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Unicef says scale of attacks on children in conflicts is shocking (BBC, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-42499416
“The UN children’s fund says the scale of attacks on children in the world’s conflict zones reached “shocking” levels in 2017.
In a new report, Unicef said there was widespread and blatant disregard for international laws designed to protect the most vulnerable.
Unicef director Manuel Fontaine said children were being targeted in their homes, schools and playgrounds.
He said such brutality “cannot be the new normal”.
The report highlights several conflict zones where it said children had suffered in the past year. It included:
In the Central African Republic, children were killed, raped, abducted and recruited by armed groups in a dramatic increase in violence
Islamist militants Boko Haram forced at least 135 children in north-east Nigeria and Cameroon to act as suicide bombers, almost five times the number in 2016
Muslim Rohingya children in Myanmar suffered “shocking and widespread violence” as they were driven from their homes in Rakhine state
In South Sudan, more than 19,000 children were recruited into armed forces and armed groups
Fighting in Yemen has left at least 5,000 children dead or injured according to official figures, with the real number expected to be much higher
In eastern Ukraine, 220,000 children are living under the constant threat from landmines and other unexploded devices left over from the war
“Children are being targeted and exposed to attacks and brutal violence in their homes, schools and playgrounds,” said Mr Fontaine, Unicef’s director of emergency programmes.
“As these attacks continue year after year, we cannot become numb. Such brutality cannot be the new normal.”
The report says that in some places, children abducted by extremist groups suffer further abuse when they are released to security forces.
Millions more children suffer from malnutrition, disease and trauma when access to food, water, sanitation and health is prevented by fighting, it says.
“Unicef calls on all parties to conflict to abide by their obligations under international law to immediately end violations against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals,” the reports adds.
“Unicef also calls on states with influence over parties to conflict to use that influence to protect children.””
Blast at Afghan news agency office in Kabul, casualties feared (reuters, Dec 28, 2017)
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-afghanistan-blast/blast-at-afghan-news-agency-office-in-kabul-casualties-feared-idUKKBN1EM0EZ?rpc=401&
Turkey detains 38 Islamic State suspects – agency (reuters, Dec 28, 2017)
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-turkey-security-islamic-state/turkey-detains-38-islamic-state-suspects-agency-idUKKBN1EM0E1
“Turkish police detained 38 people, some of them Syrian citizens, over suspected links to Islamic State in an operation on Thursday in the northwestern province of Bursa, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.
Counter-terrorism police carried out simultaneous raids on homes in various districts of Bursa, smashing doors open with battering rams and searching the properties, it said.
Islamic State militants have carried out gun and bomb attacks in Turkey. Many foreign fighters passed through Turkey in recent years on their way to join the jihadist group in territory it controlled in Syria and Iraq…”
Sudan says deal with Turkey not threat to Arab nations (memo, Dec 28, 2017)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171228-sudan-says-deal-with-turkey-not-threat-to-arab-nations/
“Sudan said late Wednesday that a recent deal with Turkey does not harm the security of Arab countries.
The Sudanese embassy in Riyadh released a written statement about the agreements signed during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two-day visit to Sudan this week.
The statement came following claims in a Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Okaz, which wrote Khartum gave the port city Suakin, or Sawakin, to Ankara…”
Sure, that’s going to calm Egypt down -hah!
Turkey brain drain: Crackdown pushes intellectuals out (BBC, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42433668
“Muslim mayor of second largest Dutch city says he’s a Salafist” by Voice of Europe – December 27, 2017
https://voiceofeurope.com/2017/12/muslim-mayor-of-second-largest-dutch-city-says-hes-a-salafist/
Salafist: “First menses in the home, second in the husband’s house”
“One Venezuelan Student’s Heartbreaking Experience with Socialism” FEE – Published on December 27, 2017
Hayek’s The Constitution of Liberty
A Summary.
“The core argument that runs throughout The Constitution of Liberty concerns freedom and its value to the individual, to society and to civilisation at large.”
“Modern civilisation is in crisis because the West has lost faith
in the principles of liberty or freedom…”
“One function of government is to prevent individuals from coercing other individuals, but then government itself must be prevented from using coercion improperly. In a free society, the exercise of government’s coercive power is constrained and made predictable by general rules that apply equally to all individuals, including to those who make and enforce the laws.”
“Hayek applies his understanding of the volutionary development of society in general to the growth of legal institutions and the Rule of Law. He traces this growth to
England, America and Germany, but largely excludes French
legal thought, which has favoured a rationalistic approach to
the law which runs counter to a free society.”
https://www.google.de/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/upldbook519pdfSummary.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjS9p7Yia3YAhXOPFAKHX5KAycQFggnMAE&usg=AOvVaw2gcVXTLK5dnmc4YBQ9NCIW
This is where the US is headed if the “White Left” succeeds in their coup against President Trump and the Constitution.
Tired of Regional Critics, Venezuela Looks to Russia and Chin
RIO DE JANEIRO — Venezuela, which a decade ago aspired to be the axis of a new, left-leaning diplomatic and trade alliance in the Americas, is finding itself increasingly isolated in the hemisphere.
Venezuela downgraded diplomatic relations with Canada and Brazil in recent days, after a war of words over the Venezuelan government’s decision last week to ban three influential opposition parties from running candidates in next year’s presidential election.
As its leftist president, Nicolás Maduro, is increasingly regarded as a despot among neighbors in a region that has shifted politically to the right, Venezuela, once the richest country in South America but now in need of cash, is drawing closer — and becoming more dependent on — Russia and China. With its oil, Venezuela is likely to be an attractive, if risky, long-term gamble for Moscow and Beijing, which have sought in recent years to assert greater influence in a region that Washington has long regarded as its backyard.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-brazil-canada.html
Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela’s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse
PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela — A general with no energy experience has been installed as the head of the state oil company. Arrests, firings and desperate emigration have gutted top talent. Oil facilities are crumbling, while production is plummeting.
As the rest of the oil-producing world recovers on the back of stronger energy prices, Venezuela is getting worse, the result of dysfunctional management, rampant corruption and the country’s crippling economic crisis. The deepening troubles at the state oil company, the country’s economic mainstay, threaten to further destabilize a nation and government facing a dire recession, soaring inflation and unbridled crime, as well as food and medicine shortages.
When energy prices started to crater several years ago, Venezuela and other oil-dependent nations suffered in tandem. Now, prices are rising and others in the oil patch are on the mend.
Saudi Arabia’s government is slashing its deficits and reaping increased revenue. Even dysfunctional Libya and Iraq have been pumping and exporting like mad.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/world/americas/venezuela-oil-pdvsa.html
One of my classmates was from Venezuela, studying petroleum engineering. He’s moved to Spain. I don’t know what he’s working on. Real nice, smart guy. Terrible shame.
As ISIS fighters flee west toward Damascus, US-led coalition won’t follow to fight them (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/isis-fighters-flee-west-damascus-us-led-coalition/story?id=52014579
“A two-star British general in the coalition’s war against ISIS confirmed the “movement of limited numbers of ISIS militants westwards,” but said the U.S.-led coalition won’t pursue them because the area is operated by the regime…”
A massive price tag to rebuild Iraq after Islamic State (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/massive-price-tag-rebuild-iraq-islamic-state-52021376
“It will take years to haul out the rubble that weighs down Mosul’s Old City. More than 3,000 tons cover every acre, and much of the shattered concrete and twisted metal that once made up people’s homes and shops is laced with explosives and unexploded ordnance.
The debris field marking the district where the Islamic State group made its last stand extends for nearly 2 ? miles along the western bank of the Tigris River and is more than a mile wide — and throughout, hardly a singly building is left unscathed. The Old City has the densest wreckage, but nearly every neighborhood in the western half of Mosul has entire blocks in ruins, and all five bridges crossing the Tigris have been disabled by airstrikes.
This is just one corner of the destruction that three years of war wreaked across northern and western Iraq. The U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi forces defeated IS militants , but the cost of victory is nearly incalculable. Baghdad estimates $100 billion is needed nationwide to rebuild. Local leaders in Mosul say that amount is needed to rehabilitate their city alone…”
Turkey’s Erdogan seeks to mend strained ties with Europe (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-erdogan-seeks-mend-strained-ties-europe-52021543
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he wants to mend strained ties with several European nations, saying Turkey is forced to “decrease the number of enemies and increase friends.”
In comments published in Hurriyet newspaper on Thursday, Erdogan describes the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium as “old friends,” calls recent contacts with them “quite good” and notes that they, like Turkey, oppose a controversial U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“We have no problems with Germany, or with the Netherlands or Belgium,” Erdogan told journalists on his return from a trip to Africa. “On the contrary, those in power there are my old friends. They have wronged me, but that’s another matter.”
Ties frayed after authorities in some European nations prevented Turkish government ministers from holding political rallies to court expat votes ahead of a referendum in Turkey earlier this year over giving Erdogan expanded powers. Erdogan aimed a series of insults at his allies accusing European officials of racism, harboring terrorists and behaving like “Nazis.”
European nations also have balked at the deteriorating state of human rights and democratic institutions in Turkey, especially in the wake of last year’s failed military coup. Erdogan’s government embarked on an unprecedented crackdown on opponents, arresting around 50,000 people and purging more than 110,000 public sector workers. A state of emergency declared after the coup attempt allows Erdogan to rule by decree, often bypassing parliament.
Several German or German-Turkish nationals, including a prominent journalist, have been jailed on terror-related charges as part of the crackdown, further damaging ties with Berlin.
Turkey blames the coup attempt on followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. The cleric has denied masterminding it.
Erdogan also said he hopes to visit France and the Vatican in the new year.”
Ethiopians deported en masse by Saudi Arabia allege abuses (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ethiopians-deported-en-masse-saudi-arabia-allege-abuses-52022409
“Undocumented Ethiopian migrants who are being forcibly deported from Saudi Arabia by the thousands in a new crackdown say they were mistreated by authorities while detained.
In interviews with The Associated Press upon their arrival home, the returnees described beatings, theft and stays in dirty prison camps. Their accounts brought to light one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous migrant routes but one that remains overlooked amid the larger rush toward Europe.
Saudi Arabia, like other rich Gulf nations, is a magnet for hundreds of thousands of people from impoverished East African nations like Ethiopia and Somalia. They pay traffickers for rides in boats across the narrow waters to Yemen, where they make their way by land through a war zone…”
Egypt, Sudan relations at a new low over Erdogan’s visit (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypt-sudan-relations-low-erdogans-visit-52022828
“Egypt’s pro-government media on Thursday vilified neighboring Sudan over its expanding ties with Turkey and Qatar, saying the three are conspiring against Egypt.
While the government has publicly remained silent, Egyptian media seized on a visit to Sudan earlier this week by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a meeting in Khartoum between the chiefs of staff of Sudan, Turkey and Qatar, and renewed efforts by Khartoum to revive a longtime border dispute with Egypt.
Most views expressed in Egypt’s media reflect the thinking of the government or at least one of its key institutions. The criticism of Sudan and its longtime ruler Omar Bashir included personal insults and questioning the country’s statehood.
Tensions between Egypt and Sudan, which are bound by the Nile River and historic ties, often play out in the media, with the two governments keeping their distance…”
Germany: Afghan teen in custody over fatal stabbing (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-afghan-teen-custody-fatal-stabbing-52024597
“A 15-year-old Afghan asylum-seeker is in custody in Germany after allegedly fatally stabbing his ex-girlfriend, a German of the same age, in a drugstore.
Authorities say the stabbing followed an apparently chance meeting between the two on Wednesday in Kandel, near the French border. The girl died of her injuries after being attacked with a kitchen knife.
Prosecutor Angelika Moehlig said Thursday that a judge ordered the suspect, who wasn’t identified, kept in custody on suspicion of manslaughter. She said the motive is still under investigation.
Police said the suspect arrived in Germany in April 2016 and had apparently been in a several-month relationship with the victim, who broke up with him this month.
The victim’s parents had filed a criminal complaint against him on Dec. 15 alleging slander and threats.”
US airstrike in Somalia kills 4 of al-Shabab, destroys bomb (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-airstrike-somalia-kills-al-shabab-destroys-bomb-52023772
“The U.S. military says a new airstrike in Somalia has killed four members of the al-Shabab extremist group and destroyed a vehicle carrying explosives near the capital.
The statement from the U.S. Africa Command says the airstrike Wednesday evening about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Mogadishu prevented the bomb from being used against residents of the capital…”
Over 40 killed, 30 injured in attack, explosion in Afghanistan (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/40-killed-30-injured-explosion-afghanistan/story?id=52022830
“An attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, has killed at least 40 people and injured more than 30 more on Thursday.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry, confirmed the attack in west Kabul, the capital and largest city in Afghanistan. An explosion and attack took place at a Shia cultural center where many cultural activists were attending an event.
The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack.
Kabul has seen an increase in attacks on Shia mosques or cultural centers by ISIS members…”
Islamic State claims attack on Shiite center, 41 dead (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-official-roadside-mine-kills-children-52020368
“A brutal attack claimed by the Islamic State group devastated a two-story Shiite Muslim cultural center in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least 41 people and wounding another 84, many suffering severe burns from the intensity of the explosions.
The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said three bombs were used in the ferocious assault as well as a single suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the center, where scores of people had gathered to mark the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.
The claim reflects eyewitness reports that said one bomber sneaked into the center and exploded his device. Other explosions occurred outside the building, which also houses the pro-Iranian Afghan Voice news agency, which may also have been a target in the attack.
Earlier, Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said an unknown number of suicide attackers set off an explosion outside the center before carrying out an attack inside.
In its statement to Aamaq news agency, the IS said the center was being funded by Iran and used to propagate Shiite beliefs…”
How China Is Infiltrating Greece
I am going to have to look into this youtube channel.
In some ways actions like this and the Chinese spending in Africa are a good sign, China’s economy isn’t getting any better but they are spending more and more, this places a massive drain on their treasury. See the video about the retired Chinese soldiers who are protesting for more retirement pay. This is a very interesting development, the Chinese government can’t use the military or police against the vets because they know that they will be retiring some time.
Is China headed the way of the Soviet Union, bankruptcy and collapse?
If they do go into bankruptcy and collapse will China split into several different nations?
What will happen to the nations they they are propping up with gifts of military equipment?
Islamic Oppression of Women: A Hot New Market
by Giulio Meotti
December 28, 2017 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11482/islam-oppression-women
Send
We are not talking about the dreary type of Muslim garment of Raqqa or Kabul, but a global market that is a Westernized, colorful, supposedly joyful Islamic enterprise.
First it was a Muslim woman wearing a hijab in Playboy. Then Nike released a “performance hijab” for athletes. Meanwhile, last spring, Aab, one of the world’s leading Islamic clothing retailers, opened its first boutique in London, just in time for the annual London Fashion Week. Vogue Arabia published its first-ever print issue. Last month, Mattel unveiled, so to speak, the world’s first hijab-wearing Barbie doll, who is apparently part of a new series dedicated to women “breaking social barriers”.
A conformist and “inclusive” establishment, eager for profits, has turned the Islamic veil into a purportedly new symbol of freedom and fashion. Islamists have understood this psychology among Western elites, who are terrified to be accused of “Islamophobia”. This is how Islamist misogyny has been turned into a global garment. Take a recent Vogue announcement:
Pakistan: Blasphemy Laws, Human-Rights Abuses Deepen
by A. Z. Mohamed
December 28, 2017 at 4:30 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11479/pakistan-blasphemy-human-rights
In late September — less than three weeks after newly instated Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi attended the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York — two Christian boys employed as cleaners at a hospital in Pakistan were arrested for violating the country’s blasphemy laws. According to the complaint lodged with police, the boys had swept up and burned strewn pieces of paper on which Quranic verses happened to be written.
At around the same time, a Pakistani court sentenced a Christian man to death for insulting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in a poem he sent to a Muslim friend on the WhatsApp messaging service. This came two months after a young Muslim Pakistani was sentenced to death for “blasphemous” posts on Facebook.
ISIS Takes Hold in Pakistan
by Kaswar Klasra
December 28, 2017 at 4:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11607/isis-pakistan
Concern over the extent of the presence and power of ISIS in Pakistan resurfaced on December 17, when a suicide-bombing at a church in Quetta left at least nine worshipers dead and more than 50 seriously wounded.
Had Pakistani security forces not responded swiftly to the attack on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church — where 400 men, women and children were attending Sunday services – the assailants “would have managed to reach the main hall of the building, and the death toll would have been much higher,” Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial home minister of the Baluchistan province, where Quetta is located, told Gatestone Institute.
Responsibility for the attack — in which two terrorists, clad in explosive vests and armed with AK-47 rifles — was later claimed by ISIS, which has an impressive record of honesty in taking credit for attacks, in a statement published by the Amaq News Agency.
This was the sixth ISIS attack in Pakistan in the past year and a half. The first took place on August 8, 2016, when a suicide bomber killed at least 70 people and wounded more than 100 in an attack on a crowd of lawyers and journalists gathered in a government hospital in Quetta — in the province that borders Afghanistan and Iran — to mourn a lawyer who had been murdered earlier in the day. The attack was claimed by a joint ISIS-Taliban faction.
China spotted illegally selling oil to North Korea, report says
Read more at 1776coalition : http://www.1776coalition.com/news-heard-around-the-world/china-spotted-illegally-selling-oil-to-north-korea-report-says/#ixzz52ZbuxgTF
U.S. spy satellites reportedly captured photos of Chinese ships illegally selling oil to North Korean boats some 30 times since October.
Satellite images released by the U.S. Department of Treasury appeared to show vessels from both countries illegally trading oil in the West Sea, The Chosun Ilbo reported Tuesday, citing South Korean government sources.
Read more at 1776coalition : http://www.1776coalition.com/news-heard-around-the-world/china-spotted-illegally-selling-oil-to-north-korea-report-says/#ixzz52Zc0eo26
http://www.1776coalition.com/news-heard-around-the-world/china-spotted-illegally-selling-oil-to-north-korea-report-says/
Somali refugee family given £2m council house in exclusive London neighbourhood (express, Dec 28, 2017)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/897408/Social-housing-Somali-refugee-family-2m-council-house-North-London-Islington
“A FAMILY of Somali refugees are living in a £2.2million mansion thought to be one of Britain’s most expensive council houses.
Muriidi Abati, 57, and his wife Maryan Mohamed, 44, have lived in the Georgian townhouse with their seven children, aged between eight and 23, for 15 years.
The four-storey townhouse could be rented out privately for £900 a week but cleaner Mr Abati, who earns £7 an hour, pays just £90 to Islington Council in north London.
Mrs Mohamed said: “We’re very lucky and grateful to have this house. It’s sad there are not enough houses for everyone.”
But critics said it was “ridiculous” the refugees were given “a home for millionaires” while many families are forced to live in squalor…”
London acid attack: Police alert after lone woman targeted in sick Canary Wharf assault (express, Dec 28, 2017)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/897460/london-acid-attack-canary-wharf-tower-hamlets
“A WOMAN has been sprayed with a “noxious substance” in a sick acid attack in London.
The victim was sprayed in Canary Wharf yesterday, with police warning she has suffered life-changing injuries.
Officers have now issued an appeal for information regarding the incident.
They said the woman was walking alone when she was attacked with a “strong acid solution”.
Police said: “Police were called just before 19.00hrs on Wednesday, 27 December to Westferry Road, Canary Wharf E14 to a report of a woman injured after having a noxious substance thrown on her.
“Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service. The victim, aged 36, was taken to hospital with life-changing burn injuries to her leg and face.
“She had been walking alone when she was attacked.
“The substance has been tested and confirmed as a strong acid solution.”
No arrests have been made and officers are currently reviewing CCTV.
Police said anyone with information should call Tower Hamlets CID on 0208 754 4550 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
This is a breaking story, more to follow…”
Is Australia Being Racist Against Chinese?
WHY NORTH KOREA HAS NO CHANCE AGAINST U.S ? BY RUSSIAN COLONEL-GENERAL
Since this video was made Russia has installed the new S-400 air defense system which is suppose to be able to detect the stealth bombers.
CBC – The asylum seekers
CBC’s Susan Ormiston talks about her experiences reporting on asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the U.S. this past year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzY6rRt8p1s
These videos are old but give a good overlook on what is happening.
China and India Scuffle Toward War | China Uncensored
Who Won the China/India Border Standoff? | China Uncensored
FYI: After the pull back by both sides India said that wouldn’t join any alliance against North Korea.
Chinese Leaders Fear Military Revolt | China Uncensored
London Police ‘Could Be Sitting on a Rotherham Style Sexual Grooming Gang Situation’ (breitbart, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/28/london-police-rotherham-style-sexual-grooming-gang-situation/
“The Metropolitan Police force “could be sitting on a Rotherham-style sexual grooming gang situation”, a London Assembly Member has claimed.
The accusation, from UKIP group leader Peter Whittle, comes as a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services reveals that Scotland Yard failed to properly handle 90 per cent of recent child protection cases.
Earlier this month, the Met’s most senior officer responded to concerns by claiming grooming gangs had been part of British society for “centuries”.
According to The Times, the UK’s largest police force is now worse at helping and protecting children at risk of sexual exploitation and rape than it was a year ago.
Inspectors reviewed a random sample of 135 cases in November concerning various types of abuse, including possible child sexual exploitation, missing children, and domestic abuse.
Almost 93 per cent were said to be “inadequate or required improvement” and there was a “disappointing quality of investigations and outcomes,” as well as 18 cases that were sent back to the force for further investigation, the report found.
“The number of weaknesses uncovered in too many of the cases examined in this quarter continues to reflect those which we reported in 2016,” the inspection said.
Mr. Whittle responded to the report on Facebook by claiming there is “growing concern that the Met could be sitting on a Rotherham-style sexual grooming gang situation”.
He had questioned the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Force, Cressida Dick, about the issue on December 13th, when she claimed that grooming gangs had existed for hundreds of years.
She also refused to accept Mr. Whittle’s “characterisation” of the problem as mainly Asian and Muslim men targeting white girls, despite research finding 84 per cent of grooming gang members to be “Asian”.
“The fact is, that to say ‘I don’t recognise the situation,’ and to somehow smooth it over, is what led, commissioner, to thousands of young girls being shockingly abused over about 20 years at least,” Mr. Whittle argued.
After the first grooming gang prosecutions in Rochdale and the government’s Casey Report into the Rotherham scandal, a “culture of silence” and political correctness were blamed for the police inaction on the issue.
“If the boot were on the other foot… and this were groups of white men abusing specifically Muslim young girls, this would be treated probably as a hate crime,” Mr. Whittle added, asking:
“So, why are you not taking on board what is obviously factually reported every day?”
The commissioner also mentioned a recent case in Stratford, East London, and said that evidence “suggested” that children were being “groomed out of particular locations”.
Some children in the capital were being “encouraged to get into criminality and sexual relationships through sweets and offers of this and that and the other” she added.
She said the problem was growing, but attributed the increase in cases to “raised awareness” and better reporting of the grooming crimes.
“I don’t think this was a phenomenon invented in the last few years – it really wasn’t – it has been part of our society for probably centuries and centuries and centuries,” she claimed.”
Arrest Made After Asylum Seeker Run Over Outside Illegal Calais Migrant Camp (breitbart, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/28/french-man-car-accident-asylum-seeker-major-migrant-camp/
“A French man in his fifties was arrested earlier this week and has been charged with fleeing the scene of an accident after his vehicle hit a 22-year-old Iraqi asylum seeker near the Grande-Synthe migrant camp in Dunkirk, South-West of Calais.
The driver of the vehicle was arrested on Sunday evening and then formally charged on Wednesday while the 22-year-old asylum seeker remains in critical condition in hospital, Le Monde reports.
The accident occurred near the large migrant camp in Grand-Synthe which many see as a successor to the infamous Calais Jungle camp which was dismantled late last year.
The accident is not the first this year in the Dunkirk area as investigators noted that migrants often walk along the sides of the main motorways to try and find parked trucks to sneak in to get to the UK.
The driver claims the 22-year-old was crossing the motorway when the accident occurred but other witnesses say the driver was behaving erratically while the migrant was walking in the emergency lane.
The witnesses were also the ones able to record the licence plate of the vehicle involved which led to the arrest of the driver who had fled the scene.
The incident comes only days after an Afghan migrant was hit by a vehicle in Calais and killed. The migrant was found by the side of the road but police said they had not been able to identify the vehicle involved…”
EU Army’s First Deployment? Austria Calls For Military-Backed ‘Safe Zones’ in Migrant Origin Countries (breitbart, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/12/28/austrian-chancellor-eu-military-safe-zones-migrant/
“Newly elected Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has urged the European Union (EU) to create safe zones within migrant-origin countries and deploy member states’ armed forces to stop the flow of migrants.
Chancellor Kurz, who has been vocal about solving the migrant crisis for many months and has previously called for the closure of the Mediterranean migrant route, also reaffirmed his stance against the redistribution of migrants from countries like Italy and Greece, Deutsche Welle reports.
“Forcing states to take refugees doesn’t take Europe any further. The discussion makes no sense,” Kurz said.
The EU migrant redistribution policy has been heavily resisted by Hungary and Poland over the last year with the bloc taking the matter to court and threatening both nations with potential sanctions and a decrease in EU funding.
“Migrants who set off for Europe don’t want to go to Bulgaria or Hungary. They want to go to Germany, Austria, or Sweden,” Kurz added.
“If [redistributing refugees] isn’t possible, then they should be helped in safe areas on their own continent,” Kurz proposed and noted: “The EU should support that, perhaps even organise it, and back it militarily.”
The idea of creating safe zones within countries like Libya is not a new one. Earlier this year Mr. Kurz, while foreign minister, proposed that the EU should create camps in Libya to stem the tide of migration. His proposals were rejected by German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel who called the plan unrealistic.
Since forming a new coalition government with the anti-mass migration populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) earlier this month, Kurz has taken a much more hard line on mass migration and has proposed to increase deportations and decrease incentives for migrants wanting to come to Austria.”
This will take the EU military out of Europe and make it harder for the EU to use against the European nations. It is unlikely that the EU will be able to recruit any of the invaders to go back and police the “safe areas” in Middle Eastern or African nations.
Militants kill two in bank attack in Egypt’s Sinai, security sources say (reuters, Dec 28, 2017)
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-egypt-security-sinai/militants-kill-two-in-bank-attack-in-egypts-sinai-security-sources-say-idUKKBN1EM1DR?rpc=401&
“Militants killed two people, including a policeman, at a bank in the town of El-Arish in Egypt’s North Sinai on Thursday, security sources said, and a separate explosion in the region killed an army officer and five soldiers.
The militants in El-Arish fired a rocket and shot at police who were guarding the bank, the sources said. The police fired back but the militants fled the scene.
Egypt’s interior ministry could not immediately be reached for comment on the incident…”
French ‘jihadist commander’ captured in Syria (telegraph, Dec 28, 2017)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/28/french-jihadist-commander-captured-syria/
“Eight French jihadists, including a Muslim convert suspected of involvement in the 2015 Paris attacks, have been captured in Syria by Kurdish fighters.
Thomas Barnouin, 36, described as a “jihadist commander”, was detained near the Iraqi border earlier this month with two other French converts named as Romain Garnier, 33, and Thomas Collange. They were among a group of eight suspected jihadists from France, French radio reported.
Barnouin, who converted to Islam in 2000 and is also known as Abdelhakim, left France for Syria in 2014 after serving a five-year prison sentence for terrorist offences.
He has been linked with Mohamed Merah, who killed seven people including three Jewish children in a shooting spree in the south of France in 2012. He was also close to Fabien Clain, another convert who announced that Isil carried out the Paris attacks, killing 130 people in November 2015, police sources said.
About 1,700 French nationals joined Isil forces in Syria or Iraq, 278 of whom have been killed, according to the French government. Another 302 have returned to France, where most are in custody…”
The Mueller Test and the Paper Civil War on Trump
A last ditch effort by the establishment to wrest control from the president.
December 28, 2017
Daniel Greenfield
The original civil war was fought by farmhands and factory workers, freed slaves and young boys turned soldiers; the new civil war is being fought by lawyers in blue or gray suits not with bullets, but with bullet points.
From the Mueller investigation to Federal judges declaring that President Trump doesn’t have the right to control immigration policy or command the military, from political sabotage at the DOJ by Obama appointees like Sally Yates to Patagonia’s lawsuit over national monuments, the cold civil war set off by the left’s rejection of the 2016 election results has been a paper war largely waged by lawyers.
“The biggest threat to New Yorkers right now is the federal government,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of New York recently declared. The radical leftist pol who had once vowed to do everything possible to elect Hillary Clinton was explaining his hundred lawsuits against the government on everything from net neutrality to the travel ban meant to keep out the Islamic terrorists running over tourists near Ground Zero and bombing commuters in the tunnels off Times Square.
Islamic terrorists have killed thousands of people in New York City in the last two decades. Net neutrality’s current death toll hovers around zero. The Federal government is far less of a threat to New Yorkers than their own government which insists that Islamic terrorists should be able to kill them. But it is a great threat to a class of political lawyers whose ranks include AG Schneiderman, Hawaii’s Judge Derrick Watson, Mueller’s team, Sally Yates, the ACLU and countless other #resistance combatants.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268854/mueller-test-and-paper-civil-war-trump-daniel-greenfield
He lays out what is happening and why, he also points out that the civil war is a paper war, for now. As the Sewer Rats keep losing in the Supreme Court and the court of public opinion they are getting desperate, they are moving towards active violence. Once they do Kati bar the door, this won’t be like the last one it will be small units and assassination teams out to kill the politicians on the other side and the journalists who don’t support the coup.
China May Cut Off North Korea in Public, Not in Private
December 28, 2017
Daniel Greenfield
The popular idea in foreign policy circles these days is that China can be pressured into cutting off North Korea. And that will force the Norks to cut a deal.
I’ve said before that the idea is wishful thinking. No matter how unstable the Norks appears, they’re quite useful to China as a proxy for destabilizing any American order. And focusing our threat awareness away from China. And so that special relationship isn’t going anywhere. China may rebuke the Norks in public. But they’ll keep on backing them in private. As this latest revelation shows.
He is right, China is ordering everything North Korea does, they have been promising the North that they will back them in a war but I doubt that this will include committing men and equipment to combat but it the war lasts long enough (it won’t) they would resupply the North.
Never Trumper Max Boot Goes Full Leftist
December 28, 2017
Daniel Greenfield
The acid test of personal integrity is whether you can maintain your principles instead of unthinkingly joining a herd and accepting all its ideas. Max Boot, the most radical of the Never Trumpers, has failed that test miserably.
He started out opposing Trump on national security grounds and is now raving about “white privilege”.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/268859/never-trumper-max-boot-goes-full-leftist-daniel-greenfield
Return of the Deported Criminal Illegals
Jerry Brown’s pardons pave the way.
December 28, 2017
Lloyd Billingsley
On Christmas Eve, California governor Jerry Brown issued 132 pardons and 19 commutations, the latest in the 1,059 pardons and 37 commutations he has granted since regaining office in 2011. Brown thus surpasses the 404 pardons and one commutation during his previous terms as governor (1975 to 1983), and far exceeds the combined 15 pardons and 14 commutations from 1991 through 2010 under governors Pete Wilson, Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Jerry Brown ran for president in 1976, 1980, and 1992 but came up a loser every time. The pardon binge doubtless helps the recurring governor feel the power but there’s more to his story. In an axis with the illegal lobby, Brown seeks to return those already deported to the United States, even those guilty of gun violence.
Hector Barajas entered the country illegally and served in U.S. Army from 1995-2001. After discharge, he developed a “substance abuse” problem and was convicted of shooting at an inhabited vehicle, serving more than a year in prison. Deported in 2004, Barajas reentered the USA illegally and was deported again in 2010. From Mexico, Barajas applied for executive clemency in the form of a gubernatorial pardon, which Brown granted this year, claiming that since jail Barajas has “lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character and conducted himself as a law-abiding citizen.”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268855/return-deported-criminal-illegals-lloyd-billingsley
The Politics of Caesar’s Wife
Maintaining high Victorian standards of sexual behavior in a sexually saturated culture.
December 28, 2017
Bruce Thornton
n 62 B.C., the tribune Clodius Pulcher was caught sneaking into Julius Caesar’s house during a religious ritual forbidden to men. Clodius was allegedly attempting to seduce Caesar’s wife, Pompeia, who was hosting the ceremony and was rumored to welcome Clodius’ advances. Because the scandal happened at Caesar’s house, he divorced her.
At Clodius’ trial for sacrilege, however, Caesar testified that he knew nothing of the matter, despite the evidence and despite widespread rumors about Pompeia and Clodius. When asked by the prosecutor why then he had divorced his wife, Caesar responded with the now proverbial, “I thought my wife ought not to be under suspicion.” But as Plutarch adds, Caesar’s decision was not about upholding standards of religious purity or virtuous behavior. Caesar had made a political calculation: the accused was a tribune of the people and a favorite of the masses, who were threatening the jurors with violence. As a leader of the populares, the people, Caesar couldn’t afford to alienate his volatile supporters by testifying against their champion.
The recent numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, harassment, or assault by politicians and celebrities, some of which date back forty years, have been accompanied by condemnations of the accused redolent of the “Caesar’s Wife” standard: political leaders “ought not to be under suspicion.” In Caesar’s time as in ours, this rigorous standard of behavior reflects politics as much as a commitment to virtue.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268851/politics-caesars-wife-bruce-thornton
Facebook’s Censorship of Conservative Articles Makes Them More Popular
December 28, 2017
Daniel Greenfield
Censorship, like most totalitarian measures, has a way of backfiring.
After Trump’s win, the media launched a “Fake News” campaign pressuring the big social media firms to censor pro-Trump media. (It’s been quickly forgotten, but the “Fake News” slur was mainstreamed originally by this media campaign before Trump made it his own.) Part of that involved rolling lefty fact checkers into Facebook who would be able to mark stories as ‘disputed’.
But that mark of authority backfired in an age when everyone questions authority.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/268863/facebooks-censorship-conservative-articles-makes-daniel-greenfield
Where Does the Federal Government Get All That Money?
Sanctuary policy blamed for murder of MS-13 gang member released from jail
A Maryland county’s refusal to cooperate with Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) may have led to an alleged MS-13 gang member’s death two days after he was released from jail.
Jose Herrera, 18, was initally arrested and charged in October by the Montgomery County Police Department with fourth-degree burglary and trespassing after he was found squatting in a vacant home with others believed to be members of the ruthless MS-13 gang, WJLA reported.
Bomb kills 6, including army colonel, in Egypt’s Sinai (abcnews, Dec 28, 2017)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/roadside-bomb-kills-senior-army-officer-egypts-sinai-52028261
“A roadside bomb planted by Islamic militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula hit a military vehicle on Thursday, killing six people, including a senior army officer, security and hospital officials said.
They said the bomb struck a military convoy that was patrolling an area just outside the town of Bir al-Abd in northern Sinai, killing a colonel who was the town’s military commander, a second officer and four soldiers.
Three more soldiers were wounded in the attack, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media…”
Women in Tehran will no longer routinely face being locked up or prosecuted for failing to observe strict Islamic dress codes in force since the 1979 revolution, the Iranian capital’s police chief has said.
http://archive.is/AnQD5#selection-381.0-381.206
Trump effect in action?
40 dead, many wounded in multiple Kabul blasts
At least 40 people were killed and many others were wounded in multiple blasts near a media outlet and mosque in Kabul
http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/afghanistan/40-dead-many-wounded-in-multiple-kabul-blasts-1.2148328
Updated
Trump trolling on Twitter about ‘Global Warming’:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/946531657229701120
Shock poll: Blow for Merkel as hopes fade for new government before EASTER
ANGELA Mekel’s ability to form a new government has been dealt another blow as a poll indicated only a third of people think she can form an administration before Easter.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/897427/Angela-Merkel-latest-news-government-Easter-CDU
Federal authorities confirmed the shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent patrolling the waters of the Rio Grande. The shot came from the Mexican side of the river.
The shooting took place near Brownsville, Texas, when an agent patrolling the river on a boat was shot with a “small caliber” weapon that came from the river banks on the Mexican side, information released to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Border Patrol RGV Sector revealed.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/12/27/border-patrol-agent-shot-gunman-mexico-say-feds/
China Rings in the New Year with Year of the Dog Trump Statue
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/28/china-rings-in-the-new-year-with-year-of-the-dog-trump-statue/
[Is adorable!!!]
Brazilian law enforcement arrested one of the top leaders of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion at the request of U.S. authorities.
The arrest took place in the city of Fortaleza in a luxurious tourist area known as Taiba Beach, where Brazilian cops found Jose “La Chepa” Gonzalez Valencia. According to U.S. Department of Justice documents, Gonzalez Valencia is described as the leader of Los Cuinis, the financial wing of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG).
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/12/28/mexican-cartels-financial-leader-arrested-brazil/