Egypt's Churches Aflame as Brotherhood Targets Christians

Prominent among the “collateral damage” victims of the ongoing violence in Egypt are the country's Coptic Christians. Living on the tentative goodwill of the Muslim majority even during the best of times, the community has been the subject of attacks and persecution over the past year, since the fall ofHosni Mubarak, and the subsequent fall of Mohammed Morsi.

Now, with the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members by theEgyptian army, Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians. In the past few days, there has been a spate of attacks onChristian businesses, homes, and churches. As of Wednesday morning, according to local witnesses, at least 18 churches had been destroyed, and fires and riots were continuing to spread in Christian areas, the witnesses said.

Much of the information about what is going on in Egypt is coming from social media, where admittedly some of the information could be biased, as anyone can post information that suits their agenda. But if correct, the reports paint a picture of total devastation of the community, with little to no protection provided by authorities to churches.

Using the hashtag #EgyChurch, Egyptian users of Twitter and other social networks broadcast messages like “Can't keep up with the number of churches, Christian businesses, and affiliates being attacked by 'peaceful' Muslim Brotherhood,” “It's clear the Copts are having their churches burnt,” and “This is quickly becoming the worst sectarian catastrophe we've seen in our lifetimes.”

Posters decried the lack of government intervention – with some implying that the army was permitting the rioting in order to settle scores with the Coptic community – as well as the utter lack of coverage of the rioting by the Western media.

Dramatic photos showed churches on fire, with smoke billowing out of buildings and people trying to escape blazes taking refuge on rooftops. In one image, a group of long-cloaked Muslims stand in front of a church, arms linked, in order to prevent Muslim Brotherhood rioters from approaching the building.

The army has not issued a comment on the matter.

U.S. officials have condemned the violence in Egypt, but have not specifically condemned the actions against the churches and the Copts.


Arutz Sheva

DANISH PSYCHOLOGIST: “SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES OF MUSLIM INBREEDING”

Among the results are lower average intelligence and impaired health
Muslim culture still practices inbreeding and has been doing so for the better part of 1400 years. Consanguineous marriages were originally sanctioned by Islam’s prophet Muhammed, who had a very liberal view on men’s sexual relationships. In addition his many sex slaves, he married several cousins, the divorced wife of his own adopted son and the six year old Aisha, with whom he had sex with when she was nine.

A rough estimate shows that close to half of the world’s Muslims are inbred as a result of consanguineous marriages. In Pakistan, 70 percent of all marriages are between first cousins – children of siblings – and in Turkey the share is 25-30 percent.

Statistical research on Arabic countries indicates that up to 34 percent of all marriages in Algeria are blood-related as are 46 percent in Bahrain, 33 percent in Egypt, 80 percent in Nubia (the southern part of Egypt), 60 percent in Iraq, 64 percent in Jordan, 64 percent in Kuwait, 42 percent in Lebanon, 48 percent in Libya, 47 percent in Mauritania, 54 percent in Qatar, 67 percent in Saudi Arabia, 63 percent in Sudan, 40 percent in Syria, 39 percent in Tunisia, 54 percent in the United Arabic Emirates and 45 percent in Yemen. According to Dr. Nadia Sakati of King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, 45 percent of married Arab couples are blood-related. The fact that many of these couples are themselves children of blood-related parents increases the risk of negative consequences.

The number of blood-related marriages is lower among Muslim immigrants living in the West.

Among Pakistanis living in Denmark the number is down to 40 percent and it is 15 percent among Turkish immigrants. This may be due to the fact that immigration rules make it difficult to import family-related brides. Another factor may be better information on the risks connected with blood-related marriages. Because of better human rights protection it is also more difficult for traditional Muslim families to force their children to marry within the family.

In spite of the lower percentage of consanguineous marriages among Muslims living in the West, at least 55 percent of Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom are married to a first cousin. This is thought to explain why British Pakistani families are at least 13 times more likely than the general population to have children with recessive genetic disorders – often resulting in serious genetic diseases.

Several studies show that, on average, children of consanguineous marriages have lower intelligence than children of non-related parents. The average intelligence quotient, IQ, in any age group is 100. Depending on the theoretical basis, the line between normal intelligence and low intelligence is 90 or 85. Below 70-79 is categorized as mild disability, 50-69 is moderate disability. Significantly more low-IQ children drop out of school and remain unskilled workers throughout life.

There are many studies on the intelligence effects of inbreeding among cousins. One study from Bihar, India, on Muslim children living in suburban areas, shows that while outbred offspring have an average IQ of 95, inbred children have an average IQ of 79, which puts them in category of people with “low intelligence” having special needs in schools, difficulty handling simple job tasks and completing a basic education. The study also shows the social profiles like visual fixation, social smile, sound seizures, oral expression and hand grasping are significantly delayed among the newborn inbred babies. A decrease in the ability to understand and react to social interaction is known to have a negative influence on children’s development, including social skills and empathy, later in life.

Other studies reach similar conclusions, also when adjusted for socioeconomic status. The cognitive consequences of Muslim inbreeding may explain why non-Western immigrants are more than 300 percent more likely than native Danes to fail the Danish army’s intelligence test. It may also be part of the explanation why two-thirds of school children with Arabic backgrounds are illiterate after 10 years in the Danish school system. The connection between low intelligence and a lack of ability to be self-supporting is well established. The extreme lack of scientific and social contributions from the Muslim world may be another result of inbreeding. While 184 Jews have received the Nobel Prize for their scientific, social and artistic contributions to the world, only 10 Muslims have had this honor.

Since 1901 Jews have received 34 percent of all Nobel Prizes. The world Jewish population in 2012 is approximately 14 million whereas the total number of Muslims is estimated to number 1.5 billion.

The risk of stillbirth doubles when parents are first cousins. A study comparing Pakistani children of consanguineous marriages with Norwegian children shows a 50 percent higher risk that babies die during birth. Infant mortality among the inbred Pakistani children was more than double that among the Norwegian children. Deaths due to disorders such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy were 18 times more common among the Pakistani children and deaths due to multiple malformations, which may be part of unrecognized autosomal recessive syndromes, were 10 times more common.

Other research concludes that inbred people have a higher risk of developing mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. The practice of consanguineous marriages in Muslim families may thus explain why more than 40 percent of the patients in Denmark’s Sct. Hans Hospital for the criminally insane and 70 percent of the inmates in Danish youth prisons have immigrant backgrounds.

The consequences of consanguineous marriages may also bring us closer to an understanding Islamic terrorism. One study suggests that many suicide bombers are suffering from depression. Among some Muslims their actions are considered a socially acceptable way of committing suicide in order to end mental torment.

A study from Kabul, Afghanistan, based on autopsies of the remains of suicide bombers, shows that close to 90 percent were suffering from severe illnesses or deficiencies such as blindness, cancer, missing limbs or leprosy. Many Muslim societies, including that of Afghanistan, have a low social acceptance of handicaps and mental illness. Being physically handicapped or mentally retarded often leads to exclusion. Becoming a martyr may be the only chance of achieving social recognition and honor. Some cases of Down’s syndrome may be another unpleasant effect of inbreeding and al-Qaeda has been known to use people afflicted with it. People with low intelligence may also be more easily convinced that Islam, with its promise of 72 virgins to Muslims who die fighting for their religion, is true.

Inbreeding among Muslims has severe social implications both for the Western societies and the Muslim world. According to Danish Social worker Merete Lefelt, “When cousins have children together, they are twice as likely to have a disabled child. … Disabled immigrant children cost Danish municipalities millions. In Copenhagen the number of disabled children … has doubled over 10 years.” She has contacted 330 families with disabled children in Copenhagen and estimates that one-third of her clients have a foreign cultural background. The cost of special education for slow learners consumes one-third of the Danish school budget. This means less money for normal and gifted learners. 51 percent of the children in Copenhagen’s three schools for children with physical and mental handicaps have immigrant backgrounds.

High levels of education may also make it harder for inbred students to finish their studies. Students with minority backgrounds have a significantly higher dropout rate at secondary schools than youths with a Danish background. In business schools, the dropout rate among immigrants is 60 percent, twice as high as among students with a Danish background. Interestingly the dropout among young people with Lebanese or Iranian background is far greater than among people of e.g. Vietnamese background. (Center for Knowledge on Integration in Randers, May 2005 “Youth, education and integration“).

The limited ability to understand, appreciate and produce knowledge as a result of low IQ is probably part of the reason why Muslim countries only produce one-tenth of the World average when it comes to scientific research. In 2003 the world average for production of scientific articles was 137 per million inhabitants, whereas the average among 47 Islamic countries was just 13.

The muslim issue

Santelli Slams Liesman: "There's A Difference Between Real-Life Inflation And The Government's"

We have not been shy of sharing our opinion on the hedonics-adjusted, constantly recalibrated-basket-based idiocy that is the government's measures of inflation. However, this morning's Liesman-led cognitive dissonance at the PPI was smashed from the government's Matrix by Rick Santelli's frustration spilling over.

With a Fed increasingly forced to Taper (due to deficits, technicals, sentiment) to Taper - under the cover of a supposedly improving economy - the disinflation was suggested as a reason the Fed might use to keep the punchbowl there for longer...

Santelli was not amused by this perpetual put... questioning whether the governments approach to inflation is a way to "fudge the numbers." Liesman defense of the status quo is predictable to which Santelli barks, "Listen, I don't believe the government's calculations. There, I said it... I don't have better numbers; I have common sense;" adding that (just as we noted here with energy and real expenses) that "there's a difference between real life and the government."

US Sends Warship to Bahrain In Response to Protests

While the world concentrates on the bloody scenes emerging out of Egypt, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has been stationed off the coast of Bahrain in response to building protests against the country’s US-backed dictatorship.



Stratfor’s naval update map shows that the USS Nimitz moved towards Bahrain in recent days, with the USS Truman in relatively close proximity as part of its fresh 9 month deployment to the Arabian Gulf.

“The timing is instructive – pro-democracy protestors are preparing to demonstrate for human rights in the capital, Manama, writes Afshin Rattansi. “The Nimitz, lead Flat-top of President Obama’s Carrier Strike Group 11, rolled into harbor as if to say out loud: “The United States will not tolerate democracy in this island kingdom, home to the US Fifth Fleet. The USA supports the dictatorship installed here in the 18th century.”

Despite massive protests planned for today, “a tight security clampdown appears to have stopped large-scale demonstrations in the city,” reports the Associated Press, with the Bahraini prime minister having vowed to “punish” anti-government protesters.

Attempts to stage an “Arab Spring” revolution in Bahrain have been brutally crushed by the regime and its ally Saudi Arabia.

While the US corporate media has dutifully sold the Syrian uprising as a grass roots revolution, when in reality it was quickly hijacked by radical jihadists and Al-Qaeda terrorists, there has been virtually zero coverage afforded to Bahrain’s struggle for freedom. That probably has plenty to do with the fact that the country is a key launch pad for any future US attack on Iran and the regime is a compliant puppet state for US hegemonic interests.

When former CNN journalist Amber Lyon made a documentary highlighting the royal dictatorship of Bahrain’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, CNN International refused to air the film and Lyon was later fired. It subsequently emerged that the Bahraini regime was paying CNN to portray the country in a positive light.

Meanwhile, the next destination of the USS George Washington, currently positioned near Japan, remains “classified”.

Infowars

Record Student Loan Debt Crushes American Enterpreneurial Spirit

Freshly-minuted MBAs "are willing to sleep on a couch for a year or two, but they can't do it with the burden of student loans," is how on senior lecturer describes the entrepreneurial-spirit-sucking debt loads that college-leavers face in the new normal. 

Faced with mounting monthly payments, the WSJ reports that would-be-Bezos have little choice but to look for the steady paychecks that accompany a regular job. Recent surveys find that "the single largest inhibitor to entrepreneurship is the student loan" burdenand it seems states are beginning to realize this growth-inhibiting reality. 

In order to tamp down ambition-busters such as "I would be a serial entrepreneur if it weren't for my student loans," California (and Rhode Island) are enacting legislation to reduce college costs and looking at the feasibility of temporary forbearance. While some see their student-loans as a motivator, it seems many more are forced down a different path due to the "real responsibilities."

Via WSJ,

The rising mountain of student debt, recently closing in on $1.2 trillion, isforcing some entrepreneurs to abandon startup dreams and others, including Christine Carney of Orono, Maine, to radically reshape their business plans.

...

Having the student-loan debt "is preventing me from being able to take a lot of chances or risks that are usually necessary when starting a business,"

...

The average student who borrows has piled up about $40,000 in debt by graduation, including parents' loans, nearly double the levels of a decade ago

...

"I mentor students all the time," says Vivek Wadhwa, a fellow at Stanford University Law School. "The single largest inhibitor to entrepreneurship is the student loans."

...

Many freshly-minted M.B.A.s "are willing to sleep on a couch for a year or two, but they can't do it with the burden of student loans,"

...

Faced with $400-a-month payments on nearly $40,000 in student-loan debt, he says he had little choice but to look for the steady paychecks that accompany a regular job.

...

If he didn't face student-loan payments, he says, he would have worked at his nascent business venture for at least another six months. "I love the startup world. I would be a serial entrepreneur if it weren't for my student loans,"

...

At least one state has taken steps to alleviate the pressures. California this year enacted legislation that will reduce college costs for middle-class Californians who attend its public universities... Similarly, the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, a quasi-governmental nonprofit group, is looking at whether it is feasible to temporarily forbear or reduce payments for recent graduates who start a businesses or go to work for a new venture.

...

Some entrepreneurs view their student-loan payments as a motivator. "We are under the clock to get our product out there and make sales,"

...

Student-loan payments are "pushing me forward," he says. "I'm making sure that I make every single day count."

Zero Hedge

Egyptian army accused of pushing country toward civil war

CAIRO and LONDON — Egypt’s military was accused of pushing the country towards civil war Wednesday after hundreds of protesters were believed to have been killed in a “massacre” at two Muslim Brotherhood protest camps.

Security forces used machine guns, snipers, tear gas and armoured bulldozers during a full scale assault to clear the camps in Cairo, which had been at the centre of Islamist opposition to the country’s new government. The operation left a scene of carnage on the capital’s streets and Egypt embroiled in its worst turmoil since the start of the Arab Spring.

Last night, with clashes breaking out across the country, the military declared a month-long state of national emergency and imposed a sweeping curfew in major cities.

The country’s interim vice-president, the Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, announced his resignation in protest at the shootings, which some even warned could presage a Syrian-style descent into chaos.

Wednesday’s operation was the culmination of a six-week stand-off between Egypt’s security forces and the Muslim Brotherhood which followed the military’s decision to remove Mohammed Morsi as president. He had been the country’s first Islamist leader and its first to be democratically elected.

Mr Morsi’s supporters had vowed to occupy two protest camps, one near the city’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and the other near Cairo University, until he was reinstated. That ended yesterday when the military moved into both camps with decisive force.

The Muslim Brotherhood put the number of dead at more than 500, and said that those killed in the “massacre” included unarmed civilians, women and children. Egypt’s health ministry gave an official death toll of 235, with more than 2,000 injured, although those figures were expected to rise.

A Sky News cameraman, Mick Deane, 61, was among those shot dead, while several other journalists were injured while trying to report on the fighting.


AP Photo/Hussein TallalSmoke rises as Egyptian security forces clear a sit-in camp set up by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo's Giza district, Egypt, Aug. 14, 2013.

Britain and the U.S. led condemnation of the violence yesterday, with David Cameron saying the bloodshed was “not going to solve anything”. Washington called on the Egyptian government “to respect basic human rights”, but stopped short of threatening to cut off U.S. aid to the country.

Britons were advised to avoid non-essential travel to most parts of Egypt, with the exception of Red Sea resorts, after the Foreign Office updated its travel advice.

The violence, the worst in Egypt since the overthrow of former military-backed ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011, quickly spread to other cities yesterday as the Brotherhood urged their supporters to take to the streets. “We are waging jihad now,” vowed Majdi Isam, a Brotherhood supporter in Cairo, his hair caked with blood. “God will have vengeance on these butchers.”

John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, last night condemned the violence, calling the bloodshed “deplorable” and “counter to Egyptian aspirations for peace, inclusion and genuine democracy”.

AP Photo/Manu BraboMorsi supporters run from Egyptian security forces firing towards them during clashes in Cairo.

He told reporters at the State Department: “The world is watching. Violence is simply not a solution in Egypt or anywhere else.”

In Alexandria, a march of Brotherhood supporters turned into a riot as hundreds went on the rampage with wooden clubs, storming a police station. Brotherhood members also tore down pictures of General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the senior military chief who removed Mr Morsi from office. Three Christian churches in central Egypt were also attacked.

Mohamed al-Beltagi, a senior Brotherhood leader whose 17-year-old daughter was among those killed in the Cairo protest camps, said that the army risked dragging the country into all-out conflict. “This pushes the country towards a civil war,” he said, adding: “Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will embroil this country so that it becomes Syria.”

The Daily Telegraph

AP Photo/Sabry Khaled, El Shorouk NewspaperA police vehicle is pushed off of the 6th of October bridge by protesters close to the largest sit-in by supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi Wednesday.


AFP/Getty ImagesMuslim brotherhood supporters overturn a police vehicle during clashes.


MOSAAB EL-SHAMY/AFP/Getty ImagesA Muslim Brotherhood supporter throws a water container onto a fire during clashes with police in Cairo.


AP Photo/Mohammed Abu ZeidMohammed Morsi supporters clash with security forces.

The Unseen World - Chuck Missler