The big story of the day concerns the most recent migrant disaster in the Mediterranean, in which at least 700 people perished attempting to make the crossing to Europe. Politicians across Europe are unanimous in their declaration that the EU must do more to protect the lives of would-be refugees. Cecilia Wikström, a Swedish MEP, says that a failure to act would be the moral equivalent of turning away from the Holocaust during World War Two.
In other news, the FBI arrested six Somali-American terror suspects in Minneapolis and San Diego. The incident had nothing to do with Islam.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, 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.
Central Bankers in the U.S., Europe and Asia Have Created Another Massive Bubble
Central bankers in the U.S., Europe and Asia have created another massive bubble. This time it is a bubble in stocks, bonds and real estate simultaneously. There is no place to hide. We are now in the blow-off stage. Markets are totally disconnected from reality, amateurs and muppets have been lured into the fray, margin debt is off the charts around the globe, and confidence in the infallibility of Yellen, Draghi, and the Asian central bankers couldn’t be higher. These bankers have been tasked by their .1% masters to elevate markets across the globe so they can extract the remaining wealth of the clueless plebs. We are now in the death throes of this latest tulip mania. It may go on for many more months or today may be the peak, but one thing is for sure — it will crash and burn. What happens next is anyone’s guess. But I’d put my money on war, chaos, and revolution. There will be no impunity for our gambling.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Asks Public Agencies to Hand Over Reserve Cash
Greece has ordered its public sector bodies to hand over any reserve cash to help it meet a payment due to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The country is running out of cash and must repay the IMF nearly €1bn in May.
It comes after the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, said that Greece needed to do much more if it wanted access to bailout funds.
Negotiators are trying to strike a deal ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Friday.
There are mounting fears that Greece could default on its debts and exit the eurozone.
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras urgently needs money to pay government salaries as well as the country’s debt repayments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Time for American Taxpayers to Revolt
Not only are taxes and deficits increasing, but the actual size of the federal tax code is exploding. When the income tax was created in 1913, the tax code was only 400 pages. It increased to 26,000 pages by 1984 and has tripled in size in the last 30 years. Since the implementation of Obamacare in 2010, the federal tax code has increased another 3,300 pages, resulting in more rules and regulations for Americans to decipher. Today, the federal tax code is over 74,000 pages of bureaucratic nonsense, making it impossible for the average American to complete their own tax return. It is no surprise that 94% of Americans need professional assistance in finishing their tax return.
According to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, Americans spend $32 billion to prepare ever more complicated tax forms and in the process waste 6.1 billion hours annually. This costs our economy $234 billion in lost productivity. Americans should be using their time and money on more fruitful pursuits, such as providing for the needs of their families.
In the shaky Obama economy, Americans need to be as industrious as possible. While the federal government is expanding and creating massive budget deficits, leading to a national debt exceeding $18.1 trillion, it is a much different situation for average Americans. For the 119 million Americans who are working, most are seeing only minimal wage increases and, in March, the Labor Department reported that their average work week declined to 34.5 hours, below what many need to live comfortably. Thus, it is no surprise that there are 6.7 million Americans who have to work multiple jobs just to pay their household bills.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
First, we must understand that the Constitution does not give rights, and it does not guarantee rights. We institute government to protect our rights from being infringed upon by other individuals, groups, organizations, and from the government itself that has been put into place to safeguard those rights by following the rule of law. In the end, our rights belong to us, so it is really our own responsibility to guarantee our rights.
The Bill of Rights was not written to give the federal government the job to even having anything to do with our rights. If you read the amendments, what you find is that they were designed to tell the federal government “hands off!” Amendment I begins, “Congress shall make no law. . . “ Amendment II ends with “shall not be infringed.” Amendment III says, “No soldier shall. . . “ Unlike the First Seven Articles of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights is not about granting limited authorities, but simply telling the federal government, “Oh, by the way, these things you aren’t authorized to stomp on already, based on the foregoing articles, are so important that now we are going to list a few of them, and tell you again to leave them alone. Our rights are none of your business.”
For originalists, everything is about specifics, State sovereignty, and the rule of law. Originalists tend to reject the leftist concept of the Incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the States, and believe that the Bill of Rights were specifically written to tell the federal government “hands off our rights.” Pragmatists take a more, well, pragmatic path to their understanding of the Bill of Rights, believing in “the spirit” of the language and the Constitution, and of course they believe that the definitions involved sway with the whims of a changing society.
This also means that the definition of a right, and the definition of the rule of law, differs between the two groups. You see, part of the reason we have so hard of a time debating with the Left is because their ideas are based on a premise that is foreign to us. If we don’t take their premise into consideration, we can lose the argument simply because we don’t know how to respond.
That all said, let’s break it all down.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An Open Letter From the Mother of the First Navy Seal Killed in Iraq to General Martin Dempsey
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey responded to reports that Ramadi, Iraq is on the verge of an Islamic State today by describing Ramadi as “not symbolic in any way.” In an open letter, Debbie Lee, whose son Marc was the first Navy SEAL casualty in Ramadi, responded to his remarks today.
I am shaking and tears are flowing down my cheeks as I watch the news and listen to the insensitive, pain inflicting comments made by you in regards to the fall of Ramadi.
“The city itself is not symbolic in any way”? Oh, really? Are you willing to meet with me and with the families who have lost a son, daughter, husband, wife, father, mother, aunt, uncle, grandson, or teammate?
My son Marc Lee was the first Navy SEAL who sacrificed his life in Ramadi Iraq Aug 2, 2006. His blood is still in that soil and forever will be. Remember that was when so many of our loved ones were taken from us. You said that “it’s not been declared part of the caliphate on one hand or central to the future of Iraq.” My son and many others gave their future in Ramadi. Ramadi mattered to them. Many military analysts say that as goes Ramadi so goes Iraq.
What about the troops who sacrificed their limbs and whose lives will never be the same. Our brave warriors who left a piece of themselves in Ramadi. What about the troops who struggle with PTS/TBI who watched their teammates breath their last or carried their wounded bodies to be medevac’d out of Ramadi.
I’ve traveled to Ramadi and visited Camp Marc Lee in 2007. I brought back soil from that city where Marc breathed his last. I interviewed Iraqi General Anwer in 2010 when I returned. I asked him “If you could say one thing to the American people what would you tell them? He paused and with deep emotion said “We will tell our children, our grandchildren, for generations to come we will tell them what Americans have done. There is American blood poured out on our soil.” It seems the Iraqis understand the importance more than you do sir.
You sir owe an apology to the families whose loved ones blood was shed in Ramadi. Ramadi matters to us and is very symbolic to us. You need to apologize to our troops whose bodies were blown to pieces from IEDs and bullet holes leaving parts and pieces behind, Ramadi matters to them. You need to apologize to our troops who endured the extreme temperatures and battled the terrorists in some of the worst battlefields in Iraq, Ramadi matters to them. They carry vivid memories of the battles and the teammates whose future is gone, Ramadi matters to them.
You and this administration have minimized that Ramadi could fall, now you are minimizing that it is falling, but you Sir WILL NOT minimize the sacrifice my son Marc Lee made or any of our brave warriors!
Awaiting an Apology
Debbie Lee
[Don’t hold your breath, ma’am. Being a four-star is never having to say you’re sorry. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Arrests in Minneapolis, San Diego in Terrorism Investigation
by Amy Forliti
Authorities in Minnesota say arrests have been made in connection with their terrorism investigation into youth who have traveled or tried to travel to Syria to fight with militants, including the Islamic State group.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the arrests were made Sunday in Minneapolis and San Diego but there is no threat to public safety. Spokesman Ben Petok did not elaborate on the number of people arrested or give details about the charges. He said more information would be released Monday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI planned a news conference Monday to announce details. Monday’s news conference was billed as an announcement of a joint terrorism task force operation.
An FBI spokesman in San Diego referred questions to a spokesman in Minneapolis, who said Sunday he could not comment.
Authorities say a handful of Minnesota residents have traveled to Syria to fight with militants within the last year. At least one Minnesotan has died while fighting for the Islamic State.
Since 2007, more than 22 young Somali men have also traveled from Minnesota to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabab.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 14 People Have Been Shot in Chicago in the Last 24 Hours
At least 14 people have been shot in Chicago since Sunday afternoon, several of them critically, the Chicago Tribune reports. Since Friday morning, the paper says, 32 individuals have been shot and at least four killed. The Sunday-to-Monday shootings involved seven incidents, only two of which seem to be related.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Hussein Obama — A Legacy of Desecration
Barry Soetoro or Barack Hussein Obama, or whomever this obscure character is, I chose to call him out on everything he has done to destroy our nation.
There it was for everyone to discern and realize. These were all simple and unabridged truths, adroitly capable of swaying anyone of common sense to being forewarned of what lay ahead; of what was in store for our great nation under this paradoxical anti-American we came to know as Barack Hussein Obama.
Well, while I did anticipate the worse would come true under this impostor’s presidency, I must candidly admit, I could not have ever envisioned, not in my wildest dreams, how truly bad it would all be. During the past seven years, I have just about seen it all. Domestically, I have seen America’s unemployment rate continue to rise, as did gas prices, as did the national debt, as did the debt per person, as did the misery index, as did worker’s health insurance, as did food stamp recipients, as did Americans in poverty, as did the national deficit. I have seen this man [Obama] desecrate our constitution and the law of the land, by shoveling down American’s throats an unwanted health-care law, capriciously imposed on Americans’ pre-supposed ‘stupidity’. I have seen this camouflaged autocrat dictator rule the nation through Executive Orders, conceived exclusively as a means of sidestepping the nation’s law-enacting protocols. I have seen this man’s untenable urge to imbed class resentment in America, such as that which once paved the way for Marxism and Communism to get a foothold in the world. I have seen American’s First Amendment rights and the abridging of the freedoms of speech, wholly ravaged by an administration that, simply said, continues to choose what Americans can or cannot know, while deliberately destroying the evidence any time the laws of the land are besmirched with a compellingly show of guilt.
In the international scenario, I have seen the man [Obama] betray the nation, by turning on allies such as Israel, while bowing to enemies such as Iran, virtually enabling this hate-filled enemy to have ad-nauseam nuclear capabilities, sufficient to destroy us and the rest of the world. I have seen the man empower radical Islamic terrorists all over the world with continued shows of appeasing cowardice, such as the unprecedented exchange of five professed Talibans leading terrorist-prisoners for one U.S. deserter. I have seen the man, together with presidential contender and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, recklessly allowing four of America’s best to be helplessly massacred by savages at a foreign embassy in Benghazi, as well as I saw a president go golfing minutes after commiserating with the nation over the beheading of a US journalist. What more, my fellow-Americans do you need to see?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lately we see stories posted almost by the hour about coming military exercises called Jade-Helm and speculation that a cyber attack may be linked to the coming maneuvers. There appears also to be much evidence of foreign troops (Russian and Chinese) practicing combat in hidden-away areas in secluded portions of our national forests, in preparation for war against the American people.
It’s entirely possible that a cyber-attack, or a deliberate shutting down of the internet and telephone communications will render any resistance to martial law largely crippled while those bent on domination will still be able to communicate on other networks.
There is also evidence that Fukushima radiation is killing the Pacific Ocean fishing industry. We have drought in California and bird flu in Minnesota and North Dakota. Alongside that,is a mounting avalanche of evidence that financial collapse is either likely or planned, for the coming fall season of 2015. Evidence is also present that economic boom and bust cycles are due to bust next and prominent prognosticators chart the implosion to occur in the fall of 2015. The testimony of financial experts seems to be endless and it appears wise to listen to them, then pray for the best and prepare for the worst.
Then we have the second start-up of CERN, headquarters for the Large Hadron Collider, reportedly the largest mechanical device every built on planet earth ostensibly built to find the “God Particle,” or a replication of the “Big Bang.” An exercise which, attributed to acclaimed Physicist Stephen Hawking, has the potential to cause enormous problems.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Complicit’: FDR’s Refusal to Save the Jews on the MS St. Louis
by Phyllis Chesler
The more we learn about the Holocaust, even as it recedes into the “mists of time,” the more my blood boils, the closer I come to tears.
Last night, I traveled far out into Syrian-Jewish Brooklyn, where there are not only Syrian shuls but Egyptian, Lebanese, and Iraqi shuls as well—sometimes two or three on a single block. Many of the homes are quite grand and must resemble the kind of neo-European villas that once existed in certain Jewish neighborhoods in the Arab Middle East, a region whose ancient history is, even as I write, being physically destroyed; yes, even Nineveh, even Avraham’s Ur Casdim. (Another loss to those “misty times.”)
Sharay Shalom, a Syrian shul in Brooklyn, together with The Jewish Voice, was hosting an evening to honor Holocaust Remembrance Day. Sol Cohen, who had co-ordinated the evening, introduced Rabbi Avraham Ben-Hamou. The Rabbi shared a few words of Torah. He reminded us that at the moment Aharon’s sons died, he was silent. And when Yakov’s beloved Rahel died in childbirth (and, I might add, his only daughter Dina was kidnapped), he said nothing. “There is silence in the immediacy of tragedy, but we are commanded to memorialize and mourn later on.”
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Dark Matter May Feel a “Dark Force” That the Rest of the Universe Does Not
Image from colliding galaxies hints at nongravitational attractions between dark matter clumps.
After decades of studying dark matter scientists have repeatedly found evidence of what it cannot be but very few signs of what it is. That might have just changed. A study of four colliding galaxies for the first time suggests that the dark matter in them may be interacting with itself through some unknown force other than gravity that has no effect on ordinary matter. The finding could be a significant clue as to what comprises the invisible stuff that is thought to contribute 24 percent of the universe.
“This result, if confirmed, could upend our understanding of dark matter,” says physicist Don Lincoln of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, who was not involved in the research. So-called “self-interacting dark matter” has been suggested for some time but it has generally been considered unorthodox.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
De Blasio in Secret Bid to be Dems’ 2016 Pick
By Fredric U. Dicker
Despite repeated claims to the contrary, Mayor Bill de Blasio is positioning himself to be the leftist “progressive” alternative to Wall Street-friendly Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic candidate for president, a national party operative told The Post.
De Blasio’s hope, the operative said, is a “Draft de Blasio” movement will develop among progressive activists over the next several months that will lead to the mayor being able to defeat Clinton in the primary elections next year in much the same way leftist Sen. George McGovern successfully challenged the initially front-running establishment Democratic candidate, Sen. Edmund Muskie, more than 40 years ago.
Standing ready to back de Blasio against Clinton, said the operative, is the state’s small but influential Working Families Party, which has strong ties to de Blasio and is funded by some of the nation’s most powerful labor unions.
Earlier this year, the New York-based WFP urged Massachusetts Senator and Wall Street-bashing “progressive” favorite Elizabeth Warren to challenge Clinton and run for president — but she has repeatedly said she won’t do so.
“With Warren saying she’s not running, de Blasio and his advisers are trying to position the mayor as the ‘draft’ candidate for the left in 2016. That’s why he refused to endorse Hillary last week,” contended the operative, who is involved in presidential politics.
[Go for it, Dems! All across the country, cops would be turning their backs on your candidate. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Arrests Six in Minneapolis as Part of Joint Terrorism Task Force Operation
The FBI made six arrests in Minneapolis and in San Diego Sunday as part of a Joint Terrorism Task Force operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Minnesota office.
“There is no threat to public safety,” said Ben Petok, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Andy Luger.
More information will be released Monday morning, when media will be briefed by Luger and FBI Special Agent Richard Thornton on details surrounding the arrests.
Omar Jamal, a Somali activist in Minneapolis, said the community has been abuzz about arrests Sunday of several Somali young men both in Minneapolis and California that appear to be linked to the ongoing investigation related to ISIS and Al-Shabab. He said he’s heard the number of arrested could be between three and six people.
“The community is in a state of confusion,” Jamal said Sunday night. “They don’t know what is going on….This is a very serious issue. We as a community are concerned about losing our kids to ISIS.”
At least 22 young Somali men have left Minnesota since 2007 to join Al-Shabab in Somalia. At least nine are dead, some have been charged, and several remain at large.
Jamal added that he spoke to a cousin of one of the arrested young men who said he was taken into custody at home.
[The larger community should be more than a bit concerned about the combatively inclined who might be staying ,em>here. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Foodies Embrace 3D-Printed Cuisine
Printers unleash creative cookery, but will consumers bite?
“There is a big debate in the 3D-printing world: will one day everybody have a 3D printer at home? Is it like a personal computer?” says Hod Lipson, an engineer at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. “I think the answer is yes, but it’s not going to print plastic. It’s going to be a food printer.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Josephine County Oath Keepers and Militias React to Obama’s BLM “Claim Jumpers”
Josephine County, Oregon. —Chapter of the renowned conservative organization Oath Keepers is joining a number of militia groups in facing another federal government attempt to violate the civil rights of gold miners who are lawfully working their claims while providing employment to other citizens, according to reports emanating from what’s being called the frontline of the latest Obama power grab. See angry Federal Agents in action in Nevada below.
For the past several years, the miners from the Galice Mining District, located near Grants Pass, Oregon, have been arguing with officials from the federal government over mineral rights in Galice Creek. The Galice Mining District is compiled of a number of lawful claims, claim owners and authorized miners. It has been operating since the early 1870’s by rugged Americans who boast of their mines being one of the nation’s longest running operations in the US. They have also pointed out that their mining operation existed long before Washington bureaucrats created the repressive Bureau of Land Management.
Oath Keeper’s Josephine County Coordinator Joseph Rice in a statement to NewsWithViews.com on Wednesday cautioned that “[t]his is not a standoff with BLM. We are not promoting any confrontation with BLM. This is a security operation for the protection of Constitutional Rights.” He also said his organization isn’t seeking agitators. “If you have a different agenda outside of the above peaceful mission statement, we don’t need your assistance. Please don’t make any type of threatening phone calls to the local BLM or USFS as it undermines our mission, professionalism and is unwarranted.
Miners have found upwards of 10 million ounces of gold since mining began in the 1870’s, and independent geologists claim that only 10 percent of the gold in that area has been removed, which makes this a highly desirable location.
[…]
This issue has far reaching implications. The outcome from this issue and the court ruling to come will affect all of America. The issue at hand is not just about the Galice Miners and the gold in the ground, but more about what the government says you can do with the ground under the control of miners.
These miners have the rights to the minerals in the ground and the government wants that changed. What comes next could affect every American. What if your backyard has a specific mineral that the government values. The BLM using any means necessary, can come in and tell you that you cannot grow your broccoli on your land because it absorbs this “special” mineral?
[Comment: Banksters want the gold and are using the BLM to steal it.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Men Arrested in Terror Probe Were Headed to Syria, Officials Say
By Kurtis Lee and Tony Perry
Several Somali American men were arrested by federal law enforcement officials Sunday after a 10-month investigation into American recruits trying to join Islamic State terrorists overseas.
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested six men in Minneapolis and San Diego who officials said tried to provide support to leaders of Islamic State terror cells.
Zacharia Yusuf Abdurahman, 19; Adnan Farah, 19; Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19; and Guled Ali Omar, 20, were arrested in Minneapolis. Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21, and Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21, were arrested in San Diego after driving from Minneapolis.
Daud and Farah were planning to pick up passports and then cross into Mexico, where they would board a flight to the Middle East, federal authorities said Monday.
All six were charged with conspiracy to aid and support a terrorist organization, specifically the Islamic State. Each of the men is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
“These men were intent on joining terrorists,” said U.S. Atty. Andrew M. Luger of the District of Minnesota. “On several occasions they attempted to travel to Syria to join terrorist fighters.”
[…]
Over the past two years more than 20 Americans from the Minneapolis area have traveled overseas to fight alongside terrorists under the Islamic State banner, according to the FBI. Minneapolis is home to a large Somali American population.
“It’s clear we have a problem,” said Luger of the large number of Minnesota residents who have traveled abroad. “This problem is not a Somali problem. It’s not an immigrant problem. … It’s a Minnesota problem.”
[No. It is a Muslim problem. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
New Book, ‘Clinton Cash, ‘ Questions Foreign Donations to Foundation
The book does not hit shelves until May 5, but already the Republican Rand Paul has called its findings “big news” that will “shock people” and make voters “question” the candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” by Peter Schweizer — a 186-page investigation of donations made to the Clinton Foundation by foreign entities — is proving the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy.
The book, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, asserts that foreign entities who made payments to the Clinton Foundation and to Mr. Clinton through high speaking fees received favors from Mrs. Clinton’s State Department in return.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio: Muslims Cry “Racism and Bigotry” Over Cancellation of Public School Hijab Promotion
By Robert Spencer
This Cincinnati Enquirer report about this controversy is not as bad as it could have been, given the mainstream media’s policy of obfuscating the reality of the global jihad. It is full of the usual nonsense: those who oppose the promotion of Islam in a public school are guilty of “racism” and “bigotry” — charges that would never be leveled at anyone who opposed the promotion of Christianity or Judaism in a public school. Muslims quoted in the story eagerly play the victim as usual, pretending to be the victims of discrimination, with no hint that anyone has any reason other than
“bigotry” to look askance at the promotion of a garment that has been the cause of the murder and oppression of untold numbers of women.
Here is a glimpse of how the mainstream media works, although here again, I’ve seen much worse. Here is my actual exchange with the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Hannah Sparling, followed by what she published:…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
by Mark Steyn
The Clintons have gotten mega-rich by pandering (as above) to some of the most disgusting people on the planet. So what sort of justice department and revenue agency do you think Mrs Clinton will be running?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paul: Clinton Needs One Campaign Plane Just ‘For Her Baggage’
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) dinged Hillary Clinton during a speech in New Hampshire on Saturday, suggesting the Democratic presidential candidate could face a serious primary challenge.
“I’m starting to worry that when Hillary Clinton travels, there’s gonna need to be two planes — one for her and her entourage, and one for her baggage,” Paul, himself a presidential candidate, said to laughs and applause at the Republican Leadership Summit.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
RFID Tracking System to Replace License Plate?
Public and private entities are scanning license plates, snapping photos of our cars, and storing the times and locations where they appear. Close correlation between license plate numbers and particular drivers means that databases of mundane information about auto movements also reveal quite sensitive information about doctor and psychologist visits, business meetings, trysts, gatherings of legal advice and participation in political advocacy. License plates and cameras are, as I testified to Congress more than a dozen years ago, “Big Brother infrastructure.”
License plates are a once-sensible administrative tool that today undercuts privacy. It’s possible to protect privacy and administer traffic laws at the same time, but it’s not going to be easy.
Surveillance cameras are catalyzing this conversation about “privacy in public,” but the root of the problem is the lowly license plate. It’s an administrative tool from a bygone technological era that has new consequences in the digital age — new, strongly negative consequences for privacy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Roommates Stab Each Other Over Debate Between Apple, Android
First, a disclaimer: Alcohol was involved.
Two men got into a heated debate over which was better, the Apple operating system in iPhones or the Android OS found in a dozen other phones, like Samsung and LG.
But this was no ordinary debate, with one man categorically laying out the strengths of his favorite OS and the other countering with thoughtful, well-stated refutations.
No. One man smashed a bottle over the back of the other man’s head. Then, they both stabbed each other.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Set to Approve Open Carry of Handguns
Texans could soon be allowed to openly carry handguns, a change gun-rights activists have been seeking for years.
On Friday the Texas House of Representatives voted 96-35 to allow Texans with concealed-handgun licenses to openly carry their guns in public in holsters, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
A similar open-carry measure passed the Texas Senate last month. Both open-carry measures must be squared and sent to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has indicated support for the idea, The Journal reported.
Texas is currently one of six states, including California, New York and Florida, that bars citizens from openly carrying handguns. But Texans can carry long guns in public, which has prompted gun-rights activists to carry assault rifles into restaurants and stores to highlight what they consider a senseless legal distinction.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Today’s American Politics Tells US
It’s a wonder to me that this nation is $18 trillion in debt, has over ninety million unemployed, and the nation continues to “redistribute” money from those who are working to those who are not. These programs are a huge magnet for the illegals, but it is the states that must struggle to fund their educational systems and Medicaid. Meanwhile our infrastructure goes old and in need of repair.
Beyond our shores, thanks to the foreign policies of the President, the United States is no longer the leader of the free world. As the Middle East slips into anarchy Obama wants nothing more than to give Iran the right to have its own nuclear weapons with which to pursue its hegemony of the region. Lift sanctions? Why would we want Iran to have more money to fund the terrorism that it uses to expand its influence? Closer to home, White House efforts to accept Cuba ignores its dictatorship, its record of providing weapons to our enemies, and years of hostility.
This represents a deliberate effort to undermine and weaken the moral principles on which our nation has been founded and risen to leadership in the past. Who is more widely criticized in our society than the evangelicals who have high moral standards and the Tea Party movement that is seeking to slow the obscene growth of the federal government?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Do We Put Up With Liberals?
Left-wingers and progressives in America are becoming insufferable, are they not? It’s quite apparent that they have no desire to “live and let live,” but want to force their delusions off onto everyone else. You will live, think, and do as the Left tells you, whether you like it or not. Even in the pettiest of ways, they can’t help themselves.
Take, for example, this story coming out of the University of Oregon. To summarize for the reader, a student named Elle Mallon, who was running for office in student government filed a number of grievances against a rival student organization also running candidates in the recent election. The grievances she claimed? First, that the rival group—We Are Oregon—had organized a campaign event in a building which did not have “gender inclusive bathrooms.” She successfully (!) managed to get the ASUO (Associated Students of the University of Oregon) Elections Board to sanction We Are Oregon for this transgression, causing that group to be forbidden to campaign for 36 hours. The campaign manager for We Are Oregon, a student named Taylor Allison emailed an apology (!) to Ms. Mallon. Mallon then filed an addition grievance, claiming that Allison had “misgendered” her and charged her with sexual harassment. How so? Because Ms. Mallon has invented a whole set of pronouns—all her own—and demands that people address her using these pronouns (!). She wants people to use these entirely made-up words (“Mx” for “Ms.,” “xe, xhem, and hyr,” presumably for “he, it, and her” [?]) when referring to her or addressing things to her. Because Allison referred to her as “Ms.” Mallon in the apology email, this was “sexual harassment” and grounds for additional sanctions.
Did you feel as ridiculous reading that as I did in writing it?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will the Real Hillary Clinton Please Stand Up?
Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, you should be troubled by the fact that Hillary Clinton in each campaign has remade herself fundamentally, adopting a new persona each time in an effort to capture the changing electorate. True, all candidates hone their messages, but Hillary’s transformations are radical make-overs. Given the number of iterations of Hillary Clinton over the years, we really should ask: Since leaving the White House as First Lady, Hillary has amassed a very large fortune. Hillary’s world is far different from the typical American’s. That would not be a problem were she to own up to that fact, but she chooses to obscure that reality. Consider, by contrast, the Kennedys. Democrats Jack, Robert, and Ted never hid their family’s opulence and, instead, actually harbored intellectual values and ran for office predicated on well-defined liberal values. While I do not agree with the Kennedy’s political creed, I nevertheless respect them for having one that was intellectually developed and not bereft of foundational substance. The same cannot be said for Hillary. There is no well-developed intellectual foundation for each of Hillary’s positions, no explanation of her core beliefs and how her public service has been consistent in its advancement of those core beliefs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought it Was a Home Invasion’
By David French, National Review
They came with a battering ram.”
Cindy Archer, one of the lead architects of Wisconsin’s Act 10 — also called the “Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill,” it limited public-employee benefits and altered collective-bargaining rules for public-employee unions — was jolted awake by yelling, loud pounding at the door, and her dogs’ frantic barking. The entire house — the windows and walls — was shaking. She looked outside to see up to a dozen police officers, yelling to open the door. They were carrying a battering ram. She wasn’t dressed, but she started to run toward the door, her body in full view of the police. Some yelled at her to grab some clothes, others yelled for her to open the door.
“I was so afraid,” she says. “I did not know what to do.”
She grabbed some clothes, opened the door, and dressed right in front of the police. The dogs were still frantic.
“I begged and begged, ‘Please don’t shoot my dogs, please don’t shoot my dogs, just don’t shoot my dogs.’ I couldn’t get them to stop barking, and I couldn’t get them outside quick enough. I saw a gun and barking dogs. I was scared and knew this was a bad mix.”
She got the dogs safely out of the house, just as multiple armed agents rushed inside. Some even barged into the bathroom, where her partner was in the shower. The officer or agent in charge demanded that Cindy sit on the couch, but she wanted to get up and get a cup of coffee.
“I told him this was my house and I could do what I wanted.” Wrong thing to say. “This made the agent in charge furious. He towered over me with his finger in my face and yelled like a drill sergeant that I either do it his way or he would handcuff me.”
They wouldn’t let her speak to a lawyer. She looked outside and saw a person who appeared to be a reporter. Someone had tipped him off.
[…]
As if the home invasion, the appropriation of private property, and the verbal abuse weren’t enough, next came ominous warnings. Don’t call your lawyer. Don’t tell anyone about this raid. Not even your mother, your father, or your closest friends.
[…]
This was the on-the-ground reality of the so-called John Doe investigations, expansive and secret criminal proceedings that directly targeted Wisconsin residents because of their relationship to Scott Walker, their support for Act 10, and their advocacy of conservative reform. Largely hidden from the public eye, this traumatic process, however, is now heading toward a legal climax, with two key rulings expected in the late spring or early summer. The first ruling, from the Wisconsin supreme court, could halt the investigations for good, in part by declaring that the “misconduct” being investigated isn’t misconduct at all but the simple exercise of First Amendment rights.
The second ruling, from the United States Supreme Court, could grant review on a federal lawsuit brought by Wisconsin political activist Eric O’Keefe and the Wisconsin Club for Growth, the first conservatives to challenge the investigations head-on. If the Court grants review, it could not only halt the investigations but also begin the process of holding accountable those public officials who have so abused their powers.
But no matter the outcome of these court hearings, the damage has been done. In the words of Mr. O’Keefe, “The process is the punishment.”
[A long article about a great evil perpetrated by resentful “progressives.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Star Poet Yahya Hassan Assaulted in Copenhagen
Best-selling author and parliamentary hopeful Yahya Hassan was assaulted in Copenhagen over the weekend, the National Party candidate wrote on Facebook.
Yahya Hassan, the 19-year-old poet who rocketed to national fame with his debut book, was assaulted Saturday night at a Copenhagen club.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Nick Craven, Paul Cahalan And Simon Murphy
Nazi sympathisers, Holocaust deniers and their supporters from across the world have held a sickening secret rally in Britain at which speakers unleashed anti-Semitic rants, referring to Jews as ‘the enemy’ and ‘children of darkness’.
The meeting of the shadowy organisation will fuel fears of a growing resurgence in hatred towards Jews across Europe. The vile event was observed by a Mail on Sunday undercover team.
Held in London’s Victoria, the meeting was, said experts, the most significant gathering of Holocaust deniers Britain has ever seen, with speakers invited from Spain, Canada and the United States.
In a room draped with the Union Flag, as the event called the London Forum unfolded, the audience:
- Sniggered at the mention of ‘ashes rising from the death camps’ crematoria’;
- Applauded as they were urged to ‘identify, counter and break … Jewish-Zionist domination’;
- Laughed at the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and as an African leader at the Paris memorial ceremony was described as ‘some Negro’;
- Cheered at the mention of a brigade of Spanish Fascists who fought for the Nazis;
- Heard gay parents branded ‘monster families’ and mixed race children described as ‘blackos’.
Last night, there were calls from Jewish community leaders for police to investigate the group for race hate crimes.
‘The material from this white supremacist group makes ugly reading,’ said barrister Jonathan Arkush, vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.
‘On the face of it, their proceedings should be investigated to ascertain whether criminal offences have been committed, including incitement to racial hatred.’
[Busting these aging idiots is a bad idea. Instead, expose them, analyze them, criticize them, and mock them. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Top Diplomat Sorry for FBI Director’s Remarks on Poland, Holocaust
FBI Director James Comey wasn’t wrong when he said some in Poland were accomplices in the Holocaust, but his remarks — which angered Poles and resulted in an apology Sunday night from America’s top diplomat in Warsaw — hit a raw nerve in a nation that suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis, according to experts on the last century’s darkest chapter. U.S. Ambassador Stephen Mull apologized for Comey’s comments.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tourism: Greece is Targeting Saudi Arabian Market
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, APRIL 20 — Greece’s alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura is in Riyadh in an aim to tap into the vast potential of the Saudi Arabian market to support growth in Greek tourism. As Greek Travel Pages (GTP) website reports, Kountoura is scheduled to have a series of meetings with government representatives, aiming to attract new investments and high income visitors from Saudi Arabia to Greece. Her agenda will include meetings with the president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), Prince Sultan bin Salman bin; the transport minister, Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; the deputy minister of health, Mohammed Al Khoshaim; the deputy minister of information and communication, Abdullah Al Jasser; and the chairman of Saudi’s Kingdom Holding Company, Al Waleedbin Talalbin Abdulaziz AlSaud. During her stay in Riyadh, she attended the 1st Greek Tourism Workshop on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pristina: 135 Kosovo Citizens Suspected of Terrorism
PRISTINA — Spokesperson of the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office Liridona Kozmaci said that the prosecutor’s office launched the investigation against 135 individuals suspected of terrorism back in 2013.
In an interview for the Pristina-based daily Koha Ditore, Kozmaci specified that the investigation against one of the suspects charged with the criminal act of genocide has been dropped, as well as the proceedings against one more individual suspected of possession of weapons without a permit.
Most of the suspects were arrested in September 2014, and it is suspected that they were engaged in Syria or recruited people for terrorist organisations Islamic State and al-Nusra, the daily reported.
So far, several indictments have been raised, including the ones against the imams of mosques believed to have taken part in the recruitment of youth.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Accept Execution Rather Than Islam
[WARNING: Disturbign Content.]
Slaughter of Christians and other “infidels” will continue — regardless of whether we call the jihad “al-Qaeda,” “ISIS,” “Boko Haram,” “Al Shabaab,” or “Lone Wolf.”
Approximately two months after the Islamic State (IS) published a video depicting its members slaughtering 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, on Sunday, April 19, the Islamic jihadi organization released another video of more Christians in Libya being massacred, this time for not paying jizya—extortion money demanded of the “People of the Book” according to Koran 9:29.
Two scenes appear in the 29-minute-long video published by al-Furqan, the Islamic State’s media wing. The first scene consists of a group of Christian Ethiopians dressed all in black, on their knees, with their arms tied behind their backs. Masked IS members stand behind the Ethiopians with rifles aimed at their heads. According to the video, this scene takes place in the city of Fezzan. The Christian captives are called “Worshippers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian Church.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: 174 Killed, Over 600 Injured in Q1 2015
At least 174 Egyptians were killed and over 600 injured in more than 1,000 violent incidents that took place across Egypt during the first quarter of 2015. North Sinai ranked as the “bloodiest zone” in the country, according to a report recently issued by Democracy Index (DI), a tracing tool for local NGO, the International Development Center (IDC).
There have been at least 156 attacks in the Sinai Peninsula, including the kidnap and murder of both security forces and citizens. Last week alone, a series of deadly attacks claimed the lives of several security force personnel and local residents.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Intervention ‘Not on the Table, ‘ Says Renzi
Premier says can’t make peace among Libyans with force
(ANSA) — Rome, April 20 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Monday ruled out the prospect of a military intervention in Libya, where chaos has created a fertile ground for people traffickers.
“The hypothesis of a military intervention in Libya is not on the table,” Renzi said at a joint news conference with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, adding that it was not possible to make peace in the North African country with the use of force.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Body of Missing Polish Tourist Found in Israel
The body of a Polish tourist reported missing three days ago has been found near Nazareth in northern Israel bearing signs of violence, police said Sunday.
“Preliminary findings indicate marks of violence on the body. All avenues are being explored,” the police said in a statement.
Police said the woman’s body was found by walkers in a forest two kilometres (just over a mile) south of Nazareth, the country’s largest Arab Israeli town and a place of pilgrimage for Christians.
She and her father had been staying with a group of Polish tourists in a Nazareth hotel, and had been reported missing on Thursday, police said…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
400 Syrian Churches Destroyed, Christianity Nearing ‘Extinction’ In Mideast
Around mid-April, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia —who once wrote a letter to Barack Obama beseeching the president to reconsider his foreign policies which enable the persecution of Christians in Syria — spoke again of the threat of Christian extinction in the Mideast during a meeting with Greek Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos. In the Russian Patriarch’s own words:
“I regularly get reports of horrible crimes that are committed there against Christians, especially in northern Iraq. I have visited those places and I remember that there were many churches and monasteries there. The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria…
“The presence of the Christian minority was a factor that, in a good sense, brought tolerance and good relations between Christians and Muslims…
“Now Christianity is the most persecuted religion. The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa. In some countries of Europe, too, people are prohibited from wearing crosses at work, citing the need for tolerance, do not use the word ‘Christmas’, do not call Easter — Easter, saying just winter holiday or spring holiday instead.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
France Provides First Weapons to Lebanon for Islamic State Fight
The first French weapons from a $3 billion Saudi-funded programme will arrive in Lebanon on Monday as allies seek to bolster the country’s defences against the Islamic State group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border.
Anti-tank guided missiles are set to arrive at an air force base in Beirut, overseen by French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and his Lebanese counterpart, Samir Mokbel.
France is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small corvette warships and a range of surveillance and communications equipment over four years as part of the $3 billion (2.8 billion-euro) modernisation programme…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian Ship Convoy Moves Toward Yemen, Alarming US Officials
U.S. military officials are concerned that Iran’s support for Houthi rebels in Yemen could spark a confrontation with Saudi Arabia and plunge the region into sectarian war.
Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships — some with weapons — toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials.
Officials fear the move could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 30% of Arab Youth Jobless: Labour Official
More than 30 percent of young Arabs are jobless because of unrest in many Arab nations and not enough investment, a top labour official said on Sunday.
“The unemployment rate among Arab youth until the age of 30 years exceeds 30 percent,” the director general of the Arab Labour Organisation Ahmad Mohammed Luqman told AFP.
“Unrest and a lack of investments have boosted the number of jobless.”
He said many graduates fail to find employment because their specialisations are not needed by private sector…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria’s Assad Says ‘Contacts’ With French Intelligence Haven’t Led to Cooperation Against IS
Syrian President Bashar Assad says the French and Syrian intelligence services have had “some contacts” over the fight against the Islamic State group but denied that there is any cooperation between them.
Assad made the remarks in a taped interview with French television station France 2 broadcast Monday.
In the interview, Assad said Syrian officials “met with some of your security officials, but there’s no cooperation” and no exchange of information.
Assad said there could be no cooperation as long as France maintains a policy of aiding forces seeking his ouster — rebel groups that Assad called terrorists.
France says about 3,000 citizens have links to extremist fighters in Syria and Iraq, with important contingents in both the Islamic State group and al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Iraqis Flee as Islamic State Makes Gains in Sunni Heartland
Thousands of families fleeing Iraq’s western city of Ramadi choked checkpoints leading to Baghdad on Friday, after an Islamic State advance spread panic and left security forces clinging to control.
A column of traffic several vehicles wide snaked for miles at a checkpoint in Sadr al-Yusufiyah, on the edge of Baghdad province, as minibuses, cars and trucks picked up families who crossed by foot carrying their possessions in bags and wheelbarrows. Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of Anbar province, of which Ramadi is the capital, described it as a human disaster on a scale the city has never witnessed.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have warned that the city is at risk of falling to the Islamic State despite seven months of airstrikes by U.S. planes in Anbar. Such a loss would be a serious blow to Iraq’s government, which recently announced a military campaign for the province after retaking the militant stronghold of Tikrit, and to the international effort to push back the militant group, whose gains in Ramadi have demonstrated an ability to create chaos even while under pressure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Aircraft Carrier Sent to Block Iranian Shipments to Yemen
A U.S. aircraft carrier has been dispatched to waters off Yemen to join other American ships prepared to block any Iranian shipments to the Houthi rebels fighting in Yemen.
The U.S. Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea amid reports that a convoy of about eight Iranian ships is heading toward Yemen and possibly carrying arms for the Houthis.
A Navy official confirmed to Fox News that the USS Theodore Roosevelt — along with her escort ship, the USS Normandy, a guided-missile cruiser — left the Persian Gulf on Sunday en route for the Arabian Sea, to help enforce the blockade.
Tensions are rising in the region even as the U.S. and five other world powers scramble to strike a final deal with Iran on its nuclear program by the end of June. The fighting in Yemen, where U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition against the Iran-backed rebels, is complicating matters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Viral Video of Dogs Being Killed in Iran Prompts Protests
A short film showing several stray dogs being brutally killed in Iran that went viral has prompted protests with celebrities joining animal lovers in condemning the cruelty.
The two-minute video featured the dogs dying after apparently being injected with burning acid in an industrial area of Shiraz, 900 kilometres (530 miles) south of Tehran.
The Fars news agency quoted the animal welfare activist who filmed the undated footage as alleging that those responsible had been paid “$4 for the body of each dog”.
Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar, whose Tehran office was the venue for the biggest protest so far with 500 people on Sunday, criticised the killings and called for an investigation…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Argentina’s Kirchner Heads to Russia to Press Nuclear, Trade Deals
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner will visit Russia’s Vladimir Putin Wednesday and Thursday to follow up on nuclear and trade deals the countries signed last year and cultivate a budding relationship.
Putin extended the invitation during a stop last July in Buenos Aires, where Russian and Argentine officials signed a raft of deals on trade, military cooperation, communications and energy projects.
Kirchner’s visit comes as the countries mark 130 years of diplomatic relations. But the relationship has gained new impetus in recent years as Kirchner and Putin have found common cause in their often antagonistic relations with the United States and Europe.
Putin is keen to bolster Russia’s support in Latin America at a time when the Ukraine crisis has deeply damaged Moscow’s relations with the West…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Analyst: ‘Islamic State’ Attack in Afghanistan ‘Won’t be the Last’
For the first time, ‘Islamic State’ (IS) has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Afghanistan. Is the group becoming a force to be reckoned with in the region? DW speaks to analyst Michael Kugelman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh: Land Grab Against Protestant Community
The Barisal District Bar Association seizes land belonging to St Peter’s Church. Some 15 Christians (including 10 women) were attacked when they tried to stop the land grab.” We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the land of the Church. We shall not leave our land,” said the secretary general of the Bangladesh Christian Association.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Bangladesh’s Christian minorities have experienced five attacks since the start of the year, all related to attempts to grab land. The last case involved an Anglican community in the southern district of Barisal.
On Saturday, more than 200 people, including Catholics and Protestants, formed a human chain in Dhaka, the capital, calling on the government to protect Christians and their lands.
Between 9 and 11 April, the Barisal District Bar Association seized land belonging to St Peter’s Church.
Some lawyers went as far as to attack 15 Christians (including 10 women) who were protesting peacefully against the seizure.
“Not only have they grabbed our land, but they also attacked our people,” said Rev David A. Das, general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Bangladesh. “Many women were sexually assaulted during the 11 April attack.”
“We shall protest until our land is returned. The Church’s land is holy. Nobody can grab it illegally,” the clergyman said.
Official papers show that the Church acquired the land in 1918, under British rule. However, since 2002, it has been fighting a legal battle to stop attempts to seize it.
The Bar Association claim that Barisal district has owned the land for the past 50 years, and that a court order allows them to build on it.
“We want to live here in peace,” said Nirmal Rozario, general secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association, who spoke to AsiaNews.
“However, because we are a minority, unscrupulous men often attack our people for our land and property. The government should take action for us.”
Still, “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the land of the Church. We shall not leave our land.”
Last year, Barisal District saw two Catholics killed also over land issues.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. State Department to Train Journalists in India
‘Liars like Us’ J School:
Heads up to the unsuspecting people of India: The liars of the U.S. State Department have taken it upon themselves to teach “ethics” to your nation’s upcoming journalists.
Don’t get caught up in the controversy that it “has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke’s 2013 hit “Blurred Lines” as a title for the course.
It’s not the name of the course, that could just as easily be called “Liars like us”, but what the course is teaching that’s the clear and present danger:…
Mothers of India: Don’t let your kids grow up to be journalists as long as it’s the U.S. State Department who get to teach them because they will be graduating liars.
In America, “accuracy, honesty, transparency, impartiality, and accountability,” went out the day Obama came in.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Xi Jinping Agrees $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan
China’s President Xi Jinping has signed agreements with Pakistan promising investment of $46bn (£30.7bn).
The focus of spending is on building a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a network of roads, railway and pipelines between the long-time allies.
They will run some 3,000km (1,800 miles) from Gwadar in Pakistan to China’s western Xinjiang region.
The projects will give China direct access to the Indian Ocean and beyond.
This marks a major advance in China’s plans to boost its influence in Central and South Asia, correspondents say, and far exceeds US spending in Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cisco Used Clinton Foundation to Cover-Up Human Rights Abuse in China
Cisco Systems had a public relations problem: Having invested $16 billion in the Chinese market, the technology giant was suddenly facing congressional scrutiny over its alleged complicity in building the so-called Great Firewall that helps China’s authoritarian regime censor information and surveil its citizens.
The San Jose, California, company endured a high-profile Senate hearing about its Chinese operations in 2008 and reaffirmed its “continued commitment to China.” But the issue wouldn’t die. A group of investors stormed the company’s annual meeting in November 2009, pressing a shareholder resolution that would force the company to prevent the Chinese government from using Cisco technology to engage in what critics said was widespread human-rights abuse.
That’s when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tossed the company a lifeline. Weeks after Cisco executives killed the shareholder initiative, Cisco was honored as a finalist for the State Department’s award for “outstanding corporate citizenship, innovation and democratic principles.” The next year, the company won the award. While the honors were for the company’s work in the Middle East, they gave Cisco a well-timed opportunity to change the subject and present itself as a champion of human rights.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Japan’s Population Falls for the Fourth Straight Year — to Its Lowest Point Since 2000
Marking another chapter in the curious case of Japan’s population, newly released government figures have revealed the country’s numbers fell for the fourth straight year.
The decline of 215,000 people between October 2013 and 2014 — which is 0.17 per cent — has brought the population down to 127.083 million, its lowest point in 15 years.
This means there were more than a million fewer Japanese residents in 2014 than there were at the country’s population peak in 2008, according to statistics from the Internal Affairs and Communication Ministry.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ethiopia in Mourning for Victims of Islamic State Violence
Ethiopia has declared three days of mourning following the killing by the Islamic State (IS) of more than 20 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
The Libyan branch of IS on Sunday released a video showing one group of men being beheaded on a beach and another group being shot in a desert.
Ethiopia’s government has now confirmed that the people shown being killed were Ethiopian migrant workers.
IS and other jihadist groups are present in several Libyan towns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nobel Writer Vargas Llosa Backs Islam Critic
Nobel-winning writer Mario Vargas Llosa on Sunday praised Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights advocate and leading critic of Islam, calling her “one of the most valuable” adversaries of “Islamic fanatics”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Africa Violence: Zulu King Appeals for Calm
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has asked for an end to violence after attacks against migrants in South Africa.
The king told crowds of thousands at a stadium in Durban that previous reports that he said foreigners should “go back to their countries” were distorted.
He has been accused of fuelling attacks in which at least seven people died.
Hostile sections of the crowd sang songs calling for immigrants to leave and booed a speaker who said foreigners had the right to live in South Africa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Brazil Executive Says He Paid $36.1 Million to Petrobras: Media
A top construction company executive has told investigators he paid $36.1 million in bribes to executives at state oil giant Petrobras, which is being rocked by Brazil’s biggest ever corruption scandal, local media reported.
Eduardo Leite, vice president at the construction firm Camargo Correa, told prosecutors the bribes stretched from 2007-2012. He is cooperating with authorities in exchange for a potential future reduction of his sentence, G1 news portal reported.
The construction firm is allegedly one of those that paid executives at Petrobras to give them contracts in exchange for overcharging. Then the executives would skim the difference.
“It was very easy,” Leite was quoted as saying in the report. He said overcharging on government contracts sometimes reached as high as 20 percent…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
By Brian C Joondeph
ISIS is operating training bases just across the US southern border according to a report last week in Judicial Watch. Specifically the base is about 8 miles from the Texas border near Ciujad Juaraz in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Mexican officials found documents in Arabic, schematic plans for the US Army’s Fort Bliss, and Muslim prayer rugs.
One would think this would be important news. A Google News search however showed this story was being ignored by the mainstream media. The coverage rather was by Fox News, Western Journalism, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and the Washington Times, representing more of the alternative, than the traditional media.
Instead the mainstream media is busy chasing Hillary Clinton’s campaign van, acting like a gaggle of preteen girls chasing Justin Beiber. Is this what passes for journalism these days?
Why aren’t journalists more interested in the ISIS story? Will ignoring the story make it go away?
If I were a journalist, I would be quite concerned about ISIS in my backyard. ISIS recently beheaded a Japanese journalist. Last year an American journalist suffered the same fate. Do the journalistic sleuths at the NY Times or CNN believe they would be exempt from a similar fate at the hands of ISIS?
[…]
So why ignore the ISIS in Mexico story? Covering the story would be an inconvenient truth contradicting the President’s assertion that the “Global war on terror” is over. Or that “Isis is on the run.”
The other reason to ignore the story is because of our open southern border, one of President Obama’s initiatives. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing the border each year. So are infectious diseases such as TB. And Enterovirus D68, a polio-like virus entering the US via illegal immigrant children arriving from Central and Latin America. Which the media calls “unexplained.” Calling attention to ISIS on our border might be a slap in the face of the President’s “comprehensive immigration reform.” If ISIS crosses the border and commits an act of terror, will the press call that “unexplained” too?
[No, they’ll call it “violent extremism that has nothing to do with the religion of peace.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Cuba: Utterly failed economic and social system that can only stay in power by jailing or executing anyone who resists
How much better it would have been for the Cubans if the U.S. had decided to make the island a territory like Puerto Rico. Then we could have let the island prosper without having to end up with becoming a Communist nation closely allied, first with the Soviet Union and after its collapse in 1991, with others like China and Venezuela.
The lesson we might be expected to draw from this is that Communism does not work. It is an utterly failed economic and social system that can only stay in power by jailing or executing anyone who resists. That is exactly what the brothers, Fidel and Raul Castro, have done since seizing power. One consistency of the past five decades has been the anti-America policies they have pursued.
The reason given by Obama was that U.S. policies toward Cuba “have not worked” and that it is time for a change. There is some truth in this and it should be noted that Canada has long had good relations with Cuba as have European and, of course, Latin and South American nations.
Even so, what are we to conclude from the report that Russia plans to join military drills with Cuba and North Korea that may also include Vietnam and Brazil?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Surreal World of Venezuela’s Queues
In Venezuela many basic goods are in short supply. The government blames America and Europe, which it says are out to destroy its economy. Others say the government has brought the problems on itself. The BBC’s Ian Pannell experienced the sometimes surreal art of extreme queuing in Caracas.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is run by a socialist government that has broadly speaking used — or misused — its vast oil wealth to benefit some of the people, some of the time and to keep itself in power.
A combination of woeful economic management — or mismanagement — and the steep fall in oil prices has left the government with a serious cash flow problem. And it’s left the people of Venezuela standing in queues across the country every single day, often for hours at a time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela ‘Receives $5bn in Finance From China’
Venezuela has received $5bn (£3.4bn) in financing from China, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says.
The money was for “development”, he said on Sunday, but gave no details.
The announcement comes three months after Mr Maduro travelled to China — a major investor in the region.
Venezuela is suffering from an acute economic crisis, as the price of its main export, oil, has almost halved over a year. The opposition accuses the government of mismanagement.
Mr Maduro visited Beijing in January and said at the time that China would invest more than $20bn in Venezuela.
Loans by China’s state-owned banks to Latin American countries rose by 71% to $22bn (£14bn) in 2014, according to estimates published by the China-Latin America Finance Database.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Ministers Discuss Migrant Crisis as Shipwrecked Bodies Brought Ashore
EU foreign ministers met on Monday under pressure to produce more than words to save migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, as the first bodies were brought on shore of hundreds feared killed in a shipwreck while trying to reach Europe.
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said as many as 900 people may have died off the coast of Libya when a large boat capsized, by far the highest death toll in modern times among migrants trafficked in rickety vessels across the Mediterranean.
Italy and Malta were working to rescue another two migrant boats with around 400 people off the coast of Libya on Monday. Hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the east, coast guards were struggling to save scores of migrants from another vessel destroyed after running aground off the Greek island of Rhodes.
Greek coast guards said at least three people were killed there. Television pictures showed survivors clinging to floating debris while rescuers pulled them from the waves.
Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi compared the smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean to the African slave trade of 300-400 years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Joins Calls for New Refugee Mission
Voices from across the German political spectrum agreed on Sunday that a new answer is needed to the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, after news that a fresh catastrophe had cost almost 1,000 lives.
“We have to try and bring more stability to Libya… only that way can we stop Libya from continuing to be used by people smugglers and organizations,” Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told ARD television.
“We have to stop the work of the people-smuggling gangs. That can only be done in international co-operation,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Urges EU Meet After Migrant Tragedy
French President Francois Hollande called Sunday for a meeting of EU ministers after the feared drowning of some 700 migrants on Sunday.
Hollande, speaking during a wide-ranging interview on French television, said that if the death toll were confirmed “it would be the worst catastrophe in recent years” in the Mediterranean.
He said Europe “must act” against the growing catalogue of mass drownings of migrants attempting to reach its shores, and called for closer surveillance of the routes used by smugglers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration Shutdown Now: The Oceans Sustain Our Lives
Again, as the title of this series commands your attention, remember that our U.S. Congress continues adding 1.2 million legal immigrants annually which equates to 100,000 every 30 days. The U.S. Census Bureau projects a total of 100,000,000 (million) added legal immigrants, their offspring and chain-migrated relatives within the next 35 years.
With that 100,000,000 (million) new immigrant Americans, we must feed them. Just about everyone consumes tuna, salmon, cod and dozens of other fish from our oceans. However, with 100 million more people, we plunder the oceans for food faster.
Oceanographer Callum Roberts said, “The oceans of today are filled with ghost habitats, stripped of their larger inhabitants. Our dismantling of marine ecosystems is having destructive and unpredictable consequences. With species loss and food web collapse comes dangerous instability. The seas are undergoing ecological meltdown.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration, Population Growth, And the Environment
By Leon Kolankiewicz
Reducing current immigration levels is a necessary part of working toward sustainability in the United States.
— Population and Consumption Task Force, President’s Council on Sustainable Development, 1996.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IOM Urges Restoration of Italy Rescue Mission
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on Monday for the immediate restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue operation after more than 700 people were feared to have drowned when an overcrowded boat capsized off Libya.
IOM chief William Lacy Swing also urged other European countries to support the operation, Mare Nostrum, which was stopped last year due to high operating costs.
The comments came as EU ministers headed Monday into crisis talks to discuss what may be the Mediterranean’s deadliest migrant disaster to date.
Italy’s coastguard said only 28 people had survived when the vessel smuggling people to Europe sank off war-torn Libya on Sunday.
“Get Mare Nostrum back out there, give it the support it needs to save these lives,” Swing told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
“Mare Nostrum saved 200,000 lives between October 2013 and December 2014.”
He said that Triton, a much smaller EU-run operation that replaced the Italian one, was “not adequate”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Many Migrants Drawn by Jobs, Welfare in Northern Europe
For tens of thousands of migrants who survive the hazardous crossing of the Mediterranean, the journey often continues as they slip through cracks in Italy’s border controls and head north.
With Italy’s unemployment at 13 percent, many new arrivals would rather settle in the wealthier welfare states of northern Europe where there are better job opportunities and more established refugee communities.
Helped by a blind eye from Italian authorities and visa-free travel inside Europe, migrants can relatively easily make it all the way to Scandinavia before they apply for asylum — even though European Union rules state they should do so in the first EU country they enter.
Of the 435,000 people who applied for asylum last year in the 28-nation European Union, nearly half did so in Germany and Sweden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mediterranean Migrant Deaths: EU Has ‘Moral Duty’ To Act
The EU foreign policy chief says Europe has a “moral duty” to act in the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.
EU foreign and interior ministers are due to meet in Luxembourg later on Monday to discuss the deaths of migrants trying to cross from Africa.
Some southern European nations say the EU’s credibility is now at stake after last year’s decision to scale back search-and-rescue efforts.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants Are Not Stealing Our Jobs; We Have Stolen Theirs, Even Their Lives
As a nation, we are caught between fear and compassion when it comes to migrants
by Paul Vallely
They are not stealing our jobs; we have stolen theirs, and their homes, and even their lives. The bodies that are washed up on Europe’s shores are the flotsam of our failed foreign policies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Distress Call as EU Ministers Meet
The International Organisation for Migration has received a distress call from migrant boats said to be carrying over 300 people in the Mediterranean. It comes as EU ministers meet in Luxembourg to react to an earlier tragedy over the weekend. Another migrant boat also ran aground near Greece, killing three.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mogherini Says EU Has ‘No More Excuses’ On Migrants
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said Monday the bloc had “no more excuses” not to act after the latest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean and demanded “immediate” action.
“With this latest tragedy… we have no more excuses, the EU has no more excuses, the member states have no more excuses,” Mogherini said.
“We need immediate action from the EU and the member states,” she said as she arrived for an emergency meeting of foreign and interior ministers following the weekend loss of a ship with some 700 migrants on board.
She said that just as the Islamist attacks in Paris in January had generated a common response, so this incident should give momentum to finding a common migration policy.
“The main issue here is to build a common sense of European responsibility, knowing that there is no easy solution,” she added.
Mogherini was touching on sensitive ground but she is a former Italian foreign minister and her country has borne the brunt of the latest exodus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway May Send Rescue Boat to Mediterranean
Norway could send a rescue ship to the Mediterranean as early as this year in a move to cut the number of refugees killed crossing from Africa to Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Opinion: Legal Migration to Europe is the Only Answer
It’s time for EU ministers to come up with unconventional ideas. Immigration without smugglers should be made possible, DW’s Bernd Riegert writes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rajoy Urges EU to Take Action After Latest Tragedy
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Sunday urged the EU to do more to prevent further loss of life at sea after 700 migrants were feared drowned in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees in Sweden Fear for Families Lost at Sea
As around 700 refugees remain missing after this weekend’s shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, devastated relatives in Sweden have told of their anxious wait to find out if their loved ones are dead or alive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Shipwreck: Boat With 24 Bodies, 27 Survivors Arrives in Malta
Italian Coast Guard vessel Bruno Gregoretti arrived at the port of Valletta on Monday morning, carrying 24 bodies and 27 out of the 28 survivors of a shipwreck off the Libyan coast believed to have caused as many as 700 to 900 victims.
Right after the bodies of victims were taken ashore and survivors underwent a medical checkup, the Gregoretti was scheduled to leave for the Sicilian city of Catania, where one of the migrants who survived, a Bangladeshi national, was taken by helicopter. He told authorities that some 950 migrants were on the boat that capsized.
Operators from Doctors Without Borders were on the dock of Isla in front of the great port of Valletta together with personnel from the local Mater Dei hospital after they signed an agreement with Maltese NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) to treat migrants in the Strait of Sicily with a medical vessel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Swedes Will Compare This to the Holocaust’
A Swedish MEP is stepping up a pan-European cross-party campaign for “legal and safe routes to Europe” for migrants in the wake of the latest Mediterranean boat disaster. Cecilia Wikström, has told The Local that EU member states are currently doing so little to help guarantee safe passage that future generations will compare their actions to Sweden “turning a blind eye” to the Holocaust.
The MEP — who is a long-time advocate of safer passage for refugees seeking safety in Europe — made headlines on Monday after she initially told Swedish television network SVT that future generations would liken the approach of EU governments to the policy of appeasement during the Second World War.
Speaking to The Local after the broadcast, the centre-right opposition Liberal Party politician said: “I stand by what I was saying at breakfast time. I think that my children and grandchildren are going to ask why more wasn’t done to help people running away from Isis, or violence in Eritrea or wherever, when we knew that people were dying in their thousands. People will ask the same question they did after the war, ‘if you were aware, why didn’t you do something?’. In Sweden we allowed our railroads to be used to transfer Jews to Nazi death camps.”
“There are more refugees in the world today than during and after the Second World War…The world is on fire at the moment and we need to cope with that,” she added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Agenda 21: Free Range Children
A recent story in the media about 2 children aged 10 and 6 being taken into protective custody by over-zealous officials has introduced a phrase I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more of in coming years — Free Range Children. The children were allowed to play unsupervised in a nearby park, and busybodies called authorities who took the children into custody without notifying the parents…
But the term used for this traditional parenting is itself falling into the leftist trap.
Free range; where have we heard that?
Oh, yes; the fad among hippies and back to the Earth types has been “free range”. Free range originally meant without fences, and it applied to livestock that grazed on land where ownership was dubious. The early ranchers in the west found huge swaths of prairie to graze cattle, and often they wound up grazing them on land owned by some homesteading farmer. (The farmers and ranchers often got into it over this, with bloodshed not uncommon as farmers objected to cattle ruining their property and cattlemen objected to farmers putting up fences in their traditional grazing lands.) But that isn’t exactly what the term free range has meant in recent years. Rather, it means allowing livestock the freedom to roam outside of traditional pens and to eat more grass and whatnot, less processed animal food.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy Pelosi’s Brand of ‘Prominent’ Catholics Harassing Archbishop
Everyone in the inevitably baleful Vale of Tears has a cross to bear in this life, but San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s cross Nancy Pelosi has more splinters than most.
Turns out that pro-abortion, pro same sex marriage ‘Catholic’ Nancy Pelosi is chief agitator behind the ‘prominent’ Catholics attacking Cordileone with demands for the Vatican to remove him.
Pious, holier-than-thou Pelosi is about as much a Catholic as Barack Obama is a sincere Christian.
That the Archbishop Cordileone hatchet attack’s running its course in San Francisco, no one should be surprised that it’s getting oxygen from big donors to Pelosi and other pro-abort Democrats.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is Not About Feminism… It’s About Control by the State
Is Cultural Marxism being repackaged as Third Wave Feminism and could this be the social engineering tool that seeks to eradicate free speech and the ability to engage in honest conversation?
Today on Press For Truth PFT’s Molly Poepoezeezoe is joined on the line by Paul Joseph Watson of infowars.com to discuss the evolution of feminism from it’s inception all the way to today’s so called “third wave”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ceres’ Bright Spots Come Back Into View
The two brightest spots on dwarf planet Ceres, which have fascinated scientists for months, are back in view in the newest images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. Dawn took these images on April 14 and 15 from a vantage point 14,000 miles (22,000 kilometers) above Ceres’ north pole.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Number of Displaced People May Hit Billion Worldwide by 2050 — UN
The number of displaced people around the world may reach one billion by 2050, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Holocaust victims didn’t CHOOSE to risk their lives.
I agree with you – there certainly wasn’t any choice about being rounded up and carted off to be killed.
But I’m curious as to the referral point for your statement. Is it that the people flooding into Italy do indeed have a choice when they get into those boats in MENA? Or rather I should say, when they pay a hefty price to be brought to the shores of the EU?
There has been much hot air emitted from the orifices of EU politicians and all purpose do-gooders on the subject of Mediterranean migrants. They have made multitudinous pronouncements on the plight of these people and tried to blame all sorts of causes and creeds while deftly avoiding the two main points;
Firstly, the hard working European tax payer is suffering from immigration fatigue. They don’t want these people but the elite will take no notice.
Secondly, the cause of the problem? IT’S ISLAM, STUPID!
>> EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said Monday the bloc had “no more excuses” not to act after the latest migrant disaster in the Mediterranean and demanded “immediate” action. <<
A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. When Abdul or Mfune take that first step out the front doors of their homes, the West instantly acquires full legal and moral responsibility for their safe passage, settlement in the country of their choosing, unlimited support, “reunification” with extended family, and mandatory deformation of host country culture to accommodate Muslim and/or African laws and thinking.
Just as quickly, the traveler’s own state or tribe is absolved of responsibility.
Think of that first step as a €500K jackpot winning step for the departing enricher.
This is what makes sense to lunatic European (and U.S.) governments.
But what if they’re not “lunatic”; what if they’re crazy like a fox?
The current U.S.administration hired “chaperons” to go to Central America and escort the illegals back. I would say “illegal children” but I don’t consider 16 year-olds or 20 year-olds to qualify as children.
When Italy ran out of money and will to continue their Mare Nostrum program the EU stepped in to fund something called Frontex, full name European Agency for the Management of External Borders. A bloated bureaucratic response to a war carried on via millions of feet marching or swimming across borders. Frontex is a good name – they’re a front for building up a critical mass of “immigrants”.
http://frontex.europa.eu/about-frontex/mission-and-tasks/
But with those trying to get out via the Aegean Sea, Turkey’s Coast Guard nabs the boats and makes them go back. Otherwise Greece would be drowning in immigrants too. Why this Turkish counter-move?
The deliberate way in which the U.S. (and some of the E.U.) destabilized and destroyed many of the countries in MENA ramped up the sound of marching feet as terrified people ran from the chaos and death.
Benghazi?? We built that. We own the responsibility for a lot of deaths, including our own people.
Cui bono?
The times are increasingly evil: if one more person invokes the Chinese maxim “may you live in interesting times” I will hit them over the head with this here interesting cast iron frying pan. We have long since left The Land of the Interesting and are now traversing the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The only way to get through that dark and dangerous place is to be the meanest junkyard dog in the Valley. If not “mean” then the most knowledgeable – authentic knowledge and understanding has become a real-time asset.
Conventionally speaking, the only way to traverse the valley of the Shadow of Death is by love and allegiance to the Lord of Light and Life. The meanest junkyard dog in the valley, by definition, doesn’t actually want to leave.
And the lord of the valley doesn’t mind if the dogs stay, as long as their deaths are entertaining.
Frontex? Sounds like a company that makes foundation garments for the fuller figure.
No. Frontex is much much bigger than that.