Free Republic

It’s a pleasure to introduce our new Swedish correspondent PMP to Gates of Vienna readers. In his first essay for us, PMP takes a look at the culture of self-hatred that has arisen in Sweden in recent decades, as reflected in the masochistic celebration of the country’s National Day. Sweden’s National Day (of self-loathing)by PMP By studying how Swedish politicians and media ideologically attack Sweden on its own National Day, this essay will reveal how Sweden has ceased to exist as a proud and tolerant nation. It will show how an anti-nationalist, Marxist line of thought is being propagated all...

"When I joined the military it was illegal to be homosexual, then it became optional and now it's legal. I'm getting out before Obama makes it mandatory." -- Gunnery Sgt Harry Berres, USMC

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch appeals judges on Monday ordered the continuation of anti-Islam lawmaker's Geert Wilders' hate speech trial, rejecting his claim that the court trying him was biased. Wilders is on trial on charges of "making statements insulting to Muslims as a group," and inciting hatred against Muslims. Presiding judge Marcel van Oosten rebuffed defense calls for the case to be dropped, saying "his right to presumption of innocence has not been violated." He said a judge who discussed the case with a witness at a dinner party had not attempted to tamper with the witness and the court's...

Buried in the Oct. 30 Washington Post was a bland headline: "Report Points to Faster Recovery in Jobs for Immigrants." The story, however, contained social dynamite that explains the rage of Americans who are smeared as nativists and xenophobes for demanding a timeout on immigration. In the April-May-June quarter, foreign-born workers in the U.S. gained 656,000 jobs. And native-born Americans lost 1.2 million. From July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, foreign-born Hispanics gained 98,000 construction jobs. Native-born Hispanics lost 133,000. Black and white U.S. construction workers lost 511,000 jobs. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, from Jan. 1,...

Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops. Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems. The charity's politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night - from Christians and Moslems. Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: 'We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can't have anything that means Christmas. We're allowed to have some tinsel but...

Nearly one in three people with Somali ancestry in the United States live in Minnesota, although some activists claim there are more. The 1 in 3 estimate comes from new survey data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's American Community Survey says there are about 25,000 people with Somali ancestry in Minnesota and about 85,700 in the United States. The other states with large Somali populations are Ohio, Washington and California, but their communities are much smaller than Minnesota's.

A car explosion and what appeared to be a suicide attack injured two people, killed the apparent bomber, and caused panic among Christmas shoppers in Stockholm Saturday. The Swedish news agency TT said it had received an email warning with a threat to Sweden and its people ahead of the blasts. The agency said the threat was linked to Sweden's presence in Afghanistan, where it has a force of 500 soldiers, mainly in the north. "Now your children, daughters and sisters shall die like our brothers and sisters and children are dying," the news agency quoted the e-mail as saying.

At least one person, reportedly a suicide bomber, was killed when two blasts went off Saturday in a busy shopping district in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. One of the blasts was thought to be related to a car bomb, in which two people were injured. Swedish media also reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up about 200 metres from the car. The man apparently had canisters on him and shouted in Arabic before the blast. Swedish media were also reportedly sent a threatening email before the blast, criticizing the role of Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan and urging Muslims...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is playing with fire. And Israel is getting burned. Over the past week, it has been widely reported that the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government are conducting secret negotiations regarding future Israeli land surrenders to the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and Jerusalem. According to the reports, the Obama administration has presented Netanyahu with a plan whereby Israel will cede its rights to eastern Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley to the Palestinians and then lease the areas from the Palestinians for a limited period. The reports on the length of the lease vary. Some claim...

President Barrack Hussein Obama is allowing 80,000 Muslims to immigrate next year to the United States. He is doing this by executive order. “Obama authorizes additional 80,000 “refugees” to entry country By Dr. Paul L. Williams Friday, October 22, 2010 President Barack Hussein Obama, in a determination letter to Congress, has announced that he will allow an additional 80,000 immigrants – - mostly from Islamic countries – - to resettle in the United States during fiscal year 2011. Mr. Obama says that the increase in Muslim immigrants “is justified by humanitarian concerns or is otherwise in the national interest.” More…...

Somali asylum seeker family given £2m house... after complaining 5-bed London home was 'in poor area' By CHRIS HASTINGS, GEORGE ARBUTHNOTT and MATT SANDY 10th July 2010 A family of former asylum-seekers from Somalia are living in a £2.1million luxury townhouse in one of Britain's most exclusive addresses at a cost to taxpayers of £8,000 a month. Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in a fashionable area of London last month because they didn't like the 'poorer' part of the city they were living in. Mr Nur, 42, an unemployed bus conductor, and...

New Yorkers wondering what the $100-million, fifteen-story mega-mosque at Ground Zero will be like need only cast their eyes north to Boston. There they'll find the giant mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston, which, like the newly-approved Ground Zero mosque, was sold to the public by the politicians as a marvelous, desperately needed home for interfaith healing, and which quickly devolved into a cesspool of hate speech, terrorist affiliations, a lawsuit to shut down the mosque's critics, and a one-stop shop for genuflecting politicians to suck up to Muslims and collect their cash. Yes, for those who followed the...

Five Morgan Hill students sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts 2:11 PM By Lindsay Bryant Five male students were asked to leave Live Oak High School this morning because they were wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo. Officials at the school could not be reached for comment, but one student said administrators called the T-shirts "incendiary." "They said we were starting a fight, we were fuel to the fire," said Matt Dariano, a sophomore. The five teens were sitting at a table outside during their brunch break around 10:10 a.m. when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two...

The night the NYC car bomb attempt went down, I was so grateful that, once again, the diligence of the public and the swift action of the NYC Police thwarted yet another potential attack. Shortly thereafter, while still incredibly grateful obviously, I became angry. I’ve had it. Firstly, because the current strategy of homeland security seems to be “Hey, guys, we’ve totally unclenched our fists. We can haz cookie now?” Secondly, because the left and their media lackeys are not only dangerously naive, but also purposefully misleading.They are so deeply invested in both political correctness and in their violent, racist...

Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration is releasing a major statement on nuclear weapons policy that will herald a further shrinking of the U.S. arsenal, even as it rejects some sweeping steps advocated by arms control advocates. The statement, to be released Tuesday, will announce that the arsenal will shrink by thousands of warheads, and it will further restrict when the weapons may be used, U.S. officials say. But the administration has rejected proposals to declare that the "sole purpose" of nuclear arms is deterrence, nor will it promise that the United States won't be the first to use...

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons, even in self defense. But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation. Discussing his approach to nuclear security the day before formally releasing his new strategy, Mr. Obama described his policy as part of a broader effort to edge the world toward making nuclear weapons obsolete, and to...

A longtime budget hawk and currently CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, David Walker says America's growing long-term debt is dangerously close to passing a "tipping point" that could trigger soaring interest rates and a plummeting dollar. In a worst case scenario, that could trigger a "global depression," he says, warning: "Nobody's going to bail out America." With the U.S. facing $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities and around $62 trillion in total long-term debt, what worries Walker most is what happens after the recession dissipates, as detailed here. "I'm less concerned with the short-term deficits than I am the...

EDITORIAL Swiss Ban On Minarets Is Pure Discrimination Sunday's referendum is a reminder that cultural anxieties can be inflamed even in the most tolerant country. December 2, 2009 Integrating Islamic immigrants has proved to be a multifaceted challenge for European nations unaccustomed to religious and cultural diversity. But there's nothing complicated about the decision of voters in Switzerland to prohibit further construction of minarets. It's religious discrimination pure and simple. Sunday's referendum, in which 57.5% of voters approved the ban on minarets -- a traditional feature of mosques -- is a reminder that cultural anxieties can be inflamed even in...

Icann – the official body that ultimately controls the development of the internet thanks to its oversight of web addresses such as .com, .net and .org – said today that it was ending its agreement with the US government. The deal, part of a contract negotiated with the US department of commerce, effectively pushes California-based Icann towards a new status as an international body with greater representation from companies and governments around the globe. Icann had previously been operating under the auspices of the American government, which had control of the net thanks to its initial role in developing the...

THOMSON, Ill., Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Thousands of jobs would be created in Illinois if the U.S. government purchases a nearly empty prison there to house terror detainees, a study indicates. The study, performed by the Obama White House Council of Economic Advisers and obtained by The Chicago Sun-Times, asserted that 2,290 to 2,960 jobs would be created in and around Thomson, Ill., in the first year after its conversion to house some of the prisoners now held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, the newspaper reported Sunday. Local residents in the Illinois-Iowa border town would be "good candidates"...