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Coulter: Trump’s delivery may change, but not his message
Dem suggests Hitler could’ve written Trump’s speech
Democrats were seen sitting on their hands, hissing at Trump, booing mention of victims of criminal illegal immigrants. How out of touch are Dems? Tucker takes on Dem commentator Eric Guster
EU lawmakers vote to strip Le Pen of immunity for tweeting pictures of ISIS violence
euronews -Marine Le Pen stripped of EU parliamentary immunity
BREITBART – War on Comments: Google Built an A.I To Censor The Web, And The Media Is Celebrating
“What if technology could help improve conversations online?”
That’s the lowkey Orwellian message that greets visitors to the website of Perspective, Google’s new AI system for detecting (and potentially deleting, hiding, or burying) “toxic” comments on the web.
Perspective is still in early days of development, but in the future, you may have to adjust your speech in order to satisfy the lofty standards of Google. Otherwise, the company’s faceless AI might just have to “improve” you. Where’s Sarah Connor when you need her?
The good news is that, for now at least, Perspective is about as effective as C-3PO with a lisp. Software engineer and columnist David Auerbach has found the program woefully inept at sorting “toxic” comments from ordinary ones. Because the AI currently focuses on words rather than meanings, inoffensive comments like, “Rape is a horrible crime,” or, “few Muslims are a terrorist threat,” were assigned “toxicity” ratings of over 75 percent.
Of course, even if Perspective could successfully sort “toxic” comments from innocuous ones, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be deleted or buried. According to the project’s homepage, the system performs no function other than detection.
But statements from the project’s developers make it clear that censorship is the end goal. Indeed, the system seems to have been developed to augment the left’s ongoing war on comments sections. The software was initially made available just to organizations that are part of Google’s Digital News Initiative, including the BBC, The Financial Times, and The Guardian, which promptly began testing the software to moderate their comments sections.
“News organizations want to encourage engagement and discussion around their content, but find that sorting through millions of comments to find those that are trolling or abusive takes a lot of money, labour and time,” says Jared Cohen, president of Jigsaw, the Google social incubator that built the tool. “As a result, many sites have shut down comments altogether. But they tell us that isn’t the solution they want.”
Google couldn’t be clearer: it’s a censorship bot. And just because it’s currently limited to news sites and comments sections doesn’t mean it won’t be rolled out to social networks and the rest of the web. Twitter, which just introduced yet another system to punish users who hurt celebrities’ feelings, would probably love to get their hands on a working version of Perspective.
Twitter already has a tremendous depth of data on its users, including gender, location, and personal interests. Imagine that data, combined with an AI tool designed to pinpoint inconvenient content, in the hands of a CEO who has done little to conceal his political biases.
The idea of an all-powerful Google robot watching over us all, making sure our speech is “improved,” has greatly excited mainstream media. Google, says the BBC, is going to “make talk less toxic.” According to WIRED, Perspective will put a stop to “abusive comments that silence vulnerable voices.” New York magazine portrays Perspsective as a friendly a robot, “a kind of Clippy for the comments section.” Our robot overlords are certainly getting a warm welcome
The left are likely to be disappointed though. If Auerbach’s early research on Perspective is any guide, the system is designed to filter out impoliteness, not political disagreement. Google’s censorbot might turn the comments section – and perhaps the web – into a grey, sanitized dystopia scrubbed of strong emotions and trollish humor, but it won’t get rid of facts.
In other words, myths about gender wage gaps, police racism, and “moderate” Islam are still going to get debunked. Even Skynet can’t keep some things quiet.
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/03/01/google-build-censor-net-leftists-celebrating/
Turkey angry after Erdogan is told he can’t campaign in Austria (thelocal, Mar 1, 2017)
http://www.thelocal.at/20170301/turkey-angry-after-erdogan-is-told-he-cant-campaign-in-austria
“Turkey has slammed Austria’s “double standard” and “irresponsible” approach to potential campaigning by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the EU member state ahead of April’s referendum.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said Erdogan is “not welcome” to hold campaign events, adding that it would “increase friction” in Austria and prevent the integration of a 360,000-strong minority of Turkish origin.
“We do not accept those irresponsible comments that exceed their limits and the distorted mentality,” Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Huseyin Muftuoglu said in a statement late on Monday.
Kurz’s comments are a “new example of a biased and double standard approach”, he added…”
Turkey accuses PACE of ‘being taken hostage’ by people with ‘anti-Turkish agenda’ (hurriyetdaiylnews, Mar 1, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-accuses-pace-of-being-taken-hostage-by-people-with-anti-turkish-agenda.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110319&NewsCatID=510
“Turkish Parliament Deputy Speaker Ahmet Ayd?n on March 1 accused the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) of “almost being taken hostage” by people with “anti-Turkish agenda.”
Ayd?n said Turkey was being singled out for unfair criticism.
“We believe it is not with good intentions to ask that Turkey should be discussed as a hot topic and work on reports regarding the functioning of [the country’s] democratic institutions,” he said.
His remarks came as he received PACE rapporteur Jordi Xucla in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Turkey is in close contact with the council and pays attention to its reports, Ayd?n said.
In the meeting, however, he said Turkey had received “severe criticism based on groundless claims.”…”
Islamic State members hide among public in K-P (tribune, Feb 2, 2017)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1343408/small-trade-front-daish-members-hide-among-public-k-p/
“Members of the Islamic State or Da’ish hide among the general population, using small businesses as a cover, a police official told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.
Their approach differs from the now banned Taliban, whose members used to openly establish camps in parts of Fata and even in K-P’s settled areas, according to the official.
There is ample evidence indicating that members of Da’ish have been operating in Peshawar for the past 18 months, actively preaching their point of view and trying to lure fresh recruits from various TTP factions…”
Orlando nightclub attack: Gunman’s wife released on bail in ‘extraordinarily rare’ ruling (express, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/773931/Orlando-nightclub-gunman-Omar-Mateen-wife-Noor-Salman-released-bail-terror-California-Ryu
“THE wife of the Islamic State fanatic Omar Mateen who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida has been freed on bail, before her trial.
Noor Salman, the widow of the terrorist has been accused of obstructing justice and aiding and abetting her husband’s material support to the Islamic State.
Although Oakland-based Judge Donna Ryu said the government’s evidence was “debatable”, she insisted that Salman is not a flight risk or a danger to public safety, according to the BBC…”
University EVACUATED after sick bomb threats are made against Muslim students (express, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/773954/concordia-university-montreal-evacuated-bomb-threat-muslim-students-canada
“A UNIVERSITY has been forced to evacuate after receiving chilling letters threatening to bomb Muslim students.
Officials at Concordia University in Montreal received letters from a group calling itself the ‘Council of conservative citizens of Canada’ (C4), threatening to detonate “small artisanal amateur explosive devices” unless “Muslim activities” were banned.
Three university facilities – the Hall Building, the EV Building and the GM Building – were evacuated following the threat, although a sweep of the campus found no devices.
The letter cited Trump’s election and claimed: “Things have changed.”
The C4 group criticised Muslim men and claimed they were repeatedly “walking between their prayer space and the men’s room on the 7th floor of the H building in FLIP-FLOPS with bare wet feet while we try to study or eat lunch.”
They allege that some Muslim students had been seen using public bathrooms to “wash their feet in the bathroom sink”.
The group then threatened to detonate explosive devices in campus areas “where Muslims hang out” in order to “injure some Muslims”.
Some campus facilities remained closed until 6pm while police squads searched the area for bombs.
In a statement Concordia president Alan Shepard condemned the threat as a “hateful and violent expression of intolerance”.
The statement continued: “There is no room for such threats in our society, Concordia is a university that embraces diversity as a key element of who we are…”
Do they verify that this organization actually exists and actually sent the message before announcing this? It would be a most effective propoganda invention as well.
sick bomb threats
Another slam against genuine sick people. Mental illness is horrible enough for those afflicted and their families. Why should they be thrown under the Tard bus?
Can we do something to raise awareness of this trend?
https://vladtepesblog.com/2017/02/25/this-may-be-the-moment-a-police-officer-shoots-at-the-mental-patient-who-ran-people-over-and-stabbed-others/comment-page-1/#comment-348668
This is real. It’s wrong.
https://vladtepesblog.com/2016/08/30/two-articles-from-french-news-about-a-jihad-attack-on-a-french-police-station-already-pushed-off-the-front-pages-of-french-news/comment-page-1/#comment-320585
Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist ‘son-in-law OBLITERATED by US HELLFIRE missile strike’ (express, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/773920/Donald-Trump-Osama-Bin-Laden-Syria-Al-Qaida-US-drone-strike-Iran-Yemen-9-11
“AL-QAIDA “royalty” has been wiped out in a hellfire missile strike as US forces hit terrorists travelling in Syria, according to reports.
The jihadi leader, Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, is said to have been killed on Sunday night while he was riding in a car near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib.
Masri, an explosives expert, had been part of the terror group for three decades and married Osama Bin Laden’s daughter.
Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert on Islamic groups, said: “His death is no less significant than that of Bin Laden.
“He was the ideological leader of the group in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and the number two in the organisation overall.”…”
Two British medics who joined IS killed in Iraq (alaraby, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/3/2/two-british-medics-who-joined-is-killed-in-iraq
“Two British medics who abandoned studies in Sudan to join the Islamic State militant group with other students have been killed in fighting in Iraq, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
Ahmed Sami Khider and Hisham Fadlallah died at the weekend, the BBC said, with Khider believed to have been killed in a convoy trying to leave Mosul, which US-backed Iraqi forces are trying to retake from IS militants.
It is unclear if Fadlallah was killed in the same incident.
The two men had been part of a group of nine mainly British-Sudanese medical students from Khartoum’s University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) who had joined IS in 2015.
Five other Britons from the institution joined them soon afterwards and at least four had now been killed.
According to the BBC, a British graduate was at the heart of the recruitment drive…”
Merkel heads to Egypt, Tunisia to reduce migrant flows (france24, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.france24.com/en/20170302-merkel-heads-egypt-tunisia-reduce-migrant-flows
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel starts a two-day trip to Egypt and Tunisia on Thursday, part of her push to limit migrant flows to Europe through North Africa, especially chaos-torn Libya…”
Sweden set to reintroduce conscription – broadcaster SR (reuters, Mar 2, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sweden-military-idUKKBN1690N7?rpc=401&
“Sweden’s centre-left government will decide on Thursday to reintroduce military conscription next year, amid lingering difficulties filling the ranks on a voluntary basis and a more uncertain security situation, public broadcaster SR reported.
The Nordic country mothballed compulsory military service in 2010, but military activity in the Baltic region has increased since, in the wake of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, prompting Sweden to step up military preparedness.
The decision to reintroduce the draft, following recommendations by an official investigation, will cover both men and women born in 1999 or later, though only a minority will be selected to serve.
“We have had trouble staffing the military units on a voluntary basis and that needs to be addressed somehow,” Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told public service radio SR.
“Therefore it is necessary to reintroduce conscription.”…”
It also gives them more people to use against the Islamic invasion if the politicians ever decide to protect the native Swedes.
Debating in whispers: opposition fearful ahead of Turkish referendum (theguardian, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/02/debating-in-whispers-opposition-fearful-ahead-of-turkish-referendum
“Turkish opposition officials have warned of a campaign of harassment and intimidation by the government in the run-up to next month’s referendum on a presidential system that would grant sweeping powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an.
A wave of arrests of opposition lawmakers, activists and journalists, and the closure of media outlets, have left a predominantly government-friendly press moderating the debate on the vote. .
Analysis UK’s £100m weapons deal with Turkey ‘turns blind eye to rights abuse’
Arms sale in the spotlight as government faces judicial review in the high court
Read more
Opposition figures have also highlighted the divisive rhetoric of the ruling AK party, whose officials have conflated opposition to the constitutional package with support for terror groups like Islamic State. The vote will be held under the state of emergency imposed after a failed coup attempt last July.
“In democracies people can pick and choose what they want,” said Bar?? Yarkada?, a politician in the opposition People’s Republican Party (CHP), which is backing a no vote. “Now, the citizens’ right to pick and choose is being hijacked because the citizens can only hear one voice, and that is ‘yes’.”…”
Communists, the Democrat Party and Snopes
Meet ‘Silent Hunter’ – China’s New ‘Armored Vehicle Slicing’ Laser Gun
While politicians are more than willing to rattle their economic sabres at China, we suspect, after China flaunted a range of high-tech weaponry at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference in Dubai, we suspect Washington will slow its roll a little with any kinetic warmongery…
Let’s start with lasers, says Popular Science’s Jeffrey Lin and P.W.Singer…
Poly Technologies showed off The Silent Hunter, one of the world’s most powerful laser weapons. It claims an output of at least 50-70 kilowatts, which would make it more powerful than the 33-kilowatt laser weapon systems (LaWS) currently deployed on the USS Ponce. The laser is probably based on a smaller anti-drone laser, the Low Altitude Guard. That’s enough to knock out automobiles by burning out their engines from over a mile away, as the 30-kilowatt Lockheed Martin ATHENA laser demonstrated in 2015. The Silent Hunter uses fibre optic lasers (fibre optics doped with rare earth minerals), which provide weight savings over chemical lasers through increasing optical gain by kilometers of coiled fibre optics (as opposed to bulky chemical lasers). The Silent Hunter is likely to be scaled up and equipped with radars to complement its optical/infrared tracking system, making it a capable close range defense system against enemy missiles, artillery, drones and aircraft.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-01/meet-silent-hunter-chinas-new-armored-vehicle-slicing-laser-gun
EXCLUSIVE: Barack Obama’s close confidante Valerie Jarrett has moved into his new DC home, which is now the nerve center for their plan to mastermind the insurgency against President Trump
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4271412/Obama-confidante-Valerie-Jarrett-moves-Kaloroma-home.html#ixzz4aB1ZWtXS
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Barack Obama is turning his new home in the posh Kalorama section of the nation’s capital – just two miles away from the White House – into the nerve center of the mounting insurgency against his successor, President Donald J. Trump.
Obama’s goal, according to a close family friend, is to oust Trump from the presidency either by forcing his resignation or through his impeachment.
And Obama is being aided in his political crusade by his longtime consigliere, Valerie Jarrett, who has moved into the 8,200-square-foot, $5.3-million Kaloroma mansion with the former president and Michelle Obama, long time best friends.
Jarrett played a vital – if at times low-key – role in the Obama presidency. She lived in the White House, dined with the Obamas, and help shape his domestic and foreign policies.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4271412/Obama-confidante-Valerie-Jarrett-moves-Kaloroma-home.html#ixzz4aB1tUTKs
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
U.S.-allied militia agrees to hand villages to Syrian govt
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A U.S.-allied militia in northern Syria said on Thursday it would hand over villages on a front line where it has been fighting Turkish-backed rebels to Syrian government control, under an agreement with Russia.
The villages will be surrendered to the Syrian government in the coming days, an official in the Manbij Military Council told Reuters. An earlier statement by the council said the villages would be handed to Syrian border guards.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara the report was false, but added there was an agreement with Russia that Syrian government and opposition forces should not fight each other in that area.
The villages west of the city of Manbij have been a focus of fighting between the Turkish-backed rebels and the Manbij Military Council, the U.S.-allied militia, since Wednesday.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said this week Manbij was the next target of Ankara’s campaign in northern Syria following the capture of nearby al-Bab from Islamic State last week.
http://www.oann.com/u-s-allied-militia-says-to-hand-over-villages-to-syrian-govt/
‘Groupthink?’ 80% of Britain’s university lecturers are left-wing, says think tank (RT, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.rt.com/uk/379200-universities-censorship-left-academics/
“Universities in the UK are at risk of developing a “dysfunctional atmosphere” and of practicing censorship because scholarship is dominated by lecturers with left-wing views, according to a new report by one of the world’s leading think tanks.
In its report, ‘Lackademia: Why do academics lean Left?’ the Adam Smith Institute warns the “overrepresentation” of left-wing views in academia could lead to a “groupthink.”
It called on universities to pursue “ideological diversity.”
“Social settings characterised by too little diversity of viewpoints are liable to become afflicted by groupthink, a dysfunctional atmosphere where key assumptions go unquestioned, dissenting opinions are neutralized, and favoured beliefs are held as sacrosanct,” the report says.
It claims right-wing academics only make up 12 percent of lecturers at British universities, in stark contrast with the wider population, half of which support conservative views.
Seeking to explain the “skew” towards leftist views, the report says it has nothing to do with intelligence but rather people’s “openness to experiences.” Those who score highly in this personality trait tend to pursue a career in academia.
While potentially curbing free speech, the think tank warns that “ideological homogeneity” in higher education may lead to bias in scholarships, as well as a lack of funding from the ruling Conservative government.
The report recommends collaborations between opposing parties and efforts to raise awareness of potential double standards in order to limit the impact of overwhelming liberal views in universities.
It also says the number of conservative academics may have declined by as much as 25 percent in the last 50 years…”
Kenya Defense Forces Kill Over 55 Al-Shabab Militants in Somalia (sputniknews, Mar 2, 2017)
https://sputniknews.com/africa/201703021051202350-kenya-somalia-al-shabab/
“57 al-Shabab militants were killed and unknown number injured by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), operating within the framework of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), according to the KDF’s spokesman…”
SPAIN – CEUTA – Moroccan ‘Mule Women’
Along Morocco’s border with a Spanish enclave, these women shoulder twice their weight ‘to earn a morsel of bread’
May 14 2015
The North African enclave of Ceuta is a little piece of the European Union just an hour by boat from mainland Europe. Its land border with Morocco is the gateway for a brisk trade. Commercial goods delivered to the Spanish port are sold in Moroccan souks, just beyond the high dividing fence.
It’s on this border that Moroccan women line up in the middle of the night for the chance to earn $5 a day carrying huge, heavy packages of goods across the border from Spain to Morocco.
These women — known in Spanish as porteadoras, or in French as femme mulets, “mule women” — do not pay any official customs fee or tax at the border. Thanks to a legal loophole tolerated by both the Spanish and Moroccan governments, the goods they carry, which could include anything from Red Bull to cheap diapers, are considered “personal luggage” and are therefore untaxed.
The profits on both sides of the border are high. The American Chamber of Commerce in Morocco estimates that this irregular trade represents a third of the economic activity of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The trade also directly supports tens of thousands of Moroccans in the surrounding areas.
Aicha Al Azzouzi has been coming to the border to work on and off for 20 years. Along with hundreds of other Moroccan women, she crosses into the Spanish city as early as possible to secure a spot in line. Many women actually arrive the night before, and sleep in the road outside the warehouses on pieces of cardboard. Al Azzouzi says that more and more women have been coming to work at the border, escalating the competition between them.
Spanish border guards oversee the women’s work. Both parties share at least one concern: holding an orderly line. When commotion breaks out among the women, the guards intervene. Many women, including Al Azzouzi, point to places on their bodies where guards have hit them.
“It’s humiliating; they are treated like mules,” says Mohamad Chtatou, who researches women and economic development in Morocco’s capital, Rabat. “They are not humans. They are used for their muscles.”
Women who make it to the front of the line strap huge bundles wrapped in plastic, weighing anywhere from 100-200 pounds, across their shoulders. Bent over at their waists, they hobble through a narrow chain-link fence, often carrying additional packages in their arms. It’s a half-mile walk through the border crossing to the Moroccan side.
more :
https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-05-14/along-morocco-s-border-spanish-enclave-these-women-shoulder-twice-their-weight
=========================================
While the trade mafias makes millions of Euros yearly on both sides of the border, with little effort and pain, these women have to toil under the burden of huge bales they have to transport from the two Spanish enclaves to Moroccan territory, on a daily basis for a meager pay of 50 dh (the equivalent of 5 Euros).
The “mule women” of the border towns do not have a guaranteed fixed salary, and, therefore, no health insurance. In doing this work, sometimes there are stampedes at the border gates and some of these women fall and break limbs, in the process. They are immediately replaced by more able women and left to suffer in total indifference by their employers.
Conspiracy of silence and common interest
The shameful exploitation of these poor women has been going on for years and there seems to be a tacit agreement between Morocco, Spain and the European Union to perpetuate this trade of shame and modern economic slavery of poor Moroccan women.
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/04/183428/moroccan-mule-womens-suffering-continues-unabated/
Las porteadoras
zero hedge – “The Attorney General Must Resign”: Pelosi, Top Democrats Calls For Sessions’ Immediate Termination
It took minutes, not hours, for top congressional Democrats to call on Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign on Wednesday evening after the WaPo reported that he had allegedly met with the Russian ambassador in the months before the election, meetings that Sessions did not disclose during his confirmation hearings.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led the effort late on Wednesday night, accusing Sessions of “lying under oath” during confirmation proceedings about his contacts with the Russians.
“Jeff Sessions lied under oath during his confirmation hearing before the Senate. Under penalty of perjury, he told the Senate Judiciary Committee, ‘I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.’ We now know that statement is false,” Pelosi said in a statement. She then added that “The Attorney General must resign. There must be an independent, bipartisan, outside commission to investigate the Trump political, personal and financial connections to the Russians.”
[…]Responding to the WaPo report, in a statement issued early on Thursday morning, Sessions said, “I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-02/attorney-general-must-resign-pelosi-top-democrats-calls-sessions-immediate-terminati
zero hedge –Schumer: “For The Good Of The Country, Sessions Should Resign”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer joined many of his top Democrat Congressional peers including Nancy Pelosi, Elijah Cummins and Elizabeth Warren, in calling for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign and be investigated by the DOJ’s inspector general to determine whether he compromised an investigation into Russian influence.
“It would be better for the country if he resigned,” Schumer told reporters. “You have to be above reproach,” he added.
According to sources close to the President’s inner circle and to Sessions are very defensive and believe the “opposition party” media is elevating mundane interactions. Despite the growing clamor from Democrats, there’s about a zero percent chance President Trump will fire Sessions or that the House will impeach him — the only ways he could leave.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-02/schumer-good-country-sessions-should-resign
BREITBART – Fake News: Media, Democrats Distort Remarks to Target Jeff Sessions
Democrats and the media are once again targeting Attorney General Jeff Sessions — this time, over allegations that he met twice with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Washington Post reports that Sessions met Sergey Kislyak once at a Heritage Foundation event in July 2016, where other ambassadors were also present. It also reports that Sessions met with Kislyak in his Senate office in September, in his capacity on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The hook on which the Post attempts to hang Sessions is that he did not disclose the meetings to the Senate when he was asked about “possible contacts between members of President Trump’s campaign and representatives of Moscow.” Sessions’s spokesperson at the Department of Justice, Sarah Isgur Flores, says his answer in January was truthful because he was asked about “the Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.”
The Post does not provide the full transcript of the question, from Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), and Sessions’s answer. Instead it summarizes the exchange in a way that makes it seem that Sessions was asked if there was any contact at all between the campaign and representatives of the Russian government.
In fact, what Sessions was asked about was sustained, ongoing communications — a core accusation in the dubious “dossier.”
Here, via C-SPAN, is the transcript:
Franken: CNN just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week, that included information that “Russian operatives claim to have compromising personal and financial information about Mr. Trump.” These documents also allegedly say “there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.” Again, I’m telling you this as it’s coming out, so you know. But if it’s true, it’s obviously extremely serious, and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of this campaign, what will you do?
Sessions: Senator Franken, I’m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.
Franken: Very well.
Note that Sessions was not actually asked whether he or anyone affiliated with the campaign had any kind of communication with the Russians, ever. He was asked, first, about “a continuing exchange of information” — repeated contacts between the campaign and representatives of the Russian government.
In the full context of Franken’s remarks, it is clear that Sessions was asked about the allegations in the dossier, and he denied such “communications” to the extent of his ability to do so.
In another, written question, the Post notes that Sessions was asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) whether he had “been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the Russian government about the 2016 election, either before or after election day” (emphasis added). Sessions answered, simply, “no.” And there is no evidence in the Post nor elsewhere to cast doubt on that claim.
The New York Times covers the story and adds an interesting wrinkle — namely, that Obama administration officials did whatever they could to distribute information within the government about alleged contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intermediaries. (The Times calls this an attempt to “preserve” evidence, which would have been a departure from the Obama administration’s more typical practice of hiding evidence on personal email accounts and hidden email servers.)
That suggests a coordinated hit job, including espionage against the Russian ambassador, and possibly against members of the Trump campaign, even in their unrelated activities.
Regardless, as Flores noted to the Post, Sessions had meetings with “more than 25” ambassadors. The Post lists several of those, but leaves out one crucial country: Ukraine, whose emissary Sessions met the day before meeting with Kislyak. If Sessions was trying to back the Russians, that was an odd way to do it.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is calling on Sessions to resign, and the Democratic National Committee is already out with a list-building email, sent Wednesday evening: “BREAKING: Jeff Sessions may have perjured himself.”
But it is all just more “fake news.” A chance greeting at a public event, and a Senate meeting in the course of his official duties, do not add up to anything, and the full transcript — also omitted by the Times — makes it clear Sessions told the truth.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/01/jeff-sessions-fake-news-washington-post-misquote-used-target/
euronews – US Attorney General Jeff Sessions facing calls to quit over Russian contact allegations
PBS -House Minority Leader Pelosi addresses Sessions role in Russia probe
( 20 min 34 )
PBS – Minority leader Schumer addresses Sessions’ role in Russia inquiry
( 16 min 12 )
BBC – Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions under fire over Russia meetings –
Judge Napolitano breaks down the Sessions-Russia allegations
CNN – Graham, McCain want answers on Sessions-Russia report
Demonstration against Sessions takes place in Washington
BREITBART – Right On Cue, Soros-Financed MoveOn.Org Holds DC Protest Demanding Sessions’ Resignation
Right on cue, the George Soros-financed MoveOn.org progressive activist group on Thursday organized a protest outside the U.S. Department of Justice building calling for the resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The protest was organized fairly quickly. It was held mere hours after reports surfaced that Sessions held two conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. while he was Alabama’s senator and served on the Armed Services Committee. Sessions maintains that the conversations did not concern the 2016 presidential campaign. He served as an informal advisor to Trump during the presidential race.
Mother Jones reported the crowd at the MoveOn.org protest was about 100. ABC’s Local affiliate in Washington, DC reported “hundreds” attended.
Among the speakers was Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-TX), who proclaimed, “False testimony counters any right you have to remain Attorney General of the United States of America.”
The industrious MoveOn.org also organized an online petition titled, “Sessions must go; special prosecutor must be appointed now.”
The petition, already signed by 158,000 people, states:
The only way for Americans to be able to trust that our government can act with integrity — to know that our top leaders aren’t compromised by a foreign power, and to trust that the nation’s top cop follows the law that he is duty-bound to enforce — is for Attorney General Sessions to resign his post immediately and for his successor to appoint a special prosecutor to begin a comprehensive investigation of Donald Trump, his campaign, and his administration.
Today’s anti-Sessions protest marks the latest attempt by Soros-linked groups to impede Trump administration policies or target top administration officials.
Earlier this week, Breitbart News reported two Soros-financed groups distributed an actual script with anti-Trump talking points for citizens to use when meeting with constituents in town halls, including during last week’s Congressional recess.
One of those groups, the National Immigration Law Center, was party to a lawsuit last month with three other Soros-financed organizations that temporarily blocked Trump’s original executive order.
A coalition of activist groups is planning to hold a massive anti-Trump Tax March in Washington and at least 60 other locations on April 15. Breitbart News reported last month that most of the listed partners and support organizers of the scheduled march are openly financed by Soros or have close links to Soros financing.
Leaders from January’s Women’s March coalition are reportedly helping to organize the Tax March, which USA Today described as a “sequel” to the massive women’s march.
Soros reportedly has ties to more than 50 “partners” of that march. Also, this journalist first reported on the march leaders’ close associations with Soros.
On Thursday, Sessions announced that he will recuse himself from current or future probes into any alleged Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“I never had meetings with Russian operatives or Russian intermediaries about the Trump campaign,” Sessions said at a press conference on Thursday.
“My reply to the question of Senator Franken was honest and correct as I understood it at the time,” he said. “I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct.”
According to reports, Sessions met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a Heritage Foundation event in July 2016 in the presence of other ambassadors. He reportedly held a meeting with Kislyak in his Senate office in September[…]
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/02/right-cue-soros-financed-moveon-org-holds-protest-demanding-sessions-resignation/
BREITBART – Belgian Police: Moroccan Migrant Raped up to 230 Women Since 2015
A serial rapist from Morocco — who also robbed and drugged his victims — could have assaulted as many as 230 people since 2015, Belgian investigators say.
The revelation about the 36-year-old migrant, who La Dernière Heure reports has been in prison for the last five months serving time for crimes including rape, assault, embezzlement, theft, and breach of trust, was made by Belgian police last week.
As the count of known victims of the Moroccan rose from 19 to 22, police disclosed the man known to the press as Fouad K. had contact with 230 women in 11 months based on his mobile phone records. The rapist used internet profiles to lure women to meet up with him, and investigators are appealing for other victims to come forward.
On the dating sites Badoo and Twoo, Fouad K. presented himself as an Italian going by the names of Raf, Rafke, Rafaello, Roberto, and Raphael Bastiaans. Using a picture of a cyclist to ensnare women, the Moroccan claimed to be an IT technician working at Telenet, Belgium’s largest provider of cable broadband services.
But on Redlights, a ‘sexual services’ website where escorts advertise, the Moroccan went by the name of “Mark Gigolo”, and wrote in his profile: “You’re bored, your husband is often away, you’re separated, you’re looking for affection, sign me and we’ll have a good time together.”
Fouad K. arranged to meet his victims at their homes or in car parking lots, where he would offer a drink which police say contained — unbeknownst to its imbibers — “a powerful sedative and an ecstasy, a very dangerous combination that can be fatal”.
After ingesting the ‘liquid ecstasy’ laced concoction, which the Moroccan typically mixed with fruit juice or limoncello, the women lost consciousness.
“He knew that the [drug] was effective for two to three hours. If the woman woke up earlier, he did not hesitate to knock her out. But that was rarely the case. He was usually long gone [by the time victims had woken up], but not without stealing cash, bank cards, smartphones, etc.,” said La Dernière Heure.
The Belgian newspaper also reported the Moroccan, whose real day job was as a delivery man, got married in 2014 but noted his wife had no idea of her husband’s criminal activities.
Described by those who know her as a “shy” woman who believed she had found a partner for life in Fouad K., La Dernière Heure says the pair have now separated but remain ‘friends’ on Facebook.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/03/02/belgian-police-moroccan-raped-230-women/
Macron vows to protect France from terror but WON’T strip convicted jihadis of passports (express, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/774210/emmanuel-macron-french-presidential-election-passports-nationality-jihadi-terrorists
“EMMANUEL Macron has vowed to protect France from terrorism but is not willing to strip convicted jihadis of their citizenship.
The French presidential hopeful said he would not strip convicted terrorists with dual nationality of their French passports if voted into power.
The centrist candidate unveiled his manifesto for the presidency on Thursday, with weeks before the first round of voting in April.
He said: “I would not strip citizens convicted of terrorist offences of their French nationality.
“Doing so would not help combat the terrorist threat and would divide the country.”
The head of the political movement En Marche!, or Forward!, made the comments during an interview with French daily Le Parisien.
Mr Macron added that he would “not impose a string of tighter security measures” because the outgoing Socialist government had “already taken all the necessary measures to protect France from terrorism,” before adding that he would “let counter-terrorism officials decide whether the state of emergency should be lifted or maintained”….”
Jailed ISIS fighters open up about war with the West
Journalist: How I survived kidnapping, torture in Syria
Despite Dutch ‘no’ on treaty, EU moves forward with Ukrainian visa-free travel
Posted on March 2, 2017 17:00
By Vincent van den Born
On the 28th of February, the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) informed the public that it wants Ukrainians to be able to travel to and in the EU without a visa. Under an “informal deal” struck by the European Parliament (EP) and Council negotiators, Ukrainian citizens should be able to enter the EU for up to 90 days in an 180-day-period, provided they have biometric passports.
Before granting the visa waiver, the visa waiver suspension mechanism, which allows visa to be reintroduced more easily in exceptional cases, had to be revised.:
Although the press statement says that the deal will have to be endorsed by LIBE itself, and the EP as a whole, before being formally approved by the Council of Ministers, it is hard to see how the “informal deal” will be torpedoed by such formalities. According to the EP’s rapporteur, Mariya Gabriel (EPP, BG),
It is as yet unclear, what is in it for EU citizens.
https://gatestone.eu/ukraine-visa-free/
Migrant stands trial for raping 16-year-old German girl and multiple sexual assaults
Posted on March 2, 2017 13:00
By David Frankenhuis
A 26-year-old asylum seeker will have to appear in a German court next Monday for the brutal rape of a teenage girl in the municipality of Mering, in the south of Germany. The suspect, who probably holds the Tunisian nationality, is also being tried in connexion with two attempted rapes.
On 12 September 2015, the refugee attacked the 16-year-old girl from behind in a parking lot near a railway station. The terrified victim was dragged to the shrubbery where the man then abused and raped her. His violent acts had created “an atmosphere of fear in Mering”, the mayor had previously stated.
In May 2016, the asylum seeker assaulted a 17-year-old girl on a bike path in Forchheim, a town in Upper Franconia. He dragged the victim to the ground and tried raping her, but she resisted. When the teenager attempted to run away, the émigré grabbed and choked her. The screams of the girl alerted a passer-by who then came to the rescue. Soon after, the rapist was caught by police.
https://gatestone.eu/rape-trial-tunis/
Soros’s Smear Scripts
Welcome to the vast, mega-financed leftist astroturf campaign against President Trump.
March 2, 2017
Matthew Vadum
A radical group linked to rogue billionaire George Soros has been providing scripts containing anti-Trump talking points for constituents to read aloud during congressional town hall meetings.
One of the scripts distributed by the Revolutionary Love Project encourages town hall participants meeting with their member of Congress to accuse the Trump administration of – wait for it – “xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia.” Constituents are urged to use those precise words to “forcefully condemn” President Trump’s immigration and border security initiatives, Aaron Klein reports at Breitbart News.
Information about the scripts came as leaked audio from anti-Trump activists associated with the group Indivisible surfaced. Their target was a town hall hosted by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.). They planned to deploy an “inside team” to occupy as many seats as possible and an “outside team” to “give [the media] the coverage they want.” Activists were urged to “dress like conservatives” and avoid “any signifier that you’re a liberal” so they could dominate the meeting.
“Game plan number one is to fill as many seats as we can, right? If it’s all of us in there and the poor people of Breaux Bridge are sitting behind us, well then tough luck for them,” James Proctor of Indivisible reportedly said.
“If we can arrange it so he doesn’t hear one sympathetic question–great. That only magnifies our impact,” he added.
This is a standard, old-time organizing technique used by followers of Rules for Radicals author Saul Alinsky.
It has another name in politics: astroturfing.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265980/soross-smear-scripts-matthew-vadum
New DNC Deputy Keith Ellison’s Islamic Agenda for Congress
And he has a plan to make it happen, says former CAIR intern.
March 2, 2017
Paul Sperry
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the new deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and the first Muslim elected to Congress, has a plan to recruit additional Muslim lawmakers like him — including possible candidates sponsored by a terror-tied Islamist group for which he helped raise millions of dollars, according to a source who once prayed alongside him in the basement of the Capitol.
Ellison has held Friday, or jummah, prayers with other Muslims, including staffers from the Congressional Muslim Staff Association and officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in a prayer room, or musallah, in the lower level of the Capitol building.
CAIR has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates and was named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terrorist-funding operation.
A former CAIR intern who prayed with Ellison says Ellison once boasted that his breaking of the Muslim barrier on the Hill would usher in dozens of other Muslim lawmakers like him, and that he had an election-by-election vision for increasing their ranks.
“In the summer of 2008, I was working as an intern at CAIR,” Chris Gaubatz recalled in an exclusive interview with FrontPageMagazine.com. “During a Friday prayer at the Capitol Building, Ellison was talking about the second Muslim congressman being elected (Andre Carson) and said, “Insha’allah (Allah willing), next election we will have four Muslim congressman, and insha’allah, after that eight, and insha’allah, after that 16.’ ”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265978/new-dnc-deputy-keith-ellisons-islamic-agenda-paul-sperry
Congressional Democrats Defend Muslim IT Staffers, Blame Islamophobia
March 2, 2017
Daniel Greenfield
If you haven’t been following this story, it centers on three Pakistani brothers who are suspected of illegally accessing computers and a possible procurement scam. The Democrats they worked for in some cases had access to high level information.
And some of the Democrats are defending them.
Blame Islamophobia. That always works.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/265979/congressional-democrats-defend-muslim-it-staffers-daniel-greenfield
A New Genocide for Egypt’s Christians?
The recent burning to death of a Copt in Sinai is only the tip of the iceberg.
March 2, 2017
Raymond Ibrahim
Yet another murderous wave is taking Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority by storm, leading to yet another exodus from their homes.
Last week in al-Arish, Sinai, Islamic State affiliates killed a 65-year-old Christian man by shooting him in the head; they then abducted and tortured his 45-year-old son, before burning him alive and dumping his charred remains near a schoolyard.
Perhaps because of its sensationalist nature—burning a human alive—this story was reported by some Western media. Yet the atrocities hardly begin or end there. Below is a list of Christians murdered in al-Arish in recent days and weeks:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265971/new-genocide-egypts-christians-raymond-ibrahim
The Islamic Society of North America’s Destructive Agenda
… and its ties to a number of leading Democrats.
March 2, 2017
John Perazzo
A number of major Democrats have cultivated highly significant ties to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). For example: Congressman Keith Ellison (Minnesota), who narrowly lost in his bid to become DNC chairman a few days ago, has spoken at ISNA’s massive national conferences on a number of occasions. Congressman Andre Carson (Indiana) has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from ISNA-affiliated donors, as have Keith Ellison, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. And ISNA president Mohamed Magid was a key figure in Barack Obama’s Department of Homeland Security, where he was authorized to train and advise personnel affiliated with the FBI and other federal agencies.
Yet most Americans are entirely unaware of just how subversive and anti-American the Islamic Society of North America is.
ISNA was established in July 1981 by U.S-based members of the Muslim Brotherhood who also had been leaders of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). Muslim Brothers would dominate ISNA’s leadership throughout the Society’s early years, when it was highly dependent upon Saudi funding. ISNA’s founding mission was “to advance the cause of Islam and serve Muslims in North America so as to enable them to adopt Islam as a complete way of life.” Today ISNA is the largest Muslim organization on the continent. Its annual conferences routinely draw 30,000 to 40,000 attendees.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/265956/islamic-society-north-americas-destructive-agenda-john-perazzo
CBC – Montreal [ Muslim ] man charged with terror hoax after bomb threat targeting Muslim university students
Psychological assessment ordered for Hisham Saadi, 47, arrested early Thursday morning in Côte-des-Neiges
Hisham Saadi, 47, has been charged with carrying out a hoax regarding terrorist activity, uttering threats and mischief in connection with the Concordia University bomb threat Wednesday.
Saadi appeared in a Montreal courtroom via video link on Thursday afternoon.
He has been ordered to undergo a psychological assessment prior to his bail hearing, scheduled for Friday.
Saadi was arrested around 1:30 a.m. ET Thursday after officers, including members of the force’s tactical and canine units, descended on an apartment on Darlington Avenue near Goyer Street in the Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood, said Const. Benoit Boisselle.
The operation came a day after three buildings at Concordia’s busy downtown campus were evacuated. A letter saying explosive devices were placed in various areas of the school was sent to a number of Montreal media outlets, including CBC News.
Police found nothing suspicious during their search of the Hall building, Guy-De Maisonneuve building and the engineering, computer science and visual arts (EV) integrated complex, and handed the case over to the major crimes division.
Saadi is not known to police. He did not resist arrest, Boisselle said.
Boisselle said it’s unclear whether the man has any ties to the university.
Police searched the apartment for almost five hours. No explosives or anything to do with making bombs were found on the premises.
Forced to leave in middle of the night
About 30 people were forced from their homes during the police operation due to the concern there could be explosives inside the apartment building.
Joy Agbonze, who lives in the building, said that police arrived at her door after midnight and told her to gather a few things and leave.
She was told to wait in a city bus outside but wasn’t told what was happening.
“I was a bit freaked out because there were cops in bomb squad gear and everything, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what the hell is happening,'” she said.
Residents initially didn’t know what was going on, but were eventually told the operation was in connection to the bomb threats. Agbonze was on the bus, which served as a shelter, for about 30 minutes before she was allowed back inside.
She said though the situation made her feel less safe in general, the police operation helped assuage her uneasiness.
Arrest not reassuring, says Muslim student
The arrest didn’t comfort Aouatif Zebiri, a student at Concordia and member of the Muslim Students’ Association.
The threatening letter purportedly came from a group that calls itself Council of Conservative Citizens of Canada. Since it’s still unclear if the man who was arrested will be charged or if he’s linked to that group, she isn’t feeling reassured.
In an interview on CBC Montreal’s Daybreak, she said she won’t be going to the buildings that were targeted any time soon, but that overall she feels safe at school.
“I would say it’s rare to find students at Concordia who are Islamophobic. We are united, we believe our diversity makes us united and we cherish that,” she said.
Resuming classes shows resolve, school says
All the buildings that were evacuated were reopened by 6 p.m. and classes went on as scheduled, a move that was criticized by some students, including Zebiri.
“Students had been through a traumatic experience. How do you expect them to go back to school?” she said.
Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota, also a guest on Daybreak, said the university felt that resuming operations at the earliest possible time was an expression of resolve.
“We certainly would not have continued classes if we felt that there were any issues outstanding or any possible threat.”
Because the letter containing the bomb threat mentioned a 48-hour window ending Friday afternoon for the explosives to be detonated, Concordia says it will increase patrols of its private security officers. Montreal police will also be present on campus for the next few days.
Zebiri said she isn’t in favour of that measure, because students from minority groups may feel uncomfortable with having more security guards around.
Mota, who was also a guest on Daybreak, said while she doesn’t get the sense that people at the school feel threatened on a day-to-day basis, she acknowledged that some people do.
The university will do anything it can to help students who are feeling that way, she said.
Mota reiterated that the Concordia community is united, and that an attack targeting one group of students is an attack on the entire university.
“It threatens our values, it threatens our way of life, it’s just not who we are. It’s reprehensible and I think we’re going to come together as we always do,” she said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-concordia-university-bomb-threats-1.4006151
Hisham Saadi
PIC:
http://storage.journaldemontreal.com/v1/dynamic_resize/sws_path/jdx-prod-images/f96ea497-46ae-41da-98a2-dfebdf131711_ORIGINAL.jpg
http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/03/02/alerte-a-la-bombe-a-concordia–hisham-saadi-accuse
jihad wath – Fake anti-Muslim hate crime in Montreal: Muslim arrested for bomb threat against Muslim university students
Hate crimes are political capital in today’s pusillanimous victim-idolizing society, and Muslims play that tune expertly. Hamas-linked CAIR and other Muslims have on many occasions not hesitated to stoop even to fabricating “hate crimes,” including even attacks on mosques. A New Jersey Muslim was found guilty of murder that he tried to portray as an “Islamophobic” attack, and in 2014 in California, a Muslim was found guilty of killing his wife, after first blaming her murder on “Islamophobia.” These are not isolated incidents. Fake hate crimes occur quite frequently — so frequently as to cast doubt upon the entire narrative of Muslim victimhood.
Note how the Muslim student quoted below still tries to advance the false narrative that the threat came from a Canadian conservative group.[…]
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2017/03/fake-anti-muslim-hate-crime-in-montreal-muslim-arrested-for-bomb-threat-against-muslim-university-students
Belgium: Bomb disposal unit probe car with gas canisters in Brussels; driver arrested
A special bomb disposal squad could be sighted in the Porte de Hal district of Brussels, on Thursday after police stopped a driver running through several red lights. At least two gas canisters were found in the trunk of his car.
The police subsequently sealed off the area and evacuated a number of residents whilst experts investigated the scene. Certain roads have also been closed off, causing heavy traffic in various directions.
The individual has been arrested and taken in for questioning.
Hungary: Inmates build second anti-refugee fence along Serbian border
The Hungarian government ordered prisoners to start building work along the country’s border. The fence has been called a “smart fence” because it is able to detect if someone is approaching through the use of its motion detectors, night vision cameras and heat detectors. The barrier can also reportedly deliver electric shocks to those who come into contact with it.
Detainees from Hungarian prisons started work on the 150km (93 miles) barrier on March 1. Wire that the prisoners made is being used between some 3,000 pillars, which are 4.5 metres (14.7ft) high.
A detention camp near the Roszke border crossing point is also being built for refugees and migrants seeking entrance to Hungary. Those waiting for their application process to be completed will have to wait in the building containers that are designed to hold up to 300 people.
Vicious Attack in Ohio Fits Anti-Trump Pattern of Violence
By Debra Heine March 2, 2017
An Ohio man is recovering in the hospital with a broken eye socket and liver damage after falling victim to what appears to be yet another vicious anti-Trump attack. PJ Media has documented close to twenty other violent attacks on Trump supporters since the election.
The altercation occurred Saturday night in the parking lot of Elsa’s restaurant in Kettering, Ohio, between a party of three and an anti-Trump group of about twelve African Americans.
Lee Arron Jackson told PJ Media that both parties were leaving at the same time and he held the door open for the anti-Trump group as they were filing out.
He said his friend casually told the boisterous group to “simmer down” as they were leaving because they were “having a fit” about President Donald Trump.
When he saw about three of them assaulting his friend out in the parking lot, Jackson said he intervened.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/03/02/vicious-attack-in-ohio-fits-anti-trump-pattern-of-violence/
‘We are STILL HERE’ Chilling video of jihadi wandering around BELGIUM released by ISIS (express, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/774319/Antwerp-Central-Station-ISIS-video-jihadi-warning-Telegram
“EXCLUSIVE: A CHILLING message has been delivered to Europe by Islamic State (ISIS) as footage of a jihadi wandering towards a Belgian train station has been released – along with the caption ‘we are still here’…”
At peace talks, Syria rebels urge Trump to correct Obama’s “catastrophic mistakes” (reuters, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un-idUSKBN1691RM
“The lead Syrian opposition negotiator at peace talks in Geneva said he hoped U.S. President Donald Trump would correct the “catastrophic” errors of his predecessor Barack Obama to become a reliable partner against “devilish” Iran.
The U.N.-led negotiations edged forwards on Wednesday, for the first time in six days, as both sides saw hope of shaping the agenda to their liking, but with indirect talks wrapping up this weekend there is little prospect of any real breakthrough.
“The people in Syria paid a high price because of the catastrophic mistakes made by the Obama administration,” Nasr al-Hariri told reporters in a briefing after meeting U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura.
“Obama lied and he didn’t keep any of the promises he made for the Syrian people. He drew red lines that he erased himself, he kept silent on crimes committed by Bashar al-Assad.”
Obama long maintained that Assad, Syrian president for 17 years, must step down after presiding over a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions.
The United States has provided training, weapons and funding for rebel groups, but stopped short of attacking Assad’s forces, which slowly turned the tide of the war with massive Russian and Iranian help.
“We reiterated the devilish role that Iran is playing through hundreds of thousands of fighters on the Syrian soil,” Hariri said in response to a question on what he had told Russian officials during their landmark meeting on Thursday.
The opposition and the Russians had not previously met at the Geneva talks. Diplomats said the meeting may be uncomfortable for Assad, Moscow’s ally, who regards his opponents as terrorists.
Trump has said his priority is to fight Islamic State, which has left Russia in the diplomatic driving seat and put Russia, Turkey and Iran in charge of overseeing a shaky ceasefire.
He has also made it clear he wants to rein in Tehran’s regional ambitions.
Trump’s administration has so far done little to suggest it is willing to engage in finding a political solution for Syria.
“Their policy is still unknown,” said a Western diplomat at the talks. “They are almost not here.”
While Western envoys were coordinating with the Syrian opposition in Geneva, the U.S. envoy kept his head down and left after a few days to deal with other issues.
“The U.S. is not a direct participant in the UN-led talks,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Mission in Geneva said. “The U.S. remains committed to any process that can result in a political resolution to the Syrian crisis.”
When asked during a White House briefing this week about the talks, spokesman Sean Spicer gave no clear answer on how Washington saw the process or Assad’s role.
Hariri said the opposition had common ground with Trump because both wanted to fight terrorism and curtail Iranian influence. Washington, he said, should support the opposition.
“We are really waiting for the United States to build their positions on true information to have an active role in the region and to correct the grave mistakes of the Obama administration,” Hariri said.”
Meet the Muslim Women Inspiring a Modest Revolution (bloomberg, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-02/meet-the-muslim-women-inspiring-a-modest-revolution
“Something curious has happened to the fashion industry in the last few years: So-called modest fashion has started to take off. Designers and retailers are producing clothing that’s often a little longer and slightly looser and tends to have a higher neckline.
That’s good news for an eager generation of young women who want to look great while respecting their religious values…”
Ex-Egyptian president Mubarak acquitted over protester deaths in 2011 uprising (france24, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.france24.com/en/20170302-former-egyptian-president-hosni-mubarak-acquitted-over-protester-deaths-2011-uprising
“Egypt’s top appeals court on Thursday acquitted ex-president Hosni Mubarak of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade reign, a judicial official said.
Mubarak had been sentenced to life in 2012 but an appeals court ordered a retrial, which dismissed the charges two years later.
Thursday’s ruling by the Court of Cassation is final.
The trial was Mubarak’s final one, after prosecutors levelled various charges against him following his February 2011 resignation.
He was accused of inciting the deaths of protesters during the 18-day revolt, in which about 850 people were killed as police clashed with demonstrators.
Mubarak, 88, has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011.
In January 2016, the appeals court had upheld a three-year prison sentence for Mubarak and his two sons on corruption charges.
But the sentence took into account time served. Both his sons, Alaa and Gamal, were freed.”
Rights groups urge Germany to take in more refugees (thelocal, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.thelocal.de/20170302/rights-groups-urge-germany-to-take-in-more-refugees
“German pro-migrant groups Wednesday urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to respect its pledge under an EU deal and take in its share of refugees still stuck in Greece or Italy.
“There are empty places in reception centres, we have planes, but there is a lack of political will” for the refugee relocation project, said Günter Burkhardt, head of refugee rights group Pro Asyl…”
EU may have to return 1 mln migrants – Commission (ansamed, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/generalnews/2017/03/02/eu-may-have-to-return-1-mln-migrants-commission_958ae9c5-9a23-44b1-8a32-0d671ffde9ca.html
“EU counries could have to return over a million irregular migrants according to the new plan of action on migration published by the European Commission on Thursday.
The calculation is based on the fact that “533.395 irregular migrants received expulsion orders in 2015, compared to 470,080 in 2014. With approximately 2.6 million asylum requests presented in 2015-2016, and seeing as in the first three quarters of 2016 only 57% were granted asylum, the States may have to return over a million people.””
Terrorist Threat Hangs Over the Whole Maghreb Region, Head of BCIJ (moroccoworldnews, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/03/209884/terrorist-threat-hangs-whole-maghreb-region-head-bcij/
“The terrorist threat hangs over the whole Maghreb region, particularly given that ISIS has already set foot in Libya, said director of Central Bureau for Judiciary Investigations (BCIJ), Abdelhalk Khiame.
The danger does not only concern Morocco, but also “Algeria, which is already suffering from the threat of the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in the south of its territory, in addition to a problem created from nothingness by this country in the Sahara,” Khiame said in an interview published Thursday by the daily “L’Economiste.”
“The investigations carried out in this respect revealed the involvement of separatists in terrorist and criminal organizations,” he said, stressing that “Morocco is taking all necessary measures to ensure its security. But the lack of cooperation and coordination with our Algerian neighbors is an opportunity for terrorist organizations to settle in the region.”
“We must be clear: the security of our two countries depends on coordination between the Moroccan and Algerian intelligence services,” Khiame said.
Referring to the latest terrorist cell dismantled in Morocco, he pointed out that the latter, which was at a very advanced stage in terms of logistics and arsenal of weapons and explosives, planned to create a “climate of psychosis within population”.
Concerning Morocco’s strategy to combat indoctrination and recruitment via social networks, the director of BCIJ noted that the legislation is clear, anyone who advocates terrorist acts will be prosecuted.
Regarding the risks posed by the return of Moroccans from combat zones, Khiame said that anyone who joined the areas of tension could be prosecuted under a law adopted by Morocco in 2014.”
April 16 will be a day when tutelage is destroyed: Y?ld?r?m (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/april-16-will-be-a-day-when-tutelage-is-destroyed-yildirim.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110388&NewsCatID=338
“The April 16 referendum on constitutional changes will be the day when “tutelage is destroyed,” Prime Minister Binali Y?ld?r?m has said, comparing the day to July 16, 2016, the day after the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt, widely believed to have been masterminded by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).
“God willing, we will bring a day where Turkey has destroyed the tutelage, ambitions and dreams of powers outside of democracy, just as we woke to daylight after darkness on the morning of July 16,” Y?ld?r?m said in a speech at the International Democracy Congress in Ankara on March 2, once again praising citizens for “standing up against the coup-plotters.”…”
Turkey to strike YPG unless it leaves Manbij: FM Çavu?o?lu (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-strike-ypg-unless-it-leaves-manbij-fm-cavusoglu.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110363&NewsCatID=352
“Turkey will strike the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), if they do not withdraw from Manbij, a former bastion of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that has been taken over by predominantly Kurdish forces, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu stated on March 2.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament in Ankara, Çavu?o?lu said Turkey and the U.S. “must not face off against each other because of Turkey’s fight against other terrorist groups [apart from ISIL],” the main focus of the Euphrates Shield Operation in northern Syria.
“We do not want any of our allies to stand with terrorist groups. We stated earlier that Turkey will hit the YPG unless they withdraw from Manbij,” he said.
Çavu?o?lu also said that with an operation on Manbij, the aim is to leave the area to “its true owners.”…”
YPG no threat to Turkey, US top general argues (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ypg-no-threat-to-turkey-us-top-general-argues.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110346&NewsCatID=352
“The top U.S. commander in the campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) argued on March 1 that the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), does “not pose a threat to Turkey.”
“Of those YPG fighters, I’ve talked to their leaders and we’ve watched them operate and they continually reassure us that they have no desire to attack Turkey, that they are not a threat to Turkey, in fact that they desire to have a good working relationship with Turkey,” Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told a Pentagon news briefing, speaking remotely via video conference.
“And I have seen absolutely zero evidence that they have been a threat to, or have supported any attacks on, Turkey from Northern Syria over the last two years,” he added.
Turkey regards the PYD and YPG as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), but the U.S. sees them as a reliable partner in their fight against ISIL in northern Syria. The U.S. mainly supports the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is comprised mainly of YPG militia and some Arab forces, in the anti-ISIL coalition.”
Turkey’s wall on Syria border sharply reduces illegal crossings (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-wall-on-syria-border-sharply-reduces-illegal-crossings.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110377&NewsCatID=352
“A concrete wall built to stop illegal crossings along Turkey’s border with Syria in the provinces of Hatay, Kilis and Gaziantep has dramatically reduced attempts to stage illegal crossings and conduct border smuggling, a Turkish colonel responsible for border security has stated.
The total 2,044 detected smuggling attempts in 2015 fell to just 77 in 2016 in his 169-kilometer area of responsibility, Colonel Alparslan K?l?nç from the First Border Regiment Command told reporters in Kilis.
The number of detected illegal crossings has decreased 45 percent, from a total of 12,183 in 2015 when clashes were intense on the Syrian side of the border to 8,531 in 2016, K?l?nç said.
In the same section of the Syrian border, there were 2,423 smuggling attempts in 2013, 3,474 in 2014, 2,044 in 2015, and 77 in 2016. However, in the first two months of 2017 there have been only four smuggling attempts, K?l?nç stated.
In 2016, 210 third country nationals, mostly made up of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) members but also including 49 Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) members, were captured while attempting illegal crossing in his regiment area, the colonel stated…”
Turkish democracy at risk of returning to pre-1789 French revolution conditions: CHP (hurriyetdailynews, Mar 2, 2017)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-democracy-at-risk-of-returning-to-pre-1789-french-revolution-conditions-chp.aspx?pageID=238&nID=110385&NewsCatID=338
“The approval of government-proposed constitutional amendments in the April 16 referendum will bring Turkey’s democracy back to pre-1789 French Revolution conditions, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu has said, criticizing the government for creating an environment in which saying “No” is akin to committing a crime.
“[If the changes are approved] democracy will to a large extent be suspended. Everything will be decided by one man … Parliament will lose its ability to legislate. Decisions on the structure and functions of the state will be made solely by the president. From all these perspectives, Turkish democracy will return to the conditions of before the French Revolution,” K?l?çdaro?lu told the members of the International Media Freedom mission on March 2…”
Qatar International Islamic Bank, CIH to Launch Islamic Bank in Morocco (moroccoworldnews, Mar 2, 2017)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/03/209754/qatar-international-islamic-bank-cih-to-launch-islamic-bank-in-morocco/
“In partnership with the Moroccan Crédit Immobilier et Hotelier bank (CIH), Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) will launch “Umnia Bank”, a joint Islamic financial institution.
The new project was announced following an ordinary and extraordinary general assembly of the new bank in Casablanca on Saturday, February 25. The meeting was headed by QIIB chairman and managing director Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah al-Thani.
“We are closer to formally launching the activities of Umnia Bank. We are very happy to reach this stage and are hopeful that our new venture will be extremely successful,” explained bin Thani bin Abdullah al-Thani.
Licensing for the “Umnia Bank” had already been issued by the Central Bank of Morocco….”