In Austria’s general election today, the ÖVP came in first with just over 30% of the vote. Sebastian “Boy” Kurz is expected to become the new chancellor. His most likely coalition partner is the FPÖ under the leadership of Heinz-Christian Strache, whose party came in second with somewhat more than 26% of the vote.
In other news, an Italian priest was kidnapped in Nigeria. His suspected abductors are the violent extremists of Boko Haram, a terrorist group that has nothing to do with True Islam.
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Thanks to AF, Charles Low, Insubria, LP, Reader from Chicago, RR, SS, TGB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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Assange Thanks US Govt for His 50,000% Gain on Bitcoin as Russian Unveils ‘Cryptoruble’
Once again the unintended consequences of government intervention are exposed…
In 2010 — following the release of sensitive government documents related to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — John McCain and Joe Lieberman led a bipartisan attempt to cut off WikiLeaks funding by forcing ‘traditional’ payment systems to block them.
7 years later and the price of Bitcoin has… risen…50,000%!
And Julian Assange chose yesterday to thank the US government and its corporatocracy for his forced investment…
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California: Muslim Student Association Hijacks ‘Reflection Space’ At Catholic University
Loyola Marymount University has opened a place for Muslim students to worship andpray on the Catholic campus.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
UCLA Law Professor Says Affirmative Action Inflicts ‘Significant Academic Harm’ On Minority Students
Admissions quotas for minority students are not only hurting higher education, they are hurting the students themselves, says Richard Sander, a professor in the UCLA law school.
Data show that when students with lower academic qualifications than their peers are accepted into more challenging universities, they suffer academically as a result, Sander said Wednesday evening before an assembly of the Bruin Republicans at UCLA.
Affirmative action creates what Sander calls “mismatch,” whereby preferred students find themselves out of their league and underperform as a result.
Sander told the group that “students will learn less when they are surrounded by students who had scores 10 points higher than them than if they were surrounded by students who had similar scores.” In other words, less academically qualified students perform better when surrounded by students of their own caliber than when placed among students with superior abilities.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
A Facebook account posted threats against Nimra Amjad in August, but it appears the wrong person was blamed
The man whose name and photo were connected to online racist death threats against a Calgary school board trustee candidate says not only did he not do it, but he dated the woman he’s accused of targeting.
Now, Calgary police confirm their hate crimes unit is no longer investigating the comments Shawn Street allegedly made to Ward 3 and 4 school trustee candidate Nimra Amjad back in August.
“I did not do this, I had nothing to do with this in any way shape or form,” said Street, who was fired from his job following the media attention and public outrage around the story.
Street says he was told by Calgary police that Amjad was uncooperative with their investigation, refusing to provide a statement and failing to return the investigator’s phone calls.
| — Hat tip: TGB | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Election 2017 Results — Eurosceptic Sebastian Kurz Leads in Exit Polls
The People’s Party (OVP) got 30.2 per cent of the vote, according to exit polls from Austrian news channel ORF.
Mr Kurz’s party is tough on migration, easy on taxes and widely Eurosceptic after rebranding itself over the last few months to propel its popularity in the wealthy Alpine nation.
He is expected to form a coalition with the right-wing populist Freedom party (FPO), who got 26.8 per cent of the vote, according to the latest projections.
Speaking after 85 per cent of the votes were counted, he told his cheering supporters: “Today we have won a huge mandate to change this country, and I promise you I will work with all my energy for change.
“We want to establish a new culture in politics. And we want to change the country for the better.”
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party, the largest party in the last government, are in third place with 26.3 per cent…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Populist Freedom Party Back in Second Place, Kurz Declares Victory
The populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has returned to second place, pushing the left-wing Social Democrats into third and putting the Freedom Party on track to form a coalition government for the first time since 2005.
Exit poll projections had put the Freedom Party in second place, slipping to third before holding joint second with the left-wing Social Democrats.
Der Spiegel reports the share of the parties with Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in first place with 31.4 per cent, Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in second with 27.4 per cent, and coming in third the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) with 26.7 per cent.
Austrian People’s Party leader Sebastian Kurz, at 31, will be the world’s youngest leader.
Both the People’s Party and the Freedom Party have focused on securing Austria’s borders, deporting failed asylum seekers, and Islamisation during the campaign, whilst the Social Democrats have focused on social justice issues.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Failed Integration: In Next 10-20 Years, France Will be New Lebanon — Writer
In just a few years, Islamic suburbs of Paris will obey their own set of rules, they will have their own laws, their own principles, maybe even their own police. It is already the case, Alexandre Mendel, author of the book ‘Partition’ told RT.
Europe has been facing a large number of migrants coming from the war-torn countries in Africa and the Middle East. Today many are concerned about the Islamization of Europe and the failure of Muslims assimilating into their new countries.
RT met with a writer Alexandre Mendel, whose new book “Partition” is devoted to the Muslims’ failure to integrate in France, and discussed the current situation in that country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Fault Lines Key to Sacred Sites of Ancient Greeks, Study Claims
According to a study by Iain Stewart, professor of geoscience communication at the University of Plymouth, several sacred sites in the Aegean region are located on fault lines.
“I have always thought it more than a coincidence that many important sites are located directly on top of fault lines created by seismic activity,” Stewart said, referring to places such as Delphi and Mycenae in Greece and Ephesus in modern-day Turkey.
“The ancient Greeks placed great value on hot springs unlocked by earthquakes, but perhaps the building of temples and cities close to these sites was more systematic than has previously been thought,” he added.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
German Chancellor Facing Crucial Election Loss in Lower Saxony
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel could be heading for a devastating setback in elections in the state of Lower Saxony, polls suggest.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Govt Boosts Golden Power Norms
Agst hostile takeovers
(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — The government on Friday boosted its ‘golden power’ norms and extended them to high-intensity tech sectors such as “critical or sensitive infrastructures”.
The new norms come after a takeover of telecoms giant TIM by France’s Vivendi. The government is also shaping to boost other anti-takeover powers, sources said Friday. “We have made strategic assets safe” said Industry Minister Carlo Calenda.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘March on Rome’ Ban Signed
Police chief acts on Interior Minister Minniti’s orders
(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Rom’s police chief on Friday signed a ban on a ‘march on Rome’ by far-right extraparliamentary group New Force (Forza Nuova, FN) on the anniversary of the 1922 Fascist March on Rome on October 28. The police chief was acting on the instructions of Interior Minister Marco Minniti. FN has vowed to defy the ban and stage what it has called a ‘patriots’ march” in the Fascist-era EUR district in defence of Italians against migrants. FN leader Roberto Fiore confirmed this Friday, saying that “for a question of principle, we will take to the streets anyway”.
He said “we are in a phase of renewed repression, and there will soon come an appeal from figures in the cultural and political worlds, ready to back our actions”.
The original March on Rome ushered in the 20-year reign of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: First Arabic Course for Jail Warders
Part of bid to stop radicalisation
(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — The first-ever six-month Arabic course for jail warders, aimed at combatting rising Islamist radicalisation in Italian prisons, ended in Rome on October 9, sources said Friday.
The course was set up by the Carabinieri foreign-language center, which recruited mother-tongue Arabaic teachers, the sources said. The warders were selected from among Italian jails with high Arabic-speaking inmate populations.
They passed with flying colours.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘It’s a Great Whinge-Afon’ Farage Blasts Hillary Clinton Over Brexit Big Lie
NIGEL Farage has mocked Hillary Clinton for being on a “great whinge-afon” after she branded Brexit “the big lie” and claimed that Leave campaigners fed voters with “false information”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Meet the 31-Year-Old Austrian Anti-Immigrant Who Just Became the World’s Youngest Leader
As discussed earlier, Austria’s young conservative star, Sebastian Kurz, is now assured of becoming the country’s next leader, projections of Sunday’s parliamentary election result showed, but his party is far short of a majority and is likely to seek a coalition with the resurgent far right.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sebastian Kurz: Europe’s Youngest Leader-in-Waiting
“Whizz-Kid”. “Basti Fantasti”, “Messiah” are just some of the monikers given to Austrian conservative Sebastian Kurz, Europe’s youngest leader in waiting.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Students Protest Across Italy, Tension in Milan and Palermo
Agst job placement schemes, rundown schools, underfunded lessons
(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — Students protest across Italy Friday against job-placement schemes and against entry exams, as well as demanding more resources for underfunded state schools to boost lessons and keep rundown buildings in a better state of repair.
“We’re students, not workers,” read banners also proclaiming “no to free exploitation”.
There was tension in Milan after hooded protesters threw eggs and tomatoes against the windows of a McDonald’s at Porta Ticinese.
The offices of power company Edison and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party were also daubed with slogans.
In Sicily, students also clashed with police outside a McDonald’s in Palermo, in Piazza Castelnuovo.
Two students were arrested in the Sicilian capital but immediately released.
Education Minister Valeria Fedeli said she would hold talks with all the sides involved on December 16, saying “we are working to raise the quality of placement schemes.” A group of students interviews by ANSA said: “Today we’re being exploited and tomorrow we’ll be in totally precarious employment”.
They said “serving hamburgers, cleaning toilets and selling shoes is not use to anyone”.
The protests come after a string of demos against contested school reforms called ‘the Good School’ passed by the previous government of Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Support for Poland’s Ruling Law and Justice Reachers Historic High: Survey
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PIS) party would garner 47 percent support if parliamentary elections were held on Saturday — a historic high for the grouping, according to a survey by pollster CBOS.
Civic Platform (PO) came second in the survey with 16 percent. The party is followed by Kukiz’15 with 8 percent.
Nowoczesna (Modern) would get 6 percent.
Parties that would fail to pass the 5-percent threshold needed to enter Parliament include the Polish People’s Party (PSL), with 3 percent, and three other groupings, the Democratic Left Alliance, Janusz Korwin-Mikke’s Freedom and the left-wing Together parties, which would all garner 2 percent.
The survey was carried out between 2 and 12 October on a sample of 948 Poles.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Latest: Spain Minister Says ‘Not Too Late’ For Catalonia
The Latest on the Spain-Catalonia political crisis (all times local):
2:40 p.m.
Spain’s interior minister has called for Catalonia’s separatist leader to respect the Spanish Constitution and desist in his push for independence for the northeastern region.
Juan Ignacio Zoido has said “it is not too late to rectify the situation” and asks Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to “not be carried away by the radical minority he has as a partner in government that has pushed Catalonia to the edge of the cliff.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘There is No Such Thing as a European Nation!’ Orban Warns Against Brussels-Led Superstate
VIKTOR ORBAN has mocked the idea of a ‘European nation’ in an attack on the EU superstate project, led by Jean-Claude Juncker and his allies in Brussels.
The fiery Hungarian Prime Minister lashed out at those leading the EU for trying to impose a myth of a “European nation”.
Viktor Orban announced that the European Union had failed and was “going backwards” under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk.
Speaking alongside his Visegrad allies, the controversial leader rebuked plans from Mr Juncker, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron, which pushed for closer integration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Uproar as German Lawmaker Proposes Observance of Muslim Public Holidays
A German lawmaker and member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet has sparked uproar by proposing the observance of Muslim public holidays.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told a rally in Lower Saxony he was open to the idea of discussing the addition of Muslim religious holidays to the German calendar. His call comes less than two years after Chancellor Merkel said: “Islam belongs to Germany.”
“Where there are many Muslims why shouldn’t we consider a Muslim holiday,” the interior minister said. He also questioned whether or not the Christian basis of German society was sustainable in the modern context.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
With Just Hours Until Spain’s Ultimatum Runs Out, Catalonia Proposes Its Own Central Bank
It’s D-Day for Catalan President Carles Puigdemont who has just a few hours left until 10 am on Monday (4am ET) to respond to the Spanish government’s ultimatum delivered last week by the prime minister, demanding to know whether Puigdemont did, indeed, declare independence last week. If Puigdemont says yes, fails to respond, or provides another meandering answer, Rajoy will start the process under Article 155 to seize control of the breakaway administration in the coming weeks.
While Catalan television station TV3, which is controlled by the regional government, said Puigdemont will not give Rajoy a clear ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ according to Bloomberg, shortly after Jordi Sanchez, leader of separatist group Catalan National Assembly, denied the report and said that, after speaking to Puigdemont on Sunday, the Catalan reply to Rajoy “will be clear.” Speaking to Spanish broadcaster La Sexta, Sanchez said he agrees 100% with Puigdemont’s reply to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and that the response will be dignified and clear with no surprises, adding that a will for dialogue exists but the Catalan government will not renounce mandate given by the Oct. 1 independence referendum.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What is Really Uniting the Palestinians?
by Bassam Tawil
[…] Conclusion: The “reconciliation” deal is not meant to advance any peace process or to persuade Hamas to stop terrorism. Nor is it designed to rally Palestinians behind Abbas and Fatah. This is an agreement that paves the way for Abbas and Hamas to become equal partners. Hamas is right: Why should it allow Abbas to sign a peace agreement with Israel once he has agreed to sit with Hamas when it continues to seek the destruction of Israel? As Hamas’s new partner, Abbas should as of now be held responsible for any terror attack that emanates from the Gaza Strip. Partnership entails accepting responsibility for the actions and rhetoric of your partners.
The bluff of Palestinian “reconciliation” is far from being about peace. Instead, it is about pursuing the fight against Israel and the “Zionist enterprise” — namely, Israel and Jews. In his accord with Hamas, Abbas has signed onto Hamas’s version of violent “resistance” against Israel and Jews. This is the real meaning of the Abbas-Hamas deal.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Indian Child Brides Sold in ‘Package Deals’ To Gulf Men
HYDERABAD, India: For years, Haji Khan — a lanky man in his thirties — moved inconspicuously in the bylanes of Hyderabad’s Old City, scouring the streets for child brides for older men visiting from Gulf states, pocketing about 10,000 rupees ($150) for each girl. Khan struck two kinds of deals: ‘Pucca’ meant long-term marriages where the girl would fly back with her husband to his home country, and ‘time pass’ marriages that lasted for the duration of the man’s stay in India.
“We lined up 20 to 30 girls for each Arab in a hotel and he would select one. They (the men) gave the rejected girls 200 rupees ($3) to go back home,” said Khan, now a police informer. “The men came with old, used bridal clothes, soaps and nightgowns for the girl they would marry. Most marriages were ‘time pass’,” Khan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Police in the southern Indian city, a hub for tech companies, last month busted a racket involving wealthy men from Gulf states such as Oman and UAE “marrying” teenage Muslim girls in Hyderabad for the duration of their stay in India. At the time of the marriage, the men signed postdated divorce documents, to be delivered to the brides after their new husbands had left the country.
The marriages were performed by a Muslim officiant, or qazi, who forged the bride’s age to show her as an adult. The main qazi who performed these marriages in Hyderabad was arrested last month. “Most of the girls do not know that they will be abandoned within 15 or 20 days of the marriage. The men would come on tourist visas, perform a contract marriage and leave after a month,” said V Satyanarayana, a deputy commissioner of police in Hyderabad who is investigating the issue.
In the few cases when the young brides did accompany their husbands back to their home country, they were forced into domestic servitude or sexual slavery, police said. About 30 people including brokers, qazis, prospective bridegrooms from Oman and Qatar and hotel owners were arrested last month and charged with human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, said police officials…
| — Hat tip: RR | [Return to headlines] |
Legislation is expected to be introduced into the New South Wales parliament this week which will force students who pose a ‘significant risk’ to enrol in distance education.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Priest Kidnapped in Nigeria
Boko Haram suspected in abduction of Father Maurizio Pallù
(ANSA) — Rome, October 13 — An Italian priest from the Rome diocese was kidnapped yesterday in Nigeria, sources said Friday, adding that the foreign ministry’s crisis unit has already been alerted and the Rome prosecutor’s office anti-terror unit has opened a probe.
The foreign ministry said no effort was being spared in the case, in a “dutiful” framework of confidentiality.
Rome prosecutors are investigating a suspected terror crime, with Islamist terrorists Boko Haram suspected. Sources said the priest, Florence-born Father Maurizio Pallù, who will be 63 next Wednesday, was stopped with four other people on his way to Benin City in southern Nigeria yesterday. They were stopped by an armed group that stole all their belongings and abducted the priest who has been on a mission to Nigeria for three years.
Pallù graduated in history before setting off as a lay missionary around the world, for 11 years.
In 1988, when his father died, he joined a Rome seminary and in 1991 was ordained as a priest. Two years later, spent working as a chaplain, he was sent to the Netherlands.
The Rome diocese said it was praying for his liberation.
Florence Archbishop Cardinal Giuseppe Betori said he was following the case with “apprehension” and urged people to pray for Father Pallù.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Western Politicians Pander to Islam
A Nigerian bishop said the Catholic Church in his country is beginning to lose its public influence partly because of the decline of religious faith in the West.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
An Anglican church in Melbourne has been tagged with vile ‘vote Yes, bash bigots’ graffiti — even though it isn’t telling parishioners how to vote on gay marriage.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
“Our Lives Have Turned Into Hell”
Muslim Persecution of Christians, May 2017
by Raymond Ibrahim
[…] The rest of May’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Mexico: On May 15, a knife-wielding Muslim attacked and tried to behead a Catholic priest while he officiated at the altar of the nation’s largest cathedral, the Metropolitan Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. …
Germany: A Muslim man and asylum-seeker stabbed and killed a Christian woman with a kitchen knife in front of her two children near a public market. …
Philippines: In late May, a jihadi uprising of Philippine Muslim militants, including ISIS-linked Indonesians and Malaysians, erupted in the Islamic City of Marawi. In the initial carnage, Muslim militants stopped a bus, and when they discovered that nine passengers were Christian, they were tied together and shot dead, execution style. …
Kenya: On May 12, two militant Muslims shouting “Allahu Akbar” — and suspected of being connected to neighboring Somalia’s Al Shabaab terrorist group — shot and killed two non-Muslims, one of whom was a member of a Pentecostal Church. …
Sudan: On Sunday morning, May 7, as Christians were preparing to worship in the Sudanese Church of Christ in Khartoum, authorities arrived with bulldozers and demolished the church. …
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Too little too late.
Even if Sebastian “Boy” Kurz wants to stop hijab, hinder mosque building, remove sharia creeping, let alone deporting the criminals, he cannot do that: It ‘s too late because muslims will fight back, the Opposition Party and EU and even all the churches/ denominations— will side with the aggressor, as usual, as it has been since eternity.
Sebastian Kurz, a Chancellor at 31 – well, I certainly wish him good luck.
On ‘radicalized students’ in New South Wales schools: Who are the politicians trying to kid here – themselves, the electorate, the Muslims?
Can things become even more insane?
On the push to recognize Islamic ‘holidays’ on the German calendar: Hitler wished for Islam over Christianity as a German national religion.
Only Catholic armies and navies ever fought Islam successfully to protect most of Europe. Those armies are gone, as the post-Christian world, believing in nothing, folds .
The equivocation is infuriating.
The situation vis-à-vis Islam screams for expulsion. Where are the voices of real political muscle? W[hat] am I, an isolated crank?
All Western countries have become beholden to what their ‘intelligence’ agencies tell them – I believe that to be obvious to any observer who has noted how ALL Western countries move in lock step when it comes to everything Islamic and the imposition of ‘democracy’ in countries whose cultures reject democratic principles.
The reliance of politicians on what their ‘establishments’ direct them to do has first to be broken before we can get to call out the agenda that we are now under the spell of – replacement of all White populations through Islamic immigration.
Pray for Trump.
The book mentioned in the link above (Failed Immigration: In the next 10 – 20 years France will be the new Lebanon) by Alexandre Mendel – Partition, looks to be an interesting read. I wonder if I would be ahead of the game by learning French rather than waiting for an English copy to be published? (I guess I am answering my own question)