The Islamic State called on its supporters to utilize social media to find the addresses of the families of American military personnel, go to their homes, and slaughter them. The Army has warned soldiers to take precautions to protect their families, and to keep personal data off public sites. Fortunately the situation, although worrisome, has nothing to do with Islam.
In other news, authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran hanged a former professor for committing heresy. The unfortunate man made the mistake of telling his students that the prophet Jonah could not possibly have emerged from the belly of the whale. The incident had nothing to do with Islam.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, RR, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Greece: Unpaid Electrical Bills Amount to 1.7 Billion Euros
The debts will increase to 2 billion by the end of the year
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 1 — As of the end of June, the Greek public power company DEI is owed about 1.7 billion euros, which it intends to claim back through the courts as daily To Vima online reports today. Prior to the introduction of the special tax on electrified real estate (Eetide) in 2012, unpaid electrical bills amounted to less than 300 million euros.
As a result though many customers were unable to pay the tax and ended up not paying their electricity bills at all. Even though the government later tried to improve the tax, customers were still unable to pay as necessary. Based on DEI’s data, unpaid bills amounted to 1.4 billion euros at the start of the year and increased to 1.7 billion by the end of June.
About 950 million euros is attributed to households, 430 million euros to high voltage users and a further 180 million euros is owed by the greater public sector. At this rate, the power company has estimated that unpaid bills will amount to 2 billion euros by the end of the year. In order to curb this increase, DEI has assigned the collection of 20,000 unpaid bills to experienced legal service providers.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Naples Activists Gear Up for Rally Against Central Bank
Tell shopkeepers and residents not to fear, ‘ECB more dangerous’
(ANSA) — Naples, October 1 — Activists were gearing up Wednesday for a march to protest a meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Naples. Activists called on the unemployed, the under-employed, students, and like-minded people to join the rally against the European leaders’ handling of the economic crisis “with the complicity of governments”. They said that they were particularly concerned about the troika, involving the European Union, the ECB, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has imposed harsh conditions on some countries in economic trouble.
The troika’s involvement in Greece, for example, has been controversial.
Organizers of Thursday’s protest told residents and shopkeepers along the route not to be afraid.
“We have heard of commercial activities or services that are thinking of closing for fear of who knows what, of the coming of who knows what catastrophe,” wrote organizers from Movements of Campania Against the ECB on social network pages. “Don’t let yourselves be swayed by the press or by the rumours. In the streets, there will be thousands of Neapolitans like you, who have been suffering the crisis for years and only want to demonstrate against the real culprits”. “In reiterating the invitation to take to the streets (Thursday) — the only real motive for which it would be worth closing every commercial activity — let’s remember that the bankers meeting on the board of the ECB have done more damage than all the protest marches of the last 100 years in Italy,” said the group.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Protests, Iron Security in Naples for ECB Meeting
Demonstrators say fears of violence will be unfounded
(ANSA) — Naples, October 3 — Security was iron tight in Naples as protestors gathered for march on Thursday with the city hosting a meeting of the European Central Bank’s governing council.
There is a big police presence in the southern city, which has been hit hard like much of recession-hit Italy by the economic crisis, amid fears that the demonstrations could turn violent.
One group of demonstrators said these fears will prove unfounded. “A giant climate of fear has been built up around this march,” said a protestor called Mauro from the Collettivo 081 association. “Over the last few days we have been forced to explain that the young people of this city are the ones who are protesting, the young people who want a future”. However, one protestor in a van taking part in the march claimed to be from the so-called black bloc, hooded youths dressed in black who have caused violence at many protests in the past. One of the many slogans on display read “No ECB, No Austerity”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Visco Says Real Economy Neglected in Crisis Management
Bank of Italy government complains of ‘mistakes, delays’
(ANSA) — Rome, October 2 — Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco has said that the eurozone crisis was handled badly because the needs of the real economy were neglected.
In an interview published by Naples daily Il Mattino ahead of a meeting of the European Central Bank’s governing council in the city on Thursday, Visco said that “we have had a serious crisis because of many mistakes and delays.
After the crisis started with the banks, the governor said, “we intervened in Greece with a debt-restructuring operation, instead of resolving the problems of the real economy”.
He added: “the crux is that capital left Europe and this created the sovereign debt crises”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi ‘Updating’ British PM, Investors on Italian Reforms
Italian premier says Europe needs ‘smart’ ways of governing
(ANSA) — London, October 2 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday that he will update British Prime Minister David Cameron as well as financial investors on Italian government reforms during separate meetings. Renzi, who had travelled to London after taking office six months ago, said he was fulfilling a promise to provide fresh information on his reform plans. Renzi, whose government is reforming labour, justice, and election laws, also said that Europe overall needs more “streamlined” and “smart” ways of governing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Says He’s on France’s ‘Side’ In Budget Row
States should not be treated like ‘students’ says premier
(ANSA) — London, October 2 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday that he was on France’s “side” after Paris said it will not respect the EU’s 3% deficit-to-GDP-ratio limit until 2017. “I respect the decision of a free and friendly country like France,” Renzi told reporters after meeting British Premier David Cameron in London. “No one should treat the other countries like you treat students. I’m on the side of (French President) Francois Hollande and (Prime Minister) Manuel Valls”.
The leader of the centre-left Democratic Party stressed, however, that this did not mean Italy would feel free to breach the 3% threshold.
“We’ll respect the 3% limit that we’ve given ourselves,” Renzi said. “Naturally the situation for Italy is different (to France’s)”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
State Legislators: Wake the Hell Up
Let’s say that for 2014, Congress and the criminal impostor president squatting in the White House decide they want $3 trillion dollars to fund this bloated pig called our government. We know that 100% of all personal “income” taxes extorted by the IRS does not fund a single function of the government. That’s true. It all goes to what’s called ‘transfer payments’. The sweat off your back to pay just the interest on the unpayable ‘national debt, UN dues, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), BIS (Bank of International Settlements), the World Bank and so forth. So, let’s take the people’s blood and sweat off the table…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Uncle Sam’s $8 Trillion Annual Debt Churn: Why Washington is Pertrified of Honest Interest Rates
By Michael Snyder
I know that headline sounds completely outrageous. But it is actually true. The U.S. government is borrowing about 8 trillion dollars a year, and you are about to see the hard numbers that prove this. When discussing the national debt, most people tend to only focus on the amount that it increases each 12 months. And as I wrote about recently, the U.S. national debt has increased by more than a trillion dollars in fiscal year 2014.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
100 People in Dallas Monitored for Ebola as Family of First U.S. Case Quarantined for Weeks
Thomas Duncan, 42, came into indirect contact with about 100 people after he arrived in Dallas on Sept. 20. He was admitted to the hospital Sunday after he was turned away last Thursday. Four close family members have been ordered to stay in isolation at home, without visitors, until Oct. 19.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Advocacy Journalism: The Downside of Slanted News Reports
I had a personal experience with this kind of news reporting some years ago that really opened my eyes. It occurred when I saw how an event I witnessed was portrayed by news media. It was probably the late 1950s and I was a young CPA conducting a financial audit of a company in Birmingham, Alabama…
The civil rights demonstration I watched being set up was briefly featured on the national news. However, in this version the demonstration appeared to be completely spontaneous and unrehearsed. The curious bystanders were not shown, but a brief clip of angry blue collar workers reacting to an event in a nearby town a few days prior was spliced into this segment. Narrators did not claim that these blue collar workers were harassing the demonstrators but that was certainly the impression that a viewer would have drawn.
My reaction to this news segment created my first realization of the phenomenon of “advocacy journalism.” At that time there was still a general feeling that news events were faithfully reported and opinions of the events would be reserved for editorials. But members of the news media began to realize that they could better advocate certain agendas by combining both “reporting” and “editorializing.”
Years later, I mentioned the above incident to a neighbor’s daughter, who was a college senior. Her reaction to the television presentation was significantly different from mine. She felt that it was entirely proper, because it concentrated on what was” important” — a demonstration by members of an aggrieved minority. Being partially scripted and rehearsed were simply “unimportant side issues”, despite their lack of authenticity. The spliced inclusion of angry blue collar workers reacting to a different situation didn’t bother her because the workers were reacting to a similar type of incident and it had occurred around the same time.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Army Warns US Military Personnel on ISIS Threat to Family Members
An Army intelligence bulletin is warning U.S. military personnel to be vigilant after Islamic State militants called on supporters to scour social media for addresses of their family members — and to “show up (at their homes) and slaughter them.”
The assessment, obtained by Fox News, came from the Army Threat Integration Center which issues early warnings of criminal and terrorist threats to Army posts worldwide.
The advisory warns military personnel and their families about the Islamic State, or ISIS, calling on supporters to target their homes.
While there is no independent intelligence to corroborate the ISIS threats, the bulletin recommends more than a dozen precautions to military personnel to protect their homes — and their online profiles.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Book: War and Death of the American Dream
The two-party system in America is dysfunctional. It has degenerated into a group of career politicians by and addicted to the power of their office.
The US Government, once a beacon of light for liberty and justice, has embarked on a course of war and inflation that threatens to destroy the American Dream forever.
There is a very small and secret group of power brokers that is intent on destroying the Constitutional liberties that we cherish as they establish a New World Order. They hide among us in plane sight, using deception and propaganda techniques first employed by Lennin and Trotsky. This global elite will stop at nothing to increase their power.
Here is what Woodrow Wilson had to say about this shadow society: “Some of the biggest men in the US in the field commerce and manufacturing know that there is a power so organized, so subtle, so complete, so pervasive that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.”
[Comment: Out of print book available again.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conquer Your Cholesterol Fears With Chromium — Not Statins
Crusador: So what’s the truth about cholesterol? Has there ever been a proven link to high cholesterol and heart disease?
Well, Greg, there is a link between high cholesterol and heart disease, but then there is also a link between breathing and heart disease. The key is not whether there is a link but rather whether there is a causative link. There is absolutely no causative link between high cholesterol and heart disease.
This is just one more reason that statin drug use is so absolutely idiotic. The primary function of statins — the number one most prescribed drug in the world — is to reduce cholesterol, which is not a primary cause of heart disease. Neither is cholesterol secondary or even tertiary to heart disease. Yet statins do prevent production of CoQ10 which IS a primary PROTECTOR of the heart!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Enemies on the Left, False Friends on the Right
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. — Proverbs 29
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” — Mark Twain
Heritage Foundation is extremely well funded. The below article from The Hill gives an idea of the monies which pass through this Foundation:
“Heritage’s expenses totaled $80 million last year compared to $82 million in 2012. DeMint received $614,000 in compensation in 2013 from Heritage, including his $380,000 base salary and a $200,000 bonus, according to the tax document. (That’s quite a bit more than his $174,000 as a senator.) Edwin Feulner Jr., the organization’s outgoing president who led Heritage for 36 years, received $3.5 million in compensation in 2013, a figure that could raise eyebrows among the think tank’s critics. Feulner earned a 2013 base salary of $181,000 and a $700,000 bonus for his service as the think tank’s president in 2012. He also received $2.52 million from a deferred compensation plan into which he contributed $865,000 from 1980 to 2006. The plan accrued $1.66 million in investment earnings. He continues to serve as chairman of Heritage’s Asian Studies Center. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) wife, Elaine Chao, who served as secretary of Labor under former President George W. Bush, received $267,000 as a distinguished fellow at Heritage.”
This is what your $25.00 per month donation funds…big salaries!
In 1983, together with Dr. Edwin J. Feulner, Jr., CNP member, Richard V. Allen founded the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center, (note who their guest speakers have been). Allen was the previous chairman of the Center, but now it is headed by Feulner.
With a “long history of receiving large donations from overseas,” Heritage continued to rake in a minimum of several hundred thousand dollars from Taiwan and South Korea each year through the 1990s, according to Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. [Link]
In the autumn of 1988, the South Korean National Assembly uncovered a document revealing that Korean intelligence secretly gave $2.2 million to the Heritage Foundation during the early 1980s. In turn, Heritage established an Asian Studies Center. (The Coors Connection by Russ Bellant, page 3-6). There was also a connection between Heritage and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon (founder of the “Moonies” as well as of the Washington Times). This first appeared in a 1975 congressional investigation on the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) activities in the US. The report noted, “In 1975, Ed Feulner … was introduced to KCIA station chief Kim Yung Hwan by Neil Salonen and Dan Feffernan of the Freedom Leadership foundation”. Salonen was head of Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church in the United States. The Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF), a political arm of Moon’s Unification network, was linked to the World Anti-Communist League. (Again see Russ Bellant’s The Coors Connection, page 3-6).
Heritage officials “categorically deny” the accusation that the organization received money from Korean intelligence. In 1995, Heritage’s annual report did include a $400,000 grant from Samsung, a Korean company. The Wall Street Journal also reported that between 1993 and 1996, Heritage received almost $1 million from the Korea Foundation, which reportedly “serves as a direct conduit of money from the South Korean government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Evidence of the Islamic Terror Threat Within Our Borders
Introduction to an investigative series
Following the attacks of 2001, I set out to “make a difference,” which was to assist our government by offering my services in my capacity as a multi-state licensed investigator. Okay, hold the chuckles, snickers and laughs at bay for a moment while I briefly explain my thinking at that time. In 2001, I had 16 years of investigative experience under my belt and several years of experience with the inner workings of certain government “operations” that the majority of people don’t even know exist.
I engaged in covert activities as an operational asset for a few “three-letter” government agencies on matters unrelated to terrorism. Accordingly, I made some very valuable contacts, and became an operational asset in the realm of counter-terrorism. I assembled a group of other investigators and together, we infiltrated password protected Arabic language forums and discussion groups, and I conducted covert surveillance operations of various Muslim sites inside the U.S. that appeared to be engaging in activities that included paramilitary training.
– — From shortly after 9/11 through 2006, I was busily conducting covert surveillance of certain Islamic centers in urban and rural locations inside the U.S. I secured photographic and videotape documentation of what could be best and most accurately described as paramilitary type training at two locations, and turned over significant amounts of data, witness statements, videos, and photographs to a Washington, DC location. I felt like I was doing my part to make the U.S. safer for my children and future generations. That is, until I realized that nothing was as it appeared to be. Something is wrong
As time progressed, I noticed, as did others in our group that nothing was seemingly being done with the evidence we collected, assembled and submitted. One might ascribe this to mere incompetence or perhaps improper timing as investigations of the actors we identified might be in progress. That excuse fell flat when it became obvious that not only was our information being ignored, but our efforts were also being marginalized at nearly every turn.
At one point, for example, one of the investigators who spent four years to successfully infiltrate an Islamic terrorist forum kept “bumping into government ops people” inside the forum. Disturbingly, he noticed that there were more than a few of government agents using pseudonyms who were the actual posters of terrorist manuals, tactics and other material. After conducting our own research and discussing the situation with other government officers with whom I (and other investigators) had a long-standing relationship, it was clear that this was not being done for legitimate investigative purposes, however (e.g. to ferret out additional terrorists). It was pure dissemination of critical information that put others at risk.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Goddard College Picks Convicted Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal as Commencement Speaker
A man serving life in prison for killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981 has been selected as a commencement speaker at his Vermont alma mater.
Goddard College, a liberal arts college in Plainfield with 600 students, says on its website that Mumia Abu-Jamal’s recorded remarks will be played Sunday at a commencement, along with a video about him.
Bob Kenny, the school’s interim president, is quoted on the website as saying the graduates’ selection of Abu-Jamal reflects “their freedom to engage and think radically and critically in a world that often sets up barriers to do just that.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Cloud on Saturn’s Moon Titan is Made of Toxic Cyanide
The discovery suggests that the air above Titan’s poles can get much cooler than previously thought, scientists said. The huge cloud on Titan — it’s about the size of Egypt — was first spotted by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2012, but only now is its cyanide composition understood.
Cassini images show that the giant spinning cloud growing over Titan’s southern pole covers an area of more than 386,000 square miles (1 million square kilometers).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Independents Fear Terrorism — Dems Prioritize Global Warming Threat
A Pew Research Center/USA Today survey conducted between Aug. 20 and 24 reveals a startling disconnect between Democrats and the rest of America.
A staggering 68 percent of Democrats consider global climate change a greater threat to the United States than either Al Qaeda at 67 percent, or ISIS at 65 percent. By contrast, 80 percent of Republicans cited Al Qaeda as the principal threat facing the nation, followed by 78 percent citing ISIS, and only 25 percent expressing concern about global climate change. Among Independents, Al Qaeda led the way at 69 percent, followed by ISIS at 63 percent, and global climate change bringing up the rear at 44 percent.
The survey addressed nine categories, including Iran’s nuclear program; China’s emergence as a nuclear power; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; extremist groups like Al Qaeda; Islamic militant groups like ISIS; North Korea’s nuclear program; growing tension between Russia and her neighbors; the country-to-country speed of infectious diseases; and global climate change.
For Democrats, global climate change was concern Number One. For both Republicans and Independents, it came in dead last.
Such findings should surprise no one. Global climate change has assumed a cult-like status among the American left, one that not only transcends scientific reality, but engenders an unseemly level of rage directed at skeptics, and a monumental level of hypocrisy among its adherents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A few short months ago headlines dominated the Internet and some cable network shows over the massive surge of illegal minors coming across the border. An open border by design. Now many are wondering if terrorists can come across the border? Will there be another 9/11 in one or more big cities to kill as many infidels (that would be us) as possible?
Well, I hate to tell folks, but they’ve been crossing the border for years, blending in with the hordes. If any form of amnesty goes through, likely some will be rewarded with citizenship while plotting to kill as many infidels as they can. Whether you’re talking 8 million liars, cheats and thieves or 20 million, there is no way to do background checks on all of them; not even a fraction.
The latest flavor of savages and barbarians are known as ISIS or ISIL. Animals who have no humanity left, only extreme hatred. Evil in human form who take great delight in murdering other human beings and raping women and children regardless of ethnicity or religion. Satan awaits each and every one of them.
But, are they here?
Four Terrorists Captured on US Border on September 10 — Day Before 9-11 — “Congressman Jason Chaffetz broke this shocking news Wednesday that four known terrorists were apprehended at the US border in Texas on September 10 — the day before the 13th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.” Now, which organization do those known terrorists about to slip into Texas belong?
Military Experts: With ISIS in El Paso, Ft. Bliss in Danger of Terrorist Attack: “The recent increase in security at a key Army base near a Mexican border city where Islamic terrorists are confirmed to be operating and planning an attack on the United States indicates that the facility is a target, according to senior military experts contacted by Judicial Watch.” Those are just the ones they know about.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
JPMorgan Chase Says More Than 76 Million Accounts Were Compromised in Cyberattack
A cyberattack this summer on JPMorgan Chase compromised more than 76 million household accounts and 7 million small-business accounts, making it among the largest corporate hacks ever discovered.
The latest revelations, which were disclosed in a regulatory filing on Thursday, vastly dwarf earlier estimates that hackers had gained access to roughly 1 million customer accounts.
The new details about the extent of the hack — which began in June but was not discovered until July — sent JPMorgan scrambling for the second time in just three months to contain the fallout.
| [Return to headlines] |
People Are Suffering From Constant Lies
Folks, this crap has gotten serious. Our fellow Americans, black and white, are suffering and even dying because the elites in politics and the mainstream media have been selling false narratives (lies) to black youths for decades.
A recent article exposed the unreported phenomenon that mobs of hundreds of black youths are wreaking havoc in major cities, attacking innocent whites, including old men and women. They are stealing and destroying property at will; without getting arrested I might add. Why are these black youths so filled with racial hate? Why do they feel justified in their actions?
I throw the blame at the feet of the elites with big stages and big microphones who hate America as founded; the let’s-help-Obama-fundamentally-transform the country crowd. Using their powerful platforms in public schools, Hollywood, TV and news outlets, elites have been spreading their evil gospel of victimhood, division and hate.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
You Can’t Keep a Good Myth Down
We’re interrupting our Republican Senate 2014 Marathon this week for a brief note on the media. (But contribute to Scott Brown immediately, and please don’t vote for the third-party, tea party candidate in Louisiana, right-wingers! Remember: Obamacare cannot be repealed without 66 votes in the Senate.)
I’ve barely been paying attention to the news, except to check Senate polls every night, because, as some of you may have noticed, I’ve been in the bat-cave under Swiss Guard protection, writing my next book. But based on only about an hour of media consumption a week, I’ve recently noticed mainstream “news” outlets telling huge whoppers, long ago disproved and forgotten.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Burglars in Norway Steal Horses’ Tails
Five horses got their tails cut off during a burglary at Spydeberg riding school in Indre Østfold on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia: The Challenge of Barcelona’s Cabinet Continues
Mas: ‘I will not change will to vote for our future’
(by Paola del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID — The challenge of the Catalonia government of Artur Mas for a referendum on independence scheduled on November 9 is moving forward, both judicially and in Parliament while the protest of those wishing to vote as originally planned has hit the streets of Catalonia.
Madrid has sent 300 anti-riot police to patrol public buildings in the region.
On Wednesday, the executive led by Mas presented to the High Court an appeal for the “immediate annulment” of the vote suspension. And the Generalitat took a step further in the institutional rift with the appointment — in the Catalan chamber, amid a climate of deep division with unionist parties — of the electoral commission tasked with voting operations.
A day before, Catalonia’s government had decided to temporarily suspend the institutional campaign for November 9, although spokesman Francesc Homs had warned that the “match is continuing”.
Mas’ executive is fighting against time to complete the procedure for a potential vote on November 9. In the appeal to the High Court, the government of the Generalitat is calling for the immediate annulment of the election’s suspension so as to continue to prepare for the vote. It motivated its request on the basis of a Constitutional Court ruling on the sovereignty of the Catalan Parliament whose “right to decide” was recognized as legitimate.
Meanwhile, in a tense debate in the Catalan chamber yesterday, Mas appeared surrounded on one side by allies from Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Erc), who want to continue the campaign for the referendum, and not comply with the suspension ordered by the Constitutional Court. And on the other by the unionist front, headed by the Ppc, with its leader Alicia Sanchez Camacho who has threatened him with a criminal lawsuit for “crossing the red line” of legality. “I will not rectify the will of the Catalan people to vote for their future”, responded Mas, adding that the process towards independence must continue with a “social mobilization, democratic transparency, a peaceful attitude and political unity”.
The Catalan president finally confirmed a number of bilateral meeting with parties backing the vote over the next few days to define a strategy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Fogh Rasmussen to Run a Global Consultancy Company Post-NATO
Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced that he has started his own consultancy company following the end of his term as NATO’s secretary-general this week.
The company is called Rasmussen Global and will offer strategic consulting to governments, global organisations and larger companies concerning innovation, trade and security on a global plan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jobs Act Ructions Continue After Renzi Wins PD Showdown
Premier chides opponents after coming under fire
(ANSA) — Rome, September 30 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday took pot shots at opponents of his proposed Jobs Act after dissenters within his Democratic Party (PD) failed to rally consensus against him. He chided fellow PD member and former premier Massimo D’Alema, who led the internal dissenters along with former party chief Pier Luigi Bersani. “Every time D’Alema speaks, I win more points,” Renzi said in an interview to be aired on TV talk show Ballarò. “If D’Alema didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him”. The Jobs Act, which has been approved at the committee stage, progressively raises safeguards for new hires, slashes the plethora of temp contracts currently plaguing entry workers, and establishes a minimum wage and universal unemployment benefit. The bone of contention is a measure that would scale back a landmark jobs protection regulation — Article 18 of the 1970 Workers Stature guaranteeing the right to be reinstated after unfair dismissal — for new hires. The measure is opposed by a minority within his PD and by Italy’s biggest and most leftwing trade union confederation, the CGIL. Renzi last night came under intense fire in speeches from Bersani and D’Alema, but the premier’s line prevailed, with 130 votes in favour, while the dissenters split, with 20 voting against and 11 abstaining.
Renzi appears to have given some ground to the rebels who have vowed to fight the reform though. The government may present an amendment to its own labour reform bill on the basis of a document approved Monday’s meeting, PD Senate whip Luigi Zanda said Tuesday, according to ANSA sources. Initially, the Jobs Act said that the Article 18 guarantee for people unjustly dismissed to have their jobs back would no longer apply to newly hired workers — while remaining in force for people already in jobs — except in cases of discrimination. But the document approved by the PD on Monday said that the guarantee should also apply in cases when a worker is dismissed on disciplinary grounds that a court rules are unfounded. Nevertheless, PD rebels said that they were not withdrawing amendments they have presented to the Jobs Act.
Italy is mired in its third recession since 2008, and the premier’s words came as Istat national statistics bureau confirmed the jobless rate among young Italians rose to a new record high in August, reaching 44.2%, while unemployment overall fell slightly to 12.3% during the month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Naples Mayor Accuses Napolitano of Past ‘Injustice’
Relations are now ‘institutional’, De Magistris says
(ANSA) — Naples, September 30 — Convicted Naples Mayor Luigi De Magistris on Tuesday reiterated claims of alleged injustice suffered at the hands of President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano when the former was a prosecuting magistrate, but added that this “personal suffering” had now been overcome. “I suffered a major injustice (from Napolitano) when I was a magistrate as he presided over the CSM (Supreme Council of Magistrates, the judiciary’s self-governing body) that transferred me,” De Magistris told Radio 24 in reference to his removal in 2008 from the prosecutor’s office in the Calabrian town of Catanzaro following claims he had revealed the names of politicians involved in his investigations. The magistrate-cum-politician first made the claims against the head of state in an interview with the on-line edition of Espresso magazine on Monday. “However as mayor (of Naples) I have overcome this personal suffering and entered into institutional relations with the president,” continued De Magistris. These relations “will continue to be institutional” he added.
“I am still mayor and I am certain I will continue to be so until 2016. There will be loyal collaboration but also liberty,” De Magistris said.
On Wednesday the Naples mayor was handed a 15-month suspended sentence for involvement in obtaining the telephone data of some MPs, including former premier Romano Prodi, without the proper authorisation during a probe.
Following his conviction Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso said that a 2012 anti-corruption law suspending people convicted of certain crimes from public office should be applied to his case.
However the former magistrate has refused to quit, saying the abuse-of-office conviction is part of a plot to wrestle control of the city from him.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Kurdish Protestors Try to Break Into Lower House
Demonstration in favour of Kurd fighting against Isis in Kobane
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 2 — A group of around 50 Syrian Kurds tried to break through the main entrance of the Lower House in Rome on Thursday. Parliament staff locked the doors immediately while police pushed back the protestors, who waved flags and chanted in favour of the Kurds fighting against ISIS Islamist rebels in the besieged Syrian town of Kobane.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Expo Official Acerbo Suspends Self Due to Probe
Exec being investigated on suspicion of bid-rigging
(ANSA) — Milan, October 2 — The delegate commissioner to the Expo 2015 Waterways project, Antonio Acerbo, has suspended himself from all Expo-related posts, the world fair organizing company said Thursday. Acerbo stepped down as executive officer of the world fair after Milan Expo 2015 commissioner Giuseppe Sala asked him to quit, while remaining in charge of procedures for the Italian pavilion. Sala asked for the partial resignation after Acerbo was placed under investigation for alleged corruption and bid-rigging linked to the world fair’s Waterways project.
According to prosecutors Acerbo, 65, is accused of taking bribes to steer a 100-million-euro contract for the Waterways project to construction magnate Enrico Maltauro in 2013.
Maltauro was placed under house arrest in May in a larger probe that rocked preparations for next year’s event and led to the arrests of former Expo procurement and planning manager Angelo Paris and several others, including a former Christian Democrat MP.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jens Stoltenberg Starts as New NATO Chief
Former Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Brussels on Wednesday to begin his new post as NATO secretary general and highlighted the crisis in Ukraine, NATO’s relations with Russia, and the fight against terror as his key issues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Danes Making the Pilgrimage to Mecca
Today marks the start of the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Millions of Muslims from around the world flock to the holy city to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam. Every adult Muslim is required to make the journey once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able to do so.
Imam Radwan Mansour from Aarhus said that interest in making the trip is growing among Denmark’s 230,000 Muslims.
“I see an increasing number wanting to make the journey,” he told Dr Nyheder.
An estimated 2.5 million Muslims will descend on Mecca during the Hajj this year. The influx in recent years has been so great that limits have been set as to how many may attend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian-Born Candidate Runs for Berlin Mayor
BERLIN (AP) — Berlin’s mayor broke ground 13 years ago by winning election after coming out as gay. Now a top candidate to succeed him wants to make history of his own: Palestinian-born Raed Saleh is seeking to become Berlin’s first immigrant mayor.
Saleh, who was born in the West Bank and came to Berlin at age 5, offers a story of social advancement he hopes will win over voters and set an example for others.
The son of a Palestinian “guest worker” who brought his family to then-West Berlin in the early 1980s, the 37-year-old Saleh started out working at Burger King and later co-founded a company that offers printing services.
“At the moment, a lot of young people have the feeling that they don’t have a share” in society, he told The Associated Press. Berlin is home to a large immigrant community, including many people with Turkish roots, some of them poorly integrated.
Saleh joined the center-left Social Democrats of the current mayor, Klaus Wowereit, at 18 and rose steadily up the local party hierarchy. When Wowereit announced in August that he was stepping down, Saleh — now the party’s regional caucus leader — became a natural candidate to succeed him…
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Waiting Lists, Access to Health Care Major Italian Concerns
Report urges government to update medical services, delivery
(ANSA) — Rome, September 30 — Waiting lists as long as two years for a hernia operation, 14 months for a mammogram, and 20 months for a psychiatric visit, are the number one reason for complaints by Italians about their health system, according to a new report Tuesday.
The findings, in a report by the investigative branch of a tribunal of patients’ rights, were drawn from more than 24,000 cases referred last year to the tribunal.
It found that 58% of complaints related to waiting lists, while almost 25% of complaints involved access to health services.
The remainder dealt with costs of some health services, with some people complaining that health care was becoming too expensive.
The report found a rise in complaints about long waits in emergency rooms.
It urged government to update health services and find more effective delivery methods.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Dhaka: Telecommunications Minister Removed for Attacking Muhammad and Hajj
At a meeting with the press in New York, Abdul Latif Siddique criticised the annual pilgrimage to Makkah, one of the pillars of Islam. Muhammad created it because Arab people were robbers. Then “he introduced a system stating that his followers will assemble once a year. Through this system,” some “income would be generated”. For the minister, “It is sheer waste of manpower.” Now he could be arrested after a complaint was filed against him.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — The Bangladeshi government has decided to remove Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Abdul Latif Siddique from his post after he gave an interview in which he criticised Hajj (the pilgrimage by devout Muslims to Makkah), some Bangladeshi public figures and even some of the Muhammad’s decisions.
The now former minister could be arrested after a case was filed against him by the former chairman of the Dhaka Metropolitan Bar Association Abed Raza.
Speaking at a meeting held on 28 September in New York, the minister responded to a question about the Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical Muslim group.
“I am opposed to their work. But what I really hate are Hajj and the Tabligh Jamaat. This group brings together tens of thousands of people each year and do nothing but cause a traffic jam”.
Tablighi Jamaat is linked to the Deobandi movement.
The main attack is against the pilgrimage to Makkah, one of the five pillars of Islam.
“I am dead against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat. I am more against the hajj and Tabligh Jamaat than Jamaat-e-Islami. It is sheer waste of manpower.”
“Some 20 lakh (two million) people have gone to Saudi Arabia. They have no work to do. It is deduction [of money] rather than production. They are spending and consuming. They are taking the country’s money to Saudi Arabia.” For the minister, if pilgrims spent their money at home, they would be doing something good.
For Siddique, the “fault” of all this lies with “Abdullah’s son Muhammad [who] thought how people of Arabia would survive. They were robbers. Then he introduced a system stating that his followers will assemble once a year. Through this system,” some “income would be generated.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mohsen Amir Aslani, a 37-year-old former psychologist, taught religion, giving a new interpretation of the Qur’an. The authorities also accused him of insulting the prophet Jonah.
Tehran (AsiaNews) — A former psychologist has been executed for “corruption on earth and heresy in religion.”
Mohsen Amir Aslani (pictured) was hanged in a prison near the city of Karaj west of Tehran on 24 September, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), after eight years in detention. His body has not been returned to the family.
Aslani, 37, taught religious classes giving a new interpretation of the Qur’an. The authorities accused him of insulting the Prophet Jonah in one of his classes because he said that Jonah could not have emerged from the whale’s belly.
According to opponents, Aslani’s execution is fresh evidence of how the Islamic Republic uses the death penalty.
Iran officially executed 373 people in 2013. However, according to Cornell University’s deathpenaltyworldwide database, there were between 624 and 727 last year, up from an estimated 314 to 580 in 2012.
The US-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre puts the total number of executions at 531 for this year.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern in the past over the increase in executions in Iran.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iraqi Government Used ‘Disproportionate Force’ Against ISIS
UN report accuses jihadists of crimes against humanity
(ANSA) — Geneva, October 2 — A UN report released on Thursday accused Iraqi government forces and allied fighters of violating international humanitarian law in potentially disproportionate or indiscriminate air strikes and shelling of Islamic State (ISIS) targets. The report,compiled by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), noted that ISIS jihadists had also committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Phenomenon: The Illusion of Intimacy
Social media is probably one of the most insidious misnomers in use today. It entices tech savvy young people to become reliant on the internet to fill their social needs. A belief that connecting with others through the web, via twitter, Facebook, Skype and other digital sites, can replace intimacy has developed a void in western culture. Individuals are taking solace in the safety of internet friendships to avoid the hurt that can accompany face-to-face contact.
Social media is, in fact, anything but social. In actuality, it promotes isolation and it is through the safe surroundings of a person’s sheltered room that the illusion of intimacy is created.
But is it safe? What are the consequences of trusting a typed word or a projected image emanating from the other side of a computer connection? What is the true nature of the person using the keyboard or facing a camera?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It Has Everything to Do With Islam
We are beginning to see the results of the silence of so-called “moderate” Muslims
Last Thursday morning as Colleen Hufford arose and readied for work, her thoughts very likely were on the day ahead, things needing to be done, realizing that tomorrow would be Friday and maybe even thinking up weekend plans with her grandchildren. Little did she know that she was en route to becoming another statistic, a sticking point in the manic affirmations of America’s leaders that her death, like so many before hers, “had nothing to do with Islam.”
But the truth is Ms Hufford’s grisly demise has everything to do with Islam, as does the death of the victims of Nidal Hasan in the Fort Hood rampage, the beheading of British Army drummer, Lee Rigby, in May of last year and countless other victims of this sick death cult we know as Islam.
Let’s not mince words here, the constant attempt at redefining reality by our leaders’ insistence that the Muslim violence we are witnessing on a daily basis has nothing to do with the Muslim religion, is frankly offensive and in the end encourages more and ever grislier acts of terror.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: Maid Tortured for Three Years
An image of a maid from Madagascar who was allegedly tortured by her sponsor was being shared on social media sites yesterday. The abuse has allegedly been continuing for the past three years, perpetrated by her female sponsor, who is a doctor.
The maid has been fed only bread and water for the past one and a half years, and has been blinded in one eye by the beatings. No further details about the maid were immediately available, and she was not named.
This follows on the heels of video clips circulated on social networks this week of an expat being abused at a police station, and another of an expat being pushed around and cursed at by a ministry official. An official of the Kuwait Human Rights Society yesterday warned that foreign workers in Kuwait are subject to violations that have been increasing lately, including deportations and fake absconding reports filed against them.
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
NGO Says Fighting in Syria Carries on Close to Kobane
Raids don’t halt jihadi advance on Kurdish town, 23 dead
(ANSA) — BEIRUT, OCT 2 — Fighting between Isis militants and Kurdish forces belonging to the Ypg militia carried on Thursday a few hundred metres from the city-centre of Kobane, Syria’s third Kurdish town, which stands close to the Turkish border, human rights ngo Ondus said.
According to the organisation 16 Isis fighters and 7 Kurdish ones died in combat. Islamic State jihadists began their advance on the region on September 16 and have since conquered 350 villages encircling Kobane from the south and the east. In the last few weeks, the majority of civilians have abandoned the city and have fled to Turkey for safety, but the international Usa-led coalition does not seem able to halt the jihadi march towards the Kurdish town.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope: Nothing Justifies the Suffering Imposed on Christians in the Middle East
In his meeting with Mar Dinkha IV, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Francis slammed the “daily persecution” of Christians and members of other religious minorities. The patriarch’s visit “is another step on the way towards a growing closeness and spiritual communion between us, after the bitter misunderstandings of the past centuries.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — “There are no religious reasons, political or economic conditions that can justify what is happening to hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children” who face “daily persecution” in the Middle East just because they are Christian or members of other religious minorities,” said Pope Francis as he greeted Mar Dinkha IV, patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East (pictured), this morning in the Vatican.
The Holy Father spoke to the leader of a Church that has about 400,000 members, many of whom have immigrated to America, about the persecution of religious minorities as well as the way towards unity between Catholics and members of the Assyrian Church of the East.
“Our meeting,” the pope said, “is marked by the suffering we share over the wars that are going on in different regions of the Middle East; in particular, the violence that Christians and members of other religious minorities are subjected to, especially in Iraq and Syria.
“Many of our brothers and sisters are suffering daily persecution! When we think about their suffering, it is natural to go beyond the distinctions of ritual and confession. In them, there is the body of Christ that even today is hurt, stricken, [and] humiliated.”
“There are no religious reasons, political or economic conditions that may justify what is happening to hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children. We feel deeply united in intercessory prayer and action of charity towards those members of the body of Christ who are suffering.”
The Pope went on to say that the patriarch’s visit “is another step on the way towards a growing closeness and spiritual communion between us, after the bitter misunderstandings of the past centuries.”
“Already twenty years ago,” he added, “the joint Christological Declaration signed by you and by my predecessor, Saint Pope John Paul II, was a milestone in our journey towards full communion. With it we recognised that we profess the same faith of the Apostles, the faith in the divinity and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, united in one person, without confusion or change, without division or separation.”
“I accompany with prayer,” he said in concluding, “the work of the Mixed Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, so that through it we may approach the blessed day when we celebrate on the same altar the sacrifice of praise, which will make us one in Christ.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Children Killed in Homs Attack
(AGI) Damascus, Oct 1 — At least 30 children have been killed when explosions rocked the Akrima Majzumi College and the Zaim Hospital in the Akrameh district of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports, adding that the number of dead has risen to 39. The targets were in majority Alawite areas of the city. The ruling elite in Syria is drawn from the Alawite minority, including the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Parolin Says Christians Have Right to Stay in Middle East
Without them a factor of peace and stability would be lost
(ANSA) — Rome, October 1 — Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Wednesday said that Christians have the right to live where they always have.
Parolin, speaking on the eve of a meeting with Catholic Middle East nuncios, noted that the disappearance of Christians from the region would be to the detriment of peace and stability.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Suicide Bomber Kills Three in Attack on Military Bus
Ten killed in attacks on military in last 24 hours
(ANSA) — Kabul, October 2 — A suicide bomber attacked a military bus in Kabul on Thursday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven, said Afghan Defence Minister Zahir Azimi.
The Taliban said it was responsible for this attack and two others on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 10 in 24 hours.
The bombings followed the signing on Tuesday of an agreement between the Afghan and US governments, allowing US troops to stay in Afghanistan after the end of 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Aceh: Activists and Civil Society Groups Against Sharia for Non-Muslims
The decision by the outgoing provincial assembly would impose Islamic law on Christians and other minorities, such as the obligation for women to wear the veil and the ban on consuming alcoholic beverages. Opponents appeal to the central government to block the new legislation for violating the constitution and Pancasila.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Activists, members of civil society groups and ordinary citizens in the province of Aceh and across Indonesia have expressed their concern and opposition to the application of Sharia on Aceh residents, including non-Muslims.
The decision follows a favourable vote in the outgoing provincial assembly a few days before the end of its mandate (27 September) that imposes the Qanun Jinayat, a Sharia-based Islamic Criminal Code applicable to everyone in the province.
For opponents, applying Sharia-based rules on non-Muslims in Aceh constitutes a blatant violation of the Indonesian Constitution of 1945 and Pancasila, the principles of human rights, pluralism and religious freedom that define Indonesia as a modern state,
Members of Aceh’s Hakka Chinese Association are opposed to the forced imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, including the compulsory wearing of the veil (hijab) for women.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Prof Siti Musda Mulia, a prominent activist, said that she was “100 per cent” opposed to the application of Islamic law to non-Muslims in Aceh.
Any legislative measure, she added, must be evaluated “carefully” by the country’s highest authorities, “especially the central government.”
Sumanto Al Qurtuby agrees. A scholar with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s most important moderate Muslim organisation, he wants Jakarta to fight confessionals bills that “endanger the national unity of the Republic of Indonesia “.
The dispositions of the unified Islamic Criminal Code (Qanun Jinayat) are “very discriminatory and potentially contradictory, and lend themselves to many interpretations,” said Prof Mulia.
Recently, many scholars, experts and activists have spoken out, urging the government to stop the code, which is designed to unify in a single body existing provincial laws, some of which date back to 2002-2003, like a ban on the consumption of alcohol and other forbidden “goods”, as well as provisions relating to adultery (like caning).
The Setara Institute, a research centre dedicated to human rights and religious freedom in Indonesia, has also spoken out against the code, targeting the qanun (laws) as “discriminatory, intolerant and ignorant of the basic principles of justice.”
Since the first Qanun Jinayat were introduced a decade ago, intolerance and violence, especially against women, have risen. Research by the Indonesian Human Rights for Women (Komnas Perempuan) for the period 2011-12 reports at least 1,060 cases of attacks against women in the province of Aceh. Domestic violence is indeed on the increase. Overall, 73.6 per cent of incidents of violence fall within this category.
However, sectarian violence is also up with eight attacks in the first half of 2014.
Activists and human rights groups want to turn the spotlight back on the principles enshrined in the Constitution and on Pancasila, which should take precedence over Sharia in Aceh.
Without them, there is a real risk of a “tyranny of the majority over the minority, with non-Muslims forced to adopt standards that are not in accordance with their religious beliefs.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Beijing Tells US, Hong Kong is Internal Affair. Occupy Central Calls for Leung Chun-Ying to Quit
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi slams democracy demonstrations as “illegal”, but rules out the intervention of the Chinese army. All organized trips from China to Hong Kong blocked. Students ultimatum: Leung Chun-ying must quit by today. Otherwise they will occupy government buildings. Card. Zen advises Leung to resign. Solidarity with the democratic struggle from China. Shopkeepers and hotels concerned about the drop in business. In Shenzhen hundreds of people prevented from entering Hong Kong.
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) — On the fifth day of protests by Occupy Central for full democracy in Hong Kong, China, through its Foreign Minister Wang Yi, has publically spoken about the events in the territory.
After attending the UN General Assembly, Wang met in Washington with President Barack Obama and had a conversation with Secretary of State John Kerry. Speaking to reporters, Wang asked the United States to “stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.” He also denounced the protests in Hong Kong: “ No country, no society would tolerate this kind of illegal activity which defies the rule of law and hurt the public interests; not in American cities, and not in China’s Hong Kong”.
At the same time he said he was confident in the local authorities’ ability to “manage the situation according to the law”. In all likelihood, this means that Beijing has ruled out armed intervention or more violent police raids such as the one five days ago against the students. This inly served to feul the protests even more.
However Beijing has intervened to prevent the “virus” of democracy spreading to the People’s Republic: all organized trips from China to Hong Kong are suspended and in Shenzhen hundreds of people who wanted to come to Hong Kong to support their struggle for democracy have been detained. News and photos of Hong Kong are blocked on social networking sites, while the mainstream media slam the demonstrations as “illegal”.
The situation on the ground has reached an impasse but tension is mounting. Students have delivered an ultimatum to the Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying: he must step down by days end. If it does not, the students will occupy (or surround) the government offices. A group of hackers, with the nickname “Anonymus”, has threatened to hit government servers.
Even the Occupy Central leaders are demanding the resignation of the governor, “for the good of Hong Kong.” Leung is responsible for the recent police violence and has proven unable to present the needs of the people to Beijing. At the same time, the organizers are asking students to remain calm and peaceful.
Even Card. Zen, who from the outset has been close to the democratic movement, says that Leung’s resignation is the only solution to end the protests.
Meanwhile, several thousand people are still on the streets of downtown and Mong Kok: the numbers are fewer in the morning but during the day they swell to tens of thousands who take to the streets showing solidarity with the occupiers. These include people from China who praise their “Hong Kong compatriots” defense of “democracy.”
However, criticism is also mounting: some tourists complain that the occupied areas are noisy until late at night, preventing them from sleeping; the shopkeepers and the federation of hotels criticize the occupation because it has led to a drastic reduction in their trade.
Solidarity with the Hong Kong is gaining ground globally: there were demonstrations in favor of what is called “the umbrellas revolution” in at least 64 cities. Umbrellas are carried by protesters who dress in yellow, in support of the democratic forces of the territory’s population.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Authorities Tell Protesters to Disperse or Else
Security forces stacking rubber bullets
(ANSA) — Rome, October 2 — Hong Kong authorities on Thursday told pro-democracy protesters to disperse or else face “serious consequences”.
Security forces started stacking rubber bullets near the government building.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Police Raid and Shutdown Obama Family-Linked Radical Madrassa in Kenya
Kenyan police officers raided and shutdown a radical Sunni madrassa (Islamic school) for using an extremist Islamic curriculum. The madrassa which was targeted by police, is said to be connected with Kenyan family members of the President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, according to reports overseas…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mogherini: It’s Like Emptying Sea With a Spoon
Without a stable government in Libya, Mare Nostrum not enough
(ANSAmed) — CATANIA — Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini on Thursday said that “without a stable government and a rational counterpart in Libya, it will be like trying to empty the sea with a spoon”, speaking about the migration emergency in the Mediterranean.
Italy’s surveillance-and-rescue operation Mare Nostrum “saved many lives but it is not enough and will never be enough if we don’t confront the problem from its root”, said Mogherini, speaking at an ongoing seminar in Catania of the Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group of the Nato Parliamentary Assembly.
Over the past nine months, the minister said, 130,000 migrants have landed in Italy. Mogherini said there “is no scheme suitable for all crises” because “we have different actors involved in different areas”.
“Challenges and crises have to be confronted a bit differently”, she continued. “As a minister, I have the impression that we are always changing hat, format, without finding a unitary vision”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Non-Existent’ EU Cooperation on Refugees
Sweden’s EU commissioner Cecilia Malmström has criticized European Union countries for a lack of solidarity when it comes to taking in refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and Congress Engineering Immigrant Invasion
This week, Mr. Barrack Hussein Obama, having never served in our Armed Forces, saluted two U.S. Marines while departing the White House helicopter — with a paper cup of Coke or coffee in his hand.
I cannot imagine a more disrespectful action against our U.S. Marines and the entire military of the United States than “saluting” with a cup of soda pop.
Last year, he usurped our Constitution by providing an unlawful Executive Order that allowed tens of thousands of young illegal aliens to register for citizenship and a free pass into our country.
That single action created a “child invasion” of our country this year when adults from Central America and Mexico drove 55,000 6 to 15 year olds up to our border — “dumped them off — and fled the scene. It will prove the biggest scam and set-up by a US sitting president ever in the history of America.
How could Obama not know about the invasion? How could the top brass not know? Who engineered it? Why didn’t Congress step up and fly every single child back to its country of origin?
Answer: top officials in our government, in Mexico’s government and in Central America — set this invasion up and carried it out like clockwork.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prepare for a Different America, It’s Coming Fast
After my latest bicycle journey across America this summer, we unknowingly bear witness to the greatest racial and demographic shift ever self-inflicted on one country in the history of the world. By 2042, the Pew Research Center reports that the current European-American majority (down from 90 percent in 1960 to 54 percent in 2014) faces the new Latino majority within 28 years. All of it created by endless legal and illegal immigration.
During the next 36 years, Americans face an added 100 million legal immigrants from 150 countries around the globe. They stream into America at blinding speed via our invitations, chain migration and birth rates. How can we equate adding 100 million immigrants? Answer: that number equates to doubling the size of our 25 most populated cities. It means New York City jumps from 8.3 million to 16.6 million, Chicago from 5.1 million to 10.2 million and on down the line.
What does such an immigration invasion mean to our communities? Our way of life? Our quality of life? Our standard of living? Our environment? Our educational systems?
Answer: as the numbers rise to that 100 million level, everything in our society degrades, devolves, degenerates and worsens…
Australia discovered a major plot fomented by citizen Muslims to commit beheadings in the streets of Sydney this summer. If you think I am kidding, watch this short video:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian, Iraqi Migrants Squat in Greek Police Station
Kos, an island located between Greece and Turkey, is a tourist destination famous for its picturesque villages, beaches and Venetian ruins. But if you take a look inside one of its police stations, you’ll find hundreds of migrants.
During a visit to the island, a lawyer from Athens sent the FRANCE 24 Observers team photos of the migrants — who are mainly from Syria and Iraq — in a police station in Kos, one of the Greek islands of the Dodecanese archipelago, a few kilometres away from Turkey’s shores. Around a hundred of them are occupying in the building 24 hours a day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Sex Between Siblings Should be Legal, Says Professor
Consensual sex between adult siblings should be legal, according to Thomas Søbirk Petersen, a professor of ethics at Roskilde University. Petersen said the rise in the number of births resulting from donor sperm that creates biological siblings who may well be from different families has created a need to rethink old taboos.
After heated debate in Germany, that country’s ethics committee has recommended that sibling sex be made legal. Petersen wants to see the same debate take place here.
“I think it’s a cop-out that a democratic society is not willing to discuss this,” Petersen told MetroXpress.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
People are suddenly worried about Common Core dumbing down their children with a new experimental educational system when the entire modern educational system has been an experiment of failure and they as long with their children are already dumbed down.
The discovery of a 1912 Eighth Grade examination in Bullitt County Kentucky that few modern Eighth Grade students could pass should have sent shock waves of change through the schools of America. But no one seems to know what to do nor are they willing to do it. Like sheep they bleat their complaints and wait for others to fix the problem.
I have raised sheep in the high deserts of Oregon. I have pointed the way for sheep for decades when they needed a good direction to go. I have been changed by the sheep and they have been changed by the desert. Farm flocks who have lived in fenced fields for generations do not do well on the open range. It is much the same with people and public schools that fence in the minds and emotions of your children.
My wife and I have taught our six children at home for years. Over those years I became a collector of old and new school books. I noticed long before that 1912 test was discovered that there was a difference in the books over time.
Vocabulary in higher grades of the 1980’s was previously required in a much lower grade in the 1940’s or 20’s. Math skills in the 5th grade in the 40’s were equal or superior to what was required of the 8th grade student in the 1980’s. And the earlier problems were more pragmatic.
Probably the most alarming change was that the content of the history books was changing. My discovery of history’s alteration began when my young son had read several children’s books on George Washington…
The more I began to read the actual record of History at its source the more I realized that the truth is not being taught. As I compared the more modern history books with older curriculum I realized that they had gone from basic omission to outright lies.
The most unsettling thing was that there seemed to be both a method and a pattern to the distortions of our history.
[…]
“A small number of very passionate American ideological leaders visited Prussia in the first half of the 19th century; fell in love with the order, obedience, and efficiency of its education system; and campaigned relentlessly there after to bring the Prussian vision to these shores.”[5]
These American public school advocates “imported three major ideas … the purpose of state schooling was not intellectual training but the conditioning of children ‘to obedience, subordination, and collective life.’… Second, whole ideas were broken into fragmented ‘subjects’ and school days were divided into fixed periods ‘so that self-motivation to learn would be muted by ceaseless interruptions.’ Third, the state was posited as the true parents of the children”[6]
[Comment: Highly recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We Are at War for Our Children’s Mind and Soul
“What is absolutely essential is that the full facts be given to all our people, for mind warfare is total war.” — Edward Hunter, Brainwashing: The Men Who Defied It, 1953
“MIND WARFARE” includes the Skinnerian brainwashing called for by leading Neo-Conservative organizations, including the Heartland Institute.
This is a war to destroy our constitutional rights, including our right to vote, and the destruction of our children’s minds, souls and consciences. After 12 years of Neo-Conservative supported Skinnerian animal training computer instruction, your children will no longer have a conscience, nor will they be able to take an unpopular stand, for fear of being punished. They will act only to get a reward or praise.
Did hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women give their lives in foreign wars to end up with our free constitutional republic being turned over to the globalist communists (the communist/ socialist/ corporate/ fascist/ libertarian Neo-Conservative wolves in sheep’s clothing) ? Without firing a shot? On a silver platter?
It is time to stop the 100% Neo-Conservative boycott of the truth regarding their communist agenda! Don’t forget that Wall Street funded the Bolshevik Revolution. Don’t forget the NeoConservative Heritage Foundation drafted the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which has robbed Americans of hundreds of thousands of good jobs. Don’t forget Karl Marx, who drafted the Communist Manifesto, was a strong supporter of Free Trade! And, lastly, don’t forget that Mind Warfare, referred to by Edward Hunter (above) is what the neoconservative Heartland Institute recently recommended for use on our children in America’s “new” schools/training laboratories!
The National Alliance of Business, in its newsletter Work/America… The Business Force on Workforce Development, Vol. 15 Issue 5, May 1998 carried the following article entitled “Knowledge Supply Chain: Managing K-Age 80 Learning.” Repeat Kindergarten through Age 80?! Workforce Training. Yes, Grandpa… that means YOU! And YOU, too, Grandma! This is what is called “Limited Learning for Lifelong Labor.” Using the Skinnerian Operant Conditioning method called for by Heartland Institute.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
HNTDWI
My new acronym. Perhaps someone can suggest one that can be pronounced. It’s short for “Has Nothing To Do With Islam”
really, an acronym needs to be an abbreviation that forms a (pronouncable–how’s that for a neologism?) word. so, how about….
Notodowi ???? (it even sounds like it originates from arabic, farsi or urdu)
Yep we’re truly screwed!
UK Spiritus Sancti Catholic Dioceses- That is why we scrapped the TOCC and changed our name to the former in odre for like minded Christians to speak their minds about things that really matter like Globalism, Islamification and rid ourselves of
Title seeking “Creme de Menthe” Bishops and holders of “Bogoff” Orders like the “Honourable Ancient Order ( at least five days) of Polish Cornflakes Packet Novelty Collectors” and fake “Cardinals” demanding “respet” because they have given themselves and their pals fancy names that are but a microcosm of all that is wrong with the world today. As the Titanic sinks they toast one another’s Inflatedness, “Congratulations My Dear Cardinal or was it Holy Father in the last day or two?”
The world suffers destruction and war and these clowns behave like the above…..
Sickening….Nice titles though eh?
New Swedish Governement:
socialdemocrats+greens;
three moderate muslims(?), one ***muslim,
one negro; unchanged massimmigration
from MENA and Subsahara.
http://www.svt.se/cachable_image/1412337312/svts/article2371149.svt/alternates/large/regering-jpg
From illegal immigrant to Civil Minister in Sweden
Ardalan Shekarabi was born in Manchester UK, and grew up outside Teheran, before he arrived in Sweden with his mother, later to become a member of today’s government in Sweden.
Shekarabi, not to be confused with Sheikyermami
When the Swedes become a minority in Sweden
Former Integration Minister, and journalist, Jens Orback talks about “When we will become a minority”. – Ooops! Slip of tongue… He is being interviewed live on SVT news, regarding the assassination of Theo van Gogh in 2004, and he mustn’t say that the assassin was a Mohammed and that it could have anything to do with islam. – Notodowi!
Furthermore, one of the most urgent things for the new Swedish government is to recognize Palestine as a state, according to DN.
Jessie Jackson,Al Sharpton,Louis Farakhan,NBPP and Obama are to blame as well as the lie a day leftists news media
I am beginning to understand more than ever why borders and security are so important before during and after a war for continued survival. I don’t think continuing the current relationship with the Muslims is working out.