At its tenth-anniversary meeting in Copenhagen, Trykkefrihedsselskabet (the Danish Free Press Society) gave the Swedish artist Lars Vilks a special award for his courage. The venue for the event was heavily guarded by Danish security police.
In other news, middle-school pupils in the French city of Toulouse recognized the young boy who apparently executed a “spy for Israel” in an ISIS propaganda video. The children say the junior kinetic activist is one of their classmates. The video, the children, and the execution had nothing to do with Islam.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, RL, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
FCC Cites MC Hammer, Parachute Pants as Justification for Internet Takeover
90s icon cited as justification for tax-payer subsidized Internet.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hidden Truth: The Poison of Statism
The true enemy is statism. We can argue ideology, Democrat versus Republican, liberalism versus conservativism, or left versus right all we want, but in the end “big government,” especially in a manner that is in direct opposition to the rule of law, and the United States Constitution, is the enemy.
Every issue has its surface arguments, but in the end, the argument always comes down to if the issue is a local or central authority, and how it is being shoved down the throats of the American public.
During the founding of the United States, the people of that era called it “utopianism.” People like Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams and James Madison warned against the excesses of democracy (mob-rule), the schemes of leveling (redistribution of wealth), and communal systems (socialism). Jefferson so distrusted the concept of a central government that he believed there would be a bloody revolution every twenty years (water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants and patriots). John Adams suspected the two party system would be the death of this nation. Benjamin Franklin warned that only a virtuous society is capable of freedom, and James Madison added that freedom was also dependent upon the people being educated in the matters of government and their republic. The specter of statism existed in that time, peering into the system through the eyes of people like John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall. Anti-federalists like George Mason warned of what would become of the United States if the fires of liberty were not maintained by the people, and if the citizens became complacent in their relationship with the federal government.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawyers Say Canadian-Born Cruz Eligible to Run for President
While questions about Canadian-born Sen. Ted Cruz’s eligibility to be president haven’t drawn much attention, two former Justice Department lawyers have weighed in with a bipartisan verdict: Cruz, they say, is eligible to run for the White House.
Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, and Paul Clemente, solicitor general in President George W. Bush’s administration, got out in front of the issue in a Harvard Law Review article.
“There is no question that Senator Cruz has been a citizen from birth and is thus a ‘natural born Citizen’ within the meaning of the Constitution,” they wrote.
Anti-Cruz “birthers” had questioned the Texas Republican senator’s eligibility to be president, challenging his citizenship status because he was born in Canada.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NASA Signals Crisis: “California Has About One Year of Water Left”
The California drought has already been alarming enough not only for residents of the state — whose water supply was never secured, and has constantly been the source of heated controversy — but those across the country and globe who depend up on its agriculture for survival.
As SHTF reported back in November, NASA scientists have already warned that California’s groundwater supplies are at critical low points, and threatening the food supply:
A new Nature Climate Change piece, “The global groundwater crisis,” by James Famiglietti, a leading hydrologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, warns that “most of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semi-arid zones, that is, in the dry parts of the world that rely most heavily on groundwater, are experiencing rapid rates of groundwater depletion.”
The most worrisome fact: “nearly all of these underlie the word’s great agricultural regions and are primarily responsible for their high productivity.”
Now, Jay Famiglietti — the same NASA hydrologist who led the previous report — is sounding an all-out alarm that California has less than one year of water remaining based on satellite image data:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Treason is the New Patriotism
When Republicans complained that Obama refused to talk about Islamic terrorism, he accused them of playing into the hands of ISIS by demanding that he identify the enemy we’re fighting.
When they spoke out against his Iranian nuclear sellout, he accused them of “wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran”.
Those hardliners would presumably toe a harder line than Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who responded to Obama’s outreach in his first term by saying, “The Islamic peoples all over the world chant ‘Death to America!’“ and who stated last year that “This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it.”
(The Supreme Leader of a country which stones teenage rape victims and rapes teenage girls so that they don’t die as virgins, also claimed that “The European races are barbaric.”)
If the moderate Supreme Leader that Obama is dealing with wants Death to America, what could the real hardliners want for America that’s even worse than death? A third term of Obama?
Meanwhile Joe Biden, Obama’s number two, accused Republicans of undermining Obama. This would be the same Biden who threatened to impeach President Bush if he bombed Iran’s nuclear program and who blasted Bush and the idea of an Axis of Evil at a fundraiser in the home of a pro-Iran figure.
Biden undermined President Bush’s efforts to rein in Iran’s terrorism by voting against listing the Revolutionary Guard, which was supplying weapons to help the Taliban kill American soldiers, as a terrorist group (a position he shared with Kerry, Hagel and Obama) and berating Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for not negotiating with Iran and Assad.
The toadying of “Tehran Joe” to Iran had already reached its absolute lowest point when Biden responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11 by suggesting, “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran.”
The administration that Biden is part of has instead been releasing $490 million a month to Iran.
Biden, along with Kerry and Hagel, became notorious as the Tehran Trio during the Bush years for their advocacy for Iran and Assad, and their appearances at pro-Iranian lobbying groups and fundraisers despite criticism from Iranian democracy advocates. Biden, Kerry and Hagel, Obama’s VP, the Secretary of State and the former Secretary of Defense, all appeared at American-Iranian Council events, a group whose founder stated that he is “the Iranian lobby in the United States.”
Treason doesn’t get more treasonous than that.
Obama and Biden, along with their political allies, are trying to spin their shameless pandering to a terrorist state as patriotic and opposition to it as treasonous. The New York Daily News denounced senators opposed to an Obama deal giving Iran the ability to develop and deploy nuclear weapons as “Traitors”. The administration’s social media allies’ hashtag dubbed Republicans opposed to Iran’s nuclear weapons as #47Traitors.
Traitors oppose terrorists getting nuclear weapons. Patriots like Joe Biden not only support it, but they blast a president trying to stop it while collecting $30,000 at a pro-Iranian fundraiser.
“Treason doth never prosper: what’s the reason?” Sir John Harrington cynically observed. “Why, if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
Retire Rubber Stamp, Reject Loretta Lynch as AG
Next week, the Senate Republicans will have an opportunity to redeem themselves and improve their tattered reputation. To replace the outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama has nominated another extreme liberal, Loretta Lynch, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. In testimony before Congress, Lynch expressed support for everything Eric Holder has done. In fact, she told U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), that as Attorney General she would pursue an agenda that “would not be different” from Eric Holder.
While continuing Holder’s liberal policies is extremely troubling, Lynch’s support of the President’s lawless executive amnesty should be more than enough to disqualify her for the important position of Attorney General. The President decreed, without congressional approval, the halting of deportations for five million illegal aliens, who will immediately qualify for work permits and benefits totaling $35,000 per year.
In testimony before Congress, Lynch made the incredulous statement that all illegal aliens have a “right to work.” The vast majority of Americans would disagree with Lynch. Illegal aliens do not have the right to enjoy benefits or secure employment. Instead, they have a right to return to their country of origin, posthaste.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Strange Article V — Concon Connections Just Keep on Coming
In previous articles here and here, we have learned of many associations with the leaders of the Article V Convention of States movement which have caused concern for many. In the last few weeks, some of the main architects of this movement testified before a Texas legislative committee, including Michael Farris, Sen. Tom Coburn, Nick Dranias, Mike Stern and Roman Buhler. Just one dissenting voice was included from Pat Carlson of the Texas Eagle Forum, whose concerns were quickly dismissed. Heading this committee was Texas Representative Phil King, who also happens to be the National Chairperson for ALEC. As we have learned previously, ALEC has been instrumental in promoting an Article V Convention.
By no coincidence, many of the same participants promoted the Article V to the January 2015 meeting of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), founded by well known Texas political activist and former founder of KCI, James Leininger. TPPF is part of the national State Policy Network (SPN), which has also been previously discussed in connection with those promoting the COS:
The State Policy Network’s (SPN) 2010 meeting encompassed many of these same names, including Drew Ryun, Leo Linbeck III, Nick Dranias (Compact for America’s Article V director), Eric O’Keefe, as well as representation from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (part of the SPN) founded by James Leininger. Among the presentations there was one on the Constitutional amendment process by Nick Dranias as well as information and handouts from Ned Ryun on engaging the Tea Party, with some extensive market research on the Tea Party provided. This would certainly help them to “sell” things to Tea Party groups, using the issues and language they know Tea Parties respond to.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oregon — home of things uber trendy — has become the first state to begin dunning motorists by the mile rather than by the gallon.
The “pilot” program begins July 1 — and will be implemented by the Oregon DOT in partnership with something called Sanef ITS Technologies America and Intelligent Mechatronic Systems. Sounds a lot like Cyberdyne Systems from the Terminator movies, doesn’t it? And the similarities run a lot deeper than that.
To make this work (for Uncle) your car must be fitted with some type of real-time monitoring device that keeps track of your mileage and reports it to Uncle (well, his helpers) who will then either send you a bill or perhaps automatically debit your account.
Kind of like federal tax withholding on wheels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Man Who Gave Vaccine Companies a Free Pass Revealed
Government collusion with big pharma a decades-long problem.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bear Population in Northern Trentino Stabilizing
Monitoring shows 41 bears followed in region in 2014
(ANSA) — Trento, March 12 — The bear population in Italy’s northern Trentino region stabilized in 2014 after years of low levels that at times, led to fears of extinction, according to a report Thursday.
Wildlife officers said they counted 41 animals, including 22 male bears, 17 females, and two where their gender could not be determined.
Further, almost half the bears were adults while 10 males and four females were classified as youths and several smaller cubs were identified.
The wildlife officers have been tracking the bruins for 40 years to assess the levels of the animals, which provides a signal of the overall health of the area’s flora and fauna.
In their eighth status report on wildlife in the region, officers said that wolf populations have begun to recover from a low in 2010 while lynx population is also increasing. According to the report, traditional survey techniques were used to follow the animals while genetic monitoring is also be used through collection of “organic material”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Attack Cartoonist Lars Vilks Wins Award
A Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog has made his first public appearance since attending a debate that was targeted in a gun attack in Copenhagen last month.
Lars Vilks received a prize for courage from a free press group, at a heavily secured event in the Danish parliament.
His cartoon offended many Muslims and he now lives under guard in Sweden.
A radicalised gunman with gang links attacked the Copenhagen debate and a synagogue, killing two people.
A film-maker died in the shooting at a cafe hosting the free speech debate, while a guard was killed in the shooting outside the synagogue.
The gunman, Omar El Hussein, was later shot dead by police.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Forza Italia up in Polls, PD, Northern League Down
Gap widens between Salvini, Berlusconi parties
(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party rose 1.3% in poll numbers released Friday, while declines came for Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD), Matteo Salvini’s Northern League, and Beppe Grillo’s 5-Star Movement, according to a weekly survey of voter intentions conducted by polling group SWG.
Compared to last week, Forza Italia rose to 16.0% from 14.7%; while the PD now stands at 39.2%, down from 39.8%; the Northern League at 13.0%, down from 13.6%; and the 5-Star Movement at 16.5%, down from 17.0%.
The SWG poll was conducted on a representative sample of 2,000 adults between March 9-11 for their weekly report on voter intentions.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Classmates ‘Recognise’ Boy Killer in is Group Video
French middle-school students in Toulouse have said they recognise the boy who appears to execute an Arab Israeli man in a video released by the Islamic State group this week, a school official said on Friday.
The schools inspector in the Haute-Garonne district of southern France said some students in the city of Toulouse believe they recognise the boy, who appears to be no more than 12.
“Concerning the formal identification of this person, I cannot tell you anything,” Jacques Caillaut told reporters. “Children from Vauquelin Middle School have recognised one of their classmates, but we must remain cautious.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Has ‘Clear Will’ To Get Battisti Back, Orlando
Release from arrest doesn’t hurt chances says justice minister
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 13 — Italy has the “clear political will” to bring back former leftist terrorist Cesare Battisti from Brazil to serve life for four murders, Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said Friday. Orlando said Battisti’s release Friday after an overnight arrest didn’t “necessarily” hurt Italy’s chances of repatriating him. Battisti is appealing against Brazil’s ruling to eject him last month.
Orlando said Italian authorities have been in constant touch with Brazilian ones.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Undersecretary Says Unaware of Being Under Investigation
By prosecutors in Catania over center for asylum seekers
(ANSA) — Catania, March 12 — The government’s agriculture undersecretary Giuseppe Castiglione on Thursday said he was unaware he was under criminal investigation in connection with a tender for a holding center for asylum seekers in Sicily, though he trusted in the judiciary.
“I know nothing about it, I heard it from the press”, he said, commenting a report published by daily La Sicilia.
“I have great confidence in magistrates”, added Castilgione, also a junior member of the previous cabinet led by Enrico Letta who formerly served as president of the province of Catania and deputy president of the Sicilian regional government.
The Sicilian newspaper on Thursday said prosecutors in Catania have placed the undersecretary under investigation on abuse of office and bid rigging charges in connection with a tender for the management of the Cara di Mineo center, the largest for asylum seekers in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Soccer: Use of Foreign Players ‘Devastating’
More Italian youngsters shd be launched says FIGC chief
(ANSA) — Florence, March 9 — The use of foreign players in Italian soccer is “devastating,” Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio told Albanian TV’s Agon Channel Monday.
“Our goal is to try to rejuvenate this soccer system, launching more youngsters to restrict the devastating use of foreigners,” he said. Tavecchio is currently serving a FIFA and UEFA ban for saying there were too many “banana-eating” foreign players in Italian soccer.
That comment, made in July as he was calling for tighter restrictions on non-EU footballers in Italian soccer, garnered headlines worldwide.
The ensuing furore did not stop him being elected one month later to the helm of Italian soccer, which has been dogged by repeated episodes of racism in recent years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Marino Pledges 47mn for Street Lighting in Run-Down Suburbs
Anti-immigrant violence revealed locals’ plight
(ANSA) — Rome, March 6 — Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino said Friday his administration’s 2015 budget contains millions for street lighting and security cameras in the city’s crime-ridden outlying neighborhoods.
“We allocated 47 million euros to replace 190,000 street lights,” the center-left mayor said.
“We’re in talks with the interior and economy ministries to locate another 28 million to install 190,000 security cameras along with the lighting,” he added.
As well, the mayor said city government has secured 68 million euros from the environmental ministry to shore up flood and landslide-prone areas of Rome.
Marino has promised to intervene in the capital’s troubled outlying neighborhoods after a spate of racist violence in the Tor Sapienza district last November.
The mayor met with local resident from the predominantly blue-collar and immigrant neighborhood where gangs of masked residents violently attacked a center housing underage refugees, forcing the city to transfer them.
The incident brought to light long-held grievances in the run-down neighborhood inhabited by a medley of Italians, Albanians, Romanians, and Roma people, and which residents said is plagued with lack of services, poor street lighting, and a spiking crime rate including several attacks on women.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Four Civil Plaintiffs in Pedophile Priest Case
Two kids, Roman Curia and children’s association join case
(ANSA) — Ravenna, March 9 — Four civil plaintiffs joined proceedings against a 53-year-old priest facing charges of having sex with four minors under his care at a pretrial hearing Monday.
Father Giovanni Desio, the former parish priest of the Emilia Romagna coastal village of Casal Borsetti, was arrested in April last year.
The civil plaintiffs are two kids with their parents, the Roman Curia, which is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See, and an association that works with minors.
The Church has suspended Desio, who is under house arrest.
He has requested a fast-track trial, which takes far less time than regular trials but whose rulings can’t be appealed.
The next hearing is set for mid-April.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Ranks Among Lowest in EU Justice Scoreboard
Sixth-to-last in perceived judicial independence, score 3.5 of 7
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 9 — Italy ranked among the bottom seven countries in the perceived judicial independence ranking of the EU’s Justice Scoreboard report released on Monday, scoring 3.5 out of a possible 7 in 2013-2014 data.
Italy’s ranking has fallen consistently in past years, from 3.8 in 2010-2012 data and 3.7 in 2012-2013 data.
In this year’s report, Italy tied with Romania at 3.5.
The only EU countries ranked lower than Italy are Slovenia with 3.4, Spain and Hungary both at 3.2, and Bulgaria and Slovakia tied at 2.3.
The highest-ranked countries are Finland at 6.6, Denmark at 6.5, and Ireland at 6.3.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Soccer: Napoli ‘Adopts’ Afghan Children’s Team
Italian peacekeepers deliver team jerseys to kids
(ANSA) — Naples, March 4 — Napoli has ‘adopted’ a children’s soccer team in the Afghan city of Herat, the team announced Wednesday.
President Aurelio De Laurentiis championed the idea, and Italian peacekeepers stationed in Herat delivered team jerseys along with other memorabilia to the children.
“Soccer and Napoli can provide a bit of joy and confidence to Italian soldiers in Afghanistan and to its people, who are in search for peace,” De Laurentiis said in a message.
Italy heads up a NATO-led peacekeeping force made up of Albanian, American, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Spanish, and Ukrainian troops.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Perfect English Since Primary School’ Says Renzi
Premier explains his ‘Good School’ reform bill
(ANSA) — Rome, March 12 — The government’s Good School reform approved by cabinet will beef up “music, art, foreign languages and physical education”, Premier Matteo Renzi said Thursday. “There will be a particular focus on the absolute professionalism of English teachers from the primary school level,” Renzi said. “We will require teachers with absolutely perfect English”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Key Witness in Britain’s Biggest Paedophile Case Lives in U.S.
‘The key to bringing Britain’s alleged VIP pedophile ring to justice could be the testimony of a successful businessman now living and working in Connecticut.
The man, who allegedly was the victim of sickening sexual abuse as a schoolboy, fled Britain for a new life in the United States where he now has a thriving career and a family.
Scotland Yard detectives have told The Daily Beast that they understand his reluctance to come forward after officers failed to properly investigate his claims in the past, but they believe his account could prove crucial to securing the convictions of surviving members of a sex abuse ring that operated at the heart of the British establishment throughout the 1980s.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Only 25 British Terror Suspects Have Had Their Bank Accounts Frozen, Report Reveals
David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said the ‘remarkably low’ numbers indicate asset-freezing has played only a ‘marginal role’ in combating the threat of ISIS.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rami Pushpa is an Italian Citizen. The Mayor Does Not Participate at the Ceremony.
The mayor Mazzuchelli designated a councillor after the decision of the prefect. He refused to give the citizenship because the woman could not speak Italian.
She did it in the end. Rani Pushpa, a 59-year-old woman from India, obtained the Italian citizenship. The ceremony took place in the town hall of Cairate on Monday, 9th March, at 13.30, but it was not the mayor Paolo Mazzuchelli to officiate the ceremony, it was the city councillor Andrea Di Salvo. The reason is that the mayor, after refusing to give the citizenship to Mrs Rani because she was not able to say the formula in a correct Italian, had to respect the decision of the prefect of Varese. According to the prefect, indeed, Paolo Mazzuchelli did not have the discretionary power, since the Ministry had already given the authorization. In the town hall there were, in addition to Mrs Rani Pushpa, her husband and children. Francesca Gioffrè, the lawyer to which the family addressed after the denial of the mayor Mazzuchelli, accompanied them all. The ceremony took place in privacy in the General Register Office, in the presence of the councillor Di Salvo and the functionaries. The mayor Mazzuchelli stayed in his office, and arrived only at the end of the ceremony to congratulate ironically the lawyer Gioffrè…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Say it in Italian’ Petition Gets Nearly 70,000 Signatures
Crusca Academy plans website to help Italians shun English words
(ANSA) Florence, March 10 — A petition urging the nation to ‘say it in Italian’ and spurn the use of English words creeping into everyday speech has obtained nearly 70,000 signatures, organisers claimed Tuesday.
The campaign for signatures in defence of the purity of the language of Dante Alighieri was launched by Annamaria Testa in an echo of the inter-war regime of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who banned the use of English words such as barman and coined new Italian ones such as barista to replace them, substituting ‘babbo’ for the French ‘papa’ for Dad, for example.
The hallowed Crusca Academy in Florence joined in the fray Tuesday, announcing it will set up a website to offer Italians words in their own language for English words that have passed into common daily usage on the peninsula.
“When Annamaria Testa came to Florence to present us the petition,” Crusca President Claudio Marazzini said in a note to those who signed, “we imagined a concrete campaign together opening new scope for participation”.
“If nobody presents obstacles we will plan an easy access internet site to help everyone to find their bearings with old and new words that have gone into our lexicon, to understand their meaning, use, and the valid and possible alternatives”.
“It’s not a question of imposing choices but of finding a wide consensus and the active participation of Italians and all those who love our language”.
He added “we don’t want to wage war on English but we want to remind Italian speakers that in many cases there are easy and transparent Italian words that can be used”.
The petition is in part a reaction to recent English-language slogans like Be Cool, Join the Navy, Rome & You as part of a Roman tourism drive and very bello for the Milan Expo 2015 world’s fair.
Premier Matteo Renzi also has a penchant for English, such as Jobs Act for his signature labour-market reform.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kirsty Jarvis does not want her daughter Freya going to Khalsa Secondary School in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, (pictured) as she fears she would be a ‘minority’ at the Sikh faith school.
[Comment: One of the Sikh’s religions gurus died to protect the right of another to worship as they chose. Doubtful she will experience problems at the Sikh school.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Controversy Erupts Over COE Reverend’s Decision to Invite Muslim Group to Pray in Church
Controversy has erupted over a Church of England vicar’s decision to open his church to a Muslim group for prayer.
The Reverend Canon Giles Goddard invited Muslims from the Inclusive Mosque organisation — a liberal group that promotes both genders praying together — to worship in St John’s Waterloo on Friday.
The service, attended by roughly 50 members of the group, was led by campaigner Amina Wadud and commemorated the 10 anniversary of Ms Wadud’s decision to speak out against the segregation of worshippers on ground of gender.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Sex Abuse is ‘Woven Into the Fabric of British Society’, Claims Theresa May
The Home Secretary announced this week that a new inquiry into historic child abuse will investigate allegations from before the 1970s and warned only ‘the tip of the iceberg’ has been uncovered so far.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Thousands of Patients Will Miss Out on Life-Saving Drugs Under New Cancer Fund List
The Cancer Drugs Fund for England has cut 19 life-extending treatments, including for prostate and bowel cancers, claiming they are too expensive — a decision experts have called a ‘travesty’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Self-styled ‘ladies’ man’ Naushad Faruk, 33, taped three women performing sex acts on him with a secret camera hidden in his watch and sent a revenge porn-style clip to one of the victims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lengthen Italian 16-mth ban, doping agency asks CAS
(ANSA) — Lausanne, March 10 — The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Tuesday asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to lengthen a 16-month Italian ban for skater Carolina Kostner to 2-4 years for helping her ex-boyfriend Alex Schwazer dodge a drugs test.
Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) prosecutors had initially requested a four-year ban for former world champion Kostner for her role in the violations by Schwazer, the 2008 50km walk Olympic champion.
However, Italy’s anti-doping tribunal opted for the 16-month ban, explaining that Kostner did not know Schwazer was using drugs, adding that even though she “knowingly lied” to a WADA inspector, it considered “the attenuating circumstance” that she was in love.
Kostner, who won gold at the 2012 figure-skating world championship and bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was also charged with failing to report doping offences to the authorities.
Schwazer has been banned from competition until January 2016 after testing positive for the illegal blood-booster EPO just before the London Olympics.
CONI prosecutors opened a case against Kostner after media reports that she confessed to criminal prosecutors that she helped Schwazer dodge a surprise doping test in July 2012.
Kostner is also appealing the 16-month ban, according to a statement from the court of arbitration.
It said that she “principally (is) seeking its annulment and a declaration that she did not commit any breach of the anti-doping rules”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Rakes Billions in Gulf Aid That Boosts Its President
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt
Egypt raked in promises of more than $12 billion in investment and aid from its Gulf Arab allies on Friday, kicking off an international conference aimed at rescuing the country’s gutted economy and giving a political boost to its soldier-turned-president.
The three-day gathering in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is meant to show the world Egypt is open for business again to draw investors after four years of instability and turmoil that followed the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi made his case for the world’s support, depicting Egypt as vital to regional stability.
“Egypt has and will always be the first line of defense against the dangers faced by the region,” el-Sissi, wearing a dark suit and a purple tie, said to one of many rounds of applause that interrupted his 26-minute address. Some 1,500 delegates from more than 50 nations were in attendance.
The gathering of royals, heads of state, top international officials and businessmen was also an opportunity for el-Sissi to put behind him criticism over the military’s 2013 ouster of Egypt’s elected president Mohammed Morsi.
Since the ouster which was led by el-Sissi, then head of the military the government has cracked down hard on Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, with hundreds killed and thousands imprisoned. It has also targeted secular and liberal activists.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, addressing the conference, made a strong show of support for Egypt, with only a glancing reference to rights concerns and a call for more transparency.
“This part of the world is blessed with a stunning amount of commercial potential,” Kerry said at an American Chamber of Commerce event prior to the opening of the conference.
The U.S., however, still cannot restore hundreds of millions of dollars in suspended military aid to Egypt, as el-Sissi has sought, because the Obama administration is undecided about whether to affirm Egypt’s progress on democracy and human rights or issue a national security waiver. It must do one or other under the 2015 federal budget to unblock the aid.
El-Sissi outlined to delegates his economic recovery plan, saying he wanted to see at least six percent annual GDP growth within the next five years, up from around 2 percent currently, and reduce unemployment from its current 13 percent to about 10 percent. He also promised fair taxation and lower inflation.
The conference opening saw a swift series of pledges from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, continuing a flood of some $30 billion in largesse they have provided since el-Sissi led the ouster of Morsi, keeping the economy afloat.
Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah announced that his oil-rich nation would invest $4 billion in Egypt. Next at the podium was the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Muqrin, who announced another $4 billion in aid to Egypt.
Another $4 billion in aid and investments came from the United Arab Emirates.
“To stand by Egypt is to breathe life into the future of the (Arab) nation,” the UAE’s prime minister and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, told the assembly.
Oman also pledged $500 million, half aid and half investment, over the next five years.
The cash gives Egypt much-needed breathing room while it grapples with its economic woes, like costly state subsidies, an ailing tourism sector and fiscal deficits.
The aid “gives comfort” to investors over the government’s foreign currency reserves “until the current account issues start resolving themselves,” Hisham el-Khazindar, co-founder of Al-Qalaa Holdings, one of Egypt’s largest investment companies, told the AP.
But the crucial question from the conference will be whether Egypt can convince investors who fled the chaos since 2011 to return so it can move off the largesse from Arab petro-giants.
At the gathering, Egyptian officials are putting forward a menu of projects including a plan to develop industrial zones around the Suez Canal. Also announced was an ambitious project to build an entirely new capital for the country, adjacent to Cairo, to relieve congestion in the metropolis of around 18 million people.
El-Sissi also won small but important diplomatic victories.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi spoke of his country’s shared responsibility with Egypt over the security of the Mediterranean. The prime minister of Ethiopia, with which Egypt is in a dispute over sharing the waters of the Nile River, spoke of the common goals of the two countries.
International Monetary fund chief, Christine Lagarde, commended el-Sissi for his reforms so far, singling out the partial lifting of fuel subsidies and tax hikes on luxury items.
Also present at the opening session was Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has arrest warrants against him from The Hague-based International Criminal Court for a series of crimes, including genocide in his country’s western Darfur province.
Al-Bashir addressed the conference, calling for fellow Arab nations to invest in food production in his vast country which lies across Egypt’s southern borders.
“Egypt offers an example of Arab and Islamic civilization, a nation that abhors violence, terrorism and militancy, a nation that reinforces regional stability and security and respects its neighbors,” he said, ending his speech with his trademark slogan, “Long live Egypt.”
Lately, militants have shifted focus to a campaign of small bombings targeting local and foreign business interests in Cairo and other cities. Among those targets were branches of an American fast food chain, a branch of an Emirati bank and a branch of Carrefour, the French supermarket chain, as well as the two foreign mobile phone companies, the Emirati Etesalat and France’s Mobinil.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Powerful Libyan Militia Alliance in Rare Clash With IS
Rare clashes between jihadists from the Islamic State group and fighters from the Fajr Libya militia coalition erupted Saturday in the central city of Sirte, security and militia officials said.
It was the first report of fighting between the two groups since February, when Fajr Libya said it had sent reinforcements to Sirte to restore security in the city.
That move came following reports that IS-affiliated jihadists had seized government buildings, the local university and a state radio station…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Says World Must Help Libya Before ISIS Seizes Control
‘Determined to create area of peace and prosperity for all’
(ANSA) — Rome, March 13 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Friday that the international community must “intervene in Libya before ISIS militias” systematically seize not only small pieces of the war-torn nation but control a significant area.
Renzi again called for greater diplomatic efforts by the United Nations.
He spoke at an Egypt-hosted regional economic conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, which Renzi said must send the message to ISIS militants that “we are strong, stronger than them”.
He added that the conference must show “we are more determined and committed to creating an area of prosperity and peace for all”.
Despite ISIS terrorist claims, religion has nothing to do with terrorism, Renzi said at the economic forum hosted by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi at the Red Sea resort. “We have to unite our forces to face the challenge” of terrorism,” he said.
“There is no clash of civilisations and the fight of the civilised world (is) against a few extremists that have nothing to do with religion”.
ISIS has threatened to “march on Rome” and some have become concerned as the militant group seizes more territory in Libya — which lies only about 300 kilometres away from Italy’s southernmost borders.
Egypt is “an extraordinary area of opportunity”, the premier added.
“We have confidence in Egypt and its leadership, in its ambitious macro-economic reforms: we support its mission in favour of prosperity and stability,” he said, praising the wisdom of the country’s president, who was in the audience.
“The Egyptian challenge is our challenge too, the stability of Egypt is our stability.
“There is my personal commitment, and Italy’s, to work with you also on the Syrian and Libyan crises,” he told Sisi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘The foreign spy arrested on suspicion of helping three British schoolgirls travel to Syria to join the Islamic State was working for the Canadian intelligence service, it has been reported.
Turkish foreign minister Mehmet Cavusoglu earlier said the suspect works for the intelligence agency of a country that is part of the US-led coalition fighting ISIS but did not identify the country, saying only that it was not the United States or a member of the European Union.
However, an Istanbul-based newspaper has reported that the spy was working for the Canadian government.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Reports: “Israeli Soldier Killed as Syrian Army Targets Gunmen in Quneitra”
Killed when Syrian soldiers targeted a site belonging to the Free Syrian Army.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS: The images have been posted on Instagram in the past few days reportedly by Iraqi Special Forces who are taking the fight to jihadi strongholds in the war-torn country
Shocking pictures and videos have appeared online that claim to show Iraq soldiers torturing and beheading Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners in apparent revenge attacks.
The images have been posted on Instagram in the past few days reportedly by Iraqi Special Forces who are taking the fight to jihadi strongholds in the war-torn country…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
C.I.A. Funds Found Their Way Into Qaeda Coffers
In the spring of 2010, Afghan officials struck a deal to free an Afghan diplomat held hostage by Al Qaeda. But the price was steep — $5 million — and senior security officials were scrambling to come up with the money.
They first turned to a secret fund that the Central Intelligence Agency bankrolled with monthly cash deliveries to the presidential palace in Kabul, according to several Afghan officials involved in the episode. The Afghan government, they said, had already squirreled away about $1 million from that fund.
Within weeks, that money and $4 million more provided from other countries was handed over to Al Qaeda, replenishing its coffers after a relentless C.I.A. campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan had decimated the militant network’s upper ranks.
“God blessed us with a good amount of money this month,” Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group’s general manager, wrote in a letter to Osama bin Laden in June 2010, noting that the cash would be used for weapons and other operational needs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The nun was attacked after confronting a gang of 12 men who broke into the Convent of Jesus and Mary School in West Bengal state’s Nadia district and went on a violent rampage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: West Bengal: After Elderly Nun Raped, Faithful March to Demand Justice
A group of about eight individuals broke into Jesus and Mary Convent in Ranagath, which includes a highly regarded school. In the course of the robbery, the thieves raped the superior and beat up three other nuns. All the victims are currently in hospital. Reacting to the incident, local residents took to the streets and set up roadblocks. The authorities also condemned the “heinous crime”.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — A group of about eight individuals broke into the Jesus and Mary Convent in Ranagath, West Bengal, to carry out a robbery. The convent’s 72-year-old superior tried to stop them but was attacked and raped. The thieves also beat up three other elderly sisters. All the victims are currently in hospital.
Shocked by the incident, local residents took to the streets to demand justice. For their part, the authorities described the attack as a “heinous crime” caused by “a desire to destabilise the state”.
The robbery took place late last night when a group of armed individuals broke into the monastery, home to nuns who run a local school (highly regarded by local residents).
After overpowering the security guard, the criminals found a box with money. When the superior tried to stop them, she was raped.
Local government and police officials confirmed the attack. “It was a rape against humanity. We stand by the Sisters and we will give them every possible help,” the Minister for Urban Development said.
“We will identify the culprits who must be punished. Things like this never happened before in the State,” said Mgr Thomas D’Souza, archbishop of Kolkata.
Not long after the incident, students and parents took to the streets in protest. Other residents joined them. Together, they blocked roads and highways calling on the government to provide swift justice for the violated nuns.
Investigators are currently still at the scene.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Horrified tourists have told of their shock and disgust after attending a devil-worshipping ‘Black Mass’ in Mexico.
They looked on as chicken and goats were sacrificed before their fresh blood was poured over participants who had pledged their souls to Satan.
At the twisted cult’s annual ‘Black Mass’ in the Mexican state of Veracruz, people from across the world to seek change in their lives by taking part in devil worship.
Worshippers indulge in brutal animal sacrifice, dance before burning pentagrams and disappear into a subterranean cave where solemn oaths are sworn before a large statue of the devil and a committee of shamans.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children Into My LGBTQ Agenda (And I’m Not a Bit Sorry)
I am here to tell you: All that time I said I wasn’t indoctrinating anyone with my beliefs about gay and lesbian and bi and trans and queer people?
That was a lie.
All 25 years of my career as an LGBTQ activist, since the very first time as a 16-year-old I went and stood shaking and breathless in front of eleven people to talk about My Story, I have been on a consistent campaign of trying to change people’s minds about us. I want to make them like us. That is absolutely my goal. I want to make your children like people like me and my family, even if that goes against the way you have interpreted the teachings of your religion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In the nightmare world progressives are designing a civil society where little tots are to no longer be your little tots. They are government-sought human resources to be raised as tomorrow’s anarchists.
The massive push to fund Pre-K and get a hold in our daycare centers by providing the funding is a single mothers dream. However, in reality it flows with the Communist way of thinking which is to have control of the children from birth through college. This mentality is endorsed by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R), Al Gore and Bill Ayers as a means to indoctrinate the children and build barriers between them and their parents.
How could anyone be against tax-subsidized Pre-K for all you ask? There are many ways. I will never understand why parents are so willing to let complete strangers have control of their children for 6-9 hours a day, 5-7 days a week.
If that chokehold on children is not Hitlerian, then what is?
“Those Obama initiatives are knockoffs of moldy-old Democratic policy chestnuts, such as former Vice President Al Gore’s push to fund preschool for all 3-year-olds at a cost to taxpayers of at least $50 billion over 10 years, left-wing actor/director Rob Reiner’s “I Am Your Child” campaign for universal preschool and child care, and Hillary Clinton’s various “It Takes a Village” schemes to expand Head Start from womb to work. With age comes fiefdom.” (Malkin).
You don’t believe Marxism is in the classroom? What do you think all the Bill Ayers taught teachers are spreading? The only group of terrorist acting Americans who went to jail and came out to go to college to become teachers and were welcomed by the liberal colleges and universities to indoctrinate your children on your dimes…
Dr. Shirley McCune appearing at the Kansas Governor’s Summit on Education in 1989 with Sen. Alexander stated: “…what we are into is a total restructuring of the society. What is happening in America today…is not simply a change 4 situation and the usual winds of change. What it amounts to is a total transformation of our society…The whole ball game in this particular change society is that there are only two things that really matter. One of those is the information capitol that we can put together…Secondly, to produce Human Capital…we have to prepare students not for today’s society, but for a society that’s 20, 30, 40, 50 years down the road…That’s called Social Change Function of Schools.”
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Are Those Porn Stars Enjoying Their Jobs?
The sex questions children aged 11 will be asked in government-backed lessons
Youngsters could be quizzed about adult films by teachers in a bid to teach them about the issue of consent. with staff told to be prepared pupils may argue porn ‘is just like any job.’
[Comment: This is “grooming” and sexualization of children…pure evil. This is going on worldwide and is coordinated. In Ontario, Canada one of those involved in preparing a similar program was recently arrested on child pornography charges.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |