The Belgian government is planning to establish “refugee” quotas for cities and towns. Belgian municipalities that fail to take in their designated allotments will be fined €75 per migrant per day.
In other news, two Christian women in Pakistan were abducted, forcibly converted to Islam, and then married off to their Muslim kidnappers.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, 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.
India’s Economic Growth to Reach 7.5 Per Cent in 2016
India’s Finance Minister yesterday tabled the country’s Economic Survey for 2015-16. The latter expects GDP growth to be about 8-10 per cent, one of the highest in the world and greater than China’s, driven by the service sector.
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) — India’s economic growth for the coming fiscal year will be around 7-7.5 per cent, this according to the Economic Survey for 2015-16 tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday.
For the current fiscal year, the survey estimated GDP growth at 7.6 per cent. The key sector will be services, which is expected to grow by 9.2 per cent in 2015-16.
According to the Survey, “India’s long run potential GDP growth is substantial, about 8-10 per cent.” If this were confirmed, India also would outpace the other Asian giant — China — which has been in a persistent financial crisis in recent years.
This comes just days ahead of the presentation of the Union Budget by the Finance minister, which will lay out the economic agenda of the current administration.
The Survey noted that “India stands as a haven of stability amidst gloomy international economic landscape”.
Its economic growth is amongst the highest in the world, helped by a reorientation of government spending toward needed public infrastructure.
However, the Survey cautioned that if the world economy remained weak, India’s growth would face considerable headwinds.
On the domestic side, two factors can boost consumption: increased spending from higher wages and allowances of government workers.
However, there are three downside risks: turmoil in the global economy might worsen the outlook of exports, oil prices might rise and dampen consumption, and worse still, the two factors might combine.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s quite a scoop from Joe Mullin over at Ars Technica. Apparently, Disney is getting a bit desperate on the whole TPP thing. The company, which has been having a rough go of things because of the next generation not giving a s*** about ESPN, decided to take things up a notch. CEO Bob Iger apparently emailed Disney employees asking them to contribute to DisneyPAC, specifically to help Disney pay for lobbyists to push the TPP across the finish line. They even made it so easy that employees can donate directly from their payroll. Here’s the letter, with some commentary (how can I resist?): …
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Would Require Reporting of Non-Vaccinated Children
A hearing at the state Capitol on Thursday was packed with parents who oppose the bill
A bill introduced in the state House would require the reporting of non-vaccinated students to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. Currently those records are kept with the school.
“What this bill is not about is requiring more students to get vaccinations. It’s about who will keep charge of the records,” said Rep. Dan Pabon, a Democrat representing Denver.
A hearing at the state Capitol on Thursday was packed with parents who oppose the bill.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI Scrubs References to Islam From Anti-Radicalization Game After CAIR Complaints
Character’s Arabic name has been replaced with a western-sounding one instead
Earlier this month, the FBI launched Don’t Be A Puppet, a browser-based video game designed to counter recruitment propaganda from violent extremists. However, after complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Bureau has removed and replaced references to Islam and Islamic terrorism on the site.
The FBI originally intended to launch the site in November, but progress was stalled by CAIR’s complaints. At the time, the Islamic lobby complained that the website, which is targeted at young people at risk of extremist recruitment, would lead to the “stigamitzation” and “bullying” of young Muslims. CAIR also contended that the website should instead focus on right-wing extremists, which they argued were a greater threat to American youth.
It seems that the FBI have caved to CAIR’s complaints. The IJ Review reports that a number of changes have been made to the game, including the replacement of an Arabic-speaking terrorist recruiting young people for an “overseas mission” with a Chinese-American animal rights activist recruiting people for an attack on an animal testing lab.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Hits Three Year Perception Low With Republicans
Since the first GOP presidential debate last August, Fox News Channel seems to have lost its perception mojo with its core right-leaning audience.
By mid February, FNC’s perception by Republican adults 18 and over had reached its lowest point in more than three years, and has declined by approximately 50% since January of this year
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
NY Daily News Targets Christie Over Trump Support With KKK Cover
The newspaper has run a series of front pages critical of Trump’s candidacy and supporters
A major New York newspaper critical of Donald Trump is turning its fire on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for endorsing Trump for president.
Saturday’s New York Daily News front page calls Christie “MAN WITH A KLAN,” displaying the governor alongside hooded Ku Klux Klan members.
Below the headline, the newspaper says: “Just days after ex-KKK leader urges haters to vote for Donald, Christie endorses him.”
[Comment: Desperation of bankster media getting really ovious now.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2016
This past year will be remembered as the year that freedom of speech (or the lack thereof) on U.S. campuses became international news. Even President Barack Obama felt compelled to comment on the issue (three separate times). Although those of us who have worked for years on the frontlines defending freedom of speech on campus think the media was a little late to the story, we can all agree that last year was an especially contentious one.
While some students filed lawsuits to fight campus “free speech zones,” others demanded new, restrictive campus speech codes. Some campuses renewed their commitments to freedom of speech, while others backpedaled. Perhaps the most striking trend of the last year was the number of professors, even tenured professors, who found their livelihoods under threat for what they said either on or off campus.
With an epic year behind us, we are proud to present the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s (FIRE’s) list of the worst schools for free speech in 2016.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Premier Stealing From Taxpayers (Again)
In order to combat climate change/global warming, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne will be introducing a cap and trade system. This will help increase gas prices by a nickel, and help increase natural gas prices even further. However, this means everything will cost even more! Of course, the nickel estimate is likely to be double that because this is the same Liberal government that said the cancellation of gas plants would be $40 million, which ballooned to $1.6 billion.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
British Pakistani Denounces the Rotherham Child Abusers and Their Defenders
Mohammed Shafiq, pictured, has spent years fighting against the gangs within the Pakistani community in Britain who target and rape white women in towns such as Rotherham.
Even our elected representatives refuse to face up to reality. Zafar Ali, the councillor for Keighley Central, responded to the jailing of 12 Bradford men of Pakistani origin who had gang-raped a 13-year-old girl, by saying many in the Pakistani community still believe ‘it takes two to tango’ and this child ‘may have played her part’.
As a father of four daughters — aged 12, 11, six and four months — and a Pakistani — I find this sort of attitude utterly offensive. Rather than condemning the vile abusers, a prominent Pakistani leader throws mud at the victim.
But such backward attitudes persist stubbornly among my countrymen. The anonymous Pakistanis who target me on Twitter delight in telling me that victims of grooming gangs are nothing but ‘worthless slags’ who were ‘asking for it’.
I’ve also lost count of the number of times fellow Pakistanis have accused me of being racist. Why don’t I fight white people who abuse children, rather than turning against my own? Why should we Pakistanis apologise for this abuse when the white community doesn’t?
This kind of argument turns my stomach. It is deluded, seeking an excuse for wrongdoing rather than facing reality, as if it is some kind of sick competition. Any examination of my work would show that I seek to expose groomers and abusers from all backgrounds.
Anyway, it is a depressing fact that Pakistani men are hugely over-represented when it comes to cases of street-gang sexual grooming.
From 2009 to 2011, out of 77 convictions for grooming, rape and other predatory sex crimes in the UK, no fewer than 67 involved Pakistani men.
Unlike many of the Pakistani community’s leaders, I will not pretend that these facts don’t exist. Not least because the vast majority of law-abiding Pakistanis are appalled by the grooming gangs. It is this honourable majority who are being misrepresented by their leaders. For me, the turning point came back in 2007 when I was asked to participate in a radio discussion about an Asian grooming gang in Lancashire.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria to Reproduce Legendary Socialist Era Bike
Balkanvelo, modernised replicas of ‘70-80s model
(ANSA) — TRIESTE, 22 FEB — Balkan Velo, the historic producer of the legendary socialist era bike ‘Balkan’, has announced that modernised replicas of the historic model will be available for sale as of March, novinite.com reported. Over one million copies of ‘Balkan’ bike have been sold during the ‘70-ies and ‘80-ies, with many Bulgarians today remembering it as the first bicycle they have had. Balkan Velo is based in the town of Lovec, north-central Bulgaria.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dead Piglet Inscribed With “Mother Merkel” Found at German Mosque
“In view of the circumstances it appears likely that this is a xenophobic act.”
That’s from a police spokesperson who spoke to dpa after a dead pig with Angela Merkel’s name “daubed on it” was discovered at a site where a mosque is being constructed in Leipzig.
“Mutti Merkel” was reportedly scribed on the animal’s corpse. “Mutti,” or “mom” is a term of endearment that’s been variously applied to the chancellor. When Merkel made the push to take in some 1 million refugees last year, she was dubbed a “kind hearted lion mother” by some Mid-East asylum seekers…
Leipzig mayor Burkhard Jung wasn’t particularly enamored with the display. “Insulting, reviling and smearing a whole religious community is narrow-minded and outrageous,” he said, adding that “leaving a dead pig with the words ‘Mutti Merkel’ on it isn’t just tasteless, but demonstrates fundamental failings of democratic education and conviction.”
It seemed to have escaped Jung that when you are mayor, “fundamental failings of democratic education” among the populace are ultimately your fault.
[Comment: What do these clowns expect when their own citizens wife’s and daughters were being raped on New Years in Cologne and the authorities implemented a news blackout? Without the mass migration those wife’s and daughter’s would not have suffered. The public is slowly realizing that the traitorous elite are following a planned deconstruction of their own nation state.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s New Citizen Monitoring Spyware May be Creepier Than NSA’s
The new spyware Trojan virus recently approved by Germany’s Interior Ministry may actually steal personal photos and notes stored on Germans’ phones and laptops
The German government’s new computer virus intended for spying in criminal cases has drawn scrutiny because of its potentially unlimited abilities.
While privacy-invading measures imposed by the United States’ National Security Agency have been at the forefront of news coverage, Germany’s new “open” approach to secretly spreading malware has also attracted scrutiny among privacy advocates.
“But we don’t know whether this program can intercept saved data, photographs we never share and make for ourselves, personal diaries, things that should be as secure as if they were stored at home,” Schleswig-Holstein regional lawmaker Patrick Breyer told Sputnik…
“In the case of the so-called Bavarian Trojan, Chaos Computer Club examined it and found that it is capable of doing much more than is legally allowed. For example, it had the ability to download another code and program in completely different functions,” Breyer told Sputnik.
The major issue is privacy, says Breyer, as people would lose control of personal data, which the German government itself has promised to protect.”Right now it’s like this: if an apartment is being searched, [the government] can’t conceal that. But if the spyware was installed, it’s completely unnoticeable. You may notice it, but only years later, and this is too deep of a meddling in our personal and often even intimate life,” Breyer told Sputnik.
[Comment: All that power will be directed at the anti-migration German citizens.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Glyphosate Herbicide Found in 14 Popular Beer Brands From Germany
Germany’s farm federation denies responsibility
Want a round of Round Up with your beer? The German beer industry is in shock after finding that 14 different popular beer brands have traces of the ‘probably’ carcinogenic herbicide, glyphosate — an ingredient found in Monsanto’s best-selling weed killer, Round Up. Germany’s Agricultural minster is playing down the risks in order to save one of the countries’ best-selling exports.
Glyphosate levels were as high as 30 micrograms per liter, even in beer that is supposed to be brewed from only water, malt, and hops. This finding by the Munich Environmental Institute calls into question the rampant spraying of Round Up on both GMO and non-GMO crops around the world, and casts doubt upon Germany’s 500-year-old beer purity law.
The EU Commission was looking to extend approval for the use of glyphosate in Germany, and other EU countries in April for another 15 years. The current license runs out this summer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hollywood: East Europe Getting More Attractive for Filmmakers
Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic leading
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — There has never been a better time for shooting movies in Eastern Europe according to Hollywood Reporter, the leading American news outlet specialised in cinema. Thanks to the system of incentives, tax rebates, versatile shooting locations and expert staff, countries like Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Estonia have made themselves more attractive than ever to foreign filmmakers, the Reporter stated. One of the first countries in the region to introduce an incentive system over a decade ago was Hungary, whose film production expenditure today accounts for 0.15% of GDP. Hungary offers generous tax incentives of up to 30% for film and television production. ‘Film Estonia’, the Estonian incentives programme introduced this year, aims to encourage cooperation between local and foreign film producers, also foreseeing up to 30% incentives. The Czech Republic, which has had its own incentives system in force for five years, offers 20% cash rebates for expenditures on the national level, with 28 million euros available for the current year. Lithuania has introduced its incentives system two years ago, with 20% cash rebates available through partnerships with local production companies.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Infantino Elected New FIFA President
Says FIFA earnings should be redistributed to federations
(ANSA) — Zurich, February 26 — Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino was elected president of FIFA international football federation on Friday. The former UEFA secretary-general won with 115 votes in the second round while rival Salman Bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain got 88 votes. In a speech in six different European languages — including Italian, which he said is “the language of my parents, who transmitted their values to me” — to the FIFA congress prior to the vote, Infantino said “nothing happens by chance” and that soccer-related earnings “were multiplied by three” during his seven-year tenure at UEFA.
He also said a majority FIFA earnings should be redistributed to the federations.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Banker’s Jail Term Raised in ‘Kidnap Abortion’ Case
From four to seven years
(ANSA) — Milan, February 23 — An appeals court on Tuesday raised from four to seven years the jail term of a former Deutsche Bank manager convicted of kidnapping a pregnant prostitute to try and force her to have an abortion.
The former manager, Marco Pracca, was found guilty of ordering the 2011 kidnapping of a call girl who was expecting his baby.
The woman was held prisoner in a house in the countryside for two days before she was released, without the abortion happening.
Prosecutors wanted Pracca sentenced to 14 years, arguing that the intended forced abortion amounted to a ransom payment and therefore he should be convicted of the more serious charge of “abduction for ransom” and not simple abduction.
Sentences ranging from 12 years and eight months to three years and eight months were handed down on Pracco’s five accomplices.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Eight Arrested for Corruption in Relation to Fire Safety
Suspects include four fire department officials
(ANSA) — Turin, February 23 — Three fire department officials and five professionals and entrepreneurs were arrested on Tuesday on charges of complicity in corruption in relation to the issuing of fire safety certificates and permits. The arrests were made in the provinces of Turin, Milan and Rome. A fourth firefighter who has been placed under investigation in Milan had his home searched.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Court Sends Election Law to Constitutional Court
Messina court upholds 8 of 13 claims
(ANSA) — Rome, February 24 — A court in Messina on Wednesday sent Italy’s new ‘Italicum’ election law for review to the Constitutional Court. The court recognised eight out of the petitioners’ 13 claims that the Italicum breached the Italian Constitution, judicial sources said. Petitions against the law were presented in various Italian courts. Petitioners object to the law mainly on the grounds that it awards an unfairly large bonus to the winner and does not sufficiently enable voters to pick their MPs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Denies Turning Vegetarian
‘Dumbfounded’ by social-network frenzy
(ANSA) — Rome, February 24 — Former premier Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday denied that he had become a vegetarian, as was widely reported this week, becoming a viral sensation.
“I am dumbfounded to find on social networks comments on my alleged dietary habits,” said the three-time premier and media magnate.
“I dare to point out that I have never made any statement on this score, either in public or in private”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rome Owed 400 Mn a Year by Vatican Says Raggi
Enough to fix city’s schools says M5S candidate
(ANSA) — Rome, February 25 — Rome is owed some 400 million euros in unpaid costs and services by the Vatican each year, anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) Rome mayoral candidate Virginia Raggi said Thursday.
If she wins in June she will work to recoup the money, she said.
She said 400 million euros would be enough to fix the capital’s schools.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Merkel to Siberia and Putin to Berlin: Germans Voice Their Political Choice
Many residents of the eastern German state of Saxony are convinced that the only person capable of saving their country from political chaos, the refugee influx and their “corrupt, anti-popular government” is Russian President Putin; actually taking to the streets while chanting an invitation for him to come.
Every Monday evening in Dresden, the capital of the the eastern German state of Saxony, thousands gather in front of the city’s Opera House mostly in protest of the German government’s refugee policies.
However, recently there are not only German flags being waved, also, somewhat surprisingly, there are plenty of Russian tricolors as well. There are lots of banners on display clearly signaling that the Dresdeners would gladly exchange their Chancellor Angela Merkel for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the German Die Welt correspondent Michael Pilz.
Among most popular are: “Peace with Russia — No More War in Europe” and “1945: The Russians Are Coming — 2015: Russians, Please Come.”
Another popular chant is “Putin — to Berlin, Merkel — to Siberia”. As the newspaper explains, the slogan reveals not only the political preferences of the Saxonians, but the former place of work of the Russian president.
It is already a well-known fact that Vladimir Putin’s career as a KGB officer included a five-year term in Dresden.
However, the relationship between Russia and Saxony was not always very friendly. Back in the times of the German Democratic Republic (1949-1990), commonly known as Eastern Germany, the Saxonians did not favor the Soviet Union, which was considered the “occupying power.”
Back in 1979 one Dresdener reportedly sent a letter to Eastern Germany TV, saying that no one can “make Russians out of Germans. Germany will always remain German.” The Soviets were then denounced as “colonialists” and “subhuman,” and the government of Eastern Germany — as a Soviet sycophant.
The situation changed only when Mikhail Gorbachev, who accelerated the fall of the Berlin Wall, came to power back in 1985.
However, nowadays many in the streets, the newspaper says, plead for President Putin to come in and save the Saxonians from political chaos, the refugee influx and their “corrupt, anti-popular government.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Renzi Says Europe Should ‘Stop Going Around Problems’
‘Let’s stop just complaining’ says Italian premier
(ANSA) — San Casciano Val di Pesa, February 26 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday said that Italy and Europe could return to being leaders if they were to face problems head-on.
“Let’s stop just complaining, let’s get to work, with the knowledge that if Europe stops going around problems and faces the issues with courage, it’s unstoppable, and we go back to being what we were: Italy a leading country in the world and Europe a point of reference for civility and values for all,” Renzi said, speaking at a factory inauguration near Florence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
School Calls Police on 15-Year-Old for Looking at UKIP Website
Staff at a school have called the police after a pupil looked at content from UKIP and the English Defence League.
The staff called the police, who questioned the 15-year-old on whether he was a ‘UKIP activist’, reports the BBC.
Mick Taylor said his son’s behaviour, checking the UKIP website, and watching an EDL video in class, was called ‘inappropriate’ by police.
Taylor said his son was left feeling “like a terrorist” after Wildern School staff called police.
Staff defended the measure, however, saying it was in line with their safeguarding procedures.
Schools are expected to identify children suspected of being influenced by extremist material under new counter terrorism laws.
Staff at Wildern School called 101 after the student was observed viewing the sites.
A specialist team was in contact with the school after the
“If my son had been accessing these websites on a regular basis — then maybe there would be cause for concern,” Mr Taylor told the BBC.
“But it’s a one-off incident and I don’t think it merited such an extreme section of the police coming in.”
Head teacher Marie-Louise Litton said: “I wish to make it absolutely clear that the decision to pursue the matter further was not made by the school.”
A spokesman from Hampshire Constabulary said: “The school contacted us in good faith and in complete accordance with their safeguarding procedures.
“We have a duty to respond to these concerns and we spoke to the pupil and his father informally about comments and internet usage at school.”
UKIP’s deputy leader Paul Nuttall said: “I don’t know how you can be extremists when you have 22 MEPs, a member of Parliament, three lords and 500 councillors all over the country,” he said.
“We’re certainly not extremists.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Airport on Sale With 89% Discount
Ciudad Real was shut down three years ago, it cost 450 million
MADRID — A Spanish airport which cost 450 million Euros 8 years ago and was shut down three years ago, was put on sale at a price of 50 million Euros with a 89% discount on building expenses, the Madrid press reported.
The cost of the Ciudad Real airport, south of the Spanish capital, was established by the Spanish tribunal which is managing the assets of the bankrupt company which used to run it.
The receivers set up an auction for the airport last year but the only offer that came through was by a Chinese group, it was worth only 10 million Euros and the auction was annulled.
The Ciudad Real airport, built in the years of the Spanish economic boom before the property bubble burst, was closed in 2012 for lack of traffic and passengers.
According to El Mundo, the judge of Ciudad Real, Carmelo Ordonez, ordered the companies interested in running the airport to present a sustainable plan for its reactivation.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jim’ll Fix it Producer Says Jimmy Savile Should Not Have Gotten a Children’s Show
Roger Ordish, who produced the show during its popular 19-year run on the BBC, said sick Savile’s presence was often ‘frightening’ for youngsters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Leader Corbyn Joins Thousands of Anti-Trident Protesters in London
The Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn joined thousands of campaigners against the renewal of the Trident nuclear program in central London on Saturday. A long time anti-nuclear activist, Corbyn said that if elected leader, “he would seek to replace Trident not with a generation of nuclear weapons but jobs that retain community skills”.
The Labour chief addressed the cheering CND rally, saying:
“Too often the debate on nuclear weapons is presented as a cynical set of alternatives that are brought forward. I think we should consider for a moment what a nuclear weapon actually is. It is a weapon of mass destruction.”
“If ever used it [nuclear weapons] can only kill large numbers of civilians. They have only once been used in war and that was in Japan in 1945 and we still see the consequences in the cancer and destruction and the horrors of the very old people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were used in testing in the Pacific and other places. The victims in the Marshall Islands are still living with the consequences of those tests as indeed the people in Australia and the US, Russia and many others.”
Corbyn has long campaigned against nuclear weapons, having been a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the national chair of the Stop the War Coalition from June 2011 until September 2015.
“Everyone who is about to make a decision on what we do about our nuclear weapons, should think about the humanitarian effects on wholly innocent people anywhere across this globe — if they are ever used,” Corbyn said.
“Britain is a signatory to a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). That treaty came about because, in part, of the work of the Labour government from 1964 to 1970.”
“The NPT has worked in many ways. Those countries that did not have nuclear weapons for the vast majority have not taken possession of them. Whole parts of our globe have become nuclear weapons free zones — Latin America, Africa and central Asia for example. It is a credit to the leaders of all those countries that it was possible and was brought about. They have to be commended for that.”
In his speech, Corbyn stressed:
“If elected leader I would seek replacing Trident not with generation of nuclear weapons but jobs that retain the community skills.”
Corbyn’s decision to join the rally against the renewal of UK’s nuclear deterrent program has infuriated many Labour MPs, who claim he is campaigning against the party’s policy on Trident.
At the same time, Labour-supporting unions criticized Corbyn’s stance, saying that any move to not replace Trident will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs, with the Labour Party claiming 19,000 jobs depending on Trident in Scotland alone.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Macedonia: EU: Conditions for Credible Elections Missing
Early elections scheduled for 24 April
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — The conditions for credible elections in Macedonia are still not in place according to the evaluations made by the EU and the USA, Mia agency reported. The early elections, scheduled for 24 April, are envisioned by the Przino agreement, signed last year in July between the EU and the major political parties in Macedonia in order to overcome the political crisis. The spokesperson of the European Commission, Maja Kocijancic, called upon the local political leaders to continue making efforts to ensure the conditions for a credible electoral process in which all citizens and parties can participate freely as soon as possible.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Minya: Young Christians Jailed for ‘Contempt of Islam’
For the Catholic Church spokesman, many judges in Minya province are Salafist. What happened there would not have happened in Cairo. For the teenagers’ attorney and human rights groups, the kids simply mocked the acts of violence of the Islamic State. Police has too much power.
Cairo (AsiaNews) — A court in Minya province sentenced three teenaged Copts to five years in prison for contempt of Islam after they were seen in a video mocking Muslim prayers. A judge sent a fourth defendant, aged 15, to a juvenile detention centre for an indefinite period.
The harsh sentence raises once more the issue of human rights in Egypt in President Abdelfattah al-Sisi’s Egypt.
Defence lawyer Maher Naguib said the four had not intended to insult Islam in the video, but merely to mock the beheadings carried out by jihadists of the Islamic State group.
In the video, one teenager can be seen kneeling on the ground and reciting Muslim prayers whilst others stand behind him, laughing. Later one of them is seen making a sign with his thumb to indicate the beheading of the one who is kneeling.
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, an independent rights group, said ahead of Thursday’s judgment that it watched the video and found that the four teenagers were performing scenes “imitating slaughter carried out by terrorist groups”.
The video was filmed on a mobile phone in January 2015 when the three teenagers who were sentenced to five years were aged between 15 and 17.
Another rights group, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, said that between 2011 and 2013, 42 defendants were tried in similar cases and 27 of them were convicted.
Speaking to AsiaNews about the harsh sentence, the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt, Fr Rafic Greiche, said that “everything depends on the judges.”
“Already at the time of Hosni Mubarak and even more so under Mohammed Morsi, judges, then and now, are inspired by Salafism, traditional and conservative Islam.”
“The place where the incident happened, Minya province, is known for its ethnic and religious tensions. If the incident had occurred in Cairo, the boys would still be free and no one would have condemned them.”
“We must keep in mind that in recent years many Muslim scholars who proposed a modern exegesis of Islam have also been accused of the same offence.”
For Fr Rafic, security under al-Sisi has improved. However, “the police has greater powers to face the challenges of terrorism, and often behaves as if it were above the law. This also applies to the case of the torture and killing of Giulio Regeni, the young Italian researcher.”
“Just two days ago, the president, inaugurating the project of the second Suez Canal, pointed the finger at the police whose modus operandi is a stain on Egypt’s reputation within the international community.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italian-Palestinian Accord for Environmental Protection
Signed in Bethlehem by Minister Galletti
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, FEBRUARY 24 — A memorandum of understanding on environmental protection and sustainable development was signed in Bethlehem (West Bank) yesterday by Minister of Environment Sea and Land protection Gian Luca Galletti and his Palestinian counterpart, the president of the Environment Quality Authority, Adalah K. A. Atteireh.
The agreement — the first one with Palestine regarding this sector — entails collaborations, mission exchanges, information, good practices and technical assistance.
The fields of cooperation are the collecting and handling of garbage, emergency-response and environmental catastrophies, environmental governance, education activities linked to sustainable development.
The Memorandum provides for the management of joint- programmes on environmental protection and it will be followed by a technical mission to promote concrete initiatives in Palestine.
A Steering Commitee will promote the Accord facilitating partnerships between scientific and academic institutions and between organisations and civil society.
“Signing this accord — declared at the end of the cerimony minister Galletti, assisted by Consul General Davide La Cecilia — is a demonstration of Italian support towards the strenghtening of Palestinian institutions. This falls within a wealth of activities that are testament to the wide co-operation between our two governments, with the addition of the important environmental dimension keenly felt by the Palestinian side”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan and China’s Firms to Set up $1.3bn Fertilizer Project
Agreement for the construction of an industrial complex in Aqaba
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, FEBRUARY 24 — The national Jordanian Phosphate Mines Company and Chinese companies have set up a project to construct JD1 billion ($1.3 billion) venture on fertilizers in the southern city of Aqaba, according to reports on Wednesday.
The Jordan and China’s Chongqing Minmetal and Machinery Import and Export Co. (CMMC) signed an agreement to build the industrial complex, with the first phase of the project to be at the cost of $350.
“We are currently in the process of determining the amount of land that we will lease to the two sides for the industrial complex and procedures are going ahead for the implementation of this new significant investment in Aqaba,” told the Jordan Times.
Officials in Amman hope the new project would breath life into the struggling company and the fertilizers produced by the industrial complex will be exported to several markets across the world. Thousands of jobs would also be created from the project, helping to absorb numbers of unemployed among the rapidly growing population.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Souvenir Shops Sell Out of Putin Mugs
“One of the calmest periods [in Damascus] since the start of the war,” is due to Russia’s hit on Jaysh al Islam chief Zahran Alloush, Reuters wrote on Friday, citing local sources.
Alloush was something of a hero among some Sunnis but as we said in the wake of the airstrike that killed him in December, he was, in reality, a radical militant who advocated the extermination of Alawites and Shiites in Syria.
His death was emblematic of what the Russian intervention represents to many Syrians who are still loyal to Bashar al-Assad and the Alawite government. As we’ve noted before, regardless of how skeptical you are regarding the Western media’s portrayal of the Assad government, there’s no argument to be made that Assad is some kind of benevolent statesman. He’s not. Plain and simple. Indeed, he himself admits that the Mid-East isn’t ready for democracy (he’s said as much on a number of occasions). But the fact is this: Sunni extremist elements have made life a living hell in Syria and the country was much better off when Assad was firmly in power. Even if he wielded that power irresponsibly.
So when Russia kills commanders like Alloush, the Syrian people feel some sense of hope that at the very least, Vladimir Putin, the Ayatollah, and Bashar al-Assad will be able to restore some sense of normalcy to everyday life. For those in the West who constantly spew the whole “Syrians want democracy and it’s the international community’s duty to support the opposition to that end” line, have a look at the images from the aftermath of the suicide blasts that killed dozens in Homs and Damascus last Sunday (see here).
If that’s what a “democratic revolution” looks like, then we can assure you that Syrians would just prefer to be governed by an autocrat.
In any event, we say all of that to introduce the following punchline and image. From Reuters: “Bashar al-Seyala, who owns a souvenir shop in the Old City, said he had just sold out of mugs printed with Putin’s face.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Islamic State’s Ancient Jihadi Tactics “Shock” The West
Because the West refuses to acknowledge Islam’s true doctrines and history, it must ever confront the jihad blindfolded and blindsided
As Western politicians and other talking heads insist that the Islamic State (“ISIS”) has “nothing whatsoever to do with Islam,” not only does ISIS correctly implement Islamic law-whether by demanding jizya from subjugated Christians or by sexually enslaving “infidel” women-but even the “caliphate’s” arcane jihadi tactics belong to Islam
Consider a recently exposed “recruitment” tactic of ISIS: abducting, indoctrinating, and beating young children in order to mold them into explosive-vest wearing “martyrs” who hurl themselves onto “infidels”:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
EU’s Lifted Sanctions Against 170 Belarusians, 3 Firms Take Effect
The European Union’s terminated sanctions against 170 Belarusian nationals and three companies entered into force on Saturday after being published on the 28-member bloc’s legal portal.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Brussels decided against extending sanctions against the 170 Belarusian nationals and three companies on Thursday, but kept in place a one-year arms embargo against Minsk. Four individuals linked to the unsolved disappearances of two opposition leaders, a journalist and a business also remain under restrictive measures.
“This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union,” the Council Implementing Regulation stated.
A former Soviet republic, Belarus has been under US and EU sanctions for about a decade, including visa bans and financial restrictions on Belarusian individuals and entities.
The West has accused the Belarusian authorities of persecuting the political opposition and denying citizens’ basic rights and freedoms, in particular, freedom of expression. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has insisted that the accusations are groundless and that putting pressure on Minsk was pointless.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Women in Pakistan Forcibly Converted to Islam and Married Off to Their Kidnappers
Tahira, 21, and Reema Bibi, 20, were abducted near their home last December. The Muslim men who took them, raped them and forcibly married them, and then kept them segregated. At least 1,000 Christian women are forcibly converted in Pakistan each year. If they escape, the police arrests a family member.
Lahore (AsiaNews) — Tahira, 21, and Reema Bibi, 20, are two Pakistani Christian women who were abducted on 2 December 2015 from near their home in Sargodha (Punjab) as they returned together from work.
The two Muslim men who took the two young women, raped them, and then forcibly married them. Afterwards, they kept them segregated in their Islamabad home, this according to British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), an activist group that works for religious freedom in Pakistan, and monitors the continuous violations against minorities, especially women, which the government does not punish.
Forced marriages have been a scourge in the Muslim nation for years, one that does not seem close to any resolution. The case of Tahira and Reema is emblematic. On 11 February, Tahira managed to escape, but her Muslim “husband” filed a complaint with police, who immediately arrested six members of her family. The relatives were released thanks to pressure from human rights groups, but the authorities have ordered the family to return Tahira to her “husband.”
The BPCA reported a similar case a few days ago. A Christian woman was seized and forced to marry the Muslim owner of the house where she worked as a cleaner. After she managed to escape thanks to a colleague, the police ordered her family to hand her over to the authorities; otherwise, they would arrest a relative.
According to a report by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace in Pakistan, at least 1,000 Pakistani women and girls are forced into Muslim marriages and made to convert to Islam each year. However, the real number is certainly much higher, since many incidents go unreported.
The aforementioned report found that forced marriages usually follow a similar pattern: females between the ages of 12 and 25 are abducted, made to convert to Islam, and then married to the abductor or an associate.
Even if a case goes to court, the victims are threatened and pressured by their “husband” and his family to declare that their conversion was voluntary.
Victims are often sexually abused, forced into prostitution, and suffer domestic abuse or even wind up in the human trafficking racket. Those who try to rebel are told that they “are now Muslims and that the punishment for apostasy is death”.
In November 2015, the Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Council of Islamic Ideology opposed a law on “forced conversion”, sparking dismay and protests among Pakistani Hindus and Christians.
Since most minority Pakistanis are very poor, it is hard for them to have adequate political representation and receive justice.
That of forced marriages is just one of many issues that religious and ethnic minorities face as they are deprived of their rights, even though they are formally guaranteed by the Constitution.
A landmark Supreme Court ruling on 19 June 2014 took note of the injustice meted out to the country’s minorities.
Headed by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, the bench included justices Azmat Saeed and Mushir Alam. It found that the government is complicitous in the acts of injustice. Unfortunately, the court’s ruling did not spark any reaction from the government.
In the latest case, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has called for the return of Tahira and Reema to their families and criminal proceedings against their captors and rapists. Established in 1994, the AHRC is based in Hong Kong.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
China: Retired and Disabled Soldiers “Invade” Beijing to Demand Justice
A large group of former members of the People’s Liberation Army joins ordinary Chinese in the capital to petition the government. Despite the party rhetoric, PLA veterans complain that the government likes to forget about them when they are disabled or retired from the service. In the capital police beat protesters.
Beijing (AsiaNews) — A large group of retired and disabled People’s Liberation Army veterans are joining the thousands of people “invading” Beijing this week ahead of the upcoming National People’s Congress.
Traditionally, this is a time when Chinese present petitions and grievances against local governments and administrators. Increasingly, this has been met with arrests and violence.
Whilst Beijing likes to show off its military and boast about its prowess, PLA veterans told Radio Free Asia’s Chinese Service that the government also likes to forget about them when they are disabled or retired from the service.
Soldiers and officers staged a protest outside the Central Military Commission in Beijing last week in order “to get the government to remember what it owes its military pensioners”.
“Our demands are that they should definitely implement the payment of some of our pensions,” said Cui Liyi, a soldier from Hubei. “The government should be paying them, but it keeps deferring the issue, and dragging its feet, and the payment never comes.”
For Cui, even though PLA soldiers did so much for their country, they are now facing old age with little income or other protection. “We want an answer as soon as possible, so we can live peacefully and enjoy our old age,” he said.
For making their demands, former soldiers were met with beatings and detentions. “We are in the police station right now,” said a disabled veteran surnamed Yao. “Our platoon leader Qiao was beaten up by police.”
Another veteran surnamed Xu said that he too was beaten. “Disabled PLA veterans come to Beijing to tell them about their issues, and then we get beaten up by the Beijing police,” Xu explained. “There are more than 100 people here right now . . . our platoon leader is still lying on the street outside.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
You’re on File: Exclusive, Inside Story on China’s Database of Americans
“There is a significant counterintelligence threat…”
An insider in China has revealed to the Epoch Times that he helped build a database that is now being used to handle Americans’ personal information stolen in cyberattacks.
The FBI revealed on June 4, 2015, that a cyberattack, allegedly from China, stole personal information on close to 21.5 million U.S. federal employees after breaking into the computer files of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Subsequent Chinese cyberattacks have also targeted personal data on Americans, including the February 2015 breach of Anthem that stole close to 80 million records.
Speculation began soon after on how the Chinese regime could use the data. A July 2015 report from the Congressional Research Service states “experts in and out of government” suspect the Chinese regime may be building a database on federal employees it could use for espionage.
With a database like this, the Chinese regime can have a systematic roadmap of Americans and their connections, and information it can use to blackmail government employees, recruit insiders as spies, and monitor people who speak out against its policies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe Decries Factionalism at Lavish 92nd Birthday Party
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday blamed foreign interference for the infighting and succession battles plaguing his party as the world’s oldest leader celebrated his 92nd birthday at a lavish affair.
Thousands of party loyalists, foreign representatives and members of the public watched as Mugabe released 92 balloons in the air, with songs and ululations ringing out around him.
Several cakes were on display at the public festivities on Saturday, one in the shape of Africa, another a whopping 92-kilogram replica of the party venue: the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a UNESCO world heritage site built in the 13th Century as the headquarters of the Munhumutapa empire…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
In terms of possible responses and consequences of economic collapse in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, the events in Venezuela could happen anywhere when governments lose control of the populace.
Venezuela is in complete chaos as a result of their economic collapse.
And as a result, state-rationed food and groceries have run out, prices are hyper-inflated and millions of people are waiting in huge lines for any goods that are available. Black markets have gone boom, with neighbors making necessities available to other neighbors, but they must avoid crackdown from a jealous State that is desperate to hang onto power.
The free-fall of oil prices on the global stage has snapped the South American socialist nation into sudden and harsh disaster. Venezuela has slightly more oil than Saudi Arabia, and trades the second largest volume, after OPEC, and was even more vulnerable than Russia to the economic warfare that has taken place in the last few years.
Things are very bad now, and they were already falling apart. Nicolas Maduro took over after Hugo Chavez’ death in 2013, but without the force of Chavez’ cult of personality, he has been unable to hold an already unrealistic economy together any longer — and the people are on the verge of complete revolt.
*Editor’s Note: The following reports were taken in 2014 but are as relevant to the conversation today as they were then*
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barcelona Waits for Refugees… Who Aren’t Coming
Half a year after Barcelona launched a municipal plan to welcome refugees fleeing wars in places like Syria and Iraq, Spain’s second largest city is still waiting for them to arrive.
“This fills us with rage,” Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, a former activist born out of the anti-austerity Indignados protest movement, told AFP.
“The city is ready at the technical level, all our services are ready and residents are waiting with open arms. But they don’t arrive.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Explosive new biography lays ex-PM’s betrayal bare
Tom Bower’s new book Broken Vows: Tony Blair — The Tragedy of Power lays bare how PM presided over a silent conspiracy to change face of UK
Tony Blair presided over a silent conspiracy to change the face of Britain for ever with mass immigration, an explosive book reveals.
He ordered his Labour government never to discuss in public the supposed ‘advantages’ of the unprecedented influx.
But behind the scenes ministers were instructed to wave tens of thousands of asylum seekers into the UK under cover of their being ‘economic migrants’. Astonishingly, the minister Mr Blair put in charge of borders ruled against deporting failed claimants because it would be too ‘emotional’.
The main aim of allowing in millions of people was to make the country ‘see the benefit of a multicultural society’. The Blair government did not see its job as being to ‘control immigration’. The policy is revealed today in a Daily Mail serialisation of an authoritative biography of the former prime minister by Tom Bower, an internationally-acclaimed investigative journalist.
Broken Vows : Tony Blair the Tragedy of Power Hardback
by Tom Bower
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Publication Date: 03/03/2016
Category: Biography: historical, political & military
ISBN: 9780571314201
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy ‘Model’ For Other EU Members on Migrants — Juncker
Renzi, strong European initiative needed
(ANSAmed) — Rome, February 26 — Italy has exhibited “exemplary conduct” on the migrant crisis and could be “a model” for other “more hesitant” European countries, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after Rome talks with Premier Matteo Renzi Friday.
Premier Matteo Renzi said that a “strong European initiative” was needed to bolster solidarity in the face of the migrant and refugee emergency. “We cannot imagine solidarity in one direction only, either you always show solidarity or you never do,” he said, voicing the hope that Juncker “can win the contest with other heads of government that do not have the same sensitivity” and want to stop migrants.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mark Zuckerberg: German Refugee Policies ‘Inspiring, ‘ U.S. Should ‘Follow Their Lead’
Mark Zuckerberg praised Germany for their “inspiring” refugee policies during a visit to the country and reiterated his commitment to combating “hate speech” on Facebook.
Speaking at a town hall event in Berlin, the 31-year old billionaire said German leadership in the refugee crisis has been “insipiring” and a “role model for the world.”
“I hope other countries follow Germany’s lead on this,” he added. “I hope the U.S. follows Germany’s lead on this.”
Speaking at the same event, Zuckerberg also emphasised his commitment to tackling “hate speech” on Facebook.
“Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community,” he said. “Until recently in Germany I don’t think we were doing a good enough job, and I think we will continue needing to do a better and better job.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
New York Board Votes to Allow Illegals to Teach, Obtain Professional Licenses
Illegal immigrants may soon be teachers, pharmacists, dentists and other professions that require certification in New York.
The state’s Board of Regents has voted to adopt new regulations allowing individuals granted executive amnesty — via President Obama’s 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — to apply for teacher certification and other professional licenses.
“These are young people who came to the U.S. as children,” State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said in a statement Wednesday. “They are American in every way but immigration status.”
“They’ve done everything right,” she continued. “They’ve worked hard in school, some have even served in the military, but when it’s time to apply for a license, they’re told ‘Stop. That’s far enough. We shouldn’t close the door on their dreams. Allowing these young people to get professional licenses will open up a new world of economic opportunity for them.”
The New York Department of Education provides licenses for 53 professions.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Not Ready for Refugees? Belgium May Fine Towns for Not Taking in Migrants
The Belgian government has prepared a plan for the forced resettlement of refugees in the country, according to the Belgian news network RTBF.
The Belgian government will provide local authorities with migrant quotas, and municipal heads who refuse to receive refugees will be subject to a fine of 75 euros per day for each asylum seeker, the Belgian news network RTBF reported.
According to the RTBF, the quotas for the heads of the 589 Belgian municipalities are due to be issued before the end of April, with the government planning to summarize the results on November 1.
“‘Bad students’ will face sanctions in the form of a daily 75-euro fine. This money will be sent to those municipalities that receive more refugees than they are required. In a sense, this is a stick and carrot policy,” the RTBF said.
The broadcaster added that it has no data on the total number of migrants to be resettled on Belgian territory.
Right now, about 35,000 asylum seekers are registered at temporary and permanent refugee centers across Belgium.
According to the EU border agency Frontex, around 1.8 million migrants entered the territory of the EU in 2015.
Most of them prefer to go to Greece via Turkey and then proceed onward to wealthier countries with more generous offers. More than 100,000 refugees have reportedly arrived in Greece in the past few months.
The European Commission said, for its part, that the current global migration crisis is the biggest such deadlock since the end of the Second World War.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Crisis Disunity: A De Facto Solution Takes Shape in the Balkans
Angela Merkel is still hoping for a European solution to the refugee crisis. But with patience running out, Austria has joined countries on the Balkan Route to impose Plan B. But with the closure of borders, the situation in Greece is becoming dangerous.
It is a recent Wednesday morning and on the glass-walled 20th floor of the Ringturm highrise in the heart of Vienna, generals in their moss-green uniforms have gathered along with other decorated military officers and top-level government officials. The view is expansive, stretching to the Vienna Woods in the east and to the forests on the banks of the Danube River to the west. One can see as far as the Slovakian border and to the lowlands at the border to Hungary — two of the frontiers the country intends to immediately begin protecting in an attempt to block the inflow of more refugees, absent a functioning European plan.
Defense Minister Hans Peter Doskozil, a Social Democrat who has only been in office for four weeks, is speaking to a small group. He is not one to shy away from conflict. Instead of criticizing Austria for introducing a ceiling on the number of refugees it is willing to allow into the country each day, the minister says, the European Commission should finally fulfill its obligation to come up with a European solution to the refugee crisis. Otherwise, the current trends will only be magnified, he says. “Every EU member state is currently withdrawing to its own position and is taking its own national measures.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Unilateral Migrant Initiatives ‘Dangerous’, Walls Only Illusions, Italy Says
Italy tells Greece against giving one nation all reponsibility
(see related) (ANSA) — Rome, February 25 — Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias that “unilateral” initiatives by individual European Union member States to tackle the migrant-refugee crisis were “dangerous” in a telephone conversation on Thursday. “Italy considers unilateral initiatives in the immigration issue to be dangerous and does not agree with positions that aim to assign an individual country, such as Greece, with the responsibility of facing the migratory crisis,” Gentiloni said, according to a foreign ministry statement. “Everyone’s commitment is needed but effective solutions can only be adopted within the context of a European commitment for solidarity that is widely shared”.
Raising walls in response to the European migrant crisis “only generates illusions”, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said ahead of a meeting of the justice and home affairs council in Brussels on Thursday. “Let’s hope the issue with Vienna is overcome because walls generate only illusions,” said Alfano in reference to Wednesday’s ‘countersummit’ held by Austria and Balkan states in favour of restricting the arrival of migrants, with controls that Greece fears will isolate it. “The country that raises a wall resolves the problem momentarily, but in the end the system will collapse and the problem will affect everybody once more,” Alfano continued. “It is better to think about it first and organise the redistribution system,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Christian Bakers Harassed for Refusing to Make Gay Wedding Cake
“See you in Hell, lady,” one message said
The Christian owners of a bakery in Texas claim they’ve been on the receiving end of threats after refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple.
According to Edie and David Delorme, the owners of the Kern’s Bake Shop in Longview, Texas, the trouble started when Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo came to the store asking for a wedding cake.
“I was up front with them,” Edie told Fox News’ Todd Starnes, citing their family’s religious convictions. “I said, ‘I’m sorry but we don’t provide wedding cakes for homosexual marriages.”
The bakers say they offered the couple a list of other establishments that could accommodate their request, but say the men simply left without further discussion…
Social commentator Steven Crowder illustrated the hypocrisy of the left in a recent stunt, showing how leftists routinely attack Christian bakers who reserve the right to refuse services based on their religious beliefs, while ignoring Muslim bakers who turn gays away with little to no backlash.
[Comment: Activists are intentionally targeting Christian bakeries.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Belgian municipalities that fail to take in their designated allotments will be fined €75 per migrant per day.”
Let’s go and search for our enemy. Oh, our enemy is our elected/appointed asses.
€75 per migrant per day? That’s mean. For a Muslim/jihadi invader the price must be €75,000 for they enrich Europe with color Red.
EU the embodiment of evil that Prophet Daniel talked about : You are the Satan himself/ or herself ( in case not to annoy feminists). All the sins, transgressions and vices of the Earth since Cain and Abel pale to the unimaginable hells and wickedness you are creating for the Natives by empowering the invaders.
EU . . . you are replacing Native population with invaders.. . . If you do not feel compassion for the Native Europeans how could you feel compassion for others like say Syrians, Libyans or Russians?
Do godless rulers become beats in human suits? poo on you. Hypocrites.
You have no human feelings.
New dictionary entry.
ISLAMANAUSIA; A ‘cancerous’ death cult.; Objective; The path to Armageddon..
An evil ideology derived from a war loving murderous paedophile whose prophesy was apparently spewed by Satan himself.
For the creation of living ‘zombies’, fodder for false martyrdom, to instil a deluded selfish belief, to murder and destroy to ‘attain’ an eternity of sexual perversion and depravity.
ISLAMANAUSIA;
Spread and use this word, get it into the dictionary.
Imagine socialist Israel having a similar compulsory system in 1948 Or 1967 – or now. The Western European populations and their representatives are very seriously messed up in their public heads and becoming more so every day. Muslims see that and wait no wait. It’s a once in lifetime of evil opportunity to trash the kufar. Since pre World War Two we have come full circle and constructed a veritable and equally useless Maginold Line in fact and fancy. How will law and order be established?
“The Belgian government is planning to establish “refugee” quotas for cities and towns. Belgian municipalities that fail to take in their designated allotments will be fined €75 per migrant per day.”
Incredible. What does this tell us? Is it desperation? Or malevolence? It’s got to be one or the other hasn’t it? It’s certainly not naivety.
Thats blackmail and in turn , corrupt.
And the Belgian people are OK with this?
I presume that these are elected officials inflicting this misery on their own indigenous populace. Time to put them in their place people.
Is cash the only western value now? Is importation of savages and death the cutting edge industry to be in until one day it morphs into the despatch of the incredibly inept importers?
The Belgian people have no say, just as in ALL western European countries; and those ruling western European countries can only carry out their nefarious policies because of complete obeisance of the traitorous police–their enforcers.
Austria and the Balkans are forcing Greece to deal with the invasion at point of entry. The “trapped” (who can turn around and go home at any point) migrants now inside of mainland Greece will cause a lot of trouble and misery (news photos of the filth around the transport hubs around Athens from which the migrants will not move are disturbing and will be an enormous health hazard), but the entry point is the islands which Greece has ferried over to be shuttled directly into Europe to deal with. Various reports indicate they are shutting off the ferries or slowing the schedule to a crawl from the islands into mainland Greece to spare the primary Greek population. As soon as it appeared that the Greek mainland was about to be turned into a colossal refugee camp the choke-hold was moved from the Greek Macedonian border to the islands. Turkey will do nothing until the migrant hordes back up into Turkey. The Greek isles, beautiful with breathtaking harbors and coastlines, will not support masses of people even temporarily. They are rocks sitting in the sea and the migrants will soon realize that is as far as they are going into Europe. The humanitarian crisis is the only way to stop this catastrophe and it will be right next to and in Turkey.
The solution is rather concerning both the European and US border ‘crisis’ is rather simple, start cutting back on all of the generous handouts to a bare subsistence level ( why should the ‘new arrivals’ get more benefits than the poor and elderly in the ‘invaded’ nations?) the arrivals will soon phone their countrymen ( using those ‘$600.00 ‘smart phones’ we see in the news photos) that the gravy train is drying up.
My apologies for the poor editing of the above reply.