Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/29/2015

Yesterday more than 740 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean by the Italian coast guard and German, Irish and British naval vessels. Today some 3,300 migrants were rescued by Italy. Meanwhile, Frontex reports that the people smugglers make an average of €1 million for every boat carrying 450 migrant passengers across the Med.

In other news, forces for the Libyan franchise of the Islamic State have seized the airport at Sirte, Muammar Qaddafi’s home town. Kinetic activists for ISIS now control most of Sirte.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Upananda Brahmachari, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Greece Eclipses G7 Meeting in Dresden
» Greece Euro Exit ‘A Potential’: IMF Chief
» IMF Chief No Longer Excludes Greek Exit From Eurozone
» Soros Sees Risk of Another World War
» The ECB and the Negative-Interest-Rate Game
 
USA
» America the Obese: Is There a Multibillion Dollar Conspiracy to Make Sure Americans Stay Overweigbt?
» Baltimore Has Descended Into a State of Lawlessness — and More Cities Will Soon Follow
» Banker Jumps to His Death From Luxury Apartment
» Barack Obama’s Anti-Semitism Test
» Climate Change Clown
» Clinton Foundation Accused of Trading Ex-President’s Presence for Donation
» EPA Decides That Pothole Full of Water on Your Property Just Might be a Wetland
» Examining Trans Pacific Partnership
» Government is Forcing Doctors to Spend More Time on Data Entry and Less With Their Patients
» Jade Helm as Itself a Psy Op
» Julian Assange on TPP: Only 5 of 29 Sections Are About “Traditional Trade”
» Monsanto is Running the USDA: Two GMO Crops Approved This Year
» Photo: Minnesota Teachers Compared to KKK During ‘White Privilege’ Training
» Student Punished for Bringing Hot Pepper to School
» ‘The News’ Now Planted Progressive Propaganda
» Washington DC Transit Officials Bar Issue-Oriented Ads Through End of Year
» Why the Elite Wants to Create More Social Disorder
» Woman Calls Cops for Help With Suicidal Boyfriend, Cops Turn Up and Kill Him, Tell Her “That’s What We Do”
 
Canada
» Accused of Crimes Against Catholic Church, Man Told Cops He Had Thoughts of Killing Priest
» Gunman in Canada Attack Last October Praises Allah in Unedited Version of Pre-Shooting Video
 
Europe and the EU
» 12 Russians Injured in Lightning Strike at Ruins on Crete
» Finland: Young Immigration Sceptic Elected as Parliamentary Speaker
» France: How the Eiffel Tower Thieves Pick Your Pocket
» Germany Has Lowest Birth Rate in the World, Study Shows
» Germany Passes Japan to Have World’s Lowest Birth Rate — Study
» Greece: Jailed Urban Guerrilla Urges Comrades to Take up Arms
» Houellebecq to be Staged in Dubrovnik Despite Security Risks
» Italy: Salvini Repeats Call to Raze Roma Camps
» Italy: Mayor Panhandles to Protest Taxes
» Italy: Expo President Bracco in Tax-Dodge Probe
» Italy: Three Teenagers Arrested for Attempted Murder of Pupils
» Italy Braced for Bellwether Regional Elections
» Italy: Elkann Says Exor ‘Determined’ To Acquire Partnerre
» Lebanese Man Arrested for Suspected Terror Plot in Cyprus
» National Front Demands EU Referendum in France
» Northern Ireland: Plague of Ratzilla: Residents Scared to Leave Their Homes or Open Their Windows Over Fears That Giant Vermin Will Attack Them
» Norway: Two-Thirds Negative to Child Marrying a Muslim
» Poland Not in Line With the Floods Direttive, Risks EU Court
» Teen Kazi Islam Jailed for Terror Grooming Man Into Attacking British Soldier
» UK Government Goes Full Orwell: Snooper’s Charter, Encryption Backdoors, Free Speech Suppression
» UK: Londoners Lift Double Decker Bus Off Trapped Unicyclist in Amazing Footage
» UK: Moped Criminals Remove Helmets to Force Met Police to Stop Chasing
 
North Africa
» Islamic State Affiliate in Libya Takes Civilian Airport in Sirte
» Islamic State Militants in Libya ‘Seize Sirte Airport’
 
Middle East
» Al Qaeda’s Syria Branch Seeks Image Makeover in West
» Anti-ISIS Artwork Depicting Group’s Crimes Go on Display in Iranian Competition
» Christian Beheads Jihadist in Syria Revenge Killing: Monitor
» CIA Trained ISIS Jihadists in Syria According to Declassified Documents That Media Ignored
» Greek, Iranian Diplomats Eye Closer Ties, Energy Cooperation
» Iranian Artist Could Draw Lengthy Prison Term for Cartoons Ridiculing Parliament
» ISIS Claims Suicide Bomb at Shiite Mosque in Saudi Arabia, 4 Dead
» ISIS Video Shows Prisoner Digging His Own Grave Before Being Beheaded
» ISIS ‘Destroys’ Lion God Statue in Captured Palmyra in Syria
» Islamic State Claims Blast Killing Four at Saudi Mosque
» Syria: Islamists and Al Qaeda Conquer Ariha. Idlib Province Now Under Their Control
» The United Arab Emirates Reaches for the Red Planet
» Wife of Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Pleads for His Release
» Yazidi Girl, 17, Made Pregnant by ISIS Fighter Reveals Her Nine-Month Ordeal as a Jihadi Sex Slave
 
South Asia
» Asphalt Melting: India Heat Wave Kills Over 1,400 People (Photos)
» Hindu Girl Denied Job in Pakistan Because of Her Religion of Kaffir
» Officials: Gunmen Hijack Buses in Pakistan, Kill 19
 
Far East
» How Fukushima Produce is Making Its Way Into International Stores
» North Korea’s Hacker Army ‘Could Kill People and Destroy Cities’, Says Defector Who Trained Them
 
Latin America
» Cannes Film Probes U. S. Role in Mexico’s Drug War
» Ecuador Seizes Huge Illegal Shark Fin Haul
 
Immigration
» Chaos on Kos: 300 Migrants Arrive a Day… and Now They Turn on ‘Incompetent’ Greek Officials for Island Situation
» Hundreds of Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean
» Italy Rescues 3,300 Migrants in Mediterranean in One Day
» Migrants Hide Under Trucks to Board Italy-Bound Ferries
» Polish Ambassador Refuses Mandatory Quotas
» Smugglers Average €1 Million Per Migrant Boat
» The Non-Deported: Ice Still Releasing Criminal Aliens at a Rapid Pace
» The President’s Real Concerns
» Why Spain is Not an Option for Syrian Refugees Seeking a New Life
 
Culture Wars
» 1989, 2005, 2015: A Short History of Our Age
» Abortionists Have Killed More Americans Than Lived in U.S. In 1880
» Church Daycare Must Pay Lesbians a Huge Fine After Couple Violates Employees’ Moral Clause
» Could Sleep Make You Less Racist? Gender and Racial Bias Can be ‘Erased’ During a Nap, Claims Study
» Man Facing Terminal Illness Rejects Euthanasia: “Quit Figuring Out Reasons to Justify Killing People”
» New Fox TV Drama ‘Lucifer’ To Glamorize Devil as ‘Charming’ Nightclub Owner in ‘City of Angels’
» Teacher Bans Pastor’s Daughter From Mentioning God in ‘All About Me’ Assignment
» They’re Killing Our Culture
» Tunisia: First LGBT Association Recognised, Debate
 
General
» FIFA Re-Elects Sepp Blatter as President
» OPEC Sees Rivals Boosting Oil Output Despite Weak Prices
» Why I’m an Islamoveryphobe
 

Greece Eclipses G7 Meeting in Dresden

Debt-wracked Greece’s battle to hammer out a deal with its creditors dominated a meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Dresden on Thursday, with officials insisting much work still lay ahead.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble invited his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United States to the eastern city for an “in-depth exchange of views” on a number of questions.

Issues on the official agenda range from the state of the global economy, to financial regulation, fighting tax evasion and ways of starving terror groups like the Islamic State of funding.

But it was the Greek crisis that was at the forefront of everyone’s minds, after Athens prematurely declared a day earlier that a deal was imminent but was then forced to back-pedal as its creditors were more sceptical.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece Euro Exit ‘A Potential’: IMF Chief

Greece’s exit from the eurozone is a possibility but would not signify an end to the single currency, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said in a newspaper interview Thursday.

A Greek exit is “a potential,” Lagarde told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Such a scenario would not be “a walk in the park” for the single currency area, but would “probably not be an end to the euro,” she said in comments translated into German.

“It’s a complicated issue and it’s one that I hope the Europeans will not have to face because hopefully they will find a path to agree with the future of Greece within the eurozone,” she said in a statement subsequently issued in Washington to clarify her comments to the German newspaper.

The IMF chief also rejected Athens’ assertion that a deal with its creditors was imminent.

“It is very unlikely that we’ll reach a comprehensive solution in the coming days,” she said.

After positive signals had come from Greece 10 days ago, “we’ve been sobered again in the last week,” Lagarde said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

IMF Chief No Longer Excludes Greek Exit From Eurozone

IMF chief Christine Lagarde told German newspaper FAZ that she no longer excludes a Greek exit from the eurozone. It is a “possibility”, she said according to an early version of the interview, although she added “nobody wants” a Grexit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Soros Sees Risk of Another World War

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Billionaire investor George Soros said flatly that he’s concerned about the possibility of another world war

Much depends on the health of the Chinese economy, Soros said in remarks at a Bretton Woods conference at the World Bank.

If China’s efforts to transition to a domestic-demand led economy from an export engine falter, there is a “likelihood” that China’s rulers would foster an external conflict to keep the country together and hold on to power.

“If there is conflict between China and a military ally of the United States, like Japan, then it is not an exaggeration to say that we are on the threshold of a third world war,” Soros said.

Military spending is on the rise in Russia and China, he said.

To avoid this scenario, Soros called on the U.S. to make a “major concession” and allow China’s currency to join the International Monetary Fund’s basket of currencies. This would make the yuan a potential rival to the dollar as a global reserve currency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The ECB and the Negative-Interest-Rate Game

The ECB is now two months into its bond buying binge but the European Central Bank (ECB) never clearly explained the goal and purpose of its own version of quantitative easing.

The deflation bogeyman was never a serious threat, nor was it based on any solid theoretical foundation.

A possible justification may have been to make the 1 percent much wealthier so that their extravagant lifestyles trickled benefits down to the average working stiff. Another possible reason may have been to lower the value of the euro to benefit exporters at the expense of the rest of European consumers, the middle class, and the poor. This would be a violation of the unwritten rule that monetary policy should not be targeting the value of the currency directly.

Of course, when the rule maker breaks his own rules, it reduces the importance of all rules. The commitment not to print to finance government spending has gone to the same graveyard as the 60 percent debt-to-GDP rule or the under-3 percent budget deficit rule. Meanwhile, the ECB’s current actions are making a mockery of the alleged independence of central banking…

The real objective of the ECB’s current money printing is essentially to kick the can down the road. It won’t solve Europe’s deep-seated structural problems. It will only postpone the inevitable and will also make the final reckoning much, much worse. Printing intrinsically worthless paper will not solve Europe’s fundamental problem of supply being misaligned with demand — a misalignment created by government’s incessant interference with the workings of the price system.

With this new phase of monetary expansion, Europe is slowly walking down the same slippery slope toward hyperinflation that is the inevitable endgame of all fiat currency systems.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America the Obese: Is There a Multibillion Dollar Conspiracy to Make Sure Americans Stay Overweigbt?

One of the primary reasons why most of us are overweight is due to how our food is made. The American diet is highly processed and it is absolutely packed with obesity-causing ingredients such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup. And it is well documented that some of the additives that they put into our food are highly addictive and actually make you want to eat more. In fact, it has been reported that some of the additives are about as addictive as “opiates”, “heroin” and “cocaine”. The big food corporations want us to eat as much as possible, because when we eat more of their food they make more money.

Unfortunately, being overweight is not just an issue of not looking as good as we could. As Gallup explained, a whole host of health problems are related to obesity…

The national obesity rate in 2014 was the highest that Gallup and Healthways have measured since starting to track this measure in 2008. In a handful of states, more than a third of the population is obese. Residents in these areas are less likely to eat healthily and exercise, and are more likely to suffer from chronic diseaseslike high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes, cancer and heart attacks. Obesity-related health problems could drive up healthcare costs and potentially have larger economic implications for states that suffer most.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Baltimore Has Descended Into a State of Lawlessness — and More Cities Will Soon Follow

Did you really think that Baltimore would return to normal after everything that has happened? On Thursday, a mother and her 7-year-old son were both shot in the head in a double murder that has shocked the entire nation. Police believe that the son may have been shot in order to prevent him from identifying the individual that shot his mother. So is this what America is turning into? A place where 7-year-old kids are executed in cold blood? That mother and son were the 37th and 38th murder victims in the city of Baltimore so far this month. That makes this the deadliest month in Baltimore in 15 years, but because of all the controversy surrounding the death of Freddie Gray, police in Baltimore are afraid to do their jobs at this point. In some areas of the city, young men boldly smoke weed in public and wave guns around at innocent bystanders without any worry that police will intervene. Baltimore has descended into a state of lawlessness, and this is just the beginning. As I discussed just the other day, the same kind of lawlessness will soon sweep all across this country.

Have you ever been afraid to step outside of your own home? That is what day to day life is like for many residents of Baltimore right now. In fact, one woman is even barricading her door and setting up metal slabs behind her windows to deflect gunfire. Just check out the following excerpt from a recent news report about what is going on in the city…

[…]

Right now, police officers in Baltimore are running scared. They know that they are targets, and they know that one mistake can land them in prison or on the front page of newspapers all over the nation. According to Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, there have been times when officers have gone into an area only to be immediately surrounded by “30 to 50 people”…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Banker Jumps to His Death From Luxury Apartment

An investment banker jumped to his death from the window of his million-dollar apartment in the Financial District on Thursday, sources and authorities said. The 29-year-old man plunged from the 24th floor of the luxury Ocean apartment building at 1 West St. at about 10:40 a.m. and landed on a guardrail near the northbound Battery Park Underpass, narrowly missing a black SUV.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Barack Obama’s Anti-Semitism Test

By Caroline B. Glick

Is US President Barack Obama an anti-Semite?

This question has lingered in the air since his first presidential bid in 2008. It first arose due to the anti-Semitic sermons that Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for more than 20 years, made as Obama and his family sat in the pews.

Throughout the six-and-a-half years of his presidency, Obama has laughed off the concerns.

But he has not dispelled them. And this failure has hurt him.

So last week, Obama went to significant lengths to answer the question about his feelings toward Israel and the Jewish people once and for all.

The timing of his charm offensive wasn’t coincidental…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Climate Change Clown

Captain Tee-Time, the usurping Occupant of the Oval Office has finally lost all touch with reality, and officially checked into la-la land. On Wednesday, May 20th, he appeared before the graduating class at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and proceeded to vomit the most delusional, psychotic drivel all over their pretty uniforms. He actually told them, with a straight face, that climate change is one of the most serious threats to America’s national security.

Yes, you read that correctly. The former horror of an encroaching ice-age morphed into global warming which switched dresses and became ‘Climate Change.’ This is because the propagandists can’t figure out if the planet is getting hotter or colder but, DANG IT, the temperature is changing, therefore we need to institute wealth re-distribution from rich nations to poor nations so we can all live in a communist utopia, and sing Kum-Ba-Yah forever and ever. Praise lucifer. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Clinton Foundation Accused of Trading Ex-President’s Presence for Donation

The Clinton camp was hit Friday with yet another bombshell report on the family foundation, even as the Democratic power couple launched a counteroffensive against critics of the foundation’s dealings.

The New York Times reported Friday on a questionable arrangement last year involving Bill Clinton’s attendance at a fundraising gala thrown by a school-building charity.

According to the report, Clinton agreed to accept a lifetime achievement award at the June 2014 gala, hosted by the Happy Hearts Fund, only after founder Petra Nemcova offered to give $500,000 to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EPA Decides That Pothole Full of Water on Your Property Just Might be a Wetland

And that gives them jurisdiction over it

The EPA acknowledges that the “science available today does not establish that waters beyond those defined as ‘adjacent’“ to these “significant” waters should be regulated. But forget science. The agency says its “experience and expertise” show there are “many” other waters that could have a significant downstream effect. Thus the EPA establishes an additional standard for significance that covers just about anything that’s wet.

So the new rule says the feds can also regulate waters within the 100-year floodplain and 4,000 feet of their claimed bailiwick or land features like prairie potholes and vernal pools that “in combination” have a significant effect. A pothole on farmer Dan’s land may not affect downstream waters, but the EPA could still regulate Dan’s pothole if regulators determine that prairie potholes collectively do.

The sad irony is that the EPA is exploiting an opening created by a Supreme Court case that overturned a federal regulatory abuse. In its 4-1-4 split ruling in Rapanos v. U.S. in 2006, the Army Corps of Engineers had sought to throw a Michigan landowner in prison because he didn’t obtain permits to move dirt on a sometimes-saturated piece of land, which was connected to a drain, which ran into a shallow creek, which flowed into the Kawkawlin River, which emptied into Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.

In a sharp rebuke, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, explained that “waters of the United States” could not possibly apply to the man’s land that was 11 to 20 miles away from the nearest “navigable” waterway.

The waggish Justice Scalia noted that the Corps’s expansive reading of “waters of the United States” could extend to “the entire land area of the United States,” which “lies in some drainage basin, and an endless network of visible channels furrows the entire surface, containing water ephemerally wherever the rain falls.” He shouldn’t have suggested the idea.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Examining Trans Pacific Partnership

The TPP agreement is not designed to grow trade because instead it is constructed in a manner designed to carry on, and double-down, on the destructive policies already in place because of the Obama administration.

While I indicated I felt that the deal is potentially a dangerous one, and I am against Republican support of the Obama supported trade agreement, JASmius stated he supported the spread of capitalism, and that is what the TPP agreement accomplishes. I responded that I support free trade, but not when it puts the United States, and more specifically “American sovereignty,” at a disadvantage. I added that the secretive nature of this agreement threw up red flags for me as well.

In an examination of what little information is available regarding this “behind-closed-doors” consensus of international political elites, the potentiality of the TPP free trade treaty being a disadvantage for American interests is alarming. The agreement will facilitate the creation of global economic integration that will empower globalistic schemes, and place American interests at risk. At first blush, the agreement caters to those that wish to annihilate national sovereignty, hindering America’s position on the global economic stage while redistributing the wealth of nations to other countries that may not be so far up on the world-stage ladder, while positioning global economics into a position to better enable internationalists to ultimately push aside domestic individuality while moving the planet closer to a one world model that can be more easily controlled by a worldwide centralized governing authority.

While on the surface, the Trans Pacific Partnership claims to be about free trade, it has little to do with trade, and is more about moving chess pieces around for those that have global aspirations…

The TPP also nullifies any American regulatory control regarding access to our part of the global market, disallowing restrictions that federal or State laws may place on the types of goods moving through the market such as restrictions American law has in place regarding genetically modified foods. Under the TPP, the international courts would also have the ability to impose limitations on congressional say regarding the “free flow of labor” that is already crossing the border illegally at will. Any attempts to slow down the flow of illegal immigration by the United States can be stopped by international courts (international panel of arbitrators), in line with the provisions of TPP. TPP also enables the international courts to enforce against Congress the international requirement (as per TPP) to impose environmental policies, and sustainable development policies, even if Congress refuses to accept these internationally mandated intrusions upon American sovereignty. From a constitutional point of view, what this does is surrender to international interests congressional responsibility under Section 1, Article 8 of the Constitution that grants to Congress the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. In short, the agreement places international demands, and decisions decided by international bodies, above American law and American interests.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Government is Forcing Doctors to Spend More Time on Data Entry and Less With Their Patients

by Charles Krauthammer

About a decade ago, a doctor friend was lamenting the increasingly frustrating conditions of clinical practice. “How did you know to get out of medicine in 1978?” he asked with a smile. “I didn’t,” I replied. “I had no idea what was coming. I just felt I’d chosen the wrong vocation.”

I was reminded of this exchange upon receiving my med-school class’s 40th-reunion report and reading some of the entries. In general, my classmates felt fulfilled by family, friends, and the considerable achievements of their professional lives. But there was an undercurrent of deep disappointment, almost demoralization, with what medical practice had become.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jade Helm as Itself a Psy Op

Common Sense Show host Dave Hodges has argued the end goal of Jade Helm is the imminent roundup, gulag confinement and gun confiscation of all Americans who have been marked as rebellious, with bank account confiscations, martial law and false flags just around the corner. Infowars reporters Joe Biggs and David Knight have argued similarly that the threats are rather constant, slow build ups to condition the American public into the acceptance of moving towards a third world, banana republic scenario. However, what all these portrayals have not delved into is the possibility that Jade Helm 15’s “leak” to the alternative news and patriot community itself might be a psychological warfare operation. In order to understand this possibility, it is necessary to understand the purpose and goal of PsyOps.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Julian Assange on TPP: Only 5 of 29 Sections Are About “Traditional Trade”

Speaking from his ‘prison’ in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange explains the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, which would link his home country of Australia with the U.S. economically. “It is mostly not about trade,” Assange says. “Only 5 of the 29 Chapters are about traditional trade.

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS: First of all, it is the largest ever international economic treaty that has ever been negotiated, very considerably larger than NAFTA. It is mostly not about trade, only 5 of the 29 Chapters are about traditional trade.

The others are about regulating the internet, and what information internet service providers have to collect, they have to hand it over to companies under certain circumstances, the regulation of labor conditions, regulating the way you can favor local industry, regulating the hospital, health care system, privatization of hospitals, so essentially every aspect of a modern economy, even banking services are in the TPP.

So that is erecting and embedding new ultramodern neoliberal structure over U.S. law and the laws of other countries. And putting it in treaty form.

By putting it in a treaty form, there are 14 countries involved, that means it is very hard to overturn, so if there is a desire, a democratic desire to do it on a different path. For example, to introduce more public transport. Then you can’t easily change the TPP treaty, because you have to go back to the other nations involved.

Now looking at that example, what if the government or a state government decides it wants to build a hospital somewhere, and there is a private hospital has been erected nearby.

Well the TPP gives the constructor of the private hospital the right to sue the government over the expect loss, the loss in expected future profits. This is an expected future loss, this is not an actual loss that has been sustained, this is a claim about the future.

We know from similar instruments where governments can be sued over free trade treaties, that that is used to construct a chilling effect on environmental and health regulation laws. For example, Togo, Australia, Uruguay are all being sued by tobacco company Phillip Morris to prevent them from introducing health warnings on cigarette packaging…

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Monsanto is Running the USDA: Two GMO Crops Approved This Year

While other nations ban GMOs.

In case it didn’t make it to your news table, the United States Department of Agriculture (headed by Tom Vilsack, Monsanto’s best buddy) has recently (in January) approved two more Monsanto-owned genetically modified crops — new strains of both GM corn and soy. Is it any question now who is running our government in the US? Monsanto is calling the shots, not the people who vote for Congress and Senate members.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Photo: Minnesota Teachers Compared to KKK During ‘White Privilege’ Training

A shocking photo leaked by a teacher in Minnesota shows a slide from a ‘white privilege’ training session of a robed klansman with the caption “When do you wear the hood?”

EAG News carries the story, referencing it’s recent reports that teachers in St. Paul Public Schools have been forced to undergo “equity” training involving examining “the presence and role of ‘Whiteness’“ and the detrimental impact it supposedly has on minority students.

According to the teacher, who is remaining anonymous to avoid reprisal, the slide was used in one such training session at Bruce Vento Elementary during a staff meeting.

The source claims that the school principal put the picture up on a projector and “asked the staff to sit in silence and reflect on it for 3 to 4 minutes.”

Another teacher, also remaining anonymous added “This picture — and the idea that it would be helpful in some way — is totally unbelievable.”

The training sessions are being conducted in association with a San Francisco-based company called Pacific Educational Group, that makes millions of dollars in consulting fees every year from public schools throughout the nation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Student Punished for Bringing Hot Pepper to School

The family of a Long Island student is suing his high school after administrators punished him for bringing hot peppers to lunch.

The mother of Nick Lien, a 10th grader at Centereach High School, says her family has a healthy appreciation for spicy food.

“My friends saw that I had the new ghost pepper with me, and they all wanted to see how spicy it really was, because everybody thought that basically they could handle it and it was nothing,” Nick described. “So they all tried a piece.”…

“I was told that it’s equivalent to giving someone LSD,” Nick said. “I was shocked, because I didn’t realize that giving someone a pepper could get me into as much trouble as I was in.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘The News’ Now Planted Progressive Propaganda

The presentation of Obama from Denver’s faux Greek Temple was followed by a mass media bombardment of Obama pictures. For the masses, his omnipresence courtesy of the World Wide Web was as inevitable as it was inescapable.

Somewhere before this process got up to full speed, the mainstream media, the one we thought we all knew, dropped all pretense of balance and accuracy and departed Stage Left. Since investigative journalism had already become a dying art, few really missed it.

Those of us in the ‘alternate media’ naively celebrated replacing the not so dearly departed as the mainstream media alternative. Little did we realize that Internet giants like Google and Facebook, in league with Big Government, were already working to suppress conservative alternate media by redirecting all Internet traffic to progressive-supporting news sites.

While struggling masses, including passionate patriots, could only stand helplessly by, an Obama-headed powerful elite began to dismantle America piece by piece.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Washington DC Transit Officials Bar Issue-Oriented Ads Through End of Year

Washington D.C. transit officials voted Thursday to suspend all issue-oriented advertising on the city’s rail and bus system after the agency was asked to consider an ad featuring an image of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) board of directors voted to suspend all issue ads until the end of this year while it examines its own policy. The agency did not say the move was made in response to a particular ad.

However, the head of the group behind the Muhammad ad, the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Pamela Geller, confirmed to the Associated Press Thursday that she had submitted the cartoon, which depicts Muhammad raising a sword and saying “you can’t draw me,” for consideration about two weeks ago.

Muslims generally believe any physical depiction of Muhammad is blasphemous.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why the Elite Wants to Create More Social Disorder

96 per cent of Americans believe that the U.S. will witness more Baltimore-style riots this summer.

The elite know these riots are coming, because to a large extent, their policies have created the environment for them.

Wealth inequality, which is proven to cause social unrest, is at its worst since before World War II.

But wealth inequality isn’t caused by a failure of capitalism, it’s caused by catastrophic Keynesian central bank policies that have instituted endless money printing and worldwide inflation.

But by blaming capitalism, leftists who warn about wealth inequality are playing right into the elite’s hands — because their solution is going to be more power in the hands of the state and central banks, the very same policies which caused the problem in the first place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Woman Calls Cops for Help With Suicidal Boyfriend, Cops Turn Up and Kill Him, Tell Her “That’s What We Do”

In a tragically familiar turn of events, a woman in Florida called the cops for help in dealing with a mentally disturbed man who was threatening to kill himself with a knife. When the cops showed up, they shot him dead.

“I think [police] should come in using other things,” Kaitlyn Lyons told reporters following the death of her boyfriend Justin Way. “And I think they definitely need to figure out how to handle suicidal people.”

“The only person Justin threatened was himself and I honestly don’t think he wanted to die,” she said.

Lyons also noted that the cops who attended the call were carrying assault rifles, and looked like they “were going into war” when they entered the home.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Accused of Crimes Against Catholic Church, Man Told Cops He Had Thoughts of Killing Priest

Iqbal Hessan, 22, was released on bail this afternoon by Justice of the Peace Gerry Manno after a lengthy bail hearing that lasted two days.

He has been charged with break, enter and commit indictable offence and five counts of mischief over $5,000 in connection with numerous incidents at St. Catherine of Siena Church over the last five weeks.

While questioning the accused man’s father, who is one of Hessan’s sureties, Crown prosecutor Ann Marie De Grace told the court Hessan said in his statement to Peel Regional Police after his arrest that he had plans to hurt a priest last month in the night he is accused of breaking into the church. Manno later said Hessan told police he was thinking of killing a priest.

Manno also questioned Hessan’s father on allegations that his son was upset at the church and “upset with Christian religion.”

Basir Hessan said his son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and that caused his anger and imbalance.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gunman in Canada Attack Last October Praises Allah in Unedited Version of Pre-Shooting Video

Newly released footage of the gunman who killed a soldier at Canada’s national war memorial and stormed Parliament before being gunned down shows him asking Allah to praise his actions before last October’s attack.

Police on Friday released 18 additional seconds of gunman Michael Zehaf Bibeau’s video message. That footage had been edited out of an earlier version released last October to give investigators time to analyze the dialect of Arabic he was speaking.

Zehaf-Bibeau shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, to death while he was standing guard at the national war memorial. Zehaf-Bibeau was eventually gunned down inside Parliament.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

12 Russians Injured in Lightning Strike at Ruins on Crete

Greek authorities say 12 Russian tourists have been injured in a lightning strike at the archaeological site of Knossos, on the southern island of Crete.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Young Immigration Sceptic Elected as Parliamentary Speaker

The Finnish Parliament is electing Speakers to lead the legislature for the next four years. The Finns Party candidate, an immigration sceptic, was selected as Speaker of Parliament.

Lohela, a 36-year-old second-term MP, was one of those who signed a 2011 manifesto criticising multi-culturalism and calling for sharp limits on immigration, asylum, and development aid. It was written by former MP Jussi Halla-aho, who has since moved on to the European Parliament.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: How the Eiffel Tower Thieves Pick Your Pocket

Paris police busted a pickpocket gang this week, who “earned” up to €4,000 a day each in peak season by preying on tourists at the Eiffel Tower. But how exactly were they pinching your belongings? Here’s a closer look.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Has Lowest Birth Rate in the World, Study Shows

The results point to a downward trend in the labor force, which could lead Germany to losing its “economic edge.” The publishers say that women’s participation in the labor market is key to ensuring the country’s growth.

Germany has the world’s lowest birth rate, according to a new study produced by German auditing firm BDO in partnership with the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).

Although Germany has had the lowest birth rate in Europe in recent years, the study alleges that it has now surpassed countries outside the continent.

The study shows that, on average, 8.2 children were born per 1,000 inhabitants over the past five years. In Europe, Portugal and Italy came in second and third with an average of 9.0 and 9.3 children, respectively.

Globally, the study pointed to the African continent for the highest birth rates. The West African country Niger took the top position with 50 children born per 1,000 inhabitants.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Passes Japan to Have World’s Lowest Birth Rate — Study

A study says Germany’s birth rate has slumped to the lowest in the world, prompting fears labour market shortages will damage the economy. Germany has dropped below Japan to have not just the lowest birth rate across Europe but also globally, according to the report by Germany-based analysts. Its authors warned of the effects of a shrinking working-age population.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Jailed Urban Guerrilla Urges Comrades to Take up Arms

Police are on standby after the jailed leader of Revolutionary Struggle Nikos Maziotis posted a document on an anti-establishment website late on Wednesday, calling for an armed uprising and the takeover of Greece’s Parliament, government ministries and the premises of the Bank of Greece in protest at a pending agreement between Greece and its creditors.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Houellebecq to be Staged in Dubrovnik Despite Security Risks

After controversy on freedom of expression

(ANSA) — ZAGREB — A stage adaptation of “The Elementary Particles”, based on the 1998 novel written by French writer Michel Houellebecq, which was ruled out of the programme of the festival of Dubrovnik, Croatia, “for security reasons” two weeks ago, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Interior in Zagreb, will eventually be staged on a beach near the Croatian town in late July.

This was decided yesterday during a joint meeting, by the Direction Board of the 66th Festival of Dubrovnik, the most popular summer cultural event in Croatia, and the Ministry of Culture, that will cover additional security costs, about 60,000. Nikola Dobroslavi, president of the Region of Dubrovnik and member of the Conservative party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), was the first to oppose the show, being forced, he said, not so much by the fear of possible terror acts, but above all “by the possibility that religious feelings of the Muslim who reside in Dubrovnik and their many guests who visit the city during the summer may be offended”.

According to him, Houellebecq “is known for his offensive comments on Islam”. An analysis of the Ministry of the Interior, made at Dobroslavi’s request, warned of security risks, but did not comment on the opinions of the French writer.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Salvini Repeats Call to Raze Roma Camps

Northern League leader comments on women killed by run-away car

(ANSA) — Rome, May 28 — Northern League leader Matteo Salvini on Thursday repeated his call for Italy’s Roma camps to be razed after a woman was killed and eight others injured by a car that was running away from police and had people suspected of being of Roma ethnicity aboard. “Three Roma ran away from a police check and they killed a woman and injured eight people,” Salvini said on Facebook. “It appears that the car was registered in the name of a Roma, who has 24 others…

Bulldozer! When we return to government we’ll raze to the ground all these damned Roma camps”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Mayor Panhandles to Protest Taxes

‘Taxpayers’ money should stay here’ says Liguria town mayor

(ANSA) — Genoa, May 25 — The mayor of a small Liguria town in Genoa province panhandled on the local cathedral steps Monday to protest the fact that taxpayers’ money doesn’t come back. “I am begging to help my town,” said Antonio Bigotti, the mayor of Savignone, population 3,200.

“It isn’t right that money paid by my fellow citizens should end up in big city dwellers’ pockets,” said the mayor, who was elected on a civic list.

“It must remain (here)”.

Hat in hand and with a friend playing guitar nearby, the mayor said he put together “10 euros so far”.

The money will be donated to an association working in post-flood reconstruction, he said. Liguria was hard hit by torrential rains, floods and landslides that killed at least eight people in northern Italy in October last year. The government said at the time that budget constraints would not prevent flood relief for the stricken regions, and suspended Liguria taxes by decree until December 20 last year.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Expo President Bracco in Tax-Dodge Probe

‘Embezzled 3.6 million for work on homes, boats’

(ANSA) — Rome, 29 MAG — Expo Milan 2015 President Diana Bracco is under investigation for alleged tax evasion and embezzlement as head of her family healthcare multinational Bracco SpA. The probe has ended and some one million euros has been seized.

Bracco is accused of dodging taxes of over one million, and of embezzling some 3.6 million euros from her companies for work on boats and up to five private homes, using false invoices.

The probe is the latest in a series of investigations that have beset the world’s fair, which runs until October 31 on the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Three Teenagers Arrested for Attempted Murder of Pupils

Gang ‘led by Moroccan kickboxer who used proceeds to buy kebab’

(ANSA) — Turin, May 29 — Three 16-year-olds including a kickboxing enthusiast of Moroccan origin were arrested Friday on charges of attempted murder for carrying out a rash of vicious robberies in Turin including one on two school pupils at a bus stop, police said.

The three also were charged with robbery and grievous bodily harm after allegedly disfiguring the faces of two small boys March 8 as they stole their satchels following an all-night party.

Police said the two boys required a series of facial operations in hospital while the trio were responsible for three other robberies.

The gang leader, of Moroccan origin, already had landed in prison for mugging a woman at dawn in the Porta Palazzo area of the Piedmontese capital.

The kickboxing buff was quoted as telling police he used the proceeds of the woman’s handbag to buy a kebab.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Braced for Bellwether Regional Elections

Contest seen as litmus test for Premier Renzi’s coalition

(ANSA) Rome, May 29 — Campaigning for weathervane regional elections being held across Italy this week-end climaxed on Friday as electoral and parliamentary officials braced to eliminate Mafiosi and other suspected organized crime figures from the lists of candidates.

Claudio Fava, deputy president of the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission, said the number of so-called “unpresentable” candidates to be banned from standing for the regional governments in Sunday’s polls across the peninsula “will be a not insignificant packet”. In all 4,000 candidates have put their names forward for election to regional councils, posing a major screening task for electoral officials. Anti-mafia commission president Rosy Bindi was due to announce details of crime-tainted figures excluded from the contest.

The outcome of the polls is seen as a significant barometer of popular support for the policies of the coalition government of Premier Matteo Renzi, who is frequently criticized by opponents since he was appointed by then President Giorgio Napolitano to help cope with Italy’s economic crisis and has no direct electoral mandate for his cabinet.

Political experts said the outcome of the vote in three of the seven regions — Liguria, Campania and Umbria — is expected to be too close to call as candidates for Renzi’s Democratic Party and his allies are predicted to be neck and neck with opposition hopefuls from the conservative Forza Italia, radical Five Star Movement (M5S) and the separatist Northern League.

Renzi was due to hold electoral rallies at the port city of Ancona and a final rally in his home city of Florence after a week in which he carried out a rash of public appointments including the inauguration of work at a major building site for the Mater Olbia hospital at the Sardinian port of Olbia Thursday which was possible due to an injection of capital from the Gulf state of Qatar. Also Thursday Renzi toured a Fiat Chrysler car plant at the southern city of Melfi and said his Jobs Act labour market reform legislation heralded “labour contracts that are ever more solid and stable”.

Renzi made his remarks after figures released by the OECD this week showed that Italy has the highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union except for Greece. Former conservative premier Silvio Berlusconi claimed that a heavy defeat for the government in the regional contest might force President Sergio Mattarella to call a snap general election.

“If it finishes 4 to 3 without doubt there would be political consequences,” he told Monte Carlo Radio, “I ask myself what Renzi would consider a defeat — first he looked secure but now I see him always more worried”.

“Umbria and Liguria, regions historically on the left, could change political colour”.

Political commentators said the elections are also an important test for Northern League leader Matteo Salvini, who hopes to step into Berlusconi’s shoes as leader of the centre-right parties.

Salvini has fought an aggressive anti-immigrant and anti-Roma campaign, pledging to “raze to the ground all the gypsy camps,” after a woman was killed in Rome in a car incident involving Roma fugitives from the police. Against this background, Senate speaker Pietro Grasso urged 18-year-olds to take advantage of the opportunity of participating in the democratic process. “Some of you on Sunday will be called for the first time to express your vote in local elections-do it, don’t leave it so that others will decide for you”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Elkann Says Exor ‘Determined’ To Acquire Partnerre

FCA plan for consolidation ‘good for all’

(ANSA) — Turin, May 29 — Exor SpA “is determined” to purchase reinsurer PartnerRe because it fits the holding company’s growth plans, Chairman John Elkann said Friday.

“We are determined to carry on with the acquisition of PartnerRe because it is consistent with what we have said we want to do,” in terms of growth, Elkann told Exor’s annual meeting.

“We said that we were aiming for a big investment instead of wasting resources and that we would find a brother or sister (company) to Fca and CNH,” said Elkann.

Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, holds controlling interest in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and its heavy-equipment subsidiary CNH.

Elkann described PartnerRe as a company that is solid, profitable, and will allow Exor to distribute those profits to shareholders.

Exor has been in a bidding war for the insurer and has said its price, about $8.6 billion, was its final offer.

Its share price offer is $137.5 per share in the re-insurer. Exor now owns a 9.32% stake in PartnerRe after buying shares worth $572 million.

“If owned by us, it could continue to grow and become even stronger,” he said.

Meanwhile, Elkann said that he agrees with plans to seek further consolidation in the auto industry as outlined by FCA chief executive Sergio Marchionne. “If the auto industry decides to talk on the subject of consolidation, it would be to the benefit of all,” said Elkann. He said Marchionne’s comments on consolidation in the industry “is very important” because it is logical to merge more auto makers and reduce duplications.

“It is an industry that invests $2 billion a week, a lot could be done together,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Lebanese Man Arrested for Suspected Terror Plot in Cyprus

A 26-year-old Lebanese man was arrested on Wednesday by security authorities in Cyprus on suspicion of planning to carry out a terrorist attack against Israeli tourists vacationing on the island, Reuters reported Friday.

The man, who is also a Canadian national, was found to be in possession of two tons of fertilizers containing ammonium nitrate — a chemical that can be used as an explosive. He was apprehended at his home in Larnaca, in southeast Cyprus.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

National Front Demands EU Referendum in France

David Cameron’s pledge to hold an in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU has been backed by France’s far right National Front party, which wants the same in France, where views of the EU have soured over the years.

A survey carried out last year to mark Europe Day revealed that only 51 percent of French people want their country to remain a member of the 28-nation bloc.

That was down from 67 percent a decade ago, according to the CSA survey.

The poll showed that voters — 70 percent of them — are disillusioned with the European Union because of its failure to help stem rising unemployment in France, which has a record 3.3 million people out of work.

Sixty-three of those surveyed said they were disappointed with the EU because of the decline of social protection, while 60 percent cited growing numbers of immigrants as another reason for falling out of love with the European project masterminded by France and Germany.

Fifty-two percent said they believed France was losing its national identity.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Northern Ireland: Plague of Ratzilla: Residents Scared to Leave Their Homes or Open Their Windows Over Fears That Giant Vermin Will Attack Them

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A plague of giant rats have left parents fearing for their children’s lives after invading a play area and eating their way through wheelie bins on the hunt for food.

The rodents — some as a big as cats — have been spotted running into drains close to homes and digging holes in gardens around Killyleagh, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Residents say they are scared to go out at night or open their windows and admit to regularly hearing the eight inch-long rats scratching at bins — with some too frightened to even lift the lid.

It comes as a wave of so-called ‘super rats’ have rapidly invaded the country, which experts predicted would outnumber humans two-to-one by this year.

Genetic testing by Huddersfield University revealed that the rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Two-Thirds Negative to Child Marrying a Muslim

Two thirds of Norwegians would react negatively if one of their children married a Muslim, according to the latest annual survey by Norway’s Directorate of Integration and Diversity (IMDI)

The organisation’s annual barometer, released on Wednesday, reported that 58 percent of Norwegians surveyed said they would be unhappy about gaining a Muslim son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

This compared to 32 percent for a Hindu one, 27 percent for Buddhist, 24 percent for a someone of Jewish faith, and just six percent for a Christian.

“There are some pretty scary numbers here. Especially the high levels of skepticism towards Muslims,” Linda Alzaghari, general manager of Minotenk, a think.tank looking at minority groups, told Aftenposten.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Poland Not in Line With the Floods Direttive, Risks EU Court

EU Commission sent a reasoned opinion, now two months to comply

(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The European Commission has requested Poland to bring its national laws on the assessment and management of flood risks into line with the Floods Directive. Brussels is sending a reasoned opinion and if Poland fails to act within two months, the EU Commissione may refer Poland the EU Court of Justice.

The Directive aims to reduce and manage the risks that floods pose to human health, the environment, economic activity and cultural heritage. Under EU law, Member States have to perform flood risk assessments for their river basins, and draw up emergency plans. The EU Commission identified shortcomings in Poland’s transposition of this legislation into its domestic law, and sent a letter of formal notice on 18 October 2013.

Poland subsequently notified the amended Water Act, but the transposition of the definition of ‘flood’ still remains problematic as it restricts the scope of the Directive by excluding some sources of flooding, which may have an impact on the implementation of the whole Directive in Poland.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Teen Kazi Islam Jailed for Terror Grooming Man Into Attacking British Soldier

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A teenage Islamic terrorist who tried to groom his vulnerable friend into carrying out a Lee Rigby copycat killing has been jailed for eight years.

Kazi Islam, then 17, pressured and cajoled 19-year-old Harry Thomas to buy the ingredients for a pipe bomb and to attack one or more British soldiers with a kitchen knife or meat cleaver on his command.

He encouraged the older boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, to start calling himself Haroon instead of Harry as he attempted to radicalise him with stories of innocent children murdered by military forces.

He hatched the plan after the murder of Fusilier Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK Government Goes Full Orwell: Snooper’s Charter, Encryption Backdoors, Free Speech Suppression

The old joke goes “George Orwell’s 1984 was a warning, not a ‘how to’ manual.” But that joke is increasingly less funny as the UK really seems to be doing everything it can to put in place Orwell’s fictitious vision — just a few decades later…

Earlier this week, the Queen gave her traditional “Queen’s Speech” which lays out the legislative agenda for the new Parliament, and it went quickly down the Orwellian path as well. Apparently, suppressing free speech and civil liberties will be done in the name of mandatory “social cohesion.”

Measures will also be brought forward to promote social cohesion and protect people by tackling extremism. New legislation will modernise the law on communications data, improve the law on policing and criminal justice, and ban the new generation of psychoactive drugs.

That first sentence is about the extremism orders, but the second part may be even more troubling. It’s the Queen making it clear that the Snooper’s Charter is returning — but even worse than before. If you don’t recall, the UK government has been trying to pass this bill that would grant the government massive surveillance powers. David Cameron insists this is necessary because he’s seen it work on fictional crime shows that he watches on TV (really). The last major attempt to push this through failed thanks to then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg blocking it. But with Clegg out of the way following the last election, the government is going for the gold in pushing for an even broader Snooper’s Charter including mandatory backdoors into encryption:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Londoners Lift Double Decker Bus Off Trapped Unicyclist in Amazing Footage

Incredible footage shows dozens of people running out of nearby restaurants and cafes in Walthamstow, east London, to help lift the bus off of the stricken unicyclist.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Moped Criminals Remove Helmets to Force Met Police to Stop Chasing

Criminals using mopeds are using a loophole in London by removing their helmets if being chased because Met Officers have been ordered to stand down in case the robbers are killed or injured.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Affiliate in Libya Takes Civilian Airport in Sirte

Libya’s Islamic State affiliate seized a civilian air base in the central city of Sirte, a militia spokesman and an ISIS statement said Friday, in the terror group’s latest attempt to exploit Libya’s lingering chaos.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Militants in Libya ‘Seize Sirte Airport’

Islamic State militants in Libya say they have seized the airport in the city of Sirte, as the group continues to make advances in the country.

The news was announced by the group and by a Libyan militia that withdrew from the coastal city’s airport on Thursday.

Most of Sirte, former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s hometown, fell to IS last week.

In a statement, the group said it had also seized the Great Man Made River water project.

The irrigation project, the world’s largest, supplies fresh water to Libyan cities and was also the base for the opposition Battalion 166, which has now fled.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Al Qaeda’s Syria Branch Seeks Image Makeover in West

Al Qaeda’s Syria franchise is striving to reinvent itself as a legitimate opposition force that is more acceptable to the West, but it is unlikely to succeed, analysts said Thursday.

In a rare television interview, Al-Nusra Front chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani vowed not to use Syria as a springboard to attack the West and said he would be willing to protect minorities.

“It’s all part of a normalization process that Al Qaeda in Syria has been seeking to do for some time now,” said Charlie Winter, an analyst on jihadism at the London-based Quilliam Foundation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-ISIS Artwork Depicting Group’s Crimes Go on Display in Iranian Competition

More than 1,000 images were submitted to Iran’s House of Cartoon competition and 270 were put on display. Artists from more than 40 countries entered the anti-ISIS contest.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Christian Beheads Jihadist in Syria Revenge Killing: Monitor

A Syrian Christian fighter has beheaded an Islamic State group (IS) militant to avenge people “executed” by the jihadists in northeastern Syria, a monitor said on Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the incident took place on Thursday in Hasakeh province, where IS holds large areas of the countryside.

According to the monitor, the Christian fighter, a member of the minority Assyrian community, found the jihadist in the local village of Tal Shamiram.

“He took him prisoner and when he found out he was a member of IS, the Assyrian fighter beheaded him in revenge for abuses committed by the group in the region,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said…

[Return to headlines]
 

CIA Trained ISIS Jihadists in Syria According to Declassified Documents That Media Ignored

U.S. intelligence documents released to a government watchdog confirms the suspicions that the United States and some of its so-called coalition partners had actually facilitated the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) as an effective adversary against the government of the Syrian dictator President Bashar al-Assad. In addition, ISIS members were initially trained by members and contractors of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at facilities in Jordan in 2012. The original goal was to weaken the Syrian government which had engaged in war crimes against their own people, according to a number of reports on Sunday.

The non-profit, non-partisan Judicial Watch — a group known for its investigation of government corruption and abuse — had obtained more than 100 pages of classified documents from both the US Department of Defense and the State Department through a federal lawsuit.

One of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents declared that President Barack Obama and his counterparts within the coalition considered the establishment of a Salafist organization in eastern Syria in order to further downfall of the Assad regime. “And this is exactly what the supporting powers to the (Syrian) opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime,” said the DIA report, which had been formerly classified until its release.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Greek, Iranian Diplomats Eye Closer Ties, Energy Cooperation

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Zavad Zarif on Thursday vowed to boost bilateral ties at the political level as well as trade relations, with a key focus on the energy sector.

Zarif also met with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who said Greece was determined to boost bilateral relations, while members of the delegation traveling with Zarif met with Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis and other officials.

Zarif’s talks with Kotzias were held in an “extremely positive atmosphere,” according to sources.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iranian Artist Could Draw Lengthy Prison Term for Cartoons Ridiculing Parliament

Iran’s thin-skinned mullahs have jailed an artist who drew a cartoon disparaging members of parliament over their decision to restrict birth control for women.

Atena Farghadani, 28, had what Iran considers a trial in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on May 19 and is now awaiting a verdict. She was charged with “insulting members of parliament through paintings” for drawing the officials as animals, according to Amnesty International. It is not clear what kind of maximum sentence she could face.

Ironically, the regime in Iran hosts its own broadly publicized political cartoon contests with controversial themes including an annual Holocaust cartoon contest and more recently about the Islamic State, while harshly condemning international cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Claims Suicide Bomb at Shiite Mosque in Saudi Arabia, 4 Dead

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A suicide bomber blew himself up in the parking lot of a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia during Friday prayers, killing four people in the second such attack in as many weeks claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attack, which set vehicles alight and sent a cloud of black smoke into the air, came after a suicide bombing a week ago at another Shiite mosque killed 21 people, heightening sectarian tensions in the Sunni-majority kingdom.

Both attacks took place in the oil-rich east, which has a sizable Shiite majority that has long complained of discrimination. The Islamic State group and other Sunni extremists view Shiites as apostates deserving of death.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Video Shows Prisoner Digging His Own Grave Before Being Beheaded

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A new video released by ISIS shows the man, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, digging before being slaughtered. The footage appears to have been shot in Syria.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS ‘Destroys’ Lion God Statue in Captured Palmyra in Syria

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

Following their capture of Palmyra last Thursday, ISIS militants are understood to have won the support of the local population by promising not to destroy the city’s famous monuments.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Claims Blast Killing Four at Saudi Mosque

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a bombing that killed four people at a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday, the second attack claimed by the Sunni militant group in a week in the world’s top oil-exporting country.

The Interior Ministry said a car exploded outside al-Anoud mosque in Dammam during noon prayers on Friday, while witnesses said a suicide bomber disguised as a woman blew himself up in the mosque’s parking lot when guards stopped him from entering.

The ministry said four people were killed in the blast, which set several cars ablaze.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Syria: Islamists and Al Qaeda Conquer Ariha. Idlib Province Now Under Their Control

After a “lightning offensive” the jihadist coalition wrestled one of the last government strongholds in the province of Idlib, northwest Syria. Damascus says there is still “ongoing fighting.” The rebels close to Latakia, government stronghold and power base of the Assad family.

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) — A coalition of pro-Islamist movements has wrestled one of the last government strongholds from the army in the province of Idlib, in the northwest of the country.

According to the London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Osdh), with a “lightning offensive “ in the last hours jihadists have won the city of Ariha. The group renamed Jaish al-Fateh (Conqueror Army) is composed of fighters from the al Nusra Front — an offshoot of al Qaeda in Syria — and other fundamentalist movements.

The Syrian army has yet to confirm the defeat in battle and says there is still fighting going on in the area.

The fall of Ariha would mean that the rebels have almost total control the province of Idlib, bordering Turkey. Since last March the area has been the scene of a major Jihad offensive, which has already led to the fall of major cities such as the same Idlib and Jisr al-Shughour.

Now only two Shiite villages, several military posts and the military airport of Abul Douhour remain under government control.

In addition to border with Turkey, Idlib borders with the province of Latakia, a real government stronghold and heart of power of President Bashar al Assad and the Alawite family.

Meanwhile, the leader of al Nusra Front has reported an order received from the operational head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who said Syria was not to be used to launch attacks on the West. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Abu Mohammed al-Julani stressed that the Front is committed to the conquest of Damascus and the ouster of Assad. He also promised protection for minorities, once the president is deposed.

Since the beginning of the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al Assad in 2011, more than 3.2 million people have fled the country whilst another 7.6 million have become internally displaced. At least 200,000 people have been killed in the fighting, many of them civilians. Last year was the worse.

In the spring of 2013, IS emerged out of the cauldron of Syria’s civil war, with all its violence and brutality. From that point, it advanced rapidly, seizing large swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory.

Now the jihadist militia controls “over 95 thousand square kilometers” in Syrian territory, which constitutes 50% of the whole country. They dominate in the provinces of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa and have built a strong presence in Hasakeh, Aleppo, Homs and Hama.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

The United Arab Emirates Reaches for the Red Planet

The oil industry is no longer enough for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf state says it is diversifying its economy, by reaching for the stars — and Mars.

Its government has declared that a fully-fledged space sector is now “a primary national objective”. It sits neatly alongside its past aims.

High ambitions have led to one of the world’s fastest growing aviation sectors and high culture is on the radar too, albeit taking slightly longer than expected.

Branches of Paris’s Louvre and New York’s Guggenheim museums are scheduled to open soon in Abu Dhabi.

Now, with this focus on high-tech, the UAE is planning to build an unmanned space probe called Hope in the next six years, designed to orbit Mars for up to four years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Wife of Saudi Blogger Raif Badawi Pleads for His Release

It’s been three years since Ensaf Haidar last saw her husband, the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced in May 2014 to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for launching his blog that championed free thinking and expression.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yazidi Girl, 17, Made Pregnant by ISIS Fighter Reveals Her Nine-Month Ordeal as a Jihadi Sex Slave

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

‘The virgins were taken to a room with 40 men. They lined us up and pointed who they wanted’

A Yazidi teenager has told how she and her little sister were raped daily by depraved jihadists after they were sold into slavery at an auction of virgins — as she revealed she is now pregnant with the vile extremist’s baby.

The girl, who is just 17, revealed how every day of her nine-month ordeal was ‘like choosing between death and death’ as she was faced with beatings and sexual assaults by the ISIS militant and his team of ‘bodyguards’.

The teenager told how she was gang-raped, whipped and even scalded on the thigh with boiling hot water if she didn’t keep with her ISIS rapist’s depraved sexual demands.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Asphalt Melting: India Heat Wave Kills Over 1,400 People (Photos)

With roads melting right before your eyes, the heat has become lethal in India, killing at least 1,412 people in May. After temperatures reached new benchmarks, rising to 47C, doctors were forced to postpone vacations to cope with sufferers.

India’s two southern states, Andhra Pradesh and nearby Telangana, are the worst affected areas. The heat has raged for over a week and the death toll there is said to be more than double the toll from last year’s heat wave. In Andhra Pradesh alone, it has reached 1,020, officials said, according to the Hindustan Times.

The two states have so far recorded over 800 heat-induced deaths, the Indian Express reported. Local authorities have advised people to stay indoors between 11am and 4pm, to avoid heat stroke. On Tuesday, temperatures were reportedly at their peak in some Telangana districts: Warangal (46 degrees Celsius), Karimnagar (45 degrees Celsius) and Nizamabad (44 degrees Celsius), according to the Indian Express.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hindu Girl Denied Job in Pakistan Because of Her Religion of Kaffir

HENB | Peshawar | May 29, 2015:: The Peshawar University in Islamic Pakistan reportedly declined to employ Sandhya Das, a Pakistani national, as she is a Hindu.

According to a BBC Hindireport Sandhya Das is the daughter of a cook Bishan Das, who struggled to get her daughter properly educated. Though financially weak, he ensured her education in convent and then to university.

The young woman had got her Master of Science degree from the same Peshawar university.

The family desperately needs her to work as now Bishan Das is suffering from acute heart ailment. The financial condition of Bishan Das is so bad that he is not in a position to get proper treatment for his heart ailments.

Sandhya Das’ family members allege that though she had all the qualifications, Peshawar University officials denied her the job as she was not a Muslim.

The irony is that that the same university, where Sandhya studied , refused to employ her because of her faith, according to her family members…

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Officials: Gunmen Hijack Buses in Pakistan, Kill 19

Around 20 armed men hijacked two buses in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, killed 19 passengers and battled with security forces on Friday, a Pakistani official said.

Baluchistan is the scene of a low-intensity insurgency by Baluch nationalists, separatists and other groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share of the province’s gas and mineral resources.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a stadium in Lahore where a cricket match was underway between Pakistan and Zimbabwe, Information Minister Pervez Rashid said on Geo TV.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How Fukushima Produce is Making Its Way Into International Stores

It is being reported that tainted food from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gumma, and Chiba is making its way into local supermarkets in Taiwan due to the irresponsibility of mislabeling. What’s more, these food products were banned in Taiwan since March of 2011.

The first question is: Why are food products from the concerned Japanese prefectures surrounding Fukushima mislabelled?

The second question is: Why is Japan attempting to foist its unsafe and inferior radioactive foods on Taiwan?

Instead of humbly acquiescing to Taiwan’s wishes, Japan takes an aggressive approach even threatening WTO arbitration.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

North Korea’s Hacker Army ‘Could Kill People and Destroy Cities’, Says Defector Who Trained Them

Thousands of military hackers in North Korea could launch cyber attacks that could “kill people and destroy cities”, a defector has warned.

Professor Kim Heung-Kwang saw his brightest computing students picked for Bureau 121 to become “cyber warriors” for Kim Jong-un before he fled the country in 2004.

“The size of the cyber-attack agency has increased significantly, and now has approximately 6,000 people,” he told BBC Click.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cannes Film Probes U. S. Role in Mexico’s Drug War

(AGI) Cannes, May 19 — Denis Villeneuve’s “Sicario” on Tuesday entered competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is about the drug war on the U.S. and Mexico border, a strip of land without laws where violence rules. It is about a reality that is not talked about in the U.S., the Canadian director said at a press conference. “Everyone knows about the violence of that place, which remains under a cover of silence. Violence is horrible but violence under silence is even worse. As a director, I didn’t have the heart not to tell this story.

‘Sicario’ is as much about Mexico as it is about America’s responsibility.” Emily Blunt plays FBI agent Kate Macer, who gets recruited into a high-risk CIA-led drug operation across the border by team leader Matt Graver, played by Josh Brolin.

Benicio Del Toro, who won an Oscar for “Traffic”, co-stars as the mysterious Colombian advisor Alejandro. The team goes on a mission that will bring Alejandro’s hidden agenda to light, forcing Kate to question her moral certainties. “I knew right away that my character was playing with fire,” said Benicio Del Toro. He went on: “I’ve often played in films that dealt with this topic [“Savages”, “Traffic”], but here Denis says something new through my character. He confronts the themes of justice and revenge. The film does not give answers, it questions whether the end justifies the means.” The director had a very clear idea about what he wanted with this film: to tell the truth. Josh Brolin said: “This is a film about the future of America.” Emily Blunt, the only woman in the film, plays a solid character who is forced to fight drug traffickers as well as her own moral doubts. “Kate is a strong yet vulnerable woman,” said Blunt, who had also worked with Del Toro in “Wolfman”. “I have spoken to women who work for SWAT units to try and understand more about their personal life, about what’s under that hard exterior. But someone isn’t hard just for wielding a gun. Strong women are everywhere.” She said that working with an entirely male cast was no problem. “It happens often. I had a lot of fun on the set despite the fact that it is a very dark film.” The director confirmed with a smile: “It was like being back in school.”.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Ecuador Seizes Huge Illegal Shark Fin Haul

Police in Ecuador have seized around 200,000 sharks fins which were about to be illegally exported to Asia. The fins — often used to make soup — were discovered after raids on nine locations in the port city of Manta. Six people, including a Chinese national, have been arrested on charges of damaging wildlife. Interior Minister Jose Serrano said at least 50,000 sharks had been killed by the traffickers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Chaos on Kos: 300 Migrants Arrive a Day… and Now They Turn on ‘Incompetent’ Greek Officials for Island Situation

Boat people who have descended on the Greek island are holed up in a filthy abandoned hotel with no running water or toilets and are sleeping on makeshift beds. More than 300 are arriving every day.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hundreds of Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean

Some 741 migrants were plucked from the Mediterranean sea on Thursday in a rescue coordinated by the Italian coastguard with the help of German, Irish and British naval ships, reports AFP. Some 36,000 people have crossed from Libya to Italy as of May this year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Rescues 3,300 Migrants in Mediterranean in One Day

Italy helped rescue a total of more than 3,300 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean on Friday, the country’s coastguard has said.

In one operation, 17 bodies were found on three boats. Another 217 people who were on board were rescued.

The coastguard said distress calls were made from 17 different boats on Friday.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says at least 1,826 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean so far in 2015.

It represents an almost 30-fold increase on the same period last year, the IOM says.

The Corriere della Serra newspaper said (in Italian) that most of the rescues on Friday took place close to the Libyan coast.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrants Hide Under Trucks to Board Italy-Bound Ferries

PATRAS, Greece (AP) — For hundreds of migrants hoping to build a new life, access to Europe’s richest countries lies on the other side of a metal fence surrounding the western Greek port of Patras.

One group of Afghan men scaled this barrier Thursday using one of the most common plans for achieving European dreams: clinging to the undercarriages of freight trucks waiting to board Italy-bound ferries. They burrow between the wheels and cling to the piping on the underside. Some make it; others scatter at the sight of a policeman patrolling on a motorbike.

According to government estimates, some 37,500 immigrants and asylum seekers have reached Greece illegally so far this year. The vast majority don’t want to stay in the country, where a severe five-year financial crisis has left unemployment at about 26 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Polish Ambassador Refuses Mandatory Quotas

Visit to Lampedusa, along with Estonian counterpart

(ANSA) — LAMPEDUSA — “We came here to deliver a message of solidarity”, Polish Ambassador Tomasz Orowski said during his visit to the island of Lampedusa, where he met with the mayor Giusi Nicolini and authorities for rescue at sea. “We want to gather information about what is happening here, in order to understand how we can help. Poland is aware of the emergency situation that Italy is facing, which is determined by the massive influx of immigrants, including so many asylum seekers”, he underlined. According to a press release issued by the Embassy, “like other European countries, Poland has shared the joint mission that is being carried out”. But to us, “solidarity is a human and ethical value, can not be deemed as the result of a mathematical division”, the ambassador explained. Poland decided in recent days to accommodate about 300 Syrians from the refugee camps in the Middle East, and will make its contribution also by supporting the Triton mission: “Our country will send a patrol plane — Skutruck — and highly qualified staff for assessing applications for asylum”. As for the relocation of asylum seekers, Poland is analysing how to implement it and wants to help Italy “through their own voluntary decisions”, the press release continues. “Aid should not be given on the basis of mandatory quotas proposed by the Commission, but a sustainable solution must be found, in order to accomodate and integrate refugees in all member countries”, Orlowski stated. The Ambassador met the Prefect of Agrigento Nicola Diomede and Lampedusa Mayor Giusi Nicolini, who emphasized that the EU member countries can make a valuable contribution to the revival of tourism, which is crucial for the island’s economic recovery and for its small community, which is struggling to live a normal life. The meetings in Lampedusa were also attended by Estonian Ambassador Celia Kuningas-Saagpakk.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Smugglers Average €1 Million Per Migrant Boat

Smugglers make around €1 million for a boat that carries 450 migrants, says the EU’s border agency Frontex. It notes migrants are charged anywhere from €1,000 to €2,000 a seat. “The level of professionalism is something new, and a direct result of the vast profits to be made,” says Frontex.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Non-Deported: Ice Still Releasing Criminal Aliens at a Rapid Pace

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has published an investigative report on violent criminals released by ICE. Aptly titled “Convicted, but free to roam: Giving little notice, federal authorities have released thousands of detained undeportable immigrants — sometimes with grave results”, the article tells the story of a rapist and a murderer turned loose by ICE. Such criminal alien releases are continuing at an alarming pace in 2015.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The President’s Real Concerns

Once again, President Obama proves he is more concerned about appeasing terrorists and illegal immigrants than protecting our republic from enemies, both foreign and domestic. The United States has certainly endured past presidents who were not fully up to the task of defeating our enemies. They have also often failed when it comes to protecting our porous borders. But I must say, that no prior commander and chief comes close to the abysmal blatant disregard for protecting our republic in any regard. He has basically turned his back against any allied nation (like Israel) who may need our help against those seeking to kill steal and destroy.

To this day, the White House occupier has not approved, seriously proposed, or even considered one single measure that would benefit or strengthen the United States in any way. For example, even before the Obama regime, the federal government already has an abysmal record, when it comes to negotiating and participating in so-called “Free Trade” agreements. NAFTA and GATT quickly come to mind. In fact, every single trade agreement officially sanctioned has led to even greater U.S. deficits with our trading partners. There have been a very few cases where America had no trade deficit with a particular nation, but after government negotiations a huge deficit loomed on the horizon.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Spain is Not an Option for Syrian Refugees Seeking a New Life

Hared and Dareen Al Sadi are exhausted. A year ago, the Syrian couple and their two-and-half-year old boy, Ubeid, tried to cross the Mediterranean by boat, but had to turn back; they then made their way to Melilla, the Spanish enclave in Morocco. That was 20 days ago. Now they are waiting for permission to cross the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain proper, from where they will make their way on to northern Europe.

Growing numbers of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their country are now making the same journey. So far this year, more than 3,000 Syrians have requested asylum from the Spanish authorities in Melilla. Last year, Spain accepted all of the 1,681 Syrians who asked for admission; but during the same period, Germany received almost 24,000 asylum requests, and Sweden more than 16,000.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

1989, 2005, 2015: A Short History of Our Age

Written by: Diana West

1989, 2005, 2015.

These are the years in which the West was tested, the years in which the principles, standards and laws from which modern Western civilization uniquely emerged were challenged. These were the years when those charged and even sworn to defend these principles, standards and laws panicked, flinched and surrendered.

Our first test came in 1989 when, after the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, the mullahs in Iran led by Ayatollah Khomeini issued their “fatwa,” or death sentence, against the celebrated author, a British citizen with a wide Western literary following, including in the US, for the Islamic crime of blasphemy against Islam.

Instead of Britain and the US and other Western countries rejecting this illegal and barbaric application of Islamic law into our lands and demanding Iran withdraw its call for the assassination of British citizen Rushdie or face retribution, Britain accepted the fatwa on its own citizen, sent him into hiding and created a security bubble around him in Britain. In America. Wherever in the Free World he went.

This “Free World,” however, was no longer free. Not only was it subject to Islamic attack from within due to rampant immigration from the countries of the Islamic world — which the West then did nothing to check (quite the opposite) — it was weak, crippled at its core. This rot is what an accidental critic of Islam — for Rushdie was and is very much a man of the multiculti Left — had exposed for all the world, including the Islamic world, too see. The rot remained.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Abortionists Have Killed More Americans Than Lived in U.S. In 1880

The number of American babies who have been aborted in the years since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has already exceeded the entire population of the United States as recorded in the 1880 Census.

This is according to numbers published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Guttmacher Institute.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Church Daycare Must Pay Lesbians a Huge Fine After Couple Violates Employees’ Moral Clause

A church daycare must pay a lesbian couple more than $28,000 after the women violated an employee agreement to live in celibacy as long as they taught at the Christian educational facility. As part of the settlement, the church must also meet with homosexual activists.

When Jaclyn Pfeiffer and her partner Kelly Bardier went to work as preschool teachers at Aloma United Methodist Church’s daycare, each of them signed the employee agreement that, as single women, they would live in celibacy.

But when Pfeiffer told the staff that they were in a lesbian relationship, the director of the daycare spoke them about the church’s employee behavioral policy. “The two teachers were counseled about their relationship as a violation of local church policy and out of concern for their spiritual well-being,” church officials explained.

The church says the pre-kindergarten teachers left their jobs and sued the church, saying they were discriminated against because they are in a same-sex relationship. The couple claims they were fired.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Could Sleep Make You Less Racist? Gender and Racial Bias Can be ‘Erased’ During a Nap, Claims Study

Scientists at Northwestern University were able to reduce prejudice by playing simple noises linked to the idea of racial and gender equality while people slept.

Imagine being able to ‘unlearn’ racism and gender prejudice during a short nap.

That’s what scientists claim can happen when simple noises are played while people sleep.

In a new study, researchers were able to significantly reduce prejudice in those who underwent the unique type of training while snoozing.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Man Facing Terminal Illness Rejects Euthanasia: “Quit Figuring Out Reasons to Justify Killing People”

As state legislators across America grapple with proposed laws on euthanasia, South Dakota State Rep. Steve Hickey (R-Sioux Falls) — facing a terminal illness himself — has no qualms sharing exactly where he stands on the issue.

Yesterday, Rep. Hickey sent a letter in reply to a constituent’s question on “death with dignity” and felt strongly enough to tweet it to his followers (full text transcribed below):

My unusually preachy reply to a SDn who wants me to support Right to Die/Death w/Dignity legislation. Basically, no. pic.twitter.com/La0b3zLFyl

— stevehickey (@stevehickey) May 27, 2015

In the letter, Rep. Hickey shares from his experiences as a police chaplain and minister as well as how he may have “only 3-5 years” to live after being diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. “The world of death and dying is world that I spend quite a bit of time in,” he comments. “Death is strictly the domain of God,” he writes with conviction. “We need to quit figuring out reasons to justify killing people: abortion, death penalty, euthanasia.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

New Fox TV Drama ‘Lucifer’ To Glamorize Devil as ‘Charming’ Nightclub Owner in ‘City of Angels’

While some have opined that the drama is harmless entertainment, noting that it is based on a story line in DC Comics, others state that glamorizing Satan before impressionable minds sends the wrong message about the demonic.

“It was only a matter of time before Hollywood gave the devil a prime time television show on a big network,” wrote Joe Schimmel of Good Fight Ministries and host of the documentary “Hollywood’s War on God” in an online post this week. “After all, for the last several years, Hollywood has portrayed everyone from meth dealers to sexual deviants as ‘cool,’ while depicting Jesus as a cuss word!”

He said that the television show appears to suggest a number of false ideas about the devil, including that he is lording over Hell as ruler, and that he is a benevolent, in vogue being.

“Satan is not in the business of kindly helping the LAPD solve crimes,” Schimmel explained. “Rather, he and his demonic minions are busy inspiring the most heinous crimes imaginable. Jesus said, ‘He was a murderer from the beginning,’ (John 8:44) and comes ‘to steal and kill and destroy.’ (John 10:10)”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Teacher Bans Pastor’s Daughter From Mentioning God in ‘All About Me’ Assignment

A Nevada public charter school is facing the wrath of a local pastor and possibly a lawsuit because a teacher refused to allow his sixth-grade daughter to include her religious beliefs for a project called “All About Me.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

They’re Killing Our Culture

Liberals, libertarians, and secular conservatives, take note.

Kill the culture, and the culture will kill you right back.

Yes, I know. Liberals think they’re going to re-engineer it into a better culture, because they’re so smart and the rest of humanity desperately needs their guidance. Libertarians think it’s none of their business, what happens to the culture, as long as they themselves are left alone. And secular conservatives think the condition of the culture is irrelevant, as long as taxes are kept down.

The result is insane, culture-destroying public policy and a steady outflow of cultural toxins from Hollywood, the universities, the schools, the courts, and left-wing politicians who can’t be content with just enacting crazy policies. But the result can be easily seen. We’ve got pictures.

See the great library with the books spilled all over the floor, everything left to rot. See the bus and train stations, the court-house, the great manufacturing plants: deserted, rusting, choked with debris…

A reader from the United Kingdom sent me a TV commercial which, she says, is on the air countless times a day, and has been seen innumerable times by every child in Britain. Warning: You may find the content of this video disgusting and disturbing. If you choose not to watch, it’s an ad for car insurance. To celebrate saving money, the man in the ad dons high heels and hot pants and does pole-dancing moves on the sidewalk, in public.

What is the purpose of this message?

To kill the culture. To destroy male-ness, and to spread confusion. In the not very long run, enough of this stuff will trash the traditional family—an institution which various vampires on the Left have publicly said needs trashing.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisia: First LGBT Association Recognised, Debate

Mufti outcry. Government: goal is protection of minorities

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, MAY 27 — The official recognition of “Shams”, the first association protecting the rights of the Lgtb community, set in motion a heated debate in Tunisia.

The move, received by some as a step ahead in the delicate field of sexual minority-protection, was also met with strong criticism.

The Republic’s Mufti asked authorities to review their decision stating that the recognition of Shams represents “a threat to future generations through the promotion of perverse and abhorrent forms of behaviour”.

The most conservative sectors of Tunisian society were the most disapproving, especially imams, for which the granting of government sanction to Shams constitutes “a dangerous precedent for Tunisia and goes against Islamic teachings”.

Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamic Ennahda party, the third political force in the country, maintained that “it is an illegal measure, one that contravenes the Constitution that, indeed, guarantees freedom, but does not thereby allow such associations to operate”.

The government’s secretary general had to intervene to specify that the relevant authorities decided to grant recognition to the association after they were certain that Shams harbours no intention of promoting homosexuality and that its objectives are limited to the protection of minorities from a moral, practical and psychological standpoint, also seeking to prevent the suicides reported among the young.

According to the Tunisian government secretary, the association is also seeking to curb risks associated with sexually-transmitted diseases, peacefully championing the abolition of discriminatory legislation against minorities and acting to ensure human rights and a dignified life for all citizens, regardless of the fact they belong to a minority.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

FIFA Re-Elects Sepp Blatter as President

Sepp Blatter has been re-elected president of Fifa, football’s world governing body, in a vote overshadowed by arrests and corruption allegations. Mr Blatter’s rival, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, had forced a second round of voting but withdrew.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

OPEC Sees Rivals Boosting Oil Output Despite Weak Prices

The North American oil boom is proving resilient despite low oil prices, producer group OPEC said in its biggest and most detailed report this year, suggesting the global oil glut could persist for another two years.

A draft report of OPEC’s long-term strategy, seen by Reuters ahead of the cartel’s policy meeting in Vienna next week, forecast crude supply from rival non-OPEC producers would grow at least until 2017.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why I’m an Islamoveryphobe

Always pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

Pay especial attention to:

THE DUELING QUR’ANS: Understand the true nature of the two Qur’ans (Medina and Mecca) that are combined into the single Qur’an. The earlier peaceful/loving Qur’an derives from Mohammed’s thirteen years of preaching in Mecca—”you have your religion and I have mine,” “there should be no compulsion in religion,” “to kill one person is as if killing the whole world.” The later violent Medina Qur’an is the Qur’an revealed to Mohammed during his nine years in Medina, when he was no longer a preacher but a very successful warlord, conqueror, and terrorist. This is the Qur’an directing Muslims to strike at the necks (decapitate) the unbelievers, to kill or subdue the unbelievers, to take numerous sex slaves among the unbelievers, and other gross ISIS-like stuff.

ABROGATION: It is understood by all schools of Islam that the violent Medina Qur’an supplants the earlier peaceful Mecca Qur’an. This is because of the Qur’anic doctrine of ABROGATION: The most recent violent Medina Qur’anic verses “abrogate” (supersede) the earlier peaceful Mecca verses. So now you know: From now on you can laugh out loud whenever you hear someone alleging Islam is a religion of peace. This may have applied, only, in Mecca, but never since.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

One thought on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 5/29/2015

  1. Yesterday more than 740 migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean by the Italian coast guard and German, Irish and British naval vessels.”

    Democracy… what a joke!
    Vote the Traitors in and then send them to the Mediterranean and around the world to save muslims, import muslims, protect them, give them money, jizya, cheques, build them schools, mosques, and stealthily or not so stealthily pave the way to impose sharia on the free and the brave. Ash on your head Traitors.
    And the voters go back to sleep you have all freedom for vices.

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