An American-flagged yacht was detained by Greek authorities when it attempted to smuggle 71 illegal migrants out of Greek territory, presumably bound for Italy. Meanwhile, the Greek government arrested thirty NGO workers for allegedly assisting the people-smugglers.
In other news, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google for possible violations of antitrust laws.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, Dora, Insubria, JD, Reader from Chicago, SS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
Trump Sets Pay Freeze for Federal Workforce in 2019, Citing Budget Problems
President Trump on Thursday rescinded a pay raise for civilian federal employees in 2019, saying the government can’t afford the scheduled pay increases for the federal workforce.
In a letter to Congress, Mr. Trump said a planned 2.1 percent pay increase across the board, and higher pay raises in some areas, will instead be set at zero at his orders.
“We must maintain efforts to put our nation on a fiscally sustainable course, and federal agency budgets cannot sustain such increases,” Mr. Trump said.
He said federal law authorizes the president to implement “pay adjustments” in cases of national emergency or “serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare.”
“I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate,” Mr. Trump said.
Under current law, “locality” pay increases averaging 25.70 percent, and costing $25 billion would go into effect in January 2019, in addition to a 2.1 percent across-the-board increase.
The president said his decision “will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well-qualified federal workforce.”
“The cost of employing the federal workforce is significant,” Mr. Trump said. “In light of our nation’s fiscal situation, federal employee pay must be performance-based, and aligned strategically toward recruiting, retaining, and rewarding high-performing federal employees and those with critical skill sets.”
[The Left is screaming…]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Gun Heckler Shot Down by Ted Cruz Who Points Out “F” Rating of Beto O’Rourke by NRA
SENATOR TED CRUZ is in a battle in Texas with Beto O’Rourke to keep his Senate seat. Cruz was at a town hall in Amarillo, Texas when a Beto supporter inadvertently just won more votes for Cruz!
Beto O’Rourke protester yelling in town hall on gun control.
Texan man— “Come and take it!”
Beto guy, “We will!”
Then @tedcruz said, That exchange right there is what this whole campaign is about!
Crowd explodes. #2A pic.twitter.com/2LZW7ot992
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Child Abuse Charges Dropped Against New Mexico Jihadists After ‘Screw Up’
The case of five New Mexico jihadists who trained children to carry out school shootings has taken another bizarre turn after it was revealed that child abuse charges against three of the five suspects have been dropped after a screw up.
11 counts of felony child abuse charges against three of the five suspects were dropped after the state failed to indict them within a 10-day window.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
College Bans 9/11 Memorial Citing Muslims’ Feelings
A private Wisconsin college banned students from exhibiting a Sept. 11 memorial fearing that it could foster an anti-Muslim environment on campus.
Ripon College ruled against a display by Young America’s Foundation (YAF) to honor the memory of those killed in the 2001 attacks and to help prevent the events from being forgotten, reported The Washington Examiner. It was part of an annual “Never Forget” project on college campuses around the nation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Employees Unite to Fight Ingrained Liberal Intolerance
Dozens of employees of the liberal and intolerant social media giant Facebook have decided to unite to challenge the left-wing political bias deeply ingrained in the company. Although the post went up quietly on Facebook’s internal message board last week, it quickly took off inside the social network’s inner sanctum.
Titled “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity,” the post took a shot at Facebook’s intolerant views of differing political opinions. “We are a political monoculture that’s intolerant of different views,” Brian Amerige, a senior Facebook engineer, wrote in the post, which was obtained by The New York Times. “We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”
In fact, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, told Congress this year that he wanted the company to “be a platform for all ideas.” Yet the company continues to punish conservative views on their platform and has even gone so far as to silence and censor others for their dissent.
[Comment: Unfortunately, all the rest and rabid communists. Leave facebook. All you are doing anyway is building dossier on yourself in one nice convenient place.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Many People Are on Psychiatric Drugs?
“Antidepressants are neurotoxic, that is, they harm the brain and disrupt its functions. As a result, they cause innumerable kinds of abnormal thinking and behaviors, including mania, suicide and violence. In the process, they cause detectable damage to the brain of the child or adult, and also to the fetus of pregnant mothers who take the drug.” (Peter Breggin, MD and psychiatrist, author of Toxic Psychiatry, St. Martin’s Press)
“I keep telling people all over the world that there are no reliable lab tests for diagnosing ANY so-called mental disorder. I explain this in great detail. Of course, for many people, this is too much to handle. They run away. What is my strategy for dealing with this? I keep finding new ways to tell them the truth. I don’t stop. That’s what an actual reporter does.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)
I came across a Forbes article (5/27/15) by Judy Stone, “Why the U of Minnesota Research Scandal threatens us all.” In the piece, Stone mentions some boggling reports about Americans diagnosed with so-called mental disorders taking psychiatric drugs:
“The use of drugs for mental health conditions in the U.S. is staggering, according to a 2011 mental health report by Medco Health Solutions:”
“—more than one in 5 adults was on at least one psychiatric med in 2010, up 22% from 2000”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic UN “Human Rights” Boss Seeks “Proactive” Web Censorship
A fringe Islamic prince turned United Nations “High Commissioner for Human Rights” infamous for comparing President Donald Trump to Hitler and ISIS, and for protecting child-raping UN troops from exposure, has a new target: free speech on the Internet. Under the guise of stopping “hate speech,” a concept first pushed by the murderous Soviet regime that has evolved to encompass any speech the establishment hates, outgoing UN “human rights” boss Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein called on the Big Tech companies to “proactively” step up their escalating censorship campaign. Facebook and Google seemed more than happy to comply.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Dismisses All Charges Against 3 Extremists From New Mexico Terror Training Compound…
The sketchy story of the jihadist training compound in New Mexico takes yet another weird turn today. A New Mexico judge dismissed all charges against three suspects tied to a compound where alleged Muslim extremists reportedly trained children to be school shooters.
District Judge Emilio Chavez on Wednesday dismissed charges against three of the five defendants, ruling that authorities violated the state’s “10-day rule.”
Child abuse charges against Lucas Morton, Subhannah Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj were dropped because prosecutors missed the 10-day limit for an evidentiary hearing to establish probable cause.
The charges against fellow defendants, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Jany Leveille, remained. The suspects are accused of holding nearly a dozen children at the compound. The remains of a twelfth child were found on the compound.[…]
[Take a look at the photos of these criminals at the URL, above]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Judge Dismisses All Charges Against Three New Mexico Muslims
The news that the judge in New Mexico just dismissed all charges against three of the five New Mexico extremist Muslims is shocking! The reason is even more disturbing!
According to Fox News:
Trending: JUST IN: Judge Jeff McElroy on Wednesday dismissed all of the charges against three of the five defendants arrested in connection to a New Mexico compound linked to “extremist Muslims” because authorities violated the state’s “10-day rule.” Under law, the state has to give the defendants a preliminary hearing within 10 days. The judge said it was a difficult decision to release the three but the rule left him with no option. The people of New Mexico need to rethink this ridiculous rule:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nolte: If CNN and Carl Bernstein Are Willing to Lie About the Little Things…
Why would Bernstein tell that lie, a meaningless lie, when all he had to do to protect his source was not write that sentence, was to say nothing? Instead, though, he made a conscious choice to tell a lie, to intentionally mislead his readers over something that really doesn’t matter.
Now, I fully understand why Bernstein would publish what he had to have known was fake news (after all, Michael Cohen had already testified under oath he knew nothing about President Trump knowing in advance of the Trump Tower meeting). This is no mystery.
For the last 20 or so years, Bernstein has been a left-wing political hack dining out on what happened in 1973. Meanwhile, his former partner, Bob Woodward, has continued to published bestsellers and break big news. The Trump Tower story was a way for Bernstein to feel like a journalist again, as opposed to just another aging cable news pundit. But why tell such a silly lie?
Roll that question around in your head for just a moment, as I have for the past few days, and there is only one answer: CNN and Bernstein lie because… they can.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Oklahoma Archbishop: Allegations Against Pope Francis ‘Demand’ Full Investigation
The archbishop of Oklahoma City has joined a growing wave of prelates calling for a full investigation into allegations that Pope Francis knowingly rehabilitated a serial sexually abusive U.S. cardinal.
In an August 28 statement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said that the 11-page testimony of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganó, the former papal nuncio to the United States, “has sent shock waves throughout the Catholic Church.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Orrin Hatch Asks FTC to Investigate Google for Antitrust Violations
Republican Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday to investigate Google ads, alleging it has violated antitrust policies.
“I respectfully request that the FTC consider the competitive effects of Google’s conduct in search and digital advertising,” Hatch wrote in a press release Thursday.
Hatch raised a number of concerns, ranging from Google’s data collection policies to its potential anticompetitive behavior. He pointed to the last FTC investigation of Google which concluded in 2013 after deciding not to press charges against Google.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pentagon Whistleblower Says Russia Probe Was ‘All a Set-Up’
A suspended department of defense whistleblower has come forward saying that the Russian probe into “Russian collusion” was “all a setup.” New documents obtained by an investigative journalist show that the FBI’s investigation into the Trump campaign was all a politically motivated set up.
According to PJ Media, investigative journalist Sara Carter was able to obtain the documents proving the FBI attempted to set up the Trump campaign. Dubbed Operation Crossfire Hurricane, this operation relied heavily upon faulty intelligence gathered by longtime FBI informant Stefan Halper, a Cambridge professor, after he tried to set up several members of the Trump campaign.
***EXCLUSIVE*** Whistleblower Exposes Key Player in FBI Russia Probe: “It was all a Set-up” https://t.co/lz6SyrgUw3
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) August 27, 2018
According to her report, Sara Carter’s investigation uncovered some rather dubious activities undertaken by Halper.
[Adam] Lovinger, a whistleblower, is now battling to save his career. The Pentagon suspended his top-secret security clearance May 1, 2017, when he exposed through an internal review that Stefan Halper, who was then an emeritus Cambridge professor, had received roughly $1 million in tax-payer funded money to write Defense Department foreign policy reports, his attorney Sean Bigley said. Before Lovinger’s clearance was suspended he had taken a detail to the National Security Council as senior director for strategy. He was only there for five months before he was recalled to the Pentagon, stripped of his prestigious White House detail, and ordered to perform bureaucratic make-work in a Pentagon annex Bigley calls “the land of misfit toys.” His security clearance was eventually revoked in March 2018, despite the Pentagon “refusing to turn over a single page of its purported evidence of Lovinger’s wrongdoing,” Bigley stated. Conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Defense Department to obtain the withheld records. —Sara Carter
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Poll: 32% of Conservatives Leaving Facebook Over Censorship
Policing political content backfiring on tech giants
According to the poll conducted by the Media Research Center, 32% of self-described conservatives who use Facebook have left or are considering leaving the platform due to political censorship.
Additionally, 66% of conservative users agree they don’t trust Facebook to treat users equally and and fairly regardless of political beliefs.
Another 65% stated they believe major tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter deliberately censor conservative content.
“The question Facebook and other social media companies need to ask themselves is this: Do you want to be seen as an open platform for all political beliefs or would you rather be considered a left-wing public interest group that censors free speech worldwide?” MRC President Brent Bozell said in a statement in response to the poll results.
“The latter will prove to be unbelievably costly. Censorship on social media is no longer a hypothetical; it’s reality. So too is the evidence that this censorship is pointing to a massive conservative exodus.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
RINO Jeff Flake Just Vindicated Trump With the Real Reason the Arizona Senator Isn’t Running Again
The swamp is draining…One more RINO is not running for reelection. Senator Jeff Flake announced he will not run again today in a vindictive speech against President Trump and Republicans. Hey, the guy was even thinking of running as an Independent…what does that tell you? He’s NOT a conservative! He mentioned in his speech that he couldn’t support Trump’s policies on trade and immigration. Well, those two policies are what got Trump elected!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
During a segment today (8/30/2018) entitled “What We’ve Learned from Bruce Ohr’s Testimony,” Rush Limbaugh acknowledged (transcript) that at least two key anti-Trump putschists, Nellie Ohr and John Brennan, are (at minimum) Communist sympathizers.
“Bruce Ohr, who was ranking in the Department of Justice, his wife Nellie ranking in the Department of Justice, FBI, she, by trade, is a Soviet communist expert of long-standing and many believe an apologist. And there were many of those all through the seventies and eighties and even prior to that in the State Department, at the Department of Justice. We have had plenty of communists and Soviet sympathizers. Brennan, Obama’s CIA director, could be said to have been a communist sympathizer. He voted for Gus Hall, the Communist Party candidate, 1976. How does a guy that votes for a communist end up as CIA director? But it happened.”…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
The New York Times takes up the latest accusation of domestic abuse against Keith Ellison in “A Broken Relationship and Accusations of Emotional Abuse: The Case of Keith Ellison.” The Times assigned two reporters to the story. It comes under the bylines of Julie Turkewitz and Farah Stockman. They spoke to “more than a dozen people who knew the couple.”
Note that Ellison declined a request for an interview by the Times. He is afraid he won’t get the light-touch Star Tribune treatment. He’s grown accustomed to it over the past 12 years.
Compare and contrast the Times story not just with the Star Tribune’s coverage of the same matter, but also with the Star Tribune’s latest story on Ellison. In that story the Star Tribune delivered the goods on Ellison’s day at the fair last weekend. Professional pride isn’t doing much for the Star Tribune as a news driver and the problem comes from the top.
The Times story comes with a photo of Ellison shaking the hands of a local suburban police officer. Let me just say this about that. Neither the Star Tribune nor the Times will be taking a look back at Ellison’s support of cop killers over the years.
About Ellison’s support of cop killers, by the way, there is no dispute. It’s no mystery. Sad to say that Ellison’s possible mistreatment of his girlfriends is far from the worst thing about him as possible Minnesota Attorney General.
[See the links to cop killings at URL. Ellison is a convert to Islam.]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
It would be much easier to refrain from reciting the litany of John McCain’s defects, and side with him against the predictable bumptiousness of President Trump, were it not for the fact of the news reported today that Sarah Palin is not invited—in fact may have been specifically dis-invited—from his memorial service. Palin has never been anything but gracious to McCain and grateful for his selection of her to be his running mate in 2008, even though McCain’s staff—especially the egregious Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace (both now regulars on MSNBC, which should tell you all you need to know)—undermined Palin from the start rather than preparing her for the stage on which their impetuous boss had abruptly placed her.
It was Palin’s pick that gave a shot in the arm for McCain and might have actually have helped to propel him to victory over Obama (McCain was ahead of Obama in many polls in mid-September) if the financial crisis hadn’t hit, which McCain badly flubbed in response. Sure, McCain made Palin famous, which she in turn monetized, but she was not ready to be on a presidential ticket, and McCain’s premature pick ruined a promising political career.
Just how can you complain about Trump’s boorish egotism when you decide to shun the person whose career you ruined, and who has been nothing but loyal?
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Slams Media: “They Only Have Their Hatred & Agenda”
“Truth doesn’t matter to them.”
President Trump issued a tweet storm early Thursday, slamming the media and once again describing the press as the “Enemy of the People!”
“I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the Media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them, they only have their hatred & agenda,” Trump tweeted:
[Comment: Insightful and 100% correct.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Trump Provides Example of Google Bias After Being Called Liar
POTUS tweets video exposing Google
After President Trump tweeted about Google’s suppression of conservative outlets on Tuesday, establishment media claimed he had no proof, but today he provided a small example.
During Obama’s presidency, Google put his State of The Union addresses on the front page of their site every year, while Trump’s have never been featured.
Meanwhile, CNN said Trump propped up a “false claim” that big tech is censoring conservatives and called it a conspiracy.
Trump’s latest statement proves he won’t sit back and allow America’s tech-elite to silence patriots ahead of midterms in a bid to take control of the House and proceed with impeachment hearings.
To learn more about Google’s suppression of conservative outlets watch the video below:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tucker Carlson: The Democratic Party is Radicalizing Before Our Eyes
Tucker Carlson said Wednesday that, despite media reporting, the Democratic Party — and not the GOP — is facing an identity crisis of sorts
Carlson said that the gubernatorial primary victory of Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum (D) — a Sen. Bernie Sanders-endorsed far-left candidate — is more proof the Democratic Party is looking less like the one once headlined by President John F. Kennedy.
“The Democratic Party is transforming before our eyes,” Carlson said, noting that Gillum wants to “replace ICE,” treat health care as a government-funded “right,” and that the candidate also supports the impeachment of President Trump.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This is a scandal so huge that it could blow all of the other Clinton scandals totally out of the water. It is being alleged that 18 to 20 CIA sources were either killed or imprisoned in China from 2010 to 2012 because the Chinese were reading all of Hillary Clinton’s emails as soon as they were sent or received. At the time, Clinton was using a private email server in conjunction with her duties as Secretary of State, and even though that was highly illegal Clinton was never charged with anything. But now we have learned that a Chinese company had hacked Clinton’s private server and was getting all of her emails in real time. That Chinese company was “part of an intelligence operation”, and that means that the Chinese government was also receiving all of Hillary Clinton’s emails. During the exact timeframe when these hacked emails were being received by the Chinese, “18 to 20 CIA sources” were either killed or imprisoned by China. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how that happened.
Let’s break this down one step at a time…
The source of the intelligence breach is no longer a mystery.
It was Hillary Clinton.
Of those “18 to 20 CIA sources”, at least a dozen were put to death. Here is more from Reuters…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Did George Soros Just Buy Millions in Facebook, Twitter and Google Stock?
Now, it’s being reported by the Washington Free Beacon, that George Soros is drastically increasing his shares in a handful of tech companies after previously bashing such companies as a “menace” and while a coalition of progressive groups he financially backs pushes a campaign that includes a goal of breaking up Facebook.
Soros made the large stock purchases during the second quarter through Soros Fund Management, the financier’s New York City-based investment firm. The purchases include 159,200 shares in Facebook (valued at $31 million), 250,000 shares in Twitter (valued at $11 million), and 54,500 shares in Apple (valued at $10 million), Security and Exchange Commission filings show.
Soros did not have holdings in any of those companies during the first quarter, according to the fund’s previous filings.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
2018 Now Worst Fire Season on Record as B.C. Extends State of Emergency
The B.C. government has extended the provincial state of emergency because of wildfires that have now burned more area than any other season on record.
As of Tuesday, more than 12,984 square kilometres of the province had burned, pushing past the previous record set just one year earlier.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Is Canada Prepared for the Threat of Returning Jihadists?
Canada’s intelligence service stated that some 60 “returnees” — fighters who had returned to Canada — “have the potential to pose a significant threat to our national security.” In other words, there are dozens of jihadis roaming free in Canada, without being apprehended or charged by authorities.
The noise surrounding the debate over jihadist returnees has been drowning out the country’s intelligence service assessment about the threat they pose to Canada’s national security — a threat that the Trudeau government is ill-prepared, ill-equipped and ideologically ill-suited to confront.
Prevention, investigation and prosecution of terrorists should be the top priority, ahead of rehabilitation and reintegration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Why Trudeau Suddenly Danced to Trump’s NAFTA Tune
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rapidly decided to dance to President Trump’s NAFTA tune, the moment a U.S.-Mexico agreement was announced.
We learned as much on Wednesday when Trudeau announced that “the Americans and Mexicans very much want to try and get things done by Friday and we’re seeing if we can get to the right place by Friday, but as I’ve said all along it has to be the right deal for Canada and that’s what we are staying firm on.” Trump had given Trudeau a deadline to join a U.S.-Mexican trade deal by Friday or face exclusion.
But while Trudeau’s caveat of “the right deal” might sound like he’s playing tough, the opposite is true. In fact, the Canadian chief executive has been outmaneuvered by Trump’s phone-call-announced deal on Tuesday with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his incoming successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
So why is Trudeau, who had until now played hardball with Trump, changing his tune? Because he has little choice. With Mexico agreeing to dislocate from the existing NAFTA arrangement, its leaders illustrated to Canada that they would accept NAFTA’s broader implosion in return for new deals with Trump. Canada cannot accept that outcome because to accept NAFTA’s free trade collapse would be worse for Canadians than for Americans.[…]
[Another chapter in “The Art of the Deal”]
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
Benedict Hasn’t Confirmed Viganò’s Dossier — Gaenswein
Ex-pope’s secretary calls report he confirmed it ‘a lie’
(ANSA) — Vatican City, August 30 — Benedict XVI’s secretary Msgr Georg Gaenswein told ANSA Thursday that the ex pope has not confirmed the content of a letter from former US nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò saying Pope Francis covered up sex crimes by ex-Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick and should resign.
Gaenswein confirmed to ANSA what he had already said, calling the report Benedict had backed Viganò “fake news, a lie”.
He said the pope emeritus had not commented on the letter and would not do so in future either.
Pope Francis is “embittered” by a letter written by Viganò, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States, which said Francis should step down for allegedly covering up a top US bishop’s sex abuse, his close collaborators told ANSA Wednesday.
The former Vatican diplomat said in the document that Francis had protected McCarrick, who is accused of sexually abusing seminarians.
The pope is not considering resigning, however, the sources said. Viganò said he told Francis about McCarrick in 2013, saying he had been sanctioned by former pope Benedict XVI, but Francis did nothing about it.
Francis has said he will not dignify Viganò’s allegations with a reply.
The case has pitted conservative critics of Francis against progressive supporters who say the traditionalists are “weaponising” child abuse to attack the pope’s mercy-over-morals approach.
Viganò also claimed there was a powerful gay lobby in the Church he blamed for the many scandals on abuse and cover-ups, naming names.
On Wednesday Viganò, who was previously involved in the Vatileaks case, said in an interview that he was not pursuing a vendetta for having been replaced as nuncio to the US in 2016, or previously losing his place in the Vatican government.
“I have never had feelings of revenge or rancour in all these years,” he said.
He denied being a “poison-pen letter writer”, saying “I am accustomed to doing things in the light of day.” Viganò, one of the conservatives who have criticised Francis for opening up to gays and remarried divorce’s while denouncing ‘clericalism’, unfettered capitalism and climate change, was speaking to journalist Aldo Maria Valli who published the interview on his blog on Vatican affairs.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Brexiteer MPs Hit Out at Weak UK Response to French Fishermen Attack
Micheal Gove has been slammed for “showing weakness” in a row where French boats attacked British vessels over scallop fishing.
Leaked WhatsApp messages show Brexit supporting Tory MPs fury with Gove for not doing more to help UK fishermen, with Owen Paterson saying: “Our boats would not have to go over to French waters if they had fair access to our own.
“We should chuck Chequers and establish our full control of our EEZ (British waters) out to 200 miles.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chemnitz Protests: Germany to Probe Leak of Stabbing Suspect
Germany is investigating who leaked an arrest warrant for an Iraqi suspect in a stabbing case to far-right groups, a case that triggered violent protests.
Thousands joined a far-right rally in the eastern city of Chemnitz on Sunday after the fatal stabbing.
The unauthorised disclosure has increased concerns of possible links between police and anti-migrant groups.
Chemnitz is braced for fresh protests on Thursday, with local authorities calling in federal police to help.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Politician Cancels Muhammad Cartoon Contest After Threats, Protests
A Dutch politician who planned on holding a “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest has called the competition off after riots in Pakistan and threats from Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who organized the contest, stated that his decision to call off the competition comes after numerous death threats, according to Al Jazeera. One 26-year-old man was arrested earlier this week in The Hague after he reportedly made threats against Wilders’ life.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commissioner Threatens ‘Penalties’ if Italy Stops Payments Over Migrant Row
European Union Commissioner Günther Oettinger has threatened the anti-establishment populist Italian coalition government with sanctions if the Italians make good on threats to stop funding the political bloc.
Mr Oettinger made the threat against the Italians this week after Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio had floated the idea of his country refusing to pay billions to the EU without a deal on member states sharing in the burden of taking incoming asylum seekers landing in Italy, Il Giornale reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Europeans Will Say Goodbye to Daylight Saving Time on 28 October
A European Union online survey has concluded that a vast majority of the bloc’s citizens are against switching between summer and winter time. All signs point towards the EU now putting a stop to changing the clocks.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
I Claim ‘Blackmail’ On EU — Salvini
2 new charges are ‘medals’ says interior minister
(ANSA) — Venice, August 30 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday he claimed responsibility for “blackmailing” the EU over the Diciotti coast guard ship carrying 177 Eritrean migrants.
“I learn there is a new crime, blackmailing the European Union, I didn’t know it existed,” Salvini told a press conference on the probe into the Diciotti where he is accused of illegal arrest and abuse of office, among other things.
“They are changing the penal code for the interior minister.
Good, I claim responsibility for blackmailing the European Union”.
Informed that he had been charged with two further alleged crimes, Salvini said “these two new charges are medals” The EU refused to take in the migrants, who were eventually taken in by Italian bishops, Ireland and Albania.
Salvini added that Italy was “assessing” whether to continue the EU’s Sophia mission which currently lands all rescued migrants in Italian ports.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ethnic Eateries Up 40% in 5 Yrs
Milan top for foreign caterers
(ANSA) — Rome, August 30 — Ethnic eateries have risen 40% in the last five years, the chamber of commerce of Milan, Monza Brianza and Lodi said Thursday.
There are 40,000 eateries and 9,000 takeaway outlets, it said.
Milan is the top Italian city for foreign caterers, it said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 2 Nabbed for Beating, Sexual Violence in Parma
Italian, Nigerian ‘attacked’ woman, 21
(ANSA) — Bologna, August 30 — Italian police on Thursday arrested an Italian and a Nigerian accused of sexual violence and grievous bodily harm against a 21-year-old woman.
The alleged attack took place in Parma, police said.
The probe started after a report from an ER department where the young woman went.
Doctors said it would take 45 days for her to fully recover after discharging her.
The pair of attackers allegedly abused the woman for five hours, sexually assaulting and torturing her while continuing to take drugs which pushers were delivering to their door, police said.
The alleged assailants were named as Federico Pesci, 46, from Parma, and Wilson Ndu Anihem, a 53-year-old Nigerian domiciled in the Emilian city.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ancient Rome’s Jail Damaged by Church Roof Collapse
Mamertine Prison hit by San Giuseppe vault fragments
(ANSA) — Rome, August 30 — The most famed and infamous prison of ancient Rome was damaged Thursday when the roof of a central Roman church fell in.
No one was hurt because the church was, as usual, closed at the time of the accident. The vault of San Giuseppe dei Falegnami (St Joseph of the Carpenters), at the Roman forum, caved in, damaging the Mamertine Prison beneath it. The church is usually closed and only opened for weddings.
It was built between the end of the 16th century and the start of the 17th.
A fire-service crane has got rid of some remaining hanging parts of the caved-in roof. The wooden beams, which are still standing, are visible through the wreckage.
The inside of the church is full of broken beams and rubble, fire services said.
Sniffer dogs are going through the wreckage as a precaution, sources said.
The church’s priest, who was in the building but not the church, is OK.
The collapse has damaged the once-infamous Mamertine Prison too.
“Some fragments of the roof,” fire service engineer Luigi Liolli said, “hit a part of the altar.
“A beam then damaged the Mamertine Prison too”, where the pavement gave way.
Colosseum Archeological Park Superintendent Alfonsina Russo told ANSA the church was the property of the Vatican’s Vicariate of Rome.
She said the maintenance “is the competence of the Italian culture ministry, while the underlying Mamertine Prison is the competence of the Colosseum superintendecy”.
The Mamertine Prison was used to house Rome’s defeated enemies, many of whom were executed there.
Among those held there were Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls during the Gallic War, who was executed at Caesar’s Triumph in 46 BC; Jugurtha, King of Numidia, who died of starvation there in 104 BC; St Paul; and St. Peter, who was imprisoned there before being crucified, after performing baptisms in a spring at the bottom of the pit.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 5 Georgians Nabbed for Burglarising Salvini’s Parents’ Home
In Milan
(ANSA) — Milan, August 30 — Five Georgians have been arrested for burglarising several Milan flats including that of the parents of Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
Police have dubbed them ‘the glue gang’ because of their method of gaining access to the properties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Man Nabbed With 120kg of Hash in Garage
Near Foggia
(ANSA) — Foggia, August 30 — Italian police on Thursday arrested a Moroccan national after finding 120 kg of hashish in his garage near Foggia in Puglia.
Hicham Haddouch was arrested by the flying squad in Carapelle.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
- Assange has been inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, and has been banned from using internet or having visitors since March
- Supporter and journalist Vaughan Smith says his health is suffering as a result
- Backers also fear he could soon be forced out under pressure from America
- Robert Mueller is known to be looking into Wikileaks as part of his Russia probe
[Comment: Well, it was said around three weeks ago that Assange would ‘soon’ be forced out of the embassy.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Macron Tells Denmark ‘No Such Thing as a True Dane, True Frenchman’
French politicians have reacted with anger after Emmanuel Macron asserted that “true” Frenchmen and Danes “do not exist”, and attacked the people he rules over as stubbornly resistant to change while on an official visit to Denmark.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Francis ‘Embittered’ By Accusations But Has ‘No Intentions of Retiring’
Pope Francis is reportedly “embittered” by allegations that he knowingly promoted a serial sex-offending cardinal but has no plans to retire.
The Italian news agency ANSA cited “close collaborators of the pope” Wednesday in its report of the pontiff’s reaction to an explosive 11-page testimony by the former papal nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Slovakia: PM: Employing Foreigners Must be Speeded Up
Same conditions as Slovak. We won’t tolerate any social du
(ANSA) — UDINE, 29 AGO — Due to the shortage of labour in the country, Slovakia needs to adopt a number of measures in the area of the controlled import of labour, including a measure that will cut the time needed for companies to hire foreigners, stated Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) after talks about the lack of labour in the country, Tasr reported.
“The situation in Slovakia is rather critical at the moment,” added Pellegrini, noting that if the country doesn’t speed up processes for accepting foreign employees, Slovakia could lose its competitiveness vis-a-vis surrounding countries.
“However, we won’t adopt measures that would deteriorate the conditions for Slovak employees, which means that we won’t tolerate any social dumping…,” said the premier, adding that the import of foreign labour will be monitored, and companies will have to employ foreigners under the same conditions as those provided to Slovak employees and only in professions for which Slovakia lacks labour. Pellegrini added that the Government also wants to work with long-term unemployed Slovaks, including the Roma, and find ways to put this group on the labour market.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tensions Rise in Catalonia Over Pro-Independence Yellow Ribbons
Catalan separatists decorate streets, monuments and even beaches with yellow ribbons to promote their cause, but their opponents are quick to remove them.
Tensions are rising in Catalonia over the use of this symbol demanding the release of Catalan political leaders who were jailed during the region’s fight for independence last year.
A group of around 80 masked activists wearing white boiler suits removed hundreds of yellow ribbons overnight from small towns near Girona, images broadcast on Spanish television showed.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Is Social Media Really Good for Communities — or Does it Fan the Flames of Hatred?
by Paul Geater
[…]
This week there has been controversy over the proposal to turn the Mulberry Tree pub near Major’s Corner into a community centre.
The Nawracy Cultural Centre, which is based at an address in London, has put in a planning application for a change of use to Ipswich council — saying it wants to convert it into a community centre.
The application does not mention using it as a mosque. A place of worship requires a different planning permission to a community centre. But a video has appeared on Youtube describing the proposal as the “Ipswich Mosque” and that has got some people very upset.
It’s fair to say those behind The Nawracy Cultural Centre haven’t done themselves any favours. By making an application for a community centre and then issuing a video saying they want to build a mosque they have given their opponents an excuse to claim they are not being entirely straight.
Also they have not engaged with local people — they have not responded to our requests to speak to them and I understand council officials have also had difficulty in making contact.
That isn’t helpful — although maybe I can understand some of their reluctance to engage given the really unpleasant racist and Islamophobic comments that have been posted about the application on social media.
Some sites seem to be fanning the flames of sectarian hatred by claiming that every Muslim is an Islamic extremist and potential terrorist.
That is a travesty of a religion based on hospitality and care for fellow human beings — a religion based on the same God as Christianity and Judaism.
Some extremists who claim to be Muslims seek justification for their beliefs in religious texts. But there are also fairly extreme texts in the Christian Bible, particularly the Old Testament, that have been used by some fundamentalists to justify some barbaric behaviour.
To try to suggest that a new mosque in Ipswich will be nest of terrorists trying to convert the town to an alien religion is like suggesting that churches are all full of Christian fundamentalists hearing nothing but tales of fire and brimstone. That is daft…
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Police Boss Denies ‘No-Go Areas’ After ‘Regular’ Attacks on Officers
The head of London police has been forced to deny parts of the capital are becoming “no-go areas” after two shocking recent incidents where the public was filmed cheering as officers were assaulted on the job.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK:16-Year-Old Boy Arrested for Suspected Terrorism in London
A 16-year-old boy has been arrested in West London on suspicion of terrorism offences, according to a press release by the Metropolitan Police.
We don’t know what the details are yet — it could be ISIS-inspired, it might even be far right — but this is symptomatic of a wider problem in London.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Militias Clash in Libya, 26 People Killed
15 civilians dead and 51 injured
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 30 — The death toll from clashes between militias in Tripoli that began on Monday had risen to 26 as of Thursday morning including 15 civilians. Some 75 people were also injured, according to a tweet by Libyan broadcaster Al Ahrar, which quoted field hospital sources. Fifty-one of the injured were civilians.
The website of the broadcaster said that another ceasefire had been agreed at 11 PM on Wednesday evening but intermittent fire continued to be heard on Thursday. The announcement of the alleged ceasefire, the website of the broadcaster reported, was read by representatives of the ‘Committee of Dignitaries’ of the western area of the capital, the Tripoli Council of reconciliation and the mayors of some municipalities of the metropolitan area. The clashes began when the Seventh Brigade, a militia based in Tarhuna and officially under the Government of National accord (GNA) defence ministry, made a move against formations currently under Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj, accusing them of being corrupt. A precarious ceasefire announced on Monday was violated on Wednesday when forces under Serraj’s UN-recognized government launched a counteroffensive in the southern suburbs that the Seventh Brigade had taken control of, which in turn had sought to advance towards the airport.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudis May be Responsible for War Crimes in Yemen — UN
New report points finger at all sides in conflict
GENEVA — The UN-mandated Group of Regional and International Eminent Experts on Yemen said in a report presented in Geneva that “individuals in the government of Yemen and the coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have committed acts that may amount to international crimes”.
The Group of Experts documented information that it said “strongly suggests that parties to the armed conflict have perpetrated, and continue to perpetrate, violations and crimes under international law”.
The report said coalition air strikes have caused most direct civilian casualties, and that the strikes have hit residential areas, markets, funerals, weddings, detention facilities, and even medical facilities.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
White Helmets Accompany Large Delivery of Poisonous Chemicals to Militants in Syria — MoD
A large supply of chemicals has been delivered to the militants in Syria’s Idlib with the assistance of the White Helmets aid group in order to stage a provocation and blame the Syrian government, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.
The Russian military has received information from several sources in Idlib Province that “a large supply of poisonous agents has been brought to the city of Saraqib on two trucks from the village of Afs,” Major-General Aleksey Tsygankov, head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the opposing sides in Syria, said in a statement.
The chemicals were delivered to an arms depot, used by the militant group Ahrar al-Sham, “accompanied by the eight members of the White Helmets organization,” Tsygankov said, adding that the cargo was met by two high-ranked Ahrar al-Sham commanders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Cats Could be Banned in a New Zealand Town. ‘It’s Like a Police State, ‘ Resident Says
“It’s like a police state.”
That is Nico Jarvis’ complaint after the New Zealand government announced a plan to eventually ban all cats in her village of Omaui, according to the Otago Daily Times. Ali Meade, biosecurity operations manager for Environment Southland, said the proposed plan would prevent people from purchasing any new cats — and require owners to neuter, register and microchip any current felines they have at home, the newspaper reported.
The ban is needed because Omaui has nature reserves, Meade reportedly told Newshub, and the cats are “preying on native birds” and “all sorts of things.” New Zealand has already announced an “ambitious” plan to rid the country of all non-native predators by 2050.
Environment Southland, a government agency, wrote in a press release that the possible ban on cats is part of a larger effort that targets “72 specific pests” in the area.
| — Hat tip: Dora | [Return to headlines] |
A spiritual healer has been acquitted of detaining a Sydney man against his will to carry out a black magic exorcism involving cupping and cutting but found guilty of a lesser assault charge.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Militants Burn Alive Christian Pastor and His Family in Nigeria
Fulani Muslim militants launched raids on eight villages in central Nigeria this week, burning alive a Christian pastor along with his wife and three of their children.
In the village of Abonong in Plateau State, the Islamic raiders, armed with machetes and AK47 rifles, looted and destroyed 95 houses, along with farmland and three churches. They killed Pastor Adamu Gyang Wurim and his family by setting fire to their house while they were inside and shot the pastor’s wife in the bathroom. The assailants killed two other villagers as well, wounding several others.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Albania PM: Italy Left Alone by EU on Migrants
100 migrants leave Messina for Rocca di Papa
(ANSA) — Genoa, August 28 — Albanian Premier Edi Rama said Tuesday Italy had been left alone by the EU to cope with the migrant emergency. Speaking in Genoa after agreeing to take in 20 migrants from the Diciotti coast guard ship after a 10-day standoff, Rama said “Italy has been the most welcoming country in Europe in the last 30 years, but it has been left alone and nerves are no longer so solid, we intervened hoping that Europe would do something concrete to resolve the problem”.
“We (Albanians) were once the Eritreans. Italy was our promised land and the Italians did not ever leave us in the middle of the sea”. Some 100 of the 177 migrants left a Messina hotspot for Rocca di Papa Tuesday after the Italian catholic Church agred to take them in. They will be distributed among several dioceses across Italy. Ireland also agreed to take in 20, like Albania. Since Albania is a non-EU country, migrants will go there only on a voluntary basis.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Austria Calls for EU Armies to Man Borders in Bid to Stop Migrant Crisis
AUSTRIA has called for European Union armed forces to help man EU borders to stop illegal entry by migrants.
Mario Kunasek, Austria’s Defence Minister, said soldiers from EU member states would be deployed to support Frontex, the European coast guard.
The suggestion has been met with wariness by Germany and other EU member states, in another example of the bloc’s disagreements on how to handle migration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Claiming Germany Has 1.6m Vacant Jobs, Merkel Set to Open Border to Non-EU Workers
Claiming there are more than a million vacant jobs in Germany, Angela Merkel’s government is set to slash immigration restrictions so non-EU migrants can be shipped in to fill roles in vocational careers.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Could Swear About Refugees, Redgrave Says in Venice
British actress to get career Golden Lion at fest opening
(ANSA) — Venice, August 29 — Vanessa Redgrave told ANSA ahead of the Venice Film Festival opening Wednesday she could “swear” about the failure to take in refugees.
The British actress, 81, who will get a lifetime achievement Golden Lion at the fest’s opening ceremony Wednesday night, said “I weigh my words but I could swear about what is not being done for refugees”.
“Our governments have lost the sense of reality and humanity”.
The actress, who won an Oscar for Giulia in 1978, is a lifelong activist for political, social and human rights. The 75th fest kicks off with Damien Chazelle’s First Man starring Ryan Gosling as an anti-heroic Neil Amstrong .
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Police Arrest NGO Workers Involved in Illegal Migration Assistance Network
Police in Greece have arrested pro-migrant NGO workers on the island of Lesbos who they claim have been part of an operation to assist asylum seekers illegally entering the country.
According to investigators, 30 people, six of them from Greece with 24 coming from other countries, were involved with the network and three suspects have been arrested, Le Figaro reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Summons Swedish Ambassador Over Criticism of Migration Policy
Budapest has long been severe in its criticism of the European Union’s open-door policy, opposing mandatory migrant relocation quotas. The country’s stance prompted the European Commission to launch its first infringement procedure against Hungary over its asylum legislation in December 2015.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Hungary Summons Swedish Ambassador After ‘Bring it on’ Attacks on Illegal Migrant Policy
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s Foreign Ministry says it summoned Sweden’s ambassador after the Swedish foreign minister and other officials made critical comments about Hungary, including about its strong anti-immigration polic
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: 40,000 Migrants Back, Macron Should Keep Quiet — Salvini
‘Far cry from solidarity and reception’
(ANSA) — Rome, August 30 — France has pushed back more than 40,00 migrants to Italy since last year so French President Emmanuel Macron should stop lecturing Italy about stopping migrants, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday.
“More than 40,000 push backs at French borders with Italy since last year, a far cry from solidarity and reception,” he said.
“Macron should have the good taste to keep quiet and not give lectures to the Italians”.
Salvini has been refusing landing permission in Italy to many migrant rescue ships, drawing criticism from Macron.
Salvini also said Thursday he claimed responsibility for “blackmailing” the EU over the Diciotti coast guard ship carrying 177 Eritrean migrants.
“I learn there is a new crime, blackmailing the European Union, I didn’t know it existed,” Salvini told a press conference on the probe into the Diciotti where he is accused of illegal arrest and abuse of office, among other things.
“They are changing the penal code for the interior minister.
Good, I claim responsibility for blackmailing the European Union”.
The EU refused to take in the migrants, who were eventually taken in by Italian bishops, Ireland and Albania.
Salvini added that Italy was “assessing” whether to continue the EU’s Sophia mission which currently lands all rescued migrants in Italian ports.
Salvini also said he had been the one who had phoned the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) asking them to take migrants from the Diciotti coast guard ship where he had been holding them and demanding the EU take them.
“It was me who called the CEI, they didn’t call themselves.
Ireland, Albania and the bishops were contacted by us,” he said, referring to the two countries who also took in some of the Eritreans.
“Europe for the umpteenth time turned away and pretended nothing was happening,” he said.
He said the government had also contacted “other countries we hope may be useful for other, eventual landings”.
Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta, meanwhile, voiced disappointment Thursday at drawing a blank on Italy’s proposal to change the Sophia mission’s landing rules so that other countries besides Italy can take migrants.
“I feel disappointed because I’ve seen that Europe is not here but I’m confident”, she said after a defence ministers’ meeting.
“We will assess what to do” after no agreement was reached on changing Sophia’s port of landing rules.
“All decisions will be taken with the government snd Premier (Giuseppe) Conte”, she said when asked whether Italy would leave the mission.
Trenta voiced the hope that things might change at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting Friday.
“I’ve found open doors, but also closed ones,” she said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: I Called CEI for Diciotti Migrants — Salvini
We also contacted Ireland and Albania
(ANSA) — Venice, August 30 — Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday he had been the one who had phoned the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) asking them to take migrants from the Diciotti coast guard ship where he had been holding them and demanding the EU take them.
“It was me who called the CEI, they didn’t call themselves.
Ireland, Albania and the bishops were contacted by us,” he said, referring to the two countries who also took in some of the Eritreans.
“Europe for the umpteenth time turned away and pretended nothing was happening,” he said.
He said the government had also contacted “other countries we hope may be useful for other, eventual landings”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Says May Leave Sophia if No EU Deal
‘Assessing’ participation says Salvini
(ANSA) — Rome, August 30 — Italy on Thursday said it might leave the EU anti-human trafficking Sophia mission in the Mediterranean unless there was a deal among EU members to have rescued migrants land at other ports beside Italian ones.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Italy was “assessing” whether to continue the EU’s Sophia mission which currently lands all rescued migrants in Italian ports.
Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta voiced disappointment Thursday at drawing a blank on Italy’s proposal to change the Sophia mission’s landing rules so that other countries besides Italy can take migrants.
“I feel disappointed because I’ve seen that Europe is not here but I’m confident”, she said after a defence ministers’ meeting.
“We will assess what to do” after no agreement was reached on changing Sophia’s port of landing rules.
“All decisions will be taken with the government and Premier (Giuseppe) Conte”, she said when asked whether Italy would leave the mission.
Trenta voiced the hope that things might change at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting Friday.
“I’ve found open doors, but also closed ones,” she said.
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini said “there is no consensus on practical solutions” on the proposed Sophia mission changes.
She said she hoped for a concrete result on possibly changing the Sophia mission’s landing rules to help Italy in the coming weeks.
“I hope for a concrete result in the coming weeks,” she said after EU defence ministers failed to agree on the issue.
“It is not and will not be am easy exercise but it is a duty, because in these last few years we have proved that the EU can make a difference in the Mediterranean”.
She said “losing this asset would be a big step backwards for the member States and the whole EU”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Interior Minister Accused of Kidnapping Migrants
“The investigation notice sent to [Interior Minister Matteo] Salvini could in fact be seen as a direct attempt to prevent a minister from carrying out his political activity in accordance with the vote expressed by the majority of Italians on the basis of precise electoral commitments.” — Gianni Alemanno, former Mayor of Rome, denouncing the investigation into Salvini as unconstitutional.
“I am amazed at the astonishment of a political left that now exists only to challenge others and believes that Milan should not host the president of a European power, as if the left has the authority to decide who has the right to speak and who does not — and then they wonder why no one votes for them anymore.” — Matteo Salvini, Italian Interior Minister.
Opinion polls show that Salvini’s anti-immigration stance has boosted his League party’s approval rating.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Asks EU to Land Rescued Migrants at French and Spanish Ports Instead
Rome will on Thursday ask the European Union to rotate the ports where migrants rescued at sea disembark, Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta said, with France and Spain expected to top the list.
Trenta will put the plan to her European counterparts during an informal meeting in Vienna.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Mollie Tibbetts and the Lower Alien Crime Rate Lie
Open border advocates say that immigrants come here to do jobs Americans won’t do. Well, excuse me, but we have Americans all too willing to kill their brethren. Murder is a job American criminals are quite willing to do and to those who say immigrants commit crime at a lower rate than American citizens, I say that all that proves is that we have enough criminals — we don’t need to import more.
The blood of Kate Steinle and Mollie Tibbetts and others is on the hands of open border advocates and the sanctuary city loons who provide no sanctuary for the American citizen victims of illegal alien criminals.
Even if it were true that illegal aliens commit crimes, including murder, at rates lower than American citizens, that would be irrelevant. The murder rate for illegal aliens should be zero because none of them should be here and the indisputable fact is that Jamiel Shaw Jr., Kate Steinle, and Mollie Tibbetts would be alive today if the illegal aliens who slew them were still staring at the other side of a border wall liberals refuse to build.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Texas Company Must Forfeit Over $5 Million for Hiring Illegal Aliens
A company in Texas must forfeit $5.5 million to the government for hiring illegal aliens over a course of nine years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas Wednesday.
Waste Management of Texas hired at least three managers who actively encouraged illegal aliens to work between 2003 to April 2012, according to a press release from the attorney’s office. Many workers were hired or rehired with little to no regard to authorization status at the Houston location.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Yacht With 71 Illegal Migrants Stopped in Greek Waters
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Authorities in western Greece have arrested two people for allegedly trying to smuggle 71 migrants out of the country on a U.S.-flagged yacht.
The Greek merchant marine ministry said the yacht was stopped in the Gulf of Patras following a tip-off. The vessel is believed to have been heading for Italy.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Prof Touts ‘Ecosexuality’ As ‘Environmental Activist Strategy’
A St. Mary’s College of Maryland professor published a scholarly article exploring how “queer environmentalism” and “ecosexuality” can make environmentalism more appealing.
Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies professor Lauran Whitworth wrote “Goodbye Gauley Mountain, hello eco-camp: Queer environmentalism in the Anthropocene,” a study which seeks to convey the “effectiveness of queer environmental ethics in the Anthropocene, a word increasingly used to describe the anthropogenic destruction of ecosystems that marks our current geological era.” The academic journal Feminist Theory published the article.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden — The Feminist Gender Madness — A Documentary Video.
Documentary showing the full scale gender indoctrination of children.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden’s Schools Are Forcing Boys to be Genderless (Video)
Sweden’s schools are forcing boys to be genderless. Why Sweden has genderless schools in 2017. Sweden has genderless kids and children in their kindergarten schools in 2017, and parents are forcing their Swedish kids to be transgender, trans, genderless, and gender fluid even though they are young children. This video is cringe worthy and the parents are forcing boys and girls to ignore their gender and become trans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
We’ve Found Another Problem With IPv6: It’s Sparked a Punch-Up Between Top Networks
We’ve discovered another reason why IPv6 is, right now, a poor substitute to IPv4: fisticuffs have broken out over the protocol on the internet’s trunk roads, causing traffic jams.
In a report this month by Qrator Labs, researchers dug into what they are calling national internet reliability: the ability of a country’s internet to handle a loss of connectivity from one or more ISPs.
And the results are intriguing, not least because IPv6 networks appear to be significantly less stable than traditional IPv4 networks even though you might naturally assume that they would be the same — it’s just traffic and packets, right?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
There are lots of news articles lately about politicians (e.g. Slovakia and Germany PM) complaining there aren’t enough workers and Europe must be flooded with foreign workers immediately. There are several such articles in the Romanian news as well and the Romanian politicians are falling in line. In the case of Romania at least, these calls come from companies who are looking for unskilled or low-skilled workers and where the pay is minimum wage (around 300e per month). This is reflected in the 30.000 official job listings ( https://www.anofm.ro/files/Comunicat%20de%20presa%20-LMV%2030%20August%202018.pdf ) where most of the job offers are for security agent (1,852), unskilled assembly worker, assembly of parts (1,827), commercial worker (1,650), goods handler (1,338), unskilled worker in the garment industry (1,305),(937), unskilled worker at the demolition of buildings, lining, masonry, mosaic tiles, tiles, floor tiles, parquet (854), assembler (810), sales clerk(770), truck / heavy duty truck driver (753).
I remember one comment made on such articles, where someone gave the example of a business in Tulcea, now owned by a company registered in Italy (but who knows who’s really behind it), that wants to bring in 500 Vietnamese because supposedly they can’t find enough employees in Europe. The comment owner remembers the official position of politicians from 10-20 years ago when we were told that businesses are coming to Romania for the cheap labor and he is asking “if they can bring foreign workers in Romania, why couldn’t they have brought them directly to Italy?”. It seems companies want to enjoy the rights and privileges of operating in Europe, while offering salaries compatible with Bangladesh, Vietnam, Morocco etc. The real questions are: why are politicians willing to screw over their own workers by keeping the wages down and why are they so eager to remove the borders of their countries so that anyone can move in?
Shame the contest was called off. They should hold it online instead, submitting their works through proxy servers and keeping the server secure against hackers, with the gallery publicly accessible (just the pictures, without any information on the authors).
About the abolishment of summer time: 4,6 million people voted, but the EU has roughly 510 million citizens, that’s less than 1% of them. Considering summer time isn’t used in third world countries, it’s very Druncker-like to want to abolish it in Europe too. It’s nonsense in my opinion, even politics aside, there are very different regions in the EU and just taking my homeland we would suddenly have light at 3AM and dark at 9PM, instead of 4AM and 10PM during summer – pretty useless for most people. Needless to say the majority in the survey voted for keeping the summer time (not astrological time), which is utter nonsense.
In Russia, too, there were some manipulations over time.
I live in the northern latitudes and I remember that before dark in the summer around 23.00. Now it’s about 21.00, and it’s getting light at 2.00.
The government stole from us about two hours, so that we would pay more for electricity.
MURDER OF EURPE
https://youtu.be/Ot7oMEqBnw8
how to get around the you tub cencorship
http://www.ingridochmaria.se/2018/08/25/mordet-pa-europa-ny-chockerande-dokumentar-med-sverige-i-huvudroll/