in this year’s European elections, said Conservatives he spoke to were not excited by David Cameron’s plans to renegotiate the UK’s membership terms and instead wanted to leave the EU…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]
 

‘Yes’ Or ‘No’? a Divided Scotland Confronts Independence Vote

Traveling through Scotland, you might think the result of September’s independence referendum is a foregone conclusion. “Yes” signs are everywhere. But surveys tell a different story and many who are wary of the hype.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Jihadists Claim Responsibility for Four Beheadings

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 28 — A jihadist group active in the Sinai, Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, claimed responsibility for beheading four Egyptians in a video posted on YouTube. “They were agents of the Mossad,” said the jihadists, making reference to the Israeli intelligence agency. The bodies of four decapitated people were found last Wednesday in northern Sinai.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia Improves Security, But Terrorist Threat Remains

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, AUGUST 28 — The global index of security in Tunisia has returned to 2011 levels despite a continuing terrorist threat, the Tunisian government said Wednesday.

A report jointly released by the Tunisian ministers of the interior, defence and foreign affairs said 1360 arrests had been made in the fight against terrorism, among them 367 Tunisian jihadists returning from Syria. The report also said 129 investigations had been launched in just the last month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Factory and Lab: Israel’s War Business

Israel invests more money in research than most other countries — and in no other place are research institutes, the defense industry, the army and politics as interwoven. The result is a high-tech weapons factory that successfully exports its goods globally.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Erdogan: EU Membership Top Priority for Turkey

New Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says EU membership and democratic reforms are his main priorities, in his first speech as head of state. He took the oath of office earlier on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

GCC Rift Between Qatar and Other Members Grows Wider

Alarm expressed by media shortly before Jeddah meeting

(by Alessandra Antonelli) (ANSAmed) — DUBAI, AUGUST 28 — An unprecedented diplomatic spat between Qatar on one side and Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain on the other seems to be worsening two days ahead of a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting of foreign ministers that was to have asserted the success of the Riyadh Agreement.

The report that Saudi Arabia is drawing up and will present on August 30 at the Jeddah summit “could result in the escalation of the situation”, a Saudi source recently told the Al-Rai daily of Kuwait, the emirate trying to reconcile the two sides in recent months.

“The agreements seem to have remained a dead letter, and Riyadh has prepared a report that included its observations about what Doha did not implement,” a Saudi official told the Kuwaiti daily. “The Saudi observations are numerous.” The diplomatic row among the GCC members erupted last year amid accusations that Doha had harmed Gulf interests through “interfering” in the domestic politics of other countries and by being too soft on extremist groups and religious figures that were extremely critical of the political choices of the other three. An initial agreement for Qatar to pursue policies closer to those of other countries in the GCC was signed in November. Due to a lack of progress, in March Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain pulled their ambassadors out of Doha. The move was unprecedented both in terms of the seriousness of it and the negative publicity resulting for the regional bloc since its foundation in 1981. A new accord achieved the following month resulted in the first steps towards Qatar following through on its pledges to keep a tighter rein on its Al-Jazeera satellite broadcaster and to marginalize the dissidents speaking against neighboring countries from its territory. The rift between the two sides was also played out against the backdrop of Egypt, due to Qatar’s support for President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood he belonged to, as well as other groups that have been outlawed by the other three countries, including jihadist forces operating in the Syrian conflict. Doha has been open about its role in the release of the US journalist Peter Theo Curtis in recent days after he was held hostage for 22 months by the local Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria Jabhat Al-Nusra. The release came shortly after another US journalist taken hostage in Syria, James Foley, had been decapitated by the extremist Islamic State (IS/ISIS) group. Reports and statements made on the results of mediation attempts between the GCC members have been conflicting. The statements made by the Saudi sources — and Qatar’s reported refusal to sign the report saying it had complied with the terms of the agreement — are clear signs of rekindled tension. However, a Saudi delegation visited Qatar for a few hours on Wednesday. No details of what was said have been released.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Hollande Says Assad Cannot be Partner Against Terrorism

Calls Syrian president ‘objective ally of jihadists’

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, AUGUST 28 — French President Francois Hollande on Thursday told an audience of ambassadors gathered in Paris that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “cannot be a partner in the fight against terrorism” in Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State jihadists control various regions. “A broad alliance is needed, but things must be clear: Bashar al-Assad cannot be a partner in the fight against terrorism, as he is the objective ally of jihadists”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Hollande: Assad is No Anti-Jihadist Ally of West

President François Hollande declared on Thursday that Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad is not a partner of the West in the battle against Islamist extremists in Syria and Iraq, but an ally of the jihadists.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State ‘Executes Dozens of Syrian Soldiers’

A human rights monitoring body says the Islamic State group has executed dozens of Syrian soldiers. Supporters of the militants claim 200 soldiers were killed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Kuwait: Interior Source Denies IS Rumors

A security source at the Interior Ministry said rumors about the arrest of Islamic State elements headed by an Interior Ministry colonel at Nuwaiseeb border port are untrue.

Rumors on social networks, especially Twitter, exchanged rumors that security authorities arrested members of IS at Nuwaiseeb, and claimed that the head of the group is a colonel at the Interior Ministry.

It said that some of the suspects were in Riqqa and exchanged fire with police before their arrest near Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah airport.

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Lebanon Plans Law to Stem Growing Child Marriage Trend

In Muslim communities, it is usually 18 for men and between 14 and 17 for women; for Christian sects, the age varies between 16 to 18 for men and 14 to 18 for women. “But families can obtain an exception from a religious tribunal to allow earlier marriages,” Karam said.

In Muslim communities, that can permit the marriage of girls as young as nine.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

NGO Emergency Opens Refugee Health Centres in Northern Iraq

Kurdish authorities unable to provide basic services for all

(ANSA) Rome, August 28 — The Italian NGO ‘Emergency’ has opened a new health centre for refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan living in makeshift camps without access to basic services, Emergency said Thursday.

The Emergency team consisting of national and international staff is treating as many as 50 people a day in Kurdistan, where 700,000 refugees are being sheltered by Kurdish authorities, said the NGO in a statement.

Most of the people requiring medical attention are Christians and Yazidis from the city of Jalawla that has just been overrun by ISIS forces.

“When the ISIS militiamen took control of the city they went into the houses and took away eveything,” one refugee, identified only as M., was quoted as saying.

“I escaped with my brother and children because my husband is in the army and if they had known they surely would have killed us”.

“We all live in one tent with temperatures of 50 degrees, without drinking water and without electricity for at least eight hours a day, but at least we are alive”.

Emergency, led by warzone doctor Gino Strada, also has opened a health centre at Arbat in northern Iraq, where 3000 people who fled the fighting in Syria live.

In addition to basic medical assistance Emergency staff there carry out vaccinations and check on the nutritional status of children under five years old.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Opinion: Turkish Prime Minister at Erdogan’s Mercy

Turkey’s Ahmet Davutoglu replaces Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister as Erdogan enters the president’s office. But what’s good for Erdogan is a catastrophe for the country, writes DW’s Daniel Heinrich.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria Rebels Seize Border Crossing With Israel in the Golan Heights

Syrian rebels, including fighters from an al-Qa’ida-linked group, have seized control of a frontier crossing with Israel in the Golan Heights after heavy clashes with President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, activists and rebels said.

The capture of the post along Syria’s de facto border in the Golan held more symbolic than strategic value, but rebels said it would provide relief to nearby villages under siege by government troops.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an array of rebel fighters, including from the al-Qa’ida-linked Nusra Front and the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, took the crossing after heavy fighting that left at least 20 Syrian soldiers and an unknown number of rebels dead. There were also clashes in the towns of Jaba, Tal Kroum and Rawadi in Quneitra province.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey’s Erdogan Aims to Expand Presidential Power

As Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s first directly elected president, takes office, many say he won’t be able to fulfill his claim of representing all Turkish citizens. Critics also fear his autocratic reign.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UN Peacekeepers Hostage in Golan, IS Kills Syrian Soldiers

43 Fijin troops taken by rebels including Jabhat Al-Nusra

(ANSAmned) — BEIRUT/BAGHDAD — For the third consecutive time in just over a year, dozens of UN peacekeeping troops deployed in the Golan Heights were taken hostage on Thursday by anti-regime militias during fighting against Syrian government forces, as the Israeli army looked on. The rebel gros include the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra. The news came on the same day as that of a massacre of Syrian soldiers by the Islamic State (IS) — rival jihadists of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in control of vast areas between Syria and Iraq for the past several weeks — in the jihadist group’s stronghold of Raqqa. The news was corroborated by photos.

US airstrikes on IS positions in northern Iraq were also carried out during the day. Reports in local media unable to be independently verified say that Jabhat Al-Nusra has taken the UN peacekeepers hostage.

The Al-Qaeda affiliate took part in gaining control of the Quneitra border crossing on Wednesday alongside other rebel groups. The 43 peacekeepers in their hands are from Fiji, according to a statement issued by the UK presidency of the UN Security Council. The statement reports that 81 other Filipino peacekeepers are surrounded in their positions by “armed groups designated as terrorists by the Security Council and other non-state groups”. In March and May of last year, dozens of Filipino peacekeepers were taken hostage only to be released a few days later.

The over 150 regime soldiers killed by IS in the northern province of Raqqa had been taken prisoner in recent weeks in two separate battles between regime troops and IS over a base north of Raqaa and the military airport Tabqa, east of the provincial capital and stronghold of the group, where hundreds of jihadists and Syrian soldiers had reportedly already lost their lives. Government forces meanwhile continued their airstrikes on the eastern region Deir Az-Zor as jihadists massed their fighters to attack the military airport in the region, the last still held by President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Germany and US Voice Concern on Russian Troops in Ukraine

Germany and the US have lent weight to Ukraine’s claim that Russian troops are directly involved in opening up a new front in the conflict.

The fresh Western concern comes after Andriy Lysenko, a Ukrainian army spokesman, told press in Kiev on Wednesday (26 August) that Russian soldiers took part in a rebel attack on the town of Novoazovsk, near Crimea, in south-east Ukraine.

He added that Russian soldiers and armoured vehicles also crossed the border further north, near the Ukrainian town of Amrosievka.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukraine Reintroduces the Draft

After four months of battling pro-Russian rebels

(ANSA) — Rome, August 28 — Ukraine said Thursday it would restore the draft in October to keep up the fight against pro-Russian rebels in the east, after four months of fighting.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Higher Commissions, Fewer Passengers: The Struggle to Save Malaysia Airlines Deepens

IT HAS experienced more tragedy in a few months than most other airlines see in their entire lifetime of operations, and Malaysia Airlines is struggling to deal with the aftermath.

A photo posted on Twitter claiming to show a Malaysia Airlines flight from Australia last Friday paints a poignant picture of the harsh reality it’s facing.

Rows and rows of empty seats are seen, with just three passengers visible.

It’s predicted the airline is burning through its cash reserves at a rate of around $2.16 million per day as it struggles to survive, with bookings continuing to slide.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Malaysian Women Join Middle East Jihadists as ‘Comfort Women’, Reveals Intelligence Report

By Lee Shi-Ian

Malaysian women are believed to have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) forces to offer Jihad Al-Nikah or sexual jihad, senior intelligence officials told The Malaysian Insider.

Authorities confirmed that three Malaysian women have journeyed to the Middle East to join up with Isis forces.

Jihad Al-Nikah refers to a controversial concept where Sunni women allegedly offer themselves in sexual comfort roles to fighters for the establishment of Islamic rule.

The concept originated from a Wahhabi edict around 2013, that called for Sunni women supporters to come forward for sex jihad and boost the morale of fighters battling against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.

“These women are believed to have offered themselves in sexual comfort roles to Isis fighters who are attempting to establish Islamic rule in the Middle East.

“This concept may seem controversial but it has arisen as certain Muslim women here are showing sympathy for the Isis struggle,” an intelligence official told The Malaysian Insider.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said one of the Malaysian women had travelled to the Middle East in December last year.

“The woman, in her 30s, went to Turkey before meeting up with middlemen who helped her to complete her journey to Syria via land routes.

“Another Malaysian woman in her 40s is believed to have linked up with Isis forces sometime in April this year,” the source said.

The intelligence official said Malaysian women were not the only ones who were performing sexual jihad as there were also other Muslim women involved.

“Intelligence exchanged with other countries revealed that Sunni Muslim women from Australia and the United Kingdom had also joined up with Isis.”

The intelligence official said Isis had issued a decree or edict in June this year ordering for the conscription of Jihad Al-Nikah or sexual jihad.

“Shortly after the town of Mosul in Iraq was captured by Isis forces, people were ordered to send unmarried women to jihad for sex,” the intelligence official revealed.

“In its proclamation, Isis threatened to impose shariah law on all those who failed to comply with the edict or decree,” the official added.

The intelligence official said British counterparts had revealed that more than 600 British Muslims are believed to be fighting for Isis.

“This figure also includes British Muslim women who are not fighting on the front line, but are still involved by performing sexual jihad.

“Australian intelligence officials have revealed that more than 100 Australian Muslims are in Syria fighting alongside Isis,” the intelligence official said.

Although Putrajaya had initially revealed that about 30 Malaysians might have travelled to the Middle East to fight for Isis, the actual figure is believed to be higher.

“Checks with our foreign counterparts and intelligence disseminated reveal that there may be up to 50 Malaysians in the Middle East,” the official told The Malaysian Insider.

So far, three Malaysians have reportedly died in Syria while fighting against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mat Soh, 52, was reportedly killed after being hit by a tank shell during fierce fighting between Isis and Syrian forces last week.

In June, 26-year-old Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki died after a suicide incident which killed more than 20 Iraqi soldiers at their base in al-Anbar in May.

The identity of the third Malaysian who perished in the incident has yet to be confirmed by authorities here.

Since the conflict in Syria erupted in March 2011, more than 190,000 fatalities have been reported thus far, according to the United Nations.

The most gruesome murder occurred on August 20 when Isis released a footage of a jihadist, who spoke with a southern English accent, beheading American photojournalist James Foley.

Foley was captured in Syria in late 2012. The video footage showed him being murdered in the desert.

The video, entitled “A Message To America”, was posted on YouTube in a warning to US President Barack Obama over air strikes against the militants in Iraq.

Before he was killed, the 40-year-old war reporter was forced to read a statement that blamed America for his death. — August 27, 2014.

           — Hat tip: RR [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistan: Missing the Wood for the Trees

KARACHI: If short-sighted, no-holds-barred avarice has its way, the 1,400-plus conocorpus broadleaf trees planted in the triangular three-acre park diagonally opposite Dolmen Mall on Seaview road, in Kehkashan KDA Scheme 5, may soon suffer the same fate as the tens of thousands — possibly many more — trees that have been cut down all across the city to make way for hoardings.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Search Area for Missing MH370 ‘Refined’

The search area for missing Malaysian airliner MH370 has been ‘refined’ after a new clue to its location emerged, officials say. Malaysia and Australia have meanwhile agreed to split the costs of a new search phase.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Virus Mutating Rapidly as it Spreads

Outbreak likely originated with a single animal-to-human transmission.

Goba’s team confirmed that Ebola was probably imported to Sierra Leone by 12 people who attended the funeral in Guinea, and that the West African outbreak originated in a single event in which the virus passed from an animal into a person. Further comparisons suggest that the virus that caused the outbreak separated from those that caused past Ebola outbreaks about 10 years ago. It had accumulated more than 395 mutations between that time and June, when the researchers collected the last samples included in today’s analysis.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ebola Could Infect 20,000 People, WHO Says

More than 20,000 people could be infected in the latest Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organization says. Estimates show it could take up to nine months to halt the spread of the virus.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Ebola Case in Nigeria Brings Death Toll to 1,552

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa could infect more than 20,000 people, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday in a bleak assessment of the deadly disease.

The United Nations health agency issued a strategic plan to combat the oubreak in four West African nations where it said the actual number of cases could already be two to four times higher than the reported 3,069. The death toll stands at 1,552.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Alleged Human Smugglers Caught After Posting Selfie

About 440 migrants, many fleeing Gaza conflict, paid $1 million

(ANSA) — Pozzallo, August 28 — Police were able to arrest seven alleged human smugglers after one of them took a selfie on a boat crammed with more than 440 migrants that arrived in Italy, authorities said Thursday.

The accused, all Egyptians, were tracked after one posted a photo of the smiling group from their boat crammed with desperate migrants, including about 100 Palestinians fleeing war in Gaza, police said.

It’s believed that it took the smugglers about 13 days to collect enough migrants — who paid a total of $1 million — to stuff full the vessel.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Another 204 Immigrants Saved in Strait of Sicily

(AGI) Palermo, Aug. 28 — The Italian navy has rescued a large inflatable boat carrying 95 men, while the frigate Fasan has rescued 109 immigrants, among them five women and nine children.

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

France to Demand UK Help Ease Calais Crisis

France’s Interior Minister has dismissed the prospect of a new mass shelter in Calais to house homeless migrants trying to smuggle themselves into the UK. But the so-called top cop plans to ask British authorities to “accept their responsibilities” for the ongoing crisis.

Just days after Calais’s mayor called for putting up a temporary shelter for the hundreds of homeless, UK-bound migrants in her city, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve quashed the idea. Instead he favours encouraging migrants to seek asylum in France.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Navy Rescues 546 Migrants in Strait of Sicily

(AGI) Palermo, Aug 28 — Italian naval ships have rescued 546 migrants in the Strait of Sicily under the Mare Nostrum rescue programme. The patrol ship Sirio rescued 221 migrants, including 49 women and 73 minors, while the motorship Medea transferred 325 people, including 70 women and 122 minors to the corvette Fenice.

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

Italy: Opposition Slams Frontex Plus Amid New Migrant Landings

Sicilian coast guard finds empty boat caught in rocks

(ANSA) — Rome, August 28 — Opposition politicians on Thursday slammed Frontex Plus, the EU-led migrant search and rescue programme that is to replace Italy’s Mare Nostrum operation in November.

“The operation dreamt up by (Interior Minister Angelino) Alfano and (EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia) Malmstrom is the usual rip-off,” said Deputy Senate speaker Roberto Calderoli of the anti-immigrant Northern League, the day after Alfano announced that Mare Nostrum would be replaced by an expanded version of European Union border control agency Frontex.

Party colleague Nicola Molteni likewise called the new programme a “bluff” and a “farce” that would “continue to claim lives and cause thousands of illegal immigrants to arrive each day under a different name”.

Italy set up Mare Nostrum in October 2013 after 400 people perished in two migrant boat disasters off the coast of Sicily. However, in recent months the country has been calling for the EU to shoulder some of the burden of dealing with the influx of immigrants to Europe from war-torn north Africa and the Middle East, whose numbers have increased sharply since the start of the year. Meanwhile seven Egyptian nationals were detained in Sicily on Wednesday night on suspicion of trafficking 442 migrants to Italy, including around 100 Palestinians fleeing fighting in Gaza.

They arrived in Pozzallo on board a freighter after being rescued in the Sicily Channel. Investigators say the hazardous journey earned the traffickers around one million dollars. Separately, the Sicilian coast guard on Wednesday found an empty boat with Arabic on the side caught in rocks off the Agrigento coast. So far a police land search for the presumed migrant occupants has been unsuccessful. And on Thursday 407 migrants almost all of declared Syrian nationality arrived in the port of Brindisi in the southern Puglia region after being rescued off the coast of Libya.

A further 225 Syrian refugees were due to arrive in the Sicilian capital Palermo on Friday morning.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Mare Nostrum to be Replaced by Frontex Plus Says Alfano

After meeting with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Malmstrom

(ANSA) — Brussels, August 27 — Italy’s Mare Nostrum migrant search-and-rescue operation will be replaced by an expanded version of European Union border control agency Frontex, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Wednesday after meeting with EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.

“Mare Nostrum will be replaced by Frontex Plus, which will merge and expand existing operations,” the minister said.

“As well, human traffickers’ vessels will be destroyed so they can’t be reused,” Alfano added.

Italy set up Mare Nostrum in October 2013 after 400 people perished in two migrant boat disasters off the coast of Sicily. The operation costs nine million euros a month, taking up the bulk of the Navy’s budget. Italy has been calling for the EU to step in to shoulder some of the burden.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s Illegals Swamp Blue-Collar City in Massachusetts

President Barack Obama is dumping hundreds of Guatemalan migrants into the blue-collar town of Lynn, Mass., boosting its education costs, forcing cuts in government services, and helping raise rental prices for Americans, according to the city’s mayor.

Many “are illiterate in both English and Spanish [and] the odds of us getting them to pass a 10th grade math test are negligible,” Judith Flanagan Kennedy, the mayor of Lynn, told reporters Aug. 27.

Most of the city’s residents “are very afraid to speak publicly about it, because they don’t want to be branded as a racist,” Kennedy said.

But the voters tell her, via letters, emails and conversations, that “they are very concerned about the number of people coming in,” she said.

“They want to see it stopped. They’re glad I’m speaking up about it,” she said.

More than 1,200 supposed minors have enrolled in the town’s schools, including 538 new students in the 2013-14 school year, she said.

The new 538 students are part of the growing wave of Central American illegal migrants that have crossed the border to ask for asylum since 2010.

More than 125,000 low-skill migrants have been allowed into the country since last October. That number includes at least 60,000 “unaccompanied alien minors.” The minors include kids, youths and people masquerading as teenagers, most of whom are guided to the U.S. border by coyotes.

Once they cross the border, many of the Guatemalans migrate to Lynn because the city already had a population of Guatemalans before the wave began, she said. Migrants settle where they have friends, she added.

Federal officials have not said where the “family units” are being settled, pending the slow resolution of their asylum claims. Many of the migrants’ claims won’t be settled for several years.

The Department of Homeland Security won’t allow school officials to learn more about the migrants that arrive in Lynn, such as their age or even possible criminal records. Some of the migrants are clearly adults, Kennedy told reporters at an Aug. 27 press event in the National Press Club.

During 2013 enrollment, “we were seeing people with graying temples, people with more wrinkles around their eyes than I have,” she said.

The migrants have an incentive to lie about their age, because Obama is allowing Central Americans aged 18 or below to file for asylum.

They also have an incentive to enroll in schools. By registering in school, the migrants are forcing the city to declare they are aged 18 or below, which helps their legal claim for asylum, residency and, eventually, citizenship.

The city’s truant officers can visit their homes when they don’t show up for school, Kennedy said. One woman at a student’s home told an truant officer that the so-called student “is 35 years of age, he’s not going to show up at school,” said Kennedy.

The city’s drop-out rate is rising, partly because some migrants quit school for work, she said. “We’ve had one of these students drop out four times already … [and] we see a lot of problem coming down the road.”

Many of the migrants are so unprepared for school that they’re dragging down Lynn’s apparent school performance, which threatens performance-based funding from the state, she said.

When “one gentleman presented his [enrollment] papers, he presented an arrest warrant,” she said. School officials called immigration officials, who have declined to say what became of that supposed student.

None of the students “come in with any criminal record history, so we have no way of knowing if they have been in trouble criminally in their home countries,” she said. “I think that poses a danger for my children and my community at large.”

[…]

[Return to headlines]
 

Obama Crafts Legal Rationale for Immigration Steps

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is crafting a blame-it-on-Congress legal justification to back up President Barack Obama’s impending executive actions on immigration.

Facing an expected onslaught of opposition, the administration plans to argue that Congress failed to provide enough resources to fully enforce U.S. laws, thereby ceding wide latitude to White House to prioritize deportations of the 11.5 million people who are in the country illegally, administration officials and legal experts said. But Republicans, too, are exploring their legal options for stopping Obama from what they’ve deemed egregious presidential overreaching.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Peña Nieto in California: “Immigration Reform is a Matter of Justice”

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto greeted members of the Mexican-American immigrant community, “the other Mexico” as he calls them, for the first time during his term of office on Monday. Beginning his two-day official visit to California — the richest and most populous American state, where one-third of residents are of Mexican descent — Mexico’s leader thanked the state for passing laws that have improved the lives of immigrants in California over the last three years. Given the demographic changes taking place in the country, he said, the rest of the United States will follow California’s example.

“Immigration reform is a matter of justice for those who contribute so much to the development of American society,” the president said in a speech to 700 people at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. All leaders of Los Angeles’ Mexican-American community were in attendance, including important Mexican California business leaders, directors of immigrant groups, and cultural and political figures.

Proposals to change certain immigration laws and grant legal status to the country’s 11 million undocumented residents are the community’s big concern. The US Senate passed an immigration reform bill with the backing of various groups from both parties.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tent Cities Considered for Austria’s Refugees

Austria’s interior ministry says that it is no longer ruling out tent cities for refugees. On Thursday, the ministry told the Austrian Press Agency that the number of refugees has “massively” increased in the past few weeks.

It called on Austrian aid organisations to help organise accommodation.

The number of asylum applications would increase by 50 percent this August, according to the ministry. “The humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East is reaching Austria in full force,” said ministry representatives.

Last week, there were 610 asylum applications and another 127 applications just on Wednesday this week, they said. The majority of the refugees came from Syria.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Breast Cancer-Abortion Link Frenzy

A Mexican wave of moral indignation swept through the chattering class this month in Australia when the hypothesis was raised of a link between abortion and breast cancer. We heard, in shrill tones, that claims of such a link are “factually incorrect” (blogger Mia Freedman), “absurd” (Simon Breheny of the IPA) and even “an insult to all women” (Greens MP Adam Bandt). With the arrival this week of breast surgeon and cancer researcher Dr Angela Lanfranchi to speak to this hypothesis, we can expect a resurgence of this rage.

Yet no such public frenzy occurred when the closest male equivalent — a correlation between vasectomy and prostate cancer — was proposed only last month. Why is it a slur against women to consider a link between abortion and breast cancer, but no slur against men to suggest that vasectomy might be linked to prostate cancer? Both hypotheses remain unproven, plagued by conflicting evidence, yet both deal with grave medical issues that demand ongoing dispassionate research.

Consider last month’s publication on prostate cancer in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. It was a 24 year follow-up study and concluded, “Our data support the hypothesis that vasectomy is associated with a modest increased incidence of lethal prostate cancer”. Yet look back over that 24 year period and you will see that the vasectomy-prostate cancer hypothesis has waxed and waned, just like the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis…

[Return to headlines]
 

How Fish Can Learn to Walk

Land-raised bichirs provide insight into evolutionary pressures facing first vertebrates to live on land.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

12 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/28/2014

  1. Frontex? Isnt’ that the stuff they put in your radiators & boiler pipes to prevent freezing & corrosion?

  2. Love Jihad (India), Sexual Jihad, FGM, Child Grooming and Rape Gangs (UK), 72 Houri (Virgins) for martyrs: In the 90s, in Israel I started referring to ‘Palestinian’ terrorism as a manifestation primarily of sexual perversion. Okay, sexual perversion rooted in the ‘desert aesthetic’ of pure austerity….nothingness (Nihilism)–aka ISLAM.

  3. I don’t know what to make of UKIP they seem to give out mixed messages.
    Douglas Carswell MP who defected to UKIP is a founding member of the The Conservative Friends Of Turkey Association who lobby for Turkish membersip of the EU. So how can Douglas Carswell join a party dedicated to leaving the EU while supporting membership of a foreign country?

    Also with regards to Immigration this is what he had to say:

    “On the subject of immigration, let me make it absolutely clear; I’m not against immigration. The one thing more ugly than nativism is angry nativism.”

    It seems UKIP is not as patriotic as they would like as to believe.

  4. Yes, Carswell’s friend and colleague, Daniel Hamman, a Conservative (?) MEP and blogger at The Telegraph seems to interject supportive comments of Turkey…and in surprising and/or shocking contexts! Like here: (see penultimate paragraph) http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100282837/yes-we-do-sometimes-give-israel-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-and-for-good-reasons/

    Now, I understand: this Conservative and UKIP group of Euroskeptic Friends of Turkey. Mighty strange!!

  5. antiythera

    I think you are perhaps putting the cart before the horse.

    Within the UK, before any meaningful policies can be put in place to deal with the threat of Islam, the UK has to firstly and unconditionally withdraw from the EU. For as long as the UK remains a member of the EU, it does not have control over its own borders or the legislation that governs it. Therefore, withdrawal from the EU is paramount before any meaningful policies can be put in place to deal with the threat and the menace of Islam.

    I agree that UKIP does not currently advocate anything coherent to deal with Islam. But at this point in time, our primary goal has to be to cut ourselves free from the authoritarianism of the EU – otherwise, no meaningful change can be made. For as long as the UK is subject to the dictates of the EU socialist commisioners in Brussels, any talk of dealing with Islam is just that – it’s just talk. UKIP currently represents the best chance of the UK leaving the EU, as neither of the three main parties in the UK have any interest in doing so.

    At this critical point in time, realism is more valuable than idealism. We have to work on the basis of what can actually be achieved, as opposed to what we would like to be achieved.

  6. http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-28982803

    Many Mos in Europe….

    Islamic disease spreading everywhere fast. We need to get our act together. Where Islam goes, death, destruction, barbarism, degradation of women to animal status, institutionalised cruelty, total annhilation of creativity, suppression of any dissent, pedophilia, sexual/love Jihad …. This cult will create a barbarian empire on earth unless we stop it.

    First thing is that we need bastions—need to completely stop Islamic immigration into those bastions, and then fight our war from there. The US MUST be one of those bastions, otherwise the war is lost already.

  7. “An Egyptian jihad group in the Sinai known as Ansar Bait al-Maqdis have beheaded four people, whose headless bodies were later discovered. The group announced that the victims had been agents of the Mossad.”

    Psalm 83 King James Version (KJV)

    83 Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

    2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

    3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

    4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

  8. There’s been a fair bit of discussion about psalm 83 recently, and one of the things that keeps tripping people up is – who are the hidden ones? It seems fairly obvious to me that it’s Mossad agents – the enemy is going to kill a few of those “hidden ones”.

  9. Baron, Dymphna,

    I think this deserves some exposure on your blog.

    A laptop found in Syria belonging to an IS operative, who also holds degrees in Physics and Chemistry, details plans to use bubonic plague as a WMD:

    http://www.ibtimes.com/seized-isis-laptop-syria-contains-plans-bubonic-plague-weapons-1673638

    “It also contains a 26-page fatwa, or Islamic ruling, proclaiming the use of chemical weapons to be acceptable against kafirs, or non-believers.”

    This is getting scarier by the minute. I hope Obama is satisfied with his golf swing by now, since we really need him to ACT NOW! Waiting a year longer I think will be like the scene in Alien where the thing finally becomes big and invincible.

    • Yog-

      I don’t know how stable these microbes are in captivity but I do think the laptop was meant to be found so we would all be properly terrified. They have to dispense such a thing so that they themselves are not mutually infected. Yes, they love death, but if possible, someone else’s…

      • Dympha,

        I had considered that possibility, but there is a piece in there that the material was stored in a way that at first sight the drive seemed to be empty. That’s what led me to believe this was actually some serious plan, and not a empty threat. Plus remember that the owner has a background in physics and chemistry.

        One more thing is that the most wanted (by them) person around is supposedly “Lady Al Qaeda”–MIT educated paki Ms. Aafia Siddiqui. Why they want her so bad is not known. But something around science is happening over there.

        We should be extremely vigilant. These guys are not stupid. On the contrary, they seem to be one step ahead in coming up with these schemes.

        Is there some way you guys can stop pakistani/muslim enrollment into higher science/technology programs in the US?

        • Yogji asks of the Americans who are both patriotic and awake this prescient question:

          >”Is there some way you guys can stop pakistani/muslim enrollment into higher science/technology programs in the US?”

          Such an action is a practical impossibility prior to some type of official declaration that Islam is a cult rather than a religion, or to the effect that it is a hostile political ideology, analogous to National Socialism during the WWII era.

          Whatever declaration was made would have to stand up to scrutiny by the federal courts.

          Considering that the top leaders of both major parties in the legislative branch, and in the executive branch of the federal government, are suspected of being on the petrodollar payroll, that the federal judiciary is statistically to the left of the other two federal branches, that the American academy is funded to a significant extent by petrodollars, and that the enemedia is partially owned by petrodollar investment, the type of sea change in elite opinion necessary for such a declaration even to be contemplated seriously, let alone issued, is well beyond what is currently imaginable.

          In short, we would first have to enjoy a round of elections that totally scrapped our current elected federal leadership, and did not replace them with anyone of similar opinion (or corruptibility).

          Such an election would require a massive political awakening on the part of the common people, which to date has yielded some early glimmers of emerging, but which was demonstrably not triggered by the 911 atrocities 13 years ago.

          I suspect that an atrocity which is openly Islamic in motivation and which claims the lives of 10,000+ Americans will have to befall our nation before the necessary level of political maturity is reached.

          A plausible alternative would be at least two atrocities, committed either simultaneously or in quick succession, each of which is on a scale with 911, or larger.

          These grisly scenarios are my estimates just for the necessary election results to occur. So we are talking about a delay of 2 and-a-half to 6 and-a-half years before any possible political leaders were seated to allow meaningful reform to begin.

          There is a tricky balance involved in the Mohammedans’ actions, for a biological or nuclear attack against the United States that produces 100,000+ fatalities would be certain to yield some significant countermeasures, even with the legislative leadership currently in place (including the otherwise-unimaginable impeachment of the current terror-enabler-in-chief Soetoro).

          But such a catastrophe would, in my opinion, be certain to produce a declaration of martial law that would result, at a minimum, in “right wing” radio talk show hosts being taken off the air, and counter-jihadists, such as the Barron and Dymphna, being taken off the internet.

          In the absence of the radio shows and the counter-jihad websites, of course, the education and dialog necessary to plan a correct new course of national action will not be forthcoming.

          Barry Soetoro and Attorney General Eric Holder will probably release Aafia Siddiqui on some pretext or other before the former’s term of office expires in January 2017.

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