The Islamic State has released a video showing its adherents destroying monuments in the ancient Iraqi city of Nimrud. The group used massive amounts of explosives to level the archaeological site. Meanwhile, a nine-year-old Yazidi slave girl is reportedly pregnant after being raped by at least ten kinetic activists for ISIS.
In other news, in a surprise move, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that she has decided to run for president.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Peter, 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.
IMF Says Growth Potential Won’t Return to Pre-Crisis
World outlook comes as Italy forecasts 0.7% GDP rise in 2015
(ANSA) — Rome, April 7 — The global financial crisis has so damaged potential economic growth that it won’t likely return to pre-crisis levels — at least, not in the medium term, the IMF said Tuesday. Boosting growth “must be a priority” for countries, it added in its World Economic Outlook which came as Italy discussed its budget plans and outlook for 0.7% GDP growth this year. Meanwhile, the IMF said that in advanced economies, the growth potential has fallen from slightly less than 2% in the 2006-2007 era to about 1.5% in 2013-2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian House Prices Dropped 4.2% in 2014, Says ISTAT
Builders call for property-tax trend to be reversed
(ANSA) — Rome, April 3 — House prices in Italy dropped 4.2% in 2014 with respect to 2013, Istat said on Friday. The national statistics agency added that prices were down both for existing properties (5%) and for newly built homes (2.2%). House prices were also down 5.7% in 2013 with respect to the previous year.
The Italian property market has been badly hit by the economic crisis and prices have fallen 11.5% since 2010, according to Istat. Giorgio Spaziani, the president of building federation Confedilizia, blamed rising property taxes for contributing to the market’s troubles. “It’s urgent and necessary to stop this string of bad news for the real-estate sector and for the whole economy,” said Spaziani. “The only way to do that is the give a strong signal that the trend on property taxes, which have almost trebled with respect to 2011, is being reversed”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Yes, that’s right, China’s inclusion in the SDR will HELP the process of marginalization of the dollar and aid in the ascendance of the SDR as a world reserve mechanism. And as China becomes a currency powerhouse in its role as the No. 1 economy in the world, the only way central banks around the planet can benefit or “invest” in the Yuan will be by stockpiling SDRs! Demand for SDRs will be cleverly boosted by natural demand for the Yuan. This is how a global currency structure begins.
The only true beneficiaries of this cycle will be the IMF and those elites who desperately want a totally centralized global economic system.
In the meantime, as the dollar loses its world reserve status, it loses the ONLY pillar of support keeping its value somewhat stable. As the dollar falls, U.S. citizens will be reduced to Second World or Third World economic expectations. Employment and wages will continue to dissolve, while the margins between the “haves” and “have nots” will continue to grow. In the worst-case scenario, total chaos would result followed by an international intervention to “save us” from ourselves. Our currency would likely be permanently pegged to the SDR basket, just as Argentina’s was pegged to our dollar after its collapse. And the IMF would own the U.S. rather than the U.S. owning the IMF, as is the common delusion.
As stated earlier, Federal Reserve stimulus actions “seem” to have failed miserably. Now our nation is facing a firestorm. But I would submit that the Federal Reserve has not failed in its mission. The Fed’s purpose is not to defend the stability of the U.S. economy and the dollar; the Fed’s purpose is to destroy the stability of the U.S. economy and the dollar. Thus, the Fed has succeeded in its mission. And I believe a full audit of Fed policies and actions would prove this fact beyond a doubt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Americans Opting Out of Common Core Tests in Droves
Across the United States, concerned parents and students are refusing to participate in new tests aligned with the federal government’s Common Core state standards, and international journalist and educator Alex Newman could not be more excited about it.
“The explosive growth of the opt-out movement has been one extremely encouraging development in a sea of bad news when it comes to government education in the United States,” Newman told WND. “As more and more parents and teachers realize what is going on with Common Core, I expect this movement to continue growing by leaps and bounds.”
Newman, the co-author of “Crimes of the Educators: How Utopians are Using Government Schools to Destroy America’s Children,” believes Common Core and its affiliated tests are not just ineffective but dangerous.
“There is no doubt that this Obama scheme to nationalize education is designed not to educate children properly, but to shape their minds with propaganda and reduce their critical thinking abilities for nefarious purposes,” Newman said. “As we show in our new book (“Crimes of the Educators”), rather than improve education, Common Core is the next phase in the education establishment’s destruction of American children. One state lawmaker with an education degree told me this plot was ‘state-sponsored child abuse.’ He is right.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Another FBI Cooked ‘Terror Plot’ Unfolds
Booker repeatedly discussed his intentions to perform jihad with the two FBI informants in the following months, leading up to Friday’s end when Booker attempted to detonate the inert bomb. Booker filmed a video of himself to be played after his death, during which he swears bay’ah, or allegiance, to IS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
According to the complaint, the FBI informants provided a list of explosive materials to Booker, and also assembled the explosives at his request. Booker made it clear that he wished to detonate the explosion himself, so the FBI informants demonstrated how to arm the device.
Last summer, the Human Rights Watch and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute released a report detailing 27 federal terrorism cases from initiation to post-conviction. In some cases, individuals had no history of terrorist acts, and were considered to be “law-abiding citizens” before the initiation of sting operations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In 1974 the 27-year old Hillary was fired from a committee related to the Watergate investigation. Jerry Zeifman, a lifelong Democrat, supervised her and when the investigation was over, he fired her and refused to give her a letter of recommendation. When asked why, he said, “Because she was a liar. She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee, and the rules of confidentiality.”
She has not changed. Writing about her emails, Ronald D. Rotunda, a professor at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law, said her admitted destruction of more than 30,000 emails “sure looks like an obstruction of justice—a serious violation of the criminal law. The law says that no one has to us email, but it is a crime (18 U.S.C. section 1519) to destroy even one message to prevent it from being subpoenaed.” The law, said Rotunda, punishes this with up to 20 years imprisonment.
Instead, Hillary is asking voters to give her at least four years in the highest office in the land.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Capitol Lockdown Ends After Man Shoots Himself Dead
A man shot himself dead in front of the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, police said, sparking a temporary security lockdown at the complex on one of the busiest days for tourists in Washington. The man, who was wearing a backpack and had carried a rolling suitcase and a sign to the site, fired a single shot at himself, Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine told reporters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo ‘Wandered Into the Realm of Hate Speech,’ Says Doonesbury Cartoonist Garry Trudeau
Famed Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau slammed his counterparts at Charlie Hebdo — the French satirical newspaper that was attacked by terrorists in January — at the George Polk journalism awards on Friday, saying their work “wandered into the realm of hate speech.” The attack on the publication, which has mocked Islam and other faiths in its pages, ignited a fierce international debate over free speech and racism.
“Free speech … becomes its own kind of fanaticism,” Trudeau said as he accepted a lifetime achievement award from the organization, adding that cartoonists’ role is to “punch up” rather than down.
[The American journalistic establishment,, having already disgraced itself with a near-unanimous capitulation to Muslim zealots during the Muhammad cartoon affair in 2006, has doubled down with this award. The George Polk Awards were meant to be for journalists who take risks, not ultra-privileged leftist goose-steppers like Garry Trudeau. And Trudeau’s demagogic slagging of cartoonists who were basely slaughtered for taking such risks is utterly unconscionable. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Secret Experiments Documentary
It’s the height of the Cold War and the United States government is desperate to combat the spread of Communism. The CIA launches a highly classified, top secret research program into the covert use of biological and chemical agents. In simulated attacks on enemy populations, entire cities in America are contaminated with bacteria, exposing millions of Americans to germ warfare.
But the real focus of the research is on mastering the art of mind control. Psychiatrists at top academic institutions work under secret contract with the agency. Psychiatric patients, prisoners, even unwitting members of the public are exposed to a startling array of experiments designed to facilitate interrogations, induce amnesia and program in new behavior.
Every psychological technique is explored, including hypnosis, electroshock therapy and lethal cocktails of drugs. What was the extent of these brainwashing experiments? How did the CIA become involved in such far-reaching and disturbing research?’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Announces 2016 White House Bid, Asks to be ‘Champion’ of America’s Middle Class
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday officially announced her 2016 presidential campaign, ending months of speculation over her political plans and immediately elevating her as a target for the field of Republican contenders.
Clinton made the announcement in a YouTube video in which she says: “Everybody needs a champion. And I want to be that champion.”
The roughly two-minute video begins by showing a cross-section of Americans working to get ahead before Clinton says: “I’m doing something, too. I’m running for president.”
The 2016 White House winner will assuredly need to appeal to middle-class Americans and win their votes. And Clinton wasted little time making her pitch. “Americans have fought back from tough economic times,” she says in the video. “But the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Family Refuses Police ‘Hush Money’ After Son With Down Syndrome Beaten
We have reported on the despicable actions of San Diego Sheriff’s Deputy, Jeffrey Guy and his long history of excessive force accusations many times now, here at The Free Thought Project.
Guy rose to brutality infamy after he beat and pepper sprayed 22-year-old Antonio Martinez, a man with down syndrome and the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. Despite admitting under oath that he had no reasonable suspicion to believe Martinez was ever involved in a crime, he still says he would do it all over again today. The case is now about to head to trial.
The Martinez family previously stated that they would be willing to settle out of court under three conditions. They wanted the department to apologize, release their policy on dealing with the mentally disabled, and have Deputy Guy volunteer for the Special Olympics. The department so far has rejected these simple conditions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton, America’s 1st ‘Google President’
Hillary Clinton will become the quintessential online presidential campaign candidate today when she throws her hat in the ring via an online YouTube.
While chattering classes are caught up in President Barack Obama’s statement that he thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton would be “an excellent president”, his added thought that she “will have a strong message to deliver” if she does decide to run, will go without much notice.
Clinton’s long-anticipated second run for president will be managed by Google, the world’s largest search engine, which has nominated itself as the Grand Central of Truth-Telling.
It’s a PR exercise about to be foisted upon a largely unsuspecting public.
Google, which is in a prime position to do so, will suppress all news that could keep Clinton from making it to the Oval Office. Reminders of her shameful role in the Benghazi scandal will be buried. The personal email accounts from which she operated will be hidden from public view and exist only in distant memory.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hormone Disrupting Chemical Banned in EU Found in 50 Top US Snacks
A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health says a widely used chemical used in US food products causes fertility issues, yet it is still allowed to be used.
While the US Food and Drug Administration declares this synthetic food additive is “generally recognized as safe, or GRAS,” the European Union’s food regulators outlawed it ever since scientists found it lowered sperm counts in rats.
If lowered sperm count and reduced fertility through hormonal disruption isn’t exactly what you signed up for every time you eat one of 50 different snack foods like Sara Lee cinnamon rolls, Weight Watchers cakes, Cafe Valley muffins, or La Banderita corn tortillas, read on.
This synthetic, estrogen-mimicking additive is already used in cosmetics, but now the Environmental Working Group has found it in over 50 different foods.
Propyl Paraben is one of many common parabens which include methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben. Parabens allow skin care products to survive for months or even years in your medicine cabinet, and now for food to last longer on shelves, and in transit.
Propyl Paraben is in everything from muffins, tortillas, trail mix, pies, sausage rolls, and more. (You can find the complete list of foods found to contain this endocrine disruptor, here.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Tom Cruise and John Travolta Are Controlled by Scientology According to New Documentary
The documentary ‘Going Clear’ reveals to what extent Tom Cruise and John Travolta are controlled by Scientology. Most importantly, it provides a glimpse at the dark side of the occult elite’s “show business” system. Before airing the two hour documentary Going Clear : Scientology and the Prison of Belief, HBO hired 160 lawyers to fight […]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kayonna Cole Allows Pet Tarantula to Bite Her Hand
Exotic pet owner Kayonna Cole, from Los Angeles, proved she is no arachnophobe when she posed with her pet tarantula and remained calm as it dug its fangs into her skin.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lerner Email Warned IRS Employees of Emails That ‘Can be Seen by Congress’
Lois Lerner, former director of the Exempt Organizations Unit at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), warned other IRS officials that lower-level employees “are not as sensitive as we are to the fact that anything we write can be public—or at least be seen by Congress,” according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch and released on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Make the Leftist Media the 2016 Issue
The enemy of conservatism in America is the leftist establishment, the leftist-controlled institutions of news, education and entertainment. Take away these big, fat incestuously connected institutions and the left in America is a circus sideshow and nothing else. Democrat “leaders” like Obama, Hillary, Pelosi and Reid are slow witted, mean-spirited, and narrow-minded sock puppets filled by the chubby hands of the leftist establishment.
Indeed, the leftist establishment prefers empty vessels as nominal political leadership of the Democrat Party. Defeat the establishment and battle is won, but as long as the establishment luxuriates in unmerited respect and the values we treasure face constant peril. Winning elections, particularly the 2016 presidential election, will both help advance our policy issues, but an even greater benefit can come if we use this election to discredit the leftist establishment.
This leftist establishment is already losing much of its cachet. Viewers are shunning films and new television programming made by Hollywood leftists. Parents, students and conservative media are exposing the leftist totalitarianism in classrooms. The leftist establishment media is losing audiences in a steady decline motivated in large part by conservative disgust with its slavish following of the party line.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
National Guard Trains to Take on US Citizens
Exclusive footage provided to Infowars from an attendee of the California National Guard’s “dirty bomb” exercise in Richmond Saturday shows guard troops training to take on U.S. citizens.
Role players simulating members of the American public can be seen screaming as guard troops with batons push them back in what appears to be a crowd control scenario.
A second clip shows troops surrounding two men, reportedly victims, as they are escorted off scene.
The exercise, which included “more than 200 soldiers, airmen, local law enforcement and firefighting personnel,” will be followed by other large scale military drills which some fear are being used to acclimate the public to martial law during civil unrest or a national emergency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Ford Will Make You Obey Speed Limit
Ford is hoping to prevent accidents and speeding tickets by introducing cars that can see what the speed limit is and preventing heavy-footed motorists from driving any faster.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Says Hillary Clinton Would Make an ‘Excellent President’
PANAMA CITY — President Barack Obama says he thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton would be “an excellent president.”
[Just in case anyone needed yet another reason to oppose the ascension of this loathsome gorgon. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Warns Parents: Your Kids Are Mine
In essence, Obama is proposing to ban parents, on a national basis, from seeking help for their children when they go through confusing times or have sexual problems. This is the totalitarian mind-set of the gay rights movement and its supporters.
This is not just a discussion about media bias. It’s important we understand what’s happening here. Obama’s statement, delivered by Valerie Jarrett on his behalf, is a declaration of war on parents, especially Christian parents who object to the government sanctioning and promoting homosexuality as another “lifestyle.”
From Obama’s perspective, these parents stand in the way of creating an army of “LGBT” young people who will forever be grateful to the President for standing up for their “rights.” Like the dope smokers in Colorado, participating in what Obama calls an “experiment,” these young people constitute another Democratic Party constituency. Obama doesn’t seem concerned, however, about the consequences of their immoral behavior. After all, he was a heavy dope smoker and look what happened to him and where he ended up.
Although Obama’s statement on human sexuality was “not accompanied by any concrete statements of policy,” as Politico put it, two states, California and New Jersey, as well as the District of Columbia, have banned parents from having a role in raising their children in this area of human sexuality. Politico seems to be begging the President to introduce national legislation to put parents in their place. Perhaps that’s the next step.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Revealed: US Government Program Secretly Injected Citizens With Plutonium, Uranium
In a secret program that is now admitted to be true, the United States government injected unknowing human ‘participants’ with highly toxic plutonium.
It sounds like a bizarre torture scenario that you’d expect to see blamed on illegal terror organizations, but the individuals behind this crime are actually doctors working for the United States government. Disregarding the health of innocent citizens, the government testers were eager to see how unknowing participants suffered as a result of secret plutonium injection.
It began in 1945, when an employee at the Oak Ridge Nuclear Facility was in a car accident. Ebb Cade survived, but was taken in as a human participant in a disturbing study he did not consent to. It is important to note that this man was a fifty-three-year-old African American, as previous government trials have singled out African Americans and other minorities.
The racist sterilization programs occurred between 1929 to 1974 under an admitted eugenics programs that officials claimed were ‘creating a better society’. Most victims were poor, black women who were ‘deemed unfit to be parents’. Individuals as young as 10 were sterilized simply for not getting along with schoolmates or being promiscuous, and many parents were misled into sterilizing their children. Ebb Cade was taken and bound to a bed with a broken arm and leg, where doctors interviewed him regarding his current state of health. After determining he was in a state of proper health, doctors secretly injected him with 4.7 micrograms of plutonium on Aptil 10th. It is still unknown who exactly ordered the program within the U.S. government, as they have managed to disassociate themselves with the entire nefarious program. At the time of the injection, scientists were perfectly aware of the negative effects associated with radiation. With cancers and radiation sickness on the rise, these scientists knew exactly what they were doing — examining the effects of plutonium isotopes on living beings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Taking Down Hillary Clinton Once and for All
Sellout: The Inside Story of President Clinton’s Impeachment — the book that proves beyond any doubt named Republican and Democratic/Communist Party USA members of Congress sabotaged the impeachment of Billy.” The author, Bill Schippers was an icon in Democrat circles, but he told the truth. Schippers is an attorney and was hired by Republican congressman Henry Hyde to lead an oversight investigation of the Justice Department, then was redirected to handle the impeachment.” As I covered in my column above, I had the opportunity to see him speak in Washington, DC. Whores in the ‘mainstream’ media made sure what came out in Schipper’s book never made it to the nightly news or any semblance of balanced coverage in rags like the New York Times; all the news that’s fit to fake.
Mrs. Clinton became a grandmother last year; Bill did not. A large number of Hillary’s supporters are too young to remember the Clinton heydays in Arkansas and the White House. Too young to remember all the sordid details, i.e., Hillary allegedly sleeping with a married man, Vince Foster, who was later found murdered in Fort Marcy Park, VA. Act surprised: it was officially declared a suicide. It was not; documents most have never seen. Comrade Hillary was neck deep in the cover up.
Too young to remember all the shady dealings when Mrs. Clinton worked at the Rose Law Firm which became famous for shredding everything except the toilet paper. Web Hubbell also worked at the Rose Law Firm with Mrs. Clinton. There’s no question in my mind Chelsea Clinton is the daughter of Web Hubbell — not Bill Clinton. The serial adulterer was known to be shooting blanks, but don’t take my word for it — go look at these pictures because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Did Bill know? Of course he did: “When Bill left the presidency in Jan, 2001, he pardoned everyone else, including Marc Rich and big time drug dealers — but not Webb Hubbell.”
[Comment: Lists all Clintons scandals, including Benghazi.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Real Problem With Rolling Stone’s Campus Rape Fiasco
It’s great that those who value truth and reason finally won out over Rolling Stone, publisher of 2014’s most egregious example of dime store fantasy journalism.
Through doing the things Rolling Stone flatly failed to—elevating fact-gathering over moral narratives; hunting down info; asking awkward questions—bloggers, journalists, and, now, the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism successfully exploded the myth of a gang rape at the University of Virginia (UVA) in 2012.
Truth, 1; Agenda-Driven Mythmaking, Nil. A clear win for fact over fallacy, objectivity over journalism more interested in telling a morality tale, however tall, than in communicating clear, proven facts. A victory for veracity. Right?
I’m not so sure. The Rolling Stone story might be dead, slain by an army of genuinely inquisitive observers. But the hysteria that made that fact-lite mess of a feature possible in the first place survives. It staggers on, bloodied but unbowed, Michael Myers-style.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Tough Questions Hillary Faces as Candidate
It’s not like sex wasn’t a big issue during the Clinton years. She faces two major challenges in taking credibly “progressive” stances in 2016 — both relating to her own marriage and her steadfast “stand-by-your-man” defense of her husband.
One source close to the entertainment industry is shopping what are described as hours of telephone conversations allegedly recorded by a jilted lesbian lover in which an inebriated Mrs. Clinton supposedly trashes politicians and celebrities, including her husband. The opening bid for the recordings is $10 million. Whether their actual content will ever see the light of day is an open question. But would Clinton, already under fire for her erasing most of her emails as secretary of state, be able to handle the dropping of a bomb like that?
Some in the progressive and feminist community are angry with Clinton for her role in the cover-up of what they see as legitimate sexual harassment, womanizing and even rape, allegations against her husband. In an interview with Reason magazine in March, for instance, Camille Paglia had this to say about a Clinton candidacy: “[H]illary does not have it. Hillary is a mess. And we’re going to reward the presidency to a woman who’s enabled the depredations and exploitation of women by that cornpone husband of hers? The way feminists have spoken makes us blind to Hillary’s record of trashing [women]. They were going to try to destroy Monica Lewinsky. It’s a scandal. Anyone who believe in sexual harassment guidelines should have seen that the disparity of power between Clinton and Monica Lewinsky was one of the most grotesque ever in the history of sex crime. He’s a sex criminal. We’re going to put that guy back in the White House? Hillary’s ridden on his coattails. This is not a woman who has her own career, who’s made her own career! The woman who failed the bar exam in Washington. The only reason she went to Arkansas and got a job in the Rose law firm was because her husband was a politician.”
It could get rough out there — and Clinton has even more baggage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vaccine, Not Ebola, Made Doc Sick, Study Finds
Just 12 hours after he got an experimental Ebola vaccine, and just two days after he stuck himself with a needle while caring for Ebola patients in September, Dr. Lewis Rubinson started getting sick.
By then, Rubinson was aboard a jet, being evacuated from Sierra Leone to the United States. He wasn’t sure if he was infected with Ebola or if the vaccine was causing a reaction. He was en route to strict isolation at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington D.C.
Months later, it’s fairly clear the vaccine caused the reaction. He has no trace of Ebola infection. What’s not entirely clear is whether the vaccine stopped the virus from taking hold, or whether he was never infected in the first place.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video of Boston Police Officer’s Shooting by Suspect Released
BOSTON —Investigators released video Friday of a shooting that wounded a decorated Boston Police officer and ended with the death of the gunman.
Officer John Moynihan, 34, was shot just below his eye on March 27 by Angelo West, 41, in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood.
The video shows West’s vehicle being pulled over by two unmarked police vehicles that have their blue lights flashing.
Moynihan approaches West’s vehicle, opens the driver’s door and West lunges out of the vehicle, shooting the officer at close range, the video shows.
While the video does not clearly show it, as West runs away he continues to fire at other officers, Boston Police Commissioner Williams Evans said.
[The poor, underprivileged “Other” strikes again. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Walgreens Plans to Shut Down an Estimated 200 U.S Stores
Walgreens announced plans Thursday to close 200 U.S. stores, just months after it completed its purchase of European drugstore chain Alliance Boots.
The company, now known as Walgreens Boots Alliance, said the store closings will allow a more aggressive cost-cutting plan, as it aims to reduce expenses by $1.5 billion over three years. It had previously set a $1 billion cost cutting target.
Other chains that have announced recent closing plans include Staples, Office Depot and Sears.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What the Mike Duffy Trial Will Definitely Prove
The trial of suspended Mike Duffy started in Ottawa a week ago. The Conservative appointee is facing 31 fraud and breach of trust charges that were laid in July 2014. The trial is expected to be lengthy and some in the media are calling it “the trial of the century.” Of course it isn’t but the Harper-hating media see it as a chance to help bring down Prime Minister Harper who appointed Duffy to the Upper Chamber.
Duffy is not alone when it comes to a senator being under fire for improperly claimed expenses including allegations they claimed expenses for a secondary residence in Ottawa because their principal residence was more than 100 km. from the capital. Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau is facing charges as well as former Liberal senator Mac Harb who resigned after the scandal about his expenses broke.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Intelligence Bill: 5 Web Hosting Providers Threaten to Leave the Country
Five popular French web hosting providers, including Gandi and OVH, said on Thursday that the new French intelligence bill might push them to leave the country (French) in order not to lose their customers. The five companies are protesting against the “real-time capture of data connection” and their analysis by the intelligence services using “+black boxes+ with blurred lines”. The web hosting providers believe that this project “will not reach its goal and will potentially put every French citizen under surveillance, that will result in the destruction of a major segment of the economy of our country,” by pushing their customers to turn to other less intrusive territories. If the bill is passed as it is, “we have to move our infrastructure, our investments and our employees where our customers want to work with us”. The companies have provided a listing of dozen cities where they “will suppress jobs instead of creating new ones.”; “These are thousands of jobs […] that startups and large companies will also create elsewhere,” they add. The press release was addressed to the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, and was co-signed by Gandu, OVH, IDS, Ikoula and Lomaco.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Facebook Suspends Salvini in Raze Roma Camps Furore
Northern League leader gets 24-hour ban for using ‘gypsies’
(ANSA) — Rome, April 9 — Northern League leader Matteo Salvini said Thursday that he has been suspended from Facebook for using derogatory language about Roma people a day after creating a big furore by saying Roma camps should be razed to the ground. “Facebook has suspended me for 24 hours because I used the word zingari (gypsies), a word my grandma used,” he told the League’s Radio Padania. He added that the controversy caused by his call to level Roma showed Italy was “hypocritical”.
Those comments caused widespread condemnation, including from the Vatican. Cardinal Antonio Maria Veglio, the head of the Vatican’s department for migrants, described them as “absurd” and “stupid”.
These are extreme positions, absurd, like those who say ‘Muslims? Kill them all.’ Or, ‘Migrants? They should all go home’,” the cardinal told ANSA.
But Salvini remained unrepentant on Thursday.
“It saddens me to hear such words come out of the mouth of a bishop,” said Salvini.
“If I had sinned, the bishop’s job would have been to put me on the right path, not to insult me.
“But I speak to the parish priests in the provinces, not the bishops who love in 300-square-meter apartments, perhaps even with servants”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Indictment Asked for ‘Ku Klux Klan’ Threat to Ex Minister
FN politician accused of rigging nooses at Kyenge visit
(ANSA) Pescara, April 10 — Indictment was requested Friday for a far-right politician on charges of rigging up hangman’s nooses in a square when former integration minister Cecile Kyenge visited this Adriatic resort city.
Trial was requested for Marco Forconi, the regional coordinator for the neo-Fascist Forza Nuova (FN) grouping, on charges of “exhibiting racists symbols and aggravated threats for the purposes of racism”.
Prosecutors say Forconi rigged up two hangman’s nooses on street furniture in front of the headquarters of the provincial government of Pescara July 15, 2013, when Kyenge visited the building.
Prosecutor Giuseppe Belleli said the nooses were “typical of hanging and of the racist organisation known as the Ku Klux Klan”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Appeal Court Confirms 4 Year Cirio Term for Geronzi
Former Cirio owner Cragnotti’s sentence trimmed by 4 months
(ANSA) Rome, April 10 — Sentences were largely upheld against main defendants in the appeal trial for the bankruptcy of food group Cirio Friday with former Banca di Roma supremo Cesare Geronzi’s 4 year prison term confirmed and former Cirio and Lazio soccer club owner Sergio Cragnotti’s sentence trimmed by just 4 months to 8 years and 8 months in prison.
The Rome appeal court judges cut the sentence against Cragnotti’s son Andrea to a term of 2 years and 4 months while his siblings Elisabetta and Massimo were absolved because of the statute of limitations.
Cragnotti’s son in law Filippo Fucile had his sentence reduced to 3 years and 10 months (from 4 years and 6 months) while Ettore Quadrani had his term trimmed by two months to 3 years and 4 months.
The court also confirmed the acquittal of Giampiero Fiorani, former managing director of the Banca Popolare di Lodi and of Cragnotti’s wife Flora Pizzichemi.
In Italy prison terms do not usually take effect until the appeals process is exhausted, with two appeals granted in each case.
Unicredit, one of Italy’s largest banks, later took over Banca di Roma and was fined 200 million euros for Banca di Roma’s role in the Cirio bankruptcy.
Founded in the mid-19th century, Cirio was Italy’s oldest food canner.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the Secretive Group That Runs the World
Over the centuries there have been many stories, some based on loose facts, others based on hearsay, conjecture, speculation and outright lies, about groups of people who “control the world.” Some of these are partially accurate, others are wildly hyperbolic, but when it comes to the historic record, nothing comes closer to the stereotypical, secretive group determining the fate of over 7 billion people, than the Bank of International Settlements, which hides in such plain sight, that few have ever paid much attention…
The BIS was founded in 1930. It was ostensibly set up as part of the Young Plan to administer German reparations payments for the First World War. The bank’s key architects were Montagu Norman, who was the governor of the Bank of England, and Hjalmar Schacht, the president of the Reichsbank who described the BIS as “my” bank. The BIS’s founding members were the central banks of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and a consortium of Japanese banks. Shares were also offered to the Federal Reserve, but the United States, suspicious of anything that might infringe on its national sovereignty, refused its allocation. Instead a consortium of commercial banks took up the shares: J. P. Morgan, the First National Bank of New York, and the First National Bank of Chicago.
The real purpose of the BIS was detailed in its statutes: to “promote the cooperation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations.” It was the culmination of the central bankers’ decades-old dream, to have their own bank—powerful, independent, and free from interfering politicians and nosy reporters. Most felicitous of all, the BIS was self-financing and would be in perpetuity. Its clients were its own founders and shareholders— the central banks. During the 1930s, the BIS was the central meeting place for a cabal of central bankers, dominated by Norman and Schacht. This group helped rebuild Germany. The New York Times described Schacht, widely acknowledged as the genius behind the resurgent German economy, as “The Iron-Willed Pilot of Nazi Finance.” During the war, the BIS became a de-facto arm of the Reichsbank, accepting looted Nazi gold and carrying out foreign exchange deals for Nazi Germany.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Modi Visits Airbus in Toulouse, With Germany Up Next for Indian PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, touring Europe to promote his “Make in India” campaign has arrrived in Germany. He’s fresh from a visit to Franco-German aviation giant Airbus’ Toulouse headquarters.
Airbus executives rolled out the red carpet for Narendra Modi on Saturday, showing the visiting prime minister the flagship A380, a plane that frequently flies to India but is not currently used by any domestic carrier.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pilot Killed and 3 Injured as Plane Crashes on German Motorway
The male pilot was killed in the crash on the Autobahn 28 near Hatten, Oldenburg, north-west Germany and three passengers have been taken to a nearby hospital, local police said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: David Cameron’s EU Deceit is Staring US in the Face, Peter Hitchens Writes
If you really want to conceal something, leave it lying about where everyone can see it. This is what Cameron has done with his supposed promise to hold a referendum on EU membership.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rape Victim Gemma Redhead’s Fury Over Call From Attacker After His Early Release
Gemma Redhead, 33, (pictured) was left so scared she could neither eat or sleep after her former partner Philip Kirby phoned her at her County Durham Home.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sarah Ivens Urges Women Not to Leave Motherhood So Late
Writer Sarah Ivens, from London, tells of her struggle to get pregnant at 34. After trying for years to have her first child, she now warns other women not to put off motherhood until it’s too late.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe ‘To be Moved to a Low-Security Priory Unit’
Mass murderer Sutcliffe has spent more than three decades in Broadmoor for the savage killings of 13 women. But now, he may be set to move to a cushy Priory unit set in Berkshire woodland.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In the Bosnian Village Seduced by ISIS
By Domenico Quirico
In Sarajevo, you come to realize that all the essential things in the world have been affected by war, or rather, by the circumstances of war. You realize the economy’s upheaval, the general misery and, above all, the turmoil in each individual life: embarrassment, uncertainty, anxiety.
“It’s like being in a prison and knowing that you can’t get out,” says a friend of mine who works in television. “You hear stories you won’t believe. It’s such a small part of the world that you can’t understand how it’s so difficult to live.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina is fertile ground for fundamentalism, and people say that many who go to fight in Mosul and Raqqa pass through here on their way.
What the people have been deprived of here is not just a united country. A year ago, people took to the streets, burning town halls and ministries, demonstrating their rage against chronic hunger and frustration about the country’s paralysis and corruption. One year later, nothing has happened — civic committees have entirely disappeared or have been absorbed by political parties.
That’s what brought me here to the small town of Gornja Maoca, where the ISIS flag has been raised and the people live as if they were in lands conquered by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s men. Just like in Mosul, black flags are flying — a mere hour’s plane flight from Vienna.
[Be it noted that these Bosnian Muslims were saved from the brutality of Serbs by NATO air forces led by the United States. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Med Energy Integration at Center of Medener Forum
At the start of the European Union there were unions in the name of energy, Ceca and Euratom. Subsequently, the energy union lost its way though it is now at the center of the agenda of the new European Commission. This is the starting point for the third Forum of Medener (Mediterranean Association of National Agencies for Energy Conservation) that took place Friday in Naples as part of EnergyMed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood Leader Mohamed Badie Sentenced to Death
An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced Mohamed Badie, leader of the illegal Muslim Brotherhood group, and 13 other senior members of the organization to death for inciting chaos and violence, while also giving a life term to U.S. citizens who were convicted for ties to the Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Attack South Korea Embassy in Tripoli, Two Guards Killed
Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State take credit for the attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain and America Are Helping Saudi Arabia Push Yemen Towards Total Collapse
As Yemen’s political and economic crisis deepens, the United States and Britain have decided to throw their weight behind a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states currently bombing the Houthi rebel group.
The rebels, who are backed by Iran and military units loyal to the deposed dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh, have taken over large parts of the country since September.
By providing warplanes and, in the case of the United States, logistical and intelligence support, both countries are playing an important, enabling role in the operation, which in recent weeks has contributed to a sharp escalation of violence in Yemen.
Why should this concern us? Well, for a start, the air campaign is killing large numbers of innocent civilians, and is greatly exacerbating a severe, pre-existing humanitarian crisis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Girl, 9, Pregnant After Being Raped by ISIS Militants
(International Business Times) A 9-year-old girl from a minority group in Iraq is pregnant after being raped by at least 10 different men with the Islamic State group, news reports said. She was seen by aid workers in a refugee camp in Iraq after she and hundreds of others were freed after being held captive by the group for more than eight months, the Daily Express reported.
The girl was one of 216 people from the ethnic and religious minority community known as Yazidis released by the Islamic State group, which is also known as ISIS or ISIL. Those freed tended to be elderly, infirm or young, and many were in poor health, an Iraqi Kurdish commander said. They appeared to have been abused and neglected. Although the captives were freed Monday, they did not reach a Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq until Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in the Kingdom has stressed on the need to accelerate production of high-quality camels. “This is possible with the improvement of research for sustainable development of camel production in the Kingdom,” FAO representative Abdallah Oihabi said. He made the statement during the “Sub-Regional Workshop on Camel Genetic Improvement of Camel Performances” at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel on Wednesday. Ten Saudi scientists from the Ministry of Agriculture attended the workshop. The camel project has a budget of $3.5 million for five years.
Oihabi said there was a need to produce high-quality camels because of the great demand for camel milk and meat in Saudi Arabia which imports these from African countries like Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Eritrea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Video Shows Complete Destruction of Ancient City of Nimrud in Iraq
Isis has released a video showing militants using power tools and bulldozers to deface and destroy ancient monuments in the Assyrian city of Nimrud in northern Iraq, before the site is levelled with explosives. Damage to the site was first reported in March, but the undated video lays bare the full scale of destruction, as the city is completely demolished.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Burak Bekdil
The Turkish ISIS is an ideological inspiration by an Islamist poet, who happens to be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s favorite.
“From now on, life in Turkey will be difficult for the occupying seculars.” — Editorial, Taraf, August 1993
Is it still too hard to understand why Erdogan’s “fight” against radical Islamists in Syria and Iran cannot be serious?
If a “mere” 11.3% of Turks think so generously of ISIS, it means there are nine million Turks sympathetic to jihadists. And if only 10% of those decide to support ISIS’s jihad, that comes to nearly 900,000 potential Turkish jihadists (even 5% would mean an army of nearly 450,000).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS: Islamists Kidnap 120 Schoolchildren in Iraqi City of Mosul
Residents, including children, are desperately fighting off Islamic State jihadists.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nine-Year-Old Yazidi Sex Slave is Pregnant by 10 ISIS Militants Raping Her
The pregnant nine-year-old Yazidi girl (not pictured) was ‘sexually abused by no fewer than ten men’ after being kidnapped by ISIS militants near Sinjar in northwestern Iraq last summer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope’s Remarks on Armenian Slaughter Spur Turkey Outrage
Pope Francis sparked a diplomatic incident with Turkey on Sunday by calling the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks “the first genocide of the 20th century” and urging the international community to recognize it as such.
Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty to honor the memory of the innocent men, women and children who were “senselessly” murdered by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago this month.
Turkey, which has long denied a genocide took place, immediately summoned the Vatican ambassador to express its displeasure, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Ankara said on customary condition of anonymity.
Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Led Coalition Intensifies Air Strikes in Yemen
(AGI) Doha, April 11 — The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has stepped up its bombardment of Sanaa to eliminate Houthi rebel targets and arms depots. Sanaa residents said the air strikes on Saturday lasted several hours and hit the defense ministry and al-Hafa military camp, Al Jazeera reported. Saudi officials said they also struck a sports stadium in the southern city of Aden that Houthis used as a weapons and ammunitions storage site. “The use of schools, sport stadiums, and civilian installations is evidence of the abnormal behaviour of these groups and the actions that are intended to damage the daily lives of citizens and the infrastructure,” said the coalition’s spokesman, Brigadier-General Ahmed Asseri. Asseri added that planes carrying medical supplies managed to land in the capital for the first time since the fighting began two weeks ago. Two planes sent by the Red Cross and Unicef also delivered over 30 tons of medicine and medical equipment to Sanaa airport.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UN said a vote on a draft resolution imposing sanctions on Houthi leaders and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son should take place next week.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Son of Murdered Muslim Preacher Abdul Hadi Arwani May Have Met Killer Days Before
Abdul Hadi Arwani, an opponent of Syrian President Bahsar Al-Assad, visited the area where he was killed with his son days before his death.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Anger at Pope Francis Armenian ‘Genocide’ Claim
Turkey has recalled its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis described the mass killing of Armenians under Ottoman rule in WW1 as “genocide”.
Turkey has reacted with anger to the comment made by the Pope at a service in Rome earlier on Sunday.
Armenia and many historians say up to 1.5 million people were killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.
But Turkey has always disputed that figure and said the deaths were part of a civil conflict triggered by WW1.
The row has continued to sour relations between Armenia and Turkey.
The Pope made the comments at a Mass in the Armenian Catholic rite at Peter’s Basilica, attended by the Armenian president and church leaders.
He said that humanity had lived through “three massive and unprecedented tragedies” in the last century.
“The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th Century’, struck your own Armenian people,” he said, in a form of words used by a declaration by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Pope Francis also referred to the crimes “perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism” and said other genocides had followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.
He said it was his duty to honour the memories of those who were killed.
“Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it,” the Pope added.
[Let anyone who doubts the Armenian genocide was just that peruse the works of Vahakn Dadrian, Taner Akçam, Rouben Adalian, and Bat Ye’or, and decide for himself. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Slams Pope’s Comments on Armenian Genocide
Ankara has hit back at Pope Francis’s description of the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as “the first genocide of the 20th century”, saying the pontiff’s words were “far from the historical reality”.
Turkey said Sunday it was “deeply sorry and disappointed” that Francis had used the word “genocide” earlier in the day when marking the centenary of the slaughter of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said it had recalled its ambassador to the Vatican “for consultations”, adding that the pope’s comments were “null and void” to the Turkish people.
Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, said Sunday morning that it was his duty to honor the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who were “senselessly” murdered…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Islamic State Group Destroys Ancient Ruins of Nimrud
BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants hammered, bulldozed and ultimately blew up parts of the ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, destroying a site dating back to the 13th century B.C., an online militant video purportedly shows.
The destruction at Nimrud, located near the militant-held city of Mosul, came amid other attacks on antiquity carried out by the group now holding a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. The attacks have horrified archaeologists and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who last month called the destruction at Nimrud “a war crime.”
The seven-minute video, posted late Saturday, shows bearded militants using sledgehammers, jackhammers and saws to take down huge alabaster reliefs depicting Assyrian kings and deities. A bulldozer brings down walls, while militants fill barrels with explosives and later destroy three separate areas of the site in massive explosions.
“God has honored us in the Islamic State to remove all of these idols and statutes worshipped instead of Allah in the past days,” one militant says in the video. Another militant vows that “whenever we seize a piece of land, we will remove signs of idolatry and spread monotheism.”…
| [Return to headlines] |
What Hezbollah Fighters Think About the Iran Nuclear Deal
“The US is frightened of Iran, because it is a superpower now. This is not Iraq or Afghanistan. If the US blinks, Iran would destroy it.”
Here in Hezbollah’s homeland, the preliminary agreement between the US and Iran to scale back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear enrichment program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions is being celebrated as a resounding victory. Iran has been arming and funding Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim militant group, since its inception in the 1980s, during the Lebanese Civil War. Its patronage has secured unflinching loyalty. In a speech Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah heralded the nuclear deal as a blow against Israel and a move designed to prevent a catastrophic confrontation that would engulf the Middle East.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Left Wants Iran to Get the Bomb
By Daniel Greenfield
Before Global Warming posters hung on the dingy walls of American classrooms, the atomic bomb was the original Great Bogeyman of the left. Nothing quite so demonstrated the madness of our war machine as our willingness to deploy weapons of mass destruction to stop Communism in its tracks.
The self-righteous antics over nuclear weapons in literature, art, film, at protests and in papers are far too numerous to document. But you can still spot the occasional clunker with “One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day” or “You can’t hug a child with nuclear arms” peeling off one lopsided bumper.
Just don’t expect its owner to oppose Iran’s nuclear program over its day-ruining hug-denying nature.
[…]
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, which claims to be against everything from nuclear power to depleted uranium, cheered the Iran deal. Ploughshares campaigns against WMDs while linking up with Iran’s lobby. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is on the same page. The organization’s motto, “70 Years Speaking Knowledge to Power”, communicates that it isn’t against nukes. It is against “Power”.
The United States is defined as possessing that intangible quality of “Power”. Not Iran, which is a victim of American “Power”. In his New York Times interview with Thomas Friedman, Obama said that he had told his team to be sensitive to the “defensive Iran that feels vulnerable”. That’s the Iranian inner child that, according to Obama, was scarred by the United States in the past. Nukes are just its radioactive security blanket against American imperialism. Our power is the problem. Not their nukes.
[…]
After his original inauguration, Obama talked of a “world without nuclear weapons”. But what he really meant was a world without American weapons.
“As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act,” Obama said in that same speech. “We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it.”
The only American Exceptionalism that Obama has ever believed in is an exceptional American guilt. As the first country to have used a nuclear weapon, against an empire that was engaged in genocide and cannibalism, America has to give up its weapons first. American nuclear weapons are tainted in ways that no other weapons are. Our nukes are bad nukes. Everyone else’s nukes are good nukes.
[Especially when they’re obtained by the long-suffering Islamic “Other.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Bangkok: Five Trade Agreements Signed With Russia
Premier Medvedev signs a memorandum to enhance political and economic cooperation between the two countries. Topics include tourism and the fight against drug trafficking. First visit of a Russian diplomat to Thailand in 25 years. Moscow and Bangkok “sister cities”.
Bangkok (AsiaNews) — Russia and Thailand have signed five bilateral agreements on areas including politics, economy, security, energy, tourism, education, culture and combatting drug trafficking. The signing took place yesterday at the headquarters of the Thai government between the first Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Medvedev’s visit — April 7 to 9 — is the first by a Russian diplomat in the last 25 years — and is part of a plan aimed at strengthening diplomatic relations between the two countries. It is perhaps also a way to increase independence from the United States, traditional allies, now that a military junta is in power in Thailand.
Negotiations dealt with significant issues for both nations, seeking to “increase the value of trade and increase agricultural and industrial production.” Yongyuth Mayalarp, spokesman for the Thai government, expressed satisfaction with “the outcome of the talks, which have led to bilateral agreements, and that both countries have decided to sign five memoranda”. “Moreover, he added, investment in state enterprises and the private sector is one of the our chief concerns”.
Energy Minister Alexander Novak, the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Oleg Safonov and the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, signed the Russian memorandum with Medvedev.
In the field of tourism, the memorandum is effective for the 2015-17 biennium and promotes the exchange of visitors between the two countries, as well as an increase in security and tourist care.
Thailand has confirmed it will export more raw rubber to Russia to cover the growing demand of the Russian automotive market. The Thai government is also considering lowering taxes on Russian imports to increase trade between the two countries.
“The ties with Russia go back a long time,” said Thai Prime Minister Prayut. “In 2017 we will celebrate 120 years of diplomatic relations, and there will be other activities and projects that will strengthen our cooperation at both the government level and in the private sector.” Sending his greetings to President Vladimir Putin, Prayut invited him to visit Thailand, suggesting that Bangkok and Moscow could become Sister City for business cooperation.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Malala Yousafzai Gets Her Own Asteroid
She’s the teenage activist who campaigned for girls’ education in Pakistan, and was shot by the Taliban.
She’s also a Nobel Prize winner, and now Malala Yousafzai has had an asteroid named after her.
In terms of honours — it doesn’t get much bigger than that — physically, at least: the rock is a full four kilometres wide.
Situated in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, it orbits the sun every five-and-a-half years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Country on Alert After Samui Blast
Security tightened as Samui bombers sought
Authorities have tightened security measures across the country after a car bomb rocked a Koh Samui shopping mall at the start of the busy Songkran holiday.
The explosion late Friday night in a parking lot at Central Festival Samui resulted in minor injuries to seven people and damaged 10 cars as well as other mall properties.
The pickup containing the bomb had been stolen in Yala, leading to early speculation that the incident was linked to the insurgency in the three southern border provinces.
But a government spokesman was quick to steer the speculation in another direction, saying the attack might be linked to incidents earlier this year in Bangkok.
“Initial reports back the theory that [the Samui bombers] are the same group that created bombings in Bangkok,” said Maj Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd.
He declined to elaborate on the basis for the theory. Police have several people in custody in connection with the two Bangkok incidents: an explosion in a transformer near Siam Paragon on Feb 1, and another in which a grenade was lobbed into the empty parking lot of the Criminal Court building late on March 7.
“As authorities have taken strict precautions [in Bangkok], situations are being created elsewhere. Authorities have found some links with incidents in Bangkok and are tracing suspects from clues in the scene,” Maj Gen Sansern said.
| — Hat tip: Peter | [Return to headlines] |
China is Said to Use Powerful New Weapon to Censor Internet
Late last month, China began flooding American websites with a barrage of Internet traffic in an apparent effort to take out services that allow China’s Internet users to view websites otherwise blocked in the country.
Initial security reports suggested that China had crippled the services by exploiting its own Internet filter — known as the Great Firewall — to redirect overwhelming amounts of traffic to its targets. Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto say China did not use the Great Firewall after all, but rather a powerful new weapon that they are calling the Great Cannon.
The Great Cannon, the researchers said in a report published on Friday, allows China to intercept foreign web traffic as it flows to Chinese websites, inject malicious code and repurpose the traffic as Beijing sees fit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Protests at Halal Food Expo Turn Violent
Police have broken up fights between anti Islam and anti racism protestors this afternoon, outside Australia’s first halal food expo in the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield.
Police were observing a small group of demonstrators carrying placards opposing halal certification and sharia law when they were confronted by the anti-racism protestors.
One of the anti Islam demonstrators Nick Folkes said he represented the Party For Freedom.
“We’re opposed completely to ritual slaughter. Our set of values are completely different to Islam,” he said
The Halal expo organizers says one of their aims has been to counter ignorance — as they push a message of food appreciation, tolerance and harmony.
“If they are really serious about any issue in this country, they have to take that issue with a friendly manner, with an harmonious manner,” said director Syed Atiqul Hassan.
One major halal certifying agency told SBS World News it was not taking part in the expo because it doubts that all participants are in fact certified.
But organizers say they’re confident that all stallholders are accredited…
.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Demands UN Move Massive Refugee Camp
The Kenyan government has given the UN three months to relocate the world’s largest refugee camp over the border to Somalia. Nairobi has vowed a tough response following the recent massacre by Somali jihadists.
The United Nations Dadaab camp in northeast Kenya houses hundreds of thousands of refugees from war-torn Somalia, and authorities have in the past accused Islamists of hiding within the camp.
“We have asked the UNHCR to relocate the refugees in three months, failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves,” Deputy President William Ruto said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the government will secure the country “at whatever cost.”
“The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa,” he said, referring to the university where Somali al-Shabab terrorists killed some 148 people earlier this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Stampede Over Nairobi Terror Scare After Garissa
A student has died and more than 100 were hurt in a stampede which followed the explosion of an electricity transformer at a Kenyan university.
Residents of Nairobi university’s Kikuyu campus mistook the blast for a terrorist attack and jumped out of hostel windows early on Sunday morning.
Tensions are high among students after an Islamist attack on a Kenyan college 10 days ago which left 148 dead.
Meanwhile activists criticised Kenya for ordering Somali refugees home.
Human Rights Watch Africa Deputy Director Leslie Lefkow said justice for the victims of the attack in Garissa — by members of the Somali militant group al-Shabab — would not be served by forcing more than 500,000 Somalis in the Dadaab refugee camp to leave Kenya.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chilean Leader Defiant as Son’s Scandal Swirls
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet scoffed Wednesday at speculation that she would resign over a financial scandal involving her son that has taken a heavy toll on her popularity.
As Bachelet’s daughter-in-law appeared for questioning by prosecutors over allegations her family used its influence to get a $10-million bank loan, the Socialist leader told journalists she had no plans to step down one year into her second term.
“Just in case anyone was in doubt, I haven’t resigned. I’m not thinking of (resigning). I don’t even know how it would be done, constitutionally speaking,” Bachelet told foreign correspondents.
Bachelet has seen her popularity plunge to 30 percent since revelations emerged that her eldest child, Sebastian Davalos, attended a November 2013 meeting between his wife, Natalia Compagnon, and Andronico Luksic, the vice president of Banco de Chile and one of the country’s richest men…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Holds Historic Meeting With Cuba’s Castro, Pledges to ‘Turn the Page’
President Obama held a historic formal meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro Saturday, the first between US and Cuban leaders in over half a century, pledging to ‘turn the page’ and develop a new relationship between the two countries.
The two leaders shook hands Friday at the start of the summit and met Saturday on the sidelines of the a Panama City convention center.
Obama and Castro met for about an hour, with Obama telling reporters before the meeting that, after 50 years of unchanged policy, it was time to try something new and to engage with both Cuba’s government and its people.
[…]
“The Cold War has been over for a long time,” Obama said at the summit. “And I’m not interested in having battles frankly that started before I was born.”
[Yes, opposing Communist tyranny — that’s soooo last century. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Liberation Dedicates 4 Pages to Lampedusa
“Murderous indifference”, “most serious crisis since WWII”
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, APRIL 7 — “Lampedusa. The murderous indifference” is the title featuring on the front page of French leftist newspaper Libération which dedicated its first four pages — with dispatches from correspodents, interviews and comments — to the tragic death of migrants. In an editorial titled “Tragedy”, the paper weighs on the “mondialisation of indifference” and states that “refusing to confront this crisis, the most serious one since the second world war, Europe runs the risk of strenghtening resentment and hatred. Especially in France which is not partecipating enough to the collective effort. France, the country of human rights”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sicilian Mafia Cashes in on Desperate Immigrants
Details emerge of poisonous links between local politicians and organized crime networks in Sicily working together to siphon public funds and exploit migrants arriving via Lampedusa
The first thing a visitor is asked when arriving at the gates to Europe’s largest center for asylum seekers is: “Do you want one girl, or two?” It is not a misunderstanding between the visitor and the four Eritrean migrants standing in the dark in front of Italian Army trucks. “How about two girls for 50 euros, OK?”
On any given evening, they sell women, their own women. Everything here is connected on various levels to organized crime, starting with the 97 million-euro contract for the three-year management of the center itself. The national anti-corruption authority deemed this contract illegal in late February…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cabby Fined $15,000 for Ordering Women to Stop Kissing
A cabby who claimed he had a “no-kissing policy” in his yellow taxi was hit with $15,000 in fines for ordering two female passengers to stop smooching — and then shouting vulgar epithets at them when they got out.
TV producer Christina Spitzer and her actress girlfriend, Kassie Thornton, said they barely exchanged a peck in the back seat early into their ride when hack Mohammed Dahbi became enraged.
“Keep that for the bedroom or get out of the cab,” Dahbi shouted during the trip from Columbus Circle to Brooklyn’s Sunset Park.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Admin Gives $128 Million to Feed World’s Hungry Pro-Abortion Groups
A government report shows two international abortion advocacy groups received $128 million from USAID, a federal agency that distributes foreign aid.
One of them — International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) — works at the UN Its goal is to require countries to regard abortion as a right and include it in global poverty and health programs. The other, Population Council, works to make abortions widely available in developing countries where it is especially dangerous.
Both groups have origins in the eugenics movement.
U.S. law prohibits foreign aid paying for abortions. But under an executive order by President Obama, tax dollars can go to international groups that provide and promote abortion. While the money cannot be spent to do abortions, paying for items like overhead, advocacy and materials frees other money to be spent on abortions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Over 300 GOP Members Ask SCOTUS to Support Same-Sex Marriage
Headed by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, over 300 members of the Republican Party who have served in politics filed an amicus brief on Thursday to sway the Supreme Court to support same-sex marriage. The Court is scheduled to consider four same-sex marriage cases on April 28 that could make it legal across the nation.
Mehlman has been an ardent proponent of same-sex marriage; in 2013, he headed a group that helped reverse California’s Proposition 8, which was approved by the state’s voters and banned same-sex marriage in the state.
Twenty-three current and former members of the House of Representatives and Senate and seven current and former governors have endorsed the brief, including Sens. Susan Collins and Mark Kirk, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, and billionaire GOP mega-donor David Koch have also joined the effort.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Transgender Advocates Wary of Bruce Jenner Spectacle
(Los Angeles Times) When Time magazine put actress Laverne Cox on its cover last year and proclaimed transgender rights as America’s next “civil rights frontier,” many activists sensed their fight was moving in the direction of acceptance.
The video game “Dragon Age: Inquisition” soon introduced a transgender character, Amazon’s “Transparent” picked up a Golden Globe for its take on a transitioning retired professor, and even “South Park” won praise for an episode on gender identity.
And then the Bruce Jenner story happened.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conflicts Prompt Increase in Arms Spending Globally, Except in US and Western Europe
World military spending was largely unchanged in 2014 as lower spending in the United States and Western Europe was matched by increases elsewhere, prompted by conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa, an arms watchdog said Monday.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said total global arms expenditure was down 0.4 percent at $1.8 trillion.
American spending was reduced by 6.5 percent as part of measures to cut the U.S. budget deficit, while the three biggest arms spenders after the U.S. — China, Russia and Saudi Arabia — greatly increased their purchases. Saudi Arabia boosted its military investments the most, by 17 percent, while China’s arms spending rose by 9.7 percent to an estimated $216 billion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN to Debate Lethal Autonomous Weapons
Should robots be allowed to make life and death decisions? This will be the topic of heated debate at the United Nations (UN) Palais des Nations in Geneva next week (April 13-17th, 2015). As part of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), experts from all over the world will gather to discuss ‘questions related to emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems.’ The Open Roboethics Research Initiative will be presenting public views at the debate.
Human rights groups are urging the UN to ban such weapons. A new report titled “Mind the Gap” details the accountability issues that need to be solved before going any further. “A key concern with fully autonomous weapons is that they would be prone to cause civilian casualties in violation of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The lack of meaningful human control that characterizes the weapons would make it difficult to hold anyone criminally liable for such unlawful actions.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Well, I’m not too worried about Sutcliffe being moved to low-security…
…now that we know that the Yorkshire Ripper was actually Jimmy Savile.
Please amplify, RKae. Saville was a predatory paedophile, Sutcliffe a serial killer of adult women.