Although it has earned less press coverage than the Greek crisis, the ongoing Chinese stock market crash is more severe than the Eurozone mess, and may have more damaging consequences. The market has lost a quarter of its value, and about 1,300 firms have halted trading to protect the value of their stock, which amounts to almost half the shares on the market.
In other news, the actor Tom Selleck is being sued by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in California for stealing water from a municipal hydrant on twelve separate occasions.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fausta, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, MC, RL, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.
China Shares: Regulator Takes Action After Slide
China’s regulators are taking fresh steps to try to quell volatility in the country’s financial markets.
Despite efforts to stem the losses, the dramatic sell-off in China’s main stock market continued on Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite plunging 6.8%.
That took share values nearly 30% below their June peak.
On Wednesday, another 500 listed firms said they would stop trading their shares in an effort to insulate themselves from the meltdown.
Around 1,300 firms have halted trading, almost half of China’s main shares.
IG chief market strategist Chris Weston dubbed the sell-off “Black Wednesday”.
“For the first time, The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has admitted there is genuine ‘panic selling’ underway.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Market Rout Spreads From Stocks to Price of Pig Food
China’s stock rout spread to the country’s commodities markets as investors rushed to raise cash.
Everything from silver to sugar to eggs tumbled with the Shanghai Composite Index, which crashed to a three-month low on Wednesday. Government measures to stabilize equities are failing to stop a stock market collapse.
“People are selling everything in sight to get their hands on cash,” Liu Xu, a trader at private asset-management company Guoyun Investment Co. in Beijing, said by phone. “Some need to cover their margin calls in the stock market, while others are gripped by fear that the Chinese economy will be affected by this crisis.”
Metals including nickel and silver on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell to their daily limits, while rubber entered a bear market. The volume of copper traded was almost six times the three-month average. Steel rebar and iron ore, as well as eggs, sugar and soybean meal dropped to the lowest level allowed by their exchanges.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Stocks Plunge Again in Unprecedented Slump
Stock listed in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong fell sharply again on Wednesday. China’s central bank said it would support the stability and help guard against systemic and regional risks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Makes Greece ‘An Offer They Can’t Refuse’: Agree to a Deal by Sunday or Go Bankrupt
It looks like we aren’t going to have to wait much longer to see if Greece remains part of the eurozone or not.
Instead of softening their demands in the wake of the Greek referendum, European leaders have given the Greek government an ultimatum. On Tuesday night, EU officials gave Greece a deadline of Thursday to submit a new proposal and a deadline of Sunday for agreeing to a deal. If a deal is not reached on Sunday, all aid to Greece will be cut off and the nation will be faced with financial oblivion and a forced exit from the common currency. But Angela Merkel has already made it abundantly clear that any new deal will not include a debt haircut — one of the key things that the Greek government wanted. If a deal is actually made, it is almost certainly going to look very much like what Greece’s creditors have been offering all along. Needless to say, this is precisely what the Greek people just voted against, but the pressure on Greek leadership is immense at this point. In essence, they are being given “an offer they can’t refuse”. So will the Greek government buckle under this mobster-like intimidation?
First, let’s watch what happens on Wednesday and Thursday. The Greeks are being told that they better submit a “workable proposal” by the end of the day on Thursday or else. The following comes from a BBC report… The eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors, and has called a full EU summit for Sunday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
European Stocks, Chinese Stocks and Commodities Are All Crashing — Are U.S. Stocks Next?
A global stock market crash has begun. European stocks are crashing, Chinese stocks are crashing, and commodities are crashing. And guess what? All of those things happened before U.S. stocks crashed in the fall of 2008 too. In so many ways, it seems like we are watching a replay of the financial crisis of 2008, but this time around the world is in far worse shape financially. Global debt levels are at an all-time high, the 75 trillion dollar global shadow banking system could implode at any time, and there are hundreds of trillions of dollars in derivatives that threaten to wipe out major banks all over the planet. The last major worldwide financial crash was almost seven years ago, and very little has been done since that time to prepare for the next one. If global markets do not calm down, we could see carnage in the months ahead that is absolutely unprecedented.
For months, European authorities have been promising us that a “ Grexit” is already “ priced in” to the markets and that any “ contagion” from the Greek crisis will be “ contained” . Of course everyone knew that was just a smokescreen. Just in the past couple of days since the Greek “ no” vote, European stocks have already been crashing. The following comes from Zero Hedge…
Does this look contained to you?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Eurozone Bailout Fund Receives Greek Aid Request
(BRUSSELS) — The eurozone’s bailout fund said Wednesday Greece had formally submitted a request for a new aid programme, just days before a final deadline to reach a debt deal.
“The ESM has received the Greek request,” a spokesman for the European Stability Mechanism told AFP.
The Greek request to the ESM was the first step demanded by the leaders of the single currency bloc at an emergency summit in Brussels late Tuesday, following a weekend referendum in which Greece rejected further austerity demanded in return for fresh funding.
To obtain the new aid, Athens must now submit a complete reform plan to the eurozone by Thursday night ahead of a full EU summit on Sunday, which EU leaders said was the “final deadline” to save Greece from bankruptcy and risk of it crashing out of the eurozone.
A European source said the request was for a new loan programme lasting three years in exchange for a series of far-reaching economic reforms.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Farage Rocks EU Parliament: Tells Tsipras — ‘Leave the Euro, Reclaim Your Democracy’
UKIP leader Nigel Farage gave a rousing speech in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg today during which he directly told Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to lead the Greek people out of the Eurozone and reclaim the country’s democracy.
Farage told Tsipras that his country should have never joined the euro in the first place, but that it was forced to do so by big banks like Goldman Sachs and German arms manufacturers.
“When the bailouts began, they weren’t for the Greek people, those bailouts were to bailout French, German and Italian banks — they haven’t helped you at all,” said Farage to the sound of applause.
“You have been very brave, you called that referendum, when one of your predecessors tried to do the same, the bully boys of Brussels had him removed,” said the UKIP leader as Tsipras looked on.
“There were threats and bullying, but the Greeks stood firm….they will give you no more these people — they can’t afford to — if they give you more they’ll have to give other Eurozone members more — so your moment has come and frankly if you’ve got the courage you should lead the Greek people out of the Eurozone with your head held high, get back your democracy, get back control of your country, give your people the leadership and the hope that they crave,” added Farage.
The response to Farage’s speech — given that he is normally used to being heckled by pro-Brussels MEPs — was quite momentous as loud applause once again filled the room.
“Yes it will be tough for the first few months, but with a devalued currency and with friends of Greece all over the world, you will recover,” concluded Farage to the sound of cheering.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Federalists Urge Fast Treaty Change to Stem Euro Crisis
“Member States should fasttrack the reform of the Eurozone into a fully-fledged economic and political union,” said Elmar Brok, German centre-right MEP and President of the Union of European Federalists. “If the Eurozone loses one of its members, financial markets would question whether the Euro really is irreversible.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Voters Back Schäuble’s Hard Line on Greece
A poll published on Tuesday shows that at the peak of their tough talk towards Greece, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble have been earning even greater confidence from German voters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
Last week I made a prediction that went against the media pack consensus, when I wrote on July 1 that the Greeks would vote “no” in last Sunday’s referendum. The banks had been closed for a week, cash withdrawals were limited to 60 euros ($66) a day, and they still did it.
My assessment was based on the fact that the bailout package on offer was structurally unsound. It demanded further drastic belt-tightening from a nation that has seen its GDP drop by 26% over the past five years of strict compliance with the Troika’s (IMF-ECB-EC) stringent demands, with unemployment soaring to 25% and over one-half of under-25s out of work.
Contrary to the mainstream analysts’ prevalent view that a “no” vote would be an unreasonable act of defiance in the face of fiscal reality, I expected most Greeks to say “no” exactly because they are rational. The overwhelming result (61% “no,” 39% “yes”) indicates that the winning camp included many people who are not necessarily supportive of prime minister Tsipras or his left-wing Syriza party. Many “no” voters are not leftist radicals. They want to stay in the eurozone and accept the need for further painful measures, but they understood that the medicine administered thus far — and offered for the future — is reminiscent of the doctors of yore who killed George Washington by excessive bleeding…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Italians Skipping Dental Appointments to Save Money
Istat says more people hanging on to own teeth
(ANSA) — Rome, July 7 — Italy’s long-running recession has bitten hard into dental care, with a rising number of Italians delaying appointments with dentists for economic reasons, the national statistics agency Istat said Tuesday.
It reported that in 2013, 12% of Italians aged 14 and older missed a cleaning or dental treatment in the previous 12 months.
And more than 85% of those said that they skipped the dentist for economic reasons.
Overall, 37.9% of the Italian population visited a dental health specialist in 2013, down from the 39.3% in 2005. The delays between appointments was also lengthening, Istat found.
While 24% of those surveyed in 2005 said they would delay an appointment for as long as one to three years, that number increased in 2013 to 29.2% who opted for a long wait to see the dentist.
The number of treatments also declined, with fully 70.7% saying they opted for just one type of treatment in 2013 versus 49.3% who chose a single treatment in 2005.
A rising number has never been to a dentist, with 12.1% in 2013 compared with just 6.2% in 2005 who had never had dental care.
Istat concluded that overall, oral health had improved in 2013 compared to 2005 as measured by the proportion of people aged 14 and over that still have all 28 of their natural teeth.
That increased to 41.4% in 2013 from 37.8% in 2005, while those with no natural teeth decreased to 10.8% from the previous 12%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Extending Retirement Option to Men ‘Not Feasible’ — Union Head
Union chief says proposal would lead to heavy cut in pensions
(ANSA) — Rome, July 2 — A proposal to extend an early retirement option for Italian women to men is “unfeasible” the secretary-general of Italian union Cisl said on Tuesday.
The “Women’s option” makes it possible to retire early with a recalculated pension based on lifelong contributions. CISL Secretary-General Annamaria Furlan said extending the option would lead to “a cut of between 20 and 30 percent in pension allowances”, which would be difficult to bear considering that “the average pension is between 1,000-1,500 euros”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lead the Greek People Out of the Euro, Says Farage
“Your moment has come. Lead the Greek people out of the eurozone with your head held high,” UKIP leader Nigel Farage advised Greek PM Tsipras in Strasbourg on Wednesday. “It will be tough with a devaluated currency, but with the friends of Greece around the world, you will recover.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Market’s Dive Could Delay Economic Reforms in China
China’s stock market tumble has presented the government of President Xi Jinping with a searing test of its commitment to overhaul the country’s financial system and open up the state-controlled economy.
Building off the work of his predecessors in the last three decades, Mr. Xi has been introducing competition into the banking industry, overhauling state-owned companies and making it easier for foreign investors to buy Chinese stocks. But the pace of reform may slow if the stock market slump persists, or even accelerates.
The stock market represents the swirl of social, political and economic forces at play in the reform efforts.
Tens of millions of individual investors flocked to stocks in the last year, many of them reassured by statements in government media that the stock market had become a stable, more reliable place to invest. Now, they face devastating losses.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘More Worried About EU Than Greece’ Says Renzi
‘Europe isn’t working right now’ says premier
(ANSA) — Rome, July 7 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday on his way in to a eurozone summit on the Greek debt crisis that he is “more worried about the EU than about the fate of a single country”.
“I’m not all that worried about a technical solution on Greece, which I think can be found prettily easily,” the premier said. “I’m a little more concerned about finding a political situation for Europe, which right now isn’t working”.
Renzi went on to reiterate his call for “more growth, more future, more innovation”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Greferendum Shocker: Tsipras “Intended to Lose” And is Now “Trapped by His Success”
It all started with a report by the Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, whose release of on the record comments by Yanis Varoufakis (which we noted was rather surprising) that Greece was contemplating a parallel currency and potentially nationalizing Greek banks over the weekend, was supposedly the catalyst that got the Greek finmin fired. As a reminder, this is what Varoufakis told AEP on Sunday night: “If necessary… issue parallel liquidity and California-style IOU’s, in an electronic form. We should have done it a week ago.” And this is what the WSJ said on Monday morning:…
Also according to the Telegraph, “the plan was to put up a good fight, accept honourable defeat, and hand over the keys of the Maximos Mansion, leaving it to others to implement the June 25th “ultimatum” and suffer the opprobrium.”
He had good reason: according to another Varoufakis quote provided by AEP, “ [the Troika] just didn’t want us to sign. They had already decided to push us out.” In other words, as we speculated in mid-June, the only question was who gets stuck with the blame, and when Tsipras called the referendum, he made it quite easy for Europe; it was even easier when Greece collectively voted “Oxi” to a referendum spun in Europe as one whether or not to remain in the Eurozone.
There is more: with Tsipras having already checked out it was a case of “after me, the flood”
This ultimatum came as shock to the Greek cabinet. They thought they were on the cusp of a deal, bad though it was. Mr Tsipras had already made the decision to acquiesce to austerity demands, recognizing that Syriza had failed to bring about a debtors’ cartel of southern EMU states and had seriously misjudged the mood across the eurozone.
But it is what happened next that took everyone by surprise: “Syriza called the referendum. To their consternation, they won, igniting the great Greek revolt of 2015, the moment when the people finally issued a primal scream, daubed their war paint, and formed the hoplite phalanx.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Really Worrying Financial Crisis is Happening in China, Not Greece
China looks like it is heading for its version of the 1929 stock market crash
While all Western eyes remain firmly focused on Greece, a potentially much more significant financial crisis is developing on the other side of world. In some quarters, it’s already being called China’s 1929 — the year of the most infamous stock market crash in history and the start of the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression.
In any normal summer, a 30pc fall in the Chinese stock market — a loss of value roughly equivalent to the UK’s entire economic output last year — after an ascent which had seen share prices more than double within the space of a year would have been front page news across the globe.
The dramatic series of government interventions to stem the panic — hitherto unsuccessful, it should be added — would similarly have been up there at the top of the news agenda. Yet the pantomime of the Greek debt talks, together with the tragi-comedy of will they, won’t they leave the euro, has relegated the story to little more than a footnote — even though 940 companies, more than a third, have now suspended trading on China’s two main indices.
The parallels with 1929 are, on the face of it, uncanny.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Watch and Learn What an Economic Collapse Looks Like: “I Hope You’re Taking Notes”
Did you hear the news? “Greece Says No to Further Austerity Measures!” Did you shake your head and say, “Wow, the nerve of those people refusing to cut their expenses in the face of all that debt”?
I’m no financial expert, but I don’t think that tightening up the budget was really what they were turning down.
I think that they were turning down the opportunity to continue under the tyrannical rule of the EU. They were breaking free.
What they were actually turning down was another series of huge loans that would put them further in debt and further under the oppression of the European Union loan sharks. They said no to another entity controlling their finances and destiny. Collapse or survive, the voters loudly stated that the Greek people want their country back.
This weekend I wrote about independence: it comes from not requiring anything that another person has to provide for you. And I believe that is exactly what the Greeks decided this weekend when they voted to discontinue allowing foreign entities to control their financial affairs, regardless of the cost.
So here’s the big question:
Is this the collapse of Greece, or is it a new beginning for the place where civilization actually began?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Academic: Constitution is ‘Confederate Symbol, ‘ Censor it
A political scientist and former professor has penned an article calling for the U.S. Constitution to be censored in order to conceal older parts that are offensive.
“South Carolina’s battle flag may soon come down from the capitol flagpole, but other symbols of the Confederacy’s ideology remain in place,” writes political scientist and former University of Maryland professor Henry Bain in an editorial that has appeared in several newspapers around the country. “For example, consider the U. S. Constitution.”
Bain isn’t calling for the creation of a new Constitution, but rather says the current one should simply be edited to remove parts he considers immoral and outdated.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Baltimore Mayor Fires Police Commissioner
The Baltimore mayor fired the troubled city’s police commissioner Wednesday, saying that a recent spike in homicide rates weeks after a black man died of injuries in police custody required a change in leadership.
The firing comes 2 1/2 months after the city broke out into riots following the death of Freddie Gray, who died in April of injuries he received in police custody. Six police officers have been criminally charged in Gray’s death.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
House Moves to Ban Confederate Flag in Federal Cemeteries
The House has voted to ban the display of Confederate flags at historic federal cemeteries in the deep South.
The low-profile move came late Tuesday after a brief debate on a measure funding the National Park Service, which maintains 14 national cemeteries, most of which contain graves of Civil War soldiers.
The proposal by California Democrat Jared Huffman would block the Park Service from allowing private groups from decorating the graves of southern soldiers with Confederate flags in states that commemorate Confederate Memorial Day. The cemeteries affected are the Andersonville and Vicksburg cemeteries in Georgia and Mississippi.
Pressure has mounted to ban display of the flag on state and federal property in the wake of last month’s tragic murders at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
But, as it turns out, that amazing, spontaneous moment was not so spontaneous after all.
Speaking at the Aspen Institute, Valerie Jarrett discussed how it had all been planned well beforehand, and apparently Michelle Obama was less-than-enthused at her husband’s plans to dramatically break into song at the funeral.
Via the Daily Caller:
The senior advisor recalled that during the helicopter ride to Pinckney’s service, which was held at the College of Charleston, Obama informed her and Michelle that he was considering singing the song.
“Hmm,” Jarrett said she replied.
The first lady’s response was more critical.
“Why on earth would that fit in?” she asked, according to Jarrett.
“I don’t know whether I’m going to do it, but I just wanted to warn you two that I might sing,” Obama said.
“I think if I sing, the church will sing with me,” he continued, adding, “we’ll see how it feels at the time.”
Apparently it felt just fine. Saying the words “amazing grace” twice before he broke into song though seemed to suggest to viewers it was a spontaneous decision on the part of Obama and not a completely set up move to milk this situation for all it would be worth in the media spotlight.
The media, by the way, seemed to forget the whole thing was even a funeral or the man who died and was the reason for the entire event in the first place. All media attention and focus (and drool) went to Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Neptune’s Strange Magnetic Field Stretches Arms in New Model (Video)
Scientists knew Neptune’s magnetic field was strange — just not this strange.
Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun, has vivid blue clouds and fierce windstorms, but also a badly behaved magnetic field. The field is 27 times more powerful than Earth’s and sits at an angle on the planet, changing chaotically as it interacts with the solar wind.
Researchers reconstructed the distant planet’s magnetic field by combining data gathered by NASA’s Voyager 2 probe in 1989 with a new model that was originally built to describe how plasma acts in the lab. The new results paint a picture of a field continuously in flux, tilted and bubbling out to one side, researchers said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Alpha Brewing Co. Label Mocks Islam and Women
Craft-beer labels are no stranger to controversy. As Will Gordon wrote for Slate on Monday, “A lot of craft-beer marketing is astonishingly sexist.” As examples, Gordon notes beers with sexist names (Raging Bitch IPA) and labels (cartoonishly large-breasted women in skimpy outfits).
If he’d waited just a few more days before publishing, however, he could have included an even more egregious example of controversy from right here in St. Louis.
Alpha Brewing Co. on Wednesday revealed via Twitter the image of a new label that manages to attack the entire religion of Islam.
The label in question is for Submission Ale, a smoked brown ale. The graphic on the label shows a drawing of a pig wearing what appears to be a burka. The label copy reads, “Alpha Akbar! This smoked ale will blow your mind. Denounce everything you thought and knew about beer in the name of Alpha. Let your tastebuds explode. Submit to the smokey flavor. Shove this down your throat.”
Everything about the label seems calibrated to insult Islam, from the pig in a traditional Muslim garment (Muslims abstain from pork) to the corruption of the phrase “Allahu Akbar” to the Muslim-equals-terrorist stereotype not-so-subtly implied by “Let your tastebuds explode.”
Oh, and the literal translation of Islam from Arabic to English is Submission.
Oh, and Alpha announced the label as Muslims are observing Ramadan. (The beer itself will be released in August, after Ramadan has ended.)…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
No Charges for Denver TSA Screeners Accused of Groping Attractive Men
No charges will be filed against two Denver airport security screeners who were fired in April for allegedly conspiring to fondle attractive male passengers, prosecutors said.
The Transportation Security Administration screeners, a man and a woman, were dismissed after a six-month investigation by the TSA, which notified Denver police in March. But the Denver district attorney’s office said Monday that prosecutors were unable to corroborate the claims or to prove that one of the screeners was actually working at Denver International Airport on the dates of alleged incidents.
Prosecutors told The Denver Post on Tuesday that some of the allegations were also outside the statute of limitations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Says Obama is ‘Dead Wrong’ On Global Warming
In 2008, Dr. Ivar Giaever joined over 70 Nobel Science Laureates in endorsing Barack Obama for president, but seven years later the Nobel Prize winner now stands against the president on global warming.
“I would say that basically global warming is a non-problem,” Giaever, who won the Nobel for physics in 1973, told an audience at the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting earlier this month.
Giaever ridiculed Obama for stating that “no challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.” The physicist called it a “ridiculous statement” and that Obama “gets bad advice” when it comes to global warming.
“I say this to Obama: Excuse me, Mr. President, but you’re wrong. Dead wrong,” Giaever said.
Giaever said he was “horrified” about the science surrounding global warming when he conducted research on the subject in 2012.
But by 2011, Giaever left the American Physical Society because it officially stated that “the evidence is incontrovertible … (g)lobal warming is occurring.” The Society also pushed for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“Global warming really has become a new religion,” Giaever said. “Because you cannot discuss it. It’s not proper. It is like the Catholic Church.”
Giaever argued that there’s been no global warming for the last 17 years or so (based on satellite records), weather hasn’t gotten more extreme and that global temperature has only slightly risen — and that’s based on data being “fiddled” with by scientists, he said.
“When you have a theory and the theory does not agree with the experiment then you have to cut out the theory. You were wrong with the theory,” Giaever said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
This is the Way the World Ends: Not With a Bang, But With a Big Rip
New model suggests that as the universe expands everything from galaxies to space-time itself will be torn apart — but not for about 22 billion years
Everything we know, and everything else besides, burst into existence at the Big Bang. Now scientists have concluded that we could be heading for an equally dramatic cosmic finale: the Big Rip.
A new theoretical model suggests that as the universe expands, everything, from galaxies, planets and atomic particles to space-time itself, will eventually be torn apart before vanishing from view.
There’s no need for immediate alarm, however: the extreme sequence of events is predicted for around 22 billion years from now.
Dr Marcelo Disconzi, the mathematician who led the work at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, said: “The idea of the Big Rip is that eventually even the constituents of matter would start separating from each other. You’d be seeing all the atoms being ripped apart … it’s fair to say that it’s a dramatic scenario.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tom Selleck Accused of Public Water Theft
Tom Selleck appears to be in hot water.
Calleguas Municipal Water District filed suit against the actor and his wife, Jillie Mack, on Monday, claiming he used a public hydrant to fill a commercial water truck on 12 different occasions, according to Courthouse News Service.
With the state of California suffering through a serious drought, the water district says that it saw the truck fill up from a hydrant at a Thousand Oaks construction site and then take seven trips in September and October 2013 into the Hidden Valley area that is believed to be Selleck’s residence.
Court documents allege that the Blue Bloods star continued filling his tanker even after cease-and-desist notices were sent to two of his Southern California homes.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Stabbing Victim, Dad Argued Often: Neighbour
Drunken arguments were “not like a new thing” between the 51-year-old victim of a fatal stabbing and his father, a neighbour in their Orleans apartment building said.
Police arrested the victim’s father on Tuesday after they were called to 6632 Notre Dame St. in Orleans at 6:45 p.m. for an emergency call. Cops and paramedics found a man suffering from stab wounds. He was taken to hospital, but died from his injuries, police say.
The man’s father was arrested at the scene. John McRae, 70, is expected to appear in Ottawa court Wednesday afternoon.
“They argued a lot, judging by what my neighbours told me,” said Cheryl Caron, who lives in the building where the stabbing occurred.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Boycott Call: Lufthansa Omits Israel From ‘Free Baggage’ List
For probably the first time since 1933, an organized Jewish boycott of German products has been called. The reason: Lufthansa’s admission that Israel is the only country in the Middle East that cannot benefit from the German airline’s special baggage allowance policy.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is now officially urging travelers not to fly Lufthansa because of its discrimination against Israel and against travelers to Israel.
As Lufthansa’s website explains, Economy Class travelers are permitted one free bag or suitcase of up to 23 kilograms (50 pounds). However, a special baggage policy exists for those traveling to “the United States, Canada, Mexico and Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.”The more generous policy, which allows two suitcases (up to 23 kilograms each) free of charge, conspicuously excludes travelers to and from Israel.[…]
[Orange, and now Lufthansa, where is all this going?]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Britain ‘Tried to Recruit’ Benefits Hate Preacher Hani Al-Sibai as a Spy
Hani al-Sibai, who is living on £50,000-a-year state hand outs, is one of the ‘key influencers’ of the Islamic fanatics believed to have recruited beach gunman Seifeddine Rezgui.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
East German Population to Plunge by 2030
A wide-ranging demographic study released on Wednesday projects that large sections of Germany’s more peripheral populations are set to disappear by 2030.
The study carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation estimates that economically peripheral states in the east of the country are set to be the biggest losers as Germany’s overall population drops by half a million over the next 15 years.
Saxony-Anhalt will lose 13.6 percent of its inhabitants while the population of Thuringia, another state in former East Germany, will fall by 9.9 percent, the researchers at the Gütersloh-based think-tank estimate.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finnish Teen Convicted of More Than 50,000 Computer Hacks
A teenager involved in series of high profile cyber attacks has been convicted for his crimes in Finland.
Julius Kivimaki was found guilty of 50,700 “instances of aggravated computer break-ins”.
Court documents state that his attacks affected Harvard University and MIT among others, and involved hijacking emails, blocking traffic to websites and the theft of credit card details.
Despite the severity of the crimes, the 17-year-old has not been jailed.
Instead, the District Court of Espoo sentenced the youth — who had used the nickname Zeekill — to a two-year suspended prison sentence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Founder of Germany’s Anti-Euro AfD Quits Party
(BERLIN) — Co-founder and former frontman of Germany’s anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD), Bernd Lucke, announced Wednesday he was leaving the party, hitting out at growing “Islamophobic and xenophobic” views.
Lucke said in a statement released in the French city of Strasbourg that he would leave the AfD on Friday together with many other members of the fledgling party, including some with an official role.
The move follows his ouster at a party congress on Saturday when AfD members elected a new leader from its right wing, Frauke Petry, signalling a shift in focus to immigration from its anti-euro origins.
In the AfD, Lucke said in his statement, he no longer saw the possibility of advocating his political goals without being misused “as a middle-class figurehead for political views which I deeply reject”.
“Among them are in particular Islamaphobic and xenophobic views”, which, he said, were spreading in the party both openly and latently.
He said he had only recognised too late “to what extent members in the party were pushing who want to remodel the AfD into a protest party and one of enraged citizens”.
The party, formed in early 2013, had been riven by a months-long power struggle between Lucke, 52, its economic neo-liberal leader and founder, and 40-year-old Petry, who heads a national conservative faction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: PEGIDA Aims to Launch Political Party
PEGIDA will field candidates in Germany’s regional elections in 2016, and aims to form a political party, the anti-Islamization movement has announced. The move comes in the midst of growing anti-refugee sentiment.
There was trouble at the joint PEGIDA/LEGIDA rally in the eastern German city of Leipzig on Monday night — fighting broke out at the city’s main railway station, a journalist was assaulted, and PEGIDA leader Lutz Bachmann was caught in the eye by some thrown paint. But the overall numbers remained small — according to the local “Leipziger Volkszeitung” newspaper, around 800 anti-Islamization protesters faced at least the same number of counter-demonstrators, with some 900 police officers keeping them apart.
But in the middle of the street chaos, Bachmann made an ambitious announcement: PEGIDA is aiming to field “as many candidates as possible” in all four regional German elections in 2016 — in Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saxony-Anhalt in March, followed by Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in September.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Spending on Public Admin Just Over 51% of GDP in 2014
Report shows decrease in total EU budgets for govt services
(ANSA) — Brussels, July 7 — Italy’s spending on public administration last year totalled 51.1% of economic output, according to a Eurostat report Tuesday.
That was slightly more than the average across the total European Union’s 28 members, which was 48.1% of EU GDP and totalled 6.7 billion euros last year.
That also represented a decrease from the 48.6% of EU GDP spent on public administration in 2013.
Total eurozone spending on public administration reached 4.961 billion euros last year, or 49% of GDP and below the 49.4% ratio in 2013. Among EU member states, strong declines in spending were reported in Greece, where PA budgets as a percentage of GDP fell by 10.7% last year compared with 2013, and in Slovenia, which reported a 9.9% drop.
Meanwhile, Finland, France and Denmark reported ratios of more than 57% of GDP for public administration.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Most Spaniards Have Never Read Don Quixote
It is the undisputed classic of Spanish literature, and one of the most influential novels ever published, but a new poll has revealed that over 60 percent of Spaniards have never read Don Quixote.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Police Fired Just Two Shots Last Year
Norwegian police fired just two shots in the entire of 2014, neither of which killed or injured anyone, according to statistics published last month.
According to Police Threat or Use of Firearms 2002-2014, this marks a slight decrease from 2013, when police shot their weapons three times, injuring two people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Utøya Memorial Has Been Completed
Workmen on Tuesday completed the memorial on the island of Utøya to those who died in Anders Behring Breivik’s brutal gun massacre four years ago this month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: “If You Kill Someone, Don’t Google How to Do it First”
Woman (31) googled her way to murdering her husband, police says
The widow has admitted that on june 25th 2014 she put a disposable grill in an ovenproof dish and placed it in the bedroom of Helge Ove Irgens. The husband fell asleep while the poisionous fumes from the grill filled the room.
By going through the woman’s computer, investigators have found nearly 250 online searches on how to kill a person — ranging from rat poison and hydrochloric acid to sleeping pills and carbon monoxide.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norwegian Cops Fired Their Guns Twice Last Year and Missed Both Times
In 2014, Norwegian police threatened to use their weapons 42 times. However, only two shots were actually fired during the entire year, and no one was wounded by either.
To American readers, these numbers might sound shocking. Consider this: Even in 2011, when 77 people, mostly children, were killed by right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, police fired their guns only once and injured one person (Breivik himself surrendered to armed police without police firing a shot).
There’s a simple reason for the lack of police shootings. While there are many hunters in the country and gun ownership is relatively common, Norway is one of a handful of European nations where police officers don’t usually carry guns. Breivik’s rampage at a children’s summer camp led some to question whether this was a good move (among the first to die was an unarmed police officer working security at the camp).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paris: Muslim Overturns Restaurant Tables, Shouts “People Can’t Eat, It’s Ramadan!”
It’s simple: in Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities. In non-Muslim countries, non-Muslims must conform their behavior to suit Muslim sensibilities.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rare Bronze Age Treasure Found in Denmark
Danish archaeologists have found 2,000 gold spirals buried in a field in Zealand that they suspect were used to adorn the ceremonial garbs of sun-worshiping priest-kings during the Bronze Age.
The Danish National Museum announced on Wednesday that archaeologists have uncovered a trove of gold spirals that may have been used for religious ceremonies during the Bronze Age, when the Danes’ ancestors worshiped the sun.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Silvio Berlusconi Bribery Trial: Ex-Italy PM Convicted
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been found guilty of bribing a senator in 2006 in an attempt to bring down the then centre-left government.
A Naples court sentenced Berlusconi to three years in jail and banned him from holding public office for five years.
The four-times prime minister denied the charges.
He will not have to serve his sentence because a statute of limitations comes into effect later this year, before any appeal can be held.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Jihadist Woman Arrested in Lanzarote for Recruiting Girls for Islamic State
A woman was arrested on the Canary island of Lanzarote on Tuesday on charges of attempting to recruit young girls and preparing them for travel to parts of the world under Islamic State control.
The suspect, a Spanish national who converted to Islam and has only been identified as S.C.C., was in direct contact with members of the Islamic State in Syria and the Levant.
This woman “encouraged” the minors to travel to these locations, helped them to plan their trip and taught them the security measures to adopt in order to avoid detection during transit, according to the Interior Ministry.
Legal sources said the suspect had not yet been able to take any young women out of Spain, despite her efforts
Legal sources said the suspect had not yet been able to take any young women out of Spain despite her efforts.
The arrest took place early on Tuesday morning in the La Vega neighborhood of Arrecife. At the time of her detention, there were three teenage girls inside the same home, located on Juan Negrín street.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Suspected Recruiter of Young Girls for ISIS Arrested
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, JULY 8 — Spain is keeping its terror threat level to four, its next-to-last position, where it was raised 10 days ago over the risk of Islamic terror attacks.
Meanwhile multiple arrests have been carried out, mainly in Catalonia and the African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Those arrested are suspected supporters and recruiters of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Yesterday, a woman was arrested in Arrecife, in the Lanzarote island od the Canaries, on suspicion she was recruiting teen girls to be sent to areas controlled by the ‘caliph’ in Syria and Iraq. The woman, a Muslim with Spanish citizenship, was transferred to Madrid where a probe is being carried out by the Auiencia Nacional. According to Spanish press reports, she was in direct contact with a leader of the jihadist terror group in Syria.
The woman was reportedly trying to recruit radicalized girls from the Muslim community of Lanzarote — 30,000 people — by promising them a future as jihad fighters or wives of mujahidin.
It is still unclear how many recruits she was able to send to the ‘caliphate’.
This was the third operation against the recruitment of young women by ISIS carried out in Spain over the past few weeks, after Ceuta, Melilla and Barcelona.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Attempted Murder in Troubled Malmö
A 25-year-old man is in hospital after being shot in Malmö in southern Sweden, as police continue to raise concerns about rising gun crime in the city.
The shooting comes in the wake of a wave of summer violence in Sweden’s third largest urban centre including shootings, explosions, hand grenades being thrown and cars and buildings set on fire.
Some of Malmö’s inner-city areas and suburbs have a reputation for gun and gang-related crimes as well as race-related violence between different immigrant groups.
As a result, police announced last month that they were stepping up their presence in known trouble-hit areas such as Rosengård and Seved, where around 30 people believed to be from criminal backgrounds are being tracked by officers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Postal Service Shows Off Delivery Drone
Wondering where your package is? Look up!
Switzerland’s postal service said on Tuesday that it had begun testing parcel deliveries by unmanned drones, although widespread use of the flying postmen is not likely to kick in for another five years.
Swiss Post executives showed off the drones for the first time Tuesday and said initial tests of the machines’ post-delivery abilities would run until the end of July.
The snow-white drones consist of four branches with propellers on the end extending from a hollow ring the size of a toilet seat.
A yellow box, bearing the postal service logo, is lodged in the middle.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: The Flying Postman
Switzerland’s postal service has begun testing autonomous flying drones for parcel delivery. Real-world use could come within five to ten years.
Swiss Post, in collaboration with Swiss WorldCargo (the air freight division of Swiss International Air Lines) and Matternet (a drone manufacturer from California), has started testing unmanned flying drones for logistical purposes.
The aim of the tests is to develop and pinpoint the technical possibilities that the use of flying drones could offer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Raped in a Playground at 11, Abused by Seven Men a Night Aged 12
Victim of Rotherham Asian sex gang scandal tells her truly horrifying story
For five years from the age of 11, Sarah Wilson was groomed and raped by Rotherham paedophiles who showered with gifts and made her feel special in what was to become one of the biggest abuse scandals in the UK.
The now 23-year-old admits she became so ‘brainwashed’ by the older British Pakistani men in the South Yorkshire town she considered it normal for them to expect to have sex with her in return for all they had given her.
Writing an emotional account of her harrowing experience in new book Violated, Sarah, whose sister Laura was murdered, reveals she was plied with alcohol and cannabis by sexual predators.
They habitually abused her until she was 16, when they lost interest because she was no longer underage…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Vetoes UN Move to Call Srebrenica ‘Genocide’
Russia has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have described the Srebrenica massacre as “genocide”.
Four other members of the council abstained while the remainder voted in favour.
The killing of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in 1995 by Bosnian Serb troops was the worst massacre in Europe since World War Two.
The motion had angered Serbia, which rejects the term.
It had been drafted to mark the 20th anniversary of the atrocity, which came amid the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia into independent states.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said adopting it “would be counter-productive, would lead to greater tension in the region”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Girls Sued Over Mini Skirt, Trial Divides Country
A skirt deemed too short — although it is unclear who should judge whether a skirt is too short, the censor or designer — has cost two young Moroccans a lawsuit. The trial is now dividing the Kingdom, pitting those calling for an exemplary conviction against those slamming it as an aggression on human rights.
The protests had different scenarios because demonstrations supporting the two young women took place in Casablanca, Rabat, Tangiers and Marrakech while Agadir hosted another protest against the defendants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia to Build Libya Wall to Counter Terror Threat
Tunisia has announced plans to build a wall along its border with Libya to counter the threat from jihadist militants.
It would stretch 160km (100 miles) inland from the coast, and be completed by the end of 2015, Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid told state TV.
The gunman who killed 38 people in an attack on a beach resort is believed to have received training in Libya.
Tunisia declared a state of emergency following the attack last month.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palestinian Envoy Says Jews Plotting World Domination
At Chile conference, Imad Nabil Jadaa cites notorious anti-Semitic ‘Protocols’ forgery as ostensible proof of century-old Jewish perfidy
At a peace conference in Chile, the Palestinian ambassador to the country cited the Czarist anti-Semitic tract The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as proof that Zionism was created to hide a Jewish plan for world domination.
Imad Nabil Jadaa also told the Conference for Peace in Palestine and Israel, held in Santiago, Chile, on May 15, that there is “no Jewish People” and that Palestinians don’t recognize the existence of a Jewish people. An English translation of his comments was only recently made public…
| — Hat tip: RL | [Return to headlines] |
Istanbul Group Protesting Uighur Turks’ Extradition to China Attacks Thailand Consulate in Istanbul
A group of protesters attacked Thailand consulate located in Istanbul’s Sisli district late on Wednesday to denounce Thailand’s decision to extradite Uighur Turks to China.
The group gathered in front of the consulate to make a press statement around 11.00 p.m. local time but after the statement the protest turned violent as the crowd broke into the consulate building, smashed the windows and lowered the country’s flag.
A number of security forces have been deployed to the area and dispersed the group.
The Uighur ethnic group, which constitutes around 45 percent of the population of Xinjiang, a Chinese autonomous region, has accused China of carrying out repressive policies that restrain their religious, commercial and cultural activities.
Some Uighurs have been forced to seek shelter in other countries by the pressures they face in China. Turkey had previously expressed its stance on hosting Uighur asylum seekers when they officially requested Thailand to send Uighur refugees to Turkey and not back to China, where they could possibly face death upon return.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Recruits 60 “Moderate” Syrian Rebels, Pays $9 Million to Train Each One
Last year the Pentagon went before a congressional hearing and said it would need $500 million to train moderate Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad. The money would go to 2,300 rebels who were supposedly vetted and not connected to al-Qaeda, al-Nusra or ISIS.
In fact, as Infowars.com has reported on numerous occasions, virtually all of the rebels in Syria have sworn allegiance to ISIS and other jihadist groups. “The Free Syrian Army and the Syrian National Council, the vaunted bulwarks of the moderate opposition, only really exist in hotel lobbies and the minds of Western diplomats,” writes Ben Reynolds. “There is simply no real separation between ‘moderate’ rebel groups and hardline Salafists allied with al-Qaeda.”
On Tuesday, it was reported that despite the influx of money and the commitment to overthrow the al-Assad government in Damascus, the United States found only 60 Syrian opposition fighters not aligned with the jihadists.
Doing the math, the $500 million set aside for the effort translates to around $9 million for each rebel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Warns Against Risking Lives for ‘Unsafe Selfies’
Russia has introduced a campaign calling on people to be careful when taking selfies, after a spate of injuries and deaths of citizens making high-risk poses. They warn against posing with weapons and dangerous animals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Open Defecation Linked to Adverse Pregnancies
New research suggests pregnant women who defecate in the open are more likely to have a premature delivery or give birth to a baby with low weight than those who use toilets.
Researchers studied some 670 pregnant women in India’s eastern Orissa state.
Along with neighbouring Jharkhand state, Orissa has the highest number of households in India without toilets.
More than half a billion people in India still continue to defecate in the open, according to WHO.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Bribe Scandal Takes a Dark Turn as Witnesses and Suspects Die
GWALIOR, India — Nobody knows exactly when or why the witnesses and small-time crooks caught up in one of India’s biggest-ever corruption scandals began dying under mysterious circumstances. But in the past two years, that’s what’s happened to more than two dozen people implicated in a $1 billion test-rigging scheme.
Even by standards in India, where corruption is routine, the scale of the scam in the central state of Madhya Pradesh is mind-boggling. Police say that since 2007, tens of thousands of students and job aspirants have paid hefty bribes to middlemen, bureaucrats and politicians to rig test results for medical schools and government jobs.
So far, 1,930 people have been arrested and more than 500 are on the run.
Police have had their hands full racing to meet a July deadline in the criminal probe. And now they are faced with the deaths of more witnesses and suspects. In the past week, police said, one of those accused died after having chest pains in prison, another drowned in a village pond and a third died of a liver infection.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistani Christian Facing Execution Now Has Mob Bounty on Head, Husband Claims
The husband of a Pakistani Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy after drinking from a vessel used by Muslim women claims a lynch mob has been offered a bounty to kill her, reported the MailOnline.
In 2009, a group of Muslim women accused Asia Bibi, 50, of insulting the Prophet Muhammad after she attempted to drink from the same water bowl as them. A court found her guilty of blasphemy and sentenced her to death by hanging. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, 54, has been fighting for her freedom, but now fears that even if she is acquitted at an upcoming hearing in July, she will not be safe because clerics have put a bounty on her head.
“The Maulvis (clerics) want her dead,” he told the MailOnline. “They have announced a prize of (98 to $4,915) for anyone who kills Asia. They have even declared that if the court acquits her they will ensure the death sentence stands.”
Despite the amount of people accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death in Pakistan, the Center for Research and Security Studies reported that between 1990 and July 2012, most executions were carried out by mobs, not the government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Pakistan Including Karachi Hit by Huge Power Cut
A major power failure plunged large parts of southern Pakistan into darkness on Tuesday night. Worst affected was the port city of Karachi, a city of 20 million, where many people spent a sleepless night because of warm and humid weather.
Power cuts are common in Pakistan because of chronic electricity shortages.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why China is Alarmed About IS Presence in Afghanistan
The leaders of China, Russia and other countries will discuss the threat the “Islamic State” group poses in Afghanistan at a Eurasian security summit. DW spoke to analyst Borhan Osman about Beijing’s concerns.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders will discuss about the security situation in Afghanistan and the increasing threat posed by “Islamic State” (IS) in Eurasia at this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to be held Russian city of Ufa on July 9-10.
“Due to the spillover effect of the Islamic State terrorist activities, Afghanistan now faces a grim security situation,” Chinese vice foreign minister Cheng Guoping told reporters. SCO leaders “will certainly have in-depth discussions on the Afghan issue”, he added. “And they will talk further about how to respond to the security situation there,” Cheng was quoted as saying. China is worried about own separatist groups in the far western region of Xinjiang working with IS.
Afghanistan has “observer” status in the SCO, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In a DW interview, Borhan Osman a Kabul-based analyst with the Afghanistan Analysts Network, explains Beijing is concerned because a palpable IS foothold in Afghanistan could be far more dangerous to Chinese interests than, say, the Taliban.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Offers to Swap Kidnapped Girls for Detainees
Nigeria’s Boko Haram extremists are offering to free more than 200 young women and girls kidnapped from a boarding school in the town of Chibok in exchange for the release of militant leaders held by the government, a human rights activist has told The Associated Press.
The activist said Boko Haram’s current offer is limited to the girls from the school in northeastern Nigeria whose mass abduction in April 2014 ignited worldwide outrage and a campaign to “Bring Back Our Girls” that stretched to the White House.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kenyans to Obama: ‘Spare us the Gay Talk’
President Obama is likely to have a packed agenda when he visits east Africa later this month, but Kenyans are already using Twitter to advise him on what he should — or shouldn’t — be discussing.
#KenyansMessageToObama is trending in the country, with nearly 3,000 tweets in just a few hours Monday morning. One prominent topic of conversation is gay rights. “Spare us the gay talk,” one user comments, while another tweets: “That gay vibe should remain in America.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Murdered by the Left: Time for a Campaign Against “Sanctuary” Cities
We begin with the contemptible notion of a sanctuary city itself. Despite the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act of 1996 requiring cities to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), there are literally hundreds of cities in the nation that provide safe haven for illegal aliens in open defiance of federal law. Yet, because that law conflicts with progressive sensibilities, not a single lawsuit has ever been filed by the federal government against a sanctuary city for violating it. In a revealing contrast, the Obama administration has filed suit against states such as Arizona, Alabama and South Carolina that were attempting to enforce federal immigration law. The administration claimed the states had no right to do so—despite the reality the administration itself refuses to do so.
The case of Lopez-Sanchez itself is equally illuminating. Despite his presence in America following five deportations to his native country of Mexico, ICE turned Lopez-Sanchez over to San Francisco police on March 26 because he had an outstanding drug warrant. And despite the reality he had a record of seven felony convictions, San Francisco released Lopez-Sanchez to the streets on April 15, after the district attorney declined to prosecute him for a 20-year-old marijuana possession charge. In short, the feds aided and abetted the release of a serial border-buster to a sanctuary city manifestly unwilling to jail a career criminal.
No one made that reality clearer than San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi. Mirkarimi first blamed ICE for Sanchez-Lopez’s release, insisting the agency didn’t file a formal court application to detain him. But in a later interview with CNN, his progressive instincts were revealed. The sheriff defended San Francisco’s sanctuary city policy, insisting it “makes us safer.” “We’re a world-renowned city with a large immigrant population,” Mirkarimi declared. “And of that population is a population that is also here undocumented. From a law enforcement perspective, we want to build trust with that population. And our sanctuary city and other attendant laws have allowed us to do that.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Media vs Trump’s Patriotic Appeal
Donald Trump may be the most politically incorrect candidate on the Republican side. He openly mocks the news media and addresses the problem of illegal immigration. But even more importantly, he attacks the trade policies that benefit our enemies and adversaries. By doing so, he challenges what radio talk show host Jeffrey T. Kuhner calls the bipartisan “ruling establishment,” whose dominance “is based on the complicity of the mainstream media.”
With regard to the media, Trump’s attack on NBC after the network cut ties with him demonstrates his understanding of what appeals to the conservatives who vote in the Republican Party.
“If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract-violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court,” he said. “Furthermore, they will stand behind lying Brian Williams, but won’t stand behind people that tell it like it is, as unpleasant as that may be.”
Williams is the serial liar who, despite being exposed for numerous fraudulent claims about his own career, has been kept on the payroll of NBC News.
The response to Trump, who is rising in the polls, demonstrates that conservatives like a candidate who exposes the liberals in the media as the hypocrites they are.
But it’s not just standing up to the media—or his criticism of criminals coming into the country through Mexico—that has made him into a hero. As analyst Nevin Gussack notes, “Trump’s economics and aspects of his national security strategy challenge the Washington Consensus of globalism, free trade, and other internationalist policies.” This may be the sleeper issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Gussack is the author of the book, Sowing the Seeds of Our Destruction: Useful Idiots on the ‘Right,’ which contends that trade policies under both Democrats and Republicans have served the interests of countries hostile to the United States, most especially China.
[Comment: This is by bankster design. Where was China economically before Clinton pushed for their entry into the WTO? Banksters build-up America’s enemies. Recall the massive grain export given to the Soviets to help ensure the newly formed Communist government didn’t collapse. The dialetical process on a global scale.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Gays Get Red (And Green) Light in Munich
Munich’s versions of the gay couples introduced on Vienna traffic lights during the Eurovision song contest have arrived, just in time for Christopher Street Day (Gay Pride) this weekend.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Homosexual Advocate Wants Christian Chaplains Who Oppose Homosexuality Ousted From Military
WASHINGTON — A homosexual advocate who works as an activist to fight against Christianity in the military is calling for Christian chaplains who oppose homosexuality to get out of the Armed Forces following last month’s Supreme Court ruling surrounding same-sex “marriage.”
Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) posted an op-ed on the Daily Kos website following the high court ruling, entitled “MRFF Demands Ouster of All Homophobic Military Chaplains.” Weinstein noted that the crux of this organization is “fighting the scourge of fundamentalist Christian extremism” and spoke about this goal in light of the Supreme Court decision.
“Imagine the grinding teeth and anguished moans emanating from the benighted quarters of Christian fundamentalism within the U.S. military!” he gloated. “What will become of their once-ironclad dominance of fundamentalist Christian privilege within the Department of Defense?”
“What truly troubles these cretinous sentinels of vile prejudice and hate-mongering bigotry is the fact that this ruling will go down historically as the watershed moment which may indeed shatter the spine of the Religious Right in the U.S. military, whose prior viselike grip over the chaplaincy has formed the key obstacle to social progress within the Armed Forces,” Weinstein continued.
He then stated that Christian chaplains who oppose homosexuality should leave the military or be forced out.
[Comment: Notice, he does not comment on Imams in the US military.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kenyan Leader Warns: If Obama Preaches ‘Gay Agenda, We Will Tell Him to Shut Up and Go Home’
Kenyan leaders are warning President Obama not to bring his “gay agenda” with him when he visits his father’s homeland at the end of this month to open the sixth Global Entrepreneurship Summit.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, the White House image was cloaked in the militant LGBT rainbow, as was the Facebook profile picture of the U.S. Department of Education.
In Nairobi on Monday, members of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya called upon Obama to refrain from discussing the gay agenda, reports CNSNews.com.
“It is important for us as Kenyans to know that the U.S. is not God,” evangelical Bishop Mark Kariuki was quoted by local media as saying.
Kariuki added that Obama should not use the visit to “talk about the gay issue.”
Irungu Kangata, a lawmaker in President Uhuru Kenyatta’s The National Alliance (TNA) party, said, “We are telling Mr. Obama when he comes to Kenya this month and he tries to bring the abortion agenda, the gay agenda, we shall tell him to shut up and go home.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Most Americans now disagree that business owners should be forced to provide services to same-sex couples, despite them saying it is against their religion to do so.
The findings come in a survey published by the Newseum Institute, and represent a shift of opinion from two years ago when the majority, 52 percent, said they believed businesses should be required to forego their beliefs.
The interactive museum of news and journalism, located in Washington D.C., found that only 38 percent of Americans now feel businesses should be mandated to provide services to same-sex couples.
That is a percentage shift of 14 points from 2013.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oregon Bureaucrat Overrides 1st Amendment? How to Gut Gov’t Bullies
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry orders against individuals — the Kleins of Sweet Cakes by Melissa — not only demanded that they act contrary to their religious convictions, but that they keep mum about the extortion. The administrative rulings by BOLI punishing the Kleins for not providing a service were unconstitutional according to both the First Amendment and these articles of the Oregon Constitution:
Section 2. Freedom of worship. All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences.— Section 3. Freedom of religious opinion. No law shall in any case whatever control the free exercise, and enjoyment of religeous [sic] opinions, or interfere with the rights of conscience.— Section 20. Equality of privileges and immunities of citizens. No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.—
It is evident that the puny-minded BOLI concluded that the bakery discriminated against two people who, apparently, were attempting to act illegally in that same-sex marriage wasn’t authorized in Oregon at the time the order for a wedding cake was placed. In effect, the couple was asking the Kleins to subvert their beliefs as well as snub the state, becoming scofflaws.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Posters Threatening Gays With Death Appear in Turkish Capital
ANKARA: A Turkish Islamist group has pinned posters to walls and posts in the capital Ankara threatening gays with death, adding to concerns over growing intolerance against homosexuals in the country, an AFP correspondent said Tuesday.
The appearance of the posters in Ankara comes just over a week after Turkish police prevented Istanbul’s annual gay pride march — a successful tradition in the last years — from going ahead and used water cannon against activists who showed defiance.
“Should those who practice the foul labor and adhere to the practice of the people of Lot be killed?” said the posters that appeared in the Turkish capital overnight.
The prophet Lot, who features in the Old Testament and the Koran, is decried by many Muslims for failing to halt the decline of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was blamed on the sexual preferences of their inhabitants.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anxious Brains Are Inherited, Study Finds
The brain function that underlies anxiety and depression is inherited, a new study finds — but there is still plenty of space for experience and environment to reduce the risk of a full-blown mental disorder.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
When Did Women Start to Outlive Men?
It’s well known that women live longer than men do, but this wasn’t always the case: A new study finds that differences between men and women’s life expectancies began to emerge in the late 1800s.
For the study, researchers analyzed information from people born between 1800 and 1935 in 13 developed countries.
They found that over this time period, death rates decreased among both men and women. But starting in 1880, death rates decreased much faster among women, leading to differences in mortality rates between the sexes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gotta love that Nigel Farange speech. Here it is again: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=94UcyJnRcGU
It’s beginning to look like 1929 again. At least one voice amidst all the lies and deceit from our ‘New World Order’ is telling it like it is (Nigel Farage) by giving Greece some much needed economic advice while those who pretend they know what they are doing are destroying their own countries in the process.
Tom Sellick stealing water? Oh no, not my favorite police officer, Jessie Stone, getting himself into some hot water. A word of advice Tom from a real ex-police officer, fill your truck up with horse poo and dump it on the California State Legislature.
Sale of IBM microchip plants in Vermont, New York completed
****
Such a deal! IBM PAID THEM to buy their chip manufacturing!