Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the EDL and one of the current leaders of PEGIDA UK, was attacked and knocked unconscious in Luton. He is currently recovering, and is said to be “OK”. No further details are available at this point.
In other news, according to an analysis of 29 separate studies, there is a pay gap between lesbians and heterosexual women, with the latter earning significantly less than the former for the same type of job.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, LP, 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.
Greece Back in Recession, GDP Fourth Trimester Down 0.6%
After 1.4% downturn in three previous months
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 12 — Greece is back in recession: in the fourth quarter, the Greek economy registered the second consecutive trimestral decline (-0.6%) after going down 1.4% in the previous quarter. Yesterday, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund Poul Thomsen warnned that without a realistic plan on debt sustainability, “fears of a Grexit” will return soon.
Data on Portugal also released today showed a 0.2% growth in October-December on the previous quarter.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi: “Europe Has Taken the Wrong Road, Austerity Alone is Not Enough”
“If we care about European institutions, we must make our voice heard. We are doing it for Europe’s, not Italy’s, sake”
Dear Editor-in-chief,
in the past twenty-four months of my government I have been repeatedly been made the object of attention by Eugenio Scalfari. I consider it an honor, since I hold in high esteem the founder of La Repubblica, one of the most authoritative voices in Italian journalism. The topic that he’s been raising in the last few hours forces me to attempt an answer. Let me get straight to the point: I very much respect the debate that has sprung up, on which Italy has something to say, and says it. But the question of a European Treasury “superminister” is not the main point. The problem of the economy in the Union today lies not in the superminister, but in its direction.
Our government believes that in the past years Europe has taken the wrong road. And that if we care about European institutions, we must make our voice heard. We are doing it for Europe’s, not Italy’s, sake…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
From Conrad Black writing at the New York Sun:
Denying Mr. Trump the nomination will be very difficult, but he should have started on Tuesday night the process of conciliating kindred spirits in his party and independent voters who like his Archie Bunker attacks on Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, and the mealy-mouthed Republicans who weaseled on immigration and other hot subjects. He was brief and graciously praised the other Republican candidates as a group, but there were too many “huges” and “greats” and no specifics about how he was going to make America “great” again except building the wall on the Mexican border, tearing up trade pacts, and “knocking the hell” out of ISIS.
If his opponents in the Republican party want any chance of stopping him, they will have to coalesce around one of the alternatives right after South Carolina, and that candidate will be an underdog. Mr. Trump should win the nomination, and Mr. Clinton should limp to a listless and clichéd victory at the head of her fatigued party. Mr. Trump still faces a high but porous wall of anyone-but-Trump sentiment, slightly more numerous than the anyone-but-Clinton bloc. He should move soon to dissolve this antagonism by speaking more seriously and precisely, and in finished sentences, and showing that he is, in all but his presentational flamboyance, a moderate.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush Under Eminent Domain Took a Diabled Veteran’s Property
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” — Joseph Goebbels
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and [he that] speaketh lies shall not escape. — Proverbs 19:5
“Accuse Others of What You Do” — Karl Marx
Bashing Trump with Eminent Domain
Jeb should have his name legally changed to Hypocrite Bush.
During the pre-New Hampshire ABC GOP presidential debate, Bush slammed Donald Trump on eminent domain. He was playing to a clearly hostile anti-Trump crowd, knowing that the Trump supporters only received 20 tickets for the debate. Jeb used eminent domain as a club to bash The Donald, citing a decades-old case of an elderly Atlantic City lady who refused to sell her property to Trump, which he wanted for a parking lot. Atlantic City condemned her property, trying to force her to sell, she challenged the condemnation in court and won. Trump quickly abandoned the idea in favor of more willing neighbors who sold their property to Trump for his parking lot, and he paid them quite well for their properties.
The Atlantic City story is now being repeated over and over again by the neo-cons to try to destroy Mr. Trump. They’re using the tactics of Joseph Goebbels, repeat a lie often enough…and people will eventually believe it.
As Florida Governor, Jeb Bush loved eminent domain and practiced it.
Jeb Bush and Jesse Hardy
The government wanted his land, but Jesse Hardy wasn’t interested. He said it wasn’t about money, it was about fighting for what is his. Jesse James Hardy was a symbol to some people of an individual besieged by government authorities and their allies in the environmental movement. Think United Nations Agenda 21, because that’s what this is!
Governor Jeb Bush authorized the State Department of Environmental Protection to begin eminent domain proceedings against an elderly man who just wanted to keep his land.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Pleads Not Guilty to Triple Killing in S.I. Motel
They never had a chance.
Michael (Da Kid) Sykes, 23, fatally stabbed his girlfriend 40 times and similarly killed two of her babies, according to Staten Island prosecutor Nina Spadafora.
Sykes, who wore a black jacket over white scrubs, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Sunday.
Michael Sykes (c.) plead not guilty to killing his girlfriend and her two babies to death at Staten Island Criminal Court on Sunday.
He’s charged with killing Rebecca Cutler, 26, their 4-month-old daughter Maliya and 1-year-old Ziana, a child Cutler had with another man, at the Ramada Inn in Willowbrook Wednesday…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Five people have been killed in a head-on collision in Dayton, Ohio, four of whom were in their late teens or early twenties, police confirmed today. They also confirmed that the at-fault driver had been released after a DUI arrest just 33 hours before the crash.
He is said to be a 61-year-old man who had been arrested two days previously after he ‘lost control and collided’ with a parked car, WHIO reported. He declined to take a breath test and was booked on an OVI, Ohio’s equivalent of a DUI, but released soon after.
The fatal crash occurred some time around 3am this morning when that 61-year-old drove a white sedan the wrong way up the I-75 North, striking an SUV containing the youths…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Oscar-Winning Actress Emma Thompson’s Diversity Solution: ‘Kill’ All the Old White Men
The membership changes will eventually remove voting privileges from many older, white Academy members; however, Thompson feels the process of purging the older white people could be expedited.
“That’s the fact of it. Either you wait for them all to die, or kill them off slowly. There’s so many options, aren’t there?” she said.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: Donald Trump With Commanding 19 Point Lead in South Carolina
The latest poll ahead of the South Carolina primary finds Donald Trump with a commanding 19 point lead over his nearest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). The survey, of likely Republican primary voters, shows Trump with 34 percent of the vote, followed by Cruz with 15 percent.
Jeb Bush leads Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) for third place. Bush edges Rubio 13 to 12 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich is a distant fourth with 8 percent support. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson is last, with 5 percent.
Trump leads the GOP field among every age group. His biggest margins, however, are among seniors and voters older than 55. In 2012, these voters made up over 60 percent of the primary electorate.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Pollster Pat Caddell: Hillary Clinton Email Scandal ‘Worse Than Watergate’
“This is the greatest scandal in the history of the United States,” Caddell said. “They all ought to be indicted. This is worse than Watergate.”
Clinton, he explained, would soon be exposed for using her connections in the State Department to enrich her family, her foundation, and her supporters.
“They were selling out the national interests of the United States directly to adversaries and others for money,” he said. “There is just nothing that satisfies them. They are the greediest white trash I have ever seen.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Agro-Politics: German Farmers Demand Compensation for Lost Russian Market
Farmers in the German region of Saxony continue to suffer huge losses after having been shut out of the Russian market, and are demanding that the local government must compensate them, according to Wolfgang Vogel, head of the Farmers’ Association of Saxony.
Representatives of the agricultural sector have demanded that the government of Saxony must compensate them for losses caused by the anti-Russian sanctions, Wolfgang Vogel, head of the Saxon Farmers’ Association, was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.
Vogel made the remarks in a letter to Saxony’s Prime Minister Stanislaw Tillich, which was published by the agriculture-related news website topagrar.com.
“Farmers are losing 30 cents for each kilogram of pork and 4 cents for each [liter] of milk, with the total losses already amounting to more than 200 million euros,” he said, adding that alternative export markets are yet to be found.
According to Saxon farmers, the main reason for these losses is the ban on the eastern German state’s agricultural exports to Russia.
Earlier, Joachim Rukvid, president of the German Farmers’ Association said in an interview with the German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten that the export volume of milk to Russia since August 2014 has decreased from 125 million to eight million euros, the export of meat products fell from 175 million to five million euros and the export of fruits and vegetables dropped from 7 million to 50 thousand euros.
According to him, the total losses of the German farmers stand at between 600 million and 800 million euros.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated in connection with the situation in Ukraine.
In late July 2014, the EU and the United States slapped sanctions on several key sectors of the Russian economy, in addition to the previously introduced sanctions against separate Russian individuals and companies.
In response, Moscow restricted the import of food products from countries that imposed anti-Russian sanctions. In June 2015, Russia retaliated against the West’s extension of sanctions by prolonging the food embargo until August 5, 2016.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Businesses Convincing Skeptics in EU of Need for Nord Stream 2
Businesses in Germany are trying to convince skeptics in the European Union of the feasibility of the Moscow-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, Chairman of the Eastern Committee of German Economy Wolfgang Buechele said Saturday.
MUNICH (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow hopes that the project would be implemented despite attempts to politicize it by some western countries. The head of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said that his company was confident that the pipeline would be built by the end of 2019, as planned.
“We focus on such projects as Nord Stream 2, and, with the support of the federal government, we are trying to convince skeptics within the European Union on the issue,” Buechele said.
The Nord Stream 2 project, which plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86-percent of the route before branching off, could provide up to 55 billion cubic meters of direct gas supplies from Russian shores through the Baltic Sea to the German coast.
While some EU member states, such as Poland and Lithuania, are opposed to the northern gas pipeline due to concerns over increased energy dependence on Russia, Germany reaffirmed its interest in the project in late 2015, saying that it would bring more benefits for EU members and provide energy safety and security to the 28-nation bloc.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Heavily Armed Britons Arrested in Greece Will be Tried on Terrorism Charges
Two UK nationals arrested in Greece while carrying weapons and ammunition will be tried on charges of planning a terror attack and illegal possession of weapons later on Sunday, a source in the Greek law enforcement said.
ATHENS (Sputnik) — The Greek Coast Guard officers arrested two Britons of Iraqi origin in the port city of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece, located near the border with Turkey, on Saturday. Coast Guard considered the actions of these individuals as suspicious, the source told RIA Novosti.
The investigators assume that the British nationals were planning to cross into Turkey, according to the source.
“The authorities took this matter very seriously. The National Intelligence Service and the anti-terrorism office are leading an investigation,” the source said.
According to the source, the suspects were driving a trailer and carrying some 20,000 rounds of ammunition, four Kalashnikov assault rifles, sniper equipment and night vision devices.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Unipol Group Posts 579 Mn Net Profit for 2015
Up 14.6%
(ANSA) — Milan, February 12 — Italian insurer Unipol Group grew 14.6% in 2015 over 2014, ending the year with a net profit of 579 million euros, the company said Friday.
Direct insurance income was down 4.2% on 2014 at 16.476 million euros, but the expected dividend of 18 cents per share was up from 17 cents per share in 2014.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy, U.S. In Talks on Asteroid Mission
‘To bring back mineral samples’
(ANSA) — Rome, February 3 — Italian and United States space agencies are in talks on a possible joint asteroid mission, Italian Space Agency (ASI) chief Enrico Flamini said Wednesday.
His statement came after Luxembourg announced it is working on legislation for the exploitation of raw materials on asteroids.
“Such legislation has already been approved by the US Congress and it’s not surprising that other countries are starting to organize in the same direction,” said Flamini.
Asteroids are highly likely to have valuable raw materials, he explained.
Flamini added that Italy can contribute its technological know-how to create a living environment in outer space as well as tools to sample and analyze minerals.
Whether the future asteroid mission will be carried out by robots or humans, its objective will be to “bring a significant quantity of mineral samples back to Earth,” he concluded.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Man Shot at Sweden Pro-Kurdish Rally
A man was shot and critically injured at a pro-Kurdish rally in a Stockholm suburb at the weekend, police said on Sunday.
Organisers of the event said the incident in the suburb of Fittja on Saturday had a “political motive” but did not elaborate.
Police spokeswoman Ewa Nilsson told AFP the victim was in critical condition, adding that the assailant fled by car and was still at large.
Local media reported that the victim, described by the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper as a 52-year-old Kurdish man, was in a minibus covered in Kurdish flags that was following the march when he was shot…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Scientism: Religion of the New Heresy-Hunters
When failure to embrace what the scientific establishment currently believes in cases where it can produce no conclusive evidence results in a witch-hunt, the cause of true science is not served.
Recently, Christina Wilkinson, of St Andrew’s Church of England school in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, came under fire for falling out of step with orthodoxy on the issue of the origins of life…
Theories — like thought experiments — have a place. The realm of theory is where the mind goes for an after-dinner glass of port and cigar and stretches out in a leather armchair in front of the fire and blows a few what-if-scenario smoke-rings around the sitting-room.
But scientific methods are where the evidence comes in. What such methods have in common is that conclusions are based on observation and experimentation. While exact methods vary depending on the field, the constant is: you can check; the findings are demonstrable and repeatable. This is what distinguishes law from theory.
Reputable, genuine scientists use both systems — and the world is much improved as a result.
The problem comes when those who presume to speak for science forget the distinction between theory and law, and simply attack those who have not forgotten it.
[…]
One may choose to embrace Scientism. But it is not scientific. It does not draw one who chooses such a faith any closer to truth than belief in the Church of England’s priesthood would draw Christina Wilkinson closer to God.
And it is here that my problem with Dawkins and his ilk begins. Dawkins is as entitled as the next man to make what sense he can of it all. But it irritates me that he makes a jolly good living conflating science with Scientism. Whilst pretending to be the successor to the original and dissident thinkers striving for truth against the dogmatism of Rome, in reality he has a dogma, and his job is not to prove it, but to enforce it.
Thus, he has more in common with those who oversaw the use of the rack than with those who were ever on it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Tommy Robinson, PEGIDA Co-Founder, Found Unconscious After Weekend Attack
News is emerging on Facebook today that Tommy Robinson, co-founder of PEGIDA UK, is in hospital following an attack during a night out in hometown Luton last night (13/02/2016).
It seems Tommy, on a night out with his wife, was found unconscious with head injuries. He is currently in hospital, but thought to be recovering.
This is not the first time Tommy Robinson has been attacked and he has been hinting more lately than normal that he feels he is in physical danger. His mistrust of the local police affords him little feeling of protection from authorities…
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Challenging Sovereignty? Turkey is Ready to Invade Syria to Crush Kurds
Turkish forces are ready to invade Syria to smash the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, according to the French daily Le Figaro.
Syrian Kurds, some of whom are part of the PYD active in Northern Syria, are dire enemies of the Turkish government, which sees them as “terrorists” and supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Southeastern Turkey.
At the same time, Syrian Kurds are fighting against Daesh (Islamic State) and Syrian opposition groups, whom Turkey openly backs in their fight against the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad.
“If necessary, we can take the same measures in Syria, as we took in Iraq, in Qandil [the mountain range in Northern Iraq],” Davutoglu said, referencing attacks that Turkish forces carried out against PKK positions in the Qandil region of Iraq in 2015, as cited by Le Figaro.
The Turkish Prime Minister also added that Ankara expects to have the support of its friends and allies.
On February 13, Turkish forces began shelling the position of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish group linked to the PYD, in Syria’s Aleppo region.
Turkish forces bombed a village and an airbase that were recently captured by Kurds, Al Mayadeen TV reported Saturday. Prior to being captured by the YPG, the village and the airbase belonged to the al-Nusra Front terrorist organization. This leads to a question whether Ankara was happier when al-Nusra Front controlled the area?
Turkey says the PYD and the YPG are Syrian branches of the PKK, the Kurdish group against which Ankara has been fighting, accusing it of wanting to create an independent Kurdish state on the Turkish territory.
Tensions in Turkey escalated in July 2015, after 33 Kurdish activists were killed in a suicide blast in the town of Suruc on the border with Syria and two Turkish policemen were later murdered by PKK, which led to Ankara’s military campaign against the group.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Military Upgrade: How Russia Can Help Iran Modernize Its Navy
Iran’s Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, is due to arrive in Moscow February 15-16 for an official visit.
According to the press service of the Iranian Embassy in Moscow, it is expected that the head of the Ministry of Defense of Iran will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, as well as Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation on military-technical cooperation Vladimir Kozhin.
So far the topics of negotiations have not been disclosed, but chief editor of the newspaper ‘Iran News’, Emad Abshenas is convinced that the Iranian Defense Minister has brought with him a number of concrete proposals to expand Iran’s military cooperation with Russia.
According to the expert, the agenda will not only be regarding full implementation of the contract for the supply of anti-aircraft missile systems, but Iran is also ready to buy the Russian Su-30 fighter, according to Emad Abshenas.
“Over the past 3-4 years, Iran and Russia’s military cooperation has reached an unprecedentedly wide scale. It is quite logical that by visiting General Dehghan seeks to strengthen this cooperation. There is quite an extensive range of topics. Thus, after the start of implementation of the joint comprehensive action plan and exemption from sanctions, Iran is planning to upgrade its navy.”
The expert further said, “Iran sees Russia as a strategic partner for many years to come. Tehran has expressed interest in the purchase of automated air defense systems and missile defense. Iranian submarines are also in need of modernization. In order to solve this problem, specialized modern weapons need to be purchased and Russia has something to offer,” the expert told Sputnik Persia.
Abshenas mentioned that Iran is interested in purchasing modern Russian Su-30, Su-35 aircraft. The purchase of Russian weapons, such as the anti-missile defense system S-400 and its upgraded models are also probably going to be a part of the forthcoming discussion. The ordnances such as the Russian tanks T-90 and T-95 may also be highlighted during the talks.
“In general, it should be noted that Iran is willing to offer Russia cooperation in the military-industrial complex to jointly create tanks, missile weapons and marine navigation systems. Therefore, we will wait to see what agreements Dehgan will reach during his visit to his Russian colleagues. It can be assumed that as a result a number of contracts will be signed.”
It should be recalled that in April 2015, the head of the Defense Ministry of Iran also paid an official visit to Moscow and took part in the International Conference on Security. As part of that visit the parties discussed the exact contract for the supply of Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Troops Betrayed as Army Dumps Hundreds of Heroic War Dogs
By Maureen Callahan
By now, Daniel had been in Afghanistan two months. It was July 2012, his third tour of duty and his first with Oogie, his military working dog. They were leading their platoon on yet another patrol, clearing a no-name village with maybe 15 houses and one mosque, when they began taking fire.
“The first thing that went though my mind,” he says, “was, ‘S-?-t. My dog’s gonna get shot.’?”
It was a perfect L-shaped ambush, bullets coming from the front and the right, the platoon pinned down in a flat, open landscape. Along the road were shallow trenches, no more than 14 inches deep. Daniel grabbed Oogie, squeezed him in a hole, then threw himself over his dog…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Congress Unanimously Passing Sanctions Will Not Deter North Korea From Building Nuclear Icbms
What a week it has been. No, we are not talking about the New Hampshire primary results or Saturday’s South Carolina debate, but rogue North Korea stealing the oxygen out of the international media’s lungs. It started with the second successful satellite launch since 2012 on Sunday, February 7, 2016 nearly over shadowing the Broncos victory in the 50th Super Bowl. As we wrote in an NER Iconoclast post on February 8, 2016, this game changer demonstrating the rogue regime’s ICBM technology and America’s inadequate ballistic missile defense, especially on our vulnerable heartland coast on the Gulf of Mexico.
On Friday, February 12, 2015 CNN reported the rotund Kim Jong Un played another round of the Pyongyang version of the Games of Thrones with the dramatic execution of another high military officer, General Ri Yong-gil for, “factionalism, misuse of authority and corruption.” The young Kim family successor may yet set the record for summary execution of North Korean military officials surpassing that of his father and grandfather. The same day in Washington, the US Senate and House overwhelmingly passed a new round of North Korean sanctions.
Earlier Fox News reported Gordon Chang expressing skepticism that more sanctions would not achieve the end of punishing North Korea for violating UN and US sanctions against missile development. We wrote:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
EU Hits China With New Steel Anti-Dumping Probes: Official
The EU launched new probes on Friday into imports of Chinese steel, warning it would not allow “unfair competition” to threaten Europe’s industry which is crumbling under a flood of cheap imports.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Australian Cops Confiscate Crocodiles’ T-Shirt Launcher, Cite Gun-Control Rules
By applying the label of category B weapon to a PVC pipe which uses air pressure to launch t-shirts, authorities have placed the T-shirt launcher “in the same category as a single shot centre-fire rifle, a double barrel centre-fire rifle, a repeating centre-fire rifle, a break action shotgun and centre-fire rifle combination.”
The Townsville Crocodiles are now thinking about getting a slingshot with which to launch shirts into the crowd.
A better example of the insidious nature of gun control would be difficult — if not impossible — to find.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
On June 16th, 2015, flamboyant billionaire Donald J. Trump announced his run for the U.S. presidency, and the U.S. political world has not been the same since.
In Mexico, the Trump candidacy unleashed a firestorm of criticism…
Having resided in Mexico and being familiar with the Mexican political/media world, I don’t find this reaction very surprising. After all, the Mexican elite believes that the U.S. border with Mexico should be wide open and all Mexicans have a right to enter the U.S. with full benefits. Anything less is considered a grave crime against humanity.
Any proposal to tighten the American border with Mexico is going to be met with hysterical shrieks throughout the Mexican chattering class.
Certainly, Trump has offended many with his blunt way of talking. On the other hand, the American political establishment needs some shaking up.
Trump’s blunt talk has made it easier to talk about formerly taboo subjects, topics that had previously been swept under the rug by the bipartisan consensus and the media.
Such topics include the link between crime and illegal immigration, birthright citizenship and the relationship between Islamic immigration and terrorism. These are all topics worthy of discussion and Americans have a right to discuss them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel’s ‘Lack of Foresight’ Ready to Cost the Teflon Chancellor Her Job
Angela Merkel’s success was down to her populist politics and way of communicating, but a lack of foresight has proved her undoing, economist Reinhard Crusius wrote in German Economic News.
Angela Merkel has followed a neoliberal economic path and displayed political populism, but a lack of foresight has led her to lose hard-won popularity, economist Reinhard Crusius wrote in German Economic News (DWN) on Saturday.
“Now somebody else has to solve all the problems that she has landed her country in,” Crusius wrote about the chancellor, who was first elected in 2005 and was reelected for a second time in 2013.
“Most often the concept ‘Teflon chancellor’ has been used to describe the phenomenon that nothing negative sticks to her. She is popular no matter what her ministers do (prime examples are her mistakes in appointing current transport minister Dobrindt, former economic minister Rosler or former defense minister zu Guttenberg).”
“This naturally has a lot to do with her political style, in which she only speaks up when the time is right and with non-committal but catchy statements for everyone and everything.”
“There is always a nod. Wiretapping scandal? It is not acceptable to bug friends. She’s right — again. Does anyone know of a political consequence to this statement?” Crusius asks, highlighting Merkel’s almost “uncritical allegiance to the US” and big business as further example of unwillingness to rock the boat.
“There are many serious things which she says nothing about, at least nothing at first, for example during the Volkswagen scandal. Ironically, the press is always late to notice, ‘Now at last the chancellor should say something.’“
‘Chancellor without foresight: Angela Merkel take Europe to the wall,’ Reinhard Crusius’ article was published in DWN.
“Like no other politician she is a master of good words that allay the concerns of the press or public, soothes emotions or acknowledges them (a prime example was her recent New Year’s address). The word is too often the fact, and nobody asks again later.”
The negotiations with Greece that gave the Eurozone a reprieve revealed the chancellor to be a neoliberal and “merciless populist … depending on opinion polls or her distinctive instinct to signal which way to go.”
Crusius complained that Merkel is guilty of a lack of foresight, since signs of Europe’s problem with refugees and migration have been visible since at least 2013, when boatloads of migrants were regularly arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
“Even worse are the mantras to ‘address the causes.’ Up to now there is no sustained help for the explosive situation in the refugee camps — the first thing that Merkel and Schauble should have done last spring, at the latest together with Merkel’s Budapest decision.”
In addition, Crusius charges Merkel and her CDU party with doing “nothing in recent years to solve the problem of refugees and integration,” and refusing to pass a law to allow the integration of migrants who arrived in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s.
“In 40 years only the Schroeder government took steps to solve the citizenship question and humanize the situation,” Crusius wrote.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel’s Liberal Refugee Policy ‘Unsustainable’: French PM
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal refugee policy, which brought 1.1 million asylum seekers to Germany in 2015, is not sustainable in the long run, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Friday.
“This policy, which is justified temporarily, is unsustainable in the long term,” he told German regional media group Funke, pointing to the limited capacity not just in Germany, but also across Europe, to receive newcomers.
“We have to say this clearly: Europe cannot take in all migrants from Syria, Iraq or Africa. It has to regain control over its borders, over its migration or asylum policies,” said Valls, who is travelling to southern Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Milo Yiannopoulos: ‘Outright Terrifying’ That Facebook Teamed up With Government to Censor Users
Breitbart Tech’s Milo Yiannopoulos blasted social media giants Twitter and Facebook for “Orwellian” censorship of their users—the latter in concert with governments, like in Germany—on SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Saturday hosted by Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow.
Yiannopoulos discussed the current business turmoil at Twitter and how, instead of trying to right the ship, the social platform is trying to flex its political muscle with moves that will marginalize right-wing voices. More disturbingly, he said, is the more financially stable Facebook and its coordination with government censorship:
It’s not just Facebook we’re talking about. They own WhatsApp and they own Instagram. And WhatsApp and Instagram are two of the companies that are winning the short messaging war—that are winning the war for Millennial attention and for Millennial users. Twitter lost that war. Twitter only really appeals to media people: people like you and people like me. We want to kind of keep in touch with our peers. And then some of our fans who are, like, really really keen might sign up for a Twitter account just to see our witty sayings or whatever clever lines we toss off on the way to the train station in the morning. But primarily, Twitter has lost that war. Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp—these are the networks that have billions of users. These are the networks that are getting young users, and Facebook owns two of those three.
The other thing to bear in mind is that Facebook so far has a really really bad track record when it comes to free speech. And not just a bad track record censoring different political opinions like Twitter does. Facebook’s moves are even more sinister, in a way. Facebook has teamed up with governments to censor certain political opinions that the incumbent party doesn’t like. In Germany, for instance, Facebook has teamed up with Angela Merkel to censor reasonable, respectable, mainstream concern about mass Muslim immigration—or just about mass immigration in general—and has started removing this stuff and classifying it as “hate speech.” It is effectively slandering its own users saying that their perfectly reasonable points of view constitute “hate speech” and that they’re not going to be allowed on Facebook, and Facebook has promised the German government that this stuff will be removed within 24 hours. That is outright Orwellian. That is outright terrifying.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Police Fire Tear Gas at Anti-Migrant ‘Hotspot’ Protest
Greek riot police fired tear gas on Sunday at demonstrators protesting against the development of a centre to house migrants on the tourist island of Kos, media reports said.
About 2,000 people joined a rally against the so-called “hotspot” being built on the Aegean island despite the opposition of local residents and the mayor, fearful of the effect on the vital tourism industry.
Local media said police fired tear gas to disperse several dozen protesters who tried to break in to the construction site about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the port of Kos.
The island’s deputy mayor David Gerasklis said there were about 2,000 demonstrators in all, about double the number who turned out for a similar rally at the port on Wednesday…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rebellion? Eastern Europe ‘Starts Open Confrontation With Merkel’
Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia have declared their willingness to block the so-called Balkan route to stop the influx of migrants to Europe, German magazine Spiegel Online reported.
According to Slovakian Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajcak, it is wrong to rely on Turkey to resolve the refugee problem.
“As long as there is no common European strategy [on the migration issue], attempts of the states at the Balkan route to protect their borders are legitimate,” Lajcak said, cited by the magazine.
When it comes to Europe’s problems, European states cannot rely on Turkey, the diplomat stated. Lajcak also questioned the effectiveness of the distribution of refugees between the EU countries.
“It has just become an additional stimulus for the migration,” he said.
Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia are going to support Macedonia, who announced the closure of its border with Greece due to the ongoing inflow of refugees in order to block the so called Balkan route, the main itinerary used by refugees to reach Western Europe.
According to the article, in this way Eastern European states have “started an open confrontation” with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the refugee issue.
Earlier, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said that his country would close the borders for refugees, after receiving a quota of 37 thousand people. After that, Macedonia will have to stop the inflow of migrants. The foreign minister promised to assist Macedonia in the resolution of the problem and send the police and military forces to the country if necessary.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia to Clamp Down on Migrant Border Entries
Slovenia said Sunday it would clamp down on the number of migrants allowed to enter the country, ahead of tougher measures set to be announced by neighbouring Austria later this week to slow down the influx.
The two EU member states, which also belong to the passport-free Schengen zone, have become key transit nations for migrants and refugees trekking up through the Balkans to reach western Europe.
ADVERTISINGAustria, which has hardened its stance in recent weeks, will in the coming days announce a daily cap on the number of migrants allowed to enter the country via its main border crossing with Slovenia…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of Cubans Heading to Texas, Welfare Benefits Await
Thousands of Cuban refugees are stranded in Costa Rica and are now being moved into Mexico so they can illegally cross into the United States. Once on American soil, Cubans receive automatic immigration status adjustment and full welfare benefits. Texas is becoming the epicenter of this influx of Cubans.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
The mass migration into Europe of people from North Africa and the Middle East is one of the most significant cultural, social and economic challenges of our time.
Its repercussions will be of historic significance. And yet, gripped by impotence, we appear to have no coherent strategy for dealing with these seismic events.
We veer from hysteria at the sight of dead children washed up on Greek beaches to xenophobic fury at the news of migrants molesting Western women in public.
Politicians dither and recite cliches, while pressure groups issue politically correct platitudes. We are paralysed by inaction. And it’s easy to see why.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘Sexuality Pay Gap’: Lesbians Earn Significantly More Than Straight Women
A large-scale analysis of 29 studies has revealed a “sexuality pay gap” between gay and straight women, with heterosexual earning significantly less that their homosexual counterparts.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Sad, but not surprising news on the attack on Tommy. He is a marked man, and his face is known. This was probably one of the reasons he stepped away from the EDL, the real threat to him and his family. Really, there is a need for some patriots to volunteer to form a security team for him and family.
Just finished reading Tommy’s book. I have been expecting something like this and, in view of the attitude of the authorities who are deeply into the pockets of the muslims, he is not only going to get no official help but, if he hasn’t found out already, the attacks on him are being officially encouraged. Baucent’s suggestion of a volunteer security team might be the only way to prevent Tommy being killed.
Don’t expect any arrests any time soon.