Two Eritrean asylum seekers have been arrested on suspicion of stabbing two people to death in an Ikea store in Västerås. No names have been released yet, so the Mohammed Coefficient of the case cannot be determined. The main suspect was denied permanent residency in Sweden just a few days ago. However, even if he is convicted of the heinous crime, he cannot be repatriated to his native country, because it is possible he might be conscripted into the military if he were returned.
Meanwhile, the Swedish authorities responded to the double murder by increasing the level of protection at asylum centers. Ikea responded by ending the sale of knives in its stores.
In other news, the city of Los Angeles poured 96 million black four-inch plastic “shade balls” into its reservoir as a way to reduce evaporation and help the city conserve water. The historic event caused the hashtag #BlackBallsMatter to trend on Twitter.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Apollon Zamp, Fjordman, JD, Jerry Gordon, Margita, 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.
12 Signs That an Imminent Global Financial Crash Has Become Even More Likely
Did you see what just happened? The devaluation of the yuan by China triggered the largest one day drop for that currency in the modern era. This caused other global currencies to crash relative to the U.S. dollar, the price of oil hit a six year low, and stock markets all over the world were rattled. The Dow fell 212 points on Tuesday, and Apple stock plummeted another 5 percent. As we hurtle toward the absolutely critical months of September and October, the unraveling of the global financial system is beginning to accelerate. At this point, it is not going to take very much to push us into a full-blown worldwide financial crisis. The following are 12 signs that indicate that a global financial crash has become even more likely after the events of the past few days…
#1 The devaluation of the yuan on Tuesday took virtually the entire planet by surprise (and not in a good way). The following comes from Reuters…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Stuns Financial Markets by Devaluing Yuan for Second Day Running
China stunned the world’s financial markets on Wednesday by devaluing the yuan for the second consecutive day, triggering fears the world’s second largest economy is in worse shape than investors believed.
The move sent fresh shockwaves through global markets, pushing shares sharply lower and sending commodity prices further into reverse as traders feared the move could ignite a currency war that would destabilise the world economy.
There were widespread losses in Asia, and in Europe stock markets suffered falls of about 1%, with the FTSE 100 tumbling almost 2% at one stage.
The Chinese currency hit a four-year low on Wednesday after the People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s daily midpoint even weaker than in Tuesday’s devaluation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hard Evidence: “We Are in a Full Blown Global Depression”
or the last several months there have been warnings of a coming economic storm, with many forecasting serious financial calamity by the Fall of this year.
With stock markets in China having self destructed, Greece and Europe in another crisis, and corporate earnings for some of the world’s biggest corporations showing lackluster performance, it should be clear that the situation is rapidly deteriorating.
But for the last several years America has appeared to remain fairly insulated from overt crisis. We were told that a recovery had taken hold, jobs were returning and consumer confidence had reached new highs, propaganda which drove millions of investors back into stock markets and real estate. No one in the mainstream world, it seems, believes there’s anything to be concerned about.
Except there is.
A report from Zero Hedge highlights just how hard Americans have been hit with increased energy prices, inflation and low-wage labor offerings. This is the hard evidence that proves once and for all what most Americans will become privy to after the fact: we are in a recession.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s South Makes Greece Look Prosperous
Early August brought two headlines to Italian papers related to tourism that, put together, reveal much about the tragic lost potential of he country’s long suffering south. Megan Williams reports from Rome.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel ‘Skeptical’ About Greek Bailout Deal
The agreement on a third bailout reached Tuesday (11 August) by negotiators form the Greek government and its creditors now needs to be endorsed by the Greek parliament and the eurozone countries.
But the most crucial player, Germany, has not yet dispelled doubt about its readiness to rubber-stamp a deal that leaves some issues unsettled.
“We will carefully examine the result from Athens in the coming days,” German deputy finance minister Jens Spahn said Tuesday.
In a conference call held on Tuesday, eurozone deputy finance ministers gave a positive view on the agreement and said they would continue talks to prepare a Eurogroup discussion, probably on Friday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Glasgow Loner Alexander Pacteau Murdered Karen Buckley 20 Minutes After Meeting Her
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Karen Buckley’s ‘pure evil’ killer murdered the young nurse within 20 minutes of meeting her as part of a ‘premeditated plan’, before spending the next two days trying to cover up his tracks.
Loner Alexander Pacteau entered the Sanctuary club in Glasgow ‘to find a victim’ just minutes before 24-year-old Miss Buckley arrived for a night out with her friends.
Less than half-an-hour later, the jobless recluse had repeatedly battered the Irish student with a spanner and was plotting to dissolve her body in acid.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yuan Tumble Tests China’s Free-Market Resolve as PBOC Intervenes
The yuan sank for a second day, spurring China’s central bank to intervene as the biggest rout since 1994 tested the government’s resolve to give market forces more sway in determining the exchange rate.
The currency slid as much as 2 percent to a four-year low of 6.4510 per dollar in Shanghai, before recouping about half its loss in the final 15 minutes of trading. While the People’s Bank of China followed through on a pledge to align its fixing more closely with the market rate, people familiar with the matter said authorities intervened to support the currency and told banks to limit some companies’ dollar purchases.
China’s surprise change to its currency regime is sending shockwaves through global markets, dragging down stocks and commodities as investors speculate the move was timed to combat a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. That backdrop of weak growth is complicating policy makers’ efforts to maintain financial stability while they loosen the state’s grip on markets and push for reserve-currency status at the International Monetary Fund.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
America’s Reprobate, Cecil-Loving Youth
It has been said that the philosophy in the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy taught in the government in the next. This last week, we found that statement to be true once again. Corrupt and misguided government officials who refused to vote down Planned Parenthood and the slaughter of the innocent are calling to probe Dr. Walter Palmer and the guide that hunted down Cecil the lion. They are even considering extradition.
Of course, in close pursuit are those who are falling in line with global narrative and initiative. These are the young indoctrinated, uneducated, unloving and uncaring protesters who were calling for the prosecution, and even the execution, of Dr. Walter Palmer. As a matter of fact, on Wednesday, one of these people went so far as to vandalize Dr. Palmer’s Florida home by spray painting a huge statement on his garage door “Lion Killer.”
The protesters, all 15 of them, were given headline attention. They made themselves known by holding signs that stated such things as “I am Cecil,” “Let the hunters be hunted,” “Murderers,” “Killers,” “Rot in Hell” and going so far as to demand “Justice for Cecil.”
Now, I want you to pay close attention to the fact that these will protest and call for justice when it comes to the death of animals, but could care less when it comes to the life of a human being.
These are called reprobates. A reprobate is a person who is abandoned to sin (Lawlessness 1 John 3:4); lost to virtue or grace, according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary…
The great Christian theologian G. K. Chesterton famously said, “Wherever there is animal worship, there is human sacrifice.” How true that is.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Molly Redden and Mother Jones have acquired a stash of armored vehicle request documents from police departments all over the nation. The requests are tied to the Department of Defense’s 1033 program, in which military hand-me-downs are given to basically any law enforcement agency that asks for them, whether or not these agencies actually need them.
Most of the documents contain some sort of pitch detailing the “need” for an armored vehicle, like the ever-popular MRAP (Mine-Resistant Armored Protected vehicle). Some of the pitches mention terrorism. Others simply state that potential terrorist targets reside in their jurisdiction. A great deal of them mention HIDTAs (High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area). As Redden points out, only 17% of the nation’s counties are actually federally-recognized HIDTAs, but that doesn’t stop requesting agencies from suggesting they too are in the midst of constant, dangerous drug trafficking.
Fully a quarter of the 465 requests projected using the vehicles for drug enforcement. Almost half of all departments indicated that they sit within a region designated by the federal government as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Very few mention any real reasons an armored vehicle might be useful.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Clinton Turns Over Private Server to Justice Dept. Amid Report it Contained ‘Top Secret’ Emails
Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday that she had directed her aides to turn over her personal e-mail server to the Justice Department, giving in to months of demands that she relinquish the device she used to store her correspondence while secretary of state.
The move came hours after it was disclosed that the inspector general for the intelligence community, I. Charles McCullough III, had notified senior members of Congress that two of four retroactively classified emails found on Clinton’s server contained material deemed to be more sensitive than had previously been thought.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said two emails that traversed Clinton’s personal system were deemed “Top Secret, Sensitive Compartmented Information” — a rating that is among the government’s highest classifications. Grassley said McCullough had reported the new details about the higher classification to Congress on Tuesday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cop Assaults Handicapped Vet, Claims He Doesn’t Look Disabled Enough — Video
Injured combat vet harassed for legally parking in handicap spot.
The veteran, identified as Isiah James, was approached by Riviera Beach Police Officer G. Wilson after legally parking in a handicap spot and accused of taking the space from potential wheelchair-bound shoppers.
“You don’t get to decide! The ing United States government… when I got blown up for my ing country 8 times with a damn IED, was in a coma for two ing months… I get to decide whose disabled!” James said after being told he shouldn’t have been issued a handicap parking permit.
Officer Wilson responded to the passionate defense by assaulting James, striking the vet’s injured right hand and cracking his cell phone screen in the process.
Despite a check of James’ record coming up completely clear, officer Wilson continued to harass the veteran for being legally handicapped.
“Just so you know, there’s three screws in this leg right here, traumatic brain injury, all that shit from getting blown up and shot at,” James says. “Two times in Iraq and one time in Afghanistan. Just because I don’t look like a disabled person doesn’t mean I’m not disabled. You don’t get to decide that. Uncle Sam says I’m 90 percent disabled for the rest of my life.”
Incredibly, Officer Wilson continued to harass and even mock James for mentioning his military service while accusing him of “being in the wrong.”
The situation was eventually defused after a second officer, also a military veteran, arrived on scene to speak with James.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EPA Won’t Face Fines for Polluting Rivers With Orange Muck
Unlike BP, which was fined $5.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the EPA will pay nothing in fines for unleashing the Animas River spill. “Sovereign immunity. The government doesn’t fine itself,” said Thomas L. Sansonetti, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s division of environment and natural resources.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Two of the four emails that the office had previously described as ‘above Secret’ were, in fact, classified at the Top Secret/SCI level.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Los Angeles Reservoir Covered With 96 Million Shade Balls to Conserve Water Amidst Drought
The Los Angeles Reservoir looks like a giant ball pit.
The city poured 96 million, black, four-inch plastic balls over the surface of its 175-acre reservoir earlier this week — the first city in the country to use shade balls to preserve its water sources, officials said.
On his cue of “balls away,” Mayor Eric Garcetti released the final 20,000 shade balls into the reservoir on Monday in the city’s effort to conserve water and maintain the reservoir’s water quality.
“By reducing evaporation, these shade balls will conserve 300 million gallons of water each year,” Garcetti told ABC station KABC. “Instead of just evaporating into the sky, that’s 300 million gallons to fight this drought.”
The shade balls can last about 10 years before the LA Department of Water and Power will remove, recycle and replace them, KABC reported.
“This is a blend of how engineering really meets common sense. We saved a lot of money, we did all the right things,” LADWP general manager Marcie Edwards told KABC.
The city was able to purchase each plastic shade ball for 36 cents each, costing the city far less than its initial $300 million estimate to cover the reservoir, according to officials…
| — Hat tip: Apollon Zamp | [Return to headlines] |
Missouri May Crack Down on Armed Oath Keepers as “Angry and Threatening” Outsiders
Missouri open-carry disallows display of firearms in an “angry or threatening manner.”
The government of Missouri is scrambling to find a legal pretext to remove Oath Keepers from Ferguson.
Four armed members of the constitutional association of current and former U.S. soldiers, police and first responders arrived in the strife-torn city last night to assist business owners in an effort to deter looters and arsonists.
A recently passed law permits citizens to open-carry firearms in Missouri. The law, however, states that openly carried firearms may not be presented in an “angry or threatening manner,” Marcia McCormick, a professor of law at St. Louis University Law School, told Reuters on Tuesday.
McCormick said the law is open to interpretation.
“Clearly the people who are carrying these weapons are trying to send a message that some might see as threatening but it’s probably not a violation of the statute,” McCormick said.
Authorities, however, may use the stipulation to shut down the presence of Oath Keepers in the city.
The corporate media has relied on propaganda disseminated by the Southern Poverty Law Center to portray the Oath Keepers as a “a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pastor John Hagee of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and his Wife Diana rushed this morning to demonstrate solidarity of the Christian community with long term friend Rabbi Rabbi Sheinberg of Congregation Rodfei Sholom when news came of the despicable Antisemitic desecration perpetrated on a predominately Jewish area of San Antonio. Watch this video message from both Pastor John Hagee and Rabbi Arye Sheinberg resolute that this horrific incident will not mar years of comity and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Alevai!
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Toto Was on the Debate Stage, Too!
We should thank Fox News for hosting the debates on Thursday evening. Hopefully, the bloom is finally off of the rose. The network did more in two hours than I have been able to do for quite some time. Toto was also on stage, pulling back the curtain of deceit and exposing the fact that Fox News is, indeed, in word and deed, a prominent member of the globalist puppeteers’ propaganda machine.
Yes, the current puppet president attacks Fox News, but he also attacks the uber wealthy, just prior to jetting off, at taxpayers’ expense, to attend a $30,000.00 a plate fundraiser. Fox News is a useful tool for promoting the false image that the Republican Party is an alternative to the Demoncrat Party. If the GOP is a true alternative to the Demoncrats, why did Knee-capper Boehner and Zipper-lip McConnell rush in to save the puppeteers’ and the puppet president’s agenda of funding ObamaCare and amnesty following the landslide Republican victories in 2014? Why was Republican Representative Paul Ryan on Fox News, chastising Demoncrats for not supporting ‘their president’ on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), prior to the Gutless Opposition Party (GOP) assisting the puppet president in passing TPP?
Based upon the banter on talk radio, it was apparent that the triumvirate of political assassins were under orders to ‘take out Trump’. Apparently, the globalist puppets must be concerned with the resiliency of ‘the Donald’, and are seeking to prevent him from staying within the GOP presidential primaries. I suggest that he hire his own protection, rotating them out on an irregular schedule, and invest in something that protects his head as much as his torso. With the JFK assassination, we know headshots are within the repertoire of the puppeteers’ assassins. I’m not an apologist for Trump, nor do I know if I could vote for him to be our next president, unless he can convince me he won’t be a puppet of the globalists, in the line of Obama, GWB, Clinton, George H. W. Bush, and Carter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What Should States Do When the Federal Government Usurps Power?
Supreme Court is not ultimate authority on the meaning of the Constitution.
Federalist No. 46 (7th para) discusses how individual States or several States carry out resistance to the federal government’s unconstitutional encroachments. If a particular State takes an action which the federal government doesn’t like, but which has the support of the People of that State, the federal government can’t do anything about it unless it is willing to use force.
When several States oppose an unconstitutional encroachment by the federal government, Madison says they have powerful means of opposition: the disquietude of the people, their repugnance, the Peoples’ refusal to co-operate with the officers of the federal government; the opposition of the State officials; and all those legislative devices State Legislatures can invent to thwart & impede the federal government in its unconstitutional schemes.
So, in para 7, Madison contemplates that not all States will oppose unconstitutional encroachments by the federal government. But he shows that this need not impede the States who do. Such States need not implement in their States the federal government’s lawless usurpations.
Note that Madison doesn’t say the States should file lawsuits in federal court.
And why would Sovereign States, which formed a federation for the limited purposes enumerated in Art. I, Sec. 8, U.S. Constitution; ask one branch of the federal government (judiciary) to opine on whether a “law” approved by the two other branches (legislative & executive) exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress or encroaches on the reserved powers of the States and the People (10th Amendment)?
All three branches of the federal government have been unified against The Constitution, the States, and the People for a very long time! Why do States put themselves in the position of supplicants to a Court which has already shown itself to be contemptuous of the Constitution, and of the States’ and The Peoples’ reserved powers?
Furthermore, the Supreme Court is not even the ultimate authority on the meaning of the Constitution.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why is it So Hard to Hire Black Police Officers?
How do you better diversify a police force? That’s the question countless departments around the US are facing as pressure to hire more minority officers mounts — particularly after last year’s events in Ferguson, Missouri.
One of those departments is in Norfolk, Virginia, where 16% of officers are black in a city that is 43% black.
Chief Michael Goldsmith says his department has redoubled its efforts to diversify, including trying out new tactics and boosting funding.
But some in Norfolk’s African American community say relations with the police department are too tense for a dialogue about recruitment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
WikiLeaks Raising €100k Reward for Secret Text of TTIP
The full text of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) now has a bounty on its head. Launched publicly on Tuesday, the media outlet Wikileaks announced its creation of a crowd-sourcing effort that aims to raise a €100,000 reward for the full text of the the TTIP, the corporate-friendly trade pact currently being negotiated in secret by the United States and member countries of the European Union.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
2 Asylum Seekers Arrested for Ikea Stabbing in Sweden
The victims, a mother, 55, and her 28-year-old son, died at the scene after being stabbed in the cutlery section of the store in Västerås, some 70 miles west of the Swedish capital Stockholm.
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after the deadly knife attack at an IKEA warehouse in Sweden on Monday.
The victims, a mother, 55, and her 28-year-old son, died at the scene after being stabbed in the cutlery section of the store in Västerås, some 70 miles west of the Swedish capital Stockholm.
The suspects, aged 23 and 35, are both asylum seekers from Eritrea, staying in the same government-provided accommodation in the area, local media reports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Age of the Neutrino: Plans to Decipher Mysterious Particle Take Shape
A graphical guide to four giant experiments spread across the world.
As researchers at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, dream of super-high-energy colliders to explore the Higgs boson, their counterparts in other parts of the world are pivoting towards a different subatomic entity: the neutrino.
Neutrinos are more abundant than any particle other than photons, yet they interact so weakly with other matter that every second, more than 100 billion stream — mainly unnoticed — through every square centimetre of Earth. Once thought to be massless, they in fact have a minuscule mass and can change type as they travel, a bizarre and entirely unexpected feature that physicists do not fully understand (see ‘An unconventional particle’). Indeed, surprisingly little is known about the neutrino. “These are the most ubiquitous matter particles in the Universe that we know of, and probably the most mysterious,” says Nigel Lockyer, director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium: Forget Women, Drink Wine, Say Oldest Twins
Ghent, Belgium — Eating in moderation, drinking a glass of good wine every day and avoiding chasing women are the secrets of a long life, Belgians Pieter and Paulus Langerock, the world’s oldest living twin brothers, say.
Born on July 8 1913, the brothers have lived together for most of their lives and until this day barely leave each other’s side, sharing a room at their nursing home just outside the Belgian town of Ghent.
“There isn’t much advice I can give. Don’t waste your time fooling around, don’t eat too much and don’t run after women,” said Paulus, seamlessly switching between French and Dutch, the country’s main languages, as well as the local Ghent dialect.
After their long careers as court magistrates in the middle of the 20th century, the besuited 102-year-olds prefer speaking French and being addressed as “Pierre and Paul”.
Both enjoy a glass of wine every day.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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.
The country’s Ministry of Interior and the Conference of Bishops in France (CEF) have written to religious leaders across the country reminding them of the security procedures that need to be in place in churches.
Rather than boost the current level of security around France’s 45,000 places of Christian worship, the government wants churchgoers to play a role in thwarting any possible attacks.
“Parishioners, whether regular or occasional and visitors, be involved in your own security,” reads the poster to be put in churches, that was published in La Croix newspaper.
The question of security at French churches has been at the forefront ever since would-be jihadist Sid Ahmed Ghlam was foiled just as he was about to launch an armed attack on a church in Villejuif, to the south of Paris in April.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: IS Bombers in UK Ready to Attack
Islamic State is now focused on urging British would-be recruits to carry out “lone wolf” attacks in the UK instead of travelling to fight in Syria, Sky News has learned.
Fictional characters created online by Sky with an undercover freelance journalist were sent terror guidebooks by senior jihadists in Syria — including advice on raising funds and making weapons.
And we were told IS already has a number of potential bombers in the UK — some of whom have been trained in Syria and are ready to attack.
From the start it became clear that IS wants its recruits to attack the UK and not travel to their so-called caliphate.
We can reveal that this is an entirely new tactic by IS — originally they called for volunteers to join them in Syria.
Sending us detailed guidebooks, they urged our fictional characters to form gangs and to create a British Islamic State over a long period.
This strategy is a major departure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the UK Found Japanese Speakers in a Hurry in WW2
It’s 70 years since Japan surrendered and World War Two ended. But when war with Japan first broke out at the end of 1941 Britain had been woefully unprepared — not least because almost no-one in Britain could speak Japanese.
The only place that taught the language was the School of Oriental and African Studies, now known as SOAS, part of the University of London. So an 18-month course was devised there for bright sixth-formers with a flair for languages.
They were called The Dulwich Boys, and many of them went on to be key players in the post-war relationship between Britain and Japan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Komodo Dragon Chilli Set to Hit British Supermarket Shelves This Year
The Komodo Dragon pepper measures an astonishing 1.4million on the Scoville heat scale — 400 times hotter than a jalapeno. It will be available to sample in 500 Tesco stores from today.
The Komodo Dragon was grown by Salvatore Genovese, who has been farming in Blunham, Bedfordshire for 15 years.
He now grows about one million chillies — or 15 tonnes — each week just to satisfy UK demand.
Mr Genovese said: ‘Chilli peppers have really grown in popularity over the last 10 years and feature strongly in a lot of the UK’s favourite dishes — from curries, Thai and Chinese food, Mexican cuisine as well as pizzas.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuanians Accuse British Firm of ‘Slavery’
Six Lithuanian workers are suing a British firm, DJ Houghton, for damages amid accusations of “slavery” related to working conditions on its chicken farm in 2012. The plaintiffs say they were forced to work non-stop to pay debts, denied food, forced to live in unsanitary conditions, and threatened with violence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spaniard Held for Selling Jihad Beheading T-Shirts
A Spanish man has been arrested for inciting terrorism after selling clothing, including T-shirts and babygrows, depicting Islamic State executions.
The man, from Narón, a town in the northwestern region of Galicia, was arrested on Tuesday evening by officers from Spain’s National Police on charges of “inciting jihadist terrorism” and “humiliating the victims of terrorism”.
The man owned a shop, which also operated online, that distributed material related to Islamic State all over Spain and Portugal, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry, which added that the man was also accused of inciting terrorism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Statues of Stoned Women Are in Prague in Protest Against Islam
Prague — The followers of the We Do Not Want Islam in the Czech Republic and the Bloc Against Islam groups this morning installed the torsos of the women stoned to death in order to warn of the danger of Islam, Prague police spokesman Tomas Hulan has told journalists.
The effigies covered by white cloths tainted with colour as blood and surrounded by stones have appeared in a number of places in Prague, Hulan said.
The police are dealing with the affair, but they have not come across any breach of the law, he added.
The installations include the captions such as “Pregnant after Rape” or “She was unfaithful” pointing out the alleged reasons for being stoned to death.
The statues of the women stoned to death are to warn of Islamic barbarism and the violence committed against women, Artur Fiser, spokesman for We Do Want Islam, told CTK.
“Islamic barbarism is infiltrating us with a growing speed, but it has not touched upon majority society,” Fiser said.
“We hope that if we open the eyes to the public before it gets here in full, people will not have to watch real stoning or read in the papers that a neighbour killed his daughter over the perverted notion of ‘honour’, Fiser said.
We Do Not Want Islam in the Czech Republic has staged a number of anti-Islamic events, but its followers are mainly active online, the Interior Ministry has said.
It is regularly mentioned in the ministry’s reports on extremism where it is called a part of the extreme right.
| — Hat tip: Margita | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Police: Drug Turf War Behind Grenade Attacks in Malmö
Police believe that the series of grenade attacks in Malmö this summer has been part of a turf war between drug gangs in the area, Swedish Radio News reports.
According to Chief Superintendent, Stefan Sintéus, not all of the ten or so grenade attacks are linked, but several of them are.
“It all comes down to them marking their territories, where they deal drugs. It may seem like they’re fighting over something else, but it all boils down to the dealing of drugs. Drugs is the reason they’ve armed themselves with guns and explosives,” Sintéus said at a meeting today with the city’s municipal board.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Ikea Store Reopens After Deadly Stabbings
The Ikea store where a mother and son were killed on Monday has reopened as police remain tight lipped about their investigation into the stabbings.
The Ikea store in the central Swedish town of Västerås, about 100 kilometres west of Stockholm, opened for business again on Wednesday morning, less than 48 hours after the two victims, aged 55 and 28, were fatally knived in the kitchenware section on Monday lunchtime.
Two Eritrean asylum-seekers were quickly arrested on suspicion of murder, but the motive for the attack is still unknown. One of the suspects, aged 23, has denied any involvement, while the second, 35, was taken to hospital with serious stab wounds and was not thought to have been questioned by Wednesday lunchtime.
The circumstances surrounding the incident remain shrouded in mystery and Swedish police have been reluctant to disclose any details of their investigation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Samis Call for Legal Rights of Indigenous People
Sweden’s indigenous Sami people no longer want to be considered a national minority. Instead the Sami Parliament calls for the legal rights and formal recognition of indigenous people, Radio Sami news reports.
The Swedish government officially recognized the Samis as an indigenous people in the late 1970’s, but they still don’t enjoy the legal rights of other indigenous people as stated by the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Instead, they’re considered one of Sweden’s five national minorities. The current legislation gives Samis the right to things like childcare and elderly care in their native language, but if the Swedish government went with the UN’s recommendations instead, it would give the Samis a much clearer ownership of their land.
“Politicians are trying to escape their responsibility by not fully recognizing our status as an indigenous people,” says Josefina Lundgren Skerk of the Sami Parliament.
The Sami Parliament will put forward this demand to the Swedish government in September.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Officials Say Residency Rejected for Main Suspect Before Deadly Ikea Stabbings
Swedish officials say the main suspect in a knife attack that killed two people at an Ikea store in the central Sweden was due to be deported after his request for residency was rejected last month.
The Migration Agency said the 35-year-old Eritrean-born man had met with agency staff hours before Monday’s attack.
Agency spokeswoman Johanna Mahlen said Wednesday that officials had twice rejected a residency application from the suspect, who arrived in Sweden in 2013. She declined to give further details.
The seemingly random attack killed a 28-year-old Swedish man and his 55-year-old mother.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Karen Buckley’s Killer Alexander Pacteau Was Cleared of Previous Sex Attack
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
In a case with striking similarities to that of the Irish nurse, Pacteau was accused of attacking a young woman in November 2011, just one mile from where he went on to murder Miss Buckley.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lord Janner Could be Arrested if He Fails to Attend Court Over Child Sex Abuse Claims
‘A warrant could be issued for Lord Janner’ s arrest if he fails to attend court to face charges of child sex abuse, a judge has warned.
The former Labour peer is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday for a brief hearing.
But his legal team has launched a High Court challenge in a last-ditch bid to overturn the decision, claiming it is unlawful and a breach of his human rights.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘The police force facing a corruption probe over its handling of child sex abuse claims involving former Prime Minister Edward Heath has been appointed to oversee investigations into allegations against him.
Wiltshire Police will lead an investigation involving at least seven forces carrying out inquiries linked to abuse claims against the late politician.
But just last week Wiltshire Police was at the centre of the revelations which led to Sir Edward becoming the highest profile figure to be embroiled in historic paedophile allegations.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt’s Christians in the Shadow of the Muslim Brotherhood
In the nearly five years of turmoil that have followed the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, no group in Egypt has suffered more than the 15 million Coptic Christians. Both a religious and ethnic minority, the Copts are descended from the native population of Egypt who lived and ruled there from the time of the pharaohs until the Roman conquest in 31 B.C. They are the largest Christian community in the Middle East today.
Copts have long been the target of discrimination and persecution in the majority-Arab nation. But this ancient people faced a terrifying new prospect in 2012: Muslim Brotherhood rule.
After Mubarak was ousted, the violence began almost immediately. Churches and schools were burned; peaceful protestors were massacred. When parliamentary elections were held nine months later, they were swept by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties. When Mohamed Morsi won the presidential election in May 2012, the party’s victory looked complete. The same year, Morsi gave himself unlimited powers and the party drafted a new constitution inspired by Sharia law.
Morsi benefitted from the organizational advantage of the Muslim Brotherhood. Backed by imams preaching the benefits of religious rule, the previously banned political party was able to defeat the fractured coalitions of the pro-West, liberal, and secular candidates…
During Morsi’s rule, Christians were murdered and tortured by the hundreds. Attacks and abductions of Christian children spiked significantly. “Most Americans do not know how vicious and bloody the Muslim Brotherhood is,” Ahmed, a 24-year old secular Muslim, said. “They really can’t understand.”
Pope Tawadros II, Egypt’s Coptic Christian leader, criticized Morsi for negligence after six Christians were killed when police and armed civilians besieged Egypt’s largest cathedral. “We want actions, not words,” the Pope said.
Public accusations of blasphemy also became ubiquitous. A Facebook post interpreted as undermining Islam could bring a mob of fundamentalists with rocks and Molotov cocktails to the homes of Christians, surrounding them with families trapped inside. Sham trials with no legal representation would follow. Anti-Christian terrorism was not punished, but the wrong words often landed Copts in prison, forcing the church to make public apologies and families to leave their towns and villages.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Image Shows Croatian Beheaded by ISIS in Egypt
An online image circulated Wednesday purported to show a Croatian hostage held by the Islamic State group’s Egyptian affiliate beheaded.
The still image, shared by Islamic State sympathizers on social media, showed the apparent body of Tomislav Salopek, a married, 30-year-old father of two, wearing a beige jumpsuit looking like the one he had worn in a previous video. A black flag used by the Islamic State group and a knife were planted in the sand next to him.
The photo carried a caption in Arabic that said Salopek was killed “for his country’s participation in the war against the Islamic State,” and after a deadline had passed for the Egyptian government to meet their demands.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN-Brokered Talks on Libya Wrap Up in Geneva, Unity Agreement Sought in Next 3 Weeks
Two days of U.N.-brokered talks on Libya has ended in Geneva, with the U.N. envoy seeking agreement on a national unity government in the next three weeks.
Libya is divided between an elected parliament and government based in Tobruk, with little power on the ground, and an Islamist militia-backed government in the capital Tripoli.
Members of the Tobruk government and regional leaders signed a peace deal last month. U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon has urged the Tripoli government to sign the unity accord.
A statement released by the U.N. Libya mission Wednesday said the atmosphere in Geneva was positive.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Supporters Call for Pluto to be Renamed ‘The Moon of Mohammed’
ISIS supporters have said Pluto should be renamed “The Moon of Mohammed” after claiming to have seen an Arabic message written on its surface.
On a website extremists commonly use to post propaganda, religious instruction, training manuals and videos of sickening acts of violence, one Islamist called upon NASA to change the name of the dwarf planet.
In a post seen by more than 5,000 people, a supporter of the so-called Islamic State said the famous “heart” on the surface of Pluto was actually a message written in the style of the ‘I heart New York’ t-shirts.
The unnamed writer said two Arabic words could be spotted on either side of the heart.
“When we look carefully at this photo of Pluto, we will notice an Arabic sentence which means Allah loves Mohammed,” the ISIS propagandist claimed.
“Since the heart is so big, that means ‘so much love or ‘God loves Mohammed so much’.
“These were made by God almighty on the surface of Pluto.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Syria is Winning: Advancing Towards a Strategic Victory That Will Transform the Middle East?
Syria is winning. Despite ongoing bloodshed and serious economic pressure, Syria is advancing steadily towards a military and strategic victory that will transform the Middle East. There is clear evidence that Washington’s plans — whether for ‘regime change’, for rendering the state dysfunctional or for dismembering the country on sectarian lines — have failed.
The economic hardships, including regular blackouts, are now worse but have not broken the Syrian people’s will to resist. The government ensures basic foods are affordable and maintains education, health, sports, cultural and other services. A string of formerly hostile states and UN agencies are resuming their relations with Syria. An improved security situation, the recent big power agreement with Iran and other favourable diplomatic moves are all signs that the Axis of Resistance has strengthened.
You wouldn’t know much of this by reading the western media, which has lied persistently about the character of the conflict and developments in the crisis. Key features of that deception have been to hide NATO’s backing for the takfiri groups, yet trumpet their advances and ignore the Syrian Army roll-backs. In fact, these western-backed terrorists have made no real strategic advance since a flood of foreign fighters helped them take parts of northern Aleppo, back in mid-2012.
In my second visit to Syria during the crisis, in July 2015, I could see how security had improved around the major cities. In my first visit in December 2013, although NATO’s throat-cutters had been ejected from much of Homs and Qsayr, they were in the ancient village of Maloula and along the Qalamoun Mountains, as well as attacking the road south to Sweida…
The ‘regime attacking civilians’ or ‘indiscriminately’ bombing civilian areas only has a basis in the Islamist propaganda on which much of the western media relies. The fact that, after three years, Syrian planes and artillery have not flattened hold-out areas like Jobar, Douma and parts of northern Aleppo, gives the lie to claims against the Army. You can be almost certain that the next time western media say ‘civilians’ are being killed by ‘indiscriminate’ Syrian government bombing, it is the Islamist sources themselves who are under attack.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU Says Escalation in Eastern Ukraine Violates Minsk Peace Deal
Mounting attacks in government-held areas of eastern Ukraine violate a February peace deal with pro-Russian separatists, the EU said Tuesday.
“The renewed escalation of the conflict… as a result of attacks on several government-controlled areas today … violates the spirit and the letter of the Minsk Agreements,” the EU’s External Action Service said in a statement, referring to the accord signed in the capital of Belarus.
The EU’s diplomatic arm condemned an arson attack Sunday on armoured vehicles belonging to OSCE truce monitors as well as the fact that the monitors have been caught in the crossfire in Shchastya and Shyrokyne.
These incidents “put in danger the crucial role that the SMM (Special Monitoring Mission of the OSCE) plays in monitoring and verifying the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” it said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Reports Worst Violence in Six Months
Ukraine said Tuesday its forces suffered the heaviest shelling since February on Monday in what it called “a dangerous indication” of renewed hostilities. International monitors, the OSCE, Monday described the situation as “volatile”. Four of its vehicles were set on fire in Russian-occupied Donetsk on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Are Hindu Nationalists a Danger to Other Indians?
A little more than a year since Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP swept to power in India, there are fears that religiously motivated violence may be on the rise. Some say the BJP has bred a culture of intolerance towards minorities that has left even Hindus nervous of speaking out.
Just before Christmas the church of St Sebastian in Delhi was gutted by fire — one of five churches in the capital to have been attacked in the past year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How the Uighurs Keep Their Culture Alive in Pakistan
Insa Khan was only a few years old when she left Xinjiang, and has profound memories of the journey she made with her parents in 1949.
It took them about 50 days to walk through snow-capped mountains with donkeys carrying their luggage.
“My parents decided to leave Kashgar after Xinjiang officially became part of communist China,” she said.
“I was too young to understand politics at that time,” she added, as she served tea in the traditional Uighur way, with everybody sat on mats in the kitchen.
Insa is now 71 years old and has spent most of her life living in Gilgit in the north of Pakistan.
And due to strong ties between China and Pakistan, she can also visit relatives in the autonomous Chinese province of Xinjiang.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
World Bank Critics Attacked and Jailed
Human Rights Watch says the World Bank critics were attacked by local governments, with almost complete impunity.
A report, by Human Rights Watch, entitled “At Your Own Risk: Reprisals against Critics of World Bank Group Projects” says that though the World Bank and many of the companies it invests in have “policies that require them to consult communities and safeguard against causing harm to them and the environment through their investments… in reality this often adds up to very little when communities come under attack.”
The organization says “people in Cambodia, India, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and elsewhere have faced reprisals from governments and powerful companies for criticizing projects financed by the World Bank and the IFC [which] failed to respond meaningfully to abuses that make a mockery out of their own stated commitments to participation and accountability…the World Bank Group has failed even to take appropriate action when people have suffered reprisals specifically because they were involved in bringing human rights concerns to the attention of Group officials.”
Though the World Bank says it spoke out against some of these abuses and attempted to seek remuneration for the victims, their claims are contradicted by their subsequent choice to enable the perpetrators.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China: Hundreds Hospitalized After Massive Explosion in Chinese City of Tianjin
The number of casualties from the blast in the city’s Binhai New Area is unknown, China Central Television reported on its news app, citing the local fire department. Injured people have been hospitalized, it said. One report put the number injured higher than 400. The Daily Mirror reported the injury toll at more than 1,000.
Although there are no confirmed reports of deaths so far, some of the graphic images coming out of the city imply that the death count will be far higher than zero.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
China Blasts: Shipment Explodes in Tianjin Port
Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin, reportedly injuring many people.
According to Chinese state media, the blasts occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT).
Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings.
Latest reports in state media suggest that hundreds of people have been taken to hospital.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Massive Explosion Rocks Chinese City, Hundreds Reportedly Hospitalized
A massive explosion rocked the northeastern Chinese city of Tianjin Wednesday, hospitalizing hundreds of people and causing cracks in buildings, according to media reports.
State broadcaster China Central Television reported that the shipment of explosives inside a container blew up around 11:30 p.m. local time, the South China Morning Post reports.
China’s Xinhua News Agency said hundreds of people have been hospitalized after the explosion, but a fire is under control. One hospital reported receiving more than 50 people.
Buildings near the blast site had visible cracks in them, China National Radio reported.
The impact of the blast could be felt miles away, Reuters reported, citing local media.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
North Korea Vice-Premier Choe Yong-Gon ‘Executed’
South Korea’s government says it is monitoring reports that North Korea’s vice-premier Choe Yong-gon was killed in May on the orders of Kim Jong-un.
Mr Choe was executed after he “expressed discomfort against the young leader’s forestation policy”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.
Close to 70 officials have been killed under Kim Jong-un’s rule, Yonhap says.
The BBC has not been able to verify the claims. North Korea rarely confirms the South’s reports of executions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A North Korean official who reportedly “expressed discomfort” against leader Kim Jung-un’s forestation policy was executed by firing squad sometime in May, Yonhap news agency in South Korea reported.
Due to the clandestine nature of the North Korean government, it is difficult to determine the accuracy of these stories, but the BBC reported that the South Korean government is monitoring the reports.
Vice Premier Choe Yong-gon, 63, who held the post since June 2014, has not been seen in public since December. If confirmed, the execution marks another report of a gruesome killing ordered by the leader.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chad Leader: Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamic Extremist Group Has a New Leader Ready to Negotiate
LAGOS, Nigeria — Chad’s president says Boko Haram has a new commander willing to negotiate with Nigeria’s new government.
His announcement Wednesday broadcast on Chad state radio fuels speculation that the Islamic extremists’ leader Abubakar Shekau is dead.
President Idriss Deby, who led a failed attempt at negotiations last year, said Boko Haram’s new leader is “someone apparently called Mahamat Daoud.” The Nigerian militant group is believed to comprise several factions.
The Chadian leader said a five-nation regional army will be deployed in days and predicted it will destroy Boko Haram by year’s end.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Split Among Rebels in South Sudan Threatens Negotiations for Peace Agreement
A rebel official negotiating with South Sudan’s government says there is a split within the rebel ranks.
Puoch Riek told The Associated Press in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa — where South Sudan’s warring factions are meeting for the latest round of negotiations — that two generals who were once allies of rebel leader Riek Machar had defected and fled to Sudan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Surprise (Or Not?) the Richest Woman in Venezuela is Hugo Chavez’ Daughter
The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared ‘being rich is bad,’ may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets.
Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president’s second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports.
The figure would make Gabriela Chavez wealthier than media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, whom Forbes named the wealthiest Venezuelan earlier this year with $3.6billion in assets
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Belgians Display a Very Negative Attitude Towards Migrants”
Over 50 per cent of the Belgians estimates that we are seeing too many immigrants. That’s according to a large-scale poll involving 17,533 citizens from 24 different developed countries. The poll paints a picture of Belgium as one of the most unfriendly countries for migrants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Number of Asylum Seekers in Belgium Has Doubled”
The Asylum and Migration Secretary Theo Francken (Flemish nationalist) is sounding the alarm. The number of asylum seekers has doubled in July and August. Extra places will be created — both in the short term and the longer term — to accommodate the refugees, who mainly come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.
The Chamber Select Committee for Asylum had to schedule a debate in the middle of the summer holidays on the matter. Belgium is preparing to receive large numbers of refugees.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
European Migrant Crisis: Italy Navy Rescues 50 From Dinghy
Italy’s navy says it has rescued 52 migrants from a sinking rubber dinghy in the Mediterranean, but about 50 others are missing.
A warship was able to pick up about half of those on board. Another two people were rescued after being spotted clinging to a floating barrel.
Meanwhile, migrants continue to arrive on the Greek island of Kos, where tensions are growing over the influx.
The European Commission has called the situation “beyond urgent”.
A spokeswoman said that a “collective European response” was required to deal with the hundreds of thousands of people trying to reach European shores.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says about 250,000 migrants have crossed by sea to Europe so far this year — 124,000 to Greece and 98,000 to Italy.
The Italian navy said it had co-ordinated the rescue of 1,700 people on Tuesday alone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece Rounds Up Migrants on Kos, Locking Them in Stadium Overnight
About a thousand refugees have been locked in a stadium on the Greek island of Kos overnight without food and with very little water, as Greek authorities struggle to contain the rising tide of migrants from war-torn countries, a spokeswoman for Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday.
The spokeswoman, Julia Kourafa, said local authorities had swept through the island, clearing refugees — most of them from Syria and Iraq — from public squares and parks, where they had set up encampments while waiting to be issued travel documents that would allow them to move legally in Greece. Riot police had been called in from Athens and had helped close the people inside the stadium, she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Tourists Help Save Migrants in Kos
An Italian couple, who were woken by migrant children crying while sleeping on their boat anchored off the Greek island of Kos in the early hours of Tuesday, sprung to their rescue.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Klaus: Immigration Wave Poses a ‘Fundamental Danger’
Former Czech president Václav Klaus perceives the current immigration wave as a most fundamental danger, he told journalists today and added that European countries should take measures on their borders to avert the arrival of refugees.
“Europe should clearly say no to the refugees arriving at its territory and take strictest measures along the border to avert them,” Klaus said during the annual pilgrimage to the Snežka Mountain, the highest one in the Czech Republic at 1,602 meters above sea level.
Klaus said the attitude to the current situation is most irresponsible, on the part of both Europe and Czech politicians.
In mid-June, the Czech police tightened border checks in reaction to the rising numbers of immigrants and they have been uncovering more and more of them. They mainly come from Syria, followed by Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most of them arrived in the Czech Republic from Greece via Hungary and Austria and almost all of them say their next destination is Germany. The Interior Ministry expects 5,000 to 7,000 refugees in the Czech Republic next year, an increase from some 3500 this year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Police Arrest Syrian in Germany for Runaway Migrant Freighter
Police arrested a Syrian in Germany on Wednesday suspected of helping to set a freighter packed with migrants on a collision course with the Italian coastline.
Italian and German forces, working in collaboration, handcuffed the 26-year-old alleged trafficker in Soest in the country’s northwest and were hunting for his brother, 22, also believed to have played a role in the major maritime drama.
The brothers, plus a third accomplice, were suspected of having helped set the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M freighter on course for Italy in December before abandoning the controls, locking the engine on and hiding themselves among the 768 asylum seekers on board.
Italy’s coastguard managed to board, unlock the engine and bring the vessel under control just five miles (eight kilometres) from the cliffs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Post American Culture: Silent Death of American Citizenship
Part 7: What do you do when your country turns into another country, language and ethos? Are we no longer a country of Americans? Who are we and what are we becoming? A multicultural hellhole stampeding into America.
Americans No More? Multicultural Hellhole!
In 2003, I met DC journalist Georgie Ann Geyer at an immigration conference hosted by Dan Stein at www.Fairus.org . She wrote a book: Americans No More, which published in 1996. She brilliantly defined America’s demise, how it happened and how it’s continuing.
During this interview, Warren said, “The conventional wisdom is that only ignorant and uninformed people could object to open borders and unlimited immigration, even though many respected academics and writers continue to challenge this idea. The problem is, the media gatekeepers do their damnedest to make sure that nobody ever hears about their work.
“Georgie Anne Geyer is one of the nation’s top foreign correspondents and a widely published author. Drawing on her long career as an overseas reporter and a keen observer of contemporary events, she has vividly described the decline of America’s civic culture and our appreciation of who we are as a people in her book, Americans No More, first published in 1996. Click here: Americans No More 1st, Georgia Anne Geyer — Amazon.com
“In the years since its publication, Americans No More has proved to be unerringly prescient, and citizenship, as her book notes, ‘has changed drastically and for the worse. Our desire to acknowledge diversity [as symbolized by the recent viral image of a rainbow-colored White House] has evolved into a willingness to value it over the shared goals and vision of the American people, which in turn has led to … the Balkanization of America.‘“
[Comment: This is all by design. A strong constitutional replubic would be a bulwark against bankster plans for a new socialist world order. Hence, mass migration to dilute any fealty of the population to the nation state.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Refugees Overwhelm Holiday Island of Kos as Authorities Rapped
Dozens of boat people from the Middle East are flowing into the Greek holiday island of Kos from nearby Turkey, joining thousands of refugees camped under wretched conditions.
Overwhelmed and unprepared for the unprecedented influx, authorities on the eastern Aegean Sea island have been heavily criticized for their treatment of the migrants — mostly refugees from Syria.
At least two rubber boats made landfall Wednesday, while an Italian coast guard boat participating in a European border watch mission brought in about 50 people rescued at sea.
Authorities on Kos have started evicting refugees sleeping rough in parks and streets, locking them in an old football stadium that is the island’s main registration center.
The international Doctors Without Borders charity heavily criticized Greek authorities, voicing deep concern at the situation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Suspected Ikea Murderer Had Only Been in Sweden for 30 Days — Can’t be Deported if Sentenced
The Swedish Migration Agency has decided that all Eritreans who come to Sweden illegally will be allowed to stay and be given right to welfare — despite the fact that there is not an ongoing armed conflict in Eritrea.
It is therefore highly likely that the two Eritreans suspected of murdering a Swedish mother and son at IKEA in Västerås will not be deported if sentenced.
– In the way we see the situation in Eritrea right now it is highly likely that it will be very hard to execute a deportation order to Eritrea, explains the authorities press officer Fredrik Bengtsson to Fria Tider
In May 2013 the Migration Bureau decided that immigrants from Eritrea cannot be sent back regardless of whether or not they have valid reasons for asylum. The decision led to a massive increase in the number of asylum seekers from the African country, and today Eritreans are one of the biggest groups of asylum seekers
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Ikea Knife Attack: Security Boosted at Refugee Centres
Police in central Sweden have increased security at refugee accommodation centres after two Eritrean asylum seekers were arrested on suspicion of murdering two people at an Ikea store.
Local officials feared a backlash from “dark forces” who wanted to exploit the case, police chief Per Agren said.
A mother and son died in the knife attack which took place inside an Ikea store in Vasteras on Monday.
The store has temporarily stopped selling knives following the killings.
A mother and her adult son — described as “ordinary shoppers” — died at the scene. A 35-year-old man found seriously injured was linked to the attack, reports say.
Police confirmed on Tuesday morning that they had arrested two men from Eritrea who lived in asylum accommodation in the city of Arboga.
The youngest suspect, 23, had been questioned and denied the attack, police said. The second man remained in hospital with life-threatening injuries and had not yet been interrogated.
The motive for the attack is unclear, but police said there were no political overtones. “It is an act of madness,” Mr Agren was quoted as saying.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Human Rights Lawyers Make a Killing by Defending Health Tourists
Deighton Pierce Glynn was named as one of the firms that wrote hospitals ‘aggressive’ letters demanding they treat migrants for free. The company was co-founded by Polly Glynn (pictured).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yazidi Refugees Flee ISIS, But Find Door to US Asylum Closed
A year after U.S. airstrikes and Kurdish fighters saved Iraq’s Yazidi population from death at the hands of ISIS atop Mount Sinjar, the historic religious enclave is facing death in its homeland and a cold shoulder from America, say activists.
Despite the ongoing threat of execution in Iraq, nearly all Yazidis, a Kurdish monotheistic community that lives throughout Iraq, Syria, Turkey and even Armenia and Georgia, who have applied for asylum in the U.S. have been rejected, FoxNews.com has learned. The reason why is not clear, but advocates say Washington is turning a blind eye on the situation.
“What we are seeing, in real time, is genocide,” said Frank Wolf, a former congressman from Virginia and senior fellow at 21st Century Wilberforce, a nonprofit that seeks to protect Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. “To declare it genocide, that would expedite relief. You can’t allow it to go on.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty International Backs Decriminalizing Prostitution
Amnesty International decided during its International Council Meeting held in Dublin to support decriminalizing prostitution, including buying sex and running brothels, against the organization’s Swedish branch, which voted against the proposal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden Scrambles to Produce Black Band Aids After a Blogger Complains About White Privilege
A complaint by a feminist, anti-racist ‘blogger’ has prompted a Swedish pharmacy chain to search out a manufacturer of ‘dark’ band-aids.
A discussion on government-funded Radio Sweden precipitated the controversy, as a spokeswoman for the national Apoteket chain of pharmacies went head-to-head with Every Day Racism blog author and Left-party campaigner Paula Dahlberg.
Triggering a national discussion about whether sticking plasters are a symptom of something more sinister, Dahlberg said the beige coloured patches were symptomatic of what she called the everyday “whiteness norm” where manufacturers presumed their customers to be white by default.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Pharmacy to Launch Plasters for Darker Skin
Swedish pharmacy chain Apoteket has told The Local it is hoping to offer a range of plasters suitable for customers with darker skin tones by the end of the year as part of efforts to cut discrimination.
The company, which has 370 stores across Sweden said it had come up with the idea after talking to a number of Swedish anti-racism charities.
“We’re looking at whether it’s possible to have different coloured plasters but we haven’t made a final decision on it yet,” Communications Director Eva Fernvall told The Local on Wednesday.
“It won’t happen by next week but we hope to have something in place by the end of the year,” she added.
Apoteket faced criticism earlier this week by a Swedish blogger who runs the website Vardagsrasismen.nu (which translates as ‘Everyday Racism’).
Paula Dahlberg told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio on Monday that the pharmacy giant was contributing to racism by only offering shades of beige plasters on its shelves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
You Don’t Need a ‘Night of the Long Knives’ To Silence Critics
“Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong, which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” — Frederick Douglass, Aug. 4, 1857
Hitler’s rise to power is well documented in history. The Germans left a paper trail as wide as the infamous Autobahn is long. Hitler politically fudged the rules, changed the rules, amended the rules, suspended the rules and lied through his teeth to become Chancellor and then Dictator of Germany. But he went even further with three initiatives that permanently cemented his absolute power.
First, he rammed through the Enabling Act, which suspended the parliament, the constitution and gave the Chancellor absolute power to do anything he wanted on a whim. Interestingly, he managed to convince the Catholics in power to vote for the Enabling Act if he promised to allow them free rein in the society. Begrudgingly, they took the word of one of the most evil men in history and voted for the act. Talk about making a pact with the Devil.
He then, on the “Night of the Long Knives” (June 30 to July 2, 1934) used the military to murder the opposition, in other words his critics. Estimates are that at least 85 senior officers and bureaucrats were murdered during those 3 days, but other estimates put the murders much higher…
Nevertheless, you don’t have to use brute force to conquer the world or silence your critics. First, you have to develop a straw man, or let’s say a victim, just like Hitler did. Let’s see, how many societal victims can we name? The elderly, the poor, the disabled, any ethnic race other than white, homosexuals, women and those cute little male lions (Cecil) that eat their cubs, come to mind. Then you have to create a group who supports and defends the victim. We’ll call this group the “Victim Defenders.” The rest is easy.
To silence your critics, all you have to do is convince the public that anyone who doesn’t support and defend the victim, is cheap, in-sensitive, cruel, a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, a nativist, a voter suppressor, an animal hater, or a misogynist. Since the average individual doesn’t want to be accused of being one of these pejoratives, they shut up and the silencing is complete.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
According to one Mirjam Tapper quoted on Exponerat, one of the murders was a beheading. This is unconfirmed (unsurprisingly; the last thing the regime wants) and is not being reported in the Swedish media.
http://www.exponerat.net/bildvittne-asylsokarna-hade-skurit-av-minst-ett-huvud/
“Meanwhile, the Swedish authorities responded to the double murder by increasing the level of protection at asylum centers. Ikea responded by ending the sale of knives in its stores.”
This is a joke, right?
No joke. Check some of the news feed items since the day of the murders.
That’s what the 911 planners said when they learned that US flight crews were unarmed.
At least in the UK, there is “anti-knife” activism going on.
http://www.ilfordrecorder.co.uk/news/halloween_dagger_sparks_anti_knife_protest_1_686207
So this reaction shouldn’t be surprising.
As for the LA story, only in LA. I live about 30 miles away and am wondering if our swimming pools are next.
🙂
What begs the question is why white-colored balls, which are cooler and more reflective of heat, weren’t used instead. Of course we are accustomed to being black-balled by Sacramento so this is nothing new. 🙂