Crime figures in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), increased by 13.7 percent compared to last year, and in the case of serious crimes like murder, non-Germans were vastly overrepresented.
The jump in crime saw an increase of 1.37 million offenses compared to 2021, according to NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), who announced the figures on Tuesday.
The report highlights that areas such as violent crime saw a startling jump. The category of “murder and manslaughter,” for example, saw a 23.4 percent rise, resulting in 380 cases.
The crime data highlights the disproportionate amount of crimes committed by offenders without a German passport, which make up approximately 14.2 percent of the NRW population. This group is responsible for 32.1 percent of all attempted murders and murders in NRW, while in the area of manslaughter, they are responsible for 41.9 percent.
For the category of “rape in particularly serious cases,” foreigners account for an astounding 48.1 percent of cases.
It should also be noted that foreigners who have gained German citizenship, along with second-generation immigrants who have German citizenship, are simply listed as “Germans” in the crime statistics, so it is unclear what percentage of crimes ethnic Germans are responsible for.
Foreigners are also vastly overrepresented in “crimes committed by groups,” with the data showing 75 percent of all offenses in this area were committed by foreigners. Eighty percent of all gas station robberies were also committed by foreigners.
The dramatic year-over-year increase in crime from 2021 to 2022 had much to do with a rebound effect from the Covid-19 crisis. However, at the same time, 2022 stands out as an especially bad year even over a longer period of time. In terms of murders and manslaughter cases, NRW had the third-worst year over the last 10 years.
In some categories, the data for 2022 shows that crime is soaring to a 20-year high, which marks a worrying trend in Germany’s overall security structure. For example, assaults increased by 23.9 percent, representing the biggest jump in 10 years. There were also 142,316 bodily injury cases recorded, reaching their highest level in 20 years; and of those, 37,284 cases fell under “dangerous or serious” assault, their highest level in at least 20 years.
NRW’s interior minister, Herbert Reul, said he sees a “pendulum effect after the lockdown period, but also overcompensation in some areas.” Given that some crimes were not possible or less likely due to the pandemic, this is now being “made up for” with “more excessive and more wild (crimes) and more of the same.”
He claimed the “permanent crisis mode” of pandemic, war and inflation had made many people more selfish and frustrated, saying, “I think we all feel that. The tone has gotten harsher.”
At the end of Jacques Chirac’s term in 2007, France and Russia still maintained cordial relations. During his speech at a tripartite summit, the French president had even mentioned bilateral relations that were “excellent in all respects, particularly in the fields of energy, infrastructure and aeronautics”.
Jacques Chirac and Vladimir Putin had notably brought about a rapprochement thanks to their common opposition to the war in Iraq in 2003. Russia was a member of the G8, the club that brought together the richest countries in the world, and even organised the G8 summit in St Petersburg in 2006, French broadcaster France Info reminded its audience.
Before France became subservient to the EU and the US, it still cultivated its independence and retained its diplomatic credentials and President Jacques Chirac still embodied a certain form of resistance to American dictates. The young head of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin admired him for this.
“When he spoke of Jacques Chirac, he called him the professor,” French sources said.
Four presidents
In a little over two decades, France has had four presidents. During this time, the two countries also witnessed a deterioration in the quality of these presidents and in the relationship with their Russian counterpart.
Even if Macron received Putin like a king in Versailles in May 2017, he has since sided with President Biden and ditched the notion that Europe stretches from the Atlantic to the Urals, as President Charles de Gaulle had famously declared.
It is especially under Sarkozy, the openly pro-US, pro-NATO and pro-EU French president, that relations between France and Russia crumbled.
Legion of Honour award
In 2006, Jacques Chirac awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour to the Russian leader, the highest distinction awarded by the French Republic.
In 2023, in the midst of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the question of withdrawing this medal from the Russian president is being raised by pro-Atlanticists. Without taking a clear position, Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out this possibility. He is likely to once again cave in to their demands.
On 22 September, President Chirac pinned the small red decoration on Vladimir Putin’s jacket. The French media had not been informed of this ceremony. Without the presence of a photographers, the scene left almost no trace, except of course at the Élysée Palace.
The former French president had decorated his Russian counterpart to celebrate the “friendship” between the two countries. Today, with the war in Ukraine, the context has changed and according to France Info, this has become a “cumbersome decoration” even if few people remember it.
A ‘private’ ceremony
The event was not included in the Agence France-Presse (AFP) forecasts and the AFP correspondent accredited to the Élysée Palace learned the news after the fact, as the programme Arrêt sur images on France 5 reported at the time.
The journalist did relay the information in the evening, but it was not picked up by many outlets, due to a lack of images. The latter arrived a little later via Russian television, which did not fail to underscore the honour given to the Russian president.
According to the police, the perpetrators damaged more than two dozen graves at the cemeteries in Siegsdorf, Vachendorf, Haslach and Kammer. In addition, the suspicion extends to further thefts from a church in Oberteisendorf and from two chapels in Surberg. Three Syrians aged 19 to 28 are now in custody. They are suspected of having stolen grave crosses, grave lanterns and holy water pots from graves in the past weeks.
The damage caused was immense, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday. Some of the crosses had been torn out, others metal parts had been cut off directly on site with a grinder. The value of the stolen objects is estimated at 50,000 euros. The damage to the graves is probably much higher. According to the investigators, witnesses put them on the trail of the 28-year-old. The man was said to have been involved in the sale of about half a tonne of scrap metal. The police arrested the man and searched his flat, which contained tools for breaking open and dismantling the material, as well as other stolen goods.
Whether they were used to commit further thefts is the subject of the investigation, according to the police report. The interrogation of the suspect had revealed clues to the two as yet unknown accomplices. They were also arrested. Their flats were searched. As stolen goods from previously unknown thefts were also seized during the searches, the Traunstein police department is asking for further information from witnesses and for reports from injured parties.
Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad headed a racist movement that believed white people were subhuman and doomed to be exterminated. His successor as leader of the original theological movement, Louis Farrakhan, is one of the country’s most notorious bigots.
The same city which tore down the famous statue of Theodore Roosevelt outside the museum that he helped found, because he was “controversial”, just decided to name a block after Muhammad.
The New York City Council on Thursday approved a plan to name a Harlem block in honor of Elijah Muhammad, the controversial late leader of the Nation of Islam. The bid to name the intersection of W. 127th St. and Malcolm X Boulevard as “The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad Way” proved the most contentious element of a Council bill drawn up to tag honorary names on 129 public spaces in the city.
Muhammad, a Chicago religious leader who described white people as “devils,” is seen by some Americans as an inspirational figure for his work championing Black empowerment. But critics view him as a voice of racism and antisemitism.
If you don’t approve of a street named after a racist…you’re a racist.
Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan, the far-left Harlem Democrat who proposed the street naming for Muhammad, said the honor is “way overdue.”
“It is actually not OK to erase Black leaders who are not pleasing to white people,” Jordan told her colleagues during the full Council vote. “I profoundly vote aye on Elijah Muhammad Way.”
Beyond being less than “pleasing” to all the people he hated, Elijah Muhammad was an ally of the KKK.
Both the Klan and the NOI, Muhammad summarized, opposed integration and race mixing. Each group was on record as opposing the goals of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., although for separate and unequal reasons. The Muslims viewed King as a chief rival. The Klan saw him as a dangerous threat to white hegemony. Moreover, Muhammad allowed for no “hierarchy” among Caucasians on the issue of white supremacy; from the sitting U.S. president to the imperial wizard, all were slammed as “white devils.”
Accordingly, the Messenger told his two ministers in Chicago that day that the Muslims and the Klan indeed had similar goals but with different shading.
“We want what they want,” Jeremiah remembered the Messenger stating plainly.
The Nation of Islam had a secret pact with the KKK. And a not-so-secret one with the Nazis.
In 1961, Elijah Muhammad, founder of the black supremacist Nation of Islam, met with Ku Klux Klan leaders at the Magnolia Hall in Atlanta. Although they had different ideas about the skin color of the master race, they shared the belief that blacks and whites should stay separate.
The following year, Muhammad invited American Nazi Party chief George Lincoln Rockwell to address a Nation convention in Chicago, even though Rockwell had often called blacks “the lowest scum of humanity.”
Flanked by a dozen storm troopers in swastika armbands, Rockwell told an audience of 5,000 Nation devotees that he was “proud to stand here before black men. … Elijah Muhammad is the Adolf Hitler of the black man.”
Democrats are fine with this.
Later in the day, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams declined to take a position on honoring Muhammad, but said the legislation celebrates a collection of “extraordinary individuals.”
“For the most part, the requests that come in for street co-namings are at the behest of what the community wants,” the Queens Democrat told reporters. “So you’d have to ask the member and her community about that.”
“We stand on what the community wants,” Adams added.
Councilman Charles Barron, a Brooklyn Democrat and one-time member of the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party, loudly defended Muhammad’s inclusion in the legislation.
Barron charged Thursday that opponents of the Muhammad co-naming had not brought the same energy to pushing back against street names that honor American slaveholders. “You’re all right with Washington Ave., Jefferson St.,” Barron said, referencing streets named for George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, two slaveholders. “You said nothing.”
“But when it came to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, there was some resistance,” Barron said. “But I’m glad that this body didn’t allow for that contradiction of resistance to take place.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the Democrat Party.
As someone pointed out, the block intersects with Malcolm X Boulevard whom Muhammad had killed.
Take it from Brother Malcolm.
Why are they threatening your life?
MALCOLM X: Well, primarily because they afraid that I will tell the real reason that they’ve been — that I’m out of the Black Muslim movement, which I never told, I kept to myself. But the real reason is that Elijah Muhammad, the head of the movement, is the father of eight children by six different teenage girls, six different teenaged girls who were his private personal secretary.
There’s no room for Teddy Roosevelt in New York City, but a red carpet for this black supremacist filth.
Because we have refused to sufficiently forsake our wealth and freedom in the name of leftist climate ideology, the seas are rising to wash us away as foretold by the prophet Al Gore. Oh wait:
Some of Venice’s smaller canals have practically dried up due a prolonged spell of low tides, frustrating boat crews and bewildering tourists.
The lunar cycle combined with high atmospheric pressure has created a problem not only for tourists.
Since the canals essentially serve as streets in car-less Venice, the phenomenon of the last days has added to the challenges of every-day life in the lagoon city. Ambulance boats in some cases have had to tie up farther from their destination, forcing medical crews to sometimes hand carry stretchers over long distances since their vessels can’t progress up canals reduced to a trickle of water and muck.
Maybe Venetians should try eating more meat. According ruling class doctrine, that should melt the icecaps and bring the water levels up.
The father of two young women living in Spain who were murdered in Pakistan in May 2022 in a probable “honour killing” after they resisted their forced marriage was arrested near Barcelona on Wednesday, a police source said.
The arrest took place in Terrassa, a town in the Catalonia region of northeastern Spain where the family lives, the source told AFP news agency. Six other family members of Aneesa and Arooj Abbas – including a brother and an uncle suspected of committing the double murder – had already been arrested in Pakistan shortly after the crime.
Pakistani police believe that the two young women were killed out of a sense of ”honour”, a patriarchal practice in Pakistan in which women are killed to clear the family honour, a notion that is deeply rooted in this very conservative country.
Aneesa and Arooj, aged 24 and 21 respectively, wanted to separate from their Pakistani husbands, who were also their cousins. According to the Pakistani police, the two sisters were “pressured” by their spouses to help them migrate to Spain. Le Figaro
A senior official within the Irish government has discussed giving migrants special protections under the state’s coming hate speech laws.
Simon Harris, who is currently serving as Ireland’s minister for justice, has discussed with fellow parliamentarians the possibility of giving foreign legal and illegal migrants special protections under the country’s coming hate speech laws.
It comes as authorities in the country attempt to crack down on growing anti-mass migration protests in the country, with authorities repeatedly suggesting that making “hate speech” and anti-immigration protests illegal may help curb the spread of the political right in Ireland.
Discussions regarding the implementation of the special protections began at a government committee on the state’s coming “Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offenses” bill, with Independent MP Thomas Pringle suggesting that additional protections be added to the forthcoming legislation to safeguard people with “any regular or irregular [illegal] migrant status”.
Pringle in particular highlighted the addition as something that could be of use “in the current climate”, an apparent reference to the ongoing protest movement against the government’s open borders approach to mass migration.
In response to the suggestion, Minister Harris — who is sitting in for the actual Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee, who is currently on maternity leave — said that while he would have to seek legal advice on the change, he said he “instinctively” likes it.
“We’ve had discussions in this committee before in relation to concerns that all of us have had in relation to some issues we’ve seen in the not too– well, currently, quite frankly,” Harris told the group of parliamentarians. “So I instinctively see what you are trying to do and I am instinctively supportive of it.”
Should the proposed amendment make it into the finished bill — which is highly likely to be passed by the current government should it last long enough to see the bill to fruition — will give both legal and illegal migrants significant legal and social protections, both from physical crimes as well as so-called “hate speech”.
As the bill stands now, those found to have used “hate speech” against any group protected under the bill would face a maximum of five years in prison.
Such individuals would also be branded “hate criminals” in the eyes of the law, a designation that would follow them in many aspects of their day-to-day life, such as police vetting or future court hearings.
Officials from within the country’s ruling government parties have also been considering ways of making the ongoing protests against their country’s migrant crisis illegal, with one Senator suggesting that demonstrations outside asylum centres and hotels should be made illegal.
However, as government politicians plot to find ways of making the activities of the growing Irish right illegal, the country’s protest movement only continues to grow, with there being at least three separate demonstrations planned for Wednesday evening in the country’s capital of Dublin alone.
Police in Ireland have reportedly asked the family of a woman who was the victim of a sexual assault by four men she believes to be foreign nationals to take down a social media post regarding the attack.
Gardaí (the Irish police force) in the southeast coastal town of Dungarvan have confirmed they are investigating an alleged assault reported to have taken place in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 19.
The police noted there has been “commentary on social media in relation to the incident,” but insisted that as an ongoing investigation is underway, no further information will be released at this time.
As reported by the Irish news outlet, Gript, a request was made to close friends and family of the alleged victim not to share information about the attack that identifies the attackers as foreign nationals.
One such post published on Facebook by someone close to the victim claimed a woman was walking home from the local pub when she was allegedly dragged into an alleyway by four foreign adult men.
The men reportedly ripped her pants off and pulled her underwear down to her ankles with the intent of raping her, the post read. An elderly woman from a residential building nearby heard the victim screaming and reportedly approached the men, prompting them to assault the witness before fleeing the scene.
This account of the attack has not been corroborated by Irish authorities.
One of the victim’s family members told Gript they had been asked to take down the social media post, which identified the attackers as foreign nationals. They say they only made the post because the authorities had not made any arrests and they believe women need to know about the incident for their own safety.
“We were asked by the Gardai why we said it was foreign men and then asked to take the post down. Then we were asked not to talk about what had happened to anyone,” one family member told the news site.
“It seems all wrong, who is being protected here? (The victim) can’t sleep or eat, she is totally traumatized. Normally if there’s a serious crime anywhere it’s on the radio and descriptions are given and there’s an appeal for witnesses. But we’re being told to say nothing,” they added.
A local Sinn Féin politician, Cllr. Conor McGuinness, has since told Irish media he has engaged with police over the reported incident, and an investigation is underway, requesting that “every necessary resource is made available” to ascertain the individuals involved.
In a post on social media, Cllr. McGuinness urged members of the public to refrain from discussing the incident.
“It’s not right that people would be unsafe walking home at night, or at any time. We must all stand against sexual and gender-based violence. When women come forward to report an attack they should be taken seriously. We have a terrible history in this country when it comes to victim-blaming and to treating perpetrators with impunity,” he wrote.
“I will not be making further comment or discussing specifics of this case. I would ask that others do the same,” he added.
Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.
By Rajan Laad
Recently, the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards received praise because their nominees fulfilled the diversity criteria.
The BBC reported that performers belonging to ethnic minorities were almost 40% of acting nominees.
Back in 2016 “diversity and inclusion criteria” were introduced into the eligibility requirements for the 2019 Film Awards.
The BAFTA boasted that it was the first major awards body to initiate such steps and that it proved their “determination to take a leading role in driving a more inclusive industry.”
BAFTA worked with the BFI (British Film Institute) to introduce BFI Diversity Standards for two categories: Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.
The BAFTA’s website explained the requirements to qualify under the new nomination system:
In order to meet the standards, productions must demonstrate that they have worked to increase the representation of under-represented groups in two of the four following areas:
On-screen representation, themes, and narratives
Project leadership and creative practitioners
Industry access and opportunities
Opportunities for diversity in audience development
In other words, if a struggling British filmmaker made a great film on a shoestring budget seeking financial assistance and help from his friends, he would not be nominated, unless he satisfied the “diversity” criterion.
On the other hand, British film producers will see these criteria as a shortcut to receiving nominations. Their focus will be on satisfying the diversity criterion rather than cinematic excellence.
But despite the aggressive push by BAFTA in 2016, things didn’t quite work out — all 20 nominees turned out to be White in 2020.
If Phoenix really wanted to protest, he would have asked the BAFTA to remove his name from the nominations. But instead, he attended the gala, received his award, and ended it with an act of tokenism knowing it would elevate his standing without any work.
But 40% of the nominees in 2023 were from ethnic minority groups, which earned the BAFTA copious bouquets.
But the bouquets turned to brickbats when none of these ethnic minority nominees won any awards.
The Guardian reported it as follows: “Bafta’s all-white winners’ lineup is shocking – it needs to learn diversity is more than just statistics”.
The BBC reported it as follows: “The Bafta Awards have come under fire after all the winners at its film ceremony on Sunday were white.”
It is obscene that the race of individuals would be referred to in such a manner in current times.
The following were some of the reactions in Britain.
All of yesterday's #EEBAFTAs winners are white people, is that correct?
I say this sincerely from the bottom of my heart. Any British person who is not white, and has dreams of having a successful career in the arts and entertainment, please, I’m begging you, get your visa and leave the U.K… 💕 https://t.co/NUOPjUVM3L
I speak from experience. It’s the case in most industries. But film & television are visual representations of who we are. If they can’t set better examples then it’s so depressing. And not just people on screen but off screen too. Diversity is not a company PR exercise!
So let’s look at the fundamentals of these awards.
Firstly, it is impossible for these awards to be totally fair because in judging works of art there is subjectivity.
How does one compare a brilliant western, to a poignant human drama, to a masterful sci-fi epic; then decide which one is the best?
The same goes for every aspect of filmmaking including acting.
Al Pacino’s performance as Michael Corleone in the first two films of The Godfather series was masterful.
At the beginning of the first film, Pacino conveys a childlike naivety, he has a light-hearted demeanor and is talkative. But life thrusts Michael into the forefront of a brutal gang war after the deaths of his father and older brother. By the end of the second film, Michael has devolved into a cold-blooded fiend who has no compunction ordering hits on relatives and friends.
Portraying this gradual descent into darkness was challenging because as Michael hardens up, he becomes reticent, rarely demonstrating his emotions or thoughts.
It was the way Pacino delivered his rare lines. It was his piercing gaze and his clenched jaw that conveyed his initial reluctance, the internal conflict which finally turned into cold steely determination. He expressed it all without saying anything at all and that was his brilliance.
Yet Pacino in The Godfather lost the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor to Joel Grey in Cabaret in 1973 and to Art Carney in Harry and Tonto in 1974 when he was nominated for Best Actor for The Godfather Part II.
In the fifty years since, Pacino’s Corleone is still regarded as among the most memorable film characters. Nobody remembers even the names of those who won against him.
But this proves the limitations of the awards.
If that wasn’t enough, studios began running elaborate and vicious campaigns for awards almost threatening members to vote for their films.
The now-disgraced Harvey Weinstein pioneered this practice.
His campaign caused Shakespeare In Loveto win the Best Picture Oscar at the 71st Academy Awards, over the much superior and critically-favored Saving Private Ryan.
The campaign was like an investment because it caused Shakespeare In Love to become a huge box office hit.
Weinstein managed back-to-back Best Picture wins for The King’s Speech in 2010 and The Artist in 2011.
All of these were good films, but they were by no means brilliant.
Recently, British Actress Andrea Riseborough became the center of controversy following her leading role nomination for the indie drama To Leslie. Many accused Riseborough of misusing her connections to gain an advantage. It even led to a probe, but she was cleared.
So what happens when “diversity” is forced onto this ridiculous charade?
The awards that are already losing value are rendered meaningless.
When people of ethnic minorities win, they are often lauded not for their performance but for being the first from that demographic group to win the award. This is an insult because human endeavors and efforts are overlooked.
This ludicrous emphasis on race and ethnicity led actor Idris Elba to say that he no longer wants to be identified as a “Black actor” and that he wants his talent to be recognized regardless of his race.
Sidney Poitier was acclaimed for his myriad performances. He rose to the top solely on his talents. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his work Lilies of the Field (1963). This was a time segregation was still legal in some parts of the U.S.
Poitier was a brilliant actor.
Poitier’s race had nothing to do with his talent.
Back to the awards.
You cannot end discrimination against one group by discriminating against another.
The only way to end discrimination is to remove all barriers, allow all to compete freely, and let the best rise to the top.
Merit should be the only criterion.
This is how awards should function.
But it looks like matters may have reached a point of no return.
