How China Contributed To Venezuela’s Economic Meltdown

From the Financial Times:

What makes China unusual [among Venezuela's creditors] is not just the amount it is willing to lend but the way it lends. First, Beijing has chosen to be opaque: we know neither the terms of the loans nor the uses of the money. The debt is repaid in oil, making Wall Street bondholders junior to China.

[…]

Second, the debt was never authorised by the Venezuelan parliament due to the specious argument that it was not debt, but “finance”, because it was not to be paid in dollars but in oil… [emphasis added]

“Extremism And Islam Are Completely Different Things,” Stammers Japanese Prime Minister

Easy for him to say.

But the distinction may be lost on the two Japanese hostages scheduled for beheading, as their executioners recite prayers from the Koran…and scream, "Allahu Akbar," while they hack with the knives.

Western Muslims Clearly Haven’t Thought Out How Blasphemy Laws Would Really Work

The definition of stupidity must surely be demanding enaction of blasphemy laws…in countries where you're a religious minority:

Your Honor, I don't know anything about religious theology. I'm just a caveman. Everyday when I drive to the office in my red Mercedes, I'm terrified. I see other cars and wonder, "Are these evil spirits from the netherworld? Are they going to hungrily feast upon my soul?" Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, your modern world CONFUSES and FRIGHTENS me.

But I do know this: When a defendant (such this young Mohammedan gentleman) willfully and maliciously rejects the divinity of Our Lord And Saviour, Jesus Christ, then he displays contempt for the unerring pronouncements on the matter as stipulated by the Council Of Chalcedon.

This places him in direct contravention of Blasphemy Code 3 Section 34.7(g). But since he's a first-time offender, I suggest a lenient sentence: 1,000 lashes in the public square, 50 to be delivered each week over a period of 20 weeks.

I think that's fair.

Saturday Night Live: Phil Hartman before a jury wearing a fine suit and hideous makeup, playing Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

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If You Don’t Want Your Religion Mocked, Maybe Moving To The Land Of VOLTAIRE Was A Bad Idea

Over at the China Post, Father Daniel Bauer splits a few hairs while arguing that criticism of religion is fine, but criticism of religious figures should be off-limits:

But I am an educated westerner and, alas, a literary fellow. And these works ["Canterbury Tales", "The Decameron" and "Candide"] do not make a fool of Jesus Christ personally.

Nothing condones the violence in Paris on Jan. 11. The reasons for it lie at least partially in a catastrophic conflict of cultures. The only good that may come from all this is deeper reflection and understanding which results in greater empathy for victims of insensitivity or cruelty everywhere, and not simply in France. [emphasis added]

If the good father is suggesting that the French need to cater more to Muslim sensitivities, then he'll be delighted to know that that's been going on for quite some time: French authorities are prevented from entering large numbers of Muslim-dominated no-go zones for fear of mob attacks, and French Jews are unable to wear clothing reflecting their religious devotion for fear of being assaulted or murdered by members of the Religion Of Peace™.

Woe be to any Jew lacking the requisite "empathy" with Islamic anti-Semitism!

However, since it's a lazy Sunday evening and I'm feeling charitable, I shall give Father Bauer the benefit of the doubt and assume he does not wish to abolish free speech in the Western World. (A policy which, if enacted, would consign it to an epoch of ignorance and cruelty similar to the 800-year-long Dark Age that Islam currently languishes in the depths of).

Rather, I shall assume that what Father Bauer meant to say was that Muslim immigrants in the West should endeavor to be sensitive to the Western values of their new homeland, and not attempt to transform the West into an Islamofascist shithole resembling the one they emigrated from.

(Well, as a Catholic priest, he might not phrase it exactly that way…)

Mohammed cartoon: man holding a newspaper (the 'WESTERN CIVILIZATION TIMES') with a picture of Kim Jung-un ('OUR NEW FILM CRITIC') and a picture of a crazed, machine gun-toting Muslim ('OUR NEW ART CRITIC')

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Peaceful Members Of The Religion Of Peace™ Peacefully Set Churches Ablaze In Niger

One Christian congregant was burned alive inside.

No doubt his last words were, "This has NOTHING to do with Islam…"

Mohammed cartoon: Muslim throwing Molotov cocktail at Charlie Hebdo magazine while screaming, 'Violent? Moi?!'

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Argentina’s President Accused Of Trading Jewish Blood For Iranian Oil

An Argentine prosecutor claims to have wiretaps proving President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner helped cover up Iranian involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center – in exchange for discounts on Iranian oil.

Pretty serious charge. The prosecutor better damn well have the goods.

UPDATE (Jan 19/15): The prosecutor is found dead of an apparent suicide, hours before he was to appear before Argentina's parliament.

Fortunately, there's nothing in the least-bit suspicious in all of this.

UPDATE (Jan 21/15): No powder residue found on the hands of the prosecutor who is said to have committed suicide.

UPDATE (Jan 22/15): More than one entrance to site of the apparent suicide, and two were unlocked.

UPDATE (Feb 13/15): President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is charged with covering-up the 1994 bombing of the Jewish center. More here.