Passengers on a tram in North Melbourne were menaced by a gang of men, one of whom brandished a machete. The men made threats against the passengers and spat on them. Police arrested all four, but later released them after giving them a warning.
In other news, two men and a woman were arrested as they entered New York City from New Jersey when police discovered a weapons cache in their SUV. The weapons concealed in the vehicle included an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun and five semi-automatic handguns.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, FN, Ilia Toli, JD, MC, MM, The Observer, 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.
A Serious Question for the NRA
As regular readers of my commentaries know, from time to time I have written about the National Rifle Association’s curious misreading of the Second Amendment-to wit, that the Amendment’s first thirteen words (“[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”) have no significance with respect to the interpretation and application of the Amendment’s last fourteen words (“the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”). According to the NRA, the Second Amendment secures “the individual right to keep and bear arms”, to which “[a] well regulated Militia” is irrelevant.
I must describe the NRA’s fixation as a most curious misreading of the Second Amendment because, if “the individual right to keep and bear arms” is irrelevant to “[a] well regulated Militia”, then by dint of the NRA’s own linguistic logic “the individual right to keep and bear arms” must be equally irrelevant to “the security of a free State” to which the Amendment declares that such a Militia is “necessary”. If so, then the NRA’s reading of the Amendment is at odds with its contention that “the individual right to keep and bear arms” guarantees Americans the wherewithal to preserve “the Blessings of Liberty” promised by the Constitution in its Preamble. For, if “the individual right to keep and bear arms” is as irrelevant to “the security of a free State” as it supposedly is to “[a] well regulated Militia”, it passes understanding that it could guarantee any aspect of “a free State”, including especially the “Liberty” of that State’s citizens.
This apparent conundrum is, of course, not the product of the Constitution. For, according to the most basic rules of constitutional interpretation, the NRA’s construction of the Second Amendment is impossible. In general, “[i]t cannot be presumed, that any clause in the constitution is intended to be without effect”. Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 174 (1803). And “[i]n expounding the Constitution * * * , every word must have its due force, and appropriate meaning; for it is evident from the whole instrument, that no word was unnecessarily used, or needlessly added”. Holmes v. Jennison, 39 U.S. (14 Peters) 550, 570-571 (1840). Moreover, with respect in particular to the clause “[a] well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”, “[i]t cannot be supposed that the framers of the Constitution did not use this expression with deliberation or failed to appreciate its plain significance”. Wright v. United States, 302 U.S. 583, 587-588 (1938). See also, e.g., Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, 151-152 (1926); Knowlton v. Moore, 178 U.S. 41, 87 (1900); Blake v. McClung, 172 U.S. 239, 260-261 (1898); Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 44 (1957) (opinion of Frankfurter, J.).
My emphasis on this peculiar situation is not simply a matter of constitutional pedantry devoid of practical consequences. For, by widely disseminating its misreading of the Second Amendment among the general public, the NRA lends credibility to a most dangerous misconception-to wit, that Americans can secure for themselves “the Blessings of Liberty” by purely individual actions alone, when every page in the book of American political and legal theory and history teaches that popular sovereignty, popular self-government, and the “Blessings of Liberty” that go with them necessarily entail, and can be achieved and maintained only through, collective endeavors by WE THE PEOPLE as a whole. No one who studies America’s Colonial Charters, the Declaration of Independence, the constitutions of the independent States, the Articles of Confederation, the original Constitution, and even the Second Amendment can come to any other conclusion.
[Comment: Article writer is not referring to the National Guard — it is not a regulated militia. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
All Four Gun Control Bills Failed in the Senate
In just a week after the Orlando shooting, Congress is already rushing to vote on not one but FOUR gun control proposals today, including the supposed “no-fly no-buy” loophole, even though the suspected Pulse nightclub killer Omar Mateen was a DHS contractor with two firearm licenses, therefore such a loophole would not have done anything at all to prevent the Orlando shooting itself.
Senate rejects series of gun measures
Senators couldn’t muster enough bipartisan support to pass a series of gun control measures Monday, the latest in a long string of failed attempts at enacting tighter curbs on firearms in the United States. Spurred by the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, senators from each party introduced the measures they said would have strengthened background checks and prevented suspected terrorists from obtaining weapons. But tough election year politics, paired with disputes over the effectiveness of each party’s ideas, proved too powerful to break the longstanding partisan gridlock that’s surrounded gun issues for years. The result was expected. A fifth option, set to be introduced Tuesday by moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins, has generated more optimism, but still faces long odds at passage.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Center of Theological Inquiry (CTI) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a grant by the NASA Astrobiology Program to convene an interdisciplinary inquiry into the societal implications of the search for life in the universe.
The project is intended to refresh and expand scholarly and public dialogue on this subject, which is of growing interest due to the discovery of thousands of extrasolar planets and the ongoing search for potentially habitable environments in our solar system and beyond. With this $1.108 million grant, CTI will oversee a resident team of visiting scholars in theology, the humanities, and social sciences that will conduct an interdisciplinary inquiry on the societal implications of astrobiology, the study of the origins, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrat Controlled City of Cleveland Grants Trump Haters Permits to RNC Convention
Treachery does abound, especially by Governor John Kasich of Ohio, who undoubtedly has a voice in what transpires at the July RNC Convention in Cleveland. Before we delve into the machinations at the Ohio Convention, let’s review Governor John R. Kasich’s policies.
Kasich is no conservative Republican, and never has been. When in Congress, he voted for NAFTA that killed jobs in his own state. Kasich came out in support of Obama’s Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement during the fourth GOP primary debate hosted by Fox Business, saying the deal is “critical.” So far, Ohio has lost 112,500 jobs to TPP. In 1994, when he was a US Congressman, John Kasich proudly voted for the Clinton Gun and Magazine ban. He believes illegal aliens should have a path to citizenship, and he accepted the Medicaid expansion under the Obamacare bill for the State of Ohio. [Link] Kasich paints a wonderful picture of Common Core that would be nice, if only it were rooted in reality. [Link] What a joke! Democrat or better yet, a socialist, belongs behind this governor’s name!
So knowing just these few tidbits about John Kasich, would you expect graciousness to the presumptive Republican nominee, especially knowing Donald Trump’s policies are the polar opposites of Kasich’s?
Permits Granted to Anti-Trump Groups
The City of Cleveland, Ohio has granted permits to 20 Anti-Trump individuals and groups who want to publicly demonstrate during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Want more information? Contact the Mayor’s office by E-Mail. For more contact information and telephone number click here.
What is even more diabolical, is that a confined protest parade space will leave protesters from opposing sides together in Cleveland and competing for rally space on a first-come, first-serve basis. Yet, to date, only anti-Trump permits have been issued.
Here is the recently released list of groups who have received permits for protests at the Convention…
Not to be denied, Rose Hamid, is another terrorist-supporting Muslim who is masquerading as a good American!
Note her usage of similitude with the “Star of David” patch proclaiming Muslim, rather than Jude as it did in Nazi Germany. Portraying herself as though Islamists have suffered what European Jews suffered with the Nazis in WWII is heinous.
Walid Shoebat reported:
Hamid is president of the nonprofit Muslim Women of the Carolinas. Their Facebook page is here. She is associated with several groups, including the Muslim American Society(MAS) of NC, CAIR, and the Islamic Society of Charlotte. The MAS is a front for the terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR is an internationally recognized terrorist organization. The Islamic Society of Charlotte has ties to the infamous Holy Land Foundation Terrorist Financing case, as has been reported by the Carolina Journal Online.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
House Leaders Politicize a Tragedy to Block Bipartisan Surveillance Reforms
Feds use fear to stop privacy reform
After hurdling procedural barriers, a congressional attempt to protect privacy and encryptionfailed on the House floor yesterday, falling short of a majority by a mere 24 votes.
Two years ago, the House stood united across party lines, voting by a remarkable margin of 293-123 to support the same measures, which would enhance security and privacy by limiting the powers of intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless backdoor searches targeting Americans, and to undermine encryption standards and devices.
This week, the intelligence community broke that consensus by inappropriately politicizing the recent tragedy in Orlando.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Howell and Four Other Suspects Involved in Planned Sunday Massacres
Sources within the Santa Monica police department claim that James Wesley Howell, an Indiana man who was caught with explosives and weapons on Sunday Morning, told the Santa Monica police that as many as five people were involved in planned attacks on gay communities in both Florida and California.
According to the LA Times, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks initially said on Twitter that the 20-year-old Indiana man (James Howell) told one of her officers after he was arrested that he wanted “to harm the Gay Pride event.”
However, after the FBI quickly took over the case, a Santa Monica police spokesman Saul Rodriguez indicated that Seabrooks was mistaken and offered that the Santa Monica detectives who were working the case are “not aware of what the suspect’s intentions were at this point.”…
The real truth of the story was released to a former Los Angeles County prosecutor who works for Get Off the BS by two Santa Monica police officers that have been issued gag orders under threat of Federal prosecution for talking further talking about the incident.
According to two department sources, Howell called the Santa Monica police on Sunday morning claiming that he needed protection from the CIA. Howell further elaborated to the dispatcher stating that he “had been set up by the CIA — they are going to kill me.”
According to Howell, he was in LA to meet with another person in a collaborated attack on the gay communities in both Florida and Los Angeles.
Howell additionally stated that, “everything has gone south. Dan was gone when I got here. They killed the leader of the Florida attack this morning. They are going to kill me. I need protection.”
According to sources within the police department’s investigation Howell indicated to officers who first made contact with him that Howell claimed he was one of five people involved in a planned Sunday attack on both the east and west coasts.
Howell stated that he was suppose to “hook up” late Saturday night with his contact in LA who was suppose to have more weapons and chemicals to mix with the Tannerite he was in possession of.
“When I got here, Dan was gone. I went to his apartment and he had cleared out…I tried calling him but he never answered me,” said Howell.
When questioned about the other four people involved in the plot, Howell was only familiar with the first names of three of the alleged suspects, naming his contact in LA — Dan and two of the three contacts in Florida, Omar and Brandy
Speaking of the suspect killed in the Pulse Bar massacre in Florida, Howell stated, “Omar was not suppose to be killed. They lied to us — Omar and Brandy were suppose to get away.”
When Howell was questioned about how he and his conspirators knew each other, he said that,
“We were all familiar with each other through an online fundamental Islamic knowledge seminary course — we were recruited through the course and trained together at a camp in Virginia — we were taught how to shoot and make bombs — everyone knew their part — something went wrong…”
Before the officers could further question Howell, agents working for the Los Angeles office of the FBI quickly swept in and took over the case. Santa Monica detectives were never allowed to talk with Howell.
In summary, it appears that Howell was on his way to “hook up” with another conspirator (Dan) to set off explosives and shoot people at the gay pride parade in Hollywood California on Sunday.
Finding his contact missing when he got to LA and having heard that Omar Matteen had been killed by a FBI SWAT teem in Orlando, Howell determined he had been double crossed by the CIA and feared for his own life.
Howell was taken in to custody by the FBI before Santa Monica police officers could further question him about the motives behind killing gay people on both coasts of the US on Sunday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Moderate’ Muslim Role Model: ‘Chopping Gays’ Heads Off is the Easiest Solution’
Fresh spotlight thrown on shocking comments after Orlando massacre
The Orlando nightclub massacre is throwing fresh spotlight on comments made by so-called “moderate” Muslims about homosexuality, including a “role model” to young Muslims around the world who said that the easiest way to deal with gays was to chop off their heads.
Despite the shocking nature of his comments, Sodagar was subsequently invited to Sweden to preach to Muslim youths about “Islamic jurisprudence” and “Islamic philosophy”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama DOJ Still Keeping Secret Two Other Phone Calls With Orlando Shooter
While Obama’s DOJ censored an earlier release of a phone call between the Orlando shooter and 911 only to reverse its decision hours later, that was only one of three reported calls.
As The Intercept notes:…based on a previous description of Mateen’s 911 calls given by FBI Director James Comey last week, it appears that the federal investigators continued to withhold details of a second conversation Mateen had with the 911 operator, which was not referred to at all in the government’s timeline. “He made 911 calls from the club, during the attack,” Comey said last week. “He called and he hung up. He called again and spoke briefly with the dispatcher, and then he hung up, and then the dispatcher called him back again and they spoke briefly. There were three total calls.”
Also missing from the transcript and summary of the conversations was any mention of the fact that, as Comey also said last week, Mateen had expressed solidarity with the Tsarnaev brothers, who carried out the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, and Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a Floridian who carried out a suicide bombing in Syria in 2014 on behalf of al Qaeda’s representatives there, the Nusra Front. The FBI’s Boston office revealed that Mateen had referred to the Tsarnaev brothers as his “homeboys” during one of the 911 calls, despite a lack of evidence that he had ever been in contact with them.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Omar Mateen Supported Hillary Clinton According to His Neighbor
“He liked Hillary Clinton and I liked Bernie Sanders.”
After speaking with Omar, I contacted the FBI again to let them know that Omar had been watching Awlaki’s tapes. He hadn’t committed any acts of violence and wasn’t planning any, as far as I knew. And I thought he probably wouldn’t, because he didn’t fit the profile: He already had a second wife and a son. But it was something agents should keep their eyes on. I never heard from them about Omar again, but apparently they did their job: They looked into him and, finding nothing to go on, they closed the file.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report Details Slaying of Lehigh Acres Wife and Neighbor
A report released Monday details how one man’s heroism ended in his death and the death of his neighbor’s wife late Saturday.
A judge ruled that Placido Moreno-Torres, 47, remain in Lee County Jail with a bond of more than $1 million in the alleged double-homicide.
Witnesses heard Moreno-Torres and his wife Amparo Moreno, 44, arguing outside their 3511 Ninth St. W. home when then they heard gunshots.
Ricardo Vaca, 20, a neighbor of the Morenos who was married May 29, was just coming home with his sister and her boyfriend after celebrating Father’s Day when they heard an argument.
The sister’s boyfriend told deputies he saw Moreno-Torres drag Moreno into a garage and watched Moreno clinging to the doorframe of the home.
Vaca called his father to say “Placido was hitting his wife and that he was going to intervene,” according to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report.
When his father advised him against it, Vaca said he would “just make sure that Amparo was OK and then he would leave.”
He never did…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Secret Service: Raging Hillary Clinton Threw Bible at Colleague
Hillary Clinton once threw a Bible at the back of a Secret Service agent’s head.
Hillary Clinton once threw a Bible at the back of a Secret Service agent’s head, part of a pattern of unhinged rage that the now-presumptive Democratic nominee exhibited, as exposed for the first time in former Secret Service agent Gary Byrne’s grueling insider account of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Byrne’s forthcoming book Crisis of Character-in which he details how the Clintons operated during his time in the U.S. Secret Service, where he protected the first couple for eight years in the White House in the 1990s. During three of those years, he was posted right outside the Oval Office. The book comes out next week.
“The First Lady had a different sort of liveliness,” Byrne writes in an excerpt obtained exclusively by Breitbart News. “She once threw a Bible at an agent on her detail, hitting him in the back of the head. He bluntly let her know it wasn’t acceptable. He told me that story himself.”
Byrne goes on to report that for Secret Service agents, being assigned to Hillary Clinton’s detail “was a form of punishment handed down by passive-aggressive middle management.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Three Arrested Outside NYC After Weapons Cache, Ballistic Vests Found in Vehicle
Three people were arrested when police discovered a weapons cache in a vehicle headed to New York City during a search at the Holland Tunnel on Tuesday, officials confirmed to Fox News.
Port Authority Police Department Superintendent Michael A. Fedorko said that Dean Smith, 53, John Cramsey, 50, and Kimberly Arendt, 29, were taken into custody after they were stopped around 7:40 a.m. in Jersey City, N.J.
Officials found multiple weapons — some loaded — including rifles and handguns in their vehicle, described by a law enforcement source as a “jacked up SUV.” Law enforcement sources told the New York Post that ballistic vests were also found in the SUV.
Fedorko said the weapons found in the vehicle included an AR-15 assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and five semi-automatic handguns.
The group told officers they were on their way to New York to rescue a female friend who is on drugs and being held against her will, law enforcement sources told the New York Post…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
US Navy ‘Discussed Plans to Fit Humans With Microchips and Track Their Every Move’
Officers met with “transhumanist” presidential candidate to talk about controversial surveillance technology
The US Navy has held meetings to discuss highly controversial technology which could one day allow the government to track the movements of every single citizen in the country, The Sun has learned.
A number of naval officers visited the home of an American presidential candidate and “transhumanist” called Zoltan Istvan, who believes human beings should be fitted with technology to boost their brain power or enhance physical attributes.
Istvan said they discussed the possibility of implanting humans with chips fitted with global positioning (GPS) technology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Weeks Before Wedding, Charlotte Woman Killed in Burning Home
Shocked friends and family members tried on Monday to piece together any connection between Amanda Strous, 27, who was planning to get married next month, and Mathew Thomas Benner, 28, a field services representative for an air traffic control software company who police say confessed to the killing.
Even more troubling for those close to Strous: Why anyone would want to kill the ebullient former college athlete known for welcoming newcomers at Crossfit Pineville, where she was a regular and her fiance was a coach?
Benner was arrested in Nevada on Monday. His brother, Christopher Benner, a Las Vegas lawyer who said he was “addressing legal matters” for Mathew, declined to comment to the Observer.
Authorities in Nevada said Mathew Benner confessed to Strous’ killing after he was arrested outside a hotel where he’d asked to use the bathroom. He’s being held in Nye County jail, awaiting an extradition hearing. There’s no timetable on his return to Charlotte. Police have not released a motive in Strous’ killing, or said how she was connected to Benner.
Strous’ mother said Benner and Strous lived in the same apartment complex, The Enclave at Rivergate, but she said they weren’t romantically linked and she wasn’t sure how her daughter knew the man accused of killing her. A neighbor interviewed by the Observer at the apartment complex recalled seeing Strous and a man she believes to be Benner arguing loudly in a breezeway earlier this year. The neighbor said she couldn’t make out details of the conversation.
It’s unclear what, if any, connection that argument had to Benner’s killing…
| — Hat tip: MM | [Return to headlines] |
Xerox Alto: Restoring the Legendary 1970s Gui Computer
Alan Kay recently gave his 1970’s Xerox Alto to Y Combinator and I’m helping with the restoration of this legendary system. The Alto was the first computer designed around a graphical user interface and introduced Ethernet and the laser printer to the world. The Alto also was one of the first object-oriented systems, supporting the Mesa and Smalltalk languages. The Alto was truly revolutionary when it came out in 1973, designed by computer pioneer Chuck Thacker.
Xerox built about 2000 Altos for use in Xerox, universities and research labs, but the Alto was never sold as a product. Xerox used the ideas from the Alto in the Xerox Star, which was expensive and only moderately successful. The biggest impact of the Alto was in 1979 when Steve Jobs famously toured Xerox and saw the Alto and other machines. When Jobs saw the advanced graphics of the Alto and Star, he was inspired to base the user interfaces of the Lisa and Macintosh systems on Xerox’s ideas, making the GUI available to the mass market.
[comment: Interesting article on a computer that was ahead of its time. The PC Mouse and GUI interface ideas were all stolen from Xerox, whose management was too stupid to capitalize on what their research teams had come up with. Management were so stupid, that they allowed tours of their research facilities to private companies, who would then take those ideas and come up with their own versions. Xerox got nothing. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Notorious Anjem Choudary Backs ‘Remain’ — Says EU Courts Are Softer on His Islamist Friends
British hate preacher Anjem Choudary — who is currently facing charges of supporting Islamic State — has told Breitbart London that he thinks the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union (EU).
“If you want my view on it, I think Britain will be worse off,” Mr. Choudary (pictured above) told Breitbart London.
“I think that [leaving the EU] is something that is probably not in our advantage from a Muslim perspective,” he added.
The radical preacher rose to prominence as the head of Al-Muhajiroun and then Islam4UK — both banned Salafist groups — and for his provocative anti-Western views.
He has praised 9/11 terrorists as “magnificent martyrs”, wants to see “Sharia dominate the world”, the “flag of Sharia” fly over Parliament, and advocates a so-called caliphate. He said of the EU:
“With all the security implications, you know, while the rest of the world is trying to unite together with common purpose, this is not the time from a security perspective to be isolating.
“And I think about what some of them are saying about Scotland having another referendum, and Britain will be even smaller…”
| — Hat tip: Ilia Toli | [Return to headlines] |
Just yesterday, we recounted the story of “Black Wednesday” when on September 16, 1992, the UK was forced out of the EU’s exchange-rate mechanism, or ERM, when the BOE tapped out and allowed the British pound to float freely, leading to 15% losses in the sterling. As we noted, this was George Soros’ infamous trade which “broke the Bank of England” and made the Hungarian richer by over $1.5 bilion.
24 years later Soros is back, and this time he is warning against the kind of devaluation that made him a billionaire and which he believes will be unleashed by Brexit, when in a Guardian Op-Ed he wrote that U.K. voters are “grossly underestimating” the true costs of a vote to leave the EU, saying that there would be an “immediate and dramatic impact on financial markets, investment, prices and jobs.”
He predicts that the pound would decline “precipitously”, seeing a gargantuan drop of at least 15% and possibly >20% to below $1.15. Considering it has now become trendy for analysts to come up with ever “doomier” forecasts of just how low cable would plunge in case of Brexit, we are surprised Soros stopped there.
[Comment: It won’t be a “spontanteous” market reaction — but a planned market manipulation by banksters as punishment for Brexit.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK Prime Minister Cameron: ‘Brexit’ Would be Bad for Israel
British PM tells Jewish voters his gov’t won’t be able to push back against anti-Israel sentiment in the EU if it votes to leave this week.
As the United Kingdom’s fateful referendum on whether to leave the European Union draws nearer, Prime Minister David Cameron is making his final push to convince voters to reject a “Brexit” — or British exit from the EU.
While the most prominent arguments for and against have centered on the economy, as well as questions of British sovereignty and the EU’s eye-watering (and expensive) bureaucracy, some within the Jewish community — particularly in Israel but also in the UK itself — have been weighing what a Brexit would mean for Israel.
While the EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, it is also the source of seemingly endless funds being poured into extreme anti-Israel NGOs operating inside the Jewish state, many of whom are singularly dedicated to undermining Israel’s sovereignty and delegitimizing the country internationally.
It is that fact which prompted a campaign by Israeli activists encouraging supporters of Israel to vote “Out” come June 23, with activists launching a website and viral video campaign backing a “Brexit”, in the hope that losing its second largest state funder after Germany will hamper the European Union’s interventionist policies.
But speaking to hundreds of Jews at a charitable dinner in London on Monday night, Cameron insisted a Brexit would in fact be bad for Israel.
“Do yo you want Britain, Israel’s greatest friend, in there, opposing boycotts, opposing the campaign for divestment and sacntions?” Cameron asked guests at the Jewish Care annual dinner. “Or do you want us outside the room, powerless to affect the discussion that takes place?”[…]
[Since when has the UK been a friend of Israel? This is news to me….. The UK government is always amongst the first in the Q to turn on the gas pipes]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
Yemeni Man Rapes 13-Year-Old Girl in Sweden, Receives 18 Months Probation
“We are very happy that he was convicted, but the punishment is very disappointing”
A Yemeni man in Sweden has been sentenced recently to 18 months probation and “treatment” for raping a 13-year-old girl.
The reason the man has dodged actual prison time and only has to pay about $17,000 to the small girl is because he claimed to be younger than his forged passport states and so can’t be put in jail, Expressen reports.
Although his Yemeni passport states he was born in 1996, he was apparently born in 1999 and supposedly forged his passport to make him appear older, so that he could leave Yemen. Had the court found that he was 19-years-old, it likely would have sentenced him anywhere from two to six years in prison.
The rape, which occurred at a park in Mariestad in April, has sparked outrage across all of Sweden for its obscenely lenient sentence, though the prosecutor is satisfied with the verdict.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Christians Abducted by Islamists Tell Stunning Escape Story
Three Christians working with Bibles4Mideast who were reported missing a week ago have been reunited with their coworkers and are telling a stunning story of abduction and threats and even a mysterious tunnel escape from a locked basement prison and two days’ walk across the desert to safety.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Op-Ed: Stop the Injustice Against Islam!
By: Marc Arsak
Why should the presupposition of all our thoughts be that Islam is perfect, and that any imperfection must surely have nothing to do with Islam?
Following the Charlie Hebdo and Hypercacher attacks in Paris in January and those in November, San Bernardino, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Orlando, and those of the past decades that recur again and again and again, I could not simply watch the spectacle of the end of the world anymore and stay silent. No, it did not all start with 9/11, and no, it did not start with the Iranian revolution of 1979.
As a person born and bred in a hard-core Muslim terror-state, as a person who grew up not in one, but two Muslim countries whose laws are more or less those of the Sharia, and as a person who lives in a European country where Islam determines what is allowed or not to be said and to be done, I can tell you that you should stop the injustice applied to Islam.[…]
Nothing in this earthly life is perfect, except for G-d. But you very well might not believe in Him, without being killed or rendered toxic, because Western civilization will protect your rights. Nothing is perfect, and Western civilization is not, either. However being not perfect does not imply not being the best we have got so far. As heirs to this great civilization, it is in our duty to end the prejudice against Islam.
Let me tell you why.
For many years, Western philosophy and science have treated, studied, examined and ultimately criticized Judaism and Christianity. Jews, Christians, atheists, agnostics and people of other religions including Muslims themselves have studied the history of Judaism and Christianity freely, adhering to them or not, in a scientific way.
Without wanting to idealize the European history, these scientific studies on the history and nature of Judaism and Christianity have taken place without any significant incidents or violence committed against the aforementioned scientists, scholars and professors. Cartoons, movies, comedies have been made as well against and about Judaism and Christianity, with reactions going somewhere from people not even noticing them, to being a bit offended and occasional verbal retaliation.[…]
For the scientists and scholars in the “lab” (that includes the laboratory of human sciences), Judaism and Christianity were as much of an ideology as communism, Maoism, Hinduism, romanticism, impressionism, etc.[…]
The “Golden Age” was one in which Jews and Christians were considered as second-class citizens, paying an exuberant extra tax not to be killed for not being Muslims. We have seen better “Golden Ages” in history. Just look up the Dutch one.
I beg our policy makers, media elite, university professors, leftist loonies and multiculturalists to stop dreaming and halt the wishful thinking circus. Grow up. You are not in kindergarten anymore. If an ideology commands to kill, if terrorists who know the Koran better than you do, who know the life of Muhammed better than you do, and who go to mosque more often than you do, are motivated to kill based on Islamic ideological reasons, who are you then to lecture them and ultimately us, the victims, on what Islam is and is not?[..]
If Islam is a religion of peace, why is it so easily “hijacked” by “radical” Muslims? Why should the presupposition of all our thoughts be that Islam is perfect, and any imperfection must surely have nothing to do with Islam?
Why do we not give this privileged status to any other “religion”, ideological movement or school? Why not simply say that Nazism was hijacked by Hitler and his bunch of murdering thugs now that we are at it? We have based all our conclusions on empirical and measurable evidence, observation and experiment for as long as science has existed. Judaism and Christianity have undergone those methods, yet when it comes to Islam we make an exception.[…]
The fact of the matter is that it does not matter whether you can find here and there “peaceful” verses in the Koran. It does not matter anymore whether a large percentage of Muslims, no matter how large, do not want to kill you. We can not send them gifts and thank you cards for not wanting to kill infidels, gays, Jews and Christians. Not wanting to kill, is the minimum. That’s the bar for any civilized society The circus must stop. Do not call something which does not look like a religion, a religion. Those who dream and wishfully think of “moderate” Islam and “moderate” Muslims have as much blood on their hands as anyone else. .[…]
[read the whole thing it is good]
| — Hat tip: MC | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Vote Leave Board Member Quits Over Anti-Muslim Retweets
Businesswoman Arabella Arkwright resigns after Guardian asked her about activity on her social media account
A Vote Leave board member has resigned after it emerged that she promoted anti-Muslim material on social media, including an image of a white girl in the middle of a group of people wearing burqas saying: “Britain 2050: why didn’t you stop them Grandad?”
Arabella Arkwright, a businesswoman who sat on the board and finance committee of Vote Leave, stepped down after the Guardian asked her about a series of tweets and retweets from her account.
Other retweets included a link from Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, suggesting UK Muslims were trying to build an Islamic state in Britain.
Another retweet came in response to a Twitter user saying they would never eat tikka masala again if it “got seventh-century barbaric savagery” out of Britain. A reply from Arkwright’s account said: “No to sharia law. By by [sic] tikka masala .”
A further retweeted picture has a “Stop Islam” badge in the corner and asks people to compare photographs of Yazidi women and Syrian men fleeing Isis.
Labour MP Emma Reynolds said some of the material was racist and the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, called on Vote Leave to take action to stop stoking divisions…
| — Hat tip: FN | [Return to headlines] |
US, Russian Warplanes “Clash” Over Syria
US officials: “most provocative act since Moscow’s air campaign in Syria began last year”
While the focus on the Islamic State has shifted in recent months to the terrorist organization’s offshore activities, including ISIS-inspired terrorist activites in both the US and Europe, the war above the Islamic State continues, perhaps nowhere more so than in the skies over the controlled territory in Syria and Iraq, between US and Russian air forces. As the LA Times reported last week, Russian warplanes hit Pentagon-backed Syrian fighters with a barrage of airstrikes earlier this week, allegedly disregarding several warnings from U.S. commanders “in what American military officials called the most provocative act since Moscow’s air campaign in Syria began last year.”
The strikes hit a base near the Jordanian border, far from areas where the Russians were previously active, and targeted U.S.-backed forces battling the Islamic State militants. These latest strikes occurred on the other side of the country from the usual Russian operations, around Tanf, a town near where the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Syria meet. The Russian strike hit a small rebel base for staging forces and equipment in a desolate, unpopulated area near the border. About 180 rebels were there as part of the Pentagon’s program to train and equip fighters against Islamic State. When the first strikes hit, the rebels called a U.S. command center in Qatar, where the Pentagon orchestrates the daily air war against Islamic State.
As Moon of Alabama adds, the U.S. jets came and the Russian jets went away. The U.S. jets left to refuel, the Russian jets came back and hit again. Allegedly two U.S. proxy fighters were killed and 18 were wounded.
However there was appears to be more to this latest brush up between US and Russian warplanes. According to The Daily Beast, U.S. and Russian fighter jets “clashed” bloodlessly in the air over Syria on June 16 as the American pilots tried and failed to stop the Russians from bombing U.S.-backed rebels in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.
[Comment: Russia realizes US is not serious about helping to destroy ISIS. US is actively supporting ISIS — there are no “moderate” anti-Assad forces.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Route 57 Tram Passengers Caught Up in Terrifying Attack by Group of Armed Men
‘Terrifying’ tram attack on route 57.
Passengers on a North Melbourne tram have been left terrified as four men, one armed with a machete, went on a rampage.
The men allegedly making threats to kill and spitting on passengers.
About 30 passengers were on board the Route 57 tram when the incident unfolded at about 11.30pm Thursday.
Among the victims was a disabled passenger who had previously had his arm broken in a similar incident on the same tram route.
Tony Jones spoke with John who witnessed the incident, he says police arrived within a few minutes, deploying OC spray to apprehend the offenders.
“One of them had actually pulled a knife or a machete or a long bladed knife, and was harassing passengers, spitting, threatening to kill”.
“The passengers were absolutely terrified”. — John told 3AW Mornings.
All four men were taken into custody, but later released having been issued with penalty notices for being drunk, public disorder and weapons offences.
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1.8 Million Invaders in Germany Since 2014
At least 1.8 million nonwhite invaders pretending to be asylum seekers have entered Germany since 2014-and are still currently there, irrespective of whether their applications have been approved or not.
Germany is now second in the list of countries worldwide to take in “asylum seekers,” according to statistics released by the United Nations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: More Refugee-Terrorists Arrested
Austrian police have arrested another three nonwhites pretending to be asylum seekers who fought with or helped rebel groups in Syria and Iraq that are classed by Vienna as “terrorist” organizations, police have announced.
The invaders-two Iraqis and one Syrian-were arrested in “refugee centers” in the western state of Tyrol, local police chief Helmut Tomac said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Boat People Turned Back
But whose resolve were the boat people testing? Malcolm Turnbull’s or Bill Shorten’s?
THE NAVY has intercepted an asylum seeker boat off Australian waters in the first serious attempt by people smugglers to test our borders during the election campaign.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal a boat was seized in the Timor Sea, trying to make a run for Australia… It is understood the boat was set on fire and scuttled by the navy after it was deemed unseaworthy.
A senior intelligence source told The Daily Telegraph 20 asylum seekers were taken on board the Australian vessels. They confirmed the operation occurred late last week…
The asylum seekers were processed at sea and … then flown back… The intelligence source said the vessel had originated from Vietnam…
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
Expecting Migrants to Enrich German Economy is ‘Fairytale’
EU was in crisis long before the influx of asylum seekers
The notion of migrants arriving in Germany and enriching the economy has proven to be a “fairytale,” the leader of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party told RT, adding that Chancellor Angela Merkel has given up the country’s borders.
Speaking to RT’s Sophie Shevardnadze, AfD leader Frauke Petry said “this fairytale of migrants coming to Germany and being the enriching factor for the economy has been proven to be false and there are no concepts from our government on how to deal with the situation.”
She went on to accuse Merkel of angering German residents by opening the country’s borders to anyone who wanted to come, and “not distinguishing between real refugees and migrants…
“…Naturally the people in Germany are waking up, realizing that our chancellor has given up the sovereignty of the country, she has given up our borders, she has given up our rules and regulations.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Migrants Closed Calais in a Violent Rampage
Police had to use tear gas on the 300-strong mob yesterday as they threw stones and attempted to board lorries just outside the port of Calais in a desperate bid to reach Britain.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Would-be Trump Assassin an Illegal Alien
If one illegal alien had his wish, he would have killed Donald Trump on Saturday.
Michael Steven Sandford appeared in a federal court in Las Vegas today — two days after he was arrested for allegedly trying to grab a police officer’s gun with the intent to assassinate the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
Sandford’s only form of ID was a United Kingdom drivers license, RT reports.
At his arraignment on Monday, it was revealed that he had overstayed his visa and was in the United States illegally, according to KLAS.
In a court filing against the British national, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden alleges Sandford had never fired a gun before, until the day prior to the rally.
According to police, he approached Las Vegas Police Department officer Ameel Jacob and attempted to take his weapon and use it to shoot Trump.
The court filing states he drove from California to Nevada because “he finally felt confident about trying it.”
[Comment: Product of communist indoctrination at schools and university. Communist British media also feeds only one narrative to the public.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pope’s Rhetoric Against ‘Fundamentalist’ Catholics Could Help Pave Way for Active Persecution
It’s one of the most frequent talking points of Pope Francis. It’s definitely part of his appeal for the media and simultaneously one of the most hurtful things for those inside the Church for whom the faith means everything. I’m speaking of the Pope’s penchant for castigating faithful adherents of the Catholic faith as “obsessed,” “doctors of the law,” “neo-pelagian,” “self-absorbed,” “restorationist,” “fundamentalist,” “rigid,” “ideological,” “hypocritical,” and much more.
The effect of the all-too-frequent barrage from the lips of the Pontiff himself is potentially deadly. It confirms the prejudice of the world against faithful Christians as the media constantly portrays them — as hypocrites and worse. Moreover, it permits the false categorization of adherent Christians with fundamentalist Islamic radicals who need to be suppressed to ensure public safety.
Who can blame the media for such comparisons when the Pope has made them himself? “Fundamentalism is a sickness that we find in all religions,” said the Pope in November while flying home from Africa. “Among Catholics there are many, not a few, many, who believe to hold the absolute truth,” he added. “They go ahead by harming others with slander and defamation, and they do great harm. … And it must be combated.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Black Holes Not the End: Physical Object Could Cross a Wormhole Into Another Part of the Universe
A physical object could potentially pass through a wormhole at the centre of a black hole to another part of the universe, a team of theoretical physicists has said. While the object — be it a chair, a scientist, or a spacecraft — would be changed as it travelled beyond the event horizon (the edge of a black hole), it could technically remain as a physical object and be pulled through the theoretical wormhole.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Militia were local volunteers, and not members of an organized fighting force (i.e., a national army. Therefore were considered the bulwark of defense against tyranny. Consider that at Lexington, it was not an organized state organization who rallied against the approaching British, but local men armed with their own rifles, and who trained together for just such attacks. The militia, being necessary to a security of free state, requires that individual right of gun ownership never be abridged. And then there is the Perpich v. Department of Defense which determined that state National Guard units were under the aegis of the federal government; that they are not strictly state militia.
Eisenhower certainly federalized state guard units back in his day.
[I don’t know how else they could have successfully challenged the state’s odious refusal to give black kids the same chance at educational opportunities as they gave white children. The separatists’ long-term strategy sucked. Their inability/refusal to create a system in which black children really did get the same level of facilities as whites created the conditions for their own downfall. It was the same all over the South.]
Honestly, I can’t imagine entering NYC, but if I did I’d want to have at least an AR-15, a 12-gauge shotgun , five semi-automatic handguns and a copy of the Constitution documenting my right to have them.
I’m curious, if you were entering NYC, what would you bring with you?
Money for bail.
Sadly NY state and NY City as does my home state of NJ have the most draconian gun restrictions in the US that IMHO are opposed to the 2nd. Amendment and actually deprive citizens of their Constitutional rights. Oh yes, you may own firearms , however outside your home they must be legally owned, unloaded,cased and locked in the trunk just driving to the shooting range.A lot of folks driving through NJ have had very bad experiences with legally owned firearms from other states. Which has cost them dearly in time and money for legal representation Carry permits are next to impossible to obtain (except for the politically connected) it is a waste of time and money to apply. There are also very limited ways one can defend oneself in NJ , you could be in the right and find yourself in deep legal and expensive problems. the only folks who have no problem arming themselves are the street gangs and other criminal vermin, leaving the citizenry at a distinct disadvantage.
Diane,
Unless under threat of death, there is no reason I would traverse the boundaries of NYC. New York State is bad enough. NYC….no way !
Given the choice of weapon, it might be justified to imagine the attackers were cultural enrichers of one sort or another. The media, meanwhile, covers it up. This report on one of a string of incidents shows how: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/why_did_police_not_say_the_carjackers_were_african/ ‘Men of no appearance’ go quite a way back in Australia.
I spent time in NYC years ago (for a college conference) . . . it was very enjoyable. I don’t think I’d care to go there today though.
In fact, I thank God every day that I live in “the middle of nowhere” these days.
I knew when it happened that the church made a mistake electing a South American socialist to the papacy. So now we are paying the price having (or choosing not) to listen to his drivelling.
Bring Bernard back! Now there was a pope.
IMHO there was a ‘coup d-‘etat in the Catholic Church the present Pontiff is fraudulent.
Maria– this one got by me. Before he was deposed, the man you’re referring to was Pope BENEDICT, not Bernard. Saint Bernard was a papal mediator and reformer, but never pope.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI
You can see why he was booted when you read that wiki. One reason he took the name of Benedict was for Benedict of Nursia, considered the co-patron saint of Europe (along with Catherine of Sienna, iirc). He was also a conservative of his day and a reformer (Benedict of Nursia, I mean). To him is ascribed the reform of Western monasticism.
Benedict XVI loves Europe and pushed back against Islam – which may have surprised the powers-that-be.
That’s why there was some kind of palace coup to install Frankie The Marxist in his place. Frankie deserves no respect and in no way resembles Francis of Assisi, Francis de Sales or whomever he’s attempting to hide behind. Once upon a time, the Church stood as a bulwark against Communism. It got into a lot of trouble bec it saw the Nazis as defeatable and less of a global problem than Marxist Communism. For Pius XII (who saved many Jews but got no credit for it), in charge during WWII, the horrors of Communism would sound the death knell of Western civilization. He turned out to be right so the Marxists had to destroy his reputation and character.
Wiki on Benedict XVI:
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So when you use “Bernard” you’re maybe thinking of Bernard of Clairvaux?? He was well-known for reforming the Cistercian monastic order and for his long mediation among the warring papacy factions of Avignon and Rome.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux
He’s worth reading, too.