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Kenyan police kill ‘four terror suspects’ in Malindi (BBC, Jan 20, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35365304
“Four terror suspects in Kenya have been killed during a dawn raid on a safe house in the coastal town of Malindi, police in the East African nation say.
The officers recovered arms, ammunition and a map of the area detailing future targets for attack, regional police commissioner Nelson Marwa said.
Suleiman Awadh, on Kenya’s most-wanted list, was among those killed, he said.
The Somalia-based al-Shabab Islamist militant group has launched a number of deadly high-profile attacks in Kenya…”
French government set to extend state of emergency (france24, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.france24.com/en/20160121-french-government-extend-state-emergency-paris-attacks
“The French government is likely to extend the controversial three-month state of emergency, which was put in place after jihadist attacks in Paris on November 13.
The state of emergency is due to expire on February 26. It has been criticised by United Nations rights experts for imposing “excessive and disproportionate” restrictions on key rights.
“The executive has not taken its decision but will take it in the coming days,” said the statement from the presidency.
To extend the state of emergency the president will need a green light from parliament. But the proposal seems to have unanimous support across the political spectrum…”
Police foil bomb attack at bus station in Peshawar (tribune, Jan 21, 2016)
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1031688/police-foil-bomb-attack-at-bus-station-in-peshawar/
“Police said they caught a man planting a bomb at a crowded bus station in Peshawar Thursday, a day after Taliban gunmen attacked a nearby university, leaving 21 people dead.
“We caught a man planting a bomb at Peshawar Bus Stand,” senior police official Rokhan Zeb told AFP.
A bomb disposal team safely defused it, he said, adding that some 2,000 people were near the bus stand when the device was found….”
US forces in Afghanistan can now target loyalists of ISIS terror group (khaama, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.khaama.com/us-forces-in-afghanistan-can-now-target-loyalists-of-isis-terror-group-0026
“The U.S. defense officials have said the Obama administration has granted the U.S. forces new authority to target the loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan.
The strikes on ISIS loyalists would be carried out based on the new rules of engagement approved by the Obama administration last week, permitting the U.S. commanders in Afghanistan launch airstrikes against militants affiliated with the Islamic State, in the same way that the military targets fighters linked to al-Qaida.
A defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Washington Post, the new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan.”
The U.S. military was able to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan in three circumstances under the previous rules, which included strikes to protect foreign forces, to help Afghan troops ward off an enemy onslaught, and to target al-Qaida and affiliated militants.
Another U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the U.S. military has struck militants identified with the Islamic State in Afghanistan in the past, but those strikes were launched on the basis of the fighters’ “hostile intentions” rather than their affiliation with the group’s Afghan organization.
The new rules were first reported by the Wall Street Journal…”
Taliban issue new warning to media after suicide attack on journalists (khaama, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.khaama.com/afghan-taliban-issue-new-warning-to-media-4502
“Claiming responsibility for the attack on the shuttle bus of Kaboora Production, a sister entity to TOLO TV, in which seven employees of the production lost lives and more than 20 others sustained injuries, Afghan Taliban have issued a new warning to media.
“We assure security to true media. They unknowingly should not go parallel with Tolo and refrain from useless expressions and decisions. If not, they won’t harm us.” States a statement released by the militant group after the attack.
They had warned attacks on Tolo as well as another Kabul-based TV “1TV” in October last year.
“Tolo and 1 TV channels are spearheads among these propaganda networks tasked with promoting the intellectual, cultural and information invasion of the infidels in Afghanistan. These networks with the complete backing of the Americans ridicule our religious and cultural norms, encourage obscenity and lewdness, inject the minds of youth with dangerous substances such as irreligiousness, immorality, violence, gambling, intermixing and profanity and specifically spread propaganda filled with hate and open enmity against Jihad and Mujahideen.” The group wrote in October statement.
“Hereafter all the reporters and associates of these channels will be deemed enemy personnel, all of their centers, offices and dispatched teams will be considered military objectives which will be directly eliminated.””
Another group of Daesh recruiters busted in Nangarhar (khaama, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.khaama.com/another-group-of-daesh-recruiters-busted-in-nangarhar-4501
“Police have busted another group of Daesh recruiters in eastern Nangarhar province.
Spokesperson for the police headquarters of Nangarhar said in a statement on Wednesday that the four recruiters were arrested during a special raid in Buland Ghar area of Behsood District.
They are identified as Abdul Jalil alias Omar, Saif-ul-Islam, Zahidullah AKA Taiba, all residents of Behsood District, and Nasir who is a resident of Kama District.
According to Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal’s statement, the group was also involved in other terrorist activities besides recruiting fighters for Daesh.
The arrested terrorists have confessed to their crimes and currently under further investigation…”
Family of Paris massacre jihadi sues French police claiming SHE was the victim of the attacks that killed 130
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3409970/Family-Paris-massacre-jihadi-sues-French-police-claiming-victim-attacks-killed-130.html#ixzz3xsc5nXT8
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Muslim accused of killing four people in a protest against US foreign policy was an ‘ISIS supporter who was on a federal terrorism watch list’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3409751/ISIS-supporter-accused-murder-spree-two-states-killing-four-people-protest-against-foreign-policy-federal-terrorism-watch-list.html#ixzz3xskg7yGb
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
‘Be funny, make eye contact but don’t stare’: Belgian government gives asylum seekers a guide on how to FLIRT with Westerners
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3408653/Be-funny-make-eye-contact-don-t-stare-Belgian-government-gives-asylum-seekers-guide-FLIRT-Westerners.html#ixzz3xsqSOc5l
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Denmark considers moving migrants to camps outside cities (reuters, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-denmark-idUSKCN0UZ1MK
“Denmark is considering moving migrants into camps outside its towns and cities, a tactic that the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) hopes will shift the focus of government immigration policy to repatriation rather than integration.
Denmark has been widely criticized in the past month for proposals to tighten immigration laws including using refugees’ valuables to pay for their stay and postponing family reunification to three years.
Led by the anti-immigration, eurosceptic DF party, parliament passed the resolution, which will force the government to come up with a proposal by March to build state-backed “villages” to replace housing in cities and towns.
Some tent camps have already been set up for single male refugees to give migrant families priority in cities.
The refugee debate is hot in Denmark, which took in a record 20,000 refugees last year, with a poll showing 70 percent of voters see it as the most important issue on the political agenda, according to the daily paper Berlingske.
A separate poll showed 37 percent disagreed with giving more residence permits to refugees, compared with about 20 percent in September.
Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen traveled to Geneva on Thursday to explain his government’s policy to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council during the organization’s regular review of the human rights situation in the country.
The Danish government has also been summoned before the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee of the EU parliament on Monday to defend its reforms.
Parliament held a second debate on Thursday on the proposals to tighten immigration rules and takes a final vote on Jan. 26.
Referring to those proposals, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia, said Gauri van Gulik, said: “The international community must call Denmark out as it enters a race to the bottom”.
“Denmark was one of the first champions of the Refugee Convention, but its government is now brazenly creating blocks to the well-being and safety of refugee families.”
The seven-month-old government, which initially opposed the measure, has just 34 out of 179 seats in parliament and depends on the support of parties to the right of center, including the Danish People’s Party.”
Belgium detains two further suspects over Paris attacks (reuters, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-attacks-belgium-idUSKCN0UZ10M
“Belgium has arrested two more men suspected of links to the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 in which 130 people were killed, the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.
The men, identified as Belgian national Zakaria J., born in 1986 and Moroccan national Mustafa E., born in 1981, were arrested during two house searches on Wednesday and Thursday morning in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, prosecutors said.
“Both were arrested due to their possible ties with different suspects in this case,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “The Investigating Judge will decide later today upon their possible further detention.”
No arms or explosives were found during the searches, it added…”
U.S. offers Turkey technology to block Islamic State at Syria border (reuters, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-turkey-border-idUSKCN0UZ0S1
“The United States is accelerating efforts to help Turkey clamp down on its border with Syria, senior U.S. officials said, and for the first time will offer technologies to Ankara to help it secure the frontier.
Washington and Ankara have been discussing for months how to seal the last piece of unsecured border, a 98-kilometer-long (60 mile-long) stretch that has served as a thruway for Islamic State fighters, black-market goods and war materiel…”
Seehofer says Germany must control its borders if EU can’t
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany must control its borders to stem the inflow of asylum seekers if the European Union is unable to secure the bloc’s external frontiers, the leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Bavarian allies said on Thursday.
“If things carry on like this, we will have more refugees this year than last year,” said Horst Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), adding that if family members then followed another three million refugees or more could arrive.
“That is (then) a different country. And the people don’t want Germany, or Bavaria, to become a different country,” added Seehofer, whose CSU is part of Merkel’s coalition government.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley and Paul Carrel; Editing by Joseph Nasr)
http://www.oann.com/seehofer-says-germany-must-control-its-borders-if-eu-cant/
Air strikes hit Yemeni oil storage facilities, five killed workers (reuters, Jan 21, 2016)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security-idUSKCN0UZ0P0
“Air strikes by Saudi-led forces hit oil storage facilities at Yemen’s Ras Isa port on the Red Sea on Thursday, killing at least five people, oil workers said.
They said the attack targeted a facility used to load tanker trucks with refined products for domestic distribution. The area was on fire and at least five people were killed, the workers said. The number of casualties was expected to rise, they said.
Ras Isa is Yemen’s main oil export terminal but no shipments have been leaving since the Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen in March last year to shore up President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against his Iran-allied Houthi enemies…”
Denmark considers moving migrants to camps outside cities
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark is considering moving migrants into camps outside its towns and cities, a tactic that the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party (DF) hopes will shift the focus of government immigration policy to repatriation rather than integration.
Denmark has been widely criticized in the past month for proposals to tighten immigration laws including using refugees’ valuables to pay for their stay and postponing family reunification to three years.
Led by the anti-immigration, eurosceptic DF party, parliament passed the resolution, which will force the government to come up with a proposal by March to build state-backed “villages” to replace housing in cities and towns.
Some tent camps have already been set up for single male refugees to give migrant families priority in cities.
http://www.oann.com/denmark-considers-moving-migrants-to-camps-outside-cities/
Arab, Kurdish forces to get more support to fight Islamic State: Hollande
PARIS (Reuters) – Arab and Kurdish forces will be given additional support to help retake Islamic State’s bastions in Syria and Iraq, French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday, adding that 2016 had to be the year of transition in Syria.
Speaking at an annual gathering of about 200 foreign and French ambassadors, Hollande outlined his foreign policy objectives for the year, saying France would not shirk its responsibilities in fighting militancy after two deadly attacks marked his country last year.
“France is not the enemy of any people, religion or civilization” he said. “But it has one adversary: Jihadist terrorism claims to follow a god only to ridicule the name and follows only the path of destruction.”
http://www.oann.com/arab-kurdish-forces-to-get-more-support-to-fight-islamic-state-hollande/
Air strikes hit Yemeni oil storage facilities, five killed: workers
CAIRO (Reuters) – Air strikes by Saudi-led forces hit oil storage facilities at Yemen’s Ras Isa port on the Red Sea on Thursday, killing at least five people, oil workers said.
They said the attack targeted a facility used to load tanker trucks with refined products for domestic distribution. The area was on fire and at least five people were killed, the workers said. The number of casualties was expected to rise, they said.
Ras Isa is Yemen’s main oil export terminal but no shipments have been leaving since the Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen in March last year to shore up President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against his Iran-allied Houthi enemies.
http://www.oann.com/militants-attack-near-libyas-ras-lanuf-oil-terminal-sources/
Europe has two months to address refugee crisis, EU at risk: Swedish PM
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – European countries have roughly two months to agree a common approach to the refugee crisis or the European Union will be at risk, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lofven was asked about remarks from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying Europe must get a grip on the refugee influx in the next six to eight weeks.
“Yes I think it is in that ballpark,” Lofven replied. “We know that probably when spring comes the number of refugees will increase again.”
“I’m not naive,” he added. “When we discuss this my argument to those countries that are not willing to accept refugees is that if we can’t handle this the European Union is at risk. If we cannot do it there is a risk to Schengen.”
http://www.oann.com/europe-has-two-months-to-address-refugee-crisis-eu-at-risk-swedish-pm/
China offers financial, political support to Egypt ahead of uprising anniversary
January 21, 2016
CAIRO (Reuters) – China signed a raft of economic deals with Egypt during a visit by President Xi Jinping on Thursday, including $1.7 billion in loans to the banking sector, and said it supports Egypt’s efforts to maintain stability and set its own course.
Xi arrived in Egypt on Wednesday, the second leg of a Middle East tour, just ahead of the Jan. 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — who last month warned critics not to hold protests to mark the anniversary — Xi said China and Egypt had developed a deep friendship based on mutual respect.
“What path a country or people chooses cannot be separated from historical and cultural traditions or the reality of economic development and should be set and orderly advanced by the country or people themselves,” Xi said, according to China’s foreign ministry
http://www.oann.com/chinas-xi-offers-support-to-egypt-ahead-of-uprising-anniversary/
Taiwan says China drills days after election ‘very bad news’
TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Taiwan expressed serious concern on Thursday over a Chinese state media broadcast of military live fire exercises and landing drills, just days after a landslide election win by an independence-leaning opposition party in Taiwan.
Taiwan’s defense ministry confirmed China’s military recently carried out “winter exercises”, but said that the pictures that accompanied the broadcast were archive video clips spliced together of drills conducted in 2015.
“It exaggerates false reporting,” the island’s defense ministry said on its website.
China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.
Late on Wednesday, Chinese state television said the 31st Group Army, based in China’s southeastern city of Xiamen, opposite Taiwan, had carried out the drills in “recent days”.
http://www.oann.com/taiwan-says-china-drills-days-after-election-very-bad-news/
Brexit vote about the safety and security of British women – UKIP Leader Nigel Farage
Border Checks: Vienna deploys army, limits asylum program
Germany: Potsdam PEGIDA rally met by 1000-strong counter demo
A large police presence came out to patrol a 300-strong PEGIDA rally in Potsdam on Wednesday, vastly outnumbered by over 1000 counter-demonstrators.
Anti-PEGDIA protesters, organised under the banner of “Potsdam Shows Its Colors”, were kept behind police barriers as PEGIDA members marched around the Brandenburg capital. The evening finished without reports of violent altercations or arrests.
Germany has experienced a wave of Islamophobic and anti-migrant violence in recent months, as the country emerges as the main destination for refugees fleeing conflict zones in Syria and elsewhere.
France: Police carry out arrests at Calais refugee camp
Qatar school pulls Snow White book for being ‘inappropriate’
A private school in Qatar has removed a copy of the children’s fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from its library after a parent complained that the illustrations in it were indecent.
Qatar’s Supreme Education Council ordered the move after investigating concerns made by an unnamed parent of a student at SEK International School in Dafna on social media.
The parent had said the Penguin edition of the classic Disney story contained culturally “inappropriate” images, the school told Doha News.
The head teacher of the privately-run Spanish school has apologized for what she said was an “unintended situation.”
In a statement to Doha News, Principal Vivian Arif said:
“The school took immediate action and removed the book from the library and has revised and enforced the procedures to ensure that this type of incident will not happen again.
SEK International School Qatar is proud to be established in this country and presents its formal apologies for any offence that this unintended situation may have caused.”
The school opened just over two years ago, and has in place procedures for staff to ensure “the laws, traditions and ethics of the Qatari community” are followed, she said.
“We deeply respect the culture of Qatar, we are committed to the promotion of its values and principles, and we will keep on working so that our school is always a reference for its commitment and service to the people of Qatar,” Arif added.
The book is an abridged, early-readers’ version of the story, according to details on an international, online book store.
The school did not give further detail on what the offending images were, but the front cover of the book shows the princess and the prince in each other’s arms.
In the story, the princess is woken by a kiss from the prince, after she eats a poisoned apple and falls into a comatose state.
Public displays of affection such as kissing and hugging with members of the opposite sex are considered culturally inappropriate in Qatar.
‘Indecent images’
This week, Al Sharq, which first covered the story, reported that the father who raised the complaint was “flabbergasted” at the illustrations in the book, which were described as “inappropriate,” “indecent” and “containing illustrations and phrases that have sexual innuendoes.”
The newspaper also reported that the book was being taught in the classroom, but director of the SEC’s Private Schools Office said this was incorrect.
Speaking to Doha News, Hamad Mohammed Al Ghali Al Marri said that the book was stocked in the school’s library for free-reading.
“Like all western fairy tales, you know they always have a bit of romance,” Al Marri said.
He added that the incident was “not out of the ordinary,” saying the school was cooperative when approached regarding the subject and immediately withdrew the book.
All schools in Qatar are required to follow SEC-issued regulations detailing which books and learning materials are permitted and culturally appropriate.
Al Marri said the school was reminded of its need to follow the rules and warned that such incidents cannot be repeated and will not be tolerated.
These guidelines are very clear and stipulate thatno school material can be in conflict with Islamic values and Qatari norms, Al Marri added.
While the SEC is responsible for regulating schools’ literature, all books sold in shops in Qatar are vetted by the state’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.
Al Marri said the Snow White book was on sale in several bookshops in the country, although did not say which. “Perhaps it needs to be banned from shops too,” he added.
Online anger
This week, the SEC has tweeted excerpts of the school’s apology in response to a discussion launched by Qatari journalist and TV presenter Hassan Al Sai.
This is not the first time Qatar has grappled with questions of cultural appropriateness.
Films are regularly censored here to cut out kissing and other scenes of intimacy, and pictures of women in bikinis or showing cleavage in magazines are blacked out before they go on sale.
http://dohanews.co/qatar-school-pulls-snow-white-book-for-being-inappropriate/
http://www.mosdospress.com/fiction_collection.php
Sounds like a business oppty for
T U N I S I A – clashes
Kent State Professor Under Investigation for Link to ISIS
Shockingly, Julio Pino, a convert to Islam, is still teaching two classes this semester despite the investigation and his known extremism
Julio Pino, an associate history professor at the Ohio-based Kent State University is under investigation for possible links to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). Pino, who has a documented history of extremism, reportedly posted ISIS propaganda pictures on social media and may have been recruiting students for the terrorist group.
Shockingly, Pino is still teaching two classes this semester despite the investigation and his known extremism. Over 20 students have been interviewed and the investigation has been going on for about a year and a half. He has taught there since 1992 and converted to Islam in 2000.
In an interview after the news broke, Pino said he has not broken the law or encouraged anyone else to break the law. He said his freedom of speech should be respected and denied being under investigation or suspicion. When asked if he would say he’s a supporter of the Islamic State, he replied, “No, I would not say that.”
But his apparent Facebook page tells a different story.
http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/kent-state-professor-under-investigation-link-isis
Christian Persecution in 2015 at ‘Levels Akin to Ethnic Cleansing’
Persecution of Christians is on the rise, with 2015 the most violent year in modern history for Christians.
Persecution of Christians is on the rise, with 2015 the most violent year in modern history for members of the faith. That is the conclusion of a new report by Open Doors USA, a non-profit group that has been monitoring Christian persecution worldwide since 1955.
The group says last year persecution of Christians reached “a level akin to ethnic cleansing,”
The report notes, “Islamic extremism remains by far the most common driver of persecution: in eight out of the top 10, and 35 out of the top 50 countries, it is the primary cause. A rise in Islamic extremism sees Pakistan at its highest position ever, and Libya entering the top ten for the first time.”
Worldwide, the report notes, according to conservative estimates and excluding North Korea, Syria and Iraq (where records do not exist), over 7,000 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons in this past year – a rise of almost 3,000 from the previous year.
Close to 2,400 churches were attacked or damaged – over double the number for last year.
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/christian-persecution-2015-levels-akin-ethnic-cleansing
UK Muslim School Fails Inspection Over Pro-Stoning Books
The school in East London school had three books in its library which supported stoning people to death and gender inequality.
A Muslim school in the UK failed governmental inspections after textbooks endorsing death by stoning and gender inequality were found in the school library, according to The Daily Mail.
Three books which “undermine the active promotion of the rule of British law and respect for other people” were reportedly found by the inspectors at Jamiatul Ummah School in East London. The school is a fee-paying, all-boys secondary school.
The books were said to “promote inequality of women and punishments, including stoning to death, which are illegal in Britain and which do not reflect the school’s ethos and integration” by the official Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) report.
An audit of “outdated, irrelevant or unsuitable material” has now been put in place by the school principal.
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/muslim-faith-school-fails-inspection-over-pro-stoning-books
Six Men Charged in UK’s Rochdale Sexual-Exploitation Case
The men were charged as part of an ongoing investigation into child sexual exploitation by predominantly Pakistani gangs near Manchester.
Six men were charged in the Rochdale borough of Greater Manchester, UK, for sexual offences including rape. The charges were made as part of an ongoing investigation into sexual trafficking and exploitation by Pakistani gangs in Rochdale.
The investigation has been ongoing since 2011, when a series of arrests were made and a national scandal developed.
“For more than a decade, child protection experts have identified a repeated pattern of sex offending in towns and cities across northern England and the Midlands involving groups of older men who groom and abuse vulnerable girls aged 11 to 16 after befriending them on the street,” The Times wrote in January 2011. “Most of the victims were white and most of the offenders were of Pakistani heritage.”
Similar cases have been seen in other parts of the UK, including Rotherham and Oxford.
Leaders of the Hindu and Sikh community in the UK said lessons “must be learnt” from the grooming scandals. They compared the sexual grooming scandals to the street attacks in Cologne and other parts of Europe.
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/uk-six-men-charged-rochdale-sexual-exploitation-case
NY Man Allegedly Threatens to Kill Cop, Vows Support for ISIS
While the entire NYPD force was put on alert, the suspect, Marcus Shelton, 36, surrendered to a parole officer Wednesday, January 20.
After the January shooting of a Philadelphia police officer at point blank range, New York City police took seriously a tip about an ex-con on parole, who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and threatened to kill a cop.
While the entire NYPD force was put on alert, the suspect, Marcus Shelton, 36, surrendered to a parole officer January 20. Shelton was wanted on two counts of parole violations and it remains undecided as to whether or not he will be charged with making a threat.
The drama began the previous day when the NYPDMarcus SheltonMarcus Shelton received an anonymous phone call saying that Shelton intended to shoot a police officer. A similar call (placed from New York) was also received by the Philadelphia Police Department. One of the callers said Shelton had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/ny-man-allegedly-threatens-kill-cop-vows-support-isis
Rebel media – “Muslim Pope” explains the hijab: It’s not just about modesty
Data Show These 6 Big Cities Aren’t Faring Well After Minimum Wage Hikes
Leah Jessen / @_LeahKay_ / January 20, 2016 / 16 comments
542
“It’s getting harder and harder to argue that high minimum wages don’t destroy many jobs, as advocates claim,” Salim Furth, a research fellow in macroeconomics at The Heritage Foundation, said. (Photo: Antonio Perez/TNS/Newscom)
Data shows a downhill economic trend for six big U.S. cities that hiked the minimum wage to $10 or more an hour in 2015.
“Chicago, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.—all on the leading edge of the push for big minimum wage hikes—all show worrisome job trends,” wrote Jed Graham of Investor’s Business Daily.
An analysis by Investor’s Business Daily shows that these big cities are going through a period of adverse job effects in fields such as restaurant and hotel employment.
Graham highlights in his article that preliminary data possibly links the increased minimum wage to job decline but added, “The data aren’t, for the most part, stark and reliable enough to amount to smoking-gun proof.”
http://dailysignal.com/2016/01/20/data-shows-these-6-big-cities-arent-faring-well-after-minimum-wage-hikes/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRovva7KZKXonjHpfsX56ugrW6G0lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASMRhMa%2BTFAwTG5toziV8R7jHKM1t0sEQWBHm
Student at THIS Top School Equates the First Amendment with WHAT?!
– See more at: http://americanactionnews.com/articles/student-at-this-top-school-equates-the-first-amendment-with-what#sthash.8WCveX1V.dpuf
According to a columnist for the Duke University student newspaper, America’s “obsession with the First Amendment” is really just “an expression of white supremacy.”
“I am thinking about how an urgent and overdue conversation about racism—on our campus and across our country — has been derailed by a diversionary and duplicitous obsession with the First Amendment,” graduate student Bennett Carpenter wrote in university newspaper The Chronicle. “I am thinking about how quickly the conversation has shifted from white supremacy to white fragility — and how this shift is itself an expression of white supremacy.”
Apparently unaware of the irony of using a newspaper column to call for restrictions on free speech, Carpenter argued that Americans give too much deference to the First Amendment and should focus more on censoring violent speech. – See more at: http://americanactionnews.com/articles/student-at-this-top-school-equates-the-first-amendment-with-what#sthash.8WCveX1V.dpuf
Maybe he doesn’t understand what a “Constitution” is or what the Amendment says. A lot of syllables in both words – should we be assuming functional literacy?
This is a prime example of functional illiteracy, the following is a short novel from the 1950s by one of my favorite authors, if you like intelligent Science Fiction I recommend him.
http://www.amazon.com/Null-ABC-Henry-Beam-Piper/dp/1406866539
BBC – More than 400 children under 10 referred for ‘deradicalisation’
A total of 415 children aged 10 and under have been referred to the government’s deradicalisation programme in England and Wales over the last four years, the BBC has learned.
National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) figures obtained by the BBC show 1,424 children aged 11-15 were also referred.
The “Channel” scheme, set up after the 7 July London bombings, aims to steer people away from extremism.
The government says the scheme has successfully deradicalised people.
The BBC obtained NPCC figures, under a Freedom of Information request, which showed that a total of 1,839 children aged 15 and under had been referred over concerns they were at risk of radicalisation between January 2012 and December 2015.
The figures show referrals are rising year on year.
The “Channel” programme, which is part of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, focuses on identifying people who are vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism and providing them with support to stop that from happening.
Those at risk of right-wing extremism can also be referred.
Sally Bates, of the National Association of Head Teachers’ (NAHT) says it is important for teachers to be able to safeguard their pupils from extremism and radicalisation.
In some cases, young children had seen beheading videos with their families, she said.
“That does raise a number of concerns and that’s where I can understand that referrals are then made from teachers.”
Under laws brought in last summer, schools, prisons, the NHS, and local authorities have a legal obligation, known as the “Prevent Duty”, to spot individuals who might be vulnerable to extremism and radicalisation.
Figures show most of the referrals in both age groups were made in November last year – after the new law came into force – suggesting it could partly be a reason for the increase in the number of referrals.
‘Stigmatising Muslims’
One parent, Ifhat Shaheen, told the BBC her 14-year-old son was interrogated by people working on the government’s counter-terrorism strategy after he mentioned the word “eco-terrorists” in school.
He was taken aside at Central Foundation School in London and asked if he was affiliated to the Islamic State group, she said.
“A teacher’s job is to teach children and not to spy on children,” she said.
What is the ‘Channel’ programme?
“Channel” is the government’s programme designed to stop vulnerable people from being drawn into violent and non-violent extremist or terrorist behaviour.
It is an “early intervention” scheme, designed to work with individuals of any age who are at risk of being exploited by extremist or terrorist ideologues.
The type of support is tailored to the individual, but may focus on a person’s vulnerabilities around health, education, employment or housing, as well as specialist mentoring or faith guidance, or even broader diversionary activities such as sport.
Anyone can make a referral, including education, health, youth offending teams, police, social services, families or the community.
The programme is voluntary and, in the case of children, parental consent is needed.
Source: The Channel Programme
She added: “Schools are meant to be a safe place where you can have open dialogue and discussion.”
“It’s really heart-breaking to hear that young Muslim children are being criminalised in this way for the wrong reasons and an overreaction. It stigmatises Muslims.”
Her son’s school said the safeguarding and wellbeing of its young people was its main concern and it did not comment on individual cases.
At another school – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in north London – head teacher Jo Dibb said that no pupils had been referred to “Channel”.
Part of the reason, she says, is that staff encourage conversation and debate about extremism rather than shying away from it.
“Just because a young person makes an off-the-cuff remark – it doesn’t make them a terrorist.
“All young people will say things that they don’t mean and it’s our job as educators to make sure they understand what they’re saying and that they can explore their ideas.” If there was still concern, only then would a referral be made.
‘Growing trust’
The Channel programme is voluntary and of the 4,000 referrals since 2012, only hundreds have agreed to take part.
Former teacher Khalsoom Bashir, from Muslim women’s charity Inspire, says a rise in referrals shows more people have faith in the system.
The government says the “Channel” programme has changed lives – and pulled people away from a dangerous life of extremism.
Security Minister John Hayes said: “This is about safeguarding and it’s working. This is about protection, this is about help, this is about providing all the support you need to make sure your children are safe.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35360375
Do Your Kids Think “Judge Judy” is on the Supreme Court? Some College Grads Do!
According to a newly released poll, 10 percent of college graduates—COLLEGE graduates—think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court. A study done by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) confirmed the trend that “recent college graduates are alarmingly ignorant of America’s history and heritage.”
Many parents accept the difficult truth of modern education—they have to make sure their kids are actually learning something, at least in elementary school, and maybe even high school. Now, they just might want to do their due diligence for college.
In addition to the surprising fact that 10 percent of college grads think Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court, the ACTA study found that 40 percent didn’t know Congress has the power to declare war. 59 percent believe Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, was the Father of the Constitution (the real Constitution Daddy is James Madison, a fact only 20 percent knew). Less than half of college graduates knew that a trial of impeachment occurs before the U.S. Senate—after President Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in 1999.
https://pjmedia.com/parenting/2016/01/19/do-your-kids-think-judge-judy-is-on-the-supreme-court-some-college-grads-do/
All Western nations have had the left in charge long enough that their educational establishment have been down graded to the point where no one that doesn’t have private teaching knows history, but they sure think they know everything.
I just made a comment about that!
How many illegitimates can a society of illiterates carry?
If the left wins we will find out.
The following author (Mack Reynolds) was a communist who wrote SF, at times he wrote about what he called the peoples capitalism. The government owned stock in all coporations and used the dividends to fund a welfare program where people were given the income from a certain number of shares starting at birth and ending at death. This money was enough to keep you in food, been and drugs but not much more, you could save and buy more stock which would raise your income and could be passed on to your kids.
It was a very class ridden society where you were born in your cast and stood very little chance of raising above your level at birth.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=reynolds+mack&tag=googhydr-20&index=digital-text&hvadid=79872844765&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16457710535243324242&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_8bcyy6pdqw_b
Towards the end of his life he wrote about people trying to break the society and allow innovation and social mobility.
Chess forbidden in Islam, rules Saudi mufti, but issue not black and white
Game likely to take on status of minor vices such as music after Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh says it encourages gambling
Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti has ruled that chess is forbidden in Islam, saying it encourages gambling and is a waste of time.
Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh was answering a question on a television show in which he issues fatwas in response to viewers’ queries on everyday religious matters.
He said chess was “included under gambling” and was “a waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players”.
Al-Sheikh justified the ruling by referring to the verse in the Qur’an banning “intoxicants, gambling, idolatry and divination”. It is not clear when the fatwa was delivered.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s supreme Shia religious authority, has previously issued rulings forbidding chess.
After the 1979 Islamic revolution, playing chess was banned in public in Iran and declared haram, or forbidden, by senior clerics because it was associated with gambling. But in 1988, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, lifted the ban and said it was permissible as long as it was not a means of gambling. Iran now has an active confederation for playing chess and sends players to international games.
Moves to suppress chess are likely to have come as a surprise to the seventh-century Muslims who conquered Persia and adopted the game before exporting it to Europe.
Muslim scholars tend to place chess, a skill-based game, in a different category from games of chance, such as dice, but frown upon it if it distracts a person from performing the five daily prayers. Placing bets under any circumstances is forbidden.
Nigel Short, the British chess grandmaster, told the BBC that forbidding chess in Saudi Arabia would be a “great tragedy”. “I don’t consider chess to be a threat to society. It is not something that is so depraved as to corrupt morals,” he said. “Even Ayatollah Khomeini came to the conclusion that he’d gone too far and repealed his own ban.”
The region’s clerical establishment figures are no strangers to seemingly strange fatwas, or edicts. In the early 2000s, Saudi and other clerics issued a fatwa against the popular Pokémon franchise, and during football’s 2010 World Cup in South Africa, religious scholars in the United Arab Emirates said that using the widely reviled vuvuzela instrument was forbidden if the sound produced was above 100 decibels.
It is unlikely that Al-Sheikh’s ruling will be enforced, and more plausible that chess will be relegated to the status of other minor vices, such as music, which many in the clerical establishment frown upon. Moreover, since the ruling was in response to a specific question, it was probably meant as an advisory opinion rather than a formal edict.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/21/chess-forbidden-in-islam-rules-saudi-arabia-grand-mufti
Tajikistan Police Shave Nearly 13,000 Men in Their Battle Against Conservative Islam
Nearly 1,800 women and girls were also “convinced” that they should not wear Islamic headwear
Authorities in Tajikistan forcibly shaved nearly 13,000 men whose beards were judged to be “overly long and unkept” last year as part of a police campaign to eradicate conservative Islam — termed a foreign influence in the former Soviet republic.
According to a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty blog on Central Asia, officials have been “working overtime” to regulate everyday life in Tajikistan so that it conforms to the government’s idea of traditional Tajik values.
Bahrom Sharifzoda, police chief in the province of Khatlon, held a press conference on Tuesday to declare the campaign’s successes during 2015. Some 12,818 men with the wrong facial hair were “brought to order,” said the chief, who was himself pictured as clean-shaven in local media.
More than 150 shops selling hijab were also shut down, 89 hijab-wearing prostitutes arrested and 1,773 women and girls “convinced” that they should not wear Islamic headwear considered alien to the country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said.
Tajikistan is overwhelmingly Muslim, but considers itself a secular state.
http://time.com/4188161/tajikistan-shave-islam-radicalization-muslim/
*\0/* Yay! *\0/*
This will work for a while but given the examples of Turkey and Iran it will collapse when the west stops supporting the forced modernization of the nation.
I’d take “a little while” at this point, kinda catch our breath.
U.S. Attorney General Vows to Make Obama’s Gun Laws PERMANENT – See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/u-s-attorney-general-vows-to-make-obamas-gun-laws-permanent-139072/#sthash.F3qjyI88.dpuf
(Breitbart) – For all those who revel in the fact that there are 374 days until President Obama finally gets the hell out of the White House, a cautionary note: Obama and his colleagues are rigging the bureaucracy so that their unique brand of “hope and change” extends far beyond their tenure.
The latest evidence: Attorney General Loretta Lynch told New York Magazine this week, “My goal is to position the [Department of Justice] where it will carry on in all of these issues long after myself and my team have moved on.” She was responding specifically to questions about how she planned to prosecute gun sellers under Obama’s new executive actions.
Lynch, unlike her predecessor Eric Holder, isn’t a bomb-thrower. Like President Obama before his self-deification, Lynch hides behind vagary and a general sense of reasonableness. “We went in thinking We’re going to ask her the toughest questions we can come up with,” says Steven Edwards, a lawyer who interviewed Lynch for a local bar publication. “And we couldn’t lay a glove on her.” As New York Magazine states, Lynch simply ran out the clock on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’s (R-TX) questions to her during her confirmation hearings.
– See more at: http://www.teaparty.org/u-s-attorney-general-vows-to-make-obamas-gun-laws-permanent-139072/#sthash.F3qjyI88.dpuf
The Democrats’ Filthy Flint Water
Dirty politics lead to dirty water.
January 21, 2016
Daniel Greenfield
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Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
Mayor Dayne Walling, a Democrat, led a cheerful countdown at the Flint water treatment plant to press the button moving the city over to river water. Walling and Darnell Earley, the Democratic emergency manager, even raised glasses in a toast and drank the water to show that it was safe.
“It’s a historic moment for the city of Flint to return to its roots and use our own river as our drinking water supply,” Walling said. “The water quality speaks for itself.”
Flint’s city council had voted in favor of the move 7-1. Despite claims about the power of the emergency manager, the switch could not have gone forward without that vote.
Even once the problem had surfaced, the EPA knew and kept quiet. It was only once the crisis broke, that the Democratic establishment attempted to redirect the blame at Michigan’s efforts to fix broken Democratic cities like Flint using emergency managers. The war against the emergency managers is not about clean water; it’s about protecting the dirty Democratic politics that destroyed these cities.
Flint’s dirty water had its origins in dirty politics. The Democratic Party had badly mismanaged the city.
Flint was trying to cut costs, but not in the right place. Water rates were already murderously high, because around 40 percent of the city’s water was leaking out or being stolen. Water theft is routine in failed Democratic cities like Flint. And the thefts often come from the inside.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261548/democrats-filthy-flint-water-daniel-greenfield
Ethan B. Katz’s Bonds of Brotherhood and Whitewashing Muslim Racism
January 21, 2016
Daniel Greenfield
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Apologists for the Muslim violence against Jews are trotting out a new text, Ethan B. Katz’s The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa To France.
The title alone tells the lie. Jews and Muslims never lived as brothers. Under Muslim rule in North Africa, Jews were second-class citizens. At best. Jews only received their civil rights under French rule. Jewish civil rights then became another grievance that Muslim Supremacists nurtured against the French and the Jews. Another sign that the rightful rule of Islam had been usurped by infidels.
Ethan B. Katz falsely blames France for “discriminating” against Muslims in favor of Jews. In fact, it was Muslims who discriminated and murdered Jews, forcing them to flee to France.
Many French Jews are actually North African Jews who fled to France to escape Muslim persecution. The flood of Muslim migration however brought back the persecution. So now the descendants of North African Jews are once again fleeing Muslim violence.
This has nothing to do with France’s treatment of Muslims, as Ethan B. Katz falsely claims. It has everything to do with a Muslim attitude towards Jews and other non-Muslims that predates France
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/261529/ethan-b-katzs-bonds-brotherhood-and-whitewashing-daniel-greenfield
We Could Have Seen Europe’s Muslim Rape Crisis Coming
What didn’t we learn from the suffering of Muslim women?
January 21, 2016
Abigail R. Esman
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Reprinted from InvestigativeProject.org.
In the aftermath of New Year’s Eve’s mass rapes of European women by Muslim refugees, the questions have been repeated: Should we have known this kind of thing would happen? Could we have known? And from local bars to parliaments, from family dinners to the nightly news, the answers keep coming back: Yes; we could. Yes, we should.
But interestingly, the people who say this with the most conviction are not right-wing Muslim-bashers, or activists opposed to the settling of Syrian refugees in Europe. They are Muslims, and mostly Muslim women.
Over and over, these women, and other Western women who have worked in the Middle East and North Africa, pointed out the commonality of rape in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia (the MENASAS region), and noted the oppression of women in most cultures there. (The Kurds form a notable exception.)
Many point to the rapes in Tahrir Square in 2011 and 2013 as cautionary tales, describing the so-called “circle of hell” that women faced then: lone women surrounded by men whose hands groped and pulled, ripped and pressed, and eventually overpowered. A 2013 study conducted after the attacks showed that a stunning 99 percent of Egyptian women had experienced some sort of sexual harassment.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/261532/we-could-have-seen-europes-muslim-rape-crisis-abigail-r-esman
Diphtheria, Tuberculosis, And Malaria: European Hospitals Prepare for Influx of Migrant Diseases
Hospitals in Europe have been warned that newly-arrived migrants may bring with them diseases that have been eradicated in the country for several decades.
The Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) has warned hospitals to be on the lookout for signs of diphtheria, an illness that has not been seen in Denmark for 20 years, after two Libyan migrants tested position for the disease.
“The infection can be very dangerous if one isn’t vaccinated against it. The dangerous type is very rare and we last saw it in Denmark in 1998,” spokesman Kurt Fuursted said.
Danish newspaper Metroxpress also reported that other asylum seekers had also been found to be carrying tuberculosis and malaria, prompting the SSI to comment that Denmark may start introducing mandatory health checks for migrants.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/20/danish-hospitals-prepare-for-influx-of-diseases-thanks-to-migration/
The unplanned bio war, wait until they unleash the planned bio weapons.
Austria: Army erects metal fence on border with Slovenia
The Austrian army began erecting an iron fence along the border with Slovenia in Spielfeld, Thursday, as part of a raft of new border controls introduced by the Austrian government. The fence will stretch along the Austrian-Slovenian border for 6 kilometres (3.7 miles).
SOT, Peter Bleyer, Army Representative (German): “We have in total, in Steiermark on the border of Slovenia and Austria, more than 500 soldiers on duty and more than 200 soldiers that have the mission to support the police in conducting operations and in performing a controlled development of activities at the border crossing point in Spielfeld. These controlled procedures mean to regulate someone’s baggage, to register them and also to provide provisions or occasionally accommodation, as well as the transportation for the refugees out of Spielfeld.”
SOT, Peter Bleyer, Army Representative (German): “The capacity is always in accordance to the place. So the capacity we have at the moment here is exactly the one that is needed. If the number of refugees grows again, we can always reinforce our workforce on-site at anytime.”
SOT, Fritz Grunding, Police Spokesperson (German): “It has been decided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior that we should only have one checkpoint for refugees in Austria. And that will be in Spielfeld. It means that all the refugees that cross over the border of Kaernten should cross over Spielfeld when we are ready here. And that should work in an orderly manner.”
Netherlands: Town hall smashed up, sent threat-letter, following anti-refugee riot
Footage filmed on Thursday shows the damage committed by unidentified vandals to Bernheze Municipality Hall in Heesch on Wednesday night, as plans for a refugee centre in the area continues to be met with violent opposition.
Finland: Refugees taking arctic route to EU abandon Lada cars on Russian border
Dozens of snow-capped Lada cars lay abandoned along the Russia-Finland border near Salla, Thursday, as refugees continue to use the Russian-made vehicles to make their way into Europe.
Migrants and refugees are prohibited from crossing the border by foot, and patrol services officially banned people from crossing by bicycle in December, leaving entrance to the country by car as the only option.
Migrants cross after Macedonia reopens Greek border
ISIS Cuts Salaries In Half
A second wave of migrants is set to break across Europe as the wives and children of men who have already made the journey set out to join them. According to European Union law, migrants already settled in member states are entitled to bring their families to live with them in their adopted country as part of their right to a family life
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/21/massive-migrant-wave-expected-as-male-majority-now-demand-wives-and-children-are-brought-to-europe/
This shows the mass migration was planned and that the families weren’t in much danger.
Immigrant rape statistics in Sweden
He has a lot of good ideas but has not realized that the rape attacks are at the least semi planned to degrade the locals and force them to live by Sharia