All Greek Banks Closed Today, Euro Nose-Dives

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Associated Press. Greece’s five-year financial crisis took its most dramatic turn to date Sunday, with the cabinet deciding, after an 8-hour session, that Greek banks would remain shut for six working days and restrictions would be imposed on cash withdrawals.

The Athens Stock Exchange would also not open on Monday, financial sector officials confirmed.

A decree published in the official Government Gazette stipulates banks will not open Monday morning and will remain closed through Monday, July 6. The finance minister could decide to short or extend that period.

Withdrawals from ATM with credit or cash cards will be capped at 60 euros ($66) daily. The decree said ATMs would be working at the latest 12 hours from its publication, meaning cash machines would open by early afternoon, at the latest.

Web banking transactions will be mostly free, allowing people to pay their bills online. However, they cannot move money to accounts abroad. (Read more from “All Greek Banks Closed Today, Here’s Why” HERE)

______________________________________________________________________________

Euro, Stocks Plunge as Greece Seen on Course to Default

By Reuters. The euro fell almost 2 percent and share prices tumbled across Asia on Monday as Greece looked set to default on its debt repayment this week, forcing Athens to impose capital controls to halt bank runs.

With the prospect of Greece being forced out of the euro in plain sight, the common currency fell as much as 1.9 percent to $1.0955 , its lowest in almost a month, and last stood down 1.4 percent at $1.1007.

Against the yen, the common currency dropped more than 3 percent to 133.80 yen, a five-week low.

U.S. stock futures dived almost 2 percent at one point to hitting a three-month low, and last traded down 1.6 percent. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

People Shocked as Seemingly Normal, Break-Dancing Star Becomes Mass Murderer

/1 Comment/in , /by

By Times of Israel Staff. The Tunisian gunman who opened fire on tourists at a Tunisian beach resort on Friday, killing at least 39 people, most of them tourists, was reportedly a local “break-dancing star” and a fan of Real Madrid.

Footage obtained by Sky News on Saturday showed him walking calmly along the beach. Sky said the clip was filmed after the massacre, and noted that no members of the Tunisian security forces approached him. He was later shot dead in a confrontation in a side street, the report said.

Authorities identified the attacker as Seifedinne Rezgui, a 23-year-old electrical engineering student from Gaafour, in northwest Tunisia. He was a student at Kairouan University, a city just south of Sousse where the killings occurred.

His bewildered family described a quiet, not-too-religious young man who liked soccer, music and spent time with friends. They said that they last saw him a day before the attack and that nothing seemed amiss.

According to the report, a Facebook account believed to have belonged to Rezgui showed a love for Real Madrid and rap music, but also an admiration for the Islamic State. Several propaganda videos were also posted to the page. (Read more from “People Shocked as Seemingly Normal, Break-Dancing Star Becomes Mass Murderer” HERE)


_____________________________________________________________________

Thousands of Tourists Flee Tunisia After Beach Massacre

By AFP. Planeloads of shocked foreign tourists flew home from Tunisia Saturday after a beachside massacre claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 38 people and prompted a major security clampdown.

The North African nation, which relies heavily on tourism, announced plans to deploy troops at vulnerable sites and shut dozens of mosques accused of inciting extremism.

Britain said that at least 15 of its citizens were killed in Friday’s gun assault in the popular resort of Port el Kantaoui and that the number “may well rise.”

The attack represents Britain’s worst loss of life in a terror incident since the 2005 London bombings.

The assailant pulled a gun hidden inside a parasol and opened fire on tourists on the sand and by a pool, in the deadliest attack in Tunisia’s recent history. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Israel Decidedly Unhappy With Vatican-Palestine Treaty

/5 Comments/in , /by

Pope Francis has decided to make the Catholic Church’s feelings about Palestine official.

On Friday, the Vatican signed a comprehensive treaty with Palestinian authorities, formalizing a basic agreement between the Catholic Church and the PLO back in 2000. In essence, it is a formal declaration of the Holy See’s support for the creation of a Palestinian state and the peace process with Israel. “[I]t is my hope that the present agreement may, in some way, be a stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to cause suffering for both Parties,” wrote Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

The agreement follows on the Vatican’s decision in May to change the status of its diplomatic relationship with Ramallah, and officially forgo the recognition of the PLO to make way for the State of Palestine. The Catholic Church has referred to a Palestinian state since at least 2012, but the new agreement solidifies the Holy See’s support.

For the Vatican, the decision represents another unabashed and controversial move into the foreign policy arena. It follows efforts to broker Washington’s watershed decision to re-establish relations with Cuba late last year, and the recent release of Pope Francis’ landmark environment-focused encyclical. But it is also a matter of looking after Catholics everywhere. The new agreement specifically notes that it is also meant to deal with “the life and activity of the Church in Palestine.” It also mentions that “Catholics do not seek any privilege other than continued cooperation with their fellow-citizens for the good of society.” As Reuters reported, some 100,000 Catholics live in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, and most of them identify as Palestinians. For the Church, assertively backing the Palestinian cause and the cause of peace, then, is about protecting its own.

The news is not going over well in Tel Aviv. “This hasty step damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement, and harms the international effort to convince the Palestinian Authority to return to direct negotiations with Israel,” said Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon. (Read more from “Israel Decidedly Unhappy With Vatican-Palestine Treaty” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Violent Message: ISIS Marks Anniversary of Caliphate Amid Ramadan Calls for Violence

/1 Comment/in , /by

The Islamic State is marking its first year as a self-proclaimed caliphate by calling on sympathizers around the world to take up arms and commit acts of terror.

It was on June 29, 2014 that the terrorist army then known as ISIS announced it had established a government run by a medieval version of strict Islam in territory that spanned northern Syria and Iraq.

Since then, the group has metastasized throughout the region, recruiting locals and foreign fighters alike and blazing a trail of death and misery. With the beginning of Ramadan on June 17, the terrorist organization has issued a call for stepped up attacks in the Middle East and around the world.

“The ISIS’ Ramadan message specifically preaches that jihad is 10 times more obligatory during Ramadan and that those who die in jihad will be rewarded by Allah ten times as much as during the rest of the year,” said Ryan Mauro, national security analyst and adjunct professor of Homeland Security for the Clarion Project.

“There will be ISIS supporters who have waited to strike until now in order to get the maximum award and those who were considering an attack and will now feel more pressure to actually do it.” (Read more from “Violent Message: ISIS Marks Anniversary of Caliphate Amid Ramadan Calls for Violence” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

ISIS-Linked Group Said to Issue Leaflets Threatening Christians in Jerusalem

/0 Comments/in , /by

Leaflets threatening Christians and signed by an organization referring to itself as the “Islamic State in Palestine” were distributed in East Jerusalem Thursday, Israel’s Channel 10 news reported.

The flyers, which displayed an image of the black flag associated with the Islamic State terrorist group, warned Christian residents of the city that “vengeance” will be exacted upon them, the TV report stated . . .

There have been intermittent reports of attempts by IS-affiliated groups to organize in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel, and a trickle of cases of Israeli Arabs journeying to join IS forces elsewhere in the region or being arrested en route to do so.

Earlier this week, an Israeli Arab family from Sakhnin, in the north, contacted authorities for help in locating their son and his family, who they said they believe are trying to enter Syria to join the Islamic State . . .

The cell members were arrested by operatives of the Shin Bet security service and stand accused of launching an unsuccessful attack against IDF soldiers and conspiring to kidnap and kill civilians and military personnel in the West Bank. (Read more from “IS-Linked Group Said to Issue Leaflets Threatening Christians in Jerusalem” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Pope’s New Inquisition: You Can’t Make Guns and Call Yourself a Christian

/26 Comments/in , /by

Pope Francis has to be one of the most Marxist popes the Roman Catholic Church has seen in recent decades. Over the weekend he had the audacity to claim that those who are engaged in gunmaking cannot call themselves Christians.

At a youth rally in Turin, Italy, the pope said, “”It makes me think of … people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons,” he said, according to Reuters. “That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn’t it?” . . .

This is the same guy who rides in a bulletproof car. He’s also the same hypocrite whose Vatican danced around with the idea of homosexuality while conducting sodomite orgies, embraced anti-Christ Islam, recognized the terror state of Palestine, pushed for a new world order and even toyed with the idea of evolution.

Furthermore, let’s just ask the glaring question before the entire world… how does man, dressed in the finest of linens, housed in a 1,100 room palace and served hand and foot by servants exemplify the Lord Jesus Christ? How exactly does that work? Not to mention that the palace he lives in was built on the backs of the poor throughout Europe with a bunch of hocus pocus nonsense advanced the papacy and John Tetzel. And why? It was all for the sake of the love of money.

While Francis made several other comments, including those built upon previous comments about World War I and World War II, the reality is that there is a supreme difference between those who manufacture weapons for the protection of the innocent and those who build them for the destruction of the innocent. (Read more from “Pope’s New Inquisition: You Can’t Make Guns and Call Yourself a Christian” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Is Europe dead?

/0 Comments/in , /by

Has the post-war dream of a grand union of democratic states been shattered beyond repair? North American observers might be forgiven for thinking so, given the unprecedented tidal wave of public recriminations, personal insults, and dire predictions spewing forth from the European Union’s panicky and divided leaders.

The principal cause is the imminent climax to the crisis over Greece’s undeclared, de facto bankruptcy. The country is €323 billion ($352.7 billion) in debt — more than 175% of its GDP. It cannot pay what it owes to other European countries and the European Central Bank. Its next big loan repayment, of €1.6bn to the International Monetary Fund, falls due at the end of this month, and may be missed.

The left-wing Syriza government, led by Alexis Tsipras, has confirmed Greece will run out of money by June 30 unless creditors release an additional €7.2 billion in bail-out funds. Yannis Stournaras, Greece’s central bank governor, warned that failure to reach a deal would “mark the beginning of a painful course that would lead initially to a Greek default and ultimately to the country’s exit from the euro area and — most likely — from the European Union.”

If Greece is expelled or otherwise forced to drop out of the eurozone — the group of 19 countries which have adopted the euro as their common currency — the consequences could be catastrophic and far-reaching. For Greeks, it could trigger bank collapses, emergency controls on capital flight, non-payment of salaries, and broad social and economic chaos. For the EU, it could spell the end for the euro if market confidence fails and other severely indebted states decide they, too, can’t or won’t pay up. (Read more from “Is Europe Dead?” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

ISIS Crucifies, Publicly Displays Bodies of Two Boys Accused of Eating During Holy Month of Ramadan

/3 Comments/in , /by

The Islamic State group has crucified and killed two children in Syria for eating during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims are required to fast in obedience to Allah.

The boys, who were both younger than 18, were killed by the militants and later displayed with placards hung around their necks revealing their “crime” was committed “with no religious justification.” The horrific incident occured in the town of Mayadin, Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights revealed on Monday . . .

Ramadan, which literally means “scorching” in Arabic, is a time when devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, and other physical needs during the daylight hours to focus on their spiritual health and seek forgiveness for past sins . . .

Under the brutal rule of ISIS, which regularly carries out public beheadings, stonings and crucifixions those accused of crimes, the punishments for disobeying religious laws are exceedingly harsh.

In February, militants living in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, severely disfigured the faces of fifteen Iraqi women by pouring acid on them as a form of punishment after the women were caught without their faces being fully covered by a niqab, a hijab which covers the entire face, except for slits for eyes. (Read more from “ISIS Crucifies, Publicly Displays Bodies of Two Boys Accused of Eating During Holy Month of Ramadan” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

UN Wants to Impose “Urgent Measures” to Control Guns After Charleston Killings

/26 Comments/in , /by

By Joe Wolverton. Not to be outdone by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in calling for civilian disarmament, the United Nations is taking advantage of the Charleston shootings to join the chorus of confiscators.

In a statement issued on June 19 by the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent (yes, that actually exists), committee chairwoman Mireille Fanon Mendes-France demanded that “urgent measures must be taken to prevent gun violence.” Making a point of distinguishing this crime for its effect on “the security of Afro-Americans,” the UN group sent their “heartfelt condolences to the people of the United States of America.”

If the United Nations has its way, there will much more to mourn about in the United States of America. As part of the global effort to grant monopoly control of weapons of all sizes to UN-approved “state actors,” the Arms Trade Treaty mandates the forcible disarmament of all others.

The scheme was endorsed in the “name of the people of the United States” by Secretary of State John Kerry on September 25, 2013.

“I am very pleased to have signed this treaty here today. I signed it because President Obama knows that from decades of efforts that at any time that we work with — cooperatively to address the illicit trade in conventional weapons, we make the world a safer place. And this treaty is a significant step in that effort,” Kerry said at the signing ceremony. (Read more from “UN Wants “Urgent Measures” to Control Guns After Charleston Killings” HERE)


_____________________________________________________________________

Colt Gun Maker Declares Bankruptcy

By Bob Adelmann. Colt Defense, the once high-flying iconic manufacturer of the Colt .45 single action Army revolver known as the “Peacemaker” — the “gun that won the West” — and the 1911 semi-automatic pistol designed by John Moses Browning, ran out of airspeed and altitude on Sunday, and declared bankruptcy.

In his press release, Keith Maib, chief restructuring officer of Colt Defense, LLC, put the best face he could on a disaster that has been unfolding for years:

The plan we are announcing and have filed today will allow Colt to restructure its balance sheet while meeting all of its obligations to [its] customers, vendors, suppliers and employees [while] providing for maximum continuity in the Company’s current and future business operations….

[This restructuring] will enable us to continue to gain traction on a challenging but achievable turnaround in our business performance and competitive positioning in the international, U.S. government and consumer marketplaces.

Colt remains open for business.

(Read more from this story HERE)


Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Rome: Hundreds of Thousands Protest Against Same-Sex Unions

/2 Comments/in , /by

A crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands gathered in Rome’s San Giovanni Square on June 20 to engage in a Family Day protest against a bill backed by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi that would create civil unions for same-sex couples. The square, adjacent to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, can hold an estimated 300,000 people, but the crowd of protesters overflowed beyond its boundaries, an AFP photographer said.

The bill that Renzi has attempted to push though Parliament would, in addition to establishing civil unions for homosexuals, provide for the teaching of “gender theories” in Italian schools. It passed the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Parliament) on June 10 and must now be approved by the Senate. Renzi seeks a Senate vote on the legislation during the next few weeks, with the aim of it being enacted before the end of July. The prime minister is a member of Italy’s Democratic Party, which is often described as being “center-left,” but has inherited a legacy of socialism from its predecessors.

Italian Democrats were energized in their push for civil unions after voters in Ireland — which like Italy, has a large majority of Catholics — approved a referendum on May 23 legalizing same-sex “marriage by a 62.1-percent affirmative vote. Following that vote, Renzi said: “Civil unions [in Italy] cannot be delayed any longer.”

And Italy’s Democratic Party leader Roberto Speranza called the Irish vote a “joy,” adding that “now it is Italy’s turn.” Another party leader, Laura Boldrini, the president the Chamber of Deputies, tweeted an approving message on the day of the Irish referendum that translates as: “being European means recognizing rights.”

While the Democrats may be the strongest political party in Italy, with a large plurality in both houses of parliament, they still face formidable opposition to passage of their civil unions bill — particularly from the Catholic Church, which seems to have a stronger influence on Italian society that it does in Ireland, where most Catholic voters ignored a statement published by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference in opposition to its passage. (Read more from “Rome: Hundreds of Thousands Protest Against Same-Sex Unions” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.