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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.
If US Can’t or Won’t Fight Terrorists, They Should ‘Stop Getting in the Way’
The Russian Defense Ministry commented on the US State Department’s calls not to help tankers shipping fuel to the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria. If Washington cannot or does not want to fight terrorists, it should not get in the way, the ministry’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Thursday.
US State Department’s spokesman Mark Toner urged other countries not to provide support for Russian tankers shipping fuel to the Russian aviation group in Syria.
Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611241047796768-rusisa-us-syria-terrorism/
Richard: I have trouble seeing Japan doing this without good reason, which begs the question what is happening that we haven’t heard about?
READY FOR WAR Japan prepares for NUCLEAR war with North Korea by warning citizens to shelter in underground shopping malls in event of Kim Jong-Un bomb attack
Japanese civil defence issue survival advice should nuclear missiles rain down
JAPANESE people are bracing themselves for nuclear attack with chilling advise on what to do if Kim Jong-un presses the red button.
For the first time since North Korea began a series of nuke tests, people in Japan are being issued with terrifying instruction on how to deal with nuclear war.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2261394/japan-prepares-for-nuclear-war-with-north-korea-by-warning-citizens-to-shelter-in-underground-shopping-malls-in-event-of-kim-jong-un-bomb-attack/
Japan’s war threat to North Korea
by Daily Mail foreign reporters
A crisis was brewing in the Far East yesterday after Japan threatened a military strike on North Korea if fears that it has embarked on a nuclear weapons programme proved correct.
With North Korea warning it could strike US targets anywhere in the world, Japan’s defence minister Shigeru Ishiba said it was ready to carry out a pre-emptive strike with ballistic missiles.
The war of words came a day after US intelligence chiefs said North Korea probably had missiles capable of attacking America’s west coast as well as one or two nuclear missiles.
Mr Ishiba said: “Our nation will use military force as a self-defence measure if North Korea starts to resort to arms against Japan.”
It was unclear exactly how Japan could respond to any threat. Its post-war constitution bans war as a means to settle international disputes and it also lacks the missile capability to be able to defend a nuclear strike.
Mr Ishiba proposed working with the U.S. in developing a joint defence system.
Japan is currently in talks with Washington over a “theatre missile defence system”, a variant of the “Son of Star Wars” programme, aimed at shielding US troops in Asia.
Tokyo began examining the system after North Korea launched a ballistic missile that passed over Japan in 1998.
Tensions are running high over North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.
Yesterday, in an interview in the capital Pyongyang, foreign ministry official Ri Kwang Hyok said: “Wherever they are, we can attack the Americans.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-161041/Japans-war-threat-North-Korea.html#ixzz4R1yicSJW
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
And they attacked Trump for even thinking that other countries might need to consider a nuclear defense deterrence to be a viable option. Neither Pakistan or India considered it acceptable that the other could nuke them without retaliation in kind. I can definitely see Japan acquiring nuclear weapons if they were no longer under a treaty of mutual defense with the US. On the other hand, the USA and Russia made specific guarantees to the territorial integrity of Ukraine and look how that turned out. Ukraine giving up their Strategic nuclear forced made the taking of Crimea a literal cakewalk for Russia.
I am willing to bet that if push comes to shove it won’t take much over one or two weeks before Japan will have nukes. With both China and North Korea having nukes and the US electing both Clinton and Obama for 8 years they realize they can’t always depend on us to protect them.
Italy NEXT to reject establishment as protest vote set to WIN referendum, shock poll finds
ITALY is set to deal a hammer blow to its government as the latest polls revealed voters will punish Matteo Renzi’s administration in the upcoming referendum.
By Rehema Figueiredo
The prime minister’s failure to reach out to working class suggest large regions will snub Mr Renzi’s plan for constitutional reform.
A Demos poll has revealed Mr Renzi’s reforms will be rejected by an 11 percentage point margin in the south of the country – where most of the poorest regions are located – compared with a seven-point margin across the country.
As the nation prepares for a momentous referendum, which could spark an exit from the European Union, Mr Renzi said that he would have no interest in running the country if voters reject the proposed constitutional reform.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/735716/Italy-NEXT-to-reject-establishment-as-protest-vote-set-to-WIN-referendum-shock-poll-finds
Merkel fears social bots may manipulate German election
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s biggest contender in next year’s German election campaign may not be a rival party leader but so-called “social bots” – software programmed to sway opinion on social media sites.
In her first speech to parliament since announcing plans on Sunday to seek a fourth term as chancellor, Merkel called for a debate on how fake news, bots and trolls can manipulate public opinion.
“In order to reach people, to inspire people, we need to deal with this phenomenon and – where necessary – regulate it,” Merkel told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The role social networks Facebook and Twitter play in spreading false and malicious information has shot up Merkel’s agenda after the shock election of U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump as president.
Social bots are software programs that mimic human behaviour on social media sites, such as by publishing messages or liking posts. They can be used to spread erroneous information and muddy the debate. Some critics say the proliferation of fake news helped sway the U.S. election in Trump’s favor.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/merkel-fears-social-bots-may-manipulate-german-election-172849393–finance.html
She is reacting to the people thinking for themselves by saying they have been brainwashed. Typical leftist BS and typical leftist solution, censor the news.
“Social bots”… is that the same as OBAMABOTS?
No she is thinking of special programs that write and post entries on facebook and twitter. The left uses them all the time so they think we do also.
Clinton’s loss is one more nail in the coffin of center-left politics in the West
PARIS — When Donald Trump shocked the world with an upset victory in the U.S. presidential election this month, much of Europe was aghast.
But in at least one critical sense, the result couldn’t have been more European: Across the continent, parties of the center-left that have dominated politics for decades — and that have given Europe its reputation for generous social welfare systems — now find themselves beaten, divided and directionless. Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are just the latest members of a beleaguered club.
In Germany and Britain, once-mighty center-left parties have been badly diminished, locked out of their nations’ top jobs for the foreseeable future. In Spain and Greece, they have been usurped by newer, more radical alternatives. And in France and Italy, they’re still governing — but their days in power may be numbered. The rout of the center-left has even extended deep into Scandinavia, perhaps the world’s premier bastion of social democracy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/clintons-loss-is-one-more-nail-in-the-coffin-of-center-left-politics-in-the-west/2016/11/24/44229664-ab3d-11e6-8f19-21a1c65d2043_story.html
Richard: Their idea of the center is the left, their idea of the left is the radical alt left.
Antarctic Sea Ice Has Not Shrunk In 100 Years
Antarctic Sea Ice Has Not Shrunk In 100 Years
Antarctic sea ice had barely changed from where it was 100 years ago, scientists have discovered, after pouring over the logbooks of great polar explorers such as Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton. Experts were concerned that ice at the South Pole had declined significantly since the 1950s, which they feared was driven by man-made climate change. But new analysis suggests that conditions are now virtually identical to when the Terra Nova and Endurance sailed to the continent in the early 1900s, indicating that declines are part of a natural cycle and not the result of global warming. –Sarah Knapton, The Daily Telegraph, 24 November 2016
1) Antarctic Sea Ice Has Not Shrunk In 100 Years, Scott And Shackleton Logbooks Prove
The Daily Telegraph, 24 November 2016
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/11/24/scott-shackleton-logbooks-prove-antarctic-sea-ice-not-shrinking/
http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/11/24/antarctic-sea-ice-has-not-shrunk-in-100-years/
OT-Candle Lighting is just earlier and earlier -tonight here, 3:57p.m. Find the time anywhere: http://www.aish.com/sh/c/
Torah Portion: Genesis : 23:1-25:18
___Sarah dies, age 127. I never liked her anyway. Abraham buys a cave for her interment [‘Cave of the Patriarchs’]. It’s in Hebron, today called a “settlement” by enemies of Jews and Christians.
Haftarah Portion: Kings 1 1:1 – 1:31
___King David is old, unwell. He’s got a nasty son…
If I say more I’ll spoil the story.
Thank you
Rita said to give you some hugs from her so here they are OOOOO
In case this doesn’t get to you I will give you some more when you get back up on Vlad later today.
(=.=)
Which cities are preparing to react to violence: search
calibration test of our new gunshot location system technology
Central Americans surge north, hoping to reach U.S. before Trump inauguration
TEGUCIGALPA/GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Central American countries warned on Thursday that large numbers of migrants have fled their poor, violent homes since Donald Trump’s surprise election win, hoping to reach the United States before he takes office next year.
Trump won the Nov. 8 vote by taking a hard line on immigration, threatening to deport millions of people living illegally in the United States and to erect a wall along the Mexican border.
Trump’s tough campaign rhetoric sent tremors through the slums of Central America and the close-knit migrant communities in U.S. cities, with many choosing to fast-forward their plans and migrate north before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
During fiscal year 2016, the United States detained nearly 410,000 people along the southwest border with Mexico, up about a quarter from the previous year. The vast majority hail from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
http://www.oann.com/central-americans-surge-north-hoping-to-reach-u-s-before-trump-inauguration/
New Mexico business: If you support trump, get out
By LU Staff November 25, 2016
A business owner in Albuquerque has announced that, due to his opposition to “fascism,” he will henceforth refuse to do business with Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump supporters.
According to KOB 4 News, Matthew Blanchfield runs the online marketing company 1st in SEO, and he’s so upset about the presidential election he’s willing to shed customers to show his disgust.
“America has elected Donald Trump, a racist, sexist, fascist, to be our next president,” Blanchfield says in a blog post two days after the election. “If you are a Republican, voted for Donald Trump or support Donald Trump, in any manner, you are not welcome at 1st in SEO and we ask you to leave our firm … 1st in SEO will do everything in our power to ensure that we break ties with any person or business that supports fascism.”
While it’s illegal for most businesses in the U.S. to discriminate on the basis of sex, religion, or race, there are no federal laws barring discrimination based on political ideology. A handful of states prohibit such discrimination. New Mexico isn’t one of them.
http://libertyunyielding.com/2016/11/25/new-mexico-business-support-trump-get/
Jewish Press has just reported on security camera footage that shows Arabs setting a fire in Ariel. Video from security cameras:
As Israel burns, are we looking at a new form of eco-terrorism?
With hundreds of wildfires currently raging across Israel for a third consecutive day, many are concerned that this may be a new form of terrorism.
Israel Police estimate that over 200 fires have broken out throughout central and northern Israel since Wednesday and assessments by police have strengthened suspicions that many the fires were deliberately set, some suspected of being nationalistically motivated.
Related Story with lots of pictures
Boaz Ganor, Founder & Executive Director, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT), told The Jerusalem Post that “even if a portion are intentional, is not organized. It’s not that you have a terror organization giving orders to their members to carry out fire attacks, though maybe in a few hours you can have groups like Hamas claiming the fires.”
But, “one thing is clear,” Ganor said, “it is not a new form of terrorism. Arson attacks and setting fires in populated areas or forests are a well known modus operandi of terror groups, and not only in Israel. In one of the magazine Inspire from al-Qaida they called on their followers to carry out arson attacks.”
http://www.gopusa.com/?p=17606?omhide=true
Israel arrests 13 on suspicion of arson over mass wildfires
Israeli police arrested 13 people on Friday on suspicion of arson, authorities said, after massive wildfires tore through central and northern Israel, a conflagration that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded as “terrorism”.
Firefighters kept battling the flames in wooded hills around Jerusalem and in northern areas on Friday, with support from Palestinian firemen and emergency teams from Greece, Cyprus, Croatia, Italy, Russia and Turkey.
Netanyahu said he had also accepted offers of help from Egypt and Jordan.
Unseasonably dry weather and easterly winds helped kindle the fires, which erupted on Tuesday and now stretch across half the country.
Arson appeared to be behind some of the blazes, Netanyahu said. “A price will be paid for this arson-terrorism,” he told reporters on Friday. He said the arson was carried out by “elements with great hostility toward Israel.”
“We cannot tell yet if this is organized, but we can see a number of cells operating,” Netanyahu said.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said a dozen people had been detained either while attempting to set fires or fleeing the area, but he provided no further details. Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told reporters 13 people were arrested.
Erdan said those arrested were “minorities”, an allusion to either Arab Israeli citizens or Palestinians. “The highest likelihood is that the motive is nationalistic,” Erdan told Army Radio. Police, however, stopped short of declaring any motive.
The fires are the biggest in the country since 2010, when 44 people were killed in a killed in a massive blaze in the north. Investigators concluded that fire was caused by negligence.
ACCUSATIONS
Education Minister Naftali Bennett, leader of a far-right party, said on Thursday the fires could not have been started by Jews and on Friday blamed them on “nationalist terrorists”, a reference in Israel to Palestinians.
“There is no coincidental ‘wave of fires’,” he wrote on Twitter. “There is a nationalist terrorist wave by fire terrorists meant to murder civilians and cause fright.”
There has been no official response from Palestinian leaders. But Ayman Odeh, a leading Israeli Arab politician from Haifa, rejected the suggestion Arabs were responsible for arson attacks and accused the Israeli government of taking advantage of the situation to incite against the Arab minority.
Nearly a third of the residents of Haifa, a coastal city of around 250,000 people, including a large Arab population, spent the night in shelters and nearby towns and villages after being ordered to leave on Thursday in the face of walls of flame.
Smoke billowed over the city on Friday morning as firefighters worked to douse the remaining fires. City officials said the situation was under control but that at least 700 homes had been badly damaged or destroyed.
About 80,000 evacuees from Haifa were allowed to return to their homes on Friday as firefighters curbed the flames.
Israel’s chief of police said on Thursday people may have decided to start fires after seeing the trouble they were causing. “We’re in an area where if someone sees on the news there is an opportunity, he can take advantage of the opportunity,” said Roni Alsheich.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said forces had arrested a Palestinian man caught trying to set a fire near the Israeli settlement of Kochav Yaakov in the occupied West Bank. Footage aired on Israeli television showed three people setting a fire in an open area near the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
Police said one man from the Bedouin village of Rahat in southern Israel had been arrested for incitement after he posted a message on his Facebook page calling on others to start fires.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-fires-idUSKBN13K12E
There’s nothing “far-right” about Naftali Bennett. When he grows up, he’ll be elected Prime Minister.
Jews in Eretz aren’t starting fires on Friday night. As PET[*] would say, “Believe me.”
…………
[*]PET = President-elect Trump
I like PET.
Me too. I saw it on an excellent blog, Conservative Treehouse. https://theconservativetreehouse.com
Europe: Let’s Self-destruct!
by Judith Bergman
November 25, 2016 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9373/europe-self-destruction
Roughly 30,000 foreign and European Islamic State fighters from around 100 different countries, who have gone to Syria, Iraq and Libya, could spread across the continent once the terror group is crushed in its Iraqi stronghold, warned Karin von Hippel, director-general of the UK military think tank, Royal United Services Institute, speaking to the Express on October 26:
Perhaps these scenarios are really keeping security forces up at night in many countries. Judging by the continued influx of predominantly young, male migrants of fighting age into Europe, however, one might be excused for thinking that European politicians themselves are not losing any sleep over potential new terrorist attacks.
According to a report by Radio Sweden, for example:
Russia: Muslim nanny who decapitated 4yo ruled mentally ill, committed to psychiatric hospital
Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a nanny who confessed to murdering a four-year-old girl in her charge in February, later going on to brandish her decapitated head near a metro station in Moscow, was committed to a psychiatric facility on Thursday.
The Khoroshevsky court in the Russian capital ordered Gyulchekhra Bobokulova to be sent for compulsory treatment. The judge released the former babysitter from criminal prosecution as she was found not to be mentally responsible for her actions after being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Bobokulova was committed to a psychiatric hospital pending full recovery. If she does recover then she will be released and will not face criminal charges. Her lawyer Aleksandr Goverdovskii said that “according to the law it looks like this: as soon as she recovers the doctors should fill out a petition concerning her, let’s say, expulsion and release.”
Police believe that Bobokulova February 2016 strangled four-year-old Anastasia Meshcheryakova to death before decapitating the child and setting fire to the parents’ apartment. She was discovered at Oktyabrskoe Pole Metro brandishing the child’s head. Bobokulova pleaded guilty to murder charges.
SOT Aleksandr Goverdovskii, lawyer of Bobokulova, (Russian): “As soon as she gets there, she will attend a doctor’s board [meeting] every month in the first half year, as far as I remember, they will assess her state, and after another half year they will apply to the judge themselves to prolong her stay there. Let’s say, according to the law it looks like the that: as soon as she recovers the doctors should fill out a petition concerning her, let’s say, expulsion and release.”
Greece: Mother and child killed after fire breaks out at Moria refugee camp
Two refugees were killed and two others injured after a massive fire broke out at the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Thursday night.
A 66-year-old woman and a six-year-old child were killed after a tent caught ablaze quickly spread over a large area of the camp. Another mother and her child suffered from severe burns.
Brief clashes were reported between refugees and police following the incident. Around 6,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded on the Lesbos island, with over 3,000 in the Moria camp alone.
Amnesty International USA Preps for Protests Against Trump Anti-Terror Policies
Naureen Shah, the Director of Amnesty International USA’s Security & Human Rights Program, pledged that her group plans to organize protests against Donald Trump’s planned immigration and refugee programs.
In a Daily Beast article about the potential for the Trump administration to implement tough anti-terrorism measures including stopping the flow of Syrian refugees, “extreme vetting questions,” and a plan that “all aliens from high-risk areas are tracked,” Amnesty International USA’s Naureen Shah said, “We will create the public pressure and international community pressure to make these kinds of proposals untenable.
http://blabber.buzz/politics/conservative/54771-amnesty-international-usa-preps-for-protests-against-trump-anti-terror-policies
Amnesty International at Frontpage Magazine:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/tag/amnesty-international
Turkey: Erdogan threatens to open Turkey’s borders with EU
Speaking in Istanbul on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey could open its border, allowing an influx of migrants to enter the EU, following the European Parliament’s decision to temporarily freeze accession talks with Ankara.
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “You [the EU] have never been honest to the world. You have never look to it truthfully. You didn’t save baby Alan when his dead body was washed to the shore. You didn’t save baby Imran. We are the shelter for three and a half million refugees. You didn’t keep your promises.”
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): “When 50,000 immigrants reached (the border town) of Kapikule, you wailed. What would we do if Turkey opened the border gates, you’ve pondered. Look here, if this goes any further, those border gates will be opened. Neither me nor my people get nothing out of those false threats.”
euronews – Turkey’s President Erdogan threatens Europe with new wave of refugees
Major Advertising Technology Company Bars Breitbart News for Hate Speech
AppNexus takes a stand as bigger rivals, Google and Facebook, face scrutiny over their handling of ‘fake news’
Mark Bergen
November 22, 2016 — 3:42 PM EST
AppNexus Inc., operator of one of the biggest digital advertising services, has barred Breitbart News from using its ad-serving tools because the conservative online publisher violated its hate speech rules.
AppNexus scrutinized Breitbart’s website after U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump tapped Steve Bannon, former executive chairman of Breitbart, to be White House chief strategist last week. The digital ad firm decided the publication had breached a policy against content that incites violence, said AppNexus spokesman Joshua Zeitz.
“We did a human audit of Breitbart and determined there were enough articles and headlines that cross that line, using either coded or overt language,” he said.
Breitbart News Network Chief Executive Officer Larry Solov said in an e-mailed statement that Breitbart “has always and continues to condemn racism and bigotry in any form.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-22/major-advertising-technology-company-bars-breitbart-news-for-hate-speech?AID=7236
Arbaeen – India: 3 killed after balcony collapses during Chehlum celebrations
Arba’een Chehlom– Wiki-
Shia Muslim religious observance that occurs forty days after the Day of Ashura. It commemorates the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad, who was killed on the 10th day of the month of Muharram. Imam Husayn ibn Ali and 72 companions were killed by Yazid I’s army in the Battle of Karbala in 61 AH (680 CE).
Arba’een or forty days is also the usual length of mourning after the death of a family member or loved one in many Muslim traditions. Arba’een is one of the largest pilgrimage gatherings on Earth, in which up to 45 million people go to the city of Karbala in Iraq.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arba%27een
Arbaeen 1435 2013 White House, Washington, D C
Nov 20 2016 – ARBAEEN JULOOS 2016 | HOUSTON TX USA
ARBAEEN 2016 – inside the mosque in Karbala –
[ in HD !!! ]Millions + millions + millions – – –
Russia and Hezbollah ‘officially’ working together in Syria
Russia and Hizbullah have begun “official” military coordination in Syria at the behest of Moscow, according to a report published Thursday on the pro-Hizbullah news site al-Akhbar.
It said Hizbullah officials met with “senior” Russian officers in Aleppo last week, and noted that Russian and Hizbullah officials have met before in non-official capacities, such as in battle operations rooms.
The meeting, arranged by Russia, was to establish “continual” communication between the two sides. Russia is interested in coordinating with Hizbullah’s infantry on the ground in Aleppo.
MK Avi Dichter, a former head of the Israel Security Agency, warned on Nov. 16 that Russian interests in the Middle East do not coincide with Israel’s and said the Jewish state must be vigilant concerning Russia’s growing influence in the region.
Dichter told Reuters, “Russia does not view Iran and its proxies according to the level of threat they pose or broadcast toward Israel.”
He added that Russia “view[s] Hizbullah positively as the errand lackey of Iran in Syria and Lebanon, [and is] backing the Shiite militia activity in Iraq and Syria.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-and-hezbollah-officially-working-together-in-syria/
No surprise here, now it Russia can keep them from attacking Israel.
You can never tell what’s up with Uncle Vlad.
If he gets mad at the US or just wants to play, he might let Hezbollah loose on Israel, then reel it back in. I just don’t like him controlling the airspace over there.
Me either, he will do what he considers necessary to further the cause of rebuilding and expanding the Russian Empire. He wants to avoid a direct conflict with the west but is willing to skirt close to that nightmare.
He’s got another side he keeps mostly under control. Just for fun, do something vicious. He gets a kick out of spontaneous abuse of power. Then he tries to walk it back, like no big deal. You’ve got to be very careful around semi-domesticated wild animals.
Iran Threatens U.S. With Retaliations If Sanctions Extended
Although Iran says new sanctions would be a violation of the nuclear pact, Iran itself has violated the agreement, says the IAEA
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei threatened retaliations against the United States of sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic are extended.
The U.S. House of representative voted last week to extend the remaining U.S. sanctions against Iran – set to expire at the end of the year — for another 10 years. The sanctions also include longstanding measures imposed by the U.S. that are not connected to Iran’s nuclear program, including forbidding Iranian access to the U.S. financial system and the use of the dollar, which Iran claims have hampered the economic windfall it expected from the deal.
In addition, the House passed a bill that would prevent companies such as Boeing and Airbus from selling commercial aircraft to Iran.
The measure would also have to be approved by the Senate as well as U.S. President Barack Obama.
Obama is expected to veto any such measure.
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/iran-threatens-retaliation-against-us-if-sanctions-extended
How Israel killed a Hamas mastermind & honed its war on terror
Former Israel Security Agency chief Avi Dichter, the current head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said this week that fighting “terrorism is like driving in a jeep in the sand. The worst thing to do is to stop since you will sink. You need to keep on driving. The same with fighting terrorism. You can’t stop.” The rest of the world has not yet internalized what a war on terrorism looks like, he said.
Dichter emphasized that even if the major powers in the region set borders and change the current makeup of some of the nation-states around Israel, “we need to be sure that the solution they bring does not fall on us.” What this means practically is that Israel can’t gamble with its security by withdrawing, for example, from strategic places like the Jordan Valley or the Golan Heights.
“The debate about the Jordan Valley is over,” he said. “We need to understand that what happened over the last six years – an Arab earthquake that no one foresaw – means that we can’t take risks that will undermine our ability to be prepared for surprises and scenarios looming on the horizon.”
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Editors-Note-Avi-Dichters-region-473604
Status of the Syrian Rebellion: Numbers, Ideologies, and Prospects
A March report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) categorized 23 of Syria’s hundreds of rebel groups as the main “powerbrokers” and “potential powerbrokers” in the opposition. In total, these groups command an estimated 90,000 fighters. Among the “powerbroker” rebels, 20% are transnational jihadists, 31% are national jihadists, 24% are political Islamists, and 25% are “secularists.”
In comparison, the Syrian regime has 125,000 regular army troops and 150,000 pro-government militia members, including around 50,000 Shiite foreign fighters (i.e., Hizbullah and Iranian-trained Iraqis, Pakistanis, and Afghan Hazaras). Most of the native forces are preoccupied with defending territory; only a fourth of them are able to launch offensives.
The non-jihadist rebels are very fragmented and marginalized on most fronts, which gives the jihadists the ascendancy. Helping the “secularist” rebels become major actors would not work if Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey continue supporting Islamist factions. The writer, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/status-of-the-syrian-rebellion-numbers-ideologies-and-prospects
Washington DC Imam: “Zionists Brought Trump, Like Hitler, to Power”
Avi Issacharoff, left-ish and “nuanced” in covering the so-called Palestinians:
Terrorism, at Home, by Fire
The wave of fires that has broken out nationwide in Israel is neither coincidence nor the result solely of weather conditions. Fires are being deliberately started, professional investigators have concluded. This is an unprecedented wave of arson within sovereign Israel, carried out for nationalistic motives and fanned by vicious incitement on Arab social media.
The fires apparently began with a few individuals, who went into action when the first blazes broke out through negligence and weather. From the moment that the fires began to dominate Israeli media, there were more and more arson attacks. And now others are jumping on the bandwagon.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/terrorism-at-home-by-fire/
Photos: Wildfires broke out near Jerusalem and in the of north Israel earlier this week. They wreaked havoc in the town of Zikhron Ya’akov.
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-israel-wildfires-2016-11/?r=UK&IR=T#wildfires-broke-out-near-jerusalem-and-in-the-of-north-israel-earlier-this-week-they-wreaked-havoc-in-the-town-of-zikhron-yaakov-1
IN PICTURES: Fire ravages Israel
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/IN-PICTURES-Fire-ravages-Israel-473539
“Wildfires…
Dear yucki,
You and I both know better. As in, these fires are about as “wild” as a housecat.
I wish that I might admire your restraint, but in this case, I cannot. Drought, or no drought, when was the last time that Israel ever experienced such a spate of closely-timed blazes of such size? If you (or anyone else) can provide convincing evidence to the contrary, I’ll gladly eat my words.
To the best of my knowledge, these conflagrations are merely another manifestation of the homespun “kitchen knife” jihad that has plagued Israel for the past several months. May the “Palestinian” terrorists rot in everlasting hell.
I am sure they will rot in hell, and hate every second of it.
‘Israel is burning’: Palestinians, Arab world rejoice over fires
Dubai security chief tweets ‘Israel banned the muezzin and caught on fire,’ while Kuwaiti imam wishes ‘Best of luck to the fires :)’ and memes gloat over fires raging in Israel for the past three days.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4883710,00.html
How horrible it would be if more of those soaring Dubai skyscrapers somehow managed to light up like so many spluttering candles on a buttery birthday cake.
Eff knows that it would rip my heart out by the very roots.
New Fires on Friday Confirm Arson Fears
Israel continued to battle fires in different parts of the country on Friday, with outbreaks reported in Beit Meir in the Jerusalem hills, and near Kiryat Gat in the south. On Friday, the Israel Police in Jerusalem reported that the Beit Meir fire was a result of arson, and two suspects had been arrested. Channel 10 reported that an investigation into Thursday’s fire in Zichron Yaakov found the blaze was caused “indisputably” by arsonists.
As of Thursday night, over 200 fires were dealt with over the course of three days, with 75,000 residents evacuated from their homes in Haifa and thousands more across the country. There were no deaths or critical injuries, police said.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-fires-on-Friday-investigation-into-Thursday-fire-confirms-arson-fears-473636
Fires continue to rage into the night
For the third consecutive day, fire crews work around the clock to contain and extinguish a series of massive brush fires that broke out earlier this week; state of emergency declared in Haifa, with 13 neighborhoods being evacuated and all firefighting aircraft being scrambled to control the blaze that has forced the evacuation of thousands.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4883634,00.html
Thank you Yucki for the links to the Israeli fires. The Israelis are smart and tenacious else they would have been wiped out long ago…
God bless them.
Thank-you, Babs.
Iran Tightens Military Ties with China
[…]
There is one military capacity Tehran desperately needs to deter a U.S. attack and which Beijing is best suited to provide: robust maritime Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) capabilities. Over the past decade, China has dramatically increased its own A2/AD capacity in the South China Sea and its littorals, aiming to diminish U.S. room to maneuver in the western Pacific. Its tools include long-range anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, and layered air defense systems that force an adversary’s air and naval forces to operate from a distance. For Iran, these would allow it to control the strategic Strait of Hormuz while limiting an enemy’s ability to strike deep within its territory. China and Iran even began joint naval drills in 2014.
In an era when U.S. military resources are already strained globally, agreements like this between Iran and China make it harder for Washington to defend its partners and deter aggression around the world. As a new administration prepares to take office, U.S. policymakers must prepare for the likelihood that an Iran no longer under arms embargo will capitalize on its long-standing partnership with China.
http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/behnam-ben-taleblu-iran-tightens-military-ties-with-china/
In a post earlier it was ask if this is a new type of eco terrorism? The Moslems are willing to destroy anything including the ecology to further their goal of taking over the world.
I planted some of those trees in Israel. A long, long time ago. Breaks my heart.
And when you think that BHO refused to bomb the oil tankers smuggling ISIS oil because of “ecological damage”.
And BTW Yucki, my mother paid to have many of those trees planted. Someone was born, plant a tree, someone married, plant a tree, someone died, plant a tree. She practically had them on speed dial. We are Irish Catholic but my Mom was really into the concept of Israel. She used to say that they were turning the desert green and now the savages want to burn it down.
A beautiful custom among observant Christians and Jews, performed as an “act of grace”. Such satisfaction – participating in the miracle revival of the Holy Land in a way that feels tangible. Israelis still do it for the same celebrations and memorials.
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this heinousness. Your mother’s trees, all the people for whom she planted them. Mine, generations past. Testimonies to enduring life, just the suggestion of transcendence without going pagan.
The Lord is gracious. Our children’s grandchildren will picnic under the shade of the saplings we plant now.
Israel is making the desert bloom, they are repairing 2,000 years of damage to the land caused by goat herds. The Holy Land and North Africa use to be the bread baskets of the Roman Empire then the Moslems took over and destroyed the land with goat herds.
Goats eat the grass down to the roots and kill the grass, you have to watch the land carefully and keep pastures separated when herding goats and to a lesser extent sheep. The only time cattle, deer and other herbivores will do that is when there are more of them then the land can carry.
“The Moslems are willing to destroy anything including the ecology to further their goal of taking over the world.
Although a Ba’athist, didn’t Saddam’s uncapping of Kuwaiti oil wells demonstrate that rather adequately? I am unable to find a link to it but there was also a beautiful resort island off the Adriatic Coast of Yugoslavia where all of the trees were chainsawed down to cripple its beauty. The Mostar Bridge springs to mind as well. Likewise, I could not wade through enough Biblical links to find data on the famous “cedars of Lebanon” being slashed and burnt for these same reasons.
Please realize that there are Imams who would rather see every man, woman, and child on earth DEAD with Muslims in their paradise and the kufar rotting in hell rather than share this world with even a single unbeliever.
This is what we are faced with and it is why I continue to predict such a dismal outcome. There will be little way of overcoming jihadist terrorism without posing an existential threat to Islam. Posing that threat will likely require truly massive loss of life before either side will take each other seriously. Think “Japan” and what it took to persuade them to abandon their hostilities.
Obama has put us in a nasty position of having a lot of jobs and very little to do them with. However this will force us to modernize our ships and planes faster then we would and to spend even more on research to once again have a massive lead on everyone else. It has also forced the Japanese to rearm and make treaties with other nations to maintain freedom of the seas.
China is thinking of the US as their main enemy but given what is happening they need to start thinking about what will happen now that Japan is rearming.
Taqiyya artist extraordinaire, or dead-man-talking:
Making the Islamic Case for Religious Liberty
http://www.hudson.org/research/13022-making-the-islamic-case-for-religious-liberty
The Pro-Palestinian Left is Tearing Itself Apart Over Syria
Why have so many pro-Palestinian activists been silent as the Syrian regime and its Russian allies butcher civilians? That’s a question that many other activists want answered.
http://www.thetower.org/article/the-pro-palestinian-left-is-tearing-itself-apart-over-syria/
I like Michael Totten:
What the Next President Must Do About the World
An open letter to the next leader of the free world.
http://www.thetower.org/article/what-the-next-president-must-do-foreign-policy-russia-kurds-turkey-israel-iran/
Thank you, yucki. As someone with “mud on his boots”, Totten speaks with more authority than dozens of international correspondents combined. The entire article was worth reading, if only to snag the line, “echelons above reality”. In the corporate world, this is referred to as the “40,000 foot view[point]”.
Totten also poses a brilliant question by asking, “Under what theory do the Palestinians deserve their own state while the Kurds don’t?” The time is long past for the “Palestinians” to have any more credibility than … let’s say … some chewing gum stuck to the sidewalk. They’ve squandered billions in foreign aid and have absolutely nothing to show for it. For a change, let’s give the Kurds their whey. [ducks]
Also cogent is Totten’s assessment of Turkey. To wit:
As in, I’ve yet to talk with a single person of Turkish ancestry that doesn’t think the entire coup kerfuffle was a set-up (i.e., false flag operation) from start to finish.
The author is also spot on in his estimation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, “When a clear majority of Palestinians catch up to the Israelis [about coexistence], the conflict will end. Until then, the conflict will grind on.” There will be no end to it because any lasting peace would be, not only contrary to Koranic diktats, but also a full confession that jihad does not work. And we can’t have that now, can we?
Trump could do a lot worse than inviting Michael Totten to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Not that those in the “echelons above reality” would ever listen to him.
Totten, “The Iran Delusion: A Primer for the Perplexed”. A highly readable classic: http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/iran-delusion-primer-perplexed
The only disagreement I have with what he is saying is the phrase “finish off ISIS in Iraq”, the pharase implies that ISIS will be destroyed when it is defeated in Iraq. It won’t, it is already building a fall back position in Libya from which to continue its reign of terror. OF course there is probably no way ISIS can be totally destroyed just as there is no way that Fascism and Communism can be totally destroyed. Small pockets of infection will remain festering in all nations until the time is ripe to once more infect the body of world politics.
FRANCE -Suspects in ‘thwarted terror attack on Disneyland Paris and Champs Elysees Christmas market were given secret orders by ISIS in Syria and Iraq’
AN ISIS terror cell planning a terror attack on Disneyland and a Christmas market on the Champs Elysees in Paris were given secret orders from ISIS commanders, a prosecutor has said.
Francois Molins told a news conference: “A Strasbourg commando team, and also a man arrested in Marseille, were given instructions to acquire arms.
“The instructions were given by a commander from the Iraqi-Syrian region via encrypted apps.”
Jihadists were plotting to strike on Thursday, December 1 and had also researched other bustling sites including a police headquarters, Metro station and city centre cafes.
Seven suspects were arrested in police raids last weekend in the eastern city of Strasbourg and Marseille in the south following an eight-month investigation by security services, although two were later released.
The source said investigators found the suspects had made internet searches on sites including the Champs Elysees market, Disneyland Paris, cafe terraces in the northeast of the capital, the Paris criminal police headquarters and metro stations.
Christmas is one of the theme park’s busiest times of the year and December it would have been packed with thousands of kids.
Five of the suspects have had their custody extended under legislation covering investigations into an imminent terror attack.
One of the men is said to have told investigators that attacks were planned and named the police headquarters in central Paris and the DGSI domestic security department in the northwest of the city as targets.
Two handguns, an automatic pistol, a submachine gun and jihadist propaganda were all found during the raids in which they were arrested.
France is under a state of emergency that gives security forces enhanced powers of surveillance and arrest, a year after the Paris attacks.
Islamist extremists have carried out three large-scale attacks in France since January 2015, when gunmen targeted the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket.
Ten months later, Islamic State jihadists massacred 130 people in attacks on the Bataclan concert hall, France’s national stadium and a handful of bars and restaurants in eastern Paris.
And in July, a self-radicalised extremist ploughed a truck into crowds watching fireworks in the southern city of Nice, killing 86.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2263628/suspects-in-thwarted-terror-attack-on-disneyland-paris-and-champs-elysees-christmas-market-were-given-secret-orders-by-isis-in-syria-and-iraq/
France: Police foil Paris terror attack plot
The five men arrested in France last week were planning an imminent terror attack in the Paris area, prosecutor of the Republic of Paris, Francois Molins, stated in a press conference in Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris on Friday. He said the men were receiving orders from a so-called Islamic State group member in the Iraqi-Syrian region, and were planning an attack for December 1.
SOT, Francois Molins, prosecutor of the Republic of Paris (French): “The anti-terrorist section of my prosecutor’s office opens today a judicial investigation of the heads of participation in a terrorist criminal association for the preparation of crimes against persons, acquisition, detention, transport, offer and illegal transfer of arms and of category A and B ammunition, all in a meeting and in connection with a terrorist organisation.”
SOT, Francois Molins, prosecutor of the Republic of Paris (French): “The elements seized in Strasbourg, particularly at the homes of the names Yassine B. and Hicham M., have indeed discovered very clear writings of allegiance to Daesh, and glorifying death as a martyr.”
SOT, Francois Molins, prosecutor of the Republic of Paris (French): “The elements discovered during the search, as well as the first operations of the telephone and computer supports that have already been carried out by the investigators attest. It appears on the one hand that the perpetrators were in possession or in search of weapons and funding, on the other hand that they were preparing to take action and were looking for targets.”
Here’s Michael Totten again, writing a book review for Commentary:
Springtime for Morsi
[Title echoes satirical movie, “Springtime for Hitler” – ROFLMO – I don’t have a link, sorry. I don’t think Totten wants us laughing here, then again, who knows?]
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/springtime-for-morsi/
Dear yucki, your wish is my command:
“Springtime for Hitler”
At time point 01:23, that (supposedly) is Mel Brooks himself exhorting the audience:
“Don’t be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party.”
The overhead shot (á la the June Taylor Dancers on The Jackie Gleason Show) of the dance scene’s swastika is a meisterstück of choreography. I consider Gene Wilder’s work with Zero Mostel to be his best of all time. Sadly, Mostel was such a PITA to work with, Brooks vowed never to star him ever again, much to everyone’s loss.
The movie is “The Producers” with “Springtime for Hitler” as one of the songs. Can’t find the full movie on Youtube unless you want to pay 3 dollars.
May your Sabbath be restful and refreshing.
“May your Sabbath be restful and refreshing.”
If I have, in some small way, helped you with the task of tikkun olam, then my day is complete.
I don’t do tikkun olam. I think it’s a mistranslation taken out of context from a prayer, or a paraphrase by some presumptuous messiah-wanna be.
As someone put it in a comment somewhere:
The difference between steak and eggs is that the hen is involved, but the bull is committed.
The author here is involved in Jewish life. Breakfasts, bat mitzvahs, board meetings, etc.
I call myself orthodox. i’m committed? to Sabbath, committed to the Holidays, to daily praying and a whole lot of other things.
I don’t like all of them and some really grind my gears. ( tisha b’av comes to mind ). But I’m committed, and that doesn’t depend on the rabbi in my synagogue, or any particular synagogue, for that matter.
Everything after comment somewhere above is a quote.
This is a long, but excellent treatment of the expression by Hillel Halkin.[*] He’s commenting on its usage in the campaign rhetoric of 0 in 2008. Devastating.
How Not to Repair the World
Jewish tradition offers three different conceptions of tikkun olam; today’s buzz phrase is compatible with none of them.
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/how-not-to-repair-the-world/
____
[*] A true scholar. His recent biography of Ze’ev Jabotinsky is terrific.
Interesting read. However, I do not subscribe to all of the “Social Justice” horsehocky. In fact, I like “perfecting the world” a lot more than “repairing the world”.
As usual with the counterintuitive reasoning, I firmly believe that, more than any other group, “Social Justice” serves the ends of the 1%. All of the “Social Justice” crap divides us, the 99%. It is the world’s oldest military strategy. Namely, “divide and conquer”.
The 99% must unite against the 1% and take back our world, by force, if necessary.
This tikkun-jazz is not Judaism. It’s some other religion that features pilfered bits of this & that from here & there. Sorta like Islam. Tikkun is a subset of Leftism.
Anybody who pushes it, or conflates “social justice” movements with Halachic Judaism is automatically suspect. They’re usually enemies of real Jews, those who walk the walk. (Like jihadis cast as nutters slander real nutters, Tikkun-ers give us a bad name.)
Those who practice Tikkun disguise themselves as Jews to boost their credibility. But they’re easy to spot: Reformed or Conservative rabbis, “community organizers” for secular interest groups like ADL or “Jews- 4 -Justice” [anywhere except Israel]. Anybody who identifies with the victim du jour – feminists or sexquirrels.
Orthodox Jews don’t have time for such extra-curricular pastimes. At bare minimum just observing the Sabbath cuts 25-26 hours a week from Tikkun-time. Weekends are out, ditto for communal meals.
The same to you.
AFP – Fringe far-right groups emboldened by Trump victory
Myanmar Rohingya crisis sparks Muslim protests in Bangladesh
reuters – Protests over Myanmar Rohingya crackdown
CNN – Myanmar – Rohingya Muslims going back to Bangladesh
BBC News- Muslim invaders hounded from Burmese soil’
the independent – Controversial Hungarian PM invited to Washington by Donald Trump
Viktor Orbán says he spoke with President-elect by phone and is looking forward to no longer being regarded as a ‘black sheep’ by the US
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of Europe’s biggest supporters of Donald Trump, says the US president-elect has told him of his “high regard” for Hungary and invited him to Washington.
“I spoke with the new US president by telephone, and can say that our position has improved a lot. Donald Trump made clear that he holds Hungary in high regard,” Orbán told Vilaggazdasag news site in an interview published late Thursday.
“He invited me to Washington, I told him that I hadn’t been there for a long time as I had been treated as a ‘black sheep’, to which he replied, laughing: ‘Me too’.”
In July, Orbán, 53, was the first EU leader to come out in favour of the US billionaire, praising his policy proposals on immigration and security.
Orbán was also one of the first world leaders to congratulate him after his shock victory.
The tone signals a marked shift in relations between the US and EU and NATO member Hungary.
After coming to power in 2010 the maverick Hungarian was often accused by Washington of steering Hungary away from democratic norms.
Outgoing President Barack Obama and Trump’s defeated election rival Hillary Clinton both warned Hungary against clamping down on the judiciary, press and civil society organisations.
Relations between Budapest and Washington also soured in 2014 when several unnamed Hungarian government officials were denied entry to the US over alleged corruption.
Orbán told Vilaggazdasag that with Trump the US will have a president who is “not ideologically restricted, but an open person”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/donald-trump-hungarian-pm-viktor-orban-invited-washington-a7438291.html
=========================================
Trump Invites Hungarian PM Orbán to Washington D.C.
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump has invited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to visit him in Washington D.C.
The Prime Minister said that Mr. Trump then praised the Hungarian government and called the people of Hungary “brave freedom fighters” during a telephone conversation on Thursday night, Hungarian paper Magyar Hirlap reports.
Mr. Orbán also noted that Trump congratulated Hungary for its economic success in recent years saying that he has called the nation’s achievements over the past six years “outstanding”.
After being invited to Washington D.C., Orbán said: “I told him that I hadn’t been there for a long time as I had been treated as a ‘black sheep’, to which he replied, laughing, ‘Me too’.”
On Mr. Trump’s open attitudes toward Hungary, the prime minister said: “He is much more interested in success, efficiency and results than in political theories,” adding: “This is good for us, as the facts are with us. The economic cooperation has always been good, only the ideologies presented obstacles.”
One of the first European politicians to come out in support of Trump, the maverick Hungarian leader has been a fierce opponent of the migrant policies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the European Union’s plans to redistribute migrants across the political bloc.
In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, shortly after the Hungarian migrant referendum, spokesman for the Hungarian government Zoltán Kovács said the Obama administration had left the country feeling abandoned. “My first-hand experience, the experience of the government, [is that] the U.S. has lost interest, and probably with it, knowledge about the region. Europe in general, but most certainly about Central Europe,” he said.
While Mr. Orbán had come out in support of Mr. Trump, Kovács was more cautious than to offer an official governmental endorsement, but did at the time note that the migrant policies of Trump and the Hungarian government aligned.
“If it’s about migration, which seems to be the most acute challenge we face, it’s definitely true that Mr. Trump and the conservative philosophy on migration is a lot closer to us,” he noted.
Hungary, along with neighbours Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Poland, constitute the Visegrad 4 group, who have been a major bloc in opposition of mass migration within the European Union. The V4 now look to the presidential elections in Austria for another potential ally in the anti-mass migration Freedom Party (FPÖ) candidate Norbert Hofer.
After meeting with Czech president Miloš Zeman, Hofer related his intentions for Austria to join the group as well.
Speaking to Breitbart London on the issue, spokesman Kovács said: “Austria has always rather belonged to Central Europe, not the Western part of Europe. With the facts and the consequences of what is happening on the southern and eastern borders of Europe now with migration, it would be an interesting turn and development if the Austrians realised that.”
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11/25/trump-invites-hungarian-pm-orban-washington-dc/
nbc news -Trump Invites Anti-Migrant Hungarian PM Orban to Washington: Report
LONDON — The controversial leader of Hungary who erected a fence along his country’s border to keep migrants out says Donald Trump has invited him to visit Washington.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview published online by business daily Vilaggazdasag that Trump made it clear to him that “he thinks highly of Hungary.”
Orban, who tried but failed to win a referendum to ban Hungary taking a EU quota of refugees in October, said in July that Trump’s migration policies were better for Europe and Hungary.
The right-wing leader has strong anti-Islamic views. Last year, he had fences built on Hungary’s southern borders to stop the flow of migrants trying to reach Western Europe.
Orban was quoted as saying he felt that Hungary’s position had “improved greatly” with Trump bound for the White House.
Orban said: “He invited me to Washington, I told him that I hadn’t been there for a long time as I had been treated as a ‘black sheep’, to which he replied, laughing: ‘Me too’.”
“I think America will now have a president who is not ideologically limited,” Orban added. “He is an open person who is much more interested in success, efficiency and results than in political theories.”
Orban earlier hailed Trump’s victory as “great news,” which would allow Western civilization to return to “true democracy and straight, honest talk,” freed from the “paralyzing constraint of political correctness.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-invites-anti-migrant-hungarian-pm-orban-washington-report-n688251
Cool they should get along and this will send a message to the rest of Europe.
Uganda is shutting down schools funded by Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates (CNN, Nov 25, 2016)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/25/africa/uganda-schools-zuckerberg-gates/index.html
“A legal tug-of-war between Ugandan authorities and a for-profit international chain of schools has led to the education provider being ordered to shut down in a matter of weeks, leaving the lives of thousands of pupils in limbo.
Uganda’s High Court has described the Bridge International Academies (BIA) — which is funded by the likes of Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg — as unsanitary and unqualified, and has ordered it to close its doors in December because it ignored Uganda’s national standards and put the “life and safety” of its 12,000 young students on the line.
The Director of Education Standards for the Ministry, Huzaifa Mutazindwa, told CNN that the nursery and primary schools were not licensed, the teachers weren’t qualified and that there was no record of its curriculum being approved.
“The Ministry does not know what is being taught in these schools which is a point of concern to (the) government,” Mutazindwa said.
The low-cost education provider, which has 63 campuses across Uganda, is allowed to remain open until December 8 to allow students to sit for exams and finish third term. This was after BIA secured an interim court order that restrained the government from closing its schools until its main case for stay could be heard in court.
For its part, BIA — which runs more than 400 nursery and primary schools across Africa — has continuously denied the allegations that have been made by the government.
“There’s a lot of miscommunication and a lot of very serious, unfounded allegations. We would like to be given the opportunity to explain ourselves … The Ministry has been unwilling to give us an audience to set the record straight,” Uganda’s BIA director, Andrew White, told CNN…”
They probably didn’t pay the right people for the privilege of teaching. Hopefully the courses are actual education and not leftist propaganda.
BBC – Suspect held over attack at French retired missionaries’ home
[ no details nowhere about his name or ethnicity ]A former soldier, suspected of stabbing a woman to death in a retirement home for former missionaries, has been arrested in France.
The suspect used to work at the home, near Montpellier, a source close to the investigation told AFP news agency.
Prosecutor Christophe Barret said the motive was not clear but it was not linked to “Islamist terrorism”.
France remains in a formal state of emergency since a wave of terrorist attacks last year.
The suspect, 47, was arrested near his home, about 10 miles (15km) from Montferrier-sur-Lez, the town where the attack was carried out.
He worked at the home several years ago, and is now unemployed, the source said.
Witnesses said the assailant was armed with a shotgun and a knife when he entered the home on Thursday night.
A nurse raised the alarm after escaping from the home but when police arrived they found the body of the dead woman gagged and tied up outside the building.
The 54-year-old woman, who worked in the home, has not been named.
The home caters for former missionaries with past service in Africa, as well as several nuns.
Residents “are very elderly with an average age of 75 although some are over 90”, a local councillor said, adding that many need assistance to walk.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38102478
If it is not Islam related, why not release the suspect’s name?
Prosecutors Say British Housing Benefits Funded Terrorism (abcnews, Nov 25, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/prosecutors-british-housing-benefits-funded-terrorism-43777873
“Prosecutors say two British men accused of providing cash to a key figure in the mass terror attacks in Brussels and Paris used a bank account that included government money from excess housing benefits.
The information was revealed Friday in a court hearing for Zakaria Boufassil and Mohammed Ali Ahmed, two men from England accused of providing money to Mohamed Abrini, who has been charged in the terror attacks in Brussels on March 22 and in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015.
Prosecutors say the men gave 3000 pounds ($3700) from the account of a third man, who was receiving government assistance, to Abrini when he traveled to England in July 2015.
They are charged in Kingston Crown Court with intending to commit terrorism or help someone else commit terrorism.”
Activists: Bombs Knock out 2 Hospitals in Northern Syria (abcnews, Nov 25, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/activists-airstrike-northern-syrian-village-kills-43774048
“Airstrikes and rockets in northern Syria knocked out two medical centers dedicated to women Friday and killed at least 12, including two people in one of the health facilities, according to opposition activists, a charity group and a hospital manager.
Warplanes and artillery shelling also continued to pound the besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo as government troops pushed their way from the enclave’s northeastern district…”
After Fatal Fire, Greece Presses EU on Migrant Relocation (abcnews, Nov 25, 2016)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greek-pm-expresses-shock-refugee-deaths-camp-blaze-43771169
“Greece asked the European Union Friday to press member states to speed up the relocation of migrants, after a fire raged through an overcrowded refugee camp, killing two people and seriously hurting two others.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was “shocked, as is the entire Greek nation, by the tragic event” that occurred overnight at the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos.
The government said it would seek the faster deployment of promised EU personnel to help process asylum claims. Tsipras’ office said he had spoken by phone with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
A gas canister, used for cooking or heating inside a tent, started the fire, police said. The victims were a young boy and an older woman, who have not been identified…”
Australian IS recruiter Neil Prakash ‘still alive’ (BBC, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38100785
“An Australian militant thought dead is still alive and under arrest in the Middle East, according to reports.
The Australian government in May said Neil Prakash, a senior recruiter for the so-called Islamic State group, had been killed in a US air strike.
He died in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Attorney-General George Brandis said at the time.
But the New York Times, citing senior US sources, now reports that Prakash is still alive.
Prakash handed himself to Turkish authorities several weeks ago, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation said…”
Iraqi Christians returning to villages destroyed by IS (BBC, video, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-38032354
“Iraqi Christians who have returned to the village of Qaraqosh near Mosul have spoken of the devastation left behind by so-called Islamic State.
The jihadist group was driven out of Qaraqosh in October, two years after taking over the village, causing thousands of its Christian residents to flee.
Sally Nabil reports.”
Somalia elections: ‘Huge corruption’ (BBC, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38105023
“Massive cases of corruption and voter intimidation have marred the ongoing parliamentary elections in Somalia, the auditor general has told the BBC.
Bribes of between $1,000 – $5,000 (£800; £4,000) have been paid, Gen Nur Farah Jimale said.
The BBC has also learned that some candidates have been offering bribes of up to $1.3m (£1m) to secure votes.
Indirect elections have been taking place since October as the country remains too unsafe for a national vote.
Much of the country is still under the control of Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda…”
Half of asylum seekers complain UK housing funded by YOU is ‘completely inadequate’ (express, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/736601/asylum-seekers-UK-housing-taxpayers-completely-inadequate-Migrant-Voice
“EXCLUSIVE: FIFTY percent of asylum seekers surveyed about the quality of housing they have been provided, which is paid for by the taxpayer, have branded it as “completely inadequate”, it has emerged.
Refugees housed across Birmingham and the West Midlands were quizzed about the standard of accommodation they were provided and a further 17 per cent described it as just “mediocre”.
The properties were provided by G4S, one of three companies hired by the Home Office to provide asylum seeker accommodation up and down the country.
Just 11 percent of people asked said the housing was excellent, eight percent described it as good, and 14 percent said it was adequate for their needs.
The survey was carried out by Migrant Voice, an organisation set up to encourage a more balanced and inclusive debate on immigration in Britain.
It has been submitted to an ongoing Home Affairs Committee inquiry into accommodation for asylum seekers, set up in the wake of the Syria refugee crisis.
The report said: “Migrant Voice has undertaken a research into the living conditions of asylum seekers in Birmingham in housing provided by the Home Office through private housing providers – in this case respondents only named G4S.
“The research came about as a result of our members in Birmingham raising issues around their housing.
“We wanted to find out what the situation was, and if there are problems, to find out whether they are unique or widespread and to come up with recommendations.
“The questionnaires asked participants to describe their accommodation, asked what was good about the accommodation, what were the problems, and what were the recommendations.”
Migrant Voice said research was ongoing and these were preliminary findings.
The report added: “The problems mentioned fall into two key areas: The physical state of the accommodation with several sub-sections of concerns, and the interaction with the housing providers.”
Problems reported included leaking roofs, broken toilets and infestations of vermin.
Migrants also complained that G4S staff did not take their complaints about housing standards seriously and there were separate concerns raised about possible sexual harassment of refugee women by G4S housing staff…”
Fake doctor filmed himself having SEX with Muslim women & threatened to put clips online (express, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/736647/Fraudster-fake-doctor-blackmail-filmed-sex-videos-Muslim-women-jailed-court
“A SICK fantasist who filmed Muslim women having sex and threatened to put the videos online if they didn’t pay him large sums of cash has been jailed.
Farhan Mirza tried to impress his victims by claiming to be a doctor – despite actually being a taxi driver who lived with his mother in Abertillery, South Wales.
The 38-year-old even went as far as to hang surgical scrubs in his wardrobe and carried a stethoscope in his car to trick women he met on shaadi.com, which describes itself as the world’s biggest match-making website…”
‘Visual pollution’ Turkey orders Syrians to TEAR DOWN Arabic signs in migrant district (express, Nov 25, 2016)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/736638/Turkey-orders-Little-Syria-Syrians-TEAR-DOWN-Arabic-signs-migrant-district
“TURKEY’S government is tearing down Arabic signs it has branded “visual pollution” in a bid to curb the spread of Arabic culture.
A neighbourhood dubbed ‘Little Syria’, which caters for a largely immigrant population, has come under fire for its anti-Turkish outlook.
Colourful signs, flashing lights and sales messages written Arabic have been branded “visual pollution”.
Last week, a notice was issued to shops and residents in the city of, Aksaray, Istanbul, ordering them to de-clutter building facades and overhaul their signage.
For the last eight years, Turkey has been attempting to crackdown on shopfronts and foreign displays.
Syrian residents in the area have said they will ignore the order…”
Syrian Rebels Are Firing an Antique Mystery Cannon
The gun looks like something from the 19th century.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a24033/syrian-rebels-have-a-mystery-antique-gun/
That would be my guess on when it was made.
U2 ‘Dragonlady’ pilots spy on ISIS from the edge of space (CNN, Nov 25, 2016)
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/25/middleeast/u2-dragonlady-reconnaissance-plane-pleitgen/index.html
“Getting dressed for a combat mission in a U2 “Dragonlady” reconnaissance plane looks almost like the preparations for a space flight, the pilot in a yellow compression suit wearing a massive white helmet.
The suits need to be cooled the entire time, otherwise the pilots would die of heat exhaustion in a matter of minutes, but they are necessary to protect the crew members as they fly surveillance missions over Iraq and Syria at more than 70,000 feet scoping out ISIS targets.
The US Air Force gave CNN rare access to U2 crews flying out of a secret location in the Middle East. We can only identify the pilots by their rank, first name and their call sign…”
Essentially, the U-2 was spawned by an unholy union between an F-104 Starfighter and a glider. It has one of (if not the) most confining flight envelopes of any aircraft ever built. The difference between stalling and undergoing Mach buffet is somewhere south of a half-dozen knots in airspeed.
The plane was just one example of an amazing number of classic aircraft designed by aviation genius, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. Incredible birds like the P-38 Lightning, U-2 Dragonlady, F-104 Starfighter, SR-71 Blackbird, and so many others were the product of Kelly’s leadership at Lockheed’s “Skunk Works”.
Alton Romig – A History of Skunkworks
Don’t even get me started about this as I could go on for pages. Instead, I’ll leave you with a tantalizing glimpse of a Skunk Works project that could potentially crush the
Islamic cockroachesMuslim Middle East forever. Please watch:Charles Chase on energy for everyone
Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Research & Development
This is a must read article for all who love freedom, it lays out the most probable future for Obama and what he is going to do.
Eeyore said that the blogs invovlment in US politics isn’t over because we now have to hold Trumps feet to the fire to insure he does what he promised. If what Danial Greenfield is predicting comes true (and I think it will) we have to be ready to oppose Obama and the alt lefts next move on power. This article is about what Obama is planning on doing on the political and propaganda level but it will run parallel to an active measures campaign by BLM and other groups of the same ideology.
Obama Plans to Rule America Outside the White House
…and he might get away with it.
November 25, 2016
Daniel Greenfield
Barack Obama has two faces. After Trump’s victory and Hillary’s defeat, the public Obama has been gracious and diplomatic. His lectures to Trump, directly and indirectly, are couched in praise. He echoed the feeling of millions on both sides when he said, “We are now all rooting for his success”.
That’s a lie. Or rather a disguise.
Obama and his aides had, in one insider narrative, decided to don the “mask of decorum”. The contempt for Trump still seeps through the mask. And the mask hides Obama’s next big move.
President Obama is over. He knows that. There are still some things that he can do before he leaves office, but everything except the most destructive, can be undone by his successor. The next phase of his campaign will not be fought from the White House. It will be fought against the White House .
The other Obama is emerging in conference calls with his supporters. “One of the challenges that I’ve discovered being president is I’d like to be organizer-in-chief, but it’s hard,” he said in one call.
Obama can no longer be commander-in-chief. Instead he’s plotting to become organizer-in-chief.
The infrastructure for the organization was put into place long before anyone thought that Hillary might lose. Organizing for Action gave him his own organizing hub. If Hillary had won, it would have been a pressure group. Now that Trump won, it’s an axis to build a personal counterrevolution around.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264917/obama-plans-rule-america-outside-white-house-daniel-greenfield
When reading the article remember that US law has the US government paying for the ex-Presidents staff. This means we the tax payers will be paying the salaries of some of the people who are working to destroy this nation.
“That’s a lie. Or rather a disguise.”
Garsh, shucky darn, and golly-gee-willikers, d’ya mean [gasp] taqiyya? Who’d a thunk that America’s premier de facto Muslim (regardless of 0bama’s proclaimed ideological affiliation) might be able to give Janus Bifrons a lesson in being two-faced?!?
“Obama and his aides had, in one insider narrative, decided to don the “mask of decorum”.”
For a
hope andchange.“Obama is now the only major national figure still standing among the Democrats.”
Thank goodness for small mercies. If only the Left would concede that Hillary’s next nomination for
anypolitical office will occur well after our solar system’s star goes nova, then I might be more confident.“If he’s going to dictate the future of his party, he can’t afford to be blamed for its latest disaster. And Obama is still determined to dictate the future of the party and the country.”
If this is even a slight hint that 0bama will refuse to pardon Hillary (and Bill), then its a Champagne-cork-popping moment.
“And Hillary’s fate won’t leave much enthusiasm for nominating the uncharismatic spouse of a charismatic ex-president.”
I’d dearly love to see Michelle 0bama try and navigate the scorched political earth that Hillary left in her wake. Few other things could so reliably assure second term for Trump or an iron-clad 2024 Republican win than to have Michelle pretend that she’s electable.
(Note to Richard: This article’s a fecking mother lode of quotable material!)
“But Obama is not a conventional politician. He’s an organizer and a campaigner at the vanguard of a radical movement that seeks to control traditional
MARCH THROUGH THEinstitutions, but doesn’t feel bound by them.”Since when has this been news?!? There are few better descriptions of 0bama’s entire time in office (from Senator onward).
“That’s Obama’s agenda. Having wrecked the country and the Democrats, he sees that not as a setback, but as an opportunity.”
LET HIM. If the Republicans (or Tea Party) are somehow unable to persuade American voters about just how toxic the past eight years (and a potential term—or two—of Hillary’s might have been), then they have no business leading the United States any further. As in, this is their last chance before this nation (hopefully) grows a brain and creates one-or-more independent political parties.
“OFA will be far more dangerous in the wild than the Clinton Foundation ever was. The Clintons hoped to ride back to power on a giant wave of money. Obama is taking a much more radical course.”
Clearly, the Clinton’s did not get the Alinsky memo. However much it is helpful in doing so, MONEY does not assure a stranglehold on the ballot box. In recent years, it’s gotten very close but, we can only hope, that after four years of Trump, this will even less of the case.
““I’m going to be constrained in what I do with all of you until I am again a private citizen. But that’s not so far off,” he [0bama] assured them.”
Too bad that wasn’t four years ago. Then again, that would have meant four previous years of a RINO Commander-in-Chief like Mitt “Mittens” Romney.
“Obama believes that he can rule America from outside the White House.”
Let him try. It can only be hoped that any such attempt would permit a (more informed) American electorate to reject his failed policies with an even greater degree of vigor.
“ If Obama sets out to move the center of power outside the White House and into an organization that will control national politics through the left, it would be dangerous to assume that he can’t and won’t succeed.”
Again, if such a strategy is allowed to succeed, America will deserve it.
“Keith Ellison, a radical leftist with an anti-Semitic past, is tipped to head the DNC.”
If Trump, his advisers, and his administration, are incapable of unmasking a CAIR shill like Ellison, then they have no right to be in the White House.
“Their agenda is to move power from local areas to central ones, from the villages and the suburbs to the cities, from states to D.C. and from locally elected legislators in D.C. to the satellite bureaucracies of the Federal government.”
All the more reason to reinforce the role of America’s Electoral College.
“The left crippled the Democrats. Now it wants to utterly consume them.”
LET THEM! There are few better imaginable outcomes. A Conservative America that cannot capitalize upon such circumstances has (already) abdicated its political authority.
“The election was a catastrophic disaster for the Democrats, but it opened all sorts of doors for Obama.”
Time to change that … now isn’t it?
“Hillary’s defeat removes the Clintons, his only real internal rivals, off the stage.”
FOREVER, we can only hope.
“He will function as a president-in-exile heading up the opposition to Trump.
Maybe we need to exile his wretched, treasonous @ss back to Indonesia or Kenya.
If this is even a slight hint that 0bama will refuse to pardon Hillary (and Bill), then its a Champagne-cork-popping moment.
I hadn’t thought of this, of course if he doesn’t pardon her the investigations will find massive evidence that he knew about her actions and did nothing. This could lead to him being indicted. An action I would be very tempted to take a drink (to hell with the heart meds) to celebrate.
All the more reason to reinforce the electoral college
Hopefully with an Amendment that will have votes for each Congressional district go to the person who won that district and only the vote for the Senators go to whoever won the state. This would cement control of the Presidency in the hands of the people and not the machines.
Concerning the Grim Prediction, this has been a major worry of a lot of people ever since Trump got the nomination. The only bright spot in that grim possibility is that the left usually screws up their assassination attempts. And a failed attempt with the left both celebrating the attempt and crying because it failed will do a lot to damage their incredibility small credibility. I hope they don’t try but looking at the history of the left know this is probably a futile hope.
Maybe we need to exile his wretched, treasonous @ss back to Indonesia or Kenya.
Or a pen which would be even better.
Yes it is a gold mine of quotable bits, Danial Greenfield is a master wordsmith and proved it with this article.
Why Did Obama Shut Down a Successful Aerial Surveillance Program along the U.S.-Mexican Border?
Operation Phalanx may have worked too well for the administration’s tastes.
November 25, 2016
Ari Lieberman
President-elect Donald Trump has made the construction of physical barriers along the border with Mexico, immigration reform and the dissolution of sanctuary cities the cornerstone of his campaign but it appears that in its twilight weeks of office, the Obama administration is intent on making that lofty goal as difficult as possible. According to the government oversight group Watchdog.org, the Department of Homeland Security has recently and inexplicably shut down Operation Phalanx, an aerial surveillance program established in 2010 which aimed to interdict drug trafficking and illegal immigration along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Phalanx authorized the allocation of 1,200 soldiers and airmen from the U.S. Army’s National Guard to assist U.S. customs and border patrol agents along the border. The program also employed advanced UH-72 helicopters to supplement other aerial surveillance platforms.
The move to terminate the project is in line with the Obama administration’s lackadaisical approach to illegal immigration and serves to underscore attempts by the administration to make the transition more difficult for the President-elect. In February 2016, the Obama administration cut funding to Operation Phalanx by 50 percent even though the project had been fully funded by Congress and was by all accounts, demonstrably successful.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264945/why-did-obama-shut-down-successful%C2%A0aerial-ari-lieberman
DHS Loses Thousands of ‘Keys to the Kingdom’
And issues some “keys” to the wrong people.
November 25, 2016
Michael Cutler
President-Elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall to separate the United States from Mexico resonated with many Americans and galvanized their support, which ultimately enabled him to win the election. These voters want to prevent narcotics and illegal aliens and the criminals and terrorists among them from flowing freely into the United States.
Indeed, that porous border must be made secure. However, simply securing that problematic border would not end the immigration crisis. Indeed, the lack of security along the southwest border had nothing to do with the ability of the 9/11 hijacker-terrorists to enter the United States nor did that border play a role in the great majority of terrorists who have entered the United States prior to the attacks of 9/11 or after those deadly attacks.
While illegal immigration represents a huge multi-faceted challenge and, indeed threat, to America and Americans, the multiple failures of the legal immigration system is no less problematic.
Many politicians have said that after the Trump administration secures the southwest border and removes the estimated two to three million criminal aliens that we should then consider how to address the remaining millions of illegal aliens. In reality, in addition to removing the criminal aliens the Trump administration must take immediate and decisive steps to address the abject lack of integrity in the legal immigration system that is utterly unable to deal with its current workload let alone deal with any further increases of applications.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264938/dhs-loses-thousands-keys-kingdom-michael-cutler
Syrian Jihadists Flaunt Portable Anti-Aircraft Missiles (VIDEO) (sputniknews, Nov 25, 2016)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611251047854697-jihadists-parade-anti-missile-weapons/
“Members of the Syrian terrorist group Ansar al-Islam Front have been seen in a recent video flaunting a store of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, the first known incident of jihadist forces possessing such weapons.
The jihadists claim they have a “good number” of SA-7 Strela-2 missiles, which the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Ansar both plan to use against government aircraft in Quneitra and Daraa. The weapons are not shown being fired in the video, but one fighter remarked, “We, in Ansar al-Islam Front, have distributed several points of air defence to counter any attempt by the Syrian warplanes or helicopters which bombs points in Quneitra province. We have good number of these missiles,” according to Middle East Eye…”