Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/23/2015

Zurich is planning to replace its Ikea migrant shelters with new chipboard huts. It seems the Swedish-made structures did not pass a fire test. Meanwhile, Sweden is planning to house more than 1,200 “refugees” in a cruise ship.

In other Swedish news, police are investigating a powerful explosion at a restaurant in Stockholm.

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

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, JD, MC, 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.

USA
» All House Republicans Are Blocking Impeachment
» America’s Hidden Jihad
» Back in the Terror Fold: Former Gitmo Detainees Returning to Life of Extremism
» Border Patrol Officer Viciously Beats Elderly Couple for Helping an Injured Woman
» British Muslim Family Prevented From Flying to US Disneyland
» China Remains Vexing Campaign Test for Presidential Candidates
» Cyberattack Surge: 100M Medical Records Hacked in 2015, Officials Say
» Enemy Within: Yemeni With U.S. Citizenship Plotted to Shoot American Soldiers and Tried to Recruit Militants to Fight for ISIS From His New York Pizza Shop
» Mall of America Requests Restraining Order Against Black Lives Matter
» Man in 3 Hour Armed Standoff With Doctors to Prevent Them Pulling Plug on “Brain Dead” Son, Who Survives
» Manipulation of Search Engine Results Can Sway Undecided Voters by at Least 20%
» Obama’s Iranian Partners in Peace Trying to Bring Down U.S. Electric Grid
» Pat Robertson Flays Plan for Quran as ‘Law Book’
» Republicans and Democrats Have Merged: It’s All One Big, Police State Party of Insanity Now!
» Senator in Dire Warning on Unchecked Obama Power
» The Ethically Sourced Smartphone You Can Repair and Upgrade Yourself is Now on Sale
» The Fear is Visible: The Ugly Truth Donald Trump Has Exposed
» There Sure is a Lot of Buzz About a Potential Terror Attack on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve
» Virginia to End Concealed Carry Reciprocity With Other States
» White House: Congressional Crackdown on Terrorists Attempting to Enter U.S. Will “Violate Iran Deal”
 
Europe and the EU
» Breaking From the U.S., the U.K. Condemns the Muslim Brotherhood, Calling it a Terrorist Group
» David Miliband Says ‘Brexit’ Is a Risk, Not a Likelihood
» El Gordo: Senegal Refugee Wins €400,000 in Spain Lottery
» EU Exit Could Lead to Break Up of UK, Says Lord Hague
» France: What We Know About the Orléans Terror Plot
» Intelligence Genes Discovered by Scientists
» Italian Uni Researcher Held on Terror Charges
» Italy Expels 67 People for Terrorism in 2015
» New Space Incubators Opened in Sweden to Solve Problems on Earth
» No Record for Norway Gingerbread Town
» Norway: Breivik Rights Case May be Heard in Prison Gym
» Pioneered by the Pagans, Patronised by the Protestants, Promoted by the Profiteers
» Study: Most Finnish Residents Would Keep Euro Despite Perceived Economic Drawbacks
» Sweden: Police Probe Explosion at Stockholm Restaurant
» Swedish Operators Cut Rail Service on Bridge
» Switzerland: A Watchmaker’s Paradise
» UK: Eleven Man Asian Sex Gang Found Guilty of Abusing One White Girl
» UK: IT Bloke: Crooks Stole My Bikes After Cycling App Blabbed My Address
» UK: Muslim Family’s Halted Disneyland Trip is Raised With PM
 
Balkans
» Kosovo Constitutional Court Approves Serbia Deal, Urges Government to Complete Legal Context
 
North Africa
» ISIS Releases Footage of Its ‘Police’ Patrolling Libya Streets
» Libya: No Immediate Call for Foreign Airstrikes Against is as New Unity Government Forms
 
Middle East
» Daesh Leader’s Mobile Phone Holds Proof of Turkey’s Support
» France and Russia Agree to Share Intel on ISIS
» Saudi Authorities Close Down Shop Selling Traditional Camel Urine Drinks… After Discovering the Owner Had Been Filling the Bottles With His Own Bodily Waste
» Saudis Shut Down Camel Urine Shop: Owner Was Selling His Own Urine
» The Islamic State Creates a New Type of Jihadist: Part Terrorist, Part Gangster
» Top Generals Tried to Subvert Obama Policies on Syria
 
Russia
» Gazprom is Losing Its Market Muscle
» This Time it’s Not Putin: Ukraine Flirts With Political Suicide
 
South Asia
» Afghanistan: Sangin Almost Entirely in Taliban Hands
» Islamic State Radio Show Seeks New Recruits in Afghanistan
» New Delhi is About to Find Out How Hard it is to Have Clean Air
» Pakistani Christians Living in Fear After Mob Killings Over Blasphemy
» Turkmenistan Launches New $2.5 Billion Natural Gas Pipeline
 
Far East
» Airbus Gets $2.27 Billion China Southern Airline Plane Order
» China Just Launched the Most Frightening Game Ever — and Soon it Will be Mandatory
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Somalia Bans Christmas Celebrations
» Somalia Banned Christmas and New Year’s — Even Though it Celebrates Neither. Here’s Why.
» Zimbabwe’s Curious Plan to Adopt China’s Currency
 
Latin America
» In the Year’s Final Indignity, Slime Coats Brazil’s Pristine Beaches
» South America’s Left Suffers Setbacks as Economic Crisis Deepens, Voters Grow Weary
 
Immigration
» Austria Accused of ‘Stupidity’ In Crisis
» Danish Communities Feel Sting of Refugee Costs
» Ethnic German Migration Doubles in Two Years
» Fears Rise Over Human Trafficking in Sweden
» German Photographer Gets Arrested, Put on Trial, For Entering Europe Illegally With Other Illegal Immigrants
» German ‘Welcoming Culture’ Still Strong: Poll
» Inside the West African Village Where Every Young Man is Trying to Migrate to Europe
» Migrant Count in Europe Tops Million: UN Agency
» Norway Offering Classes to Teach Refugees it’s Wrong to Rape Women
» One Dead, 650 Rescued in Med: Italy Coastguard
» ‘Refugee Flow’ Named Danish Word of the Year
» Refugees in Italy Revolt Over Lack of Wi-Fi
» Robot Pals to Teach Refugee Kids German
» Sweden: ID Checks May Hit Unaccompanied Minors Hardest
» Sweden: Sixfold Increase of Suspected People Smuggling in 2015
» Swedish Cruise Ship to House 1,260 Refugees
» Switzerland: Wood Huts to Replace Ikea Refugee Shelters
» UK Central Bank Report Confirms Immigration Leads to Lower Wages for Nearly 1/4 of Britons
 
Culture Wars
» Finland: Lesbian Mums Seek Legal Reforms
 
General
» Unearthing the World of Jesus
 

All House Republicans Are Blocking Impeachment

Millions of Americans, most of the free world and even a majority in congress agree that Barack Hussein Obama and his cabal of international anti-American misfits make up the most impeachable administration in U.S. history and that Obama can and should be impeached…

And according to many House Republicans, it is “the people’s fault” that Obama has not been impeached to date, due to the lack of public demand for impeachment…

All the way back in July, Tea Party star Louie Gohmert of Texas said “I’ve been astounded that more of the country has not been demanding impeachment already…” and he added that “if Obama does this Iran deal, that will be the ignition switch for impeachment to begin in the House.” — In so many words, Gohmert is blaming the lack of action on his part, upon “the people” who have not yet demanded he do his job and keep his oath…

But like a million other impeachable Obama offenses, the illegal Iran deal ignited nothing in the House.

House Republicans have stated that it is Senate Democrats who are blocking impeachment, even though there is no way for the US Senate to do anything on impeachment until after House Republicans keep their oath first…. By bringing and passing impeachment articles in the House…

The US Constitution does not say “we might impeach” or “we can if we feel like it” — It says “we shall impeach” when we find ourselves living under the Executive command of an illegal and unconstitutional regime guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

It takes only ONE House Republican to initiate Impeachment in the House Judiciary Committee… but as of this report, not ONE House Republican has done so….

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

America’s Hidden Jihad

by Daniel Pipes

The police and press did an impressive job of sleuthing into the lives and motives of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the married couple who massacred 14 people on Dec. 2, in San Bernardino, California.

We know about their families, their studies and employment histories, their travels, their marriage, their statements, and their preparations for the assault. Most importantly, the cascade of background work means we know that the pair had jihadi intentions, meaning, they attacked in their role as pious Muslims spreading the message, law, and sovereignty of Islam.

We are all better off for knowing these facts, which have had a powerful impact on the body politic, making Americans far more concerned with jihadi violence than at any time since just after 9/11, as they should be. For example, in 2011, 53 percent told a pollster that terrorism was a critical issue; that number has now reached 75 percent.

But what about the case of Yusuf Ibrahim? In early 2013, when he was 27, this Egyptian-born Muslim lived in Jersey City, when he allegedly shot, then cut off the heads and hands and knocked the teeth out of two Coptic Christians, Hanny F. Tawadros and Amgad A. Konds, then buried them in Buena Vista Township, New Jersey.

He is charged with two counts each of murder, felony murder, kidnapping, robbery, desecration of human remains, and other crimes. In addition, he has pleaded guilty to a Dec. 22, 2011, carjacking and a Sep. 20, 2012, armed robbery, both in Jersey City (in the latter, he shot his victim in the foot), and early in 2015 he was sentenced to 18 years in prison for these later crimes.

The twin beheadings are spectacular, gruesome, and replete with jihadi (or in police parlance, “terrorist”) elements. Historian Timothy Furnish explains that “ritual beheading has a long precedent in Islamic theology and history,” making it a distinctly Muslim form of execution. A Muslim killing a non-Muslim fits the ageless pattern of Islamic supremacism. It also fits a tragic pattern of behavior in the United States in recent years.

Yet the police, politicians, the press, and professors (i.e., the Establishment) have shown not the slightest interest in the Islamic angle, treating the double beheadings and amputations as a routine local murder. Symptomatic of this, the police report about Ibrahim’s arrest makes no mention of motivation; on the basis of this lack of mention, left-leaning Snopes.com (which describes itself as the “definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation”) goes so far as to dismiss as “false” the allegation that the mainstream media “deliberately ignored” this incident. The wagons have been circled.

Almost three years after the event, we know next-to-nothing about Ibrahim, his motives, his possible connections to others, or his institutional affiliations. We also do not know the relationship of the accused attacker to his victims: Was he a criminal who fell out with his accomplices, a friend who had drunk too much, a would-be lover knocking off his rivals for the affections of a woman, a family member eliminating aspirants for an inheritance, a crazy man randomly shooting passers-by? Or was he perhaps a jihadi seeking to spread the message, law, and sovereignty of Islam?

I cannot answer those questions because the case lingers in total obscurity, popping up from time to time only in connection with some technical procedural matter (such as the amount of Ibrahim’s bail or the admissibility of his confession) that sheds no light on the motives for his alleged crime.

Nor is the Ibrahim case unusual. I have compiled long lists of other potential instances of jihadi violence (here, here, and here) in which the Establishment has colluded to sweep the Islamic dimension under the rug, treating the perpetrators as common criminals whose biographies, motives, and connections are of no interest and therefore remain unknown.

This silence about possible jihad has the major consequence of lulling the American public (and its counterparts elsewhere in the West) into believing jihadi violence is far rarer than is the case. If the body politic understood the full extent of jihad in America, the alarm would be much greater; the percentage of those calling terrorism a critical issue would rise much higher than the current 75 percent. That, in turn, might push the Establishment finally to get serious about confronting jihad.

Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. (c) 2015 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.

Related Topics: Muslims in the United States, Radical Islam, Terrorism

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

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Back in the Terror Fold: Former Gitmo Detainees Returning to Life of Extremism

The nightmare Sean Smith’s family faced following his death in Benghazi got worse when they learned the Sept. 11, 2012 attack was planned by a jihadist who had been in U.S. custody only a few years earlier.

Smith, a State Department information specialist, was one of four Americans killed when Al Qaeda-linked terrorists assaulted U.S. consular and CIA facilities in the Libyan city. But the knowledge that Abu Sufain bin Qumu helped plan the attack after being released from the Guantanamo Bay military prison has left his family wondering if his death could have been avoided — and asking why the Obama administration is so intent on releasing more detainees.

“Turning loose all these prisoners doesn’t make any sense,” Sean’s mother Pat Smith told FoxNews.com. “Give me the keys so I can keep them locked up.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Border Patrol Officer Viciously Beats Elderly Couple for Helping an Injured Woman

Elderly couple nearly killed as they stopped to help a woman who’d been hit by a car.

On the night of December 4, Carol LaDue and her husband Richard were travelling along County Route 37 near Massena, when they saw an injured woman lying in the road.

The woman was 33-year-old Ashley McDonald, who’d just been hit by a car and was dying.

As the couple got out of their vehicle to render aid to McDonald, they were savagely attacked by McDonald’s husband, Bryan, a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Out of nowhere, the off-duty public servant rushes in on the Good Samaritans and begins brutally beating this elderly couple. The LaDues were nearly killed by this out of control maniac.

“I think he would have beat her to death, I really do, because there was no stopping the man. He was just out of control and very, very aggressive,” said Richard.

Richard suffered a broken nose and multiple lacerations, while his wife suffered a concussion, sprained hand, bruises and a massive head wound.

For the first time since this attack, the couple, who are in their 60’s, are speaking out in an interview with WNYF.

“He was really out of control. The next thing you know, I put my hands up, he popped me in the head and knocked me unconscious,” said Carol.

“His wife was laying in the road, and all we were doing was trying to help the guy and to have that kind of reaction, like he didn’t want anyone near the body,” said Richard.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

British Muslim Family Prevented From Flying to US Disneyland

Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed he will look into why a British Muslim family was prevented from boarding a flight to the US. The incident occurred on December 15 at London’s Gatwick airport.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Remains Vexing Campaign Test for Presidential Candidates

The question of how to handle the rising economic and military power has become a litmus test for the people who would like to become the next commander-in-chief.

It doesn’t rival Islamic State or abortion as an issue in the presidential race, but China might be the most complex challenge the winner will have to deal with.

The country, which has the world’s second-biggest economy and second-highest military spending, is a frenemy of the first order. It finances America’s federal budget deficit by buying Treasury bonds, and it sends more students to the U.S. than any other nation. It’s a natural ally on some issues (Islamic terrorism) but an implacable foe on others (freedom of navigation in the South China Sea).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Cyberattack Surge: 100M Medical Records Hacked in 2015, Officials Say

A string of cyberattacks sent shockwaves through the health care industry in 2015, exposing sensitive data of millions of Americans and serving up the chilling reminder that providers need to step up their security game.

Hackers accessed more than 100 million health records in 2015, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Eight of the 10 largest health care provider hacks also took place this year, HHS confirmed to FoxNews.com Wednesday.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Enemy Within: Yemeni With U.S. Citizenship Plotted to Shoot American Soldiers and Tried to Recruit Militants to Fight for ISIS From His New York Pizza Shop

A New York pizza shop owner who plotted to shoot U.S. soldiers has admitted trying to recruit fighters to join ISIS in Syria.

Mufid Elfgeeh, 31, helped arrange travel and funding and put one recruit in touch with an English-speaking ISIS militant in Iraq, authorities said.

The naturalized U.S. citizen, who moved to America from Yemen in 1998, used Twitter, WhatsApp and 23 different Facebook accounts to declare his support for violent jihad and pledge allegiance to ISIS.

Elfgeeh, who ran Mojoe’s Famous Pizza and Chicken in Rochester, New York, until his arrest in 2014, bought two handguns and silencers that he planned to use to kill returning U.S. soldiers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Mall of America Requests Restraining Order Against Black Lives Matter

Protesters call for unlawful demonstration on private property

The Mall of America is requesting a county judge bar Black Lives Matter protesters from holding a demonstration inside the mall tomorrow.

On Monday, lawyers for the nation’s largest mall asked Hennepin County Judge Karen Janisch for a restraining order banning demonstrators from the private property amid busy holiday shopping.

[Comment: the most dangerous place for a black man is now his mother’s womb. Just recently the line was crossed — more black males are killed in the mother’s womb than anywhere else. Margaret Sanger’s eugenics plan to get rid of blacks is working. If this collection of useful idiots and communists really cared about blacks they should be protesting at planned parenthood.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Man in 3 Hour Armed Standoff With Doctors to Prevent Them Pulling Plug on “Brain Dead” Son, Who Survives

A father took a gun into hospital to stop doctors taking his son off life support — and during the three-hour stand-off the young man squeezed his hand.

The sign that he wasn’t brain dead meant he was kept alive — and he is now recovering and doing well.

His father, 59-year-old George Pickering II, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after marching into Tomball Regional Medical Center in Texas with a gun.

His 27-year-old son, George III, had been declared brain dead after suffering a massive stroke in January.

After doctors declared there was no more hope for him, they ordered a ‘terminal wean’ — whereby life support is slowly withdrawn to end a life.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Manipulation of Search Engine Results Can Sway Undecided Voters by at Least 20%

The results produced by search engines, including the big daddy of them all, Google, can be manipulated to influence voters before an election, researchers have found.

Robert Epstein and Ronald E. Roberston of the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology examined how the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME) can influence individuals doing online research about political campaigns. Their study (pdf) showed voters’ preferences can be swayed by 20% or more through manipulating search engine results to favor one candidate over another.

“Because SEME is virtually invisible as a form of social influence, because the effect is so large and because there are currently no specific regulations anywhere in the world that would prevent Google from using and abusing this technique, we believe SEME is a serious threat to the democratic system of government,” they wrote.

Epstein and Robertson also discovered certain demographics are more vulnerable to search engine manipulation than others, particularly voters with little knowledge of the candidates or undecided voters. The manipulation was so effective, they noted, that even users who were aware of SEME were still influenced by the search results.

In an essay published by Politico, Epstein warned of what search engine manipulation could mean for next year’s presidential election. “America’s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google’s secret decisions, and no one—except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers—would know how this was accomplished,” Epstein wrote.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Obama’s Iranian Partners in Peace Trying to Bring Down U.S. Electric Grid

Iranian cyber-attackers have been targeting the U.S. electrical grid’s networks and stealing highly sensitive data, an Associated Press investigation revealed on Monday.

Brian Wallace, a researcher at the cyber-security firm Cylance, discovered that critical files from Calpine Corporation, which operates 82 power plants in 18 states and Canada, were stolen in a breach that began around August 2013 and may be ongoing. The information in those files included passwords, diagrams, and sensitive engineering designs of power plants, at least one of which was marked “Mission Critical.” After analyzing circumstantial evidence, investigators concluded that the data was compromised by Iranian hackers.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Pat Robertson Flays Plan for Quran as ‘Law Book’

Slams famous American college he graduated from

Christian televangelist and 1955 Yale Law School graduate Pat Robertson said he was shocked when the school sent out a mailing asking him to read the Quran as a respectable “law book.”

“The 700 Club” host told viewers Monday he recently received a booklet from Yale entitled “Reading the Quran as a Law Book.” The document was written after Joseph Lowry, an associate professor from the University of Pennsylvania, gave a lecture at the school Aug. 25.

“This follows Yale’s decision to create a Center for Islamic Law and Civilization after a Saudi businessman gave a $10 million donation to the law school,” Robertson said. “The dean says, and I quote, ‘Islamic law has a long and proud tradition, which encompasses great intellectual achievements.’ He’s got to be kidding! This is Yale Law School. They’re in the tank to the Saudis!”

Lowry’s presentation suggested Muslims have much more leeway to interpret the Quran than non-Muslims understand.

Dani Sleiman, an expert in Islamic law who watched almost two hours of Lowry’s analysis of the Quran, disagreed.

“The Quran is the solid ground, the foundation upon which every Muslim follows,” Sleiman told Robertson. “There is no such thing as figuratively or optional. They have to follow the commandments of the Quran, so I’m really not sure what he’s basing it on. I read his book and most of his descriptions were of suggestions. He’s using terms like ‘suggested’ and ‘great unknown’ and ‘no real evidence’ and ‘assume.’ He’s trying to draw a theory. He’s trying to somehow dig out of it a way to show that the Quran has some peaceful verses.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Republicans and Democrats Have Merged: It’s All One Big, Police State Party of Insanity Now!

(NaturalNews) In recent days the House, thanks to House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, adopted a $1 trillion-plus budget bill that adds hundreds of billions to the federal debt and decreases further the opportunity for our progeny to have a good life.

With its passage, this latest budget represents the complete political sell-out of the American people.

Prior to this budget, there were still vestiges of policy difference between Democrats and Republicans.

As former GOP presidential contender and U.S. representative from Colorado, Tom Tancredo notes — as reported by Breitbart.com — the end result represents the complete merger of the Democratic and Republican establishments.

Congress has adopted a 2016 federal budget that makes it official: The Republican Party and the Democrat Party have merged.

In the name of stability and progress, Republican leaders have agreed with Democrats to put big government on autopilot — with no change in the programmed destination, full-blown socialism. On December 18, at Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan’s urging, 150 House Republicans voted to double down on the politics of surrender.

Yesterday, we thought we had two parties, Republicans and Democrats, but now we see that we have only one, the Repubocrat Party, the party of No Shame.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Senator in Dire Warning on Unchecked Obama Power

I actually can’t believe I’m writing this, but the following speech from freshman U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R, Neb) is so thoughtful and inspiring, it should be required viewing for all American citizens.

To hear a U.S. Senator sound more like a statesman than a corrupt hack politician for sale to the highest bidder, is such a breath of fresh air I almost can’t believe it’s real. Rather than talking down to voters, he challenges them to become more enlightened, nonpartisan-thinkers with a sense of history. He challenges all of us to shake ourselves from an ignorant, fear-based stupor and reclaim the true genius and beauty at the heart of the American experiment.

Take the time to watch this. The entire thing, and then share it with everyone you know.

“The problem of a weak Congress and executive growth should be bad news to all of us and, more importantly, to every constituent who cast their votes for us under the impression that Congress made decisions — not suggestions. I think the weakness of the Congress is not just undesirable, but is actually a dangerous thing for America.”

Thank you Ben Sasse, for proving that there remains a remnant of wise, honorable, decent people in U.S. government.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Ethically Sourced Smartphone You Can Repair and Upgrade Yourself is Now on Sale

The long-awaited Fairphone 2 — the smartphone you can repair by yourself — is now on sale. Dubbed the ‘world’s first ethically sourced smartphone

Fairphone say they aim to create a more ethical device with an emphasis on reparability and sourcing key minerals used in the phone’s construction from conflict-free areas.e,’ the first Fairphone was the product of a carefully crafted supply chain that seeks to minimize the use of conflict materials. Now, the second model ups the ante with a modular design that allows for easier repairs, resulting in a smartphone that could do something completely unheard of in the world of pocket-sized electronic gadgets. This could eliminate the need to buy another phone — ever.

A smartphone designed to be easy to repair and upgrade goes on sale this week.

The internal components of the Fairphone 2 are split into modules which can be replaced with minimal tools or expertise.

The company behind the phone hopes this will encourage owners to keep their phones for longer, rather than regularly changing to new devices.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

The Fear is Visible: The Ugly Truth Donald Trump Has Exposed

The fear in both the GOP and Democratic party is visible at the surface when it comes to Trump, and it’s not that he’s any of what they’ve accused him of. No, it’s really much simpler than that, and both Republican and Democrat parties, along with the mainstream media, are utterly terrified that you, the average American, is going to figure out what underlies all of these institutions in America.

No, it’s not that they’re evil.

It’s worse, for evil frequently is recognized and fought back yet for decades America has not awakened to what has been going on in the political and media establishment. It was evident during the Vietnam war and has only gotten worse since.

For those who don’t recall the Tet Offensive was an attack launched by the NVA and VietCong by some 70,000 troops in a coordinated series of attacks across more than 100 targets. It was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South’s population.

Tet failed in its military objective, in that there were too few troops spread too thinly, and once the US and South Vietnamese figured out what was going on they literally slaughtered a huge number of the attackers. To put perspective on this at the Battle of Hue roughly 500 US Marines and South Vietnamese were killed but over 5,000 NVA and VietCong died in that one battle alone.

The story was repeated through the country; while the North managed to attack they lost virtually the entire attacking force, while not managing to take one mile of territory. They also failed to incite rebellion, which was the primary goal of the offensive in the first place.

Our media, however, reported that we lost. They were present and they lied, including Walter Cronkite. Cronkite reported in February of 1968 that the war “was a stalemate and probably unwinnable” despite knowing that the NVA had virtually been rendered soldierless in the Tet offensive as their casualty rate ran ten times the South’s.

Tet was a desperation move; the North was in serious trouble. They were failing to take territory and losing men and material at an ridiculous rate compared to the Americans and South. Simply put we were the better fighting force and it wasn’t a close call. In the first few days of their “offensive” they lost ten thousand men against about 750 on the other side and it just got worse from there with total losses on their side being close to 50,000, or virtually allof their remaining fighting-age force.

Cronkite didn’t care about the truth. He wasn’t evil, he was indifferent. He didn’t give a damn about the fact that a totalitarian government was being handed a victory over millions of citizens, he simply wanted to make a further name for himself and push his political agenda.

Likewise there are those who claim that Obama and similar are evil in their view of Muslims and terrorism and of course they wish to draw a distinction between left and right sides of the aisle. Wrong. They’re all indifferent.

The political goal is more power for them and their friends, mostly economic power. More ability to extract from you by force and threaten you with jail or worse if you try to resist. More power over your daily life. More power to tell you that you must bake a cake for gays (because your religious convictions don’t matter) but if your religious convictions are Muslim then they do matter and must be protected because that’s where one of the big reservoirs of oiland undeveloped people that can be exploited in the future reside.

They literally don’t care if you get blown up or shot and it doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat or Republican. They don’t care if you live under a freeway overpass because your health “insurance” that you are forced to buy covers so little that you have to spend $6,000 before one dime is covered, and you don’t have $6,000. They don’t care that a Christmas Party was shot up by a couple of Islamic Nutjobs who they could have identified if they did care and in fact they shut down an investigation on “civil rights” grounds that probably would have identified the shooters years before.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

There Sure is a Lot of Buzz About a Potential Terror Attack on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve

I have never seen more buzz about a potential terror attack during the holiday season than I am seeing right now. Over the past couple of weeks, the mainstream media and the alternative media have both been full of headlines about the possibility of terrorism on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve. And personally, I have had numerous people contact me with their concerns or regarding something that they have heard from others. In addition to threats from ISIS, there are many out there that are completely convinced that we could soon see a major false flag incident in the United States. So are any of these rumors true? Will we soon see a major terror incident in America? I want to make it very clear that I do not know. As an attorney, I have been trained to come to conclusions based on the evidence, and at this moment I do not have anything completely solid to report to you. But I do believe that it is noteworthy that there is so much buzz about a potential terror attack that is coming in from so many different directions.

For example, earlier today a mainstream news report indicated that authorities had discovered a “credible threat” against New York City. The phrase “credible threat” was later retracted, but it is a fact that NYPD Commissioner William Bratton did hold “an emergency meeting” on Tuesday to address the threat of terror…

[Comment: long history of attacking infidels when infidels are busy with their holy days.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Virginia to End Concealed Carry Reciprocity With Other States

Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) announced Tuesday that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 states that have reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth.

Under the policy, Virginians with a history of stalking, drug dealing or inpatient mental-health treatment cannot obtain a permit in a state with comparatively lax laws and carry a handgun legally at home.

Herring said severing the out-of-state agreements can prevent people who may be dangerous or irresponsible from carrying a concealed handgun.

“While you are here, you are subject to the commonwealth’s gun laws,” Herring said in a news conference. The change means Virginia’s standards for obtaining a concealed weapon are applied “evenly, consistently and fairly,” he said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

White House: Congressional Crackdown on Terrorists Attempting to Enter U.S. Will “Violate Iran Deal”

Just when you thought the Obama administration had maxed out the Insane-o-Meter, it pulls another rabid killer rabbit out of its hat. An incredulous Adam Kredo reports:

“Senior Obama administration officials are expressing concern that congressional attempts to tighten laws preventing terrorists from entering the United States could violate the Iran nuclear agreement and prompt Tehran to walk away from the agreement.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Breaking From the U.S., the U.K. Condemns the Muslim Brotherhood, Calling it a Terrorist Group

Following an intensive 18-month governmental study, the United Kingdom issued a startling indictment of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). It described the organization as fiercely anti-democratic, openly supportive of terrorism, dedicated to establishing an Islamist government, and opposed to the rule of law, individual liberty, and equality.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

David Miliband Says ‘Brexit’ Is a Risk, Not a Likelihood

Former U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain leaving the European Union is a “risk” rather than a “likelihood.”

“It is a risk, I wouldn’t say it’s a likelihood,” Miliband told Bloomberg Television. “But there’s a significant risk of an accident. We’ve got to take this seriously. Business needs to speak out.”

Miliband, who quit British politics after failing to win the leadership of the Labour Party in 2010 and now lives in New York running the International Rescue Committee, was the second former foreign secretary to comment on the issue Wednesday. His successor in the role, the former Conservative Party leader William Hague, wrote that he’ll be voting to stay in the EU, despite his reservations about it.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

El Gordo: Senegal Refugee Wins €400,000 in Spain Lottery

A refugee from Senegal who travelled to Europe by boat has won a stake of some €400,000 (£294,000; $436,000) in Spain’s annual Christmas lottery.

The man, named Ngagne, travelled from Morocco to Spain in 2007.

Ticket-holders in his coastal town of Roquetas de Mar won first prize, and a share of €640m (£470m), in the “El Gordo” (The Fat One) lottery.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

EU Exit Could Lead to Break Up of UK, Says Lord Hague

Leaving the EU could lead to the break up of the UK, former Foreign Secretary William Hague has warned.

In the Daily Telegraph, he said he was “unlikely” to join former cabinet colleagues Liam Fox and Owen Paterson in voting to leave in the referendum which he suggested would be in 2016.

Eurosceptic Tory MP Bernard Jenkin said Lord Hague was “completely wrong” to suggest a “Brexit” could split the UK.

The prime minister has promised to hold an in/out vote before the end of 2017.

Mr Hague’s comments came as Poland’s new President, Andrzej Duda, warned in an interview with the BBC that the EU would face a “very serious crisis” if the UK were to leave.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

France: What We Know About the Orléans Terror Plot

France revealed on Wednesday that its intelligence services had foiled an attack by jihadists in the central city of Orléans and the surrounding area. Here’s what we know.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Wednesday that a terror plot to attack Orléans had been foiled earlier this month by France’s internal intelligence services the DGSI.

It’s the tenth terror plot to be thwarted on French soil since 2013, the minister said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Intelligence Genes Discovered by Scientists

Imperial College London has found that two networks of genes determine whether people are intelligent or not so bright.

Genes which make people intelligent have been discovered and scientists believe they could be manipulated to boost brain power.

Researchers have believed for some time that intellect is inherited with studies suggesting that up to 75 per cent of IQ is genetic, and the rest down to environmental factors such as schooling and friendship groups.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italian Uni Researcher Held on Terror Charges

Italian Police said on Wednesday they had detained a university researcher working at the University of Palermo on terror charges.

Forty-five-year-old Libyan researcher, Khadgia Shabbi, had been working at the university’s economics department for the last three years while living in the city.

She is said to have been in contact with foreign Isis fighters and to have worked to produce online propaganda for al-Qaeda during that time, Italian daily Gazetta del Sud reports.

Police chiefs said they had been monitoring the woman for months and had discovered contacts linking her to extremist fighters in Belgium and the UK.

They also found that her contacts included terrorists who planned the 2012 bombing of the US Embassy in Libya.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Italy Expels 67 People for Terrorism in 2015

A total of 259 people were arrested on terror charges in Italy in 2015 with 67 of them being expelled from the country as a result.

The figures were presented on Tuesday by Italian interior minister Angelino Alfano.

“Last night we carried out the 67th expulsion this year,” La Stampa newspaper reported the minister as saying, referring to a 30-year-old Moroccan man who was expelled for distributing Isis propaganda in the university city of Bologna.

The interior ministry figures show that over the past 12 months Italian intelligence services investigated more than 74,000 people suspected of terrorism and removed more than 6,000 pieces of harmful information and terrorist propaganda from the web.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Space Incubators Opened in Sweden to Solve Problems on Earth

The first Scandanavian space incubator has just been launched, aiming to help new companies utilize space technology, patents, inventions and know-how to solve problems here on earth. It will also assist start-ups looking to find innovative solutions to meet challenges in space.

Jens Lundström is the managing director for the Arctic Business Incubator in Luleå in northern Sweden and has now become the managing director of the newly started Swedish branch of the European Space Agency Business Incubation Center, ESA BIC. Lundström told Radio Sweden that the goal for the incubator project is to support over 40 start-ups between 2016-2020. The support will come from Lundström’s incubator in Luleå, as well as from one in Uppsala and one in Trollhättan in western Sweden.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

No Record for Norway Gingerbread Town

The world’s largest ginger bread town in Bergen, Norway, has been refused entry into the Guinness Book of World Records on the grounds that some of the components are not edible.

The refusal is the latest episode in a bitter battle between Bergen, which has built a huge gingerbread town every Christmas for 25 years, and its upstart rival, Gingerbread Lane in New York.

Bergen’s display is without doubt the largest gingerbread town in the world, with kindergartens, schools, businesses and thousands of individuals contributing gingerbread art each year.

There are more than 2,000 individual buildings, ships, cars and train made out of gingerbread featured in the exhibition.

But despite its size, ‘Pepperkakebyen’ as the display is called, has been beaten to the record by New York’s Gingerbread Lane, which has just 1,020 gingerbread structures, because some of its contributors included non-edible components.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway: Breivik Rights Case May be Heard in Prison Gym

A compromise may have been found for court proceedings involving terrorist and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who is suing the Norwegian government for breaching his human rights.

The proposal to hold the case at the prison was made by the State on the basis that ‘normal’ legal proceedings would not be possible at the Oslo Courthouse, and has been accepted by Breivik’s defence lawyer Øystein Storrvik.

Breivik’s case accusing the state of human rights violations includes claims that the prisoner, who is incarcerated in a high security unit, is denied sufficient contact with other people and freedom of movement.

He also accuses the prison service of censoring his correspondence, concluding that his prison conditions “constitute torture”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pioneered by the Pagans, Patronised by the Protestants, Promoted by the Profiteers

The Christmas tree originates from long before the birth of Christ, and we have the Germans to thank for ensuring every celebration in the West isn’t complete without one.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Study: Most Finnish Residents Would Keep Euro Despite Perceived Economic Drawbacks

A large number of Finnish residents believe that the economy would fare better without the euro, but a majority would still prefer to keep the common currency. According to a poll conducted by Taloustutkimus for Yle a clear majority of Finns Party supporters would be prepared to cut ties with the single currency.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Police Probe Explosion at Stockholm Restaurant

Police have launched an investigation after a powerful blast at a popular Stockholm restaurant just a week before it is set to open its doors to revellers for its annual New Year’s Eve celebrations.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Operators Cut Rail Service on Bridge

A Swedish public transport operator has said it will cancel all trains from Copenhagen’s central railway station to Malmö when Sweden’s controversial ID checks come into force on January 4th.

Last week Sweden’s parliament passed new legislation which will see mandatory ID checks on all trains, buses and ferries from abroad to help the country cope with a record influx of refugees.

The new law could see transport companies fined if travellers do not have valid photo ID.

They are likely to have the biggest impact on the famous Öresund bridge from Denmark, which is used by tens of thousands of commuters every day.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: A Watchmaker’s Paradise

In the Joux Valley, in the west of Switzerland, the traditional craft of watchmaking is flourishing. It’s not just leading companies that have workshops in the Jura Mountains but also highly skilled, independent craftsmen, as John Laurenson discovers.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Eleven Man Asian Sex Gang Found Guilty of Abusing One White Girl

Ten men were convicted of rape and one of sexual activity with a child

ELEVEN members of a depraved Asian sex gang who sexually abused one white girl have been branded “insolent and disrespectful” by a judge as they were found guilty at Bradford Crown Court.

Ten men were found guilty of rape and an eleventh man was found guilty of sexual activity in a unanimous verdict following a seven-week trial.

The victim as aged between 13 and 14 when she was raped and abused repeatedly by the depraved group of men.

On one horrifying occasion the girl was raped by five men in succession, the court was told.

One defendant was also found guilty of raping a second underage victim in 2009.

Judge Roger Thomas QC told the court that the defendants had treated the proceedings with “contempt and arrogance”.

During the trial at Bradford Crown Court the jury of seven women and one man, heard that she was passed around and used by the group of “nasty” men by ringleader Ahmed Al-Choudhury.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK: IT Bloke: Crooks Stole My Bikes After Cycling App Blabbed My Address

An IT manager in Manchester, England, says thieves stole his bikes after a smartphone cycling app pinpointed the location of his garage.

Mark Leigh, 54, of Failsworth, said his two bicycles — worth £500 ($750) and £1,000 ($1,500) — were nicked shortly after he made his address and details of his bikes public on the popular biking app Strava, the Manchester Evening News reports.

The app includes an optional privacy setting that conceals the exact location of your home, but Leigh was not aware of this switch when he shared details of his bike rides via the software. Strava encourages people to publish their routes and journey times to make the application more engaging among enthusiasts.

Unfortunately, doing so tips off crooks as to where bikes are kept and when they are not in use.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Muslim Family’s Halted Disneyland Trip is Raised With PM

Chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, Keith Vaz, said there seemed to be a growing pattern of British citizens being refused entry to the US.

“This is one of our closest allies in the world and the way we treat each other’s citizens is extremely important,” he said.

“If you imagine if an American citizen was told by a British official they couldn’t board a plane, there would be complete uproar in the United States of America.”[…]

[Geller? Spencer? Lies?]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Kosovo Constitutional Court Approves Serbia Deal, Urges Government to Complete Legal Context

PRISTINA, Kosovo — Kosovo’s Constitutional Court has approved a contested government deal on giving more powers to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

In its ruling Wednesday, the court also asked the government to complete some legal aspects of the deal, saying some of its principles are not in line with the constitution.

The deal on Serb minority rights, and another one on border demarcation with Montenegro have sparked ferocious protests by the opposition which has tried to block work in Kosovo’s Parliament with tear gas, pepper spray, whistles and water bottles.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, an act that Serbia still rejects.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

ISIS Releases Footage of Its ‘Police’ Patrolling Libya Streets

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) has released footage of their security forces on the streets of Sirte in Libya — the so-called ‘Islamic Police’.

The terrorist group is trying to take over more Libyan territories, as the West eyes a possible intervention for the second time in five years.

The footage is reportedly aimed at showing off IS control over Sirte.

[Comment: Yet another Clinton and Sate Dept. “success” story.]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Libya: No Immediate Call for Foreign Airstrikes Against is as New Unity Government Forms

Libya’s U.N. ambassador says his country’s new national unity government will not immediately ask countries like the United States and Britain to intervene with airstrikes against the growing presence of the Islamic State group.

Libya’s U.N. Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi tells The Associated Press he would rather see a U.N. arms embargo loosened so his country can defend itself against IS instead.

The international community has pressed for Libya’s two rival governments to come together to stabilize the oil-rich African country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Daesh Leader’s Mobile Phone Holds Proof of Turkey’s Support

An Iraqi volunteer force commander said a mobile phone found on the person of a deceased Daesh militant proves that Turkey’s intelligence agency is providing support for the group.

“The mobile phone was found with one of the killed ISIL leaders in the Northern parts of Salahuddin province two days ago,” Jabbar al-Ma’mouri told Soumeriya news on Monday.

He said the phone contains messages from Turkish intelligence proving that Ankara supports Daesh, also known as ISIL/Islamic State, by providing security at the points used by militants traveling from Turkey to Iraq.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

France and Russia Agree to Share Intel on ISIS

Russia and France have agreed to bolster efforts to share intelligence relating to the Islamic State jihadist group after the two countries vowed to cooperate militarily on the issue.

“We have agreed to strengthen our exchange of military information, both on the strikes and the location of the different groups (in Syria),” French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said following talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.

“Our intelligence services will strengthen their already existing ties, which require increased cooperation.”

Le Drian said they had identified a method to assess the state of IS and other “terrorist groups” following air strikes conducted by both the Russian and French air forces.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudi Authorities Close Down Shop Selling Traditional Camel Urine Drinks… After Discovering the Owner Had Been Filling the Bottles With His Own Bodily Waste

Saudi authorities have closed down a shop selling traditional camel urine drinks after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste.

Health inspectors swooped on a vendor in the port city of Al Qunfudhah, in south-western Saudi Arabia, and confiscated more than 70 full bottles.

The practice of drinking camel’s urine mixed with milk is believed to date back centuries while some insist it has health benefits.

The traditional camel urine drink is believed to have originated from a passage in the Hadith.

The Muslim holy book contains quotes from the prophet Muhammad and it says: ‘Some people of Ukl or Uraina tribes came to Medina (in Saudi Arabia) and the climate did not suit them.

‘So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (milk) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as medicine).

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Saudis Shut Down Camel Urine Shop: Owner Was Selling His Own Urine

By Robert Spencer

Some hadiths depict Muhammad touting the medicinal benefits of drinking camel urine. This one also shows him in his full compassionate, merciful glory: “The climate of Medina did not suit some people, so the Prophet ordered them to follow his shepherd, i.e. his camels, and drink their milk and urine (as a medicine). So they followed the shepherd that is the camels and drank their milk and urine till their bodies became healthy. Then they killed the shepherd and drove away the camels. When the news reached the Prophet he sent some people in their pursuit. When they were brought, he cut their hands and feet and their eyes were branded with heated pieces of iron.” (Bukhari 9.76.5686)

And so drinking camel urine is just as much a matter of obeying Muhammad (as the Qur’an repeatedly exhorts Muslims to do; see 3:32; 3:132; 4:13; 4:59; 4:69; 4:80; 5:92; 8:1; 8:20; 8:46; 9:71; 24:47; 24:51; 24:52; 24:54; 24:56; 33:33; 47:33; 49:14; 58:13; 64:12) as is waging jihad and subjugating Infidels (see Qur’an 9:29). But this wily shop owner tried cutting costs by using his own product instead, and is now getting his comeuppance.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

The Islamic State Creates a New Type of Jihadist: Part Terrorist, Part Gangster

The recent terrorist attacks in Paris have brought into sharper focus the rise of a new breed of jihadists, one that blurs the line between organized crime and Islamist extremism, using skills honed in lawbreaking in the service of violent radicalism.

The Islamic State is constructing an army of loyalists from Europe that includes an increasing number of street toughs and ex-cons as the nature of radicalization evolves in the era of its self-proclaimed caliphate. Rather than leave behind lives of crime, some adherents are using their illicit talents to finance recruiting rings and travel costs for foreign fighters even as their backgrounds give them potentially easier access to cash and weapons, posing a new kind of challenge to European authorities.

Before he became the notorious ringleader of last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris, for instance, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 28, was linked to a den of radicalized thieves led by a man nicknamed “Santa Claus.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Top Generals Tried to Subvert Obama Policies on Syria

Top US military generals have deliberately opposed and even subverted President Barack Obama’s policy to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad for at least two and a half years, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh wrote.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In his nearly 7,000-word article, Hersh wrote that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, then led by General Martin Dempsey, decided to deliberately subvert Obama’s foreign policy and form a secret alliance with Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The military’s resistance dates back to the summer of 2013, when a highly classified assessment… by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff… forecast that the fall of the Assad regime would lead to chaos,” the article published on Monday in the London Review of Books stated.

The US generals, Hersh wrote, criticized what they see as Obama’s fixation on Putin, and believed the president had not adjusted his stance on Syria even though Russia and the United States shared anxiety about the spread of terrorism in and beyond Syria.

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

Gazprom is Losing Its Market Muscle

Competition forces the Russian energy giant to make nice.

Gazprom, the state-controlled, Moscow-based natural gas giant has long played a double role: as an instrument of Kremlin foreign policy; and as a major source of tax revenue for Vladimir Putin’s government.

Things have changed. Gazprom has long been accustomed to dictating terms because of its size. In the European Union, it supplies about 30 percent of the gas. But with a 70 percent drop in profits, the Russian company finds itself fighting to protect its share of a market it depends on for as much as a third of its revenue of $100 billion. Gazprom is no longer a potent diplomatic tool at a time when customers have many more options.

By 2025, says the International Energy Agency (IEA), gas imports by the EU will account for 77 percent of its consumption, up from 63 percent now. Gazprom will not necessarily be supplying Europe with those extra imports. American companies will be providing liquefied shale gas to European power plants starting next year. “U.S. shale gas will provide a very important opportunity for European consumers to strengthen their hands,” says Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA. U.S. exports may make up half of flexible liquid natural gas volumes heading to Europe by 2020, says Philip Olivier, chief executive officer of Engie Global LNG, a shipper of flexible LNG. “Flexible” means the gas can be shipped anywhere.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

This Time it’s Not Putin: Ukraine Flirts With Political Suicide

While the Russian president’s new focus on Syria has helped soothe the conflict in eastern Ukraine, offering a window for reform and recovery from a recession, the administration in Kiev is being overrun by internal squabbles. This month’s fist fight in parliament and an expletive-filled clash between a minister and a regional governor underline discord that’s threatening to sink the government and derail a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund rescue. The next flash point will be a vote on the 2016 budget.

With memories of the failed Orange Revolution still fresh, Ukraine risks letting internal disputes hijack the second attempt in a decade to break free from its communist past. Reformers are clashing with the vested interests that control swaths of the economy, a target of the protesters who dislodged the country’s pro-Russian leader in 2014 demanding European-style transparency. Dangers to the IMF bailout and billions more in aid from ally nations are reflected in surging bond yields.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Afghanistan: Sangin Almost Entirely in Taliban Hands

Latest reports from southern Afghanistan suggest that Sangin district in Helmand province is now almost entirely under Taliban control after days of fierce fighting.

The police headquarters and the main government building fell to the Taliban on Wednesday, a local senator said.

Sangin saw almost a quarter of British military fatalities during the UK’s combat mission in Afghanistan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Islamic State Radio Show Seeks New Recruits in Afghanistan

Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan have taken to the airwaves to win recruits as they try to build strength and replace the Taliban as the leading force in the Islamist insurgency.

Officials have been increasingly concerned by the broadcasts, which encourage young people to find a sense of direction in the radical movement.

If the broadcasts take hold, officials fear they will feed off a growing sense of hopelessness among many inured to war and struggling to get by in an increasingly tough economic climate.

The 90-minute daily Pashto language broadcast, called “Voice of the Caliphate”, consists mainly of interviews, messages and songs about Islamic State.

It can be heard in Nangarhar, the eastern province where Islamic State has established its stronghold. It controls several districts wrested from the Taliban, who are seeking to re-establish their hard-line Islamist regime after being toppled by U.S.-led military intervention in 2001.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

New Delhi is About to Find Out How Hard it is to Have Clean Air

New Delhi resident Lizu Matta, 29, is unsure how she’s going to commute to work in the new year with the start of traffic controls aimed at benching half the Indian capital’s 2.8 million private vehicles on alternate days. There’s the overcrowded subway, or the risk of a fine if she gets caught driving when she shouldn’t.

For the city’s more than 16.8 million residents, Jan. 1 marks the beginning of the most draconian measures aimed at reducing the number of exhaust-belching automobiles in the world’s most polluted metropolitan area. They also have to contend with fines for open-air burning of waste, and a ban on bigger diesel-engine vehicles, while more steps including increasing the penalty on cars found with tailpipe emissions exceeding limits are under consideration.

Together, they mark the most concerted efforts by the government to address popular discontent triggered by pollution levels that were well above safe limits for the past more than a month. New Delhi also joins Beijing as capitals of the two most populous nations now struggling to control runaway pollution brought on by decades of economic growth and lax environmental laws.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Pakistani Christians Living in Fear After Mob Killings Over Blasphemy

Four-year-old Aliya’s life collapsed last year when her illiterate Christian parents were falsely accused of tossing out pages of the Holy Quran in their rubbish, and then lynched and burnt on a brick kiln by an angry mob.

The mob killing of Shama Bibi and Shahzad Masih triggered outrage in Pakistan, where desecration of Holy Quran is legally punishable by death and even unproven allegations of blasphemy often lead to bloody killings at the hands of vigilantes.

After the ordeal on November 4, 2014, Aliya, which is not her real name, left the dusty brick factory where even as a toddler she had worked with her family as bonded labourers. Five other Christian families also fled.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Turkmenistan Launches New $2.5 Billion Natural Gas Pipeline

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan has launched a new $2.5 billion natural gas pipeline that would boost the energy-rich nation’s export capacity.

The 773-kilometer (480-mile) pipeline links gas fields in the east of the country to its Caspian Sea coast.

Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Wednesday said the new pipeline would create a “powerful basis” for exporting Turkmen gas and help develop energy cooperation with Russia and Kazakhstan.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Airbus Gets $2.27 Billion China Southern Airline Plane Order

China Southern Airlines Co., Asia’s biggest carrier by fleet size, announced an order to purchase 10 Airbus Group SE wide-body aircraft to meet the growing demand for travel in the world’s most populous country.

The order for 10 A330-300 aircraft is valued at $2.27 billion at list prices, the airline said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday. The planes, which are for delivery between 2017 and 2019, will help increase the airline’s capacity by 4 percent, the Guangzhou-based company said.

Today’s order builds on the 110 planes valued at $10 billion that China Southern and its subsidiary agreed to purchase from Boeing Co. last week. Asian air travel growth is lifting demand for Boeing and Airbus, with China forecast to surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest aircraft market. The country’s economic expansion is making air travel affordable to more people, prompting its airlines to buy more planes.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

China Just Launched the Most Frightening Game Ever — and Soon it Will be Mandatory

Earn points by behaving like the government wants you to behave!

As if further proof were needed Orwell’s dystopia is now upon us, China has now gamified obedience to the State. Though that is every bit as creepily terrifying as it sounds, citizens may still choose whether or not they wish to opt-in — that is, until the program becomes compulsory in 2020. “Going under the innocuous name of ‘Sesame Credit,’ China has created a score for how good a citizen you are,” explains Extra Credits’ video about the program. “The owners of China’s largest social networks have partnered with the government to create something akin to the U.S. credit score — but, instead of measuring how regularly you pay your bills, it measures how obediently you follow the party line.”

In the works for years, China’s ‘social credit system’ aims to create a docile, compliant citizenry who are fiscally and morally responsible by employing a game-like format to create self-imposed, group social control. In other words, China gamified peer pressure to control its citizenry; and, though the scheme hasn’t been fully implemented yet, it’s already working — insidiously well…

Social pressure, of course, can be highly effective given the right circumstances. China seems to have found exactly that in the intricate linking of people’s scores to their contacts, which can be seen publicly by anyone — and then upping the ante through score-based incentives and rewards. Rick Falkvinge pointed out a startling comparison:

“The KGB and the Stasi’s method of preventing dissent from taking hold was to plant so-called agents provocateurs in the general population, people who tried to make people agree with dissent, but who actually were arresting them as soon as they agreed with such dissent. As a result, nobody would dare agree that the government did anything bad, and this was very effective in preventing any large-scale resistance from taking hold. The Chinese way here is much more subtle, but probably more effective still.”

As Creemers described to Dutch news outlet, de Volkskrant, “With the help of the latest internet technologies, the government wants to exercise individual surveillance. The Chinese aim […] is clearly an attempt to create a new citizen.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia Bans Christmas Celebrations

Somalia’s government has banned the celebration of Christmas, warning that such Christian festivities could threaten the nation’s Muslim faith.

“Those celebrations are not in any way related to Islam,” an official at the religious affairs ministry said.

Security agencies have been directed to stay alert to stop any gatherings.

Foreigners are free to mark the Christian holiday in their own homes, but hotels and other public places have been prohibited from marking the day.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Somalia Banned Christmas and New Year’s — Even Though it Celebrates Neither. Here’s Why.

The government of Somalia has banned Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, calling them “contrary to Islamic culture” and citing such festivities as potential targets for terrorists.

Although there are almost no native Christians in Somalia, the country hosts more than 22,000 peacekeepers as part of an African Union mission, and many of them are Christian.

Christmas or New Year’s celebrations “could damage the faith of the Muslim community,” Mohamed Khayrow, director general of Somalia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, said at a news conference, according to Somali news media. “All security forces are advised to halt or dissolve any gatherings. There should be no activity at all.’’

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Zimbabwe’s Curious Plan to Adopt China’s Currency

Want evidence that China is still making inroads in sub-Saharan Africa? Look no further than Zimbabwe, where the finance minister just announced a plan to begin using the Chinese yuan as an official currency within the southern African nation — part of a deal in which Beijing will also cancel about $40 million in debt.

“There cannot be a better time to do this,” Zimbabwean Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa explained in a statement.

The news is just the latest wild twist for the Zimbabwean currency. Six months ago, Zimbabwe’s central bank announced that it was finally phasing out the local currency, the Zimbabwean dollar, after years of hyperinflation had left the currency virtually worthless. Zimbabweans were told that they would be able to exchange bank account balances of up to 175,000,000,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars for just 5 U.S. dollars — a heartbreaking sum, given that it was many people’s life savings.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

In the Year’s Final Indignity, Slime Coats Brazil’s Pristine Beaches

A ruined holiday may not seem that traumatic, especially when compared with the environmental toll the catastrophe will have on wildlife and nearby communities. But for Brazil’s battered middle class, it’s a disastrous end to what has been a truly disastrous year. Surging bankruptcies and joblessness, inflation above 10 percent and a tumbling currency are doing away with many of the group’s hard-won gains of the past decade.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

South America’s Left Suffers Setbacks as Economic Crisis Deepens, Voters Grow Weary

After a decade on the advance, the left in South America is in retreat.

Just in the past month, voters in Argentina elected a conservative businessman president over the chosen successor of Cristina Fernandez and Brazil’s congress launched an impeachment probe against President Dilma Rousseff, whose approval ratings have been languishing in single digits.

In perhaps the biggest turnabout, voters in Venezuela, where the region’s leftward shift began, handed the opposition a landslide victory in congressional elections — its first nationwide legislative win since the U.S.-bashing Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1998.

The backlash comes amid an economic storm of the likes the region hasn’t seen in decades. While all political dynasties are paying the price for broken economies and unchecked corruption, most of South America’s governments are run by leftists who came to power as China’s economy was taking off over the past 15 years, fueling demand for the region’s raw materials.

Now that the Asian giant is struggling, prices for the region’s copper, soy beans and oil have plummeted along with its currencies, taking with them the aspirations of millions of families that rose into the middle class on the back of the economic boom. At the same time, U.S. interest rates are rising again for the first time in seven years, adding pressure on borrowers already struggling to pay back dollar loans.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Austria Accused of ‘Stupidity’ In Crisis

Hungary has accused Austria of confusing “solidarity and stupidity” after Vienna said that nations which do not accept their share of refugees under European Union quotas should face sanctions.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann had said that countries who did not cooperate with the programme and received more money from the EU than they put in should see their subsidies cut.

“The Austrian chancellor does not see the difference between solidarity and stupidity” said Budapest’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

“Solidarity means helping people who are in danger where they live, and helping them to return home once the conflict is finished,” Szijjarto told Hungarian national press agency MTI on Sunday.

“Stupidity is letting hundreds of thousands of people — millions — into Europe with no controls, while everyone, Europeans and migrants alike, can see they’ll never get what they hoped for here,” he said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Danish Communities Feel Sting of Refugee Costs

Local officials across Denmark say the state is not providing them with sufficient means to cope with the costs of housing refugees while politicians are split on how to deal with the issue.

According to a survey carried out be television network TV2, many municipalities feel they are no longer able to cope with costs which include housing, interpreter fees and welfare support.

“We are having serious problems housing all the refugees that are coming to us. The support we are receiving from the state is far from sufficient,” Helsingør mayor Benedikte Kiær told TV2.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Ethnic German Migration Doubles in Two Years

Numbers of ethnic Germans moving to the Federal Republic from Russia, Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics have grown for the third year in a row, with 2015’s figure double that in 2013.

Around 6,000 ethnic German migrants arrived in Germany in 2015, several hundred more than the previous year, preliminary figures from the only arrival centre in Friedland, near Göttingen, showed.

Just as in previous years, most ethnic German migrants entering the country this year came from Russia and Kazakhstan, camp director Heinrich Hörnschemeyer said.

Smaller numbers came from Kyrgystan and Ukraine.

The majority of the new arrivals were coming to join their relatives already living in the Federal Republic.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Fears Rise Over Human Trafficking in Sweden

Police have cracked down on a record number of cases of people smuggling on the Öresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark in the past few months as the Nordic country’s refugee crisis reached its peak.

A total of 98 cases of suspected human trafficking have been brought to the southern regional police division’s attention in 2015 — up by 700 percent on the year before when 14 incidents were reported.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

German Photographer Gets Arrested, Put on Trial, For Entering Europe Illegally With Other Illegal Immigrants

Photographer Felix Kleymann wanted to visually document how immigrants get to Europe illegally. He started from Northern Iraq, traveled through Turkey, and paid smugglers to board a boat bound for the island of Lesbos, Greece.

But when he arrived, he was arrested because he is a European citizen, and had his EU passport on him.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

German ‘Welcoming Culture’ Still Strong: Poll

A new survey conducted by the Protestant church shows that Germans’ willingness to help refugees remains steadfast, despite concerns the country will struggle to cope with the large influx.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Inside the West African Village Where Every Young Man is Trying to Migrate to Europe

In the village of Sabaa in eastern Gambia, one in eight people have taken “The Back Way” across the Sahara

“I want to be able to support a family, and to do that, I have to go to Europe,” he said, tending the modest watermelon plot that is his only source of income. “Here in our community, if you do not go, you may not be able to even get a woman to marry. I must go — all my friends, those I used to play football with, are gone already.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Migrant Count in Europe Tops Million: UN Agency

More than one million migrants and refugees reached Europe this year, including over 970,000 who made the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean, the Geneva-based UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.

The new figures, jointly released by the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), listed migrant arrivals in six European countries since January 1st, with the vast majority of people — 821,008 — landing in Greece.

A total of 3,692 migrants died or disappeared crossing the sea, IOM said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Offering Classes to Teach Refugees it’s Wrong to Rape Women

Completely voluntary of course.

One of the unfortunate side effects of importing over a million (mostly male) refugees from a misogynist third world hell-hole is that their views of women have a tendency to be …archaic. We’re not talking about a “woman’s place is in the home” level of chauvinism, either. This is more of a “women are property” mindset.

With that comes widespread issues of violence and sexual abuse. So Norway is offering asylum seekers a course, in which they will be challenged to master difficult concepts like “rape is wrong.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

One Dead, 650 Rescued in Med: Italy Coastguard

More than 650 people have been plucked to safety in the Mediterranean and one body recovered, the Italian coastguard said on Tuesday, as migrants continue to attempt the perilous crossing to Europe despite the winter weather.

The coastguard rescued 360 people from three rubber dinghies, while the Doctors Without Border’s boat Bourbon Argos picked up another 96 and 95 migrants from rickety vessels adrift off Libya.

The Italian navy said one of its vessels had rescued another 100 migrants and recovered a body.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

‘Refugee Flow’ Named Danish Word of the Year

The Danish Language Board has announced its Word of the Year for 2015. The winner will come as little surprise to those acquainted with the country’s politics.

A board of judges representing the Danish Language Board (DSN) as well as the country’s universities and media outlets has given the title of Word of the Year to the word flygtningestrømme, which translates to English as ‘refugee flow’ or ‘stream of refugees’.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Refugees in Italy Revolt Over Lack of Wi-Fi

A group of refugees in the north of Italy have emptied their rubbish into the streets, furious that their requests for a cleaner and Wi-Fi have not been met.

The 24 protesting refugees from sub-Saharan Africa have been asking for somebody to help then maintain order at the duplex villa in the town of Ceranova where they have been housed since last summer.

They are also upset that Wi-Fi has not been installed in the villa, meaning they can’t make Skype calls to their relatives back home, La Repubblica reported.

The protests first took place late last week when the town’s refugees blocked main roads to get their message across.

And the situation soon took a turn for the worse when the refugees began to tip out their rubbish in the sleepy towns main streets to make their point.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Robot Pals to Teach Refugee Kids German

Refugee children could soon be learning German with the help of a tiny humanoid robot, thanks to a new project from researchers at the University of Bielefeld.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: ID Checks May Hit Unaccompanied Minors Hardest

The new Swedish law requiring ID checks for entering asylum seekers will greatly affect unaccompanied minors, nearly all of whom coming from countries like Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea lack the proper ID to enter the country.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Sweden: Sixfold Increase of Suspected People Smuggling in 2015

The number of suspected cases of people smuggling has gone up by 600 percent this year compared to last, according to Swedish Television News. Last year, only 14 cases were reported, this year the number increased to 98.

Leif Fransson, head of operations at the border police in southern Sweden, tells Radio Sweden that they get about one new case every other day and he expects the number to increase even further next year.

“I think there will be an increase next year. People will try to get to Sweden even with the upcoming ID checks in place,” Fransson says.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Cruise Ship to House 1,260 Refugees

Sweden’s migration agency has signed a deal to house 1,260 refugees on board a cruise ship as authorities continue their search to find long-term asylum accommodation in the Nordic country.

In November The Local reported that Migrationsverket was hoping to use cruise ships to ease a housing shortage for the record number of people who have travelled to the country in 2015.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Switzerland: Wood Huts to Replace Ikea Refugee Shelters

The city of Zurich plans to house asylum seekers in 62 chipboard huts to replace Ikea refugee shelters that it rejected last week after they failed a fire test.

Switzerland is expecting to receive 39,000 asylum applicants this year, up from 23,800 in 2014.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

UK Central Bank Report Confirms Immigration Leads to Lower Wages for Nearly 1/4 of Britons

Britain’s central bank, the Bank of England, has stated that the high level of immigration that Britain is currently experiencing does in fact lead to lower wages, with those hurt most by the policy being on the semi-skilled or unskilled end of the country’s workforce: almost 1 in 4 Britons.

The news will come as a blow to pro immigration campaigners and organisations who have long stated that the argument behind wage compression — as it is commonly known — is a falsehood.

News outlets and so-called “independent” fact checking organisations have ignored the idea over the years, but the claim has been made repeatedly by those who want controlled immigration rather than open borders, such as the UK Independence Party and its leader Nigel Farage MEP.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Finland: Lesbian Mums Seek Legal Reforms

Women in same-sex relationships want the right to be recognised as the parent of their children without going through the adoption process—even if they are not the birth mother. Activists are hoping a citizens’ initiative will prompt parliament to make the change.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

Unearthing the World of Jesus

Surprising archaeological finds are breaking new ground in our understanding of Jesus’s time—and the revolution he launched 2,000 years ago.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]
 

2 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 12/23/2015

  1. We’re all just children,
    reaching for our dreams.
    There shining high above us,
    and even though it seems, so far,
    we put our faith and hope on a shooting star.
    ——————————————————-

    http://www.bonton.se/modules/bonton/file.asp?d=2015-12-24

    ——————————————————
    When you wish upon a star,
    makes no difference who you are,
    and if your heart is in your dream,
    no request is too extreme,
    Anything your heart desires,
    will come to you,
    when you wish upon a star.
    Fate is kind,
    she brings to those who love,
    the sweet fulfillment of
    their secret longing.
    —————————————
    Christmass merriest news: the koran is published in Copenhagen
    as a 17 hours audibook. Jippie!

    @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
    Allah is the Most Great, Mightier than all His creation. He is Mightier than what I fear and dread. I seek refuge in Allah, Who there is none worthy of worship but Him. He is the One Who holds the seven heavens from falling upon the earth except by His command. Thank you. [I seek refuge in You Allah] from the evil of Your slaves, and his helpers, his followers and his supporters from among the jinn and mankind. O Allah, be my support against their evil. Glorious are Your praises and mighty is Your patronage. Blessed is Your Name, there is no true God but You. Allahumma Ameen!
    @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
    Jaa, fy fan! Stupidity will be victorious.

  2. Zurich is planning to replace its Ikea migrant shelters with new chipboard huts. It seems the Swedish-made structures did not pass a fire test. 

    Good to see the health and safety regs are more important than the final solution to the question of how human beings are to live together on this earth, aka ‘multiculturalism’.

    btw how about our health, and our safety?

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