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.
Oh those nutty hypocritical “feminist” Greens!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-03/greens-push-for-tougher-privacy-revenge-porn-laws-in-canberra/8585620
Sharing intimate photos of Muslim women without hijabs or people in change rooms could be criminalised in Canberra under a push by the Greens to strengthen privacy laws.
If passed, it would become the strongest privacy laws in the country, extending far beyond criminalising revenge porn.
“We’re talking about things that are more than just sexual,” Greens MLA Caroline Le Couteur said.
“We’re talking about things like a photograph potentially of a Muslim woman who normally would wear a hijab when she’s out, and her community expects her to wear a hijab.
“That would be for her community potentially an intimate image, but not, of course, a sexual image.”
‘White genocide simulator’ Far Cry 5 causes controversy
Far Cry 5 is being celebrated by many online, but others aren’t happy with the little revealed about the game so far.
“Liberals are tripping over themselves in an orgy of self-gratification at the prospect of shooting potential Trump voters in the virtual space,” writes William Hicks on Heatstreet.
“[A ‘cuck’ is] absolutely gushing at the prospect of playing the most egregious white genocide simulator since Battlefield 1.”
Rage is brewing on various forums online over Far Cry 5, with some calling for a boycott. As always, whether these are trolls or genuinely concerned gamers is difficult to ascertain, but there’s certainly heated discussion going on.
NOTE: As one reply mentioned:
“Not brave enough to be Islamic extremists?”
US aircraft carriers join Japanese forces off North Korean coast for military training
United States aircraft carriers joined Japanese forces in the Sea of Japan on Thursday for training exercises, creating the largest display of naval power near the peninsula since North Korea’s recent successful missile tests.
USS Ronald Reagan and USS Carl Vinson strike groups trained with 10 other warships, including two carrier air wings, in the routine exercise, according to the U.S. Navy.
“Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. Navy forces routinely train together to improve interoperability and readiness to provide stability and security for the Indo-Asia Pacific region,” the Pentagon said.
Venezuela’s descent into anarchy is only beginning
Venezuela is on the brink of civil war.
Its economy has collapsed, its people are starving, and its government is to blame — although its grip on power is still strong enough that, as we’ll get to in a minute, Goldman Sachs sure seems like it’s betting that it will continue. Which is to say that things are about as dire as could be. The people are desperate, but so is the regime since it’s terrified of facing any consequences for what is has done. The result has been a crescendo of state violence against the backdrop of a humanitarian catastrophe.
So much for la revolución.
It’s hard to describe the scale of Venezuela’s suffering. Despite having the largest oil reserves in the world, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Venezuela’s economy is set to shrink for the fourth straight year, this time by 7.4 percent, and that its inflation rate is going to get all the way up to — this is not a typo — 1,134 percent. If that’s right, then its economy will finish the year 32 percent smaller than it was at the start of 2014, and its prices will be 105 times higher. Going by black market rates, Venezuela’s currency has lost 29.9 percent of its value in the last month, 83.4 percent in the last year, and 99.8 percent in the last five years. Venezuela has gotten a Great Depression-style crash at the same time that it’s gotten Weimar-style hyperinflation.
How has a country that should have been so rich ended up so poor that it can’t even feed itself? Indeed, according to a recent survey, three-quarters of Venezuela’s adult population lost an average of 19 pounds the past year. Not to mention that the country’s infant mortality rate has shot up 30 percent during this time because of malnutrition and a lack of basic medical supplies. (More at link)
Marxism at work, this is the end result of all Marxist economics, the milder Keynesian/socialist economics that all western nations are using is doing to same thing to the west but it is hampered by the fact that the US keeps bouncing back to semi Capitalism. We are fighting a rear guard action because the world’s economy is so integrated that when one major western nation collapses it will drag down the rest. All of the money men I know who aren’t Keynesians are saying that it is a minor miracle that the worlds economy hasn’t crashed and that the moves the Western nations are taking to prevent a crash will make the coming crash much worse.
“All of the money men I know who aren’t Keynesians are saying that it is a minor miracle that the world’s economy hasn’t crashed and that the moves the Western nations are taking to prevent a crash will make the coming crash much worse.”
You definitely want to read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s, “The Black Swan — The Impact of the Highly Improbable (free pdf). It’s worth perusing, if only for the author’s relentless—and frequently hilarious—derision of economists, forecasters, investment bankers, stockbrokers, and every last other “expert” (yes, those are sneer quotes) in the financial sector.
One exceptionally lucid point the author makes is how globalization has tied together all of the world’s collective economic “boats”. And while a rising tide may tend to float many of them, a single tsunami will wash every last one out to sea.
In this respect, he reserves spacial contempt for the multinationals that have so thoroughly interlaced numerous economies which are, otherwise, entirely incompatible. America and Communist China spring to mind.
Few better examples of this unhealthy cross-connection come to hand than that of the Euro. Corrupt nations like Greece are allowed to siphon off the wealth of productive countries like Germany without fear of currency devaluation—the bogeyman of this world’s once quasi-functional economic system.
Taleb explicitly predicts that some unexpected (i.e., highly improbable “Black Swan) event will now be capable of crashing the entire world’s economy because of this vast horizontal integration of financial instruments.
We can only hope that the Euro tanks first as that will choke off a majority of attempts at establishing an alternative currency basket. See:
BRICS Woes: Plunging Currency Values Belie Talk Of Challenging Dollar
I worded that badly I should have said rich industrialists, I know a few, not many but a few and they are the ones saying that a crash is coming. One has pulled just about all of his money out of stocks and bonds because of the danger from the Keynesian policies, the others have shelters a large percentage of their money. My experience in accounting tell me the same thing, there are several bubbles right now and if/when one bursts all of them burst, this will create the perfect economic storm. I don’t think most of the western nations will go full Venezuela but things will get real bad.
Have the book downloaded, when (probably a couple of months from now) I get the time and get a printer I willprint the book and set down to read it in comfort rather then setting at the computer.
“I will print the book and set down to read it in comfort rather then setting at the computer.”
Save your money and check it out from the library. At 400 pages, printing a copy would use $50.00 worth of ink.
Or you can order a used copy from Amazon. See:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1400063515/ref=tmm_hrd_used_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=used&qid=&sr=
Prices start at $1.32
NOTE: This book starts out rather dry because Taleb necessarily must acquaint the reader with specific terms and concepts. After the first 100 pages, things really start moving.
YT – 2 Video Audiobook
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw5t2ssQWwC8Y45qUHjuL6A
Thank you will download and burn to DVD as soon as the downloader is through with some old western movies I am getting.
Thank you, again, EB. I’m not a big fan of audio books but whatever it takes to get this information in the hands of other people is fine with me.
While I won’t give away any punchlines, well into this book the author details his visit with the security executives of a Las Vegas casino. Taleb marvels at the 007 levels of surveillance and threat detection,
He then goes on to list the three “Black Swan” events that happened at the casino. None of which their multi-million dollar security system was capable of doing anything about.
It is a superb lesson about “unknown unknowns”, which is a large part of Taleb’s theory about “The Impact of the Highly Improbable”.
Enjoy!
New Pentagon video shows dramatic missile intercept in Pacific
WASHINGTON — New video released by the Pentagon shows the successful test of a missile defense system meant to protect against an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) under development by North Korea.
The video shows the launch of a target missile from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on Tuesday, followed by a shot of an interceptor missile launching from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Note they are all talking about this system not a word said about Aegis, THAAD or Patriot systems.
“not a word said about Aegis”
Phased array radar—with its insane sensitivity, selectivity, multi-targeting, and ability to be steered from a statically-based mounting—has to be one of the most powerful military sensing applications ever invented. Only the KH satellites can hold a candle to such technology.
Sadly, the problem remains that (as the old bumper sticker reads):
“Just one nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day.”
No one in their right mind would ever label a system as being 100% effective and that spec is what a nuclear defensive screen has to meet. Just one more reason for maintaining MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction). None of which is protection against a psycho like Fat Boy Kim. Just one more reason why he needs to be liquidated STAT. I don’t care if they have to render him first.
1) It doesn’t have to be 100% effective to work, 60 to 80% effective will stop the rational enemies. When you don’t know which warheads will get through you can’t be sure they will remove the targets that would be used to retaliate against your strike.
1) The US is the only Super power that bought into the MAD idea, China, the Soviets and all other potential targets are all working on building shelters for their people. Only the “compassionate” US doesn’t work to ensure its citizens or a large percentage of them survive a nuclear strike. Yes the quote marks are sarcasm.
“It doesn’t have to be 100% effective to work…”
Maybe not against just a handful of incoming tracks—such as those that North Korea might launch.
“…60 to 80% effective will stop the rational enemies.”
The key issue being that any mention of Psycho Fat Boy Kim and the word “rational” do not belong together on the same page, much less in the same paragraph, sentence or phrase. Ergo, deterrence is a foreign concept to this podgy little turd, even as he continues to float about in the East Asian punch bowl.
Complicating this is how the ChiComs and NORKs have their own secret little “deal-with-devil”. The undocumented codicils of “mutual support” and anti-Western strategies they’ve arranged probably make Western intelligence agencies squirt at the mere thought of overhearing any of their negotiations.
Even now, I cannot foresee anything but Beijing keeping up its all-too-familiar, decades old kabuki treadmill that they have in the past. Bush 2.0 and 0bama (gotta have a zero in there for both of them) may as well have rewarded this Asian pantomime horse with all of their limp, detumescence, flailing about.
The only thing which might possibly change that scenario is a comprehensive trade embargo imposed upon Red China by America (preferably in coordination with the EU and several other large trading partners). Talk about pipe dreams!
“The US is the only Super power that bought into the MAD idea…”
While that may be the case, both Bear and Dragon damn well know that building all the civilian shelters in the world won’t change what it means to crawl out of the rubble and face rebuilding hydroelectric dams with picks and shovels (colloquially known as “idiot sticks”).
“Only the “compassionate” US doesn’t work to ensure its citizens or a large percentage of them survive a nuclear strike.”
Strange as it sounds—and, yes, it does sound crazier than an outhouse rat—MAD policy allowed America to take the proverbial “Moral High Ground” back when that trio of now-shopworn words still retained a smidgen of Cold-War-Era diplomatic or political meaning.
As in; this Post-Modern generation is, all too likely, utterly incapable of even remotely conceiving (much less slightly appreciating) why, where, when, and how the Moral High Ground played even a nominally suasive role in productively polarizing the nonaligned, supposedly “neutral”, and fence-sitting blocs or nations away from any allegiance to the Soviet Communists.
Don’t forget that they don’t have to hit head on, an chemical explosive warhead with ball bearings exploded near the incoming missile will destroy enough of the controls to prevent the nuke from exploding. and they would also damage the heat shield, with luck to the point the warhead burns up.
Deep heat may have spawned one of the world’s deadliest tsunamis
Chemical transformations in minerals deep beneath the seafloor could explain why Indonesia’s 2004 mega-earthquake was unexpectedly destructive, researchers report in the May 26 Science.
The magnitude 9.2 quake and the tsunami that it triggered killed more than 250,000 people, flattened villages, and swept homes out to sea across Southeast Asia. It was one of the deadliest tsunamis in recorded history. (More at link)
The NGO is Soros’s weapon of choice. A gun dressed like a flower, a sword like a sweet song. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic resisting the tyrannical current. We, as sovereign humans must resist our own enslavement as these countries try to resist theirs.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.rt.com/document/5931699ac361880f678b4580/amp
“Jamie Glazov Moment: Sadistic Leftist-Fascists Order Professor to Keep Hands at Sides.” The Glazov Gang – June 2, 2017
“UPDATE: Biology Professor Who REFUSED to Leave for Day Of “White Absence” Faces Punishment By Evergreen State!” by Lucian Wintrich – June 2, 2017
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/06/update-biology-professor-refused-leave-day-white-absence-faces-punishment-evergreen-state/
“‘Black Power’ Students at Evergreen State College Harass Professors, Disrupt Classes” – The Gateway Pundit – May 30, 2017
In all leftist revolutions the revolutionaries who bring down the old government are executed by the new government. Either they aren’t pure enough in their beliefs or they are so pure they are going to oppose some of the things that will be done to allow the nation to survive.
Part of the problem is that leftist/modern liberal revolutions are done to create new rights for the revolutionaries while modern conservative/classical liberal revolutions are to restore rights that they use to have.
“In all leftist revolutions the revolutionaries who bring down the old government are executed by the new government. Either they aren’t pure enough in their beliefs or they are so pure they are going to oppose some of the things that will be done to allow the nation to survive. ”
One of Yuri Bezmenov’s most important points.
The useful idiots will go to the wall first.
Most people don’t realize that their is a kill list for when the Marxists take over. It includes but is not limited to all politicians, all lawyers, all school teachers with a few collage professors exempted. All former officers and NCOs from the armed forces. a minimum of 1.2 of all collage graduates with the leftist agitators going first and all current and former police officers. They do this to remove the people who know that a counter revolution is possible and have the skill to lead it to success. Depending on the nation the total number will be somewhere between 25% to 33%.
Instead of learning and teaching this collage Professors ignore it and teach that resistance is futile. Probably thinking they will be one of the exceptions.
Champions League final to have ‘biggest security presence’ after Manchester terror attack (express, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/812581/Champions-League-final-2017-security-Manchester-terror-attack-Juventus-Real-Madrid
“POLICE have launched a huge security operation for tonight’s Champions League final in the wake of the Manchester terror attack.
Security has been ramped up to keep the 200,000 people visiting the Welsh capital, with the final coming less than two weeks after the Manchester Arena bombing that claimed 22 lives.
Safety measures include more than 2,000 police offers, 600 armed, a ring of steel and facial recognition technology.
The Principality Stadium roof will also be closed when Juventus take on Real Madrid to protect from a potential drone strike.
Saturday will be the first Premier League final to be played under a closed roof.
Fan zones have been sectioned off with barriers and visitors will not allowed to be bring bags.
Streets surrounding the stadium will be closed off for anyone without a match ticket.
The terror threat level was raised from severe to critical in the wake of the tragic events at the Ariana Grande concert last Monday, when Salman Abedi targeted young music fans.
It has since been downgraded to severe.
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis, who will oversee the operation on Saturday, made clear that the security measures were not in response to the Manchester terror attack.
Lewis told Sportsmail: “Since Cardiff was chosen there have been strikes on Paris and Berlin so there was already a real focus on safety.
“The eyes of the world will be on us and with no Olympics or World Cup, this is the biggest sporting security operation of the year.’…”
Pakistani journalist escapes kidnapping attempt in Islamabad (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-journalist-escapes-kidnapping-attempt-islamabad-47804886
“Police say a journalist working for Pakistan’s independent Geo news channel has escaped a kidnapping attempt in Islamabad while driving home from his office.
Police official Mohammad Ali said Saturday the incident took place late Friday when at least four men intercepted Azaz Syed’s car and attempted to kidnap him. Syed told The Associated Press he didn’t panic and locked his car doors and sped away to a nearby police station.
Pakistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.
Hamid Mir, a well-known Pakistani journalist who hosts a popular talk show on Geo TV, was seriously wounded in an ttack last year.
The latest incident comes days after the anniversary of the death of Saleem Shahzad, who was mysteriously killed in 2011.”
Bahrain hackers post threats on minister’s Twitter account (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bahrain-hackers-post-threats-foreign-ministers-twitter-47802393
“Hackers allied with Shiite militants in Bahrain seized control Saturday of the Twitter account of the island’s foreign minister, posting a series of threats to its royal family and promising to “make castles of your skulls.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for taking over the account of Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa, though images posted bore the logo of the Mokhtar Brigade, a Shiite militant group that has claimed several bombings and attacks on security forces.
Among the videos and images were those of slain protesters in Bahrain, as well as dead civilians in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. Bahrain is part of a coalition of Sunni Arab nations in the Gulf supporting that campaign.
“We are going to paint the floor with your blood,” one photo caption read.
Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement Saturday afternoon acknowledging Al Khalifa’s Twitter account had been taken over by “terrorists.” It said it would work with Twitter to regain control of the account…”
Manchester police arrest 17th person in connection with arena suicide bombing (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/manchester-police-arrest-17th-person-connection-arena-suicide/story?id=47805828
“Manchester police arrest 17th person in connection with arena suicide bombing”
Yet, the “authorities” keep blathering on about how this was another “lone wolf” attack.
TREASON!
Yeah, they are afraid we might decide that they aren’t doing their jobs and that the Islamic society in Britain is a threat to Britain.
“… the Islamic society in Britain”
Back when “the sun never set” upon Britain (and it’s colonial empire), wasn’t there a time when an “Islamic society in Britain” would have been a contradiction of terms?
Methinks the Anglican church (of that era) might have had fecking kittens.
Then again, I could be wrong.
You are right, the communist set out to destroy Christianity because it is a unifying factor in all cultures, because it use to resist communism and because Karl Marx is a jealous god who doesn’t like rivals.
The destruction of Christianity in fly over country hasn’t been as successful as on the coasts but damage has been done.
Joint patrols to target Asia’s Islamic militants (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/joint-patrols-target-asias-islamic-militants-47805728
“Malaysia said Saturday that it will work with the Philippines and Indonesia to conduct joint patrols in the Sulu Sea targeted at members of the Islamic State group.
Malaysian Defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the trio will begin joint sea patrols later this month, in the area bounded by Sabah and the southern Philippines, where Islamic militants intend to “establish a caliphate.” Air patrols will start at a later date.
Responding to questions at an international security conference, Hishammuddin explained that Malaysia had conducted a similar operation in the Malacca Strait to clamp down on piracy.
“Different people there we’re dealing with, with regards to Islamic militants … but wish us luck,” he quipped.
The Shangri-La Dialogue, which ends Sunday, is attended by defense ministers and experts from 39 countries, including U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
In a wide-ranging speech, Hishammuddin touched on the rising threat that the Islamic State group posed in Asia.
He said the Islamic State’s “threat to our region is real. It is multi-dimensional, whether from returning fighters, regional franchises or more disturbingly, from self-radicalized lone wolves.”
“Many of the individuals involved (in attacks) were from seemingly good, even prosperous backgrounds or professions. This highlights the insidious nature of radicalization. We cannot generalize on who can turn into a lone wolf,” Hishammuddin said.
On Friday, the Islamic State group claimed one of its supporters carried out an attack on a casino in the Philippines in which at least 38 people died. The Philippine military has denied it was a terrorist attack.”
With US backing this could turn into a useful anti chinese alliance as wel as an anti Islamic invasion alliance.
US-backed Syrian fighters advancing toward IS-held Raqqa (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-backed-syrian-fighters-advancing-held-raqqa-47805895
“U.S.-backed Syrian forces say they are close to capturing an Islamic State-held town that lies halfway between the former IS-stronghold of Tabqa and its de facto capital, Raqqa, in northern Syria.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces say they are in control of 90 percent of the town of Mansoura, approximately 26 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Raqqa.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the SDF has been engaged in fierce fighting with IS militants along the southern bank of the Euphrates River, around Mansoura. The river leads to Raqqa.
The U.S. has backed the SDF with weapons, airpower, and ground support in its campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria. Its target for now is Raqqa, which has been held by the militants since 2014.”
Indian army says rebels kill 2 soldiers in Kashmir (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-indian-troops-trade-fire-kashmir-wounding-47802995
“The Indian army said two of its soldiers were killed in an ambush by suspected insurgents on Saturday even as troops traded gunfire with Pakistani forces across a cease-fire line dividing Kashmir between the two rivals.
Col. Rajesh Kalia, an army spokesman, said the insurgents fired indiscriminately at an army convoy on a key highway, wounding four other soldiers in the southern Qazigund area in the Indian portion of Kashmir. The wounded were evacuated to an army hospital.
Indian security forces launched a search for the attackers, who fled after the attack. The area is 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry accused India of resorting to “unprovoked” firing in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, wounding two villagers on the Pakistani side.
The two sides blamed each other for “unprovoked” firing. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria condemned what he called “deliberate targeting of civilians” by India…”
Pakistan freezes accounts of 5,000 suspected militants (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-works-stay-off-list-terror-friendly-nations-47804240
“Pakistan has frozen the accounts of 5,000 suspected militants, taking about $3 million out of their pockets, but Islamabad could still come under scrutiny at a crucial June meeting of an international watchdog that tracks terror financing.
Analysts and government officials say political foot-dragging and sympathetic supporters throughout Pakistan makes it difficult to cut off the money supply to banned militant groups.
Next month in Spain, the Financial Action Task Force will update its assessment of “high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions,” Alexandra Wijmenga-Daniel of the task force’s communications department said in an email. She did not offer any specifics.
The 35-nation intergovernmental organization was formed in 1989 to combat money laundering. After 9/11, it also took on the role of fighting the financing of terror. Getting on the task force’s “black list” could hurt a country’s ability to borrow, if its banking system is considered a money laundering haven.
In 2015, Pakistan was exempted from its scrutiny after a similar session applauded the country’s progress in tackling both money laundering and terror financing.
However, concerns have been raised by the resurrection of banned groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba under new names. Also worrying is the relative ease with which groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed appear to operate, openly running Islamic seminaries and fundraising…”
Connecticut’s Tax Comeuppance
With the rich tapped out, the state may resort to Puerto Rico bonds.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/connecticuts-tax-comeuppance-1496443958
The Aetna insurance company has been based in Hartford, Conn., since 1853, but this week it said it is looking to move to another state. Governor Dannel Malloy has pledged to match other states’ financial incentives, but taxpayer money can’t buy fiscal certainty and a less destructive business climate. That’s the real problem in Connecticut, which saw GE vamoose to Boston last year and which even Mr. Malloy now seems to recognize.
“As a huge Connecticut employer and a pillar of the insurance industry, it must be infuriating to feel like you must fight your home state policymakers who seem blind to the future,” Mr. Malloy wrote in a May 15 letter to Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. “The lack of respect afforded Aetna as an important and innovative economic engine of Connecticut bewilders me.”
Now he tells us. Gov. Malloy has spent two terms treating business as a bottomless well of cash to redistribute to public unions. Now that his state is losing millionaires and businesses, he has seen the light. But the price of his dereliction will be steep.
(Richard: This is happening in all Dem controlled high tax states, their solution? Get the Federal Government to insure that all states have the same tax rate. The reason the Dems are so upset (and never think of lowering taxes) is because they think all of hte money you earn belongs to the government and that the governments gets to decide how much you can keep.)
“Get the Federal Government to insure that all states have the same tax rate.”
Paging Ayn Rand to the white courtesy phone. (Straight out of Atlas Shrugged.)
They do love to use cautionary novels as instruction manuals.
German rock festival to resume after terror scare: organisers
Germany’s biggest rock festival will resume after being disrupted by fears of a possible “terrorist threat” which have proved to be unfounded, the organisers said on Saturday.
Police told AFP searches at the three-day “Rock am Ring,” held near the southwestern city of Koblenz were over. Live music resumed at 1:30 pm (1130 GMT).
Some 90,000 people are expected to attend the event which ends on Sunday.
“After a series of intensive searches across the site the fears of an imminent danger were not confirmed,” the organisers said.
“The police gave the go-ahead” for the festival to restart, they said.
The festival was evacuated on Friday evening after Koblenz police said they were in possession of “concrete elements, in the light of which a possible terrorist threat cannot be ruled out”.
https://www.thelocal.de/20170603/german-rock-festival-evacuated-over-terrorist-threat-police
Mattis praises China’s efforts on North Korea, dials up pressure on South China Sea
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The United States is encouraged by China’s efforts to restrain North Korea but Washington will not accept Beijing’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday.
The comments by Mattis, during the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, show how U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is looking to balance working with China to restrain North Korea’s advancing missile and nuclear programs while dealing with Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea.
U.S. allies have been worried by Trump’s actively courting Chinese President Xi Jinping to restrain North Korea, fearing Washington might allow China a more free rein elsewhere in the region.
Some allies have also expressed concern that Washington’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific trade partnership and the Paris global climate accord signals the United States is diluting its global leadership role.
Speaking at the dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, Mattis said the United States remained fully engaged with its partners.
“Like it or not, we are a part of the world…What a crummy world if we all retreat inside our borders,” he said.
http://www.oann.com/mattis-presses-china-on-north-korea-south-china-sea/
U.N. expands North Korea blacklist in first U.S., China sanctions deal under Trump
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Friday expanded targeted sanctions against North Korea after its repeated missile tests, adopting the first such resolution agreed by the United States and Pyongyang’s only major ally China since President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration has been pressing China aggressively to rein in its reclusive neighbor, warning that all options are on the table if Pyongyang persists with its nuclear and missile development programs.
The United States has struggled to slow those programs, which have become a security priority given Pyongyang’s vow to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.
“The United States will continue to seek a peaceful, diplomatic resolution to this situation,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council after the vote.
But she added: “Beyond diplomatic and financial consequences, the United States remains prepared to counteract North Korean aggression through other means, if necessary.”
Adding names to the U.N. blacklist – a global travel ban and asset freeze – was the minimum sanctions measures the Security Council could have taken and comes after five weeks of negotiations between Washington and Beijing.
http://www.oann.com/u-n-expands-north-korea-blacklist-in-first-u-s-china-sanctions-deal-under-trump/
In which David Brooks disses Trump, competition, the nation-state, and ancient Athens
By J.E. Dyer June 2, 2017
Now and then you run into a composition so pervasively, comprehensively wrongheaded that it would take all week to parse and address it all.
In 2017, “now and then” has become “just about every day.” No one has the time to deal with all of it. But David Brooks, bless his heart, has perpetrated another op-ed that cries out for a good countering. Its invalidity is down to nearly the sub-atomic level – and yet it is perfectly representative of the self-satisfied, bromide-based mindset of today’s West. It’s a superb vehicle for highlighting what’s wrong with the post-modern Western idea.
That idea arose, irrationally (or at least unrealistically), from an older, well-formed and hard-won canon of more sensible Western thought. It’s as though the West sought empirical truth and wisdom for many centuries, cobbled some together, and then suddenly decided to take a flyer on insistent illusion. (Many of you have a theory on why that is. I do too, but it’s still worth going through this analysis.)
http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/06/02/david-brooks-disses-trump-competition-nation-state-ancient-athens/
Fears over new Rochdale grooming gang after West Yorkshire police investigate almost 200 new crimes (telegraph, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/02/fears-new-rochdale-grooming-gang-west-yorkshire-police-investigate/
“There are fears over a new Rochdale grooming gang after police in West Yorkshire say they are investigating almost 200 new child sex crimes.
It comes as a 12-man Asian gang were jailed for more than 140 years for abusing a 13-year-old girl in Keighley last year.
West Yorkshire Police say they are investigating 179 new sex crimes involving 165 suspects.
It also follows the shocking BBC drama Three Girls which raised awareness of the Rochdale scandal which of a gang who preyed on teenage girls plying them with drink and drugs before abusing them.
Child safety campaigner Angela Sinfield, based in West Yorkshire, said the number of girls affected in the Keighley area is probably higher then the figure the police have due to many afraid to come forward.
“It should not be down to that child having to make the complaint. At the moment, if the child refuses to give evidence then the case doesn’t come to court,” she told the Keighley News.
“One of the biggest problems is that these children don’t see themselves as victims. They’ll say that these men are their “boyfriends”, even when these are much older, married men.”
The deprived town has been labelled as being at the “top of the list” for organised groups of Asian men grooming young white girls.
Last year Keighley’s Tory MP Kris Hopkins spoke after the Keighley gang were jailed.
“I am very well aware that there are numerous white paedophiles out there and they should be dealt with just as harshly,” he told the Telegraph and Argus.
“But the sick model of organised groups of Asian men grooming young white girls to be sexually abused remains a blight at the heart of many communities across this country.
“And sadly, Keighley is at the top of the list.”
A damning report into the abuse in West Yorkshire discovered that police and social services let down the victim in a similar case to Rochdale.
Drug dealer ringleader Arif Chowdhury terrorised the vulnerable teenager in Keighley along with his acquaintances.
He went on the run and absconded to Bangladesh while on bail in 2012.
Throughout the girl’s ordeal, she was known to the police and social services.
In February four members of the Rochdale child sex gang failed in their bid to appeal their deportation.
One included Shabir Ahmed, who told his victims to call him ‘daddy’, who was the head of the gang.
He is serving a 22-year jail sentence after being convicted of a string of offences in 2012.
The men had appealed against moves by the Government to strip them of their British citizenship.
Serious sexual abuse, including rape of vulnerable teenage girls, took place in Rochdale between 2005 and 2013.
Nine men were each sentenced to up to 25 years in jail for the crimes.”
Malaysia defends contest on how to “prevent” homosexuality, cites youth health concerns (reuters, Jun 3, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-malaysia-lgbt-idUKKBN18U0KH?rpc=401&
“Malaysia’s health ministry on Saturday defended its decision to host a contest on how to “prevent” homosexuality and transgenderism, saying the competition was aimed at helping teens make better health decisions.
The Thomson Reuters Foundation reported on Friday activists had criticised the contest, saying that it could fan hatred and violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
In response, Malaysian deputy director-general of health Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the contest, titled the National Creative Video Competition on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, was to gather views and enhance knowledge among teens on healthy lifestyle practices…”
Turkey detains PM’s adviser over alleged Gulen links (alaraby, Jun 3, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/6/3/turkey-detains-pms-adviser-over-alleged-gulen-links
“Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s chief adviser was detained Saturday over suspected links to the movement of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen blamed for last year’s failed coup, state media reported.
Birol Erdem, a former senior justice ministry official, was taken into custody in Ankara along with his wife Gulumser Erdem, Anadolu news agency said.
He was accused of being a member of the movement led by Gulen, the agency reported, quoting sources from the office of the Ankara chief public prosecutor…”
West Africa seeking 50 million euros from EU for anti-Islamist force (reuters, Jun 3, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-africa-security-sahel-idUKKBN18U0JE?rpc=401&
“The countries of West Africa’s Sahel region are requesting 50 million euros (43.45 million pounds) from the European Union to help set up a multinational force to take on Islamist militant groups, Mali’s military chief said on Saturday.
The vast, arid zone has in recent years become a breeding ground for jihadist groups – some linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State – that European nations, particularly France, fear could menace Europe if left unchecked.
Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania – the so-called G5 Sahel countries – have proposed a regional task force designed to tackle the cross-border threat. But implementation of the plan has lagged, partly due to funding obstacles.
“The council of ministers of the G5 Sahel countries is making a request to the European Union to financially support the deployment and functioning of the G5 Sahel Joint Force,” Malian General Didier Dacko said.
He was speaking at a meeting in Mali’s capital Bamako between G5 Sahel military chiefs, EU diplomats and officers from France’s regional anti-militant force, Operation Barkhane, that aimed to map out what areas required assistance.
Sahel foreign ministers were due to meet on Sunday…”
Blast rocks Kabul funeral
Blast Deadly explosions at protest victim’s funeral at Kabul
Wave of violence continues in Kabul
Bloomberg says US cities, firms will honour climate pact
Deutsche Welle – Protecting the planet – without the US
IRELAND – Massive New IRA bomb bust as 6kg Semtex haul is seized in city taxi
New IRA bomb plot foiled
Explosives recovered were ‘big enough to blow up a street’
A massive New IRA bomb plot was foiled after gardai seized a staggering 6kg (13.2lb) of Semtex in Dublin’s north-inner city.
Heavily armed detectives carrying sub-machine guns stopped a seven-seater taxi during a dramatic arrest in Ballybough shortly after 6pm yesterday.
Gardai, aided by the army and the bomb disposal unit, arrested two men and seized the lethal explosives.
In a worrying development, security sources confirmed to the Herald that the Semtex was “brand new” and sourced for the terror group in the last few weeks.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by the Special Detective Unit (SDU) into dissident republican activity.
The Herald can reveal that:
A massive 6kg of Semtex, as well as detonators, were recovered.
The new, military grade explosives were recently sourced and brought into the State.
Two men were arrested at the scene, one with close links to the New IRA.
It has also emerged that the second man arrested has no known connections to any criminal gang, leading to fears of a new recruitment drive by the dissident republican terror group.
Armed gardai also raided the house of a politician’s relative, who has close ties to one of the men arrested.
A senior source last night stated that the explosives recovered were “big enough to blow up a street”.
Damage
“There were 6 kilos of Semtex recovered, which would have caused serious damage if used. It is a major catch for gardai,” said the source.
Gardai have said it is too early to rule out a link to the ongoing Hutch/Kinahan feud.
Dissident republican Michael Barr (35), who was murdered by the Kinahan cartel as part of the ongoing dispute, had links to the New IRA.
Last night, heavily armed gardai from the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) – an elite branch of the SDU – stopped a car at about 6pm.
The dramatic arrests took place near Spring Garden Street, Ballybough, on the capital’s northside.
Residents living in the area were immediately evacuated from their homes, while a takeaway was also closed.
Two men, aged in their 20s and originally from the north-inner city, were detained. They had been placed under surveillance by specially trained detectives ahead of the interception.
They are being detained at Clontarf Garda Station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.
The Defence Force’s bomb disposal unit arrived at the scene shortly before 7pm under a garda escort, with a large section of the area closed off yesterday evening.
Members of the Dublin Armed Support Unit and army personnel, carrying sub-machine guns, stood guard as locals, including young children, looked on.
Semtex is an all-purpose plastic explosive, which is used in commercial blasting, demolition and by terrorists.
Just 250g of Semtex could destroy a commercial passenger airplane, as sadly proven in the case of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie in 1988.
The Omagh bomb of 1998 was a 500lb fertiliser bomb with a 500g (1lb) Semtex trigger.
http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/massive-new-ira-bomb-bust-as-6kg-semtex-haul-is-seized-in-city-taxi-35784226.html
“A visit by a group of Israeli schoolchildren to the Dutch parliament invited by the SGP (Christian Conservatives) was the cause for a The Hague City Council member, Abdoe Khoulani of the Islamic Unity Party, to dish out some antisemitic slurs on Facebook:
“They are Zionist terrorists in the making and they are allowed to visit our parliament on an invitation of the SGP. These are the child-murderers and occupiers of the future.”
Khoulani has since removed the original post (screenshot), but has now nevertheless doubled down in a new post (screenshot) claiming that Israeli education indoctrinates Israeli children who will “indeed become child-murderers of the future (…).””
https://theoldcontinent.eu/council-isr/
the gateway pundit – NSA Won’t Release Bill Clinton-Loretta Lynch Tarmac Transcript on “Golf” and “Grandkids” – Due to “National Security” Risk
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/06/nsa-wont-release-bill-clinton-loretta-lynch-tarmac-transcript-golf-grandkids-due-national-security-risk/
===============================================
NSA Won’t Release Clinton/Lynch Tarmac Tape – Claims “National Security”
A citizen researcher from Florida is attempting to have the recording of the infamous Bill Clinton/Loretta Lynch tarmac tape released to the public, but apparently, the National Security Agency claims they won’t release it due to “national security.”
The man researching and seeking to have the tape released is Florida orthodontist Larry Kawa. You may remember him because of Judicial Watch’s filing of a lawsuit on his behalf to obtain a week’s worth of Hillary Clinton’s emails regarding Benghazi.
It’s being reported now that the NSA has declared the recording of the conversation that took place between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch in Phoenix, Arizona on June 27, 2016.
Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request in March of this year to obtain the following:
Any and all records and/or transcripts of a meeting held between Attorney General Loretta lynch and former President Bill Clinton on June 28, 2016.
Any and all records of communication sent to or from officials in the Office of the Attorney General regarding the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton on June 28, 2016.
Any and all records of communication sent to or from officials in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General regarding the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton on June 28, 2016.
Any and all references to the meeting held between Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton contained in day planners, calendars and schedules in the Office of the Attorney General.
This brings us to Kawa. In an article at Big League Politics, Patrick Howley writes:
The National Security Agency (NSA) blocked the release of a purported tape of Bill Clinton and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s private airplane talk with a rare legal justification used to protect top national security secrets.
The NSA’s block of the release of this information — citing one of President Obama’s executive orders — undercuts Hillary Clinton’s claim that her husband and Lynch had a “purely social” conversation about grandkids and golf on June 27, 2016, two weeks before Lynch dropped the Department of Justice investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email scandal.
Citizen researcher Larry Kawa is pressing the government to release the contents of a taping system that is required to have been installed on Lynch’s government airplane. Kawa points to the Tempest system, a NATO-certified system by which the NSA tracks and records sound that emanates within government structures.
“General Dynamics installs the recorders in the planes,” Kawa told Big League Politics. “(Lynch) could not have un-installed them if she wanted to.”
Kawa claims that there are Voice Over IP recorders that are installed on government airplanes, so there must be a recording. His FOIA request was denied citing national security.
So far, we’ve not really heard anything except that the conversation was all about golf and grandchildren, even though Lynch claimed the meeting was “regrettable.” How is that a matter of national security?
We do know that following that meeting, the Justice Department shielded Clinton Foundation emails and there is definitely a question of how that meeting may have resulted in the communications of Donald Trump and his advisors at Trump Tower.
“To respond to your request, NSA would have to confirm or deny the existence of intelligence records on Loretta Lynch,” the NSA wrote in their response on November 14, 2016. “Were we to do so in your case, we would have to do so for every other requester. This would enable, for example, a terrorist or other adversary to file a FOIA request with us in order to determine whether he or she was under surveillance or had evaded it. This is turn would allow that individual to better assess whether they could successfully act to damage the national security of the United States. For such reasons, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of the records you requested.”
Kawa then wrote to the NSA FOIA office to challenge them on their denial. Here’s their response.
Our letter dated 14 November 2016 is indeed our final response to your FOIA request. It states that the “first exemption” of the FOIA authorizes, by Executive Order, properly classified information to be kept secret and goes on to say that the fact of existence or non-existence of intelligence records on any individual is an appropriately classified matter. The “first exemption” is often referred to as the “B(1) exemption” to which you refer.
We also provide background information regarding the decision, as well as the specific paragraph of E.O. 13526 which authorizes the type of response, which is often called a “Glomar” response. In addition, we state that the withholding of this information is also authorized by the third exemption under the FOIA, as the information is also protected by statute. Lastly, we provide you with instructions on how to appeal this response.
Both stories here cannot be true. We cannot have a conversation about golf and grandchildren and that be national security at the same time. It’s one or the other, and judging from the Clintons and Lynch’s lawlessness, I think it’s safe to assume that there was no talk of golf and grandchildren and I’m betting there was no “national security” talk either. Rather, there was more than likely criminal scheming taking place. Let’s hear the recordings for ourselves NSA
http://freedomoutpost.com/nsa-wont-release-clintonlynch-tarmac-tape-claims-national-security/
“ We cannot have a conversation about golf and grandchildren and [have] that be national security at the same time.”
Exactol!
The Dems will fight tooth and nail to keep this info private, the only reason they would do that is to prevent knowledge of obstruction of justice from reaching the public.
East Libyan forces take desert air base as they push west (reuters, Jun 3, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-libya-security-idUKKBN18U0MI?rpc=401&
“Libyan forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar said they had taken the strategic military base of Jufra on Saturday after rival factions withdrew.
The move consolidates control for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) over the central desert regions of Jufra and Sabha, where they have recently taken a string of towns and bases.
It could also be a key step in the LNA’s stated goal of moving towards the capital, Tripoli…”
Pakistan claims killing five Indian soldiers in retaliatory attack (reuters, Jun 3, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pakistan-india-attack-idUKKBN18U0M8?rpc=401&
“The Pakistani military said on Saturday its troops had killed five Indian soldiers in retaliation to Indian firing along the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir.
Pakistan on Friday accused Indian troops of shooting without provocation in Nezapir sector, wounding two civilians.
The Pakistani army spokesman said on Saturday that its troops had retaliated, killing five soldiers, wounding many, and destroying bunkers.
India denied that any of its soldiers had been killed or wounded in any cross-border attack…”
DAILY MAIL – Now that’s a white supremacist! EDL shows its pasty face as clashes break out and 12 are arrested in scuffles with anti-fascists on the streets of Liverpool
Scuffles broke out between supporters of the English Defence League and anti-facists
The EDL were surrounded by police officers in riot gear this afternoon
Bottles were thrown and firecrackers were seen being set off
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4568962/Clashes-break-EDL-rally-Liverpool.html
Chaos as EDL Clashes with Anti-fascist protesters in Liverpool City Centre
UK: Arrests made as EDL clash with antifascists in Liverpool
English Defence League protesters clashed with left-wing activists in Liverpool, Saturday, leading to several arrests as police stepped in to prevent the clashes from escalating.
One counter-protester explained the activists’ reasons for opposing the EDL march in Liverpool, saying: “we’re here from Unite Against Fascism, trade unions and many other anti-fascists groups to say that fascists like the EDL aren’t welcome in a diverse city like Liverpool, they’re not welcome anywhere and they should not be allowed police protection to march with a hateful islamophobia in this city or any city.”
EDL meet Antifa – Liverpool June 2017
True Fascists love uniforms, note the antifa uniform of black and face mask v the EDL wearing ordinary clothes.
Little Caesars says $100M lawsuit dropped after investigation proves it to be false
Attorney for Little Caesars said on Friday that a lawsuit that claimed a Detroit-area Muslim man had been served pepperoni pizza instead of halal pepperoni was being dropped. However, the man’s attorneys are disputing that assertion.
Little Caesars says after they were made aware of Mohamad Bazzi’s lawsuit, they looked into the matter — as the consumption of pork is strictly forbidden under Muslim law.
They say they found the allegations to be false and presented those results to Bazzi’s attorney before heading into court.
“We shared the results of what we learned with Mr. Bazzi’s attorney, which caused him to tell us he would dismiss the lawsuit,” said Mike Huget from local Detroit law firm Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn.
Attorneys for Bazzi released a statement to FOX 2 saying that claims of the lawsuit being dropped were not accurate. Attorneys claim that they said the planned to dismiss the lawsuit in order to add additional plaintiffs. Read the statement below:
“The allegations that Little Ceasar’s Pizza made in its news release needs to be clarified. Yesterday, I met with the attorneys for Little Caesars. I was shown a video of the event of that day. There is nothing in the video that changes the merits of the case. That is my client was served “Pork” pepperoni on two separate occasions…Plaintiff had planned on dismissing the lawsuit to add additional plaintiffs. It appears that Little Caeser’s Pizza first lied to its Muslim customers by serving “Pork” pepperoni and now they are lying to the media by mistaking the truth. The truth is my client isn’t dismissing the case because it lacks merits, he was hoping to dismiss to have the case filed with additional plaintiffs…which was sent to the attorney for Little Caesar’s. “
Bazzi’s lawsuit claimed he ordered a halal pizza from the location on Schafer near Warren in Dearborn on March 20.
When he and his wife began to eat, they realized that they were eating pork pepperoni, they had said.
Bazzi went to the Dearborn police to complain. On May 24, he ordered another halal pepperoni pizza — even checking to ensure the receipt and box’s label said “halal,” he said.
He said again, he found pork pepperoni.
Bazzi returned to the store and the manager told him that he asked for regular pepperoni and that he “told the employee to put the [halal] sticker” on the box.
According to the lawsuit, Bazzi states Little Caesars does not “provide proper training to employees on the magnitude and emotional distress that is caused by feeding ‘pork’ to Muslims, under the guise that it is ‘halal.'”
The class action lawsuit had been filed for $100 million in economic and punitive damages.
http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/258517807-story
FBI raid at residential home in Dearborn, Michigan involves national security – report (RT, Jun 3, 2017)
https://www.rt.com/usa/390687-fbi-raid-dearborn-house/
“Federal agents were seen removing boxes from a home in Dearborn, Michigan, reportedly while investigating a matter of national security. An FBI spokesperson denied any threat to the public.
The Thursday night raid of a home on the 7200 block of Jonathan Street in Dearborn, Michigan, involved a national security issue, but not a planned terror attack, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Agency spokesperson Tim Wiley declined to comment on specifics, but released a statement that described the search as a “law enforcement operation.”
“There’s no threat to public safety in the area, so folks don’t need to be concerned about any dangerous situation,” Wiley said, according to the Detroit News.
Video from WXYZ showed an FBI SWAT team removing boxes from the home. They also reported that the family that lives in the home has only been there a short time, and that they are originally from Lebanon.
The Free Press cited “a source familiar with the mission,” who said that the raid involved an incident that “apparently happened out of state.” The suspects tied to that incident were tracked to the Detroit area, according to the Free Press.
Later, multiple sources told the Free Press that the FBI in Detroit was working with agents in another state, and that the raid has nothing to do with the home’s residents. There were no imminent charges, according to the sources.
However, a neighbor told WJBK that at least one person was taken into custody.
“They took somebody out, and this morning I heard people talking about that they had an interview with a lady,” Maya Knaan said. “We’re asking to find out if everything is fine. Neighbors are not talking much. They don’t even know what’s going on.”
The Free Press interviewed the former head of terrorism operations in Detroit, Andy Arena, who said that the raid was probably not an explosives case, otherwise there would have been bomb-sniffing dogs and the neighbors would have been evacuated.
“It tells me it’s either a terrorism case, or B, an espionage spying case,” Arena told the newspaper. “They likely went in there looking for people or records or computers, cell phones, iPhones, those types of things.””
Manila Casino Shows Video of Gunman’s Attack
Resorts World Manila releases CCTV footage showing gunman
CBC – ISIS’s allies in the Philippines
Egypt’s Battle Against Islamic Extremism
by Shireen Qudosi
June 3, 2017 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10458/egypt-islamic-extremism
For a Western audience, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is a complex figure, who was shunned by the Obama administration. There appear truly pressing, immediate priorities in Egypt, such as developing the economy and combating the avalanche of extremist attempts to overthrow him. Among Middle East and North African territories, Egypt stands out as a primary target, given the cocktail of challenges that position it as a center of radical Islam.
President Sisi faces violent extremist hotbeds in the Sinai Peninsula, and the still-destabilizing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood (a political arm of violent radicals). Most notably, Sisi brought a reality check to the Arab Spring when he led the military overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood government in 2013, ushering a spiritual and cultural Islamic reformation with widespread popular support from Egyptians on a grass-roots level.
Sisi faces more than just militant and political extremists within Egypt’s borders; he is also walking a theological tightrope. Egypt is home to the regressive theocratic influence of the most revered Islamic institution in the Sunni world, Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, which openly views freedom as a “ticking time-bomb.”
Being held hostage intellectually by the grip of Al-Azhar University ensures that there is a constant supply when it comes to producing the next generation of militant and political Islamists.
Egypt also faces extremist infiltration from neighboring Libya, a nation caught in a power vacuum after the murder of its leader, Col. Muammar Gaddafi. This vacuum has been readily filled by Islamic militants, including ISIS.
Civilians killed while fleeing Islamic State in Mosul (reuters, Jun 3, 2017)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUKKBN18U0Q3
“Dozens of dead bodies of civilians killed while fleeing an Islamic State-held neighbourhood in Mosul were lying on Saturday in a street close to the front line with Iraqi armed forces, a Reuters TV crew reported.
The bodies belonged to men, women and children. Bags in which they carried their belongings were strewn around the street leading out of the Zanjili districts, one of three still in the hands of Islamic State in Mosul.
Hundreds others managed to reach the government lines, some wounded and some carrying apparently dead bodies in blankets.”
Iraqi Forces Bogged Down Against IS in Old Mosul
Despite vowing that a renewed offensive against Islamic State in Mosul will be a “final push,” Iraqi forces continue to get bogged down in ancient parts of the city where IS remains entrenched.
Days after beginning the latest offensive, the U.S.-backed forces slowed operations late last week, citing the difficulty of protecting residents trapped in remaining IS-controlled areas. Commanders admit the fight for Mosul will take longer than anticipated.
“We are fighting a very difficult battle,” Iraqi Major General Najim Abdullah al-Jubouri told VOA. “It will take at least another month before we liberate the Old City because IS is using civilians as human shields.”
Al-Jubouri said his forces halted their offensive temporarily to open new safe passage routes for civilians fleeing their homes to cross government lines.
“We need to review our plans frequently to change some routes and move to different places based on where fighting is most severe,” he said.
The Iraqi commander said 200 foreign fighters and up to 1,000 local members of IS hold less than 10-square kilometers of Mosul in three neighborhoods to the north of the Old City, as well as inside the Old City itself where there is a dense civilian population.
The United Nations estimates that nearly 200,000 people are facing severe shortages of water and food, and are in danger from crossfire and airstrikes.
“We feel those civilians are probably at greater risk now than at any stage of the entire campaign,” Lise Grande, the U.N.’s top humanitarian official in Iraq, told reporters last week.
The complex maze of the Old City makes evacuating civilians increasingly harder, Iraqi and U.S. officials say. The ancient city was built during the Ottoman Empire and includes the eight-century old al-Nouri mosque where IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared IS’s self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014. Its narrow alleys prevent the Iraqi forces from bringing in tanks and armored vehicles.
“Liberating these final neighborhoods will be among the most difficult fighting the ISF has faced in their campaign to defeat IS,” U.S. Col. Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, said last week, using an acronym for Iraqi forces.
Dillon said coalition planes conducted 21 strikes in the past week targeting different IS positions and destroying more than 120 vehicles.
IS militants who took control of Mosul in June 2014 have had years to prepare their defense inside the city.
“They have stationed snipers in the buildings and the minarets of mosques where they fire down on the Iraqi forces,” Gayath Surchi, speaker of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party in Mosul told VOA. “They have put civilians in the basements to prevent being hit by airstrikes.”
IS has erected barricades, placed car bombs, and planted mines throughout the city, Surchi said.
“Street combat would have been tough even if there were no civilians,” he said. “Some streets have walls that are one meter thick and made of massive stones and cement.”
Experts say even after IS is pushed from Mosul, its remnants and sleeper cells will continue operating in the city.
“They will definitely continue asymmetric warfare tactics,” Ahmad Majidyar, an expert at the Middle East Institute, told VOA. “They will continue to destabilize Mosul in order to create mayhem to prevent any post-conflict reconstruction and undermine the rule of the government.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/iraqi-forces-bogged-down-again-st-is-in-old-mosul/3885632.html
Hackers release emails of UAE ambassador to US (alaraby, Jun 3, 2017)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/6/3/hackers-to-release-emails-of-uae-ambassador-to-us
“The e-mail account of UAE’s Ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al-Otaiba has been hacked by a group who published the material on Saturday.
The group, which calls itself “GlobalLeaks” apparently used a Russian email account address, while the leaked emails were reportedly provided by a paid whistle-blower from a think-tank based in Washington DC. A selected batch were released to various media outlets as proof.
The group said the leaks “reveal how millions of dollars were used to hurt [the] reputation of American allies and cause policy changes”.
The e-mails reportedly show a clear picture of the back-channels the UAE ambassador has taken to ensure the UAE’s interests are promoted abroad.
Otaiba is well-known figure in US national security circles and has been named “the most charming man in Washington.” He reportedly gave out iPads to journalists and other political types as Christmas presents. He has also participated in Pentagon strategy meetings at the invitation of the defence officials.”
Muslim schoolgirls in hijabs ‘asked to leave careers show because people felt threatened’ (independent, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/muslim-students-hijab-perth-australia-careers-expo-event-manchester-attacks-islamophobia-a7771106.html
“Muslim students in Australia were allegedly forced to leave an event because their hijabs were making people feel “uncomfortable after what happened in Manchester”.
The schoolgirls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were attending a careers expo at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre (PDEC) on 26 May, just days after the suicide bombing in Manchester left 22 dead and at least 50 injured.
They claim that other attendants asked staff to remove them from the venue, saying they felt threatened by their “Muslim attire”, or headscarves.
The PDEC confirmed to WA Today that an official complaint was made about an incident, and a spokesperson said the centre did not condone discrimination of any kind.
The spokesperson also added, following an internal investigation, that the centre did not believe that any of its staff were involved.
The mother of one of the students, who wishes to remain anonymous, said her daughter and school friends were told by their teacher to pack up their lunch and leave.
“I’m not angry, I’m just sad,” she said.
“I feel particularly sad that my daughter went on an excursion and didn’t enjoy it.
“For starters, how can people think what the students are wearing has anything to do with what happens elsewhere? If I was there, I would’ve asked […] what is it about how the girls are dressed that made them feel uncomfortable?”….”
3,000 to 5,000 new cholera cases in Yemen each day, says UN (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/3000-5000-cholera-cases-yemen-day-47809580
“A cholera outbreak is spreading quickly in war-ravaged Yemen, with an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 new cases every day, the U.N. children’s agency said on Saturday.
Geert Cappelaere, the Middle East director of UNICEF, said in an interview with The Associated Press that 70,000 cases of cholera have been reported in the past month in 19 of Yemen’s 22 governorates.
He voiced his concern that cholera cases could double every two weeks —— to 130,000 and then about 300,000 cases —— unless more aid is delivered.
He says the outbreak might “spread beyond Yemen” and should perturb all states neighboring Yemen where civil war is now in its third year…”
Turkey’s coast guard stops nearly 100 migrants at sea (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-coast-guard-stops-100-migrants-sea-47809648
“Turkey’s coast guard says it has stopped nearly 100 migrants attempting to reach Greece, most of them Syrians.
The coast guard said in a statement that 63 Syrian migrants were intercepted off the coast of Izmir province on Saturday. In accompanying footage, a coast guard vessel is seen following a rubber dinghy. Two Turkish nationals alleged to be smugglers were apprehended.
Footage from the Dogan news agency showed coast guard and security officials transporting a body bag with the remains of a young man thought to be a migrant.
The coast guard says it stopped 36 other migrants on Saturday, also in Izmir.
Nearly 6,000 migrants have been stopped so far this year as part of a deal between Turkey and the European Union to curb illegal migration to Greece.”
Field trip or ploy? Judge briefly bars Muslim kids’ visit (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/field-trip-ploy-judge-briefly-bars-muslim-kids-47808151
“Some Islamic school students in New York City got a surprise civics lesson when a judge briefly barred them from a public courtroom, saying she suspected their presence was a ploy to get sympathy with the jury.
The unusual move came Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Manhattan on the second day of a civil trial in which the U.S. government is trying to seize a skyscraper it claims is secretly owned by Iran. An Iranian-American charity, the Alavi Foundation, owns 60 percent of the Fifth Avenue office tower and is fighting the U.S. government’s attempt.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest halted testimony when 16 students in uniforms and head coverings arrived on a field trip from the Razi School, a private school in Queens that is supported by the charity.
The judge said she thought the students’ presence was “gamesmanship” and she barred them from entering while she spoke with lawyers. She ultimately let the children in, just in time for them to hear a lawyer ask if the white scarves worn by 10 students were to blame for the snub. His comments angered the judge, who called them “so inappropriate that it is breathtaking.”
Afterward, Sayyed Musawi, one of two social studies teachers who chaperoned the students, said, “The judge is out of line here.” Musawi said he had urged the school to permit the field trip before exams started later in the week and the purpose of the trip was to learn about the legal system, not to build jury sympathy for the Alavi Foundation.
“The lawyer didn’t even know me or any of the students,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Friday.
Forrest had already admonished the charity’s lawyer once for saying during his opening arguments that the U.S. government wants to impose the “death penalty” on the foundation. She labeled it “gamesmanship” that students from the school arrived the next day.
The judge said she would let testimony resume if the lawyers “are content to send these folks away,” and view the proceedings on a TV feed in another part of the building, out of the jury’s sight. But a government lawyer and an attorney for the foundation both noted it was an open courtroom. The judge broke for lunch, saying she’d research whether she could keep the children out.
Outside the courtroom, students grew quieter, realizing they were being excluded from open court, said Eman Osman, one of their social studies teachers.
“The courthouse was impressive, all the marble. The kids were eating it all up until we were stopped at the door and told we could not go in,” she said.
Osman said a lawyer came out and told the youngsters — including some who participate in mock court sessions at school or the Model United Nations program — that the judge was not happy they were there.
“We were shocked. The expression on their faces looked hurt and serious,” she said.
After lunch and after Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin Bell and Michael Lockard advised the judge that it was a public courtroom and they did not oppose the students’ courtroom visit, the youngsters entered, all 10 girls wearing white head scarves, part of the school’s uniform.
With the students seated, attorney John Gleeson, until recently a federal judge in Brooklyn himself, sent the judge into a rage when he said the only difference between those associated with communities served by Alavi and those associated with victims of terrorism who might want to attend the trial “is that the former are wearing head scarves and they are easily identifiable.”
“That is offensive, inappropriate, so offensive, so inappropriate that it is breathtaking,” Forrest said.
The judge insisted she has been fine even with protesters in some cases “blanketing the courtroom” but believed Gleeson had violated her admonition in a previous order that the trial not become “a referendum on the nature and quality of Alavi’s charitable works.”
The U.S. government wants to turn over proceeds from a sale of the building and other properties owned by Alavi to holders of more than $5 billion in terrorism-related judgments against the government of Iran, including claims brought by the estates of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said that without “extraordinary circumstances, the exclusion of a group of students would be incompatible with the public’s right to know.””
Somebody please give U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest a prize!
She deserves more then one.
US-backed SDF: Battle for IS capital begins ‘within days’ (abcnews, Jun 3, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-backed-syrian-fighters-advancing-held-raqqa-47805895
“The battle for control of the Islamic State group’s de facto capital Raqqa, in northern Syria, will begin “within days,” a spokeswoman for a U.S.-backed Syrian force at the city’s edges said Saturday…”
DAILY MAIL – Exclusive – Pictured for first time: Family home in Libya where Salman Abedi plotted Manchester terror attack as imam at Mosque in Tripoli says: ‘He’s no Muslim’
EXCLUSIVE: Home where Salman Abedi developed the idea of bomb revealed
Modest two-story home is on outskirts of Tripoli, Libya, where family lived
Abedi ‘travelled to Afghanistan’ to fight, his former Imam told MailOnline
Family member said Abedi saw explosives ‘America drops on children in Syria and wanted revenge’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4568772/Family-home-Salman-Abedi-plotted-Manchester-attack.html
Supreme Court Expedites Trump’s Petition on Executive Order Case (breitbart, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/03/supreme-court-expedites-trumps-petition-on-executive-order-case/
“The Supreme Court took the rare step on Friday of expediting consideration of a major case, rapidly accelerating the schedule for reviewing the Fourth Circuit’s blocking of President Donald Trump’s travel ban executive order…”
Muslim Groups ‘Undermining Fight Against Terror’, Leading Prosecutor Warns (breitbart, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/06/03/muslim-groups-undermining-fight-terror/
““Islamist” Muslim groups and community leaders hinder the fight against terror and are interested only in presenting Muslims “as victims” Britain’s most prominent Muslim lawyer has said.
In an interview with the Times, Nazir Afzal warned that British Muslim organisations are “undermining” attempts to counter terrorism in the UK by spreading misinformation to discredit Prevent, the government’s anti-radicalisation programme.
Section 26 of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 201 compels teachers and some healthcare workers “to take due regard to preventing people being drawn into terrorism”, yet Prevent has been repeatedly slammed by Labour MPs and large parts of the left – including major unions – for its “disproportionate” focus on Muslims.
But Afzal, a deradicalisation expert and former chief crown prosecutor who has successfully prosecuted Islamists, credits Prevent with having “stopped at least 150 people from going to Syria”.
Afzal warned that its “phenomenally good work” was being undermined by what he called an “industry” of Muslim groups, some of which have Islamist leanings, pushing “myths” about the programme.
He also took aim at “self-appointed” community leaders whose sole agenda was to present Muslims “as victims and not as those who are potentially becoming radicals,” singling out Britain’s largest Muslim umbrella group — the Islamist dominated Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) as an example.
The 54 year old, who resigned last week as chief executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said he was shocked that the agenda at the group’s annual general meeting last year contained “nothing about radicalisation and nothing about the threat of people going to Syria”.
Among groups Afzal accused of lying about Prevent to discredit the counter-radicalisation programme are Islamist support group Cage, which has been described as a “terrorism advocacy group” by veteran journalist Andrew Gilligan, and Prevent Watch, a “community-based initiative” that supports “communities impacted by Prevent”.
Cage’s outreach director Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who signed a confession admitting to having been an al-Qaeda recruiter, likened Islamic extremists to the Suffragettes at a 2015 event opposing the Prevent programme.
“Sadly, there’s an industry which is trying to undermine Prevent. Some of them don’t like anything that’s state-sponsored and some of them are Islamists”, Afzal said.
“Prevent is simply safeguarding. When we’re asking people to identify victims of child sexual abuse by looking for signs, it’s the same thing for radicalisation. Look for the signs. If you’re concerned, share those concerns with somebody and then if they come to fruition we can provide some support. It’s not about criminalising.””
Canada: Anti-Islam and anti-Trudeau protesters hold demo on Parliament Hill
Anti-Islam and anti-government demonstrators attended the ‘Million Canadian March’ on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Saturday, to protest the policies of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as motion M-103, dubbed the anti-Islamophobia motion, which passed earlier in the year.
Canada passed the non-binding motion M-103 in March which condemned “Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination.” The motion requires that a parliamentary committee launch a study on how the government could counter Islamophobia, with recommendations due in mid-November.
BREAKING: Police injured after ‘people shot and stabbed’ in London disturbance (express, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/812746/barking-london-police-injured-lockdown
“AN AREA in east London has been locked down after a “disturbance” left several people, including two police officers, injured.
Police found a number of injured people at the scene earlier this evening. They have now been rushed to hospital.
Two police officers were also hurt, although they are not in a serious condition.
Social media users said people had been shot and stabbed.
One person said: “So there’s been 3 stabbings and 2 people shot at barking road.”
Another said: “Having to go round a crime scene trying to get home where someone has died (body is covered).What the yell is going on?! #barkingroad”
Chidi Oti-Obihara, Green Party candidate for East Ham, said in a video taken at the scene: “It’s very painful. It makes everyone here very angry.
“We know that because we don’t have the budget for community policing the police can’t come in and deal with these issues before the point where there’s a tragic death.”
These comments were not confirmed in the police statement.
A huge area was put in lockdown as police investigated the scene…”
Witness Describes Chaos After London Bridge Incident
UK Witness Reports And Acts Out How UK Police Handled London Bridge Incident
London Bridge Attack: Knife ‘possibly involved’ – BBC News
British police are responding to a THIRD ‘incident’ in the #Vauxhall area of LondonBridge
DAILY MAIL – Man hunt launched for three terrorists as men with ’12in hunting knives stab pedestrians’ after mowing down up to 20 people with a white van amid reports of explosions in third attack in ten weeks
There have been unconfirmed reports of at least seven victims being stabbed at landmark in central London
Three men ‘of Mediterranean origin’ reportedly left van and began stabbing people on Borough High Street
One witness said she saw three people with what appeared to be their throats cut on London Bridge
Also unconfirmed reports of gunfire on Southwark Street amid the ‘utter chaos’ of attack on Saturday night
Police are also responding to an incident at Borough Market, Scotland Yard have confirmed
Armed police and a bomb squad are attending the scene and boats are currently searching the Thames
Seven people are feared dead after three men with 12-inch hunting knives reportedly stabbed pedestrians after mowing down up to 20 people with a white van on London Bridge.
The men, described as being ‘of Mediterranean origin’, reportedly jumped out of the van and began ‘randomly stabbing people’ along Borough High Street in central London at 10pm.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4569638/Car-ploughs-20-people-London-Bridge.html
London Borough Market Attack: “we saw 3 unmasked men with knives stabbing people, attacking throats”
UK: Bus driver gives account of London Bridge incident
Ambulances and police blocked off the area around London Bridge, South London, on Saturday evening, after a van reportedly ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians.
Footage shows a bus driver explaining how he helped victims out of the area, “Some tourists from Italy, they were scared, shaking and everything and I took them to the train station” he explained.
Police Drag Away Suspect in London Bridge Attacks. Possible Terror Incident.
BREAKING: Juventus fans ‘running, covered in blood’ after ‘explosion in Turin (express, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/812752/Turin-explosion-Juventus-Real-Madrid-square-piazza-San-Carlo-Turino
“AN ‘explosion’ has been reported in a square in Turin being used by Juventus fans watching their team in the Champions League final.
Video has appeared online in the last few minutes appearing to show people running from the San Carlo piazza, one of the Italian city’s main public squares.
Police lights can be seen flashing while the sound of fans calling each other can be heard.
More to follow.
There are varied reports on the source of the ‘explosion’ with some suggesting the noise was a banger that spooked fans all to aware of the terror alert.
People have reported seeing people stampeding from the square.”
Panico in piazza San Carlo la gente scappa
Scoppia un petardo, la fuga dei tifosi della Juventus: feriti e terrore in piazza a Torino
INCIDENTS CAUSE PANIC IN CROWD AT JUVENTUS FAN ZONE IN TURIN
Fans ran in panic away from Turin’s central Piazza San Carlo on Saturday night after scuffles broke out among Juventus supporters watching as their side was losing the Champions League final.
Thousands of people had gathered in the evening to watch the final, taking place in Cardiff, on giant screens in the square.
As Real Madrid scored the third goal against Juventus it is believed fans began scuffling with each other in the center of the piazza, causing many people to flee in panic.
Shoes and rucksacks were seen discarded on the ground as people ran away from the square and sought cover down the side street
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Incidents-cause-panic-in-crowd-at-Juventus-fan-zone-in-Turin-494706
Crowds in Turin flee in fear after incident sparks panic during Champions League final viewing
EXCLUSIVE: ISIS carries out mass execution of CIVILIANS near HOSPITAL as troops move in (express, Jun 3, 2017)
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/812730/ISIS-Islamic-State-mass-execution-civilians
“WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – ISLAMIC State terrorists have massacred up to 30 civilians as they tried to escape an area of western Mosul.
Horrifying images of families, including children, cowering behind blown out buildings have been shown to Express.co.uk as the coalition troops move it to wipe out the terrorists from the area.
Those living in the area had been unable to flee because of the firefighting taking place between Iraqi forces, backed by the west.
Cowardly ISIS slaughtered the families near the Jumhurriya hospital, which is being used as a base for Daesh.
Residents of surrounding two neighbourhoods, Al Zinjili and Al Shafaa, managed to flee fighting which broke out as the coalition moved in.
Reports are emerging of horrors inside the hospital of Yezidi women being held captive by the ‘soldiers’ of the so-called caliphate.
Horrendous images from around the hospital have been shared with Express.co.uk, showing bodies laying on the ground.
Local reports say they were lined up against a wall and executed…”
Osama Bin Dancing – Funny ‘Allahu Akbar’ / Britain First compilation