UPDATED: EU court rules illegal immigrants don't have same rights as those who follow the law

Walt has been following events north of the World's Longest Undefended Border, where a handful of "First Nations" people ("Native Americans" to, errr, Americans) and the usual mobs of ultra-lefties and antifa types have succeeded in shutting down Canuckistan's railways almost completely.

They are protesting that the hereditary chiefs (as opposed to the democratically elected chiefs) of an obscure "nation" -- the Wet'suwet'ens -- were not consulted about the building of a natural gas pipeline that crosses their territory in northern British Columbia.

It's a big deal, since many of the things that millions of Canadians depend on to live a normal life -- e.g. water purification chemicals and propane, not to mention food -- move by rail. It's a big enough deal that Just In Trudeau interrupted his latest virtue-signalling world tour to come back to the World's Second-coldest Capital and take a meeting.

When he emerged, blinking in the sunlight, Mr Socks proclaimed that Canada is a country where the rule of law is respected and must be followed. This had Canucks ROFL because the railways have obtained court injunctions against the blockades, orders which the Ontario Provincial Police and Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen refuse to enforce. In Canada, apparently, court orders and the country's laws don't apply to the marginalized and oppressed victims of colonialism, white privilege, yada yada yada.

Walt wonders what Blackface Justin thinks of a recent decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The Gatestone Institute reports that on February 13th the ECHR issued a decision reaffirming the proposition that in order for migrants or other "victims" to benefit from certain human rights protections, such as access to lawyers, interpreters and the right to remain in Europe, they must first enter European territory in a legal, as opposed to an illegal, manner. Imagine that!

The case goes back to August of 2014, when hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa stormed the border fence at Melilla, a Spanish exclave in North Africa. After spending several hours perched on top of the fence, two men, one from Ivory Coast and the other from Mali, climbed down and were handcuffed by Spanish border police, who handed them over to Moroccan authorities.

The two Africans said they were never given a chance to explain their personal circumstances or receive help from lawyers or interpreters. In February 2015, with the help of human rights weasels ["lawyers", shurely! Ed.] the pair took their case to the ECHR.

In October 2017, the ECHR ruled that summary deportations were a violation of European law, which is politically correct on such things. The court determined that Spanish border police had failed to verify the identity of the migrants, or to provide them with access to lawyers, translators or medical personnel, and ordered Spain to pay each of the men €5,000 (over $5400 in real money). In December 2017, Spain's previous mildly conservative government appealed.

On February 13th, the ECHR unanimously reversed its previous judgment. In a statement, it explained that "[the migrants chose] not to use the legal procedures which existed in order to enter Spanish territory lawfully. Consequently, the Court considered that the lack of individual removal decisions could be attributed to the fact that the applicants — assuming that they had wished to assert rights under the Convention — had not made use of the official entry procedures existing for that purpose, and that it had thus been a consequence of their own conduct."

How about that?! Here's a photo of some illegal immigrants crossing the World's Longest Undefended Border at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Québec. Who's carrying their bags for them? Why it's the very same RCMP who, for some reason (Hello, Liberal government!) are not enforcing the injunctions against the mob blockading Canada's rail services.

Just In (from Africa) Trudeau has probably not heard about the ECHR decision, and it's not binding on Canadian courts or governments in any case. Iván Espinosa de los Monteros, spokesman for the Spanish Vox (= Voice) Party, commented: "The ECHR's ruling determines that a nation state has the right to defend its borders. When someone is dedicated to violating those borders, the nation state has the right to return that person to their place of origin as quickly as possible."

Wouldn't it be nice if Canada's woke government, or the even-more-woke government-in-waiting (?) of the USA did a 180, like the ECHR, and reserved the benefits of the rule of law to those who obey the law?

Further reading, from the National Post, 17/2/20:
"Enough is enough. Clear the blockades, restore the rule of law", by Derek H. Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the USA and chief of staff to former PM Brian Baloney. "Dialogue is no prescription for those who refuse to listen because they believe themselves to be custodians of the only truth."
"If Trudeau has lost interest in his job, perhaps he should quit", NP editorial. "While cabinet members have struggled to deal with the rail blockades, Trudeau has been flying around Africa and Europe. Over his four years as prime minister, it has become noteworthy how often Justin Trudeau faces problems of his own making. His sanctimony keeps coming back to bite him. Canadians who follow politics have long been aware of the prime minister’s weakness for pious declarations of well-intentioned morality."

UPDATE ADDED 20/2/20: Canada's Public Safety and Emergency Unpreparedness Minister Bill Blair has just announced that the Mounties in British Columbia have agreed to withdraw from their position on Wet'suwet'en territory and barricade themselves in a nearby town names L'alamo. [Ed., please check town name.] So Just In (from Africa) Trudeau's Liberal government has caved to a few dozen radical activists who don't even have the support of the majority of the Wet'suwet'en people, as represented by their elected (as opposed to hereditary) chiefs. In today's Canuckistan, the mob rules!

Spain's right-wing Vox party makes major gains, enters Congress

In "Right-wing populism on the march: today Estonia, tomorrow ???" (WWW 3/3/19) Walt rejoiced at the rise in support for right-wing, populist parties throughout the length and breadth of Europe, not to mention the Excited States of America and even (gasp!) Canada. Where next, I asked?

The answer -- may I have the envelope please? -- is Spain! Yes, where parties of the right were thought to be discredited and defunct since the fall of Francisco Franco's Falange. Well, the Falange may have been pronounced dead, but its philosophy and policies -- against separatism and for a strong, unified country; opposition to immigration; limits on wimmin's right and "inclusion" -- continue to speak to the long-held and deep-seated wants and needs of increasing numbers of Spaniards.

Those are some of the principles which animate Spain's new(ish) Vox party, which some lefties denounce as "Falange 2.0". And the Spanish people are responding favourably. In "Populism marches on! Today, Spain! Where next?" (WWW 21/1/19), Walt applauded the success of Vox in elections to the Cortes (= parliament) of the province of Andalusia. And I quoted political scientist Eduard Güell who predicted that Vox would make similar gains at the national level. "All signs indicate that Vox has come to stay," he said. And he was right!

In a time when Spain is increasingly polarized -- it's not only the USA! -- its Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap election, held yesterday, to determine the future direction of the country. The lamestream press is crowing that the Socialists won, but downplaying the fact that they were reduced to a minority in the Congress of Deputies -- 123 of 350 seats. At a victory rally last night, Sr Sánchez said, "The Socialist Party won, and we are now going to build the Spain (((George Soros))) wants." [Ed., please check that quote. My Spanish isn't very good. Walt]

Down "below the fold", the WaPo gets around to mentioning that some voters chose "Vox, a far-right faction founded on anti-immigrant, anti-feminist and anti-Catalan sentiment." In fact, WaPo acknowledges grudgingly, Vox won 24 seats to become the first far-right party to enter the Spanish parliament since the country's transition to democracy in the late 1970s!

In an op-ed piece for Deutsche Welle, Bernd Riegert calls the rise of Vox the real story of yesterday's election. He writes:

Voters longed for the return of the good old, supposedly stable and safe times. Supporters of Vox truly feel that the dictator Francisco Franco and the unscrupulous conquerors of Latin America were the ones who made Spain "great." Vox only won 10% of the vote in this election, but as has happened in other European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Italy and Austria, the right-wing swamp has the potential to grow and eventually become the nation's main political movement. This trend is nothing new, and Sunday's election served as proof that it has now caught on in Spain.

Herr Riegert's bias is showing! "Right-wing swamp" is rather Nazi, even for a German liberal believer in Merkelism. But his observation and conclusion is spot on! Which is what Walt told you in March. Today Spain, tomorrow??? Stay tuned!

Footnote: The liberals, including the government of Germany, which owns Deutsche Welle, are afraid -- very afraid -- of the resurrection of Franco's Falange, with its "illiberal" ideas. Ed. hasn't been able to get a link to the video embedded in the DW article, but I suggest you check it out -- a great example of the paranoia of the ruling elites.

VIDEO: Populism marches on! Today, Spain! Where next?

For months now, Walt has been reporting on the rise of parties of the "populist right". (There are so many terms in use now -- conservative, neo-conservative, libertarian, right-wing, alt-right etc -- that I'm trying for one phrase which encompasses all the groups and movements whose goal is to overturn the socialistic, politically correct, one-world orthodoxy of the liberal elites, so "populist right" it shall be, at least here on WWW.

Spurred on by the success of the Brexit referendum and the election of President Donald Trump -- still going strong half-way through his first term -- parties that represent the real people who have been the silent majority in Europe and North America have won several sub-national and national elections, and are poised to take power soon in such bastions of liberalism as Germany (Goodbye, Angela Merkel!) and Canada (Good riddance, Justin Trudeau!)

Which brings us to Spain. [What?! Ed.] Yes, you heard right, friends. It wasn't so long ago that Deutsche Welle, the official German broadcaster, featured a story headed "Spain proves sterile ground for far-right parties". I love it when analyses such as that come back to bite the writer in the bum, and that's what happened in the Spanish province of Andalusia this weekend, when the populist right Vox party made huge gains in the provincial election.

In a result which the same Deutsche Welle says "has shaken Spain's political foundations", Vox won 12 seats (out of 109) in the elections, marking the first time they've made it into a Spanish parliament.



Political scientist Eduard Güell, the "unbiased" political scientist quoted by DW, says the fact that it happened in Andalusia, which has been ruled by a social democratic party since 1982, was all the more surprising.Until now, it seemed that Spain was somehow immune to the electoral rise of the populist right, like Germany's Alternative für Deutschland, Italy's League and many others. See "People's Parties on the rise. Are you in?", WWW 21/9/18

Why did Vox win bigly? An anonymous voter told Deutsche Welle's reporter, "[Vox] are the ones who have prioritized the defence of our homeland." Right! Defence of the homeland. Defence against what or who? The foreign invaders, possibly? [What? Who? Ed.] Do I have to name them? In the video you'll hear them called "migrants". What is meant is... wait for it... Muslim "refugees" and asylum-seekers. See "Saint James Matamoros, Spain needs you again!", WWW 29/7/18. Includes video on how Saint James the Great came to be called "Matamoros".

What does this mean for the future of Spain, and of Europe? Prof Güell concedes that most polls predict that Vox will make similar gains at the national level. "All signs indicate that Vox has come to stay," told DW. In his opinion, "one cannot understand how the far right has erupted in Spain without understanding the European and international perspective and how these populist far-right parties communicate and feed off each other."

Why so? Because -- this is Walt talking now -- border security and keeping out those who would replace our culture and way of life with their alien laws and ideology is the chief concern of the majority of "real people" in every country of Europe and North America! It is no surprise to me that the populist right is on the rise. The only question is whether we, the people, will rise up soon enough and strong enough to save our civilization.

Further reading: "Will the radical right consolidate power in the heart of the EU this year?" by Cas Mudde, in the very liberal Guardian, 11/1/19.
Walt's answer to the question, noting that Marine Le Pen's Front National stands at 24% in French polls, compared with 17% for Emperor Macron's party, and that Matteo Salvini is far and away the most popular politician in Italy, is YES! `tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

Further viewing: "Bannon vs Frum: The future of Western politics is populist", WWW 16/11/18 - Complete video of the now famous debate.

VIDEO: Saint James Matamoros, Spain needs you again!

One of our agents, whose name saint is James the Greater, reminded me that I didn't say anything about the Saint on his feast day, July 25th. I can only plead being preoccupied with the shooting in Toronto's Greektown, which was the evil work of an allegedly deranged Muslim who some suspect of being, if not a full-fledged jihadi, at least in sympathy with ISIS.

I thought about Saint James earlier today, as I was writing "Spain said they'd take 'refugees' Italy refused. Guess what happened?" As this short video from the good folks at The Remnant explains, it was Saint James ("Santiago" in Spanish) Matamoros (= "killer of Moors") who led the Christian Spanish to victory over the Muslim invaders from Morocco (so, "Moors") at the Battle of Clavijo in 844.



Now that the left-wing Spanish government has started welcoming boatloads of Muslim invaders, disguised as "refugees", into the land from which the Moors were finally expelled in 1492, pilgrimages to Santiago Compostela and many prayers to Saint James Matamoros, patron of Spain, seem very much in order.

Further reading: "St. James the Greater, 'Slayer of the Moors'", WWW 24/7/18. If you didn't quite follow what the narrator was saying in the video, you'll find this post a useful recap in text form.

UPDATED: Spain takes "refugees" Italy refused, with predictable results

In mid-June, the new Italian government, elected on an anti-immigrant platform, put its foot down and refusesd to allow a boatload of bogus "refugees" -- economic migrants, really -- to dump its cargo of mostly black, mostly Muslim third-worlders on Italian shores. See "New Italian government turns back boatload of 'refugees'", WWW 11/6/18. "Enough is enough!" said Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. "Saving lives is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp isn't. We're closing the ports!"

After much hand-wringing and tut-tutting by the EU, the Vatican and the usual gang of SJWs, Spain finally agreed to take the 269 "refugees", but only temporarily of course, since they expected the itinerant welfare-seekers to move on to places which offered more generous benefits. Like Sweden, or Britain, or Angela Merkel's Germany, where Willkommenskultur reigns supreme, in spite of the feelings of the German people.

So Spain took them. And guess what? The word got out! "Hey, fellow asylum-seekers! Set your boats of a northwest course. Spain is the new Canada!" Surprise, surprise for the Spaniards, and not a pleasant one either. This weekend Spain's coastguard union warned that the service was "completely overwhelmed" by a dramatic rise in the number of migrant crossings. The "extraordinary upturn" in arrivals meant "an absolute overflow of work" for maritime rescue centres, the union said, issuing an urgent call for more resources to help it cope with the "massive arrival of immigrants" on the country's shores.

On Friday morning alone, the Spanish coastguard pulled 627 people from 35 rafts in the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday morning, bringing arrivals to more than 2000 this week. Dozens more were also picked up in Murcia, Majorca and Alicante. By an accident of history, Spain still owns two tiny enclaves on the coast of north Africa. On Thursday, more than 600 border-jumpers forced their way through the border fence at one of them -- Ceuta. The unions representing the Spanish Civil guard called the incursions "well-planned" and "of unprecedented violence".

In the Spanish province of Andalusia, authorities are sounding the alarm over the surge in arrivals, noting that reception centres are saturated and migrants being forced to sleep in converted sports halls, on boats and in one case on a police station patio. Spain is now the largest gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, with 20,992 people having landed so far this year. That's 3000 more, now, than have landed in Italy in the same time period. A week earlier the difference was about 200.

The Spanish government blames the increase on the crackdown on the Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy. The fact that, like Canada's gaga Prime Minister Trudeau, they rolled out the welcome mat for "refugees" who now turn out to be not so welcome, had nothing to do with the crisis.

UPDATE ADDED 1/8/18 - Further reading: "Boat Migrants Down 80 Percent in Populist Italy, up 350 Percent in Socialist Spain", Breitbart News 1/8/18 - The number of migrant sea arrivals in populist Italy, so far in 2018, is down 80 percent compared to last year, whilst surging by over 350 percent in the same period in socialist Spain.

Four Islamic jihadis killed south of Barcelona following 2nd terror attack

Would you believe a second Islamic terrorist attack in Spain in less than 24 hours? Believe it! I'm just getting news on the mojo wire this evening that police in Catalonia say they have killed four suspects and arrested a fifth in the town of Cambrils, south of Barcelona.

Apparently the latest Muslim martyrs were attempting to replicate the vehicle attack that occurred in central Barcelona earlier today. The attackers, wearing explosive belts, drove into a pedestrian area. According to El Pais, five civilians were injured in the incident. (The death toll in the Barcelona massacre has now climbed to 13, with over 100 injured.) Police said at 0245 Friday (local time) that a counter-terrorism operation was still underway in Cambrils, but that the situation is now under control.

Meanwhile, the Spanish authorities have released this picture of the man who rented the van used in the Barcelona attack. He is Driss Oukabir, a native of Morocco and... wait for it... a Muslim. Reports in Spanish media suggest Sr Oukabir had turned himself in to police, claiming his identification documents had been stolen, and that he was not involved in the attack. The usual suspects have been rounded up, but it is not known if Sr Oukabir is one of those in custody.

ISIS (or IS or ISIL, whatever we're calling them today) has claimed responsibility for the Barcelona atrocity, saying in a statement on its Aamaq news agency that the attack was carried out by "soldiers of the Islamic State" in response to the Islamic extremist group's calls for followers to target countries participating in the coalition trying to drive it from Syria and Iraq.

UPDATED: How do you say "Allahu akbar!" in Spanish?

One dead, dozens injured, after motor vehicle deliberately plows into crowd. Where? "Charlottesville, Virginia," you say? Well yeah, but also in Barcelona, Spain, just today. Since the American lamestream media are still fixated on the events in Charlottesville to the exclusion of everything else, Walt brings you the news of yet another "incident" of Islamic terrorism.

The casualty figures from Spain will undoubtedly climb. As of this afternoon (local time) Spanish police have confirmed just one death after a van slammed into pedestrians in Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas district. Citing local police forces, Spanish media said as many as 13 people could be dead. 10 of those counted as injured are presently said to be in serious condition.

UPDATED at noon: The death toll in the Islamic terrorist attack has now risen to 13.

Spanish government officials confirmed that the attack was "terror-related". For fear of provoking yet more Islamophobia, they did not mention what kind of terrorism is suspected. Walt wonders if, when the King Juan Carlos makes a public statement condemning the attack, he will call out the Muslim jihadis. If not, will he be criticized by his country's media for failing to name names? As they say in Spanish, JAJAJA!

The attackers themselves have not yet been apprehended. The newspaper El Pais reported that the perpetrators were holed up in a nearby bar. Inspector Don Quixote of the Catalonia constabulary would not confirm that report. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, tweeted that the priority was to attend to the injured.

While full details of the crash were not immediately clear, over the span of the last 13 months, vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of Islamic terrorist attacks across Europe, killing well over 100 people in Nice, Berlin, London and Stockholm. Now Barcelona. Which European city will be next? Where do you live?!

St. James the Greater, "Slayer of the Moors"

July 25th is celebrated in the Universal Church as the Feast Day of Saint James the Greater, Apostle. At least one of Walt's agents was named after St. James, so, for those who don't know, an introduction of the saint follows, along with a few words about why he is known in Spain and Spanish-speaking countries as "Santiago Matamoros" -- Saint James the Moor-slayer.

Walt has had the privilege of visiting the shrine at Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia (northwestern Spain), which honours James the brother of John. The Gospels (Matthew 4:21-22; Mark 1:19-20; Luke 5:10-11) tell us the two were fishermen, the sons of Zebedee, partners with Simon Peter. Jesus called them from mending their nets beside the sea of Galilee at the beginning of His ministry. James, the son of Zebedee, is called "the Greater" to distinguish him from the St. James the Lesser, another of the twelve Apostles, who was apparently shorter. No kidding. Source: the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The Catholic Encyclopedia also tells us that Our Lord nicknamed James and John "the sons of thunder", because they were burning and impetuous in their evangelical zeal and severe in temper. (Mark 3:17) The two brothers showed their fiery temperament against "a certain man casting out devils" in the name of the Christ. John, answering, said: "We [James is probably meant] forbade him, because he followeth not with us" (Luke 9:49). When the Samaritans refused to receive Christ, James and John said, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?" (Luke 9:54; cf. 9:49).

In Matthew 20:21-23 it is recorded that Salome, the brothers' mother, asked Jesus "that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom." Our Lord replied "You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?" The brothers, not knowing the deeper meaning of the words, said they could. And Jesus told them that indeed they would do so.

According to Tradition, St. James the Greater preached Christianity in Spain sometime between the Ascension and his return to Judaea and martyrdom in A.D. 44. At that year's Passover, Herod Agrippa I (grandson of Herod the Great) "killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." He was the first of the Apostles to be martyred, "seeing that it pleased the Jews". (Acts 12:1-3)

The saint's followers are believed to have carried his body to the coast and put it into a stone boat, which was carried by Holy Angels and the wind beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the straits of Gibraltar), to land near Padrón, on the Atlantic coast of northern Spain. The local queen, Lupa, provided the team of oxen used to draw the body from Padrón to the site of the marble tomb, a little way inland, which she had also provided. James was believed to have been buried with two of his own disciples, Athanasius and Theodore. The site of his tomb was forgotten for some eight centuries.

Early in the 9th century, a hermit, Pelayo, was led by a vision to the spot. The tomb was rediscovered, and the relics authenticated by the local bishop as those of St. James. To protect the sacred relics from the invading Norman French, they were moved to Compostela -- "field of stars" -- which became one of the three greatest places of pilgrimage in the world, the other two being Rome and Jerusalem.

Now we come to the "Matamoros" part. At the time the tomb of St. James was found and his relics moved, Spain sorely needed a champion to inspire Christians against the invading Moors. "Moors" -- the Arabian Muslims inhabiting the northern coast of Africa, including present-day Morocco. Think Moor-occo! Thus the rediscovery came at a most propitious moment.

Legend has it that St. James -– Santiago -– appeared to Christian troops during the Battle of Clavijo in 844. Inspired by the vision of the saint, the Spanish Christians defeated a much bigger army of Muslims. Conflict between Christians and Muslims raged in the Iberian peninsula for the next six-and-a-half centuries, until 1492, and Santiago was recognized and adopted as the divine leader of the Christian forces. He was given the name Matamoros, "Slayer of Moors" i.e. killer of Muslims.

Santiago subsequently became the patron saint of Spain. "Santiago y cierra, España!" -- "St. James and attack, for Spain!" -- became the battle cry of Spanish armies as they slowly recovered the Iberian peninsula from its Muslim rulers. The cry persisted into modern times and was frequently used as a nationalistic slogan during the Spanish Civil War and in the Franco era that followed.

Today, such sentiments are politically incorrect. Pope Francis tells us the Muslims are our friends, we all worship the same God and whether you're Christian or Jewish or Muslim doesn't really matter. Of course that's heresy, but that's the nub of the false ecumenism which the Vatican keeps preaching at us. Meanwhile, the Muslims have reinvaded not just Iberia, but all of Europe. Walt recommends a prayerful visit to Santiago de Compostela.

Got your Caganer for next year?

What you're looking at is part of a very elaborate Spanish Nativity scene. In the centre you can see the Magi and their attendants proceeding to Bethlehem to see the Infant Jesus.

In the lower left corner of the picture you see another figure, who is, errr, answering a call of nature. His name is El Caganer, and he has been a familiar figure in Catalan folklore since the 17th century, usually found squatting off to one side of the traditional scene.

You'll be glad to know that our modern, marketing-driven society has now produced Caganers in a wide variety of styles and colours. Representations of famous figures assuming the position are common. If you don't have one of these among your holiday decorations, contact Walt and I'll get one for you next time I'm in Spain.