Destruction of the U.S. Economy
If there was no other reason to defeat President Obama in November, it would be the planned destruction of what is left of the U.S. economy by the Environmental Protection Agency.
In “A Look Ahead to EPA Regulations for 2012” the minority staff (Republican) of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has issued a chilling review of a massive rise in the costs of living for all Americans, massive layoffs in all sectors of the economy, and the destruction of the nation’s energy and manufacturing sectors.
The report provides a nightmarish look at the regulations that EPA plans to initiate, having put them under cover prior to Election Day in order to hide President Obama’s agenda of attacking the energy sector and businesses large and small.
Here’s a list of the regulations:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
ECB’s Draghi Defends Bond-Buying Plan to German Lawmakers, Wins Broadly Positive Response
The European Central Bank’s president drew a broadly positive response from German lawmakers Wednesday when he told them that his bond-buying plan won’t stoke inflation and will not allow struggling countries to backslide on economic reforms.
In an effort to win over skeptical public opinion in Europe’s biggest economy, Mario Draghi met for two hours at Berlin’s Reichstag building with more than 100 politicians, including members of the budget, finance and European affairs committees.
He said afterward that the closed-doors exchange was “an important component of confidence-building, trust-building.”
The ECB last month announced its plan to buy unlimited amounts of short-term bonds of troubled euro economies — a program aimed at keeping a lid on the borrowing costs of indebted countries such as Spain and Italy.
Although Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government supports the plan, the president of Germany’s central bank, Jens Weidmann, argues that they come too close to using the ECB’s power to print money to support governments’ finances directly, which the bank isn’t allowed to do.
And there are worries in Germany that unlimited bond purchases could undermine the ECB’s official mission of fighting inflation.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Greek Holiday Homes Cost at 45% Less Than Pre-Crisis Levels
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 24 — The drop in the prices of holiday homes in Greece today compared to the period before the crisis stands at up to 45%, according to opinions aired by market professionals at the 2nd Greek-Russian Real Estate Forum in Athens on Tuesday. Organized by the Greek-Russian Chamber of Commerce, the forum was also attended by representatives of some 60 regions in Russia who have more than 250,000 associates.
Those attending heard that the reduction in prices in the Greek market and the huge stock of unsold properties, estimated at somewhere between 25,000 and 40,000 units, have led the market to its lowest point in the last 15 years. However, as daily Kathimerini reports, that very decline in prices may prove to be the redeeming feature of the market as Greece is now becoming a much more competitive destination for foreign buyers in general, rivaling countries such as Spain and Portugal, although its prices are still less attractive than those in neighboring countries including Bulgaria and Turkey, which attract a considerably higher number of buyers. The forum heard that Russian buyers are most interested in holiday homes in the 100,000-200,000-euro price range, and especially apartments, while the most popular areas are Halkidiki, Skiathos, Corfu and Crete. In general, Russians seeking such properties tend to be entrepreneurs with a family, aged between 35 and 45, and willing to spend an average of 115,000 euros on a holiday home. Greece and Spain are among the top choices of Russians in search of holiday homes, while as far as Greece is concerned, 93% of interested buyers look for apartments. More than two-thirds (70%) seek out secondhand properties.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti Asks World to ‘Please Relax’ Over Who Comes Next
Premier addresses concerns over what will happen to reforms
(ANSA) — Rome, October 24 — Italian Premier Mario Monti on Wednesday asked those concerned about his reforms being carried to term after he steps down to “please relax”. In a lighthearted fashion, the premier was responding to Austrian media after meeting with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann in Rome. The premier is seeking to allay worries from abroad, namely within the European Union, that his sweeping economic reforms will not be completed once he steps down.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Liberty Corner Mosque Plan Hearings Resume Thursday
BERNARDS TWP. — Public hearings on a controversial proposal build a mosque in Liberty Corner will resume before the Planning Board on Thursday, Oct. 25. The hearing will be the third on the proposal, which is being sought by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge (ISBR). The meeting is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. at town hall on Collyer Lane. The ISBR is seeking to raze a house at 124 Church St., located on 4.3 acres roughly opposite the Liberty Corner Firehouse, and build a two-story, 4,250-square-foot facility for up to 150 worshippers. There would be 50 parking stalls to the rear. Residents in the area have voiced concerns about the project, saying a facility with five daily prayers, parking stalls and light posts is inappropriate for a residential area. Lawn signs bearing the message, “Preserve Liberty Corner,” have popped up around town…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Investigators: Victim’s Burns Self Inflicted
WINNSBORO — Evidence has revealed that Sharmeka Moffitt, the 20-year-old Winnsboro resident who reported being attacked and burned Sunday night at a local park by three men who wrote “KKK” on the hood of her car, fabricated the story, police said.
Moffitt told police she was walking on a park trail Sunday night when she was attacked and set afire by three men wearing white T-shirt hoodies. Moffitt, who is black, told
Police now believe it was Moffitt who wrote “KKK” and “nigger” on the hood of her Buick LaCrosse with toothpaste and then set fire to herself.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Development Site Plan Tabled by West Bloomfield Planners
Questions remain amid protests and big crowds regarding the former Eagle Elementary School at Middlebelt and 14 Mile roads.
In order to allow more time to develop a plan that would allow the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA) of Franklin to build a mosque in West Bloomfield, the Planning Commission tabled the matter Tuesday. A crowd packed into Town Hall on Tuesday night to hear more about the controversial plans at the site of the former Eagle Elementary School at Middlebelt and 14 Mile roads, including the local branch of By Any Means Necessary, a social action group, which protested in support of the ICA outside for at least a half-hour before the meeting started…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rajat Gupta, Ex-Goldman Director, Gets 2 Years in Insider Trading Case
Rajat K. Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble director, was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for leaking boardroom secrets to the former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.
Mr. Gupta, 63, who ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and served as a top adviser to the foundations of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, is the most prominent figure to face prison in the government’s sweeping crackdown on insider trading.
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Denmark: Parents Voice Support for Teacher Facing Racism Charges
Teachers and parents defend teacher who admits to using racially charged language to admonish a group of minority students
Teachers and parents at an Odense school embroiled in racism allegations face an environment of harrassment and verbal abuse at the hands of minority students, according to the head of the school’s parent’s association.
“The students behave in a completely unacceptable manner,” said Peter Julius in a letter written to Fyens Stiftstidene newspaper on behalf of school staff and the school board.
It is this tense environment, Julius claims, that contributed to an incident in which Birgitte Sonsby, the headteacher of the school, was reported to the police and still faces possible disciplinary action from the council after reportedly using racially charged language when reprimanding a group of boys who had disrupted her class.
“I’m so bloody tired of you Muslims ruining the teaching lessons,” Sonsby reportedly said to the boys.
Sonsby later apologised to the families for her choice of words, but said that she didn’t believe that her outburst was racist.
“A situation arose in the classroom and some children needed to be reprimanded. They started laughing at me and I lost control. I said some things that I deeply regret and I apologise,” Sonsby told Fyens Stiftstidende.
Julius said that he did not approve of the Sonsby’s choice of words, but understood her frustration that a small group of students could disrupt an entire class.
“We are not racists. But we must have the nerve to stand up and be honest about what is happening within the school’s walls,” said Julius.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Churches Are Becoming Mosques at a Rate of Up to 2 Churches a Week
Islam has risen, and is swallowing up Europe at an alarming rate Europe’s churches are being bought up and turned into mosques at the rate of up to 2 churches a week, reports Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist, who wrote an article: Expose<: Europe Turns Churches into Mosques and appeared on Arutz Sheva’s Tamar Yonah Show. “What we are seeing is the de-Christianization of Europe, and then the Islamification of it.” Meotti stated. Rich Arab countries are investing in Europe and buying it up church by church, city by city, country by country. Meotti speaks about money from Arab oil-rich countries buying up Christian community centers, and turning them in to Muslim community centers. This trend has picked up speed and cannot be hidden anymore by European liberal leaders. Meotti breaks and exposes the silence that cannot be ignored. A must listen! Also, ‘Dan, the Guy Who Works With Leftists’ joins Tamar and talks about the hypocrisy of the liberal left that stand for women’s & minority rights, yet supports unbridled Islamic growth, influence and power.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Parliament Lifts Immunity of Three Golden Dawn MPs
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, OCTOBER 24 — Greek Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favor of lifting the immunity of three Golden Dawn MPs who could now face trial for a series of charges. Two of the deputies, Giorgos Germenis and Panagiotis Iliopoulos, have been linked to attacks on immigrant vendors in Rafina last month while the party’s spokesman, Ilias Kasidiaris, has been implicated in an armed robbery in 2007. Kasidiaris claims he is the victim of political persecution. A total of 220 MPs voted in favor of allowing the trio to be prosecuted as daily Kathimerini reported.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Bolzano President Claims Innocence in Embezzlement Case
(AGI) — Bolzano, Oct. 23 — The president of the autonomous province of Bolzano, Luis Durnwalder, who is under investigation by Bolzano’s public prosecutor for embezzlement told AGI, “My mind is at ease. the prosecutor could not act differently since the auditor’s court had already sent the relevant documentation. I can only say that after working in public administration for 45 years, first as mayor and then as president of the province, should I have wished to steal, I would have had many opportunities to do so.” On the basis of a request presented by the regional auditors court, what is being assessed is the use of money taken from the “reserve fund” of EUR 72,000 a year, the use fs which is regulated by a 1994 law.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Police Seize Property Amounting to 1 Million Euros to Mafia
(AGI) Palermo, October 24 — Property for a total of 1.1 million Euros was seized to a “Stidda clan” Mafia boss. Francesco Annaloro, 62, is one of the eldest bosses of the “Stidda” Mafia organization inRiesi, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of massacres, homicides and belonging toMafia association. The provision aimed at the confiscation of 5 plots of land and 4 buildings in Riesi, another building located in Bufera and three banking accounts. Annaloro was arrested in 1994 when he was one of the major actors in the clashes between Stidda and Cosa Nostra, both seeking control of crime activities in Central and Eastern Sicily .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Berlusconi Says Will Not Run in 2013 Elections
PdL to hold primaries to settle on candidate by end of year
(ANSAmed) — Rome, October 24 — Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that he will not run to become Italian premier for the fourth time in elections next year. The media magnate said in a statement that his People of Freedom (PdL) party would hold primaries to decide who will be its candidate by the end of December.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Architect Arrested for Allegedly Bribing Public Officer
Sarno arrest part of Sesto S Giovanni probe into old Falck area
(ANSA) Milan, October; The Italian finance police on Wednesday arrested a well-known Milanese architect, Renato Sarno, for allegedly bribing a public officer as part of an investigation into a kickbacks scandal in Sesto San Giovanni near Milan.
The arrest was carried out as part of a probe into bribes relating to the old Falck steel-making industrial area of Sesto San Giovanni in which the former vice president of Milan’s regional council, Filippo Penati, is also investigated. Penati is not involved in the case, police said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: PD Chief Bersani’s Personal Secretary Probed for Fraud
‘No irregularities’ says lawyer
(ANSA) — Bologna, Oct 24 — Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani’s personal secretary is being probed for alleged fraud, judicial sources said on Wednesday. Prosecutors in Bologna are investigating whether Zoia Veronesi, Bersani’s long-time personal secretary, was paid a salary by the Emilia-Romagna regional government for a period of a 18 months while she was actually working for Bersani in Rome.
The news comes as corruption scandals are roiling the country’s political elite, on all sides of the spectrum. Veronesi’s lawyer Paolo Trombetti said “no irregularities” were committed by her.
She has not been a regional government employee for some time.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Formigoni Won’t Run: But ‘Won’t Retreat to Private Life’
Besieged Lombardy Governor to campaign for party allies
(ANSA) — Milan, October 24 — Besieged Lombardy Governor Roberto Formigoni on Wednesday said he would not run for re-election but did not intend to retire to private life. “I do not plan to pull back to my private life soon, nor in the future,” he said, adding he would campaign for party allies.
Formigoni dissolved his executive last week and called snap elections after it was hit by a string of corruption probes, including one in which he is suspected of wrongdoing related to health-sector contracts. He denies any wrongdoing.
It has not yet been established when the early regional elections will be held, while a caretaker government of non-political technocrats will govern in the meantime.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy’s Proposed Libel Law Meets Strong Media Opposition
‘Measures absurd and dangerous’ say publishers
(ANSA) Rome, Oct 24; A proposed libel law introduced in Italy’s Upper House Wednesday stirred up a frenzy of protest among media leaders and risks causing splits in the political parties sustaining the technocrat government of Premier Mario Monti.
The new law, which will get a reading in the Lower House next week, seeks to eliminate jail terms in cases of libel, replacing them with among others hefty fines and the right of the offended party to immediately get his or her side of the story out in the accused publication free from any editorial oversight. Warning that the proposed law will lead to a curtailing of press freedom, Franco Siddi, head of Italy’s national press federation, said: “We’ll repeat it one more time: on the freedom of the press, on the right to report, on the right of the citizens to be informed we can’t be faced down by anyone who proposes restrictions of any kind”.
He added that the law resembled one from the era of former premier Silvio Berlusconi, Monti’s predecessor, who in his day also attempted to pass media-restricting laws.
Referring to the heavy fines and damages publications could incur in libel cases under the proposed new law, Giulio Anselmi, the president of the national journalists’ federation, said: “Today these norms are absurd and dangerous as they can condition the survival of many newspapers and reveal an absolute disdain for press freedom. It is to be hoped that the (parliamentary) debate will radically alter it”.
According to the proposed law, fines of between 5,000 and 100,000 euros can be awarded to anyone who has won a libel case.
In an interview with ANSA, Carlo Federico Grosso, a criminal lawyer, described the proposed law as “pure folly”. “Eliminating prison sentences is absolutely reasonable in terms of criminal policy, but the rest is an attack against press freedom,” Grosso said, adding that prison sentencing for press crimes has “no right to exist, considering that detention should only be used for the gravest crimes”.
Grosso also takes issue with the proposed fines, saying they risk becoming tools for “intimidation”, as small publications might be forced into bankruptcy. He adds that large publications might also “face difficulties and will intimidate editors and reporters in order to avoid risky reporting which could lead to libel suits”.
The final law is likely to look very different from the version that made its way to the Senate Wednesday considering that senators had already tabled some 140 amendments.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
New Hit Ups Pressure on France to Act on Corsica Killings
A wave of killings on Corsica claimed its 16th victim this year on Wednesday when a man was shot dead in a service station in Propriano, a small port on the southwestern coast of the French-ruled Mediterranean island.
The shooting came eight days after the near identical slaying of Antoine Sollacaro, a prominent lawyer in nearby Ajaccio, prompted the government to announce a package of measures aimed at combatting the criminal gangs believed to be behind the murders.
Police identified the latest victim as Patrick Sorba, 44, a petty criminal with a string of convictions for drugs and other offences.
His brother Francis, a suspected member of the locally notorious Vilinco gang, has several convictions for armed robbery and escaped a similar assassination attempt in November, 2011.
“Everything about this killing leads us to believe a score was being settled,” said Ajaccio prosecutor Xavier Bonhomme. “It is very early, too early even, to say if this is linked to the Sollacaro murder but there are legitimate questions to be asked.”
The government has promised more resources for police trying to crack down on money-laundering and racketeering on Corsica, but ministers also acknowledge it could take a long time to engineer change on an island where vendetta killings and the law of silence are engrained in centuries-old cultural codes.
“For too long, Corsica has been preyed upon by mafia networks and by a gangrenous violence that eats away at society,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said.
“But nobody should think that in several days or months we can solve a problem that has not been addressed for years.”
Since the start of 2011 there have now been 38 murders and 117 attempted murders on an island with a population of just over 300,000, giving it the highest homicide rate in Europe.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scientist That Discovered GMO Health Hazards Immediately Fired, Team Dismantled
(NaturalNews) Though it barely received any media attention at the time, a renowned British biochemist who back in 1998 exposed the shocking truth about how genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) cause organ damage, reproductive failure, digestive dysfunction, impaired immunity, and cancer, among many other conditions, was immediately fired from his job, and the team of researchers who assisted him dismissed from their post within 24 hours from the time when the findings went public.
Arpad Pusztai, who is considered to be one of the world’s most respected and well-learned biochemists, had for three years led a team of researchers from Scotland’s prestigious Rowett Research Institute (RRI) in studying the health effects of a novel GM potato with built-in Bt toxin. Much to the surprise of many, the team discovered that, contrary to industry rhetoric, Bt potato was responsible for causing severe health damage in test rats, a fact that was quickly relayed to the media out of concern for public health.
But rather than be praised for their honest assessment into this genetically-tampered potato, Pusztai and his colleagues were chastised by industry-backed government authorities, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose office was discovered to have secretly contacted RRI just hours after Pusztai and his team announced the results of their study on television. For speaking the truth, Pusztai was immediately fired from his position, and his team dismissed from their positions at the school.
As reported recently in Egypt Independent, similar research by Hussein Kaoud from Cairo University’s Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene also made some fascinating, though politically incorrect, discoveries about the effects of GMOs on the body. After feeding nine groups of rats varying combinations of GM soy, corn, wheat, and canola, Kaoud and his team observed that these genetic poisons clearly obstructed the normal function of the animals, affirming Pusztai’s research.
“I recorded the alteration of different organs, shrinkage of kidneys, change in the liver and spleen, appearance of malignant parts in the tissues, (and) kidney failure and hemorrhages in the intestine,“ said Kaoud about the effects of GMOs as observed in the test rats. “The brain functions were touched as well, and the rats’ learning and memory abilities were seriously altered.”
In Kaoud’s case, his groundbreaking findings will soon be published in the respected journals Neurotoxicology and Ecotoxicology.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Men Better Multi-Taskers Than Women: Study
Working mothers may have to juggle more tasks than their husbands, but the long-held belief that women are better than men at multi-tasking is a myth, according to new Swedish research.
“On the contrary, the results of our study show that men are better at multi-tasking than women,” Timo Mäntylä, a psychology professor at Stockholm University, said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Children are arriving at primary school incapable of learning because of their ‘chaotic’ home lives, Michael Gove warned yesterday.
Teachers are having to deal with four- and five-year-olds in nappies who are unable to speak in sentences or distinguish between letters and numbers.
The Education Secretary said children are being harmed through not being brought up in nurturing families where their brains can develop and where they become socialised.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: EDL March: Police Ask Theresa May to Ban Gathering
The home secretary has been asked to ban a planned march in east London by the far-right group the English Defence League (EDL) amid fears of violence.
The Metropolitan Police wants Theresa May to act in light of plans by the EDL to march in Walthamstow, Waltham Forest, on Saturday. The Met said it had made the request “based on specific intelligence”. The Home Office said the application would be carefully considered in the usual way. Scotland Yard wants the ban enforced under section 13 of the Public Order Act…
[JP note: Well on the way to a totalitarian super-sharia state — only a question of time before the UK joins the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation as a fully-fledged member.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Gang Feud Led to Oxford Street Footlocker Slaying
Central London; Mitcham, Stockwell, South London; Finsbury Park, Harringay, North London — A student was stabbed to death in front of crowds of Boxing Day shoppers as a bitter gang feud erupted in London’s Oxford Street, a court heard today (Tues). Seydou Diarrassouba, 18, was knifed twice to the chest inside a Footlocker store by Jermaine Joseph, 23, and Thulani Khumalo, 20, in a fatal clash lasting just seconds, it is alleged. He staggered outside but collapsed on the pavement and was pronounced dead less than an hour later from a stab wound to his heart, the Old Bailey was told.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Judge Slams Teenage Burglar Who Has Raided 278 Homes and Stole 60 Cars Since the Age of 12
A teenager who admitted burgling an astonishing 278 homes was told yesterday that his offending was ‘off the Richter scale’.
Adam Crampton, 19, was already serving a four-year sentence for robbery and burglary when he decided to ‘clear the slate’ by confessing to all his crimes.
He took police officers on four separate tours to point out properties he had raided. There were 200 in one area of Leicester alone.
At the city’s crown court, he was given an additional five years on top of his current sentence.
Judge Simon Hammond said the number of burglaries Crampton had carried out was ‘off the Richter scale’ when it came to sentencing guidelines, adding: ‘What I am presented with here is a huge number of burglaries. For many people, their homes are never the same again. The effects never leave them.
‘You were a persistent and remorseless burglar. Life is about choices and responsibilities. This can only be dealt with by way of a substantial custodial sentence.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lord Patten and George Entwistle May Have to ‘Fall on Their Swords’ — MP
Sir Roger Gale, a Conservative MP, said “the ‘Auntie knows best’ line simply does not wash any more.”
A Conservative MP has become the first politician to suggest the senior figures at the BBC might have to resign over the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. Sir Roger Gale said Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, and George Entwistle, the BBC director-general, may have to “fall on their swords.” The member for North Thanet, himself a former producer and director of current affairs programmes for the broadcaster, criticised Lord Patten’s thinly veiled warning to Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, that the Government should not wade into the row.
He said: “Chris Patten is an old friend and a former parliamentary colleague for whom I have had a high regard. But in his comment he has made it clear that he is out of touch, not only with the strength of feeling and concern in Parliament about the ‘Savile affair’ and related matters but, more importantly, with the strength of public revulsion at what has happened at Television Centre and with the corporate culture that, for the best part of 40 years, has apparently covered it up. Attack may be the best form of defence but in seeking to criticise a Culture Secretary who has not, ever, sought to challenge the independence of the BBC, he indicates how very little, within that corporate arrogance, has really changed.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
by Peter Kellner
Millions of people turned away from Labour during its 13 years in power. There’s only one way it can win them back
A single, stark statistic ricocheted round Labour’s annual conference this autumn: that during the party’s 13 years in power it lost five million votes. In the Blair landslide of 1997, 13.5m people voted Labour. By 2010 the figure was down to 8.6m. The challenge now is to win the defectors back. How can this be done? Labour-supporting blogs offer different ideas. A new pressure group, “Five Million Votes,” was set up in July. A growing number of activists are joining the debate. All of them face the same problem. They have no firm evidence on which to base their plans. Has Labour lost votes by diluting its progressive ideals? Or has it not done enough to secure the centre ground from David Cameron’s assaults? Has the party suffered from too much New Labour thinking-or too little? Has the time come to bury the politics of triangulation or to revive it? The argument rages, but the data has been absent…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A cruel yob is facing jail after shutting his girlfriend’s terrified cat in a tumble dryer and put it through three spin cycles because he thought it was funny.
Heartless Allan Staughton, 23, put the pet in the machine for 12 seconds and even filmed the animal’s ordeal then posted a video of his vicious prank online.
During the video he can be heard joking the cat, called Princess, was ‘the new Mr Tumble’ and asked viewers to rate the disturbing YouTube video on a forum.
The RSPCA were alerted to the online video entitled ‘You must see this — it will crack you up’ and launched a man hunt for Staughton, who posted the sickening film under the alias Nitroazza.
They discovered Princess suffered a broken tooth and a tongue injury in the terrifying attack and has now been rehomed.
Sick Staughton is now facing up to six months in jail after admitting animal cruelty at Huntingdon Magistrates’ Court.
The lout broke down in tears during the hearing on Tuesday after his internet anonymity was unmasked in the court.
Magistrates heard Staughton had been dumped by his lover of four-and-a-half years and thrown out of their home following the cruel stunt.
[…]
Kevin Warboys, mitigating, asked for reports on Staughton who suffered ADHD and a conduct disorder.
He said: ‘Mr Staughton suffers from conduct disorder which he says means ‘I just do things without thinking.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A major paedophile network may have had links to Downing Street and a former prime minister, it was claimed in Parliament today.
Labour MP Tom Watson alleged there was ‘clear intelligence’ linking a former Number 10 aide with a notorious group of sex offenders.
The explosive allegation was made during Prime Minister’s Questions and comes as the BBC is gripped by the Jimmy Savile crisis and its failure to protect children from the TV presenter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nine Men in Rochdale Charged With Sex Offences Against Teenage Girl
Greater Manchester Police has revealed that nine men from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, have been charged in relation to offences committed against a teenage girl.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between 2008 and 2009 in the Rochdale area.
Freddy Kendakumana, 26, of Illminster, Rochdale, has been charged with three counts of rape, attempted rape and four counts of sexual activity with a child under 16. Roheez Khan, 26, of Ashfield Road, Rochdale, has been charged with ten counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.
Chola Chansa, 32, of Illminster, Rochdale, has been charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.
Ali Asghar Hussain Shah, 39, of Lyefield Walk, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16.
Anjam Masood, 30, of Marne Crescent, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16.
Asrar Haider, 38, of Chamber House Drive, Castleton, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16.
Abdul Huk, 36, of Ouldfield Close, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity with a child under 16.
Mohammed Rafiq, 31, of Allington, Freehold, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16.
Mohammed Ali, 27, of Exbury, Rochdale, has been charged with sexual activity with a child under 16.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nine Men From Rochdale Charged After Child Sex Grooming Probe
Nine men have been charged following an investigation into child grooming in Rochdale. The charges relate to child exploitation offences committed separately against one teenage girl in the Rochdale area by different men between 2008 and 2009. The men, who are all from Asian and African backgrounds, were arrested in May.
Freddy Kendakumana, 26, of Illminster, Rochdale has been charged with three counts of rape, attempted rape and four counts of sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 7 November 2012.
Roheez Khan, 26, of Ashfield Road, Rochdale has been charged with ten counts of sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on the 8 November 2012.
Chola Chansa, 32, of Illminster, Rochdale has been charged with two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 9 November 2012.
Ali Asghar Hussain Shah, 39, of Lyefield Walk, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 22 November 2012.
Anjam Masood, 30, of Marne Crescent, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 21 November 2012.
Asrar Haider, 38, of Chamber House Drive, Castleton, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 21 November 2012.
Abdul Huk, 36, of Ouldfield Close, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 23 November 2012.
Mohammed Rafiq, 31, of Allington, Freehold, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity and inciting sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 5 December 2012.
Mohammed Ali, 27, of Exbury, Rochdale has been charged with sexual activity with a child under 16. He has been bailed to appear at Bury Magistrates’ Court on 6 December 2012.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Pig’s Head Found Outside Newbury Mosque
POLICE launched a ‘hate crime’ investigation today after the discovery of a pig’s head outside the Newbury Mosque. Officers were called to the mosque in Pound Street at around 9.30am and cordoned off the area while they spent the morning examining the scene. They are now reviewing CCTV footage and working closely with the mosque’s Imam, and neighbourhood inspector Al Lloyd said: “This is a matter that we are taking extremely seriously and we will not tolerate hate crime in this area.”
[…]
[JP note: One law for Muslims, crumbs for the rest.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Prince of Wales’s Day of Destiny With a Hobbit’s Hairy Toes
by Rowan Pelling
Good on the Prince of Wales for giving JRR Tolkien the royal stamp of approval
Admitting to a love of Tolkien halves your IQ instantaneously in many high-minded circles. You might as well declare a family of pixies live in a shoebox under your bed. When The Lord of The Rings was crowned “Nation’s Best-Loved Book” in 2003, many critics feigned a nervous breakdown. The intelligentsia can never forgive the pipe-smoking don for providing the portal through which elves and wizards escaped the confines of children’s books and rampaged into adult fiction. The American critic Edmund Wilson spoke for many when he declared in 1956 that The Lord of the Rings was “juvenile trash”, a view that still persists. Only the other day I was telling a Cambridge acquaintance that I had bought my son a beautiful hardback edition of The Hobbit, complete with Tolkien’s illustrations, for his eighth birthday, and received the withering response, “Really? My son hates fantasy, he likes books with proper facts.” Which roughly translates as: “My child will be a genius, while yours will get a GCSE in Dungeons and Dragons.” I wonder if she banned Beowulf or Le Morte d’Arthur, on grounds of the fantastical creatures in their pages.
So three cheers for the Prince of Wales, a life-long fan of Tolkien, who has elected to spend his 64th birthday on the Hobbit set in New Zealand as a guest of director Peter Jackson, where he’ll get a sneak preview of the movie. A spokesman for the Prince has said “he is very much looking forward to seeing Bilbo Baggins’s foot”. Of course he is: there are few things more British in their appeal than a hairy-footed devotee of rural pursuits, who lives on real ale…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Frankie Boyle Libel Case — An Example of How Race Has Replaced Sex as the No1 Taboo
by Ed West
So you can call Frankie Boyle many things, but you can’t call him a racist. The sweary comic won £54,650 in damages after a High Court jury found that the Daily Mirror had libeled him by calling him a “racist comedian”…
[Reader comment by Emp123 on 23 October 2012 at 6:05 pm.]
Racism is to liberals what witchcraft was to Puritans: it is everywhere, insidious, invisible, always up to its evil tricks, always at work. And once you are accused of it it is already too late, you’re *******.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woman Accused of Standing by While Trio Allegedly Abused Tower Hamlets Child
A young girl who was sexually abused by three men was mocked by a woman, who suggested she should “get some money” from her alleged attackers, a court heard today
Chinyere Chikwe, 43, allegedly knew the schoolgirl was being abused at various addresses in Poplar and Stepney between the ages of nine and 11, but did nothing to prevent it.
Mohammed Rafique, 53, of Candy Street, Bow, is accused of sexually assaulting the child, over a three year period from March 2003 until February 2006.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard two other men attacked the girl too, with Sunday Ajayi, 48, accused of raping her, while Chinedu ‘Oscar’ Anyanwu, 43, is alleged to sexually assaulted her.
The girl, now 18, confided in a relative last year before a complaint was lodged to police, jurors heard.
Prosecutor Edmund Gritt said: “Chinyere [Chikwe] is accused of mocking her warnings that Rafique was abusing her. She said, ‘try and get some money off him’.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnians Elect Their First Hijab-Wearing Mayor
When Amra Babic walks down the streets of the central Bosnian town of Visoko wearing her Muslim headscarf, men sitting in outdoor cafes instantly rise from their chairs, fix their clothes and put out their cigarettes.
The respect is only natural: Babic is their new mayor.
The 43 year-old economist has blazed a trail in this war-scarred Balkan nation by becoming its first hijab-wearing mayor, and possibly the only one in Europe. Her victory comes as governments elsewhere in Europe debate laws to ban the Muslim veil, and Turkey, another predominantly Islamic country seeking EU membership, maintains a strict policy of keeping religious symbols out of public life.
For Babic, the electoral triumph is proof that observance of Muslim tradition is compatible with Western democratic values.
“It’s a victory of tolerance,” the wartime widow says. “We have sent a message out from Visoko. A message of tolerance, democracy and equality.
She sees no contradiction in the influences that define her life.
“I am the East and I am the West,” she declares. “I am proud to be a Muslim and to be a European. I come from a country where religions and cultures live next to each other. All that together is my identity.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: It’s the Mullahs, Stupid
by Richard Butrick
The general position of the Obama administration toward the Muslim Brotherhood is that, despite the fears of alarmists regarding the radical pronouncements and mission statement of the Brotherhood, once the organization is faced with the realities of governance and working within the community of nations, they will govern as any pragmatic, problem-solving nation must to provide economic and political security for their people. Let me quote from an account of how Hindenburg, president of Weimar Germany, was persuaded to co-opt Hitler and his Nazi movement by bringing Hitler into his administration.
“In the later years of his presidency, Hindenburg was heavily influenced by those who surrounded him — especially his son. Hindenburg showed more and more signs of senility and was open to their suggestions. Though he disliked Hitler because he did not come from the right social class and had only been a corporal in the war, he was persuaded to appoint him chancellor in January 1933. The constitution gave him the power to do this. Hindenburg had been persuaded by his son and Franz von Papen, that Hitler could be controlled and that if anything went wrong, then Hitler and the Nazis would get the blame thus damaging their political standing in Germany. Von Papen hoped that he would set the political agenda and that Hitler would simply agree to this.”
We all know how that turned out. Actually, the Obama/Clinton approach to the Muslim Brotherhood is even more Newmanesque. They seem to be doubling down on the belief that tension between the Muslim and non-Muslim world has nothing to do with Islam. At least Hindenburg and company knew that Nazism — the belief system — was indeed at the core of the Hitler problem. The Obama/Clinton team seems to think that the Muslim Brotherhood is not bound by core Islamic mandates. The Coptic Christians and secular forces in Egypt know better. Unfortunately, they know what is in store for them. When Secretary of State Clinton visited Egypt after the election of Mohamed Morsi, Clinton’s motorcade encountered a crowd estimated to be up to a half a million. They pelted her motorcade with tomatoes and shoes…
Time to crawl out from under the Islam-is-not-the-issue-peaceful-majority-delusion. Time to concentrate on the fanatical sharia-heads who lead the “peaceful majority” by the nose. Time for a war on mullahs. The first step would be to kick out the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi mullahs spewing anti-Enlightenment venom from mosques across the U.S. The next step would be to declare war on monomanical mullahs across the Middle East, starting with Iran. Forget the peaceful majority. It’s the mullahs, stupid. The Muslim Brotherhood is the bowdlerized front for Islamic supremacism — and it is the Obama/Clinton team that has been co-opted, and not vice-versa.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Working With the Muslim Brotherhood
by Roger Cohen
Perhaps the most radical change in US foreign policy under President Barack Obama has occurred here in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood, long shunned as a collection of dangerous Islamist extremists, is now the de facto object of American support. Not only that: Ultraconservative Salafist politicians, who make the Brotherhood seem like moderate pragmatists, are now regular visitors to the US embassy and, on the theory that it is better to have them inside the tent than out, they are able to visit the United States to learn how things work in the land of Jeffersonian democracy…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: ‘Army Units Deployed in Sensitive Areas in Capital, Inland, ‘ Says Defense Ministry
Tunis — Army units have been deployed since last Saturday, as a precaution, in the capital and other regions, in co-ordination with security commands, said, Monday, National Army Colonel Major and representative of the National Defense Ministry Mokhtar Ben Naceur.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisian Salafi Leader Says Islamic-Led Government is a U.S. Puppet
(Reuters) — The leader of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia on Tuesday accused the country’s government of being a puppet of the United States and un-Islamic, urging it to release Salafists jailed after an attack on the U.S. embassy last month.
The criticism from Saif-Allah Benahssine, who is also known as Abu Iyadh, came as Tunisia’s moderate Islamist-led government celebrated its first anniversary following the ousting of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last year. Benahssine is wanted by the police for allegedly inciting the attack on the U.S. embassy in which four people were killed in a protest over an anti-Islamic film made in California. Benhassine escaped capture at a mosque in Tunis last month…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Late last evening FOX News broke the amazing story that has proven, beyond a doubt, that Obama and his administration knew immediately that the attack on the US Consulate in Libya was being done by armed and organized terrorists.
The cable TV shows, thus far, are abuzz with this news but, they are asking the wrong questions. The speculation is, that they fabricated and lied to obscure the erroneous declarations of Obama relating to Al Qead’s decimation and degradation. Ladies and gentlemen, not a chance.
Here is what we now know:
| 1. | Just two hours into the attack on the consulate Obama and the State Department knew it was under a military style assault. | |
| 2. | They had real time video being taken by drones. | |
| 3. | Three brave American heroes fought off the overwhelmingly superior forces for almost 7 hours before the compound was breached. | |
| 4. | Obama never made a move to help them when jets could have been scrambled and been there in in time to possibly scare off the attackers with a strafing run. | |
| 5. | For five hours after the White House was informed, those men battled to hold the compound while Obama, reportedly went to bed. | |
| 6. | Earlier in that day, the Ambassador sent emails warning of the impending danger and the White House did nothing to bring assets in to help. |
So the question that needs to be asked is, why. Why would the President allow a 7 hour siege to take place without lifting a finger to help?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Militants Killed in Strikes Following Rocket Fire
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have carried out air strikes over Gaza City, killing at least four Hamas militants and injuring several other people.
It comes after a night of rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel which injured at least three people. Two large explosions were also heard in Gaza on Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was seriously injured by a bomb blast near the Gaza border fence. The previous day two militants died in an air strike…
[JP note: The BBC’s pro-Hamas stance is probably just as evil as its toleration of paedophilia.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Militant Killed in Israeli Airstrike
The Israeli military said 60 rockets and mortars were fired by early morning, and that Israeli aircraft struck Gaza three times. The Popular Resistance Committees said one of its members died in one of the airstrikes.
Rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip pummeled southern Israel early Wednesday and an Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian militant, in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to Gaza by Qatar’s leader. Several foreign workers in Israel were wounded in the rocket fire, and a number of militants were also injured in the air attacks, Israeli and Palestinian health officials said. Hamas security forces were ordered to evacuate their facilities for fear they would become targets of Israeli airstrikes, and some southern Israeli schools cancelled classes…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gazans Fire 60 Rockets, Mortar Shells Into Israel; 5 Hurt
IAF strikes rocket-launching terror squads in Strip, kills 3 Hamas members, injures 3; 77 rockets fired since evening; southern municipalities cancel school; Barak: IDF will take all necessary action to return quiet.
Palestinian terrorists fired 60 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel Wednesday morning, injuring five and sending local residents fleeing for cover. IAF strikes targeting Palestinian rocket-launching squads killed three Hamas operatives but did little to stem the flow of rockets…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Get Used to it: Israel is Here to Stay
by David Solway
Some time back, a friend of mine was urging diaspora Jews to visit Israel a.s.a.p. for, according to her lights, the future for the Jewish state was foreclosing fast. In five more years, she feared, Israel would no longer be here. More than five years have passed since that dire prophecy and Israel is not only still among the living but is experiencing a surge of technological and entrepreneurial prosperity that few other countries in the West can lay claim to…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kuwait: The Islamist Opposition Blocks the Country, 100 Thousand on the Streets of the Capital
Demonstrations to demand democratic reforms last two days and will continue throughout the week. The partial toll is 100 wounded and 15 policemen injured. The Interior Ministry accused of using foreign troops to stop the protesters. The revolt is the largest in the history of the country, the oldest parliamentary monarchy in the Persian Gulf.
Kuwait City (AsiaNews / Agencies) — The wrath of the opposition against the Kuwaiti government shows no sign of calming. In the last two days, the country has been overturned by the largest popular protests in its history. Between 22 and 23 October more than 100 thousand people took to the streets of the capital in protest against the government which responded by deploying police and the army. Members of the opposition have accused the Interior Ministry of using foreign troops to attack the demonstrators and provoke clashes. The partial toll is 100 injuries among the demonstrators and 11 policemen injured.
Today the opposition announced that the protests will continue indefinitely until the government gives in to the demanded reforms to transform the country into a true democracy.
Governed by the Emir Sabah al — Sabah, Kuwait is the oldest monarchy in the Gulf. The Sabah dynasty has been in power since the late ‘1700. The system of government is parliamentary. The heir to the throne is also the prime minister, but parliament can decide to remove him.
The current crisis began last March after the victory of the Islamists in elections, marking a historic achievement for the country which has always been close to the positions of the western states. Fearing the extremists, the Emir ruled the current electoral law unconstitutional. He annulled the vote in March, proposing new elections for the 1st of December. In recent months, however, the parliament and the Council of Ministers close to the royal family have tried in every way to change the current electoral law, providing the opposition a series of democratic reforms. The vagueness of the government has led to the creation of a broad opposition to the royal house which includes the Muslim Brotherhood, nationalist and reformist democratic parties, which together have decided to boycott the elections in December and call all the people to demonstrate. The climate of contestation was further fuelled by the arrest of three opposition MPs accused of undermining public safety of the Emirate.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Russia: Syria Rebels Have US-Made Weapons
A senior Russian general has said Syrian rebels now have anti-aircraft weapons, including US-made Stingers.
Gen Nikolai Makarov was quoted by the Interfax news service as saying the origin of the surface-to-air missiles should be “cleared up”.
Russia is the biggest supplier of arms to its Syrian government ally.
Aerial bombardment of rebel-held towns continued on Wednesday, as the UN’s Syria envoy prepared to brief the Security Council on ceasefire efforts.
Lakhdar Brahimi has been trying to arrange a ceasefire between rebels and government forces over the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which begins on Friday.
Weapon supplies
“We have reliable information that Syrian militants have foreign portable anti-aircraft missile systems, including those made in the USA… it should be cleared up who delivered them,” Gen Makarov told journalists in Russia.
There have been earlier unconfirmed reports of the Syrian opposition having shoulder-mounted missiles, but the West has been reluctant to openly arm the rebels.
In August, Syrian rebels said they had shot down a fighter jet near the border with Iraq.
Syrian warplanes have stepped up their bombardments of rebel-dominated areas in recent months, particularly in the north of the country. Deadly air raids are now daily events in towns around the city of Aleppo.
Recent footage has emerged of Syrian opposition fighters using old Soviet SA-7 heat-seeking missiles, which can destroy a plane flying at up to 14,000ft.
US-made Stinger missiles are shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapons designed to target low-flying planes and helicopters.
A US decision to supply them to the mujahideen in Afghanistan in the 1980s to fight the Russians proved to be a turning point in the war.
The UN says that more than 18,000 people have died so far in the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s government, which began in March 2011, but activists and opposition groups put the figure closer to 30,000.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Jailed Activist Told ‘Confess or Your Children Die’
A Russian opposition activist has said he was abducted from Ukraine, apparently by Russian special services, and tortured into confessing to a plot against President Vladimir Putin, a report said Wednesday.
Leonid Razvozzhayev, who is now being held in a Moscow prison after investigators said he freely confessed, told rights activists who visited him in detention that he was tortured and his family threatened, the New Times weekly reported on its website.
With details worthy of a thriller, Razvozzhayev’s alleged kidnapping came after he was named as a suspect in a probe into a television show which claimed that protest organisers were plotting an uprising with foreign funding.
Razvozzhayev, an aide to a Russian opposition parliamentary deputy, spoke to a public group that monitors prisons and a New Times journalist. He claimed he was bundled into a van by masked men in Kiev, where he had been seeking asylum.
The UN refugee agency on Tuesday said it was “deeply concerned” after Razvozzhayev disappeared on Friday during a lunch break as he consulted a legal NGO.
However Razvozzhayev said he was kidnapped a day earlier on Thursday, according to the New Times.
Razvozzhayev said he was taken across the Russian border and tortured in a dilapidated house where he was held in the cellar, his legs taped up, handcuffed and not given food or drink or taken to the toilet for two days.
“All the interrogations took place in a cellar. I was in a mask and a hat pulled over my face without slits,” he said.
“They told me: if you don’t answer our questions, your children will be killed.”
He said he confessed to the allegations after the men said they would otherwise inject him with a “truth serum” that could leave him permanently disabled.
He said he signed the confession while in handcuffs and was also filmed making the confession.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
A doctor is accused of raping a former lover he had a secret affair with in Pakistan and threatening to release naked photographs of her when she rejected his advances.
Dr Muhammed Khan, who practices in Glasgow, is fighting for his career at a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing (MTPS).
His alleged victim, who can only be identified as ‘Miss A’, has accused Khan of raping her when she was a student in Pakistan when she was 17 in 2001.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Four Children Killed in Afghanistan Firefight
KABUL, Afghanistan — A firefight that raged for an hour between international forces and the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan killed four children who were in the area grazing their sheep and goats, local officials said. The international forces apologized for the episode Tuesday and said an investigation was under way, but because bullets were flying from both sides, the international military stopped short of taking responsibility for the children’s deaths, which occurred on Sunday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: Anti-Islam Material on Twitter: Police Case Filed
A case was registered here against unidentified people for posting “insensitive” material against Islam on microblogging site Twitter, police said Tuesday. The case was registered by the economic offences wing (EOW) of Delhi Police Saturday following a complaint given Oct 12 by a Delhi-based political analyst Tehseen Poonawalia, 30. A case has been registered under different provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology (IT) Act’s Section 66 A (sending offensive messages through communication service), police said. Poonawalia alleged in his complaint that the objectionable material was posted on the site Oct 12. “…the tweets clearly are violating several provisions of the India Penal Code (IPC) and IT act,” alleged Poonawalia.
Poonawalia also mentioned in the complaint that some of the offensive tweets had been posted from Oct 6 onwards. “These tweets are in flagrant violation as they promote enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion,” Poonawalia alleged. “The tweets were made through different accounts — The Devil_Heart, koolkaran, Naren_reddy23, gitaakapoor, ronejoq and jambokaka,” Poonawalia alleged. The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) last Thursday approached police to identify the culprits and register the case against them. In a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, NCM chairperson Wajahat Habibullah pointed to a material on Twitter and said it was “replete with abuse against Islam and the Muslim community”.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Protecting Afghanistan’s Environment and Tourist Future
If the high mountain lakes of Band-e Amir were not in a country in its fourth decade of war they would be world famous.
Outsiders lucky enough to see them today are often lost for words when they first set eyes on the ethereal blue of their waters and the Martian-orange and red cliffs surrounding them. The lakes, in Bamiyan province, are Afghanistan’s first-ever national park, and draw thousands of local visitors every year. The government hopes foreign tourists will one day come too. If that sounds quixotic now, so too may the UN and the government’s launch here of the country’s first-ever environmental protection plan — with a solar-powered kettle one of its signature initiatives…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fiat Says China May Build All Jeep Models as SUV Demand Grows
Michigan, 22 Oct. (AKI/Bloomberg) — Italian car gian Fiat, which controls the Chrysler Group plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.
Fiat is in “very detailed conversations” with its Chinese partner, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. (2238), about making Jeeps in the world’s largest auto market, said Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia.
Chrysler hasn’t built Jeeps there since before Fiat took control in 2009.
“The volume opportunity for us is very significant,” Manley, who is also president of the Jeep brand, said in an interview at Chrysler’s Auburn Hills, Michigan, headquarters.
“We’re reviewing the opportunities within existing capacity” as well as “should we be localizing the entire Jeep portfolio or some of the Jeep portfolio.”
Chrysler, which entered an alliance with Turin, Italy-based Fiat as part of its US-government-backed bankruptcy, is relying on growth in China to counter weakness in Europe’s auto market. The carmaker is targeting 500,000 annual sales outside North America by 2014, more than triple its overseas deliveries in 2009.
International sales for Chrysler climbed 22 percent to 153,154 this year through September, according to the company. The Jeep brand accounted for more than three of every four of those deliveries, with sales surging 54 percent to 117,189.
“We’ve grown much stronger in Asia to make up or compensate for some of the difficulties in Europe,” Manley said.
Europe will be in “very difficult, tough times” through at least 2013, he said.
Boosted by strong demand for the Grand Cherokee and Compass sport-utility vehicles, Jeep sales in China have more than doubled to 33,463 this year through September. The brand topped total deliveries for all of 2011 by July of this year.
Chrysler’s 2014 international sales target is “certainly within reach,” Manley said. The European auto market is on track to plunge in 2012 by the most in 19 years, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
“Given what we see around the world, it is stretching for sure, but it’s not something we’ve given up on,” he said.
Fiat and Guangzhou’s plant in Changsha in central China has initial annual capacity of 140,000 cars and is capable of eventually assembling 500,000 vehicles per year.
The automaker will add production of a new vehicle to the factory roughly every 12 months and began building the Fiat Viaggio compact there in June.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A North Korean military officer has been executed with a mortar shell blast for disrespecting late ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-il by drinking alcohol during the 100-day mourning period.
South Korean media claim Kim Chol, the secretive state’s former vice minister of the army, was forced to stand on a spot that had been targeted with a mortar on the orders of Kim Jong-un.
The North Korean leader, who took over from his father after his death in December last year, demanded Kim Chol was ‘obliterated’, with ‘no trace of him behind, down to his hair’ in January.
[…]
It followed the North Korean regime’s decision to order its 25 million population to abstain from pleasurable activities — including drinking alcohol — in honour of Kim Jong-il.
As an initial crack down on pleasure, anyone found to be not showing extreme distress in the hours after the dictator’s death were dealt with severely by being sent to six months in labour camps, according to reports leaking from the Stalinist nation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ethiopian Muslim Election Turns Violent
The Muslim election in Ethiopia was marred by violence with two protesters reported to have been killed on Sunday.
The incident occurred in the town of Gerba in the Amhara regional state of Ethiopia. Sources say that other civilians were also injured during the clash, and there are unconfirmed reports of the death of one federal police in the clash. Muslims across the country were electing a new council…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Gunmen Shoot Somali Journalist in Mogadishu
Nairobi — Somali authorities must investigate the shooting of a journalist for a national broadcaster, identify the motive, and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two gunmen shot Mohamed Mohamud Turyare, reporter and website editor for the Shabelle Media Network, after he left a mosque in the Hawo Tako neighborhood in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu at around 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to local journalists and news reports. Mohamed was hospitalized for gunshot wounds in his chest and abdomen, the journalists said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Muslims Opt for Cow, Camel to Celebrate Sallah
MANY Muslims in of Kano have resorted to contribute money with their friends and relatives to buy either cow or camel to celebrate Eid-el-Kabir as the prices of rams had gone beyond their reach…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Use Religion to Promote Peace, Devt — Etsu Nupe
Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, has appealed to political and religious leaders in the country to use religion as a tool to foster unity, peace and harmonious existence in Nigeria rather than division. The royal father said in an interview yesterday in Bida that both Islam and Christianity preached peace, which should form the cradle of the practice of the two religion…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Teenager Sent Back to Somalia by Father for Becoming “Too Finnish”
Halima was sitting in the yard when someone knocked at the gate. The sun had just gone down, but she could distinguish a friendly face in the dark. The guest was a skinny imam whom Halima had seen in the nearby mosque nearly every day since her father had taken her from Finland to Mogadishu two weeks earlier.
Her father had wanted Halima to get to know her relatives who lived in Somalia, but the 15-year-old girl felt anguished. The relatives were constantly talking about Islam and about sins which might cause a person would go to hell. They felt that Halima was on the wrong path.
Everything was different from what it was back home in Finland. It was mid-July in 2001, and in a few weeks Halima was to start ninth grade in her school.
The guest stayed for just 15 minutes. When he left, one of the women, a relative, came to tell Halima that the imam had asked for her hand in marriage. In the evening in her bedroom Halima begged her father that they could leave. Her father took Halima’s Finnish passport and tore it up: “You will stay here.
Halima cried herself to sleep.
Earlier in the same year the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had drafted a report according to which nearly 150 Somalis had disappeared from Finland. At least a third of them had been taken back to Somalia or its neighbouring countries. Finnish officials had no idea what kinds of conditions the children were living in, nor did they know if they had gone voluntarily.
Halima certainly would not have wanted to go to Somalia, where she had been only once before, at such a young age that she did not really remember anything about it.
Halima was born in Ethiopia in 1986. Her Ethiopian mother died when Halima was a young child. Her maternal grandmother and aunt raised Halima and her elder brother. The Somali father was studying in the Soviet Union. He visited Ethiopia frequently and brought gifts to her children, but Halima hardly knew him.
Things changed when her father brought along his new Somali wife.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Somalian Al-Shabaab Group in New Attack Threat to Britain
Somalia’s al-Qaeda-allied Islamists have threatened to “eclipse the horrors of 7/7” with an attack on Britain in revenge for the extradition of the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza to the United States.
A High Court ruling overturning attempts to stop the Egyptian-born imam being sent to the US was “a testament to the reality of the west’s vicious war against Islam and the Muslims”, al-Shabaab said. For this, the group said on its official Twitter feed, Britain faced another terror attack that would be deadlier than those on July 7 and July 21, 2005. “Britain will pay the heftiest price for its brazen role in the war against Islam and endless brutality against innocent Muslims,” al-Shabaab’s press office tweeted on Monday. “We remind the British government that we’re a nation that doesn’t tolerate oppression [and] their actions will be repaid in retaliatory measure.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
JOHANNESBURG — Officials from the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced the sentencing of a U.S. citizen for crimes he committed while he was a volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps. He was sentenced on October 10 in a U.S. court in the State of Connecticut. Jesse Osmun, 33, was sentenced yesterday in Hartford, Conn., to 15 years (180 months) in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for sexually abusing four minor girls, all under the age of six, while he was a volunteer in South Africa…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UN Condemns Attack on Guinea-Bissau Military Base
The United Nations condemns an attack on a military base in Guinea-Bissau which resulted in numerous deaths, a spokesperson for the world body announced today. “We are appealing for calm and calling on all in Guinea-Bissau to resolve differences by peaceful means, including through inclusive dialogue,” the spokesperson added in a statement responding to a question asked during today’s daily press briefing held at UN Headquarters in New York…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Globalists Use “Brazil” Strategy in the US
The Globalists are using the same strategy in the US as in Brazil, bribe people with their own money and make them debt slaves at the same time.
SAN PAOLO — To understand how Marxists take power and deliver countries to the globalists, Brazil is a paradigm.
This week, several leaders of the Worker’s Party, the governing Marxist party of Brazil, were found guilty of stealing over US$ 70 MM in government money and bribing Congressmen from other parties to vote for all government initiatives coming from ex-President Lula’s office.
One of them, Jose Genoino, was the president of the Party. This scandal was labelled Mensalão, meaning a “large monthly payment”. Most educated people in Brazil were outraged and we saw demonstrations in social media, the press and the streets.
One would think that such a scandal would mean the end of the Workers Party. Not at all. Lula lied and said he never knew anything about it.
He was shielded by the comrades, who will take the blame even though they didn’t steal the money for themselves.
The strategy of the Party is to send the faithful comrades to the gallows, while keeping the Party’s image untouched.
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Coastguard Rescue Over 200 Migrants in Libyan Waters
Palermo, 24 Oct. (AKI) — Italian coastguard late Tuesday intercepted two boats with more than 200 migrants including 37 women on board in Libyan waters after receiving an SOS from a satellite phone.
The two vessels were not adrift or sinking but Italian coastguard intervened after their Libyan counterparts failed to respond to the SOS call. The boats were located 30 and 60 nautical miles off Tripoli.
Coastguard, aided by a boat from a nearby oil platform, accompanied the migrants boats to the tiny southwestern Italian island of Lampedusa, where they arrived early on Wednesday.
At least two of the female migrants were pregnant and there was also a minor, coastguard said.
There were no initial reports on the migrants’ purported nationalities or their physical condition.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Illegal Aliens and Federal Benefits
Theoretically, the law forbids illegal aliens from receiving benefits reserved for American citizens with the exception of emergency Medicaid. In practice, it does not prevent any of them from applying for and receiving benefits paid for by American taxpayers who sometimes, are themselves denied benefits.
Emergency Medicaid provided in emergency rooms, although well intentioned, has been used and abused by illegal aliens as their own personal physician, resulting in the bankruptcy of many small hospitals across the nation, particularly in California.
Federal benefits distributed to illegal aliens include: grants, contracts, loans, professional and commercial licenses, retirement, welfare, WIC, disability, public housing, college education, Pell grants, food stamps, tax credits, earned income credits, tax refunds, and unemployment benefits.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Kids of Illegal Immigrants Can Go to School: Sweden
Undocumented immigrant children in Sweden will be allowed to go to school as of July 1st next year, the Swedish government announced on Wednesday after striking a deal with the opposition Green Party.
“Children without a residency permit will have the right to education” from kindergarten to secondary school, it said in a statement.
Sweden’s use of personal identity numbers has essentially barred children of illegal immigrants from public education, and schools have been required to contact police if registration requests were made for an undocumented child.
The new law scraps that requirement, but schooling will still not be mandatory for children of illegal immigrants.
“All children have the right to go to school … and their right (to do so) will become legal,” Education Minister Jan Björklund said at a press conference.
For undocumented children, going to school “means being normal, (it brings) stability, routines to an often precarious existence,” said the Green Party’s spokeswoman on immigration, Maria Ferm.
The government will provide an annual budget of 50 million kronor ($7.4 million) starting in 2014, to help the municipalities where the children go to school. Half the annual amount has been set aside for next year.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 children will be affected by the new law, according
to Björklund.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Majorities of Labour Voters Hold Extremist Right-Wing Views on Europe and Immigration’
by Tim Montgomerie
Over recent weeks I’ve been arguing that there aren’t a class of voters on the Right of the centre ground and another class to the Left. I have argued that the very idea of the centre ground is a nonsense. Voters, instead, occupy the common ground. They simultaneously want tougher crime policies, a looser relationship with Europe, tougher border controls, a more demanding welfare state and they also support progressive taxes, investment in the NHS, generous benefits to pensioners and equality for minorities. Very few people are left or right-wing. They are, well, kind of normal! If the Conservative Party wants to again become the natural party of government it must become a national party again — aiming to represent and serve all of society and not just sections of it or a narrow range of society’s concerns…
[Reader comment by David MacDonald on 23 October 2012 at about 3pm.]
Brilliant work! In fact anyone has served in the armed services, worked in a manufacturing company, queued at the newsagents, travelled (second class!) in a train, gone to work by bus, belonged to a football/rugby club or just got out a bit could have told you this. Norman Tebbit has been saying this for years. The Conservatives are out of touch with their voters too. Most don’t think that the infrastructure and utilities should be privatised, don’t believe in a totally free market and, like the Labour voters, don’t believe just about anyone is worth even a half of £1M pa; they are not very keen on homosexual marriage either. Our widely despised and disliked political class live in a bubble. We need to sack the lot and start again.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Millions of Labour voters have deserted the party in protest over mass immigration.
A poll reveals that nearly eight in ten former Labour voters support drastic curbs on migrant numbers.
It also shows huge support for sharp cuts in arrivals among those who have remained with the party.
In 1997, some 13.5million voted for Labour, but by the 2010 election that had fallen to 8.6million.
Analysis of the views of some of the five million ‘lost’ Labour voters by YouGov shows 78 per cent want net migration cut to zero.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Dutch Children Could Have Three or More Parents
Dutch kids may soon be able to have three or more mothers or fathers after the government said it was seeking to enshrine parenting rights for the Netherlands’ 25,000 children in gay families.
“The justice ministry is going to investigate and see what the possibilities are for recognising three parents or more per family,” ministry spokesman Wiebe Alkema told AFP on Wednesday.
The left-wing Green party, but also the Liberal VVD and the Labour PvdA parties that won last month’s parliamentary election, requested the report with a view to amending a lesbian parenting bill currently before parliament.
The Netherlands was the first country to legalise gay marriage in 2001 and when a gay or lesbian couple has a child, another parent is by biological necessity involved.
But, said Green MP Liesbeth van Tongeren, it is also essential to recognise the rights of non-biological parents, including step-parents.
“Currently parenthood in the eyes of the law is almost always the consequence of biological parenthood,” her party said in a statement, stressing that “this does not represent the diversity of families in the Netherlands.”
“Often enough, the father of a child with lesbian parents also plays a role in the life of the child,” she said.
“How a family lives is more important than the biological lineage,” Van Tongeren added. “The bill should take into account what’s best for all concerned.”
There is currently no legal recognition in the Netherlands for a child’s step-parents or for sperm donors who would like to be involved in the life of their child.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Netherlands: ‘A Child Should be Able to Have More Than Two Official Parents’
It should be legally possible for a child to have more than two official parents, in order to recognise modern family situations, according to MPs from the green party GroenLinks.
They want junior justice minister Fred Teeven to look at the legal situation in the light of current living patterns.
For example, the children of two lesbian mothers may want the biological father to have an official role. Stepmothers and stepfathers often also want official status.
‘The practical situation in a family is more important than a biological relationship,’ MP Liesbeth Van Tongeren is quoted by Nos as saying.
The VVD Liberals also say the law on parenthood should be amended to reflect modern families.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Children as young as 13 are being advised they can flout the age of sexual consent by a sordid NHS website.
The service, which is partly EU funded and is publicised in schools, even offers tips on sex acts.
In total defiance of the law, it advises that while sex under the age of 16 is illegal ‘you are the only one who knows when you are ready’.
MPs and family groups say the service — costing £56,000 and inspired by Dutch sex education techniques — should be halted because it encourages sexual experimentation among children.
The Respect Yourself website and smartphone app is the first service of its kind in the UK and has just been rolled out across 39 secondary schools in Coventry and Warwickshire.
The site contains sexually explicit images, diagrams of erogenous zones, a ‘sextionary’ of explicit terms and advises ‘there is very little stopping you accessing hardcore pornography from the comfort of your sofa’.
It also discusses prostitution, the effectiveness of the morning after pill and suggests how children can get hold of sex toys despite being under age.
The site’s ‘experts’, meanwhile, suggest young children might want to put off speaking to their parents about sex in case the subject upsets the parents.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: PFA Announce Six-Point Plan to Tackle Racism in Football
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) chief executive says the union wants tougher penalties for racist abuse including making it potentially a sackable offence, culprits ordered to attend awareness programmes and a form of the ‘Rooney rule’ to boost the number of black coaches and managers.
Taylor’s response comes after Reading striker Jason Roberts, a member of the PFA’s management committee, expressed frustration that his recommendations had not been acted on.
Taylor outlined the PFA’s action plan in a statement to the Press Association. The plan calls for:
| 1. | Speeding up the process of dealing with reported racist abuse with close monitoring of any incidents. | |
| 2. | Consideration of stiffer penalties for racist abuse and to include an equality awareness programme for culprits and clubs involved. | |
| 3. | An English form of the ‘Rooney rule’ — introduced by the NFL in America in 2003 — to make sure qualified black coaches are on interview lists for job vacancies. | |
| 4. | The proportion of black coaches and managers to be monitored and any inequality or progress highlighted. | |
| 5. | Racial abuse to be considered gross misconduct in player and coach contracts (and therefore potentially a sackable offence). | |
| 6. | To not to lose sight of other equality issues such as gender, sexual orientation, disability, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and Asians in football. |
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
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