Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont surrendered to authorities in Belgium, along with four of his advisors. The Spanish government had issued a European Arrest Warrant for Mr. Puigdemont. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel “Toy Boy” Macron has been confronted with the dissatisfaction of French Catalans across the border from Spain, who want to secede from France and become part of the new nation of Catalonia.
In other news, the Turkish coast guard prevented more than three hundred migrants from crossing the Aegean to the Greek islands.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Dean, Dora, Fjordman, Insubria, JLH, Reader from Chicago, SS, 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.
Barack Obama: Breitbart News Shifted Entire Media Narrative During 2016 Election
Former President Barack Obama acknowledged that Breitbart News changed the media narrative during the 2016 election.
“You know … Bannon and Breitbart did something pretty interesting. Now, they didn’t create a whole new platform but they did shift the entire media narrative in a different direction — in a powerful direction,” Obama said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Obama made his remarks during his Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago after stopping by a panel discussion on the “Responsibility of Powerful Online Platforms.”
He urged people attending the session to “solve” the shifting media climate and turn it back in a different direction.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pennsylvania: Catholic Univ Drops Crusaders Mascot: ‘Troublesome, Offensive’
Alvernia University has dropped its “Crusaders” mascot, saying many have found it “troublesome, even offensive.”
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Sen. Rand Paul’s Injuries Far More Sever Than Initially Thought
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Sen. Rand Paul is recovering from five broken ribs and bruises to his lungs, and it is unclear when he will return to Washington, aides said Sunday, signaling that injuries he sustained Friday are far more severe than initially thought.
The second-term Republican senator from Kentucky and 2016 presidential candidate was attacked, allegedly by a next-door neighbor, Rene Boucher, 59, who was charged with fourth-degree assault.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Shooter Taken Down After Several Shot at Church in Sutherland Springs
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX — The Wilson County News is reporting that the man who allegedly walked into a Sutherland Springs church Sunday morning and shot several people has been taken down by police.
Sheriff Joe Tackitt confirmed with the Wilson County News that there have been ‘multiple casualties and fatalities’ including children.
Several witnesses contacted KENS 5 about police presence and emergency crews responding to shots fired at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, just east of San Antonio.
A witness at the scene reported a 2-year-old was also shot…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Church Shooting Leaves at Least 25 Dead, Official Says
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex. — A gunman walked into a small Baptist church in rural Texas on Sunday and opened fire, killing at least 25 people and turning a tiny town east of San Antonio into the scene of the country’s most recent mass horror.
Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas confirmed the death toll, which has steadily increased throughout the day after the shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. He said a pregnant woman and children were among the dead.
Two law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, identified the gunman as Devin P. Kelley, 26.
Mr. Cuellar, who said he was briefed by law enforcement authorities, said the gunman came from Comal County, which is northeast of San Antonio.
“He went there, he walked in, started shooting people and then took off” to Guadalupe County, which is northeast of Sutherland Springs, he said.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs Leaves Multiple Dead
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — A gunman opened fire inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs Sunday, killing and injuring multiple people, authorities said.
A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that more than 20 people were killed in the shooting. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
The official said between 10 to 15 people were also injured but stressed the investigation was early and the figures could change.
The shooting suspect has been identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, CBS News has learned from federal law enforcement sources.
Kelley is a former U.S. Air Force member who served from 2010 to 2014. He received a dishonorable discharge and was court martialed in May 2014, CBS News has learned.
A law enforcement official confirmed that the gunman is deceased. He was shot after a car chase with police, but it’s unclear if he shot himself or if he was shot by police, CBS News’ senior investigative producer Pat Milton reports…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Rangers: Armed Citizen ‘Engaged’ Killer, Ending Rampage
Today’s mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was only halted after an armed Texan “engaged” the killer and put an end to the rampage, the Texas Rangers reported.
Freeman Martin, a major in the Texas Rangers and a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, says the suspect dropped his rifle and fled after being confronted by a local man who had grabbed his rifle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘War on Terror’ Has Cost American Taxpayers $250 Million a Day for 16 Years
The U.S. government has spent a staggering $1.46 trillion on wars abroad since September 11, 2001, according to the Department of Defense’s (DoD) periodical “Cost of War” report. As International Business Times reports, this amounts to $250 million a day for 16 years consecutively.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The November 4 Antifa Apocalypse Was an Antifail
George Soros may want his money back today after Refuse Fascism’s mass insurrection failed to materialize on November 4.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Baltimore woman says she’s “lucky to be alive” after being beaten with wooden boards and sticks by a pack of teens on Halloween night.
The vicious group of around 10 to 15 juveniles committed at least three other attacks that night in the South Baltimore area, a city councilman said, and police also believe the incidents are related.
“They started hitting me with the wood, in the knees, a lot in my face,” the woman, who did not reveal her identity, told WBAL.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Enough is Enough!”: Geert Wilders Calls for Mass Demonstrations Against Islamisation
Leader of the Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders, has called for mass demonstrations against the Islamisation of the Netherlands and Belgium. According to him one of the reasons for it is the new Dutch coalition government, that totally ignores the threats of Islamisation.
During a press conference together with Belgian politician Filip Dewinter, Wilders said that Dutch prime minister Rutte “behaves like the ambassador of the Caliphate in the Netherlands”. He added that “open borders are a politics of suicide” and that there “needs to be a resistance formed: a non-violent form within the boundaries of democracy”.
Wilders made the statements after he and the Belgian right-wing politician Dewinter, were prohibited from visiting ‘jihadi hotbed’ and Islamic suburb Molenbeek near Brussels. Both Wilders and his Belgian colleague Dewinter were forbidden to visit the town as it was seen as a ‘provocation’ and could lead to riots according to the mayor.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Party Leader Quits Parliament Over Accusation of Sexual Assault
VIENNA (Reuters) — The fallout from the Harvey Weinstein scandal spread to Austria on Saturday as one of the country’s best-known politicians said he would give up his seat in parliament over an allegation of sexual assault.
[Comment: The politician is a leftie.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Belgium Prosecutor’s Office Announces Carles Puigdemont Surrender
CATALONIA’s President Carles Puigdemont surrendered to the police in Brussels after Madrid issued an international warrant to return him to Spain.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Berlusconi Fights for Control of Sicily Before General Vote
A coalition backed by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi is taking on the populist Five Star Movement for control of Sicily on Sunday, a barometer of party fortunes ahead of next year’s general election in Italy.
Victory for the center-right would strengthen Berlusconi, 81, in his drive to forge a similar bloc for the national vote due in spring 2018, exploiting a new electoral systemthat favors alliances. A win for Five Star, which insists on campaigning alone in all elections, would give them control of their first region.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
British Anti-Terror Expert Warns Norway Over Security Against Vehicle Attacks
Nick Aldworth, head of counter terrorism with London Metropolitan Police, has voiced his concern over security against vehicle attacks on Oslo’s Karl Johans gate boulevard.
Oslo City Council leader Raymond Johansen said that new security initiatives in the Norwegian capital are just around the corner.
Aldworth said that he “shuddered” when taking a walk along the Oslo thoroughfare when visiting the city for a security conference in September.
“The road has a very long and clear passage where there could be catastrophic comings-together between vehicles and people,” the security expert told newspaper VG.
Aldworth visited Oslo in the wake of fatal vehicle terror attacks in Barcelona, Stockholm and London earlier this year. Another attack using vehicles took place in New York City this week.
“What the Westminster attack shows us is that prevention saves lives,” Aldworth told VG.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Ex-Officials Surrender to Belgian Police
Catalonia’s deposed leader Carles Puigdemont and four former advisers have turned themselves in to Belgian police, says a prosecutors’ spokesman.
He said an investigating judge would decide by Monday morning whether to execute an EU arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge on Friday.
Mr Puigdemont fled to Belgium after Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia following an independence referendum.
He has said he will not return to Spain unless he is guaranteed a fair trial.
He and his four associates are wanted on charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust following the referendum which a Spanish court deemed unconstitutional.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Bataclan Survivors’ Tattoos Show Their Pain and Defiance
Since she was “buried” under the dead and dying at the Bataclan concert hall, Laura Leveque has “carried 130 corpses” on her shoulders. “So I may as well mark it,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Paris Terror Attacks, Two Years on: What We Know
Two years after the terror attacks on Paris nightspots that left 130 people dead, seven people are in custody in France while key figures remain at large and may be dead.
Among the 10 jihadists who wreaked havoc on the French capital on November 13, 2015, the only survivor is Salah Abdeslam, who is refusing to talk to investigators.
The probe into the Paris bloodbath, which was planned in Belgium, overlaps considerably with an investigation into attacks on the Brussels airport and metro four months later that claimed 32 lives.
Six people besides Abdeslam are in custody in France including two men suspected of having been selected to take part in attacks: Adel Haddadi, an Algerian, and Muhammed Usman of Pakistan.
The two men, who travelled from Syria along with two of the jihadists who attacked the national stadium on the outskirts of Paris, were arrested in Austria a month after the carnage.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘French Catalonia’ Independence Stuns Macron: Thousands Demand to Join Catalan State
THE controversy surrounding the struggle for Catalan independence from Spain has crossed over the border, as ‘Northern Catalans’ demanded freedom from France.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) have called for a special meeting of the Berlin government over allegations that organised Arab criminal gangs have infiltrated the police force.
Members of the conservative CDU, which is headed by Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the libertarian FDP have expressed serious concerns after hearing leaked audio from the Berlin police academy earlier this week.
The audio, which recorded an instructor at the Berlin police academy, contains information that has led many to believe relatives of organized criminals may have become police officers, Die Welt reports.
CDU spokesman Burkard Dregger said that Social Democrat (SPD) Berlin Interior Minister Andreas Geisel must take the allegations of infiltration seriously.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Military Study: EU Collapse Conceivable Worst Case
The Western order could fall apart by 2040, according to an internal Bundeswehr report.
The German military considers the disintegration of the European Union and the West over the next few decades a possibility, according to an internal report seen by Der Spiegel.
The 102-page “Strategic Perspective 2040” report — adopted in late February and kept under wraps since then — outlines six scenarios for how social trends and international conflicts are likely to play out and influence German security, the weekly magazine reported Saturday.
It includes a worst-case scenario in which the EU unravels and Germany is forced into a “reactive mode.” In this projection, the international order falls apart after “decades of instability,” value systems lose their influence and globalization grinds to a halt.
“EU enlargement has been largely abandoned, other states have left the community, Europe has lost its global competitiveness,” the report reads, according to Der Spiegel. “The increasingly disorderly, sometimes chaotic and conflict-prone world has dramatically changed the security environment of Germany and Europe.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Police Clash With Kurdish Protesters in Düsseldorf
Clashes between police and Kurdish protesters occurred over banned PKK symbols. Germany has taken a harder line against PKK symbols in response to criticism from Turkey.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
German Intelligence Agency Gets Spy Satellite System Funds
Hundreds of millions of euros have been earmarked for Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) to get its own presence in space. The chancellor’s office is pushing the project, but critics are skeptical.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘I Could Not Forget What Happened to Me That Night With Him’
Henda Ayari, a French citizen of North African parentage, posted two photographs of herself — one in a full black Islamic veil, the other in a tight jacket and T-shirt, bareheaded — and wrote a bitter denunciation of Salafism and its encouragement of violent jihad among young French Muslims.
She described how, as a student, she had been drawn into the fundamentalist Islamist sect, and how, after 10 years of marriage and with three children, she had fought to break out of what she calls the straitjacket of radical Islam.
The man she accused of raping her in a Paris hotel room in the spring of 2012, and who she says threatened her into silence, was Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss-born Muslim scholar who teaches contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University and who is a familiar face on television news programs, speaking about Islam and the Western world.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Says Pact With Salvini, Meloni Sealed
FI head says laid down foundations to win elections
(ANSA) — Catania, November 3 — Forza Italia (FI) leader and ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi said that a pact for a centre-right alliance for next year’s general election has been reached after dining with Northern League leader Matteo Salvini and Brothers of Italy (FdI) head Giorgia Meloni in Catania on Thursday. “We were already in agreement,” Berlusconi said.
“The pact had already been sealed… the foundations have been laid for the path to win the elections”.
The dinner lasted over two hours and ended with a long three-way chat on the veranda of a restaurant in the Sicilian city, where the leaders are campaigning for Governor candidate Nello Musumeci in Sunday’s regional election. Meloni, however, played down talk of an agreement already being reached for a national alliance. “It’s early to say that we have wrapped up an agreement on the programme of government,” Meloni said. “We want to construct a serious, concrete programme and you don’t finish that with a dinner at 11 o’clock in the evening.
“We didn’t talk about the premiership, about names, but about the objectives to set”. Salvini said Friday that Berlusconi’s view that a deal had been sealed was “optimistic”.
He said the agreement “has already been made in principle, but now we have to put the numbers down on paper”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Court Asks Probe for False Testimony in Corruption Trial
Prosecutors to investigate testimony of Zingaretti, Bubbico
(ANSA) — Rome, November 3 — A Rome criminal court has formally asked prosecutors to investigate the evidence given by 27 witnesses in the so-called ‘Mondo di Mezzo’ corruption trial, including Lazio Governor Nicola Zingaretti and former deputy interior minister Filippo Bubbico, both members of the ruling Democratic Party, court sources said Friday.
The court sent the testimony to the State attorney’s office on October 27, suspecting that the witnesses gave false testimony during the trial.
The testimonies to be investigated include those of the head of the Democratic Party’s welfare department, Micaela Campana, the president of the regional council of Lazio, Daniele Leodori, and a former aide to ex-mayor Gianni Alemanno, Antonio Lucarelli. The court of first instance last July convicted high-profile defendants including clan leader Massimo Carminati and leftwing cooperative chief Salvatore Buzzi to 20 and 19 years in jail respectively in one of the trials into the so-called Mondo di Mezzo (Middle World) case on rigged contracts and kickbacks by gangsters and corrupt politicians in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: 22 Cars in Oslo Vandalised With Fire Extinguishers
A man and a woman, both in their twenties, have been arrested on suspicion of gross vandalism after spraying cars in the Norwegian capital with fire extinguishers in the early hours of Friday. The pair sprayed 22 cars with nine different extinguishers during the course of the night, reports newspaper VG.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romania: More Anti-Corruption Protests Held Blasting Govt
BUCHAREST, Romania — More than 7,000 Romanians have gathered in the capital and other cities to protest government plans for legislation that critics say will weaken efforts to root out corruption.
Demonstrators gathered outside the government headquarters in Bucharest on Sunday while yelling “Democracy is under siege” and blowing plastic vuvuzelas.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Surrounded by Concrete Barriers, The First Christmas Market Opens in Berlin, Germany
The new Europe has no borders, which means its inhabitants have to live behind concrete barriers, bulletproof glass walls and near soldiers to feel somewhat safe in their cities.
Last year a ‘peaceful’ fake refugee drove a stolen truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56. He lied about everything before he came to Merkel’s Germany and had 14 identities. After his attack, he travelled without problems through 4 countries and reached Italy where he was shot.
Have fun at Europe’s Christmas markets but to be honest we advise to visit them in Eastern Europe. They protect their borders and as a result don’t need city walls and barriers. Strong borders, safe nations!
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Man Sentenced to 16 Years for St Gallen Mosque Killing
A man who opened fire in a St Gallen mosque in 2014, killing one person during Friday prayers, has been sentenced to 16 years in jail.
The 51-year-old victim was singled out and shot from behind several times as he was kneeling in prayer, Blick reported.
The crime was reported at the time to have followed a dispute between two Albanian families.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Threats Targeting Swiss Parliament Multiply
The number of threats of violence made to Swiss parliamentarians and other government officials reached 1,700 in 2016, compared to just 105 in 2012, Swiss police say.
According to the Swiss Federal Office of Police (Fedpol), the tally of recorded threats of violence aimed at parliamentarians and other officials working in the parliament building in the Swiss capital of Bern quintupled between 2014 and 2015 alone. The figures were published Sunday by the Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper.
To explain the increase, the police point to the elections of 2015 as well as the migration crisis as possible aggravating factors. The fact that parliamentary debates are becoming more and more polarised could also be behind the increase in these kinds of “reactions”, the police said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Christmas Market Terror Attack: Armed Police to Form ‘Ring of Steel’ To Stop ISIS Horror
UNDERCOVER armed police will be deployed at Christmas markets across Britain amid fears the festive events could be targeted by an Islamic State (ISIS) inspired terror attack.
Christmas Markets are one of the most popular seasonal family activities in Europe, with millions of Britons and Europeans visiting the biggest every year.
And the vast numbers of shoppers, combined with concerns about jihadists returning from Syria and Iraq, has prompted police forces to review security plans.
Now unprecedented security measures will be rolled out across the UK as police and government officials try to prevent a terror attack similar to the one carried out in Berlin last year, where 12 people died and a further 56 were injured.
Birmingham’s winter market, the biggest outside Germany and Austria, will see a protective “ring of steel” installed around the perimeter and undercover police will mingle with the crowds of shoppers to identify possible terrorists and suspects.
In Manchester, Christmas markets will open on Friday with armed police — both in uniform and in plain clothes — will go on patrol for the first time.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Labour Leader Launches “Islamophobia Awareness Month” With “Extremist” Muslim Group
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and a number of his MPs attended the launch of “Islamophobia awareness month” with the group Mend, which according to a new report promotes “extremist views”, harbours anti-Semites, and gives a platform to Islamist views.
Just days ago, a new report detailed Muslim Engagement and Development’s (Mend) extensive connections to radical and anti-Semitic groups and speakers, and listed examples of its leaders condoning attacks on British troops and praising al-Qaeda terrorists.
Mend has strongly opposed counter-terror laws and pro-Western Muslims, as well as “regularly host[ing] illiberal, intolerant and extremist Islamist speakers at public events”, the report by The Henry Jackson Society think tank explained.
Mr. Corbyn was joined by representatives of London’s police, fellow Labour MPs Naz Shah, Stephen Kinnock, Wes Streeting, Afzal Khan, and Kate Green, as well as Shakira Martin, president of the National Union of Students (NUS) at the event in parliament.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
One of the jihadis who murdered Lee Rigby has been allowed to preach extremism to inmates at a jail holding terrorists.
Michael Adebolajo chanted Islamist messages from his cell at Frankland prison in County Durham, which contains the country’s most dangerous terrorists and suspects.
The 32-year-old butchered Drummer Lee Rigby, 25, after attacking him with fellow extremist Michael Adebowale near Woolwich barracks in south east London four years ago.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Million Mask March: Anti-Capitalist Protestors March on London
MASKED protesters held flares aloft and lit fire to American flags as demonstrators descended on London for the annual Million Mask March tonight.
Organised by anti-capitalist group Anonymous, protestors donned the famous stylised vizard popularised in the cult film V For Vendetta as they chanted pro-civil liberty and anti-establishment slogans.
Thousands are attending the rally which has ground Westminster to a halt, with images from the scene showing masked protesting holding up bright red flares as one poses with a burning American flag.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Second Teenager Arrested Over Acid Attack on London Delivery Driver
A second teenager has been arrested over an acid attack that left a delivery driver critically injured.
The 32-year-old could lose his sight following the assault in Walthamstow, east London, on Thursday evening.
A 16-year-old was arrested on Saturday night on suspicion of grievous bodily harm. A 14-year-old held on Friday has been released under investigation.
In another attack in Tottenham on Thursday, a second delivery driver had a corrosive substance thrown at him.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
High Court Rejects Arab NGO’s Petition to Compel Israel to Let Hamas Into Bombed Terror Tunnel
The state on Sunday responded to a petition submitted to the High Court of justice demanding that Hamas be allowed to rescue the trapped workmen under the rubble of the tunnel bombed by the IDF last week, Channel 12 TV reported. The state argued there was no possibility of finding human beings alive inside the tunnel, and asked the court to reject the petition based on the fact that the court does not intervene in such security matters.
“All the terrorists who were in the tunnel that penetrated Israeli territory were killed by the IDF during the explosion,” the State Prosecutor’s Office said in response to a petition filed with the High Court of Justice on the matter. The state argued that since there is no possibility that there are living persons trapped under the rubble, it is not obligated to allow the entry of Arab rescue teams to locate them…
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
New Turkish Marriage Law Prompts Fears of Child Weddings
Turkey has passed a new law to allow Islamic muftis to conduct civil marriage ceremonies, a move which liberal critics say undermines Turkey’s secular constitution and opens the door for child marriages.
The legislation, which was signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week, gives government-endorsed clerics the same powers to perform marriages as civil authorities like judges.
Before the law passed, couples would need be married by a secular state authority but could also have an Islamic ceremony performed by an imam. Now, couples can bypass the secular authority and have a single marriage under the auspices of a mufti.
The CHP, Turkey’s secular opposition party, has strongly opposed the bill and argues that it is part of a broad Islamist agenda that seeks to do away with Turkey’s century-old tradition of secularism in public life.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Princes, Others Arrested in Sweep Viewed as Show of Force by Crown Prince
Saudi Arabia has arrested dozens of princes, senior military officers, businessmen and top officials, including a well-known royal billionaire with extensive holdings in Western companies, as part of a sweeping anti-corruption probe that further cements control in the hands of its young crown prince.
A high-level employee at Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Co. told The Associated Press that the royal— who is one of the world’s richest men— was among those detained overnight Saturday. The company’s stock was down nearly 9 percent in trading Sunday on the Saudi stock exchange.
The surprise arrests, which also reportedly include two of the late King Abdullah’s sons, were hailed by pro-government media outlets as the greatest sign yet that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is keeping his promise to reform the country, long been plagued by allegations of corruption at the highest levels of government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Princes Among Dozens Detained in ‘Corruption’ Purge
The heir to the throne in Saudi Arabia has consolidated his hold on power with a major purge of the kingdom’s political and business leadership.
A new anti-corruption body, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, detained 11 princes, four sitting ministers and dozens of ex-ministers.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire with investments in Twitter and Apple, is among those held.
Separately King Salman replaced the national guard and the navy chiefs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Blockades Yemen After Attack Which Could be an ‘Act of War’
A COALITION led by Saudi Arabia have closed all ground, air and sea access to Yemen following a rocket attack on Riyadh, claim reports.
The missile attack, thought to have been launched by Houthi fighters, was manufactured by Iran, Saudi Arabia claimed.
They said the attack was a “clear act of aggression” by Iran and “could rise to be considered an act of war”.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia accused Iran of supplying the missile to Houthi rebels.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sky News allowed a Leftist filmmaker to declare the Bolshevik takeover of Russia a triumph for ‘ordinary people’ unchallenged for the centenary of the Red October coup d’état.
“After the Tsarist autocracy was dismantled, socialism was born under the lead of Vladimir Lenin,” says the Sky anchor in her introduction to the segment — an unusual way to describe the armed, moonlight takeover by the Communist leader’s Red Guards in October 1917, which displaced the provisional government installed by a genuine popular uprising in February.
Ceri Dingle, director of the crowdfunded film 1917: Why the Russian Revolution Matters, is then given free rein to assert that the Bolshevik coup “[E]ncouraged people to fight back against colonialism [and] helped women get equality and the right to vote”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russians’ DNA Taken by Foreign Agents, Kremlin Says
The Kremlin says foreign agents are collecting DNA samples from Russians of different ethnicities and sending the data abroad for scientific analysis.
The agents were often working for foreign NGOs, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Mr Putin told a Russian human rights committee that the DNA collection was “systematic and professional”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Joint Chiefs Say Invasion ‘Only Way’ to Totally Disarm N Korea
A Pentagon assessment has declared the only way to completely destroy all parts of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme is through a ground invasion.
Rear Admiral Michael Dumont expressed the opinion on behalf of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a letter to Congressman Ted Lieu.
Mr Dumont said calculating “even the roughest” potential casualty figures would be extremely difficult.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Pledges US Resolve on Japan Leg of Asia Tour
US President Donald Trump said no nation should underestimate American resolve, as he arrived in Japan at the start of a marathon Asian tour.
Addressing US troops at Yokota air base near Tokyo, he pledged to ensure the military had the resources needed to keep peace and defend freedom.
He later told the Japanese prime minister he thought the two countries had never been closer.
It will be the longest tour of Asia by a US president in 25 years.
It comes amid heightened tensions with North Korea over its nuclear programme and missile tests.
“No-one, no dictator, no regime… should underestimate American resolve,” President Trump told cheering US and Japanese troops shortly after his arrival in Japan.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State terrorists will try to launch a terrorist attack in the West with military-grade weapons from the Middle East, a retired police commander from Sydney says.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The multi-cultural suburb of Sunshine in the city’s far west has long had a reputation for high crime rates, while more recently being a top Apex gang stomping ground.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
An American woman charged with subversion in Zimbabwe for allegedly insulting the country’s president will remain in police custody this weekend after making her first court appearance Saturday.
Martha O’Donovan, 25, a graduate of New York University, has been accused of calling President Robert Mugabe, 93, a “sick man” in a Twitter post that included a photo illustration of Mugabe with a catheter. O’Donovan denied the allegations, calling them “baseless and malicious.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
US Diplomatic Staff Told to Leave Mogadishu After ‘Specific’ Threat
The US has warned non-essential diplomatic staff to leave Mogadishu immediately after a specific threat against them. The warning comes as the US’s African Command renews drone strikes on jihadist targets in Somalia.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Astronomers Find Two Dust Belts Around Proxima Centauri
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected dust belts around Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun.
Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf star only 4.23 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. It is not visible to the naked eye and lies near to the much brighter pair, Alpha Centauri AB.
The star is known to host at least one exoplanet — the Earth-mass world Proxima b — in a temperate orbit.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Ann Coulter: Our Immigration System Brings in ‘Entire Tribes’
Conservative columnist Ann Coulter pummeled the diversity lottery program that allowed the NYC terrorist to enter the U.S.
“Some of us have been screaming about the diversity lottery forever,” Coulter said on “Watters’ World.” “It takes a terrorist attack like this for most people to even hear of the diversity lottery, which is everything you would think it is.”
Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, 29, yelled “Allahu Akbar” and ran a truck into bikers and pedestrians on Tuesday afternoon near lower Manhattan’s West Side Highway, killing 8 and injuring at least 11.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Border Guard: Crime Gang Smuggled Africans Into Finland From Russia
Finnish authorities believe that a Russian crime syndicate took advantage of a wave of asylum seekers entering Finland in late 2015 and early 2016 to smuggle in Africans who paid more than 2,500 euros each for the service.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [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.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece-Bound Boat With 310 Migrants Stopped in Turkey
ISTANBUL — Turkish authorities say 310 migrants have been stopped from crossing the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.
Turkey’s coast guard said the migrants were stopped Friday afternoon while travelling in a fishing boat south of the Dardanelles in western Turkey.
The coast guard says the passengers included 110 Syrians, 179 Pakistanis and Afghan, Indian, Sri Lankan, Somali and Iranian nationals.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
After traveling to 12 cities and towns in Italy, I came away with the impression that the crisis is just too awful for most Italians to cope with. (American readers might compare this to their countrymen’s reluctance to confront the threat of electromagnetic pulse.) A vignette captured the new Italy for me in a park in Padua: A statue is surrounded by four benches. Seven elderly Italian women squeeze onto one bench while eight African men spread out on the other three benches. This scene summed up both mutual distaste and the migrants’ abundant sense of superiority.
What will it take for Italians to wake up and begin to deal with the demographic and civilizational catastrophe facing their uniquely attractive culture? My guess: A major jihadi attack in Rome.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Investigate Fata Shipwreck With All-Female Victims
The bodies of 26 women who drowned attempting the perilous crossing from Libya to Europe were brought to Italy on Sunday, where investigators launched a murder inquiry.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Persuading Would-be Migrants to Stay at Home
Hassan tells me of the suffering facing economic migrants in Libya, and describes being held in a room with 300 people, being given only bread twice a day, and bad water.
“When they catch you they lock you in prison, beat you or maltreat you, ask you to call your parents to send money.”
In Libya detaining migrants has become a business in itself, he says.
“They are selling black people like coffee, like a cup of coffee. Yes I’m telling you the truth!”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis Decries ‘Discriminatory and Xenophobic’ Reactions to Mass Migration
Pope Francis denounced “negative reactions” to the phenomenon of mass migration Saturday, suggesting that more formation of conscience is needed to combat an anti-immigration mentality.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Refugee Admittance to U.S. Down 87 Percent
Refugee admittance dropped drastically under the Trump administration.
Admission is down 87 percent in the first month of fiscal year 2018. The number dropped from 9945 refugees last fiscal year to 1242 this year.
Muslim refugee entry slowed from 45 percent to 23 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: For Those Facing Deportation, New Policy May Offer Relief
A new report, turned over to the Migration Minister on Wednesday, suggests making it easier for people living in limbo in Sweden to get residence permits.
“We believe that if our suggestion goes through, it can mean that a number of people would be granted residence permits earlier than they otherwise would have been,” Anna Lundberg, the government-appointed investigator, told Swedish Radio News.
A year ago, the government appointed an investigator to figure out how to reduce the number of cases where people are living in limbo in Sweden, that is, asylum-seekers who have been issued deportation or expulsion orders but whose countries refuse to take them back or who are stateless.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Hollywood star Russell Crowe has slammed Australia for refusing New Zealand’s offer to resettle 150 asylum seekers stranded on Manus Island and Nauru.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Border Force Launches Patrol Boat on Thames in Fight Against People Smuggling
A coastal patrol vessel from the UK Border Force has been deployed on the River Thames in London for the first time ever as part of an effort to stop the river being used by people smugglers and criminal gangs.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
In the months leading up to the 2016 election, Teen Vogue (at least in its online version) was taken over by left-wing political operatives. The magazine’s partisan shift became infamous after its writer Lauren Duca justified personal attacks on President Trump’s daughter Ivanka, which led to a memorable interview with Tucker Carlson.
That the politicalization of journalism has reached fashion magazines — which exist as advertising vehicles for cosmetics, clothing brands, etc — shows that the radical Left’s influence in academia cannot be restricted to university campuses. Young people who are indoctrinated with feminism and other “social justice” ideologies in the classroom will take those ideas with them into the workplace after they graduate. The academic Left is intolerant of dissent, and intellectual conformity is enforced on campus, so that even if Teen Vogue had wished to hire college graduates who are critical of feminist ideology, they would have had difficulty finding them. So why did the editors of Teen Vogue wish to tutor young girls about anal sex? Perhaps because the magazine’s digital director is a young gay man, Phillip Picardi and, beginning in 2015, the magazine deliberately decided to shift its focus to “activism” and identity politics: “I am an activist [said the magazine’s editor Elaine Welteroth]. And I think the readers that we reach would all consider themselves activists, too.”
[…]
That identity-politics activist mentality worked out about as well for Teen Vogue as it did for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. If you want to talk about empowering women, you must talk about Elizabeth Johnston, “The Activist Mommy” who led the boycott against Teen Vogue:
I was beyond thrilled to learn today that Teen Vogue magazine will no longer be in print. The publisher, Condé Nast, has shuttered the print publication, while other Condé Nast publications will remain in print. Operation Pull Teen Vogue was a grassroots campaign by concerned parents who don’t believe anal sex and sex toys should be peddled to their children under the guise of a fashion magazine. Teen Vogue editors Elaine Welteroth and Phillip Picardi ignored our concerns and mocked our campaign, but we gave them a black eye from which they never recovered. Let the watching world take note: If you pander obscenity to our kids, especially for a profit, we will destroy you.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
There are many steps a person must take to become a citizen of the United States.
But for Olga Paule Perrier-Bilbo — a French citizen living in Scituate, Massachusetts since 2000 — the most challenging part of obtaining American citizenship is the four words at the end of the United States citizenship oath: “So help me God.”
So now Perrier-Bilbo, who says she has applied for U.S. citizenship twice, is suing to remove the phrase from the oath, saying it violates her religious freedom as an atheist.
“By its very nature, an oath that concludes “so help me God” is asserting that God exists,” the lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday, says. “Accordingly, the current oath violates the first ten words of the Bill of Rights, and to participate in a ceremony which violates that key portion of the United States Constitution is not supporting or defending the Constitution as the oath demands.”
The opening portion of the First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Perrier-Bilbo, granted permanent residency in 2002 and a green card in 2004, was given the opportunity to recite an alternative oath in 2009 that would allow the prospective American citizen to complete the oath without having to say “so help me God,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit, however, says that having the official oath include a reference to God — and then allowing those with objections to the phrase to use an altered oath — makes her “feel less than a full new citizen.”
But don’t expect her lawsuit to change much, Erwin Chemerinsky, a First Amendment expert and dean of Berkeley Law, told MassLive.
“Courts generally have not been receptive to this in the context of the Pledge of Allegiance,” he wrote in an email…
| — Hat tip: JLH | [Return to headlines] |
Police Report Filed After Swedish Daycare Listens to Pippi Longstocking Stories
A Swedish daycare’s trip to the local library in Borås took an unexpected turn recently and ended in a police report being filled over racial agitation (hets mot folkgrupp).
According to Expressen, the daycare children were listening to a CD of various Pippi Longstocking stories when another library user became offended by the description of Pippi’s father as a ‘Negro king’ (negerkung).
The library user filed a formal complaint with police, noting that there were children of various ethnic backgrounds among the daycare group.
The head of the daycare institute, Marie Gerdin, described the incident as “sad” and said she had assumed that the library materials were appropriate for children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sex-Change Men ‘Will Soon be Able to Have Babies’
Society should prepare itself for the near arrival of the first babies born to transgender mothers, one of the world’s leading fertility specialists has said.
The science is now available to allow women who began life as men to receive donated wombs and attempt to begin pregnancy as early as “tomorrow”, according to Dr Richard Paulson, President of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Dr Paulson said trans medicine had now become “mainstream” and that people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery would inevitably want to take advantage.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
“Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel “Toy Boy” Macron has been confronted with the dissatisfaction of French Catalans across the border from Spain, who want to secede from France and become part of the new nation of Catalonia.”
Oh deary me….Well my prescription is ever closer union and more EU rammed down their throats. Obviously just not enough of it yet.
It’s bound to work. Failing that, a rapidly formed EU Army to crack the whip. You know, that army Drunky etc stated was a complete fantasy and conspiracy theory to anyone who suggested it was going to happen…. Like Farage.
I’ll enjoy the show from outside the insanity currently at work there.
Sex-Change Men ‘Will Soon be Able to Have Babies’
YUCK!!!
Maybe they can have a kangaroo pouch surgically attached. On what grounds would anyone object?
Made my day!!!! LOL
Thank you.
You suppose insurance will have to pay for said kangaroo pouch? Anything else would be bigoted, right?
🙂
“Maybe they can have a kangaroo pouch surgically attached.”
Mansupials!
Some intrigue and geopolitics for yu.
“Such a message is summarised as follows: Saudi has surrendered in its attempts to politically influence the Levant and will allow the chips to fall where they may.”
http://theduran.com/breaking-saudi-regime-orders-arrest-called-syrian-opposition-leaders/
http://theduran.com/saudi-prince-abdul-aziz-dies-arrest/
And re. India, opposing views from
https://thewire.in/155980/modi-new-india-israel-partnership-goes-beyond-military-ties/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ronakdesai/2017/07/18/why-prime-minister-modis-israel-visit-really-matters/#2f1b692f78f3
Times a changin’.
To add to the mystery is the Saudi/US/Israeli tilt, following a reported/quieted high level Saudi visit to Israel some weeks back, there is
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/11/jared-kushner-flies-to-saudi-arabia-last-week-this-week-corrupt-hillary-supporting-prince-arrested-coincidence/
If I knew what it all adds up to I would say.
Sex change men will soon be able to have babies.
What a process some of these men will go through to get a new toy.
Where are they going to get all the ‘donated’ wombs from?
Personally, I feel as though stories like this are pinging “End Times” levels of degeneracy.
Any high-level Clinton allies that get removed from the chessboard are a great thing!
some of the news is so sickening and just plain crazy that I don’t think I can take anymore. Thank God I live in the middle of nowhere!
I”ll have to take a rest from you -0- a total news fast because I am overwhelmed and even though I live in the middle of nowhere the news is always is there anyway. Men having babies is really freakish. But then so is most of the “news” so called.
So let me get back to cooking my paprikas and minding my own business.
God bless you all and may everything go well for you.
You too, Mariadee. Things are turning, though! I do believe.
Paprikas! Yum. 🙂
Did you get a good harvest out there in the sticks?
Mine wasn’t to hot this summer/fall.
Must have been the “climate change” it was to cold.