The European Commission announced that the EU will provide Tunisia with €250 million in aid during 2016. The money will be used to help reduce unemployment, and also to build and renovate health care centers throughout the country.
In other news, the president of Belarus has announced that government officials in his country will from now on drive Greely cars, which are made in China and assembled in Belarus. The new measure was adopted with an eye towards cost-containment. An exception will be made for the prime minister and other high government officials, who will continue to ride in European luxury cars.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Insubria, JD, Jerry Gordon, 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.
Jailed Bankers Freed Early as Icelandic Government Implodes Over Panama Papers
Corruption still holds on in Iceland
The world watched in admiration last year when over two dozen Icelandic bankers who played a role in causing the 2008 financial crisis were sentenced to prison. Less than a year later, three of those bankers have been released — years earlier than expected. Their release was predicated on a change to current law regarding maximum penalties, but at least one lawmaker has suggested those who pushed the change through “handcrafted” it precisely to help bankers. News of their highly reduced sentences coincides with an ongoing scandal revealed by the Panama Papers this week regarding the Icelandic prime minister’s previously secret, offshore holdings in banks implicated in the collapse.
Icelandic outlet Stundin reported Thursday, as translated to English by the Icelandic Review, that three bankers from the Kaupthing Bank who were sentenced last year have been released. Former Kaupthing Chairperson of the Board Sigurður Einarsson, former Kaupthing Luxembourg CEO Magnús Guðmundsson, and former investor and 10% owner of Kaupthing Ólafur Ólafsson were convicted last year for their role in market manipulation and fraud. As the Reykjavík Grapevine summarized, “they artificially inflated the value of the bank, deliberately deceiving investors and depositors alike, and contributed significantly to the late 2008 collapse of the Icelandic banking system.”
They have each served roughly a year of their prison sentences, which ranged between four and five years, but because of a change to the law made March 16 regarding maximum penalties, they were released Thursday.
The Icelandic Review explained:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
University Student Exposes “World Economists” In Basic Errors
The “austerity measures” currently being imposed on western nations are based on an economic theory which was created with flawed data which dramatically affects its predictive value, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown.
The theory, developed by Carmen Reinhart, Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School, and Ken Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, says that in a time of economic crisis, economic growth slows dramatically when the size of a country’s debt rises above 90% of Gross Domestic Product.
This is the rationale being used by most governments to institute spending cuts to reduce the national debt. The Reinhart/Rogoff paper, called “A Time of Debt” has become the manual for the “recovery” program which has seen essential services in most western nations cut to the bone.
The standing of the report’s authors has seen the conclusions unquestioned-until now.
A student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Thomas Herndon, was given an assignment by his professors to pick an economics paper and to replicate its results.
Herndon chose “A Time of Debt” and soon he discovered that he could, under no circumstances, recreate the predictions made in the original paper.
“My heart sank,” he was quoted as saying. “I thought I had likely made a gross error. Because I’m a student the odds were I’d made the mistake, not the well-known Harvard professors.
“I remember I had a meeting with my professor, Michael Ash, where he basically said, ‘Come on, Tom, this isn’t too hard-you just gotta go sort this out.’“
Finally, after he obtained the original data spreadsheet from Reinghart and Rogoff, he saw that the two world economists had only included 15 of the 20 countries under analysis in their key calculation (of average GDP growth in countries with high public debt).
They had left out the critically important nations of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, and Denmark-which dramatically affected the outcome.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Attack on Free Speech: CEI Subpoenaed Over Global Warming Skepticism
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has just been subpoenaed, as part of Al Gore’s Climate Witch hunt. This is a move which so blatantly reeks of McCarthyite abuse of power, even some proponents of climate action are horrified at the attack on freedom which this subpoena represents.
The following is the statement of the Competitive Enterprise Institute;…
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Gates Rescues Sears With $500 Million Dollar Loan
Hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert continues to pump money into Sears Holdings Corp., but for its latest financing the retailer also has tapped another billionaire’s fortune.
The company on Friday said it raised $500 million in financing backed by mortgages on 13 properties. The backers include affiliates of Mr. Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., and Cascade Investment LLC, the investment firm that manages most of Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates’s wealth.
A spokesman for Mr. Lampert declined to comment, as did a Cascade spokesman.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mayor’s Office in Houston Shut Down Vaxxed
THE MAYOR’S OFFICE DID IT.
The film Vaxxed, exposing criminal fraud at the CDC and the CDC’s concealment of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, was shut down in Houston. Locked out 2 days ago.
It was supposed to open at the Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, but Hunter Todd, the head of the Festival, admitted in writing that “high government officials” in Houston had threatened the Festival-so Vaxxed was axed.
Now I have confirmation that it was the Houston Mayor’s office that did the deed. The threat was about $$. The city government supports the Festival with grants. Show the film-no grants.
More censorship.
As you know, Vaxxed was also axed at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
But the Angelika Film Center in NY has been showing Vaxxed since last Friday, and attendance has swelled. There are now requests from many theaters around THE WORLD that want to show the film.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul Warns “The Conflict Between Government & Liberty is at a Boiling Point”
The results of liberty are all the things we love, none of which can be finally provided by government
For the past one hundred years, the United States and most of the world have witnessed a setback for the cause of liberty. Despite all the advances in technology, despite a more refined understanding of the rights of minorities, despite all the economic advances, the individual has far less protection against the state than a century ago.
Since the beginning of the last century, many seeds of destruction have been planted that are now maturing into a systematic assault on our freedoms. With a horrendous financial and currency crisis both upon us and looming into the future as far as the eye can see, it has become quite apparent that national debt is unsustainable, liberty is threatened, and the people’s anger and fears are growing. Most importantly, it is now clear that government promises and panaceas are worthless. Government has once again failed and the demand for change is growing louder by the day. Just witness the dramatic back-and-forth swings of the parties in power.
The only thing that the promises of government did was to delude the people into a false sense of security. Complacency and mistrust generated a tremendous moral hazard, causing dangerous behavior by a large number of people. Self-reliance and individual responsibility were replaced by organized thugs who weaseled their way into achieving control over the process whereby the looted wealth of the country was distributed.
The choice we now face: further steps toward authoritarianism or a renewed effort in promoting the cause of liberty. There is no third option.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Three Unequal Branches of Government
I expect we’ve all heard the phrase, “three coequal branches” used to describe the composition of our federal system of government. In fact, we’ve probably heard it so many times that we don’t even pay attention, we just accept it as fact and move on. But, is it true? Are the three branches of our federal government really “coequal?”
When that phrase popped up in an article that I was reading a few nights ago, something rose up inside of me and said “no, the three branches are not coequal.” When I found the phrase being used in another article the next day, I started to ponder just how unequal the branches of our federal government really are.
The three branches of our federal system of government are legislative (Congress), executive (President) and judicial (Supreme Court). This is the order in which they appear in the U.S. Constitution, and it is also their ranking in the power structure.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It has now been proven that electronic voting machines can be hacked using only the memory card
(INTELLIHUB) — As an experiment, a group of individuals conducted a “mini election” using the Diebold voting machine to see whether it could be “hacked” using only the systems memory card which is inserted into the machine before votes are taken, thus making accusations of election fraud a reality.
During the experiment a random Diebold machine was selected via lottery to assure that the device was not “pre-rigged.”
“The winner is unit 15191,” the lead man conducting the experiment said, which was grabbed off the shelf where many other of the same model machines were being stored.
“What we have here is a programed optical scan ballot […] with only one question on it.”
The question on the ballot read:
“Can the votes on a Diebold system be hacked using the memory card?”
The answers available on the ballot were only “yes” and “no.” (Ad) Discover Where the Top 7 SAFE HAVENS Are Located — It Takes Just ONE EVENT to Change Everything
During the experiment, 2 out of 8 individuals voted “yes” and the remaining 6 voted “no.”
Once the ballots were filled out the “hacked” memory card was inserted into the machine and the machine was then powered on. The machine then ran a “self test analysis” and zeroed itself out for the ballots to be entered.
Shockingly, once the report was printed — out of the 8 total votes, 7 showed as “yes,” despite the fact that only two of the ballots were marked “yes” before they were inserted into the machine.
One of the participants ended up crying after seeing the results, and learning that criminal factions of her government may have duped her and the entire American people in previous elections.
[Comment: “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Joseph Stalin — www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/joseph_stalin.html ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yes, Let’s Prosecute Climate-Change Fraud — And Start With the Scaremongers
If propounding pseudoscience in pursuit of self-serving goals is a crime, here are some hardened offenders
The attorneys general of New York and California are on the warpath. They’re fed up with dissent over the science and politics of global warming, and they’re ready to investigate the liars. California’s Kamala Harris and New York’s Eric Schneiderman have Exxon in their sights, and they’re trying to pry open the books to see whether the corporation properly warned shareholders “about the risk to its business from climate change.” Not to be outdone, Attorney General Loretta Lynch revealed that the federal Department of Justice has “discussed” the possibility of civil suits against the fossil-fuel industry. The smell of litigation is in the air.
Some people are worried about little things like the “First Amendment,” “academic freedom,” and “scientific integrity.” Not me. I hate unscientific nonsense. So if Harris and Schneiderman are up for suing people who’ve made piles of cash peddling exaggerations and distortions, let’s roll out some test cases. I’ve got three ideas:
United States v. Al Gore. Ten years ago, the former vice president of the United States launched an extraordinarily lucrative career by selling climate doomsday. While promoting his Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, he made a shockingly false statement. He said that unless the world took “drastic measures” to reduce greenhouse gases, it would reach a “point of no return” in ten years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Identitarians Surprise Graz’s Green Reds
Austrian Generation Identitarian activists carried out a surprise raid on the headquarters of the Green Party in Graz this week, unfurling an “Islamism kills” banner on the roof and then drenching it-and the roof tiles-in symbolic red blood.
The action was held to protest the building of a huge mosque in the Upper Austrian city, one of many centers in that country targeted by the nonwhite colonizers in recent years.
Identitarians Surprise Graz’s Green Reds
Austrian Generation Identitarian activists carried out a surprise raid on the headquarters of the Green Party in Graz this week, unfurling an “Islamism kills” banner on the roof and then drenching it-and the roof tiles-in symbolic red blood.
The action was held to protest the building of a huge mosque in the Upper Austrian city, one of many centers in that country targeted by the nonwhite colonizers in recent years.
In an interview given to the Sezession (“Secession”) news website in Germany, Austrian Identitarian Bewegung (Identitarian Movement, or IB), leader Patrick Lenart explained what happened-and why.
SECESSION: You drew attention to the Greens in Graz by going onto their roof-what was all that about?
PATRICK LENART: The Green presidential candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen blighted Graz with his presence yesterday. [The first round of the Austrian presidential election will take place on April 24.]
We took the opportunity to highlight the relationship between the Green Party’s policy and Islamism and bring it into the public’s consciousness.
More than two dozen IB activists gathered in a “flash mob” style with flares and banners in the street in front of the Green Party headquarters, while seven activists climbed onto the roof. They unfurled a huge banner reading “Islamization kills” and doused it with fake blood.
SECESSION: Why the Greens?
PATRICK LENART: The Greens are significant participates in the opening of the country’s doors to murderers. There is blood on their hands.
The message reached the desired recipients, because within the building there was a meeting of senior Green officials who immediately began to hyperventilate. The roof occupation was only ended by a police operation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
German Government ‘Plans to Stop and Reverse Wind Power’
If the green energy plans by the German Federal Government are implemented, the expansion of onshore wind energy will soon come to a standstill and then go into reverse. In early March, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel presented a draft for the amendment of the Renewable Energies Act (EEG). The new rules regulate the subsidy levels for renewable energy. The new regulations are to be adopted in coming months. A study by consultants ERA on behalf of the Green Party’s parliamentary group concludes that under these provisions the development of wind energy will collapse fairly soon.-Frank-Thomas Wenzel, Berliner Zeitung, 7 April 2016
China’s proposed investments in long-distance, ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission lines will pave the way for power exports as far as Germany, the head of the national power grid said on Tuesday as he launched an initiative for cross-border power connections. Talk of exporting power is a reversal for China, which as recently as 2004 suffered rolling blackouts across its manufacturing heartland. But huge investments in power in the decade since, and the construction of a number of dams, nuclear reactors and coal-fired plants due to begin operating in the next 10 years, mean the country faces a growing surplus.-Lucy Hornby, Financial Times[Pay site], 31 March 2016
The latest hardcopy issue of flagship news magazine Der Spiegel reports how Germany’s green energy revolution has bitterly divided the country’s environmental movement. Enoch zu Guttenberg, one of Germany’s most prolific environmentalists has become an outspoken critic of wind energy in Germany. Guttenberg, a symphony conductor, told Spiegel the movement against wind turbines has exploded over the past months and years and that his speeches against wind turbines are attracting ever larger crowds: “When I started 60 or 70 would come, now there are more than 1000.” Moreover Guttenberg talks of “hundreds of local citizens’ initiatives” that are now mobilizing against wind projects. Spiegel writes of a whole “new quality” of resistance that governments now need to confront as many traditional environmentalists now rail against what they view as a “corruption of green party members, environmental groups, local politicians and city councils.”-Pierre Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, 7 April 2016
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Has 610 Cars Per 1,000 Inhabitants, ISTAT Says
Motorisation rate one of the highest in Europe
(ANSA) — Rome, April 7 — Italy’s motorisation rate returned to slight growth in 2014 after drops in 2012 and 2013 with nearly 610 cars per 1,000 inhabitants, according to a report from national statistics agency ISTAT published Thursday.
Italy is by far one of the most motorised countries in Europe, preceded only by Luxembourg and Lithuania, ISTAT said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Caserta Royal Palace Staffers Found to be Living in UNESCO Site for Three Euros a Month
Officials living in palace at 3-145 euros a month
(ANSA) — Naples, April 7 — Audit Court prosecutors have requested depositions from the superintendent of the Royal Palace of Caserta and three managers at the Campania land registry, sources said Thursday. Superintendent Paola Raffaella David and the other officials have 30 days to give statements as to why superintendency staffers and their relatives are being allowed to rent 15 residential units within the Royal Palace complex at low rates, causing taxpayers estimated losses of 1.2 million euros. Finance police discovered the staffers paid as little as three to 145 euros a month to live in the former seat of the Bourbon monarchy built in the 18th century, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. They had access to the Royal Palace parks, and their water consumption was being paid for by the superintendency.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Historic PD Rome Chapter Office to Appeal Eviction Order
‘Solidarity and money from all over Europe’ says secretary
(ANSA) — Rome, April 7 — The secretary of the Democratic Party’s historic chapter office in Rome’s central Via dei Giubbonari, Giulia Urso, on Thursday said they would appeal against an eviction order for unpaid arrears. “An appeal is certain. We’re not moving from her, we’re ready to resist the eviction order. Statements of solidarity and money are coming in from all over Europe,” she said. “We are discussing the next actions to be taken with militants. We have already called a meeting for Monday,” she said. Earlier the regional administrative court (TAR) of Lazio upheld a city council eviction order for unpaid arrears and lack of formal permission to occupy the building.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Police Shocked by Scale of Islamic State Network in Europe
French and Belgian authorities have found that the scale of the threat of terrorism could be much bigger than they had previously thought. They’ve found that the members of these terror cells are mostly young Muslim men from the Brussels suburbs of Molenbeek and Schaerbeek and many were former criminals often involved with petty thefts and assaults.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Facebook Page Set Up Praising Muslim Shopkeeper Asad Shah’s Killer Tanveer Ahmed
Tanveer Ahmed has said he killed Asad Shah because he claimed to be a prophet. A Facebook page now describes Ahmed as ‘Ghazi’, a title given to Muslim warriors.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Politician Charged With Hate Crime for Criticizing Islam
“It’s not personal I just f*cking hate your religion”
A Scottish politician has been charged with a hate crime for criticizing Muslims in a series of “Islamaphobic” text messages sent after the terror attacks in Paris.
A Scottish politician has been charged with a hate crime for criticizing Muslims in a series of “Islamaphobic” text messages sent after the terror attacks in Paris.
Scottish National Party Councillor Craig Melville allegedly messaged an “unnamed female Muslim activist” within his party and told her, “It’s not personal I just f*cking hate your religion and I’ll do all in I’m life do defeat your filth.”
Another read: “And in your favour we live in an uneducated left lift loopy left wing society who is more interested in claiming benefits and being ignorant to the threat of your horrible disease which is a make believe c*nt in the sky.”
“Horrible murdering Islamic c*nts.”
Melville also criticized a local Muslim politician, Humza Yousaf, for staging a photo-op with refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos: “And Muslim politicians in the UK have a duty to speak out and educate.”
“That should be their number one priority, not staged photos taking refugees off boats and writing patronising messages of support. Had to unfollow that c*nt.”
The “unnamed Muslim female activist” evidently reported Melville to police and he now stands accused of the crime of criticizing Islam.
“Police can confirm that a 35-year-old man has been charged,” Scottish Police said.
“A report will now be submitted to the procurator fiscal.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Italian Social Worker Accused of Murdering and Mutilating PC Gordon Semple
A social worker was being questioned last night over the murder of a missing policeman whose dismembered body was found at his home in a bath of acid.
Italian Stefano Brizzi is suspected of killing and mutilating the body of respected PC Gordon Semple, who vanished a week ago.
Neighbours told how earlier they had knocked on the gay 49-year-old’s door to complain about a smell and were met by the Italian in just a pair of Speedo-style trunks who said he was ‘cooking for a mate’.
Detectives are investigating how PC Semple ended up at the flat, which is close to where the officer was last seen near London’s Shard skyscraper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rochdale Child Sex Gang Jailed for Total of 125 Years
Afraz Ahmed was a former bus driver who picked up two of his victims from school and offered them free tickets. He and nine other men have been jailed for a total of 125 years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The EU is making Britain less safe and putting frontline troops at risk, according to a defence minister.
Julian Brazier accused the EU of provoking Russia over Ukraine and giving Vladimir Putin the excuse he needed to invade the country.
The former paratrooper also warned that soldiers were being stopped from training for wartime conditions because Brussels bureaucracy was regulating exercises in Britain.
The damning assessment came in a speech launching the Veterans for Britain campaign at Vote Leave’s headquarters.
It is more evidence of the sharp disagreements in government over the European issue.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sectarian Leaflets Call for Death of Moderate Muslims at London Universities
A Muslim hate group has distributed leaflets at leading London universities and on public streets calling for moderate Ahmadiyyahs to be killed, bringing Pakistani sectarian hate on to the streets of the UK capital.
The revelation follows the brutal murder Asad Shah, an Ahmadiyya Muslim from Glasgow, Scotland who had wished his “beloved Christian nation” and happy Easter hours before being stabbed dozens of times in the chest.
The organisation responsible for the literature, Khatm e Nabuwat, is an explicitly anti-Ahmadiyya hate group, which is affiliated to the Muslim council of Britain (MCB), the UK’s “largest national representative of British Muslim associations, mosques and schools”.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: One Million Citizens on the Verge of Poverty
One in four. 600,000 living under poverty line
(ANSA) — SARAJEVO — One million of Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens are living on the verge of poverty — one in four — Dnevni list reported. Around 600,000 Bosnians live under the poverty line. Out of 718,000 workers, around 200,000 receive a minimum pay of 370 convertible marks (189 euros). The unemployed are more than 540,000 (43%).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Hahn: 250 Mln Euros in Aid From EU in 2016
Two healthcare centers inaugurated in Beja governorate
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, APRIL 8 — The European Union will support Tunisia in 2016 with aid worth approximately 250 million euros, the EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn said Friday, during a visit to the North African country to discuss with its leaders EU-Tunisia relations also ahead of the EU Association Council on April 18.
European Union aid for Tunisia will concern, among other things, professional training and means to boost employment, a key factor for Tunisia’s development, marked by high unemployment rates.
During the visit, the European commissioner and the Tunisian Health Minister Said Aid inaugurated two new structures of the governorate of Beja, part of a wider program of EU funding for the creation of 13 new healthcare centers and the renovation of another 60 centers in 13 different governorates of Tunisia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Why Does an Egyptian Democracy Activist Turn ISIS Suicide Bomber?
Former Beirut bureau chief for the New York Times Robert F Worth has an op ed in the Weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, April 9-10, 2016 about the transformation of a young Egyptian secular activist into an ISIS suicide bomber, “The Democracy Activist Who Became a Suicide Bomber.” He is the author of A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, From Tahrir Square to ISIS, which will be published later this month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Worth’s tag line says it all:”An idealistic young Egyptian who helped lead the Tahrir Square protests died three years later in Iraq as an Islamic State jihadist.” The answer is contained in another new book, Defeating Jihad: a winnable war by Dr. Sebastian Gorka that we reviewed in the current April 2016 edition of the NER, “Freedom is Precious and Fragile”.
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Federal Business Opportunities: 994 Tons of Weapons Shipped to Al-Qaeda in Syria
Despite a ceasefire in Syria, the United States is delivering tons of weapons to al-Qaeda, al-Nusra and other Islamist groups.
The shipments are detailed in a report released by IHS Jane’s 360 0n Thursday. Jane’s cites documents posted on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website.
“The FBO has released two solicitations in recent months looking for shipping companies to transport explosive material from Eastern Europe to the Jordanian port of Aqaba on behalf of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command,” write Jeremy Binnie and Neil Gibson.
Solicitations for a contractor to ship 81 containers of cargo that included explosive material from Constanta in Bulgaria to Aqaba appeared on November 3.
The solicitation was subsequently updated with a detailed packing list indicating the cargo had a total weight of 994 tons. Around half of the shipment was to be unloaded at Agalar, a military pier near the Turkish town of Tasucu, and the other half at Aqaba.
The Eastern European weapons include AK-47 rifles, PKM general-purpose machine guns, DShK heavy machine guns, RPG-7 rocket launchers, and 9K111M Faktoria anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) systems, according to Jane’s.
“These weapons are going to Syria where, as has been reported for years by several independent sources, half of them go directly to al-Qaeda,” writes Moon of Alabama.
Earlier this month it was reported the Pentagon has resumed a “rebel” training program in Turkey. In October the Pentagon announced it would “pause” a program after trainees were attacked in Syria by al-Nusra and handed over their weapons to the jihadi group.
The United States claims it is arming and training “moderate” rebels in Syria despite the fact numerous observers and experts on the conflict insist there are virtual no moderate forces involved in the effort to topple the government of Bashar al-Assad.
“Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of,” Ben Hubbard wrote for The New York Times on April 27, 2013.
[Comment: Obama and Hillary, following bankster orders, arm up ISIS; who then take those same weapons into Europe. This whole process is evil and treasonous.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Belarus: Public Officials to Drive Only Geely Cars
Made in China, assembled in Borisov near Minsk
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Public officials in Belarus will soon drive only Geely cars, made in China and assembled in Borisov near Minsk, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said as reported by Belta agency.
“Imported brands will no longer be used by our public officials from local administrations to ministers, with the exception of the Prime Minister and the highest officials”, Lukashenko said, underlining that the passage to Geely vehicles will be introduced gradually in order to save resources.
The sale of vehicles assembled in Borisov by the joint-venture between the Chinese carmaker and the Minsk Government has started in March 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Sesame Street’ Unveils Hijab-Clad Muppet: ‘Zari’ Is a Feminist From Afghani
Sesame Street unveiled a fresh face Thursday: a hijab-wearing Afghani Muppet named Zari who will teach kids about “girl empowerment, social and emotional wellbeing.”
Zari will first appear in season five of Baghch-e-Simsim, which is the Afghan version of Sesame Street.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum Seeker ‘Repeatedly Forced 13yo Austrian Girl Into Having Sex’
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Over the course of three months the asylum seeker repeatedly sexually abused the schoolgirl
Police in the Austrian town of Korneuburg have detained an Afghan man in his 20s for allegedly intimidating a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual relations — an ordeal that lasted three months for the teenager.
“The accused did not use any violence, but he did threaten her and scared her into doing what he wanted,” said a police spokesman, as cited by Austrian newspaper Kurier.
The man, who reportedly was still living in a refugee shelter at the time of the crime, encountered the girl online in early January. The ensuing pen-friendship took a serious turn and the two eventually met in person in a wooded area, where they reportedly had sex.
According to the police, the girl was too frightened to tell anybody about the events and stayed silent for three months, during which time the suspect repeatedly coerced her into having intercourse.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria: 13% of Refugee Accommodation Occupied
Percentage of asylum seekers from Syria drops
(ANSA) — TRIESTE — Around 13% of the accommodation capacities of the Bulgarian Agency for refugees are currently occupied, Novinite portal referred quoted official data. As of April 5th, 673 persons are staying at the refugee centres across the country. Since the beginning of the year, 165 persone have been granted refugee status in Bulgaria, 105 of whom are Syrian citizens.
Compared to the first semester of 2015, there has been a drop in the share of Syrian asylum seekers — from 45% to 11%, while the share of Iraqis asking for protection in Bulgaria rose from 14% to 48% in the same period. From January 1st to April 1st, 4,267 persons submitted the request for asylum.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Canada is the second largest country on planet earth . . . and one of the least populated. Density, the number of people per square kilometer, is 3.63, making it 230th out of 244 jurisdictions worldwide. It has long had a policy to increase its meager population. Since WWII, the government paid a “baby bonus” to women to birth children. I had no employer but contributed to the family income as a child. For decades immigration policies have attempted to bring in large numbers of peoples from foreign lands.
The current official stated immigration goal is 285,000 people annually. The government believes it can assimilate that many people, even during a difficult economic climate. Not an easy thing to do. In Canada, like the US, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. Officially, the current unemployment rate is 7.1% (2 full points higher than US) . . . but people who have stopped looking for work are not counted in that statistic so the real number is somewhat higher. BTW, the government will never tell you the real number.
Assuming the immigration goal is achieved annually, the source of such people becomes critical to the future well-being of the country’s existing populace. Those supporting PM Justin Trudeau’s policy to bring in hundreds of thousands of escapees from the middle east and north Africa try hard to reassure skeptics as to the efficacy of the policy. They smugly affirm that Canada was built on immigration and became one of the most admired nations on earth. And that is true. But it is not the whole story.
Immigrants from countries with laws and cultures similar to Canada were easily assimilated because the relocated people were accustomed to the values encountered in their new country. Further, previous Canadian governments arranged it so newcomers were scattered across vast miles of the country and not allowed to congregate in ethnic groups. That was smart.
Let’s not beat around the bush . . . we are talking about non-Muslims. Up ‘til now. But the situation is changing due to the serious dislocations taking place on the other side of the Atlantic. Trudeau’s plan to bring in Muslims to live among non-Muslims is dangerous. And it is already underway with recent arrivals from troubled areas of the globe being personally greeted by a fawning PM.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chart: U.S. Admits More Than Twice the Number of Migrants From Muslim World Than Europe
“U.S. can expect to grant green cards to another 680,000 migrants from Muslim-majority nations over the next five years”
The United States admits more than twice the number of immigrants from majority-Muslim nations than from countries in the European Union, according to a Senate analysis of Department of Homeland Security data.
According a chart released Thursday by the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, in the five years spanning from FY 2009 through FY 2013, the U.S. issued approximately 680,000 green cards to migrants from Muslim nations compared to the 270,000 green cards issued to migrants from the European Union.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A failed asylum seeker who sexually assaulted two women and walked away laughing is appealing his right to remain in Britain.
The 17-year-old east African, who groped the women three times on a night out in Maidstone, Kent, first grabbed one of them between the legs as she stood in the street.
When confronted he walked away sniggering, and CCTV then caught him grabbing her 23-year-old friend at about 1am while she was being sick — before returning to assault the first victim again.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
More Refugees Are Entering EU Than Those Being Deported Home Despite £4bn Deal
This week, just as the first waves were being sent back from the island’s shores under the glare of the world’s media, nearly three times as many were landing clandestinely by boat on Chios.
[Comment: Who is providing the funds to pay the smuggler tab for each person? We’re not talking bus fare prices here.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
No Gap Between Political Correctness and Insanity
The United States of America in 2016 is a country in deep trouble. We are facing severe economic and national security challenges, made worse by almost two terms of destructive Obama administration policies.
Even more troubling is the assault on our culture through a never ending quest for more multiculturalism and political correctness. The flow of both legal and illegal immigrants has continued unabated for over five decades. Currently, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 15.7 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States. Amazingly, attempts to deport these lawbreakers or even reduce the flow of government benefits being delivered to them are labeled as racist by liberal elitists.
Whereas previous generations of immigrants gladly assimilated into this country, newcomers are encouraged to retain their own identity and language. A pro-America attitude is discouraged in some communities and even flying the American flag is viewed as too nationalistic and even jingoistic.
Despite the election of the first African American President in 2008, the country’s race relations are at a very low point and getting worse. Barack Obama was supposed to unite Americans, instead he specializes in driving a wedge between the races. To make matters worse, he has surrounded himself with cabinet members who share his destructive philosophy. It is contagious and has been co-opted by radical groups such as Black Lives Matter, among others. The trolls on social media create an even more toxic environment by turning harmless situations into racial controversies.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Of Course Donald Trump Isn’t Perfect
Before you even begin reading this article, please know that I am NOT SAYING that Donald Trump is a Biblical hero, neither am I saying he is perfect. I do not agree with everything that Donald J. Trump says, neither do I agree with all of his positions. As true Constitutionalists, and there are many of us, it is rare when we fully agree even with others who are like-minded.
Nevertheless, Trump has struck gold with the American people. His supporters have been called low-informed by Ted Cruz, ignorant and backward by media, racist and Nazis by the Soros radicalized communist left, and even uneducated by various pundits.
In reality, we are Americans who have not seen a candidate who has echoed our thoughts and our concerns in many decades. Oh sure, they all talk a good game, but then when we elect them, they turn around and do exactly what the rest of the globalists do. Point in fact, the twice elected Tea Party candidates of 2010 and 2014 have not stopped one thing Obama has done, not even a judicial nominee.
So when Trump rails on the loss of working class jobs due to horrid trade agreements, and the unfair competition for those jobs — along with security threats — due to the flood of illegal immigrants pouring across unsecured borders, it resonates with those who have suffered so many losses.
The losses aren’t just in jobs, but in personal losses like Kathryn Steinle, a 32-year-old resident of San Francisco who was gunned down in broad daylight near Fisherman’s Wharf on the San Francisco waterfront in front of dozens of witnesses by an illegal alien. Francisco Sanchez, a 45-year-old with a last known address in Texas where he was on probation for felony assault has been deported on numerous occasions to Mexico, and was back in the US again illegally.
Years ago I read an FBI report and it stated that nearly 10,000 American citizens die every year at the hands of illegal aliens. That really is an astronomical figure. If we don’t have secured borders, we don’t have national sovereignty, and neither do we have a protected populace. When he says, “Build the wall,” we say, “Yes!”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Authorities Absent as Somalis Allegedly Keep Assaulting Rape Victim
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Somali man who raped 12-year-old girl only sentenced to commuity service
A Somali family in Sweden continues to harass 13-year-old Hanna for reporting her rapist, and authorities let them get away with it.
The case of a then 12-year-old girl who got raped by Guled Mohamud, a Somali citizen, gained national attention in Sweden after Mohamud was convicted and sentenced to community service. Almost 10 months after the sentencing, the girl allegedly continues to get threatened, stalked and even assaulted by the man’s brother. Authorities have been informed on several occasions, but have not acted.
“Hanna needs to get her rights back,” Hanna’s father told local newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning (ST). “This boy has a restraining order and still comes and assaults my daughter, but nothing happens.”
The rape took place Nov. 10, 2014, after Mohamud lured Hanna back to his apartment. Mohamud said his friends had revealing images of Hanna on his phone that he would give back to her if she came. As soon as they arrived at the apartment, Mohamud started ripping Hanna’s clothes off and started beating her before the rape began…
The latest incident took place Easter weekend when the brother spotted Hanna getting off a bus.
“When I stepped off the bus he told me, ‘I’ll see you next time,’“ Hanna said. “Then the other guy who has a restraining order came and I thought he would help me, but then be punched me in the mouth. Then his mother showed up and I thought it would end, but she also kicked me.“
Hanna was hospitalized with two loose teeth and injuries to the back of her head.
When asked about why they don’t do more to protect the family, authorities simply told ST that Hanna should continue reporting the incidents, and let them take it from there.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feminists Need to Know — Islam Kills Women
by Anne Marie Waters
I used to be a feminist, but I gave it up so I could speak out for women’s rights. Even before the “intersectional”, “how many genders are there?” lunacy took over, feminism was filled to bursting with types who think men are misogynists who all secretly want to rape us (this despite the fact that men are among the greatest supporters of women’s rights) and a happily married mother is some kind of traitor.
The kind of people, in other words, who nobody in their right mind could possibly get along with.
While I will always speak out for women to maintain our just civil rights, I do want Sharia Watch to spend significantly more time on freedom of speech (we will run an autumn campaign ‘Islam Kills Free Speech’) and the impact of Islam on children, but before I do, I intend to spend the summer doing something very important — informing the ludicrous feminists of today of something they desperately need to know: Islam Kills Women.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Seized Mafia Assets Assigned to Arcigay for First Time
Messina properties to be used to assist LGBT community
(ANSA) — Messina, April 7 — Properties confiscated from the mafia are to be assigned to the gay rights association Arcigay for the first time ever, it emerged on Thursday.
Two properties in the Sicilian port city of Messina will be entrusted to the local chapter of the organisation Makwan for the creation of a social ‘emergency first aid’ centre and a reception centre for LGBT people in difficulty. “It is the first time that assets seized from the mafia have been assigned to Arcigay,” said national secretary Gabriele Piazzoni. “The news testifies to an important cultural process that has been changing the face of Sicily for several years: redemption from the stereotypes and prejudice of which this land is a victim,” he continued.
“It has been the driving force of a genteel social and cultural revolution, enacted by many people throughout the island,” Piazzoni said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
” EU will provide Tunisia with €250 million in aid during 2016.”
1. EU did not consult voters and citizens. They give money to muslims for no reason at all.
2. Money granted to Tunisia does not reduce unemployment as long as 4 rabbits breed like mice.
3. What Tunisia and muslims need is €250 million to buy and use condoms.
4. EU elites should be sent to hell for absorbing the extra billions of jihadis who overflow from crowded muslims countries.
Stupid EU
How nice of the EU to continue to TRY to buy off the Muslims at the gates. Soon the recipient’s of all that free cash will just walk in and take the lot. I hope we get a shot of Merkel scarpering down the road in her underwear.
*** calling for moderate Ahmadiyyahs to be killed ***
If that Scottish politician can be prosecuted, I look forward to action against the Khatm e Nabuwat, and the MCB for maintain a hateful association with it. There’s no limit to whom you can prosecute if you just get creative about it.
This goes on while Cameron turns a blind eye. Britain is indeed a police state where pseudo-legal officials carry out vendettas against dissidents to advance the entrenchment of contemptible foreigners. But, as is to be expected, the voters in the last election couldn’t get enough of him. “Do more Dave! We hang on every empty word from you. Tell us what Muslim land we can fight for freedom in now. Do your best to keep us in thrall to those smug E.U. worthies whose parents were not married at the time of their birth. We’re behind you!”
Early in the rule of the National Socialists in Germany some lawyers tried to challenge some detentions in the courts. They still clung to the illusion that the law meant something. By now, the attentive Briton knows that law in Albionistan is a coercive farce administered by hypocrites, time servers, and thugs.
Cool wigs though. The veneer of a proud heritage of regularity and a country that didn’t grovel at the feet of people quite aptly described by Councillor Melville.
Col Bunny, you da man. Albionistan indeed – especially after the behavior of those in charge re the grooming gangs that operated right under their noses. Better to let foster children be tortured, forced into addiction and sex slavery than that they be called racists.
More money and help for the enemy.
They must be killing themselves laughing, the way they are playing the west like a violin! (wholly and solely because of our traitorous leaders who for some unfathomable reason, hold these useless muslims to be some kind of superior beings!)
Our leaders are indeed worse than the muslims, since if they were sane, this invasion would not be taking place.
Give all the money you want to Tunisia and it won’t change Islam one single bit.
Tunisia is in relatively good shape compared to, say, Libya. That’s only bec the Eye of Obama didn’t turn toward assassination of its leaders.
You’re right, it won’t change Islam, but it might keep the Tunisians at home.
Do you remember what sparked the so-called “Arab Spring”? It was a young street vendor’s suicide after the stupid govt regs made him stop selling from his cart.
So…foreign aid that stays in foreign lands means fewer migrants. What’s not to like??
I suppose you’re right, but on another blog I saw a woman claiming to be from Tunisia start talking about stabbing Jews (at which point she was banned). So my opinion of Tunisia has gone down a bit, but yea it’s probably good if the woman ranting about stabbing Jews stays in Tunisia.