Italy has surged past Sweden to reach the #1 position in welfare spending. According to the latest figures, Italian spending on health care, pensions and welfare has risen to 57% of tax revenue.
In other news, three African men were arrested for cannibalism in the Parisian suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Charles Low, Insubria, JD, KS, Michael Copeland, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, 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.
ECB: Latvian Bank Ablv Calls for Emergency Liquidity, 480mn
Bank prosecuted by authorities for ties with North Korea
(ANSA) — ROME — Ablv Bank, the Latvian bank accused by the US authorities of financial ties with the North Korean regime, has called for up to 480 million euros of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) from the central bank of Latvia, said the Ablv spokesperson Arturs Eglitis. In order to activate the ELA mechanism, a permission from the ECB is necessary.
On the table, not only the situation of Ablv, whose payments were given a moratorium by the ECB, but also the case of Ilmars Rimsevics, the governor of the Latvian central bank accused of having extorted bribes amounting to about 100,000 euros.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
As Hollywood Feigns Outrage Over Gun Violence, Its Top Film Promotes it
Despite all the tweeted outrage from virtue-signaling celebrities, Hollywood doesn’t care about your kids or gun violence.
If it did, it would clean up its own house first. It would cease promoting its endless stream of increasingly graphic violence, primarily involving guns, in its movies, TV shows, and video games. But it won’t, because Hollywood profits massively from that sort of fare.
Hollywood sheds crocodile tears over school shooting victims, but in fact it cares only about bringing down the NRA and the Second Amendment. That’s why celebrities focus their outrage over school shootings but don’t issue a single tweet of complaint over the shooting deaths, mostly of minorities, every weekend in Democrat-controlled inner cities across America — because they know the massacre of schoolchildren is a highly emotional wedge they can use to boost the profile of their own self-righteousness and to demonize law-abiding gun owners who stand by the Constitution.
Never mind the fact that such gun massacres are almost without exception carried out by either deeply mentally disturbed members of the political left or jihadists; the left will never admit that reality about such atrocities, because the left doesn’t care about past or future victims, except to the extent they can be exploited to push the agenda of repealing the Second Amendment and disarming gun-owning American citizens (except for the private security that the Hollywood wealthy hire to protect them and their families and their homes).
Even as Hollywood ramps up its calls for “common-sense gun reform” — i.e. confiscation — in the wake of the horrible Parkland High School massacre, the top box office earner is the blockbusting new superhero movie Black Panther, which Newsbusters reports is filled with violence, including 163 shootings.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Since the moment the news broke that yet another horrific mass shooting had taken place in America, this time in Parkland, Florida, the mainstream media has been quick to blame private gun ownership while heavily promoting those that are pushing gun control.
No network has shown their leftist leanings more than CNN, which has gone into full blown overdrive in their around the clock anti-gun coverage, with the first 7 articles on their homepage, including their featured story, all attacking the NRA and promoting leftist gun control causes.
The featured story was a direct attack on the NRA itself as it contained a sort of “ name and shame” list of Florida politicians who were terrible people responsible for children dying because they had taken money from the National Rifle Association.
Interestingly, the piece was marketed as an actual news report while openly promoting and admitting that the authors of the article were anti-gun activists themselves!
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
It makes perfect sense to anyone who believes the most dangerous place to be is a gun-free zone when faced with an armed attacker. Whether the attacker is wielding a knife, carrying a gun or driving a car toward a large group of people, having a trained gun owner who has the ability to stop a massacre from happening is the best case scenario. Waiting for the police to arrive is not a good option.
Fox News — Colorado House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, who was a Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the 1999 mass shooting, is pushing legislation that he says would protect students — by getting rid of gun restrictions in schools.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Creepy “World Government Summit” Targets America, Freedom
Top globalists, communists, and Islamists from around the globe gathered this month on the Arabian Peninsula for the World Government Summit — yes, that is the confab’s real name — to push for what they called a “new world order.” More than a few speakers made clear that liberty, self-government, and the “America First” agenda were in the crosshairs.
On the other hand, Big Government, trans-humanism, and globalism were presented as the solution to basically everything, from alleged man-made “global warming” and health problems to unemployment and even hate. Aside from global governance and statism, one of the key themes of the conference was the merger of man and machine to become “cyborgs.” Artificial Intelligence and “Happiness,” directed by authorities, were also major topics.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Delingpole: NOAA Caught Adjusting Big Freeze Out of Existence
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has yet again been caught exaggerating ‘global warming’ by fiddling with the raw temperature data.
This time, that data concerns the recent record-breaking cold across the northeastern U.S. which NOAA is trying to erase from history.
If you believe NOAA’s charts, there was nothing particularly unusual about this winter’s cold weather which caused sharks to freeze in the ocean and iguanas to drop out of trees.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Shooting Survivor Exposed? ‘My Father’s a Retired FBI Agent’
Florida school shooting survivor and now pseudo famous anti-gun activist, David Hogg has been exposed. His father was in the FBI, and he appears to have been coached on his anti-gun and anti-Trump rhetoric.
Anyone who has been following the news could tell about the scandal involving the FBI, who in collusion with the Obama Administration and Clinton campaign, set out to push the false “verification” of the junk Steele Dossier. It has also been widely reported that the FBI received tips well in advance of the Florida school shooting and decided, for whatever reason, not to act.
Hogg is now so media obsessed and determined to continue the propaganda charade that he snubbed an invitation to meet with President Donald Trump this Wednesday in favor of appearing on a televised town hall with CNN’s Jake Tapper…
Adding to the “credibility” of Hogg, in a recently uncovered early cut from one of his interviews it appears he was heavily coached on lines and is merely reciting a script. Frequently seen in the footage mouthing the lines he should be reciting. Hogg becomes flustered multiple times, is seen apologizing, and asking for re-takes.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Florida School Shooting Survivor Slams Media for Hijacking Tragedy to Push Gun Control [Video]
Common Sense! Thank goodness for 18-year-old Brandon Minoff! He’s a survivor of the Florida school shooting and was brave enough to slam the media for politicizing the aftermath of the deadly incident.
He was interviewed below by Brian Williams who tried to frame the argument even though Minoff pushed back on him. He was also on CNN and saw that they also tried to frame an anti-gun argument.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Srdja Trifkovic
The Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy, which Defense Secretary James Mattis presented on January 19, envisages aggressive measures to counter Russia and China and instructs the military to refocus on Cold War-style competition with them, away from terrorist threats and “rogue nations.” This is in stark contrast to Barack Obama’s 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, which called for “preserving strategic stability” in relations with the two Eurasian giants. The new defense strategy openly treats them as the Pentagon’s “principal priorities.” According to Mattis, “great power competition—not terrorism—is now the primary focus of U.S. national security.”
The unclassified 11-page summary indicates a major victory for foreign-policy hawks and for the military-industrial complex. It marks the final defeat of candidate Donald Trump’s intention, repeatedly stated in the summer of 2016, to abandon the bipartisan quest for global primacy, to reexamine the purpose and utility of NATO, and to improve relations with Russia. It reflects the National Security Strategy (NSS) unveiled in December 2017, which asserted that “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity.” It calls for comprehensive modernization of the offensive nuclear arsenal, deploying more missile defense systems at home and abroad, and building up stockpiles of battlefield weapons in strategic locations around the world. A longer classified version was submitted to Congress, including the demand for a massive increase in military spending…
— Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Here’s What Marion Maréchal-Le Pen Plans to Say at CPAC
Marion Maréchal-Le Pen’s will focus on calling for a “conservatism on both shores” in her scheduled remarks at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, according to the right-leaning French newspaper L’Incorrect.
The addition of Le Pen to this year’s conference has sparked controversy, with some conservatives wondering if the annual meeting of conservative activists and media organizations has been fundamentally corrupted.
“Her appetite for ideas has not left her, apparently,” L’Incorrect said.
She is slated to speak Thursday, Feb. 22 at 11:30.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
High School Teacher Makes “Shooting at Trump” Option for Answer on Multiple Choice Test
Imagine a teacher using “shooting at Obama” as an option on a multiple choice test in 2009. Does anyone believe this is the only place you’d be reading about it? Where is the collective outrage from the media over this disgusting propaganda being spewed by a high school teacher in a mostly conservative state? EAG News — A Wyoming high school is under fire after parents exposed an online student quiz that offered “shooting at Trump” as one of the multiple choice answers.
An unidentified English teacher at Jackson Hole High School gave students a multiple choice quiz on Thursday about George Orwell’s novel “Animal Farm” that included a question that many are pointing to as an example of the district’s “liberal bias,” the Jackson Hole News and Guide reports.
“Napoleon has a gun fired for a new occasion. What is the new occasion?” the quiz read.
Possible answers included “He was shooting at Trump,” “His birthday,” “For completion of the windmill,” or “To scare off the attackers of Animal Farm.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How an ISIS Bro Nunchucked His Way From New York to the UK and Then Prison
Sajmir Alimehmeti shouldn’t have brought nunchucks when he tried to enter the U.K. in 2014. Immigration authorities took one look at them and kicked the Islamic State supporter back to New York, where a years-long investigation ensued.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nancy Pelosi Caught Off Guard by Heckler: “How Much Are You Worth Nancy?”
During a Tuesday stop-off in Phoenix to trash talk the “disastrous” GOP tax cuts at the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was startled at a question over her net worth by an audience member who couldn’t stomach the top Democrat’s ivory-tower oratory over wealth inequality.
Pelosi has embarked on a 100-city taxpayer funded junket organized by Democrats to frame the Republican tax cuts as an assault on low income Americans.
“It can’t possibly be a statement of values for us to talk about, as Martin Luther King said, … ‘God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth while others live in abject deadly poverty,’“ Pelosi pontificated, hypocritically.
“So these are kitchen table issues for most of America’s families. Most people are not in deadly poverty, but some are. But most people have to struggle to …”
Pelosi’s needle skips as an audience member asked the richest woman in Congress:
“How much are you worth, Nancy?”
A flustered Pelosi shot back:
“No, we’re not talking about that … In any event … I can out … I’m a mother of five, I can speak louder than anybody.”
Watch:
Of note, the 77-year-old Pelosi is estimated to have a net worth of $100,643,521 according to OpenSecrets.org, making her the 6th richest member of the House in 2015. We wonder if Pelosi’s San Francisco pizza parlor is included in the calculation?
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Salmonella Outbreak: CDC Blames Herbal Supplement Kratom
An outbreak of salmonella in 20 states is being blamed on kratom. According to the CDC, Americans should stay away from kratom for now, until the origin of the outbreak can be pinpointed.
— Hat tip: Charles Low | [Return to headlines] |
Stop Mistaking Evil for Mental Illness
As our culture grows more and more secularized, it has become a common practice to describe those who commit widespread acts of violence — especially if such violence involves the death of multiple human beings — as “crazy.” Some of this is tongue-in-cheek, but much of it is sincere. I believe that this is the direct result of the psychiatric community attempting to redefine what is moral.
For decades, we have witnessed the psychiatric community taking acts long considered evil, or at least immoral and illegal, and deeming them a “psychological disorder” that needs to be cured. It’s good for business, I suppose.
However, it’s a disaster for the culture. As C.S. Lewis lamented in his essay “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment,” when it comes to crime and punishment, we too often are facing off with those who believe “that all crime is more or less pathological.” Thus, instead of the criminal “getting what he deserves” — what used to be called “justice” — we must heal or cure him, and, as Lewis puts it, “punishment becomes therapeutic.”
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson Explains Why CNN is Always on at Airports…it All Makes Sense Now [Video]
Ever wonder why CNN is always on TV when you’re in a U.S. airport?
Well, as Tucker Carlson explained Tuesday, travelers don’t have a choice in most cases, since the network has an agreement with dozens of U.S. airports to broadcast the channel.
“Airports feel like a lesser version of hell with dirty seats, overpriced food and propaganda posing as news on CNN,” said Carlson.
According to CNN, the CNN Airport Network — a special package of news, sports and travel programming — is broadcast at 60 participating airports. Airports receive a fee from CNN to broadcast the channel. — Fox Insider
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yellowstone Alert: 200 Earthquakes in 10 Days as Ring of Fire Awakens
Scientists in Yellowstone have detected over 200 earthquakes at the supervolcano in the last 10 days. With reports coming in that the Ring of Fire could be awakening as well, many are preparing for the worst.
Although scientists are still telling the public there’s no need to be alarmed, reports of immense pressure in the magma chamber under Yellowstone, coupled with this new report claiming 200 earthquakes have been recorded in the last ten days are reigniting fears of a potential supervolcano eruption. According to The Daily Mail, this latest earthquake swarm began on February 8.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
When the government knows better than the parents what is good for their child…this is the horrifying result.
HSLDA reports: What should have been a happy homecoming to Norway for Leif and Terese Kristiansen turned into a parent’s worst nightmare when the Barnevernet (Norway’s child welfare agency) brutally removed their son, Kai, after they started homeschooling.
The family had been living in Canada, where Terese and Kai are citizens. They returned recently to Norway in search of new opportunities.
But at the local public school, 12-year-old Kai became the victim of merciless bullying. School officials did not resolve the situation.
To protect Kai from further trauma, his parents did the responsible and loving thing: they removed him from the school and immediately began to homeschool him. By choosing to homeschool their son, the Kristiansens did what the state or public school would not do . . . keep Kai safe and provide him with a healthy learning environment.
As if being the victim of school bullying wasn’t enough, on Thursday, February 9, 12-year-old Kai was hunted down and then tackled in the snow by Barnevernet agents and police.
In a Facebook video of the incident that has already been watched over 600,000 times, Kai’s mother, Terese, looks on in terror, screaming for help as Kai is chased by the police and the Barnevernet. “My son is being stolen by Barnevernet in Norway because we want to homeschool!” Terese shouted as helpless friends and neighbors watched.
Kai can be heard screaming “No!” over and over as the police and a Barnevernet investigator attempt to subdue him and take him into custody pursuant to an order from the local authorities.
The 12-year-old was ordered into state custody because his family chose to homeschool.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ontario’s Electric Car Charge Station ‘Screw Up’
Delays in installation. Complaints of broken machines and bad customer service.
Two years after Ontario’s Liberal government introduced a province-wide program to expand electric vehicle use, the program is being called “a screw-up” by some users and “a failure” by those in the electric vehicle industry.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Concrete’ Jihadi Risk in Italy — Intelligence
(ANSA) — Rome, February 20 — There is a “concrete and present” risk of jihadi attacks in Italy, the annual report from Italian intelligence services said Tuesday. Italy is “subjected to Daesh’s hostile propaganda activity and radicalised individuals continue to be present on its territory,” the report said, “including Italian-speaking ‘Islamonauts’“. The report highlighted “the danger posed by homegrown terrorists, moved by autonomous motivations and inspirations, or piloted by ‘terror directors’“.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Create Jobs Don’t Move Them Says Vestager on Embraco
Gentiloni says no to fiscal dumping, Calenda says scouting on
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 21 — Jobs must be created rather than moved, European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on the Embraco case Wednesday. As Premier Paolo Gentiloni said no to “fiscal dumping” and Industry Minister Carlo Calenda said scouting for new investors was going ahead, Vestager said the case would become a concern for the European Commission if taxpayers’ money was used.
Brazilian fridge compressor maker Embraco, a unit of US multinational Whirlpool, is moving 500 jobs to Slovakia where labour costs are lower and Italy has said State aid may be involved.
“We’re here to make sure the rules are respected and make sure that jobs aren’t moved but created,” Vestager told a press conference about her meeting with Calenda.
“Everyone may have a reason to move, that’s not our business, but it becomes a concern for us if taxpayers’ money is involved”, she said.
“Funds should be used to create new jobs and not to move jobs from one country to another,” she said.
Vestager recalled that in 2014 and 2017 the Commission had “reinforced” the rules on State aid to industry.
This was precisely because, she said “(EU) funds must be used to create jobs and not move jobs from one country to another”.
“Therefore it is an issue close to our hearts, as shown by the fact that we made stiffer rules”.
Vestager earlier said Embraco’s offshoring 500 Italian jobs to Slovakia is a serious issue and the EC will assess it to see if State aid rules have been breached. “The Embraco case is a serious thing and the Commission will assess whether the rules on State aid have been respected, but let’s not give judgements before knowing the real facts,” Vestager said in Brussels.
On Tuesday Vestager had promised Calenda she would be “intransigent” on the case.
Italy argues Slovakia’s low labour taxes and other incentives may have broken State-aid rules.
The Brazilian unit of US multinational Whirlpool, which makes fridge compressors, is shutting its plant near Turin with the loss of almost 500 jobs.
Invitalia, the industry ministry’s inward investment agency, on Wednesday met an unnamed foreign firm that may be interested in the Italian plant of Embraco, Calenda said. “Scouting is going ahead,” said Calenda, adding “I will meet trade unions next week and bring them up to date on developments”.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni, for his part, said “no to fiscal and social dumping in the EU”.
He said this was why the government had made the Embraco issue “an exemplary case”. Earlier Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said the European Union must be “severe” if Embraco’s moving production from Italy to Slovakia involves State aid on the part of the eastern European country. “I have great confidence in the competence and objectivity of Vestager,” Padoan said.
“If there is State aid (allowing low labour costs), as is possible, I expect the Commission to take severe measures” because State aid “is a serious violation of the internal market”, he said.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
German Prisons: 150 Dangerous Islamists Need Deradicalizing, Say Police
German jails are struggling to cope with scores of radical Islamist extremists. Their number is expected to grow following the opening of a slew of terror-related probes in recent months.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Interim UKIP Leader Gerard Batten Defends Calling Islam ‘Death Cult’
Ukip ‘s interim leader has defended calling Islam a “death cult”, saying the statement is “factually and historically true”.
Gerard Batten, an MEP for London, took over as temporary leader on Saturday after Henry Bolton lost a vote of no confidence 867 votes to 500.
Mr Bolton had come under fire for his relationship with 25-year-old model Jo Marney, who reportedly made racist remarks about Prince Harry’s fiance Meghan Markle and called Grenfell Tower a “nest of illegal immigrants”…
— Hat tip: Michael Copeland | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Research Funding Drops 20% in 10 Yrs
‘On brink of collapse’ — report
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — Italian funding for research has fallen 1.2 billion euros or 20% over the last 10 years, according to a European Commission paper due out next month.
“We are on the brink of collapse,” Roma Tre University political economy lecturer Mario Pianta, who contributed to the report, told ANSA Wednesday.
Nature journal said Wednesday the topic of research was “completely missing” from the electoral debate ahead of Italy’s March 4 general election.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Election: Eurosceptic Candidate Rages at Merkel for Pushing Pro-German EU Policy
ITALIAN election hopeful Matteo Salvini has accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of “damaging” other EU members by putting her own country’s interests first.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italian Election: Shock Video Appears to Show Far-Right Candidate ‘Beaten by Leftie Mob’
THE Sicilian Secretary of far-right Italian party Forza Nuova Massimo Ursino was savagely attacked and bound-up with gaffer tape on the streets of Palermo amid signs of deepening tensions ahead of a fraught general election in Italy.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Villa Bibbiani Sold for 10 Mn, Another 10 for Restoration
US baron purchases estate famous for botanical garden
(ANSA) — Florence, February 19 — Over 20 million euros will be invested for Villa Bibbiani, in the Capraia e Limite municipality of the Florence province. The historic estate renowned for its botanical garden was sold by Lionard Luxury Real Estate for about 10 million euros to an American baron.
The company noted that the investor had pledged to spend an equal amount on restoring the villa as well as on setting up a new agricultural estate for wine and oil production and supporting cultural activities in the area.
The estate consists of 380 hectares of terrain with a scenic owner’s villa boasting two towers alongside a farm with canteens and stables covering 9,800 square meters. There is also a 20-hectare botanical garden with exotic Oriental plants and a romantic park dating back to the nineteenth century.
The villa, cited for the first time in a 1546 document that called it the “feudal lands of the Frescobaldi family”, remained in the hands of the noble Florentine family until 1809, when — on the death of Anastasia Frescobaldi — it went to her son, Cosimo Ridolfi (1794-1865). Ridolfi, who was a well-known public figure in that era, created the botanical garden and the romantic park adjacent to the villa, containing some 195 varieties of camellias.
“Americans have, in recent years, resuming buying in the luxury real estate market in Italy,” noted Dimitri Corti, founder of Lionard Luxury Real Estate. “And in regions other than Tuscany, which is still one of the most popular, such as Piedmont in highly valued areas such as Monferrato, where we sold one of the most famous castles of the region, in Camino.” The buyers, the real estate company said, not only purchase real estate “of great historic and cultural value to make them their homes, thereby safeguarding heritage that is part of this country’s identity. They also invest in productive activities, reactivating an economy and creating jobs”.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: De Luca Jr Resigns, Sr to Sue Di Maio
Case has embarrassed PD
(ANSA) — Salerno, February 20 — Roberto De Luca, son of Campania Governor Vincenzo, has resigned as budget councillor in Salerno where his father was mayor for many years, Mayor Vincenzo Napoli said Tuesday. De Luca Jr has been caught up in a probe into illegal waste trafficking, which he denies.
Meanwhile Vincenzo De Luca, the Campania governor, said he would sue anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Luigi Di Maio for allegedly slanderous statements on the case. Mayor Napoli, who belongs to the same Democratic Party (PD) as the De Lucas, said “our political opponents are using all instruments for facile and easy propaganda.” He said “Roberto De Luca, with a gesture worthy of a great man, of great intellectual honesty and of great responsibility, has resigned as councillor”.
Vincenzo De Luca, the governor, on Monday railed against the alleged “camorra and fascist-thug-like tactics” used by perceived enemies including Fanpage.it, which broke the story, and the M5S, which has called on the elder De Luca to resign too.
Campania Governor De Luca said later Tuesday he would sue M5S leader Di Maio for his alleged slander. “I have instructed my lawyers to sue Luigi Di Maio for the statements made yesterday and in previous days,” said Vincenzo De Luca on Di Maio’s calls for him to quit.
“I urge Di Maio, an authoritative member of the caste paid 15,000 euros a month, to renounce his parliamentary immunity.
“We will renew the request every day until the (March 4) general election.
The case has embarrassed the PD in the run-up to the elections.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Alfredo Romeo Indicted for Corruption
In Naples graft case
(ANSA) — Naples, February 21 — Top Naples businessman Alfredo Romeo was indicted for corruption in the southern Italian city on Wednesday. The businessman was sent to trial in a case involving his contracts, judicial sources said. The trial starts on April 10 in Naples. Also indicted was Romeo’s aide Ivan Russo.
Romeo is at the centre of a probe involving civil-service procurement agency CONSIP, which also involves ex-premier and Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi’s father Tiziano and Sports Minister Luca Lotti.
Last month Rome prosecutors requested a six-month extension for their probe into Tiziano Renzi, over alleged wrongdoing related to CONSIP.
Tiziano Renzi is being probed for alleged influence-peddling in the case.
In all, sources said, the extension has been asked for 11 people.
They also include Carabinieri Commander-in-Chief General Tullio Del Sette, and the former commander of the Tuscany Carabinieri, Emanuele Saltalamacchia.
The same extension has been asked for Sports Minister Lotti, for allegedly tipping off CONSIP chief Luigi Marroni there was a probe into the agency.
An extension was also asked for Romeo, suspected of paying CONSIP a large bribe.
Others for whom an extension was asked include: businessman Carlo Russo, a former MP in ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s now-defunct People of Freedom (PdL) party; former PdL MP and ex-Romeo consultant Italo Bocchino; Grandi Stazioni CEO Silvio Gizzi; former CONSIP managers Domenico Casalino, Luigi Ferrara and Francesco Licci; and the president of Pubbliacqua, a Florence municipally controlled water utility, Filippo Vannoni.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Beats Sweden: 57% of Taxes Goes to Welfare
Beats home of welfare
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — Italy beats Sweden in welfare spending with 57% of tax revenue spent on the welfare system, the Welfare Itineraries think tank said Wednesday. “Italy beats the home of welfare”, the study said.
“The incidence of spending on healthcare, pensions and welfare rose to 57.32% in 2016,” it said.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: TIM Offices Searched on Cassiopea Project
Anti-trust weighing possible ‘abuse of dominant position’
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — Italy’s anti-trust authority officers and tax police inspected TIM offices Wednesday to verify possible abuse of dominant market position over the Cassiopea project, sources said. The project, which has been suspended, regards investments in fibre in market-failure areas.
The inspection, anti-trust sources said, concerns a possible strategy to exclude Open Fiber from the market.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Don’t Want to Take M5S ‘Refugees’ — Salvini
Comes out against Berlusconi offer
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini said Wednesday he did not want to take in “refugees” from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), expelled because they broke political-cash repayment rules or because they are Freemasons. Salvini spoke after his centre-right ally Silvio Berlusconi said he was willing to welcome those expelled from the M5S as long as they signed up to the centre-right government programme after the March 4 general election.
“I’m aiming to win following the centre-right programme, without taking in political exiles or refugees from the Five Stars,” Salvini told a press conference at the Senate.
“The (M5S) could have selected their candidates better before, it’s the first case in history where they leave before they are elected,” he said.
The Freemason candidates and those who broke party repayment rules will be expelled if they are elected, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio has v wed.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: FN Provincial Chief Attacked
‘Communist hatred unleashed’ says Fiore
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — The Palermo provincial secretary of the far-right Forza Nuova (FN) group was tied up and bloodily beaten by persons wearing ski masks or with their heads wrapped in scarves in Palermo’s central Via Dante Tuesday night. Tattoo salon owner Massimo Ursino was surrounded by a half dozen people, tied hand and foot with duct tape and brutally beaten, sources said. Ursino suffered bruising to the face and the whole of his body, a broken nose, and a suspected shoulder lesion, medical sources said. He was taken to the ER where doctors said his injuries would heal in 20 days.
FN leader Roberto Fiore said “after a campaign of hatred sown by the (newspaper) Espresso group and followed by all the left including the Free and Equal (LeU) party, Communist hatred is unleashed against Forza Nuova”.
“A Forza Nuova official was struck at his workplace, tied up and brutally beaten, in a cowardly way, in 10 against one”.
The attack, which was condemned by all political parties, was claimed by an unnamed lefist group which said it “repudiated Fascism” and that Ursino had been given an “exemplary” beating a few days ahead of a rally in Palermo by Fiore.
It said Italy was threatened by the “rise” of racist and neo-Fascist groups.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 3 Friars on Trial for Embezzlement
20-mn ‘hole’ at Franciscan chapter in Milan
(ANSA) — Milan, February 20 — Three Franciscan friars were sent to trial September 18 on Tuesday for alleged embezzlement and misappropriation at the Milan chapter of their order.
The trio were charged after a 20-million-euro ‘hole’ opened up in the order’s finances.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tajani Asks Juncker for All Ema Documents
Even confidential ones
(ANSA) — Brussels, February 21 — European Parliament President Antojio Tajani on Wednesday asked European Commission Presideent Jean-Claude Juncker for all documents, even confidential ones, on the Dutch bid for Amsterdam to be the location of the post-Brexit European Medicines Agency (EMA). Tajani said he needed “all the details” of the successful bid, which Italy is challenging on the grounds that Amsterdam is allegedly not ready to host the agency. Tajani asked for the documents in a “spirit of mutual cooperation” among EU institutions. The EP is set to send a delegation to Amsterdam to assess the readiness of the temporary office the Dutch have set up for the agency, which is moving from London after Brexit.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wages Rise as Influx of Cheap Foreign Labour Falls
Wages are rising in Britain as companies are finally having to pay workers what they’re worth now the influx of cheap foreign labour has been reduced, according to a statement from the ONS.
Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses rose 2.5% from a year earlier, the most since December 2016, and the overall employment rate rose to the near record level of 75.2%.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: Nicosia: ‘Gas Search Will Continue Despite Ankara’
Anastasiadis message after extension of Turkish Navy blockade
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, FEBRUARY 21 — Cyprus means to continue scheduled offshore drilling to search for hydrocarbons in the Exclusive Economic Zone, in spite of harsh opposition from Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot community, the president of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiadis, said in a statement published Wednesday after Turkish authorities yesterday decided to extend until March 10 a ban on navigation in the maritime area off the south-eastern coast of Cyprus, designed by Nicosia for the drilling activities of ENI’s Saipem 12000 rig.
In the message, Anastasiadis urges Turkey and the Turkish-Cypriot community to return to the negotiating table to solve the controversy.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Rex Tillerson Babbles in Beirut While Middle East War Looms
Trump’s envoy tries to make a distinction between Hezbollah and Lebanon’s government where there is none
Sec. of State Rex Tillerson visited Lebanon last Thursday, and let’s just say it wasn’t exactly a shining moment for U.S. diplomacy. Tillerson was made to sit alone in a room with no American flag in sight and wait, as photographers took pictures and video, before Hezbollah’s chief allies in Lebanon’s government, President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law the foreign minister, finally came out to greet him. Images of the U.S. Secretary of State fidgeting in front of an empty chair were then broadcast across the Middle East to symbolize American impotence at a fateful moment for the region…
— Hat tip: KS | [Return to headlines] |
Turkish President Wants Adultery Criminalised Again
‘Legislation under discussion’ with tougher penalties for child abuse
ISTANBUL — After on Tuesday saying that he was considering a reinstatement of the crime of adultery, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has instructed the government to draw up legislation to do just that.
The announcement was by his spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that he had made a mistake in 2004 when he shelved a draft law that would have criminalised adultery in order to start EU accession talks. Kalin noted that the new regulations would be dealt with alongside tougher penalties for child abuse.
Adultery ceased to be a crime in Turkey in 1996 after a decision by the Constitutional Court. An opposition party study found that there are over 300,000 cases of child abuse in the country every year and that only 5% are reported to the police. The government is considering chemical castration for convicted pedophiles.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Gives Jordan 150 Armored Vehicles to Boost Army Strength
They’re designed to protect from biological and chemical attacks
AMMAN — The US has handed Jordan 150 armored vehicles to be used in combat and for border protection, according to an official statement. The vehicles are reportedly designed to protect soldiers from biological and chemical attacks.
The vehicles, M577 Armored Command Post Vehicles, are part of an annual grant provided by the United States to close allies, which was given days after the US approved a multi-billion dollar aid package to help the kingdom balance its payment sheets.
“This armored vehicle will further strengthen the JAF’s ability by providing a crew of five soldiers protection against small arms fire and artillery shells, as well as protection from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,” said a statement from the US embassy.
Although the M577 is primarily used as a mobile command post, its design is suitable for other purposes, for example, artillery command and control and ambulance or medical treatment vehicles, it added.
The US provides Jordan with annual military aid of some half a billion dollars to maintain the kingdom’s army at combat level as the two countries are considered strong partners in fighting Islamist groups in the region. Jordan provides the US with various military bases and has been actively helping the CIA to control militant groups in Syria and Iraq.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Why These Animals Were Accused of Being International Spies
Deep within uranium mines, lizards were lurking around, attracting atomic waves and delivering intel on the Iranian government.
Or at least that’s the narrative Iranian military advisor Hassan Firuzabadi told media outlets earlier this week.
Firuzabadi’s comments came after being asked about a group of environmentalists under arrest since late January. According to the Times of Israel, a local Iranian news agency quoted Firuzabadi as saying that, in the environmentalists’ possession, they found lizards and chameleons. Allegedly these were deployed to find where Iran was mining and developing uranium.
The lizards’ skin, Firuzabadi said, was capable of attracting atomic waves. The espionage effort, he added, had failed.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Rights of Muslim Women Suffer Under Malaysia’s Ambition to Become Islamic State
A REVIEW of women’s rights in Malaysia at the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) determined that women’s and children’s rights have suffered under the country’s increasing Islamisation. Muslim women were also found to enjoy fewer rights than their non-Muslim counterparts under the country’s dual legal system.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Australian School Students Could be Forced to Recite American-Style ‘Pledge of Loyalty’
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he wanted to see more of Australia’s core values and history — for better and for worse — taught to students, regardless of their background.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Australia Joins the ‘Decrypt it or We’ll Legislate’ Club
At least it only wants to break crypto after getting a warrant
Australia’s home affairs minister Peter Dutton has waded into the global crypto debate, uttering the familiar demand that the tech sector provide what the politicians want while adding that the government will protect Australians from cyber-threats.
Dutton on Wednesday told Australia’s National Press Club today that “ubiquitous encryption, a vital tool to all of us for secure personal banking and other communications including messaging, has become a significant obstacle to terrorism investigations.”
Because “decryption takes time” (if a platform is using a modern algorithm, you might get a plaintext while the universe is still warm), the industry needs to make message recovery as trivial as a phone tap.
“Law enforcement access to encrypted communications should be on the same basis as telephone and other intercepts in which companies provide vital and willing assistance in response to court orders.”, Dutton said.
So the Australian government doesn’t want the impossible to be routine, instead asking for it only if a warrant can be produced. And the government will pass laws to ensure that the magical comes true:
“The Government is willing to work closely with these firms but will also introduce legislation to ensure that companies providing communications, services and devices in Australia have an obligation to assist agencies with decryption and, as a society, we should hold these companies responsible when their service is used to plan or facilitate unlawful activity”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because others among the “Five Eyes” group of intelligence-sharing nations (USA, UK, NZ and Canada) seem to have obtained the same song sheet. At the end of January, UK Prime Minister Theresa May made a very similar call; and magic reversible-by-cops-encryption has been on the US agenda so long, a bunch of experts last week dem
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The brother of a slain ISIS jihadist has been denied parole after he was jailed for threatening to kill a spectator at his son’s junior soccer match in Raby, southwest Sydney.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
A young thug is on the run from police after punching a man and stealing his gold necklace, phone and Armani watch in a shocking attack in Melbourne.
— Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Boko Haram Attacks Girls School in Northeast Nigeria
Kano, Nigeria: Boko Haram militants launched an attack on a girls boarding school in northeast Nigeria but the students and teachers fled to safety, witnesses said on Monday.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France Introduces Tough Migrant Deportation Bill
France’s government proposed Wednesday an asylum reform bill that would make it easier for authorities to deport unauthorized migrants, drawing criticism from immigration activists who say it violates the rights of asylum seekers.
The measure would allow the government to hold migrants in France illegally in detention centers for up to 90 days, instead of the current 45, and halve the amount of time for considering an asylum claim from about one year to six months.
It would also stiffen penalties for illegally crossing the European Union free travel border, with jail time and a fine of up to $4,600 prescribed for border jumpers.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Three African Men Arrested for Cannibalism in Paris Suburb
Three men have been arrested in the heavily migrant-populated Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois for attacking a man by biting at his face and then eating the pieces of flesh they had bitten off.
The men, who all originally came from the African island nation of Cape Verde, were arrested on Sunday after they attacked a man who was walking in the Hector-Berlioz alley at around 6 pm and bit off pieces his ear and lower lip, Le Parisien reports.
The victim was able to fight off the attackers, wounding one of them in the ankle, before police arrived a short time later and arrested the three Africans.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Free for All: Labour Party Unveils Bonfire of Immigration Laws
Pledging to “end family break-up through the immigration system”, the Labour Party is announcing it will scrap a number of laws holding back mass migration.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary’s Viktor Orban: Europe is “Under Siege” By Migrants
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, said that Europe is “under siege” by migrants and many parts of the continent are becoming “migrant destinations”.
In the interview he gave to a local TV station, Orban also gave some advice on the country’s elections in April. He said that “Hungary must be saved from becoming a migrant destination” and voters should “carefully consider whom they cast their ballot for” on the 8th of April.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Stopping Migrant Flows Unlikely Promise — Gentiloni
Turn them into ‘useful’ phenomena says PM
(ANSA) — Rome, February 21 — Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday that centre right and rightwing parties’ promises to stop migrant flows after the March 4 general election were “unlikely” to be realised. “Everyone is free to tell you what they want, especially in an election campaign. “But it is very highly unlikely to promise to eliminate these migrant flows,” he said.
“The challenge is not to promise to eliminate these flows but to turn them from phenomena managed by criminal networks into safe, secure, manageable and compatible phenomena, and even useful for our society”.
The anti-migrant League is among the parties that say they will stop illegal immigration.
Gentiloni said that migrant flows were useful to the European Union but they must be carefully managed. “Italy and Europe need regular and managed migratory flows,” he said at the foreign affairs institute ISPI, receiving an award named after former ISPI chief and former ANSA president, the late Boris Biancheri.
— Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lampedusa Tightens Migrant Controls After Failed Experiment in Open Borders
After trouncing the incumbent Lampedusa mayor in elections this past summer, Salvatore Martello immediately began fulfilling campaign promises to get a grip on uncontrolled immigration and has now brought the population of the island’s welcome center down to a manageable 100.
On being elected, Martello’s first act of government was to threaten to shut down the center—or “hotspot,” as the Italians call it—in a move designed to show how serious he was about containing the massive influx of undocumented migrants amidst a rash of crimes and social unrest.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mass Protests Against Merkel and Immigration Are Spreading Through Germany
Germans are not planning to stop protesting against Angela Merkel and her migration policy. Several demonstrations have already taken place and the next one will be on 24 February.
Most of Germany’s protests started after the shocking murder of the 15-year-old Mia, by an Afghan refugee. The girl was attacked and murdered with a knife in a drug store in the town of Kandel.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Surprise: Child Refugee Who Murdered German Teen Girl is Probably an Adult
New tests say the Afghan child refugee, who murdered a German teen girl in Kandel, is older than previously thought.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Somali Father Arranged for Daughter to Have Genitals Mutilated to Stop Her ‘Feeling Sexy’
A Somali heritage Uber driver allowed his seven-year-old daughter to be subjected to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) because he said it stops “women feeling sexy all the time”, a court has heard.
The case represents one of the first times a prosecution for the crime — common in some migrant and Muslim cultures — has been brought to court in the UK, despite being illegal here since 1985 and hundreds of successful prosecutions in France.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Undercover Israeli Journalist Travels to Germany as Syrian Refugee to ‘Join’ Islamists
Prominent Israeli journalist Zvi Jecheskeli, who went undercover as a devout Muslim, has revealed how easy it may be for Islamists to pass through Germany’s borders and become a “Syrian refugee.”
Jecheskeli spent several years risking his life to film a documentary on the role and influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the streets of Germany, France, Britain and Turkey. While the organization is legal in some countries and has affiliated political parties, its outlawed as a terrorist group in others, including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Infiltrating the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood is a challenge indeed, as the group is “known for its distrust” of outsiders, whom they would “never” allow a glimpse into their plans, Jecheskeli told Die Welt.
His five-part series, entitled “False Identity,” recently began airing on Israeli Channel 10. The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, kept close taps on Jecheskeli and wired him with secret cameras and microphones in order to rescue him in case of emergency.
— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In a Friday sermon delivered in Columbia, South Carolina, Egyptian — American cleric Muhammad Syed Adly warned his congregation against sending their children to non-Muslim schools. Imam Adly said that gay or lesbian teachers might pass it on to their students.
[Comment: He wigged out and missed the elephant in the room — the sexual indoctrination agenda foisted upon children in public schools.]
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islam Must be Stopped if Western Civilization is to Survive
by Amil Imani
Warning: Islam is not a religion but a political ideology which incites hate, violence, intolerance and terror. Islamists are terminators. You cannot bargain with them. You cannot reason with them. They do not feel pity or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until all the infidels are dead or have submitted to Islam. “The only language the Islamists understand is the language of brute force.
In non-Muslim lands, Islamism, flush with Petrodollars, has been accelerating in its drive for the world Caliphate and is moving at the speed of light by building more mosques, printing more indoctrinating Islamic books, imposing more its presence in the western culture, in our schools and university campuses, bullying, intimidating and challenging more Christians and other peaceful people of faith and by using our democratic laws against us.
In the Islamdom, they can dish out insults to non-Muslims; arrest Christians, Bahia’s or the Jews just for praying. They can confiscate their Holy books and toss them in the trash. They call the Jews pigs and monkeys, and spit on anyone that isn’t Muslim. But they go into frenzies of righteous outrage at the slightest criticism of their barbaric and highly dangerous beliefs.
They never need to challenge the existing political order in our country, but can achieve all their goals without bothering or violating the Constitution of the U.S. because that Constitution guarantees complete government non-interference toward religion.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Car of the Future Will Sell Your Data
Picture this: You’re driving home from work, contemplating what to make for dinner, and as you idle at a red light near your neighborhood pizzeria, an ad offering $5 off a pepperoni pie pops up on your dashboard screen.
Are you annoyed that your car’s trying to sell you something, or pleasantly persuaded? Telenav Inc., a company developing in-car advertising software, is betting you won’t mind much. Car companies — looking to earn some extra money — hope so, too.
— Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
https://youtu.be/EMCUgaoy8vc
See Swedish Migration Agency’s Refugee Promotion: Spacious apartments with luxury beds and make-up table – all paid for with taxpayers money – while Swedish poor retirees die of starvation or of need to wait half a year or more on emergency cancer surgery.
The exchange of the ethnic Swedish population in the ages 0 to 40 is already to more than 30% completed.
R.I.P. Old Sweden
The population 40+ is largely irrelevant for demographic and military purposes. So nothing is gained by replacing them…
And that’s where you’re wrong. The older generations are those who carry their culture on their shoulders. If there is no one left to tell the younger ones how to be a part of their culture, the culture ceases to exist. This includes the types of food they eat, their history, even how they build their houses or their habits at work. Hence getting rid of the grandparents’ generation plays a significant role in this. Especially if we consider the possibility of an armed conflict, where fathers would be absent from families and grandfathers would be the only male role models boys would come in contact with.
And there are other things to worry about too, but bottom line is: replacing the older generations might not be significant for birth rates or fighting power, but it is extremely significant for preserving a nation.
In a sane world the three Parisian cannibals go straight to the guillotine, do not pass GO, do not collect $200.
Sadly, we no longer live in a sane world.
The FSB prevented the terrorist attack in St. Petersburg
Employees of the department detained a migrant from Central Asia, who, according to their information, was preparing a terrorist attack “on the objects of transport infrastructure and in places of mass congestion of citizens”
http://tass.ru/proisshestviya/4982147
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When you read such news, you do not know whether it’s true or pre-election idle chatter.