Venezuela is on the verge of defaulting on its debt, both sovereign debt and that of the state oil company. Some analysts believe default could come as early as this weekend.
In other news, pro-independence activists took to the streets in Catalonia, blocking major thoroughfares and setting up flaming barricades.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to AF, Charles Low, KS, LP, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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“Trump’s” Stock Rally Best Since 1945
Before the market opened on the day after Donald Trump won the election a year ago, futures were predicting a precipitous drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 900 points. By the close of business that day, sentiment reversed and the market closed up 250 points, to 18,500.
That was 5,000 points ago, and the market has set all manner of records along the way. The rally in stocks is the best election year performance since 1945, and the fourth-best in history. By contrast, the Dow was up just 1.8 percent following Obama’s election in 2008.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
George Soros Continues to Quietly Pile Up Wins in District Attorney Races
Liberal billionaire George Soros has quietly flooded cash into local district attorney races across numerous states in recent years, notching yet another victory Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Larry Krasner, a progressive defense attorney who has joked that he built a career that made him “completely unelectable,” made his way out of a crowded Democratic field of eight candidates before defeating Republican prosecutor Beth Grossman by more than 40 percentage points in Tuesday’s district attorney election in Philadelphia.
Krasner, who has represented Occupy Philadelphia and Black Lives Matter, and has sued the police department more than 75 times, had a major fundraising advantage that was provided almost exclusively by Soros, who has made it a mission to fund district attorney races throughout the country and has notched victories along the way.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s to the “Experts”, Terrorism’s Great Whitewashers
Never mind that the holy books of Islam quite clearly spell out the doctrine of jihad and the heavenly rewards that await jihadist martyrs. No, according to MSNBC “terrorism expert” Malcolm Nance, Manhattan attacker Sayfullo Saipov’s butchery was “anti-Islamic”.
According to Nance’s theory, every Islamic terrorist in our time somehow overlooked the real lessons of Islam and instead made exactly the same flub, mistaking Osama bin Laden’s bloodthirsty lesson of murderous violence for the thoroughly peaceful tidings of the Koran.
To fail to see a continuity between, on the one hand, the Islam of the terrorists, and, on the other, the Islam of forced marriages, honor killings, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the niqab is to engage in denial and a total whitewash. But then, whitewashing Islam is the true area of expertise of so many of these so-called terrorism experts. …
Roy maintained that we need to study “the Islamification of radicalism… not the radicalization of Islam.” Implicit in this statement is that it’s a mystery why potentially radical and violent young people are turning to Islam. But what is the mystery? Islam is filled with prescriptions that are radical and violent. Roy rejected this plain fact, however, and strove, like Nance and Cruickshank, to uncouple Islamic terrorism from Islam itself, even in its most extreme form. “[W]hile ultraconservative Salafi Islam is certainly a problem,” Roy told Haaretz, “it shouldn’t be conflated with violent extremism.” On the contrary: to fail to see a continuity between, on the one hand, the Islam of the terrorists, and, on the other, the Islam of forced marriages, honor killings, female genital mutilation (FGM) and the niqab is to engage in a total whitewash. But then, whitewashing Islam is the true area of expertise of so many of these so-called terrorism experts.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
New York City Submits to Islam
by Judith Bergman
The media began to paint Muslims as the victims of Saipov’s attack — not the dead and the wounded victims of the terrorist.
“As a Muslim committed to fighting Islamism, I appeal to you: The need for strong surveillance of Muslim communities in the West has never been greater… Counterterrorism experts and politicians must know that far from being Islamophobic, the scrutiny is supported by Islam… Nations seasoned in combating Islamism — most recently, Egypt… have identified mosques as critical nerve centers for Islamism. Mosques in Egypt, for example, are monitored by the state…Islam itself demands no less.” — Dr. Qanta Ahmed, Muslim physician, Newsday.
New York has adopted, in its entirety, the European response to Islamic terrorism: Appeasement and genuflection to Islam. Historically, such behavior was required by non-Muslim citizens of Islamic states, known as dhimmis, in exchange for “protection”. The question is why American citizens, who live in the United States and not in an Islamic state, feel obliged to submit to Islam? …
One is reminded of Mark Steyn’s citation of the satirical headlines: “British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow’s Train Bombing”, followed by, “Belgian Cabinet Minister Says Tomorrow’s Train Bombing Is All Our Fault”.
New York has adopted, in its entirety, the European response to Islamic terrorism: Appeasement and genuflection to Islam. Historically, such behavior was required by non-Muslim citizens of Islamic states, known as dhimmis, in exchange for “protection”, in addition to the payment of the special “protection” tax, jizya, for non-Muslims.
The question is why American citizens, who live in the United States and not in an Islamic state — and whose Muslim population constitutes less than two percent — feel obliged to submit to Islam?
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
What Could Go Wrong? EPA Approves Bacteria-Infected Lab-Grown Mosquitoes
lab-grown mosquito armed with bacterium Wolbachia pipientis have just been approved by the EPA. the ageny is saying that these mosquitoes could be the key to killing off insects that often transmit dangerous viruses such as Zika.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Toronto City Govt Funding Muslim-Only Youth Fellowship Intern Positions
Where is the program for Jews? Christians? Hindus? Government internships for Muslims and Muslims only. This is the very definition of sharia law, special superior rights for a “superior”class.
| — Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: October 2017
by Soeren Kern
October 1. The Network Enforcement Act (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, NetzDG) — also known as the Facebook law — entered into force. The measure requires social media platforms with more than two million users to remove “blatantly illegal” hate speech within 24 hours, and less obviously illegal content within seven days, or face fines of up to €50 million ($58 million). Critics argue that the definition of hate speech is ambiguous and subjective and that the new law is a threat to online free speech. The German government plans to apply the law more widely — including to content on social media networks of any size, according to Der Spiegel.
October 2. Germany’s partial ban on face coverings “must be expanded” to include a full ban on the burqa in public, said Andreas Scheuer, the secretary general of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU). “A ban is possible and necessary,” he said a day after a burqa ban went into effect in neighboring Austria. “We will not give up our identity, we are ready to fight for it, the burqa does not belong to Germany,” he said. The deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Stephan Harbarth, said that the partial ban “goes to the limit” of what is constitutionally possible: “I fear that a more far-reaching ban would not be compatible with the Basic Law.”
October 3. Beatrix von Storch, the deputy leader of the anti-immigration party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), said that political Islam has no place in Germany. “Islam does not belong to Germany,” she told the BBC. “We are in favor of religious freedom of course, but Islam is claiming political power, and this is what we oppose.”
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Leaders Demand Less Brussels and Fewer Regulations
AUSTRIAN leaders are demanding Brussels stops meddling in the country’s affairs, causing a major headache for the EU.
Provincial governors have drawn up a 33-point paper on the country’s future relationship with the EU, due to be discussed on Friday.
Demands include proposals for Austria to take back control of its environmental regulations on things like soil protection and water systems.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia in Flames: Chaos as Protestors Block Roads and Burn Barricades to Demand Freedom
CATALONIA independence protesters have unleashed chaos on the streets, blocking major roads with burning barricades and human chains to demand the release of jailed secessionist leaders.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia Latest: Spain Voids Independence as Chaos Erupts on Streets
CATALONIA’S declaration of independence has been officially thrown out by Spain’s top constitutional court as secessionist protestors continue to cause chaos in the region.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Frexit? New French Party Wants to ‘Liberate’ France by Quitting EU
A EUROSCEPTIC hardliner who was once Marine Le Pen’s top advisor is campaigning for France to exit the European Union.
Former Front National vice president Florian Philippot, the head of the fledgling The Patriots political movement, unveiled his new Frexit call in a charter published on Tuesday in which he detailed his party’s political line.
The manifesto calls for a French exit from the EU and the eurozone.
He wants the introduction of a new national currency in a bid to “restore national sovereignty” and “liberate the French” from the shackles of the EU.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Become Putin’s Ally? Rome Urged to Leave EU and NATO
ITALY should ditch the euro, leave the European Union, walk away from NATO and join forces with Russia, a shocking new book has claimed.
Controversial political analyst Lorenzo Valloreja outlined the extraordinary ideas in his new title Beyond Prejudice.
Mr Valloreja said he and many of his peers were persuaded in the 1970s and 1980s that a united Europe would prosper but are now disillusioned.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Le Pen Loses Immunity Over ISIS Images
The French parliament moved to lift populist leader Marine Le Pen’s immunity from prosecution Wednesday over graphic pictures she tweeted in 2015.
Le Pen tweeted out a series of graphic images of ISIS victims — including the decapitated body of American journalist James Foley — in response to a journalist comparing her party to the terror network. Le Pen later deleted the picture after complaints from Foley’s family.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Tells Couples to Multiply Like Rabbits
The Polish government has released a video imploring its citizens to breed like rabbits.
The health ministry of the country, which has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, has put out a short advert praising rabbits for producing so many offspring.
The YouTube video shows the rodents munching on lettuce and carrots while a rabbit ‘narrator’ reveals the secret of their big families — exercise, a healthy diet and little stress.
The brief appearance of a young human couple enjoying a romantic picnic hints that a little romance might help, and a wine glass turned upside down suggests an anti-alcohol message.
Viewers are told: ‘If you ever want to be a parent, follow the example of rabbits.’
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Arabia Gets Its First Real Government
DAVID P. GOLDMAN, Spengler
A couple of years ago I attended seminars with Chinese and Israeli counterterrorism experts in Beijing, in my capacity as a board member of a foundation that promotes Sino-Israel relations. A senior Chinese official complained that the Saudi royal family funds every radical madrassa in Xinjiang province, where Muslim Uyghurs of Turkish ethnicity form the majority. With a long and porous border stretching through sparsely-populated lands, Chinese security couldn’t prevent the funds from pouring in.
I asked our Chinese hosts why they didn’t remonstrate with the Saudi government. The Chinese official said, “We talk to the Saudis all the time, and they say they will have nothing to do with it. But this is not a government. It is a family! Some crazy cousin is always sending money to terrorists through informal finance channels.”
Now it appears that Saudi Arabia has a government, thanks to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s weekend purge of the royal family. It is probably the only political event in recent memory that has the support of Washington, Moscow and Beijing, not to mention Berlin, London, Paris and Tokyo — as well as Jerusalem.
China Daily hailed the Crown Prince’s action as a modernizing anti-corruption campaign. “The wave of arrests, the first of its kind, paves the way for a new Saudi Arabia with an intolerant approach against corruption. It also gets ready for the country [to move] towards a post-oil era with the focus on economic reforms and diversity, and major business projects,” the Chinese government newspaper wrote Nov. 5…
| — Hat tip: KS | [Return to headlines] |
The Iran-Hamas-Hezbollah Connection
The Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, has had enough. Last week, Iran finalized its takeover of Lebanon when Hariri resigned, and reportedly fled to Saudi Arabia.
Hariri, denouncing Hezbollah and its Iranian backers, said he feared for his life. Hariri has good reason to be afraid of Hezbollah, the powerful Shia terror group and Iranian proxy that effectively controls Lebanon.
Indications show that Iran and Hezbollah are also planning to extend their control to the Gaza Strip. Iran already provides Hamas with financial and military aid. It is precisely the support of Iran that has enabled Hamas to hold in power in the Gaza Strip for the past 10 years. It is also thanks to Iran that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another major terror group in the Gaza Strip, are in possession of thousands of missiles and rockets. It is Iranian money that allows Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to continue digging terror tunnels under the border with Israel.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
Exactly one hundred years ago—in the early hours of November 7, 1917—the Bolsheviks staged a successful coup d’etat in Petrograd. “The main operations began at 2am,” Leon Trotsky remembered five years later. “Bolshevik groups occupied the rail stations, the lighting station, military and food warehouses, the water systems, the Palace bridge, the telephone exchange, state bank, major printing houses, telegraph and post office.” The taking of the Winter Palace, defended by a small detachment of young cadets, was almost irrelevant to the proceedings. By the end of that year, Vladimir Ilich Lenin and his fellow extremists were able to exploit Russia’s collapsing political and social structure and to impose control over much the country.
A massive bloodbath duly followed. One remarkable characteristic of the Bolshevik terror during the Civil War (1918-22) and in the ensuing decades was its morbid anti-Christian zeal. The effect on Europe and the world has been profound. It instilled in generations of leftist Western intellectuals the messianic sense that their lives had meaning, that dialectical materialism had the capacity to transform and redeem a fallen world. At the other end of the spectrum, it prompted the rise of fascism and national socialism. As early as 1933, astute authors commented on “striking similarities between three movements.”
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
[…]
Bannon then addressed China and financial technology, saying, “They’re really working out to become the world’s reserve currency and also have financial technology that the United States cannot de-couple them from the world’s capital markets, which is our one point of leverage.”
The last is the 5G,” he continued, “they’re leading in the rollout of 5G and will have 5G way before the United States will have 5G. So, thy will dominate in technology that way.”
Bannon called it “awe-inspiring” and said China is “in your face in doing it.” He faulted the Bush’s and “that whole group” who insisted China would liberalize and become a free market democracy if we gave them favorable trade deals. Bannon called the strategy “dead wrong.”
“We have an enemy of incalculable power and they’re not a strategic partner. They are an enemy and we have to understand that,” said Bannon.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
China on Course to Dominate Pacific Without a Fight
This article originally appeared on NBC News:
While much of the world is focused on the ballistic missile and nuclear threat from North Korea, the U.S. military in the Pacific region is also concentrating on another potential foe: China.
“PRC is the most pressing threat in the Pacific,” one U.S. military official in the region said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. While North Korea is a near-term issue, “it’s a fight we could win,” the official said — but he worries about a fight with China.
Among the U.S. concerns: China’s controversial island-building, theft of technology, currency manipulation, cyberattacks, and both military and non-military aggression.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Xi’s ‘New Era’ Risks Boosting Tension Between China and the West
A “New Era” in President Xi Jinping’s China risks setting off alarm bells in the U.S. and Europe.
The ruling Communist Party committed to the more assertive policy during a twice-a-decade reshuffle that ended last week, contrasting with a relatively restrained approach over the past three decades. Xi said that China was “approaching the center of the world stage” as he outlined a road map for turning the country into a leading global power by 2050.
Now China’s most powerful leader in decades, Xi has sought to reassure the world that his country’s rise would be peaceful — a bid to avoid the so-called Thucydides trap that says a growing power will clash with an established force. Still, China’s growing military and economic interests are reason enough for the world’s strongest powers to worry.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela Teeters on Brink of Default
Caracas (AFP) — Longstanding fears of a Venezuela debt default crystallized Wednesday, as the political crisis engulfing the sinking OPEC state deepened with a meeting set at the UN Security Council and the EU eyeing an arms embargo.
Investors were bracing for what looked to be an inevitable “credit event” that analysts said could arrive within days — before a “refinancing and restructuring” of the debt called for by President Nicolas Maduro.
While the country’s isolation means the risk of contagion to international financial markets is limited, a default could trigger a global rush to seize assets owned by the Venezuelan government and its state oil company PDVSA, and plunge the struggling nation into a full-blown humanitarian emergency.
Already, its 32 million citizens are suffering shortages of food, medicine and other essentials as their money, the bolivar, is decimated by hyperinflation and recession reigns. Hundreds of thousands have left the country to survive, and many, many more could follow…
| — Hat tip: LP | [Return to headlines] |
The Migrant Crisis Upended Europe
by Giulio Meotti
“The migrant crisis is the 9/11 of the European Union… That day in 2001, everything changed in the US. In a minute, America discovered its vulnerability. Migrants had the same effect in Europe… The migration crisis profoundly undermines the ideas of democracy, tolerance and… the liberal principles that constitute our ideological landscape.” — Ivan Kratsev, Chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and a member of the Institute of Humanities in Vienna, Le Figaro.
The European public now looks at EU institutions with contempt. They perceive them — under multiculturalism and immigration — not only as indifferent to their own problems, but as adding to them.
“We are a cultural community, which doesn’t mean that we are better or worse — we are simply different from the outside world… our openness and tolerance cannot mean walking away from protecting our heritage”. — Donald Tusk, President of the European Council.
| — Hat tip: AF | [Return to headlines] |
Thousands of African Migrants Accept Voluntary Repatriation Rights
As many as 10,000 migrants from Africa and other nations have taken the option to turn back from Europe and return to their homelands. Some are even working to persuade their fellow countrymen not to make the trip at all, as they perceive the risk and hardship involved in smuggling themselves into Europe outweighing the benefits.
The voluntary repatriation flights are being organised out of Libya by the United Nations agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) which has sent nearly 10,000 migrants home in 2017, a figure that is expected to rise to 12,000 before the year is out. The numbers involved are a significant rise on 2016, when just 2,000 took up the offer, reports The Times.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela has so much oil, it puts Saudi Arabia into shame. Still falling apart thanks to socialism. Imagine the destruction socialism made in Middle Europe, where the countries only had limited resources to begin with…
Venezuela should be a mandatory case study on socialism in every school. It can’t get more obvious than that.
“Imagine the destruction socialism made in Middle Europe, where the countries only had limited resources to begin with…”
The mere thought is cringe-worthy. Eastern Europe’s goodly people are worthy of so much more than history has dealt them to where it redefines the word, “cruelty”.
You are so right!
The migration crisis profoundly undermines the ideas of democracy, tolerance and… the liberal principles that constitute our ideological landscape.” — Ivan Kratsev, Chairman of the Center for Liberal Strategies in Sofia and a member of the Institute of Humanities in Vienna, Le Figaro.
Hello, it is not the migration crisis that undermines the ideas of Europe! The main ‘stab in the back’ is that we entered the EU community for the freedom of movement, We didn’t complain when the western EU created limits on our freedom when they wanted to protect their rich markets and their high standards of living by making us, the poor eastern Europeans, wait long years for full access! And now, after all this, the EU opens its borders wide to anyone from the whole wide world, and on top of that, they give them money and housing and food… No Eastern European immigrant ever been so lucky. We were glad we could work for ‘western wage’.
And in other news, President Donald Trump’s nominated, Kirstjen Nielsen, who is pro-immigration, to lead the Department of Homeland Security who says “we owe” amnesty to the nearly 700,000 illegal aliens … Nielsen chaired a committee at the World Economic Forum that promotes mass immigration to Europe and the U.S., claiming Western nations do not have a choice and needed to accept millions of migrants.
So if anyone still believes Trump is not a Trojan horse I have a few bridges I can sell them.
Would you please send citations/links to your information? Thanks.
Nielsen apparently said that we “owe” the people covered under DACA a “decision”…not “amnesty,” although we can read the tea leaves. Still, I objected to Nielsen’s nomination at Whitehouse.gov. Nielsen appears to have spent her entire career as a DC swamp dweller living off tax payers.
Sounds as though Nielsen believes in the ‘0th Amendment’ interpretation of the poem ‘The New Colossus’.
“Venezuela is on the verge of defaulting on its debt, both sovereign debt and that of the state oil company.”
“I’m shocked, shocked I tell you!“.
One can only believe that Hugo Chavez must be spinning in his grave with all the angular momentum of a well-adjusted rotisserie.
I think it plain to those who note, that China is seeking an alternative to the current world financial structure. And the question should be: Whose advantage would an alternative structure benefit?
The Chinese culture is not the Christian based moral and principled structure that many of us in the West still hold on to, no, it is a collective mentality that places the state as the only reason for the individual’s existence and has more in keeping with a hive mentality way of doing things.
The Communist Chinese have adequately demonstrated over the past four decades that they will resort to any means necessary to obtain their ideal of how the world should operate.
And as a result of that thinking, Western culture and Chinese culture will inevitably clash.
If the Sahara had a socialist government, the world would suffer a shortage of sand.
You are 100% correct !
“If the Sahara had a socialist government, the world would suffer a shortage of sand.”
Too right!
The West’s post-Christian era is not exactly a bowl of cherries. Run up each nation’s credit cards to get re-elected and hope for the best.
I agree , here in the USA and especially in my home state of NJ all the political class for decades has done is
tax,spend,borrow and bond. Heaven forbid that there is any talk of thrift, cutting unnecessary spending, or auditing various departments to eliminate waste.
There is a good reason for that: There’s no constituency for thrift.
Candidates who promise to cut back on spending usually don’t get elected. But if they do, and make good on their promises, they most likely don’t get re-elected. They are demonized relentlessly in the press for their “heartlessness” towards children, old people, the unemployed, the disabled, etc etc.
Thus spending levels ratchet in one direction only: upwards. The bloated balloon of government must inflate itself larger and ever larger, until it inevitably bursts.
This is one of the (potentially fatal) flaws of democratic/republican government.
Once elements of the voting base discover they can vote themselves tax-funded goodies, or vote in politicians who will give them those goodies.
In some ways, governance by a wise autocrat is a superior form of government. Witness Marcus Aurelius, and imagine if he had reigned in less troubled times.
The Saudi “new deal” is being advertised in various forms e.g.
http://theduran.com/feudalism-future-red-princes-revolution-modernize-monarchy/
( but read comments). Some wonder if MBS is being set up to fail. An example…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DOBNy-eXkAAj5Mp.jpg
What I do know, is that it is nowhere as clear cut as some would have us believe.
In the meantime
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-11-09/saudi-arabia-orders-its-citizens-leave-lebanon-immediately
Which also has a good link in the article to Hezbollah capability. Hariri is clearly under Saudi coercion, whether Abdulaziz bin Fahd was really killed is being questioned. Azouzi, who was given 300 mn at 14 to play with, has ( if he is still around) an outstanding sentence in Czech republic for under age abuses. He is (or was) a most vocal critic also of the current Saudi leadership ( and allies).
Basically this all does not come across very good to me, and official version is not convincing, nor will it be to many Saudis or much of the wider Sunni community.
default, dear Brutus, is in our economy that we are socialists.
No apologies to Shakespeare
The Soros story about the DAs is exactly what is wrong with our political system, and exactly why Soros should be arrested and locked up, his assets seized to pay for the damage he has inflicted on the West.