Austrian Minister of Defense Hans Peter Doskozil announced that Austrian troops are ready to deploy at the border crossing between Austria and Italy in the Brenner Pass. His announcement followed a violent clash between pro-migrant demonstrators and Austrian police at the crossing.
In other news, the Hungarian military has begun reinforcing the fence along Hungary’s border with Serbia.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Insubria, JD, JM, LK, 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.
Canada One of Seven Nations ‘Most Vulnerable’ To a Debt Crisis
A new analysis suggests that Canada is one of the top contenders to face a debt crisis and a recession within the next two or three years. This report comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced a budget that comes with a $30 billion deficit. So both the consumer and government are broke.
According to Forbes magazine, Canada is one of seven countries “most vulnerable” to a debt crisis. The reason for this gloomy scenario is due to both the public and private sector. The government is taking on vast sums of debt in the next four years, while consumers have overextended themselves with mortgages and auto loans.
Overall, consumer spending has surpassed economic growth, and Canadians are borrowing all the time to maintain their spending habits. Eventually, a financial crisis will transpire and consumers will cease borrowing.
[Comment: The housing market is grossly inflated.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In 20 Words the ECB Explains the Business Model of Every Central Bank
There were two notable things about a report released by the ECB this morning as part of its Occasional Paper Series titled “Profit distribution and loss coverage rules for central banks”, which purportedly analyzes “how profit distribution rules can affect the amounts distributed and the financial strength of central banks.”
The first highlight, was the very basic asymmetry at the core of the actual analysis — how can one talk of profit of there is no possibility of loss? Printing money to fill “loss” gaps by definition obviates any calculation of profit since the whole premise of risk/return does not exist.
The second highlight comes from footnote 7, which tells you all you need to know about the “business model” of all central banks, and specifically why they can never go “insolvent” — they can and will just print their way out. To wit:
“Central banks are protected from insolvency due to their ability to create money and can therefore operate with negative equity.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-EC Agree Criteria on Saved Bank Compensation
Small investors says were conned by lenders about bonds
(ANSA) — Brussels, April 4 — A European Commission spokesperson said Monday that the EU executive has reached an agreement with Italy on compensation for small investors who lost money in four Italian banks saved last year following government intervention. Many of the small investors say they were deceived by the banks about the risks of buying bonds in them. “We have agreed on important parameters and now implementation is in Italy’s hands,” said the spokesperson for the Directorate-General (DG) for Competition.
The aim of the Brussels-Rome negotiations was to make it possible for the Italian authorities to grant fast compensation without breaking the new European bail-in rules, which mean a lender’s creditors must bear some of the burden when debts are written off.
Premier Matteo Renzi’s government has given Italy’s anti-corruption authority (ANAC) the job of handling the arbitration cases of investors who lost money in Banca Etruria, Banca delle Marche, Cassa di Risparmio della Provincia di Chieti (CariChieti) and Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara (CariFe).
A 3.6-billion-euro rescue financed by healthy Italian banks saved jobs and protected account holders but left shares and bonds in the four lenders worthless.
One of Banca Etruria’s former bondholders committed suicide after his life savings went up in smoke.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Padoan Says Italy Starting to Tame ‘Monster’ Debt
Minister says debt stopped growing, will start to fall
(ANSA) — Rome, April 4 — Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Monday that Italy has started to get its “monster’ debt of over two trillion euros, more than 130% of GDP, under control. “Italy is one of the countries in the eurozone and the European union to have made the biggest effort on public finances and it is continuing to do because we have this monster debt, which now we are starting to tame,” Padoan told a meeting on public finance organised by the Lazio regional government. “The debt has stopped growing and it will start to come down this year”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Lock Down Has Begun: JP Morgan Restricts ATM Cash Withdrawals
Last month All News Pipeline warned that major banks were preparing to tighten the screws on American account holders starting April 1st.
It appears that the lock-down of cash has begun.
Citing criminal activity as a factor, JP Morgan is limiting cash withdrawals at ATM machines.
The bank said there doesn’t appear to be fraud involved. But partly due to heightened regulatory scrutiny, banks are paying more attention to large cash transfers that could be a sign of money laundering or other types of shady activity. Typically, the card-issuing bank sets withdrawal limits, not the bank owning the ATM…
In 2015 we warned readers to divest some of their assets out of bank accounts for this very reason, noting that bank glitches and arbitrary holds would begin to affect more and more depositors. And while the recent move by JP Morgan Chase appears to only affect non-customers, a recent report indicates that the Justice Department has advised bank tellers nationwide to keep any eye out on cash transactions. Suspicious activity, which by the government’s definition is as little as $3000, should be reported to law enforcement and under existing guidelines police can then seize those funds without charge or trial:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
WikiLeaks Exposes IMF Plan of Financial Terror to Force Government Compliance
IMF plan to utilize Greece as a pawn
WikiLeaks has once again exposed how supranational organizations create artificial crises in an effort to advance the Western corporate-political elites geostrategic goals, as revealed in the transcript of a teleconference, which took place on March 19, 2016, between top International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials.
The striking conversation reveals IMF officials imply that the threat of an imminent financial disaster was necessary to force other stakeholders into accepting the IMF’s “measures” such as cutting Greek pensions and working conditions. However, a June 23 referendum will essentially freeze European decision-making at an extremely critical moment — potentially risking greater political destabilization, but also giving the organization greater leverage.
The transcript of the teleconference between Poul Thomsen, the head of the IMF’s European Department, and Delia Velkouleskou, the IMF Mission Chief for Greece, exposed the fact that the IMF is anticipating a potential Greek bailout default that would occur in concert with UK’s ‘Brexit’ referendum on EU membership.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bernie Sanders: Breadlines Are a Good Thing
Praises Cuba as a model for socialized healthcare — video
Back in the 1980s Vermont’s socialist congressman praised the communist dictatorship in Nicaragua. The remark is in a video recently aired on Fox.
In the video Sanders says bread lines are a good thing because in other countries where there are not breadlines people are starving to death because “the rich get all the food.”
In addition to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, Sanders praises Fidel Castro in Cuba.
During a debate in Miami earlier this month Sanders walked back his praise of Castro and Cuba while lauding its healthcare system.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Corporate Media Covers Cruz Sex Sandal on Eve of Wisconsin Primary
Story may destroy Cruz’s five point lead over Trump in the Badger State
The candidate’s phone number is reportedly included in the D.C. madam’s “black book” of clients from the 1990s. Cruz married his wife, Heidi, in 2001.
According to the Emerson College Polling Society Cruz is ahead of Donald Trump in Wisconsin, but only by a mere five points. The sex scandal story may diminish his lead and hand 18 delegates to Trump. The Wisconsin primary is less than 24 hours away.
During a town hall in Madison, Wisconsin, Cruz was asked by Megan Kelly of Fox News if he engaged in adultery…
Roger Stone believes Cruz is finished. He will be out of the race by April 26, according to the political consultant.
Stone also believes Cruz may be guilty of voter fraud.
“Having worked very hard to collect evidence of voter fraud and irregularities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Hawaii and Texas, frankly, they ought to put the handcuffs on him,” Stone said on Saturday, “because the Trump people can go to credentials and challenge the seating of hundreds, literally hundreds of Ted Cruz’s delegates who were fraudulently elected.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Devastating’ Bug Pops Secure Doors at Airports, Hospitals
Hackers don’t need authentication to easily open every door using popular HID controllers
Criminals could waltz into secure zones in airports and government facilities by hacking and jamming open doors from remote computers over the Internet, DVLabs researcher Ricky Lawshae says.
The since-patched vulnerabilities affect HID’s flagship VertX and Edge controllers which are distributed in scores of busy locations and large global enterprises.
The devices are used in airports including Nanchang Changbei International Airport and the Southern Ohio Medical Center.
Popping the controllers grants attackers access to locks and alarms, and makes it “impossible” for administrators to regain command of the doors.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Probing Arizona Election Chaos
Voters forced to wait in line for as long as 5 hours
(ARIZONA REPUBLIC) The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice informed the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office on Friday that it was investigating how the office handled the March 22 Presidential Preference Election.
County Recorder Helen Purcell and her elections director, Karen Osborne, seriously misjudged voter turnout for the races pitting Donald Trump against Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders. After the number of polling places was cut to 60 from a 2012 total of 200, voters waited in line for up to five hours to vote. Some polling places stayed open until after midnight to accommodate voters who were already in line at 7 p.m. when the polls officially closed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Just How Close Are Obama and Google? You Won’t Believe the Answer
The FTC isn’t the only agency with close ties to Google
An ethics watchdog thinks that the FTC may have misled Congress about how it protected Google, and highlights how the White House went into panic mode to limit the damage to the giant ad slinger over a newspaper report last year.
Last March, Google learned that the Wall Street Journal was about to publish details of how the Federal Trade Commission shut down an investigation into Google — contradicting some of the recommendations of its own investigators. The information had arrived by accident: a confidential report had been mistakenly included in a huge bundle of documents passed to the Journal, with every other page redacted.
The half-readable report nevertheless showed that staff had conducted an investigation of Google’s behaviour, similar to the one conducted by the EU*, which began in 2010. The report concluded Google was anti-competitive and recommended the FTC pressed charges.
FTC staff concluded that Google had violated the Sherman antitrust act in three areas, and continuing its behaviour would have “lasting negative effects on consumer welfare.” But their recommendations were overruled by the FTC’s high priesthood, the Commissioners, who are political appointees. Instead they shut down the probe and allowed Google to make some modest “voluntary” pledges, saying at the time these would deliver “more relief for American consumers faster than any other option.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Who Fought With Lakeland Cops Gets $275,000 Settlement
[WARNING: Graphic content.]
The City of Lakeland paid $275,000 to Joseph Florence, after an altercation with two Lakeland Police Department officers. Florence suffered a broken nose and broken jaw after the fight. He has since undergone several surgeries and says he has permanent neurological damage.
In 2011, Florence got into a confrontation with officers Heather Benthal and Nicholas Ivancevich. The police officers responded to Florence’s home after a neighbor had complained he was mowing and watering their yard without their permission. According to the original police report, Florence was not happy with how the neighbor maintained his yard so he would mow and water his yard without his permission. The neighbor asked police to warn Florence about trespassing.
Florence said when officers came to his door he answered all of their questions. “But after the same questions, over and over, I said I am going back inside,” said…
The officers did not face any charges. An internal investigation after the incident found their actions did not violate department policy. Officer Heather Benthal is now a detective. Officer Nicholas Ivancevich is now a background investigator, after suffering an injury on the job.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Patrick Buchanan: Violent Revolution Possible
Well-known US conservative media personality Patrick J. Buchanan has warned that attempts to ignore the Donald Trump message to America will make violent revolution possible.
Writing against the backdrop of the last set of Republican Party primary elections-in which Trump is widely predicted to fail in his attempt to win enough delegates to clinch that party’s nomination-Buchanan said that the establishment dared not ignore the millions of Trump voters.
Buchanan’s article, featured on the US VDare site under the title “What Trump Has Wrought-The Rebirth of Nationalism in America,” says that as “Wisconsinites head for the polls, our Beltway elites are almost giddy. For they foresee a Badger State bashing for Donald Trump, breaking his momentum toward the Republican nomination.”
Buchanan says that should Trump fall short of the delegates needed to win on the first ballot, 1,237, “there is growing certitude that he will be stopped. First by Ted Cruz; then, perhaps, by someone acceptable to the establishment, which always likes to have two of its own in the race.”
But, Buchanan says, this “city of self-delusion should realize there is no going back for America. For, whatever his stumbles of the last two weeks, Trump has helped to unleash the mightiest force of the 21st century: nationalism.”
He points out that the major issue which has generated so much support for Trump is illegal immigration and the border with Mexico.
“Republican candidates who failed to parrot Trump on illegal immigration were among the first casualties. For that is where America is, and that is where the West is,” Buchanan continues.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Senior Intel Analysts Say They Were Kicked Out for Contradicting Obama’s ISIS Agenda
Analysts want at all costs to avoid losing their jobs in the ensuing witch hunt
Two top intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say they were kicked out for producing negative reports on Syrian rebel groups backed by the Obama administration.
Sources close to these analysts told The Daily Beast that they were actively targeted by military leadership for not delivering a glowing report on U.S. progress in the war against the Islamic State, The Daily Beast reports.
It appears the military has had enough of analysts complaining to the media about their bosses manipulating intelligence reports. More than 50 anonymous CENTCOM analysts have previously voiced concerns about reports being fiddled with to show absurdly successful outcomes against ISIS. Now, military officials are ready to seek out these analysts and remove them from their positions.
Apparently, the great sin of the two senior analysts is that they neither trusted rebel commitment to U.S. strategic objectives, nor trusted their abilities to carry out the objectives.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Taxpayers Billed $1.4 Million for Obama’s Argentina Trip
President Barack Obama’s two-day visit to Argentina, where he tangoed and downplayed the differences between capitalism and communism, cost taxpayers nearly $1.4 million.
The president traveled to Argentina last week after his two-day stop in Cuba. The visit racked up substantial costs for hotels, transportation, and advance bathroom maintenance, according to government contracts signed by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tech SJWs in Disarray After Attempts to Silence Conference Backfire
Social justice warriors in the tech industry suffered a stunning reversal of fortunes last week after their attempted boycott of the LambdaConf programming conference in Boulder, Colorado led to a massive backlash from other quarters of the tech community.
After LambaConf refused to bow to progressive demands to ban a speaker, Curtis Yarvin, due to his political beliefs, SJWs decided to go on the offensive. They enjoyed initial success convincing LambdaConf’s sponsors to pull out, and for a moment it seemed as if the forces of political intolerance would succeed in torpedoing the conference.
However, their efforts were quickly met with a response from members of the tech community who did not want attendees at programming conferences to be subject to political purity tests. Status 451, a group blog edited by computer scientist Meredith L. Patterson and the pseudonymous anarcho-capitalist Clarkhat set up a crowdfunding campaign to ensure that LambdaConf could go ahead as planned.
At the start of the campaign, Status 451 set their target at a modest $15,000, which they aimed to raise in a month. The target was met in just 24 hours, and the total amount raised now stands at over $20,000 — that’s $5,000 more than what the organisers initially hoped to achieve.
For SJWs in tech, it was a stark demonstration of the resentment they face by peers in the industry. Their success at convincing PR-sensitive sponsors to pull out of the conference masked their deep unpopularity in the wider tech community.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
The Exodus of People Moving Away From California is Becoming an Avalanche
Over the past ten years, approximately five million people have moved away from the state of California, and as you will see in this article this mass exodus appears to be accelerating. So exactly why is this happening? Once upon a time, it seemed like almost everyone wanted to live in California. The nearly endless sunshine, the incredible weather, the pristine beaches and a booming economy motivated millions of young Americans to move out there to pursue “the California Dream”. In fact, in the early nineties I actually explored the idea of moving out there myself. But now the California Dream has become a nightmare. Californians are being taxed to death, traffic in the major cities is absolutely horrific, violent crime and gang activity are on the rise, millions of illegal immigrants are putting an incredible strain on social support systems, and the ultra-liberal government in Sacramento seems to have gone completely insane. In addition, the state faces constant threats from earthquakes, wildfires, droughts and mudslides, so it is quite understandable why so many people feel motivated to leave and never come back.
The number one destination for people leaving the state of California in recent years has been the state of Texas. And according to Ali Meyer of the Washington Free Beacon, the number of people leaving California for Texas has reached “its highest level in nearly a decade”…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Video: Brave Granny Refuses Unconstitutional Checkpoint — She Wins!
In a video uploaded to Youtube recently, a brave grandmother filmed herself refusing to ‘show her papers’ at an unconstitutional DUI checkpoint in California. The results were inspiring.
Sobriety checkpoints — also known as DUI checkpoints — are the most common roadblocks you might encounter. They function as a general purpose investigatory tactic where police can get a close look at passing motorists by detaining them briefly. A roadblock stop is quick, but it gives police a chance to check tags and licenses, while also giving officers a quick whiff of the driver’s breath and a chance to peer into the vehicle for a moment.
Remember that your constitutional rights still apply in a roadblock situation. Though police are permitted to stop you briefly, they may not search you or your car unless they have probable cause that you’re under the influence or you agree to the search. As such, you are not required to answer their questions or admit to breaking the law.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates With White America
MY grandma — we called her Mamaw — loved her country. Born in eastern Kentucky coal country at the beginning of the Great Depression, she credited so much of the good in her life to America’s bounty. When I interviewed her about her life for a school project, she spent most of the time talking about World War II: her dad’s love letters from the Pacific; how her younger brother lied about his age in an effort to enlist. “We did it,” she told me, still beaming with pride more than a half-century later. “We freed the whole world from tyranny.”
Mamaw said something else entirely when, just a few weeks after America invaded Iraq, I told her that I had enlisted in the Marine Corps. “You’re a grade-A idiot,” she shouted, and though her anger stemmed in part from worry, I knew that she saw the conflict as the indulgence of an elite president who knew nothing of sacrifice. She liked George W. Bush’s folksy demeanor and admired his Christian faith, but as the war dragged on, her criticisms grew increasingly personal.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Athens Officials: We Have to Build a Mosque or Terrorists Will Attack Us
Greece is being deluged by thousands of Muslim migrants every day.
Officials in Athens warn that if they fail to follow through on a plan to build a mosque in the Greek capital, Islamic terrorists could stage an attack.
After a law was passed in 2006 requiring the building of the taxpayer-funded mosque in Votanikos, near the city center, the construction of the building has been held back by numerous appeals against the project.
“It is exactly because of the recent terrorist attacks that we have to move quickly to construct the mosque in Athens,” a government official told Ekathimerini, suggesting that the failure to acquiesce to the demands of Muslims will increase the threat of Athens being targeted by terrorists…
In citing the threat of a terror attack to justify building the mosque, Athens officials are proving that terrorism works.
As Chris Menahan remarks, “If they’re so terrified by these people, perhaps it would have been wise not to let them flood into their country in the first place.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive — PEGIDA Founder Lutz Bachmann Gives Rare Interview to Breitbart London’s Raheem Kassam
“Is Islam compatible with Europe?”
“No”.
This was PEGIDA founder Lutz Bachmann’s succinct answer, as he reclined back into the booth in a darkened corner of the Standard Bearer pub in Coventry. I could have thought of no better named boozer in which to sit down with a man like Bachmann, who has himself become the standard bearer for the anti mass migration, anti-Islamisation PEGIDA movement across Europe…
He’s frustrated that no one seems to report on what PEGIDA actually stands for, or wants, though a few outlets — the BBC and the International Business Times — have made reference to the group’s 19-point manifesto.
“All I want from the press is to be objective,” he says, “just put once what PEGIDA stands for”.
The first point of the group’s manifesto may even surprise some people: “PEGIDA is for the admission of war refugees and [people who are] politically or religiously persecuted”.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Hollande Drops Plan to Strip Terror Convicts of Citizenship
‘Terror threat never this high, strong EU action needed’
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 30 — French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday announced at the Elysee, after a council of ministers, that he is dropping a constitutional reform plan promised four months ago in the wake of terror attacks.
Hollande, whose popularity dropped to a new record low of 18% yesterday, will not be gathering both houses for an extraordinary congress in Versailles to make lawmakers vote to include in the constitutional charter the state of emergency and to strip terror convicts of their French citizenship.
Leaving the customary council of ministers held Wednesday at the Elysee, Hollande announced he had “decided to close the constitutional debate” because he had not succeeded in getting backing for his proposal. The most controversial rule, which divided the majority and was opposed by the right, concerned stripping convicted terrorists with a dual citizenship of their French nationality. Such a measure would have been impossible for those with just one passport as they would have become stateless. “I will not stir from the engagements I have taken to guarantee the country’s security”, added the head of state.
The terror threat “has never been this high”, stressed Hollande in a live message to French citizens, announcing he was giving up on the constitutional reform. “The war will still be long” and “determined action at a European level is necessary”, he added.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS in Europe: How Deep is the “Gray Zone”?
In the 1970s and ‘80s, Europe was terrorized by a war declared by Communist armed groups, such as the Germany’s Baader Meinhof or Italy’s Red Brigades. Terrorists seemed determined to undermine democracy and capitalism. They targeted dozens of journalists, public officials, professors, economists and politicians, and in Italy in 1978, even kidnapped and executed Italy’s former prime minister, Aldo Moro.
The big question then was: “How deep is the ‘gray zone’?” — the sympathizers of terrorism in the industrial factories, labor unions and universities.
In the last year, the Islamic State’s henchmen slaughtered hundreds of Europeans and Westerners. Their last assault, in Brussels, struck at the heart of the West: the postmodern mecca of NATO and the European Union.
We should now answer the same question: How deep is the “gray zone” of the Islamic State in Europe?
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: I Hope Drilling Referendum Fails — Renzi
Could block 11,000 jobs
(ANSA) — Rome, April 5 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Tuesday he hoped an April 17 referendum on allowing offshore oil and gas drilling to continue in Italy fails. “The referendum does not talk about new drilling but getting the gas and oil that’s there out. If we decide to say ‘enough’ do we go and buy from the Arabs and the Russians? I’m for using what’s there. I hope this referendum that could block 11,000 jobs fails”. Renzi has instructed his ruling Democratic Party (PD) to ask voters to vote against the referendum and allow the drilling concessions to continue until the oil and gas run out.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants: Hungary Reinforces Barriers Along Serbia Border
Due to rise of illegal crossings over the past week
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Hungarian military has started reinforcing the barriers along its border with Serbia, local media reported quoting a statement by the defence ministry issued Sunday. The activities include the positioning of fence between the localities of Kelebia e Asotthalom, where barbed wire had been erect last autumn. According to a note published on the website of the Hungarian police, 879 persons have tried to cross the border illegally between last Monday and Saturday — a significant rise compared to the 822 individuals intercepted over the previous three weeks.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Migrants Force Child to Perform ‘Sex Acts’ At Swimming Pool in Germany
Cultural enrichment of Europe continues
Two Muslim migrants forced a 14-year-old boy to perform sex acts on them at a swimming pool in Delbrück, Germany.
According to a report by nw.de, the two men, a 20-year-old and a 25-year-old from Afghanistan, chased the boy and his 11-year-old friend into the changing rooms during the incident on Friday afternoon.
The 11-year-old was able to hide, but the 14-year-old was forced “against his will to perform sexual acts by both men”. The boys subsequently alerted lifeguards who called the police.
The two migrants were subsequently arrested at the swimming pool and made no attempt to escape before the arrival of the police, suggesting that they thought their behavior was completely normal.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
PD: Italy Leading EU Response, Trump Outside — Renzi
Crisis in EU values says PM
(ANSA) — Rome, April 4 — Premier Matteo Renzi said Monday “outside here there’s Trump and a right that in the US for the first time is contaminated by forces of demagoguery and populism that go decidedly beyond the Tea Party and risks, against the establishment, to go on and win the nomination”. He told his ruling Democratic Party (PD) that “the PD and Italy are currently in a position of leadership to try to provide a response” to what he said was a crisis in European values.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tandarei, some 100 miles east of the Romanian capital Bucharest, has changed beyond recognition in recent years: the number of mansions in this 12,000-strong town has tripled since it first attracted international attention.
Of those, more than 300 — most with gleaming BMWs and brand new Volkswagens parked on the expertly-paved driveways outside — are feared to have been paid for by the British taxpayer through money earned illegally or through benefits scams in the UK.
Some, with balconies protruding from every bedroom, are thought to belong to Gypsy gangsters who flout Europe’s free movement rules to fleece Britons out of tens of thousands of pounds.
Many of the cars parked outside the houses have British number plates. Critics have held this up as evidence that Romanian gypsies travelled to the UK to claim benefits and sent the money to their relatives back home, where the average annual salary is around £4,100.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim Terrorists Are Running Whole Prison Blocks Under Sharia Law
Muslim extremists at a Leicestershire jail have turned part of the prison into a “no-go zone” for non-Muslims, and are running an entire block under Sharia law, prison union leaders have claimed.
Non-Muslim inmates at HMP Gartree, a maximum security prison, are said to have to conform to rules set by Muslim inmates, and are refusing to be moved to the block in question for fear of being forced to convert to Islam. The fears were raised following an inspection of the prison by leaders of the Prison Officers’ Association.
A source told The Sun: “It is so bad non-Muslim prisoners are refusing to move there as they feel intimidated.
“There is huge pressure put on them to convert and a threat of violence if they don’t.
“The Muslim gangs have their own rules and use Sharia law to sort out disagreements.
“In effect, they are setting up their own prison within a prison.
“There have been stories about non-Muslim inmates being barred from putting up topless pictures of women in their cells and even showering naked.”
HM Gartree houses a number of notorious Islamic terrorists, including Michael Adebolawe, who hacked to death Fusilier Lee Rigby outside his barracks in London in 2013, and airplane shoebomber Richard Reid.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Nagorno-Karabakh: The April Fool’s War
Another “triumph” of US diplomacy
by Justin Raimondo
Last Thursday US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Azerbaijan’s dictator Ilham Aliyev in Washington and called for “an ultimate resolution” of the decades-old conflict in the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh. On Friday, as the hereditaryAzeri despot was on the plane back to Baku, Azeri troops were already launching an offensive against the breakaway Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. One of the first casualties was a 12-year-old Armenian boy.
Naturally, the Azeris claim they were attacked first, but this seems unlikely. The front lines in the simmering conflict have been pretty stable since the conclusion of the post-Soviet war between Armenia and Azerbbaijan, which ended in victory for the former and de facto independence for the primarily Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Already in possession of the disputed territory, the Nagorno-Karabakhians had nothing to gain by restarting the fighting — and it seems more than coincidental that fresh hostilities commenced immediately upon Kerry’s rather absurd pronouncement.
Absurd because the “crisis’ has already been resolved — today Nagorno-Karabakh is an independent state, in spite of the refusal of the United States to recognize it, and it has enjoyed this status since 1994, when the last Azeri troops were driven from the territory. That the Secretary of State would choose to intervene at this point seems, at best, highly suspicious. Did Kerry give the green light to the Azeris?
I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised. After all, the US has consistently stood with the Azeris no matter which party is in the Oval Office. Washington’s reasons are two-fold: geopolitics and money, not necessarily in that order…
| — Hat tip: LK | [Return to headlines] |
British Banker Set Up Firm ‘Used by North Korea to Sell Weapons’
A British banker who spent two decades living in communist North Korea set up a secret offshore finance company allegedly used by the Pyongyang regime to help sell arms and expand its nuclear weapons programme.
Nigel Cowie — a fluent Korean and Chinese speaker, who studied at Edinburgh University — was behind a Pyongyang front company, DCB Finance Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands, papers show.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Reverts to ‘Grid Management’ To Monitor Citizens’ Lives
“The aim is to reinstate the idea of upholding the party’s leadership”
China is rolling out a nationwide system of social control known as “grid management” in a revival of state presence in residential life that had receded as society liberalised during recent decades.
From smog-blanketed towns on the North China Plain to the politically sensitive Tibetan capital of Lhasa, small police booths and networks of citizens have been set up block by block to reduce neighbourhood disputes, enforce sanitation, reduce crime — and keep an eye on anyone deemed a troublemaker.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Imams Sent From Egypt to New Zealand to ‘Foil Radicals’
International relations expert Paul Buchanan described the move as “perplexing”. There may be “one or two hotheads” in Kiwi mosques, but radicalisation was not a widespread problem. The imams would be of more value across the Tasman.
“Australia has a radicalisation problem, we do not.”
Egypt had also had little success combating extremism at home, so he was not sure what they expected to achieve here. They might be interested in countering the influence of Wahhabism — an ultra-conservative Sunni Muslim sect — in NZ, he said.
The imams could also be New Zealand-bound as part of an as-yet-unannounced trade deal, with their work aimed at “softening” the inevitable views from opposition parties to any deal with Egypt, he said.
“Otherwise [the Government] opens itself up to the charge that New Zealand is cosying up to a dictatorship,” Mr Buchanan said.
He doubted the gesture came without some kind of ulterior motive.
“There’s always more than meets the eye … why Egypt would choose New Zealand to export its anti-radicalisation views, you don’t have to be an international relations expert to see that’s unusual.”
[I suspect this item has not reached the rest of the world, but specially-trained imams being put into mosques to ‘foil radicals’ does not have much of a ring of truth to it. A cynic might think this quote provides the real, alarming explanation: “Australia has a radicalisation problem, we do not.” — JM]
| — Hat tip: JM | [Return to headlines] |
Are Corporate Gatekeepers Protecting Western Elites From the Leaked Panama Papers?
Certainly makes you wonder.
As someone who spends most of his waking hours trying to make sense of the world around him, the Panama Papers leak seemed to represent one of those stories that only come around once or twice a year, if that.
However, unlike with the Snowden leaks, the more media coverage I read surrounding shell company assembly line law firm Mossack Fonseca, the more I was left with a nagging sensation that something was just not right. Something felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then along came an article by Craig Murray, which offered a plausible explanation of what had been nagging me.
First, many of you won’t know who Craig Murray is. Here’s a quick description of the man from his own website:
[Comment: Panama Papers leaked to discredit those that have p*ssed off the banksters. Is Soros and his machinations exposed? No. Why? He is an obedient bankster toadie. The real scum running the show seem to be missing from the papers. Look at Iceland, the ONLY country to put bankers in jail, now has politicians (who advocated this correct response to banksters) under “attack” by the Panama papers…]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Panama One of 11 ‘Irreducible’ Tax Havens
What the OECD lays down
(ANSA) — Rome, April 5 — Pure tax havens, zero taxes and zero transparency — Panama is one of 11 “irreducible” countries that don’t accept the international rules that almost 100 countries have signed up for to combat tax evasion and avoidance.
Panama has been a tax haven par excellence since 1932 and with over 1,200 banks it is one of the world’s major financial centres. Its companies are tax-exempt and they only have to pay a single yearly tax.
Accordding to the OECD, the new global standard promoted by the G20 in its Global Forum is called the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) against evasion and avoidance, signed by 96 countries.
According to the Global Forum the countries wholly opposed to introducing transparency and common rules against evasion are 11: Brunei, the Marshall Islands, the Dominican Republic, Micronesia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Liberia, Panama, Nauru, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu.
Opening a foreign account is a legal transaction according to Italian and European law, provided the necessary tax declarations are made in the home country — in Italy’s case for accounts up to and above 15,000 euros.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Soros and Ford Foundation Behind the Panama Papers
Financial elite hijack investigative journalism to attack Putin
Putin is headlined in the emerging scandal, although he is not directly connected to the scheme to move billions of dollars into offshore tax havens. 12 current or former world leaders and 128 other politicians and public officials are directly implicated, but they play second fiddle to Putin in corporate media news stories.
The establishment has not bothered to investigate the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the organization behind the leak. A trip to its web page reveals its support and funding sources: the Open Society Foundations (a George Soros outfit), the Ford Foundation and a host of other foundations. Soros’ anti-Russian obsession is well-known. Less well-known is the fact the Ford Foundation is connected to the CIA and has specialized in international cultural propaganda since the end of the Second World War…
ICIJ and CPI are attempting to hijack investigative journalism and trade on the notoriety of Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks to take down Putin and Bashar al-Assad, the embattled leader of Syria.
The Panama Papers expose offshore tax havens in Switzerland, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, and Panama, but says nothing about a new arrangement legalized under FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
The law “makes the parking of dirty US money abroad practically impossible. So where does that money go instead-it stays in the US,” writes Zero Hedge. “And, to top it off, there is one specific firm which is spearheading the conversion of the U.S. into Panama: Rothschild.“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Half a Million Migrants Living Under the Radar in Germany
An interim report from the German interior ministry has finally put an estimate on the number of migrants believed to have slipped past border security at 500,000.
The new 500,000 figure represents how many migrants are thought to be living in Germany day to day without any knowledge of the state whatsoever, reports Bild. Those listed on the estimate are those who have managed to slip past border patrols, never have their identities checked at a migrant camp, and are living without receiving any sort of state benefit, health care, or education.
The majority of these 500,000 undocumented illegals circulating in Germany are only able to survive by crime, reports Kronen Zeitung. The figures reveal the enormous size of the German underworld where illegal foreigners are able to live without any interaction with the state, or respect for a nation’s laws whatsoever.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Graphic content.]
A female bicyclist in Texas is in the hospital after a horrific encounter with a suspected illegal immigrant left her badly maimed.
Austin resident Elizabeth English was in critical condition after last Tuesday night when she was struck by a vehicle in the Texas capitol and dragged for nearly half a mile.
The driver, Artemio Gomez-Avila, 41, initially fled the scene, but police nabbed him the next day in a nearby town.
Witnesses reported hearing screams as Avila continued to drive four tenths of a mile while dragging the cyclist along.
“She didn’t look human,” one witness, Roger Taylor, described to Fox 7 Austin. “She looked like an animal initially. Then after seeing that, we noticed it was a person.”
The extent of English’s injuries were horrific and left her highly susceptible to infection.
“Police records say she lost part of her buttocks, her right pelvis, and her lower spine was exposed,“ reports Fox Austin.
Brad Houston, an Austin attorney that represents cyclists, said the accident was one of the worst he’s ever read about.
“Her body was literally being ground down by the pavement, and the driver of the vehicle had to hear it. I’m sure heard it,” Houston told KXAN.
“He was more worried about himself than the fact that he was killing a fellow human being, and that is very disturbing.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Vacation Island Taken ‘Hostage’ By Illegal Immigrants
A day-long protest by immigrants Monday on the Italian resort island of Sardinia paralyzed city traffic in the capital city of Cagliari, as Eritrean and Somali protesters sat or lay down in the streets preventing any flow of traffic.
“Cagliari is hostage to illegal immigrants,” said center-right local politician, Daniele Caruso. “Yet another street protest forces us to confront a public policy problem that can no longer be underrated.”
A group of some 100 young migrants began marching through the city protesting around noon Monday, and then occupied the city’s main square for nearly seven hours.
Meanwhile, a group of volunteers handed out water bottles to the protesters, escorted by police in riot gear. The protesters were part of the 661 migrants who were taken to the port of Cagliari after being rescued off the Libyan coast last month.
On Monday evening, after a lengthy mediation, police officials finally managed to convince the migrants to desist. The migrants were then transported on buses back to the Pirri hotel on the outskirts of Cagliari, which has been turned into a makeshift immigrant shelter and where the migrants have been residing for several weeks.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Braces for 10,000 Invaders a Week
More than 5,000 sub-Saharan Africans landed in Italy last week, and coast guard monitors are predicting another 10,000 this week-an indication that the cross-Mediterranean route of attack is now once again in full swing.
Intelligence sources quoted by the media in Austria have confirmed that the government is now bracing for a renewed invasion over the “Alpine route.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Library of Congress Abandons ‘Offensive’ Term ‘Illegal Alien’
“It’s giving in to political correctness. ‘Illegal alien’ is a proper legal term.”
After a two-year push by a group of college students, the U.S. Library of Congress says it will no longer use the term “illegal alien” as a bibliographical term, opting instead for less offensive terms like “noncitizen” or “unauthorized” immigration when categorizing material.
A resolution sent to the Library of Congress by the American Library Association, with whom the student group was partnered, stated, “[R]eferring to undocumented immigrants as ‘illegal’ is increasingly viewed as dehumanizing, offensive, inflammatory, and even a racial slur.”
In response, the Library of Congress announced that “the heading ‘illegal aliens’ will therefore be canceled and replaced by two headings, Noncitizens and unauthorized immigration, which may be assigned together to describe resources about people who illegally reside in the country.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that the complaint originated with a group of students from Dartmouth College known as CoFIRED (Dartmouth Coalition for Immigration Reform, Equality and Dreamers) who partnered with the American Library Association in 2014 to send a petition to the Library of Congress.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Massive Logistics Operation to Implement EU-Turkey Migrant Deal
Brussels — An enormous and complex logistical operation involving thousands of EU and other officials was launched on Monday to ship migrants from Greece back to Turkey under a controversial accord between Brussels and Ankara.
In the first wave of deportations, around 200 mostly economic migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries were sent back to Turkey aboard chartered Turkish ferries sailing from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios.
Legal framework
Migrants who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose applications for asylum have been declared “inadmissible or unfounded” will be returned to Turkey.
They can be declared inadmissible and rejected if the country where they will be returned to, such as Turkey, is believed to provide adequate protection.
Under the EU-Turkey accord, Greece was supposed to change its laws to recognise Turkey as a “safe third country”.
Greece’s parliament on Friday adopted a bill bolstering its migration and asylum services, and activating a 2013 EU directive which says that migrants cannot be sent to a third country where they would face danger or discrimination.
Commission spokesperson Tove Ernst said on Monday: “No-one will be returned to Turkey if they have not received the necessary guarantees of protection from Turkey.”
The Greek courts will deal with any appeals from rejected asylum seekers.
People feeling threatened, such as Kurds, will not be sent back.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Missing Migrants Scandal: Now Merkel Loses Track of Half a Million Refugees
HALF a million refugees who have arrived into Germany in the past 18 months have failed to register with authorities, it has been revealed.
Officials conclude the missing are either working on the black market or involved in the criminal underworld, as no registration means no benefits.
The shocking state of affairs has left officials deeply worried and the concerns are to be discussed at a cabinet meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel tomorrow.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
New Observer Forces Daily Mail Retraction
The New Observer has once again forced a major controlled media outlet to back down over blatant ant-white lies, this time the Daily Mail’s hysterical lies over “right wingers” in cars running over Muslims in Molenbeek.
Previously, the New Observer dramatically exposed the “neo-Nazi attack on migrant children” in Stockholm as a media hoax-in which the Daily Mail had also willingly taken part, and then admitted was a lie.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Supreme Court Rules in Redistricting Case: Illegal Immigrants, Other Non-Citizens Can be Counted
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday that illegal immigrants and other non-citizens can be counted when states draw their legislative districts, shooting down a challenge by Texas residents who said their own voting power was being diluted.
The ruling does not grant non-citizens power to vote, but says the principle of “one person, one vote” doesn’t require localities to only count those who are actually eligible to vote.
Justice Ruth Baden Ginsburg, writing for the court, said even though only eligible voters are supposed to cast ballots, elected officials represent all people within their districts, and it is that act of representation, not the election itself, that the boundaries are drawn to.
[Comment: Disenfranchizing the American citizen voter.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss Pol: Refugee Crisis Could Trigger a New World War
Civilizations that fail to secure their borders are doomed
Swiss People’s Party (SVP) member of parliament Roger Köppel warns that the European migrant crisis is so out of control that it could lead to a new world war.
Writing in the Weltwoche daily newspaper, Köppel argues that “Europe is about to abolish itself” due to a “megalomaniac” open border policy overseen by the likes of Angela Merkel,
“The basic problem today is Islam,” writes Köppel, pointing out that the numerous terrorists who were born in Europe merely proves that integration has completely failed.
“The virulence of the Islamist terror is a fact. Concealment and glossing over does not help…France and Belgium are just a taste. It is an illusion to believe that politics can cope with this mass migration,” asserts Köppel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vienna Says Hundreds of Troops Ready for Brenner Pass
Doskozil says number could be increased if necessary
(ANSA) — Bolzano, April 5 — Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said Tuesday that Vienna was ready to deploy hundreds of troops at the Brenner pass to bolster checks at its border with Italy, according to Austrian agency APA. “The Austrian army is ready for a reinforced intervention and has planned additional forces,” APA quoted Doskozil as saying. “If necessary, hundreds are soldiers are ready and, if necessary, that number could be increased”. Austria announced at the weekend that it was increasing checks at its border with Italy, saying the EU’s external frontier was not being sufficiently protected. The European Commission has criticised unilateral measures to combat the asylum-seeker crisis introduced by individual member states.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A Note to Conservatives Who Are Secular
Dennis Prager addresses those on right who have no problem with a ‘godless’ America
The vast majority of leading conservative writers, just like their liberal colleagues, have a secular outlook on life. With few exceptions, the conservative political and intellectual worlds are oblivious to the consequences of secularism. They are unaware of the disaster that godlessness in the West has led to.
Most leading Republicans and most of the wealthy donors to the Republican Party — in addition to virtually all libertarian politicians and think tank scholars — are either uninterested in the death of Judeo-Christian religions and values in America and the West, or they’re OK with it. They think that America can survive the death of God and religion, that fiscal and other forms of conservatism without social conservatism can preserve America.
It shows how effective the secular indoctrination in our schools and media has been, that even the majority of conservative thinkers are not only secular themselves, but seem to have no idea how much of the American civilization rests on religious foundations.
They don’t seem to understand that the only solution to many — perhaps most — of the social problems ailing America and the West is some expression of Judeo-Christian faith. Do the inner-city kids who study the Bible and go to church each week lead wasted lives, join gangs, bear children out of wedlock or commit murder? Other than a religious revival, what do conservatives, with all their superb critiques of disastrous left-wing policies, think will uplift inner-city youths?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Some Americans Think a Third of People Are Gay
Saturation media coverage of LGBT issues has misled many
Several San Diegans interviewed by Mark Dice think that a third of Americans are homosexual, another indication that saturation coverage of LGBT issues in the media has greatly misled many people.
Four people who Dice spoke to thought that 30% of Americans were gay, with two thinking the number was even higher at 35%.
The majority of the respondents thought that 20% or more were gay.
Only one older lady at the end of the video correctly estimates that the figure is closer to 2%.
The actual number of Americans who identify as homosexual is around 1.6%, according to a large scale Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released in 2014. A further 0.7% identify as bisexual.
Other studies have put the figure slightly higher, although it is nowhere near the estimate given by most Americans.
[Comment: Result of the successful technique called “jamming” outlined in the book by gay activist Madsen. “The promotion of the fraudulent research of Alfred Kinsey, the highly organized and well-funded efforts of Marxist Harry Hays, founder of the Mattachine Society in 1950, the effective use of Hollywood and Madison Avenue, to the refinement of the homosexual agenda by homosexual activists Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen in the 1980’s — when they made public their very specific tactics in their book, “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ‘90s”, were all cogs in the larger mechanism designed to destroy the morality of America.” canadafreepress.com/article/the-marxist-agenda-behind-the-rainbow ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teachers Vote to Celebrate ‘Trans Role Models’ As Union Rep Calls for Gender Neutral Toilets
Schools should consider introducing gender-neutral toilets to make transgender pupils feel more included, a teaching union representative has said. This morning her union voted in favour of schools doing more to explore trans issues with pupils, including celebrating “trans role models”.
Julia Neal, chairwoman of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ (ALT) equality and diversity committee introduced the motion at the union’s annual conference this morning, after calling for schools to do more to introduce non-gender specific facilities. She believes that many aspects of school life, including the toilet facilities, are gender specific — and that that needs to change.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
At this link (http://tgmentalhealth.com/2010/03/31/the-prevalence-of-transgenderism/), the most “liberal” estimate of transgender prevalence is that 1 out of 7,400 males is a MtoF and 1 out of 32,000 females is a FtoM. The other studies in the list seem to concentrate on the average range of 1 in 14,000 males being MtoF (outlier: 1 in 42,000) and 1 in 45,000 or so females is FtoM (outlier: 1 in 104,000).
The studies from which these statistics have been extracted were published between 1993 and 2007; the actual population studies were performed (overall) between 1981 and 2004. The countries in which the studies took place were Germany, Belgium, Scotland, Spain, and the Netherlands.
Without being *pushed into it* by misguided parents denying that they have perfectly normal sons and daughters, I doubt that very many–if ANY at all–of these children would be making “trans” claims. If the frequency is as rare as the studies indicated (before the recent push to multiple gender possibilities), then there’s no reason for everything to be turned upside-down for ALL children/students. Provide one private bathroom (one at a time type) per school. This way, any esp. shy students will be comfortable as well as that rare trans student.
I can speak for the shy student. It was almost impossible for me to perform normal functions at a school bathroom unless no one else was in there.
Your reluctance was shared by far more than you’d ever know. Many people – men and women – have mentioned that in the context of high school. It usually came under the heading of “why high school was hell”, number 5 or 6. Obviously, since people were willing to talk about it, these weren’t the “shy” kids.
Another (unseen) perspective on Syria, an icon shop in Homs: video with English subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE66inmylz4&feature=youtu.be
So, Baron, here is a question for you? What would happen if someone in, say, the Netherlands got himself dragged to court for insulting Mohammed, and managed to win by demonstrating that there is a serious doubt as to whether the Mohammed of the Qoran really existed. Hence, he cannot have been insulted. We have been fighting these battles all wrong, by trying to claim Mohammed was evil. We should be showing that the Qoran is patently false. For example, hasn’t a Qoran emerged that predates Mohammed (if he ever existed)…
Well, as the trials of Geert Wilders have shown, it’s not at all assured that a defendant would be allowed to present all the evidence he wished nor call all the witnesses he wanted for his defense. Mr. Wilders has been denied most of the witnesses he asked to call in his trials.
In other words, such trials are for show. Nothing can be proven except that which has been decided beforehand. The judges make certain of it.
In common law American courts, if a judge does not permit a party to give evidence the party can make an “offer of proof” by testifying for the record when the jury is not present or introducing documents that are not seen by the jury. These become part of the official trial record. On appeal, the party can argue to the higher court that the lower court ruled incorrectly and even an appellate court’s negative ruling can itself be challenged. In the Netherlands it appears that the judges’ decision is unchallengeable.
I have little understanding of civil law courts. I’ll hazard that they work well when the judges are motivated to seek justice and serve as a bulwark against the overreach of government and conniving “victims.” Even where the law is that the mere assertion of hurt feelings is sufficient to state a case against a person in the public sphere or where it enshrines the heckler’s veto as the summum bonum (tip top thing) of free speech jurisprudence, judges can still pour cold water on the machinations of corrupt politicians by interjecting the tiniest amount of skepticism.
It does not appear that the judges in Mr. Wilders’s case are cut from that kind of cloth. When a trial court judge called a recess in a St. Louis City court case many moons ago, a rather cynical lawyer of my acquaintance observed that he probably did so so that he could call over to the mayor’s office to ask what he should do. I never acquired his cynicism, quite the contrary actually, but I rather think his ghost is watching the Wilders proceedings with amusement. I doubt, however, that the magnificent Mr. Wilders is amused.
Then shouldn’t Mr. Wilders simply hire an independent bodyguard squad of ex-Rhodesian SAS, South African Recces and Russian Spetznaz types, and tell this Kangaroo court to go shove it?
By the way, I don’t recognise Belgium Belgium the Netherlands as independent nations any longer. I actually refuse to take contracts from them either, as I consider them corrupt, and complicit in crimes against comon decency and jurisprudence
I would prefer that the Dutch people wake up from their long slumber and vote the PVV into office.
The aim of the E.U. is to extinguish all nation states, Belgium and the Netherlands included. The process is far advanced.
Is Vlad Tepes subject to a ddos attack? Haven’t been able to get to it for 24 hours; “too long to respond” is the message from Chrome.
Vlad loads OK for me. He’s behind a firewall, just like we are. Maybe that is slowing it down sometimes.
Yes – OK now. Had a timeout on it for two days. Thanks
*** bread lines are a good thing because in other countries where there are not breadlines people are starving to death ***
Sanders is a devotee of the “up is down” school of economic analysis. The absence of breadlines is evidence of the absence of food but breadlines show that food is available.
Italy at last faces reality: they are being invaded.
What happens when there is serious pushback on either side?
Blood and Camps.