Reader’s links for July 22, 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.

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

About Eeyore

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

67 Replies to “Reader’s links for July 22, 2017”

  1. The UK government has announced plans to introduce drone registration and safety awareness courses for owners of the small unmanned aircraft.
    It will affect anyone who owns a drone which weighs more than 250 grams (8oz).
    Drone maker DJI said it was in favour of the measures.
    There is no time frame or firm plans as to how the new rules will be enforced and the Department of Transport admitted that “the nuts and bolts still have to be ironed out”.
    The drone safety awareness test will involve potential flyers having to “prove that they understand UK safety, security and privacy regulations”, it said.
    The plans also include the extension of geo-fencing, in which no-fly zones are programmed into drones using GPS co-ordinates, around areas such as prisons and airports.
    ‘Protect the public’

    http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40684581

  2. Plans to build a sprawling 2.7-hectare Muslim-only gated community with mosque, Islamic school, apartments and childcare centre are rejected
    Brisbane City Council has partially rejected plans for exclusive Muslim enclave
    Australian International Islamic College lodged plans to expand existing site
    Council approved mosque, extra classrooms, childcare and medical centre
    But shot down plans for 120 residential apartments, shops and aged care
    Plans were opposed by locals who said it was ‘incompatible’ with values of area

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4716620/Brisbane-Council-rejects-Muslim-gated-community-plans.html

  3. ‘The Perpetually Offended’ score a scalp

    Richard Dawkins’ biggest critics used to be conservative Christians. Now they’re Berkeley progressives who defend anything and everything Islamic.

    The militant atheist, evolutionary biologist and former University of Oxford “professor for public understanding of science” was supposed to speak about his new collection of essays at a Berkeley church, sponsored by a local progressive radio station, KPFA.

    Then the station learned about his tweets critical of Islam and cancelled the Aug. 9 event.

    https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/34756/

  4. British Army sent to Africa to protect endangered elephants being hunted by terrorists (express, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/831751/British-Army-elephant-ivory-poachers-terror-Africa-Boko-Haram-Al-Shabaab-extremists

    “EXCLUSIVE: The British Army have been sent to stop ruthless poachers from slaughtering rare forest elephants and selling their tusks to fund extremism.

    In an Africa-wide crisis, extremists allied to Boko Haram and Al Shabaab are hunting the animals using AK47s, even killing baby elephants with tusks only an inch long.

    Their hauls are worth as much as £65 per 1lb once sold to China through ports in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.

    Armed forces have already been sent to Kenya, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Ethiopia within the past five years in a bid to train 145 intelligence officers capable of providing info on the ground as to poachers movements.

    Express can also reveal they are also expecting to conduct similar missions in the near future in Malawi and Somalia – where elephants have only just returned after being extinct for 20 years…

  5. DEATH FROM ABOVE Terrorists could weaponise deadly PLAGUE disease by releasing it as a cloud above cities killing thousands, experts warn

    Warning comes amid fears imploding ISIS have been developing chemical and biological weapons

    BLACK Death could once again wipe out millions in Britain if terrorists sprayed an antibiotic resistant form above a city, according to bio-terrorism experts.

    The plague killed a third of Europe’s population in the Middle Ages – but scientist and governments fear it could return.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4072863/plague-disease-biological-weapon-terrorists-isis-spread-from-air/

    • Cuba and North Korea are suppose to have active bio weapons labs, ISIS could get any number of nasty bio weapons from them.

      • Cuba and North Korea are suppose to have active bio weapons labs, ISIS could get any number of nasty bio weapons from them.

        Merely put Cuba and North Korea on notice that any attack upon the West that involve “active bio weapons” will result in both countries being blanketed with biological plagues and, should that prove insufficient, nuclear carpet bombing thereafter.

        What’s not to like?

        • The only bio weapons we are suppose to have are small amounts at Fort Detrick that are used to develop vaccines. If we have any other stocks I haven’t head of them.

        • One reason we got rid of our bio weapons stocks is that they are hard to control, once turned loose they are no longer under your control and can turn around and bite you. US policy is that an attack on the US with bio or chemical weapons is the same as a nuclear attack. The problem with this is that some contagious bio weapon can be released in Europe and migrate to the US. Then there is the problem of knowing who released the weapons, you don’t want to nuke the wrong nation.

  6. Pakistani inmate asks court to suspend practice of hanging (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-inmate-asks-court-suspend-practice-hanging-48789080

    “A defense lawyer says a Pakistani death-row inmate has requested that a court suspend the “un-Islamic” practice of hanging prisoners because it is “too painful.”

    Mohammad Khursheed Khan said Saturday his client is instead urging jail authorities to use lethal injections or some other mode of execution.

    Khan filed the petition this week. He said the court has sought a reply from the government on Jan Bahadur’s petition by July 26.

    Khan said it was the first such petition filed before the Peshawar High Court. It was not immediately clear if a similar petition has ever been filed elsewhere in Pakistan.

    Bhadur was sentenced to death by hanging in 2000 for murder and the date for his execution is likely to be set soon.”

  7. Egyptian court sentences 28 to death over prosecutor killing (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egyptian-court-sentences-28-death-prosecutor-killing-48789706

    “An Egyptian court has sentenced 28 people to death for their involvement in the assassination of the country’s prosecutor general in 2015.

    Saturday’s sentences come after consultation with the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s top religious authority, over preliminary death sentences handed to the defendants in June. The consultation is a formality followed by courts in the cases of capital punishment.

    The sentences are subject to appeal.

    The court handed other defendants a variety of jail terms up to life in prison. Of 67 defendants, 15 are still at large.

    Hisham Barakat was the most senior government official killed by Islamic militants since the 2013 military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president whose one-year rule proved divisive.”

  8. Trump Administration Stops Postponement for Illegals

    A new report indicates the Trump administration is taking measures to deport illegals more quickly.

    The study by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse shows the administration has stopped the practice of deferring deportations in immigration court.

    Attorneys for the DHS are no longer asking for prosecutorial discretion where only illegals who commit violent crimes are prioritized for deportation.

    During the first five months of President Trump’s time in office, less than 100 illegals per month have been given prosecutorial discretion.

    That’s far less than the same time of five months in 2016 under Obama where 24,000 illegals were given discretion monthly.

    http://www.oann.com/trump-administration-stops-postponement-for-illegals/

  9. Philippine Congress extends martial law in south amid siege (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/philippine-congress-extends-martial-law-south-amid-siege-48789506

    “The Philippine Congress on Saturday overwhelmingly approved the president’s appeal for martial law in the south to be extended to the end of the year to help troops quell a two-month siege by Islamic State group-linked militants and stamp out similar extremist plots in the volatile region.

    House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez announced that senators and House members voted 261-18 in favor of granting President Rodrigo Duterte’s request in a special joint session. The 60-day martial law was to expire late Saturday.

    The military chief of staff, Gen. Eduardo Ano, warned during the session that aside from the uprising in Marawi, extremist groups have plotted similar insurrections in other southern cities and that martial law has helped troops stop attacks, including bombings, elsewhere…”

  10. German runaway girl who converted to Islam found in Iraq (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-runaway-girl-converted-islam-found-iraq-48789102

    “A German girl, who ran away from home shortly after converting to Islam, has been found in Iraq, prosecutors said Saturday.

    The 16-year-old teenager, only identified as Linda W. in line with German privacy laws, is getting consular assistance from the German Embassy in Iraq, said prosecutor Lorenz Haase from the eastern German city of Dresden…”

  11. Hungary’s leader: EU and Soros seek to “Muslimize” Europe (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/hungarys-leader-border-fences-stop-muslim-migration-48789705

    “European Union leaders and Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros are seeking a “new, mixed, Muslimized Europe,” Hungary’s anti-migration prime minister said Saturday.

    Prime Minister Viktor Orban said during a visit to Romania that Hungary’s border fences, supported by other Central European countries, will block the EU-Soros effort to increase Muslim migration into Europe.

    While Hungary opposed taking in migrants “who could change the country’s cultural identity,” Orban said under his leadership, Hungary would remain a place where “Western European Christians will always be able to find security.”

    Orban, who will seek a fourth term in April 2018, said Hungary’s opposition parties were no match for his government.

    “In the upcoming campaign, first of all we have to confront external powers,” Orban said at a cultural festival in Baile Tusnad, Romania. “We have to stand our ground against the Soros mafia network and the Brussels bureaucrats. And, during the next nine months, we will have to fight against the media they operate.”

    Soros has become a key target of Orban and his government…”

  12. Israeli forces raid home of Palestinian attacker, arrest brother

    JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli security forces on Saturday raided the home of the Palestinian attacker who stabbed to death three Israelis and restricted movement for Palestinians from his West Bank village, the military said.

    An Israeli military spokeswoman said security forces “surveyed the house of the assailant in the village of Khobar, searched for weapons and confiscated money used for terror purposes. The brother of the assailant was also apprehended.”

    “Movement out of the village will be limited to humanitarian cases only,” she said.

    Six people died on Friday in the bloodiest spate of Israeli-Palestinian violence for years.

    Three Israelis were stabbed to death in a Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, hours after three Palestinians were killed in violence prompted by Israel’s installation of metal detectors at entry points to the Noble Sanctuary-Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City.

    http://www.oann.com/israeli-forces-raid-home-of-palestinian-attacker-arrest-brother/

  13. Unusual sub deployment suggests N. Korea preparing to test sub-launched ballistic missile
    By LU Staff July 21, 2017

    [This would certainly fit the recent pattern of acceleration in all aspects of Pyongyang’s strategic weapons development. North Korea has been working on this weapon for a while now. Fielding a viable SLBM would significantly extend the amount of U.S. territory North Korea could hold at risk, if the submarine(s) can be operated competently at long distances. The North Koreans are at least 2-3 years from having a working operational capability. – J.E.]

    North Korea’s sole ballistic missile submarine has been engaging in “unusual deployment activity,” according to recent reports.

    The experimental Gorae (Sinpo)-class submarine sailed almost 100 kilometers into the East Sea/Sea of Japan, which is surprising as most previous voyages have been significantly shorter and close to its home port at the Sinpo South Shipyard, a 38 North report introduced.

    “While there are several possible explanations, the most likely is preparations for a test in the near future of an updated Pukguksong-1 (KN-11) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) or a potentially newer system,” the report assesses.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/07/21/unusual-sub-deployment-suggests-n-korea-preparing-test-sub-launched-ballistic-missile/

    • Interesting, according to the article and to other reports North Korea is a couple of years (if they are lucky) from having a fully functional missile sub and a working sub launched missile. In the recent past (a couple of years) they have lost several subs from faulty maintenance. for this reason they don’t let their only working missile sub (still experimental) sail more then about 30 miles from its home base. The fact that they are allowing it to sail 100 miles is interesting but not dangerous to us.

      • In the recent past (a couple of years) they have lost several subs from faulty maintenance.

        Isn’t it about time that they “lost” another one?

  14. London School Sued by Muslim Woman ‘Shaken’ by No-Face Veil Policy (breitbart, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/07/22/school-sued-no-face-veil-policy/

    “A Muslim woman has launched legal action against her daughter’s school after being told she was not permitted to wear a face veil on the premises, news which left her “in a state of shock”.

    Rachida Serroukh has begun a discrimination test case against the prestigious Holland Park school in London, complaining that she felt she “didn’t belong” after she was told she would not be allowed to wear a face veil at the school.

    The 37-year-old told the Guardian she was “very shaken” when a teacher approached her and took her to a room to inform her of the school’s policy not to allow face veils, at an evening for parents of new pupils at Holland Park, last month.

    “I was very shaken and was in a state of shock about what had happened. I had never experienced anything like this before,” she said. “When I got home, I just broke down.”

    Ms Serroukh added that she had already been surprised by how, at the welcome event of about 200 parents – including five or six who were identifiably Muslim – the head teacher said that the school was secular and did not offer prayer rooms “although it showed video footage of the school choir singing in a church”….”

  15. Professor’s solution to ‘problem’ of colleges admitting students based on academic performance
    By Ben Bowles July 22, 2017

    It’s also known as meritocracy, but who knew it was a problem? For eons, it was the lone standard by which universities decided which student applicants to accept. It was used solely in the world of work as a barometer for hiring and firing, and it is still used almost exclusively in professional sports, but that’s because the best athletes — stereotypes be damned — are often people of color.

    Anyway, to my knowledge meritocracy was never viewed as a “problem” — until now. According to Campus Reform, Joseph Soares, chairman of the sociology department at Wake Forest University, argues it is time to “blow up meritocracy” and replace it with — drumroll — “an admissions lottery.”

    Writing in the Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies, Soares maintains that college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT “are predictively weak and biased, stigmatizing minorities as underperformers.” He is either unaware or indifferent to the fact that college admissions offices throughout the country have for some time now been adding “bonus” points to the SAT scores of minorities — 185 points for Hispanics and a whopping 230 points for blacks — while deducting 50 points from the scores of Asians.

    Drawing on the “highly praised work” of someone named Natasha Warikoo, Soares proposes that a lottery be held where applicants are randomly drawn from a pool of students whose grades were in the top 10% at their high schools.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/07/22/professors-solution-problem-colleges-admitting-students-based-academic-performance/

  16. euronews – Row over Austria’s Foreign Minister’s comments that Italy is giving illigal migrants a gateway…

  17. Italy: Protesters anticipate arrival of anti-refugee ‘Defend Europe’ boat in Catania

    Activists gathered for a protest and press conference at the port of Catania, Saturday, to speak out against Generation Identity whose vessel is set to arrive in the port on the same day.

    Generation Identity hired a 40-metre C-Star vessel with the intention of intercepting migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya and sending them back home. The scheme, named ‘Defend Europe’, is due to start next week. The movement is made up of anti-immigration and anti-Islam activists from across Europe.

    The protesters gathered held banners reading “No more drownings. European right to asylum in order not to die” and “Freedom, not Frontex”.

    SOT, Claudia Urzi, Trade Union (USB) representative (Italian): “Catania is home to the headquarters of Frontex, it is placed in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, because of this, in these days it is waiting for the arrival of a ship which has been named the “black boat” , it is known that this boat belongs to an Austrian magnate whose intention is to block the NGOs that are going to save the lives of our migrant sisters and brothers. They want to stop in Catania to get several people from Catania and abroad on board and they would leave with the intention to block the work of the NGOs, and even to bring refugees back to Libya where more deaths have been recorded by now than in the Mediterranean Sea.”

    SOT, Piero Mancuso, pro-refugee activist (Italian): “We are Sicilians, our home is the Mediterranean Sea, and this is a place where there has always been acceptance and the idea of saving people is of highest importance. To put these values up for discussion is for us unacceptable. We firmly support the operations of the rescue boats. We are contrary to those who want to try to block the rescue operations and want to take back people who are escaping and put them in the hands of a regime like the Lybian one.”

    • Keep the metal detectors. Imagine how much more difficult it must be to collect zakat (tithes) from people who do not actually enter the mosque. Plus, it’s the Muslims and their usual violence that started all of this. Time to let their pigeons come home and roost.

    • Jerusalem: Stampede and fireworks end prayers as Israeli forces break up Al-Aqsa demo

      A stampede broke out after Israeli security forces moved in to disperse a group of Palestinian protesters following a mass prayer outside Temple Mount in East Jerusalem, Saturday. The violence comes as security personnel crackdown on ongoing protest against new security measures put in place at the site by the Israeli government.

      During the protest, fireworks were let off near emergency services vehicles trying to make it through the crowd. Israeli forces reportedly went on to use water cannon against the demonstrators.

    • Temple Mount: Alternatives to metal detectors to be implemented tonight

      New security measures on the Temple Mount: Fences will be erected near the entrances to the Temple Mount compound; lines to the entrance will allow for security screening; any suspicious visitors will be checked by manual metal detectors. It is also likely that entry with bags will be prohibited.

      […]In a meeting held today between Jerusalem’s District Police Commander Yoram Halevy and Mayor Nir Barkat, they discussed the security measures to be iplemented instead of the metal detectors. It was decided that the Jerusalem Municipality, under the supervision of the Jerusalem police, will begin to erect fences near the entrances of the Temple Mount will which direct Muslim worshipers to entry ‘sleeves,’ much like passenger boarding bridges at airports.

      Using cameras that have already been installed, it will be possible to locate any suspicious visitors who will then be pulled out of the line and checked with hand-held metal detectors. It also appears that worshipers will not be allowed to enter the Temple Mount with bags of any kind. This alternative plan will enable the removal of the metal detectors at the entrance gates within a few days. It is still not clear whether the leaders of the Waqf will agree to the new security measures.

      This evening, Channel 2 News reported that the Israel Police apparently did not consult with the Shin Bet and the IDF before installing the metal detectors on the compound. The Shin Bet’s and the IDF’s positions were not considered in the brief telephone consultation that led to the security changes in what is clearly the most sensitive point of friction between Israelis and Palestinians in the country. The political-security cabinet will be convening tomorrow for further discussion on the issue of security inspection and escalation of violence.

      The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai, was interviewed on Al-Jazeera this evening and said that Israel is “ready to examine security alternatives that will prevent the next terror attack,” but only to the extent that those alternatives will ensure public safety. Mordechai made it clear that there has been no change in the status quo on the Temple Mount.

      http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/israel-police-will-remove-metal-detectors-on-temple-mount-29874

  18. Turks in Germany ‘belong here,’ says foreign minister

    Sigmar Gabriel struck reassuring tone in open letter to Turkish citizens living in Germany.

    FRANKFURT — Turks living in Germany are welcome and “belong here,” said the country’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel in an open letter designed to reassure citizens alarmed at the country’s soured relations with Turkey.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s moves to suppress democracy and crack down on political opponents have brought condemnation from Germany and led to an escalating row between the countries. Erdogan also prevented German politicians from visiting troops based at a Turkish airbase.

    “No matter how difficult political relations between Germany and Turkey are, one thing remains clear: You, people of Turkish roots in Germany, belong here — whether with or without a German passport,” Gabriel said in a letter published in Germany’s largest tabloid Bild in both German and Turkish.

    Speaking for the German federal government, Gabriel said that Germany has always worked for good relations with Turkey. “But now innocent German citizen are thrown into prison. As the German government we cannot simply stand by and watch. We have to protect our citizens,” he asserted.

    Earlier this week, Germany’s head of domestic intelligence said Turkish agencies were targeting Erdogan’s opponents in Germany. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble also compared Turkey’s actions in detaining six human rights activists, including a German, to the authoritarian former communist East Germany.

    http://www.politico.eu/article/turks-in-germany-sigmar-gabriel-belong-here-says-foreign-minister/

  19. UK: Britain First march through Rochdale shouting anti-Muslim slogans

    Britain First demonstrators marched through Rochdale on Saturday, the town where a child sex abuse ring was exposed in 2011. Counter protesters turned out to oppose the march.

    The Britain First rally was headed by the group’s leader, Paul Golding. The members waved Union Jack flags and chanted slogans including “Muslim pedos, off our streets”.

    The counter protest was headed by Unite Against Facism, with members carrying placards reading, “Never Again! No to the Nazis.”

    • BREITBART – Orban: ‘Europe Must Regain Sovereignty From The Soros Empire’, Build Border Wall to Stop ‘Muslimized Europe’

      Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made an impassioned defence of European values and identity at the Bálványos Summer University camp in Romania Saturday, calling on European nations to end their association with billionaire open-borders financier George Soros.

      Speaking at the 28th Bálványos Open University camp Saturday, which was this week was hailed as “one of the most important discussion forums of the Hungarian community” by Hungary’s deputy Prime Minister, Orban contributed to an apparently new tradition of the Hungarian PM using the event as a launch pad for pro-European rhetoric and policy.

      Hitting out at the Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros, who stands accused by the Hungarian government of using his vast wealth to fund pro-mass migration organisations to create a “new, mixed, Muslimized Europe”, Orban said Brussels was in an “alliance against the people’s will” with the financier.

      Laying out his vision for a future Europe without the influence of Soros, Orban said: ““In order for Europe to be able to live, it has to win back its sovereignty from the Soros Empire… Once this is done, migrants must be taken back outside the EU. It sounds strict, but those who came illegally, must be transported back,” Prime Minister Orbán said. “We have to admit that the European continent cannot remain unprotected.”

      Discussing immigration to Hungary in a speech that came just days after his government announced the total requests submitted for Hungarian citizenships had hit one million, Orban said he would continue to oppose migrants “who could change the country’s cultural identity”.

      As long as I remain the prime minister, the fence will stay in place. We will protect Hungary and Europe.

      We can never be in solidarity with ideals, peoples and ethnic groups who set out with the goal to change European culture… because the end result is collapse.

      Will Europe be inhabited by Europeans? Will Hungary be inhabited by Hungarians, Germany by Germans, France by the French, Italy by Italians? Who will live in Europe?

      Speaking of this clash of cultures, Orban said: “the culture of migrants is opposed to European culture, conflicting ideas to not prevail at the same time”, and remarked that mass migration could not be the solution to economic problems. Doing as nations like Germany had for decades by importing foreign workers to prop up the economy, he compared to a man stranded on a desert island drinking sea water to survive: “That too is water, but the problem gets worse”.

      Better, he said, was for European nations to have stable populations supported by birth rates that allowed for natural biological replacement. For Hungary to achieve that, the Prime Minister said, it would have to achieve a birth rate of 2.1 children per family — a figure presently unheard of among Europeans.

      Recognising that other Western and European nations were taking many migrants and seeing their cultures change as a result, Orban declared his nation’s borders open to like minded European, declaring that Hungary is a place where “Western European Christians will always be able to find security”.

      Speaking just hours after Poland’s upper house passed a series of significant reforms to their judiciary, a move which has triggered significant threats of punishment from the European Union, Orban also offered solidarity with the people and government of the fellow Visegrad four nation.

      Accusing the European Union of launching an “inquisitional campaign against Poland” to stamp out dissent against the European project, Orban said Hungary would come to Poland’s defence and “use all legal options in the European Union to show solidarity with the Poles”.

      http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/07/22/orban-europe-must-regain-sovereignty-soros-empire-build-border-wall-stop-muslimized-europe/

  20. Former spy chiefs tear into Trump

    John Brennan and Jim Clapper trash Trump for his relations with Putin, attacks on intelligence community.

    Two former top U.S. intelligence officials tore into President Donald Trump on Friday, saying in sometimes personal terms that Trump has shown disrespect for intelligence officials and a distasteful affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and warning he may be endangering U.S. national security.

    The two former Obama administration officials, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan, also strongly defended their response to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election against criticism that they had not sufficiently punished Putin.

    “I think we did pretty damn well…. there was no playbook for this,” Brennan said, adding that he “threw a high, hard one” at his Russian counterpart in a phone call last summer warning the Russians to stop interfering in the election.

    “This is uncharted seas that we were trying to navigate,” Clapper added. Both men endorsed the creation of a law requiring regular disclosures to Congress of foreign cyber intrusions before U.S. elections.

    But it was a sustained critique of Trump that dominated their joint appearance before an audience of national security insiders panel discussion here at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado.

    Noting that he had served six presidents, Brennan said that Trump’s actions on the world stage had raised “serious questions about how he is keeping safe our national security. “

    Both men specifically cited Trump’s recent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Hamburg.

    Brennan said he was unhappy to hear Trump tell Putin, in front of television cameras in Germany, that it was a “great honor” to meet the Russian leader. He noted that Putin had annexed Ukrainian territory and is alleged to have condoned the murder of critics and political opponents.

    “For a person who supposedly knows the art of the deal, I thought it was a very bad negotiating tactic and I felt that it was not the honorable thing to say,” Brennan said.

    Both men criticized Trump’s after dinner conversation with Putin in Hamburg—joined only by a Kremlin translator. Clapper called that “very dangerous,” warning of the risk of miscommunication.

    Brennan added that the nature of the conversation could allow Trump to distort or conceal details of their private conversation.

    “Quite frankly I think there are concerns that sometimes what Mr. Trump says happens is not exactly what happens,” Brennan said. “I think it just raises again concerns about what else may be going on between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin that is being held behind closed doors and outside of public view.”

    The White House has insisted that Trump’s dinner chat with Putin was relatively brief and in line with past diplomatic practice, though many foreign policy experts disagree.

    The two intelligence veterans, gruff by nature, appeared relaxed and even relieved at their recent retirements from government service.

    But their mood repeatedly darkened when asked by the moderator, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, to respond to Trump’s public statements and tweets—including some likening intelligence agencies to Nazi security services.

    Brennan excoriated Trump for critical comments about the intelligence community too, saying the information the agencies provide has been instrumental in allowing past presidents to push back against Russian aggression, including during the Cuban missile crisis.

    “These types of comments are just disgraceful, never should have happened and the person who said that should be ashamed of themselves,” Brennan said, to sustained applause.

    Both men questioned the motives and “risky” and “profoundly baffling” decision by Donald Trump Jr. and top campaign aides Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner to meet with a Russian lawyer and others dangling damaging information about his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the election.

    And they said they remained perplexed by Trump’s continued refutation of U.S. intelligence assessments about Russia’s meddling in the election—and Putin’s personal involvement in it—especially when it came at the expense of the intelligence agencies now under his command.

    After seeing Trump invoke Nazi Germany in a January tweet critical of U.S. intelligence agencies, which he accused of leaking “fake news” about his connections to Russia, Clapper said he called Trump to complain.

    “I was amazed he took the call,” Clapper said. He added that Trump heard out his complaint—then urged Clapper to issue a public
    statement refuting the contents of a private dossier compiled by a former British intelligence operative and leaked to the media alleging extensive Russian influence over Trump and his associates. Clapper declined to do so.

    The former intelligence chief added that he was upset again when Trump, during a recent visit to Poland, cast doubt on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.

    “I was particularly distressed by, when in a foreign country Poland, he’s disparaging his own intelligence community, which, to me, put him at a great disadvantage in the run up to the meeting with President Putin,” Clapper said.

    Brennan noted that intelligence agencies have been instrumental in allowing past presidents to push back against Russian aggression, including during the Cuban missile crisis.

    “So these types of comments are just disgraceful, never should have happened and the person who said that should be ashamed of themselves,” Brennan said, to sustained applause.

    Both men have been critical of Trump before, but not in such an unvarnished fashion. “In some respects,” Brennan said, “we’re a nation in crisis right now.”

    At one point, the sustained nature of their criticism prompted Clapper to pause for some comic relief.

    “By the way,” he said, “if John and I are being too subtle here, let us know.”

    http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/21/spy-chiefs-rip-trump-240828
    =========================================
    NYT – Can the President Be Indicted? A Long-Hidden Legal Memo Says Yes

    A newfound memo from Kenneth W. Starr’s independent counsel investigation into President Bill Clinton sheds fresh light on a constitutional puzzle that is taking on mounting significance amid the Trump-Russia inquiry: Can a sitting president be indicted?

    The 56-page memo, locked in the National Archives for nearly two decades and obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, amounts to the most thorough government-commissioned analysis rejecting a generally held view that presidents are immune from prosecution while in office.[…]

    […]Could Mueller go where no prosecutor has before?

    Even if Mr. Mueller were to uncover sufficient evidence to indict Mr. Trump, decide that the legal arguments in the Starr office memo were correct and conclude that he wanted to ask a grand jury for an indictment while Mr. Trump is president — all big ifs — yet another uncertainty would loom: whether he must accept the Office of Legal Counsel’s analysis, even if he disagreed with it.[…]

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/us/politics/can-president-be-indicted-kenneth-starr-memo.html?smid=tw-share

  21. Egypt opens military base says largest in region (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypt-opens-military-base-largest-region-48792442

    “Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has inaugurated a military base in the country’s northwest to protect facilities and projects in coastal cities.

    Saturday’s inauguration, aired by state TV, was held with senior Arab officials present. It comes ahead of the 65th anniversary of the July 23 military coup which ended the monarchy.

    The base is named after late President Mohammed Naguib, an Egyptian army officer who became the country’s first president. Located in the Marsa Matrouh governorate west of Alexandria, Egypt says the base is the largest in the Middle East.

    Egypt’s army announced earlier that it established another base, called Barrani, close to the porous western border with Libya to prevent the infiltration of militants. Authorities vie with Islamic militants and smugglers who use it to enter the country.”

    • Egypt opens military base says largest in region

      It makes no difference when one considers, “Why Arabs Lose Wars“.

      Quick read, excellent article, with a full and detailed explanation of Arab incompetence.

  22. The Latest: Lebanese town official slain in Syria (abcnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-activists-idlib-province-syria-calm-48789842

    “The Lebanese army says the former deputy mayor of the border town of Arsal was killed while on a mediation mission with al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria.

    The army said in a statement that Ahmad Fleeti was killed Saturday near the border town after al-Qaida-linked militants hit his vehicle with a missile.

    Fleeti’s killing came a day after the militant Hezbollah group and Syrian troops launched a wide offensive to clear the border area of militants.

    Faleeti was severely wounded losing one of his legs before dying in a hospital in Lebanon, security officials said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.”

    • Faleeti was severely wounded losing one of his legs…

      Preferably the middle one.

  23. Interpol circulates list of 173 suspected members of Isis suicide brigade
    Exclusive: Agency believes the fighters could have been trained to bomb Europe as revenge for military defeats in Middle East
    Interpol has circulated a list of 173 Islamic State fighters it believes could have been trained to mount suicide attacks in Europe in revenge for the group’s military defeats in the Middle East.

    The global crime fighting agency’s list was drawn up by US intelligence from information captured during the assault on Isis territories in Syria and Iraq.

    Global network of ‘hunters’ aim to take down terrorists on the internet
    Read more
    European counter-terror networks are concerned that as the Isis “caliphate” collapses, there is an increasing risk of determined suicide bombers seeking to come to Europe, probably operating alone.

    There is no evidence that any of the people on the list, whose names the Guardian has obtained, have yet entered Europe, but the Interpol circulation, designed to see if EU intelligence sources have any details on the individuals, underlines the scale of the challenge facing Europe.

    The list, sent out by the general secretariat of Interpol on 27 May, defines the group of fighters as individuals that “may have been trained to build and position improvised explosive devices in order to cause serious deaths and injuries. It is believed that they can travel internationally, to participate in terrorist activities.”
    The data was originally collected by the US intelligence “through trusted channels”. The material was handed over to the FBI, which transmitted the list to Interpol for global sharing.

    A note appended to the Interpol list circulated in Italy explains how the terrorist database was constructed, putting together the pieces of the puzzle from hundreds of elements, mainly gathered when Isis local headquarters were captured.

    “The people,” the note says, “have been identified through materials found in the hiding places of Isil, the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant.” The note adds that “it emerges that those subjects may have manifested willingness to commit a suicidal attack or martyrdom to support Islam”……..
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/21/isis-islamic-state-suicide-brigade-interpol-list

    • There is no evidence that any of the people on the list, whose names the Guardian has obtained, have yet entered Europe…

      Just give things time, eh? … Neither Interpol nor any other EU agency seems overly concerned about intercepting these thousands of battle-hardened ISIS fighters that are dead-set upon killing a maximum number of Europeans upon their return.

      Perhaps it might be best to temporarily house these ISIS returnees at various mansions of the EU’s elite for several months in order to adequately determine just how “well-assimilated” into Western culture these scum-sucking-terrorist-barbarians really are prior to releasing them into Europe’s general population.

      • I wonder how well established the support structure is in Europe? That will probably determine the timing and severity of the attacks.

  24. France jails Britons for smuggling migrants into England (thelocal, Jul 22, 2017)
    https://www.thelocal.fr/20170722/france-jails-britons-for-smuggling-migrants-into-england

    “A French court on Friday jailed two Britons for over two years for having smuggled migrants to England in a light aircraft in what prosecutors said was a first.

    Pilot David Green, 54, and his accomplice Edward Buckley, 46, admitted having made several flights from Marck aerodrome, near the northern port of Calais, charging passengers £10,000 (€11,120) each.

    Calais is a springboard for migrants attempting to cross the Channel to Britain, normally by stowing away on trucks that board ferries…”

  25. Italian Court Gives Moroccan Man 3 Years in Prison for 8-Year Abuse of Daughter (moroccoworldnews, Jul 22, 2017)
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2017/07/223987/italian-court-gives-moroccan-man-3-years-prison-8-year-abuse-daughter/

    “A court in Verona, Italy, has sentenced a 52-year old Moroccan man to three years in prison following an eight-year period of abuse towards his daughter.

    The unnamed man was sentenced this week for charges that date back to 2005.

    His daughter stated that he had assaulted her physically and mentally from 2005 to 2013. His actions included throwing a chair at her, taking her clothes off, and beating her with a cable after having gagged her mouth so that nobody would hear her.

    The girl went to hospital with wounds and bruises several times throughout the eight-year period, but never told doctors how she had obtained the injuries. She finally filed a complaint against her father in 2013, when she was 16 years old.”

  26. Hundreds of Islamic State corpses await repatriation from Libya (ahram, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/274066/World/Region/Hundreds-of-Islamic-State-corpses-await-repatriati.aspx

    “Seven months after Libyan forces defeated Islamic State (IS) militants in the coastal city of Sirte, hundreds of bodies of foreign militants still lie stored in freezers as authorities negotiate with other governments to decide what to do with them, local officials say…”

  27. Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Syrian army advance in border offensive, say reports (middleeasteye, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanons-hezbollah-syrian-army-advance-border-offensive-say-reports-1565004743

    “Lebanon’s Shiite militia Hezbollah and the Syrian army advanced against Sunni militants on Saturday, the second day of an assault to drive them from their last foothold along the Syria-Lebanon border, pro-Damascus media reported.

    The operation has targeted Sunni Muslim insurgents from the former Nusra Front, a group that was aligned to al-Qaeda and who have controlled the barren, mountainous zone of Juroud Arsal.

    A military media unit run by Hezbollah said its forces captured Jwar al Sheikh, Wadi Kriti and other areas in the southern part of Juroud Arsal.

    Syrian warplanes struck militant positions on the Syrian side of the border, near the Syrian town of Fleita, it said.

    The offensive began on Friday and killed at least 23 Nusra militants on the first day, the Hezbollah unit said. At least five Hezbollah fighters were also killed…”

  28. Taliban leader’s son carries out suicide attack in Helmand province (khaama, Jul 22, 2017)
    http://www.khaama.com/taliban-leaders-son-carries-out-suicide-attack-in-helmand-province-03194

    “The son of Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada has carried out a suicide attack in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

    A spokesman for the Taliban group Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said, Khalid, the elder son of Mullah Hebatullah carried out an attack in Greshk district of Helmand.

    Ahmadi further added that the attack by Khalid shows that the insurgency led by the group is being led based on religious beliefs and not to seek power.

    This comes as the provincial government media office in a statement confirmed the launch of the attack and said two Humvee armored vehicles packed with explosives were detonated as the insurgents launched the attack.

    The statement further added that the bombings on Thursday morning did not incur any major loss or destruction to the security posts and the security troops are prepared and are responding to the attack.

    At least two army soldiers and three policemen sustained injuries in the attack and the Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices were destroyed before they reach the security posts, the provincial government added, the statement added.

    The provincial government also said that the Afghan forces are currently engaged in gun battle with the Taliban insurgents in Adam Khan, Parcha, and Pashak areas, receiving air support as they continue to suppress the insurgents.”

    • Afghan officials calls Taliban claims regarding Hebatullah’s son a ‘propaganda’ (khaama, Jul 22, 2017)
      http://www.khaama.com/afghan-officials-calls-taliban-claims-regarding-hebatullahs-son-a-propaganda-03197

      “The Afghan government officials dismiss the claims by the Taliban as baseless and part of their propaganda after the group claimed that the son of the group’s supreme leader has carried out a suicide attack in Helmand province.

      The Afghan officials are saying that the leaders of the Taliban and their families are based in Pakistan and Qatar, having luxurious lives.

      “They lied, it is part of their propaganda, Taliban’s families&leaders are having luxuries life in Pakistan&Qatar,” the head of the Government Media and Information Center Sediq Sediqi said in a Twitter post, reacting to the claims of the Taliban group…”

  29. Haftar’s Libyan militia clash with rival factions in Benghazi (alaraby, Jul 23, 2017)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/7/22/haftars-libyan-militia-clash-with-rival-factions-in-benghazi

    “Forces loyal to General Haftar Khalifa, known as the Libyan National Army, clashed with rival armed groups in the port city of Benghazi amid the militia’s continued assertion of control over the country’s second most populous city.

    The LNA killed six troops and wounded eight, a commander said on Saturday.

    “Special forces carried out an attack on Friday on the last resistance pockets of terrorism in Khraibeesh area and successfully the forces advanced and controlled several points,” LNA commander Mari El-Houti said.

    LNA forces also carried out airstrikes on rival groups in Derna, local witnesses told Reuters.

    Haftar’s LNA, which has set itself against the UN-backed government in Tripoli and Islamist groups, has emerged as a powerful force in Libya’s current power struggle…”