A 19-year-old Turkish woman has been shot in the head to punish her for participating in a talent show. She is now in the hospital, in critical condition. The victim had reportedly received death threats, and her family objected to her participation in the contest. A man has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
In other news, several EU countries have come out in opposition to Brussels’ plan for mandatory migrant quotas for member states. Among the opponents are Britain, France, Denmark, Finland, and Spain.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
Are They About to Confiscate Money From Bank Accounts in Greece Just Like They Did in Cyprus?
Do you remember what happened when Cyprus decided to defy the EU? In the end, the entire banking system of the nation collapsed and money was confiscated from private bank accounts. Well, the nation of Greece is now approaching a similar endgame. At this point, the Greek government has not received any money from the EU or the IMF since August 2014. As you can imagine, that means that Greek government accounts are just about bone dry. The new Greek government continues to insist that it will never “violate its anti-austerity mandate”, but the screws are tightening. Right now the unemployment rate in Greece is over 25 percent and the banking system is on the verge of collapse. It isn’t going to take much to set off a panic, and when it does happen there are already rumors that the EU plans to confiscate money from private bank accounts just like they did in Cyprus.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Unemployment Claims Down 15.5% in March
INPS says CIG hours down 36%
(ANSA) — Rome, May 18 — Unemployment claims in Italy dropped to 118,786 in March, down 15.5% on the 140,571 of the same month last year, pensions and social security agency INPS said Monday. The agency added that successful claims for another benefit, the CIG payment for employees who have been temporarily laid off or had their hours cut by firms in financial difficulty, were down 36.9% in April compared to the same month in 2014. It said it authorized CIG payments for 61 million work hours last month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Northern League Takes Italy to EU Court on Pensions
Codacons says ready to appeal new pension payout decree
(ANSA) — Milan, May 18 — Northern League Secretary Matteo Salvini said Monday the party will take the Italian government to a European court over a previous administration’s pension reforms.
Salvini said Monday the fight is over pension reforms passed by the former technocratic government led by economist Mario Monti.
Monti was appointed in late 2011 to steer Italy through a severe debt crisis, and remained premier until April 2013.
The League announcement came the same day that Premier Matteo Renzi’s government announced a decree on measures to repay some of pension money withheld under the 2011 law.
Consumer group Codacons said it would appeal that measure in the courts because it is not equally applied to all pensioners.
One of the controversial measures Monti’s technocratic government passed to restore market confidence amid feverish interest rates was the so-called ‘Fornero’ pension reform, named after Monti’s labour minister, Elsa Fornero. “We have instructed a lawyer to present an appeal against the Fornero legislation at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, accompanied by the signatures,” of people waiting for their pensions to be reinstated, said Salvini. Renzi “is losing shots by giving 500 euros to some people in August, penalizing others,” Salvini added. Renzi announced a plan to give some 3.7 million pensioners 500 euros each to compensate them for inflation adjustments taken away by the Monti government. The European Court of Human Rights recently condemned Italy for the decision.
Meanwhile, consumer group Codacons said Monday that it is ready to appeal the new government decree that affects some lower-income pensions but not all of those that 2ere included in the 2011 decree which the Constitutional Court last month rejected.
Codacons said the new decree “appears unconstitutional and discriminatory” rather than treating all citizens equally.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Takes First Step Toward Debt Payment Freeze
Ukraine’s cash-starved government took the first step Tuesday toward freezing the payment of billions of dollars in sovereign and state-backed debt owed to some of the world’s most powerful creditors.
The war-torn country is trying to reach an agreement by next month that would save it $15.3 billion (13.7 billion euros) over the coming four years and avoid a potentially devastating default.
A successful debt restructuring deal would guarantee the release of the next part of a $17.5-billion International Monetary Fund loan that forms the core of a global $40-billion rescue for the Westward-leaning ex-Soviet state…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
“Living, “ “Evolving” Dangers Are Hidden in Obamatrade (TPP & TTIP)
Will the U.S. Congress vote to approve “free trade” agreements that are, according to the agreements’ authors, “living agreements” that will constantly change and “evolve”? This mutational feature of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should be of top concern to members of Congress — and their constituents. However, this critical aspect of the secretive agreements has received virtually no attention in the establishment media.
The final battles over the TPP and TTIP moved a giant step closer last week with the U.S. Senate’s flip-flop votes (seehere and here) on ending a filibuster of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, also known as “fast track”) bill. The Senate’s reversal on May 14 has now set up the TPA bill for a vote in the Senate and House of Representatives. Under expedited TPA/fast track rules, Congress surrenders its ability to amend trade agreements, drastically limits debate, and rushes the complex agreements through the legislative process for an “up or down” vote. President Obama has made passage of the TPP and TTIP twin “partnerships” a top priority of his second term, and the GOP’s top leadership in Congress has been assisting his ObamaTrade agenda at every crucial step along the way.
Of the two mammoth agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership appears to be the one most likely to be completed and voted on first. Modeled after the deceptive, open-ended process of the European Union, the (TPP) claims to be a “living agreement” with “a structure, institutions, and processes that allow the agreement to evolve.” As such, it would initiate an ongoing demolition of American sovereignty and the step-by-step economic, political, and social integration of the United States with our Atlantic and Pacific “partners.”
The TPP currently includes 12 Pacific Rim member states (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam), but is expected to expand to include more nations, including Communist China. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) proposes to begin “deep and comprehensive” integration between the 28-member States of European Union and the United States.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
7 Minnesotans Accused of Trying to Join Islamic State
MINNEAPOLIS — Seven Minnesota men have been accused of providing material support to a terrorist organization, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
One, Hamza Naj Ahmed, 21, had been indicted in February for providing material support to the Islamic State. He had been stopped in November at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul, according to the FBI.
Added to that indictment were Zacharia Abdurahman, 19; Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21; Adnan Farah, 19; Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21; Hanad Mustafe Musse, 19; and Guled Ali Omar, 20. All except Abdurahman are from Minneapolis; Abdurahman is a Columbia Heights, Minn., resident, according to Andrew Luger, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Islam Video Should Not Have Been Forced Off YouTube, Court Rules
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that “Innocence of Muslims,” the anti-Islam video once at the center of the Benghazi terror attack scandal, should not have been forcibly removed from YouTube.
A majority of the 11-judge panel reverse a lower court’s decision from last year, The Hill reported Monday. A three-judge panel had issued an injunction against Google Inc., which prohibited the company from making the video accessible. Plaintiff Cindy Lee Garcia made a copyright claim for her brief appearance in the 2012 video.
The Obama administration initially claimed that the video helped spark the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As Jews Worldwide Go Conservative, How Long Will U.S. Jews Buck the Trend?
by Evelyn Gordon
There has been a spate of articles recently about how Jews in liberal democracies round the world have moved politically rightward in response to the global left’s increasing antipathy toward Israel. In a handy round-up of the trend over at FrontPage Magazine, Daniel Greenfield cites data showing that in Britain, Canada, Australia and France, a majority of Jews now vote conservative. The one glaring exception, of course, is America — which begs the question why.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Duke Rebuke: Professor Defiant After School Condemns Racially Charged Remarks
A Duke University professor was defiant after the school last week condemned his “noxious” and “offensive” words in a letter published in The New York Times in which he compared African-Americans unfavorably to Asian-Americans.
The school’s rebuke came after a student backlash against Political Science Professor Jerry Hough, 80, whose May 9 letter sought to address racism and the Baltimore riots. Hough said African-Americans don’t try to integrate into society, while Asians “worked doubly hard” to overcome racism instead of blaming it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eddie Vedder Sings ‘Better Man’ To David Letterman
It’s David Letterman’s last week hosting the Late Show, and a lot of his favorite guests are coming by to pay their respects and say goodbye.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Matthew Vadum
ACORN’s successor group in Missouri has been paying protesters $5,000 a month to generate civil unrest in Ferguson, the troubled St. Louis suburb where black youth Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer last August.
We know this because some of the protesters haven’t been paid and, now, they are demanding what they were promised. They held a sit-in at the offices of Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE) and posted a demand letter online.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Groups File Federal Complaint Alleging Discrimination in Harvard Admissions Process
Sixty-four Asian-American groups filed a complaint against Harvard on Friday with the federal Departments of Education and Justice calling for an investigation into what they charge is the College’s “unlawful use of race” in its admissions process to discriminate against Asian-American applicants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Homebrewed Morphine? It’s Now Possible, Say Researchers
If you have the right strain of yeast and some sugar, whipping up drugs in your kitchen would be almost as easy as brewing a batch of beer.
A research team led by UC Berkeley bioengineers has just released the news that they’ve figured out how to turn yeast and sugar into a “microbial factory” that could be used to produce morphine and other drugs. They’ve also warned authorities that in the wrong hands, their discovery could lead to home drug breweries, and they’re calling for regulatory oversight of this new method of producing opiates.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Liberal Academic Says America’s Founding Document Outmoded
Top Vatican adviser Jeffrey Sachs says that when Pope Francis visits the United States in September, he will directly challenge the “American idea” of God-given rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence.
Sachs, a special advisor to the United Nations and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is a media superstar who can always be counted on to pontificate endlessly on such topics as income inequality and global health. This time, writing in a Catholic publication, he may have gone off his rocker, revealing the real global game plan.
The United States, Sachs writes in the Jesuit publication, America, is “a society in thrall” to the idea of unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But the “urgent core of Francis’ message” will be to challenge this “American idea” by “proclaiming that the path to happiness lies not solely or mainly through the defense of rights but through the exercise of virtues, most notably justice and charity.”
In these extraordinary comments, which constitute a frontal assault on the American idea of freedom and national sovereignty, Sachs has made it clear that he hopes to enlist the Vatican in a global campaign to increase the power of global or foreign-dominated organizations and movements.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NY Police Commissioner Wants 450 More Cops to Fight Against Jihadis
The Islamic State threat, says Bratton, “has expanded significantly in the now 16 months I’ve been police commissioner.” He also says: “The significantly increased threat from ISIS using social media to recruit people not only to go to Syria to fight, but encouraging people … to attack police, to attack government officials, to basically brainwash them under their screwed-up ideology.” He doesn’t explain why this “screwed-up ideology” is so appealing to so many young Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Knew Jihadis Were Planning Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance
(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified “Secret” documents from the Department of Defense (DOD)and the Department of State revealing that DOD almost immediately reported that the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was committed by the al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood-linked “Brigades of the Captive Omar Abdul Rahman” (BCOAR), and had been planned at least 10 days in advance. Rahman is known as the Blind Sheikh, and is serving life in prison for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other terrorist acts. The new documents also provide the first official confirmation that shows the U.S. government was aware of arms shipments from Benghazi to Syria. The documents also include an August 2012 analysis warning of the rise of ISIS and the predicted failure of the Obama policy of regime change in Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Anti-Police Militarization Measure a Disaster in Disguise
President Obama just moved to limit the ability of the nation’s police from obtaining and using gear from military — and a surface glance would seem to render high marks from the civil rights sector.
But not so fast. The fact that Obama’s moving monarch-like to rein in police this way is by itself a big red flag, waving once again in Congress’ face. But another, even larger problem is the lie that’s brought about this executive action: Obama’s using the power of his pen and podium to advance a “hands up, don’t shoot” cause that’s already been outed as unfounded and false.
Tread carefully; this demilitarized police measure has all the makings of a disaster that leaves law enforcement without the authority they need to properly perform their jobs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Stark Forum Reaction to #WhiteLivesMatter Flyers
The “#White Lives Matter” flyers scattered anonymously in the middle of the night on local properties over the last week failed to achieve their apparent goal, Westporters told a forum called on the racially charged messages Sunday.
About 100 people turned out at the forum organized by TEAM Westport at the Westport Library for a candid discussion about the flyers and the broader context of racial and diversity issues that have arisen nationally during the last months.
“To me it was pretty clear that these were not an innocuous prank,” said Westport News columnist and 06880 blogger Dan Woog, who helped guide the discussion. “This was definitely a racist flyer.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Police Investigate Reports More Biker Gangs on Way After Deadly Melee, Arrests
Police in Waco were monitoring reports Tuesday that more motorcycle gang members could be headed for the Texas city where a gunfight last weekend between dueling gangs left 9 people dead and 170 possibly facing murder charges — all reportedly over a disputed parking space.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Damon Tweedy
IN virtually every field of medicine, black patients as a group fare the worst. This was one of my first and most painful lessons as a medical student nearly 20 years ago.
As a general rule, black patients are more likely to feel comfortable with black doctors. Studies have shown that they are more likely to seek them out for treatment, and to report higher satisfaction with their care. In addition, more black doctors practice in high-poverty communities of color, where physicians are relatively scarce.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Quiet Zone: Where Mobile Phones Are Banned
Anyone driving west from Washington DC towards the Allegheny Mountains will arrive before long in a vast area without mobile phone signals. This is the National Radio Quiet Zone — 13,000 square miles (34,000 sq km) of radio silence. What is it for and how long will it survive?
Not only are there no mobile phones, there are no baby monitors, microwave ovens or wireless doorbells.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tiny Solar Sail ‘Cubesat’ Launching With X-37B Space Plane on Wednesday
A tiny solar-sailing spacecraft will hitch a ride on the rocket that blasts the United States Air Force’s X-37B space plane into orbit on its latest mystery mission tomorrow (May 20).
The robotic X-37B spacecraft is scheduled to launch tomorrow at 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The booster will also loft 10 tiny “cubesats,” including a spacecraft called LightSail, which is about the size of a loaf of bread.
LightSail is part of the nonprofit Planetary Society’s effort to develop and advance solar sail technology. Solar sails harness solar radiation pressure, which imparts a tiny but continuous push that can accelerate a spacecraft to tremendous speeds over time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ice Hunters Lasso an Iceberg to Turn it Into Vodka
Fancy a vodka on the rocks? This Arctic iceberg could be heading for a luxury drink near you.
Floating off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada, this massive chunk of ice is big business. Iceberg hunters like Ed Kean and Philip Kennedy have found a way to cash in on this unlikely crop: catching the floating icebergs in large nets, hauling them aboard and selling them on to upmarket mineral-water and vodka manufacturers.
These companies want the ice for its Arctic purity: the water in these icebergs is around 12,000 years old and probably contains very few pollutants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus Wants Bigger EU Role in Peace Talks: Negotiator
(NICOSIA) — Cyprus wants the European Union to play a bigger role in peace talks with Turkish Cypriots aimed at reunifying the island, its chief negotiator said on Monday.
“We want an EU presence” in talks, Andreas Mavroyiannis told AFP in an interview, after UN-brokered negotiations restarted on Friday.
Mavroyiannis said his team was encouraged by the newly elected Turkish Cypriot leader, Mustafa Akinci, who was “far more receptive and positive towards the idea” of increased EU involvement.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops occupied the island’s northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.
The self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was unilaterally declared in 1983 in a move recognised only by Ankara.
Decades of talks have failed to reach a breakthrough but experts have described the latest round of negotiations as Cyprus’s best chance in years at achieving lasting peace.
Mavroyiannis said there had been an “important change” in Turkish Cypriot willingness to accept greater EU involvement following Akinci’s election in April.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Jihadi Bride, Who Spent Nine Months in Syria, Will Not Face Charges
A 19-year-old girl from Maastricht who spent nine months in Syria as a jihadi bride will not face any charges, her lawyer has told RTL news. The girl, a Muslim convert who adopted the name Aïcha, had been held on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist organisation on her return but was released from custody in November. ‘The public prosecution department has concurred with what I said from the beginning,’ Francoise Landerloo told the broadcaster. ‘There is no evidence that my client has done anything illegal. She went to Syria to help people and refugees. She is delighted that she will not face charges and is now focusing on her private life.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: 3D-Printed Statues to Replace Traditional Photos?
One Finnish entrepreneur believes he has hit the sweet spot where the modern penchant to immortalise oneself meets the desire to collect keepsakes. It’s the 3D statue and it allows individuals to create lasting tributes to their nearest and dearest — including themselves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: 2005 Riots: Police Officers Cleared Over Deaths
Two police officers were cleared on Monday after they had been accused of not helping two youths electrocuted in 2005, whose deaths sparked three weeks of rioting.
The violent deaths of Bouna Traore, 15, and Zyed Benna, 17, following a chase by police ignited three weeks of arson and running clashes with security forces in downtrodden French city suburbs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Top Cartoonist Luz to Leave Charlie Hebdo
Cartoonist Luz, who drew Charlie Hebdo’s front cover picture of Muhammad following the massacre of the satirical weekly’s editorial team in January, said on Monday he was leaving the paper.
Renald Luzier said his departure was unconnected to internal tensions at the publication, but rather that the job without his slain colleagues had become “too much to bear”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Charlie Hebdo to Give €4.3m to Attack Victims
Charlie Hebdo said Monday €4.3 million in donations will go to the victims of a jihadist attack against the French satirical magazine, which has faced internal tensions over the use of the money.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Anti-Euro Party on Verge of Splitting
German MEP Bernd Lucke has created a new association called Wake up call 2015 in a move that could signal his departure from the anti-Euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) party he founded in 2013. Lucke opposes AfD’s evolution towards a more rightwing line focused on immigration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
He’s Back: Sarkozy Eyes a Return to French Presidency
After an extended break from politics, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is ready to make a comeback. Former advisors say he is more patient and a better listener. Critics, though, say he has drifted even further to the right. Is France ready for the sequal?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Soccer: 50 Detained in Mafia Match-Fixing Probe
‘Ndrangheta allegedly behind betting-related scam
(ANSA) — Rome, May 19 — Some 50 people were detained on Tuesday and over 70 are under investigation in relation to a probe into alleged match-fixing in Italian lower leagues orchestrated by the Calabrian-based ‘Ndrangheta mafia. Over 30 teams from Italy’s Lega Pro and Serie D, the third and fourth tiers of Italian soccer, are allegedly involved in the betting-related scam. Tuesday’s operation, nicknamed Dirty Soccer, was coordinated by investigators in Rome and the Calabrian city of Catanzaro.
It began when wiretaps of Pietro Iannazzo, a member of a Calabria Mob clan, revealed moves to fix matches to make money from bets.
Prosecutors said that 28 matches from the current campaign are under suspicion. Players, coaches, and club executives were among the people detained on Tuesday, as well as a policeman. Investigators said that two groups with backers from countries including Kazakstan, Serbia and Slovenia were behind the match-fixing, one focusing on Lega Pro and the other on Serie D. They added that in some cases, such as those of Neapolis and Brindisi in Serie D, the alleged match-fixing was linked to bids to win promotion, rather than money from betting scams.
Italian soccer has been hit by a series of match-fixing probes in recent years. The massive Last Bet operation, which started in Cremona and had branches in Bari and Naples, over attempts to fix matches in Serie A and Serie B has lead to a series of convictions and sporting suspensions for players involved.
In 2006 Juventus were relegated and stripped of two Serie A titles for involvement in the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal regarding schemes to have compliant referees officiate some teams’ matches.
Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio said Tuesday that his body was the injured party. “We declare ourselves to be the injured party in what is happening,” Tavecchio said. “We are a body that wants to defend the system from certain things, but our means are not up to it”.
Damiano Tommasi, the head of Italian professional footballers association AIC, said that Tuesday’s probe into match-fixing in Italian lower leagues highlighted the dangers of allowing betting on amateur games. “Opening the amateur world to betting was risky because there are more than 160 teams and the matches are not broadcast,” the former AS Roma and Italy midfielder said. “So it’s difficult to check on them. Our world is tempting for people pursuing crime. Clarification is needed as soon as possible”. Serie D is made up of predominantly amateur players.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Renzi ‘Recovered Credibility’ With EU on Pensions
Tells Porta a Porta he expected teachers’ protests
(ANSA) — Rome, May 19 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that his government quickly “recovered” its credibility with the EU over the pension repayment issue, because it “solved the problem within 15 days”.
A court ruling against 2011 pension withholdings forced Renzi’s government to devise a repayment plan that is controversial but seems acceptable to the European Union.
During an interview with television program Porta a Porta, Renzi added that Italians will accept his repayment plan because they realize it is affordable.
As well, he said, “citizens know that it makes no sense” to give pension rebates to high-income earners.
His government’s latest pension decree will also provide new flexibility for those who want to retire early and are willing to pay the price through a reduction in their pensions, he said. “The government’s commitment is clear,” Renzi said.
On the subject of protests against education reforms, Renzi said that he had not “underestimated teachers, I was certain that there would be a very strong demonstrations”.
The reforms now being reviewed by the Lower House. Renzi denied he had “braked” on reforms but admitted “I was not good at communicating the reforms”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Jihad Suspect Threatened Attack on Wilders
Suspected jihadist Mohamed A. discussed plans for an attack on PVV leader Geert Wilders with others. This was revealed during the criminal case against the 22 year old man from Delft, who is on trial for the preparation of a robbery and possession of three firearms.
NOS reports that A. refused to respond to questions about the intercepted conversations regarding an attack on Wilders. He kept repeating that he invokes his right to remain silent, but he previously stated that the conversations were “tough talk” and “James Bond stories”. These conversations took place in A.’s mother’s car, in which the police had placed listening devices.
A. was arrested last year after an undercover police operation. At the request of an undercover agent A. purchased three firearms to commit a robbery. This operation was set up after the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) tipped the police that A. was trying to get money together to finance the international jihad…
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Police: Yes, There Are No-Go Zones in Sweden
The issue of whether there are No-Go Zones in Europe or not has been somewhat controversial, mainly because the term has not had a clear-cut definition when applied to civilian cities.
The original term is military lingo for hot areas controlled by the enemy, where it is suicidal to venture without sufficient firepower to match that of the enemy. This describes the situation of police officers pretty well; you have to enter the area in force or stay out, since a lone patrol car WILL be attacked.
Jacob Ekström is a police officer working in these areas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Prince Charles Meets Sinn Fein Leader Gerry Adams
The heir to the British throne has shaken hands with the leader of Northern Ireland’s nationalist party Sinn Fein. Prince Charles’ meeting with Gerry Adams is seen as a symbolic milestone in British-Irish reconciliation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Vote: Post-Indignados to Challenge Institutions
At local elections Podemos and Ciudadanos against Pp-Psoe
Spain: elections, post-indignados to challenge institutions
(by Francesco Cerri) (ANSAmed) — MADRID — The elections “will be the most important” over the last 30 years, according to Albert Rivera, the charismatic leader of Ciudadanos, one of the ‘new’ parties that on Sunday will try to challenge Spain’s post-Franco two-party system.
The possible scenario after local and regional elections scheduled on May 24 outlined by surveys is hard to comprehend.
The challenge by Podemos and Ciudadanos, which from the left and center present themselves as the heirs of the 2011 revolt by the indignados (the 15-M), sees Madrid and Barcelona on the brink.
Madrid could remain with the Pp but forced in a coalition with Ciudadanos. Barcelona could move to a coalition led by Podemos. If polls will not be wrong, as in British elections — though Rajoy is hopeful and betting on a ‘Cameron effect’ thanks to the recovery — it will be the end for absolute majorities of the right and left that governed the country since Franco’s death. It could also be the beginning of an era of coalitions between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ political classes.
The latest Cis survey forecast that the Pp would get 25.6% of would-be votes against the 44.63% it garnered at national elections in 2011. The Psoe of Pedro Sanchez could get 24.3% (from 28.76% in 2011), according to the poll, while Pablo Iglesias’s Podemos would get 16.5% (down from 23% in January) and Ciudadanos of Albert Rivera — “the idea son-in-law for all Spanish mothers” — 13.8% (from 5.2% in January).
Sunday’s vote will be a general test for national elections scheduled in November, which could change the country’s system.
The risk is that in many cities and regions on May 24 a new phase that is difficult to govern will open. As occurred in Andalusia, where in March elections Socialist candidate Susana Diaz did not succeed in getting the investiture within a fragmented parliament. “The Andalusian chaos — warned analyst Eric Juliana — vents the threat of an ungovernable country”.
However, everything is new, or almost new, in the political Spain of 2015. Forecasts are frail and don’t rule out possible dramatic turns of events. Podemos, which in January appeared to be set to gain second or even first place in the country’s political scenario, is now losing ground. The country’s ideologue Carlos Monedero stepped down accusing new leaders of letting themselves be devoured by the star system, of featuring on the right television shows where Iglesias stars day and night, especially after the victory of Syriza in Greece, rather than with fellow party members.
Iglesias told Mundo that “left-wing populism is the key for change”. After the years of ‘tears and blood ‘ the country is leaving behind, everyone has listed the proposals of the former indignados in their programs, El Pais noted, including an end to endemic corruption, to the huge power enjoyed by banks, political regeneration, solidarity with the victims of the crisis.
The true novelty of the vote on the 24th could be Ciudadanos, as not ruled out by Italian ambassador Pietro Sebastiani.
Rivera’s movement of ‘quiet liberalism’ and ‘clean hands’ is new in Spain but has existed in Catalonia for the past eight years.
It could be key for governability after the 24th but on its own terms. And the first would be ‘zero tolerance against the corrupt’.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Stockholm’s New Counter-Terrorism Strategy Under Fire
Speaking to Radio Sweden, the City of Stockholm defends its new strategy for combatting violent extremism, after having been accused of being “soft on terrorists”.
Among other things, the strategy, presented Tuesday, aims to prevent terrorist recruitment and to help returning fighters reintegrate into Swedish society.
Those who return from fighting with terrorist groups in Syria and elsewhere will be offered support from state institutions, voluntary organisations and religious associations.
The strategy, published by the Social Democrat-, Green Party- and Feminist Initiative-led Social Welfare Board in Stockholm, has come under fire, with critics from the centre-right opposition saying it is “watered down” and “politically correct”. Critics also accuse the City of Stockholm of treating those who join IS with kid gloves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Banks ‘Make Life Easy for Terrorists’
Sweden’s financial watchdog has hit two of Sweden’s biggest banks, Nordea and Handelsbanken, with heavy fines for their failure to prevent money laundering.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Population Projected to Reach 13 Million by 2060
By 2060, Sweden’s population is expected to have grown by 3 million, reaching nearly 13 million people in total, according to a new estimate by Statstics Sweden.
The number of people who are 80 years old and up is also expected to grow, from about 500,000 in 2014, up to 1.2 million in 2060.
Yngve Gustafson, a professor in geriatric medicine at Umeå University, warns that big changes in societal resources are going to be needed in order “to cope with this age tsunami”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Police Receive Training to Cope With Terrorist Attacks
Swedish police who work out on the streets will receive extended training in how to respond to a terrorist attack, Swedish Radio News reports.
A police officer who was among the first on the scene when a suicide bomber blew himself up in downtown Stockholm in 2010, told Swedish Radio’s Studio Ett program:
“The first thing I thought was that it was some form of accident. It was winter, and there were quite a lot of workers on the roofs clearing snow off, and maybe this was some kind of falling injury. But he wasn’t dressed like one of these workers would be dressed. My next thought was that he had somehow been electrocuted, because right where he was lying, there was an electrical cabinet.”
In response to whether he realized it was a suicide bomber, the police officer — called Victor — said: “Yes, the thought was in my mind, as I understood that something had exploded at the scene, the damage to the facades and around, and his injuries. And when I realized this, I tried to get people to move away.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Transnistria: Secret Police vs. NGOs
Moldova can’t find peace. Forces in the separatist Transnistria region are trying to weaken the already shaky stability in the region. Their main targets: members of pro-democratic NGOs.
In Transnistria, a separatist region in the eastern European nation of Moldova, more and more Moldovan citizens are being abducted by the Transnistrian militia. Separatists have been causing trouble for the government in Moldova’s capital Chisinau for a while, but recently, the situation has been getting worse.
The kidnapped Moldovans are only released in exchange for a high ransom payment ranging from 20,000 to 200,000 euros ($22,000 to $222,000). The jails are sites of assaults and torture and family members are called on to pay for a somewhat humane treatment of their loved ones, if they can’t afford the ransom right away.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Is This What Shakespeare Really Looked Like?
Historian claims to have uncovered only portrait of the Bard made in his lifetime
With his full beard and laurel-wreathed curly hair, the image looks more like Greek philosopher than a Tudor-age Briton.
But this picture — discovered in a 16th-century book on plants — is said to be the only surviving portrait of William Shakespeare made during his lifetime.
The image was identified by botanist and historian Mark Griffiths in the first edition of a 16th century book The Herball.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vital Antibiotics Research Needs Radical New Incentives
A panel on antibiotics set up by the UK government says the world needs a global authority to pay drug companies to develop new antibacterial drugs. The panel predicts that spending between $16 billion and $37 billion this way over 10 years will lead to 15 new antibiotics. This includes four entirely novel types that do not fit into existing classes of antibiotics and will kill infections that now resist all drugs.
The cash figure may seem high, but the panel argues it is about what antibiotic-resistant bacteria already cost the healthcare system every year in the US alone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia Calls Tourists Back: “We’re a Safe Country”
Tunisia is a democratic country which has strongly invested in tourism, tourism actually accounts for 7% of its Gdp but it took a strong beating after the terrorist attack against the Bardo museum in March. There’s been a 30% decrease in tourists since the beginning of the year but Tunisian authorities say the future remains rosy and the visit by Italian president Sergio Mattarella — they argue — is a sign that bodes very well for politics and economics as well as for tourism.
“We ‘re a safe country again, a country Italians can travel to with no worries — Dora Ellouze, director of the Italian branch of the Tunisian National Tourism Body — we are close and we have opportunities for all kinds of budgets. Mattarella’s visit today as well as Renzi’s last month, together with the ones by other premiers and heads of state — is proof of great support and solidarity, it is very comforting and we attach the greatest importance to it. The attack was crushing and hurt us deeply, but we have not surrendered, we’re still standing”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Protest of Ethiopian Jews Resumes ‘No to Racism’
TEL AVIV — Some one thousand Jews of Ethiopian origin resumed their protest in the centre of Tel Aviv last night: they called for a ‘No to racism” and blocked traffic in many arterial roads. The police was present in force but no incidents were reported.
According to Maariv, the demonstration — the third of this kind in the last weeks — was organised by two distinct groups: the first more militant and the second more inclined to verify whether the Israeli government really intends to act — as it maintains — against what Jews of Ethiopian ancestry have called “racism by the the police” and other institutions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Viruses Could Help Fight Deadly Superbugs
Viruses that are harmless to humans might help fight the deadly scourge of bacteria that can’t be treated with antibiotics, researchers say.
These viruses could be used in hand sanitizers, and to treat exposed surfaces in hospitals, which are hotbeds of antibiotic resistance, the researchers noted in a new study.
“We managed to construct a system that restores antibiotic sensitivity to drug-resistant bacteria,”said study co-author Udi Qimron, a molecular biologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
BBC Crew Arrested in Qatar While Reporting on World Cup Labourers
A BBC television team was arrested in Qatar and held for two nights in prison while reporting on living conditions for migrant labourers working on the 2022 World Cup, the broadcaster said on Monday.
The Gulf state had organised a press tour in early May for journalists from Britain, elsewhere in Europe and the Middle East to examine the conditions labourers face, amid global criticism of human rights violations in the Gulf Arab state.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Deal With the Devil? Baghdad Turns to Iranian-Backed Militias in Bid to Retake Ramadi
The Iraqi Army’s humiliating defeat in Ramadi has left Baghdad with little choice but to make a deal with the devil — the battle-hardened and Iranian-backed Shia militias that offer the best chance of retaking the key city, say experts.
Shia militias, including the formidable Badr Brigade — Shia fighters who sided with Iran during the 1980s Iraq-Iran war — are massing outside the city, some 70 miles west of Baghdad. Their plan is to go in with Iraqi Army troops and oust ISIS, which raised its flag over the city center on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finns on Anti-ISIS Mission to Remain Anonymous
Finland is to send nearly 50 soldiers to Iraq in August to assist in the training of Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling ISIS militants. In an effort to protect against terrorist violence, those heading to Iraq will not have their names or photos published.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is World War III About to Break Out?
The Iranians are reportedly armed with Russian supersonic missiles, which are so exceedingly fast that foreign vessels cannot lock on them quickly enough to destroy them (Read full details in NEWS1449, posted in late, 2000). When you fast-forward to today, you realize that our enemies do possess incredibly powerful weapons with which to threaten our fleet.
“China’s stepping up its bid for ballistic missile superiority, having just successfully test-fired the country’s first hypersonic missile delivery vehicle, one capable of penetrating American air defenses to potentially deliver nuclear warheads. The Pentagon is not amused. The WU-14 hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) is part of China’s extremely secretive missile development program, which has been quietly modernizing the country’s conventional and nuclear missile systems … the HGV is launched aboard an ICBM, separates from the missile’s final stage while still in space, some 62 miles above the planet’s surface, and then zooms back into the atmosphere at more than ten times the speed of sound—around mach 10 or 7,680 miles per hour.
That’s fast enough to enter American airspace before we even react. By comparison, today’s cruise missile technology tops out at around 500 to 600 mph. “
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Claims German Behind Suicide Bombing
A German national carried out a suicide bombing against Iraqi security forces near the city of Baiji on Monday, the Islamic State group claimed in a statement posted on jihadist forums.
“Our brother Abu Mohammed al-Almani advanced in a booby-trapped vehicle carrying 1.5 tonnes of explosives on a gathering of the Safavid army west of the city of Baiji,” it said.
“God made it easy for him to make the murtadeen (another derogatory word used by IS to designate the army) suffer, leading to dozens of deaths and injuries among them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Islamic State takes in more than $1 million per day in extortion and taxation. Salaries of Iraqi government employees are taxed up to 50 percent, adding up to at least $300 million last year; companies may have their contracts and revenue taxed up to 20 percent. As other revenue streams have stalled, like banks and oil, the Islamic State has adjusted these rates to make taxation a larger portion of its income.
The Islamic State’s oil infrastructure, especially refineries, has been targeted by the United States-led airstrikes. Oil revenue has fallen to about $2 million per week, but the group is not dependent on oil income. Much of the production is used for its own fuel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadi Battle: Is Prepares to Defend Seized Iraqi City
Islamic State militants are preparing to defend the Iraqi city of Ramadi, witnesses say, as Iranian-backed militiamen gather east of the city.
Residents said IS fighters had set up defensive positions and laid landmines after capturing the city on Sunday.
Militants were also going door-to-door looking for government sympathisers and throwing bodies in the Euphrates river, residents were quoted as saying.
Thousands have fled the city and the UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis.
It says some 25,000 people have left the city, only 105km (65 miles) west of Baghdad, in recent days, adding to a flood of people already displaced from the area. Many were sleeping in the open.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Saudi Arabia in Talks to Purchase Pakistani Nuclear Weapons
Saudi Arabia has reportedly held talks with Pakistan for the purchase of nuclear weapons amid the ongoing nuclear negotiations between world powers and Iran, according to a US senior official who spoke with The Sunday Times.
Tensions in the region have escalated in light of the framework agreement the United States and the other world powers have made with the Islamic Republic, with Saudi Arabia increasingly concerned with the repercussions of a deal that may see the easing of sanctions leaving Iran more legroom to continue developing weapons of mass destruction.
The strain in relations was evident when Saudi Arabia’s King Salman skipped a major summit in Washington this week, along with the leaders of three other Gulf nations.
“For the Saudis the moment has come,” The Sunday Times quoted a former US defense official as saying.
“There has been a long-standing agreement in place with the Pakistanis and the House of Saud has now made the strategic decision to move forward.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Recruits Executioners as Death Penalty Rises
Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014.
The civil service ministry said that no qualifications were necessary and that applicants would be exempted from the usual entrance exams.
It said that as well as beheadings, the successful candidates would be expected to carry out amputations ordered by the courts under the kingdom’s strict version of Islamic sharia law.
Amputation of one or both hands is a routine penalty for theft. Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy and armed robbery are all punishable by death.
Most executions are carried out by beheading, but a few are carried out by firing squad, stoning or crucifixion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: Makkah Hotel to Dwarf Rivals
JEDDAH: The holy city of Makkah will host the largest hotel in the world with 10,000 rooms, 70 restaurants, shopping centers and a helipad, informed sources said. The project valued at $3.5 billion will be ready in two years.
Covering an area of 686,000 square feet, Abraj Kudai will also have royal suites, prayer halls and a convention center — all in 12 separate towers. The focal point, however, will be the central dome, expected to be one of the largest and tallest in the world. As the site of the hotel is only about a mile from the Grand Mosque, it is expected to host many of the millions of pilgrims. However, guests may need a robust bank account to book a room as the target will be high-end customers — who can afford four-star luxury in 10 towers and five-star hotels in two.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: NGO: 2 Thousand People Detained by Rebels Since 2012
Half of which women and children, 7 prisoners died under torture
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MAY 19 — Over two thousand people, among which women and children, have been detained in Syria in the last three years by armed opposition groups, reported the Syrian network for human rights, one of the most reliable bodies with regard to the monitoring of human rights violations in Syria.
The study was conducted in anti-regime militant-held areas between the beginning of 2012 and April 2015.
Out of the 2,043 people imprisoned in the last three years, 137 were minors and 875 women. Seven prisoners died under torture.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Girl Participating to a Talent Show Shot in the Head
A man allegedly responsible for shooting a 19 year-old girl in the head was stopped in the south-eastern province of Diyarbakir, said the local media. The injured young woman, Mutlu Kaya, is currently in hospital in critical conditions. She was shot Sunday night in her home and, according to initial findings, the attack was intended as punishment for her participation to a televised music talent show, a move that contravened her family’s wishes.
Feminicides are an alarming problem in Turkey. According to data provided by Ngos, 294 women were killed in 2014 and 91 have already been killed this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey TV Talent Show: Woman Contestant Shot in Head
A Turkish woman who has been taking part in a talent show on national TV has been shot in the head while rehearsing at home, Turkish media say. Mutlu Kaya, 19, was in a critical condition after being shot in Diyarbakir province early on Monday. Diyarbakir is a conservative region in south-east Turkey and Ms Kaya had reportedly received death threats for singing on the show, Sesi Cok Guzel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Developments’ In EU-Russia Relations, Lavrov
Talks with Mogherini ‘ended in positive way’
(ANSA) — Brussels, May 19 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday his talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini Monday had shown “some developments, some things moving” in relations between the two sides. He said the talks on the Ukraine crisis and bilateral ties “ended in general in a positive way”. Relations have recently been strained by Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine and a series of western sanctions. The fall-out from the sanctions have prompted fears in some quarters that Russia will turn away from Europe towards China.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Polygamy is Russia’s Hottest Political Debate
After a prominent police chief made a 17 year old his second wife Saturday, disputes erupted over polygamy in the majority-Muslim Russian region of Chechnya.
The official, Nazhud Guchigov, is in his 50s. He married Kheda Goylabiyeva in an Islamic ceremony just weeks after her 17th birthday in early May. (The bride is also known by the first name Luiza.) For weeks, the pending marriage was a local media firestorm, as authorities nervously declined to comment on the case’s legality.
Russian federal law prohibits polygamy. But in a vast country of surprising ethnic and religious diversity, local custom has sometimes taken the upper hand since imperial times. In fact, the formal polygamy ban only dates back to a Soviet-era criminal code from 1926, according to The Moscow Times.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Policemen Get 1 Year in Jail Over Mob Killing of Young Woman
Eleven policemen have been convicted and sentenced to one year in jail and eight have been freed over the mob killing of a woman in Kabul. They were accused of dereliction of duty, looking on as the woman was beaten.
Eleven Afghan police officers were sentenced to served one year in prison on Tuesday for failing for protect a female student from being killed by a mob in March. The 27-year-old Farkhunda was wrongfully accused of burning a Koran before dozens of people beat her to death in broad daylight in Kabul.
The police were accused of doing nothing to stop the violent crowd.
“You are sentenced…for negligence of duty to one year in prison,” Judge Safiullah Mojaddidi said to the defendants, some of whom senior officers, while eight other policemen were freed.
After killing her, the mob set her body alight and threw it in the Kabul River. The March 19 murder was met with shock and anger both in Farkhunda’s native Afghanistan and abroad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangladesh Police Urge Ban on Islamist Group After Killings
DHAKA (AFP) — Bangladesh police said Tuesday they have asked the government to ban an Islamist militant group they suspect of involvement in the murders of atheist bloggers.
Police have already charged members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team with the 2013 murder of blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider, and now suspect the same group was responsible for the deaths of three more bloggers this year.
The 33-year-old was the third secular blogger to be killed in the Muslim-majority nation since February when Bangladeshi-born US citizen Avijit Roy, a writer and moderator of a blog site, was hacked to death in the capital Dhaka.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: One Year of Modi Government: “Hate Speech” To Eliminate Religious Minorities
Hindu nationalists and radical leaders use “love jihad” and “Ghar Wapsi” propaganda to divide society. They feel “entitled” because the Bharatiya Janata Party is in government. Hindu nationalist: “Mosques should be converted into pig dens”. The analysis of Ram Puniyani, president of the Center for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai, on how radicalized Indian politics has become, a year after the election of Narendra Modi.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — The coming to power of Narendra Modi in a way gave an open license to all the affiliates of RSS [ultra Hindu group — ed]combine to indulge in open hate speech against the religious minorities. The current agenda behind the hate speech is to consolidate the communal polarization of the society along lines of religion. The well known case of MIM’s [Islamic party All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen] Akarbar Uddudin Owaisis’ hate speech has been despicable and very rightly Akbarudin Owaisi had to be in jail for some time. The case against him should be pursued and the legal course of action must befollowed. At the same time what about the hate speech indulged in by the likes of Pravin Togadia, Subramaniam Swami, Giriraj Singh, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Sadhvi Prachi, Sakshi Mahraraj, Yogi Adityanth, Sanjay Raut and company?
Apart from these associates of Hindu right wing patriarch, RSS, who are reported in the media, there are many more indulging in the divisive speech and worsening the communal situation. During this year they have started feeling emboldened as they know it is ‘their’ Government and they can get away with it. Day in and day out they are becoming more aggressive and vicious in their language. The hate speech against religious minorities has been stepped up.
One recalls even before Modi Sarkar assumed the seat of power the divisive activities of ‘BJP associates’ in the form of propaganda of love jihad and Ghar Vapasi were on, and they continued without any respite during this year. Soon after this Government came to power in Pune, Mohsin Sheikh, a person working in IT was hacked to death by activists of Hindu Jagran Sena, in the aftermath of morphed pictures of Bal Thackeray and Shivaji being posted on the social media. The attack on Churches was very glaring and the process which was dominant in Delhi and Haryana was also witnessed in places like Panvel near Mumbai, Agra in UP amongst other places.
Sakshi Maharaj not only said that Godse was a patriot; he also went on to say that Hindu women should produce four children, as Muslims are overtaking the population. Sadhvi Prachi went to prescribe eight children for Hindu women. She also gave a call that the Muslim film actors, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan should be boycotted. Pravin Togadia has been the leading person in making hate speeches; he has the highest number of cases regarding hate speech against him. Yogi Adityanath, BJP’s MP keeps making very derogatory remarks, He said that in ‘love jihad’ if one Hindu girl is converted then 100 Muslim girls should be converted to Hinduism. The propaganda around love jihad keeps simmering and various small and big leaders keep using it to divide the society. Same Yogi went on to say that Mosques should be converted into den of pigs and that Muslims should not be allowed to come to Hindu holy places.
Two central ministers of Modi Sarkar, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Giriaj Singh made very insulting and humiliating remarks about non Hindus and the color of skin of UPA chief Sonia Gandhi. Niranjan Jyoti stated that all those who are non Hindus are illegitimate, Haramzade. Giriraj Singh had earlier said that those not voting for Modi should go to Pakistan. Interestingly he said this before the elections and despite such a record he was elevated to the level of minister in the Modi sarkar. He made racial comments about Sonia Gandhi recently. Sakshi Mahraj also held Godse as a patriot, while his another party colleague from Kerala, one Gopal Krishnan wrote in RSS mouth piece Keasri that Godse chose a wrong target in killing Gandhi, he should have killed Nehru instead. Subramaniam Swamy, one of the very senior leaders of BJP, said that God lives in temples alone, not in mosques and Churches, The hidden implication of this statement is fraught with danger. These are few of the samples from what all has been stated during this year. Its impact in increasing the sense of fear amongst religious minorities is more than obvious. BJP ally Shiv Sena’s MP Sanjay Raut went to the extent of demanding that the voting rights of Muslims should be revoked.
As such one realizes that ‘Hate speech’ is the outcome of the politics of divisiveness, it is the concentrated expression of the ‘social common sense’ prevailing in the society, it is the forth right and blunt way of putting things, which communal parties propagate anyway. It is not out of the blue that these formulations suddenly crop up, their infrastructure, the base of these has already been made by a section of political outfits.
Also ‘Hate Speech’ in case of India is an accompaniment of the politics in the name of religion and language, and also many times it precedes the violence or helps in polarization of communities for electoral benefits. While BJP was on the upswing during Ram Temple campaign; one recalls that Sadhvi Ritambhara, was propped up for pravachans (religious discourses) by RSS combine. She was bluntly talking anti minority things, duly endorsed by communal political organizations. This took place around the Babri demolition period.
One has been hearing similar things from many a sadhus of VHP, small and sundry members of communal gang, some Muslim communalists and the ilk of Togadia. There has been a more sophisticated presentation of the similar formulations by many others. Modi, in his initial rise to power talked divisive language, but kept changing the form in a very subtle way to suit the needs of his political strategy. When he said that post Gujarat refugee camps should be shut down as they have become factories of production of children, he was reinforcing the propaganda about Muslims having more number of children.
In the wake of Mumbai riots Bal Thackeray had indulged in Hate speech, inciting his Shiv Sainiks to undertake violence. He also got away with it due to clever way of putting his vitriol and due to the lack of adequate laws which can distinguish the Hate speech from freedom of expression, which can distinguish between one’s political opinion and painting the ‘other’ community in a negative light. Incidentally it is important to distinguish between criticizing a community and criticizing a political organization. While political organizations can and must be criticized, communities should not be humiliated or insulted. Also no political organization can be synonymous with the religious community, whatever its claims.
It is not only disturbing but totally against the values of our democratic society that such ‘hate other’ ideology and speeches have become the weapon in the hands of a type of politics, which thrives on exclusion, which identifies a particular religious community as synonymous with the nation state. Again this ‘hate speech’ is the language of a section of those who thrive on identity politics far away from the real issues of the society.
As such Hate speech in India entered the political arena with the rise of communal streams in politics, like Muslim League on one side and Hindu Mahasabha and RSS on the other. These streams believed in the nation based on one religious community. These streams came from the sections of earlier rulers, landlords, Nawabas and Rajas etc. The ideology of religion based nationalism is narrow and it excludes ‘other’ from its notion of nationhood. These beliefs then get converted into Hate other, and later turn in to ‘Hate speech’. This did form the basis of many a communal violence in pre independence era and also during the last two decades. Varun Gandhi, allegedly said ‘he will cut the hands’, is a BJP MP.
In this atmosphere once a while the BJP spokespersons will say that the view expressed by the particular leader are ‘personal’ and stop at that. For BJP another escape clause is that its associated organizations like VHP, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Bajrang Dal are formally different organizations though they are also part of RSS controlled Sangh Parivar. They all are working in tandem with BJP for actualization of agenda of Hindu Rashtra. So while BJP is not directly responsible for their actions, the direction of the actions is the same. Many a people call these organizations as fringe elements, while as a matter of fact there is a division of labor between these organizations. These have become more aggressive during this time. And surely after the Modi Sarkar coming to power their vitriol has become more intense.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Ocean May be Key to Global Warming ‘Hiatus’
The Indian Ocean may be the dark horse in the quest to explain the puzzling pause in global warming, researchers report on 18 May in Nature Geoscience. The study finds that the Indian Ocean may hold more than 70% of all heat absorbed by the upper ocean in the past decade.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand Ex-PM Yingluck Pleads Not Guilty
Former Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra has filed a not guilty plea on her first day in court on negligence charges. The scandal has pit the her poor rural supporters against the royalist elite.
With supporters outside the courtroom chanting “Yingluck! Yingluck!,” defying a ban on gatherings of more than five people, Thailand’s former prime minister entered a not guilty plea on Tuesday as she appeared in court for the first time to face charges that could see her jailed for a decade.
Yingluck Shinawatra, Thailand’s first female prime minister, is accused of dereliction of duty relating to a controversial rice subsidy program which saw the government paying, in some cases, over half the market value of rice to the farmers and losing Thailand its crown as the world’s leading exporter of the grain.
Her supporters say it is part of a politically motivated campaign to discredit her family. Yingluck is the sister of another former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 2008 to avoid facing corruption charges. Critics of the family say the Shinawatras used their power for personal gain and cronyism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Dominance in South China Sea Raises Alarm
China’s buildup in the South China Sea is pushing the region closer to a possible military standoff over disputed territory, foreign policy experts tell FoxNews.com.
The U.S. and its allies are raising concerns over Chinese land reclamation projects — essentially building manmade islands in the middle of the sea that many consider is a way for Beijing to expand its influence.
“This should be of enormous concern — $5.3 trillion in trade transits through the South China Sea; this is one of the major arteries for world trade … China’s actions are clearly an attempt to establish dominance over this vital set of waterways,” said Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation.
He added that China’s new attitude is “more and more — ‘no, this is our territorial waters. You can pass through with our permission.’“
Six countries — China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam — have all long maintained overlapping claims to waters and land in the South China Sea. Yet Beijing has claimed the largest portion, with officials saying they have the right to control roughly 90 percent of that region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Man ‘With 17 Girlfriends’ Arrested for Fraud
A Chinese man who was caught cheating on 17 girlfriends at once has been arrested for fraud.
The man from Hunan province made headlines last month when all 17 women discovered each other when they rushed to his hospital bedside.
The allegation of fraud relates to sums of money which he regularly took from the deceived women, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
The women set up an online chat group called “revenge alliance”, SCMP said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
For Tibetan Leader, Tibet and the Panchen Lama Are Victims of Cultural Genocide
Penpa Tsering is the speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile. On the 20th anniversary of the abduction of Tibetan Buddhism’s number two figure, he noted that China does not want him dead, but ignorant of the language, religion and culture of Tibet. This way, “he would not be in a position to communicate directly with the Tibetan people in the future.” In cities around the world, calls are heard for the release for the “youngest political prisoner in history.”
Dharamsala (AsiaNews) — The Chinese government “has decided to deprive the Panchen Lama of the education and training necessary to enable him to carry out his duties,” said Penpa Tsering, speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in exile.
China’s action are deliberate. The government wants to keep the Panchen Lama from learning the Tibetan language, religion and culture, “so that he would not be in a position to communicate directly with the Tibetan people in the future,” he told AsiaNews on the 20th anniversary of the boy’s abduction.
The Panchen Lama is tasked with recognising the new rebirth after the death of the Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, recognised Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the new Panchen Lama on 14 May 1995. A few days later, on 17 May, police abducted the 6-year-old boy and his family. Since then, nothing has been known of their whereabouts.
To mark the event, and demand Nyima’s release, demonstrations were held yesterday in several cities of the world on behalf of “the youngest political prisoner in history”.
Beijing did not merely seize the legitimate number two of Tibetan Buddhism. In November 1995, it “selected” Gyaltsen Norbu as the “true” Panchen Lama, claiming that it used “more authentic” religious rituals than the Dalai Lama. Beijing’s goal is to establish tight control over Tibet’s religious life.
In 2004, China went one step further and issued a regulation whereby all the “living Buddhas” must be approved by the government. This way, Beijing hopes to control the next Dalai Lama. Such religious leaders play an important role in Tibetan Buddhism.
After a period of “study” and isolation, China’s hand-picked Panchen Lama entered national political life in 2010, at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body the National People’s Congress. Since then he has not been seen a lot.
Aware that Tibetan Buddhists have little respect for him, he lives in a closed monastery in Beijing. In the Grand Lama Temple in the Chinese capital — where the thrones of the Dalai and Panchen are kept — his picture is smaller than that of its predecessor.
“I believe that the efforts of the Chinese government in keeping the Panchen Lama in a secret location is to deprive him of all the religious [training] that he [needs] to undertake so that he can teach to the future generations of Tibetans,” Penpa Tsering said.
Although based on a system of rebirths, Tibetan Buddhism’s main religious figures also have a very high level of education. Historically, the Panchen Lama is the Dalai Lama’s religious and cultural master.
Penpa said that he believed China hopes to keep the Panchen Lama from learning the Tibetan language “so that he would not be in a position to communicate directly with the Tibetan people in the future.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Panda Guts Not Suited to Digesting Bamboo
Pandas make quick work of bamboo, using their powerful jaws to peel back the plant’s tough outer stalk and reach the tender heart. But new research suggests that microorganisms in the bear’s gut are not quite as adept at breaking down the species’ primary food source.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sieren’s China: A Foothold in Europe
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Belarus is meant as a strong show of economic interest in the region. But it’s also a sign of the limits of its friendship of convenience with Russia, DW’s Frank Sieren writes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite ‘Has Killed 400 People in Reign of Terror Against the West’
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite has murdered 400 people after becoming a key figure in jihadist terror group al Shabaab.
The 32-year-old mother of four’s atrocities include last month’s slaughter of 148 by gunmen at a university in Kenya, say security chiefs.
One told the Mirror in the Somalian capital, frequently bombed by al Shabaab: “This lady sits at the right hand of the leader directing attacks.”
She has been rapidly promoted through the ranks of al Shabaab after many of its leaders died in drone attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Charged With Graft in China, Some Fugitives Are Finding Luxury in U.S.
Even before his name appeared on the “most wanted” list, holes had emerged in the immigrant success story of Wei Chen.
His business partner sued him last year, alleging that nearly $50 million was missing from their development project in Plantation, Fla. The ensuing litigation revealed that Mr. Chen had changed his name from He Yejun, and that he had once been a top executive in a state-owned beer company in China.
When the Chinese government released a list last month of what it described as its leading 100 fugitives accused of economic crimes — including 40 people believed to be hiding in the United States — there was He Yejun’s name, along with that of his wife.
They were accused of misappropriating funds in China before moving to the United States in the late 1990s. Records show that among Mr. Chen’s luxury purchases since immigrating are a $2 million condo near Miami, a Bentley and a 70-foot yacht owned through a corporation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EC Migrant Quota Assigned to Spain Unfair, Says Foreign Minister
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said on Monday that he did not agree with the European Commission’s proposed distribution plan to share the burden of taking in immigrants among the 28 member states. Under the draft, the EC said that Spain should accept 9.1 percent of all migrants who enter Europe as part of the bloc’s latest efforts to deal with a burgeoning immigration crisis.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European Opposition Could Sink Brussels Migrant Plan
Brussels may have to water down controversial plans for quotas to spread Mediterranean refugees around Europe amid growing opposition, unexpectedly led by France, officials said Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland Rejecting Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum — Against Ecj Judgment
Finnish immigration authorities are turning away unaccompanied minors who arrive in the country as asylum seekers. Officials point to the Dublin Regulation, which states that the EU member state responsible for processing asylum applications is the country in which the asylum seeker first arrives. However in 2013 the European Court of Justice ruled that the regulation should not be applied to minors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Foreign-Language Worker Shortage Hits Helsinki Daycare Centres
Helsinki officials are struggling to recruit foreign-language workers for city daycare centres. They say that strict Finnish-language requirements may be putting a spanner in the works for daycares that prioritise foreign-language skills, especially as they welcome a more diverse clientele.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Joins EU Anti-Trafficking Mission
German forces will join in a pan-EU mission to stop people traffickers operating in the Mediterranean, agreed on at a meeting of foreign and defence ministers from across Europe in Brussels on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Says No to Migrant Quotas
French president says all true refugees must be considered
(ANSA) — Berlin, May 19 — French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday rejected quotas for migrants but said he agreed with the need to “distribute” asylum seekers around Europe.
“One must distinguish between immigrants arriving for economic reasons, who can’t stay, and refugees who are entitled to political asylum, for whom European law must apply”, he said.
Policies to restrict numbers of people coming in search of a livelihood are needed in a Europe without borders, and in countries that do not have enough employment, added Hollande.
“These people are sent back,” he said. “We can not talk of quotas for them. There are no quotas of migrants,” coming in for work.
In contrast, refugees with the right to asylum must all be considered “also here there is no quota,” said Hollande.
“There are people who are eligible and people who are not entitled”.
Hollande added that France and Germany “speak with one voice” on the issue.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Government to Refugees: Go Back to Africa or Go to Prison
As Europe struggles to stem a spring flood of migrants from Africa and the Middle East trying to cross a deadly Mediterranean Sea, Israel has begun to toughen its stance toward refugees, telling unwanted Africans here they must leave now or face an indefinite stay in prison.
Israeli authorities are sending letters to the first of 45,000 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, informing them they have 30 days to accept Israel’s offer of $3,500 in cash and a one-way ticket home or to an unnamed third country in Africa, or face incarceration at Saharonim prison.
Israeli leaders have proclaimed that their tough approach — building a fence along the country’s border, denying work permits for illegal migrants, forcing them into a detention center in the desert — may ultimately save lives by dissuading migrants from attempting a perilous journey. Critics of the Israeli policy counter that a country built by refugees should be more accepting of those fleeing war, poverty and oppression.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Starts to Show the Strains of Migrant Influx
With its refugee reception facilities bursting at the seams, Italy is starting to show the strains created by thousands of people washing up every week on its southern shores.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lost at Sea, Unwanted: The Plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ‘Boat People’
(CNN) A humanitarian disaster looms as thousands of migrants remain stranded at sea, while authorities in Southeast Asian nations refuse to take them in.
The scale of the crisis is still unknown. No organization, from the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to Rohingya rights groups, knows how many boats there are. The number of migrants stranded aboard these ships, however, is estimated to be in the thousands.
Despite a plea from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, urging Southeast Asian leaders to uphold “international law” and “the obligation of rescue at sea,” Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are refusing to accept the “boat people” — men, women and children who remain on ships, with rapidly dwindling provisions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Row Over EU Migrant Quotas Rumbles on
EC says French position compatible, negotiations possible
(ANSA) — Rome, May 19 — A row over proposed EU migrant quotas hopefully aimed at taking the pressure off front-line countries in the Mediterranean emergency like Italy, Greece and Malta rumbled on Tuesday. Amid fresh French doubts after Spain had voiced concern, the European Commission was at pains Monday to stress that France’s position on the temporary resettlement of incoming migrants or relocation of asylum seekers already inside EU borders “is not incompatible” with that of the EC.
EC spokesperson Natasha Bernaud said the EU had been in touch with Paris and it could “count on its backing”. France had seemed to back-track from supporting the proposed new quota system for sharing migrants and asylum seekers among EU members.
There have been widening divisions over the initial agreement on a migrant total of 20,000 to be shared out among EU members according to the proposed quota system.
Several countries, including Britain, Denmark and Ireland, are already able to opt out and most Eastern European countries want to follow suit. On Tuesday Hungarian Premier Viktor Urban called the EC proposal “unhealthy”.
But the Commission also said Tuesday that its plan to introduce quotas to relocate asylum seekers in response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis was open to some degree of negotiation. On Monday Spain requested the relocation criteria be revised. “There is scope for discussing the criteria,” said spokeswoman Bertaud.
However, French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday again rejected quotas for migrants while saying he agreed with the need to “distribute” asylum seekers around Europe.
“One must distinguish between immigrants arriving for economic reasons, who can’t stay, and refugees who are entitled to political asylum, for whom European law must apply”, he said.
Policies to restrict numbers of people coming in search of a livelihood are needed in a Europe without borders, and in countries that do not have enough employment, added Hollande.
“These people are sent back,” he said. “We can not talk of quotas for them. There are no quotas of migrants,” coming in for work.
In contrast, refugees with the right to asylum must all be considered “also here there is no quota,” said Hollande.
“There are people who are eligible and people who are not entitled”.
Hollande added that France and Germany “speak with one voice” on the issue.
Responding to the apparent French renewed No, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans claimed that plans for an EU migrant quota system were not put at risk by Hollande’s reiterated stance. “I have not seen a ‘no’ from Hollande,” said Timmermans.
“I saw questions on quotas….The strategy is not at risk,” he said. Meanwhile Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow “will examine in the most precise way possible all the nuances” of an EU request for a UN Security Council mandate for its planned mission to fight migrant smugglers in Libya “so there isn’t a double meaning in what may be given to the EU”. The proposed mission, headquartered in Rome and led by an Italian admiral with experience in destroying Somali pirate boats, Enrico Credendino, was OK’d by EU foreign and defence ministers Monday and aims to get a UN mandate before being greenlit by the EU late next month.
The drive to resolve the Mediterranean migrant crisis also includes setting up processing centres in transit countries.
The draft UN resolution is already being reviewed by Russia and China, a UN source said Tuesday.
Those two permanent members of the UN Security Council were said to have major concerns about military actions and could veto such a resolution, analysts say.
The draft text speaks of a “mandate for an operation under the umbrella of the European Union” and the UN.
The operation could include the use of force in order to “inspect, seize, and neutralize boats that are suspected of being used for the smuggling of migrants”.
The plan may also reportedly see European navies take migrants back to African ports, in an apparent breach of the international ‘non-refoulement’ rule.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Russia to Vet EU Smuggler Op Request ‘V.Carefully’
Proposed Italian-led mission to be based in Rome
(ANSA) — Brussels, May 19 — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday Moscow “will examine in the most precise way possible all the nuances” of an EU request for a UN Security Council mandate to fight migrant smugglers in Libya “so there isn’t a double meaning in what may be given to the EU”. The proposed mission, headquartered in Rome and led by an Italian admiral with experience in destroying Somali pirate boats, Enrico Credendino, was OK’d by EU foreign and defence ministers Monday and aims to get a UN mandate before being greenlit by the EU late next month.
The drive to resolve the Mediterranean migrant crisis also includes setting up processing centres in transit countries and sharing the burden of asylum seekers across the EU as much as possible to ease the pressure on Italy, Greece and Malta.
There has been widening division over the initial agreement on migrant quotas.
Several countries, including Britain, Denmark and Ireland, are able to opt out and most Eastern European countries want to follow suit.
Meanwhile France and Spain this week voiced reservations about the initial deal.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In the past three months, thousands of migrants have made their way to Greek islands via Turkey. They get temporary papers from the Greek authorities: depending on their nationality, some are allowed to stay for one month, others for six months before leaving the country or, in certain cases, before getting political asylum.
Under new rules, they are forbidden from travelling to some areas of Greece where they can escape to northern Europe. One of these regions is Kilkis near the Greek-Macedonian border.
The journey to northern Europe usually starts from Africa, the Middle East or even central Asia. Those who end up in Greece mostly arrive by small boat to Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast in the eastern Aegean Sea.
After landing on Greek soil, they get their temporary papers and catch a ferry to Athens. Then on from Athens by train or bus to Thessaloniki in northern Greece, before travelling the 70 km by foot to the border village of Idomeni in the forbidden Kilkis region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Unless you live under a rock, there has been no escape from the much ballyhooed Pew Report news last week that the number of those who call themselves Christian has dropped in percentage from 78.4 to 70.6 in the last seven years. Gleefully propagated by secularists and much to the dismay of Christians, the news of the sudden decline appeared to astonish both non-believers and believers alike. I really don’t know why. I’ve got news for you. Watch what happens to that percentage in the next seven years.
I am no theologian and I certainly make no claims in anyway to have the ability to “prophesy” about the future. However, what we are seeing in these polls is the “wheat being separated from the chaff”. Country Club Christians who sit in a pew every Sunday, who have served as deacons or elders or Sunday School teachers, no longer find it financially lucrative to network with coveted contacts reaped by attendance at a “First of Anything” Church. No longer is it desirable or necessary on a resume to complete all of the works-related service done in the name of “Christianity”. So-called Christians started dropping like flies when religiosity lost its power to be socially advantageous or something to brag about, “Look, how good I am!”
Those falling away never were. There is no way to renounce a faith that was never was. Or, is it possible? How in the world could anyone who claimed to be a Christian simply wake up and decide, “Nope, not for me”?
But…
Are we not warned repeatedly that in the last days that this is exactly what will happen? Do I need to quote scripture to you? People are being deceived left and right by evil doctrines of unbelief and heresy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Science Leaders to Tackle Ethics of Gene-Editing Technology
The leading U.S. scientific organization, responding to concerns expressed by scientists and ethicists, has launched an ambitious initiative to recommend guidelines for new genetic technology that has the potential to create “designer babies.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Engineered Yeast Paves Way for Home-Brew Heroin
Biotechnology is about to make morphine production as simple as brewing beer. A paper published on 18 May in Nature Chemical Biology reports the creation of a yeast strain containing the first half of a biochemical pathway that turns simple sugars into morphine — mimicking the process by which poppies make opiates. Combined with other advances, researchers predict that it will be only a few years — or even months — before a single engineered yeast strain can complete the entire process.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Re: “The Quiet Zone”. BBC Radio 4 had a short documentary about this part of West Virginia only today.
There are a government (NSA?) monitoring station, and astronomers’ radio telescopes in the area, hence the banning of other microwaves. Apparently people who suffer adverse reactions to mobile ‘phones etc. have obtained much relief by moving there.
>> the (TPP) claims to be a “living agreement” with “a structure, institutions, and processes that allow the agreement to evolve.” <<
If the Washington, D.C. Ladies Executive and Legislative Social and Garden Club had any inclination to act anything other than like Juarez pole-dancing whores famous for their advanced moves and indifference to basic common law doctrines of contract, they would know that agreements don't "evolve." They are agreements fixed as to their terms, with ambiguities handled according to established principles of interpretation.
In contracts, as in politics, if anything or anyone “evolves” someone somewhere is going to have another kind of Juarez experience.
>> Sachs has made it clear that he hopes to enlist the Vatican in a global campaign to increase the power of global or foreign-dominated organizations and movements <<
Presumably, that "power of global or foreign-dominated organizations and movements" will be used to force us all to "exercise … virtues, most notably justice and charity.” Meaning, specifically, what?
I can hardly wait to find out what that entails according to an advanced being such as Mr. Sachs. Here I thought all along that Nature or Nature's God had set it up so I can ignore putzim like Sachs but, no, I'm slated for "guidance" in my affairs from some guy who probably has to call for backup to fix a flat tire or kill a spider.
Don't you just love that part about "foreign-dominated"? Those foreigners do have a lock on virtue. I grant you that.
>> Helsinki officials are struggling to recruit foreign-language workers for city daycare centres. <<
Nothing signals that your society is spinning out of control quite so much as when you have a dearth of Austrian-speaking daycare workers.
>> Policies to restrict numbers of people coming in search of a livelihood are needed in a Europe without borders, and in countries that do not have enough employment, added Hollande. <<
Boldly going where no man has ever gone before.
>>Israeli Government to Refugees: Go Back to Africa or Go to Prison <<
We'll take Option B, please.