Reader’s Links for September 24, 2018

Posted on by

Daily Links Post graphic

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

149 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 24, 2018”

  2. China’s ‘one-child’ policy led to a demographic time bomb, and now the country is scrambling to undo it

    For more than 35 years, China restricted all of the country’s women to having only one child — a policy that was implemented due to population growth and food shortages, among other things.

    In 2016, a shrinking workforce and aging population led the government to end the policy. Authorities began encouraging women to have two children. But the damage to China’s population growth had been done, and now the country is dealing with a demographic time bomb.

    Demographic time bombs, marked by a falling birth rate and an increase in the number of elderly people, can cause a country’s economy to suffer. Though China’s economy boomed while the “One Child policy” was in effect, it now has too few workers to support a large number of senior citizens.

    About 25% of China’s population is expected to be at least 60 years old by 2030, a notable increase compared to the roughly 13% of citizens who were 60 or older in 2010.

    To undo this demographic time bomb, local authorities are coming up with new ways to encourage more childbirth. The northeastern Liaoning province in China has expressed interest in paying cash bonuses to parents who have a second child, the northwestern Shaanxi province has voiced support for eliminating limits on childbirth, and the National Health Commission has reportedly asked researchers to study whether tax breaks could generate a baby boom.

    And earlier this year, the northern province Shanxi announced China’s first marriage subsidy, offering to help couples with the cost of wedding photographs, honeymoon travel, and more.

    These efforts are vastly different from China’s previous stance on childbirth, when the government punished most couples who had more than one child with fines and enforced abortions or sterilization procedures for millions of women.

    Despite the government’s desire to raise the birth rate, the percentage of Chinese women interested in having more children is falling. According to a 2017 survey by recruitment website Zhaopin, about two-thirds of working women with one child do not want any more children — a 17% increase from 2014. The percentage of women who are not interested in having any children at all rose from 21% in 2016 to 40% last year.

    According to The New York Times, China’s new campaign to encourage childbirth is also causing concerns that the government may take extreme actions. In the southeastern Jiangxi province, for example, women who are more than 14 weeks pregnant need to get three signatures from medical personnel before getting an abortion. While this policy is not new, there is growing fear that authorities will enforce the rule more strictly than before.

    Other provinces are making it more difficult for people to get divorced — in some parts of the country, couples are required to take a quiz about each other as part of the divorce process. Local news outlets have reported that a score of 60 points or higher — on a scale of 100 — is interpreted as “room for recovery,” with such couples being told to work on their marriages.

    The number of births in China keeps decreasing, from 17.9 million in 2016 to 17.2 million last year. But according to The Times, the National Health Commission insists that the “two-child policy” is working, as the percentage of families with two children has risen from 36% in 2013 to 51% this year.

    China is not the only country grappling with a demographic time bomb. In Japan, authorities are also taking steps to encourage women to have more children after the country recorded its lowest-ever number of births last year. In Spain, a low number of childbirths has created a population desert in the northeast, and Bulgaria’s population is on track to reaching the lowest point since World War II.

    This is yust one schmall part of Communist China’s oncoming “perfect storm”. A list:

    • Horrendous Economic Bubble
    • Gigantic Real Estate Bubble
    • Financial Over-Extension (OBOR)
    • Huge Self-Induced HIV/Aids Epidemic
    • Extensive Groundwater Pollution (+90% is impotable)
    • Urban Air Quality Issues
    • Over-Reliance Upon Intellectual Property Theft
    • Constant Antagonism of all Regional Neighbors
    • Continued Underwriting of North Korea
    • Deep Economic Ties with Iran’s Terrorist Regime
    • Continued Social Structure of Male Preference
    • Endemic Hyper-Corruption
    • Massive Annual Loss of Arable Land
    • Shoddy Infrastructure

    As you can tell, this list could go on for pages. Thank Mao’s peasant brain.

    Red China’s miseries are just beginning. The sooner that they start, the less harm that Beijing will be capable of doing to the outside world.

    • China is slowly imploding, their economy can’t continue the way they have been and their attempts to fix the problem by colonizing Africa and other locations to be able to seize their mineral assets is making the matter worse. They are spending more money in Africa and elsewhere then they will be able to recover quickly enough to stop the economic collapse. The environmental degradation brought about their inability to rapidly expand their eonomy without using highly polluting methods is probably going to be the biggest problem they face and that degradation is getting worse not better.

      Once China implodes the neighboring nations are going to be forced to take over the areas bordering them and to invest the money to repair the environment to protect their own citizens. China has great potential but it will take decades to clean up the environmental problems before this potential can begin to be accessed and exploited to the advantage of the Chinese people. Remember China is a small number of First World Cities (with massive pollution problems) surrounded by a Third World Nation (with even worse pollution problems). Socialism steals from the current generation by destroying all incentive to succeed and leaves nothing for the parents to pass down to their kids. Then it steals from the future generation by creating environmental and demographic problems that will massively slow their moving from Third World Status to First World Status.

      We are facing the problem of the Chinese Implosion and the resulting fall out at a time when the Far Left in the West is close to succeeding in taking over the Western Nations. This is going to hamper our ability to help China once they implode.

    • Hong Kong Bans Pro-Independence Party in Unprecedented Decision

      David Tweed

      (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong’s government issued an unprecedented ban against a pro-independence political party that it has called a risk to national security, raising concerns over tolerance of dissent in the Asian financial hub.

      “The Hong Kong National Party has a very clear agenda to achieve its goal of Hong Kong being made an independent republic,” John Lee, the city’s security secretary, said at a briefing on Monday. The party could use force to achieve its goal and had spread “hatred and discrimination” against Chinese visitors to Hong Kong, he said.

      The decision risks fanning fears the city’s administration wants to set a precedent for clamping down on other opposition groups, eroding Hong Kong’s autonomy under the “one country, two systems” framework in place since Chinese rule began in 1997. It may also lay the groundwork to revive a shelved national security law prohibiting secession and subversion.

      The ban represents the latest attempt to squelch the small movement that sprung up after mass “Occupy Central” protests in 2014 failed to win any democratic reforms. In 2016, the Chinese government reinterpreted local law to ban such activists from public office. Local officials this year barred a legislative candidate because she supported “self-determination.”

      https://www.bloombergquint.com/politics/2018/09/24/hong-kong-bans-pro-independence-party-in-unprecedented-decision#gs.4cK_sFM

      • Hong Kong Bans Pro-Independence Party in Unprecedented Decision

        I’ve always maintained that Hong Kong would be a special “canary in the coal mine” with respect to Communist China’s true intent. Another more “macro” contender is the Philippines, in their role as one of Asia’s most populous Christian nations. Both are tripwires for when things go OOC (Out Of Control).

        Hong Kong’s alluring (financial) “jewel in the crown” role is second only to Taiwan, whose productive capacity puts that of Red China’s to absolute shame every day of the week, and twice on Sundays!

        When either one goes under until the bubbles stop coming up, be prepared for some serious festivities.

  3. The ‘bride price’ in China keeps rising. Some villages want to put a cap on it.

    The new rule was taped onto doorways around town: Officials were limiting what a groom-to-be could pay for a bride.

    The going rate was about $38,000, or five times the average annual salary in this village about four hours outside of Beijing. Now, families were told to keep it below $2,900.

    Anything more and they would risk being accused of human trafficking.

    The “bride price” — cash, and possibly a house or other goodies to the bride-to-be’s parents — has been part of the marriage pact in most of China for centuries. The costs, though, are swelling as China copes with one of the biggest demographic imbalances in history.

    One part of it has been long known: How China’s former one-child policy left a glut of boys — preferred by most Chinese families. Girls were sometimes aborted or simply left in a bureaucratic limbo as unregistered with authorities before the one-child rule was eased in 2016.

    There are an estimated 30 million or so more men then women in China — giving it one of the most lopsided ratios in the world. (More at link)

    • This sexual imbalance is one of the reasons so many Chinese are trying to immigrate to other nations, the men want to move to a nation where the chances of finding a bride is better and the women want ot move to nations where the sexual balance is closer to normal so they feel safer. This is creating a Brain and Genetic Drain from China, another problem that is gong to create future problems for China once the implosion occurs.

      • “This is creating a Brain and Genetic Drain from China, another problem that is gong to create future problems for China once the implosion occurs.”

        Congratulations, Richard. You’re the only other person I’ve encountered to look past the traditional Brain Drain and examine the Gene Drain.

        Those to leave Red China first will be among, not just its best and brightest, but also among its most attractive genetic stock. This is happening all around the world as countries lose their most marriageable populations to wealthier (typically Western) nations.

        This means that many of these countries experiencing the Gene Drain will end up stuck with flocks of their genetic duds (in or out of prison). The downstream damage of this is incalculable.

        Nevertheless, those in power show little concern about their respective nations’ futures. They continue exporting (or chasing out) prime human capital as they effectively dismantle their cultures.

        If you thought the Brain Drain was bad, just wait until the Gene Drain sinks in its teeth. The West will merely get smarter—with hybrid vigor potentially improving health—as so many of these Second or Third World countries recede evolutionarily.

        This is why the final point of Roy Beck’s classic (six minute) video, “Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs” is so crucial. Poverty must be solved where it happens. Immigration will never create better distribution of global wealth.

        The damage being caused by all of this mass migration will have unbelievably long-lasting and deleterious effects.

        • Part of the reason nations and so called intellectuals don’t want to talk about the brain drain is the way we have been programed to avoid all types of thinking that genetics have any affect on intelligence or behavior. The left has managed to force us into the Nature or Nurture instead of looking at the problem as a combination of both Nature and Nurture.

          • “Part of the reason nations and so called intellectuals don’t want to talk about the brain drain is the way we have been programed to avoid all types of thinking that genetics have any affect on intelligence or behavior.”

            Completely agreed.

            These modern attempts to disconnect DNA from IQ amount to yet another outrageous Big Lie™ that will continue to warp the 21st century (as it did in the 20th).

  5. Norway Attempted Secret Peace Amid NATO Bombings of Libya in 2011 – Reports (sputniknews, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809241068283496-norway-libya-peace-talks/

    “Following the publication of a report that found Norway’s bombing of Libya 2011 “ill-advised,” the country’s then-foreign minister and today’s Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre has detailed his failed efforts to broker peace in the North African country that subsequently became a hotbed of terrorism and human smuggling.

    While Norwegian jets were bombing Libya in 2011, Oslo’s then-foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre attempted peaceful negotiations with Muammar Gaddafi’s son and opposition members. Their efforts were ultimately fruitless, as the NATO heavyweights refused to support the initiative, national broadcaster NRK reported.

    According to Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway launched a secret peace effort aimed at settling differences between Muammar Gaddafi and the leaders of Western-sponsored popular uprisings, while working from Oslo and other European cities.

    “It wasn’t exactly a heartfelt phone conversation,” Støre told NRK in describing his direct contact with Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, who was later taken prisoner and tortured by the opposition following the collapse of Gaddafi.

    The negotiations continued through the spring of 2011 despite the bombing campaign. They came to a head on April 28, 2011 when Gadhafi’s representatives and members of the opposition met for secret talks at a hotel in Oslo and actually managed to agree on a document that could possibly lead to a peaceful transition of power which allowed for Gaddafi to withdraw. Støre stressed that the opposition, whom he called “reliable and decent people,” particularly stressed they wouldn’t include anyone from the Islamic extremist groups that have subsequently grabbed power and contributed to Libya’s disintegration and current status as a failed state.

    However, despite Støre’s admitted close contact with his US counterpart, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, neither the US nor other NATO heavyweights such as France and the UK, who all played a major role in the 2011 operation Unified Protector, supported Norway’s peaceful initiatives.

    “My impression is that there wasn’t much at stake for them,” Støre said. “It was clear that Gaddafi would fall and they looked in another direction. I think that’s one of the reasons that Libya became such a big tragedy.”

    During the conflict, Norway, led by then-Labor leader and current NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg, dropped 588 bombs on Libya, accounting for one-tenth of NATO’s combined effort. Following Gaddafi’s lynching in October 2011, Libya descended into chaos and was overrun by Islamist extremists, becoming the main channel for human smugglers sending migrants to Europe.

    Norway’s participation in NATO’s intervention has since been a perennial topic for debate in the home arena. Following the publication of the recent report that found Oslo’s decision to join the fray “ill-advised,” two former ministers expressed their regret over having made the decision. By contrast, Jens Stoltenberg remained firm in his belief that Norway did “the right thing.””

  6. European Parliament Seeks to Boost Battle Forces (sputniknews, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809241068285447-european-parliament-boost-battle-forces/

    “The European Parliament has submitted a proposal to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, suggesting that the number of EU military groups be quadrupled: from 18 battle groups to 18 brigades.

    In its annual report on the implementation of the Common Security and Defense Policy, the European Parliament has invited the Council to investigate the “feasibility of potentially setting up a permanent Spearhead Europe Force, which could be drawing on the European multinational high readiness corps HQ in Strasbourg, Szczecin and Münster.”

    According to the European Parliament, such a possibility would largely contribute to the “continuous transformation of national armed forces, toward the goal of being more interoperable, more sustainable, more flexible and more deployable.

    The report sent to the Committee on Foreign Affairs further suggested that the EU battle groups should evolve into “full-scale brigades” and be assigned to the corps HQ on a permanent basis.

    The proposal outlined by the European Parliament will take effect if it is approved by the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the EP session, although, even if approved, it will remain a non-binding recommendation for the European Commission and the Council…”

    • Merkel has waited too long to try this, the EU doesn’t have enough time to get the small national armies integrated into an EU Army that could be used to push around Hungary and the other Eastern European Nations.

      If you want to be a big conquering nation the first thing you have to do is build an effective Military.

        • Orban’s public position is that the stated intentions of the EU are good, to be supported, and to redirect the EU back to what it claimed to be when Hungary joined.

          My belief is that privately he knows it is beyond reform and really intends to leave it and form a more muscular V4.

  7. Swedish Watchdog Rings Alarm Over ‘Sharia Banks’ After Reported Daesh Transfer (sputniknews, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201809241068277455-sweden-terrorism-financing/

    “The informal banking system, which has roots in middle-age Islamic beliefs, is notoriously hard to supervise, which makes the exact extent of terrorism financing almost impossible to calculate, a senior Swedish terrorism researcher noted.

    So-called hawala banks were used to finance notorious Swedish-born Islamist and Daesh* terrorist Michael Skråmo, who in 2014 took his wife and four children to Syria and joined the outlawed Islamist group, Swedish terrorism watchdog Doku reported, noting that terrorist networks in other parts of the world may be financed using the same or similar channels.

    According to a receipt obtained by Doku, a 24-year-old man from Gothenburg sent money to Daesh figure Waleed Ahmed Zein who was described by the US Treasury as a “dangerous terrorist” and arrested earlier this year. At present, Waleed Ahmed Zein is being prosecuted for having transferred over $150,000 to Daesh in Syria, Libya and Africa. According to Doku, the roughly $895 sent to Zein was intended for Skråmo. The transfer occurred via Dahabshiil, a corporate chain with offices in more than 120 countries.

    Magnus Ranstorp, a senior terrorism researcher at the National Defense College, confirmed that using hawala for terror financing was “not uncommon.” He confirmed instances of contacts sending money directly to Daesh via the hawala system. The exact amount of money transferred is difficult to track down, due to lack of control, he pointed out.

    Although the sums sent on individual occasions may seem quite small and insignificant, the total amount may be quite impressive, Ranstorp said.

    “There is actually a ton of money in these milieus. This reveals shortcomings in our supervisory bodies. Just hawala is one of the hardest activities to supervise, because it’s so informal,” Ranstorp said, citing the lack of control mechanisms.

    Poor traceability is the foremost problem, according to Ranstorp, who added that a crackdown on hawala would be unthinkable, due to the fact that it is often used for humanitarian reasons. Many foreign diasporas in Sweden, such as the Somalis, are heavily dependent on it. Nevertheless, hawala banks have been banned in some US states based on suspicions that the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were financed using hawala…”

    • It also gives tremendous financial clout to ALL muslims in the west who can own 4 homes or two homes and a small business in the time it takes your average westerner to own ONE home. this is why muslim owned service stations, pharmacies and small businesses are out of proportion to their numbers. Car dealers love them as the parents buy top of the line carriers while the young males all drive Audis, Mercs or BMWs with no interest loans. The irony here is that this is only possible in the west as the Saudis and the Qataris subsidize sharia banks only in the west as in a muslim sewer they never have much cash in sharia banks to lend, as no point in it: already muslim.

      • Michelle, you are absolutely right about “so-called hawala banks”.

        Much like how the massive remittance industry already is bleeding out America’s lifeblood to hither, thither, and yon—the hawala network is a prime mover for the very worst forms of zakat (Islamic tithing).

        Skimming even just 1% of the hawala transactions represents money that boggles the mind. The gazillions of dollars that are annually fed into terrorist coffers is beyond imagination.

        Shutting down this open sewer of Muslim filth is crucial when it comes to choking off the financing of global terrorism.

    • She is further down the Libertarian road then I am but she does know what she is talking about in most of her videos.

    • Marx took his ideas from the Revolutionary Committees that ruled France during the Terror that followed the French Revolution. Napoleon ended the terror and declared himself Emperor, he was more honest them most Marxist Dictator in what he called himself.

  10. Ronan Farrow: New Kavanaugh Accuser Came Forward Because Democrats ‘Came Looking’

    Ronan Farrow’s run of bombshell reports continued over the weekend when the New Yorker published an article (co-authored with Jane Mayer) that detailed new allegations of sexual misconduct of embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. These new charges come to light while the Senate Judiciary Committee had been negotiating details surrounding public testimony of Dr. Christine Ford who had been at the center of previous allegations that are threatening to derail the Trump appointee’s confirmation.

    https://www.mediaite.com/tv/ronan-farrow-new-kavanaugh-accuser-came-forward-because-democrats-came-looking/

    • NY Times, ABC News, Throw Shade on New Yorker Kavanaugh Hit Piece

      The New Yorker hit piece on Brett Kavanaugh published Sunday night accusing Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, without corroboration, of exposing himself to a female Yale classmate at a drunken dorm party in the 1980s was met with skepticism by the New York Times and ABC News. (UPDATE: CBS News, also. At end.)

      NY Times, ABC News, Throw Shade on New Yorker Kavanaugh Hit Piece
      by Kristinn Taylor September 24, 2018 512 Comments

      13.1KShare Tweet Email

      The New Yorker hit piece on Brett Kavanaugh published Sunday night accusing Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, without corroboration, of exposing himself to a female Yale classmate at a drunken dorm party in the 1980s was met with skepticism by the New York Times and ABC News. (UPDATE: CBS News, also. At end.)

      Kavanaugh accuser Deborah Ramirez.

      The Times reported, but buried, that it had spent a week investing the accusation by Deborah Ramirez but was unable to find an eyewitness and that Ramirez had recently told several of her classmates she wasn’t sure it was Kavanaugh.

      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/09/ny-times-abc-news-throw-shade-on-new-yorker-kavanaugh-hit-piece/

    • Richard: Another woman who isn’t sure that it was Kavanuagh but is willing to say it was to further a political agenda.

      Senate Democrats Investigate a New Allegation of Sexual Misconduct, from Brett Kavanaugh’s College Years

      As Senate Republicans press for a swift vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats are investigating a new allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The claim dates to the 1983-84 academic school year, when Kavanaugh was a freshman at Yale University. The offices of at least four Democratic senators have received information about the allegation, and at least two have begun investigating it. Senior Republican staffers also learned of the allegation last week and, in conversations with The New Yorker, expressed concern about its potential impact on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Soon after, Senate Republicans issued renewed calls to accelerate the timing of a committee vote. The Democratic Senate offices reviewing the allegations believe that they merit further investigation. “This is another serious, credible, and disturbing allegation against Brett Kavanaugh. It should be fully investigated,” Senator Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, said. An aide in one of the other Senate offices added, “These allegations seem credible, and we’re taking them very seriously. If established, they’re clearly disqualifying.”

      The woman at the center of the story, Deborah Ram

      https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/senate-democrats-investigate-a-new-allegation-of-sexual-misconduct-from-the-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaughs-college-years-deborah-ramirez

    • Stormy Daniels lawyer has new allegation about Kavanaugh, from unnamed ‘witnesses’; plus, bonus allegation from third party
      By J.E. Dyer September 24, 2018

      I saw someone over the weekend make the point that the Democrats want to delay any vote on Brett Kavanaugh so that they can find other women willing to make allegations about him.

      Here we go.

      Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, is representing what he says is a group of witnesses who allege that Kavanaugh participated in “gang rapes of drunken women” at house parties while in high school.

      The whole story is laughably non-specific and non-credible. This seems to be it, in a nutshell:

      https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/09/24/stormy-daniels-lawyer-brings-forward-new-allegation-about-kavanaugh-from-unnamed-witnesses/

      • I agree with her, the whole purpose of the new alligations is delay, delay. Dems are pushing for a 4 4 court for two years and are doing so at the risk of pissing off all of the Trump voters who came out and voted (some for the first time in decades) in an attempt to regain the rights the left has raped from us. The voters who are pissed are more pissed at the Dems then the Repubs (but they need to watch out in the 2020 primaries) and it is highly unlikely that the Dems will maintain their current number of seats in Congress let alone take over Congress. The US can survive a 4 4 court for one year (although it will do damage to the US and delay draining the swamp). The thing to watch our for is the way the Dems/far left will be using the character assassination tactic in the 2018 midterms and when this doesn’t give them the victory they expect they will turn their militias loose to create chaos and terrorize the people into voting Dem.

        • “The thing to watch our for is the way the Dems/far left will be using the character assassination tactic in the 2018 midterms and when this doesn’t give them the victory they expect they will turn their militias loose to create chaos and terrorize the people into voting Dem.”

          Aren’t these pretty much the last bullets in their belt?

          • Not really, a Governor or two may call out the Guard but full fledged Martial Law is highly unlikely, that will only happen if we have a wanna be dictator in the White House or the rebels have a lot more power then the left has.

  11. Italy adopts decree to make it easier to expel migrants as licence of NGO rescue ship in the Mediterranean is revoked (telegraph, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/09/24/ngos-blame-italian-populists-last-migrant-rescue-vessel-mediterranean/

    “Italy’s populist coalition passed a bill on Monday which will make it harder for migrants to claim humanitarian protection and easier to expel failed asylum seekers.

    The decree is part of the coalition’s concerted efforts to reduce the number of migrants arriving by boat from North Africa and to repatriate those who are denied asylum status.

    Migrants or refugees who request asylum will have their applications denied if they are considered “socially dangerous” or convicted of crimes, Matteo Salvini, the interior minister said.

    Those crimes could include dealing drugs and bag-snatching, said Mr Salvini, who is head of the anti-immigration League party and has spear-headed the crackdown on migrants since the coalition came to power four months ago.

    “I’m happy,” he wrote on Facebook after the decree was passed. “This is a step forward in making Italy safer – fighting Mafiosi and traffickers, reducing the cost of an overblown immigration system and expelling more rapidly delinquents and fake refugees.”

    He added: “The more the Left attack me, the more strength they give me.” He said the bill brought Italy into line with other EU nations.

    Italy’s parliament now has 60 days in which to debate the decree and vote it into law.

    But Maurizio Martina, the head of the opposition, centre-Left Democratic Party, said the decree would lead to an increase in “clandestine” immigration as migrants tried to bypass the new laws.

    Meanwhile, the last migrant rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean had its registration revoked by Panama, with humanitarian organisations accusing the Italian government of being behind the move…”

    • The Latest: Charities call on EU to save migrant rescue ship (abcnews, Sep 24, 2018)
      https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-charities-call-eu-save-migrant-rescue-ship-58041368

      “The humanitarian groups operating the sole private rescue boat operating near the deadly central Mediterranean human trafficking route are urging European countries to intervene in order to secure its future after Panama moved to cancel the ship’s registration.

      Medecins Sans Frontieres and SOS Mediterranee described the decision by the Panama Maritime Authority to de-flag the vessel as shameful.

      Francis Vallat, the head of SOS Mediterranee France, asked European countries on Monday during a news conference to “find a solution, whatever it is. We can’t stop. We don’t want to stop. We will only yield to force and constraint.”

      Panama’s maritime authority said over the weekend it has begun procedures to remove the registration of Aquarius 2 after Italy complained that the boat’s captain failed to follow orders.”

    • Italy tightens eligibility for migrant protection (abcnews, Sep 24, 2018)
      https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/italy-tightens-eligibility-migrant-protection-58040064

      “Italy’s populist government is making it harder for migrants to be approved for humanitarian protection.

      Interior Minister Matteo Salvini told reporters that the government at a Cabinet meeting Monday approved a decree setting tighter criteria for such protection, which accords a status less than full asylum.

      Humanitarian protection will only be granted for victims of labor exploitation, human trafficking, domestic violence, natural calamities or those needing medical care as well as to those who performed “deeds of particular civic value,” an apparent reference to heroism.

      He said asylum-request evaluations will be suspended for those deemed “socially dangerous” or convicted of crime, even before court appeals run out. Salvini insisted: “We’re not harming any fundamental rights.”

      The decree also calls for reduced daily pocket money for asylum-seekers.”

    • BBC – Italy migrant crisis: Government passes tough bill

      The Italian government has passed a decree which will make it easier to deport migrants and strip them of Italian citizenship.

      Migrants could now be expelled if they are found guilty of serious crimes such as rape and assault.

      Previously, this was only possible at the end of a lengthy appeals process.

      Interior Minister Matteo Salvini described the measure as “a step forward to make Italy safer”. The measure needs the backing of lawmakers.

      The decree also envisages that asylum seekers accused of drug dealing will have their applications denied, Mr Salvini said.

      He has been a prominent figure in a public immigration crackdown in Italy since his government, a coalition between the right-wing League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, came to power in June.

      The minister has frequently come into conflict with rescue ship operators and last month was involved in a public stand-off about the disembarkation of 150 migrants on a coast guard ship on the island of Sicily.

      Mr Salvini is under investigation for his role in the dispute

      In a separate development, a rescue vessel operating in the central Mediterranean Sea has had its registration revoked, leaving its future operations in jeopardy.

      When the Aquarius next docks, it will have to remove its Panama maritime flag and cannot set sail without a new one. It is the last private rescue ship operating in the area used for crossings from Libya to Europe.

      The charities running the vessel accuse the Italian government of pressuring Panama into deflagging the Aquarius.

      The two groups which lease it, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS Mediterranée, say they were notified of the decision by the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) on Saturday.

      The authority is said to have described the ship as a “political problem” for the country’s government, and said Italian authorities had urged them to take “immediate action” against them, according to SOS Mediterranée.

      Mr Salvini, who has previously described the aid boats as a “taxi service” for migrants, denies his country put pressure on Panama.

      According to the United Nations, more than 1,700 migrants have died trying to cross to Europe in 2018.

      The Aquarius has been operating in the area since February 2016, finding itself at the centre of diplomatic stand-offs in recent months over where to land rescued migrants.

      It was under the flag of the Gibraltar Maritime Administration until August this year, when it was given “notice of removal” and re-registered with Panama.

      The ship’s operators say they were notified of the new decision while on a current mission, and say they have 58 survivors on board from two boats they found in distress.

      In a joint statement, the charities insisted they were in “full compliance” with maritime law and denounced the decision as condemning hundreds to death.

      The statement asks for European governments to step in to allow the vessel to continue its operations by either reassuring the Panamanian authorities or issuing it a new flag.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45625833

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

      Factbox: Salvini security-migrant decree

      (ANSA) – Rome, September 24 – The ‘Salvini decree’ on migration and security is made up of 42 articles.

      The first 16 in the draft that went into Monday’s cabinet meeting featured measures regarding the granting of residence permits, international protection status and citizenship.

      PERMITS. The residence permit for humanitarian reasons is scrapped and replaced by ‘special permits’. These can be granted to victims of serious exploitation, victims of domestic violence, people whose country of origin has been hit by disaster, people needing medical treatment and those who have performed acts of high civic value.

      REVOKING ASYLUM. The decree extends the scope to deny or revoke international protection status for people who have committed crimes of sexual violence, serious bodily harm, violence against a public official, aggravated robbery, and drug trafficking. Furthermore, asylum applications can be suspended if a person is considered socially dangerous or has been convicted in a first-instance trial.

      LONGER STAYS AT REPATRIATION CENTRES. The maximum length of a stay at a repatriation centre (CPR) goes from three to six months to make it easier to deport migrants who do not have the right to stay. The decree also stipulates that the centres should be renovated and more CPRs built. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has said several times that he wants one in every region. If a CPR is overcrowded, migrants awaiting identification can also be hosted at difference facilities.

      REPATRIATION FUND. The decree allocates 500,000 euros to beefing up repatriation activities in 2018, with 1.5 million more for 2019 and 2020 each.

      CITIZENSHIP REVOKED FOR TERROR CRIMES. Italian citizenship is to be revoked for people convicted of terrorism felonies.

      Citizenship revoked for people convicted of terror felonies

      http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/09/24/factbox-salvini-security-migrant-decree_d3362c78-c1ca-476a-9545-3b243f210d45.html

  12. Soros foundation turns to Strasbourg court to get Hungary’s NGO law repealed

    BUDAPEST (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF) said on Monday it would challenge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg Hungarian laws that make it a crime to help asylum-seekers.

    But Budapest, which accuses Soros and the liberal groups and causes he backs of trying to destroy Europe’s Christian culture by promoting mass migration, said it would not repeal the laws, whatever the outcome of the court appeal.

    Under legislation named “Stop Soros”, anybody who helps migrants not entitled to protection to apply for asylum, or helps illegal migrants gain status to stay in Hungary, can be jailed. Orban has also introduced a 25 percent special tax on aid groups it says support migration.

    OSF said the “Stop Soros” legislation, approved by the Hungarian parliament in June, “breaches the guarantees of freedom of expression and association enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights and must be repealed”.

    “The Hungarian government has fabricated a narrative of lies to blind people to the truth: that these laws were designed to intimidate independent civil society groups, in another step toward silencing all dissent,” OSF president Patrick Gaspard said in a statement.

    The provisions of the legislation are so broadly written that “they will have a far-reaching and chilling effect on the work of civil society far beyond the field of migration,” said the OSF statement.

    “WILL OF THE HUNGARIAN PEOPLE”

    Budapest responded with defiance to the OSF move.

    “The government stands by the Stop Soros package of laws…. as the legislation serves the will of the Hungarian people, and the security of Hungary and Europe,” a government spokesman told Reuters.

    “The Soros organization attacks the Stop Soros package with all possible means as the legislation stands in the way of illegal immigration. The aim of George Soros and organizations supported by him is to flood Europe with migrants.”

    Hungarian-born Soros denies trying to promote mass migration into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere. In May the OSF announced it would shut its office in Budapest after more than 30 years and move to Berlin.

    Orban, who has been in power since 2010 and won a third consecutive term in April with a big majority, has increased his control over Hungary’s media and courts and put allies in control of once independent institutions.

    The legislation on asylum seekers has drawn condemnation from the U.N. refugee agency and the European Union. This month the European Parliament voted to sanction Hungary for flouting EU rules on democracy and civil rights.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-soros-court/soros-foundation-turns-to-strasbourg-court-to-get-hungarys-ngo-law-repealed-idUSKCN1M41H4

    • George Soros foundation sues Hungary on laws targeting NGOs (abcnews, Sep 24, 2018)
      https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/george-soros-foundation-sues-hungary-laws-targeting-ngos-58037185

      “An international philanthropic organization founded by billionaire George Soros said Monday it has filed applications before the European Court of Human Rights and Hungary’s Constitutional Court to challenge recent laws in Hungary targeting civic groups working with refugees and asylum-seekers.

      James Goldston, director of the Open Society Foundations’ legal team, told The Associated Press that the legal action is aimed at countering laws “designed to intimidate and silence independent voices in Hungary.”

      The Open Society Foundations support some of the civic groups targeted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s unyielding anti-immigration policies.

      Hungary passed in June legislation dubbed “Stop Soros” that threatens to incarcerate for up to one year people helping asylum-seekers. In July Hungarian lawmakers approved a 25 percent tax on financial or material support for groups promoting migration.

      “The tax law is so broadly written that the Hungarian government could target virtually all funding for rights groups and civil society even if a small portion of the funding goes to migration,” Goldston said from New York in a telephone interview. He said he hoped the ECHR would deal with the case “sooner rather than later” due to the “critical” situation in Hungary.

      “The government has undermined judicial independence, tamed the media, and now seeks to silence civil society groups, which are among the last critical public voices left in Hungary,” the organizaiton said in a statement.

      The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which provides legal aid to asylum-seekers among other activities, said last week that it was filing similar applications to the Hungarian and European courts. It said the “Stop Soros” law’s threat of prison was a danger not only to its own associates but “every well-meaning citizen who views refugees as people and helps them.”

      The Budapest-based Central European University, also founded by Soros, said last month that it was suspending education programs for refugees and asylum-seekers due to uncertainties about the tax law.

      One of the reasons filings are being made to the ECHR is that a constitutional amendment passed by Orban’s Fidesz party greatly limits the Constitutional Court’s ability to hear cases on taxes or which affect the state budget.”

  13. Richard: They want to boost the price of oil so they can pay for the wars they are fighting, some with their own people and some with proxy’s. This situation is going to get worse as the war expands into attacks inside Iran who will retaliate with attacks inside Saudi.

    OPEC, Russia rebuff Trump’s call for immediate boost to oil output

    ALGIERS (Reuters) – OPEC’s leader Saudi Arabia and its biggest oil-producer ally outside the group, Russia, ruled out on Sunday any immediate, additional increase in crude output, effectively rebuffing U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls for action to cool the market.

    “I do not influence prices,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters as OPEC and non-OPEC energy ministers gathered in Algiers for a meeting that ended with no formal recommendation for any additional supply boost.

    Benchmark Brent oil reached $80 a barrel this month, prompting Trump to reiterate on Thursday his demand that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries lower prices.

    The price rally mainly stemmed from a decline in oil exports from OPEC member Iran due to fresh U.S. sanctions.

    “We protect the countries of the Middle East, they would not be safe for very long without us, and yet they continue to push for higher and higher oil prices! We will remember. The OPEC monopoly must get prices down now!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

    Falih said Saudi Arabia had spare capacity to raise output but such a move was not required at the moment and might not be needed next year as, according to OPEC’s projections, a stellar rise in non-OPEC production could exceed global demand growth.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/opec-russia-rebuff-trumps-call-immediate-boost-oil-104053620.html

  14. Police ‘Too Busy With Online Spats for Serious Crime’ (breitbart, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/24/police-too-busy-with-online-spats-for-serious-crime/

    “UK Police are too busy responding to trivial social media spats to tackle serious crime, the new head of the Police Federation has said, after years of forces encouraging “hate crime” reports for offensive comments.

    Officers on the street still have a “desperation to do the job and very often they can’t because their hands are tied,” according to chairman John Apter who represents 120,000 rank-and-file officers.

    He argued that the focus on new types of crime, including cyber and “hate offences,” can come at the expense of traditional police work. Both need addressing, he said, but not one at the expense of the other.

    Mr Apter told The Sunday Telegraph: “Where we get drawn into local disagreements, the argument over the remote control, the dispute in the playground, the row on Facebook, it is frustrating.

    “I think police time can be better spent and it makes a mockery when we are so stretched. You can’t treat society like that and you can’t treat the police as political footballs.

    “We need to have a sensible debate with politicians, with society and with the public about exactly what they want their police to do.

    “People join the police to keep people safe and to lock up bad people, not to sort out petty squabbles over a remote control.”

    Police forces have been actively encouraging people to report “hate crimes” in recent years, online and off, with hundreds of officers dedicated to the area. However, given understanding “hate crimes” rely on thoughts, feelings, and intentions they are intrinsically subjective.

    Despite the massive focus on the area, prosecutions have actually fallen despite a large increase in reporting — indicating that many allegations do not hit the threshold for criminal proceedings.

    Official police guidelines for a “hate crimes” include “hostility,” and an investigation by Breitbart London last year found many forces refer to ambiguous words including “dislike” and “unfriendliness” in their working definitions.

    A “hate crime” also only needs to be “perceived” by the “victim” and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said last year “there is no need for evidence to prove the aggravating element” of it to be logged as a “hate incident.”

    South Yorkshire Police asked people earlier this month to report insults on social media, even if they were not a hate crime, stating that “offensive” online comments “re-emphasises the need” for officers to “tackle hate”.

    Meanwhile, Cheshire Police has previously warned users of social media not to post “offensive” comments or individuals could “face a large fine or up to two years in prison” and the Glasgow force has demanded people be “kind” online.

    In 2016 the London mayor’s office for policing and crime (Mopac) announced it was spending £1,730,726 of taxpayers’ money policing speech online after applying for a grant from the Home Office.

    Sadiq Khan’s office promised to set up a police “online hate crime hub” to work in “partnership with social media providers” to criminalise “trolls” who “target… individuals and communities”.

    Meanwhile, real-world, physical, and violent crimes have been surging, including a deadly violent crimes wave concentrated in the capital London. Knife crime has hit a record high, but more than 90 percent of recorded crimes are not ending in charges being brought, the latest figures reveal.

    Mr Apter, who has served with the Hampshire Force for 26-years, added: “Burglary is one of the most intrusive, horrible crimes that a householder can go through. It makes you feel incredibly vulnerable, but people can sometimes wait days for a police response.

    “Even if there is little chance of catching the person responsible, police officers know the value of spending a little bit of time with the victim, talking through their concerns and offering them some reassurance.

    “That half an hour you spend with someone gives so much back to society. It is about understanding the value of something over the cost, which the beancounters do not seem to get.””

  15. Japan’s space rovers send pictures back after first ever successful landing on asteroid

    Two tiny robots have landed safely on an asteroid after a Japanese spacecraft dropped them there on Friday.

    The scientists behind the historic mission expressed their delight as the rovers sent back the first images from the surface of the space rock Ryugu.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/asteroid-japan-rovers-spacecraft-hayabusa-2-ryugu-jaxa-minerva-a8550981.html

  16. White Students a Minority at 23 UK Universities, as Unions Call for Mandatory ‘White Privilege’ Training (breitbart, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/09/24/white-minority-uk-universities-privilege/

    “Days after calls for professors to be taught about ‘white privilege’, new data has revealed ethnic minority students are now the majority at 23 UK universities.

    Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) pupils in Britain are already more likely to attend university than their non-white counterparts, with figures showing the gap is growing year-on-year.

    It is not this gap that institutions are being told to tackle, however, as they face calls instead for equality of attainment between ethnic groups, with universities urged to clamp down disparities in achievement by ethnic white students at higher education level compared to students from other backgrounds.

    Figures from the Sunday Times’ Good University Guide found that just over 99 per cent of students were white at Harper Adams University College, a Shropshire-based institution which specialises in education pertaining to the agricultural and rural sectors.

    Yet white Britons are now a minority at many places of higher education, especially those situated in “hyper-diverse” cities like London and Birmingham, such as Aston University where 72.4 of the intake was of BAME students, and City University of London, where it was 71.6 per cent.

    Cambridge University, followed by Oxford, was rated Britain’s best institution of higher education but the two fell towards the bottom when it came to the Guide’s ‘social inclusion’ rankings, with 60 per cent of Oxford students coming from grammar or private schools.

    Identity activist and MP for Tottenham David Lammy commented on the figures to blast Britain’s elite universities as “gated communities for the privileged”, demanding the “most egregious offenders” be banned from charging students more than £6,150 a year in fees until their ‘social inclusion’ rating improved.

    The Labour figure added: “Disproportionate exclusion of students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, from the north of England and inner cities, as well as ethnic minorities, is a stain on their reputation.”

    Last week a report by the University and College Union called on institutions to teach academics “awareness of white privilege”, and for staff to undertake mandatory “unconscious bias” training in a bid to end inequality of outcome in attainment between ethnic groups.

    Against the backdrop of “Why is my curriculum white” protests, which have pressured universities into replacing the study of European figures and topics with ones from the Global South on some courses, the paper also expressed concern that lack of ethnic diversity in syllabus content was contributing to BAME underrepresentation among academic staff, and disparity in attainment of top grades.

    It echoed announcements made earlier this year that Britain’s university regulator plans to “apply greater pressure than before for every university to reduce the outcome gaps”, with the Office for Students (OfS) access director Chris Millward pointing to “the inclusivity of curricula … [and] teaching and assessment practices” as factors behind the disparity as he pledged to bring an end to “white, wealthy students” getting the best degrees.

    Meanwhile, white pupils in England are the ethnic group least likely to go to university, with only 29% of 18 year-olds having commenced higher education in 2017, according to UCAS data.

    While entry rates of all ethnic groups rose from the previous year, the increase was lowest in white students, at 1.5 per cent, while for Chinese the figure rose 3.6 per cent to 63 per cent, for Asian 3.8 per cent to 45.8 per centt and the black entry rate increased 3.2 per cent to reach 40.4 per cent.

    The disparities were laid bare in a government-commissioned study produced in 2015 which showed the poorest Chinese pupils in Britain are much more likely to go to university than white pupils from the richest socioeconomic group, while the proportion of Chinese students attending elite universities (34 per cent) exceeded the proportion of white pupils enrolled at any university in Britain.”

  17. Belgium: Commission takes Poland to ECJ over Supreme Court law

    Poland will be referred to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for violating in judicial independence, announced European Commission spokesperson Mina Andreeva at a press briefing in Brussels on Monday.

    The Commission believe Poland’s new Supreme Court law violates “the principles of judicial independence” and “undermines the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges,” in the words of Andreeva.

  19. Fall of top US scientists points to ethics gap in research

    Three prominent US scientists have been pushed to resign over the past 10 days after damning revelations about their methods, a sign of greater vigilance and decreasing tolerance for misconduct within the research community.

    The most spectacular fall concerned Jose Baselga, chief medical officer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He authored hundreds of articles on cancer research.

    Investigative journalism group ProPublica and The New York Times revealed on September 8 that Baselga failed to disclose in dozens of research articles that he had received millions of dollars from pharmaceutical and medical companies.

    Such declarations are generally required by scientific journals.

    Links between a doctor leading a clinical trial and manufacturers of drugs or medical equipment used in the study can influence the methodology and ultimately the results.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/fall-top-us-scientists-points-ethics-gap-research-045350389.html

  20. Russian MoD on measures they take in Syria after Il-20 downing

    Within two weeks Russia will complete the delivery to Damascus of an S-300 air defense system previously suspended on a request by Israel as part of response to the downing of a Russian plane amid an Israeli air raid on Syria.

    • zero hedge – Russia Will Supply S-300 System To Syria Within Weeks After Israeli Raid

      It appears Israel has paid a huge price for last week’s attack on Syria which led to the accidental “friendly” fire downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane with 15 personnel on board as the door could now be forever shut on striking targets in Syria with impunity. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced plans to deliver its advanced S-300 air defense system to Damascus within two weeks.

      Prior plans to deliver the system, which is considered vastly more effective and can strike at a greater range than Syria’s current S-200 and others, were nixed after Israeli threats that delivery would constitute a “red line” for which Israel must act.

      The Russian MoD acknowledged this and said the situation has “changed” upon announcing its intent to follow through on what Syria has already purchased: “In 2013 on a request from the Israeli side we suspended the delivery to Syria of the S-300 system, which was ready to be sent with its Syrian crews trained to use it,” the MoD statement said.

      Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said early Monday, “A modern S-300 air defense missile system will be supplied to the Syrian Armed Forces within two weeks. It is capable of intercepting air assault weapons at a distance of more than 250 kilometers and hit simultaneously several air targets.”

      Significantly, Syria’s systems will be integrated with Russian systems via the S-300, in order to prevent instances of “blind” firing (or failure to have friend or foe identification capabilities).

      Russia had in previous statements blamed Israel for the last Tuesday incident in which a Russian Ilyushin-20 reconnaissance plane was accidentally brought down by an aging Syrian S-200 defense system after Russia had scrambled its jets to respond to an attack by four Israeli F-16s on Syrian government targets.

      Shoigu said the S-300 system will prevent such future mishaps: “The command posts of Syrian air defense forces and units will be equipped with automated control systems only supplied to the Russian armed forces. This will facilitate centralized control over all forces and resources of the Syrian air defense, monitor the situation in the air, and ensure operative issuance of orders.”

      He added that, “Most importantly, we will guarantee the identification of all Russian aircrafts by the Syrian air defense systems,” according to TASS.

      The Russian-made S-300s are widely acknowledged to be far superior in their capability and reach than Syria’s current S-200 system. If installed — something which Russia has promised will happen in two weeks time — Syria might very well become nearly untouchable.

      Israel has long claimed to be acting primarily against Iran inside Syria, often firing from over “neutral” Lebanese airspace, but additional new electronic countermeasures to be erected along with the S-300 system will hinder this, per RT:

      The third measure announced by the Russian defense ministry is a blanket of electronic countermeasures over Syrian coastline, which would “suppress satellite navigation, onboard radar systems and communications of warplanes attacking targets on Syrian territory.”

      Shoigu said the measures are meant to “cool down ‘hotheads’ and prevent misjudged actions posing a risk to our service members.” He added that if such a development fails to materialize, the Russian military “would act in accordance to the situation.”

      All of this is precisely the game-changer that Israel’s leadership has long worried about as they’ve sought to maintain “freedom of action” in Syria, according to prior statements by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

      As a Haaretz report noted previously, the range of the new defense system will give Damascus the ability to detect potentially hostile aircraft from point of origin: “With Putin’s S-300, Assad’s army could even ‘lock-on’ IAF aircraft as they take off from bases within Israel.” And as one Israeli defense analyst put it, “Israel should be worried.”

      https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-24/russia-will-supply-advanced-s-300-anti-aircraft-system-syria-cites-downed-plane

  22. 5 suspected rebels, India soldier killed in Kashmir fighting (abcnews, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/suspected-rebels-india-soldier-killed-kashmir-fighting-58038113

    “Five suspected militants and a soldier were killed in two days of fighting near the highly militarized de facto frontier that divides the disputed region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, India’s army said Monday.

    Indian army spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said the gunbattle erupted Sunday after a group of militants crossed from the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir into the Indian-held portion in the forested and mountainous northwestern Tangdhar sector. He said two rebels were killed on Sunday and three others and an Indian soldier died on Monday.

    Kalia said soldiers recovered five bodies of militants with weapons and were still searching the area…”

  23. CBC – Bernier on libertarian politics and Rebel Media

    Maxime Bernier talks to Wendy Mesley about his libertarian politics, his connections and Rebel Media.

  25. A NEWSPAPER Publisher was arrested and questioned about “Hate Crime” and was threatened about reporting the incident, according to reports.

    Danny Lockwood, publisher of ‘The Press’ a weekly paper in West Yorkshire was driving alone when he was stopped by three marked Police BMW X5s and an unmarked one, all carrying armed officers, the cops forced him off the A64.

    The Press reported that Mr Lockwood was handcuffed and taken to York police station before being transferred to Dewsbury, to be questioned about three hate crimes concerning Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff.

    He was handcuffed and put in a police van, refused permission to make a statutory phone call for seven hours and held for more than nine hours before being questioned, released on bail and made to find his own way 25 miles to retrieve his car.

    He claims he was also threatened by PC Atherton regarding writing or publishing anything about the case.

    https://www.politicalite.com/media/policing-the-news-armed-police-arrest-newspaper-publisher-over-hate-crime/

  26. A shocking story came to light last week in Kos, upsetting the local community. A 28-year-old Iranian migrant was arrested for raping a 15 year-old Greek girl, Newsit reports.

    A friend of the victim reported the rape to the local police department. After this report the police took a statement of the victim, which revealed to the shocked police officers that the migrant was raping the girl for five days.

    She reported that she met the perpetrator on 13 September, when he led the underage girl to a local field and raped her.

    The following four days, the Iranian was threatening to kill the victim, and lead her to an abandoned house forcing and blackmailing her to have sexual intercourse.

    https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/09/greece-adult-migrant-accused-of-raping-a-15-year-old-greek-girl-for-five-days/#.W6Y_c3O2VCx.twitter

  28. China has shut down thousands of websites and online accounts following a three-month campaign against “harmful” content, the state news agency Xinhua has announced.

    The content, on 4,000 sites, included infringements of copyright and material spreading “improper values, vulgarity or obscenity”, it said.

    But the purge also appeared to be aimed at platforms offering free e-books.

    China tightly controls the country’s internet access.

    Previous targets have included lottery apps and material containing pornographic or violent content.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45625278

  29. Iran Revolutionary Guard chief vows “revenge” on U.S. over Ahvaz terror attack
    Share Tweet Reddit Flipboard Email
    AHVAZ, Iran — In a collective outpouring of grief, Iranians held funerals Monday for the victims of the weekend terror attack on a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz that killed 25 people, the deadliest attack in the country in nearly a decade. Saturday’s assault in Ahvaz, the provincial capital of Khuzestan, was blamed on Iran’s Arab separatists who Iranian officials claim are supported by the U.S.

    The acting commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said at the funeral that the Islamic Republic would “take revenge” against the U.S. and some of its biggest regional allies over the violence.

    At least 60 more people were wounded in the Saturday attack when militants disguised as soldiers opened fire at marching troops and onlookers at the parade.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/iran-ahvaz-terror-attack-revolutionary-guard-revenge-us-saudi-arabia-israel/

  30. the guardian – Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, to reportedly resign

    Rosenstein was overseeing the investigation of Russian election interference and its possible links to the Trump campaign

    Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein was headed to the White House Monday morning and he expects to be fired, the Associated Press reported. Separately, Axios reported that Rosenstein planned to resign his post, citing unnamed sources.

    The deputy attorney general was overseeing the investigation of Russian election interference and links between the Donald Trump campaign and Moscow.

    The New York Times reported last week that Rosenstein had discussed secretly recording the president and invoking the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein said the report was “inaccurate”.

    Rosenstein’s prospective departure throws into question the oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Under the Department of Justice succession statute, solicitor general Noel Francisco would be left in charge of supervising the Mueller investigation, University of Texas law school professor Steve Vladeck has written.

    But Trump also might be able to appoint a temporary replacement for Rosenstein on an “acting” basis for up to 210 days, Vladeck writes – that person would need to have previously passed Senate confirmation for another post or be a senior official from a relevant department.

    Rosenstein was overseeing Mueller’s work after the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, recused himself due to his contacts with Russian officials when he was part of the Trump campaign. Trump has repeatedly attacked Sessions for that move.

    Trump acted in the aftermath of a New York Times report that said Rosenstein reacted to Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey in May of last year by suggesting wearing a wire, recording the president and initiating moves to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Trump from power.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/24/rod-rosenstein-resigns-latest-reports-trump-mueller-investigation

  32. Egypt upholds death penalties against 20 for ‘violence’ (AA, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/egypt-upholds-death-penalties-against-20-for-violence/1263286

    “Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Monday upheld death sentences against 20 people convicted earlier for committing “acts of violence” in the wake of the country’s 2013 military coup.

    According to Egypt’s official MENA news agency, the Court of Cassation (the country’s highest appellate court) rejected an appeal filed by the defendants in the case publicly known as the “Kerdasa massacre”…”

  33. Kenya: Army kills 10 al-Shabaab militants (AA, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/kenya-army-kills-10-al-shabaab-militants/1263165

    “Kenyan troops killed Monday 10 al-Shabaab militants in the Lamu County on Kenya’s north coast, according to an army spokesman.

    “Today at around 6:45 am KDF soldiers operating in Lamu launched an attack on al-Shabaab militants. The operation […] saw Kenyan Defense Forces kill ten members of the al-Shabab militia group and recovered AK-47 refiles,” Paul Njhuguna, the army spokesman, said.

    Lamu has been a staging area for the militants — who take advantage of the porous Kenya-Somali border — to carry out attacks that have killed more than 150 police officers and soldiers in the past 8 months.

    Njhuguna said that three KDF soldiers were wounded during the operation, adding that a manhunt was underway to chase after the militants who survived and escaped towards the border.

    “The soldiers are in pursuit of other militants who fled with injuries. Locals are requested to share information with the security officials in the areas,” he said.”

  34. Turkey: 33 terrorists ‘neutralized’ over past week (AA, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/todays-headlines/turkey-33-terrorists-neutralized-over-past-week/1263032

    “Turkish authorities often use the word “neutralized” in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

    In a statement, the ministry said the Turkish Armed Forces carried out 2,425 ground and air operations on Sept. 17-24.

    The ministry said 20 of the terrorists were killed, nine captured, and four others surrendered to authorities.

    The security forces also arrested 3,992 people for crimes linked to drugs and smuggling, and 67 people for aiding and abetting terror organizations.

    A total of 4,847 irregular migrants were rounded up during the operations.

    In addition, security forces seized 12 hand grenades, 392 kilograms of explosive chemicals, seven improvised explosives, 19 long-barreled weapons and 14,666 ammunition.

    Security forces also destroyed 14 terrorist shelters, including several caves across six provinces in Turkey.

    Additionally, 753,096 kilograms of narcotics, 159,771 cannabis roots, 339,285 drugs, 110,731 liters of smuggled fuel were seized, the statement said.

    In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the death of some 40,000 people, including women and children.”

  35. Norway: Number of converted Muslims increases recently (AA, Sep 24, 2018)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/norway-number-of-converted-muslims-increases-recently/1263382

    “The number of converted Muslims in Norway increased to at least 3,000 in the recent years, a researcher at Oslo University’s Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages said.

    Norway’s leading Verdens Gang newspaper reported on Sunday that the number of Norwegians choosing to become Muslim since 1990s have increased.

    The report said the number of converted Muslims in the country during 1990s were around 500 while this number has reached around 3,000 in the recent years.

    Noting that previously Norwegian women used to convert to Islam as a result of marrying Muslim men, Vogt said: “This trend has now changed drastically. Now, women are choosing Islam after reading and researching about Islam.”

    Monica Salmouk, a converted Muslim, told the newspaper that she chose Islam 4 years ago after researching and reading number of books about the religion.

    Salmouk said she visited the Islamic Cultural Center (ICC) mosque in Greenland, Oslo and chose to adopt Islam as her religion.

    Solva Nabila Sexelin, a 42-year old Norwegian, also said she decided to convert to Islam after being inspired by the Muslim asylum seekers which she has been helping out.”

  37. Media sympathy for violent Antifa backfires
    By Jerome Woehrle September 23, 2018

    The Washington Post’s sympathy for the violent left-wing group Antifa didn’t keep Antifa thugs from later attacking one of the Post’s own reporters. This ironic result is chronicled in the Washington Post column by Petula Dvorak, a left-liberal. She had gone to a “Unite the Right” rally, but then was attacked by Antifa counter-protesters after the “sad little band of Unite the Right demonstrators retreated,” which left Antifa “still looking for a fight.” Dvorak’s column describes the violence of Antifa:

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/09/23/media-glorification-of-violent-antifa-backfires/

  39. Germany: CDU secretary admits Maassen promotion was a mistake

    The decision to promote ex spy-chief Maassen was wrong and had to be corrected, CDU secretary general Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer admitted in Berlin on Monday, adding that the party presidium fully supports the position of Angela Merkel.

    Kramp-Karrenbauer went on to say that the numerous crises and discussions between coalition heads since last year’s elections have now come to an end and smooth government can resume.

  42. strong>VoA – Voice of America – Muslim-American Women Seek to Represent Changing Face of US in Congress

    Depending on the outcome of the November midterm elections, the U.S. House of Representatives is likely to welcome the first two Muslim-American women into the chamber as lawmakers.

    They join Indiana Congressman Andre Carson as members of the national government representing an often misunderstood and marginalized faith.

    As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports the candidates represent the changing face of the U.S. Congress in a country with a changing religious and ethnic makeup .

  43. ISLAMIC STATE POSTS VIDEO OF MEN ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IRAN ATTACK

    Islamic State’s Amaq agency has posted a video of three men in a vehicle who it said were on their way to carry out an attack on an Iranian military parade.

    Two of the men spoke in Arabic about jihad, while the third spoke in Farsi suggesting they were targeting Iranian Revolutionary Guards, according to the recording, released after Saturday’s assault on the Guards in the Iranian city of Ahvaz.

    https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Islamic-state-posts-video-of-men-allegedly-involved-Iran-attack-567817

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

    Islamic state video -revendication of the attack in Iran

    • Listen to this episode, Bongino is laying out what is planned by the left and it is going to get real ugly, not violent (at least no yet) but ugly and they are going to show that they are out to destroy the reputation of their enemies, all of their enemies. This is just a preview of what the election season is going to be, it will probably be much worse then what is going to happen this week and there is a very real chance of violence during the campaign and election. The left is desperate and are pulling out all stops because this is the last chance they have of winning for many many decades.

  45. Character Assassins at the Washington Post
    And the fake news media.
    September 24, 2018
    David Horowitz

    When Donald Trump refers to the anti-Trump media – CNN, MSNBC and network television – as “fake news,” his description is not only accurate but welcome: finally, a conservative is fighting back against a press whose venomous corruption is a grave threat to American pluralism and its democratic order. But when the same “news” outlets falsely characterize political opponents, including the president, as racists and “hatemongers” to render them illegitimate, our democracy is in grave peril. In sum, the term “fake news” greatly understates the nature of the threat, and, along with it, the crisis we are facing as a nation.

    As a prominent antagonist of the left, I have been a target of its malice for decades – in fact, from the moment I departed its ranks in the 1980s, and vowed to speak to my former comrades in the same language they spoke to others. Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? Since then I have been one among numerous conservatives victimized by their malevolent disregard for the truth, for anyone they disagree with, for common decency, and for the country that gave them their freedoms.

    Today things are much worse than ever before. The left’s lack of respect for democratic principles, for political “others,” their readiness to employ gutter tactics and mangle the truth, has spread from Communist fringe publications of the Sixties, like The Nation, and the Daily Worker, to the Huffington Post, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

    [Editor’s note: On the left is typi

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271403/character-assassins-washington-post-david-horowitz

  47. Dem Senator Demands FBI Investigation of 53-Year-Old Man’s High School Drinking
    September 23, 2018
    Daniel Greenfield

    What a brave new world.

    We want to hear — I would be wanting to hear what kind of environment it was in high school,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Sunday during an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    “Apparently, there was a lot of drinking and partying going on,” she continued. “This is why we need an investigation. We need an independent investigation that lays all of that out for us, so there’s at least some chance of some outside entity, like the FBI, doing an investigation.”

    Yes, the FBI should absolutely investigate the high school drinking habits of a 53-year-old man.

    And then his nursery school behaviors. And his ancestors. There’s gotta be something in there if you dig deep and low enough.

    Remember when the Democrats were going to get the government out of our bedrooms? Isn’t this so much better?

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271405/dem-senator-demands-fbi-investigation-53-year-old-daniel-greenfield

  48. The Left’s Show Trial for Kavanaugh
    New accusers with new dubious allegations materialize out of thin air.
    September 24, 2018
    Matthew Vadum

    Two more women accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of dubious improprieties materialized out of thin air late Sunday, throwing Senate Republicans’ hope of finally confirming the Supreme Court nominee this week even more into doubt.

    The new allegations came yesterday amid reports that Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) tentatively scheduled a hearing for this Thursday to take testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, 51, who claims Kavanaugh, 53, sexually assaulted her decades ago when he was a high school student. Suspiciously, Ford can’t –or won’t— say when or where the alleged incident happened and can provide few details.

    As Paul Sperry writes at the New York Post, working with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and backed financially by George Soros’s money, Ford’s lawyers spent the last few days gaming the system. After stalling Grassley and getting repeated extensions, the attorneys got the chairman to cave on various demands, such as that Kavanaugh not be in the room when Ford gives evidence.

    Republicans never seem to learn from their mistakes.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271411/lefts-show-trial-kavanaugh-matthew-vadum

    • CAIR Infiltrates Public Schools

      That the mere name, “CAIR”, already hasn’t become synonymous with militant, anti-Western violence defies all imagination. Allowing this terrorist filth into public schools is a serious violation of federal child abuse laws.

  50. Kavanaugh and Last-Minute Accusations
    Democrats pull out all the stops.
    September 24, 2018
    Joseph Klein

    Democrats are pulling out all the stops and enabling salacious last-minute accusations against Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh in order to sink his candidacy. Now that Christine Blasey Ford has finally agreed to testify this Thursday at an open hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding her charge that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a long-ago high school party, these new charges have suddenly emerged from left field.

    On Sunday, a former classmate from Judge Kavanaugh’s time at Yale accused the Supreme Court nominee of exposing himself to her at a party. The New Yorker has just published an article written by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, based on information that was reportedly sent to at least four Democratic senators. The article recounted a claim by Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate of Brett Kavanaugh’s, concerning “a dormitory party gone awry.” As the article acknowledged, however, “her memories contained gaps because she had been drinking at the time of the alleged incident.” The article goes on to say that in her initial conversations with The New Yorker, Ms. Ramirez was “reluctant to characterize Kavanaugh’s role in the alleged incident with certainty.” It was only after “six days of carefully assessing her memories and consulting with her attorney” that Ms. Ramirez was suddenly able to pinpoint Judge Kavanaugh as having committed an unsavory act, even though she admitted being “foggy” at the time. The New Yorker article also noted that the magazine “has not confirmed with other eyewitnesses that Kavanaugh was present at the party.”

    Meanwhile, the ever-present Michael Avenatti, attorney of porn star Stormy Daniels, tweeted that he had information from anonymous sources that Judge Kavanaugh and his friend had “targeted” women with drugs and alcohol at parties to facilitate “gang rape.”

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271410/kavanaugh-and-last-minute-accusations-joseph-klein