Czech President Milos Zeman wants a total ban on refugees so that his country will not fall victim to “barbaric” acts like those that have taken place recently in Germany and France. He also says his countrymen should acquire firearms so that they can defend themselves in the event of a terrorist attack.
In other news, President Obama said that Donald Trump is unfit to be president, and advised Republicans to withdraw their support for their party’s nominee.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Fjordman, GL-T, Nash Montana, Nick, Reader from Chicago, Steen, 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.
Credit Suisse: Deutsche Bank Being Booted From Top Index is Another Blow for Banks
In another knock for embattled European banks, industry heavyweights Credit Suisse Group AG and Deutsche Bank AG are being dropped from the exclusive Stoxx 50 index next week following sharp slumps in their share prices this year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Japan’s Cabinet Approves Stimulus Package
Japan’s cabinet has approved an economic stimulus package worth more than 28 trillion yen ($275bn; £207bn).
It is the latest attempt by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to kick-start the world’s third-largest economy and boost growth.
The package includes 7.5tn yen in new spending for the national and local governments over the next two years.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Star’s Birth Holds Early Clues to Life-Potential
Our solar system began as a cloud of gas and dust. Over time, gravity slowly pulled these bits together into the sun and planets we recognize today. While not every system is friendly to life, astronomers want to piece together how these systems are formed.
A challenge to this research is the opacity of dust clouds to optical wavelengths (the ones that humans can see). So, astronomers are experimenting with different wavelengths, such as infrared light, to better see the center of dense dust clouds, where young stars typically form.
Recently, astronomers used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope — a powerful space observatory launched in 2003 that observes the Universe in infrared light — to look at a molecular cloud called L183, which is about 360 light-years away in the constellation Serpens Cauda (the serpent). Their goal was to see how light scattering affects the view of the cloud at the mid-infrared wavelength of 8 microns. Ultimately, the astronomers hope to use this data to get a better look inside the clouds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Buffett Rips Trump on Tax Returns, Bankruptcies at Rally
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett ripped into Republican Donald Trump Monday over his refusal to release tax returns, his business bankruptcies, and his attack on a fallen soldier’s family, repeating a famous phrase from the McCarthy era, “have you no sense of decency, sir?”
Buffett, campaigning on behalf of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, challenged Trump to meet him “any place, any time” with a copy of his tax returns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
California Assembly Declares August ‘Muslim Appreciation Month’
The California State Assembly is to consider a bill Monday declaring August “Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month,” in accordance with a resolution proposed by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), and supported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
(Update: The bill passed unanimously in the Assembly on Monday afternoon.)
CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial, and has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates. After the San Bernardino terror attack in December last year, CAIR offered assistance to the terrorists’ family, and suggested U.S. policy was partly to blame.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Father of Benghazi Victim: Hillary Lied to Me and the American Public
The father of one of the men who died in the Benghazi terror attack is disputing Hillary Clinton’s claim that she never told the family members of the Benghazi victims that the 2012 attack was sparked by an anti-Muslim video.
Charles Woods, who son Tyrone Woods gave his life defending his fellow Americans, joined Bill Hemmer on “America’s Newsroom” today.
Woods said that he spoke to Clinton following a ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base transferring the remains of his son and the three other victims, just days after the attack.
Woods said that the then-secretary of state directly told him that the attack was a response to a video.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kepler’s Children: Meet the Scientists Searching for Other Earths
How NASA’s planet-hunting telescope kicked off a revolution.
Planets, Kepler has shown us, are everywhere. The trick now is to understand them, and find the ones that support life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
NASA’s Next Planet Hunter Will Look Closer to Home
As the search for life on distant planets heats up, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is bringing this hunt closer to home. Launching in 2017-2018, TESS will identify planets orbiting the brightest stars just outside our solar system using what’s known as the transit method.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
New Research Reveals Fluctuating Atmosphere of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon
Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io has a thin atmosphere that collapses in the shadow of Jupiter, condensing as ice, according to a new study by NASA-funded researchers. The study reveals the freezing effects of Jupiter’s shadow during daily eclipses on the moon’s volcanic gases.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Slams Trump as ‘Unfit to Serve’; GOP Nominee Ramps up Clinton Criticism
President Obama on Tuesday denounced Donald Trump in his strongest terms yet, calling him “unfit to serve” and “woefully unprepared to do this job” — while the Republican nominee responded by hammering the president’s record and saying November rival Hillary Clinton is the one who has “proven herself unfit to serve in any government office.”
In a written statement released Tuesday afternoon, Trump countered that Obama and Clinton have “single-handedly destabilized the Middle East” while putting the “country at risk” with Clinton’s use of a private email server.
“She is reckless with her emails, reckless with regime change, and reckless with American lives,” Trump said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Defends TPP Amid Growing Criticism
The US president has expressed confidence that the 12-nation free trade pact would be ratified in 2016. But he lacks major support among his party’s ranks, including Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) during a joint press conference with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Orlando Police Mistook Krispy Kreme Doughnut Glaze for Meth: Report
An Orlando man who was arrested after police officers mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for crystal meth has been cleared.
Daniel Frederick Rushing, 64, was arrested on a possession of methamphetamine charge after he was pulled over for speeding back in December, according to an Orlando police report.
During the stop, an officer noticed a “rock like substance” on the floorboard of Rushing’s car.
“I recognized, through my eleven years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer, the substance to be some sort of narcotic,” the report said.
“Rushing stated that the substance is sugar from a Krispie Kreme Donut that he ate,” wrote the officer who made the arrest, Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, an eight-year department veteran.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
On Sunday’s Breitbart News Daily with SiriusXM host Alex Marlow, political strategist Pat Caddell outlined his charge that Reuters tampered with its own daily tracking poll to manufacture a sudden surge for Hillary Clinton.
“They not only changed their formula, to put Hillary ahead. They went back and changed the results, for a week of results where Trump was ahead, and then they turned those into Hillary leads,” said Caddell. “They also erased all the former polling off the site. They didn’t tweak their procedure — they cooked it.”
“Never in my life have I seen a news organization, and a supposedly reputable poll, do something so dishonest,” Caddell continued. “What they have done is, they decided the people who said, ‘oh, I’m never for someone’ — oh, those must be Hillary votes. They used to be Trump voters.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Police Sergeant Fired for Flying Confederate Flag Said She Never Heard Complaints
A Georgia cop is unemployed after a man driving by her home reported to authorities that she was flying the Confederate flag.
Sergeant Silvia Cotriss says she had “no idea” that the some of her neighbors found the flag offensive, and, in an appeal of her termination, says that she was just celebrating her Southern heritage and “part of history involving the Civil War.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The History of Boeing in 15 Objects
A rummage through the airplane maker’s attic.
The airplane was still a novelty in 1916, when Bill Boeing flew his first, an open-cockpit seaplane he named Bluebill. Only two such airplanes were built (the other was named Mallard), but today his namesake, The Boeing Company, delivers an average of more than two aircraft per day. Boeing’s archives are proprietary, but the company granted photographer Chad Slattery rare access to celebrate its 100-year history. Some are classics; others are weird, wonderful airplanes that didn’t make it past the modeler’s shop.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Says He’ll Spend More Than $500 Billion on Infrastructure
Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed a plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure that costs “at least double” the amount that Hillary Clinton has floated, in what would amount to a massive new government program.
Asked on Fox Business Network how much he’d spend, the Republican presidential nominee said, “Well, I would say at least double her numbers, and you’re going to really need more than that. We have bridges that are falling down. I don’t know if you’ve seen the warning charts, but we have many, many bridges that are in danger of falling.”
Clinton’s plan, which is estimated to cost $275 billion over five years, calls for setting up a national infrastructure bank to help fund large-scale projects, an idea that President Barack Obama advanced only to see it stall for lack of Republican support.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Twitter Picked a Fight With Milo Yiannopoulos. They Will Lose
[…] But it’s too late for Twitter in another sense: by embracing allegedly uniform harassment standards while maintaining their obvious progressive biases, at a time when conservatives are more alert than ever to Silicon Valley’s double standards, they now face the complete destruction of their reputation as a platform for free speech. Among cultural libertarians, their famous claim to be the “free speech wing of the free speech party” has become a running joke.
Consequently, Twitter is dying as a free speech platform. No one believes them any more when they claim to support free speech. Their executives won’t even confirm that they support it.
All this could have been avoided if Twitter had given users the ability to filter their own feeds and left it at that. Instead, they’ve adopted an archaic, top-down model of anti-harassment that is virtually impossible for a progressive company to enforce fairly.
With its stock price in terminal decline, Twitter may end its days loathed by both sides of the political divide: by progressives, for not censoring enough conservatives, and by conservatives, for censoring anyone at all. An ignominious end for the platform that was once the primary vehicle for dissidents and political rebels.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
US Election 2016: Trump Unfit to be President — Obama
President Barack Obama has said Republican nominee Donald Trump is unfit to be president, and questioned why his party still supports the New York billionaire’s candidacy.
“There has to come a point at which you say: ‘Enough’,” Mr Obama said.
Mr Trump has been sharply criticised for attacking the parents of a fallen US soldier who spoke out against him.
He has also been condemned for backing the Russian annexation of Crimea.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
Vancouver is transformed into a playground for wealthy Chinese people.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A Country on Tenterhooks: Germans Wonder if Terror Can be Prevented
Following the attacks in Munich, Würzburg and Ansbach, many are asking how the violence can be stopped. There is an answer to this question, but will it be heard in these turbulent times?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Black Lives Matter Protesters Torch French Town
Multiple Black Lives Matter protesters have been arrested in France after demonstrations against the death of a Malian man in police custody left Beaumont-sur-Oise and other nearby towns in flames. Of those arrested, some are being charged with throwing incendiary objects at security forces and others for “trying to burn down” their towns.
Despite a huge police presence, Saturday marked a fifth night of violence in the Val d’Oise district after the death of Adama Traoré in police custody on Tuesday. During demonstrations against Mr. Traoré’s death, protesters, some wielding baseball bats, torched cars, petrol pumps, bins, and piles of rubbish. Buildings were also set alight, including a large warehouse in Persan, near Beaumont-sur-Oise…
| — Hat tip: GL-T | [Return to headlines] |
Cologne Stabbing — Attacker Grabs Kitchen Blade and Stabs Shop Worker in Germany
The attacker, 58, lunged at a member of staff serving customers in the store after grabbing one of the blades on display.
A 57-year-old employee was said to be badly injured after they were stabbed in the torso.
Police are reportedly treating the attack, which happened at the Galeria Kaufhof shop on Cologne’s main high street, as attempted murder.
The victim was rushed to hospital where they underwent emergency surgery — their identiy and condition is not yet known.
Investigators are looking into whether the attacker suffered with mental health problems…
| — Hat tip: Nash Montana | [Return to headlines] |
Did Rembrandt Use Mirrors and Optical Tricks to Create His Paintings?
Rembrandt may have traced his celebrated self-portraits from optical projections created by assemblies of mirrors or lenses, a new analysis suggests.
Two U.K.-based researchers — Francis O’Neill, an artist and art teacher; and Sofia Palazzo Corner, an independent physicist — have identified several arrangements of a flat and curved mirror, or a flat mirror and a lens, which they say can recreate the perspectives, proportions and lighting seen in the self-portraits of the famed 17th-century Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.
“The evidence suggests he used lenses and projections,” O’Neill and Palazzo Corner wrote in a paper published online July 13 in the Journal of Optics. “The similarity of his images to projections, in their lighting and soft focus, along with the use of lens technology by his peers and fellow artists, and the contemporary literature on the subject, all support this.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Takes on Radical Islamism: PM to Shut Down Mosques to Wipe Out ‘Poison’ of Jihadis
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says the country is to shut down mosques, cut foreign funding and police the content delivered in sermons, in a massive crackdown on Islamic fundamentalism.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Funeral Mass for Murdered French Priest: Attackers Were ‘Satan’
The archbishop of Rouen, leading Tuesday’s solemn funeral Mass for an elderly priest slain a week ago by two extremists, said the Rev. Jacques Hamel tried to push away his attackers with his feet, saying “go away, Satan,” remarks that underscored the horror of the murder at the altar that touched a chord throughout France.
Hundreds of priests and bishops filled the sumptuous Rouen cathedral along with many hundreds more people, including Muslims who have joined in the grieving since the murder of the 85-year-old priest, slashed by his attackers while celebrating morning Mass.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which the priest, two nuns and an elderly couple were held hostage before the assailants slashed the priest’s throat and seriously wounded the other man. Another nun at the Mass slipped away and raised the alarm, and police shot to death both attackers as they left the church.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Private Security Sector Booms on Terrorism Fears
Private security is so in demand that some firms have run out of employees to meet demand, die Welt reports.
After a string of bloody attacks in southern Germany, including a shooting in a shopping centre which led to the death of nine victims and the gunman, the Federal Association for Private Security (BDSW) conducted a survey among its more than 900 member companies.
The results which Die Welt have seen demonstrate that public events have “massively strengthened their security measures”, the newspaper reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Himmler Diaries Found in Russia Reveal Daily Nazi Horrors
Chilling details have emerged about the daily life of Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi SS chief who sent millions of Jews to their deaths in the Holocaust.
The German tabloid Bild is serialising excerpts from Himmler’s wartime diaries, recently discovered in Russia.
One day, Himmler wrote, he had a massage before ordering the execution of 10 Poles. And he says he enjoyed a snack at Buchenwald concentration camp.
He also told the SS to train dogs that could “rip people apart” at Auschwitz.
Historians will publish the diaries in a book next year, with background notes.
Himmler was in Adolf Hitler’s elite circle, and had the official title “Reichsfuehrer SS”. He commanded the death squads who murdered Jews, Poles, Soviet prisoners-of-war, Roma and others categorised as “racially inferior”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Party Proposes ‘Slug Hour’ To Tackle Invasive Pests
A Norwegian political party wants people to set aside one hour twice a year and spend it destroying an invasive species of slug.
Inspired by the annual Earth Hour, when people are encouraged to switch off their lights, the Socialist Left Party thinks a similar approach could combat the much-reviled Spanish slug, the VG newspaper reports. The party has also called for a funding boost for efforts to combat invasive species, and says it hopes the Conservative-led coalition government will be inspired to implement the ideas.
Party secretary Kari Elisabeth Kaski tells the paper that she thinks Norwegians would be happy to give up time for some slug hunting.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Not My Pope’ Hashtag Highlights French Divisions
When Pope Francis made a comment about terrorism and Islam it was bound to get attention. However, the sentiments expressed by the man who has been described as the “world’s most popular leader”, was not welcomed by all.
Speaking onboard the papal plane as he returned to Rome from Poland, the Pope told reporters why he doesn’t uses the word “Islam” when discussing terrorism.
“It’s not right to identify Islam with violence. It’s not right and it’s not true,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Radio Prague — Zeman: Czechs Should Arm Themselves Over Threat of Terrorism
President Miloš Zeman says Czech citizens should arm themselves in connection with the threat of terrorism. Mr. Zeman made the comment in an interview for tabloid news site Blesk.cz. The president said that he had been against the proliferation of weapons but had changed his position after recent terror attacks in Germany and France. He also called for active protection of the Czech Republic’s borders and said he would “not even be against a fence” on the country’s frontiers if there were a large inflow of illegal migrants. Mr. Zeman said asylum seekers who had their applications rejected should be quickly deported. Condemning terror attacks is easy, the only solution is doing away with the causes, the head of state told Blesk.cz.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
Restored Pompeii Kitchens Show How Romans Cooked
The ancient Roman kitchens of a Pompeii launderette have once again been kitted out with pots and pans as part of a new project that is trying to give visitors a sense of what day-to-day life in the city was like.
Before they were buried by a volcanic eruption in AD 79, the kitchens once provided food for the hungry attendants of the three-storey launderette, the Fullonica di Stephanus.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Robbers Use Teargas in Raid on Chinese Tourists Near Paris
Chinese tourists have once again been targeted by robbers in Paris, who pounced as they boarded their bus near Charles de Gaulle airport.
Around six assailants sprayed teargas on Chinese tourists outside a hotel near Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport on Tuesday and made off with their luggage, police and rescue services said.
China has the world’s second-largest economy, and its burgeoning and increasingly solvent middle class is travelling abroad in numbers greater than ever before.
But in many countries, particularly France, their reputation for carrying large amounts of cash has made them a target of thieves.
French authorities tightened security around Chinese tourist groups in 2013 after Beijing expressed concern about the increasing number of incidents.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spanish Court Suspends Catalonia’s Independence Roadmap
Spain’s constitutional court has suspended Catalonia’s pro-independence roadmap, which was passed by the region’s parliament last week. It followed allegations from Madrid that Catalonia violated the Spanish constitution by allowing a vote on the plan.
Magistrates accepted an appeal by the Spanish government on Monday, which claimed that Catalonia’s Committee to Study the Constitutive Process — the group responsible for designing the region’s strategy towards independence — violated the Spanish constitution when it allowed parliament to vote on the roadmap on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The Catalan Chamber will now have 20 days to communicate the court’s decision to its members and present any appeals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Local Politicians Have Less Protection Than National Ones
Local politicians in Sweden are not given the same amount of protection as national, although an investigator thinks they are increasingly vulnerable to threats.
Greta Berg, who deals with organised crime for the Association of Local Authorities and Regions, thinks that threats and hatred against local politicians had been growing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tenfold Increase in Sex Crimes Reported at Swedish Festivals
The number of reports of sexual molestation at Swedish festivals has reached 111 so far this year — up from a total of 10 in 2015.
Ten out of 13 major Swedish festivals this year have seen an increase in reports of sexual molestation, according to a survey by Swedish Radio P3 News. Lisen Andreasson Florman, founder of Nattskiftet, a non-profit working to keep festival-goers safe, said she was not surprised by the results.
A total of four rapes were reported at last year’s festivals. This year, the figure has already reached ten, with perhaps the most widely reported rape having taken place during a Zara Larsson concert at the Bråvalla festival in Norrköping.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Gather to Mourn Murdered French Priest
France paid its last respects on Tuesday to Father Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest murdered by jihadists last week, at an emotional funeral held under tight security at Rouen cathedral in northern France.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Universal Ancestor of All Life on Earth Was Only Half Alive
Many of the genes in our cells evolved billions of years ago and a few of them can be traced back to the last common ancestor of all life.
Now we have the best picture yet of what that ancestor was like and where it lived, thanks to a study that identified 355 genes that it probably possessed.
“It was flabbergasting to us that we found as many as we did,” says William Martin of the University of Dusseldorf in Germany, who led the study. The findings support the idea that the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) lurked in hydrothermal vents where hot water rich in hydrogen, carbon dioxide and minerals emerged from the sea floor.
“It’s spot on with regard to the hydrothermal vent theory,” Martin says. He describes LUCA as half-living, because it may have depended on abiotic reactions in the vents to produce many of the chemicals it needed.
LUCA emerged around 3.8 billion years ago and gave rise to two kinds of simple cells: bacteria and archaea (see diagram, below). By looking for genes common to almost all cells living today, previous studies have identified around 100 genes almost certainly present in LUCA.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘We Are at War’: France Cancels More Summer Events
Much-loved summer events in France are having to be cancelled as local authorities fear that adequate security cannot be provided. Events in Brittany and Marseille are the latest to be scrapped.
During a visit to Lyon, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France had to take the threat seriously. “We are in a situation of war. So, for the moment, we have to forbid demonstrations if security norms cannot be respected,” he said. “Everyone has to understand that we are in this situation and that it brings constraints.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why the Universe is Becoming More Habitable
The universe is far more welcoming to life today than it was when microbes on Earth arose—and will only grow more so
The conditions that make life possible are exquisitely rare. Yet researchers are finding that the universe today is far more welcoming to life than it was when microbes first emerged on Earth—a fact that makes our existence all the more remarkable. Plus, it will only grow even more habitable in the future.
“The universe of the future will be a much better place for planets,” says Pratika Dayal, a researcher at the University of Groningen’s Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in the Netherlands who studies the evolution of early galaxies.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 20 Reported Dead in Benghazi Car Bombing
A car bombing targeting security forces in Benghazi, Libya Tuesday killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens more, a hospital official there told The Associated Press.
The news came one day after the U.S. launched a bombing campaign targeting Islamic State fighters in their Libyan hub of Sirte, hundreds of miles west of Benghazi, on the Mediterranean coast.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Approves 30-Day Airstrike Mission Against ISIS in Libya
President Obama has authorized a 30-day mission for the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State terror group in Libya as new strikes were unleashed Tuesday, Fox News has learned.
Marine Corps Harrier jets launched from the Navy amphibious assault ship USS Wasp conducted at least two airstrikes against ISIS targets in the coastal city of Sirte Tuesday. USS Wasp is set to remain off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea for the next month along with an escort ship, the guided-missile destroyer USS Carney.
The U.S. has launched at least seven airstrikes in total since the campaign began Monday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Proves the Desalination Era is Here
One of the driest countries on Earth now makes more freshwater than it needs
We are standing above the new Sorek desalination plant, the largest reverse-osmosis desal facility in the world, and we are staring at Israel’s salvation. Just a few years ago, in the depths of its worst drought in at least 900 years, Israel was running out of water. Now it has a surplus. That remarkable turnaround was accomplished through national campaigns to conserve and reuse Israel’s meager water resources, but the biggest impact came from a new wave of desalination plants.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Says World Powers Must Fulfil Nuclear Deal Commitments
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says that world powers have not fulfilled their commitments under the landmark nuclear deal, harming Iranian economic growth.
Speaking on state TV, Rouhani said Tuesday that “if the other party had acted properly, we would be in a better situation today.”
He says Iran still cannot access its foreign assets, although it is able to export more oil and to access the international banking system.
He says U.S. congress, Israel and other regional countries are thwarting the implementation of the deal.
Spokesman John Kirby said that the U.S. State Department believes Iran is meeting its obligations under the deal and “we’re meeting ours.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Cleric Defends ‘Marriage’ To Six-Year-Old Girl
An Afghan cleric has defended his marriage to a six-year-old by claiming she was a ‘religious offering’ to him.
Mohammad Karim, who is thought to be in his sixties, was arrested following the marriage and being held in the central Ghor province of Afghanistan.
Karim claims that the girl was given to him as a ‘religious offering’, though the girl’s parents say that she was abducted from their home in Herat province.
‘This girl does not speak, but only repeats one thing: “I am afraid of this man”,’ said Masoom Anwari, Head of the Women Affairs Department in Ghor province.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Self-Drive Taxis to be Tested in Singapore
Singapore is gearing up to become the world’s first “smart nation”, with another deal to bring self-drive taxis to the city.
Initially, the cars will have drivers, ready to take over if the system fails but the plan is to gradually phase the human out in 2019.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
How Seriously Do Chinese Take ‘Confession’ Videos?
Chinese social media users are increasingly raising questions about televised “confessions” and how they affect the country’s rule of law.
Prominent human rights lawyer Wang Yu is the latest to appear in a widely disseminated online video, renouncing her legal work for the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm.
She has subsequently been freed, though many people online believe that she made the video under duress.
Televised confessions have become a trend in the past four years under Xi Jinping’s presidency, and include confessions of crime, but also confessions of perceived dissent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Prosecutions ‘Unlikely’ For Troops Behind Mass Shia Killings
A public inquiry has found the Nigerian army killed hundreds of Shiite Muslims in the northern state of Kaduna late last year. But prosecutions are ‘very unlikely,’ says security analyst Kabir Adamu.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Socialist Experiment’ Venezuela in Ruins as Soldiers Delete Videos of 12-Hour Food Queues
Venezuelans face 12-hour queues for food as the Latin American nation’s economic and political crisis has lead to a severe shortage of essential resources.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Ambulance Attacked at Northern Greece Migrant Camp
Police officers and members of the armed forces intervened on Tuesday to escort first-aid workers to safety after they came under attack by protesting refugees at a reception center in Nea Kavala, near the northern city of Kilkis.
The unrest began when the ambulance arrived at the scene to collect a refugee who required hospital treatment.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian Priest Stabbed in His Own Home ‘By Asylum Seeker He Let in to Use the Shower’
A priest was stabbed in his own home after he let an asylum seeker in to use the shower, according to prosecutors.
The man, named locally as Jos Vanderlee, aged 65, let the man in after he knocked on the door asking to use the bathroom to get clean, according to reports.
But when the priest refused to give him money as well, he became irate and attacked him, stabbing him in the hands, prosecutors alleged.
| — Hat tip: Nick | [Return to headlines] |
Czech President Calls for Total Ban on Refugees to Prevent ‘Barbaric Attacks’
CZECH President Milos Zeman has called for a total ban on migrants and refugees entering his country to prevent Islamist attacks.
He said allowing even one refugee into the country was too high a risk in the wake of attacks in Germany and France.
Zeman, an outspoken critic of immigration, even opposed plans to allow 80 asylum seekers fleeing the war in Syria from settling there.
He said: “Our country simply cannot afford to risk terrorist attacks like what occurred in France and Germany.
“By accepting migrants we would create fertile ground for barbaric attacks.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Czech President Warns of Migrants’ ‘Barbaric Acts’
Czech President Milos Zeman has said migrants pose a security threat to his country. He also criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policies.
Zeman wants the Czech Republic to block refugees from entering the country, a government official said on Tuesday.
“Our country simply cannot afford to risk terrorist attacks like what occurred in France and Germany. By accepting migrants we would create fertile ground for barbaric attacks,” Zeman’s spokesman, Jiri Ovcacek, said, pointing to the recent events in Europe.
“The president does not agree with any acceptance of migrants in the Czech territory,” Ovcacek added.
The prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, whose position is largely ceremonial, also took a swipe at Merkel this weekend, calling her stance on refugees “nonsensical” in an interview with the newspaper Bleck.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Migrant Crisis: Germany Warns Turkey Against ‘Blackmailing EU’
Europe must not let itself be blackmailed by Turkey in talks about visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in the EU, German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said.
Visa-free access to the EU is seen as a reward for Turkey’s role in halting an influx of migrants into Europe.
But the move has been delayed because of a row over anti-terror legislation following Turkey’s failed coup.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 40,000 Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Entered Germany in 2015: Statistics Office
Germany’s Federal Statistics Office says 2015 saw a huge rise in minor migrants coming to the country on their own. But almost half of them have not yet applied for asylum.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Panic Mode: Khizr Khan Deletes Law Firm Website That Specialized in Muslim Immigration
Khizr Khan, the Muslim Gold Star father that Democrats and their allies media wide have been using to hammer GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, has deleted his law firm’s website from the Internet.
This development is significant, as his website proved— as Breitbart News and others have reported—that he financially benefits from unfettered pay-to-play Muslim migration into America.
A snapshot of his now deleted website, as captured by the Wayback Machine which takes snapshots archiving various websites on the Internet, shows that as a lawyer he engages in procurement of EB5 immigration visas and other “Related Immigration Services.”
The website is completely removed from the Internet, and instead directs visitors to the URL at which it once was to a page parking the URL run by GoDaddy.
The EB5 program, which helps wealthy foreigners usually from the Middle East essentially buy their way into America, is fraught with corruption. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has detailed such corruption over the past several months, and in February issued a blistering statement about it…
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[…] Banzhaf said it was a problem for the U.S. that “a lot of people haven’t read the Constitution,” but they “kinda think anything which they don’t like, any proposal which they don’t like, is both unconstitutional and un-American.”
He pointed to the current controversy regarding the Muslim immigration ban, which he again noted was a perfect mirror image of affirmative action, and rattled off a list of prominent politicians who have no doubts about the constitutionality of the latter: “Governor Jeb Bush, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, Rep. Peter King, a woman named Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, and one of our most Democratic senators, Chuck Schumer.”
He further noted that effective anti-terrorism programs involve this sort of allegedly unconstitutional discrimination based on race and religion, but support for such initiatives has not harmed the political fortunes of such figures as the NYPD’s Ray Kelly, who has been touted as a potential secretary of Homeland Security.
“A lot of people have supported the basic idea that, particularly to protect against terrorism, we can, to some extent, distinguish on the basis of factors like religion,” Banzhaf said, adding:
So, for example, rather than treating all passengers exactly the same — same risk, 6-year-old child, 98-year-old Asian woman, no greater risk than a young Arabic or Muslim male, which makes no sense at all — we could provide more secondary screening to people who are, for example, young Muslim males or young Arabic males. That only makes sense, with regard to people coming into the country.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Reject Mass Migration or Face the Consequences, Migration Expert Tells West
A German expert on migration has stated that Europe is at risk unless it stops resettling large numbers of migrants, and recommended that the bloc’s entire approach to asylum must be overturned.
In an interview with Die Welt, Dr. Kay Hailbronner warned that in terms of capacity and national security, resettling migrants is the wrong approach for countries in the West. Dr. Hailbronner is a professor emeritus of the University of Konstanz and director of its Research Centre for International and European Immigration and Asylum. …
Dr. Hailbronner stated that resettlement should be temporary, and criticised the Geneva Convention’s demand that countries must facilitate the naturalisation of refugees. He pointed out that the Convention’s rules neglect the security needs of member states, and said they should be revised.
The professor said: “The approach of the Geneva Convention, namely national granting of protection and connection of non-refoulement with immigration and naturalisation, fails to recognise the different protection needs and security interests of the Member States and the need for international control and inspection. The Geneva Convention is, so far, partially in need of revision.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Security Expert Warns of US Terror Threat as ISIS Has Infiltrated European Migrant Streams
THE United States fear an imminent terror attack because Europe has allowed terrorists to “infiltrate through migrant hordes”, a top official has revealed.
Michael Maloof, a former Pentagon boss, said the superpower is under extreme threat from arriving jihadists unless it scraps its visa waiver programme with European countries, which would force British citizens to apply for a visa before travelling to America.
The programme allows citizens from certain countries to travel to the US for tourism and business for 90 days without having to apply for a visa.
Mr Maloof said Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists had managed to pose as migrants during the escalating refugee crisis to evade porous borders and land on European soil to commit atrocities.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Severe Shortage of Interpreters
Following the surge of asylum seekers to the country last year, there is an acute shortage of interpreters in Sweden, and there are also complaints about the quality of interpretation services.
The number of places available to educate would-be interpreters than last year (about 800 now compared to about 300 last year) and next year, the state is more than doubling its allocation of funds to interpreter education programs, but many people are failing the admission exam.
“We have many applicants, but there are still few who have the right qualifications,” says Bengt Unde, who’s in charge of the interpreter education program at Åsa folk high school.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Israeli Company That Fenced in Gaza Eyes Trump’s Mexico Wall
The border security business is thriving and that’s good news for Magal Security Systems Ltd. boss Saar Koursh. His biggest showroom: the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli company, which wrapped Gaza in a fence to prevent militant attacks, has helped construct barriers along the Egyptian and Jordanian frontiers. It’s now competing for the contract to build a wall on Kenya’s border with Somalia, Koursh, Magal’s chief executive officer, said. If Donald Trump makes it to the White House, Mexico could be next.
“The border business was down, but then came ISIS and the Syrian conflict,” Koursh, 44, said in an interview, using an acronym for Islamic State. “The world is changing and borders are coming back big-time.”
Mounting jihadist violence and waves of migration have created a surging demand for fortified frontiers. Critics question the long-term effectiveness of such defenses, arguing that improved intelligence, along with solutions to political, social and economic problems, would be more effective.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey Sets Ultimatum for EU Migrant Deal
“Erdogan is openly pursuing the Islamization of Europe”
by Soeren Kern
The German newspaper Bild recently reported a confidential plan to house all migrants arriving from Turkey on Greek islands. Public transportation between those islands and the Greek mainland would be cut off to prevent migrants from moving into other parts of the EU.
The European Union now finds itself in a Catch-22 situation. Large numbers of Muslim migrants will flow to Europe regardless of whether or not the EU approves the visa waiver.
In a refreshingly perceptive essay, Wolfram Weimer, a well-known German journalist, wrote that Erdogan is exploiting Europe’s strategic weaknesses to advance Turkish imperialism and his goal of Islamizing the continent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Eighty Percent of Open Ocean Fish Make Light
Lighting up is the rule, not the exception, for marine fish
To be a fish in the ocean void is to glow, according to a new paper in PLOS ONE: an astounding 80% of open water marine fish can make their own light. What’s more, the trait has arisen 27 separate times in ray-finned fish lineages, a number much higher than previously realized or expected.
In a world without sun, fish have repeatedly found ways to shine. But why is that ability so widespread in the ocean, yet absent among vertebrates on land? Bioluminescence, for one thing, is useful.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Where Does the Female Orgasm Come From? Scientists Think They Know
Primitive animals are compared with complex ones to study the evolutionary path of climax
It’s tempting to listen to women’s magazines and believe female orgasms are a small pleasure to make up for periods and pregnancy, what they might call the raw end of Darwin’s deal. But a study published Monday shows that as mammals developed from solitary creatures to societal ones, ovulation became more automatic, and both the orgasm and the clitoris lost their reproductive roles.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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Today Aug 2, 72 years ago – the ‘Gypsy Night’ is said to have happened in Auschwitz.
300 000+ is the latest officiell figure of deaths in Auschwitz.
Almost everybody believes it is at least ten times more, if not even 20 times.
But 300 000 is almost a piss in the pond compared to the following that amost nobody knows anything about.
James Bacque the author of ‘Other Losses’.
https://youtu.be/fkNSJhnilzo
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http://holocaust-of-world-war-two.blogspot.se/2014/11/a-real-holocaust-eisenhowers-death.html
http://truedemocracyparty.net/2014/01/german-holocaust-german-genocide-9-to-15-million-germans-killed-1945-1953-the-morgenthau-plan-eisenhowers-death-camps-a-forgotten-genocide/
A no brainier. Still a difficult call at a time when the western part of the west is obsessed with sowing the seeds of “full on awesome” self-destruction by Muslim. Won’t it be great when it’s all over and done with. Left turn without a rudder.
“Donald Trump is unfit to be President.”
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
The US media has created a synthetic frenzy over Trump’s stance and statements about immigration lawyer Khizr Khan that has lasted for several days now. Khan’s practice involves obtaining specialized “whole family” visas to the US for overseas Muslim clients under a program notoriously abused. The MSM say nothing about this, nor do they note that Khan has taken his law firm’s website down since he appeared with Hillary at the DNC as the father of a slain US soldier to assist in the defeat of Trump.
If Trump wins Mr Khan will lose his lucrative livelihood, it is that simple. So it is out of pure self interest that the Khan’s appear on stage with Hillary as a “Gold Medal Family”. And in finding the Khans Hillary has pulled off a propaganda coup, assisted culpably by the MSM.
I stumbled across a most interesting take on why Trump is popular, interesting because it is from a former leader of the Australian Labor Party (our left of centre party), Mark Latham. He belonged to the ALP’s common sense moderate faction, decried by the hard Left as its “right wing”. Now he is out of politics Latham is free to speak his mind and has become a most refreshing scourge of political correctness. I wonder if the following pithy summation of why Trump is so popular could be found in any American newspaper. I hope it could be:
“In the media’s obsession with the demonisation [sic] of Donald Trump, an inconvenient truth has been overlooked. In American politics, the times suit the candidate for change.
The Washington cabal is falling apart, burdened by 13 years of failed foreign policy, chronic economic decline, real wage stagnation, unfettered illegal migration, rising rates of crime and terrorism, corrupt special-interest peddling and the suffocating tyranny of political correctness.
Polling shows that 71 per cent of Americans think their country is headed in the wrong direction. Why wouldn’t they be looking for change?
Why wouldn’t their electoral gaze turn to a non-politician like Donald Trump, someone who has not only raised a fortune financially but also raised four outstanding adult children of whom any parent would be proud?
For 12 months, the Trump demonisers have said he’s about to fall over, but they have been wrong at every turn.”
Mark Latham Daily Telegraph 2 August 2016
I especially like the reference to Trump’s children: if Trump was “unfit to be President” as is alleged by the Chicago Democratic machine racketeer who inexplicably became POTUS 8 years ago, if Trump was “mentally unstable” as is now being alleged by his varied political enemies, how did he manage to raise 4 such competent and accomplished children. The simple facts of life are that if Trump was such a flawed human being, it would not be possible for his children to have turned out the way they have.
The Democrats and BHO himself make much of him being the first black American President!
His mother was WHITE which would in reality makes him the first mixed race American President!
A not to subtle attempt to distance him from his caucasian roots me thinks!
Moreover, he was raised by his white mother and white maternal grandmother; his Kenyan father played no parenting role in his life whatsoever.
Regarding California’s muslim appreciation month, I believe it is a violation of the federal constitution to single out a particular religion for special appreciation from the government.
If it is not illegal, it certainly should be!
Imprisoning 12 year old terrorists?
“Knesset gives final approval to bill allowing imprisonment of terrorists under the age of 14″
Hard to defend, but what do you do with them?
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/08/slate-puts-mother-of-5-year-old-muslim-migrant-rape-victim-on-trial