Reader’s Links, December 24, 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.

This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.

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

About Eeyore

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

107 Replies to “Reader’s Links, December 24, 2017”

  1. Church terror alert: Worshippers told to be vigilant as UK police warn of Christmas attack (express, Dec 24, 2017)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/896191/christmas-terror-attack-police-warning-terrorism-security-check-churches-midnight-mass

    “CHRISTMAS carol services are being protected by unprecedented levels of security to prevent terrorist attacks.

    Churches and cathedrals all over Britain have introduced bag searches, check points and crash barriers.

    Police have warned those attending festive events, including midnight mass services tonight, to remain extra vigilant following the five terror strikes this year.

    Visitors to St Paul’s Cathedral in central London and Canterbury Cathedral in Kent had to pass through increased security yesterday afternoon.

    Check points were set up outside both front entrances to St Paul’s, which was manned by guards searching handbags and using airport-style scanners to frisk those attending the Christmas Carol Service.

    Security was also tight at the Canterbury Cathedral Service of Carols for Christmas which had the same bag searches in operation…”

    • Church terror alert: Worshippers told to be vigilant as UK police warn of Christmas attack

      How about those same “Worshippers” making sure that Muslims have their hands full just trying to ensure that their Mosques don’t go up in flames?

      After all, many of us here in the West know that these “Houses of Allah” tend to contain excessive amounts of flammables and other easily detonated chemicals that might cause all sorts of festivities “difficulties” when improperly supervised.

      Go figure…

  2. ‘Fair to Stop Negotiations’: Sebastian Kurz Urges to Review Turkey’s EU Bid (sputniknews, Dec 24, 2017)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201712241060275925-austria-turkey-kurz-eu-membership/

    “Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that Turkey cannot become a member of the European Union due to the political course pursued by Ankara in recent years.

    “In this country we see serious violation of human rights, fundamental rights and freedoms. I will not accept that the EU is watching and pretending that nothing is happening. From my point of view, Turkey, especially in the light of the policies of recent years, does not have place in the EU. It would be fair to stop negotiations on its accession,” Kurz said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag

    Also, according to Kurz, Turkey is trying to exert a strong influence on the Turkish communities in Austria, Germany and other countries to prevent the integration of people of Turkish origin…”

  5. Year One List: 81 major Trump achievements, 11 Obama legacy items repealed

    With the passage of the GOP tax bill this week, the Trump administration has scored 81 major achievements in its first year, making good on campaign promises to provide significant tax cuts, boost U.S. energy production, and restore respect to the United States, according to the White House.

    And along the way, President Trump even outdid his own expectations and slashed at least 11 major legacy items of former President Barack Obama, including cracking down on the open border, slowing recognition of communist Cuba and effectively killing Obamacare by ending the mandate that everyone have health insurance or face a tax.

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/year-one-list-81-major-trump-achievements-11-obama-legacy-items-repealed/article/2644159

    video at site

  6. Pennsylvania police shootings were ‘terror attack,’ DHS says

    The Department of Homeland Security is calling a series of shootings targeting law enforcement in Pennsylvania a “terror attack.”
    Authorities said Ahmed Aminamin El-Mofty, 51, was shot and killed by police Friday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, after he fired several times at law enforcement officers throughout the city.
    The string of shootings began just steps from the state’s Capitol building when El-Mofty fired several times at a Capitol Police officer and then, shot and injured at a state trooper. Later, he used two handguns to open fire at several officers who then returned fire and killed him, according to a statement from the Dauphin County district attorney’s office.

    http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/24/us/pennsylvania-police-shootings/index.html

  7. At Vice, Cutting-Edge Media
    and Allegations of Old-School
    Sexual Harassment

    A media company built on subversion and outlandishness was unable to create
    “a safe and inclusive workplace” for women, two of its founders acknowledge.

    One woman said she was riding a Ferris wheel at Coney Island after a company event when a co-worker suddenly took her hand and put it on his crotch. Another said she felt pressured into a sexual relationship with an executive and was fired after she rejected him.

    A third said that a co-worker grabbed her face and tried to kiss her, and she used her umbrella to fend him off.

    These women did not work among older men at a hidebound company. They worked at Vice, an insurgent force in news and entertainment known for edgy content that aims for millennial audiences on HBO and its own TV network.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/23/business/media/vice-sexual-harassment.html

  8. Woman accuses United of giving her seat to Houston’s Sheila Jackson Lee

    A passenger on a flight from Houston to Washington D.C. has accused United Airlines of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. D-Houston, and then threatening to remove her from the plane for complaining and snapping a photo of the Houston congresswoman.

    “It was just so completely humiliating,” said Jean-Marie Simon, a 63-year-old attorney and private school teacher who used 140,000 miles on Dec. 3 to purchase the first-class tickets to take her from Washington D.C. to Guatemala and back home.

    When it came time to board the last leg of her flight home from George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Dec. 18, after a roughly hour-long weather delay, Simon said the gate attendant scanned her paper ticket and told her it was not in the system.

    Did you cancel your flight?, the attendant asked.

    http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Woman-accuses-United-of-giving-her-seat-to-Rep-12452258.php

  9. Edward Snowden unveils phone app, Haven, to spy on spies

    NEW YORK (AP) — The former National Security Agency contractor who exposed U.S. government surveillance programs by disclosing classified material in 2013 has a new job: app developer.

    Edward Snowden in a video message Friday unveiled a new phone app he helped create, called Haven, that aims to protect laptops from physical tampering.

    Snowden says it’s an open-source tool designed for human rights activists and other people at risk and it uses an Android phone’s sensors to detect changes in a room.

    The software was developed with the Freedom of Press Foundation and the Guardian Project. It has been greeted with mixed social media reactions, with some people celebrating its security capabilities and others saying they don’t trust Snowden.

    Snowden has lived in Russia since 2013, when the country gave him asylum, resisting U.S. pressure to extradite him.

    https://apnews.com/7b8aacd0d929493bb4fea9ca57ea90d3/Edward-Snowden-unveils-phone-app,-Haven,-to-spy-on-spies

    Richard: I wouldn’t trust this to protect me, it probably sends everything to the Russian FSB

    • Its open source. There is simply no way it does anything other than what it says it does.

      My problem is, I can’t figure out what it does. But open source software means thousands of amateur and professional code monkeys are looking at it to make sure it has no features it doesn’t list. Always get open source whenever possible.

  10. Richard: This article is about the way the left doesn’t want any missile defense deployed unless it will be 100% effective and probably not even them. During WWII Churchill knew that Britain couldn’t match German tech “today” but could probably match them a couple of years from not. He went with the idea “Second Best” today, figuring it was better to get some defense in place instead of remaining naked.The left thinks remaining naked will stop wars instead of just increasing causalities.

    Trump administration moves to boost homeland missile defense system despite multiple flaws

    Citing North Korea’s growing nuclear and ballistic missile threat, the Trump administration is moving to vastly expand the problem-plagued homeland missile defense system despite warnings that the planned upgrades may not succeed.

    Immediate plans call for building two $1-billion radar installations and adding 20 rocket interceptors to the 44 already deployed in underground silos at Ft. Greely in Alaska and at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

    http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-missile-defense-flaws-20171222-story.html

  12. Council Forced to Continue Supplying Non-Stun Halal to Christian Schools (breitbart, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/24/council-forced-to-continue-supplying-non-stun-halal-to-christian-schools-as-muslims-threaten-legal-action/

    “A democratic decision to ban the sale of non-stun halal meat in Lancashire schools could be blocked after Muslims threatened a judicial review, forcing its continued supply for the time being…”

    • This is all such total BS it turns my stomach. According to The Reliance of the Traveler if a Muslim is in a non Muslim land they may eat whatever is available to sustain themselves. It is only in Muslim lands that they must eat halal food.
      This is just an exercise of power and subjugation. Think about it, Christian schools have to roll over for Muslims?

    • A new Latvian shop openned locally.

      Their home-made dishes were fish today (December 24th) they said in celebration of Christmas back home.

      From a website:
      “Hungary has plenty of Christmas traditions. Carp swimming in the bath is only one of them. As the main ingredient of the famous Hungarian fish soup, people used to keep carp in their bathtubs so that for December 24 they could enjoy the freshest soup ever. Today, most people buy the fish soup, or eat it at restaurants but sometimes, especially in the countryside, they like to keep traditions alive.

      As for the annual pig slaughter, also very common in the Czech Republic and in Romania, older people remember that during their childhood slaughtering a pig was a holy ritual which had to be respected. When I was a child I used to wait for Santa Claus, with all my family members in the living room singing Christmas carols. I never thought that some children, far away from home, were running after a pig to kill it.”
      http://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/fish-in-the-bath-and-other-christmas-traditions/

      I said I was pleased they were not serving Halal meat, (because why pay a religion to kill you).

      They said their chicken was halal, “but it’s all the same.”

      A new Latvian shop closed locally.

      • FYI: The kids don’t chase down the pig so it can be killed the adults put it up several days before it is time to kill and butcher it. The kids run around during the butchering and are eagerly awaiting the rendering of the lard. This is when the cracklings (now sold commercially as pig skins) come out of the lard press and you stand there dancing from one foot to the other waiting for them to cool enough for you to eat. Another childhood treat old age has taken from me, I don’t need the extra fat in my diet.

  14. Russian Nuclear Plant Stokes Europe’s Fears of a Power Play

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-nuclear-plant-stokes-europes-fears-of-a-power-play-1514116800

    BRUSSELS—Power politics between Russia and the rest of Europe are once again raising a question that dogged strategists throughout the Cold War: Where is the line between prudence and paranoia?

    Russia, which for years has used its vast supply of natural gas as a political lever with energy-hungry Europe, is building a nuclear power plant in Moscow-friendly Belarus. Neighboring Lithuania and Poland are so determined to escape Russia’s clutch that they refused to buy electricity from the plant.

    Still, the $11 billion Ostrovets nuclear-power project, 30 miles from Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, is fueling fears in the Baltic republic. Lithuanians say they don’t think Moscow would actually trigger a nuclear accident but they do worry about a panic-inducing warning of a leak—real or not.

    Richard: Putin is trying to get another hold on Europe, making them dependent on Russia for light as well as heat. He is feeling the pinch on his wallet caused by the US being energy independent. He is also trying to bring in more money to fund his goals around the world. In many ways this is good news because it means he is less likely to move against the US when we have to take out North Korea. Maybe

  15. Politically Correct Plan to Scrap British Army’s ‘Elitist, Non-Inclusive’ Crossed Swords Crest and ‘Be the Best’ Slogan Postponed (breitbart, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/24/politically-correct-officers-wanted-drop-british-army-elitist-non-inclusive-crossed-swords-crest-best-slogan/

    “Top military brass planned to drop the British Army’s famous ‘Be the Best’ recruitment slogan and crossed swords crest, alleging they are “elitist” and “non-inclusive”…”

  20. France mobilizes 100,000 security personnel for the holidays (abcnews, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/france-mobilizes-100000-security-personnel-holidays-51976583

    “France’s government is deploying nearly 100,000 police and soldiers for the holiday season as fears of extremist attacks remain high.

    The additional security will focus on Christmas markets, shopping centers, religious buildings, public transport and tourist sites.

    Citing “the context of a still-elevated terrorist threat,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement that 97,000 security force personnel are mobilized for protection Sunday and Monday.

    In addition to the Christmas security, the ministry said extra policing was ordered around religious sites during Hanukkah earlier this month, and for Orthodox Christmas in January, “to allow the celebration of these festivities in good conditions.”

    A new anti-terrorism law championed by President Emmanuel Macron’s government enshrines extra police powers as a result of multiple Islamic extremist attacks that killed more than 200 people in 2015-2016.”

  21. Turkey sacks some 2,700 more public sector workers (abcnews, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-sacks-2700-public-sector-workers-51976278

    “Turkey has fired 2,756 more people from its public service sector for alleged links to terror groups as it presses ahead with purges launched following last year’s failed military coup.

    According to two government decrees published in the Official Gazette Sunday, those dismissed in the new wave of purges include 637 military personnel, 360 gendarmerie force members and 150 academics or other university personnel. At least 115 people who were previously dismissed were reinstated to public sector jobs.

    The government also closed down two local newspapers, 14 associations and one health clinic, according to the Gazette…”

  22. Roadside bomb kills 7 in Afghanistan (abcnews, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-kills-afghanistan-51976588

    “A roadside bomb killed seven civilians on Sunday in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, officials said.

    Haji Salam Khan, a provincial council member, said the blast killed seven civilians and wounded three others. Omar Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor, confirmed the attack but did not provide a toll.

    No one immediately claimed responsibility.

    The Taliban have a strong and growing presence in the area…”

  23. Italy plans to deploy antiterrorism military forces in Niger (abcnews, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/italy-plans-deploy-antiterrorism-military-forces-niger-51977512

    “Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni is proposing deploying an Italian military force in Niger over the next few months to combat human trafficking and terrorism.

    He says the Italian Parliament will be asked to approve transferring some of the troops now in Iraq to the African nation, a major route for migrant traffickers. He cited no numbers as he spoke Sunday aboard the Italian naval vessel Etna, which has rescued migrants from traffickers’ foundering boats in the Mediterranean.

    Gentiloni advised “concentrating our attention and energies on that mix of threats stemming from human trafficking and terrorism that has been consolidating in the last few years in the Sahel, in Africa.”

    Italy has recommended focusing on Africa as a strategy to combat trafficking of migrants to Libya and then northward toward Europe.”

  24. Richard: He is probably worried about all of the information that is becoming public and hopes that his leaving will mean that he won’t be prosecuted.

    Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s deputy director who has been the target of Republican critics for more than a year, plans to retire in a few months when he becomes fully eligible for pension benefits, according to people familiar with the matter.

    McCabe spent hours in Congress this past week, facing questions behind closed doors from members of three committees. Republicans said they were dissatisfied with his answers; Democrats called it a partisan hounding.

    McCabe, 49, holds a unique position in the political firestorm surrounding the FBI . He was former director James B. Comey’s right-hand man, a position that involved him in most of the FBI’s actions that vex President Trump and in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state, a matter that still riles Democrats.

    McCabe won’t become eligible for his full pension until early March. People close to him say he plans to retire as soon as he hits that mark. “He’s got about 90 days, and some of that will be holiday time. He can make it,’’ one said.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/facing-republican-attacks-fbis-deputy-director-plans-to-retire-early-next-year/2017/12/23/b4802b8c-e67a-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html?utm_term=.213a5641a489

    • Report: FBI Deputy Director Mccabe To Retire Amid Allegations Of Bias

      As FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe faces accusations of political bias, new report he is also planning to retire early next year.

      The report, published on Saturday suggests McCabe plans to leave his role in early march when he is eligible for pension benefits.

      The former right hand man of fired FBI Director James Comey has dealt with criticism from lawmakers on capitol hill, for the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, and more recently the Russia probe.

      This comes after McCabe faced hours of questioning behind closed doors on capitol hill this week as GOP leaders continue to investigate alleged political bias from McCabe and the agency.

      Meanwhile, President Trump slams the FBI Deputy Director, saying he is racing the clock to retire.

      In what appears to be a response to reports Andrew McCabe is stepping down next year, the President fired off a series of tweets Saturday claiming McCabe is waiting until he receives full benefits to quit.

      http://www.oann.com/report-fbi-deputy-director-mccabe-to-retire-amid-allegations-of-bias/

      • What a delightful message it would be to the Deep State if McCabe were purposefully shut out of his pension benefits.

        We could only hope that it might stampede more of his corrupt ilk to take early retirement or migrate over to the private sector.

        At least Trump is willing to demonstrate his awareness of this political careerism. His role as an outsider makes him uniquely qualified to start chipping away at Washington’s entrenched interests.

  25. Defying Trump again, Jerry Brown pardons immigrants about to be deported

    Escalating the state’s showdown with the Trump administration over illegal immigration, California Gov. Jerry Brown used a Christmas holiday tradition to grant pardons Saturday to two men who were on the verge of being deported for committing crimes while in the U.S.

    Brown, pairing his state’s combative approach to federal immigration authorities with his belief in the power of redemption, characterized the pardons as acts of mercy.

    The Democratic governor moved as federal officials in recent months have detained and deported immigrants with felony convictions that resulted in the loss of their legal residency status, including many with nonviolent offenses that occurred years ago.

    Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article191430714.html#storylink=cpy

  26. Help refugees wherever they come from, Austria’s Kurz says

    BERLIN (Reuters) – Austria’s new Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, called for an end to “failed” attempts to achieve a quota system for distributing asylum seekers around the European Union and urged new efforts to help refugees in their country of origin.

    When he was foreign minister, Kurz, a conservative now governing in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, was a strong critic of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Germany’s borders to more than a million fleeing migrants in 2015.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/help-refugees-wherever-come-austrias-kurz-says-230505197–business.html

  27. Mexico murders hit record high, dealing blow to president

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico has this year registered its highest murder total since modern records began, according to official data, dealing a fresh blow to President Enrique Pena Nieto’s pledge to get gang violence under control with presidential elections due in 2018.

    A total of 23,101 murder investigations were opened in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing the 22,409 registered in the whole of 2011, figures published on Friday night by the interior ministry showed. The figures go back to 1997.

    Pena Nieto took office in December 2012 pledging to tame the violence that escalated under his predecessor Felipe Calderon. He managed to reduce the murder tally during the first two years of his term, but since then it has risen steadily.

    At 18.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, the 2017 Mexican murder rate is still lower than it was in 2011, when it reached almost 19.4 per 100,000, the data showed. The rate has also held below levels reported in several other Latin American countries.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/mexico-murders-hit-record-high-dealing-blow-president-012725573.html

  28. NK Threatens U.S. With ‘Cannons’ Amid Pres. Trump’s Nat’l Security Strategy

    North Korea threatens the U.S. with quote overwhelming force after President Trump puts forward his national security strategy.

    A spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry claims the Trump administration has the intent to use military action against the rogue state.

    The official says the U.S. will regret its strategy because Pyongyang will retaliate with its cannons.

    http://www.oann.com/nk-threatens-u-s-with-cannons-amid-pres-trumps-natl-security-strategy/

    • A spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry claims the Trump administration has the intent to use military action against the rogue state.

      The official says the U.S. will regret its strategy because Pyongyang will retaliate with its cannons.

      We have constantly said that we want a peaceful solution, but if North Korea continues to push for WMDs and delivery systems we will defend ourselves and destroy North Korea so they can’t threaten us. The only people regretting their rhetoric will be the North Korean leadership as they set at the defendants table during their trials for crimes against humanity.

    • I will once again point out how unlikely it is that North Korea’s crappy Soviet-era artillery is primed and ready to unleash the sort of barrage that Psycho Fat Boy (and his antecedents) constantly threaten Seoul with.

      Long ago, satellite reconnaissance would have detected rotation and range testing of these superannuated field pieces. There also remains the niggling matter of how artillery shells have a shelf life of well-less than ten years. Each round can cost hundreds of dollars which, by all indications, have been spent on developing nuclear weapons. Furthermore, chemical or biological weapons rounds are even more expensive and have a much shorter lifetime.

      I call “bullshit!” on North Korea’s fabled ability to shell Seoul with half a million rounds within a 24 hour period. In the event of a ground invasion will Seoul take some damage? Undoubtedly, yes.

      Will it be the devastating firestorm of last century propaganda? I find this difficult to believe. Furthermore, this is where South Korea must pay the piper for kicking-the-can down the road (just like many previous American administrations) for so many decades.

      Any good strategic advisor could have predicted that expanded North Korean capabilities (unconventional or not) might eventually pose a sufficient threat to the USA such that Seoul’s status as the world’s biggest hostage would no longer serve as a deterrent to action against Pyongyang.

      It’s pretty safe to say that North Korea will not launch any nuclear weapons against the south. What use would there be in taking over some +38,000 square miles of irradiated cinders? Additionally, Red China predictably would be less-than-happy about any risk of having that cloud of fallout drifting their way.

      With North Korea at the nuclear cusp, South Korea, Japan, Communist China, and the USA are all at a critical decision gate. Thank goodness that Trump seems to comprehend this and is willing to act accordingly.

      It can only be hoped that sufficient blackmail pressure is applied to Beijing to where they finally get off of the pot and do something about the rabid pit bull that’s rampaging around in its back yard.

      • I agree with all you said. In your future analysis of the Korean mess don’t forget to factor in the report that either Chinese or North Korean troops are headed to Syria to bolster the Russian Presence. If this is true and as with so many reports from the Middle East I will believe it when it happens. What price did Putin have to pay to get those troops?

        • “… Chinese or North Korean troops are headed to Syria to bolster the Russian Presence.”

          Boy howdy … They’ll fit right in. Now won’t they?!?

          Can you say, “T…R…O…O…P — I…N…T…E…G…R…A…T…I…O…N…?

          V E R Y … GOOD! … I … KNEW … YOU … COULD!

          [/ MISTER ROGERS]

  29. DOJ Warns Judges About Abuse Of Immigration System By Illegals

    The Department of Justice aims to deal more effectively with illegal immigrants who are unaccompanied minors.

    In a recently issued memo, the agency eliminated a previous instruction to use certain language with detained minors, and also warned judges about minors who may be abusing the immigration system.

    The memo indicates unaccompanied minors receive better treatment than other groups of illegal’s, which creates an incentive to falsely claim a younger status or age.

    The memo is one of the latest actions by the administration designed to strengthen immigration enforcement.

    http://www.oann.com/doj-warns-judges-about-abuse-of-immigration-system-by-illegals/

  30. Catalonia’s hopes for peace stall as further wave of arrests feared

    Tensions continue to rise as Catalans elect 19 jailed, exiled or bailed politicians, and separatists claim the judiciary is acting on Madrid’s orders

    The dramatic election in Catalonia on Thursday was supposed to draw a line under months of tension and division across the Spanish region over its future status. Instead it has opened a potentially damaging new division with suggestions that a fresh wave of arrests of Catalan nationalists may be unleashed.

    Altogether, 19 of the elected candidates are either in prison, on bail or in exile, and face charges that carry up to 30 years in prison. Now the supreme court judge Pablo Llarena plans to issue writs against a further 11 people linked with the deposed Catalan government for their part in organising October’s referendum and fomenting secessionism.

    They include Marta Rovira, acting leader of Esquerra Repúblicana (Republican Left) – its leader, Oriol Junqueras, is in prison – Anna Gabriel and Mireia Boyá of the anti-capitalist CUP party, and Josep Lluís Trapero, former head of the Mossos d’Esquadra police force, who was hailed as a hero for his handling of August’s terrorist attacks.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/23/catalonia-peace-stall-arrests-tensions-judiciary

  31. Clinton appointee dismisses lawsuit claiming Trump violated Constitution’s emoluments clause
    By LU Staff December 23, 2017

    A federal court in New York City has thrown our a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleges his failure to divest from the Trump business empire violated anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution.

    U.S. District Judge George Daniels, a Clinton administration judicial appointee, ruled Thursday that the case could not proceed because the plaintiffs could not prove that Trump’s actions tangibly harmed their businesses.

    The lawsuit was brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an anti-Trump watchdog group formerly led by Clinton ally David Brock. A number of accomplished lawyers and legal scholars participated in the effort, including Professor Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House.

    The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the federal trial court in Manhattan.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/12/23/clinton-judicial-appointee-dismisses-lawsuit-claiming-trump-violated-constitutions-emoluments-clause/

  34. Clinton appointee dismisses lawsuit claiming Trump violated Constitution’s emoluments clause
    By LU Staff December 23, 2017

    A federal court in New York City has thrown our a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleges his failure to divest from the Trump business empire violated anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution.

    U.S. District Judge George Daniels, a Clinton administration judicial appointee, ruled Thursday that the case could not proceed because the plaintiffs could not prove that Trump’s actions tangibly harmed their businesses.

    The lawsuit was brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), an anti-Trump watchdog group formerly led by Clinton ally David Brock. A number of accomplished lawyers and legal scholars participated in the effort, including Professor Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/12/23/clinton-judicial-appointee-dismisses-lawsuit-claiming-trump-violated-constitutions-emoluments-clause/

  35. Supreme Court keeps rebuking lower courts that rule against Trump
    By LU Staff December 22, 2017

    In recent weeks the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly chided lower courts that issued rulings unfavorable to the Trump administration, suggesting at least some of the justices believe the judiciary is not treating the Trump administration fairly.

    Though such a conclusion can be reached only by inference, the justices have issued several fairly extraordinary orders in cases involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the latest iteration of the travel ban. These orders deal rather harshly with trial courts in California, Hawaii, and Maryland in particular.

    The latest signal came in a Wednesday order concerning the number of documents the government must release in connection with a lawsuit challenging the termination of DACA, an Obama-era amnesty initiative that extends temporary legal status to foreign nationals who came to the United States as children. A federal court in California ordered the Trump administration to release all documents relating to its decision to terminate the program. The government counters that it need not publicize its sensitive internal deliberations.

    The order appears to be the product of a compromise, as the justices split five to four along ideological lines on Dec. 8 over the same issue. This time, however, it appears all the justices agreed that the California court’s order was “overly broad” and that the breadth of the order warrants a slight rapping on the knuckles.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2017/12/22/supreme-court-keeps-rebuking-lower-courts-rule-trump/

    • Hate preacher Abu Hamza appears aged and without his hooks in pictures from US prison

      Stop … stop! You’re ripping my heart out!!! Pobrecito!

      I recall reading somewhere a delightful suggestion that incarceration of these upper echelon jihadists should involve:

      A</strong.) Supermax confinement with the Spandau-like, "silent treatment" (as received by Deputy Führer, Rudolph Hess) where the prisoner never hears another human voice. Guards, doctors, and observers are prohibited from making any vocal communication whatsoever. The entire jail wing is also sound-proofed to prevent the disruptive intrusion of any ambient background noise that might impinge upon the senses.

      B</strong.) All surfaces, furniture, appliances, clothing, bed-covers, lighting fixtures, and every last visible aspect of the prisoner's living environment is a consistent, uniform, seamless, matching beige, right down to the toothpaste and toilet paper. Prayer mats? Beige! Even the food, while nutritionally adequate, would be a textureless beige pulp. Same goes for any beverages (including drinking water) … you guessed it, beige!

      C</strong.) Obviously, no television, radio, recorded media or books would be allowed. These detainees must experience no distractions from this rigorous program of creating a path towards their reintegration.

      As rehabilitation policy, all of this would be done in the name of giving whatever terrorist cretins every imaginable opportunity to internally reflect upon the error of their ways. After all, what could be more important than maximizing any chances of helping them to realize just how mistaken they were about jihad?!?

      As you might be able to tell, the off chance that anyone experiencing this sort of rehabilitative regimen might be rendered a mumbling vegetable is a feature and not a bug.

  38. Iraq Christmas service takes place in Mosul after IS defeat (BBC, Dec 24, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-42474236

    “A Christmas service at a church in the Iraqi city of Mosul has taken place for the first time since militants from the so-called Islamic State (IS) were driven out of the region.

    Under IS the public performance of any Christian rituals was dangerous and difficult.

    Many Christians fled persecution, with IS forcing worshippers to convert to Islam, pay a tax or face death…”

  39. Egypt security forces kill nine suspected militants in raid – ministry (reuters, Dec 24, 2017)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-egypt-security/egypt-security-forces-kill-nine-suspected-militants-in-raid-ministry-idUKKBN1EI0EO

    “Egyptian security forces on Sunday killed nine suspected militants in a shootout in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, the interior ministry said in a statement.

    The ministry said security forces had received information that the militants were using a farm in Sharqiya as a hideout and were trained there to use weapons to carry out attacks in north Sinai.

    It said their attacks had resulted in the deaths of a number of police and army personnel.

    “Upon raiding the farm, security forces were surprised by gunshots in their direction which were dealt with, resulting in the killing of nine,” the ministry said.

    It said it was still trying to determine the identity of the suspects. Weapons and ammunition were found at the farm.

    In a separate raid in Cairo on a “terrorist hideout”, police arrested nine other suspected militants on Sunday, the ministry said in the same statement. Those arrested all have ties with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, it said…”

    • UK: Whites Scared, White-Owned Businesses Stoned in a Racially Divided Bradford ‘Heading for Disaster’

      From the article —

      Astonishingly, the very first paragraph blames Political Correctness. As in:

      Bradford Council’s Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee chairman Arshad Hussain slammed ethnic segregation and failed integration, and blamed political correctness for making the situation worse.

      It takes somewhere around one third of the piece before there is any mention of “Muslim extremists”. Meanwhile the writer continuously prinks about—mentioning “Asian” youth gangs and the usual obfuscating boilerplate—while never once getting down to Root Cause issues.

      Well over halfway through this puff piece the author fastidiously bemoans “Islamophobia and anti-Semitism” yet, simply cannot bring himself to boil things down to plain language.

      As has been the case for more than a decade, should a reader desire any real meaning from this sort of mincing twaddle, merely substitute the word “Asian” with “Islamic” and everything suddenly snaps into crystal-clear focus.

      It is simultaneously disheartening and outrageous to see this sort of whinging, alarmist rubbish which adamantly refuses to identify the principal actors or accurately inform readers regarding the prime movers in, what can only be described as a near universal pattern of Islamic predation and criminality.

      Despite having the uncommon backbone to identify Whites as a principal target of these willfully mislabeled “Asian” gangs (a self-cancelling act), by indulging in this sort of demure, inoffensive blather, writer, Liam Deacon, makes himself part of the problem and NOT any advocate for meaningful change.

    • Welcome to a world where the inability of overworked, underpaid, and politically constrained law enforcement agencies causes an increasingly threatened civilian population to respond with “home remedies” for incorrigible, predatory criminals.

      Imagine what will happen when the numerous contemporaries of—serial pedophile killer—,Joel Miller, finally twig about how Islamic doctrine ideologically sanctions,if not glorifies, the molestation and sexual abuse of minors (regardless of gender).

      From the linked article:

      …[Joel Miller] was reportedly pleading with police saying, “just give me one more minute, I’ve almost got him,” but was forced to back down at gunpoint before he killed his [previously convicted pedophile] victim.

      Is there anyone reading these words who sincerely believes that none of the responding officers may have felt a sense of reluctance about intervening?

      [crickets]

      In case anyone does, try this excerpt on for size:

      Police say that, despite the “positive” nature of the [his] crimes, Miller will still be more than likely sentenced to death for his crimes.Chief Mizner of the NE Police Department said in a statement:

      “Although we can’t condone vigilate [sic] justice, you can’t help but ignore the positive effect it must have had on the community.”

      It’s difficult to encourage this trend towards a police state that might look askance at Paul Kersey types vigilantes of this sort (something that I’ve predicted for YEARS).

      All the same, the official mention of positive nature or effect regarding Miller’s “festivities” only increases concerns about how growing government pressure to sanction Politically Correct Liberal doctrine that lets slide child molestation, bestiality, underage marriage—plus the entire meghilla of Islam’s utterly offensive list of perverted farragoes—merely expands the conflicts of interest that metropolitan police will continue to encounter.

      All the more-so when it comes to dealing with enraged (and otherwise law-abiding) citizens who are no longer willing to tolerate this increasingly widespread permissiveness regarding violence against or the sexual abuse of children and women.

      Much like Islam (quelle surprise!) this is a story with no “happy ending”. Please pay close attention as Muslims always bring with them this near-total preclusion of a peaceful, much less, enjoyable closure regarding their presence.

  46. She is, incidentally, running as a Democrat.
    On December 19, CAIR Massachusetts put up a Facebook post congratulating Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, a CAIR-MA board member, for her announcement that she is running for Congress. One would think, given that CAIR faces recurring condemnation for its links to extremism, that they would be more circumspect about broadcasting their connection to Ms. Amatul-Wadud — who is deeply enmeshed in one of the most dangerous extremist groups in the United States.

    https://spectator.org/congressional-candidate-tied-to-pakistani-terror-group/

    • “One would think, given that CAIR faces recurring condemnation for its links to extremism, that they would be more circumspect about broadcasting their connection to Ms. Amatul-Wadud — who is deeply enmeshed in one of the most dangerous extremist groups in the United States.”

      What’s to worry about? Especially when there’s a submissively compliant and abetting Propaganda Media that enthusiastically distracts its viewers with bright, shiny objects in the form of immoral and socially corrosive “entertainment”.

      It’s a safe bet that fewer than 10% of Americans even know what CAIR stands for, much less possess the slightest knowledge about this jihadist organization’s role as one of about 300 unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case.

      So, relax, sit back, and watch the latest (rigged) episode of “The Voice” or whatever toxic “Woman Protagonist with Clueless Male Sidekick” drama that Hollywierd continues to drip feed into the veins of America’s incurious, politically inert, and irremediably polarized partisan voters.

      What could possibly go wrong? (Other than voting into office those whose avowed goal is the total destruction of America…)

      Gah!

  49. GOP Rep Gaetz: ‘We Have Email Evidence From Andrew McCabe Indicating That Hillary Clinton Was Going to Get a ‘HQ Special”

    Friday on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said a congressional committee had evidence FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe indicated Hillary Clinton was going to get an “HQ special” regarding the investigation of her unauthorized email server and ties to the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as secretary of state.

    Gaetz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, described the circumstances at the FBI regarding the investigation as “extreme pro-Hillary Clinton bias.”

    “The Judiciary Committee is engaged in an investigation, particularly as it relates to the handling of the Hillary Clinton email scandal and any potential investigations of the Clinton Foundation and the handling of bribes or other types of improper payments,” Gaetz said. “I can certainly say that my impression after these interviews is that there was extreme pro-Hillary Clinton bias that benefitted her in this investigation and that she received special treatment as a consequence of her candidacy for president. That shouldn’t happen. The law should apply equally to all Americans whether they’re political candidates or not. And so, we need to institute reforms through the Judiciary Committee for more oversight, for more transparency so that this never happens again.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/12/23/gop-rep-gaetz-email-evidence-andrew-mccabe-indicating-hillary-clinton-going-get-hq-special/