Reader’s links for December 12 2016

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

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

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

About Eeyore

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

145 Replies to “Reader’s links for December 12 2016”

  1. Zero Hedge – Russia Releases First Ever Video Footage Of Its Special Forces Operating In Syria

    In a first of its kind event, Russian television today showed what it says is the first footage of Russian special forces fighting on the ground in Syria.

    Elite Russian units in Syria take part in search and rescue operations, assassinations of key rebel figures and coordination of air strikes, according to footage broadcast on state-owned channel Rossiya 24 on Sunday. Groups of heavily armed soldiers were shown coordinating sniper attacks, using robotic tanks and inspecting rebel corpses.

    The presenter of the weekly news program said the footage was filmed in Syria but did not give details.

    Russia first acknowledged the presence of its special forces in Syria during the re-capture of the city of Palmyra from Islamic State fighters in March, but it has provided no information on the number of deployed soldiers or their exact location.

    The video shows more than 8 minutes of fascinating footage which reveals that traditionally the most impactful developments “on the battlefield” take place just behind the scenes.

    And now we wait for similar footage from US special forces in Syria – after all, it is now effectively a contest – and hope that the Russian and US teams never “confuse” each other for the enemy. Meanwhile, watch – for the first time – how Russian special ops engage their enemies in Syria.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-11/rare-footage-revealed-russian-special-forces-operating-syria

    CC = Eng subs

      • A lot of the film is training films, and a lot of the rest are stock combat footage from who knows when. This viden was designed to make the Russians feel better about how their tax dollars are being spent.

        • By the looks of it they were not sending any warnings to the ragheads like the tender Muslim loving Americans.

    • <strong<Pope appeals to Syria's Assad to respect humanitarian law, let aid in

      Pope Francis appealed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a personal letter to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected so that civilians are protected and aid can get to them, the Vatican said on Monday.

      In the letter, given to Assad by the Vatican ambassador in Damascus, the pope appealed to Assad and the international community for an end to violence and condemned “all forms of extremism and terrorism from whatever quarter they may come”

      http://news.trust.org/item/20161212172641-w8ihu/

    • Syria and Russia accountable for Aleppo militia atrocities – Egeland

      The United Nations humanitarian adviser on Syria Jan Egeland said in a tweet on Monday that the Syrian and Russian governments must be held responsible for atrocities committed by militias loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo.

      “The Gov’ts of Syria & Russia are accountable for any and all atrocities that the victorious militias in Aleppo are now committing!,” Egeland tweeted, as Assad’s forces bombarded the last rebel-held pocket of besieged eastern Aleppo.

      http://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-aleppo-egeland-idINKBN1412MX

    • yahoo news – U.N. chief alarmed by possible atrocities in Syria’s Aleppo </strong<

      United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is alarmed by unverified reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children, in Syria’s Aleppo, his spokesman said on Monday.

      “The Secretary-General is conveying his grave concern to the relevant parties. He has instructed his Special Envoy for Syria to follow up urgently with the parties concerned,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

      https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-n-chief-alarmed-possible-atrocities-syrias-aleppo-225613253.html

  2. Taliban demands for cash stir fears of comeback in Pakistan’s Swat Valley (reuters, Dec 11, 2016)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-militants-swat-idUSKBN140156

    “When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim’s phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voice of a senior militant commander demanding protection money from him and his fellow traders in the Swat Valley.

    The menacing call was taken seriously in a northern pocket of the country where Pakistani Taliban insurgents took partial control in 2007, before being ousted two years later in a major military operation hailed as a telling blow against Islamist violence.

    Locals fear that recent threats of extortion and a spate of targeted killings earlier this year mark an attempt by the Taliban to regain a foothold in the picturesque, mountainous area they once ruled with an iron fist.

    Western powers, including the United States which has thousands of troops fighting other militant groups across the nearby border in Afghanistan, want to see jihadi networks along the frontier crushed…”

  3. Girls ‘aged 7 or 8’ carry out suicide attack (gulfnews, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/africa/nigeria/girls-aged-7-or-8-carry-out-suicide-attack-1.1943677

    “Kano: Two girls, thought to be only seven or eight years old, conducted a double suicide attack in a northeastern Nigerian market Sunday, killing one person and wounding 18, officials said.

    The attack in Maiduguri was not immediately claimed by Boko Haram but bore the hallmarks of the militant group which often uses women or girls in such operations — especially in Borno state — the epicentre of their insurgency.

    Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed the toll to journalists while visiting victims in hospital.

    The girls were “seven or eight”, a militia member in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, Abdul Karim Jabo, told AFP, recalling that he saw the attackers immediately before the first explosion…”

  4. Jubeir affirms the depth of Saudi-British relations (saudigazette, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/jubeir-affirms-depth-saudi-british-relations/

    “RIYADH – Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir affirmed on Sunday the depth of the Saudi-British relations that still enjoy growth and development in all fields and at all levels.

    “The remarks attributed by the media to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson during a recent conference in Rome were misconstrued,” he told a joint press conference with Johnson following their meeting at the ministry headquarters in Riyadh.

    “I have no doubt that his comments as reported in the press were misconstrued,” Jubeir said…”

    • Saudi-British ties expanding: Johnson (saudigazette, Dec 12, 2016)
      http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/saudi-british-ties-expanding-johnson/

      “Riyadh — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, held separate talks with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his accompanying delegation here on Sunday.

      The Crown Prince and the British foreign secretary discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in various areas, especially in the field of security and fighting extremism and terrorism.

      Johnson reiterated Britain’s close ties to Saudi Arabia.

      He said in a joint news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir that he had deep concern for Yemeni suffering but recognized Riyadh faced a grave threat from that country’s conflict, in which the Kingdom is leading a coalition of Arab forces against Iranian-allied Yemeni militias.

      “I’m here to emphasize the friendship that exists between the UK and Saudi Arabia, and that is something that is developing and expanding,” Johnson said.

      “And it’s also fair to say that we believe in candor in our relationship. Now is the time for us to talk about the positive things that we are doing together.”

      Asked if Riyadh had been getting mixed messages from Britain, Jubeir replied “Absolutely not”…”

    • Merkel and Erdogan vowed to boost joint efforts at combating terrorism…

      Easy peasy. Turkey exports their pesky little terrorists—be they homegrown or in transit from other Islamic pissholes—and Merkel (along with the EU) imports them by the droves. What, exactly, was unclear about this? It’s old news. More importantly, does anybody honestly think that these gangsters aren’t perfectly aware of this arrangement?

  5. Turkey detains more than 100 in raids against pro-Kurdish party: state media (reuters, Dec 12, 2012)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-kurds-idUSKBN1410FH?il=0

    “Turkish police have detained 118 people in raids across Turkey targeting officials from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) over allegations of links to Kurdish PKK militants, state-run Anadolu agency said on Monday.

    The operations were launched after an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Sunday claimed responsibility for twin bombings that killed 38 people and wounded 155 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium.

    Hours after that claim, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, destroying a headquarters of the militants and surrounding gun positions and shelters, an army statement said.

    Around dawn, about 500 police, backed by armored vehicles and a helicopter, launched an operation in the southern city of Adana and detained 25 HDP officials, Anadolu said.

    Counter-terror police teams in Istanbul separately took into custody 20 HDP officials, including its provincial head, and carried out searches at various addresses including the party’s main offices in the city, the agency said.

    The top HDP official in Ankara was among 17 people from the party held in raids in the capital, it said, adding 51 people were detained in the southern city of Mersin and five in the northwestern province of Manisa.

    The leaders of the HDP, the second-largest opposition grouping in parliament, have already been jailed pending trial over alleged ties to the PKK, and Ankara regularly accuses the HDP of being an extension of the militant group.

    The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.”

  6. Pakistan concerned of Afghan-India nexus, claiming it is harmful for region (khaama, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/pakistan-concerned-of-afghan-india-nexus-claiming-it-is-harmful-for-region-02457

    “Pakistani officials have expressed concerns regarding the Afghan-India nexus, claiming the growing relations between Kabul and New Delhi is harmful for the region.

    Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has said establishment of peace in the region would become difficult, blaming Kabul and New Delhi for negative propaganda.

    Chaudhry made the remarks during an interview with the state television, according to The News.
    He said that they had made it clear that whatever India and Afghanistan were doing, it was not helping their countries.

    Chaudhry further added that Pakistan was asking India and Afghanistan to shun hostility towards Pakistan and should make compromise by keeping in view the changing circumstances.

    Relations between Kabul and Islamabad hit a new low after President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani slammed Pakistan for remaining reluctant to act against the Afghan militant groups based in its soil.

    In his speech during the Heart of Asia conference, President Ghani rejected Pakistan’s commitment of $500 million and urged Islamabad to utilize the funds to contain the insurgent groups using its soil for planning and coordinating attacks in Afghanistan.”

  7. Dawn anti-terror raids across UK: Six arrested as police swoop in London, Burton and Derby (express, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/742421/police-six-arrested-terror-offences-london-burton-derby

    “SIX PEOPLE have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after a series of dawn raids across the UK – with police urging people to “remain alert”.

    Five men and a woman have been arrested following the raids in London, Derby and Burton this morning.

    Four men from Derby, aged 22, 27, 35 and 36 and a 27-year-old man from Burton have been arrested.

    A 32-year-old woman from London has also been arrested on suspicion of engaging in the Preparation of an Act of Terrorism, contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.

    All six remain in police custody.

    Six properties in Derby, Burton and London are now being searched as part of the three force-strong investigation.

    The operation is being led by the North East counter terrorism unit supported by local officers from Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the Metropolitan Police…”

    • This is turning into a camp fire story.
      The latest camper has told us that Elaine Chou will be appointed transportation sec. to shut up Mitch McConnell about “The Russian Hack” of the RNC.
      I can’t wait to read the next installment.
      But just keep in mind campers, there is NO WAY any foreign entity hacked Hillary’s unsecured server…

      • That is what the Dems say. Personally I think the Hilarys emails and the other Dem emails were given to wikileaks by some Dem staffer who still had some honesty in his or her system.

      • But just keep in mind campers, there is NO WAY any foreign entity hacked Hillary’s unsecured server…

        Great one, babs! Before November 8th, no way was there any vulnerability whatsoever. Now that Hillary’s political career is in the toilet Trump’s headed for the White, it’s, “the Russians are coming! the Russians are coming!”.

        As always Liberals want everything both ways.

      • Isn’t it cute how all these leftie fellow-travelers have buddied-up with the bad-old CIA to denounce Russia?
        Topsy-turvy, down the rabbit hole…

        • The question is did the CIA buy friendship from the left or did the left get enough people into the CIA to ensure it says what they want?

          • Thing has to be scraped down to bare metal. Barnacles, rust, whatever. See if the frame has sufficient integrity to be salvaged.

            • That it does, and the Constitution needs to be amended to prevent future politicians using the same techniques to take rights from people.

      • This was in answer to Johnny’s question.

        Remember that where there is Marxism there is corruption and then remember how Stalin and Hitler used show trials and false charges to cleanse their countries of their political enemies. Non of the current crop of Dems are as bad as Stalin or Hitler but to a large extent that is because they haven’t had the opportunity to be that bad.

        You also have to remember that for the first time in US history (to the best of my knowledge) a political party that lost is trying to disrupt the peaceful change of power. The calls to have so many protesters raising so much hell that we can’t have a public inauguration is a first. If they are stooping that low I see no reason they won’t try and get false criminal charges laid against the Republican leaders.

        We are entering perilous times with the wanna be dictators in a position that makes them think they can destabilize the US government that they can seize power and remain in power until forced out by force of arms. They are ignoring the ordinary people who have been arming and preparing for a civil war ever since Obama took over. The only change is that now the leftists and the Moslems are also arming themselves.

    • It is strange to compare the Guardian article to article in the Swiss newspaper Basel Zeitung. Very informative.

      “An Amsterdam court denounced Geert Wilders last Friday against discriminatory statements against Moroccans. The conviction did not hurt him, on the contrary. Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) has once again made a striking distinction in the electoral faction. According to a poll published last Sunday, the PVV would be the strongest force in the Dutch parliament if elections were to take place. The PVV would come to 36 of the 150 parliament seats – currently Wilders’ party is represented in the Chamber of Deputies with 15 members. “The freedom of speech wins,” the 53-year-old Islamic and EU critic jubilated on Twitter. At the end of October, according to the same opinion research institute, PVV had reached 27 parliamentary committees.
      Wilders had largely boycotted the trial against him. In doing so, he accused the prosecutors of being “marionettes” of the government and of leading a “political process”. Sophistically, Wilders staged himself as a martyr of the free word that the establishment wanted to silence. Experts said the process had increased the reputation of Wilders rather than compromised. Wilders was able to present himself as a “victim of the system” which he was about to eliminate, explained the political scientist Andre Krouwel from the University of Amsterdam. In fact, the popularity of Wilders and the PVV increased steadily throughout the process.
      The high of the Wilders party is reflected in the depths of the government parties. According to the latest survey, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Rutte, is now only 23 members of parliament – 18 fewer than in the current legislative period. And the Social Democratic Party of Labor (PvdA) as a junior partner of the VVD even drops from 38 to 10 seats. The parliamentary elections in the Netherlands will take place on 15 March 2017. After the Brexit vote in Great Britain and the election victory of Donald Trump in the USA, the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands are particularly closely watched………”
      (Google translate)

      http://bazonline.ch/ausland/europa/noch-populaerer-dank-einer-verurteilung/story/15440442

  8. Bolton suggests Russian election hacks were ‘false flag’ by Obama administration

    John Bolton, a former UN ambassador reportedly being considered for deputy secretary of state in the Trump administration, said Sunday that reports of Russian interference in the presidential election may be a “false flag” conjured up by the Obama administration.

    In an interview with Eric Shawn of Fox News, Bolton claimed the Obama administration had “politicized” intelligence and suggested there may have been a hidden motive behind the CIA’s finding that Russians hacked computer networks belonging to the Democratic and Republican National Committees. He questioned why the FBI did not uncover similar evidence of meddling by foreign intelligence services when it investigated Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

    “It’s not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation,” Bolton said. “The question that has to be asked is, why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary’s server but their dumb intelligence services against the election?”

    • Or by some private actor, never forget the possibility that someone with the skills to do this was P’ed off with Hillary or Obama.

      • … never forget the possibility that someone with the skills to do this was P’ed off with Hillary or Obama.

        What sane person WASN”T???

        You know what I mean.

      • The CIA says the Russians hacked the election, the FBI says they didn’t take your pick on which group you believe, but remember the CIA can’t legally do any investigations inside the US.

        • It would have to be the FBI. And they said “No” as politely as possible.

          “Hacks”, no. Leaks. Facts that incriminate the guilty, patent corruption that stinks to high heaven. Quite possibly from within the Bureau. Not FOR Trump – but AGAINST – the Crooked Witch.

          The leadership of intelligence community has been thoroughly compromised over the last decade. Clapper? Brennan?Jeh Johnson? Rogues and clowns.

          Never-Trumper RINOs – totally discredited by their failures to perform due diligence and Congressional oversight – train & assist “moderate jihadis”? Confirmation of Huma? Brennan?

          McCain, et al. look almost as desperate as the damned rats who’ve been repudiated across the country. Still under the tent, but not happy campers.

          Soros-funded riots and recounts didn’t work. Suborning electoral college delegates is iffy. Let’s go for Russia.

          • You and I agree, I don’t trust Comey but do trust the lower ranking people at the FBI and to a lesser extent the lower ranking people at the CIA and NSA.

            The US is currently at greater risk then at any time in our history, within one or two years we should know if we are going to manage to defeat the internal enemy and force their totalitarian ideology underground for 50 to 100 years. I say force their ideology underground rather then destroy it because as long as humanity exists as humanity there will be people who desire power over others.

      • if Hillary had won and the Republicans were claiming that Russia hacked the election to ensure her victory we would be called conspiracy theorists. Hillary lost and the Dems can’t find any other way to try and win back the blue collar voters besides lying about what happened.

      • How does this doddering @ssclown manage to convince himself (or anyone else) that he has even slight relevance? If he did, wouldn’t he have some sort of spot in Trump’s administration? Oh, that’s right. McCain publicly opposed Trump when it came down to the wire. Maybe he’ll be rewarded for putting his totally unwanted oar in with an Ambassador posting in, let’s say, Zimbabwe.

        • He’s corrupt. He’d love nothing better than a good old-fashioned war. Contracts for the defense industry that fills his trough. A starring role for the Old Soldier, woolly reminiscences we should be spared.

        • He married an Heiress worth several hundred of millions (I think that is the amount she is worth) he thinks this makes him a super genius who knows more then the rest of us who are so stupid we don’t do what he wants.

          • He blew it, big time. On his watch, right under his nose. He’s had it.

            ~~Just say goodnight, big guy. The NYT has all it needs for your obit. Toodle-oo.~~

      • Look at the above and tell me that Obama and company aren’t trying to create a civil war in the US as well as cause a major crisis between the US and Russia.

    • RT – ‘US is a great country, correct me if I’m wrong’ – Putin on claims Russia influenced US elections

    • Clinton campaign backs call for intelligence briefing before Electoral College vote

      Hillary Clinton’s top political adviser John Podesta said the campaign is supporting an effort by members of the Electoral College to request an intelligence briefing on foreign intervention in the presidential election.

      “The bipartisan electors’ letter raises very grave issues involving our national security,” Podesta said in a statement Monday. “Electors have a solemn responsibility under the Constitution and we support their efforts to have their questions addressed.”

      “Each day that month, our campaign decried the interference of Russia in our campaign and its evident goal of hurting our campaign to aid Donald Trump,” he said. “Despite our protestations, this matter did not receive the attention it deserved by the media in the campaign. We now know that the CIA has determined Russia’s interference in our elections was for the purpose of electing Donald Trump. This should distress every American.”

      Podesta’s statement is the first public statement from the Clinton campaign raising questions about the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s victory.

      It follows an open letter from 10 presidential electors — including Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Christine — requesting an intelligence briefing ahead of the Dec. 19 vote of the Electoral College.

      Shortly after Podesta’s statement, the Democratic National Committee disseminated a POLITICO story that revealed the electors’ call for a briefing. Two Democratic members of Congress have also suggested the Electoral College should take an active role in reassessing — or stopping — a Trump presidency.

      One of them, Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told POLITICO on Monday that Trump is a “potentially dangerous president.”

      “It became clear to me last night that this man is not only unqualified to be president, he’s a danger to the republic,” Hines said. “I do think the Electoral College should choose someone other than Donald Trump to be president. That will lead to a fascinating legal issue … but I would rather have a legal problem — a constitutional legal problem — then to find out the White House was now the Kremlin’s chief ally.”

      http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/clinton-campaign-backs-call-for-intelligence-briefing-before-electoral-college-vote-232512

      • Some people can’t tell what is a joke even when they hear one.

        Did you get upset with the Libs that said they hoped Trump is assassinated? How about when one Lib said that Sarah Palin’s daughter should be raped?

      • He wants to use fake intel to get the Electoral Collage to undermine the election process and put either Hillary or some RINO in as POTUS.

    • CNN – Former CIA Analyst: Putin ‘has already won’

      “In terms of Putin’s goals, he’s already won, just by people think he’s done it,” Former Senior CIA Analyst Mark M. Lowenthal tells Christiane Amanpour.

      • The left has to know that their continued attacks on the rule of law and their casting doubts on the results of the election are going to end in violence! Massive violence that will result in a civil war! They can’t be dumb enough to think they can stir up the war on police and cause riots because Donald Trump won the election and just undermine his Presidency without out causing a civil war? They can’t be that stupid can they?

  9. Venezuela pulls highest-value banknote ‘to strike against mafia’

    For reference, in 2008 1 VEB (Bolivar) = $0.46 — 2016 1 VEB (Bolivar) = $0.10

    Lost in all of this article’s hand-waving is the freefall devaluation of Venezuela’s Bolivar (VEB). Everybody say, “Thank you, Hugo, for making Venezuela into another Socialist worker’s paradise!”

    I will admit that the coin substitution ploy appears to make sense due to massive sequestration of 100 VEB banknotes by Colombian gangsters. That said, I’m not sure if the Venezuelan people are too happy seeing their equivalent of a $50.00 bill being replaced with a ten-spot. In reality, the Bolivar’s purchasing power is more like $00.002. That translates to replacing $50.00 bills with two pennies. Now that’s got to hurt.

    • I don’t think that the coming economic mess will cause a drop in monetary value in the US like that, I do expect a depression that will drop us back to 1950s level prices and wages and a return to Gold and Silver backed money.

      • Time for you to watch Ann Barnhardt’s, “The Economy Is Going To Implode“. In two short hours, using terms any high school graduate can understand, this amazing individual lays out the reasons why financial malfeasance at every level of US corporate and government office is precipitating the destruction of America.

        This is required viewing for anyone who wants a concise understanding of just how badly sixteen years of having Ivy League leadership the traitor class running things has screwed America and its citizens into the ground.

        I welcome comments from anyone who has already seen this or takes the time to watch it now. Mass media will NEVER tell you even a fraction of this information.

        • (^0_0^) Be nice, Norse.
          Ivy’s everywhere, it’s variegated and hardy.
          Our own PET and his eldest children have Ivy League degrees.

          • Our own PET and his eldest children have Ivy League degrees.

            Yes, and you can bet the farm that all of them have been infected with some portion of the crazy crap that gets spewed in those hallowed halls.

            • That depends on when they graduated and which teachers they studied under. Until recently there were a lot of business teachers with tenure that taught facts and reality instead of Marxist propaganda. We will have to wait and see how much of the Marxist BS they learned or believe in, since they are all managing to make money in the private market and aren’t Dems probably not that much.

              Draining the swamp in DC and the Ivy League will take a lot of time and some graduates from the Ivy League are going to have to help us.

        • I know the arguments but my experience as a cost accountant tells me that it isn’t gong to be that bad. I am not the only one saying this, some people in the oil industry that I have limited access to say the same thing. A major depression and back to the gold standard but not full Venezuela. Things are going to get bad but not as bad as the worst predictions say.

        • When I was in collage one Professor (criminology, I took the class to fill in the number of credit hours so the GI Bill would keep paying me.(made an A in this class)) who was smarter then the average told us to not be afraid to trust ourselves, if our experience said what the expert was telling us was wrong it was probably wrong. Never be afraid to trust your own experience and training, if they say some expert is wrong they may be wrong, or they may be presenting a worst case scenario.

          Yes there is a good chance civilization is falling but the odds are that it will be a slow motion fall and that the economic chaos will be confined to the Third World nations with some of the Western Nations joining to a lesser extent. Most of us will experience a depression that will force us back to precious metal back currencies and wages and prices falling to the level they were in the late 1950s to early 1960s. That will be enough to trigger massive riots and civil wars.

            • I wish I had enough money to buy some.

              My advice is to buy as much silver as you do gold (weight wise) assuming you can afford to buy gold. Be sure to get physical possession of your gold or silver the pieces of paper that say you own so much gold or silver are just pieces of paper that may or may not have any value. Physical possession of your liquid assets on the other hand is almost always good.

              • Absolutely right. Silver is very important because it effectively represents small denomination currency (e.g., buying food, fuel or clothing). Gold is only useful for really big transactions (e.g., cars, weapons or ammunition). Also, save your nickles as they are the last solid-metal coins regularly minted by the American government.

                Barnhardt tacitly recommends this in her video.

  10. UK PM May sticks to Brexit timetable in spite of legal challenges: spokeswoman

    LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May is sticking to her timetable of triggering formal divorce talks with the European Union by the end of March despite further legal challenges, her spokeswoman said on Monday.

    The Sunday Times newspaper reported that campaigners were ready to take the government to the High Court to try to keep Britain in the EU’s single market, while a group of British and Irish lawyers are also seeking to try to establish if Brexit can be reversed once divorce talks have been triggered.

    “The prime minister is focused on making sure that the government is doing all the work to prepare for the negotiations and triggering Article 50 by the end of March, and that was backed by MPs (lawmakers) last week,” the spokeswoman told reporters.

    “Now we all need to get on and work to that timetable.”

    http://www.oann.com/uk-pm-may-sticks-to-brexit-timetable-in-spite-of-legal-challenges-spokeswoman/

  11. Schulen wollen Gauck zeigen wie Multikulti funktioniert: Muslimische Schülerin verweigert Handschlag

  12. MEMRI TV back on youtube !

    Europe Owes Its Science, Moral Values, and Hygiene to the Muslims – Egyptian Professor

    Egyptian researcher Ragheb El-Sergany said that Europe became acquainted with science and with moral values only through the Muslims. According to El-Sergany, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine of Cairo University, it was the Muslims who brought the notion of cleanliness to Europe, where people used to wash themselves only twice a year, he said, adding that the bidet is evidence of this. The interview with El-Segany was broadcast on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV on November 24.

  13. We Have a Real Army, Sell our Missiles to Arabs If They Use Them against the Jews

    Hamas Political Bureau member and former interior minister Fathi Hammad said that Hamas has an army now and that it has become “the leading manufacturer of missiles among Arab countries.” Hammad added that Hamas is prepared to sell its missiles to Arab countries, “so that they will launch them against the Jews, not for infighting among themselves.”

  14. Saudi Jihadi Leader: Trump’s Election Is a Good Thing, Shows Muslims True Face of America

    Saudi Jihadi cleric Abdallah Muhaysini, who is fighting in Syria, said that he considered Trump’s election to be good for Muslims as it revealed the “true face” of America.

    “Trump has torn to shreds all the principles of which they used to be proud, and has revealed their true face,” he said, adding: “Today, the war is not America fighting terrorists or jihadists, as some believe. No, [it is against] all Muslims.”

    • “Trump has torn to shreds all the principles of which they used to be proud, and has revealed their true face,

      Who is this slimy Muslim fü¢kface terrorist to be talking about “principles”? Gah!

  15. Unrepentant Apostates Should Be Killed; Homosexuality Is a Disease

    Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar, discussed the laws pertaining to apostasy, and said that if it constitutes a “danger to society,” it carries a death sentence. In a daily show aired on several Egyptian TV channels and posted on the official YouTube channel of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Al-Tayyeb said: “The four schools of law all concur that apostasy is a crime, that an apostate should be asked to repent, and that if he does not, he should be killed.” He further said that “the concepts of human rights are full of ticking time-bombs” and that in Muslim society, sexual liberty and homosexuality are diseases. “No Muslim society could ever consider sexual liberty, homosexuality, and so on to be a personal right.” The video was posted on the official Al-Azhar Youtube channel on June 16.

  16. Saudi police detain young woman for removing abaya: media

    Saudi police detained a young woman for violating modesty rules after she removed her abaya, the loose-fitting, full-length robes women are required to wear, on a main street in the capital Riyadh, local media reported on Monday.

    The conservative Muslim country enforces a strict dress code for women in public, bans them from driving and prohibits the mixing of sexes.

    The Arabic-language al-Sharq newspaper reported that the woman was detained after a complaint was filed by the religious police.

    “Police officers have detained a girl who had removed her abaya on al-Tahliya street, implementing a challenge she announced on social media several days ago,” the newspaper quoted Colonel Fawaz al-Maiman, a Riyadh police spokesman, as saying.

    The sabq.org news website said the unnamed woman had posted on Twitter that she would go out in public without her abaya.

    Both sabq.org and another news website, alweeam.com.sa, carried a picture of the woman wearing a black jacket over an ankle-length orange and pink dress. Sabq.org concealed the exposed parts of her body.

    The post had drawn an angry reaction from some Saudis.

    “She has been arrested and we demand utmost punishment, for the state has rules that she did not respect,” one Twitter user said.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-girl-abaya-idUSKBN1411FU

    http://www.alweeam.com.sa/437110/%d9%87%d9%8a%d8%a6%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b6-%d8%aa%d8%b1%d9%81%d8%b9-%d8%a8%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ba%d9%8b%d8%a7-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%81%d8%aa%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d9%86%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa-%d8%b5%d9%88/

    • And people wonder why Islam is such an object of ridicule around the world. Somebody please wake me up when these sand loving lamb-eaters emerge from the Iron Age.

  17. The Ugly Truth about Muslim Grievances
    How do you define “grievance”?
    December 12, 2016
    Raymond Ibrahim

    Do you know the difference between a supremacist grievance and an egalitarian grievance? This is the key to understanding the widely held claim that Muslim grievances are the source of Muslim violence.

    Take the latest Muslim attack on U.S. soil. Last week, Abdul Razak Ali Artan — an 18-year-old Muslim refugee from Somalia, who was receiving aid from Catholic charities — rammed his car into a building at Ohio State University. He then got out and stabbed people with a butcher knife. He was eventually shot and killed by a guard; 13 people were hospitalized.

    Why did he do it?

    According to the “experts,” Artan — like so many other violent Muslim refugees before him — had grievances. CNN, NBC, the Washington Post, and many others cited a Facebook post by Artan: “I am sick and tired of seeing my fellow Muslim Brothers and Sisters being killed and tortured EVERYWHERE.”

    Yet despite this claim of ubiquity, he only cited one nation: “Seeing my fellow Muslims being tortured, raped and killed in Burma led to a boiling point. I can’t take it anymore.”

    The question before us is simple: Was Artan provoked to go on a murderous rampage in America because of grievances concerning the treatment of Muslims in Burma?

    For about a decade now, I’ve argued that the “Muslim grievance” narrative is a myth meant to shield Islamic teachings from scrutiny. Its logic goes like this: if Islam is a religion of peace yet Muslims everywhere are behaving violently, then the explanation we must all cling to is that they are really, really “pissed off” about something being done to them.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265103/ugly-truth-about-muslim-grievances-raymond-ibrahim

    • For about a decade now, I’ve argued that the “Muslim grievance” narrative is a myth meant to shield Islamic teachings from scrutiny. Its logic goes like this: if Islam is a religion of peace yet Muslims everywhere are behaving violently, then the explanation we must all cling to is that they are really, really “pissed off” about something being done to them.

      Actually, there is “something being done to them”. Despite the best efforts of a multiculturalist, transnational, traitor class, Muslims are being forced to compete in the (much better armed) West’s ideological marketplace. Unlike most of previous history, this time forcible military conquest and unilateral imposition of sharia law isn’t an option for this bunch of goat-herding, camel jockeys. In fact, if it wasn’t for oil a complete accident of geology, long ago the Infidels would probably have just nuked the everloving crap out of these barbaric troublemakers and been done with it.

      The entire core of Islamic grievance-mongering pivots on their—totally unreasonable and utterly ridiculous—insistence that Muslims, somehow, have a quasi-Constitutional right not to be offended. For sane Westerners, the sheer notion of this childish, whiny-@ss, sniveling load of bu!!shit demand is so preposterous that is almost mandatory to humiliate and deride Islam at even the slightest opportunity.

      Instead—egged on by hysterical, lunatic, hypocritical, moral and cultural relativists—this same infantile bunch of tyrannical, theocratic, intolerant, misogynistic, supremacists have been allowed (by these Liberal termites) to delude themselves that their cretinous ideology has any place in a Free Society. All of which is combining to create an eventual and unavoidable train-wreck of monumental proportions that can never have even a remotely positive outcome for Islam (especially) or the world in general. Gah!

      • You are right, the left is using the Moslems to destroy Western Civiliation so they can then take over and create their one world socialist hell Utopia that I like to call the neo feuda society with the Marxists as the Royals and Nobels and the rest of us as serfs. I can see them destroying civilization but I can’t see them creating their Hellish Utopia neo feudal government in more then one or two Western nations and some Third World nations.

  18. Reid blames Comey for Hillary Clinton’s loss

    Let the cannibalism begin!

    Perish the fecking thought that anyone in the Democratic Party might squarely place the blame for Hillary’s loss where it really belongs … ON HILLARY. She alone opted to be one of the most corrupt presidential candidates in the entirety of American history. It was her choice to run one of the most negative and condescending campaigns in modern history. Her divisive and anti-American rhetoric got her precisely what she deserved. Namely, a hopefully permanent end to her (already way too long and checkered) political career.

  19. Be sure and read the entire article

    Russian Election Intervention Is Nothing New
    The Kremlin’s history of backing the losers.

    The CIA is claiming that Russia “intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency,” according to the Washington Post, which identified “actors” with connections to Russian intelligence who were allegedly part of a wider operation “to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.”

    The CIA’s “secret assessment,” came one day after Hillary Clinton, in her first speech since the election, decried the “epidemic” of fake news. It was not about “politics or partisanship,” the losing candidate said, but voters have good grounds to believe it is about politics and partisanship.

    Recall Clinton’s claim, in the second presidential debate, “We have never in the history of our country been in a situation where an adversary, a foreign power, is working so hard to influence the outcome of the election.” As is often the case, the former First Lady and Secretary of State was wrong about that.

    Though it held no free and open elections of its own, Russia has often intervened in America, which does hold free and open elections, a hallmark of a democratic republic. It might surprise millenials to learn that Russia had its own political parties in America, and ran their own candidates. Russia wanted those candidates to win and the other candidates to lose.

    In 1948, Communist Russia, then under the mass murderer Josef Stalin, backed the Progressive Party. At the top of the ticket was Henry Wallace, a former vice-president and agriculture secretary for FDR.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265104/russian-election-intervention-nothing-new-lloyd-billingsley

  20. Europe: Illegal to Criticize Islam

    by Judith Bergman
    December 12, 2016 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9525/europe-illegal-criticize-islam

    Several European governments have made it clear to their citizens that criticizing European migrant policies or migrants is criminally off-limits and may lead to arrest, prosecution and even convictions. Although these practices constitute police state behavior, European governments do not stop there. They go still farther, by ensuring that Islam in general is not criticized either.

    Finland is the European country most recently to adopt the way that European authorities sanction those who criticize Islam. According to the Finnish news outlet YLE, the Pirkanmaa District Court found the Finns Party politician, Terhi Kiemunki, guilty of “slandering and insulting adherents of the Islamic faith” in a blog post of Uusi Suomi. In it, she claimed that all the terrorists in Europe are Muslims. The Court found that when Kiemunki wrote of a “repressive, intolerant and violent religion and culture,” she meant the Islamic faith.

    During the trial, Kiemunki was asked why she did not make a distinction between Islam and radical Islam. She replied that she meant to refer to the spread of Islamic culture and religion, and that she “probably should have” spoken of radicalized elements of the religion instead of the faith as a whole. Kiemunki was fined 450 euros. Her lawyer has appealed the verdict.

    Kiemunki issued a press release after the verdict, in which she said:

    “I am still of the view that declaring statistical facts or even sharing an opinion is not a crime if someone doesn’t like it… I wrote that I don’t want our country to be overtaken by a culture and law based on a violent, intolerant and oppressive religion.”

    According to YLE, she added that her essay did not generalize about Muslims, but pointed out that not all Muslims are terrorists. “In these times, specifically in the recent past and today, all of the perpetrators of terrorist acts have turned out to be Muslim,” she said.

  21. FUQRA FILES EXCLUSIVE: FBI Links Jihadi Cult to Al-Qaeda
    For the first time you can read here the actual FBI documents showing the links between 22 radical Islamist villages in the U.S. and al-Qaeda

    The Clarion Project has obtained newly-declassified FBI documents from 2003 revealing that the jihadist cult Jamaat ul-Fuqra, also known as Muslims of America (MOA), had ties with al-Qaeda in Pakistan. The group is best known for its network of about 22 Islamist compounds on American soil.

    The disclosures come on the heels of the release of the Fuqra Files website, an authoritative database of information about the group.

    The FBI reports show there was a counter-terrorism investigation into Jamaat ul-Fuqra / Muslims of America (MOA) in New York in 2003. One file has the heading, “American Islamic Radicals.” The reports point out, “Prior to assuming the name MOA, JUF has had a profound history of carrying out violent actions to include, arsons, bombings, shootings and assassinations.”

    https://www.clarionproject.org/news/fuqra-files-exclusive-fbi-links-jihadi-cult-al-qaeda

  22. UK Diplomat: I’ve Met the DNC Wikileaks Leaker and the Person Is an Insider – Not Russian

    Former UK Ambassador Blasts “CIA’s Blatant Lies”, Shows “A Little Simple Logic Destroys Their Claims”

    Authored by Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, and was the Rector of the University of Dundee

    I have watched incredulous as the CIA’s blatant lie has grown and grown as a media story – blatant because the CIA has made no attempt whatsoever to substantiate it. There is no Russian involvement in the leaks of emails showing Clinton’s corruption. Yes this rubbish has been the lead today in the Washington Post in the US and the Guardian here, and was the lead item on the BBC main news. I suspect it is leading the American broadcasts also.

    A little simple logic demolishes the CIA’s claims. The CIA claim they “know the individuals” involved. Yet under Obama the USA has been absolutely ruthless in its persecution of whistleblowers, and its pursuit of foreign hackers through extradition. We are supposed to believe that in the most vital instance imaginable, an attempt by a foreign power to destabilise a US election, even though the CIA knows who the individuals are, nobody is going to be arrested or extradited, or (if in Russia) made subject to yet more banking and other restrictions against Russian individuals? Plainly it stinks. The anonymous source claims of “We know who it was, it was the Russians” are beneath contempt.

    As Julian Assange has made crystal clear, the leaks did not come from the Russians. As I have explained countless times, they are not hacks, they are insider leaks – there is a major difference between the two. And it should be said again and again, that if Hillary Clinton had not connived with the DNC to fix the primary schedule to disadvantage Bernie, if she had not received advance notice of live debate questions to use against Bernie, if she had not accepted massive donations to the Clinton foundation and family members in return for foreign policy influence, if she had not failed to distance herself from some very weird and troubling people, then none of this would have happened.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-11/former-uk-ambassador-blasts-cias-blatant-lies-shows-little-simple-logic-destroys-the

  23. And it should be said again and again, that if Hillary Clinton had not connived with the DNC to fix the primary schedule to disadvantage Bernie, if she had not received advance notice of live debate questions to use against Bernie, if she had not accepted massive donations to the Clinton foundation and family members in return for foreign policy influence, if she had not failed to distance herself from some very weird and troubling people, then none of this would have happened.

    An almost perfect laundry list of reasons why it was so crucial that Hillary be defeated. Pretty much all that’s missing is the email scandal. Her use of private servers was a naked attempt to circumvent the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) that warranted vigorous relentless prosecution, conviction, and mandatory hard jail time.

    • It’s the Passover song favorite, Dayenu! – “If the Good Lord had done just this __ – It would’ve been enough! [But He did so much more…]

      ~~ Selections ~~
      “If He had [just] brought us out of Egypt.”
      __It would’ve been enough!
      “If He had [just] split the sea for us.”
      __It would’ve been enough!
      “If He had [just] provided for our needs in the wilderness for 40 years.”
      __It would’ve been enough!
      “If He had [just] brought us into the Land of Israel.”
      __It would’ve been enough!

      But no, He did all this and more! Refrain, repeated 3x, catchy tune: Day -day en -oo!
      …………………………….
      I’m eternally grateful that He saw fit to spare us the evil decree. May we be worthy of His grace and embrace the challenge before us. Be strong and have courage, choose life!

      • Not to seem disrespectful Yucki, but if G_d had just provided the Jews of antiquity with a compass, he wouldn’t have needed to split the Red Sea, or provided for 40 years. Last time I looked you could walk from Giza to Jerusalem in a couple of weeks.

        • These were slave-mentality people. They were a mess: expected to have everything given to them, didn’t play nicely together, bitched & bitched…
          That generation had to die – 40 years. Their kids would have to be tougher stuff to take the Promised Land and do it justice.

          • We need to remember this tough love when we win the war and have to re-educate so many of our own to live on their own instead of depending on the government.

          • As with many things when the simple answer doesn’t make sense step off to one side and look at the situation from a different angle and it makes sense. Most people never stop to think that the Israelis had been slaves for generations and needed to be taught how to do for themselves instead of expecting the “master” to provide all food, medicine and shelter.

  24. 10 Ways the CIA’s ‘Russian Hacking’ Story is Left-Wing ‘Fake News’

    On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pledged to support a congressional investigation into whether Russian hacking affected the 2016 election. Republicans have nothing to fear from such an investigation, because they won the election fair and square.

    No, Russia is not the friend that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent several years pretending it was. But the idea that Russian hackers coronated Trump is only the latest left-wing opiate — after white supremacists and “fake news” — designed to dull the pain of electoral defeat, and postpone the reckoning that must occur if Democrats are to pose a significant threat as an opposition party at any time in the near future.

    Here are just ten of the reasons the “Russian hacking” story is a sham — a left-wing twist on the red-baiting McCarthyism of the 1950s.

    1. There is actually no new information leading the CIA to its conclusion. The New York Times reports: “The C.I.A.’s conclusion does not appear to be the product of specific new intelligence obtained since the election, several American officials, including some who had read the agency’s briefing, said on Sunday. Rather, it was an analysis of what many believe is overwhelming circumstantial evidence — evidence that others feel does not support firm judgments — that the Russians put a thumb on the scale for Mr. Trump, and got their desired outcome.” In other words, someone only decided after Trump won that the accusation was worth making.

    2. The “evidence” that the CIA has gathered is inconclusive. The FBI also disagrees with some of the CIA’s conclusions about Russia’s motives. “While lawmakers were seemingly united on the need to present a strong bipartisan response, the FBI and CIA gave lawmakers differing accounts on Russia’s motives, according to The Post,” The Hill reported on Sunday.

    3. The CIA is not making public claims that Russia hacked the election. Several CIA veterans, in fact, have urged caution about the leaked reports. As Newsweek reports: “‘I am not saying that I don’t think Russia did this,’ Nada Bakos, a top former CIA counterterrorism officer tells Newsweek, in a typical comment. ‘My main concern is that we will rush to judgment. The analysis needs to be cohesive and done the right way.’” Thus far there is not even a clear idea what the CIA’s conclusions are.

    4. Despite left-wing “fake news,” there is no evidence Russian hackers actually distorted the voting process. The most that the CIA is alleging is that the Russians may have helped hack of the Democratic National Committee emails, as well as (possibly) the emails of Hillary Clinton campaign chaiman John Podesta. There is zero evidence Russian hackers messed with voting. Ironically, Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s recount has eliminated any doubt about the integrity of the results.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/12/12/cia-russian-hacking-story-sham/

    • No, Russia is not the friend that President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent several years pretending it was.

      Never, EVER, forget that Bush 2.0 sold all of us down this exact same river with his bu!!shit about:

      “I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul; a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country.”

      The Republican party has a lot to answer for and hasn’t done so to even a slight degree.

  25. Trump victories certified in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania

    President-elect Donald Trump’s victories in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania were certified Monday, further affirming his win over Democrat Hillary Clinton in last month’s presidential election.

    Wisconsin finalized its recount, which showed Trump beating Clinton by more than 22,000 votes, on the same day that a federal judge issued a stinging rejection of a Green Party-backed request to recount paper ballots in Pennsylvania’s presidential election and scan some counties’ election systems for signs of hacking.

    Later Monday, Pennsylvania certified the state’s results in the Nov. 8 election, which saw Trump defeat Clinton by more than 44,000 votes.

    Green Party candidate Jill Stein successfully requested, and paid for, the Wisconsin recount. In addition to her failed Pennsylvania recount attempt, Stein’s bid for a similar statewide recount in Michigan was blocked by the courts. Stein only got about 1 percent of the vote in each of the three states, which Trump swept on his way to the White House. She argued, without evidence, that voting machines in all three states were susceptible to hacking.

    The numbers barely budged in Wisconsin after nearly 3 million votes were recounted. Trump picked up a net 162 votes and the final results changed just 0.06 percent.

    In Pennsylvania, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond said there were at least six grounds that required him to reject the Green Party’s lawsuit, which had been opposed by Trump, the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office.

    Suspicion of a hacked Pennsylvania election “borders on the irrational” while granting the Green Party’s recount bid could “ensure that no Pennsylvania vote counts” given Tuesday’s federal deadline to certify the vote for the Electoral College, wrote Diamond, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, a Republican.

    “Most importantly, there is no credible evidence that any `hack’ occurred, and compelling evidence that Pennsylvania’s voting system was not in any way compromised,” Diamond wrote. He also said the lawsuit suffered from a lack of standing, potentially the lack of federal jurisdiction and an “unexplained, highly prejudicial” wait before filing last week’s lawsuit, four weeks after the Nov. 8 election.

    The decision was the Green Party’s latest roadblock in Pennsylvania after hitting numerous walls in county and state courts. Green Party-backed lawyers argue that it was possible that computer hackers changed the election outcome and that Pennsylvania’s heavy use of paperless machines makes it a prime target. Stein also contended that Pennsylvania has erected unconstitutional barriers to voters seeking a recount.

    A lawyer for the Green Party said Monday they were disappointed and unable to immediately say whether they would appeal.

    “But one thing is clear,” said the lawyer, Ilann Maazel. “The Pennsylvania election system is not fair to voters and voters don’t know if their votes counted, and that’s a very large problem.”

    A federal judge halted Michigan’s recount last week after three days. Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes out of nearly 4.8 million votes cast. It was not immediately clear when the state would certify its results.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/12/trumps-victory-in-wisconsin-affirmed-following-recount.html

    • In 2001 the LSM funded a full recount in Florida, the results which were released on 9/11/01 showed W. picking up several thousand votes. I wonder if the LSM is stupid enough to fund full recounts in the three chosen states? Especially if the election laws are followed and the precincts with large problems being thrown out the way the law says the should be. If this happens I’ll bet Trump ends up winning the popular vote.

      • I’ll bet Trump ends up winning the popular vote.

        Now wouldn’t that be a hoot and a half! It would really shut the whore up tear the heart out of Hillary’s “legacy”. Let’s all hope for such an outcome.

  26. USA: Muslims march to White House to demand dismantment of discriminatory registry

    Hundreds of Muslims and civil rights protesters rallied in Washington D.C on Monday, urging US President Barack Obama to dismantle the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS).

    • Women across New York stage strike against Trump

      Self-marginalization is always such an ugly thing. Too FARKING bad.

  27. France arrests 11 people in Bastille Day truck attack in Nice (france24, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20161212-french-police-arrest-11-suspects-over-nice-terrorist-attack

    “French police on Monday arrested 11 people suspected of helping to arm the Tunisian who killed 86 people by driving his truck into a crowd in Nice, sources close to the investigation said.

    Ten suspects, including one or more Albanians, were arrested in various parts of Nice and another was detained in the western city of Nantes, the sources said.

    The arrests come five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, further traumatising a country reeling from a series of terrorist attacks.

    The victims, from 19 different countries, were watching a fireworks display on the Bastille Day public holiday. Over 400 people were injured.

    The 11 people arrested Monday are believed to have been in contact with three people, including two Albanians, arrested on July 6 and charged with supplying Bouhlel, who was 31 years old, with an assault rifle and a pistol.

    Bouhlel used the pistol in a firefight with police, who shot him dead at the scene, ending the rampage.

    “They (the 11) did not necessarily know about the attack, but they are part of a criminal milieu involved in arms smuggling,” a source said, adding that the person arrested in Nantes had lived in Nice.

    Under France’s anti-terror laws, the suspects can be held for four days before being brought before a magistrate to face charges or being released.

    Six people have been charged so far and accused of having links to Bouhlel, but investigators have yet to prove that any of them knew what he was planning.

    The Islamic State group moved quickly after the attack to claim Bouhlel as one of its followers…”

    • The arrests come five months after Tunisian extremist Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne truck into a crowd on the Nice seafront, further traumatising a country reeling from a series of terrorist attacks.

      It’s long overdue for any “traumatising” to become “galvanizing”. I dread to think what sort of atrocity it will take to finally wake up the French. You’d think that by now they would already be at the finish line. Evidently, their government has been mixing copious quantities of Kool-Aid into the nation’s wine supply.

  28. Should reference be made to a criminal suspect’s background? (DW, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.dw.com/en/should-reference-be-made-to-a-criminal-suspects-background/a-36742954

    “When reporting on crime, is it relevant to say that a suspect was a refugee? The recent murder in Freiburg again raises the question of whether or not to specify the background of people suspected of committing a crime.

    “There must be no discrimination against a person on account of his/her sex, a disability, or his membership of an ethnic, religious, social or national group,” says Section 12 of the Press Code issued by the German Press Council. It sets down the following guideline for journalists: “When reporting crimes, it is not permissible to refer to the suspect’s religious, ethnic or other minority membership unless this information can be justified as being relevant to the readers’ understanding of the incident.” This is because there is a danger “that such references could stir up prejudices against minorities.”

    After the sexual harrassment attacks on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, the media, police and politicians were all reluctant to state the unpleasant truth: that almost all the suspects were of North African or Arab origin, with asylum seekers from Syria among them. This was likely to cast serious doubts on the government’s refugee policy, so the reasoning. The hesitation by the media and those with political responsibility opened them up to accusations of trying to hush things up.

    Nonetheless, a few weeks later the Press Council decided it would retain Section 12 in its current form.

    A question of interpretation

    Since then, the debate about referring to a suspect’s origins has been reignited every time a crime has been committed by or involving people with an immigrant or refugee background. The most recent instance was the murder of 19-year-old Maria L. in Freiburg. The suspected culprit is a 17-year-old Afghan boy.

    Politicians are also weighing in. The general secretary of the CSU, Andreas Scheuer, whose party has been critical of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policies since the beginning, declared in the newspaper Die Welt that “the background of perpetrator and victims must be stated, on principle, partly in order to prevent wild speculation.”

    Editors-in-chief want reform

    Scheuer also points out that, in any case, traditional media outlets can’t keep information out of the public domain any more because of the internet and social media. And once information has been made public, it’s impossible to ignore.

    Then, alongside the debate about the case itself, a second debate began about the way the media handled the details. The harshest criticism was directed at the main national television news program, “Tagesschau.” Initially it didn’t report on the murder at all, deeming it to be only of “regional significance,” and was then forced to watch helplessly as the Tagesschau itself became a big news story. Even Lutz Tillmanns of the German Press Council said that “now, when the case is on everyone’s lips and a news story is all over both Germany and Europe, reference to the suspect’s background is relevant and important for the understanding of the story.”

    Pressure to change the press code is coming not only from politics, but also from journalists themselves. Tanit Koch, editor-in-chief of the mass circulation Bild newspaper, has described the passage in the code as “unjustified self-censorship” that damages the credibility of the media as a whole. Christian Lindner, editor-in-chief of the Koblenz-based Rhein-Zeitung, believes the code is, at the very least, outdated: “I want a reformulation that will bring the media back out from under the shadow of a suspicion that they are trying to conceal information for political reasons.” The Sächsische Zeitung in Dresden has already taken steps: It now names the background of all suspects on principle, including Germans who do not have an immigrant background.

    Responsible or patronizing?

    There’s also a financial reason – perhaps even the main reason – for the unease among the editors-in-chief. The newspaper industry is already under severe economic pressure as it struggles to compete with electronic media. And if readers feel their newspaper is trying to manipulate them, they may go somewhere else for their news.

    However, despite all the competition from social media, Lutz Tillmanns from the Press Council refuses to abandon journalistic standards. “We want to offer quality content,” he says. “Journalistic content is, quite simply, more professionally put together than ordinary communication on social media.” And he says that if a suspect’s background is referred to, it’s also important to “consider the effect on the public.”

    The question is, how does it come across if you “consider the effect on the public”?

    Writing in Die Welt newspaper, the author Kathrin Spoerr fears that readers may feel they’re being patronized. “It [the Press Code] places little faith in the reader. No judgement, just prejudice. It places too much faith in journalists to know how much faith can be placed in the people.” Spoerr is in favor of naming a person’s background.

    Lutz Tillmanns admits that no press code is ever set in stone. “A code is always the subject of debate,” he says; and the application of Section 12 is sure to be the subject of heated debate once again at the next meeting of the Council.”

  29. Facebook ordered to take down hate posts in landmark case (thelocal, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.at/20161212/facebook-ordered-to-take-down-hate-posts-in-landmark-case

    “A landmark ruling in Vienna has seen Facebook ordered by judges to take down hateful posts by a fake profile.

    Social media chiefs have been told they must delete defamatory remarks as soon as they can, which could create a precedent for other cases around the world.

    The Green Party in Austria launched a court action against Facebook Ireland Limited because of online comments made against MP Eva Glawischnig, 47.

    The Facebook user “Michaela Jaskova” – a fake profile – had described Glawischnig in April this year as a “rotten traitor” and a “corrupt tramp”. The Greens said Facebook was responsible because the post was not deleted despite multiple requests.

    According to the Greens, the Facebook profile was also the first to spread the cancer rumours against Austrian President-elect Alexander Van der Bellen, 72, which dogged him in the election campaign against far-right FPO candidate Norbert Hofer.

    Media lawyer Maria Windhager said the Greens had won the “first round” against Facebook by winning a preliminary injunction against the offensive posting at the Commercial Court of Vienna. “This is a very important sign,” she said.

    She explained that the decision shows that Facebook, which normally relies on its own automated community standards and terms and conditions, cannot escape the Austrian legal situation.

    According to the lawyer, this decision is not only a first in Austria, but across Europe. “We are completely over the moon,” she added.

    Green spokesman Dieter Brosz said it was “exciting” that Facebook could not dodge their responsibility.

    The company normally quotes Californian law, where the head office is based, which is not as stringent as Europe’s defamation laws…”

  30. Kurz ‘will block’ Turkey’s EU membership talks (thelocal, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.thelocal.at/20161212/austria-wants-eu-to-freeze-turkey-membership-talks

    “Austria wants the European Union to freeze membership talks with Turkey over Ankara’s massive crackdown following the failed coup.

    Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on Monday that the EU “must at least freeze the accession negotiations”, adding that “it is wrong to continue accession negotiations as if nothing negative has happened in Turkey in the last few months”.

    However, few EU states support Austria’s stance. Slovakia, which holds the rotating EU presidency has said negotiations should continue. Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak admitted that discussions with Turkey “would not be easy” but said that Turkey is an important partner for the EU.

    EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has also spoken in favour of negotiations continuing, saying that for the sake of the Turkish people their country should not be shut out.

    On Thursday, EU leaders will discuss the bloc’s deal with Turkey to stop tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open border gates after the European Parliament called last month for a freeze on membership talks…”

  31. Mali signs first ‘compact’ with EU to slow down migration (ansamed, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/europe/2016/12/12/mali-signs-first-migrant-compact-with-eu_9f1b2dc8-66f3-4a23-a61f-4fb36a333b85.html

    “The European Union on Sunday signed the first ‘migrant compact’ with an African country in Mali to facilitate the return of those refused asylum. It marks the first accord aiming to slow down migration by dealing with its causes in countries of origin and transit.

    Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders signed for the EU, who in the spring – under the Dutch 6-month EU presidency – had visited Mali, Ghana and Ivory Coast to open the negotiations.

    ”Only through this type of cooperation can we deal with the problem at its roots,” Koenders said.

    The partnership entails European efforts to strengthen security services in Mali, agreements to identify irregular migrants with the assistance of Malian officials in Europe and the provision of documents for their return to their countries of origin.

    It also provides for a series of initiatives to foster youth employment in Mali. ”Young people can contribute a great deal to the future of their country. We must prevent Malians from heading towards North Africa and Europe, putting their lives at risk and ending up in the hands of human traffickers,” Koenders added.”

  32. Spy cell gave vital military data to Iran (saudigazette, Dec 13, 2016)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/spy-cell-gave-vital-military-data-iran/

    “The cell of 32 spies for Iran supplied to Tehran 124 intelligence reports containing detailed information about vital military installations in the Kingdom and other security data.

    The Criminal Court in Riyadh has sentenced 15 of them to death, jailed 15 others to prison terms ranging from six months to 25 years and acquitted two (a Saudi and an Afghan national).

    The cell, which was busted late 2014 and early 2015, consisted of 30 Saudis, an Iranian and an Afghan national who was a cook at a National Guard camp.

    Court sources said the cell delivered their reports to Iranian intelligence elements mostly through personal meetings with Iranian undercover diplomats in the Iranian embassy in Riyadh, its consulate in Jeddah and its permanent mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah.

    The methods also included sending through emails coded messages on which they were trained by Iranian intelligence elements.

    The sources said the cell members held personal meetings with as many as 24 Iranian intelligence elements in and outside the Kingdom.

    They said the most important elements with which the cell members used to liaise were the director of the intelligence bureau in Tehran, the first secretary of the Iranian OIC mission and the director of the office of Ali Khamenei. The cell included seven Saudi military men who used to provide the Iranian intelligence elements data and photographs of the sensitive military locations, warplanes, military airports and the confidential military correspondence.

    The sources said the military spies used small cameras in the form of key rings to send photos to Tehran.

    The sources also said a medical consultant at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh used to supply Tehran with medical reports about the health condition of the late King Abdullah and his Crown Prince Naif.”

  33. Over 1,000 people attack Ahmadi place of worship in Chakwal (tribune, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/1261227/protesters-wrest-control-ahmadi-worship-place-chakwal/

    “A charged mob of around 1,000 people, which besieged an Ahmadi place of worship in Chakwal, Punjab was dispersed by police and army personnel on Monday.

    At least one Ahmadi, who was present inside the mosque, passed away from cardiac arrest, whereas the protesters claimed six of their fellows were injured in the cross firing.

    Sayed Sibtul Hasan Shah, who led the protest, said the campaign has “succeeded as Ahmadis have been driven out of the mosque”. Ahmadis, he claimed, opened fire on them from inside the worship place…”

  34. Some Haqqani network leaders based in Pakistan: Pak official (khaama, Dec 12, 2016)
    http://www.khaama.com/some-haqqani-network-leaders-based-in-pakistan-pak-official-02462

    “A Pakistani official has admitted that some leaders of the Haqqani terrorist network are based in Pakistan but rejected that the terror network uses Pakistani soil for terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.

    Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry also claimed that the majority of the Haqqani terrorist network leaders are based in Afghanistan.

    The Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistan for allowing the terrorist network and the Taliban group leadership councils to use the Pakistani soil for planning and coordinating attacks in Afghanistan…”

  35. Germany, today
    262/5000
    Review of yesterday’s news (12.12.2016) +++
    A total of 75 # individual messages
    1x rape a 14-year-old
    9x Sexual assaults on women and minors
    24x robbery and theft
    24x Personal injury
    1x murder
    1x firefighting
    15x threat, other
    ******************************
    Germany and Wien/Austria 2016
    no of victims (minor/adult)
    sex attacks 2125 (633/1492)
    Sex attack in swimming pools 380 (286/94)
    rape 33/166 199
    victims 2704
    *************************
    group sex attack 187

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6Py0vrSVQyNO5yKFTLVQiuq-IZyWjBddJ1WEfHX9n8/edit#gid=0

    • ups. something happened it seems there was 2115 sex attacks overall , (628/1489) so that the no of victims was not 2704 but 2694. Sorry.
      Anyway the linked table says it all.

      • I don’t know who is going to sink into major violence first (actually second given the winter car burning festival in France) Germany or the US? I am afraid that it will be the US but am not sure, we both may wait for warm weather.

        • Hope you are wrong about the US.
          As for Germany there probably will be more and more singular attacks which will not be published by the media, so that the public response will be mute, and just a few major terrorist attacks.