THE LEFT'S INTOLERANCE SPREADING LIKE A DISEASE.

I don't know how it is with you.

And I also don't know if what we are witnessing in the West can also be observed in the rest of the world.

But I strongly have the impression that in Western Europe and the Anglosaxon world the behaviour of the Left is more and more reminding of rabies in mad dogs.

Contrary to all historical evidence that leftist dogmas cause RUIN, economically, sociologically, and morally, the Left is actually stepping up its efforts to force its insane agenda upon everyone. They continue to advocate Keynesianism yet fail somehow to see that wherever it is applied the economy goes bust. They continue to implement their immigration dadas and pet social engineering projects, then don't understand why crime goes up or the number of people living on foodstamps is skyrocketing. And they are merrily breaking down traditional institutions like the nuclear family, or legalize marijuana, then wonder why our young people suffer increasingly from mental disorders or end up in rehab centers.

But perhaps the greatest anomaly is that, while leftist repeat over and over again that bigotry, racism and intolerance are perpetual hallmarks of the Right, it is they themselves who prove time and again that hatred of the Other and the refusal to accept him as he is, is something quintessentially leftist.

Three very obvious illustrations of this registered on my radar last week.

The first was the appalling spectacle of Mr Brendan Eich's forced resignation from Mozilla, a company he co-founded and was appointed CEO of only last month. Mr Eich was forced to quit for no other reason than that in 2008 he had donated 1,000 US$ of his own money to a group advocating traditional marriage.

As per usual, one of the best takes on the subject was Mark Steyn's:

"On Wednesday, I wrote about the Mozilla CEO in trouble for a five-year-old donation to Proposition Eight, the successful California ballot measure that banned gay marriage - if only until America's robed rulers declared the will of the people to be "unconstitutional". Brandon Eich is a tech genius: Aside from co-founding Mozilla and creating Firefox, he also invented JavaScript. Apparently, the disgusting homophobic hatey-hatey-hateful belief that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman is not incompatible with knowing your way around a computer.




Nevertheless, unlike Hollywood director Brett Ratner, Mr Eich declined to eat gay crow. And so yesterday he was fired. Mozilla's chairwoman Mitchell Baker issued the usual tortured justification:

"Mozilla believes both in equality and freedom of speech. Equality is necessary for meaningful speech," Baker said. "And you need free speech to fight for equality. Figuring out how to stand for both at the same time can be hard."

I heard a lot of this stuff during my free-speech battles in Canada. The country's chief censor, the late Jennifer Lynch, QC, was willing to concede that free speech was certainly a right, but it was merely one in a whole range of competing rights - such as "equality" and "diversity" - that needed to be "balanced". What the "balancing" boils down to is that you get fired if you are an apostate from the new progressive groupthink. Underneath the agonized prose, Mitchell Baker is a bare-knuckled thug."

Then, it was the turn of a certain Andrew Miller, the Labour chairman of the Commons Science and Technology Committee. Labour? Labour? OF COURSE the following sinister garbage must come from someone from Labour:

"Ministers who question the majority view among scientists about climate change should “shut up” and instead repeat the Government line on the issue, according to MPs.

The BBC should also give less airtime to climate sceptics and its editors should seek special clearance to interview them, according to the Commons Science and Technology Committee. Andrew Miller, the committee’s Labour chairman, said that appearances on radio and television by climate sceptics such as Lord Lawson of Blaby, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, should be accompanied by “health warnings”.

Mr Miller likened climate sceptics to the Monster Raving Loony Party and said that the BBC should limit interviews with them just as it restricted the coverage it gave to fringe political parties.

In a report published today, the committee criticises the BBC’s coverage of climate change, saying that its news programmes “continue to make mistakes in their coverage of climate science by giving opinions and scientific fact the same weight”.

Except, you FOOL, the BBC HAS already be limiting interviews with sceptics of its own. Far from giving warmists' and skeptics' opinions 'the same weight', it's like with everything else in BBC coverage a pretty one-sided story. Stocked choke-full with leftist zealots, al-Beeb IS already doing basically all that Miller advocates, with the exception of the "health warnings" - although that may change soon, now that he has given the Beeb Creeps an idea. Never mind that slowly even some at the IPCC are cautiously beginning to concede that the skeptics mayhaps haven't gotten it all wrong over the past decade, what with acknowledging the 'hiatus' and advocating that in the event it might be better to prepare for whatever warming is coming than to try to stop it, at the cost of ruining the Earth's economy. Heck, even admitting that biofuels actually are harming the food situation of the world's needy seems to be an indication of saner heads prevailing.

Sadly, I fear that this is not even close to the end of the beginning, since the closet totalitarians à la Andrew Miller are simply ubiquitous. I was actually baffled to hear the IPCC backing down a little, given that its Vice Chair is none other than Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele de Strihou, a Belgian climatologist, who last year basically advocated exactly the same as Miller. Van Ypersele actually went further, saying in an interview with the extreme leftist MO magazine: "continue to discuss with climate sceptics is a waste of time".



These are guys who would send you to a concentration camp in a heartbeat, if they could.


Thirdly, in my own country, Yvan Mayeur, the Parti Socialiste mayor of Brussels, prohibited a Vlaams Belang meeting. Via HLN, April 2:

"Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur (PS) forbids a VB meeting taking place in Vaudeville Theater. He fears public order will be disturbed. Vlaams Belang calls it a mockery of their constitutional right to a meeting and asks the Raad Van State for nullify Mayeurs decree [in Belgium, the Raad van State - Council of State - is a special court with top jurists which is outside the judiciary powers (sui generis) - MFBB]). Mayeur already on Monday evening briefed the City Council of his intention to prohibit the VB meeting, which would take place in the Vaudeville Theatre, a prestigious hall in the Koninginnegalerij (Queen's Gallery) in the heart of Brussels.

He was quoted as saying that he tried to get into contact with the proprietors of Vaudeville Theatre to get them to cancel the meeting, but that they did not listen to him.

In the newspaper De Morgen the owners declared that they did not want to take sides and wanted to fulfill their contractual obligations with Vlaams Belang.

'I deplore the attitude of the owners' says Mayeur. In the beginning we thought that they had been fooled by Vlaams Belang and did not know to whom they had made available their facilities. But that does not appear to be the case. Despite our repeated efforts to talk about it, they refused' says Mayeur."

There's a chilling aspect to the way HLN reports on this issue, giving a forum to Mayeur to talk about forbidding a political meeting taking place as if doing so is the most natural thing imaginable. But we are talking here about a political party, a rightwing, conservative party with a party program that is nowhere violating human rights (to the contrary), and has a great many very sound and decent goals. Now this Parti Socialiste mayor, successor to the infamous Freddy Thielemans, is basically violating the rights of Belgian citizens - and the offhand way in which he can pursue his goal, not merely getting away with it but actually acting as if this is his god-given right, is truly cause for very serious concern.

Episode II in this 'vaudeville' was a bit more heartening since in an actually lightning-quick verdict the Raad van State indeed confirmed Vlaams Belang's right to have a political meeting in said premises.

However, when the VB parliamentarians, VB Chairman Gerolf Annemans and those invited wanted to enter Vaudeville Theatre two days later, they found themselves facing closed doors, with the proprietors nowhere to be seen.

THERE IS NO DOUBT Yvan Mayeurs brownshirt thugs exerted enormous pressure on them to turn away the VB at the last moment. So much for the democratic rights of people of a rightwing persuasion in Belgium!

But that was not all.

When the VB delegation and the invitees in extremis found an alternative location on Brussels' famous Grote Markt, they were confronted by a large extreme leftist mob who were not shy to use physical violence. Among those on the receiving end were Filip Dewinter and Anke Van dermeersch, well known VB parliamentarians:



1053626_662584477110415_623206792_n door dm_4fe989d445655

And lookie look who was there:




A lovely group of persons of tolerance and diversity in action!


This is 2014. It should by now be crystal-clear to each and everyone - I mean EVERYONE - that the REAL Hatred of 'the Other', the REAL Intolerance - is to be found almost exclusively on the Left.


I could actually already add two more items which merely confirm the above - Brandeis University turning down Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Condoleezza Rice's appointment on the Board of DropBox sparking an outcry among (leftist) internet activists. Hat tip longtime reader Jan.

It simply does not stop anymore, to the contrary, like I said, the Leftist Hate Machine is actually picking up steam.



MFBB.

NIGHTMARE: BELGIUM'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY NOW BOASTING A CHAIR ISLAMIC THEOLOGY.

The Catholic university of Louvain (KUL, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is Belgium's oldest, founded in 1425. In the 2012-2013 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) university ranking, it was ranked 58th in the world and 13th in Europe, making it the highest ranked university from the low countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) in either category.




Today De Standaard eagerly printed the following:

"Flemish Minister of Education Pascal Smet and the Rector of the Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven) Rik Torfs officially inaugurated the University's new one-year course 'Islamic Theology and Religious Sciences'.

Flemish Education Minister Pascal Smet supports the new course this year with a 140,000 EUR portfolio and has earmarked 160,000 EUR every following year.

Lieven Boeve, Head of the Faculty Theology and Religious Sciences, and future Top Administrator of Catholic Education, hopes to be able to start with 10 to 20 students."

I wonder what madam Lafrarchi, islamic teacher, has to say about the alternative lifestyle of her sponsor, the openly gay Flemish Education Minister Pascal Smet?





In other news, Cairo's al-Azhar University will next year begin with a Chair Christian Theology.

And if you don't believe that, I have a missing Boeing 777 to sell you. Its Hindu skipper hijacked it because he was mildly offended by the torching of Hindu places of worship in Pakistan recently.



MFBB.

MEET NICHOLAS FLUCK, PRESIDENT OF THE LAW SOCIETY (UK) - YET ANOTHER FUCKFACE ENABLING SHARIA LAW IN GREAT BRITAIN.

For the umpteenth time, in the UK another significant move has been made to effectively usher in sharia law. The Telegraph has the goods:

"Islamic law is to be effectively enshrined in the British legal system for the first time under guidelines for solicitors on drawing up “Sharia compliant” wills.

Under ground-breaking guidance, produced by The Law Society, High Street solicitors will be able to write Islamic wills that deny women an equal share of inheritances and exclude unbelievers altogether.

The documents, which would be recognised by Britain’s courts, will also prevent children born out of wedlock – and even those who have been adopted – from being counted as legitimate heirs.

Anyone married in a church, or in a civil ceremony, could be excluded from succession under Sharia principles, which recognise only Muslim weddings for inheritance purposes.

Nicholas Fluck, president of The Law Society, said the guidance would promote “good practice” in applying Islamic principles in the British legal system.




Some lawyers, however, described the guidance as “astonishing”, while campaigners warned it represented a major step on the road to a “parallel legal system” for Britain’s Muslim communities.

Baroness Cox, a cross-bench peer leading a Parliamentary campaign to protect women from religiously sanctioned discrimination, including from unofficial Sharia courts in Britain, said it was a “deeply disturbing” development and pledged to raise it with ministers.

“This violates everything that we stand for,” she said. “It would make the Suffragettes turn in their graves.”

The guidance, quietly published this month and distributed to solicitors in England and Wales, details how wills should be drafted to fit Islamic traditions while being valid under British law. It suggests deleting or amending standard legal terms and even words such as “children” to ensure that those deemed “illegitimate” are denied any claim over the inheritance. It recommends that some wills include a declaration of faith in Allah which would be drafted at a local mosque, and hands responsibility for drawing up some papers to Sharia courts.

The guidance goes on to suggest that Sharia principles could potentially overrule British practices in some disputes, giving examples of areas that would need to be tested in English courts."

This is the ARSEHOLE tripping over his own feet to please his future muslim overlords:




Meet Nicholas Fluckface, current President of The Law Society.


Speaking of Baroness Cox's Suffragettes turning in their graves, I'd like you to meet somebody else, who, albeit she was a woman, definitely had way more balls than the slimy, spineless bastard who made it Grand Mufti of The Sharia Law Society. That somebody else is Emily Davison:




Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was a militant activist who fought for women's suffrage in Britain. Jailed on nine occasions and force-fed 49 times in the course of her battle for women's rights, she finally paid the ultimate price when she stepped in front of King George V's horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby on 4 June 1913:




To this day it is unclear whether she deliberately sought death to draw people's attention to the Suffragette's cause or whether she merely wanted to disturb the race. Personally, I consider this distinction irrelevant. First off, it must have taken incredible guts to venture out on the race track like she did. Secondly, she died as a result of the act, and as such she gave her life for a noble cause - it doesn't matter whether this was done on purpose or not.

How horrible then, that a mere century later the likes of Nicholas Fluck, who really ought to omit the 'l' in his surname, have no qualms at all setting the clock back and in the process spit on Emily Davison's grave.

There are two possibilities.


First, either Fluck IS aware of what it took the Women of Britain to conquer their rightful place near men. And, being in the law business, he SHOULD know that some 800 years ago there was this thing called the Magna Carta - briefly, true, but nevertheless. Forced upon King John in 1215 by his barons, the document intented to limit royal powers, and was the first real step towards the establishment of constitutional law in England and beyond.




You might look at what's under Paragraph 7:

"7. A widow, after the death of her husband, shall forthwith and without difficulty have her marriage portion and inheritance; nor shall she give anything for her dower, or for her marriage portion, or for the inheritance which her husband and she held on the day of the death of that husband; and she may remain in the house of her husband for forty days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to her."

If Fluck knows all this, and prefers it be 1214 instead of 2014, he should RESIGN. Right Now.



The second possibility is that he knows neither about the Suffragettes, nor about the Magna Carta.

And in that case too, he should RESIGN TOO. Right Now.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT DAFT PUNK FEAT. PHARRELL WILLIAMS, BAND OF HORSES.

Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams with Get Lucky.




FYI, Daft Punk are frogs. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter are a French house duo.



Band of Horses with The funeral.




US indie rock band which formed in Seattle in 04. This single is from the 06 album Everything all the time.


Hey, night. Not saying I'm back in business but I try hard.


MFBB.

FUBAR (OKAY, ALMOST)

Sorry for the hiatus, but I've been feeling completely f*cked up for the past few weeks and haven't been able to post anything simply 'cause I've been too tired for it.





I am a small business owner. I employ four people and our turnover is about 800,000 EUR. Small as the company is, it nevertheless drains away nearly all my energy. Sure, there's been my own physical problems, and I still need follow up following Kahler's Disease every two months, plus my wife and kids have been having some health issues as well. But the most pressing issue is simply keeping my company afloat.

The blame lies squarely with the government. I predicted that this would happen long before NOV 2011, when christian democrat and liberal idiots preferred to form a government with the socialists, and allow the biggest scumbag of all, the openly gay Parti Socialiste bigshot Elio Di Rupo, to become Belgian PM.

As a common sense politican, you DON'T negotiate with the Parti Socialiste. Not now. Not in times past. Not Never. The PS deliberately drove Wallonia dirt poor in order to create a Lumpenproletariat that would always vote for them. Sadly, fucking idiots Alexander De Croo and Wouter Beke decided to put Di Rupo on the chair of PM. Both De Croo and Beke are thirtysomething doofuses, ergo they have been spoonfed leftist mantras since they were in their mother's wombs. Even though theoretically they are nominally center or center right, you would be hard pressed to put a sheet of carbon paper between them and their socialist counterparts, ideologically.

If Belgium has until now weathered the crisis relatively good, that's solely the result of the heroic efforts of its entrepreneurs and the disciplined part of its workforce. It's not because of the government's efforts, but DESPITE them.

But the cracks are showing everywhere. In two and a half years, the Di Rupo government has had a devastating effect on employment, with both major, medium sized and small entreprises shedding tens of thousands of jobs, and haemorraging money in the process.

The sad thing is that all this was utterly predictable, with mathematical precision and certainty.

I warned of this beforehand.

It is true that in my case, I invested rather heavily in some real estate.

The costs of financing that are dwarfed however by labour costs. Social contributions are now basically double that of what my personnel receives net.

This is untenable.

I am trying very hard to stay afloat financially but the strain is beginning to tell and the effort is completely exhausting me, besides truly harming family life.

There's elections in May. I hope the bunch of crypto-communist scoundrels that has the audacity to call itself 'the Belgian government' gets BOOTED BIG TIME... for I fear we will not survive a Di Rupo II.



So if you haven't heard from me lately, it's not that I want to quit.

It's simply because I've been too goddam tired. Don't want to sound like a crybaby - though I fear I do - but.... that's how it is.



Leftism is a disease of the mind.


Nite,


MFBB.

DAVID WISE'S ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE BEING A MARRIED FATHER AT 23 AND THE FLEMISH GREEN'S TRANSGENDER CANDIDATE FOR MAY'S EUROPEAN ELECTIONS.

From the Nou breekt mijn klomp department.

That's 'well I'll be damned' for those hapless souls ignorant of the noble Dutch/Flemish language.

NBC labels America's fresh freestyle skiing halfpipe gold medalist David Wise's fatherhood and being married at 23 an 'alternative lifestyle'.





There's a lot of coverage on conservative sites, but I liked the way Breitbart but it the best:


"Freak-showing normalcy and normalizing abnormality is a well-honed tactic used by the left to undermine the healthy traditions that civilize society."


Jawohl. You bet. And oh, FYI, the Flemish Greens just put a transgender second on their list for the European elections in May. Meet Petra De Sutter, ten years ago Peter De Sutter, a prof gynaecologist at UZ Ghent no less. Ah, the new normalcy!




Petra also wants to do something 'against society becoming more rightwing' (not that I noticed something of the latter btw).


Oh yeah Petra? OK. Kom op.



MFBB.

RECOMMENDED READS: THE MUSLIM CONQUEST OF INDIA.

Over at American Thinker, a couple of weeks back Janet Levy had an interesting look at the changing demographics in India, which are clearly favourable to the muslim part of the population.

"India's centuries-long resistance to Muslim aggression began in 636 C.E. This started a series of incursions in which Muslim warriors desecrated Hindu places of worship and universities, slaughtered monks and priests, and unleashed a reign of terror to impose Islam and subjugate the majority Hindu population. In K.S. Lal's 1973 book, Growth of Muslim Population of Medieval India (1000-1800), the author estimated that about 60-80 million people died in India between 1000 and 1525 as a result of Islamic invasions.



Mughal warriors massacring sikhs then....


Modern India still faces significant encroachment and cross-border terrorism from Muslims who today represent demographic and territorial challenges to the Asian country. The Muslim population of India has increased dramatically since the partitioning of British India into the two independent states of India and Pakistan, the latter officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This has resulted in greater clout by Muslims in the determination of government allegiances, policies, and expenditures, in addition to a significant increase in general unrest.

Although the religious component of the 2011 census in India has yet to be released, it is believed that the Hindu population has dropped below 80% for the first time since independence in 1947. The official word is that the data on religion is being withheld so as not to influence the upcoming elections this year. Apparently, political leaders worry that the information will skew election results as Hindus become increasingly alarmed about Muslim population growth and cast their votes for the political party that opposes illegal immigration. Their concerns are not misplaced, as areas with marked Muslim population increases have seen higher rates of violent crime.

In a push to appease the growing Muslim population and garner votes, the Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill was created and has been promoted. The legislation is built on the erroneous assumption that majorities violently target minorities. The bill has been characterized as discriminatory, biased, and unconstitutional by Hindu leaders because it targets the Hindu majority, presumes guilt even from anonymous complaints, and is designed solely to aid prosecutions brought by minority populations. Hindu leaders are rightly concerned that if this bill becomes law, only Hindus will be prosecuted and convicted of violent acts and the incitement of hate crimes.

The last time India's religious data was released in the 2001 census published in 2005, the Hindu demographic share had indeed declined. Overall, the proportion of Hindus shrank from 83.4% percent in 1961 to 80.5% in the 2001 census. In some regions, the increases were even more dramatic. In West Bengal, a state bordering Bangladesh, the Muslim population increased to 36%, up from 20% of the population in 1947.

These statistics give great unease within India because the country is bordered by two Muslim-majority nations. Pakistan, to the west, is about 97% Muslim, making it the second-most populous Muslim-majority country with the largest Shia population in the world. The 1,800-mile border between Pakistan and India is considered one of the most dangerous borders on the globe, with hostilities dating back to 1947. Meanwhile, Bangladesh, to the east, and nearly surrounded by India, is 90.4% Muslim. Massive illegal immigration and smuggling along the shared 2,429-mile border have engendered much violence.

The marked increase in the number of Muslims within India has profoundly impacted the country, especially in the border regions of West Bengal and Bangladesh, where significant illegal immigration has occurred. In these regions, Muslims have engaged in cattle-trafficking and slaughtering, desecration of Hindu religious sites, and sexual harassment of Hindu girls. The Border Security Forces, although fully armed, have been powerless to stop the criminal activity under orders from the Indian Home Minister, who has tied their hands.

Last August, a heavily armed group of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and Pakistani troops entered Indian territory and ambushed an Indian patrol. Lashkar e Taiba first achieved worldwide notoriety following the 2008 Mumbai attack. For three days, they held the largest city in India hostage with 12 shooting and bombing attacks, killing 164 people and injuring more than 300, allegedly with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. In January, Pakistani troops infiltrated Jammu and killed two Indian soldiers, beheading one. The Indian Defense Minister has cited 188 such incidents at the borders with Pakistan in the past three years.

Illegal immigration on India's border with Bangladesh has been encouraged by all of the major political parties, who provide IDs, ration cards, and voter registrations for the mostly Muslim new arrivals. Touts or fixers help them attain citizenship, often providing fake documents. They assist with job placement for a cut of the immigrants' salaries. As a result, the majority Hindu population fears that an Islamic conspiracy exists to take over India's border states.
These fears are magnified by new mosques and madrasas that have sprung up along the border to serve as safe havens for militants and storage for arms and ammunition. Some illegal immigrants are used by jihadists to set off blasts, smuggle counterfeit currency, or transport drugs.

The increasing number of Muslims -- their ranks boosted by illegal immigration -- has also utilized the "vote bank" phenomenon to gain political influence. In contrast to the Hindu practice, common in most democracies, of voting according to individual preferences based on each candidate's political platform and other considerations, the Muslim practice is for the community to vote in concert, according to the mandate of the local imam. In existence since independence, this tactic has gained steam over the past 30-40 years.



...and present day Indians who became victims of muslim beasts. Nothing has changed...


Further, non-Muslim candidates are often forced into deal-making with Muslims. The way this occurs is that non-Muslim politicians who engage in traditional door-to-door campaigning to garner support are prohibited from entering Muslim areas. Thus, they must visit the local imam for political deal-making that will translate into Muslim votes.

Whenever Hindu politicians assess the support needed to get elected, they factor in the influence of Muslim communities, with their large number of votes associated with each mosque. Just one imam endorsement can yield a block of votes and increase a candidate's chance of winning an election.

In this way, a candidate becomes beholden to Muslim religious leaders, who can guarantee the votes of an entire community. In return, non-Muslim candidates could end up granting prime real estate for mosque-building; providing Muslims with better jobs and business opportunities, plus more government money and resources; allowing arrest and harassment of Hindu leaders and the release of jihadists, and ignoring Islamic propaganda and criminal syndicate activity. Of the 500 seats in the Parliament, about 150 seats are affected by Muslim vote bank considerations.

Vote bank politics were at work recently in an inflammatory West Bengal incident, in which 13 local tribal members were accused of gang rape. The allegations are believed to be part of a conspiracy fueled by a politician who is fighting to maintain and expand her political power. The charges were made against tribal members who recently engaged in a six-month strike against area Muslim-owned factories to protest sexual assaults on their women and to win better pay..."

This map should serve as a warning of the clear and present danger that islam poses for all of the non-muslim part of humanity. Islam brings nothing but backwardness, horrible violations of human rights, death and misery. And given the topic of this article, non-muslim Indians should pay especially attention to that orange triangle that represents their country. Back in 1947, large numbers of muslims left for what had become Pakistan, while large numbers of Hindus left Pakistan for the new Indian state.

Almost seventy years later, the muslims in India are again a demographic force to be reckoned with... while Hindus in Pakistan amount to a paltry ... 1,2 per cent of the population, and they are severely discriminated against.

Islam is CANCER. See the evolution, or ARE YOU BLIND?


MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT ANOUK, WIRE.

Dutch singer/songwriter Anouk opens up with Girl.




From the 2004 album Hotel New York.



Back to 1979 with Wire's Outdoor Miner. From the 1979 album Chairs Missing.




Postpunk band which formed in London in OCT 76. Political loons but fairly good music. A not uncommon - make that very common - occurrence.


And what do you say to Uncle Outlaw huh? Providing you (almost) every WE with good music for free?



MFBB.

RECOMMENDED READS: MARK STEYN ON OBAMA'S WAR ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

A very frightening evolution in America, and the following is an illustration of just how badly things are speeding up under the radar: Steyn on the US government's intrusion plans in radio and TV newsrooms - just to make sure that the 'correct' topics are covered.

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Government of the United States is increasingly corrupt. Its revenue agency is corrupt and its justice department is corrupt, so it's hardly surprising, in a hyper-regulatory regime where bureaucrats write their own rules and enforce them with their personal SWAT teams, that more peripheral government bodies find the temptation too much to resist. On Fox News today, Shannon Bream has been reporting on the Federal Communications Commission's plans to put government monitors in TV and radio newsrooms to assess their coverage of eight "critical information needs", and "underserved populations".

The FCC, like much of the alphabet soup in Washington, is an FDR creation that, as with many others, used the cover of "interstate commerce" to turn a federal government into a central government: Radio stations' signals often crossed state lines, and so they supposedly fell within the feds' jurisdiction. In the usual boundlessly expansive way of Washington, that's somehow evolved into a regulatory authority over how local stations serve local communities. Now it's evolving again, into micro-regulation of the news.


I was interested to see what the eight "critical information needs" - or CINs, in the regulatory jargon - actually are. You can find them listed in this report, from something called "Social Solutions International" of Silver Spring, Maryland:

Social Solutions has been tasked with the development of a research design that can be used to identify and understand the critical information needs (CINs) of the American public (with special emphasis on vulnerable/disadvantaged populations).

The litigious Fake Nobel Laureate Michael E Mann will be heartened to discover that "the environment" has been identified as a Critical Information Need. So the government monitor in your local newsroom will be tracking how the station covers "the environment", what resources it devotes, the prominence it gives to stories, etc. But what if you're a news editor and you happen to disagree that "the environment" is one of the eight most Critical Information Needs. What if you happen to think that "runaway public debt" or "the vulnerability of US diplomatic facilities in Libya" is a more Critical Information Need than "the environment"? What government bureaucrat do you go to to see about getting the federally-mandated Critical Information Needs changed? Or does it require a constitutional amendment?

The state has no business determining which news stories have priorities over others, and certainly no business sending monitors into newsrooms to ensure compliance - because the essence of a functioning press is not what the state decrees the citizen has a "critical need" to know but what it doesn't think he needs to know. Why should "Social Solutions International" get to determine "the critical information needs of the American public"? And why should the government get to enforce them?..."

We should thank God on our bare knees for having Steyn. Come to think of him, I REALLY ought to put up a donation button up for him to do my bit re financing his legal battle with UeberFraud Mann.

Leftists. They are NOT interested in debating with you.

They are only interested in shutting you up.




MFBB.

SCIENTIFIC STUDY ESTABLISHES ONCE AND FOR ALL THAT MEN LIKE LOOKING AT BREASTS.

DowneastBlog usually is on top of all things scientific, and it's no different this time. Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has the goods:

"The eyes don't lie: Men really do look at women's bodies more than their faces, according to a new study that used eye-tracking technology to prove what many women have long observed.

But it's not just men who do it -- the study found that women look at other women's bodies, too.

"We live in a culture in which we constantly see women objectified in interactions on television and in the media. When you turn your own lens on everyday, ordinary women, we focus on those parts, too," says lead author and social psychologist Sarah Gervais of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

"Until now, we didn't have evidence people were actually doing that to women's bodies," she says. "We have women's self-reports, but this is some of the first work to document that people actually engage in this."





The participants – 29 women and 36 men – were outfitted with the eye-tracking system, which measures in milliseconds how long the eyes are fixed on certain spots. Their gazes reacted to photographs of the same 10 women, each with three different digitally manipulated body shapes – curvaceous, much less curvaceous and in-between. (Only women's bodies were viewed by study participants.) Both sexes fixed their gaze more on women's chests and waists and less on faces. Those bodies with larger breasts, narrower waists and bigger hips often prompted longer looks.

The explanation may be partly evolutionary, Gervais says, since men may be drawn to more shapely women for childbearing -- while women may be checking out their competition, she suggests.





And the study, published today in the journal Sex Roles, also finds that even when men are told to focus more on evaluating a woman's expressions and personality, women with more curves get more positive personality ratings.

Researcher Kun Guo, who also uses eye tracking in his studies at the University of Lincoln in the United Kingdom, says the technology provides "more objective measurements" than do questionnaires, which are subjective.

"The beauty of eye movements is that it is more difficult to inhibit," he says.

Jamie Lynn Goldenberg, an associate professor of psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa, says there's been a lot of research on self-objectification, but only recently has attention turned to perceptions by others. She hasn't used eye-tracking in her studies but says it's "an interesting way" to look at objectification, which amounts to viewing women as objects.






"We have new methodologies for studying these things -- getting into the eyes of the perceiver," she says. "It doesn't explain why they're looking, but they're looking longer."

.................


Uh...

... did you just say something, Prof Gervais?



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT JIMMY RUFFIN, THE CURE.

In the wake of Valentine's Day, some appropriate stuff.

Or not.

Jimmy Ruffin with What becomes of the broken hearted.




From the Golden Age of Black Music.



The Cure with Lovesong.




From the album Disintegration (1989).



Nite.



MFBB.

IN BELGIUM, THE TRIVIALIZATION OF LIFE AND DEATH CONTINUES UNABATED. EUTHANASIA FOR CHILDREN HAS JUST PASSED PARLIAMENT.

As per usual, whenever Belgium gets the world's attention, it's for all the wrong reasons.

Via The Telegraph:

"Belgian MPs have been accused of "ideological stubbornness" by pressing ahead with a child euthanasia law that has divided doctors and "challenges the very basis of civilised society" according to critics.

Belgium's parliament is almost certain to pass legislation on Wednesday that will allow “terminally ill minors facing unbearable physical suffering” to undergo euthanasia if they request it.

Euthanasia has been legal for adults in Belgium for 11 years and according to the last annual figures 1,432 people were medically killed in 2012, usually after electing for a lethal injection administered by a doctor.

The extension of euthanasia to children, which enjoys the support of three-quarters of Belgians in opinion polls, has aroused intense opposition from many doctors and has united Belgium’s Christians, Jews and Muslims against the law.

Earlier this week a letter signed by 160 Belgian paediatricians asked MPs to “reflect” and not to rush the law onto the statute books, warning that children lacked “mature discernment” to choose euthanasia..."

Oh, as for that 'ideological stubbornness'. We of course knew that greens and socialists would have been the prime sponsors for euthanasia. But the other 'traditional' parties have their fair share of enthusiastic supporters. One of these has really profiled himself in the course of the debate on euthanasia for minors: Jean-Jacques de Gucht, son of the notorious schmuck Karel de Gucht, the EU Kommisar for Trade Policy. He is one of the youngest senators in Belgium, more precisely for the liberal party Open VLD. Twenty-five years ago 'liberal' in Belgium meant center-right, these days you would be hard pressed to press a sheet of carbon paper between the ideological viewpoints of Open VLD and the socialist party. Jean-Jacques de Gucht, who has never worked a single day in his life - honest, meaningful work that is - and was projected from the university benches where he studied 'Cultural Agogics', whatever that may be, to a Senate seat in the blink of an eye, supposedly for his good looks, a couple of years back co-authored a law proposal to remove crosses from public spaces such as cemeteries. That may give you an idea of the personality we are dealing with here.




Jean-Jacques De Gucht, fils-à-papa, Know-Nothing, Full Blooded Idiot, Full Of Himself Too, Master of Disaster in Cultural Agogics. The country is in the best of hands.


'Please postpone the vote' asked child oncologist Stefaan Van Gool, one of 160 pediatricians who wrote an open letter against the law. Van Gool compared the debate with that around the BHV dossier which lasted decades. 'There is no urgency'.

Alas Doctor Van Gool, your many years of experience, your sound judgment and your impressive curriculum mean nothing compared to our Wonderchild's infinite wisdom and his expertise in cultural agogics.

It pains my heart to know that a gruesome fate sometimes visits (very) young children. But as with abortion, this law will only lead to widespread abuse.

I may not be a Master in Cultural Agogics, but I know enough of human nature to have good faith that whenever confronted with delicate cases involving life and death, it is far safer to trust there is sufficient common sense present to reach a human solution, than to rely on the legislative brainchilds of leftists who do not have that trust in quintessential, sound human judgment. It's why they pushed abortion laws through, with appalling results. They were intended for comparatively few cases - rape, misformed embryos - they have been used for legalizing the murder of untold millions of perfectly healthy foetuses.

Same with euthanasia, legalized in Belgium for adults for over a decade now. Mark Outlaw's words, a couple of years futher on and daughter-in-law so and so and/or son, or vice versa, who see fit to speed up a little grandpa's or grandma's journey to the Great Beyond because there's some sweets to distribute which would be handy to have NOW instead of at the end of the natural life cycle, can do that speeding up with the full blessing of the Belgian State. PROGRESS, you know.

And now there is euthanasia for children.

What a disgrace.

This is a very sad day for Belgium.




MFBB.

FINALLY, BELGIAN TV DISCOVERS CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC.

UNIMAGINABLE BIAS from Belgian TV, more precisely the Dutch-speaking half, the VRT (Vlaamse Radio en Televisie, for Flemish Radio and Television). Not that its Walloon counterpart is any better, far from it.

Muslims have been persecuting Christians and other religions for 1,400 years, but especially the last decade saw violent in-your-face oppression of non-muslim minorities in muslim majority - and often majority - countries, to the extent that Christians are now the most widely persecuted religious group on the planet.

It's actually heartrendering. Check out this Gatestone Institute article, which gives a sobering update of the day-to-day oppression of Christians across the world and more precisely in the Middle East. Or watch this video dealing with muslim violence vis-à-vis Christians in Nigeria:




Have we heard anything - ANYTHING AT ALL - about this appalling situation in our mainstream media, in our so-called 'quality' newspapers or on TV??

Nope. Zilch.

But now, suddenly, SUDDENLY, Belgian TV is sitting up and paying attention!!! See, it seems that in the Central African Republic (CAR) not all Christians offer the other cheek when assaulted by the followers of the prophet muhammad (Piss Be Upon him). There's violent clashes, and after taking heavy losses Christians are now fighting back and making a stand. So here and there the spoils of war force muslims across the borders, for a change.

And so, all of a sudden Belgian TV has discovered the Central African Republic, and it can pinpoint the main victims with surgical precision! Why, it's MUSLIMS of course! And just in case in case you Dumb, Fat, Spoiled Belgian Taxpayer don't get it, the VRT helpfully adds some emphasis where needed. Check out this report by VRT reporter Adam Vanwildemeersch:




Oh, and did I tell you the poor sods on that photo are MUSLIMS? MUSLIMS MUSLIMS MUSLIMS? You got that?? M-U-S-L-I-M-S?


Memo to Adam Vanwildemeersch: YOU-ARE-A-WHORE.


Sorry for the coarse language, but you only have to ponder for awhile what's on these pages and you will be asking yourself how, in the face of such blatant and horrifying facts about incessant terrifying persecution of Christians worldwide, in 82 per cent of the cases at the hands of muslims, one can still produce such biased information and get away with it.

What's wrong with people like Adam Vanwildemeersch? How hopelessly fucked up beyond recognition must be what passes for their brains? Why do ASSHOLES like him, gay-loving, pro abortion, pro euthanasia veggie types trip over their own legs to stand shoulder to shoulder with people who are their diametrical opposites and who actually SPIT on everything lefties stand for? Are leftists indeed mentally challenged?

Hat tip reader Koen Roelens.


MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT PINK FLOYD, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE.

Sorry for the long hiatus. It's been a very tough fortnight.

So many thoughts whirring through my head - witnessing so much insanity in my own country and abroad. I see fellas like De Blasio getting elected, Hollandes recipes for disaster for the French economy come to fruition as they were inevitably bound to do... In my own country, companies never had a worse time keeping afloat under a barrage of business-unfriendly measures by the government, led by the openly gay Parti Socialiste bigshot Elio di Rupo. Here, too, it was predictable, with mathematical certainty, that the economy would suffer. If Belgium has until now weathered the crisis relatively well, it is ONLY through the heroic efforts of its entrepreneurs and their disciplined and competent workforce, plus its middle class. In short the people who work and save.

I don't know where this will all end. Socialists, greens and their quislings in the 'traditional' parties, read 'christian' democrats and liberals, all seem hellbent on creating an unsurpassable voting bloc of welfare recipients.


Anyway, here's Pink Floyd with Time, from the iconic 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon.




The intro with the clocks is Alan Parsons' idea; I suppose no one will object when I say the greatest thing is the guitar solo.


Then it's Queens of the Stone Age's turn, with No one knows.




Rock band from Palm Desert, CA, which formed in 1996 around guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme. This song is from the 2002 studio album Songs for the deaf. Yup, that's Dave Grohl behind the drums, in a guest performance.


Nite.



MFBB.

IMAM OF BONN MOSQUE (GERMANY) TEACHES MUSLIM YOUTHS TO PREPARE TO SLAUGHTER JEWS.

Via Observatoire de l'Islamisation:

A muslim with second thoughts about the 'Religion of Peace' reveals what the imam of Bonn's mosque is teaching his pupils: 'You should train to slaughter chickens because the time will come when you will have to slaughter Jews'.

Check out the video (English subtitles):




BTW, this is Bonn's mosque:




Here is a list with minaret-equipped mosques in Germany.


A development which is just as horrific as the building of new mosques, if not worse, is the rebuilding of Christian churches into mosques. Below you see a Frankfurter Allgemeine Online screenshot dealing with the Kapernaumkirche in Hamburg, which is now Hamburgs second church converted into a mosque:




When the time of reckoning comes, no distinction will be made between leftists and muslims.


MFBB.

NIGHTMARE: THE ISLAMIZATION OF GERMANY THROUGHOUT 2013.

The Gatestone Institute's Soeren Kern offers us, in his trademark impassionate style, a nightmarish vision of Germany's future - and by extension Europe's.

..."On March 10, Hans-Georg Maaßen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), told the German newsmagazine Focus that the number of committed Salafists in Germany had jumped to 4,500 in 2012, compared to 3,800 in 2011.

Around 70% are Germans and 30% are non-Germans, coming from a variety of nations including Turkey, Morocco and Bosnia, according to an anonymous security official interviewed by the Associated Press. About a quarter of the Salafists in Germany are Muslim converts.

Although Salafists make up only a fraction of the estimated 4.3 million Muslims in Germany, authorities are concerned that most of those attracted to Salafi ideology are impressionable young Muslims who are especially susceptible to committing suicide attacks in the name of Islam.

Maaßen said the Salafist threat to Germany is rising and he warned that unless the government "takes decisive action against violent Islamists" the Salafist groups "will continue to grow and the threat of violence will increase."

On March 13, German police announced they had foiled an Islamist assassination plot against Markus Beisicht, the head of the anti-immigration party PRO NRW (North Rhine-Westphalia).

Police arrested a total of four Salafists involved in the plot. Two of the suspects were apprehended in Leverkusen near Cologne, where they were apparently observing Beisicht. Two others were arrested in Essen and Bonn, where police discovered a loaded firearm and ingredients to make explosives. Police also found a "death list" with the names of eight individuals marked in red.

On March 24, the citizen's movement Die Freiheit Bayern (Freedom Bavaria) organized a demonstration against a project to build a mega-mosque in the southern German city of Munich.

The massive mosque complex—known as the Center for Islam in Europe-Munich (ZIE-M)—will cost an estimated €40 million ($51 million) and is designed to be a key strategic platform for spreading Islam throughout Europe.

Speculation is rife that the Persian Gulf Emirate of Qatar will pay for the project, although the Qatari Ambassador to Germany told the newspaper Münchner Merkur that no final decision has been made.

In April, Peer Steinbrück, the chancellor candidate for the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), said at a campaign stop in Berlin that he supported the idea of physical education classes in German schools being divided by gender as a courtesy to Muslims.

Steinbrück said: "If schools are able to do it, then they should." After his comment was greeted with silence, Steinbrück added that the measure should be taken "out of consideration for [Muslim] religious convictions."

The reaction to Steinbrück's comments was immediate and fierce from across Germany's political spectrum, an indication that overt support for multiculturalism is becoming a political liability in Germany.

On the same day that Steinbrück made his controversial comments about Muslim-friendly gym classes, Germany's Central Council of Muslims (ZMD) demanded that the German government introduce statutory Muslim holidays throughout Germany.

In an interview with the daily newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) on April 3, council chairman Aiman Mazyek said that granting one day during the month of Ramadan and another on the fast-breaking day of Eid al-Fitr would be "an important sign of integration" and "would emphasize tolerance in our society."

The proposal was not well received. Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of parliament for the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU), told WAZ that he sees "far and wide no need" for the legal recognition of Muslim holidays, adding that Germany has "no Muslim tradition." The current public holidays—such as Christmas and Easter—are part of a Christian-Western heritage, Bosbach said.

Also in April, Bavaria became the first state in Germany to classify so-called Islamophobes as extremists. The Bavarian branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, also began monitoring German activists accused of fomenting hate against Muslims due to their "unconstitutional" opposition to the construction of a mega-mosque in Munich.

The move to silence critics of the mosque was announced by Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann in a press conference on April 12, and represented an unprecedented threat to the exercise of free speech in post-reunification Germany.

Herrmann made the announcement while presenting an annual report about threats to democratic order in Germany. A seven-minute video of the press conference with subtitles in English can be viewed here.

Herrmann singled out Freedom Bavaria as well as the Munich branch of a highly popular free speech blog called Politically Incorrect (PI), which focuses on topics related to immigration, multiculturalism and Islam in Germany.

On April 28, a major research study on religious attitudes in Germany found that more than half of all Germans view Islam as a threat to their country and believe it does not belong in the Western world.

The findings confirm the results of dozens of other surveys, and reflect a growing divide between the views of ordinary Germans and those of Europe's multicultural elites, who for decades have promoted mass immigration from Muslim countries.

The study, entitled "Religion Monitor 2013: Religiousness and Cohesion in Germany" (German and English), was produced by the Bertelsmann Foundation, one of the most influential think tanks and lobbying groups in Europe, and a strong proponent of "progressive" causes such as multiculturalism and global governance.

On April 29, the television news program RTL Extra (a 23-minute video of the RTL report can be viewed at YouTube here) explained how Muslim polygamists are being financially supported by German taxpayers.

Although polygamy is banned in Germany by Paragraph 1306 of the Civil Code and Paragraph 172 of the Penal Code, in practice these laws do not apply to Muslims.

The RTL report shows how Muslim men residing in Germany are taking advantage of the social welfare system by bringing two, three or four women from across the Muslim world to Germany, and then marrying them in the presence of an imam, a Muslim religious leader.

TRAITORS IN OUR MIDST: in April 2013, the socialist candidate for Chancellor Merkel's successor said during a campaign stop that he agreed that swimming classes for muslims should be separate for boys and girls.

In November, the Marzahn-Hellersdorf Adult Education Center in eastern Berlin sparked a nationwide debate after it removed a series of six nude paintings out of deference to Muslim immigrants. Critics said the decision was an overzealous bid at cultural sensitivity.

School officials feared the works may shock Muslim students and prevent them from attending class. The school is located nearby a newly established refugee center, which draws immigrants and asylum-seekers to the neighborhood.

In December, a new study found that the majority of Muslims in Europe believe Islamic Sharia law should take precedence over the secular constitutions and laws of their European host countries.

The "Six Country Immigrant Integration Comparative Survey"—a five-year study of Moroccan and Turkish immigrants in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Sweden—was published on December 11 by the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, one of the largest social science research institutes in Europe.

According to the study (German and English), which was funded by the German government, two thirds (65%) of the Muslims interviewed say Islamic Sharia law is more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live.

Three quarters (75%) of the respondents hold the opinion that there is only one legitimate interpretation of the Koran, which should apply to all Muslims, and nearly 60% of Muslims believe their community should return to "Islamic roots."

The survey shows that 44% of the Moroccans and Turks interviewed agree with all three of the above statements, which makes them "consistent fundamentalists," and fundamentalist attitudes are just as widespread among younger Muslims as they are among older Muslims.

In a commentary on the study, the German newspaper Die Welt said the findings cast serious doubt upon the unbridled optimism of European multiculturalists, who argue that Muslim citizens will eventually internalize the liberal democratic mindset of Western society.

"The data are not suitable for simple conclusions," the paper writes. "But it must be recognized: democracies must beware of those who believe a free society is something that needs to be vanquished."

Also in December, a discussion paper (German and English) published by the Berlin-based Gustav Stresemann Foundation—a think tank dedicated to the preservation and advancement of liberal democracy in Europe—warns that national and international Islamic organizations are increasingly putting pressure on Western politicians gradually to criminalize any critique of Islam.

The author of the report, the German political scientist Felix Strüning, provides a meticulously detailed analysis of the Islamic lobbying effort—by means of a "human rights lawsuit"—to silence Thilo Sarrazin, a prominent German banker who has criticized the refusal of Muslim immigrants to integrate into German society.

Strüning writes that German political authorities are increasingly bending to pressure from German Islamic organizations by adopting Muslim definitions of "Islamophobia" in public discourse, thus creating legal uncertainty as to "who can say what about Islam and Muslims in Germany."

"Critics of Islamic ideology and its organizations are constantly confronted with lawsuits and have to legally defend themselves against the accusations of blasphemy or incitement-to-hatred," Strüning writes. "Even if it does not come to a conviction, such processes cost a lot of time and money, which in many cases includes one's reputation and possibly even his or her job. Thus, also in the West, we are experiencing an increasing de facto application of Islamic law in matters of Islam."

Ultimately, the only means to save Europe from muslim barbarians and their leftist collaborators will be hot lead and cold steel.



MFBB.

SPACESHIPTWO'S THIRD POWERED FLIGHT A SUCCESS.

The third powered flight of SpaceShipTwo on January 10, 2014, took it to 71,000 feet over California's Mojave Air and Space Port:




Apart from obviously sound engineering, we are also witnessing the power of Private Enterprise. However, people should refrain from too rapidly scorning NASA for needing massive amounts of money and time to get spacecraft up while 'simple' private companies seem to be doing so almost effortlessly. SpaceShipTwo can 'tiptoe' into space but never leave Earth's attraction, that's the difference.

Still, I'm amazed at what is possible when visionary entrepreneurs with wads of cash like Branson encounter bright intuitive engineers like Rutan. I also admire the apparent simplicity and the design. Less apparent is its robustness, though it has to be strong somehow. I am actually having trouble to believe that these tail booms aren't ripped off the moment that rocket engine ignites.


This infograph gives a clear view of the highly unusual 'feather' system, designed to make SS2's reentry into the atmosphere as smooth as possible.




Kudos to Branson, Rutan & Co!


MFBB.

IN MEMORIAM ARIEL SHARON (1928-2014).

Today I mourn with all Israelis the loss of a great Israeli military leader and statesman, Ariel Sharon.






Ha'makom yenahem etkhem betokh she'ar avelei Tziyonvi'Yerushalayim.

MFBB.

'CRUISESHIP' AKADEMIK SHOKALSKIY' WAS A SHIP OF GLOBAL WARMING FOOLS, ACTUALLY.

At first it was a tidbit now and then, but towards the end the regular newsfeeds about a 'cruiseship' stuck in Antarctic ice began to register on my radar.

Still, I did not pay much attention. Guys should have been smarter. And then the words 'cruiseship' and 'tourists' are not exactly things that capture my imagination.

How else would you want me to pay attention to, e.g., this?

Just some fellas with way too much money who got fooled into embarking on what looks rather like a dipshit tramp steamer than a 'cruiseship', bound for the Antarctic no less.

And then I picked up that, after an attempt to reach them with a Chinese icebreaker had failed, the people on board had been rescued by helicopter.

And this is what the run of the mill coverage of that endeavour looks like:




Still some tourists huh, rescued from just some ship that got, alas, stuck in the ice?


Then today I finally got acquainted with the REAL STORY. And after having read it, it dawned on me just WHY we heard repeated ad nauseam that the whole undertaking was simply some Club Med variant in Antarctica: the ship in question was not a 'cruiseship'. It was a ship of FOOLS.

Global Warming Fools.

There's a lot of coverage from bloggers, NOT from the MSM of course, and I found this article by American Thinker's Thomas Lifson among the best:

SHIP OF WARMIST FOOLS.

"Warmist dupes and true believers in the media are having a very hard time with the hilarious spectacle of a ship of literal fools who were so deluded by the warmist cult as to believe it was safe to venture into the Antarctic waters in a vessel that was not an icebreaker. The "scientific expedition" was intended to document the comparative paucity of ice in the area first explored by Douglas Mawson a century ago. As nearly everyone connected to the media on the planet now knows, the Spirit of Mawson voyage, as the organizers dubbed their chartered Russian ship the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, became stuck in ice and needed rescue. Adding to the comedy, the Chinese icebreaker that rescued them is now itself stuck in the ice that was supposed to be melting.

But because the media are themselves mostly committed to protecting the warmist cult from skeptics, an astonishing 98% of media reports neglect to mention the purpose of voyage, instead calling the passengers "tourists" and other such non-incriminating descriptors. Mike Ciandella writes for the Media Research Institute:
The Russian ship, Akademic Shokalskiy, was stranded in the ice while on a climate change research expedition, yet nearly 98 percent of network news reports about the stranded researchers failed to mention their mission at all. Forty out of 41 stories (97.5 percent) on the network morning and evening news shows since Dec. 25 failed to mention climate change had anything to do with the expedition.




In fact, rather than point out the mission was to find evidence of climate change, the networks often referred to the stranded people as "passengers," "trackers" and even "tourists," without a word about climate change or global warming.

Chris Turney, the expedition's leader, is a professor of climate change at the University of New South Wales. According to Turney's personal website, the purpose of the expedition is to "discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south."

Ignoring this key element of the voyage is in effect lying. Yet it is pervasive, a demonstration of operating as propaganda organs in furtherance of a cult that has failed to deliver the doomsday upon which it is premised.

Yet, in this age of social media and alternative news sources, the media cofferdam has been so unsuccessful that true believers are driven to distraction. Witness MSNBC's Chris Hayes: Charlie Spearling of the Washington Examiner describes his on-air near-meltdown (pardon the pun):


"The right wing had a field day, pointing and laughing at the global warming believers, who just to be clear, are only a group of scientists risking their lives for no monetary gain and little glory in order to help save the planet," he said defensively.

Actually they aren't just a "group of scientists." Many are wealthy eco-tourists, paying handsomely for the opportunity to brag to their friends about their dedication to reversing the pending inferno. Pierre Gosselin notes:


What made the expedition even more dubious is that Turney and his team brought on paying tourists in what appears to have been an attempt to help defray the expedition's costs and to be a source of cheap labor. According to the AAE website, the expedition was costed at US$1.5 million, which included the charter of the Akademik Shokalskiy to access the remote locations. "The site berths on board are available for purchase." Prices start at $8000!

The expedition brought with it 4 journalists, 26 paying tourists.

Here it seems that the obvious risks and hazards of bringing tourists to the world's harshest environment in a budget-priced vessel unable to handle ice-breaking may have been brushed aside, or at least played down. Was this reckless on the part of the expedition? That Antarctica is a harsh environment was in fact known to expedition leader Chris Turney: Bild online here quotes Turney: "In the Antarctic the conditions are so extreme that you can never make forecasts." Is this an environment you'd want to bring unfamiliar tourists in - on a vessel that cannot even break ice?

As an expedition to Antarctica is nothing less than an extreme adventure in every sense, employing guides who are highly trained professionals would seem a must when tourists are involved. Scientists are not tour guides. Many of the passengers were there for the very first time and had zero experience with the region's conditions. It seems reckless to me.

I don't wish these fools ill, and hope that a second rescue will free them and their Chinese rescuers. The carbon footprint they and their rescuers are generating is troubling, IF you believe the gospel of warmism. But they may have embarked upon a classic tragedy, the kind that is dependent on hubris."

And how does the Belgian paradigm of quality journalism, the De Standaard newspaper, cover the affair? I just checked it out on Google and I may be wrong, but the last article they seem to have posted was article dated 31 December, by DS editor Jozef Leysen:

'SINGING EXPEDITION MEMBERS: 'WE ARE STUCK ON ANTARCTICA'.

Celebrating New Year's Eve on a stranded ship, stuck in the sea. Not really an attractive prospect. But members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition can appreciate the humour of it. They don't lose hope and sing a jolly song on YouTube. 'it's great to do science on Antarctica', they sing. 'lots of snow and ice, lots of pincguins, which is great fun'. Furthermore they sing about the resuce attempts, a Chinese helicopter which flew over and the French who tried to save them.'

Here you can watch the global warming idiots live:



Memo to Jozef Leysen: congrats loser, your lame piece which misses the point COM-PLE-TE-LY must be about the most gullible, factless, pointless, sloppy and to-tal-ly superfluous item currently on the web regarding the Akademik Shokalskiy.


If this is quality journalism then Kate Upton is a rocket scientist.

Speaking of Kate Upton....




Well, it appears even she couldn't melt all that ice.

Still, if I'd have to rely on scientific advice regarding Antarctica, I can just as well listen to her - prolly better - than to Prof Chris Turney.


MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT THE DANDY WARHOLS, BLUR.

The Dandy Warhols open with Bohemian like you. From the 2000 album Thirteen tales from urban Bohemia.




Completely bonkers, I know it.



Blur with There's not other way, drawn from their debut album Leisure (1991).




Hey, it's not my fault that Damon Albarn looks like a f*ckin' pansy.



Goedenacht vanuit Outlaw's bunker and may the farce be with you.


MFBB.

MUSLIM WINTERVAL FEVER: 1,067 CARS TORCHED IN FRANCE, CHURCHES RAZED TO THE GROUND IN KENYA.

Via Breitbart: muslim youths torch 'only' 1,067 cars on New Year's Eve.

"French Interior Minister Manuel Valls reported that 1,067 vehicles were set ablaze on New Year's Eve. The Local reports that Valls called it a "positive result" since last year the total number of cars burned was 1,193.

The destruction was spread across France with the worst concentration north of Paris in Seine-Saint-Denis, a heavily Muslim suburban area. This Press TV report is from last January but notes auto-arson was highest in the same Paris suburb last year. Press TV frames the issue as one of "alienation and anger".

The French government stopped reporting totals by region when it learned the "breakdown was fueling destructive competition between rival gangs." But last year Interior Minister Valls revealed that "between 42,000 and 60,000 automobiles are intentionally torched in France every year."

Muslim dirtbags and their leftist allies are spinning this ad nauseam as the perpetual sorry story of unemployment and discrimination. We at DowneastBlog have been covering this phenomenon FOR EIGHT YEARS and say this is simply what happens when the muslim percentage of the population is reaching a certain treshold. This is the prelude to civil war - provided sufficient frogs remain with the stomach to defend their country against the coming tidal wave of the muslim orcs. France has 10% muslims now, the result of an insane immigration policy set in motion by Charles de Gaulle, and reinforced by subsequent presidents and governments. Messieurs et madames: this is only the beginning.

Check out this video and see Europes future:




Muchos Gracias FUCKING SOCIALIST SCOUNDRELS for saddling us and our descendants with muslim cavemen. Pleased with your cultural enrichment now?


France is not the only place however where muslims had winterval fever. Here's a story from Mombasa, Kenya, via Observatoire de l'Islamisation. Two churches torched by, you know, those famous "youths":

"MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Police said youths have thrown molotov cocktails into two Kenyan churches on Christmas Day, in the latest episode of violence against Christians in a part of the country which is majority muslim.

Police and witnesses said that the churches in the port city of Mombasa were attacked in the small hours of December 25.

The police has not arrested any suspects but has explored the possibility that the attacks were launched by militant muslims or by the Mombasa Republican Council ( MRC ) , an illegal movement which aims for the secession of Kenya's coastal region.

Many muslims of Kenya's coastal region along the Indian Ocean say they are marginalized by the majority Christian government and relations between muslims and christians have suffered over the past years.

Police declared the young muslims under suspicion are controlled by radical preachers with links to the militant somali al-Shabaab group.

"The churches are situated in a zone inhabited principally by muslims, and church members had signalled beforehand threats by certain youths who told them to close their churches", declared Robert Mureithi, police chief in the Likoni district."

I have checked out this Mombasa Republican Council. It seems to have both christian and muslim members who share a feeling that the Kenyan government is indeed discriminating Kenya's coast (a coastal strip of a mere ten kilometers wide and with Mombasa as its nerve center, rather). Be that as it may, I fail to understand why militants from an organization with an economical agenda would burn Christian buildings. The church burnings also resemble similar attacks just to the south, in October across the border in Tanzania. I therefore fear it's our usual suspects again. Maybe not the jihadists responsible for the murders in Nairobi's shopping mall, but at least sympathizers.

And of course the gullible Belgian citizen, relying on our 'quality' newspapers, De Standaard up front, is left completely in the dark as to what happens just south of the border. To compensate for this lack of information however, he luckily today got the news that thirty years ago Margaret Thatcher considered to use troops to temporarily take the place of striking miners.

Well, we were really waiting for that tidbit of info weren't we? I mean, right now. Soooooo important!! Those evil rightwingers!


MFBB.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!!!

And once again, DowneastBlog wishes all its readers of good will...




... Lots of love and friendship,
An excellent health,
Success in all your endeavours,
The courage and resources to face the hardships in case you encounter them, and...
The knowledge and wisdom to take the right decisions when faced with difficult choices!


And of course we hope you still haven't gotten bored to death yet, so that we may continue to see ya on these pages! Stay tuned!


MFBB.

PS: sorry ladies if you wanna see hunks dis is not da place - told you before.

MUSLIM MEMBER OF FRENCH HIGH COUNCIL FOR INTEGRATION, KHALID HAMDANI, DEMANDS THAT CHURCH BELLS IN FRANCE SHOULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO RING. FRENCH SOCIALIST PRIME MINISTER AYRAULT IMPRESSED WITH RECOMMENDATION.

Via Observatoire de l'Islamisation

"A former member of the (French) High Council for Integration, the sociologist Khalid Hamdani, in an op-ed published by Mediapart in March 2011, wondered how it was possible to continue to accept, without reacting, the ringing of church bells every sundag without anything being done to stop this loud and annoying intrusion of religion into public space."

Hamdani continued: 'attention, this time, French muslims and all republican seculars could form some kind of common front. They could demand the unequivocal application of secularism on the republic's entire territory. They could demand that all religions be treated in the same manner without exceptions or derogatory remakrs. It is of little importance that the roots of France are christian or pagan, or greco-roman.' [quoted in full length]

Khalid Hamdani, muslim scoundrel and an ex-bigshot of the so-called 'High Council for Integration in France'. For monsieur Hamdani, church bells in France should be made to stop IMMEDIATELY.



Joachim Velocias, the man behind Observatoire de l'islamisation, further notes that:


a.) the French Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, has 'saluted the great quality of the report'

b.) Sharia effectively prohibits the ringing of church bells. Sunni law explicitly states it (see a.o. also El Mawerdi's 'Les statuts gouvernementaux' or 'La dépendence du voyageur' de al Misri). These fundamental sharia laws can be found in the .... 'Institut du Monde Arabe', 5th arrondissement, Mohammed V Square, Paris, France [I kid you not - MFBB].

c.) Khalid Hamdani has defended the integration 'report', in which he asked for stopping the ringing of church bells, on RTL (prime French television chain).

d.) Khalid Hamdani is of moroccan origin. Obviously he has never denounced the calls to prayer of muezzins in his country of origin, a country which has just condemned to 30 months of prison a convert to Christianity.


And Outlaw Mike adds some points of interest:


a.) As always, people should not be fooled by that drab muslim scumbag Khalid Hamdani's call for 'enforcing' strict secular principles with regards to all 'intrusions of religious activity' in public space. Hamdani has never, and WILL NEVER, object to entire Parisian blocks and streets off-limits to infidels on Fridays, when scores of muslims occupy the asphalt for their prayers. He also WILL NEVER object to muezzins' calls for prayer, to be heard loud and clear from more and more mosques in France itself.

b.) the lovely 'Institut du Monde arabe', smack in the centre of Paris, was part of the great state building projects - make that a pet project, actually, of François Mitterrand, of the, uh, French Parti Socialiste.

c.) Mr Jean-Marc Ayrault, France's PM, who was so smitten by Hamdani's report and its recommendations, is a prominent socialist also. I suspect however that you suspected that already.

d.) The management of the IMA in 2008 was the object of a study conducted by a French Senate's Finances Commission led by Adrien Gouteyron, following an accumulated exploitation deficit of 38.5 million EUR. Currently, the Institut du Monde arabe is in 'quasi cessation of payments'. The main reason for the IMA's plunge into an abysmal debt is the fact that the countries of the Arab League, bound by contract to subsidize the IMA to the extent of 40 per cent per year, fail to pay consistently, so that at most 10 per cent is reached. Back in the day, someone should have told the French fonctionnaires and signatories of that contract that muslims are never bound to hold onto their promises when concluded with filty infidels.

Anyway, the net result is that it is the French taxpayer who's filling the deficit gap, to the tune of 12 million euros a year. Votres euros de taxe au travail, chers frogs!




The Institut du Monde arabe, smack in the middle of Paris. Paid for by the French taxpayer, maintained by the French taxpayer, and containing islamic law that explicitly forbids, amongst others, the ringing of church bells. That's for starters, Julie and François. Bonne chance with your approval of zhe ghey mariage!!!

We live in an insane world.


MFBB.

WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910), AMERICA'S GREATEST 19TH CENTURY PAINTER?

Upon learning to know the work of Winslow Homer, I could easily understand why he is considered by many the greatest American painter of the nineteenth century. As I am always short on time, I'll try to keep it brief re what you ought to know about this remarkable artist.

50's, meant is of course the 1850's. Started as a commercial printmaker in Boston and NY, briefly studying oil painting in the spring of 1861.

1860's: was sent to the front as an illustrator/correspondent for Harper's Weekly. The second half of the decade, and basically the entire next one, saw Homer developing his art, and were characterized by artistic experimentation and a preference for incorporating nature and especially natural light in his works. Many of his subjects in this period he found at seaside resorts in MA and NJ, although he also frequented the Adirondacks and the White Mountains. It should be noted however that although he began to establish his reputation as a painter in this timeframe, for most of the time in the 60s and 70s he still needed the design of magazine illustrations as a source of income.

After a brief stint in the early eighties in Cullercoats, a village in northern England, where he was impressed by the strenuous lives led by the fishermen and their womenfolk, he settled for good in Prout's Neck, Maine, where he lived and worked until his death, notwithstanding journeys to the Caribbean. His major works from then on would focus on the struggle of Man against the (marine) elements, and, going beyond that, on the naked force of nature, of the Sea, itself.

I chose three works to get you acquainted with Winslow Homer:




Snap the whip.



Three boys in a dory. Flirting with impressionism here.



Eight bells. My personal favorite. In this magnificent shot - can I call it a shot, Winslow? - the painter captures the fight - and mastery - of man vs. Nature, the raw beauty of the wild sea, and the quality of Light illuminating it all. Brilliant!

Hail to the artist, a...




...Dead White Male.


MFBB.

EURO ISLAMIZATION UPDATE: MUSLIM MARKS & SPENCER PERSONNEL MAY REFUSE TO SELL ALCOHOL AND PORK.

Great Britain's slippery ride towards multiculti insanity continues unabated. The latest example? The retail chain Marks & Spencer allows its muslim staff to REFUSE to sell alchohol and pork to customers:

"Muslim staff working for Marks & Spencer have been given permission to refuse to serve customers buying alcohol or pork products
Its policy decision has highlighted a split among the big food retailers over whether religious staff should be excused certain jobs.

In contrast to M&S, Sainsbury’s said it had issued official guidelines that stated there was no reason why staff who did not drink alcohol or eat pork for religious reasons could not handle the goods.

The advice followed consultations with religious groups, said a spokesman.

Tesco said it treated each case on its merits, but said it “made no sense” to employ staff on a till who refused to touch certain items for religious reasons.

Asda said it would not deploy Muslims on tills who objected to handling alcohol, while Morrisons, which is based in Bradford where there is a large Muslim community, said it had widespread experience of dealing with the issue and would “respect and work around anyone’s wishes not to handle specific products for religious or cultural reasons”.

At M&S, Muslim staff who do not wish to handle alcohol or pork have been told they can politely request that customers choose another till at which to pay.
At one of its stores in central London last week, customers waiting with goods that included pork or alcohol were told by a Muslim checkout worker to wait until another till became available. The assistant was extremely apologetic at having to ask customers to wait.

One customer, who declined to be named, said: “I had one bottle of champagne, and the lady, who was wearing a headscarf, was very apologetic but said she could not serve me. She told me to wait until another member of staff was available.

“I was taken aback. I was a bit surprised. I’ve never come across that before.”

Customers trying to buy alcoholic drinks for Christmas were also asked to wait."

Mail these ASSHOLES at Marks & Spencer and tell them in no uncertain terms that they are a bunch of FUCKING, IGNORANT COWARDS.


MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT THE SLEEPY JACKSON, SHERYL CROW.

The Sleepy Jackson with Good dancers.





Aussie blokes from Perth, on the west coast. Although they formed in 1998 already, it took them five years to bring out their debut album, Lovers. This single was drawn from it. The nurse has nice legs.


Sheryl Crow with My favorite mistake.




From the 1998 album The Globe Sessions.



Nite.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013!!!

As per usual at this time of the year, we wish our readers of good will a Merry Christmas!!!




Nativity scene by Jan Gossaert, a Flemish Renaissance painter. Little is known of his exact origins, although there's strong evidence he was actually from Maubeuge, at the presumed time of his birth (1478) in the County of Hainaut, but currently just inside France. What is certain is that he became a member of the Antwerp Painters Guild of Saint Luke in 1503.

Let us pray for Peace on Earth.


MFBB.

BELGIAN INTERIOR MINISTER JOELLE MILQUET BFF WITH RADICAL SALAFIST IMAM ILIASS AZAOUAJ.

Who the f*ck is Joelle Milquet?

Oh, she just so happens to be the Belgian Interior Minister. She got her job in November 2011, following the longest ever government forming period. In the runup to the final distribution of portfolios, this utterly disgusting woman was so unbelievably uncompromising in the Flemish/Walloon negotiations which centered mainly around the BHV issue that the Flemish press bestowed the soubriquet 'Madame Non' upon her.




I might add that she rose to political prominence by using the vehicle of the Walloon Christian Democratic Party, the PSC. Soon after assuming the presidency of that party in 2000 she arranged a congress whereby the name was changed to CDH, making sure that it was well understood that the 'C' would no longer stand for 'Chrétien' (Christian), but for 'centriste' (centrist).

A move that did not surprise me in the least, since from the moment I got to know her, in the late eighties, when she was the poulain of the then PSC president Gerard Deprez, I instinctively knew that she was as much a christian as your average camel is a quantum physicist.

Anyway, Madame Non's facial features are honed by decades of bitching and obstruction vis-à-vis her Flemish counterparts in the plethora of negotiations necessary to keep the Belgium construction afloat.

However, there are times when she shows she IS capable of smiling:




For once, Madame Non is Madame Oui on this photo, where she is flanked by the radical salafist imam Iliass Azaouaj. On the latter's twitter account he boasts proudly of his Al Qaeda membership, and laments he the death of UBL. Around two months ago, a video appeared in which he lauded AQ, adorned with an explosives belt and an assault rifle. He is also known as one of the fellas threatening terror attacks on Belgian soil, this probably following the scrapping of welfare checks for the relatives of 'Belgian' youngsters fighting in Syria. Indeed, it seems Belgium is at the forefront when it comes to provide the 'rebels' in Syria with foot soldiers, and scores of young muslim males have left their homes in Antwerp, Vilvoorde, Ghent and other cities to fight Assad's regime.

Imam Azaouaj's outburst in all likelihood followed the removal of the wife and children of a known Syria fighter from the list of welfare recipients in Antwerp by the Antwerp mayor Bart De Wever, a move which was highly criticized by the greens by the way.


Back to Joelle Milquet. Her defense for posing with this salafist asshole? "The photo was taken during an event where several people asked to pose with her and she did not know who he was". "When I am surrounded by hundreds of people I can't ask all of them to ID themselves".

R-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-g-h-t.

We wonder what kind of event that was?

A Club Med conference?

A Climate Change meeting?

A Gay Pride show?

Questions questions questions guestions.....



MFBB.