California is Destroying Itself. The U.S. Is Next.
There’s a very entertaining, but terrifying book by Laer Pearce, “Crazifornia: Tales from the Tarnished State—How California is destroying itself and Why It Matters to America.” I recommend everyone read it because it lays out the template for why California will go belly up and why the nation is at the precipice of doing the same thing.
For some thirty years the author has been helping corporations and local government agencies cope with California’s regulatory jungle. As he puts it, “Crazifornia reveals a state that has become so misdirected, ungovernable and untenable that the primary driver of change has become the catastrophe.” Following the recent elections a recent Wall Street Journal editorial opined, “So now Californians will experience the joys of one-party, union-run progressive governance.”
Though it may defy belief, Californians voted to let the state tax them more to 13.3% and they gave Democrats a supermajority in both houses while killing a ballot initiative that would have barred unions from automatically withholding money from worker paychecks for political spending. The public service and other unions own California. Add that to a history of progressive politics and you have a recipe for the total disaster that confronts the state and the nation these days.
Laer calls it a laboratory for liberals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The day came last week, that I never would have dreamed would come about. Hostess (founded in 1930) went Galt and shut down laying off 18,500. Hostess had been going through severe financial challenges, so renegotiations with the unions was no surprise. They had already been through bankruptcy and restructuring twice before, I believe. They were dealing with twelve unions and had even brokered a deal with the Teamsters. They offered the unions a 25% stake in the company, seats on their Board of Directors and 100 million in debt. All they asked for was an 8% cut in wages. The Baker’s Union would have none of it, so now they get a 100% cut in wages. Ding Dong, the Twinkies are dead.
[…]
Labor leaders (who will be keeping their $200,000 a year positions) are of course blaming the EVIL capitalists, while slyly insinuating Bain Capital greed is at work, conveniently ignoring the fact it was the “greedy capitalist bastards” who have been investing their own capital and resources into the Hostess brands since 2001, trying to save the company. What utter commie crap. The unions are strangling this country on purpose. They want to bring us to our knees, lower wages across the board, unionize everyone and control us with an iron Neo-Comm fist. The only ones at that point that will be well off are the union and political thug leaders. It’s the same hierarchy as Communism, because it IS Communism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Posts Trade Surplus of 408 Mln Euros in September
Imports slow more than exports
(ANSA) — Rome, November 16 — Italy posted a trade surplus of 408 million euros in September, Istat said Friday.
Imports slowed much more than exports, the statistics agency said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Monti Says Eurobond Issues Still on the Table
(AGI) Milan — Prime Minister Mario Monti said the eurobond issue remains on the European agenda, and “is one of the things we need to talk about.” Presenting his book on Europe at Bocconi University, Monti continued: “We fought not so much to take a decision on eurobonds but for the issue to remain on the table.” He added, at a recent meeting with Merkel, “She said, ‘I notice that this time you have not talked about eurobonds’, and I said,’ I see that you noticed’, meaning that it’s not off the agenda of things we need to talk about.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Monti: Italy Doesn’t and Won’t Need the Help of the ESM
(AGI) — Milan, Nov. 17 — Mario Monti replied to a question about whether Italy would request help from the bailout fund: “I do not think Italy either needs it, or will need it.” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Ron Paul’s Farewell Message to America: Embrace Liberty or Face Self-Destruction
(NaturalNews) Ron Paul’s recent farewell speech is arguable the single most important speech in American history. Dr. Paul lays out the fatal problems facing America while pulling no punches. This speech is a must-read piece by anyone who seeks to understand the real reasons why America remains in a downward spiral of social and economic failure under the endless growth of Big Government and runaway debt.
Here’s the full text:
This may well be the last time I speak on the House Floor. At the end of the year I’ll leave Congress after 23 years in office over a 36 year period. My goals in 1976 were the same as they are today: promote peace and prosperity by a strict adherence to the principles of individual liberty.
It was my opinion, that the course the U.S. embarked on in the latter part of the 20th Century would bring us a major financial crisis and engulf us in a foreign policy that would overextend us and undermine our national security.
To achieve the goals I sought, government would have had to shrink in size and scope, reduce spending, change the monetary system, and reject the unsustainable costs of policing the world and expanding the American Empire.
The problems seemed to be overwhelming and impossible to solve, yet from my view point, just following the constraints placed on the federal government by the Constitution would have been a good place to start.
[…]
Without an intellectual awakening, the turning point will be driven by economic law. A dollar crisis will bring the current out-of-control system to its knees.
If it’s not accepted that big government, fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and warfarism caused our crisis we can expect a continuous and dangerous march toward corporatism and even fascism with even more loss of our liberties. Prosperity for a large middle class though will become an abstract dream.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Fed’s Nuclear Balance Sheet.
Stand Back: This Baby’s Going To Explode Over the coming weeks, we’re going to be hearing a lot about the ‘fiscal cliff’: the threat that some 5% of GDP is going to be ripped out of the economy in a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts. A fiscal slow-down on that scale will almost certainly trigger recession. The CBO thinks so, though their numbers look optimistic to me. (If you cut demand by 5%, more or less overnight, then you shouldn’t expect the economy to grow by more than 1% in the year following.)
Because the process of fiscal compromise acts itself out on the political stage — all big personalities and high drama — the media loves to report it. Loves to imply that vast questions are at stake, that political careers will stand or fall by the outcome. But they’re not. Not really. This so-called ‘cliff’ is really just the first in a series of steps.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top Economic Advisers Are Forecasting World War III
Trillions of dollars of debts will be restructured and millions of financially prudent savers will lose large percentages of their real purchasing power at exactly the wrong time in their lives. Again, the world will not end, but the social fabric of the profligate nations will be stretched and in some cases torn. Sadly, looking back through economic history, all too often war is the manifestation of simple economic entropy played to its logical conclusion. We believe that war is an inevitable consequence of the current global economic situation. Larry Edelson wrote an email to subscribers entitled “What the “Cycles of War” are saying for 2013, which states: “Since the 1980s, I’ve been studying the so-called “cycles of war” — the natural rhythms that predispose societies to descend into chaos, into hatred, into civil and even international war. I’m certainly not the first person to examine these very distinctive patterns in history.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Workers Endure ‘Lost Decade’ of Declining Wages
WASHINGTON — The nation’s high unemployment rate captures the headlines with each monthly jobs report, yet many Americans may be surprised to learn that real earnings, when adjusted for inflation, have declined across most industries and sectors since the Great Recession. Since 2002, in fact, it’s effectively been a lost decade for workers.
Equally troubling, real wages are now about the same level as they were in December 2005. Put another way, wages have clawed back from the Great Recession only to the level of seven years ago.
“The recession was unprecedented, and the stagnation of wages has really been going on for some time,” said Martin Kohli, the chief economist of the New York office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“If you are unemployed or underemployed, that is the most important issue,” he said. “But if you’re working, and your income has gone down, or you haven’t had a wage increase in a number of years, that problem is the bigger issue for you.”
The problem makes recovering from the Great Recession harder, he said, because without wage growth, it’s harder for Americans to pay down their debts.
In fact, real wages have been on a mostly downward slope for more than 40 years.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Threatens 14 US Governors With Arrest
A chilling report from the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) prepared for Prime Minister Putin warns today that United States President Barack Obama has had served on 14 US Governors National Security Letters (NSLs) warning that if their actions in attempting to form what are called State Defense Forces are not halted they will face “immediate” arrest for the crime of treason.
The use of NSLs in the United States was authorized by the Patriot Act law enacted after the September 11, 2001 attacks and forbids anyone receiving them from even acknowledging their existence, and was reauthorized by Obama’s “rubberstamp” Congress this past February over the objections of both civil and human rights groups who warned they mimic similar type “government security notices” enacted under both the former German Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes.
[…]
Obama’s fear of these State Defense Forces, this report says, rests with his not having power over them, and with the bulk of the US Military Forces he does control being stretched to near breaking with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would leave these State military forces under the control of these Governors in “defacto control” of the United States.
The two US Governors spearheading this rebellion against Obama, this report states, are the Republican opposition party Governors of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty and Texas, Rick Perry; both of whom have a deep fear their President is destroying their Nation.
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And in an even worse move against his own people who are still struggling to survive the growing Global economic collapse, new reports from the United States are stating that a “secret” programme found hidden in Obama’s socialist healthcare law called the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Act (CLASS Act) is about to take from them another $150-$250 a month from their paychecks forcing tens of millions more of them into abject poverty and debt slavery.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Thanksgiving, Colonists & Early American Law
Can Americans Learn Anything From Our Founders for Today?
Who were the original Founders of America? Two groups can be described from the group of original hardy settlers—the Pilgrims and the Puritans. The seeds of the Pilgrim stock came from the illegal English Separatist Church. All Englishmen were expected to attend Anglican Church, weekly.
It provoked much controversy in Christian circles that power swung between English Protestants and Catholics. The Separatists wanted no state meddling in private beliefs, and so left England in search of religious freedom, first to Leiden, Netherlands, and later to North America. This explains the US Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition against a state mandated church.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Coming EBT Riots: What Will Happen When Government Entitlements Stop?
Yesterday, the EBT card system, which is managed by JP Morgan Chase, suffered a six-hour outage across ten states.
Wal-Mart, one of the favorite destinations of EBT card users, proceeded to run transactions manually and then batched them into the JP Morgan Chase processing system once the system came back online. But elsewhere, stores were met with growing frustration from EBT card holders who were angry that their government money cards suddenly stopped working.
In this case, the EBT outage only lasted less than one day. But given that they are tied into a globalist bank which looks almost certain to fail once the global debt collapse unfolds, the question of the day is this: What’s going to happen when the bank running all the EBT transactions goes belly up?
Remember how Obama supporters threatened to riot in the streets if Romney won the recent presidential election? There’s a huge class of Americans who have become so dependent on the system of government handouts that they have no ability to survive any other way. These people will riot when the free money is cut off.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The election of 2012 is proving to be the most corrupt election ever in the United States. Stories are coming in from all over the nation where the electronic machines check off Obama when Romney’s name was chosen. Has the left finally been able to rig the machines so that no matter who is voted for their candidate gets the vote? I think so.
In 59 Philadelphia voting divisions Romney did not get one single vote. Obama got them all. Most dictators can’t get results like that. In Maine they are looking into allegations of voter fraud in several counties where blacks went into polling places to vote but there are no blacks that live in the community.
The worst that I have seen and it was state wide in the pivotal swing state of Florida. State wide had an average voter turnout of an unbelievable 141%. Every county in Florida had a minimum of 114% voter turnout. The nations average voter turnout is around 70% at best. One county in Florida had a turnout of 182.35%.
How can any reasonable person not have serious questions about these numbers?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Wal-Mart Fights Back on Black Friday Strike
As Wal-Mart workers prepare to stage a walkout on Black Friday, the world’s largest store is fighting back.
Wal-Mart has filed a complaint with a federal agency accusing one of the largest labor unions in the country of unlawfully organizing picket lines, in-store “flash mobs” and other demonstrations in the past six months.
In its complaint Thursday, Wal-Mart said the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and its subsidiary known as OURWalmart, of trying to force [Wal -Mart] into collective bargaining even though it is not the official union for Wal-Mart’s employees. The UFCW represents over 1 million meat packers and food industry workers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bear Who Entered Shed Now Targeted by Wildlife Officials
Animal tagged M13 could be given ‘death sentence’
(ANSA) — Bolzano, November 16 — A young brown bear tagged M13 who broke a window and crawled into an unoccupied cabin near the mountain town of Poschiavo in Switzerland close to the Italian border is now being targeted by wildlife officials.
The bear, who usually lives on the Italian side of the region and is tracked by his GPS collar, helped himself to potatoes and old bread then settled in for a 36-hour nap. Wildlife officials said that they are “evaluating the situation”. If the bear is deemed a nuisance, he risks the death sentence.
Fans on Emme Tredici’s (M13) Facebook page pleaded for the bear to cross back over into Italian territory.
“Get out of there fast,” said one fan on the social network.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Breivik Claims Zschäpe as Fellow Martyr
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik sent alleged neo-Nazi terrorist Beate Zschäpe a letter urging her to use her upcoming trial to promote far-right ideas, it emerged on Sunday.
Zschäpe is thought to have played a crucial part in 10 murders, mostly of men with an immigrant background, carried out by the National Socialist Underground (NSU) gang between 2000 and 2007.
Breivik wrote the three-page letter to Zschäpe in May this year when she was being held in the Cologne-Ossendorf prison, Der Spiegel magazine revealed.
If it became clear that she was a militant nationalist, Breivik wrote Zschäpe would become “a courageous heroine of nationalist resistance, that does anything and martyr themselves to stop multiculturalism and Islamisation of Germany.”
Breivik was in August was found guilty of murdering 77 people in Norway in July 2011. He held a rambling speech at the end of the trial justifying what he had done, and saying that the forces which had created him were the same as those behind the NSU.
In the letter he lauded the NSU’s string of murders as being part of the same movement.
Eight men of Turkish origin and one of Greek origin were shot dead, while the final killing was of a German policewoman. The gang is also being held responsible for a nail-bomb attack in a Turkish-populated area of Cologne in 2004.
Brivik told Zschäpe he felt attacking the elite was more effective than targeting minorities, but said that both served to “damage the multicultural experiment.”
The letter began with “dear sister Beate” and ended with “we are among the first raindrops from the dangerous, cleansing storm incurring over Europe.” It reached Germany just before he was found sane and sentenced.
He referred to both himself and Zschäpe as “martyrs of a conservative revolution,” before adding that “we should be extremely proud of our sacrifice and of our efforts.”
Germany’s Federal Prosecutor Harald Range told Der Spiegel that because of the severity of the crimes Zschäpe had been charged with, if convicted, she could face preventative detention — meaning that after serving a life sentence of 15 years, she could be kept behind bars indeterminately.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
France: Wine Connoisseurs Pay Record Prices at Burgundy Auction
French wine connoisseurs gathered in Burgundy on Sunday for its famous annual wine auction, raising €5.2 million (£4.1 million) — a new record per litre.
The Hospices de Beaune auction, which has been going for 152 years, saw a Ukrainian buyer pay €270,000 (£170,000) for a 350-litre barrel of Corton grand cru Charlotte Duma.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the former French first lady, who was guest auctioneer at the event, joked: “At €200,000, I’ll deliver the wine. At €250,000 my husband [Nicolas Sarkozy] will deliver it with me.”
Although the sale made a fraction less than last year’s €5.4 million, there were a third less bottles in total. In all, the prices were 54 per cent higher — making the auction a record by the litre.
“This is above our predictions,” said Jean-David Camus of the Albert Bichot merchant house.
The event, which is now run by British auctioneers Christie’s, attracts wine lovers from all over the world. Organisers said they had seen rocketing interest in the sale from Asian buyers. China is now Burgundy’s fourth largest export market behind Japan, Britain and the US.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Center-Left PD Remains Favorite in Election Polls
Grillo’s Five Star Movement loses 0.5%
(ANSA) — Rome, November 16 — An opinion poll released Friday by the SWG statistics institute on behalf of Italian state broadcaster RAI showed that the main centre-left Democratic Party (PD) remains the favorite for the next parliamentary elections, having gained 0.2% since last week.
The second biggest group, comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), lost 0.5% in the polls, while the anti-graft Italy of Values (IdV) party also dropped 0.5% following the arrest of the former caucus head in Lazio on Tuesday. Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party gained 0.3% in the polls.
The survey was conducted by phone and email November 12-15, said the statistics institute.
Those surveyed said that they did not believe that the center-left PD would reach the necessary percentage to have a ruling majority outlined by the proposed electoral reform bill currently before parliament if it passed.
Under the rule, if the votes in favor of the leading alliance reach 42.5%, an additional 12.5% would be granted to achieve a 55% majority.
In the case of a PD coalition with the centrist UDC party led by Pier Ferdinando Casini, the two together could surpass 40%, said the poll.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Temperatures Drop to 15 in Palermo, 12 in Rome, 4 in Milan
(AGI) Rome — Temperature lows dropped to 15 degrees in Palermo, 12 in Rome, 10 in Venice, 8 in Bologna and 5 in Florence. In Milan the thermometer reported a low of 4 degrees Celsius, and in Brescia a lowest of 2 degrees .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
More Than Half of Britons Would Vote to Leave EU as Miliband Admits That Eurosceptics Can be Right
UK: More than half of Britons would vote to leave the European Union if a referendum was held, a new opinion poll has found.
The findings came as Labour leader Ed Miliband admitted that Eurosceptics were right on many issues and that Britain must take a ‘hard-headed’ approach to the EU’s problems.
Reform was needed on the budget, immigration rules, state aid restrictions and austerity measures, he said, as anti-EU sentiment continues to spread through all three main political parties.
The poll, conducted by Opinium for The Observer, showed that 56 per cent of people would vote to leave the EU if given the choice.
It found that 44 per cent of Labour and 68 per cent of Conservative voters would vote to leave, as would 39 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters despite it being a strongly pro-EU party.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Secret MI5 Dossier: Hate Preacher Abu Qatada Issued Orders to Kill British Citizens After 9/11
Hate preacher Abu Qatada issued orders to kill British and American civilians after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a secret MI5 report seen by The Mail on Sunday.
The Security Service document has raised questions as to why Qatada — who the British Government has tried and failed to deport to Jordan — has not been put on trial in the UK for inciting murder.
The report is marked ‘secret UK eyes only’ and claims Qatada is the author of a fatwa that ‘encourages Muslims to take part in jihad against the West’.
The Qatada fatwa also gives religious justification to the 9/11 attacks in the US which killed 2,977 civilians.
The MI5 case file on Qatada was discovered abandoned in the British ambassador’s residence in Tripoli by The Mail on Sunday after the toppling of Colonel Gaddafi last year.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Southern Youth Smoke More, Northerners Drink More in Italy
Both equally susceptible to STDs, study finds
(ANSA) — Rome, November 15 — A study Thursday showed young southern Italians smoke, change partners and consume marijuana more often than their peers in the north, while northerners drink alcohol, consume cocaine and stick with their partners more often than the rest of the country. The results were part of a study by the government-sponsored Androlife campaign, presented Thursday at a convention on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Lecce. The study showed that people between 18 and 35 in both the north and south are equally susceptible to STDs. “The data are very important given STDs are on the rise in Italy,” said Carlo Foresta, director of the department of reproductive pathology at the University of Padua and president of STD prevention group SIAMS. “It’s clear that sexual behavior is much freer among young people in the south, who tend to have a higher number of partners”. The study showed that young people in the south tended to use protection only 50% of the time. Youths in the south also tend to engage in less physical activity and suffer from a higher obesity rate, while northerners are more active and slimmer. “Obesity can be considered a reproductive risk factor among youth,” said Foresta. “It is often the cause of diseases such as hypogonadism,” which is diminished functional activity of the testes and ovaries.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Family’s Anguish Over Death of Father Attacked by 30 Men as He Left Bar on Holiday
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
It was intended as a 17th birthday celebration for his twin sons at the family’s holiday villa in southern Spain.
But Stephen Mallon’s dream of a two-week break in Competa, with its labyrinth of pretty cobbled streets and spectacular views, ended in tragedy.
Attacked by a mob of 30 men as he left a local bar with his sons, he died after spending 12 days in hospital in a coma.
[…]
The family believe the killing was fuelled by anti-Britishness towards the expatriate community and are concerned for British families still visiting the area, oblivious to on-going ill-feeling.
She added: ‘Dad was attacked by men with knuckle dusters, bottles and metal bars intent on inflicting harm. We couldn’t bear for this to happen to another family.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has been recorded telling family he will one day be able to ‘pop to the shops’ on day release, it emerged today.
The serial killer, who was jailed for murdering 13 women, was also taped at the high security hospital Broadmoor defending predatory paedophile Jimmy Savile.
Sutcliffe, now 66, was recorded speaking on weekly telephone calls to his younger brother Carl Sutcliffe by a source who leaked the tapes to The Sun.
He claimed he had been cleared for a move to a medium — security unit and said the only person who is standing in his way was Broadmoor’s clinical director, Dr Kevin Murray.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Watershed Moment as the Sadistic Mob Who Rampage Across the Web Are Finally Taught a Lesson
At last! The legal action set in train by Lord McAlpine against those who used Twitter to defame him looks set to achieve more than merely vindicating his unjustly damaged reputation.
This may be a watershed moment in which the mob rule that until now has been allowed to rampage unchecked on the internet may finally be brought to heel.
Lord McAlpine is preparing to sue for libel a long list of people who falsely suggested on Twitter and other social media outlets that he was a paedophile.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Entire Police Team Sacked for Playing Poker and Backgammon and Watching TV While on Duty
An entire south London neighbourhood policing team has been axed after officers were found playing playing poker, watching television and cleaning golf clubs while on duty, it emerged today.
Seven officers in total resigned or were dismissed from the Safer Neighbourhood Team in the Mottingham and Chislehurst North ward in Bromley, south east London.
The disciplinary action followed an undercover operation by the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) Directorate of Professional Standards in 2010.
[…]
In a statement, the Met said: ‘The disciplinary panel heard evidence that officers from the team had played backgammon and poker whilst on duty, watched TV in the office, frequently failed to go out on patrol, had not worked full tours of duty and also claimed overtime that had not been worked.
‘In addition, one officer had gone out for runs during the working day whilst a further officer cleaned his golf clubs in the office.
‘These activities appear to have taken place at the expense of policing duties, such as patrolling the local area.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Four bosses at Starbucks have walked away with £50million in pay despite the coffee chain having paid no corporation tax in Britain over the past three years, it has been reported.
Documents filed on the firm’s website show the quartet managed to receive handsome fees over the past three years as well as owning shares worth a combined £563.7million.
While Starbucks has been trading healthily in recent times, it has managed to post a profit from its UK business only once in 15 years, according to reports.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: iPhone Muggers on Bikes Plague London
More than 170 iPhones are being stolen every day in London, shock new figures reveal.
Commuters and pedestrians are being targeted for their smartphones by muggers on bicycles in the capital’s fastest growing crime spree.
The plague of thefts is revealed in figures released by Scotland Yard showing that a total of 28,800 iPhones were reported stolen to police in London in six months between April and September this year.
Police say iPhones now make up more than half of all mobile phone thefts in the capital.
In the same period a total of 56,680 mobiles were stolen in the capital, or around 337 a day.
Thieves are also targeting people with Blackberry phones and other popular makes such as Samsung.
Some affluent neighbourhoods have seen a massive rise in the number of smartphones and other handheld gadgets swiped by cycling thieves.
Now police are issuing warnings to commuters and pedestrians around hotspots such as Tube stations where the number of muggings has rocketed in places by up to 400 per cent in a year.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: MPs Given Last-Ditch Chance to Block Votes for Prisoners
MPs will be given the opportunity to deny prisoners the vote in a last-minute move aimed at ending a bitter seven-year dispute over a European Court ruling.
The UK’s current blanket ban on prisoners voting has been judged as unlawful by The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and officials in Strasbourg have given the Government until Friday to comply with the ruling.
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling will this week table a Bill that includes options to give some inmates the right to vote after judges ruled that a blanket ban breached human rights.
These could include giving the vote to those sentenced to less than six months, or extending the franchise to prisoners locked up for under four years.
But the draft legislation will also have a proposal to retain the status quo as demanded by David Cameron, who has said the idea of prisoners voting makes him feel sick.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
The man David Cameron has picked to head his Election campaign once launched a foul-mouthed rant against Muslims.
Outspoken Australian ‘fixer’ Lynton Crosby used the phrase ‘f****** Muslims’ in a diatribe while working for London Mayor Boris Johnson.
But No?10 officials said the Prime Minister has no intention of changing his mind about appointing the strategist, despite the new revelations.
Mr Crosby’s outburst came earlier this year as Mr Johnson’s aides discussed whether to devote more attention to wooing the ethnic minority vote in his battle with Labour’s Ken Livingstone.
According to a source, Mr Crosby said Mr Johnson should concentrate on traditional Tory voters instead of ‘f****** Muslims’. The source added: ‘He definitely used that phrase’ and said: ‘Lynton’s view was that chasing the Muslim vote and other ethnic groups was a waste of time — and he frequently expressed himself in very strong terms. Some people found it very offensive.’
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Abu Qatada has told his family that he plans to sue the British government for £10million for ‘unlawful detention’.
The hate preacher has said he wants compensation for his ‘extended mistreatment’ after a judge released him from jail last week and blocked his deportation to Jordan to face terror charges.
Qatada was awarded a far smaller payout from the European Court of Human Rights three years ago after judges ruled he had been unfairly detained in Belmarsh high security jail without trial.
But the cleric’s family said that his hopes of a much larger compensation win have been boosted after the special immigration court ruled last Monday that there was a real risk that evidence obtained through torture might be used against him if he was sent home to Jordan to face trial.
The cleric, once described by a judge as Osama Bin Laden’s ambassador in Europe, has been bailed to his family home in London after spending much of the past seven years behind bars.
Qatada lives in North London with his wife and five children on state handouts said to total £1,000 a month.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican City: Financial Crime… And Murder
In 1998, Italian investigators used modern forensics to perform a new examination of Calvi’s remains. They concluded Calvi’s murder was staged to look like a suicide. In 2005, several Italian mafia-connected alleged co-conspirators were indicted for Calvi’s murder, and all were later acquitted due to lack of evidence. Italy separately indicted Archbishop Paul Marcinkus for financial crimes related to Banco Ambrosiano’s collapse. He hid in the Vatican for six years during the papacy of John Paul II. The Vatican eventually got Italy to drop the charges. The Vatican Bank paid a $250 million settlement to the defrauded depositors of Banco Ambrosiano in “recognition of moral involvement.” Archbishop Marcinkus reportedly later said that he raided the Vatican pension fund to come up with the money. Marcinkus returned to the United States in 1990 and retired to Sun City, Arizona, where he died in 2006 at the age of 84. Archbishop Marcinkus never came forward to tell Italian investigators what he knew, not even after the deaths of several investigators and not even after evidence showed Roberto Calvi was murdered.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Armaments: Algeria Reinforces Role as Regional Power
$30 billion in 2013 military spending
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, NOVEMBER 12 — Algeria has always wanted to emphasize its role as a regional power, a claim which has to be backed up by maintaining an efficient and powerful military machine, both in terms of troops and of training. But this machine needs a constant flow of funds in order to stay efficient, as proven by the $30 billion allocated to the military in the 2013 budget.
At a 14% increase over 2012, this is a significant amount to say the least, given the economic contingency of the country (which rests exclusively on energy exports), which is being justified as necessary to keep the armed forces capable and ready for action in the fight against Islamic terrorism, which claims money and lives. At $2.5 billion, the interior ministry 2013 budget must also be added to the military one, as the two often act in concert. This adds up to 5% of GDP for the military and 4% for internal security forces (police and gendarmes). The secret service budget, which is crucial in the fight against al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, remains under wraps, but Algeria remains among the 20 countries that spend the most on defense. Recent news of a large contract with Germany for the delivery of 1,200 armored vehicles over the next decade confirms the last 15 years’ buying trend, which has kept the Algerian fighting machine well supplied.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
There can be farms and greenhouses on the hilltops of Gaza. Or there can be rockets.
Seven years ago the Israeli government decided to forcibly evict the Jewish residents of Gaza and withdraw all bases and forces from the area. The experts, some with the government and some with the media, assured everyone that it would be for the best and that withdrawal would actually improve the security situation in the country.
It was put about that resources and lives were being wasted protecting Israelis living in Gaza, while those Israelis insisted that their presence in Gaza was protecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The experts laughed at them. Now the experts are keeping an ear open for air raid sirens because as it turned out, those farmers and teachers, those men and women growing lettuce in greenhouses and building homes on hilltops, from which rockets are being launched, were the ones protecting Tel Aviv.
“They are now being asked to relinquish these accomplishments for the greater good,” the government press release said of their houses and farms, of their synagogues and greenhouses. And the greater good was served. The greenhouses were turned into Hamas training camps and the synagogues were burnt to the ground. Rockets fly into the air from the ruins of broken houses.
No longer will your sons have to die in Gaza, the experts said. A month later rockets were falling on Sderot. A year later Gilad Shalit had been kidnapped and Israeli soldiers were back again, dying in a Gaza that was now run by Hamas.
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Hamas’ objectives have always been straightforward. Its commanders and suicide bombers, its militia members, bomb experts, smugglers, launchers and embezzlers know what they are fighting for.
“Our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave,” the Hamas charter says. “Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims.” It has the simplicity that you would expect from the Muslim Brotherhood, a fascist organization that drew equal inspiration from the Koran and Nazism.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Anonymous Leaks Personal Information of 5,000 Israeli Officials
Internet hacktivist group Anonymous has declared cyberwar on Israel, posting personal data of five thousand Israeli officials online.
The group used their Anonpaste.me site to address a message to the Israeli government before linking to the page with names, ID numbers and personal emails of 5,000 officials.
The message said: “It has come to our attention that the Israeli government has ignored repeated warnings about the abuse of human rights, shutting down the internet in Israel and mistreating its own citizens and those of its neighboring countries.”
The group also said “Israeli Gov. this is/will turn into a cyberwar.”
Earlier, the group hacked over 700 hundred Israeli websites, including the Bank of Jerusalem, the Israeli Defence Ministry, the IDF blog, the President’s official website and many others.
Most of the sites remain down.
The country’s finance minister has acknowledged the recent wave of attacks, saying the government is now waging a war on a “second front.”
Over the past four days, Israel has “deflected 44 million cyber-attacks on government websites,” Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told AP.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Murdoch on Gaza: Jewish Owned Media is Anti-Israel
(AGI) London, Nov. 18 — Rupert Murdoch accused the Jewish-owned international media to be anti-Israeli on the Gaza crisis. “Why is Jewish owned press so consistently anti- Israel in every crisis?” the Australian mass mogul wrote on Tweeter, criticizing the media coverage of the crisis offered by outfits such as CNN and Associated Press. Earlier on Twitter, Murdoch had asked: “Can’t Obama stop his friends in Egypt shelling Israel?” The “Middle East ready to boil over any day. Israel position precarious,” Murdoch concluded ..
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorists Fear Israeli Agents Attempting to Infiltrate Computers
“How do you know if Mossad became your friend on Facebook,” is the title of the piece, posted today at Saraya.ps, Islamic Jihad’s main website. In Arabic, Saraya al-Quds means the Al Quds Brigades.
“Do you feel proud because your Facebook account boasts 5,000 friends? Well, here are ten steps to expose whether intelligence agents transplanted themselves inside your friends list,” reads the article.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Moving Sleeper Cells Into America?
Congresswoman: Cartels may be smuggling Hezbollah across border
A U.S. congresswoman is warning that while the world’s eyes are on Iran’s growing threat against Israel, the Islamic nation’s terrorist surrogates may have already formed sleeper cells here in the United States.
Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., asserted in a radio interview today she believes it’s possible that Hezbollah, the radical terrorist organization tied to Iran, may be working with Mexican cartels to funnel not only drugs, but also terrorist sleeper agents into the U.S.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Move to Change Irish Abortion Law After Woman’s Death
(AGI) — Dublin, Nov. 16 — The Irish government is going to bring legal clarity to the issue of abortion after a 31-year-old woman died when the hospital treating her for severe pain refused to terminate her pregnancy. Irish Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore made the pledge, claiming the tragic death was caused by lack of clarity over abortion law. Speaking to the Irish Parliament, Gilmore said: “ I don’t think as a country we should allow a situation where women’s rights are put at risk in this way. We need to bring legal clarity to this issue and that is what we are going to do.” Irish law does not specify under what circumstances the threat to the life or health of the mother is high enough to justify a termination, leaving doctors to decide. The European Court of Human Rights condemned this situation in 2010 and asked the Irish government to rectify it. Gilmore also said that recommendations from an expert panel on introducing new rules on abortion would be ready by the end of the month.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Amendments to U.N. Treaty Could Censor the Internet
Dozens of countries have had closed-door meetings in preparation for an upcoming worldwide debate over changes to a telecommunications treaty, which threaten to block Internet freedom.
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
As Boom Lures App Creators, Tough Part is Making a Living
Much as the Web set off the dot-com boom 15 years ago, apps have inspired a new class of entrepreneurs. These innovators have turned cellphones and tablets into tools for discovering, organizing and controlling the world, spawning a multibillion-dollar industry virtually overnight. The iPhone and iPad have about 700,000 apps.
In the latest article of the iEconomy series, David Streitfeld discusses the question of how real, and lasting, the rise in app employment might be, particularly with an economy yielding few good job opportunities.
Despite the rumors of hordes of hip programmers starting million-dollar businesses from their kitchen tables, only a small number of developers actually make a living by creating apps, according to surveys and experts. And programming is not a skill that just anyone can learn. While people already employed in tech jobs have added app writing to their résume’s, the profession offers few options to most unemployed, underemployed and discouraged workers.
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