Italy’s debt level has risen to 135% of GDP. Some analysts see it as the “next Greece”. Meanwhile, record numbers of Italians are buying real estate in Greece, thanks to bargain prices due to the debt crisis.
In other news, tens of thousands of Greek companies are relocating to Bulgaria to escape the effects of the “austerity” regimen, which includes yet another corporate tax hike.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, Insubria, JD, K, Nick, Steen, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Forget Recession: According to Caterpillar There is a Full-Blown Global Depression
One wouldn’t know it by looking at CAT stock, which has gone very much nowhere in the past 5 years thanks to just one thing — an exponential increase in the company’s share buybacks…
[…] but the company’s publicly disclosed monthly retail sales have just one message for anyone who follows them: forget recession, there is a global depression going on.
And it is not just in China as many would like to scapegoat: in June, in addition to a -19% drop in Asia Pacific (following a 30% Y/Y plunge a year ago, which in turn followed a 21% drop in 2013), US retail sales posted their first Y/Y decline since February, dropping by 5%.
But the real depression is in Latin America, where CAT retail sales plummeted by a whopping 50%: the most in reported history, and follow an 18% drop from a year earlier.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gold Slides for 10th Day, Breaking Below $1,100
The rout in gold prices continued on Wednesday, with the front-runner contract on track for a 10th straight session of losses and its lowest settlement price since early 2010.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Businesses Look to Relocate to Bulgaria
Up to 60,000 Greek firms are considering whether to relocate their business to Bulgaria following weeks of capital controls and economic turmoil, according to the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association. Greek firms have faced difficulties in paying suppliers and now face an increase in corporation tax to 29 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greeks Laugh as Bankers Implore Depositors Return Money — “Banks Are Trustworthy”
President of Greek Banks Association Louka Katseli appealed at the citizens to return their money to the banks. “Banks are absolutely trustworthy,” Katseli told Mega TV “as guaranteed by the ECB and the Bank Association, but they would have been even more powerful if 40 billion euros had not been withdrawn in the last months.
Katseli, a former PASOK Minister, appealed to citizens to return their deposits to the banks “now that the banks are open” after a three-week holiday and capital controls.
“Let’s all help our economy,” Katseli urged Greeks and added “If you take your money out of your chests and houses — which are not safe in any case — and deposit at banks, this will enhance liquidity.”
“There will be no need to “haircut” deposits in the future if we all act responsibly,” she added -cheerfully I suppose.
Katseli’s appeal triggered laughter among Greeks and one stressed with hint to capital controls “Oh yes! I will bring my money back to the bank and get it back 60 by 60 euro.”
[Comment: Thats why folks that lived through the depression kept their money in their mattresses. They had first hand experience of trustworthiness of the banks.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As the world watches Greece’s besieged leadership limp forward in a effort to push through reform and pay back some of the staggering debt, eyes flicker nervously in Italy’s direction. Megan Williams reports from Rome.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Debt Rises to 135.1% of GDP in Q1
Eurostat reports increase compared with final months of 2014
(ANSA) — Brussels, July 22 — Italian government debt as a percentage of the economy rose to 135.1% in the first quarter compared with a level of 132.1% in the final quarter of 2014, Eurostat said Wednesday. That was the second-largest increase among EU states after Belgium, it added. The heaviest debt load in the region was in Greece, at 168.8% of GDP in the first quarter, said Eurostat, adding it has introduced new processes that are changing its data. Across the euro area, the average ratio of debt to GDP rose to 92% from 92% in Q4 of 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italians ‘Rushing’ To Buy Homes in Greece, Data Shows
Scenari Immobilari research group calls it ‘Grex-in’
(ANSA) — Milan, July 22 — Italians are purchasing real estate abroad in record numbers thus far in 2015, despite the fact that the domestic market hasn’t seen a recovery, said real estate independent research firm Scenari Immobiliari.
Italians are overwhelmingly looking to buy in Greece, where a recent agreement with creditors saved the European nation from the possibility of a “Grexit,” an exit from the EU. “A phenomenon has been triggered that can be defined as a ‘Grex-in’,” the group said.
“It’s a rush, with Italians leading the way, to buy homes that Greeks in financial difficulty are putting up for sale at lowered prices”.
The group estimates that Italians will purchase more than 50,000 international properties in 2015, a 10% increase on 2014 figures and “a true historical record”.
According to the data, Italians bought more than 24,000 homes abroad in the first half of 2015.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cutting Taxes Will ‘Create Wealth, Jobs’ — Padoan
Reducing spending, fighting tax evasion complementary
(ANSA) — Rome, July 22 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Wednesday that the government’s plan to cut 50 billion euros in taxes is part of a “radical process of modernization of the country (that) must create wealth and jobs after years of crisis”.
However, the plan will be effective only if its permanence is “credible and believable” as well as sustainable, he said.
Consumers and businesses must have confidence in the government’s strategy if they are to act on it, he said.
Premier Matteo Renzi’s tax-cut plan is “another step in a strategy” and not ad hoc measures, said Padoan.
And the measures must work together with plans to reduce spending as well as plans to “step up” the fight against tax evasion if they are to be effective, said Padoan.
He spoke after business group Confcommercio said that almost 23 billion euros in “wasteful” spending could be cut from local government budgets and redeployed for more essential services.
In a new study that used the northern Lombardy region as a “virtuous” base for comparison, it suggested other regions are wasting resources.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Greek Effect Drives Podemos Away From Government
Drop in polls after Tsipras gave in to EU and internal squabblin
MADRID — The dream of raising to power seems to be drifting away from the Spanish version of the Syriza party after Brussels halted Greece in spite of the fact that the no vote (Oxi!) won in a referendum. The movement of Pablo Iglesias, the professor with a ponytail, is now a collateral victim of the Greek debacle. A survey published by Abc four months after political elections at the end of November gave Podemos only 15% of the would-be vote, far behind the PP of Premier Mariano Rajoy, at 29.1%, and the PSOE of Pedro Sanchez at 25.5%. It also had a minor lead over the other ‘new’ party, Albert Rivera’s Ciudadanos, at 12.1%. A month ago, the PP, PSOE and Podemos had achieved a ‘technical draw’ between 20% and 23%.
Iglesias is paying the price for the constant changes he has been forced to undertake over his stance on Tsipras. Podemos backed the ‘no’ to the referendum, denouncing the “financial terrorism” of the Troika. But then it justified the humiliating ‘yes’ uttered by Tsipras in front of the diktats imposed by the Eurogroup, giving up on part of its national sovereignty, the new cure which will imply harsh austerity measures and cannot be sustained according to many economists. In the end, Iglesiassaid he would also have voted yes had he been Greek, immediately adding however that “Spain is not Greece”. Meanwhile Rajoy has deployed his ‘heavy artillery’ to slam queues at cash machines in Athens, pensioners who were left with no pension as well as the humiliation suffered by the entire country — which would “have returned to grow” without Syriza — due to the lack of responsibility of “populist” leaders.
In Spain as well, warned Rajoy, things could go in the same direction if the Socialists and Podemos end up in the government in November.
Tsipras in a recent interview said he wishes Podemos will win the election in Spain because this “could change Europe” but the hypothesis seems to be moving further away for now.
After triumphing in municipal elections at the end of May, winning in Madrid, Barcelona and Zaragoza, Podemos is experiencing “its most difficult hours”, according to Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia.
The party is divided over the centralism imposed by Iglesias, who has promoted a system of primaries to appoint the candidates running in national elections that favors lists presented by the central direction rather than those of grassroots members from various regions. Such a “dedazo” (imposition from above)also enables to choose ‘decoy candidates’ outside the party, which has sparked revolts and resignations in Galicia, Catalonia, the Balearic islands and Andalusia. “There is more democracy in the PP”, protested Enric Martinez, spokesman for Podemos Unidos, the internal faction criticizing the centralism of Iglesias and his ‘clan somosaguas’. “Podemus is burning”, warned the weekly Tiempo. And the internal dissatisfaction adds up to the scarce results so far reached by city councils led by Podemos in Barcelona and Madrid, where the mayor Manuela Carena has found nothing better that approving the web page Version Original to ‘correct’, ‘censor’ according to oppositions and journalists, information published by the media that are not approved by the municipal government, causing suspects and controversies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Times Lauds ‘The Renzi Way’, Slams Tsipras
Paper ‘encouraged’ by premier’s moderate reformist agenda
(ANSA) — London, July 21 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has embarked on a course of action that is “laudable and encouraging”, the Times wrote on Tuesday.
In a comment titled ‘The Renzi Way” the newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch lauded the reformist agenda of Italy’s 40-year-old head of government, comparing him to former British prime minister and Labour leader Tony Blair. The “scrapper” has challenged the “dogmas” of the more traditional left and opted to manoeuvre from the centre, the Times said, citing fiscal measures and provisions for accessing credit for business as well as controversial labour and constitutional reforms. “Like Silvio Berlusconi…he has tried to promote growth with policies favourable to business, but unlike Berlusconi he doesn’t control 90% of television channels, nor is he involved in ongoing scandals,” the paper wrote. “Greek observers should look at Italy with envy,” concluded the Times, drawing a parallel between the two southern Mediterranean countries that are both grappling with “structural problems” and which both had technocrat governments before entrusting themselves to young premiers from the left. However, “while Renzi has channelled his energy into a broad programme of moderate policies aimed at mending the fabric of the Italian state Alexis Tsipras has pursued a much more destructive path” — at least until “his apparent recent conversion to structural reform”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Ukrainians Struggling as Their Economy Shrinks
Many Ukrainians are feeling the effects of their country’s severe recession. Fuelled partly by the debilitating war in the east with Russian-supported militants, Ukraine’s economy is shrinking.
The country may also be on the verge of defaulting on some of its international debts.
This week, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has been in the United States to reassure Washington that the government is making progress in tackling the troubled economy, cracking down on corruption and dealing with the shaky cease-fire with the insurgents.
But for many ordinary Ukrainians, life is hard.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In what is being called “the first of its kind,” Wired.com reports that hackers, using just a laptop and mobile phone, accessed a Jeep Cherokee’s on-board systems (via its wireless internet connection), took control and crashed the car into a ditch from 10 miles away sitting on their sofa. As The Telegraph details, the breach was revealed by security researchers Charlie Miller, a former staffer at the NSA, and Chris Valasek, who warned that more than 470,000 cars made by Fiat Chrysler could be at risk of being attacked by similar means. Coming just weeks after the FBI claimed a US hacker took control of a passenger jet he was on in the first known such incident of its kind, the incident shows just how vulnerable we are to modern technology.
As The Telegraph reports, the hackers (security experts) worked with Andy Greenberg, a writer with tech website Wired.com, who drove the Jeep Cherokee on public roads in St Louis, Missouri… In his disturbing account Greenberg described how the air vents started blasting out cold air and the radio came on full blast when the hack began.
The windscreen wipers turned on with wiper fluid, blurring the glass, and a picture of the two hackers appeared on the car’s digital display to signify they had gained access.
Greenberg said that the hackers then slowed the car to a halt just as he was getting on the highway, causing a tailback behind him — though it got worse after that.
He wrote: ‘The most disturbing maneuver came when they cut the Jeep’s brakes, leaving me frantically pumping the pedal as the 2-ton SUV slid uncontrollably into a ditch.
[Comment: Computer management of the car should be TOTALLY isolated from any wireless connection. A separate computer should control wifi etc.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Just when you thought they’ve tried every trick up their sleeves to disarm American citizens, the creative minds within the Obama administration have come up with a new idea.
Because seizing firearms from veterans has been so successful, they figure they can give it a shot on a much more massive scale, and they’ll be using a Presidential Executive Order to make it happen.
This time the President will be targeting 4.2 million Americans who are receiving Social Security benefits for disarmament:
Seeking tighter controls over firearm purchases, the Obama administration is pushing to ban Social Security beneficiaries from owning guns if they lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, a move that could affect millions whose monthly disability payments are handled by others.
The push is intended to bring the Social Security Administration in line with laws regulating who gets reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, which is used to prevent gun sales to felons, drug addicts, immigrants in the country illegally and others.
A potentially large group within Social Security are people who, in the language of federal gun laws, are unable to manage their own affairs due to “marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease.”…
As Bearing Arms notes, the move is a tyrannical declaration by executive fiat and is a “broad brush” approach that will strip Second Amendment rights from Americans who have committed no crime and pose no danger to society.
Karl Denninger highlights the absolute insanity of what implementation of such an order means:
If your grandmother has a gun for personal protection (and is not a frail older person the exact sort of person for whom that equalizer is most important) but has someone else (like you) run her bank account for her Obama wants to confiscate her gun.
[Comment: Do not ascribe to insanity what should be ascribed to malice. It’s all part of a planned disarmament of the American populace. Economic collapse of US currency and martial law can’t start until guns are removed from American citizens.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Family Threatened With Government Fine for Parking Cars in Their Own Driveway
Government officials in Cobb County, Georgia are threatening a family with a fine for parking too many cars in their own driveway.
The Oviedo family were hit with the violation notice after local bureaucrats acted on an anonymous complaint that there were four cars parked on the property. Local ordinance rules which were recently changed mandate that a maximum of two cars be parked at any one time. The family has relatives visiting and their two kids are home from college, but this explanation wasn’t enough to prevent them getting a visit from code enforcement officials last week.
“I am angry. I am beyond angry. I don’t see how the government can tell me whose cars I can park in my own driveway,” Kim Oviedo told WSB-TV 2.
After the story was covered by local news media, county officials decided to allow the infraction to slide for now, but they have warned the family that fines will be imposed next summer unless the family obtains an expensive permit to park four cars on the driveway.
“The fact that my kid’s home from college and now I’m a law breaker I guess,” said neighbor Mark Talley, who also has three cars parked on his driveway.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FEMA Identifying Potential “Extremists”
HR 2899 introduced by Rep McCaul on June 25, 2015 would expand counter-propaganda efforts targeted at those the government would label as potential “violent extremists.”
The bill would place funding & grants under FEMA.
[Comment: will they get their recommened target list from Southern Poverty Law Centr.?]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
John McCain, who has risen to political prominence on his image as a Vietnam POW war hero, has, inexplicably, worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn’t return home. Throughout his Senate career, McCain has quietly sponsored and pushed into federal law a set of prohibitions that keep the most revealing information about these men buried as classified documents. Thus the war hero who people would logically imagine as a determined crusader for the interests of POWs and their families became instead the strange champion of hiding the evidence and closing the books.
Almost as striking is the manner in which the mainstream press has shied from reporting the POW story and McCain’s role in it, even as the Republican Party has made McCain’s military service the focus of his presidential campaign. Reporters who had covered the Vietnam War turned their heads and walked in other directions. McCain doesn’t talk about the missing men, and the press never asks him about them.
The sum of the secrets McCain has sought to hide is not small. There exists a telling mass of official documents, radio intercepts, witness depositions, satellite photos of rescue symbols that pilots were trained to use, electronic messages from the ground containing the individual code numbers given to airmen, a rescue mission by a special forces unit that was aborted twice by Washington — and even sworn testimony by two Defense secretaries that “men were left behind.” This imposing body of evidence suggests that a large number — the documents indicate probably hundreds — of the U.S. prisoners held by Vietnam were not returned when the peace treaty was signed in January 1973 and Hanoi released 591 men, among them Navy combat pilot John S. McCain.
[Comment: Perhaps those fellow POWs know something about McCain…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Dewey Abbott III, who lives at Kings Crossing at 1710 East Northfield Blvd. was arrested for allegedly shooting 40-year-old Jesse Sliepenbeek of Lascassas, police spokesman Kyle Evans said.
Officers responded at 1:30 a.m. to Kings Crossing for a report of a shooting where they found Sliepenbeek suffering from a gunshot wound, Evans said.
Emergency responders transported Sliepenbeek to Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital where he later died.
After interviewing witnesses, Det. Larry Maples arrested Abbott on suspicion of murder, Evans said.
He was booked at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office where he was being held without bond Wednesday morning.
Police have not released a motive for the shooting.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Seattle Officials Join Push for Sharia-Compliant Mortgages, Loans
A proposal in Seattle meant to increase homeownership among Muslims by offering financing compliant with strict Islamic law — known as Sharia — is gaining ground in the latest test for local leaders trying to accommodate diverse religious beliefs.
“We will work to develop new tools for Muslims who are prevented from using conventional mortgage products due to their religious beliefs,” Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said during a press conference July 13.
“Sharia,” which comes from the Koran and means “the right path,” prohibits the payment of interest — the primary way lenders earn. Many of Seattle’s 30,000 practicing Muslims, therefore, are hard-pressed to find Sharia-compliant financing options when buying homes, making large purchases or starting a business.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Senate Passes Communist Education Bill
All information regarding this bill is at abcsofdumbdown.blogspot.com
S1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, received 81 yes votes, 17 no votes, and 2 not voting.
The following Senators voted NO: Blunt, R/ MO; Booker, D/ NJ; Crapo, R/ID; Cruz, R/TX; Daines, R/MT; Flake, R/AZ; Lee, R/UT; Moran, R/KS; Murphy, D/CT; Paul, R/KY; Riseh, R/ID; Rubio, R/FL; Sasse, R/NE; Scott, R/SC; Shelby, R/AL; Vitter, R/LA; Warren, D/MA; NOT voting were Graham, R/SC, Nelson, D/FL.
We should thank those voting NO since S1177 is NOT an education bill.
We should also thank the thousands of grassroots Americans who did everything possible to get a NO vote on both Rep. Kline’s HR5 and Sen. Alexander’s S1177 legislation. We almost killed HR 5; lost by 5 votes…
HR 5 and S1177 ARE NOT EDUCATION BILLS. THEY ARE COMMUNIST LIMITED LEARNING FOR LIFELONG LABOR BILLS! which originated in Carnegie Corporation, Conclusions and Recommendations for the Social Studies, 1934; in the United Nations, UNESCO and the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, France. They are part of UN Agenda 21. The Carnegie book is available at American Deception.com (type “Conclusions” into the search engine). This book calls for using the schools to change America’s capitalist economic system to a communist planned economy and in some cases to take our land.
The global workforce training agenda was resurrected during the Reagan and Bush Administrations, later supported by Clinton and Bush,Jr. and now Obama.
Workforce training is a major part of the world government/UNAgenda 21 plan.
As the famous novelist C.S. Lewis said (words to the effect): “When training beats education civilization dies.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Opponents Take Nuanced View of Child Rape
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
There are few sexual perversions not celebrated by our media today, but I gather, from decades of flood-the-zone coverage of even the most preposterous allegations of rape, that liberals are still on record as being against rape.
So it’s worth examining the cultures we’re introducing to America for the purpose of giving the Democrats votes and businesses cheap labor:
— Seventy-seven percent of reported sexual assaults in Lima, Peru, are against child victims, according to the Latin American and Caribbean Youth Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights (REDLAC).
— A U.N. Special Rapporteur concluded that the only explanation for “the high degree of impunity for violence against women” in Guatemala was that “at least some of the violence was committed by the authorities.”
— CNN reports that 318 10-year-old girls gave birth in Mexico in 2011.
In all of Western Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined, there have been eight reported births to girls aged 10 or younger. Seven of the eight involved Third World immigrants.
[…]
— According to North Carolinians for Immigration Reform and Enforcement, illegal immigrants commit hundreds of sex crimes against children in that state every month — 350 in the month of April 2014, 299 in May, and more than 400 sex crimes against children in August and September.
More than 90 percent of the perpetrators are Hispanic. I didn’t know there were that many Hispanics in North Carolina! When not providing North Carolina farmers with cheap labor, immigrant workers seem to spend all their free time raping little girls. (It’s a wonder they find the time to do all that drunk driving.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Foreign Secretary Advocates Totalitarianism in Fight Against ISIS and Russia
Hammond says democracy too “cumbersome.”
Hammond cited the former Soviet Union as an example of an effective decision making process.
“We have to think about how we respond to an adversary in which all decision making power is concentrated in the hands of one man. I have heard it said that it is more concentrated even than under Leonid Brezhnev, when at least there was a Politburo,” he said.
[Comment: You can trust a Communist to act like a Communist.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
From David Cameron, The Truth at Last
“… simply denying any connection between the religion of Islam and the extremists doesn’t work, because these extremists are self-identifying as Muslims. The fact is from Woolwich to Tunisia, from Ottawa to Bali, these murderers all spout the same twisted narrative, one that claims to be based on a particular faith.
“Now it is an exercise in futility to deny that. And more than that, it can be dangerous.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: OECD Proposes Ban of Traditional Spirit “Tsipouro”
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, JULY 21 — In its second “toolkit” for the Greek economy, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has suggested that among the various reforms Greece should undertake is the prohibition of the sale of draft “tsipouro”, a traditional Greek alcoholic spirit that is produced though grape marc distillation. The Greek government, as GreekReporter website notes, agreed to implement the OECD “toolkit” recommendations as part of the bailout deal. Though tsipouro is mass-produced in Greece, it has been predominantly homemade throughout Greek history. According to daily Kathimerini, in 2013, a committee within Greece’s Finance Ministry had estimated that 17 million litres of illegal draft tsipouro were being produced and sold annually without being taxed. As a result, the Greek state misses out on approximately 97 million euros per year and competition among producers is unfair. The OECD estimates that there are 24 million litres of tsipouro circulating annually in Greece. The “toolkit” suggests that if the ban on draft tsipouro sales is not implemented, small producers of draft tsipouro should produce taxation documents.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy, Spain Detain Suspects in ‘Islamic State’ Clampdown
Italian police have arrested two people they suspect are behind an IS friendly Twitter account. The men are believed to have been plotting attacks on famous landmarks.
The men, who are from Tunisia and Pakistan, were arrested in Brescia in the northern region of Lombardy, on suspicion of association with terror and subversion. However, they have not been named.
Both Italy and Spain have been trying to clamp down on IS-related terrorism, with Italy on high alert against attacks at embassies, synagogues, churches and the Vatican as well as tourist areas.
Spain has arrested some 50 suspected jihadi militants and recruiters this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Citizens’ Share of Medicine Costs Rises 66% in 5 Years
Italians prefer to pay difference between generics and brands
(ANSA) — Rome, July 21 — The share of pharmaceutical expenses shouldered by Italian citizens has grown 66 percent in the past five years, data from medicine agency Aifa showed on Tuesday.
Aifa Director-General Luca Pani said the rise between 2010 and 2014 was partly due to the increase in regional fees, but also because people prefer to pay the difference between prescribed generic drugs and branded medicines.
Presenting a report on the use of pharmaceuticals in Italy in 2014, Pani said the share of medicinal expenses that citizens bear has grown 4.5 percent just in the past year.
Meanwhile over the past five years the share of pharmaceutical purchases shouldered by the national health service has fallen 10 percent.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Crocetta Says He Will Sue L’Espresso for 10 Mln Euros (2)
Sicily governor to fight magazine over Borsellino report
(ANSA) — Palermo, July 21 — Sicily Governor Rosario Crocetta said Tuesday he will sue magazine L’Espresso claiming 10 million euros in damages for an article about an alleged wiretap. “We will take civil action,” Crocetta told a news conference. An alleged conversation about former health councillor Lucia Borsellino, daughter of slain anti-mafia judge Paolo Borsellino, involved Crocetta and doctor Matteo Tutino.
L’Espresso quoted Tutino as suggesting she should be “eliminated” like her father. Prosecutors say no wiretap exists.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Cut 23 Bn Euros in ‘Wasteful’ Local Spending — Business
Confcommercio says taxes could be put to better use
(ANSA) — Rome, July 22 — Almost 23 billion euros in “wasteful” spending could be cut from local government budgets and redeployed for more essential services, business group Confcommercio said in a study released Wednesday. Using the northern Lombardy region as a base for comparison, it said other regions are wasting resources. Calling Lombardy “the most virtuous” of regional governments, Confcommercio said that public services at that level should cost just over 102 billion euro compared to the current 174 billion euro.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Two Suspected ISIS Supporters Arrested After Threats
‘We are in your streets. We are everywhere’ say posts
(ANSA) — Milan, July 22 — Italian police said Wednesday they arrested two suspected supporters of ISIS after they made threats against landmarks in Rome and Milan.
The two, one from Tunisia and one from Pakistan, had created a Twitter account called ‘Islamic_State in Roma’ and allegedly planned terrorist actions, posting messages with photos of famous Italian sites in the background.
“We are in your streets. We are everywhere. We are locating targets, waiting for time X,” read some of the messages, written in Italian, Arabic and French.
Some were written on scraps of paper and held up before a camera with Rome’s Colosseum and Milan’s Duomo as well as its bustling train station in the background, implying these were terrorist targets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nationalist Linked to Huge Swedish Dynamite Haul
A local politician for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats is quitting the party after being linked to a 550-kilogram dynamite find in Halland, Swedish media reported on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
There are fears that a new exhibition dedicated to the 77 people slaughtered by Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik could become a shrine to the mass-murderer.
It has been opened exactly four years after he detonated a car bomb in Oslo, killing eight, before gunning down 69 members of the Labour Party’s youth wing who had gathered at a camp on the island of Utoya.
The memorial features several objects used by Breivik in the 2011 rampage. It includes the charred remains of the van where the bomb was hidden and the fake ID he used to impersonate a police officer to infiltrate the camp.
The right-wing extremist, who committed the worst peacetime atrocity in Norway’s history, claimed his gruesome attacks were designed to stop a ‘Muslim invasion’.
As the country prepares to remember the needless lives lost four years ago, Norway’s prime minister has said July 22 will remain a dark day in the country’s history.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Oldest’ Koran Fragments Found in Birmingham University
What may be the world’s oldest fragments of the Koran have been found by the University of Birmingham.
Radiocarbon dating found the manuscript to be at least 1,370 years old, making it among the earliest in existence.
The pages of the Muslim holy text had remained unrecognised in the university library for almost a century.
The British Library’s expert on such manuscripts, Dr Muhammad Isa Waley, said this “exciting discovery” would make Muslims “rejoice”.
The manuscript had been kept with a collection of other Middle Eastern books and documents, without being identified as one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Says He is Hopeful for Paris Climate Deal
Pope urges United Nations to also tackle human trafficking
(ANSA) — Vatican City, July 21 — Pope Francis said on Tuesday he had high hopes that a United Nations climate change conference in Paris later this year will lead to a key agreement on tackling global warming.
“I have a lot of hope that a fundamental deal will be reached in Paris, but to achieve this the United Nations must be involved, especially regarding the problem of human trafficking,” the pope told a Vatican conference of mayors focused on modern slavery and climate change.
The Vatican meeting is addressing several issues that are also likely to be on the agenda at the major U.N. conference in Paris, which is set to run from November 30 until December 11.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Fresh Push for Longer Alcohol Store Hours
A board member for Sweden’s state-run alcohol monopoly Systembolaget has caused a stir by calling for stores to be open on Sundays, but the company’s management team has insisted that his suggestions are not likely to be implemented.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Two Suspected ISIS Supporters Arrested in Italy
Italian police said Wednesday they arrested two suspected supporters of ISIS after they made threats against landmarks in Rome and Milan.
The two, one from Tunisia and one from Pakistan, had created a Twitter account called ‘Islamic_State in Roma’ and allegedly planned terrorist actions, posting messages with photos of famous Italian sites in the background.
“We are in your streets. We are everywhere. We are locating targets, waiting for time X,” read some of the messages, written in Italian, Arabic and French.
Some were written on scraps of paper and held up before a camera with Rome’s Colosseum and Milan’s Duomo as well as its bustling train station in the background, implying these were terrorist targets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: New Definition of Extremist: ‘Anybody Who Challenges the Established Order’
There is a worrying and dangerous tendency in the UK to label as extremists anybody who poses a challenge and who wants to protest against the unfair economic system that exists in the UK, journalist and broadcaster Neil Clark told RT.
City of London police have been attacked for pigeonholing an anti-capitalist group, alongside Al-Qaeda and IRA. An anti-terror presentation for nursery and school staff featured a picture of the Occupy London campaign alongside images from the 7/7 London bombings in 2005 and an IRA attack in 1996. The anti-inequality group was also categorized as an example of domestic extremism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ricin Trial: Liverpool Dad ‘Plotted to Buy Enough Poison to Kill 1,400 People’
A Liverpool man arrested by anti-terror police tried to buy enough deadly poison to kill 1,400 people, a court today heard.
Dad-of-two Mohammed Ammer Ali, 31, allegedly ordered 500mg of the chemical weapon ricin from the darkest recesses of the internet and had it shipped to him disguised as toy car batteries.
Ali, of Prescot Road, Old Swan, used the codename “weirdos 0000” to get hold of the poison, London’s Old Bailey heard.
Prosecutors claimed he sent an encrypted message on the dark web asking: “Hi, would you be able to make me some Ricin and send it to the UK?”
Computer programmer Ali allegedly paid $500 for five vials of ricin to be shipped to his home disguised as “special batteries” for a toy car.
But the seller, using the codename ‘Psychochem’, was actually an undercover agent working for the FBI and the powder Ali was sent was harmless.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Former Kincora boy Richard Kerr has finally identified several establishment figures as people who helped to cover up a paedophile network of VIPs. Kerr in a powerful interview says that child abuse at the children’ s home was all about political leverage‘
He picked out from photographs a series of men connected with intelligence, military and politics — and even the royal family. Some he indentified as paedophiles themselves.
[Comment: Banksters ensure deviants are placed in positions of power in order to do their bidding.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: World’s Oldest Koran Discovered… in Birmingham
Fragments of what is thought to be the oldest version of the Koran in the world have been found after it lay unrecognised in a library for 100 years.
Researchers from the University of Birmingham say the fragments are at least 1,370 years old.
Written on sheep or goat skin, the pages back to between AD 568 and 645 with 95.4 per cent accuracy, radiocarbon dating tests have indicated.
Muhammad Afzal, chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, said there were “tears of joy and emotion” in his eyes when he saw the pieces
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Child Molesters Run UK Government
A special report from 60 Minutes Australia details the underground human and sex trafficking trade woven deep into the fabric of British society.
From normal citizens to TV personalities and spies, to notable British politicians and members of royalty, the report reveals many were procured underage children via a secret network to use as sex slaves.
More from Nine Network:
It’s shaping up to be the biggest political scandal in Britain’s history. There is new evidence that some of the country’s most respected men were in fact depraved paedophiles. Leaders that were preying on children as young as eight and nine. Many of the kids were trafficked from state-run homes and other institutions to be abused by MPs, Lords, and spies. They were protected from on high by a secret code, and have never been held to account for their horrific crimes. 60 Minutes investigates the scandal and the cover up, speaks to the victims and the witnesses, and confronts a member of the notorious paedophile information exchange. Reporter Ross Coulthart also reveals how children were killed in order to protect this network of predators — and how the driver to the Australian High Commissioner could hold the key to blowing this case wide open.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Women in Every Part of England and Wales Are Victims of Female Genital Mutilation
A new report estimates that 4.7 per cent of women in Southwark, an area in the south of the city, have undergone the procedure, while 10.4 per cent are living with mothers who have had it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria Steps up Border Control With Libya
Concerns have risen in Algeria over possible terrorist infiltration and smugglers from neighboring Libya. The Algerian army has recently got hold of 1,680 vehicles for border control, report local media outlets, which note that the desert border between Algeria and Libya is over 1,000 kilometers long and gave evidence of its permeability in 2011 in the months following the fall of the Gaddafi regime. After recent attacks in Tunisia and Ain Defla (south-east of Algiers), Algerian armed forces decided to increase border control.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Hostages in Libya ‘Taken to the Desert’
To area full of hideouts, driver bound and abandoned
The Libyan online publication Akhbar Libya 24 reported Wednesday that the four Italians taken hostage in the city have been moved to a desert location. The outlet cited sources from Sabrata, on the country’s northwestern coast, as saying that the four had been taken to a desert area with many hideouts. The sources said that the hostage-takers made the Italians get out their car and into another one, leaving their mobile phones behind. The driver was reportedly tied up and left in the desert.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Father of Pakistan’s Nuclear Bomb Says Deal May Have Saved Iran From Disaster
Dr. A.Q. Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and a widely suspected supplier of nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea, told Fox News Tuesday that the Islamic republic’s recent nuclear deal with the United States and its negotiating partners may have saved Iran from disaster, either in the form of an internal coup or external attack.
In an email to FOX News, the Pakistani scientist said the Iranian leadership has “very wisely and pragmatically saved their country from a very bad situation — — call it a disaster, if you like.”
Khan said that if Iran had not agreed to the deal, “ongoing chaos would have left the field open to a military coup sponsored by the West, just as has happened in Egypt.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Foreign Ministry Doing “Everything Possible” To Find Missing Journalists
Spain’s foreign minister on Wednesday sought to convey a message of calm to the families of the three Spanish journalists who went missing 10 days ago in Syria, noting that this was not the first time such an incident had occurred and that previous cases had all been resolved favorably.
“All the precedents are good,” said José Manuel García-Margallo. “We’ve had no tragedies to regret in the last four years.”
Freelance journalists Antonio Pampliega, Ángel Sastre and José Manuel López entered Syria from Turkey on July 10 and were in the northern city of Aleppo when contact was lost, diplomatic sources have confirmed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Still Chanting ‘Death to America’
There’s nothing quite like the astonishment of progressives whenever their profound and enduring ignorance of human nature is thrust in upon them. And so it is with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his reaction to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s speech last Saturday. It was a speech during which the Supreme Leader reminded the world the hostility that exists between his nation and the United States is not about to be extinguished by the nuclear arms agreement.
“Whether the deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon,” said Khamenei following prayers that marked the end of Ramadan. “Even after this deal, our policy toward the arrogant U.S. will not change. We don’t have any negotiations or deal with the U.S. on different issues in the world or the region.” The ayatollah further insisted U.S. policies in the Middle East were “180 degrees” out of phase with those of his nation. Adding some “color” to Khamenei’s delivery on state television were audience members chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”
Kerry was taken aback. “I don’t know how to interpret it at this point in time, except to take it at face value, that that’s his policy,” he said during an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya News. “But I do know that often comments are made publicly and things can evolve that are different. If it is the policy, it’s very disturbing, it’s very troubling, and we’ll have to wait and see. … We are not kidding when we talk about the importance of pushing back against extremism, against support for terrorism and proxies who are destabilizing other countries. It’s unacceptable.”
Pushing back against extremism? The Iranian deal bankrolls extremism, freeing up as much as $150 billion in frozen Iranian assets as soon as sanctions are lifted, a move that was virtually assured by the unanimous 15-0 vote of approval by the United Nations Security Council on Monday. Thus Iran will have plenty of money to fund its surrogate partners such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. Our equally out of touch National Security adviser Susan Rice admitted as much in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, but insisted that “for the most part” Iran will spend the unfrozen money on the “Iranian people and their economy which has tanked.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is the shocking moment a French ISIS fighter vowed to ‘fill the streets of Paris with dead bodies’ before he shot a Syrian soldier in the back of the head and kicked him off a cliff.
In a vile ‘message’ directed towards the people of France, the masked militant spoke in perfect French before brutally executing a Syrian army prisoner by shooting him in the head.
Ranting wildly into the high-definition camera used to record the execution video, the fanatic told listeners that ISIS ‘loves death like you love life’ and encouraged the group’s supporters to continue to plot and carry out further terror attacks in the European country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Reporters Taken Hostage in Syria ‘Moved to Idlib’
The three Spanish journalists who disappeared 10 day ago were reportedly taken hostage in the city of Aleppo and later moved to the region further east, Idlib.
The latter is partially under the control of the local Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra. Local sources in Aleppo that are in contact with armed factions in the city reported the news to ANSA. The sources rule out that they may have been taken by the Islamic State (ISIS), which is not present in the area. The sources say that the three were taken for the purpose of a ransom and not for political reasons.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Suruc Massacre: Turkish Student Behind Suicide Bomb
The identity of the suicide bomber who killed 32 youth activists in the Turkish town of Suruc has been been confirmed, government officials say.
DNA tests revealed the attacker was a 20-year-old Turkish student, named by local media as Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz.
He came from the south-eastern province of Adiyaman and was reportedly linked to Islamic State (IS) militants.
Meanwhile, two Turkish police officers have been found dead in the town of Ceylanpinar near the Syrian border.
The officers were found with bullet wounds in the house they shared in the town, which is in the same province as Suruc.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: At Least 44 People Drown Over Eid Holiday
More than 40 people drowned across Turkey in the week including the four-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, police said July 21.
According to figures compiled from police reports since July 14, at least 44 people drowned throughout the country, while three others remain missing.
Over the weekend at the end of the Ramadan holiday, 24 drowned, including two teenagers who died swimming in rivers in the country’s south, as temperatures rose above 30 degrees Celsius.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Blocks Twitter Following Suicide Bomb Attacks
After a local court ordered the removal of images of the Suruc bombing from Twitter, officials said that they asked for links to be scrubbed from the site. Normal service resumed on Wednesday afternoon.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nepal’s Quake Survivors Face Increased Risk of Trafficking
Many women and children affected by the devastating Nepal quakes have also been subject to sexual and domestic violence. Post-disaster, the nation has become a breeding ground for traffickers, as Murali Krishnan reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Viewpoint: Britain Must Pay Reparations to India
At the end of May, the Oxford Union held a debate on the motion “This house believes Britain owes reparations to her former colonies”. Speakers included former Conservative MP Sir Richard Ottaway, Indian politician and writer Shashi Tharoor and British historian John Mackenzie. Shashi Tharoor’s argument in support of the motion, went viral in India after he tweeted it out from his personal account. The argument has found favour among Indians, where the subject of colonial exploitation remains a sore topic. Here he gives a summary of his views.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Government Gives Ai Weiwei His Passport Back, After Four Years
Chinese artist and free speech advocate Ai Weiwei is able to travel again, years after he was jailed and held without charges. The return comes at a time of turmoil in Chinese civil society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Southeast Asia — A Pirates’ Paradise
Piracy has long threatened Southeast Asia. The conditions in the region suit the pirates — the countermeasures by the governments are sluggish, and the criminal networks are highly professional.
The number of piracy networks operating in the waters off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore remains the highest in the world. A recent report published by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) confirms this. During the first six months of this year, there have been 79 pirate attacks in Southeast Asia, the IMB said on July 22. That makes more than half of the world’s 134 reported pirate attacks in the same period.
The region is a paradise for pirates — the sea routes off the Malaysian state of Malacca, Singapore and in the South China Sea are among the most used areas for trafficking in the world. A maze of islands and the labyrinthine links between the sea waters provide protection to the pirates. The countries in the region, with their naval police units, are weak and corrupt to deal with the situation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama is a Really Big Fan of Nigeria’s Muslim Dictator
Obama did everything he could to undermine Nigeria’s Christian president
by Daniel Greenfield
Obama did everything he could to undermine Nigeria’s Christian president Jonathan Goodluck in his fight against the Islamic terrorists of Boko Haram. The administration kicked and screamed against even naming Boko Haram a terrorist organization. Every offer of aid was undermined with more claims that Nigeria was violating Muslim civil rights.
Finally Obama got what he wanted. Nigeria’s former Muslim dictator was “elected” and began promptly Islamizing key portions of the military. Then he came to Washington D.C. for a victory lap.
Obama on Monday offered strong support for Nigeria’s new president, Muhammadu Buhari, saying he had a “clear agenda” for defeating the militant Islamist group Boko Haram and was working to root out corruption.
Obama told reporters in the Oval Office that Buhari has integrity and “a very clear agenda in defeating Boko Haram extremists of all sorts inside his country.”
Yes he certainly has a “clear agenda”. As does Obama. As for defeating Boko Haram… don’t ask, don’t tell…
| — Hat tip: K | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Great Migration Crisis
by Soeren Kern
More than 715,000 people have applied for asylum in the EU during the past twelve months.
In 2014, Hungary received more refugees per capita than any other EU country apart from Sweden. Asylum requests for Austria rose nearly 180% in the first five months of 2015, to 20,620, and were on track to reach 70,000 by the end of the year. It recently emerged that three out of four refugees who came to Denmark in the early 2000s are jobless ten years later.
“The face of European civilization… will never again be what it is now. There is no way back from a multicultural Europe. Neither to a Christian Europe, nor to the world of national cultures.” — Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
11 Signs That America Has Already Gone Down the Toilet
Just when you think that the depravity of the United States cannot possibly get any worse, something else comes along to surprise us. Many of the things that you are about to read about in this article are incredibly disturbing, but it is important that we face the truth about how far this nation has fallen. There are times when I will be having a conversation with someone else about the state of our country, and the other person will say something like this: “Wow — America is really going down the toilet.”
At one time, I would have totally agreed with that. But at this point I would have to say that we have already circled the bowl and have made it all the way through to the other end. Our society is absolutely addicted to entertainment (most of which is utter trash), tens of millions of us are hooked on drugs (both legal and illegal), and we have murdered more than 56 million of our own babies. Our financial system is consumed with greed, we treat our military veterans like human garbage, and most of our “leaders” in Washington D.C. are deeply corrupt. In America today, 64 percent of all men view pornography at least once per month, it is estimated that one out of every four girls is sexually abused before they become adults, and we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the entire industrialized world. We like to think that we are an “example” to the rest of the world, but the only example that we are setting is a bad one. The following are 11 signs that America has already gone down the toilet…
#1 All over the United States, the body parts of aborted babies are being bought and sold, and the U.S. government gives the organization at the heart of this sick “industry” hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This week, another incredibly shocking undercover video has been released which has given us even more evidence of what Planned Parenthood is really up to…
The most recent video shows a luncheon conversation with Dr. Mary Gatter, who currently serves as president of Planned Parenthood’s Medical Directors’ Council and Medical Director of Planned Parenthood’s Pasadena abortion clinic.
In the video, Gatter is heard haggling over the price she will charge for intact fetal body parts and is concerned that she will be “low-balled.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
3 Videos That Expose the Abortion Industry’s Agenda
Abortion-provider Planned Parenthood is currently in damage control mode as videos showing high-level employees selling baby body parts make their way online. While the company attempts to downplay the gravity of the situation, a look at other key videos outlining the history of Planned Parenthood and abortion reveal the true agenda of the industry.
1. Abortion: Admitted Population Control
The ideology of Margret Sanger, Planned Parenthood’s founder and a noted racist, remains central to the abortion agenda despite claims to the contrary. In publicly released audio recordings, former President Richard Nixon secretly praised the well known fact that abortion would be used for population control and to eliminate blacks following the passage of Roe V. Wade.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberals Change Word Meanings With Intent to Deceive
Almost anything is possible if one has the power to change the definition of words. Take for example the word truth. Once upon a time truth had a clear concise meaning. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary (M-WD) defines truth as “the body of true statements and propositions. Truth is the ‘state of being the case.’“ In other words, it is a fact. A fact is something that actually exists, or an actual occurrence. M-WD defines In truth as in accordance with facts. “Facts are stubborn things,” said John Adams, “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
In our post-modern culture a number of people have come to believe that there is no absolute truth. For them all truth is relative. M-WD defines relativism thusly: “A theory that knowledge is relative to the limited nature of the mind and the conditions of knowing (b) a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.” The relativist will declare, “What’s true for you is not true for me” also “no one can know anything for sure.” For the relativist there is no universal moral truth, only what each individual perceives as truth. We all have our own truth, they say, and it is intolerant to push our views on others.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“He picked out from photographs a series of men connected with intelligence, military and politics — and even the royal family. Some he indentified as paedophiles themselves.”
I have heard rumours about Lord Louis Mountbatten and his liking for young Midshipmen while he was serving in the Royal Navy. Another was that he was the notorious “Man in the Mask” at one of Mariella Novotny’s Parties during what became the “Christine Keelar Scandals” in 1963 which brought down the McMillan Government.
These are all unsubstantiated rumours but they have been going around for decades. Maybe the truth about our corrupt ruling class will come out this time.
Well, pardon the expression, which I learned many years ago: we are now screwed, blued, and tatooed. In other words, we are well beyond down the drain.
If there is any hope, I’d like to hear it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-33633915
Another young lad who misunderstood what the RoP is really about, eh.
Re. the Quranic pages allegedly found in Birmingham. If they are genuine and as old as claimed then there is a reasonable chance that they might contain some of the Satanic Verses. Now, wouldn’t that be interesting?