Reader’s links, Oct 28, 2017

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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

About Eeyore

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

43 Replies to “Reader’s links, Oct 28, 2017”

  1. Germany’s far-right AfD wants data on journalists’ political views (DW, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-far-right-afd-wants-data-on-journalists-political-views/a-41148018

    “The AfD has asked journalists registering to cover its party congress in Hanover to agree to the collection of “special data” that includes political views and ethnicity. The move was called an “unspeakable intrusion.”

    The newest member of Germany’s parliament, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, is asking journalists to allow information about their religious beliefs and political views to be collected in exchange for access to a party conference.

    German newspaper the Stuttgarter Zeitung first reported on the curious registration requirement on Friday.

    Journalists registering online to cover the AfD’s national congress in December are being asked to check a “declaration of consent” box where they agree to the “collection, storage and use” of personal information.

    In addition to the basic requirements like name and press pass number, journalists must also agree to the collection of “special data.”

    In the text, the AfD points to Paragraph 9 of Germany’s data protection law, which defines “special data” as information on racial and ethnic backgrounds, political views, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health or sexual orientation.

    The AfD notes “political views” as an example in their text, although they do not ask for that information in the online registration form. The party states the data “will only be used for the purposes of the party’s work.”

    The area is also marked as required in order to complete registration for the event, meaning no journalist can sign up without agreeing to allow the AfD to collect the information.

    Investigation underway

    According to the Stuttgarter Zeitung, Berlin’s data protection officer is currently investigating the matter.

    If the AfD wants to gather further personal data from journalists that is not specifically outlined in the online form, it would be improper for the party to make access to the party conference dependent on agreeing to the terms, a data protection office spokeswoman told the paper.

    Officials currently believe the AfD’s “declaration of consent” text resulted from a mix-up rather than an intentional attempt to collect information on journalists. The same passage is frequently used in applications for political party membership applications, where it is acceptable to ask the political opinions of the applicant, the Stuttgarter Zeitung reported.

    Whether a mistake or not, the German Journalists Association has not taken the AfD’s press accreditation requirement lightly.

    “This is an unacceptable intrusion into the private affairs of journalists,” Hendrik Zörner,
    spokesman for the German Journalists Association, told the newspaper. “We call on the AfD to immediately remove the required agreement.”

    The AfD won 12.6 percent of the vote during Germany’s general election on September 24, making it the third largest party in the Bundestag and the first far-right group to enter parliament in over half a century.

    The party, which frequently rails against “fake news coverage” by mainstream news outlets, has previously limited press access to party events.

    The AfD will hold its national party conference on December 2 in the city of Hanover.”

  2. Bangladesh eyes sterilisation to curb Rohingya population (france24, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.france24.com/en/20171028-bangladesh-eyes-sterilisation-curb-rohingya-population

    “Bangladesh is planning to introduce voluntary sterilisation in its overcrowded Rohingya camps, where nearly a million refugees are fighting for space, after efforts to encourage birth control failed.

    More than 600,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since a military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar in August triggered an exodus, straining resources in the impoverished country.

    The latest arrivals have joined hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled in earlier waves from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution.

    Most live in desperate conditions with limited access to food, sanitation or health facilities and local officials fear a lack of family planning could stretch resources even further.

    Pintu Kanti Bhattacharjee, who heads the family planning service in the district of Cox’s Bazar where the camps are based, said there was little awareness of birth control among the Rohingya.

    “The whole community has been deliberately left behind,” he told AFP, citing a lack of education in Myanmar, where the Rohingya are viewed as illegal immigrants and denied access to many services.

    Bhattacharjee said large families were the norm in the camps, where some parents had up to 19 children and many Rohingya men have more than one wife.

    District family planning authorities have launched a drive to provide contraception, but say they have so far managed to distribute just 549 packets of condoms among the refugees, who are reluctant to use them.

    They have asked the government to approve a plan to launch vasectomies for Rohingya men and tubectomies for women, Bhattacharjee told AFP.

    But they are likely to face an uphill struggle.

    Many of the refugees told AFP they believed a large family would help them survive in the camps, where access to food and water remains a daily battle and children are often sent out to fetch and carry supplies.

    Others had been told contraception was against the tenets of Islam.

    Farhana Sultana, a family planning volunteer who works with Rohingya refugees in the camps, said many of the women she spoke to believed birth control was a sin.

    “In Rakhine they did not go to family planning clinics, fearing the Myanmar authorities would give medicine that harms them or their children,” Sultana said.

    Volunteers said they struggled to sell the benefits of birth control to Rohingya women, most of whom came to them for advice on pregnancy complications or help with newborns.

    Sabura, a mother of seven, said her husband believed the couple could support a large family.

    “I spoke to my husband about birth control measures. But he is not convinced. He was given two condoms but he did not use them,” she told AFP.

    “My husband said we need more children as we have land and property (in Rakhine). We don’t have to worry to feed them,” she said.

    – Population control –

    Bangladesh has for years run a successful domestic sterilisation programme, offering 2,300 taka ($28) and a traditional lungi garment to each man who agrees to undergo the procedure.

    Every month 250 people undergo sterilisation in the border town of Cox’s Bazar.

    But performing the permanent procedure on non-Bangladeshi nationals requires final approval from a committee headed by the health minister.

    The idea is particularly contentious given the sensitivity of the issue in Myanmar. The widespread perception that the Rohingya population is mushrooming is a key source of the tensions that have spiralled in recent months.

    No official data is available on birth rates among the Rohingya, who are excluded from the census in Myanmar.

    But many of the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists accused of taking part in attacks on Rohingya villages that have driven hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh say they fear being displaced by the Muslim minority.

    The Rohingya face official restrictions on the number of children they can have in Myanmar, although this has not been widely enforced.

    Rights activists working in the camps in Bangladesh said some believed pregnancy provided protection against rape or other attacks in Myanmar, where the military has been accused of sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls.

    “Some of them told us that if a woman was pregnant, she had less chance of being targeted by the military or attackers.”

    Bangladesh officials say some 20,000 Rohingya women are pregnant and 600 have given birth since arriving in Bangladesh, though this may be an underestimate as many births take place with no formal medical help.

    “Sterilisation of the males is the best way to control the population,” said Bhattacharjee.

    “If a man is sterilised, he cannot father a child even if he marries four or five times.”

    by Shafiqul ALAM”

    • “Sterilisation of the males is the best way to control the population,” said Bhattacharjee.

      “If a man is sterilised, he cannot father a child even if he marries four or five times.””

      Bwahahahaha!!! This is a formula for Islamic overpopulation that eventually will cause the outside world to halt all food exports to jihadist populations.

      Let’s just see just how quickly these Muslim countries tolerate the existence of terrorist groups when their pro-jihadist advocacy causes a shut-off of all food sources.

      Insert hysterical laughter >here<.

      NONE of the Muslim majority countries are agriculturally self-sufficient. Got that!

      All of them depend upon the largess of agriculturally hyper-productive Western nations.

      Please keep in mind that these agriculturally hyper-productive Western nations are doing so at extreme cost to their own water-based and soil

      What happens when Washington DC sprouts a set and cuts off all grain exports?

    • From the linked article:

      However, according to the survivors of the ambush, Johnson’s body was found a good mile away from the point at which Islamic militants launched their ambush.

      Does not remotely pass the smell test.

      Agreed, Xanthippa, this is really putrid.

      Is it just me or does La David Johnson’s revulsion at Trump’s being a supposed “white supremacist and a racist” not exactly dovetail in terms of the President’s obvious struggle “with speaking kind words [to widow, Myeshia Johnson] for a soldier who had committed the ultimate sin, betraying his fellow soldiers”?

      As the linked article notes, “President Trump was well aware of Johnson’s betrayal, but decided ultimately that in the interest of keeping the nation united, it would be best to let Johnson’s betrayal go unmentioned, after all, his death was punishment enough – no need to go any further.”

      All of which points away from “white supremacist and a racist” and, instead, towards a relatively compassionate Commander in Chief who sought to minimize disunity within the ranks—even at the price of covering up for a Black traitor whose obsession with racial identity politics allowed him to violate his personal oath of military enlistment to:

      … solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

      For a soldier (regardless of race) to feel such glowing pride about 0bama’s spell of chair-warming in the Oval Office is sufficient evidence of extreme bias. After all, one of the worst-hit demographic sectors by the 2008 recession was Black homeowners—the bedrock of stable Black families that represent some of the only opposition to the existing 73% illegitimacy rate within America’s Black population.

      Please pardon the leap in definitions, but this entire Niger episode might as well have been another BLM atrocity (dressed up in camo). Much like the grim outcome regarding Islam’s flagrant manipulation of “religious” identity (yes, those are sneer quotes), the identical exploitation of racial identity by BLM points to an equally unhappy ending.

      I do not look forward to the political climate in America’s next decade or two.

  3. Spain sacks Catalan government after independence declaration

    BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) – The Madrid government sacked Catalonia’s president and dismissed its parliament on Friday, hours after the region declared itself an independent nation in Spain’s gravest political crisis since the return of democracy four decades ago.

    A new regional election will be held in Catalonia on Dec. 21, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a televised address on a day of high drama.

    As well as removing Carles Puigdemont as head of the autonomous region, he also fired its police chief and said central government ministries would take over the Catalan administration.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-catalonia/spain-sacks-catalan-government-after-independence-declaration-idUSKBN1CW0VF

  4. Unilateral declarations of independence in Europe

    Paris (AFP) – Several European territories have unilaterally declared independence since the end of World War II, mainly because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

    But none has officially broken away from the European Union, created in 1993, even though movements demanding more independence exist in various countries.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/unilateral-declarations-independence-europe-160507477.html

  5. BARCA LONERS Violence erupts in Barcelona as Catalonia police chief is sacked and Spanish PM orders fresh elections in bid to seize control of breakaway region

    Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for calm as tens of thousands of independence supporters celebrated in the streets of Barcelona

    BARCA LONERS Violence erupts in Barcelona as Catalonia police chief is sacked and Spanish PM orders fresh elections in bid to seize control of breakaway region

    Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for calm as tens of thousands of independence supporters celebrated in the streets of Barcelona

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4781526/catalan-parliament-declares-independence-spain-violence-fresh-elections/

  6. Spain cracks down hard after Catalonia declares independenceSpain cracks down hard after Catalonia declares independence

    BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In one of the most momentous days in recent Spanish history, Spain fired Catalonia’s regional government and dissolved its parliament Friday after a defiant Catalan declaration of independence that flouted the country’s constitution.

    Lawmakers in the Catalan parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence, prompting the swift crackdown by the Spanish government, which also called an early election in the region.

    Hours after Catalonia’s secession move, the Spanish Senate granted the government special constitutional powers to stop the wealthy region’s move toward independence.BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — In one of the most momentous days in recent Spanish history, Spain fired Catalonia’s regional government and dissolved its parliament Friday after a defiant Catalan declaration of independence that flouted the country’s constitution.

    Lawmakers in the Catalan parliament voted to unilaterally declare independence, prompting the swift crackdown by the Spanish government, which also called an early election in the region.

    Hours after Catalonia’s secession move, the Spanish Senate granted the government special constitutional powers to stop the wealthy region’s move toward independence.

    https://apnews.com/c00bbc82c39b4b669ff998cc7b39d894/Madrid-eyes-crackdown-after-Catalonia-declares-independence

  7. Sacked Catalan president calls for opposition to Madrid

    MADRID (Reuters) – Sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for a “democratic opposition” to Madrid’s takeover of the region following its declaration of independence.

    “It’s very clear that the best form of defending the gains made up until now is democratic opposition to article 155,” Puigdemont said in a brief statement.

    (Reporting by Tomas

    MADRID (Reuters) – Sacked Catalan president Carles Puigdemont on Saturday called for a “democratic opposition” to Madrid’s takeover of the region following its declaration of independence.

    “It’s very clear that the best form of defending the gains made up until now is democratic opposition to article 155,” Puigdemont said in a brief statement.

    (Reporting by Tomas
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/sacked-catalan-president-calls-opposition-madrid-125221858.html

  8. Mattis, in Seoul, says U.S. can’t accept nuclear North Korea

    SEOUL (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Saturday that he could not imagine United States ever accepting a nuclear North Korea, warning that its rapidly advancing nuclear and missile programs would undermine, not strengthen, its security.

    Mattis has been at pains during his week-long trip to Asia to stress that diplomacy is America’s preferred course, a message he returned to after top-level military talks in Seoul on Saturday and at the tense border area with North Korea on Friday.

    Still, he warned Pyongyang that its military was no match for the U.S.-South Korean alliance, and that diplomacy was most effective “when backed by credible military force.”

    “Make no mistake – any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated. And any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response that is both effective and overwhelming,” Mattis said.

    http://www.oann.com/mattis-warns-that-u-s-will-never-accept-a-nuclear-north-korea/

  9. Catalonia in the vanguard of an emerging structural problem for the international order
    By J.E. Dyer October 28, 2017

    There isn’t time tonight to develop this thought fully. But I want to put a few markers down on it, as this evolving problem of insurgent nationalism isn’t going to go away.

    The situation in Catalonia appears headed for the peak of a crisis in the coming days. The Catalan parliament voted on Friday to declare independence, in defiance of an ultimatum from Madrid, and the Rajoy government stepped in immediately thereafter to dissolve the parliament, and impose “direct rule” from Madrid on the would-be break-away region.

    David P. Goldman (“Spengler”) wrote an eloquent defense of the Catalonian position at PJ Media, and I have much sympathy for his points. He emphasizes that Catalonia inherently has a language-based cultural coherence that “Spain,” as we know her today, does not.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/28/catalonia-vanguard-emerging-structural-problem-international-order/

    • Beyond Catalonia: pro-independence movements in Europe

      Nationhood and autonomy are issues that transcend north-east Spain, with others wanting to redraw the map of Europe

      Istria County
      Croatia
      Pop: 208,000, 4.9% of total

      The Istrian Democratic Assembly party ?(IDS) wants greater regional autonomy and decentralisation across the country, but particularly in Istria, a region that straddles Croatia and Slovenia and whose borders have not been clearly defined since the break-up of former Yugoslavia in 1991. Ideally, the IDS would like to see the establishment of a transnational and cross-border euro-region.? ?
      ?
      Moravia
      Czech Republic
      Pop: 3 million, 30% of total

      Moravia was a historical Czech land along with Silesia and Bohemia and, though formally abolished in 1949, is still commonly seen as a specific region with its own identity. A small non-parliamentary party, Moravané, has been advocating self-determination and independence through the restoration of a Moravian legislature since 2005.
      ?
      Czech Silesia
      Czech Republic
      Pop: 1 million, 10% of total

      See below
      ?
      Upper Silesia
      Poland
      Pop: 3 million, 7.8% of total

      Silesia is a region mainly in south-western Poland with small areas in Germany and the Czech republic. More than 800,000 people claimed Silesian identity in the Polish census of 2011, and the Silesian Autonomy Movement (RA?), led by Jerzy Gorzelik, won 8.5% of the vote in the 2010 local elections. Advocating the larger region’s autonomy, RA? sees Silesia as a “separate nation” rather than made up of Poles, Czechs or Germans.
      ?
      Székely Land
      Romania
      Pop: 500,000, 2.5% of total

      Székely Land is a region of central Romania, some of whose ethnic Hungarians seek greater autonomy. According to a 2011 census, about 1.2 million ethnic Hungarians live in Romania, half of them in Székely Land. They are the largest minority group in the country since Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory to its neighbours after the first world war.

      Northern Europe

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/oct/27/beyond-catalonia-pro-independence-movements-in-europe-map?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews#link_time=1509081210

      • Pay close attention to this one, if Catalonia gets its independence most or all of the areas mentioned in the article will try for their independence. Remember most of the independence movements were pulled out of obscurity by the KGB to weaken the west. Now they are being used to weaken the west so the Islamic invaders will have an easier time conquering Europe. While I am sure that in the long run the invaders will be driven out of Europe the breakup of the old nation states will make the eventual victory in Europe harder and rather then weakening the EU will strengthen it.

        Having said that several of the regions mentioned above are the ones I have though would break away during the chaos of the Islamic Invasion.

        As is usual the motivation for what happens in very complicated and varies from one person or group to another. While we on Vlad Tepes are pushing for one goal many others are pushing for other goals that require their allying with us for a while. and as the war grows and continues the motivations will change due to the changing conditions.

    • In Praise of the Nation-State

      https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/in-praise-of-the-nation-state/

      This will be a brief* meditation, as The Optimistic Conservative is weighing anchor on Tuesday and heading to her ancestral homeland (Oklahoma) for a month. The topic here is the benefits that accrue to us from the political organization we call the nation-state.

      The nation-state gets a bad rap – and when it is not getting that, it is essentially ignored, or taken for granted. No one on the political right thinks a world government is a good idea, and Americans are naturally resistant to the concept of empire. But there is no body of theoretical advocacy, among political commentators or in academia, that counterbalances the broad and insistent body of advocacy for subversion of the nation-state, and for the gradual introduction of a world government subsuming the authority that today resides with nations.

      The latter body of advocacy is a product of the political left, which sees the need for coercion of peoples on a global scale to address lists of “problems,” from “social injustice” to “climate change.” The right, while opposing all the assumptions that underlie this advocacy thrust, rarely if ever makes the case for what the nation-state has done for us. Yet the nation-state is the model of political organization in which liberty and civil rights can flourish and be protected. If not for the concept of the nation-state, hammered out in Europe in the centuries after the collapse of the Roman Empire, there could never have been a United States of America, founded for the purpose of a particular and specific political commitment. Nor would there have been a Britain, our political progenitor that carried an idea of pragmatic, consensual government and moral equality among humans to the ends of the earth, in a way no other colonial power did.

      • The above articles should be read and thought about they are very important. One of the most important things she says is near the end of the article, it is how the long peace and stability in Europe since the end of WWII is a historical aberration not the historical norm. We are leaving the time of peace and stability and entering into a time of unrest, uncertainty ending in violence. Small nations are unable to defend themselves against larger enemies unless they have some one like the US or Russia to act as a protector and in the case of Russia you have to continually wonder when they are going to take over their new client state. History has taught us that we have to think long and hard before we start destroying existing nations.

        Do I sympathize with the Catalans and Kurds? Yes.

        Does this mean I think establishing new nations under their leadership is a good idea? Yes to the Kurds and I don’t know to the Catalans. The new Kurdish nation would bring instability to the Middle East and keep both Iran and Turkey from establishing a strong hold in that region as well as providing a new player that will keep Putin from consolidating his control of the region for at least another decade. A new Catalan stands a good chance of strengthening the EU bureaucrats instead of weakening them. Also the Catalan invitation to the Moslems to immigrate and to build mega Mosques provides another beach head for the invaders.

        We are returning to an era where real politik is played instead of moral posturing. The old idea of He may be a SOB but he is our SOB is returning. We in the west are going to have to concentrate on maintaining our own freedom and preventing our enemies from colonizing (either physically or economically) the Third World rather then spend our time, lives and treasure to spread democracy into nations whose native culture is totally opposed to democracy and freedom. History has shown that it takes a long time for democracy to become rooted in other cultures and that quick wars followed by no occupation don’t do anything but waste lives and treasure.

        Right now we have to concentrate on saving our freedom and helping our friends that have managed to hang on to their freedom. once we are sure we have defeated our internal and external enemies to the point our freedom is insured then we can concentrate on freeing our allies that have fallen to the internal and external enemies.

  10. Revealed: Original funder of oppo research on Trump
    By J.E. Dyer October 27, 2017

    Looks like pretty much a nothingburger, in the end. This discovery isn’t going to sidetrack the real issue, which is that the Steele dossier — which was commissioned and produced entirely after the Democrats started paying Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump — appears to have been used to justify FBI surveillance and other investigation of Trump and his associates.

    (Nor should it sidetrack the equally important issue of Hillary’s and Bill Clinton’s potential complicity in the Russian bribery scheme to gain leverage over the U.S. uranium industry.)

    So who was the original customer of Fusion GPS’s opposition research on Trump? The Washington Free Beacon has now “confessed” on that.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/27/revealed-original-funder-oppo-research-trump/

  11. Convicted felon claims Bill de Blasio promised access in exchange for 6-figure donation
    By Ben Bowles October 28, 2017

    His name is Jona Rechnitz, and he has pleaded guilty to corruption and is now cooperating with the feds in the hopes of a lighter sentence. But his testimony in Manhattan Federal Court in the bribery trial of a union boss named Norman Seabrook has also shed light on dirty dealings of a much larger fish: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

    Rechnitz claims that de Blasio personally promised him “lots of access” to City Hall in exchange for a generous contribution to the New York State branch of the Democratic Party — a claim that de Blasio denies.

    From New York’s Daily News:

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/10/28/convicted-felon-claims-bill-de-blasio-promised-access-exchange-6-figure-campaign-donation/

  12. Almost all American ISIS fighters unaccounted for, sparking fears they could slip through cracks and return

    When it came to recruiting foreigners to flee the comforts of home for the battlefields of Iraq and Syria, ISIS succeeded like no other — encouraging more than 40,000 fighters from more than 110 countries to travel to the fighting fray both before and after the declaration of the “caliphate” in June 2014. Subsequently, authorities have warned about the threat of returning jihadists to their homeland and since the falls of Mosul, Raqqa and the rapidly receding footprint of ISIS, such fears have come to the forefront.

    According to a new report, “Beyond the Caliphate: Foreign Fighters and the Threat of Returnees,” released this week by the Soufan Center — a Washington-based security intelligence consultancy — there are now at least 5,600 citizens or residents from 33 countries who have returned home — accounting for about 15 percent of the fighters.

    http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/26/almost-all-american-isis-fighters-unaccounted-for-sparking-fears-could-slip-through-cracks-and-return.html

  13. Il Papa: “Contro l’islam pregiudizi: dobbiamo favorire il dialogo”

    Durante l’incontro “Ripensare l’Europa” il Santo Padre tocca diversi temi, tra cui l’ascesa dei movimenti nazionalisti, la famiglia e l’immigrazione

    http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/papa-contro-lislam-pregiudizi-dobbiamo-favorire-dialogo-1457462.html

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

    A celestial debate over Europe’s future

    Pope Francis and his bishops weigh in on the future of the EU.

    […]the Vatican will on Friday and Saturday launch itself into one of the bigger political questions of the year: Quo vadis Europe?

    […]leaders of the Roman Catholic Church will engage with European leaders from across the political spectrum in a so-called high-level dialogue at the Vatican under the broad rubric of “Rethinking Europe.”

    […]Last year, Francis received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, awarded yearly by the city of Aachen, for his services to European unity.

    […]Olivier Poquillon, secretary-general of the COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, a kind of European Commission of bishops, which organized the event. “After Brexit, after all the electoral processes, even in Germany there are some signs of disaffection of the citizens for the traditional way of making politics, we need … to focus on potential ways to solve the problem together.”

    “Brexit is the tip of the iceberg,” he added in a conversation in his office in Brussels. “We also had the election of [American President Donald] Trump. Today there’s a mistrust for institutions and we’ve got to re-involve the citizens.”

    […]The event also includes 18 workshops chaired by European ambassadors to the Holy See, and will take place mostly behind closed doors.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/vatican-catholic-involvement-in-europe-future-pope-francis-speech/

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

    Vatican Secretary: Pope Francis is concerned about the divisive impulses in Europe

  14. BREITBART – At Least 60 Islamic State Fighters Have Returned to Canada

    A new report claims that at least 60 Islamists who fought for the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have been allowed to return to Canada despite some of them not even having Canadian citizenship.

    Around 180 individuals, referred to as “extremist travellers” by the Canadian government, who have connections to Canada have travelled to various countries to fight for Islamic State and other radical Islamic terrorist groups. The Canadian government officials call the returning jihadists “extremist travellers” and are now worried that many of them may be a serious security risk to the safety of Canadians, broadcaster Global News reports.

    According to the U.S. Soufan Centre, who recently released a report on returning Islamic state radicals, despite the losses for the terror group in the Middle East, the ideology of radical Islamism, “will remain real for many years to come”.

    “It is highly likely that even as the territorial caliphate shrinks and is increasingly denied an overt presence, its leadership will look to supporters overseas, including returnees, to keep the brand alive,” the report states.

    “If on return they begin again to feel as rootless and lacking in purpose as they did before they left, then they are unlikely to settle back easily into a ‘normal’ life,” the authors wrote and noted that the returning fighters would be, “particularly vulnerable to contact from people who were part of the network that recruited them, or appeals for help from ex-comrades in arms”.

    Canada has already endured terrorist attacks for which the Islamic State has taken credit. The most notable was the killing of Corporal Nathan Cirillo who was gunned down while guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa in 2014.

    Earlier this month, a man in Edmonton, Alberta, rammed his car into a police barricade then emerged from his vehicle and stabbed an Edmonton Police Service special duty member multiple times. Police later found the flag of the Islamic State in his vehicle.

    One Islamic State returnee spoke to Canadian media about his experiences as part of the terror group’s “Sharia Police”. The unnamed Pakistani-Canadian brushed off his time with the terror group saying: “We all do things that we regret … All that’s behind me.”

    Former Conservative Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government had passed a motion to strip terrorists of their Canadian citizenship. The motion was later overturned by current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which also restored the citizenship of an Islamist who plotted to bomb Toronto.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/28/least-60-islamic-state-fighters-returned-canada/

  15. Chemical alert: Residents left sick as mysterious ‘burning plastic smell’ strikes UK coast (express, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/872414/uk-chemical-alert-burning-plastic-smell-seaford-east-sussex

    “A MYSTERIOUS toxic smell drifting through a coastal town in south east England has left residents feeling sick and sparked a chemical alert.

    Emergency services have told people living in Seaford, East Sussex, to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut following complaints of a noxious odour.

    Sussex Police said they had a number of reports from people complaining of a smell “like burning plastic”.

    The force said the odour was first noticed in The Ridings area at around 6pm last night but failed to disperse.

    Police are working with other agencies, including the coastguard, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and Lewes Council, to try to determine the cause of the smell.

    It is believed the most likely source of the fumes was a ship illegally flushing its tanks with chemicals.

    In August, a toxic “haze” engulfed the region and caused discomfort to people in the Birling Gap area and left 132 needing hospital treatment.

    Visitors to Birling Gap and other beaches in Sussex suffered sore eyes and breathing problems after a mystery gas was blown ashore from the English Channel on August 27.

    The chlorine-like haze came ashore as hundreds enjoyed the Bank Holiday sunshine on the sands.

    The unidentified chemical left sunbathers suffering from stinging eyes, vomiting and breathing difficulties.

    Police said the Seaford investigation was not currently being linked to the previous incident.

    Chemicals have occasionally drifted across from European industrial units.

    In January 2013, a foul-smelling gas cloud prompted thousands of calls to the emergency services in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire after drifting across the English Channel.

    The accidental discharge of mercaptan, an additive used in municipal gas to alert people to leaks, from a factory in Rouen caused headaches, nausea and a political panic in France.

    The plume reached as far north as south-east London and led to experts from the Health Protection Agency’s Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards in Oxfordshire being scrambled.”

  16. Four Moroccans arrested over tourist gang rape in popular Canary Islands resort (express, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/872332/Four-Moroccans-arrested-over-tourist-gang-rape-in-popular-Canary-Islands-resort

    “FOUR Moroccans who allegedly took turns to rape and sexually abuse a tourist in an island holiday resort popular with British tourists have been arrested by police in Gran Canaria.

    The victim told officers she had been raped by one man at a shopping centre behind toilets in shopping centre in Puerto Rico near Mogan in the south of the island – before being targeted by a second who she said she fought off before managing to escape.

    Investigators who discovered the sex attack had been recorded on CCTV saw she had been sexually abused by four men who took it in turns to force themselves on her – before a fifth man tried to sexually assault her more than an hour later as she lay helpless and barely conscious on the ground.

    Officers say the perverted immigrants – some of whom were illegally in Spain – took advantage of the fact she was incapacitated by alcohol to force themselves on her…”

  17. BREAKING: 20 people trapped in hotel after car bomb kills at least 17 people (express, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/872431/somalia-bombing-terror-mogadishu-islamic-group-al-shabaab-death-toll

    “AT LEAST 20 people are believed to be trapped in the rubble of hotel after a double car bomb killed 17 people in a terrorist attack claimed by an Islamic militant group.

    Two car bombs killed at least 17 people in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Saturday, police said, and Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility.

    A suicide car bomb was rammed into a hotel, Nasahablod Two, about 600 metres from the presidential palace, and then armed militants stormed the building, police said.

    A few minutes later a car bomb exploded near the former parliament house nearby.

    Ali Nur, a police officer, told Reuters 17 people, mostly policemen, had died in the blasts…”

  18. Iraqi Army, Militias Liberate 5 Villages in Country’s West From Daesh (sputniknews, Oct 28, 2017)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201710281058626747-iraqi-army-villages-daesh/

    “While Iraqi forces have liberated more than 90 percent of the country’s territory, fierce fights are still ongoing to clear the last parts in the west of the country from terrorists.

    BAGHDAD (Sputnik) — The Iraqi Armed Forces in cooperation with militias on Saturday liberated five villages near the Qaim town in the country’s west from the control of the Daesh terrorist group, the army’s command said in a statement Saturday.

    Iraqi authorities announced on Thursday the start of a final offensive against Daesh in its last remaining holdouts in the country, in the towns of Qa’im and Rawa, near the border with Syria…”

  19. Oxford University Employee Suspended Following Alleged Links to Jihadism (breitbart, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/28/oxford-university-employee-suspended-alleged-terrorism-links/

    “A member of staff at the United Kingdom’s top university has been suspended after it was alleged that he was arrested for terrorism offences and detained in Italy five years ago.

    The employee, aged in his mid-thirties, was suspended following allegations he was involved in spreading extremist material and spent two-and-a-half years in a number of Italian prisons, reveals the Oxford Mail.

    On Friday, a spokesman from Oxford University told the local newspaper that police were informed immediately after material was found online earlier this month that allegedly connected the staff member to terrorism…”

  20. Tories Demand Church Make Clergy Less White and Male (breitbart, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/10/28/tories-demand-church-clergy-less-white/

    “Tory MPs have urged the Church of England to “get on with” plans to drive up the percentage of ethnic minorities among its clergy members.

    During questions to the church’s representative in the Commons, Caroline Spelman, on Thursday, three politicians from the Conservative Party appeared to approve of and encourage Church of England efforts to build a clergy which matches national demographics, with regards to ethnicity and sex.

    “The Church of England is well on its way to reaching its target in 2020 when we hope to see 50 per cent of women in the priesthood,” Spelman responded, to a question about church efforts to increase the number of clergy vocations…”

  21. Roadside bombing kills Bahrain police officer, wounds 8 (abcnews, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bombing-kills-bahrain-police-officer-wounds-50777937

    “Authorities in Bahrain say a roadside bomb has killed a police officer and wounded eight others. Shiite militants applauded the attack and attributed it to a little-known group.

    Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said the bomb struck a police bus Friday afternoon in the island kingdom that is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

    A ministry-released photograph showed shrapnel pelted the bus.

    Police say militants used a remotely detonated homemade bomb.

    A statement later released by the Mukhtar Brigade, a Shiite militant group that has claimed several similar attacks, said the bombing “gave the enemy a taste of what they’ve been doing to us all along.” It said the God’s Promise Brigade, which carried out a 2015 attack on police, was responsible.

    Bahrain, in the midst of a crackdown on all dissent, has seen sporadic militant attacks since its government put down its 2011 Arab Spring protests..”

  22. Turkish man detained in Kosovo, awaits extradition decision (abcnews, Oct 28, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkish-man-detained-kosovo-awaits-extradition-decision-50780510

    “A Kosovo court says a Turkish man will be held under arrest for up to 40 days as authorities decide whether he should be extradited to Ankara to face charges of belonging to a terror group.

    A statement Saturday said the court will decide whether U.T. should be extradited to Turkey, which has issued an international arrest warrant for him.

    Kosovo’s KTV private television station reports that Ugur Tuksoy, who was working for a non-governmental foundation in Kosovo, was arrested Friday in Prizren, western Kosovo, after Turkey accused him of participating in a failed 2016 coup attempt there.

    Turkey has jailed more than 50,000 people in a crackdown against suspected supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a cleric who it accuses of being behind the failed coup. Gulen denies the claim.”

  23. Germany: PEGIDA marks third birthday with rally in Dresden

    Around 2,000 supporters on the anti-Islam, anti-immigration PEGIDA organisation gathered in Theaterplatz, Dresden on Saturday for the group’s third birthday.

    They carried German flags, as well as those of groups such as the far-right Identitarian Movement, while also showing protest signs against refugees, Islam and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    Meanwhile, a group of antifa protesters gathered opposite the square, to demonstrate against PEGIDA. They shouted down the speakers at the PEGIDA demonstration and held up banners with slogans such as, “Diversity instead of Monotony” and “No person is illegal.”

    The police kept the two opposing demonstrations apart and there were no arrests or incidents.

  24. Supporters of President Trump have helped raise nearly $24,000 for a limo owned by a Muslim immigrant after it was set on fire and destroyed by left-wing protesters during the inauguration riots.

  25. BREITBART – Google Partners with Soros-Funded Fact-Checking Service to Fight ‘Fake News’

    Google is partnering with the International Fact-Checking Network, an organization run by the George Soros-funded Poynter Institute.
    Engadget reports that Google will be working with the Soros-funded Poynter Institute and the International Fact-Checking Network as the tech giant ramps up efforts to prevent the spread of misinformation and “fake news.” The IFCN runs an annual fact-checking conference, funds fellowships, and trains fact-checkers. The group is also responsible for a number of guidelines and code of principles accepted by a wide range of media companies worldwide.

    Google’s partnership with the IFCN has three main aims: increasing the number of fact-checkers reviewing information, expanding the IFCN’s current code of principles in new regions, and offering free fact-checking tools to Google users to verify the information that they find on Google’s search engine.

    In order to increase the number of fact-checkers reviewing information on Google’s platform, the company plans to fund new fact-checking organizations, organize workshops around the world, and provide coaching to potential fact-checkers. Google discussed this plan, saying, “Ultimately, these partners can help make sure that the content on Google Search and Google News has been accurately fact-checked.”

    Breitbart News has previously reported on the Poynter Institute’s ties to left-wing billionaire George Soros and his Open Society Foundation. The IFCN is also funded by the Omidyar Network, a nonprofit group set up by liberal billionaire eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The Omidyar Network has collaborated with the Open Society Foundation on a number of projects and has even provided grants to third-party groups using the Tides Foundation, another group funded by Soros. Tides is currently one of the largest donors to left-wing causes in the United States.

    The Poynter Institute has hosted a number of controversial journalism programs in the past, including one that was accused of attempting to minimize the threat of global Islamic terrorism. It was reported by Fox News that the course suggested reporters “keep the death toll from Islamic terrorism in ‘context’ by comparing that toll to the number of people killed every year by malaria, HIV/AIDS and other factors.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/10/27/google-partners-with-soros-funded-fact-checking-service-to-fight-fake-news/

  26. Princeton Citizen Scientists :

    The Inseparability of Islamophobia and Racism –

    Title: The Inseparability of Islamophobia and Racism
    Leader: Arianna Myers

    Description: Prejudice against Muslims in the United States is the result of historical developments spanning over one thousand years.

    Join us to explore not only how contemporary prejudice against Muslims has racial dimensions, but how racism and Islamophobia are in fact intrinsically linked to one another.

    Recorded on March 6, 2017 at Princeton University.

    From the Princeton University March 6 Day of Action