Month: May 2017

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Japan’s household spending sags; jobless rate lowest in two decades

Japanese household spending dropped again in April, official figures showed Tuesday, as consumers kept a tight hold on their purse strings despite years of government efforts to boost spending.

The fresh data attests to what analysts believe is a broader picture of the world’s third largest economy — it is picking up steam overall but tepid consumption continues to act as a drag.

Spending by households of two or more people shrank 1.4% year-on-year, extending its declining streak of more than a year, according to data from the internal affairs ministry.

Japan’s prospects have been improving on the back of strong exports, with investments linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics also giving the economy a shot in the arm.

The labor market is tight as separate data on Tuesday showed the nation’s jobless rate stayed at 2.8% in April, the lowest in more than two decades.

The labour ministry separately said on Tuesday that the ratio of job offers to job seekers in April was at a 43-year high of 1.48, meaning there were 148 offers to every 100 job hunters.

Official figures earlier showed Japan’s economy grew 0.5% in the first three months of the year — or a 2.2% annualised growth rate.

That was its fifth straight quarterly rise and the longest string of gains since 2006.

Still, private consumption, which accounts for more than a half of Japan’s GDP, remains lacklustre as cash-rich firms have been stingy with pay hikes.

The Bank of Japan has struggled to lift inflation despite years of aggressive monetary easing.

Inflation data released last week showed consumer prices rose for the fourth straight month in April but it was due largely to higher energy bills.

The rise, which came in at 0.3%, was still way off the BOJ’s 2% inflation target — seen as crucial to conquering years of on-off deflation blamed for holding back the once-booming economy.

© 2017 AFP

 

https://japantoday.com/category/business/japan-household-spending-sags-again

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New York City high school won’t serve prom food until 9PM due to Ramadan

And will never hold prom during Ramadan again, according to principal.

Source: New York City school won’t move prom over Ramadan conflict | abc7ny.com

FORT GREENE, Brooklyn (WABC) –Brooklyn Tech seniors will gather at Pier Sixty for the prom on June 3, but not all their classmates will be able to attend the big bash at the hot spot billed as the largest waterfront venue in Manhattan.

The party this year falls during Ramadan, a month-long time of religious fasting and prayer for observant Muslims.

“Obviously the date wasn’t the best date,” said senior Pakeza Sahbbir, who will be not attending. “You’re not suppose to listen to music during Ramadan, so that’s why it’s not really allowed.”

In an online petition, students are asking school officials to move the prom to another day so that everyone can participate. About 1,300 students go to Brooklyn Tech, but the school does not track religious affiliation.

“I know how it feels to fast,” student Saima Afrin said. “I feel very tired throughout the day, so I won’t want to go out. I’d sleep and stuff.”

In an effort to accommodate everyone, school officials said they won’t serve food at the prom until 9 p.m., after fasting ends at sundown.

[This does not accommodate everyone. It only accommodates Muslims and overwhelmingly negatively affects non-Muslims who essentially have to submit to sharia and fast themselves until 9PM.]

The principal also met with the Muslim Student Association Tuesday to make sure this never happens again.

“If they changed (the date), it’s going to loose a lot of money,” student Nafin Rahman said. “So I don’t think they want to lose a lot of money. Plus it’s already really expensive.”

And that is one reason Rahman and others won’t be going. At $185 per person, it’s simply not in their budget.

The principal met with the Muslim Brotherhood-founded Muslim Student Association which is now infiltrating high schools across America. And he vowed never to hold a prom during Ramadan again. Time will tell if he can uphold that sharia promise.

You can send Brooklyn Tech a message here or Phone: (718) 804-6400
Fax: (718) 260-9245 or the principal Randy Asher.

 

https://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2017/05/30/nyc-prom-no-food-ramadan/

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UK textbook tells children to “respect” jihad terrorists and write them letters

“Write a letter to terrorists! Children told to ‘respect’ killers in new teaching aid,” by Jon Coates, Express, May 28, 2017 (thanks to A.):

A NEW teaching aid that recommends schoolchildren as young as seven “write a letter to a terrorist” to help understand their motives has been condemned as “dangerous and misguided”.

The book, Talking About Terrorism, published weeks before the Manchester Arena atrocity, describes the indiscriminate mass murder of innocent members of the public as a “type of war”.

It tells primary age children that terrorists kill people because they believe they are being treated “unfairly and not shown respect”.

It gives examples of “terrorists” whose ideas then turn out to be right: “The Suffragettes used violence and were called terrorists,,,,” it stated.

“Today many people think of them as brave women and admire their struggle for the right to vote.”

In an activity recommended for pupils aged seven to 11, teachers are urged to “invite children to write a letter to a terrorist. If they could ask a terrorist six questions, what would they be?”

The book, published by Brilliant Publications and containing a foreword by Peter Wanless, the chief executive of the NSPCC, has been slammed by critics who say it is potentially dangerous.

Chris McGovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said the letter task would confuse and potentially upset pupils.

He said: “This a crackpot idea based on the misguided notion that primary school children must engage with, and show “respect” for, religious fanatics who are seeking to kill them.

“It is part of the “British Values” agenda that is being forced on schools by Ofsted and the educational establishment.

“The primary school classroom is not the place to humanise terrorism by ‘pretend dialogue’.”…

 

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/uk-textbook-tells-children-to-respect-jihad-terrorists-and-write-them-letters

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LDP leads Koike’s party ahead of Tokyo assembly election: poll

The Liberal Democratic Party is leading Tokyo Gov Yuriko Koike’s political group ahead of the upcoming Tokyo assembly election on July 2, according to a Kyodo News poll released Sunday, though nearly half of those surveyed remain undecided.

Seventeen percent of Tokyo residents responding to the telephone survey over the weekend said they would vote for the LDP, while 11% said they would support Tomin First no Kai (group that puts Tokyo residents first), for which Koike serves as special adviser.

But given that 5% support the Komeito party, which is cooperating with Koike’s party in the metropolitan election, the governor’s group is almost evenly matched against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s LDP.

The telephone survey covered 1,623 randomly selected households with eligible voters and received valid responses from 1,016 people on Saturday and Sunday.

The poll showed that 49% have not decided which party they would vote for, while 6% said they plan to vote for the Japanese Communist Party and 3% for the Democratic Party.

How to tackle the stalled relocation of the Tsukiji wholesale market in Tokyo could be a focal issue in the election, as Koike has put the relocation of the aging market known for its fish trading on hold due to concerns about soil and air pollution at the new site in the Toyosu area. The new market had been scheduled to open in November 2016.

The LDP, which heads the central government and has long dominated the metropolitan assembly, has called for an early relocation of the market, but Koike has yet to clarify whether she will make a decision on the relocation issue before the election.

The survey showed 46% of respondents remain undecided on how best to deal with the relocation issue. Twenty-eight percent said the Tsukiji market should be relocated to Toyosu, while 21% called for cancelation of the relocation plan and said the Tsukiji market should be renovated for continued use.

Koike, who formerly served as Japan’s defense minister and environment minister before becoming the first female Tokyo governor in August last year, garnered a high 63% support rating, with only 15% saying they do not support her.

Twenty-five percent said they hope the Tomin First no Kai will one day field a candidate in national politics, while 19% said otherwise and 49% said they do not know.

As for what policies they want the Tokyo metropolitan government to prioritize, 36% cited measures related to public welfare and child-rearing support, while 15% said employment and economic policies and 14% the Tsukiji market relocation issue. Preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games were considered a priority issue by only 7 percent.

The support rate for the LDP stood at 23%, followed by Tomin First no Kai at 7%, the Japanese Communist Party at 6%, the Democratic Party at 4% and Komeito at 4%. Some 44% said they do not support any particular party.

© KYODO

 

https://japantoday.com/category/politics/ldp-leads-koike’s-party-ahead-of-tokyo-assembly-election-poll

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Canada: Dozens of jihadis walking free, yet authorities won’t charge them

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/canada-dozens-of-jihadis-walking-free-yet-authorities-wont-charge-them

 

Could a Manchester-style attack happen here in Canada? The answer, sadly, is a resounding “yes”…..That’s because we’ve already got jihadists like Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old behind the horrific concert attack, right here on home turf. Dozens of them. Perhaps over a hundred.

A hundred is just a rough number, and as the case of Salman Abedi unfolds, it is turning out to be quite the sizeable network of active jihadis.

News coming out of Canada that jihadists are running free while authorities do not charge them should not surprise anyone. Western countries are in grave danger as tens of thousands of Islamic State foreign jihadis return to their home countries. The Islamic State also promised to infiltrate the refugee stream, and did it; and both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda have been calling for lone wolf jihad attacks in the West for some time. The picture is grim, and innocent civilians in the West are in danger: truth tellers are increasingly ganged up on and shut up in the stealth jihadist “Islamophobia” drive that has allied with the left in working toward the subjugation of the House of War.

Jihadis on the loose is not just a Canadian problem, as we should all know. It’s a global one.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen defends the reinstatement of Canadian citizenship to convicted terrorists, and Canada continues to welcome unvetted immigrants.

 

“Canada has dozens of jihadists walking free, yet authorities won’t charge them”, by Anthony Furey, Toronto Sun, May 24, 2017:

Could a Manchester-style attack happen here in Canada? The answer, sadly, is a resounding “yes.”

Asking why it hasn’t happened yet is perhaps more to the point. That’s because we’ve already got jihadists like Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old behind the horrific concert attack, right here on home turf. Dozens of them. Perhaps over a hundred.

How do we know this? Because the heads of our security agencies say so. They’ve compiled the lists, they have the names and have some sense of where the radicals are at. The only thing they haven’t done is charge them.

Last March, CSIS director Michel Coulombe testified in front of a Senate committee that, at the time, there were 60 Canadians known to have returned home from going abroad to participate in terror activities.

These included paramilitary exercises, receiving jihadi training, providing logistical support for operations and more. Basically, they went to terrorist training camp. Then they came home. “Ticking time bomb” is the accurate phrase to describe this situation.

U.K. Home Secretary Amber Rudd recently confirmed that Abedi was known to authorities. For specifically what reasons, we’re not sure. The speculation is that it has to do with what he’d gotten up to during a recent visit to Libya.

Coulombe also said last year that there were an additional 180 Canadians who at that time were still abroad engaging in terror-related activities. A year ago. And how many of them have since come home?

These acts are serious Criminal Code violations. So if we’ve identified dozens of Canadians hot for jihad, why on Earth are we letting them move freely?

It can be difficult to build a proper case, terrorism expert and Carleton University Professor Alex Wilner pointed out on my radio show Wednesday morning. If the alleged terror offence took place in countries, such as Iraq and Syria, it’s tough to compile the evidence and get help from what exists of law enforcement in the regions.

Even when they return home to Canada, it takes dozens of officers to perform surveillance on one radical.

“We have to dedicate our limited resources to those that we think are the greatest threat,” CSIS deputy director of operations Jeff Yaworski told a committee back in 2014.

Despite all this, it’s clear Canada also just isn’t committed to going all in to charge these guys. RCMP commissioner Bob Paulson confirmed as much in remarks he gave to media last year.

“If we’re not getting the evidence, are we satisfying the safety issues by surveillance and other techniques while we collect the evidence or are there alternative ways of keeping communities safe by direct interventions with the individual or his family?” Paulson said last March. “In other cases, we’ve assessed that they’re back, they’re sorry, they’re working to try to get their heads straight and we’re relying on family members or other professionals.”

That’s right. If jihadists say they’re sorry and their moms promise to keep them on the straight and narrow, the RCMP opt not to charge them. It’s madness.

Back in the summer of 2015 the standing Senate committee on national security and defence released a report on countering terrorism.

Here’s recommendation 19: “The Government encourage police and Crown prosecutors to enforce provisions of the Criminal Code in all relevant matters involving terrorism in the criminal pre-criminal space.”

Yes, a government report actually had to humbly suggest that we actually enforce anti-terrorism laws…..

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Michigan: Muslim sues Little Caesars for $100 million over pepperoni pizza

https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/05/michigan-muslim-sues-little-caesars-for-100-million-over-pepperoni-pizza

 

“Moughni said the manager claims that Bazzi requested a Hot-n-Ready pepperoni pizza and that he requested a halal sticker be placed on the box. That’s a claim he denies.”

That sounds as if Bazzi was trying to set up Little Caesars with a false label for which he himself was responsible. He denies it, of course, and the truth may never come out, but in any case the $100 million is plain extortion. Bazzi and Moughni are signaling that any slight against Muslims, even if accidental as this may have been if it happened at all, will be ruthlessly capitalized upon to drain money from the Infidel. Little Caesars probably just wants this to go away, and will shower millions upon Moughni and Bazzi in order to make that happen, which will encourage others to try the same thing.

 

Michigan: Muslim sues Little Caesars for $100 million over pepperoni pizza

MAY 27, 2017 10:03 AM BY 124 COMMENTS

“Moughni said the manager claims that Bazzi requested a Hot-n-Ready pepperoni pizza and that he requested a halal sticker be placed on the box. That’s a claim he denies.”

That sounds as if Bazzi was trying to set up Little Caesars with a false label for which he himself was responsible. He denies it, of course, and the truth may never come out, but in any case the $100 million is plain extortion. Bazzi and Moughni are signaling that any slight against Muslims, even if accidental as this may have been if it happened at all, will be ruthlessly capitalized upon to drain money from the Infidel. Little Caesars probably just wants this to go away, and will shower millions upon Moughni and Bazzi in order to make that happen, which will encourage others to try the same thing.

 

“Muslim man sues Little Caesars over ‘halal’ pepperoni,” by Candice Williams, Detroit News, May 26, 2017 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A Muslim man is suing Little Caesars Pizza for $100 million after he said he was given and accidentally ate a pizza containing pork pepperoni, despite ordering halal pepperoni.

Islamic law prohibits Muslims from eating pork.

The class action lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court on Thursday claims the restaurant violated Michigan State Law 750.297f, which it referred to as the “Wayne County Halal and Kosher Anti-Fraud and Truth-in-labeling ordinance.”

“They have no regard for people’s religious beliefs,” said attorney Majed Moughni, representing plaintiff Mohamad Bazzi. “This is a violation of the Muslim faith. You can’t be handing out pork, mislabeling it as halal and get away with it. This isn’t how America operates. A billion dollar corporation can’t get away with it.”

Named as defendants in the suit are Little Caesars Pizza, Little Caesar Enterprises Inc., a manager named Denise and two unnamed employees.

Bazzi, 32, claims that in two separate incidents — in March and May — he received pizzas with pork pepperoni when he had ordered halal pepperoni.

Jill Proctor, a Little Caesars spokeswoman, said the company believes the claim is without merit.

“Little Caesars cherishes our customers from all religions and cultures, and the communities we serve are very important to us,” Proctor said in a statement. “While we can’t comment on pending litigation, we take this claim very seriously.”

In the lawsuit, Bazzi said that on March 20 he went to the Little Caesars at 7315 Schaefer which has a sign in the window advertising that halal pepperoni was served at the location.

He alleges that he ordered a large pizza with halal pepperoni and received a box that was labeled as such. Bazzi said that he and his wife began eating the pizza and realized that they were eating pork pepperoni.

Bazzi and his wife became sick to their stomach, said his attorney, Majed Moughni.

“His wife is a Catholic convert (to Islam) who had eaten pork all her life,” Moughni said. “She knows the taste of pork. He was very angry, upset.”

Moughni said his client wondered how many others had unknowingly eaten pork pepperoni from the restaurant. Three days later, Bazzi filed a police report with the Dearborn Police Department, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit notes Bazzi went back to the restaurant on Wednesday to order another pizza and specifically asked for halal pepperoni. The lawsuit alleges that Bazzi received a pork pepperoni.

At the advice of his attorney, Bazzi returned to the restaurant to question the workers and to record the conversation. Moughni said the manager claims that Bazzi requested a Hot-n-Ready pepperoni pizza and that he requested a halal sticker be placed on the box. That’s a claim he denies….

“These people were unknowingly assaulted,” he said. “None of these employees seem to care.”

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New Name, Same Game: ACORN Revived as Soros-Funded ‘Democracy’ Network

In 2009, James O’Keefe, Hannah Giles and Andrew Breitbart basically destroyed ACORN, the radical “social justice” group that had begun as a spinoff of the National Welfare Rights Organization and grown into a nationwide political network. The wreckage of ACORN exposed the connections between these left-wing groups and the Alinsky tactics used by former “community organizer” Barack Obama. Destroying ACORN as an organization, however, did not destroy the idea behind it, and many of the same people are now organizing a new network:

A new $80 million anti-Trump network is being led by an organization whose top funder is liberal billionaire George Soros and which employs former members of the controversial and now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
The Center for Popular Democracy Action Fund, the 501(c)(4) sister organization of the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a New York-based nonprofit that receives the bulk of its funding from George Soros, announced at their spring gala Tuesday that they will be heading up the new $80 million anti-Trump network that will span 32 states and have 48 local partners, CNN reported. . . .
The Center for Popular Democracy, which was founded in 2012, consists of old chapters of ACORN, the community-organizing group that was forced to close after being stripped of its federal funds following controversy in 2010.
Andrew Friedman, a co-executive director at the Center for Popular Democracy, co-founded Make the Road New York, a Latino immigrant group that has worked alongside CPD on a number of anti-Trump campaigns. Friedman serves on the board of Make the Road New York (MRNY) and Make the Road Action Fund, which are closely linked to CPD and contain many overlapping staffers. . . .
The groups, which have combined to receive millions in funding from George Soros, funnel money to each other. . . .
Soros has a goal of enlarging the electorate by 10 million voters by 2018, the Washington Free Beacon discovered after a trove of hacked Soros documents were released last year by DC Leaks.

How is this “enlarging the electorate” supposed to happen? By activist groups doing what used to be called “knock and drag” get-out-the-vote operations — knock on the door and drag them to the polls. In the meantime, of course, they’ll be organizing “spontaneous” protests to keep up the appearance of a grassroots anti-Trump movement, but the green in this grass comes from a radical billionaire ideologue.

 

http://theothermccain.com/2017/05/28/new-name-same-game-acorn-revived-as-soros-funded-democracy-network/