Reader’s links, February 3, 2018

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

133 Replies to “Reader’s links, February 3, 2018”


  1. According to The Telegraph, British-based terror suspect Abdulrahman Alcharbati’s Facebook account was suspended on nine separate occasions after he posted sickening ISIS propaganda videos. Alcharbati reportedly posted six videos on his personal Facebook page that were created by the Islamic terror group.

    In the space of less than three months, his account was reportedly suspended nine times. Every time Facebook reprimanded him, he would respond with angry emails that invoked his religion. For instance, in one email, he threatened, “You will stand in front of the Creator Allah The All Merciful and will have to answer for your doing.”

    In another email, Alcharbati allegedly wrote, “Please have mercy in your hearts Allah will hold you responsible for your actions.”

    Facebook apparently took him seriously. “After reviewing your appeal we have reactivated your account. Please keep in mind that one of our main priorities is the comfort and safety of the people who use Facebook. We do not allow credible threats to harm others, support for violent organisations or let exceedingly graphic content live on Facebook,” the social media giant allegedly warned time and again.

    https://dmlnews.com/report-fb-repeatedly-reinstated-terrorists-account-allah-claims/

  2. The Latest: 8 Turkish troops killed in Syria operation (abcnews, Feb 3, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-turkey-expand-operation-syrian-kurds-52815940

    “Turkey says eight of its soldiers were killed near the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin in the deadliest day so far since Ankara’s operation there started.

    In a statement late on Saturday, the Turkish military says five soldiers were killed after their tank in Syria came under attack. It says the soldiers could not be saved despite all attempts.

    Earlier in the day, three Turkish soldiers were killed in the area. The total death toll for Turkish troops since the operation started on Jan. 20 now stands at 13.

    The statement says a Syrian Kurdish militia and the Islamic State group carried out the attack, without providing details.

    Turkey launched the incursion into Afrin to rout the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia, which it considers to be a terrorist organization and an extension of Kurdish insurgents fighting within Turkey.”

  3. Pakistan: Gunmen kill singer for refusing to go with them (abcnews, Feb 3, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-gunmen-kill-singer-refusing-52816756

    “Pakistani police say three gunmen have shot and killed a female singer who refused to accompany them to a private party.

    Police official Saeed Khan says the incident happened in the northwestern city of Mardan on Saturday.

    He says the artists, known only as Sumbul, was shot multiple times and killed at her home after the gunmen broke in and asked her to perform for them at a private party.

    Khan says the perpetrators fled the scene of the killing and that he police are searching for them.

    There have been similar attacks on female artists in this part of the country in the past.”

  4. An 18-year-old man who repeatedly raped a young woman at gunpoint has been jailed for 20 years. Police said Aquib Ahmed and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, operated as a ‘twisted tag team’ as they subjected the woman, who is in her 20s, to ‘a disgusting, heartless attack’. The pair broke into a house in the Fir Vale area of Sheffield in March last year looking for drugs and threatening the man and his daughter inside, South Yorkshire Police said.

    Read more: http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/01/woman-raped-gunpoint-men-twisted-tag-team-front-dad-7277736/#mv-b?ito=cbshare

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroUK/

  5. Britain’s first ‘private police force’ has caught 400 criminals with a 100 per cent conviction rate after taking on cases regular officers are too busy to look at
    TM Eye operates against a backdrop of rising crime rates and police budget cuts
    Company has brought successful conviction against 403 offenders in two years
    But critics fear it could lead to two-tier system where the wealthy are protected

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5346699/First-private-police-force-caught-400-criminals.html

    • critics fear it could lead to two-tier system where the wealthy are protected

      Well duh. the government has shown they don’t care about the poor people in Britain so why should this new development surprise anyone?

  6. Greek officials who set foot on contested islands in the Aegean Sea will face Turkey’s wrath that will be “worse than that in Afrin,” a Turkish presidential advisor has asserted. Athens swiftly denounced his rant.
    “We will break the arms and legs of the [Greek] Prime Minister [Alexis Tsipras] or of any minister, who dares to step onto Imia in the Aegean,” Yigit Bulut, a senior advisor to Turkish President Recep Erdogan told TRT Thursday. Bulut was referring to a pair of uninhabited isles in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea that have long been the subject of a bitter territorial dispute between Turkey and Greece.

    https://www.rt.com/news/417751-turkey-greece-islands-dispute/

      • They do have a limited vocabulary don’t they?

        Just using the word “vocabulary” is overly-generous.

        Remember, tiny Portugal translates into its own (relatively obscure) language more books each year than all of the Muslim countries combined. Which explains a lot when it comes to why Islam remains mired in the Iron Age.

  7. Germany: Clashes erupt at Hamburg protest against Turkey’s Afrin offensive

    Protesters marched against the Turkish military offensive in Syria’s Afrin at a demonstration in Hamburg, Saturday.

    Brief clashes broke out between protesters and unidentified persons. Police rushed in to keep the two sides apart, using tear gas to disperse the groups.

    • Netherlands: Scuffles erupt during protest against Turkish operation in Afrin

      Around 2000 protestors gathered on the Schouwburgplein, in Rotterdam, on Saturday, to demonstrate against the Turkish military operation taking place in the Syrian region of Afrin.

  8. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that he would do what was best for his country when it comes to NAFTA renegotiation, even if it means walking away from it.

    Trudeau’s comments come a few days after President Donald Trump emphasized the need for fair trade deals during his State of the Union address Tuesday. Trump did not mention NAFTA by name, nor did he repeat his previous threats to withdraw. But tensions between the two large trading partners have remained high throughout Trump’s first year in office.

    https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/02/nafta-canada-trudeau-mexico-387991

  9. Airgun sales soar in Germany amid terror fears with more than 550,000 now holding licences for minor arms
    Surge means even non-lethal weapons sellers struggling to satisfy demand
    Increase in migrant crime and terror attacks behind the increase in guns
    Gun craze exemplified by Carolin Matthie who has become an internet sensation
    Student bought a gun after being followed home by foreign men shouting at her

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5346947/Airgun-sales-soar-Germany-amid-terror-fears.html

  10. 2 Terrorists Caught In J&K, Police Says Pak Gave Visas For Arms Training (ndtv, Feb 3, 2018)
    https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pak-gave-visas-for-arms-training-jammu-and-kashmir-police-chief-after-2-terrorists-caught-1808212?pfrom=home-topscroll

    “Two Kashmiri youth arrested for receiving arms training at a Lashkar-e-Taiba camp in Islamabad had crossed the border on valid Pakistani visas, SP Vaid, the Jammu and Kashmir police chief said today. The two had crossed over through the Wagah border in Punjab.

    “Those imparting training are in collusion with those giving visas,” Mr Vaid said in a sharp attack at the Pakistan High Commission.

    They were arrested in a joint operation by the police, army and central forces before they could join the ranks of the terror group. The two were identified by the Kashmir police as Abdul Majeed Bhat and Mohammad Ashraf Mir. They are from two towns of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Kreeri and Pattan.

    Mr Vaid said the two men had detailed how training was being imparted at these terror camps.

    During questioning, the two men told the police that they were located at a camp in Islamabad. A large number of other inmates at the camp were Pakistani teens, most of them from the restive Balochistan province. Some of the boys roped in for training were as young as 10 years old.

    “The camp is located near Burma Town in Islamabad and being run by a terrorist commander operating under code names Hanzala, Adanan and Omar. Other terrorists imparting training to young boys are operating with code names Osama, Naveed and Hataf,” a police officer said.

    The officer said security agencies had come across instances in the past as well that indicated some people going to Pakistan on a valid visa for terror training.

    For instance, two terrorists Azharuddin and Sajad Ahmad killed in a gunfight in Sopore in February last year had travelled to Pakistan on valid visas to get arms training, according to news agency IANS.

    “Suhaib Farooq Akhoon of Baramulla also visited Pakistan in August last year, acquired terrorist training in LeT terrorist camp, subsequently went underground and joined their ranks and is currently active,” a police officer said.

    Abdul Rashid Bhat from Sopore who was arrested on July 17 last year by Baramulla police had also undergone training in Pakistan under similar circumstances, he said.”

    • To understand the logical fallacy, you really have to google (without quotes)
      Rashi asks the same question

      (The view of literalism as a litmus test loses sight of the humor and joy that Biblical commentaries find in tossing around the interplay of literal and figurative language.)
      He is also lost in cause and effect: People self-select to stay in Israel because of their affinity for their holy books.

  11. BREITBART – 16 Bombshells in the Nunes Memo the Media Do Not Want You to Know About

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/03/16-nunes-memo-bombshells-media-not-want-know/
    ============================================
    CBC – Trump says memo on Russia probe vindicates him

    U.S. President Donald Trump says the memo on the Russia probe vindicates him of any collusion, but his critics and other experts say it’s not such a cut-and-dried issue.

    + comments on the YT page

    • twitter @realDonaldTrump

      https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/959949725028974592

      “The four page memo released Friday reports the disturbing fact about how the FBI and FISA appear to have been used to influence the 2016 election and its aftermath….The FBI failed to inform the FISA court that the Clinton campaign had funded the dossier….the FBI became….

      …a tool of anti-Trump political actors. This is unacceptable in a democracy and ought to alarm anyone who wants the FBI to be a nonpartisan enforcer of the law….The FBI wasn’t straight with Congress, as it hid most of these facts from investigators.” Wall Street Journal

      https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/959952974826098688

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

      Trump shares op-ed tearing into FBI over findings in Nunes memo

      http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372191-trump-touts-findings-of-nunes-memo

      ===============================================
      WSJ – A Reckoning for the FBI
      The House memo reveals disturbing facts about the misuse of FISA.

      Now we know why the FBI tried so hard to block release of the House Intelligence Committee memo. And why Democrats and the media want to change the subject to Republican motivations. The four-page memo released Friday reports disturbing facts about how the FBI and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court appear to have been used to influence the 2016 election and its aftermath.

      (behind paywall )

      https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-reckoning-for-the-fbi-1517617641

    • CNN – Rep. Schiff: Steele dossier’s political motivation disclosed in FISA application

      A central pillar of Rep. Devin Nunes’ memo alleging wrongdoing by the FBI — that the government did not disclose the political bias of a source when seeking a surveillance warrant — is unfounded, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff told reporters Friday.

      The memo alleges that ex-British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who authored an opposition research dossier on Trump that was used to obtain a FISA warrant on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, harbored anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations, including that the dossier was funded in part by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The memo claims those motivations were not included in the FISA application even though senior Justice Department officials knew about Steele’s alleged anti-Trump bias.

      President Donald Trump repeated the claim in a pair of tweets Saturday night that quoted and paraphrased a Wall Street Journal editorial.
      […]

      https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/03/politics/memo-dossier-christopher-steele-carter-page/index.html

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

      CNN – Donald Trump said 4 things that aren’t true in a single 47-word tweet

      https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/959798743842349056

      1. “This memo totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe.”

      2. “The Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on”

      3. “Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction”

      4. “After one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead.”

      https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/03/politics/trump-tweet-memo-analysis/index.html

    • Judge Jeanine: They needed reason to spy, so they made it up

      A cabal of arrogant, condescending employees of our government thought we didn’t count.

  12. U.S. imposes new sanctions on Hezbollah

    United States sanctions six individuals and seven business with alleged links to one of Hezbollah’s top financiers.

    The United States on Friday levied sanctions against six individuals and seven business with alleged links to Hezbollah financier Adham Tabaja, the White House said, according to AFP.

    Tabaja, a Lebanese businessman, is believed by authorities in the United States to be one of Hezbollah’s top five money men, with ties spanning the Middle East and Africa.

    It will be a “very bad day for” Tabaja, said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    The sanctions, which are aimed at his managers and at companies based in Lebanon, Sierra Leone and Ghana, include trade bans and assets freezes.

    They are said to be the first in a “wave” of sanctions targeting Hezbollah after a policy review by President Donald Trump’s administration, according to AFP.

    The United States has sanctioned Hezbollah in the past, with the House of Representatives approving in October new sanctions on the Lebanon-based terrorist group.

    The measures would impose new sanctions on any entities found to support the group, such as by providing weapons to Hezbollah as well as sanctions on Iran and Hezbollah for using civilians as human shields.

    In addition, Washington has in the past imposed sanctions on Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and two other members of the organization, for their alleged role in aiding the Syrian government in its crackdown on opposition forces.

    The Trump White House is keen to signal a tougher stance on Hezbollah and its Iranian backers, noted AFP.

    They argue that President Barack Obama was not aggressive enough in cracking down on Hezbollah financing for fear of derailing a major deal aimed at stopping Iran for getting nuclear weapons.

    Indeed, Politico reported in December that the Obama administration actively thwarted a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) operation into Hezbollah’s drug smuggling operations in the United States in order to appease Iran ahead of the 2015 nuclear deal.

    Last month, United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the Justice Department to establish an investigative team to probe organizations giving support to the Iranian-backed terror group.

    A senior administration official said on Friday that Hezbollah receives most of its operating budget — about $700 million a year — from the Iranian government and takes orders from the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards.

    In October, Washington offered multimillion-dollar rewards for two of its officials as the Trump administration developed its strategy for countering Iran’s growing regional influence.

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/241491

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

    Trump administration places new sanctions on Hezbollah

  13. the gateway pundit – FIGURES. Sensitive Snowflake Who Resigned from FBI Cuz People Write Mean Things=> WAS COMEY’S PERSONAL ASSISTANT

    Josh Campbell quit the FBI this week.
    Then he wrote an op-ed for The New York Times where he complained about people exposing the corruption and criminal acts by agency leaders.

    Maybe the FBI wasn’t a good fit for Josh?
    Josh believes the FBI is above the law.

    People shouldn’t attack the FBI because it’s bad for the agency.
    The New York Times thinks we should all stop picking on the FBI and let them continue their witch hunt against President Trump.

    Political operatives are weaponizing their disagreement with a particular investigation in a bid to undermine the credibility of the entire institution. “The system is rigged” is their slogan, and they are now politicizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process used to collect critical intelligence about our adversaries.

    The assumption among confused and dismayed F.B.I. employees is that the attacks are meant to soften the blow should the investigation by Mr. Mueller, the special counsel, lead to additional charges. However, these kinds of attacks by powerful people go beyond mere criticism — they could destroy the institution.

    For the record…
    At the end of the opinion piece there is a little descriptor in small print.

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/wp-content/uploads/josh-comey-assistant-600×207.jpg

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/02/figures-sensitive-fbi-snowflake-resigned-cuz-people-write-mean-things-comeys-personal-assistant/

  14. Greece: Far-right Golden Dawn party rally over Macedonia naming dispute

    Hundreds of far-right Golden Dawn party members and activists rallied in Athens on Saturday against the Greek government’s stance on the Macedonia naming dispute and to honour a 1996 military incident which cost the lives of three Greek navy officers and brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of war.

  15. Italy: Anti-fascists rally against right-wing party CasaPound’s alleged violence

    Over 5,000 antifascist protesters marched on Saturday in Genoa against alleged recent aggressions from the right-wing CasaPound party.

  16. Swiss church magazine ‘shocks’ readers with gay men cover photo

    Some readers said the photo of two naked men intertwined to suggest a crucifix was offensive, blasphemous, sacrilegious and scandalous

    A Swiss magazine has shocked readers with the photo of two naked men intertwined on a bed in a way that evokes a crucifix but editors have rejected charges of blasphemy.

    “A work of art is designed to make you think,” is how Gilles Bourquin, the co-editor of Réformé, a Swiss monthly, described the lead photo of a special report about sexual minorities.

    The image by Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin depicts two naked men, one white, the other black that many say resembles a crucifix.

    The special report focused on how the Protestant Church in Switzerland welcomes the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI)
    community.

    The photo caused quite a storm. Around 100 readers of the magazine — the official periodical of the reformed churches of Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Berne and Jura, with a circulation of 190,000 — emailed its offices to say they were “shocked,” “scandalised,” “offended,” and “disgusted.”

    “They said the photo was offensive, blasphemous, sacrilegious and scandalous,” said Bourquin, who is also a theologian.

    “Some even said they didn’t want to receive the magazine anymore because this photo was more than they could bear. The mental block it has provoked overshadows the contents of the special report. It’s a shame,” he said.

    Most of the unhappy readers are residents of the canton of Vaud and members of the reformed church’s evangelical movement, according to Guillaume Henchoz, editor of the http://www.reformes.ch website.

    “The movement is quite strong in Vaud,” he said.

    Bourquin posted a response to his critics on the website Jan. 29.“

    Looking back, we could have accompanied this image with an explanation. There is a confusion in some people’s minds. It is not a pornographic image. It is a work of art designed to make one think. It shows the dignity of homosexual relations,” he wrote.

    He addressed the accusation of blasphemy.

    “We did not want to say that Christ was homosexual. We had no plans to shock. By dealing with the delicate issue of recognising the sexual orientation of LGBTI people, we wanted to show our solidarity and our recognition that these people are persecuted in many countries outside Europe. That is also the role of a church magazine,” he wrote.

    “The aim of the image is to make us ask ourselves questions,” he added.

    “Why are we shocked when we see two men lying against each other expressing their love? Being shocked suggests a very intimate part of our identity is affected by this image. It isn’t just a moral or theological disagreement, but something interior, a malaise, or an even deeper wound.”

    For his part, Joël Burri, who runs the Protestinfo website, wrote in a column entitled “As long as we don’t see them” that “what makes this picture dirty is everything we project.”

    “That signs of affection between men or between women are intolerable to a minority that is active in our churches doesn’t surprise me. What makes me sad is that nothing stands in the way of this discourse, which doesn’t really demonstrate evangelical love,” he added.

    The photograph has reignited a debate in Switzerland about the attitudes of the country’s various protestant churches towards gay people and sexual minorities in general.

    In 2012, the Protestant Church in Vaud voted for the possibility of offering blessings to couples living in registered partnerships. The church in Berne has already adopted this option.

    And in December, the Protestant Church in Geneva opened a debate on the pastoral care of new kinds of cohabitation, and in particular on blessing same-sex couples.

    https://international.la-croix.com/news/swiss-church-magazine-shocks-readers-with-gay-men-cover-photo/6852

    PIC on this page

    https://ripostelaique.com/leglise-reformee-publie-la-photo-dun-blanc-et-dun-noir-nus-enlaces.html