Late last night a gunman who had holed up on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel with 23 guns fired his weapons down on the audience at an outdoor country music concert, killing at least 59 people and wounding more than 500. According to law enforcement authorities, the gunman — whose name was Stephen Paddock — killed himself just before police broke down the door and entered his hotel room. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Mr. Paddock was a recent convert to Islam who acted on its instructions. However, there is no evidence yet that links the shooter to ISIS or any other terrorist group.
In other news, Catalan unions have called a general strike to protest the Spanish government’s actions during yesterday’s independence referendum. Meanwhile, the value of the euro took a dive as markets reacted to events in Catalonia.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, C. Cantoni, Charles Low, Dean, Insubria, LP, raspailwasright, Reader from Chicago, Seneca III, Srdja Trifkovic, SS, Vlad Tepes, 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.
Wall Street Sees ‘Existential Crisis’ As Venezuela Payday Nears
Venezuelan investors are getting ready for a wild ride over the next five weeks as the government stares down $3.5 billion in debt payments.
While all the country’s due dates in the past year have elicited serious hand-wringing, the next few are on a whole new level. That’s because unlike recent transactions in which a 30-day grace period allowed Venezuela to avoid default, the upcoming deadlines have no leniency. Further complicating matters, some of the bonds are backed by a majority stake in Citgo Holding Inc., potentially putting one of the biggest U.S. refiners in play.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Evergreen State Punishes 80 Students
Administrators at The Evergreen State College have disciplined about 80 students who were involved in a continuous stream of high-profile protests that shut down the taxpayer-funded campus in the spring of 2017.
The intense race-related protests — led largely by radical black students — centered largely on biology professor Bret Weinstein because he criticized an organized “Day of Absence” event which had “invited” every white student, professor and administrator to leave campus for a day.
School officials at the 4,000-student school received approximately 120 incident reports involving 180 students during the days-long series of protests, reports The Olympian, the main newspaper in the town surrounding Evergreen State.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Claims Responsibility for Las Vegas Massacre
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas rampage, saying without offering evidence that the shooter had converted to Islam a few months ago, according to reports.
“The Las Vegas attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried it out in response to calls to target states of the coalition,” the terror group’s news agency Amaq said in reference to the US-led coalition fighting the group in the Middle East.
“The Las Vegas attacker converted to Islam a few months ago,” Amaq added, according to Reuters.
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Had Recent Large Gambling Transactions
The suspected gunman behind the Las Vegas massacre made several large gambling transactions in recent weeks, according to law enforcement officials.
The transactions in Las Vegas by Stephen Paddock were in the tens of thousands, the officials said.
It was not immediately clear if those transactions were losses or wins.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
More Than 50 Dead, 400 Injured in Mass Shooting on Las Vegas Strip
A gunman on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas Strip casino opened fire Sunday night on an outdoor music festival packed with 22,000 fans, killing more than 50 people and injuring in excess of 400, Metro Police said.
Officers confronted the suspect at Mandalay Bay, across the street from the concert grounds, where he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said. Authorities identified him as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite.
Police found 10 rifles in the hotel room where Paddock, who had no criminal history, had been staying since Sept. 28, police said.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said police believed the shooting was a “lone wolf” attack but were looking for a roommate of Paddock for questioning. Police subsequently said they had located the woman, 62-year-old Marilou Danley, and did not believe she was involved in the incident.
Dozens of police vehicles swarmed the Strip after authorities received reports of an active shooter near the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Concert-goers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of Mandalay Bay and the sound of what they described as automatic gun fire.
“All I heard was a lot of bang, bang, bang, and everybody hit the ground, and everybody started running,” said Patrick Martin, a Southern California resident, who was at the concert with his wife and son…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Prof Freaks Out Over Dogs on Flight
A 46-year-old college professor who complained of life-threatening allergies was arrested Tuesday after being forcibly removed from a Southwest Airlines flight that was bound for Los Angeles and carried dogs in the cabin.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Update: CBS Exec Fired After No Sympathy for ‘Republican Gun Toters’ Post
Hayley Geftman-Gold, who served as senior counsel for strategic transactions at CBS, was fired Monday afternoon by the network. In a social media post, Geftman-Gold wrote that, for partisan reasons, she is “not even sympathetic” to the 50-plus murdered and 400-plus hospitalized during Sunday’s shooting massacre in Las Vegas.
Writing on Facebook, Geftman-Gold said, “If the [shooting victims] wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing. I’m actually not even sympathetic bc [sic] country music fans often are Republican gun toters.”…
| — Hat tip: raspailwasright | [Return to headlines] |
Attempted Murder Charges Filed in Canada Car, Knife Attack
EDMONTON, Alberta — Prosecutors on Monday filed charges including attempted murder against a man suspected of ramming his car into a policeman, stabbing him and then injuring four people while leading officers on a high-speed chase.
Abdulahi Hasan Sharif faces five counts of attempted murder, five counts of dangerous driving and one weapons charge in connection with the incident late Saturday in the western city of Edmonton.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cop Seek Info After Sunday Morning Stabbing
Winnipeg police are looking for information after a man was stabbed and a woman assaulted in the vicinity of Main Street and Selkirk Avenue early Sunday morning.
A dispute occurred at about 2 a.m. between several people in which a woman was assaulted, fell to the ground, and was further assaulted, and a male stabbed several times. The man was taken to hospital in unstable condition but was later upgraded to stable.
One man has been arrested and charged in the assault but police are still looking for the person who stabbed the male victim.
Tyson Cody Little, 26, of Winnipeg, has been charged with assault. Anyone with information is asked to call 204-986-6219 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Brother’s Keeper? Toulouse Killings Still Haunt France as Trial Begins
A criminal trial of exceptional breadth opened Monday in Paris, five years after the Toulouse-area killing spree that rocked France and set in motion a long series of deadly homegrown terrorist attacks across the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalan Independence Referendum: How Italy’s Politicians Reacted
On Sunday, images of police violence during the Catalan independence referendum were beamed around the world. Here’s how Italy’s politicians reacted, and the comparisons they made with two upcoming Italian regional referendums.
The regional referendums scheduled in Italy for later this month will see Lombardy and Veneto — two of the wealthiest regions — seek greater autonomy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Euro Drops as Investors Gauge Impact of Catalonia Unrest
The euro and Spanish stocks fell on Monday as investors tried to gauge what the weekend unrest in Catalonia means for the future of the Spanish state and European unity.
Following weeks of unease surrounding Sunday’s independence referendum in Catalonia that Spain’s courts deemed illegal, the standoff degenerated into mayhem. More than 800 people were injured as riot police clashed with unarmed civilians trying to cast their ballots.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
European Commission — Press Release — Statement on the Events in Catalonia
Brussels, 2 October 2017
Under the Spanish Constitution, yesterday’s vote in Catalonia was not legal.
For the European Commission, as President Juncker has reiterated repeatedly, this is an internal matter for Spain that has to be dealt with in line with the constitutional order of Spain.
We also reiterate the legal position held by this Commission as well as by its predecessors. If a referendum were to be organised in line with the Spanish Constitution it would mean that the territory leaving would find itself outside of the European Union.
Beyond the purely legal aspects of this matter, the Commission believes that these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.
We call on all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue. Violence can never be an instrument in politics. We trust the leadership of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Five Arrested After ‘Homemade Bomb’ Found in Paris
“The Paris prosecutor has opened an anti-terror investigation after the discovery at the weekend of a homemade bomb at a building in Paris and five people have been arrested, sources close to the case said Monday.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
France: Marseille Suspect Had 7 Identities, Was Released by Police Day Before Attack
The main suspect in a Marseille attack in which two women were stabbed to death had been arrested and let go in Lyon two days before the assault at the train station, authorities said. His details turned out to be tied to seven IDs in criminal databases.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: ISIS Claims Responsibility for Knife Attack in Marseille
A knife-wielding terrorist stabbed two women to death on October 1 in the main train station in Marseille, on France’s Mediterranean coast. France’s Interior Minister Gerard Collomb told the press that some witnesses to the bloody attack reported hearing the assailant shout “Allahu Akbar!” Arabic for “God is great,” as he attacked the two defenseless young women, ages 17 and 20. Islamic terrorists often shout the phrase while committing their attacks, though most Muslims would say that this usage is an abuse of what was meant to be an expression of praise to God.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
General Strike Called Across Catalonia
More than 40 unions and Catalan associations called a region-wide strike for Tuesday, after a major police crackdown on a banned independence referendum.
In a statement released late on Sunday, UGT and CCOO, Spain’s biggest unions, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a powerful pro-independence civil association, and 41 other organisations called for the work stoppage due to “the grave violation of rights and freedoms.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany’s Social Media Hate Speech Law is Now in Effect
A new law has come into force in Germany aimed at regulating social media platforms to ensure they remove hate speech within set periods of receiving complaints — within 24 hours in straightforward cases or within seven days where evaluation of content is more difficult.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Great boss’ says de Puyfontaine
(ANSA) — Rome, September 28 — Israeli executive Amos Genish was named TIM CEO at a board meeting Thursday, sources said.
Genish, 57, moves up from operational director, a post he earned in July after Flavio Cattaneo quit as CEO.
His previous posts include president and CEO of Telefonica Brasil, the largest and most profitable telecoms operator in Brazil.
TIM President Arnaud de Puyfontaine said “we have taken a very good decision, we have a great boss with great experience in telecoms”. Genish was appointed by a unanimous vote, sources said.
De Puyfontaine will be responsible for setting guidelines and supervising the other executives, sources said.
In his first statement, Ganish said TIM had an “ambitious future that must be mapped out.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: M5S Stretches Lead as Top Party — Poll
Up 0.3% to 26.8%, PD stuck on 25.1%
(ANSA) — Rome, September 29 — The anti-establishment 5-Satr Movement (M5S) stretched its lead over the ruling centre-left Democratic Party (PD) in the latest poll by Index research.
The M5S stood at 26.8% in the weekly poll, 0.3% up on last week, while the PD was stuck on 25.1%.
Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia scored 14%, 0.8% behind ally the Northern League on 14.8%.
If all the centre-right parties were to unite in a coalition they would score 34.4%, making them the top coalition, Index said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Putin Sends Birthday Wishes to Berlusconi
Invites centre-right leader to Russia for own birthday Oct 7
(ANSA) — Milan, September 29 — Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the many well-wishers who phoned former premier and centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi on his 81st birthday Friday.
Putin, a personal friend of the three-time ex-premier and media mogul, invited him to Russia to celebrate Putin’s 65th borthday on October 7, sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-Priest Jailed for Abuse Skips Clinic
Outside Rome
(ANSA) — Rome, September 29 — A former parish priest serving over 14 years for child sexual abuse on Tuesday skipped out of clinic on the outskirts of Rome where he was under house arrest for health reasons, sources said Friday. Father Ruggero Conti, former priest of Selva Candida, left the care home in Genzano in a taxi. Carabinieri police said they were investigating the case.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Over 840 People Injured in Catalonia During Referendum: Catalonia Regional Government
MADRID (Reuters) — Some 844 people have been injured in disturbances across Catalonia on Sunday, the regional government said, as riot police clashed with people who had gathered for a banned referendum on the region’s independence from Spain.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary to Complete Pipeline
BRHA project to be completed by all four States
(ANSA) — BUCHAREST — The BRHA (Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria) gas pipeline project will be completed by all four states involved, according to a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Bucharest yesterday, Romanian Energy Minister Toma Petcu has told in a press conference.
“We are in a very advanced phase with the BRHA project. We have issued the building permit, we have ongoing procedures for the assignment of the construction works, for the design part and the equipment part for the stations have already been signed and in December the contracts for the execution part are to be signed and pipeline purchase is to be completed,” Minister Petcu said.
“I wish BRHA to start at the same time in all four states, not only in Romania but also in Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, and I would like it to be completed, both Phase I and Phase II, at the same time, otherwise the objective for which this gas pipeline has been approved and financed would not be achieved.
All ministers and the European Commission have agreed upon this,” Toma Petcu said.
“In the memorandum we’ve signed, all countries have agreed and clearly established that there will be a reverse-flow interconnection, i.e. in both directions, in all four states.
Including between Hungary and Austria,” the Romanian minister added.
According to The Romania Journal, Transgaz informed in a press release in July that the BRHA gas pipeline will no longer cross Hungary, the operator of the gas transmission system in this country, FGSZ, proposing that the volume of gas coming from Romania to be distributed from Hungary to Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia or Serbia.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Pope Sets the Church Against ‘Fake News’
Pope Francis chose ‘The truth will set you free ” (Jn 8:32). Fake news and journalism for peace’ as the theme for the 52nd World Day of Social Communications, contributing to reflection on the causes, logic and consequences of media disinformation.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — The Church has decided to join the fight against ‘fake news’.
Pope Francis chose ‘The truth will set you free “ (Jn 8:32). Fake news and journalism for peace’ as the theme for the upcoming 52nd World Day of Social Communications, which is celebrated in many countries, as recommended by the world’s bishops, on the Sunday before Pentecost (in 2018, 13 May).
In communicating the pope’s choice, the Secretariat for Communication stressed that the topic “relates to so-called ‘fake news’, namely baseless information that contributes to generating and nurturing a strong polarisation of opinions. It involves an often misleading distortion of facts, with possible repercussions at the level of individual and collective behaviour.”
“In a context in which the key companies of the social web and the world of institutions and politics have started to confront this phenomenon, the Church too wishes to offer a contribution, proposing a reflection on the causes, the logic and the consequences of disinformation in the media, and helping to promote professional journalism, which always seeks the truth, and therefore a journalism of peace that promotes understanding between people.”
“World Day of Social Communications [is] the only world day established by the Vatican Council II (“Inter Mirifica”, 1963). [. . .] The text of the Holy Father’s Message for the World Day of Social Communications is traditionally published on the feast day of Saint Francis de Sales, patron of journalists (24 January).”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: Elderly Swedish Shopper Totally Undeterred by Neo-Nazis
A Swedish woman in her 80s has become an unlikely social media hero after a video showed the octogearian ploughing her shopping cart through a group of neo-Nazis.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Strache: It May Become the Basis for Islamic Terror
Austrian nationalist, self-determination for Serbian entity
(ANSA) — BELGRADE — Bosnia-Herzegovina could become the basis for Islamic extremists and terrorists in Europe after ISIS fighters were defeated in Syria and Iraq, according to Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian ultranationalist leader of the Fpoe, the far-right party which is growing — polls find — in view of the October 15 vote in Austria. “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all the terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years have roots in Islam”, Strache told Rtrs, tv station of the Republika Srpska (Rs), the Serb majority entity of Bosnia Herzegovina. According to Strache, it is unacceptable to maintain a state community against the will of its peoples. “The only structure that works in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Republika Srpska, so I do not see a rosy future for that country. That is why the we should recognise the right of Republika Srpska to self-determination”, said the Austrian politician. Based on the Dayton (USA) agreements, that ended the fratricidal war (100,000 deaths and 2mn refugees), Bosnia-Herzegovina is made up of three peoples — Bosnian Muslims, Orthodox Serbs and Croat Catholics — and two entities, Republika Srpska (Rs), 49% of the territory and the Croat-Muslim Federation (BH), 51%. This fragmentation makes it hard to carry on political activity and reform programs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Montenegro: Strasbourg: Minority Language Policy is Necessary
Delimitation of territories too “vague” to enforce norms
(ANSA) — STRASBOURG — Montenegro has made some progress in the field of minority languages, but still needs to develop an organised policy to allow full implementation in the country of measures contained in the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. This assessment is contained in the report on Montenegro made by the Council of Europe’s expert group, in charge of monitoring the implementation of the Charter’s principles.
The report focuses on measures undertaken to protect and promote Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian and Romani languages.
Experts point out that so far the implementation of the measures provided for in the Charter has been hindered by a “vague” delimitation of the territories where it should be enforced. But now a new law should change the situation, evisaging that an idiom is officially recognized if spoken as a mother tongue by at least 5% of the population in a specific area. The report shows that the most protected language is Albanian, while the Romani language is the less protected and promoted idiom.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
A hundred years ago, in the early hours of November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks grabbed power in Petrograd. Within weeks they took advantage of Russia’s collapsing political and social structure to impose control over the country’s heartland. The result of the coup was a tragedy of world-historical proportions. A vibrant, flourishing culture (see “Remembering the Old Russia,” Breaking Glass, September) was destroyed amid a bloodbath 100 times worse than la Terreur.
In the preceding quarter-century Russia had undergone rapid modernization. On the eve of the Great War she was the world’s fourth-largest economy, her annual growth rate comparable to that of China after Deng’s reforms. Her railway network exceeded 50,000 miles, and her gold reserves were second only to Britain’s. Her wheat harvest had doubled in the two decades preceding 1913. That year Russia had the lowest direct taxes in Europe, four times lower than those of France and Germany, one eighth of the British rate. Real incomes had increased sixfold between 1893 and 1913. Workers’ rights, public health, and literacy were improving accordingly. Of some 150,000 new book titles published worldwide in 1914, over one fifth of them were published in Russia—as many as in Britain, France, and the United States combined. Paul Valéry called the late empire one of the wonders of the world, which, despite its modernity and unlike Western Europe, still retained a Christian outlook…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine: Protests Over Education Law, Kiev May Step Back
Romania, Hungary and Russia are opposed to norm, it would harm m
(ANSA) — ROME — Ukraine could step back. President Petro Poroshenko could revise the new Education Act — approved by Parliament on September 5th — which envisages only Ukrainian-language teaching in schools starting in 2020, Russian press agency Tass reported, cited by Bulgarian media. According to local media, the head of the Ukrainian state may request the introduction of some amendments. In recent days, in many European countries, the law was criticised because it would harm language minorities. Even the Council of Europe and the EU Commission intervened. The current law, however, allows children belonging to linguistic minorities to attend the entire course of study in their mother tongue. The reaction of Romania’s government was harsh; President Klaus Iohannis canceled the his state visit to Ukraine scheduled for next month, while Hungary said it would block any measure favouring Ukraine’s EU integration. Protests took place in Moldova, Bulgaria, Poland and Greece. Russia, too, bulgarian news site novinite.com reported, urged the international community to intervene. According to data issued by Ukrainian Ministry of Education, there are 735 state schools in the area, providing teaching for the approximately 400,000 pupils belonging to linguistic minorities. Ukraine asked the Council of Europe to assess the new law.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Myanmar: Rohingya Militants Deny Killing Hindus in Rakhine, Reject “Victim-Blaming”
ARSA denies that its members “perpetrated murder, sexual violence, or forcible recruitment”. Residents in the Hindu village of Ye Baw Kya say more than a hundred people have been killed, including 48 who are missing. Women forced to convert and marry. More than 400 Rohingya villages have been burnt. The Myanmar government plans to oversee reconstruction. UN agencies allowed to visit Rakhine.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) — The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) issued a statement denying responsibility for the massacre of Hindu villagers as alleged by the Myanmar military.
Accompanied by soldiers, a group of journalists yesterday visited Ye Baw Kya, a Hindu village near Kha Maung Seik (northern Rakhine), where two mass graves were found on 24 and 25 September, with 45 bodies.
In its first official statement posted on the its Twitter account concerning the allegations, ARSA “categorically” denied that its members “perpetrated murder, sexual violence, or forcible recruitment” in the area. They called on the army to stop “victim-blaming”.
Ye Baw Kya residents however say they were attacked by militants. Armed with machetes and sticks, the latter attacked their community, killing indiscriminately and throwing the bodies of the victims into freshly-dug pits.
According to witnesses, about a hundred Islamic militants were involved. Security forces are still searching for 48 missing Hindus.
Ni Maul, a Hindu leader who has helped authorities with the search, said that they found the burial sites using the testimony of eight Hindu women who were spared and brought to Bangladesh after they agreed to convert to Islam. “They kept the beautiful eight women alive to marry,” he said.
Four Hindu women displaced in Bangladesh told AFP they were among the eight who escaped the massacre in the same area of Kha Maung Seik, with eight children in tow.
Myanmar’s military has claimed that ARSA is using a scorched earth policy against both Rohingya and other ethnic groups, to spread fear and fuel hatred against the state.
For its part, the Myanmar government announced yesterday that it plans to rebuild burnt villages.
Using satellite photos, human rights groups report that more than 400 Rohingya villages have been affected by fire.
For the first time since the beginning of the latest wave of violence, Myanmar authorities will allow UN agencies to visit Rakhine tomorrow.
However, citing UN sources, the BBC is reporting that the government has cancelled the visit, but that has not been officially confirmed.
The UN has come up with an contingency plan to feed up more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees after some 480,000 fled to Bangladesh.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A Human Rights Lawyer Lifts the Communist Party’s Spell
Teng Biao completely renounces the Chinese Communist Party
[…] The more I understood about the innumerable crimes of this gang of bandits, the stronger was my determination to overthrow the government. Once, while talking and drinking with Liao Yiwu, I said that the reason I hated the Party was aesthetic rather than political.
Everything the Party does is just so ugly—from their Politburo reports to the behavior of Party officials around the banquet table; from their materialist dialectics to their hammer and sickle flag; from the tone of News Simulcast to the People’s Daily editorial page; from the Spring Festival Gala to the red songs and dances in public plazas.
[A long article well worth the read.]
—
Axel
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
A Muslim leader Keysar Trad (pictured) says men have a social responsibility to take a second wife to liberate women from being spinsters.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Mysterious Cuban ‘Sonic Attaks’ Targeted US Spies
Just days after the Associated Press reported that the State Department planned to withdraw most of its personnel from the Cuban embassy in Havana, the wire service is returning with another revelatory scoop about the mysterious “sonic attacks” that have caused injuries ranging from minor to life-threatening in 21 embassy personnel: Many of the diplomats targeted were US spies, partly explaining the State Department’s reluctance to discuss the attacks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The death of a Sri Lankan Tamil refugee in Papua New Guinea is the sixth fatality on Manus Island in four years. It’s believed the 32-year-old man took his own life early on Monday morning.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The country’s second blind person to reach a judicial post wholly failed ‘to meet the standards that are demanded by the office of a judge’, according to a panel’s ruling.
The three-strong bench of senior judges ruled ‘shambolic’ 64-year-old immigration judge Amir Ali Majid had ‘very little idea of either his own (limited) powers or the content of the law that is in issue’.
Their ruling was the result of appeals relating to 13 cases heard recently by Judge Majid.
Judges from the immigration and asylum chamber’s upper tribunal allowed 12 appeals against the judge.
Judge Amir Ali Majid was said to have ‘very little idea of either his own (limited) powers or the content of the law that is in issue’
And one case could still be allowed after it was adjourned to determine a point of law.
All but one of the appeals allowed were remitted to be heard by a new judge at the immigration tribunal.
One of the appeals was allowed without being remitted for another hearing…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
.
SwedenSOS
Message to Trump from Sweden
26 105 visningar
https://youtu.be/DDHFeaq4oZI
There is trouble brewing on a different front:
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinas-secret-military-plan-invade-taiwan-2020/
The Chinese have made no secret of taking back Taiwan – the last bastion of Chiang Kai Chek – remember when Trump called the Taiwanese President soon after his inauguration only to then retreat from his stance of support for Taiwan?
Absolute incompetentance from the police in Marseille. They should be deported to the Maghreb, they would fit right in.
Vegas has to be hardcore Antifa/Clintonista/snapped CIA asset/Soros plant. Anything else and the Crusade to repeal the 2nd Amendment and confiscate all legal firearms would be running at 120% right now.
17 minutes of YouTube footage purportedly from Vegas:
https://youtu.be/fEf7HObspB0
Clearly, there are multiple locations where the shots are coming (not echo!).
Oh, there is a lot about this story that fails to add up.
Like the fact that the alleged perp looks slovenly in his photos and had multiple witnesses in his injury lawsuit comment about his listless, slovenly appearance….
…and now you’ve got LVPD in front of the cameras saying the alleged perp, ‘planned meticulously’ to carry out this act…
…right, right….
Excellent video by Black Pigeon Speaks about Hungary and Viktor Orbán: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Heda8CVBJ4c
I second CrossWare!
I will also leave my typical recommendation for Budapest, one of the finest cities I’ve had the privilege of visiting. I hope I will have the opportunity to return soon. Friendly people, excellent food, and great wine. There are some excellent, informative walking tours available.
Seems the Las Vegas shooter recently submitted to Islam. His Islamic name has been given out as Abu Ubd Abdulvar al -Ameriki.
The Deep State wouldn’t want that to become public knowledge as it might spoil their anti-gun agenda that has more to do with ‘lone nutters’ running off the rails for no reason or cause whatsover – best leave the ’causes’ to the imagination of the gunphobic folks to obtain better results.
there was a rumour, about a tumour, nestled at the base of his brain …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQVx3n5Uixc
Nemesis-
I had seen the same rumors about the LV shooter, as well as assertions that his alleged girlfriend was Muslim, and that the shooter had visited the Middle East several times in recent years. However, the sourcing I’ve seen on those was really, really weak…
…although I think the ongoing silence from the MSM/Deep State media is very telling. I gave a list of reasons above as to why I thought they were being so tight-lipped. I would certainly add, “LV shooter is an ISIS supporter,” to that list.
If the perp is indeed a convert, that would also be hugely damaging to the Deep State’s ongoing Islamization process.
Agreed. Sources are one thing to verify – which can be very difficult – but I’m of the opinion that ISIS is not into the fraud business when it comes to claiming their own and their actions.
BTW, the shooter’s girl is now confirmed of Filipino descent, which in all likelihood, would tend to make her Christian.
The Breivik attack was before ISIS, but one of its predecessors took credit for the massacre before Breivik was ID’d.
I don’t think there’s any real proof that the Islamic State would not make such a false claim. If it serves the cause of Islam, that sort of lie is mandatory.
Another reason why I think a false claim is quite plausible: Until Monday morning, Islam could claim credit for the largest mass shooting in American history (the Pulse nightclub jihad). If ISIS doesn’t claim Paddock as their own, then that’s a serious blow to the honor of Islam. They almost HAVE to claim it, or lose that place in the Guinness Book of World Massacre Records.
I can’t fault your logic Baron, but I am not aware of any claim that ISIS has made that has been proven false.
And if this massacre was not ISIS inspired then we are left with a few loose ends as to the real motivation of the shooter.
My sources suggest that the shooter ‘disappeared’ some months ago to a destination unknown and was gone for some months.
I wonder where he went to?
Then there is his ‘living it up’ for some weeks prior to taking up his position in that hotel, that suggests to me his future intention, not to mention his donation to his girlfriend’s family of $100,000.00, which further cements in my mind an expectation in the shooter of a very short life expectancy.
Was he convinced of his reward in the afterlife for such murderous act?
As raspailwaswright in his comment above has put forward, this guy could not have organized this massacre on his lonesome as there is far too many logistics involved in this event – especially with the number of weapons and ammunition he had taken into that hotel room he was apparently living in for some time – was the room ever entered for cleaning purposes? If not, what was the management of the hotel privy to in not enforcing standard hygiene protocols?
Were there guests on either side of the shooter’s rooms at the time of the massacre?
If there were, I wonder what they were doing at the time?
Why did it take so long for a police response – I believe nearly an hour lapsed before SWAT took the shooter’s door down?
No criminal history and nothing in his background that would suggest the shooter was trouble on two legs about to explode – so something has driven him to do what he did and quite willingly.
I’m not arguing anything but the fact that ISIS is quite likely to claim as its own a massacre that it had nothing to do with.
Consider this: until Las Vegas, there were no other shootings with mass casualties that were NOT Islamic, except for school shootings (which would be much harder to stake a claim for).
That is, ISIS didn’t make any false claims before because there weren’t any opportunities to do so. This is the first since Breivik, which was claimed by Islam at first.
If ISIS had been around when Charles Whitman was shooting from his tower, it would have claimed THAT.
None of this means that the attack didn’t have an Islamic motive. But there is ZERO documented evidence for that so far, just assertions being made and passed around on alternative media. There have also been at least three hoaxes about it — people just make stuff up, post it on Twitter or Facebook, and BAM! it goes viral. A new “fact” emerges!
If you have “sources” for his mysterious disappearance, then please cite them. I don’t mean “someone in the intelligence community told me”, but sources that us ordinary folk can check for ourselves. Reproducible results, as they say in experimental science.
As I mentioned previously, sources are very hard to prove reliable. If I thought my sources were reliable I would put them up.
As you put forward, there is a myriad of ‘views’ now out there on the internet and on which one may spend some considerable time in discounting most of it – but there are some that present a cogent view of what they have uncovered that put together with what one has already learned, tends to gel into the bigger picture.
It is still too early at this time to be calling out, that is if we ever really get to the TRUTH of this massacre, as to who or what is the main driver of that shooter’s actions. However, there are certain standout ‘knowns’ that cannot be refuted and must be added to the sum knowledge of what we already know.
Such as;
ISIS called for an attack in Las Vegas only a few weeks ago and a massacre in Las Vegas soon followed, which then contradicts the reasoning that ISIS will claim all terrorist actions because ISIS has not claimed the Edmonton attack even though the terrorist has admitted to aligning himself with ISIS.
That says to me that ISIS is either being selective in what they ‘claim’ or there is cause to believe that the Las Vegas massacre has Islamic links. My gut feeling tells me to go with the latter.
And;
According to infowars.com, both Antifa and Islamic State paraphenalia were located in the shooter’s room.
And I tend to go with infowars.com reporting as being factually based and not subject to overt speculation.
Hence, Baron, you now have the reasoning for my opinion.
Nemesis,
That’s a reasonable basis to work from. However, I would want to track down Alex Jones’ sources, because he’s willing to use less than fully substantiated rumors in his articles. He’s generally accurate, but not averse to putting wild speculation into play.
Conservative Tree House is more reliable in that regard — they don’t go out too far on any limbs, and usually turn out to be right.
Thanks. I will look that site up. Sometimes, Alex Jones can be his own worst enemy.
Islam is alive and well in the Philippines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_Philippines
Thanks Dympthna – Islam has been active in the Philippines for some decades. Mindanao was their base until Duterte became president. They’ve managed to lop off a few heads over that time.
The total lack of any security footage from Las Vegas is also hugely vexing. I can’t believe there is no lobby footage of the alleged perp dragging multiple heavy suitcases of weaponry to the elevator.
Don’t tell me that one of the largest resorts in Vegas has NO cameras surveilling its lobby 24/7, just like the Pentagon only had one low-end gas station camera covering it in 2001.
Latest update from Drudge, could have been radicalized (that’s polite speak for infected with Islam):
https://www.infowars.com/breaking-sheriff-says-las-vegas-shooter-could-have-been-radicalized/