When the owner of a petting zoo in the Netherlands discovered that a group of Muslims had taken over its public space for prayers, he ejected them from the premises, prompting accusations of “Islamophobia”. There’s no word on whether the men in the group availed themselves of the zoo animals for carnal relations.
Speaking of farm animals, a Scottish mine worker in Kyrgyzstan got himself in trouble for ridiculing the country’s national dish. Michael McFeat posted a photo on Facebook of diners queuing for “chuchuk”, a horsemeat sausage, and the photo’s caption compared the culinary delicacy to the masculine equipment of a stallion. The other mine workers were so angry they called a strike, and Mr. McFeat was arrested.
In other news, Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with Iran after its embassy in Tehran was sacked for the Saudi execution of the Shi’ite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, KGS, MC, Upananda Brahmachari, 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.
(NaturalNews) If the founding fathers were to return to their progeny somehow, they would find an unrecognizable country.
Some of the changes implemented since they fought a successful rebellion against the world’s preeminent military power of the day would likely be applauded by them: Women’s suffrage and legal equality among the ethnic groups just two of them.
But the size and scope and raw power of the federal government would undoubtedly shock them and offend their consciences, especially the tremendous amount of private property confiscated from American citizens by Washington every year in the form of confiscatory taxation. And then, too, the expensive, authoritarian manner in which the government compels Americans to conform with its mandates, like them or not.
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote, as quoted by Breitbart News’ John Hayward, who continued:…
As noted in a recently released report, The Department of Self-Promotion: How Federal Agency PR Spending Advances Their Interests Rather Than the Public Interest, from OpenTheBooks.com, Uncle Sam has a massive operation.
“Taxpayers might be surprised to know that the federal government is the second-largest public relations firm in the world,” OpenTheBooks.com founder and report author Adam Andrzejewski noted. “Our nation’s 3,092 federal public affairs officers have perfected the art of advancing an agency’s interests — often for more dollars and higher salaries — ahead of the public interest.”
The report contains a plethora of examples cited from government financial reports for the period of 2007—2014. As Hayward wrote, “If civics classes ever get around to teaching the vitally important lesson that government itself is the biggest, baddest ‘special interest’ in America, Andrzejewski’s work can serve as one of their textbooks.”
There are 10 specifics gleaned from the report:
1. During the period of time studied, the federal government spent $4.34 billion on public relations, a not-so-small fortune.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Armed Protesters at National Wildlife Refuge Say Government Force Would Risk Lives
Armed protesters occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon—including three sons of a Nevada rancher who battled with the government in 2014—warned Sunday that any use of force by law enforcement agencies would be “putting lives at risk.”
Hours into the occupation by activists and militiamen a spokesman for the group told reporters that there has been no contact with the FBI or other government law enforcement since the occupation began Saturday night.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking: Bundy Family Reportedly Joins Militia in Occupation of Federal Building
Occupation appears headed for confrontation with Harney County Sheriff’s Office and FBI
The Oregonian reports the Bundy family has joined “hard-core militiamen” in the occupation of the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 50 miles southeast of Burns, Oregon.
“The facility has been the tool to do all the tyranny that has been placed upon the Hammonds,” Ammon Bundy said. According to the Oregonian, Bundy has called patriots from across the country to join them at the remote refuge.
The occupation is in response to prosecution of two Harney County ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and Steven Hammond, who were convicted of arson under a provision of a wide-ranging federal anti-terrorism law, according to the newspaper.
The feds decided to prosecute the Hammonds, who own about 12,000 acres in the Diamond-Frenchglen area of Oregon, after they used fire as a tool to combat invasive plant species on their ranch. The government accused the ranchers of allowing the fire to spread to federally owned land.
[Comment: Basically, using a controlled fire as a clearing procedure for their own land.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ross Douthat
EVERY New Year’s, in a spirit of self-examination, I try to catalog my worst blunders from the preceding year. But this year, like almost every pundit in America, I have one mistake that overshadows all the others, one confession that makes my other faults seem venial by comparison.
I underestimated Donald Trump.
To really make a clean breast on this issue, I have to reach back earlier than 2015 (some forecasts take more than a year to be disproven), to a column I wrote in the far-off days of the 2012 campaign, when Mitt Romney flew to Vegas, baby, to accept an endorsement from the Donald.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Donald Trump Accuses Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton of Creating Daesh
US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump accused his key Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and US President Barack Obama of creating Daesh during his campaign speech on Saturday night.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The real-estate tycoon claimed he had predicted the rise of Daesh in the Middle East, citing his calls on the Obama administration to target the group’s oil assets in the militant-controlled territories.
“They have a bunch of dishonest people. They’ve created ISIS [Daesh]. Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama,” Trump announced to a cheering croud in Biloxi, Mississippi.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Inland Regional Center Reopening With Heightened Security, One Month After San Bernardino Attack
The Inland Regional Center complex in San Bernardino will reopen Monday with heightened security for the first time since a mass shooting there last month that left 14 people dead.
The regional center’s 600 employees coordinate services for more than 30,000 clients with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The campus includes two office buildings and a conference center that frequently hosted events for other organizations…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Mysterious Establishment Millionaire Behind Anti-Trump Messages in the Sky at Rose Bowl Parade
A pro-GOP-establishment Alabama real-estate developer and millionaire is behind the anti-Donald Trump sky-writing at the New Year’s Day Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California, Breitbart News can reveal.
The skywriting printed out huge anti-Trump messages in the clear Southern California sky.
“America is great. Trump is disgusting.”
Five planes reportedly sketched out the lengthy message in the sky during the parade, suggesting an expensive investment.
The WeThePeople Foundation was founded on December 29, 2015, according to an FEC filing first uncovered here by Breitbart News. The listing names Luther Stan Pate, IV as the custodian. Pate, a 52-year-old millionaire in Alabama has spent millions on political campaigns.
[Comment: Establishment-GOPers aresame as Democrats.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Push for Convention to Amend Constitution Energized by Rubio Backing
Marco Rubio is getting behind a state-based effort to amend the Constitution with term limits and other restrictions on the federal government — energizing the movement as the Republican presidential candidates try to woo Tea Party-aligned voters.
The Florida senator joins a handful of other GOP candidates in backing the push, an against-the-odds campaign being waged by conservative advocacy groups and state lawmakers.
[Comment: Con-Con is a trojan horse. Once it begins, anything goes. The entire Constituion will be thrown out and the New Constitution (already written and waiting in the wings — just like Obamacare was already written beforehand.) implemented. America does not need a new Constitution, only need to ENFORCE the existing Constitution. Tthe key is the State creation of the Consitutional Militia (not the National Guard or other private militias.) ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Governor Challenges Obama on Gun Control: ‘Come and Take it’
Governor invokes revolutionary battle cry in defense of Texans’ Second Amendment rights
On New Year’s Day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott had a strong message for President Obama regarding his upcoming plan to unilaterally enact gun control legislation: “Come and take it.”
“Obama wants to impose more gun control,” Abbott tweeted Friday. “My response? COME & TAKE IT.”
The Republican governor’s statement comes amid announcements the Obama administration will act later this month to impose stricter rules on the selling and purchase of firearms.
The president will meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch Monday to discuss what actions can be taken to circumvent the Second Amendment without congressional authorization, the Washington Post reports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
That Explains a Lot: Hillary Reveals Vodka Competition With John McCain
US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has revealed the details of a drinking competition she had with fellow senator John McCain.
Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has revealed that she and John McCain held a competition to see who could drink the most vodka, which she considers to have ended in a tie.
When asked, “Have you ever won a drinking competition?” Clinton replied that Republican Senator John McCain had challenged her to one when they were part of the same congressional delegation.
“We have our political differences but we sat there drinking vodka, until we both, I think, agreed to withdraw in honourable fashion, having reached the limits that either of us should have had.”
“I consider it a tie, yes,” said Hillary, who holds a clear lead over second-placed Bernie Sanders in opinion polls that predict the winner of the Democratic presidential nomination for the White House in 2016.
Republican Senator John McCain was the Republican presidential nominee in the 2008 presidential election, but lost to Barack Obama.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The Importance of the Next Presidential Election
America is coming to a point in the road where we will have to either go down that road and end up on the trash heap of history the same as the USSR or we will take a stand and revert back to the nation our Founders designed and return to capitalism that is the only foundation for a prosperous and strong nation. This was proved beyond a doubt from the founding of America until even today. No nation has prospered like America and given more freedom to its people than America. But we are losing both at an exponential rate because we are allowing the philosophy of socialism and secular humanism.
The Democrats, ever since the Kennedy administration, have taken a road that is leading us to the same destination that the USSR ended up at, national bankruptcy. The Obama administration has accelerated this journey exponentially in the last seven years. As of January of 2015 we have seen a major downward trend in America’s economy and status in the world. It has all been because of the economic policies of the Democrats. Many say that we need to get back to Clintons economic policies, which he takes all the credit for, but what not many people know is those policies were not his, they were the policies of the Republican controlled Congress and he vetoed them twice before he finally signed them. Sadly to say the Democrats have not had anyone with common sense in economics since JFK.
Since Obama has taken office we have seen 6.5 million people quit the work force. This is how Obama claims the unemployment is down. These people still are not employed but they have given up looking for jobs any more so they are no longer counted as unemployed. The federal debt is up 55%! He said he would reduce it but he has spent more than all 43 Presidents before him. The cost of gas is up 79%. He claims that America’s oil production is up because of his policies but they are only up because of the private sector which he can’t control. Oil production on federal lands, which are resources that belong to the American people not the federal government, is down about 40% at the requirement of Obama. The number of Americans in poverty has risen 23% under Obama, food stamp recipients have increased an unbelievable 46%! These are not figures that show a strong economy nor do they show leadership. They are figures that point to an abject failure on this administration’s ability to understand the workings of a nation economy. This is what happens when we elect a person that has never had to work a day in his life, never ran a business, and never had to make a payroll. He only has 6% of his cabinet that have ever run a business. Reagan’s cabinet had 63% of successful businessmen.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
On January 3 Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump used a Facebook post to call out Hillary Clinton’s hypocrisy in telling the American people that guns “don’t keep you safe” while simultaneously surrounding herself with “heavily armed bodyguards.”
On December 19 Breitbart News reported that Clinton reacted to the surge in gun sales that followed the San Bernardino terror attack by saying, “Guns, in and of themselves…will not make Americans safer.” She then listed the number of gun-related deaths each year in a way that appeared to suggest guns actually make America less safe.
On January 3 Trump responded with: “Hillary said that guns don’t keep you safe. If she really believes that she should demand that her heavily armed bodyguards quickly disarm!”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Brushes Off Islamic Militant Group’s Recruiting Video That Cites His Words
Donald Trump won’t be dissuaded from saying what he thinks simply because Islamic extremists use his words to recruit Muslims to their cause.
The Republican presidential contender brushed off the appearance of an African militant group’s video to recruit Americans that shows him calling for Muslims to be banned from coming to the U.S.
On Sunday news shows, Trump said it’s no surprise America’s enemies would exploit comments of a presidential front-runner like himself.
“The world is talking about what I’ve said,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview taped Friday. “And now, big parts of the world are saying, Trump is really right, at least identifying what’s going on. And we have to solve it. But you’re not going to solve the problem unless you identify it.”
The 51-minute video is by al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s East Africa affiliate, and showed up Friday on Twitter.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
As I think back over the past year — the past 7 years, to be more precise — we have lost the most important commodity possible: Truth.
Veritas. Truth. It’s been missing in action for a long time.
One symptom of lost truth is what Republican Presidential candidates refer to as “political correctness.” The only reason political correctness exists is so people can avoid truth. It is why we have no meaningful laws in our courtrooms. It is behind much of the post traumatic stress suffered by so many of our soldiers. They have no idea about government corruption until they serve their country and find the government cares more about the lives of the enemy than its own warriors and veterans.
A few months ago, I wrote an article stating the political establishment has no idea how badly it had damaged America by making it apparent the government cannot be trusted to act in the public, rather than the political, interest. The anger we see towards the political establishment in the current election is a mere reflection of that anger — and it is only the tip of an iceberg.
Political correctness has brought the American public to the brink of revolt (which is a bad idea… the other side controls all of the weapons of war). The loss of truth has caused a social upheaval that has wreaked havoc in the hearts of people worldwide and does harm far beyond our shores. What is political correctness if not accepting as truth various opinions your common sense tells you are not true? That is what Donald Trump (University of Pennsylvania) sees so clearly and what he very capably tells the American public. He has common sense and a lack of fear of the crowd from Yale… the skull and bonesmen…
Does listening to truth-based common sense make you a racist or a homophone or a religious zealot? No. There is nothing racist or homophobic or religious about the truth and that is the greatest lesson we should all learn from 2015.
Is political correctness everyone else’s fault? No. It is the fault of people who are afraid of being thought racist or homophobic or religious fanatics. When your common sense tells you that you are not a homophobe, stand up at your next school board meeting and object to teachers who want your third graders to be told how wonderful the homosexual lifestyle is. Those who think you are homophobic or anti-religious or racist in the obvious face of opposing logic are the ones with a problem, not you. Do your research and object on reasons of common sense, not opinion.
Here are some things you need to keep in mind about truth (which is merely a set of facts that provides evidence of the existence of truth):
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Tuna Fleet Shut Out of Lucrative Pacific Region
The US tuna fleet has been blocked from fishing in the lucrative western Pacific for the first time in three decades as a conflict over fees remains unresolved.
The US Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has told all US vessels they are prohibited from fishing in the region from January 1 until new licences are issued.
Nearly 40 US vessels usually work in the region and are estimated to catch US$300-$400 million worth of tuna annually.
Mike Tosatto, Honolulu director of the NMFS confirmed Friday he had written to tuna fleet operators to get out of the water by New Year’s Day if the agreement to pay was not honoured…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Extends Lives of Ageing Nuclear Reactors
Belgium agreed to extend the life of two ageing nuclear reactors for another decade under a hard-won deal to preserve jobs and invest in the transition to cleaner energy.
The 40-year-old reactors Doel 1 and Doel 2 in northern Belgium will now stay open until 2025 under a deal agreed late Monday with power utility Electrabel that ended years of battling that threatened the country with power blackouts.
“We are determined to write a new page,” Gerard Mestrallet, the head of Engie, Electrabel’s French parent company, told a press conference Tuesday following tough negotiations over how much Electrabel would invest and pay in taxes.
The reactors’ new lease on life will launch a “dynamic to make Belgium a showroom for energy transition,” he added…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Charlie Hebdo: What Next for Magazine One Year After Attack?
A year on from the Charlie Hebdo attack, the satirical magazine’s circulation has risen tenfold but surviving staff are haunted by trauma, plagued by death threats and divided by internal squabbles.
A million copies of a special issue will be printed this week to mark the anniversary of the attack by Islamist gunmen who slaughtered 12 people. It features cartoons by some of those killed, new material by current staff and messages of support for the provocative Left-wing weekly with a long history of mocking religions, especially Islam.
The killings last January made Charlie Hebdo a household name. The weekly that used to scrape by with sales of less than 30,000 now has more than 180,000 subscribers and distributes another 100,000 copies to newsagents, in addition to 10,000 sold outside France.
But the inflow of money has caused internal squabbles.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commissioner Warns Poland on New Media Law: Report
EU Commissioner Gunther Oettinger on Sunday threatened to put Poland on notice for infringing on common European values by passing legislation giving the government control of the state media.
The move would start a series of steps that, if the law remains in place, could eventually see Warsaw lose its voting rights at the European Council, the organisation that groups the leaders of all 28 EU nations.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, Oettinger, who is commissioner for the digital economy and society, warned: “Many reasons exist for us to activate the ‘Rule of Law mechanism’ and for us to place Warsaw under monitoring.”
His remarks come after Poland’s conservative government on Wednesday took control of state media after new legislation was passed giving it the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters, despite EU concern and condemnation from rights watchdogs…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Statists Seek to Even Further Rig the Electoral System to Favor Themselves
Forget about primaries, they want closed lists as well.
[…]
The closed list system allows parties to determine the order of their candidates in advance, asking voters to select a party slate to vote for without having any input into which candidates within the list might make it through.
Finland could be set to change the electoral system, moving from a candidate-based election to a closed list system where parties have more power to decide who gets elected. The debate was prompted by a new tier of regional government to be introduced—and elected—as part of a reform of health and social care.
Elections to a new regional body set to be introduced as part of a health and social care reform could force a shake-up in Finland’s electoral system. The Justice Ministry has produced a background document on electoral systems that has been sent to parties for comments.
At present municipal and parliamentary elections are candidate-based, where people cast their votes for a candidate first and foremost. The candidates are ranked within their party list based on the number of votes they receive, and seats are distributed based on the total support received by the party or list.
The closed list system allows parties to determine the order of their candidates in advance, asking voters to select a party slate to vote for without having any input into which candidates within the list might make it through.
With new bodies set to be created and elected to implement the social and health care reform, the current government is taking the opportunity to look at all Finnish elections with fresh eyes…
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
France Attacker Wanted to Become a ‘Martyr’
A 29-year-old man who tried to run down soldiers guarding a French mosque said he wanted to kill them and be killed himself “to appear like a martyr,” a prosecutor said on Saturday.
Investigators also found “jihadist propaganda images” on a computer at the man’s home, and the assailant reportedly said the words “Allah is great” during the attack, prosecutor Alex Perrin said.
The jihadist images that were discovered however “can be accessed by anyone using the Internet,” Perrin told AFP, refusing to give further details.
The official also stressed that the individual seemed confused and said a terror link can be ruled out for now.
The motivation for the attack remains unclear and there is no indication the suspect was a member of any terror organization, Perrin told journalists.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany — Qatar: German Cardinal Calls for Boycott of Qatar World Cup Over Human Rights Violations
The Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Woelki, appeals for sporting event to be moved to a different country. Too many violations of human rights, exploitation and deaths on construction sites. In two years, at least 500 migrant workers attracted from India on “false promises” have died.
Since FIFA — in 2010 — chose Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, the country has been embroiled in cases of corruption and controversy over the continuing human rights violations on its building sites. In 2012 alone, the Qatari Ministry of Labour received over 6 thousand complaints from individuals or groups of migrant workers.
The majority of the complaints relates to cases of exploitation, delayed payment of wages, salaries that do not correspond to what was agreed, but also threats, cases of violence and deaths due to poor workplace safety.
Between 2012 and 2014, about 500 migrants from India died on building sites and the total count of the victims could be at least 1200.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-COSEA Member Says She Will Go to Jail for Vatican Leak
‘I’ll give birth and write a book there’, Chaouqui says
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — A former member of a commission on the Holy See’s economic-administrative structure has said she has given up and expects to go to jail for leaking Vatican documents. “I will be sentenced,” public relations specialist Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui wrote on Facebook. “I am innocent but I will be found guilty.” The Commission for Reference on the Organization of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA) was set up by Pope Francis in July 2013 to help put the Holy See’s finances in order. Chaouqui as well as Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda and his administrative cleric have been charged with leaking documents to journalists that showed corruption and questionable financial practices in the Vatican. “There is no chance that the Vatican court, after arresting me and setting in motion a trial that was to have been over in a few days and is instead lasting for months, and after this matter has made headlines across the world, will simply say ‘we were wrong’ and ‘we put an innocent person behind bars’,” she added. “Thus, I will be sentenced. Without any proof or reason. I will pay for having obeyed the pope and not listening to those who said that ‘the pope leaves while the Curia stays’. I will go to jail. I have renounced any appeal and I have not asked for a pardon. The court that sentences me will have to take on the responsibility for implementing the punishment. And I know it will do so. Otherwise it will lose its already compromised credibility. I will go to jail and I think it will be in April, immediately after Easter. I will spend a year and a half in jail and I will give birth there. There is no other way”.
She said that she would use the time in jail to write a book “on my story”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Police to Continue Using Finmeccanica’s Tetra System
Secure communications deal with interior ministry
(ANSA) — Rome, December 31 — Italian defence and aerospace giant Finmeccanica on Thursday signed a contract with the interior ministry for the continuation of the Tetra PIT program for secure police communications.
The program will provide security forces with a “mission-critical national mobile radio service”, Finmeccanica said.
The contract, a company statement said, “will provide police forces with greater technological and operative homogeneity, in line with the government’s investment policies in the security and counterterrorism sector”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mont Blanc Avalanche in France Kills Two Lithuanian Climbers
An avalanche near Mont Blanc in the French Alps has killed two Lithuanian climbers after heavy snowfall. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in the Alps and among the world’s most dangerous.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Anti-Semitic Vandals Attack Jewish Home
The home of a Jewish family in Amsterdam became the target of an anti-Semitic attack this past weekend.
According to Dutch media reports, during the New Year festivities held in Amsterdam, a number of local youth began rioting and sought to release their anger on Jews.
While shouting “Jews Cancer” and “liberate Palestine,” they kicked down the door and broke windows of the house where a Jewish family resides, causing extensive damage.
Local police were called to the scene and began searching for the offenders, using footage from a nearby security camera.
The Jewish community in Amsterdam said that “this event brings us back to those times Jews were afraid to go out into the streets, the police must do all they can so the Jewish population can live without fear.”
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: Muslim Family Kicked Out of Petting Zoo After Owner Sees What They’re Doing
Customers at a petting zoo had an “unpleasant experience” after a family of Muslims made their presence known.
When a Muslim family arrived at a petting zoo, customers began to feel uncomfortable after seeing what they were doing in front of their children. Bucking political correctness, the owner immediately threw the family out of the zoo — but that didn’t stop the Muslims from immediately screeching “Islamophobia.”
Huub van Leijsen is the proud owner of the Pukkemuk petting zoo in Dongen, Netherlands. He has worked hard to keep his business child-oriented and fun for the whole family. However, all that changed when an Islamic family showed up last week and shocked the crowd with their antics.
The NL Times reports that Huub noticed children looking “anxious” in an open area of the zoo just one hour after Muslim customers arrived. When he made his way through the crowd to get a closer look, it was just as he expected.
“I tried to explain that Pukkemuk is not a house of prayer, but a playground for children. Children have the leading role and I do everything I can to make things go their way as much as possible,” he said in a statement.
Owner Huub van Leijsen denies that he told the family to leave, but admits that customers were upset over the Muslims’ actions.
Three burqa-clad women, three Muslim men, and eleven children had taken over the area for prayer. Faces to the ground and rears in the air, the entire family had disrupted the other families’ experience.
Hoping to salvage the patronage from his other customers, Huub allegedly asked the Muslim family to leave because of their discourteous interruption. Of course, the patron of the family, Bilal Salam, immediately cried “Islamophobia,” accusing Huub of hating Muslims…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Over 800 Cars Set Ablaze in France on New Year’s Eve
A total of 804 vehicles were set aflame in all of France on New Year’s Eve, a 14.5 per cent decrease from the previous year, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Twitter Friday.
The 2014-2015 celebrations saw 940 cars burned.
Burning automobiles as a way to ring in the new year has grown into a trend in recent years, with mostly young men using it as a form of protest.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Revival of “The Little Prince”
“The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is one of the world’s bestselling books. Seventy-two years after it was first published the beloved story is experiencing a resurgence, as a movie and in a new German translation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tony Blair is Banned From Staying at British Embassies on Commercial Missions
Tony Blair and former ministers have been banned from staying for free at British embassies and using diplomats to help carry out their private commercial work, the Telegraph can disclose.
The Foreign Office said it wanted to prevent the “inappropriate use” of government staff and resources and avoid the perception abroad that such figures were representing the UK Government.
Instead, ex-ministers will only be able to make use of embassies and staff if they are working on official business.
The disclosure comes as the Telegraph reveals how Mr Blair — who has made millions of pounds since standing down as prime minister in 2007 — stayed rent-free in British embassies in France and the US at the taxpayers expense on several occasions.
The Telegraph has previously revealed how Mr Blair was given the run of the British ambassador’s official residence in Manila on a trip during which he was paid almost £400,000 for two speeches.
He also stayed at the UK embassy in Tripoli when meeting Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi on private business.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nigel Farage’s Car Wheels ‘Were Sabotaged in an Assassination Attempt’
Ukip leader lost control of Volvo when wheel fell off on motorway… and police confirm foul play
Nigel Farage fears he has been the victim of an assassination attempt after his car was sabotaged, causing a terrifying motorway crash.
The Ukip leader careered off a French road after a wheel on his Volvo came loose while he was driving from Brussels back to his home in Kent.
When the police arrived at the scene, they told him that the nuts on all of the wheels had been deliberately unscrewed, The Mail on Sunday has established.
Mr Farage, who has received death threats during his tumultuous time as leader, last night spoke about the ‘frightening’ incident, which took place near Dunkirk.
‘It was the middle of bloody nowhere, and I was caught in a very bad position,’ he said…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Waste Recycling Industry on the Rise in Italy
Sector ‘pillar of the national economy’
(ANSA) — Rome, December 16 — The recycling industry continues to grow, a report by Confindustria industrialists association and the Sustainable Development Foundation (FSS) showed Wednesday. Growth sectors include packaging, electric and electronic equipment, organic waste, and used tires, according to the report. This sector has proven to a be a pillar of Italy’s economy in spite of a fall in household and industrial waste, with 66% or 7.8 million tons of packaging recycled in 2014 (+2% on the previous year). Paper (80%), steel (74%), aluminum (74%) and glass (70%) also showed significant recycling rates. Last year also saw the recycling of 5.7 tons of organic materials (+9.5% over 2013), 129,000 tons of old tires, and 124,000 tons of textiles (+12%). “In Italy, recycling has managed to hold up against the recession and to remain competitive,” said Anselmo Calo from Confindustria’s Unire. “We must discourage disposal in landfills, improve the quality of the materials collected, and simplify regulations”.
Recycling in Italy has reached European levels, albeit not evenly across its regions, said FSS chief Edo Ronchi.
“The regions that have fallen behind must be brought up to speed,” he said.
“We must improve recycling practices and invest in sector innovation and industrialization”.
Italy also imports and exports waste, the report showed.
In 2014 it imported 5.9 million tons, 77% of which was scrap metal, and exported 3.8 million tons (24% plastic and paper, 60% hazardous waste). Importing is done mostly by firms in northern Italy, which receive 96% of the merchandise, while 40% of the exporting is done by companies in the southern and central regions. At least 99% of the imported waste comes from other European countries, which also receive 77% of Italy’s exports. Between 2009 and 2014, the amount of waste imported rose by 60% and the amount exported by 10%, the report said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro to Vote on Privatization of Ex Concentration Camp
Government plans to transform Mamula fort into a luxury resort
(ANSA) — TRIESTE, December 28 — Montenegrin Parliament is expected to vote today for the second time about the longterm lease contract for Mamula fortress, which sees Swiss-Egyptian company Orascom as the leader of the project to transform this former concentration camp into a luxury tourism resort. The Austro-Hungarian fortress, located on an uninhabited island at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor (UNESCO), was used as a war prison during the Second World War, when the area was under occupation of Mussolini.
Since the majority of the prisoners were locals, many find that a luxury resort is not the best solution for preserving the fortress, where locals would prefer to see a museum in full respect of its history. (It is estimated that at least 130 were killed or starved to death, while over 2,300 were imprisoned at Campo Mamula between the spring of 1942 and autumn of 1943.)
On top of a harsh public debate, a voice against the Orascom project came even from Butros Butros Gali, former Secretary General of the United Nations, in a letter he sent to the president of the Montenegrin Parliament Ranko Krivokapic, in which it was stated that it was “surprising that the only solution to enhance the fortress seems to be a mere economic agreement”.
The letter was also signed by Federico Major, former Director General of UNESCO and other prominent international figures, who proposed the alternative of transforming the island into a centre which would host important peace negotiations and world leaders’ meetings.
For their part, the investor and the government promised that the project would fully respect the island’s history, as it includes a memorial room for the victims, even though there is no mention of this in the official presentation of the project available on the website mamulaisland.com.
The duration of rental period of 49 years — too long according to opposition — is among the contested elements of the contract, together with the yearly rent fee of only 1.5 euros per square meter (equaling to only 4000 Euros per month for the 30 thousand square meters island, including a fort officialy registered as a monument).
The daily amount of a vegetables market stall in Podgorica, is twice more expensive than the yearly rent of the entire island, emphasized the representatives of Podgorica-based non-profit organization, MANS.
According to the Government, the low rental price is justified given that the contract, signed with Orascom in February, requires the investor to pour in 15 million Euros into a resort unique in its kind, consisting of 23 rooms, 2 restaurants, a spa, a beach club and a mini-marina for yachts.
This will be the second Skupstina vote about Mamula, as the Government failed to achieve the necessary majority by only two votes last July. The vote of Djukanovic’s party coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SDP), will be of crucial importance, since in recent months, SDP entered in a dispute with Djukanovic’s (DPS), undermining the Government’s ability to obtain majority.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Media: Moscow Will Build Nuclear Plant
Contract worth 26 bil dollars, signing in January
(ANSAmed) — MOSCOW, DECEMBER 28 — Rosatom, the atomic Russian state power-house is ready to sign a contract worth 26 billion dollars to build a nuclear plant in Egypt with four productive units, a Rosatom source told Interfax.
“The contract — said the source — has been drawn and will be signed in January”.
According to Interfax, Rosatom’s ten-year portfolio orders, reached the 110 billion dollar mark.
A net improvement considering that, at the end of 2014, it was worth 101.4 billion.
If the contract with Egypt had been signed before the end of the year — added the source — the portfolio would have been worth almost 140 billion. The Russian giant’s objective is to reach 160 billion dollars in orders within the next two years.
Rosatom’s export divisition grew 28% in only a year.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt Allows ‘Upon Arrival Visas’ To Chinese Tourist Groups
Egypt said it will exempt Chinese tourists from pre-obtained visa requirements, allowing them to get visas on arrival, a decision that could help the ailing tourism sector.
The ministry said that the decision aims to aid the tourism sector, which received a blow after several countries suspended flights to Egypt’s tourism flagship city of Sharm El-Sheikh on security concerns following the Russian airline disaster in late October that saw all 224 on board killed in an attack claimed by the militant ISIS group.
Along with Suez Canal, the ailing tourism sector is one of Egypt’s main sources of foreign currency, of which the country is in dire need to buy basic foodstuffs and fulfil its international obligations.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Ministers Endorse Bill to Spotlight Foreign-Funded NGOs
Israeli ministers on Sunday endorsed contentious draft legislation to toughen rules on rights groups which receive funds from abroad, the justice minister said, in a move left-wing NGOs have called a witch-hunt.
Approval of the draft by the ministerial committee on legislation means that it now goes to parliament as a government bill, where it must pass three readings to become law.
If the initiative is succesful, Israeli non-governmental organisations which get at least half of their funding from “foreign state entities” will be obliged to identify donors on their financial statements and in official statements to Israeli public bodies…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican’s Recognition of Palestinian State Becomes Official
An agreement signed by the Vatican last summer recognizing Palestine as a state has gone into effect. The move has drawn staunch criticism from Israel.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
French Military Says Coalition Airstrikes Destroy Islamic State Missile Factory, Warehouse
The French military says its warplanes have destroyed a site in Syria used by Islamic State extremists to produce missiles and store weapons.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement Sunday that the overnight airstrikes targeted a site east of Aleppo, in an operation conducted by Rafale fighter jets using SCALP cruise missiles.
The French jets were acting jointly with the U.S.-led coalition, the statement said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
GE Wins Saudi Power Plant Contract Worth Nearly $1 Billion
General Electric announced Thursday that it had won a contract worth nearly $1 billion from the Saudi Electricity Company to build and supply a power plant in northern Saudi Arabia.
Under the contract, the US industrial giant will build the Waad Al Shamal combined-cycle power plant and provide four advanced gas turbines, a steam turbine and turbine maintenance services.
Waad Al Shamal will serve phosphate mining operations in an area of Saudi Arabia that the government has targeted for industrial development, GE said in a statement.
The 1,390-megawatt plant, which also will have solar technology, will be able to provide the equivalent power needed to supply more than 500,000 Saudi homes…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Video ‘Shows Killing of Five Men it Says Spied for UK’
Islamic State militants have released a video, featuring a man and young boy speaking with British accents, purportedly showing the killing of five men who it says were spying for the UK.
In the 10-minute film, the man threatens attacks in the UK and says this is a message for David Cameron.
A boy later appears in the video, which has not been independently verified, talking about killing “unbelievers”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Many Dead in Anti-PKK Turkish Military Operation in Southeast
At least 29 people, including one civilian, have been killed in a Turkish military operation against the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Fighting is underway in the southeastern town of Silopi.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Execution Risks Fueling Sectarian Tensions: US
The United States warned Saudi Arabia, which has a Sunni Muslim majority, that its execution Saturday of a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests “risks exacerbating sectarian tensions.”
The US also urged Riyadh to “respect and protect” human rights, said State Department spokesman John Kirby, following the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.
Another 46 men were executed, including Shiite activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in Al-Qaeda killings.
The executions sparked angry condemnation from Shiite-majority Iran and Iraq, while the EU similarly expressed concern about possible “dangerous consequences” in a region already fraught with sectarian tensions…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties With Iran, Foreign Minister Says
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, the Kingdom’s foreign minister announced on Sunday, deciding “enough is enough” with the Islamic Republic, according to a source with knowledge of the Saudi government’s thinking.
“Enough is enough,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. “Again and again Tehran has thumbed their nose at the West. They continue to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles and no one is doing anything about it. The Saudis really don’t care if they anger the White House.”
The move comes amid escalating tensions between the countries following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a prominent Shiite cleric on Saturday. A group of Iranians attacked the Saudi Embassy with Molotov cocktails and stones earlier Sunday following the death of Sheikh Nimir al-Nimir, and the Saudis have indicated they don’t believe the Iranian government tried to stop the protesters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Breaks Off Ties With Iran After Al-Nimr Execution
Saudi Arabia says it has broken off diplomatic ties with Iran, amid a row over the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was speaking after demonstrators had stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others were executed on Saturday after being convicted of terror-related offences.
Mr Jubeir said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.
Saudi Arabia was recalling its diplomats from Tehran, he said.
Mr Jubeir said Saudi Arabia would not let Iran undermine its security, accusing it of having “distributed weapons and planted terrorist cells in the region”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Reportedly Names US as Threat to National Security for First Time
Russia has named the U.S. as one of the threats to its national security in a new assessment signed by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, according to a published report.
Reuters reported the document, “About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation,” replaces the 2009 version endorsed by former President Dmitry Medvedev, which didn’t mention the U.S. or NATO. Russia continues to increase its role in solving global conflicts, which has caused some reaction from the West, according to the document.
It is the first time Russia has officially named the U.S. a national security threat, according to Reuters.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine Police Reform: All Fluff, No Substance
Ukraine’s much-touted police reform, sponsored by Western donors, has “focused on a myriad of petty matters,” but has been unsuccessful in dealing with the more serious problems, including the corruption which has paralyzed the country, Foreign Policy contributor Erica Marat explains.
This past summer, Ukrainian officials had a field day celebrating the induction of thousands of newly recruited officers into the country’s shiny new police force.
Noted for their spiffy, US-style uniforms, polite manner, and public refusal to take bribes, many of them, Marat explained, “sympathized with the 2013-2014 Euromaidan demonstrations that overthrew the corrupt political order of former President Yanukovych, and…are genuinely interested in building a new, more democratic Ukraine.”
International experts, the journalist added, couldn’t be more thrilled with the new force, touting it “as one of the brightest rays of hope in post-Euromaidan Ukraine,” and describing it “as ‘a force for change’ and even the ‘cops who would save a country.’“
And “it’s no wonder the foreigners are happy,” Marat wrote. “Much of the new police reform has been funded through the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, with additional help from Canada and Japan.”
Unfortunately, the journalist noted, “this apparent success masks some important shortcomings that could undermine [the new force] in the months and years ahead. The police reform process has been opaque and top-down, led by a few powerful officials with little input from civil society. As a result, the international donors who have partnered with the Interior Ministry risk repeating a problem that has plagued similar efforts to clean up law enforcement in other parts of the world.”
“All too often, donors tend to give their help to corrupt and autocratic elites still mired in militarized and secretive systems.”
Effective policing, Marat suggests, requires input from civil society, and even in countries like the United States, ostensibly freer and less corrupt than countries like Ukraine, is a long and difficult process.
“But Ukraine and other countries with a long history of authoritarianism lack such venues for an effective state-society dialogue. As in other post-Soviet states, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry (which oversees the police) was designed to support government policies, to punish dissent, and to demonstrate the government’s reach across the country.”
Thus, “international donors looking for quick results risk inadvertently [or perhaps advertently?] supporting, or even strengthening, the state’s punitive apparatus, without ensuring more active participation of the citizenry in overseeing the police.”
“To date,” Marat writes, “Ukraine’s new police have been focused on a myriad of petty matters: smoking in public places, homeless people sleeping in tourist areas, and cars parking around bus stops. But the new policing model in Ukrainian cities does not explain how bigger and more violent crimes are prevented through policing small things.”
“Meanwhile, top-level police [officers] accustomed to deploying excessive force against peaceful demonstrations or operating criminal syndicates, remain unchallenged and unreformed. And while a shiny new police force might challenge small-scale corruption, there has still been no serious anti-corruption drive from the top.”
“Even more worrisome,” the journalist notes, “are the Interior Ministry’s plans to organize a new SWAT force supported by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Border Patrol, and the State Department’s Bureau for Narcotics and Law Enforcement.” Such an apparatus, Marat notes, has left many worried that “adopting the US model for a militarized police force will allow Ukraine’s leaders to use brutal force against anti-government demonstrations in the future.”
Taking a look at the more ‘successful’ instances of police reform within the Soviet bloc, Marat recalled Georgia’s efforts under disgraced former president and current Odessa governor Mikheil Saakashvili. “The Georgian police reform,” she noted, “eradicated petty corruption and gained international praise for its dramatic break with the repressive past.”
“Yet Saakashvili’s reform also transformed the Interior Ministry into the single strongest government body, one amply equipped to spy on the political opposition. Unfortunately, the methods used to direct top-down reform in Saakashvili’s Georgia are now being replicated in post-Euromaidan Ukrraine,” with civil society largely left out of the loop, and “the vision of change…transmitted directly from the deputy-minister level to specific projects on the ground, bypassing public discussion.”
Ultimately, Marat suggests, the tendency of projects for police reform funded by foreign donors is to “operate under the assumption that reformed police forces will, thanks to greater professionalism, assume a neutral role in the political landscape, thus safeguarding the democratization process. So far, however, there is little evidence that this is happening in the former USSR.”
In the countries which have received Western assistance, political arrests, interference in the work of the mass media, and the suppression of anti-government protests remain commonplace, she notes. “In worst-case scenarios, the police use skills acquired through donor training projects to carry out the political decisions of the incumbent elites.”
Ultimately, Marat argues, “instead of cosmetic upgrades, donors must concentrate on promoting collaboration between the state and society.”
How this will be possible in a country which has witnessed a pseudo-revolutionary coup d’état to rotate one set of oligarchs for another, while openly criminal ‘volunteer battalions’ formed during the unrest not only thrive, but have been integrated into the Interior Ministry and the military, remains unknown.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Afghans Warned on Celebratory Gunfire Ahead of Soccer Final
Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry has warned against celebratory gunfire after the upcoming South Asia soccer final against India, hoping to avoid a repeat of the raucous celebrations that followed the national team’s victory in 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Female Priests Test Hindu Tradition in India
In western India, a school in the city of Pune is challenging the centuries-old grip Brahmin men have held on the Hindu priesthood by training men and women from all castes. Will they be able to withstand resistance from traditional male priests?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
India: Kerala: The Supreme Court Prohibits the Sale of Alcohol in Bars
Over the next 10 years the sale of liquors will be phased out, while the sale of drinks such as wine and beer will continue. Associations believe that the decision will lead to the closure of 700 businesses. The sale of spirits will be allowed only in five star hotels. Kerala is the Indian state with the highest annual per capita consumption of alcohol.
Thiruvananthapuram (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The Supreme Court of Kerala has decided to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in all bars across the State. The sale of liquor will only be granted in the bars of five-star hotels.
High court judges have approved legislation passed by state authorities, which had been challenged by the owners of public premises. The call will take full effect within 10 years and will lead to the closure of over 700 bars, frequented mainly by Indian and foreign tourists.
The decision came on Dec. 29 and is the result of a Government initiative to “protect young people and prevent them from destroying their lives.” In fact, Kerala is the Indian state with the highest rate of alcohol consumption per capita. Experts report that alcohol consumption in Kerala is equal to more than eight liters per person, compared to the national average of 5.7.
The judgment of the Committee, chaired by Justice Vikramjit Sen, states: “Most of the time, vulnerable people succumb to this temptation, and for the age that their propensity for the abuse, or to the pressures received from peers. In our opinion therefore, the ban of alcohol consumption can only be considered a positive step towards reducing the intake of drinks “.
The Kerala Bar Hotels Association had opposed the decision of the state, but now that is binding it will be phased in over 10 years. The plaintiffs had argued that it would negatively impact tourism and the turnover for business.
Bars may now only sell wine and beer. Kerala now joins the list of other Indian states — like Bihar — which recently decided to impose the ban.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Serious Communal Clash at Kaliachak Put Minority Hindus in Severe Danger in TMC-Ruled WB
Serious Communal clash continued at Kaliachak in Malda for six hours. Muslim mob attacked Police Station, Block Development Office and Public property. Several vehicles set ablaze. Cops injured, nobody arrested! HENB …
| — Hat tip: Upananda Brahmachari | [Return to headlines] |
India Mission in Afghan City of Mazar-e-Sharif Comes Under Attack
Explosions and gunfire have been heard at the Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Officials said the attackers had tried to enter the compound but had not been able to and were now in an adjacent building. Security forces reportedly cordoned off the area.
Indian diplomatic missions have come under attack from militants in the past in Afghanistan.
In 2008 and 2009, the embassy in Kabul was attacked twice, with dozens killed.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scot ‘Arrested in Kyrgyzstan’ Over ‘Horse Penis’ Dish Joke
A Scottish mine worker has reportedly been arrested in Kyrgyzstan, after comparing its national dish to a horse’s penis on Facebook.
Michael McFeat, from Abernethy, was said to have been held after posting a picture of Kyrgyz co-workers queuing for a “chuchuk” horsemeat sausage.
The caption compared the dish to a stallion’s genitalia, AFP reported.
The news agency said his co-workers were so upset that they called a strike at the Kumtor goldmine where he works.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Express Orders 10 Bombardier Jets Worth $462m
Chinese regional carrier China Express Airlines has placed an order for 10 Bombardier CRJ900 jets worth $462 million, the Canadian aircraft builder said Thursday.
The order will eventually increase the China Express’ all-Bombardier fleet to 38, according to a Bombardier statement.
Based in the southwest city of Chongqing, the nine year old carrier serves 62 cities in China.
The CRJ900 is a regional jet that seats up to 90 passengers, and with the China express deal, Bombardier has racked up 409 firm orders for the aircraft…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China Rejects Vietnam’s Protest Over Flight to Disputed Islands
China’s flight to a newly built airfield on Yongshu reef in the Nansha islands is a matter “completely within China’s sovereignty,” the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Saturday in response to an official protest from Vietnam, which said the flight “undermines peace and stability.”
China won’t accept Vietnam’s “unfounded accusations” and hopes Vietnam can work toward achieving “sustainable, healthy and stable” development of bilateral ties, Hua Chunying , China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in its statement. China’s flight to the disputed islands damages “political trust” and relations between the nations, and “goes against the common perceptions of the senior leaders of the two countries,” Vietnam said in a statement posted on the government website.
China has been building islands in the South China Sea on reclaimed reefs as it tries to beef up its presence in the area. China claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea based on a nine-dash line drawn on a 1947 map for which it gives no precise coordinates.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
China Lands Test Flight in Disputed Island Chain
China said it had landed a test flight on a newly completed airfield in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, a sign of its growing military capabilities in the region. The flight drew a quick protest from Vietnam, which said China had “seriously violated” its sovereignty.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fukushima Radiation Causes Debilitating Deformities in US Navy Sailors
According to Bonner, the plaintiffs have suffered a litany of health problems including cancer, tumors, brain defects, birth defects, early death and a wide variety of undiagnosed conditions. These are “very serious illnesses for a very large population of very young people,” he said.
Honda is one of the plaintiffs. Shortly after the mission, he began to suffer from unexplained fatigue and regular migraines, and a doctor told him his discs were rapidly degenerating.
Within a month of the mission’s end, Wright began to experience a painful swelling in his groin. His testicles swelled to the size of tennis balls while he was still on the ship.
“When I asked if it might have something to do with the radiation from Fukushima, a doctor told me pretty gruffly no,” Wright said.
According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism in 2011, endocrine damage is a well established side effect from the Fukushima disaster: “All the endocrine glands are susceptible to damage by radiation exposure; however, pituitary, thyroid and gonads are most likely to be affected.”
Other health complaints from plaintiffs include arms that swelled up like baseball mitts, cardiac arrhythmia, hair falling out in clumps, muscle wasting, whole body spasms, and feet that turned dark red and lost the ability to walk.
[Comment: Sailors were exposed since the ships water systems used irradiated water from the area around Fukushima.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia Housing Boom as Mogadishu Emerges From Ashes of War
Somalia’s elegant colonial villas were left in ruins by two decades of street fighting among warlords, and the seaside capital Mogadishu was dubbed the most dangerous city in the world.
But now new housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as diaspora Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalize on the relative peace in the city.
Some seven kilometers (four miles) outside Mogadishu in a formerly largely rural area, new homes are springing up, with almost 50 houses now ready on an estate, builders say.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Censor or Die: The Death of Mexican News in the Age of Drug Cartels
The enlaces are part of the deeply institutionalized system of cartel censorship imposed on media outlets in northeastern Mexico abutting the border of Texas.
Submitting to cartel demands is the only way to survive, said Hildebrando “Brando” Deandar Ayala, 39, editor in chief of El Mañana, one of the oldest and largest newspapers in the region with a print circulation of 30,000. “You do it or you die, and nobody wants to die,” he said. “Auto censura — self-censorship — that’s our shield.”
The cartels’ tactics resemble those most Americans would associate with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The display of multiple beheaded corpses and bodies hanging from bridges are a regular occurrence. Hundreds of young people have disappeared. Mass graves are commonplace.
The comparison with terrorist groups 7,300 miles away frustrates journalists here. They watch the endless international coverage of Middle East violence yet know that the terrorism just across the U.S. border is largely ignored by the American media.
Mexico’s 2014 murder rate of 13 per 100,000 is twice as high as Afghanistan’s.
“We have a war here, and we’re doing war reporting,” said Ildefonso “Poncho” Ortiz, a deeply sourced reporter for Breitbart News Network’s Cartel Chronicles, one of the only American outlets to track cartel maneuvers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
200 Migrants Rescued in Rough Seas Off Greek Islands During Year’s First Weekend; 1 Dead
A total of 217 migrants have been rescued by Greek and EU authorities over the first weekend of the new year in four separate incidents, Greece’s coast guard says.
Migrants, the majority of them refugees from Syria’s civil war, keep trying to enter the European Union despite the cold and the rough seas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bavarian Leader Seehofer Says Germany Can Take in Maximum of 200,000 Refugees
A leading Bavarian politician has suggested Germany can take in no more than 200,000 refugees per year. Political allies, Horst Seehofer’s CSU and Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats are at odds over refugee policy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ifo Economist Warns of Conflict Between Refugees and Poorer Germans
Hans-Werner Sinn, the president of the Ifo economic think tank, expects tough competition might arise between refugees and poorer Germans. He is pessimistic about the impact of the refugee influx on the welfare state.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Local Government: Sweden Can Take More Refugees
While many Swedish municipalities are having a hard time coping with the influx of refugees, a majority of them could take on many more asylum-seekers, if the distribution system was fairer, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions says.
The association’s department head Per-Arne Andersson tells Swedish Radio News that only a handful of local councils are experiencing serious problems finding housing for refugees.
“There are 40-50 municipalities that are facing a crisis,” he says, “but the other 200-220 municipalities say they can do more.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Lesbos is Microcosm of Europe’s Difficulties
2015 witnessed one of the great human migrations of recent times. But a new year doesn’t mean it’s over. Winter may bring some respite, but all over Lesbos, volunteers are waiting for the next boats to arrive. More Syrians will cross for sure, but in recent weeks, slightly higher numbers of Iraqis and Afghans, with a handful from Iran, Pakistan and Morocco.
All will pose a challenge to the island, and, in time, to the continent beyond.
European leaders spent much of 2015 struggling to identify a coherent response to this extraordinary event. When the cold wind abates and the boats start crossing again, that challenge will only increase.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Paper: Visa Requirement Closes Germany-Finland Route for Asylum Seekers
The Helsinki Swedish-language daily Hufvudstadsbladet reported on Saturday that the ship operator Finnlines has started requiring passengers boarding its vessels in Travemünde, Germany to present either a valid passport or a photo ID card, as well as a visa, residence permit or other equivalent document.
Before Christmas, around 25 asylum seekers were arriving in Finland on each ferry from Travemünde.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Unhappy in Europe, Some Iraqis Return Home
“My dream since I was a child was to go to Europe,” he said. “I was imagining a beautiful life, a secure life, with an apartment and a salary.” But despite a grueling month-long journey to Sweden, he came back home — one of a surging number of returnees, Iraqi and international authorities say.
“It was a boring life there. Their food — even a cat wouldn’t eat it,” Faisal said of his two months in an asylum center near the Swedish city of Malmo. “I went to Europe and discovered Europe is just an idea. Really, it’s just like Bab al-Sharji,” he said, referring to a Baghdad market neighborhood.
Faisal begged his father, who had spent $8,000 on sending his sons to Europe, to send more money so he could come home. “He missed the services here. At home everything is done for him,” said Faisal’s father, Uday Faisal Mohee.
Iraqi embassies in Europe are scrambling to provide emergency travel documents for those coming back.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims “Have Nothing Whatsoever to Do With Terrorism”
Muslim Persecution of Christians, November 2015
As Muslim jihadis, mobs and regimes terrorized Christians and others throughout the world of Islam, in the West, institutions—from governments to grade schools—empowered and praised Islam, often at the expense of Christians.
Spain: On November 2, a group of Muslims stormed the Church of our Lady of Carmen in the town of Rincon de la Victoria. They smashed wooden statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on the cross during the attack. A spokesman for the Diocese of Malaga said the attack was not representative of all Muslims and that the diocese was committed to maintaining “respect and fraternity between different religious groups.” The month before, a Moroccan man was arrested in the same town after trying to destroy another statue of the Virgin Mary while screaming “Allahu Akbar!”
Spain: On November 2, a group of Muslims stormed the Church of our Lady of Carmen in the town of Rincon de la Victoria. They smashed wooden statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus on the cross during the attack. A spokesman for the Diocese of Malaga said the attack was not representative of all Muslims and that the diocese was committed to maintaining “respect and fraternity between different religious groups.” The month before, a Moroccan man was arrested in the same town after trying to destroy another statue of the Virgin Mary while screaming “Allahu Akbar!”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Day after day and year after year this site and others of the CJ tell us about the difference between Western civilized world (as we know it) and the Islamic world.
And yet, our political masters fire people like Robert Spencer and MJ Conklin and replace them with MB defenders…
My hope is that someone like Trump or Cruz becomes our next president and rids us of this horrible disease.
Alas, I fear that a very big event will be needed to do so as the officers of “change” have driven so soundly into our politic that change will be a very painful thing.
Was there any goats in the Zoo?
I inform you that these people prefer goats for carnal relations.
I don’t want to know why. Some things can’t be unthought and I already have PTSD. Pls be kind and refrain from telling us.
I was about to explain succinctly, Dymphna, but my better instincts and consideration for your state of mind caused me to decide not to 🙂 S III.