A “youth” named Abdalah Mohamed has been arraigned in Portland, Oregon for threatening to blow up a deli in the name of Allah because it refused to sell him an individual cigarette. Despite the fact that the incident had a Mohammed Coefficient of 100%, it had nothing to do with Islam.
In other news, an estimated 11,000 Nigerians have fled from Boko Haram and taken refuge in neighboring Chad. Meanwhile, the latest satellite imagery shows that entire villages in northeastern Nigeria have been almost completely destroyed, lending credence to reports that up to 2,000 people may have been slaughtered in the most recent rampage by Boko Haram, which has nothing to do with Islam.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Henrik Ræder Clausen, Insubria, K, LS, Nick, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Draghi Hints German Critics Must Accept Bond Buying
ECB head says that options to fight deflation ‘are not infinite’
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 14 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi suggested Wednesday that German critics must accept that the ECB has a eurozone-wide mandate to maintain price stability and cannot favour one country’s views.
Draghi signaled to German newspaper Die Zeit that the ECB is ready to buy government bonds to fight deflation, adding that to achieve this, “options are not infinite”.
His comments were published as a top European court’s advisor said an earlier ECB bond program needed only minor tinkering in order to fall in line with European Union rules — a signal in support of future quantitative easing (QE).
In the newspaper interview, Draghi warned that although the risk of deflation in the eurozone remains low, it is still higher now than it was one year ago.
The ECB adjusts interest rates to keep inflation at about 2% but it has been well below that for months.
December figures from Eurostat showed the eurozone as a whole slipped into deflation, falling below 0.2% on an annualized basis.
Central bankers have been alarmed at how low prices have fallen in much of Europe, nearing zero at some points, which indicates how slow demand has become and the risk of deflation.
Meanwhile, an earlier ECB bond-purchase program is compatible “in principle” with EU law, said European Court of Justice (ECJ) Advocate-General Pedro Cruz Villalon.
He had reviewed the central bank’s Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) program ahead of a ruling expected later this year by the court.
The OMT program was unveiled more than two years ago but has not yet been used.
Germany opposes QE, which involves buying large amounts of sovereign bonds, while supporters say this is needed to increase growth and avoid deflation in the struggling eurozone.
Villalon said the ECB must have “broad discretion” over the EU’s monetary policy, designed to keep inflation at about 2%.
Germany’s courts had previously raised questions about the legality of the OMT program.
On its Twitter account Wednesday, the ECB said that Villalon’s opinion was an “important milestone”.
“OMT is ready and available,” tweeted the central bank.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Inflation Rate Drops to Zero, ISTAT Confirms
Down from 0.2% in November
(ANSA) — Rome, January 14 — Italy’s annual inflation rate dropped to zero in December, down from 0.2% in November, Istat said on Wednesday, confirming the figure given in its preliminary estimate last week. Prices were also flat in December with respect to the previous month, the national statistic agency said. Istat said the inflation rate was dragged down by drops in energy prices.
Italy endured several months of deflation last year.
Low or negative inflation is seen as a threat to the recovery prospects of recession-hit Italy and the rest of the eurozone.
Istat also confirmed that Italy’s average inflation rate for 2014 was 0.2%, the lowest since 1959 and down on 1.2% on 2013.
The agency added that its ‘trolley’ index of everyday goods bought by households stood at 0.3% for 2014, compared to 2.2% in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
10 Killed in Prison Bus Crash in West Texas: Officials
8 prisoners, 2 corrections officers killed in crash, officials say
Eight inmates and two corrections officers died Wednesday when a prison bus skidded off an icy West Texas highway, slid down an embankment and collided with a passing freight train, authorities said.
The overpass on Interstate 20 was slick with ice Wednesday morning when the Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus left the roadway in Penwell, just west of Odessa, according to Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson.
An earlier accident on the I-20 overpass may have contributed to the prison bus losing control, Donaldson said.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed the 10 deaths in a statement, adding that four prisoners and one corrections officer were injured.
Tiffany Harston, spokeswoman for Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, said four of the injured are in critical condition and one in serious condition.
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After ISIS Twitter Threat, Military Families Rethink Online Lives
CNN — One military wife recalls staying up all night and deleting every Facebook picture of her children, every post that mentioned them or where they went to school. She Googled herself, trying to figure out how easy it would be to find where the family lived. In the morning, she went to her car and scraped the military decal off the front window.
As the spouse of a Special Forces soldier, she’s always tried to be conscious of how much she advertises that she and her three young children are a military family.
“It’s hard because I am so proud of what my husband does, but lately so many spouses that I know are actually scared that they could be targets of ISIS or someone who sympathizes with ISIS,” she said, asking that CNN keep her name out of the story for that reason.
This week brought the latest in a string of attacks that members of military families say has spooked them into quietly changing the way they operate online and in real life.
The U.S. military’s Central Command Twitter account was hacked.
In all caps, this message: “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING. WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”
The tweet included a link to a statement that said, in part, “We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children. U.S. soldiers! We’re watching you!”
[My son is in the military, but he’s as good with a .45 as I am. Mark that well, Muslims. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
After Four Years, American Cartoonist Molly Norris Still in Hiding After Drawing Prophet Mohammed
(CNN) Molly Norris drew a cartoon four years ago that depicted the likeness of Mohammed on several items, including a tea cup, a thimble and a domino.
She received her first death threat within days.
One was a fatwa that came from radical and influential cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — an American-born imam who lived in Yemen — who said Norris was a “prime target” for execution for creating blasphemous cartoons.
Norris had kicked off controversy in April 2010 with a cartoon published online about an imaginary group called “Citizens Against Citizens Against Humor” that proposed an “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day.”
She disappeared, at the advisement of the FBI, in the fall of that year and has been in hiding since.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
CNN, ABC and NBC Won’t Show Mohammed Cover, Fox and CBS Do
by Daniel Greenfield
It’s shocking how much of the media establishment jumps on the censorship bandwagon without any threats. The New York Times, despite running a story on the making of the new cover, won’t show it. (Anti-Semitic cartoons are fine though.) The Washington Post has shown it.
When it comes to news networks, count CNN, ABC and NBC out.
This morning, CNN and NBC News announced that they would not be showing the new cover; both described the cover instead.
“CNN will not show you the new cover which depicts the Prophet Muhammad because it is policy not to show potentially offensive images of the prophet,” Carol Costello announced Tuesday morning, while MSNBC host Jose Diaz-Balart said, “NBC News and other networks have made the editorial decision not to show the cover.” CNN maintained the policy was subject to change.
By contrast, Fox News displayed the cover during a reportorial segment on its release:
CBS has tried to maintain a journalistic image, no matter how unreal it might be, so it appears to be the only network news show to actually air the cover. That’s shocking. And yet it isn’t.
CNN is blaming threats while behaving indecisively so there’s room to retract if other news networks begin doing it. NBC isn’t even bothering to blame threats. The New York Times editor called a critic names for even questioning his decision…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Unlike many conservatives, I was not outraged when President Obama directed the Justice Department to end the pretense of “defending” the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). I feel the same way about the president’s decision not to join dozens of world leaders in Paris last Sunday to march in favor of free speech and against Islamic-supremacist terror. I’m glad he stayed home. I’m glad he didn’t send Vice President Biden (whose main job is to attend such exhibitions), Secretary of State Kerry (whose main job escapes me), or Attorney General Holder (who was in Paris but still didn’t go).
It’s not too often that the “most transparent administration in history” is, what’s the word? . . . transparent.
[Lot of good background in this piece about Barry Hussein’s constant toadying to the Muslim world. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Call to Prayer to Sound at Duke University
Durham, N.C. — A weekly call to prayer for Muslims will be heard at Duke University starting Friday, school officials said.
Members of the Duke Muslim Students Association will chant the call, known as adhan or azan, from the Duke Chapel bell tower each Friday at 1 p.m. The call to prayer will last about three minutes and be “moderately amplified,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.
“The adhan is the call to prayer that brings Muslims back to their purpose in life, which is to worship God, and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity,” said Imam Adeel Zeb, Muslim chaplain at Duke. “The collective Muslim community is truly grateful and excited about Duke’s intentionality toward religious and cultural diversity.”…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy Pelosi to Name First Muslim Lawmaker to House Intelligence Committee
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced in a closed-door meeting Tuesday she would name the first Muslim lawmaker to the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
A senior Democratic aide said Rep. André Carson of Indiana would be named in the “coming days” to the key national security-focused panel. Pelosi (D-Calif.) told lawmakers of the appointment during the members’ weekly caucus meeting.
Carson would be the first Muslim to serve on the committee and was the second Muslim to be elected to Congress. He already serves on the Armed Services Committee and worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center — the clearinghouse established by the federal government to streamline data sharing between the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice and the military.
The intelligence committee will most likely tackle a series of high-profile international crises during the 114th Congress, including the threat of Islamic militants and Ukraine.
Carson’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The announcement comes in the wake of last week’s terrorist attack by Islamic extremists and subsequent shootouts with police that left 17 people dead.
[The fifth column advances. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Watched the NFL Playoffs Instead of Attending the Paris March for Victims of Jihad
By Robert Spencer
Look: he told Charlie Hebdo not to mock Muhammad. They didn’t heed him. He told Israel to make more concessions to the “Palestinians.” They didn’t heed him. So maybe he stayed away because he has scant sympathy for the victims. And hey, it was the Playoffs.
This Paris march was more show than substance, and severely compromised any message it might have had by including jihad leader Mahmoud Abbas, but Obama’s absence was glaring.
“Too little too late? Kerry says he WILL go to Paris but only after U.S. was shamed for snubbing historic weekend rally of world leaders,” by Simon Tomlinson and Francesca Chambers, Daily Mail, January 12, 2015:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he will now travel to Paris after the U.S. government was shamed for not joining a rally yesterday for victims of the French terror attacks.
The rally was attended by 40 world leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and a million people.
A staggering 3.7 million people gathered across France today to stage further defiant marches in a moving tribute to the 17 people killed in hostage sieges last week.
[…]
According to an administration official, President Obama spent part of his Sunday afternoon watching a National Football League game on television….
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio Man Arrested for Alleged ISIS-Inspired Plot on US Capitol, FBI Says
The FBI has arrested an Ohio man for allegedly plotting an ISIS-inspired attack on the U.S. Capitol, where he hoped to set off a series of bombs aimed at lawmakers, whom he allegedly considered enemies.
Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, was arrested today on charges of attempting to kill a U.S. government official, authorities said.
According to government documents, he allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs at the national landmark and open fire on any employees and officials fleeing after the explosions.
The FBI first noticed Cornell several months ago after an informant notified the agency that Cornell was allegedly voicing support for violent “jihad” on Twitter accounts under the alias “Raheel Mahrus Ubaydah,” according to charging documents. In addition, Cornell allegedly posted statements, videos and other content expressing support for ISIS — the brutal terrorist group also known as ISIL — that is wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.
“I believe that we should just wage jihad under our own orders and plan attacks and everything,” Cornell allegedly wrote in an online message to the informant in August, according to the FBI. “I believe we should meet up and make our own group in alliance with the Islamic State here and plan operations ourselves.”
[Dummies like this get noticed, but the heavies tend to get through. This is the type of ineffectual but publicity-grabbing sting the Fibbies just love. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
A 19-year-old is accused of threatening workers repeatedly at a Northeast Portland deli when he wasn’t able to buy a single cigarette, saying he would blow up the store “in the name of Allah,” court records say.
Abdalah Mohamed also is accused of making disparaging remarks about Jews and Israel in July, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Mohamed was arraigned Monday afternoon on two counts of second-degree intimidation. He entered not guilty pleas to each count.
He was booked into the downtown Portland jail on the warrant Friday.
Court records indicate he’s lived in Northeast Portland for about six years and is originally from Kenya.
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Anti-Islamist Movement PEGIDA Surfaces in Spain
An anti-Islamic movement that is growing in Germany has opened a branch in Spain following last weeks attacks in France, the group said on Wednesday.
The Spanish wing of Pegida was launched on Twitter on January 8, the day after an attack by Islamist gunmen on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 people dead including some of the country’s best-loved cartoonists.
“Islam has no place in free and democratic societies like Europe,” the group said in one of its first Twitter messages that day.
The Spanish branch of the “Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident” (Pegida) has just over 800 followers on its Twitter page and over 2,700 likes on its Facebook page.
“We are preparing a demonstration by Pegida Spain, where members of Pegida Germany will attend. We will publish the date on Twitter and announce it by email,” the group said in an e-mail sent to AFP.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Bavarian Politician Says Terrorists Pretend to be Refugees
External border checks, Austria too lax
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 14 — Jihadist terrorists from Africa and the Middle East may be pretending to be refugees in order to enter European Union countries, Thomas Kreuzer, leader of Germany’s right-wing Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), told a German newspaper on Wednesday.
Kruezer told Passauer Neue Presse that stiffer checks at external borders of the EU would address the situation and criticized Austria for allowing too many refugees to enter Bavaria without proper documents.
“I expect from Austria better checks and [for them] to make refugees exit trains even in Austria”, Kreuzer said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Arms Dealer Confesses to Supplying Paris Attackers
The terrorists who perpetrated the attacks in Paris last week got their weapons from an arms dealer in Brussels.
The dealer, a known figure in Brussels’ underworld, turned himself in to local police on Tuesday, according to Belgian media.
Federal police, who searched the suspect’s apartment, found papers linking him to a transaction with Amedy Coulibaly, the jihadist who murdered four Jewish men and held others hostage at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in east Paris on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo: Radicalized Detainess Separated Soon, Valls
PM pledges to create special sections for them this year
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JANUARY 13 — France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, announced on Tuesday before the National Assembly that special wings would be set up for “radicalized detainees” in French detention facilities by the end of the year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo Sells Out Within Hours in France
Copies of the first issue of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to be published since a jihadist attack decimated its editorial staff last week were sold out within minutes at kiosks across France on Wednesday.
Around three million copies have been printed, which dwarfs the normal print run of around 60,000 copies, and the edition will also be available in English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Turkish.
The paper said on Wednesday however that the another two million copies will be distributed to meet demand, not just in France but around Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Jews Ask for Police Protection
In light of last week’s killing of four Jews in a kosher supermarket in Paris and an August incident in which a Jewish school in Copenhagen was vandalised, Jewish targets see themselves as “high priority” targets.
Denmark’s main Jewish group on Tuesday called for police protection for its school and synagogue in Copenhagen after four Jews were killed last week in a hostage drama in a kosher supermarket in Paris.
“With the situation being like it is, we believe it’s very clear that Jewish targets are a high priority for the terrorists,” the deputy chairman of the Jewish Community of Denmark, Jonathan Fischer, told AFP.
During the Gaza conflict in August, Copenhagen’s Jewish school, Carolineskolen, had its windows smashed and anti-Jewish graffiti spray-painted on its walls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Guest Compares Paris Neighborhoods to Baghdad
Claims France has 750 ‘no-go’ zones controlled by Muslims
(ANSA) — Paris, January 14 — US right-wing channel Fox News generated a fresh wave of social media uproar when a guest claimed this week that certain parts of Paris were no-go areas completely under Muslim control.
In various appearances on the network’s talk shows this week, Nolan Peterson, whom Fox called a “national security analyst”, made several inaccurate claims regarding France’s capital city in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
“It would shock a lot of Americans to know, that in a 10-minute cab ride from the Eiffel Tower, you can be walking through streets that feel like Baghdad,” Peterson said.
Peterson also said French President Francois Hollande “realizes his country is on the verge of cultural collapse”; that France’s 18th arrondissement, which includes the famed Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur basilica, is “forbidden to non-Muslims”; and said that Paris’s banlieues are “countries within a country where law enforcement doesn’t go”.
Fox News’s gaffes have generated the social media hashtag #foxnewsfacts, a satirical reference to frame some of the network’s more outlandish unverifiable claims.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France: Charlie Hebdo: New Muhammad Cartoon. Criticism From Islamic Countries
The editors of the magazine defend their choice as a hymn to “freedom”. Al Azhar says that the publication “incites hatred” and “does not foster peaceful coexistence”. A Turkish newspaper publishes the cartoon, but in miniature, black and white. Manuel Valls: France is at war against terrorism and jihadism, not against Islam and Muslims.
Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) — High profile Muslim personalities in Egypt, Qatar and France are critical of the “latest provocation” of the Charlie Hebdo weekly magazine which has published a new cartoon of Mohammed, in the same week of the terrorist attacks that killed eight people including the magazine’s cartoonists and staff and claimed the lives of around 17 people in France. The attack was motivated as revenge for past publications of cartoons of the prophet, deemed blasphemous.
The magazine was printed in three million copies (instead of the usual 60 thousand) and in different languages including Arabic, Turkish, English.
The first page of the weekly shows Muhammad in tears holding a sign reading “Je suis Charlie”, which became the symbol of freedom of expression against terrorism and endorsed by millions of people in recent days.
For the editors of the newspaper, the issue is a hymn to life “that must go on” and a hymn to “freedom”. For many Muslim personalities it is a “provocation”
Al-Azhar, the leading authority of Sunni Islam, based in Egypt, said that the new cartoon “incites hatred”. This (magazine) edition will result in a new wave of hatred in French and Western society. It does not serve the co-existence and the cultural dialogue Muslims aspire to”.
Similar criticisms were made by Shiite Iran, where the “Tabnak” site says Charlie Hebdo is “insulting the prophet again.”
The International Union of Muslim ulema, led by Youssef al-Qaradaoui, considered the spiritual father of the Muslim Brotherhood, said that it is “neither reasonable nor logical nor wise to publish the drawings and films that offend the Prophet or the attack ‘Islam “.
Perhaps the only exception in the Muslim world, the secular Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, published the cartoons today, but in miniature and in black and white.
Meanwhile, yesterday the French parliament overwhelmingly voted to continue air strikes against the jihadists of the Islamic State in Iraq.
Recalling the victims in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that “France is at war against terrorism, jihadism and radical Islamism. France is not at war against Islam and Muslims”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
France: Charlie Hebdo’s New Edition to be Available in Turkish, Arabic
The Wednesday issue of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is going to be published in six languages including Turkish.
The first issue of the magazine since last week’s bloody attack on its Paris headquarters, which killed 12 people, is going to be printed in Turkish, French and Italian while its digital version will be available in English, Spanish and Arabic.
The Turkish issue will be published by daily Cumhuriyet, whereas the Italian publishing rights have been granted to daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Three million copies of this Wednesday’s edition of Charlie Hebdo will be available — a huge leap from the magazine’s normal circulation of 60,000 copies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo resurrected its irreverent and often provocative newspaper today, featuring a caricature of the prophet Mohammed on the cover.
The latest cover shows a weeping Mohammed, holding a sign reading ‘I am Charlie’ with the words ‘All is forgiven’ above him.
It is appearing on news-stands one week to the day after the assault in Paris by two masked gunmen that killed 12 people, including much of the weekly’s editorial staff and two police officers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Valls Promises Anti-Terror Clampdown After Charlie Hebdo Attacks
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced new counter-terrorism measures in the aftermath of last week’s Charlie Hebdo attacks. They include tracking air passengers’ movements and isolatinig jihadists in prison.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Muslim Leaders Appeal for Calm as Charlie Hebdo Prints New Mohammed Front Page
French Muslim leaders appealed for calm as Charlie Hebdo’s surviving journalists prepared to issue a new issue with the prophet Mohammed on its cover. The Grand Mufti of Egypt called the cartoon a “racist act”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gauck Tells Muslims ‘We Are All Germany’
German President Joachim Gauck told the country’s Muslim community Tuesday that “we are all Germany” at a rally to condemn the Paris jihadist attacks and take a stand against rising Islamophobia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: BND Double Agent Stole List of Spies’ Aliases
Investigators found a list of 3,500 German intelligence agents’ names and their aliases on a hard drive belonging to a US double agent caught in July.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Bracing for Islamic Terror
Paris “Just the First Shot”
by Soeren Kern
German police have evidence “that key European cities could be attacked at any time.” — Der Spiegel.
“This is a serious situation.” — German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere.
“You will pay the price as you walk on your streets, turning right and left, fearing the Muslims. We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah.” — Jihadist video threatening Italy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany OKs Seizing Documents From Islamist Suspects
Will be given travel-ban papers
(ANSA) — Berlin, January 14 — The German government on Wednesday approved confiscating for up to three years the documents of Islamist suspects planning to reach Syria or Iraq.
If the measure is passed the suspects will be given special papers stating they cannot leave Germany.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Grillo Mocks Italy’s Semester at Head of EU
M5S sarcastically says it was a “fantastic” period
(See related) (ANSA) — Rome, January 13 — Beppe Grillo, leader of the maverick 5-Star Movement (M5S) mocked Italy’s work during its six-month semester leading the European Union on Tuesday as the post formally ended. A sarcastic Grillo called the period “fantastic” and said that Italy accomplished “nothing” in fighting rising public debt at home and the loss of numerous businesses to recession. “The only improvement that there was during this period, was that life expectancy has been shortened,” Grillo added sarcastically.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Harassed Muslim TV Reporter Receives Support From All Over Norway
Norwegian-Pakistani TV2 reporter Kadafi Zaman get massive support after he was harassed by anti-Islamic protestors on live TV.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Islamic France’ Novelist to Promote Book in Germany
Bestselling French novelist Michel Houellebecq will promote his new book imagining a France under Islamic rule next week in Germany after suspending a French tour in the wake of the Paris attacks, his publisher said Tuesday.
He is to present the book, whose German translation will hit bookstores Friday, in the western city of Cologne Monday, French publishing house Flammarion told AFP.
It will be his first public appearance since cancelling dates to plug the book after the jihadist killings in Paris that left 17 people dead…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islamists Target Swedish Jews After Paris Attacks
Jews in Sweden have received numerous threats from Islamic groups in the days since the terror attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead, the head of the Jewish council told The Local.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Juncker Says Italian EU Presidency Was ‘Inspiring’
EC president says union would be in budget crisis without Rome
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 13 — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday hailed Italy’s duty president of the European Union as having “inspiring elements”, adding that Rome had “done a good job”. He said that Italy had been crucial in the approval of his 300-billion-euro investment plan and said the union would be in the midst of a “budget crisis” without Rome’s work on a budget agreement for 2014 and 2015. “Many elements inspiring the actions of the Commission are due to the enthusiasm of the Italian presidency,” he said. “Viva Italia”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Charlie Hebdo Cartoon Criticized in Norway
Leading Norwegian Muslims have criticized the new cover of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which features the Muslim Prophet Muhammad crying and holding a ‘Je Suis Charlie’ sign. The decision by some Norwegian media to reproduce it has also come under fire.
Mehtab Afsar, head of the Islamic Council of Norway, said “They should take into account that a lot of people feel bullied, harassed and mocked. But it is an editorial decision whether or not to publish this kind of drawing,” Afsar told Dagbladet newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Salvini Says Renzi Wasted Italy’s Opportunity Heading EU
Northern League leader says premier did nothing to help nation
(See related) (ANSA) — Strasbourg, January 13 — Matteo Salvini, head of the Northern League, on Tuesday denounced the Italian government’s leadership during its six-month duty presidency of the European Union, saying Premier Matteo Renzi wasted the opportunity. “The Italian presidency was nothing,” said Salvini.
“In this six months, there was nothing (to improve) unemployment, nothing in the defence of agriculture, nothing to defend our ‘Made in Italy’ (products),” Salvini said at the official conclusion of the Italian term.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: No Confidence Motion Against Prime Minister
The nationalist Sweden Democrat party will seek a no confidence motion against Prime Minister Stefan Löfven in parliament later.
The party has no confidence in the Prime Minister of Sweden,” acting leader Mattias Karlsson told news agency TT.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Muslims React to New Charlie Hebdo
Some have argued that the latest cover of the self-proclaimed “irresponsible magazine” sarcastically suggests that the Prophet himself would forgive the murder of its staff. Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Renald Luzier, who survived the attack because he was late for work that day, told AFP: “Our Mohammed is above all just a guy who is crying. He is much nicer than the one followed by the gunmen.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Political Establishment Responsible for the Paris Atrocities Has Hijacked the Protests
by Gerald Warner
What do you do if you belong to a tyrannical elite that has misgoverned an entire continent for decades, radically transforming its demography and outlawing free speech, when all the dire consequences your opponents warned about are fulfilled in two bloody massacres? No problem: you simply hijack the protests and pose as the champions of free speech.
The “I am Charlie” buffoonery sweeping France is an impressive demonstration of the establishment’s continuing ability to manipulate the public, with the assistance of the useful idiots in the Twittersphere and the organised Left. Invent an inane slogan and use it as a lightning conductor for public anger and fear. Having caused the crisis, the European elites have now assumed leadership of the potential backlash. It is beyond caricature.
The so-called “march for unity” in Paris was an affirmation by the European elite that, no matter how many people are murdered by jihadists, so far as the imposition of multiculturalism and immigration are concerned it is business as usual. We may be confident that throughout last week’s traumatic events the rubber stamps continued pounding on admission documents for legal immigrants and that more illegals penetrated porous frontiers. This was a march for a specific kind of unity: imams were invited, but not Marine Le Pen, leader of the largest political party in France…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
This May be the Best Cartoon Response to the Charlie Hebdo Massacre
For those who found the new Hebdo cover too ambiguous and some of the assorted grieving pencil responses too abstract and detached from what really took place, the Berliner Kurier gets right to the point.
The text is simple; “No, you can’t murder our freedom.”
[Wunderbar! Ich bin auch ein Berliner! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Threat Against Denmark and Norway Reported
In the aftermath of the terror attacks in Paris, a French website reportedly carried a warning that Denmark and Norway would be next.
Norwegian security police are investigating a terror threat against Denmark and Norway that was posted on a French website.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: OUP Authors Told Not to Write About Sausages or Pigs in Children’s Books to ‘Avoid Offence’
Authors of UK-published school books have been asked to take other cultures into account when writing in order to allow their texts to be exported to foreign countries.
Suggested guidelines for authors published by Oxford University Press (OUP) include not portraying the consumption of pork or bacon, which is not eaten in the Muslim world.
A spokesperson for Oxford University Press explained that books needed to be applicable to other cultures in order for them to be exported.
“Many of the educational materials we publish in the UK are sold in more than 150 countries, and as such they need to consider a range of cultural differences and sensitivities,” the spokesperson said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Are All Germany’, President Gauck Tells Muslim Rally
German President Joachim Gauck told a Muslim community rally Tuesday that “we are all Germany”, sending a message of unity in the face of rising Islamophobia and last week’s jihadist attacks in Paris.
“We are all Germany — we, democrats with our different political, cultural and religious backgrounds — we, who respect and need each other,” said the head of state at a rally for tolerance at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Are All Germany’, President Tells Muslim Rally
German President Joachim Gauck told the country’s Muslim community Tuesday that “we are all Germany” at a rally to take a stand against rising Islamophobia in the country.
About 10,000 citizens, religious leaders and politicians, among them Chancellor Angela Merkel, joined the event, which started with a wreath-laying ceremony at the French embassy and an imam reciting Koranic verses condemning the taking of life.
Gauck used his speech to send a message of reassurance to Germany’s four-million-strong Muslim community, a day after a record 25,000 people joined a protest march by a populist anti-Islamic movement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Muslim’s Open Letter to America: “What Else Has to Happen So You Wake Up?”
By Robert Spencer
Mark Christian is the President and Executive Director of the Global Faith Institute. He is the son and nephew of high ranking leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in his home country of Egypt. He is working in Nebraska against Muslim Brotherhood front groups’ malicious plans within the “Tri-Faith Initiative” in Omaha — details here.
“Ex-Muslim’s Open Letter To America: ‘WHAT ELSE HAS TO HAPPEN SO YOU WAKE UP?!,’ by Prissy Holly, Mad World News, January 11, 2015:…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
by Raymond Ibrahim
The full impact of Western intervention in Libya was recently highlighted during a televised interview of Worlds Apart. Hanne Nabintu Herland, a Norwegian author and historian who was born and raised in Africa for 20 years, was the guest.
At one point while talking about Libya, Herland firmly asserted that “In a just world, the political leaders in the West, that have done such atrocities towards other nations and other cultures, should have been sent to the Hague [International Criminal Court], and judged at the Hague, for atrocities against humanity.”
Before that, the African-born, Norwegian author said:…
| — Hat tip: Henrik Ræder Clausen | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaeda’s Zawahiri ‘Ordered’ Paris Attack
Yemen’s top al-Qaeda leader on Wednesday claimed responsibility for a bloody attack on a satirical French paper last week in a video message, saying it was “ordered” by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.
In a video posted on YouTube, the leader said al-Qaeda assailants “were assigned” to attack Charlie Hebdo as vengeance for insulting the Prophet Mohammad.
“As for the blessed Battle of Paris, we, the Organization of al-Qaeda al-Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the Messenger of God,” said Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi of the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda (AQAP) in the recording.
On Friday, AQAP first announced it directed the attack in Paris “as revenge for the honor” of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Baghdadi Executes 56 ISIL Members After Their Defeat in Southern Erbil
ISIL’s leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ordered the execution of 56 of the group’s terrorists after they were defeated by the Peshmerga forces southern Erbil, according to media reports.
The reports added that the executions were done in eastern Mosul.
It is worth noting that the Peshmerga forces killed and injured over 400 ISIL terrorists southern Erbil.
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Don’t Believe the Hype, ISIL is Still on the Offensive
ISIL has compensated for its territorial losses in Iraq by gaining around four per cent more territory inside Syria. More than that, the group’s losses over the past six months should be seen in the wider context of ISIL’s military presence to avoid misplaced proclamations. The terror group still tightly controls large provinces and cities and towns in Syria and Iraq, while it is still diverting the resources of its enemies to battles outside its territories.
Despite the airstrikes, ISIL still took over towns and villages, such as Hit in Iraq and hamlets in Anbar and Aleppo. It still made advances despite being under aerial bombardment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Named in Plan to Send Non-Combat Troops to Iraq
A contingent of Swedish troops is to be deployed in Iraq to train Kurdish fighters for combat against Islamic State militants. According to Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström Finland also has plans in the pipeline to contribute a similar force.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former U of O Student John Maguire Killed Fighting for ISIS in Syria: Report
Government officials are looking into reports that a Canadian who starred in an ISIS propaganda video has been killed in Syria while fighting for the terrorist group.
John Maguire, 23, who used the name Abu Anwar Al-Canadi, was killed in northern Syria, according to a pro-ISIS Twitter account.
The former University of Ottawa student who grew up in Kemptville had tried to encourage attacks on Canadian soil in a video posted online last December.
The Prime Minister’s Office said it was aware of reports Maguire had been killed, and was “seeking additional information on them.”
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Putin and Erdogan: Birds of a Feather
by Robert Ellis
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s paranoia reached new heights with the charges against 35 fans of the Besiktas football club in Istanbul who took part in the anti-government protests in June of 2013 of being members of a terrorist organization and attempting a coup against the government.
But they are in good company. In August of 2013 Gen. Ilker Basbug, chief of the General Staff, was sentenced to life imprisonment for establishing and leading a terrorist organization, and now an arrest warrant has been issued for Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic cleric resident in the US, also on charges of leading a terrorist organization. This is obviously a reference to Mr. Gülen’s faith-based Hizmet (Service) movement, which has an estimated 3 million followers, with adherents in the Turkish police, judiciary and bureaucracy.
On Dec. 12, President Erdogan signed into law a new judicial bill that enables police to detain suspects on the grounds of reasonable suspicion instead of strong suspicion based on concrete evidence. Two days later, the police arrested the editor-in-chief of Zaman, Turkey’s largest-circulation daily and the flagship of the Gülen movement, as well as the chairman of the Samanyolu TV channel, which is also connected to the Gülen movement, together with journalists, scriptwriters and producers, who have been charged with forming, leading and being members of an armed terrorist organization.
The massive international outcry that ensued included a joint statement from Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, and Johannes Hahn, commissioner for enlargement negotiations, saying that the arrests were “incompatible with the freedom of media, which is a core principle of democracy.” Erdogan’s response was to tell Brussels to mind its own business, but he later relented and affirmed that EU membership is still a “strategic choice” for Turkey.
Three days later, Marietje Schaake, a prominent liberal member of the Friends of Turkey group in the European Parliament (EP), stated in a plenary debate: “Our dream of a European Turkey has turned into a nightmare and it is time for a wake-up call.” She went on to say: “It is time to tell the Justice and Development Party [AK Party] government that it is not business as usual. Europe has to show that there must be an end to the violations of the rule of law.”
Unfortunately, this is not the case. The massive reassignment of police officers, judges and prosecutors to quash the allegations of corruption raised against leading members of the AK Party government, bureaucrats and prominent businessmen in the Dec. 17 and Dec. 25 corruption investigations in 2013 has been accompanied by a restructuring of the legal system…
| — Hat tip: Henrik Ræder Clausen | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia and Iran Prepping Talks to Fight Terrorism
Long rivals for hegemony in the greater Middle East, Iran and Saudi Arabia are now preparing to hold talks to fight terrorism.
The announcement was made by Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Marziyeh Afkham on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the spokesperson was quoted by the ISNA agency as saying, has been invited by Riyadh to visit Saudi Arabia. Afkham added that Tehran is readying a meeting to be held in one of the two nation’s capitals and that the talks ‘‘will be held when the framework for them is decided’’. A particularly sharp division between Iran and Saudi Arabia has arisen since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, with Tehran acting as the Syrian regime’s main ally and Riyadh supporting the rebels. Their interests also diverge on the issue of oil price, which Iran would like to see rise through cuts to production. On Tuesday, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani warned that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which have allowed oil prices to fall, will end up suffering as well.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Border Lifeline for Some, Road to Jihad for Other
Journalist discusses ways in after Boumedienne controversy
(by Shelly Kittleson) (ANSAmed) — ROME, JANUARY 12 — Turkey’s admission that the girlfriend of one of the jihadists behind a recent attack in Paris had crossed into Syria in recent days has led to growing criticism of the NATO member’s border control.
This reporter has crossed the same border as Hayat Boumedienne, the girlfriend of jihadist Amedy Coulibaly, several times at different places for reporting trips since late 2012 and most recently in the past month, and can confirm that there are legally viable ways to enter and exit the opposition-held areas of Syria from Turkey in accordance with the latter country’s border policy.
If Boumedienne used the Bab Al-Salama border crossing, from which the sole remaining road into Syria’s former industrial capital — Aleppo — leads, she could have been stamped out legally, as many Syrians with passports and foreigners are every day. When exiting the bus from the border town of Kilis to the border itself, there is generally a clutch of young boys that openly compete for those wanting a more circuitous and illegal way, but several Syrians this reporter knows personally have been beaten when attempting to do so.
The rules vary from one border crossing to another, however.
At the Bab Al-Hawa border crossing further west, foreigners are generally prohibited from exiting Turkish territory, though multiple sources have confirmed to this reporter that bribes of amounts ranging between 30 US dollars and 300 are frequently able to get one across.
Bribes have long been an integral part of the Syrian regime, and countless Syrians have confirmed that bribes have long been not only how relatives have been got out of jail and across borders but also for such things as passports and divorce certificates, and they readily accept the ‘procedure’ for doing so at the Turkish border as well, if they can afford to do so.
There are several other routes to get in and out, as well.
One river crossing further west became well-known but more difficult to use after a Vice report showed one of the media outlet’s journalists kneeling on a makeshift raft that a Syrian pulled across using a rope strung from trees partially blocking the Turkish border guards’ line of vision.
Some foreigners enter to provide medical care or are Syrian expats with dual citizenship but no valid Syrian passport any longer. Others are, of course, fighters.
Some of the fighters are foreign, but many defected officers involved in the moderate opposition also do not have passports and are thus required to either use illegal routes or the IDs of friends that physically resemble them.
Long seen from abroad as the main conduit for foreign fighters wanting to join extremist groups fighting in the conflict sparked by a brutal repression of the 2011 peaceful uprising, the somewhat porous border has also acted as a lifeline for many.
On a recent trip, one Syrian told this reporter that the “revolution and many thousands of other people” would be dead right now were it not for the humanitarian stance of Turkey in allowing injured Syrians — both civilians and fighters, sometimes difficult to distinguish between given the nature of the popular uprising itself and often without a passport — to receive basic emergency treatment at its public facilities.
Turkey has yet to find a way to enable those in need and moderate fighters lacking passports to cross its lengthy border with Syria while at the same time preventing jihadist fighters from exploiting the same routes and methods.
In contrast with Syria’s other neighbors home to large numbers of refugees — Lebanon and Jordan — Turkey has not been criticized by Amnesty International for restrictive border policies harming those fleeing the war.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan School Massacre Suspects Nabbed
Pakistan gives Afghanistan tip-off
(ANSA) — Rome, January 14 — Afghanistan on Wednesday arrested five men suspected of involvement in last month’s massacre at a school in Pakistan after Islamabad gave information to Kabul.
Afghan officials denied reports that the five had been handed over to Pakistan, saying they would be questioned in Afghanistan first.
Taliban gunmen killed at least 150 people, mostly children, in the attack in Peshawar.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Japan Ramps Up Military Budget to Ward Off China
The Japanese cabinet has approved a ramped-up defense budget for the third year running. Tokyo has plans to buy aircraft, which are expected to be deployed as part of the disputed East China Sea islands standoff.
The government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a 2.8 percent rise in defense spending on Wednesday, with Tokyo seeking to bolster defenses in its waters bordering China.
“The situation around Japan is changing,” Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said on Sunday. “The level of defense spending reflects the amount necessary to protect Japan’s air, sea, and land, and guard the lives and property of our citizens.”
It is the third year in succession that Japanese defense spending has risen, though Tokyo has previously maintained a relatively low military profile. The trend reflects Abe’s wish to build a more active military amid rising tensions with China.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Man in China Recovering in Hospital After Wife Chopped Off His Penis
A man in China is recuperating after his wife chopped off his penis when she found out he was having an affair — and when he had it sewn back on, she stormed the hospital and chopped it off again.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
The Chinese Border Village That Lives in Fear of North Korea
A spate of murders by North Koreans inside China’s border is prompting some residents to abandon their homes, testing China’s ability to manage both the 1,400-km shared frontier and its relationship with the reclusive nation.
The violence reflects a growing desperation among soldiers, including border guards, since Kim Jong-un took over as supreme leader in Pyongyang three years ago. As well as seeking food they are entering China to steal money.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Attacks Send ‘Over 11,000 Fleeing Into Chad’
The United Nations on Tuesday said that the latest wave of Boko Haram’s “vicious, ruthless attacks” in northeastern Nigeria had sent 11,320 people fleeing into Chad in a matter of days.
The Islamist group stormed the town of Baga on January 3, and subsequently razed it and at least 16 surrounding settlements.
While it has been impossible for aid workers to enter the area to verify accounts of the slaughter and of corpses rotting in the streets, the attack is feared to have been the worst massacre since Boko Haram’s deadly insurgency began in 2009…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Satellite Images Show Evidence of Boko Haram Massacre
Shocking satellite images of destroyed towns and razed houses have confirmed eyewitness accounts that Boko Haram slaughtered hundreds of people this month in its worst-ever massacre in Nigeria, human rights groups say.
The wave of savage attacks continued relentlessly for several days after Boko Haram captured the Baga military base on Jan. 3. The Nigerian military has insisted that only 150 people died, including militants, but the newly released satellite images suggest a far more horrifying toll.
The images show more than 3,700 damaged or destroyed houses in just two of the estimated 16 towns and fishing villages that the Islamist extremist militia attacked around Baga in northeastern Nigeria on the shores of Lake Chad, according to Amnesty International, one of the groups that released the satellite images.
“These detailed images show devastation of catastrophic proportions in two towns, one of which was almost wiped off the map in the space of four days,” said a statement on Thursday by Daniel Eyre, a Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International…
| [Return to headlines] |
By Ezra Levant
FREE SPEECH UNDER ATTACK IN THE WESTERN WORLD
The True North, Strong and Free?! Freedom is under attack across the world and right here in Canada where the courts have set a staggering precedent against our civil liberties.
by sunnewsnetwork
http://tinyurl.com/o32u7pb
the video is approx 19 minutes long
where on 7th January 2015 Toronto Eric Brazau: Gets 18 MONTHS Jail for insulting ISLAM on subway
Canadian justice is incredible how it is dished out,
The video discussion of 2 talkative men and at the end the stopping of the train on liveleak is about 36 minutes long.
http://tinyurl.com/p5e42kx
No wonder as one commenter said “Canadians are so polite as they could be sent to jail” or though juxtaposed what Ezra was able to show what an iman can say in a Canadian mosque gives muslims free rein. Then the “Non jailing” of a person who drove over and dragged a pedestrian for half a mile.
As Ezra says, his videos and speechs could soon be banned.
I did know that some hate laws against speech were in place, but to see it practiced is alarming, knowing that Declaration 16/18, that was set up by the Organisation of Islamic Co operation OIC passed by consensus in the UN that just needs a ratification, or signature or a judge to act on it, even if there are not already draconian hate speech criminalizing laws.
The white house proposes a global summit/conference of countering violent extremism, on February 18th. A perfect opportunity to let and accept the guiding principles Declaration 16/18 from now the UN and show USA as a leading democratic law maker and so pressure other countries to follow.
Eric Brazau is also another Je suis Charlie, and also like Gert Wilders, sounding the alarm/warnings, and risking his life going to jail, sacrificing over a year of his life.
I am absolutely positive I had an extended internet conversation with Abdalah Mohamed at the time of the PDX Christmas Bombing Plot IIRC he went by the user name UmHarum (?) I searched the net for his name and a dozen S&M porn sites came-up, one featured white women hanging from nooses, he had been banned from other S&M sites. He also wrote a script for a comic where a heroic, pure Jihadi murdered corrupt idolaters and women, he had near identical profiles on many web sites. This person claimed to live in NE Portland and had an older brother in the USMC.
I see that this perp and the PDX Bomber share the same last name!
2010 Portland car bomb plot – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia☑
The 2010 Portland car bomb plot involved an incident in which Mohamed Osman Mohamud (born 1991), a Somali-American student, was arrested in an FBI sting operation on November 26, 2010, after attempting to set off what he thought was a car bomb at a Christmas tree lighting in Portland, Oregon. He …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Portland_car_bomb_plot
Ezra Levant is a brave man and a great Canadian, a patriot. Happily, he is joined on SUN news by Brian Lilley, Alex Mihailovich, Sara McIntyre and the surprising ‘lefty’ Ray Heard.
Unfortunately, in a world gone mad or ‘Turned Upside Down’ as Melanie Phillips correctly sees it, the SUN crew are just one lighthouse on Canada’s long shores. Indeed, according to polls about half of Canadian voters actually seem poised to install Justin Trudeau as PM, which speaks volumes about the Canadian voter.
As to the grandiose ‘Global Summit’ on violent extremism (just call it islam) proposed by the Caliph in the White Mosque for 18th. Feb. to counteract the criticism he received for not being in Paris recently, I can only add: why would he be there? He would just be demonstrating against himself–as was Abbas.
As we age some of us, at least, look back 50 -70 years or more and remember sadly, a saner world.
Who would ever have thought even 50 years ago that the madness which erupted 1400 years ago on the Arabian peninsula, escalated and needed the crusades to contain it; has been our enemy ever since and has murdered, beheaded, beaten, intimidated, enslaved and insulted it’s way to the present day, would suddenly be not just accepted, but welcomed into our countries by the madmen who lead us! Not only that, but given benefits, (which exceed those given to the locals and indigenous) free housing and indeed granted VIP status, allowed to set up enclaves of their own, ‘no go’ areas for westerners, the freedom (well, almost with impunity) to rape western women when they feel in the need for a little sport.
Melanie did get it right–it really is an upside down world gone mad.