Reader’s Links for Aug. 29, 2018

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

About Eeyore

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

166 Replies to “Reader’s Links for Aug. 29, 2018”

  1. ‘Countrywide problem’: Mother whose son’s daycare group has ‘2 out of 25’ German-speaking kids to RT (RT, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.rt.com/news/437119-germany-integration-children-daycare/

    “A mother who is frustrated by the situation in her son’s daycare group, where only “two out of twenty five speak German”, told RT that the problem may result in “lost children” who can neither speak German nor integrate.

    A Facebook video filmed by Leen Kroetsch, mother of a 3-year-old boy in the German city of Essen, has gone viral since she posted it on August 15. The woman shared her emotions, claiming that out of 25 children in her son’s group only two are without an immigrant background and who can speak German fluently. The post has polarized social media users and hit some 2 million views.

    Speaking to RT, Kroetsch said she has never expected “such a storm of reaction” over her “emotional moment.”

    “I can only speak for myself, it’s a big problem in my city, but many people have written to me and I learned that it’s a countrywide problem, not just regional,” the woman told RT.

    While acknowledging that integration is important, Kroetsch fears that her son has “no opportunity to develop” in such a situation as the kid cannot adapt to his own culture when “there are almost no Germans.”

    “The city has set this group up and mixed the children incorrectly. And as a result we’ll end up with lost children: no one speaks German, no one can integrate. And this loss is on both sides, I can see it in my son,” the mother warned.

    Reacting to Kroetsch’s claims in her initial Facebook post, the facility clarified that the group was made up as an emergency one to compensate for the lack of space in ordinary groups – otherwise all the 25 children would not have had the opportunity to attend daycare.

    It also stressed the group consists of children of various nationalities, for instance from Syria, Croatia as well as Turkey, and that the “only common language” they used was German. The nursery acknowledged though, that some of the group’s children indeed spoke poor German, adding that they need more time.

    In an online reaction to Kroetsch’s post, some people said she promoted anti-migrant sentiment, but others echoed mother’s concerns, saying the same situation can be found across Germany, including in Berlin.”

    • … the problem may result in “lost children” who can neither speak German nor integrate.

      Wasn’t this the intent, all along?!? Someone please connect the dots for this dimwit.

  2. South Africa farm SEIZURE: Land reform plans SCRAPPED after Trump and May scrutiny (express, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1009953/south-africa-farmers-donald-trump-theresa-may-cyril-ramaphosa-land-reforms

    “SOUTH Africa has withdrawn its white farmland redistribution bill just days after President Donald Trump tweeted he was closely watching the situation and Theresa May said the process must be “democratic”.

    The African National Congress (ANC) said that the bill which would have the power to take land away from white farmers to rebalance racial disparities needed to have further consideration.

    Nonceba Mhlauli, a spokeswoman for the ANC’s chief whip, said: “The bill in its current form would need to be re-considered in light of the process of reviewing Section 25 of the constitution for the expropriation of land without compensation.

    “Were the bill to be re-introduced, it would contain a clause or clauses reflecting expropriation of land without compensation if that is the way that South Africans have chosen to go.”

    The government is trying to change the status quo where the white community who only make up eight percent of the populations own 72 percent of the farms.

    President Trump tweeted: “I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures ad expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers.”

    Theresa May had pledged her support for the land reform in South Africa but she has emphasised the need to conduct farm appropriations in a “legal and fair way”.

    Mrs May has said yesterday: ”The UK has for some time now supported land reform.

    “Land reform that is legal, that is transparent, that is generated through a democratic process.

    I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2018

    “It’s an issue that I raised and discussed with President Ramaphosa when he was in London earlier this year.

    “I’ll be talking about it with him later today.”

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa claimed the new policy will give South Africans more assets and opportunities as well as “creating conditions for greater, more inclusive and more meaningful growth”.

    Nearly 25 years after apartheid ended in South Africa, the issue of land ownership continues to be a divisive one in the country.

    The South African government had started to seize land from white farmers, initially targeting two game farmers in the northern province of Limpopo after talks with the owners Akkerland Boerdery broke down over a huge differences in its estimated value.

    There has been a rise in violent attacks against farmers in South Africa and between 2016-7, there were 74 farm murders and 638 attacks, mainly against the white farmers.”

    • This is just temporary, it will delay the seizures and genocide by a few months to a few years but they will still occur.

      • Legal and fair.
        Like Nuremberg Laws of 1935. Theresa May is ok with legal and orderly confiscation and genocide.
        Appeaser scum.

        • She is so short sighted that she doesn’t realize that if her policies are allowed to play out and Britain becomes a White Minority nation the land seizures will start their also. For that matter they will start in the US if the left gets there way here.

          • Like the rest of the EuroElite Scum, she doesn’t have any skin in the game.
            They don’t care about the legacy they inherited, they’re eager to throw it all into the cauldron for the devil’s broth.

            Family? G-d? Country?
            These are the hollow-men [-critters].

        • “Appeaser scum.”

          An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.
          — Winston Churchill

          Yust vait undt zee vot heppens ven the West finally learns (i.e., is taut) to declair $100-each bounty, 24 hour, year-round, open season, no bag limit on crocodiles.

          I remain supremely confident that enough of those doing any of the major bagging, will clearly recall who was doing all of the feeding before then…

          These EU and other Western betrayals are tantamount to Crimes Against Humanity©. As any good detective will tell you about crimes that are NOT of passion, “follow the money”. Qui bono?

          Follow the money trail and then make enough seats for the prisoner’s dock*. The magnitude of this (largely Socialist) Crime Against Humanity© has to it, only can be expressed in a number of orders that would make owners of New York City’s world famous, Tavern on the Green squirt in their sleep, twice!

          * SIDEBAR: According to legend, Texas Department of Criminal Justice execs do a yearly canvas of 8th grade reading skills and build out penitentiary space accordingly. Some alarming literacy-related statistics:

          • Middle income neighborhoods: 13 books per child

          • Low income neighborhoods: one book per 300 children

          • Absence of parental involvement can lower reading scores by 74%

          • 1984: 9% of 17-year olds never read for pleasure

          • 2004: 19% of 17-year olds never read for pleasure

          • 2007: Only 30% of 13-year olds read every day

          • 2008: Only 13% of 13 and 17 year-olds report reading on their own for fun

          Thank you for enduring the massive sidebar, I’ll be here all night, please try the veal!

          … Anyhoo, this issue of illiteracy arises because there are so many (previously unexpected) forms of it in this hyper-connected age. Not just Liiteracy (itself a veritable touchstone of civilization), but also, numeracy (i.e., performing basic four-function mathematical calculations in your head with no other assistance … let’s just end the list with Historical Illiteracy.

          As in: “Those who refuse to learn from history…”

          We all know the old saw and so forth. The sole problem being, is what happens when this (now-obvious dysfunction regarding Historical Literacy “Trickles Up” into what passes for modern Western “Leadership”???

          Modern Civilization has no patience with nor tolerance for those who oppose humanity’s peaceful and productive coexistence.

          Bless You All,

          NR

  3. ‘It’s paid political advertising!’ – Regulator CONDEMNS Saudi Arabian adverts on UK TV (express, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1009895/Ofcom-Saudi-Arabian-adverts-UK-TV-Crown-Prince-Salmon

    “CONTROVERSIAL TV adverts paid for by Saudi Arabia violated the UK ban on paid political advertising and should not have been aired according to a ruling by regulator Ofcom.

    An investigation by the regulator found that the adverts were “intended to influence public opinion” on “matters of public controversy”.

    Such advertising is not allowed on TV according to UK law.

    A total of 56 adverts promoting Saudi Arabia were broadcast on Sky 1 on March 7 2018.

    This coincided with a controversial visit to the UK by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    The minute long advert showed clips of women driving and cinemas opening, in a clear effort to show that Saudi Arabia is modernising.

    A voiceover claimed “things are undoubtedly changing” in Saudi and argued the UK’s friendship with the Kingdom “brings increased prosperity and security for both countries”.

    The commercials were paid for by the Saudi Centre for International Communication, a branch of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry for Culture and Information.

    The Ofcom ruling overturns the original decision from Clearest, which screens adverts in the UK and approved the Saudi one for broadcast.

    Clearest unsuccessfully attempted to defend its position by arguing the adverts promoted UK-Saudi trade.

    Sky 1, the broadcaster who showed the adverts, are not facing any punishment.

    However the ruling will make it very difficult for Saudi Arabia to place any adverts on UK TV in the future…”

    • They got a little too blatant.
      Here they’ve got PTrump’s top-notch, Madison Ave. firms managing the message. Placement and branding is an art.

      I find it excessive and often ridiculous, but social media Saudi-shills convince huge masses of their followers. Multiplied many times over, as the rubbish is blogged and retweeted. Advertising for a country is read like analysis of current events.

  4. UK Govt: Somali Heritage Teens Abused in Forced Marriage Detention Centres (breitbart, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/29/uk-somali-teens-held-forced-marriage-detention-centres-abused-says-govt/

    “There has been a 100 percent year-on-year rise in the number of forced marriage cases linked to Somali heritage youngsters, with many tricked into returning to Africa where they are often detained and abused, officials say.

    The youngsters are routinely being taken to their parents’ home countries, under the pretence of a holiday, but instead are kept in detention centres before they are forced into marriage, The Guardian reports.

    They are put in a so-called “dhaqan celis”, which translates as “the rehabilitation community”, and children and teenagers are sent to “re-education schools” where they are taught Muslim and Somali cultural values.

    However, the Home Office says the schools do not offer an academic curriculum and instead end in pupils being subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse.

    Some of the children and teenagers are imprisoned and held against their will and only given their freedom back if they agree to marry…”

  5. Senators Criticize Google CEO for Declining to Testify

    (Bloomberg) — Google’s Sundar Pichai is facing bipartisan criticism for refusing to testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing next week, but the panel’s chairman signaled he’s unlikely to issue a subpoena to force the chief executive officer to appear.

    “I don’t normally subpoena people to be part of the solution,” Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina said Tuesday when asked if he’s considering such a step. “Google chooses not to participate and being part of the solution. That’s a decision they made.”

    https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2018/08/28/google-ceo-pichai-faulted-by-senators-for-declining-to-testify#gs.x917l28

  6. Pakistan Senate Passes Resolution Condemning Geert Wilders’ Mohammed Cartoon Contest (breitbart, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/08/29/pakistan-senate-passes-resolution-condemning-geert-wilders-mohammed-cartoon-contest/

    “The Senate of Pakistan has passed a resolution this week to condemn a cartoon contest of the Islamic prophet Mohammed organised by Dutch firebrand and anti-Islamisation campaigner Geert Wilders.

    The resolution, which was signed by leaders of Pakistan’s political parties, accuses Wilders of “inciting hatred, racial prejudice, unrest, conflict and insecurity in a world that has already seen much bloodshed, racism, extremism, intolerance and Islamophobia”, Pakistani English-language newspaper The News International reports.

    “Since under the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973, Islam is the state religion and it is the responsibility of the State to preserve, protect and promote Islam, therefore, it must stand up and articulate the general will of the Muslims of Pakistan against the proposed competition,” the resolution adds.

    The Senate recommended the Pakistani government not only lodge a formal complaint with the Dutch embassy in Islamabad but also take the issue to the United Nations.

    “The government should agitate this issue at the UN General Assembly for developing global consensus against such blasphemous initiatives by a handful of mischief mongers whose sole aim seems to be creating communal discord and social unrest,” the resolution states.

    ‘Draw Mohammed’ Winner Creates New Cartoon Showing Geert Wilders Locking Up Muslim Prophet https://t.co/Kc2d9fr3l8 pic.twitter.com/rbTnPupcV9

    — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2016

    “The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony should constitute a Committee of Muslim intellectuals and experts to deliberate on the issue and frame workable proposals for preventing such blasphemous movies, cartoons books and other such content,” it adds.

    Pakistani Prime Minister and former cricketer Imran Khan commented on the resolution shortly after it was passed saying: “To make such moves is very easy there. The incidents after Salman Rushdie issue make it very easy for those who promote hate in the West. The repeated occurrence of such blasphemous acts is a collective failure of the Muslim Ummah.”

    Others in Pakistan have reacted to the contest much more radically. In a social media post, Pakistan cricketer Khalid Latif, who was involved in a corruption scandal, offered three million Pakistani rupees (£189,000/$244,000) for someone to “kill the Dutchmen” behind the contest.

    Mr Wilders announced the contest in June and said it would take place sometime later this year.

    Writing for Breitbart London, Wilders described his motivation for the contest saying: “The contest is not intended to provoke or insult anyone. We organise it because freedom of speech is the most important freedom we have. Today, this freedom is under attack from two sides. Both Islam and our own Western political elites are trying to restrict that freedom. They both try to gag us.””

  7. ‘I hate them’: Locals reportedly frustrated with Alphabet’s self-driving cars

    Early rider use the Waymo driverless vehicles to get to school.
    Early rider use the Waymo driverless vehicles to get to school.

    Alphabet’s self-driving cars are annoying their neighbors in Chandler, Arizona.

    More than a dozen locals who work near Waymo’s office gave The Information the same unequivocal assessment of the cars, which reportedly struggle to cross a T-intersection there: “I hate them.”

    One woman said that she almost hit one of the company’s minivans because it suddenly stopped while trying to make a right turn, while another man said that he gets so frustrated waiting for the cars to cross the intersection that he has illegally driven around them.

    The anecdotes highlight how challenging it can be for self-driving cars, which are programmed to drive conservatively, to master situations that human drivers can handle with relative ease, like merging or finding a gap in traffic to make a turn.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/28/locals-reportedly-frustrated-with-alphabets-waymo-self-driving-cars.html

  8. Pakistani Islamists rally against anti-Islam cartoon contest (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistani-islamists-rally-anti-islam-cartoon-contest-57468178

    “Members of a Pakistani Islamist group that made surprising gains in last month’s national elections are preparing to march toward Islamabad to rally against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who plans to hold a Prophet Muhammad cartoon competition in November.

    Muslims across Pakistan have denounced the contest, calling it an attempt to defame Islam because physical depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad, even positive ones, are forbidden in the religion.

    Wednesday’s rally will be the first test of how Pakistan’s new prime minister, Imran Khan, interacts with the Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan party, which supported Khan in the July 25 vote.

    Khan has sought international support against the cartoon competition and his government has lodged a protest with the Dutch ambassador but resisted demands to expel him.

    Tehreek-i-Labaik in 2017 disrupted life in Islamabad by rallying against an omitted reference to the Prophet in a constitutional bill.”

  9. Libyan coast guard rescues nearly 400 Europe-bound migrants (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/libyan-coast-guard-rescues-400-europe-bound-migrants-57470227

    “Libya’s coast guard says it has intercepted about 400 Europe-bound migrants off the Mediterranean coast.

    Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said Wednesday that a rubber boat carrying 84 passengers, including six women and five children, was stopped Monday off the town of al-Maya, 27 kilometers (16 miles) west of Tripoli.

    He said that another two boats, carrying 146 passengers, including 26 women and four children, were stopped Monday off the coast of the southwestern town of Abu Kammash.

    He said that 162 Europe-bound migrants have been intercepted last week. He said the migrants were given humanitarian and medical aid, and were taken to refugee camps in the towns of Zawiya and Tajoura.

    Libyan authorities have stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants, with European assistance.”

  10. Soup Kitchen Lines Swell on Election Eve in Troubled Brazil

    (Bloomberg) — In Brazil’s capital, a well-known rodizio — an all-you-can-eat steakhouse — offers a steep discount for choosing only one type of meat; at an upscale Italian eatery, you can now pay for lunch in installments; at a soup kitchen, shop owners join the homeless for a free meal.

    Faced with fewer customers, restaurants are dropping their prices for the first time in 13 years.

    “Brazilians have had to change their habits and go to cheaper restaurants,” said Paulo Solmucci Junior, head of the country’s bar and restaurant association. “Traditional, important restaurants have closed and many are at risk. We were optimistic this year. But the economy let us down.”

    https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/2018/08/29/soup-kitchen-lines-swell-on-eve-of-election-in-sputtering-brazil#gs.RxNAl1w

    • Once considered too extreme, Brazilian right-winger homes in on presidency

      RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) –

      When Jair Bolsonaro addressed a crowd in a poor, violent area of Rio de Janeiro this week, the man long considered too extreme for the nation’s presidency was greeted with shouts of “the myth, the myth!”

      In elections starting on October 7, the far-right ex-army captain and long obscure congressman could almost turn the fantasy of his campaign into something near reality.

      Loathed by much of Brazil for his insults against women and gays, his alleged racism and crude exhortations for “bandits” to be shot down, Bolsonaro has surprised many by becoming a frontrunner.

      The only politician currently more popular is the leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leader who also divides Brazilians — only in the other direction.

      Lula would easily win the election, according to polls, but he is in prison for corruption and very unlikely to be allowed on the ballot.

      That would leave Bolsonaro winning the first round and going into a runoff, something once unthinkable.

      https://www.france24.com/en/20180829-once-considered-extreme-brazilian-right-winger-homes-presidency

  11. Rebels ambush police in Indian-held Kashmir, killing 4 (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rebels-ambush-police-indian-held-kashmir-killing-57469461

    “Rebels fighting against Indian rule ambushed a group of police officers and killed four of them on Wednesday in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, police said.

    The officials were visiting a workshop to get a police vehicle repaired in the area when militants attacked them with gunfire in the suburbs of southern Shopian town, police said. The policemen were wounded and later died at a hospital.

    No rebel group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack…”

  12. China, shoring up its navy, muscles into pacific

    DALIAN, China — In April, on the 69th anniversary of the founding of China’s navy, the country’s first domestically built aircraft carrier stirred from its berth in the port city of Dalian on the Bohai Sea, tethered to tugboats for a test of its seaworthiness.

    “China’s first homegrown aircraft carrier just moved a bit, and the United States, Japan and India squirmed,” a military news website crowed, referring to the three nations China views as its main rivals.

    Not long ago, such boasts would have been dismissed as the bravado of a second-string military. No longer.

    https://www.wral.com/china-shoring-up-its-navy-muscles-into-pacific/17803020/

    • Squirimed my a$$ that hunk of junk isn’t a threat to the US or Japan and India can probably hold its own against the Chinese Navy.

      • I laughed at the “squirmed” myself.
        Your punctuation is especially apt.
        How much do the Chinese have invested in the U.S. corporate media? Heaps, I’ll bet.

        • Crummy IRAN invests in PR and dirty tricks here big-time:
          Tech Giants Target Accounts Linked to Iran

          America’s biggest tech companies are zeroing in on Iran, scrubbing their online networks of fake accounts, videos and social-media posts aimed at spreading misinformation. Google on Thursday said it had terminated 39 video channels on YouTube, six blogs on its Blogger platform and 13 accounts on the Google+ social-networking hub found to be pushing misinformation on behalf of Iran’s state broadcasting arm.

          Google’s investigators uncovered evidence that the accounts it took down are connected with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2013.

          The fake accounts promoted “particular narratives and angles in line with Iranian national interests,” such as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli stories, said Lee Foster, a manager with the security company FireEye. Facebook said it had taken down 652 pages and accounts and Twitter suspended 284 accounts they said were part of Iranian influence efforts.

          https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-terminates-youtube-accounts-linked-to-iran-1535047360

        • Influence buying – Iran:
          Iran’s Huge Political Influence Operation

          An Iranian influence operation targeting Internet users worldwide is significantly bigger than previously identified, encompassing a network of anonymous websites and social media accounts in 11 different languages.

          In addition to social media accounts and websites identified last week, a Reuters analysis has identified 10 more sites and dozens of social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube that were part of an Iranian project to covertly influence public opinion in other countries.

          https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-facebook-exclusive/exclusive-iran-based-political-influence-operation-bigger-persistent-global-idUSKCN1LD2R9
          ……
          See also:
          Tech Giants Target Accounts Linked to Iran
          https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-terminates-youtube-accounts-linked-to-iran-1535047360

      • Hey! Let’s be serious, emkay?!? Were I in the Pentagon, I’d have “squirmed” too. Yust imagine the deep personal satisfaction of punching that Hainan tin can with more perforations than an End-of-the-Line ticket on the Long Island Express.

          • I suppose it could be considered a prize target in a live fire exercise.

            That’s all I wanted to hear… as in: At the carnival midway’s shooting gallery, it’s the one which gets your girlie that humongous Teddy bear.

            (And … if you know how to really treat a good gel right, mayhaps she’ll wear that tiny little teddy of hers … Ahem!)

            Officially declared a: WIN–WIN. Finis.

            [gavel drops]

            TYVM YMMV

  13. US military airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabab kills 3 (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-military-airstrike-somalia-al-shabab-kills-57469460

    “The U.S. military says it has carried out an airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabab extremists, killing three fighters.

    The U.S. Africa Command statement says the strike was carried out on Monday about 40 kilometers (24 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

    The U.S. has carried out 21 such strikes this year against the Somalia-based al-Shabab. The al-Qaida-linked group is the deadliest Islamic extremist organization in sub-Saharan Africa and it often targets Mogadishu with deadly attacks.

    The U.S. since late last year also has carried out a number of drone strikes against a small presence of fighters linked to the Islamic State organization in the northern part of the Horn of Africa nation.”

    • US military airstrike in Somalia against al-Shabab kills 3

      Without wishing to seem ungracious, please get back to me when the number of fatalities involved has a few zeros after it.

      At the very best, we (Multinational Forces) are cycling American flight crews through active combat theaters which, in and of itself, is not altogether bad. Yewed best believe Red Chinese fighter pilots are drooling with envy at the notion of getting active combat, live fire assignments like these, in their sleep.

      At the worst, we’re plowing through fresh munitions and braces of spanking new (i.e., long-shelf-life JDAM and other ‘smart munitions’). Yet, at day’s end (after keeping all of those contracts alive … no easy task at the best of times) for all the treasure involved, not too much precious American blood is being shed (for a flaming change). Please trust me that one American (or European) life is too many for me. However, if we do not pay the price of eternal vigilance, we are utter fools to have disrespected America’s first handful of Presidents… (Yes, you … yucki!)

      We should be so fortunate.That America might ride upon the “Shoulders of Giants” almost defies imagination. That we have done so repeatedly and reached the moon to safely return numerous times is the stuff of imagination: Yet we DID IT!

      No one else will be able to field such an active combat task force. Nor should they bother…

      • I know.
        The targets dispatch more of their own everyday – routine honor-killings, playing catch with loaded rifles, witch-burnings, and so forth.

        These doodling drills are 0-administration tactics. Wasteful and a poor show for the natives. Plenty of observers are looking forward to a shake-up at DoD like the one at DoS.

  14. Robot teachers invade Chinese kindergartens

    BEIJING (AFP) –

    The Chinese kindergarten children giggled as they worked to solve puzzles assigned by their new teaching assistant: a roundish, short educator with a screen for a face.

    Just under 60 centimetres (two feet) high, the autonomous robot named Keeko has been a hit in several kindergartens, telling stories and challenging children with logic problems.

    Round and white with a tubby body, the armless robot zips around on tiny wheels, its inbuilt cameras doubling up both as navigational sensors and a front-facing camera allowing users to record video journals.

    In China, robots are being developed to deliver groceries, provide companionship to the elderly, dispense legal advice and now, as Keeko’s creators hope, join the ranks of educators.

    At the Yiswind Institute of Multicultural Education on the outskirts of Beijing, the children have been tasked to help a prince find his way through a desert — by putting together square mats that represent a path taken by the robot — part storytelling and part problem-solving.

    https://www.france24.com/en/20180829-robot-teachers-invade-chinese-kindergartens

  15. Report: FBI Leaked Info to Media, Used for FISA

    Details continue to emerge about possible FISA abuses by Obama-era officials as we now know the FBI leaked information to the media, then used those stories to file for spy warrants.

    That’s according to documents released Tuesday, which outlined closed-door testimony from former FBI Agent Jonathan Moffa, who appeared before two House committees last week.

    While speaking in front of the House Oversight Committee and Judiciary Committee on Friday, Moffa admitted that he took part in the practice of leaking info to justify surveillance applications

    However, Moffa did not confirm whether it was used for the Steele dossier.

    On Monday, House Freedom Caucus chairman Mark Meadows tweeted “it was unreal to learn about the FBI’s practice,” and went on to say it makes Tuesday’s Ohr hearing even more crucial.

    http://www.oann.com/report-fbi-leaked-info-to-media-used-for-fisa/

    • Details continue to emerge about possible FISA abuses by Obama-era officials as we now know the FBI leaked information to the media, then used those stories to file for spy warrants.

      Details continue to emerge about probable FISA abuses by Obama-era officials as we now know the FBI leaked information to the media, then used those stories to file for spy warrants.

      It’s time to start calling a spade a Mulatto…

  16. 3D-Printed Gunmaker Sells Digital Files Amid Gun Blueprint Ban

    OAN Newroom
    UPDATED 1:42 PM PT — Tues. August 28, 2018

    The man attempting to circulate 3D-printed gun blueprints online said if he can’t give away the files for free, he’ll sell them instead.

    During a press conference Tuesday, Cody Wilson — the managing director at Texas-based Defense Distributed — said he has already received about 400 orders for people willing to pay any price for the digital plans.

    Wilson said buyers have paid anywhere from one-to-$15 for the plastic gun schematics, which have been placed on USB drives.

    http://www.oann.com/3d-printed-gunmaker-sells-digital-files-amid-gun-blueprint-ban/

  17. U.S. Urges International Court to Dismiss Iran Lawsuit Against U.S. Sanctions

    OAN Newroom
    UPDATED 11:14 AM PT — Tues. August 28, 2018

    U.S. lawyers are urging the International Court of Justice to dismiss an Iranian lawsuit calling for U.S. sanctions to be lifted. They are saying Tehran’s real aim is to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement that has been rejected by President Trump.

    http://www.oann.com/u-s-urges-international-court-to-dismiss-iran-lawsuit-against-u-s-sanctions/

  18. Officials: Al-Qaida attack on Yemen checkpoint kills 5 (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/officials-al-qaida-attack-yemen-checkpoint-kills-57468719

    “Yemeni tribal and security officials say a suspected al-Qaida attack on a checkpoint in a southern province has killed five soldiers and wounded four others.

    They say the attack took place late Tuesday in Ahwar district in Abyan province and targeted Security Belt forces — fighters trained and financed by the UAE, which is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling the country’s Houthi rebels.

    The officials spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media and the tribal leaders for fear of reprisals.

    Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, as the Yemeni affiliate is known, has long been considered the global network’s most dangerous branch and has attempted to carry out attacks on the U.S. mainland.

    Yemen was plunged into a civil war in March 2015.”

    • The UAE will take this up with the Saudis.

      Whenever you read glossy fables about “our [moderate] Gulf allies”, it’s PR-junk. They’re not moderate, they don’t function as a Gulf or Sunni bloc, and they’re not even consistently allied to each other, let alone the epitome of Dar al-Harb.

      These are tribal coalitions, inherently unstable. Most of what’s really going on is intentionally obscured. By the authoritarian governments involved and by our own government, irrespective of political party. Independent research? No such thing: all think-tanks have sponsors, as do university research departments.

      Dealing with these people is dirty, shady business. The American people wouldn’t tolerate such nastiness. That’s why it takes so much perfume to cover the stench, from scripted lines like “Islam is a religion of peace” (as 9/11 conspirators are whisked out of the country), to the Saudi-funded crap that’s fed to Omniscient Twitterati™ like Thomas Wictor.

      The UAE does NOT share Saudi’s worries about Iran. Like Egypt, it’s primarily threatened by political Islam: the MB (and its al-Qaeda/ISIS branch). It’s a family corporation that pursues its interests; “loyalty to country” is a Western projection.

      Saudi Arabia is its own version of political Islam, a tribal variant that went global after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Its relationships with political terrorists have never been investigated with appropriate rigor. Would-be investigators have been bought off.

      What is known is unlikely to be revealed.

  19. 5 Kenyan soldiers killed in roadside bombing in Lamu County (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/kenyan-soldiers-killed-roadside-bombing-lamu-county-57468584

    “A Kenyan military spokesman says five Kenyan soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb blew up the vehicle they were travelling in the country’s southeast.

    Col. Paul Njuguna also said 10 soldiers were wounded Wednesday morning along the Kiunga-Sankuri road in Lamu County. Njuguna did not say in the statement who carried out the attack but suspicion has fallen on the al-Shabab extremist group from Somalia which the military was deployed to battle in that area.

    Last month the military denied reports six soldiers died in a roadside bomb in the same area. Al-Shabab has carried out a wave of attacks in Kenya as retribution for Kenya’s 2011 deployment of troops to Somalia to fight the militants. More recently the extremist group has aimed its attacks on Kenyan security targets.”

  20. Egypt says 20 militants killed in Sinai, Western Desert (abcnews, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypt-20-militants-killed-sinai-western-desert-57471921

    “Egypt says its security forces have killed at least 20 suspected militants in recent days in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula and along its porous border with Libya.

    The military said in a statement Wednesday that forces destroyed 18 hideouts and weapons depots, dismantled 41 explosive devices and arrested 83 suspects.

    The military says airstrikes destroyed 39 vehicles containing weapons and ammunition in the Western Desert.

    It wasn’t possible to independently confirm the claims as access to the northern Sinai is heavily restricted.

    Egypt launched a nationwide operation against militants in February. It has struggled to combat a long-running insurgency in the Sinai that is now affiliated with the Islamic State group.”

  21. Richard: Be sure and read the entire article, it is more about how DC is out of step with America and must be changed then it is about McCain. As she states (correctly) now is the time fo (temporally) forget or political differences with McCain (and there were many of them) and sympthize with his family. We can do this and still fight against the vast majority of the political agenda McCain that McCain supported.

    The long goodbye
    By J.E. Dyer August 28, 2018

    The saddest tweet came through my timeline on Monday.

    I’ve been trying to put into words, in my own mind, the problem with all that’s going on surrounding the death of Senator John McCain. And this tweet helped put it in perspective for me.

    Erick Erickson passed the sentiment on without comment, but my sense from other things in his tweet stream is that he largely agreed with it.

    It’s not to disparage either Erickson or the unnamed senator that I write here. It’s to comment on the perspective the senator’s words represent. And why the perspective doesn’t really resonate, with a big segment of the American public.

    First of all, there are a lot of people who doubt that Trump intentionally dissed McCain by raising the flag to full staff on Monday (which accorded with the prescribed protocol for the death of a member of Congress).

    Some people may suppose Trump was consulted and said “Follow the rules,” instead of saying “Leave it at half-staff; we must honor Senator McCain by keeping it lowered longer than prescribed.” Others — and you could convince me on this — suspect Trump didn’t intervene at all, and wasn’t asked by the White House staff.

    That probably seems unimaginable to the senator, and to many whose hearts and minds dwell somewhere between Capitol Hill and the Ellipse on the National Mall. The very idea that a president might not vibrate to the rhythm of flag protocol in Washington, D.C.? Everybody vibrates to that rhythm in Washington, D.C. The president must surely be always thinking about it.

    But out in America, where Trump came from, everybody doesn’t vibrate to it.

    That’s not about any lack of respect for the flag. It’s about what the flag is for, and what constitutes a respectful attitude toward it. For a great swath of America, we respect and love the flag, because of all it represents.

    For people like Erickson’s senator — and for many in Washington — the flag is more of a prop to honor public officials with. That, at least, is what one can deduce from seeing which transgressions involving the flag really get them aggravated.

    Again, this isn’t about being angry with the senator or pointing a finger at him. But it is about where the yawning divide lies in America today.

    I think of the protracted agony of our current public discourse as a long goodbye to a ruling idea, and the political class that hitched its wagon to it: the idea of navigating from one compromise between radical ideology and constitutional principle to the next, until our nation is left in unsustainable debt, unsustainable social conflict, unsustainable departures from the rule of law, and unsustainable illusions about how feasible it is to keep enslaving more and more future generations to the cost of grievance-tending today.

    The officials of Washington never bear the cost of those unsustainable conditions. It’s the people who bear the cost. Indeed, the officials of Washington by and large benefit from expanding an unsustainable mode of government and its infrastructure.

    But it’s still unsustainable. The people are trying to roll it back peacefully, by electing someone to the Oval Office who doesn’t see the continued expansion of divisive, grievance-tending government as the core mission.

    It was virtually inevitable that the person who didn’t see Washington that way would be someone who doesn’t vibrate to Washington’s rhythms. The media have made it their mission to demonize that failure of sympathetic vibration in Trump. Every case in which Trump is out of step with the prevailing local sentiment is depicted as Trump being petty, petulant, childish, obnoxious, etc.

    And sometimes Trump is indeed obnoxious, to the point of being inexcusable. But soberly, I think only the petty themselves see him as uniquely petty. Unlike the petty, Trump does something that resonates with a whole, very real America out here: he shoulders his ruck every morning and goes out to get the job done, in spite of the unprecedented volley of slings and arrows deployed against him.

    That resonates because it’s what millions and millions of Americans do. They are castigated as hateful bigots, lazy slobs, ignorant rubes, fascists, racists, warmongers. They shoulder the ruck and keep going. They are accused of destroying the planet, oppressing whole peoples, harshing everyone else’s mellow no matter what the situation. They shoulder the ruck and keep going.

    They see their religious beliefs, their intellectual ideas, their leisure activities, their very livelihoods made “illegal” by laws and regulations, and their liberties shrinking year after year. They see their flag desecrated and all they believe in denounced ritually and incessantly. Their spirits are weary. They are lectured and rebuked constantly. They never hear good news; only bad. What is framed for them as good news is merely information they don’t even care about. One word of genuine encouragement, however inelegantly expressed, can be a drop of water in the desert to them.

    In none of this are they spared the usual problems of human life: sickness, loss, death, disappointment, setbacks, pain, sorrow.

    And unlike the senator who would “almost” impeach a president over the use of the flag to honor a fellow politician, these Americans out here just shoulder the ruck and keep going. Usually with a wisecrack and a “Git ‘er done!”

    But when it got perilously close to the point that there was no ruck to shoulder — too much of the private economy paralyzed and stagnant — but only a mill wheel driven by someone else, because of all that had been made illegal for them, they said, “Enough.”

    We are now in the long goodbye to that era of castigating the American people as a host of demons that needs legislating and regulating against. Of course, the great shift in narrative that goes along with it is an unwelcome intrusion for the legacy political class. To them, it looks like other people being simply awful, starting with taking the power of the narrative away from them. The whole way of life of the political class, the purpose and meaning by which they have navigated, is on the chopping block.

    But that legacy political class has nothing on its side to justify continuing under the old banners. Its mode of operation is the very opposite of constitutionalism and the rule of law. It is, rather, about harshly enforced political orthodoxy and the rule of ritual.

    Never forget that. The political orthodoxies of Washington, D.C. in 2018 are not constitutionalism. They are not the rule of law. It is deeply sad to see officials and pundits who mistake them so. Today’s political orthodoxies are contingent traditions that have built up incrementally over the last 8 to 10 decades, and in too many cases, all they do is make the rucks shouldered by the American people heavier.

    Calling this “America” is just one of many false depictions of reality that the people are increasingly tuning out. Another, very proximate one is the idea that the only way to honor John McCain — whom we should honor — is to align oneself with the rhythms of Washington and a set of ritual incantations against Trump and “Trumpists.”

    Let us remember Senator McCain in largeness of spirit, recalling his remarkable life and contributions, his war service, his courage in captivity. Let us sympathize with his family and friends, and not doubt their sincerity. Let us set aside, as we commemorate him with our little human rituals, the political disagreements we may have had with him in life. Let us find the good to say; as a rule, let us say little, and ponder more.

    In the meantime, let us remember that the invested in it are saying a long goodbye to a way of life that others have been paying the cost of for decades. It won’t look pretty, and as we see daily, the enormities against social harmony will erupt from both sides. Take the bad with the good. We can get constitutionalism and the rule of law back, but the path will not run backwards, through the one we have been on.

    The unsustainable is what will lose in the end. It always does. Let us pray that it loses peacefully, with as much reconciliation and forgiveness as possible in the new beginning.

    For the here and now: I’m not even a Trump voter, and I am done — long past done — with having “reality” defined for me by people who want to return to an illusory “America” that was becoming so dysfunctional for so many. I don’t need anyone to tell me what to think of Trump, and I’m done with listening to dementedly biased interpretations of him. Sell it somewhere else. I’ve got a ruck to pick up again, and miles to go.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/28/the-long-goodbye/

    • The flag issue is a stretch that’s absurd. A day’s headlines. What else is new?

      She takes the McCain Flag-Flap as a jumping-off point for an essay that’s already been percolating. It’s a fine piece that felt right to her, given her circumstances.

      Personally? I don’t give two hoots in hell about the Senator or his family.

      I didn’t know him and I don’t trust the validity of his bio.
      I do know that he was a massive enabler of Mohammad Morsi, a grave threat to me and mine. And to lots of people I know and care about in Egypt.

      I can’t relate to Senator McCain as an abstraction of The American Hero. That feels like an imposition, synthetic.
      By the same token, I spit on JFK's memory.

      His family? The ones hankering after the Senate seat that should’ve been vacated? Why keep that seat warm till 2020 when there could’ve been a vote _yesterday_ in Arizona?

      I don’t know them, anyway. Frankly I’m too mean-spirited. If I extend my sympathies, I’m just virtue-signaling.

      • I won’t get into the hero matter, I will say he had a lot of guts and leave it at that. I will say that I didn’t like anything about his political llife and wish he had remained out of politics.

    • PALIN NOT INVITED to McCain’s funeral: report

      Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has reportedly not been invited to attend funeral services for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), her onetime running mate.

      NBC News reported Wednesday that Palin had not been invited. A source within the Palin family told NBC News that “out of respect to Senator McCain and his family we have nothing to add at this point.”

      http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/404220-palin-not-invited-to-mccain-funeral-services-report

    • We are now in the long goodbye to that era of castigating the American people as a host of demons that needs legislating and regulating against. Of course, the great shift in narrative that goes along with it is an unwelcome intrusion for the legacy political class. To them, it looks like other people being simply awful, starting with taking the power of the narrative away from them. The whole way of life of the political class, the purpose and meaning by which they have navigated, is on the chopping block.

      Dyer knocks it out of the park with this one. Legacy politics and career politicians have merged to create to create the Deep State. None of which could operate without The Narrative™. Permanently alter that narrative and, suddenly, history pivots on a jeweled movement.

      PS: Just McCain’s palling around with terrorista buddies is alarming enough. McCain’s core role in the Never Trump movement is enough to take him off my historical record.

  22. Media excuses for South African abuses ring hollow
    By Jerome Woehrle August 28, 2018

    Even a democratic government is not supposed to take its citizens’ property without compensation. As the Supreme Court explained in Armstrong v. United States (1960), the “guarantee that private property shall not be taken for a public use without just compensation was designed to bar Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole.” Violations of basic rights cannot be justified based on the fact that the public as a whole supports those violations.

    But progressive journalists defend South Africa’s planned seizures of white-owned farms for little or no compensation by citing the fact that the country’s government is democratically elected. (Never mind that South Africa’s government is notoriously corrupt and allegedly discriminates not only against whites but also against other minorities, such as racially-mixed “Cape Coloureds”).

    Writing in the Washington Post, Erik Wemple praised the planned seizures as “democracy in action” because South Africa’s democratically-elected “parliament” is planning to “to change South Africa’s Constitution in order to legalize the seizure of property without compensation.” Would he have praised segregation in the State of Maryland based on the fact that it was enacted by Maryland’s democratically-elected legislature? (In Maryland and Kentucky, unlike many southern states, black people never lost their right to vote, so the existence of segregation in those states was, sadly, the result of democracy, not of black disenfranchisement).

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/28/media-excuses-for-south-african-abuses-ring-hollow/

  23. Greek activists held for illegally aiding migrants

    ATHENS, Aug 28 — Police in Greece today said they had arrested three members of a Greek NGO on suspicion of helping migrants illegally enter the country.

    The members of Emergency Response Centre International (ERCI) were detained on the Greek island of Lesbos, where thousands of migrants are housed in squalid conditions in crammed camps.

    The activities of an organised criminal network that systematically facilitated the illegal entry of foreigners were fully exposed,” a police statement said.

    Members of the group were in contact with migrants on social media groups and “actively assisted” their illegal entry into Greece from 2015 onwards, according to the statement.
    To keep tabs on migrant flows, the accused also illegally monitored Greek coastguard and EU border agency Frontex radio traffic.

    Any information gathered was not shared with Greek authorities, the police said.

    Overall, six Greeks and 24 foreign nationals were implicated in the case, they added.

    Police said two ERCI activists had already been arrested in February on board a jeep with concealed fake army license plates.

    ERCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Lesbos has been a key gateway into the European Union since the start of the bloc’s migration crisis in 2015.

    At the height of the influx, some 5,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria, landed on the island’s beaches on a daily basis.

    It now has the highest concentration of migrants in Greece, with conditions worst in the camp of Moria where over 8,300 people live, according to UN figures — about triple the nominal capacity.

    Most wait months for their asylum applications to be processed. Living conditions are squalid and violent flare-ups common.

    The overcrowding also means that the vulnerable — including women and unaccompanied minors — are in close quarters with non-family men.

    Earlier this year, three Spaniards and two Danes were also accused of trying to help migrants illegally enter Greece.

    They were cleared in court in May. — AFP
    https://www.malaymail.com/s/1667002/greek-activists-held-for-illegally-aiding-migrants

  24. The real tragedy in the story of the 9-year-old who killed himself after ‘coming out as gay’
    By Howard Portnoy August 28, 2018

    According to Denver Fox affiliate KDVR, a 9-year-old is dead by his own hand after announcing to classmates that he was gay and being heckled. The child’s mother, Leia Pierce of Denver, found her son, Jamel Myles, dead in her home last Thursday.

    In a videotaped interview with reporters, Pierce tearfully tells about her son’s “coming out” last summer:

    [H]e looked so scared when he told me. He was like, ‘Mom, I’m gay.’ And I thought he was playing, so I looked back because I was driving, and he was all curled up, so scared. And I said, ‘I still love you.’

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/08/28/the-real-tragedy-in-the-story-of-the-9-year-old-who-killed-himself-after-coming-out-as-gay/

    Richard: His death was caused by the child abuse of the radical leftist homosexuals trying to normalize perversion. The activitist, politicians and teachers who pushed this radical agenda on the kids should all be arrested for child abuse and sent to the pen.

    • The activitist, politicians and teachers who pushed this radical agenda on the kids should all be arrested for child abuse and sent to the pen.

      This is a pluperfect example of what results when parents relinquish their irreplaceable role as moral arbiters for their children. Especially, when they do so in the realm of gender and sexuality. Even worse so, when the definition of these crucial childhood topics are surrendered over to MODERN ACADEMICS. Barf…

      We now are seeing the seeds of confusion being sown. They are being cast into a field already densely planted with:

      • Demoralization (along with self-doubt, especially for Caucasians)
      • Self-Loathing (Specifically for Caucasians)
      • Sense of Entitlement (“I got my GED, where’s my new car?”)
      • Finely Tuned Dopamine Release Mechanisms (e.g., Facebook)
      • Nature Deficit Disorder (A major threat to kids … look it up.)
      • Increased Specificity of Ad Targeting (No small thing, trust me)
      • Blanket Public Surveillance (The “camel’s nose” of Big Brother)
      • The Google Effect (“I needn’t remember that, it always can be looked up somewhere online on my smart phone”)

      The Dopamine tuning used by Facebook and others is particularly evil and reaches into a person’s core being. For those who have not already done so, please consider watching this four part series (produced by the commie-infested Beeb, no less), about how Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays, essentially invented modern Public Relations (i.e., PR). Even in its most rudimentary state, this marketing strategy was tremendously effective.

      SIDEBAR: For those who enjoy Science Fiction, please consider finding a copy of “The Space Merchants” by, Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Written back in 1952, it continues to sell heavily. The book has been translated into twenty five languages and has sold an estimated ten million copies world-wide. It, too, does a deep dive into the future of advertising and PR. Not bad for a serialized send-up, originally rejected by most of New York City’s biggest publishers and brought out by the American digest-size science fiction magazine, Galaxy. Personally, the Pohl–Cornbluth collaborations (e.g., “Search the Sky”, “The Wonder Effect”, “Gladiator at Law”…), especially those with the Ballantine Books edition cover art, represent vintage paperback sci–fi at its very finest.

      Be that as it may … here is the entire four-part series of one-hour segments for “Century of the Self”. Just watching this one show will forever change the way you view advertising (of any stripe), double-dog promise.

  25. Erected, defaced, removed: Erdogan golden statue taken away from German city

    The four-meter (13 feet) golden statue of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was removed from Wiesbaden on Tuesday, as according to local authorities “security could no longer be guaranteed.’

    The statue was erected in the city’s German Unity Square (Platz der Deutschen Einheit) as part of an art installation, stirring some commotion amid Erdogan supporters and opponents.

  26. ‘Sexualised’ hijab hero gets makeover after costume criticism (BBC, Aug 29, 2018)
    https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45331730

    “Sara Alfageeh, from Boston, USA, has always loved comics. As a child, she used to “run home from the library with stacks of them”.

    But the recent depiction of one character annoyed her so much she chose to take matters into her own hands.

    In a tweet, Ms Alfageeh vented her frustration with the way the X-Men character Dust was drawn.

    Dust, a mutant from Afghanistan, is described by Marvel as having a strong “respect for tradition”.

    Ms Alfageeh shared an image of Dust and asked: “Who looked at a niqabi character and still gave her the latex costume treatment?”

    The question clearly hit a nerve with many other comic book fans.

    A number agreed that the design of Dust’s outfit was not reflective of a realistic niqab and took issue with the form-fitting outfit.

    Ms Alfageeh told the BBC she was annoyed the artist had “felt the need to sexualise Dust” and make her “clothes cling to her body”.

    One Twitter user said: “No female artist would ever pretend that’s how boobs work.”

    While another pointed out having tight material on one’s chest would be “so uncomfortable in the desert”.

    Twitter user Anile expressed concern that the tightness of Dust’s abaya (long robe) would restrict the superhero’s ability to breathe.

    Ms Alfageeh, “fuelled by bitterness and a deep love of street fashion”, decided to take matters into her own hands and redesign the hero’s attire – echoing a recent trend on social media to redraw comic book characters seen as sexist.

    Her images of Dust have been liked nearly 20,000 times on Twitter. And hundreds of people have replied to praise the “amazing” images.

    Many young Muslim women commented to applaud the fashionable designs.

    While most responses to Ms Alfageeh’s tweet were to congratulate her, others pointed out the superhero remained “problematic”.

    Despite being a popular character in the X-Men universe, Dust has previously drawn criticism for being poorly researched.

    For example, Marvel lists her place of origin as an “unrevealed location in western Afghanistan”.

    However, Dust speaks in Arabic, rather than Pashto or Dari, which are much more commonly spoken in Afghanistan.

    Ms Alfageeh’s images have caught the attention of a number of high-profile comic book authors.

    Zac Thompson, who has written a number of Marvel comics including editions of the X-Men series, replied to the tweeted designs to say they were “dope”.

    Ms Alfageeh, who is an artist, said the positive reaction had been “really exciting”.

    She said she had known she had “nailed it” when young Muslim women told her they identified with the outfits…”

  27. UN: Cate Blanchett urges UN to help Rohingya

    UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to provide support to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and ensure proper conditions in Myanmar that would allow Rohingyas to return to their homes.

    She spoke on the first anniversary of the outbreak of violence that resulted in an exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, during a UNSC session on Tuesday.

  28. Germany: Hamburg’s anti-fascists respond to Chemnitz riots

    Over two thousand people marched through the streets of Hamburg on Tuesday, in condemnation of recent right-wing riots in Chemnitz.

    People held anti-racism banners calling on Hamburgers to fight fascism in Germany.

    The demonstration, which was called by ‘Interventionist Left’ movement, started at Rote Flora former theatre before ending at Park Fiction.

    The Hamburg rally was a response to right-wing riots in the east German city of Chemnitz.

    Those incidents were sparked by the killing of a 35 year-old man in a reported dispute in the early hours of Sunday morning, following a fight at a city festival. Two male suspects, aged 22 and 23 respectively, from Iraq and Syria, have since been arrested.

    • Germany: Cologne’s antifa and far-right stage show of force post-Chemnitz

      Around 600 Antifa demonstrators and 80 members of far-right groups staged rival demos in Cologne on Tuesday, after right-wing riots in Chemnitz which scandalised Germany.

      Both groups congregated in Breslauer Platz – separated by a heavy police presence – chanting slogans and holding banners.

  29. Germany: Increased surveillance measures announced for Oktoberfest

    Police will be expanding surveillance operations during Oktoberfest this year, Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann announced in Munich on Tuesday.

    A total of 47 cameras will be deployed, including 10 new cameras, a prospective 13 panoramic cameras, as well as bodycams to be worn by police officers. The cost to the taxpayer will be approximately €200,000.

    The event, known for its beer and traditional Bavarian costumes, has also made headlines in the past for its crime rates. In 2016, a total of 1110 crimes were reported, including 34 sexual offences. In 2017, police patrolled the festivities equipped with bodycams for the first time.

  30. reuters – Pakistan complains to Netherlands over Wilders Prophet Mohammed cartoon plans

    ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s new foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi complained to his Dutch counterpart on Tuesday over a planned anti-Islam cartoon contest, saying “such acts spread hate and intolerance”.

    Far-right Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders has planned the contest for later in the year, and caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed are to be exhibited.

    A Pakistani foreign office statement said Qureshi said the planned event would hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world.

    Qureshi said later he planned to take up the issue with several world leaders. “We have raised this issue at several levels,” he said. “We have contacted the United Nations. We have contacted the European Union.”

    Pakistan’s upper house of parliament on Monday condemned the contest. Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “They don’t understand how much they hurt us when they do such acts.”

    An extremist Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan is organizing a protest march against the contest on Wednesday.

    The protesters are scheduled to march from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital Islamabad.

    Wilders plans to display the cartoons on the walls of his political party’s room in parliament. He says he’s had “hundreds” of entries.

    “This contest is not an initiative by the government,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said last week.

    “This contest is not something I would do.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-netherland-islam/pakistan-complains-to-netherlands-over-wilders-prophet-mohammed-cartoon-plans-idUSKCN1LD25N

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

    PAKISTAN – Tehreek-e-Labbaik won’t rest till Dutch envoy is expelled

    LAHORE: The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Wednesday said that its march in Islamabad will proceed as planned unless the Dutch ambassador to Pakistan is expelled from the country.

    The religiopolitical party threatened to “stay on the streets until either the publication of blasphemous cartoons in the Netherlands is stopped or the government immediately ends diplomatic ties with the Dutch” over a competition of blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet scheduled for November in Netherlands.

    The demand to banish the Dutch ambassador was made during the first round of talks between TLP’s top leadership and the government in Lahore.

    Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri and Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat were representative of the government in the meeting, while Muhammad Afzal Qadri, Allama Waheed Noor and Dr Amini from the TLP were also present.

    Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has already distanced his government from the controversial contest, releasing a statement that said: “Wilders is not a member of the [Dutch] government. The competition is not a government initiative.”

    TLP protesters gathered at Data Darbar in Lahore, from where they began marching towards Islamabad after 4pm on Wednesday.

    Earlier, the party had urged the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to “discontinue diplomatic and commercial relations with the Netherlands” as well as, “demand from other Islamic countries to do the same”.

    The TLP had also demanded that since the said competition’s judge is an American national, “therefore, strict measures should also be taken against the US”.

    https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/08/29/tlp-threatens-to-march-to-capital-if-netherlands-envoy-not-expelled-from-islamabad/

  31. Italy: Diciotti migrants get mixed reception in new home

    Two rival demonstrations were held near a Catholic-run migrant reception centre in the town of Rocca di Papa, south of Rome, on Tuesday.

    Groups verbally assaulted each other, with police brought in to prevent any direct clashes, as the first group of migrants from the rescue ship Diciotti entered the reception centre.

    Around 190 migrants, who disembarked the Diciotti rescue ship in Catania on Sunday after a five-day dispute over their fate are now being distributed among Italy, non-EU member Albania and Ireland.

    Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was refusing to accept to most of them until Italy obtained guarantees from other EU countries that migrants would be distributed across the continent.

    Salvini’s actions are being investigated by a Sicilian prosecutor.

  32. Details of Clinton’s Server Chinese Hack Get Worse A Chinese state-owned company successfully hacked Hillary Clinton’s server, even getting a copy of every email in real-time – a bombshell President Trump is demanding answers for. (Fox News)

    The Daily Caller reported that the firm operating in the D.C. area wrote code that was then embedded in the server and generated a “courtesy copy” for almost all her emails — which was then forwarded to the Chinese company.
    The code reportedly was discovered in 2015 by the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), which then warned FBI officials of the intrusion.

    A source briefed on the matter confirmed to Fox News the details of the Caller’s reporting, and said that the ICIG was so concerned by the revelation that officials drove over to the FBI to inform agents — including anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok — of the development after it was discovered via the emails’ metadata.

    The source told Fox News the hack was from a Chinese company, describing it as a front for Chinese intelligence.

    The report piqued the attention of President Trump who warned that the FBI and DOJ should act decisively or “their credibility will be forever gone.”

    Read more at http://americanactionnews.com/articles/details-of-clinton-s-server-chinese-hack-get-worse#MgYJmj25hqmFkuhF.99

    • Chinese company reportedly hacked Clinton’s server, got copy of every email in real-time

      A Chinese state-owned company reportedly hacked former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email server, then inserted code that forwarded them a copy of virtually every email she sent or received after that — a revelation President Trump is demanding be investigated.

      The Daily Caller reported that the firm operating in the D.C. area wrote code that was then embedded in the server and generated a “courtesy copy” for almost all her emails — which was then forwarded to the Chinese company.

      The code reportedly was discovered in 2015 by the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), which then warned FBI officials of the intrusion.

      A source briefed on the matter confirmed to Fox News the details of the Caller’s reporting, and said that the ICIG was so concerned by the revelation that officials drove over to the FBI to inform agents — including anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok — of the development after it was discovered via the emails’ metadata.

      The source told Fox News the hack was from a Chinese company,

      http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/29/chinese-company-reportedly-hacked-clintons-server-got-copy-every-email-in-real-time.html

      • Here in retarded old Silicon Valley, (any attempt at) sending out a corporate-originated BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) email got chew an immediate and urgent “visit” from the IT Department’s webmaster.

        One best avoided…

  33. Don’t know how trustworthy are the sources?

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/archbishop-vigano-the-man-who-called-for-popes-resignation-disappears

    Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò—the man who sent shockwaves through the Catholic Church last week by accusing Pope Francis of covering up reports of sexual abuse among the U.S.’s church hierarchy and urging him to resign—has reportedly “disappeared.” Viganò, former chief Vatican diplomat in the United States, wrote the letter with the help of a conservative journalist last Wednesday. When it was released to the press Sunday, the archbishop took his leave, turned off his cellphone, and disappeared to a secret location for “his own security,” according to Marco Tosatti, the writer who helped him pen the letter. Meanwhile, Pope Francis, speaking Wednesday during his first public appearance at the Vatican after the accusations, lamented how Ireland’s church authorities failed to respond there to crimes of sexual abuse.

  34. IT BEGINS: Ocasio-Cortez Releases List Of GOP ‘Crimes’ She Plans To Investigate After Midterms
    August 29, 2018 Martin

    New York Democrat candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a “hit list” on Monday revealing the investigations she plans to pursue if Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm election.

    Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet that she wants to investigate six things that she apparently believes the GOP and President Donald Trump did against the law, ranging from the president’s hurricane response in Puerto Rico to his Supreme Court-backed “travel ban.”

    “Get ready to investigate the GOP’s: Federal response to Puerto Rico, Human rights violations under ICE, Environmental Protection Agency firings, Travel Ban & Family Separation, Election security & lack thereof, Corruption, corruption, corruption,” she wrote via Twitter.

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    ?
    @Ocasio2018
    US House candidate, NY-14

    ?????? Get ready to investigate the GOP’s:
    – Federal response to Puerto Rico
    – Human rights violations under ICE
    – Environmental Protection Agency firings
    – Travel Ban & Family Separation
    – Election security & lack thereof
    – Corruption, corruption, corruption
    Jamil Smith
    ?
    @JamilSmith

    “It has churned Republican stomachs,” @jonathanvswan reports, as they consider about all the things that Democrats may investigate if they win control of the House. It is a long, long list of stuff that should have been investigated by this point as it is. http://bit.ly/2PAvyvk

    https://ilovemyfreedom.org/it-begins-ocasio-cortez-releases-list-of-gop-crimes-she-plans-to-investigate-after-midterms/?utm_source=patriots&utm_medium=facebook

  35. Minneapolis Friday Sermons by Sheikh Shaaban Aboubadria: Men Whose Wives “Go Naked” Are She-Camels

    In a Friday sermon delivered at the Masjid Al-Huda Islamic Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 3, 2018, Sheikh Shaaban Aboubadria mocked women who “want to uncover their hair, wear makeup, and become a commodity.”

    “Allah ordered [women] to cover up their beauty and not display it,” he said, berating men who allow their wives to do so: “When men turn into she-camels and stop performing their role, their wives go naked and all dolled up.”

    Sheikh Aboubadria, who serves as the mosque’s imam, added: “Many men have no authority at home but over a single remote control.”

    In another Friday sermon, delivered at the mosque on March 30, Sheikh Aboubadria complained that in the West, which sends airplanes, tanks, and rockets to wipe cities out of existence, “they only care about dogs and cats, even though Man is the greatest of all creatures.”

    In his April 27 sermon, he talked about interfaith marriage, saying that while Muslim men may marry non-Muslim women, “for her own good, a Muslim woman must marry only a Muslim man, because guardianship is in the hands of the man.”

    The sermons were published on the Masjid Al-Huda YouTube channel.

    • Sheikh Aboubadria, who serves as the mosque’s imam, added: “Many men have no authority at home but over a single remote control.”

      He says that like it’s a BAD thing.

      Imagine if these putative specimens of so-called Islamic “masculinity” (insert uproarious laughter >here<) had control over anything more powerful than a short-range IR transmitting data agent. The mind boggles…

  36. The Left’s Long War on Conservative Free Speech

    In the competition of ideas, you can’t win the game if you’re not on the playing field.

    That’s why Silicon Valley bigwigs’ stubborn refusal to put business above their own personal partisan biases doesn’t just rankle. It reeks. Equal access to social media is not just about sharing food pics, pet videos, makeup tutorials and travelogues. It’s about ensuring the ability to disseminate and distribute political speech on the world’s biggest platforms.

    Although I started in the metro newspaper industry in 1992, my years as an independent conservative blogger and internet entrepreneur have been the most journalistically enriching. I launched my first website in 1999, my namesake blog in 2004, my first group blog and video content platform HotAir.com and my YouTube channel in 2006 (where I broadcast reports from Iraq), my Twitter account in 2008, my second group website Twitchy.com in 2012, and my documentary-style web series, “Michelle Malkin Investigates,” for CRTV.com in 2016.

    http://www.theconservativeinsider.com/the-lefts-long-war-on-conservative-free-speech/?roi=echo3-53045300811-48967024-66d9f21f3d3dddb57b92d5fef2c3ee75

  37. Arrest of Iranian spies in the US just ‘tip of the iceberg,’ lawmaker warns

    The recent arrest of two Iranian agents alleged to have been running spy operations on U.S. soil is just “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to conduct intelligence operations in America that could result in a terrorist attack, according to a leading lawmaker and U.S. officials who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon about the matter.

    Following the arrest of two Iranian individuals charged with spying on Jewish and Israeli facilities in the California area, Rep. Peter Roskam (R., Ill.) told the Free Beacon it is likely Iran has stationed multiple regime-tied agents in the United States to conduct intelligence operations.

    While the arrest of the two Iranians was met with shock in the press, Roskam said he was not surprised by the arrests, which have unearthed concrete evidence of the Islamic Republic’s efforts to foment discord across the globe, including on American soil.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/29/arrest-iranian-spies-in-us-just-tip-iceberg-lawmaker-warns.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail&&roi=echo3-53045300811-48967027-4016a1c204775769cfdaae9e1535a223

  38. George Soros Buys Millions in Facebook, Twitter Stocks

    https://eaglerising.com/61947/soros-buys-millions-facebook-twitter-stocks/

    New York liberal billionaire George Soros loads up on Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Salesforce stocks. $31 million Facebook, $11 million Twitter, & $10 million Apple.
    Do you remember when George Soros said he was going to destroy Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. in his speech at Davos?
    How do you control Social Media? Just buy it!

    Soros Buys Millions in Facebook, Twitter Stocks After Bashing Tech Companies
    $31 million in Facebook, $11 million in Twitter, $10 million in Apple

    Liberal billionaire George Soros drastically increased his shares in a handful of tech companies after previously bashing such companies as a “menace” and while a coalition of progressive groups he financially backs pushes a campaign that includes a goal of breaking up Facebook.

    Soros made the large stock purchases during the second quarter through Soros Fund Management, the financier’s New York City-based investment firm. The purchases include 159,200 shares in Facebook (valued at $31 million), 250,000 shares in Twitter (valued at $11 million), and 54,500 shares in Apple (valued at $10 million), Security and Exchange Commission filings show.

    Soros did not have holdings in any of those companies during the first quarter, according to the fund’s previous filings.

    Soros additionally reported 12,400 shares in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, valued at $14 million. However, the shares in Alphabet decreased by $12 million from the previous quarter.

    https://freebeacon.com/issues/soros-buys-millions-facebook-twitter-stocks-bashing-tech-companies/

    • He probably anticipates government regulation of the social media which will cause his stock to increase in value. Government regulation of the social media will make the current big boys a de facto monopoly, they will be able to use this to drive their competators out of business and will allow the Deep State operatives to take control of what is allowed to be posted.

      • He probably anticipates government regulation of the social media which will cause his stock to increase in value.”

        If there arises a distinction between “controlling” (i.e., original shareholders) versus “Participatory Only” options, then you’d best bet that gouging out chunks of original shareholdings STAT is the best way of snagging a well-chalked toehold in these corporate chimneys of today’s economic verticality.

        Keep grafting … we’re reloading!

  39. the local –New suspicion of police cooperation with far-right: Chemnitz arrest warrant leaked

    Someone inside the police in Saxony appears to have broken the law by leaking the arrest warrant for an Iraqi suspected of murder to Pegida. It is not the first recent incident that suggests people in the police are supporting the far-right.

    The arrest warrant against an Iraqi man who is believed to have stabbed a 35-year-old German to death in Chemnitz at the weekend has been published on a far-right forum.

    The stabbing triggered two days of unrest in the eastern city as far-right protesters took to the streets. In some cases they attacked innocent bystanders, often picking on them because of their foreign appearance.

    The confidential document, which lists the name of the victim, the perpetrator and his place of residence and the name of the judge first appeared on Whatsapp groups linked to the anti-Islam Pegida movement. A list of witnesses to the crime had been blacked out.

    Leaking arrest warrants is a federal crime in Germany.

    The Interior Ministry in Saxony said that “we do not know at this stage who photographed the document. We immediately informed the justice ministry that the pictures have been put on the internet.”

    Saxony’s state leader Michael Kretschmer (CDU) vowed on Wednesday to investigate how the arrest warrant had been leaked.

    “This is unacceptable. It is a crime and we will get to the bottom of it,” he said.

    His deputy, Martin Duldig (SPD), had even stronger words. “This is monstrous behaviour. We have a big problem to work through here,” he told broadcaster MDR.

    “The police must understand that we won’t tolerate certain things anymore. Officers can’t act above the law,” he added.

    The controversy follows an incident in the middle of the month in which a camera team for broadcaster ZDF accused police in state capital Dresden of purposefully impeding their work at a Pegida demonstration. The scandal widened when it was confirmed that a protester in the crowd who had harassed the camera crew was himself an off-duty police employee.

    Duldig has in the past suggested that there are officers in the Saxony police force who have links to the far-right scene, which is particularly strong in the eastern state.

    https://www.thelocal.de/20180829/new-suspicion-of-police-cooperation-with-far-right-chemnitz-arrest-warrant-leaked

  40. Whistleblower Exposes Key Player in FBI Russia Probe: “It was all a Set-up”

    Adam Lovinger, a former Defense Department analyst, never expected that what he stumbled on during his final months at the Pentagon would expose an integral player in the FBI’s handling of President Donald Trump’s campaign and alleged Russia collusion.

    Lovinger, a whistleblower, is now battling to save his career. The Pentagon suspended his top-secret security clearance May 1, 2017, when he exposed through an internal review that Stefan Halper, who was then an emeritus Cambridge professor, had received roughly $1 million in tax-payer funded money to write Defense Department foreign policy reports, his attorney Sean Bigley said. Before Lovinger’s clearance was suspended he had taken a detail to the National Security Council as senior director for strategy. He was only there for five months before he was recalled to the Pentagon, stripped of his prestigious White House detail, and ordered to perform bureaucratic make-work in a Pentagon annex Bigley calls “the land of misfit toys.” His security clearance was eventually revoked in March 2018, despite the Pentagon “refusing to turn over a single page of its purported evidence of Lovinger’s wrongdoing,” Bigley stated. Conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch, recently filed a federal lawsuit against the Defense Department to obtain the withheld records.

    https://saraacarter.com/whistleblower-exposes-key-player-in-fbi-russia-probe-it-was-all-a-set-up/