Kinetic activists for the Islamic State have attacked Palestinians in the Yarmouk refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus, driving civilians out of the area. Forces loyal to Hamas have reportedly counterattacked, keeping the ISIS troops from taking over.
In other news, the Italian coast guard and navy rescued 1,500 illegal migrants who had been crossing the Mediterranean in five different boats, and brought them to safety in Lampedusa and Sicily.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, K, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
‘700 Club’ Examines Future Islamic Antichrist
WASHINGTON — Before Joel Richardson’s groundbreaking re-examination of Bible prophecy, “The Islamic Antichrist,” hit the New York Times bestsellers list a few years ago, evangelical Christians nearly universally saw scripture’s most feared future leader as a European.
Another eschatological domino fell this week when the ever-popular “700 Club” hosted the author’s review of his findings, which have captured the attention of Christians stunned by what they see happening in the Middle East and the Muslim world lining up precisely with what the the ancient Hebrew prophets had to say about the end times.
The author of “Mideast Beast: The Scriptural Case for an Islamic Antichrist” sat down this week with host Gordon Robertson, who was filling in for his father, Pat, to explain how the Islamic “Mahdi,” the Muslim version of the Messiah, may be the same person as the Antichrist of the Bible.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CDC Building ‘Police State’ Registry System to Track Your Vaccination Status
(NaturalNews) Imagine a world in which the government has free access to your private medical records for the purpose of ensuring your compliance with official vaccination mandates. The United States is on the cusp of such tyranny with an Immunization Information Systems (IIS) program currently being built by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that will make your vaccination status available to health authorities, healthcare providers and “other authorized stakeholders.”
The CDC describes the program as a system of “confidential, population-based, computerized databases that record all immunization doses administered by participating providers to persons residing within a given geopolitical area.” In other words, it’s a vast network of tracking systems that keep tabs on who’s getting jabbed in accordance with official guidelines and who’s choosing to opt for natural immunity instead.
As explained by The Greater Good documentary writer and director Leslie Manookian, IIS is a vaccine registry system designed to identify and track areas of so-called “undervaccination” for which intervention by government jackboots is necessary to achieve certain vaccination targets — in this case, that means a 95 percent or higher vaccination rate across the country.
In its infancy, the program was essentially an opt-in system, at least at the individual state level, where parents could choose to have their children’s vaccination status voluntarily entered into the system. Over time, it evolved into an opt-out program where parents had to request that their children’s vaccination status not be tracked in government databases, and it now appears that the program has expanded even further to be a mandatory tracking system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial ‘Homeless Jesus’ Statue Looking for Home in Detroit
A Canadian sculptor wants to install his controversial “Homeless Jesus” statue in every city in the U.S. but is wondering if there’s a home for it in Detroit.
The life-size bronze sculpture has gotten mixed reviews in some cities where it has been installed. But artist Timothy Schmalz told the Detroit Free Press Sunday the artwork is meant to inspire people to help those most in need, especially at Easter.
The 7-foot-long sculpture depicts Jesus as a homeless person asleep on a park bench. His face is shrouded in a blanket. He is identifiable as Jesus from the crucifixion wounds visible on his feet.
Schmalz, 45, said he chose Detroit for his next “Homeless Jesus” installation after he found an anonymous donor willing to cover the sculpture’s $32,000 cost. The artist said now he just needs a place to put it.
The Free Press said the donor is a lawyer who grew up in the Detroit suburbs. He told the paper Detroit’s bankruptcy elicited a “very strong tugging at me.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Dirty Bomb’ Drill to Begin in California
A “dirty bomb” will be located in Richmond on Saturday, April 11, and more than 200 soldiers, airmen, local law enforcement and firefighting personnel will descend upon the city in order to defuse the situation — as part of an emergency response exercise, thankfully.
The daylong exercise, hosted by the El Cerrito Police Department, will take place at the facility shared by Richmond and El Cerrito fire departments at 3506 Cutting Blvd., the California National Guard announced Friday.
More than 100 soldiers and airmen belonging to the California National Guard’s 49th Military Police Brigade, based in Fairfield, will conduct decontamination, medical, explosive ordinance disposal and security training. The El Cerrito and Richmond police and fire departments and the Contra Costa County Office of Emergency Services will take part.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) According to the World Health Organization, GMOs are “…organisms in which the genetic material has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.”
Genetically modified organisms are organisms built with genes from more than one species. The process involves laboratories and scientists followed by regulators, lawyers and lobbyists. There is nothing natural about it. So when biotech argues that the techniques for creating GMO crops are just like traditional crop breeding techniques, those statements are blatantly false.
An Example of a Frankenfood One of the first GMO crops to be put on the market was Bt-corn. Bt-corn was made a few decades ago by combining the genes of a bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis, with the DNA of corn. This genetic modification was engineered to create corn that produces pesticide. Every cell now produces a new protein never before seen in corn, the Bt endotoxin or Bt protein. The toxin is produced in sufficient quantities to kill insects.
The Bt protein or Bt endotoxin must be ingested in order for it to kill. After ingestion, the Bt protein binds to the insect’s digestive tract. It can no longer feed, and in a matter of hours, its gut breaks down, and bacteria from its digestive tract flood the insect’s body. It dies of septicemia, eaten from within.
Other examples of GMOs include adding a gene from a fish into tomatoes and strawberries to protect them from freezing. Goats have been injected with spider genes in order to produce milk that contains proteins more durable than Kevlar. Also rice has been injected with human genes to manufacture pharmaceuticals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gov Jerry Brown: Californians to be Heavily Fined for Long Showers
Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) said Californians will face heavy fines for taking long showers.
Brown said, “This executive order is done under emergency power. It has the force of law. Very unusual. It’s requiring action and changes in behavior from the Oregon border all the way to the Mexican border. It affects lawns. It affects people’s — how long they stay in the shower. How businesses use water.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kansas Allows Conceal Carry Without a Permit
Kansans can soon carry concealed weapons without permits or training under a bill signed by Gov. Sam Brownback on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya School Terrorist Attackers Find Large Pool of Potential Recruits in US
Al-Shabab supporters may potentially be entering the U.S. within the large groups of Somali refugees the Obama administration has admitted.
The al-Qaida terrorist affiliate al-Shabab, the group that massacred 147 people at a university in Kenya Thursday, has plenty of supporters living in the United States.
In 2014, the Obama administration allowed 9,000 Somali refugees into the U.S. As of January 2015, the administration admitted 3,536 new Somali refugees.
Three American suicide bombers from Minneapolis who joined the terrorist organization have carried out attacks overseas since 2009.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the “Minerva Research Initiative” — the Pentagon’s Preparation for “Mass Civil Breakdown”
About a month ago we showed photos of the Chinese police engaged in a drill designed to crush a “working class insurrection”, in which the police did precisely what would be required to end a middle class rebellion. It made us wonder: what does China know that the US doesn’t. As it turns out, nothing.
Because long before China was practicing counter-riot ops using rubber bullets, all the way back in 2008 the US Department of Defense was conducting studies on the dynamics of civil unrest, and how the US military might best respond. The name of the project: “Minerva Research Initiative” and its role is to “ “improve DoD’s basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S.”
The Guardian which first revealed the details, reports that, “The multi-million dollar programme is designed to develop immediate and long-term “warfighter-relevant insights” for senior officials and decision makers in “the defense policy community,” and to inform policy implemented by “combatant commands.”
The premise behind Minerva is simple: study how violent political overthrow, aka mass civil breakdown, happens in the day and age of social networks, and be prepared to counteract it — by “targeting peaceful activities and protest movements” — when it finally reaches US shores.
Minerva is well funded: From the outset, the Minerva programme was slated to provide over $75 million over five years for social and behavioural science research. This year alone it has been allocated a total budget of $17.8 million by US Congress.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Our Lives and Freedoms Matter More Than Progressive Propaganda
The regime’s mainstream media purposefully ignores the latest renewable energy news and events while bombarding us non-stop with gay issues, Christian bashing, manufactured “white privilege” stretching to the nude color of bras and Band-Aids, and “black lives matter” idiotic disruptions of restaurant patrons around the country, patrons that have nothing to do with the black on black crime in areas such as Chicago.
Mark Duchamp, Chairman of World Council for Nature, reported on the dangerous effects wind turbines in Australia have on animal farms located in the vicinity of wind farms. “Life near turbines is hell, according to a panel of south-west property owners who have battled against wind farms for the best part of a decade.”
According to The Standard in Australia, farmers complained to a Portland panel that there is a need to shut down wind turbines at night across Australia, referring to their personal health and health impacts on their livestock. “The number of deformed lambs increased over the period of the wind farm operating near our property. The lambing rate in our merino stock decreased to a rate of 37 percent from 85 percent prior to the wind farms being established.”
I have written before about disruptions in ovulation, miscarriages, birth defects in mink farms and sleep issues with workers and ranchers who tended these mink farms in Denmark.
The much praised and promoted smart meters that were supposed to form a “self-healing” and “resilient” smart grid turned out to be a nightmare for many, particularly for 5,800 residents of Stockton, California whose smart meters exploded simultaneously when a truck ran into a utility pole, causing a power surge.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rolling Stone Journalist Who Wrote UVA Rape Story to Apologize
The journalist whose Rolling Stone article about a rape at the University of Virginia was debunked is expected to publicly apologize for her reporting, CNN reported Sunday.
Sabrina Rubin Erdely has not spoken publicly since December when her story, “A Rape on Campus,” was retracted by the magazine. Further reporting after the story was published found numerous discrepancies with the account given by the story’s subject, identified only as Jackie, who said she was the victim of a gang rape at a UVA fraternity.
Erdely’s apology will come in conjunction with an independent review of the article from Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, according to CNN.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schiff Says Al Qaeda Having ‘Resurgence’
California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday expressed criticism of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, saying Al Qaeda is having a “resurgence.”
Schiff also suggested the current civil war situation in Yemen could have been avoided had the administration put greater emphasis and resources into trying to deal with “governance issues” in Yemen.
The Al Qaeda offshoot group in the Arab Peninsula has taken advantage of the turmoil in Yemen since it started several weeks ago, using the chaos and deteriorating government to expand its foothold in southwest Asia.
“It’s absolutely a safe haven,” Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told ABC. “It was a safe haven before. And now it’s more than a safe haven. And it’s not just wide open for Al Qaeda, but it really is a new battlefield for sectarian tension in the region.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tech Titans’ Latest Project: Defy Death
Seated at the head of a table for 12 with a view of the city’s soaring skyline, Peter Thiel was deep in conversation with his guests, eclectic scientists whose research was considered radical, even heretical.
It was 2004 and Thiel had recently made a tidy fortune selling PayPal, which he co-founded, to eBay. He had spent what he wanted on himself — a posh penthouse suite at the Four Seasons Hotel and a silver Ferrari — and was now soliciting ideas to do good with his money.
Among the guests was Cynthia Kenyon, a molecular biologist and biogerontologist who had garnered attention for doubling the life span of a roundworm by disabling a single gene. Aubrey de Grey, a British computer scientist turned theoretician who prophesied that medical advances would stop aging. And Larry Page, co-founder of an Internet search darling called Google that had big ideas to improve health through the terabytes of data it was collecting.
The chatter at the dinner party meandered from the value of chocolate in one’s diet to the toll of disease on the U.S. economy to the merits of uploading people’s memories to a computer versus cryofreezing their bodies. Yet the focus kept returning to one subject: Was death an inevitability — or a solvable problem?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Man Told to Remove American Flag as it’s a “Threat” Toward Muslims
Old Glory called “threat” to Muslims
A Texas man is standing defiant after he claims he was told by his apartment complex that he had to remove an American flag from his balcony because it was a “threat towards the Muslim community.”
Duy Tran told KHOU that he has friends who died for the country, so he decided to hang one from his balcony after moving into a new apartment in Webster, Texas. However, he said that soon after he hung the flag, he was told by his apartment complex manager he had to remove it.
“What really stunned me is that she said it’s a threat towards the Muslim community,” Tran told the station. “I’m not a threat toward nobody.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Solution to Everything: Slavery to the State
Let me clarify that. Slavery to the corporate State. Government and mega-corporations work hand in hand.
The incurably naive believe the State is beneficent. The government is kind. The government knows what to do. The government will solve society’s ills if we let it.
Of course, the government, in the form of NSA, is spying on everybody all the time — but you see, that’s not really the government. It’s a rogue element.
Sure it is. And rainbows will appear at any moment and the people of Earth will experience a galactic frequency that eradicates all impulses toward conflict.
To put it another way, people see what they want to see.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
VA Forces Vet to Prove Leg Amputation With X-Ray
A former 75th Ranger Regiment soldier who lost his leg during military service described the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as so inept and bureaucratic that a medical official at one affiliated facility insisted on an X-ray of his artificial limb as proof of his amputation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will these Obama supporters ever consider who to blame for allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons, or will they simply assume that without their adored leader that it could have been worse?
Many of President Barack Obama’s political supporters seem to think that they are invincible.
No, not just invincible politically, but their own personal safety is perceived, based on their continued support of Mr. Obama, they view themselves as immune to any and all attacks no matter what possible source.
The majority of Obama’s core supporters are black (from all economic strata) or white (from more wealthy citizens) or younger, single women.
Unless they live in major population centers, they frequently live in gated and guarded communities.
But just take a look at where these supporters live, based on their voting pattern in the 2012 election.
Democrats, liberals and Progressives seem to be located in areas with high concentrations in densely populated areas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
60 Cases of Female Genital Mutilation Discovered in Swedish School
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Up to 60 cases of genital mutilation among elementary school girls have been discovered in Norrkoping in eastern Sweden since March, local media reported. Among the cases, 28 girls were subjected to the most severe form of genital mutilation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The relationship between humans and ants is far more complex than you might think.
The diversity among the different ant species is as complex as among human.
Several species of wood ants have large colonies, where several anthills make up a supercolony, and workers from the various hills roam more or less freely among them.
War starts when two different colonies compete for the same territory or resources, explains Torstein Kvamme, researcher at the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Big Bang’ Particle Collider Restarts After Refit
Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have restarted their Large Hadron Collider (LHC) “Big Bang” machine after a two-year refit, launching a new bid to resolve some of the mysteries of the universe.
In a live blog covering the restart, CERN said on Sunday that one of the two beams had completed the 27km circuit of the LHC, beneath the Swiss-French border near Geneva.
Scientists are promising nearly twice the energy and more violent particle crashes this time around. They hope the more powerful beam crashes — expected to start as early as June — will give them a peek into the unseen dark universe.
The collider was instrumental in the discovery of the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle that had long been theorised but never confirmed until 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Drinking Fluoridated Water Can Lead to Hypothyroidism, Depression and Obesity, Study Finds
(NaturalNews) Drinking water that’s been artificially fluoridated with synthetic fluoride chemicals has been shown in a new peer-reviewed study to increase the risk of underactive thyroid, or hypothyroidism, by 30 percent or more.
Researchers from the University of Kent in the UK, publishing their work in the Journal of Epidemiological & Community Health, found that people who consume fluoridated water are much more likely than people who don’t to suffer from a sluggish thyroid, a chronic health condition that often results in depression and obesity.
After evaluating the number of patients with thyroid conditions at general practitioners’ offices throughout England, the team, led by Professor Stephen Peckham from the Centre for Health Service Studies, observed that areas where public water is artificially fluoridated systematically had the highest prevalence of hypothyroidism.
Meanwhile, the prevalence of the thyroid condition in areas where tap water is left alone was found to be significantly less common, affirming what many earlier studies have found concerning fluoride’s displacement of necessary iodine throughout the body, a damaging process that essentially starves the thyroid gland of much-needed nutrients.
“I think it is concerning for people living in those areas,” stated Prof. Peckham about the findings. “Underactive thyroid is a particularly nasty thing to have and it can lead to other long term health problems. I do think councils need to think again about putting fluoride in the water.”
“There are far safer ways to improve dental health,” he added.
The thyroid gland is a major regulator of metabolism, and it is directly involved in all bodily functions. According to a 2011 study published in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, thyroid dysfunction is the second most common glandular disorder of the endocrine system, the damage from which can show up in any system of the body.
“Insufficient levels of thyroid hormone cause symptoms such as slower metabolic rate, weight gain, lethargy, intolerance to cold, dry and cool skin, and puffiness of the face and eyelids,” explains the study. “The blood pressure appears to be normal, but the heart rate is slow.”
There are a number of toxic halogens that displace iodine in the thyroid, fluoride being one of them (bromide is another), resulting in major thyroid damage. This is a scientific fact that has been proven over and over again,* and which is admitted by the U.S. National Research Council.
What this means, then, is that populations being forcibly subjected to fluoridated water due to misguided public health measures are also being inadvertently poisoned, against their will, with a substance whose ingestion doesn’t even prevent tooth decay but does occupy receptors meant for iodine and accumulates in bones, causing them to become brittle (just like it does to teeth when they become mottled because of fluoride).
“To condemn the entire population, already having marginal levels of iodine, to inevitable progressive failure of their thyroid system by fluoridating the water, borders on criminal lunacy,” said Dr. Barry Durrant-Peatfield, MBBS, LRCP, MRCS, a specialist in metabolic and thyroid-related diseases and author of Your Thyroid and How to Keep It Healthy and The Great Thyroid Scandal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
First PEGIDA March Held in London
The far-right movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West, also known as PEGIDA, held its first march in London, UK in front of the Prime Minister’s residence on Saturday.
The protest, which enjoyed little participation, was organized by the UK branch of the German far-right movement established in 2014. PEGIDA UK selected for Saturday’s gathering London’s famous Downing Street, home for the de facto residence of the Prime Minister and close to Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace.
The UK branch of PEGIDA has earlier announced the march via its official Facebook account saying, “Are you patriotic? Are you loyal to your country? Have you spare time? Do you live in London? Where are you going to be at 5pm? Watching TV or at PEGIDA UK patriotic rally? What is your excuse? Your country needs you there in London.”
Approximately 100 protesters gathered and held UK and England’s national flags.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greenland Vikings Outlived Climate Change for Centuries
Climate change didn’t kill off the thick-skinned Norsemen.
In the middle of the 13th century the Vikings who had settled in Greenland encountered no less than ten years of harsh and cold winters and summers. The Norsemen, who were living as farmers, bid farewell to many of their cattle during that period.
The Greenland Vikings were also prevented from setting sail to fetch supplies from their homelands in Europe because they didn’t have enough timber to build trading ships. So when Scandinavian traders didn’t happen to pass by they were left entirely on their own.
But this didn’t knock them out; on the contrary they lived with the worsening climate for almost 200 years during what we later would call the Little Ice Age. This is the conclusion of a new Ph.D. thesis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
On Friday, during the annual Via Crucis procession at Rome’s storied Colosseum, Pope Francis called out the “complicit silence” of the international community on the the worldwide massacres of Christians by radical Islam.
Thursday’s horrific Kenya university attack leaving 150 mostly Christians dead by al-Qaida-affiliated Somali militants is only the very latest.
On the eve of Easter Sunday, the terrorists responsible for the university attack promised that “Kenyan cities will run red with blood.”
The number of Christians who have fled and are still fleeing communities in the Middle East that have existed since Christ walked the earth is now in the millions.
Sad to think that as we commemorate the Resurrection of our Savior today, Christians are being persecuted worldwide in a violently hostile environment patently ignored by the international community’s “complicit silence”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Icelandic Population Genetically Mapped
By Tim Sandle
Scientists have performed whole-genome sequencing on roughly 1 percent of the Icelandic population. This is one of the largest studies ever performed of a distinct nation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Michael Bloomberg Reportedly ‘Considering’ Running for Mayor of London
A former New York City mayor is reportedly being persuaded to run next year in the London mayoral election by prominent government officials across the Atlantic.
The Sunday Times of London, citing the former mayor’s friends, reports that Michael Bloomberg is “considering” running as the Tory candidate in next year’s election in London. The city will elect Boris Johnson’s successor in May 2016.
Powerful Brits are apparently publicly backing the idea as well. Steve Hilton, a top adviser to British Prime Minister Cameron, is urging Bloomberg to run, the newspaper reported.
“It would be an incredible coup for London if Mike Bloomberg could be persuaded to run for mayor here,” Hilton said. “His kind of pragmatic, problem-solving leadership is exactly what London needs.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Appreciating Life More After a Terrorist Attack
A Norwegian study shows that some people find a silver lining in the aftermath of posttraumatic stress.
Posttraumatic stress is normal after a devastating event. And at the same time, numerous studies show that people can come out of such trauma feeling stronger or more grateful for their lives.
The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS) has been studying this phenomenon by collecting data from employees who work in Oslo’s government quarter, one of the sites of the 22 July 2011 terrorist attack.
Researchers found clear indications of posttraumatic growth (PTG), even among some employees who were not present at the attack.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Particle Smasher Starts Up Again
The world’s biggest particle collider was back in operation Sunday after a two-year upgrade, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) said.
As part of the recommissioning process, engineers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) successfully introduced two proton beams, the source material for sub-atomic smashups.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sharia Policeman in Swedish School
On monday morning emergency services were called to Eductus in Borås, a school specialized in teaching Swedish to immigrants, after a Muslim student threatened classmates who did not abide by his strict interpretation of Islam. They were reprimanded for laughing and a Christian woman who refused to wear a veil fainted and is currently in the hospital.
“It was complete chaos” says principal Jozefina Persson to the local newspaper, Borås Tidningar.
The class was singing the Swedish song “Öppna landskap” when the man interrupted and said:
“Quiet with you, you cannot laugh here in school. God forbids us from laughing”.
The man also pointed at a woman and said:
“You are a Christian, that is not good. Here everyone shall be Muslim and wear a veil”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain to Offer Citizenship to 2.2 Million Jews to Make Amends for Expelling Them in 1492
Spain wants to make amends for expelling Jews from the country in 1492 Exactly 523 years ago on Tuesday, the Edict of Expulsion, which forced Spain’s Jewish community to convert to Catholicism or leave the country, was issued by monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. It may have taken more than half a millennia, but Madrid is finally about to make amends for …
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Man Gets Disability Benefits After His Heavy Metal Obsession is Declared an ‘Addiction’
Editor’s Note: Only in Sweden. Roger Tullgren, 42, is unable to hold down a full-time job because of his love of rock A Swedish man is now able to claim disability benefits after his heavy metal obsession was declared an ‘addiction’. Roger Tullgren, 42, had consulted a number of doctors who testified that his obsession had indeed become an addiction,
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Police Arrest 16-Year-Old Manchester Girl on Terrorism Charges
British police say a 16-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.
Greater Manchester Police said Sunday the girl was arrested following a police raid at her Manchester home on Friday.
The number of terrorism-related arrests in Britain has surged in recent months as an increasing number of Britons try to travel to Syria to link up with Islamic State group extremists there.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Ambassador Barred From Prague Castle by Czech President
Czech President Milos Zeman has said the US ambassador is not welcome at his Prague Castle residence, reports say.
The apparent snub follows remarks by US envoy Andrew Schapiro seen as critical of the president’s decision to attend forthcoming World War Two commemorations in Moscow.
Several world leaders are boycotting the ceremony over Russia’s role in the Ukraine conflict.
Mr Zeman is considered more sympathetic to Russia on the issue.
Ambassador Schapiro had “overstepped the mark” by criticising the decision to attend celebrations in May marking the anniversary of the end of WW2, news portal Parlamentni Listy quotes Mr Zeman as saying.
Because of this “the doors of the castle were closed” to Mr Schapiro, Mr Zeman continues.
“I cannot imagine that the Czech ambassador in Washington would advise the US president where he should travel. And I will not allow any ambassador to have a say in my foreign travel plans.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
We’ve seen the way the Associated Press skews its commentaries, and this latest approach to delegitimize the State of Israel is to challenge her democratic values amid an expanse of dictatorships. After Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election to his post of Prime Minister, Dan Perry, AP’s Middle East editor, writes, “with the occupation of the West Bank grinding on toward the half-century mark, and with Netanyahu’s election-week statement that no change is imminent, hard questions arise.” His question and answer are, “Is Israel a democracy? The answer is not so straightforward.”
Editor Perry’s premise is an immediate indictment against Israel, crafted to set the reader’s mind in motion to join in the attack. Surely, he calculatedly omits the history that explains why these Arabs (now renamed Palestinians) remain in the West Bank. Not only did he fail to recap that it was because Israel was attacked by Jordan and won that war that she acquired this territory, but he also excluded the fact that Israel offered land for peace on eleven separate occasions. The Palestinian leaders emphatically rejected the idea. Their strategy was to keep these Palestinians as pawns for as long as it takes to change world opinion and paint Israel as the aggressor and punishing “occupier,” until they succeed in hijacking all of Israel for Islam.
Thus, these Palestinians became the world’s eternal “victims” of oppression, set up to receive perpetual support monies from the United Nations, Europe, America, and Israel, even as the original victims have long been replaced by succeeding generations. Meanwhile, the new Palestinians wage evermore-creative wars against Israel, including increasingly lethal rocket and human attacks; and myriad propagandist accusations of apartheid, illegal housing and roads; accusing Israelis of causing floods, droughts, and shortages. One effective accusation was the Jenin “Massacre that wasn’t,” when the majority of 52 dead were combatants, and Doctors Without Borders confirmed that Palestinians had disinterred old corpses for authentic scenography.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
John Boehner in ‘The World is on Fire’
In an exclusive interview, the House speaker offers a blistering critique of U.S. policy in the Mideast.
By Jake Sherman
JERUSALEM — John Boehner thinks the “world is on fire.” And America isn’t doing nearly enough to stamp it out.
The House speaker’s decision to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before Congress last month sparked criticism that Boehner was inappropriately injecting himself into foreign affairs and antagonizing President Barack Obama. But just hours after a friendly return visit with Netanyahu on Wednesday, Boehner made clear in an interview with POLITICO here he’s not backing down and will remain firmly engaged in the nation’s foreign policy.
“I wouldn’t have believed that I would be involved in as much foreign policy as I am today,” Boehner said in his hotel near Jerusalem’s Old City. “And it certainly isn’t by choice. It’s just that the world is on fire. And I don’t think enough Americans or enough people in the administration understand how serious the problems that we’re facing in the world are.”…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of pilgrims clamored to catch a glimpse of Jesus’s tomb in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre this morning, as a part of Easter and Palm Sunday celebrations in the Old City.
While some worshippers took celebrations very seriously, others rushed to take selfies with Jesus’s tomb, treating the event more like a tourist spectacle than a somber religious event. Many members of the crowd outside the church stood atop the steps of Golgatha in order to catch a better snapshot of the religious festivities below. The most savvy pilgrims had their cameras and iPhones attached to sticks in order to make sure they could get a clear shot of the religious processions.
Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his death. Most Christians believe that this event occurred in the Old City of Jerusalem, namely, atop Golgotha at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
According to the Western calendar, Easter is celebrated this Sunday (April 5). However, in the Eastern Orthodox Christian calendar, today is Palm Sunday and Easter will be celebrated on April 12. Since Jerusalem is a place where Christians of all denominations flock, both Easter and Palm Sunday were celebrated in the day’s events.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Priest Abducted by U.S. Sponsored ‘Rebels’ In Syria
by Raymond Ibrahim
Since the Syrian city of Idlib fell to U.S.-supported, anti-Assad jihadis on March 28, Christian inhabitants have been attacked. Among other things, the jihadis kidnapped 57-year-old Greek Orthodox priest Ibrahim Farah, head of the Greek-Orthodox parish dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Father Ibrahim Farah, a Greek Orthodox priest who chose to remain in the city and be with other Christians unable to flee, has been kidnapped and awaits a jihadi trial, where, no doubt, he will be “invited” to convert to Islam. Other Christians have also been abducted and are currently held captive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Easter Sunday: Islamic State Destroys Christian Church in Syria
By Raymond Ibrahim
As millions of Christian celebrated Easter this Sunday morning, the Islamic State destroyed the Virgin Mary Church in Tel Nasri, northeast Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fighting Continues Near Yemen’s Aden Port as ‘Dozens’ of Houthi and Allied Fighters Killed
Houthi fighters and allied army units clashed with local militias in the southern Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday as the International Committee Red Cross (ICRC) said it received approval from the Saudi-led military coalition to bring in vital supplies.
The Houthi forces have been battling to take Aden, a last foothold of fighters loyal to Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, advancing to the city centre despite 11 days of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition of mainly Gulf air forces.
Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia launched the air strikes on March 26 in an attempt to turn back the Iran-allied Shia Houthis, who already control Yemen’s capital Sana’a, and restore some of Mr Hadi’s crumbling authority.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hezbollah Praises US-Iran Nuclear Deal
A Hezbollah lawmaker in the Lebanese parliament, Nawar Sahli, told the English-language newspaper Daily Star that that the deal gives Iran “global recognition as a member of the nuclear club.”
The Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah praised the framework agreement reached on Thursday between the Western powers and Iran as “a victory.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Saddam Hussein’s Former Military Officers and Spies Are Controlling ISIS
Abu Hamza, who became the group’s ruler in a small community in Syria, never discovered the Iraqis’ real identities, which were cloaked by code names or simply not revealed. All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein, including the masked man, who had once worked for an Iraqi intelligence agency and now belonged to the Islamic State’s own shadowy security service, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the U.S. Would Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program
“In October 2014, the Air Force successfully completed one weapon drop from the B-2 aircraft on a representative target,” the Pentagon’s top weapons-tester reported in January. “The test, conducted at the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, demonstrated weapon behavior after planned enhancements were incorporated.”
The $15 million GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator weighs in at about 30,000 pounds, six times the heft of the existing GBU-28 bunker busters and nearly five tons heavier than the 22,600-pound GBU-43, once known as the “mother of all bombs.” The Pentagon has spent more than $300 million for 20 of GBU-57s.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran’s Persian Statement on ‘Deal’ Contradicts Obama’s Claims
By Amir Taheri
“Iran Agrees to Detailed Nuclear Outline,” The New York Times headline claimed on Friday. That found an echo in the Washington Post headline of the same day: “Iran agrees to nuclear restrictions in framework deal with world powers.”
But the first thing to know about the highly hyped “historic achievement” that President Obama is trying to sell is that there has been no agreement on any of the fundamental issues that led to international concern about Iran’s secret nuclear activities and led to six mandatory resolutions by the United Nations Security Council and 13 years of diplomatic seesaw.
All we have is a number of contradictory statements by various participants in the latest round of talks in Switzerland, which together amount to a diplomatic dog’s dinner.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iranian FM Zarif Receives Hero’s Welcome in Tehran Following Nuclear Joint Statement
Following the joint statement issued by Iran and the world powers in Lausanne, Switzerland on the Iran nuclear deal framework, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif returned to Tehran on April 3, 2015 to a hero’s welcome. The footage was broadcast by Mayadeen TV.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Slaughter Inside Gates of Damascus
[WARNING: Disturbing Content]
The terror group ISIS has taken over a Palestinian refugee camp inside Damascus, only miles from the presidential palace of Syria’s Bashar Assad with reports of mass killing and beheadings.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog group said the Islamist militants have taken over 90 percent of Yarmouk, on the southern edge of the Syrian capital.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS ‘Only Few Kilometers’ From Assad
Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
The hardline group’s offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital.
Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad’s seat of power.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Bans Skinny Jeans, Cigarettes, Cellphone Music: Group
ISIS is cracking down on hipsters in Syria. The Islamic State terror group has imposed a new law in their stronghold of Raqqa that prohibits young men from wearing skinny jeans, smoking cigarettes and jamming music on cellphones. Informants living in the Syrian city tell the anti-ISIS campaign group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently that militants have been throwing civilians behind bars .
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
No Peace for Iraqi Christians This Easter
(CNN) This is the time of the year when Christians the world over — more than 2 billion of us — reflect upon the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord.
In light of the tragic massacre of Christian college students in Kenya on Thursday, and the ongoing threat against Christians in other nations, this Holy Week we are calling upon Christians to also reflect upon the crucifixion, beheading, stoning, enforced slavery, sexual abuse, human trafficking, harassment, bombing and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Christians — and others — whose faith alone has made them a target of religious extremists.
Countless lives have been utterly destroyed in nations such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.
In June 2012, Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Iraq told the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “We beg you to help. We want only peace, security, and freedom. Please no more death, no more explosions, no more injustice.” By then, nearly every remaining church in Iraq had constructed a blast wall around its building to buffet the threat of the inevitable church bombing.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: The Extinction of Eastern Christianity May Figure Europe’s Own Future
An interview with Bat Ye’or, a foremost historian of the Middle East.
The numbers of Christians in the Middle East are dwindling. In Iraq, there were 1.4 million Christians in 2003 and there are now 270,000. In Syria, they were 1,1 million before the civil war and are now 400,000. Everywhere, from Lybia to Iraq, the Islamic State is beheading Christians or converting them to Islam.
It is a demographic and religious revolution of immense historic consequences. We talk with Bat Ye’or, the great Jewish historian of Egyptian origin who dedicated many books to what she called “dhimmitude”, the subjugation of minorities (Jews and Christians) under Islam.
What is the situation of Eastern Christianity?
The situation of Eastern Christianity is a tragedy of immense proportions. It entails human sufferings on a traumatic scale. Even those, like Egyptian President Sisi who would like to help, seem powerless in such dramatic circumstances. As for the West, the ideological and strategic choices it made in the last century incapacitate it and obscure its understanding.
Natural disasters like tsunamis or earthquakes have spawned magnificent solidarity movements in the West, but the disappearance of a Christian population, of its two thousand old civilization and memory, moves no one. Maybe it is one more sign of Western decadence, of a deliberate policy of deleting Christian identity by choosing globalization and Islamization — a policy based on the rejection of Judeo-Christian values rooted in our actual Western culture of execration of Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Iran Transfers Millions to Hamas for Reconstruction of Tunnels
Iran has stepped-up its efforts to support Hamas in Gaza, transferring tens of millions of dollars to the Izaddin Kassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, to help with rebuilding efforts, the Telegraph reported Sunday.
According to the report, the funds have been allocated to the rebuilding of tunnels and restocking of missile arsenals destroyed by Israel during Operation Protective Edge.
Iran’s renewed support is a sign of a revival in Iran-Hamas relations, allies previously torn apart over the conflict in Syria, where Shi’ite Iran backed President Bashar Assad, while Hamas stood by its Sunni allies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi to Raze Empty Villages on Yemen Border: Report
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will raze 96 deserted border villages to prevent their use by infiltrators from neighboring Yemen, where the kingdom is leading airstrikes on rebels, a report said Sunday.
Ten villages have already been demolished since a Saudi-led military coalition began air strikes on Shiite Houthi rebels on March 26, the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper reported.
It cited the border guard chief in the area, Hassan Aqili, as saying that the move was to prevent the empty houses from turning into “a safe haven for traffickers and infiltrators.”
The 15,000 inhabitants were resettled following a 2009-2010 conflict that saw Houthi rebels cross into Saudi Arabia from their stronghold in northern Yemen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Yemeni Sunni Leaders Abducted by Rebels
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni Shiite rebels, making an aggressive bid for power in the impoverished Gulf state, arrested more than a hundred members from a rival Islamist Sunni political party, including two leaders, the party said in a statement Sunday.
The Islah party, the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in Yemen and a traditional power player in Yemen, had declared its support for the Saudi-led coalition bombing campaign against the rebels and their allies. The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have been joined by security forces loyal to the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh — whose loyalists control elite forces and large combat units in Yemen’s military.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Palestinians Flee Fighting in Yarmouk Refugee Camp
Civilians have fled fighting in the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Damascus, officials say.
There have been heavy clashes there since Wednesday, after Islamic State (IS) gunmen attacked the district.
The UN said that nearly 100 people escaped on Sunday. A Palestinian official said that some 300 families had managed to flee on Saturday.
Up to 18,000 refugees are still trapped inside the camp as intense fighting continues around them.
Unrwa, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, has called for a halt in the violence to give civilians the chance to evacuate and to allow in much needed aid…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
The Fatal Hole in Obama’s Nuke Deal With Iran
Some observers affirm that with the U.S. shift in opening relations with Iran, the Saudis and other Gulf Arab countries might pursue their own nuclear weapons, concluding they can no longer rely on the U.S. for security.
Iran insists it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons but wants to use its nuclear development program for peaceful purposes. Obama has referred on a number of occasions to a fatwa, or Islamic legal pronouncement, from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei against developing nuclear weapons.
Skeptics of Iran’s intentions, however, point to the declaration of Iranian Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi that “erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable” and Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei recently joining a crowd in chanting “Death to America.”
Iran claims it has an “absolute right” to a nuclear development program as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When Iran “Deal” Falls Apart, The Pentagon is Ready
Two weeks ago we noticed something quite “persuasive”: ahead of the culmination of the March 31 April 2 Iran nuclear negotiations, the US had dispatched a huge naval presence to the Persian Gulf as part of “Eagle Resolve” a military exercise held in plain view of the Iranian coastline. The massive operation would consist of tactical exercises from the US Army, Marines, and various other military branches “with simulated portions of the exercise based on a fictional adversary.” Just in case the intention of this wargame was not clear, a CENTCOM official was quick to point out that “the exercise is not intended as a signal to Iran.” Iran quickly got the “non-signal” message and a few days later agreed to a preemptive agreement with John Kerry which has since been revealed, is anything but a “nuclear deal.”
So as the world awaits the outcome of next Iran “deadline”- the June 30 conclusion of the finalization of the Iran deal — the US is already hedging its bets. According to the WSJ, the Pentagon has “upgraded and tested the largest bunker-buster bomb in the U.S. arsenal, senior U.S. officials said, readying a weapon that could destroy or disable Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facilities should a nuclear deal fall apart and the White House decide to take military action.”
It turns out as the Nobel peace prize winner and his henchmen were talking peace, the Pentagon is actively preparing for war:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Boosts Air Defense in Face of US Prompt Global Strike Capacity
Russia’s active steps in boosting its air and missile defense capabilities are aimed against the potential threat of Prompt Global Strike which US “under certain conditions” might decide to carry out, says Russia’s Aerospace Defense Forces’ deputy chief.
The potential threat of Prompt Global Strike by the United States against the Russian Federation is one of the top challenges for the Aerospace Defense Forces, Major General Kirill Makarov told the Russian News Service radio.
In this regard an effective air and missile defense system remains one of Russia’s top priorities, since PGS initiative aims to deliver a precision-guided conventional weapon airstrike within less than one hour after Washington deems the target to be a national security threat.
“It is precisely to combat these aerial assets that we are building the air and missile defense of Russia’s system,” said Makarov, emphasizing that Russian political and military leadership considers this task to be of “paramount importance.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Taliban Publish Mullah Omar Biography
The Afghan Taliban have published a surprise biography of the reclusive Mullah Mohammed Omar, to mark his 19th year as their supreme leader.
The 5,000-word biography on their main website clarifies disputed facts about his birth and upbringing.
The US state department has a $10m bounty on Mullah Omar, who has not been seen since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
It was Mullah Omar’s backing for al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden that sparked the campaign.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Woman Beaten to Death by Kabul Mob Becomes Icon for Shocked Afghans Hoping for Change
KABUL, Afghanistan — Poets, musicians, actors and activists packed an empty shop in a Kabul mall to commemorate the short life and violent death of a woman who has become a symbol for justice and women’s rights in a country that historically elevates warlords and battlefield heroes to national icons.
The name of Farkhunda, beaten to death by a frenzied mob apparently in the mistaken belief that she had burned a Quran, has become a rallying cry for Afghans hoping the shocking incident will lead to profound changes in Afghanistan.
Activists say the previously unquestioned power of the religious establishment is being challenged for the first time in Afghanistan’s modern history.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Violent Acid Attack on Hanuman Jayanti Procession by Jihadi men at Jawad town in Neemuch district, Madhya Pradesh, injures more than 25, 10 with severe acid burns.
HENB | Bhupal | April 5, 2015: At least 25 people suffered heavy injuries including 10 of severe acid burns at Jawad town in Madhya Pradesh’s Neemuch district when some Jihadi miscreants pelted stones and threw acid bulbs at a Hindu religious procession being taken out on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti. Madhya Pradesh is a state in Central India.
Members of a Jihadi Muslim group hurled stones and attacked with acid bulbs at yearly Hanuman Jayanti procession of Hindus on Friday last. Soon both sides engaged in fighting, forcing police to lob tear gas shells and cane charge to disperse the clashing crowd…
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
Taliban Make Inroads in Afghan Provinces
Since the drawdown of US-led troops, Afghanistan has been grappling with a Taliban comeback in some regions. Locals have little confidence in the government. Kiran Nazish reports from Kunar province.
Although the continual presence of Taliban is nothing new in Afghanistan, many districts are gradually bowing to their authority. The government is aware that militants are overrunning most of the districts of the southeastern provinces.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gunman in Attack That Killed 148 Was the Son of a Kenyan Official, Police Say
The son of a Kenyan government official has been identified as one of the gunmen who attacked a Kenyan college where 148 people were killed, authorities said Sunday.
Abdirahim Mohammed Abdullahi, one of the Islamic extremists who attacked Garissa University College, was the son of a government chief in Mandera County, Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka told The Associated Press.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
After the worst terror attack in Kenya in more than 15 years, Garissa is beginning to recover. The curfew imposed by Nairobi is lifted in the morning, with shopkeepers opening their windows, matatus (minibuses) plying the main road and carts and pedestrians crowding the streets. By 9am yesterday, the makeshift camp at the military airstrip for survivors of the university massacre was empty, the last students on buses bound for their homes.
Even as Garissa comes to terms with the massacre, al-Shabaab — the group behind the attack at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in 2013 — continues to threaten its existence. “No amount of precaution of safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath,” the group warned in a statement yesterday. “Kenyan cities will run red with blood … This will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan public, are its first casualties.”
Mohamed Mohamud, also known as Dulyadin and Gamadhere, the alleged mastermind behind the attack, remains at large. “We will fight terrorism to the end,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta in a national address. “I want you to know that our security forces are pursuing the remaining accomplices. We will bring all of them to justice.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya Says Government Official’s Son Was Among Gunmen in Garissa Attack
(Reuters) — The son of a Kenyan government official was one of the masked gunmen who killed nearly 150 people at a university last week, the interior ministry said on Sunday, as Kenyan churches hired armed guards to protect their Easter congregations.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said Abdirahim Abdullahi was one of four gunmen who stormed the college campus in Garissa, some 200km (120 miles) from the Somali border.
An ethnic Somali with Kenyan nationality, his father is a government official in the northern Mandera county bordering Somalia, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Militant Group Threatens Additional Attacks on Kenya
GARISSA, Kenya — Two days after al-Shabab militants slaughtered 148 people in a devastating attack on a university in northeastern Kenya, the Islamic extremists issued a chilling threat that its terrorizing of Kenya was far from over.
“Kenyan cities will run red with blood,” al-Shabab said, according to the SITE intelligence monitoring group. “No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Country Without Borders — Video
A new Obama administration program is FLYING illegal alien children to the US so they don’t have to make the trek on foot.
And you get to pay for it!
Millions of illegal alien children from Central America make qualify for the program.
And once the arrive in the US they children and families will qualify for free education, food stamps, medical expenses and living expenses.
Better yet, when State Department spokesperson Marie Harf was asked about the cost of the program. She answered, “The pricetag? I don’t know.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Rescue 1,500 Migrants in Mediterranean
Some 1,500 migrants have been rescued from boats trying to cross to Italy in the space of 24 hours, the Italian coastguard has said.
The navy and coastguard despatched vessels to rescue the migrants from five different boats.
The UNHCR says almost 3,500 people died and more than 200,000 were rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe last year.
The chaotic political situation in Libya has added to the crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Rescues 1,500 Migrants at Sea in Less Than 24 Hours
Italian navy and coast guard ships rescued around 1,500 migrants aboard five boats in the southern Mediterranean in less than 24 hours, officials said on Sunday.
All of the migrants were rescued on Saturday by two coast guard ships and one navy ship in five separate operations, the coast guard said in a statement.
Three of the migrants’ boats were in difficulty and sent rescue requests via satellite phones while they were off the coast of Libya. The Italian vessels spotted the other two while heading for the others.
The migrants were all transboarded onto the Italian ships and were being taken to either the island of Lampedusa or ports in Sicily, the statement said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Surge of Illegals Apply for Driver’s Licenses
A surge of undocumented immigrants seeking driver’s licenses has surprised the California Department of Motor Vehicles, pouring in at twice the rate officials expected and underscoring massive interest in the new program.
Just three months after driver’s licenses became available to immigrants living in California illegally, the product of legislation advocates had pursued fruitlessly for years before prevailing and passing Assembly Bill 60 in 2013, 493,998 have sought licenses. The number has surprised officials who spent months bracing for an influx of new customers by hiring staff, opening new DMV offices and extending hours.
“The interest in this program is far greater than anyone anticipated,” DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Undocumented Migrants Risk Getting the Wrong Treatment
Health care staff from different hospitals around Sweden are worried about giving the wrong treatment to patients who are undocumented, reports Swedish Radio News.
Many undocumented migrants do not realize that they have a right to their own patient card, and instead will borrow another person’s identification card or patient card.
Undocumented migrants in Sweden do have the legal right to subsidized healthcare.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gay’ Cakes Protected, Anti-’Gay’ Cakes Not
The Colorado Civil Rights Division, which earlier ruled a Christian bakery could not refuse to make a wedding cake for a “same-sex” marriage, has denied any discrimination took place when another bakery turned down a request to make cakes that including Bible verses labeling homosexual conduct as sin.
Last week, the state agency ruled that Denver’s Azucar Bakery did not discriminate against William Jack, a Christian from Castle Rock, by refusing to make two cakes with “groomsmen” X’d out and Bible verses the following Bible verses: “God hates sin. Psalm 45:7,” “Homosexuality is a detestable sin. Leviticus 18:2,” “God loves sinners” and “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.”
He told the civil rights agency he ordered the cakes with the imagery and biblical verses to convey that same-sex marriage is, in his words, “un-biblical and inappropriate.”
Marjorie Silva, the owner of the bakery, told Jack that she would make him the Bible-shaped cakes, but would not decorate them with the biblical verses and the image of the groomsmen that he requested. Instead, she offered to provide him with icing and a pastry bag so he could write or draw whatever messages he wished on the cakes.
Silva also reportedly told the civil rights agency that she also told Jack her bakery “does not discriminate” and “accept[s] all humans.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Justice Dept.: Prison Must Treat Inmate’s Gender Condition
Prison officials must treat an inmate’s gender identity condition just as they would treat any other medical or mental health condition, the Justice Department said in a court filing Friday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Religious Conservatives Targets of Discrimination, Lawyer Says
Jordan Lorence is a veteran attorney who in 2006 represented a female photographer in one of the cases widely cited in the “religious freedom” law debate this week.
From his office in Washington, he has watched the events in Indiana and Arkansas and quickly reached this conclusion: Religious conservatives are the ones being discriminated against for their stance of conscience.
Lorence, the senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious-based legal lobbying group, represented a New Mexico photographer who declined to take photos for a gay wedding.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anarcho-Communism/Collectivism — Planned Chaos — Video
Anarchist communism and communist anarchism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, capitalism, wages and private property (while retaining respect for personal property), and in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy, and a horizontal network of voluntary associations and workers’ councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Criminals Built Capitalism
By Clive Crook
Whenever buyers and sellers get together, opportunities to fleece the other guy arise. The history of markets is, in part, the history of lying, cheating and stealing — and of the effort down the years to fight commercial crime.
In fact, the evolution of the modern economy owes more than you might think to these outlaws. That’s the theme of “Forging Capitalism: Rogues, Swindlers, Frauds, and the Rise of Modern Finance” by Ian Klaus. It’s a history of financial crimes in the 19th and early 20th centuries that traces a recurring sequence: new markets, new ways to cheat, new ways to transact and secure trust. As Klaus says, criminals helped build modern capitalism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Mark Steyn
On this Good Friday, Christians are under attack in Africa. On this Passover, Jews are under assault in Europe. And on any day of the week anyone who catches the eye of the caliph’s enforcers is getting his head sawed off in the Islamic State.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“the Italian coast guard and navy rescued 1,500 illegal migrants who had been crossing the Mediterranean in five different boats, and brought them to safety in Lampedusa and Sicily”
Muhammad was right to decree 4 wives: easy to take over the world, easy for crap dhimmis to feed and clothe them and provide them with all type of
gratification”
After all Europe, which has super values, not possessed by any other culture, is determined to stick to them even if it means self-destruction. Europeans are known for their steadfast adherence to rationale principles. They have created laws to act as superhuman. Or perhaps muslims/ arabs have dictated those laws and EU has to apply them blindly, stupidly, indiscriminately.
>>In other news, the Italian coast guard and navy rescued 1,500 illegal migrants who had been crossing the Mediterranean in five different boats, and brought them to safety in Lampedusa and Sicily. <<
Ha ha. You had me going there. Nice try. We all know the Italian navy escorted those boats to safety in Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. It just wouldn't make any sense to escort them TO Italy.
“Titus – somehow it doesn’t feel quite right?”
http://www.bonton.se/modules/bonton/file.asp?d=2015-04-06
For goodness sake read : especially the first one. Islam is gaining not because it is strong but because we are stupid an take no action by the traitors.
http://vladtepesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/EbookHowToSurviveInTheWest2015.pdf
http://vladtepesblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ebook-The-REVIVED-CALIPHATE-2014.pdf