Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced his presidential candidacy at an event at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. California Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown asserted that Sen. Cruz is unfit to be president, due to his opinions on climate change.
In other news, the Saudi foreign minister said that the Kingdom may have to intervene in the conflict in Yemen, in order to counteract growing Iranian influence.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, DS, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.
Big Banks Have Become Huge Criminal Enterprises Waging War Against the People
(NaturalNews) Have the big banks stopped being banks? If you believe the banking insiders speaking in their own words, then you would have to conclude the answer is yes.In a recent interview with Bloomberg News, Niels Storm Stenbaek, chief economist at the Danish Bankers Association…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Critics Sue to Stop ECB Bond-Buying
Three German businessmen are seeking to block the European Central Bank’s controversial bond purchase programme, arguing it oversteps the bank’s mandate, their legal expert told AFP on Monday.
Christoph Degenhart, a professor in constitutional law at Leipzig University, said that entrepreneurs Heinrich Weiss, Patrick Adenauer and Juergen Heraeus are seeking to challenge the ECB’s so-called Quantitative Easing or QE programme in the Germany’s highest court, the Constitutional Court.
Degenhart has already taken the ECB to court over previous unconventional policy measures such as the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme, which similarly has the central bank purchase bonds, but in this case to help eurozone members forced to pay high rates to borrow in the markets.
“Our argument is that, like in the case of OMT, the ECB is overstepping its mandate,” Degenhart said.
A group of eurosceptic politicians and academics in Germany argue that the OMT programme is tantamount to printing money to pay off government debt in crisis-hit countries.
The same was true of QE, Degenhart argued.
“QE is a quantum leap, which essentially means countries’ debt is being financed via the printing press,” he said.
On January 22, the ECB announced a massive €1.14-trillion bond purchase programme, which will see €60 billion in bonds per month bought for at least 18 months.
The aim is to pump liquidity into the financial system so as to kick-start lending and push up inflation, currently below zero.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Draghi Says Growth Gaining, Inflation Muted
ECB president says weak euro, cheap energy contribute
(ANSA) — Brussels, March 23 — European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Monday growth in the eurozone “is gaining momentum” thanks in part to a weaker euro, lower energy prices and stronger demand. Inflation will remain low until the end of 2015 and could dip into negative figures in the coming months. “The basis for economic recovery in the euro zone has clearly strengthened,” Draghi told the EU Parliament. “Inflation will remain very low or negative in the coming months…but the rate will begin again to gradually increase at year end”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Greeks Keep Their Money Under the Mattress
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, MARCH 23 — During these years of economic crisis, Greeks are hiding their money under the mattress instead of keeping it in the bank, GreekReporter website writes quoting a Bloomberg report. In the months following the announcement of snap elections, Greek banks have lost billions in deposits. The Bloomberg report says that the funds “missing” are not transferred to other banks but are most likely hidden under mattresses or under bathroom tiles. Data provided by the Bank of Greece indicate that the money withdrawn have been transferred to other accounts. The data is based on estimating banknotes in circulation, the amount of which do not show a significant rise.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The World’s Next Credit Crunch Could Make 2008 Look Like a Hiccup
We are certainly living in strange times. An unprecedented monetary experiment is coming to a staggered end and no one knows the potential repercussions — a plague of frogs cannot be entirely ruled out.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tsipras Warns Merkel of ‘Impossible’ Debt Payments
Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras warned in a letter dated 15 March German chancellor Angela Merkel that it will be “impossible” for his country to service debt obligations due in coming weeks without short-term financial assistance, the Financial Times reports. Tsipras pays his first official visit to Berlin on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Founder: ‘Computers Will Take Over From Humans’
The co-founder of Apple who designed the company’s first computers in the 1970s has warned that artificial intelligence will take over from humans and that the future is “scary and very bad for people”.
“Computers are going to take over from humans, no question,” he said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.
He explained that strong artificial intelligence, which would recreate the power and creativity of the human mind in software, is a risky thing for researchers to strive for.
“Like people including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have predicted, I agree that the future is scary and very bad for people. If we build these devices to take care of everything for us, eventually they’ll think faster than us and they’ll get rid of the slow humans to run companies more efficiently,” Wozniak said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Black Brunch’ Protesters Meet Resistance From Diners
‘Black Lives Matter’ agitators ran into resistance from diners and restaurant staff during their weekly ‘Black Brunch’ demonstration.
Over the past few months, ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters around the country have sought to draw attention to the shooting death of Michael Brown and other individuals killed by police by interrupting predominantly white people eating brunch and spending time with their families.
Last week we reported on how white diners in one restaurant were compelled to join in by raising their fists in support of Mike Brown.
However, yesterday’s ‘Black Brunch’ event in Atlanta was notable for several instances of diners and restaurant staff making their opposition to the protesters known.
One clip shows a man accusing the demonstrators of “stirring up conflict” before telling them to “go home”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Brennan: Using Term “Radical Islam” Gives Jihadis “Religious Legitimacy”
By Robert Spencer
He is saying that we have to pretend, and that the Obama Administration pretends, that they’re not Islamic at all — in other words, that the Administration is determined to ignore what they state as their guiding ideology, motives and goals. This is a recipe for disaster, as one cannot defeat an enemy one refuses to understand.
Also, the idea that Muslims are looking to non-Muslim authorities for “religious legitimacy” is absurd. The Qur’an calls non-Muslims the “most vile of created beings” (98:6). Non-Muslims can’t legitimize anything for believing Muslims.
“CIA Director says Islamic State represents “ideology of violence, “ not Islam,” ANI, March 23, 2015 (thanks to Lookmann):
Washington: CIA Director John O. Brennan has cautioned against categorizing the Islamic State (IS) fighters as followers of Muslim faith by saying that they represent an “ideology of violence” and not religion.
In an interview, Brennan stuck to the Obama administration’s official line and stressed on the need to not use phrases like “radical Islam” for the IS terrorists, The Washington Times reported.
[Under John Brennan, “DCI” stands for “Dispenser of Craven Idiocy.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Congress Launching Hearings on Complaints Businesses Targeted by ‘Operation Choke Point’
By Ruth Ravve
A controversial federal law enforcement program that critics say targeted businesses the Obama administration didn’t like is about to face a new wave of congressional scrutiny, with Capitol Hill hearings set to begin Tuesday.
Under the program, called Operation Choke Point, banks and other financial institutions were reportedly pressured to cut off accounts for targeted businesses. This included gun stores, casinos, tobacco distributors, short-term lenders and other businesses.
Critics claim the program — overseen by the Justice Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and other agencies — was used to squeeze legal companies that some politicians considered morally objectionable.
“Our concern is you have agencies in the Obama administration that are using government as a weapon and they going after industries and people that they don’t like,” said Republican Rep. Sean Duffy, who co-chairs the Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. “This is not the old Soviet Union or Venezuela or Cuba.”
[But thanks to Barry Hussein and his mob, we’re getting there fast. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Have Not Given up on Ammo Ban — Video
The resignation of ATF boss B. Todd Jones does not signal the end of an effort by Democrats to outlaw ammunition for one of the most popular rifles in America, the AR-15.
The new director of the ATF, Thomas Brandon, plants to meet with New York Democrat Steve Israel about renewing a push to ban the M855 round, classified as a .223 or 5.56 mm cartridge.
Jones, who leaves office at the end of this month, said he tendered his resignation “to pursue other opportunities in the private sector.”
On Friday Israel said the effort to outlaw the ammo was handled “sloppily” by Jones and the ATF. “This was sloppily handled and as a result the outcome was surprising, disappointing and even confusing,” Israel told The Hill. “I hope under the new leadership the ATF can have a more transparent and responsive process.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Durbin’s ‘Racism’ Smear Infuriates Republicans
By Matthew Vadum
Republicans were angered last week when the Senate’s second highest ranking Democrat accused them of racism for delaying a confirmation vote for leftist radical Loretta Lynch’s nomination as U.S. attorney general.
“Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar,” said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), in an unsubtle reference to the civil rights movement’s campaign to desegregate public transit. “That is unfair. It’s unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate. This woman deserves fairness.”
It has long been axiomatic that when liberals and progressives are fretting about possibly losing a political fight they scream “racist!” repeatedly at the top of their lungs as if sheer repetition of the smear will somehow make it true.
It was the mark of desperation. No more. Now it is standard operating procedure for the Left. When in doubt, call Republicans racists.
[…]
As anyone who has been following the Lynch nomination knows, the months-long delay has to do with Republicans’ well-founded belief that she is manifestly unqualified to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
The Senate Conservatives Fund succinctly summed up why Lynch should not become attorney general:
In her confirmation hearings, Lynch could not identify any limits on the president’s executive power and said she believes executive amnesty is legal and constitutional. The only difference between Loretta Lynch and [current Attorney General] Eric Holder is that Lynch has told everyone that she will ignore the law BEFORE her confirmation vote. Voting to confirm Lynch now would be a clear violation of a senator’s oath to support and defend the Constitution. [block capitals in original]
Lynch also said at her confirmation hearing that she believes illegal aliens possess the same legal right to work in the U.S. as American citizens. This is tantamount to a promise to refuse to enforce the immigration laws of the United States and an in-your-face demonstration that Lynch isn’t qualified to carry out parking ticket prosecutions in Flatbush, let alone head up the U.S. justice system.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Missing Nuke Update — Video
Woman brings up military purge at Santorum event.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jerry Brown: Ted Cruz ‘Absolutely Unfit’ To Run for Office
California Gov. Jerry Brown believes Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is “absolutely unfit” to run for office because of the Texas senator’s views on climate change.
Brown, a Democrat, said views held by Cruz about climate change are “absolutely false.” The Huffington Post has more on Brown and Cruz, including Cruz’s saying last week on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” that global warming “alarmists” aren’t backed up by science. Brown, speaking Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” said that more than 90% of scientists who study climate agree that climate change is caused by human activity. Cruz entered the presidential race on Monday, the first major candidate of either party to do so.
‘Another Reagan’: Cruz’s candidacy, meanwhile, is firing up conservatives. “Ted Cruz has all the makings of another Ronald Reagan,” Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, told CQ Roll Call. “Cruz understands the principles that make America the greatest nation in world history.” Another Republican congressman, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, said Cruz’s participation in the GOP primary will “push strong conservative leadership to the top.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Bighorn Lambs Spotted on Tucson-Area Mountains
TUCSON, Ariz. — State wildlife officials say they are cautiously optimistic after counting 15 bighorn lambs in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.
Arizona Game and Fish Department spokesman Mark Hart says an effort to rebuild a bighorn sheep herd there looks promising.
A departmental report says a research biologist confirmed a 15th lamb on March 6.
Hart told the Arizona Daily Star Saturday that lamb survival rates are about 25 percent over the course of a year.
Hart says there are about 40 adult bighorns are in the Catalinas. That figure includes sheep relocated there in 2013 and last fall.
The bighorn sheep population in the Catalinas disappeared around the 1990s.
[As an old desert rat, I say this is nice to see. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) If the master planners of the universe are anything, it is predictable in their behavior. No matter what rules they seek to impose, you can always count on a healthy dose of hypocrisy.Take the issues of assisted suicide and mandatory vaccination.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Vows to Push Progressive Plans ‘By Hook or by Crook’; ‘I’ll Take Crook, ‘ Twitter Answers
President Obama is actually bragging about doing whatever it takes to ram his progressive agenda through, even if it means working around — or outside — the law.
In an interview with the liberal Huffington Post website on Friday, Obama said he’ll keep on doing whatever it takes — “by hook or by crook” — to transform the country into the progressive dream his liberal base is clamoring for.
It doesn’t matter to the president that the House went from a solid Democrat majority to Republican control in 2010.
It doesn’t matter that the Senate went from Democrat to Republican in the 2014 midterms — a clear repudiation of the policies Obama himself insisted were on the ballot even if he wasn’t.
Obama claims he listens to the people who don’t vote, remember? And he hears exactly what he needs to hear. And everything he hears is an excuse for furthering progressive goals.
“By hook or by crook, we’re going to make sure that when I leave this office, that the country is more prosperous, more people have opportunity, kids have a better education, we’re more competitive, climate change is being taken more seriously than it was, and we are actually trying to do something about it,” he said.
“Those are going to be the measures by which I look back and say whether I’ve been successful as president.” Fortunately, in the final two years of the Obama administration, the thinking part of America isn’t buying it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
See-Through Solar is Tomorrow’s Threat to Oil
Solar energy is the future. The problem is, it’s been the future for a long time. And while progress has been made, using the sun as a primary source of power hasn’t really broken through.
One possible breakthrough, however, is becoming clearer—literally. The engineers at Ubiquitous Energy are developing solar panels that are completely transparent and as thin as a laminate. They can do this by creating see-through solar cells that absorb only the invisible parts of the solar spectrum—ultraviolet and infrared radiation.
The technology still has a way to go because the cells must become more efficient to prove cost-effective, but their promise is big: solar cells that could become a part of any glass or plastic surface. They could sit, invisibly, atop a smartphone’s display, allowing the phone to charge itself under natural or artificial light. And if the process became part of glass and window manufacturing, homes and skyscrapers could draw power from the sun without the spatial and aesthetic limits of current, opaque solar panels.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Ted Cruz Announces Presidential Bid, Vows to ‘Stand for Liberty’
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, ticking off a litany of President Obama policies he opposes, promised Monday to return to a government by Constitution and “stand for liberty” as he officially announced his 2016 presidential bid.
Cruz, speaking to an energetic crowd of students at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., drew from his background to address his faith and what he sees for the future of the country.
As the first major presidential candidate to officially declare, he told the crowd to “imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders” and drew applause when he promised to “stand up and defeat radical Islamic terrorism.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Silverback Gorilla Appears to Swear at Fellow Ape at Busch Gardens in Video
Captured at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida, US, the large silverback gorilla can be seen interacting with an older blackback.
Picking up a toy, the blackback throws it at the silverback who protects itself by lifting a hand to its face.
Continuing to annoy the silverback, the blackback reaches over and picks up the toy as if intending to throw it again.
But before he gets the chance, the silverback casually gives it the middle finger.
The video maker and the surrounding people can be heard laughing in shock at the cheeky gesture being made by the large mammal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Starbucks Serves Up Hypocrisy, Venti-Size
By Joe Soucheray
Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, wants his employees to talk to the customers about race relations in America, which makes as much sense, I suppose, as a bank instructing its tellers to inquire after your faith.
[…]
People have taken to social media to point out that the program, called “Race Together,” is merely opportunistic and inappropriate for a coffee chain.
I kept waiting to read or to hear of the real reason this is so ludicrous. In fact, never has the left, as it might be represented by Schultz in this case, looked so transparently hypocritical.
Where are the Starbucks in the neighborhoods populated by the people that Schultz pretends to be concerned about to the point of kick-starting yet another national conversation?
I mean, if you really believe this nonsense, that you should enjoy a talk about race with your race-relations-trained friendly barista on Grand Avenue, or 50th and France, the only real discussion point is how Starbucks is so carefully underrepresented in neighborhoods of color.
[…]
I went to the Starbucks home page and took advantage of the company’s locator map.
[…]
Starbucks appear to be placed where the money is, an affordable luxury for the customers in those locations. Sound enough as a business plan. But then, don’t presume to be a champion of social consciousness raising.
[…]
And now Schultz comes along and tries to hawk the talk about race relations as the head of a company with, as of March 5, 12,218 carefully located stores in the United States.
Very carefully located.
[This management fad is such a fat, tempting target that it almost seems unsportsmanlike to keep shooting at it. But the corporation’s de facto redlining is certainly worthy of attention. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Starbucks Ends #RaceTogether Cup Campaign… After One Week
The plan to write “Race Together” on cups lasted less than a week, but Starbuck’s plans to continue its campaign with forums and hiring more diverse employees for stores in urban communities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ted Cruz’s Path to the Presidency
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas on Monday became the first to officially declare his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election. Here is a look at what he will need to do if he hopes to win.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Kathy Platoni
It was more than five years ago that the gunshots rang out, but those of us who survived can still hear their echoes. On Nov. 5, 2009, an Army psychiatrist named Nidal Hasan—an American radicalized by extremist Islamic beliefs—opened fire on his fellow soldiers in Fort Hood, Texas, killing 14 people, including an unborn child, and wounding 32.
I was there. A beloved friend, Capt. John Gaffaney, died at my knees. I was slated to become the shooter’s direct supervisor and later learned I was at the top of his hit list.
That day has faded from the minds of most Americans. But the survivors and the families of the deceased continually relive its horror. They also continue to face betrayal by the government they served…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
By Jared Feldschreiber
DC political insiders believe that if President Barack Obama truly seeks compromise with Republicans, he should begin by ditching White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. It goes without saying that Jarrett, the president’s longtime trusted confidante, political ally, and family friend, is a divisive figure inside the beltway. Calls for her dismissal have been rampant since the president began his second term — and even before then. It is a demand still ignored by the White House.
“The only chance the Obama administration has to make a mark would be to work close with Congress,” Mark W. Davis, former speechwriter and senior director of The White House Writers Group (and venerable DC insider) tells me. “But this is a president who is insular… [And] surrounded by people who reflect back to him what he wants to hear… For a man with an Ivy League education, he seems remarkably ignorant of the ways in which past presidents — Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton — have worked with Congress.”
[…]
In response to criticism leveled against her, Jarrett recently told the New York Times Magazine: “Oh, my goodness, I intend to stay until the lights go off. Why would I miss a single second of this?”
[Ditch his substitute mommy? Barry Hussein? It’ll never happen. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Why Minneapolis is the US Hub for ISIS Recruitment?
by Jerry Gordon
The Sunday New York Times had a front page story on the chronicle of a pair Somali émigré youths in the Twin Cities, one of whom successfully traveled to Syria to join ISIS, while his friend was stopped before he could board a flight to join his fellow mujahideen, “From Minneapolis to ISIS: An American’s Path to Jihad”. Abdi Nur was the 20 year old community college attendee who originally wanted to become a lawyer, instead opting for becoming a Jihadist recruit for the Islamic State Caliphate in Raqaa, Syria. His unlucky comrade, 18 year old, Abdullah Yusuf didn’t make it and finds himself sentenced by the court to the equivalent of a re-education program by a federal judge. Both boys may have been recruited by a youth leader at a Bloomington, Minnesota Al Farooq Mosque.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why the N-Word Doesn’t Go Away
By Steven A. Holmes
[…]
No one can argue that the reduction in the use of traditional racial and ethnic slurs means that American society has rid itself of all its prejudices. At the same time, it is undeniable that so many racial and ethnic slurs have been driven out of the public square by a general view that uttering such words is unacceptable. And that’s a good thing.
“These are hard, hard, bigoted words,” says Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “There are consequences for their use — social consequences, political consequences, commercial consequences.”
[…]
There is, of course, one slur that has refused to be consigned to the dustbin of linguistic history and one whose target is clear: nigger.
The n-word’s resiliency is probably due to two major factors. It is evidence that bigotry against black people is more virulent than animus toward any other racial or ethnic group. Sure, it’s been driven underground too — at least in its use among white people. But, it seems to dwell there like subsurface magma rather than die out like other slurs. While white use of “nigger” may occasionally burst through to the surface, no one is going to produce a cell phone video of a bunch of frat boys singing, “there will never be a guinea in SAE.”
But let’s face it, another reason the n-word has a half-life that rivals plutonium is that black people keep it alive; and not just alive in the code-switching way where it is bandied about in private, but shunned in public. “When I was growing up, black people would get together in a group, and we would use it,” says Randall Kennedy, a Harvard law professor and author of “Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word.” “But it was for in-group use only, and we would be watchful that other people didn’t hear us.
“Today, you’re on a bus, or in the subway or in a mall and people are just out-and-out using it. There’s no self-consciousness, no embarrassment. It’s normalized. That too has led to its singular prominence in the society.”
[…]
So, for better or worse, what the n-word has — and what other racial and ethnic slurs lack — is a constituency, a broad-based coalition whose component parts have embraced the word for their own reasons.
There are white racists who use it because they are, well, white racists.
There are black baby boomers who may decry the term, but use it in private settings and are loath to fess up to the fact that it is they who let “nigger” out of the black closet.
There are black rappers and other entertainers who make millions of dollars exploiting a word associated with poor people in the ghetto.
There are younger black people who have embraced it as a hip term of endearment.
There are whites who are not racists but who want to sound cool and feel protected by black people’s use of the term.
In the face of this army of the n-word, do those who wish it would go the way of the ethnic slurs of yesteryear really have a chance?
[This piece omits a prime reason blacks continue to use this epithet: as an expression of power. When they spit it out in front of whites, what they’re essentially saying is, “Ha, ha — you can’t say that any longer but we can!” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Three Men Charged With Sexual Assault of 14-Year-Old Calgary Girl
CALGARY — Police have charged three men with the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl last year.
Investigators say the assaults occurred while the victim was spending time with the suspects at a southwest home on May 14th, 2014.
It’s alleged the 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by each of the men at separate times.
The allegations were brought forward to police in August of 2014, at which point officers launched an investigation to determine who the offenders were.
Police have charged 22-year-old Abas Ahmed Ibrahim (also known as Maxboy or Moe), 21-year-old Omar Kromah (also known as Nef) and 24-year-old Zakariya Mohamed Abdow (also known as Slickthug or Slimthug) with sexual assault, sexual interference with a child under 16 and invitation to sexual touching.
Investigators are asking anyone who has information about this case to call police…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Big Bang Theory Could be Debunked by Large Hadron Collider
The detection of miniature black holes by the Large Hadron Collider could prove the existence of parallel universes and show that the Big Bang did not happen, scientists believe.
The particle accelerator, which will be restarted this week, has already found the Higgs boson — the God Particle — which is thought to give mass to other particles.
Now scientists at Cern in Switzerland believe they might find miniature black holes which would reveal the existence of a parallel universe.
And if the holes are found at a certain energy, it could prove the controversial theory of ‘rainbow gravity’ which suggests that the universe stretches back into time infinitely with no singular point where it started, and no Big Bang.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Robert Spencer
The phenomenon of Muslim rape gangs in Britain, and the unwillingness of law enforcement officials had of prosecuting them for fear of being tarred with charges of “racism,” is hardly summed up by the word “scandal” anymore. This isn’t just a scandal, it’s a surrender — a cultural and societal collapse unprecedented in human history.
The BBC reported last week that “South Yorkshire Police knew hundreds of young girls were making claims of sexual abuse in Sheffield but did not act, an ex-police officer has alleged.” The tally of these abused girls is beyond belief: last month, the Mirror reported that “there could be up to a million victims of child sexual exploitation in the UK, it is feared.”
What kind of society allows a million — a million! — of its young girls to be pressed into service as sex slaves and prostitutes by predatory gangs? What kind of society declines to hunt down, prosecute, imprison, deport more than a small number of these gang members, because its guardians of law and justice know that the Leftist establishment would accuse them of racism, bigotry and Islamophobia, and bring them to certain professional ruin, if they dared try to bring these men to justice?
What kind of society allows this? A desperately ill society. A dying society.
[Drool, Britannia! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
British Islamic State Jihadi ‘Calls for Muslims to Kill Theresa May’
By Robert Spencer
Oh, the ingratitude. It’s enough to make one weep. All the groveling, all the appeasement, all the accommodation of Islamic supremacists, all the denial of the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, and this is the thanks Theresa May gets.
“British Islamic State fighter ‘calls for Muslims to kill Theresa May,’“ the Telegraph, March 23, 2015 (thanks to Robert):
A British Islamic State fighter has called on Muslims in the UK to “hunt down” and “kill” Theresa May in a Lee Rigby-style terrorist attack.
The militant, who is thought to have fled to Syria while on bail, said the Home Secretary must be run over, tied to the back of a car and dragged through the streets of London.
The chilling threats have been posted on Twitter by Abu Abdullah Britani — believed to be Abu Rahin Aziz, a former credit control operator from Luton.
The 32-year-old, who has links to hate preacher Anjem Choudary, had been handed a 36-week jail sentence for stabbing a football fan in London.
Messages on the Britani account also call for other politicians to be targeted, adding that they will be easy to find because they will be out campaigning for the General Election.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ChemChina to Buy Italy’s Pirelli
Chinese companies are back on the acquisition trail lured by a cheaper euro and an improving economic outlook in Europe. Italian manufacturing legend Pirelli is set to pass into Chinese hands.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Danish Psychologist: ‘Integration of Muslims in Western Societies is Not Possible’
In February 2009, Nicolai Sennels, a Danish psychologist published a book entitled Among Criminal Muslims: A Psychologist’s Experience from Copenhagen. In his book, Nicolai Sennels shares a psychological perspective of this Muslim Culture, its relationship to anger, handling emotions and its religion. He based his research on hundreds of hours of therapy with 150 young Muslims in the Copenhagen youth jail. EuropeNews interviewed the author about his book and its consequences on integration of Muslims in Europe.
[Comment: From 2010, but still interesting. Link to a relevant GoV story at end of article.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Three Jailed Over Mall Shooting in Copenhagen
A total of nine people are now in police custody over Wednesday’s shooting in Fields which may have been connected to another shooting incident earlier in the month.
Copenhagen Police said on Sunday that three people involved in last week’s shooting at the shopping centre Fields will be be held in custody for an additional 25 days.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Dirty Paris Air Prompts Free Public Transport
French authorities put in place emergency measures in Paris on Monday as the capital and much of northern France suffers from a choking smog. Public transport was made free and half of all vehicles were banned from the roads.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Six Charged for Holding Woman as Sex Slave
Six people were charged on Sunday for the brutal rape and torture of a young woman allegedly held as a sex slave in northern France for more than a month.
The 20-year-old victim, who has mental health difficulties, was allegedly held prisoner in the city of Verdun in northern France.
“In the beginning, they were single blows. After, stronger and stronger, worse and worse abuse,” said the source, describing “unbelievable atrocities”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Daily Islamic Terror Alerts, “They Have Lost All Inhibitions About Violence”
Paris (AFP) — The threat of a jihadist attack in France has reached a level “without precedent” and new attacks are inevitable, according to top counter-terrorism officials. “The threat is permanent,” said one high-level official in the defence ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The number of targets has exploded. There are two or three thousand, maybe four thousand, people identified or suspected of evil intentions.” Nor are they all amateurs, the source added — many are highly educated. “They are pros, not drop-outs,” he said.
The biggest concerns relate to the estimated 200 individuals who have returned from training or fighting in areas held by the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. “They have lost all inhibitions about violence,” said another top counter-terrorism official, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Votes. Sarzoky Wins, No Le Pen Cyclone
The latest results — still partial — released in France by the interior ministry for local elections saw the centre-right UMP-UDI come first with 29.51% of the vote, followed by FN with 24.9% and the Socialist party with 21%. Final results are expected later in the day.
Vote counting is proceeding slowly — the first-past-the-post system creates a situation where vote counting doesn’t match victories in departments and the unprecedented system of voting a woman-man duo makes obtaining the final result even more complicated.
Meanwhile Marine Le Pen’s Front National did not get a whopping result but was a leading antagonist for the Socialists in government and the right of Nicolas Sarkozy, the protagonist of a comeback in local elections.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Foreign Minister to Visit Abu Dhabi and Beijing
After his visit to Berlin on Sunday, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is due to meet United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Kotzias will then fly to Beijing, where he is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
In Berlin, Kotzias met German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier for their second head-to-head talks since the change of government in Athens.
Members of the delegation described the meeting as “pleasant and fruitful.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hitler Flower Painting to be Auctioned for $30,000
The still-life watercolour was painted when Adolf Hitler was in his mid-twenties, and sold by his Jewish art dealer Samuel Morgenstern, who was later sent to the Lodz Ghetto.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tarantini Spent 22,000 on Berlusconi Escort Expenses
Money covered flights, hotels for 14 parties
(ANSA) Bari, March 23 — Businessman Gianpaolo Tarantini spent as much as 22,000 euros flying young women to attend former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s parties, a court heard Monday.
The money covered only the expenses of flights and hotels for the women, many of whom were sex workers, to attend the revelry organised for the elderly media magnate and his guests, Roberto Soligo, a finance guard (tax police) officer, told the trial of Tarantini on charges of pimping under way at the Bari Tribunal.
The figures referred to 14 parties held between August 2008 and May 2009 but don’t include fees to the girls paid as ‘tokens of presence’ or payments for sex.
Also not included were expenses chalked up by Tarantini himself for accommodation and meals in Rome, Milan and Sardinia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kuveyt Türk Set to Become Germany’s First Islamic Bank
Kuveyt Türk, a Turkey based Islamic bank, is set to become the first such financial institution to get a license to operate in Germany, according to a report in the Handelsblatt daily released before publication.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
National Front Comes Second in French Local Elections
France’s centre-right UMP won the first round of local elections Sunday (22 March), the far-right National Front came second and the governing Socialists third.
The elections, held in more than 2,000 local districts on all French territory except Paris and Lyon, were to elect the 101 departments’ assembly.
They were considered as national test half-way through President Francois Hollande’s term.
Marine Le Pen’s National Front came second with 25 percent of the votes. The party did less well than expected having been ahead in most opinion polls, with as much as 33 percent of voting intentions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nazi Extortion: Study Sheds New Light on Forced Greek Loans
Is Germany liable to Athens for loans the Nazis forced the Greek central bank to provide during World War II? A new study in Greece could increase the pressure on Berlin to pay up.
The commission calculated the outstanding German “debt” to the Greek central bank and came to a total sum of $12.8 billion as of December 2014, which would amount to about €11 billion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Islamic Kuveyt Turk Bank to be Granted German License
According to a report in a business daily, Germany is about to get its first fully operational Islamic bank. The report says Germany’s financial regulator will grant an operating license to the Turkey-based bank.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Seventy Years on, A First-Hand Account of “The Greatest Tragedy Denmark Has Ever Known”
This morning, 70 years ago, Copenhageners were waking up to the aftermath of Shellhusbombardementet, a RAF raid that claimed 125 lives.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Could there be a connection between the recent gang-related shooting in Gothenburg, Sweden, and the bomb arrest in Bosnia?
Back on March 13th Bosnian police arrested five men suspected of building a bomb for transport to an Scandinavian country to be used in a terrorist attack.
The first three suspects were arrested when they attempted to cross the Bosnian border with the bomb in the trunk of their car, and the later two were arrested at the same time in Sarajevo. Although four of the five are Bosnians, the other suspect is a Swedish citizen. Bosnian police and prosecutors claim that the bomb was intended for a terrorist attack, but Swedish police dismiss such claims, stating that the undertaking was solely related to criminal activity in southern Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Prison Error After Cops Mistake Soap for Dope
A French businessman has been awarded €8,400 in compensation for serving jail time after Spanish police mistook the soap he was transporting for cocaine.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: “The Next Step is to Obtain a Genetic Profile of the Bones”
Francisco Etxeberria is the head of the team searching for the remains of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of Don Quixote, in the former Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians in Madrid’s historic Las Letras area.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Triples Maximum Limit at Asylum Centres
Fifteen thousand more asylum places are expected to be needed in Sweden this year. To cope with an increasing flow of refugees, the Swedish Migration Board has more than tripled the maximum number of residents allowed at asylum centres from 200 to 650, Swedish Radio reported on Monday.
“Necessity knows no law,” Mikael Ribbenvik, operative head at the Migration Board told Swedish Radio.
“We don’t get enough places and we will not leave anyone stranded on the street. When we have looked for housing in the last three years we have looked for small centres, because we don’t believe in larger ones. Collective housing is worse than your own home and the bigger it is the worse it gets,” he said.
Sweden became the first European country in 2013 to grant automatic residency to Syrian refugees and has since seen asylum requests rise to record levels, which are still expected to reach about 90,000 in 2015.
Sweden receives the highest number of refugees per capita in the EU and is second only to Germany as a destination for Syrians fleeing the Middle Eastern country’s civil war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: King Meets Wallström as Saudi Row Bubbles
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf has held talks with Foreign Minister Margot Wallström at the Royal Palace, with the pair believed to have discussed their country’s diplomatic spat with Saudi Arabia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Security Clearances for Non-Citizens?
Currently people without Swedish citizenship are not allowed to hold jobs that require a security clearance, where they might come into contact with secret information involving national security. But that could change.
The issue has been studied for the government by Sten Heckscher, former National Police Commissoner, government minister, and president of the Supreme Administrative Court. He wants to take away the current ban against security clearances for non-citizens. This obstacle can include higher level jobs within local government, working at airports, and civilian employees within the military.
“You can lose a lot of important competence,” he says. “There are security sensitive positions, for example with energy companies, and why should foreign citizens be barred from such jobs? I think on the whole, there are many good reasons to remove this blunt instrument,” Sten Heckscher says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Dictionary to Give ‘Non-Racist’ Tips
For the first time, Swedish dictionaries are set to recommend alternative words alongside expressions deemed racist or otherwise offensive.
Neger (negro), zigenare (gypsy) and lapp (a derogatory term for an indigenous Sami person from Lappland) are among the offensive words that will be followed by the phrase “använd istället” (use instead) in the next edition of Sweden’s official dictionary produced by Svenska Akademien (The Swedish Academy), due for release next month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘The Fourth Reich’: What Some Europeans See When They Look at Germany
Following World War II, a German return to dominance in Europe seemed an impossibility. But the euro crisis has transformed the country into a reluctant hegemon and comparisons with the Nazis have become rampant. Are they fair?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The impact of ISIS extremism in Syria is now being felt across the UK, maps charting the soaring number of terror arrests and convictions reveal.
The almost weekly raids now being carried out by anti-terror police are taking place throughout Britain; from the eastern port of Dover to the western town of Hayle in Cornwall, and from Portsmouth on the south coast to Manchester and Bolton in the North.
Whether it is stopping would-be jihadis from travelling to the Middle East, foiling planned plots when they return or disrupting their funding networks, the conflict in Syria has spawned a huge range of crimes for British authorities to deal with.
A map charting the location of arrests made in response to the threat from Syria-linked extremism shows it is not an issue confined to big cities.
As well as raids in London, Birmingham and Manchester, suspects have been detained in towns around the Home Counties, Wales and the Midlands.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Terror Group Behind Most of the UK’s Terror Plots
Research shows that out of 51 attacks and plots carried out or foiled in Britain, al-Muhajiroun had influence in at least 23, including the 7/7 London bombings, which killed 52 people .
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Theresa May Tells Islamist Extremists: ‘The Game is Up’
By Steven Swinford
Theresa May will today tell radical Islamists that the “game is up” and that they were no longer tolerated in Britain as she sets out Tory plans for a crackdown on extremism.
The Home Secretary is expected to say that a future Conservative government target Sharia law, change the rules on granting citizenship to ensure people embrace British values and introduce “banning orders” for extremist groups.
Radicals will also be barred from working unsupervised with children amid fears that young people are being brainwashed, while staff at job centres will be required to identify vulnerable claimants who may become targets for radicalisation.
In a speech in London she will invite all moderate Muslims to join her in exposing the “hatred, bigotry and ignorance” of extremists who seek to undermine the values of democracy, equality and free speech.
[…]
She will appeal to “every single person in Britain” to join her in a new “partnership” to celebrate British values and defeat ignorance.
She will say: “But to those people who do not want to join this new partnership, to those who choose consciously to reject our values and the basic principles of our society, the message is equally clear. The game is up.
“We will no longer tolerate your behaviour. We will expose your hateful beliefs for what they are. Where you seek to spread hate, we will disrupt you. Where you break the law, we will prosecute you.Where you seek to divide us, we will stand united. And together, we will defeat you.”
[This, from the woman who banned Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller from setting foot in the Britain formerly known as “Great” because they were going to support the English Defense League. If you read her authoritarian words carefully it is clear they will be applied to counterjihadists as well as jihadists — doubtless more so, after the nanny state election’s over. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
UK Prime Minister Mocks ‘The French Dream’
The UK Prime Minister David Cameron has taken an unprovoked swipe at France and its struggling economy as he tried to score points over his left-wing rival for the UK parliamentary elections in May.
Writing in the Sunday Times newspaper the UK Prime Minister mocked both the opposition Labour party and its leader Ed Miliband as well as France’s Socialist government.
The title of the column: “Labour will make us as bad as France”, leaves no doubt as to how Cameron views the state of the French economy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: As Farage Has Just Been Reminded, There’s No Fascist Like a Liberal Fascist
by James Delingpole
Suppose Labour leader Ed Miliband had been out yesterday for a quiet bacon sandwich with his wife and kids only to be harassed and terrorised by a bunch of protestors from the Daily Mail. Can you imagine the coverage it would get on the BBC and in the Guardian?
And what about if Green party leader Natalie Bennett had a few friends round for a vegan barbecue, only to be driven from their supplies of tofu and mung beans and cucumber dip by a crowd of Spectator journalists dressed in pin stripe suits and bowler hats?
There’s a reason you can’t imagine these scenarios, except in jest. It’s because the right-leaning media just doesn’t promote or engage in political activism in the way that the left-leaning media does, especially not the kind of direct action stunt we saw yesterday being carried out against Nigel Farage by a mob led by an activist (and occasional Guardian columnist) called Dan Glass.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Conservatives Prepare to Sack Afzal Amin Caught Plotting With EDL
Afzal Amin will face a special Tory candidates panel tomorrow which is expected to oust him from the key marginal seat of Dudley North after being filmed in talks with the English Defence League.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron ‘Won’t Serve Third Term’ If Re-Elected
David Cameron has told the BBC he will not serve a third term as prime minister if the Conservatives remain in government after the general election.
The PM said if re-elected he would serve the full five years of another Parliament and then leave Number 10.
Mr Cameron tipped Home Secretary Theresa May, Chancellor George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson as potential successors.
Labour accused him of arrogance while the Lib Dems called him presumptuous.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Synagogue Attacked by Drunken Mob Shouting ‘Kill the Jews’
The dramatic brawl broke out after the group forced their way into the Ahavas Torah synagogue in Stamford Hill, north London, where young people were marking the end of the sabbath.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mother Jailed After She Let Her Children Play Truant
Claudia Ward, 42, of Falmouth, Cornwall, had argued that her children would gain more from a ‘free-thinking’ day on the beach or a woodland walk than sat ‘bored in a hot and stuffy classroom’.
[Comment: Jailed! So, parent jailed for triviality while career criminals are let off…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Abuse of Nigel Farage is Disgraceful — And Just Not British
Disagree with the Ukip leader? Fine. But don’t frighten his family, or wish him dead
A man, a woman and two children walk into a bar. Dozens of people surround them, shouting. When they leave the pub, the people surround their car and keep shouting. Not much of a punchline, but then this isn’t a joke. It’s what happened to an elected politician yesterday.
The fact that the politician is Nigel Farage is irrelevant. What happened yesterday in Downe, Kent, should not happen. This is not how a decent society conducts itself.
Yes, I know Mr Farage and his party hold some views that some (many?) people find repellent. I make no secret of my strong disagreement with Ukip on several of its central arguments, especially immigration. But believing someone is wrong is no excuse for abusing them, verbally, physically or otherwise. And doing so in the presence of their family is wholly beyond the pale.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Home Secretary Theresa May wants to drive out the ‘significant’ number of fanatics who have been able to infiltrate British establishments such as schools, universities, town halls and charities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Says is Cell Brought in Arms Through Spanish Enclave
Moroccan authorities said Monday a “terrorist cell” they dismantled had brought in arms through the Spanish enclave of Melilla to carry out attacks for the Islamic State jihadist group.
The cell was made up of 13 members aged between 19 and 37, most of them without primary school education, said Abdelhak Khiame, head of Morocco’s newly-formed judicial investigations agency.
He told reporters that 440 rounds of ammunition, six pistols, 31 handcuffs and electronic gear were seized at a cache near Agadir in southern Morocco.
The weapons had transited through Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves in the north of Morocco, Khiame said.
Moroccan authorities had been watching the suspects for over five months, he said, but it was not yet clear if they were linked to cells in Europe.
Spain says it has dismantled several networks, particularly in Melilla and its other North African enclave, Ceuta, recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian PM Fires Police Chiefs Over Bardo Museum Attack
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid has sacked the Tunis police chief and several others in the wake of a deadly museum attack last week that left 20 foreign tourists dead, his office announced Monday.
Essid fired six police chiefs in total, including those in charge of tourist security and an intelligence brigade, in the wake of the attack on the capital’s Bardo museum.
It was the worst attack in more than a decade in Tunisia, testing the North African country’s nascent democracy four years after the revolt that overthrew autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
Two gunmen were shot dead at the scene and authorities have so far arrested more than 20 people, 10 of whom officials believe were directly involved in the attack. Some had recently returned from fighting for Islamist militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By David Remnick
For twenty years, many people in Israel and in the West have expressed the hope that Benjamin Netanyahu would prove to be the Richard Nixon of the State of Israel. Not the paranoid Nixon of the Watergate scandals or the embittered Nixon raving drunkenly at the White House portraits at four in the morning but the Nixon who yearned to enter the pantheon of statesmen, and who defied his Red-baiting past and initiated diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Wasn’t it possible that Netanyahu, whose political biography was steeped in the intransigent nationalism of the Revisionist movement, was just the right politician to make a lasting peace with the Palestinians?
[…]
In last week’s Israeli elections, Netanyahu did play the role of Nixon—except that he did not go to China. Nor did he go to Ramallah. He went racist.
[…]
Last week, Netanyahu, sensing an electoral threat from a center-left coalition led by Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, unleashed a campaign finale steeped in nativist fear and hatred of the Other. This time, there was not a trace of subtlety. “Right-wing rule is in danger,” he warned his supporters. “Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls.” On Israeli TV, he said, “If we don’t close the gap in the next few days, Herzog and Livni, supported by Arabs and leftist N.G.O.s, will form the next government.” (Twenty per cent of the Israeli citizenry is Arab.)
[Remnick, editor of the oh-so-sophisticated New Yorker, makes no mention of the “nativist fear and hatred of the Other” that comes at Israeli Jews in wave after toxic wave from the mosques of Palestinian Muslim clerics and the Palestinian Muslim mass media. His scolding of Netanyahu is thus quite invalid. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Netanyahu Secures Lawmaker Majority to Form Next Israeli Government
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a clear majority of support from lawmakers in the Knesset. President Reuven Rivlin is expected to now ask Netanyahu to form the next coalition government in Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Journalist Chronicles Brutal Life of Muslim Sister Wives
by Phyllis Chesler
Polygamy is widely practiced in Gaza—and the women (or “sister wives”) are not happy about it.
So says Asmaa Al-Ghoul, who has just exposed this practice in an article for Al Monitor. Al-Ghoul is a heroic feminist Palestinian journalist who, in 2009, was fired for her work in which she exposed honor killings on the West Bank and in Gaza; she was harassed, threatened, and nearly arrested by Hamas for this work. I interviewed her at the time by phone and published a series of articles about her.
Now, she reports that polygamy is practiced by both rich and poor in Gaza. Anecdotally, she describes “hostility” and “hatred” between a pair of “sister-wives” who visited a beauty parlor together. She also quotes a financially independent and professionally successful woman who chose to become a second wife but who now says:…
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Families Vow to Bring Home British Medical Students Who Went to Treat Jihadis in Syria
The group of five men and four women, who were all born in the UK and are in their late teens and early 20s, fled medical school in Sudan and travelled to Istanbul before crossing the border into Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Houthi Rebels Seize Airport; U.N. Envoy Warns Yemen at ‘Edge of Civil War’
Sanaa, Yemen (CNN) Rebels seized an international airport in Yemen Sunday as a U.N. envoy warned that the country was at “the edge of civil war.”
Houthi militants took over the airport in Taiz as they swept through the city and surrounding province, two officials with the Taiz provincial government said.
The rebels — Shiite Muslims who have long felt marginalized in the majority Sunni country — surrounded the presidential palace in January. Yemen’s President and his Cabinet resigned days later.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS Seeks to Offset ‘Caliphate’ Defeats With New Attacks
By launching attacks in Yemen and Tunisia, the Islamic State group aims to demonstrate its ability to expand in order to divert attention from setbacks in Syria and Iraq, experts say.
“Expansion is their strategy,” and the first IS attacks in Yemen and Tunisia allow it to appear omnipresent, said J.M. Berger, analyst and co-author of “ISIS: the State of Terror”.
“Creating the perception of strength is a key part of IS’s recruiting and propaganda goals,” Berger told AFP.
After announcing its self-styled “caliphate” in 2014, “IS has made formal ventures into Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia, and now Yemen as part of its effort to broaden its reach around the region,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Members in Syria Send Messages of Encouragement to Fellow Fighters in Libya
On March 20, 2015, the information bureau of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria’s Al-Raqqa province released a seven-minute video titled “Messages for the Caliphate’s Soldiers in Libya”. In it, four ISIS members of North African origin who are fighting in Syria convey a message of support to their brethren in Libya. In particular, they encourage them in their war against local forces that are fighting against them, including the forces of General Khalifa Haftar and the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Fajr Libya militia, which is supported by Turkey. Referring to these forces as “Sahwat” — the name of the anti-ISIS tribal militias in Iraq — the speakers point out that the mujahideen in Iraq and Syria contended successfully with the Sahawat there, and that their brethren in Libya are expected to be just as successful against their own enemies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Will Train Syrians to Fight IS
Jordan said on Monday it will train Syrian fighters to face the Islamic State (IS) in Syria as part of an international plan to curb influence of the extremist group, according to senior officials.
Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said during press conference in Amman tghat training will include members of local tribes and other Syrian nationals.
“The training will be held in accordance with the international coalition to train Syrians to fight terrorist groups, including ISIS,” said the minister noting that time and place of training will be announced later.
“This is part of an all rounded effort to fight ISIS and other groups in Syria,” he added.
Meanwhile Momani refused to be draw into political spat with Syria and insisted that his country did not change its stance over the Syrian regime.
Damascus has accused Amman of training and arming rebels seeking to oust president Bashar al Assad and called on the pro-west kingdom to shut its borders in front of jehadis seeking to join rebel groups inside Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait Riot Police Break Up Opposition Protest
Kuwaiti riot police dispersed hundreds of opposition protesters who rallied Monday to demand the release of political prisoners and press for democratic reforms in the oil-rich Gulf state.
More than 500 activists gathered outside parliament in the capital Kuwait City for the third week in a row after authorities jailed opposition leader and former lawmaker Mussallam al-Barrak for allegedly insulting the emir.
The Kuwaiti opposition has stepped up its demands for the dissolution of the parliament and government and the scrapping of a controversial electoral law.
Since tens of thousands took to the streets in 2012, Kuwaiti authorities have cracked down on the opposition. Dozens have been tried and handed heavy jail terms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
No U.S. Intelligence in Yemen or Syria, Homeland Security Chairman Warns
The U.S. lacks intelligence in the terrorist hotspots of Yemen and Syria, limiting the military’s ability to respond to the Islamic State, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee warned Sunday.
“The problem is that we’re not going to have any intelligence in Yemen,” said Michael McCaul, a Republican who represents Texas. “Yemen is one of the most dangerous spots in the world.”
The U.S. removed the last of its military presence in Yemen Saturday following the deterioration of stability in the region amid fighting between groups linked with the Islamic State, Iran, and al Qaeda. The Islamic State took responsibility for suicide bombings in the capital Friday that killed and wounded hundreds at prayer in mosques.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Arming ISIS by Stealth — Video
U.S. is arming ISIS to destabilize the Middle East and to justify a trillion-dollar police state, complete with military gear and surveillance on every street corner.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Out of Yemen, U.S. Is Hobbled in Terror Fight
The evacuation of 125 United States Special Operations advisers from Yemen in the past two days is the latest blow to the Obama administration’s counterterrorism campaign, which is already struggling with significant setbacks in Syria, Libya and elsewhere in the volatile region, American officials said Sunday.
The loss of Yemen as a base for American counterterrorism training, advising and intelligence-gathering carries major implications not just there, but throughout a region that officials say poses the most grievous threat to United States global interests and to the country itself.
With the Islamic State and its supporters producing as many as 90,000 Twitter posts and other social media responses every day, American officials also acknowledge the difficulty of blunting the group’s digital momentum in the same way a United States-led air campaign has slowed its advances on the battlefield in Iraq and, to a lesser extent, in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Nearly 300,000 Illegals Deported in 5 Months
Recent statistics released by the Ministry of Interior have revealed that nearly 300,000 violators of the Kingdom’s labor and residency regulations have been deported during the past five months. “An average of 2,000 illegal expats are sent out of the Kingdom every day,” the ministry said as Saudi authorities continued their campaign throughout the country to flush out violators. The information showed that Border Guard patrols arrested 900,000 infiltrators who tried to enter the Kingdom illegally, with 84 percent of them coming through the southern borders.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Boost Efforts to Tackle Challenges to Muslims
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman has urged the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to continue its efforts to strengthen Islamic unity and set out strategies to confront challenges facing the Muslim world.
Meanwhile, the OIC’s Islamophobia Observatory released its February report on Sunday. It documented an increase in anti-Islam activities in the US during the month. “This is evident from the intense media campaign and the significant number of incidents targeting Muslims, mosques and Islamic centers,” said the report. The observatory pointed out that media outlets and political players were very active during February in creating a climate of fear, hatred and suspicion against Muslims.
Pamela Geller, an American version of the Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders, has been at the forefront of whipping up anti-Muslim frenzy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Foreign Minister Says Intervention Possible in Yemen
Houthi rebels advance, Yemeni foreign minister calls for help
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 23 — Saudi Arabia and its Arabic allies are still hoping for a negotiated solution in Yemen, but “will take the necessary measures should the need arise” to defend the country’s sovereignty, said Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on a broadcast Monday.
Faisal told pan-Arabic TV Al Jazeera that intervention was an option in the predominantly Sunni country, where Shiite Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran, are seeking to take over the nation. The Saudi minister also condemned what he defined as “Iranian interference” in the region. Faisal’s statements followed Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen’s call for military intervention by neighbouring Arabic countries and for a declaration of a no-fly zone by the United Nations to prevent the Houthi from using airports they have conquered on their advance towards the south.
The Houthi have swept from the northern regions where they come from. They took control of the capital Sanaa last September, and in January dissolved the parliament as well as held Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi under house arrest.
The president, who is still recognized by the international community, managed to flee and take refuge last month in Aden, the former capital of southern Yemen where he enjoys popular support. The Houthi have continued their descent toward the south of the country, taking over in recent days a number of parts of the airport of Taiz, the third largest city in the country, with the intention of continuing toward Aden.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Opposition Attacked Civilians ‘Indiscriminately’: HRW
Syrian armed opposition groups, among them jihadists but also Western-backed rebels, have indiscriminately targeted civilians in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
In a new report, the New York-based group said it had documented dozens of opposition attacks against civilians in government-held parts of Syria.
The group’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director Nadim Houry said there had been a “race to the bottom in Syria, with rebel groups mimicking the ruthlessness of government forces.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Enemy of My Enemy Really is My Enemy
by Diana West
Watch the video or read the transcript (below) — both courtesy MEMRI — and tell me who is our friend here: the suspected-ISIS Sunni bomber or the Shiite Houthi victims?
Can’t find a friend? That’s because Benyamin Netanyahu is right: The enemy of my enemy really is not my friend but my enemy.
Preacher: Our belief in Allah will increase after today. We will triumph over their deceit and their arrogance. Allah is with us…
Worshippers: Death to America.
Death to Israel.
Curse upon the Jews.
Victory to Islam.
Allah Akbar.
Death to America.
Death to Israel.
Curse upon the Jews.
Victory to…
An arrow on-screen points to a man walking through the crowd, a bomb goes off and worshippers cry out
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Urges Protection of Crimean Tatars
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan during a trip to Kiev Friday offered a $50 million loan to Ukraine while urging protection of the rights of Crimean Tatars. Erdogan voiced support for the Minsk ceasefire brokered by Germany and France in February but avoided outright criticism of trade partner Russia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Top Religious Body Bans Surrogate Motherhood
Not acceptable because it “contains adultery elements”
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, MARCH 23 — Turkey’s top religious affairs body has said surrogate motherhood was religiously unacceptable, as it contained elements of adultery as Dogan News Agency reported. The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) announced on March 20 in vitro fertilization between unmarried individuals was not religiously acceptable, as it offended humane feelings and contained elements of adultery. In an answer to a question on whether or not in vitro fertilization was licit to have babies, Diyanet’s Religious High Council’s platform, established to answer questions regarding Islam and the Islamic way of living, said as long as the sperm and the ovum to be fertilized belong to a married couple and the fertilized ovum is placed inside the ovum’s beholder’s womb, and “not inside a stranger’s womb,” then the in vitro fertilization method of bearing a child was religiously acceptable. “An in vitro fertilization process that starts and finalizes between individuals who are not de facto married is religiously not acceptable as it offends humane feelings and contains elements of adultery,” read a part of the statement. The statement added as long as it was medically proven the in vitro fertilization process would not have a negative effect, spiritually or mentally, on the mother, father and to-be-born child, then it was acceptable to use this method to have a child.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UN Security Council Session on Yemen Warns of ‘Iraq-Libya-Syria’ Scenario
The UN’s special envoy for Yemen has warned of a protracted conflict similar to spiraling crises in Iraq, Libya and Syria. Further advances by Houthi rebels and Islamist terrorist attacks prompted the words of warning.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Under the Hijab, Porn is Alive and Kicking
Because it’s not that there’s no porn in the Arab world. On the contrary. Considering the severe restrictions and prohibitions that apply to the behavior of unmarried people — both written and unwritten — it’s no wonder that of the eight countries with the highest rate of surfing of Internet porn sites, six are Muslim. Pakistan is in first place, Egypt in second.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen is a Battlefield for Saudi Arabia and Iran
The latest atrocity in Yemen, which claimed nearly 150 lives on Friday, appears part of a proxy war between the Middle East’s two superpowers
Of all the wars that have ravaged the Middle East since the outbreak of the so-called Arab Spring four years ago, the bitter rivalry between the more fanatical adherents of Sunni and Shia Islam has now emerged as the region’s defining conflict.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Condemns Russian Nuclear Threat Against Denmark
Recent statements by Russian ambassador Mikhail Vanin that Danish warships could become the target of Russian nukes, should the country participate in NATO’s missile defence, have drawn a sharp reaction from NATO.
“Denmark is a staunch NATO ally and NATO will defend all allies against any threat,” NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu told BT. “We have made it clear that NATO’s missile defence is not directed against Russia or other countries, but is intended as defence against missile threats.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia ‘Pouring’ Arms Into Ukraine
Two days after EU leaders tied Russia sanctions to respect of a ceasefire accord, Nato and the US say Russia is still “pouring” arms into Ukraine.
The allegations were made by Philip Breedlove, a US general who is Nato’s military commander, and Victoria Nuland, the US State Department’s top diplomat on Ukraine, at the Brussels Forum, an annual symposium held over the weekend.
“We continue to see disturbing elements of air defence, command and control, resupply and equipment coming across a completely porous border”, Breedlove told the Brussels event.
Nuland said: “We have seen, month on month, more lethal weaponry of a higher calibre, of more sophistication, poured into Ukraine … the number one thing is for Russia to stop sending arms over the border so that we can have real politics, have a real ceasefire”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Ex-President Son Death Riddle
Reported to have drowned in Lake Baikal
(ANSA) — Rome, March 23 — The son of former Ukrainian president Viktor Ianukovich junior, Viktor junior, was reported Monday to have drowned in a minivan in the frozen waters of Lake Baikal but Russian authorities said no one of that name had been involved in such an accident.
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN said the dead man was named Viktor Davidov, the surname of Viktor junior’s wife.
Kiev has asked Moscow for official information on the son of the former president who fled to Russia after a revolt a year ago.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Why is Chechen Pres in Norway Uniform?
Norwegian military analysts alarmed at increasing Russian activity on the border now have a new question to puzzle: What is it with Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Putin Chechen strongman, and Norwegian army uniform?
Arne Hagtvedt, a retired colonel who has for years been involved in army uniform procurement, said that he did not believe Kadyrov had purchased the uniform from Norway.
“The Armed Forces uses overseas factories to manufacture the material used in Norwegian camouflage uniforms. There has obviously been some material left over. Kadyrov has probably just purchased surplus stock of the material and used it to sew his own uniform.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Woman Killed by Mob for Blasphemy Was Teacher of Islamic Studies
A woman killed by an angry mob in front of police in the Afghan capital last week for allegedly burning a copy of Islam’s holy book was wrongly accused, Afghanistan’s top criminal investigator said on Sunday.
Mobile phone footage circulating on social media shows police at the scene did not save the 27-year-old woman, Farkhunda, who was beaten with sticks and set on fire by a crowd of men in central Kabul in broad daylight on Thursday.
“Last night I went through all documents and evidence once again, but I couldn’t find any evidence to say Farkhunda burnt the Holy Quran,” General Mohammad Zahir told reporters at her funeral on Sunday. “Farkhunda was totally innocent.” The top criminal investigator promised to punish all those involved and said 13 people, including eight police officers, had already been arrested.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Cleric and Others Defend Lynching of Woman in Kabul
An Afghan cleric and a police official on Friday defended the lynching of a woman in central Kabul after a mob was filmed stamping on the woman and smashing a brick on her head after she was accused of burning a Koran, Islam’s holy book.
The woman’s body was set on fire and thrown onto the banks of Kabul’s main river on Thursday.
It was unclear whether she had actually burned a Koran, but during Friday prayers at a mosque in a smart area of Kabul, a cleric’s sermon broadcast by loudspeaker told devotees that the crowd had a right to defend their Muslim beliefs at all costs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Woman Farkhunda Lynched in Kabul ‘For Speaking Out’
An Afghan woman who was lynched after being falsely accused of burning the Koran was killed for tackling superstitious practices, witnesses say.
Farkhunda, who was beaten to death by a Kabul mob last week, had been arguing with a mullah about his practice of selling charms to women at a shrine.
In the course of the argument she was accused of burning the Koran and a crowd overheard and beat her to death.
Hundreds of Afghans protested on Monday against the attack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the BBC Covered the Death of Lee Kuan Yew
by Hugh Fitzgerald
I listened to the BBC coverage of the death of Lee Kuan Yew. It was all about how he had taken this sleepy backwater and transformed it into a rich and powerful city-state, gleaming with skyscrapers, and had done so by imposing strict rules to govern many areas of life, with punishment for spitting and contributing to general disorder. So far so obvious — it’s the standard line on Lee Kuan Yew. And one of those reporting, a certain Ben Brown, mentioned his worry about the “Communists.” Neither Ben Brown, nor an Indian lady from Singapoore who followed, mentioned the chief worry of Lee Kuan Yew, and the reason for Singapore becoming independent from Malaya (or Malaysia, as it became) in the first place: the impossibility of living under Muslim rule. It was only when Singapore, largely Chinese-populated, broke away, under Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership, that it began to develop.
All his political life, Lee Kuan Yew was aware of the need to keep the Muslim population in check. The laws he had passed, the regulations he enforced, were directed in large part to that end. He knew about Muslim efforts to convert others, and he made sure that any convert had to immediately register with the government, so such efforts could be monitored, and then countered, by the government. A study of all the ways that Lee Kuan Yew dealt with Muslims, and took careful note of, and combatted, their natural aggressiveness and steady machinations, would be instructive for Western leaders, who have the same problem.
Of course I doubt this will be on the BBC tomorrow, or in the obituaries that will appear.
But that’s okay. Let’s jog our memories about Lee Kuan Yew, that realist, and the Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jihadis Cleansing Pakistan of Christians
By Raymond Ibrahim
On Sunday, March 15, as Christian churches around the world were celebrating morning mass, two churches in Pakistan were attacked by Islamic suicide bombers. At least 17 people were killed and over 70 were wounded.
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/cia-says-muslims-join-isis-because-of-economics/
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Singapore’s long-serving Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew represents the quintessence of an Asian success story, admired even in China. But his weaknesses cannot be overlooked either, writes DW’s Rodion Ebbighausen.
A further problem with the ‘good despot’ is that authoritarian systems are dependent to a great degree on the persons who steer them. Where would Singapore be today without Lee Kuan Yew? Or China, without Deng Xiaoping? It’s not certain institutions or the political structure which have brought success to Singapore or China, but individuals such as Lee or Deng. Which also means that such success cannot be copied without such personalities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Miscreants Set Ablaze 5 Tankers in Balochistan, Abduct Four Drivers
Armed men set on fire five oil tankers in Balochistan’s Mastung district on Monday and also kidnapped four drivers before fleeing from the scene.
Levies sources told DawnNews that armed men opened indiscriminate fire on five oil tankers in Kirdi Gap area of Mastung.
The sources added that the tankers were carrying fuel from Karachi for the Saindak Project situated in Balochistan’s Chaghi district when they were targeted in Kirdi Gap.
Oil tankers have regularly been targeted with arson attacks blamed on insurgents attempting to disrupt two key supply lines that cross western Pakistan
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Wants Short-Range Nuclear Weapons to Deter India
Pakistan needs short-range “tactical” nuclear weapons to deter arch-rival India, a top adviser to its government said Monday, dismissing concerns it could increase the risk of a nuclear war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Theodore Dalrymple: The Man Who Made Singapore
Lee Kwan Yew willed a well-ordered and disciplined society into existence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Big Lives, Small Feet: Photographing China’s Bound Women
Decades after foot-binding was outlawed in China, a British photographer has met some of the last women subjected to the practice.
It was with a sense of pride that Su Xi Rong revealed her feet to British photographer Jo Farrell.
Her feet, bound from the age of seven, were so small that she had been renowned for their beauty.
The 75-year-old is among the last remaining women in China to bear the effects of foot-binding, a practice first banned in 1912.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea to Establish Muslim-Friendly Eateries
An official from the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said on Monday that the ministry will publish an Arabic version of its official governmental guidebook on halal restaurants this year, in an effort to attract more Muslim tourists.
An official from the ministry was quoted by the South Korean Yonhap news agency as saying, “Our current goal is to complete and publish the Arabic edition of the guidebook by May for distribution to travel agencies and offices within the Korea Tourism Organization.”
There will be other categories of eateries, according to Yonhap, that includes Self-Certified, Muslim-Friendly, Muslim-Welcome and Pork-Free. There are currently only five halal-certified restaurants in South Korea that have been confirmed by the Korean Muslim Federation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vietnamese in Prague Protest Chinese ‘Occupation’
Islands in South China Sea are at the root of demonstration in Czech capital
Prague, March 22 (CTK) — In the center of Prague today, the Organization of Vietnamese Patriots in the Czech Republic staged a protest against the alleged Chinese occupation, and the organizers handed a petition to the Chinese Embassy.
Some 100 people participated in the event, called Signing against Aggression.
The organizers say China occupies a part of Vietnamese territory, namely the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The two archipelagos are also claimed by Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines.
They said it is building projects there that could be converted into Chinese military bases, and it breaches Vietnam’s sovereignty and seriously threatens peace in South-East Asia, the organizers said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Children for Sale Heartbreakingly Easy to Find in Ravaged Nigeria
By Nima Elbagir
(CNN) “It really depends what you want. Boy? Girl? Young? Old?”
The man on the phone was offering us young children with the casualness of a market trader. After a week of back and forth phone calls, his initial caginess had given way to greed. He’d heard my foreign accent and clearly decided I would pay more than the domestic rate.
“We can get,” he said.
We’d been put in touch with the man through a contact on the ground. We were told he was one of the men running this “unofficial” displaced camp — one of the many that has mushroomed in the town of Yola as the influx of people fleeing Boko Haram has grown beyond the capacity of the official camps.
It had all been heartbreakingly simple. We’d asked who had children available to “foster” — a catch-all code word designed to conceal the true intent of those offering up the orphaned children. The man on the phone was the end result of those inquiries.
When our colleague want to see them, he was shown a group of children and asked which one he wanted to take. One, two maybe? He escaped by saying he needed to check with his “madam” — me.
[…]
In spite of the harsh measures the Nigerian government has put in place to punish human traffickers, by the government’s own admission, 8 million children are currently engaged in forced labor.
The Global Slavery Index says Nigeria has the highest number of people in modern slavery of any sub-Saharan country. Paradoxically, the group also rates Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency, Naptip, as one of the strongest government responses on the continent — but it’s clearly overwhelmed by the realities of working in what is now a zone of military operations, Nigeria’s north.
[…]
At the camp where we finally met the man face to face, there was no attempt at subterfuge. We spoke in normal tones in full view of the children playing. I could have had one of them, I was told, but because I’d specified a younger child, they’d only identified one so far — a 3-year-old. Did I want to consider an older girl? A 12-year-old maybe? She could look after the 3-year-old, and cook and clean. Either way, two girls would be ready tomorrow, he said. I could see them then.
Our last phone conversation revolved around what an appropriate “donation” would be in exchange for the children. He couldn’t, he said, bargain for it. He then proceeded to do just that, laughing down the phone at my first tentative guess of $200. Laughing again at $300.
We finally found a figure he didn’t find funny — $500. I put the phone down and we traveled back to the capital that day to show Naptip what we’d found.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Colonial Statue Triggers Race Debate in South Africa
University of Cape Town students have called for the removal of a statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes from university grounds. The event reveals deeper discontent with South Africa’s state of affairs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Sign Deal to End Nile Dispute
Three African leaders have signed an initial deal to end a long-running dispute over the sharing of Nile waters and the building of Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam, in Ethiopia. The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed the agreement in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Terror Triumvirate: ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram Training Together in Mauritania: Analyst
By Malia Zimmerman
The world’s three most infamous terrorist organizations are working together at Al-Qaeda-run training camps in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania, where dozens of recruits from the U.S., Canada and Europe are being indoctrinated into violent jihad and training for attacks that could expand the so-called caliphate across North and West Africa, according to analysts.
ISIS, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda all have links to two camps in the remote sands of the expansive North African country, according to Veryan Khan, editorial director for the Florida-based Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium, which tracks international terrorism and had a source on the ground in Mauritania. The sparsely populated Islamic Republic weathered Arab Spring demonstrations to remain stable, but shares a border with troubled Mali and is not far from Nigeria, where Boko Haram is based.
“The situation in Mauritania is a powder keg very few people are talking about,” Khan said.
At least 80 trainees, recruits from the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe, including France, are known to be training at the camps, according to a TRAC source who visited the camp and obtained documentation. Most of Mauritania’s population of roughly 3 million is concentrated on the coast, around the capital of Nouakchott, while the rest of the country, which is the size of Texas and New Mexico, is arid desert and sparsely inhabited. The camps are far from the population centers.
“This is not a travel destination,” Khan said. “The only reason to be there from a Western country is to train for terrorism.”
Signs in English can be seen in videos and photos obtained by TRAC inside one of the main camps at the Maatamoulana Mosque, providing unmistakable evidence of westerners’ presence.
“The fear of returning foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq is high, but Mauritania-trained fighters are not even on anyone’s radar,” said Khan.
The camp’s leadership was emboldened by the recent release of five notorious terrorists, including the No. 3 man in Usama Bin Laden’s network, all of whom were imprisoned in the Nouakchott Central Prison in the Mauritanian capital, but released following a Jan. 24 prison riot in which two guards were taken hostage and threatened along with their family members with being executed.
“The situation was resolved following negotiations with the public prosecutor and Chief of the National Guards,” Khan said. “The detainees were released on Feb. 23 and are free to pursue their jihadist activities.”
Freed were Bin Laden’s chief, El Khadim Ould Seman, and four of his associates who were pedigreed members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a group whose core membership became Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Once freed, the terrorists could easily make their way from Nouakchott to the camps in the nation’s remote eastern region to join the thriving camps, which featured mosques, homes and training facilities.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
How Long Does it Take to Buy Eight Basic Goods in Venezuela?
Amid a worsening economic situation in Venezuela, thousands queue almost every day for food and other basic goods. BBC Mundo’s Daniel Pardo tests how long it takes to buy even the most basic goods in Caracas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ruins Found in Remote Argentinian Jungle ‘May be Secret Nazi Hideout’ — Video
Researchers are studying the remains of three buildings located in the Teyu Cuare park in northern Argentina near Paraguay, the Clarin newspaper reported.
University of Buenos Aires researchers found five German coins minted between 1938 and 1941 and a fragment of porcelain plate bearing the inscription Made in Germany.
“Apparently, halfway through the second world war, the Nazis had a secret project to build shelters for top leaders in the event of defeat — inaccessible sites in the middle of deserts, in the mountains, on a cliff or in the middle of the jungle like this,” the archaeologists’ team leader, Daniel Schavelzon, said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Asylum Seekers Can Crowd Into the Same Home
The Migration Agency has tripled the maximum number of people allowed to stay at asylum centres to meet the increase of newly arriving refugees fleeing conflict zones, reports Swedish Radio News.
The maximum number of people per asylum home is currently 200, and will be increased to limit of 650.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Attack on Migration Minister at Refugee Home
Sweden’s Minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson has been attacked with a fire extinguisher after visiting a housing project for refugees in southern Sweden, but is not thought to have been injured.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Prime Minister Scared Off by Immigrants in Multicultural Ghetto
2 people died and 15 were injured after men armed with Kalashnikov’s opened fire in a restaurant called Vår Krog och Bar. The incident happened in Biskopsgården, one of Gothenburg’s immigrant ghettos. Ten ambulances were sent to the scene and there was some problems at the hospital with a mob gathering outside.
Since then 3 known criminals with backgrounds in the Middle East have been arrested. During a vehicle control in Biskopsgården the police found automatic weapons in the trunk of the car. The police aren’t sure if the arrested men are in some way directly or indirectly involved in Wednesday’s shooting.
The media made the wise decision not to write that they were Swedish in bold letters this time around (unlike on Amorella) which was probably a good call considering that their names quickly surfaced on alternative-media outlets:
- Sakeriye Ali Ahmed, born 1996-09-24
- Jonis Faisal Adan, born 1995-01-13
- Adam Abdi Abdulahi, Danish citizen, born 1987-12-28
Whilst shootings aren’t uncommon in multicultural exclusion-zones this particular incident was somewhat more brutal than normal so the international press have taken notice and Swedes themselves are a tad concerned about the consequences of uncontrolled mass immigration from the Middle East and Northern Africa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Coast Guard Rescues 38 Immigrants Off Bodrum Coast
The Turkish Coast Guard in the southwestern province of Mugla rescued 38 illegal immigrants bound for Italy through the Greek island of Kalimnos on March 22, after a four-hour wait on a small reef.
The 9-meter-long boat carrying 38 Congolese citizens was caught by a storm off the cost of the southwestern Turkish city of Bodrum before crashing into the reef. The immigrants, including two children and nine women, took shelter on a small reef and reportedly waited for four hours to be rescued.
On March 17, a vessel carrying about 15 Syrian and Iraqi migrants capsized off the Bodrum coast while proceeding toward the Greek island of Kos, killing at least five people.
On the same day, 46 Syrian migrants were caught in a separate illegal immigrant operation carried out by the Coast Guard in Bodrum while again trying to get to the Greek island of Kos. But this time, the Coast Guard spotted the vessel and rescued all the migrants on board.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Barney Frank: There Are Closeted Homosexuals in Congress
“I have no demand that you become public.”
Frank is likely referring to his recent comments regarding resigning-Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) who has been accused of carrying out homosexual relationships while voting on policies some consider “anti-gay.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Congratulations Pussy Porters!
On International Women’s day Julia Caesar published a chronicle in Swedish on Snaphanen which I’ve translated but prior to reading it I’d like to provide you with some background information on certain terms which are incomprehensible to non-Swedes.
First and foremost “pussy porter” and “penis porter” are terms that third-wave feminists in Sweden have invented and are starting to use. Don’t get me wrong, at the time of writing it isn’t considered normal for Swedes to use the expression but it is nonetheless sneaking into the public discourse and has influenced some female youngsters. Metro recently published an article which revolved around some girls in high school who started a group called “the Maria Schools first group for Pussy Porters”.
Hopefully the term won’t become completely normalized like “hen” (a gender neutral personal pronoun).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Truth About the Gender Wage Gap
Indeed, when comparing never-married women with never married-men, the wage gap doesn’t just disappear, it flips. As far back as 1971, never-married women in their thirties have earned slightly more than similar men.2 In 1982, never-married women on the whole earned 91 percent of what men do.3 Today, among men and women living along from the age twenty-one to thirty-five, there is no wage gap.4 And among unmarried college-educated men and women between forty and sixty-four, men earn an average of $40,000 a year and women earn an average of $47,000 a year!5
And when all of this is taken into account, the wage gap all but disappears, as many studies have found:
A study by the CONSAD Research Corp. for the US Department of Labor found that once they controlled for the variables, there was “an adjusted gender wage gap that is between 4.8 percent and 7.1 percent.”6 A study by June and Dave O’Neill for the National Bureau of Economic Research found that “… the gender gap largely stems from choices made by women and men concerning the amount of time and energy devoted to a career.” Warren Farrell conducted a thorough study reported in his book Why Men Earn More and found no evidence of a wage gap. A 1983 study by Walter E. Williams and the aforementioned 1981 study by Walter Block discredit the idea that the wage gap is caused by discrimination. Carrie Lukas notes that “In a 2010 study of single, childless urban workers between the ages of 22 and 30, the research firm Reach Advisors found that women earned an average of 8% more than their male counterparts.” Even PolitFact rated the claim that “women are paid 77 cents on the dollar for doing the same work as men” as “Mostly False.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Planned Parenthood’s Margaret Sanger Shouldn’t be on the $20 Bill
The New York Times is trying to stoke demand for the replacement of Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, citing his cruel treatment of Indians. That has a certain logic to it, whether or not you agree. Besides, the Times says, it’s time we had a woman on some of our currency. Again, fair enough.
But it’s hard to take the paper’s objections to racism or its respect for women seriously when one of the candidates presented in the Times’ symposium is Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, a sexual libertine who fought to make birth control not just legal but mandatory — for members of racial and social groups whom she considered “inferior.”
A devotee of the then-popular pseudoscience of eugenics, Sanger used its dubious theories to stoke the fears of native-born white Americans (mostly from Northern Europe) about the “inferior” genetic stock that was flooding into America from places like Italy, Poland and Russia.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Europa’s Elusive Water Plume Paints Grim Picture for Life
A meteorite may have been responsible for a water plume briefly spotted above Europa two years ago, implying it takes a very rare event to breach the ice on the Jovian moon.
Astrobiologists worldwide received news in December 2013 that water vapor was detected in Hubble Space Telescope observations of Jupiter’s moon Europa, which is considered one of the top potential locations in our solar system for life.
However, follow-up observations of Europa have revealed no plume emanating from the moon. A new paper reveals that Europa’s atmosphere is 100 times less abundant than claims in previous publications, and composed mainly of atomic rather than molecular oxygen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Superbug Risk From Tonnes of Antibiotics Fed to Animals
The problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, already an “apocalyptic” threat, is poised to get worse. The reason? The world’s hunger for meat.
In the first estimate of its kind, researchers calculate that farmers globally feed 63,000 tonnes of antibiotics to chickens, pigs and cattle every year — and that will climb by 67 per cent, to 106,000 tonnes, by 2030.
Antibiotics fed to livestock encourage the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which have repeatedly been linked to human infections.
Most of the increase in antibiotic use is expected to be in middle-income countries, but once resistant bacteria appear, they can spread round the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden is hotter than ever.
Multicultural and diverdified
to not less than 87 %.
Any bloody arab will feel
perfectly at home up north.
Allahu Akbar, as our arch-
bishopin says. Sweden with
allah’s help is greater.
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1866/163/original.jpg?w=800&h
On the CIA director, Brennan – he is the Deceiver of Common Intuition.
On Gov Jerry Brown – he has the gall to utter what he said about Cruz going on his own (Brown) record in office!
On AI taking over the planet – perhaps Steve Wozniak should move further south than the Tasmanian hideaway he has planned?
On Theresa May – she is bloviating as usual and until Britain divorces itself from the all smothering EU that dictates who can be expelled from Britain , she will continue to blow hot air.
On see through solar – sounds promising.
Kathy Platoni on Fort Hood – She lost me when she stated that soldiers serve the government – no Kathy, soldiers serve the country that they are born into and have a love for.
On why the N word won’t go away – until Negroes themselves can stop calling each other that word then the word is here to stay and I begrudge no one, no matter what color, who take to using it.
And I should have added, that I agree fully with Papa Whiskey’s take on the N word.
Muslim Conservative candidate quits after ‘plotting fake anti-mosque protest with far-right’
A Conservative candidate in Britain’s upcoming general election has resigned after he was recorded allegedly plotting with far-right activists to announce a fake protest march against a mosque, so that he could take …South China Morning Post · 1 hour ago
Stunning, if belated, realization of O’Reilly and Krauthhammer on Fox News re: Obama’s remaking of the Middle East
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3271302/posts?page=35#35