Reader’s Links, March 20, 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

140 Replies to “Reader’s Links, March 20, 2018”

    • Former French leader Sarkozy held over Libyan funding inquiry

      PARIS (Reuters) – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was held in custody on Tuesday and questioned by magistrates investigating whether late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi helped finance his 2007 election campaign, an official in the French judiciary said

      It is the second major judicial investigation to fall on the 63-year-old, who served as president from 2007-2012. He already faces trial on separate charges of illicit spending overruns during his failed re-election campaign in 2012.

      A lawyer for Sarkozy could not immediately be reached for comment. The former president has dismissed the Libya allegations as “grotesque” and a “crude manipulation”.

      France opened an inquiry into the Libya case in 2013, after reports by French website Mediapart based on claims by a Franco-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, who said he had transferred 5 million euros ($6 million) from Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi to Sarkozy’s campaign director.

      Months after he took office in 2007, the French leader came in for criticism for hosting a state visit by Gaddafi during which the Libyan leader pitched his trademark Bedouin-style tent next to the Elysee Palace.

      Gaddafi’s first visit to a Western leader in decades, which was accompanied by the signing of several business deals, came after Sarkozy helped get five Bulgarian nurses accused of infecting children with HIV released from jail in Libya.

      Sarkozy was later one of the chief advocates of a NATO-led military campaign that resulted in Gaddafi’s overthrow and killing at the hands of rebel forces in 2011.

      French judicial procedure allows for investigators to hold a person for questioning for up to 48 hours, after which the magistrates must say whether they have grounds for turning a preliminary inquiry into a full investigation.

      The latter can, but does not always, lead to a trial.

      The Libya-funding inquiry appeared to have gone quiet until January, when French businessman Alexandre Djouhri, suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign, was arrested in Britain on a warrant issued by France.

      A lawyer for Djouhri last month accused French authorities of politicizing the case and manipulating it against his client. French authorities had no comment.

      Sarkozy’s predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was convicted in 2011, after his retirement, of misusing public funds to keep political allies in phantom jobs. That made the now ailing Chirac the first French head of state convicted since Nazi collaborator Marshal Philippe Petain in 1945.

      Sarkozy has been dogged for years by political scandals, but none has led to a conviction.

      The Libya inquiry has largely focused on the evidence provided by Takieddine, who is himself under investigation in a separate affair of arms sales to Pakistan in the 1990s.

      Takieddine stated in 2016 that he personally handed over three suitcases filled with cash from Gaddafi to Sarkozy and a senior aide to help finance Sarkozy’s campaign.

      Sarkozy’s lawyer at the time, Thierry Herzog, dismissed Takieddine’s claims and produced a copy of a witness statement to police by Takieddine in 2012 in which the businessman said he had last seen Sarkozy in November 2003.

      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-sarkozy-libya/former-french-leader-sarkozy-held-over-libyan-funding-inquiry-idUSKBN1GW0RH

      French ex-president Sarkozy held in Libya financing probe

  1. “Bombing reported at FedEx facility in Schertz”
    KENS 5 Published on March 20, 2018

    • Parcel filled with ‘nails and shrapnel’ en route to Austin explodes at a FedEx site in San Antonio as FBI probe link to serial bomber

      A package ‘containing nails and pieces of metal’ destined for Austin has exploded and injured one person inside a FedEx facility in nearby San Antonio in the fifth bombing to rock the state this month.

      The wounded employee was taken to hospital after suffering a mild injury in the explosion at the distribution center in Schertz, about 65 miles south of Austin, shortly after midnight.

      The package detonated as it was moving from one conveyor belt to another and the female staff member, who was not hit by the contents, was treated for a headache, possibly caused by a concussion.

      Federal agents say the package is likely linked to four other attacks this month in Austin, some 80 miles north-east of San Antonio, that have left two dead and four injured.

      Authorities say a ‘serial bomber’ is at large and have warned that the devices appear to be getting more sophisticated.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5521343/Trump-blasted-staying-silent-Austin-bombings.html

      • Investigators suspect FedEx bomb is tied to Austin bombings
        BY PAUL J. WEBER AND WILL WEISSERT
        Associated Press
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        March 20, 2018 06:59 AM

        Updated 7 minutes ago

        AUSTIN, TEXAS
        A package bomb that authorities believe is linked to the recent string of Austin bombings exploded early Tuesday inside of a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio, leaving one worker with minor injuries.

        Hours later, police sent a hazardous materials team to a FedEx facility in Austin to check on a suspicious package there. There was no immediate word about whether that package contained a bomb.

        http://www.sacbee.com/latest-news/article205964624.html

    • “China: Model of New World Order”
      Real News with David Knight – March 19, 2018
      Guest – William F. Jasper

  2. “Dr Jerome Corsi Dissects The Deep State Effort To Take Down Trump”
    The Alex Jones Channel – March 19, 2018

  3. Muslim gang rape in Antwerp, Belgium:
    https://nltimes.nl/2018/03/20/suspect-confesses-gang-raping-dutch-women-antwerp-hotel

    Mohamed S., 22 from Antwerp, was the first to be arrested after he returned to the hotel on Saturday night, according to the newspaper. “My client let himself be dragged along by his friends this past weekend”, lawyer Luc Verheyen said to the newspaper. “On Saturday he immediately regretted it. That is why he returned to that hotel. To talk to the victims.”
    [..]
    S. told the police that he and a friend took the young women back to their hotel room around 5:00 a.m. and their two other friends later joined them. According to S. “one thing led to another”. He told the police that the women said “stop”, but eventually all four men had sex with them. “They did not really struggle too much. While we were busy, they fell asleep regularly.” When the four men left around 8:00 a.m., the women were sleeping deeply.
    [..]
    The young Antwerp man gave the police the names of his three friends – 19-year-old Tijani D. from Temse, 20-year-old Eliel B. from Borgerhout, and 20-year-old Lamine N. from Antwerp. “My client will not be thanked for that, but at least he takes his responsibility”, Verheyen said to the newspaper. The other three deny raping the women.

  4. Robert Mueller Has Been Botching Investigations Since The Anthrax Attacks

    Mystery surrounds Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia and President Trump. Some think he is the ultimate professional, others that he is a Democrat lackey, still others maintain he is working on Trump’s side.

    We can see how he works if we look at how Mueller ran his second-most important investigation as FBI Director. In September of 2001, an entity began mailing anthrax through the US Postal system, hitting such prominent targets as NBC and Senator Daschle’s office. The terrorist attacks killed five and left others hospitalized. The world panicked.

    http://thefederalist.com/2018/02/08/robert-mueller-botching-investigations-since-anthrax-attacks/

  5. Raleigh police are asking Google to provide user data for all people near crime scenes

    Police in Raleigh, North Carolina, have presented Google with warrants to obtain data from mobile phones from not just specific suspects who were in a crime scene area, but from the mobile phones of all people in the area, reports Raleigh television affiliate WRAL. The request will trouble Fourth Amendment advocates as it could be seen that police are carrying out unreasonable searches on people who just happened to be in the area at the time the crimes were committed. And the area sizes the police requesting the data on are not small. In one instance, police requested user data from Google for anyone within a 17-acre area. For its part, Google has not revealed whether it has complied with the police request.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40546112/police-are-asking-google-to-provide-user-data-for-all-people-near-crime-scenes

      • thus allowing you to avoid your own search and click:
        What’s the difference between a subpoena, a search warrant and a court order under ECPA? What information can a government agency get from Google with each?
        It’s complex, but here’s a summary of the different forms of legal process covered by ECPA:
        Subpoena
        Of the three types of ECPA legal process for stored information, the subpoena has the lowest threshold for a government agency to obtain. In many jurisdictions, including the federal system, there is no requirement that a judge or magistrate review a subpoena before the government can issue it. A government agency can use a subpoena to compel Google to disclose only specific types of information listed in the statute. For example, a valid subpoena for your Gmail address could compel us to disclose the name that you listed when creating the account, and the IP addresses from which you created the account and signed in and signed out (with dates and times). Subpoenas can be used by the government in both criminal and civil cases.
        On its face, ECPA seems to allow a government agency to compel a communications provider to disclose the content of certain types of emails and other content with a subpoena or an ECPA court order (described below). But Google requires an ECPA search warrant for contents of Gmail and other services based on the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure.

        ECPA Court Order
        Unlike an ECPA subpoena, obtaining an ECPA court order requires judicial review. To receive an ECPA court order, a government agency must present specific facts to a judge or magistrate demonstrating that the requested information is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation.
        With such a court order, a government agency can obtain the same information as a subpoena, plus more detailed information about the use of the account. This could include the IP address associated with a particular email sent from that account or used to change the account password (with dates and times), and the non-content portion of email headers such as the “from,” “to” and “date” fields. An ECPA court order is available only for criminal investigations.

        Search Warrant
        The threshold is higher still for an ECPA search warrant. To obtain one, a government agency must make a request to a judge or magistrate and meet a relatively high burden of proof: demonstrating “probable cause” to believe that contraband or certain information related to a crime is presently in the specific place to be searched. A warrant must specify the place to be searched and the things being sought. It can be used to compel the disclosure of the same information as an ECPA subpoena or court order—but also a user’s search query information and private content stored in a Google Account, such as Gmail messages, documents, photos and YouTube videos. An ECPA search warrant is available only in criminal investigations. The video below provides an overview of how we review and respond to ECPA search warrants.

    • From what the google document says, a search warrant (from a judge) compels google to release this type of information.

      • It does, however there is a good argument to be made that they should have to ask for the info by individual names with a warrant for each individual they want data on. A blanket warrant is stretching the law a lot.

  6. Multiple Injuries Reported in Shooting at St. Mary’s Co. High School
    “Our prayers are with students, school personnel, and first responders,” Gov. Larry Hogan said

    Multiple people were injured in a shooting at a high school in southeast Maryland Tuesday morning, the St. Mary’s County sheriff’s office confirmed.

    The school was locked down and the incident was contained, according to the the website of Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland. The school didn’t give further information.

    https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Shooting-Investigation-Underway-at-St-Marys-Co-High-School-477374093.html

  7. Are some states headed for Splitsville? Movement grows to allow sections of states to break away

    When Donald Trump was elected, a lot of people in California signed a petition supporting the state’s secession from the U.S. It was hard to take the movement seriously—didn’t we fight a war over this?

    But there is another secession movement in California, and elsewhere in America, that is getting genuine attention from political pundits. While it may be unlikely to succeed, the idea of intra-state secession—a section of a state splitting off to form its own state—has been growing in popularity. And there’s even a Constitutional procedure for doing it.

    In recent decades, the political differences between rural areas and metropolitan areas seem to have become more severe. This has caused political splits in certain states, where, often, those rural areas, with lower populations, feel stifled by their city brethren.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/03/19/are-some-states-headed-for-splitsville-movement-grows-to-allow-sections-states-to-break-away.html

  8. Los Alamitos votes to opt out of California sanctuary law

    While the crowd had dwindled both in and outside the chamber when the vote came, people erupted in cheers after the vote and began chanting “USA.” But on the pro-immigrant rights side, there was this chant: “The people united, will never be divided.”

    Someone shouted out to Councilman Warren Kusumoto, who introduced the legislation, “great American patriot!” while someone else screamed out “America first.”

    https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/19/los-alamitos-immigration-debate-sparks-singing-shouting/

  9. This city wants nothing to do with California’s ‘sanctuary state’ laws. Will it start a new resistance?

    With about 12,000 residents spread across a few miles of suburban Southern California, Los Alamitos is better known for its good schools and small-town charms than political activism.

    But the city now finds itself at the center of a rebellion against California’s “sanctuary” policies, which aim to protect immigrants here illegally as President Trump vows to ramp up deportations.

    Los Alamitos leaders on Monday approved an ordinance that exempts their Orange County municipality from Senate Bill 54, a law that took effect Jan. 1 and restricts local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. It marks a rare effort by a city to challenge the sanctuary movement, which has wide support among elected officials in left-leaning California.

    Many cities have faced the ire of Trump and his administration for policies they say are too lenient toward those here illegally. The president slammed San Francisco over its sanctuary law, which he said had allowed a Mexican national who fatally shot a tourist to remain on the streets. And Oakland’s mayor is now the subject of a federal investigation after she sent out an alert warning residents of an immigration sweep.

    http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-sanctuary-state-flght-20180319-story.html

  10. A Lone New York Sheriff Signs Up to Aid Immigration Crackdown

    TROY, N.Y. — Here in the birthplace of “Uncle Sam,” a former steel town built by Irish and Italian arrivals, the local sheriff has embraced a federal program designed to catch undocumented immigrants in county jails.

    His decision to do so — a first for New York State — in a jail that houses relatively few foreign-born inmates has outraged immigration activists, Democratic lawmakers and, notably, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, whose Albany statehouse office is in Troy’s backyard.

    In January, the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office became one of only 75 in the country to sign an agreement allowing corrections officers to perform the functions of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as part of a program known as 287(g). The number of jurisdictions taking part has more than doubled since President Trump promoted the program in an executive order in January 2017.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/nyregion/new-york-rensselaer-county-ice-jails.html

  11. The sad hysteria of the Southern Poverty Law Center

    With America’s president casually stirring racial and other hatreds, it would be helpful for our civic good to have an organization that tracks with honesty and precision what rabble his rhetoric is rousing. The Southern Poverty Law Center, the nation’s largest (and richest) watchdog of hate groups, has long sought to fill that role. Unfortunately, the SPLC is not up to the task. It is too busy enforcing liberal orthodoxy against its intellectual opponents.

    For proof, look no further than how it has treated conservative feminist scholar Christina Hoff Sommers.

    The SPLC, which was formed in the aftermath of the Civil Rights movement with the noble goals of seeking justice for victims of racial violence and fighting hate, recently published a piece in which it accused Sommers of giving a “mainstream and respectable face” to groups peddling “male supremacy.”

    http://theweek.com/articles/759498/sad-hysteria-southern-poverty-law-center

  12. Far-left activists and illegal migrants invaded the Basilica of Saint-Denis on Sunday to protest the French government’s new asylum law before they were forcibly removed by police, resulting in evening mass being cancelled.
    Around 80 illegal migrants and far-left activists from the group Coordination des Sans-Papiers (CSP 75) protested the new law holding up banners, Le Parisien reports.

    After around an hour of occupying the Basilica, police were called and arrived to remove the protestors and illegal immigrants. The area was cleared by around 5:30 pm but evening mass was cancelled in case the protestors returned.

    Footage posted to Twitter by Gaullist politician Nicholas Dupont-Aignan shows police using force to remove the activists and migrants.

    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/20/far-left-activists-migrants-basilica-housing-tombs-french-kings/

  13. People Are Ready to Buy Some Guns in the World’s Murder Capital

    In the world’s most murderous country, gun control is starting to lose its appeal.

    Desperate Brazilians are wondering whether they’d be better off armed, given that around 60,000 of their compatriots are killed each year. Polls show support for gun ownership gaining ground. In an election year, politicians are paying attention.

    One of the candidates leading the field for October’s 2018 presidential election — hardline conservative Jair Bolsonaro — has promised to allow law-abiding citizens to arm themselves, a popular pledge in the nation with by far the most homicides of the entire world. Even before then, Congress may debate legislation to overturn the “disarmament statute,” a law that effectively bans civilian gun ownership, except in rare circumstances. The proposal would allow Brazilians with clean criminal records who pass psychological and firearm exams to buy up to six weapons.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-20/in-world-s-murder-capital-brazilians-are-ready-to-buy-some-guns

  14. Paris mulls free public transport to reduce pollution

    PARIS (Reuters) – The mayor of Paris wants to make all public transport free in an effort to reduce air pollution, but faces staunch opposition from the head of the regional transport authority who said the move would hit taxpayers.

    Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced plans late on Monday for a study into the feasibility of free city-wide transport, and told French daily Les Echos she wanted to debate the issue ahead of municipal elections in 2020.

    Hidalgo said all the world’s big cities were trying to develop clean mobility and boost air quality by reducing the number of cars on the roads, a goal that requires making public transport more attractive.

    “To improve public transport we should not only make it more extensive, more regular and more comfortable, we must also rethink the fares system,” she said in a statement.

    But conservative politician Valerie Pecresse, head of the Ile-de-France region around Paris and president of the area’s transport authority IDFM, rejected

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/paris-mulls-free-public-transport-reduce-pollution-124700992–finance.html

  15. China, not North Korea, to dominate Japan military planning

    TOKYO (Reuters) – North Korea’s growing missile arsenal might be the most obvious and immediate military threat facing Japan, but defense planners in Tokyo are focused on a much larger and more challenging foe as they prepare for the years ahead.

    China has stepped up military spending and already dominates the South China Sea, through which Japan’s trade with major markets including Europe and the Middle East flows.

    Now, Japanese military experts are worried Beijing may be on the brink of opening access to the Pacific through a Japanese island chain that has marked the limit of China’s military influence for decades.

    Tokyo sees unfettered passage for Chinese warships and warplanes through the Okinawan island chain as a threat to vital sea lanes. For China that access is part and parcel of becoming a global superpower.

    “Now, we are evenly matched but the reality Japan faces is that it is becoming the underdog,” said Nozomu Yoshitomi, a professor at Nihon University in Tokyo who advised Japan’s government as a Self Defence Forces military analyst.

    http://www.oann.com/china-not-north-korea-to-dominate-japan-military-planning/

  16. Obama aide claim: Facebook was ‘on our side’ in 2012; let us exploit user data
    By J.E. Dyer March 19, 2018

    A lot of work went into a post by some research fool (who shall remain nameless) yesterday, demonstrating that what the data firm Cambridge Analytica was doing in 2016 was what the Obama and Romney campaigns did with voters’ online profile data in 2012.

    Do read the post, if you want to assure yourself that the goals of the various campaigns and data-analytics firms were exactly the same. You will see that the goal in 2012 was what Cambridge Analytica was aiming for in the run-up to 2016. Numerous media outlets breathlessly celebrated the Obama 2012 campaign’s success in achieving it.

    The New York Times, you see, has started populating a new Sudden Theme for us: that Muh Trump did something really bad with user data from Facebook, and there’s a whistleblower and a Big Leak and foreign influence and everything, even if, well, no laws against what anyone did can really be cited.

    The research fool could have waited a day and spared herself a lot of work. An Obama campaign operative from 2012 stepped forward on Twitter on Sunday night to announce that, yeah, in 2012, they were doing the same basic thing Cambridge Analytica did. They were exploiting user data harvested via Facebook “friendships.” (PSA reminder: Facebook does that 24/7.)

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/19/obama-aide-claim-facebook-side-2012-let-us-exploit-user-data/

  17. Al Sharpton’s group and Black Lives Matter join forces for pro-Farrakhan protest
    By LU Staff March 19, 2018

    Several black activist groups are holding a protest on Monday in defense of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite and racist revealed to have close ties to prominent Democratic politicians and activists.

    Black Lives Matter, the New Black Panther Party, and the National Action Network are among the groups spearheading the protest, the organizers said in a press release.

    The groups are protesting a House resolution, introduced by Republican Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita, that formally condemns Farrakhan’s anti-Semitism. The activists instead want lawmakers to pass a resolution condemning President Donald Trump.

    Rev. Al Sharpton has been NAN’s president since he founded the group in 1991. Sharpton is also a contributor on MSNBC and hosts “PoliticsNation,” a one-hour weekly show on the network. The NAN and MSNBC did not return requests for comment.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/19/al-sharptons-group-black-lives-matter-join-forces-pro-farrakhan-protest/

  18. EPA chief Pruitt to end agency’s use of ‘secret science’ in crafting regulations
    By LU Staff March 19, 2018

    Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt will soon end his agency’s use of “secret science” to craft regulations.

    “We need to make sure their data and methodology are published as part of the record,” Pruitt said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Otherwise, it’s not transparent. It’s not objectively measured, and that’s important.”

    Pruitt will reverse long-standing EPA policy allowing regulators to rely on non-public scientific data in crafting rules. Such studies have been used to justify tens of billions of dollars worth of regulations.

    EPA regulators would only be allowed to consider scientific studies that make their data available for public scrutiny under Pruitt’s new policy. Also, EPA-funded studies would need to make all their data public.

    “When we do contract that science out, sometimes the findings are published; we make that part of our rule-making processes, but then we don’t publish the methodology and data that went into those findings because the third party who did the study won’t give it to us,” Pruitt added.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/03/19/epa-chief-pruitt-end-agencys-use-secret-science-crafting-regulations/

  19. VICE News – The Camels of Arabia

    Camels are the Clydesdales of Saudi Arabia, venerated for their good looks, grace, and speed. Even as the country rapidly modernizes, the animals remain a central part of Saudi culture, and a lucrative one—with prized camels selling for more than $1 million.

    VICE trekked to Al-Dahna for the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival—the largest of its kind—where titans of business and politics in the Middle East flock each year for a display of the finest camels in Saudi Arabia.

    Hundreds of participants pit their camels head-to-head in a frenzied race and beauty contest for a chance to win roughly $57 million in prize money, and a chance to meet Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince.

  20. CNN – Whistleblower: We tested Trump slogans in 2014

    ( 19 min 42 )

    Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie tells CNN’s Don Lemon the company tested slogans such as “drain the swamp” and “deep state” as early as 2014, before Donald Trump announced a presidential run.

      • They want to use this issue to get government regulation of the net, once they can gain control of the net all non liberals will be shut off from any way to get their message out.

    • NBC News -Cambridge Analytica Harvested Data From Millions Of Unsuspecting Facebook Users

    • PBS – Amid Cambridge Analytica revelations, Facebook needs ‘rules of the road,’ says Sen. Klobuchar

      Facebook is at the center of a new firestorm, sparked by media reports that political data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump campaign, harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook profiles — and Facebook never told the users. John Yang talks to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., about calls for greater accountability from the tech giant.

    • CBC – Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie speaks out

      ( 11 min 44 )

    • channel 4 – Adam Schiff interview on Cambridge Analytica: ‘The dark arts have arrived in full force online’

      Kylie Morris speaks to the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Adam Schiff, one of the leading figures investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. I began by asking him about those comments from Alexander Nix that sounded so dismissive of their efforts to discover what Cambridge Analytica had been doing and how his committee didn’t have jurisdiction over his activities.

    • channel 4 -ambridge Analytica: Undercover Secrets of Trump’s Data Firm

      An investigation by Channel 4 News has revealed how Cambridge Analytica claims it ran ‘all’ of President Trump’s digital campaign – and may have broken election law. Executives were secretly filmed saying they leave ‘no paper trail’.

  21. MSNBC – Tribe: Trump ‘Orchestrating A Massive Cover-Up’ Worse Than Nixon

    Harvard impeachment expert Laurence Tribe says we are seeing a “slow-motion constitutional crisis” and calls the White House “cover-up more serious than that of Richard Nixon.” Tribe also explains why firing FBI official Andrew McCabe ( a credible cooperating witness ) builds a “strong case for obstruction of justice.”

    • Devin Nunes on McCabe firing, upcoming Inspector General report

      Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee weighs in on ‘Hannity’ about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ dismissal of the former FBI deputy director.

  22. euronews – Norway’s Justice Minister quits her position over her facebook comments

    It’s after Sylvi Listhaug caused uproar accusing the opposition of being too lenient on terrorism suspects

    • Norwegian minister resigns after Facebook post uproar (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
      http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/norwegian-minister-resigns-facebook-post-uproar-53868299

      “A potential collapse of the minority Norwegian government was averted Tuesday after a senior minister resigned for writing a Facebook post claiming the opposition Labor Party was more interested in protecting the rights of terrorists than the Norwegian people.

      The comment earlier this month by Justice Minister Sylvi Listhaug touched a raw nerve in a country still tormented by memories of the July, 2011 attack by far-right terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik.

      Breivik opened fire on the annual summer camp of the left-wing Labor Party’s youth wing on their holiday camp on Utoya Island, killing 69 people, mostly teenagers. He had earlier murdered eight in a car bomb attack in downtown Oslo.

      The resignation of Listhaug, who represents the anti-immigration Progress Party in the minority right-wing coalition government, has eased the immediate pressure on Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who had publicly supported the minister.

      Opposition lawmakers had tabled a confidence vote in the minister for later Tuesday, which she looked set to lose. That would have forced Solberg to either fire Listhaug or dissolve the three-party minority government.

      “The most important thing for me is the Progress Party,” Listhaug said as she announced her resignation. Progress is the junior partner in the Conservative-led government.

      Listhaug, a polarizing force in Norwegian politics for her direct style and strident views on immigration, has been under pressure since her March 9 post.

      In it, she said: “Labor thinks terrorists’ rights are more important than the security of the nation. Like and share.” The comment was accompanied by a picture of masked men in black scarves and military clothing.

      Her post came in response to Labor opposing a bill that would have allowed the government to strip terrorists or suspected terrorists, who have traveled overseas, of their Norwegian citizenship.

      A week after the post, Listhaug removed it and apologized.

      “It would have solved everything if the Prime Minister and the leader of the Progress Party had just removed her,” said Eirik Holmoyvik, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Bergen.

      “But that would have infuriated parts of the electoral base of the Progress Party. Many people are saying that it was incredibly selfish of her to have not resigned sooner.””

  23. CNN -Trump: I congratulated Putin on victory

    While meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, President Donald Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone and that they will be meeting soon.

  24. Rapper Predicts ‘Civil War’ in Sweden, Says He Will Move to Africa Because It Is Safer (breitbart, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/20/swedish-rapper-predicts-civil-war-next-20-years-moving-africa-safer/

    “Swedish hip-hop artist Ken Ring has said he expects Sweden to descend into a civil war in the next 20 years and that he is planning on moving to Africa, which he believes will be safer.

    Ring made the comments on Norwegian television programme Trygdekontoret which was broadcast on the Norwegian government-owned broadcaster NRK on Friday night. Ring, who grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Hässelby, said that the area had been relatively calm in his childhood but recently had seen a dramatic escalation of violence…”

  25. UK Police Call for ‘Counter-Terrorism Citizens’ to Report Others Viewing ‘Extremism’ (breitbart, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/03/20/uk-police-call-counter-terrorism-citizens-report-extremism/

    “Police are appealing to the British public, asking them to act as “counter-terrorism citizens” and help thwart plots and stop the wave of Islamic extremist attacks hitting the nation.

    Following a series of deadly attacks in 2017, counter-terror officials said tipoffs are essential to them, revealing that more than 30,000 reports were made last year with more than 6,000 yielding useful intelligence.

    Signs the public are told to look for include anyone taking notes or photos of security and CCTV positions, looking at “extremist” material, or travelling for long periods of time.

    Newly appointed Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu told AP: “There’s no such thing as good training for this. It’s about instincts and knowing your community.

    “If you feel nervous about it, you should report it. This is an opportunity for every good citizen to be a counter-terrorism citizen.”…”

  26. US pastor faces 35 years in jail in Turkey for terror links (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-pastor-faces-35-years-jail-turkey-terror-53874002

    “An American pastor has been charged in Turkey with engaging in espionage and having links to terror groups, crimes that carry a potential sentence of up to 35 years in prison, Turkey’s state-run news agency reported Tuesday.

    An indictment accuses Andrew Brunson of working with U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen’s network and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, to stir chaos in Turkey and divide the country, Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday.

    The news agency said the pastor faces 15 years for crimes committed in the name of Gulen’s group and the PKK and another 20 years for obtaining state secrets for political and military spying purposes.

    Brunson is originally from North Carolina, but has lived in Turkey for more than 20 years. He was arrested during the mass detentions and firings soon after a failed July 2016 coup attempt. He denies any wrongdoing.

    The United States has demanded his release…”

  27. The Latest: Aid groups: Migrants stranded by EU-Turkey deal (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-aid-groups-migrants-stranded-eu-turkey-deal-53874946

    “Rights groups have slammed a two-year deal between the European Union and Turkey that has left thousands of migrants and refugees stranded in increasingly precarious conditions on Greek islands.

    Greek and international aid groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have described the deal as a failure by Europe to deal with the refugee issue adequately, saying its consequences are to leave people trapped in often hopeless situations.

    The March 2016 deal aimed to halt the flow of tens of thousands of people from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, as they attempted to make their way to more prosperous European countries. It stipulated that those arriving after March 20, 2016 would be held on the islands and returned to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece…”

  28. Nigeria failed to act on warnings of mass abduction: Report (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/nigeria-failed-act-warnings-mass-abduction-report-53868861

    “Nigeria’s security forces failed to respond to several warnings that suspected Boko Haram extremists were on their way to a town where 110 schoolgirls were seized in a mass abduction last month, rights group Amnesty International said Tuesday.

    The group cited security sources, parents and others as saying the military and police received at least five calls in the hours before the attack, which reminded many of the abduction of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram extremists in 2014.

    Nigeria’s government has said it has launched an investigation into the Feb. 19 attack in the northern town of Dapchi, which President Muhammadu Buhari has called a “national disaster.”

    The military withdrew from the town in January, saying the situation appeared to be calm there.

    Witnesses have told The Associated Press that armed fighters arrived in trucks in Dapchi shouting, “Show us where the school is! Show us where the girls’ school is!” One witness said he knew the men weren’t soldiers even though they wore military uniforms because their vehicles had Arabic inscriptions.

    Parents and educators in Africa’s most populous country have raised an outcry in response to the attack, demanding better security for schools in the vast region where Boko Haram’s Islamic extremists have kidnapped thousands of people over nearly a decade.

    Amnesty International said it interviewed 23 people, including local and security officials, witnesses and girls who escaped. They said about 50 suspected Boko Haram fighters arrived in a convoy of nine vehicles as villagers were attending evening prayers.

    The first warning of the attack came hours earlier, when a phone call was made to the Nigerian army command about 50 kilometers (31 miles) away to say that suspected fighters had been spotted heading to a village near Dapchi, the rights group said. The military commander responded by saying he was aware and monitoring it, the sources told Amnesty International.

    When the fighters later arrived in another village some residents called people in Dapchi to warn that the convoy was headed their way, and one villager said he told the police.

    Villagers said the military did not arrive in Dapchi until after shortly after the attack, Amnesty International said.

    Nigeria’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday…”

  29. Syria monitors: IS militants seize Damascus neighborhood (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syria-monitors-militants-seize-damascus-neighborhood-53868304

    “The Syrian government sent reinforcements to a southern neighborhood in Damascus on Tuesday after losing it to Islamic State militants after days of fighting that killed dozens of soldiers and pro-government militiamen, a monitoring group said.

    IS militants late on Monday captured Damascus’ Qadam neighborhood, which had been largely left vacant as the government’s month-long campaign to retake the city’s eastern Ghouta suburbs from the rebels had drawn significant firepower and resources to that front.

    At least 36 soldiers and pro-government militiamen were killed in clashes over Qadam, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported the government reinforcements.

    In eastern Ghouta, rescue workers were still retrieving bodies on Tuesday from the basement of a school that was bombed by government or Russian jets on Monday, a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defense group said.

    The bodies of 20 women and children have been retrieved from the rubble, said the group, also known as the White Helmets. The school, in Arbin, a town in eastern Ghouta, was being used as a shelter by residents, said the Observatory…”

  30. Turkey slams UN commissioner over human rights report (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/calls-turkey-end-state-emergency-53869323

    “Turkey accused a senior U.N. official of lacking impartiality and collaborating with terrorists over a new report released earlier Tuesday that called on the country to end a state of emergency imposed after a 2016 failed coup attempt.

    The U.N. report says that the state of emergency had led to “profound” human rights violations, paving the way to arbitrary detentions and dismissals, infringements on the rights of freedom of association and expression, and torture and ill-treatment.

    The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said the state of emergency, which has been extended six times since it was imposed, has “been used to severely and arbitrarily curtail the human rights of a very large number of people.”

    Turkey responded harshly, accusing the commissioner of relegating “the U.N. body under his administration into a position of collaborator of terrorist organizations.”

    “The High Commissioner, who signed this text, has lost his objectivity and impartiality on the issues concerning Turkey, and has developed prejudices against our country,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said.

    It also accused Al Hussein of making a “baseless” claim about not being given “access” to Turkey, saying he hadn’t accepted “multiple invitations” to visit the country.

    Turkey has blamed the coup on a network of followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and launched a major crackdown on his supporters and others accused of links to terror groups. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested and more than 110,000 dismissed from public sector jobs. Gulen has denied any involvement.

    Turkey says the emergency powers are needed to deal with ongoing security threats…”

  31. Aid groups slam EU-Turkey deal, as asylum applications drop (abcnews, Mar 20, 2018)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-asylum-applications-drop-pre-migrant-wave-levels-53869036

    “International aid groups on Tuesday slammed the European Union’s migrant deal with Turkey, as new figures showed that the number of people seeking asylum in Europe dropped by almost half last year compared to 2016….

    “The (EU-Turkey) deal is a glaring example of Europe’s failure to design and implement a unified refugee and migration policy which would respect the human rights of those crossing its borders seeking asylum,” said Jenny Kavounidi, board member of the SolidarityNow aid group.

    Rights groups have repeatedly complained of precarious security, poor health caused by overcrowding and increasing mental health problems due to the uncertainty faced by those in the camps, many of whom have been there for up to two years.

    Only those deemed to be vulnerable cases are moved from the islands to camps on the mainland. Some 13,400 people are currently stranded on the islands.

    The agreement with Turkey stipulated that…”

    • Your life IS empty. Dodge responsibility, you achieve nothing.
      Maybe you should go home and fight for what you claim to believe in?

  32. Missing: Sweden Loses Track of Thousands of Rejected Migrants, Refugee Children (sputniknews, Mar 20, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201803201062719521-sweden-missing-migrant-children/

    “Over the last four years, over 27,000 asylum seekers have disappeared following expulsion orders from Sweden; 4,500 of them were children.

    A total of 223 underage asylum seekers have been reported missing following expulsion decision in January and February this year alone. They join thousands of their peers who have gone under radar in recent years, the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported, citing an increase compared with the same period in 2017.

    Some of the “lost” children remain in the country as vagrants, whereas others turned to other EU countries in search of asylum. Acting Children’s Ombudsperson Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist said this trend was worrying, calling for more measures to prevent children seeking asylum from “missing.”

    “The situation is extremely acute. All children who disappear need to be sought after. It is important that there is clarity over who bears responsibility for a disappeared child, and it applies to both unaccompanied minors and children living in a family,” Boqvist said.

    When a child goes missing, search procedures are initiated immediately by the police. However, this doesn’t always apply due to the lack of national guidelines for children undergoing asylum procedures.

    Over the past four years, about 4,500 children have disappeared following expulsion decisions, including 1,700 unaccompanied minors, according to a 2017 report by the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office (BO).

    Conservative immigration spokesman Johan Forssell argued that the figures were serious.

    “It’s terrible that children and young people deviate from the asylum process. This opens up too much vulnerability. Children should not be in such risky situations,” Forssell told Dagens Nyheter.

    In connection with the report, the Children’s Ombudsman’s Office stressed that guidelines should be developed for better search procedures as well as prevention measures. However, none of the proposed measures were implemented, Hildingson Boqvist stressed, which according to her is tantamount to differential treatment.

    “The stories we receive show that the disappeared children can be subjected to both sexual violence and crime. The life they live is extremely hard,” Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist said.

    According to the BO report, about ten percent of the unaccompanied migrant children disappear, which is why Hildingson Boqvist stressed the necessity of preventive measures.

    “The hypothesis has always been that one disappears after receiving a negative decision, but this is not always the case, as proceeds from our interviews with children. They speak, among other things of poor housing conditions and long waiting queues,” Hildingson Boqvist stressed.

    Stockholm County Administrative Board investigator Maria von Bredow has recently submitted a report on children and human trafficking, ordered by the Swedish government. According to her, both unaccompanied children and children living in families hiding from the law run the risk of getting into forced labor or sexual exploitation in order to survive.

    From the onslaught of the 2015 migrant crisis onwards, Sweden took in over 200,000 asylum seekers. As of 2017, the migrants’ most common countries of origin were Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, India, Iran and Eritrea, according to Sweden’s Migration Board.

    In the 2015 alone, over 35,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Sweden. However, their real age remains a matter of debate, as 83 percent of the “children” age-tested by the National Board of Forensic Medicine turned out to be adults.”

  33. ONTARIO – OMB says Muslim centre opponents can’t remain anonymous

    WATERLOO — Fear of harassment with limited support for the assertion isn’t a good enough reason to keep the names of those fighting a proposed Muslim centre on Erbsville Road confidential.

    In a decision handed down Feb. 26, the Ontario Municipal Board ordered the Waterloo West Community Association (WWCA) to provide a complete list of the names and addresses of its current and former members to the other parties in the matter, which is set to go to hearing April 24.

    The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) is anxious to have a decision on the appeal of a City of Waterloo bylaw passed last year that would enable it to use the existing building at 510 Erbsville Rd. for spiritual purposes. The Muslim Association of Canada also plans to redevelop the property and build a proper mosque in the next five to 10 years.

    The community association hired a lawyer and appealed the city’s decision, citing concerns with the smaller spiritual use of the building, as well as future expansion.

    The Muslim association takes the position that in order to meet the challenge and respond to assertions of negative impact, it needs to know who the members of the community association are and where the property of each member is located. It filed a motion requesting the information at a pre-hearing back in January after repeated attempts to attain a complete list of names and addresses were refused.

    An affidavit from a land-use planner with Wood Bull LLP, the firm representing the appellants, cited the community association’s director Hope Hon Yang, who advised her “many of the members are fearful of harassment as a result of their objection to this proposal.”

    The OMB ruled that the Muslim association had “met the test of requesting the information” and that the “affidavit contained nothing to support the claim of fear of harassment.”

    Community association members said they’d been followed by an individual who was recording them canvassing door-to-door last summer, however that was the limit of support for the assertion, the board noted.

    “The board does not find this explanation for withholding the membership information in WWCA to be persuasive,” the decision reads.

    “We are in an era where mobile phones with visual and audio recording capability are both commonplace and commonly used. The canvassers were recorded going along the public right-of-way.”

    “It strains the board’s credulity to suggest that the canvassers had an expectation of privacy … while undertaking their canvassing to obtain additional support of their opposition to the bylaw.”

    The board also noted that members of the gallery at the pre-hearing, sitting on opposite sides of the room, had mobile phones out to record proceedings.

    “The board dismisses the assertion of a fear of harassment as a reason to withhold the member information being sought by the MAC or to encumber that production in any way,” the decision reads.

    “The board agrees that reasonable need for (the Muslim association) to be able to meet the opposing case in these proceedings demands the production of membership information of the WWCA …”

    The hearing will commence April 24 at 10 a.m. in Waterloo council chambers, 100 Regina St. S. Four days have been set aside.

    https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8338052-omb-says-muslim-centre-opponents-can-t-remain-anonymous/

  34. This one is an old one but still valuable, the Chinese economy is still weak, so weak it is on the brink of collapse. China is in the trap that if they stop spending (trying to seize more territory and assets they can turn into money) but if they keep spending it will require a continually growing amount of assets/money to prevent the collapse. They are probably well beyond the point where they can get enough assets/cash to pay off the debt and prevent the crash. When it comes it will take down the entire world, the lefts fantasy world of economic control is about to collapse which will make the coming war much worse since it will also be about seizing goods from the lands you conquer. This will create the passions that will create the war that follows the coming one.

    The Fall of China. There Will Be No Economic Recovery.

    • As things continue to constrict, that 21 trillion dollar collective Chinese nest egg will become increasingly irresistible to Beijing. Newly liberated Poland ended up giving all mutual funds and retirement accounts an across-the-board 50% “haircut”.

      What happens when the Chicoms try to start skimming off all of those life savings?

      Chinese Communism is on its last legs. It just needs a little push.

      There is no way imaginable that it would be productive for Western countries to help prop up The Mainland’s economy, as there would be zero financial accountability or transparency. In this respect, Beijing has cut off all of its legitimate life lines. All of which makes the $21 trillion golden nest egg look just that much more appetizing.

  35. D.C. City Council Member Under Fire for Anti-Semitic Comments Also Claimed Jews Run Federal Government

    + video

    […]In a video obtained by the Washington Post, White claimed during a Mayor’s Council breakfast on Feb. 27 that Jews also control the World Bank and the federal government. During the breakfast–as in his March 16 remarks–White promoted conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds,

    http://freebeacon.com/politics/d-c-city-council-member-fire-anti-semitic-comments-claimed-jews-run-federal-government/