The Czech interior minister wants ordinary citizens to be able to carry firearms and use them to shoot terrorists if the police are not nearby. A constitutional change will be required to allow Czech citizens to possess and carry guns to defend themselves against terrorism.
In other news, Esteban Santiago-Ruiz, the Ft. Lauderdale mujahid, is being charged with a federal crime, and may face the death penalty.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, Green Infidel, JD, LP, Reader from Chicago, 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.
Greece Says Joining Euro Was ‘Wrong’ Over Fears Bloc Could Collapse
GREEKS have demanded a return to the drachma over fears the crumbling European Union and its Eurozone area will collapse following a tough year of political uncertainty.
For the first time in 15 years, the majority of Greek citizens say they regret joining the euro as a third call for a return to the drachma, according to a new poll.
The survey, by Alco, found 53 per cent believe joining the EU’s single currency was “wrong” for the country.
[Comment: The ditching of the EU’s currency, as advocated by people in Greece and Italy, would contribute to the European Union’s demise.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Record 95,102,000 Americans Not in Labor Force
(CNSNews.com) — Barack Obama’s presidency began with a record number of Americans not in the labor force, and it’s ending the same way.
The final jobs report of the Obama presidency, released Friday, shows that the number of Americans not in the labor force has increased by 14,573,000 (18.09 percent) since January 2009, when Obama took office, continuing a long-term trend that began well before Obama was sworn in.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Closings Continue: Retail Shutdown as Sales Go Online “200 Stores, 10,000 + Layoffs”
Editor’s Comment: Brick and mortar may not disappear altogether, but the strip malls are definitely facing an weeding and culling. The consumer and retail spending that surrounds the holiday season and impacts economic indicators is shifting all momentum towards online purchases — especially at Amazon, who now dwarf the market.
It signals a massive shift in the economy as we have known it; the ripple effects are destroying jobs; truckers will soon be laid off; checkers and stockers will be needed less and less as well. There will be growth but it will be concentrated in the hands of a few Internet giants.
The Trend Continues: Macy’s, Sears, And Kmart Announce Over 200 Store Closings And 10,000+ Layoffs Nationwide
by Melissa Dykes
Holiday sales for many traditional stores were pretty abysmal this year … Amazon far and away captured the majority of online sales.
Stores like Macy’s, on the other hand, actually saw a sales decrease during one of the most crucial shopping times of the year.
Now The New York Times reports the store chain will be closing 100 stores and cutting over 10,000 jobs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
“Russian Hacking Intelligence Report” A Joke
The “Intelligence Community Assessment” (ICA) report on supposed Russian interference in the U.S. election, is a joke and contains absolutely zero evidence that Vladimir Putin’s government had any influence at all on the U.S. presidential elections. This “report” will go down in history as the second greatest tissue of lies and distortions in the U.S. “intelligence” service’s history, and is only topped by their outrageous lies which claimed that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Case Study in the Creation of False News: Delegitimize Trump’s Presidency
For many weeks we have witnessed the extraordinary attack by the CIA and its assets in Congress and the media on Donald Trump’s election. In an unprecedented effort to delegitimize Trump’s election as the product of Russian interference in the election, the CIA, media, senators and representatives have consistently made wild accusations for which they have no evidence. The CIA’s message to Trump is clear: Get in line with our agenda, or we are going to mess you over.
It is clear that the CIA is warring against Trump. But the CIA’s media assets have turned the facts on their head and are blaming Trump for having a negative view of the CIA.
Consider the January 4 Wall Street Journal article by Damian Paletta and Julian E. Barnes, which begins: “President-elect Donald Trump, a harsh critic of U.S. intelligence agencies . . .” The two presstitutes set up their false news story by putting the shoe on the other foot. It is Trump who is the harsh critic rather than the victim of the CIA’s harsh accusations. Set up this way, the story continues:
White House officials have been increasingly frustrated by Mr. Trump’s confrontations with intelligence officials. ‘It’s appalling,” the official said. “No president has ever taken on the CIA and come out looking good.’
Now that the story is Trump taking on the CIA and not the CIA taking on Trump, the case can be built against Trump:
Analysts accustomed to more cohesion with the White House are “jarred” by Trump’s skepticism of the CIA’s assessment that Putin got him elected. Trump is supposed to respond to the allegation by saying: I am not legitimate. Here take back the presidency.
WikiLeaks’ Assange has stated unequivocally that there was no hack. The information came to WikiLeaks as a leak, which suggests that it came from inside the Democratic National Committee. That Trump sees it this way means, according to one unidentified official that “It’s pretty horrifying to me that he’s siding with Assange over the intelligence agencies.” You see, Trump is supposed to side with the CIA which is trying to destroy him.
Has the CIA shot itself in both feet? How can the agency control policy by manipulating the information fed to the President when the President does not trust the agency?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ann Coulter: The Great Hijab Cover-Up
Forget fake news; the real issue is fake “hate.”
Has there been one (1) documented hate crime committed by white people against any hue in the Rainbow Coalition since Nov. 8? That’s out of the 9,456,723 hate crimes alleged by America’s leading hate group, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
The SPLC is to “hate” what Rolling Stone is to rape. It is the biggest peddler of fantasies since Walt Disney.
I’ve read through dozens of SPLC “hate crimes” and they are all lies. The Muslim girls in particular seem to be very spirited liars.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bank Robber Reveals Identity — By Using His Debit Card During Crime
Moron of the month gets almost four years in the clink for failing to grasp basic opsec
On January 3, Alvin Lee Neal received a 46-month prison sentence for robbing a Wells Fargo Bank in San Diego, California, and was ordered to pay back the $565 taken.
Neal, a registered sex offender, acknowledged his role in the May 13, 2016 robbery in a plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office of Southern California.
As described in the complaint filed with the US District Court in San Diego, Neal walked up to a teller in the bank and “presented a Wells Fargo debit card which he swiped through the customer card reader located on the counter.”
This displayed his name and customer profile on the teller’s screen.
Asked by the teller what kind of business he wanted to transact with the bank, Neal said, “You’re being robbed,” and presented a note reading, “You’re being robbed no mistake.”
Neal subsequently clarified the ambiguity of his note, which could have been read as a statement that the robbery should not be mistaken as some other activity. His intended message turned out to be a warning that the teller not do anything that might prompt a harmful response.
“You don’t want anyone to get hurt, don’t make a mistake,” he said.
Thanks to Neal’s mistake, investigators didn’t have to work very hard to solve the case. A query to the California Department of Motor Vehicles database for Alvin Lee Neal produced a picture that was similar to the individual captured on the bank’s surveillance video. Additional law enforcement database searches identified Neal as a registered sex offender.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Renew Demand for Slavery Reparations
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats this week re-introduced legislation that would set up a commission to consider whether reparations should be paid to black Americans for slavery.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has proposed the bill in each Congress for at least the last two decades.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Disarm and Defund the Green Globalists Now
Give them no rest until their infamous Grab for Global Power called the Paris Climate Treaty is rejected, never to rise again
In the global Climate Wars, Trump and Brexit have given us a victory of Waterloo dimensions. But this will be only a temporary setback for the Green Globalists unless they are now ruthlessly disarmed and de-funded. If we rest and relax, we will soon be ground under their green sandals again.
We must immediately deny them funds, tax shelters, manpower and legal support.
Not a cent more for climate conferences — send just one representative whose only power is to “vote no to everything”.
Rescind or ignore past climate “agreements”, de-fund all UN/IPCC activities, divert all climate research funding to weather-proofing infrastructure, remove all green energy subsidies and mandates, subtract all “climate aid” from foreign aid budgets, replace green propaganda with hard science in education agendas and halve government funding of the ABC, BBC and all other GreenBC’s.
Starved of public funding and with constant fire at their flanks with bullets of truth, the “invincible” green army will soon falter and run.
Give them no rest until their infamous Grab for Global Power called the Paris Climate Treaty is rejected, never to rise again.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Excessive Rain: Melting Snow May Cause Worst California Flooding Since 1997
ByAlex Sosnowski , AccuWeather senior meteorologist
An onslaught of excessive rain and mountain snow will threaten lives and property in northern and central California into next week.
“There is the potential for excessive rain, combined with melting snow to trigger the worst flooding in northern California since 1997 and perhaps 1986,” according to Senior Vice President of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions Mike Smith.
The storm rolling ashore this weekend will not be in a hurry to leave. Another will quickly follow Tuesday into Tuesday night…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Feds Announce Takeover of US Electoral Process
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson designates elections ‘Critical Infrastructure.’
US election systems will henceforth be treated as “critical infrastructure,” the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson decreed Friday in a move some are describing as a major federal overreach.
In a letter to the Associated Press, Johnson revealed the US government would monitor and intervene in future elections, a process previously handled on a state-by-state basis…
At least one member of the US Election Infrastructure Cybersecurity Working Group, Georgia Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp, stated he opposed the measure claiming “more federal oversight could make systems more vulnerable and could make protected records more accessible,” the AP writes.
Kemp reportedly called the move “a federal overreach into a sphere constitutionally reserved for the states” on a conference call with Johnson Thursday, and said the designation “smacks of partisan politics.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Lauderdale Airport Shooter ‘Came Here Specifically’ To Attack, FBI Says
The suspected gunman who opened fire at the Fort Lauderdale airport “came here specifically to carry out this horrific attack,” Miami FBI Special Agent George Piro said Saturday. “We have not identified any triggers that would have caused this attack,” he said.
Authorities “continue to look at the terrorism angle” as a possible motive for the shooting rampage that left five people dead at the Fort Lauderdale airport, Miami FBI Special Agent George Piro said Saturday. “We have not ruled out anything,” he said. “We continue to look at all avenues, all motives.”…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Global Waring Skeptic Tells Tucker Why She Left Academia
Climatologist Dr. Judith Curry told Fox News host Tucker Carlson she was so sick of politicization of global warming in academia she resigned from her tenured position at Georgia Tech.
“I’ve been vilified by some of my colleagues who are activists and don’t like anybody challenging their big story,” Curry told Carlson Friday night.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Alert: Hard left, communist radicals launch de facto coup attempt in America By Alex Thomas
A group of radical leftists that includes activists, entertainers, artists, professors, writers, and at least one known terrorist has launched what amounts to a sort of soft coup attempt in America with the release of a full page New York Times ad and accompanying website that lays out a concrete plan to prevent Donald Trump from ever taking office.
The website, refusefascism.org, makes it clear from the start that this is not about simply protesting Trump’s inauguration but rather about actually preventing him from being inaugurated to the office he rightfully won.
In other words, this is a direct attempt to steal the election from both Trump and the American people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A regurgitation of already existing opinions and absolutely zero facts
The farce is complete.
One week after a joint FBI/DHS report was released, supposedly meant to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Russia intervened in the US presidential election, and thus served as a diplomatic basis for Obama’s expulsion of 35 diplomats, yet which merely confirmed that a Ukrainian piece of malware which could be purchased by anyone, was responsible for spoofing various email accounts including that of the DNC and John Podesta, moments ago US intelligence agencies released a more “authoritative”, 25-page report, titled “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections”, and which not surprisingly only serves to validate the media narrative, by concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘ordered’ an effort to influence U.S. presidential election.
Specifically, the report concludes the following:
We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.
What proof is there? Sadly, again, none. However, as the intelligence agencies state, “We have high confidence in these judgments”… just like they had high confidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction…
As some have stated, just a regurgitation of already existing opinions and absolutely zero facts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
In Stunning Last Minute Power Grab, Obama Designates Election Systems as “Critical Infrastructure”
Of course, one of the most vocal opponents of this move has been Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp who recently told Politico it is nothing more than an attempt to “subvert the Constitution to achieve the goal of federalizing elections under the guise of security.”
During an earlier interview with the site Nextgov, Kemp warned: “The question remains whether the federal government will subvert the Constitution to achieve the goal of federalizing elections under the guise of security.” Kemp told POLITICO he sees a “clear motivation from this White House” to expand federal control, citing Obama’s health care law, the Dodd-Frank financial-reform legislation and the increased role of the Education Department in local schools.
To some election officials, this sounds like the first stage of a more intrusive plan.
[Comment: Kemp is 100% correct.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Singles Out Dallas Megachurch in Call for Arson Jihad
After recent tutorials advising lone jihadists how to commit knife and vehicle attacks, the Islamic State’s latest issue of Rumiyah magazine counsels terrorists on waging arson attacks — with a Dallas megachurch suggested as a possible target.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Kentucky Legislator Introduces Two Students’ Rights Bills
If Kentucky state Rep. Wesley Morgan has anything to say about it, students at public institutions of higher education in the Bluegrass State will soon enjoy important new rights. That’s because earlier this week, the representative introduced two fantastic pieces of legislation.
The first bill, the Student and Administration Equality Act, HB 126, would ensure that students facing potentially lengthy suspensions or expulsions from campus have the right to hire lawyers for representation during campus proceedings. Similar legislation passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in North Carolina and North Dakota. The right to counsel is also enjoyed by students at public colleges in Tennessee and Oregon through their respective Administrative Procedures Acts, which apply to contested cases before most state agencies.
The second bill introduced by Representative Morgan, the Campus Free Expression Act (CAFE), HB 127, would prohibit schools from imposing misleadingly-named “free speech zones,” which quarantine expressive activities to just a few areas on campus.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Left’s Mission Accomplished: Blacks Torturing Whites
Upon hearing that four blacks kidnapped and tortured a disabled white man, I wanted to say to the left (Democrats, mainstream media, Hollywood, and Black Lives Matter), “Mission accomplished.” The four pieces of pond-scum forced their white hostage to say “f*** Trump” and “f*** white people”.
Folks, make no mistake about it. While some on the left claim to be upset, this is exactly the hate and violence they hope to generate throughout Trump’s entire presidency. A farmer does not plant corn and then act surprised when stalks of corn begin to grow. The left has been planting seeds of racial hate and division ever since white America elected Obama. Why? Because the left needed to be able to scream “racism” whenever anyone opposed Obama (their Trojan Horse) implementing their far-left-radical socialist/progressive agenda.
Leftist billionaire George Soros gave Black Lives Matter $33 million to wreak havoc in our streets; sowing seeds of racial paranoia, fear, and hate. The leftist Ford Foundation pledged $100 million to Black Lives Matter to sow lies about cops and whites. And what did BLM do? BLM declared it “open season” on killing cops and white people.
Leftist Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino planted hate in blacks at an anti-cop rally calling cops murderers of blacks.
Obama irrigated fields of discord planted by the New Black Panther Party when his DOJ allowed the hate group to illegally offer a $10k bounty for George Zimmerman.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Liberals Awake From 8-Year Moral Coma
For eight years, the voices of what passes for morality on the left were utterly silent as the values of generations of Americans were flushed down the drain. Those Americans whose desires, experiences and values differed from the leftist elite were treated as worthless garbage, no longer necessary to the imminent liberal utopia, except as a source of revenue. Christianity was treated like a virus to be extinguished, or revised and controlled to accommodate leftist ideology. Speech that offended the shameless was branded as hateful, and those daring to openly object to the onslaught of vice and immorality were falsely smeared with every vile epithet the liberals could conjure. Rights were relegated to what Democrats were willing to grant their enemies, but we were never going to be entitled to privileges they reserved to themselves.
Our nation has been assaulted for eight long years by those who contributed nothing of substance to its successes, but were eager to pillage its resources to fund and advance their political agenda. Every means possible to offend and marginalize their political opposition was employed, so that decent people were called racists, “phobes,” haters, deniers, liars, morons, bullies, and many unprintable things, all for wishing to have a say in what was being done to them by the left, and for possibly stopping the moral, philosophical and physical violence that have always been tools of leftist overthrow.
Few, if any, leftists/liberals/socialists/Democrats seemed troubled by what was done by them, or on their behalf by those they put into political office, or by those who appointed themselves cultural spokesmen. It was perfectly American, as they saw it, to smear, defame, slander, coerce, intimidate, fine and even jail those who refused allegiance to a movement premised upon anarchy and social collapse. They were winning, after all, so they got to be the team and the referee, and they made up the rules. In their minds, nothing existed of the United States before eight years ago, and this country consisted only of what they turned it into. With their president at the helm, they tried to remake America into a giant version of themselves, soulless and amoral. They tried to make it un-American.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Airport Shooter Lived Near Anchorage Mosque
Shooter had claimed he was forced to fight for ISIS
Suspected airport shooter Esteban Santiago reportedly lived not far from the only mosque in Anchorage, Alaska.
Alaskan voting records show an Esteban Santiago living at 1200 W Dimond Blvd., which is less than two miles from the Islamic Community Center of Anchorage.
In November, Santiago walked into an Anchorage FBI office and claimed he was forced to fight for ISIS.
He is the only known person with that name in Anchorage, according to a public records search.
Santiago was also picture wearing a black on green Palestinian Keffiyeh scarf giving a “one-finger salute,” a gesture also displayed by the ISIS gunman who shot the Russian ambassador in Dec.
Santiago had flown with Delta Airlines from Anchorage to Fort Lauderdale, and, upon landing, picked up his gun at the baggage claim, loaded it and began firing, multiple sources said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
RT Stars in Odni Report on ‘Russian Activities and Intentions’ In US Presidential Election
The US intelligence community has released the unclassified findings of its investigation into what it says was Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, hours after President-elect Donald Trump received a briefing on the probe.
The ODNI devoted seven pages to RT and its influence on the election “by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences.” The report claimed “Russian media made increasingly favorable comments about President-elect Trump as the 2016 US general and primary election campaigns progressed while consistently offering negative coverage of Secretary Clinton.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Suspect Charged in Airport Shooting: Could Face Death Penalty
Authorities on Saturday filed charges as they continue to hunt for a motive behind the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as more details about the incident emerge.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Latest: Nearly $100k Raised for Chicago Beating Victim
An online effort to raise money for a mentally disabled man whose beating was broadcast live on Facebook in Chicago has brought in nearly $100,000.
The GoFundMe campaign called “Let’s show the Chicago victim love” had a goal of $10,000. As of Saturday the account has reached over $92,000.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. On List of Christian-Persecuting Nations
For the first time ever, the United States has been added to an annual list of the world’s persecutors of Christians and countries that are regressing in religious freedom.
The United States, Mexico and Russia were listed as “new and noteworthy” nations in the 2016 “Hall of Shame Report” published by the Washington, D.C., based human rights group International Christian Concern, or ICC.
The “worst of the worst” countries for Christian persecution — the “most egregious state persecutors” — included Iraq, Syria, Nigeria and North Korea.
Others listed as “core countries” — or nations that are less egregious in their persecution but are “perennial abusers of religious freedom” — were Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China and India.
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| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Who Does America Believe? 84,000 Votes Later, Here is the Answer
Earlier in the week, president-elect Donald Trump tweeted that:
“It is for the American people to make up their minds as to the truth.”
And now we have the answer.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Winter Weather Forecast 2016-2017
Here’s the famous 2016—2017 winter weather forecast for the U.S. and Canadian regions from The 2017 Old Farmer’s Almanac!
OVERALL WINTER WEATHER FORECAST 2016—2017
Solar Cycle 24, the smallest in more than 100 years, is well into its declining phase after reaching double peaks in late 2011 and early 2014. As solar activity continues to decline from these low peaks toward a minimum in early 2019, we expect temperatures in much of the nation to be much colder than last winter, but still above normal.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario Company Charged More Than $100,000 in Green Fee Levy
An Ontario manufacturing plant’s managers are concerned about their facility’s future after receiving a hydro bill that includes a green energy levy of over $100,000.
While the company paid $13,060 for energy actually used during the month of November, its “global adjustment fee” for that usage was a whopping $107,698.
A “global adjustment fee” is the term the Ontario government and energy companies use to describe the amount they tack on to businesses’ bills to cover the extremely generous and above-market rates the government has agreed to pay green energy companies in the province.
We desperately need recall legislation in Ontario. Wynne and her fellow thieves are destroying this province.
[Comment: Manufacturers (and their jobs) will leave Ontario. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rex Murphy: Cherish Your Suffering, Ontario; Premier Wynne’s Green Gods Know of Your Sacrifice
That its industries are anxious, its debt colossal, its citizens not in a pleasant mood. Ontario is in a lot of pain. But let me assure readers outside Ontario that it has not all been for nothing. There are rewards. They are subtle, intangible, but they are real. Let me explain.
Those who share the faith and endorse the morality of global warming derive very much the same satisfactions that attended fidelity to the less demanding dogmas of earlier and less ambitious creeds. The carbon regime, tax hikes on gasoline, failed or failing long-term contracts, fear and trembling in the manufacturing sector, the gnashing of teeth in poorer (and now colder) households, Ontario Hydro’s ever-swelling levies, the despoliation of rural vistas by towers of whirling, bird-bashing windmills: These, each in itself, and all in combination are the acknowledged costs of the Great Greening.
Those outside the faith, and mere loitering agnostics, see nothing here but a catalogue of burdens. Shackles of an alien god. But to those within the covenant, they are the way stations on the hard and stony path to delicious rewards reserved for the elect. This is the true chemistry of belief. What appear as obstacles to heretics, appear to believers as smooth escalators to a higher state. Accepting, embracing what must be done supplies them with a sense of inner sanction, endows them with that peace of mind which a lesser scripture records, rather churlishly, as passing all understanding.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bank of England’s Andrew Haldane Admits Forecasting Errors
Chief economist of Bank of England admits errors in Brexit forecasting … Andrew Haldane says his profession must adapt to regain the trust of the public, claiming narrow models ignored ‘irrational behaviour.’ The Bank of England’s chief economist has admitted his profession is in crisis having failed to foresee the 2008 financial crash and having misjudged the impact of the Brexit vote. -Guardian
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgian police missed multiple chances to unmask the ISIS terror cell before they carried out massacres in Paris and Brussels, a secret report has claimed.
Jihadists butchered 130 people in the French capital on November 2015 before extremists killed 32 in attacks on Brussels airport and Metro the following March.
A confidential report has revealed that police in Belgium had numerous opportunities to expose the terror network before they went on the rampage in the two capital cities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Citizens May Soon be Able to Legally Shoot Terrorists
A “SUPER holocaust” committed by Muslim terrorists is on its way and everyone should buy guns to defend themselves, the Czech Republic’s interior minister has controversially claimed as he tries to rush new gun laws through parliament.
The Czech government is currently working towards amending the constitution so ordinary citizens will be allowed to shoot terrorists if police are not present.
The radical new proposals are going to be presented to parliament in the coming months in a bid to ensure there is a well-equipped civilian line of defence against Islamist terror
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Former Royal Marine’s Fury as He’s Put Under Investigation for Opening Fire on IRA Gang
A former marine was quizzed for four hours by investigators from Northern Ireland’s Historical Enquiries Team about a historical ambush where a man died. He fears this will lead to a new investigation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Marine Le Pen Warns Brussels Bigwigs Not to Bully Britain Over Brexit
MARINE Le Pen has warned EU chiefs that giving Britain a rough ride in forthcoming Brexit talks would prove Europe can only advance by “threats, intimidation and blackmail”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Has Become the First Country in the World to Shut Down FM Radio.
The Scandinavian nation has begun a gradual shutdown that will see FM broadcasts start to be phased out later this month, and concluding entirely by the end of the year. Nationwide broadcasts will instead be offered through digital radio channels.
The switchover has been six years in the making. Norway’s parliament in 2011 issued a mandate calling for the nation to move from FM to digital radio by the end of 2017, and in 2015 the government approved the plan to phase out FM broadcasts nationwide over the course of 2017 and move all broadcasts over to digital audio broadcasting (DAB) format.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tony Blair Pours £10 Million Into His Crusade Against ‘Populism’
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced he will pour almost £10 million ($12 million) of his riches into his new non-profit organization set up to combat “populism.”
Last month, the former prime minister said he was setting up the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) “after the political earthquakes in the UK with Brexit and with the American election.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Boy Dressed as Mini Guardsman Greets the Real Deal on Visit to Windsor Castle
A four-year-old boy has gone viral after someone filmed his adorable salute standing next to a guardsman at Windsor Castle this week. Marshall Scott from Slough was celebrating his birthday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sick Thug Filmed Rape of His Girlfriend and Threatened to Post it Online if She Left Him…
A woman has recalled the horrific abuse she was subjected to by her former partner — who boasted of his attacks by putting photos of her injuries on Facebook.
Atlanta Hammond, from Braintree, Essex, says she was subjected to daily physical abuse, banned from socialising and forced to quit her job by her ex-boyfriend.
And when the mother-of-one plucked up the courage to leave him, he threatened to publish a video of himself raping her while she slept and post it online.
The 21-year-old, who has a two-year-old son, says her former partner exerted control over her from the time they met in 2013, when she was just 18…
| — Hat tip: Green Infidel | [Return to headlines] |
Thierry Mariana Says Syria Would Have Fallen Into Hands of Terrorists Without Russian Intervention
SYRIA would have fallen into the hands of terrorists had Russia not intervened in the conflict, a French MP has claimed.
During a tour of the besieged city of Aleppo, Thierry Mariana argued what was being portrayed by the media and the situation in the city were two very different events — and pledged to convey what he believed was the real message to the French people.
The Les Republicains politician said on an official visit to the Syrian city: “If the Russian army wasn’t here for a few months, Syria could fallen into the hands of terrorists.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands Return to Liberated Aleppo
Thousands of Syrians have started returning to resume their lives in the now-liberated city of Aleppo, giving lie to controlled Western media claims that the Syrian government was responsible for driving them out-and showing that there are increasingly fewer reasons for Syrians to be claiming “asylum” in Europe.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey’s Tourism Takes Big Hit After Extremist Attacks
ISTANBUL — The once bustling Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is astonishingly quiet. The shops and restaurants in the city’s trendy Istiklal Street are all but empty of foreign customers and the hotels in the upscale Nisantasi district are nearly deserted.
Turkey’s economy is suffering in the face of a string of extremist attacks — including the nightclub massacre of New Year’s revelers, most of them foreigners — and uncertainty following the failed coup in July against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that saw more than 270 people killed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fmr Mexican President Doubles Down: ‘I Am Not Paying for That F***** Wall’
‘Trump may ask whoever he wants, but still neither myself nor Mexico are going to pay for his racist monument’
[Comment: Globalist stooge. Google how Mexico handles illegal immigrants on their soil. The US should do the same.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Migrants to be Immune From Deportation if They Witness ‘Right-Wing’ Crime Under Proposals
The state parliament became the first in Germany to offer migrant victims of crime extra rights last year following a rise in recorded attacks and the new measure is now being pushed by the Ministry of the Interior.
A statement from the ministry said: “In addition to consistently preventing and prosecuting criminal offences, special protection of the victims and special care are necessary if the victims are people of foreign origin.”
Supporters of the move argue new arrivals are uniquely vulnerable without support networks in Germany and deportation could make their lives harder.
The regional parliament also agreed “to ask the regional government to make sure that victims of right-wing violent crimes are offered the possibility of being issued with residence permits and tolerances”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why is Norway shutting down FM broadcasting (the real reason) and who is fiddling with that creep, Blair’s strings?
The BBC has been trying to shift us to DAB digital radio for years, although the sound quality is inferior (especially for music), and fewer areas have coverage; DAB reception is often intermittent, especially in cars.
Apparently once the FM channels are free they can be auctioned off for other uses.
Any clues as to who would benefit from such a shift Mark?
The government, Nemesis. They made a lot of money selling off analogue tv frequencies for new mobiles, broadband and HDTV.
My exhaustive research (!) reveals the Norwegians are not happy with the switch.
Thanks Mark.
Mexico IS paying for that wall, already. It’s simply a corrupt and violent narco-state.
Yank that rug from under them: end the Drug Wars.
“White” history must go
“students at a University of London college are demanding that such seminal figures as Plato, Descartes, Immanuel Kant and Bertrand Russell should be largely dropped from the curriculum simply because they are white.
These may be the names that underpin civilisation, yet the student union at the world-renowned School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is insisting that when studying philosophy ‘the majority of philosophers on our courses’ should be from Africa and Asia.”
In other words, civilization must go, to give way for non-history, ignorance and barbary.
There is nothing to fight about. Defund universities. Throw education open to free market funding . . . user pay. Split universities up into constituent colleges; perhaps with a central administrative department for finances and coordination. Throw admissions, registration, curricula, scholarships and graduation over to the individual, specialized colleges. Let professional bodies run the professional schools.
That will put a quick end to the “find yourself through partying” experience that leeches off taxpayers. The old liberal arts, well-rounded education died decades ago. The knowledge explosion made it impractical, and political brainwashing kicked the “liberal” (classical) out of it.
There is nothing to fight about. Defund universities.
DeriKuk, surely you realize you’ve written a deeply contradictory set of terms there? “Defunding universities” would cause a YUGE bloody rebellion. The corrupt ‘higher’ education system with its mandarins, lobbyists, and criminals will not go gently into that good night. They have to be ignored to death, made archaic and unattractive. That will happen via technology and a revitalized apprentice system.
In addition to “education”, universities have all sorts of research in a death grip. They’re not about to let go of that vast wash of govt money.
And then there are the many professional sports feeder farms which function at the “university” level. Again, the billions to be disbursed – handicapped as they are by the govt money corruptly distributed thru the risible Title IX rules (those #MalignantFems again) – represent fiefdoms of immense power.
“Defund universities”? I don’t think so.
I forgot the lucrative set-up between/among universities, tenured professors, and the bajillion-dollar publishing industry. That system is limping with the advent of copier/printers but for some classes, buying the texts is mandatory. And those books can run hundreds of dollars each.
The modern university is a vast credentializing system. Like the medieval Guilds, they permit entrance into professions now otherwise closed. Increasingly, even menials jobs belong to the Guild.
Note: See Nemesis comment, here:
https://gatesofvienna.net/2017/01/rage-rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light-then-let-the-tumbrils-roll/#comment-471043
I did not say it was going to be easy. The “defunding” has to be more than mere financial sanctions. The myth of the indispensability of modern universities has to be destroyed. I spent most of my working career in the belly of the beast, and I still hang around the edges of its stench. It is amazingly resistant to change, but its dysfunction and delusions will eventually hit the wall.
“It is heading to a crisis of sorts.” Peter Thiel
https://youtu.be/HLJIpBexKhQ
You may not agree with Thiel’s politics, but there is value in his insights.
What ever happened to:- ” you are obviously unhappy with the curriculum here, kindly leave with immediate effect or you will be EXPELLED!”
As to finance, these PC idiots could be replaced with possibly less able, but certainly more willing to learn students accordingly.
Professors should run Universities and not the students. Just get a grip for pity’s sake.
Rain, snow or shine
Erosion goes on
The erosion keeps eroding all over the earth, be it California, or anywhere else. Nothing new here. The only problem is that modern man forgot to take erosion into account when inhabiting certain areas.
Erosion has come to stay. No – green – tax is ever going to stop erosion. So modern man has to come to terms even with snow and rain in California. When are we going to take erosion seriously by making better judgements about where to build houses?
You cannot Trump Nature!
This is just too funny Baron to not include here. Seems the Germans are starting to get it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e2U2cYcPro
“…Retail Shutdown as Sales Go Online….
Editor’s Comment: Brick and mortar may not disappear altogether, but the strip malls are definitely facing an weeding and culling. The consumer and retail spending that surrounds the holiday season and impacts economic indicators is shifting all momentum towards online purchases….
It signals a massive shift in the economy as we have known it; the ripple effects are destroying jobs; truckers will soon be laid off; checkers and stockers will be needed less and less as well. There will be growth but it will be concentrated in the hands of a few Internet giants.
…Macy’s, Sears, And Kmart Announce Over 200 Store Closings And 10,000+ Layoffs Nationwide”
__________________________
Comment: That’s grossly misleading.
Mail order has been around for centuries. Indeed, Sears (aka Kmart) was a principle mail order house. Truck drivers will still be needed to haul merchandise from manufacturer to distribution points and probably more so to haul things to individual homes in spite of any “drone system.” In addition to checkers and stockers, there will be a need for packers as the whatever is to be individually shipped in some way.
It’s just that the jobs simply will not be in the same places and most likely will not be held by all of the same people. It is an economic shift from malls, just as malls were an economic shift from downtown, which happened because people in outlying regions (suburbia) didn’t want to deal with the hassle of going downtown. Now people have decided they don’t mind waiting a couple of days if all they have to do is fiddle with a computer be it during store hours or in the middle of the night.
The loss is a tax base. And, with that there’s likely going to be some population shift, not just because of a curtailment in services but because abandoned real estate is subject to uncivilized activities. City problems have simply reached established suburbia, so it’s not something that’s particularly revolutionary or for that matter something that should have been remarkably unexpected.
Homeowners – property tax payers – take note.
Private property tax (a citizen’s castle) needs to be challenged simply on the basis that it is straight out government impost on a private citizen and what he/she may legally own and not what he/she may earn as part of income.
Not news – just speculation. . . related to the Ft. Lauderdale shooter story:
Not much has been revealed about the mother of this shooter’s child, despite reports of multiple events involving domestic violence.
Sounds a lot like a relationship which was sanctioned by religious authorities in which any domestic dispute is automatically referred to shariah court (if there is one associated with the only mosque in Alaska-which just happened to be within walking distance to his address)
===>Point to make note of:
http://i.imgur.com/p63fEzA.jpg
was posted in a December 2014 AlJazeera article about the lone mosque in Alaska
Note the photo reveals the hijab’d woman in the photo, one Heather Robertson Barbour just happens to have a culturally American identity & suggests Anchorage is tolerant to Islam and just coincidentally, and conveniently happens to be an IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY in Anchorage.
Perhaps the identity of the girlfriend/wife would reveal a sort of ‘mail order’ bride – one accustomed to the cultural/doctrinal mistreatment of women in Islam—-which would present a most unfortunate detail negatively impacting the prevailing ‘mental illness’ narrative?
Alaskan Muslims raising the roof of state’s first mosque