Reader’s links on January 16, 2018

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

About Eeyore

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

135 Replies to “Reader’s links on January 16, 2018”

  1. Lebanon bans Spielberg’s ‘The Post’ (middleeasteye, Jan 16, 2018)
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lebanon-bans-spielbergs-post-882528232

    “Lebanese authorities have banned Steven Spielberg’s latest film, the political thriller “The Post,” an official said on Monday.

    “Screening of the film ‘The Post’ has been banned,” said the official from Lebanon’s General Security authority.

    Spielberg “is blacklisted by the Arab League’s boycott office, which Lebanon complies with,” the official explained.

    The pan-Arab body maintains a regional boycott of Israel, and blacklisted Spielberg after he donated $1 million to Israel during its destructive 2006 war with Lebanon.

    The two countries are still technically in a state of war…”

  2. Don’t accept all migrants, white race at risk-Fontana (ansam, Jan 15, 2018)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/01/15/dont-accept-all-migrants-white-race-at-risk-fontana-2_04327cf8-1ce2-4dfe-b1e5-68c6d35ae17f.html

    “Attilio Fontana, the centre-right candidate to be the next Lombardy governor, has said that Italy must not accept large-scale migrant arrivals, suggesting the “white race” is in danger. “Here is not an issue of being xenophobic or racist, but a question of being logical or rational,” Fontana told the Northern League’s Radio Padania on Sunday.

    “We cannot (accept all asylum seekers) because we don’t all fit, so we have to make choices. “We must decide if our ethnicity, if our white race, if our society, should continue to exist or if it should be wiped out.

    “A serious State should plan and programme a situation of this type.

    “It should say how many we consider it right to receive and how many migrants we don’t want to allow in, how we want to assist them, what jobs to give them, what homes and schools to give them,” added the former mayor of Varese, a League member.

    “At that point, when a government prepares a project of this type, it can out it before its citizens.

    “It is absolutely unacceptable to say that we have to accept them all.

    “It is a design that we must respond to, that it is necessary to rebel against. “We cannot accept them all because, if we did, we would no longer be ourselves as a social reality, as an ethnic reality. “Because there are many more of them than us and they are much more determined to occupy this territory”.

    On Monday Fontana said he is use of the term “white race” was a “slip of the tongue”.

    Centre-left Lombardy governor candidate Giorgio Gori responded to his centre-right rival Attilio Fontana’s warning that migrants pose a threat to “the white race” by saying the campaign for the March 4 elections could do without “hysteria and demagoguery”…”

    • “hysteria and demagoguery”…”

      Yeah, let’s not get hysterical or demagogue… Just because Caucasians are a minority on this planet and their culture and territory is being taken over at an alarming rate. But you should all be ashamed of yourselves.

  3. Minniti to head Naples meeting on violent teen gangs (ansa, Jan 15, 2018)
    http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2018/01/15/minniti-to-head-naples-meeting-on-violent-teen-gangs-3_e4411b6e-f7d0-4017-a273-ad6194b92b32.html

    “Interior Minister Marco Minniti will head a security meeting at the Naples prefect’s office on Tuesday following the recent escalation of attacks by gangs of youths in the area, sources said Monday. A minor was insulted and punched in the face near to Naples’ Policlinico metro station late on Sunday, in the latest in the string of attacks by so-called ‘baby gangs’ of teenagers. The victim, a 16-year-old who said he did not know the attackers, suffered a broken nose.

    On Saturday two pupils aged 14 and 15 suffered an unprovoked assault from a gang of around 10 youths armed with chains at the province of Naples town on Pomigliano d’Arco.
    The teens’ mobile telephones and money were stolen, but investigators suspect that thirst for violence, rather than theft, was the prime motive. Another case was that of Arturo, a 17-year-old stabbed in the throat in the southern city a week before Christmas.

    Around 800 students took to the streets of Naples, along with Mayor Luigi de Magistris and Justice Undersecretary Gennaro Migliore, to protest against crime and violence after that attack.

    The boy returned to Naples Cuoco high school on Monday and was greeted by a big banner reading “Welcome back Arturo”.

    “I’m embarrassed because I didn’t expect so many journalists at my return to school or this reception from my school mates,” he said. “Now it’s my teachers who are waiting for me, more than my companions.

    “I’m excited. This place was one of the things I missed.
    “I want to hurry. I have a lesson”.”

  4. 3 Syrian truck drivers with Daesh link appear in court (saudigazette, Jan 15, 2018)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/526253/SAUDI-ARABIA/3-Syrian-truck-drivers-with-Daesh-link-appear-in-court

    “Three Syrian truck drivers appeared in the Criminal Court in Riyadh on Sunday to face charges including support for the Daesh terrorist group.

    The three men were among 11 Syrian truck drivers and heavy machine operators accused of forming a terrorist cell on the Saudi territory to galvanize support for Daesh and promote the group’s interests among Saudi citizens.

    The remaining eight defendants will appear in court in the next few days.

    The public prosecutor read the list of charges against the men, which included espousing a Takfiri ideology (branding people with opposing views as infidels) that was against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him). He sought maximum punishments for the accused.

    The defendants requested more time to prepare their defense and the presiding judge agreed to their demand.

    The prosecutor said the three defendants described the Saudi government and its leadership as infidel and exploited their presence in Saudi territories to promote their devious ideology.

    He also accused them of endeavoring to recruit a number of young Saudis by inciting them to leave the country and fight alongside Daesh in Syria and other countries.

    He said the defendants obtained important information about people intending to travel to Syria to join Daesh by spying on security forces and circulated such information through messages on social media platforms.

    The prosecutor said one of the defendants had actually fought beside Daesh in Syria after getting training on the use of weapons and explosives.

    He had also made the oath of allegiance to Daesh leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the prosecutor told the court.”

  5. A community in Afghanistan awards Trump ‘Bravery’ Medal (khaama, Jan 15, 2018)
    https://www.khaama.com/a-community-in-afghanistan-awards-trump-bravery-medal-04268

    “A community in the central Logar province of Afghanistan has awarded the ‘Bravery’ Medal to the US President Trump for his recent stance against Pakistan.

    The handmade medal was prepared with a total cost of $645 with the contribution of the participants of an informal Jirga in which around 300 people had participated.

    Syed Farhad Akbari, a community leader in the province, on January 14 told RFE/RL’s Afghan Service that more than 300 people at an informal “jirga,” or council, of concerned citizens agreed to award the medal to the U.S. president.

    He said the handwritten message on the award states: “This Bravery Medal is from the Afghan people to Donald Trump, president of the United States of America.”

    Akbari said the cost of the medal was about 45,000 Afghanis ($645), considered a large sum for many in the region, about 60 kilometers outside of the capital, Kabul.

    This comes as the US President Donald Trump nearly two weeks ago criticized Pakistan in strong words for harboring the terrorist groups despite receiving billions in aid to support the counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan.

    “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” Trump said in a Twitter post.”

  6. Centre for Inquiry Canada is holding a talk on the 28th of January, 2018, at the Centrepointe Theatre in Nepean (Ottawa West) from 3-5 pm.

    The speaker will be Ali Rizvi, author of ‘The Atheist Muslim: a journey from religion to reason’.

    In addition to his book, which tells the story of how he became an atheist, Ali will discuss free speech, “Islamophobia”, M-103 and also the challenges faced by ex-Muslims in the West and elsewhere.

    Event info: http://centreforinquiry.ca/rizvi/

    This promises to be an interesting and highly relevant talk – please, do spread the news of it through your networks.

    • Putting together the word “Atheist” with different religions reveals a world of differences. For example, an “Atheist Jew” might leave work early on Yom Kippur to arrive at his or her aunt’s break-fast; athesit Mormons and Catholics calls themselves “lapsed Mormon” or “lapsed Catholic”; how does someone even become a “lapsed Protestant”? (OK, you can be an ex-Mennonite.) An athiest Hindu can say that he or she is from a Hindu family; what does an athesit Bhuddist say? But, of all of these only the “atheist Muslim” gets to confront an identity that the pillars of his religion nullify.

  7. Algeria, Libya agree to jointly manage oil fields on shared border (memo, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180116-algeria-libya-agree-to-jointly-manage-oil-fields-on-shared-border/

    “Algeria’s state-run oil company Sonatrach signed an agreement, Monday, with the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) to run a number of crude oil fields located on the borders between the two countries.

    The agreement included updating a study that was carried out on 2006 concerning Al-Rar and Al-Wafa oilfields, which located on the shared borders between Algeria and Libya, according to a statement by Sonatrach.

    Al-Rar gas field is located on the Algerian side of the border, while Al-Wafa oilfield is located on the Libyan side of the border.

    An official at Sonatrach, who preferred anonymity, told Anadolu Agency, said the study would “clarify the hypothesis of the connection between the Algerian Al-Rar gas field and the Libyan Al-Wafa oil field.”…”

  8. At least 20 dead as clashes shut airport in Libyan capital (memo, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180116-at-least-20-dead-as-clashes-shut-airport-in-libyan-capital/

    “Fierce clashes broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday, killing at least 20 people, shutting the airport, and damaging planes during what the government said was a failed attempt to spring militants from a nearby prison, Reuters reports.

    The attack triggered the heaviest fighting in Tripoli for months, undercutting claims by the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) to have largely stabilised the city. The violence also undermines GNA efforts to persuade diplomatic missions to return there.

    Automatic gunfire and artillery rounds could be heard from the city centre early in the day and authorities at Mitiga airport, which operates all civilian air traffic to and from the capital, said flights had been suspended until further notice.

    The airport was empty in late afternoon, when the clashes had largely died down, though pilots flew several aircraft across the capital to the international airport – closed since 2014 due to damage from earlier fighting – in an effort to protect them.

    A Reuters reporter saw one Airbus A319 operated by Afriqiyah Airways sitting in a hangar at Mitiga with a hole in its roof from artillery fire.

    At least four other aircraft suffered what appeared to be lesser damage from gunfire, including two jets operated by Libyan Wings and two Buraq Air Boeing 737s that the airline said it was preparing to fly out of the country for maintenance.

    The fighting pitted the Special Deterrence Force (Rada), one of Tripoli’s most powerful armed groups, against a rival faction based in the city’s Tajoura neighbourhood.

    Rada acts as an anti-crime and anti-terrorism unit and controls Mitiga airport and a large prison next to it. It is aligned with the GNA and is occasionally targeted by rivals whose members it has arrested.

    Rada said the airport had been attacked by men loyal to a militia leader known as Bashir ‘the Cow’ and others it had been seeking following their escape from a prison it controls elsewhere in Tripoli.

    The GNA said the attack had “endangered the lives of passengers, affected aviation safety and terrorised residents”.

    “This assault was aimed at freeing terrorists from Daesh and al Qaeda and other organisations,” it said in a statement. The attack had been repelled, and an operation to secure the area was ongoing.

    Rada posted pictures of streets around the airport, showing pick-up trucks mounted with guns, armoured vehicles and a tank.

    At least 20 people were killed in the clashes and 60 wounded, including civilians, a health ministry official said.

    Mitiga is a military air base near the centre of Tripoli that began hosting civilian flights after the international airport was put out of service in 2014. In an adjacent prison, Rada says it is holding some 2,500 people, including Daesh suspects.

    Tripoli has been controlled by a patchwork of armed groups since a 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi and led to the splintering of the country. There have been rival governments in Tripoli and the east since 2014, when most diplomatic missions evacuated to neighbouring Tunisia.

    The Tripoli factions sometimes clash in turf battles or over killings or detentions of their members.

    But there had been less open fighting in recent months after several groups including Rada aligned with the GNA, consolidated their control of large parts of the capital and ousted groups tied to a previous, Islamist-linked Tripoli government.

    The United Nations is trying to pave the way for elections in Libya by the end of the year, which it hopes can help stabilise the oil-producing nation.”

  9. Bangladeshi forests stripped bare as Rohingya refugees battle to survive (asiancorrespondent, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://asiancorrespondent.com/2018/01/bangladeshi-forests-stripped-bare-rohingya-refugees-battle-survive/#aDu8a2el3cqGL15O.97

    “The weight and rate of that influx have created an additional environmental crisis in Bangladesh’s sensitive border district, stripping away 4,000 acres (1,618.74ha) of forest land, according to numbers from an internal Bangladesh forestry department report shared with Mongabay. Crucial groundwater supplies have also been depleted and contaminated, according to the World Health Organisation…”

  10. Should Pakistan put a price tag on lines of communication, minister asks US (tribune, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1609712/1-pakistan-put-price-tag-lines-communication-minister-asks-us/

    “Defence Minister Khurram Dastagir on Monday asked the United States whether Pakistan should put a price tag on the Ground Line of Communications (GLOCs) and Air Line of Communications (ALOCs) which averages 314 daily with use of ports and air bases and other mutual communications…”

  11. ‘You’re not a journalist’: RT reporter banned from Elysee Palace despite valid press credentials (RT, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/416037-rt-france-barred-macron-coverage/

    “For the second time in less than a week, an accredited RT crew has been barred from covering working visits of French President Emmanuel Macron – who is known to single out the news outlet.

    On Monday, Kevin Berg, working for RT France, was denied entry the Elysee Palace to cover a technical briefing of Macron’s upcoming visit to Calais on January 17. While passing through the security gates of the presidential palace, Berg was stopped by a person in charge of handling the press at Macron’s office.

    The media officer asked the RT journalist which media outlet he represents. After presenting the attendant with a press card issued by the French authorities, Macron’s representative barred Berg from entry, saying: “Oh no! You are not a journalist, we only bring in the journalists.””

  12. US Sends MANPADS to Syrian Kurds as Part of Secret Deal – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/military/201801161060779896-usa-manpads-syria-kurds-deal/

    “The United States has provided the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) within the framework of the secret agreement, media reported.

    The Al-Masdar News media outlet reported Monday citing own sources that the US had provided the MANPADS to the Kurds earlier in the month under the agreement between Washington and the YPG. According to the news outlet, the MANPADS have been delivered to the Kurds in the northwestern part of Syria near the town of Afrin.

    On Saturday, the Defense Post news website published an article, in which the spokesman of the US-led coalition fighting against the Daesh terrorist group said that the coalition was engaged in training of a 30,000-strong force on the territory within Syria currently controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia to maintain security in controlled area along the Syrian border.

    The reports about the new US initiative have arisen against the backdrop of a statement made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday. According to Erdogan, the Turkish army may launch an operation in the northwestern Syrian regions of Manbij and Afrin controlled by the Kurdish militias within a week. The Turkish leader also expressed hope that Washington would back Ankara’s efforts.”

  13. Britain READY to cut foreign aid crash: Minister gives boost to Express crusade (express, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/905201/foreign-aid-uk-india-how-much-Penny-Mordaunt

    “FURY at the £13.4billion overseas aid bill has forced the Government to suggest spending may be cut.

    Following pressure from Daily Express readers the Government admitted for the first time yesterday that the scale of Britain’s foreign aid budget has sparked “legitimate” concern among voters.

    International development secretary Penny Mordaunt has promised to take action against wealthier countries.

    In a tough message, Ms Mordaunt, 44, said: “I want the governments of developing countries to step up and take responsibilty for investing in their own people.

    “If they choose not to, that will inform our decisions around our funding.”

    Taxpayers are increasingly frustrated that the £13.4billion sent overseas every year includes vast sums to countries like Pakistan, India and China at a time when the NHS is struggling with winter pressures.

    Anger over the swollen aid budget has grown since the Daily Express highlighted a string of spending scandals – with 90,000 readers backing our Stop The Foreign Aid Madness crusade by signing coupons and 25,000 more signing an online petition demanding an immediate change in policy.

    Ms Mordaunt said: “Nagging doubts persist for many about what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we go about it.

    “It is not that people are ungenerous or uncaring. They care deeply about others around the world. What they question is the weight and resource given to this task by their parliament and their government, especially when there are domestic needs and a national debt to address.

    “I understand those legitimate questions.”

    Signalling her intention to be more transparent, Ms Mordaunt said it will no longer be acceptable to simply say money has been well spent. Instead the Government will have to prove it “cannot be better spent” on anything else…”

  14. Pakistan clerics issue fatwa against “un-Islamic” suicide bombings (reuters, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pakistan-religion/pakistan-clerics-issue-fatwa-against-un-islamic-suicide-bombings-idUKKBN1F50L0?rpc=401&

    “More than 1,800 Pakistani Muslim clerics have issued an Islamic directive, or fatwa, forbidding suicide bombings, a book due to be unveiled by the government on Tuesday says.

    The South Asian nation has for years been plagued by violence by Islamist militants who often use suicide bombers and preach that their struggle is a holy war to impose Islamic rule.

    Suicide attacks are frequently condemned as fanatical and immoral, especially when civilians are killed, but insurgents view the tactic as their most effective weapon.

    Seeking to curb “terrorism” that has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the early 2000s, the clerics declared suicide bombings to be forbidden, or “haraam”.

    “This Fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society,” Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain wrote in the book.

    “We can seek guidance from this Fatwa for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism in keeping with the golden principles of Islam.”

    Foreign and domestic critics of Pakistan’s government and military accuse them of cosying up to radical groups for political and military purposes and say the state has for too long turned a blind eye to hate preachers in mosques.

    Pakistani officials deny frequent U.S. allegations about collaborating with militant Islamist proxies in Afghanistan and India, and say vast gains have been made over the past decade against militant outfits such as the Pakistani Taliban…”

  15. Somalia’s al Shabaab denounces ex-spokesman as apostate who could be killed (reuters, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-somalia-insurgency/somalias-al-shabaab-denounces-ex-spokesman-as-apostate-who-could-be-killed-idUKKBN1F50IN?rpc=401&

    “Somali al Shabaab Islamist militants, who have carried out frequent bombings in the capital, Mogadishu, said a former leader who defected to the government side was an apostate who could be killed…”

  16. Oh, oh, oh….y´think PJW is subscribed to VladTepes Utube channel and maybe reads this blog? He just #rekt Mama Merkel in a new video – ENJOY:

    • Steps toward islamification reaches new level:

      Have a Burka Fitting at the local community college –

      (LANDESHAUPTSTADT DRESDEN FÖRDERT MERKWÜRDIGEN KURS)

      The Adult Education Center (VHS/Dresden) has presented its new course book for the summer semester and there is already excitement. It is about a sponsored by the city course on “dress codes in Islam”. Participants can slip into a burka as a test.

      “Colorful headgear make curious about their wearers,” it says in the course description. You could even “try it out” – “how does a burka feel”. It sounds like the folk high school is inviting you for a cooking or handicraft course.

      The event course with number 18F1213 is scheduled for June 11 at 7 pm in the VHS field office Helbigsdorfer Weg 1. Admission is free. The Adult Education emphasizes from their side: “This event is funded by the City of Dresden.”

      http://m.bild.de/regional/dresden/burka-verbot/burka-anprobe-in-der-volkshochschule-54488220.bildMobile.html

  17. BREAKING: Hospital horror as knifeman attacks patients at Leicester Royal Infirmary (express, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/905414/Leicester-hospital-attack-royal-infirmary-stabbing-arrest

    “A KNIFEMAN has gone on the rampage in a busy A&E department, stabbing one man and trashing expensive medical equipment.

    Police were called to reports of a disturbance at Leicester Royal Infirmary.

    Officers said 24-year-old man was stabbed during the incident and a 20-year-old suspect had been arrested and remained in custody.

    A police spokeswoman said: “We were called to a report that a man had been stabbed outside the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

    “The man who was stabbed is 24-years-old.

    “There was a 20-year-old man who had been aggressive and had caused a lot of damage to equipment inside the hospital.

    “The 20-year-old man was arrested and is being held in police custody.”

    One witness described how a young man in a hoodie stormed into the unit armed with a large knife.

    He said the man then threw the knife at a nurse before smashing a monitor over the head of an elderly man.

    He was wrestled to the floor by security staff and a nurse.

    A spokeswoman for the University Hospitals of Leicester said: “We can confirm that an incident took place in our Emergency Department in the early hours of this morning.

    “The individual caused some damage to equipment. No staff were harmed. One patient has been treated for stab wounds and another for superficial injuries.”

    “We are working closely with the police who are investigating this.””

  18. Killing of key Serb politician in Kosovo triggers break-up of Belgrade-Pristina talks (RT, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/416059-kosovo-leading-serb-politician-killed/

    “A leading Serb politician in Kosovo has been gunned down in front of his party’s office in Mitrovica. The killing of Oliver Ivanovic sparked outrage in Belgrade, which suspended talks with Pristina in protest.

    Ivanovic, 64, was fatally injured by an unidentified assailant in front of the office of his Citizens’ Initiative Party, Serbian state television reported…”

  19. Guards’ Rage at Europe’s Largest Prison Spills to Streets Over Islamist Violence (sputniknews, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201801161060786510-protests-french-prison/

    “About a hundred prison workers gathered at the Fleury-Merogis Prison in the suburbs of Paris on Monday night, protesting last week’s assault on guards at the Vendin-le-Vieil prison in northern France, which saw three guards injured in a scissor attack by an Islamist militant…”

    • French prison officers stage protests against violent inmates (theguardian, Jan 16, 2018)
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/16/french-prison-officers-protests-against-violent-inmates

      “Protesting French prison guards have pushed back against riot police and shouted down the justice minister amid demonstrations at several prisons over violent inmates and overcrowding.

      Dozens of union activists lit a fire and were surrounded by riot police on Tuesday morning at the notoriously violent Fresnes prison, south of Paris.

      Protesters shouting the national anthem greeted the justice minister, Nicole Belloubet, as she visited a prison in Vendin-le-Vieil, northern France, to try to calm tensions…”

    • RT in France~
      “Don’t poke the Bear!”
      Didn’t Macron’s Mommy or Daddy (if he had one) teach him that?
      Didn’t he learn history in school? What were his teachers thinking…?”

  20. Turkey to Assault Syrian Afrin With Airstrikes on 149 Kurdish Targets – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801161060787556-turkey-afrin-kurds-offensive/

    “Turkey’s possible offensive in Syria’s northern Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave will start with airstrikes on 149 targets of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Turkish media reported on Tuesday.

    Since Saturday, Ankara has been threatening to start an operation against the Syrian Kurds in Afrin following an announcement by the US-led coalition about training a border protection force composed of the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), affiliated with the YPG, in northern Syria. Various Turkish media have been reporting about shelling by the Turkish army of the territory under YPG control in Afrin. Ankara has reportedly sent armed convoys to the Syrian border.

    The Turkish Vatan newspaper reported, citing military sources, that the country’s airstrikes would be carried out by fighter aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

    Ankara also plans to start a ground operation after the elimination of the main YPG strongholds by airstrikes. Turkey plans to attack the Kurdish forces from three directions to make them retreat to the regions under Damascus control to the southeast of Afrin, the outlet added.

    Col. Thomas Veale, public affairs officer of the US-led coalition said in an interview with The Defense Post news outlet, published on Saturday, that the coalition was training the SDF to create a 30,000-strong force to maintain security along Syria’s borders. The statement prompted condemnation from Damascus, calling these activities aggression and occupation.

    The US announcement also followed threats by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to eliminate the US-trained Kurdish troops from the vicinity of the Turkish southern border.

    Ankara, one of the Syrian ceasefire guarantor states alongside Iran and Russia, considers the YPG linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed a terrorist organization in Turkey.”

  21. Syrian opposition calls on Trump and EU to up pressure on Russia and Iran (reuters, Jan 16. 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-opposition/syrian-opposition-calls-on-trump-and-eu-to-up-pressure-on-russia-and-iran-idUKKBN1F51DJ

    “Syria’s chief opposition negotiator called on U.S. President Donald Trump and European Union leaders to increase pressure on President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and Iran to return to talks aimed at ending the six-year civil war.

    “It is time for President Trump, Chancellor (Angela) Merkel and (British) Prime Minister (Theresa) May to say: ‘Stop’,” Nasr Hariri, the chief negotiator for Syria’s main opposition, told Reuters in an interview.

    “It is time for Trump, Merkel and May to increase pressure and bring the international community together to get a genuine and just political situation in Syria.”

    Hariri said that unless the United States and EU powers increased pressure on President Assad and his big power allies in Moscow and Tehran, then the blood of Syrian civilians would continue to be spilled…”

  22. Patterson Park statue honoring national anthem is defaced, found sprayed with red paint

    A statue paid for with pennies contributed by Baltimore school children more than a century ago was found sprayed with red paint Monday morning.

    Jennifer Arndt Robinson, executive director of Friends of Patterson Park, said the bronze statue of children holding a scroll to commemorate the writing of the Star Spangled Banner had been damaged by paint. The words “Racist Anthem” were sprayed on a sidewalk near the statue.

    “We were notified early this morning of the incident,” Robinson said. “We are working with appropriate city officials to make sure it is addressed as quickly as possible.”

    Robinson said a cannon near the statue also was hit by paint.

    A spray paint can was recovered at the site and is being handed over to the Baltimore police, she said.

    “While we recognize the issue of freedom of expression, there has to be more appropriate ways to have that conversation,” Robinson said.

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-statue-20180115-story.html

  23. Days after Hawaii alert gaffe, Japan issues false alarm about a missile launch

    TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese public broadcaster NHK issued a false alarm about a North Korean missile launch on Tuesday, just days after a similar gaffe caused panic in Hawaii, but it managed to correct the error within minutes.

    It was not immediately clear what triggered the mistake.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/now-japanese-tv-issues-false-alarm-missile-launch-104605205.html

  24. Soros Pledges Renewed Fight Against ‘Dominant Ideology’ of Nationalism, Says EU ‘on Verge of Breakdown’

    The progressive billionaire speculator George Soros has said he will ‘fight back’ against the “dominant ideology” of nationalism, whilst admitting that favoured globalist project the European Union is “on the verge of a breakdown”.

    Wistfully writing that Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) once ‘epitomised the optimism about the spread of Western-style democracy’ after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Financial Times described the scrutiny the global progressive body is experiencing amidst a wave of patriotism and populism and the ‘wilting’ attraction of the leftist agenda.

    Soros, alluding to the collapse of the USSR, told the left-liberal newspaper: “It’s déjà vu all over again with one big change — the dominant ideology in the world now is nationalism… It’s the EU that’s the institution that’s on the verge of a breakdown.

    “And Russia is now the resurgent power, based on nationalism,” Soros said.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/01/15/soros-dominant-ideology-nationalism-eu-verge-breakdown/

  25. Nigeria releases Boko Haram suspects after rehabilitation (BBC, Jan 16, 2018)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42705381

    “Nigeria’s military says it has released 244 “repentant” Boko Haram suspects who have undergone rehabilitation.

    The authorities say they have been de-radicalised and can re-enter society, but critics are sceptical about whether they have repented.

    The group, which includes women and children, has been handed over to the governor of Borno state, an area badly affected by Islamist violence…”

  26. Turkey’s Erdogan calls on EU to respond to US’s ‘terror army’ in Syria (telegraph, Jan 16, 2018)
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/16/turkeys-erdogan-calls-eu-respond-uss-terror-army-syria/

    “Turkey’s president has called on Nato to take a stance against the US, a fellow ally, over its plans to form a 30,000-strong Kurdish-led border security force in Syria.

    Turkey has been threatening to launch a new military offensive in Syria against Syrian Kurdish militias, which Ankara considers to be terrorists because of their affiliation with a outlawed group fighting an insurgency in southern Turkey…”

    • It is important that you watch this video, I can’t overstate how important this video is, several years ago a Dem Governor tells about the 8 point plan to destroy American. The plan is in place and working to a greater extent then most of us would like.

  27. That time Susan Rice said U.S. could ‘tolerate’ a nuclear-armed North Korea
    By J.E. Dyer January 16, 2018

    Hawaiians got a serious scare Saturday morning when the state emergency alert system sent out, by mistake, a false warning of an impending missile attack, telling citizens ominously “This is not a drill.”

    By all accounts, the alert sent much of the population into “complete panic.” People ran for shelter; ducked and covered as best they could in their homes; shielded their children and pets; texted farewells to loved ones; tried to reach family and friends to warn them.

    For 38 minutes, terrified islanders thought they were about to be hit by a nuclear warhead. The authorities were said to know within five minutes that the alert had been sent in error. But for some as yet unknown reason, it took 38 minutes to send out a correction from the emergency alert system.

    Afterward, the finger-pointing began. Hawaiian Democrat Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman for the state’s 2nd District, admitted the state’s own alert system was at fault, but denounced President Trump for his policy on North Korea.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/01/16/time-susan-rice-said-u-s-tolerate-nuclear-armed-north-korea/

    • Democrat Tulsi Gabbard says she has been calling for Trump to set down with Kim and make a deal to denuclearize Korea. What in the @#$%^ does she and the other libs mentioned in the article think we can do when Kim won’t give up his nukes? And if he says he will he will refuse to let us in to inspect and know he has given up all or even most of his nukes. They are out to destroy President Trump and will use any means they can no matter how they have to lie.

      Be sure and check out the Mark Levin video.

      • The New Yorker: some good cartoons, infamous hit pieces. Then there are “portraits” of somebody or other they want to draw to the attention of their public. For those they’re paid upfront, no need to scavenge for ad revenue when they’re plugged into the right PR firms and polical machines.

        “What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe?”

        ==> I know less about this young woman than before I read the article.

        • She is hard to get a grasp on, part of the time she talks like a person with a good brain and then along comes the leftist ideologue.

  28. Memory Lane: When the Clintons ripped off earthquake victims in Haiti
    By Jeff Dunetz January 16, 2018

    After the sh*t hole comment that President Trump may or may not have said last Thursday, the media has been all over what he supposedly said about Haiti. But even if President Trump made the vulgar (but not racist) comment, there are far worse things government officials have done to that tiny country. Like the time when Haiti needed help the most, former president Bubba and his Secretary of State wife used a Haitian tragedy to enrich themselves, their friends, and their family.

    After that horrible 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her husband, Clinton Foundation Chief/former POTUS Bubba visited Haiti just a few days after the devastation occurred. Both promised to help Haiti rebuild. In fact, Bill was named the UN special envoy to Haiti and in conjunction with his Secretary of State wife controlled billions of dollars of contracts awarded by the State Department to rebuild Haiti. “Coincidentally,” many of those companies that got one of those lucrative State Department contracts to help rebuild Haiti, also “just happened to” give large donations to the Clinton Foundation.

    The Government of Haiti set up the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) and installed the Haitian Prime Minister and Bill Clinton as co-chairs of the commission’s executive committee. But soon a number of members of that commission wrote a letter expressing concerns they were not involved in the process and all of the decisions were being made by Clinton and the Prime Minister, and they claimed and argued the national priorities of the Haitians were being disregarded by the decisions being made. They were correct.

  29. New Jersey’s new Dem governor plans state agency to protect illegal migrants
    By LU Staff January 15, 2018

    Newly inaugurated New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy plans to establish the Garden State as a bastion of far left policies, including a first-of-its-kind government agency devoted exclusively to protecting the rights of legal and illegal immigrants alike.

    Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs financier who was swept into office on the back of former Gov. Chris Christie’s historically low approval ratings, told The Washington Post he plans to operationalize the sentiment behind the “sanctuary” movement by establishing an Office of Immigrant Defensive Protection.

    While a number of Democratically controlled states have adopted an official policy of non-cooperation with federal immigration authorities, Murphy is seeking to outdo his progressive counterparts by devoting an entire agency to help immigrants navigate the federal immigration bureaucracy.

    “It would be a place where everybody could call with questions about their status,” Murphy told WaPo. “Our guess is it’s going to be legal-services-oriented. One remarkable thing, and you probably have seen this, the rumors that swirl around communities are extraordinary, and it’s literally hard to get, particularly if you’re undocumented, the right answer to your question. That’s when people go back into the shadows.”

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/01/15/new-jerseys-new-dem-governor-plans-state-agency-protect-illegal-migrants/

  30. Iran’s leader accuses Saudis of ‘treason’ against Muslims (wapo, Jan 16, 2018)
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/irans-leader-accuses-saudis-of-treason-against-muslims/2018/01/16/ded16578-fad8-11e7-9b5d-bbf0da31214d_story.html

    “Iran’s supreme leader has accused Saudi Arabia of “treason” against Muslims because of its alleged ties to Israel.

    Addressing representatives from the Muslim-majority countries in Tehran on Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “governments that help the United States and cooperate with the Zionist regime to fight Muslim brothers are committing treason, like what Saudis are doing.”

    However, he also said Iran is ready to adopt a “brotherly attitude” toward countries that have been hostile toward it, and called for Muslim unity…”

  31. Louisiana Lawsuits Try to Put Oil Industry on Trial for Following the Law 80 Years Ago
    Posted to Energy January 08, 2018 by Erin Mundahl

    Louisiana’s economy has benefited a lot from the energy industry. For decades, oil and natural gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the refining and other support industries on shore, have given the state billions of dollars in tax revenue. At the same time, various conservation groups and other special interests in the state have worried about the effects of the industry, including oil spills and coastal erosion. For decades, regulators have tried to mitigate these harms through permitting policies which have become more extensive over time. Now 2018 is shaping up to be a year where oil companies operating in the Gulf will be forced to justify their practices in court without any specific violations being in question.

    Twenty coastal parishes (out of a total of 60 in the state) are filing lawsuits against oil companies who either are operating or did operate in the area. The lawsuit is surprising in its breadth. Each company is being sued individually and the list of names includes both major companies like Chevron, Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil, as well as smaller companies that no longer operate in the area. In part, the lawsuit looks back to the 1930s, when development in the area began.

    http://www.insidesources.com/louisiana-parishes-open-massive-lawsuit-against-oil-industry/

    [Ed. – Sounds like a classic sue-and-settle shakedown. Activists can’t get the EPA to join in this now, so they’re getting Louisiana local governments to do it instead. For the parishes, I assume it’s a sue-and-settle plan, just to make money off the oil companies. As the author says, the parishes’ economies are dependent on those oil companies. The parish governments don’t actually want to shut anything down. They just want to use a court process to squeeze some money out of the companies.]

  32. The Bad Ideas Behind Attacks on Trump’s Blunt Truth
    What hysterical attacks by the president’s detractors are designed to hide.
    January 16, 2018
    Bruce Thornton

    Donald Trump’s leaked alleged comments about “sh*thole countries” to some Congressmen in a closed-door meeting has triggered the Dems’ and mainstream media’s usual hysterical recourse to their all-purpose smear, “racism.” With no arguments that can answer Trump’s concrete successes, the left relies on its favorite question-begging epithet to create a smog of invective in the hopes that it can distract people from Trump’s policy improvements. And other criticisms are based on ideas that are just as questionable, but remain the received wisdom of our ruling elite.

    Over at Townhall one can find a selection of reactions that show how irrational and ideologically opportunistic have been the responses to Trump’s statements about Haiti and Africa. Never missing an opportunity to weaponized grievance, the Black Congressional Caucus is ginning up a Congressional resolution to censure the president for his “bigoted fear mongering,” and for insulting countries that “produce immigrants that are remarkable and make significant contributions to our country.”

    This hysteria relies on taking Trump’s comments out of context. Trump was talking about getting rid of chain migration and the visa lottery, policies that some Congressmen in the meeting were negotiating to keep basically intact. But Trump believes correctly that randomly admitting immigrants without any of the standards of selection that most countries rely on has been harmful to our country. The point is to admit the best, not just anybody who accidentally has a relative already here, or got lucky in the lottery. Particularly when there are so many politically, socially, and economically dysfunctional countries whose citizens are eager to emigrate, which is why Democrats insist on accepting refugees from them. But taking in randomly selected people from such countries creates a much higher probability those immigrants will be harder to turn into productive Americans than those from other countries less dysfunctional.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269031/bad-ideas-behind-attacks-trumps-blunt-truth-bruce-thornton

  33. The Kidnappings Americans Won’t Do
    42.4% of kidnapping convictions are of non-citizens.
    January 16, 2018
    Daniel Greenfield

    We all know that there are jobs that Americans won’t do. That’s what the politicians who don’t want Americans doing them tell us. If an industry is dominated by immigrants or illegal aliens, they say that it’s because Americans won’t do these jobs.

    But when immigrants and aliens dominate certain types of crime, is it because there are some crimes that Americans won’t commit?

    Like kidnapping?

    According to the Center for Immigration Studies, 42.4 percent of federal kidnapping convictions are of non-citizens. Non-citizens also account for 31.5 percent of federal drug convictions. Even though they’re only 8.4% of the population. Obviously there aren’t enough Americans to commit these crimes.

    We need immigrants to commit the kidnappings and drug crimes that Americans just won’t do.

    What’s behind the kidnapping exceptionalism?

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269029/kidnappings-americans-wont-do-daniel-greenfield

  34. Iran Protesters Cheer Trump, Call for Sanctions
    January 16, 2018
    Daniel Greenfield

    I guess they must be Islamophobes.

    They are risking their lives to bring freedom to Iran, and vow to continue their protests.

    “These uprisings have just begun. People are not at all willing to give up,” one activist told Fox News from the streets of Iran.

    The protesters are members of the long banned opposition group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI, also known as the MEK). The group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi, has been directly blamed by the Iranian government for fomenting the unrest.

    The group is calling for Iran’s oil exports to also be subject to sanctions, the ability of the Tehran regime to access the international banking system to be cut off, as well as other punitive measures.

    The activists predict stronger methods will work, and are thanking the president and the American public for keeping up the pressure.

    “We thank you President Trump. We call on all of the supporters of the people who press this regime from different fronts, to put pressure with you and overthrow with us,” the activist told Fox News in broken English.

    “In Iran taxis and buses and public places, you heard people talking that they are happy that the United States and President Trump is actually taking actions on the side of the Iranian people and as you know, the overthrow of this regime and establishment of a free country is in the interest of the entire world.”

    But not in Obama’s interests. Or the interests of the left.

    That’s why the media reacted to the protests the same way it did under Obama. It tried to ignore them, dismiss them, minimize them, distort them and then finally banish them from the news. The left became Iran Firsters with the Iran Deal. And they will do anything they can to protect Obama’s radioactive legacy.

    So look for the media to ignore the men and women fighting for their freedom in the streets… while reporting on what sort of candy, President Trump eats.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/269040/iran-protesters-cheer-trump-call-sanctions-daniel-greenfield

  35. 10 Thoughts on the President and the ‘S—hole Countries’
    What if Trump had used different language to communicate the same idea?
    January 16, 2018
    Dennis Prager

    Here are ten thoughts on the president’s alleged use of the word “s—-hole” in describing Haiti, a Central American country and African countries:

    1. There are few filters between President Donald Trump’s mind and mouth. That is his appeal and his weakness. It is very common that a person’s strengths are also weaknesses. I wish Trump’s tweets and comments were as forthright — as un-P.C. — as they are now but stated in a sophisticated way. I also wish that cheesecake were not fattening. But just as cheesecake comes with sugar, Donald Trump comes with unsophisticated rhetoric. People are packages, not a la carte menus.

    2. As a rule, a president of the United States should not label countries, let alone continents, “s—-holes. I don’t know what word the president actually used, but had he used the word “dysfunctional” instead of “s—-hole,” that actually might have been a service to the people of many of these countries. I have been to 20 African countries. Corruption is Africa’s greatest single problem. That’s why those who truly care about Africans, many of whom are terrific people, need to honestly describe the moral state of many or most African countries. What benefit is it to honest, hardworking Africans or Latin Americans or others to deny the endemic corruption of these societies?

    As Guatemalan columnist Claudia Nunez wrote on Trump in the Guatemalan newspaper Siglio 21: “The epithets he uses to describe certain groups are unfortunate and exemplify the decadence of the current political scene. But he has also said things that are true, for example, that it is we citizens of migration countries who have accommodated ourselves to the need to export people, as we have calmly allowed excessive levels of corruption to grow for decades.”

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/269034/10-thoughts-president-and-s-hole-countries-dennis-prager

  36. Luton Islamic school’s pupils ‘have to ask for loo roll’ (BBC, Jan 16, 2018)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-42690331

    “Inspectors found children at an independent school having to ask for toilet paper, and washing their cutlery in toilet sinks.

    The Olive Tree Primary School in Luton is an Islamic day school that caters for nearly 80 pupils aged between five and 11 years old.

    The education watchdog Ofsted found a number of standards were not met.

    The school has been approached for comment on the findings but has yet to respond.

    In their report, inspectors told how “inappropriate books” which “did not promote British values” had been found during a previous inspection.

    Despite school leaders stating the titles had been removed, the books, which include some by a banned author with “extreme views about punishment by death”, were still on the shelves when inspectors re-visited the establishment in November.

    ‘Rotting debris’
    The report also raised concerns about health and safety standards in the school.

    “Pupils bring their own food to school because there is no facility for the school to provide food for pupils,” the report said.

    “Pupils wash their cutlery in the toilet basins (sinks), where only tepid water is available.

    “Pupils do not have the necessary resources to be hygienic when using the toilets.

    “Boys do not have toilet tissue, soap or hand-drying facilities available in the toilets.

    “They have to ask an adult in class for toilet tissue.

    “Girls have discarded food out of their toilet windows, and the debris is rotting in the security bars.

    “Toilet tissue has been thrown on to the ceiling in the girls’ toilets and has been left there.””

  37. Deutsche Welle -Facebook slammed for censoring German street artist

    German social media platforms are censoring legitimate content, including an image by an award-winning artist. Critics say Germany’s much-lauded “lex Facebook” law encourages “overblocking.”

    As online content goes, the image of a bikini top covering a traffic sign alerting drivers to speed bumps is rather innocuous. But that didn’t stop Facebook and Instagram from removing the photograph from the accounts of German street artist “Barbara.”

    The artist or artists behind the name, who want to remain anonymous, also say the platforms threatened to close the accounts entirely.

    “Employees of private companies are making snap decisions on behalf of Facebook and Instagram and don’t even provide any rationale,” wrote “Barbara” on Facebook. “I think this is more than a threat to Internet freedom. From my perspective, it’s being ruined.”[…]

    http://www.dw.com/en/facebook-slammed-for-censoring-german-street-artist/a-42155218