Reader’s links for July 21, 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

106 Replies to “Reader’s links for July 21, 2017”

  1. Sandra Solomon Protests The Traitor Jihadi Justin Trudeau At Mississauga City Hall

  2. Holy terror, Turkish delight

    Leave it to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to portray his latest grab for regional relevance and power as a diplomatic effort to resolve a political-religious crisis in Jerusalem, inflamed by last week’s shooting attack on the Temple Mount.

    The attack, which killed two Israeli Druze policemen, was committed by three Israeli Arabs. Nevertheless, it served as yet another excuse for Palestinians to stage days of rage against Israel.

    The ostensible reason for the violent uprising is the placement of metal detectors at the entrance to Judaism’s holiest site — where only Muslims are allowed to pray — as a way of preventing additional bloodshed. On Thursday, while the Israeli government scrambled to placate the Jordanian Waqf, the custodians of the site, and the leaders of Fatah and Hamas by mulling a removal of the scanners, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said that he is concerned not only about the infiltration of Arab terrorists, but of Jewish ones seeking revenge, as well. Yeah, right.

    Never mind that metal detectors are a way of life in Israel, forcing anyone who rides an intercity bus or enters a government building to have to go through them. What is par for the course for the rest of us simply does not fly with mobs on the ready to riot against any Israeli action, including one aimed at protecting innocent Muslims.

    This is not the only truth that is being drowned out by the shouts of “Allahu akbar” wafting through the streets of east Jerusalem. Another is the response of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which criticized the terrorist attack by denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government for “exploiting the operation to escalate its vicious incitement against our Arab masses.”

    http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=19483

  3. Security cabinet gives police final say on Temple Mount metal detectors

    The high-level security cabinet overnight Thursday-Friday authorized the Israel Police to decide whether to keep the metal detectors around the Temple Mount compound on Friday, ahead of anticipated violence by Muslim worshipers over the new security measures.

    “Israel is committed to preserving the status quo at the Temple Mount and free access to the holy sites,” a late-night statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said, following hours of meetings between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ministers, and security chiefs in Tel Aviv. “Israel is committed to the security of all worshipers and visitors to the Temple Mount.”

    “The cabinet has authorized the Israel Police to make any decision in order to ensure free access to the holy sites, while upholding security and public order,” the statement said, without elaborating.

    Israel’s security authorities were set to flood the streets of Jerusalem on Friday with policemen and soldiers in an attempt to quell expected violence at protests over the stepped up security measures in the Old City of Jerusalem.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/police-to-decide-whether-to-keep-metal-detectors-at-temple-mount/
    …..
    Political wimp-out. Bad, bad idea.

  4. Soros’ ProPublica Slips: Admits Low-skilled Immigration Hurts American Workers

    A report released by a media firm backed by left-wing financier George Soros admits that low-skilled immigration hurts America’s middle and working-class.

    ProPublica, backed by Soros, released a report where they not only confirmed President Trump’s argument that immigration should be merit-based to help Americans, but also conceded that the last four decades of low-skilled immigration has hurt U.S. workers:

    http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/07/21/soros-propublica-slips-admits-low-skilled-immigration-hurts-american-workers/

    click through to read more

    • A report released by a media firm backed by left-wing financier George Soros admits that low-skilled immigration hurts America’s middle and working-class.

      In other news … water is wet and granite is heavy. Tape at eleven.

  5. Turkish Islamists hold anti-Israel rally at Istanbul synagogue, kick doors

    A group of Turkish ultra-nationalists on Thursday protested outside one of the most significant synagogues in Istanbul to denounce Israel’s security measures at the Temple Mount following a deadly attack last Friday that left two Israeli police officers dead, the Dogan news agency said.

    The group from the Alperen Hearths, a far-right ultranationalist and Islamist youth group, said in a statement read outside the Neve Salom synagogue in central Istanbul that Israel was a “terror state” seeking to block freedom for worship to Muslims.

    “If you prevent our freedom of worship there then we will prevent your freedom of worship here,” said the statement.

    It was read by the group’s local chairman Kursat Mican.

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/turkish-islamists-hold-anti-israel-rally-outside-istanbul-synagogue/

    • Just in case, 4000 Turkish Jews of Spanish descent have taken up the King of Spain’s offer of citizenship. I don’t know how many have signed on for Portuguese citizenship, on offer as well.

      How many years have these Jews been Turks? What do they have to do with decisions taken by the govt of the State of Israel?

      • Will Erodgan let them leave or try and hold them to force concessions from Israel?

  6. Erdogan demands Israel remove metal detectors

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged his Israeli counterpart Reuven Rivlin to swiftly remove metal detectors erected at the entrances Temple Mount following a deadly terrorist attack at the holy site last week.

    Muslims have been refusing to enter the Temple Mount since Sunday, when Israel began installing metal detectors at entrances to the site following the murder of two police officers.

    “Within the framework of freedom of religion and worship there can be no impediment for Muslims” entering the holy site, the Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as telling Rivlin.

    “Given the importance that Haram al-Sharif carries for the whole Islamic world, the metal detectors put in place by Israel should be removed in the shortest possible time and an end put to the tension,” Erdogan added.

    The Turkish leader had earlier held telephone talks with Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, telling him the measures imposed by Israel were “unacceptable”.

    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/232775

  7. In rare call, Rivlin asks Erdogan to condemn Temple Mount violence

    President Reuven Rivlin asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to condemn last Friday’s terrorist attack near the Temple Mount, when the two leaders spoke by phone on Thursday evening.

    “The president reminded Erdogan that after the terrorist attacks in Turkey, the State of Israel was quick to condemn those criminal acts. He said Israel expected to hear similar condemnation from Turkey, with the understanding that terrorism was terrorism wherever it took place; in Jerusalem, in Istanbul, or in Paris,” Rivlin’s office said.

    The Temple Mount is a site that is “holy for all,” Rivlin told Erdogan as he explained that the attack in which two Israeli policemen were killed, was “intolerable.” It “crossed a red line which endangered the ability of all of us to live together,” he said.

    He assured Erdogan that Israel had maintained and would continue to maintain the status quo at the Temple Mount, in which only Muslims can pray there but Jews and Christians can visit.

    http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Erdogan-to-talk-with-Rivlin-about-Temple-Mount-violence-500252

  8. Peak Political Correctness: Boston Launches Islamophobia-Awareness Campaign

    Boston, which experience in 2014 a terrorist attack that some readers may recall – a terrorist attack carried out by Islamic extremists, if we remember correctly – has apparently decided that it’s time for citizens of Beantown to be reminded of their manners. Specifically, they are rolling out a new public service campaign aimed at fighting that old, trusty bogeyman: ISLAMOPHOBIA. Oooh, doesn’t it just give you the shivers!

    The campaign began on Monday with 50 posters that give residents a step-by-step breakdown of what they should do when they see a Muslim being harassed. Boston commuters can look forward to viewing these posters on city buses, benches, and other public areas where Muslims may be being harassed at this VERY moment.

    Emblazoned with the title “What to do if you are witnessing Islamophobic harassment,” the posters instruct people to focus their attention on the subject of the harassment in order to draw attention away from the big meanie who is Islamophobing them. It guides heroic Bostonians to stand or sit next to the “victim” and begin discussing a random subject such as recent movies you might have enjoyed, the weather, or where to buy a pressure cooker at a discount.

    http://www.conservativefreepress.com/politics/peak-political-correctness-boston-launches-islamophobia-awareness-campaign/

  9. If you think the election of PTrump changes the disposition of the U.S. State Dept., you don’t know a thing about U.S. history in the Middle East.
    ….
    State Dept. Blames Israel for Terrorism, Claims Palestinians Rarely Incite Attacks

    The State Department is facing harsh criticism for claiming in an official report that Israel is to blame for terrorism attacks committed by Palestinians and accusing the Jewish state of being largely responsible for an impasse in peace negotiations, according to a leading member of Congress who is calling on the State Department to correct its “inaccurate and harmful” characterization of Israel.

    The State Department, in its latest annual report on the global terrorism situation, blames Israeli security policies for stalling the peace process and claims that Palestinians rarely incite terror attacks.

    The claims are coming under fierce criticism from pro-Israel advocates and have prompted one leading member of Congress to formally call on the Trump administration to amend the report to more accurately reflect the situation.

    Rep. Peter Roskam (R. Ill.), co-chair of the House Republican Israel Caucus, criticized the latest report in a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and called on the administration to immediately amend it to portray Palestinian terror attacks as a primary reason for the impasse in peace talks.

    The State Department’s current characterization, Roskam claims, is harmful to Israel and likely to impede efforts by the Trump administration to renew peace talks.

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/state-dept-blames-israel-terrorism-claims-palestinians-rarely-incite-attacks/

  10. Sweden: A Failed State?

    by Judith Bergman
    July 21, 2017 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10605/sweden-failed-state

    The security situation in Sweden is now so critical that the national police chief, Dan Eliasson, has asked the public for help; the police are unable to solve the problems on their own. In June, the Swedish police released a new report, “Utsatta områden 2017”, (“Vulnerable Areas 2017”, commonly known as “no-go zones” or lawless areas). It shows that the 55 no-go zones of a year ago are now 61.

    In September 2016, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Minister of Interior Anders Ygeman refused to see the warnings: in 2015, only 14% of all crimes in Sweden were solved, and in 2016, 80% of police officers were allegedly considering quitting the force. Both ministers refused to call it a crisis. According to Anders Ygeman:

    “… we are in a very difficult position, but crisis is something completely different. …we are in a very strained position and this is because we have done the biggest reorganization since the 1960s, while we have these very difficult external factors with the highest refugee reception since the Second World War. We have border controls for the first time in 20 years, and an increased terrorist threat”.

    A year later the Swedish national police chief is calling the situation “acute”.

  11. Syria rebels blindsided by US move, say jihadists to benefit

    Syrian rebels said on Thursday a US decision to halt a covert CIA program of military aid would mark a big blow to the Syrian opposition and risked allowing jihadists to tighten their grip over the insurgency.

    Rebels who have received aid under the CIA program said they had yet to be informed of the US decision first reported by the Washington Post on Wednesday and confirmed by two US officials to Reuters.

    A Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander said the US decision risked triggering the collapse of the moderate opposition, which would benefit President Bashar al-Assad and jihadists linked to al Qaeda that have long sought to extinguish more moderate groups.

    Other rebel sources said much would depend on whether US-allied regional states Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey kept up their support to groups fighting under the FSA banner, which had been the focus of the CIA program.

    “We heard nothing about this,” said an opposition official familiar with the program, describing the decision as a complete surprise.

    The US decision compounds an already bleak outlook for the Syrian opposition that has been battling since 2011 to unseat Assad, who appears militarily unassailable thanks in large part to staunch Russian and Iranian backing.

    The CIA program which began in 2013 funneled weapons, training and cash to vetted FSA groups via Jordan and Turkey.

    http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/Syria-rebels-blindsided-by-US-move-say-jihadists-to-benefit-500256

  12. Leading Sunni Muslim center calls for intervention to ‘save’ al-Aksa

    The leading center for religious learning and jurisprudence among the world’s Sunni Muslims, Egypt’s al-Azhar, has called for urgent Muslim, Arab and international intervention to “save” al-Aksa mosque from Israel.

    A statement reported on news sites in the Arab world, including the Palestinian Maan news agency, issued late Thursday by al-Azhar in Cairo said the institute was following with “deep concern the escalation of the Israeli occupation forces against blessed al-Aksa mosque.”

    It warned against the “continuation of the violations” against it. It said these alleged violations were provoking the feelings of Muslims all over the world and threatening the stability of the entire region.

    Issuing of the statement pointed up the potential for wider reverberations of the al-Aksa crisis in the Arab world. The security cabinet decided late Thursday to leave metal detectors installed at the entrance to the Temple Mount/al-Aksa mosque compound in place to search worshipers. Palestinian religious figures have termed that a violation of the status quo at the site and an indication of Israeli designs against the mosque.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Leading-Sunni-Muslim-center-calls-for-intervention-to-save-al-Aksa-500312
    …….
    This is the MB-Turk-Qatar faction at al-Azhar. It’s a blow to al-Sisi, Saudi, et al. If things continue to escalate, al-Sisi might just fold. Bibi already did, leaving the matter up to security forces on the ground. See my comment above.

    Remember the Uighur students at al-Azhar who were deported at the request of China the other day? These are Turk-connected enemies of both China and the Egyptian govt.

    Al-Azhar is humongous, consists of many disparate factions. Always has been. Shelters MB-enemies of the regime, but that’s tolerable as long as they contain incitement within the university walls. If things get out of control, al-Sisi might have to go with the flow.

  13. Obsession with Equality: The Religion of the Left
    Computing Forever
    Computing Forever

  14. Russia: ‘Maybe they went to the bathroom together’ – Lavrov on Trump-Putin meetings

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov derided mainstream media’s fixation on how many times Presidents Trump and Putin had met during the G20 summit in Germany, saying that the presidents “might have went to the bathroom together,” in an interview with NBC in Moscow, Friday.

    SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (English):”[Journalist speaks] Maybe they [Trump and Putin] went to a bathroom together, that was a fourth time. [Journalist speaks]. I thought it was already understood by people who are mature and grown up, but I keep hearing from very solid media outlets, they met secretly. When? At a dinner, which was attended by some hundred persons, not to mention waiters, not to mention assistants who were not allowed to the table but who are waiting at the margins of that room. And that was something that people do. So why, why nobody got suspicious of the fact that actually, the entire dinner Putin spent with Madam Trump, the First Lady, because the German hosts arranged the table that way. And then, after the dinner was over, I was not there, President Trump apparently went up to pick up his wife, and spent some minutes with President Putin, so what? And they did shake hands, which was now listed as a third meeting. And I don’t know about the men’s room, as I told you.”

    SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (English): “Well, but there is also a room where they [presidents] get together before an event starts. They cannot arrive all at the same time in a bus. They arrive with their own motorcades and then they ushered in a room, which is a waiting room, so they might have met even much more than just three times.”

  15. Dr. Sebastian Gorka on a ‘fabulous day’ for the White House

    Deputy assistant to President Trump salutes hiring of Anthony Scaramucci and promotion of Sarah Huckabee Sanders

  16. NYT – ISIS Leader Is Still Alive, Pentagon Chief Says

    WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that he believed the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was still alive and that the American-led coalition in Iraq and Syria was still trying to find and target him.

    “I think Baghdadi is alive,” Mr. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. “I’ll believe otherwise when we know we have killed him. We are going after him.”

    The Russian military said last month that it had struck a meeting of Islamic State leaders on May 28 near Raqqa, Syria, and possibly killed Mr. Baghdadi.

    The Russian claim was given credence earlier this month by a British-based monitoring organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said it had obtained information from senior Islamic State commanders confirming that Mr. Baghdadi had been killed in Deir al-Zour Province. Raqqa Province neighbors Deir al-Zour in northeastern Syria.

    The death of Mr. Baghdadi, who delivered a fiery sermon in Mosul, Iraq, after the militants captured the city in June 2014, would be a psychological blow to the Islamic State, which is still using small groups of fighters to mount guerrilla attacks against Iraqi forces who have retaken the city.

    Pentagon officials have said that Mr. Baghdadi, who takes stringent precautions to avoid detection, does not appear to be directing the Islamic State’s forces on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Mattis said he assumed that Mr. Baghdadi still “had a role to play” in the organization, but provided no details on what that role was.

    Mr. Mattis’s remarks to reporters off-camera came two days after President Trump convened his national security council to discuss the administration’s still-unfinished strategy for Afghanistan. The unveiling of that strategy is behind schedule.

    Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has repeatedly criticized the White House for not articulating a plan to reverse the Taliban’s gains in Afghanistan.

    “It is now mid-July, when the administration promised to deliver that strategy to Congress, and we are still waiting,” Mr. McCain said on Thursday in a statement, one day after his office announced that the Arizona Republican had brain cancer.

    Mr. Mattis would not say whether there were still differences among senior Trump administration officials about whether to send more troops to advise and support Afghan forces. But he acknowledged that he had not used the authority that President Trump gave him in June to deploy nearly 4,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, saying that he wanted to wait until the larger strategy, and the rationale, for the mission were settled.

    “You fight wars for a reason,” he said. “You come up with a political reason for it.”

    One contentious issue in the Trump administration’s review concerns how to deal with Pakistan, where the Taliban and the Haqqani network have maintained a sanctuary. The State Department said this week in a report on terrorism that the Pakistani government had “failed to take significant action” to prevent those groups from threatening American and Afghan forces in neighboring Afghanistan.

    The Pentagon is withholding $50 million in military reimbursements to Pakistan that it had yet to deliver for fiscal year 2016, signaling displeasure with Islamabad’s failed efforts against the Haqqani network.

    This is not the first time the Defense Department has withheld Pakistan military reimbursement, and Mr. Mattis said it did not mean the Trump administration had settled on a new, tougher stance toward the Pakistanis. “This is an assessment of the current state of play,” he said.

    Separately, Mr. Mattis dispelled rumors that Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, would be leaving that post for an Afghanistan-related assignment.

    He also defended Mr. Trump’s second July 7 meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the Group of 20 economic conference in Hamburg, Germany. That encounter, which some witnesses have said lasted almost an hour, relied solely on a Kremlin-provided interpreter and was initially not disclosed by the White House, has brought sharp criticism of the president. Mr. Trump has said that the discussion lasted far less than an hour.

    Mr. Mattis said that there was nothing wrong with the president’s seeking out Mr. Putin that evening, and that such dinners were a venue for adversaries to chat.

    “If you watch me at dinners, you will catch me talking to some ne’er-do-wells,” Mr. Mattis said.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/us/politics/mattis-islamic-state-leader-alive.html

  17. Is this the EU dream? Dreams from my Führer?

    “Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944”
    Excerpt:

    “Had Charles martel not been victorious at Poitiers – already, you see, the world had fallen into the hands of the Jews, so gutless a thing was Christianity! – then we should in all probability have been converted to Mohammedananism, that cult which glorifies heroism and which opens the seventh Heaven to the bold warrior alone. Then the Germanic races would have conquered the world. Christianity alone prevented them from doing so. ”
    – “Hitler’s Table Talk 1941-1944 text pg. 667.Online pg. 710.
    https://archive.org/stream/HitlersTableTalk_1941_1944/Hugh%20Trevor-Roper%20-%20Hitlers%20Table%20Talk%201941-1944%20%28His%20Private%20Conversations%29#page/n709/mode/2up

    “Adolf Hitler: Islam Is Religion For World Conquest”
    Patriot Fire – July 9, 2017

  18. END OF ISIS: Syrians burn burkas and shave beards while celebrating escaping Raqqa (express, Jul 21, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/831596/isis-latest-news-syria-raqqa-burn-burka-shave-beard

    “SYRIANS have celebrated liberation from Islamic State (ISIS) by burning their burkas and sharing their beards.

    Men and women who successfully fled the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa wasted no time in destroying any associations of the killer cult.

    During ISIS’ control of the north Syrian city, men were forced to grow long beards while women were given a strict dress code.

    But now emotional footage has showed men shaving their beards in celebration, while burkas are piled on the ground and burned..”

  19. ‘I will kill the English’ Illegal migrant escapes deportation after storming church (express, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/831627/Illegal-migrant-church-kill-English-deportation-Zana-Hassan

    “A DRUNKEN illegal immigrant has escaped jail even after he threatened to kill churchgoers.

    Despite living in the UK for nine years, Iraqi Zana Hassan boasted how much he hated the English before storming into a Methodist church during Sunday service.

    After police arrested him he shouted: “I will ******* kill you and kill all the English ********.”

    This prompted magistrates this week to ask the Crown Prosecution Service to review the case to decide whether he should face more serious charges…”

  20. When “Finis Germania” flew from the bestseller list
    By Henryk M. Broder
    Those who wanted to make their way to the top of the “Spiegel” -Besteneller, which were offered at Amazon, on the Thursday afternoon, around 5 pm, found the following order on the top list of the books:
    Position 1: “Healing with the Power of Nature” by Andreas Michalsen.
    2nd place: “Miraculous miracles”, by Eckart von Hirschhausen.
    3rd place: “The Secret Life of Trees”, by Peter Wohlleben.
    4th place: “Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow”, by Yuval Noah Harari.
    5th place: “Alexander von Humboldt and the invention of nature”, by Andrea Wulf.
    In place 6, a white gap gaped, without any bibliographical indication. There must have been something, only the space that the something had taken could be seen as a frame without content that had to be forgotten. “Penguin Bloom: The Little Bird That Saved Our Family,” by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive.
    Whoever did the same research Friday morning, about 10 clock, but not at Amazon, but at Thalia, found the same “mirror” list, but without the leerstelle in sixth place. There was a book by the philosopher Rolf Peter Sieferle, who had taken his own life last September: “Finis Germania”, a sort of obituary to himself and the Federal Republic in “the misery” about “the German situation” Over the course of time: “From German special paths and victories to politicians and intellectuals to the logic of antifascism.”
    Around the book there had been great excitement in the feuilletons. The opinions were extremely divided, for the one it was a “philosophical masterpiece”, for the others a “folkish-antisemitic work”. It also played a role in the fact that Sieferle, whose work had appeared in renowned publishers, had entrusted his “Nachwort” to a publisher, who is considered a “forerunner of the right” in the Federal Republic, Götz Kubitschek, in whose Antaios publishing books, Where no other publisher wants to burn their fingers.
    On Friday, the hole in the “Mirror” Bestseller list had disappeared from Amazon. Nothing, except for a screenshot from Thursday, indicates more recently that there was a vacancy at this point. In this way, Soviet censors also contributed to historiography. The counterrevolutionary Trotsky was removed from the photos and the traces of the retouching were also eliminated.
    The “mirror” bookmark bestseller list at Amazon has now been unobtrusively updated. “The Secret Life of the Trees” is now ranked No. 1, “Healing with the Power of Nature” on place 2 and “miracles work miracles” on place 3. “Homo Deus” is still at position 4, “Alexander von Humboldt” In place 5, and “The little bird who saved our family” has moved from place 7 to place 6, to the same place, behind the sieferle disposed.
    His book is still to be found at Amazon, in the regular offer it is in the department “Bestseller in books” currently 63th place, which justifies the assumption that it sells well.
    On a request from the WELT, who is at Amazon the contact for the best lists, Amazon has not yet replied. But whoever caused the disappearance of “Finis Germania” is also largely irrelevant. Whoever it was, he did a bit of the political correctness and proved a bear service for the credibility of the Amazon lists. And this is after all a small, but pleasing collateral benefit of the affair.
    https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article166887908/Als-Finis-Germania-von-der-Bestsellerliste-flog.html
    (google translate)

  21. Newt Gingrich: Mueller’s Law Firm Gave 99.81% of Its Donations to Hillary Clinton

    • WaPo- Sessions discussed Trump campaign-related matters with Russian ambassador, U.S. intelligence intercepts show

      Russia’s ambassador to Washington told his superiors in Moscow that he discussed campaign-related matters, including policy issues important to Moscow, with Jeff Sessions during the 2016 presidential race, contrary to public assertions by the embattled attorney general,according to current and former U.S. officials.

      […]Officials emphasized that the information contradicting Sessions comes from U.S. intelligence on Kislyak’s communications with the Kremlin, and acknowledged that the Russian ambassador could have mischaracterized or exaggerated the nature of his interactions.

      “Obviously I cannot comment on the reliability of what anonymous sources describe in a wholly uncorroborated intelligence intercept that the Washington Post has not seen and that has not been provided to me,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman in a statement. She reiterated that Sessions did not discuss interference in the election.

      […]A former U.S. official who read the Kislyak reports said that the Russian ambassador reported speaking with Sessions about issues that were central to the campaign, including Trump’s positions on key policy matters of significance to Moscow.

      As a result, the discrepancies center on two earlier Sessions-Kislyak conversations, including one that Sessions has acknowledged took place in July 2016 on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention.

      By that point, Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to embark on a secret campaign to help Trump win the White House by leaking damaging emails about his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to U.S. intelligence agencies.

      […]Flynn’s phone conversations with Kislyak were intercepted by U.S. intelligence, providing irrefutable evidence. The intelligence on Sessions, by contrast, is based on Kislyak’s accounts and not corroborated by other sources.[…]

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-discussed-trump-campaign-related-matters-with-russian-ambassador-us-intelligence-intercepts-show/2017/07/21/3e704692-6e44-11e7-9c15-177740635e83_story.html

  22. Indonesian religious ministry to propose tougher blasphemy laws (asiancorrespondent, Jul 21, 2017)
    https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/07/indonesian-religious-ministry-propose-tougher-blasphemy-laws/#SPiieXly8vQRwVvh.97

    “INDONESIA’s Ministry of Religious Affairs is preparing revisions to the country’s so-called Religious Rights Protection Bill that would significantly expand the definition of blasphemy and allow harsher punishments for the crime of insulting religion.

    A major change to the law would be a broadened classification of the offence of blasphemy – which is currently “showing hostility, abuse, or desecration” towards a faith, its scriptures or institutions – to seven different kinds of blasphemy with varying periods of imprisonment from six months to five years.

    Releasing an unofficial translation, Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims that the Religious Rights bill will simply further jeopardise minority rights in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. The group says parliament is expected to be presented the bill before the end of 2017.

    “The misnamed religious rights bill is nothing less than a repackaging of highly toxic regulations against religious minorities in Indonesia,” said HRW’s Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono on Friday.

    Dr Ken Setiawan, an expert in socio-legal studies and human rights at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne also expressed concern, telling Asian Correspondent that “it’s not about religious rights, it’s about the curtailing of them.”…”

  23. THREE ISRAELIS DEAD, ONE WOUNDED IN WEST BANK STABBING ATTACK

    Three Israelis were killed and one severely wounded in a stabbing attack in the West Bank town of Halamish on Friday evening.

    The Israel Defense Forces reported that an assailant infiltrated a private home in the community of Halamish, also known as Neve Tsuf, north west of Ramallah, and stabbed four Israeli civilians. Three of the victims died as a result of their wounds, and one was evacuated to Shaare Tzedek hospital.

    The assailant, whom Channel 2 identified as Palestinian, was shot by a neighbor. Palestinian media have identified the attacker as Omar al Abed, age 20, from the West Bank village of Khobar, near Ramallah. He left an online manifesto before the attack in which he stated that he felt obligated to act in light of recent events.

    IDF forces arrived at the scene and are continuing to search the area.

    Magen David Adom emergency medical services reported on Friday evening that at 9:50 p.m. a call was received regarding the attack. According to MDA, a 60-year-old man, a 60-year-old woman, and a 40 year-old-man, were killed, and a woman, 60, was injured.

    Channel 2 reported that the IDF has called for residents to stay indoors as there may be other assailants in the vicinity, however, they predicted that it was likely a stand alone attack. They also reported that the IDF is increasing security in Jewish settlements in that area. A senior IDF official confirmed that forces are searching Halamish and surrounding areas to ensure there is not another terrorist in the area.

    Hamas has issued a statement of support for the attack, calling it a “necessary reaction” to new Israeli security procedures at the Temple Mount. In a tweet, they called it “heroic.

    http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Report-Stabbing-attack-in-Halamish-near-Ramallah-500382