Yesterday, just 24 hours before the deadly terror attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Tunisia’s tourism minister Selma Elluni Rekik said, “There is no security problem in Tunisia. Everything is under control.” She also said, “We now want to focus also on cultural tourism, valorizing our archaeological sites like Carthage, El Jam and the Bardo Museum, where the richest collection of Roman mosaics in the world is kept.”
In other news, community organizers from a group that calls itself “Blockupy” rioted outside the headquarters for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, throwing rocks at police and burning cars. The protesters were expressing their displeasure with the ECB’s austerity policies.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Gaia, Insubria, JD, K, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, 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.
China Gaining Western Allies as Development Bank Partners: “A Blow to U.S. Efforts”
Recently, SHTF has pointed out the rise of China and their aim to become a major part of the new global reserve currency, and hence a major weight in the new global order.
China’s renminbi is positioning for major global exchange; the BRICS development bank is taking off, to the chagrin of the U.S. axis of global finance; and the IMF is talking with China about the likelihood of including the yuan in the “basket of currencies” that make up SDRs, or Special Drawing Rights that already includes the dollar, the pound, the euro and the yen:
China is pushing for the International Monetary Fund to endorse the Chinese yuan as a global reserve currency alongside the dollar and euro. A senior Chinese central bank official said Thursday that the country is “actively communicating” with the IMF on the possibility of including the yuan, or RMB, in the basket of the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).
Now, American leadership is silently watching Anglo partners — and close establishment allies in the post-war world — join ranks with China on its emerging development bank.
[Comment: All part of the planned destruction of America (and its currency) to pave the road for a global new world order with the perpertrators (banksters) in charge.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dijsselbloem: Greece Might Need Capital Controls
Greece could be forced to resort to Cypriot-style capital controls in a bid to prevent depositors taking their money out of the country, the chairman of the Eurogroup has warned.
Speaking on Tuesday (17 March), Jeroen Dijsselbloem told Dutch broadcaster RTL Nieuws that “the pressure on Greece is growing,” adding that “the amount of cash, money — at least this is what I’m told — is declining by the day”.
However, he added, EU politicians have thought through “various scenarios” that “don’t at all have to immediately be exit scenarios”.
He pointed to Cyprus, which remained in the eurozone despite becoming the first member of the single currency to impose capital controls.
“The banks were closed a while, and capital controls — cash flows in the country and out of the country — were tied to all manner of conditions,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France and Germany to Join UK on Chinese-Led Investment Bank
Three more EU countries have confirmed their intention to join the Chinese-led Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in a snub to the United States.
French and German government officials confirmed their plans to apply for membership of the bank on Tuesday (17 March). Italy has indicated that it will also join.
The bank, which currently has $100 billion (€95 billion) of registered capital but is likely to see its coffers boosted by its new potential members, was launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping last autumn, backed by 21 countries including China, India and Singapore.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France to Join Beijing-Backed Infrastructure Bank
The 50 billion euro bank is seen as a potential rival to the World Bank, an institution backed by the US.
Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have declined to become founding members — but within a week, Europe’s four biggest economies have signalled plans to join.
Britain had announced last week that it wanted to join the bank, in a move to bolster relations with China.
According to experts, the three European countries’ main interest would be in the financing of infrastructure projects in Africa, central Asia and South Asia.
The other consideration behind could be the political objective of following multipolar diplomacy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s a Look at How the Dollar is Clobbering Other Currencies Around the World
Everyone knows that the U.S. dollar has been on a tear. Here’s a quick chart of the dollar index that shows how much it has taken off, especially in recent months.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel to Seek Accommodation With Tsipras in Talks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will seek accommodation in talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to calm the increasingly combative rhetoric between the nations and regain control over efforts to keep Greece in the euro.
Merkel, as leader of the biggest contributor to Greece’s 240 billion-euro ($255 billion) bailout, is willing to go a long way to find a compromise, said a German official with knowledge of her thinking, who asked not to be identified discussing internal strategy. Nonetheless, she’ll tell Tsipras during meetings in Brussels and Berlin over the next five days that she expects Greece to play by the rules, the person said.
After weeks of sparring between Greece and Germany, Merkel is pursuing the talks now to try and get the discussion back on track, the official said. Any suggestion that she will deliver an ultimatum to Tsipras is complete nonsense and propagated by those who want to inflame the standoff, the official said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
OECD Raises Italy’s 2015 Growth Forecast to 0.6%
Predicts 1.3% GDP rise in 2016
(ANSA) — Paris, March 18 — The OECD on Wednesday said that it has raised its growth forecast for Italy for 2015, saying it now expects GDP to rise 0.6%, up 0.4 of a percentage point from its previous estimate. It expects growth in Italy of 1.3% next year, up 0.3 of a percentage point. The OECD also raised its GDP forecasts for France and Germany and for the eurozone as a whole, revising the latter up to 1.4% this year and 2% in 2016.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Riksbank Cuts Rates Deeper Into Negative, Expands QE Program
Sweden’s central bank delivered an unscheduled interest rate cut and expanded its government-bond purchase plan to push down the krona as it struggles to revive inflation.
The repo rate was lowered to minus 0.25 percent from minus 0.1 percent, the Stockholm-based bank said. The bond-buying program will be expanded by 30 billion kronor ($3.4 billion), adding to the 10 billion kronor in purchases already made. The bank said it sees the repo rate at the current level until “at least” the second half of 2016.
The bank said that today’s action became necessary as the European Central Bank’s unprecedented stimulus measures drive down the value of the euro. Policy makers in Switzerland and Denmark are in even deeper negative territory to deter speculation against their currencies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
313 Page FCC Internet Confiscation Released. Soros Mentioned 46 Times!
46 references to a group funded by billionaire George Soros and co-founded by a neo-Marxist.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
America’s Pastors Are Doing More to Enslave Our Country Than Any Foreign Power
The vast majority of America’s prophets (preachers, pastors, evangelists, etc.) are directly or indirectly in the employ of the government (king). A host of them are receiving federal tax dollars directly from the federal government in the form of “faith based initiative” monies. Do you think for one minute that these pastors are going to say a peep in protest about the unlawful, unconstitutional conduct routinely taking place by the federal government? Not a chance in Hades!
As soon as someone goes on the public dole, for the most part, the government has successfully and thoroughly purchased their SILENCE.
In the second place, the vast majority of pastors and churches have voluntarily placed themselves directly under the supervision and authority of the federal government by accepting the 501c3 non-profit organization status from the Internal Revenue Service. And by so doing, the vast majority of pastors and churches will consciously do or say NOTHING that could jeopardize that non-profit tax status. And, once again, the federal government has successfully and thoroughly purchased their SILENCE.
Add to the above the perks and privileges that go along with being “Caesar’s friend.” I know a little bit about what I’m talking about here.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As They Say in Missouri, We’re a-Fixin to Esplain it to You
You have the perception and the presumption of being free in America but the perception is a lie. Freedom means having the freedom to choose and making decisions for your self and those in your charge. Freedom also means taking responsibility for your actions and respecting the rights of others.
But if you are so free, then why do you need a Social Security number at birth? The reason is because government tracks you from birth with that number. Why does the government need to track you from birth in a free society? Because the government needs the money you will earn to pay its debt to its borrowers, including the Federal Reserve. You and your earnings during your lifetime are nothing but collateral for what government borrows. How do you like the idea that your worth as a natural born sovereign citizen is to collateralize the debt of your government? That makes you just chattel, like a domestic animal grown for food, not a human with unalienable rights, bestowed upon you by nature, not by man or government.
Why do you need a license to get married? Why do you need a driver’s license? Why do you need a fishing and hunting license? Why do you need a permit to build a home? Why are you being forced to buy health insurance? Each question can be answered in one sentence, “to charge you for the privilege granted to you by government to do something you have the right to do anyway and to track you from birth to death and control your behavior while alive and tax you even after death.” How people live with and accept this knowledge is anyone’s guess. The problem is, the people by in large, don’t even know they are being cajoled, manipulated and controlled and most of them don’t care.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Coca-Cola Caught Paying ‘Health Leaders’ To Say Soda is ‘Healthy Snack’
Let’s not let them fool anyone.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Elon Musk: Human-Driven Cars Will be Banned in the Future
Tesla CEO Elon Musk predicts that in the future human-driven cars will be banned by authorities because they are too dangerous.
Appearing at Nvidia’s annual developers conference, the South-African—born inventor said that when self-driving vehicles become the norm, regular cars will be made illegal…
Musk’s prediction dovetails with a number of automotive developments being pushed by governments that serve to strip the individual of mobility rights and create a world where the permission to drive any vehicle is at the behest of the state.
As we reported in January, the UK government plans to remotely control vehicles on roads using wi-fi technology in the name of reducing traffic and offsetting global warming.
The state plans to achieve this new high-tech solution by fitting sensors in all cars that would wirelessly send information to a “central traffic control system”. The control system would then react by imposing remote speed limits on each vehicle, a “shockwave effect” which would cause each one to brake and accelerate in unison.
Future scenarios predicted by organizations such as Forum For the Future envisage a highly controlled society in which all vehicles are controlled by a central authority and dispatched for the use of citizens only after a request and approval process based on ration cards.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EPA Wants to Monitor How Long Hotel Guests Spend in the Shower
Goal of project is to change behavior of Americans when they stay at hotels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Microsoft Drops Internet Explorer Brand
Internet Explorer, the Microsoft browser that is almost 20 years old, is to be killed off and replaced by a new operating system.
Microsoft has confirmed that its new browser, code-named Project Spartan, that is due to be unveiled later this year, will not use the familiar Internet Explorer name.
“We’re now researching what the new brand, or the new name, for our browser should be in Windows 10,” the company’s marketing chief Chris Capossela told a conference.
Internet Explorer once dominated the market and had more than one billion users but it could not compete when Firefox and Google’s Chrome launched with faster technology and slicker design.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The White House wants the U.N. to vote but not the U.S. Congress.
One unfortunate side effect of last week’s letter from 47 GOP Senators to Iran is that it has helped the White House and its media friends obscure the far more important story—the degree to which President Obama is trying to prevent Congress from playing any meaningful role in assessing his one-man Iran deal.
Administration officials are huffing about Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s “unconstitutional” letter, but it’s only a letter and Congress has the right to free speech. If a mere letter from a minority of the Senate has the power to scuttle a deal with Iran, as Mr. Obama suggests it might, then maybe the deal is too fragile to be worth doing.
The real constitutional outlier here is Mr. Obama’s attempt to jam Congress so it’s irrelevant. That’s clear from a remarkable exchange of letters between Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker and White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.
Mr. Corker wrote March 12 asking the President to clarify comments by Vice President Joe Biden and others that an Iran deal could “take effect without congressional approval.” He also asked about media reports that “your administration is contemplating taking an agreement, or aspects of it, to the United Nations Security Council for a vote,” while threatening to veto legislation that would require Congress to vote.
Mr. McDonough replied for the President on the weekend in a letter that can only be described as an affront to Congress’s constitutional prerogatives. The chief of staff asked Mr. Corker to further delay his bipartisan legislation that would require a Senate vote within 60 days on any Iran deal. “The legislation would potentially prevent any deal from succeeding by suggesting that Congress must vote to ‘approve’ any deal, and by removing existing sanctions waiver authorities that have already been granted to the President,” he wrote.
So Mr. McDonough says Congress has “a role to play,” whatever that is, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what Mr. Obama wants. And once Congress grants Mr. Obama a waiver, it can never take that away even if Congress concludes that the President is misusing it.
The larger context here is that Mr. Obama is trying to make his Iran deal a fait accompli before Congress has any say. His plan is to strike a deal and submit it to the U.N. Security Council for approval, hemming in Congress. He’ll then waive some Iran sanctions on his own, while arguing that anyone who opposes the deal wants war.
Mr. McDonough’s letter includes a long list of previous agreements that “do not require congressional approval.” But the examples he cites are either minor accords or have had substantial bipartisan support. There is no precedent in the nuclear era for a President negotiating such a major arms-control accord without Congressional assent.
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
A British dance teacher shot dead by his son-in-law, who was also his former lover, may have molested at least four boys while running a dance school in Suffolk, it has emerged.
Police have investigated four alleged victims who say they were abused in the 1980s and 1990s by Scott Rogers, who was killed in the US after becoming a local television celebrity there.
Three of the men claiming that Rogers attacked them have only come forward after he was shot dead in August by Mathew Hodgkinson, who also killed himself.
Rogers — known as Richard Scott-Rogers when he lived in Britain — was charged with abusing the other boy more than 20 years ago, but was cleared in 1993 after a trial.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rapper Azealia Banks: I Hate White Americans
Rapper Azealia Banks hates “white Americans” and everything about the U.S.
In a recent interview with Playboy, the 23-year-old Harlem rapper said she wanted to leave the U.S. because America is blatantly racist.
“I hate everything about this country,” she said. “Like, I hate fat, white Americans.”
“All the people who are crunched into the middle of America, the real fat and meat of America, are these racist conservative white people who live on their farms.”
“Those little teenage girls who work at Kmart and have a racist grandma — that’s really America,” she added.
But isn’t it blatantly racist to say you hate white people?
Banks also claimed that racism motivates her critics and that she’s owed “reparations.”…
Banks’ views are testament to how “social justice warriors” and the Obama administration are increasingly pushing racial conflict.
[Comment: Another highly paid “entertainer” who was really brought into the fore to foment race hatred and division. Banksters want this — a divided America. Their worst nightmare would be ALL Americans realizing they are being played by the banksters.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schools Collect Personal Data on Children for Federal Govt — Video
[…]And feds keep collecting personal information well into adulthood.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Starbucks Employees to Discuss Race Relations With Customers
Starbucks’ communication exec deletes Twitter account following backlash.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Wolf is Guarding the Hen House: The Government’s War on Cyberterrorism
“The game is rigged, the network is bugged, the government talks double-speak, the courts are complicit and there’s nothing you can do about it.”—David Kravets, reporting for Wired
Nothing you write, say, text, tweet or share via phone or computer is private anymore. As constitutional law professor Garrett Epps points out, “Big Brother is watching…. Big Brother may be watching you right now, and you may never know. Since 9/11, our national life has changed forever. Surveillance is the new normal.”
This is the reality of the internet-dependent, plugged-in life of most Americans today. A process which started shortly after 9/11 with programs such as Total Information Awareness (the predecessor to the government’s present surveillance programs) has grown into a full-fledged campaign of warrantless surveillance, electronic tracking and data mining, thanks to federal agents who have been given carte blanche access to the vast majority of electronic communications in America. Their methods completely undermine constitution safeguards, and yet no federal agency, president, court or legislature has stepped up to halt this assault on our rights.
For the most part, surveillance, data mining, etc., is a technological, jargon-laden swamp through which the average American would prefer not to wander. Consequently, most Americans remain relatively oblivious to the government’s ever-expanding surveillance powers, appear unconcerned about the fact that the government is spying on them, and seem untroubled that there is no way of opting out of this system. This state of delirium lasts only until those same individuals find themselves arrested or detained for something they did, said or bought that runs afoul of the government’s lowering threshold for what constitutes criminal activity.
All the while, Congress, the courts, and the president (starting with George W. Bush and expanding exponentially under Barack Obama) continue to erect an electronic concentration camp the likes of which have never been seen before.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is What Happens When You Call the Cops to Deal With a Mentally Disturbed Person
Warning: Graphic video.
Video recently released shows a mentally ill man being shot to death, after his mother called the police to help her clam him down.
38-year-old schizophrenia sufferer Jason Harrison was killed last year by police within 30 seconds of them knocking on his front door.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ancient Invaders Transformed Britain, But Not Its DNA
THEY came, they saw, they conquered. But while the Romans, Vikings and Normans ruled Britain for many years, none left their genetic calling cards behind in the DNA of today’s mainland Caucasian population. That’s the message from the most comprehensive analysis yet of the genetic make-up of the white British population.
The only invaders that left a lasting legacy are the Anglo-Saxons. As well as giving us the English language, the Anglo-Saxons, whose influx began around AD 450, account for 10 to 40 per cent of the DNA in half of modern-day Britons.
The analysis also springs some surprises. There was no single Celtic population outside the Anglo-Saxon dominated areas, but instead a large number of genetically distinct populations (see map). The DNA signatures of people in the neighbouring counties of Devon and Cornwall are more different than between northern England and Scotland. And there are also unexpectedly stark differences between inhabitants in the north and south of the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: School ‘Enforces’ German on Its Grounds
The headmistress of the Vienna Business School in Mödling, Lower Austria, has ruled that only German may be spoken on her school’s premises, citing “cultural conflict with cleaning staff” as the reason behind her decision.
Göbel said that the reason behind the foreign language ban was a fight between an ethnic Albanian student and a Macedonian cleaner, who is employed by the school.
The pair had started arguing and in the ensuing row a Turkish-speaking student felt that she had been insulted and reported the incident to the school principal. “The headmistress felt that this presented an opportunity to remind everyone that German is the official language of the school,” Göbel said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Islamic Group Approves of Charlie Hebdo Massacre, Gets Approval for Mosque
By Nicolai Sennels
In January, the Islamisk Trossamfund (the Islamic Faith Society) warned Muslims against distancing themselves from the terror attacks against Charlie Hebdo. It was also Islamisk Trossamfund that in 2005 sent imams to the Middle East with fake Mohammed drawings, with the aim of provoking a boycott of Danish goods and inspiring deadly terrorist attacks against Danish citizens.
With great pomp and circumstance, Islamisk Trossamfund buried the dead terrorist Omar El-Hussain in February. At least 700 Muslims attended the funeral, several of whom expressed their sympathy with the terrorist’s actions. Only a month after this scandalous burial, Copenhagen’s local politicians approved the society’s plans for a new mega-mosque.
In video from the funeral of El-Hussain, several of the attending Muslims can be seen showing the “Islamic State finger.”
Translated from DR:
The Islamic Faith Society has received the municipality’s endorsement for its plan for a new mosque on Dortheavej in Copenhagen Northwest area.
A unanimous technical and environmental committee Monday afternoon gave approval to the new local plan, paving the way for construction of the new mosque and cultural center, which was designed by Henning Larsen Architects.
[Mosque construction in the West should be forbidden until the destruction of churches in the Muslim world has come to a complete stop for a decade. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
DNA Study Shows Celts Are Not a Unique Genetic Group
A DNA study of Britons has shown that genetically there is not a unique Celtic group of people in the UK.
According to the data, those of Celtic ancestry in Scotland and Cornwall are more similar to the English than they are to other Celtic groups.
The study also describes distinct genetic differences across the UK, which reflect regional identities.
And it shows that the invading Anglo Saxons did not wipe out the Britons of 1,500 years ago, but mixed with them.
Published in the Journal Nature, the findings emerge from a detailed DNA analysis of 2,000 mostly middle-aged Caucasian people living across the UK.
The individuals included had all four of their grandparents living close to each other in a rural area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Gang of 20 Young Muslims Swarm Onto Commuter Train, Rob Passengers
by Hugh Fitzgerald
This kind of swarm-attack has happened before, will happen again, and in less dramatic fashion, has been happening all over France, more and more, over the last few decades. The French government does not publicly announce the racial or ethnic background, or even in most cases the names, of malefactors. The word “Muslim” nowhere appears in the news account. But everyone reading this news article will know at once that the word must be supplied, and all that it tells us about the state of France, and the despair of so many, waiting for the most obvious measures to be taken for civilisational and physical security of the French, besieged by Muslims in their midst.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Dieudonné Sentenced for Facebook ‘Je Suis Charlie Coulibaly’
Two-month suspended prison term for ‘apologia for terrorism’
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 18 — The controversial comedian Dieudonné was sentenced on Wednesday to a two-month suspended sentence for a Facebook post that translates as ‘I feel like Charlie Coulibaly’.
The prosecutor accused Dieudonné of presenting “in a favorable light the acts committed by Amedy Coulibaly”, an Islamist who killed a policewoman and four Jews in an attack on a kosher supermarket in January.
The post was made while millions were protesting in the streets to pay homage to the victims of attacks that began with the killings in the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. The prosecutor, who had asked for a 30,000-euro fine — which prison time could be served in lieu of — called on the court to consider the particularly controversial nature of the statement, the context in which it was made and the author himself, who had previously been sentenced several times for provocations considered anti-Semitic. The court will have to rule on charges of incitement to hatred towards Jews after Dieudonné’s statements against France Inter journalist Patrick Cohen.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
France Cut Welfare Benefits for 290 Jihadists Last Year
Bernard Cazeneuve told French lawmakers that the interior ministry had identified close to 300 individuals who had left France to wage jihad in Iraq or Syria, sharing their names with social welfare agencies.
The minister said that thanks to the government’s platform allowing people to report suspected cases of Islamic radicalisation “instances in which persons have travelled outside the national territory are immediately indicated to officials in charge of disbursing social benefits”.
Cazeneuve was answering a question from an opposition lawmaker who expressed concern over French citizens collecting welfare checks while fighting alongside Islamic extremist groups in the Middle East.
“These loopholes … are not numerous,” Cazeneuve said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Couple Pays Greece Eur 875 in WWII ‘Damages’
A German couple visiting Greece were hailed as heroes by the local press Wednesday after paying 875 euros ($945) to a town hall in what they said were World War II reparations.
“They came to my office yesterday morning, saying they wanted to make up for their government’s attitude. They made their calculations and said each German owed 875 euros for what Greece had to pay during World War II,” Dimitris Kotsouros, Nafplio mayor, told AFP.
The mayor of the seaport town where the tourists deposited their cheque, said the money has since been donated to a local charity.
He said they chose his town “because it was the first capital of Greece in the 19th century.”
Greek media reports named the pair as Ludwig Zacaro and Nina Lahge. They say he is retired, and that she works a 30-hour week. They did not have enough money to pay for two, one paper said.
Athens is struggling under a crushing debt mountain that amounts to around 175 percent of the country’s annual economic output.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Police and Protesters Clash as ECB Opens New Building
Tear gas was deployed and cars put on fire as Blockupy protesters clashed with police in Frankfurt on Wednesday morning just hours before the new European Central Bank headquarters open in the city. The inauguration ceremony for the new 45-storey glass skyscraber next to the River Main starts at 11:00.
Prominent German politicians side with Greece on war reparations
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Riot Targets New ECB Headquarters in Frankfurt
Dozens of people have been hurt and some 350 people arrested as anti-austerity demonstrators clashed with police in the German city of Frankfurt.
Police cars were set alight and stones were thrown in a protest against the opening of a new base for the European Central Bank (ECB).
Violence broke out close to the city’s Alte Oper concert hall hours before the ECB building’s official opening.
“Blockupy” activists are expected to attend a rally later on Wednesday.
In earlier disturbances, police in riot gear used water cannon to clear hundreds of anti-capitalist protesters from the streets around the new ECB headquarters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two leading Social Democrats — part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government — on Tuesday (17 March) called on Berlin to start talks on the reparations issue with Greece.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Mayor Unveils Scheme to Support Poor in Athens With Help From Norway
Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis, Norwegian Ambassador Sjur Larsen and the president of nongovernmental organization Solidarity Now, Stelios Zavvos, on Wednesday inaugurated a new program to provide support to the Greek capital’s poor.
The Solidarity & Social Reintegration scheme comprises a food program benefiting 3,600 households, as well as a space provided by City Hall and managed by Solidarity Now where the organization will provide social, medical and legal aid, among other services.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek PM to Meet With Putin Amid Cash Crunch
With Greece digging around in the couch cushions to try and scrape up €2 billion by Friday in order to make payments to the IMF, the ECB, and Goldman, and with celebrity FinMin Yanis Varoufakis doing his absolute best to sink the entire ship with a series of epic PR faux pas, one is left to wonder just where Athens will turn when Berlin and Brussels finally reach the end of their ropes with what increasingly looks like gross incompetence in the Aegean. We may have gotten the answer to that question today via Reuters:
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will visit Moscow on April 8 after being invited to talks by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Greek government official said on Tuesday.
Greece’s government has previously said Putin had invited Tsipras to visit Moscow on May 9 and it was not immediately clear if that trip had been changed. It would be Tsipras’s first official visit to Moscow since being elected in January.
There you have it. As Syriza faces the unenviable proposition of either completely giving up on its campaign promises or plunging the Greek economy and banking system into a drachma death spiral, it appears as though Athens is playing the one card it has left, which is threatening to effectively surrender itself to the Kremlin. As Reuters notes, this wouldn’t be the first time Greece has (maybe) inadvertently created speculation around the possibility that Moscow could end up being the White (or Red) Knight:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ANM Accuses Renzi Govt of Delegitimizing Magistrates
Tension with executive continues after ‘coddling corrupt’ charge
(ANSA) — Rome, March 18 — Maurizio Carbone, the secretary of National Magistrates Association ANM, on Wednesday accused Premier Matteo Renzi’s government of delegitimizing the judiciary. “The deligitimization of magistrates that started 20 years ago has not stopped with the Renzi government,” Carbone told the Radio Anch’io station. There has been friction between the executive and the magistrates association after the government passed a reform giving citizens the opportunity to obtain redress in cases of incompetence or wrongdoing by magistrates. On Tuesday ANM chief Rodolfo Sabelli accused the State of “slapping judges and coddling the corrupt” after the latest in a string of corruption scandals exploded on Monday.
“That is a false and unfair statement,” replied Renzi, adding that such comments undermine confidence in the system.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Manager Arrested in Huge Public-Works Graft Probe
Infrastructure minister Lupi embarrassed by son’s hiring
(ANSA) — Rome, March 16 — A top former manager at the infrastructure ministry was arrested in a major public-works graft probe Monday that reportedly involved work on the Florence stretch of the TAV high-speed rail line as well as preparations for the Milan Expo 2015 world’s fair plus motorways, a Sardinian port and metro works in Rome and Milan.
Ettore Incalza, a public-works honcho for seven governments who now works as a consultant, was among four arrested including businessmen Stefano Perotti and Francesco Cavallo, as well as Incalza’s aide Sandro Pacella, in a probe that saw more than 50 people including politicians placed under investigation for suspected kickbacks that inflated costs by as much as 40%.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi’s son was allegedly hired by an engineer, Giorgio Mor, at Perotti’s behest in what a judge said was a favour that might have been reciprocated in some way.
The indirect hiring of Luca Lupi by Perotti may have been part of “an illicit quid pro quo” by the minister, the judge said in papers on the case.
The worries of the businessman who actually did the hiring, Mor, and of Perotti himself, that it could be seen as “inopportune” supported this idea, the judge said.
The suspects arrested in the mushrooming probe gave Lupi a tailor-made suit and his son a Rolex watch as a graduation present, judicial sources added.
Cavallo, one of the four arrested men said to have a “close relationship” with Lupi, arranged for a tailor, Vincenzo Barbato, to cut the suit to measure for the minister, according to telephone calls cited in the order written by a Florence judge for the arrest of the four.
Also mentioned in the warrant was a gift by Perotti and his wife of a Rolex watch worth 10,350 euros to Luca Lupi that was allegedly delivered by Cavallo.
Minister Lupi strongly denied Monday asking favours for his son, saying the young man was so bright he didn’t need paternal string-pulling to get a job.
“Luca graduated from the Milan Polytechnic in December 2013 … after a period of six months at the American SOM studio of San Francisco, where he was sent by his professor for his thesis,” Lupi explained.
“As soon as he graduated he received a job offer from the same studio at its New York office”.
The minister added that “while waiting for his visa to work in the United States… he worked at the Mor studio in Genoa with a self-employed contract for 1300 euros net a month”.
“In January 2015 the studio SOM offer was reiterated, his visa finally arrived and since early March my son is working in New York”.
“I repeat I have never asked anything from anyone for his work, and it seems to me that, given his curriculum, he doesn’t need it. “I never asked engineer Perotti or anyone to give my son a job,” he said. “It’s not my habit and it would be behaviour I would regard as profoundly wrong,” said Lupi.
Lupi vowed that the probe would receive the government’s “utmost cooperation”.
The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) demanded that Lupi quit, saying Premier Matteo Renzi has “scrapped legality”.
Alessandro Di Battista, an MP for M5S, said Lupi should resign following “yet another corruption scandal.” Speaking at a news conference in the upper house, Di Battista said “Renzi has scrapped legality in this country”. “Lupi must resign, it’s a government of hooligans”, Di Battista said.
“The fact that Lupi is defending Incalza proves that he is guilty,” Di Battista claimed.
In other news out of the probe, former Expo world’s fair manager Antonio Acerbo was said to be under investigation along with Perotti and Italy Pavilion former facility manager Andrea Castellotti for suspected bid-rigging at the Italy Pavilion. Inspectors believe Acerbo steered a 25-million-euro contract to build the so-called Italy Palace (Palazzo Italia) at Expo to a construction consortium called Italiana Costruzioni. Acerbo last month copped a plea of three years in prison over graft in Expo constrcution work.
It was also claimed that Deputy Infrastructure Minister Riccardo Nencini allegedly got his post thanks to Incalza.
Wiretaps contained in a preliminary arrest warrant revealed what prosecutors said was the “extremely tight connection” between the suspect and Lupi.
“After you sponsored Nencini….we made him deputy minister,” Lupi tells Incalza in the tapped conversation from February 28 last year.
Perotti, meanwhile, allegedly boasted of having “a mountain of works” worth 25 billion euros over 15 years including Rome and Milan metro expansions.
In July 2014 he referred to the long list of major contracts in which he was involved, investigators said.
At the end of January, Perotti was “engaged in directing work” on at least 10 major projects, investigators added.
Those allegedly included the new Metro C line in Rome, two sections of the Milan subway system and high-speed rail projects in Reggio Calabria, officials said.
The probe uncovered an “articulated corruption network”, judicial sources said. Construction of a new port at Olbia on the island of Sardinia is also being looked into by investigators.
Investigators believe bribes were paid to officials to influence the awarding of public contracts and other potential charges relate to obstructing proper public administration.
Incalza, investigators said, was “the boss of the business” for over 30 years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Pakistani Terror Suspected Detained in Brescia
Will be escorted out of Italy
(ANSA) — Brescia, March 18 — Carabinieri on Wednesday detained a 30-year-old Pakistani national, Ahmed Riaz, on suspicion that he is part of a terrorist network and say they will expel him.
The interior ministry had issued an expulsion order against Riaz in February based on a request by the Carabinieri.
Riaz will be escorted to Pakistan as part of the expulsion process.
Authorities said they had increased their monitoring of Riaz, also known as Humayun, along with others suspected of possible terrorist connections.
His name had allegedly appeared in other investigations into Pakistan natives living in the northern Italian province of Brescia.
Riaz is accused of frequently spreading photos, videos, and other material inspired by anti-Western jihadist sentiment on social media.
Another individual connected with the same circle, Resim Kastrati, a 23-year-old from Kosovo, was previously expelled from Italy for State security reasons. Kastrati had been living in Cremona, near Milan, and reportedly said on social media that he was pleased with January’s massacre in Paris connected with the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo.
He had also said he wanted to fight alongside Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rioting Outside ECB’s New Frankfurt Offices
Seven cars set alight by demonstrators, police uses water canons
(ANSA) — Rome, March 18 — Clashes broke out on Wednesday in the centre of Frankfurt, where thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators rallied ahead of the opening of the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB). Eight police officers are reported hurt and 350 people were arrested after members of the group, that goes by the name ‘Blockupy’, started throwing stones and set seven police cars on fire.
The police had erected barbed wire and barricades to keep the protesters at least 10 meters away from the premises but the measures were not sufficient to controll the group and water canons were used after the scuffles erupted.
Protesters said police threw tear gas at them but police spokeswoman Claudia Rogalski responded that officers are equipped with pepper spray and that was the substance they most likely used in their defence. “There are peaceful demonstrators and also criminals,” said Rogalski adding that over one thousand officers had been
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Under-Siege Lupi ‘Not Thinking of Resigning for Now’
Minister faces no-confidence motion after son linked to probe
(ANSA) — Rome, March 17 — Under-fire Transport and Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi is not thinking of resigning for the moment, ANSA sources said Tuesday. There have been calls for the minister to quit from several quarters after his son was linked to a corruption probe.
Lupi spoke to Premier Matteo Renzi several times on the telephone Tuesday, the sources said. The minister reportedly confirmed that he would take part at event at the Rho trade-fair centre near Milan as planned on Wednesday. Earlier on Tuesday Lupi, of the junior government partner the New Centre Right (NCD), was said to be reconsidering his position after facing a joint no-confidence motion from the small opposition Left Ecology and Freedom (SEL) party as well as from former comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S). SEL proposed a no-confidence motion in connection with a massive graft probe uncovered Monday related to the infrastructure ministry and its previous incarnation as the public works ministry. “It would be an act of strength,” if the senior government partner the Democratic Party (PD) removed Lupi, said SEL House Leader Arturo Scotto. Judges investigating corruption in public contracts have suggested a relationship between Lupi and some accused in the probe. Lupi was said Monday to have received an expensive new suit from one of those probed while his son Luca was given a Rolex watch as a graduation present from the so-called ‘boss’ of public-works graft, former manager and now consultant Ercole Incalza. The other main person under investigation, businessman Stefano Perotti, was said to have procured a job for Luca Lupi as a site manager, even though he already had 17 managers on the site. Grillo, in presenting the joint motion, said Lupi must resign and “pay back all the money he has made at the ministry in the past two years”. “Lupi is either a failure as a minister, or brings bad luck. Or both,” said Grillo. He added that Ercole ‘Ercolino’ Incalza had had allegedly shady public-contract connections which Lupi should have known about. “Lupi must give explanations and resign,” said Grillo. On Tuesday evening the ruling PD weighed in with party chair Matteo Orfini saying Lupi “must clarify some aspects” of a graft probe to which his son Luca has been linked. “There are things that arouse anxiety and concern…there is an absolute need to clarify certain aspects, then evaluations will be made”. Pressure from outside politics also began to pile up on Lupi as the influential Catholic weekly Famiglia Cristiana, Italy’s most-read publication, said “Italy is a continuous Bribesville”, referring to the kickbacks scandals that swept away the post-WWII political order in the early 1990s. As for Lupi, it noted that he had not been accused of any crime but asked whether his allegedly shady connections were “ethically acceptable”. And Italian Bishops’ Conference chief Angelo Bagnasco chimed in to say “corruption is becoming a regime”. “I will not resign even if, when I see my son pulled unjustly into this, I wonder if it is (worthwhile),” Lupi said earlier in the day. Luca Lupi has not been accused of any crime. “I try above all to overcome the bitterness of a father in seeing his son on the front page,” when he is not involved, said Lupi. But late Tuesday Cabinet Secretary Graziano Delrio said Lupi was “thinking” about his position. “Lupi is not under investigation…it’s clear there are political evaluations that will be made but we need to see more papers”, Delrio said. “Then there’s a decision that is up to the individual and I believe the minister is thinking about it,” he said. Incalza, a public-works official for seven governments, was among four arrested including Perotti and Francesco Cavallo, as well as Incalza’s aide Sandro Pacella, in a probe that saw more than 50 people including politicians placed under investigation for suspected kickbacks that inflated costs by as much as 40%. Lupi’s son was allegedly hired by an engineer, Giorgio Mor, at Perotti’s behest in what a judge said was a favour that might have been reciprocated in some way. The indirect hiring of Luca Lupi by Perotti may have been part of “an illicit quid pro quo” by the minister, a judge alleged. Lupi had already strongly denied suggestions on Monday that he asked favours for his son, saying the young man was so bright he didn’t need paternal string-pulling to get a job. The Northern League on Tuesday demanded that NCD leader and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano also resign.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Political Extremists Turn to Coded Language to Win Elections in Europe
Not so long ago, the U.K. Independence Party was dismissed by a future prime minister as a bunch of “closet racists,” Danes were embarrassed to admit that they voted for the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party and France’s National Front finished third in 2011 local elections.
How quickly the tide rises.
This year, UKIP could win about 15 percent of the vote in the U.K.’s May polls, while forcing a national reckoning on immigration. The Danish People’s Party will probably be the largest political party in soon-to-be-announced elections. And polls show the National Front running neck-and-neck for first in the popular vote in local elections that begin March 22.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The New £1 Coin With an English Rose, A Welsh Leek, A Scottish Thistle and an Irish Shamrock
Experts say the new, bi-metallic coin — designed by 15-year-old schoolboy David Pearce from Walsall — will be the most secure coin in circulation in the world.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Doctor Who Put Do Not Resuscitate Notice on Great-Grandfather Who Died in Hospital
A doctor put a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ notice on Michael Richardson, 66, from Great Yarmouth, without any consultation as she thought it would have been ‘cruel’ to keep him alive…
Yesterday, hospital staff described how they had initially rushed to save Mr Richardson after he suffered a cardiac arrest. But they stopped when the DNR notice was brought to their attention.
Giving evidence, Mrs Richardson said her husband tried to discharge himself the day before his death.
‘He said, “I can’t breathe, take me home — I can’t stand it any more. They’re trying to kill me”,’ she added.
‘I said, “I love you”, and then he said he loved me too. That was the last time I saw him alive.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A mother who hit a teenage cyclist in her car while on the school run refused to help him because she ‘didn’t want her children to be late’.
Taron Stead, 17, from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, was cycling to work in early morning rush hour traffic when he was hit by a silver car and knocked off his brand new mountain bike.
The woman then got out of the car and reportedly told him her children were inside and would be upset by the blood, before driving off without exchanging details.
The IT apprentice was left at the side of the road with cuts and bruises to his hands and face and was cared for by staff from nearby Sheffield University until paramedics arrived.
His furious mother, Naomi Pickard, 45, has released a photograph of his injuries in that hope that it will encourage witnesses to come forward.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dame Janet Smith’s review is being finalised after it interviewed more than 475 witnesses and been in contact with 775 as part of the investigation, which was established in October 2012.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Women With Vaginal Piercings to be Classed as Having Suffered Female Genital Mutilation
Under new NHS rules to be introduced next month, any woman whose labia or clitoris has been pierced must be recorded as suffering FGM, a procedure which is illegal in the UK.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Serbian Prosecutors Arrest Suspects in 1995 Srebrenica Massacre
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Prosecutors have made Serbia’s first arrests of people suspected of carrying out killings in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, The Associated Press has learned — a significant milestone toward healing the wounds of Europe’s worst civilian slaughter since World War II.
Serbian police arrested eight men Wednesday who are accused of taking part in the slaughter of more than 1,000 Muslims at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica, a team of Serbian and Bosnian prosecutors told the AP. Altogether, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the eastern Bosnian enclave by the Serbs in 1995 — the only atrocity in Europe to be labeled genocide by the United Nations since World War II.
Serbian prosecutors said they initially arrested seven suspects in pre-dawn raids at different locations in Serbia, then caught the eighth suspect later Wednesday after a manhunt.
Chief Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told the AP that all those arrested “are former members of a special brigade of the Bosnian Serb police.”
Serbia in the past has put on trial men who took a group of prisoners away from Srebrenica to be killed. And in 2011 it arrested Ratko Mladic — the warlord who masterminded the slaughter — and sent him to an international criminal court in The Hague, Netherlands. But Wednesday’s arrests are Serbia’s first attempt to bring to justice men who got their hands bloody in the killing machine known as the Srebrenica massacre 20 years ago this July.
[Be it noted that an American-led NATO bombing campaign, in which 400 aircraft made 3,515 sorties against 338 Bosnian Serb targets located within 48 complexes, put a stop to such atrocities. This is just one of several Muslim rescue missions on which the U.S. government has expended blood and treasure, such as Afghanistan from the Soviets, Kuwait from Saddam, Kosovo from Yugoslavia, Iraq from Saddam, etc. etc. Question: why isn’t our blood and treasure being expended to rescue Christians who are danger of Muslim genocide? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
2 Gunmen Captured Following Deadly Tunisian Museum Attack; 1 May Still be at Large
Two of the gunmen involved in an attack on a popular museum in Tunisia Wednesday — which left 21 dead, including 17 tourists — have been captured and one may still be at large, the country’s Ministry of the Interior said.
The gunmen had opened fire on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis earlier Wednesday. Authorities said at least 21 people were killed, including 17 tourists. At least 21 people were wounded, according to a Fox News source in Tunis.
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid had said earlier Wednesday that two or three other gunmen had escaped and were possible at large.
Essid told national television that people from Poland, Italy, Germany and Spain were among the tourists.
An Italian Foreign Ministry official says three Italians were among those killed in the attack and another six were injured. While Poland’s Foreign Ministry announced that three Poles were among the wounded.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 22 Killed in Tunisia’s Museum Attack: Official
TUNIS, March 18 (Xinhua) — At least 22 people, including 20 foreign tourists, were killed when gunmen attacked a museum in Tunis, Tunisia’s interior ministry said on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said that the 22 victims included 20 South African, French, Polish and Italian tourists.
Previously, Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid said that at least 21 were killed in the attack, including 17 tourists.
“Seventeen tourists, a civilian, two gunmen and a policeman were killed in the attack on Bardo Museum,” Essid said in a televised speech following the attack.
Five “terrorists” carried out the attack which also left 22 people injured, he said, adding that two gunmen were shot dead by Tunisian security forces.
The tourists are from Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Poland.
The spokesman said the gunmen entered the Bardo Museum through the parliament building in Tunis and took a group of tourists as hostages when security forces stormed the building.
A fire exchange took place between the forces and the militants who opened fire at the hostages, killing 17 of them, according to Ali Aroui.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as far.
| [Return to headlines] |
Four Italians Killed in Tunis Terror Attack
Vatican condemns ‘cruel, inhumane’ terrorism at museum
(ANSA) — Rome, March 18 — Italy’s embassy in Tunis said Wednesday that four Italians were killed in a terror attack at a Tunis museum earlier in the day. Another five are reportedly wounded.
The overall toll of the mid-day attack was said to be as high as 24 dead and 50 seriously injured, most likely tourists visiting for the day.
The Italian casualties had reached Tunis aboard the the Costa Fascinosa cruise ship, sources at the Italian embassy in the Tunisian capital said. Among them is Francesco Caldara, a pensioner from the city of Novara, relatives told ANSA. His wife Sonia Reddi was wounded but not fatally.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was hesitant to confirm the death toll early in the evening even as Tunisian Premier Habib Essid said it included visitors from Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain.
No one initially claimed responsibility although Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists reportedly applauded the attack on Twitter.
Interior ministry officials said several gunmen armed with grenades and assault rifles attacked somewhere near midday.
The parliament nearby was evacuated as security forces worked to withdraw as many visitors as possible from the museum, where gunmen held a number hostage for at least two hours.
Premier Matteo Renzi said the terror attack struck a blow to moderation in political and social life, and has hurt everyone. “Wherever there is an attempt to kill moderation, a blow is struck against every one of us and against patriotic and cultural commonality,” Renzi said.
Renzi also condemned the terrorists’ decision to attack a museum in the city’s downtown — “a symbolic place, a place of culture that was next to parliament,” Renzi said.
Meanwhile, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin condemned the bloody terror attack as “cruel, inhumane, inconceivable”.
“This (act) must be condemned in the most absolute terms,” said Parolin. “Let us hope there will be no more violence committed in the name of God”.
Federica Mogherini, the EU commission on foreign affairs, said that terrorist organizations were targeting an ever-widening range of “countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region”.
She speculated that terrorists from Islamic State (ISIS) were behind the attacks.
“This reinforces our determination to cooperate more closely with our partners to address the threat terrorists,” she said. Italian President Sergio Mattarella said the terror attack was “vile and hateful”, a “heinous and cowardly act, committed against defenseless people”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Grand Mufti of Egypt: No Place for Terror in Islam
By Robert Spencer
The articles come almost daily now: Muslim (and non-Muslim) authorities assuring us that what the Islamic State and other jihad terrorists do — mass murders, beheadings, rapes, destruction — has nothing do with Islam, despite the jihadis’ quotations of the Qur’an and screams of “Allahu akbar.” And every day, mainstream outlets such as Newsweek here are eager to publish them — eager to reassure jittery Infidels that all these dismaying dismays of hatred and violence perpetrated in the name of Islam don’t mean what they seem to mean, and that they need not pressure their political leaders to deal more realistically with the jihad threat.
And so we come to the Grand Mufti of Egypt, telling us that “There’s No Place for Terror in the Teachings of Islam”: that’s the title of this article by Shawki Allam, The Grand Mufti of Egypt, published in Newsweek on March 17, 2015.
The Grand Mufti of Egypt — so august a personage wouldn’t lie to us, would he? Let’s see.
Every Muslim is in utter shock about the senseless, appalling and cowardly attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and the other senseless violence against innocents we have seen since in Copenhagen and Libya.
Right out of the box — “every Muslim” is in “utter shock” over the Charlie Hebdo jihad massacre? Every one? So those 800,000 Muslims in Chechnya who demonstrated not against the murders, but against the Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoons, were shocked and appalled by the murders but decided to protest against the cartoons that led to the murders? And similarly shocked by the murders but not shocked enough to keep from protesting against the cartoons were the tens of thousands of Muslims who demonstrated in Pakistan, and Iran, and elsewhere? Muslims in Niger burned down 45 churches in their rage against the cartoons — were they in utter shock over the cartoonists’ murder as well?
On the other side, meanwhile, how many Muslims displayed their utter shock over the murder of the cartoonists by demonstrating against Sharia blasphemy laws and in favor of the freedom of expression? Why, none. None at all.
Not a good start for the Mufti in terms of giving us an honest presentation, but maybe he will pick up his game.
Let us say it plainly: These horrific acts are a complete violation of Islamic law and norms, and the perpetrators are in no way representative of Muslim people or the religion of Islam.
God upholds the sanctity of life as a universal principle. The Koran states in 4:29: “And do not kill one another, for God is indeed merciful unto you.” Islam views murder as both a crime punishable by law in this world and as a major sin punishable in the Afterlife. As Prophet Muhammad said, “The first cases to be decided among the people on the Day of Judgment will be those of blood-shed.”
[Spencer deconstructs this piece quite well. But it also bears noting that the Qur’anic verse this cleric cites, 4:29, begins with a qualifier in the form of an exhortation, and then repeats that qualifier:
O ye who believe! Squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity, except it be a trade by mutual consent, and kill not one another. Lo! Allah is ever Merciful unto you.
The language of this verse makes it plain that its merciful mandate is intended for Muslims alone. As for ye who do not believe, their comportment toward you is prescribed in verse 48:29:
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Storm Tunisian Museum, Kill 17 Foreign Tourists
At least 19 people were killed, including 17 foreign tourists, when militants attacked Tunisia’s Bardo museum in the capital Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said on Wednesday.
A Tunisian citizen and a policeman also died in the attack, Essid said.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Reported Among Dead in Tunis Terror Attack
Vatican condemns ‘cruel, inhumane’ terrorism at museum
(ANSA) — Rome, March 18 — Italy’s foreign minister said Wednesday that three Italians were killed and six injured in a terror attack at a Tunis museum Wednesday.
The overall toll of the mid-day attack was said to be as high as 24 dead and 50 seriously injured, most likely tourists visiting for the day.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni was hesitant to confirm the death toll early in the evening even as Tunisian Premier Habib Essid said it included visitors from Poland, Italy, Spain and Germany.
No one initially claimed responsibility although Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists reportedly applauded the attack on Twitter.
Interior ministry officials said several gunmen armed with grenades and assault rifles attacked somewhere near midday.
The parliament nearby was evacuated as security forces worked to withdraw as many visitors as possible from the museum, where gunmen held a number hostage for at least two hours.
Premier Matteo Renzi said the terror attack struck a blow to moderation in political and social life, and has hurt everyone. “Wherever there is an attempt to kill moderation, a blow is struck against every one of us and against patriotic and cultural commonality,” Renzi said.
Renzi also condemned the terrorists’ decision to attack a museum in the city’s downtown — “a symbolic place, a place of culture that was next to parliament,” Renzi said.
Meanwhile, Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin condemned the bloody terror attack as “cruel, inhumane, inconceivable”.
“This (act) must be condemned in the most absolute terms,” said Parolin. “Let us hope there will be no more violence committed in the name of God”.
Federica Mogherini, the EU commission on foreign affairs, said that terrorist organizations were targeting an ever-widening range of “countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region”.
She speculated that terrorists from Islamic State (ISIS) were behind the attacks.
“This reinforces our determination to cooperate more closely with our partners to address the threat terrorists,” she said. Italian President Sergio Mattarella said the terror attack was “vile and hateful”, a “heinous and cowardly act, committed against defenseless people”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tunis Media Says Up to 22 Killed in Terrorist Attack
Tunisian premier earlier said 19 dead in Bardo museum terror
(ANSA) — Rome, March 18 — Local media in Tunis said Wednesday that up to 22 people were likely killed in Wednesday’s terror attack there, even as Tunisian Premier Habib Essid said 19 people were dead.
The fatalities were initially thought to include 17 hostages — likely tourists on day trips from cruise ships — and two terrorists.
The casualties also included two Italians, according to reports from Al-Jazeera.
Premier Matteo Renzi the terror attack has struck a blow to moderation in political and social life, and hurts everyone. “Wherever there is an attempt to kill moderation, a blow is struck against every one of us and against patriotic and cultural commonality,” Renzi said.
Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, “has acquired an innovative institutional framework as corroborated by recent elections”, he said.
The attack took place “in a symbolic place, a place of culture that was next to parliament,” Renzi said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: The Hell Suffered by Foreigners Fleeing Violence
Thousands head to borders to return home
(by Diego Minuti) (ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 18 — Each war leads to tragedy and the conflict in Libya, where everyone is trying to have their say, is no exception.
As usual, civilians are paying the highest price. And Libyan civilians aren’t the only reluctant parties involved, foreign expats who have been residing in the country for years — ever since Gaddafi “imported” them in large numbers as employees in many sectors, from construction and infrastructural work to qualified professions, like doctors and engineers — are also involved.
Now, with fighting everywhere between militias, jihadists and armies that are more or less official, foreigners seeking to reach the country’s borders to flee find a path as dangerous as the areas of conflict. This adds to the ongoing tragedy and some foreigners are in even greater danger as they have no official document enabling them to get out of Libya.
Those fleeing are at the mercy of anyone, starting with gangs of militiamen who, Kalashnikov in hand, set up checkpoints along the roads leading to the border, to rob as many as they can.
Moroccans, who have been working for years as house help or chefs in the homes of officials with the Gaddafi regime, are now trying to go back home with no document as their ID papers were seized when they were employed as precaution. But there are thousands of kilometers and borders that are difficult to cross between Morocco and Libya (Tunisia and Algeria), especially if travelers have no documents and with harsher controls at the border for security reasons, things get difficult. Up until May 5 last year — according to Map — Moroccans who fled Libya through the Ras JEdir Tunisian border post were 5,700, but it is still unclear how many are still trapped in Libya.
And there is also the problem of offspring of Moroccan women married to Libyan nationals who were not given the authorization to expatriate. Egypt organized operations to airlift nationals from Tunisia once it took an active role in Libya, bringing thousands back home through Djerba-Zarzis.
The passage should be easier for Tunisians given their country shares a border with Libya but tensions between Libyan smugglers and Tunisian security forces has often led to violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tourism Minister Says Tunisia is Safe
‘No risk of terrorism’, says Rekik
(by Francesco Nuccio) (ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MARCH 17 — Tourism minister Selma Elluni Rekik told ANSA on Tuesday that Tunisia is entirely safe for visitors. She denied reports of terrorism-linked risks in the country and said that videos that had circulated online were false. “Of course the situation in Libya,” she told ANSA, “does not help, as is always the case when there are problems in neighboring countries. However, our borders are absolutely impermeable to any infiltration attempt. There is no security problem in Tunisia. Everything is under control.” Reassurances from the minister are corroborated by a massive security presence and youths crowding the capital’s nightclubs — youths who were the leading players in the Jasmine Revolution, which culminated in the January 2011 fall of the Ben Ali regime.
With the launch of a new Constitution, the first democratic elections and the creation of a coalition government that intends to lead the country for the next five years, Tunisia is today one of the most politically stable countries in North Africa. “Our message,” the minister said, “concerns the economy and not only tourism. We must give confidence to foreign entrepreneurs who want to invest in Tunisia.” Rekik is one of the symbols of this “new direction”. A successful executive in the agriculture and food sector, at the head of the labor ministry and professional training prior to tourism, she is one of the eight women in the government under Habib Essid. “Women in Tunisia,” she said, “have had an important role both before the revolution and after it, as shown by the Statue that enshrined equality with men, promulgated by Bourghiba in 1956. Women account for 33% of MPs.” On the relaunch of tourism in Tunisia, the minister has clear ideas.
“Up until now,” she said “80% of our market targeted seaside tourism. We now want to focus also on cultural tourism, valorizing our archaeological sites like Carthage, El Jam and the Bardo Museum, where the richest collection of Roman mosaics in the world is kept. We want to promote golf and Thalassotherapy, in which we are the second top in the world after France, and we intend to develop Saharan tourism in the internal areas of the country.” To achieve these objectives, the minister said it was necessary to “improve quality, strengthen air and sea transport and increase tourism options”. An important event will be Expo Milano 2015. “On May 27,” the minister said, “there will be Tunisia Day, with the presence in Milan of the country’s institutional and political leaders. It will be a chance to present our tourism options as well as our gastronomic products.” The data on visitors show that there has been a recovery in Italian tourists coming to the North African nation. After the 2009 boom, with 383,000 presences and the 2011 drop to 120,000, the market rose steadily to 252,000 tourists in 2014. “We trust we will improve further,” Rekik said. “We are neither optimists nor pessimists. We are only determined.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Police Raid Museum After Armed Attackers Kill at Least 8
CAIRO — Gunmen killed at least eight people, including seven tourists, after storming a prominent museum in Tunisia’s capital Tunis, the country’s interior ministry said Wednesday.
A raid by security forces later killed two of the attackers and left at least one officer dead, the Interior Ministry said. It was not immediately clear whether there were other casualties or all those inside the Bardo National Museum were freed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But it follows mounting bloodshed and clashes in neighboring Libya linked to the expanding presence of militants pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, including a battle last week that killed a most-wanted Tunisian-born extremist…
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Two British Tourists Feared to be Among 17 Dead in Terrorist Attack on Tunisian Museum
Two attackers also killed as armed officers bring siege to an end
Two Britons are feared to be among 17 tourists killed today after two militants assaulted a Tunisian museum before being killed themselves in a dramatic police raid.
Seventeen of those killed in the dramatic events were foreigners, with unconfirmed local reports suggesting two were British.
Polish, Italian, Spanish and German nationals have been confirmed as among the casualties, while the death of the two militants and a police officer brings the death toll to 20.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu Defeats Rivals in Israeli Elections
Likud upsets surveys, heads towards 4th mandate
(ANSA) — Tel Aviv, March 18 — With a major success, Israeli Likud leader Benyamin Netanyahu has been confirmed as prime minister in general elections, winning a fourth mandate. As provisional results show a clear lead, he is now able to form a right-wing government backed by nationalist and confessional parties.
“I will form a government in two-three weeks”, Netanyahu was quoted as saying in a statement released by his Likud party.
The premier, according to the statement, will immediately talk with “other leaders that will form the coalition”.
Likud’s victory has surprised Israelis because it was in no way anticipated by either surveys over the past few weeks nor exit polls last night.
According to the latest tally, Likud has won 29 seats in the 120-seat Knesset — which could go up to 30 once soldiers’ votes are counted — while the rival Zionist Union of Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni obtained 24.
The United Arab List obtained a record 14 seats but will remain in the opposition.
Many initial comments complimented Netanyahu for his ability to garner key votes in the last two to three days prior to the elections, gaining a lead over Herzog in a personal success that has surprised his own party.
The Zionist Union immediately looked back at its electoral campaign, criticizing what now appears like a mistake it made — turning the campaign into a sort of referendum on Netanyahu.
Tomorrow President Reuven Rivlin will get the final tally of the election and will have no other choice than giving ‘Bibi’ the task of forming a new government.
Netanyahu wants to include Moshe Kahlon, leader of the upstart centrist Kulanu party and obtained 10 seats. With such support, the premier could form a coalition of 67-68 MPs, confronting a new mandate with a full control of parliament.
Netanyahu would reach the target set last November when he made the surprise announcement of calling early elections to get rid of a coalition without discipline, which he found “unmanageable”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Yet to Congratulate Netanyahu Despite Not Waiting to Call Newly Elected Islamist Leaders
by Phyllis Chesler
At press time, President Obama has not yet congratulated the new Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel is the only real democracy in the region, it is militarily sophisticated, and is America’s strongest and most stable ally.
President Obama’s peevish, grudging, and hostile behavior is not statesman-like and is definitely not in America’s best interest.
However, Obama’s self-indulgent behavior does not seem to change. For example, in 2013, it took President Obama one full week before he called Netanyahu to congratulate him on his election win.
In 2012, it took Obama “hours” to congratulate Muslim Brotherhood candidate and then Egyptian President-elect Mohammed Morsi on winning his election.
In 2012, Obama called to congratulate Vladimir Putin on winning what was probably a rigged election. So much for Obama’s concern for democracy and human rights. Russia is the country that annexed Crimea, invaded and occupied Ukraine, and has Stalinist designs on eastern Europe.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Iran, Hezbollah Left Off US Terror Threat Listing
Iran and Hezbollah were left out of an annual terrorism threat assessment report offered in late February to the US Senate by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Iran and Hezbollah had been fixtures on the annual report before 2015.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New York Times Reports U.S. Giving Al-Qaeda Millions of Dollars
Staggering amount of evidence reveals terror is U.S. and Saudi creation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Woman Sentenced to 70 Lashes for Insulting Man on WhatsApp
Court found 32-year-old woman was guilty of tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff on WhatsApp.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Skilled Gunsmith Helps Kurds Turn ISIS’ Guns on Terrorists
In their fight against ISIS, the Kurdish army known as Peshmerga has a secret weapon — a second-generation gunsmith so skilled he can practically turn a bucket of rusty bolts into a killing machine for the rugged, but cash-strapped, fighting force.
Bakhtiar Aziz works in a dimly lit basement shop in Erbil, refurbishing guns taken from the enemy, bringing broken and even decades-old firearms back to life and helping to outfit an army as short on weapons as it is long on heart. On a recent day, he inspected an M-16A4 assault rifle badly damaged in a coalition airstrike. Pocked with holes, missing a large section of the barrel and with human hair wedged in its moving parts, the gun was found by Peshmerga soldiers near the town of Gwer.
Aziz examined it, and told its story.
“The Americans gave it to the Iraqi Army, then when ISIS came, they took it from the Iraqi Army,” Bakhtiar told the military blog War Is Boring. “Now after the American airstrikes against ISIS, the weapon is in the hands of the Peshmerga.”
[Used to do this kind of work myself. Necessity is the mother of invention! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Last Major Italian Contingent Begins Tour in Afghanistan
Julia Alpine troops regiment relieves Bersaglieri in Herat
(ANSA) Herat, March 18 — Crack Italian Alpine troops from the Julia regiment began Italy’s final tour of peace-keeping duty in western Afghanistan Wednesday after relieving a contingent of plume-helmetted Bersaglieri.
The hand-over as Italy’s mission ‘Resolute Support’ approaches its end in October comes after 10 years of Italian peacekeeping in the war-torn country that has cost 54 Italian lives and wounded many others.
After October Italy will retain only around 70 soldiers in the Kabul area, military sources said.
At a handover ceremony Gen. Maurizio Scardino, commanding officer of the Garibaldi regiment of Bersaglieri, passed the baton to Gen. Michele Risi of the Julia regiment, meaning some 500 Italian troops will be in Afghanistan over the next six months compared to as many as 4,200 deployed in Afghanistan at the height of the Italian deployment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lawyer for Pakistan Doctor Who Helped CIA Find Bin Laden Shot Dead
By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR (Reuters) — A Pakistani lawyer under death threats for defending a doctor who helped CIA agents hunt al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead on Tuesday, police said, and two militant groups claimed responsibility.
Samiullah Afridi represented Dr Shakil Afridi, who was jailed in 2012 for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the U.S. intelligence agency track down bin Laden. That sentence was overturned in 2013 and the doctor is now in jail awaiting a new trial.
Samiullah Afridi was shot dead on Tuesday as he was returning to his home in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said. According to media, he had recently returned there from abroad after leaving Pakistan for his safety.
[…]
Samiullah Afridi stopped representing the doctor last year, saying he had become a target. “I have been receiving threats from various organizations, and because of those threats I even went to Dubai some time back,” he told Reuters TV.
“Some organizations do not want us to continue defending this case … Not only is my life in danger, my family is also in danger. I have therefore decided to quit this case.”
[First intimidate, then eliminate. Such is the way of Islam. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Tokyo Sarin Attack: Recalling Doomsday Cult’s Deadly Assault
In March 1995, the world’s busiest subway system was brought to a standstill as a mysterious gas was released across the Tokyo underground.
Commuters in the Japanese capital began to feel short of breath and experienced dim vision. A dozen people died and thousands were affected.
It later transpired the deadly nerve gas sarin had been released in five locations across the network by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
Toshiaki Toyoda was the deputy station master at Kasumigaseki station on that day.
He spoke to Witness about his experience and the guilt he feels at not being able to save his colleagues.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya’s Wajir Town Hit by Deadly ‘Al-Shabab’ Attack
Four people have been killed in an attack in north-east Kenya, officials say.
Security sources said a group of hooded men threw a grenade at a small shop in the town of Wajir, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Somali border.
Local police said the shop caught fire, burning the bodies of the victims beyond recognition.
The attack is the fourth in five days in Kenya’s remote and restive north-east region.
“They locked [people] inside the shop, set it on fire and left. Three died inside while one [died] while being ferried to hospital,” Reuters quotes Mohamed Siyat, a county government official saying.
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants have said they carried out the attack.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Shocked Tourists See Horrific Moment Crocodile Eats Man During Zimbabwe Cruise
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A group of British tourists taking part in a sunset cruise along the Zambezi River were left horrified after seeing crocodiles eat a man, it has been reported.
The tour group and their guide were making their way down the river between Zimbabwe and Zambia when they saw crocodiles feeding.
But as they approached, it became clear that the reptiles were tearing apart the bottom half of a human.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Museum Shooting: Country in Shock as Tunis Attack Leaves More Than 20 People Dead
Tunisia’s prime minister has said that a total of 22 people have died in the attack against the Bardo museum in Tunis on 18 March, including 17 tourists, two Tunisians and two gunmen.
Prime minister Habib Essid said that five of the victims were Japanese, four Italian, two Colombian, two Spanish, one Australian, one Polish, one French national and one whose nationality has not yet been verified.
Essid said 44 people were also wounded, among them: 13 Italians, seven French, four Japanese, two South Africans, one Polish, one Russian and six Tunisians.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DHS: Obama Amnesty May Require 3,100 New Bureaucrats, $484 Million a Year
Americans bleeding out from Obama’s executive amnesty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The lifetime costs of Social Security and Medicare benefits of illegal immigrant beneficiaries of President Obama’s executive amnesty would be well over a trillion dollars, according to Heritage Foundation expert Robert Rector’s prepared testimony for a House panel obtained in advance by Breitbart News.
Rector, a senior research fellow at Heritage, is slated to speak on the costs of Obama’s executive amnesty Tuesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He will testify to the high entitlement costs of granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants.
Based on Rector’s calculations, which assume that at least 3.97 illegal immigrants would apply for and receive legal status under Deferred Action for Parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents (DAPA), and that the average DAPA beneficiary would have a 10th grade education, the costs would be immense.
Specifically, in 2010 dollars, the lifetime costs of Social Security benefits to DAPA beneficiaries would be about $1.3 trillion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sessions: ‘People Aren’t Commodities’
In a statement given before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) lamented that businesses are seeking to advance the immigration debate by making arguments in favor of increased foreign labor.
According to Sessions, proponents of certain immigration measures are treating people as commodities, which he argues isn’t in the interest of American workers.
“People aren’t commodities. We compare labor to commodities, but they’re not commodities. They’re human beings. They have families. They have hopes and dreams. They want stability in their life. They would like to have a good job at a company like the biggest utility in California—California Edison (where hundreds of Americans were laid off and replaced with guest workers)… We have no obligation to yield to the lust of big businesses… Mr. Zuckerberg is worth $27 billion, I guess he is 27 years old, I’m not sure. So he wants more foreign workers. I would like to think he might want to pay his employees more and maybe not have quite so many billions, if he’d like to be helpful, and maybe he could get more local workers.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Commits More Than $50 Million to Diversity Efforts
A flashy new smart watch isn’t all Apple has up its sleeve. The company is donating more than $50 million to organizations that aim to get more women, minorities, and veterans working in tech.
It’s a big week for Apple. On Monday the iPhone-maker unveiled the latest addition to its ecosystem of devices, a smart watch whose price will range from $350 to $18,000. On Tuesday, the company kicks off its annual shareholders’ meeting in Cupertino, Calif.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Man Gets Six Years for Abortion Pill Smoothie
A court in Norway on Tuesday sentenced a man to six years in prison for slipping abortion pills into his ex-girlfriend’s drink and causing a miscarriage, Norwegian media reported.
The 25-year-old man admitted to the court in Trondheim, western Norway, that he had bought two types of abortion drugs online and given them to the woman, with whom he had had a fling, on two different occasions.
The woman, who is in her 20s and had said she wanted to keep the baby, lost the child the second time she ingested the drugs in March 2014 when she was 12 weeks pregnant.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The United States is Getting More Tolerant of Everyone (Except Racists)
Researchers out of San Diego State University found that the United States is becoming more tolerant than ever of communists, atheists, LGBT people and more. The only groups for which Americans didn’t become more tolerant were of people who believed black people were “genetically inferior.”
Researchers concluded that, “Americans have become increasingly tolerant of controversial beliefs and lifestyles (i.e., marginalized outgroups). They are more likely to believe that homosexuals, Communists, militarists, and the anti-religious have the right to give speeches, teach at a college, and have a book in a local library. Smaller increases appeared in tolerance for a person who claims that Blacks are genetically inferior (commonly labeled a racist).”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This year’s recently-concluded White Privilege Conference in Louisville, Ky. featured a workshop promoting lesson plans designed to teach children as young as kindergarten about “genderqueer,” “gender-fluid” and “transgender folks.”
The workshop, entitled “‘Your skin is too brown’: Taking Action to Address White Privilege in the K-5 Classroom.” occurred on the closing day of the conference, which was held at a posh downtown hotel.
Despite the workshop name, a very low percentage of the workshop was actually dedicated to skin color. Instead, workshop presenters Johanna Eager and Tarah Fleming focused overwhelmingly on how to lecture elementary school-aged children about gay, lesbian and transgender issues.
The workshop presenters described the political problem they wish to combat as “identity-based bullying and how it plays out in the classroom with regard to power, oppression and privilege.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DIME and Dark Mail Seek to Change the World of Digital Mail
Email has the reputation of being insecure, unreliable, and easily readable for any user — just like a postcard. An initiative led by the founders of Lavabit and PGP hopes to replace email with a new medium.
Ladar Levison may be an unfamiliar figure except to a few people in the community, but many are familiar with his former company: Lavabit, which was in business from 2004 to 2013. Lavabit was a pioneer in the field of secure email; it was founded with the goal of serving as a secure email provider.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
PancakeBot, World’s First Pancake Printer, Will Make Breakfast in Any Shape Your Heart Desires
PancakeBot, exactly as it sounds, is a robot that serves pancakes. It’s hard to think up something better, but … ready? This breakfast cyborg will actually whip up your pancakes in whatever shape you ask it to. Care for a pancake in the shape of your dog? This can happen! Prefer a morning meal that resembles your favorite vice president? YOLO, as they say!
Here’s how PancakeBot works: The machine comes with tracing software (compatible with both Mac and Windows) that allows you to trace anything in the world directly onto your computer. Anything. In. The. World. You dictate the shading of the pancake by retracing particular parts of the image.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The sooner the EU dies, the sooner Europe can start extricating itself from the nightmare they are in.