Die Welt Berlin
Accused of sticking its head in the sand over the crisis, France has been downgraded by Moody’s and become the biggest problem child in Europe. To the political elite in Paris, though, all that doesn’t matter, writes an author from Berlin in the conservative Welt.
Marko Martin
It is rather bizarre: experts on the economy and scientists researching human mentality have been shaking their heads over the countries of southern Europe hit by the crisis for years now, just to share with us their bad news — and each snippet is more troubling than the last. And all the while, the talk doesn’t stop about “core Europe”, kept running by the “Franco-German motor”, which must not be allowed to “splutter”.
Meanwhile, in view of France’s steadily declining competitiveness and its horrendous national debt (currently at ninety percent of its GDP), a question comes up: are we dealing here with a naive blindness all round — or with the perhaps final Pyrrhic victory in the French art of throwing smoke?
Why did no one look any closer? One explanation, implicit and given unintentionally, was a statement two weeks ago by the former EADS CEO Louis Gallois, who gave a damming verdict on the French economy and demanded radical reforms. A “confidence shock” is needed, said the man who had made a career for himself out of lucrative government contracts. The tremolo to his voice, afflicted by crisis, was once again half-Bolshevik and half gold-plated, perfectly matching the working range of the declared enemy of globalisation, Arnaud Montebourg, who marches under the banner “Minister for the Restoration of Production.”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
San Bernardino: Official Tells Residents, ‘Lock Doors, Load Guns’
The city attorney of San Bernardino is under scrutiny for telling residents to “lock their doors and load their guns” during a city council meeting.
The official explained that because the city is bankrupt and slashing public safety budgets people will need to start protecting themselves.
City Attorney Jim Penman said he doesn’t regret what he said.
“You should say what you mean and mean what you say,” Penman said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Number of Unemployed Foreigners Tripled
Over 1.1 million, 20% of total
(ANSAmed) — Madrid, November 29 — The number of unemployed foreigners has tripled in Spain during the economic crisis, from 380,000 in the third trimester of 2007 to the current 1.1 million, totalling 20% of the country’s unemployed workforce, according to a report issued Thursday by the association of employment agencies Agettes.
The current situation however, according to the report, his not the worst since the beginning of the crisis. In the first trimester of 2009 foreign unemployed workers were over one million.
Most foreign unemployed workers are male, aged between 25 and 44, with a lower education; 57.6% are illiterate. Only 15% of foreigners with a university education are unemployed.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spiralling energy bills contributed to 24,000 deaths last winter, as many elderly people cut back on their heating.
The shocking toll will increase fears that the number will be even higher this year because of further increases in energy bills and warnings of a particularly cold winter.
The figures for ‘excess winter deaths’, published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, reveal the majority of victims were over 75.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Banks Are Accused of Hiding £60bn Black Hole From Investors
British banks are not as strong as they claim and could need to raise as much as £60billion of emergency funds to protect against future losses, the Bank of England warned yesterday.
Its governor, Sir Mervyn King, said the black hole at the heart of the banking system was ‘holding back our recovery’ and must be tackled ‘head on’.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Bernards Board Reviews Proposed Liberty Corner Mosque
Discussion before Planning Board also leads back to whether parking is adequate for planned mosque in Liberty Corner.
The architect for a proposed 4,250-square-foot mosque in Liberty Corner village described the exterior of the gray building as fitting in with other structures in the neighborhood — but when it came to the interior, the discussion before the Planning Board on Wednesday once again led to maximum capacity and adequate parking. “I don’t want anyone to think this building is out of scale,” local architect Dan Lincoln said in describing the proposed mosque that the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge plans to build in place of a 1950s modified ranch at 124 Church St…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Book Review: ‘50 Things Liberals Love to Hate’
Taken page by page, this book is a fun read. Taken as a whole, it remains entertaining but acquires a deeper meaning. One must add up all “50 Things Liberals Love to Hate” to appreciate fully the huge canyons that have divided us into two nations in terms of worldview.
It is now common-sense Americans (of whatever ethnic, racial or religious background) versus a segment of the population that has bought into a strain of thought that constitutes an intellectual “foreign object” in our midst.
The latter is a disruption to — and arguably, an attempted destruction of — the free exceptional nation we have come to know and love and for which our Founding Fathers sacrificed that we may enjoy prosperity and happiness as rewards for hard work and initiative.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Book Review: Psychiatrist: Leftists Are Mentally Ill
With Nancy Pelosi repeatedly telling audiences about hearing voices of deceased women, and Barack Obama regarded by many as dangerously narcissistic, here comes a veteran psychiatrist making the case that the mental-emotional world of leftists is actually tantamount to a mental disorder.
For more than 40 years, Rossiter has diagnosed and treated over 1,500 patients as a board-certified clinical psychiatrist and examined more than 2,700 civil and criminal cases, both state and federal, as a forensic psychiatrist retained by numerous public offices, courts and private attorneys. He received his medical and psychiatric training at the University of Chicago.
Rossiter explains with great clarity why the kind of liberalism displayed by Barack Obama during his presidency can only be understood as a psychological disorder.
“Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine the most important principles on which our freedoms were founded,” says Rossiter. “Like spoiled, angry children, they rebel against the normal responsibilities of adulthood and demand that a parental government meet their needs from cradle to grave.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Censorship of Web Sites Increasing
Every week I get a half dozen email from individuals who can’t access my web site. Used to be one a week. Newswithviews and other web sites are now being routinely blocked by Google and AOL. No question local Internet carriers are doing the same thing as I respond to individuals who send me mail who can’t access my site. It’s up and running, but try as they might in FireFox or Explorer, all that comes up is: Access Denied or 404 Can’t Locate. If you are having trouble bringing up my site, you can go directly to NewsWithViews.com to read my columns and all the other excellent columns posted everyday.
[…]
Google routinely blocks blogs and web sites that would be considered “right wing” or conservative. No explanation, no due process. They just pull the plug. They also tag sites as containing harmful viruses when that is flat out a lie. Google is probably the worst for censoring columns by writers, including me. They simply don’t show up on Google. Maybe a week or so later, there’s the column at the bottom of the search page. I know because I’ve tracked this kind of censorship for years.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former New York City ACORN Office Working to Unionize Fast Food Workers
The New York Times reports that union organizers are trying to convince fast food workers to unionize.
The effort is being led by New York Communities for Change which is the name of the reorganized and rebranded former ACORN office in Brooklyn.
“I feel I deserve $15 an hour,” said Linda Archer, 59 a McDonalds cashier. “I work very hard.” Archer currently earns $8 an hour and averages 24 hours a week.
| [Return to headlines] |
Grand Canyon ‘64 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought’
New dating methods have shown that the Grand Canyon could be as old as the dinosaurs.
Scientists have long argued over the age of the vast canyon, which is more than a mile deep as many as 18 miles wide and 280 miles long. Most believe it was carved out about five or six million years ago, based on the age of gravel washed downstream by the ancestral Colorado River. But new dating methods which harness the radioactive decay of uranium showed it is far, far older, according to a study published in the journal Science. “Our research implies that the Grand Canyon was directly carved to within a few hundred meters of its modern depth by about 70 million years ago,” said co-author Rebecca Flowers of the University of Colorado Boulder. Researchers believe the canyon was probably carved at different times and paces…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Legislators Must Oppose a Carbon Tax
Carbon dioxide plays NO role whatever in the increase or decrease of the Earth’s overall temperature. The single determining factor was and is the SUN. The seasons reflect the Earth’s circumnavigation of the Sun, warming in the spring and getting colder in the winter.
Carbon dioxide represents 0.033 to 0.038 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. By contrast, nitrogen represents 78.084 percent, oxygen is 20.94 percent, argon is 0.934 percent, and trace elements represent 0.002 percent.
Carbon dioxide is not a warming gas. It is a cooling gas.
There is no “consensus” among scientists that the Earth is warming or that CO2 plays a role in this alleged, utterly false claim.
There has been no warming for some sixteen years since the Earth entered a natural cooling cycle.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Minnesota Developing GPS-Based Vehicle Tracking System Intended to Introduce a Vehicle Tax
After a long wait, on Nov 28 2012, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) released ~2.97 gigabytes of data from inside the development of a GPS-based vehicle tracking system intended to introduce a vehicle tax — which would entail a great deal of data constantly collected by the government on the whereabouts and everyday patterns of the taxed vehicles. The source URL posted yesterday is:
[…]
There are a few important angles: comprehensive vehicle tracking data would be great for law enforcement, lawyers and big corporations to investigate everything in one’s life, including ‘retroactive surveillance’ of previous activities. However, the “fees” that would be imposed on rural Minnesotans who have to drive around a lot would be quite burdensome.
From a quick look at the PDFs we find internal discussion points about such impending scams as ‘carbon credit’ trading (a greenwashing Goldman Sachs sponsored futures bubble, as Matt Taibbi reported). Additionally Raytheon and SAIC have both been involved in this “Intellidrive” national-scale super-project. Also, just because the user data is processed behind Battelle’s firewall in no way signifies any level of security of personal information.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ohio-Based TriHealth Company Fires 150 Employees for Refusing Deadly Flu Shots
(NaturalNews) Health freedom is under attack in Ohio, where a major Cincinnati-based healthcare conglomerate is forcing all of its 10,800 employees to take a “free” flu shot or else face termination. According to WLWT News 5 in Cincinnati, the 150 objectors who have thus far refused the shot have until December 3 to either comply with the company’s demands, provide a valid reason why they cannot take the vaccine, or else get fired.
The non-profit group TriHealth reportedly sent out letters to all of its employees several months ago notifying them that vaccination for the flu was mandatory this year, and that all healthcare workers would have to get jabbed by November 16 in order to be in compliance with company policy. And on November 27, WLWT reported that 150 TriHealth employees had refused the shot, and that they were being immediately terminated from their positions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sex Offenders Free to Father Children From Behind Bars
Imprisoned sex offenders are free to have conjugal visits in a handful of states, including New York and New Mexico, where one convicted killer and rapist has married twice and fathered four children from behind bars.
Exasperated lawmakers told FoxNews.com that letting sex offenders, including violent rapists and child predators, have intimate contact with visitors while serving their sentences sends the wrong message. But they said they doubt anything can be done about it.
“I think it’s ridiculous that this is done on public property, why should there be a reward system like this,” New York State Sen. Martin Golden, a former police officer, said. Golden said he any attempt to repeal this program would likely pass the New York Senate but fail in the assembly.
“The assembly would never vote on something they feel would hurt an inmate,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Status of Lesser Prairie Chicken Species May Hinder Wind Energy Industry
OKLAHOMA CITY — A species of chicken in Oklahoma may officially be listed as “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Threatened” is one level below “endangered,” and it could hinder the future of wind energy development.
Wind turbines are often built in the same areas of land where prairie chickens live and reproduce.
The chickens naturally avoid tall structures, further shrinking their available mating grounds.
It will be another year before a decision is made, but a “threatened” listing might increase federal regulations and hurt the wind farm industry.
| — Hat tip: Lurker from Tulsa | [Return to headlines] |
TSA Claims Congress Has No Jurisdiction Over it; Refuses to Attend Hearings
(NaturalNews) When officials who head up a federal agency created and funded by Congress no longer feel obligated to appear before the congressional committee charged with overseeing the function of that agency, a situation of genuine tyranny exists.
Enter John Pistole, the Obama Administration’s head of the notorious Transportation Security Agency. He is not only refusing to appear before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, but he’s even gone so far as to declare that said congressional committee possesses “no jurisdiction over the TSA.”
That’s more than just arrogance; that’s a dangerous precedent to set.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Why the GOP Won’t Challenge Vote Fraud
The Republican Party made an agreement 30 years ago with the Democrat Party NOT to ensure voting integrity and NOT to pursue suspected vote fraud.
Yes. You read it correctly.
In fact, legally the GOP cannot ensure voting integrity, nor can it prevent vote fraud.
Here’s the astounding reason, which is kept from the American people.
[…]
The RNC and DNC made their Consent Decree 30 years ago, in 1982. The agreement in effect gives a carte blanche to the Democrat Party to commit vote fraud in every voting district across America that has, in the language of the Consent Decree, “a substantial proportion of racial or ethnic populations.” The term “substantial proportion” is not defined.
The Democrat Party knew this 30 years ago, more than enough time to put a plan in place to identify and groom their “perfect candidate” — in the words of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in 2008, a “light-skinned” black Democrat who has “no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.”
Since 1982, that Consent Decree has been renewed every year by the original judge, Carter appointee District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise, now 88 years old. Long retired, Debevoise comes back yearly for the sole purpose of renewing his 1982 order for another year.
[…]
Now, we understand the significance of the account Tom Fife wrote during the 2008 presidential campaign. Fife, a U.S. government contractor, claims that in 1992 while he was visiting Moscow, a woman with undying allegiance to Soviet Communism (the Soviet Union had recently collapsed, on December 31, 1991) told him that a black man named Barack, born of a white American woman and an African male, was being groomed by communists to be, and would be elected, President of the United States.
Now, we finally understand the cryptic remark made in May 2010, by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan: “Obama was selected before he was elected.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Blind Man’ Caught Playing Cards, Risks Jail Time in Italy
Pensioner claiming thousands in disability benefits
(ANSA) — Modena, November 29 — A fake blind man in Italy faces jail time for falsely claiming disability benefits after he was caught playing cards on camera.
The pensioner, from the northern town of Vignola, has claimed 1,000 euros a month for his fake condition since 2005, police said.
Police also caught him walking about town without a cane or seeing-eye dog. Prosecutors seized a total of 92,000 euros from the man’s bank accounts.
He faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
French Socialist in Mittal Row: We’re Just Doing What Obama Does
The French politician who said Indian steel company ArcelorMittal should leave the country has told CNBC that his government is only acting like U.S. President Barack Obama.
Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, a member of the governing Socialist party, caused controversy last week when he said that the Indian company, which employs close to 20,000 people in France, should leave after it said it would have to close down a factory.
The French government announced on Thursday that it could nationalize the factory in question, with backing from an unnamed businessman.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Alice Wright
As a new guide offers advice on Gallic etiquette to British newcomers, Alice Wright recalls her own brusque welcome to La France profonde
I didn’t expect living in France to be easy when I moved to an isolated smallholding in the Limousin from London via Baltimore, six years ago. I didn’t speak a word of French. My cultural experience of the country amounted to just one week’s skiing and a day-trip to Dieppe. I was a city girl adrift in the countryside, without so much as a pair of wellies to my name. That said, some of the difficulties I encountered took me by surprise, most of which could be summed up in just two words: French women…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
In Italy 69.1% in Favour of Medically Assisted Procreation
(AGI) Rome, Nov. 27 — A total of 69.1% of Italians are in favour of the possibility of medically assisted procreation (MAP). MAP includes a mixture of hormone, pharmacological and surgical techniques available to those suffering from fertility or sterility problems. According to 17.2% of respondents, those techniques should be banned, while 13.7% of respondents claimed they did not have an opinion on the subject. Despite the widespread approval of homologous fertilization, the notion of heterologous fertilization (a technique in which the artificially joined gametes belong to a donor) only met with 50.5% of respondents in favour, whereas 30.2% did not approve of this type of assisted reproductive technology.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Rai Journalist Sacked for Anti-Neapolitan ‘Racism’
Giampiero Amandola spoke about ‘stink’ of Naples residents
(ANSA) — Turin, November 29 — State broadcaster RAI on Thursday fired a journalist from its regional news service in Piedmont for a report judged offensive to Neapolitans before last month’s top-of-the-table Serie A match between Juventus and Napoli.
In the report that sparked a wave of complaints, Giampiero Amandola spoke about the “stink” of Neapolitans in an interview with a Juve fan.
The report also featured a clip of Juve supporters singing a chant telling Neapolitans to “wash”. Juventus are based in Turin, the capital of Piedmont.
Naples is the capital of the southern region of Campania.
RAI apologised to Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris on October 22 for what it described as an “undignified, shameful” report, and suspended Amandola pending disciplinary proceedings.
“RAI has always been in the front line in the fight against every form of racism and the stupidity that accompanies it,” Director-General Luigi Gubitosi said.
Juventus lead Napoli by two points at the top of Serie A.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Centre-Left PD Stretches Lead in New Poll
Grillo’s M5S and centre-right PdL both show decline
(ANSA) — Rome, November 30 — The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) showed a rise in popularity as the rival Five Star Movement (M5S) led by gadfly comedian Beppe Grillo and the centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi lost ground, according to a new opinion poll published Friday.
The PD was polling 30%, up 3.3% over the same day last week, as party secretary Pier Luigi Bersani and Florence mayor Matteo Renzi prepared to face off in a second-round ballot on December 2 to choose the centre-left’s candidate for the premiership in national elections next spring. M5S, the second biggest party, lost 1.6% to stand at 19.5%, falling below the 20% mark for the first time in months.
Likewise the PdL, in disarray as a result of recent local government scandals and confusion over December primaries, fell by 1% to 14.3%. The centrist UDC showed a slight improvement, rising by 0.4% to stand at 4.1%, trailed closely by a list headed by Ferrari Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo at 3.8%.
Italy of Values (IDV) headed by former anti-graft magistrate Antonio di Pietro fell by 0.3% to 2.4% in the wake of recent corruption allegations involving its leader and high-profile defections from the party. The Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) party of southern Puglia governor Nichi Vendola — considered the PD’s principal ally — stood at 6%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Court Bans Kosher, Halal Slaughtering
The top court in Poland ruled Wednesday that the kosher and halal slaughtering of animals contravenes the country’s laws, prompting criticism from religious associations, who said the move would hurt their way of life.
The ritual slaughter of animals, which is practiced by a small minority of Muslims and Jews living in Poland, will be banned after Dec. 31, reported Poland’s The News radio broadcaster.
The ruling, however, goes in opposition to the European Union’s mandate that allows ritual slaughter out of religious freedom.
Muslim and Jewish slaughtering methods are mainly used for meat exports, including for kosher products, but animal rights groups petitioned Attorney General Andrzej Seremet to look into the practice.
On Tuesday, Seremet claimed that a 2004 amendment that allowed ritual slaughter was actually unconstitutional because it goes in opposition to the country’s animal rights legislation that was passed in 1997. In Poland, animals can only be slaughtered “following the loss of consciousness,” the earlier law states, according to the broadcaster.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Revamped Forza Italia Would Poll 9.3%, Says Opinion Poll
PdL in turmoil over scandals, primaries
(ANSA) — Rome, November 30 — A revived Forza Italia, the party founded by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi in 1994 and replaced by the larger People of Freedom (PdL) party in 2009, would poll 9.3% in upcoming general elections according to a survey conducted by statistics institute SWG and published Friday.
“The votes for ‘Forza Italia 2.0’ would all come from the PdL, which would therefore fall to around 4%,” said SWG President Roberto Weber. The PdL is currently in turmoil over recent local-government scandals and confusion over whether to hold a primary ahead of general elections next spring.
Earlier this month there was speculation that Berlusconi was considering relaunching Forza Italia and abandoning its successor, which he co-founded with the then leader of right-wing National Alliance (AN) and current House Speaker Gianfranco Fini, although it is reported that this plan has now been dropped. Party secretary Angelino Alfano was opposed to the idea, instead pressing for a revamp of the PdL. However the party may split anyway because many former members of AN are unhappy about the direction it is taking.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Norwegian Labor Party’s Holocaust Fan
by Bruce Bawer
If you haven’t noticed, Norway has been undergoing a bit of bad publicity of late apropos of what has been described as its unparalleled levels of anti-Semitism. One of the country’s few highly placed truth-tellers, Hanne Nabintu Herland, a religious scholar at the University of Oslo, recently put it this way: “How could a country that was once a loyal friend of Israel be transformed into a nation with a government that refuses to distance itself from Hamas as a terrorist organization? Norway is the most anti-Semitic country in the West, because of the left-wing elite.” Alan Dershowitz said the same thing here at Front Page last year after a series of unpleasant personal experiences in the land of the fjords: “Norway is the most anti-Semitic and anti-Israel country in Europe today.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Attacks on Bristol Teachers Increase by More Than 40%
The number of attacks against teachers in Bristol has risen by more than 40% in three years.
A Freedom of Information request by BBC Points West found there were 246 reports of physical or verbal violence between January 2006 and December 2008.
That rose to 351 cases in January 2009 to December 2011. More than 300 of those cases involved physical violence.
Lynn Chamberlain from Bristol City Council said it was “not complacent” and took the figures “very seriously”.
“Sometimes things do get worse before they get better,” she added.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Anti-EU Party Beats Ruling Conservatives in UK Polls
(Reuters) — A British anti-EU party has polled more votes than the ruling Conservatives in two elections for parliamentary seats, in the latest sign that Prime Minister David Cameron’s party faces a threat from the right.
The UK Independence Party, or UKIP, is enjoying a surge in popularity as some right-leaning voters become disillusioned with the ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition against a backdrop of persistent economic problems. Results showed on Friday that, as expected, the main opposition Labour Party had comfortably won the three seats, Croydon North, Middlesbrough and Rotherham, that were up for grabs in by-elections on Thursday…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Crewe SAS Soldier Danny Nightingale Speaks of Relief After Being Freed
AN SAS sniper has been released after his 18 month sentence for illegally possessing a pistol was cut and suspended by the Court of Appeal. Sergeant Danny Nightingale, from Crewe, admitted possessing the 9mm Glock pistol and 338 rounds of ammunition at a court martial earlier this month…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Danny Nightingale ‘Justice Fight Goes on’
The father of an SAS soldier released from military detention after an appeal says the family is now determined to get the conviction overturned.
Sgt Danny Nightingale, from Crewe, was sentenced to 18 months after admitting possessing a 9mm Glock pistol and 338 rounds of live ammunition. At Thursday’s appeal, judges reduced it to a 12-month suspended sentence. Humphrey Nightingale said the family was now meeting their lawyers to press ahead with clearing his son’s name. The soldier was detained earlier this month after pleading guilty to the charges at a court martial. West Mercia Police had found the gun and the ammunition in the soldier’s Hereford accommodation — but his supporters said he had forgotten he had them after suffering a brain injury…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Father Died ‘In Road Rage Attack After Being Punched and Kicked by Gang in Front of Son’
A motorist died of his injuries after he was punched and kicked by a gang of men in front of his teenage son.
Johnny Assani, 43, died of his injuries in hospital after he was left lying bleeding and unconscious in a road in Derby.
His 16-year-old son Mukhaila Assani, was also allegedly punched by some of the men when he tried to drag the attackers off his father.
Two brothers, Mohammed Shahid and Mohammed Rafiq have already been convicted of killing Mr Assani.
A third brother, Mohammed Tariq, is now standing trial, accused of being one of a nine-strong gang that attacked Mr Assani.
Tariq was not tried with his brothers because ‘he went to ground’ after the attack, hiding in Birmingham and then Bradford, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
The 26-year-old, from Derby, who denies manslaughter, was arrested almost six months after the attack, in February.
Mr Assani was attacked at around 3pm on Sunday, August 14 last year, after an incident involving his and Shahid’s car as they were driving.
The two men started arguing and Shahid shouted towards his house, calling for back-up.
A man came out of the house, jogged over to Mr Assani and punched him, knocking him to the ground.
Mr Joyce said: ‘Both men set about repeatedly hitting Mr Assani, using fists and feet, to punch and kick him to the head and body.
‘And the only thing that Johnny Assani could do at that stage was to shield himself from the blows as he tried to get back up. He failed.’
The court heard that at that point between seven and nine more men came out of the house and joined in kicking and punching Mr Assani as he lay on the ground.
One man hung back and delivered a final kick to Mr Assani’s head and walked off smiling, said Mr Joyce.
M Joyce told a jury that as Mr Assani’s attackers left him lying unconscious on the road, one shouted out: ‘You don’t mess with the Khans.’
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Fake Police Warning After Bogus Officers Turned Up at Rural Home and Tried to Arrest Homeowner
Police are warning residents to be vigilant after three bogus officers tried to arrest a homeowner at a rural property while dressed in police uniform.
Two of the would-be abductors were wearing police uniforms while a third claimed to be a plain-clothed officer when they targeted the man at a house in Faversham, Kent.
Today police would not speculate on a motive for the attempted abduction but urged residents to ask for identification if approached by people claiming to be from Kent Police.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leveson’s Board of the Great and the Good Would be Bad for Local Press, Too
Peter Cuthbertson says Leveson’s proposals would be great news for corrupt, overspending, underperforming councils
Many thoughtful conservatives will be instinctively wary of Lord Leveson’s call for a new “independent Board [appointed] without any influence from industry or Government” to decide and enforce the Code for newspapers. The pressures of market forces and democratic legitimacy prevent organisations straying too far to the left. By contrast, organisations isolated from either, and governed by the Great and the Good of establishment opinion, can and do drift with prevailing elite opinion. Depending on who sits on this Board, one can imagine a range of long-standing left-liberal fantasies entering the Code over time. They could prevent exposes of celebrity misbehaviour while maintaining that exposing social conservative ‘hypocrites’ is nonetheless in the public interest…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Charged With Terror Offences
A 26-year-old man from east London has been charged with possessing terrorist material following an investigation by Met Police officers.
Afsor Ali, of Scott Street, east London, faces four counts of possessing documents or records likely to be useful to someone planning or committing an act of terrorism.
Police say he has been released on conditional bail.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Shropshire Paedophile Jailed for Seven Years
Jailed paedophile Mohammed Ali Sultan had sex with a 13-year-old girl in his car after taking her to a lay-by and slapping her, a court was told.
The 26-year-old married man had first asked the girl to perform a sex act when she was just 12 years old, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
Sultan, of Victoria Avenue in Wellington, was yesterday jailed for seven years after the court was told of a string of sex-related offences with children and youngsters.
He was told he would have to serve an extended period on licence and banned from working with children for life.
Sultan admitted having illegal sex with two teenage girls — including the 13-year-old.
He was also sentenced for taking a third teenager from Telford to have sex with workers at a fish and chip shop.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
An SAS hero jailed for keeping an Iraqi pistol as a war trophy today described his ‘awesome’ reunion with his family.
Danny Nightingale, whose 18-month prison sentence was quashed by senior judges after a three-week newspaper campaign, said it felt ‘fantastic to be free’.
But wife Sally said he had been made a ‘scapegoat’ and that the family would keep fighting the conviction.
Their five-year-old daughter Mara today shyly announced that she was ‘happy’ to have her daddy home for Christmas, before becoming so overwhelmed that her eyes filled with tears.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sgt Danny Nightingale, who has been locked up for three months, “humbly” thanked his family and lawyers for their “trust and support”
SAS sniper Danny Nightingale was freed by Appeal Court judges today and immediately sent a message of thanks to those who campaigned against his 18-month sentence for possessing a pistol. Sergeant Nightingale broke down on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice, before passionately hugging his wife Sally and declaring: “Thank you to the world for being so kind.” Sgt Nightingale, who has been locked up for three months, also “humbly” thanked his family and lawyers for their “trust and support”. The campaign for his release was led by Sally, who gathered more than 100,000 signatures on a petition and got support from Downing Street, MPs and celebrities. After the decision, she said: “We got justice today. I did not dream that this would be the outcome. It is great.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
The UK Independence Party is now the main challenger to Labour in the North of England, leader Nigel Farage declared after his party surged in three by-elections.
Mr Farage hailed UKIP’s ‘best-ever by-election result’ after coming second in votes in Rotherham and Middlesborough, humiliating the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats who saw support collapse to suffer their worst by-election result since 1945.
Former Labour minister John Healey also admitted UKIP was now his party’s rival in the North, claiming ‘the coalition parties are absolutely nowhere to be seen’.
In a sign of the growing unease in Tory ranks about his poor performance in northern England, the party has hired a new advisor who this week warned too many northern voters feel ignored by Westminster.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Diana West: Susan Rice, Distraction: The Real Benghazi Questions
It is neither “racist” nor “sexist” to question U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s role in the Benghazi scandal. It is, however, almost entirely beside the point.
Rice wasn’t making life-and-death decisions on Sept. 11, 2012, when the U.S. compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi came under attack; President Obama was. Rice, therefore, is unable to answer the all-important question about what order President Obama issued upon hearing that U.S. diplomats in Benghazi were under fire. She can’t look America in the eye and answer whether the U.S. military was ordered not to rescue Americans fighting for their lives.
Nor is Rice likely to be the Obama administration official who first concocted the false narrative blaming a YouTube video for a (nonexistent) protest in Benghazi, which, the false narrative continues, “spontaneously” erupted into “unplanned” violence — the whopper President Obama told for two full weeks.
Another key piece of the puzzle Rice is unlikely to possess is why Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, three days after the Benghazi attack, was out there flogging that same concocted story, as when Clinton tried to console the father of slain ex-SEAL Tyrone Wood by promising him the video’s producer would be arrested and prosecuted. Further, it is unlikely Susan Rice can explain why CIA Director David Petraeus went before the House Intelligence Committee, also on Sept. 14, in a closed session and similarly lied, deceiving members into believing that an “unplanned” attack left four Americans, including an American ambassador, dead.
These are just some of the red flags over Benghazi that can never be checked if GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire continue to monopolize the issue and focus solely on Rice and those not-all-that-interesting talking points. It’s almost as if they wish to tighten the lens over Benghazi so closely that we never notice that what’s really needed is a review of the administration’s Arab Spring policies. It is these policies, which, thanks in large part to Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and White House adviser Samantha Power, actually put Uncle Sam on the path to jihad in Libya by supporting al-Qaida and other jihad terrorists in their bid for power. Maybe that’s because the GOP largely supported these same disastrous policies, too.
Here are some of the Benghazi questions that still demand answers:…
| — Hat tip: Diana West | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: A Few Notable Anniversaries on the Palestinians’ Big Day
With the nations of Europe and the rest of the world lining up to support the PLO bid to receive non-member state status at the UN General Assembly, it is worth noting two anniversaries of related but forgotten events.
Of course, everyone knows the obvious anniversary — Nov. 29, 1947 was the day the UN General Assembly passed the plan to recommend the partition the British Mandate of Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews accepted the plan. The Arabs — both local and regional — rejected it. The local Arabs who 25 years later became known as “Palestinians,” responded to the passage of UNGA resolution 181 by launching a terror war against the Jews. Their war was commanded by Iraqi and Lebanese terror masters and supported by the British military and its Arab Legion from Transjordan.
On May 15, 1948 five foreign Arab armies invaded the just-declared Jewish state with the declared aim of annihilating all the Jews.
Now for a couple less known anniversaries
On November 28, 1941 the religious and political leader of the Palestinian Arabs and one of the most influential leaders of the Arab world Haj Amin el Husseini met with Adolf Hitler in Berlin. Husseini had courted the Nazis since just after the Nazis rose to power in 1933. Husseini was forced to flee the British Mandate in 1937 when he expanded his fourth terror war against the Jews, that he began in 1936 to include the British as well.
He fled to Lebanon, and then in October 1939 he fled to Iraq. In April 1941 he fomented a pro-Nazi coup in Iraq. As the British — with massive unheralded assistance from the Jews from the land of Israel — were poised to enter Baghdad and restore the pro-British government, Husseini incited the Farhud, a 3-day pogrom against the Jews of Baghdad that took place over the festival of Shavuot. 150 Jews were murdered.. A thousand were wounded and 900 Jewish homes were destroyed.
With the coup defeated and the Jews murdered, Husseini escaped to then pro-Nazi Iran and then in October to Germany by way of Italy. (He was flown out of Iran on an Italian Air Force plane, and feted by Mussolini when he landed in Rome).
He arrived in Berlin and two and a half weeks later he had a prolonged private meeting with Hitler. There, on November 28, 1941, two months before the Wannssee Conference, where the German high command received its first orders to annihilate European Jewry, Hitler told Husseini that he intended to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of Europe…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
The UN General Assembly Voted for the “New Nazi State”
The PA may use its new found UN observer status to launch legal action against Israel in the International Courts at the Hague. However, it may well jeopardize tax remittances from Israel. A bi-partisan resolution in Congress was proposed by a number of US Senators suggesting cutting US aid to the PA as a result of this change in non-state status resulting from yesterday’s UNGA vote. They could start with ceasing voluntary donations to the UNWRA system that funds fully a third of the half billion in annual operations of refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza and several surrounding Arab countries maintaining 4.0 million plus in poverty and squalor awaiting ‘returns to their ancestral’ lands in what is now Israel. Jonathan Tobin writing in Commentary expressed the views of many when he wrote: So long as Palestinian nationalism is based on the negation of Israel rather than a positive vision for themselves, peace is impossible. While the UN vote won’t change much of anything on the ground, there should be no mistake about the basic continuity between the Arab positions of 1947 and today…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Shock Video: Syrian Rebel Massacres 10 Unarmed Prisoners
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
With the Obama administration preparing to green light direct U.S. intervention in Syria, this is another reminder of where Americans’ tax dollars will be heading — to support gangs of brutal extremist Muslim terrorists whose behavior is no better than the often vilified Bashar al-Assad.
“New footage posted on the Internet appears to have been filmed by a Syrian rebel who points the camera along the barrel of his gun as he shoots 10 unarmed prisoners,” reports Reuters.
The graphic clip shows prisoners lying on the ground begging for their lives before they are gunned down. One pleads, “I swear to God that we are peaceful,” before being slaughtered.
After the massacre, the gunman shouts “Allah Akbar, Jabhat al-Nusra,” referring to the Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda offshoot that has claimed responsibility for innumerable suicide bombings in Syria that have killed hundreds of innocent people.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Pianist Fazil Say Under Investigation Again
Musician already risks 18-month sentence for blasphemous tweets
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER — Turkish pianist of world renown Fazil Say has once again run into legal problems. Say is already on trial for blasphemy and risks an 18-month sentence for ironic tweets on Islam, while Turkish daily Sabah reports that an Istanbul prosecutor has begun further judicial proceedings against him for allegedly insulting judicial bodies. The crime he is said to have committed is in relation to a number of statements made during the trial underway, which he called “ridiculous” in a televised interview. Say also called those who reported him to the judicial authorities over his comments on Islam “the dregs of the earth”, reports Sabah. If the latest judicial proceedings begun by an Uskudar prosecutor lead to a trial, Say risks a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison. In the trial that began on October 18 against him in a Istanbul tribunal, the 42-year-old Say — a self-professed atheist and leftist — is charged with “insulting religious values” and may be sentenced to up to 18 months in prison. Say, a leading pianist called the “Turkish Mozart” by the German press and who has played with the most important orchestras in the world, was charged after being reported by three conservative religious citizens who were “shocked” by his sarcastic messages. In one of these messages he commented on the call to prayer of an Istanbul muezzin which lasted only 22 seconds. “Why such haste?” he tweeted. “Perhaps a woman? Raki (ed. the Turkish national alcoholic drink)?”. Another was inspired by the famous Persian poet Omar Khayyam, and pokes fun at the rivers of wine and the myriad virgins said to fill heaven. “ Does that mean it’s a heavenly pub? You say that virgins will be given to every believer? Does this mean that it’s a heavenly house of prostitution?”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan Wants Pakistan to Release More Taliban Detainees to Jumpstart the Peace Process
KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s top diplomat will press Pakistan Friday to free more Taliban detainees to help coax the militant group into peace negotiations to end the 11-year-old war, an official said. Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasoul will make the request during a one-day visit to Islamabad, according to an Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss Rasoul’s agenda ahead of the minister’s talks with high-ranking Pakistani officials…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
At Least 12 People Killed by Bombs in Afghanistan
Two roadside bombs exploded Thursday in eastern and southern Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people and wounding 16 others, officials said. One blast killed two civilians at a park in Khost, about 90 miles south of the capital, Kabul, said Jabar Nahimi, governor of Khost Province in eastern Afghanistan. Eight others were wounded in the blast, including four women and a child, he said. Earlier, a minivan traveling in a remote part of Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan struck a roadside bomb, killing at least 10 people and wounding eight others, said Nayamatullah Khaliqi, the top government official in the Dehra Wood district. He said most of the dead were women and children.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Osama Bin Laden Doctor Goes on Hunger Strike in Pakistan
The Pakistani doctor jailed for his role in hunting down Osama bin Laden has gone on hunger strike after being put in solitary confinement and denied meetings with relatives, according to his lawyer.
Shakil Afridi was detained days after the American raid to kill the al-Qaeda leader when it emerged he ran a vaccination programme for the CIA in an attempt to obtain DNA evidence from members of the bin Laden family. His lawyer, Samiullah Afridi, said he was concerned for his client’s well-being after being informed of the hunger strike earlier this week. “I am still trying to meet prison officials and Dr Afridi to find out exactly what has happened but his relatives and the local media reports tell me this has happened,” he said. “He has been sentenced to 33 years in prison and this is not how to treat a prisoner. He is entitled to see his family. This is not a security issue.” The discovery that bin Laden had lived in the city of Abbottabad, barely 30 miles from the capital Islamabad, was deeply embarrassing for Pakistan’s security forces…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
In Ethiopia, Trial of Muslim Leaders Reveals Simmering Unrest
Last month, in a courtroom in Addis Ababa, 29 defendants listened intently as the prosecution summarised charges. The accused were Muslim men in their thirties, elderly sheikhs in religious attire, and Habiba Mohammed, the wife of Junedin Sado, Ethiopia’s Minister for the Civil Service and Chairman of the Board of Addis Ababa University. The crime? Organising protests against the government and participating in a far-reaching conspiracy to dismantle the constitution and establish an Islamic state in Ethiopia. The trial has exacerbated existing tensions between Ethiopia’s Muslim community who make up about 34 per cent of the population and the national government; has claimed high-profile victims like Mr. Junedin, a once-powerful regional politician who has disappeared from the public eye; and revealed the tangled nexus between religion, politics and public life in Ethiopia…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Nigeria: Obasanjo’s Mosque — The Mysteries, Mission and His Men
By Emmanuel Aziken and Daud Olatunji
When the sharia legal system was launched in 1999, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had described it as Political Sharia which he said would fizzle away. Having gone into what he claimed to be retirement, President Obasanjo last Friday caused a stir when he gathered Muslim associates of his to raise funds for a mosque project within his presidential library. Will it fizzle away like political sharia?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Rwandan Ghosts: Benghazi Isn’t the Biggest Blight on Susan Rice’s Record.
By Jason K. Stearns
GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — Televised comments made by Amb. Susan Rice shortly after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi have dominated the debate over her probable nomination for secretary of state. This is a bit surprising, since it’s clear that she played only a marginal role in the affair and appears to have just been reading from the briefing notes provided. It’s also unfortunate that the “scandal” has crowded out a healthy discussion of her two-decade record as U.S. diplomat and policymaker prior to Sept. 2012 — and drawn attention away from actions for which she bears far greater responsibility than Benghazi.
Her role in shaping U.S. policy toward Central Africa should feature high on this list. Between 1993 and 2001, she helped form U.S. responses to the Rwandan genocide, events in post-genocide Rwanda, mass violence in Burundi, and two ruinous wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo…
| — Hat tip: DS | [Return to headlines] |
English immigrant Lauren Bell, currently residing in Madison, Georgia, has received a deportation order, effective on her 21st birthday, on January 28th, 2013.
Lauren was brought to the U.S. nine years ago by her parents. She has resided in Madison since 2003. She has graduated from high school and is now a junior in college.
Wait a minute—isn’t Lauren covered by President Obama’s unilaterally-declared, unconstitutional, Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals (DACA)?
After all, DACA was designed for young people who
Were “under the age of 31 on June 15, 2012”. Lauren qualifies.
“Came to the United States before their 16th birthday.” Lauren qualifies.
“Have continuously resided in the United States between June 15th, 2007, and the present.” Lauren has been in the U.S. since 2003.
“Are currently in school, graduated from high school…” Check.
“Have not been convicted of a felony, a ‘significant’ misdemeanor, or three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.” Check again.
So what’s the problem? Why isn’t Lauren Bell covered by DACA?
Well, here’s the ridiculous reason: DACA is for young people who
“…had no valid immigration status on June 15, 2012.”
In plain English, that means they must be illegal aliens.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress, ah, but I repeat myself,” said Mark Twain.
This past Tuesday night, I spoke to a large “Town Hall Meeting” audience in Cheyenne, Wyoming as to the greatest danger facing America in the 21st century: endless immigration overwhelming the United States by adding 100 million within 25 years. I informed the audience the audience that our U.S. Congress continues importing 100,000 legal green card-holding immigrants every 30 days.
Most of the audience gasped at the numbers. One lady said, “Could you please repeat that figure.” When I did, she said, “I had no idea.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feminist Scholar’s Book on Hijab’s Rise Earns Grawemeyer Religion Award
At first, feminist religion scholar Leila Ahmed was alarmed by the growing visibility of young American Muslim women wearing headscarves. She feared that a politicized, male-dominated fundamentalism had migrated from her native Egypt to her adopted United States. Instead, Ahmed reached what she admits was an “astonishing” conclusion:
“Islamists and the children of Islamists …. were now in the vanguard of those who were most fully and rapidly assimilating into the distinctively American tradition of activism in pursuit of justice,” Ahmed wrote in her book, “A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Pro-Abortion Students Attempt to Shut Down Pro-Life Meeting in Edinburgh
EDINBURGH, November 29, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) — According to the National Union of Students, university students are supposed to be left-wing, radical feminist, pro-gay and, perhaps most importantly, “pro-choice”—and anyone stepping outside that hardline leftist political template will hear about it. This was the message directed at a new pro-life students’ group, the Alliance of Pro-life Students, at their launch fundraiser at Merchant’s Hall in Edinburgh earlier this month.
An NUS feminist group, outraged that any British students might disagree with their official “pro-choice” position, organised a noisy demonstration outside the Edinburgh venue, shouting slogans from behind a barricade as APS students and their supporters went in. They made it clear that the pro-life students’ alternative political opinions on abortion and the nature of “women’s rights” were not welcome by the UK’s largest student umbrella organisation.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
Officials of a flower society have been sued by a 22-year-old man after they suggested he was gay.
The chairman, treasurer and secretary of the organisation, which is a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, now face a bill of more than £7,000 in damages.
An employment tribunal panel heard how the young employee had been groped by the gardening club’s treasurer and was sacked by the secretary when he tried to complain about gay slurs.
The committee has strenuously denied the allegations made by the employee, who says he needs ‘counselling’ after the incident.
The worker told how he was molested by the treasurer who plagued him for six months and insisted he must be homosexual.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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