Residents in the culturally enriched southern Swedish city of Malmö are worried after “youths” set fire to a number of cars. A youth center was also torched, and local citizens said they heard explosions. Seven of the young rascals were arrested.
In other news, illegal migrants encamped outside Calais have taken to erecting barricades on the road to the port, hoping to stop the lorries bound for Britain and climb on board.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, GL, Insubria, JD, K, Takuan Seiyo, 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.
“They Can’t Print Money Forever” — Ron Paul
Ron Paul, former congressman for Texas, laid plain the absurdity of central policy towards the markets in a recent interview with Amanda Diaz on CNBC. He believes a day of reckoning is in the cards because the central banks “can’t print money forever.”
Dr. Paul blasted the role of the Federal Reserve in markets where superficial pronouncements herd speculators to and fro: “I am utterly amazed at how these Federal Reserve Chairman reports can play havoc with the market: one word — what they say and what they don’t say and who’s going to interpret it,” he said.
He believes this manipulation of markets by the Fed is having very negative consequences for the economy. Speculators are chasing Fed-induced momentum rather than making investment decisions based on analysis of what is happening in the real world. Savings, once the bedrock of American capitalism, have been replaced by easy credit leading to “a lot of malinvestment and a pyramiding of gigantic debt”, adding, “People don’t depend on savings for their capital — they depend on the Fed!”
He states that at some point the financial elites are going to have to admit that Greece’s debt is unpayable and will have to be liquidated. He sees the same thing eventually unfolding in the U.S. also, saying, “there will be an unwinding of this pyramiding of debt and all this malinvestment that has occurred for a good many years.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Jobless at Nine-Year High: Report
Norway’s unemployment rate has hit a nine-year high on the back of the downturn in the oil industry, with 4.2 percent of the workforce without jobs, Statistics Norway has reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Liquidity Crisis Intensifies: ‘Prepare for a Bear Market in Bonds’
Are we about to witness trillions of dollars of “ paper wealth” vaporize into thin air? During the next financial crisis, a lot of “ wealthy” investors are going to be in for a very rude awakening. The truth is that securities are only worth what someone else is willing to pay for them, and that is why liquidity is so important. Back on April 17th, I published an article entitled “ The Global Liquidity Squeeze Has Begun” , but it didn’ t get nearly as much attention as many of my other articles do. But now that the liquidity crisis is intensifying, hopefully people will start to grasp the implications of what is happening. The 76 trillion dollar global bond bubble is threatening to implode, and if it does, the amount of “ paper wealth” that could potentially be lost during the months ahead is almost unimaginable.
For those that do not consider the emerging liquidity crisis to be important, I would suggest that they check out what the financial experts are saying. For instance, the following comes from a recent Bloomberg report…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Visco Says Italy, Europe Still in Economic Stagnation
‘Very serious’ signals show lack confidence in eurozone
(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said Thursday that the Italian and the European economies were still in a phase of “stagnation”. He said that it “will take years” to return to the levels of economic activity seen in 2008 before the global economic crisis began to take its toll.
Visco also warned that there are “very serious” signals of a lack of confidence in eurozone countries, “a sign that on the political side, progress is still far away”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Cops Ahead. Stop at Sign and Light” Man Ticketed for Sign Warning of Speed Trap
Warning: Don’ t get between a law enforcement officer and his revenue collection schemes.
What one man said on sign got him ticketed at $138 for violating an obscure city ordinance. It took three police to issue the ticket.
The problem for Daniel Gehlke — apparently — wasn’ t that he was warning motorist about the police hiding around the corner, but that he was holding a “forbidden sign” handwritten on a plastic lid which read “ Cops Ahead. Stop at sign and light.”
“The specific issue is that he was giving instructions to motorists through the words he chose. Words like “slow down” or caution.” You can see how it would be distracting for some motorists,” a police spokesman rationalized.
Yeah, sure. I guess it had nothing to do with pointing out a lurking motorcycle cop waiting to nab people at an intersection.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Russian Link to the Charleston Massacre?
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), treated by the media as an objective source of information on right-wing “hate” groups, sent an email message to its supporters on Monday declaring evidence that the Charleston church shooter was “connected to [a] worldwide white supremacist movement.” This seemed like a big discovery. After all, the shooter, Dylann Roof, had declared in his alleged manifesto, that “We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the Internet,” when it came to racist support groups for his planned massacre of black people. The drug-abusing 21-year-old was complaining about a lack of organized support for his views.
Had the SPLC dug up some new evidence? Indeed, where was the evidence that Roof was “connected” to a global plot? SPLC President Richard Cohen informed his supporters in this email begging for financial support that “through his symbols and writings, suspect Dylann Storm Roof has expressed sentiments that are uniting white supremacists across the world—from the United States to Europe to Australia.” His symbols and writings made him part of an international plot? Is this the best the SPLC can do?
Welcome to the world of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the media’s designated “experts” on right-wing extremism. The SPLC “tracks hate groups” is the usual claim in the media. In fact, it helped inspire an actual terrorist attack on the Washington, D.C. offices of the conservative Christian Family Research Council (FRC), after a gay militant discovered the location of the FRC on an SPLC “hate map.” A security guard was wounded before he succeeded in taking down the attacker.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amazon Bans Sale of Confederate Gear, But Nazi Memorabilia Freely Available
Amazon.com has banned sales of products featuring the Confederate flag in response to last week’s Charleston massacre, but items featuring the Nazi swastika and the Communist hammer and sickle remain freely available.
The retailer moved to satiate the demands of perpetually offended leftist mobs by removing Confederate gear from its online inventory, but you’ll have no problem purchasing symbols that are intrinsically linked with the slaughter of tens of millions of people.
Here’s just a sample of what is available to purchase right now on Amazon.com;
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Bans Civil War Games From App Store Over Confederate Flag
Apple has pulled all games from its App Store which contain the Confederate flag. When explaining to developers why their content was banned, Apple stated it was “because it includes images of the confederate flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways.”
Below is an image of the Confederate flag’s use in developer HexWar Games’ historical strategy title Civil War 1863, which was banned.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cash Flood Puts Politicos, Advertisers in Bed With Racists: Column
Republican presidential candidates weren’t the only ones red-faced after the press noticed their financial ties to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a racist organization that allegedly inspired the accused Charleston killer, Dylann Roof.
The statement of CCC President Earl Holt about his donations to several GOP candidates appeared on an affiliated racist web magazine site called American Renaissance. Advertising that you might see in any mainstream web publication appeared right next to it.
It is a sign that the anything-goes world of political fundraising has a lot in common with the anything-goes world of advertising networks, where a few bad decisions can put the display advertising of America’s most storied brands right next to an an article extolling white separatism.
Much of the advertising on the web isn’t purchased by automakers or airlines to appear on specific websites, but rather to target specific kinds of people. The ads appear on websites wherever folks with the right demographics might click. Websites of every flavor sign up with ad networks run by companies like Google, and the ad networks sell the advertising. The networks then pay the websites when readers see the ads.
Taboola, a company with $200 million in annual revenue which provides the “Here’s more you might be interested in!” blurbs you see on many news sites (including USA TODAY’s), is one such network. Its ads appeared directly beneath Holt’s statement on the political fundraising controversy. The smaller, right-leaning Newsmax Feed Network, with a similar business model, ran to the right. Spokespersons for both companies say they were unaware of the racist nature of American Renaissance.
Taboola says on its website that “content that endorses any form of hate or hate group” is prohibited. After being asked about the business relationship between Taboola and American Renaissance, spokeswoman Tammy Goodman wrote, “We certainly do not identify with the ideals posed by this particular publisher, and we were not explicitly aware of them when they signed up for our service. We have thousands of different sites on our network, and while we do our best to keep content that violates our guidelines off our network, we do occasionally miss some from time to time.” Taboola has since removed its advertising from American Renaissance…
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Insider Reveals Hillary’s Lesbian Sexcapades
A Clinton insider reveals shocking details about the real Hillary Clinton and how she’s even worse than her husband Bill when it comes to chasing women!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Confederate Flag Debate: Democrats Try to Banish Statues of Confederacy Leaders From Congress
The roiling national debate over the history and future of the Confederate flag has reached the US Congress where Democrats are trying to have the banner banished from sight and Confederate statues removed.
In the wake of the Charleston massacre, states across the South are re-examining their use of a flag that many black Americans see as a symbol of hatred.
Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old white supremacist accused of the killings, embraced the Confederate flag and posed with it shortly before opening fire in the Mother Emanuel Church.
Now Bennie Thompson, the only black member of Congress from the southern state of Mississippi, is trying to have his own state’s flag removed from the halls of Congress.
The Mississippi state flag features the Confederate emblem and Mr Thompson said it represents “bigotry, hatred and everything that this country is not”.
“My ancestors were held in bondage against their will,” Mr Thompson said. “We’re a nation of laws and we should not identify with symbols of hatred or bigotry.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Construction Resumes on Hawaii’s Thirty Meter Telescope
GET out the shovels. After a two-month pause and potential abandonment, construction on Hawaii’s Thirty Meter Telescope was set to resume today.
Work ground to a halt in April after native Hawaiians raised concerns and held protests, saying that the project disregarded their culture and local ecology.
When it is finished in the early 2020s, the TMT will be the largest of the 13 telescopes on Mauna Kea’s 4200-metre peak. With nine times the collecting area of the current biggest, the TMT could capture the universe’s first light.
However, plans to build the telescope, in addition to the existing dozen, were met with criticism and activism from native Hawaiians and others.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Customs Agents to James O’Keefe: You’re Being Detained for Investigating the Federal Government
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents who detained conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe at the airport specifically asked him about the work he’s done investigating the “federal government.”
O’Keefe was detained by U.S. customs agents Monday after arriving at the airport in Nassau, Bahamas en route to Miami. Agents told O’Keefe that he was being detained for crossing back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border while dressed as Osama bin Laden in a video that was published by The Daily Caller. Agents marked his passport with an “X” and explained that he would be detained every time he enters U.S. territory henceforth. (RELATED: Feds Detain At Least One Border Crosser).
O’Keefe was not allowed to videotape the encounter as he wished. The below transcript, provided to TheDC, was written by O’Keefe as closely as possible to the actual conversation that he had with the customs agents during the standoff at the airport. Here is the dialogue that went down:
James: Well, each and every time I go back into the country you guys do this, and its because I’m a journalist and you don’t like my journalism, so let’s just get this over with, here’s my ticket with the X, just tell what room you want me in.
Customs: (Looking at computer for 15 seconds). It’s not because you’re a journalist. (Turns towards me). What type of journalism do you do?
James: I do like 60 minutes, hidden camera work, investigative, sort of like the guy who catches the predators on NBC Dateline you know?
Customs: But what specific type of journalism have you done investigating the federal government?
James: Well, first ACORN was shut down because I posed as a pimp.
Customs: Not the prostitution, the other one involving the federal government.
James: You mean the Obamacare navigators, where many were fired counseling to commit fraud?
Customs: No not that one, what did you do involving the federal govenrnment at the borders?
James: Well clearly you know which video that was. Why don’t you tell me?
Customs: No, I need you to tell me.
James: That was the one where I legally waded into the Rio Grande dressed like Osama bin Laden and embarrassed the federal government. DHS secretary was grilled under oath. Are you telling me this is retaliation for that?
Customs: I’m telling you that each time you go through here you will need to give an extra hour because we will do this each time. You have a prior criminal record and broke the law crossing into the United States unlawfully.
James: It wasn’t unlawful, I did nothing but wade back and forth. Millions of Mexicans cross and you don’t detain them for unlawful entry
Customs: You broke the law!
James: I broke the law? I’m a journalist who is trying to expose something important. Deep down in your heart when you set the burocreacy aside you have admit it needed to be exposed.
Customs: Come with me.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Insincere Apology
by Robert Spencer
“Tsarnaev apologizes for Boston Marathon bombing,” trumpeted the Boston Globe Wednesday, and certainly the young jihad murderer talked a good game: “I would like to apologize to the victims and the survivors,” he said. “I am sorry for the lives I have taken, for the suffering I have caused, and for the terrible damage I have done.” The only problem with these tardy words was that they were almost certainly insincere.
Tsarnaev gave a hint of the likelihood that his tears of repentance were of the reptilian variety when he added: “I am Muslim. My religion is Islam. I pray to Allah to bestow his mercy on those affected in the bombing and their families. I pray for your healing.”
Healing from what? The physical and emotional wounds he inflicted upon them in the name of Allah, and in his service. As prosecutors argued in April that he deserved the death penalty, they released a video of Tsarnaev three months after his attack, looking into the security camera in his cell, primping his hair in the reflection, and then flashing the V sign and then giving his middle finger to his jailers…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
(NaturalNews) While America was distracted by a contrived, pre-planned Confederate flag distraction, the U.S. Congress forfeited the entire economic future of the country by quietly passing so-called “fast-track authority” which will allow President Obama to approve the TPP “free trade” agreement.
The TPP, as you may have heard, outright surrenders U.S. sovereignty to multinational corporations, handing them total global monopolies over labor practices, immigration, Big Pharma drug pricing, GMO food labeling, criminalization of garden seeds and much more. In all, the TPP hands over control of 80% of the U.S. economy to global monopolists, and the TPP is set up to enable those corporations to engage in virtually unlimited toxic chemical pollution, medical monopolization, the gutting of labor safety laws and much more.
Plus, did I mention the TPP will displace millions of American works as corporations outsource jobs to foreign workers? While corporations rake in the profits from new global powers, everyday American workers will lose their livelihoods and their jobs (not to mention their pensions).
Political sleight of hand: It was SOOOO easy to distract the American people with a flag flap!
Essentially, America just got sold out by people like Marco Rubio. And it was incredibly easy to pull off, too. First, America was distracted by a contrived, pre-planned mass hysteria / outrage event now known as the Confederate flag flap. Hilariously, this literal false flag controversy doesn’t even involve the actual Confederate flag. It involves a battle flag that people mistakenly think is the Confederate flag. (But who needs historical accuracy when there’s hysteria to spread?)
While Amazon.com was frantically deleting Confederate flag products from its website and everybody was going bat-crap insane over the 1970’s comedy TV series Dukes of Hazzard and its use of the so-called Confederate flag on a hot rod car, Republicans and the President were busy committing outright treason at the highest levels: surrendering American sovereignty and economically enslaving all of America’s future children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Rounding up Islamic State Suspects
By Josh Rogin & Eli Lake
The FBI has been rounding up more potential “lone wolf” terrorists, Congressional leaders and the Justice Department say, in response to the perception of a mounting threat of domestic attacks inspired by the Islamic State.
Since the thwarted attack on a “Draw Mohammed” conference in Garland, Texas, on May 3, the Justice Department has announced the arrests of 10 individuals it says were inspired by and supporting the Islamic State. The lawmakers say there have been more arrests that have not yet been announced.
They say the FBI has shifted its approach toward arrests rather than keeping suspects under surveillance, and is also targeting individuals thought to be planning attacks in the U.S., unlike the bureau’s past focus on volunteers preparing to join ISIS’s fight abroad.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hillary Clinton Ran a Hostile Work Environment at the State Department
While Clinton campaigned this weekend on both her support for women and the powerless in the nation’s workplaces, her own personal record on protecting women and their civil rights appears lacking in the latest report. The report by Inspector General Steve Linck shows a disturbing increase in reported harassment investigations within the State Department during the past few years and it recommends a mandatory harassment training program for all employees at all levels within the department.
In the section regarding key findings, the report states: “A significant increase in reported harassment inquiries in the Department of State over the past few fiscal years supports the need for mandatory harassment training for Department of State employees.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How to Kill the Culture: Make the Kids Crazy
Kill the culture, and the culture will kill you right back.
One of the best ways to go about murdering your culture is to start with the children. Get their minds good and warped and anything can happen.
Italy has surged ahead in the race to extinction, coming up with compulsory cross-dressing days for kids in public schools. Italian parents are organizing against it. Don’t they know that the only meaningful protest against the public schools is to pull their children out of them?
Don’t ask me to explain why libs and humanists are always so eager to see little boys in dresses. But the official explanation for this wee experiment in social engineering is to erase “gender stereotypes.” Uh… doesn’t the everyday experience of life accomplish that? Is “gender stereotyping” so critical a problem that it must be solved by playing God with the psyches of young children?
Oh, but that’s Italy! It’ll never happen here!
Just wait.
Meanwhile, whatever portion of a child’s mind the educators don’t get around to warping, our own local despots take aim at.
Recently an 11-year-old boy in Florida came home from school to find his folks hadn’t gotten home yet. As it turned out, they were held up by bad weather and a traffic jam. So he harmlessly filled the time shooting baskets in his own yard. This innocent pastime plunged the whole family into a world of hurt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Warner Bros. has announced that it has halted production of toys and replicas of the iconic Dukes of Hazzard sports car known as the General Lee.
Dukes of Hazzard, a staple TV show of the early 1980’s, featured what may possibly be the most popular and most recognizable car in American history.
As of today, that car will no longer feature the confederate flag on its roof.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In 39 Years, US Physics Doctorates Went to 66 Black Women—and 22,000 White Men
From 1973 until 2012, a total of 66 black American women earned physics doctorates—mostly PhD’s—in US colleges. During that same amount of time, 22,172 white men earned their doctorates.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Insider Exposes Clinton Blood Money and the Dixie Mafia
Clinton insider Larry Nichols has been receiving a lot of attention from Fox News and others after appearing on our show last week, and he joins us again to break down more on the Clinton/Bush dynasty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Left Links Second Amendment to Confederacy
Charles J. Reid, Jr., a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas, believes states do not have the constitutional right to pass laws nullifying federal gun control legislation.
Reid, writing for the leftist website The Huffington Post, argues:…
Reid ignores the fact both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison supported the theories of nullification and the ideal was included in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798. The resolutions unmistakably call for aggressive state action to stop the federal government from exercising undelegated powers not mentioned in the Constitution and underscored by the Tenth Amendment.
Calhoun, as a South Carolina senator, based his concept of nullification on the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Although Madison rejected what has become known as Calhounism, he asserted the “right of nullification… is the natural right, which all admit to be a remedy against insupportable oppression.”
Jefferson asserted the right of nullification more vigorously than Madison. In his draft of The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798, he wrote
[…]where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact … to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them…
Historian and author Thomas Woods explains how nullification and secession are distorted by the “thought controllers” on the left:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Air to Launch Winter Flights Between the U.S. And the Caribbean
Two years ago, Norwegian Air Shuttle brought a low-cost business model to the U.S. with cheap flights between the U.S. and Europe, provoking rival carriers and airline employees on both sides of the Atlantic.
Now Norwegian will begin flying directly to the Caribbean from Baltimore, Boston, and New York under an Open Skies agreement between the United States and the European Union and Norway, expanding its cut-rate business right in the backyard of the U.S. airline industry.
Norwegian said today it will launch winter flights on Boeing 737s from the three cities to Guadeloupe and Martinique on Dec. 3, with fares starting at $79 from the U.S. The New York flights, from JFK International Airport, will operate three times a week; the other flights, twice weekly.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Number of Islamic Terror-Related Arrests in 2015 Surpass Previous Two Years Combined
by Patrick Poole
Last month I reported here exclusively at PJ Media on the rapidly escalating number of Islamic terror-related arrests this year, noting that we were on pace to surpass the number of arrests for 2013 and 2014 combined (48) before the halfway point of the current year next week.
In fact, that is exactly what has happened. At present 53 suspects have been arrested or involved in Islamic terror-related incidents with law enforcement since the beginning of the year.
This is top among reasons why Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said just a few days ago that this is “the highest threat level we have ever faced in this country”.
It should be noted that every single case I’ve reported on here involves support for ISIS. This is undoubtedly the result of a directive from FBI headquarters for its field offices to “shake every tree” following the attempted terror attack in Garland, Texas in early May, much to the bureau’s credit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Subsidies Upheld in US Supreme Court Ruling
The US Supreme Court has upheld a key portion of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, preserving health insurance for millions of Americans.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices said that tax subsidies that make health insurance affordable for low-income individuals are constitutional.
The ruling preserves the law known as Obamacare, which Mr Obama considers a major part of his presidential legacy.
Republicans have vowed to continue fighting the law.
“We’ve got more work to do, but what we’re not going to do is unravel what has now been woven into the fabric of America,” Mr Obama said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obamatrade: Biggest Threat to U.S. Since American Revolution
There’s growing resistance to keep Obama from obtaining “fast track” authority to negotiate one-sided trade agreements with Pacific Rim countries and others.
[Comment: Headline is an understatement.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Revolt: Millions of N.Y. Gun Owners Refuse to Register Firearms
Millions of New York gun owners refused to register their firearms to comply with the draconian N.Y. SAFE Act.
So far only around 24,000 gun owners, many of them cops, registered their semiautomatic rifles with the state, meaning that the law has effectively been repealed through civil disobedience.
“I am amused at the pathetically low numbers of New Yorkers who registered their so-called assault rifles,” New York State Rifle & Pistol Association President Tom King said. “The number of individuals who registered their guns is 24,000 and many of these are law-enforcement officials mandated to comply by their department.”…
Protestors against the law marked the April 15 registration deadline by destroying state registration cards.
“They have been shredding the Constitution for years,” gun owner Rus Thompson said. “You shred the Constitution, we’ll shred any form you want us to fill out.”
“They can’t arrest a million people. What are they going to do?”
Erie Co. Sheriff Timothy B. Howard publicly said he wouldn’t enforce the SAFE Act.
“The Constitution is the law of the land,” he stated. “If you know it’s a violation of the Constitution, how can you enforce it?”
Howard described the SAFE Act as one of the strongest examples of the government not listening to the people.
“It’s an unenforceable law and I believe it will ultimately be declared unconstitutional,” he said. “Do you want law enforcement people that will say ‘I will do this because I’m told to do this, even if I know it’s wrong?’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Scalia Leads Scathing Dissent on ObamaCare Ruling, Dubs Law ‘SCOTUScare’
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his conservative colleagues may have been overruled in Thursday’s decision upholding ObamaCare subsidies, but they didn’t go down without a fight.
The firebrand conservative justice delivered one of the most scathing and linguistically creative dissents in recent memory. In a 21-page rebuttal, Scalia and two other justices tore into the Affordable Care Act and the court’s handling of it over the years — effectively accusing their colleagues of twisting the law for the sake of preserving President Obama’s signature policy.
“Today’s interpretation is not merely unnatural; it is unheard of,” Scalia wrote, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Puts Obama on Fast-Track to TPP
After the measure barely squeaked by with 60 votes in favor, Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) accused the US government of not serving the needs of its citizens, saying the White House “broke arms and heads” to scrape up the required majority.
“When ordinary Americans who never asked for the plan, who don’t want the plan, who want no part of the plan, resist, they are scorned, mocked, and heaped with condescension,” Sessions said in a statement. “It is remarkable that so much energy has been expended on advancing the things Americans oppose, and preventing the things Americans want.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Soros and State Dept. Funded Group Claims Most Terrorists in the U.S. Are White
Invents white terror threat from the actions of demented individuals.
[Comment: Demonize first, then rounding up “dissidents”.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court (Thomas!) Kicks the First Amendment to the Curb
The U.S. Supreme Court has pretty much kicked the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause to the curb — and you can blame one of the most conservative voices for that, Justice Clarence Thomas.
In a ruling just handed down Monday, the court found in Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Board v. Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans the government does indeed have the authority to regulate political speech.
Yes, that’s the ruling: The government can now legally regulate private citizens’ political speech.
The justices should have glanced at the statements of one of their colleagues, Justice Thurgood Marshall, who in 1972 made it clear: “Above all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content. To permit the continued building of our politics and culture, and to assure self-fulfillment for each individual, our people are guaranteed the right to express any thought, free from government censorship. The essence of this forbidden censorship is content control.”
Content control, indeed. And content control on the part of the government toward the free American citizen is what we now have.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Majority of American Babies Are Now Minorities
Racial and ethnic minorities now surpass non-Hispanic whites as the largest group of American children under 5 years old, the Census Bureau said Thursday.
The reversal in 2014 marked a milestone in a trend toward a more diverse U.S. that’s projected to continue. Births outnumbered deaths for all ethnic and racial groups last year except for non-Hispanic whites, the new Census data show. A report earlier this year projected that by 2044, today’s majority white population will be the minority.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
TPP Passes: Obama Now a Dictator
One of the most devastating blows to US sovereignty since the country’s founding was dealt today as the Senate handed President Obama his Trans-Pacific Partnership victory.
Despite massive opposition from the American people, Tea Party Republicans and a majority of Democrats, Obama was granted fast-track authority by a 60-38 vote.
Sections of the TPP published by Wikileaks have revealed the treaty’s vast influence over multiple areas including individual rights, internet freedom and even the rule of law itself. Unelected corporate boards and the President can now wield unprecedented control over almost every aspect of human activity.
“If you read, write, publish, think, listen, dance, sing or invent; if you farm or consume food; if you’re ill now or might one day be ill, the TPP has you in its crosshairs,” Wikileaks’ Julian Assange wrote.
Secret TPP chapters regarding immigration also grant President Obama an even greater ability to erode the country’s Southern border.
“Obama will be able to finalize all three of the Obamatrade deals, without any Congressional input…” notes Breitbart.
The TPP, which covers 12 countries and more than 40% of the world’s economy, will place North America under the same global government structure as the European Union, where laws are increasingly crafted outside of public influence.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Attorney: ‘Nothing’ About Boston Marathon Bombing ‘Was Islam Associated’
US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz declared “there was nothing about this crime that was Islam associated” regarding the Boston Marathon bombing at a press conference on Wednesday.
Ortiz stated, “And, we believe that, at the end of the day, the punishment that was rendered by the jury appropriately fitted the crime, a crime of terrorism, a crime that was not religiously motivated, and a crime that was intended to coerce and intimidate our country, but the response has been otherwise.”
Later, Ortiz said of Tsarnaev, “He didn’t renounce terrorism. He didn’t renounce violent extremism, and he couched his comments in line with Allah, and Allah’s views, which give it a religious tone, and there was nothing, as you heard judge O’Toole say in the courtroom, there was nothing about this crime that was Islam associated, so that’s what I was struck by more.”
She also responded to a question about Tsarnaev’s references to Allah, Mohammed, and the Koran, with “That is that a skewed view of the religion of Islam. That is not what Islam is all about, and so when individuals utilize that, it is a radicalized view, that ideology. It’s a radical ideology, which really isn’t at the heart of what is truly a peaceful and loving religion.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In 2008, we warned you about Obama. Over and over again, we presented material documents showing that Obama had worked with and still worked with the enemies—many like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who did so with extreme violence—of the USA, its people… and, ultimately, every area where liberty lived. However, not willing to bother with any and/or all facts but, preferring the super-charged emotion of the dictator-to-be moment, too many Americans voted for him anyway. Besides, many US citizens had to prove they weren’ t racist—so they voted for a Democrat-advertised half-black man who had only recently begun a career in politics. But, he had a winning way about him, a great smile and could give a rousing speech. Hmmm. Seems there was at least one other leader in the 1930s who fit that description. But… I digress.
By 2012, the ObamaGov had already shown many of its stripes. Only a few of its attacks against Americans include the following. It passed ObamaCare—which was designed to destroy the US Healthcare System and has been affecting a terrific job in doing so— behind closed doors by Democrats alone and without the American people and their Republican “leaders” knowing what was in it…
Now, the Left-Wing of the Republican Party—think McConnell, Boehner, Ryan and their minions—have joined Obama in his quest to destroy the USA and its people while sharing in the spoils. The Marxist leader of the House—John Boehner—and the new Senate “leader” (aka Obama’ s NEW Harry Reid… McConnell) have joined forces and issued commandments that their underlings vote for Obama’ s TPA, TPP and whatever other “Ts” are forthcoming.
The passage of any and/or all of these programs will ensure the ultimate end of US sovereignty, as authority to make deals with other countries, and other pieces of the TPP that are not being released to the public will likely destroy it. Remember Pelosi’ s “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it”? The TPP is the deal that will give additional controls to international law supplanting US law, will give other countries the right to sue US companies—and the USA itself— for any reason. This is a huge chunk of US sovereignty that will be given away with this corrosive and destructive deal. We already know what Obama has done thus far. Giving him free reign to negotiate any deal with anyone else will mean disaster to us all… disaster that we’ re already facing with another Obama anti-US citizens program Jade Helm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty International Spain Decries Lack of Action Against Housing Crisis
The scene has played out repeatedly all over Spain since recent municipal elections: councilors and mayors from leftist coalitions mediating in home evictions.
“This is what it means to be everyone’s mayor,” said José María González, the new head of Cádiz, after trying to stop a family of tenants from being evicted from their low-rent home earlier this week.
Spain has nearly 30 percent of all the empty homes in Europe, but the authorities have not used these units…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Texas Shooting Mohammed Drawings Coming to Copenhagen
The Danish anti-Islam organisation Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark (SIAD) has revealed it will show the same Mohammed drawings that were shown in an exhibition in Garland, Texas, where two Islamist gunmen were shot and killed last month while trying to attack it.
The exhibition will be held at the Black Diamond Library in Copenhagen on August 15, according to Anders Gravers, the head of SIAD.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Government Loses World’s First Climate Liability Lawsuit
The Dutch government has lost a landmark legal case over its greenhouse gas emissions plans.
The environmental group Urgenda brought a class action suit over climate change on behalf of some 900 citizens, including children. The suit claimed that the government’s action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is insufficient, and is therefore “knowingly exposing its own citizens to dangerous situations”.
Urgenda asked that the court in the Hague “declare that global warming of more than 2 °C will lead to a violation of fundamental human rights worldwide”. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, governments must cut emissions to between 25 and 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 to have a 50 per cent chance of avoiding 2 °C. Yet European Union states have signed up for 40 per cent cuts by 2030.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Earthquake Among the Jesuits, at the Pontifical Oriental Institute
The general of the Society of Jesus has decommissioned the rector and the two deans. The Islamologue Samir Khalil Samir is the new provisory regent. A disaster predicted years ago
by Sandro Magister
ROME, April 21, 2015 — Last week the Pontifical Oriental Institute mourned the mysterious death of one of its professors, Fr. Lanfranco Rossi, found lifeless in a rural area just outside Rome.
But also last week the institute was hit with a genuine institutional earthquake, with the decommissioning of its executive staff.
The order, signed by the superior general of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, the deputy grand chancellor of the institute, was up on the bulletin board for just one day. But many were able to read it and find out.
As of Tuesday, April 14, rector James McCann and the deans of the faculties of ecclesiastical sciences and Eastern canon law, Philippe Luisier and Michael Kuchera, all Jesuits, have been removed from their positions.
Called in to manage the institute temporarily, with the title of “ad interim” pro-rector, is Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, 77, born in Egypt, a prominent Orientalist and Islamologue, formerly a professor at the Université Saint-Joseph of Beirut and at other universities of Europe and America.
And appointed as the new pro-deans are Frs. Edward G. Farrugia and Sunny Thomas Kokkaravalayil.
The order was put into effect immediately, without waiting for the beginning of the new academic year. In the letter giving notice of the provision, the superior general of the Jesuits denounced the “uncharitable” spirit that has split the teaching community, with grave harm to the institute’s mission…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
EU President Warns Britain: Bloc’s Fundamental Values ‘Not for Sale’
The European Union’s president is warning Britain that he’s open to suggestions on how the bloc must change, but that “the fundamental values of the European Union are not for sale and so are non-negotiable.”
EU President Donald Tusk spoke Thursday as bloc leaders gathered for a summit in Brussels.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he’ll use the two-day event to explain to other heads of state and government that the 28-nation EU must reform or risk losing the backing of a majority of British voters.
Cameron and his Conservative Party won a general election in May. Cameron has promised a referendum by 2017 on whether Britain, an EU member since 1973, stays in the bloc or not.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Vows to Stop UberPop Amid Protests
The French government responded to nationwide protests by taxi drivers on Thursday by vowing to crackdown on ride-sharing app UberPop. There were ugly scenes across the country as protests turned violent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Cabbies Disrupt Traffic to Protest Against Uber
French taxi drivers have brought traffic to a standstill in sometimes violent protests against Uber. Taxi drivers in France and other European countries have complained that Uber is unfairly hurting their livelihoods.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Tourists Pitch Tents in Venice Historical Centre
Tourists have been spotted pitching tents in Venice’s historical centre. It’s just the latest incident of visitors behaving badly in Italy. During the summer months it can be difficult to find a hotel room in Venice, let alone one that is reasonably priced.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Audit Court Says Tax Burden ‘Barely Tolerable’
Says spending review challenged by tight money
(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Italy’s audit court said Thursday that the high level of taxes in the country has created a pressure on citizens that is “barely tolerable”. According to the court, the tax burden in 2014 was equal to 43.5% of GDP, 1.7 percentage points higher than the average for the entire eurozone. The court also said that a “very rigid” pension system and tight savings margins were cutting into workers’ pay and spending, making it harder for the government’s spending review plans.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Landmark Court Ruling Tells Dutch Government to Do More on Climate Change
In a precedent-setting judgment, a Dutch court has ruled that the Netherlands must step up its efforts to reduce domestic greenhouse-gas emissions. Citing science as the basis of its verdict, a District Court in The Hague said that the state must take measures to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by at least 25% by 2020, relative to 1990 levels, in order to prevent possibly dangerous climate change.
The Dutch government can appeal the ruling — although it has not yet said whether it will do so. Nor is it clear what happens if the government fails to take action. But legal experts say that it is the first time that a judge has required a state to take precautions to mitigate the effects of climate change.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NATO Faces Hitches in Public Opinion
NATO has upgraded its readiness to confront battlefield threats, but public-diplomacy failings could hobble quick deployments. Teri Schultz reports from Brussels.
As NATO defense ministers gather in Brussels to assess the newly expedited and integrated capabilities of their military forces, they’ll be taking a hard look at how to bring their political decision-making processes into “very high readiness” too, to match those upgraded hardware skills.
At the same time, one big challenge facing the alliance won’t even be on the official agenda of their two-day meeting. NATO leaders must acknowledge that, as much work as they’ve put into reinforcing solidarity within the structures of the organization, they need to address a massive solidarity problem among their publics, especially with military deployments in some countries dependent on parliamentary approval, a.k.a.: public support.
A Pew Research Center survey shows more than half of French, Germans and Italians would not support the use of military force in a hypothetical conflict with Russia. Going to the defense of an ally is the most serious obligation of any member of the NATO alliance, under Article V of the founding treaty. It’s only been invoked once — after the US was attacked on 9/11 — but a resurgent Russia keeps the term on the tip of many nations’ tongues, nations such as the Baltic states and Poland, who fear a Russian incursion.
But the incursion of the reality of public sentiment is disconcerting as well. “If I were at NATO, I’d be very worried” about some of these poll numbers, says Bruce Stokes, the director for global economic attitudes at the Pew Research Center. Stokes said many defense officials in both Europe and the US told him in advance they were expecting to be displeased with the outcome of the survey on solidarity; at least one told Stokes he hoped the results would not be published.
‘A grave security situation’
Coming off the mock battlefield in Poland last week where he and hundreds of other allied soldiers were honing newly highly-integrated rapid-reaction capabilities, one German officer admitted he felt disappointed to see poll results showing 58 percent of his fellow citizens wouldn’t support deploying his brigade in case Russia attacked another NATO country.
Germany’s history and conditioned response to military engagement has many people more surprised that 38 percent of Germans actually said NATO should be sent to protect a threatened ally. Yet, just 47 percent of respondents in France and only 40 percent in Italy said NATO should get involved, while those in Spain were almost evenly split. Speaking on background — as he didn’t have clearance to go on the record — the colonel concluded somewhat despondently that the more than 11,000 people polled by Pew across eight NATO nations simply didn’t understand the gravity of Europe’s security situation today. And that’s a big concern, he said, since German Chancellor Angela Merkel is just one of the leaders who would need parliamentary approval for any deployment of their military.
Standing on the sidelines of NATO’s biggest joint exercises since the escalation of conflict with Russia over Ukraine, it was obvious European militaries take heightened security threats — and the commitment to commonly defend against them — seriously, whether or not populations do. The Pew Center survey came as NATO rolled out the first demonstration of its new spearhead force and other upgraded responses to the Kremlin’s aggressive stance, throwing the whole weight of the 28-member alliance into reassuring vulnerable members on or near the Russian border.
Visiting some of the series of exercises throughout the Baltics and Poland, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared them a “strong expression of the commitment of all allies to protect each other … the core task of NATO.” “It’s all for one and one for all,” Stoltenberg told the press assembled to watch Noble Jump in Zagan, Poland. Asked about the apparent lack of public support for collective defense, Stoltenberg said “of course there will be different political discussion in different allied countries, but the commitment is there, it’s strong and it’s once again confirmed by the alliance by the implementation of the Readiness Action Plan,” of which the spearhead force is a component.
But, standing beside him, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the numbers in the survey should be taken seriously. He said both politicians and the media should be explaining to the public that “this peaceful period after the Second World War is now over,” citing crises erupting not only in Europe’s nearest neighborhood but also the threat of the “Islamic State” and other security challenges in North Africa. “We cannot defend our European way of life if we don’t do more for our defense,” Siemoniak said. “Doing more also means being ready to sacrifice for your allied countries, and I think it’s a task for all of us to convince the public they should be ready to do more before it’s too late.”
Onus on politicians
NATO knows that regardless of how tuned up the military machine is, the alliance must deal with a still slow political side and outreach efforts that have thus far obviously been insufficient to increase public support. Dr. Joerg Forbrig, a Transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, says NATO should indeed be “shocked” by the results, but that he believes the situation is already gradually improving as the public’s “slow digestion” of threat perception takes place.
But Forbrig says it’s not all citizens’ fault they may not understand what’s at stake and what NATO allies’ responsibilities are to one another. Policymakers need to do more to explain, Forbrig urged, and to decide what a collective response would be when it comes to newer threats. What most people understand as an Article V case and response is a military exchange,” he notes, “but “we have a lack of clarity as to whether a cyberattack, a hybrid-warfare style [attack] would constitute an Article V.”
But underneath all of that, Forbrig says if a call for collective defense came in, he’s fully confident the German government would respond as required. “I can imagine that there are discussions about what constitutes this case what the response can be,” he said, “and there certainly will have to be a very hard look at what the response can be in terms of what’s there in terms of resources and capabilities … but contracts are there to be honored.”
And, Bruce Stokes contends, as disappointing as the numbers may be to NATO leaders, it’s important to know what needs to be done in terms of public awareness. “One of the reasons we do these surveys is to hopefully inform the public policy process,” he added. “The fact we’ve stirred the pot here a bit is a very good thing.”
a.. Date 24.06.2015
b.. Author Teri Schultz, Brussels
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rosetta to Spiral Onto Comet’s Surface After Extended Mission
Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft, which is currently orbiting a comet as it hurtles around the sun, has been given nine additional months of operation time and will likely end its life by spiraling down onto the comet’s surface, officials said.
The Rosetta probe is currently orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is zooming toward its closest approach to the sun in mid-August. The European Space Agency (ESA) said in a statement yesterday (June 23) that it would extend the mission, which was originally funded until the end of December 2015, through September 2016.
On Nov. 12, 2014, Rosetta deployed the Philae lander onto the surface of the comet. Philae came to rest in a shady spot, preventing its solar panels from recharging the lander. But just last week, Philae woke up, having regained some energy as more sunlight reached the surface of the come
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
See Where the Vikings Travelled
Use the interactive map to find out where the Vikings travelled to and how they traded and plundered in everything from spices to slaves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: More Malmö Unrest as Youth Centre Burns
People in the troubled suburb of Kroksbäck in Malmö reported hearing explosions on Wednesday night, as emergency services discovered several cars and a community centre on fire.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Illegal Rental-Apartment Leases Linked to Organized Crime
Notoriously difficult to secure a rental apartment in Stockholm, police now say that illegal leases, which are sold for tens of thousands of Swedish kronor in order to skip long queues, have become a popular source of income for organized crime networks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Latest Car Fires in Malmö Have Residents Worried
A meeting hall and three cars were set ablaze in the Malmö neighborhood of Kroksbäck last night. Nobody was hurt, and the fires were put out quickly, according to news agency TT.
“But the residents are obviously worried, after everything that’s happened,” Kim Hild, a press officer with the police in the southern region, told news agency TT.
One of the cars belonged to a resident who had been actively working to stem violence in the area.
“Of course, I’m scared for my family’s sake,” that resident told news agency TT. “I tell my kids, who are worried and scared, all the time that one can’t give up — one has to fight for rights and against things like racism and violence.”
Seven young men were arrested, suspected of arson, after last night’s fires.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Spaniards Die After Being Gored by Bulls
GRAPHIC FOOTAGE: Two men have died after being gored by bulls in two separate incidents during Spain’s San Juan fiesta.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: DPP’s Alison Saunders Warns Rapists Are Using Twitter and Facebook to Groom Victims
Rapists and paedophiles are using information posted on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to target their next victims according to a warning by the DPP Alison Saunders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain must stop ‘sleepwalking’ and prepare to tackle Muslim extremism as seriously as it planned for the Second World War, a former head of the Armed Forces warned.
Lord Richards of Herstmonceux said extremism posed a ‘real threat’ to the world and condemned politicians for being too ‘reluctant’ to lead the way.
He warned that Islamic State jihadists would wreak a ‘hell of a lot of damage’ in the coming years and said they must be defeated through ‘effectively military intervention’.
Speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, said: ‘I think the problem is that we have not seen that we need to approach this issue of Muslim extremism as we might approach World War Two back in the 30s.’
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What is Artificial Blood and Why is the UK Going to Trial it?
Artificial blood will soon be tested in the UK for the first time. New Scientist takes a look at how — and why — this blood is made.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo: Islamic NGOs Suspected of Financing Terrorism
Police raids in Pristina and Prizren
(ANSA) — PRISTINA — The Kosovo police raided the offices of five NGOs of Islamic orientation, suspected of financing terrorism and of money laundering. As reported by local media, the inspections concerned the organizations ‘Nisa’ ‘Bregu i Diellit’ and ‘Ibni Sina’, based in Pristina, and ‘Kuran’ and ‘Ehli Bejti’, in Prizren.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland to Extradite Acquitted War Crimes Suspect Oric to Bosnia, Not Serbia
Switzerland has said it will extradite the former commander of the mainly Muslim Bosnian government forces in Srebrenica to Bosnia. The case has raised tensions between Sarajevo and Belgrade.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Female Genital Mutilation: Why Egyptian Girls Fear the Summer
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) Summer days: They’re what childhood memories are made of, glorious afternoons of unchecked freedom to frolic with friends in the sun, unshackled from the earthly obligations of a math class that never seemed further away.
But for millions of schoolgirls in Egypt, this time of year represents something much darker: the start of the female genital mutilation (FGM) season.
Mona Mohamed was 10 years old when she underwent what’s also known as a female circumcision on a hot summer day in her village in Upper Egypt.
“I was terrified,” she said. “They tied me down, my mother on one hand and my grandmother on the other.”
As Mona thrashed around, pinned by her loved ones to the living room floor, a doctor injected her with anesthesia.
Mona remembers being given a piece of bubble gum to chew on before she finally passed out. It wasn’t until she woke up that she realized she had been mutilated.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Key Muslim Body Al-Azhar Condemns ‘Sick’ Mohammed Cartoons
Cairo (AFP) — The leading Sunni Muslim seat of learning, Al-Azhar, on Thursday denounced the “sick imagination” behind cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that were aired on Dutch national television.
A statement by the Cairo-based Al-Azhar also urged Muslims to “ignore this odious terrorist act”, a day after some 10 cartoons were screened by anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders during a television slot for political parties.
| — Hat tip: GL | [Return to headlines] |
Critics Say Israel’s Netanyahu Has Caved to Developers in Emerging Gas Deal
When natural gas was discovered a few years ago off the shores of resource-poor Israel, it was heralded as nothing short of a miracle, but an emerging deal with developers has been plagued by criticism, with opponents accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of caving to a monopoly.
After long negotiations, a government committee has struck a deal with the firms, which aims to break up their monopolistic control of Israel’s gas reserves and introduce competition while maintaining incentives for fresh investment. But liberal lawmakers and environmentalists say the deal would squander a national treasure.
Netanyahu has held firm, and said this week he was “not impressed by the populist attack.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Booze Runs, Pork Smuggling, And a Fixation on Shiites: More Revelations From Saudi Cables
WikiLeaks’ publication of more than 60,000 Saudi documents has set pens racing across the Middle East with disclosures about the secretive Arab monarchy’s foreign affairs. But lost amid the torrent of revelations are offbeat memos showing the underbelly of Riyadh’s diplomacy, including candid accounts of booze runs and pork smuggling.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS Pushes Back Against Kurds and Syrian Army
‘Islamic State’ militants have launched a two-pronged surprise attack on Kurdish-held Kobani and Syrian forces in Hassakeh. Ankara rejects the accusation that Kobani attackers infiltrated the city from Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Moves in on Al-Qaeda Turf
The Islamic State (IS) group has forged links with militants from Nigeria to Pakistan, embracing regional franchises that have pledged allegiance to the group.
The latest group to sign up is based in the republics of Russia’s North Caucasus, led by a Dagestan jihadist commander who defected to IS from the al-Qaeda-aligned rebel movement known as the Caucasus Emirate.
The first new branches beyond the group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq were announced by IS leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi in November last year when he accepted pledges of allegiance from jihadists in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Some of those pledges came from existing groups which went on to re-brand themselves as new IS “provinces”, or wilayat, such as the Egyptian Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis and Algeria’s Jund al-Khilafah.
The most active branches have been those in Libya and Egypt, which have tapped into the IS media network to publish a steady flow of propaganda, highlighting attacks and publicising their attempts at governance.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Storms Syrian City of Hassakeh, Stages Offensive on Kobani
Islamic State militants in Syria stormed government-held neighborhoods in the predominantly Kurdish northeastern city of Hassakeh on Thursday morning, capturing several areas of the city, officials and state media said.
The attack came after the Islamic State group suffered several setbacks in northern Syria against Kurdish forces over the past weeks. The city of Hassakeh is divided between Bashar Assad’s forces and Kurdish fighters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NGO: Clashes Between IS and Loyalists in North-Eastern Syria
Islamic State militants attack Hasake, regional capital
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, JUNE 25 — Heavy fighting is underway between Isis jihadists and Syrian government forces in Hasake, the regional capital of the north-eastern region with the same name on the border between Iraq and Turkey, the Syrian National Observatory for Human Rights reported adding that 50 people, including both jihadists and loyalists have died in combat.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Radiant Reefs Found Deep in the Red Sea
Shallow-water corals in the Red Sea glow green, but marine scientists have discovered corals some 50—60 metres below the surface that take on dazzling hues of yellow, orange and red.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi-Led Airstrikes, Rebel Shelling Kills 9 Civilians in Yemen
SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni security officials say Saudi-led airstrikes and shelling by Shiite rebels have killed nine civilians.
They said five civilians were killed Thursday when airstrikes targeted Shiite rebels, also known as Houthis, in a market in the northern province of Jawf. At least four civilians were killed when the Houthis shelled a residential area in the southern port city of Aden.
Airstrikes hit rebel positions in the southern city of Ataq, the northern rebel stronghold Saada, and Lahj, one of the gateways to Aden.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Syria Crisis: IS Makes Deadly Return to Kobane
Islamic State fighters have attacked the Syrian city of Kobane, months after being driven out in a symbolic battle that made international headlines.
They detonated car bombs and launched an assault. Kurdish media say at least 50 civilians have been killed, including 20 in a nearby village.
IS has recently suffered a string of defeats to Kurdish forces.
But in another attack on Thursday, it seized parts of the key north-eastern city of Hassakeh.
The apparent two-pronged IS offensive came as Kurdish fighters from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) cut a major supply line for IS near Raqqa.
Raqqa is the de facto capital of the caliphate whose creation IS announced a year ago after it captured large swathes of northern and western Iraq.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey ‘Let ISIL Cross Border to Attack Kobane’: As it Happened
Figen Yuksekdag, the co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey, told reporters there was a “high probability” that the attackers on Thursday had entered Kobane from Turkey. Ankara has denied such allegations. Eyewitnesses have also reported seeing the jihadists cross from Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Russia Rehearsed Invasion of Sweden’
Claims that thousands of Russian soldiers took part in a huge military exercise which simulated a takeover of the Swedish island of Gotland earlier this year have caused jitters in Sweden.
Some 33,000 Russian soldiers rehearsed a military takeover of the Baltic Sea area on March 21st to 25th, including practising the seizure of Gotland off Sweden’s east coast, Danish island Bornholm, Finland’s Swedish-speaking Åland islands and northern Norway, security expert Edward Lucas writes in a new report for US-based Center for European Policy Analysis (Cepa).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Texan Fights Tyranny in Ukraine
By Xavier Lerma
The Alamo has always been known as the Thermopylae of the West. Like Spartans, the state of Texas in America has been known for fighting tyranny since they defeated Santa Anna and his men in the early 19th century and also for defying the government in the American Civil War. In WW2, Audie Murphy was Texas’ best in fighting the Nazis. Ever since Obama has come into office they’ve made threats to leave the US government. One Texan last year wrote me to tell President Putin to invite Russian military so they can secede. Texans are not afraid to fight for freedom. Even in SE Ukraine the spirit of Texas fights the tyrannical US beast in Donbass.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia’s Caucasus Islamists ‘Pledge Allegiance’ To IS
Islamist militants in four regions of Russia’s Caucasus have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, according to a recording which was welcomed by IS after being posted online.
The news sparked fears that the jihadist group’s influence is growing among the region’s younger generation of Islamists, and that they may try to prove themselves by staging brutal attacks on Russian soil.
The voice recording posted on YouTube on Sunday said militants in Russia’s Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria regions had all sworn fealty to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“We testify that all mujahedeen of the Caucasus… are united in this decision and there are no disagreements among us on this issue,” the male voice says, listing the four Russian regions in the recording both in Arabic and Russian…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Aung San Suu Kyi Cannot Run for Presidency, Parliament Says
Myanmar also throws out move to facilitate constitutional change
(ANSA) — Yangon, June 25 — Myanmar’s parliament on Thursday voted against a constitutional amendment that would allow veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stand in presidential elections later this year.
The former military junta-drafted constitution bars those with a foreign spouse or children from the presidency.
The 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate’s late husband and two sons are British. Elections are expected later this year and Suu Kyi’s opposition party National League for Democracy is in pole position following its sweeping victory in by-elections in 2012.
On Thursday parliament also voted against a proposal to lower the majority of votes needed to change the constitution from the current 75% to 70%. Given that the constitution currently guarantees 25% of parliamentary seats to the army’s nominees this effectively means that the military has the power to veto any constitutional change. A reform process has been underway in Myanmar since November when military rule was replaced by a new military-backed civilian government after the first elections in 20 years. Suu Kyi was subsequently released from house arrest after spending the best part of two decades in some form of confinement.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign Donors’ Nepal Aid Pledges Fall Short of Needs
India, China and other foreign donors have announced billions in aid for Nepal at a donors’ conference. But Nepal says it needs twice as much to rebuild the country after the April 25 and May 12 earthquakes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India’s Supreme Court Delays Marines Case to July 14
Latorre due to return to India by July 15
(ANSA) — New Delhi, June 25 — India’s Supreme Court on Thursday postponed until July 14 a hearing in the case of two Italian marines facing possible trial for murder.
The hearing had been scheduled for July 7 after an original postponement in late April due to the impending summer recess. Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are appealing against the use of India’s NIA anti-terrorism police to probe the case involving the shooting deaths of two fishermen who they allegedly mistook for pirates during an international anti-piracy mission in February 2012.
They argue that the NIA no longer has jurisdiction over the incident after application of the SUA anti-terrorism act was dropped last year following an Italian appeal.
The new hearing date comes just ahead of the July 15 deadline for Latorre to return to India from Italy where he has been receiving medical treatment after suffering a stroke last summer and undergoing heart surgery in January. Thursday’s postponement is the latest in a long series of delays in the case that have strained diplomatic relations between the two countries, with Italy arguing that the marines should not be tried in India as the case falls outside its jurisdiction.
A special tribunal has been established in New Delhi to try the servicemen but all hearings have been postponed pending the outcome of their Supreme Court appeal.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 1.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Aceh: Nine Sentenced to Flogging for Selling Food During Ramadan
The owner of a kiosk and eight assistants. The officers also seized food and drinks from private citizens. Obligation of fasting imposed on non-Muslims. Policy of “zero tolerance” in the province against those who do not respect Islamic law.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Flogged because they were selling food along roadsides, during the daily period of fasting and prayer in the month of Ramadan. This is the punishment handed down to at least nine people in Banda Aceh, the province of Aceh, the extreme western point of the Indonesian archipelago, the only area in the nation where sharia, or Islamic law, is rigorously applied.
The local government — in particular mayor Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal — confirms its “zero tolerance” of practices and behavior that contradict the Muslim faith, above all in this holy period of fasting and prayer. Among these is the sale, from dawn to 4 pm, of food and beverages.
As reported in recent days by the Christian newspaper Sinar Harapan, authorities arrested nine food vendors within their kiosks, for selling food in the traditional Pneunayong market, in the city center. During the police operation, officers also seized food and drinks that had already been sold to private citizens as they were about to consume them.
Those arrested include the owner of a kiosk and his eight assistants. According to Bukari, head of the security services, he was helping people (non-Muslim) not observing the fast “to get food and drinks.” The obligation of fasting in reality should only apply to the followers of Islam in Aceh but, unlike the other provinces of the country, the Muslim rules are imposed on the entire population.
A large majority of the local population seem to be in favor of the application, confirming an increasingly radical and invasive form of the Islamic faith in civil society. The issue of the sale of food during Ramadan had already been the subject of a hard stance by the mayor Illiza Sa’addudin Djamal, who decreed that every grocery store should be closed and “any violation of the law will be punished with the utmost vigor”.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has increasingly become the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minority groups like Christians and Ahmadi Muslims.
Aceh is the only Indonesian province to enforce Islamic law (Sharia). This special situation was part of a peace agreement signed by the central government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). However, a more radical and extreme vision of Islam is also spreading in other parts of the country (like Bekasi and Bogor regencies in West Java).
However, the decision to toughen laws, regulations, rules and customs has failed to find favour with a large proportion of the local population, forced to change long held customs and habits.
Many in Aceh oppose greater restrictions, especially with regards to women wearing jeans and tight skirts , travelling astride motorcycles, or dancing in public because they “stir desire” and a ban on St. Valentines Day. The latest case concerns the decision to introduce a “curfew” for women, officially to reduce sexual harassment.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Rejects Afghan Spy Agency’s Claim That it Was Involved in an Attack on Parliament
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan “strongly rejects” accusations by Afghanistan’s spy agency that a Pakistani intelligence officer helped orchestrate an attack on the Afghan parliament earlier this week.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the allegations aim to “disrupt the improving relations between the two brotherly nations.” It condemned “terrorism in all its forms” and said it would continue to work with Kabul to combat it.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tajikistan Changes Citizenship Law Amid is Threat
The parliament of ex-Soviet Tajikistan passed a law Wednesday annulling the citizenship of nationals fighting abroad with militant organisations including the radical Islamic State group active in Iraq and Syria.
“People will automatically be stripped of their citizenship of the republic of Tajikistan if they fight in the ranks of terrorist groups and organisations abroad,” Zarif Alizoda, the central Asian country’s human rights ombudsman said in parliament.
MPs voted unanimously in favour of the bill.
The impoverished republic says more than 400 Tajiks have joined the brutal IS insurgency in Iraq and Syria, including a high profile defector that once headed the special forces unit of the interior ministry…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thai Buddhists to Help Anti-Muslim Myanmar Monks Set Up Radio Station
Thai Buddhists have offered to help a network of hardline anti-Muslim Myanmar monks set up a radio station to spread their message across a nation where sectarian hatred is on the rise.
More than a dozen Thai Buddhists were among hundreds who attended a two-day conference in Yangon over the weekend organised by the Ma Ba Tha movement.
During the meeting a Thai group which produces religious radio and television programmes in the kingdom promised to donate $44,000-worth of radio equipment to the Myanmar movement…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Hackers Gain Access to Sex Secrets
Suspected Chinese hackers have gained access to the most intimate sexual secrets of millions of US government workers following this month’s cyber-raid on US government personnel records, security sources have claimed.
The intensely personal data, collected as part of awarding security clearances, was among the vast trove of information extracted by hackers who obtained records of up to 18 million current, former and prospective US Government employees earlier this year.
The breach at the Office of Personnel Management was only detected after a cyber-security company came to demonstrate a product and detected irregularities in the department’s computer systems.
China has angrily denied being behind the hack, but US officials have not stepped back from pointing the finger at Beijing, or its related agents.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Mexicans Lose Thirst for Soft Drinks as So-Called “Cola Tax” Takes Effect
Sales in sugary beverages dropped by 6% last year, according to a new study
Mexico’s so-called “cola tax,” which went into effect in January 2014, is beginning to bear fruit.
According to a joint study by the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina, and Mexico’s National Institute for Public Health, sales of sugary drinks around the country plummeted an average of 6% last year.
Mexican lawmakers approved the measure to combat the rise in obesity and diabetes…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Refugee Protests ‘Unacceptable, ‘ Says German Minister Heiko Maas
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas has sharply criticized the latest anti-refugee protests in the eastern town of Freital. He stressed that refugees were welcome and that xenophobia had no place in Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin Scolds Hungary on Refugee Rules Breach
After Hungary announced that it would stop obeying EU rules on refugees, the country’s ambassador came in for a stern talking-to from both the Foreign and Interior ministries in Berlin.
Jozsef Czukor made the trip after his government said it would stop taking back asylum seekers who had been first registered in the EU in Hungary, but had been expelled by other countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Calais Crisis: Migrants Erect Barricades to Snare Lorries Bound for UK
The Telegraph travels from Calais to the UK with British truck driver David Needham to see the migrant border crisis first-hand
Migrants are now putting obstacles in the road to stop the lorries, but for Mr Needham the next step may well be attacks on drivers’ vehicles. “Our government aren’t doing anything to help and it’s only a matter of time before one of us is killed out here”, he says.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Adopts Law Granting Nationality to Immigrants’ Children, Conditional on Schooling
ATHENS, Greece — Greece has adopted legislation granting nationality to the children of foreign nationals living in the country, provided they attend or have attended school in the country.
Lawmakers approved the draft legislation Thursday, in a vote that marked a rift in the country’s governing coalition. The minority partner, the populist right wing Independent Greeks party, rejected the bill that was submitted by the radical left Syriza party.
But the legislation was approved with the support of center-left opposition parties, while the conservative main opposition and the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party — Greece’s third-largest — voted against.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Immigrants Outnumber Ethnic Danes in Danish Elder and Childcare Jobs
Male immigrants and their descendants tend to outnumber their ethnic Danish counterparts in jobs traditionally performed by women, such as elder, health and childcare jobs.
A report by Momentum shows that 14 percent of the employees in the elderly care and healthcare sectors are men of non-Danish descent, while only 8 percent are ethnic Danish men.
Vibeke Jakobsen, a senior researcher focusing on employment at the National Centre for Social Welfare, suggests that one of the possible explanations may be that the social and healthcare sectors have made an effort to attract ethnic minorities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Mayor Calls Migrant Crisis ‘Genocide’
Failing to provide asylum seekers with safe passage to the EU while hundreds die at sea is tantamount to genocide, a mayor on the frontline of the crisis warned on Thursday.
“We’re living a genocide, and in a few years we Europeans risk being found responsible,” Palermo’s mayor Leoluca Orlando said in reference to the 1,800 or so people who have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean by boat this year.
Orlando said Europe should make it easier for asylum seekers to apply for refugee status outside the EU, after which they could enter the bloc legally rather than having to place their fate in the hands of people traffickers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Maroni Says Premier Only ‘Chatters’ On Migrants
Zaia says prefects should ‘rebel’ against national government
(ANSA) — Rome, June 25 — Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni dismissed meetings Thursday with Premier Matteo Renzi, saying the national leader “only chatters” without providing answers on migrant issues. “The meeting with Renzi was absolutely useless and disappointing: no concrete answer to (our) problems”. Veneto Governor Luca Zaia said prefects “should rebel” against Rome’s orders on resettlement of migrants in various regions. They should instead “comply with the demands of the territories” and local governors, the Northern League member said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
On Greece’s Lesbos Island, Locals Worry About Potential Impact of Refugee Crisis on Tourism
MOLYVOS, Greece — On the waterfront beneath this village of stone houses cascading down a castle-topped hill, two worlds collide. Tourists saunter along the pier, gazing at the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor. A group of Afghan children who risked their lives to get here on an overloaded dinghy play in the shallow water.
Greece’s island of Lesbos, a popular holiday destination for Europeans and Greeks alike, has found itself at the center of a migration crisis. Tens of thousands of people from the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia have traveled to the country’s eastern Aegean islands this year, using them as a gateway to mainland Greece and from there northward to new lives in more prosperous European Union countries.
Tourism is just about the only industry doing well as Greece reels from a vicious financial crisis, and locals and officials are worried about what will happen if the arrivals continue to increase.
“There are hundreds of people arriving every day. Soon it won’t be manageable,” said Periklis Antoniou, the head of the Lesvos Hoteliers Association, which uses an alternative spelling for the island’s name. He said that while few tourists are complaining, and some are even helping the refugees, immediate measures are needed.
“The summer will pass and the damage to the country will be huge,” he warned.
So far this year, nearly half of the 55,000 migrants who have reached Greece by sea from Turkey have arrived in Lesbos, Greece’s third-largest island.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Roma and Romanians Opt for Oslo Despite Abuse
Many homeless Roma and Romanians who panhandle on the streets of Oslo have experienced being spat on, struck or kicked. Despite such incidents, many like it in Oslo and plan to return.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Small Finnish Town Welcomes Return of Asylum Seekers
Punkalaidun in south-west Finland, received good news this week: the local reception centre for asylum seekers is to re-open, bringing an employment boost for the small town.
The Immigration Service announced on Tuesday that it will re-activate the facility, which was shuttered last year. The first new residents are expected to arrive in August.
“This is positive news for us during the summer holiday,” says town manager Lauri Inna. He says the decision to open the centre again was the result of long-running negotiations between the municipality, the province, the Immigration Service and the south-western branch of the Finnish Red Cross.
The move was driven by a sharp rise in the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country this year.
The Punkalaidun centre will also be enlarged from its previous capacity of 120 to 150. Inna says that local officials are hoping it will be further expanded beyond that — as more asylum seekers mean more jobs for local residents.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Average Age Hits 40 for the First Time as Population Jumps 500k to 64.6m
Immigration and an ageing population have fuelled a boom in the number of people living in the UK, official figures released by the Office for National Statistics revealed this morning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Population Increases by 500,000, Official Figures Show
The UK population grew by almost half a million last year to 64,596,800, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The “above average” increase of 491,100 from mid-2013 to mid-2014 included net migration adding 259,700 to population growth, the ONS figures show.
This was more than “natural growth” — births minus deaths — which added 226,200.
The ONS said a quarter of births were to mothers born outside the UK.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Buzz Over Swedish Sex Toy Tester Job Advert
A job advert for sex toy testers has been taken down from Sweden’s Employment Service website (Arbetsförmedlingen), following concerns it might cause offence.
The advert, which was posted on Arbetsförmedlingen’s website for sex shop Oliver & Eva on Monday called for “driven and methodical sex toy testers” with “patience and a passion for technical equipment” to apply to the company.
It invited would-be employees who ideally had “previous experience of pleasure” to submit their CVs, stating that successful applicants would be asked to collect discreetly-packaged sex toys from their nearest post office, before testing and reviewing them. Applicants were also asked to be educated to at least high school level, to have good Swedish language levels and a basic knowledge of Excel.
But despite the text being agreed in advance with Arbetsförmedlingen, the employment agency pulled the advert on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Proposes Extending Transgender Rights to Children
Norway’s government proposed on Thursday that children as young as seven should be allowed to change their legal gender with parental support, among the lowest ages in the world for transgender rights.
The suggested overhaul of the laws would also let people as young as 16 decide for themselves whether they are male or female, rather than be based on a medical diagnosis as is the case in almost all nations.
“Today’s rules in this area are unacceptable and have been unchanged for almost 60 years,” Health Minister Bent Hoie said in a statement on the plan, to be debated by experts before any formal bill goes to parliament.
“The proposal is historic in that it will no longer be the health service but the individual who decides if he or she has changed sex,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Guidelines: Insurance Must Cover ‘Mammogram or Pap Smear for a Transgender Man’
“The HRSA Guidelines include a recommendation for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods, sterilization procedures, and patient education and counseling for all women with reproductive capacity, as prescribed by a health care provider.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Unlike Thailand’s south there is no Muslim insurgency in Rakhine. Instead more than 100,000 Rohingya live in fetid camps after dozens were killed by Buddhist mobs in the 2012 bloodletting. Pornchai rejected suggestions that Myanmar’s hardline Buddhist monks routinely use hate speech.”
Just to remind everybody, the so-called 2012 bloodletting came about after a Burmese Buddhist girl was gang raped by five Rodingya Muslim men. This was the culmination of a series of provocative actions by Muslims and the Buddhist population decided it had to protect itself. Unlike islam which peddles the lie that it is a religion of peace, Buddhism really is peaceful and it would necessitate a great deal of provacation for a Buddhist to act in an aggressive manner.
No doubt you will have seen the news from France, Tunisia & Kuwait. The French incident is well covered on RT, in my neck of the woods unfortunately. It is extremely gruesome and equally baffling at the moment. The victim was beheaded and according to some sources, his head attached to a fence with arabic inscriptions.
The politicians, bar one, are all falling over themselves to deny any tangible links.
Tunisia – well if that is’nt an attempt to kill off tourism, even a plane from Belgium turned round and went back home. Of course it will have repercussions on the economy, and I suspect probably just help to increase the flow of humans across the Med.
Vicious circle
Let them Rascals Go 🙂
France, Lyon – Decapitation
Statement by Air Products
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and want to express our sympathies to the family of the victim of this unspeakable tragedy.
Emergency services are on site and have contained the situation. All individuals working at the site have been evacuated. The site is secure.”
The terror in Lyon June 2015
From Air Products’ home page
“Valuing diversity”
Living on the Edge
“We value a diverse, multi-cultural workforce.”
“Our current groups include:
4AP (All Asian Americans at Air Products)
ABCD (AnyBody Concerned about Disabilities)
Black Employee Resource Group
EDGE (Ethnically Diverse Gulf Employees)
HOLA (Hispanic Organization of Latinos and Amigos)
Spectrum – an LGBT resource group
Women’s Success Network”
Dante’s Inferno. If we don’t get nuked off our pc posteriors it will be a miracle.
Banning a historical civil war game because it contains a confederate flag is incredibly stupid, but it’s the kind of thing I’d expect out of some company like Apple. And because Apple has a monopoly on their App Store, and it’s impossible to install an app that isn’t from their App Store without jail breaking the device, it means that the app can’t be sold.
Wave of migrants
Biggest threat to Europe since war
Says Michael Burleigh
“MICHAEL BURLEIGH: It’s when, not if, the extremists hit Britain 26/06/15”
US Sovereignty
It seems that destroying a state’s sovereignty equals New World Order, a order that was mentioned by the candidate before the first election.
“The NWO, an order…”
Putting a person’s head on a stick
France, Lyon
In a normal world, this would have called for outrage and shock!