Coal miners who used to be supporters of President Obama have turned against him in protest over the administration’s environmental policies. A few days ago the president of the United Mine Workers of America was arrested along with other members of his union during a march on the Federal Building in Pittsburgh. The miners were protesting new EPA regulations which may shut down a number of coal-fired power plants.
In other news, European leaders gathered today in Liège to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the start of World War One.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Egghead, Fjordman, Phyllis Chesler, 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.
Greece: 7,500 Doctors Have Left in Six Years
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — During the last six years, because of the economic crisis, a large number of Greek doctors have migrated to Europe and other continents as GreekReporter website writes. Figures of the largest medical association of Greece, the Athens Medical Association, show that more than 7,340 doctors have left Greece during the past six years because of serious problems in the Greek healthcare system.
From 2010 onwards, the number of doctors who leave Greece seeking a better job abroad is constantly increasing. It is estimated that 5,406 physicians have migrated abroad since 2011.
The United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden are the most popular destination among Greek doctors who decide to leave Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker: Eurozone Crisis Not Over
The European Commission’s president-elect Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that Europe has yet to beat the eurozone crisis. In his visit to Greece, the former Luxembourg premier praised Athens’ efforts to rein in its debt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal Rescues Third Largest Bank, Testing Euro Zone Resilience
Portugal has announced it will spend €4.9 billion to rescue its largest listed bank, testing the euro zone’s resilience to another banking crisis just months after Lisbon exited an international bailout.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Portugal Gives Banco Espirito Santo 4.9-Billion-Euro Bailout
Just a few months after exiting an EU bailout program, Portugal has said it will bail out its third largest banking group, Banco Espirito Santo (BES). The bank reported record losses in the first half of 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic League News Release: Obama Praises Muslims for Human Rights
Bill Donohue comments on President Obama’s remarks last night at the White House honoring Eid-al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan:
Last night the president said that Eid “reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” He would have done us a service had he enumerated them. “That is why we stand with people of all faiths,” he continued, “here at home and around the world, to protect and advance their rights to prosper, and we welcome their commitment to giving back to their communities.”
No, Mr. President, you do not stand with “people of all faiths” in protecting and advancing human rights. As you speak, Christians are being beheaded all over the Middle East because they are Christians, and those carrying out this mass murder are doing so in the name of Islam. Yet you continue to say and do absolutely nothing about these unspeakable crimes. Do Christian lives mean so little to you?
When I type “President Obama Speaks Out,” or “Speaks Against,” in the search engines of Bing, Google, and Yahoo, the sentence automatically closes with such objects as “Trayvon Martin,” “Kanye West,” “Fox News,” and “Bullying.” I can search in vain to find you condemning the genocidal slaughter of Christians by Muslims.
Ditto for Jews. Muslim terrorists are killing Jews in Israel and their representatives have pledged to wipe Jews off the face of the earth. Yet your administration spends most of its time lecturing Israelis to be patient. About what? Being bombed because they are Jews? Do Jewish lives mean so little to you?
No one wants you to insult Muslim Americans in the White House, but you had an opportunity to at least call on them to speak out about what their people are doing in the Middle East, and you blew it. Instead, you decided to patronize them for all their contributions to human rights.
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Coal Miners Union in Full Revolt After Supporting Obama in 2008
It’s unlikely that United Mine Workers of America president Cecil Roberts thought he would be arrested protesting the energy policies of the very politician his union supported in 2008. But things have come full circle for coal miners, who now see President Obama’s climate agenda threatening their livelihoods.
Roberts and other UMWA members were arrested Thursday marching through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, towards the federal building where the Environmental Protection Agency was holding field hearings for a new rule that could very well force more coal mines and plants to shut down.
Roberts was leading about 5,000 coal miners, their families and supporters to show the EPA that coal miners, boilermakers, electric workers and other unions did not support the Obama administration’s new regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
The refusal of some Africans to believe Ebola exists, even while their friends and relatives drop dead from the disease, might astonish many Americans. Some might even attribute it to what they see as the backward and primitive nature of certain West African societies.
And yet a substantial number of Americans continue to insist there is no such thing as manmade global warming. How different is their attitude from that of those Africans who refuse to believe in Ebola?
[Egghead: Look ma, ebola proves the existence of manmade global warming! Yeesh!]
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
James S. Brady: Symbol of Fight for Gun Control, Dies at 73
James S. Brady, the White House press secretary who was wounded in an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and then became a symbol of the fight for gun control, championing tighter regulations from his wheelchair, died on Monday in Alexandria, Va. He was 73.
Jennifer Fuson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Brady’s organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, confirmed the death.
| [Return to headlines] |
Jon Voight Pens Angry Letter to Spanish Stars Over Israel-Bashing
Calling himself “more than angry,” actor Jon Voight penned an open letter in response to several Spanish stars’ condemnation of Israel in its current battle with Hamas in Gaza.
The letter, published in The Hollywood Reporter, accuses actors Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem and director Pedro Almodovar of inciting anti-Semitism worldwide while being oblivious to its effects.
Voight has spoken in favor of Israel at public rallies and has been critical of the Obama administration’s policy in the current conflict. His letter was a response to the trio, who joined other Spanish entertainers in denouncing Israel in a manifesto, according to Europa Press.
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and His Islamists Friends
Islam was, in fact, partially responsible for the creation of our U.S. Navy and Marine Corp; especially instrumental were they in the Marine Corp hymn “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli…” It was in Tripoli that the Muslims signed the treaty of their defeat. Our first three presidents fought the Muslim Barbary pirates of north Africa, with their newly created Navy, ending a policy whereby we previously had paid 20% of our federal budget in tribute (or ransom) to the Muslim kidnappers of merchant ships in order to buy their safety.
According to the New York Times, since 2003, European nations have paid over $125 million in ransom to Muslim terror groups just to get vacationing tourists back home alive. It continues today, yet to talk about in polite company seems to be taboo, like showing off pictures of aborted fetuses to the pro choice crowd. Most people, it seems, just can’t handle the truth. It’s easier, I guess, to ignore it — turn a blind eye — than to do anything about it.
If Muslims or Islam had any influence on early America it was through the African-American slave. African slaves came to America as forced converts to Islam, having been conquered, kidnapped and enslaved after having their villages and families were slaughtered by Islamic jihadists. Islam was then, and is now, fueled by the treasure they steal upon conquest and the slaves they are able to sell after the slaughter. For every slave taken, ten others were murdered. This was the economy of the desert nations long before black gold was pumped to the surface. That is the long and short of the Muslim influence in America. Anything else is simply made up to pollute the minds of school children and the gullible.
Since 9-11 where America lost 3,000 mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, the world has experienced 22,000 new acts of terror, nearly 5 per day, with another 3,000 perishing every two weeks. Every two weeks, the equivalent of the Twin Towers falls somewhere and another 3,000 precious lives are taken from us; yet we don’t weep, and we dare to allow this campaign for world domination be referred to as peaceful, even when its own book tells us otherwise. Qur’an 47:4 “Do not hanker for peace with the infidels; behead them when you catch them.”
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
The Ben Rhodes Story: How a Hack Writer Crafted the Benghazi Talking Points of a Lifetime
Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Benghazi Select Committee, said this week that no witnesses are off limits in his committee’s investigation into the Benghazi cover-up. So who will he subpoena? Here’s a suggestion: How about Ben Rhodes.
Ben Rhodes, the 37-year old little brother of CBS News president David Rhodes, is a national security adviser to President Obama. He also happens to be an Upper East Side literary type who took a Master’s in Fiction from NYU. Real serious artist. Rhodes was the one who edited the White House’s Benghazi talking points to focus the blame on spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video, rather than an al-Qaeda attack.
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Comet-Mapping Rosetta Spacecraft Prepares for Duty
If all goes to plan, this week we should be getting our first close-up look at a brand new world. On Wednesday 6 August, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will rendezvous with the comet it has been chasing for the past 10 yearsMovie Camera. Mapping and landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be a challenge unlike anything space explorers have faced before.
Because the comet’s gravity is so weak, Rosetta will initially manoeuvre around it in a series of controlled triangles. These will start at a distance of 100 kilometres and move closer in over the next few weeks as ESA learns more about the comet’s structure. Eventually it will enter a proper orbit determined only by gravity, getting as close as 10 kilometres.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Floating Northern Lights Hotel Planned in Norway
A unique eco-luxury hotel is set to be built in Norway and will become Europe’s first floating hotel under the Northern Lights.
The Krystall hotel will be located just outside of Tromsø. It will feature a snowflake design that will float on the surrounding Norwegian waters, while the largely glass structure will allow guests to enjoy the wonders of the Northern Lights above.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Friday Sermon at Italian Mosque: Kill the Jews to the Very Last One
In a Friday sermon in northern Italy, Sheik Abd Al-Barr Al-Rawdhi prayed to Allah to “count (the Jews) one by one and kill them to the very last one.” Al-Rawdhi, leading the prayers at Al-Rahma Mosque in San Donà di Piave, the Province of Venice, called upon Allah to “turn their food to poison and make the air they breathe blazing hot.” The sermon was posted on the Internet on July 29, 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Genes More Important Than Environment for Mental Illness: Study
Living in a disadvantaged area does not increase your risk to develop mental illness, according to a new Swedish study. Genes are a much more important factor.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Auditors Place Wealthy Depositors Under General Suspicion
Greece’s aggressive pursuit of suspected tax evaders has gotten a significant boost. Auditors now have full access to bank information on 1.2 million wealthy Greeks. But their investigation could take a while.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Europe’s Rosetta Spacecraft Will Arrive at Comet Wednesday
After a decade-long trek across the solar system, a European spacecraft named Rosetta is about to do something none of its predecessors have done before: orbit a comet.
On Wednesday, Aug. 6, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spaceraft is expected to arrive around the nucleus of comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, ending a 4-billion-mile (6.4 billion kilometers) journey. For the mission’s controllers, the historic rendezvous will mark the end of a careful, years-long game of catch-up.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Leaders Gather in Liege to Remember Outbreak of WWI
Once adversaries, now allies, leaders of Europe have marked the 100-year anniversary of WWI. The lessons of that war still apply to today as aggressors infringe on territorial rights and individual freedoms, they warned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One Third of New Swedish Nurses Choose Norway
Despite a shortage of nurses in many parts of Sweden, last year 1,300 Swedish nurses obtained Norwegian nursing licenses — one third of all the nurses who graduated in Sweden during the year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Prominent UK Medical Journal: Letters From ‘Israeli Academics’ Not Welcome
by Phyllis Chesler
The once premier British medical journal The Lancet has, once again, engaged in an outrageous Blood Libel against Israel— but, unlike its previous attacks on Israel, the journal has told an Israeli doctor that letters of rejoiner from “Israeli academics” will not be published.
In an article titled “An Open Letter for the People of Gaza,” it describes the violence between the terrorist group Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces in highly biased, inaccurate, and defamatory ways. It was authored by Paola Manduca, Iain Chalmers, Derek Summerfield, Mads Gilbert, and Swee Ang “on behalf of 24 signatories.”
The Lancet has done this before—but this time, they will not publish any genuinely scientific and medical letters of rejoinder. They have, in fact, just rejected Dr. Boris Yoffe’s letter. Professor Yoffee is the head of the division of surgery at the “Barzilai” University Medical Center in Ashkelon, in southern Israel. The Lancet editors told him that letters by “Israeli academics” are not welcome.
A dangerous season of Orwellian censorship is upon us. I am reminded of how swiftly German Christian physicians took over all the German Psycho-analytic Societies which were formerly headed by Jewish doctors—and of course, I remember Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s work on the Nazi doctors. Simply because someone has an advanced degree of some kind or has won a Nobel Prize in no way inoculates them from the most vulgar common prejudices…
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Nurses Going to Work in Norway
Despite a shortage of nurses in Sweden, felt especially during the summer, a third of all new Swedish nurses are choosing to work in Norway, mostly because of salary, stress and working hours.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mysterious Lake in Tunisian Desert Turns From Turquoise to Green Sludge
The lake appeared in the Tunisian desert like a mirage; one minute there was nothing but scorching sand, the next a large expanse of turquoise water. For locals, roasting in the 40C heat, the temptation to cool off in the inviting water quickly overcame any fears about the mysterious pool.
“Some say it is a miracle, while others are calling it a curse,” Lakhdar Souid, a Tunisian journalist, told France 24 television.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
After the Arab Spring: The Return of the Generals
After the uprisings of 2011, the Arab world seemed to be moving towards democracy, but the recent resurgence of strongmen have illustrated just how deep certain divides still are — and how desperate people are for stability.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq Offers Kurds Air Support in North
Iraq’s air force will provide support for Kurdish forces battling Islamist militants in the north of the country. Kurds suffered heavy weekend losses to fighters from the Islamic State organization, losing two towns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Monuments Men: The Quest to Save Syria’s History
While the civil war in Syria has killed tens of thousands of people, it has also destroyed countless of the country’s ancient treasures. Now a number of Syrians are trying to save what artifacts they can — and are risking their lives to do so.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Sanctions Force Aeroflot to Suspend Low-Cost Airline
Western sanctions against Moscow have dealt the Kremlin a conspicuous blow, forcing the state-owned airline Aeroflot to cancel all flights of its budget subsidiary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ebola Outbreak: End of Epidemic in Sight, Says Scientist
The end of the Ebola epidemic may be in sight, with the disease already peaking in the county where the outbreak originated, the Department for International Development’s chief scientist has claimed.
Chris Witty, a DFID advisor and Professor of Public and International health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said Guinea had already seen the worst of the outbreak and cases were now beginning to decrease.
Although the number of infections is continuing to rise in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Prof Witty said the situation was likely to peak soon and then the epidemic would begin to decline. “The outbreak is very unusual,” he said in a podcast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria Confirms Doctor as Second Ebola Case
Nigerian authorities have confirmed the country’s second case of Ebola case as a doctor who treated a deceased Ebola patient at the end of July. Three more medical staff are also showing symptoms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cold Paradise: US Struggles With Wave of Underage Immigrants
Fleeing violence back home, tens of thousands of children and youth are fleeing Central America for the United States, many unaccompanied by a parent. The influx has bent US asylum policy to the breaking point.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Health-care workers and Border Patrol agents, plus their children, have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB), swine flu, chicken pox, lice and scabies. Instead of being quarantined, illegal border crossers are being dispersed rapidly across the U.S., with those of school age being registered in public schools opening soon for all.
The Border Patrol Council reports that 75 percent of illegal border crossers are from countries around the globe, other than Mexico. They are bringing diseases not common to, or eradicated from, the U.S.
Americans have a right to straight talk about risks. Americans deserve a government focused first on protecting the health and safety of American citizens. Reckless disregard for health is not humane.
[Egghead: Everyone REALLY should read the entire article for the list of dread diseases!]
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
More Pressure on Greece’s Border With Turkey
After a temporary respite in the number of irregular immigrants seeking to make their way into Europe through Greece’s land and sea border with Turkey, recent data show a dramatic shift in migration patterns, as daily Kathimerini online reports. Figures show a clear growth trend. In the first seven months of the year, Greek authorities arrested 15,104 undocumented migrants trying to enter the country via Turkey, marking a 143.6% increase over the previous year. The situation is exacerbated by thousands of Syrian refugees trying to escape the violence in the Middle East, making their way from Turkey to Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rick Perry: Record Number of Illegals From Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan Being Caught at Border
On Sunday’s State of the Union on CNN, Perry said the “historic record highs” of individuals from “countries that have substantial terrorist ties” threaten America’s national security.
Perry also said that since 2008, 203,000 illegal immigrants have been put in Texas’ jails, and those illegal immigrants “have been responsible for 3,000 homicides and almost 8,000 sexual assaults.”
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic League News Release: Library of Congress Looks Bad
Bill Donohue comments on a presentation offered on July 31 at the Library of Congress, “The Book and the Reformation,” sponsored by the Rare Book and Special Collections Division:
It is hardly inappropriate to sponsor an event on the Reformation, but there is something offensive going on when the Library of Congress flags it in a particularly anti-Catholic way. To be specific, the flyer shows a drawing of the pope as Satan; an inscription above reads, “Ego sum Papa,” or “I am the Pope.” To view the flyer click here.
It is not certain what the summer intern [Junior Fellow Yoshi Hill] will say in his presentation, but it is clear that someone at the Library of Congress has done this prestigious institution a disservice. Someone should be held accountable for this bigoted flyer.
[Egghead: It appears to me that the explicit label of the Satanic creature being the Pope was ADDED to the original image.]
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Donohue comments on how the Library of Congress has handled complaints about the flyer for its presentation on the Reformation scheduled for July 31:
The first reaction to our earlier news release on this subject was defensive and sophomoric. We received a phone call from the chief of the Rare Books Division saying he has been “inundated” with criticism by people who are upset with a “600-year-old image” that he says is not anti-Catholic. He failed to say why a drawing of the pope as Satan might not be seen as offensive. If I were to draw a picture of his loved ones depicting them as Satan, perhaps a light bulb would go off in his head. Perhaps.
The second reaction was more mature: the bigoted depiction of the pope as Satan has been deleted. Click here to see the revised flyer. They could have saved themselves a lot of angst had they acted more responsibly in the first place.
One more thing: Mr. Rare Books who called our office ended his conversation by asking, “Is the Catholic League connected to Bill Donohue?” When he found out the answer, he replied, “That explains a lot.” And it explains a lot about him that he has to be told how to do his job.
[Egghead: Can you imagine the Muslim furor if the Library of Congress had labeled a picture of Mohammed as Satan?! What would CAIR have said?!]
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Military Can’t Do Churches … But ‘Gay’ Parades OK?
“Whether it’s erasing a Bible verse on a white board or the banning of pocket-sized Gideon Bibles from an Air Force base, our military service members, under the Obama administration, have experienced an unprecedented rise in the suppression of their religious speech,” said Family Research Council president Tony Perkins. “Members of the Missouri National Guard are now finding out that even associating with church members is enough to trigger a secularist clampdown.”
While churches and Christian organizations routinely been treated harshly by the U.S. military under the Obama administration, it’s a completely different story for LGBT events and organizations.
“It was only last month when President Obama authorized an eight-member military honor guard to march alongside half-clothed people and transvestites in Washington, DC’s gay pride parade,” Perkins points out. “These honor guards are typically reserved for the President, Congress and other state functions.”
With a presidency that touts equality and anti-discrimination banners, Perkins is amazed at what he sees as an extreme bias that celebrates secular, pro-homosexual groups while demonizing Christian, pro-family groups.
[Egghead: There are NOT enough LGBT people to staff a military, but there are enough LGBT people to drive Christian heterosexuals away from the military. Then, the elites can staff the military 1) with foreign nationals or ‘Americans’ with foreign allegiances, and 2) with a national draft of ‘enemies’ of Democrats. Be warned, in due time, the invisible men WILL be coming after our young and middle aged adult children via a national draft.]
| — Hat tip: Egghead | [Return to headlines] |
I don’t understand for the life of me why these people voted for Obama. He made it perfectly clear before the election he was going to smash the coal industry. Now he’s doing it, they’re surprised?
“In an article titled “An Open Letter for the People of Gaza,” it (the Lancet) describes the violence between the terrorist group Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces in highly biased, inaccurate, and defamatory ways….” Just like the BBC in fact. I watch the world service on a daily basis and have witnessed the coverage of the Gaza war become increasingly anti Israeli and pro arab. Are they being threatened or bribed?