Reader’s Link post: September 19, 2017

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About Eeyore

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

118 Replies to “Reader’s Link post: September 19, 2017”

  1. Yet another hidden facet of North Korea’s limitless evil:

    More and More Koreans Die Alone

    More and more people are dying alone as the traditional family network erodes under the pressures of modernity.

    The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that the number of people dying alone rose 77.8 percent from 693 in 2011 to 1,232 last year.

    People are classified as dying alone if nobody steps up to claim their bodies after their death and the state foots the bill for funeral and cremation.

    Most of these people lived alone or on the streets, and those in their 60s and 70s accounted for about half.

    A health ministry official said, “Social workers are making regular visits to check up on senior citizens and handicapped people living alone,” but many poor and marginal people fall through the cracks.

    Partitioning of the Korean peninsula shattered countless families and a portion of these lonely deaths are a direct byproduct of that event. The profiteering by North Korea that comes from its viciously cruel manipulation of so-called cross-border family reunions epitomizes why Psycho Fat Boy and his entire crew deserve the most slow, agonizing, deaths imaginable.

    Make sure to have a box of Kleenex handy if you watch the following video.

  2. Paul Manafort spokesman: Wiretap report leaks are a ‘felony’

    Paul Manafort’s spokesman condemned recent reports that his client had been surveilled by federal officials while serving in the Trump campaign and after the 2016 presidential election as well.

    “If true, it is a felony to reveal the existence of a FISA warrant, regardless of the fact that no charges ever emerged,” Jason Maloni said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

    “The U.S Department of Justice’s Inspector General should immediately conduct an investigation into these leaks and to examine the motivations behind a previous Administration’s effort to surveil a political opponent. Mr. Manafort requests that the Department of Justice release any intercepts involving him and any non-Americans so interested parties can come to the same conclusion as the DOJ — there is nothing there.”

    Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager for most of the summer in 2016 after Corey Lewandowski was fired. Manafort’s dealings with Ukraine were a major factor in his dismissal as the campaign manager in August of that year.

    The CNN report that first broke the news about Manafort being wiretapped via a FISA warrant said some investigators were concerned that intelligence could show Manafort had encouraged some of the Russian activities to meddle in the elections last year. However, the same report also said that one source familiar with the matter indicated that the surveillance was discontinued at one point because of a lack of evidence. The FBI later reinitiated its surveillance efforts when obtained a FISA warrant that stretched at least as far into the early part of 2017.

    Last Friday, Maloni gave two-and-a-half hours of testimony to the grand jury impaneled by Robert Mueller in the Department of Justice special counsel investigation. Upon leaving the courthouse, Maloni told reporters, “I answered questions and I’ve been dismissed. That’s all I have to say.”

    The Department of Justice announced in early August that they’d be stepping up their investigations of numerous leaks surrounding the White House, but since then, no public disclosure of any progress in those investigations has been made.

    “No one is entitled to surreptitiously fight to advance battles in the media by revealing sensitive government information,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at the time.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/paul-manafort-spokesman-wiretap-report-leaks-are-a-felony/article/2634966

    Why the FBI’s wiretap of Manafort vindicates Trump

    • CNN – Exclusive: Mueller team’s focus on Manafort spans 11 years

      Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team is reaching back more than a decade in its investigation of Paul Manafort, a sign of the pressure Mueller is placing on President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman.

      The FBI’s warrant for a July search of Manafort’s Alexandria, Virginia, home said the investigation centered on possible crimes committed as far back as January 2006, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

      The broad time frame is the latest indication that Mueller’s team is going well beyond Russian meddling during the campaign as part of its investigation of Trump campaign associates. Manafort, who has been the subject of an FBI investigation for three years, has emerged as a focal point for Mueller.[…]

      http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/19/politics/mueller-manafort-pressure-decade-investigation/index.html

  3. USA DETROIT – After 5 months in jail, doctor in genital cutting case released on $4.5M bond

    The lead defendant in a genital mutilation investigation is about to taste freedom again thanks to generous friends: They offered more than $4.5 million in property to secure Dr. Jumana Nagarwala’s bond and her release from federal lockup after five months.

    That’s the largest unsecured bond in the history of Detroit’s federal court.

    The size of the bond, along with other factors, convinced U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman today to grant bond to Nagarwala, who the government believes subjected as many as 100 minor girls belonging to a small Muslim sect to genital cutting procedures. Friedman concluded that Nagarwala isn’t a flight risk given all that her friends and family have to lose should she flee.

    “I spent a lot of time reviewing this,” said Friedman, noting “the people who have come forward” to help Nagarwala and the money they are putting up are “very substantial.”

    Sharon Riehs, deputy chief of pretrial services for the Eastern District of Michigan, said the $4.5-million bond is a first for the court.

    “I’ve been here for 31 years and I can’t recall seeing an unsecured bond in that amount,” Riehs said.

    Defense attorney Shannon Smith, who is representing Nagarwala, said she and her client were relieved by the decision.

    “After five months of her being locked up, it’s nice to see that she’ll be able to be out on bond,” Smith said. “She is very happy.”

    Also on Freep.com:

    Genital mutilation victims break their silence: ‘This is demonic’

    Feds drop bombshell: Up to 100 girls may have had their genitals cut in Michigan

    According to Smith, the individuals who offered property to secure Nagarwala’s bond all live out of state. The property, she said, is all paid off.

    Nagarwala, who previously had to surrender her passport, also has been ordered to wear a tether and post her Northville home as security. Judge Friedman also froze her and her husband’s assets and retirement accounts. She will temporarily live in a hotel as she is only allowed supervised visits with her two minor children, who live in their home with their father.

    Nagarwala could lose her parental rights, though Smith is continuing to fight that possibility in state court and argues Nagarwala’s children are thriving academically and personally and should be with both their parents.

    The prosecution argued against granting bond to Nagarwala, saying she has the resources and motive to flee: She lost her job, could lose her parental rights and faces up to life in prison. Releasing her on bond could also give her more time to silence witnesses in the case, prosecutors have argued, claiming Nagarwala has already told members of her religious community to “deny everything” if investigators ask about genital cutting procedures.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward contended that Nagarwala “is the one who directed” a 12-year conspiracy that involved bringing young girls to a Livonia clinic for genital cutting procedures. Moreover, she stressed, Nagarwala was the one who “wielded the instrument to cut several young girls” and then tried to cover it up.

    The defense has claimed that the government is overstating its case and that Nagarwala and her co-defendants were engaging in a religious procedure that involved no harm. The case involves eight defendants — including two doctors, a physician’s wife and four mothers — who are accused of participating in various degrees of subjecting young girls to genital cutting as part of a religious practice.

    All defendants are members of the Dawoodi Bohra — a small Indian Muslim sect with a mosque in Farmington Hills that practices female circumcision and believes it is a religious rite of passage that involves only a minor “nick.”

    The lead defendant is Nagarwala, a now-fired emergency room physician at Henry Ford, who is charged with performing the procedure on six girls at a Livonia clinic. Two of the girls are from Minnesota; four from Michigan. The clinic owner and his wife have also been charged.

    Dr. Fakhruddin Attar, 53, of Farmington Hills, is accused of letting Nagarwala use his clinic to perform genital cutting procedures on minor girls; and his wife, Farida Attar, 50, is accused of holding the girls’ hands during the procedure to keep them from squirming and to calm them.

    Four mothers also have been charged in the case, accused of putting their daughters in harm’s way by letting Nagarwala cut their genitals as part of a religious procedure.

    Prosecutors have argued that the federal genital mutilation law is clear: It prohibits “knowingly circumcis(ing), excis(ing) or infibulat(ing) the whole or any part of the labia majora or labia minora or clitoris of any other person who has not attained the age of 18 years.”

    According to court documents, in interviews with authorities, the two Minnesota victims described the genital cutting procedures as painful.

    One girl said that she got a shot, screamed, and “could barely walk after the procedure, and that she felt pain all the way down to her ankle.” The other said she was “laid on an examining table with her knees near her chest and legs spread apart,” that she was “pinched” in the genital area, that it “hurted a lot” and that there was “pain and burning.”

    Both girls were told to keep the procedures a secret, court records show. One said “the doctor made her (friend) cry.”

    Especially egregious, authorities have argued, is that this procedure was carried out by a doctor who took an oath to do no harm.

    “She knew that this was illegal, but did it, anyway,” Woodward has said of Nagarwala, stressing: “As a medical doctor, she is aware that female genital mutilation has no medical purpose.”

    http://www.freep.com/story/news/2017/09/19/after-5-months-jail-doctor-free-bond-after-friends-put-u-4-5-million-bond-female-genital-cutting-cas/681265001/

  4. Germany: Trump’s politics will ‘never become the politics’ of Germany – SPD’s Schulz

    SPD Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz spoke at a rally in Heidelberg, Tuesday, in front of hundreds of his supporters, ahead of the German parliamentary elections.

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “With these people, in the time of Trump and Erdogan and Putin, you need to defend your principles, and especially us Germans.”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “People like the President of the United States of America who with a tweet quickly destroys an existence, discriminates against whole groups of people, who raised the level of brutalisation within politics to a crucial rhetorical device, who agrees with every malice, those people [waves his hand].”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “Dear President Trump, your kind of politics will never become the politics of the Federal Republic of Germany. You can and you have to say this to a man like this.”

    SOT, Martin Schulz, SPD Chancellor candidate (German): “That’s why Europe is so important. Our peace model, or wealth model is endangered from the inside by those people I just described, that are not only here, whom are everywhere. In the meantime they even reign in European countries. Those who dismantle democracy, the autocrats, the autoritarans, those who talk of an illiberal society like Viktor Orban.”

  5. Germany: Merkel booed yet again ahead of speech declaring election ‘not yet decided

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the winner of the upcoming general elections “is not yet decided,” speaking at a campaign rally in Schwerin, Tuesday.

    SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “It is natural that in our society there is confrontation, that there are different ideas. That is democracy. I don’t think it is particularly impressive when some reduce all the possibilities of democracy to a whistle. It’s not particularly creative. But I also don’t think one can solve Germany’s problem with that.”

    SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “When I see what is happening between Ukraine and Russia, how difficult it is to find a diplomatic solution, and still I will work for it. I also want better relations with Russia again, it is clear. It’s been discussed a lot here. There is no question about it.”

    SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “..that comes with it. The fact that one accepts the borders of countries – That’s the basis of our peaceful coexistence after the Second World War.”

    SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “Ladies and gentlemen, when I take a look at the Syrian civil war, the horrible confrontation with IS in Iraq, when I see how unstable the system is in Libya, how terrorism is fought against Boko Haram and in various parts of Africa – then maybe the whole effort for Europe is already therefore worth it. There are also different reasons for Europe.”

    SOT, Angela Merkel, German Chancellor (German): “One has then the impression that everything has already worked out. That’s why I want to call out the fact that it has not: this election is not yet decided. That’s why it comes down to each voter.”

  6. South Africa – Nanny appears in court after video shows her allegedly throwing baby

    A Namibian woman is facing charges of child abuse, assault and attempted murder after she allegedly recklessly threw a baby she was caring for into a cot, Netwerk24 reported.

    Annemarie Theron, reservations and marketing manager at a lodge in Namibia, laid a charge at the Outjo police station in Namibia, after capturing video footage of her nine-month old daughter Laila allegedly being manhandled by her nanny.

    “It was very emotional watching it. I refused to sleep, eat or drink for a couple of days afterward. It’s difficult to imagine how long this has been going on for. I can see Laila is so, so broken after everything,” Theron said.

    Theron said she noticed bruises on Laila’s neck and shoulders and suspected all was not well.

    “After that I sat at work, thinking about my daughter the entire day. That’s when I decided to install cameras, so that I could see what was happening when I’m not at home.”

    She was shocked after watching the footage, and immediately laid a charge at the police station.

    “It was quite a process, as I had to confirm with a mediator what it would mean if I made the recordings without her (the nanny’s) knowledge. The police were initially hesitant about the charges, but wanted to arrest the woman immediately after seeing the footage.”

    According to Theron, the woman appeared in court on Monday. The state added the charge of attempted murder.

    A police spokesperson confirmed Namibian police are aware of the incident, but would not speak to foreign media. Deputy commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, Namibia’s head police spokesperson, wasn’t available for comment.

    “I don’t want her near my child ever again, or to pose a threat to other children. What happened was horrible to witness. I realised Laila has nightmares,” said Theron.

    Laila is currently attending a kindergarten during the day. She doesn’t believe all nannies are bad and says she may consider employing a nanny in the future.

    Theron says support flooded in after she posted the video footage to social media.

    “It was comforting to see how many people supported us. Thanks to everyone, family, friends, and strangers, it means a great deal.

    http://m.news24.com/news24/Video/SouthAfrica/News/watch-nanny-appears-in-court-after-video-shows-her-throwing-baby-20170919

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    https://twitter.com/macronpiegeacon/status/910244822224658432/video/1

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  7. Report: ISIS in possession of more than 11,000 blank Syrian passports

    Islamic State (ISIS) holds some 11,100 blank Syrian passports which German authorities fear could be used to bring potential terrorists into Europe, a report said.

    The passports, stolen from Syrian government sites, are genuine identity papers that have not yet been filled out with an individual’s details, making them a valuable tool for forgers, German security services said according to a report by the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

    Investigators have assembled a list of serial numbers of the blank passports and the authorities that issued them, the newspaper reported, citing confidential documents from federal police and the interior ministry.

    “Developments in connection with the refugee situation have shown that terrorist organizations are using the opportunity to infiltrate potential attackers or supporters into Europe and Germany undetected,” a spokeswoman for the BKA federal criminal police told Bild am Sonntag.

    A number of the ISIS jihadists behind the Paris attacks that claimed 130 lives in November 2015 were found to have used fake or altered Syrian passports.

    Some 8,625 passports checked by German migration authorities in 2016 turned out to be fake according to documents seen by Bild am Sonntag.

    http://www.worldtribune.com/report-isis-in-possession-of-more-than-11000-blank-syrian-passports/?utm_source=deployer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newslink&utm_term=members&utm_content=20170920023211

  8. German court convicts two Syrian fighters on terror charges (DW, Sep 19, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/german-court-convicts-two-syrian-fighters-on-terror-charges/a-40583855

    “Two refugees in Germany have been convicted on terrorism related charges for fighting alongside rebels in Syria. It is the first such process in Bavaria against former Syrian rebels.

    A Munich court on Tuesday convicted two former Syrian rebel fighters who came to Germany as refugees.

    Kamel T., 25, was sentenced to four years in prison, while his friend Azad R., 23, was given two years’ parole due to his age at the time of the crime.

    The two were accused of being members of a foreign terrorist organization in Syria, where they fought alongside the Salafist Ahrar al-Sham militant group. They also violated the German laws on the use of weapon in foreign war zones.

    The charges stem from the two Syrians’ role as sentries for Ahrar al-Sham in Aleppo between August 2013 and April 2014. During this time Ahrar al-Sham fought the Syrian military and other rebel factions…”

  9. ‘Mole’ in German intelligence agency sentenced by Dusseldorf court (DW, Sep 19, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/mole-in-german-intelligence-agency-sentenced-by-dusseldorf-court/a-40584276

    “Roque M. had been tasked with surveilling Salafist organizations for the German domestic intelligence agency. But instead of protecting the public, he “regretfully” endangered it.

    A Dusseldorf court sentenced a former employee of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, BfV, to one year of probation on Tuesday for attempting to share secret information with Salafists.

    The court said the defendant, Roque M., had expressed at different times militaristic, extreme-right and Salafist remarks over social media out of boredom and had welcomed the terrorist attacks carried out by the “Islamic State” (IS) in Paris in November 2016.

    “There is no one who regrets all of this more than me,” the man said.

    The 52-year-old had started working for the BfV office in Cologne in April 2016 where he was part of a task force surveilling Salafist groups.

    The BfV placed M., a Spanish-born German national, under internal surveillance in October after suspecting that he had been radicalized. In November, he admitted to sharing information about BfV operations with Salafists to an undercover BfV investigator, leading to his arrest.

    Investigators had requested a stronger sentence on the grounds that M. had cultivated relationships with jihadi groups in Syria and encouraged “fellow brethren” to conduct an attack against BfV’s office in Cologne.

    But the Dusseldorf judges concluded there was not enough evidence to warrant more severe charges. That decision nullified the existing arrest warrant, leading to M.’s release in July.

    M., a father of four, had worked as a bank clerk before joining the BfV and had been active in a pastoral council of a Spanish Catholic church…”