The death of Freddie Gray while he was in the custody of Baltimore police has been ruled a homicide, and six police officers are being charged in connection with his death. The driver of the police van was charged with second-degree murder, the most serious offense.
In other news, police in the western German city of Oberursel are on high alert after the threat of a terror attack forced the cancellation of a major bicycle race. The cyclists were relieved when they learned that the incident had nothing to do with Islam.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, 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.
16 Signs That the Economy Has Stalled Out and the Next Economic Downturn is Here
If U.S. economic growth falls any lower, we are officially going to be in recession territory. On Wednesday, we learned that U.S. GDP grew at a 0.2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2015. That was much lower than all of the “experts” were projecting. And of course there are all sorts of questions whether the GDP numbers the government feeds us are legitimate anyway. According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if honest numbers were used they would show that U.S. GDP growth has been continuously negative since 2005. But even if we consider the number that the government has given us to be the “real” number, it still shows that the U.S. economy has stalled out. It is almost as if we have hit a “turning point”, and there are many out there (including myself) that believe that the next major economic downturn is dead ahead. As you will see in this article, a whole bunch of things are happening right now that we would expect to see if a recession was beginning. The following are 16 signs that the economy has stalled out and the next economic downturn is here…
#1 We just learned that U.S. GDP grew at an anemic 0.2 percent annual rate during the first quarter of 2015…
The gross domestic product grew between January and March at an annualized rate of 0.2 percent, the U.S. Commerce Department said, adding to the picture of an economy braking sharply after accelerating for much of last year. The pace fell well shy of the 1 percent mark anticipated by analysts and marked the weakest quarter in a year.
#2 If you strip a very unusual inventory buildup out of the GDP number, U.S. GDP would have actually fallen at a -2.5 percent annual rate during the first quarter…
The only good news: the massive inventory build, the largest since 2010, boosted GDP by nearly 3.0%. Without this epic stockpiling of non-farm inventory which will have to be liquidated at some point (and at a very low price) Q1 GDP would have been -2.5%.
#3 Our trade deficit with the rest of the planet is absolutely killing our economic growth. According to the Reality Chek Blog, U.S. economic growth would have been a total of 8 percent higher since the end of the last recession if we actually had balanced trade with other nations…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gold Manipulators Busted After Zero Hedge Report on Flagrant Gold Spoofing
In the aftermath of the Nav Sarao scapegoating farce, one week ago Zero Hedge decided to give the confused CFTC a helping hand and launched a daily series highlighting the constant spoofing and “manipulation” (in the CFTC and DOJ’s own words) that takes place in every asset class, but mostly in the E-mini futures (“Dear CFTC: This Is The Market Manipulating “Spoofing” Taking Place In The E-Mini Just Today”). Virtually every day since then we presented the “regulators” at the commodity trading commission a clear example of stock market manipulation, with the exception of Tuesday, when with the exclusive help of Nanex, we showed a clear case of gold spoofing…
Much to our dismay, overnight we learned that while the CFTC continues to be very, very confused and challenged by all those lobby payments by the world’s “liquidity providing” HFTs and ignores all documented evidence of manipulation, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange — owner of the futures exchange wheer the bulk of modern manipulation takes place — did read this evidence of manipulation, and decided to immediately take action, suspending two traders for placing the manipulative “spoofing and layering” trades profiled here three days ago which were virtually identical to the ones that got Navinder Singh Sarao into headlines around the world last week. Except, of course, the asset class manipulated was gold. And, perhaps what’s far worse, the manipulation sent the price of gold briefly higher.
The names of the perpetrators: perhaps not surprisingly, Heet Khara and Nasim Salim. Extend to Navinder Sarao and a pattern emerges…
This is the full CME release:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The announcement today (April 29) of a barely positive GDP first quarter 2015 growth rate of 0.2 percent (two-tenths of one percent) is an intentional exaggeration.
Today’s GDP report is the “advance estimate.” There will be two revisions, with the first occurring in one month on May 29.
Although the “consensus estimate,” which is Wall Street’s estimate, declined dramatically over the past month, the consensus estimate was for 1.0 percent. The BEA’s advance estimate bears the burden of impact on financial markets even though it is the least reliable estimate. Subsequent revisions receive much less attention. Because of its market impact, the advance estimate is fudged by the Bureau of Economic Affairs (BEA) in order not to upset financial markets keyed to the consensus forecast.
All indications are that the first quarter experienced negative GDP growth, that is, a decline from the previous quarter. However, if BEA reported a negative GDP when the financial markets were relying on positive real growth, the government’s Plunge Protection Team might be unable to prevent a substantial market decline.
Therefore, the BEA in its advance estimate reported a barely positive result that kept GDP out of negative territory. This gives financial markets a month to undergo an orderly reduction prior to the first and then second revisions of the advance estimate, or simply to forget the poor performance altogether until the second quarter advance estimate.
Maintaining stability and not shocking financial markets is now ingrained in US economic reporting. No government statistical department wants to be blamed for crashing the financial markets. So bad news leaks in slowly if at all…
The offshored jobs were not replaced with the promised “New Economy” jobs. No one has seen any sign of the mythical New Economy jobs. The “New Economy” is the transformation of the once powerful US economy into a third world labor force where new jobs exist only in domestic non-tradable services (services that cannot be exported) such as retail clerks, hospital orderlies, waitresses, and bartenders. As there are not enough of these jobs to go around, the labor force participation rate has dropped sharply.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A funny thing happens when the stock market herd turns — all the usual central bank tricks no longer push the markets higher.
What causes the herd to turn? The process is not entirely mechanical or predictable. Those in the front of the herd tend to lead those following, and so we look to the leading stocks, sectors and players for clues as to what the herd will do.
When the leaders of the stock rally dwindle to a few names, that is evidence that the herd is losing its momentum and confidence.
When those leaders no longer make new highs but instead notch lower highs despite good news, that is further evidence that the herd’s direction is becoming increasingly uncertain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
11 Examples of How Evil is Growing in America Like a Cancerous Tumor
Have you heard of “arterial tapping”, “flakka” or “cyberextortion”? In America today, just about every conceivable type of evil that you could possibly name is growing, and we are even inventing new kinds of evil that the world has never seen before. It is very easy for us to point tothe looting and violence in Baltimore and call that evil, but there is far more to the social decay of America than just that. The foundations of our society are rotting and decaying in thousands of different ways, and our biggest problem as a nation is what is found inside our own hearts. We have rejected the values and principles that were handed down to us by previous generations of Americans because we believed that we knew better than they did. But now look at us. Our country is falling apart all around us, and we only have ourselves to blame. The following are 11 examples of how evil is growing in America like a cancerous tumor…
#1 It has become trendy for alternative lifestyle parties in America to become as “edgy” as possible. But even some of those involved in these parties are now speaking out about an extremely alarming practice known as “arterial tapping”…
A fetish party attendee is blowing the whistle on a bondage-themed event she says would shock even the authors of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” Photos from inside the edgy, recurring party called Cirque de Plaisir seem to show a fetish practice called “arterial tapping,” whereby a dominant partner taps a submissive partner’s artery, controlling his or her blood flow. It appears that very blood is sometimes sprayed over a canvas as art.
“Some people just do blood play where they just get some kind of rush out of releasing blood from their arteries,” said the fetish party insider, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear people would judge her alternative sex life.
#2 A school principal in Wisconsin is in hot water for approving a poster that encourages young men to protect the character of the young women they are taking to prom. In the old days, this would only be common sense. But these days, the poster is being condemned as “sexist” and has created a national scandal…
Students at a Wisconsin high school have been left outraged after ‘sexist’ prom posters appeared on the school’s walls the week before the event, suggesting that the night should be seen as an opportunity ‘to protect her character’.
The posters, which were put up on the walls of Lincoln High School in Manitowoc, depict the silhouette of a woman wearing a gown which is made up of words such as ‘charming’, ‘fearless’ and ‘ambitious’, while a banner printed above her head reads: ‘A night to protect her character.’
‘It’s basically just saying your character depends on whether or not you have sex,’ senior Kelsey Schindl told Mashable. ‘And if you have sex, you won’t have any character.’
#3 A synthetic designer drug known as “flakka” is causing massive problems down in Florida. This drug is very cheap, very easy to get, and it causes many of those that take it to behave like zombies…
[…]
#8 The next time you “pay at the pump”, you might want to be very careful. Criminals are putting credit card skimmers on gas station pumps all over the nation in order to steal credit and debit card information…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
145 Authors Protest ‘Freedom of Expression’ Award to Charlie Hebdo as Islamophobic
by Phyllis Chesler
The PEN award to the survivors of the Charlie Hebdo massacre has drawn some very distinguished fire.
On April 26, 2015, six PEN “table hosts,” all highly regarded writers, publicly protested PEN’s decision to give an award for “Freedom of Expression Courage” to these courageous survivors. This award, to be given on May 3rd, is separate from the literary prizes.
By April 30th, the six (Peter Carey, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, and Taiye Selasi) were joined by one hundred and thirty nine authors who signed a petition of protest. In all, this represents only 4% of their membership.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Ad Council Responds to Bizarre PSA Featuring “Martial Law” Announcement
Why the Ad Council’s commercial agency would choose to create a clip announcing martial law after nationwide riots and use it in the context of a serene public service announcement about caregiving still makes little sense.
The Ad Council’s explanation that the “vintage” audio was intended to “invoke an earlier era” also fails the logic test. There has been no “earlier era” in the United States where martial law was declared after “nationwide riots.”Indeed, this is very much a contemporary concern given the aftermath of Ferguson, Missouri and what happened this week in Baltimore.
One of the main reasons why people were so creeped out by the PSA in the first place is the fact that the Ad Council’s acts as a virtual public relations front for the U.S. government.
According to University of Massachusetts history professor Robert Griffith, the Ad Council is “little more than a domestic propaganda arm of the federal government,” given its close collaboration with the White House.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Another Thrilling Episode of Blacks Behaving Badly
All I saw was people behaving badly; from Baltimore’s insanely liberal mayor to black talking head liberal operatives spewing idiotic excuses to domestic terrorist thugs turning the city into a war zone.
I thought, I have seen this stupid evil horror movie before (Ferguson) and I “ain’t gonna” watch it again.
The media is reporting that some black leaders are calling for peace. Well, I am sorry, but that is too little too late. How do you expect black youths to react to the Left’s orchestrated campaign to convince them that white Republicans and conservatives are racist and out to get them; white cops murder them at will, the rich got rich stealing from them and business owners are selfish and evil?
These lies have been sold to black youths by the highest black voices in the country — Obama, Oprah, Democrats, Sharpton, Holder, Jackson, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and assorted other race exploiting scumbags. If I sound angry it is because I am.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Another Solid Reason to Avoid Starbucks: Their New ‘Coconut Milk’ Is Low-Quality Junk Food
(NaturalNews) Starbucks has become ubiquitous internationally. It has its pleasant atmosphere and conveniences. But even with Starbucks’ high prices, Consumer Reports has rated McDonald’s cheaper coffee above Starbucks’ burnt bean offerings.
Starbucks recently debuted its very own “coconut milk.” But is it a healthy dairy alternative, or just another overpriced mediocre even unhealthy item that draws so many who think nicer surroundings cancel out the junk food offered?
Starbucks’ coconut milk has 14 ingredients: water, coconut cream, cane sugar, tricalcium phosphate, coconut water concentrate, natural flavors, sea salt, carrageenan, gellan gum, corn dextrin, xanthan gum, guar gum, vitamin A palmitate and vitamin D2.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Are We Being Psychologically Conditioned to Accept Martial Law in America?
Have you noticed that we are starting to be bombarded with images of troops in the streets? Have you noticed that the term “martial law” is coming up a lot in movies, news broadcasts and even in television commercials? In recent years, it seems like the solution to almost every major crisis involves bringing in troops. In fact, it has already gotten to the point where when something really bad happens a lot of Americans immediately cry out for troops to be brought in. And we are seeing the same patterns over and over again. Just remember what happened in Ferguson — protesters were whipped up to a frenzy, when the riots began the police were ordered to stand down and not intervene, and finally National Guard troops were brought in as the “solution” to a crisis that had escalated wildly out of control. This is the exact same pattern that we are witnessing in Baltimore, and as you will see below, National Guard troops all over the nation have been training for this exact type of scenario. A couple of decades ago, many Americans would have regarded the notion of “martial law in America” as absolutely unthinkable, but these days the threat of civil unrest is causing an increasing number of Americans to embrace the idea of troops patrolling our city streets.
The anger toward the police that we see in the city of Baltimore is very real, but there also seem to be a lot of signs that the events of the past several days have been orchestrated and manipulated. This is something that I covered in my previous article entitled “12 Unanswered Questions About The Baltimore Riots That They Don’t Want Us To Ask”. But what we have found out since then is that high school kids appear to have been “herded” by the police into the Mondawmin neighborhood in Baltimore when school was let out on Monday…
When school let out that afternoon, police were in the area equipped with full riot gear. According to eyewitnesses in the Mondawmin neighborhood, the police were stopping busses and forcing riders, including many students who were trying to get home, to disembark. Cops shut down the local subway stop. They also blockaded roads near the Mondawmin Mall and Frederick Douglass High School, which is across the street from the mall, and essentially corralled young people in the area. That is, they did not allow the after-school crowd to disperse.
Even though most of the kids did not seem to have any interest in participating in the much-hyped “purge”, it looks like authorities were determined to get their “purge” one way or another. The following was posted to Facebook by a Baltimore teacher named Meghann Harris…
[…]
Finally, after several hours of madness, the order was given and the National Guard was brought in to quell the rioting.
And it just so happens to turn out that National Guard troops all over the nation have recently been engaged in something called “civil unrest training”…
[Comment: Never let a crisis go to waste. An actual riot arranged so Guard could apply their “civil unrest training.”]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Baltimore Flip-Flop: When Did ‘Thugs’ Become a Radioactive Word?
By Howard Kurtz
Why on earth are we having a debate about the word “thugs”?
Isn’t that an utterly appropriate term for people who set police cars and buildings ablaze, loot burning stores and capitalize on an unfortunate death by destroying a community?
And given the seriousness of the issues raised by the Baltimore riots, how did this become a linguistic discussion?
President Obama complained about the “thugs” who rampaged in Baltimore after Freddie Gray’s death in police custody. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake complained about “thugs” as well—and was careful to spell out who she meant. She made a sharp distinction between those who protect peacefully “and the thugs who only want to incite violence and destroy our city.”
But the mayor, whose performance in this crisis might generously be described as erratic, took it back a day later.
“There are no thugs in Baltimore,” Rawlings-Blake declared. “Sometimes my own little anger translator gets the best of me.”
Non-anger translation: I took heat from the black community so I’m now disavowing my own words.
Excuse me, but when did “thugs” become a racial term? There are lots of white thugs out there. Anyone who engages in thuggish behavior deserves the label.
This is just PC run amok.
[Actually this is PC carefully applied by the vast politico-academic racial grievance industry, which is eager to set up yet another linguistic hoop for the crackas to jump through. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Billionaire Hypocrisy: George Soros May Owe $7 Billion in Taxes
George Soros likes to say the rich should pay more taxes. A substantial part of his wealth, though, comes from delaying them. While building a record as one of the world’s greatest investors, the 84-year-old billionaire used a loophole that allowed him to defer taxes on fees paid by clients and reinvest them in his fund, where they continued to grow tax-free. At the end of 2013, Soros—through Soros Fund Management—had amassed $13.3 billion through the use of deferrals, according to Irish regulatory filings by Soros…
Congress closed the loophole in 2008 and ordered hedge fund managers who used it to pay the accumulated taxes by 2017. A New York-based money manager such as Soros would be subject to a federal rate of 39.6 percent, combined state and city levies totaling 12 percent, and an additional 3.8 percent tax on investment income to pay for Obamacare, according to Andrew Needham, a tax partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Applying those rates to Soros’s deferred income would create a tax bill of $6.7 billion…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Culture is Not the Problem
By N. D. B. Connolly
BALTIMORE — IN the wake of the Michael Brown shooting and subsequent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., commentators noted the absence of black representatives among Ferguson’s elected officials and its police leadership. A Department of Justice report highlighted how Ferguson’s mostly white City Council and its courts spurred on explicitly racist policing, in part to harvest fines from black residents.
Then came Baltimore. The death of Freddie Gray, like those of Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Rekia Boyd and so many other unarmed African-Americans, at first seemed to fit the all-too-familiar template — white cops, black suspect, black corpse.
But unlike New York, Chicago and other cities with white leaders, Baltimore has a black mayor, a black police commissioner and a majority-black City Council. Yet the city still has one of the most stained records of police brutality in recent years.
In the absence of a perceptible “white power structure,” the discussion around Baltimore has quickly turned to one about the failings of black culture. This confuses even those who sympathize with black hardship. When people took to the streets and destroyed property, most observers did not see an understandable social response to apparent state inaction. They saw, in the words of Baltimore’s mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, “thugs,” or in the words of President Obama, “criminals and thugs.”
[…]
The problem is not black culture. It is policy and politics, the very things that bind together the history of Ferguson and Baltimore and, for that matter, the rest of America.
[…]
On the heels of any ghetto economy based on extraction comes the excessive policing necessary to keep everyone in place. Cities that are starved for income have found ways to raise revenues by way of fines and fees exacted from poor, underemployed African-Americans and migrants of color. These include property taxes and court costs. In Maryland, in particular, these come in lieu of property taxes that many of the state’s largest employers are not required to pay. The dangers of tax burdens and other unseen costs are as deadly to urban households as police brutality or fires set by “thugs.”
[“Cities that are starved for income.” Read “Democrat machines that are hungry for plunder.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Black Mom Changes Leftist Narrative on Violence
CBS reported, “Graham, a single mom with six children, denounced the vandalism and violence against police officers. She said rioting in Baltimore is no way to go about getting justice for Freddie Gray and that she doesn’t want that life for her son.”
Graham then appeared on the CBS This Morning Show to discuss the incident and the struggle to raise her children.
The important teaching moment represented by this dramatic incident, a brief moment of sanity in the media, undercut the left-wing effort to somehow blame the police for the riots. As a result, the “progressives” had to go on the attack against the black mother.
Over at Think Progress, the blog of the pro-Obama Center for American Progress, Graham was attacked as a “misguided” mother who exercised bad judgment in holding her son accountable. Writer Kira Lerner said the issue was alleged police violence, not rioting in the streets by black youth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat-Run Baltimore is a Gangsters’ Paradise
Of course the Obama White House sent a delegation worthy of a head of state to Baltimore for Freddie Gray’s funeral, even though it’s far from clear what happened to the career criminal. They were: Baltimore native Broderick Johnson, who chairs the racist My Brother’s Keeper Task Force; White House spin doctor Heather Foster; and Elias Alcantara, associate director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
And Obama is using government resources to keep the social justice-fueled fires burning in the streets of Baltimore. Left-wing community organizers from the Department of Justice’s infamous Community Relations Service (CRS) are on the ground in Baltimore, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said hours after being sworn in. CRS agitators swarmed Sanford, Fla., in 2012 and organized political theater that was ultimately successful in getting the innocent George Zimmerman charged with the murder of his attacker, Trayvon Martin.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat), the lawmaker from Nevada who claims his home workout regime assaulted him making him blind in one eye, condemned the violence and then excused the rioters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Reps. Keith Ellison and André Carson sought to bar outspoken counterjihadist Dutch MP Geert Wilders from entering America before his appearance on Capitol Hill today, Apr. 29.
Free speech issues aside, interestingly, in a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson advocating their position, Reps. Ellison and Carson sought to discredit the Dutch politician by linking him to a Nordic terrorist — a link that based on our reporting from February 2014 appears to have been debunked…
But was Mr. Breivik really incited by Mr. Wilders?
According to a letter that Breivik penned from prison in January 2014, Breivik stated that in effect he had duped the public in his manifesto by citing his political foes — among them counterjihadists including Mr. Wilders — as inspiration, in order to damage them and protect the neo-Nazi movement of which he was a part. Breivik wrote:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
DOJ Banning Veterans From Owning Firearms in Surprising Numbers
By Randy DeSoto
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to know why so many of our nation’s veterans are being barred from exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
In a letter dated this week to Attorney General Eric Holder, Grassley outlines his concerns that far too many veterans are being denied the right to purchase or own weapons due to an overly broad reporting policy adopted by the Department of Veterans Administration (VA). The senator noted that 99.3 percent of all names reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in “mental defective” category were supplied by the VA, according to a 2012 Congressional Research Service Report.
A 2013 senate report mirrored this percentage, finding that the VA reported 83,000 veterans as “mental defective.”
The standard the VA is supposed to use in reporting veterans to the NICS is whether the veteran poses a risk to himself and/or others. However, according to Grassley:
The VA reports individuals to the gun ban list if an individual merely needs financial assistance managing VA benefits. Although the VA process is not designed to regulate firearm ownership, it results in veterans and their loved ones being barred from exercising their fundamental, Constitutionally-guaranteed Second Amendment rights.
The senator explains that the burden of proof actually falls on the veteran, not the VA, in proving competency to manage his or her benefits; and wrapped up in that determination is the veteran’s ability to exercise his or her Second Amendment rights.
Regardless, Grassley argues that competency to manage financial benefits and meeting the standard of not posing a risk to themselves or others in owning firearms are two separate issues.
“A veteran or dependent shouldn’t lose their constitutional rights, because they need help with bookkeeping,” he said.
[This is being done to guys that went over to the sandbox and fought in 120-degree temperatures wearing a ton of body armor, gear, ammo and everything else. They got blown halfway to hell and then came home to this kind of fascist crap. An utter outrage. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Father Says Cop Shot Mentally Ill Son 11 Times
A Texas sheriff’s deputy shot a schizophrenic suicidal man 11 times and killed him “execution style” while the man was being hit with a Taser, the man’s father claims in court.
Darrell Turk sued four Fort Bend County sheriff’s deputies for the estate of his son Michael Blair in Federal Court.
Fort Bend County is part of Greater Houston.
Turk says his family member called 911 on Nov. 4, 2013 and told the dispatcher Blair had locked himself in the family home’s bathroom and was contemplating suicide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fox Report: Baltimore Mayor Ordered Police to Stand Down and ‘Let Them Loot’ [Video]
Fox News is reporting — citing a senior law enforcement source who spoke with correspondent Leland Vittert — that Democratic Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ordered police to allow rioters to loot stores Monday night, saying, “Let them loot, it’s only property.”
“This is coming from a very senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the orders that were given by the mayor and by her police commanders, down to the very core of the police riot units,” Vittert said on “Your World with Neil Cavuto” Wednesday afternoon. “What I am quoting now from him is, quoting the mayor, ‘Let them loot, it’s only property.’“
He also reported that his source was “very clear that on Monday night, that when [stores] were looted, that the police were told effectively to stand down and watch it. I was standing right here on Monday night. The police were about 75 yards up there… That’s what we saw happen.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Freddie Gray Death Ruled Homicide; Officers Charged
(CNN) Latest developments:
- Baltimore’s city government has brought in Judy Smith, the crisis communications manager whose life story became the basis for the hit TV show “Scandal,” to navigate issues related to the Freddie Gray case, a source familiar with the arrangement said.
- Five of the six officers charged were in custody as of around 1 p.m. Friday, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Friday. She said she ordered her city’s police commissioner to “immediately suspend” all of the officers facing charges.
- “There is no place in the Baltimore city Police Department” for officers involved in misconduct, racism and corruption, the mayor said. “There will be justice for Mr. Gray, there will be justice for his family, and there will be justice for the city of Baltimore.”
Full story:
Six Baltimore police officers will face charges in the death of Freddie Gray, the city’s prosecutor said Friday in an unexpected announcement that brought cheers from protesters and words of protest from the police union.
The announcement by Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby left no doubt about what she thinks happened April 12, when Gray was arrested: The 25-year-old died, she said, after suffering “a severe and critical neck injury” while being transported “handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained” inside a police van. It is against police policy to transport a prisoner without proper restraints such as a seat belt.
But the city’s police union insisted that none of the officers was responsible for Gray’s death.
“To the contrary, at all times, each of the officers diligently balanced their obligations to protect Mr. Gray and discharge their duties to protect the public,” wrote Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police President Gene Ryan.
The driver of the van, Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. received the most serious charge: second-degree depraved-heart murder, among other accusations — including manslaughter by vehicle.
Charges against the other officers varied. All were accused of misconduct and second-degree assault. Three were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
[And if any of them should be acquitted, there will be another “festival of the oppressed.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Goats Who Eat Monsanto GM Soy Produce Abnormal Milk
What exactly is wrong with the GM-fed goat’s milk?
- It has significantly reduced antibodies
- It had reduced protein and fat content
- It contains transgenic DNA
Just as with human milk, a goat’s first milk, called colostrums, is normally filled with proteins, important fats, vitamins, and antibodies that protect newborn babies from disease. All of these important factors were altered in the GM soy-fed goat’s milk.
In this study, offspring from conventional and GM-fed mothers weighed the same at birth, but those from GM-fed mothers weigh significantly less 30 days after birth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Government Agencies Love Expanding E-Zpass Coverage; Handling Data Responsibly, Not So Much
Traffic management may be the goal, but watch out for the mission creep. New York’s E-ZPass system started out as an efficient way to keep traffic on toll roads running without interruption, but has expanded its coverage to areas where no tolls apply. A couple of years ago, a New York driver rigged up his E-ZPass transponder to light up every time it detected an E-ZPass signal. It lit up a lot.
E-ZPass swears the information collected by its system away from toll roads is only harvested “in aggregate” and “anonymized,” and solely for the purpose of delivering data on traffic patterns. All well and good, but it’s still the same technology it uses on actual toll roads, where vehicles are tracked individually and specifically. This information is turned over in response to court orders (both civil and criminal) as well as to a variety of government agencies, including the New York City’s tax collectors and the Department of Homeland Security. It wouldn’t take much to flip a switch and have E-ZPass track drivers all the way through the city, far from any toll roads.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Crowd of Concerned Texas Citizens Protest Jade Helm at Bastrop Commissioners Court
(NaturalNews) A diverse array of Americans was present at the Bastrop County Commissioners Court at 9:00 AM on April 27, 2015. Citizens filled the seats in the courtroom, lined the walls and crowded the hall outside. Most of them were anxious to attend the meeting that would take place two hours later, where Operation Jade Helm 15 would be discussed.
By 11:00 AM, the crowd had more than doubled. Veterans, concerned citizens and even the county commissioners were astonished by the huge turnout, especially by how many younger persons showed up, informed through alternative and social media.
The crowd was too large for the courtroom, so a separate viewing room was set up downstairs, where a TV relayed the court proceedings via Skype, which cut out intermittently to the immense frustration of the local citizens, many of whom never heard their questions answered or concerns addressed.
County Judge Paul Pape presided over the meeting and said its purpose was to inform and answer questions about Jade Helm, not entertain conspiracy, advocate political viewpoints or try to change constituents’ minds on the matter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lawmakers Demand Answers Over Capitol Police Leaving Guns in Bathrooms
Lawmakers demanded answers Friday after a report that Capitol Police officers have left their guns in the bathrooms of the Capitol complex three times this year.
“The fact that dangerous weapons were left in the open, potentially within reach of the general public, is unacceptable,” said a statement by Reps. Candice Miller, R-Mich., and Robert Brady, D-Pa.
“We will be looking for a full briefing on these incidents, how they happened, what corrective action has been taken, and how we hopefully do not have similar instances in the future,” they said.
Miller heads the House Administration Committee and Brady is the panel’s senior Democrat. The committee oversees security for the House.
The newspaper Roll Call, which first reported the incidents, said one of the guns was found by a child. The newspaper said the others were found by employees who work at the Capitol.
One gun was left by a member of Senate Majority Leader Mitch’s McConnell’s security detail, and another was left by an officer who protects House Speaker John Boehner, the newspaper said.
[What, does this department have an affirmative-action program for the mentally challenged? Yeesh! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Mainstream Media Attacks Alex Jones Over Jade Helm Report
You know you’re right when you get viciously attacked by the establishment.
The mainstream media unleashed a deluge of hit pieces targeting Alex Jones and Infowars over the upcoming Jade Helm military exercise after the issue finally began to draw serious attention.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Marxist Democrats and the Return of the Hanoi Lobby
Today, with the help of the Republican leadership, President Obama is trying to wrap up a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that includes communist Vietnam, a dictatorship with the blood of those Americans on its hands, which has no respect for the human rights of its own people. Interestingly, Obama is trying to sell the agreement as a counter to China’s influence throughout the world. He wants us to believe that China and Vietnam somehow differ on their common objective of achieving world communism at the expense of America’s standing as the leader of what used to be the Free World.
Both countries would gladly welcome the U.S. to help pay to accelerate the growth of their socialist economies and expand their markets.
Vietnam would be free today except for a Democratic-controlled Congress that decided otherwise. Lewis Fanning’s excellent book, Betrayal in Vietnam, notes that “…it was not the Hanoi communists who won the war, but rather the American Congress that lost it.” Fanning writes, “It was not until after the United States elections in the fall of 1974 that North Vietnamese field commanders received the go-ahead in their plans to conquer South Vietnam. As a result of the Watergate scandals, the Democrats had gained forty-three seats in the House…
The Members of Congress for Peace through Law eventually grew to became the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest group of congressional members within the Democratic Party. This faction is the subject of Trevor Loudon’s book, The Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the US Congress, which is now being made into a major film.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan Proposes Bill to Require Official Visits to Parents Homeschooling Their Children
Will require two annual home inspections and official state registration.
The busybodies in Michigan have proposed a new bill directed at children who are homeschooled, which will require two annual home inspections and official state registration.
Stephanie Chang, a Michigan State Representative, is worried that homeschool parents will abuse their children while no one is watching. Apparently, the state wants to be the sole authority on child abuse; including indoctrination, a daily statist pledge for 5-year-olds, and the distribution of criminal records to teens who decide to smoke a plant.
Like dogs and sex offenders, the state wants children registered. As a result, thousands of decent and caring homeschool parents may soon be forced to allow an inspection of their family or be in violation of the law. The tragedy the state is pointing to in order to push this bill is a 2012 case in which two homeschooled children were tortured, killed, and then left in a freezer by their mother. As tragic as this is, using it to create a new law to infringe on the privacy and sovereignty of 48,000 homeschooled children in Michigan is wrong.
Obviously, that mother was crazy and deranged.I would argue that it is clearly not the norm for homeschool parents who have consciously chosen to have a larger role in raising their children to then go on and torture them.
This proposed law is another knee-jerk and reckless response to a horrible event. Trying to prevent it from happening again by restricting the rights of all parents who homeschool is simply wrong. How many children are abused by their parents while attending taxpayer-funded schools? How many children are sexually abused by teachers at school? What about the babies who are abused or killed by their parents before they were old enough to attend school? Should all families be subject to visits by social workers regardless of where they go to school?…
The real kicker to this whole saga is that inspections wouldn’t have even helped stop this particular tragedy. For example, the mother had already been investigated by the state for child abuse in 2002 and 2005. The state’s response was to refer her to counseling. Disaster was not averted despite her already being on the state’s radar.
[Comment: Camel’s nose. Never let a crisis go to waste. Next step is to foist the same garbage indoctrination on the homeschoolers.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Mosques, Muslim Orgs Complain About Anti-Terror Program
By Robert Spencer
Have you ever — ever! — seen Muslim organizations anywhere in the U.S. express their unreserved support for any anti-terror program? Instead, again and again we get this complaining that such programs stigmatize and discriminate against them. One might almost get the impression that Hamas-linked CAIR and the other Muslim groups involved here don’t want anti-terror programs to succeed. Surely that couldn’t be so, now, could it?
“Minnesota mosques, Muslim orgs raise concerns with anti-terror recruitment pilot,” by Mike Durkin, KSMP, May 1, 2015:
Nearly 50 mosques, Muslim organizations and student groups have signed a statement that highlights concerns with a federal pilot program to combat radicalization and terror recruitment in Minnesota.
“While we support the right of all Americans to live in democratic communities free of violence, we cannot in good conscience condone or help refine programs that are fundamentally discriminatory and are likely to further subject our community members to additional civil rights abuses,” said the statement released by the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The statement lists 44 Muslim organizations as undersigned supporters, as well as the National Lawyers Guild.
“It is our recommendation that the government stop investing in programs that will only stigmatize, divide and marginalize our communities further,” the statement said.
The groups instead suggest the following framework to combat extremism:
Support for a Minnesota Muslim community-based task force, which is currently under development to serve as an outreach resource for law enforcement agencies.
Funds for anti-radicalization programs should be separated from federal counter-terrorism and law enforcement agencies. Instead, funding should come from foundations, community organizations and state and local government.
The Department of Justice should protect groups and individuals who intervene with those they believe are vulnerable to recruitment into extremist groups. Those who intervene should not be penalized with prosecution, watch-listing or surveillance because of their association with a potential violent extremist.
The statement also calls on Congress to investigate the federal government’s “overbroad surveillance of mosques and American Muslims, absent evidence of criminal activity.”
[In other words, throw pots of money at us and don’t look too closely at what we’re doing. In fact, don’t look at what we’re doing at all. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Pamela Geller’s Inaugural $10,000 Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest in Dallas, May 3
By Merrill Hope
The first annual Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest will be held on Sunday, May 3, at the Curtis Culwell Center, 5-7 pm, in the Dallas suburb of Garland, Texas. It will be hosted by human rights and free-speech activist Pamela Geller and her organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).
The exhibit will feature images of Islam’s prophet in both historical and contemporary settings, showcasing the top 200 artistic renditions that were submitted for consideration. The winner will be announced at the event, and a $10,000 prize will be awarded.
The keynote speaker will be Geert Wilders, a member of The Netherlands Parliament. Wilders led the fight for de-Islamization in his country, which has faced many of the same problems with Muslim assimilation as have other European countries, including the advent of controversial “no-go zones” inaccessible to non-Muslims, including public officials.
Geller has a special offer for Breitbart readers: free tickets. To take advantage of this invitation, email muhammadartexpo@gmail.com. Regular admission is $50 per person.
The Curtis Culwell Center is owned and operated by the Garland Independent School District. It was the site of the “Stand with the Prophet in Honor and Respect” rally in January. About two thousand Texans came to stand with Geller on the side of free speech and protest the Islamic fundraiser, which came on the heels of jihadis slaughtering the French cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo.
In an email, Geller told Breitbart Texas, “At a time when American Muslim groups in the US should have stood up for free speech and showed the world the way forward, they chose to stand with the Hebdo jihadists.”
[Great lead art on this story … ; — ) — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Prisoner in Van Said Freddie Gray Was ‘Trying to Injure Himself, ‘ Document Says
A prisoner sharing a police transport van with Freddie Gray told investigators that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the vehicle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prosecutor in Freddie Gray Case Has Talked of Need to ‘Repair’ Trust
(CNN) Shortly after being elected chief prosecutor, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said prosecutors in the hardscrabble town had the “toughest job in America.”
Mosby, who took over her first elected post in January, responded forcefully Friday to the toughest case of her nascent career. She announced charges ranging from second-degree depraved-heart murder, to manslaughter, to second-degree assault, against six officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray. Arrest warrants were issued for the officers, who were to be arraigned Friday.
The unexpected announcement was greeted with cheers and applause from spectators at Mosby’s outdoor news conference. On the streets, motorists honked their horns in approval. Twitter was abuzz with word of Mosby’s decision.
“To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across America, I heard your call for ‘No Justice, No peace,’“ she said. “Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.”
[Read: “As I work to hang these cracka cops out to dry.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Rudy Giuliani: He’s Not ‘America’s Mayor’ Any More
Rudy Giuliani is from a different era. He is no longer ‘America’s mayor.’ Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is
Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake made it quite clear she requested the rioters to be given “space to destroy” even though she later denied she said the plain words everyone heard. Instead of saying she misspoke, the mayor blamed the media for twisting her words that were more than clear. It is now being reported she had no problem with the riots saying what was being destroyed was “only property.” She allegedly instructed the police to stand down while thugs took over her city, destroying businesses, other property and throwing rocks and other objects at police.
Giuliani of course would have taken a different approach. He said the first person who threw a rock or did anything illegal should have been arrested. Ditto for the second person who commits an illegal act.
The former mayor is, of course, correct. The naïve theory employed by the mayor is that if you let people riot for a while they will eventually burn out and stop. That is nonsensical. While individuals may get tired and stop, this discounts the fact that the longer the riot takes place, the more people will find out about it and decide to join in. And, let’s face it, these thugs were rioting because it was fun, not because of what happened to Freddie Gray. Gray’s death was merely an excuse to destroy property and steal. What Rawlings-Blake did fueled the flames of destruction, and her sympathies, by her words, were with the criminals who were doing their best to destroy her city.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sharpton Calls for DOJ to ‘Take Over Policing, ‘ ‘Going to Have to Fight States’ Rights’
By Ian Hanchett
Rev. Al Sharpton called for the Justice Department to “take over policing in this country” and stated “we’re going to have to fight states’ rights” in comments recorded by the Baltimore Sun on Thursday.
Sharpton said, “we need the Justice Department to step in and take over policing in this country. In the 20th century, they had to fight states’ rights in — to get the right to vote. We’re going to have to fight states’ rights in terms of closing down police cases.”
He added, “police must be held accountable. I don’t think all police are bad. I don’t even think most are bad. But those that are need to be held accountable.”
[This would complete the conversion of American police into a standing army, accountable only to race-hustling politicians like him. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
May Day is historically a day for the workers of the world to unite, and march. In other words, a call for socialism. In the 2016 campaign picture, Bernie Sanders,a self-proclaimed socialist, has decided torun as a Democrat for the presidency. As Newsweek said when Obama took office, “We are all socialists now.”
Socialism is also the drive behind the rotting of America, the upheaval in politics, the killing of liberty, and the riots we’ve been experiencing, be it Ferguson, or Baltimore. The socialism behind the violence among the black population is specifically called “Black Nationalism,” and Black Nationalism is the cancer that destroyed Detroit, and the cancer that fuels the New Black Panthers.
Big Government, Socialism, Communism, Leftism, Progressivism, or whatever you want to call it, cannot win in the theater of ideas. The agenda is too radical, and historically a failure. That is why the force of law is used to push its agenda.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Study Finds “Presence of Professional Protesters to Incite More Violence” In Baltimore and Ferguson
If the Baltimore riots seem like a tired replay of Ferguson, there might be a good reason as to why.
A data mining firm with government ties that tracks social media reported that they uncovered a core group of accounts who appear to have driven much of the buzz and even more of the calls to actions by crowds on the ground.
The online activity of a few dozen of the same individuals were linked and timed with key moments in Baltimore and Ferguson, leading up to the most intense cases of both sustained demonstrations and episodes of violent riots in both of these cities.
[…]
The implications adds weight to those who have been arguing that the events — though triggered by controversial and arguably shameful events — appear highly scripted and tightly coordinated… with the integrity of news coverage and the role of provocateurs, “ professional protesters” and funding from agenda-driven figures like George Soros (who spent some $33 million funding protest groups) coming into question as they paint a larger picture.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Army is Testing Handheld Ray Guns
Soldiers with handheld energy blasters are the stuff of G.I. Joe, not real life … until now. The U.S Army is currently testing electricity guns for possible use against electronics on the battlefield. They don’t look like props from the popular cartoon show but, rather like regular standard-issue M4 rifles with a pair of antennas that shoot out from the barrel and then spread, giving the front end of the gun a musket-like shape. ===========
http://www.blacklistednews.com/The_War_on_Cash_Escalates%3A_Chase_Cracks_Down_on_Cash…_Is_Your_Bank_Next%3F/43702/0/38/38/Y/M.html
The War on Cash Escalates: Chase Cracks Down on Cash… Is Your Bank Next?
The Federal Reserve bank and its owners, the largest banks on Wall Street, want badly to be able to charge you interest for the privilege of depositing your funds. The problem is getting you to stand for it. Depositors already complain vigorously about zero percent returns on checking and savings accounts. If they must start actually paying the bank to hold funds on deposit, many will opt to simply withdraw the cash and stuff it under their mattress or into a safe deposit box. That simply won’t do.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Updated: Did Freddie Gray Have Spinal Surgery One Week Ago? Awaiting Story
Conservative Treehouse is reporting that Freddie Gray, Jr., the man whose death in police custody set off this weekend’ s Baltimore riots, may have had spinal surgery just one week earlier. Court records unearthed by the Fourth Estate describe a structured settlement with Allstate Insurance Co. which they allege came from a car accident Gray was involved in.
Another post just up by criminal justice expert John Cardillo however, challenges the idea that cited civil litigation arose from an auto accident. Gray was a defendant, not a plaintiff in this recent case, which Cardillo says stemmed from litigation launched in 2008 by Freddie’s sister over lead poisoning years earlier. Cardillo harshly criticizes Fourth Estate for “ highly unethical and irresponsible” reporting, given what he reveals to be the facts of the referenced case.
For its part, Fourth Estate claims to be releasing a story today at 6 pm that will blow the whole issue wide open. It will be interesting to see what they publish. If their story has any basis in fact, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will have a lot of explaining to do.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Walmart in Baltimore Refusing Ammo Sales
A Walmart in Baltimore is refusing to sell ammo to customers in the aftermath of riots that swept the city this week, according to journalist Charles C. Johnson.
Johnson, who has written for the the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard, relates how his cousin, who lives in Baltimore, was turned away by Walmart during a bizarre exchange that suggests the retail giant has instituted a policy to remove ammunition from its shelves.
“No ammo on the shelves. This is at a store 30 minutes from downtown,” wrote the individual, adding, “If you couldn’t specifically ask for what you wanted they refused to sell it to you.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Will it Take to Right the Ship of State?
President Obama’s trade agenda, the trade promotion authority (TPA), would allow him to fast-track new trade deals like Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 12-nations from Asia to Latin America. The trade promotion authority (TPA) bill, sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), and Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), would give Congress a vote on trade agreements “negotiated by the administration, but lawmakers would not have the option to amend those deals.”
If you liked the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with its millions of jobs lost and the huge U.S. trade deficit created, and none of the benefits advertised before its passing, then you are going to love the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
“This job-killing trade deal has been negotiated in secret,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “It was drafted with input by special interests and corporate lobbyists, but not from the elected representatives of the American people.”
TPP removes any remaining impediments to shipping American jobs overseas; it will rob consumers of product safety and labeling. It will also allow for unchecked flood of immigrants from the 12 signatory countries into the United States. Foreign companies can sue the U.S. government for any damages deriving on American soil. They can pollute the environment and the fees levied by the EPA against them will be paid for by the American taxpayer directly and indirectly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who Was Freddie Gray, Whose Death Has Reignited Protests Against Police?
Baltimore (CNN) Before the world heard his name chanted in the streets, before his cries echoed across televisions and sparked protests in Baltimore, Freddie Gray was struggling to make a life for himself.
The 25-year-old lived in a red brick row house with a white metal bar in the Gilmor Homes neighborhood.
Neighbors say he was friendly and there were no signs of his long rap sheet.
[…]
According to court documents obtained by CNN, there were more than 20 criminal court cases in Maryland against Gray. Five of those were still active at the time of his death.
Most of the cases were drug-related, but there are charges from March for second-degree assault and destruction of property. He was due in court on a possession charge on April 24.
Gray had been in and out of prison since 2009 for various drug cases, said Maryland Department of Corrections spokesman Gerard Shields. In February 2009, he was sentenced to four years in prison for two counts of drug possession with intent to deliver. Shields said he could not determine from records what kind of drug was involved.
Gray was paroled in 2011 and went back to prison again two years later for drug possession. After serving a month, he was released in June 2013.
His brother-in-law, Juan Grant, said drugs helped Gray support his family.
“When people come to buy narcotics or gamble or anything and they put their money in your hand, what makes you so bad?” Grant asked. “He had responsibilities. Responsibilities don’t stop because you don’t have a job.”
[How many jobs were destroyed in those fires — or won’t come to the hood at all because employers are afraid to locate there now? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does the Left Continue to Lie About Its Ideological Agenda?
This is a pattern. For whatever reason, liberals feel compelled — whether out of self-delusion or deliberate deception — to lie about the fact that they are liberals. Consider The New Republic, once the flagship journal of American liberalism. When Facebook multimillionaire Chris Hughes took it over a couple years ago, he had bold plans (which have ended in near-complete failure).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
You Can Now be Fired for Posting a Cartoon Gun Emoji on Twitter
In an idiotic act of PCism run amuck, The Houston Rockets NBA team has fired its social media director because he dared to posted two emoticons (or emojis) of a horse being shot by a gun after the Dallas Mavericks lost to the Rockets on Wednesday. The media guy’s bosses said that the gun emoji “wasn’t appropriate” and so fired him over it.
This is the idiocy we’ve arrived at, folks. It seems that all it takes for your career to be over these days is one non-PC action and bingo, bango, it’s the end. And why is a picture of a carttongun a fireable offense, anyway?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and Mayors Planning Not Only to Reform But to Totally Replace America’s Police Forces
With the undercover help of activist municipal mayors and councils, Obama seeks not to reform the nation’s police—but to totally replace them.
While diverting public attention by snubbing senators, and overriding both Constitution and Congress, Obama is now hammering the final nail in the Fundamental Transformation of America coffin.
It’s a mission aided and abetted by mercenary ‘civil rights’ activists Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and one largely conducted out of sight with White House help.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Muslim: Qur’an Revealed a Religion I Did Not Like
By Robert Spencer
Mona Walter grew up a Muslim in Somalia. When she moved to Sweden, she started studying Islam, and found that she did not like what she was learning. Now she has left Islam and is called an “Islamophobe” and worse.
What should she have done? Stayed in a religion she disliked and believed to be false so as to avoid threats and opprobrium? What should she do now? Stay silent for fear of charges of “Islamophobia” that inevitably come to everyone who dares utter a critical word about Islam and jihad?
In the West today one must like Islam, or is considered to have some kind of moral defect. One need not like Christianity or Judaism, or socialism or capitalism or democracy or communism, but one must like and respect Islam, or you will be considered to be “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “racist,” as well as “Islamophobic.”
This is one reason why AFDI and Jihad Watch are co-sponsoring the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in the Dallas area Sunday. The point is not mockery of Islam. The point is not poking religious people in the eye. The point is defending the principles of free speech and free inquiry, without which society and human beings are not free, but are slaves to the people in power. Those who wield the real power are not necessarily those who hold office. Those who wield the real power are those whom one dares not criticize, to say nothing of mocking, on pain of violent reprisal: if they’re allowed to frighten people into silence, then essentially they can do whatever they wish, knowing that no one will dare to cross them.
People might find drawing Muhammad to be distasteful. At this point it must be done — or the thugs and bullies will have free rein.
“Ex-Muslim: Koran Revealed a Religion I Did Not Like,” by Dale Hurd, CBN News, April 28, 2015 (thanks to Douglas):
GOTHENBURG, Sweden — Mona Walter is on a mission. Her mission is for more Muslims to know what is in the Koran. She says if more Muslims knew what was in the Koran, more would leave Islam.
Walter came to Sweden from Somalia as a war refugee when she was 19. She says she was excited about joining a modern European nation with equal rights for women. But as a young Muslim woman, that was not the Sweden she encountered.
[Good on her! But let her watch her six. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Remains on High Alert Over Suspected Bike Race Terror Plot
Police have continued to patrol the western German city of Oberursel following the cancelation of the Eschborn-Frankfurt City loop race bike race. The competition was called off over a suspected terrorist attack.
Authorities cancelled the event on Thursday after German police discovered that the race could have been the target of an Islamist terror attack. Two suspects, a 35-year-old German with a Turkish background and his 34-year-old wife, were arrested on Thursday night on suspicion of planning the attack.
A spokesman for Hesse’s State Office of Criminal Investigations said on Friday, however, that police were still securing the planned route.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Varoufakis Announces Tax Amnesty for Undeclared Funds
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, APRIL 29 — Undeclared deposits at banks in Greece and abroad can be legalized, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced on Tuesday after his meeting with Jacques de Watteville, state secretary in the Swiss Department of Finance, and Greek Minister of State for Combating Corruption Panayiotis Nikoloudis.
“The Greek government is undertaking a legislative initiative concerning the voluntary declaration by Greek citizens of their deposits abroad in a way that will reflect best European Union practices,” Varoufakis stated as reported by daily Kathimerini online.
The bill will be taken to Parliament for voting immediately and will allow anyone who has concealed income from the Greek state to legalize it by paying a 15-20% tax, after which they will not be questioned about the source of those funds in Greece. The new clause will apply to those who have not declared income and have parked the cash in local or foreign banks, with depositors abroad not even having to repatriate their capital, but simply to declare it to tax authorities. As soon as the bill is voted into law the final agreement between Greece and Switzerland will be signed, with Swiss authorities informing banks with Greek clients about the new tax law.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Milan Judges Uphold Expulsion of Three Germans
Accused of possession of potentially harmful objects
(ANSA) — Milan, April 30 — A Milan court on Thursday upheld expulsion orders against three German nationals who are being investigated for possession of potentially harmful objects and trespassing.
The three had been searched Wednesday and Tuesday in two separate police operations ahead of the Expo world’s fair, which opens May 1.
They will be escorted back to Germany, sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Quake Survivor: ‘The Ground Turned to Water Under Us’
British tourist Holly Cowie has described how she clung to a tree for dear life as a landslide came hurtling down the Nepalese valley she was trekking in after the earthquake hit on Saturday.
The 26 year old from London had arrived in Nepal ten days earlier as part of a three-month trip with her French boyfriend Axel Haudiquet, 29, when the earthquake struck as she walked through the popular Langtang Valley.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Studies Link Vitamin D Deficiency to Cancer and Psychosis
A study published in the British Medical Journal indicates low levels of vitamin D are attributable to a number of serious illnesses, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The new study contradicts earlier studies published by the BMJ that claim there is insufficient evidence to support the claim the vitamin is beneficial to health.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Walpurgis Celebrations Marred by Fights and Fires
Walpurgis revelers braved the cold throughout Sweden on Thursday night, and police and rescue services were kept busy putting out fires and handling intoxicated people.
There was a larger number of fires and drunken incidents on Walpurgis night, when Swedes greet the arrival of Spring with singing and bonfires.
In the Stockholm county alone, 54 people were apprehended between 6 p.m. on Thursday and 1 a.m. on Friday. Last year, a total 38 people were apprehended in the county, according to the Stockholm police.
A man was also stabbed to death in the town of Södertälje just south of Stockholm, though police said they the incident was probably not connected to the Walpurgis celebrations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Vote Could Decide 25% of General Election Seats
In 159 seats, the number of Muslims is greater than the margin of victory in 2010. Alan Mendoza, from the Henry Jackson Society, said minority religions could have huge influence on the election.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The shocking incident took place at a petrol station on Beit Lehem Street in Jerusalem. The female suspect caught on camera denied any wrong-doing when she was later arrested by police.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
3,000 More Foreign Jihadis Join the Islamic State
By Robert Spencer
The lure of the concept of the caliphate continues to be ignored and dismissed. The mainstream media is too busy declaring victory:
A CNN headline asked in November 2014: “Has ISIS peaked? Terror group suffers setbacks in Iraq.”
The Atlantic announced in January 2015: “ISIS Is Losing Its Greatest Weapon: Momentum: Evidence suggests that the Islamic State’s power has been declining for months.”
CNN followed a few weeks later with “For ISIS, tough times as it seeks to regroup.”
The New York Times announced on February 4, 2015, that “ISIS Is Losing in Iraq.”
On April 15, Vox issued its own report: “ISIS is losing.”
“3,000 More Foreign Jihadists Join ISIS,” by Nancy A. Youssef, The Daily Beast, April 30, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
The U.S.-led coalition may have taken back a city or two. But ISIS is still attracting thousands of jihadists, undercutting a key component of America’s war plans.
Foreign fighters from around the globe continue to pour into Iraq and Syria to join up with the self-proclaimed Islamic State—despite ISIS’s loss of two major cities, four U.S. and military officials told The Daily Beast.
In fact, there is some evidence that the number of fighters from Europe has increased in the last six months, one U.S. official said, from a total of 5,000 fighters six months ago to roughly 8,000 now. In other words, there’s been a 60 percent increase in these recruits in just half a year.
[…]
The capital of its caliphate in Iraq is that country’s second-largest city, Mosul, and that remains under ISIS control. ISIS also holds sway over much of Iraq’s restive Anbar province and controls the central Iraqi city of Baiji, as Iraqi forces fight to hold onto the refinery there. In Syria, there is little evidence of any major losses of territory there—although competing jihadist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra have been taking towns from the Syrian government. The city of Raqqa remains under ISIS control.
“They still hold the core territory,” said Christopher Harmer, a senior naval analyst with the Middle East Security Project for the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War. “That ISIS heartland still seems pretty secure.”
[Those with long memories will recall that this same “we’ve got ‘em on the run” pap was fed to us during the Vietnam War and LBJ’s reign. Then came Tet 1968. Blooey! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: The Marshall Islands’ Cautionary Tale
On Tuesday, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forcibly commandeered the Maersk Tigris as navigated its way through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran controls the strategic waterway through which 40 percent of seaborne oil and a quarter of seaborne gas transits to global markets.
The Maersk Tigris is flagged to the Marshall Islands. The South Pacific archipelago gained its independence from the US in 1986 after signing a treaty conceding its right to self-defense in exchange for US protection. According to the treaty, the US has “full authority and responsibility for security and defense of the Marshall Islands.”
Given the US’s formal, binding obligation to the Marshall Islands, the Iranian seizure of the ship was in effect an act of war against America.
In comments to Bloomberg hours after the ship was seized, Junior Aini, chargé d’affairs at the Marshall Islands Embassy in Washington, indicated that his government’s only recourse is to rely on the US to free its ship.
Immediately after the incident began, the US Navy deployed a destroyer to the area. But that didn’t seem to make much of an impression on the Iranians. More significant than the naval movement was the fact that the Obama administration failed to condemn their unlawful action.
If the administration continues to stand by in the face of Iran’s aggression, the strategic implications will radiate far beyond the US’s bilateral ties with the Marshall Islands. If the US allows Iran to get away with unlawfully seizing a Marshall Islands flagged ship it is treaty bound to protect, it will reinforce the growing assessment of its Middle Eastern allies that its security guarantees are worthless.
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
IS Hides Heavy Weaponry at Religious Sites
MOSUL — A member of the Nineveh Province council has revealed that Islamic State (IS) hides heavy weapons in mosques and churches in Mosul to avoid air strikes.
Hanin Ghado said in a press conference on 29th April that IS insurgents mostly settle in the densely populated areas of Mosul to hide themselves among civilians, and they use mosques and churches to store heavy weapons.
Ghado said, “They use the mosques and churches because they know that the coalition jets won’t shell holy locations.
“The insurgents move heavy weapons and conduct operations under the cover of night to stay out of sight of jets.”
[The enemy used this stratagem in the sandbox, and the “Palestinians” do so in the areas they control. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Arsenal Includes Stolen NATO Assault Rifles and Others Stolen From Iraqi Army
The scope of Islamic State’s military capabilities have been laid bare in a new report which reveals the vast range of weaponry used by the militants in the four-month battle for Kobane.
[Comment: “Stolen” from “mis-targeted” air-drops.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Bombs Yemen Runway ‘To Stop Iranian Flight Landing’ (Video)
“We have no water, we have no electricity, we have blackouts, there was even a shortage of communications because of the lack of fuel. In the words of the UN it’s a catastrophe.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Smart Policing to Come Dubai With Robo-Cops
Dubai Police will be turning into “robo-cops” in the next few years. According to the Chief Information Officer and General Director of the Dubai Police HQ Smart Services Department, the move — that is part of the lead up to Expo 2020 — is aimed at helping the police deal with an ever-increasing populace.
Colonel Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi said that in the next two years robots will be used to bolster police forces patrolling malls and other public areas.
“The robots will interact directly with people and tourists,” he said. “They will include an interactive screen and microphone connected to the Dubai Police call centres. People will be able to ask questions and make complaints, but they will also have fun interacting with the robots.”
In four or five years, however, Alrazooqi said that Dubai Police will be able to field autonomous robots that require no input from human controllers.
“These will be fully intelligent robots that can interact with people, with no human intervention at all,” he said. “This is still under research and development, but we are planning on it.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Supposed Nemesis: “The Mastermind”
by Burak Bekdil
“The Mastermind” is not the product of a bunch of crazy fanatics. It is a calculated move by a bunch of smart politicians who want to win votes from an inherently anti-Semitic, religiously devout Muslim population.
It is an ugly but clever move, reminiscent of the various methods applied by the Nazi propaganda machine in the 1930s, to abuse millions of minds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Navy to Accompany Trade Ships Through Strait of Hormuz
The US Navy is to accompany US trade ships during their transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Their aim is to prevent interference from Iran.
US defense officials said the decision to begin accompanying US commercial vessels as they transit the Strait of Hormuz was based on a recommendation by US Central Command, which is responsible for US military operations in the Middle East. The new US policy has been adopted in response to what Washington sees as provocative behavior by Iran.
The 5th Fleet, the naval arm of Central Command, has one destroyer, the USS Farragut, in the Gulf, as well as three smaller coastal patrol ships.
The Strait of Hormuz is narrow and partially within Iranian territorial waters.
Earlier this week, naval vessels of the Iran Revolutionary guard Corps fired warning shots near the MV Maersk Tigris, a ship registered in the Marshall Islands before detaining it and its crew.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Navy to Accompany US-Flagged Ships in Persian Gulf After Iran Seizes Vessel
U.S. Navy ships will begin to accompany U.S. flagged commercial ships as they travel the Strait of Hormuz, a defense official confirmed to Fox News, on the heels of Iran seizing a cargo ship.
The Obama administration is closely monitoring Iran’s takeover of the ship, as it involved a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. The Marshall Islands and the U.S. have a longstanding security agreement, and officials said Thursday the two nations are in contact.
But, in a clear response to that incident, a defense official said the U.S. Navy will now accompany all U.S.-flagged ships going through the area. The move is the latest development in a high-stakes chess match in the region, with the Iran nuclear talks continuing to play out in the background.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Hypocritical Hindu Radicals Honour One Dalit Abroad
India’s prime minister preside the rededication of the London home of B R Ambdekar, architect of India’s secular and democratic constitution. AsiaNews spoke with Dalit rights activist Raghuvanshi who calls the government’s plan an “emotional ploy” at a time when Ambedkar statues are being destroyed across the country.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi might inaugurate the historic London residence of Bhimrao Ramji “Babasaheb” Ambdekar, one of the “founding fathers” of modern India. Rajkumar Badole, Minister for Social Justice in the State of Maharashtra, made the announcement today.
In cooperation with local authorities, the state government plans to restore the house. However, for Dalit activist Lenin Raghuvanshi, the decision is an “emotional ploy” because Ambedkar was radically opposed to the ideals embodied by India’s ruling Hindu nationalists.
As India’s first post-independence Law and Justice minister, Babasaheb was the main architect of the Indian Constitution. Born in a Hindu Dalit (untouchable) family, he led a lifelong struggle to assert the political rights and promote the social freedom of “untouchables” like himself.
Lenin Raghuvanshi, secretary general of the People’s Vigilance Committee for Human Rights (PVCHR), spoke to AsiaNews about Ambedkar’s ideas, noting that they have nothing to do with Hindu nationalists, who are instead accomplices of the caste system that still oppresses Indian society. (Edited by AsiaNews)
The imminent opening of the historic London residence of BR Ambedkar is just an emotional ploy by the Government of Maharashtra. If the Prime Minister were serious about the figure of Ambedkar, he would oppose the ideas of Manusmriti, Manu’s Laws, one of the main Hindu texts codifying the caste system, and its adepts, like the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Modern India embarked on the road of freedom, resolute to bring social justice and dignity to its millions of enslaved, downtrodden, and poor inhabitants, Dalits included. However, in 67 years of independence since the end of British rule, very little has changed.
On the contrary, atrocities against untouchables have become more blatant and bizarre in some parts of my country. This has shaken the confidence people might have in India’s ability to call itself civilised.
In the past, we told ourselves that if someone from a lower caste broke the unwritten law of the caste hierarchy, that person would be beaten in public. Now that person is shot, his village burnt down and the women raped.
If a groom dares to ride a horse during his marriage, if an ambitious farmer digs a well in his land, if a young man falls in love with a young woman — if they belong to the Dalit caste, they will be killed. Yet, we keep telling ourselves that the rule of law reigns in India.
The fight for Dalit rights in India has had a chequered history. At every turn, they have been betrayed and let down by their political masters. Only recently and reluctantly has some space been carved out for them in mainstream politics. However, so far, the main thrust of political action on their behalf has been job reservations (quotas) in government, without empowering them or providing them with a rightful and dignified place in society.
It is ironic that Ambedkar is considered the father of the Indian Constitution for he was a Dalit who fought against a caste-plagued society. The reason for this is the country’s Hindu fascist forces have conspired against lower castes. The destruction of statues dedicated to him, which has occurred in various parts of India, is one example.
In one incident, in the village of Piyari, Uttar Pradesh, lower caste residents tried to fight those who came to destroy the monument. To their surprise, they found police officers among them. They did tried to stop the destruction with sticks. However, in the end, they failed.
For its part, the police filed two cases: one against those who destroyed the statue and one against those who tried to stop them. Obviously, when the police registered the first case, they avoided mentioning the names of the agents involved in the incident.
The case ended up in a local court. But much to the surprise of those from the higher castes, in this case, the judge was from a lower caste, a rarity. Then, without warning, the case was transferred to another court. Only a decision by a higher court could have allowed the case to be moved. This means that superior courts collude with high caste people.
Nothing better can be expected in a place where a district judge recently conducted a religious ceremony to purify the chair used by his predecessor, a member of a lower caste, a ritual that involved washing it with water from the Ganges, which he believes will wash away all sins.
When a high caste person commits a crime, punishment follows the trial. However, when a Dalit does something wrong, the whole community is punished. Courts do not impose the penalty; members of the high castes do — even when the “crime” is not theft or murder, but anything, like “polluting” a village by using its water or bathing in (thus polluting) a pond.
Punishment is immediate, often carried out by high caste gangs who burn down Dalit homes, beat their residents and often rape or molest their women in public.
Indian society remains in a semi-feudal and semi-capitalist mode of production. The caste system serves this mode perfectly. The pyramid of Indian society stands on the shoulders of millions of Dalits, who forego their human rights so that some may say that India is shining.
However, 2,800 years ago Buddha took up the challenge to end the caste system. Similarly, in modern times, the Bhakti movement saw the emergence of figures like Kabir, Savitri Bai Phule and Bhimrao Ambedkar, who had the courage to shake it.
(Nirmala Carvalho contributed to this article.)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Mount Everest Shrank as Nepal Quake Lifted Kathmandu
The first good view of the aftermath of Nepal’s deadly earthquake from a satellite reveals that a broad swath of ground near Kathmandu lifted vertically, by about 3 feet, which could explain why damage in the city was so severe. The data also indicate the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, got a wee bit shorter.
The new information comes from Europe’s Sentinel-1A radar satellite. Scientists are racing to interpret the Sentinel data, which were made available April 29 just hours after the satellite passed over Nepal. The preliminary data can help guide relief efforts on the ground by identifying areas that were damaged or hit by landslides.
[…]
According to the early analysis, a region 75 miles long by 30 miles wide lifted upward by as much as 3 feet during the earthquake, said Tim Wright, a geophysicist at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. This uplift peaked only 10 miles from Kathmandu, even though the city was relatively far from the earthquake’s epicenter.
“That’s one of the reasons why Kathmandu has so much damage,” Wright told Live Science.
The radar images reveal that some of the world’s tallest peaks — including Mount Everest — dropped by about 1 inch, according to the nonprofit UNAVCO, a geoscience research consortium. That’s because the Earth’s crust relaxed in the areas north of the Kathmandu, after the earthquake released pent-up strain.
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal Earthquake Epicenter ‘Devastated’
Almost a week since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, the Red Cross has said that some towns and villages near the epicenter “have suffered almost total devastation.” Around 6,200 people are thought to have died.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Photos Show Purported ISIS Training Camp in Afghanistan
New photos purport to show ISIS fighters training at a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, in what may be yet another sign of the black-clad jihadist army’s expanding reach.
The pictures, obtained by a Pakistani journalist earlier this month and published by the military blog The Long War Journal, show apparent ISIS radicals training, marching in formation and brandishing heavy artillery.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Joy and deep emotion for Celia Veloso, who had “lost hope”. Approval of the archbishop of Jakarta and the spiritual father who accompanied the woman in her final moments. The turning point due to the fact that the person suspected of having recruited Mary Jane has been handed over to the Philippine authorities.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — “Miracles do happen.” With these words full of joy and emotion the mother of the Filipino migrant worker on death row in Indonesia reacted to Jakarta’s last minute decision to suspend the execution.
The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department confirmed the reprieve. “We are relieved that the execution of Mary Jane Veloso was not carried out tonight,” said spokesman Charles Jose. “The Lord has answered our prayers.” With a last minute decision that is somewhat miraculous, Jakarta has saved the life of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, a 30 year old Filipina migrant worker sentenced to death in Indonesia — although presumed innocent — for international drug trafficking.
Speaking to AsiaNews shortly after the announcement, the Jesuit priest Bernhard German Kieser, spiritual father of the woman and the first to support her innocence, retraced the decisive moments of this story.
He spent the final moments with Mary Jane and was to accompany her to the point where she was to have been shot by firing squad. However, suddenly on the way an officer informed him that the execution was “suspended or canceled”. Satisfaction and relief were also expressed by the Archbishop of Jakarta Msgr. Ignatius Suharyo, who was informed by the Jesuit priest of the good news.
However, the fate of eight other detainees with her on death row was the exact opposite as they were executed by firing squad. The execution took place in the early hours of Wednesday, April 29 in the prison of Besi, on Nusakambangan island, in Central Java province, dubbed the Indonesian Alcatraz. The victims included the Australian duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and a Brazilian citizen.
The Australian Government had launched a last minute appeal to delay the execution, but the authorities wanted to proceed according to the established program. Moreover, Indonesia is among the strictest nations in the world with regards laws against drug trafficking and in 2013 put an end to four years of the moratorium. Now sentences will be rigorously applied, as indicated by the president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
In response Canberra has recalled its ambassador from Jakarta. Official protests have also been raised by Brasilia, threatening diplomatic retaliation for the second execution in less than three months of a Brazilian citizen in Indonesia.
The only one who was spared was the Filipina Mary Jane Veloso. Yesterday boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and the archbishop of Jakarta Mgr. Ignatius Suharyo . “We are so happy,” said Celia Veloso, Mary Jane’s mother. “I still cannot believe that my daughter will live.” “We had no more hope. My [other] children were already in the island waiting to pick up her body. We are all so happy. Her [Mary Jane’s] kids were all awake, yelling ‘Yes, yes, mama will live”.
According to local sources, the last minute u-turn is due to the fact that the person suspected of having recruited and involved May Jane — without her knowledge — in international drug trafficking was delivered yesterday afternoon to the Philippine authorities.
ùAs a result Jakarta is re-opening the case, deciding to save the woman’s life even if there were no final pardon. Indeed, yesterday afternoon, the Attorney General of Jakarta through its chief Prasetyo had stated that, regardless of guilt or innocence, Mary Jane would have been “executed tonight.”
Until last week, there was also a Frenchman among those sentenced to death, the 51 year old Serge Atlaoui. However, the last minute intervention of President Francois Hollande, who has threatened diplomatic retaliation, managed to remove him from the “black list”. Even for him, the prosecutor in Jakarta stated that the execution is only suspended and will be carried out following the revision of the trail demanded by Paris, has been carried out.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
North Korean Diplomats Storm Out of UN After Spat With Defectors
North Korean diplomats stormed out of a U.S.-organized event on the country’s human rights at the United Nations Thursday after they insisted on reading a statement of protest, amid shouts from defectors.
The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Samantha Power, tried to quiet the diplomats at the end that featured more than 20 North Korean defectors. Power called the country’s statements “totally self-discrediting.”
The North Korean diplomats did not comment as they stormed out of the chamber following Ri Song Choi’s statement in protest of the event, even as North Korean defectors stood and shouted in their faces.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has been on the defensive since a groundbreaking U.N. commission of inquiry detailed vast human rights abuses in the country. North Korea has continuously referred to defectors who cooperated with the inquiry as “human scum.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Monsanto Secretly Gave Money to Farmer Caught Contaminating Organic Farms With GMOs
Natural Society reported on organic farmer Steve Marsh’s dilemma with GMO cross pollination of his organic farms a while back, but some shocking news has recently bubbled to the surface about Monsanto’s involvement. One of the secrets of monopolizing Monsanto is that it contributed big bucks to the defense of the Australian farmer whose GMO canola crop infected Steve Marsh’s organic fields. If you aren’t privy, a ruling by the Supreme Court of Western Australia had no sympathy for Steve Marsh’s plight, and sided in favor of Michael Baxter and Monsanto.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chilean Volcano Erupts for Third Time, Sends Out New Blasts of Ash
SANTIAGO, Chile — The Calbuco volcano erupted again Thursday, sending dark bursts of ash and hot rock billowing 2.5 miles into the air and prompting Chilean officials to order a new evacuation of nearby residents.
Thick clouds boiled out of 6,500-foot cone, bringing the threat of new, heavy ash fall over villagers struggling to clean up from two huge blasts last week. The surrounding area was evacuated after the volcano first erupted last Wednesday afternoon, but many people had begun to return to their ash-drowned homes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Angela Merkel Calls for Britain to Share the Refugee Burden
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a new quota system to be introduced that would administer migrants more equally among the European Union and its 28 members nations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bolzano Citizens Organize to Help Refugees at Train Station
‘Volunteers take turns handing out food, lending a hand’
(ANSA) — Bolzano, April 27 — Citizens of the northern city of Bolzano, which is located in the Alpine region of Trentino-Alto Adige, have rallied to aid refugees crowding the train station on their way to their final destinations, sources said Monday.
“A group of about 40 citizens came together in a matter of days,” said artist and volunteer Armin Mutschlechner.
“They take turns coming to the station to give a hand, bring food”.
Bolzano provincial authorities are currently trying to set up migrant and refugee shelters in Ferrovie dello Stato public railway buildings.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lesbian: I Use Math Class to Teach Young Kids About Homosexuality So I Can ‘Hide’ It From Parents
TORONTO, April 24, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) — A lesbian teacher ‘married’ to another woman revealed at a pro-gay teachers’ conference earlier this month how she teaches grade 4-5 students to accept homosexuality through what she called “social justice” math.
Alicia Gunn, an elementary public school teacher in Mississauga, Ontario, told attendees at the April 10 conference in Toronto’s City Hall that injecting LGBTQ issues into the classroom, especially in math, helps students as young as nine “disrupt the single story that many of our kids have about LGBTQ families.”
“Social justice math happens when students are solving problems using real, engaging, and meaningful numbers. Social justice issues happening in their school, community, or even globally become the context for the math that the students are doing,” she said…
When asked by one of the workshop attendees if she first asks parents’ permission before bringing homosexual issues up in class, Gunn responded that she does not, but she makes sure to teach her students about numerous social justice issues so that no parent can accuse her of focusing on homosexuality, which she said she likes to “hide” in her lessons…
At this point Gunn said she realized she would have to come up with a more creative way to get her students to think differently. That’s when she and a few like-minded teachers held a meeting to determine how they could weave the promotion of homosexuality into the curriculum, beginning with math.
[Comment: Article details the methods used on the students to change their worldview.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The events of recent months have emboldened the Gaystapo to plumb new depths of depravity. Not content with having the laws of the various States overturned by unelected federal judges for the benefit of the sexual lifestyle choices of a tiny minority, nor with the increasing persecution of business owners acting on their own deeply held personal beliefs, the radical gay activists have upped the ante against those who disagree with them.
In a story coming out of Guilford County, North Carolina, two church buildings in the past month have been vandalized with explicitly pro-homosexual sentiments, using spray paint as well as perpetrating other property damage. In an apparent attempt to silence opposition to gay “marriage,” radical homosexual “activists” (yet another euphemism for “terrorists”) have left off of words and death threats, and taken to attempting physical intimidation.
Of course this isn’t necessarily a new thing. For the past decade, radical homosexuals have been vandalizing church buildings, attempting to intimidate the congregations. In some cases, they have even gone further and tried to destroy the buildings outright. For instance, some of my distantly related in-laws living in Austin, Texas saw their church torched by radical gays a couple of years ago. However, the trend does seem to be accelerating in recent months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Beach Body’ Ad Banned After Feminists Threatened to Bomb Protein Company
An advertisement that encouraged women to get in shape for the summer has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority after feminists complained the commercial was an example of “fat shaming” and threatened to bomb the headquarters of the company behind it.
The Protein World ad features a slim attractive woman in her bikini next to the words, “Are You Beach Body Ready?”
After weeks of vandalism, threats and online campaigns from a vocal minority of shrill feminists, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that the ad would be banned from appearing again in its current form.
Feminists are now celebrating another victory for censorship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s a video worth watching, and worth sending to anyone who still doesn’t get it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cA2j-npWsp0 Ex-Muslim: Koran Revealed a Religion I Did Not Like