Reader’s links for May 20 – 2017

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

83 Replies to “Reader’s links for May 20 – 2017”

  3. When Yasmin Shath, a 28-year-old bank clerk, saw the notice on Facebook she froze.

    Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza strip, had announced they were banning dog walking.

    Ms Shath’s thoughts immediately turned to Raed, her family’s lumbering two-year-old German Shepherd who lives in the garage of their home in Gaza City.

    “I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Everyone tagged me in the notice on Facebook because they know I am a dog lover. I thought: this can’t be true.”

    But it was. And in the three weeks since Hamas announced the ban dog owners in Gaza have been forced to keep their pets indoors, often in small apartments with no air conditioning amid the rising summer heat.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/18/hamas-bans-dog-walking-gaza/

  4. THE HAGUE (AFP) – Dutch lawmakers have voiced opposition to a proposal by Amsterdam’s top police official to consider allowing female Muslim agents to wear headscarfs, Dutch media reported Friday.
    At least six major political parties are against plans from Commissioner Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg to introduce Islamic headscarfs to women’s uniforms as part of a recruitment drive to diversify law enforcement in the Dutch capital.

    Aalbersberg on Thursday said he wanted to boost multiculturalism among Amsterdam’s police, saying he wanted at least half of all new recruits in the tourist hotspot to come from a non-Dutch background.

    His proposal also included allowing police officers to wear religious symbols such as crosses, Jewish yarmulkes or Islamic headscarfs.

    “Amsterdam’s population is changing in terms of its make-up. It has to be debated,” he told the daily tabloid Algemeen Dagblad in an interview.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/05/19/dutch-mps-revolt-allowing-police-wear-islamic-headscarf/

  5. Is Europe committing suicide? Controversial book claims elites in UK and the Continent are encouraging mass immigration because they’ve lost faith in historic Christian values
    By DOMINIC SANDBROOK FOR THE DAILY MAIL
    PUBLISHED: 00:27 BST, 20 May 2017 | UPDATED: 01:06 BST, 20 May 2017

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    A couple of days ago, I saw TV footage of the outspoken Labour MP Jess Phillips on the campaign trail, seeking re-election in her suburban Birmingham constituency.

    She was asked which issues voters mentioned most often on the doorstep. Ms Phillips did not miss a beat.

    ‘Immigration comes up…’ she said thoughtfully. And then, as if remembering herself, she started talking about bin collections instead.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-4524218/Book-claims-elites-UK-encouraging-mass-immigration.html

  6. Counting is under away in Iran’s presidential elections, with official turnout said to be at about 70%.
    Supporters of incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, who is seeking a second term, came out in force to vote.
    His main conservative challenger, Ebrahim Raissi, has already lodged complaints about alleged voting irregularities.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39936577

  7. The U.K.’s Foreign Office has issued a terrorism-related travel advisory for its Antarctic territory.

    “Although there’s no recent history of terrorism in the British Antarctic Territory, attacks can’t be ruled out,” says the advisory. “There’s a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against U.K. interests and British nationals, from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria.”

    Increasingly, terrorists look for targets that aren’t well-protected where westerners can be found, says the government. These include places like bars, restaurants, shops, places of worship, tourist sites and transport networks. Significant dates, anniversaries, public holidays, religious festivals and political events have been targeted.

    British Antarctic Territory is a 660,000 square mile part of Antarctica with three research stations and an average population of around 250 people. The Royal Navy maintains an ice patrol vessel in the area during the austral summer.

    http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/uk-issues-antarctic-terrorism-alert

  8. NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Crews in New Orleans on Friday used a crane to lift a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee off its pedestal as the city removed the last of four monuments its leaders see as racially offensive.

    Most of a crowd of about 200 people cheered just after 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) as the bronze figure of Lee with crossed arms was pulled from atop a 60-foot marble column in the center of a busy traffic circle.

    A few hours earlier, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was half a mile away speaking to an audience that included civil rights leaders, city officials and activists, saying the statues celebrated “the lost cause of the Confederacy.”

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/orleans-removes-last-four-statues-linked-pro-slavery-004103228.html

  9. A trio of mysterious Russian government satellites startled space experts when, shortly after blasting into low orbit between 2013 and 2015, they began dramatically changing their orbits, demonstrating a rare degree of maneuverability for small spacecraft.

    Now after being idle for a year or more, two of the mystery-sats are on the move again. On April 20, 2017, one of them reportedly shaved hundreds of meters off its orbit in order to zoom within 1,200 meters of a big chunk of a defunct Chinese weather satellite that China smashed in a controversial 2007 test of an anti-satellite rocket.

    By orbital standards, that’s pretty close.

    The Russian spacecrafts’ impressive maneuvers have got observers scratching their heads. No one outside of the Russian government — and probably the U.S. military — seems to know for sure what the satellites are for.

    http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/russia%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98killer-satellites%E2%80%99-re-awaken/ar-BBBjFHa?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp

  11. DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia said on Friday it had blacklisted Hashem Safieddine, a prominent leader of the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah that is a close ally of Riyadh’s arch-regional adversary Iran.

    The United States Treasury Department also added Safieddine to its counter-terrorism blacklist on Friday, a day before U.S. President Donald Trump travels to Saudi Arabia.

    Riyadh is the first stop on Trump’s maiden international trip since taking office in January, and he is expected to conclude important security and trade agreements there with Saudi officials.

    “The Saudi government today designated a leader of Hezbollah, whose name is Hashem Safieddine,” Saudi state news agency SPA said. Safieddine’s name was posted on the counter terrorism blacklist on the U.S. Treasury Department website.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/saudis-united-states-blacklist-hezbollah-leader-163059818.html

  12. Ok, perhaps not relevant, but definitely curious:

    An Oroville elementary school was hit with one of the most interesting weather phenomenon we’ve ever seen!

    According to school officials, overnight Tuesday, Stanford Elementary in Oroville was hit with a wave of weird weather… it rained fish!

    School officials said the school was covered in tiny fish as a storm cloud passed over the elementary school.

    When students and teachers began arriving on campus, they said they thought someone had played a prank, covering the grounds and even roofs with the tiny fish, hundreds covering the campus.

    But then, it started to rain fish again during school classes and recess, according to the schools librarian, Rachael Thompson.

    http://www.actionnewsnow.com/story/35463479/weird-weather-fish-rains-down-from-clouds-on-oroville-elementary-school

  13. China has for the first time extracted gas from an ice-like substance under the South China Sea considered key to future global energy supply.
    Chinese authorities have described the success as a major breakthrough.
    Methane hydrates, also called “flammable ice”, hold vast reserves of natural gas.
    Many countries including the US and Japan are working on how to tap those reserves, but mining and extracting are extremely difficult.
    What is ‘flammable ice’?
    The catchy phrase describes a frozen mixture of water and gas.

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-39971667

  14. TORONTO — Gender-neutral birth certificates could be issued in Ontario as early as next year, provided the province can work out bureaucratic hurdles involving other governments.
    Ontario’s minister of government and consumer services said Thursday consultations will be held on the matter this summer and the province is working to ensure a gender-neutral birth certificate would be legally recognized in other jurisdictions.
    Tracy MacCharles said she’s hopeful Ontario can issue gender-neutral birth certificates by 2018.
    RELATED STORIES
    Ontario-born filmmaker applies for non-binary birth certificate
    Federal government will soon drop mention of gender from ID, activist says
    MacCharles said she’s asked the ministry to reach out to Joshua M. Ferguson — an Ontario-born filmmaker who applied last week to have a change of sex designation on their birth certificate from male to non-binary — a term used to define someone who doesn’t identify with either gender. The minister said she knows the issue is important to the trans and non-binary community.
    Ferguson, who wants to be referred to by the gender-neutral pronouns “they/them/their,” said they’re pleased to see the government moving forward on the issue.

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/gender-neutral-birth-certificates-could-be-issued-in-ontario-by-2018-1.3419952

  15. Not a time-sensitive issue – but one that is important. Thomas Sowell is one of the most brilliant minds of our millennium.

    Thomas Sowell – A Brief History of Slavery

  16. BBC Holds Personal Data, Threatens To Contact Employers If Users Leave ‘Offensive’ Comments On Articles (breitbart, May 20, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/05/20/bbc-threatens-to-contact-your-boss-if-an-online-comments-is-perceived-as-illegal/

    “The BBC has revealed it will use people’s “personal information” to “stop” them being “disruptive” or “offensive” online, as well as threatening to inform users employer if they are perceived to have broken the law.

    The national broadcaster revealed the threat in a new 28-page ‘Privacy and Cookies Policy’ document, which contained a section on “offensive or inappropriate content”.

    “If you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to BBC websites or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour on any BBC service, the BBC may use your personal information to stop such behaviour”, the section claimed.

    It is unclear how the BBC would deploy user’s personal information to alter their behaviour online, and there are not detail given as to what actions they would include within the broad and subjective bracket of “offensive, inappropriate or objectionable”.

    The threat to contract third parties such as “your employer, school email/internet provider or law enforcement agencies” about “content and your behaviour” is limited to “where the BBC reasonably believes that you are or may be in breach of any applicable laws”.

    However, why the BBC might want to peruse people via their job or education – rather than allowing the criminal justice system to run its course – is also unclear…”

  17. Iraq: Suicide attack near oil-rich Basra kills at least 8 (abcnews, May 20, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraq-suicide-attack-oil-rich-basra-kills-47526977

    “A suicide bombing near the oil-rich city of Basra killed at least eight people as the Islamic State group took the fight against Iraqi forces deep into the country’s south, a military commander said Saturday.

    Five civilians and three troops were killed when the bomber blew up his explosives-laden car on Friday at a checkpoint north of Basra just behind a bus waiting to be cleared, said chief of the Basra Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Jamil al-Shimmari.

    At least 41 others were wounded, al-Shimmari said.

    A second attacker drove down a desert road after the explosion and security forces killed him, al-Shimmari added…”

  18. Police: 15 wounded in grenade attacks in northwest Pakistan (abcnews, May 20, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/police-15-wounded-grenade-attacks-northwest-pakistan-47525668

    “Pakistani police say assailants in a series of attacks have thrown grenades at a school and four homes in a northwestern town, wounding 15 people before fleeing.

    Police official Zaman Khan says Saturday’s attacks took place in the town of Shabqadar, which is located near Mohmand tribal agency. He says police have launched a hunt for those responsible.

    Khan says no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which caused panic among residents.

    Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of Pakistani Taliban militants, has claimed previous bomb attacks in the region in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistan’s army has been fighting militants for the past several years.

    The latest attacks came days after the military said it has eliminated terrorism.”

  19. Harsh sentences for IS sympathizers in Brazil test new law (abcnews, May 20, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/harsh-sentences-sympathizers-brazil-test-law-47525228

    “After months of trading messages on social media praising violence by the Islamic State militant group, Leonid El Kadre de Melo said it was time to act.

    “I want to be clear,” he wrote in a message recovered by Brazilian authorities on the eve of the Rio 2016 Olympics. “My intention is to put together a real and concrete group” to launch attacks.

    While de Melo’s defenders portray that message as a bit of social media bravado, it alarmed Brazilian officials worried that the global Games could prove a target for terrorists. De Melo and 12 other men were detained in July during a high-profile sweep under a new law that greatly widened the scope of what could be considered terrorism in Latin America’s largest nation.

    This month, he and seven other of the men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 years to nearly 16 for de Melo, labelled by authorities as the group’s leader.

    The first — and so far only — use of the law has been controversial in Brazil, a nation that has never suffered a known Islamist terror attack and in a broader region where they have been extremely rare.

    Former Public Security Secretary Jose Vicente da Silva said the quick reaction of officials “was the only thing that could stop such a crime,” and said the sentence was justified given the threat the men posed.

    But others suggested the law goes too far…”

  20. BBC will shop viewers to their BOSS if they post ‘offensive’ online comments in shock new policy blasted as ‘Orwellian’ by privacy campaigners
    EXCLUSIVE: BBC says personal information can be used if users are ‘offensive’
    Policy sparks furious backlash online with corporation accused of ‘blackmail’
    Free speech campaigner Tom Slater says: ‘That anyone could draft this without getting flashes of Nineteen Eighty-Four is beyond me’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4524810/BBC-threat-report-offensive-comments-users-BOSSES.html#ixzz4hcFtQfNX
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

  21. ISIS tested ‘chemical weapons’ on live victims in horrific ‘Nazi style’ experiments, documents found at university in Mosul reveal (dailymail, May 20, 2017)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4524928/ISIS-tested-chemical-weapons-live-victims.html

    “Horrifying experiments are being carried out on ISIS prisoners as the terror group tries to develop chemical weapons, documents reveal.

    Iraqi special forces have uncovered details of the use of human ‘guinea pigs’ – who died during testing – after Mosul University was recaptured from jihadists.

    Papers seen by The Times show terrorists have been using easily-obtainable pesticides to develop chemical weapons in experiments likened to Nazi research.

    It comes after it emerged ISIS has recruited weapons experts from around the world and shifted its research operation to Syria.

    British and US intelligence services, which have verified the documents, fear the weapons could be used on targets in the West.

    Shocking details of the cruel experiments reveal that one man, who died after 10 days, was fed thallium sulphate, which caused severe swelling to his stomach and brain.

    Thallium sulphate is a highly poisonous agent which has been used as rat poison.

    In a second documented experiment, a nicotine agent was injected into a man held captive by ISIS, and he died within two hours, The Times reports.

    Chemical weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told the newspaper: ‘This is a horrifying throwback to the Nazis who would test nerve gas agents on humans.’

    The university was recaptured in January, having been used by jihadists for chemical weapons testing for three years.

    Since the city was recaptured, ISIS has moved its research operation to Syria…”

  25. Military jets scramble to escort Honolulu-bound American Airlines flight after cockpit incident

    Two military fighter jets escorted a Honolulu-bound American Airlines aircraft on Friday after a man allegedly tried to break into the cockpit.

    The airline said Flight 31, an Airbus A321 aircraft, landed safety at Honolulu International Airport at 11:35 a.m. local time. The flight originated from Los Angeles International Airport.

    “Two Pacific Command F-22 Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard scrambled this morning in response to a reported disturbance on a civilian airliner making an approach to Honolulu International Airport,” U.S. Navy Commander Dave Benham told CNBC in an emailed statement.

    According to the U.S. Pacific Command spokesman, the fighter jets “escorted the airliner to the airport in accordance with homeland defense procedures. Local law enforcement responded once the civilian airliner was on the ground.”

    “Due to a disturbance during the flight, the crew requested that law enforcement meet the aircraft upon landing in Honolulu,” American said. “American is in touch with federal law enforcement.”

    http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/19/man-detained-after-trying-to-break-into-honolulu-bound-american-airlines-flight.html

    • Suspect in cockpit threat on Honolulu flight had been detained at LAX

      HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) –

      A Turkish national who tried to break into the cockpit Friday of a Honolulu-bound flight was subdued by passengers and flight crew shortly after charging his way into the first-class cab

      They used duct tape, pillows and blankets to make sure he couldn’t get out of his seat in a security scare that prompted U.S. Pacific Command to scramble two F-22 Raptors from the Hawaii Air National Guard, which escorted the flight into Honolulu International Airport about 11:35 a.m.

      The man, identified as 25-year-old Anil Uskanli, was on board AA Flight 31, which departed from Los Angeles International Airport at 8:34 a.m. local time.

      The Los Angeles airport police said at LAX, Uskanli was involved in a separate security incident and was detained but subsequently released.

      Police said the suspect went through a door from an LAX concourse that led onto an airfield ramp. He was spotted by a contractor and detained. Airport police investigated and determined that Uskanli had been drinking. He was arrested for misdemeanor trespassing, cited and released.

      http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/35473697/passenger-subdued-after-trying-to-break-into-cockpit-of-honolulu-bound-flight

  26. North Korea says U.S. has to roll back ‘hostile policy’ before talks

    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – North Korea’s deputy U.N. envoy said on Friday the United States needed to roll back its “hostile policy” toward the country before there could be talks as Washington raised concern that Pyongyang could be producing a chemical used in a nerve agent.

    “As everybody knows, the Americans have gestured (toward) dialogue,” North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Kim In Ryong, told reporters on Friday. “But what is important is not words, but actions.”

    “The rolling back of the hostile policy towards DPRK is the prerequisite for solving all the problems in the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “Therefore, the urgent issue to be settled on Korean Peninsula is to put a definite end to the U.S. hostile policy towards DPRK, the root cause of all problems.”

    North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), has vowed to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead that can strike the mainland United States, saying the program is necessary to counter U.S. aggression.

    U.S. President Donald Trump warned in an interview with Reuters in late April that a “major, major conflict” with North Korea was possible, but said he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute over its nuclear and missile programs.

    http://www.oann.com/north-korea-says-u-s-has-to-roll-back-hostile-policy-before-talks/

  27. That sensitive intel source Trump did NOT disclose to the Russians? Jordan says it’s not even Israel
    By J.E. Dyer May 19, 2017

    On one front, this is actually laugh-out-loud funny.

    Let’s begin with the caveat that there could be multiple motives for making the kind of disclosure Jordanian officials have reportedly made here. But it’s extremely doubtful that any of the motives is helping President Trump’s political situation.

    What the report about Jordanian disclosures does, however, is negate entirely the MSM theme that Trump exposed a sensitive Israeli source within ISIS, by talking to the Russians.

    In doing so, it seems to suggest that the leakers who told the mainstream media about this supposed gaffe — U.S. officials purporting to give information of great certainty — didn’t know what they were talking about.

    Trump, remember, never said Israel was the source of the intelligence behind the laptop ban on commercial flights from potential-threat countries. H.R. McMaster confirmed that Trump didn’t say it, but even the original leak to the Washington Post phrased the supposed error by Trump as a disclosure of too much other information, which would allow the Russians to figure out the source of the intel.

    It was the next day that the anonymous leakers first brought up the name “Israel.” If WaPo, the New York Times, and Wall Street Journal wrote it down right, their leak sources were very sure the sensitive intel source was Israel.

    Now the Jordanians say it wasn’t.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/05/19/sensitive-intel-source-trump-not-disclose-russians-jordan-says-not-even-israel/

  29. This one is 4 you donkeyman.
    How RICK & MORTY Tells A Story (The Ricks Must Be Crazy) – Wisecrack Edition
    Wisecrack
    Wisecrack

  31. Confirmed: Putin’s election hacking was about hurting Hillary Clinton, not helping Donald Trump
    By LU Staff May 19, 2017

    U.S. intelligence overhead a Russian operative brag about targeting Hillary Clinton in the upcoming 2016 presidential election as payback for an “influence campaign” the former secretary of state ran against Vladimir Putin five years earlier.

    Senior intelligence officials told Time that a Russian military intelligence officer with GRU said his group “was going to cause chaos in the upcoming U.S. election” to “pay Clinton back for what President Vladimir Putin believed was an influence operation she had run against him” during Russian elections.

    In December 2011, protests broke out in 70 Russian cities “organized on social media by a popular blogger named Alexei Navalny, who used his blog as well as Twitter and Facebook to get crowds in the streets,” Time reported.

    Protesters took to the streets amid allegations Putin’s party United Russia rigged the election results. The protests were the largest demonstrations since the 1990s and bled into Putin’s 2012 presidential campaign.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/05/19/confirmed-putins-election-hacking-hurting-hillary-clinton-not-helping-donald-trump/

  32. Loose lips sink secrecy: Lip-readers take on Kim Jong-Un’s public appearances
    By Thomas P. Logan May 19, 2017

    So just how does an inner-circle official in elusive North Korea pass the time in small talk conducted with the illustrious marshal Kim Jong-Un, the GenX-aged dictator veiled in layers of inscrutable and intentional secrecy? Very likely, with nervous, self-effacing bowing and scraping, in humble agreement with anything the mercurial leader orders. Certainly, if he knows what is good for himself and his extended family.

    Thanks to the recent work of South Korean lip-readers activated by Japanese television, who analyzed the young Kim’s public conversations in the last few weeks, the outside world may have gained a slightly better idea of things.

    The first intriguing peek behind the curtain came at the annual North Korean Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang on April 11. Launching the rubber-stamp legislative confab, North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-Un arrogantly appeared to extended applause and wild cheers by the deputies who packed the auditorium. He took the center of the platform, surrounded on the dais by the politburo of his Korean Workers Party (KWP) and fellow deputies.

    Ten minutes later, KWP Vice Chairman O Su-Yong was seen crouching subserviently next to the young chairman, who is easily 40 years his junior. And Kim Jong-Un did not seem to have particularly kind words for O Su-Yong. In fact, it seemed like he was chewing the vice chair out over something important.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/05/19/loose-lips-sink-secrecy-lip-readers-take-kim-jong-uns-public-appearances/

  33. Macron riles French media with reporter ban

    President Emmanuel Macron has had his first major spat with the media since taking power, after his team imposed restrictions on which journalists could travel with him on a trip to visit French troops stationed in west Africa.

    The move, which echoes similar conflicts over media coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency in the United States, sparked an angry joint response by more than 20 of the country’s top media outlets, including Le Monde newspaper, Agence France-Presse and state-owned broadcaster France 3.

    “In no case must the Elysee decide on those of us who are entitled or not to cover a visit, whatever the theme is,” they wrote in an open letter which was also signed by the press freedom group Reporters
    Without Borders.

    It said none of Macron’s predecessors at the Elysée had singled out reporters to accompany them on trips and said it was not up to the president or his staff to decide on “the internal functioning of the media organizations, their coverage choices and their approach.”

    The protest came after Macron’s office called media organisations to invite specific journalists who would be able to cover his first official trip outside of Europe, which on Friday was taking him to visit French troops deployed in Mali to help fight radical Islamists in west Africa.

    Officials said that having a media scrum following the president’s every move often hampered his communication with the people he met, and that the plan was to invite journalists who specialised in the theme that was central to each trip.

    Government spokesman Christophe Castaner later insisted that both he and the president were committed to letting journalists do their jobs.

    “I’m taking note of your concerns and I will pass them on,” he told reporters.

    Reporters Without Borders, which puts France in 39th position in its 2017 world press freedom index, said that the restrictions could be used as a way to pressure media.

    https://www.thelocal.fr/20170519/macron

    ( Where are the articles in American and Canadian MSM condemning Macron? Where is the article in CBC? Where is the EU Venice commission accusing France of lack of democracy? Where are protests on the streets? )

  34. Audio Analysis: Erdogan Goons Were Told To ‘Attack’ Protesters

    Audiovisual analysis of footage recorded at the Turkish embassy on Tuesday sheds light on the verbal commands given by Turkey’s president prior to his bodyguards’ attack on a group of Kurdish protesters.

    A professional sound editor named Salih Ferad conducted the analysis on behalf of The Daily Caller.

    Using noise reduction and volume enhancement techniques, Ferad determined that Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail shouted out the phrases “he says attack” and “come, come, come” as they charged the protesters.

    The battle cries came just after Erdogan appeared to relay orders to his personal bodyguard while sitting in the back of a black Mercedes Benz outside of the embassy.

    In video of that scene, recorded by Voice of America Turkish news service, Erdogan’s bodyguard stands up from the Mercedes and appears to relay a message to another man who was positioned closer to the street level action. The man then turns and rushes quickly in the direction of the protests. Shouting is heard, and Erdogan’s security staff was seen storming the protesters.

    Erdogan’s security detail won the street battle. Suit-clad men from the pro-Erdogan side of the fracas were recorded kicking protesters in the head and choking others. Nine people were injured, one seriously.

    The incident has increased tensions between the U.S. and Turkish governments. It also comes as Erdogan is in the midst of a crackdown on dissenters at home.

    Ferad analyzed the VOA Turkish video, which shows Erdogan calmly watching as the brawl unfolds yards away.

    Using noise isolation techniques, Ferad says that the words “dal?n diyor, servet abi dal?n diyor” can be heard coming from the presidential guard just after Erdogan is seen speaking with his bodyguard.

    That translates to “he says attack servet abi, he says attack.” Another translation of the phrase is “he says dive in” or “plunge in.”

    “Servet” is the name of the person being addressed, and “abi” translates to the term of endearment, “older brother.”

    In a second video recorded in the middle of the brawl, Erdogan’s men are heard yelling “gel gel gel” — “come, come, come” — and “dal?n diyor dal?n diyor dal?n diyor,” or “he says attack.”

    Ferad included timestamps and captions in the videos he analyzed.

    The State Department has said it is investigating the incident and also issued a statement condemning the Turkish government “in the strongest possible terms.”

    The embassy responded by claiming that Erdogan’s protection detail was acting in “self-defense” against the protesters, which the Turkish government claims were terrorists associated with PKK, a left-wing Kurdish political party.

    Several lawmakers blasted Erdogan and his goons. The video of Erdogan hanging out in his Mercedes and apparently ordering the onslaught also led to widespread outrage on social media.

    Arizona Sen. John McCain said in an interview on Thursday that the U.S. government should throw Turkey’s ambassador, Serdar Kilic, “the hell out of the United States of America.”

    In one video recorded of Tuesday’s events, Kilic is seen confronting a Washington, D.C. police officer who was trying to break up the street fight.

    “You cannot touch us,” he tells the officer, seemingly citing diplomatic immunity granted to registered diplomatic agents.

    http://dailycaller.com/2017/05/18/audio-analysis-erdogan-goons-were-told-to-attack-protesters-video

    • DAILY MAIL – ITALY – Obama shows Trump how to golf in style: Former president tees off on exclusive course in Tuscany at the start of his six-day vacation with Michelle in private Italian villa

      Barack and Michelle Obama flew into a Tuscany military base on Friday, escorted by six fighter jets
      They were escorted in a 13-car motorcade to Borgo Finocchieto, a refurbished 14th century village
      The five-building, six-acre space is owned by Obama’s former ambassador to Italy, John Philips
      It features 22 bedrooms, multiple saunas and Jacuzzis, a swimming pool, a gym and a basketball court
      It’s also surrounded by beautiful rolling hills that can be explored by car, helicopter or even hot air balloon
      The Obamas, who have been on multiple vacations since leaving the White House, will reportedly visit Florence and Siena during their vacation
      Barack has already been spotted playing golf on the course of Castiglione del Bosco in Tuscany Saturday

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4525708/Barack-Obama-plays-exclusive-Italian-golf-course.html

  38. Syria: Hundreds of opposition fighters evacuated from Damascus outskirts

    Hundreds of anti-government militants were evacuated from the neighbourhood of Barzeh in the outskirts of Damascus, along with their family members, Saturday.

    Local media reported that the militants and their families used buses provided by the Syrian government, by which they will be transported to Idlib.

    • Syria: 300 anti-govt fighters leave Homs’ last opposition-held district

      Some 300 anti-government fighters and their families rejecting the reconciliation agreement boarded buses in Homs’ al-Waer neighbourhood, bound for Idlib and Jarablus, Saturday, in the final phase of a transfer deal, aimed at reducing fighting in the area.

    • You win wars by breaking the peoples will to resist, this was how we defeated Germany and Japan. Trying to do it any other way only extends the length of the war and increases the number killed.

  43. Italy: ‘No person is illegal’ – Anti-racist march against immigration policies

  45. (COLLEGE PARK, Md.)— Police say a student was fatally stabbed at the University of Maryland campus in what appears to be a random attack.
    Local news media outlets report that the Bowie State University student was with two friends at the College Park campus around 3 a.m. Saturday when a University of Maryland student walked up and stabbed him in the chest.
    Police say the victim was pronounced dead at the hospital.
    Police say the attack was random and unprovoked and that the victim and suspect didn’t know each other.

    http://time.com/4787347/student-fatally-stabbed-university-of-maryland/

  47. Why Mexican Immigration WILL END the United States
    Black Pigeon Speaks
    Black Pigeon Speaks

    • Let the good folks at TCTH have their fun with this stuff. No one deserves pleasure more than those stalwart patriots.

      But here I must say I’m skipping this garbage pageantry. It’s not the Court of St. James and these aren’t our friends.

      The Sand-Devils are cursing us all – loathsome snakes. Appalling remarks about the women. Their open contempt is plain to every speaker of Arabic. It won’t appear in official media organs because they’ve got the best Western PR firms money can buy.

      MSM in Israel is in suck-up mode. But the blogs are full of Arabic-speakers – plus plenty of lip-readers. And the Gulf sheiks know it. So they’re broadcasting to Israelis too, a disgusting in-joke.

      There’s also a heavy dose of hypocrisy on our side. The Kushners embellish their style by “identifying” themselves as “Orthodox Jews”. It’s a kind of kinky unique that some find intriguing.

      Female impersonators can be convincing if you don’t look too closely and want to believe they’re biological females. Israelis are grasping this “self-identification” fraud because they’re just plain desperate.

  49. Montreal byelection campaign poster promotes racism: critics

    A campaign sign in the Montreal riding of Gouin is turning heads and stirring up controversy as some say it promotes racism.

    It was located right outside the exit of Beaubien metro station and promotes Alexandre Cormier-Denis, one of the candidates in the May 29 byelection to replace Francoise David.

    The poster depicts two women, one with a toque and another one with a niqab and asks people to “choose their Quebec.”

    At the bottom it reads, “Canadian multiculturalism, no thanks!”

    Cormier-Denis, who is running for the Parti Indépendantiste, told Global News that he meant for the ad to remove hindrances to the debate over multiculturalism.

    “We think the debate over Canadian multiculturalism in Quebec is far from over,” Cormier-Denis said.

    Police received several complaints soon after the poster went up on Thursday.

    Officers asked the city to take it down while they looked into it.

    “It proves there is a democratic problem in Quebec and that we’re incapable of stepping out of the politically correct discourse,” Cormier-Denis said.

    The candidate said the ad helped his party brand itself as the “sovereigntist, independentist and patriot option.”

    His critics, including one of the candidates running against him in the race, don’t agree with his methods.

    He believes Gouin’s multicultural voters won’t buy into it.

    And people who spoke to Global News agreed.

    “It makes me feel uncomfortable just thinking about it,” Benjamin Molina-Ramirez said.

    Cormier-Denis argued that he’s in tune with his voters.

    There is nothing in Quebec’s electoral law that regulates the content of a campaign ad.

    As far as the law is concerned, anything goes as long as it has the candidate’s stamp of approval.

    Police determined that the ad is not breaking any laws. That means it can be displayed.

    “I don’t think police will give it back to us, but we will put others up,” Cormier-Denis said.

    http://globalnews.ca/news/3466234/alexandre-cormier-denis-campaign-poster-gouin/

    ============================================

    Controversial ‘Choose your Quebec’ sign re-installed near métro station

    After removing a controversial political sign outside Beaubien métro Friday, police have allowed it to be re-installed.

    The sign depicts two women — one wearing a blue tuque and another wearing the Muslim niqab — and invites voters to “Choose your Quebec.” Police took it down after receiving several complaints Thursday that the sign targeted Muslims and bordered on hate speech.

    However after investigating the matter, police determined that it does not meet the criminal definition of hate speech. A spokesperson for the Montreal police said that while the sign may be in poor taste, 🙂 🙂 🙂 it also belongs to a political party recognized by the province’s electoral officer.

    The controversial poster belongs to the Parti indépendantiste, whose candidate Alexandre Cormier-Denis is one of 13 people running in a May 29 provincial by-election in the Gouin riding.

    The sign reads: “Chose your Quebec. Canadian multiculturalism: No thank you!”

    One of the candidate’s supporters tweeted Thursday about an “altercation with anglophones” while the sign was being installed and blamed the controversy on the “ultra left.”

    “The sign was taken down by a police mistake. But it will soon reappear, to the displeasure of the totalitarian (multiculturalists),” Cormier-Denis tweeted Friday. Addressing the controversy, the candidate posted that 79 per cent of Quebecers are against government employees wearing Muslim head coverings.

    Cormier-Denis is a supporter of the French Front National, a party whose far-right policies target immigrants and Muslims. In fact, the sign outside Beaubien métro was cribbed from a similar poster by the Front National.

    http://montrealgazette.com/news/controversial-choose-your-quebec-sign-re-installed-near-metro-station

  50. Venezuela: Violence continues as anti-govt. protesters battle police in Caracas