Reader’s links for January 29 – 2017

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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

103 Replies to “Reader’s links for January 29 – 2017”

  1. The Most (And Least) Corrupt Countries In The Middle East

    Transparency International has released its latest rankings of corruption around the world and, as ever, there is little to cheer about in the Middle East, with five of the world’s ten most corrupt countries coming from the region.

    The worst performer is Syria, which is ranked 173rd out of 176 countries, followed by Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Iraq. It is no coincidence that all of these countries are poor and war-ravaged, but even in the wealthier and more peaceful corners of the region the problem of corruption is generally getting worse rather than better.

    If you are not familiar with Transparency International, please take a minute to visit their website at the above link. These people do a spectacular job of ferreting out corruption (a difficult task even in the best of times). Essentially, they identify corruption by painting around it and thus limning it out through analysis of figures like conviction rates for graft, number of bribery lawsuits and trials, difficulty of setting up a business, expense of licenses, commercial taxes or fee structures, and so forth.

    Considering that it is our world’s largest economy, the USA’s ranking of #18 is a truly commendable achievement. After all, the bigger the pond, the more fish that want to swim in it. There is also the notable fact that in 2011, during the 0bama administration, America sank to #24—to my knowledge—its lowest ranking ever.

    Half of world’s most corrupt countries are Arab

    A report by Transparency International has shown a sharp increase in corruption in Middle Eastern and North African countries, further reinforcing post-Arab Spring instability, and making half the world’s most corrupt countries as being Arab.

    According to the Corruption Perceptions Index, 90 per cent of MENA region countries scored below 50, meaning they failed at obtaining suitable anti-corruption standards.

    Five out of the ten most corrupt countries in the world are from the MENA region, including Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen and Syria. All five of these countries are currently experiencing war and political instability.

    The Arabian Gulf states in particular have seen a drop on the latest index as ruling families continue to hold a political and economic monopoly within their countries. Public freedoms are overlooked by political officials, and the military involvement of the Gulf states that are a part of the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen have decreased levels of transparency regarding public expenditure and state budgets.

    Egypt in particular has been singled out as a country that is riddled with corruption. Its levels of corruption remains high and the report pointed out that there is no incentive to tackle the issue in Cairo.

    However, Egypt’s ranking of 108th still remained significantly higher than Iran, which languished at 131st in the table. Meanwhile, states deemed to have been under the influence of Iran were even more corrupt, with Iraq at 166th, Yemen at 170th and Syria the lowest of all Arab countries under Iran’s sway at 173rd.

    This news will come as no major shock to the denizens of Vlad Tepes Blog. Islam and corruption may as well be conjoined twins. It is a neck-and-neck horse race as to whether Islam or corruption stands as the principal driver of human misery around the world.

    That these two malevolent forces are so inextricably entangled to where the fact that there has been a, “sharp increase in corruption in [post-Arab Spring] Middle Eastern and North African countries”, is not just unsurprising but, instead, something so entirely predictable such that all of the optimistic hullabaloo surrounding the Arab Spring represented a profound and inexcusable degree of sociopolitical naïveté.

    At a minimum, this parallel progression of Islam and corruption epitomizes the globally prevailing willful ignorance—which is, more likely, an abject and Politically Correct refusal to recognize—as to just how thoroughly dysfunctional Islam has been since its inception, continues to be now, and will be in the foreseeable future. One need only examine how uncontrolled immigration invasion from the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region into Europe has thrown the Continent into total cultural, social and political chaos.

    Even more glaring is how unwilling all parties are—with the almost singular and astonishing exception of US President Donald Trump—to even mention, much less openly admit, how the current and catastrophic trajectory of Islam is a downward arc into potentially already-existing global conflict. A single glance at a map of Islam’s bloody borders is enough to confirm that any continued toleration of Islam’s predatory aggression will lead to escalating confrontations which can only result in nuclear war (or some sort of WMD exchange—hat tip: Richard).

    The only question that remains is whether the West will be moronic enough to allow Muslim-majority nations any further acquisition of nuclear weapons (and WMD delivery vehicle) technology before intervening and removing from the chess board such profound and unprecedented dangers to world peace.

    While corruption most certainly causes immense amounts of human suffering—and to a lesser extent, wars—Islam is the preeminent driver of this planet’s precipitous plunge towards Total War. Just the utterly barbaric atrocities of ISIS should serve as adequate notice of what awaits a dithering and indecisive world. At day’s end, those who have encouraged, facilitated, or otherwise entrenched such indecision likely will find themselves on the stand, handcuffed to those same Islamic terrorist savages that they so blithely enabled.

    As educated people who should have bloody well known better, their collective fate punishment must needs be even more harsh and unrelenting.

      • Interesting: the same top-rated countries are among those now banned by Pres. T.

        Much like how there are 24 beers in a case and 24 hours in a day…

        Coincidence? I DON’T THINK SO!

        • Wow – the beer thing…never thought of it~
          [The Ghost of John Adams reminds me to plug a great local brew, Sam Adams.]

  2. “Upset and afraid’ Glasgow vet caught in US flight ban”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-38786119

    The mantra of Socialism: “Safe and Secure.” The media keep dropping these key words. Their black and white opposite “upset and afraid.”

    Those words cherry picked words.
    “A vet from Glasgow says she is “upset” and “afraid” after being prevented from flying to the US under President Donald Trump’s executive order barring people from several Muslim countries”

    No apology for her religion murdering people.

    • My grandfather answered a question incorrectly at Ellis Island and went back to Europe, worked and saved, and came back because he wanted to be in America. As I recall, the US gov’t lends refugees the funds for the flight. Who is encouraging the protests about visas that the previous Administation oversaw?

  3. Yemeni Army Fights Inside Mokha (aawsat, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://english.aawsat.com/2017/01/article55366502/yemeni-army-fights-inside-mokha

    “The Yemeni Army now controls the downtown of the Mokha city after it had liberated the port and other large areas in the coastal region.

    A Yemeni military official said on Saturday that Yemeni government forces had succeeded to advance in the Red Sea port of Mokha city following fierce battles.

    The source said that forces allied with Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and supported by the Saudi-led Arab Coalition forces were capable of recuperating the police station and several streets inside the city, in addition to controlling all government buildings and security administrations…”

  4. New York taxi drivers strike in protest at Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban (independent, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-york-taxi-drivers-strike-in-protest-at-donald-trumps-muslim-travel-ban-a7551571.html

    “New York taxi drivers are going on strike to protest Donald Trump’s ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

    The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a non-profit group which links cab drivers in the city, announced a one hour strike in solidarity with those who were being turned away under the controversial new ban…”

    • New York taxi drivers are going on strike to protest Donald Trump’s ban on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.

      The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a non-profit group which links cab drivers in the city, announced a one hour strike in solidarity with those who were being turned away under the controversial new ban…

      What’s with this measly “one hour strike”?!? Sprout a fecking set you flipping pansy-@assed, prinking nancy-boy b@astards and show some measurable scrotal endowment courage of your convictions by staging a MONTH-LONG strike. That way you worthless sacks of sanctimonious sh!t can lose thousands of dollars in the name of your precious vile flaming ideology.

      Anything less only goes to show how you and your scumsucking fellow jihadist travelers are here to bleed out Western civilization in the name of jizzya. Take your extorted “tribute” and use a yardstick to properly poke it all the way up where the sun won’t shine for a farking THOUSAND YEARS.

      FOAD you bunch of capacious rectal cavities! TWICE!!!

      BASTA YA!!!

  5. Germany’s Schaeuble admits ‘mistakes’ in refugee policy (reuters, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-germany-idUKKBN15D0CM?rpc=401&

    “Germany made mistakes with an open-door policy that saw more than a million migrants enter Germany over the past two years, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble acknowledged on Sunday, but he said Berlin was trying to learn from those missteps.

    “We have tried to improve what got away from us in 2015,” Schaeuble told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag. “We politicians are human; we also make mistakes. But one can at least learn from them.”

    Schaeuble is a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats, who have lost support to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party over the migration issue, after several attacks carried out by migrants.

    The AfD is now poised to become the third largest party in parliament in September national elections.

    The issue has also divided the European Union, with many countries balking at taking in a proportional share of refugees.

    Schaeuble said Europe needed to consider harmonising its social benefits to achieve a more equitable distribution of migrants among EU members, a subject that he said had thus far been considered “taboo” in Germany.

    “We have much higher standards when it comes to social benefits than most European countries. That’s why so many want to come to Germany,” he told the newspaper.

    Schaeuble also said he was sceptical about the leadership style of the U.S. President Donald Trump, who has sparked concerns among European leaders with executive orders on immigration, as well as his decision to cancel trade agreements.

    “In America, we can now see how someone is acting as if he can do everything very quickly. That will not only have good results,” he said.

    A poll conducted earlier this month showed that refugee policy would be the biggest issue for voters in the September election…”

  6. Philippine troops kill 15 Islamic State supporters; rebel leader wounded (reuters, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-philippines-security-idUKKBN15D0CC?rpc=401&

    “Philippine soldiers killed 15 militants and seriously wounded their leader, believed to be the Islamic State’s representative in the country, following air and artillery strikes in a southern province, a senior military official said on Sunday.

    Isnilon Hapilon, also known as Abu Abdullah and a leader of the Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf, might die as he needed immediate medical treatment, military chief General Eduardo Ano told reporters, citing intelligence and communications intercepts.

    “He needs blood transfusion. Without proper medical treatment, he may die,” Ano said.

    Philippine forces on Thursday dropped bombs and fired shells at rebel positions in the mountains of Lanao del Sur in a bid to flush out Hapilon. The province is a stronghold of the Maute rebel group, which has also pledged allegiance to Islamic State…”

  7. Islamists Plotting to Establish Caliphate in Austria, Raids Reveal (breitbart, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/01/29/islamists-plotting-to-establish-caliphate-in-austria-raids-reveal/

    “Austrian Islamists were in the process of drawing up plans to set up a caliphate in Austria, a massive raid conducted by over 800 Austrian police officers has revealed.

    On Thursday morning around 800 Austrian police officers conducted a series of raids in the capital of Vienna and in Graz which saw 16 separate domestic premises searched, and led to the arrest of fourteen radical Islamists who are thought to be connected to the Islamic State terror group.

    Police say that the raid was the result of a two-year long investigation into the radical Salafist network Die Presse reports.

    Of the fourteen Islamists arrested, three were women and a handful were Islamic preachers. The authorities said that they also found 140 digital storage items which will be forensically examined by the domestic intelligence service the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

    The public prosecutor’s office said that at least eight of those arrested will be charged with membership of a terrorist organization and creation of a criminal organization. Christian Pilnacek, head of the criminal justice department in the Ministry of Justice claimed that the Islamists spoke of creating a “State of God” or an Islamic Caliphate theocracy.

    Police also allege that the group had recruited at least 40 people to engage in jihad….”

  8. Yemeni Officials Say US Makes Surprise Raid (abcnews, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemeni-officials-us-raid-troops-kills-al-qaida-45121811

    “U.S. forces launched a raid in central Yemen on Sunday, security and tribal officials said, landing troops off of aircraft and killing three alleged senior al-Qaida leaders in a battle that was the third such U.S. ground engagement against the extremist group in Yemen.

    The surprise dawn attack in Bayda province killed Abdul-Raouf al-Dhahab, Sultan al-Dhahab, and Seif al-Nims, they said. The al-Dhahab family is considered an ally of al-Qaida, which security forces say is concentrated in Bayda province. A third family member, Tarek al-Dhahab, was killed in a previous U.S. drone strike years ago. It was not immediately clear whether the family members were actual members of al-Qaida.

    The U.S. troops killed or wounded some two dozen men, including some Saudis present at the site, according to the Yemeni officials — who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists. U.S. military officials contacted by The Associated Press had no immediate comment but said they were looking into the report.

    An official with al-Qaida confirmed the killings, describing the attack as a “massacre” and saying that women and children had been killed as well although providing no evidence. He said Apache attack helicopters struck the area from the air before dropping commandos in for the raid, which took place near Yakla village in Radaa district. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals…”

    • It was not immediately clear whether the family members were actual members of al-Qaida.

      Who fecking cares?!? Yet another jihadist gene pool is shock chlorinated. What’s not to like?

  9. The Latest: Iraq: We Understand Motives Behind Travel Ban (abcnews, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-uk-prime-minister-agree-order-45121703

    “… The Iraqi government says it understands the security motives behind President Donald Trump’s decision to ban seven predominantly Muslim nations, including Iraq, from entering the United States, but underlined that their “special relationship” should be taken into consideration.

    Government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi says Iraqis are hoping that the new orders “will not affect the efforts of strengthening and developing the bilateral relations between Iraq and the United States.”

    Al-Hadithi told The Associated Press on Sunday the government hopes the “measures will be temporary and for regulatory reasons and not permanent at least for Iraq.”

    The order, signed Friday, included a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia or Yemen. It also suspended the U.S. refugee program for four months…”

      • These are all obviously coordinated by Soros-MB orgs, but they’re plugged in extremely well.
        I wonder how many are school teachers – most relatively young, all products of commie-universities. Easily mobilized union workers?

        • Getting the collage students to take time off from class and still get class credit helps fill the ranks.

          • Soros Bankrolling Effort to Stop Trump’s Temporary Refugee Halt Order

            The flurry of anguished news stories and protests surrounding President Trump’s executive action temporarily suspending “immigrants and non-immigrants” from “countries of particular concern” appears to be part of a coordinated PR effort financed by left-wing billionaire George Soros.

            Rather than a complete “Muslim ban” as promised during the campaign, Trump’s executive order contains moderate refugee restrictions, similar to those that have been implemented by President Obama. If reports are true that restrictions are being applied even to green-card holders, that is an unfortunate misapplication of the law that will likely soon be corrected.

            Protesters quickly materialized Saturday at JFK Airport, where some refugees were being temporarily detained.

            Who are these people?

            “Who will make the road?” – Actual socialists at Terminal 4

            Who are these people?

            “Who will make the road?” – Actual socialists at Terminal 4

            According to Breitbart’s Aaron Klein, the signatories to the lawsuit filed Saturday to block Trump’s executive order included immigration lawyers from groups financed by Soros.

            At least one case quickly prompted a legal challenge as lawyers representing two Iraqi refugees held at Kennedy International Airport in New York filed a motion early Saturday seeking to have their clients released. They also filed a motion for class certification, in an effort to represent all refugees and other immigrants who they said were being unlawfully detained at ports of entry.

            The suit was filed by lawyers from the International Refugee Assistance Project, the National Immigration Law Center, the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization at Yale Law School, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the International Refugee Assistance Project (formerly Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project) at the Urban Justice Center.

            The ACLU is massively funded by Soros’s Open Society Foundations, including with a $50 million grant in 2014.

            The National Immigration Law Center has received numerous Open Society grants earmarked for general support.

            The Urban Justice Center is also the recipient of an Open Society grant.

            Taryn Higashi, executive director of the Center’s International Refugee Assistance Project, which is listed on the Trump lawsuit, currently serves on the Advisory Board of the International Migration Initiative of Soros’s Open Society Foundations.

            Reportedly, open-borders advocate Soros has provided some $76 million for immigrant issues over the past decade, as Soros-funded “immigrant rights groups” helped influence President Obama’s immigration policy.

            https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/01/29/soros-bankrolling-effort-to-stop-trumps-temporary-refugee-halt-order/

          • Many look too old to be students, yet the indoctrination hasn’t worn off. What kind of life awaits the Snowflake outside the Institution?

            So they graduate, get jobs poisoning the minds of little kids, harassing fellow colleagues. They serve as informants and enforcers of the Alinsky Gospel, freelance SJWs.
            shudder in horror
            All they have is protest. Look at some of the middle-aged hippies carrying signs. They’ve been to waaay too many protests. They’ve forgotten what they’re mad about.

      • Maybe save some idiot dual-nationals from the Iranian “justice-system”. A good share of them are spies anyway, without doubt, some are working both sides.

    • Suicidal morons, all of them. They should be confined in a psychiatric facility for the sake of their own protection. Better yet, ship all of them out to the Islamic pisshole of their choice so that they can get a real taste of what they’re attempting to infect America with.

  10. Germany: Fire breaks out at school used as refugee shelter in Berlin

    One person was injured and taken to hospital after a fire broke out at the Gerhard-Hauptmann school, which is currently being used as a refugee shelter, in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Sunday.

    Around 50 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze as the school remains suspended and refugee residents have been moved to accommodation at a different location. The fire has since been extinguished.

    Around 200 refugees were residing at the Gerhard-Hauptmann school. The Kreuzberg district has deployed a security guard to monitor access to the school premises. The cause of the blaze is unknown as of yet.

    • Good on the lot of them. At least Oz hasn’t been chugging the Kool-Aid like Europe has.

  11. Feds Still in Cover-up Mode: Ft. Lauderdale Airport Shooter Indictment Omits Terrorism

    A grand jury in south Florida just indicted the Ft. Lauderdale Airport shooter, but the feds are still in cover-up mode so terrorism isn’t even mentioned though an FBI agent testified in court that the attack was carried out on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Instead the gunman, who years ago took on an Islamic name, was charged with murder for killing five people and wounding six others during a bloody rampage in the airport’s baggage claim area earlier this month.

    Days after the massacre that shut down one of the state’s busiest airports, Judicial Watch reported that the shooter, Esteban Santiago, is a Muslim convert who years before joining the U.S. Army took on an Islamic name (Aashiq Hammad), downloaded terrorist propaganda and recorded Islamic religious music online. A California-based investigative news site dug up the information while the mainstream media blindly repeated the Obama administration’s version of the facts though early on a photo surfaced of Santiago making an ISIS salute while wearing a keffiyeh, a Palestinian Arab scarf. This was disturbingly reminiscent of the Benghazi cover up, in which the president and his cohorts knowingly lied to conceal that Islamic terrorists attacked the U.S. Special Mission in Libya.

    The records contradict the official government version that Santiago is a mentally ill, Hispanic Army veteran who became unhinged after a tour in Iraq. Additionally, at a bond hearing in a south Florida federal court last week, an FBI special agent with the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) testified that Santiago carried out the attack on behalf of ISIS. The agent, Michael Ferlazzo, also said that Santiago had communicated with Islamic terrorists who were planning attacks on internet “jihadi chat rooms.” Regardless, the initial criminal complaint omits any reference to terrorism. It charges Santiago with performing an act of violence at an airport, using a firearm in the course of a crime of violence and causing death through the use of a firearm. It also reveals that he fired 10 to 15 rounds of ammunition from his firearm, aiming at his victims’ heads and walking while shooting on a methodical manner.

    This week’s 22-count grand jury indictment also fails to mention terrorism, even though it was issued after the JTTF FBI agent confirmed Santiago’s ISIS ties in court. Instead, it only charges Santiago with five counts of causing death at an international airport, six counts of causing serious bodily injury at an international airport, five counts of causing death during a crime of violence and six counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence. Santiago “committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death,” the indictment states. The document is longer (19 pages) than the original complaint because it mentions the victims by name in the different counts. The grand jury also adopted special findings seeking the death penalty for Santiago though federal prosecutors will ultimately decide that.

    http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2017/01/feds-still-cover-mode-ft-lauderdale-airport-shooter-indictment-omits-terrorism/

    • … Esteban Santiago, is a Muslim convert who years before joining the U.S. Army took on an Islamic name (Aashiq Hammad), downloaded terrorist propaganda and recorded Islamic religious music online.

      … Regardless, the initial criminal complaint omits any reference to terrorism. It charges Santiago with performing an act of violence at an airport, using a firearm in the course of a crime of violence and causing death through the use of a firearm.

      I look forward to the day that such a glaring omission of the truth can merit charges of treason. Second only to Islam itself, this willful obfuscation of easily proven jihadist motivation and acts represents an actionable violation of America’s national security.

      This sort of flagrant lying no longer can be tolerated or labeled as mere denial. It is a concerted effort to mislead the American people about an ongoing threat to their very lives. Such deception is tantamount to being an accessory to Islamic terrorism (before and after the fact) and should be treated as such.

    • As someone who has lived and still does, with a mental illness can I please just say this?

      MUSLIMS! YOU CUNTS!
      STOP THROWING US NUTTERS UNDER THE BUS WITH YOU CUNTS!

      • Absolutely right!
        They’re so glib about civil rights, all so sensitive, but character assassination of nutters is just fine and dandy. Whatever, as long as it serves to obscure tardish mischief.

        “SLANDER” – defined: “the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.”

        FAKE: genuine, florid schizophrenics can’t get it together to eat or sleep or come in from the cold, let alone plan and execute mass murder of infidels.

        MAJOR set-back for public health: Parents of sick kids are going to start hiding them in closets again, chained like animals.

        (A great-uncle of mine was locked away for years as a young child. “Enlightened” treatment came too late to do him much good.)

  12. Texas mosque destroyed in early-morning blaze; cause unknown

    VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — An early-morning fire Saturday destroyed a Texas mosque that was a target of hatred several years ago and experienced a burglary just a week ago.

    A clerk at a convenience store spotted smoke and flames billowing from the Islamic Center of Victoria at around 2 a.m. and called the fire department.

    “It’s sad to stand there and watch it collapse down, and the fire was so huge,” Shahid Hashmi, the Islamic center’s president, said. “It looks completely destroyed.”

    Victoria Fire Marshal Tom Legler asked for help from the Texas Fire Marshal’s Office and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine what caused the blaze. Hashmi said authorities have told him it was too early to speculate.

    “None whatsoever right now,” the center director said. “We don’t have any lead or information as to what started the fire and what happened. So I’m sure it’s going to be a few days, they told us, before they can come up with any answers for us.”

    The congregation’s pastor, known as an imam, was awake in the early morning hours and checked online surveillance of the mosque and found no alarm active and the doors unlocked, Hashmi said. On Jan. 21, someone broke in and stole some electronics, including laptops.

    “He was worried about it and drove over there,” Hashmi said. “By that time, fire engines were already there pouring water on the fire.”

    The structure was built in 2000.

    No injuries were reported. It took about four hours to extinguish the blaze.

    Hashmi, who’s lived in Victoria 32 years, said the congregation of about 140 has had few other problems and has enjoyed support from the city of about 115 miles southwest of Houston. He already has received offers of temporary quarters for the congregation to worship.

    “When 9/11 happened, Muslims and non-Muslims, we all got together,” he said. “Of course, we will rebuild.”

    The Victoria Advocate on Saturday reported that in July 2013, a man admitted to painting “H8,” a computer shorthand for “hate,” on the outside of the building.

    On Jan. 7, a mosque under construction near Lake Travis in Austin was burned to the ground.

    The Texas office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said like that blaze, it would monitor the investigation of the Victoria fire.

    “Because of growing anti-Muslim bigotry in our nation, and because of the recent spike in hate incidents targeting Islamic institutions and individuals, we urge investigators to keep the possibility of a bias motive for this fire in mind,” CAIR-Houston Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll said.

    There’s been no determination yet for the Austin blaze, Diane Kanawati, with CAIR-Austin, said Saturday.

    In December, a man was sentenced to four years in prison for setting fire to a Houston mosque where he worshipped. Gary Nathaniel Moore pleaded guilty to arson and using a fire as a deadly weapon in a Dec. 25, 2015, blaze that caused significant damage at the Islamic Society of Greater Houston mosque.

    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MOSQUE_FIRE

      • Luckily nothing of value was damaged.

        You overlook how this caused some serious air pollution. However, speaking as someone who prides himself in being a good environmental steward:

        THAT’S A PRICE I’M WILLING TO PAY!

  13. Germany: Chancellor candidate Schulz compares Afd and Front National to Nazis

    Newly nominated Chancellor candidate and leader of Germany‘s Social Democrats Martin Schultz, called for more European solidarity concerning refugee policies at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Sunday.

    The former European Parliament President threatened that countries such as Hungary, where he cites Prime Minister Viktor Orban as the most vocal agent of this de-solidarization of Europe, could suffer the consequences in the next EU budget plan.

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “Germany is solidary when it comes to helping other countries, also financially. Germany is solidarity when other countries feel threatened and carries out sanctions. But when some members of the European Union interpret European solidarity like this: financing of agricultural funds or funds for the structure support – yes please, but solidarity for people who are fleeing – no thanks, then a future federal government has to take the issue of solidarity, when it comes to refugee policy, in the next EU budget plan into account.”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “That the most vocal agent of this de-solidarization of Europe the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who rejects any solidarity with Germany concerning refugee policies, is being wooed and applauded by the CSU is an open affront against the interests of the Federal Republic Germany.”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “We will never give up our values, our freedom and democracy, our rule of law, and our plurality, no matter what challenge we are facing. I am saying this deliberately. Because that a US President wants to build walls, thinks out loud about torture, and attacks women, religious communities, minorities, people with special needs, artists and intellectuals with outrageous and dangerous statements, that is wholly unacceptable.”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “The Front National means ‘National Front’ translated in German. We already had a party like this with an aggressive nationalism once in our country. What a blind nationalism leads to we experienced in the first half of the 20th century. This is why a party of Hoeckes, of Gaulands and of Petrys is no alternative for Germany but a disgrace for the Federal Republic.”

    SOT, Sigmar Gabriel, German Foreign Minister and former SPD leader (German): “The new US President has taken his office and his first official acts show that he means business and we as Germans and Europeans would do well to focus on our own strengths, instead of approaching the world in a timid and submissive way. We at any rate stand by the western values of freedom, democracy and social responsibility for each other.”

    • Germany’s Schulz slams far-right, Trump

      Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat’s nominee to challenge Angela Merkel, has condemned Germany’s far-right AfD. He has also slammed US President Donald Trump’s clampdown on minorities as an “intolerable” taboo breach
      ………….
      Trump’s stance ‘shameless’

      Schulz accused US President Donald Trump of attacking minorities in the United States with “shameless and dangerous” statements. “This is a taboo breach that is intolerable.”

      While Germany and Europe must retain the transatlantic partnership as a fixed component of policy, they had to make it clear to Trump that international human rights also apply to him, Schulz insisted.

      Referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s isolationist stance toward refugees, Schulz said Orban’s actions were “an affront” to European unity.

      Refugees entitled to protection

      Refugees fleeing wars in Africa and the Middle East had the right to protection, said Schulz while adding that the causes of flight must be tackled at source.

      Referring to Germany’s large intake of refugees in 2015, Schulz said EU nations that failed to show solidarity must reckon with EU funding cuts, for example, in the agricultural sector.

      It was “repulsive” that “rat-catchers” had tried to make political capital on the backs of refugees, Schulz added.

      Fairness pact after US debacle

      Schulz said he would ask all parties contesting Germany’s Bundestag parliamentary election in September to agree to a fairness pact.

      “What we saw last year during the election campaign in the United States, the lack of decency in debates, that shocked me deeply,” Schulz said.

      “It opened up rifts and destroyed much in a country which once stood for freedom and tolerance,” he added. “That mustn’t happen to us in Germany.”

      http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-schulz-slams-far-right-trump/a-37321300

  14. The White House

    Office of the Press Secretary
    For Immediate Release

    January 28, 2017

    Presidential Memorandum Plan to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

    NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM – 3

    MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENT

    THE SECRETARY OF STATE

    THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY

    THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

    THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

    THE SECRETARY OF ENERGY

    THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

    THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OF STAFF

    THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

    THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR
    NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS

    THE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT

    THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

    THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

    SUBJECT: Plan to Defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

    The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is not the only threat from radical Islamic terrorism that the United States faces, but it is among the most vicious and aggressive. It is also attempting to create its own state, which ISIS claims as a “caliphate.” But there can be no accommodation or negotiation with it. For those reasons I am directing my Administration to develop a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS.

    ISIS is responsible for the violent murder of American citizens in the Middle East, including the beheadings of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and Peter Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as well as the death of Kayla Mueller. In addition, ISIS has inspired attacks in the United States, including the December 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California, and the June 2016 attack in Orlando, Florida. ISIS is complicit in a number of terrorist attacks on our allies in which Americans have been wounded or killed, such as the November 2015 attack in Paris, France, the March 2016 attack in Brussels, Belgium, the July 2016 attack in Nice, France, and the December 2016 attack in Berlin, Germany.

    ISIS has engaged in a systematic campaign of persecution and extermination in those territories it enters or controls. If ISIS is left in power, the threat that it poses will only grow. We know it has attempted to develop chemical weapons capability. It continues to radicalize our own citizens, and its attacks against our allies and partners continue to mount. The United States must take decisive action to defeat ISIS.

    Sec. 1. Policy. It is the policy of the United States that ISIS be defeated.

    Sec. 2. Policy Coordination. Policy coordination, guidance, dispute resolution, and periodic in-progress reviews for the functions and programs described and assigned in this memorandum shall be provided through the interagency process established in National Security Presidential Memorandum – 2 of January 28, 2017 (Organization of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council), or any successor.

    (i) Development of a new plan to defeat ISIS (the Plan) shall commence immediately.

    (ii) Within 30 days, a preliminary draft of the Plan to defeat ISIS shall be submitted to the President by the Secretary of Defense.

    (iii) The Plan shall include:

    (A) a comprehensive strategy and plans for the defeat of ISIS;

    (B) recommended changes to any United States rules of engagement and other United States policy restrictions that exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of force against ISIS;

    (C) public diplomacy, information operations, and cyber strategies to isolate and delegitimize ISIS and its radical Islamist ideology;

    (D) identification of new coalition partners in the fight against ISIS and policies to empower coalition partners to fight ISIS and its affiliates;

    (E) mechanisms to cut off or seize ISIS’s financial support, including financial transfers, money laundering, oil revenue, human trafficking, sales of looted art and historical artifacts, and other revenue sources; and

    (F) a detailed strategy to robustly fund the Plan.

    (b) Participants. The Secretary of Defense shall develop the Plan in collaboration with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

    (c) Development of the Plan. Consistent with applicable law, the Participants identified in subsection (b) of this section shall compile all information in the possession of the Federal Government relevant to the defeat of ISIS and its affiliates. All executive departments and agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, promptly comply with any request of the Participants to provide information in their possession or control pertaining to ISIS. The Participants may seek further information relevant to the Plan from any appropriate source.

    (d) The Secretary of Defense is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register

    DONALD J. TRUMP

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/28/plan-defeat-islamic-state-iraq

  15. Islam Strengthening in Europe with the Blessing of the Church

    There are now many Catholic commentators who are questioning the Church’s blindness about the danger Europe is facing.

    “Islam has every chance massively to strengthen its presence in Europe with the blessing of the Church…. the Church is not only leading Europe to an impasse, it is also shooting itself in the foot.” — Laurent Dandrieu, cultural editor of the French magazine Valeurs Actuelles.

    “It is clear that Muslims have an ultimate goal: conquering the world…Islam, through the sharia, their law…allows violence against the infidels, such as Christians….And what is the most important achievement? Rome.” — Cardinal Raymond Burke, interview, Il Giornale.

    “[T]hey are not refugees, this is an invasion, they come here with cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’, they want to take over.” — Laszlo Kiss Rigo, head of the Catholic Hungarian southern community.
    François Fillon published a book entitled, Vanquishing Islamic Totalitarianism, and he rose in the polls by vowing to control Islam and immigration: “We’ve got to reduce immigration to its strict minimum,” Fillon said. “Our country is not a sum of communities, it is an identity!”

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9835/church-strengthening-islam

      • I think “Judas” is too mild of a term to describe Pope Francis. “Satan’s favorite whore” seems far more appropriate.

        As to these various “religious agencies” that are raking in the big bucks by delivering us into the hands of our very worst enemies, may they all rot in everlasting hell after being tried and executed for treason.

    • “[T]hey are not refugees, this is an invasion, they come here with cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’, they want to take over.” — Laszlo Kiss Rigo, head of the Catholic Hungarian southern community.

      At least someone across the pond has gotten the memo.

      • Well,he is neither Judas nor “Satans whore” he is one of the bad popes, that’s all.
        In the history of Catholic church there was even a time when there were two popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon. Catholic faith and Catholic church survived. It will survive this pope, too.

  16. Turkish minister urges Germany to reject soldier asylum requests – media (reuters, Jan 29, 2017)
    http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey-security-germany-idUKKBN15D0WG

    “German authorities should reject requests for asylum from some 40 former Turkish soldiers Ankara suspects of having links to the failed July coup, Turkey’s defence minister was quoted as saying on Sunday.

    Fikri Isik also said that failure to reject the asylum applications could harden relations between Germany and Turkey, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

    German media reported on Saturday that around 40 mostly high-ranking Turkish soldiers who worked at NATO facilities in Germany had requested asylum. Germany’s interior ministry has confirmed that asylum applications had been received from Turkish military personnel, without giving any numbers.

    “Our expectation from Germany is that they will never accept the asylum requests,” Anadolu quoted Isik as saying.

    He said he would bring the issue up with his German counterpart at a NATO security conference planned for next month and that acceptance of the asylum requests would affect relations between the two countries.

    Isik said the soldiers applied for asylum after they were dismissed from the military following the July 15 failed coup. More than 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended from the police, military, civil service and private sector on suspicion of supporting the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Turkey blames for the coup. Some 40,000 people have been jailed pending trial.

    The scope of the crackdown has worried rights groups and some of Turkey’s Western allies, who fear President Tayyip Erdogan is using the coup attempt as a pretext to curtail dissent. NATO member Turkey says the moves are necessary to protect democracy and root out supporters of the failed putsch.

    On Thursday, Greece’s Supreme Court denied an extradition request for eight Turkish soldiers who fled to Greece in a helicopter the day after the attempted coup. The men have sought political asylum, saying they fear for their lives in Turkey.

    The court decision has infuriated Ankara, which has threatened to scrap a migration deal with Athens if Greece does not reconsider.”

    • The Shias are supposed to be the moderates compared to the Sunnis, Salafists and Wahabis. At least he’s out of it now.

      • They are only moderates compared to…… Also there is a slight difference between Iranian shia and other shia. Some Iranians are moderates because they are not only shia but also Iranians. On the other hand they are many Iranians who are not different in behaviour from Wahabis.

      • Neue Identität Syrische Botschaft soll Pässe gegen “Extragebühr” ausgestellt haben

        Berlin –

        Die syrische Botschaft in Berlin soll Pässe ausgestellt haben an Personen, die in Deutschland eingereist sind und sich als syrische Flüchtlinge ausgeben. Dabei soll die Identität der Antragsteller nicht überprüft worden sein. Nach Informationen der Berliner Zeitung hat die Berliner Generalstaatsanwaltschaft deshalb ein Ermittlungsverfahren eingeleitet.

        Das Bundesinnenministerium und die Bundespolizei hatten zuvor entsprechende Hinweise von Ausländerbehörden in Nordrhein-Westfalen, darunter in Aachen, erhalten. Demnach hätten mehrere Personen unabhängig voneinander bestätigt, dass es in der diplomatischen Vertretung an der Rauchstraße 25 in Tiergarten keine Überprüfung der syrischen Staatsangehörigkeit gegeben habe. Für die Passausstellung hätten die zuständigen Mitarbeiter zu der üblichen Gebühr von 380 Euro eine „Extragebühr“ von 150 Euro erhoben.

        „Wir äußern uns dazu nicht“

        Wie viele Pässe auf diese Weise ausgegeben wurden, ist bislang unklar. Martin Steltner, Sprecher der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft, sagte: „Wir äußern uns dazu nicht.“

        Das Sekretariat des Botschafters erklärte in einer Stellungnahme lediglich: „Die Botschaft der Syrischen Arabischen Republik nimmt ihre Aufgabe als Vertretung für alle syrischen Staatsbürger sehr ernst. So arbeitet die Botschaft nach strukturierten Regeln und Vorschriften und ist bemüht, sich allen Belangen der Syrer anzunehmen, fern jeglicher Unterschiede und Diskriminierung.“
        Begehrte Dokumente

        Ein Personaldokument aus dem Bürgerkriegsland Syrien ist bei vielen Einwanderern nach Europa begehrt, weil es meistens die Anerkennung als Kriegsflüchtling sichert. Während der Flüchtlingswelle gaben viele bei ihrer Registrierung in Deutschland an, sie stammten aus Syrien und hätten ihre Ausweise auf der Flucht verloren. Den Behörden blieb zunächst nichts anderes übrig, als das zu glauben.
        Andere benutzen gefälschte Pässe. Als das Bundesamt für Migration im vergangenen Jahr 50.000 syrische Dokumente überprüfte, stellten sich 3300 als gefälscht heraus. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern wurden 3300 syrische Pässe überprüft, von denen 140 gefälscht waren.

        Sorgen bereitet den Behörden ein weiteres Problem: 2015 stahl die Terrormiliz Islamischer Staat in syrischen Städten 3800 Blankopässe. Laut einem damals verschickten Interpol-Schreiben gab es Hinweise, „dass einige Pässe für 2500 US-Dollar an andere Extremisten verkauft werden, damit diese Auslandsreisen unter der Nutzung einer falschen Identität durchführen können“.
        http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/neue-identitaet-syrische-botschaft-soll-paesse-gegen–extragebuehr–ausgestellt-haben-25626894
        ( Syrian embassy in Berlin, for additional pay, issued passports to migrants who claimed they lost ID The embassy did not check migrants identity. Syrian embassy did not say how many people got the passport that way, )

  17. BREITBART – Trump ban inspires wide anger, some applause across world

    […]The Dutch anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders said in a tweet: “Well done @POTUS it’s the only way to stay safe + free. I would do the same. Hope you’ll add more Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia soon.”

    […]In Italy, the leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League party also expressed admiration. “What Trump’s doing on the other side of the ocean, I’d like it done also here,” Matteo Salvini told reporters.

    Referring to the hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers and economic migrants rescued while crossing the Mediterranean and brought to Italy in recent years, Salvini said there is “an invasion underway which needs to be blocked.” He is pressing for early elections and courting other far-right leaders for a possible campaign coalition.
    […]

    http://www.breitbart.com/news/trump-ban-inspires-wide-anger-some-applause-across-world/

    • BREITBART EXCLUSIVE – Sarah Palin: Media Hysteria over Trump’s ‘Immigration Ban’ Is Fake News on Steroids

      A blanket “immigration ban”? No, it is not. That is a fake news headline.

      Even so-called conservative websites groveling for clicks are making more out of President Trump’s action to fully vet foreigners’ intentions upon U.S. entrance than it obviously is.

      Trump is doing what the majority recognized was necessary to secure our borders. Voters asked for it, he promised it, and thus he was elected. Now he’s doing it.

      This isn’t inhumane. It’s exercising common-sense compassion to keep human beings safe. It’s about fully vetting foreigners and merely following the laws the people–through our representative form of government within our republic–agreed upon.

      The misinformed are ballistically knee-jerking because they aren’t used to candidates fulfilling campaign promises. Perhaps it’s shocking because we’re used to swamp dwellers murkying up the waters once typical politicians get elected, but that’s exactly why a typical politician wasn’t elected. The status quo has got to go.

      Many of us have demanded we regroup and get a handle on security issues. What next preventable tragedy must happen before we finally do so?

      Trump’s executive action is a step in the right direction towards welcoming safe, loving, law-abiding, hardworking, patriotic people into our nation that was built on the backs of safe, loving, law-abiding, hardworking, patriotic people willing to assimilate into America’s exceptional melting pot.

      http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/01/29/exclusive-sarah-palin-media-hysteria-over-trumps-immigration-ban-is-fake-news-on-steroids/

      ============================================
      CNN News Live President Donald Trump Ban on Muslims White House

  18. Hillary Is Back: Intends To Start TV Show And Position For Another Run: “She’s Convinced She’d Get Fabulous Ratings”

    As the election of 2016 came to a close and Donald Trump won an electroal landslide against Hillary Clinton, Matt Drudge posted a picture of the losing candidate and asked, “Is this the last photo of Hillary you will ever see on Drudge?”

    Millions had hoped the answer was “yes.”

    As it turns out, our dreams of a Hillary-free America may have just been shattered.

    In a recent meeting with friends at her Whitehaven, D.C. home Clinton reportedly raised a glass and said, “I’ll be back” in her best Terminator voice.

    Edward Klein, the author of Clinton exposé Guilty As Sin, reports that the losing candidate hasn’t given up on the White House just yet.

    http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/hillary-is-back-intends-to-start-tv-show-and-position-for-another-run-shes-convinced-shed-get-fabulous-ratings_01272017

    • Can’t she just have another massive brain aneurysm or something? This doddering hag has permanently worn out her welcome on America’s political stage. A campaign of vicious ridicule needs to be directed towards anyone who thinks that Hillary Clinton has anything of worth to offer the American people.

      • One of the problems is that while they were in the White House the Clintons had the FBI files on all of the big and up and coming Democrats brought to the White House and scanned into private computers. They also had the same done with the files of the Repubs. They have blackmail material on both parties that lets them dominate the Democrats, Obama came out of left field and stole the nomination in 08 and the Clintons have been working hard to ensure that they have regained control. That is why Hillary is sure she will get huge ratings (real of otherwise that is what will be reported), and this may be the build up to get Chelsea introduced as the champion of the people. Think on that one, if they aren’t stopped we will have another Clinton trying to become President by hook or crook.

  19. “Islam Strengthening in Europe with the Blessing of the Church”

    by Giulio Meotti
    January 29, 2017 at 6:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9835/church-strengthening-islam

    Everyone in Italy and the rest of Europe will “soon be Muslim” because of our “stupidity”, warned Monsignor Carlo Liberati, Archbishop Emeritus of Pompei. Liberati claimed that, thanks to the huge number of Muslim migrants alongside the increasing secularism of native Europeans, Islam will soon become the main religion of Europe. “All of this moral and religious decadence favours Islam”, Archbishop Liberati explained.

    Décadence is also the title of a new book by the French philosopher Michel Onfray, in which he suggests that the Judeo-Christian era may have come to an end. He compares the West and Islam: “We have nihilism, they have fervor; we are exhausted, they have a great health; we have the past for us; they have the future for them”.

    Archbishop Liberati belongs to a growing branch of Catholic leaders who refuse to see the future belonging to Islam in Europe. They speak in open opposition to Pope Francis, who does not seem too impressed by the collapse of Christianity due to falling birth rates, accompanied by religious apathy and its replacement by Islam.

  20. Austria: Does the Church Really Care about Terrorism?

    by Judith Bergman
    January 29, 2017 at 4:30 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9760/austria-church-migrants-terrorism

    In his Christmas sermon, broadcast live on Austria’s ORF and Germany’s ZDF TV channels, Catholic diocesan Bishop Aegidius Zsifkovics of St. Martin’s Cathedral in Eisenstadt, Austria, pontificated that tightening borders is an “erroneous opinion”:

    “Barbed wire, fences and walls are now many people’s answer to the refugees [coming into] Europe. The terror of a few, as last seen in Berlin, reinforce many of us in this erroneous opinion”.

    Bishop Zsifkovics declared that we cannot let “Cowardly terror attacks, like that in Berlin, succeed in destabilizing our society, making us colder and less solidary. Let us not allow the terrorists this triumph — we will not be ice cold like them!”

    Since the bishop’s speech, the Austrian Military Intelligence Service has predicted that up to 15 million migrants from Africa could arrive in the EU by 2020. The report predicts that a sharp rise in unemployment across the African continent will create a new wave of economic migrants, which will dwarf the current one, which has brought over a million migrants to Europe since the migrant crisis began.

    • Let us not allow the terrorists this triumph — we will not be ice cold like them!

      Yet another recipe for suicide. If Islam demands one single thing, it is repayment in its own bloody coin. History has no other lesson to offer non-Muslims in this matter. There are times when fire must be fought with fire. This is one of those times.

      Anything less is handing Islam one small victory after another. It is the death of a thousand cuts for Western civilization and useful idiots like Bishop Zsifkovics will sooner see all of us led to the chopping block rather than interrupt for even a single moment his own sanctimonious halo polishing virtue signalling.

      • The major problem we are now facing is the way the alt left has propagandized people into believing that all cultures are equal and essentially react the same to every event. People refuse to admit that being kind to the Moslems is taken as a sign of weakness and only makes them attack harder.

  21. Turkey: Erdogan’s Grab for Absolute Power

    by Burak Bekdil
    January 29, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9849/erdogan-absolute-power

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s one-man show goes on; he may soon progress from effectively having absolute authority to actually having absolute authority. He would apparently like to put an official seal on his increasingly autocratic regime. If a simple majority of Turks vote “yes” in a national referendum on proposed constitutional amendments in April, Erdogan will effectively consolidate the power of three legislative bodies into one powerful executive office: himself. He would then be installed as a leader with virtually unlimited authority.

    Although the current constitution grants him largely symbolic powers, Erdogan has acted as the effective head of the executive branch since he became Turkey’s first elected president in August 2014. He has explicitly — and, it appears, happily — violated the constitution by acting as an absolute head of government. In May 2016, he forced Ahmet Davutoglu, his own confidant and prime minister, out of office; Erdogan evidently suspected that the man was not working hard enough to push for the absolute executive presidential system Erdogan has evidently been craving. Only seven months ago, Davutoglu had won a parliamentary election with 49.5% of the national vote.

    Erdogan replaced Davutoglu with Binali Yildirim, who has proven to be more enthusiastic about terminating the prime minister’s office and transferring all powers to an all-powerful president. As Erdogan’s (and Yildirim’s) ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lacked the parliamentary majority to put any constitutional amendment to public vote, the proposed changes therefore required support from the opposition benches. (A minimum of 330 votes is required in the country’s 550-member assembly, as opposed to 317 seats controlled by the AKP.)

    • Erodgan is about to seize authority as the Caliph and move ot bring all of Sunni Islam under his control. Doing this won’t be easy but he has played his cards correctly up till now so he may make it. It will probably touch off inter Islam fighting in Europe with the ISIS backers fighting to defend their pick for Caliph and the Truks fighting for him with the Kurds both groups and just to make things interesting we have Russia and Iran both playing the Game of Thrones in the Middle East and probably soon in Europe.

  22. Setting the stage for another Euro Crisis: European Commission proposes Euro Safe Bonds

    According to a draft proposal from the European Commission, a new phase in EU Financial Markets has arrived: European Safe Bonds. The presumed goal is “to reduce the risk of member states going bankrupt or contagion spreading through banks”, the German Handelsblatt reports. As this idea dates back to 1960s, it’s hardly new. But while the current pretext is the euro crisis, these Eurobonds have the potential to help spur on a new one.

    Bonds are used by governments to finance their expenditures. In return, buyers are paid interest on the end date of the Bond. The interest rate on a Bond depicts the risk perceived by these buyers on actually seeing that promise fulfilled. In the run-up to the introduction of the Euro in 2001, the interest rates on Bonds from separate European nations converged significantly.

    This meant that Greece’s promise to pay was deemed as reliable as Germany’s promise to pay. This drastically lowered interest rates in Greece. This created an artificial credit boom since money was now available at a much lower interest rate. Inevitably, a real bust would soon have to follow.

    As is evident now, not only were Greece’s books cooked, the entire artificial Bond structure collapsed in 2008 as interest rates diverged, and came to represent their real credit risks again.

    https://gatestone.eu/euro-safe-bonds/

    • This is proof that the left is incapable of learning from their mistakes. The multinational bonds will fail as they have always failed, just as socialism always fails. And when they fail they will bring down the worlds economy. World events are building towards a perfect storm of violence, when this was is over (with a little luck) freedom and individual rights will once again reign in Europe.

      • It seems that if there is one thing that Socialists excel at beyond all other ideologies (save for, perhaps, Islam), it is breathing their own exhaust.

        How many more countless millions of people will have to perish before these delusional EU lunatics finally admit that centrally planned command economies DO NOT WORK?

        Wasn’t Soviet Russia (and its current mafioso oligarchic mutation) proof enough? Is anyone actually able to hoodwink themselves into believing that a catastrophic sociological and environmental butcher’s bill does not await Communist China? As always, you can hear the wailings of, “But it just hasn’t been done right, yet!”

        Go right ahead, EU bureaucrats, and ignore Einstein’s immutable observation. Just throw another several million corpses onto Socialism’s bonfire and see if this iteration of your Grand Experiment™ in social engineering yields any different results.

  23. Sweden’s Conservatives reach out to far-right party

    In Sweden, the oppositional Moderate Party this week announced its willingness to collaborate with the right-wing Sweden Democrats, effectively severing the cordon sanitaire that has surrounded the anti-immigration party since its founding. According to Moderates leader Anna Kinberg Batra, it was simply impossible to ignore the SD any longer.

    “It hasn’t worked to pretend that such a large party in parliament doesn’t exist,” she said in a comment. The SD has become the Scandinavian country’s second-biggest party, with only the left-wing Social Democrats trumping it, The Local reports.

    A recent poll had shown that more than 1 in 5 Swedes support the SD’s political viewpoints. The party, which focuses on topics such as migration, culture, national identity, and law and order issues, is originally rooted in the neo-Nazi movement but gradually became more moderate, turning into a regular political organization comparable to the French Front National, the Freedom Party of Austria, the Danish People’s Party, and the Party for Freedom from the Netherlands.

    https://gatestone.eu/sweden-democrats-now-okay/

    English subtitles on youtube it is worth watching there.

  24. Daniel Greenfield – Stop Muslim Terror by Stopping Muslim Immigration

    […]Unlike classic Islamic terrorism which required organization and infrastructure, the new brand of Islamic terror only needs one thing… Muslims.

    […]There is no way that the FBI or other law enforcement agencies could begin to monitor even a fraction of the Islamic settler population sympathetic to terror. The FBI alone has almost 1,000 active ISIS cases it was investigating last year in all 50 states. It does not have nearly the resources it needs to handle them.

    […]The source of the problem is Islamic immigration. That is the only possible solution. The only way to reduce the growth of the lone wolf Islamic terrorism problem is to reduce or end Muslim migration.

    […]Before the Boston Marathon bombing, the Tsarnaevs did not seem like Jihadists. They would have been classed with the general category of “moderate” Muslims. And then they struck.

    That is how it is.

    […]The enemy is right here. He speaks our language. He walks down our streets. He looks at us with hate in his Halal heart and he plots to kill us.

    He may pledge allegiance to ISIS or Al Qaeda, but he is part of the larger organization of Islam. It is this organization, more than any of its Jihadist factional subdivisions, that represents the true threat.

    […]

    on this page :

    http://sultanknish.blogspot.ca/2017/01/stop-muslim-terror-by-stopping-muslim.html

  25. reuters – Canada to offer temporary residency to travelers stranded by U.S

    Canada will offer temporary residency to any travelers stranded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s orders temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries, a senior official said on Sunday.

    Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen told a news conference he did not know how many people might be eligible but said only a small number of passengers trying to fly to the United States from Canada had been denied boarding.

    Trump’s abrupt decision on Friday, which also affects refugees, left people around the world uncertain of whether they would be allowed to enter the United States.

    “Let me assure those who may be stranded in Canada that I will use my authority as minister to provide them with temporary residency if they need it, as we have done so in the past,” Hussen said.

    The government of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far refrained from criticizing the United States, which takes 75 percent of all Canadian exports, preferring instead to stress Canada is open to refugees.

    The Canadian Council for Refugees called on Ottawa to pull put of its so-called Safe Third Country agreement with the United States, under which Canada returns asylum seekers crossing the U.S. border.

    Such a move would be diplomatically insulting and Hussen said the pact would remain unchanged for now.

    Local and national politicians in Canada have already condemned Trump’s ban. On Sunday, the opposition New Democrats called for an emergency debate in the federal Parliament.

    Earlier in the day, more than 200 Canadian technology company founders, executives and investors called on Ottawa to immediately give temporary residency to those displaced by Trump’s order.

    “Canadian tech companies understand the power of inclusion and diversity of thought, and that talent and skill know no borders,” the letter said.

    Canada is eager to attract skilled tech workers from abroad while also retaining employees and students who are often lured away by global companies. More than 300,000 Canadians work in California’s Silicon Valley.

    Bob Vaez, the Iranian-born chief executive of tech firm Event Mobi, on Sunday canceled plans to accept an industry award in Las Vegas.

    Trump’s move could push many event organizers to seek alternative locations for their events, he said.

    “Are they going to keep their conferences in the U.S., knowing that so many people are going to be barred?” he said.

    In November, Canada introduced new visa measures that would allow tech companies to quickly recruit foreign talent.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-immigration-canada-idUSKBN15D16A

    Ahmed Hussen, minister of immigration, provides an update on U S immigration ban’s effect on Canadians

  26. the gateway pundit –
    Loud Arab Call To Prayer Inside Dallas Fort Worth Airport While Muslims Pray, Chant ‘Allah’

    This is not a protest. This is how Muslims show their dominance in a country that they are seeking to takeover. Would any Islamic country allow Christians or Jews to gather in an airport and demonstrate like this?

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/01/loud-arab-call-prayer-inside-dallas-fort-worth-airport-muslims-pray-chant-allah-video/

  27. the gateway pundit –

    GOOD NEWS! Priebus Says Current Refugee Ban May Not Go Far Enough – ‘PERHAPS’ MORE COUNTRIES MIGHT BE ADDED

    Despite facing public backlash and legal challenges, the Trump administration appears to be doubling down on its recent immigration ban. The president’s top advisors are now floating the idea that it doesn’t go far enough and and say the administration is considering expanding the ban to include more countries.

    White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told NBC reporter Chuck Todd on Sunday that the ban could be expanded in the future to include countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Egypt.

    Reince Preibus: “We are concerned about the issue, Chuck, and that’s why we put the seven countries initially into the executive order that were identified previously by Congress, by both the House and the Senate and the Obama administration as being the seven most watched countries in regard to harboring terrorists. But you bring up a good point. Perhaps other countries needed to be added to an executive order going forward.”

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/01/good-news-priebus-says-current-refugee-ban-may-not-go-far-enough-perhaps-countries-might-added-video/

  28. This is good news too:
    Saudi king agrees in call with Trump to support Syria, Yemen safe zones: White House

    Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, in a phone call on Sunday with U.S. President Donald Trump, agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, a White House statement said.

    Trump, during his presidential campaign last year, had called for Gulf states to pay for establishing safe zones to protect Syrian refugees.

    A statement after the phone call said the two leaders agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of Islamic State militants.

    “The president requested and the King agreed to support safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the statement said.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-saudi-idUSKBN15D14L?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29