Reader’s Links, Oct. 9, 2017

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About Eeyore

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

109 Replies to “Reader’s Links, Oct. 9, 2017”

  1. Feinstein: No law would have stopped Las Vegas gunman
    By Mallory Shelbourne – 10/08/17 10:37 AM EDT

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said in an interview broadcast Sunday that no law could have stopped the suspected shooter, Stephen Paddock, who was behind last week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.

    Feinstein spoke on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” about gun legislation in the wake of the attack launched from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel targeting a country music concert.

    “Could there have been any law passed that would’ve stopped him?” Host John Dickerson asked the senator.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/354440-feinstein-no-law-would-have-stopped-las-vegas-gunman

    • She is admitting the truth, No law would have prevented the attack or prevent future attacks yet she and others rush to push for new gun control laws. Laws that will disarm the victims of gun crimes and do nothing to protect people. They want a disarmed public that will have a hard time resisting the left wing Storm Troopers (antifa, BAMN, BLM) when they start assaulting people for opposing the left wing agenda.

  2. Satanist wins transfer of her abortion rights case to the Missouri Supreme Court

    Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article177663856.html#storylink=cpy

    A Missouri woman who is an adherent of the Satanic Temple won a victory in court last week in her quest to show that state abortion law violates her religious beliefs.

    The Western District Court of Appeals ruled in her favor Tuesday, writing that her constitutional challenge — rare for its basis in religion — presented “a contested matter of right that involves fair doubt and reasonable room for disagreement.”

    The woman, identified as Mary Doe in court documents, argued that her religion does not adhere to the idea that life begins at conception, and, because of that, the prerequisites for an abortion in Missouri are unconstitutionally violating her freedom of religion protected by the First Amendment.

    Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article177663856.html#storylink=cpy

  3. For some reason, top executives are suddenly bailing from Clinton-linked Laureate Education
    By LU Staff October 9, 2017

    Top executives at a company with ties to former President Bill Clinton called Laureate Education are leaving the firm only months after they launched its IPO, The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group has learned.

    The Baltimore-based company became an issue during the 2016 presidential election campaign when the public learned it paid Clinton nearly $18 million over a period of five years to serve as a consultant and “honorary chancellor.” The firm also faced accusations it operated as a “pay-to-play” company by donating between $1 to $5 million to the Clinton Foundation while receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in government funds.

    But the latest problem for Laureate appears to be the exodus of its top executives only months after the company went public Feb. 1. To date, Laureate’s founder and chief executive officer, chief operating officer, general counsel and its chief human resources officer have resigned or announced their resignation.

    Enderson Guimaraes resigned as chief operating officer in March. Alfonso Martinez, who was chief human resources officer, left the company in May. Long-serving general counsel Robert Zentz departed Sept. 7. One week later, the company announced the resignation of founder and chief executive officer Douglas Becker.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/09/reason-top-executives-suddenly-bailing-clinton-linked-laureate-education/

  4. Pew study: Media bias against Trump is real – and extreme
    By Rusty Weiss October 9, 2017

    A study by the Pew Research Center shows that media coverage of President Trump has been mostly negative, at a rate far surpassing that of previous presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

    The President and his supporters have often lamented unfair coverage from sources they dub ‘fake news,’ but this study confirms their suspicions.

    During a speech to the Coast Guard Academy, Trump said “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly.”

    He appears to be onto something.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/09/pew-study-media-bias-trump-real-extreme/

    • CBC -Trump’s cryptic statements about North Korea spread anxiety

      U.S. President Donald Trump has been making cryptic statements about North Korea, spreading uncertainty and anxiety.

  5. California officially loses it: Spreading HIV, misgendering the elderly, and a lawsuit over the contraception mandate
    By J.E. Dyer October 9, 2017

    Some people might think the looniest thing California did in recent weeks was declare its status as a sanctuary state: a place where state and local law enforcement are barred from cooperating with ICE to remove dangerous illegal migrants.

    That may be the most incendiary thing California has done. In fact, ICE has already pointed out that its operating profile in California will have to be higher and more intrusive because local law enforcement won’t be cooperating at the nexus points that allow ICE to remain in the background; e.g., local jails and courts. Once the new California law goes into effect, on 1 January, ICE will have to turn to more neighborhood patrols, and will naturally encounter – and detain – more harmless, non-dangerous illegals than it does today.

    But, incendiary as this move is, it’s not quite as bat-poo loony as another pair of outcomes from this year’s session of the state legislature.

    One of those is a law reducing the crime of knowingly infecting another person with HIV – but not telling them – from a felony to a misdemeanor.

    Social media have been buzzing with this one all weekend. Nobody has a bloodthirsty desire to slap people with HIV around. But it is a deadly disease, with extremely difficult and painful consequences for sufferers, and many commentators see it as inexplicable to not keep in place a more powerful deterrent to spreading it through intentional actions.

    http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/09/california-officially-loses-spreading-hiv-misgendering-elderly-lawsuit-contraception-mandate/

  6. Vegan Loses Business After Celebrating Death Of ‘Meat Eaters’ In Vegas
    Read more at http://americanactionnews.com/articles/vegan-loses-business-after-celebrating-the-death-of-meat-eaters-in-vegas#ge5F5K6DeQ0FFUHB.99

    Pennsylvania Vegan Loses Food Truck Business After Celebrating Murder of ‘Meat Eaters’ in Las Vegas

    The owner of a vegan food truck in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, was forced to shut down her business and go into hiding after receiving blowback from a Facebook post celebrating the fate of the “fifty nine meat eaters” who died in last week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas.

    The Mother Nature Vegan Cuisine food truck is now out of business after the owner, Delinda Jensen, 60, drew massive criticism for posting an October 2 message to Facebook reading, “Yes I am jaded. Fifty nine meat eaters dead. How many animals will live because of this?”

    As people began scolding her on the post, she jumped back in to reply, “I don’t give a (expletive) about carnists anymore,” the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader reported.

    The business owner’s post started going viral, forcing her to try to clean up the mess. Jensen told the paper that she apologized and did not celebrate the murders in Vegas.

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/10/07/pa-vegan-loses-food-truck-business-celebrating-murder-meat-eaters-las-vegas/

  7. Germany: CDU and CSU reach 200,000 asylum seeker cap ‘compromise’ – Merkel
    German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) Horst Seehofer announced that they had come to an agreement regarding a cap on asylum seekers entering Germany, which will be a maximum of 200,000 annually, during a press conference at Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in Berlin on Monday.

  8. Italy: Police arrest brother of Marseille attacker in Ferrara

    Italian police arrested the brother of a Tunisian man who was responsible for last week’s Marseille attack, in Ferrara, Saturday. The suspect was detained on suspicion of complicity with the knifeman.

      • Marseilles killer’s brother was foreign fighter in Syria (ansa, Oct 9, 2017)
        http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2017/10/09/marseilles-killers-brother-was-foreign-fighter-in-syria_00e9e607-377e-4f30-8752-33682b6ba2c0.html

        “Anis Hannachi, the brother of Marseilles killer Ahmed Hannachi, combatted with jihadi foreign fighters in Syria, according to information the French authorities passed on to their Italian counterparts, investigators said Monday. Tunisian Anis Hannachi was arrested in Ferrara on Saturday.

        He is suspected of complicity in the Marseilles attack, in which two young women were stabbed to death, and of radicalizing his brother. The Italian police executed a European arrest warrant for Anis Hannachi.

        The Marseilles victims were two cousins aged 20, Mauranne and Laura. Ahmed Hannachi reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he stabbed the women. The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Anis Hannachi was sent back by Italy in 2014 when he landed at Favignana in 2014 on a migrant boat with other Tunisians, according to the results of investigations after his arrest.

        The French authorities had notified Italy that he was probably in Italy on October 3 and on October 4 it was ascertained that he was in Liguria.

        At the moment “there is no evidence” that Anis Hannachi wanted to commit terrorist actions in Italy or had plans to do so, investigators said at a press conference Monday.

        There is also nothing to suggest that the 25-year-old Tunisian had “solid support” in Ferrara for logistics. Ahmed Hannachi, who has shot dead by soldiers, had reportedly lived in Italy for several years and was reportedly married to an Italian woman resident in Aprilia, near Rome – the same town where Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri also lived for a short time, police said. Amri killed 12 people at a Berlin Xmas market before going on the run and being shot dead at Milan central train station in December 2016.”

  9. Grooming gangs ‘are abusing girls across the country’, victims and investigators warn (independent, Oct 8, 2017)
    http://ind.pn/2fUcWWv

    “Grooming gangs across the country are repeating the horrific abuse exposed in Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and most recently Newcastle, victims and investigators have warned.

    There are mounting calls for nationwide action to combat sexual exploitation, with authorities accused of playing catch-up after ignoring victims “for decades and decades”.

    Sammy Woodhouse, who was abused as a teenager by the Rotherham ringleader Arshid “Mad Ash” Hussain and has waived her right to anonymity, said abuse was underway “all over the country”.

    “It’s an issue for every town and city, more people are being failed,” she told The Independent. “I’m hearing a lot of new complaints from survivors.

    “Some are saying they have been to the police and didn’t get taken seriously, others are getting support.

    “But I think the Government is still trying to play this down and make out it’s not a major issue – they are not doing enough.”

    Her calls for action came as figures show that in Bradford 1,153 referrals were made to its child sexual exploitation team in 2016/17 – a 62 per cent increase on the year before.

    Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s specialist hub launched interventions for 861 children – including many who were referred more than once. The vast majority of possible victims are girls.

    Ms Woodhouse said she had also noted a growing number of grooming victims contacting her who were from the city.

    Authorities behind an investigation that identified more than 700 women and girls as potential victims of sexual exploitation in North East England believe the abuse is happening far beyond areas where perpetrators have been caught.

    Pat Ritchie, the chief executive of Newcastle City Council, said “any area that says it does not have a problem is simply not looking for it”, while chief constable Steve Ashman of Northumbria Police told The Independent: “I think there’s every likelihood that this is happening in every town and city across the country.”

    Dame Vera Baird, victims lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), also fears grooming is taking place nationwide.

    She told The Independent that investigators in Newcastle found that women and girls were being trafficked beyond the city, suggesting “there is a market” elsewhere.

    Dame Vera, who is the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, said the race or religion of perpetrators did not “make the slightest bit of difference” to investigators.

    “I think an important point to make is some of the victims were Asian as well,” she added.

    “This is about misogyny, and young women are in vulnerable situations whatever their race or anything related to that.”

    Ms Woodhouse said her abusers and all those reported to her by other victims were from Muslim backgrounds.

    “Nobody is saying that all Muslims commit abuse, but by saying it’s not an issue you’re silencing the victims,” she added.

    Ms Woodhouse, who is now 32, said she knew one girl who was “read statements from the Quran” while being raped and said she was made to eat halal, while Mad Ash wanted to make her his second wife under Sharia law.

    The proportion of white British victims of sexual exploitation prompted intense national debate in August, where the former director of public prosecution Lord McDonald called grooming a “profoundly racist crime”, despite a judge later finding victims in Newcastle were not targeted by race.

    Men from a wide range of nationalities, races and religions have been prosecuted as part of grooming gangs but the prevalence of abusers from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds has been a point of controversy.

    Ms Woodhouse was outraged by the sacking of Rotherham MP Sarah Champion from the Shadow Cabinet over a newspaper article in her name that claimed “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls”.

    She warned that if British society does not have “open and honest conversations” on the factors and attitudes driving grooming, the far-right will be able to control the debate.

    “There’s more than the religion factor involved,” Ms Woodhouse added. “Abusers see girls and women are there to have sex, like we’re their property.

    “There’s so much controversy but we need to talk about it.”

    Lawyers defending alleged abusers in court have stated that several perpetrators were in forced marriages or under cultural restrictions that made them unable to have normal or varied relationships.

    Dipu Ahad, a councillor in Newcastle, said grooming was not just an issue for South Asian communities, adding “the only box they fit into is of abusers”.

    “In the biggest cases we’ve seen recently, we can’t deny they’re Asian men,” he told The Independent.

    “This is an opportunity to look at how we use our communities, our culture, our religion to combat these issues.”

    Mr Ahad said the grooming gangs in Rotherham, Rochdale, Oxford and Newcastle were “not followers of Islam but were from Muslim communities”.

    He called for ethnic minority groups to be given the tools to debate views on women and relationships without making them feel targeted, adding: “Discussions need to happen now because God forbid there might be another city or another town.”

    In Bradford, white children were over-represented in the latest figures among those affected compared to the general population, making up 70 per cent of open cases, compared to 16 per cent Asian and 7 per cent mixed.

    The council is running a number of safeguarding initiatives and is training teachers, taxi drivers, shopkeepers and bar owners to spot suspicious behaviour, while running education programmes in schools.

    Local groups have also started a project running sessions with men and boys from Pakistani backgrounds, including imams and Islamic schools.

    Meanwhile, West Yorkshire Police is running a dedicated investigation, Operation Dalesway, with 66 suspects arrested so far, 10 charged and eight ongoing investigations.

    Assistant chief constable Catherine Hankinson said child sexual exploitation was a “top priority” and proactive work was ongoing to identify those at risk.

    “All reports alleging child abuse in West Yorkshire are investigated by specially trained officers to identify offences and those suspected of committing them,” she added.

    “Safeguarding children is everyone’s responsibility and I would urge anyone with concerns over a vulnerable child to contact the police so swift action can be taken to address the issue.”

    Ms Woodhouse said police have drastically improved training on grooming, which aims to eradicate the kind of treatment that saw her arrested after being found in bed with her much older abuser, as he walked free.

    She is working with the Department of Education on relationship advice and helps authorities conduct specialist training, and is also proposing a law to pardon victims for crimes committed under duress.

    Ms Woodhouse said “victim blaming” needed to be combated and urged the criminal justice system to implement measures making it less distressing for girls to come forward, adding: “The response is getting a lot better but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

    A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government has done more than any other to tackle child sexual exploitation, declaring it a national threat and investing millions of pounds to enable officers to actively seek out and bring offenders to justice. This has led to a huge increase in police activity and a marked rise in prosecutions and convictions.

    “We are continuing the urgent work of overhauling how our police, social services and other agencies work together to protect vulnerable children, especially from the kind of organised grooming and sexual exploitation that has come to light in towns and cities across the UK.

    “The Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report, published in February 2017, details our delivery of the ambitious programme of work we set out in the original 2015 report, and signals a step change in our national response to sexual violence against children and young people.””

  10. Red Cross scales back over attacks in northern Afghanistan (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/red-cross-scales-back-attacks-northern-afghanistan-50363780

    “The International Committee of the Red Cross announced on Monday that it will soon close two offices in Afghanistan’s northern Faryab and Kunduz provinces and also reduce its activities in Balkh province following deadly attacks on its staff in the north.

    Since last December, the attacks have killed one foreign and six Afghan staff members of the ICRC, while three workers have been abducted. Those abducted were later released.

    Last month, 38-year-old Spanish national, physiotherapist Lorena Enebral Perez, was fatally shot inside an ICRC rehabilitation center by a patient in Balkh. Her killing has particularly shaken the organization…”

  11. Turkey wants US to review decision to halt visa services (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-us-reverse-decision-halt-visa-services-50364821

    “Turkey’s justice minister on Monday said he hoped the United States would “review” its decision to suspend most visa services for Turkish citizens following the arrest of a U.S. consulate employee in Istanbul that has deepened tensions between the two NATO allies…”

  12. Turkey issues detention warrant for 2nd US consulate worker (RT, Oct 9, 2017)
    https://www.rt.com/news/406113-turkey-detain-second-us-worker/

    “Ankara has issued a detention warrant for a second US consulate worker, according to media reports. It comes after Turkey’s justice minister urged the US to reverse its decision to suspend visas for Turkish citizens.

    Turkish authorities announced, without giving a reason, that a second employee of the US consulate in Istanbul had been “invited” to the city’s chief prosecutor’s office to testify, AP reported.

    Reports say the employee is a Turkish citizen, and the prosecutor’s office said his wife and child have also been detained for questioning.

    It follows the arrest of Metin Topuz, a Turkish citizen who worked at the US general consulate in Istanbul. He is alleged to have ties to exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for a failed coup attempt last summer…”

  13. Turkish court overturns jailed lawmaker’s conviction (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkish-court-overturns-jailed-lawmakers-conviction-50367940

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says a Turkish court has overturned the conviction of an opposition lawmaker imprisoned for allegedly exposing state secrets.?

    Anadolu Agency said an Istanbul appeals court quashed the conviction handed to Enis Berberoglu, a legislator from the main opposition People’s Republican Party, or CHP, and ordered a new trial.

    Berberoglu was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year for allegedly leaking footage to an opposition newspaper suggesting Turkey smuggled arms to Islamist rebels in Syria. He was convicted of revealing state secrets and espionage.

    In July, CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu led a 450-kilometer (280-mile) march from Ankara to the prison where Berberoglu was being held, to protest the government’s crackdown following last year’s failed coup.?”

  14. UK man jailed for 15 years for building pressure-cooker bomb (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uk-man-jailed-15-years-building-pressure-cooker-50368369

    “A British man who tried to build a bomb from a pressure cooker and Christmas tree lights after becoming radicalized online has been sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

    Prosecutors say 29-year-old Zahid Hussain built the device at his parents’ house in Birmingham, central England, after viewing hundreds of images from the Islamic State group.

    He packed it with shrapnel and made detonators from strings of lights, but prosecutors said the bomb was not viable.

    Hussain was convicted in May of preparing an act of terrorism.

    Judge Nigel Sweeney said Monday at Winchester Crown Court in southern England that Hussain suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, but that the main driver of his crime was his “voluntary bedroom radicalization.”

    He jailed Hussain with no chance of parole for 15 years.”

  15. UAE official says Qatar giving up World Cup could end crisis (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/uae-official-urges-qatar-give-world-cup-end-50362729

    “A top Emirati security official says the Qatar diplomatic crisis can end if Doha gives up hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first time someone from the four Arab nations boycotting the country directly linked the tournament to resolving the monthslong dispute…”

  16. Husband says Iranian-British woman faces new charges in Iran (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/husband-iranian-british-woman-faces-charges-iran-50365936

    “An Iranian-British woman serving a five-year prison sentence in Iran for plotting the “soft toppling” of its government while traveling with her toddler daughter faces new charges that could add 16 years to her sentence, her husband said Monday.

    Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe faced a court hearing Sunday at Tehran’s infamous Evin prison where she heard of the new charges being brought against her by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which prevent her from seeking early release next month.

    Zaghari-Ratcliffe pleaded innocent to the new charges, which involve her previously working for the BBC and being a current employee of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said.

    “Thanks to the Revolutionary Guard’s antics, this is a justice system that can no longer look its victims in the eye, can no longer look itself in the mirror,” Ratcliffe said in a statement.

    The British Foreign Office and Iran’s mission at the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. State media in Iran also did not immediately report on the new charges…”

  17. Kosovo president accuses int’l community of not keeping word (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kosovo-president-accuses-intl-community-keeping-word-50368000

    “Kosovo’s president on Monday accused the international community of not keeping its end of the bargain after the country created an unpopular war crimes court to prosecute ethnic Albanians in cases linked to Kosovo’s war.

    Hashim Thaci said among the things that international officials promised in return were to fast-track Kosovo for European Union and UNESCO membership and visa liberalization, and allow Kosovo to form a military…”

  18. Migration agency says 8 people dead, 20 missing off Tunisia (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/migration-agency-people-dead-20-missing-off-tunisia-50367285

    “Eight Tunisian migrants have died and a further 20 are believed to be missing after a Tunisian naval ship collided with a wooden boat packed with migrants, the U.N. migration agency said Monday. Tunisian authorities said 38 people were rescued.

    The Tunisian defense department said in a statement that the collision happened Sunday about 54 kilometers (30 miles) off the coast of El Ataya, on the island of Kerkennah. The circumstances remain unclear.

    Maltese authorities coordinated the rescue with the assistance of the Italian and Tunisian navies…”

  19. WATCH: Algerian Millionaire Anti-Burqa Ban Activist Arrested in Vienna (breitbart, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/09/algerian-burqa-ban-fine-paying-millionaire-arrested-vienna/

    “Algerian millionaire and political activist Rachid Nekkaz was arrested by police in the Austrian capital after wearing a full-face mask in violation of the newly implemented law banning facial coverings like the Islamic veil.

    Mr. Nekkaz announced that he would be protesting the full-face covering ban, commonly referred to as the burqa ban, after arriving at Vienna’s Schwechat airport on Sunday. Nekkaz arrived in the vicinity of the office of Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz at Minoritenplatz soon after 12 pm.

    Nekkaz chose the location as the current Austrian People’s Party leader was the main proponent of the ban on the burqa and niqab which was passed into law earlier this year.

    Though many expected him to be wearing a burqa or with someone who was wearing the Islamic garment, Nekkaz turned up in a Halloween-inspired outfit with a top hat, a pumpkin mask covering his eyes and nose and a picture of Sebastian Kurz covering the bottom portion of his face with several 100 euro notes attached…”

    • Last week the same Nekkaz was attacked in Paris by an Algerian

      Passé à tabac à Neuilly-sur-Seine, Rachid Nekkaz accuse le fils d’un cadre du FLN

      L’homme d’affaires controversé Rachid Nekkaz a publié une vidéo en direct sur Facebook, où il apparaît visage en sang, accusant un homme présenté comme membre de la famille d’un haut responsable algérien d’avoir tenté de l’assassiner.

      L’activiste politique algérien Rachid Nekkaz, défrayant régulièrement la chronique pour ses actions politiques volontiers provocatrices, a été brutalement passé à tabac le 6 octobre à Neuilly-sur-Seine. Le visage tuméfié et ensanglanté, le millionnaire engagé dans différentes causes politiques en France et en Algérie est apparu dans une vidéo diffusée sur Facebook, dans laquelle il accuse un homme d’avoir tenté de l’assassiner.

      https://francais.rt.com/france/44270-millionnaire-franco-algerien-rachid-nekkaz-passe-a-tabac-neuilly-sur-seine

  20. Hungarian PM: ‘The EU Insults Member-States, Abuses its Powers, and Eats from George Soros’s Hand’ (breitbart, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/09/hungarian-pm-eu-insults-member-states-abuses-powers-george-soros/

    “The prime minister of Hungary has accused the European Union’s leadership of insulting member-states, abusing its powers, and “eating out of the hand” of billionaire open borders campaigner George Soros.

    Speaking on Hungarian Kossuth Rádió Viktor Orbán took eurocrats to task for attacks on Hungary which he believes are particularly motivated, singling out attempts to take legal action over a new law which requires foreign-supported ‘civil society’ organisations — many funded by Soros — to list their big overseas donors in a public register and be transparent about their funding sources in their publications.

    “The whole of the European Union is in trouble because its leaders and bureaucrats adopt decisions like this,” said Orbán.

    “The people support the ideal of the European Union. At the same time, they can’t stand the leadership of the EU, because it insults the Member-States with things like this, and it abuses its power. Everyone in Europe can see that. This is why the European leadership is not respected.”

    Prime Minister Orbán told his interviewer that he believes the Hungarian government has “accomplished something important: we’ve revealed a hidden underground network, the network of George Soros; and day after day we shall prove what the connections are”.

    He said the European Commission bureaucrats currently preparing a report on Hungary are “all Soros’s people. They’re featured on the list that was made public in the international press: the list of Soros’s reliable allies. They’re eating out of his hand. They’re going to write a report which will conclude that it would be better if there was no fence, it would be better if we let in ‘refugees’, it would be better if we let in migrants and give them money, and it would be better if they were distributed [throughout the EU].

    “We have revealed that there is a Soros Plan. The existence of this has been admitted to by the author himself, so revealing it was no great achievement, but at least we’ve placed it in the political spotlight.”

    The conservative premier pulled no punches when addressing the actions of politicians in the European Parliament, who recently passed a resolution calling on the European Commission to launch Article 7 proceedings against Hungary — potentially leading to sanctions and suspension of its voting rights.

    “What they are occupying themselves with is attacking from behind those who are protecting Europe,” he said frankly.

    “[O]ur soldiers and police officers stand fully-armed on the border, trying to apprehend, screen and eject from Europe people seeking to enter the continent illegally, and who may well be potential terrorists posing a threat to public security, human life and property.

    “While we are doing this job, they sit in their comfortable offices and – as we say in Budapest – nit-pick in their pomp. Once again the European Union has clearly failed.””

  21. SAUDI ARABIA

    Saudi FM Al-Jubeir: Saudi Arabia ‘has fired thousands’ of extremist imams

    MOSCOW: Saudi Arabia has dismissed several thousand imams from mosques for spreading extremism, Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Russian journalists in Moscow on Sunday.

    “We will not let anyone spread the ideology of hatred, to finance that kind of ideology or terrorism,” he said.

    “Our approach to this problem has been very strict: We … modernize our educational system in order to rule out the possibility of misinterpretation of texts.”

    Al-Jubeir said Riyadh would cooperate with Moscow in the fight against terrorism, and many militants from both countries were fighting with Daesh.
    “They pose a threat to our countries and to other states, where they come from. So we have a strong interest in cooperation.”

    The foreign minister also accused Qatar of financing terrorism in an attempt to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries.

    “We are convinced that there are certain principles that all countries must stick to: Say ‘no’ to terrorism, the financing of terrorism, extremism and propaganda of hatred, and attempts to interfere in the domestic affairs of other states,” he said.

    “We expect those demands to be met by Qatar.”

    http://www.arabnews.com/node/1174721/saudi-arabia

  22. Multiculturalism Is Splintering the West

    by Giulio Meotti
    October 9, 2017 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11118/multiculturalism-separation-secession

    The European Union’s official statistics on terrorism are dramatic:

    “In 2016, a total of 142 failed, foiled and completed attacks were reported by eight EU Member States. More than half (76) of them were reported by the United Kingdom. France reported 23 attacks, Italy 17, Spain 10, Greece 6, Germany 5, Belgium 4 and the Netherlands 1 attack. 142 victims died in terrorist attacks, and 379 were injured in the EU. 1,002 persons were arrested for terrorist offences in 2016”.

    These countries all tried to integrate Muslim communities, but all came to the same dead end. “As long as that continues, the failure of integration will pose a mortal threat to Europe”, the Wall Street Journal wrote after a suicide bombing that killed 22 people in Manchester. According to a new book by the French reporter Alexandre Mendel, Partition: Chronique de la sécession islamiste en France (“Partition: A Chronicle of the Islamist Secession in France”), multiculturalism is leading to the separation of European societies.

    It is also leading to constant waves of terror attacks. Last August, on a single day, Islamists killed 20 Europeans in Barcelona and Finland. A month later, they slaughtered two girls in Marseille, and in Birmingham a Shiite boy was brutally wounded. That is the deadly harvest of Europe’s multiculturalism. It is the most romanticized, seductive European ideology since Communism.

    There is an “increasingly permanent chain of ‘suspended communities’ nesting within nations throughout the West”, the American historian Andrew Michta recently wrote.

  23. CBC – Newfoundland – MUN condemns Islamophobic posters appearing on campus

    School is investigating the source

    Memorial University acted quickly Sunday to condemn hate-filled posters appearing on campus.

    Marine biologist Samantha Andrews discovered a poster titled The Islamic Domination of the West first in the Bruneau Centre for Research and Innovation and tore it down.

    She later found several more posters around campus on message boards and in the MUN tunnels and removed them as well.

    “My first thing was, ‘Where did they get this from?’ There was not even anything to back up what they were saying,” she said.

    The posters falsely suggest that refugees have lied about their status to move to western countries, infiltrate politics, implement Sharia law and kill people who do not submit to Islam.

    Power hopes the culprit is disciplined, but also says a deeper discussion is necessary to figure out what led to the development of their viewpoints.

    “It’s more than saying, ‘You can’t put messages like this. It’s wrong.’ You also need to find out what’s underlying that.”

    MUN responds

    Noreen Golfman, MUN’s provost and academic vice-president, tweeted that the school was looking into it, and encouraged anyone finding any to tear them down.

    Golfman declined to comment to CBC but directed inquiries to MUN president Gary Kachanoski.

    “I was just appalled and disappointed that this kind of activity would happen,” he said.

    He added that campus enforcement is currently removing the posters and is investigating the source.

    “I’m condemning the message strongly and we are going to try to follow up as best we can,” he said.

    If a student or group of students is found to have put the posters up, Kachanoski said they will be disciplined in accordance with the school’s code of conduct.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/mun-condemns-islamaphobic-posters-1.4345916

  24. Germany: The Progressives’ Post-Election Meltdown

    by Vijeta Uniyal
    October 9, 2017 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11120/germany-progressives-election

    The German voters certainly spoke in last month’s general election, but the establishment in Berlin is having a difficult time coming to terms with what they said.

    The right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), winning 12.6 percent of the vote, became the third-largest party in the German parliament by securing 94 of the 700-odd Bundestag seats. In states that used to be East Germany, the AfD got 20.5% of the vote, second after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

    The election result was not only a big breakthrough for the AfD — created just four years ago — but also a historic debacle for the two major parties that have dominated the country’s post-war political landscape for almost seven decades.

    Chancellor Merkel’s conservative CDU, with 33% of the vote, suffered its worst election result since 1949, and so did the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the world’s oldest Socialist party, with 20.5% of the vote.

    News of the AfD’s strong electoral showing triggered far-left protests across Germany. On election night, the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported:

  25. Iran: Foreign Ministry vows ‘crushing’ response if US categorises Revolutionary Guards as terrorists

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said that “Iran’s reaction would be firm, decisive and crushing,” if US President Donald Trump decides to designate its Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation, when speaking from a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

    • I’m jumping in early for a moment today. Lots of Iran stuff hanging over the High Holy Days and pre-Nuke Deal recertification.

      (o_O)

      Leftist Israeli media, but fairly comprehensive analysis:
      Israel-Iran conflict in Syria reaching point of no return

      Is Israel Headed toward a Conflict with Iran in Syria?

      The Iranian regime isn’t taking the public warnings issued by Israeli defense establishment heads seriously and is searching for a military airport near Damascus that would serve as a base for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards combat squadrons. At the same time, the Iranians and the Syrians are making progress in the talks for an autonomous Iranian military pier in Tartus port.

      Israel, however, has made it clear both to the Iranians and the Syrians, as well as to the Russians, that it will not allow any Iranian presence in Syria, especially warplanes or an Iranian pier in Tartus port. When Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu arrives in Israel later this month, Israel will ask the Russians to prevent the establishment of Iranian bases in Syria and the renewed activity of a missile production facility in Syria that was hit in a mysterious bombing several weeks ago.

      Israel will also ask the Russians to ensure that the permanent agreement in Syria would include a return of the Golan Heights to the 1974 disengagement agreements, which require full demilitarization of a 5-km. strip from the border and a dilution of forces inside Syria. So far, the Russians have rejected the Israeli requests on all issues related to the Iranian deployment in Syria.

      https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5025800,00.html

      • The Iran Nuclear Deal Isn’t Worth Saving
        – Michael B. Oren
        “The only alternative to the Iran nuclear deal is war.” That is what the Obama administration and proponents of the nuclear deal with Iran claimed in 2015. Such scare tactics were dishonest enough in 2015. Today, in view of the agreement’s ruinous consequences, they are morally indefensible.

        The alternative was never war, but a better deal. Rather than lifting sanctions on Iran, allowing it to retain its nuclear infrastructure and develop more advanced centrifuges, a better deal would have stripped Iran of capacities like uranium enrichment, which is unnecessary for a civilian energy program, and linked any deal to changes in Iran’s support for terrorism, its regional aggression, and its gross violation of human rights at home.

        A better deal also would not have removed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in 2025. In a mere eight years it can reactivate its nuclear plants and rapidly enrich enough uranium for dozens of nuclear bombs. Instead of blocking Iran’s path to nuclear weapons, the agreement paves it. Rather than reducing the likelihood of war, the agreement has made many wars inevitable.

        The agreement’s apologists say that altering or negating the agreement will irreparably harm America’s prestige. Yet it is difficult to see how America’s status is served by a refusal to stand up to Iran’s complicity in the massacre of half a million Syrians and its efforts to annihilate American allies. Revisiting the agreement will send an unequivocal message to the world that Iran’s state-funded terrorism and its attempts to establish a Shiite empire will not be tolerated.

        The writer, Israel’s deputy minister for diplomacy, was the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013.

        • John Bolton:
          The Iran Deal Isn’t Worth Saving

          “Cut, and cut cleanly,” Sen. Paul Laxalt advised Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, urging the Philippine president to resign and flee Manila because of widespread civil unrest. The Nevada Republican, Ronald Reagan’s best friend in Congress, knew what his president wanted, and he made the point with customary Western directness.

          President Trump could profitably follow Mr. Laxalt’s advice today regarding Barack Obama’s 2015 deal with Iran. The ayatollahs are using Mr. Obama’s handiwork to legitimize their terrorist state, facilitate (and conceal) their continuing nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs, and acquire valuable resources from gullible negotiating partners.

          Mr. Trump’s real decision is whether to fulfill his campaign promise to extricate America from this strategic debacle. Last month at the United Nations General Assembly, he lacerated the deal as an “embarrassment,” “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”

          Fearing the worst, however, the deal’s acolytes are actively obscuring this central issue, arguing that it is too arduous and too complex to withdraw cleanly. They have seized instead on a statutory requirement that every 90 days the president must certify, among other things, that adhering to the agreement is in America’s national-security interest. They argue the president should stay in the deal but not make the next certification, due in October.

          This morganatic strategy is a poorly concealed ploy to block withdrawal, limp through Mr. Trump’s presidency, and resurrect the deal later. Paradoxically, supporters are not now asserting that the deal is beneficial. Instead, they concede its innumerable faults but argue that it can be made tougher, more verifiable and more strictly enforced. Or, if you want more, it can be extended, kicked to Congress, or deferred during the North Korea crisis. Whatever.

          As Richard Nixon said during Watergate: “I want you to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover up, or anything else if it’ll save it — save the plan.”

          https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11123/iran-deal-not-worth-saving

          Catchy title, isn't it?

      • Caroline Glick:
        TRUMP AND OBAMA’S THIRD TERM
        The problem is that substantively, there is no real difference between Obama and Trump, not in the Middle East and not anywhere.

        In an interview with Walla news site Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that “the more active the US is [in the Middle East], the better it will be for Israel.”

        On paper, Liberman’s sentiments seem reasonable enough. President Donald Trump is far friendlier than his predecessor Barack Obama was. The tone of US-Israel relations has vastly improved since Trump took office.

        The problem is that substantively, there is no real difference between the two administrations – not in the Middle East and not anywhere.

        http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/COLUMN-ONE-Trump-and-Obamas-third-term-506779

        Well, somebody's got to say it. Caroline's tough. She's also strategic, so good cop/ bad cop? We'll see what happens.

      • JPost Editorial:
        Trump vs. Iran

        Neither US President Donald Trump nor Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu like the 2015 Iran nuclear weapons deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

        Last month, Trump told the UN General Assembly the JCPOA was an “embarrassment” and “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United State has ever entered into.” Netanyahu’s “fix it or nix it” speech to the same forum presented the same position.

        We agree with Trump and Netanyahu that the JCPOA is a bad deal. Because it is narrowly worded to make it easier for Tehran to comply, the deal ignores Iran’s continued support for terrorism and endangerment of American and Israeli lives in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere; it is silent on the issue of Iran’s development of long-range ballistic missiles that have the sole purpose of carrying nuclear warheads; and, even within the framework of the JCPOA, too much secrecy and a lack of transparency prevent the monitoring of Iran’s development of nuclear explosive devices.

        Nevertheless, a unilateral decision on the part of Trump to rip up the deal and walk away without a clear alternative is not necessarily in the interest of the US or of Israel, particularly at a time when there is a lack of broad consensus in Washington and around the world.

        US and Israeli interests would be better served if Trump worked with his White House staff and Congress to articulate a clear policy that includes the wise use of crippling sanctions and more stringent monitoring to ensure that Iran is not developing nuclear weapons.

        So far, Trump has opted not to scrap the deal. Every 90 days, the US president is faced with the prospect of certifying that “Iran is transparently, verifiably and fully implementing the agreement” and that it is in the US’s interests to keep the JCPOA in place.

        Twice already he has verified it. He is now facing an October 15 deadline for the third 90-day review since he took office. And, this time, according to media reports, Trump is setting the groundwork for a new approach that has the support of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Both Tillerson and Mattis oppose the outright scrapping of the deal, but Mattis has said decertification is a “distinct” matter.

        http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Trump-vs-Iran-506988

        • When people start looking at what is being done in Foreign and internal policies you have to remember that Obama pulled the Trick Clinton did during the 1990s, he took certain civil service positions and turned them into patronage positions, just before he left he turned them back into civil service. This means that Trump has a very hard time firing the Obama people who resist changing policies and who have many deep state allies to protect them to prevent Trump turning the positions into patronage positions. That little trick has embedded a lot of Obama people in the US bureaucracy, people who are working to ensure that Trump fails.

  26. Migrant Attacks Against Hungarians In Germany Cause Outrage

    Racist migrant attacks against ethnic-Hungarians in Germany are increasing. The recent victim posted his story on social media where he also condemned German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

  27. Viktor Orban: Even Billionaires Have to Obey Hungarian Laws

    PM Orban Viktor said that even American billionaires must obey Hungarian laws when operating in Hungary.

  28. Why Columbus Still Deserves His Day
    A look at the famous explorer’s true motivations for undertaking his journeys.
    October 9, 2017
    Joseph Klein

    Left-wingers view Christopher Columbus’s forays to the “New World” as the original sin of imperialist, capitalist exploitation of indigenous peoples living in a heretofore untouched paradise. There are calls to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples Day.” Statues honoring the intrepid explorer have been vandalized, with the New York City-based Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement threatening more destruction. “For the occasion of Columbus Day, October 9th, one of the most vile ‘holidays’ of the year,” its website warns, “the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement is calling for collectives all over the country to take action against this day and in support of indigenous people in the US and abroad who have been victims of colonialism and genocide.” Ironically, the leftists demonizing Columbus and calling for removal of memorials celebrating his explorations are following in the footsteps of the Ku Klux Klan, who did the same in the 1920’s.

    Former President Barack Obama seemed to be onboard the revisionist history train when he used his 2016 Columbus Day proclamation to complain of “the pain and suffering reflected in the stories of Native Americans who had long resided on this land prior to the arrival of European newcomers.” He bemoaned a past “marked by too many broken promises, as well as violence, deprivation, and disease.” He called for Americans to remember the “communities who suffered,” and to “embrace the multiculturalism that defines the American experience.”

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268079/why-columbus-still-deserves-his-day-joseph-klein

  29. (1) Vegas Terrorist a Leftist? (2) NFL Players Support Soros (3) Pray for Cliven Bundy
    1,306 views

  30. Homeland Security Uncovers Massive Immigration Failures
    The devastating consequences for national security.
    October 9, 2017
    Michael Cutler

    President Trump has been rightfully demanding that aliens who are citizens of countries that have an involvement with terrorism must undergo “extreme vetting.”

    This is certainly an important and commonsense requirement. However, the computer systems used by both Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) inside the United States are unable to provide CBP inspectors at ports of entry the data they need to prevent transnational criminals and international terrorists from entering the country. Nor can these systems provide the vital information and records to USCIS adjudications officers that would allow them to prevent aliens present in the United States from improperly acquiring immigration benefits such as political asylum, lawful immigrant status and even United States citizenship.

    Simply stated, today — more than 16 years a

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268053/homeland-security-uncovers-massive-immigration-michael-cutler

  31. Operation Brothers: The Mossad’s Secret Scuba Operation in Sudan

    Yola Reitman was enjoying a comfortable life as an El Al flight attendant and avid deep-sea diver.

    One phone call changed everything.

    It was Yola’s diving instructor. He’d been recruited by the Israeli intelligence agency, the Mossad, to lead the rescue of thousands of Ethiopian Jews who had fled famine and war into neighboring Sudan.

    http://www.aish.com/jw/s/Operation-Brothers-The-Mossads-Secret-Scuba-Operation-in-Sudan.html

  32. BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 606, October 7, 2017

    How Palestine “Occupies” Itself

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: “Occupation” has become an all-purpose Palestinian tool. On the one hand, the Palestinians claim the Israeli “occupation” makes serious negotiations with Israel impossible. On the other, they claim the “occupation” makes the development of local institutions and civil society impossible. Western and Israeli diplomats have largely avoided criticism of this strategy, possibly because it has become a central tenet of Palestinian identity.

    https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/palestine-occupation-strategy/

  33. SYRIA – 40 Turkish officers entered Syria escorted by Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham commanders to take strategic points

    NSO reporter in Idlib said 18 pick-up trucks and SUVs carrying 40 officer and engineers crossed on Sunday morning the borders with Syria from unofficial Atme border crossing escorted by Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham commanders.

    Our reporter said 10 engineering officers, 13 infantry officers, 6 reconnaissance officers, 5 operation officers and 6 officers responsible for coordination in Syria entered Syrian territory accompanied by Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham heading to areas in Aleppo western countryside to reconnaissance the field situation mostly Shiekh Barakat mountain.

    Special source accompanied Turkish forces told NSO the aim of this visit is to preface to take positions in Sheikh Barakat mountain which is considered the highest point in the area and look over around 25km mostly areas under “People’s Protection Units YPG” which is Turky’s first enemy in Syria, the visit also included all frontline between opposition forces and YPG from Atme camp in west Idlib to Basoufan in the east.

    Since 2 days ago around 800 FSA fighters who participated in Euphrates Shield operation and 5000 Turkish soldiers on the Turkish side of the borders with Syria waiting for orders to move into Idlib countryside while Hayyet Tahrir al-Sham massed hundreds of fighters in areas on borders with Turkey.

    A mortar shell fell near Kafrlousin camp near borders with Turkey while heavy machine guns shooting and it forced around 2000 civilians who were living in the camp to flee to nearby villages without injuries reported while the source of the mortar shell still unknown yet but the side where the buildings were hit point it was launched from Syria.

    Several armed opposition groups participating in the expected operation such as: al-Hamza division, Suqor al-Shamal, Sulieman Shah, 9th division, Sultan Murad body each with 75 fighters in addition to 50 fighters from Division 23, Moutasem Brigade, Jaysh al-Islam, al-Maghwaier Brigade, al-Nukhba army, Ahrar al-Sham and Soqur al-Sham while Sultan Othman, Jaysh al-Ahfad and Thwar al-Jazire each participating with 25 fighters.

    https://www.nso-sy.com/Details/731/40-Turkish-officers-entered-Syria-escorted-by-Hayyet-Tahrir-al-Sham-commanders-to-take-strategic-points/en

    =========================================================
    Tahrir al-Sham ( HTS )

    wiki

    […] Tahrir al-Sham and abbreviated HTS, is an active Salafist jihadist militant group involved in the Syrian Civil War.

    […]Currently, a number of analysts and media outlets still continue to refer to this group by its previous names, al-Nusra Front, or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

    […]Tahrir al-Sham has been accused to be working as al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch on a covert level.

    […]the goal of forming Tahrir al-Sham was to unite all groups with al-Qaeda’s extreme ideology under one banner, and to obtain as many weapons as possible

    […]Russia claims that Tahrir al-Sham shares al-Nusra Front’s goal of turning Syria into an Islamic emirate run by al-Qaeda.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahrir_al-Sham

    • MoA- Syria – Turkey Violates Astana Agreement – Renews Alliance With Al-Qaeda

      Yesterday Turkish army forces entered the Syrian Idleb governate from the west. The move is officially part of a de-escalation supervision process agreed upon between Syria, Turkey, Russia and Iran. One point of the agreement is to continue the fight against al-Qaeda in Syria, currently operating under the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS controls large parts of Idleb governate.

      This is confirmed in the official Turkish Idleb Operation Explanation. “To purge terrorist organisations, especially DAESH, PKK/PYD-YPG and HTS from the region,” is describes as one aim of its de-escalaton force.

      But the Turkish forces have made a deal with HTS. When their reconnaissance teams entered Idleb yesterday they were escorted by heavily armed HTS forces (video). According to their agreement with the terrorists the Turkish forces will only take up three positions. All of these will be bordering the Kurdish enclave Efrin (Afrin).

      The purpose of this Turkish incursion is obviously not to counter al-Qaeda/HTS but only to surround the Kurdish held enclave around Efrin.

      An aggressive Turkish move could now try to cut of the Kurdish Efrin area (yellow) from the Syrian government held areas (red) by connecting the Turkish controlled rebel area in the north (blue) with the al-Qaeda controlled Idleb governate (green). Such a move would encounter fierce resistance not only from Kurdish elements and the Syrian government but also from Iran. Auxiliary Iranian troops hold the government corridor between Aleppo and Efrin to protect some important Shia villages in the area.

      On one side one can understand the Turkish abrogation of its duties under the Astana agreement. Erdogan is afraid of the domestic backlash a real fight against HTS would likely cause. But it was Turkey that created the mess by supplying al-Qaeda in Syria with men and goods for nearly six years. It is its duty to kill the monster it created. It also has to uphold its diplomatic agreements.

      Turkey has proven again that it is not trustworthy. Erdogan may hope to get NATO cover should he incur new Russian wrath about his breach of trust and his abrogation of the de-escalation agreement. But the expanding spat between the State Department and the Turkish government, as well as low Turkish standing within NATO populations, do not bode well for any bet on that alliance.

      http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/10/syria-turkey-violates-astana-agreement-renews-alliance-with-al-qaeda.html

  34. U.S. ambassador breaks with State Dept. policy: ‘I think the settlements are part of Israel’

    In his first on-camera interview since taking up his position this year, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman declared that only 2 percent of the West Bank is occupied and that settlements are part of Israel, sparking angry reaction from Palestinians.

    Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described the interview with the Israeli news site Walla on Thursday as the “latest attempt by Freidman to “advocate and validate the Israeli government’s policies of occupation and annexation.” The U.S. ambassador had previously referred to Israel’s “alleged occupation” of the West Bank.

    The State Department said Freidman’s comments do not indicate a policy shift and “should not should not be read as a way to prejudge the outcome of any negotiations that the U.S. would have with the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

    When asked by a reporter if the ambassador had gone “rogue,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert’s response appeared to imply that there were other figures that were more representative of U.S. policy – like Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and President Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-us-ambassador-israel-settlements-20170929-story,amp.html

    Fake news?

  35. DIALY MAIL – UK BIRMINGHAM – Mass brawl breaks out between 20 people outside magistrates court building – with one elderly man even using his walking stick as a weapon

    A victim and his family left the court at the same as the defendants in their case
    Six men aged 21 to 61 and two teenage boys were arrested with more at large
    People were left covered in blood, one with a broken hand and chest injuries

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4963402/Mass-brawl-erupts-outside-Birmingham-Magistrates-Court.html
    ==============================

    the brawl starts just past the 3:10 mark :

  36. Revealed: Israel scrapped plan to bomb Syrian crematoria

    American intelligence reports suggesting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime was cremating the bodies of hundreds of prisoners in a facility near Damascus prompted Israel to examine the possibility of bombing the area, but the plan was eventually shelved over the defense establishment’s concerns that the move would lead to a rapid security escalation on the northern border.

    The existence of the Syrian crematoria was revealed in May, when the U.S. State Department presented reports saying that crematoria had been built near the Sednaya Military Prison, north of Damascus, with the aim of disposing of evidence proving the Assad regime had been committing mass torture and murder of dissidents.

    The American report included satellite images of the crematoria, alongside information suggesting they had been operating for several years.

    In February, three months before the State Department’s report, human rights watchdog Amnesty International reported that the Syrian government executed some 13,000 prisoners in mass hangings and had systematically tortured thousands of prisoners at Sednaya during the civil war, a scale amounting to war crimes under international law.

    http://www.israelhayom.com/2017/10/08/revealed-israel-scrapped-plan-to-bomb-syrian-crematoria/

  37. Iran suspends Zoroastrian member of Yazd city council (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iran-suspends-zoroastrian-member-yazd-city-council-50376479

    “Iran’s state TV is reporting that a Zoroastrian member of Yazd City Council has been suspended following a complaint.

    The Monday report said that the Administrative Justice Court issued the suspension for Sepanta Niknam following a complaint by a candidate for the Yazd city council, purportedly over the fencing around the city’s famed “Tower of Silence”.

    Mohammad Reza Modaresi, a member of the Guardian Council, said that the suspension had been approved by the Council and that everyone should abide by it, according to the report.

    Earlier in April, just before the country’s City Council elections, Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, said that religious minorities should not have a representative in towns were the majority of the population was Muslim.”

  38. Yemeni doctors say airstrikes, fighting kill 13 civilians (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/yemeni-doctors-airstrikes-fighting-kill-13-civilians-50374363

    “Yemeni medical and tribal officials say airstrikes and artillery have killed 13 civilians in fighting near the Saudi border, the latest episode of non-combatants paying the highest toll in the country’s civil war.

    They say an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels killed nine civilians in the Shada area of Saada province, a rebel stronghold. Rebel artillery targeting Saudi forces in turn hit the village of Mashnaqa, killing four more civilians, in an exchange of border fire that lasted several hours on Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

    The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the rebels since March 2015, in a war that has killed more than 10,000 civilians. The United Nations has criticized Saudi-led airstrikes for killing civilians.”

  39. Turkey’s Erdogan supports Ukraine over Crimea (abcnews, Oct 9, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-erdogan-supports-ukraine-crimea-50373364

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, during a visit to Ukraine, that Turkey won’t recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

    Erdogan said during Monday’s visit to Kiev that Turkey will continue to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Russia and Ukraine have been in a tug-of-war following Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

    Erdogan said that Ankara will continue to follow the situation of Crimean Tatars, and thanked Ukraine for defending their rights.

    Some Crimean Tatar activists have complained of infringements on the rights of the Turkic ethnic group after Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea region.

    Erdogan’s statement comes even though he has sought to maintain warm ties with Russia and cooperated with it on establishing de-escalation zones in Syria.”