‘Euro Collapse Can Ignite War in Europe’
The senior Liberal Democrat told an event at the Cheltenham Literature Festival entitled “Austerity, the euro and us”, there is no “automatic guarantee” that a military conflict will not break out in Europe as the consequences of the collapse of the euro are “incalculable.”
“I think we need to take stock that if the eurozone were to unravel in a way that destroyed the European project — and there is a risk that could happen — the consequences would be absolutely incalculable,” Cable warned.
“We tend to forget, until we were reminded last week of that Nobel Prize, the European project was constructed in order to rescue Europe from extreme nationalism and conflict. There is no automatic guarantee that won’t return,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Over Half of Self-Employed Pay No Income Tax
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 15 — Almost four in every seven (56%) self-employed people in Greece have declared an annual income beneath the tax-free ceiling of 5,000 euros this year, according to official data from the Finance Ministry, which is keener than ever to combat tax evasion among this segment of the population. Out of the 347,304 self-employed — as daily Kathimerini reports -, only 2,443 declared incomes of 100,000 euros or over for 2011 from their freelancing activity (not including other sources of income). The total tax all freelancers have been asked to pay is 1.2 billion euros, while salary workers and pensioners will pay a total of 8 billion euros into the state coffers this year. This has led the government to change the taxation system for the self-employed, with the original idea for a blanket tax of 35% being put aside in favor of two or three brackets that will see the tax rate grow from 20 to 35%, as well as abolishing the tax-free ceiling of 5,000 euros per year altogether. The tax bill including these changes is expected to be tabled Parliament within next month.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The forthcoming election is the instrument and current indicators are that President Obama will be defeated. It is to be hoped that power in the Senate will be returned to the Republican Party and retainedl in the House of Representatives. This is the only way steps can be taken to avoid the financial collapse that faces the nation and achieve the repeal of Obamacare that Mitt Romney has promised if elected.
What worries me most, however, is the utter disdain for the truth that has marked the presidency of Barack Obama. It has been nearly four years of sustained lies about the steps that were taken to respond to the financial crisis facing the nation when he took office. The so-called “stimulus” wasted billions, becoming little more than a slush fund for Democratic fund-raisers, unions, and other connected parties to the administration.
Instead the administration literally seized control of General Motors and Chrysler, then in the normal process of bankruptcy, claiming to save the jobs of auto workers. What they did was shunt aside the legitimate creditors and investors in GM. They arbitrarily discontinued its often long relationship with several hundred auto dealerships, adding their employees to the unemployment lines. They then insisted that GM invest millions in the creation of an electric car that cost $47,000 to purchase and ended up purchasing them for government use with taxpayer’s money.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Britain’s aid budget is rising so fast that the Tories will enter the next election spending more on international development than on the police.
In 2014, taxpayers will be forking out £12.6billion a year on foreign aid but only £12.1billion on police forces — because the Coalition has decided to increase the aid budget while imposing cuts elsewhere.
The revelation comes as International Development Secretary Justine Greening prepares to launch a charm offensive in Luxembourg in a bid to persuade the European Union to stop giving aid to wealthy countries.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
American Undergraduates Recruited for Population Control Agenda as UN Raises the Stakes
Neo-eugenicist John Seager to undergraduates: “you’re the ones who are going to be able to move this forward and complete what I see as one of the great social movements of our time.”
In a recent biennial report released last week by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) the projection for global population growth in 2050 has been raised with an additional 117 million people on top of the earlier projection of 8 billion people. As the UN keeps up the pressure an effort is underway to flood universities and colleges throughout the United States with population control propaganda. One of the people doing the rounds across academic America is former EPA chief John Seager, who now heads up an organization called “Population Connection”, dedicated to the selling of human population reduction.
On October 3 2012, Pennsylvania State University provided a stage for Seager, president of “Population Connection”, an organization promoting the culling of the overall human population. Accepting an invitation by the Institute of Environmental Studies, Seager attempted to convince a hall filled with undergraduates of the need to bring down the population for “sustainability” purposes.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Skydiving Daredevil Breaks YouTube Record
Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner not only broke the sound barrier with Sunday’s freefall skydive from a capsule floating more than 39 kilometres above New Mexico but his stunt was also viewed by more than seven million people on YouTube alone.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Farrakhan Chides Obama, Rips GOP and Romney in Charlotte
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Speaking in Charlotte on Sunday, Louis Farrakhan had this advice for President Barack Obama:
Fight.
“Mr. President, you’ve got to realize you’re fighting for your presidential life,” the leader of the Nation of Islam told an estimated gathering of 6,000 at Bojangles’ Coliseum. “You’re fighting for your vision of the Democratic Party and the country.”
In marking the 17th anniversary of his 1995 Million Man March on Washington, D.C., Farrakhan was scheduled to talk about the economy and a Muslim “blueprint for ending need and want.”
But with the Nov. 6 election three weeks away, the 79-year-old Muslim leader changed his mind, instead offering advice to the president and country, describing a United States still ruptured by race.
Then Farrakhan spent two hours hammering at racial — some critics will call them racist — themes.
To begin, the highly controversial Farrakhan accused Republicans of having “overt” racist motives in their opposition to Obama, the country’s first black president. He attacked a political process that he says is controlled by monied interests and wants “to keep America white.”
And while he claimed Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, had lied about his real positions on most major issues throughout the first presidential debate, he also criticized Obama’s low-energy response.
He asked his listeners if they were disappointed in Obama’s performance, and hundreds of hands rose throughout the coliseum.
“Feels like your champion didn’t show up for the fight,” Farrakhan said. “If you lose the first round or two, you go to your corner. It’s called ‘adjustment time.’ Every good fighter knows how to make an adjustment. You don’t get lost.”
He said he thinks Obama and his advisers worried about the president appearing like “an angry black man.” The reasoning: “You can’t go out there and beat up on a white man. You’re going to lose the white vote.”
He then turned his comments back to the president.
“You aren’t going to win any more white votes by being kind and gracious,” he said. “Be a little black.”
Farrakhan’s injection of race into the presidential campaign comes as both parties trade accusations, direct and implied, of racist intent. Obama received 95 percent of the black vote in 2008, and more than 2?million blacks voted for the first time.
Some Democrats say Republican-led voter ID campaigns in several key states are aimed at holding down the black vote. Some conservatives say support for Obama by many African-American voters starts and ends with color. They say they oppose the president on philosophical, not racial, grounds.
Ron Christie, a black conservative who worked for President George W. Bush, told the Huffington Post that black people support Obama out of “a straitjacket solidarity.”
Farrakhan did nothing to dissuade that support, accusing the Republicans of using a strategy to defeat Obama “so overtly hateful and racist in nature that it has polarized America on the basis of race.”
The Nation of Islam minister has made a career out of such harsh rhetoric. He has been accused of fueling racial dissent, anti-Semitism and homophobia. He denied the accusations Sunday, saying he speaks truth as he sees it.
While saying that he “loves my homosexual brothers and sisters,” he said they are disobeying prohibitions set out in the Bible and the Quran. “Now you want to change God’s ways so God doesn’t know what he’s doing.”…
| — Hat tip: Takuan Seiyo | [Return to headlines] |
Tuesday’s rematch of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is likely to be their first of two in which the incumbent’s record as Commander-in-Chief is going to be a matter of direct debate. If last week’s set-to between their running mates is any guide, there will be opportunities and perils for the challenger. It behooves Gov. Romney to maximize the former and minimize the latter if he wants decisively to defeat the President in these mass-audience settings, and in November.
Here’s how he can do that:
One obvious way is to pick up on the success his partner, Rep. Paul Ryan, had in exploring the run-up to, the events of and the Obama administration’s serial lies after the murderous attack last month on our consulate in Benghazi. Mr. Romney can rebut the contention that he is “politicizing” this incident by showing that it is a teachable moment about the whirlwind we are going to reap from the seeds sown in the Mideast and elsewhere by President Obama…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Homeland is Brilliant Drama. But Does it Present a Crude Image of Muslims?
by Peter Beaumont
The slick US drama, now into its second series on Channel 4, draws praise from critics and viewers, but its ridiculous view of Arabs and Islam is a distortion of Middle Eastern realities
Before I begin: a caveat. I know television drama is often fanciful and ridiculous. The West Country of Midsomer Murders would be the murder capital of Europe if you took it at face value; the London of Spooks a place of endless shootings, conspiracies and car chases. But fictional drama tells us truths about ourselves in ways that can be as uncomfortable as they are unintended. The Emmy-winning Homeland on Channel 4 is a case in point. Its plotting is as ridiculous as it is exciting. But what makes it difficult to watch is its treatment of Muslims…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
New Threats to Riot if Obama Loses Election
Despite the issue receiving national media attention, Obama supporters continue to threaten to riot if Mitt Romney wins the presidential election, raising the prospect of civil unrest if Obama fails to secure a second term.
The new threats continue to dominate Twitter and the vast majority make no reference to press coverage of the issue over the last week, illustrating the fact that they are a legitimate expression of how many Obama voters plan to respond if Romney comes out on top, and not merely a reaction to media hype.
[…]
Examples of what people are saying include the following;
“If obama dont get re-elected & romney wins . on life every white persons getting pistol whipped and im startin a riot.” (SOURCE)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Supporter Sarah Silverman’s Campaign Labelled ‘Sickening ‘ by Rabbi
An American Jewish comedian and outspoken Obama supporter has been attacked by a rabbi for being vulgar and using her Jewish background inappropriately. Sarah Silverman, who four years ago fronted a campaign called the Great Schlep — a public call to Jewish grandchildren to convince their more conservative grandparents in key swing state Florida to vote for Barack Obama — came under fire in a letter to the Jewish Press…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pat Down Expert: TSA Procedures Are “Like a Circus”
A retired Baltimore cop who conducted thousands of frisk searches on suspects during his career says that TSA pat downs are fake and do nothing to increase the security of Americans.
In comments made to the AOL owned blog Huffington Post, Robert Yamin said “I have been through TSA security about 40 times since 9/11. I have only been properly searched once.”
“It’s like a circus,” Yamin noted, claiming that the pat-downs are pure security theater and that Americans are frisked in such a fashion only to make it appear as if security has been stepped up in the nation’s airports.
Yamin contends that the TSA pat-downs do not accomplish anything, and that abolishing the agency wouldn’t make flying any less safe. He contends that the current system of airport security feeds on fear and paranoia, treating Americans as if they are criminals for no practical purpose.
[…]
During the height of the national op-out day backlash against the TSA in 2010, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg was told directly by a TSA agent that pat downs were made increasingly invasive not for any genuine security reason, but to make the experience so uncomfortable for the traveler that they would be forced to use the body scanner.
TSA agents are also admittedly using pat downs as a form of punishment for travelers who exhibit a “bad attitude”.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ryan-Biden Debate: Marty McFly Scores Again
By Oleg Atbashian
[NOTE:a worthy humor blogger has made it to the MSM. Here is part of one of his columns]
If the Romney-Obama debate reminded me of a lost chapter from Atlas Shrugged, the Ryan-Biden debate felt more like watching a rerun of “Back to the Future”.
A good nerdy kid, Marty McFly, is on a noble mission to improve everyone’s future by fixing a few problems in the past. He gets bullied by a boorish jock, Biff Tannen, who only cares about dominating the nerd at any cost. In the end, the bully loses and the nerd speeds off to the new, exciting world.
Biff giving George McFly a “noogie” as his son Marty
looks onThe “nerd vs. bully” conflict has been part of the human narrative since David defeated Goliath. A plethora of Hollywood movies, from “Weird Science” to “Revenge of the Nerds” have turned a nice penny by exploiting people’s knee-jerk compassion for the underdog, coupled with their desire to see the bully creamed.
It takes a Joe Biden not to see the implications of casting himself as a bully in this cultural context.
Most viewers — some anxiously, others gleefully — anticipated a typical Biden’s gaffe to come out of his mouth “not the right way.” Biden gave them more than a sound bite..
The gaffe came in the form of his masterful re-enactment of classic nerd-bullying scenes, while playing the part of the archetypical jerk.
His act would seem normal only to those who take being a jerk for a norm…
[EDITOR’s NOTE: Ummm… would that be the Left?]
[…]
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Smartphone Apps Now Use Microphone to Record Your Conversations
Did you know that many of the apps you download to your smartphone now use your microphone to listen to you and your camera to take pictures of you without your confirmation?
New terms of agreement contracts now being attached to app downloads require users to accept that their cellphones become literal monitoring devices that record conversations and surreptitiously take pictures without the user ever giving permission.
It’s been common knowledge for years that app companies and service providers use GPS technology to pinpoint the location of smartphone users.
However, after purchasing a new Samsung Galaxy Note II and proceeding to download a couple of Android apps, one a social networking app and the other a simple calendar, I was shocked to discover that users are mandated to relinquish every aspect of privacy imaginable in order to download the app.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Voodoo a Voo-Don’t in Slay Trial
There’ll be no “witch doctor” testifying as an expert witness for a Senegalese-raised man who claims he fatally slashed his ex-girlfriend in her new boyfriend’s bed because a “curse” compelled him to, a judge ruled yesterday.
Cheikh Ndao had been set to testify on behalf of admitted killer Bakary Camara, and would have told jurors that, as an imam, he had on several occasions come across other West African people who’d been cursed — including a woman who couldn’t get pregnant until he had her drink Koran-blessed water.
“That makes him a witch doctor, in a sense,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said after Ndao took the stand to tell his curse-lifting war stories in a pretrial hearing.
“I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that it’s not even borderline close that he’s an expert,” Merchan said in barring the testimony.
Camara admits he slashed beautiful Italian college student Rita Morelli to death, but has claimed in a confession note that he was powerless to do otherwise.
Last week, defense lawyer Seema Iyer told lead prosecutor Evan Krutoy that she wanted to call an expert in West African curses to the stand, presumably to convince jurors that Camara didn’t kill Morelli intentionally, and is, therefore, innocent of her murder.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Mr. Obama not only is not deterring our enemies, he is legitimating, enriching and emboldening them.
Tuesday’s rematch of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is likely to be their first of two in which the incumbent’s record as Commander-in-Chief is going to be a matter of direct debate. If last week’s set-to between their running mates is any guide, there will be opportunities and perils for the challenger. It behooves Gov. Romney to maximize the former and minimize the latter if he wants decisively to defeat the President in these mass-audience settings, and in November.
Here’s how he can do that:
One obvious way is to pick up on the success his partner, Rep. Paul Ryan, had in exploring the run-up to, the events of and the Obama administration’s serial lies after the murderous attack last month on our consulate in Benghazi. Mr. Romney can rebut the contention that he is “politicizing” this incident by showing that it is a teachable moment about the whirlwind we are going to reap from the seeds sown in the Mideast and elsewhere by President Obama.
But it will not be enough to castigate the administration for failing to protect our diplomatic personnel and facilities in a very dangerous part of the world. The point is that, as a practical matter, attacks on such targets must be deterred, not simply defended against. And Mr. Obama not only is not deterring our enemies, he is legitimating, enriching and emboldening them.
A case in point is the Muslim Brotherhood — the font of modern jihadism and the wellspring of groups like al Qaeda, the Taliban, Gema’at Islamiyya and others who engage in violence or “terrorism” as a companion to the stealthy, pre-violent “civilization jihad” in which the Brotherhood specializes. Where the Brothers are in charge, terrorists are finding safe-havens and organizing for their holy war against non-Islamist Muslims and the West. The attacks in Libya, Egypt and elsewhere are but symptoms of the rising confidence of our Islamist foes that America will submit to, not resist, their gathering power.
By taking on President Obama squarely over his support for the Muslim Brotherhood, Gov. Romney can make clear that he is not simply quibbling about how many U.S. troops are left in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and for how long, or a case of Monday morning quarterbacking about the Libya debacle. Rather, they have a profound policy difference rooted in Mr. Romney’s recognition that the threat we face emanates not just from al Qaeda, but from all those who, whatever their tactical or sectarian disagreements, fundamentally share that group’s commitment to the triumph of the totalitarian, supremacist Islamic doctrine of shariah. The Republican candidate must communicate a determination to defeat, not accommodate, them.
The poster child for such accommodation could be Omar Abdul Rahman, the jihadist cleric serving a life-sentence for fomenting multiple terrorist plots in this country, including the first conspiracy to destroy the World Trade Center in 1993. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has demanded the release of the so-called “Blind Sheikh” and Mr. Romney could usefully announce that if he’s president, Abdul Rahman will die in American prison, period — and call on Mr. Obama to say the same.
[…]
In the course of the 2008 election, Barack Obama famously declared that he was going to “fundamentally transform the United States” by, among other things, redistributing wealth. He has, since gaining the presidency, pursued another, less-recognized transformational agenda: Call it redistributing American power. A recent poll sponsored by the Foreign Policy Initiative suggests the voters overwhelmingly reject such a practice. By focusing on the foregoing, winning issues in the remaining days of this campaign, Governor Romney can enlist — and deserve — their support.
[…]
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Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo Cartoon Celebrated in Google Doodle
Winsor McCay, the American cartoonist and animator who created the comic strip Little Nemo, has been remembered with a Google Doodle.
Today is the 107th anniversary of the cartoonist’s Little Nemo in Slumberland and for the first time, Google has featured an interactive comic strip as its home page doodle. The animated doodle is called “Little Nemo in Google-land” and shows the story of the comic strip in a series of unfolding panels. Winsor McCay was born in Michigan in 1869 (according to his tombstone, although the year is subject to debate) and his work is thought to have influenced generations of animators, including future stars of the industry such as Walt Disney…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Cameron Strikes Scottish Independence Vote Deal
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron signed a deal in Edinburgh on Monday on holding a referendum on Scottish independence. The historic vote, set for 2014, could lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom after more than 300 years.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and nationalist Scottish leader Alex Salmond signed an agreement on Monday to give the Scottish people a referendum on independence in 2014.
The referendum will ask voters a straight yes or no question on whether they want Scotland to leave the 305-year-old union with England.
Cameron opposes a break-up of the union, arguing that Britain is stronger together, and opinion polls show only between 30 and 40 percent of Scots support independence.
Monday’s deal represents the starting gun for what will likely be two years of fierce campaigning with the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) pitted against Cameron’s Conservatives, their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, and the Labour Party.
“I don’t think Scotland can afford to stand alone and I think we need to be part of a bigger system. The UK has served us reasonably well over 300 years and I don’t see any reason to change it now,” said Scottish Labour Party MP John Robertson.
The agreement also represents a victory for Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond.
Speaking in Edinburgh before he and Cameron put pen to paper, Salmond said: “The agreement will see Scotland take an important step toward independence, and the means to create a fairer and more prosperous Scotland.”
“I look forward to working positively for a yes vote in 2014.”
The landmark vote will also make history by allowing 16 and 17 year olds to take part.
The SNP had pressed for the 2014 date, giving them time to try to win over voters, and coinciding with the anniversary of the 1314 Battle of Bannockburn — a famous Scots victory over the English.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia and Spain Cross Swords Over the Airwaves
Mas, Gallardon challenge one another on secessionist referendum
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 15 — Catalonia will fight for its right to hold a referendum on independence all the way to the international courts if necessary, President Artur Mas told Televisio de Catalunya’s TV3 channel on Monday.
Should Spain’s highest court rule the projected Catalan referendum unconstitutional, “we will internationalize the conflict, and take it all the way to Brussels and the European courts,” said Mas.
The Catalan government called for early November 25 elections after the Spanish government refused to negotiate a so-called fiscal pact with the autonomous region.
An independent Catalonia would still cooperate with Spain on economics and defense, and its autonomy would be limited by the fact that “the EU is becoming more and more important,” Mas said.
Also on Monday, Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz warned Mas that he will be held personally liable for calling for a Catalan referendum on secession.
“If a person commits an illegal act, I don’t think all Catalan citizens should be punished. We must hold that person responsible,” the justice minister said in an interview with La Sexta, Spain’s sixth nationwide broadcast TV station.
Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution allows for Spain to suspend a region’s autonomy, warned the minister. “Mas must tell the truth, and the truth is that he cannot do what he says he will do,” Gallardon said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Defending Islam, With Violence: Trial of Salafist Man Rivets Germany
Five months after he attacked police officers with a knife, the 26-year-old Salafist came clean in the courtroom: it was his duty, he said, to wound the police officers.
Worldcrunch.com / SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG
BONN — “You have to use violence to defend Islamic values?” asks the judge. “Yes, of course,” Murat K. replies. Five months after he attacked police officers with a knife, the 26-year-old Salafist came clean in the courtroom: it was his duty, he said, to wound the police officers. The officers in question are veterans, used to dealing with hooligans and rioting demonstrators, also very aggressive ones. They are not prone to being easily riled. That they should be the ones involved makes Murat K.’s case all the more unusual…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Funded Group Outlines Draconian Population Control Scenarios for the Next Forty Years
2011 report, funded by the European Commission and World Wildlife Fund, models draconian population control measures, personal carbon taxes, government-controlled media, and the legalization of voluntary and assisted suicide in all EU countries.
A EU-funded think tank project named the One Planet Economy Network (OPEN:EU) produced a document in 2011 which has received no attention at all in mainstream or alternative media outlets. Until now, that is.
The document titled Scenarios towards a One Planet Economy in Europe consists of several scenarios or “paths” which the EU may follow to reach an envisioned “One Planet Economy”. Funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme and the World Wildlife Fund the document meticulously follows an Agenda 21-type scenario. Within the document, saturated with terms like “sustainability” and “ecological footprint”, the author’s outline four different paths towards what the group describes as a “one planet economy”. As is stated at the very beginning of the report:
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Flemish Nationalists Score Vote Breakthrough in Belgium
Flemish nationalist leader Bart De Wever scored a breakthrough election win Sunday and immediately urged Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo to radically re-shape the federal state.
Hailing a “historic” victory for himself in Antwerp with big gains right across Dutch-speaking Flanders in local polls, De Wever said Di Rupo and his coalition partners should “assume your responsibility.”
With results from Antwerp almost all in, De Wever’s New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) bagged 37.7 percent and Socialist incumbent mayor Patrick Janssens 28.6 percent, and the win was underpinned by scores of 20-30 percent across the territory of six million people.
With backers readying for a party in City Hall, De Wever demanded negotiations “to enable both Flanders and Wallonia to look after their own affairs.”
In the run-up to tense 2014 general elections, he wants to turn Belgium into a “confederation,” effectively seeking fiscal independence for the Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south although sharing areas like defence.
Only this, De Wever said, would allow Belgium as a whole to “find a path of solidarity,” which could also affect the future of Brussels, the largely Francophone EU, Belgian and Flemish capital.
Di Rupo rejected the significance of what he said were “local” elections.
“This was not a federal vote,” Di Rupo said.
“I acknowledge the success of the N-VA,” the premier added. But he insisted that the coalition will develop its own reforms at federal level and maintained that “citizens in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels will see the fruits of our work.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Stolen Solar Panels: 9 Arrests in Rieti
(AGI) — Rome — A band of Maghreb nationals headquartered in Foggia specialized in stealing solar panels all over Italy. The group was discovered by Rieti Carabinieri who arrested 9 people. The thefts took place in the provinces of Rieti, Isernia, Teramo, Potenza, Barletta, Andria, Trani and Foggia.
Further details about the operation code named “Fratello sole”, will be released at a press conference to be held at the Provincial Rieti Command at 10:30 AM CET.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Defiant Lombardy Governor Vows to Sue Over Allegations
(AGI) Rome — With his regional administration in the eye of the storm, governor Roberto Formigoni told newscasters SKY Tg24 “People have been printing tons of allegations. I will sue them, they will pay and I will devolve all proceeds to charity.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Formigoni Ready to “Fight Like a Lion”
(AGI) Rome — Roberto Formigoni has told TGcom24 that he will take part in the coming elections and fight like a lion, adding, “those who know me know what I mean.” When asked if he planned to run, he answered, “I will be a player in the match, but matches can be played without being a candidate. This is a political battle and one that will be fought to defend the good done over the years and the agenda for the government that will be formed. Half of all the citizens of Lombardy believe in me, the polls show I have lost 6%. I will get those voters back on my side during the campaign, I will be there and I will fight like a lion. My mandate ends in 2015 and when the time comes I will decide what the best options are.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Formigoni ‘Shocked’ By Northern League’s Support Withdrawal
Governor gives 24-hour ultimatum to ‘rebellious’ party
(ANSA) — Milan, October 15 — Lombardy Governor Roberto Formigoni said in an interview published Monday by the Corriere della Sera daily paper that he was “shocked” by the Northern League’s apparent withdrawal of support for him, saying that it showed the party’s “rebellious and unreliable nature”.
Formigoni of the scandal-hit People of Freedom (PdL) party delivered an ultimatum to the Northern League saying that they must clarify “where they stand” and who they will stand with for proposed primaries within 24 hours.
Last Thursday, Formigoni met with Maroni and the local branch of populist Northern League, who are allied with the PdL in Lombardy and PdL Secretary Angelino Alfano to discuss their regional alliance. “We agreed on a strategy, we went before the cameras, we shook hands and then what? I am stunned and bewildered,” Formigoni told Corriere dell Sera.
Last Thursday Formigoni bowed to pressure over an ongoing corruption scandal and dissolved the regional executive government, saying that he would appoint a new, slimlined version over the next few days.
The Northern League is itself still trying to recover from a party funding scandal earlier this year that forced the resignation of its leader and founder, Umberto Bossi.
Northern League secretary Roberto Maroni appealed on Facebook over the weekend for party primaries to be held and for “all Northern League supporters to rally and sign the proposal for new laws and primaries to choose candidates for the governor of Lombardy”. “The North comes first. The League comes first,” Maroni wrote.
Formigoni said he would begin procedures for an early election immediately if the Northern League confirmed its withdrawal of support.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Orsi Insists He’ll Remain at Finmeccanica
Pressure growing on CEO to resign as head of defence group
(ANSA) — Milan, October 15 — Despite rising pressure for his resignation over corruption allegations, Giuseppe Orsi intends to remain chairman and CEO of defence group Finmeccanica, his lawyer said Monday.
Orsi intends to defend himself by proving all his actions were “only for the good of the organization”, said his lawyer Ennio Amodio. He added that Orsi would resign only if that were demanded by the Italian government.
Finmeccanica and Orsi have been under investigation over an alleged kickback scheme connected to a 560-million-euro contract involving the sale in 2010 of 12 helicopters by subsidiary AgustaWestland to the Indian government.
Finmeccanica, which is 30%-owned by the Italian government, controls AgustaWestland. The public prosecutor’s office in the town of Busto Arsizio near Milan is conducting the investigation. Orsi has also denied any wrongdoing in an investigation that began earlier this year into the alleged payment of bribes to political parties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
It has emerged that a Jewish man was attacked in a Paris metro station on his way home from synagogue during Rosh Hashanah. The victim, 52, was beaten by two attackers and left unconscious on the subway floor. French antisemitism watchdog, the BNVCA, believes that the incident was driven by hate because the victim was reading a book by the chief rabbi of Paris when the attack happened. The attackers have not yet been identified.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mueen Uddin: The Mass Murderer at the Heart of Britain’s Islamist Establishment
by Lucy Lips
In 1971, Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin abducted, tortured and murdered a number of Bangladeshi intellectuals and patriots, who were seeking self-determination and independence for Bangladesh. As readers of Harry’s Place will be aware, following the failure of his campaign and Bangladesh’s independence, Mueen-Uddin then fled to Britain. Here. he established himself as a pillar of the Bangladeshi British Muslim establishment, the prime mover of its Jamaat-e-Islami directed Islamist politics, and — most shockingly — as the director of Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS and is also a chairman of the Multi-Faith Group for Healthcare Chaplaincy. How did he manage it?
First of all, almost nobody challenged him: certainly not from within the National Health Service. After all, the men and women Mueen-Uddin murdered were just brown Muslims from a far away place. Secondly, Mueen Uddin employed the services of Carter Ruck, the solicitors who make a speciality of helping foreign mass murderers from keeping their guilty secrets under wraps through the use of this country’s extreme libel law, aided by the cost that any trial involving flying witnesses over from Bangladesh would inevitably cost.
This is what happened when The Guardian tried to report on Mueen Uddin’s crimes. Well, the game is now up. Bangladesh is now about to ask Britain to extradite Mueen Uddin. He won’t go: Bangladesh has the death penalty, and there are proper concerns about the functioning of the Bangladeshi justice process. However, the allegations are now fully in the open…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nazi Nuclear Waste From Hitler’s Secret a-Bomb Programme Found in Mine
German nuclear experts believe they have found nuclear waste from Hitler’s secret atom bomb programme in a crumbling mine near Hanover.
More than 126,000 barrels of nuclear material lie rotting over 2,000 feet below ground in an old salt mine.
Rumour has it that the remains of nuclear scientists who worked on the Nazi programme are also there, their irradiated bodies burned in secret by S.S. men sworn to secrecy.
A statement by a boss of the Asse II nuclear fuel dump, just discovered in an archive, said how in 1967 ‘our association sank radioactive wastes from the last war, uranium waste, from the preparation of the German atom bomb.’
This has sent shock waves through historians who thought that the German atomic programme was nowhere near advanced enough in WW2 to have produced nuclear waste in any quantities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Swiss-Moroccan Drug Ring Snares Paris Bourgeoisie
A group of well-heeled Parisians who thought they were withdrawing large amounts of cash from hidden Swiss accounts under the radar of the tax authorities were in fact receiving bags full of banknotes allegedly coming from street drug-dealing in the city’s suburbs.
They include architect Florence Lamblin, until this weekend Green Party deputy mayor of the capital’s 13th arrondissement, as well as three business owners, a dentist, an art dealer and a lawyer.
[…]
They deny any knowledge of being part of the drugs and money-laundering scheme, uncovered by police in an operation that began in February when they intercepted a so-called “go-fast” car transporting cannabis from Morocco to Paris.
After hundreds of hours of surveillance and phone taps, police linked the operation to three Swiss-Moroccan brothers, allegedly running a scheme to turn around the proceeds of drug sales in Paris to buy “clean” assets in Morocco, Dubai and Spain.
Geneva-based fund manager Meyer El-Maleh, 48, and his younger brother Nessim, 28, who was working with British-owned HSBC, handled the transactions, arranging for wealthy individuals in Paris with hidden Swiss bank accounts to “withdraw” their assets and have the cash handed to them directly in the French capital.
The oldest of the three brothers Mardoché, 52, made the deliveries in hotel rooms, according to police, who claim that he was directly involved in the drug-dealing operation.
Simultaneously, the money was moved from one Swiss account to another, then funnelled into the trio’s “legitimate” investment and property projects.
After raids in Paris and Geneva on Wednesday, police seized a million euros in notes, six gold bars, two high-value art works, money-counting machines as well as two automatic handguns and bullet-proof jackets.
According to French daily Libération on Monday, the brothers laundered some 40 million euros from the sale of Moroccan cannabis in five months. The authorities estimate that the illicit trade in cannabis in France is worth a billion euros a year.
The arrests are particularly embarrassing for the Green Party, in coalition with France’s Socialist government, which has been highly critical of wealthy French individuals trying to evade the country’s tax system by leaving the country or moving undeclared cash through offshore accounts.
Mother-of-three Lamblin, in whose comfortable Paris home police found 400,000 euros in banknotes, has not resigned her seat on the 13th arrondissement council, but said she would remain a member of the council, although without portfolio, until “she could clear her name”.
[…]
“At most, the only thing she had done wrong is to have failed to declare the money to the tax authorities.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: LH | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gurkha Ignores Knife Wound to Trap His Mugger for 15 Minutes While Blade Was Stuck in His Arm
Anyone with any knowledge of military history knows the golden rule — don’t mess with a Gurkha.
But the knife-wielding mugger in this drama clearly had no idea what he was messing with.
He pushed Taitex Phlamachha, a former member of the famous fighting force, up against a wall and demanded money…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslims Protest at Google HQ
TEN thousand Muslims protested outside Google’s London HQ yesterday, in a bid to get an anti-Islamic video removed from YouTube.
The demonstrators want the internet giant to take down an offensive clip called The Innocence of Muslims, which mocks the Prophet Mohammed. Police flanked the doors of the Google offices as thousands gathered outside holding placards. And they say it is the first in a number of actions they plan to take to get the film banned. Organiser Masoud Alam said: “Our next protest will be at the offices of Google and YouTube across the world. We are looking to ban this film. This is not freedom of expression, there is a limit for that. This insult of the Prophet will not be allowed.”
[…]
[JP note: Fighting talk.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Scots Tories Attack Cameron’s Referendum Cave-in
David Cameron will go to Edinburgh today to start the countdown to a referendum on Scottish independence.
But he faces criticism back in London that he has given too much ground to the Nationalists by agreeing to most of their demands on how the historic vote should be handled.
Lord Forsyth, a former Scottish Secretary, compared Mr Cameron to Pontius Pilate for handing over key decisions on the ballot to SNP first minister Alex Salmond, rather like the Biblical story of the Roman prefect of Judea acceding to the wish of Jewish leaders that Jesus should be put to death.
[…]
But Lord Forsyth said Mr Cameron had given too much away as a result of appalling negotiating skills.
He told the Sunday Times: ‘Salmond has been able to get what he wants. If that’s called a negotiation, that’s stretching the language. It sounds like a walkover to me.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anthony Power, aged 78, from Bradway, Sheffield, who founded lingerie manufacturer Panache, is fighting for his life after suffering a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain in the assault at High Hazels Park, Darnall.
He had gone to the park to look for his missing brother but police believe he was attacked for the keys to his Bentley car. He also lost his iPhone and cash in the attack last Monday evening.
Mr Power’s company, based at Drake House, near Crystal Peaks, is a leading international brand with a presence in 30 countries and offices in New York, Germany and Hong Kong…
“He is a very successful businessman and it’s awful that such a thing could happen to an elderly man,” one resident said.
Dore and Totley Lib Dem councillor Joe Otten said: “It’s a great shock and my thoughts are with Mr Power and his family.
“Sheffield is one of the safest cities in the country but plainly this kind of thing should not be happening.”
Imran Khan, 30, of Handsworth Road, Darnall, has been charged with attempted murder and robbery. Khan was remanded in custody at a hearing at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Clinging to the execution of bin Laden as proof of the Obama Administration’s successful handling of the war on terror, the Obama Administration was loathe to admit that terrorists with ties to al Qaeda succeeded in attacking the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the death of Ambassador John Christopher Stevens, among others. Several reputable news sources have reported that within twenty four hours of the attack American intelligence services were aware that terrorists were behind it. Lurking beneath that major news story was another troubling set of facts.
The embassy in Benghazi had no marine detachment assigned to it and was guarded by a few lightly armed Libyan and American security officers. Calls from the head of security operations in Libya to the State Department for greater security at the embassy were rejected months before the attack. Moreover, a diplomatic cable from Stevens appears to have been sent the very day of the attack, informing U.S. government officials that security at the embassy had been breached and seeking help. Finally, U.S. intelligence services were aware of the presence of al-Qaeda related groups and individuals in Benghazi and of the potential risk to the embassy.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Deadly Hubris Drives the Benghazi Narrative
While many things have been said about the Benghazi fiasco, it remains undeniable that above all else it is a testament to progressive hubris and the fundamental misunderstanding of human nature that such hubris produces. To be blunt, four Americans, including ambassador Christopher Stevens, were executed because the Obama administration is inhabited by people who continue to believe—against overwhelming evidence to the contrary—that 7th-century-minded brutes yearning to impose worldwide religious totalitarianism, are as amenable to reason and intellectual prodding as the people who populate faculty lounges on Ivy League campuses.
And when reality interrupted that chain of thinking, this administration reacted in a manner that has become their standard operating procedure, no doubt buttressed by the track record of “sympathetic” media reporting they have long enjoyed. In short, they lied unabashed and unashamedly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lies About Libya and Standing for Truth
“The problems [Romney] will face will be equal to or greater than those faced by the four greatest presidents in American history… Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Reagan—combined. …Democrats have so soiled the fabric of American society that the day Mitt Romney sets foot in the White House his very top priority must be to set in motion a complete reversal, a return to American traditions and constitutional principles. And he cannot be timid about it. He must attack the stains of liberalism with every ounce of vigor he can muster.” (italics added)—Paul R. Hollrah “A Man of Ultimate Consequence”
I used to feel that Washington DC needed to be razed, and the ground plowed and salted—but if Romney should win the election, I now feel that placing a big tent over the city and fumigating it may be enough. If we rid the city of the traitors, louses, and various parasites that now infest it (i.e. the politicians who feed off of “we the people,” and the lobbyists and other vermin who feed off of them in turn—parasite’s parasites, as it were), then it is possible that DC may be salvaged yet.
But such necessary measures will only be undertaken when conservatives stop playing by the rules and game-plan laid down by Progressives, and start aggressively and unapologetically defending capitalism, the US Constitution, individual freedom, property rights, American exceptionalism, and all of the other priceless and honorable traditions, concepts, and documents that have been debased, ignored, and ridiculed for so long by the Left.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Legislative Elections Spark Protests
Protestors denounce ‘anti-revolutionary’ values
(ANSAmed) — TUNISIA, 15 OCT — The decision by Tunisia’s major political parties to stage presidential and legislative elections on 23 June 2013 has sparked angry protests in the country. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Bardo Museum to register their disgust at the “troika” (Ennahdha, Ettakatol and congress) decision, which they see as a betrayal of the revolutionary values that unseated Ben Ali. The agreement between the three parties will accord wider power to the President of the future regime than those held now.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Desperately Seeking Anti-Netanyahu Candidate
Bibi favorite to win early 2013 elections, left fragmented
(ANSAmed) — ROME — The latest Israeli public opinion polls show Prime Minister Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu is likely to consolidate power in early elections likely to be held in late January or early February next year. With his coalition at loggerheads over a new budget, Netanyahu on Tuesday October 9 called for government to be dissolved in order to prepare for early elections. And while 45% of Israelis surveyed declared themselves satisfied with his leadership and an equal percentage declared themselves against him, his nationalist right-wing Likud party looks set to increase its Knesset (parliament) seats, with the right overall winning 68 out of 120 seats, against the 63 they presently occupy. While the fragmented leftist opposition appears to present no real threat, Netanyahu’s challenge in what will be his third term in office will be to contain his own far-right allies.
Among them, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the lay nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel Is Our Home) party, various ultra-orthodox Jewish formations, and the combative Jewish colonist movement in the Occupied Territories.
Breakaway Likud faction Kadima, the centrist party led by Ariel Sharon that called for the dismantling of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, is losing consensus, according to recent opinion polls. Its current chairman, Lt. General Shaul Mofaz, lacks charisma and is struggling to position himself as a credible opposition reference point. Mofaz’s competition could be former anchorman Yair Lapid, chairman of the Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, which he founded in 2012. Yesh Atid advocates the draft for all Israelis, maintaining the Jewish settlements, and a two-state solution to end the Palestinian conflict.
With the Labor Party in free-fall after Ehud Barak drove it into the ground then quit in 2011, political analysts say Netanyahu’s sole credible threat is former premier, Ehud Olmert.
Who, pending the results of two bribery indictments, is meditating a return to the head of Kadima.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Codename ‘Murky Water’ Iran’s Secret Plan to Contaminate the Strait of Hormuz
Iran could be planning to create a vast oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a top secret report obtained by Western intelligence officials. The aim of the operation is to both temporarily block the vital shipping channel and to force a suspension of Western sanctions.
If there is a man who brings together all the fears of the West, it is General Mohammed Ali Jafari, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Hardened by torture in the prisons of the former Shah, Jafari was among the students who stormed the US Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. He later fought in the Iran-Iraq War, and in 2007 Jafari, who has a degree in architecture, assumed command of the Revolutionary Guards, also known as the Pasdaran. The group, founded by revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei to defend the Islamic regime, has since developed into a state within the state.
Today the Pasdaran control several companies and are likely a more effective military force than the regular army. Of the 21 ministers in the Iranian cabinet, 13 have completed Pasdaran training.
[…]
Now Jafari and his supporters are allegedly preparing new potential horrors. Western intelligence agencies have acquired a plan marked “top secret” and code-named “Murky Water.” Together with Ali Fadawi, an admiral in the Pasdaran, Jafari is thought to have proposed a senseless act of sabotage: to intentionally cause an environmental catastrophe in the Strait of Hormuz.
[…]
Jafari’s plan allegedly describes in detail how a massive environmental catastrophe could be created if, for example, the Iranians were to steer one of these supertankers onto a rock. During the 1991 Gulf War, then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had millions of barrels of oil dumped into the Gulf. The fishing industry in Gulf countries was shut down for months, and the ecological damage was felt for years to come. In 1994 and 1998, accidental oil spills threatened desalination plants in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, thereby imperiling fresh water supplies for the two countries.
According to the Pasdaran leadership, if there were a tanker disaster today, the International Compensation Fund for Oil Pollution Damage would have to step in financially. But a decontamination effort would only be possible with the technical assistance of Iranian authorities, which would require lifting the embargo, at least temporarily. Iranian oil companies, some owned by members of the Pasdaran, could even benefit from the cleanup program. Jafari’s plan also foresees the Iranian people rallying around the government in such a situation, pushing Tehran’s failing economic policy into the background.
The “Murky Water” sabotage plan is currently thought to be in the hands of religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He makes the final decisions.
| — Hat tip: LH | [Return to headlines] |
On Sunday’s AK Party Fourth Ordinary Congress, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected to lead the party for a final term after he received all valid 1,421 of the 1,424 votes.
PM Erdogan went on to deliver a momentous address for the 40,000 audience, including a number of regional leaders that also addressed the congress.
In a speech praising Erdogan, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal stated, “Turkey’s support for the people of Syria and Palestine is unforgettable. My brother Erdogan, thank goodness God gave you so much. And you deserve it. You are also a leader in the Muslim world.”
Meshaal also commented on the situation in Palestine by stating, “There are intentions to reduce the Palestine issue to simply a division or to deliberations with Israel. However, Palestine is Jerusalem; it is the Dome of the Rock. Palestine is the land where Sultan Abdulhamid made his greatest sacrifices. Therefore, we are going to work to save our land and to take Jerusalem back. We will ensure that those Palestinian who were forced to leave Palestinian land, can return. We are going to continue until the Zionist enemy has released all of our prisoners. We are going to work to establish a true Palestinian state, despite Israel.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Qatar Insists Investments in France Not Driven by ‘Politics’
Qatar defended its ongoing investment programme in France on Monday, claiming it was not motivated by politics. The Gulf state has sparked fears in some quarters that its financial ventures are motivated by a desire to promote Islamism.
Qatar insisted on Monday that there was nothing sinister behind its multi-billion euro investments in France. The Gulf state’s Prime Minister Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem Al-Thani said there was no cause to be suspicious over the motivation for his country’s purchase of stakes in French companies, insisting it had nothing to do with politics.
“Qatar is not a country with great political ambitions … and it wants no political role from its investments in France,” Sheikh Hamad said at a press conference in Doha. “We don’t do anything without coordinating with the French side,” he added.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Tory MP: West-Backed Christian Holocaust in Syria
Here is information you won’t see on your TV screen or mainstream newspaper in the United States: Conservative Party Member of British Parliament Mark Field writes in the Independent today that “rent-a-mob jihadis are tormenting a benighted Christian minority in Bashar al-Assad’s Syria.”
Writes Field:
“…for the two million plus Syrian followers of Christ, whose lineage goes back 2000 years to St Paul’s proselytising in the first century AD, these are especially desperate times. Ethnic cleansing is an ugly phrase, but that’s just what is going on right now for Christians in Syria. The unspeakable truth now is that the sizeable Christian communities in war-torn Syria are at greater threat of ethnic cleansing from their ancestral homes than has been the case for generations — often at the hands of the self-styled freedom fighters so feted by the Western press.”
Field notes that after the US invasion of Iraq, some 300,000 Christians fled that “liberated” country for Syria — one of the few places in the Middle East where Christians could feel safe and go about their lives unmolested. US/Saudi/Qatari/Israeli-supported “freedom fighters” — who as German intelligence finds are as much as 95 percent non-Syrian — are putting an end to that, threatening to completely eradicate a Christian population that goes back to the time of Christ. What do American Christians do? Cheer on the rebels as they kill Christians left and right in Syria because their government tells them they are “freedom fighters.” What a sick joke.
Well-done, Obama, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, Hillary Clinton, etc. This is tolerance, State Department-style.
| [Return to headlines] |
Burma Blocks Opening of Office for Islamic Body OIC
Burma’s president has blocked a global Islamic body from opening an office to help Muslims involved in recent communal violence in the west of Burma.
A statement on the president’s website said such an office was not in accordance with the people’s wishes. Thousands of monks have joined protests against the Organisation of Islamic Conference’s plans to open an office…
[JP note: Good on Burma — the OIC is the enemy writ large. Perhaps the West could import a few of its Buddhists monks to help out with local problems.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India’s First Glass Mosque — in Shillong
India will have its first glass mosque — in the country’s northeast.
Madina Masjid, an imposing and resplendent structure of glass dome and glass minarets, will formally open doors to devotees Thursday in Meghalaya’s capital. “It is an architectural marvel,” Congress legislator Sayeedullah Nongrum, who helped in the mosque’s construction, told us. “It took us one and a half years to complete the only glass mosque in India and the largest one in the northeastern region,” said Nongrum, who is also general secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union (SMU)…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Julia Gillard Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan
On her way to India, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard made a surprise visit to her country’s troops in the province of Oruzgan in Afghanistan and held talks with President Hamid Karzai. In a snap day-long trip to Afghanistan yesterday, Gillard went to Kabul and the Australian base at Tarin Kowt, where she had a barbecue with troops and visited a hospital, local media here reported…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Much Muslim Culture Unveiled in Last Week
Last week, University students were shown two different sides of Muslim women. On Tuesday, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl was shot by a Taliban gunman for blogging about life under Taliban rule and endorsing girls’ education. Malala Yousafzai was on her way home from school when the gunman walked up to the bus she was on and shot her in an attempt to silence her message. Following the shooting, a Taliban spokesman told a Pakistani newspaper that the attack was justifiable by Islamic moral code because she was “inviting muslims to hate mujahideen” by criticizing the group. Mujahideen means people struggling to do the will of God. Later in the week, the University’s Muslim Student Association hosted “Wear a Hijab Day.” Members from the group stood outside the Illini Union and invited other Muslim and non-Muslim students to try on hijabs, a head scarf generally worn by Muslim women to cover their hair and neck when in the presence of males not related to them…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
20 Killed in Nigerian Mosque Attack
Armed robbers opened fire on a group of people as they left prayers at a mosque in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna on Sunday, killing about 20, a military spokesman said.
A resident reported that the gunmen were disguised in police uniforms as they stormed the mosque in the village of Dogon Dawa just before sunrise, shooting both those still worshipping within the building as well as some outside. “It is a clear case of armed robbery” Lieutenant Colonel Sani Usman said. “The last time I spoke with my (contact) in the area, he said it was 20 people dead.” Religiously divided Kaduna has seen waves of sectarian violence in recent months. Suicide bombings at three churches in June that were claimed by Islamist group Boko Haram sparked reprisal violence by Christian mobs who killed dozens of their Muslim neighbours, burning some of their victims’ bodies. Muslim groups also formed mobs and killed several Christians…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Hundreds of Sudanese Nationals Rally in Tel Aviv Against Israeli ‘Racism’
Asylum seekers appeal to ‘Jewish morality’; Eli Yishai reiterates determination to expel ‘infiltrators’
Several hundred Sudanese citizens living in Israel demonstrated on Sunday afternoon at the Interior Ministry branch office in Tel Aviv, protesting Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s initiative to imprison some 15,000 Sudanese asylum seekers.
The protesters carried signs that read “Instead of protection, we got racism” and “Where is the Jewish morality?”
Demonstrators also called on the UN Human Rights Council to intercede on their behalf.
Responding to the rally, Yishai expressed his sympathy for the situation of the Sudanese refugees, and for “all citizens of the world who have suffered misfortune.”
However, Yishai told Israel Radio, as an Israeli minister his responsibility was to the citizens of Israel, and in order to ensure “the security of Israeli citizens,” he would not relinquish his goal of removing “all infiltrators” from the country.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Hunt for Illegal Hero Who Rescued Family
Mother, father and child drove into canal in fog. Saved by illegal immigrant from Morocco
Everyone’s chasing the illegal immigrant now but not to send him home. They want to thank him for what people are calling an act of heroism. Since last Saturday evening, the hunt has been on for a Moroccan man who saved the lives of a family that had driven into a canal in thick fog. The accident happened on provincial highway 20 from Avezzano to San Benedetto in Abruzzo. Firefighters were called out immediately but before they could arrive, a young Moroccan appeared out of the fog and helped the family to safety.
JUMPED INTO CANAL — Eye-witnesses report that the quick-thinking Moroccan stripped off and jumped straight into the water. They say it was his swift action that saved the lives of three people, who were taken to hospital at Avezzano. Doctors have given no prognosis for the man, who is seriously ill, but his wife and son are off the danger list. However the immigrant disappeared as swiftly as he arrived, probably because he has no residence permit. Like thousands of others who are in Italy illegally, he may well live in fear of repatriation.
LEGALISE IMMIGRANT — Some of those seeking to thank the Moroccan also want to reassure him. The president of the L’Aquila provincial authority, Antonio Del Corvo, said “The immigrant who saved the family from drowning must be one of the lads who work in the Fucino area and who are here out of necessity. In other words, he should fully qualify for the legalisation procedure under way at the moment. If he comes forward, I’ll put in a good word for him with the prefecture”. Mr Del Corvo said he was particularly impressed by the Moroccan’s heroism. He went on: “His employer ought to be told. We’ll see who he is. All credit to the lad. It just shows that there are plenty of good people among the immigrants”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Golden Dawn Attack Theatre Goers
An Athens theatre will on Friday make another attempt to premiere a controversial play after Golden Dawn members, Orthodox priests and religious extremists prevented a performance of it on Thursday night.
About 100 protesters turned up at the Chytirio theatre on Iera Odos St, which is staging the play Corpus Christi by American playwright Terence McNally.
Viewing the play is “blasphemous” — it depicts Jesus and the apostles as gay men as a metaphor for the acceptance of the gay community in society — the protesters hurled racist and homophobic abuse at theatre goers and cast.
Among the crowd waving Greek flags, holding icons and crucifixes, singing the national anthem and shouting homophobic slogans were a number of Golden Dawn MPs, including Christos Pappas and Ilias Panayiotaros.
During the week, objectors had made two attempts in the courts to get an injunction halting the performance.
When a journalist for the Lifo newspaper tried to take photos of protesters tearing down posters for the play, he was attacked by the crowd, including a Golden Dawn MP.
At another stage in the protest, Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panayiotaros hurled crude racist and homophobic abuse at theatregoers. A video of the incident shows him scream the following diatribe, in view of police:…
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Leading World Bank Demographer: Vaccination Campaigns Part of Population Reduction Policy
On October 2nd a retired demographer at the World Bank admitted that vaccination campaigns are an integral part of the World Bank’s population policies. John F. May, the Bank’s leading demographer from 1992 to 2012, told the French web journal Sens Public (and in turn transcribed by the think-tank May works for) that vaccination campaigns, especially in so-called “high-fertility countries”, are means to achieve population reduction in those countries. May:
“The means used to implement population policies are “policy levers” or targeted actions such as vaccination campaigns or family planning to change certain key variables.”
[…]
Under the guidance of Ban Ki-moon’s top advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, several studies have been published which call for mass population reduction in the name of poverty-reduction.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Rage: A Call for Tolerance — Op-ed
By Nipunika O. Lecamwasam
The World is all about perception. Our perception becomes our reality. Media for its part plays a significant role in shaping public perception, which the public in turn takes to be the reality. The recent projection of the so-called “Muslim Rage” is one instance of inflated reality propagated by Western media against the West’s principal rival, the Islamic world…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Smell of Garbage Clears the Air
by Geoffrey Alderman
I’ve just finished watching Innocence of Muslims, the film that has led to worldwide, often violent and occasionally murderous protests by adherents of the Islamic faith. As I did so, news came through that Muslim leaders are threatening to bring the film to the attention of the United Nations, with a view to persuading the international community to enact a law against religious defamation. Just imagine: the leaders of some of world’s most populous and influential Muslim countries — including Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey — will stand before the world and demand that the lampooning and denigration of any religion and its followers be punishable under international law. Any religion? Including Judaism? Any religiously identified people? Including Jews?
Let’s look for a moment at some features of the film protests. At first, Muslim spokespersons vouchsafed that the film was the work of Jews. Iranian media charged that the film was the brainchild of “Sam Bacile”, apparently an Israeli-American property developer who had financed its production with the assistance of 100 Jewish backers. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, blamed “evil Zionists”, who had caused the film to be produced in order to vent their fury at “the daily-increasing radiance of Islam and the Holy Koran in the present world”. In fact “Sam Bacile” is neither Jewish nor Israeli and his Jewish backers are figments of Islamists’ imagination.
But these libels against the Jewish people continued even after this became clear. “Who is behind the film? Jews”, was the proclamation [in English] on a placard held by a demonstrator in Sri Lanka. Another placard at the same protest exhorted “dear Muslims around the world, stop purchasing Jewish products such as Coca Cola, KFC, McDonald’s, Pepsi, Fanta, Pizza Hut, YouTube, etc.” And a third — referring to the cartoons of Mohammad published in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo — read “France, don’t fall victim to Jewish propaganda”.
If you’ve a computer handy, Google “antisemitic cartoons Innocence of Muslims”. When I did so, hundreds of examples appeared, drawn for the most part from Arab and Islamic media outlets. What united them was the insistence that Jews (not simply Zionists) were responsible for the film, and that this was part of a Jewish conspiracy to enslave the world.
It is depressingly familiar, isn’t it? But what particularly interests me is the lack of attention that these libels have been given in the British media. I can’t recall one British newspaper, radio or TV report that has linked the recent protests to the institutionalised antisemitism that lurks within the Muslim world. It’s almost as if an unwritten but powerful self-denying ordinance had been promulgated, reminiscent of the misplaced sensitivity that — as we now know — has permitted members of certain ethnic groups to go unpunished for the organised sexual exploitation of vulnerable girls.
What I find depressing is that this mindset appears to be alive and well within the political establishment. I was in the packed audience in Hendon on September 20 when the three Barnet MPs (Mike Freer, Matthew Offord and Theresa Villiers) hosted an address by Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for the Middle East. Burt was vocal in his criticisms of Israel but did not see fit to pass judgment upon the anti-Jewish prejudice that’s rampant in Islamic societies. I will readily agree with the New York Daily News that Innocence of Muslims is “far beneath any reasonable standard of movie-making”. It is, in my inexpert opinion, an appallingly badly made piece of cinematographic garbage. But even garbage has its rights. Yes, the film has few redeeming features. But its true significance lies in the reaction its release has triggered.
For Muslim countries to demand a global ban on blasphemy while persecuting Christians is an obscenity. And for the Muslim world now to call for an international law criminalising religious defamation — while at the same time giving unfettered publicity to incessant attacks on Jews, Judaism and Jewish values — is the height of duplicity. In short, I am glad the film was made because it has revealed this hypocrisy in all its disgraceful splendour.
[JP note: Every decent person should welcome the release of Innocence of Muslims.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
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