Reader’s links for April 17 – 2017

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

About Eeyore

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

53 Replies to “Reader’s links for April 17 – 2017”

  2. At least 12 clubbers suffer BURNS after attackers hurled ‘acid’ over them as they partied at an east London bar
    Around 600 revellers were evacuated from Mangle E8, London Fields, last night
    Twelve patients went to hospital with what was described as ‘chemical burns’
    Witnesses say an ‘unknown corrosive substance’ was flung across the venue

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4417752/At-12-clubbers-suffer-BURNS-east-London-bar.html#ixzz4eVWiAmlx
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  3. Kim’s Special Forces: North Korean despot unveils elite grenade launcher-wielding troops trained to defend him if Trump tries to ‘remove’ him from power

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4417914/Kim-Jong-North-Korea-special-forces-military-parade.html#ixzz4eVsjLrN3
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un unveiled his deadly Special Forces unit for the first time this weekend in an apparent show of force against US President Donald Trump.

    The menacing and ‘highly trained’ troops yelled patriotic slogans as they carried rifles fitted with grenade launchers through the streets of the Pyongyang during a military parade on Saturday.

    The crack team, said to be the best equipped in the Korean People’s Army, had night vision goggles affixed to their helmets and handguns strapped to their chest.

    ‘Once Supreme Commander Kim Jong-un issues an order they will charge with resolve to thrust a sword through the enemy’s heart like lightning over Mount Paektu [the country’s highest peak],’ a broadcaster announced on North Korean state TV.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4417914/Kim-Jong-North-Korea-special-forces-military-parade.html#ixzz4eVsrprDz
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  4. Pence Visits North Korea Border, `Heartened’ by China Moves

    U.S. Vice President Mike Pence encouraged China to take action against North Korea while he met with troops a day after Kim Jong Un’s regime defied the Trump administration with a ballistic missile test.

    On a visit to the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea, Pence said he was “heartened” by early signs from China and hoped its leaders would “use the extraordinary levers they have” to prod Kim into giving up his nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. He repeated President Donald Trump’s warning that the U.S. would act without China if necessary.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-17/pence-visits-troops-on-north-korea-border-as-trump-weighs-action

  5. China, Russia send ships after U.S. aircraft carrier

    China and Russia have dispatched intelligence-gathering vessels from their navies to chase the USS Carl Vinson nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is heading toward waters near the Korean Peninsula, multiple sources of the Japanese government revealed to The Yomiuri Shimbun.

    It appears that both countries aim to probe the movements of the United States, which is showing a stance of not excluding military action against North Korea. The Self-Defense Forces are strengthening warning and surveillance activities in the waters and airspace around the area, according to the sources.

    The aircraft carrier strike group, composed of the Carl Vinson at its core with guided-missile destroyers and other vessels, is understood to be around the East China Sea and heading north toward waters near the Korean Peninsula.

    http://www.sltrib.com/home/5183435-155/china-russia-send-ships-after-us

  6. Hawaii panel asks state to prepare for North Korea attack

    HONOLULU (AP) – Hawaii lawmakers want state officials to update plans for coping with a nuclear attack as North Korea develops nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles that can reach the islands.

    The state House Public Safety Committee unanimously passed a resolution Thursday.

    Committee Vice Chairman Matt LoPresti says he’s not trying to spread fear. But he wants the public to know the government is taking steps to protect them in the worst case scenario.

    He’s aiming to get state funding to re-equip Cold War-era fallout shelters.

    The resolution that moved forward Thursday said that in 1981, Oahu had hundreds of fallout shelters — “many stocked with medical kits, food, and sanitary kits.” But in later years, funding dried up, and stocks were thrown out.

    Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Executive Officer Toby Clairmont showed lawmakers a response plan from 1985 that hasn’t been updated since.

    He says there’s also a need to educate the public about what they can do for themselves.

    The resolution next goes to the Finance Committee.

    http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35152446/hawaii-panel-asks-state-to-prepare-for-north-korea-attack

  7. Robots May Help Build Your Next Home and Solve a Labor Shortage

    The future of U.S. homebuilding depends on more people like Cyndicy Yarborough, a 26-year-old former Wal-Mart clerk with no background in construction.

    At Blueprint Robotics in Baltimore, she works in a factory that builds houses like cars, on an assembly line, using robots that fire thousands of nails into studs each day and never miss. Yarborough operates a machine that lifts floors and walls and packs them onto a flatbed truck, the final step before delivery to a development site where they’ll be pieced together.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-17/robots-may-help-build-your-next-home-and-solve-a-labor-shortage

  8. Stanford lab grows cornea cells for transplant
    Lab-grown cells could refurbish diseased or damaged eyes

    PALO ALTO — A Stanford research team has created a potentially powerful new way to fix damaged corneas — a major source of vision problems and blindness.

    Millions of new eye cells are being grown in a Palo Alto lab, enlisting one of medicine’s most important and promising new tools: refurbishing diseased and damaged tissue with healthy new cells.

    “One of the exciting possibilities of this cellular approach is that one donor cornea,” which contributes a few parent cells, “can generate enough cells to treat tens or hundreds of patients,” said lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg, professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

    About 100,000 corneal transplants are done annually in the United States — but they require surgery with donated corneas from cadavers. The procedure fails nearly a third of the time, and there aren’t enough high-quality donor corneas to go around.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/04/15/stanford-lab-grows-cornea-cells-for-transplant/

  9. Turkey’s Erdogan declares referendum victory, opponents plan challenge

    ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan declared victory in a referendum on Sunday to grant him sweeping powers in the biggest overhaul of modern Turkish politics, but opponents said the vote was marred by irregularities and they would challenge its result.

    Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast and its three main cities, including the capital Ankara and the largest city Istanbul, looked set to vote “No” after a bitter and divisive campaign.

    Erdogan said 25 million people had supported the proposal, which will replace Turkey’s parliamentary system with an all-powerful presidency and abolish the office of prime minister, giving the “Yes” camp 51.5 percent of the vote.

    That appeared short of the decisive victory for which he and the ruling AK Party had aggressively campaigned. Nevertheless, thousands of flag-waving supporters rallied in Ankara and Istanbul in celebration.

    “For the first time in the history of the Republic, we are changing our ruling system through civil politics,” Erdogan said, referring to the military coups which marred Turkish politics for decades. “That is why it is very significant.”

    http://www.oann.com/erdogan-makes-final-push-before-vote-on-presidential-powers/

  10. ‘Partisan reactions’: Sense and sensibility on strikes in Syria
    By J.E. Dyer April 16, 2017

    On Tuesday (11 April), in the Washington Post’s Daily 202, James Hohmann called out what he characterized as Republicans’ sudden, partisan-driven affection for attacking stuff in Syria.

    Results of the latest poll were very different, Hohmann pointed out, from the results of polling in 2013 on whether Republicans would favor missile strikes against Syria.

    In 2013, when Barack Obama was president, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only 22 percent of Republicans supported the U.S. launching missile strikes against Syria in response to Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against civilians.

    A new Post-ABC poll finds that 86 percent of Republicans support Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Syria for the same reason. Only 11 percent are opposed.

    The shift in Republicans’ attitudes accounted for most, if not all, of the overall shift in American attitudes between 2013 and 2017. In 2013, only 30 percent overall were in favor of strikes. In 2017, it’s 51 percent.

    Now, I’m not here to litigate whether the recent Trump strike was a good idea. The polling results stand on their own for this analysis (and, as Hohmann observed, were replicated by other polls).

    Democratic attitudes didn’t change between 2013 and 2017. In 2013, 38 percent of them supported the idea of strikes. In 2017, the number is 37 percent.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/04/16/partisan-reactions-sense-sensibility-strikes-syria/

      • As Iowa Congressman Steve King is so fond of noting:

        “We can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s babies…”

        If these Italian villages want to become North African colonies, that is (to some limited extent) their privilege. However, any and all Europeans are totally deluded who think that demographic replacement will solve the Ponzi scheme issues of their Socialist tyrants.

  13. ‘Black Lives Matter’ protesters arrested for conspiring to send detonators to ISIS

    Two suburban Chicago men and Black Lives Matter supporters were arrested by the FBI on Wednesday for conspiring to support ISIS after a 19-month investigation showed they plotted to send a recruit and cell phone detonators to the terrorist organization.

    Federal officials arrested Edward Schimenti and Joseph Jones, both 35, around 5 a.m. Wednesday following a lengthy undercover investigation that involved four federal agents and a fifth person cooperating with the bust.

    http://www.theamericanmirror.com/chicagoland-black-lives-matter-protester-arrested-conspiring-help-isis/#more-25451

  14. Palestinians’ Real Enemies: Arabs

    by Khaled Abu Toameh
    April 17, 2017 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10210/palestinians-enemies

    Palestinians living in refugee camps in the Arab world are facing ethnic cleansing, displacement, and death — but their leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are too busy tearing each other to pieces to notice or even, apparently, care much.

    Between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, it looks as if they are competing for the worst leadership, not the best. Clearly, neither regime gives a damn about the plight of their people in the Arab world.

    PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who is scheduled to visit Washington in the coming weeks for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump, spends most of his time abroad. There is hardly a country in the world that he has not visited since he assumed office in January 2005.

    Hamas, for its part, is too occupied with hunting down Palestinians suspected of “collaboration” with Israel, and arming its members as massively as possible for war with Israel, to spend much time on the well-being of the two million people living under its thumb in the Gaza Strip. Hamas does have resources: its money is otherwise designated, however, to digging attack tunnels into Israel and smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip.

    The globetrotting Abbas, treated to red-carpet receptions wherever he shows up, has no time to attend to his miserable people in the Arab countries. Abbas devotes more than 90 percent of his speeches to denunciations of Israel, uttering barely a word about the atrocities committed against his people in Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Iraq. The 82-year-old PA president is, as always, fully preoccupied with political survival.

  15. Iran’s Elections: Black Turbans vs. White Turbans

    by Mohammad Amin
    April 17, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10209/iran-elections

    The presidential elections in Iran, scheduled for May 19, have observers wondering whether the “white turban” incumbent, Hassan Rouhani, will retain his position, or be defeated by his likely contender, the “black turban” mullah, Ebrahim Raisi, known for his key role in the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners.

    More importantly, the question on Western minds is how and in what way the Islamic Republic will be affected by either outcome.

    The two periods in Iran’s recent history that need to be examined in order to answer this question are that of the tenure of former firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005 to 2013), who also announced he is running again, and the one that has followed under Rouhani.

    At the outset of the Ahmadinejad era, Iran’s GDP (using purchasing power parity) soared beyond $1 trillion, and two of the country’s greatest threats — Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Afghanistan under the Taliban — were eliminated. Both enabled Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to solidify his stronghold.

    Midway through this period, however, Iran’s economy fell sharply. Iran became the country with the fifth highest inflation rate in the world. Iran fell into a serious recession, and millions of Iranians found themselves unemployed. All this was going on even before the international community imposed sanctions on the regime in Tehran.

    In the years that followed Ahmadinejad’s replacement by the so-called “moderate” Rouhani, sanctions were lifted; oil exports reached pre-sanction levels; billions of dollars’ worth of assets abroad were unfrozen; and hundreds of agreements were signed to expand business transactions with the West.

  16. Russia: FSB detain suspect in St. Petersburg Metro bombing

    The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a suspect believed to have been involved in the St. Petersburg Metro bombing in Odintsovo, Monday.

    A hand gun was discovered on the the suspect, who is thought to be called Azimov Abror Akhralovich, a man of Central Asian extraction, reportedly born in 1990.

    His arrest comes after 15 people were killed and dozens injured when an unidentified explosive device went off inside a train carriage of the St. Petersburg Metro system on April 3.

  17. LIVE: Protests take place ahead of Le Pen presidential rally in Paris

    Protesters gather in Paris, on Monday, April 17, ahead of Marine Le Pen’s presidential campaign rally in the French capital, scheduled for the same day.

    • LIVE: Le Pen holds electoral rally in Paris

      National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen holds an electoral rally at the Zenith, in Paris, on Monday, April 17.

      The rally has attracted opposition from antifascist groups, who plan to protest outside the venue before the event begins.

  22. Gavin McInnes: At Berkeley Patriots Day, We Took Back the Culture
    Rebel Edge
    Rebel Edge

  26. Opinion: Turkish referendum must be a wake-up call for Germany (DW, Apr 17, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/opinion-turkish-referendum-must-be-a-wake-up-call-for-germany/a-38455736

    “A large majority of Turks here in Germany voted in favor of extending Erdogan’s authority. Germany needs to respond by taking a good, honest look at its sense of itself as an immigration country, says DW’s Ines Pohl.

    No, this result was not achieved legitimately. No one who arrests opposition supporters, bans their opponents’ election campaign events and silences journalists can claim democratic legitimacy.

    This is precisely how Recep Tayyip Erdogan behaved – and yet, according to official statements, he still only won by a small margin. Consequently, the referendum on the Turkish president’s future powers is not the outcome of a free consultation of opinion, but the enforced takeover of a democratic state.

    Free decision for voters in Germany

    The situation in Germany, however, is different. Around 1.5 million Turkish citizens living here were entitled to vote in the referendum, and these voters had free access to information. All the important parties held campaign events; freedom of opinion was not constrained; no one who criticized the future autocrat had to worry about ending up in prison.

    Nonetheless, more than 63 percent of those who voted in Germany approved Erdogan’s changes to the constitution – that’s around 450,000 people.

    This figure should be a wake-up call for Germany. The fact that only 50 percent actually voted, or that in other countries such as Austria approval for the Erdogan camp was even higher, is irrelevant. If so many people living in Germany support a man who wants, among other things, to reintroduce the death penalty, then, all attempts at integration notwithstanding, things have gone very wrong somewhere.

    In order to draw the right conclusions, Germany must be honest with itself. Both politics and civil society have to acknowledge their failures. That is not without danger in this election year, because populist debates about dual nationality and simplistic deportation fantasies lead nowhere, and ultimately play into the hands of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
    Make a decision about EU membership

    Nor will Germany be able to rely on any particularly constructive statements from Brussels. The frantic flapping the morning after and the threat to finally break off negotiations over Turkey’s accession to the European Union are as helpless as they are ridiculous. On the contrary – it’s precisely all these years of to-ing and fro-ing that have given so many Turks the feeling that they aren’t being taken seriously, and that ultimately prompted Erdogan to demonstrate old-school power and strength by adopting a clear anti-EU course.

    The EU must now also take a clear line. If it doesn’t want to accept Turkey as a full member, it must be honest and say so, then seek other forms of cooperation.

    Turkey’s economic need of Europe is more urgent than the other way round. Erdogan knows this, too. His popularity became so great because he was economically successful, and his star will quickly fade if the present, rapid economic downturn continues. The inflation rate is already more than 11 percent, while the 13-percent unemployment rate is a seven-year high.

    German Turks must help

    So only Germany will be able to solve the problem with its own Erdogan followers – by finally, conclusively accepting that it is a country of immigration and shaping this state of affairs with confidence. No inhibited ramblings about “guiding culture” or multiculturalism, but clear advocacy of the democratic constitution: Anyone living in Germany must accept that child marriage is forbidden and so-called honor killings are a crime. That gays and women have the same rights as everyone else; that the Basic Law (Germany’s constitution) comes first, and that this fact is non-negotiable.

    In order to be successful, populists need insecurity. They need to stir up people’s fears in order then to present themselves as the only ones who can save the situation. It’s vital not to stoop to this level, because ultimately – especially in this society of ours, which is in a state of constant agitation – he who shouts loudest will always win. This is why, right now, we very much need those 3 million people of Turkish origin who either no longer have a Turkish passport or are clearly opposed to Erdogan’s anti-democratic course.

    They’re needed as bridge-builders between the Turkish communities and German majority society.

    Because the latter is now in need of objective analysis, to explain both why it is so many German Turks can so easily be seduced, as well as what has been done well in the past few decades, and is able to serve as an example.”

  27. “The Australian” Hails Morocco as a Model for Peace and Stability in the Region (moroccoworldnews, Apr 17, 2017)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/214272/australian-hails-morocco-model-peace-stability-region-2/

    “The Middle East and North Africa has become associated, in international news, with wars, terrorism and sectarian tensions.

    Amid this gloomy picture, few countries stand out as models for peace and stability. Morocco is one of them.

    The kingdom has been hailed by international media as a beacon of peace and tolerance, and an example of a nation that is taking slow but steady steps toward democracy and economic development.

    Morocco is seen as a country that chose a different path from its neighbors who are plunged either in violence or deep political and economic crises.

    In an article published by “The Australian”, the news website’s foreign editor, Greg Sheridan, made an account of his visit to the kingdom and explained why it offers “an altogether different scene in the heart of the Arab world”.

    “Of all the Arab states of North Africa and the Persian Gulf, none has a serious case for emerging from the Arab Spring in better shape than Morocco”, said Sheridan…”

    • 100 Polisario Armed Members Joined ISIS: Abdelhak El Khiam (moroccoworldnews, Apr 17, 2017)
      https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/04/214307/100-polisario-armed-members-joined-isis-abdelhak-el-khiam/

      “100 members of Polisario members joined the ranks of ISIS, according to the head of the Moroccan Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), Abdelhak El Khiam.

      “Terrorist organizations and criminal networks travel all along the Sahel region”, said the bureau’s director, Abdelhak El Khiam, adding that “100 members of Polisario joined ISIS.”

      BCIJ, which has been contributing in shaping Morocco’s reputation as a country efficiently fighting terrorism, thanks to its security services, pointed out that regional cooperation is necessary in combating terrorism.

      “Cooperation with Mauritania has always been fruitful. There is no obstacle to our sharing information. But as far as Algeria is concerned, I hold Algerian authorities responsible for the lack of a similar cooperation.”…”

  28. Iraqi forces fight door-to-door in Mosul as battles enters seventh month (gulfnews, Apr 17, 2017)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/iraq/iraqi-forces-fight-door-to-door-in-mosul-as-battles-enters-seventh-month-1.2013090

    “Mosul: Iraqi forces gained ground in door-to-door fighting in the Old City of Mosul, a military spokesman said on Monday, as the US-backed offensive to capture Daesh’s de facto capital in Iraq entered its seventh month.

    A Reuters correspondent saw thick smoke billowing over the Old City, near the Grand Al Nouri Mosque, from where Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi declared a “caliphate” spanning parts of Iraq and Syria.

    Heavy exchanges of gunfire and mortar rounds could be heard from the neighbourhoods facing the old city across the Tigris river that bisects Mosul into a western and eastern sides.

    The war between Daesh militants and Iraqi forces is taking a heavy toll on several hundred thousand civilians trapped inside the city, with severely malnourished babies reaching hospitals in government-held areas.

    Iraqi Federal Police forces “are engaged in difficult, house-to-house clashes with Daesh fighters inside the Old City”, a media officer from these units told Reuters…”

  29. Former spokesperson of TTP turns himself in (tribune, Apr 17, 2017)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1386148/former-ttp-spokesperson-ehsanullah-ehsan-surrendered-security-forces-ispr/

    “Former spokesperson for the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and key commander of TTP’s breakaway faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), Ehsanullah Ehsan has turned himself in, the military revealed on Monday.

    Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, the director general the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), revealed the development on Monday at a news briefing in which he also gave an overview of the progress so far achieved in the fight against terrorism since Operation Radd-ul Fasaad was launched in February this year.

    “As far as Ehsanullah Ehsan is concerned, he is in our custody. When there is more information regarding him to share, we will do so,” Maj Gen Ghafoor said without telling when and where Ehsan had turned himself in…”

  30. Taliban kill child and 3 women over alleged cooperation with govt in Sar-e-Pul (khaama, Apr 17, 2017)
    http://www.khaama.com/taliban-kill-child-and-3-women-over-alleged-cooperation-with-govt-in-sar-e-pul-02586

    “The Taliban insurgents have executed a child and three women after charging them with the alleged cooperation with the government in northern Sar-e-Pul province.

    According to the local government officials, the incident took place late on Sunday night in the vicinity of Sayad district.

    Provincial governor’s spokesman Zabiullah Amani confirmed the incident and said the women and the child were shot dead by the insurgents accusing them of helping the government.

    In the meantime, the Taliban insurgents in a statement claimed that a mortar round landed on a residential house in Sayad, leaving three civilians dead.

    The execution of the civilians by the Taliban insurgents comes as the group is accused of two thirds of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

    The UN mission said it documented 11,418 civilian casualties between 1st January 2016 to 31st December, 2016.

    According to the report, 61 percent of all civilian casualties were incurred through attacks by the anti-government elements which includes a total of 6,994 civilian casualties (2,131 deaths and 4,863 injured).”

  31. Islamic State seeking alliance with al Qaeda, Iraqi vice president says (reuters, Apr 17, 2017)
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-islamic-state-idUSKBN17J1DT

    “Islamic State is talking to al Qaeda about a possible alliance as Iraqi troops close in on IS fighters in Mosul, Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said in an interview on Monday.

    Allawi said he got the information on Monday from Iraqi and regional contacts knowledgeable about Iraq.

    “The discussion has started now,” Allawi said. “There are discussions and dialogue between messengers representing Baghdadi and representing Zawahiri,” referring to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda.

    Islamic State split from al Qaeda in 2014 and the two groups have since waged an acrimonious battle for recruits, funding and the mantle of global jihad. Zawahiri has publicly criticized Islamic State for its brutal methods, which have included beheadings, drownings and immolation.

    It is unclear how exactly the two group may work together, Allawi said…”

  32. Debris near Prophet’s Mosque cause hardship (saudigazette, Apr 18, 2017)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/saudi-arabia/debris-near-prophets-mosque-cause-hardship/

    “The accumulation of debris of demolished buildings near the central region of Madinah has been causing environment pollution threatening lives of citizens and visitors, and authorities have been urged to remove the debris quickly before Ramadan when millions of Muslim faithful from around the world visit the Prophet’s Mosque.

    The debris of buildings in the eastern part of the Prophet’s Mosque, adjacent to Baqee graveyard, has been lying there for months threatening safety and security of citizens. Efforts should have been made to remove the debris including metals, cement blocks, plastics, wooden pieces and other construction materials, in order to arrange the area for worshipers to pray in ease and comfort.

    Hundreds of thousands of Muslim faithful line up for the five-time prayers as well as taraweeh and late night prayers during the fasting month of Ramadan. Leftovers of demolition works are likely to cause an environmental and health catastrophe affecting residents and visitors.

    “The accumulation of demolished construction material near the Prophet’s Mosque tarnishes the image of the holy city,” said Abdul Haq Al-Aqabi while speaking to Al-Madina Arabic daily. “It not only gives a bad impression about Madinah and its progress but also pollutes environment and causes health problems to citizens and residents,” he explained…”

  33. There is not a single American expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who supports designating them as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

    Is the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization?

    In Unpacked, Brookings experts provide fact-based analysis of Trump administration policies and news.

    THE ISSUE: Members of the Trump administration have pushed to designate the non-violent Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood a Foreign Terrorist Organization, which could have significant consequences for the U.S., the Middle East, and the world.

    Members of the Trump administration have pushed to designate the Muslim Brotherhood, the world’s oldest and largest Islamist movement, a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

    Islamists believe that Islam and Islamic law should play a central role in public and political life.

    While terrorist organizations like ISIS are on the fringes of the far right of the Islamist spectrum, most Islamists belong to mainstream groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Mainstream Islamist groups accept the nation-state and work within the structures of the nation-state. These groups are not stoking revolution or orchestrating terrorist attacks.

    Though they have differing views on some of the group’s activities, American experts who study the Muslim Brotherhood unanimously oppose their designation as an FTO.

    If the U.S., as the leader of the free world, decides to classify the group as a terrorist
    organization, it opens the door for repressive regimes abroad to crack down on Islamist groups.

    Associating the Brotherhood with terrorism also carries the risk of feeding into ISIS propaganda.

    While Islamists in Muslim Brotherhood-inspired parties participate in the parliamentary process, ISIS rejects the idea that change can be achieved within the political process, and instead promote violence and brute force.

    If the U.S. fails to make the distinction between extreme groups like ISIS and mainstream groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, it supports the idea that there is no room for Islamists in the political process.

    Though Trump has not specifically called the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, members of his administration and surrogates are promoting a false narrative that different U.S. Muslim organizations have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Designating the Brotherhood as an FTO could serve as a smokescreen to attack the American Muslim community through a kind of guilt by association.

    Phrases used by the administration like “radical Islamic terrorism” make for effective rhetoric because they support the idea of a broader struggle between an ideological enemy challenging Judeo-Christina civilization, and not a fight against a very tiny minority of Muslims worldwide who engage in terrorist acts.

    This language works to enlist Americans to join the “civilizational struggle”—an idea once reserved for those from the farthest fringes of the far right in the United States, now held by people in the very center of American power: the White House.

    https://www.brookings.edu/blog/unpacked/2017/04/11/is-the-muslim-brotherhood-a-terrorist-organization/

    • The MB is a terrorist supporting organization with many of its upper echelon doubling as the puppet masters for various terrorist groups.

      • Brookings edu has connection with Qatar. In fact there is Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar. And Qatar is known as supporters of Muslim Brotherhood. So no wonder that Brookings is so set against making Muslim Brothers a terrorist organization

  34. Mark Steyns’ new youtube channel!
    The Mark Steyn Show with Jordan Peterson
    Mark Steyn
    Mark Steyn

  35. Judge: Doctor in Michigan Genital Mutilation Case a Danger to Public

    The doctor insists it wasn’t cutting. But the judge wasn’t convinced and locked her up.

    In a historic female genital mutilation case that has planted a bull’s-eye on what prosecutors are calling an “incredibly secretive” religious ritual, a federal magistrate on Monday denied bond to an Indian-Muslim doctor accused of mutilating the genitals of two Minnesota girls at a Livonia medical clinic.

    The decision to lock up Dr. Jumana Nagarwala,,44, of Northville, came after federal prosecutors called her a flight risk and a danger to the community, saying she has hurt numerous girls for years, knowing it was wrong, and even ignored a 2016 directive by her religious community not to engage in female genital mutilation because it’s illegal in the U.S.

    But it wasn’t just the government’s words that did the doctor in. Rather, an admission by the physician’s own lawyer seemed to weigh heavily with the judge, who in a heated exchange pressed the defense attorney to explain what exactly her client did to two 7-year-old girls on a February night in the undisclosed suburban clinic.

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Mona Majzoub questioned why the two girls were at the clinic after hours, and, why the doctor kept no records of the visits and never billed for them.

    http://www.gopusa.com/?p=23191?omhide=true

  36. Under guidance from a racism task force set up by the city’s mayor, Austin, TX is thinking about creating a $600 million fund that would be used to buy back houses from gentrified areas and turn it into public affordable housing for minorities – including those who were originally displaced by the gentrification.

    According to The New Statesman, the task force’s report “is expected to be a jumping-off point as the city wrestles with issues of racial and economic segregation.”

    The task force was originally created in response to issues of police brutality, but the final list of 237 recommendations is largely centered around the subjects of housing and education for minorities.

    From The New Statesman:

    The report recommends raising $600 million for affordable housing by implementing a “linkage fee” on developers of $2 per square foot of new construction. It also asks the city to use public-owned property to build homes for low income, minority, former East Austin residents who want to return and allow housing including mobile homes or tiny homes on the land.

    Other recommendations offered by the task force include: Having the city provide tax payment assistance to homeowners, hiring minority teachers in groups and then providing them with special housing, and giving financial incentives to real estate agents who “proclaim Austin values of integration, diversity, and inclusion.”

    http://totalconservative.com/austin-wants-take-back-gentrified-neighborhoods/

  37. Turks Vote to Give Away Their Democracy

    by Burak Bekdil
    April 18, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10226/turkey-referendum

    In a bitter irony, nearly 55 million Turks went to the ballot box on April 16 to exercise their basic democratic right to vote. But they voted in favor of giving away their democracy. The system for which they voted looks more like a Middle Eastern sultanate than democracy in the West.

    According to unofficial results of the referendum, 51.4% of the Turks voted in favor of constitutional amendments that will give their authoritarian Islamist president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, excessive powers to augment his one-man rule in comfort.

    The changes make Erdogan head of government, head of state and head of the ruling party — all at the same time. He now has the power to appoint cabinet ministers without requiring a confidence vote from parliament, propose budgets and appoint more than half the members of the nation’s highest judicial body. In addition, he has the power to dissolve parliament, impose states of emergency and issue decrees. Alarmingly, the proposed system lacks the safety mechanisms of checks and balances that exist in other countries such as the United States. It would transfer powers traditionally held by parliament to the presidency, thereby rendering the parliament merely a ceremonial, advisory body.

  38. A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in France and Belgium: March 2017

    by Soeren Kern
    April 18, 2017 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10232/islam-multiculturalism-france-belgium

    March 2. In a landmark trial at the Paris Children’s Court, a 17-year-old Turkish jihadist, identified only as Yussuf K., was sentenced to seven years in prison for attacking Benjamin Amsellem, a Jewish teacher in Marseille, with a machete. Yussuf K. said he carried out the January 2016 attack “in the name of Allah and the Islamic State.” He added that he chose his victim because “he was Jewish.” Yussuf K. was charged with “an individual terrorist attempt and attempted assassination in connection with a terrorist enterprise,” with the aggravating circumstance of anti-Semitism. He was tried as a minor because he was 15 when he carried out the attack. The criminal trial of a minor on terror charges was the first of its kind in France, where some fifty children are currently being investigated for jihadist offenses.

    March 2. The European Parliament voted to lift the immunity from prosecution for National Front leader Marine Le Pen for tweeting images of Islamic State violence. Under French law, publishing violent images can be punished by up to three years in prison and a fine of €75,000 euros ($79,000). Le Pen, a leading candidate in this year’s French presidential election, posted the images in response to a journalist who compared her party’s anti-immigration stance to the Islamic State. Le Pen denounced the legal proceedings against her as political interference in the campaign and called for a moratorium on judicial investigations until the election period has passed.