Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/3/2015

An “Asian” Muslim family in the UK has been subjected to abuse and even physical attacks from their neighbors for converting to Christianity, which is considered blasphemous under Islam. To escape the attacks, the family is considering relocating from Bradford to a city with more white people in it.

In other news, two bomb blasts in the Nigerian capital of Abuja killed at least eighteen people and wounded dozens more. It is thought that kinetic activists from Boko Haram may be responsible for the attacks.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Nick, Srdja Trifkovic, ST, TP, 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
» “They Just Don’t Want a Job” — The Fed’s Grotesque “Explanation” Why 94.6 Million Are Out of the Labor Force
» Australia is “Going Down Under”: “The Bubble is About to Burst”, RBS Warns
» Central Banks’ Secrecy & Silence on Gold Storage Arrangements
» Latin America an Emblem of Emerging Markets’ Sputter
» The Shocking Reality: This Chart Shows Just How Bad Unemployment is Today Compared to the Great Depression
 
USA
» Batman #44: Bruce Wayne and Readers Beaten With Racial Guilt Baton
» Black Men Are Six Times More Likely to Die From Gun Homicide Than Suicide. For Whites, It’s Reversed.
» Cops Rupture Handcuffed Man’s Spleen, Laugh at Him, Take Pics as He Lay Dying and Begging
» Digging Into Diesels
» ‘Hate-Crime Massacre of Christians Finally Silences Obama’
» Lost Photo of Jesse James, Assassin Robert Ford Found
» Montana Slaps Down Police State: Bans Leos From “Receiving Military Equipment From the Pentagon”
» Newly Published Clinton Email Reveals How Government Manipulates Media
» Oregon Mass Shooter on Terror List Obama Refused to Take From Russia
» Sheriff That Laughed About Flash Banging a Toddler, Was Just Shot by Murderous Rogue Cop
» Stockton Mayor Was Briefly Detained on Return Flight From China
» The Most Dangerous Man in the World
» The Scariest Thing Obama Has Proposed to Date
 
Europe and the EU
» EU Commission Warns Against Islamophobia
» France Threatens to Walk Away From TTIP Negotiations
» Italian Researchers Develop Probiotic Swordfish Steak
» Italy: Drunk Brits Go Skinny Dipping in Fountain of the Naiads
» Italy: Mattarella Awards Medal of Valor to Dead Ukrainian
» Italy: Encourage ‘Doggy Bags’ To Reduce Waste
» Italy: Four Arrested in Probe Into ANAS Motorway Contract Bribes
» Italy: Police Arrest Romanian Rape Suspect
» Thatcher’s Finance Minister to Lead UK EU Exit Campaign
» UK: Asian Muslim Family Are Driven From Their Home After They Converted to Christianity
» UK: Charlotte Church Stuns TV Viewers by Blaming Syria’s Brutal Four-Year Civil War on Climate Change
» UK: Man Abused by VIP Paedophile Ring Now Claims He Was ‘Manipulated’ By Exaronews
» Vatican Fires Gay Priest Over ‘Irresponsible’ Coming Out
 
Balkans
» Kosovo Serbs Want Issue of Usurped Property Solved
» Marijuana Fields in Albania, Italian GDF Complete Mission
» Serbia: First Stone Laid at ‘Belgrade Waterfront’
 
North Africa
» Tunisian Economy ‘Plagued by Petty Corruption’, Experts Say
» Tunisia: From World Bank 178 Mln Euros for Roads
 
Middle East
» Defense Secretary Ash Carter: US Won’t be Clearing Syria’s Skies for Russia
» Filipina Held in Saudi Over Suicide Vests
» Hungary Urges US-Led Coalition to Cooperate With Russia in Anti-ISIL Fight
» Industry Officials: Ankara’s Foreign Policy Has Cost Turkish Firms $2.5b
» Meet Romanian Catalin John Berenghi: Former Foreign Legion Soldier and Anti-Islamist Badass
» Moscow Says 600 ‘Militants’ Flee Syria, Vows to Ramp Up Bombing
» Russia Enters the Fray: The New Syrian Score
» Turkey’s Erdogan Faces Tough EU Talks on Refugees, Syria
 
Russia
» Russian Launches Cargo Spaceship to the ISS
 
South Asia
» India: Hindu Extremists Plan More Attacks if Beef Ban Not Enforced
» Indonesia: Jakarta to Introduce Family Planning to Prevent Poor and Ignorant Generations
» Japanese Man Shot Dead in Bangladesh; Islamic State Link Probed
 
Far East
» Italy Supplies Nuclear Fusion Reactor Component to Japan
 
Australia — Pacific
» Gunman Who Shot Dead NSW Police Employee Was Radicalised Youth
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» 18 Killed, 41 Injured in Blasts Near Nigerian Capital
 
Immigration
» Commissioner Jourová’s Concluding Remarks at the Colloquium on Fundamental Rights — Tolerance and Respect: Living Better Together
» Opening Remarks of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans at the First Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights
» Some Foreign Leaders ‘Using’ Europe’s Refugee Tusk
» Viktor Orban: Refugees ‘Look More Like an Army Than Asylum Seekers’
» White House Reveals End Game for Massive Immigration
 
Culture Wars
» ACLU Sues to Force Catholic Hospitals to Do Abortions
» Before Bishops Meet, Discordant Voices on Gays’ Place in Church
» Italy: Boy, 16, Banned From Class ‘For Being Gay’
» Pledging to Fight Injustices, Hillary Clinton Focuses on Transgender Rights in Speech
» Polish Priest Outs Himself as Gay With His Partner and is Immediately Sacked by Vatican Officials
 

“They Just Don’t Want a Job” — The Fed’s Grotesque “Explanation” Why 94.6 Million Are Out of the Labor Force

And this is where the wheels fall off the Atlanta Fed narative. Because the regional Fed’s very next sentence shows why the world is doomed when you task economists to centrally-plan it:

The decrease in labor force participation among prime-age individuals has been driven mostly by the share who say they currently don’t want a job. As of December 2014, prime-age labor force participation was 2.4 percentage points below its prerecession average. Of that, 0.5 percentage point is accounted for by a higher share who indicate they currently want a job; 2 percentage points can be attributed to a higher share who say they currently don’t want a job.

And there you have it: there are nearly 100 million working-age Americans who could be in the labor force, but are not “mostly” because they don’t want a job.

Nothing about the lack of job demand as mega corporations continue to lay workers off in droves instead of hiring, instead using every last dollar of free cash flow to buyback their own stock to boost executive compensation instead of growing their company and hire more workers.

Nothing about the collapse in small business formation — that driver of 80% of US employment — as firm exit rates are now greater than firm entry rates

Nothing about the inability to get a job in a world in which the rest of the global is lapping the US in educational and labor skills.

Nothing about the US economy never having left the post-2008 depression where $4.5 trillion in Fed credit was created just to boost the S&P to all time highs and never making it to the actual economy (until the helicopters finally start paradropping of course)

Nothing about millions of aging, 55 and over, Americans refusing to retire or quit their job simply because they have no return on their savings to fall back on thank to the Fed’s ZIRP, thus keeping the labor pipeline clogged and preventing younger Americans from getting promoted and achieving better paying jobs.

Nothing about a Millennial generation encumbered with $1 trillion in debt, that is so terrified of its job prospects and having to pay down its debt, it choose instead to keep rolling and piling on to this debt by remaining in college indefinitely

Nothing about the perverted incentive structure of a welfare state that makes it more attractive to collect generous government handouts which end up punishing hard work.

None of that.

You see, it is because Americans “mostly don’t want a job.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Australia is “Going Down Under”: “The Bubble is About to Burst”, RBS Warns

Thanks to a variety of idiosyncratic political crises and country-specific stumbling blocks, Brazil, Turkey, Malaysia, and to a lesser extent Russia, have received the lion’s share of coverage when it comes to assessing the EM damage wrought by the comically bad combination of slumping commodities prices, depressed Chinese demand, slowing global trade, and a “surprise” yuan devaluation.

Put simply, the intractable political stalemate in Brazil, the civil war in Turkey, the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia (and the fact that the country was at the center of the 1998 meltdown), and the hit Russia has taken from depressed crude prices mean that if you want to pen a story about emerging market chaos, those four countries have plenty to offer in terms of going beyond the generic “falling commodities + a decelerating China = bad news for EM” narrative.

But just because other vulnerable countries aren’t beset with ethnic violence and/or street protests doesn’t mean they too aren’t facing crises due to falling commodity prices and the slowdown of the Chinese growth machine.

One such country is Australia, which in some respects is an emerging market dressed up like a developed economy, and which of course has suffered mightily from the commodities carnage and China’s transition away from an investment-led growth model.

Out with a fresh look at the risks facing Australia is RBS’ Alberto Gallo. Notable excerpts are presented below.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Central Banks’ Secrecy & Silence on Gold Storage Arrangements

Whereas some central banks have become more forthcoming on where they claim their official gold reserves are stored (see my recent blog post ‘Central bank gold at the Bank of England’), many of the world’s central banks remain secretive in this regard, with some central bank staff saying that they are not allowed to provide this information, and some central banks just ignoring the question when asked.

In the ‘Central bank gold at the Bank of England’ article, I said that “A number of central banks refuse to confirm the location of their gold reserves. I will document this in a future posting.” As promised, this blog post explains what I meant by the above statement.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Latin America an Emblem of Emerging Markets’ Sputter

After a decade of strong economic growth, Latin America and especially its powerhouse Brazil are sputtering, a symbol of the slowdown in emerging markets worldwide as commodity prices slide.

The region will be in the spotlight next week as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank hold their annual meetings in Lima, Peru bringing together finance ministers and central bank chiefs from around the world.

They will discuss a global economy that is stuck in a rut and badly missing the emerging markets boom that salvaged world growth during the 2008-2009 crisis…

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

The Shocking Reality: This Chart Shows Just How Bad Unemployment is Today Compared to the Great Depression

Curiously, the official unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.1%, suggesting that some 95% of people actually have jobs.

But as we’ve repeatedly pointed out, that number has been completely skewed over the last two decades as it fails to account for people who have stopped looking for work (because there are no actual jobs available).

According to John Williams of Shadow Stats, if we were to calculate unemployment using the same metrics as we did during the 1930’s, or even the 1980’s, we’d already be in Great Depression territory. Williams, who utilizes a reporting methodology that accounts for “long-term discouraged workers who were defined out of official existence in 1994,” notes that the real unemployment rate is rapidly approaching 25%.

[…]

It’s so bad, in fact, that we have seen sustained unemployment exceeding that of the Great Depression for almost the entirety of Barack Obama’s Presidency.

But how can it be possible to have a full-fledged recovery and record stock prices when nearly one-third of the adult population is not working?

If the government is to be believed, it’s because our economy continues to grow at a pace of about 2%.

But once again, if we calculate the real growth rate and adjust for inflation, we see exactly why jobs are non-existent and getting worse every month.

The following chart made available by Williams shows that despite a positive “official” GDP growth rate being disseminated to the public, the reality is exactly the opposite. The U.S. economy is by all accounts shrinking and has been doing so for the better part of a decade:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Batman #44: Bruce Wayne and Readers Beaten With Racial Guilt Baton

Last month Superman: Action Comics #42 took on police brutality, which meant it wasn’t long before Batman gave it a go. DC Comics is back at the political activism again, although it appears Batman #44 is a much stronger product thanks to writers Scott Snyder and Brian Azzarello.

As I have said in the past, the fact that writers insert their personal politics into their stories doesn’t bother me — it’s that industry activism operates along a one-way street.

The latest issue of Batman alludes to the deaths of Trayvon Martin in Florida, Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City, but when will DC Comics write an issue inspired by the Officer Down Memorial Page or the many cops killed in gunfire each year? Don’t hold your breath.

Here is what Emma Houxbois of the Rainbow Hub blog told The Guardian:

“The issue is ‘unprecedented’ in how the authors ‘make race, and the impact on black children in specific, central’ to Snyder’s four-year reimagining of Gotham as “a place that reflects all of the most urgent issues facing contemporary urban populations, like the destruction of public services, using prisons to house the mentally ill, militarization of police forces, and large scale gentrification in the wake of natural disasters.’ The story holds not just Batman but the book’s white readers accountable for their complicity in the real-world situations that the comic analogizes”.

There we go. The truth finally comes out. Again. White readers must be repeatedly flogged for “complicity” in … out of wedlock births and black-on-black crime in places like Chicago and Detroit.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Black Men Are Six Times More Likely to Die From Gun Homicide Than Suicide. For Whites, It’s Reversed.

Suicide ranks among the top 10 causes of death for white men in America — specifically, No. 7 — and guns are the most common device used to achieve that tragic end. For black men, homicide ranks among the 10 leading causes of death, coming in at No. 5. Again guns play an outsized role.

And while white men are about eight times as likely to kill themselves with a gun than be killed by someone using a gun, black men are about six times more likely to be shot and killed by someone other than by themselves.

Among Latino men, both suicide and homicide rank among the 10 leading causes of death, occupying the eighth and ninth slots on the list. And the grim pattern also holds for Asian and Native American men too. Suicide, most often by gun, is the eighth leading cause of death for Asian men and the sixth leading cause of death for Native American men.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cops Rupture Handcuffed Man’s Spleen, Laugh at Him, Take Pics as He Lay Dying and Begging

Orlando, FL — A police sergeant and an officer were finally fired 14 months after surveillance video caught the officer violently kneeing a handcuffed man. After rupturing the man’s spleen, the officers ignored his pleas for medical attention for nearly two hours while laughing at him off-camera and later lying to investigators regarding the incident.

On August 12, 2014, Robert Liese was arrested for a $60 bar tab that he was unable to pay. While loading Liese into his patrol car, Orlando police officer Peter Delio allegedly kicked the handcuffed man in the stomach. Upset and injured after Delio left him handcuffed inside a jail cell, Liese headbutted the glass window on his cell door.

According to surveillance video, Officer Delio immediately entered Liese’s cell and kneed the handcuffed man in the abdomen so hard that it ruptured his spleen. Easily picking up Liese like a ragdoll, Delio ordered him to stop resisting even though Liese was clearly immobilized from the pain and not attempting to resist. After dragging Liese out of the cell, Delio moved him to another holding area and placed leg restraints on him.

For nearly two hours, Liese remained on the floor of his cell in restraints writhing in pain and begging for medical attention 35 times. Instead of calling paramedics, several cops could be heard in the video mocking and laughing at Liese off-camera. When Sgt. William Faulkner eventually went into the cell to check on Liese, the police sergeant failed to report that Liese had requested medical care and later lied to internal affairs officers investigating the incident.

After an hour and 50 minutes of suffering from internal injuries, Liese was rescued when paramedics finally arrived and began treating him. Requiring emergency surgery, Liese was rushed to a hospital where surgeons removed his ruptured spleen.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Digging Into Diesels

The recent admission by Volkswagen that it equipped diesel cars with “defeat devices” has remained on the front and home pages of news outlets for days. Yet despite the mass of coverage, details on exactly how the devices cheated on emissions tests for nitrogen oxides have been sketchy and sometimes contradictory.

Most outlets reported that the device activated emissions-reduction technology only when it sensed the car was being tested. When the device sensed the car was out on the road, it deactivated the technology, which would have lowered the cars’ performance and fuel economy.

But those same reports typically omitted to say which of several different emissions-reduction technologies are installed in the VW cars. Also missing were explanations of why diesels belch nitrogen oxides in the first place. Curious to discover the answers, I decided to investigate.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

‘Hate-Crime Massacre of Christians Finally Silences Obama’

(CNS News) Actor James Woods, who often takes to Twitter to express political views, has been using the forum to comment on the yesterday’ s murders at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

26 year-old gunman Chris Harper Mercer opened fire on the campus on Thursday, killing nine people and wounding seven. Mercer reportedly singled out Christians for death by asking the religion of potential victims before firing on them. Mercer was then shot and killed by law enforcement.

In a series of tweets on October 2, Woods argued that because the victims were Christian, both President Obama and the media would lose interest in the story.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Lost Photo of Jesse James, Assassin Robert Ford Found

(Houston Chronicle) Lois Gibson, forensic artist and analyst for the Houston Police Department, claims Wednesday she’ d identified an image of one of America’ s most notorious outlaws, Jesse James.

Now an undated tintype photo, purportedly of James seated beside his one-time partner and eventual killer Robert Ford, could bring some serious big bucks to the farming family who turned it in.

James is a legendary icon of Western folklore. For more than a decade he led a gang of rough-riding bandits that robbed banks, stagecoaches and trains around Missouri and beyond, until his 1882 death at the hand of Ford, a member of his gang looking to collect a reward.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Montana Slaps Down Police State: Bans Leos From “Receiving Military Equipment From the Pentagon”

With the mounting police state surrounding modern day America, and numerous scenarios under which martial law, FEMA camps and civil war can be unleashed upon populations who dare to resist the federal takeover of the country, there is some good news.

Perhaps the flash points in Ferguson and Baltimore has put the question in front of everyone: do we want our police and law enforcement to become militarized, and to operate with the weapons of war?

Many states are fighting back and using cutting off local laws to cut police off from federal grants and military surplus equipment — including armored vehicles, grenade launchers, night vision goggles, weaponized drones and combat-configured aircraft.

Earlier this year, New Jersey passed a law requiring express local authorization for the receipt of military equipment under the Pentagon’ s 1033 surplus program.

Now Montana is going even further by banning receipt of 1033 surplus military equipment altogether. Is this a major blow to the mounting police state?

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Newly Published Clinton Email Reveals How Government Manipulates Media

A Hillary Clinton staffer planted questions in a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, according to email records released this week. At the time of the interview in early 2011, Assange had already leaked sensitive,embarrassing information from the State Department. The unclassified staff email to Clinton, released amid her ongoing email scandal, demonstrates not only that the former Secretary of State and her staff were out to discredit Assange, but that the government manipulates media and wields heavy influence over it.

In an email from January 28, 2011, Philip J. Crowley, then Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, alerted Hillary Clinton that 60 Minutes conducted an interview with Assange set to air on the 30th. As Crowley informed her, “We had made a number of suggestions for outside experts and former diplomats to interview to ‘balance’ the piece.” This statement alone shows the access to media that powerful government agents enjoy.

He goes on to further reveal that influence: “60 Minutes assures me that they raised a number of questions and concerns we planted with them during the course of the interview,” Crowley said, suggesting the interview would not be embarrassing to Clinton or the State Department: “We will be prepared to respond to the narrative Assange presents during the program.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Oregon Mass Shooter on Terror List Obama Refused to Take From Russia

The Federal Security Services (FSB) is reporting today that an American black-Islamist terror suspect, who yesterday committed an act of mass murder in the State of Oregon (United States), had been included on a list of 87,000 “known/suspected” Islamic terrorists that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) refused last month to accept from the Federation due to its not being “politically viable in the present atmosphere”.

According to this report, the black-Islamist terrorist who committed this act of terror, Chris Harper Mercer, had previously been indentified by electronic intelligence specialists within the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) as being an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) adherent after he had attempted to gain passage to Syria via Turkey during the first week of September, 2015.

By the Obama regime refusing to accept this terror list from the Federation, this report continues, Mercer was able to accomplish his terror act when yesterday he killed 9 people and wounded 7 others at the Umpqua Community College prior to his being shot and killed by local US police forces…

           — Hat tip: ST [Return to headlines]
 

Sheriff That Laughed About Flash Banging a Toddler, Was Just Shot by Murderous Rogue Cop

Habersham County, GA — Sheriff Joey Terrell and one of his deputies were shot and injured while responding to a domestic violence complaint that involved another officer.

Terrell has been the subject of a number of reports at The Free Thought Project, because he is the law enforcement official who authorized the “no knock raid” that maimed and nearly killed a young toddler. Terrell then later broke a promise to pay the family’s medical bills when he left them to take care of it on their own.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Stockton Mayor Was Briefly Detained on Return Flight From China

Anthony Silva, the mayor of Stockton, California, recently went to China for a mayor’s conference. On his return to San Francisco airport he was detained by Homeland Security, and then had his two laptops and his mobile phone confiscated. They refused to show him any sort of warrant (of course) and then refused to let him leave until he agreed to hand over his password…

Silva was not allowed to leave the airport until he gave his passwords to the agents, which the mayor’s personal attorney, Mark Reichel, claimed is illegal.

The mayor said the agents told him confiscating property from travelers at the airport was “in fact routine and not unusual,” and promised to return the items within a few days.

Silva was also told he had “no right for a lawyer to be present” and that being a U.S. citizen did not “entitle me to rights that I probably thought.”

He has yet to get the property returned, according to Reichel. The mayor said Reichel contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento but was told that “we can neither confirm or deny if we have the mayor’s possessions.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Most Dangerous Man in the World

…is neither Russia’s Vladimir Putin nor China’s Xi Jinping, nor at this time, Ayatollah Khamenei — it’s none other than America’s Barack Hussein Obama.

This is not because of any aggressive, risk-laden actions he has taken, far from it. It is because of those he has failed to take at critical times to credibly dissuade strategic competitors and potential aggressors, such as Russia and China, from actions that may suddenly compound into destabilizing confrontations, even war.

When the Middle East cauldron spawned the barbaric ISIS, Obama’s indecisive, pusillanimous response allowed this Islamic malignancy to rapidly metastasize, compounding and accelerating an existing refugee problem that will involve America.

Additionally, throughout his tenure, overt actions Obama has taken served to steadily and materially, degrade American military capabilities, while America’s enemies grow stronger.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

The Scariest Thing Obama Has Proposed to Date

Progressive oligarchic elites will decide what is best for the people

Few people understand how President Barack Obama has succeeded in pushing through initiatives, programs and legislation that are distinctly unpopular with the total of the American population. To that end, few people understand how such a divisive incumbent president achieved re-election. Common sense would have that if a majority of people stood against a program, initiative or legislation — or a candidate for that matter — that success in achieving a positive result would be scant, if not impossible. But, as we have come to understand — almost seven years after the fact, Barack Obama and the Progressive machine do not play by a traditional set of rules. Instead, they play by a set of rules that are foreign and unintelligible to mainstream America and, especially, the tone-deaf Republican establishment.

Progressives have long understood the importance of not only the potency of “the message” but the need to control the message. They have become masters at crafting and controlling the framing of issues, and advancing talking points sympathetic to their cause. For many decades this consisted of touching Mr. and Ms. America in one of two vulnerable places, or both: the heart and/or the wallet. If a Progressive candidate, spin doctor or political operative could use a narrative to touch the voters’ hearts, making them sympathetic and/or angry to the allegory then they had succeeded — most of the time — in their call to action, in the political sense, to vote. Likewise, if they could demonstrate, via rhetorical example, how an opponent’s policy, legislation or platform would adversely affect their individual wallets the outcome was almost always in their favor. The truth seldom mattered. The end justified the means.

Today, Progressives have upped the ante to such a level that opponents — Republicans, Independents and Libertarians — stand nary a chance in the political arena if they continue to operate their campaign and political outreach structures in the manner of politics past. Progressives have combined the core strength of their “crusade culture” with cutting edge 21st Century technology, to create a campaign apparatus so potent that even today’s popular anti-politician anger might not be enough to defeat it…

On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, the President Obama signed an Executive Order that constitutes the most frightening political move since President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to pack the Supreme Court. Outside of the sphere of government, Mr. Obama and his Progressive machine have authorized the government to conduct behavioral science experiments on the American people for purely political purposes.

Now Mr. Obama has delivered the Progressive psychological stratagem of “nudge” from the shadows, and, with the power of an Executive Order, has overtly sanctioned its application by government onto the electorate for what he describes as designing “government policies to better serve the American people.” The problem with this is this. Progressives have already demonstrated they cannot be trusted to use this technology for the purposes of serving the country. In fact, because they have already used this technology to coerce people into supporting the initiatives and candidates that they want; that they believe are good for the country, they have proven to be nefarious in their intent.

Imagine using behavioral psychology coupled with the Catalyst to individually target people; to individually pressure people into accepting Progressive policies, initiatives and programs, like amnesty for illegal immigrants, or support for Planned Parenthood, Obamacare or the Iran nuclear agreement. Imagine them using this technology to coerce people into supporting Common Core or the acceptance of another trillion-dollar “stimulus.” The examples of how this stratagem can be misused and abused are myriad. And Mr, Obama and his Progressive Machine have already proved they will use it to advance their line of thinking…exclusively.

[Comment: Next step — classify constitutionalists and patriots as psychological damaged and brand them enemies of the glorious new state.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

EU Commission Warns Against Islamophobia

BRUSSELS — Addressing the soaring Islamophobia in Europe, the European Commission warned that anti-Muslim and anti-Semitism attacks are rising rapidly in Europe, calling for urgent measures to deal with the issue.

“Anti-Muslim incidents are multiplying across Europe. We’re seeing a huge spike of attacks. The rise of islamophobia is the one of the biggest challenges in Europe,” Vice President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, was quoted by KUNA on Thursday, October 1.

Frans made his comments during the EU first seminar on combating anti-Muslim and anti-Semitism hatred held in Brussels on Thursday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France Threatens to Walk Away From TTIP Negotiations

France’s junior trade minister Matthias Fekl has threatened “outright termination” of his country’s involvement in the EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, saying a “total lack of transparency” in TTIP talks poses a “democratic problem”.

In an interview with the French newspaper Sud-Ouest published on Monday, Fekl said he believes the negotiations favour American interests.

“Europe has offered many compromises, in all areas, and has received no serious offers from the Americans in return. Neither for access to their public markets, nor for access to their agricultural and food markets, which remain closed,” Fekl said.

Access to negotiation texts is not guaranteed even for politicians, Fekl added. “American members of parliament have access to a much higher number of documents than we do in Europe.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Researchers Develop Probiotic Swordfish Steak

Bolsters beneficial intestinal flora, immune system

(ANSA) — Rome, September 28 — Researchers at the Institute of Food Science Production of the National Research Council (ISPA-CNR) have developed a probiotic swordfish steak, sources said Monday.

Probiotics — the opposite of antibiotics — foster lactic acid bacteria in the intestine, which in turn strengthen the immune system.

Researchers have isolated a strain of Lactobacillus paracasei — a beneficial species of lactic acid bacteria that has been found in dairy, plants, and human and animal gastrointestinal tracts — in the swordfish.

Nutritional trials revealed that eating the swordfish brought about a rapid colonization of the intestine with healthy micro-organisms.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Drunk Brits Go Skinny Dipping in Fountain of the Naiads

Charged with public indecency

(ANSA) — Rome, September 27 — Six inebriated English tourists stripped naked at dawn Monday and dove into the 19th-century Fountain of the Naiads in Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica.

A bystander spotted the swimmers — four men and two women aged 25-49 — and alerted police, who invited the truants to get out of the fountain and get dressed.

The six, said by police to be drunk, were charged with public indecency and breaking city by-laws.

The fountain was completed in 1888, and its original sculptures were replaced in 1901 with sculptures of the Naiads, or water nymphs, by Mario Rutelli, the great-grandfather of ex-mayor Francesco Rutelli.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Mattarella Awards Medal of Valor to Dead Ukrainian

Construction worker killed trying to prevent robbery

(ANSA) — Rome, September 29 — President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday conferred a gold medal of valor in memory of Ukrainian construction worker Anatoly (or Anatolij) Korol, 38, who was shot dead August 29 while trying to foil a supermarket robbery in the Naples-area town of Castello di Cisterna. The medal was awarded on the suggestion of Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. Korol, who had already done his shopping and left the supermarket, returned to try to prevent the heist by two gunmen wearing carnival masks and motorcycle helmets.

They shot him twice, and also battered him with what investigators said was a sharp object.

Two suspects were arrested a week later in Calabria, and confessed to the murder.

They were named as stepbrothers Marco Di Lorenzo, 32, and Gianluca Ianuale, 20.

Their father is crime boss Vincenzo Ianuale.

Korol left a wife, Nadiya, and two daughters.

The local mayor declared a day of mourning, and the supermarket owner told the widow he would help her and the children in any way he could.

The town also held a torchlight march in memory of Korol, and named a street after him.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Encourage ‘Doggy Bags’ To Reduce Waste

Project to be presented at Bio-Med Cluster

(ANSAmed) — PALERMO, OCTOBER 2 — A campaign to reduce food waste by using ‘doggy bags’ will be presented on Saturday and Sunday at Expo Milano 2015. ‘Doggy bags’ enable restaurant customers to take home their leftovers. The initiative is the idea of the Tecnobox firm from Carini (Palermo) and the Sicilian regional government, head of the Bio-Med Cluster at the Expo, is also involved. The presentation will be at the Sicily pavilion and will include two cooking shows by the chefs Gioacchino Gaglio and Salvo Nicastro. An ‘information totem’ will be available to visitors until the end of the Expo with brochures and doggy bag samples in the Bio-Med Cluster area. The campaign, ‘Be Careful about Waste’, will distribute 2,000 doggy bags to restaurants to encourage customers to take their leftovers home. Every restaurant will receive a 100-container kit and a sticker to put in its window. The doggy bags carry the printed message ‘Waste Kills’.

Italian citizens on average each throw away some 76 kilos of food products during the year, according to the farmers association Coldiretti. Sicily region chief for the Bio-Med Cluster Dario Cartabellotta said that fighting food waste was one of the cluster’s aims, noting that doggy bags were common in many European countries and in the US. Tecnobox head Marcello Trapani added that “it is the duty of firms that work to support the food sector to make products that can combine practicality and sustainable lifestyles. The showcase offered us by the Bio-Med Cluster at the Expo, to launch the awareness-raising campaign ‘Be Careful of Waste’ is an important chance to reiterate how much of a mistake it is to throw food away. Also, it cannot and must not be embarrassing to bring home leftovers from restaurants.”

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Four Arrested in Probe Into ANAS Motorway Contract Bribes

Investigation by traffic police and forest Guards

(ANSA) — Florence, September 30 — Four people were arrested Wednesday as part of an inquiry by Florence magistrates into alleged corruption among senior officials of the state-owned ANAS motorway corporation in Tuscany, police said.

The four, who were not immediately identified, were arrested on charges of corruption in lucrative road construction contracts. The investigation is being carried out by Tuscan traffic police and forest Guards under orders of the Florence prosecutor’s office, police sources said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Police Arrest Romanian Rape Suspect

Victims are two young tourists

(ANSA) — Bologna, September 30 — Bologna railway police early on Wednesday arrested a Romanian national on suspicion of rape and attempted rape.

Two 20-something tourists reported him to police after he lured them from Bologna’s central train station, saying he could put them up for the night.

He led them to a shed near the station, where he raped one of the young women and tried to rape the other.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Thatcher’s Finance Minister to Lead UK EU Exit Campaign

Britain’s Thatcher-era finance minister Nigel Lawson said Thursday he will lead a campaign by a group within Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party to fight for an exit from the European Union.

Writing in The Times newspaper, the eurosceptic who served as chancellor under Margaret Thatcher from 1983 to 1989, said Cameron’s plans to press for reforms within the EU were “wafer thin” and unlikely to succeed.

As president of the “Conservatives for Britain” group he said he will call for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc, “unless there is real reform”…

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

UK: Asian Muslim Family Are Driven From Their Home After They Converted to Christianity

Nissar Hussain, his wife Kubra and their six children (pictured) have suffered appalling abuse at the hands of their neighbours who regard them as ‘blasphemers’ and attack them in the street.

An Asian family who converted to Christianity claim they are being driven out of their home for the second time by Muslim persecutors.

Nissar Hussain, his wife Kubra and their six children said they have suffered an appalling ordeal at the hands of neighbours who regard them as blasphemers.

They claim they are effectively prisoners in their own home after being attacked in the street, having their car windscreens repeatedly smashed and eggs thrown at their windows.

Mr Hussain, 49, has even given up his career as a nurse due to the effect on his health.

Police have been called numerous times to deal with the trouble but are said to be reluctant to treat the problem as a religious hate crime.

Only one successful prosecution has been made, and Mr Hussain said he feels so let down by police he has lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He also criticised the Anglican Church for failing to provide any meaningful support.

Now the family are likely to move from their home city of Bradford to a ‘white English’ area to escape the hate campaign.

‘Our lives have been sabotaged and this shouldn’t happen in the United Kingdom,’ said Mr Hussain.

‘We live in a free democratic society and what they are doing to us is abhorrent.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Charlotte Church Stuns TV Viewers by Blaming Syria’s Brutal Four-Year Civil War on Climate Change

Singer and left-wing activist Charlotte Church sparked ridicule after blaming the Syrian civil war — on climate change.

The millionaire former child prodigy, appearing on the BBC’s Question Time last night, said global warming was ‘a big factor’ in the brutal conflict between rebel groups, ISIS and Bashar Assad.

Ms Church, who has become a high-profile campaigner against the Government’s austerity programme, later took to Twitter to complain about the programme’s audience after they responded to her complaint about climate change with silence.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Man Abused by VIP Paedophile Ring Now Claims He Was ‘Manipulated’ By Exaronews

A man who said he was sexually abused by a VIP paedophile ring now claims he was ‘manipulated’ by a news website that led the crusade against politicians.

The man, known as Darren, has taken to social media to blast the treatment by ExaroNews, after his allegations of abuse at the Dolphin Square apartment block in Westminster were dropped.

He made a series of claims in interviews with the investigative news website, including that a girl had died during a paedophile party in London as well as a man at the Thornham Magna estate, Suffolk.

It sparked an investigation by Scotland Yard, but the probe was dropped last month after detectives concluded there was not enough evidence to support his allegations.

Darren took to Twitter last week to post a series of incriminating posts about Exaro and maintain that he stood by his allegations.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Vatican Fires Gay Priest Over ‘Irresponsible’ Coming Out

The Vatican on Saturday fired a monsignor who came out as gay on the eve of a big meeting of the world’s bishops to discuss church outreach to gays, divorcees and more traditional Catholic families.

The Vatican took action after Krzysztof Charamsa, a mid-level official in its doctrine office, came out in newspaper interviews in Italy and Poland saying he was happy and proud to be a gay priest, and that he was in love with a man whom he identified as his boyfriend.

“The decision to make such a pointed statement on the eve of the opening of the synod appears very serious and irresponsible, since it aims to subject the synod assembly to undue media pressure,” the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement…

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

Kosovo Serbs Want Issue of Usurped Property Solved

PRISTINA — Serb representatives in Kosovo institutions announced on Thursday that they will seek the establishment of a special court or court unit to deal solely with the issue of usurped property in Kosovo.

Kosovo’s minister for return and communities Dalibor Jevtic told Tanjug that he will try to garner support for the idea from an inter-ministerial group for the return of displaced persons, as well as from justice minister Hajredin Kuci and other officials of the Pristina authorities.

Jevtic said that, according to information that is available to him, 19,000 charges have been filed with Kosovo courts over usurpation of property and added that the ministry for returns and communities is analysing the problem in collaboration with the OSCE mission in Kosovo.

The analysis will be presented at a meeting of the inter-ministerial group for return and tabled to Kosovo’s justice ministry.

There are many cases where, even after charges had been filed for usurpation of property, the process of solving these problems has not begun, which is particularly worrying, Jevtic said.

We do not want to influence the work of the judiciary and no one here should take our initiative as pressure on judicial authorities — in this way, we want to point to something that is a burden to entire society in Kosovo, Jevtic said.

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

Marijuana Fields in Albania, Italian GDF Complete Mission

So far destroyed 700,000 plants, value 7 billion euros

(ANSA) — TIRANA — A mission of the Italian Guardia di Finanza (Gdf) in Albania for the location of areas where marijuana is cultivated was completed today.

According to a statement released by the Albanian police, thanks to a specialized aircraft of the Gdf and in collaboration with the University of Naples, 1,368 plantations have been identified during 36 flight missions carried out since last June.

Using information obtained from the Italian side, Albanian police destroyed more than 700,000 cannabis plants, an amount that according to local authorities would have provided about 7 billion euros to traffickers.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Serbia: First Stone Laid at ‘Belgrade Waterfront’

Urban project along River Sava funded by companies in Emirates

(ANSA) — BELGRADE — The first stone at the construction site of ‘Belgrade Waterfront’ was laid yesterday. ‘Belgrade Waterfront’ is the great urban project (3.5 billion euros) envisaging the construction of a vast, futuristic complex along the banks of the river Sava, which flows through the Serbian capital along with the Danube.

The ceremony was attended by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Mohammed Alabbar, managing director of Eagle Hills, company based in Abu Dhabi, which funds a large part of the project, along with some Serbian companies. At least 50% of the whole project will be completed within 20 years, whereas full implementation is expected within 30 years.

The plan, strongly supported by the government led by Vucic, has sparked protests and discontent among environmentalist organizations and movements, who fear the devastation of a large part of the natural habitat along the two major rivers in Belgrade.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Tunisian Economy ‘Plagued by Petty Corruption’, Experts Say

Petty graft plagues Tunisia’s economy, nearly five years after state corruption triggered the fall of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, partly due to lack of political will, experts say.

Corruption was endemic under long-time dictator Ben Ali, whose close circle — especially his wife’s family — had an iron grip on the economy.

Public debate has again centred around the topic after President Beji Caid Essebsi in July presented to the cabinet a draft “economic and financial reconciliation” bill that would grant amnesty to those convicted of corruption if they return stolen public money and pay fines.

Hundreds of Tunisians defied a protest ban last month to demonstrate against the draft law, which they see as absolving the “corrupt” of their crimes…

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

Tunisia: From World Bank 178 Mln Euros for Roads

Along with 909,000 dollars donated for technical advice

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 2 — The World Bank has granted favorable credit terms worth 178 million euros to build roads in several governorates in Tunisia and aid worth 909,000 dollars for technical consulting on the project, the Tunisian ministry for development, investment and cooperation said in a statement.

The deal was signed today by Infrastructure Minister Mohamed Salah Arfaoui and the director of the Tunisian office of the World Bank, Eileen Murray.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Defense Secretary Ash Carter: US Won’t be Clearing Syria’s Skies for Russia

The U.S. forces bombing Islamic State targets in Syria will not yield to Russian jets, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday. He also confirmed that Russia’s first strikes on Wednesday were not in areas where the Islamic State operates — and that raises the risk of collision between Russian and U.S.-led coalition forces.

“The coalition will continue to fly missions over Iraq and Syria as planned, as we did today,” Carter said. “We intend to continue to conduct the air operations as we have been doing. We don’t intend to make any changes in our air operations.”

[Comment: The lies are coming fast and thick. We all know NATO (via Turkey), UK and US supply ISIS and provide air cover. Stage is being set for WWIII.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Filipina Held in Saudi Over Suicide Vests

A Filipina has been arrested in Saudi Arabia on suspicion of helping a Syrian to make explosive belts for suicide attacks in the kingdom, the interior ministry said Saturday.

The Syrian, identified as Mohamed al-Barazi, is suspected of turning the house they shared in the Saudi capital into a bomb factory, the ministry spokesman said.

Barazi is also accused of having a second house in Riyadh which he ran as a safe house for militants on the run…

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

Hungary Urges US-Led Coalition to Cooperate With Russia in Anti-ISIL Fight

Hungary’s foreign minister criticized US airstrikes against ISIL for failing to effectively eliminate the terrorists.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Budapest has called on a US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group to join efforts with Moscow to effectively resolve the long-standing Syrian civil war, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Saturday.

“We have to create stability in the Middle East and North Africa region. And the major issue is to make peace in Syria. There’s going to be no forward progress, no possibility to resolve the crisis in Syria, unless there is an agreement and pragmatic cooperation between the Transatlantic Community and Russia,” Szijjarto said in his address to the UN General Assembly.

According to Szijjarto, the US-led coalition of over 60 states, which has been conducting airstrikes in Syria against ISil militants without seeking the approval of Damascus since 2014, has not shown enough sufficiency, as ISil continues to gain additional territory in the region.

Russia launched precision airstrikes on ISil positions in Syria at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday.

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

Industry Officials: Ankara’s Foreign Policy Has Cost Turkish Firms $2.5b

ANKARA — A senior Turkish industry official who coordinates efforts to win back Arabian Gulf markets does not hide his admiration for the country’s foreign policy calculus, calling it “one with a character.” But he admits that the policy has cost the local defense industry US $2.5 billion in lost contracts with neighboring Muslim countries.

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

Meet Romanian Catalin John Berenghi: Former Foreign Legion Soldier and Anti-Islamist Badass

[See article linked above for excellent photos & images]

Long story short: the radical Islamist Turkish government of President Recep Erdogan offered the unpopular left wing Romanian government a multi-million Euro “donation” for the purpose of building a new mega-mosque in Romania’s capital Bucharest. The Romanian government led by the premier Victor (AKA “Mickey Mouse”) Ponta, accepted the offer and contributed to the project by allocating a very valuable parcel of land for the construction.

Enters Catalin Ioan (John) Berenghi, age 34.

John Berenghi is a veteran of the French Foreign Legion, successful businessman, passionate amateur historian and overall genuine bad-ass. It is well known they don’t accept limp-wristed metrosexual wussies in the French Foreign Legion so as far as I’m concerned, Berenghi’s bad ass credentials are impeccable.

He, like millions of other Romanians share the collective memory of their country’s 450+ years of bloody struggle for freedom from under the yoke of Islam. John Berenghi didn’t like the idea of a mega-mosque being built in his country with money sent by the radical Islamist government government of Turkey and decided to take action.

But first, a little bit of history may be needed here so readers will better understand why John Berenghi and his co-nationals have a visceral aversion for Islam:

For Romanians, Vlad “Dracula” The Impaler isn’t a fictional character in a book or a Hollywood movie. He is a real life “voievod” (prince) who battled and despite the size of his minuscule army had won several victories against the mighty Islamic Ottoman Empire who tried repeatedly to invade, subdue and convert his country to Islam…

           — Hat tip: TP [Return to headlines]
 

Moscow Says 600 ‘Militants’ Flee Syria, Vows to Ramp Up Bombing

Russian air strikes Saturday targeting the Islamic State group in Syria have sown “panic”, forcing some 600 “militants” to abandon their positions and head to Europe, Moscow claimed.

Summing up the results of Russia’s first three days of strikes, a senior official with the General Staff said Russian jets had made more than 60 sorties over 50 IS targets and added that Russia would ramp up its aerial campaign.

“Our intelligence shows that militants are leaving areas under their control. Panic and desertion have started in their ranks,” Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, a senior Russian General Staff official, said in a statement.

“Some 600 mercenaries have abandoned their positions and are trying to find their way into Europe,” Kartapolov said.

“Over the past three days we have managed to undermine material and technical resources of the terrorists and significantly reduce their combat potential,” he added. “We will not only continue the strikes by our air force but also will increase their intensity.”

[Comment: Russia is showing how to really destroy US.UK.NATO created ISIS.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Russia Enters the Fray: The New Syrian Score

It will no longer be possible in the new setup — with the Iranians, the Iraqis, the Syrians and the Russians sharing intelligence — for the Gulf monarchies and for Erdogan to get away with the duplicity of pretending to fight ISIS while pursuing their separate agendas. For as long as they were able to do so, the Americans couldn’t get very far with their anti-ISIS campaign.

RT: Srdja Trifkovic joining us live, for more insight on [the upper house of Russia’s parliament authorizing President Putin to deploy military forces abroad]. What kind of reaction do you expect from Washington to this latest move, announced from Moscow this morning?

ST: Not much, frankly, because we are really looking at a formality which was very quickly passed. The real surprise — one might even say shock that needed to be absorbed, and options taken stock of — was the announcement that there would be a contingent of the Russian air force [in Syria] with all the supporting personnel. It is also significant that the Russians announced upfront that there would be no combat troops involved, and indeed they are not needed. What Assad primarily needs is air support, spares and servicing of his worn out equipment. As far as the manpower is concerned, if need be there will be foreign volunteers from the Hezbollah in Lebanon, or from the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran.

RT: What do you make of China’s potential involvement here? We understand that one of China’s biggest aircraft carriers has just arrived off the Syrian coast, assisted by a missile destroyer as well; so apparently China is getting involved with the Russian coalition here as well. Your feedback on that?…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Turkey’s Erdogan Faces Tough EU Talks on Refugees, Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets EU leaders Monday but they will find it hard to bridge gaps on the migrant crisis and the Syrian war that has produced so many of the refugees they must both deal with, analysts say.

Russian air strikes in Syria have upped the ante in a conflict which has destabilised a region in which Ankara plays a pivotal role, with Turkey taking around two million refugees from Syria.

Erdogan faces crunch elections on November 1 and analysts say he will want some solid signs of progress to take home without giving ground in his implacable campaign against Kurdish rebels…

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

Russian Launches Cargo Spaceship to the ISS

Russia successfully launched an unmanned cargo spaceship bound for the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday night, redeeming itself after a string of failures that cast a shadow on its space programme.

The Progress M-29M ship took off at 7:49 pm local time (16:49 GMT) from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying 2.3 tonnes of material for the astronauts based at the ISS, the Russian space agency said.

The vessel is expected to arrive at the ISS at 22:54 GMT…

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

India: Hindu Extremists Plan More Attacks if Beef Ban Not Enforced

The head of the local branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, an ultra-nationalist Hindu group, issues a threat following an incident involving a cow part found inside a Hindu temple. For Hindus, cows are a manifestation of the divine. Elsewhere, Christians have been threatened with expulsion from their village if they do not repudiate their faith. For Christian community leader, “respect for others’ opinion is fundamental in a pluralistic democracy.”

Ranchi (AsiaNews) — Pramod Mishra, head of the Hindu ultranationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the Indian state of Jharkhand, has threatened retaliation if the local government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not permanently ban beef sale and trade.

The VHP leader spoke a few days after sectarian clashes broke out following the discovery of a piece of cow in a Hindu temple in Doranda, a district in the state capital. Two people were wounded by gunshots during the incident.

According to Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), the anti-beef ban is aimed at minorities, especially Christians, who have been targeted in the recent past for other reasons.

Cows are a manifestation of the divine in Hinduism. Killing or eating its flesh is deemed sinful. People from the Brahmin caste avoid either. Only Dalits (outcastes), who are considered impure and “untouchables”, can touch the animal, eat its meat and work the leather.

“We demand a ban throughout the state,” Mishra said on Sunday. “Cow slaughter was banned in 2005. The current Chief Minister Raghubar Das was a state minister at the time. Now he is doing nothing to enforce the law.”

If that does not work, the ultranationalist leader said, “We shall write to the President of India, the prime minister, the governor, and all other authorities until local authorities strictly enforce the law that bans cow slaughter. We want a special court to try people involved in cattle trade.”

For Sajan K George, “Banning beef in BJP ruled states is an ominous sign of growing intolerance and communal division.” Speaking to AsiaNews, he noted, “Since the BJP’s landmark victory under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the aspirations and actions by Hindu majority groups and organisations that support the idea of a Hindu state have gained prominence.”

Recently, the state of Maharashtra, which is also run by a BJP administration, banned the sale of beef. Although cows are sacred for Hindus, minority Christians and Muslims traditionally eat beef. Thus, a beef ban would heavily affect their diet.

Some small Pentecostals communities in Lupungi Masasai, Jagnathpur and Chaibasa (Jharkhand) learnt that the hard way. After they were attacked, George said, four tribal Christian families were summoned by the village council and threatened with expulsion from the community unless they repudiate their Christian faith. If they refused, they would lose their tribal certificates. The same occurred to 30 Christian families in other nearby villages.

Meanwhile, anti-Christian violence continues elsewhere in the state. The GCIC president reported that 15 Hindu extremists, wielding sticks and billy clubs attacked a group of 35 Christians, who had gathered to pray in Hutugdag, a village in Palamu District. Four Christians were seriously wounded.

“The beef ban is specifically aimed at minorities,” George explained. If implemented, “many of their members would be deprived of their livelihood as well as staple food.” Instead, “respect for others is fundamental in a pluralistic democracy.”

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

Indonesia: Jakarta to Introduce Family Planning to Prevent Poor and Ignorant Generations

The Indonesian population is growing at 1.49 per cent rate a year. Because of the economic crisis, the government wants to cut to 1.1 per cent. A pilot project is set to start next January in West Java a village. So far however, the country’s poorest and more underdeveloped areas have been impervious to such policies.

Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Each year, Indonesia has 4.5 million live births. This represents a population growth of 1.49 per cent per year. In view of the situation, the Indonesian government wants to introduce family planning legislation to curb the current rate of growth.

Such a rate is the equivalent of adding 85 per cent of neighbouring Singapore’s population each year. Because the country’s economy is in the dull-drum, the authorities want to reduce it to 1.1 per cent.

National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) chief Surya Chandra Surapaty said that the current population growth rate is a source of concern because such a massive increase is not being accompanied by greater labour productivity.

The Indonesian economy has been struggling for several months with industrial capacity underutilised and the national currency at its lowest point in 17 years.

Speaking about the problem, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said, “If we consider the next ten years, this rate of population growth means adding 10 Singapore to our population.”

The president also noted that the highest growth was in East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, and the Riau islands.

His concern is that children born in these poor and underdeveloped areas will become a low-income, poorly educated generation.

For the authorities, family planning has failed so far due to a lack of education. In order to deal with the issue, the president approved a pilot project in a village in West Java set to begin in January next year.

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

Japanese Man Shot Dead in Bangladesh; Islamic State Link Probed

DHAKA — A Japanese citizen was shot dead by gunmen in a northern Bangladesh town Saturday, police said, days after an Italian aid worker was murdered in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Kunio Hoshi, 65, was attacked by unidentified assailants around 10 a.m. on a visit to Kownia, in the district of Rangpur, 335 km north of the capital, Dhaka, and died on his way to hospital, police said.

“He was shot on his chest and also in his hand and leg,” Rezaul Karim, the officer in charge of the local police station, told reporters.

Police also said Hoshi was traveling to the town on a cycle rickshaw when his vehicle was stopped by three men riding on a motorcycle.

“They shot him there and drove away. His body has been brought to the morgue of Rangpur Medical College,” a police officer said, adding that the man was shot at close range.

An official with the Japanese Embassy in Dhaka said she was trying to ascertain the details of the incident involving Hoshi, who was born in Bangladesh.

Local reports said he was involved in “philanthropic activities” and an “agriculture project.”

The incident came less than a week after an Italian aid worker was shot dead near Dhaka’s diplomatic area.

Cesare Tavella, an Italian citizen working in Bangladesh on a food security project, was shot dead Monday in a similar manner.

“This killing was also carried by three masked men who came by motorcycle and used a pistol, so the motives may be same,” Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said. “We take both the killings seriously.”

“We have detained four persons and are trying to know the motive for the killing,” said Farukh Hossain, a police superintendent in the Rangpur district.

The government has sought to calm escalating security fears in the country after the attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, describing it as an “isolated incident.”

International schools closed temporarily and Western embassies restricted their diplomats’ movements, while Australia’s cricket team canceled a planned tour of the country over security concerns.

Bangladesh prides itself on being a moderate Muslim country. But the gruesome killings of a series of atheist bloggers this year has rocked the country and sparked a crackdown on local hard-line Islamist groups.

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

Italy Supplies Nuclear Fusion Reactor Component to Japan

(AGI) Rome, Sept 29 — The first superconducting magnet for the JT-60SA experimental nuclear fusion reactor under construction in Japan was presented in Genoa on Tuesday by ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, and ASG Superconductors, a superconducting magnet manufacturing company. The Tokamak, a plant that will begin the plasma burn-through in 2019, reproduces the same nuclear reaction that occurs in stars. It is part of the Broader Approach Programme promoted by Europe and Japan to accelerate research on nuclear fusion. The agency said that the Euro-Japanese Tokamak ITER being manufactured in Cadarache, France, is a fundamental step in one of the world’s broadest and more complex nuclear fusion programmes. ENEA is part of the Broader Approach Programme and project leader for research on nuclear fusion. The ceremony was attended by ENEA Commissioner Federico Testa, the president of ASG Superconductors Davide Malacalza, the CEO of ASG Vincenzo Giori, Walter Tosto, president of Walter Tosto SpA, and 50 European and Japanese participants in the Technical Coordination Meeting. It was called by ENEA to take stock of the progress on the experimental reactor. Mr Testa said: “The nuclear fusion sector represents a clear example of how the collaboration between research and industry is a winning solution, as proven by the billion euros worth of orders won by Italian companies. Within this framework, ENEA is capable of offering growth opportunities for small and medium-size enterprises wanting to compete on the global market by increasing the transfer of technological know-how and by providing training activities in high technology and innovation.” Mr Mascalza said: “To have manufactured the coils of the JT60SA Tokamak in compliance with the deadlines and the specifications confirms our leadership position in the superconducting magnet sector. Our ever-closer collaboration with ENEA is extremely important because thanks to our competences, a company legally and industrially headquartered in Italy like ASG can compete on international markets for orders to supply magnets for industrial applications and for the med-tech and energy sectors. We are developing wholly Italian innovative technologies like the MgB2 superconducting magnesium diboride wire that could have important applications in energy storage and transportation systems.”.

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

Gunman Who Shot Dead NSW Police Employee Was Radicalised Youth

Police sources say the gunman who shot dead a New South Wales police civilian employee was a 15-year-old radicalised youth of Middle Eastern background.

The lone shooter killed the employee as he was leaving police headquarters at Parramatta in Sydney’s west around 4:30pm yesterday.

The offender then fired several more shots at officers as they emerged from the building to respond to the incident.

He was killed when the officers, who are special constables, returned fire.

[Comment: How did this criminal get a gun? Aren’t guns banned in Australia. Is it possible that criminals would not follow the law?]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

18 Killed, 41 Injured in Blasts Near Nigerian Capital

Two explosions that ripped through the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital Abuja have left at least 18 people dead and 41 wounded, the National Emergency Management Agency said on Saturday.

Both the Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari and US embassy condemned the attacks.

“The death toll is now 18 because three people died in the hospitals this morning while 41 others were injured and are receiving treatment in the hospitals,” NEMA spokesman Sani Datti told AFP.

The agency had earlier given a death toll of 15 and 41 wounded following the blasts late on Friday near police station in Kuje and at a bus stop in Nyanya, in an area previously targeted by the Boko Haram Islamist group…

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

Commissioner Jourová’s Concluding Remarks at the Colloquium on Fundamental Rights — Tolerance and Respect: Living Better Together

Brussels, 2 October 2015

Now on hate speech. If freedom of expression is one of the building blocks of a democratic society, hate speech on the other hand, is a blatant violation of that freedom. It must be severely punished.

As some of you noted, over the past few weeks, we have witnessed a lot of solidarity towards refugees. But we have seen a surge of xenophobic hate speech.

Some of you advocated enrolling the help of online intermediaries such as Google or Facebook to take down hate speech from the web. Other participants rather underlined promoting the use of counter-narratives. You also highlighted the need for clearer procedures to prosecute those who spread hate speech online. I was pleased to hear media and Internet providers’ experiences and to hear their commitment to work with us.

I fully agree with you on these lines of action. As was said this morning, Internet knows no borders.

I intend to bring together IT companies, business, national authorities and civil society around the table in Brussels to tackle together online hate speech. I will discuss this with EU Justice Ministers next week.

Let me now address the burning issue of hate crimes and data collection. We clearly need better and serious recording of hate crimes to ensure appropriate investigation, prosecution and sentencing.

It is indeed high time that Member States fully implemented EU law to combat racism and xenophobia.

The latest Eurobarometer on discrimination released yesterday, shows very worrying results. Only 61% of respondents said that they would feel fully comfortable working with a Muslim colleague.

We must step up our efforts to further implement and better monitor EU anti-discrimination law, particularly the Race Equality Directive and the Employment Equality Directive.

With their diversity charters, companies are at the forefront of the fight against discrimination. But they still can do more: they should further share their best practices to promote a culture of tolerance and respect in the working place.

For my part, I will press ahead to have the Directive on Equal Treatment adopted, so that discrimination is prohibited not only at the work place but also in the areas of social protection, education and access to goods and services.

At the same time, we need to raise awareness and better implement equality law through funding and exchanging best practices between Member State authorities, including judges, equality bodies, prosecutors and lawyers. Equality bodies have a crucial role in this context.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The road to a society of tolerance is still long, but over these two days, I felt your strong determination to roll up your sleeves and get the work done together.

And therefore I completely understand the calls for concrete actions. This Colloquium was about more than words. It was about paving the way towards a more inclusive society, a society where we all feel respected and safe. A society that stands as a fierce defender of democracy, equality, and respect for human rights.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Opening Remarks of First Vice-President Frans Timmermans at the First Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights

Brussels, 1 October 2015

In the past weeks, we have seen tremendous solidarity in some of our Member States. But we have also seen the dark side of society. We have seen the homes of asylum seekers set on fire. And we have heard political leaders declare that their countries would not accept refugees if they were Muslim.

Anti-Muslims incidents are multiplying across Europe. We’re seeing a huge spike of attacks. Verbal insinuations, closed-mindedness, prejudice, discrimination.

The rise of islamophobia is the one of the biggest challenges in Europe. It is a challenge to our vital values, to the core of who we are.

Never has our societies’ capacity for openness, for tolerance, for inclusion been more tested than it is today. Diversity is now in some parts of Europe seen as a threat. Diversity comes with challenges. But diversity is humanity’s destiny.

Commissioner Jourova and I have decided that we will designate, within the Commission, two coordinators with specific responsibility for following issues relating to one, antisemitism and the other, Islamophobia. So one coordinator responsible to be your contact point on issues relating to antisemitism, another coordinator responsible as your point of contact for issues related to Islamophobia. And these two persons within our services will have direct access to me. So whatever you say to them lands on my desk immediately. I want to be in direct control of this I will be your envoy if you want to call it that. I will have two people in my services whose task it will be one, to make sure that the issue of antisemitism is her or his main activity, and the other, Islamophobia, and that they report to me directly so I know what I need to do when there is an issue at hand.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Some Foreign Leaders ‘Using’ Europe’s Refugee Tusk

The huge influx of migrants into Europe is being used by some foreign leaders to weaken the European Union politically, EU president Donald Tusk said Friday in Poland.

“For the first time in my political career I have heard politicians openly declaring that the refugees heading to Europe are their method of getting (us) to act a certain way,” Tusk told a European forum in Sopot town on Poland’s Baltic coast.

“Some say that it’s their method of weakening Europe as a political entity,” added Tusk…

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

Viktor Orban: Refugees ‘Look More Like an Army Than Asylum Seekers’

Young men from the Arab world who look like warriors

Hungary’s prime minister says the refugees and migrants arriving in Europe are mostly young men who “look more like an army than asylum seekers.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday on state radio that while he did not reject the right of any country to try to solve its demographic problems “with young men from the Arab world who look like warriors,” it was unacceptable “to have this forced upon Hungary.”

Orban, who is advocating for global quotas for receiving migrants, says it is unfair for countries like the United States, the rich Arab states, Israel and Australia to expect Europe to take in the migrants while accepting few or none themselves.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White House Reveals End Game for Massive Immigration

The Obama administration is launching a campaign to accelerate the conversion of millions of immigrants to citizenship. The nation’s immigration agencies will spend big bucks on “outreach” activities and the Naturalization process will be streamlined.

The goal is to add several million new citizens to the voter rolls by November 2016.

If you think the Naturalization process is governed by law and long-established rules so we need not worry about shortcuts and wholesale fraud — wake up. This is the Obama Administration we are talking about. If you think immigration law enforcement was politicized, wait until you see what citizenship fraud looks like. It will become very politically incorrect to question any immigrant’s right to vote.

The fact that newly naturalized citizens routinely vote Democrat more than Republican by 3-to-1 is, no doubt, a pure coincidence and has nothing to do with the desire to “expedite” the creation of new citizens.

By law, a legal immigrant can apply for citizenship and begin the Naturalization process after five years.

[Comment: The Constitution loving American citizens will be replaced by imported socialists.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

ACLU Sues to Force Catholic Hospitals to Do Abortions

(LifeNews) Yesterday, the American Civil Liberties Union sued Trinity Health Corporation for refusing to perform abortions on women whose unborn babies were supposedly near death.

In a federal lawsuit against Trinity, which is one of the largest Catholic health systems in the country, the ACLU explained that their doctors refused to perform abortions on five women who suffered preterm, premature rupture of membranes. This complication arises when the amniotic sac breaks and leaves no fluid around the unborn child.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Before Bishops Meet, Discordant Voices on Gays’ Place in Church

In the days leading up to a synod of bishops at which the Church’s approach to homosexuality will come under review, representatives of gay Catholics from nearly 40 countries have descended on Rome.

Seminars, meetings and conferences have echoed to the sound of sometimes sharply discordant voices seeking to influence the direction of the debate.

The official stance of the Church remains clear: homosexuality is an “intrinsic disorder” and individuals attracted to the same sex should live a life of abstinence.

But at all levels of its global structure, there are important differences of view on how variations in human sexuality should be dealt with, both in Catholic teaching and in the pastoral activities of priests across a world in which broader societal views of the question also vary greatly…

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

Italy: Boy, 16, Banned From Class ‘For Being Gay’

‘No catechism in Italy worth more than Constitution’ — Arcigay

(ANSA) — Rome, September 29 — Carabinieri police were on Tuesday investigating claims that a 16-year-old boy was banned from the classroom at a Catholic school in Monza because he was gay.

The claims were made by the boy’s father in an email to the school principal and local press. The man said his son had been made to sit in the corridor for several weeks after a photograph featuring him with another boy was posted to a social network. Gay rights group Arcigay said Tuesday it was “disconcerted” by the news and called on the ministry of education to intervene.

“There is no catechism in Italy that is more valid than our constitutional charter,” a statement said.

Arcigay also pointed the finger at a proposed amendment to the 1993 Mancino law on discrimination making it an offense to instigate or commit discrimination or acts of violence on the grounds of homophobia or transphobia.

Parliamentary debate on the measure in 2013 produced “ambiguities” that effectively reinforced racism and homophobia in Italy, the organisation said.

Arcigay therefore called on the Senate to schedule discussion of the bill approved by the Lower House two years ago, “eliminating the shortcuts and ambiguous formulas that make discrimination and violence possible and even justifiable in our country”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Pledging to Fight Injustices, Hillary Clinton Focuses on Transgender Rights in Speech

In a forceful speech to an influential gay rights group, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday reaffirmed her support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans just hours before Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., contemplating his own presidential run, was to address the organization.

“I see the injustices and dangers that you and your family still face,” Mrs. Clinton told the gathering of members of the Human Rights Campaign. “I am running for president to end them once and for all.”

Mrs. Clinton emphasized transgender rights, including urging the military to reverse its policy and allow transgender Americans to serve in the armed forces. Having the world’s strongest military, she said, “doesn’t just mean having the best-trained forces or the biggest arsenal.”

“It means,” she added, “being a leader on issues like this.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Polish Priest Outs Himself as Gay With His Partner and is Immediately Sacked by Vatican Officials

High-ranking Polish priest Father Krzystof Charamsa was fired by the Vatican just hours after coming out as gay, and revealing that he had a partner. But the Vatican says it has nothing to do with his being gay.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

6 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 10/3/2015

  1. They are just the ones we somehow have heard about. I’m sure the local dhimmi censor will have some explaining to do. What an occupation. I can only imagine what will be acceptable levels of anti all Christian violence based on the massive increase in illegal rabble now smashing through borders once secure.

  2. ‘Kinetic activists’ ! Sure sounds nicer that ‘murderer’, ‘killer’ ‘terrorist’, etc.

  3. On that jihadist and his murder of a police station worker and the following comment regarding guns being banned in Australia.

    The jihadist had visited his Mosque on the Friday of the shooting – so who had been talking in his ear? Too, the muzzies have been smuggling firearms into the country for decades and only God knows how much weaponry they have secreted in their selected Mosques.

    I just finished a lengthy comment on Sipsey Street Irregulars regarding gun banning and confiscation in Australia on which there is much ignorance throughout the blogosphere.

    Firearms are not banned in Australia – they are controlled. For instance a farmer is able to acquire a semi-auto rifle where a city slicker cannot. Pistols and revolvers are able to be bought legally provided that the buyer and seller are licensed and have permits to purchase All firearms are registered, some three million of them since 1996.

    Not all firearms in the country are registered and prior to the Port Arthur massacre, there were some two million firearms (estimated) that included all kinds of weaponry. Only 650,000 of those were handed in during the Gun Buyback Scheme while the remainder remain in peoples homes who refused to have their guns registered – they are now considered to be criminals!

    So no, Australia has not been disarmed nor are we likely to go quietly into the night when the time comes.

  4. The BBC will certainly expose the names and new addresses of the converts. This must not stand!

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