Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/11/2015

The revelation that top secret classified emails were stored on Hillary Clinton’s private server has forced her to hand over the server and a thumb drive to the Justice Department. I didn’t have time to do a regular post about this, so I just dusted off an old photoshop for the occasion.

In other news, a mayoral candidate for the Progress Party in Norway caused controversy by dressing up in blackface for a comedy sketch mocking Muslim women who are beaten by their husbands.

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

Thanks to BL, Fjordman, JD, Jerry Gordon, LP, MC, RD, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.

Financial Crisis
» China “Loses Battle Over Yuan”, and Now the Global Currency War Begins
» China Weakens Yuan Amid Economic Slowdown
» Swiss Franc at Lowest Euro Level Since February
» The US Economy Continues Its Collapse
» Why China is Devaluing the Yuan
 
USA
» Asteroid Mining May be a Reality by 2025
» Backdoors… for Everything: “Citizens Should Have No Secrets Gov’t Can’t Access”
» Hackers Cut a Corvette’s Brakes Via a Common Car Gadget
» Hillary Clinton to Give Her Private Email Server to Justice
» Missouri Rep.: “Take Out” Oath Keepers in Ferguson
» NRA and Gun Owners of America Should Fight Reauthorization of E.S.E.A. Act
» Oath Keepers Arrival at Ferguson Protest ‘Inflammatory, ‘ Top Cop Says
» Oath Keepers Turn Up at Michael Brown Protests in Ferguson, Missouri
» Protesters Declare They Are Ready for War as America’s Impoverished Inner Cities Threaten to Erupt
» ‘Top Secret’ Emails Found as Clinton Probe Expands to Key Aides
» Top Secret E-Mails Were Sent on Clinton’s Private Account, Official Says
» U.S. Army in Secretive Purchase of “Riot Control” Agent
» VA Backs Down on Threat to Take Idaho Veteran’s Guns
» Why Everyone is Talking About Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Almost No One Else
 
Europe and the EU
» France: Uproar Over ‘Tel Aviv on Seine’ Event in Paris
» France: ‘Tel Aviv Sur Seine’ Puts Paris on Alert
» Norway: Progress Mayor Blacks up for Muslim Sketch
» Plant That Devours Asian Hornets Found in France
» Sex Attack Reported Every 40 Minutes in France
» Sweden: Millennium Sequel Author Labelled ‘Grave Robber’
» Sweden: Teaching Students Want Second Language Acquisition Skills
» Sweden: Man Shot in the Mouth in Gothenburg Suburb
» Switzerland: Ancient Mammoth Remains Found in Zug
» Switzerland: Cow Bells Ordered Off After Noise Complaints
» UK: Why is Tony Blair So Unpopular?
 
North Africa
» Nefertiti ‘Was Buried Inside King Tut’s Tomb’
» Push for Retribution in Egypt Frays Muslim Brotherhood
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» Darting Eyes in REM Sleep Are Seeing Objects in Your Dreams
» New Open Fire Instructions: ‘Fire Only in the Air’
 
Middle East
» After Nuke Deal, European Companies Rush Into Iran to Sell Tools of Oppression
» Asian Father Whose Daughter Drowned in Dubai Sea ‘Stopped Lifeguards From Saving Her Because He Didn’t Want Her Touched and Dishonoured by Strange Men’
» Is NASA Covering Up a Devastating Meteor Strike in Iran: “Destruction on an Unimaginable Scale”
» Kerry: No Snap Back on Conventional Arms and Missile Technology Sanctions in Iran Nuclear Deal
» SAS Sniper Saves Father and Eight-Year-Old Son From ISIS Beheading
» Tehran’s Top Diplomat Who Negotiated Iran Nuclear Deal Visits Lebanon on His Way to Syria
» The Big Business of Trophy Hunting in Iran
» Yemen: Intl Red Cross Calls Situation ‘Catastrophic’
 
Russia
» Ukrainian Politicians Knock Each Other Out in Parliament
 
South Asia
» Bangladeshi Woman, 23, Attacked With Acid
 
Latin America
» Lawyer Says Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader Ceballos to be Released to House Arrest
» Luis Fleischman: Dangerous Military Project Supported by Iran Likely to be Strengthened as Iran Obtains Sanctions Relief
» Sindhis and Hindus Keep Mother Culture Alive in Chile
 
Immigration
» Austria: Row Over Container Homes for Refugees
» Austria: More Than 125 Migrants Found on Motorways
» Calais Crisis: Hauliers Fined Millions After Migrants Are Found on Their Vehicles
» Church Clashes With Italy’s Right Over Migrants
» Fivefold Increase in Arrests for Illegal Entry Into Greece
» France: Hundreds of Migrants Allowed to Occupy Paris School in Name of ‘Solidarity’
» Greece: Police Reinforcements Sent to Kos
» Immigration Viewed Negatively by Half of Developed World’s Population
» Progressive Policies Drive More Into Poverty
» Spain: Clashes in Catalan Resort Town After Senegalese Man Dies in Police Raid
» Swedish Ship Helps Rescue 800 Boat Migrants
» Tension Grows in Greece, Clashes in Kos
» Turkish Online Visas Providing Easy Back Door Into Europe
» Turkish Coastguard Rescues 330 Syrians Adrift in Aegean Sea
» UK and Germany Talk Tough on Migrants
» UN: Refugee Benefit Cuts Violate Convention
 
Culture Wars
» Indiana Mandates That Aborted Babies Must be Buried or Cremated
 
General
» Fish Oil Pills May Help Teenagers Stave Off Schizophrenia
» World Population Likely to Surpass 11 Billion in 2100
 

China “Loses Battle Over Yuan”, and Now the Global Currency War Begins

Almost exactly seven months ago, on January 15, the Swiss National Bank shocked the world when it admitted defeat in a long-standing war to keep the Swiss Franc artificially weak, and after a desperate 3 year-long gamble, which included loading up the SNB’s balance sheet with enough EUR-denominated garbage to almost equal the Swiss GDP, it finally gave up and on one cold, shocking January morning the EURCHF imploded, crushing countless carry-trade surfers.

Fast forward to the morning of August 11 when in a virtually identical stunner, the PBOC itself admitted defeat in the currency battle, only unlike the SNB, the Chinese central bank had struggled to keep the Yuan propped up, at the cost of nearly $1 billion in daily foreign reserve outflows, which as this website noted first months ago, also included the dumping of a record amount of US government treasurys.

And with global trade crashing, Chinese exports tumbling, and China having nothing to show for its USD peg besides a propped and manipulated stock “market” which has become the laughing stock around the globe, at the cost of even more reserve outflows, it no longer made any sense for China to avoid the currency wars and so, first thing this morning China admitted that, as Market News summarized, the “PBOC lost Battle Over Yuan.” That’s only part of the story though, because as MNI also adds, the real, global currency war is only just starting.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

China Weakens Yuan Amid Economic Slowdown

China’s central bank has announced a significant decrease in the value of its tightly-controlled currency, the yuan. Beijing avoided using the term devaluation to describe the rate cut, which comes amid a trade slump.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swiss Franc at Lowest Euro Level Since February

The mighty Swiss franc dipped on Monday to its lowest value against the euro since February as the European common currency rose above 1.083 francs in foreign exchange trading late in the day.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The US Economy Continues Its Collapse

Do you remember when real reporters existed? Those were the days before the Clinton regime concentrated the media into a few hands and turned the media into a Ministry of Propaganda, a tool of Big Brother. The false reality in which Americans live extends into economic life. Last Friday’s employment report was a continuation of a long string of bad news spun into good news. The media repeats two numbers as if they mean something—the monthly payroll jobs gains and the unemployment rate—and ignores the numbers that show the continuing multi-year decline in employment opportunities while the economy is allegedly recovering.

The so-called recovery is based on the U.3 measure of the unemployment rate. This measure does not include any unemployed person who has become discouraged from the inability to find a job and has not looked for a job in four weeks. The U.3 measure of unemployment only includes the still hopeful who think they will find a job.

The government has a second official measure of unemployment, U.6. This measure, seldom reported, includes among the unemployed those who have been discouraged for less than one year. This official measure is double the 5.3% U.3 measure. What does it mean that the unemployment rate is over 10% after six years of alleged economic recovery?…

The claimed payroll jobs for July are in the usual categories familiar to us month after month year after year. They are domestic service jobs—waitresses and bartenders, retail clerks, transportation, warehousing, finance and insurance, health care and social assistance. Nothing to export in order to pay for massive imports. With scant growth in real median family incomes, as savings are drawn down and credit used up, even the sales part of the economy will falter.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why China is Devaluing the Yuan

China says the decision to devalue its currency is all part of the plan to reform the way it manages its exchange rate.

The Chinese currency has effectively strengthened against other Asian currencies in the last 12 months — by more than 10%. This makes Chinese goods more expensive abroad.

Then came the shocker — this weekend’s export figures — showing that exports slumped by 8.3% from a year ago.

That’s worrying news for Chinese factories, which in turn provide jobs for millions of Chinese villagers.

Economists say the government may be trying to avoid job losses at these factories by weakening the yuan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Asteroid Mining May be a Reality by 2025

Asteroid mining could shift from sci-fi dream to world-changing reality a lot faster than you think.

Planetary Resources deployed its first spacecraft from the International Space Station last month, and the Washington-based asteroid-mining company aims to launch a series of increasingly ambitious and capable probes over the next few years.

The goal is to begin transforming asteroid water into rocket fuel within a decade, and eventually to harvest valuable and useful platinum-group metals from space rocks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Backdoors… for Everything: “Citizens Should Have No Secrets Gov’t Can’t Access”

Editor’s Comment: The Thought Police are here, and they want preemptive full access to every electronic activity you ever make — whether or not you are ‘doing something wrong.’ The potential for abuse is enormous, and privacy advocates have argued that weakening encryption for authorities to have access will destroy consumer protections for things like bank accounts, creative and patent activities, not to mention that people had before technology… yes, privacy.

The 4th Amendment has been reduced to a specter; and there is much rolling around in graves.

FBI says that citizens should have no secrets that the government can’t access: the Orwellian cyber police state has arrived

by J.D. Heyes

The police and surveillance state predicted in the forward-looking 1940s classic “1984” by George Orwell, has slowly, but steadily, come to fruition. However, like a frog sitting idly in a pan of steadily-warming water, too many Americans still seem unaware that the slow boil of big government is killing their constitutional liberties.

The latest sign of this stealth takeover of civil rights and freedom was epitomized in recent Senate testimony by FBI Director James Comey, who voiced his objections to civilian use of encryption to protect personal data — information the government has no automatic right to obtain.

As reported by The New American, Comey testified that he believes the government’s spy and law enforcement agencies should have unfettered access to everything Americans may store or send in electronic format: On computer hard drives, in so-called i-clouds, in email and in text messaging — for our own safety and protection. Like many in government today, Comey believes that national security is more important than constitutional privacy protections or, apparently, due process. After all, aren’t criminals the only ones who really have anything to hide?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hackers Cut a Corvette’s Brakes Via a Common Car Gadget

CAR HACKING DEMOS like last month’s over-the-internet hijacking of a Jeep have shown it’s possible for digital attackers to cross the gap between a car’s cellular-connected infotainment system and its steering and brakes. But a new piece of research suggests there may be an even easier way for hackers to wirelessly access those critical driving functions: Through an entire industry of potentially insecure, internet-enabled gadgets plugged directly into cars’ most sensitive guts.

At the Usenix security conference today, a group of researchers from the University of California at San Diego plan to reveal a technique they could have used to wirelessly hack into any of thousands of vehicles through a tiny commercial device: A 2-inch-square gadget that’s designed to be plugged into cars’ and trucks’ dashboards and used by insurance firms and trucking fleets to monitor vehicles’ location, speed and efficiency. By sending carefully crafted SMS messages to one of those cheap dongles connected to the dashboard of a Corvette, the researchers were able to transmit commands to the car’s CAN bus—the internal network that controls its physical driving components—turning on the Corvette’s windshield wipers and even enabling or disabling its brakes.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary Clinton to Give Her Private Email Server to Justice

By Elise Labott

(CNN)Hillary Clinton has instructed her attorney to hand over her private email server and a thumb drive of all her work-related emails to the Justice Department in an effort to blunt an expanding probe into the use of a private email account.

Clinton, now the Democratic presidential front-runner, “directed her team to give her email server that was used during her tenure as (Secretary of State) to the Department of Justice, as well as a thumb drive containing copies of her emails already provided to the State Department,” her spokesman, Nick Merrill, told CNN early Tuesday evening. “She pledged to cooperate with the government’s security inquiry, and if there are more questions, we will continue to address them.”

Merril said in the meantime, Clinton’s team “has worked with the State Department to ensure her emails are stored in a safe and secure manner.”

The FBI, which is handling the matter, declined to comment Tuesday evening. David E. Kendall, Clinton’s lawyer, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

A senior Clinton campaign aide said the server hadn’t yet changed hands as of Tuesday evening and Clinton’s team is working with the Justice Department to arrange the logistics of the handover. The thumb drive, meanwhile, has been turned over. And Kendall, the aide said, has followed State Department guidance on safekeeping.

Clinton’s campaign believes there are no emails from her State Department tenure on the server, since it was wiped clean after she turned over her work-related emails to the State Department, the aide said.

The aide said it’s the Clinton campaign’s understanding that the Justice Department isn’t looking to reconstruct the server’s history, but is instead concerned about the security of the emails today, since some are now classified though they weren’t classified or labeled as such at the time.

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Missouri Rep.: “Take Out” Oath Keepers in Ferguson

The corporate media is determined to portray Oath Keepers and others in Ferguson, Missouri who are helping residents and business owners protect their property as racist outside “instigators.”

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who represents Missouri’s 5th congressional district, went on MSNBC this morning and characterized people helping protect property from looting as criminal instigators who have to be “taken out.”…

Additionally liberal social media is playing up the racial angle of the Oath Keepers presence in Ferguson and insinuating they are “heavily armed.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NRA and Gun Owners of America Should Fight Reauthorization of E.S.E.A. Act

All Americans Should Fight the Reauthorization of ESEA Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Could it be that something happening in education will impact gun ownership? Is President Obama ensuring his legacy to transform America by disqualifying individuals for gun ownership? Does your local school district log information on the social, emotional, and behavioral data of your child and feed anecdotal psychological observation information into federal databanks? Is adjustment of attitudes, values, beliefs, and dispositions to the State’s image the main aspect of the Reauthorization of ESEA, Elementary and Secondary Education Act? Will federal databases eventually disqualify citizens from owning a gun? Yes, emphatically yes! Read on.

The following four reports, two released this past week, and the ESEA Reauthorization legislation moving forward for passage this Fall, reveal that, by tramping on our Constitution, President Obama is transforming America into a collectivist state. Analyzing the intersection of these key initiatives will bring into focus the total scheme changing America into something that most Americans won’t recognize. You need to fight against this totalitarian goal.

Please read the following analysis and pray that it is not too late.

FIRST Blow To Gun Rights

Concurrent with the restructuring of society through education President Obama has engineered a plan to re-organize neighborhoods. Leo Hohmann, WorldNetDaily, July, 2014, first exposed this plan in his article detailing how President Obama is re-structuring housing. The Hohmann article, “New Obama Rule Could Force Cities To House Illegals, Regulation fits perfectly in line with promise to transform America,” offers a glimpse of how President Obama is restructuring ZIP codes. Hohmann rightly calls President Obama’s move the “Common Core for local zoning.”

Paul Sperry, in an article, July 18, 2015, from the New York Post, “Obama Collecting Personal Data For a Secret Race Database,” reports how HUD (Housing and Urban Development) plans to integrate illegal immigrants, minorities, and felons into EVERY neighborhood through ZIP CODE analysis. President Obama’s plan for equity in housing is to relocate minorities and illegal aliens into your neighborhood if your town or city is 50% or more white. This is a giant leap away from privacy and the ability to live your life free of government control and free from fear of reprisal. According to Sperry there are five areas that will be analyzed for patterns of “racial disparities and segregation” — Housing databases, Mortgage databases, Credit databases, Employment databases, and School databases…

Realize that a child is now “At-Risk” if they are not meeting Common Core psychological standards, and that 45 states that have adopted Common Core have already agreed to this psychologically manipulative agenda. The remaining states are furthering this scheme under different names and labels. Literally, local control over education has been usurped in every state.

The schools are collecting more data than just discipline and race equalization, as Sperry has pointed out. Every movement that your child makes can be tallied and logged into spy software. The screening and interventions through Special Ed will be based on attitudes, values, opinions, beliefs, dispositions, behavior, using social and emotional traits to identify children who do not match the government’s socialist goals. This screening system identifies “weaknesses” in our American children’s psyches, especially if they do NOT go along with the group. True leadership qualities ARE NOT the goals of the government, and our American children who would be leaders of tomorrow will be identified and selected for remediation and interventions to embrace collectivist goals.

[Comment: Two part article on communist transformation of America. Read it all.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Oath Keepers Arrival at Ferguson Protest ‘Inflammatory, ‘ Top Cop Says

Four white men armed with rifles who arrived early Tuesday at protests in Ferguson, Mo., said they were there to protect journalists, but they were not welcomed by police, who fear their presence could prove “inflammatory” amid demonstrations marking the one-year anniversary of the racially charged police shooting of a black man.

Members of the group “Oath Keepers,” an association of current and former soldiers or law enforcement and self-professed guardians of the Constitution, told Reuters they were there to provide protection for journalists from the conservative website Infowars.com. But like the police, the mostly African-American protesters seemed to find their presence provocative.

“I hope some black “oath keepers” show up tonight,” read one tweet. Another user tweeted, “If oath keepers were black, they would have been killed by the trigger happy white cops.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Oath Keepers Turn Up at Michael Brown Protests in Ferguson, Missouri

Heavily-armed members of a controversial right-wing “patriot” group added an extra dose of unease to protests in Ferguson, Missouri, early Tuesday.

The Oath Keepers organization says its members — all former military, police and first responders — pledge to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

However, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar described their presence as “both unnecessary and inflammatory.”

Protesters and police confirmed that a handful of Oath Keepers with what appeared to be assault rifles, bulletproof vest and camouflage gear were seen early Tuesday on the streets of Ferguson, which was under a state of emergency following demonstrations pegged to the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Protesters Declare They Are Ready for War as America’s Impoverished Inner Cities Threaten to Erupt

Are we about to witness a new round of racially-charged protests, riots and demonstrations all across the United States? On Sunday night, a protest that had been organized to commemorate the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’ s death in Ferguson, Missouri took a very violent turn. An 18-year-old named Tyrone Harris that is being described as a “ real close” friend of Michael Brown opened fire on police with a stolen handgun. Police returned fire and Harris got hit. He is now in the hospital and his prognosis is uncertain. Of course this just raised tensions to an entirely new level, and at this point a state of emergency has been declared in Ferguson.

So what would cause an 18-year-old young man to pick up a gun and start firing at police?

This didn’ t just happen in a vacuum. An environment of violence and racial conflict is being purposely created, and the mainstream media and our politicians are continually fueling the fire.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Top Secret’ Emails Found as Clinton Probe Expands to Key Aides

As pressure builds on Hillary Clinton to explain her official use of personal email while serving as secretary of state, she faced new complications Tuesday. It was disclosed her top aides are being drawn into a burgeoning federal inquiry and that two emails on her private account have been classified as “Top Secret.”

The inspector general for the Intelligence Community notified senior members of Congress that two of four classified emails discovered on the server Clinton maintained at her New York home contained material deemed to be in one of the highest security classifications — more sensitive than previously known.

The notice came as the State Department inspector general’s office acknowledged that it is reviewing the use of “personal communications hardware and software” by Clinton’s former top aides after requests from Congress.

“We will follow the facts wherever they lead, to include former aides and associates, as appropriate,” said Douglas Welty, a spokesman for the State Department’s inspector general.

Despite the acknowledgment, the State Department inspector general’s office has left numerous unanswered questions, including exactly who and what is being investigated. The office initially declined to comment and referred questions to the Intelligence Community inspector general’s office, which said it is not currently involved in any inquiry into aides and is being denied full access to aides’ emails by the State Department. Clinton, herself, is not a target…

           — Hat tip: RD [Return to headlines]
 

Top Secret E-Mails Were Sent on Clinton’s Private Account, Official Says

The FBI has been looking into the security of Clinton’s unusual private system, which has emerged as an issue in her campaign amid growing questions from Republicans and some U.S. intelligence officials about whether government secrets might have been put at risk.

The development in the FBI inquiry came the same day that a top intelligence official whose office has been reviewing some of Clinton’s e-mails informed congressional leaders that top-secret information had been contained in two e-mails that traveled across the server.

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Army in Secretive Purchase of “Riot Control” Agent

The U.S. Army is buying an undisclosed number of riot control CS gas canisters in order for troops to “become familiar with the effects of the agent,” as concerns grow about civil unrest inside the United States.

According to a solicitation posted on August 5, the U.S. Army is looking to secure a five year contract for the procurement of K765 CS Capsules.

“The CS (ortho-chlorobenzylidene malono-nitrile) Riot Control Agent Capsule is used in training scenarios for troops to become familiar with the effects of the agent,” states the solicitation.

The exact nature of the solicitation and the quantity of canisters being purchased remains secret as a result of the “Technical Data Package” that accompanies the order being classified.

“Distribution Statement D means that the TDP cannot be distributed on the Internet,” states the solicitation.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

VA Backs Down on Threat to Take Idaho Veteran’s Guns

When Idaho State Representative Heather Scott learned that the Veterans Administration (VA) was about to descend on a veteran living in her district and confiscate his firearms, she enlisted the power of the Internet. Writing on her Facebook page last Thursday, she announced, Time to Stand against Gun Confiscation in North Idaho!…

By noon more than a dozen of Priest Lake, Idaho’s 1,700 residents walked over to veteran John Arnold’s home and waited for the officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs to show up. Those in the crowd besides Representative Scott included Representative Matt Shea from just over the border in Washington State and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler.

When the VA official arrived, Sheriff Wheeler confronted him, telling him that he would stop any inspection or attempt to confiscate Arnold’s firearms. He told the press:

I took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and uphold the laws of Idaho. This seemed appropriate to show my support. I was going to make sure Mr. Arnold’s rights weren’t going to be breached.

The VA official left the scene, leaving VA spokesman Bret Bowers to try to provide cover for his retreat, claiming that the agency doesn’t have the power to confiscate weapons. He added, “We don’t send officers to confiscate weapons. We are about providing health care to veterans.”

This assertion was baseless, as revealed by a statement from another VA spokesman, Bryan Holt, with the Bonner County VA office:

“This does happen sometimes, where the VA sends out a letter, especially if a veteran has dementia … and a fiduciary has to be appointed to manage finances like a pension and income.

“You wouldn’t want that person to be in possession of a gun.”

In that single statement Holt revealed the mindset of the VA. The agency — which represents the illegal and dangerous recombination of the separate powers of government: lawmaking, law interpreting, and law enforcing — believes that it can avoid the niceties of the Fourth Amendment’s ban against illegal searches and seizures, the Fifth Amendment’s demand that due process be followed, and the Second Amendment’s guarantee of a citizen’s right to own a firearm in the first place.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Why Everyone is Talking About Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina and Almost No One Else

By Douglas E. Schoen

Despite reports of Donald Trump’s demise during last week’s GOP debate, the polls show that he certainly didn’t self destruct. In fact, he gained ground.

The NBC/Survey Monkey poll, which was conducted online during for the 24 hours from Friday evening into Saturday, showed Trump well on top of the field with 23 percent and Ted Cruz in second play with 13 percent. The PPP poll out of Iowa released Monday also has Trump in the lead with 19 percent support, well ahead of neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 12 percent and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker with 11 percent.

The results also revealed former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina gaining support.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Uproar Over ‘Tel Aviv on Seine’ Event in Paris

A plan to dedicate a day of this year’s Paris beach festival to the Israeli city of Tel Aviv has sparked an almighty row in France, with leftist politicians slamming the event as “indecent” and demanding it be cancelled.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: ‘Tel Aviv Sur Seine’ Puts Paris on Alert

(ANSAmed) — PARIS, AUGUST 11 — Paris is on high alert for possible conflicts that could erupt this Thursday when the city will host “Tel Aviv Sur Seine,” a day-long event dedicated to Tel Aviv, French daily Le Figaro said Tuesday.

Paris has dispatched 300 police officers to ensure safety during the event on the banks of the “Paris Plages,” the annual beach created along the Seine River to host summer events, Le Figaro said.

A choir of Parisian protesters are against the event pairing Paris with Tel Aviv, as it comes just days after a Palestinian baby was burned to death by Israeli settlers.

Pro-Palestinian groups have also announced protests, but Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the event will take place.

Hidalgo’s counterpart in Tel Aviv, Mayor Ron Huldai, praised Hidalgo for her “courage” in refusing to bow to pressure to cancel the event.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Progress Mayor Blacks up for Muslim Sketch

A mayoral candidate for Norway’s ruling Progress Party has been accused of hate crimes after he blacked up his face for a sketch lampooning Muslim women who are beaten by their husbands.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Plant That Devours Asian Hornets Found in France

Experts in western France have found a plant that eats Asian hornets, an insect that has been terrorizing the honey bee population and has killed several people in France including a pensioner in Brittany this summer.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sex Attack Reported Every 40 Minutes in France

The number of sexual assaults and rapes reported to police in France is rising, according to new statistics which revealed that one occurs every forty minutes across the country. But a women’s rights group tells The Local the problem is far more serious.

The statistics, gathered by the ONDRP observatory and published on Tuesday by Le Figaro newspaper, show that there were 12,700 sexual assaults reported in France in 2014 — a leap of 18 percent since a similar survey in 2010.

Reports of sexual assault against minors, meanwhile, have risen more than 20 percent (from 5,751 to 6,936) in the same period.

In Paris alone, there were a total of 600 reported sexual assaults and rapes last year. Other areas of the country that had high numbers of sexual assault reports included Sarthe, Yonne, Orne and Loiret — all in central France.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Millennium Sequel Author Labelled ‘Grave Robber’

Two childhood friends of Stieg Larsson have accused David Lagercrantz — the writer behind the controversial fourth book in the Swedish author’s Millennium series — of “grave robbing” and “mockery”, ahead of its release this month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Teaching Students Want Second Language Acquisition Skills

Prospective teachers should take compulsory courses in second language acquisition in order to meet the needs of new students coming from other countries, according to the student branch of the National Union of Teachers in Sweden.

The government has already made big investments in second language learning for qualified teachers but the student association thinks it’s not enough. Isak Skogstad, head of the association, argues the need for this skill is so big that it should be part of the curriculum.

“We need long-term investments and those who are studying today are the teacher’s of the future, so it’s essential that they acquire these skills in Swedish as a second language,” he tells Swedish Radio News.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Man Shot in the Mouth in Gothenburg Suburb

Police in west Sweden have launched an investigation for attempted murder or manslaughter after a man was found with bullet wounds in his mouth in Hjällbo, on the outskirts of Gothenburg.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Ancient Mammoth Remains Found in Zug

Mammoth remains that could be around 20,000 years old have been discovered at a building site in central Switzerland, a local official said on Friday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Cow Bells Ordered Off After Noise Complaints

A court has ordered a farmer in the Zurich Oberland to remove bells from his cows because of complaints from neighbours who could not sleep at night because of the noise.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Why is Tony Blair So Unpopular?

With Tony Blair’s legacy hanging over the contest to be the next Labour leader, the former prime minister’s biographer looks at why his standing is so low in his own party and beyond.

The verdict of history on all prime ministers after they leave office remains hotly disputed, but few in modern times have been subject to as much hostility as Tony Blair.

To a controversial premiership, which ended in May in 2007, Mr Blair has added a still more controversial post-premiership.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Nefertiti ‘Was Buried Inside King Tut’s Tomb’

An archaeologist says he may have found evidence that Nefertiti, the former Queen of Egypt, is secretly buried inside Tutankhamun’s tomb.

The whereabouts of Nefertiti’s remains are not known, although those of Tutankhamun — who may have been her son — were found in 1922.

New tests have shown there may be a portal leading from King Tut’s tomb.

Nicholas Reeves, an archaeologist at the University of Arizona, says he believes Neferiti may lie inside.

One leading Egyptologist urged caution over the conclusion but said that, if confirmed, it would be “brilliant”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Push for Retribution in Egypt Frays Muslim Brotherhood

CAIRO — A veteran leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was so alarmed by the rising calls for violence from the group’s youth that he risked arrest to urge the movement to stay peaceful.

Already hunted by the police for his role in a banned organization when he released his online manifesto in May, the leader, Mahmoud Ghuzlan, conceded that shunning violence in the face of the government crackdown on the Brotherhood was “like grasping a burning coal.” But, he said, history taught that “peacefulness is stronger than weapons, and violence is the reason for defeat and demise.”

It was a losing argument, or so it now appears. The police in Cairo soon found and arrested him. A chorus of Islamists mocked him on social media as naïve, unrealistic and hypocritical.

And his manifesto for “peacefulness” was quickly drowned out by official statements that have come closer to endorsing violence than anything the organization has said or done in more than four decades — an ominous turn for both Egypt and the West. Not only is the Brotherhood Egypt’s largest political organization, its long history gives it unique influence among Islamists beyond the Middle East to Europe, North America and elsewhere.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Darting Eyes in REM Sleep Are Seeing Objects in Your Dreams

Your body may be still, but as you dream, your eyes can flicker manically. The rapid eye movement stage of sleep is when we have our most vivid dreams — but do our flickering eyes actually “see” anything?

It is a question psychologists have been asking since REM sleep was first described in the 1950s, says Yuval Nir at Tel Aviv University in Israel. “The idea was that we scan an imaginary scene,” says Nir. “It’s an intuitive idea, but it has been very difficult to provide evidence for it.”

Until now, much of the evidence has been anecdotal, says Nir.

To investigate further, Nir and his colleagues monitored people who have epilepsy and have electrodes implanted deep into their brains to help with treatment.

“It is extremely interesting… that these eye movement produce something like visual processing during dreaming,” says Michael Czisch at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. He thinks we might see visual scenes as a side effect of when memories are replayed during sleep.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Open Fire Instructions: ‘Fire Only in the Air’

IDF warriors are told even lower limbs of terrorists are not legitimate targets, except in immediate threat to life.

The IDF has changed its open-fire instructions for warriors serving in Judea and Samaria, making it even more difficult for them to fire at terrorists.

The new instructions determine that only in cases of real danger to life may the soldier fire at the terrorist’s lower limbs.

This is a radical change in the longstanding open-fire instructions that call for a soldier to call out warnings to terrorists, then fire in the air several times. If a terrorist ignores these warnings, the soldier was instructed to fire at the terrorist’s lower extremities.

The new instructions appear to mean that terrorists can escape the IDF without fear of being shot, after mounting attacks. They also appear to mean that soldiers may not even fire at suspicious approaching figures, even if they continue to approach after having been warned.

The IDF said that “in view of the situation assessment, a temporary order has been disseminated, clarifying the way the forces are to confront threats that do not constitute actual and immediate threat to life.”

In May, it was reported that IDF soldiers have been instructed by their commanders to avoid killing terrorists, even if they spot them as they are about to throw a firebomb or rock at a car. The only time soldiers may shoot to kill are when there is “real danger of loss of life” — but the parameters of this situation were not clearly defined…

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

After Nuke Deal, European Companies Rush Into Iran to Sell Tools of Oppression

By Benjamin Weinthal

The lifting of international sanctions on Iran has triggered a stampede of European companies beating a path to Tehran to secure contracts, but some of the equipment being offered has dark, dual purposes in the hands of the Islamic Republic’s oppressive government.

The cranes made by Austrian manufacturer Palfinger could be used to transform Tehran’s skyline, but also have played a starring role in Iran’s infamous public executions, where convicted criminals are often hanged from the giant booms high above public squares. German company Herrenknecht, whose senior officials visited the Iranian capital last month, makes industrial drilling rigs critics say could be used to nestle nuclear facilities deep inside mountains. Other companies lining up to do business with the mullahs make equipment that also could be used against Iran’s enemies — or its populace.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Asian Father Whose Daughter Drowned in Dubai Sea ‘Stopped Lifeguards From Saving Her Because He Didn’t Want Her Touched and Dishonoured by Strange Men’

The father of a 20-year-old woman who drowned in Dubai reportedly stopped lifeguards from saving her because he did not want her to be touched by strange men. The unnamed Asian man allegedly preferred to let his daughter die than have her ‘dishonoured’ by rescuers, according to police.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Is NASA Covering Up a Devastating Meteor Strike in Iran: “Destruction on an Unimaginable Scale”

Editor’s Note: The following report has been confirmed by various news agencies around the world, but has yet to be disseminated to the American people. According to the reports a massive meteor or meteors have struck northern Iran and the destruction is, based on one source, “unimaginable.” Neither NASA or the U.S. media has reported on this event, which suggests it either did not happen, or, there is more coming and they don’t want to cause a panic. We’ll continue to provide details as they become available…

So while attention is diverted talking about the nuke deal and Cecil the Lion or whatever, is anyone mentioning that a meteor impact (actually multiple impacts) hit Iran just a few days ago?

Via Trend News Agency, July 31st:

Iran has confirmed that a meteor has hit somewhere in the northern part of the country.

The meteor landed in Avaj in the province of Qazvin, Mohammad Ali Ahani, director of Qazvin Crisis Management Staff said, Mehr news agency reported July 31. Also, there have been reports that some pieces of rock have hit areas in Eshtehard, Alborz Province, Arsalan Qasemi, governor of Boeen Zahra, county in Qazvin Province, said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Kerry: No Snap Back on Conventional Arms and Missile Technology Sanctions in Iran Nuclear Deal

Secretary of State Kerry appeared on a Reuters Newsmaker interview today with the apt title of Iran: Moment of Truth. He dropped another bombshell, this time about the lifting of UN sanctions barring Iran’s purchase of conventional arms and missile technology. Kerry indicated there would be snap back of arms sanctions. However, during a recent House Armed Services Committee Hearing, he admitted lifting of financial sanctions would enable deliveries of arms to terror proxies in the Middle East threatening both Americans and Israelis. In an NER/Iconoclast post yesterday on” Obama’s Dangerous Spin on Iran Nuclear Deal,” this writer suggested the latest conventional arms sanctions by Iran with the connivance of both Russia and China may have jeopardized any military option by the US or Israel. I suggested that this was a breach of both UN travel bans on the Quds Force Commander as well as the UN Resolution 1929 sanctions against purchase of conventional weapons and missile technology precluded by both five and eight year sunsets under the JCPOA. It makes any military option harder by orders of magnitude. While both the US and Israel aren’t without resources of their own, Iran’s breaches of sanctions makes the decision to use American of Israeli military power more complicated. Kerry’s Reuters Newsmakers interview comments today virtually confirmed that assessment.

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

SAS Sniper Saves Father and Eight-Year-Old Son From ISIS Beheading

A HERO SAS sniper gunned down a knife-wielding Islamic State (ISIS) maniac just as he was trying to brutally behead a father and his young son.

The brave British marksman saved the terrified eight-year-old and his father after taking out the crazed jihadi with a head shot from 1,000 metres away.

The special forces crack shot then killed two other members of the hated terror group, who were also taking part in the sick planned execution.

ISIS militants had decreed that the little boy and his father must die after branding them “infidels” because they refused to denounce their faith.

They were just seconds from death when the hero sniper intervened to stop the barbaric killing in the Syrian desert. The pair were part of the minority Shia sect of Islam which ISIS considers to be heretical.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Tehran’s Top Diplomat Who Negotiated Iran Nuclear Deal Visits Lebanon on His Way to Syria

Iran’s foreign minister who negotiated Tehran’s landmark nuclear deal with world powers is visiting Lebanon on his way to Syria later this week.

Jawad Zarif arrived on Tuesday in Beirut where he is to hold talks with Lebanese officials before proceeding on to Damascus.

Iran is Syrian President Bashar Assad’s strongest supporter and has been marketing itself as a key player that could help resolve Syria’s crisis following the successfully brokered nuclear deal. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people since it broke out in March 2011.

Earlier in the day, Turkey said Zarif had postponed a scheduled stop there, which was due to take place before his trip to Lebanon. There was no explanation from Ankara on the cancellation and no further details were immediately available.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Big Business of Trophy Hunting in Iran

The furore over the killing by a US dentist of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe has thrown a spotlight on trophy hunting — but while Africa is commonly associated with the sport, American enthusiasts are finding another popular hunting destination — the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Every year, Iran’s Environment Protection Agency issues about 500 licences to foreign visitors to hunt rare and protected breeds.

Many of these hunters come from the US, despite the absence of diplomatic relations and a state of tension between the two countries for the past 35 years.

Even at the height of hostilities between the US and Iran, American trophy hunters were scouring Iran’s hills and valleys in search of ibex, gazelles and the Transcaspian Urial, a rare breed of sheep that is only legally available to hunt in Iran.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Yemen: Intl Red Cross Calls Situation ‘Catastrophic’

The International Committee of the Red Cross (CICR) on Tuesday sounded an alarm over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, calling it “catastrophic” and “worsening day by day”.

“The world needs to wake up to what is happening,” said Peter Maurer, CICR president, on a three-day mission in the country.

The UN also voiced its concern and said the country is falling into a food crisis.

Hilal Elver, UN special envoy on the right to food, said more than 12.9 million people in the country survive without adequate access to basic food, and six million are considered severely food insecure.

“The situation facing children in the country is particularly alarming, with reports suggesting that 850,000 Yemeni children face acute malnutrition, a figure that is expected to rise to 1.2 million over the coming weeks, if the conflict persists as its present level,” she said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said access to life-saving treatments is diminishing at an alarming rate, with about 23% of health structures no longer operative or only partially operative, due to violence in the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ukrainian Politicians Knock Each Other Out in Parliament

Ukrainian politicians have been known for their impulsiveness and willingness to get their point across by throwing a perfectly-timed right cross at their opponent’s face.

The world witnessed some of the most amazing fights in the Ukrainian Rada in the past, but after Petro Poroshenko assumed the presidency he promised Ukraine will move towards Europeanization, including getting rid of the bad habit of fist fighting in the parliament.

Well… It didn’t quite work out. The ongoing Civil War in Donbass, the economy on the verge of collapse and defiant Right Sector terrorists are causing heated arguments among Ukrainian parliamentarians that sometimes still end with a knock-out.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Bangladeshi Woman, 23, Attacked With Acid

Ripa Rani Pandit, 23, has been left with permanent facial scars and horrific internal injuries after being tortured with the burning liquid as part of an alleged eight-month campaign of abuse.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lawyer Says Jailed Venezuelan Opposition Leader Ceballos to be Released to House Arrest

CARACAS, Venezuela — Lawyers for a jailed Venezuelan opposition leader say he will be transferred to house arrest while awaiting trial.

Attorney Juan Carlos Gutierrez announced Tuesday that prosecutors had given permission for Daniel Ceballos to be released to his home.

Venezuelan authorities removed Ceballos as mayor of the western city of San Cristobal during anti-government protests last year. He was arrested and quickly convicted on charges of disobeying authority for his refusal to remove demonstrators’ barricades.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Luis Fleischman: Dangerous Military Project Supported by Iran Likely to be Strengthened as Iran Obtains Sanctions Relief

The military school, of the Chavez founded international group, Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) was founded in 2010 and started in 2011. Its based in the province of Warnes, near the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia and its purpose is to train civilians and officers.

The school was questioned by different sectors as a threat to democracy in Latin America since the school is seen as a means to promote and strengthen the ideas of the Venezuelan and Cuban revolutions.

The creation of the school has been justified as a “need to create a system of regional security”. The founders also claimed that in this school, “a new military doctrine will be taught” and new concepts would be introduced.

What was then clear, by many observers, is that this was an attempt to the create a school not just to train the ALBA armies but it was also a school of ideological and political indoctrination aimed at defining and consolidating the role of the armed forces in the new revolutionary countries.

Of course, in a school inspired by the ALBA group, it is very obvious that these new military doctrines need to be questioned. The revolution led by Hugo Chavez saw as crucial the role of the military in perpetuating a 21st century socialist revolution and providing it with the essential military power. But the Venezuelan revolution has also promoted since the beginning of the century the doctrine of asymmetric war — a doctrine that stresses guerrilla tactics in a national army that supposed to master the art of conventional warfare…

           — Hat tip: BL [Return to headlines]
 

Sindhis and Hindus Keep Mother Culture Alive in Chile

Saaz Aggarwal | HT |New Delhi | Re-posted on Aug 11, 2015 (originally published on Aug 2, 2015) :: Punta Arenas, Chile, is one of the southern-most cities in the world. There was a time when every ship crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Straits of Magellan or around Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) halted there.

Navigating giant waves, deadly currents, Antarctic blizzards and icebergs, the journeys took months. Arriving at Punta Arenas, the storm-battered, scurvy-ridden sailors would stumble out of their cramped quarters in relief. The town thrived.

We flew in more than a hundred years after the Panama Canal had changed things for Punta Arenas. At the Hotel Cabo de Hornos, we bumped into someone from our plane who had stayed over to catch his (once-a-week) flight to the Falkland Islands. Paul, from the South Atlantic Research Institute, told us that there was a post office nearby where Robert Scott, the early Antarctic explorer, had posted letters and packets.

           — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: Row Over Container Homes for Refugees

A row has broken out in Salzburg province after the interior ministry said it plans to dismantle a tent camp for refugees at an army barracks in Wals-Siezenheim and replace it with container homes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria: More Than 125 Migrants Found on Motorways

Over 125 migrants were found stranded this weekend on motorways in Austria, with at least a dozen children among them, police said on Sunday.

Eighty-six people squeezed into the back of a lorry — including 16 children — were discovered by police on Saturday abandoned on an Austrian motorway in temperatures of 35C.

The refugees, mostly Afghans, had been locked into the lorry for at least 12 hours, and an eight-month pregnant women had to be taken to hospital after blacking out.

Austria is on the main migrant land route into Europe, with thousands passing through the country after crossing into the European Union over the Serbia-Hungarian border.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Calais Crisis: Hauliers Fined Millions After Migrants Are Found on Their Vehicles

The number of fines issued to hauliers found carrying illegal immigrants into the UK has more than tripled over three years as thousands of stowaways have been caught, figures show.

Drivers can face on-the-spot fines of up to £2,000 for every person found hidden on their vehicle at any UK port and the Eurotunnel.

It comes as the UK and French governments face pressure to end the migrant crisis, which has seen numbers swell in Calais over the summer.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Church Clashes With Italy’s Right Over Migrants

High-ranking members of the Italian Church on Monday slammed politicians who peddle anti-immigrant ideas to win votes — sparking a heated row with Italy’s right wing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fivefold Increase in Arrests for Illegal Entry Into Greece

The number of people who have been arrested for illegally entering Greece so far this year is five times higher than in 2014, according to the latest figures published by the police.

The Greek police and coast guard arrested 156,726 people between January and July compared to 32,070 during the same period last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: Hundreds of Migrants Allowed to Occupy Paris School in Name of ‘Solidarity’

Hundreds of migrants have moved into an abandoned school in Central Paris, prompting a political row over what to do about them. The Socialist mayor of Paris first ordered them to vacate the building, but has now said they can stay. As many as 600 migrants are expected to be in situ by the end of the week.

The migrants were invited into the former Jean Quarré lycee in the 19th arrondissement of Paris by a left wing migrants rights group, who have also provided food and legal advice. Men and women are sleeping on the floors, segregated into different classrooms by nationality, but they are determined to stay, the Times has reported.

As the first hundred or so migrants arrived, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo first vowed to evict the squatters. But 24 hours later she changed her mind, leaving them in place while alternative accommodation was sought.

Deputy mayor Bruno Julliard has made it clear that he supports the dialogue, telling reporters: “We are convinced that we must make the choice of responsibility and generosity. The city of Paris has to show solidarity.”

Not everyone is happy. “It is a terrible signal to say that illegal immigrants are occupying a lycée and we don’t intervene and we don’t evacuate it,” Roger Karoutchi, an opposition senator, said. “The message to the people-smuggling networks is: ‘go to France’.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greece: Police Reinforcements Sent to Kos

The Greek Police (ELAS) has sent additional officers to the eastern Aegean island of Kos to help deal with a burgeoning migrant crisis there which escalated into violent clashes Tuesday.

ELAS chief Dimitris Tsaknakis has dispatched 12 officers from the force’s immigration unit to the island, including one Arab-speaking employee, to help accelerate the process of identifying some 7,000 immigrants there, most believed to be Syrian.

Kos Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis said local authorities were overwhelmed and warned of “bloodshed if the situation degenerates.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Immigration Viewed Negatively by Half of Developed World’s Population

Ipsos survey of 24 countries reveals a majority of many populations think migration is changing their nation in ways they don’t like

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Progressive Policies Drive More Into Poverty

Roughly half of Latino households fall into this condition of poverty or near-poverty, as do a similar share of African American households. Those who do worst generally are poorly educated single mothers and their children. Poverty and near-poverty are greatest among Latinos, who also are bearing the majority of children. It is hard to imagine a more urgent wake-up call.

Not surprisingly, many of the foreign-born, the source of much of California’s population growth in recent decades, have fared poorly. Only 25 percent of households headed by native-born Californians fall below the United Way “Real Cost Budget” line for economic distress, but it’s 45 percent for those headed by the foreign-born, and nearly 60 percent for families headed by a noncitizen. The highest percentage is among Latino households headed by a noncitizen — a staggering 80 percent fall below the minimal level.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Clashes in Catalan Resort Town After Senegalese Man Dies in Police Raid

A 50-year-old Senegalese national died on Tuesday after jumping off a third-floor balcony during a police raid in Salou, an incident that set off clashes between authorities and a group of African migrants in the Catalonia resort town.

The Mossos d’Esquadra Catalan regional police were attempting to arrest the man during an operation aimed at cracking down on the illegal selling of imitation goods.

At least one person has been arrested in the clashes and 24 others suffered minor injuries, including a number of police officers.

As the victim’s body was being carried away, a riot broke out among 200 African migrants, who threw rocks at police officers, burned trash bins and also blocked nearby rail lines.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Ship Helps Rescue 800 Boat Migrants

A Swedish Coast Guard ship helped on Monday with the rescue of some 800 migrants who attempted to cross the Mediterranean sea.

The rescue operation by Poseidon was carried out with ships from both the Italian and Irish navies, news agency TT reports.

The ships encountered two wooden boats overflowing with roughly 800 migrants trying to reach Italy from the north African coast.

TT reports the migrants would be taken to Italy by Wednesday.

Poseidon has been taking part in the European Union’s humanitarian operation in the Mediterranean and has helped rescue 4,723 migrants since left for the sea in June.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tension Grows in Greece, Clashes in Kos

After fights have broken out this morning among migrants and police on the Greek island of Kos, the mayor of Kos, Giorgos Kyritsis, has appealed for immediate assistance from the government in order to tackle the exacerbating migration situation on the island, warning that “blood will be shed and the situation will get out of hand”. According to Kyritsis, as To Vima online reports, there are over 7,000 migrants on the island who entered Greece illegally and underlines that the local authorities are unable to address the problems that have emerged.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Online Visas Providing Easy Back Door Into Europe

Turkey’s “lax” visa policy allows huge numbers of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to use the country as a staging post to reach Europe, immigration experts have warned.

European Union border officials say citizens from both regions can fly directly into Turkey with little in the way of effective paperwork checks, from where they can make the relatively short trip into neighbouring Greece.

Rather than having to risk their lives on the people-smuggling routes across the Sahara and the Mediterranean, all they have to do is buy a plane ticket to Istanbul, which EU officials say has become “important hub for irregular migrants”.

Immigration experts have told The Daily Telegraph that it amounts to a major weakness in Europe’s border controls, and estimate that at any one time, there may be up to 100,000 migrants gathered in Istanbul. From there, it is just a few hours’ journey to Greece or Bulgaria next door, from where they can travel to countries such as Britain.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkish Coastguard Rescues 330 Syrians Adrift in Aegean Sea

The Turkish coastguard on Tuesday rescued 330 Syrians adrift in the Aegean Sea after failing to reach Greece, as the number of migrants attempting the treacherous passage to Europe surges.

Members of the group said they had been travelling on eight small boats. They included dozens of children, at least five of them newborn, and women, some of whom were visibly pregnant.

“We are told Europe will welcome us, but the door is closed in our face,” said Abdul, 23, from Damascus. “We will try again every day to reach Greece.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK and Germany Talk Tough on Migrants

The British and German governments have called for a new crackdown on economic migrants, in statements denounced as populist rhetoric by left-wing politicians.

Philip Hammond, the British foreign secretary, told the BBC, while in Singapore on Sunday (9 August), that “large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding around” the Channel Tunnel entrance in France pose “a threat to … security”.

He said the EU must “resolve the problem” by deporting more people.

He noted that “the gap in standards of living between Europe and Africa means there will always be millions of Africans with the economic motivation to try to get to Europe”.

But he said EU asylum laws make people “pretty confident” that if they enter EU territory, they will get the right to stay: “Now, that is not a sustainable situation because Europe can’t protect itself, preserve its standard of living and social infrastructure, if it has to absorb millions of migrants from Africa”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UN: Refugee Benefit Cuts Violate Convention

The UN’s refugee agency said that planned cuts to refugee benefits are discriminatory, damaging to integration efforts, send a negative signal to the rest of Europe and violate the terms of the 1951 Convention.

Denmark’s proposed cuts to refugees’ welfare benefits will violate the UN’s refugee convention from 1951, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) wrote in a hearing statement to the government.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Indiana Mandates That Aborted Babies Must be Buried or Cremated

In what many believe should serve as a nationwide precedent, the Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, signed a bill this week to make it a State law that aborted babies must be buried or cremated.

The new law comes in the wake of the exposure of the cottage industry of clinics and bio-medical companies profiting from selling tissue, body parts and organs from fetuses, with particular focus on Planned Parenthood officials discussing the issue with undercover journalists.

The legislation, known as the aborted fetal remains bill (SEA 329), sets out strict guidelines with regards to how facilities that offer abortions must dispose of the remains.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Fish Oil Pills May Help Teenagers Stave Off Schizophrenia

There may finally be a way to stop people progressing beyond the first signs of schizophrenia — fish oil. When people with early-stage symptoms took omega-3 supplements for three months, they had much lower rates of progression than those who did not, according to one small-scale trial.

People with schizophrenia are usually diagnosed in their teens or 20s, but may experience symptoms for years beforehand, such as minor delusions or paranoid thoughts. Only about a third of people with such symptoms do go on to develop psychosis, however, and antipsychotic drugs can cause nasty side effects, so these are rarely given as a preventative.

Fish oil supplements, which contain polyunsaturated fatty acids like omega-3, may be a benign alternative. These fatty acids may normally help dampen inflammation in the brain and protect neurons from damage, and lower levels in the brain have been implicated in several mental illnesses.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

World Population Likely to Surpass 11 Billion in 2100

The world’s population will increase from today’s 7.3 billion people to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion at century’s end, John R. Wilmoth, the director of the United Nations (UN) Population Division, told a session focused on demographic forecasting at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2015) today in Seattle.

The primary driver of global population growth is a projected increase in the population of Africa. The continent’s current population of 1.2 billion people is expected to rise to between 3.4 billion and 5.6 billion people by the end of this century. The continent’s population growth is due to persistent high levels of fertility and the recent slowdown in the rate of fertility decline. The total fertility rate (TFR) has been declining in Africa over the past decade, but has been doing so at roughly one-quarter of the rate at which it declined in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean in the 1970s.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

13 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/11/2015

  1. Peruvian woman refuses to wear hijab, niqab or whatever other islamic symbols in Norwegian class for immigrants in Moss, outside Oslo.

    Janet Marleny Ortiz Arquinigo is married to a Norwegian, and wants to integrate by learning Norwegian at Norwegian training for adults in Moss, but faces demands from muslims that she put on islamic symbols and not eat food not certified by sharia.

  2. “Janet Marleny Ortiz Arquinigo is married to a Norwegian,”
    There is a huge difference. And the difference will thicken as time goes by.

    What type of Norwegian? Naive humanist? Or is he one of those supremacist, unique, newly found gold nugget, for which the humanists have unlimited love?

    We should tell Janet to obey because Hope Not Hate is better than hate and hate.

    Hey imams of Europe you would have never have dreamed of such unlimited luck. Did mohammado predict that the humanists would be so clever?

    • There have been successful inter-ethnic marriages in the U.S. for years. They aren’t even remarkable anymore. Of course the first couples to jump the fence established by kith and kin got a lot of grief for it, but back then a passel of grandchildren could go far in establishing peace.

      Where inter-faith marriages are concerned, it can be tricky. One or the other usually converts. A good friend from my Catholic school days married a Jewish man in grad school. But she was already carrying a burden of animus towards Catholicism from the harshness of the nuns she encountered in college, so moving toward Judaism was a balm in her case. Since Judaism descends via the mother, I’m sure her awkward status was a problem at times. But for the children of that marriage who married within Judaism, the problem gradually became more distant.

      We humans, so deeply social, are fascinating in our variety.

      • I agree. Inter-racial marriages will always work provided that the vow takers have a common belief system and are prepared to accept that not all the folks they may happen to come upon will share their inter-racial love.

        Look up Betty and Barney Hill from New Hampshire (1960s and the book, Interrupted Journey) and their history and then compare what they had as to what is now available today which is a sad indictment as to much we have all fallen.

    • The husband wrote a letter to the board of the school. Not hearing from them yet, he accuses the board of, out of cowardice, bending over to mohammedan pressures of how things should be.

      It is mainly Somali and Syrian muslims that demand the rest of the class bend to their rule of sharia.

      – The school should definitively break into these structures of power, the husband Jens Ole Kjølberg thinks, according to the Moss Avis. A place for integration should know better than that, he states.

  3. Swedish ship rescues 800 migrants in joint op

    The Swedish rescue ship Poseidon has taken part in a joint effort to save hundreds of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean sea in wooden boats, it was revealed on Wednesday.

    Immigration hits new record high in Denmark

    <a href="http://www.thelocal.fr/20150812/churches-in-france-warned-to-be-on-alert"Churches in France warned to be on alert

    Four months after a botched terrorist attack on a church near Paris and just as French Catholics prepare to celebrate the feast of Assumption, Christian leaders and parishioners have been reminded to be on their guard.

    ‘Celebratory’ gunfire hits child at French wedding (report suggests this occurred at church wedding)

    A three-year-old girl was left injured in eastern France at the weekend after apparently being hit by celebratory gunfire fired after a wedding.

    Norway to deport or jail rioting asylum children

    Norway is threatening to imprison or even deport a group of teenaged asylum seekers after they mounted a rebellion at a reception centre 50km north of Oslo.

    Norway terror attacks to become TV drama

    Father warns Breivik ‘more extreme than ever’

    Women’s urinals get scrapped in Salzburg

    • Military style operation – or terror?

      Based on the ideology that tells its soldiers to “strike fear in the hearts” of the non-followers to keep them terrorized on a permanent basis, we think of ‘terror’ just as such.

      Wasn’t the 22 July attack an absolutely independent military action exactly to counteract and slow down precisely the constant terror on, and namely, the islamization, of Northern Europe?

  4. Band aid is “raycis”, according to Colombian woman, adopted at the age of two, to Sweden

    Swedish drugstore will, however, introduce darker band aid.
    – Problem solved!

    Obviously, the band aid was not invented in Africa, either. It was on the contrary, invented by Thomas Anderson and Johnson & Johnson – typically Swedish names – employee Earle Dickson.

    • In Sunny’s video she pointed out the fact that the solution for the easily offended is already available: clear bandaids. But they don’t want a solution, they want to complain and suffer.

      • That’s what they do!

        Besides, like a nurse points out in a comment, bandages are white for certain purposes, like cleanliness for one.

        Why not follow their idea and make bandages black or dark brown, and let them deal with the consequences. Give Africa black bandages! At least, they wouldn’t die from raycis’!

        • Why not have them make their own bandages. If a smart black entrepreneur thought there was an authentic market for such goods, he’d have already been there.

          The first black woman to be a self-made millionaire did exactly that with hair products and cosmetics for black women. Madam Walker,as she called herself, rose from the deepest immiseration to found a company – with help from her husband on advertising. Her life deserves a book, but I haven’t seen one.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madam_C._J._Walker

          Anyway, a person who complains about there not being a particular product on the market needs to innovate rather than whine.

  5. “Deportation” ?

    Ikea suspect ‘was to be deported’ from Sweden

    The 35-year-old suspect linked to the double stabbings at an Ikea store in Västerås on Monday had been told that he was set to be expelled from the country, Swedish media are reporting.

    The man, who police have previously said is an asylum seeker from Eritrea, had attended a meeting with the Swedish Migration Board in Västerås on Monday, Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet first wrote on Wednesday afternoon, quoting the head of the office, Fredrik Bengtsson.

    The newspaper published migration board documents calling for the suspect to be deported to Italy, after his application for residency in Sweden was rejected on July 16th.

    Other Swedish media quickly picked up on the image.

    Under EU law, migrants can be sent back to their first point of entry to the European Union, suggesting that the man may have initially travelled to the Mediterranean from Africa.

    The 35-year-old is the main suspect in the case and is understood to remain in hospital in Västerås after sustaining injuries himself.

    A second man, 23, has also been questioned by police and has denied being involved in the violence.

Comments are closed.