According to the European Commission, the EU received 400,00 asylum requests in the first six months of this year. There were 600,000 such requests during the whole of 2014. Germany alone is expecting to receive 800,000 refugees this year. Meanwhile, the UN says that more EU countries must be willing to take in refugees. Slovakia said it will accept 200, but only if they are Christians.
In other news, a campground in Yosemite National Park had to be closed after a second tourist contracted the plague. The disease is thought to be spread by squirrels and fleas.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, MC, Seneca III, 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.
“Calm Before the Storm?” Dow’s 2015 Range Crashes to Lowest Ever
Western countries are increasingly displaying symptoms of looming instability as described by Nassim Taleb, the author of the The Black Swan, ever since the publication of an essay written with Gregory Treverton entitled “The Calm Before the Storm.”
In their essay, Taleb and Treverton highlight five characteristics that could help identify states that — while appearing stable on the surface — may actually be quite fragile.
“Fragility”, they write, “is aversion to disorder”.
The five characteristics they view as major factors in instability are:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Economists Brace for September: “Building Up to Catastrophe of Historic Proportions”
Perhaps the signs and warnings are there, at every level, for those who want to see it.
An outright panic has taken hold over many who see September 2015 as a convergence of ominous events — including the Pope’s visit to America, the United Nations summit on Agenda 21-like development, expectations for a stunning policy change at the Federal Reserve, unprecedented experiments at CERN and the end of the seven year business cycle, a date that has already seen the tragic events of 9/11 and the 2008 economic collapse in this century.
For many economic experts, it is a dangerous and capricious time for global finance, with many warning that a massive global collapse is imminent.
RT profiled several who are bracing for next month’s signposts of doom:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fed Official Admits Zero Interest Rate Undermined Economy: “QE Has Been Ineffective”
Today, with the United States and the globe approaching another financial cliff, officials from the Federal Reserve are beginning to acknowledge the colossal failure of their quantitative easing program that was instituted in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse.
The Vice President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve branch stepped out to criticize the role that quantitative easing has had on the floundering economic recovery. CNBC reported:…
It seems highly significant that a Fed official is fessing up to the detrimental role of his mother organization.
In this video, Gregory Mannarino argues that this internal criticism and public condemnation of Fed policy is a ‘ bombshell,’ revealing the weakness of the Fed that critics have long known were there:
What QE has done is put cheap money directly in the hands of the megabanks who caused the crisis, on the pretext that they would trickle down and stimulate the economy. Only the money was invested into its own choice vehicles, with a spending spree driving up asset prices out of the realm of reality and putting homes, loans and investments out of the hands of the crumbling middle class.
Meanwhile, insiders and cronies have multiplied their wealth and a silent inflation has washed over with a tugging undertow dragging down many who are caught up in drowning debt.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Parliament Backs Greek Aid After Merkel Lobbies MPs
The German parliament voted in favor of a third bailout for Greece, one of the last hurdles to approving the program, after Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed lawmakers to lend their support.
Germany’s lower house backed the 86 billion-euro ($95 billion) aid package following a three-hour debate on Wednesday, with 454 in favor, 113 against and 18 abstentions.
The Bundestag approved the bailout after a week of hard lobbying from Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to stem a possible revolt within their caucus. Merkel voiced confidence Tuesday that the International Monetary Fund will help provide loans, while Schaeuble told lawmakers Wednesday that extending Greece’s financial lifeline is in Europe’s interest. The Social Democrats, Merkel’s coalition partner, and the opposition Greens also expressed support ahead of the vote.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Approves Third Bailout for Greece
The German Bundestag has voted in favor of a fresh bailout for Greece. The measure passed despite opposition from within Chancellor Merkel’s Christian Democratic party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How China’s Slowdown is Affecting Africa
Over the past few decades, Africa’s resource-rich nations have attracted massive investments from fuel-hungry China. But its recent slowdown has left Africa increasingly vulnerable, as economist Oliver White explains.
Back in the mid-1990s, many African nations greeted the arrival of China as a major business partner, both in terms of trade and investment. From copper in Zambia, to oil in Angola and iron ore in Sierra Leone, China’s rise as an industrial power has generated tremendous growth in demand for imports of commodities, and Africa has become an increasingly important source for the world’s second-largest economy.
At the same time, the continent has also provided a consumer-hungry market for Chinese goods, with the Asian giant’s exports to Africa rising by nearly 15 percent in the 12 months to last year. In fact, bilateral trade has increased from around $10 billion in 2000 to over $200 billion in 2014.
However, the tide is changing. As China’s economy slows down, data suggest that demand for the region’s resources is withering, with bilateral trade dropping sharply since late 2014. In a DW interview, Oliver White, an economist at Fathom Consulting, a London-based independent research firm, explains why the recent Chinese slowdown means that the dynamics of the Sino-African relationship face a turbulent period ahead.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Bitcoin ATMs to be Installed in Greece: Report
One thousand bitcoin ATMs are to be installed in Greece to help firms overcome the restrictions imposed by capital controls, according to reports.
The CoinTelegraph website reported that Bitcoin service provider and exchange Cubits has partnered with Greek bitcoin exchange BTCGreece to install the units to help small and medium sized businesses move money.
“We are creating the ecosystem of bitcoin and blockchain solutions in the Greek market.” Thanos Marinos, the found of the only Greece-based bitcoin exchange BTCGreece, told CoinTelegraph. “That will include the rollout of 1,000 ATMs and solutions for the e-commerce and tourism industry.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Yields on the riskiest junk bonds are absolutely soaring and the price of copper just hit a fresh six year low.
To most people, those pieces of financial news are meaningless. But if you understand history, and you are aware of the patterns that immediately preceded previous stock market crashes, then you know how how huge both of those signs are. During the summer of 2008, junk bond prices absolutely cratered as junk bond yields skyrocketed. This was a very clear signal that financial markets were about to crash, and sure enough a couple of months later it happened. Now the exact same thing is happening again. The following comes from a Wall Street On Parade article that was posted on Tuesday entitled “Keep Your Eye on Junk Bonds: They’re Starting to Behave Like ‘08”…
According to data from Bloomberg, corporations have issued a stunning $9.3 trillion in bonds since the beginning of 2009. The major beneficiary of this debt binge has been the stock market rather than investment in modernizing the plant, equipment or new hires to make the company more competitive for the future. Bond proceeds frequently ended up buying back shares or boosting dividends, thus elevating the stock market on the back of heavier debt levels on corporate balance sheets…
Amazingly, the Federal Reserve is actually thinking about raising interest rates in this environment.
If that sounds like a really bad idea to you, that is because it is a really bad idea.
[Comment: But this “bad idea” is what banksters want, a “controlled” world wide crash…new world order from chaos.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Greek bailout is the most recent example of “kick the can down the road” solutions.
The US housing bubble was an attempt to cover up/recover from the dot-com bust. Now the US is in a financial bubble engineered to recover from the housing bubble debacle. Soon this bubble will burst. Only the date is unknown…
The REAL problem for the financial system is the bond bubble. In 2008 when the crisis hit it was $80 trillion. It has since grown to over $100 trillion. The derivatives market that uses this bond bubble as collateral is over $555 trillion in size. Many of the large multinational corporations, sovereign governments, and even municipalities have used derivatives to fake earnings and hide debt. NO ONE knows to what degree this has been the case, but given that 20% of corporate CFOs have admitted to faking earnings in the past, it’s likely a significant amount.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shares in Glencore Tumble as Commodities Rout Hits
By Peter Spence
Mining giant Glencore is the newest casualty of a global rout in oil prices, as the FTSE 100-listed miner reported a profit slump, sending the shares tumbling nearly 9pc on Wednesday.
Adjusted EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation — fell by 29pc to $4.6bn in the first half of the year.
Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore’s chief executive, said: “Against a challenging backdrop for many of our commodities, we have taken a range of pre-emptive actions in respect of our balance sheet.”
The slide in oil prices has forced the miner to drop its targeted capital expenditure for this year to just $6bn, from a previously announced target range of $6.5bn to $6.8bn. Glencore intends to cut capital expenditure further, to “no more” than $5bn in 2016.
Glencore’s boss conceded that the first half “was another challenging one for commodities”. He continued: “Financial markets continued to fixate on the risks to global growth, against a backdrop of a stronger US dollar.”…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
2mn People in California, Midwest Drink Uranium-Contaminated Water — Study
Seventy-eight percent of the pollution comes from nitrate, the contaminator deriving from chemical fertilizers and animal waste.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
California to Confiscate 300 Farms by Eminent Domain, For Unapproved Water Project
State contractors have readied plans to acquire as many as 300 farms in the California delta by eminent domain to make room for a pair of massive, still-unapproved water tunnels proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to documents obtained by opponents of the tunnels.
Farmers whose parcels were listed and mapped in the 160-page property-acquisition plan expressed dismay at the advanced planning for the project, which would build 30-mile-long tunnels in the delta formed by the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers.
“What really shocks is we’re fighting this and we’re hoping to win,” said Richard Elliot, who grows cherries, pears and other crops on delta land farmed by his family since the 1860s. “To find out they’re sitting in a room figuring out this eminent domain makes it sound like they’re going to bully us … and take what they want.”
Officials involved in the project defended planning so far ahead regarding the tunnels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hacked? “Technical Glitch” Shut Down an Air Traffic Control Center, Delayed Hundreds of Flights
Was a Major Air Traffic Control Center Near Washington Just Hacked?
Just yesterday, The New York Times reported that a “technical problem” an an air traffic control center in Leesburg, Virginia near Washington was responsible for 462 flight delays and 476 cancellations at airports all over the East Coast this weekend.
The Air Route Traffic Control Center is one of 22 in the country. According to Wikipedia, this particular center covers the Washington/Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas just to name a few. It handles some five million flights a year and is the third busiest air traffic control center in the U.S.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Is Your Name in the Ashley Madison Hack? Here is One Way to Find Out
of cheating website Ashley Madison, whose motto is “Life is short. Have an affair”, all their supposedly confidential information including names, email addresses, credit card data, personal profiles and virtually everything else, had been hacked by a group calling itself the Impact Team, which threatened release of all the client information unless Ashley Madison shuts down. There was some hope that the hackers were merely posturing or bluffing, but to the utter horror of Ashley Madison’s 37 million customers — and to the sheer delight of millions of divorce attorney around the globe — last night the Impact Team did just as it threatened it would, and released a data dump with all the data in the form of a 9.7GB torrent.
The hackers’ demands was simple: take Ashley Madison and Established Men offline permanently in all forms, “or it would release all customer records, including profiles with all the customers’ secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails.”
However, Avid Life Media, with visions of a lucrative Ashley Madison IPO still dancing in its head, decided to ignore the threats.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush: NSA Needs Broader Power, Urges Tech Firms to Cooperate
Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said Tuesday that the government should have broad surveillance powers of Americans and private technology firms should cooperate better with intelligence agencies to help combat “evildoers.”
At a national security forum in the early voting state of South Carolina, Bush put himself at odds with Republican congressional leaders who earlier this year voted to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records.
The former Florida governor said Congress should revisit its changes to the Patriot Act, and he dismissed concerns from civil libertarians who say the program violated citizens’ constitutionally protected privacy rights.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Navajo Nation Bears Burden of Recent Animas Mining Spill Disaster in Colorado
The Environmental Protection Agency was investigating an old mine near Silverton, Colo., earlier this month, when it accidentally released 3 million gallons of toxic waste water into the Animas River.
At first, EPA downplayed the scope of the spill, providing little info to those nearby, or news organizations. Navajo President Russell Begaye traveled to the source of the toxic spill and posted a video of it on Facebook.
He’s standing in front of the still-leaking mine in the clip, which went viral. “This is the story that was related to us just now,” he says. “The person was working the backhoe and trying to block off more of this area, but then he saw a spring … and the water burst through here and it went straight down the mountain.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Agers Back Socialist Sanders as Messiah
The huge crowds greeting socialist Bernie Sanders in his run for the Democratic presidential nomination cannot just be attributed to large numbers of left-wingers. There is a hard-core left-wing element to the Sanders candidacy, of course. But Sanders has tapped into what used to be one of Hillary Clinton’s key constituencies, the New Age Movement. A top Sanders adviser is the influential “spiritual teacher” Marianne Williamson, whose self-help books have been heavily promoted by Oprah Winfrey and sold millions.
The New Age Movement is a growing group of people in America who have broken with the Judeo-Christian tradition to instead endorse the notion of God as a mystical force inhabiting humans, the earth, or spiritual “masters.” Oprah’s website describes it somewhat differently: “For 20 years, Marianne Williamson has been a pioneer on the front lines of a worldwide spiritual movement aimed at creating a global shift in collective consciousness.”
Taking this perspective into the political realm, Williamson has advocated a Department of Peacebuilding and has created a group called the Peace Alliance to bring this about.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yosemite Plague: Camp Ground Closed After Second Case
US health officials have closed a portion of Yosemite National Park after it emerged that a second tourist might have contracted plague. Authorities believe the disease, which is treatable with antibiotics, was spread by squirrels and fleas.
Symptoms of the plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin. If left untreated, the disease can be fatal.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Could a Strike by Poles Bring Down Britain?
by Ed West
Britain’s Poles go on strike tomorrow to protest the widespread anti-Polish xenophobia across the country, which is literally everywhere. There are about one million Polish people in Great Britain, and many sectors of the economy depend on them, so in theory they could hold the country to ransom by striking. But they wont, and this is the beauty of open orders.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Farmers Burn Tyres as Strikes Continue
Around 150 farmers who say their livelihoods are threatened by low prices caused havoc in north-western France on Wednesday morning.
The striking farmers began their protest in the town of Saint-Lo at 6am on Wednesday morning, driving through the streets in their tractors and honking their horns.
Farmers have been protesting across the country this summer, claiming that falling prices and changes in the nation’s dietary habits are threatening their livelihoods.
Only five percent of the population believe the radical protests by farmers were “unjustified”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Ambulance Stolen During Rescue Operation
Fire fighters in north-eastern France were left aghast this week after an ambulance they were going to use to take an injured woman to hospital was stolen at the scene.
The ambulance was stolen on Monday evening in the French town of Magnières while the fire fighters were offering assistance to a 60-year-old woman with breathing difficulties, L’Est Républicain reported.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Frightened’ Britain Cancels Mohammed Cartoon Exhibit
by Anne Marie Waters
It’s an odd feeling sitting down to write this, it’s a mixture of relief and foreboding. The Mohammed Cartoon exhibit that I and others had planned for September in London has been cancelled, and the fact that this has brought relief should offer some clues as to why.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Political World ‘A Harem’ Says CEI No.2
De Gasperi’s politics a far cry from today’s says Galantino
(ANSA) — Rome, August 18 — The Italian political world is a “little harem of the co-opted and the wily” that bears no relation to that of postwar Christian Democrat statesman Alcide De Gasperi, Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) No.2 Msgr Nunzio Galantino said Tuesday.
Releasing a speech that he was due to give at De Gasperi’s birthplace near Trento, CEI Secretary-General Galantino said De Gasperi’s politics “isn’t what we have grown used to seeing today, that is a puzzle of personal ambitions”. Galantino pulled out of the event saying he did not want to fuel a row with anti-immigrant Northern League leader Matteo Salvini over how Italy should deal with the Mediterranean migrant emergency.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Farm Labourer’s Body to be Exhumed for Autopsy
Autopsy set for August 21
(ANSA) — Trani, August 18 — A prosecutor in the southern Italian city of Trani on Tuesday ordered the exhumation of the body of 43-year-old farm labourer Paola Clemente so an autopsy can establish cause of death. Grape harvester Clemente’s husband filed a complaint claiming the July 13 death near the Puglian city of Andria was suspicious. The autopsy will take place on August 21, judicial sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Museums: Avalanche of Foreigners, 20 Super Directors
German at the Uffizi, Englishman at Brera, Coliva at Borghese
(ANSA) — Rome, August 18 — A rash of foreigners were appointed to head Italy’s most prestigious museums Tuesday with the naming of German art expert Eike Schmidt to head the Uffizi Gallery, ousting longstanding director Antonio Natali, expected to cause most clamour, observers said.
In all seven out of 20 appointments to head Italy’s top public museums were garnered by foreigners including another German, Cecile Hollberg, aged 48, an art historian, who takes over running the Florence Academy Galleries, Canadian-born Briton James Bradburne, 59, to head the Brera Pinacoteca, and French art historian Sylvain Bellenger, who takes over the directorship of the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.
The average age of the winners is 50. Out of the 20 named, 10 are men and 10 women. Four are Italians returning from abroad (Martina Bagnoli, Flaminia Gennari Santori and Paola D’Agostino from the USA and Eva Degl’Innocenti from France). As far as professional background is concerned, 14 are art historians, four are archaeologists and two are cultural managers. One was named from inside a ministry. The names: 1) BORGHESE GALLERY(Rome): Anna Coliva, 62, art historian.
2) UFFIZI GALLERY (Florence): Eike Schmidt, 47, art historian.
3) NAZIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART (Rome): Cristiana Collu, 46, art historian.
4) GALLERIE OF THE ACADEMY of Venice: Paola Marini, 63, art historian.
5) CAPODIMONTE MUSEUM (Naples): Sylvain Bellenger, 60, art historian.
6) BRERA PINACOTECA (Milan): James Bradburne, 59, museumologist and cultural manager.
7) REGGIA OF CASERTA: Mauro Felicori, 63, cultural manager.
8) FLORENCE ACADEMY GALLERY: Cecilie Hollberg, 48, historian.
9) ESTENSE GALLERY (Modena): Martina Bagnoli, 51, art historian.
10) NATIONAL GALLERIES OF ANCIENT ART (Rome): Flaminia Gennari Santori, 47, art historian.
11) GALLERIA NAZIONALE DELLE MARCHE (Urbino): Peter Aufreiter, 40, art historian.
12) GALLERIA NAZIONALE DELL’UMBRIA (Perugia): Marco Pierini, 49, art historian and philosopher.
13) MUSEO NAZIONALE DEL BARGELLO (Florence): Paola D’Agostino, 43, art historian.
14) MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE (Naples): Paolo Giulierini, 46, archaeologist.
15) MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE (Reggio Calabria): Carmelo Malacrino, 44, archaeologist.
16) MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE (Taranto): Eva Degl’Innocenti, 39, archaeologist.
17) PARCO ARCHEOLOGICO of PAESTUM: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, 34, archaeologist.
18) PALAZZO DUCALE of MANTUA:Peter Assmann, 61, art historian.
19) PALAZZO REALE, GENOA: Serena Bertolucci, 48, art historian.
20) POLO REALE of TURIN: Enrica Pagella, 58, art historian.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Paris Shootings Survivor Sues French Media
A man who hid from the Charlie Hebdo gunmen is suing French media who revealed his whereabouts.
Lilian Lepere stayed under a sink for eight hours after the gunmen began a siege at the printing shop in which he worked in a Paris suburb in January.
The men — Said and Cherif Kouachi — had killed 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine the day before, and were later shot dead at the printing shop.
Mr Lepere says his life was endangered by details revealed on TV and radio.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Soldier ‘Fakes’ First ISIS Attack in Sweden
A soldier from west Sweden claimed he was stabbed by two Isis fighters in the first attack by the extremist Islamist group on Swedish soil, but the region’s chief police commissioner has told The Local there is no evidence to back up his allegations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Stephen Colbert: Let’s Invade Norway
US comedian Stephen Colbert force has unleashed a Twitter storm at Prime Minister Erna Solberg in a bid to force Norway to increase funding for girls’ education.
The comedian, who takes over as host of the extremely popular Late Show on September 8th, made his call in a YouTube video promoting next month’s Global Citizen Festival in New York.
“You see, Norway is a leader in funding education worldwide and if they agree to increase their support for the global partnership for education then the rest of the world will follow,” he says in the video.
“Norway has always been a trend setter. I mean just look look at the Vikings. They were into ridiculous beards way before Brooklyn.”
The campaign aims to pressure Norway to increase its funding for the Global Partnership for Education from the $30m it contributed last year to $100m a year over the next five years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Swede Stays Crazy for Norway’s Mass Killer
A Swedish woman has described how she writes letters to Anders Behring Breivik, the man behind Norway’s worst peacetime killing in modern times, and admitted that she is attracted to the mass murderer.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Netherlands Promises UN an Acceptable Zwarte Piet
The Dutch government has promised to make Zwarte Piet a globally acceptable figure. The promise was made during a meeting to discuss the Netherlands’ racial discrimination policy at the United Nations. All member states which have signed the racial discrimination treaty must justify their policies once every four years. Controversial The figure of Zwarte Piet, who accompanies Sint Nicolaas during processions on December 5, has been controversial for years, and was one of the main subjects under discussion at the UN.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Work Shouldn’t be Hostage to Logic of Profit Says Pope
‘Dangerous’ to see family as hurdle
(ANSA) — Vatican City, August 19 — Work should not be hostage to the logic of profit, Pope Francis said at his general audience Wednesday.
“When work is detached from the alliance of God with man and woman, when it is hostage to the logic of sole profit, the consequence is a demoralisation of the soul that contaminates everything, and the consequences hit the poorest above all” Francis said.
He added: “the modern organisation of work shows a dangerous tendency to consider the family as a burden, an obstacle to productivity.” The pope warned that “causing the loss of jobs means causing great social damage”.
Francis has frequently taken stances against the inequality caused by modern global capitalism.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Security Building in Cairo Rocked by Bomb Blast
A state security building in northern Cairo has been hit by a car bomb, Egypt’s Ministry of Interior says, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
State media said at least six people were injured by the explosion in the northern Shubra district of the city. There were no reports of any deaths.
Residents across Cairo reported hearing and feeling a large blast just before 02:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
There have been several bomb attacks by Islamist militants in Cairo this year.
“A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped out of it and fled on a motorbike that followed the car,” a ministry statement said.
Militants based in northern Sinai — who are affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) — have been behind many of the recent bomb attacks.
The Egyptian security forces have been the focus of the bombings and militants have vowed to continue targeting them.
No one has yet claimed to have carried out Thursday’s attack in the capital…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Catches Dolphin ‘Spying for Israel’
Hamas authorities in Gaza claim to have captured an Israeli “spy dolphin” off the coast of Gaza Wednesday.
Yes, a spy dolphin.
Sources in Gaza say the dolphin in question was wearing cameras and other equipment, and was captured by Hamas’s “military wing,” the Ezzedine al-Qassan Brigades, according to IDF Radio.
Dolphins are believed to be highly intelligent — but this would be the first time a dolphin has been accused of acting as a secret agent.
It is not known which Israeli intelligence agency said dolphin is accused of working for.
This is not the first such bizarre claim by a Muslim group or country of animals being “recruited” to conduct acts of espionage on behalf of Israel.[…]
[Flipper donned a kippah and made Aliyah]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Hamas Says to Have Captured Mossad Dolphin Off Gaza Coast
Mossad has been accused in the past of using animal to spy on neighboring countries
Hamas has claimed to have captured a dolphin they say was working for the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, Army radio reported Wednesday.
According to the report, the dolphin was captured several weeks ago by the naval unit of Hamas, known as frogmen.
It was said to have been equipped with cameras and other “spying equipment.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
IS Beheads Leading Syrian Antiquities Scholar in Palmyra
Islamic State militants beheaded one of Syria’s most prominent antiquities scholars in the ancient town of Palmyra, then hung his body from one of the town’s Roman columns, Syrian state media and an activist group said Wednesday.
The killing of 81-year-old Khaled al-Asaad was the latest atrocity perpetrated by the militant group, which has captured a third of both Syria and neighboring Iraq and declared a self-styled “caliphate” on the territory it controls.
Since IS overran Palmyra in May, there have been fears the extremists, who have destroyed famed archaeological sites in Iraq, would demolish the 2,000-year-old Roman-era city at the edge of the town — a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the Mideast’s most spectacular archaeological sites.
The Sunni extremist group, which has imposed a violent interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, believes ancient relics promote idolatry. IS militants claim they are destroying ancient artifacts and archaeological treasures as part of their purge of paganism.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Beheads Palmyra Archaeologist in Public Square
The Islamic State (ISIS) has beheaded an 82-year-old antiquities scholar in a public square in Palmyra in front of dozens of onlookers, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Tuesday. Khaled Al-Asaad was the former director of the local archaeological site. The news was initially given by Syrian Antiquities and Museums Director Maamoun Abdulkarim to state-run news agency SANA, and it was later reported that the elderly archaeologist’s body had been taken to the site of the ancient Palmyra and hung from a Roman pillar there.
Abdulkarim said that ISIS had arrested Asaad a month ago and that since then they had been interrogating him for information on where Roman finds may have been hidden prior to the city’s occupation by ISIS in May. Asaad had been director of the Palmyra archaeological site for 40 years, until 2003. SANA reports that he had continued to work as an expert after his retirement for the Antiquities and Museums Department. He had written several books, some in collaboration with foreign scholars in the same field.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Is Taking Our Women As Sex Slaves Too
By Y. Yehoshua, R. Green, and A. Agron
Sex slavery has been a contentious topic in the Islamic State (ISIS) narrative since the group’s kidnapping of Yazidi women at Sinjar, Iraq in June and July of 2014, with ISIS fighters and supporters quickly denying that the women were being sexually exploited. The narrative took a turn when ISIS publicly acknowledged that fighters in the organization were keeping sex slaves, in the fourth issue of its official English-language magazine Dabiq, published October 12, 2014, basing the justification for doing so on religious interpretation.
ISIS fighters and supporters openly discuss the topic on social media, for example talking about which women may be legitimately enslaved according to Islamic religious precepts. These social media conversations also reveal information on where and under what conditions the women are being held, on the going prices for them, and even on other issues relating to them — such as possible trafficking in human organs.
However, ISIS firmly believes in the benefit of the practice for slaves as well as for masters, as well as for society as a whole, and holds that the slaves gain much from their enslavement because in this way they are exposed to Islam and may convert. Among these promoters of sex slavery are numerous female ISIS members and supporters, who tout it both via social media and in articles in ISIS publications.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bangkok Bomb: Erawan Shrine Attacker ‘Is Part of Network’, Police Say
The bomb attack that killed 20 people at Bangkok’s Erawan shrine on Monday was carried out by a “network”, Thailand’s chief of police has said.
Police have released a sketch of the main suspect, a man in a yellow T-shirt who was filmed by security cameras leaving a backpack at the shrine.
Police later said two other people seen on CCTV were being treated as suspects.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has described the incident as the worst-ever attack on Thailand.
Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung told the Associated Press news agency that the shrine attack was the work of more than one person.
“He didn’t do it alone for sure,” he said, referring to the main suspect. “It’s a network,” he added, without giving further information. But he said he was certain that Thai citizens were involved in the bombing.
Although the main suspect in the footage has not been identified, an arrest warrant for him has been issued by Bangkok’s Southern Criminal Court. It accuses an “unnamed foreigner” of conspiracy to commit “premeditated murder” and weapons offences.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India Girl Decapitated by Brothers Contrary to ‘Love Story’
‘Honour killing,’ then they paraded head around village
(ANSA) — New Delhi, August 19 — Two brothers decapitated their 17-year-old sister in an “honour killing” in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to “punish” her refusing to put an end to a “love story” with a boy who was their cousin, India Today television reported Wednesday.
Police commissioner Bablu Kumar said the two paraded the head of the girl around the village before fleeing.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Russia Sign Landmark Defence Deal
Mateen Haider — Updated about 4 hours ago
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia on Wednesday signed a landmark defence deal that includes the sale of four Mi-35 ‘Hind E’ attack helicopters to Pakistan.
“The agreement was signed by top defence officials from Pakistan and Russia in Rawalpindi on Wednesday,” said a military source.
Both countries were negotiating the deal for the past year, signalling a major thaw in relations between the two cold-war rivals.
Read: Russia ready to sell four Mi-35 helicopters to Pakistan: report
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif had also visited Russia in June, after which a draft contract for the delivery of four Mi-35M ‘Hind E’ combat helicopters was sent to Pakistan from Russia.
General Raheel Sharif had spent about 15 hours at an arms expo near Moscow that featured Russia’s cutting edge weapons and military equipment. He inspected not only the weapon systems on display but also saw their live demonstrations.
Late last year, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived on a visit to Pakistan which was aimed at discussing bilateral defence cooperation with the Pakistani leadership.
CEO of Russia’s Rostec hi-tech corporation, Sergey Chemezov, had also last year said Russia had lifted its embargo on delivery of military hardware and armaments to Pakistan and negotiations were being held on delivering helicopters.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also said both sides have been negotiating the delivery of helicopters and that Pakistan currently has a number of Mi-17 helicopters delivered by the United States to assist in the fight against militancy.
The Mi-35 helicopter is an exceedingly modernised version of the Mi-24 (Hind) combat helicopter with new onboard equipment and avionics. It also has a more powerful engine and a different tail rotor.
Pakistan and Russia had signed a bilateral defence cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening military-to-military relations in November last year. The deal had to be followed by another ‘technical cooperation agreement’ to pave the way for sale of defence equipment to Pakistan.
Besides helicopters, Pakistan also appears interested in other Russian hardware.
Russia and Pakistan have lately been working on enhancing defence cooperation and are believed to have already covered a lot of ground. Exchange of visits by military commanders in recent years is an indication of progress achieved in this regard.
India’s decision to enter into tighter embrace with the US had prompted Russia to rethink its defence relationship with Pakistan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thai Police Explore Uygur Plot in Bangkok Blast as Police Hunt for ‘Foreign’ Suspect, Two Others
Intelligence sent to Thai officials indicate Chinese tourists are possible targets
The probe on who could be behind the deadly blast in central Bangkok is focusing on a revenge motive by Uygur militants as it has now emerged that Thai authorities received intelligence that Chinese tourists could be a target of attacks.
This comes as Bangkok police on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for “foreign man” — possibly from Europe or the Middle East — seen in footage of the blast, after revealing a sketch of the prime suspect showing a man with fair complexion, dark hair and spectacles.
“He had white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood,” police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri said.
Thai police say they are looking for two other male suspects captured on CCTV footage near the scene of the bomb blast, bringing the number of suspects police have said they are actively looking for to three.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thailand: City Police Probe Uighur Revenge Motive for Blast
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is refusing to say whether domestic politics or international conflict lies behind the deadly bombing at the Erawan shrine.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
South Korea: Sunglasses Ban for Cash Machine Users
Bank customers in South Korea won’t be able to wear sunglasses, face masks or hats when using cash machines fitted with new facial recognition devices, it’s reported.
The new machines are due to be rolled out at an initial 100 locations from October, but users will be warned against covering their faces, as that will interfere with the software and prevent them accessing their accounts, Seoul’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper reports. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service says the first machines will be installed at locations where there have been frequent reports of fraud and theft, but that eventually they’ll be used across the country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin Forecasts 800,000 Asylum Seekers in 2015
Interior Ministry figures are double previous estimate
(ANSA) — Berlin, August 19 — 800,000 asylum seekers are expected to arrive in Germany this year, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere, who announced the official figures, stressed the number was twice what was expected based on previous estimates.
He said July was a record month for asylum requests, noting that 37,500 were registered last month.
“Some 40% of the requests in the first six months came from the western Balkans: this is unacceptable,” De Maiziere said.
“We must act differently; be quicker and act in a more pragmatic fashion.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU: 400,000 Asylum Requests in 6 Months
Figures show ‘courageous joint action’ required — EU spokesman
(ANSA) — Brussels, August 19 — “From January to June 2015 the EU has received more than 400,000 asylum requests,” a European Commission spokesman said Wednesday, adding “the total for 2014 was 600,000”.
“This is not a Greek, Italian or German crisis. This is a global migratory crisis that requires courageous joint action,” the spokesman said. The EU faces rising numbers of migrants and refugees from countries like Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya and Nigeria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Struggles to Respond as Migrants Numbers Rise Threefold
More than three times as many migrants were tracked entering the European Union by irregular means last month than a year ago, official data showed on Tuesday, many of them landing on Greek islands after fleeing conflict in Syria.
While the increase recorded by the European Union’s border control agency Frontex may be partly due to better monitoring, it highlighted the scale of a crisis that has led to more than 2,000 deaths this year as desperate migrants take to rickety boats.
Italian police said they had arrested eight suspected human traffickers that they said had reportedly forced migrants to stay in the hold of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean as 49 of them suffocated on engine fumes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Red Cross to Distribute Aid to Migrants in Greece
Situation in island Lesbos ‘desolate’
(ANSA-AP) — BERLIN (AP) — The German Red Cross says it will distribute more than 19,000 hygiene packages for refugees arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos. The aid organization said Tuesday that starting this week it would hand out packages including a two-month supply of toothpaste, soap, laundry detergent, baby-care products and diapers.
The head of the German Red Cross Rudolf Seiters called the situation on Lesbos desolate and said many of the migrants who come to Lesbos on boats crossing the Mediterranean are weakened, have to sleep on the floor and have no access to medical care.
Seiters said that the hygiene products are essential to prevent the spread of diseases among the refugees. The Red Cross said the German Foreign Office is contributing to the cost of the project.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Coast Guard Rescues Hundreds Off Aegean Islands
Greece’s coast guard says it has rescued hundreds of migrants in more than a dozen search and rescue operations, including one in which a toddler was found unconscious in one of the overcrowded dinghies.
The coast guard said Wednesday it had picked up 534 migrants in 14 incidents off the coasts of the eastern Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios, Agathonissi, Samos, Farmakonissi and Kos from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning.
Separately, it said a child of about 2 or 3 years old was found unconscious in a dinghy spotted by a patrol helicopter and carrying 54 migrants off Samos. A coast guard vessel picked up the group and the child was transported to a hospital.
Greece has been overwhelmed with record numbers of migrant arrivals this year, most from Syria.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
James Simpson: Red-Green Axis: Refugees, Immigration and the Agenda to Erase America
Mr. Simpson’s copious documentation and fact-based findings chart the trajectory of the refugee resettlement industry. The Red-Green Axis illuminates the impetus that industry received early on via the United Nation’s Human Settlement Policy — a plan to redistribute, not just wealth, but population and land. Mr. Simpson proceeds to show how this plan is being inexorably advanced by today’s secretive and unaccountable federal refugee resettlement programs — operations that have brought nearly 2 million refugees from Muslim nations to this country since September 11, 2001.
This is the Listen Live link:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Record Number of Refugee Minors Arriving in Sweden
Sweden’s Migration Agency has sent out a “distress call” regarding the influx of unaccompanied migrant children in Sweden, with the Agency’s head, Anders Danielsson, describing the situation as “extraordinary”.
The number of unaccompanied children arriving in Sweden has hit a record high and the relevant authorities and municipalities around the country need to cooperate better in order to handle the numbers, Danielsson said in a statement.
Last week, 676 children arrived in Sweden and the week before that, the figure was 607. Those figures far exceed the latest prognosis.
Danielsson believes the Migration Agency, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, the Swedish National Agency for Education, the Ombudsman for Children and Sweden’s county administrative boards should “think creatively” about how to cooperate and assist one another in receiving refugee minors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovakia Will Host 200 Refugees But Only Christians
Brussels, EU treaties prevent any kind of discrimination
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — Bratislava is ready to accept 200 Syrian refugees, but on the condition that they are Christians. “In Slovakia we don’t have mosques,” a spokesman of the Interior Ministry said, explaining that Muslims would not feel at home in the country.
Replying to the statement, the EU Commission recalled that “we act in the spirit of the EU treaties, that prevent any kind of discrimination”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
by Steve Sailer
My hunch is that Trump read Ann Coulter’s ¡Adios, America! a few weeks before his campaign announcement and recognized that immigration skepticism had matured as a philosophy, but nobody running for president was selling it.
Over the past two months, Trump has caused a sensation by violating billionaire class solidarity by criticizing mass immigration, the single most unifying political issue for plutocrats. Last year I went through the Forbes 400 and noted the superbillionaires who had made themselves conspicuous by donating publicly to the push for more immigration, such as Bill Gates, the Koch brothers, Michael Bloomberg, Sheldon Adelson, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg, Rupert Murdoch, and the widow Jobs. And a large fraction of the other top dogs, such as Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison, had at least paid lip service to increasing immigration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Emergency Call for Help as Refugee Children Rise
Swedish authorities need to work more closely together to deal with an “extraordinary” surge in refugee children, the head of Sweden’s migration board has said.
More children than ever are travelling unaccompanied to Sweden and Anders Danielsson, the country’s migration board chief, has issued a heartfelt plea for Swedes to “all do the best we can” to help cope with the influx.
Sweden welcomes more children than any other EU country, with around 12,000 expected to arrive in Sweden in 2015, without a parent, guardian or older sibling.
Last year, 7,049 children travelled solo to Sweden and sought asylum, an increase of more than 80 percent on 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Technical Fault: Social Democracy and Cultural Liberalism Collapsing Under Strain of Migrant Crisis
Otherwise considered one of the most enthusiastically forgiving and multicultural nations in Europe, Sweden reacted with horror to a double murder in the nation’s largest IKEA store last week by an Eritrean immigrant. The store was closed for two days after the killings, re-opening last Wednesday. In a remarkable feat of double-speak, a sign attached to the door apologised for the closure, remarking it was due to a “technical fault”.
Tuesday’s morning editorial in the centrist Jyllands-Posten is an important example of how quickly the narrative has moved in Europe.
Closing on a dark note, the paper concluded unless the government was able to get a handle on Sweden’s immigration problem soon, it would end bloodily:
“It can be difficult to see who really is good and who is evil in today’s Sweden. Decades of social democracy and cultural liberalism has built a moral empire, which is in the process of collapsing, and even the establishment press is questioning the status quo.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Hungary Police to Guard Against Migrant Influx
According to deputy PM, ‘increansingly aggressive migrants’
(ANSA-AP) — BUDAPEST — The Hungarian government says the country is under an “organized human trafficking attack” and will send several thousand police officers to the southern border with Serbia in a new effort to stem the rising flow of migrants.
Minister Janos Lazar said Tuesday that police companies of “border hunters” would step up against the “increasingly aggressive migrants arriving with more resolute demands.” Close to 130,000 migrants have reached Hungary this year, already about three times as many as in 2014. Most request asylum but quickly leave for richer countries in the European Union like Germany.
Lazar said that planned penal code amendments would soon make illegal border crossings and cutting through the 4-meter (13-foot) high fence being built on the 174-kilometer (109-mile) border with Serbia punishable by several years in prison.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Syrians Ferried to Greek Mainland as Islands Despair
A Greek government-chartered ferry was transporting some 2,600 Syrian refugees to the Greek mainland on Wednesday, as islands struggling with an influx of migrants warned that the crisis is endangering public health.
“The situation is out of control,” Leros mayor Michalis Kolias said in a letter to the government, asking for help in getting hundreds of migrants off the island. “The lives of irregular migrants and of the island’s residents and visitors are in danger,” Kolias said, pointing to health risks from overcrowding.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN: More Countries Must Take in Refugees
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, has said it is “unsustainable” for just two countries — Sweden and Germany — to take in the bulk of refugees in Europe.
Guterres made the comments in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt. He urged EU member states to take greater responsibility in welcoming those fleeing war and persecution.
Guterres called the current situation “unsustainable” and said he wishes other European countries beyond Germany and Sweden would show more solidarity.
Guterres said European countries have a “moral duty” to welcome refugees and a legal obligation to protect them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Vienna Asks Revision of Dublin Regulation
Austria, rules are unfair. Brussels aks to show solidarity
(ANSA) — BRUSSELS — The Austrian government has threaten to bring the European Commission before the EU Court of Justice if the Dublin Regulation is not revised.
According to Vienna — which has given two months to Brussels to review the rules — the legislation is unfair because the rigidities imposed ensure that 90% of migrants are concentrated in just 10 member States in Europe. “There is no time now to bring each other to the Court, this is the time for solidarity and to implement the Agenda on immigration,” says Annika Breidthard, spokesman for the EU Commission.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome Mat Fraying as More Migrants Reach Greek Island
The islanders bring food, drinks, clothing and necessities like diapers and toothpaste to the migrants huddled on this tiny outcrop in the Aegean Sea.
The generosity comes naturally to residents of Leros: The island once took in political prisoners banished here by Greece’s former military rulers, a tradition that breeds a sense of duty to welcome migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
A dedicated grass-roots network is the heart of Leros’ mission to be a paragon of humanitarian relief. But it is becoming a victim of its own success: Migrant arrivals are surging as asylum-seekers catch wind of the islanders’ generosity — and the welcome mat is starting to fray.
The 75-square-kilometer (29-square-mile) island, with a permanent population of fewer than 10,000 people, is struggling to cope with the hundreds of migrants who turn up most days in smugglers’ boats, following a perilous boat crossing from Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Welcome to Germany: Locals Step in to Help Refugees in Need
While attacks against refugee homes dominate the headlines, a new movement to aid asylum seekers is taking root in Germany. From medical care to security services, locals are organizing what the state won’t.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Children as Young as Seven Should Get Sex Education, Yvette Cooper Says
‘ Children as young as seven should have compulsory sex and relationship education, Yvette Cooper will say today as she pledges to get Labour “championing women’s equality again”.
The shadow home secretary and leadership candidate also wants all teenagers to be taught about the dangers of “revenge porn” while in school.
Currently sex education is only compulsory for children aged 11 and above, meaning Ms Cooper’s plan would drop the age limit by four years.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Venice Mayor Hits Back at Elton John
‘Cough up some money’ to save Venice says Brugnaro
(ANSA) — Venice, August 18 — Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro on Tuesday kicked back at Sir Elton John after the British musician accused him of being “boorishly bigoted” in banning books about homosexuality from the city’s schools.
“Fora i schei” (Cough up the money)” Brugnaro tweeted in Venetian dialect, saying “I challenge you to give real resources to save Venice”.
Sir Elton, who has a house in Venice, had said: “Beautiful Venice is indeed sinking, but not as fast as the boorishly bigoted Brugnaro”. The multi-award-winning artist, who has two children with his partner David Furnish, used his Instagram page to slam Brugnaro’s “divisive” move alongside a picture of one of the “Furnish-John family’s favourite storybooks”. He continued: “It champions an all-inclusive world where families come in all shapes, sizes and colours. And most importantly, that families are about love. Our boys adore it.
And in the opposing corner we have Luigi Brugnaro, the extremely silly looking mayor of Venice.” Brugnaro, elected at the end of May on an independent centre-right ticket, has banned 49 books he said promoted gender theory and gay marriage.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Could a Strike by Poles Bring Down Britain?
Firstly, they won’t because so many eastern Europeans work in areas where they have so few working rights. That’s why big business likes them, and why many working-class natives resent their arrival.
Then as we see in the cultural latrine that is London for the rest of the UK the debasement and displacement of the natives to be replaced by the submissive tribalism of a miscegenetic workforce that has no claim to the land which they labour upon. In this war of ancestral negation the litigation of good commerce is the slight of hand bearing the multicultural sword of self-decapitation.
Well Jolie, as an immigrant to London (from the north of England, 46 years ago) I don’t recognise your “cultural latrine”. Yes, there are problems with some immigrants, particularly some muslims, and a handful of others, but it’s not Paris or Marseille- or even Bradford or Rotherham.
Hello! Glad to know the famous Gates are interested in our little pushback pocket in Spartanburg, SC. Good timing. Things are coming to a head here with the Assistant Secretary of State Ann Richards deigning to pay us a personal visit next week, prayers and moral support are definitely needed. This could even turn out to be a Gates of Vienna moment, though Spartanburg is no Vienna. As you know, God works in mysterious ways and His favors often fall on the lowliest of His creatures.
This is insane: http://www.clarionproject.org/news/bombshell-un-allow-iran-inspect-own-military-sites
Everyone in the U.S. please contact senators using this link: http://www.florida-family.org/take_action_mobile.php?message=259