During these hard economic times, more and more French people who own boats have become part-time people traffickers, ferrying migrants from the Calais area to Britain. Authorities in northern France are worried about the increase in trafficking, which they say is very lucrative for the smugglers.
In other news, a Bosnian said to be linked to the mujahideen of the Islamic State has been expelled from Italy.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to 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.
In the following interview with X22 Report Spotlight, well known analyst and contrarian thinker Greg Mannarino of Traders Choice succinctly explains the challenges we face as individuals and as a nation. He doesn’t mince words and goes straight to the heart of the problem: out of control debt.
As Mannarino explains it, we are facing an event so serious that it will directly impact just about every person on earth. But before we can prepare for it, we need to understand what it is that’s going to happen and what a worst-case scenario may look like:
The central banks… by us adopting a debt-based economic model, which demands that cash be borrowed from the future in greater and greater amounts to sustain what we have here, have created an alternative universe which would not exist. If we did not have access to all of these funds that we’re borrowing from the future and inflating this debt we would not have the lifestyle that we have now.
It’s created a population boom… a population boom has risen in tandem with the debt. It’s incredible.
So, when the debt bubble bursts we’re going to get a correction in population. It’s a mathematical certainty.
Millions upon millions of people are going to die on a world-wide scale when the debt bubble bursts. And I’m saying when not if…
When resources become more and more scarce we’re going to see countries at war with each other. People will be scrambling… in a worst case scenario… doing everything that they can to survive… to provide for their family and for themselves.
There’s no way out of it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Says That it Will Default on June 5th, And Moody’s Warns of a ‘Deposit Freeze’
The Greek government says that a “moment of truth” is coming on June 5th. Either their lenders agree to give them more money by that date, or Greece will default on a 300 million euro loan payment to the IMF.
Of course it won’t technically be a “default” according to IMF rules for another 30 days after that, but without a doubt news that Greece cannot pay will send shockwaves throughout the financial world. At that point, those holding Greek bonds will start to panic as they realize that they might not get paid as well. All over Europe, there are major banks that are holding large amounts of Greek debt and derivatives that are related to the performance of Greek debt. If something is not done to avert disaster at the last moment, a default by Greece could be the spark that sets off a major European financial crisis this summer.
As I discussed the other day, neither the EU nor the IMF have given any money to Greece since August 2014. So now the Greek government is just about out of money, and without any new loans they will not be able to pay back the old loans that are coming due. In fact, things are so bad at this point that the Greek government is openly warning that it will default on June 5th…
Greece cannot make an upcoming payment to the International Monetary Fund on June 5 unless foreign lenders disburse more aid, a senior ruling party lawmaker said on Wednesday, the latest warning from Athens it is on the verge of default.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist government says it hopes to reach a cash-for-reforms deal in days, although European Union and IMF lenders are more pessimistic and say talks are moving too slowly for that.
Of course this is all part of a very high stakes chess game. The Greeks believe that the Germans will back down when faced with the prospect of a full blown European financial crisis, and the Germans believe that the Greeks will eventually be feeling so much pain that they will be forced to give in to their demands.
So with each day we get closer and closer to the edge, and the Greeks are trying to do their best to let everyone know that they are not bluffing…
If Greece defaults and the Greek banking system collapses, stocks and bonds will crash all over Europe. Many believe that such a crash can be “contained” to just Europe, but that is really just wishful thinking.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Inequality Between Rich and Poor Has Hit Record Highs, OECD Warns
Inequality between the rich and the poor has reached its highest level in certain countries since the International Cooperation and Development Organization (OECD) began keeping records 30 years ago.
The crisis has widened this gap in economies such as Spain’s, due to, among other factors, higher taxation and social spending cuts.
In Spain, household income dropped an average annual 3.5% between 2007 and 2011, similar to the figures for Ireland and Iceland.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ISTAT Says Workforce Aging, But GDP Outlook Brighter
South needs more development or entire country harmed, report
(ANSA) — Rome, May 20 — The Italian workforce is aging, with fewer younger workers finding jobs and more employees over 55 staying on the job, but positive growth signs may help, national statistical agency Istat said Wednesday.
The number of 55-plus workers jumped 8.9% or 320,000, while employees under 35 fell by 2.9% or about 148,000 positions last year, the agency said in its annual report.
Still, economic indicators for 2015 show “a positive outlook in Italy,” said Giorgio Alleva, president of Istat.
Indicators from production figures to exports are positive for the country, while the eurozone outlook is also upbeat, said Alleva.
However, he warned that a lack of sound public policies is holding back growth in the southern half of Italy and that threatens the entire country.
“Development and growth will only be penalized in the country,” if the South is not developed, he said.
In other signs of the harm inflicted by years of economic slowdown, the agency also reported that about one in 10 Italians, or some 2.3 million people, are working under an “irregular” contract.
It added that it is using new methodology to try to measure those numbers, and estimated the rate of irregular workers was about 12.6% for 2012.
As well, the proportion of Italian families where only the women have jobs “continues to increase”, Istat noted.
Some 12.9% of families, or 2.428 million households in 2014 reported only women had jobs.
In contrast, in 2008 only 9.6% of households, or about 1.731 million reported solely women workers in the family.
Meanwhile, foreign residents in Italy “are an asset for the country,” but are not always respected or welcomed, Istat said. There are some 4.8 million foreign residents including many “who are willing to carry out the work which Italian citizens do not want to do”, Istat said.
It also noted that almost seven million people were jobless last year, including 3.2 million actively searching and another 3.5 million available but discouraged.
The numbers in the job hunt rose by 5.5% from 2013, the agency added.
The only form of work where growth was reported last year was part-time employment, now accounting for four million workers, or 18% of the total.
Some 63.3% of those workers were forced to take part-time hours — more than double the 24.4% average in the EU, said Istat.
About 784,000 more part-time workers were reported last year in Italy compared with 2008. The ‘brain drain’ from Italy of some its best-trained and highly skilled workers is growing, Istat said.
It reported that 3,000 PhD holders graduating between 2008 and 2010, or almost 13%, live outside the country.
That number is almost double the 7% of PhD grads from between 2004 and 2006, the agency said.
Physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists are among the professionals most likely to leave, said Istat.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel, Hollande and Tsipras Meet to Discuss Greek Bailout Woes at Sidelines of Summit
French President Francois Hollande says he will huddle with his German and Greek counterparts to pave the way for a special eurozone meeting of finance ministers late this month or early June about Greece’s bailout woes.
Hollande said at the opening of the Eastern Partnership summit that he will join Chancellor Angela Merkel late Thursday for a friendly discussion with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras “where we need to draft solutions” to be worked out later by the eurozone ministers.
The meeting comes a day after a leading official from Tsipras’ party said that Greece will not be able to repay a loan to the International Monetary Fund early next month unless a deal is reached with its creditors to unblock bailout funds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Schäuble Warns Greece and Woos Britain
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said he could not categorically rule out a Greek debt default as Athens negotiates with its creditors, US and French newspapers reported on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Europe Will Lead the Charge to Eliminate Cash — the Next Step in Global Meltdown
Europe will lead the world into this Economic Totalitarianism because government is now desperate to retain the Euro. If the Euro collapses, so will Brussels. The government exists solely because of the Euro.
The fatal design of the Euro is the key. The failure to have consolidated the debts of all individual member states has been the worst possible mistake perhaps ever made in this post-Great Depression era of New Economics where government lawyers assume they can just write a law and that will be followed as some new modern dictator.
Because of the failure to consolidate the debts, the reserve of the banks had to then be politically correct to conform with Brussels holding a piece of all member state debts. That meant that the defaulting in part or in whole of individual sovereign debts of member states undermined the banking system. This would be as if in the USA bank reserves were made up of state debts. If one state failed, everyone would scramble to sell the banks who had the most.
Since Brussels will not reform, as Einstein put it correctly that you cannot solve a problem with the same line of thinking. This whole idea of negative interest rates is just following the same Keynesian concept that lowering rates will stimulate demand. The missing element is CONFIDENCE. If you do not believe you will make even 1%, you will not pay 0%. While they keep lowering rates to stimulate borrowers, they are wiping out the elderly who now cannot live from their savings reducing their spending destroying the entire idea of pensions and retirement (the social contract). The lack of CONFIDENCE prevents new businesses from forming and therein results in the lost generation of youth who cannot find a job. The elderly are forced to work so there becomes a shortage of jobs resulting in higher unemployment among the youth.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Tolerant Liberals” Censor Free Speech, Burn Literature
A shocking illustration of how truly intolerant self-proclaimed “tolerant liberals” really are occurred today in Austin, Texas when pro-abortion agitators from a group called ‘Red Guard’ attempted to physically censor the free speech of pro-life advocates before attacking recording equipment during an Infowars live stream of the demonstration.
Your free speech ends where a liberal’s opinion begins. http://t.co/R0hNjR65pz pic.twitter.com/ZVsWo4zwWW
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) May 21, 2015
The peaceful pro-life event was soon hijacked by spiteful, angry leftists who, instead of respecting the First Amendment and conducting their own parallel protest, chose to physically block signs being held up by pro-life activists with rudimentary pieces of cardboard and paper.
Red Guard agitators then attempted to hijack the live broadcast of the event, which was being simulcast on national radio, by engaging in a string of foul mouth expletives, which served as a cover for their inability to actually defend their own views on the issue when challenged.
Given that the group routinely marches under the hammer and sickle of the Communist Party — a symbol associated with the slaughter of tens of millions of people — it’s unsurprising that these thugs also like to burn literature with which they disagree — another hallmark of totalitarian regimes throughout history.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bin Laden Documents: US Officials Will Not Release Al-Qaeda Leader’s Pornography Stash
The stash of pornography reportedly found in the hideout of Osama Bin Laden by US commandos will not be declassified released “due to the nature of their contents”, an official has said.
Among the thousands of documents was what Reuters described in 2011 as a “fairly extensive porn stash”.
Brian Hale, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), told The Telegraph that the pornography would remain classified even as details of Bin Laden’s other personal files were released.
“Due to the nature of the content the decision was made not to release it,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Campus Police Intimidate Student Over Her Anti-Obama & Pro-Gun Signs
A college student is suing her school after three campus cops and an administrator ordered her not to carry an anti-Obama sign and a pro-gun sign on campus without “special permission.”
Nicole Sanders, a student at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas, was recently demonstrating with the signs when she was told she needed permission for them and had to stay in the college’s “free speech zone,” which is about the size of a parking space.
“I felt that the police were there to intimidate us to stop without any problems and it worked,” she told Infowars. “The police made me nervous.”
In order to receive permission, Sanders was expected to go through a lengthy application process with the Office of Student Life for a “free speech permit.”
“I needed to fill out a form stating what I’m doing, where I’m doing it at, who’s involved, and what outcome are we expecting,” she said, adding that she would also have to submit her signs to school officials for approval. “After we turn it in we would have to wait until four administrators sign it.”
In response, Sanders, with the help of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), has filed a lawsuit against Blinn stating that its policies and their enforcement are unconstitutional.
“I am doing this because I do not believe that the Constitution is a living document,” she told Infowars. “There’s a reason freedom of speech is the First Amendment, and without free speech on campus, administration can censor all speech that is heard.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Conservative Republicans’ Immutable America
The wordings of the current oath of enlisted soldiers and the oath of commissioned officers are slightly different. While both swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, only enlisted men swear to obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers above them. Commissioned officers, however, just swear to “take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion,” and that they “will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter” — no mention is made to blindly obeying the orders of the President or the officers above them.
The distinction is important, because it gives officers the power to question ethical and moral judgments about the orders they get, either from the President or from officers above them. Unfortunately, this is an option that most officers in the U.S. military have refused to exert.
So, there is something in the oath of officers that doesn’t work. While the U.S. military has excessively focused on defending the U.S. against foreign enemies, the fight against the domestic ones is nonexistent. Why?
Were the Founding Fathers crazy when they mentioned the possibility of domestic enemies attacking the Constitution? Do Americans have no domestic enemies who are conspiring in the shadows to destroy U.S. sovereignty and ban the Constitution? Why has the U.S. military never tried to protect us from those domestic enemies? Have our military officers betrayed oath? Well, some of them have.
[…]
It is difficult to explain without using the word treason why 132 high-ranking officers of the U.S. military are members of the Council on Foreign Relations,[8] an organization whose leaders have overtly expressed innumerable times their belief that the U.S. Constitution is outdated and that sovereign nation-states are obsolete and should be replaced by a world government under the control of an elite of international bankers, oil magnates and CEOs of transnational corporations — the New Gay World Order.
Moreover, key CFR members have openly expressed their hatred for the U.S. military. According to CFR member Henry Kissinger, military men are “dumb, stupid animals to be used” as pawns for foreign policy.[9]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eighth Grade Student Ridiculed by Teacher for Refusing to Say Pledge of Allegiance
An eighth grade student at a school in New Hampshire says she was kicked out of class, then singled out for ridicule by her teacher after she refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
Fatima Smart, 14, is still waiting for an apology from one of her instructors at the Monadnock Regional Middle School in Swanzey after she was shamed in front of the entire class.
Smart says other teachers hadn’t had a problem with her refusal to say the pledge this school year.
“To me the flag salute represents our government and I don’t like our government,” Smart says. “I just disagree with everything they do.”
But that changed on her first day of cooking class in March when her teacher, Vicki Mercier, ordered her to stand and salute.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Although Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) are “militaristic in nature,” cops should use them because they have “significant utility for law enforcement operations,” according to President Obama’s task force on police equipment.
The interagency Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group (LEEWG), which was established by Obama under Executive Order 13688, purposely exempted MRAPs and other military vehicles from a list of equipment prohibited from police use.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Geert Wilders: Defending Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech is under threat today. Not only in Europe, where I come from. But also here, in America.
The last time I was in the United States was less than two weeks ago. I was in Garland, Texas, where I gave the keynote speech at a contest of Muhammad cartoons.
The contest was held in a conference center, where after the Paris Charlie Hebdo assassinations, an Islamic organization had convened to demand that freedom of speech be restricted and Muhammad cartoons be forbidden. The Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland was organized to make a stand against this demand. We should never allow ourselves to be intimidated.
The winner of the Garland contest was a former Muslim. There was something very symbolic about the fact that he was an apostate. Under Islamic Sharia law, apostasy is punishable by death. Under the same law, making illustrations of the prophet Muhammad is also punishable by death.
The winner of the contest had made a picture of a fierce looking Muhammad, waving a sword. “You cannot draw me,” Muhammad said. Underneath the picture, the artist had written: “That is exactly why I am drawing you!”
That is the true American spirit. This cartoonist is an example to us all…
| [Return to headlines] |
Global Warming Now Responsible for Islamic Terrorism
President Barack Obama’s attempts to provide cover for Islamic terrorists by first declaring global warming/climate change “a national security threat” and then excusing their ongoing carnage with the absurd claim that it was global warming that set them off, must be the biggest political scam in all of human history.
It was supposedly feeling the ravages of climate change that set Islamic terrorism on a worldwide rampage?
How do the mainstream media, Obama’s so-called political opponents and the masses let him get away with this outrageous, over-the-top claim?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GM Says You Don’t Own Your Car, You Just License it
GM has joined with John Deere in asking the government to confirm that you literally cannot own your car because of the software in its engine.
Like Deere, GM wants to stop the Copyright Office from granting an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would allow you to jailbreak the code in your car’s engine so that you can take it to a non-GM mechanic for service, or fix it yourself. By controlling who can service your car, GM can force you to buy only official, expensive parts, protecting its bottom line.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House Democrat Introduces Gun Registry Bill
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill that would effectively create a firearms registry by forcing private sellers at gun shows to report sales to the Attorney General and by requiring gun show organizers to register with the Justice Dept.
The bill, H.R. 2380, would also force gun show organizers to provide the identities of all their vendors to the Attorney General.
“The legislation would call on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to hire investigators to inspect gun shows and examine records kept by gun show operators and vendors,” The Hill reported.
For the past several years the Justice Dept. has been pressuring banks to refuse service to gun stores, so if gun show organizers and private sellers are forced to provide information to the Attorney General, expect to see more gun owners and dealers blacklisted by banks.
“Federal law enforcers are targeting merchant categories like payday lenders, ammunition and tobacco sales, and telemarketers — but not merely by pursuing those merchants directly,” Jason Oxman, the CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association, wrote on the subject. “Rather, Operation Choke Point is flooding payments companies that provide processing service to those industries with subpoenas, civil investigative demands, and other burdensome and costly legal demands.”
And considering that gun registration leads to confiscations, it’s not hard to see the implications of a firearms database ran by the Justice Dept.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is This Global Drought Being Caused by the Systematic Destruction of the Hydrologic Cycle?
Have you noticed that severe drought seems to be gripping much of the planet right now? You probably have.
But why is this happening? Could it be possible that we are doing this to ourselves? Many want to try to link the rise and fall of precipitation levels to temperature variations, but there is something much more obvious that they are overlooking. Trees play an absolutely critical role in our water cycle, and every single minute the amount of land that is deforested around the globe is equivalent to 36 football fields. By extracting water from the soil and releasing it into the atmosphere, trees provide a critical link in the hydrologic cycle that we all depend upon. If there were no more trees, life on this planet would become exceedingly difficult for humanity. So the fact that we are literally ripping the lungs out of the planet is a very big deal.
Before we get more into deforestation, let’s take a look at the damage that this drought is inflicting all around the world right now. I have repeatedly written aboutthe worst multi-year drought in the history of the state of California and about how we are headed for the worst water crisis this country has ever seen. At this point, 1,900 wells have already gone completely dry in California, and there has been so little precipitation that some toddlers have never actually seen rain…
Should you touch it? Eat it? Run from it? The drought is so bad in California that some young children have never seen rain.
When 22-month-old Grayson of Dana Point saw rain for the first time this week, he had no idea what it was.
He was so fascinated by the idea of water falling from the sky, he couldn’t resist opening his mouth to taste a few raindrops.
Things are even worse down in South America.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
I’ve Read Obama’s Secret Trade Deal. Elizabeth Warren is Right to be Concerned
“You need to tell me what’s wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25 years ago,” a frustrated President Barack Obama recently complained about criticisms of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). He’s right. The public criticisms of the TPP have been vague. That’s by design—anyone who has read the text of the agreement could be jailed for disclosing its contents. I’ve actually read the TPP text provided to the government’s own advisors, and I’ve given the president an earful about how this trade deal will damage this nation. But I can’t share my criticisms with you.
I can tell you that Elizabeth Warren is right about her criticism of the trade deal. We should be very concerned about what’s hidden in this trade deal—and particularly how the Obama administration is keeping information secret even from those of us who are supposed to provide advice.
So-called “cleared advisors” like me are prohibited from sharing publicly the criticisms we’ve lodged about specific proposals and approaches. The government has created a perfect Catch 22: The law prohibits us from talking about the specifics of what we’ve seen, allowing the president to criticize us for not being specific. Instead of simply admitting that he disagrees with me—and with many other cleared advisors—about the merits of the TPP, the president instead pretends that our specific, pointed criticisms don’t exist.
What I can tell you is that the administration is being unfair to those who are raising proper questions about the harms the TPP would do. To the administration, everyone who questions their approach is branded as a protectionist—or worse—dishonest. They broadly criticize organized labor, despite the fact that unions have been the primary force in America pushing for strong rules to promote opportunity and jobs. And they dismiss individuals like me who believe that, first and foremost, a trade agreement should promote the interests of domestic producers and their employees.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Ugly Show of Presidential Petulance
When the going got tough, Barack got in a huff, and then he got gruff.
President Obama has worked himself into such a tizzy over the TPP that he’s lashing out at his progressive friends in Congress. He’s mad because they refuse to be stereotypical lemmings, following him over this political cliff called the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It masquerades as a “free trade agreement,” but such savvy and feisty progressive senators as Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have ripped off the mask, revealing that TPP is not free, not about trade and not anything that the American people would ever agree to.
It is a stealth power grab, written in top-secret negotiations by and for multinational corporations from the U.S. and 11 other nations. This raw deal effectively empowers these profiteering corporate giants to overrule actions by the governments of any of these countries — including ours — that protect consumers, workers, the environment and other interests from corporate abuse.
This gift to the Trans-Pacific Titans is going to expand the rules of trade deals of the past such as NAFTA, WTO and Korea FTA. A few examples of what we have to look forward to with this turd of a deal the president is trying to polish and force onto the American people are: more off-shoring of American jobs, which in turn leads to greater income inequality; higher costs for lifesaving and sustaining medicines; our environmental protections will be under threat of corporate attack; food and product safety regulations will be undermined; net neutrality will once again be challenged; Wall Street reform will be nothing but a memory; and say so long to Buy American initiatives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Administration Issues 184 Major Rules Costing $80 Billion Annually
During the six years that President Obama has held office, the number and cost of regulations has continued to climb, with the issuance of 184 major rules estimated to cost $80 billion annually, according to the Heritage Foundation’s Red Tape Rising report.
A major rule is “generally defined as having an expected economic impact of at least $100 million per year.”
“The number and cost of government regulations continued to climb in 2014, intensifying Washington’s control over the economy and Americans’ lives,” the report stated. “The addition of 27 new major rules last year pushed the tally for the Obama Administration’s first six years to 184, with scores of other rules in the pipeline.
“The cost of just these 184 rules is estimated by regulators to be nearly $80 billion annually, although the actual cost of this massive expansion of the administrative state is obscured by the large number of rules for which costs have not been fully quantified,” it added.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Progressive Insurance Tracking Device Disabling Vehicles While Driving, Thousands Claim
Thousands of vehicles across the country are being disabled while driving by Progressive Insurance’s “Snapshot” monitoring device, drivers claim.
One driver who acquired the device, which monitors driving habits to reward lowered insurance premiums, says he first noticed something amiss after his vehicle’s dashboard lights began malfunctioning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shocking Jade Helm Training Video: Children Used in Mock FEMA Camp Roundups
All the official lies about how Jade Helm is only meant for action overseas in some land far, far away have now been exposed. They are brazenly putting this tyranny in everyone’s face.
The footage below, released by the Marines and reported on by Gary Franchi of the Next News Network, shows our troops training to take on dissidents right here on American soil in the lead up to the unprecedented Jade Helm 15 training drill coming this summer.
The video, shot by Sgt. Daniel Kujanpaa, shows Marines from 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division practicing “assault support tactics” on crisis actors in Yuma in a seven-week pre-training exercise leading up to Jade Helm as children look on.
“This footage is probably the most shocking documentation of FEMA camp roundup training to date: children used alongside actors in a bloody confrontation on American soil,” Franchi reported.
How much more proof do you need? There’s no conspiracy theory here, only conspiracy fact. Our soldiers are clearly training for martial law scenarios where they have to detain the American people right here in the U.S. in our own backyards.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Obama-Boehner-McConnell ‘Fast Track’ To a Poorer America
President Barack Obama is negotiating a multilateral trade agreement with the governments of 11 nations. These include Malaysia and Vietnam — as well as Japan, Brunei, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. This so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership would govern most of the commercial relations between the nations that sign it.
“With over 20 chapters under negotiation,” explains a Congressional Research Service report published in March, “the TPP partners envision the agreement to be ‘comprehensive and high-standard,’ in that they seek to eliminate tariffs and nontariff barriers to trade in goods, services, and agriculture, and to establish or expand rules on a wide range of issues including intellectual property rights, foreign direct investment and other trade-related issues.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Rise of Democracy, And the Fall of the Electoral College
James Madison wrote five times in his essays of the Federalist Papers that we are a republic, and then explained what a republic is. He believed this to be necessary not only so that the Constitution may be properly understood, but because in their argument against the Constitution, the statists of the era were trying to convince the people that a republic, and a democracy, are the same thing. Democracy, in reality, is a transitional form of government, one that would lead America from being a republic to an oppressive oligarchy, argued many of the Founding Fathers. We must never be a democracy.
We are not a democracy, and we were never intended to be a democracy. The Framers of the Constitution, and those that supported the Constitution, warned against the United States being a democracy, and put mechanisms in the Constitution to protect us from becoming a democracy.
John Adams was quoted to say, “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.”
Thomas Jefferson said, “The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
The Founders are not the only historical figures to recognize that a democracy opposes liberty, and leads to bigger government steeped in statist rule.
Karl Marx once said, “Democracy is the road to socialism.”…
Progressives are currently calling for only the popular vote being considered in presidential elections, which would make it easier for these members of our society to vote into office those who promise more entitlements, while eliminating the voice of the minority States, ensuring that the President would be elected by the seven largest metropolitan areas in the country, and that the voice of the rural areas would be silenced.
We are becoming an entitlement society driven to vote only for those willing to increase the hand-outs from the central government. Once the majority of the voters in a system, more specifically in a democracy, becomes the recipient of benefits from the central government, the government achieves unchecked power, and may then violate the property rights of the productive members of society in order to provide benefits to the non-productive members of society.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thug Tells Whites: Bow Down to Blacks, You’re All Gonna Die
A shocking confrontation filmed on the streets of New York highlights the racial animosity that continues to plague America in the aftermath of last year’s Ferguson riots and the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
The footage was filmed by US Army veteran Joey Boots, a frequent guest on the Howard Stern Show.
The incident began when a member of the Five-Percent Nation, a militant offshoot of the Nation of Islam, began harassing a group of white hipsters in Union Square.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tracking Device Fries Car Electronics & Kills Engine, Claims Thousands
In the name of safety, insurance companies have begun putting tracking devices that measure & record drivers’ actions.
They promise discounts on insurance, but thousands claim the devices fried their car’s electronics or suddenly shut the engine off while they were driving, leaving them without power steering or power brakes.
Is it yet another “safety” device like the 34 million air bags just recalled, or is it a grab for control and money to Track-n-Tax your movement?
[Comment: Next stop — flexy tax. Major roads will be taxed more per mile, over secondary roads.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trade Bill Clears Senate Hurdle
A free trade initiative that is pitting President Barack Obama against his own party cleared a major procedural hurdle in the Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday.
The 62-38 vote to end debate on the bill, moving it toward a vote, was a victory for Obama, who had linked with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, to push the bill despite opposition from Senate Democratic leaders.
[Comment: Proof that Senators do not work for the benefit of America.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Cops Tase, Pepper Spray Man in the Face for Eating Chips
Police in Tulsa have come under scrutiny again after video emerged of a cop assaulting a man for seemingly no reason other than he was getting on the cop’s nerves.
The video, shot by a witness from a first floor window shows the police questioning people in the street while a man walks back and forth eating a bag of chips.
The man is seen gesticulating, but clearly not getting close enough to the cops to impede their activities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Does Blumenthal Know About Obama?
One of the proposed questions: “Did you ever consider hiring Sidney Blumenthal as an employee in your State Department? And, if so, did the Obama administration block such a move, as has been reported? Did the White House know that he provided you with unofficial advice nonetheless?”
Again, the question is why the Obama White House reportedly blocked Blumenthal from working in the State Department.
I think we know the answer, and it has nothing to do with business in Libya or anywhere else: Blumenthal had the goods on Obama’s mysterious past and controversial communist connections that made him susceptible to blackmail by foreign agents and interests.
When Hillary Clinton was running against Barack Obama for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Blumenthal was acting as a Hillary adviser and circulated a memorandum about Obama’s communist connections. The political left was shocked.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Airbus Chief Warns Against UK Exit From EU
Paul Kahn, the president of Airbus Group UK, on Wednesday said a UK exit from the EU would have “enormous ramifications”, stop any further Airbus investments in Britain, and cut jobs, reports the Guardian. The company employs around 16,000 people in the UK.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Police Aim to Recruit More Ethnic Minorities
Austrian police are stepping up efforts to recruit more people from ethnic minorities to join the force.
For the first time the police have even been promoting the force within an Islamic centre in Vienna. There are almost 600,000 Muslims living in Austria, and more than 200,000 live in Vienna — a population trend which is expected to grow. However, only about three percent of police officers are Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Trial for Jihadist Teenager Delayed
A 15-year-old Austrian schoolboy with alleged ties to Islamist extremists, who is accused of intending to launch a bomb attack in Vienna last year will be tried on May 26, officials said on Monday. Mertkan G. was arrested in October 2014 when he was 14 and allegedly had contacts with supporters of the jihadist group Islamic State and al-Qaeda, a court in his home town Sankt-Pölten where he will be tried said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bin Laden Sought Info on Danish Journalists
Among the trove of documents seized by US military forces when they killed Osama bin Laden was a command by the former al Qaeda leader to dig up information on two Danish journalists.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence released 103 documents on Wednesday that were obtained by Navy SEALs when they killed bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Police Fire Warning Shot in Clash
Four arrests made after police fired a warning shot at a group of “very violent people” on Wednesday.
Copenhagen Police arrested four men at the Islamic Society in Denmark (Det Islamiske Trossamfund) in the city’s Nordvest district on Wednesday following a clash in which officers fired warning shots at a group of rock-throwing youths.
A police spokesperson told Ritzau that police fired the warning after being confronted by “30-40 very violent people”.
“There was a patrol that had to fire warning shots because they felt that their lives were threatened. It was related to an attempt to approach some people in a car. Suddenly, a group of 30-40 very violent people came and threw rocks at the patrol,” Henrik Vedel from the Copenhagen Police said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Emrah and His Brothers: Germany’s Struggle for the Soul of Returning Islamists
German Islamists are returning from war abroad, some reformed but others more dangerous than ever. Social workers, imams and extremists are fighting for their souls — and for Germany’s safety. Government officials have few answers to the problem.
Since the conflict in Syria began, the Islamists’ fight has moved closer to Europe. It’s no longer restricted to Afghanistan or the mountainous regions of Pakistan. The war is now only a few hours’ flight away. Ever since this war became so close, up to 700 young Germans have left the country to join it. A third of them have now returned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: ‘Charlie Hebdo’ Illustrator Works Through Attack in New Book
Caricaturist Luz has gone to hell and back. He survived the “Charlie Hebdo” attack and has worked through his grief in a new book, “Catharsis.” It involves a vampire, but also sunshine and laughter.
On January 7, 2015, Renald Luzier — alias Luz — lost not only friends and colleagues, but also his passion for drawing. On that day, Islamist extremists stormed the Paris office of the satirical publication “Charlie Hebdo” and killed a dozen people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamism in the EU: A Difficult Debate
By Radko Hokovsky and Jakub Janda
In a survey carried out with respondents from six Western European countries in 2008, almost 60 percent of Muslims agreed with the idea they should return to the roots of Islam.
Sixty five percent say religious law (sharia) is more important for them than the law of the country in which they reside and 75 percent believe there is only one legitimate interpretation of the Koran.
At the same time, 57 percent of Muslims don’t want homosexual friends, 45 percent don’t trust Jews, and 54 percent believe the West wants to destroy Islam.
Analogous figures for Christian respondents are much lower, by a factor of more than 10.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Nuke Activist Marries Norwegian Love
Mordechai Vanunu, the man jailed for 18 years for leaking details of Israel’s nuclear weapons program to the British press, has married his long-term Norwegian girlfriend Kristin Joachimsen.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Expels Bosnian Said to be Linked to ISIS
Moroccan linked to fighter in Syria to be ordered out
(ANSA) — Pordenone, May 21 — Anti-terrorism police on Thursday said they expelled a Bosnian believed to have links to the Islamic State militants ISIS.
They say the interior ministry ordered the expulsion of Arslan Osmanoski who came to their attention during a probe of the death in Syria in January 2014 of Ismar Mesinovic. Meanwhile, the interior ministry said it will also formally expel a Moroccan national currently outside of Italy and feared to have terrorist links. Anass Abu Jaffar also had links with Mesinovic. As well Jaffar, while living in Belluno in Italy’s northern Veneto region, had commented favourably on Facebook after the terrorist attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo in January.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘Sex-Abuse’ Priest Arrested
Wiretaps support charges against Father Giampiero Peschiulli, 73
(ANSA) — Brindisi, May 20 — Carabinieri police on Wednesday placed under house arrest a former parish priest in the Puglia city of Brindisi accused of sexually abusing two altar boys as young as 13.
The alleged offenses date back to 2012, when the boys were not yet 14, and reportedly lasted through 2014. Father Giampiero Peschiulli, 73, was unmasked by a satirical TV show that specialises in stings, Le Iene (Reservoir Dogs).
The boys’ parents filed charges, after Giulio Golia, a reporter for the TV show, visited the parish on September 15. The priest barricaded himself inside and called the police.
An online publication, Senza Colonne News, picked up the news, as did people on Facebook. Peschiulli left his post after the alleged abuse was unveiled in October.
Wiretaps also support the accusations of sexual abuse. In one, the priest spoke to one of the minors involved, who explained his absence from the parish the preceding Saturday as being due to homework. “I understand, I understand. You betrayed me. I understand,” Peschiulli said on the telephone.
Later the priest added, “Yes. You — wait, what is the word — you seduced and betrayed me”.
The priest was implicated when one of the presumed victims told his story to a teacher his story.
Carabinieri police said reports existed of other alleged sexual abuse by the priest going back as far as 2002, but can not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. A relative of one of the alleged victims, now an adult, said Peschiulli repeatedly groped the 10-year-old boy on his thighs and near his genitals.
Legal documents seen by ANSA say that parents reported the priest to the bishop at the time, Monsignor Rocco Talucci, who “expressed astonishment” that the boys “had spoken at home about the abuse received, and had invited the victims of the sexual acts to not report the episode and to not speak about it to others”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Manchester Terror Suspect ‘Living Freely in Denmark’
A terror suspect from Manchester who is banned from returning to Britain is living freely in Denmark, Newsbeat can reveal.
Ahmed Halane, 22, a Danish citizen who grew up in Bolton and Chorlton, is suspected of fighting with militant groups abroad.
He is the elder brother of Zahra and Salma Halane, who ran away to Syria to become jihadi brides in June last year.
Sources say Ahmed Halane joined jihadists in Syria and Somalia.
He is now living in the Danish city of Aarhus and appears to be free to travel around the EU, even though the UK authorities have deemed him a security risk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Prehistoric Danish Girl ‘Probably Born in Germany’
A girl buried 3,400 years ago in Denmark, who became one of the country’s best-known Bronze Age relics, was probably born in Germany, scientists have discovered. The so-called Egtved Girl was discovered in 1921 in a burial mound in the Jutland Peninsula, along with the cremated bones of a young child.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Statins Linked to 50% Increased Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
A recent study from Finland suggests that cholesterol-lowering drugs known as Statins may increase ones risk of developing the highly-preventable Type 2 diabetes by a startling 50% — even after adjusting for other factors. With the widespread use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, this news is not what many folks will want to hear.
A 50% higher risk for Type 2 diabetes is a quite unfavorable consequence for those who are ‘reliant’ on statins for blood pressure or plaque buildup throughout the circulatory system. However, due to the many other conditions that can occur with diabetes, this correlation must be taken seriously. Particularly for the elderly who have very little diet discipline, the results of this important study ought to serve as a major wakeup call.
It should be noted that some of the conclusions of this study read like the worst case scenario specifically for white men since the control group was made up of exclusively Caucasian males.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Eternal Child Pippi Longstocking Turns 70
The world’s best-known cheeky redhead is turning 70. Astrid Lindgren’s creation, Pippi Longstocking, has been a role model for centuries, but how much longer will she survive?
The fictional character was “born” in Sweden in 1945. Author Astrid Lindgren invented her story while sitting at the sick bed of her young daughter Karin. It was on May 21 that Karin received the first manuscript as a birthday present.
Since then, 66 million books have been sold worldwide. In Sweden alone, more than 40 films based on Lindgren’s stories have been produced with seven different actresses playing the role of Pippi. Now the famous freckled redhead with the cheeky braids is turning 70 — but hasn’t aged a bit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Sex Abuse Inquiry Hits 1,400 in Wake of Jimmy Savile Scandal
Revealing the scale of the issue, police said they estimate they will receive around 116,000 reports of abuse by the end of 2015 — a 71 per cent rise from 2012, when the Jimmy Savile scandal unfolded.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Luke Dadds (pictured) took his own life after leaving tragic video ‘notes’ for his family and friends. Dad Kevin was watching the first when he heard sirens pass his South Gloucestershire home.
[Commnt: Not a harmless drug — google the latest research on how it causes brain damage and schizophrenia and paranoia. Brain scans dramatically show the difference.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Croydon Girl, 14, Charged After Video of Boy Being Punched in Face Goes Viral
A 14-year-old girl has been sentenced to eight months at a Young Offender Institute after a video showing her repeatedly punching a young boy in the face in Selsdon, Croydon went viral.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Derby Imam Kicked a Nine-Year-Old Who Forgot Passage of the Koran
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Raza Ul-Mustafa Sabir, 30, turned on the young boy during a lesson at the Jamiz Nizamia mosque in Derby after he forgot a passage of the Koran, leaving the youngster with a bruised leg.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jeremy Clarkson: ‘Top Gear Exit Was My Own Silly Fault’
Jeremy Clarkson has said being dropped from Top Gear “was my own silly fault”.
The broadcaster was speaking to BBC Radio 2’s Chris Evans in his first interview since losing his job over a “fracas” with a producer.
He said leaving the show had “left a huge hole” in his life “that needs to be filled”.
Clarkson admitted he had taken phone calls from broadcasters who wanted to poach the Top Gear team but said: “I’d be a fool to jump into something.”
“I have been at the BBC for 27 years. When you emerge after 27 years, you find the world is changed…”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Sam Bell, 28, from Hampshire, said shortly after the stitch was removed, her trousers were ‘sticking’. Upon undoing the zip, she was horrified to see the wound reopen before her eyes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A married State Department employee has been arrested and accused of ‘sextorting’ college students from his computer at the U.S. Embassy in London.
Father-of-one Michael C. Ford from Alpharetta, Georgia, allegedly hacked into computers of victims as young as 18, stole sexually explicit photos and then tried to blackmail them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sadie Jenkins Who Slit Throats of 2 Children Not Guilty of Attempted Murder
Sadie Jenkins, 28, was staying overnight in the house in Newport South Wales when she thought she received a secret message through the American TV show CSI.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Swedish Girls Are Leaving Home for ISIS
More girls and women than ever before are leaving Sweden to fight with terrorist groups like Isis. The Local speaks to terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp from the Swedish Defence University about what’s luring them to leave one of the safest countries in the world to wage jihad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libyan Govt Demands Consultations on Military Actions
Concerns raised over plans to fight human smugglers
(ANSA) — Cairo, May 20 — Any military action in waters near Libya must be coordinated with the internationally recognized government in Tobruk, a spokesman told Egyptian news agency Mena Wednesday.
The government will not accept any plans to bomb boats as part of a battle against human smugglers unless it is consulted, said Hatem El Uraibi.
That has consistently been Libya’s position to protect its fishermen in Libyan waters, he added.
The European Union has set out a migrants plan that includes efforts to track and fight human trafficking that has led to thousands of migrant deaths on the Mediterranean.
According to the International Organization for Migration, last year 3,224 migrants drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean for Europe.
The EU plan includes monitoring migrants boats and possibly destroying them as a way to cut off human traffickers.
However, such a military measure requires approval from the United Nations Security Council.
The proposal for a military mission already includes plans for a headquarters in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moroccan Gov’t Rejects Amnesty Torture Accusations
Statements on use of state violence
(by Diego Minuti) (ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 20 — Amnesty International and the Moroccan government have been lobbing accusatory statements back and forth on the issue of torture which, according to the human rights organization, is practiced systematically in the North African nation. In its report on alleged use of state violence in Morocco and Western Sahara, Amnesty cited 173 cases of torture of “students, political activists with left-wing or Islamist affiliations and supporters of self-determination for Western Sahara as well as people suspected of terrorism or ordinary crimes”.
Those that choose to report torture, the organization says, know well that they risk up to five years in prison for having “slandered” state officials. The report, Shadow of Impunity: Torture in Morocco and Western Sahara, describes how the use of violence in jails, barracks and police stations seems systematic, with refined torture techniques of both a physical (electrical shocks, sexual violence and being forced to stay in unnatural and painful positions for extended periods) and psychological nature aiming to crush the resistance of those subjected to them. Amnesty asks that these practices be stopped and that reforms urgently be enacted, beginning with that of ensuring an independent judiciary so as to end impunity. Anmesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in presenting the report that the country’s image was tarnished by the continuing use of torture. The government immediately responded — about an hour after Shetty concluded the conference — through its inter-ministerial delegation for human rights. Delegation chief Abderazzak Rouane rejected both the conclusions and the premises of the report, which he claimed was conducted using unclear methods and which draws general conclusions from specific incidents. Rouane denied the veracity of the figures, saying that “only” 76 cases of torture had been recorded, compared with the 173 reported by Amnesty, and that Morocco had “broken with the past”. Rouane then spoke about relations with Amnesty which, he said, had issued the report despite talks underway (there have been 10 so far) and Morocco’s willingness to intervene and take action.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“In Saudi Arabia, You Need a Man”
“In this country, you need a man,” explains Vega Gutiérrez, one of the Spanish engineers working on the construction of a subway system in Riyadh. In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive and they cannot study, travel or undergo medical procedures without permission from their male guardian. They must also conceal their bodies under black tunics called abayas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British Taxi Driver Found Guilty of Making Bomb That Killed American Soldier in Iraq in 2007
A British bombmaker who tried to blend into society as a taxi driver was found guilty Thursday for his role in making bombs that targeted U.S. troops in Iraq in 2007, including one that killed an American soldier. Anis Sardar, 38, of northwest London, was convicted of two counts of murder and conspiracy to murder, Reuters reports. He is expected to be sentenced Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Jihadists Include 45 Teenage Girls
France revealed on Monday that 45 teenage French girls are waging jihad in the Middle East as well as a worrying trend that has seen a 203 percent rise in the number of its nationals heading to the region.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Execute a Man With a Bazooka in Shocking New Video
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Shocking footage emerged today showing the captive exploding into a ball of flames after being shot with the rocket-propelled grenade after being accused of fighting ISIS in Syria.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Controls 50 Percent of Syria After Takeover of Palmyra, Activists Say
The Islamic State terror group now controls over half of Syrian territory after seizing the village and archaeological site of Palmyra Thursday, activists monitoring Syria’s civil war said.
Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the Associated Press the extremists overran the archaeological site, just to the southwest of the modern settlement on Palmyra, shortly after midnight local time.
In Damascus, state TV acknowledged that pro-government forces had withdrawn from the town. A Facebook page close to ISIS published a statement Thursday, purportedly from the group, saying “the soldiers of the Islamic State” completed their control of Palmyra. The capture came after government forces collapsed, “leaving large numbers of dead whose bodies filled the streets,” it said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Urged to ‘Scrap’ Parts of Anti-ISIS Playbook as Iraqi, Syrian Cities Fall
President Obama came under increasing pressure Thursday to overhaul his military strategy for combating the Islamic State in the wake of recent gains by the terror group in both Iraq and Syria, as the president and his top military official suggested the Iraqis themselves are going to have to do more.
The White House has said no formal strategy review is under way, after ISIS fighters seized Ramadi over the weekend. Since then, ISIS fighters seized the ancient Syrian site of Palmyra as well. While U.S. engagement in Syria is far less robust than in Iraq, the developments in both countries show ISIS expanding its territory and power.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged Thursday that Ramadi and Palmyra both count as a “setback.” While he stressed the president won’t support a large-scale military deployment, congressional critics still want to see a major change in strategy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palmyra: Syrian Forces Trapped Civilians, UN Says
The United Nations says it has received reports that Syrian forces in Palmyra prevented civilians from leaving, ahead of its fall to Islamic State militants.
The UN, though not present in Palmyra, cited “credible sources”.
It said it was “deeply concerned” about the plight of civilians remaining in Palmyra, amid reports of summary executions.
IS has also overrun the World Heritage site adjacent to the modern city, raising concerns about its future.
The militants have previously demolished ancient sites that pre-date Islam.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia: World’s Largest Hotel to be Built in Mecca
The world’s largest hotel is being planned for Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a remarkable structure that will rise out of the desert and apparently contain 10,000 rooms for worshippers.
The hotel will be part of a mixed-use development at Abraj Kudai, a $3.5bn (£2.25bn) project intended to look like a desert fortress, that encompasses a ring of towers standing on top of a podium.
It is due to be completed in 2017 and is being situated in the Manafia area of Mecca’s central zone, just 2.2km south of the Masjid al-Haram (holy mosque).
DesignMENA reported that the hotel will have 10,000 rooms in 12 separate towers, which are 44 storeys high, that will also include 70 restaurants, rooftop helipads, royal floors and a full size convention centre.
Two of the towers will offer five-star facilities, according to the hotel’s architects Dar Al-Handasah. The other ten will provide four-star accommodation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS is sending the ‘prettiest virgins’ they capture to slave markets in the Syrian city of Raqqa, where they are sold as sexual objects to the highest bidder, the United Nation’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict has said.
After the depraved militants attack their villages, they strip the girls naked, conduct virginity tests, evaluate their bodies and send them to twisted auctions, Zainab Bangura claims.
She discovered the gruesome extent of Islamic State’s sexual crimes against young women — particularly from Iraq’s Yazidi minority community — after collecting information from Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bin Laden’s Bookshelf Stuffed With Anti-American, Conspiracy Works by Lefty US Authors
The English-language bookshelf in Usama bin Laden’s personal library featured a collection of anti-U.S. polemics and left-wing conspiracy theories from some celebrated darlings of American academia, according to critics who analyzed the terror mastermind’s reading list.
Anti-American conspiracy tomes on everything from the CIA to the Federal Reserve were among the 39 English books seized from the Al Qaeda leader’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where a team of Navy SEALs took him out in May 2011.
Noam Chomsky, William Blum and Bob Woodward appeared to be among the terrorist kingpin’s favorite authors to curl up with. Chomsky, the liberal icon and MIT professor known for his disparaging view of the U.S., had two of his works in the Bin Laden collection, “Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies” and “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Navy Warns US Spy Plane in Contested South China Sea
Tensions in the South China Sea escalated further on Thursday after reports that a United States spy plane had flown over contested islands in the region triggering eight separate warnings from Chinese navy officials.
“Foreign military aircraft. This is Chinese navy. You are approaching our military alert zone. Leave immediately,” a Chinese naval officer warned the P8-A Poseidon, the US’ most advanced surveillance aircraft, as it flew a mission over the Fiery Cross Reef.
The drama was captured by a team of CNN journalists who had been allowed to accompany the American foray on Wednesday.
The plane flew as low as 15,000ft over the Fiery Cross Reef, in the Spratly island chain, where China has been accused of waging a massive and provocative land reclamation campaign.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
There’s a Spacecraft Cemetery in the Pacific
The middle of the Pacfic Ocean is one of the two places spacecrafts are laid to rest
Off the east coast of New Zealand, about 2500 miles out, there lies a nondescript area of the Pacific Ocean. This is where satellites and other spacecrafts go to die.
Beneath the waves, this so-called spacecraft cemetery has 161 residents, Kiona Smith-Strickland reports for Gizmodo. The spot was selected for its isolation, far from land and low on shipping traffic, so that no unsuspecting humans might be injured when the crafts plunge into the deep water. Some of the spacecraft cemetery’s residents include cargo crafts from Japan, Europe and Russia, as well as space stations. Russia’s Mir station arrived in 2001.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China’s economic clout is real and growing rapidly, especially since the 2008 financial crisis. China has been the main engine of growth for the world’s economy since that time and, by some measures, has become the world’s number one trading state
Napoleon Bonaparte purportedly said “Let China sleep, for when China wakes, she will shake the world.”
As Thomas J. Christensen, the author of his recently published “The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power”, reminds us, “For millennia China was arguably the greatest civilization on the planet and for many previous centuries its most powerful empire.”
China is no longer an empire, but it remains a huge nation geographically and huge in terms of its population.
From the website worldometers.info, we learn:
The population of China is estimated at 1,393,783,836 as of July 1 2014.
China’s population is equivalent to 19.24% of the total world population.
China ranks number 1 in the list of countries by population.
54% of the population is urban (756,300,115 people in 2014).
The median age in China is 35.7 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cardinal Pell Rejects Claims of Clergy Abuse Cover-Up
Victims urge prelate to testify under oath in Australia
(ANSA) — Vatican City, May 21 — Cardinal George Pell, Vatican Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, has denied allegations of ignoring and covering up cases of child abuse by priests in his native Australia.
However, in a statement released late Wednesday he also pledged to cooperate fully with a commission of inquiry into the alleged child abuse in the diocese of Ballarat in the state of Victoria, as he did with a Victoria parliamentary inquiry in two years ago. Cardinal Pell was responding to allegations that in 1993 he bribed the nephew of paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale to stay quiet about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his uncle, among other things.
“I have previously made a sworn denial of these allegations and I reiterate that denial,” he said in relation to the bribery claims.
Pell is also accused by another witness of dismissing claims that a brother at a Christian college in Ballarat abused children there.
“I am committed to complete cooperation with the Royal Commission. I will address in full all matters it wishes to raise in any statement requested from me before I make any further comment,” continued the statement.
Pell concluded by expressing his “deepest sympathy for the victims of abuse, their families and the community of Ballarat for what they have suffered”. “Once again, I will answer allegations and criticisms of my behaviour openly and honestly,” he said.
However, representatives of abuse victims described Pell’s response as “inappropriate”. “It is vastly inappropriate to respond to sworn evidence by courageous survivors with a media statement that callously dismisses their experience,” said Nicky Davis, leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“If Cardinal Pell is at all genuine in his claims to recognise the seriousness of the crime of sexual violation of defenceless children, he would voluntarily return to Australia to give evidence under oath to the royal commission,” Davis contnued.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Decapitated Body of Brazilian Journalist and Blogger Investigating Child Prostitution Ring Found
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
The decapitated body of a missing blogger who was investigating a child prostitution ring has been found by police in Brazil.
Evany José Metzker’s body was found outside the town of Padre Paraíso, in the northeast of Brazil’s southeastern Minas Gerais state.
According to local media reports he had been stripped half-naked and his hands tied behind his back. His head was found 100 metres from his body.
Metzger, who maintained a blog named ‘Coruja do Vale’ (The Owl of the Valley), was reportedly investigating a child prostitution ring operating in the area.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Minister Gets Tough on Asylum Quota Situation
Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) has sent a strong message to Austria’s states regarding their quotas for taking in asylum seekers — saying that they must accept responsibility or give up their power as she would be forced to make the decision over where asylum seekers are housed a federal matter.
She criticized “some state politicians and mayors” who have voiced their opposition to putting up asylum seekers in empty barracks and had even threatened lawsuits. This is “not encouraging, considering that the tents where asylum seekers are currently housed, are already soaked by rain — it’s an intolerable situation,” she added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hard-up French Take Migrants to UK for Cash
With the economic squeeze hitting hard some hard-up business owners and even students in northern France are turning to the lucrative, but highly risky trade of trafficking migrants across the English Channel to the UK, just to make ends meet.
Authorities in northern France are growing concerned over the number of people who are tempted into becoming part-time people traffickers in order to earn a living.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy PM Says EU Countries Must Accept Migrant Quotas
Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi told Rai TV on Wednesday that member states must divide asylum seeker arrivals and refugees.”Those countries that have agreed to send their warships must also accept the quota principle, which is a principle of solidarity,” he said, reports the BBC.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bardo Terror Suspect Arrested Near Milan
Mum claims ‘watched Bardo attack on TV with my son’
(ANSA) — Rome, May 20 — Italian authorities are holding a 22-year-old Moroccan man on suspicion of participating in a bloody March 18 attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis pending an extradition request from Tunisia, sources said Wednesday. The suspect named as Abdel Majid Touil, was arrested late Tuesday on an international warrant issued by Tunisia. An appeals court hearing is slated for Friday. The court must decided whether or not to extradite Touil to Tunisia, where he may face the death penalty if found guilty. Italy does not have the death penalty, and this may factor into the court’s decision. The March 18 attack by three gunmen claimed the lives of 21 tourists and one Tunisian police officer.
Police killed two of the attackers at the scene, and the third escaped. While government congratulated intelligence and law enforcement on the operation that led to Touil’s arrest and anti-immigrant politicians called for the interior minister’s head, the suspect’s family and friends protested his innocence.
“Proud of your professionalism,” Premier Matteo Renzi tweeted after anti-terror police arrested the Moroccan national in what Justice Minister Andrea Orlando called a “brilliant operation”. “Congratulations to our men in uniform, our investigators and intelligence officers,” said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. “The terrorist…reached Italy…on a migrant vessel,” anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party chief Matteo Salvini wrote on Facebook. “Alfano must resign”. To which Alfano later replied that “Italy doesn’t deserve Salvini”.
Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini — whose island is the first European landfall for boats coming from North Africa — said it’s unlikely a terrorist would risk his life on a migrant vessel. “In 15 years no terrorist has landed on Lampedusa,” said the Democratic Party (PD) mayor, an outspoken defender of refugee rights. “We’ve only seen people with burns and kidney failure, children, women…I don’t think a real terrorist would risk his life on such a boat,” she said.
“My brother has committed no crime,” one of the suspect’s two siblings told ANSA. “He arrived on a boat (on February 17) like many others, and hasn’t left since”. “On March 18 my son was in front of the TV,” Touil’s mother Fatma told ANSA. “We watched news of the Bardo attack together…he had nothing to do with the attack — he was in Italy”. “He studied Italian and he was looking for a job”. Neighbors questioned whether police have the right man in custody. “Surely the police made a mistake,” one neighbor commented. “He was home a lot, sometimes he went to Caritas (Catholic charity) for a meal,” another told ANSA. “He’s a good boy, he was looking for work”. “He went to school to learn Italian,” another woman said. “An international terrorist who lives at home with his mother, brothers and little nephew, who goes to school and eats at Caritas…seems strange to me”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Most Czech MEPs Disagree With Refugee Quotas
There is a concern that the European Union is interfering in member states’ sovereignty
Most Czech MEPs addressed by the Czech News Agency disagree with the European Commission’s (EC) plan to introduce a quota system to spread applicants for refugee status more evenly across the EU member states that the EC will discuss today.
The MEPs have a problem with the measure, aimed to relieve the pressure on Italy and Greece where most migrants arrive, that is being ordered by Brussels, and they say it has divided the European Union.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pinotti Says Italy Lobbying to Destroy Migrant Boats
Pressing UN to approve measures against human traffickers
(ANSA) — Rome, May 21 — Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti said Thursday that Italy is lobbying hard at the United Nations Security Council for approval of measures to destroy boats used by migrant traffickers.
“Italy is doing diplomatic work at the UN Security Council to reach a resolution which permits military intervention,” against human traffickers in Libyan waters as agreed to by the European Union.
Those measures would permit military forces to try to halt people smugglers by destroying the boats they used to ferry migrants, usually from Libya’s northern coast, across the Mediterranean to Europe.
The voyages are very dangerous and thousands of deaths have been reported.
Pinotti said that early stages of work involve collecting information about the traffickers.
She added that officials want everything ready for a European leaders’ summit in late June.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Row After Boat Migrant Arrested for Tunis Attack
Italy said on Wednesday it had arrested a Moroccan illegal immigrant suspected of involvement in a deadly attack on a Tunis museum, fuelling a row over the threat of jihadists arriving in Europe by boat.
Authorities in Tunisia have arrested nearly two dozen suspects in connection with the March attack in which 21 tourists died, but Abdel Majid Touil, 22, was thought to be the first to be detained abroad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Eritrean Asylum Seekers to be Redistributed
Numbers ‘very politically sensitive’, could spark debate
(ANSA) — Brussels, May 21 — The European Commission plans to include Syrians and Eritreans among asylum seekers to be redistributed among European Union member states in emergency measures benefitting Italy and Greece, sources in Brussels said Thursday. The countries of destination and nationality of asylum seekers to be sent there will be established according to precise criteria, as will the percentage of people to be redistributed from the two beneficiary states.
The total number of people to be moved from Italy and Greece will be made known at a meeting on 27 May.
It is a “very politically sensitive” matter that is expected to spark debate, sources said. Unconfirmed reports suggest the number could range from 20,000 to 50,000 people. Italy and Greece are in the front line in the Mediterranean migrant crisis, with most recent applications for political asylum coming from Syrians, followed by Eritreans.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tories Blame Lib Dems for Spiralling Immigration Figures
David Cameron has blamed Vince Cable and his former Liberal Democrat colleagues for blocking measures to help get net migration below 100,000 a year.
The Prime Minister said the former Business Secretary had given an “unwelcome” response to proposed reforms to the country’s immigration system while in office.
Mr Cameron also said that benefit reforms will be an “absolute requirement” during EU renegotiations during a speech in central London.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Vienna’s Gay-Themed Traffic Lights to Stay
Vienna’s new gay-themed traffic lights are here to stay — after an overwhelmingly positive response and attention from international media.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In Quotes: How Ireland’s Same-Sex Marriage Debate Unfolded
Campaigning will draw to a close on Thursday ahead of Ireland’s historic referendum on same-sex marriage. Irish voters will decide on Friday whether or not gay and lesbian unions should be recognised by the constitution — a question that has led to weeks of emotive debate. Celebrities, sports stars, journalists and bishops have all had their say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Gay Marriages Weakens Society — Bagnasco
Answers question on Ireland referendum
(ANSA) — Rome, May 21 — Italian bishops chief cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said Thursday that “weakening families weakens society” in response to a question of Ireland’s referendum on legalising gay marriage.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Political Correctness: Tyranny of the Mind
In a letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush, dated September 23, 1800, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” By any definition that Jefferson could have envisioned, today’s political correctness can only be regarded as “tyranny over the mind of man.” Forget freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, or freedom of privacy, political correctness demands that we don’t even have freedom of thought or opinion.
If one does not have the freedom to live in good conscience with his own sense of morality, he or she is indeed the most enslaved of creatures. Listen to Jefferson again, “To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Taylor Swift Goes ‘Full Retard’
Taylor Swift has been brainwashed by radical feminists, leading her to make some biblically retarded comments.
In an interview with Maxim magazine, the pop star claims that, “Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Climate Blockbuster: New NASA Data Shows Polar Ice Has Not Receded Since 1979
Global warming alarmists claimed Arctic ice cap would be gone by now, but sea ice is 5% above 35 year average.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Weaponizing Vulnerabilities’: New Snowden Doc Reveals Spy Agencies Targeted Smartphones
The intelligence alliance known as Five Eyes—comprising the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia—exploited security weaknesses in one of the world’s most popular browsers to obtain data about users and planned to use links to Google and Samsung app stores to infect smartphones with spyware, a top secret National Security Agency (NSA) document published Wednesday has revealed.
According to the 2012 document, leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden and published jointly by CBC News and The Intercept, the NSA and its international counterparts took part in a series of workshops between November 2011 and February 2012 to find new ways to exploit smartphone technology for spying operations.
The Intercept reports:
As part of a pilot project codenamed IRRITANT HORN, the agencies were developing a method to hack and hijack phone users’ connections to app stores so that they would be able to send malicious “implants” to targeted devices. The implants could then be used to collect data from the phones without their users noticing.
[Comment: Smart phones with the power of pc tempted users to put more and more personal stuff on the phone instead of on their isolated pc at home. Ideal for spying.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“In other news, a Bosnian said to be linked to the mujahideen of the Islamic State has been expelled from Italy.”
After a century of waiting, the first time I head something logical coming from a “democracy”.