Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/12/2016

Last night, after a LEGIDA walk and demonstration in Leipzig, a group of protesters broke off from the larger demo and attacked businesses owned by immigrants, including kebab shops. The mayor of Leipzig condemned the violence and promised that the perpetrators would be severely prosecuted.

In other news, two patrol boats of the U.S. Navy have been detained by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf. Iran said that crewmembers from the vessels would be promptly released.

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

Thanks to AF, Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Dean, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, MC, Nick, Seneca III, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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

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

Financial Crisis
» Change EU Econ Policy Not Treaties Says Renzi
» Italy: Small Savers Protest Outside Consob HQ Over Banks Bail-Out
 
USA
» Forbes Forces Readers to Turn Off Ad Blockers, Promptly Serves Malware
» Hillary in Serious Trouble Says Sanders
» Obama Tears? Watch the Video; My Bet’s on Menthol
» Ted Cruz Needs a Constitutional Convention to Pass the Nau
» Video: College Students Taught Most U.S. Terrorists ‘Conservative’ White Men
 
Canada
» Premier and Minister Owe Ontarians Explanation on Nipigon Bridge Failure
 
Europe and the EU
» Cologne Sex Attacks: New Year’s Eve Cases Rise to More Than 500
» Consumer Groups Denounce McDonald’s Franchising System
» EU Parliament Head Accuses Poland of ‘Putinization’, What Does He Mean?
» Full Horror of Cologne Migrant Gang Sex Attacks Revealed for First Time
» Germany: Terrifying Echoes of Kristallnacht: Mayor Condemns ‘Naked Violence’ After Far-Right Thugs Rampage Through Streets of Leipzig Smashing Windows of Kebab Shops
» Italy: Ex Rome Councillor Ozzimo Gets 2 Yrs for Mafia
» Italy: Enel Shareholders Approve Integration of Enel Green Power
» Italy: Confindustria VP Bracco Indicted for Tax Evasion
» Italy: Poetry Readings on 14/1 for Death-Row Poet Ashraf Fayadh
» Man Denies Planning Lee Rigby Style Attack on US Soldier in the UK
» Marseilles Jews Urged to Avoid Skullcaps
» Romanian Panhandler Kicked Out of Italy for Beating up Woman
» Slovakian Thug Allowed Into Britain After Serving a Six-Year Sentence in His Home Country
» Swedish Police Accused of Covering Up Festival Sex Assault
» The Hero of Cologne: How a 7ft Tall Hotel Doorman and Ex-Kickboxing Champ Saved Two Women From the New Year’s Sex Mob
» UK: Cadbury’s Creme Egg’s Unpopular New Recipe Sees Sales Plunge by £10million
 
North Africa
» Libyan Presidency Council Backs General Haftar
 
Israel and the Palestinians
» British MP Claims Rocks Don’t Kill
 
Middle East
» Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Seizes Two US Patrol Boats, Arrests 10 Sailors (9 Men and I Woman)
» Number of Women Leaving UK for ISIS on the Rise, Chilling Figures Show
» Suicide Bomber Kills 10 People, Mainly Germans, In Istanbul
» US Working With Iran to Recover US Navy Patrol in Gulf: Official
 
South Asia
» Bangladesh: Some 500 Christians Go on a Hunger Strike Over Seized Church Land (Photos)
» Caroline Glick: In Pakistan: They Trust
» Indonesia: Jakarta: Bribes on Islamic Pilgrimages: Six Years for Former Minister of Religions
 
Far East
» Thousands of Hong Kongers Take to the Streets Against “Cross-Border Abductions”
 
Australia — Pacific
» Cop Critical and Security Guard Wounded in Sydney Hospital Shooting
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» UN Says Some of Its Peacekeepers Were Paying 13 Year Olds for Sex
 
Immigration
» Germany Sex Assaults: Protesters Say ‘Rapefugees Not Welcome’
» German Cop Breaks Ranks: We Are Banned From Detaining Migrants
» Italy: Renzi Says Crime of Illegal Immigration is Useless
» Massive Coverup Exposed in Sweden as Media, Cops Hid Migrant Sex Attacks
» Merkel Under Pressure as Cologne Police Detail Assaults
» Norway Security Chief Warns of Cultural Dangers of Muslim Diaspora
» Now Even Merkel Admits European Refugee Crisis is ‘Out of Control’
» Now Germany Offers Refugees Sex Equality Classes as More Shocking Rape Claims Emerge
» Opinion: Cologne Attacks on Muslims Show Incompatibility of Cultures
» Police Bust Organisers of Sham Weddings for Italy Permits
» Sexual Terrorism: All the Perfumes of Eurabia Won’t Sweeten the Sharia Stench of Cologne
» Terre Des Hommes to Relaunch Migrant Mental Support Work
 
Culture Wars
» New York’s “Pronoun” Law Defies Science and Ignores Logic
 

Change EU Econ Policy Not Treaties Says Renzi

Focus on austerity ‘a mistake’

(ANSA) — Rome, January 12 — Premier Matteo Renzi on Tuesday reiterated the importance of the European Union switching economic policy away from austerity but stressed he was not demanding treaty change. “I don’t think any wise man can embark on changing treaties but we can change economic policy under existing treaties,” he said, ruling out a change to the Fiscal Compact. Renzi said his “economic model is (US President Barack) Obama not (Euro Commissioner Valdis) Dombrovskis”. Renzi said America “has halved unemployment while Europe has stopped worrying about employment and only thinks about austerity.” He said “I think that’s a mistake”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Small Savers Protest Outside Consob HQ Over Banks Bail-Out

Demonstrators shout ‘thieves, thieves,’ compare banks to ISIS

(ANSA) — Rome, January 12 — Approximately 300 demonstrators gathered outside Consob’s Rome headquarters on Tuesday to protest against a government measure to save four failed Italian banks and the alleged failure of Italy’s stock market watchdog to provide due oversight.

Protesters shouted slogans such as “Thieves, thieves” and brandished banners comparing the banks to Islamic State and attacking Italy’s oversight authorities. The 3.6-billion euro rescue, financed by healthy Italian banks, saved jobs and protected account holders, but left shares and bonds in the four lenders worthless.

Many small savers lost money as a result and one, pensioner Luigino D’Angelo, hung himself in November.

Tuesday’s demonstration was organised by consumer groups Adusbef and Federconsumatori and a committee investors who have been affected.

The government has said small investors who were conned about the risks of buying the bonds will get compensation, but the savers are demanding full refunds of the money they have lost.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Forbes Forces Readers to Turn Off Ad Blockers, Promptly Serves Malware

For the past few weeks, Forbes.com has been forcing visitors to disable ad blockers if they want to read its content. Visitors to the site with Adblock or uBlock enabled are told they must disable it if they wish to see any Forbes content. Thanks to Forbes’ interstitial ad and quote of the day, Google caching doesn’t capture data properly, either.

What sets Forbes apart, in this case, is that it didn’t just force visitors to disable ad blocking — it actively served them malware as soon as they did. Details were captured by security researcher Brian Baskin, who screenshotted the process:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Hillary in Serious Trouble Says Sanders

Vermont Senator has 14-pt lead in N.H.

(ANSA) — Rome, January 12 — Bernie Sanders says Hillary Clinton has started attacking him more because she’s in “serious trouble” with polls showing the Vermont Senator 14 points head of the former Secretary of State in New Hampshire.

“She’s in big trouble and Bernie Sanders is no longer the good guy,” Sanders said.

Democratic presidential candidate Clinton is ripping into rival Sanders, saying he offers unrealistic policies and overstates his anti-establishment credentials.

For days, Clinton has cast Sanders as a less forceful advocate for gun control, targeting a 2005 vote he cast that gave immunity to gun manufacturers.

She is now broadening her critique, arguing that if Sanders wouldn’t combat the National Rifle Association, he couldn’t be trusted to take on other special interests.

Clinton says she has “the scars to show” from going after corporate interests and big business.

The new assault marks an effort by Clinton to undermine the Sanders campaign’s central argument that he is a political outsider who will push for radical liberal changes.

It comes as polls also show a tightening race in Iowa.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Obama Tears? Watch the Video; My Bet’s on Menthol

Watch the video. President Obama wasn’t crying during his announced executive actions on gun control — he was faking…

Obama doesn’t just flick his finger at his eye. He wipes downward, across the lid, and then runs his finger along the whole bottom rim, following the line of the lashes. Then he blinks eight or so times.

But here’s the part to notice at this point: His eye is dry. Completely devoid of tears; completely lacking dampness. Yet Obama’s supposedly wiping away tears.

Click play.

Obma then pauses, lowers his head, and with hand cupped, thumb and forefinger bent, partially covers his mouth, once, twice — classic tells of lies — then shakes his finger for emphasis and speaks again.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Ted Cruz Needs a Constitutional Convention to Pass the Nau

“While, then, the constituent body retains its present sound and healthful state everything will be safe. They will choose competent and faithful representatives for every department. It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising the sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin.” —James Monroe, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1817)

Ted Cruz always tells the crowd what they want to hear, depending upon to whom he’s speaking. If you ask most Republicans who Ted Cruz is, they’ll likely tell you he’s an Evangelical Christian of strong conservative values and won’t compromise. He’s certainly spent all his time in the Senate during his attempted government shutdowns trying to convince people of that. Those Republicans would be wrong on both counts.

Think he isn’t a neocon? Here he is speaking at Heritage Foundation, one of the top phony rightwing shills for the NWO.

For all his allure as an outsider, Canada-born Ted Cruz is in fact an insider playing a role similar to the one Barack Obama played back in 2008 when his handlers portrayed him as the hope and change candidate out of nowhere. Ted Cruz set out to be an elitist from the very beginning.

From Jason Zengerle’s piece in GQ Magazine:

The elite academic circles that Cruz was now traveling in began to rub off. As a law student at Harvard, he refused to study with anyone who hadn’t been an undergrad at Harvard, Princeton, or Yale. Says Damon Watson, one of Cruz’s law-school roommates: “He said he didn’t want anybody from ‘minor Ivies’ like Penn or Brown.”

Ted Cruz was even John Boehner’s attorney when the latter was suing Democrat Jim McDermott over the alleged leak of an illegal tape-recording of GOP leaders. [Link]

Cruz’s insider connection is also a family affair. His wife, Heidi, is a Goldman Sachs vice president in Houston, Texas, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also served as an economic advisor for the Bush administration. In 2011, a Cruz campaign spokesman portrayed Heidi as “an expert on North American trade,” in other words she is savvy when it comes to globalist transnational trade deals like NAFTA, the single most destructive government move against the American worker in history. Remember Heidi Cruz is also a co-author of the North American Union which totally destroys American sovereignty, and she spent five years at the CFR drafting the NAU…

From the Convention of States website come this: Ted Cruz immediately declared his support for Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments upon its release. He posted a link on his Facebook page and wrote, “Mark’s book sparks an important discussion about how to fix the problems that face our Republic.” As well, check out Ted’s article in the National Review where he promotes a Convention.

Really Ted Cruz? You really believe a Constitutional Convention will fix the problems our Republic faces? Excuse me Ted, but the founders gave us everything we need. The problem is that the legislative, executive and judicial branches of our government do not want to follow what they’ve sworn an oath to.

[…]

Ted Cruz however, is unequaled in his hypocrisy and treachery. He knows perfectly well that we will need a new Constitution to change our status from a sovereign nation to a member State in the North American Union. Remember, Ted’s wife, Heidi, was on the CFR Task Force to write up the plan for the NAU. He absolutely knows about the Parliament which the Plan sets up over Canada, the United States, and Mexico! The Parliament will consist of fifteen members (5 from each nation) to rule over the NAU. The North American Union would be yet another collective regional government, a new North American Soviet, that would clearly be the enemy of United States sovereignty.

If you do not understand the dangers of a Constitutional Convention today, with all the leftists in power on both sides of the aisle, and the faux conservatives pushing this destruction, then please avail yourself of the many articles on same by Publius Huldah, the John Birch Society, Phyllis Schlafly, and many others, including the Father of our Constitution, James Madison.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Video: College Students Taught Most U.S. Terrorists ‘Conservative’ White Men

“Usually they are people who are religiously motivated and politically conservative”

Most acts of terrorism in America are committed by white men who are “religiously motivated and politically conservative,” a psychology professor recently taught his students, adding that “9/11 is basically the only act of foreign-born terrorism that has ever happened in the United States.”

The “Introduction to Psychology” lesson was given by Dr. Ross Avilla, a lecturer at the University of California-Merced, who backed up his argument by telling his class about a white Christian man who shot up the Texas statehouse with an AK-47 — an incident which in fact never took place.

“Ninety percent [of U.S. terrorist attacks] are from these white Caucasian men,” Avilla told his class. “And by the way I am not saying white men are evil — but that is what we should be thinking about. Usually they are people who are religiously motivated and politically conservative.”

The psychology scholar couched his statements in a lesson on heuristics, defined “as a mental shortcut that allows people to solve problems and make judgments quickly.” He essentially argued many Americans wrongly believe Muslims make up the vast majority of U.S. terrorists because they have not thought long and hard on the matter.

A portion of the lecture was recorded by two students in the class who provided it to The College Fix. The lesson took place in mid-October, just a few weeks before UC Merced student Faisal Mohammad stabbed four people on the Northern California campus.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Premier and Minister Owe Ontarians Explanation on Nipigon Bridge Failure

KITCHENER — Ontario PC Transportation Critic Michael Harris is calling on the Premier and Minister of Transportation for an explanation and answers going forward following the failure of the vital Nipigon River Bridge only 42 days after opening new westbound lanes of the $106-million bridge rebuild…

The failure of the crucial northern Ontario bridge that connects Eastern and Western Canada, follows a $106 million rebuild that began in 2013, and comes just 42 days after westbound lanes were opened to traffic in late November. The bridge is now open to one lane of traffic less than 24 hours after a piece of the bridge decking lifted more than 60 centimetres (2 feet).

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Cologne Sex Attacks: New Year’s Eve Cases Rise to More Than 500

German authorities due to release more details of investigation into string of sexual assaults as suspicions grow that attacks were planned in advance by North Africans

German authorities are on Monday due to release the first details of their probe into a rash of assaults on New Year’s Eve blamed on migrants …

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Consumer Groups Denounce McDonald’s Franchising System

High rent, punishing contracts allegedly push up prices

(ANSA) — Brussels, January 12 — Italian consumers’ associations presented a complaint to the European Commission against McDonald’s on Tuesday, accusing the fast-food giant of violating EU competition rules in its franchising system with a negative knock-on effect for customers. Codacons, Movimento Difesa del Cittadino and Cittadinanzattiva claim that the franchising agreement imposed by the American multinational on the basis of its dominant market position involves rent that is up to ten times higher than the market rate and punishing contractual conditions. These conditions are reflected in the price of food sold at McDonald’s franchises, which is generally higher than that at outlets run by the fast-food giant directly, the associations said. The European Commission said it would now “examine” the compliant. McDonald’s is already being probed by the EU anti-trust agency for a favourable tax regime in Luxembourg. The agency believes the tax ruling enables the US fast-food giant to evade taxes on profits in Europe and the US.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

EU Parliament Head Accuses Poland of ‘Putinization’, What Does He Mean?

European Parliament Chief has repeatedly accused the Polish government of subordinating the interests of the state to those of the winning party, referring to the constitutional crisis in Poland. He specifically termed it the “Putinisation of European politics,” but ruled out that his comments represent an interference into the internal affairs.

“The Polish government considers its [October] election victory a mandate to subordinate the interests of the state to the interests of the winning party,” Schulz told Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, according the paper’s website.

“That’s democracy carried out in the style of [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin and a dangerous ‘Putinisation’ of European politics,” Schulz added, as quoted by the website.

The comments come in relation to the constitutional crisis in the country, its worst since 1989, the year of the first elections in its post-war history.

The Polish Constitutional crisis of 2015 is a series of conflicts following the Polish parliamentary election of October 2015 regarding amendments to the organization of the Polish Constitutional Court. The amendments caused domestic and international criticism.

Schulz’s comments were echoed by Viviane Reding, former EU Justice Commissioner and current Member of the European Parliament, who also somehow drew a parallel with Russia, saying that the attack on the rule of law always begins with an attack on the Constitutional Court.

Both politicians ruled out that their comments represented any interference into the internal affairs of a country.

Earlier in December Poland had demanded an apology from Schulz after he called its judicial changes a ‘coup’.

“What is happening in Poland has the characteristics of a coup and is dramatic. I am going on the principle that we are going to discuss this in detail this week at the European parliament, or at the latest, during the session in January,” he then told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Schulz’s comments sparked an angry response from Warsaw, with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo demanding an apology.

“These types of comments — and this is not the first time that president Schulz uses such a tone — concerning Poland and Polish affairs, are unacceptable to me,” Szydlo then said.

“I am expecting Mr Martin Schulz to not only stop making such comments but also apologize to Poland,” she added.

The political tensions center around efforts by the ruling party to install five judges of its own choosing on the 15-member court, and refusing to recognize judges who were appointed by the previous parliament when the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party was in power.

It also comes on the heels of legal moves giving Poland’s conservative government the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters.

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

Full Horror of Cologne Migrant Gang Sex Attacks Revealed for First Time

Police logs detail terrifying experiences of victims

Police notes taken by officers at the New Year’s Eve Cologne sex attacks reveal the full, horrific detail of how women were groped, sexually assaulted, robbed and raped at the hands of a vicious sex mob.

Over 500 women were attacked by baying groups of immigrant men in a free-for-all of humiliation and degradation which overwhelmed officers and at a stroke undermined Germany’s vaunted role as protector of refugees from war and terror.

Disturbing reports are recorded in the terse argot of police officers — but leave no room for misinterpretation.

The notes reveal how women complained they were surrounded by sexually frustrated men who tried to put their hands inside their tights and knickers and tried to put their fingers in their vaginas.

One woman told police she was surrounded by 20 men of North African appearance before they attacked her intimate parts.

A victim said she was pinched in the crotch, while another said hands were ‘all over her breasts and buttocks’.

Thieves rifled through a woman’s handbag while others distracted her by shoving their hands underneath her clothes.

In an appalling catalogue of complaints, the women who were attacked by up to 2,000 men during a fireworks display in the square by the cathedral in front of Cologne’s train station told how they had mobile phones, bank cards and cash stolen…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Germany: Terrifying Echoes of Kristallnacht: Mayor Condemns ‘Naked Violence’ After Far-Right Thugs Rampage Through Streets of Leipzig Smashing Windows of Kebab Shops

The mayor of a German city has spoken of ‘terror on the streets’ of his city after far-right thugs ran riot in scenes reminiscent of the anti-Semitic Kristallnacht attacks in 1938.

Burkhard Jung, mayor of Leipzig, has condemned the ‘naked violence that took place’ after doner kebab fast food restaurants were destroyed, cars were set ablaze and shop windows were smashed by around 250 hooligans of LEGIDA — the local branch of PEGIDA, an anti-migrant, anti-EU organization — on Monday night.

The rampage in Leipzig evoked memories of the wave of violence against Jews that erupted across Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November 9, 1938.

On Monday, hundreds of anti-refugee rioters caused chaos in Leipzig after a demonstration where they called for asylum seekers to be deported and their nation’s borders closed.

The right-wingers broke away from a largely peaceful march in the eastern city to trash the suburb of Connewitz.

At one point the demonstrators, who threw fireworks at police, attempted to build a barricade in a main street with signs and torn up paving stones before they were dispersed.

Firemen had to tackle a blaze in the attic of one building set alight by a wayward rocket fired by the rioters. A bus carrying leftist pro-asylum demonstrators was also attacked and seriously damaged.

‘It was naked violence that took place here, nothing more,’ Jung said. ‘That has been established and there must be consequences.’…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Ex Rome Councillor Ozzimo Gets 2 Yrs for Mafia

In Capital Mafia case

(ANSA) — Rome, January 7 — Former Rome councillor Daniele Ozzimo on Thursday got two years and two months in jail for his part in the ‘Capital Mafia’ graft scandal. The Democratic Party member was convicted of acting against his duty. “I expected it,” he said after the fast-track trial, adding that he would appeal.

In the scandal, gangsters and businessmen muscled in on city contracts, especially those for running Roma and migrant camps.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Enel Shareholders Approve Integration of Enel Green Power

Move to have ‘positive effect’ on electricity giant

(ANSA) — Rome, January 11 — Shareholders of Italian electricity giant Enel on Monday approved the integration of subsidiary Enel Green Power into the parent company.

The motion passed with 99.57% in favour, 0.01% against and 0.43% abstaining. The integration of Enel Green Power will have a “positive effect” on Enel, CEO Francesco Starace said. It will lead to “greater consolidation with respect to the 70% we hold now of a company that is growing and generates increasing profits,” he added.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Confindustria VP Bracco Indicted for Tax Evasion

Charged with tax fraud of over 1 mn euros

(ANSA) — Milan, January 12 — Diana Bracco, vice president of Italian employers’ group Confindustria, was sent to trial Tuesday on charges of tax evasion and misappropriation of funds in her capacity as president of the board of the Bracco SpA multinational healthcare group. Bracco is charged with committing tax fraud totalling more than one million euros.

Bracco, who served as president of Expo Milan 2015 and commissioner for the Italy Pavilion, is accused of issuing false invoices for work on homes and boats.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Poetry Readings on 14/1 for Death-Row Poet Ashraf Fayadh

Sentenced by Saudi Arabia; appeal from Berlin

NAPLES — Ten Italian cities will on Thursday be taking part in an initiative to support Ashraf Fayadh, a poet and artist sentenced to die by Saudi Arabia for renouncing Islam and spreading atheism.

The cities are: Rome, Milan, Naples, La Spezia, Pescara, Bari, Sassari, Ravenna and Villacidro, in Sardinia. The international initiative was promoted as part of the Berlin International Literature Festival in December. Organizers launched an appeal to individuals, associations and organizations to engage in poetry readings and hold events to support Fayadh and freedom of expression.

In Naples, Orientale University will hold public readings of Fayadh’s works from 8:30 Thursday morning at the Palazzo del Mediterraneo.

Of Palestinian origins, the poet on death row was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and has been detained for two years in the Abha prison. Fayadh — who a few years ago was part of the Edge of Arabia artists collective and who in 2013 was one of the curators of the Rhizoma exhibition at the Venice Biennale — was arrested in 2014 in the city of Abha by Saudi religious police on charges of apostasy and the spreading of atheism through his book ‘Instructions Within’ (Dar al-Farabi, Beirut, 2007). A Saudi court sentenced the poet in November 2015 to die by beheading. Fayadh, who has not in the entire two years been able to see a lawyer, has always denied the charges. In December, after the death sentence was handed down, he filed an appeal saying that the charges were false and that no proof had been presented. He also said that he was a practicing Muslim and that he had never renounced his faith.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Man Denies Planning Lee Rigby Style Attack on US Soldier in the UK

A man has denied planning a Lee Rigby style attack on a American servicemen stationed in the UK.

Junead Ahmed Khan, 24, has pleaded not guilty to planing an attack the soldier at either RAF Mildenhall, RAF Lakenheath or RAF Feltwell, all in Suffolk, between May and July this year.

He is also accused of planning to travel to Syria with his uncle Shazib Ahmed Khan, 22, to join Islamic State (ISIS) fighters.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Marseilles Jews Urged to Avoid Skullcaps

After teacher attacked on his way to synagogue

– PARIS — The top Jewish leader in Marseille on Tuesday urged Jews in the southern French port city to refrain from wearing skullcaps “while waiting for better days”.

The appeal came after a teacher wearing one on his way to the synagogue was attacked by a machete-wielding Kurdish teenager the previous day.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Romanian Panhandler Kicked Out of Italy for Beating up Woman

Punched, spat on her for refusing to give him change

(ANSA) — Udine, January 11 — A Romanian panhandler who spat on and punched a young woman after she refused to give him change has been ordered out of the country, police said Monday.

The 31-year-old man is homeless and can be ordered out of Italy because he cannot demonstrate the ability to support himself, authorities said.

He has 30 days to report to the Italian embassy in Bucharest. If he fails to comply, he can be repatriated by force.

The incident took place January 7 in the northeastern city of Udine.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Slovakian Thug Allowed Into Britain After Serving a Six-Year Sentence in His Home Country

Viktor Lakatos, 42, who was allowed into Britain despite serving a six-year sentence in his home country for GBH has been jailed for 14 years for a savage knuckle-duster attack on a frail pensioner

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Swedish Police Accused of Covering Up Festival Sex Assault

An inquiry has been launched into claims police in Sweden purposely downplayed a string of sexual assaults at a music festival. Prime Minister Lofven decried the “betrayal” of young women.

The Swedish police ordered an investigation on Monday after national media made explosive allegations about the cover-up of sexual assault claims. The reports suggested that a number of teenage girls reported being molested by mostly migrant young men at a music festival in August.

Allegedly a group of some 50 suspects carried out the assaults at the “We are Sthlm” youth festival, which attracts thousands of every year and also saw reports of sexual violence in 2014.

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven called it “a double betrayal of these young women,” in an interview with the “Expressen” newspaper. “It has not been prosecuted and handled in the way we would wish. The second is that police did not inform or tell about these problems.”

The incidents have drawn comparisons to the attacks on women in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

The Hero of Cologne: How a 7ft Tall Hotel Doorman and Ex-Kickboxing Champ Saved Two Women From the New Year’s Sex Mob

A kickboxing champion dubbed the ‘hero of Cologne’ has told of how he fought off a gang of ‘drunken, lecherous Arabs’ who were terrifying two young women on New Year’s Eve.

Standing at seven foot tall and wielding 130kg of solid muscle, Ivan Jurcevic fought off the four sex attackers as they surrounded their young victims and groped them.

Suddenly, two women appeared, begging him to protect them from a gang of men ‘who were harassing them’.

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Jurcevic said: ‘There were four of them, young men in their 20s, speaking Arabic. They told me not to interfere, that the girls were “theirs”.

‘The girls looked like they worked in a bank, they were wearing jeans and coats, nothing provocative, they were really frightened. I told them to stand behind me.’

‘Then the loudest member of the gang came at me with a bottle so I kicked him in the chest and sent him flying. Another came at me so I slapped him across the face and he went over as well.

‘The leader drew his finger across his throat and told me he would be back to kill me. I stood my ground and they went on their way.’

The former kick-boxer, who has won five world championships, was arrested when he joined a vigilante patrol who took to the city centre on Sunday night — in which six innocent migrants were attacked…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

UK: Cadbury’s Creme Egg’s Unpopular New Recipe Sees Sales Plunge by £10million

Cadbury’s decision to change its recipe has cost the company dearly as it saw sales plunge by £10million last Easter. Fans expressed their dismay in the recipe change last year.

When Cadbury’s decided to change the recipe of its creme eggs last year, many fans were less than impressed.

Now the firm itself has been left with a nasty taste in its mouth after it was claimed that the move contributed to a £10million loss in sales last Easter — a fall of five per cent.

The company switched from using the famous Cadbury Dairy Milk for the shells to a similar alternative in what appeared an attempt to save money.

[Comment: “Save money” = Give the consumer inferior tasting product for the same price. Many chocolates these days are just a poor imitation of the same product fromy ears ago. ]

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Libyan Presidency Council Backs General Haftar

But LNA commander wary about unity government

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, JANUARY 12 — The Libyan presidency council under prime minister-designate Fayez Al-Serraj has issued a statement declaring full support to the Libyan National Army (LNA) under General Khalifa Haftar, reported local media.

Haftar is, however, well known to have been against the new national unity government. Libya Herald noted that the statement was the strongest one of support yet and that it had been released on Monday to condemn recent heavy weaponry attacks in Benghazi against a major power station (the main source of electricity for the city and much of the wider area), a camp for displaced Tawerghans and a local factory. The statement said the attacks were “failed attempts by the so-called Islamic State and “dark powers” “ and praised the sacrifices of LNA soldiers. It said that the army would be given the highest possible support once the UN Security Council revokes the arms embargo. Haftar, head of the armed forces of Tobruk, is at the very last wary of the agreement, as many observers have noted.

Italian undersecretary Marco Minniti, in charge of state security, noted the same in December to the Parliamentary Committee for the Intelligence and Security Services and for State Secret Control (COPASIR). The Libyan Observer, close to the pro-Islamist positions dominant in Tripoli, quoted sources as saying that the statement was “unilateral” and had been written by pro-Haftar members of the council, including Serraj. The site said that a dispute had arisen last week between members of the council on Haftar’s role in the future government created on the basis of the agreement reached in Morocco last month. “Eastern” (Tobruk) representatives reportedly threatened to suspend their participation if the general were not to remain in a commanding role, while “western” ones were said to have expressed concerns that the “controversial” general would make them lose support from Tripoli and Misrata. Advisors to the presidency council from Misrata, who are currently meeting in Tunis, told the Libya Herald that an agreement had been reached to shelve the issue of Haftar’s role for the moment.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

British MP Claims Rocks Don’t Kill

Israeli embassy in Britain sends complaint to Muslim MP who claimed that no Israeli children had been killed by rock-throwing Palestinians.[…]

The Israeli embassy in Britain sent a letter of complaint to a Muslim Labour MP after she claimed that no Israeli children had been killed by rock-throwing Palestinians, The Jewish Chronicle reported Monday.

During a parliamentary debate on child detainees and prisoners in Palestinian Authority-controlled territories, the MP Naz Shah claimed it was “absolutely unacceptable” to arrest children.

She then claimed the Israeli government had provided no evidence of Israeli children being killed or injured by Palestinian minors protesting in Judea and Samaria.[…]

“The fact is that the disproportionality of someone throwing a stone or a rock and being detained for it is not acceptable,” The Jewish Chronicle quoted Shah as having said at the debate last Wednesday.

Her Labour colleague Ian Austin responded by pointing out the case of four-year-old Adelle Biton, who was critically wounded in a rock attack on her family’s car in 2013 and died two years later.

But Shah insisted, “The Israeli government have not provided any evidence of any child causing a death, or contributing to a death, using a stone. There is no evidence of that.”

Eitan Na’eh, chargé d’affaires at the embassy in London, wrote to Shah on Monday to express his “profound concern” about her claims, according to The Jewish Chronicle.

In his later, Na’eh wrote that Palestinian minors had been involved in “deadly crimes” against Israeli civilians, including through the throwing of rocks.

“I must impress upon you the fact that rock-throwing is a violent crime that can, and has, led to death on multiple occasions,” he wrote, citing the case of Adelle Biton before presenting several other examples.[…]

[I assume that under shariah law adulterous females are stoned to death because it does not ‘kill’ them]

           — Hat tip: MC [Return to headlines]
 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Seizes Two US Patrol Boats, Arrests 10 Sailors (9 Men and I Woman)

Two US Navy riverine torpedo boats were on a training mission between Kuwait and Bahrain when one of the vessels became disabled ‘drifting’ into Iranian waters. The boats were promptly detained by Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval units on Farsi Island in Persian Gulf. 10 US sailors (9 men and 1 woman) aboard the two boats were arrested Secretary Kerry called his opposite number in Tehran, Foreign Minister Zarif seeking the release of both the boats and crew. The response was that their release “might come with hours”. Don’t count on it.

Note the comments in this NBC news report from retired Army Gen . Barry McCaffrey, GOP Presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio:…

           — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon [Return to headlines]
 

Number of Women Leaving UK for ISIS on the Rise, Chilling Figures Show

The number of girls and women fleeing the UK to join the Islamic State has soared leaving counter-terrorism officers “deeply concerned”.

Girls and women reported missing by families who are “feared to have travelled to Syria” shot up to 56 during 2015.

Figures released in July showed 43 females are thought to have fled to join the terror group during 2014.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Suicide Bomber Kills 10 People, Mainly Germans, In Istanbul

ISTANBUL A suicide bomber thought to have crossed recently from Syria killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday, in an attack Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed on Islamic State.

All of those killed in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia — major tourist sites in the center of one of the world’s most visited cities — were foreigners, Davutoglu said. A senior official said nine were German.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the bomber was believed to have recently entered Turkey from Syria but was not on Turkey’s watch list of suspected militants. He said earlier that the bomber had been identified from body parts at the scene and was thought to be a Syrian born in 1988.

Davutoglu said he had spoken by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to offer condolences and vowed Turkey’s fight against Islamic State, at home and as part of the U.S.-led coalition, would continue.

“Until we wipe out Daesh, Turkey will continue its fight at home and with coalition forces,” he said in comments broadcast live on television, using an Arabic name for Islamic State. He vowed to hunt down and punish those linked to the bomber.

Several bodies lay on the ground in the square, also known as the Hippodrome of Constantinople, in the immediate aftermath of the blast. It was not densely packed at the time of the explosion, according to a police officer working there, but small groups of tourists had been wandering around.

“This incident has once again shown that as a nation we should act as one heart, one body in the fight against terror. Turkey’s determined and principled stance in the fight against terrorism will continue to the end,” President Tayyip Erdogan told a lunch for Turkish ambassadors in Ankara.

           — Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]
 

US Working With Iran to Recover US Navy Patrol in Gulf: Official

The United States is working with Iran to recover a group of Navy sailors who lost contact while aboard two small boats in the Gulf, a US official said Tuesday.

“Earlier today, we lost contact with two small US naval craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain,” a senior administration official said.

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

Bangladesh: Some 500 Christians Go on a Hunger Strike Over Seized Church Land (Photos)

An historic pond owned by the St Peter’s Church since 1849 is the bone of contention. Initially used for baptisms, it now serves the community as an important source of drinking water. The government wants to fill it in to build a courthouse. For years, the Christian minority has endured forced evictions.

Barisal (AsiaNews) — More than 500 Christians, mostly Protestants, held a protest on Sunday in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in Barisal, south-central Bangladesh. The demonstration over an historic Church-owned pond saw participants take part in a hunger strike (pictured).

“We organised the demonstration to protest against the government’s decision to construct a building that would fill the pond,” Fr Shanti Mondal, representative of the Church of Bangladesh, told AsiaNews.

The peaceful protest was held on Sunday in front of Ashwini Kumar Hall in Barisal. Several Catholic priests and representatives of various religions were among the demonstrators.

Fr Mondal noted that the pond has belonged to St Peter’s Church since 1849. Initially used for baptisms, it now serves the community as an important source of drinking water.

“This is an historic pond, but local lawyers want to replace it with a ten-storey building. The government has taken this decision even though we have all the legal documents, and regularly pay taxes on the land.”

Protesters formed a human chain and marched through the city, shouting slogans against land seizures. Afterwards, they presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner.

“The Public Works Department filled in a 150-year pond to build the Judicial Magistrate Court in Barisal,” the Christian leader said. “The action is completely illegal.”

“Please, do not offend our religious sentiments,” he pleaded.

For years, Bangladesh’s Christian minority has been subjected to forced land seizures, most of which are carried out with various forms of violence.

Just a few days ago, a Catholic tribal man was torched to death probably in connection with a land feud.

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

Caroline Glick: In Pakistan: They Trust

It is a testament to the precarious state of the world today that in a week that saw North Korea carry out a possible test of a hydrogen bomb, the most frightening statement uttered did not come from Pyongyang.

It came from Pakistan.

Speaking in the military garrison town of Rawalpindi, Pakistani Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif said that any Iranian threat to Saudi Arabia’s territorial integrity will “wipe Iran off the map.”

Sharif made the statement following his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. According to media reports, Salman was the second senior Saudi official to visit Pakistan in the past week amid growing tensions between Iran and the kingdom.

Salman’s trip and Sharif’s nuclear threat make clear that following the US’s all-but-official abandonment of its role as protector of the world’s largest oil producer, the Saudis have cast their lots with nuclear-armed Pakistan…

           — Hat tip: Caroline Glick [Return to headlines]
 

Indonesia: Jakarta: Bribes on Islamic Pilgrimages: Six Years for Former Minister of Religions

Since number of participants is limited, pilgrims can wait up to 10 years to leave for Mecca and must the amount pay in advance to the government. Prosecutors had asked for 11 years for Suryadharma Ali. The politician was also chairman of the moderate Islamic party of the country.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Suryadharma Ali, former Minister for Religious Affairs and leader of the United Development Party (PPP), was sentenced yesterday to six years in prison plus a fine for corruption during his term as minister for having appropriated money for Islamic religious pilgrimages.

Suryadharma Ali was minister in the government of President Yudhoyono (2009-2014). The PPP, of which he was president, is the moderate National Islamic party. The beginning of the political trial dates back to three years ago, when Ali was accused of taking bribes to favor certain candidates for the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Saudi Arabia, which manages the pilgrimage, imposes a maximum annual number of pilgrims from abroad. In Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, the faithful often have to waith up to 10 years before being included on the list. The pilgrimage is organized by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which receives payment for the pilgrimage several years in advance. In addition to receiving bribes, Ali also took some of this money on several occassions.

Prosecutors had asked for 11 years in prison but the Jakarta corruption court (Tipikor) reduced the sentence to six. Ali will also have to pay a fine of 21 thousand dollars and is banned from any political office for five years. Either party may appeal.

In all, the politicians’ corruption cost Jakarta 27 billion rupees (nearly two million dollars) of financial losses.

The population was surprised by the sentencing of the former Minister of Religious Affairs, who should be the defender of morality in the country.

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

Thousands of Hong Kongers Take to the Streets Against “Cross-Border Abductions”

At least 3,500 people marched to the Chinese government’s liaison office to demand the release of five people critical of mainland China, who disappeared in late December. Growing suspicions points the finger at mainland authorities.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Thousands of Hong Kongers took to the city’s streets on Sunday to protest the mysterious disappearance of five publishers and booksellers last year, calling for their immediate release. Allegedly taken by Chinese authorities, the abductees publish and sell books that are often critical of China’s leaders; some of them also hold European passports.

According to Hong Kong police, at the peak of the protest, there were 3,500 protesters who chanted “no to cross-border abductions” and “stop political kidnapping”. Protest organisers, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said there were 6,000.

The march went from the Special Administrative Region’s government offices in the business district of Admiralty to the Chinese government’s liaison office in the western Hong Kong district of Sai Wan.

At the liaison office, protesters tied yellow ribbons — a symbol of the city’s 2014 Occupy movement — around railings in front of the building. A handful of demonstrators, carrying British-era Hong Kong flags and banners shouted “Hong Kong is not China”.

The latest person to go missing, on 30 December 2015, was Lee Bo. A news agency reported that the Causeway Bay Bookshop staff faxed a handwritten note to a colleague in which he says that he was working with police on an important issue.

After filing a missing report with police, his wife withdrew her complaint. Still, Hong Kong police added his name to the list of missing people and went through local CCTV footage to see if mainland agents were involved.

Founded in 1994, the bookshop has been popular with mainland tourists as a source of books banned in the mainland.

In recent years, mainland authorities have thrown several Hong Kong publishers in jail. Yiu Man-tin, who was working on publications dealing with Chinese leaders, received a ten-year prison sentence for smuggling books. Wang Jianmin and Wo Zhongxiao were arrested for illegal businesses.

Lee Bo was the fifth bookshop staff to disappear. The others are Swedish citizen and Mighty Current publishing house owner Gui Minhai, bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei, the publishing house general manager Lui Bo, and publishing house business manager Cheung Jiping. The first was reported missing in Thailand last October; the other three disappeared in November.

In view of the situation, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying recently said that “it is not acceptable if mainland legal agencies enforced law in Hong Kong” and “violate the Basic Law”. However, he also noted that there were no indications of the activity of mainland agencies.

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

Cop Critical and Security Guard Wounded in Sydney Hospital Shooting

Patient held scissors to female doctor’s throat and overpowered police officer before shooting him with his own gun

A police officer and a security guard have been shot after a scuffle broke out when a patient held a pair of scissors to a female doctor’s throat in a Sydney hospital.

A 39-year-old man was threatening the doctor at Nepean Hospital, in Kingswood, a south-west suburb of Sydney, when the police officer, identified by 9News as Senior Constable Luke Warburton, tried to apprehend him and a struggle broke out just before 10.30pm on Tuesday.

The patient was able to grab Snr Const Warburton’s gun during the scuffle and managed to turn the weapon on him and an assisting security guard, shooting them both once in the leg…

           — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes [Return to headlines]
 

UN Says Some of Its Peacekeepers Were Paying 13 Year Olds for Sex

NAIROBI — The United Nations has been grappling with so many sexual abuse allegations involving its peacekeepers that Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon recently called them “a cancer in our system.” Now, officials have learned about what appears to be a fresh scandal. Investigators discovered this month that at least four UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic allegedly paid young girls as little as 50 cents in exchange for sex …

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Germany Sex Assaults: Protesters Say ‘Rapefugees Not Welcome’

Tensions continue to escalate in Germany as reports of mob sex assaults on New Year’s Eve give way to attacks on foreigners and demands for refugees to leave.

Protesters flooded the streets of the east German city of Leipzig on Monday night, blaming the sex assaults on migrants who have entered the country.

Some chanted “Deport them!” while others waved signs demanding refugees be sent home.

“Rapefugees not welcome,” read a banner, which showed a silhouette of a woman running away from a mob.

Another sign read, “Islamists not welcome.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

German Cop Breaks Ranks: We Are Banned From Detaining Migrants

A growing body of evidence suggests German police are hobbled at every possibly opportunity by the Federal government from dealing with the criminal migrant problem, with one officer complaining they have even been banned from preventing suspects escaping custody.

In a brief interview with German mainstream-tabloid Bild, an anonymised member of the state-wide Federal police identified only as 22 year old ‘Bernd’ reveals the extraordinary nature of police work in modern Europe. Deployed to Passau, a small city in south-east Germany on the Austrian border where thousands of migrants come by train and road every month Bernd revealed “95 percent of refugees are single men”.

The officer told the paper the public do not get an accurate idea of what is really happening in the migrant crime wave, because events are mis-reported by police to prevent outrage. He said: “should an asylum seeker cut another’s throat. In the report we would state it was grievous bodily harm rather than attempted murder. It looks better in the statistics”.

Bernd said in the past months, he had only once had cause to book a German citizen. The rest of his arrests and complaints were against migrants, who he said regularly “sexually harassed” women around the local railway station, the first stop in Germany after the railway crosses from Austria.

Most remarkable in the report of Bernd of conditions on the frontier were the crippling orders he was under duty to follow, even if they made his job near impossible: “If a refugee wants to escape our control, we can’t even detain him. This is dictated from above. To do so would be physical violence”…

           — Hat tip: Seneca III [Return to headlines]
 

Italy: Renzi Says Crime of Illegal Immigration is Useless

Premier says regulation will be scrapped when package ready

(ANSA) — Rome, January 12 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday that the crime of illegal immigration was useless while reiterating that decriminalising entering Italy illegally will not be on the agenda of the next cabinet meeting. “The crime of illegal immigration, which serves for nothing, will be scrapped but only when the government has a clear package on issue to make the expulsion process faster,” he told Repubblica TV.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Massive Coverup Exposed in Sweden as Media, Cops Hid Migrant Sex Attacks

What began as a series of reports from women in Cologne who said they were sexually assaulted by men of “Arab and North African origin” on New Year’s Eve has mushroomed into a full blown crisis that threatens to further undermine support for Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy on the way to fomenting social upheaval in Germany.

Anger over the attacks combined with allegations that police mishandled the situation led to a series of protests last week culminating in a 1,700-strong PEGIDA rally in Cologne that ultimately devolved into violent clashes between riot police and furious right-wing demonstrators.

Then, on Sunday, gangs of “bikers, hooligans, and bouncers” attacked a group of Pakistanis in Cologne’s city center after organizing what some are calling “migrant manhunts” on Facebook. The victims of the attacks were hospitalized.

As it turns out, the Cologne attacks were not an isolated incident. Once the story started making international headlines, reports began to trickle in from Austria, Finland, and Switzerland where women reported similar attacks perpetrated by apparent refugees.

But none of this would surprise police in Stockholm.

According to Swedish media, “hordes” of young men harassed and groped young women at a youth festival and concert in central Stockholm’s Kungsträdgården last August.

Those attacks were reported to police who, according to Nyheter Idag?, were willing to talk to prominent daily Dagens Nyheter. Unfortunately for the victims, the paper deliberately covered up the story in an effort to avoid triggering an anti-migrant backlash — or at least that’s what Nyheter Idag alleges. Here are some excerpts from the piece entitled “Exposing Major PC Cover-up in Sweden — Leading Daily Dagens Nyheter Refused to Write About Cologne-like Sex Crimes in Central Stockholm”:…

We encourage you to read the full story from Nyheter Idag, but the long and the short of it seems to be that a major Swedish daily was engaged in a coverup right up until the attacks in Cologne thrust the issue into the spotlight.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

Merkel Under Pressure as Cologne Police Detail Assaults

German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing pressure to harden her line on refugees on Monday as the first extensive police report on New Year’s Eve violence in Cologne documented rampant sexual assaults on women by gangs of young migrant men.

Cologne police said at least 11 foreigners, including Pakistanis, Guineans and Syrians, had been injured on Sunday evening in attacks by hooligans bent on revenge for the assaults in the western city… NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jaeger spoke of “serious failures” by the police, who were significantly outnumbered but never called for reinforcements.

He also criticised them for refusing to communicate in the days after New Year’s Eve that the vast majority of the perpetrators were people with migration backgrounds, blaming this on misguided “political correctness”.

“More than 1,000 Arab and North African men gathered on New Year’s Eve near Cologne cathedral and the main train station. Among them were many refugees that came to Germany in the past months,” Jaeger told a special parliamentary committee in NRW.

“After alcohol and drug excesses came the excesses of violence, peaking with people who carried out fantasies of sexual power.”

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Norway Security Chief Warns of Cultural Dangers of Muslim Diaspora

The head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has warned that the refugee crisis in Europe will lead to rifts in society and the rise of far-right groups, because of the consequences of a large number of refugees coming from Muslim countries.

PST chief Marie Benedicte Bjørnland — who is known to be a plain speaker on such matters — was addressing a security conference in the Swedish ski resort town of Sälen, where the New Years’ Eve assaults in Cologne were discussed.

German authorities are investigating around 500 complaints over sex attacks that took place in Cologne on New Year’s Eve — involving men of Arab or North African appearance.

There was outrage when in emerged that hundreds of women at Cologne rail station has been subjected to a series of sex assaults, molestation, lewd comments and behavior as well as robbery, during chaotic scenes on New Year’s Eve.

In Norway, police are working with their Swedish colleagues as they investigate allegations about a string of sexual attacks carried out by Afghan refugees at a Stockholm music festival, which some say have been covered up by the authorities.

“A strong increase in immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, can cause other long-term challenges. When a large number of asylum seekers come to a local community, it can have unfortunate consequences,” Bjørnland told delegates.

“One cannot take for granted that new population groups will automatically adapt the norms and rules of the Norwegian society,” she added.

Sex Lessons

Bjørnland went on to tell broadcaster TV2 that accepting large numbers of foreigners can lead to violent clashes and the growth of far-right extremist groups.

“If in the long term, you see a growth of parallel societies, radicalization and extremist environments, then we will have challenges as a security agency,” she said.

Norway runs courses for male refugees about Norwegian sexual norms and laws, to help them adapt to a country where women have greater freedoms, wear fewer clothes and walk alone in public. The course explains that some sexual practices deemed ‘honorable’ in some Middle East and North African countries are not acceptable in the West. The course manual states:

“To force someone into sex is not permitted in Norway, even when you are married to that person.”

Norway has also kept strict control over migrants reaching its borders, deporting 7825 people out of the country in 2015, an all-time record.

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

Now Even Merkel Admits European Refugee Crisis is ‘Out of Control’

Thousands take to the streets of Germany shouting ‘take your Muslims with you’ after mob sex attacks

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has admitted Europe is ‘vulnerable’ because it does not have the ‘order or control’ it would like regarding the refugee crisis.

Merkel said yesterday at an event in Mainz, near Frankfurt, that Europe was ‘vulnerable’ in the refugee crisis because it was not yet in control of the situation to the extent that it would like to be.

She said: ‘Now all of a sudden we are facing the challenge that refugees are coming to Europe and we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control, that we would like to have.’

She also said the euro was ‘directly linked’ to freedom of movement in Europe, adding: ‘Nobody should act as though you can have a common currency without being able to cross borders reasonably easily.’

Merkel said that if countries did not allow their borders to be crossed without much difficulty, the European single market would ‘suffer acutely’ — meaning that Germany, at the centre of the European Union and its largest economy, should fight to defend freedom of movement…

           — Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]
 

Now Germany Offers Refugees Sex Equality Classes as More Shocking Rape Claims Emerge

A teenage girl was surrounded and attacked in a swimming pool in the latest of a series shocking sex assaults emerging from Germany.

Police said they have detained migrants in three more cases — one of which was traced to an asylum centre.

It comes as legal programmes have been launched for migrants, addressing areas of sexual equality and freedom of speech.

The classes, launched in Bavaria, are voluntary, and officials say they were planned before widespread assaults on women were revealed.

Tensions in the country are at breaking point as protests and counter-protests over the New Year’s Eve attacks in Cologne spark riots.

Yesterday, a masked group of 200 barricaded buildings and smashed shop windows as they demanded action from authorities in the city of Leipzig.

And vigilante groups have attacked foreign migrants as ‘revenge’ for the sex assaults.

Three teenagers aged 15 from Syria have been arrested for rape after a 17-year-old girl was attacked in a public swimming pool in Munich on Saturday.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Opinion: Cologne Attacks on Muslims Show Incompatibility of Cultures

As a Pakistani journalist working in Germany, I have been very skeptical about the German government’s decision to allow thousands of refugees into the country without much scrutiny of their backgrounds.

Of course, I am empathetic towards the plight of the people who are fleeing war-torn countries like Syria, who are facing immense oppression and violence at the hands of Islamic militants as well as President Bashar Assad. I understand their woes, the pain of losing their loved ones, their homes and livelihoods in a civil war that continues to ravage the once peaceful country.

But at the same time, I was sure that the migrants’ influx would ultimately disturb the harmony and balance of German society. I feel that Islamic culture and European norms are not compatible.

Most Germans have responded to the refugee crisis with exemplary humanism. My European friends got angry when I warned them against Chancellor Merkel’s migrant-friendly policy. I found it very naïve that many Germans believed that all Middle Eastern and South Asian refugees would conform to their way of life and values. I told my friends that their understanding of the Muslim world was limited and flawed. They didn’t pay much attention to my arguments.

My worst fears came true when hundreds of young men allegedly from Middle Eastern and North African countries sexually assaulted German women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve. Many say it was a pre-planned attack, as the Muslim men groped and touched the women’s private parts shamelessly. And now the Germans are finally debating whether it was a good idea to be so open to embracing people from alien cultures.

I am a person from a Muslim background who has been living in Germany for many years, and have always been treated with respect and humility. I have always felt safer in Germany than in Pakistan. I have many German friends and I never felt alienated in the society.

But the New Year’s Eve assault made me realize that I, too, in a way feel responsible for the heinous act: What happened in Cologne happens regularly in my homeland, Pakistan. The men are never ashamed, never feel guilty, never show remorse about the way they treat women in that part of the world.

The men who sexually harassed girls in Cologne were not demented; they knew what they were doing. And I am sure they did it with absolute contempt for the European culture, its norms and its people.

           — Hat tip: Nick [Return to headlines]
 

Police Bust Organisers of Sham Weddings for Italy Permits

Several raids carried out as part of investigation

(ANSA) — Rome, January 12 — Police have busted a group of 13 Italians and five foreigners who they suspect of setting up a system to help migrants enter Italy permanently by organising sham weddings with Italian citizens for payment.

Police in Rome took precautionary measures against the 18 people and carried out several raids as part of the investigation.

The probe revealed that the group, led by two Syrians, would organise the weddings abroad in countries including Egypt, and then have them legalised in Italy so that residence permits could be obtained. In return they asked for as much as 10,000 euros.

Investigators also found that the people who recruited “fake” wives were also involved in drug dealing along the coast between Pomezia and Rome. Police confiscated 11 kg of marijuana and 2 kg of hash on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

Sexual Terrorism: All the Perfumes of Eurabia Won’t Sweeten the Sharia Stench of Cologne

by Andrew G. Bostom

Ivan Jurcevic, till his New Year’s eve 12/31/15 eyewitness epiphany, deemed Muslim rampages in Europe the stuff of “right wing PEGIDA [a grass roots European anti-Islamization advocacy group] propaganda videos.”

But that evening Jurcevic, a Cologne, Germany hotel club bouncer, witnessed barbaric scenes of sexual assault against women, a hemorrhagic stab wounding, attacks on police, and other acts of violence, committed directly in front of Cologne’s iconic cathedral, the Kölner Dom. All the mayhem Jurcevic observed was perpetrated by roving throngs of Muslim males, whom he noted caustically, were from among those ostensible “refugees” that “we welcomed just 3-months ago with teddy bears and water bottles on the main Munich railway station.”

Intrepid, yeoman reporting by Breitbart London—as even acknowledged in a Times of London op-ed—exposed the scope and brutality of these Muslim immigrant-perpetrated events, which were initially suppressed by German, and other Western European governmental sources, and their simpatico, cultural relativist lapdog media.

Consistent with bowdlerized reportage on commonplace, heinous acts of misogyny rampant in Muslim societies—notably, female genital mutilation, or the Islamic State’s practice of jihad sexual slavery—the canonical Islamic roots of such predatory behavior [see also Koran 2:223 which designates women as “tilth” sexual objects for Muslim men, “when or how you (men]) will”] were of course ignored in mainstream media outlets belatedly acknowledging the mass acts of sexual assault committed New Year’s Eve by Muslim males in Cologne, and elsewhere across Western Europe.

This predictable lacune in mainstream media reporting is compounded by the universal failure—of all media outlets—to comprehend that the shocking events which transpired New Year’s Eve are merely symptomatic of a decades long Islamization process, the “fulfilment” of the dystopian ideal of “Eurabia” — From Europe to Eurabia (as analyzed, primarily, in my book, “Sharia Versus Freedom”)…

           — Hat tip: Andy Bostom [Return to headlines]
 

Terre Des Hommes to Relaunch Migrant Mental Support Work

Says to carry on work at centre that MSF withdrew from

(ANSA) — Catania, January 12 — The Terre des Hommes children’s rights NGO is set to relaunch a psychological support programme for young people in migrant reception centres this week.

The Ngo’s Faro or “Lighthouse” programme is starting up again in centres including the CPSA in Pozzallo, near Ragusa in Sicily, which fellow NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) pulled out of at the end of last year, saying that lack of services and overcrowding were obstructing its work.

Federica Giannotta from Terre des Hommes said her NGO understood MSF’s reasons for leaving but that they had decided to prioritise the “interest and needs of hundreds of minors who pass through this centre”.

She said the young people at the centre were “highly vulnerable” and would be left without a useful and firm point of reference if Terre des Hommes withdrew its support.

“In such a delicate context we believe it is important to be able to offer psychological support, orientation and a qualified listener that helps young migrants to not lose hope, control and strength,” she said.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]
 

New York’s “Pronoun” Law Defies Science and Ignores Logic

The discrimination laws of New York have now been updated to impose a whopping $125,000 fine for using the wrong pronoun to describe a transgendered person. Willfully calling a former male “he” can get you a hefty $250,000 fine in the city that has long since gone to sleep.

It is a law that begs to be tested and the NYC Commission on Human Rights and Mayor De Blasio will no doubt see this social engineering nightmare coming under scrutiny when and if the nation leans back toward conservatism following the 2016 elections.

In the interim, we see that the psychiatric professionals who once declared homosexuality as a mental disorder have completely changed their minds. LGBT along with its array of various extended acronyms has successfully curbed any counseling to deal with homosexual tendencies on a state by state basis.

The Constitution has been trashed on free speech about homosexual and transgendered people, not by what it says, but curiously by what it does not say. If the framers failed to mention it — it must be perfectly OK! Intentions have been lost to liberal inventions, but along with that specious victory the truth has been battered and left for dead…

It is science that says no matter what pronoun you use or how many hormones you take, or even what mind set you adopt — when your DNA is tested it will tell no lies. Clothing, makeup, haircuts, hormones and mind sets cannot change the outcome of anyone’s DNA testing. If you were born a man, DNA will not lie for you — it cannot.

The question that begs to be asked is this; if science has dispelled the myth of religion, why don’t we believe it when it addresses the matter of transgenderism? True empiricism cannot be charged with hypocrisy, but we can, and the indictment against us is forthwith.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]
 

18 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/12/2016

  1. What did the mayor of Leipzig think would happen when you welcome in hordes of undesirable savages and let them run amok?

    It’s blow back and will only get worse from here on out as the government refuses to deal with the savages and serves only to further de-legitimize the government and it’s representatives.

  2. RE: The Ted Cruz “Constitutional Convention” Article.

    A Convention of THE STATES, is completely different than a Constitutional Convention.

    A Convention of the States was included in the Constitution as an option for the people to fight back against the Federal government when it begins to ignore the Constitutional limits placed on Federal power.

    We are already miles past that point of Federal over-reach and tyranny. A CONVENTION OF THE STATES is the best option, if we can get it done before complete anarchy sets in.

  3. Poland frozen out of Eurovision Song Contest?

    “Behave, Poland. Or you’ll be kicked out of Eurovision!
    European Broadcasting Union monitoring
    controversial changes to Polish media laws”

    Poland being one of the independent thinking countries refusing to march to the beat of the EU Janissaries!

  4. I doubt that anyone is that stupid. That sounds like Kristallnacht in smaller format.
    Cui bono.

  5. Welfare Asylum seekers to return to Russia on bikes
    – Migrants to return by bus, think Norwegian authorities
    – Njet, says Russia

    “Refugees” from Arctic Russia to Norway on bikes in 2015

    This is how they left Russia. This is how they return, on bikes, says Russia.

    • The story appears to suggest that this “hero” was part of the thuggish group who took part in premeditated attacks upon INNOCENT people of non-white appearance, & went on a rampage smashing up shop windows.

      “Hero” really?

      Two wrongs do not make a right.

  6. There once was a United States that was never messed with. It’s policy was all US citizens will be defended anywhere in the world. It started with the Tripoli pirates and ended during the Carter Administration. The current actions of this administration are tantamount to impeachable for failing to protect and defend the very people who are tasked with protecting and defending. By his actions our current POTUS is a closet Muslim. The entire administration and most of Congress are empty suits. We are in very bad shape, and when someone tells the truth, they are persecuted with all the force available in the MSM and the Executive Branch. I won’t live to see the denouement, but my children and grandson will. I do feel sorry for them.

    • Sounds like “Pax Romana”, Bill. The US pre-Carter enabled, or propped up, some militaristic and other unpleasant regimes (eg Pinochet) in the name of fighting communism. I doubt whether the inhabitants of the countries affected could tell which was worse.

    • If you think that armed men have a right to go anywhere & whenever they please, bullying others as if it is their own country, then it is obvious why this smarts.

      But if people genuinely try to respect one another as equals, then a non-violent, but assertive end to the potential casus belli is a welcome note to 2016.

      Who needs another excuse for tribal war in that region, or the world.

      • “..If you think that armed men have a right to go anywhere & whenever they please, bullying others as if it is their own country, then it is obvious why this smarts. ..”

        Just to clarify things, you’re referring to recent moslem EU illegal entrants here?

        “..But if people genuinely try to respect one another as equals, then a non-violent, but assertive end to the potential casus belli is a welcome note to 2016…”

        Yes, nice thought. IF ONLY….

        Meanwhile, in the real world where virtually zero non-muslims go around creating havoc all over the world by trying to blow civilians to bits for a crazy cultish arab-supremacist pseudo religion ……

  7. Re: “EU Parliament Head accuses Poland of ‘Putinisation’ “. Well, much as I admire Poland’s stance against Islamisation, the Polish government is subverting the rule of law, and especially free media.

      • I am sure that most Britons prefer to live in Britain than in Poland, though I am not familiar with many Polish people to gather any kind of anecdotal impression.

    • There are no free media left in west Europe. I have lived under communism, and while the propaganda there was much worse, and much clumsier, the basic distortions are now similar. When I read in the German Luegenpresse that I am ‘anti-europaeisch’ because I do not support the EU, I read a barefaced lie. I have spent many years living in western Europe, because I like it and its peoples, and because it is ultimately my home. This kind of lying was typical of the Eastern Bloc, and it is now typical of Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and even Britain, where there is at least some loud eurosceptic voices.

      • European – “anti-europäisch”

        Europe and Europe are two different things
        1) Europe is Europe, and the European peoples
        2) The anti-Europeans mean the EU and all its PC ideology when they say Europe, and European, Europäisch.

        The anti-Europeans mean the Europeans when they say they are “anti-europäish”. Why? Because the Europeans do not agree with the anti-Europeans and their anti-European PC ideology! And they, the Europeans, do not like their Lügenpresse which is the same all over Europe.

        lügen – lie
        the lying press, press of lies

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