French intelligence agencies are monitoring 400 individuals who may be part of sleeper cells planning violent extremist acts, also known as “kinetic activism”. Meanwhile, Swedish police will in future be equipped with machine guns when they guard synagogues.
In other news — echoing Danish Prime Minister Helle “Selfie” Thorning-Schmidt — President Barack Hussein Obama said, “We are not at war with Islam.”
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Papa Whiskey, Phyllis Chesler, Srdja Trifkovic, 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 Offers Greek Banks Extra €3.3bn Emergency Cash
The European Central Bank has reportedly agreed to raise the emergency funding available to Greek banks to €68.3bn (£50.3bn).
The €3.3bn increase in the so-called Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) is critical for Greece’s banks.
Depositors have been taking savings out of the country, depleting the banks’ access to cash to lend.
However, the Greek central bank is said to have requested an additional €10bn of emergency funding.
The ECB had already raised the amount available to Greek banks by €5bn to about €65bn last week.
The deal will give Athens breathing space to negotiate a loan deal with its European creditors.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Holder Gives 90 Day Ultimatum to Bring “Financial Crisis” Cases Against Bankers
Speaking in Washington this morning, US Attorney General Eric Holder made some rather disturbing (at least for financial market participants) statements, that made him appear to be ‘cracking-down’:
HOLDER SAYS HE HAS GIVEN U.S. ATTORNEYS 90-DAY DEADLINE TO BRING CASES AGAINST INDIVIDUALS FOR THEIR ROLE IN FINANCIAL CRISIS
Of course, the question is — does that mean after 90-days all bets are off (and everyone goes home free)?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Acting on Bad Loans But Won’t Use Public Funds — BOI
Rossi says publicly financed vehicle not likely for clean-up
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Italy is taking action to deal with about 180 billion euros in bad loans held by banks across the country, but that won’t likely be achieved through a public vehicle financed by the State, Salvatore Rossi, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, said in an interview published Tuesday.
Rossi told the Financial Times newspaper of London that measures will more likely involve fiscal incentives and legal reform to encourage sales to third parties, he said in an interview.
But a bad bank that would take over non-performing loans (NPLs) was an option being considered by the government, he said.
He also said changes to governance of Italy’s cooperative, or ‘popolari’, banks to eliminate the present “one-shareholder-one-vote” structure are necessary despite rising opposition from some lenders.
The newspaper reported that some of the popolari were among the Italian banks that did badly in a European Central Bank (ECB) review of capital quality late last year.
It said that non-performing loans held by Italian banks have more than tripled since 2007, rising to 17% of total loans, from just above 5% in 2007, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Almost half of the NPLs related to loans in a state of insolvency.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
US Warns Greece to Make a Quick Deal With Creditors
‘Warning to both sides,’ says Varoufakis
(ANSA) — Washington, February 18 — The United States on Wednesday warned Greece of the tough consequences of not moving to a swift deal with its creditors.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew called Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to “note that failure to reach an agreement would lead to immediate hardship in Greece, that the uncertainty is not good for Europe, and that time is of the essence”.
Lew “urged Greece to find a constructive path forward in partnership with Europe and the IMF to build on the foundation that exists to advance growth and reform,” the Treasury said.
Athens appeared Wednesday to be nearing a deal with EU officials on extending its bailout to allow time to renegotiate the conditions of its massive debt to allow the country more room to restore economic growth.
Varoufakis responded by saying the US call was a warning to the EU as well.
“It was a warning to both sides,” he said.
Greece’s new anti-austerity government has been challenging the EU to renegotiate its 240-billion-euro bailout but the EU says there is “no plan B”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Make Arrests, Issue Tickets or Get Fired” Missouri Police Caught in Disgusting Quota Scheme
St. Louis, MO — A former Bellefontaine Neighbors police officer has come out of the quota closet and is exposing the department’s highly unethical revenue collection scheme.
Ten-year veteran of the force, officer Joe St. Clair was ordered to carry out a policy that he says required cops to issue a certain number of traffic tickets, and even traffic arrests. If the cops failed to do it, they could be fired.
“I believe the chief put an illegal mandate on his officers. I think it’s unfair to the community,” St. Clair told KMOV.
A report conducted by KMOV, with the help of St. Clair, exposed the downright insane requirements for Bellefontaine Neighbors cops.
According to the report:…
Just to put that into perspective, 75 percent of all officers’ duties is forced revenue collection.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Pincer Movement on Ammunition
By Kevin D. Williamson
As it wanes, the Obama administration grows bold, and even reckless, on matters that send a thrill up the leg of its most leftward supporters. Its new attack on so-called armor-piercing ammunition — which is, in reality, a very broad attack on ammunition across the board — is a dangerous and destructive example of the administration’s late-days slide into rule-by-decree.
[Make sure you’ve got enough — and then get some more. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Alabama’s Governor Apologizes to India After a Man Was Injured in a Police Encounter
The governor of Alabama has tendered an apology to the government of India for the actions of two police officers in the city of Madison last week that resulted in serious injuries to an Indian man.
“I deeply regret the unfortunate use of excessive force by the Madison Police Department on Sureshbhai Patel and for the injuries sustained by Mr. Patel,” reads a letter from Governor Robert Bentley to Ajit Kumar, the Indian Consul General in Atlanta.
Patel, 57, was left partially paralyzed after being thrown on the ground by two police officers who stopped him on the sidewalk near his son’s home on Feb 6. Patel had come from India to help take care of his 17-month-old grandson.
“I sincerely hope that Mr. Patel continues to improve and that he will regain full use of his legs,” Bentley’s letter reads.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Alex Jones talks with Jakari Jackson who breaks down the ways illegal aliens are affecting this country.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
By Eileen F. Toplansky
The importance of Cicero in Western thought cannot be underestimated. According to Garrett Lysford, the “American Republic is hardly a new idea and is in fact a mere innovation of a far more ancient political system: The Roman Republic.” The Founders “especially revered Cicero for his ardent patriotism, poisonous contempt of demagogues, and extensive dialogues on philosophy and statecraft; for this reason his ideas figured prominently in the political theory undergirding the Constitution. John Adams especially held Cicero in the highest esteem”.
[…]
In 63 B.C. Cicero delivered the Catiline Orations which “denounced the depravity of such men as Catiline and their desire to overthrow the Republic.” It should be noted that Catiline claimed to be “an advocate for the poor” and called for the “cancellation of debts and proposed land redistribution.” Sound familiar? Cicero, on the other hand, ardently believed in “the idea of a republic as the people’s property” and the belief that a republic must be “an empire of laws, not an empire of men.”
[Excellent essay and for me, an eye-opener. Well worth a read. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Elderly Man Facing 10 Years Over Unloaded, Flintlock Pistol
A retired teacher is facing 10 years in prison for having a 250-year-old, unloaded pistol in his car.
Gordon Van Gilder, 72, was charged with a felony in New Jersey after he told a Cumberland Co. sheriff’s deputy he had a flintlock pistol in his car during a traffic stop last November.
“It’s a mid-1700s flintlock, bonafide antique pistol unloaded, and yet he’s facing the same draconian penalty as if he had a .44 Magnum loaded on his person,” his attorney Evan Nappen told NRA News. “It doesn’t matter [to N.J.]; there’s no distinction.”
Van Gilder, a self-described historian, purchased the pistol as part of his collection of 18th century artifacts.
“He’s obviously no threat to anyone, and he’s facing up to 10 years in state prison with a minimum mandatory three-and-a-half to five years with no chance of parole because New Jersey’s modern handgun law includes antique handguns,” Nappen continued.
The prosecutor even told Nappen the state would have to perform ballistic testing on the black powder pistol, even though its smooth bore doesn’t leave a ballistic trace.
“Gordon’s case screams out for making New Jersey’s gun laws in comforming with federal law [because] federal law has antique firearms as an exemption,” Nappen said. “This should have never happened.”
“Discretion, what ever happened to discretion?”
It doesn’t exist in New Jersey.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Explosion at Oil Refinery Injures Four People
TORRENCE, Calif. — An Exxon Mobil spokesman says four contractors suffered minor injuries in an explosion that erupted at a Southern California refinery on Wednesday.
The blast triggered a huge smokestack flare and rained down ash. Spokesman Todd Spitler says the contractors were taken to a hospital for evaluation…
| [Return to headlines] |
Former Breitbart reporter and founder of GotNews.com, Charles C. Johnson, claims he has never before seen information that answers to why no one has seen photos of a pregnant Michelle Obama, why Obama’s family photos are fakes, and why his birth certificate is anything but authentic (but says he was born in Hawaii not Kenya).
But ‘serious’ death threats are so far keeping Johnson quiet, according to a barrage of recent Twitter posts.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Imam Obama Defends “True Peaceful Nature of Islam”
Far superior at cover-up and lie spreading than any garden variety Muslim cleric, Obama tried today in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times to have all believe that even in the face of thousands of Christian and Jew deaths at the hands of now rampaging radical Islamist terrorists, the “true peaceful nature of Islam” is worthy of defense by the current occupant of the Oval Office.
How do you say “Horse Hockey” in Arabic? Because, according to this squatter on the White House who tries to con the world he personally put al Qaeda on the run, groups like ISIS promote a a “twisted interpretation of religion that is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Clinton Foundation reportedly is seeing an increase in contributions from foreign governments after ending a self-imposed ban on such donations, raising new ethical questions as Hillary Clinton prepares for a possible 2016 presidential campaign.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which cited the foundation’s online database, recent donors to the foundation include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Oman, Australia, Germany, and a Canadian government agency promoting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
The foundation instituted a foreign gifts ban in 2009 after Hilllary Clinton was named Secretary of State by President Barack Obama.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Jeb Bush: ‘I’M My Own Man’ on Foreign Policy
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has said he admires his father and brother’s presidencies but he is his “own man” on foreign policy.
In a speech in Chicago, Mr Bush outlined a broad strategy of projecting American power and addressing “the shortfalls in our defence spending”.
He also criticised President Barack Obama for an “inconsistent and indecisive” foreign policy.
Mr Bush is one of several Republicans expected to run for president in 2016.
He is the brother of former President George W Bush and son of former President George HW Bush.
The former Florida governor has developed campaign infrastructure but has not officially said he is running.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Marie Harf’s Nuanced Nonsense on Terrorism
By Jamie Weinstein
Some myths never die.
Such is the case with the idea that poverty causes terrorism.
“[W]e cannot win this war by killing them,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on MSNBC’s “Hardball” Monday night, when asked about America’s strategy to defeat ISIS. “We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium and longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s a lack of opportunity for jobs.”
After her statement caused a bit of a ruckus, Harf went on CNN Tuesday to defend her remarks, saying that her point was just too “nuanced” for some people to understand.
[…]
Most people don’t need to read the academic literature to know the contention that poverty causes terrorism is false. They just need to read the newspaper. Anecdotes abound. Osama bin Laden, for instance, didn’t get into the Islamist terror game because he was a pauper. The attempted underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, came from a wealthy and prominent Nigerian family. One of the 2005 London bombers, Shehzad Tanweer, had over $150,000 in his bank account on the day he blew himself and others up on a bus. One could go on and on and on.
If poverty created terrorists, the term “Papua New Guinean suicide bomber” would produce millions of results on Google instead of zero.
[Well … Ms. Harf is a blonde. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Marie Harf: My Comment About ISIS Needing Jobs Was ‘Too Nuanced’ For You Boors
This is precisely how any organization would hope their spokesperson might respond when entangled in a controversy of their own making: Doubling down and petulantly insisting that your many critics are idiots.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
As California health officials search for the origins of the Disneyland measles outbreak, some of their detective work is pointing to the Philippines.
This measles virus shares the same genetic material as the type most commonly found in the Philippines, according to lab tests of the virus.
The highly contagious disease is a much larger problem in the Philippines, where more than 50,000 were sickened and 110 were killed in the last year.
Scientists said the findings make it likely that the virus originated in the Philippines. But they still don’t know exactly how it got into the United States and ultimately to Disneyland.
There is also a Philippines connection to at least two other measles outbreaks in 2014.he return of an Amish humanitarian aid worker from the country caused an outbreak in Ohio that sickened more than 380 people. In California, state officials tied measles cases in early 2014 to unimmunized travelers returning from the Philippines.
The findings show how even one infected measles traveler from any country can cause a significant outbreak, especially at a time of declining vaccination levels in the United States.
Officials emphasized that the outbreak could have come from a traveler from any number of countries, given that Disneyland draws visitors from around the world. In fact, the type of measles found in the Philippines, known as B3, has been present in at least 14 other countries, including Brazil, England and Germany as well as six other American states.
As California health officials search for the origins of the Disneyland measles outbreak, some of their detective work is pointing to the Philippines.
This measles virus shares the same genetic material as the type most commonly found in the Philippines, according to lab tests of the virus.
The highly contagious disease is a much larger problem in the Philippines, where more than 50,000 were sickened and 110 were killed in the last year.
Scientists said the findings make it likely that the virus originated in the Philippines. But they still don’t know exactly how it got into the United States and ultimately to Disneyland.
There is also a Philippines connection to at least two other measles outbreaks in 2014.he return of an Amish humanitarian aid worker from the country caused an outbreak in Ohio that sickened more than 380 people. In California, state officials tied measles cases in early 2014 to unimmunized travelers returning from the Philippines.
The findings show how even one infected measles traveler from any country can cause a significant outbreak, especially at a time of declining vaccination levels in the United States.
Officials emphasized that the outbreak could have come from a traveler from any number of countries, given that Disneyland draws visitors from around the world. In fact, the type of measles found in the Philippines, known as B3, has been present in at least 14 other countries, including Brazil, England and Germany as well as six other American states.
| [Return to headlines] |
Mentally Ill Man Waves Broom, Cops Shoot Him Dead and Cuff Him
A mother in Miami Gardens called police, asking them to help her calm her mentally disturbed son. But when the cops showed up, the man, 25, waved a broom at them so they shot him multiple times, killing him.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Muhammad Art Exhibit’ Contract Calls for 40 Officers at Garland Isd Site
The added security the Garland ISD assigns when controversy comes to the Curtis Culwell Center is paid for up-front, the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative said today.
Pamela Geller said the group was charged roughly $10,000 for security when it booked the school district’s arena as the site of the May 3 “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest.”
The money will pay for 40 extra officers at the site. Garland ISD includes security costs in all contracts that involve the Culwell Center arena.
“That’s the first time in any of our events across America,” Geller said. “We had a Ground Zero mosque protest that drew over 35,000 people. Police presence was intense and we didn’t pay a dime. I’ve never seen anything like that where you have to pay for police. … That’s what we call the high cost of freedom.”
She also said the police presence was more than what was needed at the Jan. 17 “Stand with the Prophet” event at the Culwell Center, where she led protesters.
“That event was in no danger. It was a completely peaceful protest,” She said. “I have held scores of protests. Never has there been a violent incident. I’m more afraid of staying quiet. That to me is far scarier.”
[If Islam is the “Religion of Peace,” why do they need to assign a phalanx of police to protect an event devoted to the debate over free expression? Ask the cities of Paris and Copenhagen. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
New Jersey Man Faces Jail Time for Transporting an Antique Pistol
‘I did break the law — to my shock,” Gordon Van Gilder tells me over the phone. He sighs. “Legally, they’re right.”
The “they” in this equation is the state of New Jersey. The “I” is Van Gilder, a 72-year-old retired schoolteacher from the town of Millville. And that “law-breaking”? Well, that could be extremely costly indeed. For transporting a 300-year-old flintlock pistol without a concealed-carry license, Van Gilder has been charged with a second-degree felony — specifically, with “unlawful possession of a handgun” — and he is facing a maximum of ten years in state prison. This, he suggests, is “unbelievable.”
Van Gilder’s ordeal began last November, when the car he was traveling in was pulled over by police. At the time, he and a friend were on their way back from a meeting with an antique dealer. “I’m very interested in the 18th century, both here and in Britain,” he tells me over the phone. “I’ve collected a lot of 18th-century items. I have some things from the Continental Army, including some personal documents — letters and so on. But I’m more interested in the things they made. My house is full of 18th-century furniture. I have little spoons, glassware. It’s an obsession of mine. I’m not a gun collector per se, but I think they’re interesting.”
The gun in question, Van Gilder says, “was probably made about 1765 in Belgium — for the British market.” A dealer found it in Pennsylvania, and held it for him. “I paid $800 for it. It’s a boxlock pistol, so there’s no hammer. It’s beautiful.”
Having picked the gun up, Van Gilder and his friend first went to lunch, and then they headed home. “My friend was driving because my arm is shot,” Van Gilder recalls. On the way home, the pair were pulled over by a local sheriff. According to Van Gilder, the detaining officer told him that he wanted to search the car, and threatened him with dogs if he refused.
[Who’s running this sheriff’’s office — Liberty Valance? New Jersey is a progresso-fascist rathole. Glad I left. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama White House Partners With Radical Org. For “Countering Violent Extremism Summit”
By Ilya Feoktistov & Charles Jacobs
On Wednesday, February 18th, the Obama White House will showcase what it considers its counter-terrorism successes at the Countering Violent Extremism Summit.
It must be said that Obama’s “countering violent extremism” formulation is a craven euphemism meant to hide the truth. Even Obama’s own supporter, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, understands that the main threat to America and the world at large comes not from just any kind of violent extremism, but from “Islamic extremism,” a term Obama is unwilling to utter.
In the run-up to the Summit, the White House cited Boston as one of three pilot cities that has led the way in “countering violent extremism.” Nothing can be further from the truth: the central Muslim institution with which Boston law enforcement agencies are partnering against extremism is itself extremist.
The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) and its political arm, the Muslim American Society, are seen in Boston as the go-to groups for federal and local law enforcement agencies.
[…]
Then there are the Boston Marathon bombers. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, caught on surveillance tape placing a bomb, changed his persona, according to his ex-girlfriend, after joining the ISB: “One minute he was a normal guy, the next minute he is watching these crazy Muslim videos.” His brother Dzhokhar, who occasionally attended the Islamic Society of Boston, allegedly helped place and detonate the bombs that killed three and injured 264 — and to murder MIT police officer Sean Collier.
[The federal fecklessness in dealing with domestic Islam is scarcely believable — and utterly unconscionable. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Suggests Islamic Extremists Have “Legitimate Grievances”
President Obama suggested that radical Islamic groups such as ISIS, which beheads Christians and other Muslims for not obeying Sharia Law, can only be stopped if governments are willing to listen to their “legitimate grievances.”
“Governments that deny human rights play into the hands of extremists who claim that violence is the only way to achieve change,” he wrote in his op/ed published last night by the L.A. Times. “Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies.”
Come on, how does ISIS, which subjects women to abnormal sex acts through forced marriages, executes children for watching soccer and beheads Christians using cinder blocks and machetes have “legitimate grievances?”
Here’s its grievance in a nutshell: obey Sharia Law or be brutally executed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s CISPA Exec Order & NSA in Your Firmware
After twice failing to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act (CISPA), Republican and Democrat leadership are thrilled that Obama is invoking it by Executive Order.
CISPA’s “protection” is for companies who share your information, protecting them from criminal and civil action, and today we learn that many hard disk suppliers have been embedding NSA spyware in the firmware of their disks.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Proclaims: ‘We Are Not at War With Islam’
Washington (CNN President Barack Obama, speaking at his summit on countering violent extremism Wednesday, sought to strike a balance between appealing for more acceptance of Muslim-Americans while emphasizing the need to remain vigilant against radicals who could turn violent.
“We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam,” Obama said during his remarks, adding later that Muslim leaders “need to do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam.”
[…]
During Wednesday’s session, the White House highlighted pilot programs in three metropolitan areas — Boston, Los Angeles, and the Twin Cities — where law enforcement and Muslim-American groups are trying to join forces to counter violent extremism.
Officials say they hope to replicate those programs in other places around the countries with populations that could be prone to radicalization.
[…]
That strategy has drawn criticism from civil rights organizations, who say the government risks alienating Muslim communities by partnering with religious and cultural organizations to identify potential extremists.
“From conceptualization to implementation, the CVE strategy raises significant constitutional and privacy concerns. It is not based on empirical evidence of effectiveness. It threatens to do more harm than good,” said Hina Shamsi, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union National Security Project.
[Google Hina Shamsi and you will learn all about her media appearances, staff positions, and academic credentials. You will not, however, find out the answer to one simple question: Is she herself a Muslim? (See Qur’an 3:28.) Her objective is clear however, and it is the same as that of the Muslim advocacy groups: to oppose and obstruct even this timorous and compromised federal effort. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and the Muslim Gang Sign
By F. W. Burleigh
Is President Obama a Muslim? A lot has been written about this, but if photographs speak louder than words, then a photo taken at last August’s U.S.-African Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. might shed considerable light.
It shows Barack Hussein Obama flashing the one-finger affirmation of Islamic faith to dozens of African delegates.
Is President Obama a Muslim? A lot has been written about this, but if photographs speak louder than words, then a photo taken at last August’s U.S.-African Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. might shed considerable light.
It shows Barack Hussein Obama flashing the one-finger affirmation of Islamic faith to dozens of African delegates.
[Very creepy. Yet another Obamian “dog whistle.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Twin Cities Muslim Leaders Challenge Federal Outreach Effort as Cloak for Spying
Muslim leaders in the Twin Cities accused the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday of using its new community counterterrorism program as cover that would allow the FBI to spy on the Somali community.
The harsh criticism, voiced by local members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), came on the eve of a White House summit where Minnesota’s U.S. attorney and supportive Somali groups will showcase outreach plans designed to counter terrorist recruitment of local Somali youth by offering them an array of education programs and job opportunities.
“We are concerned that those groups that receive funding will be seen as agents of law enforcement,” said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR in Minnesota. “Allowing the federal criminal prosecutor and law enforcement agencies to engage in social services and organize mentorship and after-school programs — only in the Muslim community … blurs the line between community outreach and intelligence gathering.”
Hussein said outreach programs should be funded by foundations and state government, rather than a federal law enforcement agency that is prosecuting Muslims for recruiting and supporting terrorists.
Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director at the Minnesota Da’wah Institute in St. Paul, spoke alongside Hussein at a news conference attended by nearly a dozen CAIR leaders. “We don’t want the mosques to become places of spying,” Mohamud said.
He also cautioned that Muslim children in public schools could be stigmatized and targeted for simply attending the federally funded programs. “The right place to start these programs is in the mosques because with programs run by the government there is a stigma,” he said.
[In other words, “give our mosques federal money but don’t you try and keep track of what we do with it.” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
When it Comes to ISIS, Obama is Utterly Clueless
The most savage group of Islamic terrorists that any of us have ever seen has taken over large portions of Iraq, Syria and Libya. As they go along, they are gleefully beheading, crucifying and torching innocent civilians. They believe that they are living in the end times, and that they are part of a great Islamic army that will defeat “the forces of Rome” and bring about a glorious new age during which Islam rules the entire planet. But Barack Obama and his minions absolutely refuse to use the words “Islam” or “Muslim” when discussing ISIS. Instead, as you will see below, the Obama administration insists that the reason that ISIS exists is because of a lack of “job opportunities” in that area of the world. If we could just find enough good jobs for the terrorists, apparently the entire problem of Islamic terror would just fade away according to them. This kind of twisted politically correct thinking is going to be one of the things that leads to the downfall of this country. Tens of thousands of crazed maniacs are not setting people on fire and beheading innocent civilians because they can’t find gainful employment. Rather, the truth is that these radicals are obsessed with an apocalyptic version of Islam which dominates every moment of their lives. If we deny why they are doing what they are doing because it does not fit with our view of how the world is supposed to work, then we are never going to have any hope of defeating this evil. And without a doubt, ISIS is evil.
On Monday night, State Department Spokesperson Marie Harf appeared on the Chris Matthews Show. What she had to say about the current situation in the Middle East during that television appearance shows how completely and utterly clueless the Obama administration is when it comes to ISIS…
[Comment: Not clueless. Don’t ascribe to stupidity what is actually intentional. Obama is following a scripted plan handed to him by his puppet masters to create an ISIS crescent across Asia and the Middle East.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why Are Jihadis So Obsessed With Porn?
by Phyllis Chesler
Recently, London Mayor Boris Johnson described Jihadists as “porn driven losers” who have “low self-esteem and are unsuccessful with women.” He’s on to something important and profound.
According to Syrian doctors in a report in the British media, ISIS fighters are buying frilly underwear for their wives and sex slaves — and subjecting them to abnormal and sadistic sexual practices. They may well have learned this from pornography.
The Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden found a fairly extensive stash of modern pornography in his possession.
The 9/11 jihadists visited strip clubs, paid for lap dances, and for prostitutes in their motel rooms in Boston, Las Vegas and Florida.
| — Hat tip: Phyllis Chesler | [Return to headlines] |
Why Obama Refuses to Call it ‘Islamic Terrorism’
The Obama administration’s refusal to use the term “Islamic terrorism” has provoked widespread condemnation, but it fits perfectly with the federal government’s past approach to the war on terror, which has been to elevate the importance domestic extremism over the threat posed by Islamic terror.
In planning this week’s summit on ‘combating violent extremists’ the White House “has consistently avoided naming Islamic extremism as its central focus,” reports CNN, despite two deadly attacks carried out in the name of Islam in Paris and Copenhagen in just the last two months alone.
The New York Post’s Michael Goodwin sums up the controversy, noting that even liberal media outlets are comfortable with referring to Islamic terrorism on a routine basis.
“This is nuts. Although the Islamic State, al Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Taliban cite Islam as the basis of their death cults, Obama argues that their acts are contrary to Islam, and therefore, refuses to associate them with Islam,” writes Goodwin.
Concerns about not referring to religion in the context of terrorism were not shared by the Pope, who condemned the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Egypt by ISIS by remarking, “They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians.”
In contrast, a 192-word statement from White House press secretary Josh Earnest about the killings was completely absent the words “Christian,” “Coptic,” “Islam” or “Muslim.”
A State Department spokeswoman made matters worse during a television interview on Monday night when she suggested that a better way of dealing with ISIS militants than killing them would instead be to encourage some kind of jobs program…
The FBI’s most recent national terror threat assessment list completely omits Islamic terrorists, instead focusing on sovereign citizens and the militia movement.
[…]
Returning veterans have also been characterized by the federal government as a bigger threat than Islamic extremism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
This Mom Lost Custody After She Left Her Kid Alone at Home for 90 Minutes
In the summer of 2013, a Canadian mom left her 6-year-old boy home alone for 90 minutes while she ran some errands. No one disputes that the house was locked and that the boy had plenty of food and water (and TV), nor that the boy was anything other than fine. Nonetheless, the mom was charged with child abandonment. She lost custody and hasn’t seen her son since her arrest. She has been fighting in Manitoban court to get him back ever since.
The judge’s ruling in this case could set a harmful precedent for families with “latchkey kids” who spend some time by themselves at home after school while their parents work.
Prosecutor Nancy Fazenda has argued that “Even in a home environment, that child was endangered.” But the mom’s lawyer, Michael Law, warned the judge: “If you were to convict in this case, you would be bringing the law into a new realm, it would be unprecedented,” according to The Winnipeg Free Press.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bank of Italy Says Cooperative Structures ‘Handicap’
Rule changes will eliminate one shareholder one vote
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — The current ownership structure of cooperative, or ‘popolari’, banks in Italy is a “handicap” to their strength and ability to grow and must therefore be changed as soon as possible, Salvatore Rossi, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, said Tuesday.
The Italian government is introducing changes to current ownership rules that give every shareholder an equal vote regardless of the size of their investment.
The decree will affect the 10 biggest popolari and Rossi said it will help these cooperative banks to raise money on capital markets.
It is expected that outside investors will be more interested in these 10 largest cooperative banks once the ownership regulations are changed so that shareholders’ clout becomes commensurate with the size of their investment.
The decree changing the ownership structure has been at the centre of controversy related to inside trading allegations.
Market watchdogs are probing what they have called unusual trading activity in some popolari banks in the days ahead of media leaks about the rule changes, which were announced last month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Copenhagen Imam on Eve of Terror Attack: The Prophet Engaged in War, Not Dialogue, With the Jews
Hajj Saeed, Imam of the Al-Faruq Mosque in Copenhagen, Denmark, rejected interfaith dialogue in a Friday sermon delivered on February 13, one day before the Copenhagen terror attacks. Imam Saeed explained that the Prophet Muhammad waged war against his Jewish neighbors in Al-Madina rather than engage in dialogue with them. The sermon was posted on the Internet by the Scandinavian chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Following are excerpts:
Hajj Saeed: Today, I will discuss the old-new topic of interfaith dialogue. The people responsible for interfaith dialogue want to make all religion equal. They want to equate Truth and Falsehood, between heresy and deception [sic], between the religion of the Prophet Muhammad and man-made laws, legislated by these criminals in order to rule the world.
[…]
The notion of interfaith dialogue is nothing new. This is a malignant idea of which we must be aware, in order to avoid falling into the traps of Satan and his followers, who advocate such dialogue.
[…]
Our Prophet Muhammad had Jewish neighbors in Al-Madina. Did he call for closer relations, harmony, and dialogue with them, in the manner of the UN and of those who call to reconciliation Truth and Falsehood? Or did he call upon them to worship Allah? When they violated their pledge and did not accept this call — well, you know what he did to them. It appears in his Sira. He waged war against the Jews.
[The day after this sermon was preached, a Muslim went to a Copenhagen synagogue and killed a Jew — after first shooting up a meeting of intellectuals on the topic of free expression. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Danish TV Host Lays Flowers for Dead Terrorist: “All is Forgiven”
A Danish TV host has caused controversy after he laid flowers for dead Copenhagen terrorist Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein before remarking on his Facebook page, “All is forgiven”.
Christopher Læssø, a presenter for Denmark’s Got Talent, exemplified what many will view as an overly liberal response to the terror attack, commenting, “Nothing forgotten, all is forgiven.”
“When they are kicked away, I will put down new flowers!” stated Læssø, in response to reports that Danish citizens have been removing the flowers from the site of where El-Hussein was shot dead by police on Sunday…
Many will view Læssø’s comments as another example of how many European citizens are finding it difficult to balance their liberal views towards immigration and the deadly threat posed by Islamic extremism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Copenhagen Gunman’s Identity Confirmed: Police
Police formally identified Omar El-Hussein as the perpetrator of Copenhagen’s terror attacks and revealed new details about his actions.
Copenhagen police late Tuesday confirmed the identity of the suspected gunman behind the weekend’s double shooting as 22-year-old Omar El-Hussein.
“The Copenhagen police can now confirm the reports published by the press about the alleged perpetrator’s identity,” it said in a statement.
Police also said that in his first attack on Saturday, he had unsuccessfully tried to use several entrances to a cultural centre that was hosting a debate on Islam and free speech attended by controversial Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks. Witnesses have said that the death toll could have been far higher if the gunman had managed to enter the building.
Vilks on Tuesday called into question the security procedures at the free speech event, saying that Danish police were outgunned and had underestimated the terrorist threat.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Four Detained in Sweden Over ISIS Syria Funding
Swedish police detained four people Tuesday on suspicion of having used six companies to help fund the extremist Islamist group Isis (also known as the Islamic State).
Police said a “large raid” took place in Stockholm as part of a probe into money laundering and undeclared work but declined to comment further.
Sources close to the investigation told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter the suspects had ties to Syria and IS.
The paper said Tuesday’s arrests targeted three men and a woman aged between 31 and 50.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France Eyeing 400 Sleeper Cells, Italy to Deploy Soldiers
French intelligence services are tracking 400 people “that are more or less sleeper cells, affiliated or in relation with al-Qaida-type organizations, that can strike like the Kouachi brothers”, interior minister Cazeneuve told AP. Meanwhile, Italy’s interior ministry announced it would put 4,800 soldiers in the streets to guard potential targets.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Veneto Banca Execs Probed for Alleged Oversight Obstruction
Finance police search bank HQs, shareholders
(ANSA) — Venice, February 17 — A current and former top manager of Italy’s Veneto Banca have been placed under investigation in relation to a probe into alleged obstruction of oversight by the unlisted cooperative lender, judicial sources said Tuesday.
Former Veneto Banca CEO and current director-general Vincenzo Consoli and former chairman Flavio Trinca were among the suspects in the investigation conducted by prosecutors in Rome. On Tuesday finance police carried out searches at the bank’s legal and administrative headquarters in Montebelluna in the northern Veneto region and in the homes of managers and shareholders as part of the probe.
Investigators said in total 16 shareholders were searched after having allegedly received large sums of money over time.
On Wednesday Veneto Banca announced losses for 2014 of 650 million euros after balance-sheet cleansing, part of which resulted from the European Central Bank’s asset quality review.
The cooperative lender is one of the banks affected by the government’s so-called ‘Investment compact’ decree containing fiscal measures to support small and medium-sized enterprises and encourage greater financing alternatives for business beyond conventional banks.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Doctor Arrested in Fraud Totaling Over 1.2 Mn Euros
Allegedly faked paralysis to get workers’ compensation
(ANSA) — Rome, February 16 — A 56-year-old Iranian anesthesiologist was arrested and jailed in Turin on Monday after public-health investigators said he had pretended to be a wheelchair-bound paraplegic to collect fraudulent workers’ compensation payouts. Investigators said the man staged a fake fall on a stairwell in the hospital where he was working in 2012, which he claimed resulted in numerous injuries including reduced sensation in the lower legs and right arm, blindness in the right eye, and acute back pain causing him to be constrained to a wheelchair.
In the course of the investigation, public health investigators found no evidence of the injuries and said the man was performing all sorts of everyday tasks like driving, pushing a shopping cart, and even completing restoration work on his home including loading sacks of cement into his car.
The man had been granted a 1.2-million-euro workers’ compensation package and was receiving 5,000 euros each month as a lifetime pension payment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Swiss Raid HSBC Offices
Suspected money laundering
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — Swiss prosecutors on Wednesday raided offices of the Geneva subsidiary of British-based HSBC bank in an inquiry into alleged money-laundering.
Investigators said they were investigating the Swiss unit of the world’s second-biggest bank, HSBC Private Bank (Suisse), and “persons unknown for suspected aggravated money laundering”.
The investigation could be extended to people suspected of committing or participating in money laundering.
HSBC said it was “co-operating with the Swiss authorities”.
The raid comes just over a week after allegations first emerged that HSBC’s Swiss private bank may have helped wealthy clients evade tax. HSBC published a full-page advert in several weekend papers containing an apology over the claims made by whistleblower Hervé Falciani.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Swiss Guard ‘Ready to Defend Pope Francis From ISIS’
Commander of pope’s military defense cites recent ISIS threats
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — The commander of Vatican City’s 110-man Swiss Guard said his forces are ready to defend Pope Francis from the terrorist militants of Islamic State (ISIS), in an interview with Italian daily Il Giornale on Wednesday.
“Following the terrorists’ threats, we’re asking the guards to be more attentive and observe peoples’ movements closely. We can’t do more than that. If something happens we’re ready, as are the men of the Gendarmerie,” Colonel Christoph Graf said.
Graf was recently promoted from the number-two spot under Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig, who left the top post on January 31 after eight years when Pope Francis sacked him in December amidst reports of Anrig being “overly dictatorial”.
The Pontifical Swiss Guard has been providing protection for the pope since the 15th century and is Vatican City’s de facto military force, while the Gendarmerie Corps are the Vatican City’s police and security force.
In a ISIS video released on Sunday showing the killings of 21 Egyptian Christian workers, an executioner said, “We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission”.
Security at the Vatican remains “very high”, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said Tuesday after bilateral talks with the Holy See including discussion of security.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands Cancels Visas for Controversial Imams’ Visit
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders on Tuesday nixed visas for three controversial imams planning to visit the Netherlands next month, basing his decision on advice from the country’s anti-terror agency.
“The visas’ withdrawal follows information received from the Dutch Anti-Terrorist and Safety Coordinator (NCTV),” said Koenders’ spokesman Ahmed Dadou.
“It fits into the context of the (government’s) action programme to prevent jihadism,” Dadou told AFP.
He declined to name the imams, but according to Dutch media at least one is believed to have links to the Islamic State group.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Machine Guns to Help Protect Synagogues
Police officers guarding Jewish buildings in Sweden should carry automatic rifles, according to new directives issued after two deadly shootings in Copenhagen over the weekend.
Officers will also be equipped with bullet proof vests and protective helmets, according to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
“This is in line with a previous decision that security equipment of police officers stationed at Jewish activity centres should be strengthened,” Jessica Krasser Fremnell, press officer at the Swedish Police’s operative department, told the newspaper.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Kosovo PM Calls for End to Exodus on Sombre Anniversary
PRISTINA (AFP) — Kosovo marked a sombre seventh anniversary of independence from Serbia Tuesday with Prime Minister Isa Mustafa urging citizens not to quit the mainly ethnic Albanian territory as it grapples with a deep economic malaise.
“People have no reason to leave Kosovo, they have a reason to stay,” he told lawmakers.
“The future of Kosovo and its citizens will be brighter and more prosperous,” Mustafa said at a special parliamentary session, calling for action against unemployment, poverty, corruption and organised crime.
An economic crisis has over the past few months triggered a mass exodus of tens of thousands of impoverished ethnic Albanians in search of a better life in EU countries.
More than 20,000 people have left Kosovo so far this year, according to officials from the main destinations of Hungary, Austria and Germany.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: 120 Graduate From First EU Farming Course
Organized by Avsi foundation with 700,000 euros
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, FEBRUARY 17 — One hundred and twenty Lebanese and Syrian students have graduated from the first farming course across seven districts of Lebanon, funded by the European Union with 700,000 euros and organized by the Avsi Foundation.
The initiative took place from September through November in seven professional schools of the country’s agricultural ministry. Previously, teachers had been trained through a program followed since May by Anna Zottola, director of the technical school of the Minoprio foundation.
The manager of the project for the Avsi Foundation, Marina Molino Lova, stressed that the support provided by the EU was key to improve the structure of schools in the program, from building tunnels to greenhouses, as well as for the enrollment of 35 teachers who had the possibility to improve their knowledge and teaching for students.
The head of the EU delegation in Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst, who attended the graduation ceremony together with Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb, recalled that the initiative is part of the “Union’s response to the consequences in Lebanon of the Syrian war”. “Since 2012, the EU alone has allocated almost 450 million euros for aid to Lebanon and member countries have pledged a similar sum”, said Eichhorst.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Breaking News: More Egyptians Being Kidnapped
By Ajnadin Mustapha
Tripoli, 16 February 2015: There are reports that at least 35 Egyptians have been kidnapped in what appears to be a round-up at various locations in areas controlled by Ansar Al-Sharia and IS.
The Libya Herald has been told that starting this morning, in the wake of the attack on Derna by warplanes from Egypt, Egyptian nationals, many of them it seems farm workers, have been picked up by gunmen. The first reports were that seven men had been seized, but by mid-afternoon, it was being said that at least 35 had been reported missing.
[Collecting more extras for the next snuff vid, it seems. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Four Tunisian Police Killed in Militant Attack: Government
Four Tunisian police have been killed in a militant attack in the central region of Kasserine close to the border with Algeria, the government said on Tuesday without giving further details.
Tunisia is engaged in a campaign against Islamist fighters who carry out shootings and bombings mostly against security forces. Troops are also trying to flush out fighters from a base in the Chaambi mountains near Algeria.
More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight in Syria and Iraq. Several Islamist militant groups emerged after the 2011 uprising, including Ansar al-Sharia which is listed as a terrorist organization by U.S. and European officials.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gentiloni Says Italy Ready to Assist Peacekeeping in Libya
Foreign minister addresses parliament prior to Security Council
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — Italy is willing to participate in peacekeeping operations in Libya, said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni in an address Wednesday to the Lower House and Senate prior to a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting on the North African nation currently undergoing a crisis with Islamist insurgents.
“Italy is ready to take responsibility up-close, to contribute to monitoring the ceasefire, to keep the peace, to work to rebuild infrastructure, to provide military training in a framework of integration of militias into the regular army, to treat and heal the wounded and to resume the broad program of cooperation suspended last summer,” Gentiloni said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
In Pursuit of Bread: Why Egyptian Workers Are Willing to Risk Their Lives in Libya
In Egypt, where unofficial unemployment and poverty rates have been on the rise, the question of why workers would be willing to put their lives in danger by migrating to war zones is often met with frustration.
An estimated 200,000 Egyptian workers currently reside in Libya — a steep decline from the 2 million that reportedly used to work there before the 2011 uprising there, that led to the end of the incumbent Muammar al-Qadhafi rule. The expats who stayed have found themselves caught in the crossfire between Libya’s polarized militant factions, with little recourse to aid from the Egyptian government.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS is Painting the Middle East Red With the Blood of Christians
[WARNING: Disturbing Content.]
Every day now, there are fresh news stories about Christians being slaughtered by ISIS in the Middle East. So where is the outrage from the White House? Where is the outrage from the Islamic world? If Islam truly was a “religion of peace”, prominent Islamic leaders all over the globe would be loudly condemning ISIS whenever another slaughter of Christians took place. And a White House statement about the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by ISIS the other day did not have the word “Christian” in it a single time. ISIS is painting the Middle East red with the blood of Christians, and most of the world seems to care very, very little. If thousands of people from some politically-favored group or religion were being savagely killed, the outcry would be deafening. But because Christians are being killed, it is not such a big deal. So exactly what does that say about how the world views Christians in 2015?
Without a doubt, Christians are being specifically targeted by ISIS. They are simply not going to submit to the Islamic rules and belief system that ISIS intends to impose on the areas that it conquers, so they are considered to be a “problem” that needs to be dealt with.
When 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded by ISIS jihadists in Libya, it shocked Christians all over the world. Those that released this video entitled it “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross”. Clearly, it was intended to strike fear in the hearts of Christian believers all over the planet. But the White House reaction did not contain the words “Christian”, “Islam” or “Muslim” a single time…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic State ‘Planning to Use Libya as Gateway to Europe’
Exclusive: Jihadists hoping to use Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, plans by Isil supporters reveal
Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group’s supporters have revealed.
The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group.
The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping.
The document is written by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) propagandist who is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror in Libya, where security has collapsed in the wake of the revolution that unseated Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
The group has already established Libyan-based cells, who on Sunday released a video showing a mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian guest workers.
[Can Mexico be far behind? — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Gentiloni: Only Solution to the Crisis is Political
Serious situation,’change of pace’ urgent. Sec Council meeting
(ANSAmed) — ROME — “The only solution to the Libyan crisis is political”, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni, said during his address to the House about Libya. “While negotiations begin, the situation in Libya is worsening. Time is not endless and it may expire soon, with the risk of undermining the fragile results attained so far” by the UN mediation supported by Italy, said Gentiloni. “The deterioration of the situation on the ground compels the international community to change its pace before it is too late”, added Gentiloni. We are not seeking “adventures nor crusades. We ask the diplomatic community to redouble its efforts” explained the Italian foreign minister. There is an evident risk of a linkage between local groups and Daesh (the Islamic State) “that calls for our utmost attention” stressed Gentiloni. An emergency meeting on Libya has been convened today at the UN Security Council. The Egyptian foreign minister is expected to address the council. Cairo is calling on the international community to join raids against Isis. After today’s meeting, “we expect the international community to realise it needs to redouble its efforts to facilitate political dialogue” in Libya said Gentiloni, who spoke to American Secretary of State John Kerry about the Libyan conundrum yesterday night on the phone.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Sources: Egyptian Ground Intervention in Derna
Egyptian commando captures 55 Isis militants
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 18 — Egyptian special forces carried out a ground attack in Derna, the town which pledged allegiance to the Isis Caliphate in the east of the country, “capturing 55 Daesh militants”, said both Egyptian and Libyan sources without providing further details. Yesterday, Egyptian and Saudi media reported that after its aerial bombardments Egypt was considering the possibility of a ground attack. In particular, the deployment of “task force 999”, the special forces unit for international operations was mentioned as a unit which could possibly be deployed along Libyan security forces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: Al Thani: Terrorists Towards Tunisian Border
Said the Libyan premier to Tunisian radio Express
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, FEB 18 — Libyan premier Abdallah Al Thani told Tunisian radio Express Fm that Isis and Boko Haram members have joined or are about to join terrorist groups in Libya and added that the latter are getting close to the border with Tunisia. With regard to the Egyptian military intervention, Al Thani said that the aerial bombardments against Isis positions in Libya were carried out with the approval of the Libyan government and that the United Nations Security Council refused to arm the Libyan state in its fight against terrorism.
Meanwhile, Tunisia has deployed military units along its border with Libya both on the ground and at sea and the army has been reinforced with units from the national guard and customs, in order to defend the country from “possible threats to its territorial integrity” and “prevent any attempt of infiltration by terrorists” said ministry of defense spokesman, colonel Belhassen Oueslati.
The Tunisian armed forces can count on 27 thousand men in the army, 4,000 in the air force and 4,500 in the navy.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Muslim Brotherhood-ISIS Connection
President Obama’s ongoing antipathy towards Egypt is no accident. Our feckless president has long had a soft spot in his heart for the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and Egypt’s removal of the terror group from the corridors of power has rankled the administration. So what is it the Egyptians understand and our president denies? The Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments insists that ISIS was birthed by the MB.
Dr. Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa and other Egyptian scholars have explained that while ISIS is publicly hostile to the MB, they share identical goals. Last August, the Ministry illuminated those goals. “They are both waging a war against their homelands with vandalism, destruction and murder—murder on behalf of the enemies of the state who fund them,” read a published statement. Other similarities include the exploitation of women to further their agenda, and the reality that both groups use “lying and deception in the name of religion,” and both have “ignorant and lying” leaders who “use religion to play with the minds of the public,” the statement explained. “The main commonality between the two groups is their terrorist acts,” it added.
[Comment: Recommended reading.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Francis again asks for prayers at the general audience “for our Egyptian brothers,” killed in Libya “for the mere fact of being Christian.” Peace also for Ukraine. “Brother” and “sister” are “words that Christianity loves” and “history has shown enough, moreover, that the freedom and equality, without brotherhood, becomes filled with individualism and conformity, even personal interests”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) — “The international community must find a peaceful solution to the difficult situation in Libya”. Pope Francis again today invoked peace for the Middle East, North Africa and Ukraine, renewing for the third consecutive day his invitation to pray “for our Egyptian brothers who were killed three days ago in Libya for the mere fact of being Christian. The Lord welcome them into His house, give comfort to their families and their communities”.
The Pope’s appeal came at the end of a general audience during which also once again expressed his hope for peace for Ukraine. Welcoming the bishops of that country, in Rome for the five-yearly “ad limina” pilgrimage, the Pope said it “brought the appeal for peace in Ukraine to the tombs of the Apostles. I share the same desire in my heart and I join in your prayer that soon there will be lasting peace in your native land”.
Before the prayers for peace, Francis, continued his reflections on the family, dedicating his catechesis to “brotherhood”. Speaking to the 15 thousand people present in St Peter’s Square among whom he toured in his white jeep, even inviting a young boy and girl to join him on board, the Pope said that “brother” and “sister” are “words that Christianity loves” and “history has shown enough, moreover, that freedom and equality, without brotherhood, become filled with individualism and conformity, even personal interests”.
“The fraternal bond has a special place in the history of the People of God” he continued “ which receives its revelation in the living human experience. The psalmist sings of the beauty of the fraternal bond “How good and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell together as one!” (Ps 132,1). This is true; being brothers and sisters is beautiful. Jesus Christ brought even this human experience of being brothers and sisters to fulfillment, assimilating it into Trinitarian love and strengthening it so that it goes well beyond the ties of kinship and is capable of overcoming every obstacle of estrangement”.
“We know that when the fraternal relationship is ruined, when it is ruined, this opens the path to painful experiences of conflict, betrayal, hatred. The biblical story of Cain and Abel is an example of this negative result. After the murder of Abel, God asks Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” (Gen 4,9a). It is a question that the Lord continues to repeat to every generation. And unfortunately, in every generation, the Cain’s dramatic response continues to be repeated: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”(Gen 4,9b)”.
“When the bond between brothers is broken, it leads to something that is truly ugly, that is bad for humanity. Even in families how many brothers and sisters have fought even over little things…over an inheritance… then they stop speaking to each other, they no longer greet each other…this is an awful thing. Brotherhood is such a great thing. Just think, brothers and sisters, they all dwelt in the womb of the same mother for nine months, they come from their mother’s flesh. We cannot break the bonds of brotherhood. We all know families where brothers and sisters are divided; where they have fallen out, maybe in our own families we have cases like these. Let’s ask the Lord to help us to reunite these families, to rebuild these families. The bonds of brotherhood should not be broken, because when they are broken, things happen like with Cain and Abel, when the Lord asks Cain, he responds I am not my brother’s keeper, this is awful, really terrible to hear”.
“The bond of brotherhood that is formed between the children in the family, if it takes place in a climate of an education open to others, is the great school of freedom and peace. Maybe we are not always aware of this, but it is the family that introduces brotherhood into the world! From this first experience of brotherhood, nourished by affection and by family education, style of fraternity radiates like a promise throughout society and relations between peoples”.
“The blessing that God, in Jesus Christ, poured out on this bond of brotherhood expands it in a way unimaginable, enabling it to overcome all differences of nationhood, language, culture and even religion. Just think of what this bond between men, even very different from each other, becomes when they can say to another: “He is like a brother to me, she is like a sister to me”! This is beautiful! History has shown enough, moreover, that freedom and equality, without brotherhood, become full of individualism and conformity and personal interest too. Brotherhood in the family is particularly illuminating when we see the care, patience, affection with which the weaker, sick, or disabled brother or sister are surrounded. World over there are many brothers and sisters who do this, and maybe we do not appreciate their generosity enough. And when there are many brothers and sisters in a family…today I greeted a family here who has nine children…the oldest helps the mother and father to take care of the younger ones, this work of helping each other as brothers and sisters, this is beautiful ….”.
“Having a brother, a sister who loves you is a powerful, priceless, irreplaceable experience. Christian brotherhood happens in the same way. The little ones, the weak, the poor must provoke our tenderness: They have the “right” to in our heart and soul. Yes, they are our brothers and sisters and we love them and treat them as such. When this happens, when the poor are like a part of our family, our own Christian brotherhood comes back to life. Christians, in fact, go out to the poor and weak not in obedience to an ideological agenda, but because the word and example of the Lord tell us we are all brothers and sisters. This is the principle of love of God and of all justice among men”.
“I would like to suggest something before finishing” concluded Pope Francis “let us think in silence of our brothers and sisters; in the silence of our hearts let us pray for them…a moment of silence [pause]. With this prayer we have brought all of our brothers and sisters here in our hearts to this square for a blessing. Thank you. Today more than ever it is necessary to bring brotherhood back to the heart of our technocratic and bureaucratic society: Only then will freedom and equality take on the correct intonation. Therefore, we must not deprive ourselves or our families in a light-minded manner, out of subjection or fear, of the beautiful of a wide-ranging fraternal experience of sons and daughters. And we must not lose our confidence in the breadth of horizons that faith is able to draw from this experience, illuminated by God’s blessing”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Victory Over ISIS Found in Last Words Uttered by Christians
Only one blogger, David Domet, of Vox Cantoris, who has contacts in Syria, including the Maspero Youth Union, listed the names of the 21 slaughtered.
They are:
Samuel Ilham Wilson
Izzat Boshry Nassif
Luqa Nagati
Issam Badar Samir
Malak Farag Ibrahim
Sameh Salah Farouq Manqrowis
Gaber Munir Adli
Maged Slaiman Shihata
Abanub Ayad Attiya
Youssef Shokry Younan
Hany Abdel Massih Salib
Kerollos Boshry Fawzy
Milad Makin Zaki
Makram Youssef Tawadros
Samuel Estefanos Kamel
Bishoy Estefanos Kamel
Mina Fayez Aziz
Malak Ibrahim Tanyut
Guirguis Milad Tanyut
Bishoy Adel
An African Christian brother
“This is a still from the video put out by the Islamic butchers who did this in the name of the false prophet and antichrist Mahomet. Note the translation: “The people of the cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.” That’s rich. The Coptic Church was founded by St. Mark the Evangelist. Egypt was Christian before Rome!” Domet wrote.
“It will comfort you to know that as they were being slaughtered they could be heard praying the Lords Prayer and shouting out “Ya Yassou’a”—Oh Jesus!”
The indisputable comfort in the last words on Earth of the 21 so brutally slaughtered should never be let to die. The last words they uttered should be picked up and kept alive by repetition of Christians worldwide.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italian PD to Present Motion to Recognise Palestinian State
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 18 — Italian Premier Matteo Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party (PD) will present and support a motion in the Lower House recognising the Palestinian State, parliamentary sources said on Wednesday. The PD will call for the motion to be voted on on Thursday at a meeting of party whips, but the vote may be delayed by anti-government obstructionism. Two other motions, respectively presented by lawmakers for the Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) and the Socialist (PSI) parties, calling on the government to recognise the State of Palestine, should also be voted on on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Dubai: 10 Thousand ‘Black Magic’ Items Seized at Aiport
Customs director: ‘Witchcraft threat to social cohesion’
(ANSAmed) ROME, FEB 18 — Amulets, trinkets, strands of hair, animal skin, ritual knives, vials filled with blood and fish bones are among the 10 thousand “black magic and witchcraft items” intercepted by customs in Dubai, according to a notice released on the customs’ official website specifying that 155 attempts to smuggle these and other “black magic” items had already been blocked.
On the whole, one-hundred kilos of material coming from Asia, Africa and Europe were recovered.
“The practice of witchcraft and the evil eye — explained the director of Dubai customs, Ahmed Mahboob Musabih — are considered a dangerous epidemic that threatens social cohesion manipulating people’s minds and exploiting their needs”. “Dubai customs are fully invested in their role of social responsibility and contrast any attempt to smuggle in the country prohibited items susceptible of threatening the peace and security of the local community” reassured the director. The official customs website also informs that its officers are “fully aware” of the dangers represented by black magic and they receive an ad hoc training which allows them to recognise the nature and shape of specific materials. Entry into the country of items employed in ‘witchcraft, fraud and black magic’ is forbidden by a decree of the Finance and Economy Commitee of the Gulf Cooperation Concil (GCC). Morevoer, as Ahmed Abdullah bin Lahej, Customs Officer for Passenger Operations stresses, the practice of witchcraft is “a crime that tarnishes the image of Islam” and it is punished by law both in reason of its inherently illegal nature and also in relation to its consequences.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Emails Reveal Sensitive Info Left Exposed After US Pullout From Yemen
Internal State Department emails reviewed by Fox News reveal that as security unraveled in Yemen, U.S. personnel were scrambling to finalize their exit plan and were so uncertain about what would happen that procedures for safeguarding sensitive information were bypassed — with permission from Washington.
The unclassified emails reveal staff on the ground in Yemen, as well as senior department executives in Washington, were concerned the evacuation might go bad and left a communication network running at the embassy in case staff had to return. The emails point to uncertainty on the ground amid fast-moving developments, even as the Obama administration downplayed any irregularities.
“It wasn’t hasty,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki insisted on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” on Feb. 12, a day after the evacuation.
But one email reviewed by Fox News showed genuine concern — even panic — in Washington, that an unclassified system exposing emails and day-to-day operations was left up and running at the embassy in Sanaa.
“We need to quickly think about the plan for destroying/sanitizing the OpenNet data that is still in Sanaa,” the email from a supervisor said.
“I am a little worried it is still out there.”
That referred to a main communication link with Washington, known as OpenNet. The emails show that system — at what was one of the most heavily guarded U.S. embassies in the Middle East — was not shut down, in what was described to Fox News as a break in standard practice.
[Won’t this be a comfort to any locals who might have worked with us down there! — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Might be Harvesting Organs, Iraq Tells UN
UNITED NATIONS — Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to look at allegations that the Islamic State group is using organ harvesting as a way to finance its operations.
Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim told reporters that in the past few weeks, bodies with surgical incisions and missing kidneys or other body parts have been found in shallow mass graves.
“We have bodies. Come and examine them,” he said. “It is clear they are missing certain parts.”
He also said a dozen doctors have been “executed” in Mosul for refusing to participate in organ harvesting.
[In the notorious 2006 Turkish film “Valley of the Wolves,” a Jewish-American doctor working in the Abu Ghraib prison was depicted doing this to Iraqi prisoners — which, of course, was an update on the old “blood libel.” In the movie, Muslims were the victims of the horror — but that was mere fiction, a pot-boiler plot cooked up for the entertainment of a Muslim audience in a Muslim country. A couple of years later, war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte wrote in a book that “Serb prisoners had their internal organs removed and sold by ethnic Albanians during the Kosovo war.” Here is an analogous allegation. Like Del Ponte’s, it’s no movie — and Muslims are the perpetrators, not the victims. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS Burn 45 People to Death in Captured Iraqi Town of Al-Baghdadi
Militants from Islamic State have burned 45 people to death in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, according to the local police chief.
Col Qasim al-Obeidi said the motive was unknown but he believed some of the victims were members of the security forces.
He has pleaded for help from the government and international community and said the compound, which houses the families of security personnel and local officials, was now under attack.
It follows the capture of al-Baghdadi, near Ain al-Asad air base, by ISIS fighters last week.
The unconfirmed reports have haunting similarities to the video published earlier this month, showing militants burning alive a Jordanian air force pilot, whose plane crashed in Syria in December.
Al-Baghdadi had been besieged for months by Islamic State fighters before its fall. It had been one of the few towns to still be controlled by the Iraqi government in Anbar province, where IS and allied Sunni Arab tribesmen launched an offensive in January 2014.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama to Give Jihadists the Ability to Order Airstrikes
The Obama administration is preparing to equip the so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels with the ability to order U.S. air strikes despite the group’s admitted allegiance to the Islamic State.
Members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) will be provided with radios to call in strikes from American B-1B bombers as well as pickup trucks with mounted machine guns as the president puts the final touches on plans to train as many as 3,000 rebels in Jordan and Turkey by the end of 2015.
“Negotiations have been concluded and an agreement text will be signed with the US regarding the training of the Free Syrian Army in the coming period,” said Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic.
The planes will reportedly use similar munitions to those seen in Afghanistan, targeting anything from small vehicles to tanks with 500 and 2,000-pound guided bombs.
Aside from the Toyota Hi-Lux trucks, multiple groups of rebels will also be given mortars and possibly antitank weapons as well.
A senior military official speaking with the Wall Street Journal stated that the decision would likely emulate recent bombing campaigns against the Islamic State in Iraq.
“The way we envision it, it would be very similar to Kobani,” the source said.
Ludicrously refuting previous statements by claiming not to be at war with the Syrian government, U.S. officials alleged that air strikes would likely not be ordered against the Syrian army.
Despite the Obama administration’s claims, countless intelligence and military officials have stated that the “moderate” rebels are essentially non-existent, with well over 90 percent being with terrorist groups or aligned in ideology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Official: U.S. Keeping ISIS Kill List
(CNN) The U.S. is maintaining a list of about two dozen or so top ISIS operatives in Iraq and Syria it hopes to target in airstrikes according to a senior U.S. official. The list essentially amounts to a kill list, since the U.S. has no troops on the ground in Iraq or Syria to capture ISIS suspects. The number one target on the list is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.
One U.S. official said Baghdadi is well aware the U.S. is hunting him, so the belief is he is staying out of sight. It’s been months since the last intelligence report about where Baghdadi is hiding, a senior U.S. official tells CNN. The U.S. believes Al Baghdadi knows warplanes are hunting him so he moves cautiously — even as his influence has grown beyond Syria and Iraq.
The U.S. has already killed a dozen or so ISIS operatives on the list, including an ISIS chemical weapons expert, the senior official says. But others are added to the list as intelligence is gained about their role in ISIS.
[And as new ones rise to take the place of those sent to the celestial Playboy Club. ISIS, be it remembered, was started in Iraq by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who billed himself as the “Sheikh of Slaughtermen” and was shredded in a USAF air strike in 2006. Several of his successors have also been killed. Doesn’t seem to have stunted the organization’s growth. A root-and-branch approach is needed, but won’t be forthcoming under this administration. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Persecution Defines Life for Yemen’s Remaining Jews
RAIDA, Yemen — About all that remain of Yemen’s ancient and once vibrant Jewish community are untended cemeteries, dramatic hillside ghetto villages of thousand-year-old stone houses and a few people like Abraham Jacob and his extended family.
Most of them live near this northern Yemeni town in Amran Province, deep in territory controlled by Houthi militants, whose leaders have made anti-Semitism a central plank in their political platform.
It shows. When Mr. Jacob, 36, came to the souk here Thursday to meet journalists and take them on a rare visit to his community, he rode a battered motorcycle, his long, curly earlocks flapping and making him readily identifiable as Jewish. When traffic stalled for a minute, a khat dealer accosted the visitors’ Yemeni interpreter, Shuaib Almosawa, a journalist.
“What are you doing with that dirty Jew?” the dealer said. “Why are you friendly with him?”
“He’s a human being, after all,” Mr. Almosawa replied.
“No, he’s not,” the dealer said. “God has damned him.”
The last of Yemen’s once numerous Jews, who predated Muslims by many centuries, have seldom been so threatened and had so few protectors.
[This is the end-game of dhimmitude. — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
Putin Says Russian Intelligence Shows U.S. Is Already Arming Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the U.S. is supplying Kiev with lethal weapons, telling reporters that the conflict in Ukraine will not be resolved through military escalation.
“According to our intelligence, [U.S.] weapons are already being delivered,” Putin was shown on state television Channel One as telling a press conference on Tuesday, when asked if a shipment of lethal hardware from Washington to Kiev would fan the flames of war in eastern Ukraine.
Putin, speaking in Bucharest during a presidential visit to Hungary, added that arms deliveries would only contribute to the loss of lives in the war-torn region.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ukraine: The Debaltsevo Plot Thickens
By Srdja Trifkovic
With the fall of Debaltsevo some interesting military-technical questions are starting to emerge. Is the Ukrainian general staff grossly incompetent, or outright treasonous? “A colonel is a rank,” says my source, a former general officer of a NATO-affiliated army, “but a general is a clinical diagnosis.”
Ever since Hannibal’s masterful double-pincer maneuver at Cannae it has been the wet dream of field commanders to repeat the feat, to surround and annihilate the enemy in a cauldron. Some ancient strategists, like Sun Tzu, believed that it is better to let the enemy retreat through a corridor rather than bleed it to death, but the concept is alien to the blood-thirsty European mind. As it happens, the Western experience is that — rather than prompt the surrounded force to fight to the bitter end — the envelopment rapidly leads to demoralization and the loss of combat effectiveness of the defending force. Kiev 1941 is the most spectacular example of what happens when an army leaves its flanks exposed to the claws: 600,000 Red Army soldiers ended up in “the bag,” the biggest surrender in history.
Sometimes a general will deliberately expose his ostensibly vulnerable pocket to enemy attack in order to lure the foe into a well-defended trap. This is exactly what happened at Kursk in July 1943, when — in its last offensive action on the Eastern Front — the Wehermacht spectacularly wasted countless tanks and men to achieve the elusive feat. It turned out to be a fatal defeat, mathematically predicted by the Stavka.
Debeltsevo was no Cannae 216BC, let alone Kiev 1941 or Kursk 1943, but in essence the problem was the same: do you reinforce a potential cauldron while its threatening flanks remain vulnerable?
My interlocutor, with no axe to grind in the ongoing fight, says that from the purely professional point of view it was insane to reinforce failure:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
China’s Lunar New Year Getaway Begins as Millions Head Home
Hundreds of millions of people in China are making their annual journey home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, in what is considered the world’s biggest annual human migration.
About three billion passenger trips will be made over the 40-day travel period, reported Xinhua news agency.
China celebrates with an extended public holiday known as Golden Week that officially ends on 24 February.
But many people continue to travel before and after the holiday.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tanzanian Government Shuts Down the EastAfrican Newspaper Over a Cartoon
By Ann Telnaes and Karen Attiah
Last month The EastAfrican, a regional newspaper printed in Nairobi, was banned in Tanzania after 20 years of operation. The official explanation given by the government was that the paper was in violation of the country’s newspaper registration laws, but the more likely reason for the shutdown was the newspaper’s criticism of President Jakaya Kikwete and this cartoon by famed cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa (“GADO”).
[…]
According to The EastAfrican’s bureau chief Christopher Kidanka, a government spokesperson said the cartoon demonstrated bad taste and disrespect to the person and office of the president. Or maybe the cartoon is demonstrating the president’s and his administration’s disrespect to the Tanzanian people?
[This calls to mind Boss Tweed’s complaint about Thomas Nast’s anti-Tammany Hall cartoons of the 19th century: “Them damn pictures!” — PW]
| — Hat tip: Papa Whiskey | [Return to headlines] |
UN “Peace” Forces in Haiti Prey on Civilians, Children
Rather than protecting local civilians, United Nations “peacekeeping” forces in Haiti are behaving as ruthless predators that systematically prey on Haitians, raping and sexually abusing even children with impunity, according to a new report detailing the horrors.
Instead of dealing with the ghastly and systemic abuses perpetrated under its latest decade-long occupation, UN military officials seek to cover it up and even retaliate against whistleblowers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Biden Urges Europe to Combat Extremism by Embracing ‘Melting Pot’
US Vice President Joe Biden kicked off a three-day White House summit on countering violent extremism by lauding the American “melting pot” approach to assimilating immigrants, a model the administration believes Europe needs to emulate more closely.
“We have to … engage our communities and engage those who might be susceptible to being radicalized because they are marginalized,” Biden said.
“Societies have to provide an affirmative alternative for immigrant communities, a sense of opportunity, a sense of belonging that discredits the terrorists’ appeal to fear, isolation, hatred, resentment,” he said.
The White House believes Europe is especially vulnerable to such attacks because immigrants are often less integrated into societies there.
“I’m not suggesting … that I think America has all the answers here. We just have a lot more experience,” Biden said. “Inclusion counts.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Indiscretion: Obama Admits Personally Changing the Immigration Law
If federal law enforcement officers apprehended a person who had been using a false Social Security Number, a federal prosecutor with a heavy caseload dominated by more serious crimes might decide not to indict the person. Whatever its merits, that would be an act of prosecutorial discretion.
But what if the prosecutor were to tell this user of a false Social Security Number: It is okay for you to continue using that false Social Security Number tomorrow. In fact, you may do so with impunity for the next three years.
Would that be an act of prosecutorial discretion? Or would it effectively make the prosecutor a co-conspirator with someone using a false Social Security Number?
In the case of Texas v. the United States, U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen issued an injunction on Monday temporarily stopping President Obama’s unilateral action to allow illegal aliens to stay in the United States, get work authorizations, and obtain Social Security Numbers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ISIS ‘Wants to Use Libya as Gateway to South Europe’
Telegraph reports. Egyptian ground intervention in Derna
(ANSAmed) — ROME, FEBRUARY 18 — ISIS wants to use chaos-hit Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across southern European, according to letters written by a recruiter for the extremist Islamist group, British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The paper said that jihadists hope to flood the North African country with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as refugees on migrant boats, according to plans seen by British anti-extremist group Quilliam. The Daily Telegraph said the letters were written by an ISIS propagandist believed to be an important online recruiter for terror in Libya.
“It (Libya) has a long coast and looks upon the southern Crusader states, which can be reached with ease by even a rudimentary boat,” the letter read, according to the Daily Telegraph.
“The number of trips known as ‘illegal immigration’ from this coast, which are huge in number … if this was even partially exploited and developed strategically, pandemonium could be wrought in the southern European states and it is even possible that there could be a closure of shipping lines and targeting of Crusader ships and tankers”.
Egyptian ground intervention in Derna, according to Egyptian and Libyan sources
Egyptian special forces carried out a ground attack in Derna, the town which pledged allegiance to the Isis Caliphate in the east of the country, “capturing 55 Daesh militants”, said both Egyptian and Libyan sources without providing further details. Yesterday, Egyptian and Saudi media reported that after its aerial bombardments Egypt was considering the possibility of a ground attack. In particular, the deployment of “task force 999”, the special forces unit for international operations was mentioned as a unit which could possibly be deployed along Libyan security forces.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Migrant Arrivals 110% Up Since End of Mare Nostrum — UNHCR
From 3.338 last Jan-Feb to around 7,000 this year
(ANSA) — Rome, February 18 — Migrant arrivals have risen by 110%, from 3,338 to around 7,000, this year after the end of Italy’s Mare Nostrum search-and-rescue operation, UNHCR spokesperson Carlotta Sami tweeted Wednesday. Mare Nostrum was replaced in November by the EU border agency Frontex’s smaller and less well-equipped Triton op. Unlike Mare Nostrum, which swept the whole Mediterranean, Triton only ventures 30 nautical miles from coasts.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lampedusa Migrant Centre Full to Bursting as More Migrants Expected
With a record number of migrants expected to arrive in Europe this year, the reception centre on the Italain island of Lampedusa is packed beyond its capacity.
Human traffickers are becoming increasingly aggressive as they take advantage of chaos in Africa and the Middle East and fears are mounting that hundreds of migrants will continue to die during the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.
The reception centre on the island of Lampedusa, off Sicily, is bursting, with close to 1,200 migrants compared to a capacity of 250.
Some of the residents are reported to have scabies.
Boats crowded with migrants are arriving by the thousands and there are increasing concerns with the numbers dying during the perilous crossing.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
If you are caught driving while intoxicated and happen to be an American citizen then you’re going to be arrested, fined, and potentially jailed — and rightfully so, as by driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs you are putting the lives of others in danger when you drive on public roads.
But, as we’ve come to learn in recent years, if you are an undocumented alien who has entered this country illegally, the laws don’t really apply to you. You not only get to break the law by entering the United States without authorization, but you also get free health care, housing, food and tax refunds even if you falsified your employment paperwork.
Though all of the afformentioned benefits have crossed the line as many hardworking Americans struggle to make ends meet for their own families while also paying for the free ride being given to illegal immigrants, the latest move by the Obama administration is nothing short of outrageous.
It is not only a slap in the face to Americans who are fed up with what are essentially two different legal systems, the new policy will result in the deaths of countless Americans.
According to Judicial Watch, the Obama administration has ordered all Border Patrol agents to stop apphrehending illegal aliens who have been detained for drunk driving.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Not only are illegal aliens being released and their violations of U.S. immigration law being ignored, but now, even if they are hammered drunk the Border Patrol has been advised to let them go on their way while under the influence.
[Comment: Search the net for the video /pics of a drunk illegal alien smashing his car through the riders of a bicycle race. Expect more of the same now.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sessions: Obama Dismantling the Immigration System
Conservative champion Sen. Jeff Sessions is accusing President Obama of “systematically” dismantling the nation’s immigration enforcement system—and he’s got proof.
Obama’s attacks on America’s immigration laws are “undermining the very rule of law upon which our nation was founded and upon which its greatness depends,” said the Alabama Republican.
Sessions has put together an exhaustive 50-page report in the form of a detailed timeline that catalogs Obama’s specific assaults on the U.S. immigration system since becoming president. Some conservatives say Obama is deliberately flooding the U.S. with illegal aliens as a means of generating future Democratic Party voters.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Girls Should Have Prescription for 5-Days-After Pill — Pani
AIFA chief doesn’t see pregnancy test as necessary
(ANSA) — Rome, February 17 — Luca Pani, the director general of Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency AIFA, said Tuesday that he thought girls under-18 should have a doctor’s prescription to obtain the so-called ‘five-days-after’ emergency contraception pill. “My personal opinion is that the health of women, above all minors, must be protected,” Pani said when commenting on the five-days-after pill. “I think it would have much sense (requiring) a pregnancy test. But I see the absence of a prescription for minors as problematic”. Last month AIFA started assessing whether to make the five-days-after pill available without a prescription.
The pill prevents unwanted pregnancies by delaying or preventing ovulation if taken within 120 hours, or five days, of unprotected intercourse.
In 2011, the health ministry’s superior council on health said the pill should be marketed as an emergency contraceptive, but only to women who can prove they are not already pregnant.
The contraceptive manufactured by HRA Pharma was approved in Europe as a prescription medication at the end of 2009.
A survey of 134,000 women by VediamociChiara women’s health online magazine showed 93% of respondents believed they should be able to access emergency contraception without a prescription.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
What birds can teach us about animal intelligence
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/state-dept-official-isis-we-need-find-them-jobs
This is the kind of crap that our universities are turning out. She sounds like an international studies student who wants to “negotiate peace in Africa” without any clue as to what’s going on there or why, but she’s sure it has something to do with the evil colonial white people.
Just as Muslims need to get honest about Islam, the Obama people need to get honest about their own beliefs: they’re marxist. Is the Orwellian newspeak of terms like “Liberal” (the way it’s used in the US) ever going to stop? Or are we just going to end up with jihad-Marxism?
Many within the current WH are Muslim, including the POTUS. The Muslim Brotherhood are good manipulators of those they consider the Godless Communists, who are also there in some number within the WH and share to some extent their own goals, just like Islam did with the Nazis, but that is where the similarity ends.
Islam in its most fundamental form i.e. ISIS, is completely intolerant to any other belief system, even to other Islamic sects.
If you believe that Islam can be reformed then you also lack an understanding of what Islam truly represents.
>> Many will view Læssø’s comments as another example of how many European citizens are finding it difficult to balance their liberal views towards immigration and the deadly threat posed by Islamic extremism. <<
Many will be wrong. Liberals combine them effortlessly. Think like a moon calf. Ignore reality. Done and done.
Au contraire, at least in my opinion. I support *legal* immigration to the U.S. and always have. My paternal grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from England in 1921 with the correct papers, etc., and plans. They settled (for reasons unknown to me) in Florida, a state so different in climate–whether of weather or politics–from England/Hampshire as to boggle the mind.
My maternal grandfather came over from northern Italy (Sudtirol) in the 1900s (first decade, 20th century) with his parents. He was a small child then. They, too, had to go through Ellis Island, as did many European immigrants of the time. They were health checked, papers/passports/etc. checked, and allowed to settle in this country. Although I’ve never met them, I know that I have distant cousins in the mining country of Pennsylvania.
My maternal grandmother’s people were here for quite a long time. My aunt (mother’s sister) has traced an initial immigrating ancestor from Ireland back to the 1760s. He would have been too early (I think?) to suffer from “No Irish Need Apply” which followed on The Great Famine in the 1840s and after.
All of these people followed the RULES. They weren’t jumped ahead of others already in line. They weren’t given special exemptions (e.g., driver’s licenses). If they wanted to become citizens–which they did manage in short order–the path was clear to them and their confreres.
I have no complaint against immigrants of whatever stripe who follow the RULES. However, I feel that the American “amnesty” and “refugee” policies have been used as huge loopholes to allow jihadis, potential jihadis, and their families to take up residence in our country as welfare sponges and…well…to make jihad on America.
How else can we explain young men and women being brought back from the airport in Germany or Turkey (recent cases) and saying they “wanted to join ISIS”? These aren’t families who plan to become citizens of the United States, and it’s clear that the situation is similar in Canada.
They aren’t being allowed to skirt the rules so they can wage jihad, they’re being allowed in because those are new voters who will vote for Democrats.
This trumps every other consideration. It doesn’t matter if they pose a security threat as petty criminals, contagious disease carriers, or jihadists. The Democrat elites will stay safe behind armed guard, but they believe they’ll stay in power because of all these new Democratic voters.
This is the political reality. If these people were likely to vote for republicans, Obama would be laying land mines on the border and deporting them in mass while talking about how everyone needs to follow the rules.
And here’s more good news …
ISIS has threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants from Libya in a ‘psychological’ attack against the West, it was claimed today.
Transcripts of telephone intercepts published in Italy claim to provide evidence that ISIS is threatening to send 500,000 migrants simultaneously out to sea in hundreds of boats in a ‘psychological weapon’ against Europe if there is military intervention against them in Libya.
Many would be at risk of drowning with rescue services unable to cope. But authorities fear that if numbers on this scale arrived, European cities could witness riots.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2958517/The-Mediterranean-sea-chaos-Gaddafi-s-chilling-prophecy-interview-ISIS-threatens-send-500-000-migrants-Europe-psychological-weapon-bombed.html
Re Obama’s Op-Ed
” That pluralism has at times been threatened by hateful ideologies and individuals from various religions. We’ve seen tragic killings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012 and at a Jewish community center in Kansas last year.”
1) Who killed the Sikhs at their Wisconsin temple?
2) Who killed the Jews at the Kansas community center?
Here’s a multiple choice answer:
Q1:(a) Hindus; (b) Jews; (c) Buddhists; (d) Christians; (e) Muslims;
(f) Mormons; (g) atheists.
Q2: (a) Sikhs; (b) Hindus; (c) Buddhists; (d) Christians; (e) Muslims; (f) Mormons; (g) atheists.
”
I don’t know anything about either of these two events, but history, contemporary and more distant, has me putting my money on (e) in both cases. One lives in a strange kind of hope that the answer to Question 1 is in fact (b) and the answer to Question 2 is in fact (a), but can any reasonably informed adult envisage Jews killings Sikhs at their place of worship or Sikhs killing Jews at their community centre?
To be fair to the POTUS he was correct in writing that: “…Muslim Americans who make extraordinary contributions to our country every day”. Well perhaps not every day. His speechwriters should consult a dictionary on the meaning of the word “extraordinary”. Major Nidal Hassan made an extraordinary contribution to the USA at Fort Hood, to take one of many, many examples. Sirhan Sirhan too, also a “Palestinian”, made an extraordinary contribution to the USA way back in 1968 when he assassinated Democratic Presidential front-runner Robert Kennedy during the Californian primary. Lone wolves both.
Perhaps BHO was using “extraordinary” as a synonym for “valuable” and was thinking instead of dynamic Muslim entrepreneurs such as the fellow from Buffalo NY who started a TV station … you know the fully Westernised, suit-wearing, tertiary educated, 40-something who hacked his wife’s head off when she proposed divorcing him.
Would somebody please advise me of the valuable contribution made to the USA by any practising Muslim born in the Muslim faith? Cassius Marcellus Clay was such a cool name, especially for a boxer, what a pity he changed it.
I don’t remember the Sikh incident, but the killings in Kansas were by an old-fashioned American neo-Nazi. Obama’s researchers chose their examples carefully. They didn’t even have to reach back for Timothy McVeigh and refer to him as a “Christian terrorist”, as many other progressives have done.
Sirhan Sirhan is a Christian Palestinian. Like many other such, he may well hate Jews as much as his Muslim comrades do.
The Sikh temple massacre in Wisconsin was perpetrated by Wade Michael Page, a white supremacist and U.S. Army veteran, on 5 August 2012. Page fatally shot six Sikhs and wounded four more, then shot himself dead. See Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Sikh_temple_shooting) for more details.
No Muslim involvement in this *particular* incident.
Thank you. BHO’s minions indeed selected the examples very carefully. Tendentiously.
I am saddened by learning the fact that a likely psychotic “white-supremacist” murdered Sikhs.
PS I had been aware that the Sikh religion obliges Sikhs to feed the hungry whatever their denomination. What I hadn’t realized is that they actually try to put it into practice. Only a few months ago I met a Sikh grandmother visiting her now Australian-citizen daughter and discussing the beauty of the Golden Temple of Amritsar with another Aussie girl who’d visited the place. All her adult life this stay-at-home mother had been a volunteer at the Golden Temple participating in the cooking and serving of 10,000 free meals a day to anybody who showed up. 10,000! The “white supremacist” couldn’t have picked a less undeserving ‘non-white’ immigrant group to inflict his hate upon.
I found the same when I visited the new Sikh temple in Southall, west of London, a few years ago; some people looked at me curiously, but I was made very welcome.
We may not be at war with Islam, as stated by feckless and spineless liberal leaders, presidents, prime ministers,and wimps in the MSM ,however is has been made crystal clear that many sects and facets of Islam are at war with the West and will not stop until they are eliminated,eradicated, and left without a chance of retaliating.
Exactly: Islam is at war with the West. We have not sought this fight; it has sought us out. However, now that it’s here, the West needs to unite and fight back.
We are united in our dhimmitude. Now all we have to do is turn that upside down. Not a chance of a fight back while Ob and the Mb are hijabbing the truth about Muslim intent with regard to Christian values, democracy and all that pre-existing before 9/11 stuff.
On Cicero and Obama – a most enlightening article!
On Is Obama a Muslim? That this question is still being asked after six years of observational evidence and documented fact concerning Obama, is just simply astounding.
I think that he’s actually just a Marxist. The thing is that Marxism has so much in common with traditional Islam (totalitarianism, radical subjectivism, anti-utilitarianism, double standards for different groups, Utopianism, and probably more) that it’s easy to get confused.
The United States and Europe really need to come to terms with the fact that in the 60s we had Maoist rebel groups (SAS, WU, etc) operating and many of the beliefs of those groups have essentially become mainstream. People need to stop falling for the Newspeak and start calling it like it is when they hear these things from people.
Nimrod eh! Do you understand the implications of choosing such an alias?
And Nazism has more in common with Islam concerning Jewish pogroms than Communism, or as you shade it – Marxism.
If you know anything at all about Islamic doctrine, then you would also know that when a child is born to a Muslim father that child is automatically considered a Muslim. I have yet to find any reference to Obama converting to Christianity, perhaps you could provide his Baptismal Certificate?
If there is confusion for you in what I write is only from what you yourself interpret my meaning to be – the problem is yours, not mine, as I do tend to write plainly.
Both National Socialism and Soviet Communism infiltrated the United States during the third decade of the 20th Century – the Soviets concentrated on the institutions while the Nazis concentrated on the Banking and Business interests. If you are American then surely you are able to appreciate that the two ruling political parties are aligned in the mutual destruction of the United States that is so far progressing very well without many hiccups. The Democrats = Communists while the Republicans = the Nazis.
When you can understand the implications of how the early part of the 20th Century has now shaped the 21st via two sides of the same coin with a destructive agenda, then maybe you will better understand what my comments imply.
Until then, please do not patronize me.
UNITED NATIONS — Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to look at allegations that the Islamic State group is using organ harvesting as a way to finance its operations.
What’s all the fuss about? The Chinese communist government executes more prisoners than the rest of the world put together and harvesting the victims organs has been official policy for decades. They will,of course, deny this but they would, wouldn’t they?
Yeah but the Muslims are here and now and growing which makes it kinda more immediate. There is no Chinese “problem”.
You mean communism is OK then and the chinese have no aspirations to world domination? That’s a relief. I was worried for a moment.
They are doing communism in the strangest of ways. The U.S. has all their cash and stuff and Europe is not doing too badly either. Hopefully a 1920’s style upheaval that led to so many millions of dead and almost endless famine will be something the Chinese are not risk again. Besides that’s too North Korean for the Nu middle class. I imagine the communist leadership will be devoured by the forces of freedom and transformed into good old have a go at empire building capitalists. It’s Islam and Muslim.
It just crossed my Chistian mind. It’s amazing to me how an Egyptian Muslim can strut his stuff in any Christian country nominal or otherwise considering how Christians are abused and removed and murdered daily in Egypt. Just a point. Actually that may very well apply to any Muslim entering the West from anywhere. Wild European mindset.
Line 5 should read “are not willing to risk again”