March 27, 2016

News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-wins-alaska-democratic-caucus-election-2016/

Bernie Sanders wins Alaska, Washington, Hawaii caucuses
CBS/AP
March 26, 2016, 5:47 PM
Last Updated Mar 27, 2016 5:48 AM EDT


WASHINGTON --Bernie Sanders swept Democratic presidential caucuses in Alaska, Washington state and Hawaii on Saturday, victories he hopes will stoke a spring comeback against the commanding front-runner, Hillary Clinton.

The Vermont senator was trying narrow a gap of 300 delegates won in primaries by Clinton.

While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton would highlight persistent vulnerabilities within her own party. Sanders continues to attract tens of thousands to his rallies - drawing more than 17,000 in Seattle this week - and has collected more than $140 million from 2 million donors.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, before voters in Hawaii gathered for their caucuses, Sanders cast his wins Saturday as part of a Western comeback, citing recent victories in Utah and Idaho as a sign that his campaign still had a path to the nomination.

"We just won the state of Washington. That is what momentum is about," he said. "Don't let anybody tell you we can't win the nomination or we can't win the general election. We're going to do both of those things."

Most of his dozen primary-season wins have been in states with largely white populations and in caucus contests, which tend to attract the most active liberal Democrats. He's heavily favored by younger voters, who were a key part of the coalition that boosted President Obama to victory twice.

In Spokane, Washington, a huge line of caucus attendees snaked around a high school parking lot on Saturday morning.

"I think one of the biggest things is free tuition for students," said Savannah Dills, 24, a college student who supports Sanders. "And getting big money out of politics. He's not paid for by billionaires."

Retiree Dan McLay, 64, attended the caucus in a hard-hat, which he joked he needed because he was one of the relatively few Clinton supporters in the big crowd.

"Look at this thing in Brussels," McLay said, referring to the deadly bombings. "We need a real experienced leader."

For Sanders, turning passionate support into the party nomination has grown increasingly difficult.

Clinton had a delegate lead of 1,221 to 914 over Sanders going into Saturday's contests, according to a CBS News analysis, an advantage that expanded to 1,688-940 once the superdelegates, or party officials who can back either candidate, were included. The number needed to win the nomination is 2,383.

Sanders spent several days campaigning in Washington state and dispatched his wife, Jane, to Alaska and Hawaii. Clinton campaigned in Washington state for one day and did not send any high-profile supporters to either of the other two states.

Clinton has been looking past the primary contests and aiming at potential Republican challengers. In interviews, rallies and speeches this week, she largely focused on Tuesday's deadly attacks in Brussels, casting GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as unqualified to deal with complicated international threats.

Her campaign sees the April 19 contest in New York as an important one, not just because of the rich delegate prize but because losing to Sanders in a state she represented in the Senate would be a psychological blow. She hopes to lock up an even larger share of delegates in five Northeastern contests a week later.



“While Sanders faces a steep climb to the nomination, a string of losses for Clinton would highlight persistent vulnerabilities within her own party. Sanders continues to attract tens of thousands to his rallies - drawing more than 17,000 in Seattle this week - and has collected more than $140 million from 2 million donors. …. "We just won the state of Washington. That is what momentum is about," he said. "Don't let anybody tell you we can't win the nomination or we can't win the general election. We're going to do both of those things." …. Most of his dozen primary-season wins have been in states with largely white populations and in caucus contests, which tend to attract the most active liberal Democrats. …. Retiree Dan McLay, 64, attended the caucus in a hard-hat, which he joked he needed because he was one of the relatively few Clinton supporters in the big crowd. "Look at this thing in Brussels," McLay said, referring to the deadly bombings. "We need a real experienced leader." For Sanders, turning passionate support into the party nomination has grown increasingly difficult. …. Clinton has been looking past the primary contests and aiming at potential Republican challengers. In interviews, rallies and speeches this week, she largely focused on Tuesday's deadly attacks in Brussels, casting GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as unqualified to deal with complicated international threats.”


It's a long, hard race, but Sanders is making progress as yesterday’s wins show. A recent poll showed Sanders more likely to beat Cruz or Trump, and that’s important to me. 17,000 at one rally is a really yuge crowd, and is encouraging for his future! More importantly, it shows that both Hillary and Bernie, if the national election were held now, would beat the two Republican front runners.




http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-01-14/three-reasons-america-s-immigrants-bond-better

Three Reasons Immigrants in America Bond Better
By Therese Raphael
JAN 14, 2016 7:57 AM EST


The heated debate over immigration in Europe would benefit from a basic chemistry lesson: You can pour salt into water and produce the semblance of unity. But as chemists know, you have created nothing new that can't separate again. All you did was stir.

Successful integration of immigrants (whether refugees or economic migrants) also requires more than stirring. The two ingredients must form a new chemical compound. Ideally within a single generation, it should be difficult to differentiate between the experiences newcomers and natives have in terms of their employment rates, education and other measures.

Three simple gauges of integration suggest that while Europe keeps pouring in migrants, America -- which once defined itself by its ability to absorb the "wretched refuse of your teeming shore" -- still seems to be better at the real chemistry, allowing itself to be changed by immigration. Even a nation that succeeds at integration does so imperfectly, of course. Some populations take longer to settle. Refugees from Burma and Iraq, for example, do much worse than those from Russia or Iran. But policy makers and sociologists should be watching closely to understand what has made the U.S. so successful on a number of fronts.

Integration and Academic Scores. In July, the OECD published the first broad international comparison of how immigrants are faring across the OECD and the EU in five areas: employment, education and skills, social inclusion, civic engagement, and social cohesion. In the U.S., adjusting for socio-economic background, offspring of foreign-born parents do 26 percent better at 15 than those of second-generation (or longer) Americans.

In the EU as a whole, also adjusting for socio-economic background, children of foreign-born parents do 17 percent worse than their counterparts without a migration background -- and 32 percent worse if they themselves are foreign born.

Clearly time is a factor. School performance tends to improve the longer students reside in the host country, and many of Europe's new immigrants have simply not had the time to benefit.

Levels of Idleness: In the average EU country, one-third of working-age citizens who came from outside the EU are not in employment, education or training (so-called NEETs). The highest proportion of NEETs is largely in countries with the most rigid labor markets -- Belgium, France, Germany and Spain -- with the Nordics doing much better. Women are more marginalized than men among the foreign-born.

NEETs represent a problem for host countries as they are a burden on social services, a wasted resource, and a potential source of long-term unemployment and other ills. Among EU countries surveyed by the OECD, 19.1 percent of native-born offspring of foreign parents are NEETs, 4.2 percentage points higher than among native offspring of native parents.

In the U.S., there is only a 0.3 percentage point difference between NEETs with foreign-born parents and NEETs with native parents. In France, it is 9.1 percentage points and in Belgium 18.2 percentage points. The rates in Germany and Sweden are better -- 3.3 and 3.5 percentage points.

The difference in engagement with employment, education or training is really striking when you look at foreign-born migrants who arrived as adults. In the U.S., the difference with native-born Americans whose parents were also born in the U.S. is 6.5 percentage points. In Sweden the difference is 17.1 percentage points, in the Netherlands 22.9, in France 24.5 and in Germany 19.3.

In the EU, young people with migrant parents have a 50 percent greater youth unemployment rate than those with native-born parents. That is not true in the U.S., where the employment outcomes are similar between the two groups.

Perceptions of Acceptance by Immigrants. Here, data shows that in the U.S. and Canada, native-born residents with two foreign-born parents are much less likely to report being discriminated against than their counterparts in the EU are. This suggests that in the EU, those with immigrant backgrounds, even if they were born in the country, do not feel integrated.

Following mass sexual assaults on women in Cologne and other Germany [sic] cities on New Year's Eve, German attitudes toward immigration have hardened: Now 62 percent of Germans say the number of asylum-seekers is too high, up from just over half in November. Support for refugees had been dropping in Sweden well before claims this week that police covered up reports of sexual assaults on dozens of concert-goers in Stockholm last summer, an echo of similar attacks in 2014. If the declining support for immigrants in European countries translated into more discrimination that could slow integration, with damaging effects not just for immigrants but also the host society.

Even a nation that succeeds at integration does so imperfectly, of course. Some populations take longer to settle. In the U.S., more than half of refugees from Burma, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia had income levels below twice the poverty level in 2009 to 2011, while the attainment (educational and income) of Russians, Iranians and Vietnamese was on a par with or higher than those who were U.S.-born. But policy makers and sociologists should be watching closely to understand what has made the U.S. so successful on a number of fronts.

It's tempting to conclude that the problem in Europe is simply one of numbers -- too many, too fast. But studies have found no causal link between the proportion of immigrants in the population and how well they integrate.

If greater control over the number of immigrants has now become a political necessity even in Germany and Sweden, understanding the route to more effective integration is all the more imperative.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story:
Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Gray at philipgray@bloomberg.net



“Some populations take longer to settle. Refugees from Burma and Iraq, for example, do much worse than those from Russia or Iran. But policy makers and sociologists should be watching closely to understand what has made the U.S. so successful on a number of fronts. …. In the U.S., adjusting for socio-economic background, offspring of foreign-born parents do 26 percent better at 15 than those of second-generation (or longer) Americans. In the EU as a whole, also adjusting for socio-economic background, children of foreign-born parents do 17 percent worse than their counterparts without a migration background -- and 32 percent worse if they themselves are foreign born. …. Levels of Idleness: In the average EU country, one-third of working-age citizens who came from outside the EU are not in employment, education or training (so-called NEETs). The highest proportion of NEETs is largely in countries with the most rigid labor markets -- Belgium, France, Germany and Spain -- with the Nordics doing much better. Women are more marginalized than men among the foreign-born. …. . This suggests that in the EU, those with immigrant backgrounds, even if they were born in the country, do not feel integrated. …. Now 62 percent of Germans say the number of asylum-seekers is too high, up from just over half in November. Support for refugees had been dropping in Sweden well before claims this week that police covered up reports of sexual assaults on dozens of concert-goers in Stockholm last summer, an echo of similar attacks in 2014. …. In the U.S., more than half of refugees from Burma, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia had income levels below twice the poverty level in 2009 to 2011, while the attainment (educational and income) of Russians, Iranians and Vietnamese was on a par with or higher than those who were U.S.-born.”


“In the U.S., adjusting for socio-economic background, offspring of foreign-born parents do 26 percent better at 15 than those of second-generation (or longer) Americans. …. In the U.S., there is only a 0.3 percentage point difference between NEETs with foreign-born parents and NEETs with native parents. In France, it is 9.1 percentage points and in Belgium 18.2 percentage points. The rates in Germany and Sweden are better -- 3.3 and 3.5 percentage points.” I lifted those two statements for different reasons, as you will probably surmise.

One, I don’t want our native born Americans to do worse than foreign born. That’s partly competitiveness and partly worry at our lack of achievement by kids coming from American born parents. There can surely be no IQ differences, but I think there is a difference between the stress within the homes on academic achievement.

The second statement, which shows Belgium’s NEETS whose parents are foreign born, as being the most populous in Europe by quite a few percentage points. Belgium has recently emerged as a particularly dangerous nation for the percentage of young people with Jihadist sentiments, from assaulting women sexually to bombing public venues. One other thing not mentioned in this news article that seems important to me, would be a comparison of the amount of ghettoization within the various nations, including the US. In the US, I am thinking of blacks, especially. Anything that causes this lack of assimilation is a dangerous thing, especially White Supremacist views.

The only good news in this article is the fact that the US, despite our generalized Right Leaning prejudice against all minorities, whether religious, racial or ethnic, seems to be doing better than most of Europe. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have work to do, considering the Trump outrages of recent months, and his knee-jerk followers.

For a long, long history of American anti-immigrant laws, see this website -- “http://immigration.procon.org/view.timeline.php?timelineID=000023,
Historical Timeline: History of Legal and Illegal Immigration to the United States.” The earliest mention goes back to 1607. We ourselves, we mustn’t forget are immigrants. One of the most shocking category in this immigration article is the following: “Mar. 12, 1700 - Massachusetts Prohibits "Lame, Impotent, or Infirm Persons" from Entering.” There is also a drawing from 1660 of a Quaker woman being led to her execution down the street of the town with crowds of onlookers. For “Pros and cons” on other divisive and interesting issues, go the the procon website.



http://news.yahoo.com/wrong-number-trumps-tv-telephone-123044025.html?nf=1

Wrong number? Trump's TV telephone interviews in spotlight
Associated Press
By DAVID BAUDER
March 27, 2016 1 hour ago

NEW YORK (AP) — In television news, a telephone interview is typically frowned upon. Donald Trump's fondness for them is changing habits and causing consternation in newsrooms, while challenging political traditions.

Two organizations are circulating petitions to encourage Sunday morning political shows to hang up on Trump. Some prominent holdouts, like Fox's Chris Wallace, refuse to do on-air phoners.

Others argue that a phone interview is better than no interview at all

Except in news emergencies, producers usually avoid phoners because television is a visual medium — a face-to-face discussion between a newsmaker and questioner is preferable to a picture of an anchor listening to a disembodied voice.

It's easy to see why Trump likes them. There's no travel or TV makeup involved; if he wishes to, Trump can talk to Matt Lauer without changing out of his pajamas. They often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it's harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached.

Face-to-face interviews let viewers see a candidate physically react to a tough question and think on his feet, said Chris Licht, executive producer of "CBS This Morning." Sometimes that's as important as what is being said.

Trump tends to take over phone interviews and can get his message out with little challenge, Wallace said.

"The Sunday show, in the broadcast landscape, I feel is a gold standard for probing interviews," said Wallace, host of "Fox News Sunday." ''The idea that you would do a phone interview, not face-to-face or not by satellite, with a presidential candidate — I'd never seen it before, and I was quite frankly shocked that my competitors were doing it."

Since Trump announced his candidacy in June 2015, Wallace has conducted three in-person interviews with him on "Fox News Sunday," and four via satellite.

Chuck Todd, host of NBC's "Meet the Press," has done phoners with Trump but now said he's decided to stick to in-person interviews on his Sunday show. He's no absolutist, though.

"It's a much better viewer experience when it's in person," Todd said. "Satellite and phoners are a little harder, there's no doubt about it. But at the end of the day, you'll take something over nothing."

Morning news shows do phoners most frequently. At the outset of the campaign, Trump was ratings catnip. The ratings impact of a Trump interview has since settled down, but it's still hard to turn him down. He's the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination. He's news.

There appear to be no network policies; different shows on the same network have different philosophies. Licht has turned Trump down for phoners on CBS but concedes there may be exceptions for breaking news. "CBS This Morning," in fact, aired Trump commenting by phone following Tuesday's attack in Belgium.

Since the campaign began, Trump has appeared for 29 phone interviews on the five Sunday political panel shows, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America. Through last Sunday, ABC's "This Week" has done it 10 times, CBS' "Face the Nation" seven and six times each on "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union."

On Sunday, Trump phoned in an 11th time to "This Week," calling from Florida. The program repeatedly flashed a stock Trump photo while the candidate demanded an overhaul of NATO, blamed rival Ted Cruz for the bitter feud targeting each other's wife and complained about the Republican Party's delegate selection process.

None of the news shows have done phoners with Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, said Media Matters, which is urging that the practice be discontinued. Cruz and Clinton declined ABC's invitation to speak by phone or in person for the network's most recent Sunday program.

The activist group MomsRising said the disparity "sends the message that some candidates can play by different rules, without consequences, and that's just un-American." A study by mediaQuant and The New York Times estimated that Trump has received the equivalent of $1.9 billion in free advertising given the media attention paid to his campaign.

A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.

What's unclear is whether other candidates were denied opportunities given to Trump.

CNN chief executive Jeff Zucker said Trump opponents frequently turn down interview requests. During an appearance on CNN last week, former GOP candidate Carly Fiorina complained about media attention paid to Trump, leading Anderson Cooper to shoot back: "Donald Trump returned phone calls and was willing to do interviews, which was something your campaign, frankly, was unwilling to do."

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier tweeted last week that she saw Trump being interviewed via phone on "Fox & Friends" a day after Cruz was told that he couldn't do a phone interview with the show.

Fox said that since then, "Fox & Friends" has offered to conduct a phone interview with Cruz five times and has been turned down each time. Cruz did appear in the studio Wednesday. Frazier did not return requests for comment.

NBC's Todd believes that complaints about phoners are a surrogate for people who want to blame the media for Trump's success.

"You're shooting the messenger while you're ignoring what he is tapping into," he said. "It becomes a little silly when you look at the bigger picture here. The media is getting criticized for interviewing Donald Trump. If we weren't questioning him, we'd be criticized for not questioning him."

For years, cautious candidates have tended to be stingy with press access. Trump is the complete opposite. In a fast-moving information age, he may be changing the expectations for how often a candidate submits to interviews.

Todd doesn't believe it's a coincidence that he's had more access to Clinton during the past six weeks than he had during the six years she was in the Obama administration. Both Clinton and Cruz appeared in phone interviews following the Belgium attacks.

"Trump's opponents fall into two camps: Those who complain and continue to get crushed by the media wave, or those who grab a surfboard and try to ride it," said Mark McKinnon, veteran Republican political operative and co-host of Showtime's political road show, "The Circus."

Associated Press writer Stephen Braun in Washington contributed to this report.



“Two organizations are circulating petitions to encourage Sunday morning political shows to hang up on Trump. Some prominent holdouts, like Fox's Chris Wallace, refuse to do on-air phoners. Others argue that a phone interview is better than no interview at all. Except in news emergencies, producers usually avoid phoners because television is a visual medium …. often put an interviewer at a disadvantage, since it's harder to interrupt or ask follow-up questions, and impossible to tell if a subject is being coached. Face-to-face interviews let viewers see a candidate physically react to a tough question and think on his feet, said Chris Licht, executive producer of "CBS This Morning." Sometimes that's as important as what is being said. …. There appear to be no network policies; different shows on the same network have different philosophies. Licht has turned Trump down for phoners on CBS but concedes there may be exceptions for breaking news. "CBS This Morning," in fact, aired Trump commenting by phone following Tuesday's attack in Belgium. …. The activist group MomsRising said the disparity "sends the message that some candidates can play by different rules, without consequences, and that's just un-American." A study by mediaQuant and The New York Times estimated that Trump has received the equivalent of $1.9 billion in free advertising given the media attention paid to his campaign. …. Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier tweeted last week that she saw Trump being interviewed via phone on "Fox & Friends" a day after Cruz was told that he couldn't do a phone interview with the show. Fox said that since then, "Fox & Friends" has offered to conduct a phone interview with Cruz five times and has been turned down each time. Cruz did appear in the studio Wednesday. Frazier did not return requests for comment. …. For years, cautious candidates have tended to be stingy with press access. Trump is the complete opposite. In a fast-moving information age, he may be changing the expectations for how often a candidate submits to interviews. Todd doesn't believe it's a coincidence that he's had more access to Clinton during the past six weeks than he had during the six years she was in the Obama administration.”


I can think of one quick reason why Hillary may not have been as accessible to interview shows while she was active in the Obama administration. She wasn’t running for office, so she didn’t need to. If a trend of phone interviews is directly related to The Donald’s power, I am against it, and I agree with the argument that seeing face and body language is a basic part of why I want to watch TV news, so if I ever see one of those petitions on the Net, I’ll sign it.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/belgian-peace-march-canceled-but-right-wing-hits-streets/

Belgian riot police called after peace march canceled
CBS/AP
March 27, 2016, 9:40 AM

42 Photographs -- Right-wing demonstrators protest against the wave of terrorism in front of the old stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium. March 27. 2016. REUTERS/Yves Herman REUTERS/YVES HERMAN
Play VIDEO -- Allen Pizzey: DNA evidence links Brussels bombers to Paris attacks
Play VIDEO -- American victim describes Brussels airport bombing
Photograph -- 2016-03-27t130738z1831191163lr1ec3r10gf2zrtrmadp3belgium-blast.jpg
Right-wing demonstrators protest against terrorism in front of the old stock exchange in Brussels, Belgium. March 27. 2016. REUTERS/YVES HERMAN
Photograph -- 2016-03-22t170123z1963957033gf10000356012rtrmadp3belgium-blast.jpg, A soldier is seen at Zaventem airport after a blast occurred, in Belgium March 22, 2016. JEF VERSELE/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Counter-terrorism raids step up in Belgium


BRUSSELS - In a sign of the tensions in the Belgian capital and the way security services are stretched across the country, a planned "March Against Fear" in the city planned for Sunday was canceled at the interior minister's urging.

"We understand fully the emotions," Interior Minister Jan Jambon told reporters. "We understand that everyone wants to express these feelings."

But, he said, "we invite the citizens not to have this demonstration." Instead of a peace march, far right-wing demonstrators took to the streets of Brussels.

The BBC reports the self-described "fascists" tried to storm a central square in Brussels, where police beat them back with a water cannon. Photos quickly circulated after their arrival in the square of black-clad men trampling the makeshift memorial to victims of the terrorist attacks. The British news agency reports "the group confronted Muslim women in the crowds, made Nazi salutes and chanted."

White-helmeted riot police were involved in the attempt to control the right-wing protesters, which public broadcaster RTBF said numbered between 500 and 1,000.

Reuters reports Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned the demonstrations.

"It is highly inappropriate that protesters have disrupted the peaceful reflection at the Bourse (stock exchange)," he said according to Belga news agency.

The mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, claimed the crowd was from other towns, in particular Antwerp, who came to the capital to provoke peaceful mourners, according to Reuters.

Much like in France after the Paris attacks, public interest in fiery far-right nationalistic populism has exploded in popularity. Vocativ reports Facebook likes for Vlaams Belang, the right-wing populist party from Flanders, has surged more than 3,000 percent.

Meanwhile, Belgium's government sought to contain criticism of its handling of the Brussels attacks on Sunday but acknowledged that neglect over decades had caused deficiencies that have hampered an effective response to violent extremism.

Jambon said the government has invested 600 million euros ($670 million) into police and security services over the past two years but said its antiquated justice system and security services were still lagging behind.

Jambon, whose offer to resign on Thursday was declined by the prime minister, said errors were made prior to the March 22 suicide bombing attacks in Brussels that killed at least 31 people and wounded 270 others.

But, speaking on the VRT network, Jambon said hiring anti-terror specialists and specialized equipment does not happen in weeks or months and insisted that new investments need time before they become visible to the public.

As international pressure on Belgium mounted for serving as an unwitting rear-base for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist fighters who launched the Nov. 13 massacres that left 130 dead in Paris, the government has been forced to defend its choices and the actions of investigators. Lawmakers, meanwhile, are demanding an inquiry.

Belgian police and the army have been deployed, sometimes around the clock, at major buildings and sites in the capital in increasing numbers since November, when Brussels went into lockdown over fears that top Paris suspect Salah Abdeslam had returned and was hiding there.

As it turned out, Abdeslam did return, but police did not find and arrest him until March 18, four days before suspects from his network exploded suicide bombs in Brussels.

Belgian investigators have been slammed for not questioning Abdeslam long enough or hard enough after he was shot in the leg during his arrest. Police have also been criticized for taking too long to get to Zaventem airport on Tuesday morning after two suicide bombers blew themselves up there - and left an even bigger third suitcase full of explosives.

"There have been errors," Jambon said Sunday, when questioned by VRT television about his offer to resign.

Jambon and Justice Minister Keen Goens were grilled by lawmakers Friday over how authorities failed to arrest suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui before he blew himself in the packed departure hall at Brussels Airport.

Turkey has said that Bakraoui - whose brother Khalid was the suicide bomber at the Maelbeek subway station on Tuesday - was caught near Turkey's border with Syria in 2015 and Ankara had warned Brussels and the Netherlands that he was "a foreign terrorist fighter." Belgian authorities said they did not know he was suspected of terror-related activities until after he was deported to the Netherlands.

Jambon also said the Brussels subway network had been told to shut off services 20 minutes before the attack in the city's Maelbeek subway station - close to European Union headquarters and the U.S. embassy. He did not fully explain why it was not closed in time, raising more questions about the efficiency of Belgium's security services.

"It serves no purpose looking for polemics, considering the circumstances," Jambon said.

On Sunday, Italian police in the southern city of Salerno said they had arrested an Algerian wanted in Belgium for an alleged false ID crime ring facilitating illegal migration linked to the attacks in Paris.

In the center of Brussels, a "march against fear" planned for Sunday was cancelled after Jambon asked people to stay away since police were too stretched to provide security and were needed for the ongoing investigations into the Brussels attacks.

Instead on early Sunday, numerous members of the Vlaams Belang party, whose primary position is seeking independence for Flanders, the Flemish speaking portion of Belgium, took to the streets outside the old stock exchance in Brussels.

After the Paris attacks, Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Front made large electoral gains in France after having spent years staking out a position that plays on fears of terrorism and immigration.

At the Maelbeek subway station, messages of sadness, solidarity and grief left for victims of the bomb attack there were being collected for storage in the Belgian capital's archives.

The messages were being laid out Sunday on absorbent paper to dry after overnight rain and carefully stacked for transport. Those that can't be taken for safekeeping were being photographed.

"We are trying to collect as many documents we can find and they will be preserved," promised head archivist Frederic Boquet.

Marina Queralt, who often walks with her dog by the Maelbeek station, said the public response to the attacks has been spontaneous and focused on peace.

"Every morning, every afternoon, (the site) was packed with people who wanted just one thing: that people stop killing each other," she said.


“But, he said, "we invite the citizens not to have this demonstration." Instead of a peace march, far right-wing demonstrators took to the streets of Brussels. The BBC reports the self-described "fascists" tried to storm a central square in Brussels, where police beat them back with a water cannon. Photos quickly circulated after their arrival in the square of black-clad men trampling the makeshift memorial to victims of the terrorist attacks. The British news agency reports "the group confronted Muslim women in the crowds, made Nazi salutes and chanted." …. "It is highly inappropriate that protesters have disrupted the peaceful reflection at the Bourse (stock exchange)," he said according to Belga news agency. The mayor of Brussels, Yvan Mayeur, claimed the crowd was from other towns, in particular Antwerp, who came to the capital to provoke peaceful mourners, according to Reuters. …. On Sunday, Italian police in the southern city of Salerno said they had arrested an Algerian wanted in Belgium for an alleged false ID crime ring facilitating illegal migration linked to the attacks in Paris. In the center of Brussels, a "march against fear" planned for Sunday was cancelled after Jambon asked people to stay away since police were too stretched to provide security and were needed for the ongoing investigations into the Brussels attacks.”


Sad, sad, sad. Nazi salutes haven’t died out even after so many decades. Even more shocking was the video of members of Donald Trump’s audience doing the same thing. He asked them for a “pledge” that they will vote for him, and that’s what they did. They can only have been told to do that for so many hands to be in the air at once, or they are members of one of our US American Nazi groups. There are more than one.