Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/6/2015

Nearly 2,000 migrants were rescued by EU maritime forces in the Mediterranean today. Italian, Irish, German, and Maltese vessels were among those that brought the refugees safely to shore.

In other news, Saudi Arabia says that it shot down a Scud missile fired at it by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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

Thanks to Fjordman, JD, Phyllis Chesler, RL, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Jobs Data: 92,986,000 People Not in Workforce
» Juncker Proposal ‘Unwelcome Surprise’ Says Tsipras
» Merkel, Hollande Discuss Economic Crisis With Greece’s Tsipras
» Why is the EU Forcing European Nations to Adopt ‘Bail-in’ Legislation by the End of the Summer?
 
USA
» 2 Convicted Murderers Used Power Tools to Escape Prison
» Bill Clinton’s Foundation Cashed in as Sweden Lobbied Hillary on Sanctions
» CBP Confirms US Chopper Shot Down at Texas Border, No Injuries
» Corporatism in Three Letters: TPP
» Family Raided by SWAT and Their Dog Shot for Being Unable to Pay Utility Bill
» Forget the TPP — WikiLeaks Releases Documents From the Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement, “ or Tisa
» Hidden Camera: VA Director Says VA Turning Veterans Into Drug Addicts
» Hormone-Mimicking Compound Still Found in Hundreds of Brands of Foods
» Iowa State University Students and Faculty Call GMO Banana Trials Into Question
» Jewish Conservatism: The Moment is Ripe
» Police Killings at an All-Time High
» President Obama Delivers Eulogy at Beau Biden’s Funeral
» Seinfeld: Comedians Avoid Performing at Politically Correct Colleges
» Sen. Alexander Completely Changed the Bill to Fool Parents
» Sister: Brother Had Sexual Relationship With Fmr. House Speaker Dennis Hastert
» Sounding the Alarm on the Country’s Vulnerability to an EMP
» Top FBI Official Says Tech Companies Need to ‘Prevent Encryption Above All Else’
» TPP Begins to Unravel as Obama Launches Final Push for Votes
» TPP Emails Show CEO Joked About Making “Royalty Payment” To US Officials
» USA Today: TSA Has No Excuse to Continue the Groping
 
Europe and the EU
» Czech Writer, Anti-Communist Dissident Ludvik Vaculik, Who Wrote 1968 Manifesto, Dies at 88
» Turkish Cypriot Leader Envisions Reunification ‘Within Months’
» UK: Astronomer Royal: If We Find Aliens, They Will be Machines
» UK: Prince George and Princess Charlotte Pictures Released
 
North Africa
» Egyptian Court Revokes Anti-Hamas Verdict
 
Middle East
» Have 1,200 World Cup Workers Really Died in Qatar?
» How to Defeat the Islamic State
» Islamic State Magazine Dabiq Sold on Amazon
» Saudi Arabia Says it Shot Down Scud Missile Fired From Yemen
» Surprising Saudi Rises as a Prince Among Princes
 
Russia
» Canada Warns Russia it Won’t Rejoin G7 With Putin in Power
» Canada to Send Military Instructors to Ukraine, But Not Lethal Weapons
» Moscow ‘Closely Looks’ Into Reported US Plans to Return Medium-Range Missiles to Europe
» President Vladimir Putin Tells West Not to Fear Russia
 
South Asia
» India, Bangladesh Agree Border Pact as Modi Visits
» Injustice as Usual: Malala Assassins Secretly Acquitted in Pakistan
 
Far East
» Death Toll Jumps to Nearly 400 in Yangtze River Capsizing
» Is China Behind the Massive Data Theft of 4 Million U.S. Officials?
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Horrifying Moment Lioness Reared Up in Attack That Killed American Tourist Katherine Chappell in South African Safari Park
» Mother Who Was Gang-Raped While Father Was Held at Knifepoint and Forced to Watch Says She ‘Refuses to Let Them Break Us’ As She Launches Foundation for Victims
 
Latin America
» Violence Ahead of Mexico Mid-Term Elections
» Wedding of 2nd Ex-Guantanamo Bay Prisoner in Uruguay Postponed a Week
 
Immigration
» EU Navies Pluck 2,000 Migrants From Mediterranean Boats
» Irish Navy Rescues 310 Migrants Off Libyan Coast
» Rising: 25,098,000 Foreign-Born Workers Employed in U.S.A.
 
Culture Wars
» Actor Patrick Stewart Sides With Christian Bakers Who Refused to Make Gay Marriage Cake
» Common Core and Communism = Limited Learning for Lifelong Labor
» Police Hurt at Gay Pride Rally in Kyiv
» School to Provide Scholarships for ‘Gender-Creative’ 4-Year-Olds
» The Agenda Behind Bruce Jenner’s Transformation
» Thousands Turn Out for Cyprus’ 2nd Gay Pride Parade, Detractors a No-Show
 
General
» “I Am Tired of Tolerance for Oppression”: Why Tyranny Pisses Me Off
 

Jobs Data: 92,986,000 People Not in Workforce

The month of May saw 92,986,000 people not participating in the workforce, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals.

May’s total represented slight decline compared to last month’s record, which saw 93,194,000 people outside the workforce.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Juncker Proposal ‘Unwelcome Surprise’ Says Tsipras

Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras said Friday a proposed bailout deal by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was an unwelcome surprise. The premier said he hopes the nation’s creditors will withdraw the proposal because it’s unrealistic. The Greek people don’t want their government to give in to blackmail, and the nation wants a definitive solution on debt sustainability that will put an end to the Grexit scenario, Tsipras said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel, Hollande Discuss Economic Crisis With Greece’s Tsipras

Germany’s Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have spoken to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to discuss the debt crisis. The deadline to reach a deal runs out at the end of this month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Why is the EU Forcing European Nations to Adopt ‘Bail-in’ Legislation by the End of the Summer?

Are they expecting something to happen? As you will read about below, the European Union says that any nation within the EU that does not enact “bail-in” legislation within the next two months will face legal action. The countries that are being threatened in this manner include Italy and France. If you fast forward two months from this moment, that puts us in early August. So clearly the European Union wants everything to be squared away by the end of the summer. Is there a reason for this? Are they anticipating that something really bad will happen in September or thereafter? Why such a rush?

We all remember what happened when major banks were “bailed out” during the last financial crisis. A tremendous amount of taxpayer money was given to the big banks to help prop them up so they wouldn’ t fail. This greatly upset a lot of people.

Well, when the next great financial crisis hits Europe, banks are not going to get “bailed out” this time. Instead, we are going to see “bail-ins” .

So precisely what is a “bail-in” ? Essentially, what happens is that wealth is transferred from the “stakeholders” in the bank to the bank itself in order to keep it solvent. That means that creditors and shareholders could potentially lose everything if a major bank in Europe fails. And if their “contributions” are not enough to save the bank, those holding private bank accounts will have to take “haircuts” just like we saw in Cyprus. In fact, the travesty that we witnessed in Cyprus is being used as a “template” for much of the new legislation that is being enacted all over Europe.

The bottom line is that not a single bank account in the European Union will ever be truly safe again.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

2 Convicted Murderers Used Power Tools to Escape Prison

DANNEMORA, N.Y. — Two convicted murderers used power tools to cut through steel pipes at a maximum-security prison near the Canadian border and escape through a manhole, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

“It was an elaborate plot,” Cuomo said after joining law enforcement authorities to retrace the prisoners’ escape route from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y.

He said Richard Matt, 48, and David Sweat, 34, “are two dangerous individuals.”

Cuomo said the prison break was the first escape from the maximum-security portion of the facility since it was built in 1865.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Bill Clinton’s Foundation Cashed in as Sweden Lobbied Hillary on Sanctions

Bill Clinton’s foundation set up a fundraising arm in Sweden that collected $26 million in donations at the same time that country was lobbying Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department to forgo sanctions that threatened its thriving business with Iran, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Times.

The Swedish entity, called the William J. Clinton Foundation Insamlingsstiftelse, was never disclosed to or cleared by State Department ethics officials, even though one of its largest sources of donations was a Swedish government-sanctioned lottery.

As the money flowed to the foundation from Sweden, Mrs. Clinton’s team in Washington declined to blacklist any Swedish firms despite warnings from career officials at the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm that Sweden was growing its economic ties with Iran and potentially undercutting Western efforts to end Tehran’s rogue nuclear program, diplomatic cables show.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

CBP Confirms US Chopper Shot Down at Texas Border, No Injuries

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter was fired at and forced to make an emergency landing near the river banks of Laredo, Texas, officials confirmed to Fox News on Saturday.

The incident took place around 5:30 p.m. Friday when the aircraft was patrolling the Rio Grande near the far northwest corner of the border city of Laredo.

Authorities are still investigating on whether the gunfire came from the Mexican side of the river or the U.S. side.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Corporatism in Three Letters: TPP

Never, Never, NEVER Surrender to TPP

Imagine, if you will, a trade agreement that will cost millions of American jobs and thousands of American businesses[1] while granting foreign corporation outrageous new powers to attack the laws we rely on for a clean environment, safe food and decent jobs. It does this by providing foreign firms the unlimited ability to drag the US government in front of foreign tribunals composed of 3 private attorneys authorized to order massive payouts. [2] These lawyers will rotate between being “judges” and suing governments for the corporations in a twisted system called the “investor-state” regime. It give an individual foreign corporation equal status with the US federal government — allowing the foreign firms to privately enforce a public treaty.

Imagine these totally unaccountable corporate lawyers being loosed on a system set up to ensure corporate profits. The US has paid out over $3.5 billion in “investor-state” cases under existing treaties. With the insane level of corporate protections included in TPP, the sky will be the limit on how much we will be required to pay.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Family Raided by SWAT and Their Dog Shot for Being Unable to Pay Utility Bill

Nothing says Police State USA quite like a SWAT team raiding a family home and killing their dog because they are unable to pay their natural gas bill.

The woman whose dog was killed and home destroyed by SWAT officers is Angela Zorich, and her story about her police state experience will shock the conscious.

According to a federal lawsuit filed this month, Zorich was the victim of a massive military-style raid and subsequent puppycide. The raid was carried out because police said they needed “to check if her home had electricity and natural gas service.”…

The Riverfront Times outlines the details of the lawsuit:

Zorich was at home with several family members and her pit bull, Kiya, when a St. Louis County Police Tactical Response Unit burst through the door without knocking, according to her suit. The unit had at least five officers with M-4 rifles, supported by at least eight uniformed officers.

The officers entered so quickly, Zorich’s suit alleges, that Kiya didn’t even have time to bark. A tactical officer fired three shots into the dog, and the dog’s “bladder and bowels released and she fell to the floor.” The dog “was laying on the floor in her own waste and blood struggling to breathe. She had a gaping hole in her chest.”

Zorich claims the officers kept trying to talk to her about the natural gas, but she was focused on her dog, whom she’d raised as a puppy and who (she says) had “never shown agression to any person.”

At one point in the raid, Zorich alleges, an officer pointed his firearm at her son’s head and said “One word, mother er, and I’ll put three in you.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Forget the TPP — WikiLeaks Releases Documents From the Equally Shady “Trade in Services Agreement, “ or Tisa

If it sounds complicated, it is. The important point is that this trade agreement contains a crucial discussion of governments’ abilities to meaningfully protect civil liberties. And it is not being treated as a human rights discussion. It is being framed solely as an economic issue, ignoring the implications for human rights, and it is being held in a classified document that the public is now seeing months after it was negotiated, and only because it was released through WikiLeaks.

The process is also highly secretive—in fact, trade agreement texts are classified. While the executive branch does consult with members of Congress, even congressional staffers with security clearance have until recently been prevented from seeing the texts. Furthermore, certain trade industry advisers are allowed access to U.S. negotiating objectives and negotiators that the public and public interest groups do not have.

— From the Slate article: Privacy Is Not a Barrier to Trade

If you haven’t heard about about the Trade in Services Agreement, aka TISA, don’t worry, you’re not alone. While I had heard of it before, I never read anything substantial about it until today. What sparked my reading interest on the subject were a series of very troubling articles published via several media outlets following a document dump by Wikileaks. Here’s how the whistleblower organization describes the TISA leak on it document release page:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hidden Camera: VA Director Says VA Turning Veterans Into Drug Addicts

Caught on hidden camera, Deputy Veterans Administration Chief of Patient Services (for the entire VA) Maureen McCarthy, MD, said many of our military veterans “have drug problems, some of which are caused by us and our prescribing.”

In the undercover video, she admitted that the combination of “opiates, like morphine and benzodiazepine like Ativan and Klonopin” are like “candy” for a lot of veterans, “it’ s like they want it, they want it, they want it.”

“He had a ten foot step ladder and a rope,” says Bob Cranmer, the father of a Marine Iraq veteran named David who recently took his own life. “And for some reason decided to hang himself.”

On average each day, twenty-two U.S. veterans take their own life. In David’ s case, he waited over a year to be seen by the VA, and when they did eventually see him, they prescribed him a combination of opiates and psycho-pharmaceuticals very similar to the ones described by Dr. McCarthy in the undercover video. When you watch the video above/on the right, you will see one VA official after another saying what Nurse-Anesthetist Joe Salmon admitted: “The VA does push pills.”

“In my opinion, they are creating drug addicts,” opined a senior volunteer at a New York Veterans Administration facility.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hormone-Mimicking Compound Still Found in Hundreds of Brands of Foods

In a survey of more than 250 brands of canned food, researchers found that more than 44 percent use bisphenol-A lined cans for some or all of their products.

With 109 brands not responding or providing enough information, that number could be a lot higher.

Consuming a daily serving of canned food products has a more than 1,000% increase in urinary bisphenol A (BPA) concentrations compared with when the same individuals consumed fresh food daily.

BPA is a dangerous chemical linked to health concerns from digestive problems to issues with brain development. It’s was found present in around two billion products in the U.S. that are used on a daily basis. Because it’s the most harmful on developing brains and bodies, children and pregnant women especially need to avoid contact with BPA.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Iowa State University Students and Faculty Call GMO Banana Trials Into Question

When the world first got wind of a $900 stipend being offered to young scholars to partake in GMO banana trials to be tested on live, human, Iowa State University students, many were in an uproar. Most people were quite certain that the “informed consent document” that ISU lead researcher Wendy White gave to students did not disclose the health risks associated with eating GMOs of any kind.

Since then, the informed consent document was redacted and revised, but it is still being accused of exemplifying special interests. It is really nothing more than a bulleted list of biotech talking points, none truly addressing what these college students would really be subjecting themselves to.

The ‘new’ document still doesn’t mention that the GMO banana has never been approved as safe to eat by any regulatory agency anywhere in the world, and that there have been documented human health risks associated with GMOs. Neither does it state that there is no consensus on the safety of GMOs, since no long term risk assessments have ever been studied and published.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Jewish Conservatism: The Moment is Ripe

by Michel Gurfinkiel

The moment, in other words, is ripe for an infusion of “the spirit of Jewish conservatism”—perhaps even riper than Eric Cohen imagines. What does it signify, after all, when a conservative Israeli prime minister is invited repeatedly to address the U.S. Congress on the most vital issues affecting both the Jewish state and the entire democratic West, and is received with overflowing warmth and applause? The answer is blowing in the wind.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Police Killings at an All-Time High

One of the reasons why so many of our police officers and sheriff’s deputies have become so abusive and trigger-happy is due to the training they are receiving. The “us versus them” mentality is much the result of training indoctrination. And, since 9/11 and the advent of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal government is mostly responsible for training policies, procedures, philosophies, etc., within State and local police agencies. In fact, most of our local police SWAT teams are trained by U.S. military Special Forces troops. DHS has turned our State and local police agencies into quasi-military units. And it has turned the U.S. citizenry into enemy combatants. I argue that the problems we are having with our police agencies today is the result of the ubiquitous and draconian influence from Washington, D.C.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

President Obama Delivers Eulogy at Beau Biden’s Funeral

President Obama fought back tears Saturday as he remembered the son of Vice President Joe Biden as the “consummate public servant” who learned through early tragedy what mattered most and resolved to “live a life of meaning.”

The crowd of more than 1,000 mourners included first lady Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and other dignitaries.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Seinfeld: Comedians Avoid Performing at Politically Correct Colleges

During an appearance on ESPN Radio’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” Thursday comedian Jerry Seinfeld revealed that an increasing number of stand-up comics are avoiding college campuses because they’ve become “so pc.”

After being questioned on the current climate in comedy, Seinfeld stated that fellow comedians warn him “all the time” about performing at universities.

“I don’t play colleges but I hear a lot of people tell me, ‘Don’t go near colleges, they’re so pc,’“ Seinfeld said.

Using a personal story involving his 14-year-old daughter, Seinfeld explained how the politically correct-obsessed youth regularly parrots buzzwords they know little to nothing about.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sen. Alexander Completely Changed the Bill to Fool Parents

Senator Alexander Reshuffles His Deck of Cards and Slips A New ESEA Out From Under the Table

MEDICAID, Birth to Age 21, is EXPANDED in Senator Alexander’s and Congressman Kline’s fast-tracked effort to force through the Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Backdoor politics are being used to expand ObamaCare using education legislation and MEDICAID in the schools. This agenda is moving forward, without citizens’ knowledge and without state legislatures understanding the entire agenda of the Reauthorization of ESEA, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This legislation expands MEDICAID services in the schools, ages birth to 21, extending MEDICAID in a Universal Pre-Kindergarten, birth through Kindergarten, heralded by Senator Murray (D WA) and Senator Bob Casey (D PA). (Read: Open Letter to Senator Bob Casey, Pennsylvania)

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sister: Brother Had Sexual Relationship With Fmr. House Speaker Dennis Hastert

In Steve Reinboldt’s 1970 high school yearbook, wrestling coach Dennis Hastert wrote that Steve was his “great, right hand man” as the student equipment manager of the Yorkville, Illinois wrestling team.

But Steve was also a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Hastert, Steve’s sister said today in an interview with ABC News. It is the first time an alleged Hastert victim has been identified by name since his indictment for lying to the FBI and violating federal banking laws to cover-up past misconduct. Hastert, due in court next week, has not responded to the allegations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Sounding the Alarm on the Country’s Vulnerability to an EMP

In the past here at Peak Prosperity, we’ve written extensively on the threat posed by a sustained loss of electrical grid power. More specifically, we’ ve warned that the most damaging threat to our grid would come from either a manmade or natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP).

A good friend of mine, Jen Bawden, is currently sitting on a committee of notable political, security and defense experts — which includes past and present members of Congress, ambassadors, CIA directors, and others — who are equally concerned about this same threat and have recently sent a letter to Obama pleading for action to protect the US grid.

Before we get to that letter, here’s a snippet from what we wrote on the matter roughly a year ago:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Top FBI Official Says Tech Companies Need to ‘Prevent Encryption Above All Else’

While testifying before Congress, Michael Steinbach, assistant director in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, just went to the levels of pure insanity, in arguing that above all else companies should work to prevent encryption. This was during a ridiculous grandstanding hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee entitled “Terrorism Gone Viral”, and Steinbach didn’t waste the opportunity to make a ridiculously viral comment of his own:

“So that’s the challenge: working with those companies to build technological solutions to prevent encryption above all else. “

Above all else? Is he crazy? At least his written testimony isn’t quite as crazy, but still has a bunch of fear-mongering about “going dark.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

TPP Begins to Unravel as Obama Launches Final Push for Votes

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade package is beginning to unravel, with more prominent voices slamming President Obama and the Republican leadership over the secretive deal that threatens to cost American jobs and hand big corporations new powers that would violate national sovereignty.

House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rules Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) refused to reveal to Breitbart whether they had read the TPP agreement but still said they would support the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and allow President Barack Obama to fast-track the TPP.

Lawmakers claim that TPA is separate from TPP and that they will review the final TPP agreement before it is considered by Congress.

However, as Matthew Boyle explains, this explanation doesn’t wash. A vote for the TPA is a de facto green light for the TPP since there is essentially no way to halt a trade deal once it has been fast-tracked.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

TPP Emails Show CEO Joked About Making “Royalty Payment” To US Officials

Emails released under a Freedom of Information Act request show how one chemical company CEO was so pleased with the rules being set by the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that he joked about making a “royalty payment” to U.S. government officials before bragging, “these rules are our rules.”

400 pages of confidential emails between industry advisors and USTR officials were obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The USTR (Office of the United States Trade Representative), is the U.S. government agency responsible for developing the United States’ trade policy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

USA Today: TSA Has No Excuse to Continue the Groping

Last August, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole attacked an article I wrote, stating that it was “Misleading, inaccurate and unfairly disparages the dedicated (TSA) workforce. … We will not sit back and allow misinformation and conjecture to malign our employees.”

Pistole resigned last December — in time to miss the uproar this week about TSA agents failing to detect 95% of the weapons and bombs smuggled past them by Inspector General testers. While Pistole is leading the PR pushback to absolve his former agency, the I.G. report is the latest confirmation that TSA continues blindly blundering and pointlessly abusing Americans’ rights and privacy.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Writer, Anti-Communist Dissident Ludvik Vaculik, Who Wrote 1968 Manifesto, Dies at 88

PRAGUE — Ludvik Vaculik, an author, journalist and anti-communist dissident whose “Two Thousand Words” manifesto became a key document of the 1968 Prague Spring reform movement that contributed to the Kremlin’s decision to invade Czechoslovakia, has died. He was 88.

Vaculik created the manifesto at the request of leading scientists from the Academy of Sciences to support a process of liberal reforms meant to lead toward the democratization of communist Czechoslovakia that started in early 1968 when Alexander Dubcek became secretary-general of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Cypriot Leader Envisions Reunification ‘Within Months’

Turkish Cypriot president Mustafa Akinci says divided Cyprus will reunite within a matter of months. But he will have to overcome reluctance on the internationally recognized Greek side first.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Astronomer Royal: If We Find Aliens, They Will be Machines

Alien contact is likely to come from machines living on other worlds outside of the solar system, the astronomer royal Martin Rees has said.

Prof Lord Rees, 72, told the Cheltenham Science Festival ‘I’m not holding my breath’ for signs of extraterrestrial life, but said if a signal was picked up it would not be from organic life, like humans.

He said that most space exploration would be carried out by machines, which would not constrained by the physical difficulties of existing in space or on other planets.

“I think it is quite likely that within a few centuries the overriding intelligence will be machines because they will have an easier time spreading beyond the Earth because they are not organic and most exploration will be by machines and not humans,” he said.

“If you were to detect a SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) signal it would be far more likely that it would be from a machine and not an organic creature.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Prince George and Princess Charlotte Pictures Released

A series of photos of Prince George and his sister Princess Charlotte have been released by Kensington Palace.

The four pictures show the princess being cradled by her elder sibling as they sit on a cream couch at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, their family home with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The pictures were taken by Catherine just weeks after Princess Charlotte was born on 2 May.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egyptian Court Revokes Anti-Hamas Verdict

An Egyptian appeals court has canceled a ruling to list Palestinian group Hamas as a terrorist organization. The group welcomed the decision, saying the court’s ruling will help ease tensions with Cairo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Have 1,200 World Cup Workers Really Died in Qatar?

The scandal surrounding corruption within world football’s governing body, Fifa, has focused fresh attention on the workers who have died building stadiums in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. The figure of 1,200 deaths is often cited — but how reliable is it?

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

How to Defeat the Islamic State

By David A. Deptula

David A. Deptula, a retired Air Force general, is dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter’s recent remarks on the efficacy of Iraq’s army reflect the fact that, despite years of training by thousands of U.S. and coalition forces, the army has not been able to halt Islamic State aggression. What makes anyone think that a few more months of similar training will yield success?

We must not, however, confuse Iraq’s objectives with critical U.S. national security interests. While the two may overlap, they are not the same. Each demands its own strategic, military and policy approach. From the U.S. perspective, the most important goal is not the maintenance of the Iraqi government but the destruction of the Islamic State.

The current U.S.-led coalition is following the counterinsurgency model used in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade, but the Islamic State is not an insurgency. The Islamic State is a self-declared sovereign government. We must stop trying to fight the last war and develop a new strategy.

The Islamic State can be decomposed through a comprehensive and robust air campaign designed to: (1) terminate its expansion; (2) paralyze and isolate its command-and-control capability; (3) undermine its ability to control the territory it occupies; and (4) eliminate its ability to export ­terror.

But to do these things, air power has to be applied like a thunderstorm, not a drizzle. In the campaign against the Islamic State, we are averaging 12 strike sorties per day. During Operation Desert Storm in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991, the average was 1,241; in Operation Allied Force in Kosovo in 1999, it was 298; in the first 30 days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, 691; during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001, 86…

           — Hat tip: RL [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Magazine Dabiq Sold on Amazon

Copies of Islamic State’s English-language propaganda magazine, Dabiq, are available to buy on the website of online retailer Amazon, it has emerged.

The author of the publications is listed as al-Hayat Media Centre, which is IS’s Western-focused media arm, producing videos and newsletters.

Islamic State is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK.

Four different volumes are available in paperback. The magazine can be downloaded for free elsewhere.

The books are available on Amazon’s sites in the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Dabiq is described on Amazon as “a periodical magazine focusing on issues of tawhid (unity), manhaj (truth-seeking), hijrah (migration), jihad (holy war), and jama’ah (community)”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arabia Says it Shot Down Scud Missile Fired From Yemen

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia said it shot down a Scud missile fired by Yemen’s Shiite rebels and their allies early Saturday at a Saudi city that is home to a major air base, marking what could be a major escalation in the monthslong war.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition targeting the rebels in airstrikes that began March 26 in support of the country’s exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Those strikes have targeted arms caches and other Scud missile sites around the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Surprising Saudi Rises as a Prince Among Princes

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Until about four months ago, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 29, was just another Saudi royal who dabbled in stocks and real estate.

He grew up overshadowed by three older half brothers who were among the most accomplished princes in the kingdom — the first Arab astronaut; an Oxford-educated political scientist who was once a research fellow at Georgetown and also founded a major investment company; and a highly regarded deputy oil minister.

But that was before their father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, 79, ascended to the throne. Now Prince Mohammed, the eldest son of the king’s third and most recent wife, is the rising star.

He has swiftly accumulated more power than any prince has ever held, upending a longstanding system of distributing positions around the royal family to help preserve its unity, and he has used his growing influence to take a leading role in Saudi Arabia’s newly assertive stance in the region, including its military intervention in Yemen.

In the four months since his coronation, King Salman has put Prince Mohammed in charge of the state oil monopoly, the public investment company, economic policy and the ministry of defense.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Canada Warns Russia it Won’t Rejoin G7 With Putin in Power

Canadian PM Stephen Harper has pledged to “strongly oppose” Russia rejoining the Group of Seven nations as long as Vladimir Putin is president. The G7 suspended Moscow last year over the conflict in Ukraine, but hasn’t ruled out allowing it back.

“I don’t think Russia under Vladimir Putin belongs in the G7. Period,” Harper said in an exclusive interview with AP ahead of his trip to Ukraine and the G7 meeting in Bavaria this week. “Canada would very, very strongly oppose Putin ever sitting around that table again. It would require consensus to bring Russia back and that consensus will just not happen.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Canada to Send Military Instructors to Ukraine, But Not Lethal Weapons

KIEV, Ukraine — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the country soon will send military instructors to Ukraine to help train government troops.

While in Kiev en route to the Group of Seven summit, Harper said the instructors would work in western Ukraine.

That is far away from where Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels have been fighting since April 2014. But the move is likely to bring criticism from Russia and the rebels, as did similar training by U.S. forces.

At a joint news conference Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the countries would widen military cooperation, but that Canada won’t supply lethal weapons.

Poroshenko also said Ukraine hasn’t asked Western countries to base missiles in Ukraine to defend against Russia. National security council head Oleksandr Turchynov floated that proposal last month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow ‘Closely Looks’ Into Reported US Plans to Return Medium-Range Missiles to Europe

The Pentagon is considering scrapping a Cold War-era treaty and deploying nuclear-capable intermediate-range cruise missiles in Europe over Moscow’s alleged treaty violations, AP reported. The Kremlin says it is looking closely into the report.

The US administration is mulling deploying medium-range missiles in Europe and Asia that would be potentially capable of destroying military targets within Russian territory, the Associated Press reports. The news agency is citing an unclassified portion of a report written by the office of General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

President Vladimir Putin Tells West Not to Fear Russia

Russia is not a threat to Nato, President Vladimir Putin says.

“Only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack Nato,” Mr Putin told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The Western alliance is bolstering its military presence in its eastern European members in response to their fears of Russian threat, following its involvement in the Ukraine conflict.

Nato says that Russia is backing rebels in Ukraine — a claim denied by Moscow.

Early this month, Nato pledged to counter “hybrid warfare” from Russia — which included a mixture of conventional military tactics, subversive campaigns and cyber-warfare that Russia was using in Ukraine.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India, Bangladesh Agree Border Pact as Modi Visits

Bangladesh and India have sealed a land swap, allowing 50,000 people in border enclaves to choose their nationality after decades of stateless limbo. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Dhaka for a two-day visit.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Injustice as Usual: Malala Assassins Secretly Acquitted in Pakistan

by Phyllis Chesler

The Pakistani courtroom proceedings were secret. Despite what reporters were previously told this past April (that ten men had been convicted), Pakistani authorities secretly acquitted eight of the men charged with conspiracy and attempted murder in the case of teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted because she wanted girls to receive an education.

In 2012, the world was up in arms when a Pakistani Taliban gunman shot fifteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai in the head for having promoted education for girls. She survived dangerous and delicate surgery, moved to Britain with her family for reasons of security— and, along the way, received the Nobel Peace Prize, Europe’s Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought, and was named one of TIME magazines most influential people.

           — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler [Return to headlines]
 

Death Toll Jumps to Nearly 400 in Yangtze River Capsizing

Disaster teams searched the Yangtze River on Saturday for dozens of missing bodies from the Eastern Star as the death toll in the cruiser’s capsizing rose to nearly 400, making it China’s deadliest boat disaster in nearly seven decades.

Authorities have attributed the overturning of the ship late Monday to sudden, severe winds, but also have placed the captain and his first engineer in police custody.

Passengers’ relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its cruise after the storm started in a section of Hubei province and despite a weather warning earlier in the evening.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is China Behind the Massive Data Theft of 4 Million U.S. Officials?

The US federal agency has notified its 4 Million current and former government employees that their private data has been compromised in a massive data breach.

Hackers managed to break into US government computer systems in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and steal records of Millions of employees, making it one of the largest known breaches of information ever on federal workers.

The stolen information includes birth dates, credit card data, banking records, security clearance information, and background checks dating back three decades, potentially affecting people across the spectrum of the federal agency.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Horrifying Moment Lioness Reared Up in Attack That Killed American Tourist Katherine Chappell in South African Safari Park

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

This is the horrifying moment a lioness reared up and mauled to death an American tourist after she stopped to take a photograph in a South African safari park.

Standing on its hind legs, the lioness is seen peering into the vehicle seconds before it attacked Katherine Chappell, an editor on hit TV show Game of Thrones, through the open window.

Engineer Ben Govender, 38, who was in the car behind Miss Chappell, said ‘no one could have imagined’ what would happen in the minutes after he took the extraordinary photograph.

He described the ‘terrifying’ scene as he watched the animal take its first bite out of the passenger on the back seat before retreating from the vehicle, blood dripping from its mouth and paw.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Mother Who Was Gang-Raped While Father Was Held at Knifepoint and Forced to Watch Says She ‘Refuses to Let Them Break Us’ As She Launches Foundation for Victims

[WARNING: Disturbing content.]

Jes Foord, 28, from South Africa, and her father Tim, 64, were attacked by five men in 2008, three of whom raped her. The now mother-of-two is hoping her story will encourage other victims to speak out…

Nthuhuko Chili, 18, Lindani Maphumulo, 19, and Mbotho Msomi, 26, all from Shongweni Reserve, were given life sentences for rape and sexual assault and 15 years each for armed robbery with aggravating circumstances to run concurrently at Durban High Court.

Siyabonga Ntinga, 18, also from Shongweni Reserve, was acquitted of raping Mrs Foord, but sentenced to 15 years for armed robbery.

The fifth attacker was 17, so he cannot be named. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

[Comment: Notice how the article avoids mentioning that this is yet another black on white crime in S.Africa. The work black is not even mentioned at all. Google white South African farmers attacks to see the horrendous accounts.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Violence Ahead of Mexico Mid-Term Elections

There has been further violence around Mexico as the country prepares for this weekend’s mid-term elections.

A number of candidates and numerous campaign workers have also been killed in drug-related violence.

On Sunday, Mexican voters will choose Congressmen, governors and mayors.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Wedding of 2nd Ex-Guantanamo Bay Prisoner in Uruguay Postponed a Week

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — The wedding of a second former Guantanamo Bay detainee to a woman in Uruguay has been postponed one week.

Irina Posadas, an Uruguayan woman who converted to Islam, said her wedding to 34-year-old Syrian Omar Abdelhadi Faraj, scheduled for Saturday, would be postponed one week.

Posadas said the wedding was postponed because harassment by the media hasn’t allowed the couple any space.

The announcement came a day after Adel bin Muhammad El Ouerghi, 50, married 24-year-old Roma Blanco, who is also a convert to Islam.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Navies Pluck 2,000 Migrants From Mediterranean Boats

EU vessels have pulled upwards of 2,000 migrants from boats in the Mediterranean. As in past missions, Germany’s military is among those responding to the migrant boats’ distress call.

Units plucked 2,000 migrants from Mediterranean waters in 15 operations off Libya’s coast on Saturday. German, Italian, Irish and Maltese vessels responded to the calls.

“We have several assets at work,” a spokesman for Italy’s coast guard said on Saturday.

As two British helicopters patrolled the Mediterranean Sea from above on Saturday, the Italian navy ship Driade rescued 560 migrants in an hours-long operation after a smuggler’s boat ran into problems, the navy reported.

Elsewhere, an Irish naval vessel, LE Eithne, took 310 people, including 39 children, onto a barge about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the Libyan coast, the Defense Forces announced. The LE Eithne had taken on 113 persons Friday, as well.

Pressure has increased on EU nations to address the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, the images of which German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called “ incompatible with the values of the European Union.” However, various NGOs and UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, have criticized what many see as a military solution to a humanitarian issue.

One solution under consideration by EU officials would distribute migrants among member nations. Countries such as France have taken issue with that concept, however.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Irish Navy Rescues 310 Migrants Off Libyan Coast

More than 300 migrants have been rescued from a barge by the Irish navy 30 miles north of Libya.

The crew on board the Le Eithne, who rescued some 100 people yesterday, located the vessel with approximately 310 persons on board approximately 30 miles north of the city of Zuwarah.

A total of 212 men were on board, along with 59 women and 39 children.

It is its sixth rescue mission since departing from Cork on 16 May.

A search for the barge was initiated after the Italian Marine Rescue Coordination Centre received a distressed call.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Rising: 25,098,000 Foreign-Born Workers Employed in U.S.A.

The number of foreign-born individuals holding jobs in the United States increased by 279,000 to 25,098,000 in May, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

In January 2009, when President Obama took office, there were 21,375,000 foreign-born workers employed in the United States. Since then, the number has increased by 3,723,000.

In its data on foreign-born workers, the BLS does not distinguish between legal immigrants to the United States, who are permitted to work here, and illegal aliens, who are not.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Actor Patrick Stewart Sides With Christian Bakers Who Refused to Make Gay Marriage Cake

Longtime LGBT advocate and actor Patrick Stewart has sided with Christian bakers in Northern Ireland who refused to write the words, “support gay marriage” on a cake.

“It was the actual words on the cake they objected to,” Stewart told BBC’s “Newsnight” Thursday. “I would support their rights to say, ‘No, this is personally offensive to my beliefs, I will not do it.’“

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Common Core and Communism = Limited Learning for Lifelong Labor

One can not be indoctrinated into something — unless the ENTIRE BELIEF SYSTEM is changed to eliminate freedom, liberty and individual ownership. To Transform means to Destroy and Change.

When I taught school, I taught a class in eighth grade called Capitalism vs. Communism, where we made comparison charts, did role-playing, and had discussions — so that the students were well aware of the differences and could make informed decisions. To see a comparison chart, click here.

Today, teaching Individualism and Capitalism is done only to point out their atrocities, while showing the virtues of Communism. Students no longer possess the skill of critical thinking, because only Communism is taught. America is missing and is not in the picture, unless parents and grandparents take the responsibility to STEP UP, and teach American values. You know: Faith, Family, and Freedoms…

Don’t be fooled by CHOICE. Once the ESEA Bill is reauthorized, the local school boards will cease to exist. Charter Schools will not answer to local school boards. Money will follow the student. Money provided by the Feds and States will dictate school programs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Police Hurt at Gay Pride Rally in Kyiv

Police have been injured during Ukraine’s second-ever gay pride march. Far-right elements are alleged to have instigated the attacks against the officers and LGBT demonstrators in the capital.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

School to Provide Scholarships for ‘Gender-Creative’ 4-Year-Olds

A school that caters to children as young as 4 years old says it welcomes all kids, especially “transgender, gender-creative, or gender non-conforming” ones.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Agenda Behind Bruce Jenner’s Transformation

Bruce Jenner is now known as Caitlyn Jenner and, for some reason, all media outlets have converged to turn this personal transformation into a massive, all-encompassing media event. Why is that? Because Jenner’s transformation was not personal, it is a planned event meant to support an ongoing agenda…

As stated above, Jenner’s transformation was not intimate nor personal. It was a grand, ceremonial, ritualistic event that symbolizes a change in society as a whole. An important part of the elite’s agenda is to debase, confuse and mix up the natural, harmonious order of things. It is about steering away from what is real, pure and authentic to move towards to the fake, artificial and the constructed. For this reason, there one aspect of the Agenda that is becoming increasingly apparent : The feminization of the male and the masculinization of the female. Under the guise of “empowerment”, men who act like females and females who act like men are not only accepted, but celebrated. I personally do not have a problem with that. I DO have a problem with the other side of this agenda : Men who act like traditional men (and do not feel the need to apologize for it) are now portrayed as evil and wrong. And, all of a sudden, portraying a stay-at-home mom who takes pride in cooking for her family is considered “sexist”.

In other words, it is about a complete reversal of gender roles.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands Turn Out for Cyprus’ 2nd Gay Pride Parade, Detractors a No-Show

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Several thousand people marched in the streets of Cyprus’ capital for the east Mediterranean island nation’s second gay pride parade as detractors stayed away.

Parade organizer and ACCEPT-LGBT Cyprus President Costas Gavrielides says turnout was roughly the same as that of last year’s inaugural parade, showing that taboos in the country are fading away.

Last year, scuffles broke out after police prevented a small group of Orthodox Christian protesters from approaching the parade.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

“I Am Tired of Tolerance for Oppression”: Why Tyranny Pisses Me Off

True tyranny is born in the putrid slithering hive of group-think, where the lazy and incompetent find refuge within the protective egg sack of intellectual idiocy. Statists use the lie of abstract majority and the force of government to intrude upon the private ideals of those with opposing views. In the end, it is not enough for them to extort your silence — eventually, they will demand your conversion to their faith, to their collective. Basically, your rights end where their feelings begin.

Your thoughts and ideas are subject to approval. They are not your own in a collectivist system. THIS is what real tyranny is.

Real slavery is not possible unless the slave is made to accept or even love his servitude. The conditions of structure and restriction and permission and “license” are often ingrained into the minds of participating serfs until they cannot comprehend the world without such arbitrary things. Acting outside the established box isn’t even considered. The rules are simply the rules, even though most people have forgotten why or how. The more gullible proponents of social cohesion sometimes claim that the dichotomy between the individual and the collective is “false” . This is utter nonsense. If a collective is not VOLUNTARY, then it is by its very nature counter to the health and rights of the individual, which is why I always try to make the distinction between community and collectivism. Collectivism is entirely destructive to the individual because collectivist systems cannot survive without removing individual thought and action. The modus operandi of a collective is to erase independence so that the hive can function. Anyone who states that individualism and collectivism are “complementary” is either a liar, or a simpleton of the highest degree.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]