The Catalan parliament voted to declare independence from Spain, prompting residents of Barcelona to take to the streets in jubilant celebration. The Spanish government reacted by revoking the region’s autonomy and instituting direct rule from Madrid. The first steps will be the replacement of the regional police force with national police, and the collection of taxes directly by the central government. Prime Minister Rajoy warned Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan separatist leader, that he may face thirty years in prison for rebellion.
In other news, a deportation center in Germany that cost more than €2 million has only managed to deport 86 people in the past year.
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Thanks to AF, Charles Low, LP, Reader from Chicago, RonaldB, Seneca III, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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US GDP Hits 3 Percent, Crushing Estimates Despite Hurricanes
US gross domestic product rose faster than expected in the third quarter, showing that consumer and business spending remained strong despite the hurricanes.
For a second quarter in a row, GDP hit 3%, President Donald Trump’s stated target for growth.
But Friday’s report is an advance estimate and will be revised two more times before the end of the year.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa “Marks” And Attacks CFACT Students But Fails to Stop Lauren Southern Talk at U of Minnesota
Multiple CFACT students were “marked” and assaulted by masked ANTIFA protesters outside a talk given by Lauren Southern, a conservative and libertarian Canadian political commentator, author, journalist, and Youtube sensation. Southern was hosted by the CFACT club at the University of Minnesota to discuss the evils of socialism and the importance of protecting free speech.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Brooklyn Man Gets 15 Years for Supporting ISIS
A Brooklyn man’s tearful regret for following ISIS failed to sway a judge, who sentenced him Friday to 15 years in federal prison for plotting terrorist acts.
Abdurasul Juraboev, 27, said he rejected extremism and the ISIS snake oil peddlers he once listened to. He wiped away tears as he admitted that what he was following “wasn’t real Islam.”
“I didn’t know my religion correctly,” the Uzbek national said, adding that ISIS fighters and propagandists were “doing many things wrong.”
Judge William Kuntz, unmoved, slammed him with the maximum sentence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Columbia University Republican Leaders ‘Doxed, ‘ Harassed by Antifa Group
The leader of a College Republican group in New York City said he felt like there was “a target on my safety” after an Antifa group distributed pictures and personal information about all of the group’s members, imploring opponents to let them know “what you think.”
The flyers — spread online and littered around the Columbia University campus as early as Friday, ahead of an event with right-leaning political blogger Michael Cernovich — identified the board members of the Columbia University College Republicans student group.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
WikiLeaks Announces $100,000 Reward for Withheld JFK Files
The partial release of previously secret documents detailing the U.S. government’s investigation into the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy has prompted WikiLeaks to offer a hefty reward for the remaining records.
“WikiLeaks issues a $100,000 reward for the withheld JFK documents should they show violations of law, inefficiency or administrative error,” the antisecrecy organization announced through its Twitter account Thursday night.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Girl Allegedly Assaulted for Not Wearing Hijab in Public
The Quebec father of a Muslim family has been charged with assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats against his daughter because she wasn’t wearing her hijab in public.
The 35-year-old male has not been identified to protect the girl’s identity; he appeared in Quebec court on Thursday. According to a Canadian Press reportthe daughter is alleging that she was attacked over the period of a year. Police are describing the string of assaults as “honor-based” violence.
Police in Gatineau, Quebec, minutes from Canada’s capital of Ottawa, are alleging that the father’s attacks on his daughter grew worse after he learned that the girl was refusing to wear her hijab when she was out in public.
The teenager went to police with her story, and officers arrested her father on Wednesday.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Father Arrested, Beat & Threatened Daughter for Not Wearing Hijab
A Gatineau man is accused of “honour-based” violence against his daughter for not wearing her hijab in public.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Independence — Madrid Restores Direct Rule
SPAIN’S parliament has authorised Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to rule Catalonia from Madrid as the leader of the region Carles Puigdemont faces 30 years in jail charged with “rebellion’.
Prime Minister Rajoy is now expected to convene his cabinet to adopt the first measures to govern Catalonia.
This could include firing the Barcelona government and assuming direct supervision of Catalan police forces.
Spain’s Attorney General has warned Carles Puigdemont that if he does declare independence for Catalonia, he will be charged with “rebellion” and could face 30 years locked up.
The main secessionist group in Catalonia, the Catalan National Assembly, on Friday called on civil servants not to follow orders from the Spanish government after Madrid authorised direct rule over the region.
The Assembly called on Catalan civil servants to respond with “peaceful resistance”…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Independence — Nigel Farage Blasts EU
EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage has slammed the European Union’s response to the crisis in Catalonia, saying it is Jean-Claude Juncker’s ‘worst nightmare”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Video: Millions Explode in Jubilant Cheer as Parliament Votes for Independence
CATALONIA residents cheered and took to the streets after the Catalan regional government voted to break away from Madrid following threats to suspend autonomy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Independence: Will This be the Start of Civil War in Spain?
CATALONIA has voted to declare independence from Spain, which is set to impose direct rule within hours. Will the crisis escalate into civil war?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia ‘Lays Foundation for What May Happen Across EU’
CATALONIA’S declaration of independence from Spain could be “the foundation for what will happen across the EU”, a top economist has said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France’s Macron Expresses Full Support to Spanish PM Over Catalonia Crisis
CAYENNE (Reuters) — French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that he was fully supportive of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, regarding the crisis taking place in Catalonia.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
‘Gandhian Struggle’ For Catalonia: Assange
Julian Assange says Catalonia now faces a “Gandhian struggle” after the Catalan parliament declared independence from Spain in a contentious vote.
On Friday the Catalan parliament in Barcelona passed a motion declaring independence, however opposition parties boycotted the vote leaving the chamber half empty.
At the same time the Spanish Senate in Madrid approved direct rule of the prosperous region.
Mr Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks, has been a vocal supporter of the Catalan independence push.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More Violence ‘Inevitable’ As Spain Takes Control of Catalonia
CATALANS are braced for violence after Madrid voted to impose direct rule over the region following the “illegal” declaration of independence, one expert has warned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Multi-Billion New Danish Rail Line to Run at Half Capacity
A new fast rail connection between Copenhagen and Ringsted to open at the end of next year will have a maximum capacity of one train per hour.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Imam, Expelled From Belgium, Is Living in the Hague: Media
A Muslim cleric who was deported from Belgium for being ‘a danger to state security’ has now been spotted in The Hague, the Telegraaf says on Thursday. A spokesman for the city council has confirmed that the imam, El Alami Amouch, has a Dutch passport and is, therefore, allowed to live in the Netherlands, the paper said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A teenager has been charged with murder after the death of a woman nurse who suffered severe burns when acid was thrown over her.
Joanne Rand, 47, was sitting on a park bench when a group of men began fighting near her in Frogmoor, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
She was allegedly sprayed with the substance after one of the men kicked a bottle during the altercation, and died at Stoke Mandeville Hospital 11 days later.
Xeneral Webster, 18, of Hammersmith, West London, has now been charged with murder and is due to appear at Reading Crown Court next April.
The murder charge was added on top of previous charges Webster was arraigned for at Aylesbury Crown Court on July 25 of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, robbery, possession of an offensive weapon and causing grievous bodily harm. All of these relate to offences on the same day in June.
Following the attack on June 3, detectives issued a CCTV picture of the acid bottle believed to have been used in the incident, in the hope that the public might find it and hand it in to the police.
It is thought that Ms Rand picked up an infection after suffering serious burns, for which she required skin grafts…
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
Is this the way our world ends?
Africa has become an unprecedented biological, environmental, and socio-political experiment: It is the scene of the biggest population explosion the world has ever seen. According to authoritative figures published by UNICEF in 2014, the number of Africans will grow from 1.033 billion in 2013 to a mammoth 4.2 billion in 2100. In the next 35 years alone, two billion African babies will be born. By 2100, half of all children on earth will be African. These are not simply straight-line projections of present trends, but the best estimates based on current data and historical precedents. This population explosion has huge implications not only for Africa but for the entire world.
In the terse language of the UNICEF demographers we learn that:
The future of humanity is increasingly African. More than half the projected 2.2 billion rise in the world population in 2015-2050 is expected to take place in Africa, even though the continent’s population growth rate will slow. On current trends, within 35 years, 1 in every 4 people will be African, rising to 4 in 10 people by the end of the century. Back in 1950, only 9 among 100 of the world’s number of inhabitants were African.
Over the last 60 years, thanks to Western healthcare, better nutrition, and large amounts of aid, infant death rates declined on the continent, and its population quadrupled from 200 million in 1950. The population will quadruple yet again over the next 60 years, meaning that in the 150 years from 1950 to 2100, the continent’s population would have increased by a staggering 1,830 percent. …
In other words, Africans now look to Europe as their El Dorado, just as Latin American peasants have long looked to the United States.
Now that Mrs. Merkel has discovered “diversity,” and with so many Africans eager to diversify an aging Germany, it is not impossible that Europe’s largest economy could become increasingly African, a little like the old Western-style, white-run South Africa of two decades ago.
Germany dominates Europe because of its phenomenal gains in productivity. But as Germans fail to reproduce themselves, could Germany—and the rest of Europe—be dominated by the Africans who are already streaming across the Mediterranean? In democracies, numbers are everything. In South Africa, blacks relentlessly apply their demographic advantage at all levels: politics, the economy, sport and culture. …
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
High-fertility rates and rising numbers of women of reproductive age mean that given current trends, over the next 35 years nearly 2 billion babies will be born in Africa, the continent’s population will double in size, and its under-18 population will increase by two thirds, to almost a billion children. National action plans must adapt to these demographic shifts. Generation 2030 / Africa calls specifically for expanded access to reproductive health services, girls’ education and empowerment, and stronger civil registration and vital statistics systems.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
A new UN report has said that four in 10 people on Earth will be African by 2100. This demographic change requires investment in health and education in order to avoid potentially staggering humanitarian crises. …
The major positive outcome of the study, according to the report, is that while many African children continue to live in poverty and conflict, child mortality is down and life expectancy has increased somewhat. However, there was still room for improvement, UNICEF noted, as Africa still accounts for half of all child deaths worldwide.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
24,000 Homicides: Mexico on Pace for Most Violent Year in History as Drug Wars Spiral Out of Control
As our elected officials in Washington D.C. continue to debate whether or not Trump’s proposed border wall would be an effective deterrent to those looking to come to the U.S. illegally, the one thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that Mexico’s drug wars are spiraling out of control…a fact that the Trump administration will almost certainly leverage as it seeks additional funding for border security. As PanAmPost notes, Mexico has recorded a staggering 24,000 homicides in 2017 through September with 73% of those murders being tied to organized crime.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Two Million Euro Deportation Centre Deports Just 86 Migrants a Year
The regional government in Hamburg relocated their deportation detention centre last year and so far the new location has cost 2.4 million euros, despite only facilitating the deportation of fewer than a hundred people.
The new facility, which places failed asylum seekers and illegal migrants in detention to await their deportation, opened in October 2016, located at the Hamburg international airport, and has so far led to the deportation of a mere 84 migrants, Hamburger Morgenpost reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The German government has resumed deportations to Afghanistan but according to reports, the authorities placed a mere 14 people on a 180-seat aircraft despite there being 14,263 Afghans scheduled for deportation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Failed Asylum Seeker on the Run After Allegedly Murdering His Two-Year-Old Daughter
Hamburg police are currently on the hunt for a 33-year-old failed asylum seeker who is suspected of murdering his two-year-old daughter.
Hamburg police found the body of the two-year-old girl earlier this week while responding to a call from the man’s wife who said he had threatened her. When police arrived at the shared accommodation in the Neugraben-Fischbek district, they found the toddler dead with severe injuries to her neck, Berliner Morgenpost reports.
The failed asylum seeker had fled the scene before the police arrived and the mother was taken to a local hospital for shock along with her son.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary: Migrant Wanted for Murder of 70 People Arrested on EU Border
A Pakistani man suspected of having killed around 70 people in his homeland has been arrested in Hungary among a large group of migrants trying to break into Europe.
Police in the Central European nation arrested the 35-year-old alleged hitman, who is wanted by Interpol, on Tuesday when officers stopped a crowd of illegal immigrants near the border with Serbia, Reuters reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian PM Orban: ‘Soros Network Aims to Create a Europe of Mixed Population’
Billionaire George Soros is trying to use mass immigration to dilute European ethnic cultures into one anonymous blend, according to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Speaking on Hungarian radio Friday morning, the redoubtable prime minister denounced the campaign of the Soros-funded “Open Society” network to aggressively drive a pro-immigration agenda as a means to eradicate the cultures and Christian identity of European states.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Study: More Than Half of Asylum Seekers in Italy Are Mentally Ill — ‘Prone to Aggressive Behaviour’
The majority of third world-origin migrants living in Italy suffer from mental disorders which make them prone to “aggressive behaviour” and “psychotic episodes”, according to a study by psychologists.
Research into the mental health of asylum seekers living in the Padua, northern Italy, found that 54 per cent of those sampled showed “obvious symptoms” of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), local media reports.
“What emerged from our investigation is the high level of trauma and discomfort we found among asylum seekers, and this suffering forms the basis of anti-social attitudes”, explained researcher and journalist Cristiano Draghi, reporting that the majority of migrants hailed from “Nigeria, the Gambia, Ivory Coast and Guinea”. …
Noting research which showed black people in Britain suffer psychoses at six to nine times the rate of White Britons, the senior honorary lecturer in psychology recommended screening for Africans who are psychotic, manic and “showing any threatening behaviour.”
“Mentally ill” https://t.co/eCyY9QFGcv
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 10, 2017
While countless studies report the existence of mental health disparities between ethnic groups, Prime Minister Theresa May announced plans to “rip up” the Mental Health Act earlier this year on the basis that black people are detained more frequently under the legislation than people from other ethnic backgrounds.
“It is abundantly clear to me that the discriminatory use of [Britain’s Mental Health Act]” is behind figures which showed black men were six times more likely to be sectioned as inpatients, the Prime Minister claimed.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Spiteful Mutations Look Bad for the West
There is a growing body of evidence that intelligence is decreasing. Eventually we won’t be intelligent enough to sustain utopia and we will collapse back to pre-industrial levels of Natural Selection…
This “Mutational Meltdown” is happening in the West. The authors present clear evidence for it: huge spikes in autism and genetic disorders. This could be extended to include the prevalence of eating disorders, homosexuality, sexual identity problems, and the desire to not have children.
Put simply, we are living in a society increasing composed of and dominated by mutants. And they can be tentatively identified by the fact that they reject the behavioral norms and views which were the unquestioned norm only a few generations ago.
| — Hat tip: RonaldB | [Return to headlines] |
Is there such a thing as aerosol contraceptives? Is there a market?
They are simple to make and because the direct brain communication with the nose they could be very effective
What a great idea
“There is a growing body of evidence that intelligence is decreasing. Eventually we won’t be intelligent enough to sustain utopia and we will collapse back to pre-industrial levels of Natural Selection…”
What about the body of evidence that brain is a muscle and must be trained in order to gain strength?
Nah… Lets make kids comfortable, learning facts in our internet age is useless, we’ve got Google ya know. And, don’t forget, school should be fun!
The overreliance on technology is a huge factor in the decline of math and writing skills.
Just for fun, go look search out some of the real exams that used to be given to US middle and high school aged children in the 1800s and 1900s.
The gap between then and now should be immediately obvious.
I kind of know the ‘real exams’. Dismantling of our Austro-Hungarian hard core schooling came only after I was out of school. Things taught at senior high school in the US were fifth grade elementary in the Czech Republic… Nevertheless, the Czech Republic is obviously backwards and undeveloped and lags behind the West 😉
Heh, ironically I was speaking to my neighbor, who teaches optics courses at two local universities. One is a higher end private school, the other a community college.
He stated that he had students that were incapable of dealing with fractions, or unit conversions such as going from millimeters to microns.
It is indeed astonishing. On my bookshelves I’ve got a 1916 booklet that tested Australian PRIMARY school pupils’ readiness for high school.
I think most university students could not do the complicated calculations that were necessary, especially when our measurements and currency were imperial not metric.
Yet 11-12 year olds were expected to answer the following:
* What sum of money amounts to (pound/shillings) 175.2 in 8 months at 4 and 1/2 % interest.
* Kauri timber is 25/- per 100 feet super. What would be the cost of 8 Kauri boards 18 in. wide, 4 in. thick, and 20 feet long?
* Draw a plan or graph representing the relative speeds of two trains, one traveling at 30 miles and hour, the other 20 miles an hour, Sydney to Albury, 392 miles.
* Draw a section, Sydney to Dubbo. showing [various towns with their distances and elevations above sea level]. Scale 50 miles to one inch (distance), and 1000 feet to 1 inch (height).
Remember these questions were for primary school pupils.
I was at the Czech technical university right about time when AutoCad and computers took over the old square and compases and pencils and so on… it was a hard generational fight between old proffessors and young students, during which some 100 years old engineering plans emerged. I was stunned at the level of art and quality of the guys that made those plans at around 1900: Today we are very efficient and quick, when planning some construction, but 100 years ago – it was an art. And I don’t know any contemporary engineer who would be willing to put up with so much time consuming work, as the engineers from before WWI did: We are simply lazy compared to them 😉
Myanmar can only be described as hardcore:
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Bangladesh-Considers-Sterilization-to-Curb-Rohingya-Refugee-Population-20171028-0007.html
Everyone at this church has to go back:
http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/10/28/george-washington-church-plaque-honoring-first-president-must-come-down
ridiculous… even if the church were attended by Stalin and Hitler and the devil hand in hand – I would want to be informed about that. Being offended by Washington? Give me a break!
I visited the ancient church of Selby Abbey (part Norman, extended later) in South Yorkshire in 2001. One of the clerestory windows bears the coat of arms of the Washington family, who came from those parts. I doubt whether this will be removed anytime soon, but we live in strange times.