Former President Barack Hussein Obama has come out in support of the “centrist” Emmanuel Macron to be the next president of France. Mr. Obama said that Mr. Macron appeals to the French people’s hopes rather than their fears.
In other news, Hong Kong police are currently on high alert for terror attacks by “lone wolves” inspired by the Islamic State.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Fjordman, JD, 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.
Is the World’s Largest Bitcoin Exchange Headed for a Mt. Gox-Style Collapse?
Could Bitfinex, the world’s largest, Hong-Kong based cryptocurrency exchange, be headed for a Mt. Gox-style collapse? It’s starting to look that way.
When Mt. Gox first halted customer withdrawals in February 2014, it waited more than two weeks to admit the truth to its customers: that hackers had stolen more than $450 million of their assets, leaving the exchange bankrupt and them holding the bag. That hack effectively crippled the entire digital currency ecosystem, ushering in a two-year bear market that at one point carried the bitcoin price below $200, from what was then a record high north of $1,200 reached in November 2013.
So when another exchange engages in similarly shady behavior — withholding critical information about customer funds, or failing to produce audited financials despite promising to do so — it should prompt crypto traders to ask themselves why, with dozens, if not hundreds, of cryptocurrency exchanges operating around the world, they’re choosing to do business with this one.
That’s the question that customers of Bitfinex should be asking nearly two weeks after the exchange, once one of the world’s largest, first revealed that it had been cut off from sending outbound dollar-denominated wires to its customers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Puerto Rico has collapsed financially and has “filed for the equivalent of bankruptcy protection”. When this was announced on Wednesday, it quickly made front page news all over the planet. For decades, Puerto Rico has been considered to be the territory most likely to become “the 51st U.S. state”, and there have even been rumblings that we could soon see a renewed push for statehood. But that is on the back burner for now, because at the moment Puerto Rico is dealing with a nightmarish financial crisis that is the result of an accelerating economic collapse. Unfortunately, many Americans still don’t believe that what has happened to Puerto Rico could happen to us, even though signs of major economic trouble are emerging all around us.
Almost two years ago I issued a major warning about the debt crisis in Puerto Rico, and now the day of reckoning for “America’s Greece” has finally arrived…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Big Brother is Still Watching You: Don’t Fall for the NSA’s Latest Ploy
Supposedly the National Security Administration is going to stop collecting certain internet communications that merely mention a foreign intelligence target.
Privacy advocates are hailing it as a major victory for Americans whose communications have been caught in the NSA’s dragnet.
If this is a victory, it’s a hollow victory.
Here’s why.
Since its creation in 1952, when President Harry S. Truman issued a secret executive order establishing the NSA as the hub of the government’s foreign intelligence activities, the agency has been covertly spying on Americans, listening in on their phone calls, reading their mail, and monitoring their communications.
For instance, under Project SHAMROCK, the NSA spied on telegrams to and from the U.S., as well as the correspondence of American citizens. Moreover, as the Saturday Evening Post reports, “Under Project MINARET, the NSA monitored the communications of civil rights leaders and opponents of the Vietnam War, including targets such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Mohammed Ali, Jane Fonda, and two active U.S. Senators. The NSA had launched this program in 1967 to monitor suspected terrorists and drug traffickers, but successive presidents used it to track all manner of political dissidents.”
Not even the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the creation of the FISA Court, which was supposed to oversee and correct how intelligence
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biracial UT Pageant Winner Slammed as ‘Not Black Enough’ On Twitter
The winner of the Miss Black University of Texas is taking the high road after critics on social media claimed she’s “not black enough.”
Rachael Malonson, who is biracial, was crowned on Sunday. The event was hosted by Kappa Alpha Psi, a predominantly black fraternity.
In a Facebook post after her win, Malonson said she was at first reluctant to take part in the pageant because of her mixed race.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Clinton Cash’ Author Sounds the Alarm Over Jared Kushner’s Partnership With George Soros
The author of the best-selling book that revealed alleged pay-for-play schemes during Hillary Clinton’s time as secretary of state is sounding the alarm about Jared Kushner’s ties to liberal bankroller George Soros and Goldman Sachs.
“Clinton Cash” author and Breitbart News editor Peter Schweizer said in a radio interview that Kushner’s ties to Soros — who funds a network of left-wing activists — as well as his billion-dollar loans, both of which he failed to include in his financial disclosure forms, present a “massive, massive problem” for the White House. Schweizer called for an independent audit of Kushner’s finances, which he said likely contain similar bombshells.
Schweizer expressed similar concern over the opacity of Kushner’s political views — which the adviser has kept close to his vest — and said the president should let the public “lift the hood up from the car and see what kind of engine is underneath there — to see really what his views are, have him do some public interviews about what his positions are.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
DNC Just Admitted They Had the Legal Right to Rig the 2016 Primaries
Make no mistake, the DNC admitting to having the right to rig the 2016 democratic primary is just the tip of the iceberg. If this goes to trial, America will see even more of the dark underbelly that is the American election process.
Last year, the political election process exposed Americans to more corruption and vote rigging than at any time in their history. Now, a recent lawsuit has exposed that this corruption and fraud is actually standard operating procedure.
The lawsuit, filed against the Democratic National Committee, and its former chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, by Bernie Sanders donors reveals the DNC believes its own rules of impartiality don’t apply, and they can pick whatever candidate they wish.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
FBI: ‘Epidemic’ Levels of Pedophilia, Child Sex Trafficking
Pedophilia in the U.S. is “unprecedented” and has reached an almost “epidemic level,” according to assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division Joseph Campbell.
Although the FBI rescued 600 children last year, the FBI believes that tens of thousands of children are still being sexually exploited. Hundreds of children are sold every night for sex, the BBC reported in an investigative piece on child sex trafficking in the U.S.
“The level of pedophilia is just unprecedented right now,” Campbell said. “We have so many cases constantly of individuals in all walks of life, from the very wealthy … to all other levels engaged in child pornography, child exploitation … it just seems to be almost an at epidemic level.”
The vast majority of the children trafficked in the U.S. are not Mexican or Central American, but are American.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Julian Assange Condemns Hillary Clinton After WikiLeaks Comments
The furious Wikileaks founder hit out at Hillary Clinton just hours after she blamed Russian hackers and FBI director James Comey for destroying her US election campaign and handing victory to Donald Trump.
In her most extensive public comments on the election, Mrs Clinton told a New York conference she was derailed by Mr Comey’s October 28 letter informing Congress the FBI had reopened a probe of her use of a private email server and by the WikiLeaks release of campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails, allegedly stolen by Russian hackers.
She said: “If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ObamaCare Replacement Bill Approved in House
House Republicans on Thursday narrowly approved a sweeping health care bill aimed at fulfilling their campaign promise to upend ObamaCare, after bringing out the legislative defibrillators to resuscitate a package that had flatlined on the floor not six weeks earlier.
The revised American Health Care Act passed on a 217-213 vote. It heads next to the Senate, where it faces an uncertain fate.
“A lot of us have been waiting seven years to cast this vote,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Many observers feel that the controversial ascension of Obama to the White House is no longer newsworthy. The sun has apparently set on Obama’s destructive stewardship of the country. He must be allowed to fade into political irrelevance while the country tackles without distraction the enormous problems that confront it. “There’s a lot of work to do,” writes one commenter to a recently posted article of mine, “Let’s start by consigning Obama to the dustbin of history, and repeat his name no more.”
This is a relatively common sentiment, but it is, I believe, a blinkered view of the Obama phenomenon. The sun is still at its zenith as the reality and repercussions of Obama’s tenure remain in force. Obama isn’t going away. He is intent on maximizing the damage he inflicted on the country during the two terms of his faux presidency, having now set up shop in Washington to pursue a post-presidency agenda advancing a left-wing insurgency, civil unrest, racial conflict and the destabilizing activities of a shadow government. His Alinskyite community organizing, 501(c) (4) nonprofit operations, advocacy with DNC backing for the “fundamental transformation” of America, a $60 million book contract, and the lure of obscenely lucrative speeches, clearly meant to further his former executive policies (as well as line his pockets), all continue to promote, as Mathew Vadum writes, “the social polarization and ethno-cultural balkanization he encouraged while president.” Not even post-presidential interventionists like the heroic Teddy Roosevelt or the irritating nuisance Jimmy Carter saw fit to establish tactical headquarters in the city on the hill. Unlike any of his 43 predecessors, Obama is without shame or compunction in his violation of post-presidential tradition, conduct befitting the program of an anti-president.
But this is by no means the whole story.
American presidents swear an oath of office to honor the Constitution and defend the nation’s interests. Obama has done neither.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sofia Confirms Nearby Planetary System is Similar to Our Own
NASA’s flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, recently completed a detailed study of a nearby planetary system. The investigations confirmed that this nearby planetary system has an architecture remarkably similar to that of our solar system.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
by Douglas Murray
Every week in America brings another spate of defeats for freedom of speech. This past week it was Ann Coulter’s turn (yet again) to be banned from speaking at Berkeley for what the university authorities purport to be “health and safety” reasons — meaning the health and safety of the speaker.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Calls Out Rice for Refusal to Testify to Congress
President Trump on Thursday called out Susan Rice for refusing to testify before a Senate committee investigating both Russian meddling in the 2016 election and allegations of Obama-era spying on Team Trump.
“Susan Rice, the former National Security Advisor to President Obama, is refusing to testify before a Senate Subcommittee next week on allegations of unmasking Trump transition officials. Not good!” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Scores Healthcare Victory in House
The US House of Representatives has passed a healthcare bill, bringing President Trump’s pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare a stride closer.
The American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed with a vote to spare, after weeks of cajoling within the Republican party to muster enough support.
It has been opposed by Democrats and several groups representing patients, doctors and hospitals.
The bill next heads to the Senate, possibly in June.
Republicans needed 216 votes in the House and it passed with 217. No Democrats voted in favour.
Its safe passage through the US lower chamber provides the new president with his first legislative victory, three months into his term.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Puts the Media in Its Place
Donald Trump and the mainstream media are at war and have been since the start of his presidential campaign two Junes ago. Whatever shred of objectivity the media maintained in its reporting is long gone. The Left long ago infiltrated our major media companies and that is why today Americans’ trust in mass media is at all-time lows.
With the Donald in the driver’s seat, the media still does not know how to deal with this new, unprecedented reality…
Conservative commentator and former adviser to multiple Republican presidents, Pat Buchanan, wrote recently: “Whatever happens to Trump, the respect and regard the mainstream media once enjoyed are gone. Public opinion of the national press puts them down beside the politicians they cover — and for good reason.”
The media and ruling political class in Washington have become one and the same. Each channel has its own ideology and agenda. Every news article masquerades as an opinion piece to feed a narrative detached from reality. This has led to the rise of alternative news sites following the many accusations of fake news throughout the presidential campaign.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: “Anti-Fascist” Militia Training Video Shows Leftists Are Preparing for Armed Confrontation
Following the Berkeley protests last month, where numerous Anti-Fa(scist) activists complained of getting a beatdown after they attempted to intimidate peacefully assembling Trump supporters, we learned that the left-leaning organizations are taking their organization efforts to the next level. Among other things, they have called for more combat training, better equipment, and even guns in an effort to scare those who disagree with their message of forced tolerance, equal rights and inclusion.
Today, we get a better look at what that means, with somewhat hilarious results.
The Conservative Tribune explains:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Web Giants Sued for ‘Aiding’ ISIS Terrorists
Twitter, Google and Facebook are being sued for knowingly aiding IS by families of some of the victims of a terrorist attack in California that left 14 people dead.
The relatives claim the tech giants have allowed the group to build a major online presence and push its extremist beliefs, as well as enlist recruits and promote attacks like the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California.
‘Without defendants Twitter, Facebook and Google (YouTube), the explosive growth of IS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible,’ the suit alleges.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘White Devils’: Muhammad Ali’s Racist Mosque Speeches Revealed
FBI files detailing speeches delivered by heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali in American mosques in the 1960s show a different, more racist and radical face of the famed sportsman. The speeches feature Ali calling whites “crackers” and “white devils,” and telling black congregants that blacks want to be segregated from whites.
The speeches, which were released after a Freedom of Information Act request by Washington watchdog group Judicial Watch, revealed that Ali had far more radical views about race than his more benign public persona might have led people to believe.
Not only did Ali thunder that the 1964 civil rights act was a “swindle” on blacks, he also went on to excoriate whites, calling them “blue-eyed devil white people,” and insisting that “the so-called Negro is the original man and is superior to the white devil.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why There Will Never be a Political Solution to America’s Problems
Throughout the campaign, Donald Trump spoke boldly about “draining the swamp”, but this spending deal very much reflects the swamp’s priorities. The Washington Post has published a list of eight ways that “Trump got rolled in his first budget negotiation”, and in this case the Post is quite correct…
1. There are explicit restrictions to block the border wall.
2. Non-defense domestic spending will go up, despite the Trump team’s insistence he wouldn’t let that happen.
3. Barack Obama’s cancer moonshot is generously funded.
4. Trump fought to cut the Environmental Protection Agency by a third. The final deal trims its budget by just 1 percent, with no staff cuts.
5. He didn’t defund Planned Parenthood.
6. The president got less than half as much for the military as he said was necessary.
7. Democrats say they forced Republicans to withdraw more than 160 riders.
8. To keep negotiations moving, the White House already agreed last week to continue paying Obamacare subsidies.
In essence, the Democrats got virtually everything that they wanted, and the Republicans got next to nothing.
Trump and the Republicans are promising that they will fight harder “next time”, but we have already heard that empty promise from Republicans year after year going all the way back to 2011.
Among many other conservative pundits, author Daniel Horowitz is absolutely blasting these “weak-kneed Republicans”…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yet Another Hate Crime Turns Out to be a Hoax
A church organist was arrested Wednesday after he vandalized his own church with swastikas and pro-Trump graffiti in order to “mobilize a movement.”
George Nathaniel Stang, 26, admitted in a handwritten statement to spray painting swastikas, “fag church,” and “heil Trump” in St. David’s Episcopal Church in Bean Blossom, Indiana. “I suppose I wanted to give local people a reason to fight for good, even if it was a false flag,” Stand wrote, according to a local NBC report. “To be clear my actions were not motivated by hate for the church or its congregation. I of course realize now, this was NOT the way to go about inspiring activism.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cannes on Alert: Millions Invested to Thwart Terror Attacks at Festival
Set to unspool just 10 days after France’s fateful presidential election, the Cannes Film Festival is ramping up security measures more than ever before.
But the question, for many festgoers, is how safe is Cannes going to be this year?
Between high-profile thieves, last year’s terror attack in Nice, rising far-right politics, and ongoing tensions with the local French-Arab community, the French Riviera has gone through a rough patch over the past few years. The pressure-cooker atmosphere has led the city of Cannes, which hosts numerous industry events such as Mipcom, MipTV, and the Cannes Lions, to ramp up its security standards to make international visitors feel secure.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
EU Imposes No Preconditions Before Turkey-EU Meet in Brussels
The European Union has not imposed any preconditions on Ankara, such as the lifting of the state of emergency, before a prospective meeting between top Turkish and European officials later in May, Turkish diplomatic sources have said, emphasizing Ankara’s interest in keeping channels of dialogue open with Brussels.
“We have not been notified about any preconditions with regard to our president’s planned meeting with EU officials. Although this meeting has not been confirmed, we are in favor of continuing our dialogue with the EU,” a Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News on May 3.
The official referred to a potential summit between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the EU’s two top leaders, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Council President Donald Tusk, on May 25 in Brussels, immediately after a NATO summit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-UKIP Leader Nigel Farage Has Come Out in Full Support of Far-Right French Presidential Candidate
In a column for the Telegraph, Farage said he would welcome Le Pen as the new president, despite his long-standing concerns about the Front National (FN), of which she was leader before deciding to run as an independent.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
First Results From Jupiter Probe Show Huge Magnetism and Storms
Big planets come with big surprises. Last week, delegates at the annual European Geosciences Union meeting got the first glimpse of data from the Juno spacecraft now in orbit around Jupiter, and the findings are already challenging assumptions about everything from the planet’s atmosphere to its interior.
“The whole inside of Jupiter is just working differently than our models expected,” said mission principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in Texas.
Launched on 5 August 2011, Juno reached Jupiter and began its first orbit on 4 July last year. Since then, it has performed four more circuits. There are 33 planned pole-to-pole circuits in all, encircling the entire planet bit by bit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Is Champagne Still Champagne Without Bubbles?
In a storied part of France, a group of artisan producers is making this beloved wine the old fashioned way—sans fizz.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Gives Go-Ahead to Self-Defence Law
Italy’s Chamber of Deputies on Thursday voted in favour of a bill which will extend people’s rights to “legitimate defence”.
The new law would make it legitimate to respond with force to robbers or burglars who enter a property, even if this proves fatal. However, it won’t come into force until the Italian Senate also gives it the green light, after the lower house of parliament passed the bill with 225 votes in favour and 166 against.
Under current Italian law, accused parties usually have to show they had reasonable grounds to fear for their own life to avoid a murder charge. Some judges however have also allowed a “legitimate defence” argument based on a pattern of being regularly targeted by criminals.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Backs Macron for Appealing to ‘People’s Hopes’
Former US President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed centrist Emmanuel Macron for France’s presidential election in a video message in which he praised Macron for appealing “to people’s hopes and not their fears”.
“The French election is very important to the future of France and the values that we care so much about,” Obama said in the message, distributed by the Macron campaign.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pernille Vermund Launches Blazing Attack on ‘Federal State’ Of EU
Pernille Vermund, the leader of Nye Borgerlige or ‘The New Right’ party, also branded the bloc’s treatment of the UK after it voted to leave as “embarrassing”.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, the party leader argued Europeans feel a strong connection to Europe, but Brussels’ dream of creating a superstate was alienating people.
Adding the European Union’s hard-line approach to Brexit would see its support decrease across the continent, Ms Vermund said ordinary people were growing sceptical of the European institution.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prince Philip to Step Down From Carrying Out Royal Engagements
The Duke of Edinburgh is retiring from royal duties this autumn, Buckingham Palace has announced.
Prince Philip, who turns 96 in June, made the decision himself and the Queen supported him, a spokesman said.
The Queen “will continue to carry out a full programme of official engagements”, the palace said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Rebel or Ruffian: Who Was Martin Luther?
Celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach features the special exhibition, “Luther and the Germans.” It explores the relationship between Luther and the region he lived in.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Six Local Dutch Parties Consider Joining Up With Wilders
Six local parties in towns where Geert Wilders is planning to field candidates in next year’s local elections are considering becoming PVV units, according to research by current affairs show Nieuwsuur. Wilders hopes to win seats in 60 of the 390 local authority areas in the Netherlands in the 2018 vote and has appealed for potential councillors to come forward. Two parties have already decided to become part of the PVV and four others are considering the option, Nieuwsuur said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Man Arrested in Brabant on Terrorism Charges
A 22-year-old Somali national living in the small Brabant town of Sint-Oedenrode has been arrested on terrorism charges, the public prosecution department said on Tuesday. The man, arrested as he left a house in the town where he was staying, is said to have been an active member of the African terrorist organisation al-Shabaab, which has been fighting to establish its own caliphate in western Africa. He was one of two men, both Somali nationals, who were arrested last week. One has since been released but remains a suspect, the Telegraaf said on Tuesday. The arrests were made following information from the AIVD security service.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Study Reveals Half of Young Europeans Are Skeptical About Democracy
Just half of Europeans aged 16-26 believe democracy is the best form of government. The figure was revealed in a survey that polled 6,000 young Europeans in seven countries.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
They Want to Kill the Euro: Why Many Europeans Want Their Money Back
Sergi Cutillas was thrilled when Spain joined the euro. Now he wants out.
“The eurozone has failed. It was a bad experiment,” he said. “It was wishful thinking.”
The 34-year-old economist wants Spain to abandon the euro. He’s far from alone: 25% of the people who use the common currency want to ditch it, according to the latest European Union poll.
The threat to the euro is most acute in France, where people will vote Sunday in the final round of a presidential election that features Marine Le Pen. The far right politician wants France to abandon the currency union.
The euro, the currency of 19 EU countries, is the most visible symbol of the region’s long experiment with economic integration since the end of World War II.
But it’s now under threat from politicians on both the left and right who want to bring the lira, drachma, peseta and French franc out of retirement.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK Election Reinforces Scotland’s Divide
Polls suggest that Labour is trailing both the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish Conservatives in Thursday’s local elections and bode ill for its fortunes in the UK general election. Peter Geoghegan reports.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Arrested at London’s Heathrow on Terrorism Charges
A man arriving in the UK on a flight from Turkey has been arrested on suspicion of terror-related crime.
The 30-year-old was detained by the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terror squad as he stepped off the plane, from Istanbul to Heathrow, on Thursday evening.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said the man had been arrested on suspicion of preparing for terrorist acts and terrorist training
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Children must be taught in school what to do in a terror attack as they used to learn to be wary of strangers, says a top police chief.
A senior Scotland Yard officer said a Government campaign telling the public how to keep safe if they are caught in terror outrage must be drummed home to pupils.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said the advice to ‘run, hide and tell’ in a Paris-style massacre was as vital as warning children about everyday safety issues such as not going off with adults they do not know.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Young Europeans Want to Quit European Union, Shock Survey Reveals
More than three-quarters of young Europeans see the Brussels bloc as just a trading bloc instead of an alliance of common countries or friendship between neighbours.
And an average 21 per cent say they wanted their country to pull out of the EU altogether in scenes reminiscent of the UK’s Brexit vote last June.
And it seems the young Brits are most keen to quit the Brussels bloc — with 42 per cent saying they would vote to leave if a new referendum was held tomorrow.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian Saad Mohammed Creates 700 Metre Koran by Hand
An Egyptian school drop-out is hoping to make history after spending three years painstakingly creating what he believes to be the world’s largest Koran.
Saad Mohammed’s intricately decorated, hand-drawn scroll is 700 metres long (2,296ft) — which means, when it is unrolled, it is almost twice as tall as the 381-metre-high Empire State Building.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Raymond Ibrahim: ‘The Real Bomb is in Islam’s Books’
During his visit to Egypt last week, “Pope Francis visited al-Azhar University, a globally respected institution for Sunni Islamic learning,” and “met with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the imam of the government-run Al-Azhar mosque and an Islamic philosophy professor.” This has been reported by several media outlets, often with much fanfare.
Unfortunately, however, Sheikh Tayeb, once voted “world’s most influential Muslim,” and Al Azhar, the important madrassa he heads, are part of the problem, not the solution. Tayeb is a renowned master of exhibiting one face to fellow Muslims in Egypt — one that supports the death penalty for “apostates,” calls for the totality of Sharia rule, refuses to denounce ISIS as being un-Islamic, denounces all art as immoral, and rejects the very concept of reforming Islam — and another face to non-Muslims.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Basketball’s Governing Body Fiba Changes Headgear Rules to Allow Hijab
Basketball has changed its rules on headgear in a move that will allow players to wear the hijab during matches.
Previous rules had banned the practice, over what world governing body Fiba said was a safety issue.
The Qatar women’s team withdrew from the 2014 Asian Games after being denied permission to wear the hijab — a head covering worn by many Muslim women.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The rising number of terror incidents carried out by ISIS-affiliated Jordanian nationals, along with the high numbers of young Jordanians joining Salafi-jihadi organizations that are fighting in Syria and Iraq have caused great concern in Jordan.
Jordan has recently become a target of many terror attacks. The latest attack took place on December 18, 2016, when a cell of four Jordanian nationals struck a number of targets in the city of Karak; the gunmen fired at a patrol and a security facility in the city, holed up in the 10th-century Karak Crusader castle, and waged an hours-long firefight with Jordanian security forces until they were killed. During the firefight, four security personnel were killed, along with two civilians and a Canadian tourist. A search of the terror cell members’ rented apartment in the town of Al-Qatraneh turned up five explosive belts ready for use, and other explosives. The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack. The investigation showed that three of the cell members had served prison time for attempting to join the Islamic State (ISIS).
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: The Woman Who Will Turn Off Her Phone When the War in Syria is Over
Souad Benkaddour, a Moroccan living in Madrid, has helped hundreds of Syrians as they pass through Spain to the promised land of northern Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ancient Humans: What We Know and Still Don’t Know About Them
In recent weeks, we have explored the brain of a species called Homo naledi, speculated on the idea that Neanderthals might have made it to North America deep in prehistory, and found signs of Denisovan DNA in layers of dirt in a Siberian cave that don’t actually contain any fossil bones.
But who were these ancient humans? And what about the other species that pop up in the news on a regular basis? Here is New Scientist‘s primer to help you understand a little bit more about seven of the most important human species in our evolutionary tree.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kasparov on Putin and the Future of Artificial Intelligence
When IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in May 1997, it was considered a monumental achievement for artificial intelligence. But in his new book, Deep Thinking, Kasparov shows how this discovery only set up a number of new hurdles for the artificial intelligence world to overcome.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chechen Authorities Tell Parents: ‘Kill Your Gay Sons or We Will’, Survivor Claims
President Ramzan Kadyrov denies homosexuals are being persecuted saying: ‘You cannot detain and persecute people who simply do not exist in the republic’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Vatican Has Established Full Diplamatic Relations With Myanmar
The Vatican and Myanmar established full diplomatic relations on Thursday in the latest step in the former pariah Asian state’s rehabilitation by the international community.
The Vatican said it would appoint a papal nuncio to Yangon and that the country would open an embassy at the Vatican, formally wrapping up an accord approved by Myanmar in March.
The move came as Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi — who is an honorary citizen of Rome — met Pope Francis on the latest leg of a European tour overshadowed by her country’s treatment of the Rohingya, a persecuted minority Muslim group in the 90-percent Buddhist country.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese State Media Hit Back in Unprecedented War of Words With North Korea
An unprecedented war of words has escalated between North Korea and its main ally China through state-controlled media as tensions on the Korean peninsula reach boiling point.
In what Chinese diplomatic analysts described as a sign of a deepening rift between Beijing and Pyongyang over the reclusive regime’s nuclear brinkmanship, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issued the first direct criticism of China in years on Wednesday, warning of unspecified “grave consequences”.
“I’ve never seen such a direct attack on China by North Korea’s state media and it shows their relations have plunged to a historical low,” said Cui Zhiying, a Korean affairs analyst at Shanghai’s Tongji University.
North Korea’s ties with China, Pyongyang’s top trade partner and provider of economic aid, have taken a major dive since Beijing slapped a sweeping ban on coal imports from North Korea in February.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Police on Alert for Terror Threat From Lone Wolves Inspired by Islamic State
Anti-terrorist police say extremists may already be lurking in the city, although they have received no intelligence indicating a specific threat
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kyle Bass Warns “All Hell is About to Break Loose” In China
Editor’s Note: Did you know the Great Depression wasn’t triggered by a U.S. stock market crash? Most of that history has been lost to mainstream talking points over the last 80 years, but in reality, as Martin Armstrong has noted, the catalyst was a collapse in Europe. This information is important as you read the following report from ZeroHedge.com below, because at this very moment China is entering a massive credit crisis and according to Kyle Bass, the man who not only predicted the crash of 2008 but profited handsomely from it, all hell is about to break loose. With China being one of the largest economies in the world, there is a real possibility that the contagion may soon spread to Western markets, which may explain why corporate insiders are unloading their stocks like there’s no tomorrow.
China’s credit system expanded “too recklessly and too quickly,” and “it’s beginning to unravel,” warns Hayman Capital’s Kyle Bass.
Crucially, Bass notes that ballooning assets in Chinese wealth management products are another sign of a looming credit crisis in the nation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. General Confirms: Special Operations Teams Will be Sent to Take Out North Korean Nuke Sites
With China issuing a final warning to North Korea earlier today, and U.S. President Donald Trump keeping all options on the table as he prepares a response to continued North Korean military posturing and rhetoric, Army General Raymond A. Thomas confirmed in sworn testimony to a Congressional sub committee that special operations teams will be utilized as part of any conflict with the rogue state and would likely be sent in to secure and/or destroy North Korean nuclear facilities in the event of war:
[Comment: This is insanely dangerous, especially for the special ops (who contary to propaganda are not supermen, but highly trained soldiers.) The spec-ops teams could easily find themselves cornered by the sheer numbers of the enemy troops.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
White South Africans Are Preparing for “The Slaughter and Removal of All Whites Within Five Years”
Back in March, the President of South Africa made a shocking suggestion, which left many white landowners fearing that they may face a race war in the near future. In a speech, Jacob Zuma announced that he wanted the government to begin confiscating white owned lands, before redistributing them to black South Africans.
Zuma wants a “pre-colonial land audit of land use and occupation patterns” to help decide which lands need to be taken, and has said that “We need to accept the reality that those who are in parliament where laws are made, particularly the black parties, should unite because we need a two-thirds majority to effect changes in the constitution.” It’s believed that Zuma is calling for this radical action in response to the rise of a rival political party known as the Economic Freedom Fighters, who have long called for the confiscation of white owned lands.
Obviously, this kind of talk doesn’t bode well for the future of South Africa. You have the leaders of the first and third most popular political parties, both of which promote socialist ideas, openly declaring that they want the government to steal from an entire racial group. Since these political parties wouldn’t be in power unless they had some degree of popular support, it’s clear that black South Africans are increasingly turning against their white neighbors. It’s a perfect recipe for genocide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
91 Migrants Arrive on Aegean Islands in Past 48 Hours
A total of 90 migrants and refugees have arrived on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos in the past 48 hours, authorities said Thursday, adding that two suspects have been arrested on human trafficking charges.
A single arrival has been recorded on Chios over the same period, authorities said.
A total of 8,600 asylum-seekers are currently stranded on Lesvos, Chios and Samos, according to official data Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for Another Extension to Emergency EU Border Controls
Austrian ministers are pushing for the EU to grant them an extension to emergency border controls, introduced in 2015, to help control the flow of asylum seekers into their country.
Border controls, traditionally abolished within the Schengen zone, were reintroduced by Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and non-EU member Norway during the height of the migrant crisis in 2015.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Taxpayers Fund EU Scheme Which Pays Failed Asylum Seekers £846 Each to Return Home
BRITISH taxpayers are funding an “immoral” European Union migration scheme under which failed asylum seekers are paid £846 (1,000 euros) each to return to their home countries.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Claim: Dutch Police Bribe Newspaper to Bury Data on Criminal Asylum Seekers
Dutch police hiding statistics revealing asylum seeker’s involvement in crime, even attempting to bribe journalists into ignoring the topic, it has been claimed.
The national police force of the Netherlands admitted trying to cut a deal with the country’s largest newspaper, which claimed to have been offered leads and exclusive stories if they dropped a freedom of information request on the number of asylum seekers involved in crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Death of Europe: Europeans Are Losing the Place They Call Home, Says Douglas Murray
IS OUR continent on a suicide mission? Over the years of the recent migration crisis I have been travelling across Europe from the most remote southern islands of Italy to the north of Sweden, from the islands of Greece to the suburbs of France.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Charges 11 Over 71 Migrant Deaths in Austrian Lorry
BUDAPEST, May 4 (Reuters) — The driver of a truck in which 71 migrants were found dead beside an Austrian motorway heard their cries for help as their oxygen ran out but followed an order to keep them locked up, Hungarian prosecutors said on Thursday.
Prosecutors said in a statement they had charged 11 people in connection with the August 2015 deaths, four with murder and all 11 with human trafficking.
The four men participated in the transport of the 71 migrants directly, and the rest were involved in sustaining a network that made hundreds of thousands of euros from human smuggling, said the prosecutors’ office of Bacs-Kiskun county, where the truck began its journey.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Deports More Than 1,000 Migrants a Month as Refugee Crisis Worsens
Italy is deporting more than 1,000 migrants a month, as record numbers continue to cross the sea into Europe.
Authorities in the country have sent home about 6,250 migrants since January, many of whom arrived on dilapidated boats from nearby Libya (pictured above).
The figures for this year mark a 24% increase on figures from 2016, and show that the country has become more efficient at removing new arrivals with no right to stay.
Many claim to be fleeing war or persecution in war-torn Libya, and ask for asylum under international law.
But Italian officials increasingly suspect that many are economic migrants from further afield who travel via Libya because it offers a gateway to Europe that would usually be closed to them.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Majority of Minorities in Norway Support Labour: Report
Nearly 60 percent of immigrants with Asian, African of Latin American backgrounds vote for the Norwegian Labour Party, according to Statistics Norway.
The figures, published in a new report published Wednesday by the statistics bureau, are based on votes in local and general elections.
But immigrants from European countries support the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) in a similar proportion to the general non-immigrant population, said the report.
Citizens of eastern European EEA countries showed twice as much support for the nationalist Progress Party as the general population.
And backing for the left-of-centre parties was lower for Asian, African and Latin American immigrants with higher education backgrounds.
Over 80 percent of people in this group with a maximum of high school-level education vote for one of Labour, the Socialist Left or the far-left Red party.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Not Welcome: Japan Tough to Crack for Refugees
Anti-refugee sentiment is rising in Europe and the United States but in Japan those seeking haven from tyranny and war have long faced daunting legal and social gauntlets.
One of the world’s wealthiest countries, Japan accepted just 28 refugees in 2016 — one more than the previous year — out of the 8,193 applications reviewed by the Immigration Bureau.
Officials defend the low number, saying applicants are mainly from Asian countries seeking access to Japan solely for economic reasons.
“The number of applications from regions which generate lots of refugees, such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, is small,” said Yasuhiro Hishida, spokesman for the Immigration Bureau.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Overnight Clashes at Lesvos Migrant Camp
Reports say clashes broke out between rival ethnic groups of refugees and other migrants at the notorious VIAL facility on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos in the early hours of Thursday.
The trouble started shortly after midnight, reports say, after refugees from Syria were assaulted by a group of Afghans.
Riot police reportedly moved in around 2 a.m. to contain the violence.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Young Asylum Seekers Allowed to Stay to Finish School
The National Teaching Union welcomes parliament’s decision to extend temporary residency permits for young asylum seekers, even after the age of 18, so that they can finish their studies.
“This is a very important and human and reasonable solution to a very difficult situation in Swedish schools today,” said Johanna Jaara Åstrand, president of the National Teaching Union.
“The last couple of years, the Swedish schools have accommodated tens of thousands of new students that have come to us as refugees. Up until now, the 18th birthday has been the end of education for a lot of children, if they have not been granted permanent residency, and that has led to a lot of stress for students, and for their teachers and classmates,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Highest Court Refuses to Recognise ‘Neutral Gender’ As a Category
France’s top court of appeals on Thursday ruled that a person of indeterminate sex could not use “neutral gender” as a civil status category.
In a landmark ruling on a case filed by a 65-year-old psychotherapist, the court noted that “the duality” of gender as a civil status was “necessary for social and legal organisation”.
The latest ruling came months after a French court recognised “neutral gender” in a case filed by the 65-year-old plaintiff who was born with indeterminate gender but assigned a male status at birth.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The War on Children: The Comprehensive Sexuality Education Agenda
Documentary film exposing the Comprehensive Sexuality Education program.
Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) is one of the greatest assaults on the health and innocence of children. This is because unlike traditional sex education, comprehensive sexuality education is highly explicit and promotes promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviors to children as healthy and normal. CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on teaching children how to obtain sexual pleasure in various ways. Yet, ironically, comprehensive sexuality education programs are anything but comprehensive as they fail to teach children about all of the emotional, psychological and physical health risks of promiscuous sexual activity. The ultimate goal of CSE is to change the sexual and gender norms of society, which is why CSE could be more accurately called “abortion, promiscuity, and LGBT rights education.” CSE is a “rights-based” approach to sex education and promotes sexual rights to children at the expense of their sexual health. Click here to see numerous examples of many of the harmful components of CSE programs directly from various CSE program manuals. The Deceptive CSE Agenda
Comprehensive sexuality education is usually disguised with innocuous sounding names like human rights education, gender equality education, or sexual and reproductive health education or information. CSE is typically taught to children at the youngest of ages, often without the knowledge or consent of their parents…
One of the main goals of comprehensive sexuality education is to radically change the gender and sexual norms of society and to establish rights for children as sexually autonomous beings. In order to fulfill these alleged sexual rights, activists claim that children must have unfettered access to “comprehensive” sexual information that leaves no sexual knowledge behind.
The following is a list of some of the core philosophies upon which CSE programs are based:
Children are naturally sexual from birth, therefore any restrictions on their sexual expression or sexual activity violates their sexual rights.
To have good health, children and adults alike should be having regular sexual experiences either alone (masturbation) or with persons of either gender.
A right to sexual pleasure, event at the youngest ages is a primary human right that trumps other rights.
Children have privacy and confidentiality rights that trump the rights of their parents to guide their education in the area of human sexuality.
Children have a right to abortion and to sexual relations without the knowledge and consent of their parents.
Most societal sexual and gender norms, especially those based in religious beliefs are repressive and unhealthy and should be changed.
Children have the right to experiment with diverse sexual identities and orientations and the behaviors associated with them in order to develop a healthy sexuality.
Youth are to be enlisted to combat “homophobia,” “transphobia” and “heterosexism” and to advocate for their sexual rights,
Youth should be involved in the design and implementation of CSE programs.
Children, under internationally recognized rights to health and education, have a right to all sexual information, uncensored and without parental consent.
Where did all of these sexual philosophies and the “children are sexual from birth” concept come from? Who decided that the world’s children should have all of these sexual rights and should be taught about and encouraged to experiment with high-risk sexual acts?…
Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) is the silent link that fuels the sexual exploitation of children, minors, women, men, and families. Through CSE indoctrination in our schools, children as young as Kindergarten are convinced that they have “rights” to sexual pleasure. CSE programs, under the guise of “anti-bullying,” “teen pregnancy and STD prevention,” “sex abuse prevention,” and now “equality” programs, often include sexually graphic content and/or pornography, which stimulates neurological/brain development towards sexual excitement.
Teachers trained in many CSE programs have the boundaries blurred between them and their students. They are trained to speak sexual and/or pornographic content to minors. Much of the content would get any of us locked up for sexual exploitation, yet it is mandated in many schools.
By normalizing sexual activity among and with children, they are setup for sexual exploitation. They expect to be approached for sexual favors and think nothing of exploring their sexuality before they can handle it. Our children are groomed and programed to look for sex in all of the worst places!
If we want to protect our children from sexual exploitation, pornographic CSE must be eliminated in our schools and communities. As legal minors, they deserve the legal protection promised them, whether they want it or not. That’s why they are minors!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Increased Scrutiny of Climate-Change Models Should be Welcomed
The apparent slowdown in global warming has provided a spur for better understanding of the underlying processes.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Next Breakthroughs in Exoplanet Discovery
Scientists Discuss Potential Breakthroughs in Alien-Life Search
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Palaeontology: Evolution With Teeth
Louise Humphrey applauds a treatise on the dental roots of the human story.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Experimental physicist key to the detection of gravitational waves.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Mystery of Pluto’s Beating Heart
Planetary geologists think that underneath Pluto’s frozen nitrogen crust is a mantle of water ice, and it appears that in this region of the heart feature, the mantle has burst through, creating a jumbled mess of mountains, boulders and chaotic terrain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Why Catwalk Hijabs Are Upsetting Some Muslim Women
There’s a growing number of fashion brands and multinational companies showcasing women wearing an Islamic headscarf. But, for various reasons, some women from Muslim backgrounds aren’t happy with the trend.
Dolce and Gabbana, H&M, Pepsi, Nike: just a few of the big brands putting women wearing a hijab — a traditional Islamic headscarf — front and centre in advertising campaigns.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Former US President Barack Obama on Thursday endorsed centrist Emmanuel Macron for France’s presidential election in a video message in which he praised Macron for appealing “to people’s hopes and not their fears”.”
Let’s see now – Obama endorsed HR-C and the Democrats and that worked out well, didn’t it??
Obama sent $350,000 of taxpayer money to a campaign to oust Netanyahu – Benjamin’s still there and stronger than ever! ? ?
Prior to our Brexit vote he endorsed the Remain option and threatened to put us at the back of the Trade queue if we voted to leave – guess what, we’re on the way out full steam ahead ? ? ?
And now he endorses Macron – let us hope that come Sunday he reinforces his reputation as the political kiss of death and Le Pen is in a position to send him a big thank you kiss (metaphorically speaking, of course and thank goodness)?
S III
P.S. Macron is no more a ‘centrist’ than I am a bearded headbanger.
Macron is a sad creature tied to the failed Hollande, open borders, Rothschild & Co. and his old hag and former school teacher.
The french political establishment has ENA , Ecole Nationale d’Administration , written all over it . Political elite has been hatched there for generations ; Macron is just another of its graduates and can be counted on to be as distant from the french people as most other french politicians . Expect nothing but a facade matching the momentary circumstances , and be prepared for yet another puppet doing as his masters in Brussels and elsewhere whish .The former president’s endorsement of Macron was to be expected, after all they seem to have some puppetmasters in common …..
The only consolation of seeing Macron elected by the masses of witless urban Frenchmen is that they will the ones taking it on the chin when the Mu[slim]s get active and they will.
I suspect the Mu[slim]s are a bit more politically astute that we give them credit for. By laying low during the campaign they’ve all but ensured that empty headed and low -T pretty boy will be elected. And once in, they will go to work on the French people.
Macron is so weak he’s going to be a terror magnet.
Meanwhile, in truly IMPORTANT, totally NOT fake news, our elites are worried about how Asians are underrepresented on Saturday Night Live:
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/snl-star-trek-chris-pine-sulu-asian-cast-member-akira-yoshimura/amp
Hey, hey, can we get some of the Kushner apologists up in here to explain this one:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-08/kushner-companies-seen-hawking-shady-us-visa-buying-residency-program-wealthy-chines
Probably just more fake news, huh?
Regarding “DNC Just Admitted They Had the Legal Right to Rig the 2016 Primaries”.
From What I understand, this is true. Many of us forget, or don’t know, that this was the accepted and usual way candidates were selected throughout the USA prior to the early 1970s (I was around then but I can’t recall the exact date) was candidates were voted for at a political convention by ONLY THE MEMBERS OF THAT POLITICAL PARTY who attended that convention.
Country-wide primary voting by the general public was not in place. Various state party members at the convention nominated an individual whom they selected and put him up to be voted on by the entire members of the convention (no women that I can recall were ever selected). Should no individual win a majority of the votes, the elite members (party bosses) of the convention went behind closed doors and hammered out a “brokered” selection for the choice of their party candidate. I recall during the 1960s, and probably before, there became considerable pressure from the public to end these closed and often behind-the-doors “brokered” conventions and allow the choice to be made by the public. Thus the “primaries” were introduced
One unintended consequence of this change in the selection of candidates is the chasm we now see between the Liberals and Conservatives. When the candidate was done solely by the party, a candidate was carefully picked that they thought could win. This meant usually selecting someone who was not far from the center. When the public picked the candidate, their selection was someone who espoused their desire, usually someone farther away from the center.
This has escalated over the years into the wide divide we now see.