Several dozen African immigrants who were denied entry into France are staging a sit-in and a hunger strike at the border crossing in Ventimiglia, Italy. Meanwhile, eighteen would-be migrants were found dead in the Sahara Desert in northern Niger, apparently having lost their way in a sandstorm en route to Libya to attempt the Mediterranean crossing.
In other news, at least ten employees of the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli were taken hostage by armed community activists.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Banks Issue Legal Proceedings to Repossess 50,000 Homes
Banks have issued legal proceedings to repossess 49,000 homes, it has emerged. The move to issue legal letters to so many homeowners who are not meeting their repayments has been criticised as a “cop-out” by those who help people in arrears.
New figures provided by Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan show that half of what is being classed as solutions for those in arrears are made up of threats to repossess homes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin: Shadows of Grexit More Visible, Athens is Gambling
According to German minister of Economy Gabriel in Bild
(ANSA) — ROME — “The shadow of a Greek exit from the Eurozone is becoming more and more visible.”, according to an editorial written for Bild by the German minister of Economy, Sigmar Gabriel, that underlines that “the Greek experts in the theory of games are gambling, endangering the future of their country and the one of Europe”.
Gabriel added that “German workers and families will not pay for the extravagant electoral promises made by a half communist government”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
German Vice-Chancellor Says Patience With Greece is Running Out, Berlin Won’t be Blackmailed
BERLIN — Germany’s Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel says his country won’t let itself be blackmailed into a bailout deal with Greece.
Gabriel, who is also vice-chancellor, told German public broadcaster ARD on Sunday that Europe’s patience with Greece is running out.
Greece said Friday it would present its creditors with new proposals over the weekend in an attempt to breathe life into stalled bailout talks amid fears the country could go bankrupt.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Says Europe is Losing Patience With Greece
Germany’s vice-chancellor Sigmar Gabriel says that European nations are losing patience with Greece.
Writing in in Bild magazine, Mr Gabriel said Germany wanted to keep Greece in the euro “but not only is time running out, but so too is patience across Europe”.
The comments come as talks between Greece and its creditors continue.
Mr Sigmar is also economy minister and head of junior coalition partners the Social Democrats.
His article is seen as a warning, particularly as his party has been more sympathetic to Greece in the past.
“Everywhere in Europe, the sentiment is growing that enough is enough,” he said in the article.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: 2012’s Pension Cuts Declared ‘Unconstitutional’
According to a ruling of the Council of State
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JUNE 11 — The cuts in main and supplementary pensions that were carried out in 2012 were found to conflict with the Constitution, daily To Vima online reports quoting a ruling of the Council of State on Wednesday. The decision affects about 800,000 IKA and public utilities pensioners with pensions were over 1,000 euros per month, who are to see. According to the ruling, the pension cuts did not comply with constitutional provisions regarding pensions, namely that they are meant to allow pensioners a dignified living and participation in social life. Furthermore, the Council argued that a detailed and scientifically-based study is necessary, which takes into account the effect on the living standards of those affects, in order to justify any pension cuts. While such a development could risk derailing the government, the Council noted that its decision would not have a retroactive effect.
This means that affected parties would have to file individual claims to the State Council, to claim back any funds. The General Secretary of Social Insurance Giorgos Romanias told Mega Channel on Thursday that the restoration of pensions would be gradual. While the State Council’s decision came into effect on Wednesday, he explained that any pension increases would be according to the budget. The government will have to find 1 to 1.5 billion euros to cover the cost of a Council of State decision published today.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Judges Pensions ‘90% Higher’ Than Under Contribution System
INPS says magistrates 103,000 euro gross average payment yearly
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Social services agency INPS said Friday that the annual average pension of retired judges is 103,000 euro gross — about 90% more than would be likely if the system was based strictly on contributions to the pension system. Premier Matteo Renzi’s administration is reviewing the pension system, particularly since a court ruling in April rejected earlier cost-saving reforms that froze increases based on inflation, and forced the government to repay some money.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The War on Cash: Officially Sanctioned Theft
You’ve probably read that there is a “war on cash” being waged on various fronts around the world. What exactly does a “war on cash” mean?
It means governments are limiting the use of cash and a variety of official-mouthpiece economists are calling for the outright abolition of cash. Authorities are both restricting the amount of cash that can be withdrawn from banks, and limiting what can be purchased with cash.
These limits are broadly called capital controls.
The War On Cash: Why Now?
Why are governments suddenly acting as if cash money is a bad thing that must be severely limited or eliminated? Before we get to that, let’s distinguish between physical cash—currency and coins in your possession—and digital cash in the bank. The difference is self-evident: cash in hand cannot be confiscated by a “bail-in” (i.e. officially sanctioned theft) in which the government or bank expropriates a percentage of cash deposited in the bank. Cash in hand cannot be chipped away by negative interest rates or fees like cash held in a bank.
Cash in the bank cannot be withdrawn in a financial emergency that shutters the banks, i.e. a bank holiday.
When pundits suggest cash is “obsolete,” they mean physical paper money and coins, not cash in a bank. Cash in the bank is perfectly fine with the government and its well-paid yes-men (paging Mr. Rogoff and Mr. Buiter) because this cash can be expropriated by either “bail-ins” or by negative interest rates.
Mr. Buiter, for example, recently opined that the spot of bother in 2008-09 (the Global Financial Meltdown) could have been avoided if banks had only charged a 6% negative interest rate on cash: in effect, taking 6% of the depositor’s cash to force everyone to spend what cash they might have.
Both cash in hand and cash in the bank are subject to one favored method of expropriation, inflation. Inflation—the single most cherished goal of every central bank—steals purchasing power from physical cash and digital cash alike. Inflation punishes holders of cash and benefits those with debt, as debt becomes cheaper to service.
The beneficial effect of inflation on debt has been in play for decades, so it can’t be the cause of governments’ recent interest in eliminating physical cash.
So now we return to the question: Why are governments suddenly declaring war on physical cash, the oldest officially issued form of money?
The first reason: physical cash has the potential to evade both taxes as well as officially sanctioned theft via bail-ins and negative interest rates. In short,
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Two of the Most Economically Sensitive Commodities Suggest a Crash is Coming
If the foundation of the financial system is debt… and that debt is backstopped by assets that the Big Banks can value well above their true values (remember, the banks want their collateral to maintain or increase in value)… then the “pricing” of the financial system will be elevated significantly above reality.
Put simply, a false “floor” was put under asset prices via fraud and funny money.
Consider the case of Coal…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
100-Page Report Outlines Why the American Cancer Society is a Scam
We can thank Samuel S. Epstein and many others for shining a light on an institution that is more concerned with lining their pockets than stopping cancer — the American Cancer Society (ACS). Hopefully, after reading highlights from this more than 100-page document outlining the shady dealings of the American Cancer Society with Big Pharma and its neglect in discussing environmental factors which add to cancer rates, you will boycott them all and leave them with nothing but lint in their pockets.
It’s over-reported news by now, that the cancer industry is a multi-billion dollar cash machine. The only way that machine can keep running is when information — such as the ways natural solutions like soursop fruit or turmeric can halt cancerous cell growth — is suppressed, and instead, the agenda’s of large multi-national corporations who stand to make money off of people’s illnesses get their message to the masses.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
California Water Wars Escalate: Government Orders Massive Supply Cuts to Most Senior Rights Holders
Just two weeks after California’s farmers — with the most senior water rights — offered to cut their own water use by 25% (in an attempt to front-run more draconian government-imposed measures), AP reports that the California government has — just as we predicted — ignored any efforts at self-preservation and ordered the largest cuts on record to farmers holding some of the state’s strongest water rights. While frackers and big energy remain exempt from the restrictions, Caren Trgovcich, chief deputy director of the water board, explains, “we are now at the point where demand in our system is outstripping supply for even the most senior water rights holders.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CNN: Attacking Dallas Police HQ ‘Courageous and Brave’
CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield called the attack on Dallas Police Headquarters “very courageous and brave” on Saturday’s “CNN Newsroom.”
Whitfield, while discussing the shooting with legal analyst Philip Holloway, said, “It was very courageous and brave, if not crazy as well, to open fire on the police headquarters, and now you have this scene, this standoff. So you believe these are the hallmarks of more than one person’s involvement?”
Holloway’s smile visibly drooped when Whitfield praised the would-be cop killer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Destroying and Killing the USA Was Way Too Easy
The destruction of the USA and its takeover by domestic traitor and foreign forces has been in the works for many decades. In recent history, Roger Nash Baldwin (founder of the ACLU and ‘ father’ of many other leftist organizations) was one of the prime “leg men” in establishing the foundation for the overthrow of the USA. Of the ACLU, he said: “Communism, of course, is the goal.” Although he is said to have ‘ recanted’ that comment, he did so after too many others had discovered his real purposes. Tragically, the ACLU still remains in place. Baldwin’ s history is rife with his support of Soviet Russian style Marxism and only requires a brief search to pull up the actions comprising his legacy. I have provided a beginning link below.
Although many in the past have set the table for the USA’ s destruction, it was not until Barack Hussein Obama took the US White House as his own that the final phase began implementation. It has been extremely easy for Obama and his syndicate to “transform” (aka “dismantle and decimate”) the USA from within, as the people of the country had already been conditioned to following the authority of leftist-run public (government) school systems and would buckle to any far-Left Luciferian authority’ s order they faced.
The new mantra is “It’ s better to die than be called a racist, homophobe, Islamophobe”… etc. In order to prove they were none of those, a great portion of the liberal electorate voted for Obama so that they might be counted as a good guy or girl by their peers. Policies to actually help the country to proper and become freer no longer mattered… it was how the “selfie” crowd was perceived that counted. That remains true today. So… they elected Obama to assuage their ‘ presumed shame for forgotten past sins’ and allowed him to do whatever he wanted to the country and to them.
Generations are now being raised to submit to any and all leftist authority and to regurgitate their mantras and beliefs on command. To not do so would be unseemly to the indoctrinated… and, nowadays, it has become increasingly dangerous. I and others have written innumerable columns about what Obama has been doing to destroy our country. The following are but a few from the daily barrage of the Obama-Jarrett ‘ Articles of Enslavement’ of and for the American people.
Let’ s take a look:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Senators Paid by Foreign Governments to Lobby for Obamatrade
Leading the way among TPP nations seeking to sway American policy makers is Japan, which signed up former Democratic Leader Tom Daschle’s firm as well as well-connected public relations firm DCI. We won’t know the full extent of Mr. Daschle or DCI’s work on behalf of Japan until their next series of Foreign Agent Registration Act [FARA] disclosure reports are filed with the Department of Justice in a few months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hack the Vote: Cyber Experts Say Ballot Machines Easy Targets
The recent cyber theft of millions of personnel records from the federal government was sophisticated and potentially crippling, but hackers with just rudimentary skills could easily do even more damage by targeting voting machines, according to security experts.
Voter fraud is nearly as old as elections themselves, and different states and precincts use different voting systems and machines. But in many cases, even the electronic ballots could be manipulated remotely, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Security and Risk Management for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. That report found that the AVS WINVote machines Virginia has used since 2002 have such flimsy security that an amateur hacker could change votes from outside a polling location.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Mature’ EMP Weapon Ready for War: “Render Enemy’s Electronics, Data Systems Useless”
While governments and the Pentagon are increasingly talking up the need to protect the sensitive power grid and brace for the impact of a potential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) incident, which could come naturally from a solar flare or via an attack by a foreign entity, the Air Force is ready to embrace EMP as the status quo of future warfare.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has been working with Boeing for several years on the perfection, miniaturization and deployment of its Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), which has already been in the arsenal, but which will become increasingly central to the armed forces.
Here’s a video simulation of CHAMP in action, including proud statements from its creators on its powerful effect during tests to use directed energy to neutralize a modern urban environment:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Evidence of Harm From Fluoridation
A new study links water fluoridation to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States. The study,1 entitled: “Exposure to fluoridated water and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States: an ecological association,” was published in the journal Environmental Health in February…
There are over 100 animal experiments linking fluoride consumption to a decrease in IQ. Thirty-one animal experiments out of 33 that investigated animal behavior also showed learning and memory problems associated with fluoride consumption, and 43 out of 50 human studies have shown that modest levels of fluoride negatively affect IQ. The video above features Michael Connett of the Fluoride Action Network giving a presentation on the mounting evidence that fluoride reduces IQ in children.
Twenty-seven of these studies were recently reviewed by a team from Harvard School of Public Health. Twenty-six of these studies showed a decrease in IQ (an average drop of 7 points), and the average fluoride level in the water for 20 of these studies was only 3.52 ppm, which is lower than the current safe drinking standard in the US for fluoride of 4.0ppm.
Knowing this, it should come as no surprise that a new study on fluoride’s impact on IQ further proves the neurotoxicity of the drinking water additive. This new pilot study9 in China looked at lifetime exposure to fluoride and cognitive functions in Chinese children. It was carried out at fluoride levels that overlap levels used in US fluoridation programs. They didn’t measure IQ specifically in this study, but reported the results of a very simple test: the child’s ability to repeat a sequence of numbers both forwards and backwards.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Marxist Social and Demographic Engineering of America
Obama is now making offers to debt-ridden municipalities that they dare not take. It’s like the devil offering you a way out and then collecting on that debt. Or, if you prefer, it’s like the mafia giving you money to solve your problems and then you owe them. Forever. The leaders in these areas won’t ask the residents and voters, they’ll let the silver cross their palms and will be blinded by the shininess of the coin they pocket. Corruption will finish selling free America down the proverbial river. I’ l be blunt… these municipalities should not be taking money from the feds. They should solve their problems at the local level, stand on their own and not be beholding to a governmental behemoth.
Under the guise of Obama’s Utopia, our president has been plotting for years the ultimate wealth redistribution here in America. It’s Marxist social and demographic engineering on a breathtaking scale. I believe this is the most insidious thing he has planned for us and it is a killer.
Obama believes the suburbs and wealthier neighborhoods are far too white. They are not racially diverse enough for his tastes. So, he is now going to municipalities that are sorely in need of funds and very much in debt up to their eyeballs, and offering them a way out. Say they are $5 or $10 million in the hole… well, the feds will give them $50 million. All they have to do is buy some land in an upscale area; sell it to a contractor that will build affordable housing and the government will take care of the rest. They will bring in minorities, the poor and disadvantaged… but even more importantly, liberal voters who will vote for Marxist policies. They will also resettle Islamic refugees and immigrants from across our southern border throughout these neighborhoods, leveling the demographic playing field into one huge ghetto from sea to shining sea. Just ask Sweden and the Netherlands how that has worked out for them, or Europe in general for that matter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Administration Wants to Restructure Neighborhoods That Are Too Wealthy and White
This is nothing more than a massive social engineering project, akin to ideas that have failed time and time again in countries like Cuba, China, and Venezuela. It’s failed here in the United States too in places like Decatur, Illinois and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Why? Because poverty can’t be solved with a hand full of cash and a change in your zip code.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
One Month From Pluto, NASA Probe Sees Dwarf Planet’s Many Faces
The many “faces” of Pluto are visible in new images by NASA’s New Horizon’s probe, which is only one month away from the first-ever close encounter with the dwarf planet.
This week, NASA released what it called “the best views ever obtained of the Pluto system” taken by New Horizons, which will make its closest approach of the dwarf planet starting July 14. A video of the Pluto new images reveals the many “faces” of this petite planetary object — that is, the photos show a complete 360 degree panorama of the dwarf planet’s surface. The pictures reveal regions of light and dark, and many shades of gray in between, that hint at the presence of surface features.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rachel Dolezal the NAACP Leader Told Her Brother Not to ‘Blow Her Cover’
Rachel Dolezal, 37, is at the center of an internet storm over her insistence that she is black, despite her white parents. She told her brother in 2012 not to reveal her true past and ethnicity to anybody.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rochester Man Plans Controversial “Draw Muhammad” Art Contest
ROCHESTER, N.H. —Jerry Delemus, a Rochester man, is planning a ‘Draw Muhammad’ art contest. He wants people to draw the prophet Muhammad. Depicting him is considered sacrilegious by Muslims.
More “I don’t care if it’s stick figures to be perfectly frank with you,” Delemus said.
Delemus is planning to hold the contest in late August. But he says the event isn’t about art.
“I guarantee if there weren’t Muslims actually in this country actively trying to kill people for drawing pictures of Muhammad, I’d never have an art contest to draw Muhammad,” Delemus said.
Delemus is a 60-year-old former Marine. The news of the contest comes just weeks after two gunmen were killed, and a security guard injured, outside of a similar contest in Garland, Texas.
Five months ago, a gunman in France killed 12 people at the Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing satirical pictures of Muhammad.
Delemus doesn’t think he’s putting others in harm’s way.
“I’m not forcing anyone to come. That’s Sharia law,” Delemus said. “I’m sure they’ll know with the news media coverage there’s a risk involved.”
Delemus says he won’t allow offensive drawings of Muhammad. He also plans to hold the event in a private place with overwhelming security.
“I mean my wife is concerned with the risk involved,” Delemus said. “More so than I am, but there’s risk everywhere.”…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Self-Serving Elites and Misguided Ideologues Responsible for California Water Crisis
California’s water crisis is the disaster everybody saw coming but nobody had the political will to stop. It’s the byproduct of a broken system that’s dominated by self-serving elites and misguided ideologues. Or so says Joel Kotkin, a distinguished professor at Chapman University, who writes frequently about Golden State politics.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Bill Would Force Gun Owners to Buy “Smart Guns”
Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation last week, that could have serious ramifications for gun owners in America. The “Handgun Trigger Safety Act” would demand that “anyone selling a handgun must retrofit it with personalization technology before that sale can be completed.”
Infusing a handgun with this “smart” technology would allow the weapon to only be used by the authorized owner. They typically operate with either fingerprinting technology, password recognition, or by being in range of an electronic bracelet or ring. The bill would ban the manufacture of any handgun in the United States that is not “personalized” within 5 years, and would give an additional 5 years time to retrofit any older handguns with the technology before they are sold.
Gun activists are sure to see this as an underhanded attempt restrict gun ownership by making these weapons too expensive to own. Currently, one of the few smart guns on the market today is a .22 that costs $1,800. It also opens the door to placing micro stamps, tracking devices, and other electronic controls in new firearms. Perhaps someday, your gun will be much like your car. The authorities will be able to “turn it off” remotely.
[Comment: Future goal: End run around second amendment by being able to remotely disable firearms.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
While I was in California a little over a month ago I became aware that the well publicized drought there is largely man made. Not that there isn’t a lower than average rainfall, but the truth is there is plenty of water. The real problem is the governmental policies which will not allow the people to have access to that water. Instead, the Governor of California is simply going to dump billions of gallons each year into the Pacific Ocean…
But what some people don’t realize is that Gov. Brown is in a real jam; how can he possibly talk about the best single solution (more dams) for creating more available water (and jobs, by the way) when he is currently supporting the removal of several perfectly good dams in Siskiyou County? And adding insult to injury, California taxpayers will foot the bill for this insane dam removal project, costing approximately one billion ($1,000,000,000.00) dollars, which could be used to build more water storage dams instead.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Pentagon’s Gamble on Brain Implants, Bionic Limbs and Combat Exoskeletons
When Geoffrey Ling talks about the future of technology, his ideas go flying around the room like a whirlwind. Ling eagerly describes a world in which people live far beyond their natural lifespans, minds can be downloaded into external ‘hard drives’ for enhancement by artificial intelligence and robots and aircraft are controlled by human thought.
“It’s abso-posi-frickin-lutely going to happen,” he declares. “The next 20 years are going to make our heads spin, because we’ve already crossed over into that realm.”
Ling should know: he is doing as much as anyone to make these visions real. A neurologist by training, he is also a US Army colonel and director of the first biology funding office to operate within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon’s avant-garde research arm. The Biological Technologies Office (BTO), which opened in April 2014, aims to support extremely ambitious — some say fantastical — technologies ranging from powered exoskeletons for soldiers to brain implants that can control mental disorders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Vicious Truth About Antidepressants and Violent Behavior
By Dr. Edward F. Group
The brain is a complex organ, controlling our actions, cells, and emotions. When we mess with the brain, either inadvertently or with pharmaceutical medications, we can only expect a negative consequence in the process. If our body is exposed to toxins on a consistent basis, then there’s no doubt that our brain is too, and these environmental toxins—like aluminum and PCBs—are contributing to everything from Alzheimer’s disease to ADHD. Interfering with brain chemistry through the use of psychiatric medications is equally as harmful, more so than many people realize.
Antidepressants and Violent Behavior: What Nobody is Talking About
The mind is prone to neuroses, particularly during stressful or traumatic times. Using psychiatric drugs to “treat” depression is more often than not a bandaid approach, and only addresses the biological symptoms of depression rather than the root cause. Instead of addressing nutritional concerns and psychological barriers to personal happiness, many people are doped up on SSRIs, tranquilizers, and similar drugs. Research over the past few years has steadily shown a strong correlation between antidepressants and homicide. World Psychiatry published a recent study confirming past research, making it startlingly clear: psychiatric drugs may ease depressive symptoms, but they possibly increase a person’s chances of exhibiting violent behavior.
You’re probably aware of the mass shootings across the nation in recent years, and many people are left wondering what could be causing the uprising of these violent crimes. Gun control is seen as a solution to this problem, but what if the issue is much more covert? Taking antidepressants is considered normal in this day and age, and no one questions their use. But could it be that this overly-prescribed pharmaceutical is altering minds to a greater degree than we’ve ever imagined? The antidepressant trazodone, for example, was given to a man who shot and killed 12 people at a Navy facility in Washington, D.C. Trazodone carries with it a list of side effects, including suicide behavior, panic attacks, worsening depression, aggressive behavior, impulsive behavior, and abnormal excitement.
The Real Causes of Depression
While many wish to brush off one example of antidepressants and violent behavior as a mere coincidence, we can’t ignore the many other cases of suicides, murders, and violence in the country at the hands of those drugged with these psychiatric pharmaceuticals. Depression isn’t a Zoloft deficiency; it’s a real illness that, at its root, contains one or more causative factors. Improper nutrition is virtually ignored by today’s psychiatrists, but it just so happens that all neurotransmitters responsible for mood stabilization require nutrients for proper functioning. Tryptophan, for instance, requires zinc, copper, B vitamins, iron, and magnesium in order to perform efficiently.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trojan Horse: The Trans Pacific Partnership Has Already Bought Off Washington
Although the House of Representatives voted down legislation to “fast-track” trade deals through Congress — it appears the TPP may have already secured its future with millions in donations made to US Senators since the start of the year…
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal negotiations hit the mainstream over the past month with a US Senate approval of the controversial trade bill in late May.
As Washington leaders continue their show trial-like debate over the TPP, with the House voting against fast-tracking trade authority, the Washington Post disclosed that there’s already a ‘planned do-over vote’ slated for next week.
The TPP trade deal is something we’ve covered extensively at 21WIRE over the past two years, as international trade law for new trade treaties appear to be a way for private corporations to exempt themselves from the laws of sovereign nations under the guise of a so-called free-trade agreement.
As global policy makers continue to merge with the interests of multinational or transnational corporations to achieve their goals, we could view the TTP or the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as having zero national loyalty to any existing nation state or its set of laws…
The well-known analyst and economist, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, recently expressed his thoughts concerning the TPP in an article entitled “Rule By The Corporations”:
“The corporations have bribed the political leaders in every country to sign away their sovereignty and the general welfare of their people to private corporations. Corporations have paid US senators large sums for transferring Congress’ law-making powers to corporations.“
[Comment: You think it was a coincidence that some US politician tried to end the death penalty for treason last year?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Where Did Unemployed Mechanic Boulware Get Money to Buy “Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle”?
James Boulware, the man killed Saturday in Dallas after shooting up a police station, bought a customized “Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle and Troop Transport” despite the fact his family said he did not have any money.
A van similar to the one used by Boulware was sold by Jenco Sales Inc. in Newnan, Georgia on eBay for $8,250.
Boulware traveled to Georgia last week to pick up the vehicle.
“He just got the van last week,” said Jim Boulware, the dead man’s father. “He went and took a bus to Georgia and picked it up.”
WFAA, an ABC News affiliate in Dallas, reported that Boulware’s family wanted him to get psychiatric help, but he did not have the money to pay for it. Boulware’s mother, Jeannine Hammond, said her son was mentally ill and “heard voices,” NBC 5 — KXAS in Forth Worth reported.
Authorities have yet to discuss how Boulware, a 35-year-old unemployed mechanic, was able to purchase the van and the weapons used in the attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Marines Have Failed to Adopt a New Sniper Rifle in the Past 14 Years
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff
It was the summer of 2011 in southern Helmand province, Afghanistan, and mission after mission, Sgt. Ben McCullar of Third Battalion, Second Marines, would insert with his eight-man sniper team into the berms and dunes north of the volatile town of Musa Qala.
Sometimes they would fire at a group of enemy fighters, sometimes the enemy would fire at them first, but almost immediately, McCullar explained, their team would be pinned down by machine guns that outranged almost all of their sniper rifles.
“They’d set up at the max range of their [machine guns] and start firing at us,” McCullar said. “We’d take it until we could call in [close air support] or artillery.”
The story of McCullar and his snipers is not an isolated one. For 14 years, Marine snipers have suffered setbacks in combat that, they say, have been caused by outdated equipment and the inability of the Marine Corps to provide a sniper rifle that can perform at the needed range.
They trace the problem to the relatively small Marine sniper community that doesn’t advocate effectively for itself because it is made up of junior service members and has a high turnover rate. Additionally, snipers say that the Marine Corps’ weapons procurement process is part of an entrenched bureaucracy resistant to change.
[…]
Today, the Marines’ primary sniper rifle, a newer variant of the M40, still shoots roughly the same distance: 1,000 yards.
Current and former Marine Corps snipers say their hardware doesn’t match the capabilities of the other services, not to mention what is in the hands of enemies such as the Taliban and the Islamic State.
“It doesn’t matter if we have the best training,” said one reconnaissance sniper who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not permitted to talk to the media. “If we get picked off at a thousand yards before we can shoot, then what’s the point?”
[…]
“Sometimes we could see the [Taliban] machine gunners, and we really couldn’t engage them,” McCullar said. He added that if Marines had different weapons, such as a .300 Winchester Magnum or a .338, their accuracy would be much improved.
The Army, for instance, adopted the .300 Win Mag as its primary sniper rifle cartridge in 2011, and it fires 300 yards farther than the Marines’ M40, which uses a lighter .308-caliber bullet.
[The author is speaking of the 7.62 NATO cartridge, which hasn’t the ranging capability of the .300 Win. Mag. or the .338 Lapua. An upgrade is needed muy pronto. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto Bans Pro-Palestinian Rally From Legislature Grounds
Ontario’s government has denied permission to hold a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rally on the grounds of the provincial legislature in Toronto.
The legislature’s sergeant-at-arms denied the permit request for the July 17 or July 18 rally on the grounds of the legislative buildings, known as Queen’s Park, the Canadian Jewish News reported, citing a statement issued on Wednesday by B’nai Brith Canada.
A B’nai Brith Canada petition calling on the legislature to deny the request garnered 3,000 signatures.
In a letter to a Toronto legislator saying no permit would be issued, the sergeant-at-arms cited the city’s impending Pan Am Games and Parapan Games as the reasons, according to the Canadian Jewish News.
“Although the Sergeant-at-Arms’ decision this year is tied to considerations regarding the Pan Am and Parapan American Games in Toronto, he must go further and take this opportunity to declare that permits for divisive hate-rallies will no longer be issued in the future,” B’nai Brith Canada said in a statement…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Bilderberg Media Mogul Confronted at Airport
Austrian media mogul Oscar Bronner, along with several other Bilderberg members were confronted by Infowars reporters as they arrived at Innsbruck Airport after the conclusion of the secretive conference.
Bronner, publisher of Der Standard, a major national daily broadsheet newspaper published in Vienna, spent the last few days meeting with influential power brokers from the world of politics, media, academia, business and banking at the elitist confab in Telfs, Austria, safely enclosed behind a huge security operation enforced by over 2,000 police.
Bronner stated, “It was a very interesting meeting,” before referring to the Bilderberg Group’s official website for the list of topics that were discussed (the topics are so vague as to be almost meaningless).
Infowars reporter Rob Dew also spoke with Karl Sevelda, CEO of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, who was traveling with Bronner.
When Dew asked for his name, Sevelda chided the reporter by holding up his name tag and asking, “can you read?”
“You must be a rich person,” said Sevelda when he suggested Dew was holidaying in Austria. “Not as rich as you are,” responded Dew.
During a subsequent confrontation, Dew told Bronner that he wouldn’t be harassed by reporters if Bilderberg published details of their conference, and that 2,000 police and a total lock down of the region was overkill.
“That’s your opinion, you’re entitled to your opinion,” said Bronner.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Spies ‘Moved After Snowden Files Read’
UK intelligence agents have been moved because Russia and China have access to classified information which reveals how they operate, a senior government source has told the BBC.
According to the Sunday Times, Moscow and Beijing have deciphered documents stolen by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The government source told the BBC the countries “have information” that led to agents being moved but added there was “no evidence” any had been harmed.
Mr Snowden leaked data two years ago.
The former CIA contractor, now living in Russia, left the US in 2013 after leaking details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by American intelligence to the media.
His information made international headlines in June 2013 when the Guardian newspaper reported that the US National Security Agency was collecting the telephone records of tens of millions of Americans.
Mr Snowden is believed to have downloaded 1.7 million secret documents before he left the US.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
British Spies Reportedly Moved From Russia, China After Secret Files Cracked
Britain has had to reportedly remove its spies from Russia and China after both countries allegedly cracked top secret files stolen by U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The BBC, citing a government source, reports the countries “have information” that led to the agents being moved out of the countries. The source also said there was “no evidence” any spies had been harmed.
The removal of MI6 spies from Russia and China comes after Home Secretary Theresa May told a home affairs committee in March that leaks about the country’s surveillance caused “damage” to the country’s security.
May said Snowden’s actions had “an impact on the ability of our agencies to do the work they need to do.” He had leaked the data two years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Comet-Riding Space Probe Philae Wakes Up
The European Space Agency says the comet lander Philae has come back to life after hibernating for seven months. It is the first communication with the probe since it landed in November.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: Gas Field ‘Commercially Viable’, Joint-Venture Says
Area known as ‘block 12’
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, JUNE 8 — The ‘Aphrodite’ natural gas field discovered in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has been declared commercially viable by the three companies owning rights on the field, known as block 12, the country’s Energy Ministry announced on Sunday as GreekReporter website writes.
“Noble Energy International Ltd, Delek Drilling Limited Partnership and Avner Oil Exploration Limited Partnership, holders of a license for the exploration of hydrocarbons in block 12 of Cyprus’ EEZ, have declared the commerciality of the ‘Aphrodite’ natural gas field,” the statement said. The discovery will allow Cyprus’ transition from the research to the development phase of its hydrocarbon reserves, the Ministry said, adding that they could be used for both domestic energy production and export through underwater pipelines to neighboring countries with which Cyprus has excellent bilateral relations. Texas-based Noble Energy, Israel’s Delek Group and its subsidiary Avner Oil Exploration must now submit a development and production plan to the Cypriot government, the Ministry said. The plan will include the companies’ proposal on the method, the development and production timeline, as well as the planning for hydrocarbons sales and marketing. The plan will then need to be approved by the government.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Edward Snowden Has Blood on His Hands’
MI6 is forced to pull spies out of hostile countries after Russia and China decode a MILLION encrypted files leaked by the whistleblower
MI6 has pulled its spies out of ‘hostile countries’ and America’s intelligence agencies are on high alert after Russia and China cracked encrypted files leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The top-secret documents contain information that could lead to the identification of British and American spies, according to senior officials in Downing Street, the Home Office and the security services.
A senior Home Office official accused Snowden — the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor responsible for the biggest confidential information leak in US history — of having ‘blood on his hands’ after they gained access to over one million files.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Touting the power of wind and “the possibilities to reshape our energy systems, decarbonize our economies and boost job growth,” the Global Wind Day is coordinated worldwide by the European Wind Energy Association, the Global Wind Energy Council, and various national associations.
Solution Wind, a global awareness campaign is also publicizing the wind industry in advance of the COP21 (U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, also known as “Paris 21”) climate negotiations in Paris, November 30-Decemmber 11, 2015.
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was one of the three documents produced in 1992 at the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. President George H.W. Bush signed the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate and U.N. Agenda 21 documents produced at this conference but refused to sign the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity document.
Having invested $100 billion in 2014, the wind lobby advertises wind energy as “mainstream and the fastest growing industrial sector in the world.” Activities to convince the general public that wind energy is harmless include “family outings, wind farm visits and seminars with experts and leading industry figures.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: 10,000 Suicides in Five Years, Head of Hospital Says
In an interview posted on the Corriere della Sera website
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JUNE 12 — The head of Elpis Hospital in Athens, Theodoros Giannoros, gave a video interview that was posted on the Corriere della Sera website, entitled “Ten thousand suicides in five years, the last one was my child,” as GreekReporter website writes today. “Since the crisis started in 2011, about 10,000 people have committed suicide. This could be a big city, not just a small village. A big city has disappeared from the map and my son was one of these people,” he said in the interview, adding that “I don’t know how someone can explain what happened. Many people tried to commit suicide but they were saved, while ten thousand have already died.” “Now the banks have started taking our homes. How many more people must they find dead in order to understand?” he wondered, referring to citizens’ debts, which is a result of the crisis. “This is a question I am not able to answer. All I know is that we all have the same heart, the same smile and the same sad eyes as people elsewhere in the world, but we are so closed within Europe.” “In Germany, if a dog died in a gruesome way, the news would be aired on TV and written in newspapers. Have you seen any references to the ten thousand people who have committed suicide in Greece? I do not think so, because at the moment, human lives have no value. I can only say that I am ashamed to be European,” Giannoros stressed during his emotional testimony.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
History Rewritten: Europeans Were “Born” In the Bronze Age
DNA from 101 Bronze Age skeletons shows that Europeans came from nomadic tribes who invaded during the Bronze Age.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Huge Crowds to Watch Battle of Waterloo Bicentenary
WATERLOO (BELGIUM) (AFP) — Belgium this week hosts days of commemorative events and mock battles to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo that shaped the face of Europe, at a time when the continent’s unity is under threat.
European royals will attend a solemn memorial service on Thursday at the battlefield near Brussels where French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s dreams of European conquest were crushed by British and Prussian forces on June 18, 1815.
Nearly 200,000 spectators are also expected to flock to the site to watch a giant pyrotechnic concert on Thursday followed by two days of battle reenactments described as the largest of their kind in the world.
Waterloo still raises sensitivities in France and organisers are treading carefully to paint the event as a celebration of a modern continent joined together by the 28-nation European Union after centuries of war.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Militant Activists Allegedly Charged Rent to Squatters
Ex-militant filed formal complaint with prosecutor’s office
(ANSA) — Rimini, June 12 — Judges opened an investigation on Friday into allegations of domestic violence and extortion by a far-left activist youth club that was allegedly charging rent for squatters to live in an abandoned fire station it illegally occupied.
An ex-militant and ex-resident of Casa Madiba, the name given to the abandoned property, filed a formal complaint alleging that the anticapitalist and anarchist so-called social center’s organizers charged squatters 400 euros a month rent to live in the building, or required them to work for free for the group.
The stated mission of the activists was to occupy the building to house illegal immigrants and the homeless.
The squatters were evacuated by authorities at the end of May, but went on to occupy an abandoned city government building, Villa Ricci, for which another investigation has been opened.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Luca Partner Faces Trial for Abuse of Office Allegations
Senior Salerno city official Cantisani charged in project
(ANSA) — Salerno, June 12 — A senior official with the city of Salerno and partner of Campania Governor Vincenzo De Luca was ordered Friday to face trial on abuse of office charges.
Maddalena Cantisani, director of building transformation, is scheduled to stand trial on March 14, according to Il Mattino.
Her lawyer said the charges related to a “laughably small” construction project.
Media reports say a small building was illegally destroyed to make room for a parking garage.
De Luca recently won election as the region’s governor for Premier Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) but is under a cloud because of his own conviction for abuse of office in January.
The charge was made in connection with an incinerator project while De Luca was mayor of Salerno, and he was handed a suspended sentence of a year in prison and a one-year ban from holding public office.
As a result of the conviction he was suspended for 18 months under an anti-corruption law passed under the previous Mario Monti administration — the so-called Severino law — but the Campania Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) reinstated him three days later.
The TAR ruling is now being challenged because it is a mere administrative tribunal, and some believe that when De Luca tries to hold his first regional council meeting, he will be formally ordered to step down as governor.
Meanwhile, in the Cantisani case other municipal officials, including the head of the building permits office for the City of Salerno, a project manager, engineer and property owners also face charges.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Prelates Implicated in Divine Providence Case
Prosecutors also examining position of Molfetta bishop
(ANSA) — Bari, June 11 — Prosecutors in the Puglia city of Trani are running checks on at least two high-ranking representatives of the Catholic Church in connection with a bankruptcy fraud case involving the region’s Divine Providence nursing-home chain, sources said Thursday. One of the prelates allegedly had a role in the controversial former management of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank. Prosecutors are reportedly also examining the position of Monsignor Luigi Martella, bishop of Molfetta, whose name appears in wiretaps involving former Divine Providence managers.
The probe led on Tuesday to the issuing of arrest warrants for 10 people including New Centre Right (NCD) Senator and ex mayor of Molfetta, Antonio Azzollini, as well as two nuns.
The Senate immunity panel is to examine the request for his arrest beginning on June 16 with the case expected to reach the Senate floor by the end of the month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It’s Alive! Comet Lander Philae Phones Home After Months of Silence
A European probe that made a bouncy landing on a comet last year, and then slipped into a silent hibernation, is alive again and phoning home.
The European Space Agency’s Philae comet lander, which dropped onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the Rosetta spacecraft last November, beamed an 85-second wake-up message to Earth via Rosetta yesterday (June 13), ESA officials announced today. It was the first signal from Philae in seven months since the probe fell silent on Nov. 15 after its historic comet landing.
“Philae is doing very well,” Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), said in a statement. “The lander is ready for operations.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Magna Carta at 800: What Role Does it Play Today?
The Magna Carta was signed 800 years ago in England. Now, the United Kingdom is facing an identity crisis. Could the UK benefit from a written constitution? Is the medieval document relevant to contemporary Britain?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Magna Carta Scribes Identified Ahead of 800th Anniversary
Scientists have identified the scribes who wrote two of the four original 1215 copies of the Magna Carta.
They found the copies held in Lincoln and Salisbury were written by scribes based at those cathedrals, rather than by someone working for King John.
The discovery was made ahead of the 800th anniversary of the historic charter on Monday.
Lead investigator Professor Nicholas Vincent, said to identify the authors was a “significant achievement”.
He said after 800 years it was “certainly equivalent to finding needles in a very large haystack”.
The new discovery sheds further light on the Church’s role in the creation and distribution of Magna Carta — which sought to restrain the powers of the king.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
By Rebecca Dinerstein
I purchased my first block of brown cheese by accident soon after arriving, expecting it to be white or orange when I unwrapped it, as cheese always had been.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philae Comet Lander Wakes up, Says European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth.
Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November.
It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat.
The comet has since moved nearer to the Sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC’s science correspondent Jonathan Amos.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philae Comet Lander Wakes up and Phones Home
Scientists hopeful as historic space probe sends signals to Earth, ending seven months of silence.
Philae, the space probe that made history when it landed on a comet in November 2014, is awake. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced today (14 June) that it had received signals from the comet lander last night, at 22.28 Central European Standard Time. They were the first in over seven months.
Excited scientists on the mission told Nature that Philae has probably been awake for a few days and that they hope the lander will start some low-risk science activities in the coming days — assuming that Philae makes contact again.
“Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available,” said ESA project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) near Cologne, according to an ESA statement. “The lander is ready for operations.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Reports: Britain Pulls Out Spies After Russia, China Crack Snowden Files
Britain has moved some of its spies after Russia and China accessed top-secret documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, media reports say. No one is thought to have been harmed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rosetta’s Lander Philae Wakes up From Hibernation
Rosetta’s lander Philae is out of hibernation!
The signals were received at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST on 13 June. More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
“Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available,” explains DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. “The lander is ready for operations.”
For 85 seconds Philae “spoke” with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.
When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier: “We have also received historical data — so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier.”
Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae’s mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Philae shut down on 15 November 2014 at 1:15 CET after being in operation on the comet for about 60 hours. Since 12 March 2015 the communication unit on orbiter Rosetta was turned on to listen out for the lander.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Top Bilderberger Confronted on Secretive Conference
Bilderberg steering committee member and Vice Chair of Rothschild Europe Franco Bernabè was confronted about his role in the secretive organization as he left the conference via the train station earlier today.
Bernabè was forced to quit his position as head of Telecom Italia SpA in 2013 after a clash with top shareholders but now holds one of the most powerful positions within the Bilderberg Group, whose meeting in Telfs, Austria concluded today.
German reporter Tilman Knechtel quizzed Bernabè, who told him to ask Bilderberg “press relations” for information. When asked why he wasn’t allowed to talk about the conference, Bernabè cited the “Chatham rules,” a reference to the Chatham House Rule, which forbids anyone who was at Bilderberg from revealing who said what.
Bernabè then said there was no “danger” in him revealing information but still refused to do so, before asserting, “there is no secret about this.”
“There is nothing to say, there is no secret, everything is published on the site, you should check the Bilderberg site. In reality, the list of topics discussed by Bilderberg on their official site is so vague as to be virtually meaningless.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Topless Tourist’ Returns to Britain, Apologizes for Posing
Eleanor Hawkins has returned to England and apologized to the people of Malaysia for having posed topless on a sacred mountain.
The student, who served a three-day jail term in Malaysia’s Sabah state before being set free, says she knows her actions had been wrong.
She said Sunday that “I know my behavior was foolish and I know how much offense we all caused to the local people of Sabah. For that, I am truly sorry.”
Hawkins was one of four foreigners charged in Malaysia after removing their clothes and posing for a photograph on Mount Kinabalu.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Waterpark Bans Bikinis, Orders Visitors to Wear ‘Islamically Appropriate’ Clothes
WaterWorld in Stoke-on-Trent plans to black out windows and provide a prayer room during a women-only night aimed at Muslims.
Only female lifeguards will patrol the park during the event, which has triggered a flood of complaints.
Staff will also “guard” the front entrance to “make sure that no males enter the facility”.
Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said: ‘I imagine there would be a lot of outrage if the boot was on the other foot and swimmers were told they had to dress appropriately in respect of Christians. I don’t see how this is different.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Activists Filmed by MoS Bragging About Plans to Hijack Peaceful Protests
The same fanatics responsible for clashes with police that took place outside Downing Street two days after the General Election have been secretly filmed bragging about their plans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Father Claims Scotland Yard Covered Up Son’s Murder by Westminster Paedophiles
Exclusive: The father of murdered eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra says police ignored a tip-off that the boy may have been abducted by a VIP paedophile ring
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
The father of an eight-year-old boy murdered in the 1980s claims that his son may have died at the hands of a Westminster paedophile ring — and that Scotland Yard helped “cover up” the crime.
Vishambar Mehrotra, a retired magistrate, recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that his son may have been abducted and taken to a now notorious guesthouse in 1981.
He took the recording to police at the time but claims they refused to investigate an allegation implicating “judges and politicians”. Mr Mehrotra said it had been a “huge cover-up”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top schools inspector Adam Higgins (pictured) is facing jail after dozens of child-abuse videos and hundreds of sick images of assaults on children were discovered on his home computer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
A father’s claims his young son may have been murdered at the hands of a Westminster paedophile ring could be correct and possibly even “covered up” by police, according to a detective who worked on the original case.
Jackie Malton told the Daily Telegraph the case of eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra’s death 33 years ago was never solved even though officers were “highly passionate” about it, while she had a feeling of “misuse of power” during her time at Scotland Yard.
Earlier, Vishal’s father Vishambar Mehrotra, a retired magistrate, told the paper he recorded a male prostitute saying in a telephone call that Vishal may have been abducted and taken to the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London, in 1981, but police took it no further.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: 10 Tunisian Consulate Employees Taken Hostage
In Tripoli; reports from foreign ministry
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, JUNE 12 — At least 10 and possibly as many as 12 employees of the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli, Libya, have been taken hostage by an unidentified armed group.
Reports were from the Tunisian foreign ministry on Friday, which condemned the act as an attack on its national sovereignty and a violation of international law and diplomatic mores that ensure the security and inviolability of diplomatic and consular offices. The ministry statement noted that all state services and institutions were closely watching developments in the situation and were coordinating with their Libyan, regional and international counterparts in order to secure the release and safety of the consular employees as soon as possible.
The ministry noted that all Tunisian citizens were barred from traveling to Libya except in case of extreme need and only after advising the country’s interior and foreign ministries. It urged members of the Tunisian community in Libya to use caution in their movements around the country and to leave if necessary.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco Builds Wall to Divide Country From Algeria
Government admits, 100 km of barrier along eastern border
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, JUNE 1 — Photos had been circulating for a while but there was no confirmation until now that Morocco was indeed building a wall along its eastern border with Algeria.
The over 100-km-long barrier has now been justified in Parliament over “controversies” between the two countries. It was the head of Government Benkirane who admitted the construction of the barrier along the border.
The statement ended unconfirmed reports by the small number of tourists over the past year who have travelled to an area beyond the territories usually visited by foreigners in Morocco.
The case was first raised in June. At the time, Interior Minister Mohammed Hassad had to admit that a wall photographed by tourists was just a form of defense following terror threats coming from that direction.
Now that construction work has almost been completed, the official confirmation leaves no room for doubt.
It is not the first time that Morocco accuses Algeria of vileness: inundating the country with smuggled fuel, for example. Algeria, for its part, accuses Morocco of exporting hashish.
Borders have been de facto shut down since 1994, when Morocco imposed a visa on the passports of Algerians wishing to cross the border. The restrictive measure was adopted after a terror attack in Marrakech, which targeted a hotel, attributed to the Algerian secret services by Rabat.
But behind the tiffs are issues and problems that are deeply rooted in Africa’s history — including the most sensitive, the issue of contested Sahara and funding of the Polisario Front.
The reopening of borders long called for by Europe appears to be moving further away. And the wall becomes tangible proof of the crisis as the countries are drifting apart.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ramadan: Libya Between Hope and Chasm
Final leg in UN talks between Tobruk and Tripoli
(by Rodolfo Calò) (ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JUNE 12 — Another Ramadan without Gaddafi.
The fifth Islamic holy month of fasting lived in more or less apparent chaos is set to take place in a country getting closer to a thin line separating hope from disaster. These are in fact the days of the final stage, or end, of talks between Tripoli and Tobruk to heal at least the most significant among ideological, tribal and military rifts and all the things that are dividing the country, based on the “divide et impera” (divide and rule) principle on which Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ruled over four decades.
Iftar (big family meals with sweet drinks when daytime fasting ends, this year among the longest due to the summer solstice), prayers and other traditions of Ramadan in Libya are similar to those of other Middle Eastern countries.
But the atmosphere this year is dominated by the wait for an historic decision that must be taken by the parliament of Tobruk, the one recognized by the international community but exiled in Cyrenaica by pro-Islamist militia that since last August have conquered Tripoli: accepting, modifying slightly, heavily changing or rejecting the fourth draft of the accord put together by integrating the three previous ones by UN special envoy for Libya, Bernardino Leon, who is mediating in Morocco with Tripoli.
Statements released Thursday in Cairo by the spokesman of the Chamber of representatives in Tobruk, Faraj Hashem, hint at a rejection of the fourth draft with a request to return to the third, which was however rejected by Tripoli at the end of April. In other words, things are stalling.
Leon and recently German foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier have made it clear that there is no time to work on a fifth draft. Negotiations are in fact accompanied by disquieting news that Isis is advancing in the Gulf of Syrte, both towards the oil terminals of Ras Lanuf to the east and towards Misrata in the west.
There is also the ultimatum launched last month by the Libyan ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi: “I can assure that if there will be no results from dialogue, before the end of Ramadan the capital Tripoli will be under the control of the government of Tobruk”. It is the so-called “military solution”, the “takeover” of Tobruk against Tripoli announced by army chief, general Khalifa Haftar, and supported by part of the executive but set aside in this phase, at least in words, by the belligerent sponsor of the Libyan eastern faction recognized by the world: the Egypt of ex-general Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, who has actually been alone in showing that he really wants to do something militarily concrete in Libya with anti-Isis air raids on Derna last February.
Italian foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, more diplomatically practical compared to Steinmeier, has accepted the hypothesis of tiny changes that would generate what can be journalistically defined as a second version of the fourth draft for a “fine tuning” of the accord, as diplomats would say. But in a country that has never witnessed any cohesion, an agreement on a “government of national accord”, as defined in the draft, is considered in diplomatic circles in Cairo as difficult to implement already before the start of Ramadan.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Suspect Islamic State Influencing Muslims in Palestinian Territories, Israel
ISTANBUL, Turkey (Morning Star News) — After months of Islamic State (IS) committing horrific violence in the Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian Christians say a large number of Muslims in the Palestinian Territories and Israel have become “radicalized” and are much more aggressive toward them.
Anti-Christian hostility boiling under the surface for years has come into plain view in the past few months in the form of physical attacks, incendiary religious speeches and inflammatory billboards, they said.
Palestinian Christian leaders said not all Muslims in the Territories and Israel have become extremists, and elders within the Muslim community are trying to dampen the effects of extremist ideology, but enough Palestinians have become radicalized that many Christians feel unsafe or, at minimum, openly unwanted. Whereas tensions between Christians and Muslims previously were seen as issues between individuals, there is now a definite “us vs. them” mentality from Islamic extremists, Christian leaders said.
[…]
Opinions differ as to when attitudes started to change in the Territories, but most agree it happened some time in 2014, either during a retaliatory military campaign by Israel against Hamas for the June 12 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, or when the IS territorial expansion in the Middle East started in earnest.
In February, Christians in Israel’s heavily Muslim town of Nazareth were alarmed to find a billboard posted downtown ordering them not to spread their faith or even talk about Jesus in a way that contradicts the Islamic version of His life.
Quoting from Surah 4:171 in the Koran, the sign reads in Arabic, “O People of the Scripture, do not commit excess in your religion or say about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, was but a messenger of Allah and His word which He directed to Mary and a soul [created at a command] from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers. And do not say, ‘Three’; desist — it is better for you. Indeed, Allah is but one God. Exalted is He above having a son.”
The billboard was placed just outside the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation. According to local media reports, area Christians are too afraid to ask to have the sign removed. None of the Christians interviewed by Morning Star News were willing to talk about the sign.
[…]
Another Christian leader said recent hostilities in Jerusalem could be the related to IS.
“The dark ideology of ISIS is spreading all over the region like cancer,” he said.
[Good analogy. In fact, the dark ideology of ISIS is metastasizing worldwide — including in America. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ICC Delegation to Travel to Israel to Assess War Crimes
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JUNE 11 — A delegation from the International Criminal Court (ICC) is scheduled to arrive in Israel at the end of the month for a preliminary examination on war-crime allegations and crimes against humanity committed in the Occupied Territories, Haaretz reported, quoting Palestinian sources according to which the Ramallah leadership has already been notified.
The visit should establish whether there are reasonable grounds to hold that war-crimes were committed and that the Court has jurisdiction over them.
If that were proved to be the case — added the paper- crimes attributed to the Israeli as well as the Palestinian side would be examined.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In June New TV for Arabs in Israel Sponsored by PNA
Creation of new channel helped by victory United Arab List
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, JUNE 3 — As of June 18, the first day of Ramadan, television channel ‘F48’ (Falastin 1948) will become operational in Ramallah, West Bank. Conceived by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), with the financial aid of the PLO as well, the new broadcaster is aimed at Arabs in Israel. The channel will be broadcast as part of the package offered by Palsat, the Palestinian satellite channel, and means to establish a closer connection between the PNA and the Arab part of Israel. For now, most programs will have a social and cultural focus.
Haaretz stressed that the creation of the new channel, on which the PNA has been working for a while, has been significantly influenced by the recent electoral success of the United Arab list — the third-largest party in the Knesset — which was welcomed with enthusiasm by part of the Palestinian leadership.
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Orange France Breaks With Partner Israel, Netanyahu Angry
‘Miserable spectacle, French government should distance itself’
(by Paolo Levi) (ANSAmed) — PARIS, JUNE 5 — It will perhaps be remembered as the ‘cell phone crisis’ after controversies over the number of French Jews who have ‘fled’ to Israel — exasperated by growing anti-Semitism in the République. France and Israel are again at odds in what is increasingly looking like a diplomatic clash, or perhaps just a warning, ahead of announcements by Paris on a possible UN resolution for the recognition of the Palestinian State. This time, at the center of the new French-Israeli psychodrama are two among the most powerful phone companies in their respective countries — Orange France, 25% of which is controlled by the French State, and Israel’s Partner Communications owned by the American Haim Saban (one of the main funders of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign).
The two companies for a while have been tied by a cooperation agreement enabling Partner Communications to exploit the ‘Orange Israel’ brand in exchange for hefty compensation. The agreement had been recently renewed until 2025. Indeed things between the two groups seemed to be going well.
Then the day before yesterday, at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, the CEO of the French mobile phone giant Stephane Richard claimed he was ready “tomorrow” to cut connections with the Israeli partner because it provides services in the Occupied Territories — a moved called for by many NGOs campaigning against Israeli settlements.
The promise was maintained: yesterday, management in Paris confirmed the end of the agreement with Partner communications, assuring however that it does not want to turn it into an issue of a “political nature”. Israel doesn’t seem to agree and the highest State officials have reacted to the move.
“I call on the French government so it publicly distances itself from the unhappy action of a company under the partial ownership of the cabinet itself”, said Premier Benyamin Netanyahu, criticizing a “miserable spectacle that will not be forgotten”. The spectacle, he said, of a “democracy, the state of Israel, that respects human rights, which defends itself from missiles being launched and terror tunnels and gets automatic condemnation and attempts to boycott it”. Reuven Rivlin also stepped in: “I find it worrisome” that “I still haven’t heard any condemnation by the French leadership of the statements made by the CEO of Orange”, said the Israeli president.
Culture Minister Miri Regev asked Francois Hollande to “fire” the head of Orange, adding that Paris “must show zero-tolerance towards anti-Semitism”. He then called on Jewish clients of Orange France and the company worldwide to cut services with the company and change operator. Company CEO Haim Romano also announced “hefty fines” for the early end of the contract with Partner. “We have not received anything official from France”, he explained, quoted by the media. “And we ask for apologies and clarifications on what Richard said”. Romano has confirmed that recently the two firms wrapped up an accord extending the license for “another 10 years” until 2025.
In a brief statement, Orange simply announced the end of relations with Partner. At least officially, the reason behind the move is that it “does not want to keep the presence of the brand in countries in which we are not, or are not anymore, operators”.
Meanwhile, employees (of the at this point ex) ‘Orange Israel’ — in apparent protest against Paris — have placed Israeli flags on the logo of the company at the firm’s offices in Rosh Haayin.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Cumhuriyet: Turkish 007 Drivers for IS in Syria
Fresh revelations on Turkish cooperation with jihadists
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, JUNE 11 — Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet provided fresh revelations on the involvement of Mit secret agents alongside Isis jihadists in Syria.
The opposition paper reported today that, on January 9 2014, two buses escorted by Mit agents picked up 72 militiamen belonging to the armed jihadi group in the camp of Atme in Syria.
The title on Cumhuriyet’s front page today is ‘Kirli Operasyon’, ‘Dirty operation’. Bypassing the line of combat between Kurdish fighters and terrorist jihadists in Kobane, the Turkish 007s scorted the latter up to the border town of Tel Abad, where the men of ‘caliph’ al-Baghdadi were launching an offensive. The international press, the Turkish opposition, the Syrian government, as well as Syrian Kurds have all accused Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan of aiding armed jihadi groups Isis and Al Nusra in the hope of toppling president Bashar al Assad and replacing him with a Muslim Brotherhood-led government. Cumhuriyet recalled that, in the past few days, US president Barack Obama criticized Turkey once again for failing to halt the flow of aspiring foreign jihadists towards Syria and Iraq. The paper published the pictures of heavy arms destined to jihadi groups in Syria, travelling on Mit vehicles and hidden under boxes of medicines, at the end of May. Erdogan reacted to the allegations, by threatening the editor in chief of Cumhuriyet, Can Dundar, denounced for ‘espionage’ and ‘revelation of state secrets’ . The president also said the journalist should serve a life sentence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dewsbury Teenager is ‘UK’s Youngest Ever Suicide Bomber’
A West Yorkshire teenager is believed to have become Britain’s youngest ever suicide bomber after reportedly blowing himself up in Iraq.
Talha Asmal, 17, was one of four suicide bombers who attacked forces near an oil refinery south of Baiji.
Social media reports linked to Islamic State (IS) said Asmal, going by the name of Abu Yusuf al-Britani, had taken part in the attack.
His family said they were “devastated” at the news.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Intercepts Hundreds of Syrian Refugees Fleeing Across Turkish Border
These are the shocking scenes as heavily-armed ISIS terrorists turned thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing to freedom away from the border while Turkish troops looked on.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan Angry With ANP Soccer Chief for Supporting Blatter
MPs call for banning Palestinian Rajoub from entering Kingdom
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, JUN 1 — Jordanian politicians and supporters of prince Ali in FIFA elections have vented their anger at President of the Palestinian Football Federation, Jibril Rajoub, who was accused of lobbying against the prince among Arab federations to vote for Joseph Blatter.
Hours after prince Ali withdrew from FIFA race, members of the Jordanian parliament have called for banning Rajoub from entering the kingdom, the only Arab country that borders the Palestinian territories.
“Position of Rajoub is disgraceful. We can not accept any execuse from him and the Palestinian authority for supporting Blatter,” said MP Rudeina al Atee, who called for preventing Rajoub from entering the kingdom.
The Palestinian soccer chief was overheard as saying “ I would have a heart attack of prince Ali wins,” according to Jordanian media, which also emphasized his exuberant celebration when Blatter was officially declared president of FIFA for next four years.
“We are proud of prince Ali. Raise your chin up,” she added.
Prince Ali stood little chances of ousting Blatter after Asia and Africa announced their backing for the 79 year old Swiss, but Rajoub lobbying against the prince and his manners at FIFA congress provoked supporters of Ali, young brother of king Abdullah.
The controversial Palestinian figure was also lambasted for his move to withdraw a request to suspend Israel from FIFA over its settlement activities in occupied Arab lands.
Israeli officials saw Rajoub move as victory for the right wing government, which had threatened retaliation measures of the request was not withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Prince Ali received a hero welcome at Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) upon his return to the Kingdom late Sunday.
The King commended Prince Ali’s efforts and courageous stances during his election campaign for FIFA presidency, “which reflected a high sense of responsibility and keenness to elevate the Kingdom’s status in international sports arena”, a Royal Court statement said. The king lauded prince Ali vision to develop football on all aspects and would remain much respected by those who are keen to support the sport, added the statement.
Dignitaries from local sports clubs, and national teams joined hundreds other supporters as they chanted name of the prince, who lost to Joseph Blatter after an eventful week that rattled FIFA and threatened the election process amid calls for boycott.
Prince Ali thanked those who supported him, and said that Jordan earned a good reputation and the world’s respect through the participation in the elections, without giving a hint if he would run in the future, considering he is at a tender age of 38.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Kurdish Fighters Closing in on ISIS-Held Syrian Town on Turkish Border
Thousands of Syrians cut through a border fence and crossed over into Turkey on Sunday, fleeing intense fighting in northern Syria between Kurdish fighters and jihadis.
The flow of refugees came as Syrian Kurdish fighters closed in on the outskirts of a strategic Islamic State-held town on the Turkish border, Kurdish officials and an activist group said, potentially cutting off a key supply line for the extremists’ nearby de facto capital.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mosul Prelate Calls for Liberation of City, Nineveh Plain — Or Mass Asylum in the West
By John Pontifex
NEW YORK — A leading Iraqi prelate has called on world governments to increase their efforts to defeat ISIS and restore land and property to some 120,000 exiled Iraqi Christians.
Marking the first anniversary of ISIS’s capture of Mosul, Syrian Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Mouche called on “people who have the responsibility” to come to the rescue of the ousted Christian communities, whose people, he added, long to go home.
In an interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop said that military action is the “best solution.” “We ask everyone to put pressure on the people who have the responsibility to free the [towns and villages] as soon as possible so the people can come back and live in peace in their homes and continue their lives there,” he said.
The archbishop’s comments reflect ongoing frustration felt by a number of senior Middle East clergy about what they perceive as the West’s reluctance to commit to a full-scale intervention to confront and overcome extremism in the region—a move many Church leaders opposed until very recently.
Archbishop Mouche also said that if the West is unable to redouble its efforts in the fight against ISIS, it should open its doors to Christians and other minorities seeking asylum.
“I am calling on the international community: if they cannot protect us, then they must open their doors and help us start a new life elsewhere,” he said, adding, however that “we would prefer to remain in Iraq and be protected here.”
[Mass immigration and asylum for an endangered population? Sorry, buster — being Christians, your people don’t qualify. The State Department / Justice Department / liberal church / Democrat Party immigration machine wants Muslims only, the better to aggrandize “progressive” voting strength. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
‘No Complete Strategy’ In Iraq, But Embassies Getting Complete Movie Channel Packages
by Elizabeth Harrington
While President Obama admits there is “no complete strategy” in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq, U.S. embassies there will have access to a complete package of movie channels.
The State Department issued a solicitation on Thursday to purchase satellite television subscriptions for all its embassies in the embattled country, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
“The purpose of this firm fixed price Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract is to obtain High Definition (HD) satellite television channel packages to be received at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Iraq that includes the U.S. Embassy Baghdad, the U.S. Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center (BDSC), the U.S. Consulate General Basrah, and the U.S. Consulate General Erbil,” the solicitation said.
The State Department is looking for a contractor to provide 30 English satellite channels, the majority of which are movie channels distributed by OSN, a television provider in the Middle East.
[…]
The only news channels listed are CNBC Europe and Fox News.
President Obama said Monday at the G-7 conference in Germany that there is not a complete strategy to fight the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Iraq.
“We don’t yet have a complete strategy because it requires commitments on the part of the Iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how that training takes place,” he said. “So the details of that are not yet worked out.”
His remarks came 10 months after the administration said it did not have a strategy last August, after the beheadings of U.S. journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
[Great — when the savages are coming over the fences, our intrepid diplomats will be watching the boob tube. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Civil War: Jabhat Al-Nusra’s Massacre of Druze Villagers Shows They’re Just as Nasty as ISIS
By Patrick Cockburn
Last week fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, entered a village in Idlib province in the north-west of the country and shot dead at least 20 villagers from the Druze community. They had earlier forcibly converted hundreds of Druze to their fundamentalist variant of Sunni Islam.
The incident happened in the Druze village of Qalb Lawzeh in the Jabal al-Summaq region, a place where al-Nusra fighters have dug up historic graves and destroyed shrines in recent months, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It says Nusra first tried to confiscate the house of a Druze government official and shot one villager dead. Another villager then seized a fighter’s weapon and killed him. Nusra then sent reinforcements into the village and they opened fire.
It was just one more massacre in a land that has seen thousands of atrocities by government and rebels over the past four years. But what gives the Qalb Lawzeh killings peculiar significance is that they happened at a moment when Nusra, and the rebel coalition it leads, had inflicted a series of defeats on the Syrian army in the north, leading to speculation that the regime of President Bashar al-Assad might be starting to crumble under multiple pressures. It has recently lost Idlib province in the north, Palmyra in the east, and is on the retreat in the south.
[Gee. Wasn’t al-Qaeda supposed to be gasping and toothless and on the run? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
UK Muslim Medical Student Urges Muslim Doctors to Join the Islamic State
LONDON — The latest video from the Islamic State propaganda machine focuses once more on the medical facilities in the ‘caliphate’.
Using the familiar house-style of speaking directly to the camera, a man calling himself Abu Amir al-Muhajir appeals to medical Muslim professionals to make hijrah (to emigrate) to Islamic State (IS) territory to assist in jihad.
British press believe the man to be Tamer Ahmed Ebu Sebah, who, along with eight others, left medical school in Sudan to join the jihadi group in Syria in March of this year.
Speaking in a distinct London accent, al-Muhajir says, “I send greetings from the Islamic State, to all my dear brothers and sisters within the Islamic State and outside.
“All my brothers in Sudan, brothers and sisters who are hesitant. Please open your eyes and make hijrah to this land, where people are fighting for Islam.
“Not fighting for democracy. Not fighting for political gains. Everyone needs to ask themselves the question here, ‘Where do I want to stand, where do I want to be in front of Allah?’“
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Saudi Airstrike Hits UNESCO World Heritage
3 Old City buildings razed to the ground, civilians killed
ROME — The bombs and missiles of the Saudi-led Arab coalition on Friday killed civilians in Yemen and for the first time hit the historic Old City of the capital.
Three buildings of a World Heritage site were razed to the ground and a fourth collapsed. UNESCO condemned the act immediately.
“I am profoundly distressed by the loss of human lives as well as by the damage inflicted on one of the world’s oldest jewels of Islamic urban landscape,” UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said in a statement. Six people were killed, none of whom armed.
Giovanni Puglisi, head of the Italian national commission for UNESCO, noted that “we are not facing the Islamic State (ISIS) bandits destroying cultural heritage. We are dealing with a Saudi-led coalition that, in reaction to terrorists’ acts of war and as part of a scorched earth policy, destroy the cultural heritage of the historic Yemeni city.” “This is much more serious and worrisome than others due to its unusual nature,” he said. The Saudi missile came at dawn in the center of the Qasimi area with its thousands of inhabitants. The area has homes over 2,500 years old, about a hundred Arabesque mosques and evocative hammams. “It was a deafening sound, a horrible whistle,” said people on the scene. There was no blast, however, and the disaster could have been much worse. The missile did not explode, and thus brought down only the buildings it directly hit. The number of casualties is also very low: six dead (four women and two men buried under the rubble). On Thursday, a Saudi bomb hit a bus, burning over 20 people alive. UNESCO had already in May spoken out about the “serious damage” caused by the bombing of the Old City in Sanaa and called on those involved in the conflict not to involve Yemen’s cultural heritage in the fighting. The appeal does not seem to have influenced Riyadh’s operations since the beginning of the Saudi-led (Sunni) coalition actions against Shia Houthi rebels on March 26. Saudi Arabia aims to halt the advance of the Houthi rebels, who since September 24, 2014 have controlled the capital and used it as a base to achieve military victories across large areas of the north, west and center of the country. In the south the rebels had begun to get the upper hand and at this point Riyadh — where Yemeni president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi has taken refuge — began its airstrikes. In just over two months, over a thousand civilians including 234 children have died under the bombs, and a million people have been forced to flee their homes.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moldovans Choose Between Europe, Russia in Local Elections
Polls close at 9 PM, about 2.8 million voters
(ANSA/AP) — CHISINAU — Moldovans are voting in local elections Sunday which are seen as a test of whether the country is committed to European integration or will move closer to Russia’s orbit.
The elections come two days after pro-European Prime Minister Chiril Gaburici resigned after he was questioned about the authenticity of his high school diplomas and university degree.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT; 12 a.m. EDT) and will close at 9 p.m. (1800 GMT; 2 p.m. EDT) and early results are expected Sunday evening. About 2.8 million eligible voters are choosing mayors and local councils. A runoff is slated for June 28 for seats with no candidate who secures 50 percent of the vote.
The key seat is the capital, Chisinau, where Dorin Chirtoaca, the pro-European mayor of the city of about 1 million people since 2007, faces Zinaida Greceanai, who is running for the pro-Russian Socialists.
Gaburici, a businessman who headed a minority government, had criticized a probe into the disappearance of $1.5 billion from three Moldovan banks before November elections.
Analysts say anger over missing money may be reflected in local elections, giving a boost to pro-Moscow parties against pro-European parties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Apocalyptic Scenes in Georgia’s Tbilisi as Animals Escape From Zoo During Freak Flood
Residents in the Georgian capital Tbilisi have been warned to stay indoors after dangerous animals escaped for the city’s zoo after flash floods destroyed their enclosures, setting them free.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chaos and Panic: Deadly Floods Bring Fear Over Escaped Zoo Animals
TBILISI, Georgia — Tigers, lions, a hippopotamus and other animals escaped from the zoo in Georgia’s capital after heavy flooding destroyed their enclosures, prompting authorities to warn residents in Tbilisi to stay inside Sunday. At least 12 people have been killed in the disaster, including three zoo workers.
An escaped hippo was cornered in one of the city’s main squares and subdued with a tranquilizer gun, the zoo said. Some other animals also have been seized, but it remained unclear how many are on the loose. Bears and wolves are also among the animals who fled from their enclosures amid the flooding from heavy rains and high winds.
There were no immediate reports that any of the fatalities were due to animal attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Delhi Should Cut Off Ties With Netherlands: Yaqub Qureshi
Days after Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders announced that he would air cartoons of prophet Muhammed on television starting next week, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Yaqub Qureshi condemned the act and demanded that New Delhi should cut off diplomatic ties with any nation that could “allow such a thing to happen”.
“Hurting sentiments of any community is uncalled for. I criticize Wilders for his actions and I also think it is wrong on part of the Dutch government to allow airing of such cartoons. Instead of giving permission for this, their government should arrest this man. I will also write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demand that he mounts pressure on the Dutch government. If they refuse to pay heed to us, we should send their ambassador back and snap all ties with them,” the former state cabinet minister told TOI.
He also took a swipe at the western nations, saying: “There is a global conspiracy against Islam, which is being perpetrated by Christian and Jewish nations. This must come to an end at once. There have been hate speeches in India as well but our politicians are relatively measured. In the west, they carry out hate campaigns.”
Qureshi was in the news even earlier for criticizing cartoons of the prophet. In January this year, he had promised Rs 51 crore to anyone who would come forward and claim responsibility for the attack on staffers of French magazine Charlie Hebdo. In 2006, the politician had offered the same amount to anyone who could behead Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.
Qureshi had also justified the Paris attack in which 16 people lost their lives this January.
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Malaysia Mountain Naked Photo Tourists Jailed
Three-day terms as well as fines
(ANSA) — Rome, June 12 — Four western tourists who posed naked on a mountain in Malaysia have been given jail terms and fined after they were blamed for an earthquake.
Briton Eleanor Hawkins, Canadians Lindsey and Danielle Peterson, and Dutchman Dylan Snel admitted causing a public disturbance.
The group was blamed for a magnitude 5.9 earthquake after stripping on Mount Kinabalu, which is considered sacred.
They were jailed for three days but their sentences were back-dated to reflect time already served.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: Deadly Dish: The Dinner That Can Give You Cancer
A local delicacy in north-east Thailand, made from raw fish, has been found to be behind a high incidence of liver cancer in the area, and doctors are trying to educate people about the risk.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Philippines: China’s Brazen Land Grab
It’s not just the Philippines and China that want more from the South China Sea. Other nearby nations like Vietnam and Thailand have expressed their interests. But China is not losing any time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Springtime for Hitler… In Mexico
Holy crap! I don’ t blame the girls as much as I do the choreographer/organizer, but geez. And saying that there are no neo-Nazi groups in Mexico is belied by what I am seeing with my own eyes here. Just speechless.
From ABC News:
A cheer-dance team in Mexico drew criticism Friday for a routine in which they displayed flags with swastikas, dressed in pseudo-military outfits and one girl appeared to toss a Nazi salute to the crowd.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
About 2,000 Migrants From Syria Disembark in Athens Port; Most Aim to Go to Northern Europe
ATHENS, Greece — About 2,000 migrants, who had been stranded for days in the Greek island of Lesbos, have arrived in the port of Piraeus, southwest of the capital Athens.
The migrants, who crossed over to Lesbos from Turkey, were brought into Piraeus Sunday by two Greek ferries.
Most headed for the center of Athens by train, although few have friends or relatives there who could take them in.
Many told Greek TV stations that they would like to travel on to Germany, or other European Union countries.
Greece is a close second to Italy in migrant arrivals this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Paris: Former Migrant Bridge Heavily Guarded
Metal wires to prevent new tent camps
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, JUNE 4 — The former migrant bridge of Paris has been cordoned off less than 24 hours from the evacuation of the makeshift camp on Pont de la Chappelle, close to the Gare du Nord station and the Butte Montmartre. The site has been cleared and is now protected with metal wire. Until the day before yesterday, some 380 migrants stood on the bridge raising concerns for their desparate sanitary conditions and the risk of epidemics.
According to Le Parisien, the area will also be guarded in the hope of preventing the return of squatters and migrants.
In theory, the hundreds of people evacuated Tuesday have been lodged between Paris and its outskirts, but yesterday afternoon some twenty migrants who claimed to be former occupants of the bridge, have returned to La Chappelle in search of a place to sleep.
Migrants who have not presented an asylum request are entitled to lodgings but only for three days.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Renzi Calls on EU to Change Asylum Rules as Refugee Crisis Grows
Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has called on the EU to reform its rules on asylum seekers amid a huge influx of boat migrants on Italian soil. His plea comes as neighboring countries tighten border controls.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Battles to House Migrants at Border With France
Italian officials have been forced to take emergency measures to accommodate a flood of migrants who were staging a sit-in at a border crossing with France. Rome says it has increased border monitoring as a result.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Threatens Europe ‘Hurt’ Over Migrant Crisis
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi threatened Sunday to go to a Plan B to deal with migrants which “would hurt Europe” if Italy is not given greater help with the crisis.
The country is struggling to accommodate an endless wave of boat migrants and a crackdown on security at the French and Austrian borders over the past few days has worsened the situation, causing a bottleneck at Italy’s train stations.
The crisis “should not be underestimated. It is a serious issue and, let me be clear, Europe’s answers so far have not been good enough,” Renzi said in an interview published in the Corriere della Sera daily.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Train Conductor Machete Attack Sparks Fresh Migrant Row
Two Latin American gang members charged with attempted murder
(ANSA) — Milan, June 12 — The Milan flying squad on Friday arrested two young Latin Americans on charges of attempted murder in a brutal machete attack on a train conductor and his off-duty colleague late on Thursday. They are named as 19-year-old Salvadorean Josè Emilio Rosa Martinez — whom police say is the man who wielded the machete — and Ecuadorean national Jackson Jahir Lopez Trivino, 20.
Lopez Trivino, also known as Peligro (danger, in Spanish), was arrested in a 2013 police raid against the MS13 gang which put 25 people, seven of them underage, behind bars. The suspect is in Italy on an expired residency permit, police said.
MS13 has become infamous in Milan for a string of murders, robberies, and beatings.
The victim, Carlo Di Napoli, suffered massive injuries to an arm, with a part of it almost cut off. He underwent surgery lasting around eight hours early Friday, with four specialist surgeons taking part.
“The victim suffered a injury to the left arm, leading to a subtotal amputation,” read a statement by Milan’s Niguarda hospital. “An attempt was made to recover the arm’s functionality”. It will take several days to know whether the arm has been saved, according to the statement.
An off-duty colleague who tried to help the conductor suffered head injuries, but his condition is not serious, ANSA sources said. The attack at the outlying Villapizzone station ensued after a group of three to five people of South American origin refused to show the conductor their tickets as they were about to board the train on a line that brings visitors to and from the Expo world’s fair. When things got heated, the attacker produced a machete that had been hidden in his trousers, investigators said.
Also on Friday, Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni said that security on trains must be beefed up, adding that shooting should be an option. “We’ll request that soldiers and police be deployed (on trains),” said Maroni, who is from the anti-immigrant, anti-euro Northern League party. When asked whether firearms should be used, he replied: “yes, naturally, it’s legitimate self-defence…if it’s necessary to shoot, you shoot”.
“Zero tolerance and harsh penalties,” chimed in Veneto Governor Luca Zaia, who is also from the Northern League.
“Prison straight away, the ideal would be to throw away the key,” he added.
“When Maroni was interior minister (in 2008-2011) he failed to argue as passionately against cuts to law enforcement, and railway police in particular,” said centrist Italy of Values (IdV) national secretary Ignazio Messina.
“The attackers have nothing to do with the refugees,” said Piedmont Governor Sergio Chiamparino, who also chairs the Conference of Regions.
Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) said the incident must not be confused with the immigration issue. “This absolutely insane act must not be confused with the problem of immigration,” Grasso said. “We must keep the two things separate,” he added. “This act of total insanity could not have been predicted, anywhere in the world…it has nothing to do with the rest of the problems”.
The rail line operated by Trenord has documented 44 cases of attacks against employees in the first five months of 2015, the company said.
Of these, 18 were cases of physical aggression and 26 involved violent verbal threats.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Red Cross Sets Up Refugee Clinic at Milan Central Station
Hundreds living rough in the entrance lobby
(ANSA) — Milan, June 11 — The Italian Red Cross told the regional public health service Thursday it has made a mobile clinic and an ambulance available to take care of hundreds of refugees who are sleeping rough in Milan’s Central Station.
The Red Cross acted “given the extremely serious situation at the station, where hundreds of refugees are living in the entrance lobby with very little health care and the probable presence of scabies in exponential growth”.
The mobile clinic will be operative beginning Thursday, the Red Cross said.
The ambulance will be on call 8am-8pm. Also on Thursday, Ferrovie dello Stato rail company said it will “at its own expense” equip areas of the Central Station not in use by trains or passengers for refugee food and health care distribution.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants in Hunger Strike at France-Italy Border
Dozens of migrants refused entry into France went on hunger strike on Saturday at the border crossing in Ventimiglia in Italy, where they organised a sit-in and threatened to block traffic.
French border police told AFP they had been ordered not to let through the migrants, many of whom came from Somalia, Eritrea, the Ivory Coast and Sudan, and hoped to travel onwards to Germany, Britain or Sweden to request asylum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Report Heralds Existential Threat to America
This report extensively details the networks of radical left non-profits, foundations, government agencies and the personalities behind them. Unbeknownst to most Americans they are using refugee resettlement as a pretext to import waves of immigrants from third-world nations as a key front in Obama’s strategy of “fundamentally transforming” America. These refugees have little interest in assimilating. Many are from Muslim countries, view immigration as “Hijra” i.e. a subversive means to invade a foreign nation, and have demonstrated a willingness to either support or engage in terrorism both in America and abroad.
These groups are coached by leftist non-profits to capitalize on our generous welfare programs and shown how to maneuver around legal impediments — all at our expense — but are not being taught how to assimilate. The report conservatively estimates welfare costs at $10 billion per year. Additionally, government resettlement contractors receive $1 billion annually in federal tax dollars and non-profits supporting the agenda are provided billions of dollars from non-profits like George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Niger: 18 Migrants Found Dead in Sahara Desert After Losing Their Way in a Sand Storm
NIAMEY, Niger — The International Organization for Migration says the bodies of 18 migrants who likely died of dehydration have been found in the Sahara desert in northern Niger.
Giuseppe Loprete, the IOM’s chief of mission in Niger, said in a statement Sunday that the migrants were believed to have died on June 3 after a sandstorm threw them off their route from the northern town of Arlit to Algeria.
Most of the dead came from West African countries, part of a wave of migrants trying to reach Libya to board smugglers’ boats across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. They included 17 men and one woman.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Peter Hitchens Tackles Britain’s Migrant Problem
The world’s poor have discovered that there’s no way to stop immigrants getting into the EU, writes PETE HITCHENS. And it’s so difficult to get them out, the steady flow of migrants will continue.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Station Chaos Deepens Italy Migrant Crisis
Italy’s immigration crisis intensified on Friday after a build-up of asylum-seekers at two major train stations resulted in clashes with police, an outcry from the right and fresh calls from Rome for EU help
Milan Central and Rome’s Tiburtina station were left lookin like refugee camps at times this week as hundreds of migrants heading to northern Europe saw their progress delayed or halted by a temporary reintroduction of border controls due to Monday’s summit of G7 leaders in Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Refugees Take Fast-Track to New Life in Sweden
STOCKHOLM (AFP) — Since opening its doors to Syrians fleeing war, Sweden has welcomed record numbers of refugees and a small but growing group are taking fast-tracks to jobs, bucking unemployment trends.
Rami Sabbagh, an energetic 31-year-old financial analyst, fled the Syrian capital Damascus after the regime of President Bashar al-Assad put his name on a wanted list for helping refugees from the city’s bombed-out suburbs.
Just over two years later — clad in dark jeans and a leather jacket — he leads the way to a plush meeting room in Spotify’s sleek Stockholm headquarters.
The music streaming giant hired him in March after a four-month job placement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Inhuman — Part Two: Enhanced Humans & the New Arms Race
As the director of the Future of Humanity Institute and a professor of philosophy at Oxford University, Nick Bostrom (www.NickBostrom.com) is a leading advocate of transhumanism who, as a young man, was heavily influenced by the works of Friedrich Nietzsche (from whom the phrase “God is dead” derives) and Goethe, the author of Faust. Nietzsche was the originator of the übermensch or “Overman” that Adolf Hitler dreamed of engineering, and the “entity” that man—who is nothing more than a rope “tied between beast and Overman, a rope over an abyss”—according to Nietzsche, will eventually evolve into. Like the ancient Watchers before him (Watchers, remember, were fallen angels that mingled human dna with animals and their seed to produce Nephilim. More on this will be discussed later), Bostrom envisions giving life to Nietzsche’s Overman (posthumans) by remanufacturing men with animals, plants, and other synthetic life-forms through the use of modern sciences including recombinant dna technology, germ-line engineering, and transgenics (in which the genetic structure of one species is altered by the transfer of genes from another). Given that molecular biologists classify the functions of genes within native species yet remain unsure in most cases how a gene’s coding might react from one species to another, one should expect the genetic structure of the modified animal/humans to be changed in physical appearance, sensory modalities, disease propensity, personality, behavior traits, and more as a result of these modifications.
Despite these unknowns, such genetic tinkering as depicted in the movie Splice is already taking place in thousands of research laboratories around the world, including the United States, Britain, and Australia, where animal eggs are being used to create hybrid human embryos from which stem-cell lines can be produced for medical research. Not counting synthetic biology, where entirely new forms of life are being brewed, there is no limit to the number of human-animal concoctions currently under development within openly contracted as well as top-secret science facilities. A team at Newcastle and Durham universities in the United Kingdom recently illustrated this when they announced plans to create “hybrid rabbit and human embryos, as well as other ‘chimera’ embryos mixing human and cow genes.” The same researchers more alarmingly have already managed to reanimate tissue “from dead human cells in another breakthrough which was heralded as a way of overcoming ethical dilemmas over using living embryos for medical research.” [i] In the United States, similar studies led Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University’s Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in California, to create mice with partly human brains, causing some ethicists to raise the issue of “humanized animals” in the future that could become “self aware” as a result of genetic modification.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Inhuman — Part One: The Next and Final Phase of Man is Coming
In recent years, astonishing technological developments have pushed the frontiers of humanity toward far-reaching morphological transformation that promises in the very near future to redefine what it means to be human. An international, intellectual, and fast-growing cultural movement known as transhumanism, whose vision is supported by a growing list of U.S. military advisors, bioethicists, law professors, and academics, intends the use of genetics, robotics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology (Grin technologies) as tools that will radically redesign our minds, our memories, our physiology, our offspring, and even perhaps— as Joel Garreau, in his bestselling book Radical Evolution, claims—our very souls.
Unfortunately for mankind, the technological and cultural shift now underway not only unapologetically forecasts a future dominated by a new species of unrecognizably superior humans, but an unfathomable war—both physical and spiritual—that the world is not prepared for. It will be fought on land, within the air and sea, and in dimensions as yet incomprehensible. Even now, the synthetic forces that will plot man’s wholesale annihilation are quietly under design in leading laboratories, public and private, funded by the most advanced nations on earth, including the official governments of the United States, France, Britain, Australia, and China, to name a few. As a result of progressive deduction, reasoning, and problem solving in fields of neurotechnology and cybernetics, strong artificial intelligence or “artilects” will emerge from this research, godlike, massively intelligent machines that are “trillions of trillions of times smarter than humans” and whose rise will prove profoundly disruptive to human culture, leading to a stark division between philosophical, ideological, and political groups who either support the newly evolved life forms as the next step in human and technological evolution or who view this vastly superior intellect as an incalculable risk and deadly threat to the future of humanity.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: After Public Hug, Two Gays Arrested
A few hours from Femen protest for homosexuals
(ANSAmed) — ROME, JUNE 5 — Two men, surprised while they were hugging in front of a tower in Rabat celebrating the memory of ex-king Hassan, were arrested by Moroccan police for “immodest exhibition”, broadcaster Al Aoula reports, identifying the two men and showing their picture. If found guilty, the two risk a sentence of three years in jail.
The double arrest follows by a few hours the detention and expulsion of two French young women from the Femen movement who went topless in front of the Hassan tower in a demonstration to support the rights of homosexuals (simulating a kiss). Morocco over the past few weeks has witnessed a strong debate on the condition of homosexuals after a number of human rights activists have denounced unacceptable discriminations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘100 People Blinded’ After Facial Fillers Are Injected Into Blood Vessels
Professor Jean Carruthers (pictured) said 98 patients worldwide had lost vision in one or both eyes after being injected with dermal fillers in the face. These fillers are used to smooth away frown lines.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Slavery at Sea: Human Trafficking in the Fishing Industry Exposed
In the second of a two-part series on modern-day slavery, Sarah Lazarus looks at how labourers are duped into working in a cruel and sometimes deadly fishing industry
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter to Lift 140-Character Dm Limit in Bid to Compete With Messaging Apps
Twitter is about to do away with its 140-character limit for Direct Messages. The change will come into effect next month, the social media company said in a message on its developer blog on Thursday.
Just to be clear, the 140-character limit for public tweets remains in place, with no sign of that altering.
This latest change is one of several made to the private messaging element of the app in recent months, and looks set to help Twitter compete more effectively with the myriad of popular messaging apps already on the market.
Earlier this year, the San Francisco-based company announced support for group messaging up to 20 users, while more recently it allowed users to opt in to receiving DMs from any other Twitter user. Before that, DMs could only be sent between two people who already followed each other.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Meanwhile, eighteen would-be migrants were found dead in the Sahara Desert in northern Niger, ”
How could this happen on earth while EU and Brussels reside on the same earth? EU with its superior morals, that are not like any other morals in the universe, except islamic morals which even more superior to those of EU, could sleep while those nuggets of gold were lost coming to enrich the already rich EU in every aspect.
EU has become this advanced and has progressed beyond recognition and morally sublime after it has abandoned its cruel perverted Faith and embraced islam.
Bravo EU you are perfect for islam.
If they were in fear of their lives wouldn’t Italy be a good enough country to seek asylum?or is it maybe they’re fortune hunters,i tell you this folks,they will lie and deceive,they will claim in Britain and Sweden at the same time,its money for nothing,and i hear they only need to sign on once every six months in belgium,so maybe their having a threesome on our tax payers expense,and a weeks holiday in Belgium twice a year.How long do you think it’ll be before we see white flight from the whole of a European country?Its not looking too good my friends,but law and order will shortly be a thing of the past,hopefully not in my lifetime,but at least i can say i was willing to fight,my government wasn’t
“Hunger” strike? Personally, I remember the 1960’s and 1970’s. Hunger strikers back then were carcasses, skeletons. If these “hunger” strikers anything like the “hunger” strikers we’ve recently seen, they’ve got the BMI of Glenn Beck. They really think the general public is terminally retarded. And actually, unfortunately, the majority of them are.
Where in Ara… Eura…bia are these photos from?
And, what would Walt Disney think if he could ever have seen them?