Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/26/2015

Vester Flanagan, a disgruntled former employee of a TV station in Southwest Virginia, went to Moneta (a town not all that far from here) to the scene of a live TV interview by station employees and shot three people. The cameraman and the young woman conducting the interview were killed. The woman being interviewed was seriously wounded and is in the hospital. The shooter later shot and killed himself. In internet postings before he died, he indicated that his actions had been motivated by anger over the massacre in Charleston last June (Mr. Flanagan was black, and also reportedly gay).

In other news, the Swedish coast guard found around forty dead would-be migrants in the hold of a drifting traffickers’ boat off the coast of Libya. The boat was one of a number of such vessels, from which more than 2,000 refugees were rescued.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, DF, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, LP, ML, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» China’s Journey From New Normal to Stock Market Crisis Epicenter
» U.S. Markets Close About 4% Higher
» What if the “Crash” Is as Rigged as Everything Else?
 
USA
» Black Sheriff: Most Black Problems ‘Self-Inflicted’
» Gunman Shoots Reporter and Cameraman Dead on Live TV Morning Show
» Had Enough Crime Yet, America?
» Hillary Clinton Emails Reveal Questionable Support for Overthrow of Elected Government in Honduras
» Intel Inside… Literally?
» Killer’s Manifesto? TV Gunman Sent Bizarre Message to ABC After Murders
» National Rifle Association Suing Seattle Over ‘Gun Violence Tax’
» Spiral of Violence in Baltimore
» Suspect in Murder of Journalists on Live TV Shoots Himself
» The Truth About ‘Black Lives Matter’
» Trump Spars With TV Reporters Megyn Kelly and Jorge Ramos
» TSA Airport Style Searches Begins on All Amtrak Trains
» Vester Flanagan: A ‘Human Powder Keg’
» Video: Red Dawn 2015 Exposed
» Virginia Man Sought in Killing of TV Crew Commits Suicide
 
Europe and the EU
» At Least 800 Islamist Extremists Are Ready to Launch Attacks in Europe After Returning From Iraq and Syria, Intelligence Services Warn
» Austrian Found Guilty of Nazi Facebook Post
» Belgium: Thalys Terror Attack Suspect’s Sister Questioned
» Belgian WWII Nurse Who Helped Save Many US Troops Dies
» Cancer-Sniffing Dogs to Aid British Doctors
» Danish Home Guard to Rearm After Terror Attack
» Dutch MPs Criticise US Trade Treaty Secrecy, Want TTIP Openness
» EU Funds Spent on ‘Brutal Revamp’ of Romania’s Saxon Churches
» Finland ‘In No Position’ To Defend Baltic States
» Finland: Anti-Multiculturalism MP Temporarily Steps Down From Parliamentary Group
» Finnish Exports to Russia Down More Than 35 Percent
» ISIS to Target EU Nations, French Interior Minister
» Italy: Another Two Romanians Nabbed for Robbing, Raping Old Woman
» Italy: Suffrage Mass for Crime Boss Casamonica Week After Funeral
» Italy: Spumante Exports Up 20%, Coldiretti Says
» Poland Drought: Jewish Tombstones and Fighter Plane Uncovered as Rivers Run Dry
» Politics Derail Poland’s Quest for the Euro
» Pope Calls for Prayers to Stem ‘Ecological Crisis’
» Spain Becomes Nation of Stoners as Popularity of Cannabis Clubs Soars
» Spain: Fury as Archaeological Site Ruined and Replaced With Picnic Table
» Thousands Flock to La Tomatina for Spain’s Epic Tomato Throwing Battle
» Tolkien’s First, ‘Undeniably Darkest’ Prose to be Published
» UK: Grandfather-of-Six Suffered Horrific Injuries After a Thug Repeatedly Stamped on His Head Because He Rushed to the Aid of a Woman Being Racially Abused
» UK: More Than 100 Rotherham Police Officers Investigated Over Ignored Allegations of Rape and Child Sexual Exploitation
 
Balkans
» Athens Condemns Demolition of Orthodox Church in Albania (1)
» Athens Condemns Demolition of Orthodox Church in Albania (2)
» Serbia and Kosovo Sign ‘Landmark’ Deal
 
North Africa
» Arrested Jihadists Were Planning “Massacres” in Spain and Morocco
» Egypt: Two Policemen Killed, ISIS Claims Responsability
 
Middle East
» Assad ‘Confident’ of Russian Support for Syria Regime
» Iraqi Kurdish Forces Attack is Positions Near Oil City of Kirkuk, Say 25 Militants Killed
» Muslim Cleric Who Issued Fatwa Permitting WMD Pledges Allegiance to Islamic State
» Saudi Arrested in 1996 Khobar Towers Truck Bombing That Killed 19 US Servicemen
» Young Media-Savvy Lebanese Rally Public Over Trash Crisis, Challenging Entire Political Class
 
Russia
» Horses for Sale in Ukraine’s Privatisation Drive
» Russia Sends ‘Murder’ Suspect Back to Sweden
 
South Asia
» Catholics in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Use Rosary and Website Against Human Trafficking
» Fear and Despair in Kashmir as India-Pakistan Talks Falter
» Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Appeals for Calm After Violent Caste Protests
» Indian Anti-Corruption Official: State “Orchestrated” Islamist Terror
» Men in Afghan Uniforms Kill 2 American NATO Soldiers in Base Attack
» Renewed Clashes in Nepal Over New Constitution
 
Far East
» Off the Grid: North Korean Sub Fleet’s Mystery Mission
» Vietnam Seizes Illegal Ivory From Malaysia
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Guide Placed Himself Between Tourists and Charging Lion to Protect Tourists in Zimbabwean Park
 
Latin America
» Venezuela and Colombia Hold Talks to Cool Tensions Over Border Crackdown
 
Immigration
» Austria Draws on Army in Migrant Crisis
» Balkan States Snub Greece in Talks on Immigation
» Belgium: At Least 100 Asylum Seekers Spend the Night on the Street
» Czech Republic Advocates Use of Army to Protect Borders
» Divided Europe Faces Mounting Migrant Crisis
» Donald Trump Goes Head to Head With Univision Reporter on Immigration
» EU to Give €1.5mn to Serbia and Macedonia
» Finland: Mental Health Care in Short Supply for War-Ravaged Refugees
» Finnish President: Europe Endangered by “Ring of Violence”
» German Chancellor Merkel Booed by Anti-Refugee Protesters
» Greek Coast Guard Rescues Hundreds of Refugees, Migrants
» Hungary Deploys Police to Stem the Influx of Refugees and Other Migrants
» Israel Releases African Migrants From Detention Centre
» Italy Rebukes Merkel on Migration Remarks
» Italy Hits Back at Merkel in Migrants Row
» Italy: Gentiloni Rejects Franco-German Criticism on Migrants
» Merkel Booed by Crowd at Refugee Centre
» President Joachim Gauck Criticizes ‘Dark Germany’
» Swedes Discover Dead Migrants Off Libya Coast
» Sweden’s Populist Surge Unrestrained Immigration Has Triggered an Instinct for Self-Preservation
» ‘The Wave Has Reached Us’: EU Gropes for Answers to Migrant Surge
 
Culture Wars
» Atheists Force Jesus Christ Out of Public School
» Italy: Fury as Venice Mayor Bans Pride Parades
» Planned Parenthood Organ Buyer: “I’m a Huge Hillary Fan… She’s Getting Elected This Time”
» ‘Sexist’ Paris Streets Renamed in Feminist Stunt
 

China’s Journey From New Normal to Stock Market Crisis Epicenter

China finds itself at the epicenter of a global stock market rout that has vaporized $8 trillion in wealth. Nobody is quite sure whether the world’s No. 2 economy is really growing at 7 percent, as official figures suggest, or 6 percent — or actually careening toward a hard landing.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

U.S. Markets Close About 4% Higher

The United States stock markets surged late in the day, with the Dow Jones industrial average jumping more than 600 points after a late afternoon rally.

The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, a broad measure of the United States market, was up about 3.9 percent. The much-narrower Dow Jones industrial average gained almost 4 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained more than 4 percent.

           — Hat tip: DF [Return to headlines]
 

What if the “Crash” Is as Rigged as Everything Else?

Take your pick — here’s three good reasons to engineer a “crash” that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

There is an almost touching faith that markets are rigged when they loft higher, but unrigged when they crash. Who’s to say this crash isn’t rigged? A few things about this “crash” (11% decline from all time highs now qualifies as a “crash”) don’t pass the sniff test.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Black Sheriff: Most Black Problems ‘Self-Inflicted’

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke went on national television and told Fox News host Sean Hannity most of the problems in the black community, of which he’ s part, are “ self-inflicted,” a statistical fact liberals are only too anxious to ignore.

“ It’ s the elephant in the room,” he said, Breitbart reported. “ Especially the liberal mainstream media does not want to acknowledge, because it doesn’ t fit their false narrative about what’ s going on in the American ghetto.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Gunman Shoots Reporter and Cameraman Dead on Live TV Morning Show

Hunt for killer who was caught in horrifying video of attack

A gunman is on the loose after killing two broadcast journalists in a shooting that was captured on live television in Moneta, Virginia early Wednesday morning.

WDBJ cameraman Adam Ward was filming reporter Alison Parker interviewing Vicki Gardner, the local chamber of commerce director, for a light-hearted segment at 6:45am when about eight shots rang out.

Screams are then heard as the women duck and the camera falls to the floor. A person dressed in all black is then seen standing nearby with what appears to be a gun raised in one hand pointed at Ward.

The general manager at the CBS station later came on the air to confirm Parker and Ward’s deaths. Parker was 24 and Ward was 27.

Police say they know who the suspect is and are currently chasing the shooter on Interstate 81. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe says the gunman is believed to be a disgruntled employee of the station…

           — Hat tip: LP [Return to headlines]
 

Had Enough Crime Yet, America?

[WARNING: ** Disturbing Content **]

The Los Angeles Times reports, “State by state, the death penalty is losing ground.” They should have just reported that “State by state, the government is advocating murder.” These are the same state governments that sanction the murder of innocent children in the womb.

“Last week, in a landmark 4-3 decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court found that the death penalty violates the state’s constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that abolition must, therefore, extend to everyone. The 11 prisoners on the state’s death row, plus a 12th man facing a death sentence, have been spared.”

Let me show you cruel and unusual punishment in one such incident concerning those who will live the rest of the natural lives off the backs of the American taxpayer. Joshua A Komisarjevsky and Steven J. Hayes murdered Jennifer Hawke-Petit, along with her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11.

Komisarjevsky raped the 11-year-old, Michaela. Komisarjevsky, who had photographed the sexual assault of the youth on his cell phone, then provoked Hayes to rape Hawke-Petit. While Hayes was raping Hawke-Petit on the floor of her living room, Komisarjevsky entered the room announcing that William Petit (the father who was bludgeoned in the head with a baseball bat) had escaped. Hayes then strangled Hawke-Petit, doused her lifeless body and parts of the house, including the daughters’ rooms, with gasoline. The daughters, while tied to their beds, had both been doused with gasoline; each had her head covered with a pillowcase. A fire was then ignited, and Hayes and Komisarjevsky fled the scene. Hayley and Michaela both died from smoke inhalation.

William Petit, the sole survivor of the Cheshire home invasion, criticized the majority’s decision. “The dissenting justices clearly state how the four members of the majority have disregarded keystones of our governmental structure such as the separation of powers and the role of judicial precedent to reach the decision they hand down today,” Petit wrote…

Why are people so soft on crime? Is it because crime pays? The correctional institutions make over $65 billion a year. Slave labor anyone?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary Clinton Emails Reveal Questionable Support for Overthrow of Elected Government in Honduras

Some of the recently released emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server show a link between Clinton and members of a coup that removed Honduras’ elected president, Manuel Zelaya, from office.

After the left-leaning Zelaya was driven from office in June 2009, Roberto Micheletti was installed as interim president. Clinton reached out through Lanny Davis, who served as a Clinton adviser during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and now acts as a crisis communications advisor to those with image problems, to contact Micheletti. Davis was employed to work on behalf of the post-coup Honduran government, according to Bill Conroy at Narco News.

The U.S. government did its best to support the ouster of Zelaya. It blocked a resolution by the Organization of American States that would have required Zelaya’s return as a pre-condition for staging an election. The United States also refused to call the change in government a military coup, which would have meant a cutoff in aid to Honduras.

The interim government scheduled an election for November 2009. In the run-up to the vote, there was violence against anti-coup organizers and opposition rallies. The pro-coup faction won the election with many opposition candidates boycotting the contest. Although observers and officials from other Latin American countries questioned the fairness of the vote, U.S. State Department officials called it “free, fair and transparent.”

Since the election of President Porfirio Lobo Sosa in 2009 and the subsequent election of Juan Orlando Hernández in 2014, conditions have deteriorated in Honduras. University of California- Santa Cruz history professor Dana Frank, an expert on human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras, told Narco News previously that the “2009 military coup that deposed democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya…opened the door to a free-for-all of criminality in Honduras.”

“Since then,” she added, “organized crime, drug traffickers and gangs have flourished, worming their way ever-higher within the Honduran government, courts, attorney general’s office and congress.” Honduras is generally credited with having the highest murder rate in the world.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Intel Inside… Literally?

Intel is one of the world’s most recognisable technology brands. But with a disappointing presence in the smartphone market, where will Intel turn for future success?

One of Intel’s marketing masterstrokes in the 1990s was coming up with the Intel Inside chime.

And it’s headed, inside. Literally. Inside your body.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Killer’s Manifesto? TV Gunman Sent Bizarre Message to ABC After Murders

The man who killed a reporter and her cameraman on live television Wednesday is believed to have sent a chilling manifesto to ABC News hours later, calling himself a “human powder keg” and detailing a long list of grievances.

Vester Lee Flanagan, who killed himself along a Virginia highway some time after allegedly faxing the 23-page manifesto to the network news office, blamed his rage on the June 17 shootings of nine black worshipers in a Charleston, S.C., church, grievances he had while working as a reporter with the two victims and discrimination he faced as a gay, black man.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

National Rifle Association Suing Seattle Over ‘Gun Violence Tax’

The National Rifle Association announced Monday it is suing Seattle for violating a state law preventing local municipalities from issuing their own firearm regulations.

The NRA, along with the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Second Amendment Foundation, filed the suit Monday morning at King County Superior Court.

Executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action Chris Cox claimed that a similar battle was fought by anti-gun activists in Seattle in 2009 to no avail, adding that it is a shame to witness such a waste of public resources on issues that have been deemed to be clear violations of state laws.

In response, City Attorney Pete Holmes said that the tax actually does fall within the purview of the city’s taxing authority.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Spiral of Violence in Baltimore

Baltimore is one of the poorest and most dangerous cities in the US. The Safe Streets organization cooperates with social workers to reach teenagers on the streets and intervene in violent situations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Suspect in Murder of Journalists on Live TV Shoots Himself

Two members of a local TV station’s news team were fatally shot Wednesday during a live TV broadcast near Roanoke, Va., setting off an intense manhunt that ended with the suspect shooting himself, State Police said.

WDBJ7-TV said the suspect, Vester Flanagan, 41, is a former employee who had been fired for reasons it did not reveal. Flanagan, who used the name Bryce Williams while working for WDBJ, posted video on his Facebook page showing the shooting from the perspective of the shooter. The gun is visible and a victim, Alison Parker, is seen being shot.

The shooting took place at about 6:45 a.m., at Smith Mountain Lake, a resort about 35 miles from Roanoke. Killed were Parker, 24, a WDBJ7 reporter, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27. A woman being interviewed was wounded.

           — Hat tip: ML [Return to headlines]
 

The Truth About ‘Black Lives Matter’

Paul Joseph Watson appears on ‘Louder With Crowder’ to break down the origins of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, how its inspiration is a convicted cop killer who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, and what its true agenda really is.

A new poll also suggests that the majority of African-Americans don’t identify with the Black Lives Matter movement.

So who is really pushing it and for what purpose?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Trump Spars With TV Reporters Megyn Kelly and Jorge Ramos

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has clashed with two television reporters.

He revived his feud with the Fox News channel host Megyn Kelly — who returned to her show on Monday after a break — saying she must have had a bad holiday because “she’s really off her game”.

Fox News chief Roger Ailes has demanded an apology, describing the business mogul’s verbal attack as “disturbing”.

Separately, Mr Trump had a journalist ejected from a news conference.

Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos was trying to question Mr Trump about his call to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the US and build a wall the length of the Mexican border.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

TSA Airport Style Searches Begins on All Amtrak Trains

Our government is stepping up its plans to search EVERYONE, ANYWHERE, whether you’re travelling by air, rail, ferry or bus. Beginning this week and almost four years since writers warned Americans that our government wants to search people on trains, its finally become a reality! The Baltimore Sun reported Amtrak will begin searching all passengers: “Passengers failing to consent to security procedures will be denied access to trains.”

Just who will be conducting these security procedures? Why, Amtrak employees and police of course. If an Amtrak employee questions you, its because they’re trained to suspect EVERYONE.

Since 2010 Amtrak’s’ Blue Campaign’ has been used as an excuse to identify suspected human traffickers.

Men — traveling with children will be subject to enhanced scrutiny. Perhaps Amtrak’s employees will engage children in conversation or demand a statement of their relationship status with the accompanying adults.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Vester Flanagan: A ‘Human Powder Keg’

The man who accused of killing two broadcast journalists in Virginia has been identified as Vester Lee Flanagan, a former employee at the station where the victims worked.

Police said Flanagan, 41, of Roanoke, Virginia, shot himself and later died after the murders on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Video: Red Dawn 2015 Exposed

Red Dawn is here, but it is not an outside enemy as depicted in the mid 80’s classic Red Dawn. It’s actually the enemy within, the enemy that is behind the gates that is the true danger.

Hear in their own words as Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid, Gen. Wesley Clark, the policy makers, make statements which reveal their true agenda: to intern patriots and freedom loving Americans and then watch the foot soldiers like police and main stream media carry the torch of tyranny.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Virginia Man Sought in Killing of TV Crew Commits Suicide

A former reporter who was fired by a Virginia television station shot and killed two of the station’s journalists as they broadcast live on Wednesday morning, officials said, recording the act on video himself, and then posting the video online.

A reporter, Alison Parker, 24, and Adam Ward, 27, a cameraman, were killed, according to their station, WDBJ, while the person they were interviewing, Vicki Gardner, was wounded and underwent surgery, and was listed in stable condition.

After leading the police on a high-speed pursuit, the gunman shot himself in the head, and later died, officials said.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

At Least 800 Islamist Extremists Are Ready to Launch Attacks in Europe After Returning From Iraq and Syria, Intelligence Services Warn

Around 800 jihadists have returned to Europe to launch attacks after being trained by extremists in Iraq and Syria, intelligence services have warned.

Counter-terrorism officers said the fanatics had been recruited by the Islamic State or Al Qaeda-linked groups and were waiting for the order to strike on the Continent.

Around half of the 700 Britons who have travelled to fight in the Middle East have also returned, with some believed to be planning attacks in the UK.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austrian Found Guilty of Nazi Facebook Post

A 28-year-old Austrian man who called for Jews to be gassed in a Facebook post was sentenced to eight months in prison on Tuesday by Wels Provincial Court.

The defendant, who was found guilty of incitement, posted a message on Facebook last September referring to the conflict in Gaza that read: “Show no photos of our dead brothers, children, women. Show only photos of their women and children…”. He is also said to have written: “Death to the Jews, I would gas them”, “Hitler showed the world that he was right, Sieg Heil!”.

A second defendant, a 26-year-old man who commented on the post with the words “Sieg Heil! Adolf Hitler”, was acquitted by the court.

Both men were born in Turkey but have Austrian citizenship and live in the city of Wels.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: Thalys Terror Attack Suspect’s Sister Questioned

The sister of Ayoub El Khazzani, the suspect in the case of the averted terror attack on the Brussels-Paris high-speed Thalys train, and her husband have been questioned by investigators. They reported to the police themselves. Police had raided her home in Molenbeek (Brussels) on Tuesday afternoon as more details on the suspect’s whereabouts are popping up.

Unconfirmed news reports claim that El Khazzani stayed at his sister’s place in the weeks before the averted attack. Francophone newspapers are citing several local residents that spotted him in the area where she is living, the Brussels districts of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian WWII Nurse Who Helped Save Many US Troops Dies

A Belgian nurse who helped save hundreds of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge at the end of World War II has died. She was 94.

Augusta Chiwy died on Sunday and will be buried in the town of Bastogne, southeast Belgium on Saturday following a civilian and military ceremony, according to her family.

The Battle of the Bulge came during the final stages of World War II when Adolf Hitler launched a major offensive against Allied forces. About 80,000 American soldiers were killed, captured or wounded.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cancer-Sniffing Dogs to Aid British Doctors

They’re known as man’s best friend; but dogs could soon also be their greatest ally in the fight against prostate cancer. Britain’s National Health Service recently approved a trial for dogs capable of sniffing out prostate cancer in the hope that it could show up inaccuracies in the current PSA (prostate specific antigen) test.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Home Guard to Rearm After Terror Attack

Six months after some 4,300 volunteer members of the Danish Home Guard were told to disassemble their rifles in the aftermath of the Copenhagen terror attacks, members will once again be allowed to keep functioning weapons at home.

The two men who were killed in the February 14-15 terror attack in Copenhagen were shot with a M95 rifle that had previously been stolen from the home of a Danish Home Guard (Hjemmeværnet) member. As a result, the Home Guard in early March required all Home Guard members to turn in the bolts to their rifles, making them unable to be fired.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Dutch MPs Criticise US Trade Treaty Secrecy, Want TTIP Openness

Dutch MPs from across the political spectrum are demanding answers on the European Commission’s decision to stop sending them details of the negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The aim of the proposed free trade deal between the EU and US is to cut tariffs, standardise regulations and simplify investment, but it is facing strong resistance from consumers and others who are worried about the impact on Dutch suppliers and food safety standards. Trade commissioner Cecilia Malmström announced last week that reports on the next round of negotiations would no longer be sent to member states — Germany in particular — but placed in a secure reading room in Brussels. That decision, taken after a string of leaks, has already led Germany to make a formal protest.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Funds Spent on ‘Brutal Revamp’ of Romania’s Saxon Churches

In Transylvania, centuries-old churches are being “brutally revamped” using EU funds. Original features have been stripped in restoration projects mired in corruption. Luke Dale-Harris reports from Sibiu.

Across almost all the churches, conservationists are reporting the same things. They describe how traditional plaster was hacked off with power drills and replaced with cement, traditional wooden beams were sawed through with chainsaws and ancient engraved tiles deliberately smashed to make way for new, bright red factory-made tiles. Archeological surveys were either missed out completely or carried out quickly and inadequately.

“It is a disastrous mix of corruption and the desire to get as much money out of the EU as possible for these projects that cause the problems,” says Hans Hedrich, co-founder of the heritage and environment conservation NGO Neuer Weg. “It means no one is interested in how the project looks or what is destroyed, but only how much money they can get for themselves and their friends’ companies.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland ‘In No Position’ To Defend Baltic States

Finland is in no position to help defend its Baltic neighbours and fellow EU members Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania should it become necessary, president Sauli Niinisto told Finnish ambassadors on Tuesday. Finland’s eastern border with Russia is longer than that of all the Nato countries put together, he noted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Anti-Multiculturalism MP Temporarily Steps Down From Parliamentary Group

More than a month after calling on Facebook for a fight against “the nightmare called multiculturalism”, Finns Party MP Olli Immonen finally faced the media, and accused them of sensationalist reporting. Immonen’s remarks in July spurred politicians to speak out against racism and sparked tens of thousands of people to attend pro-diversity demonstrations around the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finnish Exports to Russia Down More Than 35 Percent

Finnish exports to Russia have been declining since 2013, when Russia was still Finland’s largest trading partner. Finnish Customs reported Tuesday that exports to the eastern neighbour had fallen 35 percent in the months up to May this year compared to 2014, reflecting a shrinkage of exports in almost every sector.

Traditionally Finland’s largest trading partner, Russia now ranks fifth among Finland’s most important export destinations. Germany has overtaken Russia to become the country’s biggest export market.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS to Target EU Nations, French Interior Minister

European Union countries are a target for the Islamic State (ISIS) and attacks are being thwarted daily in France, according to the country’s interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

The minister was speaking on the France Inter radio station on Wednesday morning. ‘‘What we can say,’’ he said in discussing the recent Amsterdam-Paris train attack, ‘‘is that there is a link between this organization and those that are committing crimes.’’ ‘‘We thwart attacks every day,’’ Cazeneuve said, ‘‘and we systematically see that there are links’’ with ISIS. ‘‘We have brought in a law on the secret services to prevent terrorist acts that will be applied in a few weeks,’’ he added, ‘‘and we’ve multiplied security measures within the current context of unprecedented risk.’’ Cazeneuve announced that EU interior and transport ministers would be meeting on Saturday in Paris for a summit at which ‘‘we will see whether it will be possible to be even more effective.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Another Two Romanians Nabbed for Robbing, Raping Old Woman

Used Taser to stun victim

(ANSA) — Bari, August 26 — Italian police on Wednesday arrested the remaining two members of a three-man Romanian gang that on August 17 burgled, beat and raped a 69-year-old woman in Bari.

The pair were said to be aged 39 and 42.

Already in police custody was a 26-year-old Romanian, Daniel Flavius Lunga, who is believed to be the sole perpetrator of the rape.

The three used a Taser to stun the woman.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Suffrage Mass for Crime Boss Casamonica Week After Funeral

Tension between reporters and relatives amid tight security

(ANSA) — Rome, August 26 — A suffrage mass was held in memory of Roman crime boss Vittorio Casamonica under extraordinarily tight security Wednesday just a week after the notorious mobster’s grandiose funeral outraged Italians and the political establishment.

The mass was celebrated simply in the church of San Girolamo Emiliani at the suburb of Casal Moreno with a heavy presence of plainclothes police on hand.

Female mourners attending the mass covered their faces to avoid being filmed by television cameras.

Many friends of the boss attending wore black suits or tee-shirts or sported beards in sign of mourning.

Egidia Casamonica, a niece of the boss said “if there are journalists here they make us more important. We are famous, more important than VIPs.” At the end of the mass there were moments of tension as relatives of Casamonica pushed reporters jostling to interview them.

“Don’t provoke us, have some respect,” relatives said before plainclothes cops intervened to restore order.

“This is not mafia,” Egidia claimed, “We don’t make war. We are pacifists. We throw flowers, not bombs like ISIS”.

Rose petals were dropped from a helicopter onto Vittorio Casamonica’s horse-drawn hearse last week as the strains of The Godfather theme were played.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Spumante Exports Up 20%, Coldiretti Says

Research presented at farmers’ association pavilion at Expo

(ANSA) — PALERMO, AUGUST 26 — Italian spumante exports are at a record high, up 20% in the first five months of 2015, according to farmers’ association Coldiretti.

Coldiretti President Roberto Moncalvo presented the analysis, based on research data from national statistics bureau ISTAT, at the association’s Expo pavilion “No Farmers, No Party”.

According to the data, the most popular type of spumante is Prosecco, followed by Asti and Franciacorta.

“Never before has so much Italian sparkling wine been consumed abroad,” Coldiretti said.

The data showed that the top two spumante importers are the United States (up 49%) and the United Kingdom (up 55%).

Last year Italian spumante exports surpassed those of French champagne, with 320 million bottles for the former against 307 million bottles for the latter.

The sparkling wine boom is helping to support the entire wine sector, and the harvest just now starting is the second-earliest since World War II, with a result that looks optimal in both quality and quantity, thanks to a favorable climate that this year produced 44 million hectolitres.

“In Italy wine and spumante generate nearly 9.5 billion in sales, with 1.25 million people in various positions involved,” Moncalvo said.

“They are the true ‘Made in Italy’ calling card, and this is the sector that has benefited the most from the carryover effect of Expo”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Poland Drought: Jewish Tombstones and Fighter Plane Uncovered as Rivers Run Dry

Prolonged drought has seen rivers fall to record lows, throwing up archaeological remnants and relics of Poland’s wartime past

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Politics Derail Poland’s Quest for the Euro

In the wake of the Greek crisis, Poles oppose joining the euro. Poland’s conservatives have made preventing euro adoption their focus this election year. They are leading in the polls, says Rafal Kiepuszewski in Warsaw.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pope Calls for Prayers to Stem ‘Ecological Crisis’

Mums and dads ‘deserve Nobel’ says Francis

(ANSA) — Vatican City, August 26 -Pope Francis called for prayers Wednesday to overcome “the ecological crisis that humanity is living” and told thousands of pilgrims and tourists that mums and dads deserve the Nobel prize for finding time to run busy family lives.

Speaking to a crowd of 10,000 people in his weekly general audience, the 100th such audience he has held since his election, the Argentine pontiff urged the faithful to take part on Tuesday September 1 in the world Day of prayer for care of the created.

“In communion with our orthodox brothers and with all people of good will, we want to offer our contribution to overcoming the ecological crisis that humanity is living,” the pope said.

“In the whole world the local churches have planned prayer initiatives and prayers of reflection, to make that Day a powerful moment in view also of adopting a compatible lifestyle,” said Francis.

“With the bishops, priests, consecrated people and lay faithful of the Roman Curia, we will meet at the Basilica of St peter’s at 1700 hours for the Liturgy of the Word, to which all Romans are invited to attend, and all pilgrims and anyone wishing”.

Francis also mulled the problems of managing family time, saying “family time, we know well, is complicated time, crowded, busy, anxious — it is never enough, there are always so many things to do.” “Those with a family learn to resolve an equation that not even great mathematicians know how to solve — how to make 24 hours become double”.

“There are mums and dads who could win the Nobel prize,” Francis quipped.

“I don’t know how they do it, but they get on with it and they do. There is so much work in a family”.

Francis made a brief tour of the square in his topless popemobile jeep during the audience, greeting the crowd and blessing them to warm applause.

Theme of the audience was time for prayer. The pope noted that “there is something dear to my heart, and that I have seen in many cities — there are children who have not learned to make the sign of the cross”.

“But you, mum and dad, teach your child to pray, to make the sign of the cross. This is a beautiful duty for mum and dad”.

Francis also stressed the need to say grace at meals. “ “The Gospel read in the family is like bread that nourishes the heart of everyone,” he said.

“And the morning and the evening, when we sit down at the table, let’s learn to say a prayer, with so much simplicity — to Jesus who comes among us”.

“The spirit of prayer reconsigns time to God, exits from the obsession of a life where there is never enough time, refinds the peace of necessary things, and discovers the joy of unexpected gifts,” the Roman Catholic leader continued.

“Prayer emerges from listening to Jesus, reading the Gospel, confidence with the Word of God,” Francis went on.

“Do we have this confidence in our family? Do we have the Gospel in our home? Do we open it from time to time? Do we meditate on it together with reciting the rosary?” “Christians’ most common complaint regards their time,” the pope said, “‘I ought to pray more … but often I have no time’. We here this continuously. The displeasure is sincere, certainly, because the human heart is always searching for prayer, and if it doesn’t find it has no peace. For them to meet, one has to cultivate in the heart a warm ‘love’ for God, an affectionate love,” the pope said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Spain Becomes Nation of Stoners as Popularity of Cannabis Clubs Soars

Spain has overtaken the Netherlands as a marijuana smoking nation and is third in the world behind Iceland and the United States, new data shows.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain: Fury as Archaeological Site Ruined and Replaced With Picnic Table

Builders in a Galician village confused a neolithic tomb with a broken stone picnic table and replaced the 6,000-year-old artefact with a brand spanking new concrete bench.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Thousands Flock to La Tomatina for Spain’s Epic Tomato Throwing Battle

Thousands of half-naked revellers pelted each other with tomatoes on Wednesday in the town of Buñol in eastern Spain, bathing the streets with red goo in the 70th annual “Tomatina” battle.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Tolkien’s First, ‘Undeniably Darkest’ Prose to be Published

The first prose piece by “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien is to be published in Britain on Thursday, a version of an epic Finnish poem that experts describe as “undeniably his darkest work”.

Written in 1914-1915 when Tolkien was still a student at Oxford University, “The Story of Kullervo” shows the young author “finding his feet”, Vincent Ferre, professor of comparative literature at University Paris Est-Créteil told AFP.

Fascinated by ancient languages from a young age, Tolkien was taken by the 19th century work of epic poetry, Kalevala, a compilation of mythology and folklore which tells the story of Kullervo.

The story is “the first time that J.R.R. Tolkien, who had been a poet until then, began writing prose,” Ferre, a Tolkien expert, said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Grandfather-of-Six Suffered Horrific Injuries After a Thug Repeatedly Stamped on His Head Because He Rushed to the Aid of a Woman Being Racially Abused

[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]

A grandfather-of-six was left with horrific injuries after a thug repeatedly stamped on his head when he rushed to the aid of a woman being racially abused.

Christopher Gibson, 56, was brutally attacked when he came across Simon Crooks, 30, shouting ‘n*****’ at a woman in the street in Hulme, Manchester.

Mr Gibson witnessed the racial abuse as he walked to the supermarket to do his elderly mother’s shopping and verbally challenged Crooks as he became increasingly concerned about his behaviour.

However, when Mr Gibson approached Crooks, the thug yelled ‘and what?’ before kicking and punching the father-of-eight to the ground.

As Mr Gibson, a telesales worker from Stockport, Greater Manchester, lay helpless on the floor, Crooks repeatedly kicked him in the head — stamping at least three times with all his force — until he lost consciousness.

Crooks, of Whalley Range, Manchester, then spat on Mr Gibson — which was ultimately the DNA proof needed to catch the criminal.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: More Than 100 Rotherham Police Officers Investigated Over Ignored Allegations of Rape and Child Sexual Exploitation

Investigators looking at how the police treated complaints of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham say they are now working to identify more than 100 officers.

The Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC) said it is continuing to examine police conduct exactly a year on from the publication of the Jay Report, which shocked the nation with the scale of child rape, trafficking and grooming it uncovered in the South Yorkshire town.

Professor Alexis Jay’s report described how more than 1,400 children were sexually exploited by gangs of mainly Asian males in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Athens Condemns Demolition of Orthodox Church in Albania (1)

Greece has condemned the demolition on Wednesday of an orthodox church in the village of Dhermi, on the southwest coast of Albania.

“The destruction of holy sites and objects of worship took place, at least until recently, in the wider region of the Middle East and North Africa, at the hands of jihadists. Today we also saw such an act carried out in our neighboring country, Albania,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantinos Koutras told journalists in Athens Wednesday.

“No one is more ungrateful than a beneficiary,” he said.

Athens was expected to lodge an official complaint with Albanian authorities and the international community.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Athens Condemns Demolition of Orthodox Church in Albania (2)

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, AUGUST 26 — Greece has condemned the demolition on Wednesday of an orthodox church in the village of Dhermi, on the southwest coast of Albania as Kathimerini online reports. “The destruction of holy sites and objects of worship took place, at least until recently, in the wider region of the Middle East and North Africa, at the hands of jihadists. Today we also saw such an act carried out in our neighboring country, Albania,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Constantinos Koutras told journalists in Athens Wednesday. “No one is more ungrateful than a beneficiary,” he said. Athens was expected to lodge an official complaint with Albanian authorities and the international community. On Monday, Greece’s Foreign Ministry called on Tirana to respect religious freedoms after local authorities had partially destroyed the interior of the Holy Church of Aghios Athanasios.

Albanian officials have said they intend to carry out excavations at the site in an attempt to discover the grave of Nilo Catalano, a Catholic missionary from the 17th Century.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Serbia and Kosovo Sign ‘Landmark’ Deal

Serbia and Kosovo reached agreement Tuesday (25 August) on key issues for better relations between the two countries, and between Albanian and Serbian people in Kosovo.

The deal, brokered in Brussels by EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini, establishes strong local powers for Kosovo areas with a Serbian majority.

Kosovo also took a step towards recognition by Serbia of Kosovo’s own international phone code.

“Today’s outcome represents landmark achievements in the normalisation process”, Mogherini said, adding that it’ll “enable the two sides to advance on their European path”.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia, together with five EU member states and 29 other countries, still don’t recognise Kosovo.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Arrested Jihadists Were Planning “Massacres” in Spain and Morocco

Spanish and Moroccan police believe that a network of 14 alleged jihadist terrorists dismantled in a joint operation carried out in Madrid and a number of cities in Morocco on Tuesday were planning Islamic State-style attacks in the two countries.

“They were aiming to mimic in Spain and Morocco the massacres carried out by Islamic State members with the intention of creating a climate of mass panic and instability,” the Spanish Interior Ministry said in a statement.

All those arrested — 13 in the Moroccan cities of Nador, Fez, Casablanca, Alhucemas and Driouch and one in the southern Madrid town of San Martín de la Vega — have been accused of recruiting and training people to join the ranks of Islamic State (IS) fighting in Syria and Iraq.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Egypt: Two Policemen Killed, ISIS Claims Responsability

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 26 — Two Egyptian police were killed on Wednesday morning in an attack in the northern Sinai. The two police were killed by shots to the head and chest, news agency MENA quoted security sources as saying. The Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate ‘Sinai Province’ has claimed responsibility for the attack. The jihadists have published photos online showing the corpse of one of the victims, adding that they ‘‘had killed the two policeman near a post office in Arish and that they had taken their weapons’’. The Egyptian interior ministry said that the attackers had not yet been identified.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Assad ‘Confident’ of Russian Support for Syria Regime

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said he is confident that Russia will continue supporting his embattled regime. Assad made the comments in an interview with Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television network.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah, along with Russia and Iran, have been Assad’s major allies since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.

“We have strong confidence in the Russians, as they have proven throughout this crisis, for four years, that they are sincere and transparent in their relationship with us,” Assad said in the interview.

Assad described Russia as “principled,” while criticizing the United States, a nation that the Syrian leader said, “abandons its allies, abandons its friends.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iraqi Kurdish Forces Attack is Positions Near Oil City of Kirkuk, Say 25 Militants Killed

The Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq says its peshmerga forces have killed 25 Islamic State militants and cleared nine villages south of the northern oil city of Kirkuk in a new offensive.

A statement by the Kurdistan Regional Security Council says Wednesday’s offensive began at dawn, involved 2,000 soldiers and enjoyed air support from a U.S.-led coalition.

The Kurdish region in northern Iraq has enjoyed self-rule since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Muslim Cleric Who Issued Fatwa Permitting WMD Pledges Allegiance to Islamic State

A prominent Saudi cleric and ally of Osama bin Laden who issued a 2003 fatwa permitting the use of weapons of mass destruction in jihad has pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State.

Nasser bin Hamad al-Fahd is behind bars in Saudi Arabia, but his direction for squabbling Muslim factions to unite behind Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph could have significant reach — along with the fresh distribution of his fatwas on social media networks.

“I advise you to join, all of you, the Islamic State and to pledge allegiance to its leader, Amir al-Mumineen Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — may Allah protect him — and fight under his banner,” al-Fahd wrote. “It is the state that raised the banner of Islam, and established Tawhid, and destroyed the idols, and implemented the Sharia. Allah has purified it from implementing man-made laws, from standing with the Disbelievers, and from supporting the Tawaghit, and has protected it from innovations, and misleading paths.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Arrested in 1996 Khobar Towers Truck Bombing That Killed 19 US Servicemen

A man described as the mastermind of the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing that killed 19 American servicemen in Saudi Arabia has been captured, a U.S. and a Saudi official said Wednesday, ending a nearly two-decade manhunt for one of the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists.

Ahmed al-Mughassil was arrested in Beirut and transferred to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Alawsat. The Saudi Interior Ministry and Lebanese authorities had no immediate comment on the capture.

The 48-year-old suspect was described by the FBI in 2001 as the head of the armed wing of the once-active but shadowy Saudi Hezbollah group. The FBI had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Young Media-Savvy Lebanese Rally Public Over Trash Crisis, Challenging Entire Political Class

BEIRUT — First they egged the prime minister’s building. Then they dumped some of the garbage piling up on Beirut’s streets outside the home of the environment minister, furious the government couldn’t get its act together to find a solution when Lebanon’s main landfill shut down.

But perhaps the most electrifying move by the young, tech-savvy group of activists was when they spread their catchy slogan “You Stink” across social media. It helped turn the trash crisis into a popular uprising against a political class that has dominated Lebanon since its civil war ended in 1990.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Horses for Sale in Ukraine’s Privatisation Drive

Ukraine’s government intends to privatise some 340 state-owned companies in the next few months in a sweeping programme that officials hope will reduce inefficiency, halt billions of dollars in losses and strike a decisive blow against corruption.

The programme’s authors have set an ultimate goal of selling off the more than 2,000 businesses belonging to the government, leaving only 15-20 “strategic” enterprises, like railroads and major utilities.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Sends ‘Murder’ Suspect Back to Sweden

Russia has extradited a man wanted for the attempted murder of an Uzbek dissident in Sweden in 2012, Swedish and Russian officials confirmed on Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Catholics in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei Use Rosary and Website Against Human Trafficking

Singapore (AsiaNews) — In the context of initiatives for the Year of Consecrated Life, Catholics in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei have launched a special campaign against human trafficking, a phenomenon that is closely related to their own region of South- East Asia. To spread awareness of the phenomenon and its impact, the religious of the three countries have launched a website studying the theme and inviting the faithful to pray the Rosary with this special intention. The recitation of the Rosary is based on the sorrowful mysteries and the whole prayer can be read and downloaded from the new website created for the initiative of Catholics against human trafficking, at saynotohumantrafficking.info . The website has been online since July 30, to coincide with the United Nations World Day against this modern form of slavery. Last month, during a meeting which in Johor Bahr (Malaysia), the Conference of Religious of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CRMS) unanimously approved the recitation of the Rosary and the launch of the website. They are part of the initiatives promoted by CRMS against human trafficking, a very topical problem. In fact, recently Malaysian police uncovered a new mass grave containing the bodies of 24 illegal immigrants. The grave was discovered in the state of Perlis, near the border with Thailand, not far from the other site where 139 bodies were discovered last May. According to authorities the 24 corpses belong to migrants kidnapped and held in horrific conditions in detention camps hidden from reach by criminal gangs, pending payment of a ransom for their release. In recent months the dramatic story of thousands of boat people in the seas of Southeast Asia has emerged in all of its brutality. The vast majority are migrant workers from Bangladesh and Muslim Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Even the Asian Church is committed to vigorously combatting this phenomenon, which last December Pope Francis described as a “abhorrent crime”. Commenting on the initiative, Fr. John Wong, a Franciscan monk and President of CRMS, stressed that it is part of “our prophetic stance that wants to give voice to the voiceless.” And in the year dedicated to Consecrated Life it is even more important that Catholics “are in solidarity with those who suffer” and speak on behalf of “women, men and children who have fallen into the net of modern slavery”.

Singapore (AsiaNews) — In the context of initiatives for the Year of Consecrated Life, Catholics in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei have launched a special campaign against human trafficking, a phenomenon that is closely related to their own region of South- East Asia.

To spread awareness of the phenomenon and its impact, the religious of the three countries have launched a website studying the theme and inviting the faithful to pray the Rosary with this special intention.

The recitation of the Rosary is based on the sorrowful mysteries and the whole prayer can be read and downloaded from the new website created for the initiative of Catholics against human trafficking, at

Last month, during a meeting which in Johor Bahr (Malaysia), the Conference of Religious of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (CRMS) unanimously approved the recitation of the Rosary and the launch of the website. They are part of the initiatives promoted by CRMS against human trafficking, a very topical problem.

In fact, recently Malaysian police uncovered a new mass grave containing the bodies of 24 illegal immigrants. The grave was discovered in the state of Perlis, near the border with Thailand, not far from the other site where 139 bodies were discovered last May.

According to authorities the 24 corpses belong to migrants kidnapped and held in horrific conditions in detention camps hidden from reach by criminal gangs, pending payment of a ransom for their release.

In recent months the dramatic story of thousands of boat people in the seas of Southeast Asia has emerged in all of its brutality. The vast majority are migrant workers from Bangladesh and Muslim Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

Even the Asian Church is committed to vigorously combatting this phenomenon, which last December Pope Francis described as a “abhorrent crime”. Commenting on the initiative, Fr. John Wong, a Franciscan monk and President of CRMS, stressed that it is part of “our prophetic stance that wants to give voice to the voiceless.” And in the year dedicated to Consecrated Life it is even more important that Catholics “are in solidarity with those who suffer” and speak on behalf of “women, men and children who have fallen into the net of modern slavery”.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Catholics-in-Singapore,-Malaysia-and-Brunei-use-rosary-and-website-against-human-trafficking-35120.html

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]
 

Fear and Despair in Kashmir as India-Pakistan Talks Falter

India and Pakistan aborted rare talks on their festering conflict in Kashmir this weekend under a cloud of recriminations, while on the front line, villagers cowering from artillery in mud huts despair of ever seeing lasting peace.

Pakistan’s National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz called off a trip to New Delhi for a planned “ice-breaking” meeting on Sunday with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval at the last minute amid a row over the agenda for the talks.

The cancellation dashed hopes of an imminent breakthrough in the nuclear-armed neighbours’ long-fraught relations.

Shelling across the de facto border, known as the Line of Control (LoC) in disputed Kashmir, has been on the rise this month, with several civilians killed.

The Himalayan region has been divided between India and Pakistan, but claimed in full by both, since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Appeals for Calm After Violent Caste Protests

Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, has appealed for peace in his home state of Gujarat after paramilitary troops were deployed and a curfew imposed to quell a violent caste protest.

An estimated half a million Patels earlier brought the main city of Ahmedabad to standstill for a rally where their firebrand young leader demanded more government jobs and college places for the Patidar caste.

But after Hardik Patel was arrested, stone-throwing protestors torched cars, buses and police stations as the rioting spread to other cities and towns. Three protesters were reported to have been shot dead in clashes with police, while several officers were injured.

The protests are rooted in the complex and highly-sensitive world of the Indian caste system and the government’s job and college quotas for disadvantaged communities. Some analysts have warned of the dangers of a “caste war” if the tensions are not eased.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Indian Anti-Corruption Official: State “Orchestrated” Islamist Terror

Mumbai atrocities enabled by intelligence operations of India, Pakistan and the United States

A senior Indian police officer and anti-corruption investigator last month accused the Indian government of orchestrating the Mumbai terror attacks which occurred nearly seven years ago, according to an Indian government official.

R. V. S. Mani, a former undersecretary in India’s home ministry now in the urban development ministry, testified in July that a senior police officer who investigated the 2004 ‘encounter killings’ of four Indian Muslims in Gujarat by the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch, had told him that the 2008 Mumbai attacks were “set up” by the Indian government.

The police officer, Satish Verma — currently Principal at the Police Training College in Junagadh — is well-known for his secondment to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India’s elite anti-corruption law enforcement agency, to lead the probe into the 2004 ‘encounter killings.’

The 2004 victims were Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year-old girl from Mumbra, Maharashtra, and three men — Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. Gujarat police authorities with the support of Indian government officials claimed that the killings were justified due to credible intelligence linking the four to Islamist terrorists.

Anti-corruption investigator blames government for terror

According to Mani, who has signed affidavits submitted to court on the encounter killings, Satish Verma privately accused successive Indian governments of “orchestrating” not only the Mumbai terror attacks, but also the December 2001 terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.

Verma made the allegations while questioning Mani on Indian government claims that intelligence proved Ishrat Jahan’s links to Islamist terrorists. According to the Times of India, the former home ministry official revealed in his affidavits that Verma had said the terror attacks were set up by the government “with the objective of strengthening the counter-terror legislation.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Men in Afghan Uniforms Kill 2 American NATO Soldiers in Base Attack

Two men wearing Afghan National Defense and Security Force uniforms opened fire Wednesday inside a military base in southern Afghanistan, killing two US NATO service members before being shot dead themselves, the international force said.

At the Pentagon Wednesday, Captain Jeff Davis told reporters he would not release their names or service citing notifications of next of kin and a 24 hour waiting period.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Renewed Clashes in Nepal Over New Constitution

Police clashed with more than a hundred demonstrators in the town of Gau on Tuesday as neighbor India called for calm. One person was killed, a day after the violence claimed nine lives.

Tensions escalated after members of parliament struck a deal on a new constitution, which was meant to cement peace after a 10-year insurgency led by former Maoist rebels. Progress was hastened following Nepal’s devastating earthquake in April this year.

The plans would see the country divided into seven provinces, which critics say would limit their political representation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Off the Grid: North Korean Sub Fleet’s Mystery Mission

Two-thirds of North Korea’s submarine fleet was reportedly on the move and off of Seoul’s sonar this week despite an announcement by the two Koreas that they were ratcheting down the saber rattling that followed a land mine explosion in the demilitarized zone earlier this month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Vietnam Seizes Illegal Ivory From Malaysia

Customs officials in Vietnam have confiscated illegally imported ivory for the second time in two weeks. The elephant tusks and pangolin scales were hidden amongst red beans in a container imported from Malaysia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Guide Placed Himself Between Tourists and Charging Lion to Protect Tourists in Zimbabwean Park

A Zimbabwean tour group says the guide who was mauled to death by a lion, put himself between tourists and the charging animal when it attacked in the same park where Cecil the Lion once roamed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Venezuela and Colombia Hold Talks to Cool Tensions Over Border Crackdown

The foreign ministers of Colombia and Venezuela were meeting Wednesday in a bid to reopen a major border crossing after a weeklong crackdown on migrants and smugglers that has heightened tensions between the South American neighbors.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Draws on Army in Migrant Crisis

The Austrian army is to deploy more than 500 troops to help overstretched authorities deal with the large number of migrants arriving from Hungary and Italy, the defence minister said on Tuesday.

“We will make available as many as are needed,” Gerald Klug said before a cabinet meeting to discuss a range of measures to tackle the crisis including more personnel to process the migrants.

The soldiers will help in transporting people and equipment, in constructing accommodation and in providing food.

They will not immediately be deployed at Austria’s borders, with Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner calling that step a “last resort”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Balkan States Snub Greece in Talks on Immigation

Greece has been left out of an unfolding campaign by Balkan countries to forge a coordinated response to a torrent of migrants and asylum seekers fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa, Kathimerini understands.

Meanwhile, although officials in Brussels admit that debt-wracked Greece, on the European Union’s external frontier, has had to shoulder an unprecedented burden, sources note overall frustration over the government’s failure to implement an action plan to deal with the problem. Greece may have to face an EU fine over the failure, the same source said.

During a visit to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz called for “coordinated action across Europe” while urging Greece to control its borders more effectively. “It’s also the fault of Greece if there is no support for the refugees there,” the Austrian said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgium: At Least 100 Asylum Seekers Spend the Night on the Street

The refugee crisis is continuing. As the Belgian Immigration Office in Brussels can’t cope with the long queues of refugees wanting to file an asylum application, dozens of people have to be refused each day. As a result, various persons have to spend the night on the street, without shelter. The Red Cross prepared some soup and food, while passers-by gave the homeless apples and blankets.

Asylum seekers that have just arrived in Belgium, have to register at the Immigration Office first. It’s the very first step in their procedure to get a residence permit. When they have registered, they are giving shelter via the Asylum Department Fedasil (bed, bath and bread) while their application procedure is running.

The instream of asylum seekers has taken on such proportions that civil servants at the Immigration Office can’t cope. Each day, dozens of asylum seekers have to be refused despite waiting for hours. Those that can’t be helped, are given a piece of paper — in Dutch, a language which none of the asylum seekers understands — that gives them priority for the next day when the doors of the Immigration Office (near the North station) reopen. It’s mainly these people that were spending the night on the street, or in a nearby park.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Czech Republic Advocates Use of Army to Protect Borders

The EU could better protect itself from migrants if it had a common army, Czech president Milos Zeman said Tuesday (25 August), while the Czech finance minister, Andrej Babis, called for the closure of the Schengen area’s external borders and for Nato help.

Speaking to Czech ambassadors at Prague castle, Zeman regretted that Frontex, the EU border-control agency, has only three unarmed ships and a few armed ships to patrol the Mediterranean.

“The EU’s fundamental lack is a lack of will for a common border protection”, Zeman said.

“Today, a common European army would come in handy” to address the issue, he added.

Czech authorities recently floated the idea of using the army to secure the country’s borders.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Divided Europe Faces Mounting Migrant Crisis

Faced with its worst migrant crisis since World War II, Europe has many sensible options to deal with people fleeing conflict in Syria and elsewhere — but can’t agree on any of them.

The situation has accelerated over the summer with a new stream of migrants arriving via the Balkans, adding to those braving death to cross the Mediterranean or risking their lives to enter the Channel Tunnel.

Efforts to redistribute refugees around the European Union have been hobbled by a lack of unity among governments running scared of right-wing populist parties.

Meanwhile, measures to stop the flow of asylum seekers at its source in the Middle East and North Africa have stalled because the turbulence in the region means Brussels has no stable governments it can deal with.

With no solution in sight, European countries are now resorting to desperate measures to keep out equally desperate migrants, such as a huge razor fence that Hungary is erecting on its Serbian border.

Officials and experts say EU states need to act quickly before the situation becomes uncontrollable, with no end in sight to the wars and political repression that are making the migrants flee.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Donald Trump Goes Head to Head With Univision Reporter on Immigration

Presidential candidate Donald Trump had Univision reporter Jorge Ramos temporarily removed from an Iowa press conference Tuesday after the journalist unexpectedly stood up and began demanding answers on the Republican frontrunner’s proposed immigration policy.

Ramos, who peppered the business mogul with questions as soon as he reached the podium, refused to sit down as Trump attempted to call on other reporters.

“Sit down,” Trump said repeatedly. “Excuse me, sit down. You weren’t called.”

After being told to “go back to Univision,” Ramos was physically removed from the room by what appeared to be a member of Trump’s staff.

The reporter, who was eventually allowed back in the room and permitted to ask his question, argued that it would be impossible to deport millions of illegal immigrants and to build a wall on the country’s Southern border.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU to Give €1.5mn to Serbia and Macedonia

The European Commission announced Wednesday the release of €1.5 million in humanitarian funds to help Serbia and Macedonia face massive arrivals of migrants. This funding tops €90,000 aid to Macedonia in July and €150,000 to Serbia earlier this month.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Mental Health Care in Short Supply for War-Ravaged Refugees

Officials estimate that a third of asylum seekers arriving in Helsinki have experienced torture, but only their most acute medical needs can be met.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finnish President: Europe Endangered by “Ring of Violence”

Sauli Niinistö has called for “precise, honest and even self-critical thinking” as the EU faces challenges of “migration which has grown to extreme dimensions” and unrest around its perimeter. “Freedom of movement cannot mean uncontrollable movement,” he asserted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Chancellor Merkel Booed by Anti-Refugee Protesters

Far-right protesters have jeered German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she arrived at a refugee center in Heidenau. Merkel had previously criticized the xenophobic protests against migrants in this small town.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Greek Coast Guard Rescues Hundreds of Refugees, Migrants

Greece’s coast guard says it has rescued hundreds of refugees and migrants in operations off the coasts of eastern Aegean islands, as a wave of people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa toward Europe continues unabated.

The coast guard said Wednesday it had rescued 578 people in 15 incidents at sea near the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Kos from Tuesday morning to Wednesday morning. The figure doesn’t include those who arrive at the islands themselves from the nearby Turkish coast, usually in inflatable dinghies.

Greece has borne the brunt of a record number of refugees and migrants heading to Europe, with more than 160,000 entering the country so far this year. The vast majority are Syrians and Afghans.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Hungary Deploys Police to Stem the Influx of Refugees and Other Migrants

Hungary is mulling sending over 2,100 police officers to its southern border to stop the flow of migrants into the country. Meanwhile, the police fired tear gas on people trying to leave a refugee center.

The Hungarian government said Wednesday it was considering deploying additional troops to its southern border with Serbia to impede the flow of migrants into its territory.

“The border protection will be reinforced with 2,106 extra police from September 5,” Karoly Papp, the European country’s police chief, told reporters in the capital Budapest.

The so-called “border hunters” will patrol the length of the border, providing the much-needed support to more than 1,000 regular police already working to intercept illegal immigrants, Papp added.

In addition, Hungary is also constructing a barbed wire fence along its border with Serbia.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Israel Releases African Migrants From Detention Centre

Faysal Hussein from Sudan walked out of Israel’s desert detention center Tuesday already sweating with just a backpack, barely enough cash for bus fare and lunch, and after 19 months in custody, no idea where to go.

Hussein was among hundreds of African migrants Israel began freeing from this remote detention facility after a court ruling this month ordered their release. The release reflected Israel’s ongoing struggles in coping with an influx of African migrants that it does not want in the country, but is unable to forcibly send anywhere else.

More than 45,000 African migrants and asylum seekers are in Israel, according to the Israeli Interior Ministry, most from the strife-ridden countries of Eritrea and Sudan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Rebukes Merkel on Migration Remarks

Italy’s foreign minister Gentiloni rebuked comments made Monday by German chancellor Merkel that Rome is slow in setting up registration centres for newly-arrived migrants. “Asking Greece and Italy to do their duty on immigration is like asking a country hit by floods to step up the production of umbrellas.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Hits Back at Merkel in Migrants Row

Italy’s Foreign Minister has scathingly dismissed criticism from France and Germany over its handling of the tens of thousands of migrants arriving on its southern shores.

“Italy is doing what it has to do … and even much more by saving thousands of lives and by taking in refugees,” Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in an interview published in Wednesday’s Corriere della Sera, describing his country as a “a positive model on the international stage.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Gentiloni Rejects Franco-German Criticism on Migrants

Foreign minister says Italy saves tens of thousands of lives

(ANSA) — Rome, August 26 — Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni chided Germany and France Wednesday for criticising Italy’s migrant policy, saying “Italy does what it has to…and much more, saving tens of thousands of human lives and welcoming refugees”.

Speaking to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Gentiloni said the Dublin agreement is out of date and new rules are needed on migrant flows, EU asylum and repatriation.

In Hungary, meanwhile, police used tear gas to disperse 200 migrants protesting fingerprinting and in Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck visited asylum centres attacked Tuesday by neo-Nazi thugs.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel Booed by Crowd at Refugee Centre

Demonstrators booed Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday as she arrived at a refugee centre hit by violent far-right protests.

Around 200 people in the eastern town of Heidenau jeered Merkel from across a road, shouting far-right slogans including “traitor, traitor” and “we are the mob”.

Merkel vowed that Germany would have “no tolerance” for “shameful and vile” attacks on asylum-seekers, after a wave of violent protests.

“There will be no tolerance of those who question the dignity of other people,” she said in the small eastern town of Heidenau which saw far-right riots against police guarding a new refugee shelter.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

President Joachim Gauck Criticizes ‘Dark Germany’

German head of state Joachim Gauck has praised volunteers for showing the positive face of Germany while on a visit to a refugee home in Berlin. It follows two xenophobic-related incidents the previous night.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedes Discover Dead Migrants Off Libya Coast

The Swedish coastguard has found the bodies of around 40 people in the hold of a stricken migrant boat off the coast of Libya.

The macabre discovery was made after Swedish ship Poseidon was sent to the aid of the stricken vessel by the Italian coastguard, which said it was simultaneously coordinating rescue operations for multiple boats carrying at least 2,000 people.

Swedish coastguard spokesman Mattias Lindholm told AFP the Poseidon had been able to save 439 people on the wooden boat.

“Unfortunately there were around 40 people dead in the hold,” he said. “The bodies are currently being transferred to the Poseidon.”

The Swedish ship was in the area as part of the EU border agency Frontex’s search and rescue mission known as Triton.

Just before the discovery of the bodies, the Poseidon had picked up 130 migrants from a rubber dinghy, Lindholm said.

Italian media reported that another boat with some 700 people aboard was in trouble in the same area.

MOAS, a Malta-based private organisation, said in a tweet that its boat the Phoenix was taking part in a complex rescue operation.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden’s Populist Surge Unrestrained Immigration Has Triggered an Instinct for Self-Preservation

by Daniel Pipes

N.B.: This text differs in minor ways from the Washington Times version.

According to the most recent poll, the innocuously-named but ferociously anti-establishment Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna or SD) has the largest support of any political party in Sweden. This news has potentially momentous implications not just for Sweden but for all Europe.

Sweden is a special place. One of the richest and most peaceful countries in the world (it has not been engaged in armed conflict for two centuries), until recently it was a remarkably homogenous society where socialism, with its optimistic assumption that people are born good and circumstances make them bad, worked and the government enjoyed great prestige. Swedish pride in the country’s accomplishments translates into an ethical superiority symbolized by the oft-heard claim to be a “moral superpower.”

This heritage has also inspired an intolerance of dissent, however; “Be quiet, follow the consensus, let the bureaucrats carry it out.” The country has become so notorious for its stifling faux-unanimity that I actually heard a Dane recently ask at a public forum, “Why has Sweden turned into the North Korea of Scandinavia?”

Also, Sweden’s history creates a no-crisis mentality that militates against the hard-headed, flexible responses needed to cope with current problems the country now faces, especially those connected to waves of mainly Muslim immigrants. As one interlocutor put it to me in Stockholm earlier this month, “Past success has led to current failure.” For example, security in Sweden is well below what might find in a country like Bolivia, with few inclinations to make improvements, rendering Islamist violence all but inevitable.

In this stultification, the SD stands out because it offers the only political alternative. Proof of this came in December 2014, when the SD appeared to have the swing vote in a crucial budget vote between the left and right blocs in the country’s unicameral legislature, the Riksdag — until all the other seven parties joined together in a grand coalition to deny it any influence.

As this act of desperation suggests, the Sweden Democrats offer a populist — and not, as usually described, a “far right” — brew of policies anathema to all the legacy parties: Foremost, it calls for assimilating legal immigrants, expelling the illegals, and reducing future immigration by at least 90 percent. It also forwards a number of other policies (concerning crime, defense, the European Union, and Israel) far outside the Swedish consensus and utterly obnoxious to the other parties.

With good reason, the establishment hates and fears the SD, pedantically finding any possible fault with the party, starting with its alleged neo-fascist past (though fascist connections are not unique to SD) and going on to the tiniest foibles of its leadership.

Supporting the SD remains taboo. The national police commissioner once tweeted about “vomiting” on seeing the SD’s leader; naturally, his staff dare not acknowledge their supporting for the party. But one officer estimated for me that 50 percent of the police vote SD.

Despite being ostracized, the SD increasingly connects with Swedes (including some immigrants), giving it substantial electoral gains, roughly doubling its parliamentary vote every four years: from 0.4 percent in 1998 to 1.3 percent in 2002, 2.9 percent in 2006, 5.7 percent in 2010, and 12.9 percent in September 2014. And now, less than a year later, a YouGov poll shows it having nearly doubled again, to 25.2 percent, meaning that it leads the governing Social Democrats (who have only 23.4 percent support) and the major (nominally) right-wing party, the Moderates (with 21 percent).

No less important, I learned in Stockholm, the intellectual and political climate has shifted. Journalists, policy specialists, and politicians all noted that ideas outside the mainstream just a year ago now receive a hearing. For example, four major newspapers have questioned the consensus in favor of high immigration. Beside the surging SD vote, this shift results from several factors: the shocking rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has altered the debate; continued upset at the December compact that excluded the SD from having its due parliamentary influence; and the receding memory of Anders Behring Breivik’s 2011 murderous rampage in Norway.

In all, it appears that denial and censorship can only continue for so long before the instinct of self-preservation kicks in. The Western country most prone to national suicide is possibly waking up from its stupor. If this change can take place in Sweden, the “North Korea of Scandinavia,” it can, and likely will, occur elsewhere in Europe.

This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘The Wave Has Reached Us’: EU Gropes for Answers to Migrant Surge

A surge in migrants, many of them refugees from Syria, hit Hungary’s southern border on Tuesday, passing through gaps in an unfinished barrier to a Europe groping for answers to its worst refugee crisis since World War Two.

Nearing the end of a flight from war and poverty, they walked around or over coils of barbed wire strung out along Hungary’s 175-km (109-mile) frontier with Serbia, children hoisted on shoulders, bags in hand.

“The wave has definitely reached us now,” said Mark Kekesi, head of a migration NGO called MigSzol Szeged. “There have never been this many of them, and we expect this to continue for a while.”

The Balkans is in the grips of an unprecedented surge in migration fueled by war in Syria and instability across the Middle East.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Atheists Force Jesus Christ Out of Public School

An atheist group forced a public school to remove a portrait of Jesus Christ from campus, claiming it was an “egregious violation of the First Amendment.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation said they were pleased the Chanute, Kansas, school district acted quickly to remove the painting of Jesus which had hung in the town’s middle school since at least the 1950s.

“I conferred with legal counsel and both of them told me to be in compliance with state and federal law that we had to have it removed,” said Chanute Public Schools Superintendent Richard Proffitt.

The atheist group targeted the school district after a “local community member” complained.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Fury as Venice Mayor Bans Pride Parades

Rights groups reacted furiously on Wednesday after Venice’s mayor said he would seek to ban Gay Pride parades for as long as he is in charge of the city of canals.

“There will be no Gay Pride in my Venice,” Luigi Brugnaro said in an interview with La Repubblica, describing such celebrations as “a farce” and “the ultimate in kitsch”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Planned Parenthood Organ Buyer: “I’m a Huge Hillary Fan… She’s Getting Elected This Time”

The CEO of StemExpress, the company which procures the body parts of aborted babies from Planned Parenthood, is reportedly a huge supporter of Democrat presidential contender Hillary Clinton.

Cate Dyer, the founder of StemExpress, appears in the latest and eighth undercover sting video released by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress Tuesday, which features the corporate executive discussing Planned Parenthood as “a volume institution” that can provide intact fetuses, while at the same time noting clinics’ horribly unsanitary conditions.

In addition to possibly profiting off the sale of aborted baby parts, Dyer is also apparently a “die-hard” Hillary supporter, who she believes will be a shoo-in for the presidency in 2016, according to unedited video footage obtained by the Washington Free Beacon from the Center for Medical Progress.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Sexist’ Paris Streets Renamed in Feminist Stunt

A feminist organization has changed the street signs of a Paris neighbourhood so that they bear women’s names instead, protesting the lack of streets in the city named after famous female figures.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

7 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 8/26/2015

  1. Flanagan suffered from extreme racism that you are starting to see more of amongst the blacks nowadays. It’s the effect of liberal guilt and one-sided descriptions of the slave trade. The black community is in a bad place right now, indoctrinated with Islam and the fairy tales that Muslims, of course, never were truly involved in the slave trade and treated blacks with respected and held them in high esteem. It’s fueled with another distorted idea that Africa never had anything to do with slavery but a crew of some 30-40 white people arrived in boats to a country of 400 million, hid in the bushes and grabbed them to sell them in open markets. In addition, black communities persecute gays and since he can’t blame them for bigotry – they’re black after all – he has to target his hatred against whites. No wonder people like Flanagan are so filled with hate and anger he has to eventually blow a cap. This is nothing short of a racist hate crime. Over 80% of racist crimes in America are blacks against whites.

  2. Germany relies on Facebook to “stop “hate speech

    German minister of Justice to meet with Facebook on September 14 to discuss and to talk about “improving the effectiveness and transparency of your community standards”.

    • And of course “hate mongering” will be anything that is critical of government policy.

  3. >>Why are people so soft on crime? Is it because crime pays? The correctional institutions make over $65 billion a year. Slave labor anyone? <<

    So some of that money was paid to the majority of the Connecticut Supreme Court? Doesn't being soft on crime mean fewer people incarcerated and thus less profits?

  4. >>The soldiers will help in transporting people and equipment, in constructing accommodation and in providing food.

    They will not immediately be deployed at Austria’s borders, with Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner calling that step a “last resort”. <<

    Members of the 47th Mechanized Nursemaids Division.

  5. >> Divided Europe Faces Mounting Migrant Crisis <<

    What to do? What to do? No one could see this coming. Oh! Let's choose the suicide option.

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