Reader’s links for October 22 – 2016

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

53 Replies to “Reader’s links for October 22 – 2016”

  1. Cyber attacks disrupt PayPal, Twitter, other sites

    (Reuters) – Hackers unleashed a complex attack on the internet through common devices like webcams and digital recorders and cut access to some of the world’s best known websites on Friday, a stunning breach of global internet stability.

    The attacks struck Twitter, Paypal, Spotify and other customers of an infrastructure company in New Hampshire called Dyn, which acts as a switchboard for internet traffic.

    The attackers used hundreds of thousands of internet-connected devices that had previously been infected with a malicious code that allowed them to cause outages that began in the Eastern United States and then spread to other parts of the country and Europe.

    “The complexity of the attacks is what’s making it very challenging for us,” said Dyn’s chief strategy officer, Kyle York. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said they were investigating.

    The disruptions come at a time of unprecedented fears about the cyber threat in the United States, where hackers have breached political organizations and election agencies.

    http://www.oann.com/attacks-on-web-provider-disrupt-sites-on-u-s-east-coast/

  2. Please read this entire article, it is about your rights and how the government(s) violate them. While she is talking about the US it applies equally to all other nations.

    The ‘implicit bias’ idea violates your rights
    By J.E. Dyer October 21, 2016

    It’s been a while since we had a Liberty 101 discussion. This one won’t be that long.

    In the second debate, Hillary Clinton alluded to the new/hot buzz-expression, “implicit bias,” as something certain Americans need to attack in themselves. She didn’t lay out any policy prescriptions for that. But bringing it up as a public problem, in the realm of electoral politics – or governmental politics of any kind – inherently means that policy is envisioned.

    So it is necessary to point out that the idea of hunting down “implicit bias” violates your right to liberty.

    You will fail to keep your republic, however (or get it back), if you argue this the wrong way. It’s not about your right to think thoughts. It’s about how that right places limits on what others can do to you.

    Recall what the meaning of a “right” is, for the purpose of government protection or enforcement. An unalienable right is one that other people are not allowed to deny to you. That means they don’t get to plan, plot, and execute ways to circumscribe your rights, or punish you for exercising them. Enforcing rights is inherently about limiting what people can do to infringe the rights of others.

    In this dynamic, the main infringer is not your neighbor. It’s the armed state.

    If you can get that straight in your head, you can move forward in understanding liberty. Until you get it straight, you’ll be at kindergarten level.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/10/21/implicit-bias-idea-violates-rights/

  3. DNC official who incited violence at Trump rallies met privately with Obama 42 times
    By Rusty Weiss October 22, 2016

    A top DNC official who was fired after video surfaced of his role in masterminding staged and paid violence at Trump rallies visited the White House 342 times in the past several years. At least 42 of those visits were directly with Barack Obama.

    Official records reveal Bob Creamer, the man exposed as being behind a tactic called “bird-dogging” in which homeless people, the elderly, and mentally ill individuals were paid to start violence at Trump rallies, was a frequent White House guest.ime with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

    Via Weasel Zippers:

    In the video where Democratic operatives talk about how to conduct mass voter fraud, Scott Foval describes Creamer … as the ‘black hat’ guy who has taught him so much. Creamer also shows up on another video which covers inciting violence at Trump rallies. Creamer states on video that [Hillary] Clinton is aware of his work, and that his firm, Democracy Partners, has a daily telephone call with the Clinton campaign to coordinate.

    Now comes questions about whether Obama was also “aware of his work.” This past summer, the president was highly critical of violent protesters at Trump rallies, scolding:

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/10/22/dnc-official-who-incited-violence-at-trump-rallies-met-privately-with-obama-42-times/

    • “Unlike explicit bias (which reflects the attitudes or beliefs that one endorses at a conscious level), implicit bias is the bias in judgment and/or behavior that results from subtle cognitive processes (e.g., implicit attitudes and implicit stereotypes) that often operate at a level below conscious awareness…”
      https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ncsc.org/IBFAQs&ved=0ahUKEwiayODT2u_PAhUkCZoKHZYNAUEQFggdMAE&usg=AFQjCNEyUuELPKkaPa9ukHxVp9k5fddOYQ&sig2=sKuyUpvUc50NIpdFOZujGQ

      When a political class creates the legalislation that enshrines in perpetuity that some preferential victim-groups are more equal than others, implicit bias becomes of government social-behavioral interest as explicit bias now remains hidden among the quislings, qu’raners and cameras.

      Bill Cosby in 2008:
      “From Birmingham to Cleveland and Baltimore, at churches and colleges, Cosby has been telling thousands of black Americans that racism in America is omnipresent but that it can’t be an excuse to stop striving. As Cosby sees it, the antidote to racism is not rallies, protests, or pleas, but strong families and communities. Instead of focusing on some abstract notion of equality, he argues, blacks need to cleanse their culture, embrace personal responsibility, and reclaim the traditions that fortified them in the past. Driving Cosby’s tough talk about values and responsibility is a vision starkly different from Martin Luther King’s gauzy, all-inclusive dream: it’s an America of competing powers, and a black America that is no longer content to be the weakest of the lot”
      http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/05/-this-is-how-we-lost-to-the-white-man/306774/

      Is it my implicit bias that not many years after this he got Trumped? A man in the tv and film business where they drug, play at sex and sodomize each other routinely and inconsequentially as Charlie Sheen – because they’re sick of playing cute dumb smucks for factory and shift workers?

      Coming out, is a progressive and dangerous thing.

      • You are probably right I hadn’t thought through the Cosby situation enough to realize the timing of the events. It doesn’t take much for the left to remove their protection from individuals and then the rest see what happened and are afraid to leave the fold.

  4. Woman arrested after vandalizing cars she believed were parked outside pro-Trump rally
    By Ben Bowles October 21, 2016

    When Barack Obama hypocritically called on Americans in 2011 to introduce more civility into their political discourse, he neglected to offer specifics. Maybe if he had, Christina Ferguson — an avid supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton — might have thought better of vandalizing 30 cars parked outside what she believed was a pro-Donald Trump rally by smearing them with peanut butter.

    It turns out the cars Ferguson defaced belonged to members of a local environmental organization who were meeting inside the Amherst Junction, Wisc., town hall.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/10/21/woman-arrested-vandalizing-cars-believed-parked-outside-pro-trump-rally/

    • When the Dems are talking about rigged elections for office they are normally complaining about being prevented from stealing them.

  5. WikiLeaks: Hillary got $12 million donation to Clinton Foundation as quid pro quo for Morocco meeting

    Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arranged a $12 million donation from Moroccan King Mohammed VI to her family’s charity in 2014 in return for the Clinton Global Initiative hosting its international meeting in the North African Muslim nation, according to an email made public Thursday by Wikileaks.

    The Moroccan monarch’s funds went to the Clinton Foundation’s endowment and to CGI. The Jan. 18, 2015, email was included in Wikileaks’ latest batch of communications to and from Clinton’s presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta.

    The email from Huma Abedin, Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department, was addressed to Podesta and campaign manager Robby Mook. Hillary Clinton was a director of the foundation at the time.

    Singapore and Hong Kong officials reportedly were also vying to convene the CGI meeting in their countries, but the North African nation ultimately hosted it in a five-star hotel in Marrakesh in 2015. Abedin told Podesta and Mook that Morocco was not CGI’s “first choice.”

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/10/21/wikileaks-hillary-got-12-million-donation-clinton-foundation-quid-pro-quo-morocco-meeting/

  6. Iraqi PM declines Turkish offer to help in Mosul after meeting Carter

    […]”I know that the Turks want to participate, we tell them thank you, this is something the Iraqis will handle,” Abadi told reporters traveling with Carter. “If help is needed, we will ask for it from Turkey or from other regional countries.”

    […]By the tone of Abadi’s comments on Oct. 22, that appeared unlikely anytime soon

    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/iraqi-pm-declines-turkish-offer-to-help-in-mosul-after-meeting-carter.aspx?pageID=238&nID=105245&NewsCatID=352

    • Turkey prepared to “take measures” in Iraq, PM Yildirim says

      Turkey is prepared to “take measures” in Iraq because it is not satisfied by promises from Washington and Baghdad that Kurdish militants and Shi’ite militias will not take part in current fighting, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday.

      Yildirim, speaking to a group of reporters, also said Turkey could not remain idle over the situation in Iraq, given its 350-km (220-mile) border with the country.

      “Turkey can never remain idle against massacres, potential refugee waves and clashes along its border, and it will take action if necessary,” he said, in comments broadcast live on television.

      “We have made every preparation to take our measures because the promises given by the United States and Iraq about the PKK and Shi’ite militias not being part of operations has not satisfied us yet.”

      http://news.trust.org/item/20161022193136-t9yc6

      • They are afraid that Iran is gaining too much land and power, this fight for control of Islam will never end as long as Islam lasts.

  7. Red Alert! Protestant Couple “Security Threat” to Turkey!

    by Burak Bekdil

    Over the past several years Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pressured Greece to construct a mosque in Athens. He has criticized the country which boasts the only European capital without a mosque. He does not hide his passion for mosques worldwide.

    In 2015 Erdogan proposed the construction of a mosque in secular, Communist-ruled Cuba. Also in 2015, he went to Moscow for the inauguration of the biggest mosque in the Russian capital.

    Earlier this year Erdogan pleasantly announced his presence at the opening of the biggest mosque in Amsterdam. The mosque is called “Hagia Sophia,” named after a Greek Orthodox Christian basilica built in 537 AD in Constantinople, reflecting the typical Muslim extremist obsession with “conquest.” Recently Erdogan has also been eyeing Iraq.

    As recently as April, Erdogan attended the opening ceremony of a culture center and mosque in Maryland, United States. The complex, the only one in the United States to feature two minarets, was constructed in the style of 16th century Ottoman architecture, with a central dome, half domes and cupolas, echoing Istanbul’s Suleymaniye Mosque. At the ceremony, Erdogan said: “Unfortunately, we are going through a rough time all around the world. Intolerance towards Muslims is on the rise not only here in the United States but also around the globe.” Intolerance toward Muslims?

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9136/turkey-protestants

  8. Breaking! British Politician says Russia has NOTHING to do with the DNC Email Leaks!

    Former British Ambassador Craig Murray is an ally and friend of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and he visited Assange in the Ecuadorian Embassy on Wednesday to discuss his ongoing plight. What Murray learned could have a huge impact on the 2016 election, if the American people are allowed to hear it.

    One of the main media arguments for people not to give credence to the hacked DNC, Clinton emails is that this is a deliberate attempt by Vladimir Putin and Russia to impact our electoral process. The narrative goes something like this; ‘Russia illegally hacked the DNC and are now trying to steal the election from Clinton. So Republicans shouldn’t use the ill-gotten information, the media shouldn’t report on it, and the American people shouldn’t pay attention to it. In that way, we’ll be standing up to the tinpot dictator Putin.’ The only problem with this is that it means we should all completely ignore the criminality and corruption at the DNC and in the Clinton campaign team! It’s a stupid argument, but it’s become so prevalent that even some conservatives are parroting it.

    video at site

    http://constitution.com/british-politician-says-russia-nothing-dnc-email-leaks/

    • The idea of a patriot in the Dems leaking the info or someone trying to remove several layers of people above them so they can gain more power makes more sense then Russia hacking the servers and then leaking the data.

  9. Belgian shopping mall evacuated as three gunmen rob jewelry store

    A Belgian shopping center was evacuated on Saturday after three masked robbers, armed with at least one Kalashnikov rifle, burst into a jewelry store in Chatelineau, 50 km (35 miles) south of Brussels, police said.

    Police escorted dozens of shoppers out of the Cora mall, some of whom confused the sound of glass jewelry display cases being smashed with that of gunfire, police commissioner Eric De Brabander said.

    No shots were fired and no one was injured in the heist, he added. The robbers escaped.

    Earlier, Mayor Daniel Vanderlick told the local RTL News that gunshots had been fired with a Kalashnikov.

    There was no suggestion from police that the incident had Islamist militant links. Suicide attacks claimed by Islamic State killed 32 people in Brussels in March.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-belgium-gunman-idUSKCN12M07V

    • If the robbers escaped and police do not know who they are, how do police know that the robbery has not connection with Islamists?

      • Do these people realize that imposing such a zone would cause a shooting war between Russia and All of the allies fighting in Iraq and Syria?

  10. Wikileaks: Podesta’s Daughter Received His Shares in Putin-Linked Company

    An email uncovered in the Wikileaks hacks reveals that Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s “75,000 common shares” — obtained from his membership on the executive board of an energy company, Joule Unlimited, which received millions from a Putin-connected Russian government fund — were transferred to his daughter, Megan Rouse.

    “Full transfer request, with Megan’s signature attached,” Podesta’s assistant Eryn Sepp wrote to him.

    A January 3, 2014 letter revealed that Podesta designated his daughter’s Dublin, California residence as the address for Leonidio Holdings LLC, the Delaware-based holding company that Podesta used to transfer his shares in Russian-related Joule Global Holdings.

    Rouse is listed as “managing member” of Leonidio Holdings LLC, according to financial documents.

    Podesta’s membership on the board of directors of Joule Unlimited was first revealed in research from Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large and Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/10/20/wikileaks-bombshell-john-podestas-daughter-received-75000-shares-putin-connected-energy-company/

  11. Doha News – Qatar officials spend lavishly on Obamas in 2015

    Two gold-plated mechanical birds worth US$110,000 each, six porcelain plates with hand-painted designs in 24-carat gold and a wooden music box worth $17,720 were among the gifts given to the Obamas last year by Qatar’s ruling family.

    The presents were detailed in a list published by the US State Department last week that outlined the generosity of foreign governments across the world in 2015.

    http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/263401.pdf

    By law, US government officials are not allowed to keep gifts given to them by foreign government representatives.

    But according to the disclosure, they accept some offerings to “avoid embarrassment to the donor and the US government.”

    These must be turned over to the country’s National Archives or other official body.
    The Obamas

    Qatar spent more than $303,224 on 39 gifts to US leaders last year, almost double the $170,000 of presents purchased in 2014.

    The most expensive items – the set of gold-plated birds – were given to US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle by Qatar’s Emir in November.

    That same month, the first lady also received an elaborate music box from Sheikha Moza during her first official visit to Qatar.

    Michelle Obama was in town to speak at Qatar Foundation‘s World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) and promote her initiative Let Girls Learn.

    Other gifts

    Qatar officials also presented Gucci scarves, silk rugs, luxury watches and other items to US lawmakers.

    As in the past, senior members of the US Armed Forces and Department of Defense received several gifts, reflecting the two countries’ deep security relationship.

    According to AP, the country’s gifts were only second in cost only to Saudi Arabia.

    Its king gave President Obama some $523,000 in items. They included a gem-encrusted horse sculpture, a chronometer, a set of golf clubs and a golf bag.

    Meanwhile, the Emir of Kuwait gave Obama a $42,000 silver-coated resin sculpture of camels. And Bahrain’s Crown Prince sent a $10,000 sterling silver sphere that opens to display a clock under a magnifying glass.

    http://dohanews.co/qatar-officials-spend-lavishly-on-obamas-in-2015/

  12. DAILY MAIL – A religious revolt in the heart of Christendom: Thousands of Muslims protest outside the iconic Colosseum in Rome after small mosques are shut down by the authorities to avoid youngsters becoming radicalised

    Hundreds gathered near Rome’s Colosseum to protest the closures of mosques and other places of worship
    An imam led the group in chants of ‘Allah Akbar’ which means ‘God is great,’ as they kneeled to the ground
    Muslim places of worship in Rome have been branded illegal by authorities for various building violations
    Protest was organised by the Bangladeshi group, Dhuumcatu, who now want Rome City Hall to intervene

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3862276/Thousands-Muslims-protest-outside-Colosseum-Rome-small-mosques-shut-authorities-avoid-youngsters-radicalised.html

  13. jihad watch – Turkey appoints permanent imam for Hagia Sophia; will lead five daily prayers

    “Observers are warning about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly neo-Ottoman stance and disregard for secular prerogatives.”

    Indeed, and this new appointment essentially completes the motion of making the Hagia Sophia into a functioning mosque again. European Union officials ought to see this for what it is: a decisive rejection of any pretense of dealing with the Christian or post-Christian West on a mutually respectful basis. Erdogan is an Islamic supremacist and is pursuing an openly supremacist imperative. European officials who are still pushing for Turkey’s entry into the EU, as well as the ongoing phenomenon of massive Muslim immigration into the West, should consider Erdogan’s actions carefully. But they almost certainly won’t.

    ===========

    A few months after a controversial decision by Turkish authorities to allow readings from the Quran to be broadcast from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, reports on Friday said Turkey had decided to appoint a permanent imam for the venue.

    According to the Anadolu state news agency, the country’s religious affairs directorate and the mufti of the Fatih district have agreed to assign a permanent imam who will lead five daily prayers, instead of the current two.

    While the position was foreseen in the plans of 1935, when Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque under Kemal Ataturk, until recently prayers were led by visiting imams.

    There had been no official reaction from Athens by late Friday.

    Built as a Christian basilica in the 6th century, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque following the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman army in 1453.

    In June, readings were held at Hagia Sophia for the first time in 80 years – a move seen by critics as a violation of the monument’s formally neutral status. The move drew protests from the Greek Foreign Ministry.

    Observers are warning about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly neo-Ottoman stance and disregard for secular prerogatives.

    Last month, the Turkish strongman attacked the 1923 Lausanne Treaty that defined the borders of modern Turkey.

    Meanwhile, in a sign of rising tension in the Aegean Sea, a Greek military frigate was yesterday sent to international waters east of Karpathos and south of Rhodes after a Turkish frigate approached a Greek survey vessel in the area….

    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/10/turkey-appoints-permanent-imam-for-hagia-sophia-will-lead-five-daily-prayers

  14. Via GodLikeProductions:
    Several hundred policemen took to the streets of France, from Paris to Bordeaux, for the fifth night in a row to complain about the unbearable working conditions and fatigue caused by an 11-month state of emergency, saying they’re stretched to the limit.

    Policemen got together in front of the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris singing La Marseillaise, the country’s national anthem, while applauding every police siren passing nearby. The officers complain that they are not even well enough equipped to defend themselves and are calling for Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve’s resignation, Le Parisien reported.

    “We’re asked to do things that have nothing to do with police work, like guarding theaters and synagogues and churches. It’s becoming unbearable; we can’t do it all,” Nathalie, a 12-year veteran of the police force who asked that her last name not be disclosed, told CBC.

    “If somebody dials 17 [France’s 911], there aren’t any cars around to respond. Misdemeanors, felonies… we don’t have time for that anymore,” another anonymous policeman said.

    Raw AP Video: French Police HOld Protest in Paris 0:58

    RT Video: Citoyens avec la police » : cinquième nuit consécutive de mobilisation de policiers à Paris

    Ruptly: France: Police protest in Paris for second day…

    • She is trying to hang on until after the election so if she can’t be sworn in Tim Kaine will become President. The problem is that he is as radical as she is if not more radical.

  15. Rasmussen Poll: Most Voters Say Clinton Should Have Been Indicted

    Breaking News at Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/rasmussen-poll-hillary-clinton-indicted/2016/10/21/id/754771/#ixzz4Nr3k65kZ
    Urgent: Do You Back Trump or Hillary? Vote Here Now!

    Most voters say that Hillary Clinton should have been indicted over her mishandling of classified information when she was secretary of state, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/most_still_say_clinton_should_have_been_indicted

    Most voters still disagree with the FBI’s decision not to seek a criminal indictment of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her mishandling of classified information when she was secretary of State, and even more rate the issue as important to their vote.

    A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters agree with the FBI’s decision not to indict Clinton after it concluded that she potentially exposed top secret information to hostile countries when she used a private e-mail server as secretary of State. But 53% disagree and believe the FBI should have sought a criminal indictment against her. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

  16. Just 5.7 Percent Of Clinton Foundation Budget Actually Went To Charitable Grants

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/16/just-5-7-percent-of-clinton-foundation-budget-actually-went-to-charity/#ixzz4Nr5jJ9hm

    Just 5.7 percent of the Clinton Foundation’s massive 2014 budget actually went to charitable grants, according to the tax-exempt organization’s IRS filings. The rest went to salaries and employee benefits, fundraising and “other expenses.”

    The Clinton Foundation spent a hair under $91.3 million in 2014, the organization’s IRS filings show. But less than $5.2 million of that went to charitable grants.

    That number pales in comparison to the $34.8 million the foundation spent on salaries, compensation and employee benefits.

    Another $50.4 million was marked as “other expenses,” while the remaining almost $851K was marked as “professional fundraising expenses.”

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/16/just-5-7-percent-of-clinton-foundation-budget-actually-went-to-charity/#ixzz4Nr5vS6i4

    http://dailycaller.com/2016/09/16/just-5-7-percent-of-clinton-foundation-budget-actually-went-to-charity/

  17. Hundreds protest Swedish asylum laws (thelocal, Oct 22, 2016)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20161022/hundreds-stage-protest-against-swedish-asylum-laws

    “Hundreds of people on Saturday demonstrated in Stockholm and in many other parts of the country to protest Sweden’s tough new laws on asylum-seekers.

    At least 1,000 people, some of whom had marched some 30 kilometres, on Saturday gathered in the centre of the Swedish capital to protest the laws, which among other things require asylum-seeking minors to prove their age.

    Protests were also being staged in 14 other Swedish cities and towns, including Umeå, Karlstad and Jönköping, Swedish news agency TT reported.

    The demonstrations were organised by a network called #Vi star inte ut (We can’t stand it) which demands the end to forced deportations and more humane asylum rules, especially when it comes to a migrant return deal struck with Afghanistan.

    The new temporary laws came into force on July 20 after Sweden, which has a population of around 10 million and has previously been viewed as one of the most generous migrant intake countries in Europe, last year took in 160,000 asylum seekers.

    The laws are supposed to be in place for a maximum of three years in order to bring the number of people seeking asylum in the country down – all the while the Sweden works to improve the capacity of its intake system.

    The key changes made to the Swedish laws on asylum included the introduction of a three-year residence permit for those granted protection in Sweden, instead of the former rule of granting permanent permits. The right to family member immigration for various types of immigrants was also limited.”

  18. Quran Exposition opens in Washington DC (moroccoworldnews, Oct 22, 2016)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/10/199572/quran-exposition-opens-washington-dc/

    “The Freer Sackler Museum in Washington D.C. is opening the first exhibition centered on the Quran in the United States in an effort to improve the image of Islam in the country.

    The series of events organized by Freer Sackler, a museum of Asian art, begins October 22 and runs through February 22, 2017 at Arthur M. Sackler Gallery venue, and will exhibit Qurans and Quranic manuscripts written between the 7th and 17th centuries.

    The manuscripts, whose dazzling designs reminisce about the Islamic civilization’s artistic merit, were owned by rich and powerful Muslim leaders and were entrusted to Freer Sackler Museum, for the most part, by the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul.

    The exhibition, dubbed the Art of the Qur’an, will host numerous activities, including Quranic recitations, presentations and talks by the exhibition curators, discovery tours around the Islamic Calligraphy Art, artistic performances, and so forth.

    “We are first an art museum, so the angle of approach is more of a presentation on how the Koran has taken the form of a book and how the arts of calligraphy and illumination have developed around the book,” said the Assistant Curator of the exhibition, Simon Rettig, in an interview with France Press Agency (AFP).

    Massumeh Farhad, the exhibition Curator, said in a press conference on October 20 that the museum has strived to put side by side various types of manuscripts from different parts of the Muslim world.

    Farhad explained that the duplication of the same Quranic copy has put hindrances in front the creative process that has marked the Islamic Calligraphy:

    “Today when you look Qur’ans, they all look the same, a printed copy of standard size. What is remarkable here are the size, scale, and writing. Especially when you consider that the Qur’an is the same text copied again and again and again.”

    The opening of the exhibition will coincide with election season in the US, which the organizers regard as an opportune period to wash away the negative associations linked to Islam throughout the election campaign.

    “Now it is true that the exhibition opened at the time of the election, with a strong polarization of public discourse around Islam […] our mission is to promote and disseminate knowledge, it opens at a time appropriate to allow the American public to have a different image of Islam,” explained Simon Rettig.”

  19. Egypt court rejects final appeal by Morsi in Ittihadiya clashes case (ahram, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/246348/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-court-rejects-final-appeal-by-Morsi-in-Ittih.aspx

    This is the first case against Morsi where the ousted president has exhausted all appeals.

    Egypt’s Court of Cassation rejected on Saturday an appeal by ousted president Mohamed Morsi against a 20-year prison sentence in the Ittihadiya clashes case, exhausting Morsi’s appeals in the case.
    The ousted president is being tried in a number of cases, including cases where he has been sentenced to death. He is currently appealing all sentences but this is the first case where he has exhausted all appeals.

    The court also confirmed the 20-year sentence against eight of the Muslim Brotherhood group and Morsi’s staff, as well as a 10-year sentence against two.

    In April 2015, a Cairo court sentenced Morsi to 20 years in jail for inciting violence that led to the death of 10 people in clashes outside the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace on 5 December 2012.”

  20. High-ranking army officer shot dead in Cairo (ahram, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/246344/Egypt/Politics-/Highranking-army-officer-shot-dead-in-Cairo.aspx

    “An Egyptian military brigadier general was shot dead on Saturday in front of his house on the outskirts of Cairo, Ahram Arabic website reported, quoting his wife.

    Gunmen opened fire on Adel Rajaei, an armoured division commander in Dahshur, south of Cairo.

    The wife said that a military funeral will be held today after evening prayers at El-Mosheer Tantawy Mosque in New Cairo.

    The brigadier general had previously been deployed in North Sinai, where the army is fighting Islamist insurgency.

    Authorities have not yet released any official statement on the attack.”

  21. Sisi orders ‘increased security at vital facilities’ after murder of army officer (ahram, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/246364/Egypt/Politics-/Sisi-orders-increased-security-at-vital-facilities.aspx

    “Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ordered on Saturday “increased security at vital facilities” after a high-ranking army officer was shot dead on the outskirts of Cairo earlier in the day.

    During a meeting with top government officials led by the prime minister, El-Sisi said that Egypt would not forget the “sacrifices made by the martyrs of the nation from the Armed Forces and police,” presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

    Earlier on Saturday, Egyptian military Brigadier General Adel Rajaei, an armoured division commander in Dahshur, was shot dead by unknown assailants in front of his house on the outskirts of Cairo.

    On Friday, Egypt’s army said it killed 21 militants in North Sinai as part of its intensified anti-terror efforts after an October militant attack that killed 12 army soldiers and injured six others.

    Egyptian forces have in recent years been battling a prolonged Islamist insurgency based in parts of the northern Sinai region.”

  22. PKK, YPG, ISIL targets hit by Turkey: Army (hurriyetdailynews, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/pkk-ypg-isil-targets-hit-by-turkey-army-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=105241&NewsCatID=341

    “The Turkish army hit 70 outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) and 52 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) targets in the past 24 hours as part of Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, the military said on Oct. 22.

    At least two ISIL militants were killed and a vehicle destroyed in an airstrike carried out by U.S.-led coalition forces, the Turkish General Staff said.

    The statement said five Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters were wounded during an opposition forces’ offensive to retake two villages in the Mare district, northwest of Al-Bab.

    The PYD, meanwhile, attacked FSA fighters in south of Jarabulus city, killing two people, the statement added.”

  23. French cheer police, reviving Charlie spirit (gulfnews, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/europe/france/french-cheer-police-reviving-charlie-spirit-1.1916942

    “Angry French police have taken to the streets for five nights in a row — and Parisians have started to cheer them on, reviving scenes last seen following the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015.

    The frustrated officers want reinforcements and stiffer penalties after a string of attacks on law enforcement, as the issue of safety feeds into France’s looming presidential race.

    And the fifth night on Friday saw people applaud them, recalling the night in January 2015 when some four million people marched through Paris in a show of solidarity against terrorism.

    Police wore orange armbands, as they walked along the Rue de Rivoli lit up by the headlights of cars halted by their demonstration, rallying from City Hall to the Place de la Bastille.

    “We’ve had enough!” they shouted, calling for more resources and tougher penalties for those who attack police, 13 days after four of their colleagues were attacked in Viry-Chatillon, south of Paris.

    Encouraging car horns or bicycle bells mix with foghorns and whistles blown by the protesting officers, in their civilian clothes.

    Gone midnight, revellers poured out of bars onto the pavements — to raise a glass to the demonstrating police, and cheer them on.

    “Bravo!” comes from a window up above. Those protesting look up and applaud them back.
    The opening notes of the Marseillaise strike up from a cafe terrace, and everyone joins in with the French national anthem.

    The scenes are reminiscent of the mass march on January 11 last year, a few days after the deadly attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and hostage-taking at a Jewish supermarket.
    Nearly four million people took to the streets of Paris to show their defiance in the face of terrorism, and voice support for police and security forces on the front-line in protecting the public.

    Twenty-one months later, the list of police complaints is long, covering everything from an ever-increasing workload, bureaucracy, outdated equipment and what is seen as lenient sentencing for violence against officers.

    The frustration has been building for some time, fed by long-standing problems of criminality in the country’s rundown suburbs but boosted by the sense of insecurity in France.

    The spark for this week’s demonstrations, organised by the rank-and-file rather than union leaders, was several petrol bombs thrown at officers in a known trouble spot outside Paris on October 8.
    “The people with us!” and “The people support angry police,” chanted the protesting officers on Friday, visibly moved by the demonstrations of support and sympathy for their cause.

    The crowds applauded every police van, every blue flashing light and every siren. Motorists rolled down their windows to thank them, some flashing a V for victory sign.

    Not everyone agreed: at one point two young men shouted at the police using crude language. They were surrounded by a group of officers and there was a brief altercation, before a policeman took to a megaphone, saying “Keep clam, be professional.”

    “I was surprised to see lots of people supporting us … I thought there would be more signs of hostility,” said one 25-year-old officer who declined to give his name. “People have really understood what has been happening. They’ve seen what isn’t working with our public services.”

    Arriving at the Place de la Bastille, the protesters stayed together for a short time before dispersing to have a last drink and sing the Marseillaise once more.”

  24. Pakistan scolds India for scuttling diplomatic efforts (tribune, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1206144/key-note-address-pakistan-scolds-india-scuttling-diplomatic-efforts/

    “Pakistan deeply regrets Indian designs to scuttle all diplomatic efforts for dialogue, said Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Jalil Abbas Jilani. The ambassador was delivering a key-note address at the World Affairs Council, a Washington-based think-tank.

    He also lambasted at the Indian plans to use water as a weapon against the Pakistani people and termed it as a flagrant violation of international treaty obligations.

    Jilani called on the US and the international community to help resolve the Kashmir dispute. He also urged them not to allow New Delhi to distract world from the atrocities in the disputed valley.

    Ambassador Jilani said, “peace and stability in South Asia will not be possible without resolving underlying disputes, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir being the core dispute; measures for nuclear and missile restraint; and balance with regard to conventional arms.

    The envoy further said, “Pakistan’s proposal for a strategic restraint is based on three inter-locking elements,” drawing the attention towards Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region.

    On the issue of Kashmir, the Jilani said that that Kashmir as a nuclear flashpoint must not be underestimated. “The international community and the US in particular need to play a role in seeking a peaceful settlement of Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

    He added that the recent indigenous uprising in Kashmir bears testimony to the aspiration of Kashmiri people in seeking what the international community had promised but not delivered. The Ambassador also shed light on the recent visit of PM’s envoys visit to Washington to share Pakistan’s perspective, on the grave human rights situation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir, with the US.”

  25. REVEALED: Migrants impersonate ISIS fighters and hail executions at reception centres (express, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/724040/Radical-migrants-impersonate-ISIS-fighters-hail-executions-reception-centres

    “FEARS of imminent lone wolf attacks in Europe have been sparked after it was revealed migrants at reception centres are impersonating ISIS fighters and hailing execution videos.

    A shocking report said each week at least one asylum-seeker is suspected of being radicalised by the death cult, which expected to lash out as it faces defeat in the middle east.

    In November last year, Denmark’s Immigration Minister demanded reception centres report all migrants displaying worrying behaviour.

    More than 50 residents have been reported in less than 11 months, and the cases include adults watching and hailing ISIS execution videos and children beheading teddy bears…”

    • “…it was revealed migrants at reception centres are impersonating ISIS fighters and hailing execution videos.”

      Impersonating ISIS fighters and hailing execution videos = instant deportation (or worse).

      In a sane world, the death penalty might be imposed upon these ingrates. After all, such murderous individuals probably wish nothing less upon their (suicidally) gracious hosts.

      “Everyone who supports ISIS, please raise your hands.”

      [Rapid fire gunshots]

  26. CALAIS AT WAR: police resort to tear gas at stone-throwing migrants (express, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/724167/CALAIS-police-resort-to-tear-gas-at-stone-throwing-migrants

    “FRENCH police have fired tear gas at migrants who have been throwing stones at them as authorities prepare to dismantle the Calais Jungle Camp.

    The migrants threw tear gas canisters at the French police in the notorious jungle camp.

    French authorities will demolish the notorious jungle camp, which houses between 7,000 and 10,000 people, starting on Monday.

    Saturday night saw the arrival of 54 migrants, mainly from Eritrea, to Croydon in South London.

    Aid groups and charities do not believe that the closure of the camp will help to solve the migrant issue itself and further camps will develop across northern France.

    Bulldozers will be used to take down the camp in an operation, which will last five days…”

  27. Barbaric ISIS brutally kills 250 children in dough kneader and burns others alive in oven (express, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/723942/ISIS-kills-250-children-dough-kneader-burns-men-alive-oven-Syria-Open-Doors-report

    “ISIS terrorists put 250 children through a dough kneader and killed six men by burning them alive in an oven, according to a shocking new report.

    The sick jihadis killed children, the eldest was just four years old, in an industrial dough kneader in the Syrian town of Duma.

    In a chilling testimony, one Syrian woman spoke of “Christians being killed and tortured, and of children being beheaded in front of their parents.”

    Speaking to Dr Yvette Isaac, from advocacy charity Roads to Success, Alice Assaf said: “Our neighbour came in and said: ‘Umm Issa, they have taken many girls about 300 girls. They were taken to Duma. Many of them were Christians and few were Alawites.

    “At the bakery, there were six young people who were working there. We knew them. They were burned in the oven, six well-framed men.

    “Then there were 250 children. They were put in the dough mixer, they were kneaded. The oldest one of them was four-years-old.”

    As well as dealing with ISIS, Duma has been the site of bloodshed and violence as the city has found itself at the heart of the Syrian civil war.

    The brutal killings were highlighted by Congleton MP Fiona Bruce before Parliament.

    Recounting Dr Isaac’s testimony, Mrs Bruce said: “She showed us recent film footage of herself talking with mothers–more than one– who had seen their own children crucified.

    “She told us of a mother with a two-month-old baby. When Daesh knocked at the front door of her house and ordered the entire family out, she pleaded with them to let her collect her child from another room.

    “They told her, ‘No. Go. It is ours now.’”

    The horrific killings comes as ISIS continues to wipe out Christians in the Middle East, targeting believers in Iraq and Syria.

    The report, by charity Open Doors UK, found Christians in the region have been taken hostage, church leaders assassinated, homes and businesses destroyed and women and girls raped and forced into sexual slavery.

    ISIS terrorists took the Christian town of al-Qaryatain, Syria in August 2015, trapping the town’s 300 Christians and murdering 20 who tried to escape.

    Christians returning to the town, which has been liberated by rebel forces, have found their homes and businesses reduced to rubble and landmines left by ISIS littering the town.

    Before 2011, Syrian Christians numbered about eight per cent of the population of 22million.

    Today about half are believed to have left the country.

    A spokeswoman from Open Doors UK said: “Horrific stories such as these are sadly all too familiar to those who have encountered Daesh.

    “Open Doors local partners in Syria and Iraq are providing trauma counselling to help victims of abuse begin to heal following their terrible experiences, as well as providing practical support.””

  28. Migrant DIES after being TOLD to jump from window (express, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/724130/Migrant-DIES-TOLD-jump-window-Germany

    “A GROUP of people in Germany told a migrant to jump from a window from the fifth floor of a block of flats and then filmed his death.

    The 17-year-old from Somalia was already sitting on the window when police arrived at the scene.

    Despite the police’s best efforts, the man jumped from the window and then died due to his serious injuries.

    The authorities discovered that the young man was having psychiatric treatment in a clinic in Stadtroda in East Germany…”

  29. ‘Child’ migrants only challenged on age if they look OVER 25 – official policy (express, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/724082/Child-migrants-only-challenged-on-age-if-they-look-OVER-25

    “Home Office staff are being told to adopt a “Challenge 25” style policy over young refugees coming to Britain, amid claims hundreds of adult migrants are posing as children to try get into the UK from France.

    With the so-called Jungle camp in Calais set to be demolished, the Government has agreed to accept a number of displaced children left homeless by the closure.

    But after the first group of migrants arrived in Britain, speculation grew over the true ages of some of the new arrivals, with some appearing to look significantly older than teenagers.

    MP David Davies suggested their ages should be checked using radiographs on their teeth – but the British Dental Association said it was “vigorously opposed” to the method of assessment, labelling such a move inappropriate.

    The Home Office also ruled out dental checks as being “too intrusive”, although similar checks are carried out in France and the US.

    A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We do not use dental x-rays to confirm the ages of those seeking asylum in the UK. The British Dental Association has described them as inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical.”

    Instead, the Home Office has adopted a policy similar to the rules over the selling of alcohol – only challenging those who appear over 25 to prove their actual age.

    The new memo comes after Home Office figures revealed almost 5,000 asylum seekers who had arrived in the UK in the past decade claiming to be children were in fact adults.

    In that time, there had been 11,121 cases where a refugee’s age had been called into question, and in 4,828 of those the ‘child’ had been found to be an adult.”

  30. UN Official: Deporting Extremist Migrants Contravenes Refugee Convention (breitbart, Oct 22, 2016)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/10/22/un-official-deporting-extremist-migrants-contravenes-refugee-convention/

    “British laws allowing for the deportation of migrants who exhibit “extremist behaviour” may contravene a United Nations convention on refugees rights, the general assembly of that body is to hear.

    In a speech slamming national governments for their reticence over open borders, the UN official responsible for reporting on counter-terrorism, Ben Emmerson QC, is set to single out the UK for setting restrictions on taking in migrants who may be a threat, a policy which he says stokes public fears of terrorism, The Guardian has reported.

    Specifically, he will slam a Home Office report, Asylum Policy Instruction: Revocation of Refugee Status, published earlier this year, which states: “Extremist behaviour: where there is any evidence that a refugee or their dependents have engaged in unacceptable behaviours (whether in the UK or abroad) considered not conducive to the public good or has acted in a way which undermines British values, their status must be reviewed [and referred to the special cases unit].”

    It also notes that: “Although there is no requirement to formally respond to representations from [the UN high commissioner for refugees] caseworkers must take their comments into account as part of the decision on whether to proceed with revocation and provide UNHCR with a copy of the final decision.”

    Emmerson, who has been the UN’s special rapporteur on “protecting human rights while countering terrorism” since 2011, will tell colleagues: “The United Kingdom, as just one example here, has enacted legislation allowing for the review and revocation of refugee status if a person is thought to have exhibited extremist behaviour, or if their dependents have acted in a manner inconsistent with British values.

    “Legislation of this kind, with the vagaries that are necessarily entailed in such generalised definitions, runs a risk of falling short of the requirements of the 1951 refugee convention.”

    Broadening his criticism to European nations at large, he will continue: “The link between displacement of people from their homes and risks to national security in the countries in which they seek refuge has been irresponsibly and misleadingly overblown in many states, with the refugee crisis being used to stoke public fears of terrorism.”

    A public fear which he says is unfounded, as he claims that there is little to no link between terrorism and migrant flows across Europe.

    “There is almost no evidence that terrorist groups take advantage of refugee flows to carry out acts of terrorism, or that refugees are somehow more prone to radicalisation than others. These claims are analytically and statistically unfounded,” he will say…”

  31. Erdogan: Turkey did not ‘willingly’ accept its borders

    Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Saturday that his country’s current borders were not redrawn of Turkish people’s own accord.

    Speaking to a public gathering in the western city of Bursa, Erdogan pointed out that Turkey’s borders diminished from 20 million square kilometers to 780 thousand, reported private-owned Dogan news agency.

    Erdogan was referring to Ottoman Empire’s territorial evolution that is marked with losses particularly after the 17th century.

    “Young people, look. The Republic [of Turkey] is not our first, but last state. Let me say that we have not accepted these borders willingly. Lest be forgotten, even some of the territories the founding cadres of the Republic were born in were left out of the borders of our new state,” said the Turkish President.

    Turkey’s founder and first President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was born in the Greek city of Thessaloniki which was then still under Ottoman rule.

    “We might have had to say ‘yes’ to [the news borders] so as to compose ourselves and breath a little with the influence of long-lived wars and continuous losses, but we are against the design of the state and society based on the sacrifice given in the controversial circumstances of the time. It is time to leave this behind,” continued Erdogan.

    Turkish President’s remarks were in a rebuke to the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) which has criticized Erdogan’s invocations of lost Ottoman territories.

    Ataturk’s CHP was the ruling and founding party of the new Turkish Republic that agreed to its modern borders and gave up parts of the Middle East, Balkans and Caucasus in the peace Treaty of Lausanne signed in 1923 between Turkey and the allied France, Britain, Italy and Greece.

    Erdogan once again cited the late Ottoman document “Misaki Milli” (National Oath) that claimed the Iraqi city of Mosul as Turkish soil in order to give grounds for his insistence on Turkey’s participation in the ongoing operation to capture the city from the Islamic State (IS) group.

    “Kirkuk and Mosul were ours in the past. Look at history,”
    concluded Erdogan who went on promising not to allow “a terror corridor” in northern Syria where the United States-backed Kurds have set up a self-declared autonomous region after driving the IS from the area.

    http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/9952b099-be91-4728-960f-f50314943786/erdogan–turkey-did-not–willingly–accept-its-borders

    • He has laid the ground work to move back into Europe and retake the Balkens and Hungry, as the worlds situation deteriorates and the invading army comes out of hiding he will move north and west.