A lot of Australians corrected my mistaken identification of Mike Baird — thank you. Boy, do I stand corrected!
You can tell I dash off these news feed intros very late at night…
The New South Wales government, led by Premier Mike Baird, will give priority to “refugees” in hiring for new public service jobs in New South Wales. Mr. Baird’s decision comes in the wake of a statement by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to the effect that refugees “would be taking Australian jobs” or “languish” on the dole. It’s not clear whether the government’s initiative is in response to widespread criticism of Mr. Dutton’s remarks.
In other news, Syrian government troops, assisted by Hezbollah and with Russian air support, stand poised to enter Raqqa Province, the heartland of the Islamic State, for the first time in two years.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Fjordman, JD, Nick, 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.
Factory Orders Scream Recession… And This is How a Big Miss Was Avoided
Even without digging too deep into the factory orders number, it was dreadful: while “rising” 1.9% monthly, or in line with expectations, the series posted its 18th consecutive annual decline. A stretch of declines this long has never happened before in US history without the economy being in concurrent recession.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
These Are the 9 Zero Hedge Charts Showing “Obama’s Recovery” That Angered the Washington Post
As regular readers know, one of our favorite chartpacks to show “Obama’s recovery” is the one below, presented most recently just two days ago during Obama’s now almost weekly televised sermon of how the economy is great and anyone who disagrees is “peddling fiction”, which using simple Bloomerg data, summarize recent changes in key economic indicators including soaring federal debt and government dependency via food stamp use, surging healthcare costs and social inequality, plunging homeownership, income, and labor force participation, and — of course — driving it all, none of the president’s or Congress’ actions, but the Fed’s balance sheet, something even major banks admit is better known as “printing money” — money that ends up blowing one after another asset bubble unable to finds its way into the broader economy — a stigma that is now gone in a world in which helicopter money is seriously considered by lunatics in power.
To be sure, the charts do not in any way imply that Obama started any of these disastrous trends (with a few exceptions); they do however make it very clear that more than 7 years under president Obama, these same trends have not changed.
This means that while Obama may have inherited a bad economy, contrary to the endless propaganda, the economy has only gotten worse. One needs only to go on a very short drive through any of the neighborhoods of Obama’s native Chicago to get a clear realization of this sad fact (while wearing a bulletproof vest).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White House: We Don’t Get Too Disappointed Over Unemployment
Let them eat cake, White House implies
The White House doesn’t get “too disappointed” over the number of unemployed and underemployed Americans.
“I’ve been reacting to jobs numbers here at the White House for more than seven years, and what is true today has been true in the past, which is, we don’t get too excited when jobs numbers are better than expected and we don’t get too disappointed when jobs numbers one-month are lower than expected,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told CNBC.
Of course the White House doesn’t get “too excited” or “too disappointed;” Obama once claimed anyone who said the economy was collapsing was “peddling fiction.”
“The United States of America, right now, has the strongest, most durable economy in the world,” he claimed during his last State of the Union address. “We’re in the middle of the longest streak of private-sector job creation in history.”
But since then, nearly 95,000,000 Americans are no longer in the labor force, which is almost a 38-year low.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Worst Jobs Report in Nearly 6 Years — 102 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have Jobs
This is exactly what we have been expecting to happen
This is exactly what we have been expecting to happen. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the U.S. economy only added 38,000 jobs in May.
This was way below the 158,000 jobs that analysts were projecting, and it is also way below what is needed just to keep up with population growth. In addition, the number of jobs created in April was revised down by 37,000 and the number of jobs created in March was revised down by 22,000. This was the worst jobs report in almost six years, and the consensus on Wall Street is that it was an unmitigated disaster.
The funny thing is that the Obama administration says that the unemployment rate actually went down last month. Almost every month since Obama has been in the White House, large numbers of Americans that have been unemployed for a very long time are shifted from the “unemployment” category to the “not in the labor force” category. This has resulted in a steadily falling “unemployment rate” even though the percentage of the population that is actually working has not changed very much at all since the depths of the last recession.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that the number of Americans “not in the labor force” increased by 664,000 from April to May. If you believe that, I have a giant bridge on the west coast that I would like to sell you. The labor force participation rate is now down to 62.6, and it is hovering just above a 38 year low.
When you add the number of working age Americans that are “officially unemployed” (7.4 million) to the number of working age Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force” (an all-time record high of 94.7 million), you get a grand total of 102.1 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Roots” Remake: Snoop Dogg Got it Right
Again, the TV mini-series is another Leftist tool to sell blacks the message that America is eternally racist so vote for Democrats to watch your backs
Quoting the Pointer Sisters song, “I’m so excited!” Black pop icon Snoop Dogg’s comments about the remake of the “Roots” TV series, in essence, is what I have been preaching to fellow blacks for decades (without his profanity).
Snoop said, “I’m sick of this s — . They are going to just keep beating that s — into our heads about how they did us, huh?” Snoop spoke against new shows and movies such as “12 Years a Slave” which “keep showing the abuse we took hundreds and hundreds of years ago.”
Snoop said, “I ain’t watching that s — , and I advise you motherf-ers as real n — -like myself; f — them television shows. Snoop continued, “ Let’s create our own s — based on today, how we live and how we inspire people today. Black is what’s real. F — that old s — .”
I say, “Right-on bro! (in my 1970’s lingo)” Folks, for decades, I have been frustrated; trying to get through to fellow blacks that continuing to view themselves as victims and using slavery as an excuse for bad and trifling behavior only weakens them. America is the greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to go for it. My reward has been to be trashed in black and liberal media; called a traitorous self-hating Uncle Tom.
I pray that the truth coming from a hip black celeb like Snoop Dogg will help to remove the scales from the eyes of black youths.
The last thing the Democratic party wants is real black empowerment/independence. The Democratic party’s very existence is rooted in convincing as many voters as possible that they are forever victims of America in some way.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
13 of 23 Co-Ops Created Under ObamaCare Have Failed
Ohio’s InHealth Mutual co-op announced last week that it is going out of business, making it the 13th co-op to fail out of the 23 that were created under Obamacare.
The Ohio Department of Insurance asked to liquidate the company, saying that the company was in a “hazardous financial condition.” The co-op served nearly 22,000 consumers who now have 60 days to find another policy offered by another company on the federal exchange.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘A’ Student Held Back After Parents Opt Out of Tests
Education-industry officials lash out — kids ‘being treated like a criminal’
With programs such as Race to the Top and Common Core, the Obama administration has been aggressive in it efforts to control local schools, even to the point of ordering that boys must be allowed in girls’restrooms and showers when they say they identify as girls.
Along with the “transgender rights” order has come standardized tests to shape curriculum, which many students across the country, with the approval of their parents, have flat-out refused to take.
Now public schools are retaliating with disciplinary action against students who won’t take the tests, including even threats to hold them back a year…
Another dispute has erupted in Greenville, South Carolina, where the Greenville News reported school officials already have disciplined “at least a dozen students” who refused to take new standardized ACT tests.
Parents told the newspaper their kids were pressured by school officials — in front of their classmates — to take the tests. When they refused, they were removed from class and taken to another room, where the principal again pressured them.
Ultimately, they were accused in an official discipline referral of “refusal to obey,” the parents told the newspaper.
[Comment: Commie Core needs the feedback from these “tests” to ensure the brainwashing and indoctrination is working.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Exclusive: Hillary Clinton Posted Names of Hidden Intelligence Officials on Her Email
Federal records reveal that Clinton swapped these highly classified names on an email account that was vulnerable to attack and was breached repeatedly by Russia-linked hacker attempts. These new revelations — reminiscent of the Valerie Plame scandal during George W. Bush’s tenure — could give FBI investigators the evidence they need to make a case that Clinton violated the Espionage Act by mishandling national defense information through “gross negligence.”
Numerous names cited in Clinton’s emails have been redacted in State Department email releases with the classification code “B3 CIA PERS/ORG,” a highly specialized classification that means the information, if released, would violate the Central Intelligence Act of 1949.
The State Department produced a document to Judicial Watch in April 2014 that identifies different types of “(b)(3)” redactions, including “CIA PERS/ORG,” which it defines as information “Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute … Central Intelligence Act of 1949.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Fox News Remembers: Muhammad Ali 1942-2016
Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight championship boxer whose outspokenness and unparalleled prowess in the ring made him one of the most recognizable and controversial sports figures of the 20th century, died Friday after a battle with a respiratory issue. He was 74. Ali, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984, died at a Phoenix hospital.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is the CIA Getting Ready to Dump the Clintons?
How many times are the dynamic duo allowed to wander off the reservation?
Mainstream press outlets are mounting a new brand of coverage on Hillary Clinton’s campaign. They’re questioning her ability to win the nomination and/or the general election. All of a sudden, the done deal is not done.
What’s behind this switch?
Aside from fear of The Donald, there is the boiling Hillary email scandal. There is also the specter of further revelations about the syndicate known as the Clinton Foundation. That’s a big one. A very big one.
As I’ve previously reported, the sale of 20% of the uranium in the US to Putin — that’s right — involved donors to the Foundation — unreported donors — as well as the participation of Mrs. Clinton’s State Department. Detailed by the NY Times, the scandal has lain there for several months like a poisoned meal, with the press afraid to touch it further.
Now, enter a financial analyst named Charles Ortel. Ortel made a name for himself by publishing his analysis of serious problems in General Electric’s financial reports (2008). On his website, he has begun taking apart the entire Clinton Foundation, brick by brick. Here is an explosive excerpt from his overview:
“In financial terms, the size of criminal activities directly involving the Clinton Foundation exceeds $2 billion-counting affiliated and indirect criminal activities, the size exceeds $50 billion. The geographic scope of these unprosecuted criminal activities touches all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and more than 100 foreign countries where Clinton Foundation entities operate or solicit donations.”
[Comment: Read the full article for all the sordid details.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muhammad Ali, Simply ‘The Greatest’, Dead at 74
He would go on to become known as “The Greatest”
Muhammad Ali, the eloquent, colorful, controversial and brilliant three-time heavyweight boxing champion who was known as much for his social conscience and staunch opposition to the Vietnam War as for his dazzling boxing skills, died Friday.
He was 74.
Once the most outrageous trash talker in sports, he was largely muted for the last quarter century of his life, quieted by a battle with Parkinson’s Disease.
Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on Jan. 17, 1942, in Louisville, Ky., Ali learned to box after his bicycle was stolen when he was 12 years old. When young Clay vowed to “whoop the behind” of the thief, a local police officer encouraged him to learn to box to channel his energy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muhammad Ali: The Man Who Changed His Sport and His Country
By Nick Bryant
During an era when African-Americans continued to be treated as second-class citizens, and those living in southern states were subject to an ugly and often brutal system of racial apartheid, few did more to nurture black pride than Muhammad Ali.
The Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr may have been the untitled leader of the civil rights movement, winning the Nobel Peace Prize and delivering the finest oration that Americans had heard since the Gettysburg Address, but many young blacks especially did not consider him anywhere near radical enough.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Compares San Jose Violence to ‘Bad Habits’ of Republican Party
“That’s not what our democracy is about.”
Obama, never mentioning Donald Trump, then said, “I want our democracy to work in such a way that eventually — and I’ve been waiting a while now — and eventually the Republican fever breaks and they become once again a sensible center-right party that can have a coherent policy debate with us and we can actually get some stuff done. But that doesn’t happen if we start digging into absolutist positions and aren’t willing to compromise and are resorting to some of the same kinds of tactics they’ve been engaging in for quite some time.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Susan Sarandon: Clinton is More Dangerous Than Trump
She knows what Clinton’s foreign policy is and she feels it’s not good for this country
Susan Sarandon said in a recent interview that Hillary Clinton is more dangerous than Donald Trump.
On Thursday, the 69-year-old actress told The Young Turks that Clinton is scarier because, unlike Trump, she knows what Clinton’s foreign policy is and she feels it’s not good for this country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Health Care Costs Skyrocket 60% in 2017: ObamaCare at “Unaffordable Levels for Everyone”
This article was written by Melissa Dykes and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.
Editor’s Comment: A perfect storm of unconstitutional mandates are coming together, as it becomes increasingly clear that funding for Obamacare — out of the pockets of American taxpayers at gunpoint — is actually a heist that is taking place on official seal and under the pretenses of authority and legality. Such is the modern state of organized crime.
Who is going to be able to pay 60% increases in health care costs? Where is this money really going to, and how much do they intend to squeeze out of the average person before this is all over?
Blue Cross Blue Shield Requests Whopping 60% Rate Hike in 2017 Thanks to Obamacare
by Melissa Dykes
If you like your healthcare provider you can keep your healthcare provider… provided you pay a whopping 60% rate hike starting next year.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Blue Cross Blue Shield has requested a 60% rate increase in 2017 in Texas following complaints from the company that it is “losing money in the federal health exchanges because some customers have proven more costly to cover than anticipated.”
In other words, the cost of insuring people under the so-called “Affordable” Care Act is going to force prices to skyrocket to potentially unaffordable levels for everyone.
[Comment: Obamacare was designed to fail from the start. The “solution” will be a totally government run healthcare (classic problem — reaction — solution). No more private companies. Insurance companies let their short term greed blind them into supporting obamacare at the begninning, when it could have been stopped if they told the government to go suck eggs. The communists played two steps ahead and gave the “capitalists rope to hang themselves”.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Next US President Must Carry a Big Stick
The eight years of the Obama administration have seen only worsening risk and intensification of conflict around the globe. The pace of aggression continues to increase. Yet unlike the still familiar period of great power struggle against totalitarian ideologies during the 20th century, today’s threat to the liberal world comes from two different fronts: the seemingly permanent scourge of Islamist terrorism, and the rise of revanchist and revisionist major powers, such as Russia and China. The United States and its liberal partners have been challenged and found wanting, failing to eliminate or contain the threats. The next US president must do better, or run the risk that the next generation will be one of permanent global disorder.
Superpowers have faced great trials before. But in this particularly complex environment, America and its next leader will have to accept the uncomfortable fact that they face a challenge not unlike that which plagued the Roman Empire for centuries. …
More dangerously for the West, jihadism is now firmly entrenched in its cities, after decades of politicians ignoring the potential threat. IS adherents, some of them recent refugees, have begun committing terrorist attacks inside Europe and America, killing hundreds in France and Belgium, while attracting more recruits to their evil cause. No longer safely able to fight jihadists “over there”, Europe has once again become the front line in a global war, just as it was throughout the 20th century. The task for liberal states is to break the nexus linking radicalisation, training, planning and the execution of terror attacks, by better linking domestic counterterrorism policies and overseas military action.
The West seems only hesitantly to accept that it is locked in a generational or longer struggle against the modern barbarians. Like the Romans, we need constant vigilance, but also stronger military resolve. To make even a remotely significant impact on this front, the next president will have to consider military action beyond capital-intensive special operations missions or the mere pinpricks inflicted so far through air strikes and invisible drone operations. Moreover, he or she will have to abandon Barack Obama’s almost magisterial distance from the battle, and rally fellow liberal leaders to do much more, much more lethally.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
US Muslim Leader at Chicago Conference: “Islam is Here to Dominate”
Haitham Ibn Thbait, of the American chapter of Hizb Ut-Tahrir, recently exhorted American Muslims to avoid falling into the “electoral trap” and called upon them not to vote in the U.S. elections, saying that getting Muslims to vote was part of an effort to assimilate them and that they had been “tricked” into voting for Clinton, Bush, and Obama in the past. Speaking at the Khilafah 2016 conference, held in Chicago on May 15, Ibn Thbait further called Obama a “terrorist” and said that “Islam is here to dominate.” The address was posted on YouTube by Hizb Ut-Tahrir on May 20.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Britain is ‘World’s Most Corrupt Country’, Says Italian Mafia Expert
Britain has been described as the most corrupt country in the world, according to a journalist and expert on the Italian Mafia.
Roberto Saviano, who wrote best-selling expose’s Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero, made the claim at the Hay Literary Festival.
The 36-year-old has been living under police protection for 10 years since revelations were published about members of the Camorra, a Neapolitan branch of the mafia.
Mr Saviano told the audience at Hay-on-Wye: “If I asked you what is the most corrupt place on Earth you might tell me well it’s Afghanistan, maybe Greece, Nigeria, the South of Italy and I will tell you it’s the UK.
“It’s not the bureaucracy, it’s not the police, it’s not the politics but what is corrupt is the financial capital. 90 per cent of the owners of capital in London have their headquarters offshore.
“Jersey and the Cayman’s are the access gates to criminal capital in Europe and the UK is the country that allows it.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Floods, Strikes, Security: French Tourism Faces Challenges
The weather is awful, striking workers and widespread flooding are causing travel chaos and security fears following deadly extremist attacks last year in Paris still linger in people’s minds.
Welcome to France — and especially its capital city.
It’s been an uncomfortable time for French tourism — and officials worry that further trouble could damage the country’s image just as it prepares to host Europe’s leading sports event — the 2016 European Championship soccer tournament.
“I have to admit that the strikes, the rains, the attacks — they really damaged the image of France for our foreign tourist friends,” says Herve Becam, vice president of France’s union of hoteliers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Former Polish Presidents Lead Thousands in Opposition March
Poland’s two former presidents are leading tens of thousands in the latest march in Warsaw against the policies of the right-wing government as they mark 27 years since the ouster of communism.
The march Saturday is yet another in a series organized by the new civic movement, the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, or KOD, against the conservative government that took office in November. The government’s policy has strained Poland’s relations with the European Union and the U.S. and has angered many in Poland.
Former presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and Bronislaw Komorowski led the march held to remind the Poles about their attachment to democracy, which they won in an election on June 4, 1989.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Düsseldorf Attack Plans “Bigger Than Realized”
Plans by nonwhite invaders posing as refugees to attack the city center of Düsseldorf were to involve at least ten attackers, German police have admitted.
At the same time, prosecutors are investigating 180 cases of nonwhites with German citizenship who have returned to Germany after fighting for ISIS-and 21 nonwhites have “vanished” in one state alone after being charged with terrorism.
According to an article in Der Spiegel, one of the refugee-terrorists arrested for the planned Düsseldorf attack has admitted that the attack team was going to consist of ten men.
Only four have been arrested so far, which means that six of the team are still likely at large in Germany, having entered during the ongoing fake refugee flood pouring into Europe at the invitation of Angela Merkel.
The six additional members of the plot were supposed to join them at a later point, the invader named Saleh A. has told police, Der Spiegel said. They were all members of a “sleeper cell” system which ISIS had infiltrated into Europe, Saleh A. has admitted.
[Comment: Blame for any attacks that might occur should be placed on the traitorous politicians pushing the hijra in order to achieve the disintegration of the nation state. Germans citizens have been betrayed by their political elites — just like all western countries. A worldwide co-ordinated push for hijra to disintegrate each country prior to the implmention of a New Socialist World Order.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Deutsche Bank Experiences ATM Failures, Double Posting Errors
Some customers of Deutsche Bank are having problems withdrawing cash from ATMs, and also experiencing issues in paying by debit card. According to the Facebook and Twitter pages of the bank, here are increasing reports of account holders unable to access their funds electronically, according to Der Spiegel.
A German bank spokeswoman first declined to comment on the problem, but later conceded that there was ‘a technical glitch’ in online banking. Deposits and withdrawals were sometimes partially displayed twice or not ready, the bank said. However, the bank insisted that none of the these ‘double deductions’ have taken place.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Marine Le Pen Could be French President Next and is Twice as Popular as Hollande
Marine Le Pen is now frontrunner to be the next French president, a shock new poll shows. The Front National leader is twice as popular as current French president, Francois Hollande.
Le Pen — who has vowed to visit the UK to campaign for a vote to Leave in this month’s EU referendum and wants France to quit Brussels and the Euro — is also ahead of popular former President Nicolas Sarkozy. More than a quarter of voters say they would give their first preference vote to Le Pen in next year’s presidential election.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Birminhham Schoolgirl Draws Shocking Picture of Moment Bully Held Knife to Her Eyes
This is the shocking picture drawn by a traumatised ten-year-old schoolgirl after a fellow pupil threatened her in class with a knife-style tool.
Rubi Law drew the chilling image after a boy pointed the blade at her from a Leatherman multi-tool after a row about a chair in the classroom at Castle Bromwich Junior School in Birmingham.
The boy, who put the blade between Rubi’s eyes but did not injure her, was suspended for two and a half days and West Midlands Police has spoken to his parents about last month’s incident.
[Comment: Nothing on the ethnicity or religion of the perp in the article. Happened to a white girl in Birmingham…draw your own conclusions.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Birmingham Student Kicked Out of Snobs Nightclub Before Being Raped
Judge Mary Stacey accused Snobs in Birmingham of ‘abandoning’ the 19-year-old victim to be picked off ‘like prey’ by sex attackers Zaheer Abbas, 30, and Sajad Hussain, 35.
A judge has accused a nightclub of allowing a teenager to fall into the hands of two sex attackers after they kicked her out before she was abducted and raped.
Mrs Justice Mary Stacey accused Snobs in Birmingham of ‘abandoning’ the 19-year-old victim to be picked off ‘like prey’ by two sex attackers, who took the girl’s virginity.
She even suggested the nightclub was partly to blame for the rape by saying they had ‘created the circumstances for the crime to occur.’
[comment: What, no blame for the politicians that helped advance the hijra that ensured these two rapefugees were in the country? ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Croydon Teen Caught With Illegal Sex Images of Children Spared Jail
Dilruk Dias-Banbaranayake, 18, from Croydon in south London was found guilty of possessing extreme or indecent material and placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ghost-Hunters Get the Willies by Stumbling on ‘Porn Shoot’ In Hull Graveyard
A ghost tour party exploring a spooky graveyard got a real case of the willies when they found themselves in the middle of a porn film shoot.
The tourists were examining the inscriptions on the slabs at the graveyard on the south side of Sculcoates Lane, Hull, when they heard groans coming from further down the path.
When they went to investigate they were stunned to find a young woman having sex with a man in a patch of ivy. Two other men were so busy filming the broad daylight romp with video cameras, they did not realise they had an audience.
Ghost guide Mike Covell said: “It was the couple who saw us first. They were going at it like knives among the ivy. She was a blonde.
“We looked at her and she looked at us. Then she pushed the bloke off her. The guy ran after her desperately trying to protect his privates from the brambles.
“We did not know where to look. Good job all 12 people on the tour were adults because sometimes kids come along.
“One elderly man was so incensed, he was ready to chase after them with his walking stick, but I persuaded him to calm down and eat his sandwiches.”
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Software Snafu Let EU Citizens Get Referendum Vote, Says Electoral Commission
Regulator coughs to cock-up, spills the details to El Reg
A software snag was behind a number of EU citizens in Britain being sent polling cards for the EU referendum later this month — even though they aren’t eligible to vote in it.
Political blog Guido Fawkes reported yesterday that EU citizens had wrongly been sent polling cards. The Electoral Commission blamed “an issue with elections software”.
This afternoon an Electoral Commission spokeswoman told The Register that the snafu — a threat to the integrity of the voting system — was down to its software not recognising certain inputs to its nationality field.
[Comment: More likely the only “snafu” was getting caught and exposed. Par for the course for elite globalists who will go to any lengths to advance their agenda.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Group in Germany Conspiring Against Turkey, Says Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused a “German ecole” of spearheading a conspiracy against Turkey that also involves the country’s media.
While responding to questions over a June 2 vote in the German parliament, the Bundestag, that declared the 1915 killing of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire as “genocide,” Erdogan said the ruling “has no importance.”
Turkey has vowed to take action Germany over the vote, but has not yet specified their response.
The German Parliament has approved the motion concerning the 1915 incidents.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Self-Profile of the Islamic State: The Creedal Document
By: Prof. Ella Landau-Tasseron
In 2015, the Islamic State (ISIS) released a document titled “These Are Our Creeds and Ways.” The document is a self-profile of the Islamic State, presenting the organization’s basic theology and political ideology. It deals with topics that have occupied Muslim minds for generations, yet it also reflects modern and local conditions and phenomena. An examination of its contents reveals that ISIS adds nothing new to traditional Islamic dogmas except for making the return of the caliphate a mandatory article of faith. It is firmly based on Islamic sources, which it cites often, and much of its content is identical to Islamic conservative Hanbali and neo-Hanbali doctrines.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State Threatens Terror Attacks in U.S., Europe
ISIS calls Ramadan ‘month of conquest and jihad’
The Islamic State is urging jihadists in the United States and Europe to carry out terror attacks during what a group spokesman promised would be “the month of conquest and jihad.”
A U.S. government advisory warned that ISIS attacks, either directly sponsored or simply inspired by the group’s rhetoric, could be carried out during Islam’s month of Ramadan that begins June 5.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Pro-Government and Rebel Forces Launch Separate Attacks on ‘IS’ In Syria
Both the Syrian army and US-backed rebels have launched fresh attacks against ‘Islamic State’ (IS) fighters. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces may have made significant gains in one of the group’s main strongholds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Putin’s Revenge: Russian-Backed Troops Massing to Smash Evil ISIS in Their Syrian Capital
Putin has significantly stepped up his offensive on the crazed fanatics since they claimed responsibility for blowing a Russian airliner out of the sky over Egypt last October, killing all 224 people on board.
On Friday his bombers smashed ISIS positions as Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s troops moved in on the ground, defeating the jihadis in a fierce firefight and advancing into the villages surrounding Raqqa.
According to the Al-Masdar News agency Syrian forces claimed a major victory at the Zakiyah Crossroad, a strategic area on the edge of Raqqa province, and are now making a lightning advance towards the city itself.
The troops are said to have recaptured more than 22 miles of land leading towards Raqqa whilst also liberating the village of Abu Al-Allaj from the evil fanatics’ rule.
Syrian forces now have the ISIS-held town of Tabqa, some 30 miles outside Raqqa, firmly in their sites and aim to liberate it before steamrollering on to the jihadis’ capital itself.
They are being heavily backed by Russian special forces on the ground and Putin’s airforce in the skies, which has stepped up its relentless bombardment of ISIS positions and facilities across Syria.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Syrian Troops Reach Edge of Province Where is Is Based
Syrian troops have reached the edge of the northern province of Raqqa, home to the de facto capital of the Islamic State group’s self-styled caliphate.
The government has had no presence in Raqqa since August 2014, when IS captured the Tabqa air base and killed scores of captured government soldiers.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian troops reached the “administrative border” of Raqqa province under the cover of Russian airstrikes.
The media arm of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which is fighting alongside government forces, says Syrian troops reached the border of Raqqa province Saturday after advancing about six kilometers (4 miles) in the past hours.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US to Give Ukraine Next Tranche Worth $1 Billion
The authorities of Ukraine and the US have signed an agreement on the allocation of the third loan tranche of $1 billion to Kiev. This was reported by the press-service of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. “On June 3rd, an agreement was signed on granting credit guarantees worth $1 billion between the governments of Ukraine and the USA. From the government of Ukraine, the agreement was signed by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Alexander Danylyuk, and from the US government — US Ambassador Geoffrey R. Pyatt and the authorized representative of the USAID mission Joel Sandefur,” stated the message. As was reported, funds to the amount of $1 billion will be gained from issuing bonds under the credit guarantee of the United States, and will go into the general state budget fund of Ukraine.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kidney Racket at Top Delhi Hospital
Indian police say they have uncovered an illegal trade in human kidneys in one the leading private hospitals in the capital, Delhi.
They say five people have been arrested so far, including two employees of the Apollo Hospital.
They are suspected of luring poor people to sell their kidneys for up to $7,500 (£5,170) before re-selling the organs for huge profits.
The hospital says it has been a victim and doctors were misled.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Carter Says Beijing’s South China Sea Actions Could Lead to ‘Great Wall of Self-Isolation’
Defense Chief Ash Carter said at an international security conference in Singapore on Saturday that China’s military activity in the South China Sea could lead to a “great wall of self-isolation.”
“There is growing anxiety in this region, and in this room, about China’s activities on the seas, in cyberspace, and in the region’s airspace,” he said. “Indeed, in the South China Sea, China has taken some expansive and unprecedented actions, that have generated concerns about China’s strategic intentions.”
Carter also called an upcoming ruling by a U.N. arbitration tribunal on the Philippines’ challenge to China claims in the contested region “an opportunity for China and the rest of the region to recommit to a principled future to renewed diplomacy, and lowering tensions, rather than raising them.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why South Korea is the World’s Biggest Investor in Research
The Asian nation is spending big in the hope of winning a Nobel prize, but it will need more than cash to realize its ambitions.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Challenging Africa’s Albino Stereotypes
The superstitions about albinos in Africa are plentiful and dangerous.
In Tanzania last year, a 6-year-old boy had this arm chopped off by witch doctors who believe potions and charms made from the body parts of albinos are guaranteed to bring success.
“There is also a belief that having sex with a person living with Albinism can cure HIV; a superstition that has increased cases of rape and infection among Albinos,” says Kenyan student Peter Kiprop Koima. He is responsible for the creation of the #AlbinismIsJustAColour hashtag, which trended in Kenya this week.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Muslim Mob Beheads Woman in Public Market for Insulting Muhammad
The report does not confirm whether Bridget was Christian
A woman local reports have identified only as Bridget was beheaded by an angry Muslim mob in a busy market in Nigeria’s Kano state Thursday after she allegedly blasphemed against Muhammad during a dispute with a customer.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Australia: Mike Baird to Give Refugees Priority in NSW Public Service Jobs
The Baird government will offer refugees a priority pathway to public service jobs in a new commitment that puts it at odds with recent comments by federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.
At least 100 public sector jobs will be created for refugees over the next 12 months. Although the scheme has been designed to assist the additional intake of refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq, all refugees who arrived after December 2015 are eligible.
“No refugee comes here wanting to live off welfare. They all want to build new lives for their family,” said the NSW Co-ordinator General for Refugee Resettlement, Peter Shergold.
The move stands in contrast to comments made a fortnight ago by Mr Dutton, who said “illiterate and innumerate” refugees “would be taking Australian jobs” or “languish” on the dole.
The refugee lawyer and University of Western Sydney graduate Deng Thiak Adut, chosen by Mr Baird to deliver the Australia Day address, reportedly said he would no longer vote for the Liberal Party because of Mr Dutton’s remarks.
Professor Shergold said the NSW government was the single largest employer in the state, and wanted to lead the way in offering jobs to newly arrived refugees…
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
Frequently Visible at Political Rallies, Mexican Flag Takes on New Symbolism
It’s a flag seen at many protests against presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. It also can be spotted at immigration rallies, on murals in cities with sizeable Latino populations and at Mexican National team soccer games held on U.S. soil.
The flag of Mexico has a long history in the United States, despite being a symbol of a nation south of the border. It became a topic of discussion last week after a violent anti-Trump protest in Albuquerque.
Trump lashed out on Twitter after protests outside his Albuquerque rally sparked a riot that caused thousands of dollars in damage, condemning “thugs who were flying the Mexican flag.” His comments turned the emblem into a political symbol for those voicing their opposition to Trump’s controversial rhetoric against Mexicans and his insistence to build a wall between the two countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Blames EU for Migrant Deaths at Sea After 100 Bodies Wash Up
The Libyan coastguard yesterday accused the EU of enticing migrants to their deaths as more than a hundred bodies washed up on its beaches in a single day.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Syrian Refugee Policy Discriminates Against Christian Victims of Genocide
The Obama administration is rapidly accelerating its admission and resettlement of Syrian refugees. The administration is well on its way to meeting its target of taking 10,000 Syrians into the country by the end of the current fiscal year on September 30th. In the first five months of 2016, 2,099 Syrian refugees have been admitted, compared with 2,192 for the whole of 2015, according to a report by CNS News. However, only a very tiny percentage are Christians, a beleaguered minority whom are facing genocide in their home country. The Obama administration is immorally discriminating against Christian Syrian refugees.
“Out of the 2,099 Syrian refugees admitted so far this year, six (0.28 percent) are Christians,” CNS reported. Ten (0.3 percent) are Yazidis. Over 99 percent are Muslims. And the trend line is worsening as the year progresses. Last month, only two Christians (0.19 percent) were admitted compared to 1,035 Muslims.
Christians are estimated to have made up approximately ten percent of the total Syrian population at the outset of the conflict in Syria, according to the CIA Factbook. As Christians have come under attack by both the regime and jihadist groups, including ISIS, the Christian population in Syria has declined.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Raid Gangs Who Sold Forged ID Papers to Migrants
Police in Greece and the Czech Republic have arrested 19 people suspected of forging travel documents on a “large scale”, Europol, the EU law enforcement agency, said on Tuesday.
Sixteen people of Bangladeshi and Sudanese origin were detained in Athens on 25 May.
They were part of a network that sent fake papers across the world via courier services. They dispatched 557 such parcels over the course of 2015.
The network provided EU passports, ID cards and Schengen visas. The price of a fake document ranged from €100 to €3,000, Europol said, depending on the quality, type and country of issue.
They were sold to people who used them to enter the EU or legalise their stay in the EU bloc.
Europol reported in May that bringing people illegally into the EU had turned into a lucrative business in the wake of the global refugee crisis.
Ninety percent of migrants to the EU rely on criminal networks, the agency said. It estimated human smuggling was worth €5 billion a year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Polish Rapist With 20-Year Criminal Record Slipped Into Britain Unchecked
A Polish rapist with a long criminal record slipped into Britain undetected and battered a man with learning difficulties 48 hours later. The attack in Brixton, south London, was caught on camera.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Revealed: 20,000 Migrants Mass on French Coast Ready to Sail the Channel to Britain
AN ARMY of 20,000 migrants has spread across the northern coast of France waiting to slip into Britain, it emerged this evening.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
For years we’ve warned of the OTM, or Other-Than-Mexican, threat to our southern border. And while suggesting that border security must be reformed during such a politically charged environment has led to accusations of racism for those who support tough border policy and even a wall, the fact is that we now have confirmation from the U.S. government that exactly what we warned would happen has actually happened.
According to the Washington Times, immigration officials have now confirmed that smuggling rings operating from Brazil to Mexico have been moving “migrants” from middle east terror hot beds into the United States via the southern border.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Government Has Failed to Protect Its Citizens From Foreign Rapists and Murderers
For years it has been obvious that the loss of control of our borders has posed a serious threat to the nation’s security and wellbeing. Now yet more proof has emerged of the truth of this.
In news that should be a wake-up call like no other to our so-called political masters, it has emerged that in some parts of the country half of all rape and murder suspects are foreigners and in the country as a whole nearly 20 per cent of crimes are committed by those born outside the UK.
The foremost priority of any government anywhere in the world should be to protect its citizens, be it from external invasion or a threat within.
Here we have a situation where a series of successive governments have imported this threat, wilfully ignoring the terrible problems caused by mass immigration, problems that have been highlighted over and again by this newspaper.
And still this situation has been allowed to grow out of control.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Why Italy’s Facing Another Tough Summer
Rarely a day goes by without news of migrant rescues or drownings.
A joint report published by Europol and Interpol in May said there were around 800,000 migrants in Libya waiting to attempt the journey across the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, some of those who survived recent shipwrecks have also said that traffickers are now offering “cut-price” deals of €400 for the boat journey to lure in new customers.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
School Calls Sheriff on Seven-Year-Old for Sharing Bible Verses
California elementary school sent deputy to boy’s home for distributing Christian materials.
The Desert Rose Elementary School in Palmdale, California “severely abused a first grader’s constitutional rights”, according to a press release put out by The Liberty Counsel Thursday.
The boy’s mother, Christina Zavala, put a Bible verse on a sticky note in her son’s packed lunch everyday along with a short story to provide context for the verses.
Christina’s son, known as “C”, began sharing notes with other children during lunch, but that all came to an end when a young girl showed one note to her teacher saying it was “the most beautiful story she had ever seen”, at which point the teacher told C he could no longer share notes at lunch.
Instead he was told to “wait until after school to share with his friends at the front gate,” which he did.
Mrs. Zavala wrote a letter to the school on April 19 once she heard about this request, but was never answered.
Apparently the school received the letter, because days after it was sent C returned home in tears after being reprimanded in front of his whole class for sharing his mom’s notes and his religious beliefs once again.
Complying with the new “rules” laid out by his teacher, C grew a daily following of around 15 students that also enjoyed reading the Bible verses by the gate after school.
On May 9th the school’s Principal Melanie Pagliaro approached C’s father, Jaime Zavala, insisting they “leave school property completely and continue on a public sidewalk”, to which the father promptly complied.
Later that very same day a Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff knocked on the Zavala family door and directed C to stop sharing notes because “someone might be offended,” a clear violation of the child’s First Amendment rights.
It was at this point that the parents decided to seek legal advice and contacted The Liberty Counsel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Prime Minister of Australia is Malcolm Turnbull. The Premier of the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW) is Mike Baird. Peter Dutton is the Australian Immigration Minister.
That said, it has been announced by Baird that public service positions in NSW will be giving preference to (predominantly moslem) “refugees”.
Baird is supposed to be a conservative as he leads the conservative party in State politics, however he behaves like a leftist.
Similarly, Malcolm Turnbull is also the leader of the conservatives nationally but behaves as a leftist.
Turnbull has called an election on July 2nd so we have a choice between the socialist party (Labor Party) or Turnbull’s not quite so socialist party (Liberal Party).
Turnbull achieved the leadership of the party (in a coup in September 2015) by deposing the elected true conservative Tony Abbott.
“Baird is supposed to be a conservative”? No surprise there. Most conservatives are [redacted for failing to meet website standards for civil discourse] who are afraid not to pander to leftists. Of course, Baird might be a leftist mole, as Turnbull appears to be.
Australia has a three-tiered governmental structure: local, state and federal in order of increasing political/economic and legal clout. Mike Baird is the Premier of the State of New South Wales – not the Prime Minister of Australia. He’s a social gospel Christian and his program to enhance the employment status of refugees is little more than window – dressing, and won’t have that much effect on society. The Immigration Minister is likewise attempting to assuage the general population who are none-too-happy about the prospects of large numbers of muslim migrants coming to Australia. The Federal government faces an election in July – hence the tough words – the states don’t, and Baird is trying to woo the small “l” liberal vote (not the socially conservative party of the same name, to which he nominally belongs).
“The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Mike Baird”
Prime Minister? What happened to Malcolm Turnbull? My guess is Baird is NSW Governor.
Whoops! My mistake!
FYI Mike Baird is the NSW Premier (I guess a state Governor would be the equivalent). Peter Dutton is the Federal Immigration Minister. Both are from the Liberal Party, just different tiers of Government, Federal and State. At least Mr. Dutton speaks plainly, unfortunately Mr. Baird sounds just like our current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Federal election due in 27 days, but who’s counting?
Correction needed. Mike Baird is the Premier of New South Wales, an Australian State.
Malcolm Turnbull is the Australian Prime Minister.
The Oz PM is Malcolm Turnbull (Liberal = conservative). NSW state Premier is Mike Baird (Lib).
Mike Baird is the Premier of New South Wales, not the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is Malcolm Turnbull.
A slight adjustment please – Mike Baird is the Premier of the State of New South Wales (not the Australian Prime Minister – who is Malcolm Turnbull). Mike Baird is supposed to be a Liberal – however, many of the decisions he has made recently show a
l e a n to the Left! Shame! Everyone thought he would be OK, including yours
truly! Goes to show you never can tell!!! Thanks for your excellent blog!
I believe this is where to post off-topic items, so here goes; maybe this will be of interest not only to the aircraft buffs:-
On Thursday 26th, I was on a bus crossing Vauxhall Bridge in central London, by the MI6 HQ, and saw a couple of Boeing V-22 Ospreys* circling ( with an Apache helicopter gunship close by). I thought they weren’t based in the UK, so made Google my friend.
Apart from visits to UK airshows, they’ve only been officially deployed here in April this year, as part of the $150 million(!) security detail for Obama’s visit (three of them, apparently). Evidently we Brits can’t be trusted to protect the President of our oldest ally..
More to the point, the British Ministry of Defence expressed an interest early this year, almost certainly in the wake of the attacks in Paris. SAS** pilots are being trained on them by US instructors. Officially, we haven’t purchased any (at $17 million each), so maybe these are on lease. What I saw was likely an exercise.
*The Osprey is a V/STOL aircraft with swivelling engines, so it can take off and land vertically like a helicopter, but fly as a conventional aircraft at around twice the speed of other military transport helicopters, eg Chinooks, which often fly along the Thames.
**The SAS are the UK’s principal Special Forces (no disrespect to other units). In the event of a terrorist attack in central London, Ospreys could get them here from their HQ in Hertfordshire in around 30 mins.
My dad was in on building those back to their X project days in the 70s. (It’s a Bell Helicopter/Boeing collaboration). I got to hear the stuff that doesn’t make the news. Military wants a set of specs, so they start building. Halfway through, they want new specs. Rinse and repeat. Grumble grumble. That’s a bugger on any major weapons system, on one that’s highly complex and completely new? Then throw in the fact that while it can fly like an airplane, it’s using helicopter rotors to make it happen, turbulence is highly different. That made for some early disasters with pilots trained on standard fixed wing aircraft. Once they got the military pilots training with the manufacturer test pilots, those bugs went away. They’re built a couple of hours NE of me, and there’s an air wing stationed a couple of hours NW of me. They routinely practice touch and goes at my little airport. It’s fun watching them come in, the tilt rotor makes them able to land and take off at *very* aggressive angles.
Thanks for that! I saw a couple of Ospreys not made by humans, in Somerset a few years ago, and they’re rather more beautiful.
As an Australian, I forgive you. Even I get confused as to who is in power considering how often the politicians that are voted in get “replaced” by their own parties through absurd machinations. And the electorate just has to “cop it sweet”. Kudos to you though, I have not even heard about the absurd statement that refugees will be given preference to Government jobs. So thanks.
Even more absurd is the statements I see every day from those in other Western countries stating that Australia should be some model to emulate regarding immigration and how we have it “right”. Nope, not from where I’m sitting.
Mike Baird’s announcement that “refugees” would be given priority in public sector employment hiring is simply publicly announcing what has been taking place for three decades, though the newcomers generally weren’t “refugees” then. In any State, or especially Federal, government office where there is interaction with the general public, the proportion of employees from East Asian, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries is always well over half. This is most striking in Australia Post. Both my nearest Post Offices are either wholly staffed (the smaller one) or majority staffed, and managed, by Asian females. There is one middle ranking Anglo-Australian, gay, male and one junior A-A male in the larger Post Office. And the docile junior is pushed around by the older Asian women mercilessly. The euphemism is “Equal Employment Opportunity”, but it is in actuality “Affirmative Action” or “Positive [sic] Discrimination”.
The best thing that can be said of the situation is that Chinese and Indian women tend to be hardworking and not Jihadists.
This EEO nonsense sometimes backfires. In the early-mid 90’s one State government department, my source worked there and was a confidant of the head of HR. The department was concerned with land-use and infrastructure planning. It had a Finance Section managed by an Anglo-Australian women. She hired an Egyptian Muslim accountant, who was rapidly promoted to Deputy Manager in the usual effort to demonstrate the Department’s “EEO” credentials. The Manager went on maternity leave, the Muslim acted in her role until she decided not to return to work and he was then made permanent. By all accounts he was very polite.
As a Section Manager, the Muslim was permitted unrestricted access right across the Department’s computer system. An Assistant Director ordered a random audit of the Internet usage by departmental staff and the Muslim Finance Section manager’s computer was included by chance. They found that he spent a vastly inordinate amount of time on the Internet including late into the night and very early morning. And so they delved deeper and found that he was habitually visiting websites which, by URL alone, were outside a pre-identified range of potentially work-related websites. It was assumed that the irregular websites were pornographic. Before the Assistant Director ordered disciplinary action against the Finance Manager, she had the HR Manager and the IT guy establish by name just what websites he’d been visiting so as to be certain of their suspicions and present him with a sample list of site names.
To their shock they discovered that the most visited sites were jihadist websites and chatrooms. His physical file request logs were then examined. He’d been using his high level clearance to gain access to other government department’s records. He had obtained plans of the telephone and electricity cable networks, natural gas and oil pipelines, power plants, oil refineries, skyscrapers and other critical infrastructure.
The Assistant Director called in the Australian Federal Police. Our polite accountant was quietly removed from his position and there was no media coverage of the matter at all. I waited for many months for some publicity about it: nada. To this day neither I nor my source are aware of whether he was ever charged with anything. As this was pre-9/11, there probably wasn’t even a law on the statute books then that made what he had done an offence. It was this incident that really made me sit up and take notice of the doings of our Muslim brethren and of Islam generally. And Premier Mike Baird is going to be giving ISIS moles jobs in the NSW public sector. Fabulous.