Reader’s Links, March 14, 2018

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About Eeyore

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

127 Replies to “Reader’s Links, March 14, 2018”

  7. Richard Dawkins Suggests Eating Human Flesh to Overcome Cannibalism ‘Taboo’

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/13/richard-dawkins-suggests-eating-human-flesh-to-overcome-cannibalism-taboo/

    Question: how would eating vat-grown human flesh prevent prion diseases caused by cannibalism, like Kuru? Or the human version of the ‘mad cow’ disease…

    If you frequently feast on human flesh, you might just end up like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4q3xAXp8Gc

    Perhaps taboos against cannibalism are a ‘good thing’!

  8. Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son, Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing that her phone call is the reason Brian spent his 27th birthday in a New Jersey prison last month. If the state gets its way, he will be there for the next seven years.

    Aitken was sentenced in August after he was convicted of felony possession of a handgun. Before his arrest, Aitken, an entrepreneur and owner of a media consulting business, had no criminal record, and it appears he made a good-faith effort to comply with New Jersey’s stringent gun laws. Even the jurors who convicted him seem to have been looking for a reason to acquit him. But the judge gave them little choice. Aitken’s best hope now is executive clemency. He is petitioning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for a reprieve this week.

    Aitken, born and raised in New Jersey, moved to Colorado several years ago. In Colorado he married his now ex-wife, also originally from New Jersey. The two had a son together. When the marriage dissolved, Atiken’s wife and infant son moved back to New Jersey. Aitken eventually decided to move back as well in order to be closer to his son. Beginning in late 2008, he took the first of several trips between the two states, a back-and-forth process that involved selling his house in Colorado, moving his possessions across the country, and finding a job and a new place to live back east. Until he could find a new apartment, he stored his belongings at his parents’ home in Burlington County.
    …
    The exemptions allow New Jersey residents to have guns in their homes, while hunting or at a shooting range, while traveling to or from hunting grounds or a shooting range, and when traveling between residences. Brian Aitken claimed he was moving between residences, and there is pretty strong evidence that he was. Sue Aitken testified that her son was moving his belongings from her house to his. So did Aitken’s roommate. One of the police officers at the scene testified that Aitken’s car was filled with personal belongings.

    Yet Judge Morley wouldn’t allow Aitken to claim the exemption for transporting guns between residences. He wouldn’t even let the jury know about it. During deliberations, the jurors asked three times about exceptions to the law, which suggests they weren’t comfortable convicting Aitken. Morley refused to answer them all three times. Gilbert and Nappen, Aitken’s lawyers, say he also should have been protected by a federal law that forbids states from prosecuting gun owners who are transporting guns between residences. Morley would not let Aitken cite that provision either.
    …

    https://reason.com/archives/2010/11/15/brian-aitkens-mistake

  9. Janice Fiamengo finally speaks about her HRC case – as much as she is permitted:

  12. Something I read:

    “Do you know how to spot a religion with a problem?

    It’s the only one with ‘phobia’ attached to it.”

    Author gave permission to promulgate the quote as having been uttered by that most brilliant person known only as ‘anonymous’.

  17. Magyar TV M1- Hungarians living in Sweden for 40 years moving back home because they don’t feel safe anymore. Complaints if sexual assaults and abuse now ignored by police.

    • Spain is less appealing, too, it seems.

      Spain extends citizenship law for Sephardic Jews
      Spain said Friday it would extend by one year a law that makes it easier for descendants of Jews who were forced to flee five centuries ago during the Inquisition to get citizenship.

      The law – which aims to correct the “historical mistake” of sending Jews into exile in 1492, forcing them to convert to Catholicism or burning them at the stake – came into effect in Oct 2015 and was set to expire in Oct 2018.…[Extended] until October 2019.…

      So far 6,432 Jews with Spanish ancestry, who are known as Sephardic Jews, have obtained Spanish citizenship without having to give up their other nationality.…

      http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/242959
      …….
      They estimated that _90,000_ people would apply.

  18. Magyar TV M1- Facebook is interfering in upcoming Hungarian election. It is promoting the Globalist/Leftist candidates.

    • “Magyar TV M1- Facebook is interfering in upcoming Hungarian election. It is promoting the Globalist/Leftist candidates.”

      Buried in there somewhere is a massive lawsuit for abuse of the public trust. Preferably with jail sentences.

      Here is a micro-example. NBC News producer fired over editing of George Zimmerman 911 call

      From the link: A transcript of the actual recording of the call between Zimmerman and the 911 dispatcher shows the version that was aired was significantly modified.

      This is a profound understatement. The unnamed NBC News producer had instructed the studio’s audio engineers to electronically “smooth” out background noise (i.e., wind and turbulence) with the explicit intention of hiding any audible “jumps” in between adjacent segments that they snipped from the actual audio transcript.

      Going to the macro-scale side of this equation, Facebook, along with almost all of the intensely Liberal Social Media giants, are intentionally “smoothing” the sociopolitical online landscape in order to begin installing the Global Government and transnational citizenship that makes them all wet themselves.

      In both examples, they are applying Selective Reality™ and it must be stopped.

  19. Policing crisis: Budget cuts are leaving detectives overworked and demoralised (express, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/931507/Police-budget-cuts-detectives-overwork-demoralised-policing-crisis

    “POLICING is on the brink of a new crisis with detectives reporting that budget cuts and overwork mean they are not doing their jobs properly.

    Almost three quarters of CID officers say they do not provide a service to the public all or most of the time.

    More than half – 56 per cent – claim the slashing of police budgets has had a huge impact on their morale with a quarter saying their physical and mental health has been badly affected.

    A staggering 90 per cent revealed they had been forced to take sick leave to escape stress and work pressure.

    The findings come from a survey of 7,800 detectives in England and Wales conducted by the Police Federation.

    They will put pressure on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to take action over reduced police budgets.

    Karen Stephens, secretary of the federation’s national detective forum, said: “We cannot ignore there is a crisis in detective policing.

    “There is a serious demand and capacity imbalance in this high pressure role and I have seen the toll it is taking on colleagues.””

  20. Britain First Facebook page removed in crackdown on hate speech (express, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/931670/britain-first-facebook-page-removed-ban-Paul-Golding-Jayda-Fransen

    “Facebook has removed the official page of far-right group Britain First, along with those of party leader Paul Golding and deputy leader Jayda Fransen.

    The social network said it had taken action after they repeatedly broke the site’s community standards on hate speech.

    Mr Golding and Ms Fransen were jailed earlier this month after being convicted of religiously-aggravated harassment in Kent last year.

    Facebook said they had continued to violate its rules despite issuing written final warnings over their conduct.

    “Content posted on the Britain First Facebook page and the pages of party leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen has repeatedly broken our Community Standards,” Facebook said.

    “We recently gave the administrators of the pages a written final warning, and they have continued to post content that violates our Community Standards.

    “As a result, in accordance with our policies, we have now removed the official Britain First Facebook page and the pages of the two leaders with immediate effect.

    “We do not do this lightly, but they have repeatedly posted content designed to incite animosity and hatred against minority groups, which disqualifies the Pages from our service.”

    Facebook confirmed the violating content included an image of the group’s leaders with the caption ‘Islamophobic and Proud’ and multiple videos which Facebook said had been posted deliberately to incite hateful comments against Muslims.

    The social network also confirmed that the group will not be allowed to set up an official Facebook page in the future…”

  21. ‘EU uses left-wingers to sell its propaganda!’ Italy’s Salvini STUNS press conference (express, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/931647/Italian-election-2018-results-who-won-the-italian-election-Matteo-Salvini-EU-Di-Maio-euro

    “MATTEO SALVINI took a swipe at Brussels as he accused the EU of “using journalists” to promote during a press conference in Strasbourg.

    The leader of the Italian League party, who is in the run to form Italy’s new government after successful results in the Italian election, accused journalists interrupting him during a press conference of being “lefties” unhappy about the election results.

    Mr Salvini was addressing the European Parliament in a press conference aimed at announcing his resignation as an MEP following his victory in the Italian Senate on March 4.

    MEPs from the Europe of Freedom and Democracy party, of which Mr Salvini is a member, applauded the Italian politician as he began to address the EU Parliament.

    Some of the journalists present in the room complained about the enthusiasm shown by the MEPs and interrupted Mr Salvini during his speech.

    The journalists claimed it was unprofessional of the MEPs to show support while a new government is yet to be formed in Italy following the inconclusive results.

    The Italian eurosceptic invited them to leave the room if they were unhappy with the results of the Italian election, accusing them of being “lefties” who could not accept the will of the Italian people.

    As Mr Salvini pointed at one of the journalists who continued to confront the politician on the issue, he said: “This is proof of a European Union built by people who didn’t take into account men and women but numbers.

    “They often use journalists to propagandise an ideology that takes into account numbers and consumers rather than people.”…”

  22. Syrian death toll tops 350,000 but Putin’s bombers continue to rain death from the skies (express, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/931216/syrian-civil-war-death-toll-vladimir-putin-bashar-al-assad-fighting

    “MORE than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria’s civil war since it began seven years ago it was revealed today – with no signs Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad intend to end the bloodshed.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK conflict monitor which tracks death tolls using a network of contacts inside the war-ravaged country, added that the unofficial death toll could be as high as 500,000, but that only 350,000 bodies had been formally identified.

    The remainder 150,000 were cases where the Observatory knew deaths had occurred but did not know the victims’ names.

    Around 85 per cent of the dead were killed by the forces of the Syrian government and its allies – chiefly Russia – the Observatory said.

    A statement read: “Some 353,935 people have been killed since March 15, 2011, including 106,390 civilians and 19,811 children.”

    But as the civil war enters its eighth year, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his ally Russian President Vladimir Putin appear unwilling to stop the fresh wave of clashes triggered by Russian-backed government forces bent on driving out Islamist factions from the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta.

    Vladimir Putin has deployed fearsome array of strike aircraft, attack helicopters and bombers to Syria.

    They have included:

    The nuclear capable Tu-160 – a supersonic heavy strategic bomber which is the largest combat aircraft in the world.

    It carries nuclear-tipped or cruise missiles to devastating efffect.

    The ‘Russian Black Hawk’ Mi-28 two-seat anti-tank attack helicopter, capable of operating in all weather conditions, day or night.

    The 1500-mph Su-30 multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions.

    The formidable SU-35 fighter jet which can achieve almost three times the speed of sound.

    The Tu-22M 1,400 mph supersonic, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber

    Calls from world leaders including Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron for an end to the violence have been widely ignored, despite a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire “without delay”.

    The re-ignition of violence in Syria has shone a harsh spotlight on the West’s powerlessness and shrinking role in Syria, while highlighting Russia’s growing influence in the region.

    In France Mr Macron came under fire from his predecessor François Hollande last night for failing to act definitively against the Russian president.

    Speaking to the French daily Le Monde, the former socialist president accused Mr Macron of not exerting enough pressure on his so-called ally, saying that if France was in a position to boast about its historic ties with Russia, then it should be able to convince Mr Putin to force the Syrian government to respect the ceasefire deal.

    The young centrist, for his part, denied being passive in the face of escalating Russian-backed violence in Syria, saying later on Monday that he had established a “constant and demanding dialogue” with Mr Putin and even managed to “convince” him not to use his veto power and back the ceasefire resolution.

    France’s envoy to the UN François Delattre on Monday also urged Moscow to put pressure on the Syrian regime to stop the indiscriminate bombing of civilians”

  23. Police stash 100 ‘Prometheus’ emergency trauma kits including specialist medical gear across City of London in case of major terror attack (dailymail, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5499547/Police-stash-trauma-packs-London-case-terror-attack.html

    “Police have hidden 100 ’emergency trauma’ kits across the City of London to treat victims of terror attacks.

    Sixty officers will be trained to use the ‘Prometheus’ packs which are filled with specialist medical equipment.

    They contain around 40 items, including face masks, tourniquets, batteries, ice packs, goggles, adhesive dressings, eye pads and more.

    Their secret locations are plotted on a map so the police control room is able to make use of the £469.99 kit in the event of a major incident.

    City of London Police said there are 100 bags stashed in various premises around the Square Mile financial district and staff at each company have received training in how to use them.

    The force said the cost of the packs and its upkeep are the responsibility of the companies which buy them. They have been supplied by

    They will be stored in a secure location and each firm will appoint a key holder who can be contacted 24 hours a day if the pack is needed.

    Inspector Chris Hay, from the City of London Police, said: ‘The purpose of this scheme is simple.

    ‘We want to boost the ability of our front line police officer to treat casualties in the event of a major incident.

    ‘Unfortunately the threat to the UK from international terrorism is ‘severe’, meaning an attack is highly likely.

    ‘As we have seen over the past year in the UK, the first aid treatment which is carried out within the first few moments following an attack can be life-saving.

    ‘By having our officers trained, it means that we can respond rapidly to these emergencies and can hopefully save lives.

    ‘We hope to develop and continue our officer training and hope to increase the coverage of the packs throughout the City.’

    The packs have been provided by Prometheus Medical UK, which provides specialist medical equipment and emergency training.

    Prometheus is a leading supplier of pre-hospital emergency medical equipment and high-quality medical training courses for a wide audience; from the layperson to the healthcare professional…”

  24. Economic crisis looming? Hungary latest country to repatriate gold (RT, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/business/421241-hungary-repatriates-gold-london/

    “The National Bank of Hungary (MNB) has announced it is bringing home the country’s 100,000 ounces (3 tons) of gold reserves from London.

    The decision to repatriate gold reserves, in total worth some 33 billion Hungarian forint (US$130 million), was also explained as being for safety reasons, in case of a potential geopolitical crisis.

    It is also in line with international trends as storage of gold reserves out of the country is now considered risky by many central banks, including Austrian, German and Dutch regulators. They have recently decided to repatriate their gold reserves…”

  25. Finnish Muslim Politician Claims Bullying Amid ‘Halal’ Debate (sputniknews, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201803141062523877-finland-halal-debate/

    “Turku politician Muhis Azizi has started receiving threats following a statement he made to a local newspaper regarding the halal slaughter of meat; he claims he was misinterpreted.

    At the beginning of March, Turku City Veterinarian Inspector Tiina Korte-Mattila claimed that the halal slaughter of meat, which is banned in the country, was likely to take place in the region behind the backs of local authorities, in an interview with the newspaper Turkulainen.

    Municipal politician Muhis Azizi of the National Coalition Party then stated that the time was ripe for a thorough discussion on that matter, given Finland’s plans to tighten the rules for animal slaughter, which many argued contradicted Islamic prescriptions.

    “Muslims in Turku need their meat as well. We must discuss how we can produce it legally,” Azizi told Turkulainen.

    Following the comment, Azizi admitted that he and his family started receiving anonymous threats, via both social media and snail mail, despite claiming to have been misunderstood.

    “What everyone seemed to misinterpret was that I explicitly said that the animals slaughtered should be stunned, fully in accordance with the law. This procedure is very much akin to the production of kosher meat,” Azizi told national broadcaster Yle.

    Azizi described the threats as “completely unlawful” and “insane.”

    “Who will highlight this if I not me? Why do I have to be mocked and threatened for stressing the concerns of those who voted for me, in other words, Turku Muslims?” Azizi told Yle.

    Following the debate, the National Coalition Party, of which Azizi is a member, started receiving questions. Azizi clarified that this is his personal opinion that doesn’t necessarily reflects the party’s policy.

    “It’s Azizi the Kurd, the Muslim and the citizen who speaks on that matter,” he added.

    Unlike Finland’s Islamic Association and other representatives of the nation’s Muslim circles who oppose the push for more “humane” animal slaughter, arguing the requirement to stun the animals before killing contradicted the teachings of Islam, Azizi advocates finding a way of slaughtering that would still be halal.

    “I just said that you can slaughter the animals completely according to the law in such a way that it is still halal. You must be able to discuss that. Businesslike,” Azizi said. “But as long as there is a demand for halal meat, there will be illegal slaughter,” Azizi said.

    Azizi stressed that the number of Muslims in Finland was steadily increasing. “Especially men from the Middle East are big carnivores. Therefore, it is important to start talking about this,” he emphasized.

    Another problem closely-related to the Finnish “halal” debate is that the most halal meat sold in the Nordic country is imported frozen. Many choose therefore to travel to neighboring Sweden, where fresh halal meat is always available. According to Azizi, this is tantamount to a loss of profits.”

  26. Almost 800,000 People in UK Unable to Speak English – Communities Secretary (sputniknews, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201803141062523229-uk-unable-speak-english/

    “Almost 800,000 people of the United Kingdom’s 66-million population do not speak English, UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of the United Kingdom Sajid Javid said in an interview.

    “We estimate that there [are] 770,000 people that live in [England] that speak hardly any or no English. That figure will be in the report. And most of those people – we estimate 60 to 70% – are women. And most of those women, in turn, are of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin,” Javid said.

    The official said the figures were taken from census data and called them critical, because “if you don’t speak English then there is no way you can take full advantage of the opportunities that modern Britain has to offer you.”…”

  27. Turkey-Qatar Defense Cooperation Stepped Up As Regional Crisis Drags On (sputniknews, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/military/201803141062519866-turkey-qatar-increase-military-cooperation/

    “Turkey signed an agreement with Qatar on Tuesday, agreeing to supply the Qatari Emiri Navy (QEN) with two training warships, according to Turkish media citing the chairman of the Anadolu shipyard, Sualp Ürkmez.

    “Qatar needs these ships to provide its naval personnel with sufficient training,” Sualp Ürkmez told Turkish media, while adding that the training vessels will be delivered within 36 months.

    Mr. Ürkmez went on to state that Turkish is one of only ten countries that can “design and build its own warships.”

    The deal was inked on March 13 at the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2018) – a military exhibition which has seen over US$30 billion worth of arms deals signed in 7 years of running…”

  28. EU Migrant Quotas Could Result in ‘No-Go’ Zones in Hungary – Official (sputniknews, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201803141062516388-hungary-slams-eu-quotas/

    “The Hungarian government has once again warned of the likely detrimental effects of the European Union’s mandatory migrant quotas, which could result in thousands of migrants being resettled in Hungary.

    Csaba Dömötör, the Hungarian parliamentary state secretary of the prime minister’s cabinet office, said the introduction of such mandatory quotas would “affect most Hungarian cities and settlements because the quotas also mean distribution within the country,” and implied that such a policy could result in the emergence of “no-go” zones in Hungary.

    “We do not want them to lay the foundations of future no-go areas here, there are more than enough of them in Europe,” the Parliamentary State Secretary Csaba Dömötör said during a press conference on 13 March.

    The presence of “no-go” zones in other European nations have been disputed by some politicians, with the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven refuting these claims last week. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted the presence of such areas in Germany last month…”

  29. ‘Cruel’ African Father Used FGM to ‘Punish’ Daughter, UK Court Told (breitbart, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/14/cruel-african-father-fgm-punish-daughter-uk-court/

    “A “cruel” father arranged to have Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) inflicted on his daughter, nine, as a form of “punishment”, the Old Bailey has heard.

    The West African origin 50-year-old father-of-four, who cannot be named, allegedly recruited someone to cut the girl with a razor blade at their home in south London between 2010 and 2013.

    He is said to have overseen the abuse and “egg[ed] on” the person wielding the blade as the small girl begged for mercy.

    According to The Times, Mark Heywood, QC, for the prosecution, said: “This was not apparently done out of any cultural or family reason but more in the way of punishment.

    “On two occasions he had someone come to the house and, using a sharp implement, she thought a razor blade, had her cut repeatedly in a series of deliberate actions causing serious injury to her small body…”

  30. Swedish Bulletproof Glass Manufacturer Receives ‘Record Order’ Amid Rising Gang Violence (breitbart, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/14/swedish-bulletproof-glass-manufacturer-record-order-gang-violence/

    “A Swedish manufacturer in Skåne county, home of the heavily migrant populated city of Malmö, has announced a record multi-million Krona order for bulletproof glass which the company describes as used for protecting against terrorist attacks.

    Hammerglass has so far refused to say who made the 18 million Swedish Krona (£1.56 million/$2.2 million) order for glass which is advertised as being able to withstand the pressure from an explosion of the equivalent of 100 kilogrammes of explosive TNT, Swedish business paper 8till5, reports.

    The company has also refused to say where the bulletproof glass and doors will be installed.

    In a press release, Hammerglass business area manager Torbjörn Timmermans said: “Unfortunately, due to very strict confidentiality we can not make public either customer or order details, but I can confirm that the installation will take place during Q3 and Q4 this year, and that is for upgrading a property in Sweden.”

    “We live in a world with an ever-increasing risk of terrorist attacks, and more and more people realise the importance of having the right kind of protection if something should happen,” he added.

    The order comes only months after several police stations in southern Sweden were bombed including in Helsingborg where the explosive did heavy damage to the facade of the building…”

    • $2.2 million spent on Band-Aids (i.e., sticky plasters) while the massive, sucking chest wound that is Islam goes ignored.

      It causes me to wonder exactly how staggeringly evil a jihadist atrocity will need to be such that the Civilized World is galvanized into action. Most likely the threshold will come with some European or American (possibly Israeli) metropolis being vaporized in nuclear plasma.

      The mere prospect of this sickens me and causes me to wonder why so many people refuse to connect the dots with respect to the inevitability of such a scenario. There is no upper limit to terrorist barbarity.

  31. United Nations Hears Testimony of ‘Systematic Persecution’ of Christians in Pakistan (breitbart, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2018/03/14/united-nations-hears-testimony-systematic-persecution-christians-pakistan/

    “In the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, participants were regaled with stories of egregious human rights abuses in Pakistan including systematic persecution of Christians by the Islamic majority.

    On Monday, witnesses and human rights representatives told the council that blasphemy laws are being used as a weapon by Islamic fundamentalists against the Christian minority in the country.

    One speaker at the meeting, Shazia Khokhar, a Christian woman activist from Pakistan now living in Switzerland, said that the very name of Islamic Republic of Pakistan describes the way “religious minorities are systematically persecuted.”

    “The Islamic Republic is a name given to several states that are officially ruled by Islamic law,” Khokhar stated. “In Pakistan, once an individual is accused of blasphemy, he is presumed guilty and the law fails to safeguard against people willing to use violence.”

    The blasphemy law “creates an atmosphere of religious intolerance and has contributed to the institutionalisation of discrimination against religious minorities,” she added.

    Perhaps Pakistan’s highest profile blasphemy case has been that of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death after being found guilty of blasphemy while working in the fields in 2009. In 2014, the Lahore High Court upheld the death sentence.

    “As a poor Christian, from a low caste, Asia Bibi was among the most vulnerable to get accused,” Khokhar noted, adding that the legal system, which is theoretically designed to protect the innocent, “failed to protect her in any way.”

    UN officials also heard from another Pakistani Christian activist, Salma Bhatti, who spoke of systematic abuses suffered by young Christian women in Pakistan.

    “There are many young Christian girls in Pakistan who are being kidnapped and forcibly married,” she said, while adding that the women often disappear without a trace.

    Outside the UN office, a special screening of short films at Broken Chair this week underscored the plight of the Christian minority in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) as victims of Islamic extremism.

    At only two to three percent of Pakistan’s total population, Christians are particularly vulnerable to persecution under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which date back to the military dictatorship of General Muhammad Zia ul Haq.

    In 1980, Pakistan’s Penal Code was amended to criminalize derogatory remarks against any Islamic personage, with a punishment of three years in prison. Two years later, a clause was added prescribing life imprisonment for willful desecration of the Quran and, in 1986, another clause was added to include blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed as a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment.

    For years, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) pressed the State Department to issue a stronger condemnation of Pakistan for its grave violations of religious freedom, advising it to add Pakistan to its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPCs).

    In 2015, USCIRF chairman Robert P. George urged the State Department “to further expand its CPC list to reflect the severe violations occurring in other countries, such as Pakistan, which USCIRF has called the worst situation in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently designated by the U.S. government as CPCs.”

    Last January, the U.S. State Department announced that it would finally add Pakistan to its Special Watch List for severe religious freedom violations, citing the egregious abuse of Christians, Hindus, Ahmadi Muslims, and other minorities in the country.

    Soon after, the U.S. State Department warned Americans against travel to Pakistan, citing Islamabad’s enforcement of the nation’s strict blasphemy laws, which have primarily targeted Christians and other minorities in the Sunni Muslim-majority country.

    “Sectarian violence remains a serious threat throughout Pakistan, and the Government of Pakistan continues to enforce blasphemy laws. Religious minority communities have been victims of targeted killings and accusations of blasphemy,” it said in a statement.”

  32. Australia Examining Fast-Track Visas for Threatened South African Farmers (breitbart, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/14/australia-examining-fast-track-visas-for-threatened-south-african-farmers/

    “Australia is ready to consider issuing special visas to mainly white, Afrikaans-speaking South African farmers due to the “horrific circumstances” of land seizures, violence and murder they face.
    Peter Dutton, Australia’s home affairs minister, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Wednesday his department was examining a range of methods to smooth their path to Australia on humanitarian or other visa programs.

    As Breitbart News has reported, South Africans are increasingly worried that the government’s plans to expropriate land from white farmers without compensation could destroy the economy and the country’s fragile democracy.

    South Africa’s new president Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to pursue the same course as Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe in expropriating farmland from white farmers without compensation.

    President Ramaphosa, who replaced Jacob Zuma after years of corruption scandals finally forced the 75-year-old from office, was cheered in the South African parliament as he pledged to “accelerate our land distribution programme … to redress a grave historical injustice [and] make more land available to our people for cultivation.”

    Such is the level of violence in South Africa that thousands of mainly white, Afrikaans-speaking farmers have taken to the streets to protest and plead for help.

    Last year the October 30th #BlackMonday protests were organised after civil rights group AfriForum released figures claiming the murder rate for South African farmers was 156 per 100,000 — putting it well above the already high national average and making farming arguably the most dangerous occupation in the world outside a warzone.

    At the same time, the number of slain farmers, farm workers, and family members — most of them white — had hit 71, surpassing the estimated death toll for 2016.

    Now Australia stands ready to offer help.

    “If you look at the footage and read the stories, you hear the accounts, it’s a horrific circumstance they face,” Mr. Dutton told the Telegraph.

    The home affairs minister noted Australia has refugee, humanitarian and other visa programs which have the “potential to help some of these people”. He said he had asked his department to look at the options “because from what I have seen they do do need help from a civilised country like ours”.

    “The people we’re talking about want to work hard, they want to contribute to a country like Australia,” Mr. Dutton continued. “We want people who want to come here, abide by our laws, integrate into our society, work hard, not lead a life on welfare. And I think these people deserve special attention and we’re certainly applying that special attention now.”

    Mr. Dutton suggested options included the in-country persecution visa category, and to bring them to Australia on humanitarian visas via referrals from others in Australia.”

  33. Raped Daughter Was ‘Forced into Islamic Marriage for Money and Visa’: Judge (breitbart, Mar 14, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/14/raped-islamic-marriage-visa-judge/

    “A woman who suffered severe head injury from a past violent rape was ‘married off’ by her father for money in a deal to improve the husband’s UK immigration prospects, a judge has ruled.

    After analysing the case at a hearing in a specialist court dedicated to issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions, Mr Justice Baker concluded the Islamic ceremony was “arranged entirely” by the woman’s father and husband.

    Telling the Court of Protection that the woman’s father had spent his daughter’s money “for his own purposes” and with no intention of repaying her, the judge said the woman was “unquestionably married under the influence of her father”.

    Stating that the ceremony at Northampton Islamic Centre — which was solemnised by an imam, according to the Oxford Mail — took place at a time when the woman was “vulnerable to influence”, the judge concluded that the marriage is not valid under UK law…”

  34. Sweden to Spend Millions to Encourage Migrant-Background Citizens To Vote in September Election (breitbart, Mar 13, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/13/sweden-spend-millions-encourage-migrant-background-citizens-vote/

    “The Swedish government is set to spend eight million Krona (£700,000) on initiatives to encourage residents from migrant backgrounds to vote in the national election.

    The Swedish Youth and Civil Affairs Agency (MUCF) has announced they will be funding around 20 organisations and associations to increase the voter turnout in areas like the heavily migrant-populated Stockholm no-go suburb of Rinkeby, broadcaster Sveriges Radio reports.

    “The election participation is extremely low in Rinkeby. We will gather people through workshops, education initiatives and show the benefits of voting in an election,” said Jörgen Strandberg, who heads a local Rinkeby association that is receiving funds from the programme.

    “One idea we have is to hire ten young people for four weeks this summer. The first week will go to educate young people about what the election means. Then the volunteers are supposed to go door-to-door together with responsible adults,” Strandberg added.

    Many foreign-born residents in Sweden abstain from voting according to Dahir Jeyte, a resident of one of the capital’s migrant-heavy suburbs. “It depends on different things. Some do not have the knowledge of how to vote. Society needs to encourage these people and explain that it is important to vote,” he said.

    While many migrants may not be voting, they are still wielding influencing over Swedish culture and its laws in other ways. In the city of Växjö, Muslims requested the ability to publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer.

    They were supported not only by the local Church of Sweden Archbishop but now one of the country’s largest newspapers, Dagens Nyheter, has released an editorial that argues Muslims should be allowed to broadcast their calls to prayer as refusing to allow them would be uncivilised.

    The legal system has also been challenged after a recent report showed two so-called lay judges using Sharia law principles in a case of domestic violence.

    The pair of lay judges, who were appointed by the Centrist political party, let the accused man off in the case saying he was from a good family and that the woman plaintiff was not credible because she went to the police before speaking to her Muslim community.”

  35. 16,000 migrants repatriated from Libya since January, confirms EU (memo, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180314-16000-migrants-repatriated-from-libya-since-january-confirms-eu/

    “Over 16,000 African migrants have been repatriated from camps in Libya under the EU’s emergency plan for this year, the Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini confirmed yesterday.

    European and African leaders announced the plan to help speed up the process of voluntary repatriation of migrants after footage emerged last year of slave markets operating in Libya where sub-Saharan migrants were sold off for as little as $200 by Libyan people smugglers and criminal networks.

    The migrant detention camps in Libya have gained notoriety for rape, torture and beatings at some of the facilities, including those under the control of the UN-backed government of Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj.

    “In the first two months of this year, January and February, we managed to rescue and free more than 16,000 people from the camps in Libya,” Mogherini told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “I believe we can empty them completely within maximum [a] couple of months.”

    According to EU statistics, between 4,000 and 5,000 people are still awaiting repatriation…”

  37. Moroccan to file lawsuit against Spain and Britain over false terrorism charges (memo, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180314-moroccan-to-file-lawsuit-against-spain-and-britain-over-false-terrorism-charges/

    “A Moroccan citizen is going to file a lawsuit against Spain and Britain alleging that they falsely accused him of belonging to an Al-Qaeda terrorist group and causing the death of 3,000 people.

    Farid Hilali, 49, began proceedings to sue the two governments for €1.8 million in damages after being charged with transmitting messages to an Al-Qaeda cell leader in connection with the New York attacks in 2001. He claimed that he was tortured during interrogation by British intelligence officers following his arrest in the UAE.

    Hilali is currently living in Barcelona with his wife. He spent three years in a British prison and a year behind bars in Spain before all charges were dropped in 2012.”

  38. Hungary sentences Syrian migrant to seven years for border riot (RT, Mar 14, 2018)
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-europe-migrants-hungary-court/hungary-sentences-syrian-migrant-to-seven-years-for-border-riot-idUKKCN1GQ1Z2?rpc=401&

    “A Hungarian court sentenced a Syrian-Cypriot man to seven years in prison for illegally crossing the border and for being an accomplice in “an act of terror” during clashes with police in September 2015, state news agency MTI reported on Wednesday.

    The preliminary ruling after a retrial of the case, which is milder than the original 10-year sentence issued in 2016, comes as Prime Minister Viktor Orban campaigns on an anti-immigrant platform ahead of an April 8 election he is expected to win.

    Ahmed Hamed was part of a group that crossed illegally into Hungary on Sept. 16, 2015 and also spoke to the crowd using a loudspeaker before hundreds of migrants forced open the border gate and police fired water cannon and teargas.

    A Reuters photographer in the courtroom in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged said the handcuffed man, who was also chained around his ankles and guarded by masked police, received the sentence calmly.

    “We did not go to the border to cause problems,” Hamed was quoted as saying by local news website Index. “Neither my culture, nor my religion would encourage that.”

    Hamed’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment. The court will issue a statement later on Wednesday. It was not clear when the court would issue its final verdict in the case.

    As the holder of a Cypriot passport and therefore a citizen of the European Union, Hamed would be allowed to enter Hungary without a visa, but he was helping relatives and other Syrian citizens, MTI cited his lawyer as saying during the trial.

    Nearly half of the more than one million migrants who surged into the European Union in 2015 passed through Hungary, often causing chaos at borders and along major highways…”

  41. Germany: AfD supporter removed for protest during Merkel’s oath-taking

    Germany’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Leader Angela Merkel was elected as Germany’s Federal Chancellor for the fourth time in Berlin’s parliament on Wednesday.

    After the oath-taking ceremony an AfD sympathiser sitting on the visitor tribune showed a poster with photos of AfD Members of Parliament. He was escorted outside by orderlies of the house.

    The 63-year-old CDU leader received a secret ballot of 364 out of 688 valid votes in the German parliament. Merkel received only just nine votes over the absolute majority of 355 votes required for the Chancellor’s election.

    The Grand Coalition of the Union (CDU/CSU) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) have 399 out of the 709 available seats in the German parliament.

  42. CNN -American mother of 8 trapped in war zone

    Deana Lynn is a 44-year-old mother from Michigan and she has been trapped in Ghouta, Syria, since 2000 with her husband and eight children. She is calling on President Trump to help Syrian citizens.

  46. WE’VE VLAD ENOUGH Theresa May kicks out 23 Russian spies from the UK and blasts Putin’s ‘contempt’ for Salisbury poisoning

    Theresa May accused Vladimir Putin of acting with ‘sarcasm, contempt and defiance’ in the wake of the attempt on Sergei Skripal’s life

    BRITAIN today ordered 23 Russian spooks to leave the country within a week in response to the spy poisoning scandal.

    Theresa May told MPs that two dozen so-called diplomats who are in fact spies will be kicked out in a bid to stop Vladimir Putin meddling in Britain.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5805020/theresa-may-expel-russian-spies-uk-blasts-vladimir-putin-salisbury-poisoning/

  47. U.S. Monitoring Possible North Korean Military Base in Syria
    Report: North Korea running underground military base in Syria

    BY: Adam Kredo
    March 14, 2018 12:20 pm

    The United States is monitoring information indicating that North Korea may be running a large underground military base in Syria that could be used for advanced weaponry and nuclear-related work, according to regional reports and U.S. officials tracking the situation.

    Regional reports have begun to surface indicating North Korea has neared completion of the construction of an underground military base located near Qardaha in Syria, the hometown of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    “According to … satellite images and a military source the underground facility has been under construction for seven years, started by the beginning if the Syrian revolution in March 2011,” Zaman Al Wasl, a Syrian news outlet, reported earlier this month. “The high level of secrecy and tight guard in the North Korean base raise speculations whether it’s a nuclear facility or overseas depot for North Korean weapons.”

    http://freebeacon.com/national-security/u-s-monitoring-possible-north-korean-military-base-syria/v

      • I know that feeling, this is going to spread the war when we have to take out NK, Putin ain’t gonna like us making that much gravel in Syria.

    • “The high level of secrecy and tight guard in the North Korean base raise speculations whether it’s a nuclear facility or overseas depot for North Korean weapons.”

      Valet parking for your nuclear weapons, what will al-Assad think of next!

  49. Venezuela’s Hyperinflation Is Breaking Deli Scales
    The price of a kilogram of ham is just too long.

    ditor’s Note: There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a new series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.

    “We don’t have any.”

    Living in Venezuela, you get used to hearing that, but the story behind the missing ham was different. It’s not that supermarket managers were having trouble finding enough to sell—the typical cause of shortages ravaging the country—they had decided to stop ordering it. The reason: After years of hyperinflation, the price is too long.

    The store’s deli scales run to only six digits. And ham, my Whatsapp food-hunting community tells me, is retailing nowadays for about 1,480,000 bolivars per kilogram. It didn’t matter that I wanted only a few hundred milligrams. The cost was, at this market at least, incalculable.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-14/venezuela-s-hyperinflation-is-breaking-deli-scales