Reader’s links, Aug. 15, 2017

Daily Links Post graphic

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

76 Replies to “Reader’s links, Aug. 15, 2017”

  1. KIM Jong-un may have hidden a secret message to the United States in his blustering boast that he is now ready to lob missiles at Guam. But can President Trump understand it?
    This morning North Korean media stated Kim had been briefed by his Missile Command on completed plans to test launch missiles and ‘bracket’ the US Pacific territory of Guam.
    But Kim stated he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to give an order for the missile test.
    The US has stated any missiles lobbed toward Guam would be seen as a deeply provocative act.
    US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United States would “take out” any such missile and declared such a launch could lead to war.

    http://www.news.com.au/world/missile-alarm-us-satellites-observe-north-korea-moving-missiles-into-position-mattis-warns-of-high-alert/news-story/ff9e0926f948b56c660b718e949993fa

    • So much for the CNN BS, nothing has been solved we have just moved the crisis down the road a bit. Kim still has nukes, Kim still has missiles and China still wants some type of confrontation. We have 6 to 12 months max before Kim has missiles that can do all he has been boasting. We will have to move on Kim in the future, probably the fairly near future, we know this, Kim knows this, China knows this and even the libs over here know this. That is why they are so busy spinning events so everything is Trumps fault.

    • zero hedge – NYT Shocking Report: US “Ally” Ukraine Is Source Of North Korean Missile Engines

      […]Specifically, in a blockbuster report this morning, the NYT alleges that North Korea has been making black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines from a Ukrainian factory citing “expert analysis being published Monday and classified assessments by American intelligence agencies.”

      […]In other words, it is America’s latest Eastern European “ally” that is behind what is rapidly emerging as a potential nuclear threat that can blanket as much as half of the continental US.

      “It’s likely that these engines came from Ukraine — probably illicitly,” Elleman told the NYT in an interview. “The big question is how many they have and whether the Ukrainians are helping them now. I’m very worried.”

      Bolstering his conclusion, he added, was a finding by United Nations investigators that North Korea tried six years ago to steal missile secrets from the Ukrainian complex. Two North Koreans were caught, and a U.N. report said the information they tried to steal was focused on advanced “missile systems, liquid-propellant engines, spacecraft and missile fuel supply systems.” Investigators now believe that, amid the chaos of post-revolutionary Ukraine, Pyongyang tried again.[…]

      more:

      http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-14/nyt-shocking-report-us-ally-ukraine-source-north-korean-missile-engines

      • The destruction of history, by doing this they think they are white washing the history of the Democrats, all they are doing is creating the tensions that will lead to another civil war.

    • Germany is worried that they will resist when Merkel orders the German Army into Hungry to enforce the EU orders.

  2. PHOTOS: Major weapons bust in Broome County

    WATCH: Details of major weapons bust in Broome County announced

    KIRKWOOD (WBNG) — Broome County District Attorney Steve Cornwell, New York State Police, SIU and Johnson City Police Chief Brent Dodge on Wednesday announced details of a major weapons bust in Broome County, resulting in the arrest of one man and the seizure of numerous weapons.

    “They did a great job of asking him very specific questions about the ammunition he had stolen and what weapons that may go to. He gave them some answers that were inconsistent with their in-depth knowledge of weapons which set off further red flags for them,” said Johnson City Police Chief Brent Dodge.

    In a news conference, authorities said Ramadan Abdullah, 64, has been charged the following:

    – Four counts, criminal possession of a weapon, second degree, class C felony
    – Criminal possession of a weapon, third degree, class D felony
    – Criminal possession of stolen property, fifth degree, class A misdemeanor

    Officials said that Abdullah was arrested by Johnson City police on May 31 for shoplifting ammunition from Gander Mountain. According to the Broome County District Attorney’s Office, when a search warrant was executed on Abdullah’s storage unit in the town of Union, the following items were recovered:

    – Four loaded handguns
    – Eight assault weapons
    – 64 high-capacity ammunition feeding devices
    – One loaded shotgun
    – Two rifles

    – Thousands of rounds of ammunition for rifles, pistols and assault weapons, including .50 caliber armor piercing incendiary rounds, numerous firearm parts and flak jackets.

    According to the DA’s office, search warrants were also executed at additional properties tied to Abdullah, resulting in the seizure of:

    – Numerous rounds of .38 caliber ammunition
    – High-capacity ammunition feeding devices and ammunition
    – An additional loaded firearm

    The New York State Police released the following specific information regarding the firearms.

    Pistols:

    – H&K USP Compact Pistol, .357 SIG caliber, semi-auto pistol, with laser (loaded)
    – Browning Arms, 9mm caliber, semi-auto pistol w/laser (loaded)
    – Browning Arms Company , .22 caliber semi-auto pistol (loaded)
    – Glock Model 30, 45ACP caliber, semi-auto pistol w/laser (loaded)
    – COP Inc, Four barrel pistol, 38 Special / 357 Magnum caliber (loaded)

    Assault Weapons:

    – US Charter Arms AR-7 Explorer, .22 caliber, semi-auto rifle w/ Sightmark Holographic sight
    – Steyr-Daimler-Puch A6 AUG, .223 caliber, semi-auto rifle w/sling and scope
    – Kassnar Imports AK47, 7.62×39 caliber, semi-auto rifle w/folding stock
    – Springfield Armory M1A, 7.62 caliber, desert camo colored, semi-auto rifle w/scope
    – Armalite AR-180, 5.56 caliber, semi-auto rifle, w/sling
    – Armalite AR-180, 5.56 caliber, semi-auto rifle, with folding stock, Armalite scope, and sling
    – H&K SR9TC, 7.62×51 caliber, desert camo colored semi-auto rifle w/ Springfield Armory Scope
    – Bushmaster Model XM15-E2S, 223/5.56 caliber, Semi-auto rifle, w/ leather sling

    State Police would not reveal if they believe Abdullah was connected to any terror groups.

    “That is still under investigation. We do believe he has left the country. We have information to indicate that. As far as his affiliation with other groups, that is being investigated, we do have cooperation with federal authorities on that,” said NYSP Major James Barnes.

    According to officials, Abdullah was sent to the Broome County Jail to wait for arraignment.

    http://www.wbng.com/story/35662696/watch-details-of-major-weapons-bust-in-broome-county-announced

    • Exclusive: Jihadi Cult Associate Arrested in NY With Firearms Stockpile

      […]Abdullah is currently being held in the Broome County Jail without bail.

      Abdullah is a longtime associate of the U.S.-based Islamist cult Muslims of America

      (MOA), which has been described as a terrorist organization in documents from the FBI and other agencies. A 2003 file says MOA is linked to terrorists in Pakistan, including Al-Qaeda affiliates.

      The group’s headquarters is a 70-acre compound in Hancock, NY called “Islamberg.” It is just a 50-minute drive from where Abdullah was arrested.

      MOA is led by a radical cleric in Pakistan named Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who demands a cultish loyalty from his followers in America. Gilani indoctrinates them to follow a hate-filled extremist ideology that includes violent jihad against perceived enemies of Islam and a belief that they are fulfilling apocalyptic prophecies.

      The group has claimed to have 22 “Islamic villages” across the U.S., mostly in rural areas, which have been used as guerilla training compounds. The group also has a history of committing acts of terrorism and crimes including murder, gun smuggling, narcotics trafficking and money laundering.[…]

      https://clarionproject.org/exclusive-jihadi-cult-associate-arrested-ny-firearms-stockpile/

  3. Ali in Wonderland

    Here’s a recent news item that caught my eye:

    Ayaan Hirsi Ali was scheduled to present a paper on radical Islamic terror at the National Security Council before being blocked by H.R. Mc Master and his recently appointed Senior Director of Counter-Terrorism, Mustafa Javed Ali.

    Mustafa Javed Ali is now the senior director of counter-terrorism? Could that be right? Please don’t accuse me of racism. After all, Islam is not a race. For all I know, Mustafa Javed Ali could be a Caucasian convert to Islam formerly known as Billy Bob Pickens. If I read that someone named Vasily Vladimir Petrovich had been suddenly appointed as deputy director of the CIA, my curiosity would be similarly piqued.

    What’s in a name? Usually nothing that would have a bearing on national security. But some names make you sit up and take notice. Take care… er, I meant to say, “Take CAIR, for example.” That’s the acronym for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Before taking command of counterterrorism, Mr. Javed Ali was CAIR’s diversity outreach coordinator.

    CAIR, if you don’t already know, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the nation’s largest terrorist-funding case. The organization is considered by many to be a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood. Along with its opposition to virtually every anti-terrorism initiative ever proposed, CAIR has also been at the forefront of the “Islamophobia” campaign. It’s likely no coincidence that Mustafa Javed Ali’s opposition to Ayaan Hirsi Ali is that she was “Islamophobic.”

    The important name to remember here, however, is not M.J. Ali, but General H.R. McMaster. The H.R. stands for Herbert Raymond, which in itself should be enough to disqualify the man from the position of National Security Advisor. But no such luck. He’s in like Flynn. Well, not like Flynn. Flynn is out. And so are a lot of other people who share Flynn’s silly view that Islamic terror has something to do with Islam.

    Since replacing Flynn, McMaster has been firing people left and right–well, mostly on the right. The people on the left are the ones who are being hired to replace them. According to the Washington Free Beacon, “McMaster has been targeting long-time Trump loyalists who were clashing with career government staffers and holdovers from the Obama administration.” Now it looks like the Obama holdovers are holding the trump hand, and Trump is left holding the bag.

    Among those fired from top positions at NSC are K.T. Mc Farland, Ezra Watnick-Cohen, Rich Higgins, Derek Harvey, Adam Lovinger, and Robin Townley. For the most part they are anti-Iran deal, pro-Israel, and anti-Muslim Brotherhood. Some of them also worry about the left. For example, Rich Higgins was fired for a memo that warned about the alliance between “cultural Marxists” and “Islamists.” Once McMaster has completed his purge, writes Daniel Greenfield, “the NSC will be a purely Obama-Bush operation.”

    The McMaster disaster is an example of what is meant by the “deep state,” or, if you like, the “swamp.” The “swamp” refers primarily to upper-level bureaucrats who seem to be permanently embedded in government agencies. They are supposed to be civil servants, but mostly they serve the man who appointed them. But if the Obama loyalists in the D.C. bureaucracy are the swamp, McMaster is more like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The swamp waits for its victims to sink in the mud, the Creature actively seeks them out.

    Of course, he has help—people like Mustafa Javed Ali. Some might question Mr. Ali’s qualifications, but let’s not quibble about that. His service as diversity outreach coordinator for CAIR surely qualifies him to be Senior Director of Counter-Terrorism for U.S.A. He was so qualified that Mc Master catapulted him to Senior Director without even a tryout as Junior Director. Still, one could question Javed Ali’s tactics. Take his cancellation of Hirsi Ali’s talk. According to one source, Javed Ali said “the only way she could present her paper would be to have someone from CAIR come in to refute her work.”

    Equal time for CAIR—an organization that, for good reason, has been dubbed the “Muslim Mafia”? It must all seem very strange to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has spent a good part of her life trying to escape the CAIR-ing type. She left Somalia for the Netherlands to get away from Islam’s harsh treatment of women. Then she left Holland for America because of Muslim death threats against her. Now that she’s in the land of the free, she must wonder why her competence to speak on Islam to the NSC is being questioned by a former functionary of a Muslim Brotherhood organization.

    Like Alice in Wonderland, Ali must be trying to make sense of it all. Why are the Mad Hatters and the Red Queens still in charge of Washington? Why are ex-CAIR men in the National Security Council? One could ask these questions, but perhaps it’s better not to. One question leads to another, and pretty soon you’re on a witch hunt or a fishing expedition and you might catch a red herring, and then where would you be?

    If you’re going to ask why there are Muslim Brotherhood types in the NSC, you might as well ask why the current co-chair of the Democratic National Committee is a convert to Islam who spends much of his time hobnobbing with people from CAIR and ISNA. You might just as well ask why his predecessor Debbie Wasserman Schultz failed to fire her top IT aide Imran Awan until after he was arrested at Dulles Airport for trying to flee the country. Imran and his two brothers, Abid and Jamal, had already been relieved of their duties as information technology managers for dozens of Democrat members of the House of Representatives. The three Pakistani brothers were suspected of illegal access and data theft. Yet, over the course of several years, they worked for three members of the House Committee on Intelligence, five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and for various Democratic members of the Homeland Security Committee and the Armed Services Committee.

    But who cares? Why make a mountain out of a Capitol Hill full of moles? That would be like making a fuss about the fact that John Kerry’s daughter married into an Iranian family. Of course, ordinary mortals with at-risk in-laws in Iran would be expected to recuse themselves from sensitive negotiations with the Iranian government over nuclear weapons. But John Kerry is not an ordinary person. He’s a Democrat. And Democrats don’t do recuse.

    If you would raise a fuss about such a small thing, you’re probably the kind of person who would make a big deal about Hillary Clinton appointing Huma Abedin as Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department. Sure, Abedin’s family were entangled with the Muslim Brotherhood, and sure, Abedin herself was managing editor of a Muslim Brotherhood magazine. But what of it? It’s not as though the Clinton State Department ever showed any partiality to the Muslim Brotherhood—except for helping them take over Egypt, and a few other minor favors.

    Why is Mustafa Javed Ali in charge of counter-terrorism at the NSC? You might as well ask why John Brennan, the head of the CIA under Obama, ordered the FBI and about 14 other security agencies to purge their training materials of any reference to “jihad” and “radical Islam.” Why did he do that? It’s really none of your business, but if you must know, it was because such terms are offensive to Muslims.

    Speaking of purges, Obama conducted one of his own. During his eight-year tenure, he replaced several hundred generals and other high-ranking officers with people who shared his own view of a more peaceful and tolerant military. As a result, the only generals left to choose from in the swam…I mean, the pool, tend to be made in the image of the ex-president. That’s why every time Trump turns over a new hire card, it doesn’t turn up trumps, it turns up Obamas.

    While we’re on the subject of cards, I want you to look at this one. It’s the Queen of Diamonds. It’s better that you don’t trouble your mind anymore over the matters we’ve been discussing. Just concentrate on the card. Empty your mind of all bothersome thoughts. These are complicated matters best left to the wise ones. The military-industrial complex is too complex for you to ever understand. When you wake you will forget everything said here.

    http://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/ali-in-wonderland

  4. BBC – Saudi Arabia’s missing princes

    In the last two years, three Saudi princes living in Europe have disappeared. All were critical of the Saudi government – and there is evidence that all were abducted and flown back to Saudi Arabia… where nothing further has been heard from them.[…]

    http://www.bbc.com/news/amp/magazine-40926963

  5. Shocking Video: Mother Teaching Children Terror on the Temple Mount

    As a group of policemen walk by on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, three Muslim children pull out toy rifles, and start screaming at the policemen as they “open fire.”

    Their proud mother can be seen laughing as she films her future terrorists-in-training.

    Other Muslims watching the shocking scene can be heard laughing in amusement as these brainwashed children shoot the police, just weeks after three Muslim terrorists murdered two policemen on the Temple Mount.

    Is this what one teaches their children to do on a holy site? Murder policemen!

    http://www.jewishpress.com/multimedia/video-picks/shocking-video-teaching-children-terror-on-the-temple-mount/2017/08/14/

  6. UK: Is it a summer thing? Train derails outside Waterloo as London transport grinds to halt

    A train derailed outside London Waterloo station, Tuesday, leading to heavy delays at just one of the several major transport hubs in the British capital to experience disruptions.

  7. Illegal Refugees Complain About Housing In Montreal

    After being bussed into sanctuary city Montreal after illegally crossing the Canada-U.S. border, illegal refugees are now complaining about lack of housing there.

    The illegals are provided with a tent upon entering Quebec from New York state and are then sent to Montreal’s Olympic Stadium or another temporary refuge, like a hotel or even a former convent.

    But the illegal migrants say they don’t like being moved around so much and are looking for accommodation in Canada’s second-largest city. Ahmed Iftikhar told The Canadian Press that he has been in three temporary shelters since he and his wife and four children marched illegally across the border.

    Not only are the asylum-seekers provided access to all municipal services in Montreal but they begin picking up their social assistance check within days of arriving in Canada — and are expected to spend some of it on room and board.

    Thousands of the migrants — mostly originally from Haiti but arriving from the U.S. — continue to stampede across the border every week, claiming their alleged refugee status is grounded in a belief that President Donald Trump will have them deported.

    Iftikhar, who was provided with a city transit pass and even a number of apartments to investigate, says he can’t find a place large enough for his family.

    “There is nobody to help,” he told The Canadian Press. “I want to leave here but I don’t know what to do.”

    Another illegal, who wished to remain anonymous, said it would be easier to get settled into Quebec if he had a cellular phone and a lawyer to help settle his refugee claim because “$600 or $700 isn’t a lot to eat with or to sleep with.”

    Almost 2,000 illegals arrived in the first week of August alone and the numbers are increasing. The reason for that, Haitian Marie-Junie Joseph says, is Canada’s perceived open-door refugee policy.

    “I came because the door is open here, because I heard Canada is open to immigrants.”

    http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/14/illegal-refugees-complain-about-housing-in-montreal/?utm_source=site-share

  8. German court sends ECB challenge to European court (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/german-court-sends-ecb-challenge-european-court-49222300

    “Germany’s top court has declined to hear a series of challenges to the European Central Bank’s bond-buying stimulus program, referring them instead to the European Court of Justice.

    The dpa news agency reports Tuesday that those against the program claimed it constituted illegal budget financing and that Germany’s central bank should not be participating.

    The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that because the challenge was about European Union regulations, it was up to the European court to decide.

    The ECB’s 2.28 trillion euro ($2.7 trillion) bond-purchasing program is only due to run through 2017, raising the question of whether the case can be heard before the program has already ended.”

  9. Soros continues betting against US stock market despite mounting losses (RT, Aug 15, 2017)
    https://www.rt.com/business/399645-soros-stock-market-bet-trump/

    “US regulatory filings show George Soros is still investing in options that will profit him only if the stock market they are linked to declines in value.

    Soros Fund Management held put options on PowerShares QQQ Trust, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, iShares Russell 2000 ETF as of June 30. Each is an exchange-traded fund that tracks a broad US stock market index. The bet is worth $1.8 billion. Soros stands to profit only if the stock market falls.

    Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros Fund Management, said the company would not comment on the filing.

    In January, Soros said “it’s impossible to predict” US President Donald Trump’s actions, but he was nonetheless sure the market would plunge.

    Soon after the election, Soros lost over $1 billion by taking a short position on the market. While Soros called Trump a “would-be dictator,” and predicted uncertainty and a sell-off after his win, the markets have rallied significantly.

    The US S&P500 index is up over 10 percent this year, the Nasdaq is up 18 percent, and Dow Jones is up over 11 percent.

    Soros is best known for making a fortune on his short play against the British pound. On 16 September 1992, Soros’ $10 billion short position on the pound forced the Bank of England to withdraw Sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after it was unable to keep the currency above its agreed lower limit in the ERM.”

  10. Reports: Turkey detains Interpol-sought Belgian IS suspect (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/reports-turkey-detains-interpol-sought-belgian-suspect-49223612

    “Turkish media reports say police in Istanbul have apprehended a suspected Islamic State group militant wanted by Interpol.

    State-run Anadolu Agency said Tuesday that the Belgian national was detained in an anti-terrorism operation last week.

    Hurriyet newspaper identified the man as Mehdi A. and said authorities believe he arrived in Istanbul to carry out a “sensational act.”

    The paper’s online edition said the suspect was sought by Interpol for the past three years and was allegedly in charge of French-speaking militants within IS. The man joined IS in Syria together with his wife and children in 2014, according to the report.

    Police in Istanbul wouldn’t comment on the reports.

    Turkey has endured multiple deadly bombing attacks since 2015, blamed on IS or Kurdish militants.”

  11. BBC says Iran freezes local assets of Farsi service staff (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bbc-iran-freezes-local-assets-farsi-service-staff-49223811

    “An Iranian court order has frozen the local assets of over 150 people associated with the BBC’s Farsi-language service, the British broadcaster said on Tuesday, the latest effort by Tehran to crack down on the service’s popular newscasts.

    Iranian officials and state media did not immediately report on the order, which the BBC said banned current and former staff, as well as contributors, from “selling or buying property, cars and other goods.”

    The order, issued from a court at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, only came to light when a relative of a BBC Persian employee tried to sell a property on their behalf, the broadcaster said.

    “It is appalling that anyone should suffer legal or financial consequences because of their association with the BBC,” BBC World Service director Francesca Unsworth said in a statement. “We call upon the Iranian authorities to reverse this order urgently and allow BBC staff and former staff to enjoy the same financial rights as their fellow citizens.”

    The BBC’s Farsi-language service is barred from working in Iran, though many Iranians listen to its radio shows and watch its satellite television broadcasts. Some 13 million people tune in, according to the broadcaster, hungry for news not being reported by the state-run channels allowed on the air in Iran.

    The BBC’s Farsi-language staffers have been targeted by Iran’s government in the past, especially by hard-liners within the judiciary and security services.

    The court order comes as Evin prison now holds Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian woman who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency. She is serving a five-year prison sentence over allegations of planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling there with her toddler daughter.”

  12. Indonesia police arrest militants preparing chemical attacks (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-police-arrest-militants-preparing-chemical-attacks-49226341

    “Indonesian police say they’ve arrested five suspected Islamic militants and seized chemicals that were to be used for attacks on several locations, including the presidential palace.

    West Java police spokesman Yusri Yunus says the militants arrested in Bandung on Tuesday are from Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of Indonesian extremist groups that pledges allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    Yunus says among those arrested were a husband and wife who were deported about three years ago from Hong Kong on suspicion of spreading radical ideology. The couple were arrested in Jakarta’s Kiaracondong neighborhood.

    Yunus says the group planned to launch the attacks at the end of August, with targets including the presidential palace in Jakarta, as well as headquarters of the police’s elite force and security officers.”

  13. Iranian president threatens to revitalize nuclear program (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iranian-president-threatens-restart-nuclear-program-49221183

    “Iran’s president warned Tuesday that it could ramp up its nuclear program and quickly achieve a more advanced level if the U.S. continues “threats and sanctions” against the country, which signed a landmark nuclear accord with world powers in 2015.

    Hassan Rouhani’s remarks to lawmakers were his most direct warning that the deal could fall apart, and risked ratcheting up tensions with the United States. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to scuttle the accord, which limited Iran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon while ending most sanctions against it.

    Earlier this week, Iran’s parliament voted to increase spending on the country’s ballistic missile program and the foreign operations of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The move came in response to U.S. legislation passed earlier this month imposing mandatory penalties on people involved in Iran’s ballistic missile program and anyone who does business with them. The U.S. legislation also applies terrorism sanctions to the Guard and enforces an existing arms embargo.

    If Washington continues with “threats and sanctions” against Iran, Rouhani said in parliament on Tuesday, Tehran could easily ramp up its nuclear activities.

    “In an hour and a day, Iran could return to a more advanced (nuclear) level than at the beginning of the negotiations” that preceded the 2015 deal, Rouhani said, though he underlined that Iran’s preference is to remain in the accord…”

  14. Suspected Islamist militant killed in Bangladesh raid (abcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-islamist-militant-killed-bangladesh-raid-49221813

    “A suspected Islamist militant was killed in an explosion inside a hotel in Bangladesh’s capital during a raid Tuesday on an alleged hideout.

    Police chief A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said that the man died in the explosion during the raid that began early Tuesday.

    Police identified the man as Saiful Islam, a college student. Details of his allegiance to any Islamist groups were not immediately clear.

    Some officials said a portion of the wall of the hotel fell from the force of the blasts…”

  15. Forced Marriage Laws Failing to Bring Convictions, ‘Thousands of Girls Abandoned’ (breitbart, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/08/15/forced-marriage-laws-failing-convictions-thousands-girls-abandoned/

    “Just one in 30 cases of alleged forced marriages are leading to a prosecution, sparking claims current laws are failing and conviction rates are too low.

    The government’s forced marriage unit has identified 8,170 cases of suspected forced marriages in the past seven years.

    However, according to the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) violence against women and girls report, just 395 cases have been referred to the CPS since 2010, and only 268 prosecutions were completed.

    During the same period, about 1,250 forced marriage protection orders were issued to protect girls and women at risk. Last year, 246 were issued – up from 217 in 2015.

    According to a freedom of information request seen by The Times, most of the orders were issued in a small number of “hotspots” with large numbers of migrants, namely Manchester, Luton, Leicester, and Bradford.

    Meanwhile, the proportion of successful prosecutions fell last year, from 63.0 per cent in 2014-15 to 60.4 per cent in 2015-16.

    There were just five prosecutions under the specific forced marriage offence in 2015-16 and six for breach of a forced marriage protection order.

    Forced marriage was only made a specific offence in 2014, including UK nationals married off abroad, with a maximum penalty of seven years. Then Home Secretary Theresa May claimed that the UK was a “world-leader in the fight to stamp out this harmful practice” at the time.

    Last month, it was reported that the number of children subjected to or fearing forced marriage being offered assistance by the UK’s leading children’s charity had hit a record level. The potential victims were as young as 13, the NSPCC said.

    Alison Saunders, the director of public prosecutions, said last September that conviction rates were too low and announced a plan to work more closely with charities to support witnesses and victims.

    Tuesday night, the Liberal Democrats called for the government to act urgently to crack down on the practice and to refer more cases to the CPS.

    Sir Ed Davey, the party’s home affairs spokesman, told The Times: “It is shocking that so many victims of forced marriages appear to be still slipping through the cracks.

    “Thousands of young women and girls are effectively being abandoned by the government. We need urgent extra action to prevent another wave of forced marriages, including training teachers to spot the signs and ensuring victims know where to turn to get help.”

    A government spokesman said: “We know there is more to do and will continue to work with the police, CPS and others to ensure perpetrators face justice for their crimes.””

  16. Migrant Gets Suspended Sentence for Sexually Abusing Children as Young as Five (breitbart, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/08/15/migrant-gets-15-months-sexually-abusing-children-young-five/

    “A 47-year-old asylum seeker in the Germany city of Augsburg in Bavaria has received a suspended sentence of 15 months imprisonment for the sexual abuse of several children, some as young as five.

    The unnamed asylum seeker, originally from Afghanistan, is said to have abused several children in the asylum home he lived in over the period of a year. The man, found guilty of sexual abuse and bodily harm, is said to have used the opportunity of living in a shared accommodation to molest the children, local newspaper Augburger Allgemeine reports.

    The judge in the case, Stefan Lenzenhuber, changed the sentence to a suspended sentence meaning that the asylum seeker will not face any actual prison time.

    The victims of the 47-year-old Afghan included three young boys aged five to six years old according to prosecutors.

    The case is not the first in Bavaria in which children have been abused in asylum homes. In June, a 41-year-old man, also from Afghanistan, stabbed a five-year-old boy to death and was later shot by police when they arrived on the scene.

    According to reports, the man was forced to wear an ankle monitor because he had already been convicted of attempting to kill his then-wife and cousin by burning down their home.

    The crime also ignited debate in Germany after it was revealed that the man had not been deported because he had converted to Christianity and claimed that he would be killed in his native Afghanistan for the crime of leaving Islam.

    Sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by asylum seekers has occurred in several other asylum homes in Germany and other European countries.

    In Herford, Germany, earlier this year, local authorities were accused of covering up sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl by a man from Ghana. The girl was said to have been so brutally attacked she had to be hospitalised.

    In some cases, the sexual abuse in asylum homes does not come from other migrants, but from staff and volunteers. In Denmark two women, aged 52 and 36, are accused of sexually abusing 17-year-old boys and face up to four years in prison.

    In Sweden last year, a similar case occurred in which the female head of an asylum home tried to convince two underage migrants to have sexual relations with her through a combination of promises and threats including saying that if they did not have sex with her she would have them deported.”

  17. China’s debt on a ‘dangerous trajectory’: IMF

    Beijing (AFP) – China’s massive debt is on a “dangerous” path, raising the risk of a sharp slowdown in growth, the IMF warned on Tuesday, urging Beijing to speed up structural reforms.

    The International Monetary Fund, which has repeatedly warned China over its ballooning debt, said in a new report that the world’s second largest economy must turn toward a sustainable growth path.

    “International experience suggests that China’s credit growth is on a dangerous trajectory, with increasing risks of a disruptive adjustment and/or a marked growth slowdown,” IMF experts wrote.

    While the country’s near-term growth outlook firmed up, it is at the cost of “further large and continuous increases in private and public debt, and thus increasing downside risks in the medium term,” the report said.

    The IMF maintained its forecast of 6.7 percent growth for this year, but the report warned that the country’s debt load could soar from around 235 percent of gross domestic product last year to more than 290 percent in 2022.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/chinas-debt-dangerous-trajectory-imf-131255684–finance.html

    • China is between a rock and a hard place, there growing debt crisis says they need to cut government spending but if they reduce what they are giving the people there will be massive social unrest that may well topple the government. If they don’t cut government spending it won’t be many months until they have no money to pay the people and there will be tmassive social unrest. This may be the reason that they reigned in Kim. his may be why we are taking the gamble of not doing anything to Kim, when China collapses we can take out Kim without any Chinese interference, when China collapses the Sino Korean border will open up and massive numbers of Koreans will run across trying to find safety and food. With luck North Korea will collapse and we won’t have to use military force. WITH LUCK.

  18. Homicide detectives probe man’s overdose death at the home of prominent L.A. Democratic donor Ed Buck

    Los Angeles County Sheriff’s homicide detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal drug overdose of a 26-year-old man at the West Hollywood home of prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck.

    Sheriff Jim McDonnell said Monday that while coroner’s officials ruled Gemmel Moore’s July 27 death an accident, homicide detectives will be conducting a follow-up investigation based on “additional information.” He declined to elaborate.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-democratic-donor-overdose-20170814-story.html

  19. Richard: This is a must read article, the evidence presented here says that the Charlotte Mayor and probably Police Chief deliberately arranged for the Unite the Right people to be forced into the antifa lines and that the police not only stood back while they were attacked the police formed a shield wall behind the Unite the Right people to prevent them from running away from the antifa thugs. Welcome to the modern Democrat Party.

    Why were police in Charlottesville told to stand down unless otherwise instructed?
    By Joe Newby August 14, 2017

    It remains to be seen whether police could have prevented a crazed motorist for plowing into a crowd of counter-protesters at Saturday’s now-infamous white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. But they almost certainly could have prevented some of the other violent clashes between white nationalists and antifa.

    So why didn’t that? That’s the million-dollar question occasioned by a tweet posted Saturday by the ACLU of Virginia that states that police were ordered “[to] not intervene until given command to do so”:

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/08/14/police-charlottesville-told-stand-unless-otherwise-instructed/

  20. They’re going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump
    By Joe Newby August 15, 2017

    Over the weekend, establishment GOP consultant and Daily Beast columnist Rick Wilson expressed a desire to see “fascists” killed after the violent confrontation in Charlottesville, Va., Breitbart reported Monday.

    “I like my fascists the old-fashioned way; dead, hanging from lamp-posts as we liberate their victims,” he wrote in a tweet.

    Wilson did not specify whom he considered to be “fascists” in his tweet,” Breitbart and others said. Charlie Nash, however, reminded readers that Wilson has previously branded both President Trump and his supporters with the term.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/08/15/theyre-going-go-put-bullet-donald-trump/

    • More hate speech from the left calling for violence to all who disagree with them, combine this meme with actions of the Charlotte Virginia government and a very ugly picture emerges.

  21. CCTV shows the moment a banned driver, 23, mows down a father-of-three during a high speed police chase in a stolen BMW as he is jailed for three years (dailymail, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://dailym.ai/2uYN8O1

    “A banned driver in a stolen BMW mowed down an innocent father-of-three while trying to escape from police.

    Mohammad Arshad, 23, was jailed for three years today after causing carnage in a busy city centre – mounting a pavement, driving down bus lanes and a one-way street.

    He hit train driver John Dare, 45, before driving around his body and accelerated away…”

  22. BOZEMAN, Mont. – A new scientific paper contends the entire foundation of the man-made global-warming theory – the assumption that greenhouse gases warm the atmosphere by trapping heat – is wrong.

    If confirmed, the study’s findings would crush the entire “climate change” movement to restrict CO2 emissions, the authors assert

    Some experts contacted by WND criticized the paper, while others advised caution.

    Still others suggested that the claimed discovery represents a massive leap forward in human understanding – a “new paradigm.”

    The paper argues that concentrations of CO2 and other supposed “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere have virtually no effect on the earth’s temperature.

    They conclude the entire greenhouse gas theory is incorrect.

    Instead, the earth’s “greenhouse” effect is a function of the sun and atmospheric pressure, which results from gravity and the mass of the atmosphere, rather than the amount of greenhouse gases such as CO2 and water vapor in the atmosphere.

    The same is true for other planets and moons with a hard surface, the authors contend, pointing to the temperature and atmospheric data of various celestial bodies collected by NASA.

    http://mobile.wnd.com/2017/07/study-blows-greenhouse-theory-out-of-the-water/

  23. Muslims in Calgary

    Male Circumcision and Female Circumcision has Scientific and Medical Value

    How Misogynists and Feminists are feeding upon each other to denigrate an Islamic practice that brings untold benefits to women

    […]a relatively minor and harmless procedure very much like male circumcision which like it might confer some health benefits as well.

    […]Much has been written about it even by Western Doctors but these studies have been conveniently overlooked to conform to Islamophobic sentiments expressed by a largely Jewish controlled media

    […]There is a strong body of evidence emerging to support the view that the proper Islamic procedure involving the removal of the clitoral prepuce is beneficial to women and not detrimental to them.

    http://muslimsincalgary.ca/female-circumcision-in-islam/
    =========================================
    https://www.blazingcatfur.ca/2017/08/15/muslims-in-calgary-website-jewish-controlled-media-denigrates-beneficial-practice-of-female-genital-mutilation/

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

  24. DENMARK – VIDEO: Danish Bishop who aided mosque gets Islamic wake-up call

    The video sums up our first wake-up call to the Mayor the 13th July and shows a new video clip of how we tried to wake up the Bishop the same day at 5:15 in the morning.

    The Bishop was sleeping in another place in the house, so he didn’t hear our prayer call, or so he told the freedom fighters yesterday in the Church. We just thought that he slept with earplugs.

    […]The following is a transcript from the video, of the passages that are most difficult to hear. At the end of the video, the Bishop says he has read the Quran. It does not make his case any better!

    Freedom fighter: You need to hear this. When did you convert to Islam? Can’t we get an answer to this question?

    Bishop: We can talk about it afterwards.

    Freedom fighter: Is your congregation not allowed to know the truth?

    Freedom fighter: You also support Mohammed and Islam, so the congregation needs to know your point of view, don’t they?

    Bishop: I will talk to you later about that.

    Freedom fighter: Why can’t the congregation know the truth?

    The Church steward appears

    Freedom fighter: Are you throwing me out of God’s house? I’m just talking with the bishop!

    Freedom fighter: Don’t you think you have double standards? You support mosques with minarets and you still call yourself a bishop?

    Freedom fighter: When can we expect to see you in the mosque – preaching about the Quran and Islam?

    Freedom fighter: The church is entitled to know – why are you only talking to the two of us? You call yourself a bishop? We have kept our word: we promised you that you would hear the prayer call – we kept our promise today for both you and your congregation.

    http://fitnaphobia.com/2017/08/video-danish-bishop-aided-mosque-gets-islamic-wake-call/

  25. The Left Exploits the Charlottesville Tragedy
    Excusing its own violence while taking aim at Trump.
    August 15, 2017
    Joseph Klein

    White nationalists gathered last weekend to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee from a Charlottesville, Virginia park. Violence ensued in clashes with counter-protesters. One white nationalist, consumed by his neo-Nazi hatred, rammed his vehicle intentionally into a group of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman and seriously injuring others in his path. Two state troopers also died when the helicopter they were using to monitor the white nationalist rally crashed. The Trump administration took immediate steps to go after the perpetrators with the full force of federal law enforcement. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Justice Department was treating the vehicle attack as an act of domestic terrorism.

    Despite his administration’s rapid commencement of a civil rights investigation, President Trump came under heavy criticism for his initial comments Saturday on the Charlottesville violence for not specifically calling out the white nationalists as the primary cause of the tragedy that unfolded in Charlottesville. Instead, he condemned in more generic terms “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.” On Monday, in a statement issued from the White House, the president was more explicit. “Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to what we hold dear as Americans,” President Trump said.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267574/left-exploits-charlottesville-tragedy-joseph-klein

  26. A group of Chechen Muslim has murdered a young Italian in a Spanish resort.
    Before the eyes of other “tolerant Europeans”

    • ABC News – Spain: Police arrest 3 Russians in killing of Italian

      abcnews(dot)go(dot)com/International/wireStory/spain-police-arrest-russians-killing-italian-49204809

      BBC – Russians held over Italian’s death at Lloret de Mar nightclub

      www(dot)bbc(dot)com/news/world-europe-40922749

      Three Russian immigrants are arrested for ‘beating an Italian tourist to death in an unprovoked attack in a Spanish nightclub’

      www(dot)dailymail(dot)co(dot)uk/news/article-4789420/Russians-arrested-beating-tourist-death-Spain.html

      BNI YOUNG ITALIAN MAN beaten to death by 3 Chechen ‘Muslim’ savages in Barcelona…NOT 3 Russians as the media want you to believe

      http://www.barenakedislam.com/2017/08/14/young-italian-man-beaten-to-death-by-3-chechen-muslim-savages-in-barcelona-not-3-russians-as-the-media-want-you-to-believe/

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

      Spagna, italiano ucciso in discoteca. Scarcerati due dei tre accusati

      Sono stati gìa scarcerati due dei tre ceceni accusati per l’omicidio del 22enne italiano Niccolò Ciatti in una discoteca di Lloret de Mar, in Spagna

      Secondo quanto riferito dal quotidiano El Periodico, i tre sono comparsi davanti al giudice, che ha deciso di confermare la misura cautelare per uno solo dei tre, quello che ha sferrato il calcio mortale, come appare anche nelle drammatiche riprese registrate dalle telecamere di sorveglianza.

      Gli altri due potranno tornare in Francia, dove vivono come richiedenti asilo. Fonti di polizia hanno riferito che la brutalità del pestaggio, continuato anche quando il giovane italiano era ormai privo di sensi e incapace di regire, è compatibile con una formazione paramilitare. Il quotidiano spagnolo ha anche ascoltato il parere di Giovanni Giacalone, esperto di terrorismo dell’università Sacro Cuore di Milano, secondo il quale molti dei ceceni che chiedono asilo politico in Europa vogliono scappare dal loro governo dopo aver fatto parte delle milizie dell’Emirato caucasico, che sono state duramente combattute dal governo cececno. Sul suo profilo Facebook, uno dei tre, R.B. 24 anni, ha pubblicato alcuni combattimenti liberi a cui ha partecipato a Strasburgo. Intanto la discoteca St. trop è stata chiusa. Gli inquirenti hanno rilevato “gravi carenze di sicurezza”. Il locale infatti può ospitare almeno 1900 persone e i bodyguard in servizio erano solo nove.

      http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/spagna-italiano-ucciso-discoteca-scarcerati-due-dei-tre-1431074.html

      • And overwhelmingly, this is being reported as ‘some Russians beat and killed a tourist in Spain’.

        Yeah – thanks

  27. North Korea, Partisanship, and Bad Ideas
    The bankrupt ideology that led to the current standoff.
    August 15, 2017
    Bruce Thornton

    President Trump’s vigorous response to North Korea’s threats, and the various reactions to the president’s language, created a teachable moment for understanding how we got to this foreign policy crisis––through a combination of short-sighted partisanship with persistent bad ideas about how to deal with international aggressors.

    Trump’s comments about responding to North Korea’s aggression “with fire, fury, and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before,” and his subsequent doubling down by saying that the threat “wasn’t tough enough” and our military was “locked and loaded,” were chum for the Democrats who reflexively condemn anything Trump says. “Bombastic” (Senator Dianne Feinstein), “unhinged” (Representative Eliot Engel) “bluster” (Susan Rice), “provocative” (Senator Ben Cardin), “reckless” (Senator Chuck Shumer) are typical examples. Most revealing of their “unhinged” partisanship is the comment of DNC Deputy Chair Keith Ellison, who said of Trump, “Kim Jong Un, the world always thought he was not a responsible leader. Well, he is acting more responsibly than this guy is.”

    But attacking a Republican president’s rhetoric is standard operating procedure for Democrats seeking partisan advantage, from the scorn heaped on Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” to the equal contempt for George W. Bush’s “axis of evil.” NeverTrump Republicans should remember that no matter how decorous a Republican’s rhetoric, he will still be smeared as an “unhinged,” Neanderthal war-monger with an itchy trigger-finger.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267559/north-korea-partisanship-and-bad-ideas-bruce-thornton

  28. Clinton’s Dark Money Groups Inciting National Unrest

    Hillary Clinton, who spent nearly $1 billion dollars just to lose to Donald Trump in the 2016 election, spent an additional $800,000 in campaign funds to start her own “#Resistance” group – Onward Together.

    This past May, following the formation of the political action group, Clinton announced that she will be a “part of the resistance.” Onward Together will fund various “resistance” groups that may be able to directly counter President Donald Trump with protests – in other words, violence, riots and civil unrest.

    According to Onward Together’s mission statement, the organization exist to encourage, “people to organize, get involved, and run for office” in order to advance, “progressive values and work to build a brighter future for generations to come.”

    http://libertynewsnow.com/clintons-dark-money-groups-inciting-national-unrest/article7696

  29. NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – Indian and Chinese soldiers were involved in an altercation in the western Himalayas on Tuesday, Indian sources said, further raising tensions between the two countries which are already locked in a two-month standoff in another part of the disputed border.

    A source in New Delhi, who had been briefed on the military situation on the border, said soldiers foiled a bid by a group of Chinese troops to enter Indian territory in Ladakh, near the Pangong lake.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-china-idUSKCN1AV29F

  30. U.S. Decries ISIS ‘Genocide’ of Christians, Other Groups (nbcnews, Aug 15, 2017)
    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-decries-islamic-state-genocide-christians-other-groups-n792866

    “The Trump administration denounced the Islamic State group on Tuesday for carrying out “genocide” against Christians and other religious minorities in areas under its control.

    Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the group is “clearly responsible for genocide” against Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Shiite Muslims in Syria and elsewhere. His comments were made as the State Department released its annual report on international religious freedom.

    Tillerson said he was making the pronouncement to “remove any ambiguity” about previous genocide assertions made by his predecessor, John Kerry, who in March 2016, determined that genocide was occurring in ISIS-held areas but was criticized by lawmakers and religious groups for not declaring genocide was taking place earlier. Neither administration’s genocide determination carries with it any legal obligation for the U.S. or others…”

  31. France: les migrants de retour porte de la Chapelle à Paris

    En juillet 2017, la police a procédé une nouvelle fois au démantèlement d’un des campements de fortune de migrants situé porte de la Chapelle à Paris. Mais depuis quelques jours, plus d’un millier de jeunes, arrivés pour la première fois en France, se sont de nouveau installés dans les rues et sous les ponts, dans l’espoir d’être pris en charge par les autorités.

    De nouveaux exilés se sont installés aux alentours du centre d’accueil et d’orientation de la porte de la Chapelle, à Paris, entourés d’une dizaine de fourgons de la police et de riverains qui leur donnent à manger.

    Pour Antoine Bazin, coordinateur d’Utopia 56, une association d’aide aux migrants, environ 1 000 à 1 400 jeunes adultes vivent dans la rue. « Ce sont des primo-arrivants, des personnes qui arrivent pour les mêmes raisons que les précédents, explique-t-il. Ce qu’ils veulent, c’est une prise en charge au titre de la demande d’asile ».

    « Ils veulent intégrer le centre de premier accueil pour pouvoir après être intégrés à la demande d’asile et puis avoir à terme le statut de réfugié pour pouvoir arriver enfin à ce qu’ils voulaient à la base, c’est-à-dire fuir la guerre et fuir la misère dans laquelle ils étaient dans leur pays », poursuit-il.

    Demandes d’asile au compte-gouttes

    Ces nouveaux arrivants viennent principalement du Soudan et d’Afghanistan. Parmi eux, Brahime Ousmane, un jeune Soudanais de 21 ans, vit dans la rue depuis qu’il est arrivé en France.

    « Je dors dans la rue, raconte-t-il. Je mange dans la rue. Il n’y a pas de médicaments, il n’y a pas de toilettes. On est dans la merde. On nous dit “demain”. Jusqu’à aujourd’hui, on ne nous a pas pris ».

    Le centre de premier accueil de Paris, qui ne dispose que de 400 places de transit, distribue en effet des convocations au compte-gouttes pour l’instruction de nouveaux dossiers de demande d’asile.

    http://www.rfi.fr/france/20170815-france-migrants-porte-chapelle-paris-demande-asile-utopia-56

  32. BREAKING NEWS:

    Antifa disbands as members find out their mothers are making them go back to school next month!

  33. From Oldham, the UK town where local councillors took part in Islamic prayers last month:
    http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/104973/taxi-man-is-jailed-after-sex-attack-on-girl-14
    Taxi man is jailed after sex attack on girl, 14
    Reporter: Richard Hooton
    Date online: 11 August 2017
    A TAXI driver who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl had been granted a taxi licence despite Oldham Council being made aware of a previous conviction for indecent assault.
    Moshraf Ali (52) was jailed for 12 months after being convicted of sexual assault and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years after being found guilty of one count of sexual assault at a trial at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
    Ali, of Hilltop Drive, Royton, was granted a licence to drive taxis by the council in 2003, despite the panel being made aware he had been conditionally discharged for indecent assault in 2001.
    Councillor Barbara Brownridge [oh what irony!!!!! -Dumbstruck], cabinet member for neighbourhoods and co-operatives, said: “This is completely unacceptable. We take offences like this very seriously.
    “Ali was granted with a warning over future conduct as members were aware he had been conditionally discharged for indecent assault in 2001. Guidelines have changed since then. Under our current process he would not have been granted a licence.
    “In June 2015, we revoked Ali’s licence after we were notified by Greater Manchester Police that he was to appear before court after being charged with this offence.”
    The mum of the 14-year-old girl victim of Ali has also spoken out after his sentence,
    The girl took a private hire car home from a friend’s house late at night because her mother felt it was safer than public transport or walking. But Ali began driving slowly on the short journey, made wrong turns and took the longest route to the address.
    He started asking her sexual questions and he leaned over from the driver’s seat and groped her.
    After the case, the victim’s mother described how the incident has had a lasting effect on her daughter. She said: “He started asking inappropriate questions, asking if she had any pictures of her posing. She was feeling very uncomfortable.
    “She kept saying how old she was and that she is still at school but it didn’t stop him. He put his arm on her leg and started moving it up to the inside of her thigh.
    “She was able to get out of the car and the police were called.”
    The victim’s mother added: “She was really scared. Having to go to court and give evidence was very stressful and upsetting. She is perturbed by it and whenever she goes in a cab it has to be a woman driver.
    “You tell your kids to go in a cab if it is late because you think it’s safer. I have had a lot of anger going through this and the trial.”

  34. Emily Landau:
    North Korean ICBM Tests: No Surprises, No Good Answers

    While North Korea’s recent nuclear tests significantly raised the level of fear in the United States, they were not a surprise. North Korea, long a nuclear state, is a dangerous nuclear proliferator that has shirked international commitments. Pyongyang issues highly aggressive rhetoric toward the United States and its regional neighbors on a regular basis; it flaunts its nuclear capability and threatens to use it, and tends to share nonconventional know-how and technologies.

    And herein lies a link to Tehran: as Iran also remains motivated in the nuclear realm despite the JCPOA, the direct implications of North Korea’s activities for Iran’s nuclear program must be under constant scrutiny. The indirect implications for dealing with Iran’s nuclear motivation invoke the ability to rely on negotiations to stop a determined proliferator. The North Korean case of failed negotiations must be heeded when thinking about Iran.

    http://www.inss.org.il/publication/north-korean-icbm-tests-no-surprises-no-good-answers/

    • No there aren’t any good good answers to the question, in fact the only two answers are 1) fight to prevent Kim and Iran from achieving their goal of being able to nuke the US. 2) Surrender.

      There are no other answers.