Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/21/2015

A strain of bacteria that is resistant even to “last resort” antibiotics has been discovered in the UK. It had previously appeared only in China, and it was expected to take at least three years to reach Europe, so its discovery in Britain was a surprise to epidemiologists.

In migration news, the Islamic State is said to possess tens of thousands of blank passports which it intends to use to smuggle jihad fighters into Europe disguised as refugees.

In other news, a young woman in Las Vegas deliberately ran down pedestrians with her car, killing one person and injuring dozens more. The woman, who had a young child with her in the car, is now in police custody.

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

Thanks to Dean, Fjordman, JD, Jerry Gordon, Nash Montana, Seneca III, Srdja Trifkovic, Steen, 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
» Central Banks Have Pushed the Middle Class Down Into Neofeudal Serfdom
» Fed Throws Gas on Already Raging Financial Inferno: “We’ll Have One Disaster After Another”
 
USA
» 1 Dead, 37 Injured as Woman Plows Into Crowd Near Las Vegas’ Paris Hotel, ‘Motive Unknown’ — Police
» Anti-Muslim Group Wants Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Fired
» CISA: “Just Another Example of Corruption”
» Las Vegas Car Attacker Kills 1, Injures Dozens
» Miss Puerto Rico Suspended for Anti-Muslim Comments on Twitter
» MSNBC’s Brzezinski: “White Men With Guns” Greater Threat Than ISIS
» NRA, Second Amendment and “We the People”
» Phyllis Schlafly: Trump is ‘Last Hope for America’
» The Latest: Police Say Woman Intentionally Drove Into Crowd
 
Europe and the EU
» Bacteria That Resist ‘Last Antibiotic’ Found in UK
» Belgian Authorities Raid Home in Connection With Paris Attacks
» Cyprus Leaders Determined to Solve Peace Talks Difficulties
» Eurosceptic MPs Put Cameron Under Pressure
» Geert Wilders Trial for Inciting Hatred to Start on March 18
» German Shooting Clubs Lobby Against EU Gun Control
» Germans Stock up on Weapons for Self-Defense
» Netherlands: Drop Dead Suckers, Geert Wilders Tells Politicians and the Press
» Poles Protest Government’s Move Against Court
» Sorrowful France Marks Edith Piaf’s Centenary
» Spain Faces Electoral Mess and Real Test
» Stunning Memory Park for Moved Swedish Town
» UK Police Busts Karaoke “Gang” For Sharing Songs That Aren’t Commercially Available
» UK: Businessman Who Posed With Barack Obama is Facing Jail for Molesting Girl, 12
» UK: Oxford Student Who Wants Rhodes Statue Down Branded ‘Hypocrite’ For Taking Money From Trust
 
Balkans
» Letter From Bosnia: The Dayton Agreement at Twenty
 
North Africa
» Libya: ISIS Affiliate Posts Video of Sirte ‘Islamic Police’
 
Middle East
» Imprisoned Saudi Blogger on Hunger Strike
» Iranian Kurdish Resistance — an Ally of the US in the War Against ISIS
» Over 100 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Turkey Offensive
» Report: 115 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Recent Turkish Military Operations
» The Islamic State in Possession of “Tens of Thousands” of Blank Passports
 
Russia
» Fir Tree Razor Wire ‘Ruins Festive Cheer’
 
South Asia
» 6 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing, Official Says
» Asian Nation Bans Public Christmas Celebrations, Threatens Prison Time
» India’s Top Court Rejects Plea to Reverse Release of Delhi Gang Rapist
 
Far East
» China’s Ambitious Silk Road Strategy
» China’s Grim History of Industrial Accidents
 
Australia — Pacific
» Denmark’s Young Prince Christian ‘Saved From Waves’
 
Latin America
» At Mercosur Bloc Meeting, Argentina’s Macri Urges Venezuela to Free Its Political Prisoners
 
Immigration
» American Workers Betrayed: Funding Deal Hits Backlash Over Increase in Foreign Worker Visas
» America: Barbarians Inside the Gate
» China Surpasses Mexico in Sending Immigrants to California
» Germany and Austria Mull New EU Asylum Rules
» The Final Insult: Rescued by the Navy in the Med, This Migrant Sneaked Into the UK by Lorry. Now He’s Been Told He Can Stay Until 2020 and Gets Benefits of £230 a Month
 
Culture Wars
» Radical Leftist School Principal Bans the Pledge of Allegiance, Christmas and Thanksgiving … This is Tolerance?
» Slovenia Rejects Gay Marriage Law
 
General
» When is the 2015 Winter Solstice? Everything You Need to Know About the Shortest Day of the Year
 

Central Banks Have Pushed the Middle Class Down Into Neofeudal Serfdom

The injustice of central-bank enforced neofeudalism cannot be suppressed like interest rates.

In traditional feudal systems, serfs were the landless peasantry who worked the land of their feudal lords in exchange for protection. In our present-day neofeudal system, serfdom has a different definition: present-day serfs own little or no productive capital and have few opportunities to ever acquire any.

Just as the feudal-era serf had no choice but to enslave himself and his family to the manor-house lord, the modern-day serf must indenture himself to banks to “own” a car or home or “buy” a college education.The Marxist term wage-slaves describes those who, lacking capital, have only their labor to sell. This describes the vast majority of people in both capitalist and socialist systems, but what makes the present system neofeudal is the central banks: by extending essentially unlimited credit at near-zero interest rates to financiers and corporations, the central banks have given the top .01% the ability to outbid mere savers for income-producing assets (i.e. productive assets).

The X22 Report and I discuss this and related topics in the podcast Central Bankers Are Creating A World Where We Are All Serfs (38:10).

As I outlined in The Flaws in Basic Income for Everyone, all the guaranteed basic income schemes being proposed as solutions to automation are merely institutionalized serfdom as they sentence the unemployed to the marginalized political status (equivalent to powerless serfs) of state dependents while stripping them of purposeful work and the opportunity to acquire the means of production and productive capital.

Guaranteed basic income is thus the perfection of neofeudal serfdom.

The central banks are the critical enforcers of this neofeudal system. Without access to unlimited credit at near-zero rates, financiers and corporations would not be able to outbid savers for productive assets.

Here’s an example that illustrates how central banks have created a neofeudal system. In an economy not suffering from extremes of central-bank financial repression, home mortgages in recent decades were around 7.5%. This rate of interest (coupled with strict lending standards) was high enough to make credit-fueled bubbles difficult to inflate, so homes cost $100,000.

Those who had saved $50,000 had an advantage over financiers who were borrowing the full $100,000. The base operating costs of buying the home as a rental (investment) property was roughly $4,000 more annually for the financiers than for the savers: the savers’ $50,000 mortgage cost around $4,000 a year (not including property taxes and other expenses of ownership) while the financiers’ mortgage was around $8,000 annually.

This difference was large enough to make the property unprofitable for the financiers to buy and rent out, and large enough to make it a risky bet to buy the home and hope appreciation exceeded the annual expenses.

If the home rented for (say) $1,200 per month, the financiers’ higher mortgage expenses put them at a disadvantage to the saver/owner, who had a significantly lower monthly expense.

Contrast this with the world of today, where financiers can borrow essentially unlimited sums at rates far below what savers can get. As a direct result of ultra-low rates for banks, corporations and financiers, even high-earning wage-slaves cannot outbid the financiers for productive (i.e. income-producing) assets.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Fed Throws Gas on Already Raging Financial Inferno: “We’ll Have One Disaster After Another”

If the stock market crash of last Thursday and Friday had all happened on one day, it would have been the 7th largest single day decline in U.S. history. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 367 points after finishing down 253 points on Thursday. The overall decline of 620 points between the two days would have been the 7th largest single day stock market crash ever experienced in the United States if it had happened within just one trading day. If you will remember, this is precisely what I warned would happen if the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. But when news of the rate hike first came out on Wednesday, stocks initially jumped. This didn’t make any sense at all, and personally I was absolutely stunned that the markets had behaved so irrationally. But then we saw that on Thursday and Friday the markets did exactly what we thought they would do. The chief economist at Gluskin Sheff, David Rosenberg, is calling the brief rally on Wednesday “a head-fake of enormous proportions”, and analysts all over Wall Street are bracing for what could be another very challenging week ahead.

When the Federal Reserve decided to lift interest rates, they made a colossal error. You don’t raise interest rates when a global financial crisis has already started. That is absolutely suicidal. It is the kind of thing that you would do if you were trying to bring down the global financial system on purpose.

[Comment: Exactly. But, bringing down the financial system IS the goal. People can’t wrap their minds around the fact that such an insidious plan is the goal so they dismiss it out of hand as “conspiracy”. Private central banks should be abolished. Nations should create their own debt free money without the scam of a middle man between them and the people.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

1 Dead, 37 Injured as Woman Plows Into Crowd Near Las Vegas’ Paris Hotel, ‘Motive Unknown’ — Police

Over 30 people were run over in Las Vegas when a woman drove her car into a crowd opposite the luxurious Paris Hotel. Police say at least one person has died and four are in critical condition. The driver has been detained and the motive is being probed.

The incident took place on Las Vegas Boulevard in front of the Paris Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood.

Las Vegas police said that the crash might have been “intentional” and that the investigation into the incident is continuing.

Witnesses told KTNV Channel 13 Action News that the driver was a woman who had a child in the vehicle. Reports are saying that she tried to flee the scene, but was detained by police and is currently undergoing sobriety test.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Anti-Muslim Group Wants Broward Sheriff’s Deputy Fired

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. — David Rosenthal said he doesn’t necessarily want to harm Muslims. He just doesn’t “want them around.”

“I hate Islam. Islam is evil,” Rosenthal said. “Ideally, I would ban Islam in the United States.”

Rosenthal is now on something of a jihad against one particular Muslim, Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputy Nezar Hamze, saying Hamze, who also serves as a director at the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is unfit to serve in law enforcement, in part, because he refuses to renounce Islamic law, or Sharia. They also call for Sheriff Scott Israel, who refused comment for this story, to resign for hiring Hamze last year.

“I am against Sharia-compliant Muslims having any position in government, law enforcement or the schools,” Rosenthal said.

That might sound like outrageous religious bigotry, but Rosenthal is not alone. He said 50 people attended a rally he organized outside the Broward Sheriff’s Office in October. Among those in attendance were Tea Party Fort Lauderdale founder Danita Kilcullen and congressional candidate Joe Kaufman.

Radio host Joyce Kaufman, of 850-WFTL, has criticized the hiring of Hamze on her show, and a post critical of the hire of Hamze placed on a BSO forum at LeoAffairs.com has received a whopping 70,000 views, making it one of the most-clicked posts ever to appear on the forum.

Wilfredo Ruiz, an attorney who works with Hamze at CAIR Florida, said it’s just another example of the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric and needs to be exposed as hate speech, as do the words coming from the mouths of presidential candidates like Ben Carson and Donald Trump, who called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”…

           — Hat tip: Nash Montana [Return to headlines]
 

CISA: “Just Another Example of Corruption”

Last week, Congress passed CISA by hiding it in the middle of a sure-to-pass spending bill, and Obama signed it into law … even though the Department of Homeland Security had previously said that the bill will HURT national security and destroy privacy (numerous experts agreed).

And — just like with previous spying laws — the government has a secret interpretation of CISA which will make it evenworse.

So why was the bill passed?

As the American public is starting to learn — and politicians from both side of the aisle admit — corruption has thoroughly destroyed America.

The highest-level NSA whistleblower in history — William Binney — the high-level NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, and managed thousands of NSA employees — explains that corruption is what’s motivating mass surveillance against the American people … and it’s what’s making us vulnerable to terrorism.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Las Vegas Car Attacker Kills 1, Injures Dozens

One blog, SuperStation95, did report the woman screamed “ Allahu Akbar,” while driving into the crowd, but that information hasn’ t been substantiated by police or reported in other media outlets.

What has been widely reported is the Las Vegas suspect, a woman in her 20s, was driving down a portion of street near the Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood hotels around 6:40 p.m. Sunday when she allegedly swerved onto the sidewalk multiple times, smashing her car into a crowd of pedestrians. A toddler, age 3, was in the car with the woman at the time.

Witness said she slammed into the crowd, backed up, and then sped up as she plowed into another group of people.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Miss Puerto Rico Suspended for Anti-Muslim Comments on Twitter

Miss Puerto Rico 2015 has been indefinitely suspended from her role by the island’s official Miss America organization for launching a tirade against Muslims on Twitter.

Destiny Velez, 20, fired off a series of tweets at filmmaker Michael Moore on Thursday in which she blasted the religion, The Washington Times reported.

Moore had posted a picture of himself outside Trump Tower in New York City with a sign reading, “We are all Muslim.” His image was in response to Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., which prompted the #WeAreAllMuslim Twitter hashtag.

Velez tweeted directly at Moore multiple times, saying Muslims had “terrorizing agendas,” Latin Times reported.

Her tweets and Twitter account have since been deleted. The phrases she used can still be seen on the Latin Times site, however.

“All what Muslims have done is provided oil & terrorize this country & many others!!!!” she wrote. “There’s NO comparison between Jews, Christians & Muslims. Jews nor Christians have terrorizing agendas in their sacred books.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

MSNBC’s Brzezinski: “White Men With Guns” Greater Threat Than ISIS

MSNBC claims conservatives, libertarians #1 threat to U.S.

Despite the recent ISIS terrorist attacks killing hundreds in the West, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski claims “white men with guns” are “wrecking havoc” on the U.S.

She made the shocking claim during an interview with presidential candidate Rick Santorum on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in which Santorum said Muslims weren’t doing enough to “confront the cancer” of Islamic extremism…

Santorum countered by stating the problem is not guns but rather people who are “being raised in a society without proper leadership in their home.”

“…85-90% of men in prison grew up without a father in the home,” he added.

Of course, none of this matters to Brzezinski because she’s pushing an anti-gun agenda shared by the Obama administration.

[Comment: The greater threat to America is the 5th column posing as journalists in the mainstream media vomiting lies in an effort to fool the public into accepting the globalist agenda. They have shown themselves to be enemies of America and they wonder why their ratings and newspaper circulation numbers are in the toilet.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

NRA, Second Amendment and “We the People”

As a member of the National Rifle Association, I regularly receive its magazine, The American Rifleman. In the December 2015 issue appears an editorial by Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s Executive Vice President, entitled “Obama, Hillary Embrace Gun Confiscation”. Although this observation of present political facts should hardly surprise anyone, it rightly vexes Mr. LaPierre, because of the dark history of “gun control” in Britain and especially in Australia—where confiscation went forward (according to him) “[t]o assuage an insane notion of collective guilt to impose a national gun ban”, and “will never end until the last firearm is removed from private hands”.

Now, most astute observers understand that, although the systematic disarming of Britons and Australians by their own rogue public officials over the years “will never end until the last firearm is removed from private hands”, it never has had anything, and today has nothing, to do with psychobabble about “collective guilt”, or even some “insane notion”, but instead was and is the product of a coldly calculated policy contrived by political elitists who were, and remain, intent upon creating in those benighted nations the conditions necessary for the imposition and perpetuation of police states. These events have been, in no small measure, “models” or “test beds” for the same tactics to be employed against the United States, for the same ultimate purpose.

[…]

Unfortunately, Mr. LaPierre seems to embrace the fallacy known as “judicial supremacy”: the notion that the Constitution means whatever some decision of the Supreme Court says that it means. In practice, this reduces to the perverse conclusion that the Constitution must be taken to mean whatever the fifth fool who creates a majority among the Justices happens to believe at the time, no matter how obviously wrong that belief may be. So America is controlled by “a government of men”, all too fallible and corruptible, not “a government of laws” the meanings of which are capable of objective determination.

The truth is, however, that a decision of the Supreme Court does not determine whether the Constitution means this or that. Rather, the Constitution determines whether a decision of the Supreme Court in favor of this or that is correct or incorrect. We know that this must be the true rule of constitutional construction, because—by their own admissions in cases such as Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 828-830 & note 1 (1991)—the Justices have been wrong about the Constitution in the past, time and again, and therefore can and surely will be wrong in the future. Today they may hand down decisions such as Heller and MacDonald, which equivocally limit certain aspects of “gun control”; and tomorrow they may concoct some hideous decisions reversing Heller and MacDonald in favor of “gun control”. So as an institution the Court is a weak reed on which to lean if the goal is to enforce the Constitution, as opposed to some Justices’ idiosyncratic—perhaps idiotic—musings about the Constitution.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Phyllis Schlafly: Trump is ‘Last Hope for America’

‘I don’t see anyone else who’s eager to fight’

Phyllis Schlafly, an icon of the conservative movement who has been active for half a century, is warning the nation: Donald Trump is the last hope for America.

Schlafly unloaded on Republicans in Congress for passing the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill last week, a move she called a “betrayal.”

“This is a betrayal of the grassroots and of the Republican Party,” Schlafly said in an exclusive interview with WND. “We thought we were electing a different crowd to stand up for America, and they didn’t. We’re extremely outraged by what Congress has done. Nancy Pelosi couldn’t have engineered it any better. I think the people are going to react by electing Donald Trump.”

Trump put out a statement Friday to ABC News saying, “If anyone needs more evidence of why the American people are suffering at the hands of their own government, look no further than the budget deal announced by Speaker Ryan. In order to avoid a government shutdown, a cowardly threat from an incompetent president, the elected Republicans in Congress threw in the towel and showed absolutely no budget discipline.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Latest: Police Say Woman Intentionally Drove Into Crowd

Car Hits Vegas Pedestrians; At Least One Dead

Police say a woman intentionally swerved her car onto a busy sidewalk two or three times Sunday and mowed down people outside a Las Vegas casino, killing one person and injuring at least 30 others.

Police say the woman, who is in her 20s, had a 3-year-old child in the car with her at the time. The child was unharmed.

The woman who police said had recently arrived in Las Vegas drove a 1996 four-door Oldsmobile with Oregon license plates.

Lt. Dan McGrath says police now believe this was an intentional act by a woman in her 20s who “went up and off these streets, two or possibly three times.” The woman is being interviewed and is having her blood drawn. She is being held in jail with charges pending.

Six patients who had been admitted to area hospitals in critical condition were stable after their initial treatment…

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

Bacteria That Resist ‘Last Antibiotic’ Found in UK

Bacteria that resist the most common antibiotic of last resort — colistin — have been discovered in the UK.

Officials say the threat to human health is low, but is under ongoing review.

Scientists warned the world was on the cusp of a post-antibiotic era when such resistance was discovered in China last month.

Now checks have discovered the same resistance on three farms and in samples of human infections.

When all other antibiotics fail then doctors turn to colistin — that’s why it is so important.

Doctors in the UK thought they had three years before colistin-resistance would spread from China to the UK.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Belgian Authorities Raid Home in Connection With Paris Attacks

Belgian police have searched a home in the country’s capital and made at least one arrest. The raid was reportedly carried out in connection with the terrorist attacks in Paris last month.

Belgian authorities have been carrying out raids across the country since the November 13 attacks that left 130 people dead. Several of the suspects- including the attackers’ ringleader, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, had lived in the Brussels district of Molenbeek.

The AFP news agency also said it had confirmed a report in the French daily newspaper Le Parisien, which said Abdeslam had passed three police checks in France as he fled to Belgium after the Paris attacks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cyprus Leaders Determined to Solve Peace Talks Difficulties

The Greek Cypriot president of ethnically divided Cyprus says he and the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots share a determination to overcome remaining hurdles in reunification talks.

Nicos Anastasiades told reporters after the year’s final face-to-face meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Sunday that both men acknowledge the difficulties, but understand that they have to help each other deal with them.

Talks resumed last May amid high hopes that one of Europe’s most intractable problems will be resolved and offer a note of optimism in a conflict-riven region that would also ease cooperation over the east Mediterranean’s newfound gas deposits.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Eurosceptic MPs Put Cameron Under Pressure

British prime minister David Cameron came under pressure from eurosceptic ministers as he returned from an EU summit where no real progress was made on his reform demands before the UK’s In/Out referendum.

Liam Fox, a former defence minister in Cameron’s cabinet, said “it is time to end the pretence” that “Europe is coming in our direction” and announced he will campaign for Britain to leave the EU.

The most senior conservative backbencher MP, Graham Brady, called on the prime minister to allow his cabinet “to differ” and for ministers to campaign for a British exit if they believe that’s the right thing to do.

“There are clearly opposing opinions around the cabinet table,” Brady wrote in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday.

“Many of the senior ministers sitting there have campaigned all their political lives to return powers to Britain from the EU. There are deeply held views — on both sides — which cannot be reconciled,” he noted.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Geert Wilders Trial for Inciting Hatred to Start on March 18

The trial of PVV leader Geert Wilders on charges of inciting racism and hatred will start on March 18 with a procedural hearing, The Hague’s district court said on Friday. The hearing will focus on the investigation into the charges against Wilders and set dates for witness appearances and the rest of the trial. Wilders faces prosecution for his comments about Moroccan nationals on March 12 and 19, 2015, during and after the local election campaign. In March, Wilders told supporters in Loosduinen that he would rather there were ‘fewer Moroccans’ in The Hague. Seven days later, during a post vote meeting with supporters, Wilders asked the crowd ‘and do you want more or fewer Moroccans in your city and in the Netherlands?’ To which the crowd chanted ‘fewer, fewer, fewer’. ‘We’ll arrange that,’ Wilders said, smiling, when the chanting died down.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Shooting Clubs Lobby Against EU Gun Control

German gun club lobbyists were invited to the Interior Ministry to voice their opposition to the EU’s new gun control reforms. It turned out they were already on the same page.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germans Stock up on Weapons for Self-Defense

by Soeren Kern

The scramble to acquire weapons comes amid an indisputable nationwide spike in migrant-driven crime, including rapes of German women and girls on a shocking scale, as well as physical assaults, stabbings, home invasions, robberies and burglaries — in cities and towns throughout the country.

German authorities, however, are going to great lengths to argue that the German citizenry’s sudden interest in self-defense has nothing whatsoever to do with mass migration into the country, despite ample evidence to the contrary.

The spike in violent crimes committed by migrants has been corroborated by a leaked confidential police report, which reveals that a record-breaking 38,000 asylum seekers were accused of committing crimes in the country in 2014. Analysts believe this figure — which works out to more than 100 crimes a day — is only a fragment: many crimes are not reported.

“Anyone who asks for the reasons for the surge in weapons purchases encounters silence.” — Süddeutsche Zeitung

Germans, facing an influx of more than one million asylum seekers from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are rushing to arm themselves.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Netherlands: Drop Dead Suckers, Geert Wilders Tells Politicians and the Press

Dutch anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders on Monday refused to bow to pressure from other MPs to distance himself from the recent spell of anti-refugee violence.

“Politicians and the press can drop dead,’ Wilders said on Twitter. “Distance yourself from your cowardice and betrayal of the Netherlands to Islam. Suckers.’

Wilders has previously issued statements rejecting the violence at protests about plans to locate refugee centres in several Dutch towns.

However, he has not made any comment in the wake of the Geldermalsen riots last Wednesday in which a mob of between 70 and 80 people attempted to storm the town hall, and hurled bricks and fireworks at the building…

           — Hat tip: Steen [Return to headlines]
 

Poles Protest Government’s Move Against Court

Thousands took part in demonstrations across Poland on Saturday to protest moves by the new right-wing government to neutralise the Constitutional Tribunal as a check on its power. It plans to introduce a law that would require a two-thirds majority by the 15-judge tribunal for any ruling to be valid.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sorrowful France Marks Edith Piaf’s Centenary

France marked the centenary of Edith Piaf’s birth on Saturday with added poignancy barely a month after the Paris attacks targeting the very joie-de-vivre that she embodied.

“You have to keep going,” said Malene Lamarque, a chanteuse who belts out Piaf favorites every Tuesday at Le Vieux Belleville, a cabaret bistro popular with both tourists and locals in the northern Paris neighborhood where the “Little Sparrow” grew up.

Piaf was among many famous performers to have graced the stage of the Bataclan concert hall, where Islamist gunmen shot dead 90 people on Nov. 13 in the worst of a string of attacks on Parisians enjoying a Friday night out.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Spain Faces Electoral Mess and Real Test

Spanish voters have broken the two-party system by welcoming two new groups to Congress following a tight election. But as Martin Delfín reports from Madrid, the fragmented outcome means more uncertainty than before.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Stunning Memory Park for Moved Swedish Town

What happens when an entire town is knocked down and relocated? In Kiruna, Sweden’s most northerly town, a ‘memory park’ has been created from the rubble as a monument to residents’ feelings of loss.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Police Busts Karaoke “Gang” For Sharing Songs That Aren’t Commercially Available

Three old guys giving away karaoke tunes is now a “commercial-scale gang.”

The City of London Police’s Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) claims to have “dismantled a gang suspected of uploading and distributing tens of thousands of karaoke tracks online.” However, it turns out that this “gang” is actually three blokes, aged 60, 53, and 50: one man is from Barnstaple, Devon and two men live in Bury, Lancashire.

PIPCU’s press release says “hundreds of albums have had their copyright uploaded by the men, leading to thousands and thousands of tracks being accessed illegally and depriving legitimate music companies of a significant amount of money.” That sounds dramatic, but once again the reality is rather different.

An online list of the karaoke titles provided by the “gang,” which calls itself KaraokeRG, says “they were created primarily because they are not available from any professional karaoke manufacturers.” This means that far from losing “a significant amount of money,” music companies were actually deprived of little or nothing, since there were no legal copies that people could pay for.

The details of the current case make it clear that this is in no way a “commercial-scale” operation—it was run by three people not for personal gain, but to serve the needs of fellow karaoke enthusiasts that were not being met by music publishers. So why is Hodge calling what seems to be an extremely low-level operation “commercial-scale?” It’s probably because “commercial scale” is a key legal concept that the recording industry has been trying to redefine to include activities that don’t involve financial gain.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Businessman Who Posed With Barack Obama is Facing Jail for Molesting Girl, 12

John Mandeng, 47, a U.S-born securities trader, attacked the girl at the bedroom of a property in Willesden, north west London, after meeting her through the group.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Oxford Student Who Wants Rhodes Statue Down Branded ‘Hypocrite’ For Taking Money From Trust

An Oxford student who is leading a campaign to remove Cecil Rhodes statue has been bullied online after revelations that his education has been funded by the scholarship set up by the colonial politician, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Ntokozo Qwabe has been accused of “disgraceful hypocrisy” over the weekend because he has been funded by the scholarship set up by the man whose statue he wants removed.

The South African student has been aggressively campaigning to remove the Rhodes statue at Oriel College because of the politician’s controversial views on other races…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Letter From Bosnia: The Dayton Agreement at Twenty

by Srdja Trifkovic

The “General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina” was negotiated at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in November 1995. It ended the Bosnian war and provided for a decentralized state comprised of two entities of roughly equal size: the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic (Republika Srpska, RS). The General Framework Agreement, including 11 annexes, was formally signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. Annex 4 of the Agreement is still Bosnia and Herzegovina’s de facto constitution, the basis for its territorial-political divisions and its complex government structure.

For all its shortcomings, and in spite of many attempts to revise or reverse it, the Dayton Agreement has provided a platform for peace among close to four million Bosniaks (i.e. Muslims, 48%), Serbs (33%), and Croats (14%). Bosnia’s relative stability may soon be threatened by political forces in Washington intent on altering the delicate balance achieved at Dayton. Already during her 2009 confirmation hearings as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton declared she was committed to wrapping up what she called “the unfinished business in the Balkans,” and she still believes that the U.S. needs to revise Dayton in the direction of greater centralization of Bosnia at the expense of the autonomy of the two entities — which in reality would adversely affect only one of them, the Serb Republic. It is to be feared that the push for Bosnia’s “constitutional reform” will be relaunched if Mrs. Clinton becomes president. To her, “Bosnia” is an obsession which has generated outright lies over the years…

           — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: ISIS Affiliate Posts Video of Sirte ‘Islamic Police’

A local affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Sirte, Libya, has posted a propaganda video online showing its ‘Islamic police’ patrolling the city. Wearing black balaclavas and dark grey shalwar kameez and armed with machine guns, the men are seen receiving orders from a commander who tells them that ‘‘your role is to keep Muslims and their honor safe. You are those fighting on the frontline against injustice and corruption. The crime rate is close to zero in Sirte and this city is the safest in the world’’. Footage of the city follows, as do interviews with inhabitants of the city. ‘‘I have seen security forces working in the streets,’’ one man states, ‘‘at all hours, even at dawn, and now there aren’t any thieves around anymore. We have now obtained all our rights.’’ A shopkeeper echoes his words in the video, saying that ‘‘security is excellent in Sirte. There is no theft any longer.’’ At the end of the five-minute video, checkpoints are seen with police cars and men wearing facemasks patrolling the streets.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Imprisoned Saudi Blogger on Hunger Strike

A week ago, Raif Badawi received the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize for his courageous efforts at promoting free speech in Saudi Arabia. Now, his wife says he’s on a hunger strike… his condition, worsening by the day.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Iranian Kurdish Resistance — an Ally of the US in the War Against ISIS

After the Sunday, December 20, 2015 Lisa Benson show, we caught up with US Army Brig. Gen. (ret.) Ernie Audino. See our December 2015 NER Interview with him, “No War Against ISIS Without the Kurds”. There was a swirl of rumors and a buzz in the parliament of the Kurdish Regional Government in Erbil about the alleged death of Islamic State self-styled Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi at the hands of Peshmerga, the alleged death of Quds Force commander, Gen. Soliemani and Ayatollah Khamenei on his death bed. To which Audino said, this has to be confirmed. We would add in Hebrew, Alevai,” it should only be.”

Audino, steadfast American supporter of the Kurds and various peshmerga forces in the KRG , adjacent Syria and Iran was in the process of finishing a Washington Times (WT) column on why the Kurds have Christmas trees.

However, of more compelling interest was the Tehran pushback against his previous WT column , last Tuesday, December 15, 2015, “Friends of US in Iran. “ Audino’s tag line was “Sons of the Kurdish Republic are ready to fight Islamic terrorism.”It was about arming the three Iranian Kurdish resistance groups in northwest Iran that continue to bedevil the Islamic Regime in Tehran. This despite the fall of the short-lived Kurdish Republic, formed with support of the then Soviet Union in 1946. It was headed by its President Qazi Muhammad, who was captured by Iranian troops, tried for treason and hanged by the last Shah of Iran in March 1947…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Over 100 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Turkey Offensive

Over 100 Kurdish rebels were killed in a massive Turkish military offensive in the restive southeast, AFP reported Sunday, as the operation entered its fifth day. Some 10,000 troops backed by tanks have been deployed to rout young supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from urban areas.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Report: 115 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Recent Turkish Military Operations

A Turkish state-run news agency says military operations in the southeast have killed 115 Kurdish rebels since Dec. 15.

Most of the casualties were centered in the southeastern towns of Cizre and Silopi, both under 24-hour curfew, with 98 rebels killed, according to Anadolu Agency. Other casualties occurred in the provinces of Mardin and Diyarbakir.

The government says militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, have placed explosive devices, dug trenches and set up barricades in these areas. Turkey has vowed to press ahead with the operations until the region is clear of rebels.

On Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operations would continue and vowed that the “terrorist organization” along with its supporters “will be buried in the trenches they have dug.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Islamic State in Possession of “Tens of Thousands” of Blank Passports

The Islamic State (IS) has come into possession of “tens of thousands” of blank passports, which it can use to smuggle fighters into Europe as refugees, according to the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, which cites Western intelligence sources. The reports claim that Daesh [Arabic acronym for the IS] stole the documents in the territories — Syria, Iraq, Libya — under its control.

These passports can be used to smuggle suicide bomber and militants across the borders of the European Union as asylum seekers.

The IS has already launched an operation of falsification of documents, which are then sold on the black market to a value of 1500 euro. In this regard, the European authorities have long sounded the alert for possible threats from alleged refugees traveling on false documents.

Two of the unidentified attackers involved in the attack on the Stade de France on the night of 13 November, used two fake passports in order to enter Europe. “The mass of people who travel to Europe without controls is a security risk,” said Fabrice Light, head of Frontex, the EU agency responsible for border checks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fir Tree Razor Wire ‘Ruins Festive Cheer’

A botanical garden in south Russia is using razor wire to prevent trees from being stolen ahead of New Year’s Eve.

It is usually lights and other decorations that are put on trees as the winter holidays approach, but the Southern Federal University’s garden in Rostov-on-Don had to take extraordinary measures after thieves chopped down several of its fir trees last year.

But some locals argue that the move has ruined the festive cheer.

New Year’s Eve is hugely important to Russians, most of whom are Orthodox Christians and celebrate Christmas in January. The traditional Russian family dinner on 31 December is never complete without a lavishly decorated fir tree in the living room, often referred to as “the New Year beauty”. Some, however, are unwilling to pay for their trees, leaving gaps where fir trees used to grow in public parks.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

6 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan Suicide Bombing, Official Says

A suicide bombing near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan killed six U.S. troops and wounded two other Americans and an interpreter, a senior U.S. defense official confirms to Fox News.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing, which was the largest attack on foreign troops in Afghanistan since August. The names of those killed have not been released.

It happened at around 1.30 p.m. local time in the vicinity of Bagram, the largest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan, according to U.S. Army Brig. Gen William Shoffner.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Asian Nation Bans Public Christmas Celebrations, Threatens Prison Time

The tiny oil-rich Asian nation of Brunei has banned all public Christmas celebrations, from tree lighting to the donning of Santa hats, and threatened offenders with up to five years in prison, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The prison term applies to Muslims seen celebrating the Christian holiday and non-Muslims found planning Christmas events. But the country’s non-Muslims, who make up around 32 percent of the population, are allowed to celebrate Christmas in their own communities — as long as Muslims aren’t invited.

The ban was first enacted last year to control the act of celebrating Christmas excessively and openly, which could “damage the aqidah (beliefs) of the Muslim community,” the Ministry of Religious Affairs said in a statement published in the Brunei Times.

According to the statement, Christmas celebrations violate the penal code prohibiting the propagation of religions other than Islam to Muslims.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

India’s Top Court Rejects Plea to Reverse Release of Delhi Gang Rapist

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal to reverse the release of the youngest convict in the brutal gang rape in a major disappointment for the victim’s parents, who are demanding that the offender be put behind bars.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China’s Ambitious Silk Road Strategy

An important element of Chinese foreign policy is the Silk Road initiative, which is supposed to realize the “Chinese dream,” and make China one of the world’s leading nations. But there are many misgivings.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China’s Grim History of Industrial Accidents

The mudslide disaster in Shenzhen is the latest in a long history of industrial accidents in China.

Here are just a few of those to have hit the country, from recent tragedies to disasters from previous decades.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Denmark’s Young Prince Christian ‘Saved From Waves’

Prince Christian, the second in line to Denmark’s throne, has been rescued after getting into trouble in the waves at an Australian beach, reports say.

The 10-year-old son of Crown Prince Frederik was saved last Thursday by a lifeguard on the popular Gold Coast strip, 7News reports.

He was reportedly pulled from the surf at Mermaid Beach after being caught in a rip current.

The lifeguard, Nick Malcolm, was personally thanked by the Crown Prince.

Danish officials played down the incident on Monday, insisting the prince was at no point in danger.

But Stuart Keay, Mr Malcolm’s supervisor, told reporters the young prince might well have died without the lifeguard’s intervention.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

At Mercosur Bloc Meeting, Argentina’s Macri Urges Venezuela to Free Its Political Prisoners

Argentine President Mauricio Macri asked Venezuela’s government on Monday to free prisoners being held for political reasons.

Macri made his appeal during a meeting of the Mercosur trade bloc in the Paraguayan capital. He recently said he would seek to suspend Venezuela from the South American block over its government’s jailing of opposition leaders. But that’s no longer likely because President Nicolas Maduro’s government respected the results of Venezuela’s Dec. 6 congressional elections.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

American Workers Betrayed: Funding Deal Hits Backlash Over Increase in Foreign Worker Visas

(NaturalNews) More proof that many of our nation’s elected leaders don’t even read the legislation they vote on — whether for or against — is evident with the new $1.1 trillion omnibus funding bill, which we’ve now learned contains hidden provisions that will drastically expand the number of foreign work visas issued by the federal government.

A major hit for America’s native work force, the disturbing language in the bill was discovered among its more than 2,000 pages, several days after Congress voted to pass it. According to The Hill, the provisions which were quietly inserted by Congress without much fanfare, threaten to further shrink the number of jobs available to American citizens.

“These foreign workers are brought in exclusively to fill blue collar non-farm jobs in hotels, restaurants, construction, truck driving, and many other occupations sought by millions of Americans,” stated Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) about this betrayal of the American people by the legislative branch.

“The GOP-led Congress is about to deliver Obama a four-fold increase to one of the most controversial foreign worker programs. The result? Higher unemployment and lower wages for Americans.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America: Barbarians Inside the Gate

There is an all-out war being waged against America by enemies without, but more importantly by enemies within. The frontline of this war consists of the militant Islamic people and groups who already live among us and have become U.S. citizens and the large percentage of militant Muslims among growing migrant populations like the Syrian refugees. Make no mistake about it, the existence of large numbers of militant Islamic people who have already been allowed into our country and the large numbers currently migrating into our nation from places like Syria is not the result of the unforeseen consequences of conflicts in the Middle East. This migration and assimilation of militant Islam in the United States is part of a larger and intentional global plan.

Researchers say that only 13% of Syrian refugees will publicly admit to supporting ISIS. They key words are “publicly admit.” The other problem with this statistic is that it does not reflect the percentage of Syrian refugees who support other terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. But if it was only 13% of Syrian refugees who support ISIS, that would still mean that of the first 10,000 Syrian refugees who enter the U.S. 1,300 will support ISIS! A 2007 poll revealed that 77% of all Syrians supported financing Islamic terrorists including Hamas and other terrorist groups. The primary reason the Syrians support Islamic terrorism is because they hate America. Given this data and other research with similar results, why do the U.S. and the heads of the EU nations demand that their people welcome Syrian migrants and migrants from other militant Islamic nations?

On every level the welcoming of Syrian refugees and other Muslims who hate America cannot be in our nation’s best interest. But this is not about the best interest of America or American citizens. This is really about the best interest of powerful globalists who control both political parties and the mass media, with few exceptions. This is why, with an allegiance that would make George Orwell’s “Big Brother” proud, the mass media pounds home the message that it is evil to consider a temporary moratorium against Muslims attempting to immigrate from Islamic terrorist sponsoring nations and that it is evil for America not to welcome in vast numbers of Syrian refugees. The celebrity talking heads of all the major news networks attack Donald Trump for merely raising the question, as does almost every Republican candidate. Paul Ryan, a globalist point man, along with the media and both the Republican and Democratic candidates, scream that a “religious test” applied to potential migrants from Muslim nations is wrong. The media pundits lecture us and tell us that it is a violation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to give a religious test to people attempting to migrate into the U.S. What twisted “Alice in Wonderland” logic is that? The Constitution and the Bill of Rights only applies to U.S. citizens; it was never intended to apply to non-citizens or those attempting to become citizens. In addition, when one of the world’s largest religions, Islam, consists of hundreds of millions of people who believe that the Koran, when correctly interpreted, calls for “the death of the infidel” and “jihad” a “religious test” is absolutely necessary and expedient.

[Comment: Read it all.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

China Surpasses Mexico in Sending Immigrants to California

In a reversal of a decades-old trend, China has replaced Mexico as the country sending the most immigrants each year to California, new data show.

About 33,000 immigrants moved to California from China last year, roughly triple the number who came in 2005, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Public Policy Institute of California. The number of immigrants coming to California from Mexico fell from almost 100,000 in 2005 to just over 30,000 in 2014, a roughly 70 percent decline.

Last year marked the second in a row that more residents arrived in California from China than from Mexico. India, which sent about 29,500 immigrants to California last year, also is poised to overtake Mexico. Some of California’s recent Asian arrivals are college students or long-term workers who eventually may leave the country; others will stay permanently.

Read more here: #storylink=cpy

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Germany and Austria Mull New EU Asylum Rules

Germany and Austria are working on a new European common asylum system that will expand on so-called hotspots where arrivals are screened and registered.

The plan was revealed over the weekend by Germany’s refugee crisis coordinator Peter Altmaier in an interview with German magazine Focus.

Hotspots are already used to relocate people seeking international protection from Greece and Italy to other member states.

But the Greek-Italy scheme has been hit with numerous setbacks. Out of the 11 hotspots announced, only one each in Greece and Italy are considered operational.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Final Insult: Rescued by the Navy in the Med, This Migrant Sneaked Into the UK by Lorry. Now He’s Been Told He Can Stay Until 2020 and Gets Benefits of £230 a Month

When Hamad Said set foot on European soil, he had no shoes, no documents and just £10 to his name.

Now the 22-year-old, who was rescued in the Mediterranean in June before sneaking into Britain by lorry, has permission to live in the UK for five years.

He is handed hundreds of pounds a month in benefits — sending as much as possible to his brother in South Sudan — and even has a gym membership…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Radical Leftist School Principal Bans the Pledge of Allegiance, Christmas and Thanksgiving … This is Tolerance?

(NaturalNews) The mainstream media, Hollywood and academia constantly blame “right-wing zealots” for attempting to “push their values” on all of society, but the reality is, it is Left-wing zealots who are trying the hardest to push theirs. The latest example of this comes from a public school in New York City, where a Leftist principal is doing her level-best to eradicate traditional American cultural practices and norms this holiday season.

As reported by the New York Post, things have radically changed at Public School 169 in Brooklyn:

“Santa Claus is banned. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited. ‘Harvest festival’ has replaced Thanksgiving, and ‘winter celebrations’ substitute for Christmas parties.

“New principal Eujin Jaela Kim has given PS 169 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a politically correct scrub-down, to the dismay of teachers and parents.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Slovenia Rejects Gay Marriage Law

Almost two-thirds of voters rejected a law on gay marriage in Slovenia’s referendum on Sunday (20 December), highlighting an east-west cultural divide in the EU.

With almost all votes counted, 63.5 percent of people said No.

Turnout was low, at 36 percent, accounting for 620,261 people out of the 1.6 million people eligible to vote in the small, former-Yugoslav state. But enough people voted No (20 percent of eligible voters) to make the result stick.

“This result presents a victory for our children,” Ales Primc, from the Slovenian NGO ‘Children Are At Stake’, which called for the vote on the grounds that it denigrates mothers and children’s rights, told the BBC.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

When is the 2015 Winter Solstice? Everything You Need to Know About the Shortest Day of the Year

In the Northern Hemisphere the December solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the year with the latest dawn and the sun at its lowest point in the sky.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

8 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/21/2015

  1. Prince Christian was swimming between the red and yellow flags, which on an Australian beach signifies that lifeguards are on duty. Swimmers in Australia have never drowned when swimming between these flags. If you don’t know how to, or are not ”reading” the beach, a rip can develop in seconds and you’re caught in it and possibly in danger. That’s what I believe happened in this case as it’s a common occurrence at this beach. Happy Christmas and a healthy and safe New Year to all.

  2. Thanks for highlighting the bacteria report. Is there any kind of a link to a news report?

    Instinct (or something) has made me suspect for a couple of years that there’s a deadly something (evolutionary? plague-like? geological?) brewing somewhere (Eurasia/Africa/both?). It’s not just the flesh-eating insects reportedly in the Middle East. There’s also the resurgence of bed bugs (they also feed on humans) in major metropolitan areas of the U.S. and as far away as Australia as well as in Britain.

    I think there’s more to it than “climate change.” Geological or evolutionary makes more sense.

  3. Why would Islamic State need passports? They have more white ethnic Euro type converts from all over including of course the Balkans, in place. Probably more than enough sympathizers employee by-the-demographic-percentages employed in just about every nook and cranny of society and government. Happy Christmas everyone. (Yuletide or solstice too.)

  4. Villa in Milan didn’t come with cleaner and wifi
    African “refugees” complain

    “The 24 refugees are up in arms after demanding someone clean up after them in the Italian duplex where they have been housed since arriving from sub-Saharan Africa last summer.”

Comments are closed.