Contributor’s Links post for January 2nd, 2019

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We muse use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

124 Replies to “Contributor’s Links post for January 2nd, 2019”

  2. Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it “must and will be” reunited with China.

    In a speech marking 40 years since the start of improving ties, he reiterated Beijing’s call for peaceful unification on a one-country-two-systems basis.

    However, he also warned that China reserved the right to use force.

    While Taiwan is self-governed and de-facto independent, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland.

    Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-46733174

    • Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it “must and will be” reunited with China.

      Please pardon any off-color implications but it sounds a lot like Xi is telling Formosa, “you may as well lay back and enjoy it”.

      • That is what he is saying but he isn’t going to be able to carry out his threat while Trump is President and while Abe is leading Japan. Hitting Taiwan with two powerful allies ready to jump into the fight is suicide, Also if Red China hits Taiwan and we jump in what are Nam, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines going to do? On that Matter what will Putin do? Jump in to help China or set back and wait, then attack China just before the collapse so Russia can seize the parts of China touching Russia?

  3. Richard B. Levine/Newscom
    Richard B. Levine/Newscom
    To determine whether a government program is successful, it’s often necessary to look not only at how well it does what it’s supposed to do, but what it’s doing that it isn’t supposed to. For example, killing people.
    Take the hospital readmissions program built into Obamacare. The program derived from a simple observation that hospitals were treating lots of people who would then return for more treatment within the month. Unnecessary readmissions cost Medicare an estimated $17.5 billion a year. If hospitals were treating people effectively, the thinking went, those people shouldn’t need to return so soon.
    So the health law instituted a Medicare payment penalty for hospitals with too many readmissions for pneumonia, heart failure, and heart attack. Since 2012, Medicare has assessed about $2 billion in penalties on hospitals with too-high readmissions rates.
    Hospital groups have argued that these payments are punitive and unfair, particularly to so-called safety net hospitals that serve the poorest, sickest patients. These patients tend to have higher readmissions rates, and the hospitals that treat them were more likely to be hit with payment reductions. (Earlier this year, the Trump administration changed the penalty structure for safety net hospitals.)
    But the program has often been labeled a success because it accomplished its primary goal. Readmissions dropped between 2.3 and 3.6 percentage points for the conditions targeted. Readmissions associated with other maladies dropped by 1.4 percent. The authors of one 2016 study suggested that the lower readmission rates “point to how Medicare can improve the care that patients receive through innovative payment models.” It offered proof, and hope, that with the right incentives, Medicare could save money and provide better care.
    A new study appears to dash that hope, at least as far as readmissions are concerned.
    The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and conducted by by researchers associated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical and Harvard Medical School, looked at hospitalizations between 2005 and 2015. It found that “30-day post-discharge mortality”—the number of people who died within a month of leaving the hospital—increased for heart failure patients after the readmissions penalty program was implemented.

    http://archive.ph/7g3sr#selection-1158.0-1225.373

  4. Self-driving cars will make our roads safer? Really?

    Maybe so, but talk about the ultimate in dehumanization–remember the Soviet Story? There, people are made out to be less-than human by the communist religion. Humanity removed, it then becomes a baby step to imprison, torture and murder people for their evil representation. (Islam, of course, uses the same dehumanizing trick). But who really loses their humanity under communism? The killer or the killed? Framed this way the answer is obvious.

    If under communism we remove our humanity, then under AI we remove the human. In the car example, besides no longer experiencing the pleasure of driving, maybe there is nothing wrong with this. Alternately, it resembles to me slavery in the abstract.

    I don’t know that I will ever reconcile the negative, visceral first impressions I get from AI. Also, if the unproven safety argument is set aside for a moment, what is the best reason for making cars robot driven? Because we can? Efficiency? Golly, what will the army of lazy Arab taxi drivers in every Western city possibly do with their time once they are replaced? Donate their brains and brawn to the betterment of Western civilization whilst collecting their guarenteed personal income? Incidentally, while I realize the guarenteed income idea has been around perhaps since Friedman tried to sell it to Nixon, it is never now proposed the same way Friedman offered it. Back then the idea was to have it replace EVERY handout. Ontario’s recent experiment under the communist Wynn government kept in place all existing welfare, and then threw the income blanket over all of that. But I digress. My point was that I find it curious how the GPI and AI are now dovetailing. Indeed, what to do with an even bigger free-shit army? Pay ’em or kill ’em, or both.

    Safety is a dubious argument. Whereever it’s invoked you know it’s more about creating more red tape to create more government, union and parasitic private-sector, non-producing jobs. Safety is to the construction and public health industries what Diversity is to our Dear Leader’s multiculti mantra. Argue against the insane rhetoric and regulations of modern construction safety red tape and you’re a monster. “If we save one life it is all worth it…” say the proponents. Yes, but then what about the underreported deaths now of people hit by driverless cars? The One Life Saved tap dance can be turned around quite nicely, right? If MSM banged the One Life Saved drum the whole industry would already be shut down overnight by logical imperative. It goes to show the power yielded by msm more when it chooses to not use its power.

    Robotic efficiency creates greater wealth for the companies that own the robots. Simple enough. Enterprises that use robots need fewer people. Now government thinks it must save the people that enterprise discards. Why? What would happen if we held government back just to see what the free market would do with these supposed millions of newly unemployed? Despite the fact that their unemployment is, as yet, only hypothetical. And despite the fact that American manufacturing has already been pretty much gutted by Red China. It’s pretty clear we already can see the effects of AI. The people replaced by it are already being gathered and sold to us before their employed feet even touch the ground at the unemployment line. The GPI will be the ultimate mafia ploy. Get people on the hook. Make them dependent on you for money and protection. There ya go…just, take, the, money. Now that we have you where we want you, you do what we say. But this is just the most obvious part of the AI slavery deal. –Not to mention how much it stinks of crony capitalist and Globalist government apparatchiks getting cozy over the next big thing. And for the record I must inject right here for clarity that a crony capitalist is not small business. It is huge business politically connected by paid lobbyists.

    Slavery in the abstract is where the only humanity you get from your autonomous vehicle is from the engineers who programmed it. Comforting, right? Ever argue with an engineer over specifications? You can’t do it this way, you explain. “Follow the spec,” says the engineer. Again and again. Follow the spec. –Should be the epitaph on every engineer’s tombstone. Most of the engineers I’ve known had something missing. Sorry engineers. Sad but true. I guess that’s why you’re engineers. That we trust you–the least human of us–to give our robots souls is foolish. We hope they have souls because we hope they have conscience. We hope they have conscience so they take care of us. What a fool’s game this AI is already shaping up to be. The final link in this chain of reasoning is that we need the self-driving car to take care of us because we put ourself in a vulnerable spot. At 60 mph we’re at the mercy of an automaton. So like a slave who pleads to his unfeeling slave master, we will forever beg mercy from these non-thinking machines. We talk to, and personify, inanimate objects all the time. If I had a nickel for every time I swore at a low-hanging pipe I’d hit my head on, or at a malfunctioning device, I’d be rich. It’s human nature to personify the inanimate, it seems. It’s also human nature to dehumanize in order to enable the horrible act.

    Like communists or muslims, they only give the appearance of thinking. Right PC? No matter how much they try to fool us, however, they are the automatons while we, hopefully, retain our humanity.

    Unless every engineer, scientist and manager involved in creating AI machines swears some sort of Hippocratic Oath, there can be no serious consideration that programmers have put their hearts, and souls into protecting the human beings at the business end of their machines. Even then it is silly to expect humanity from a dehumanized automaton. So when the accelerator sticks to the floor and your godless commie self-driving car races over that cliff, and you’re screaming at your computer master to stop–don’t bother. You should have stayed with your 1971, computer-free Chevy Impala.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/31/us/waymo-self-driving-cars-arizona-attacks.html

    • I’d take my chances with:

      • Robot over a tard during Ramadama-ding-dong.
      +/- Stoners, IQ less than 80.
      (Or anybody subject to fits of “sexual emergency” and low impulse control.)

      feh.

      • Meds distributed automatically [robot-counted, sorted]
      vs. an illiterate inbred +/- kafir-hating, licensed medic.

      • etc.
      ……..
      Japan is coping with skewed demographics. They’re pioneering usage of AI to compensate, hoping to minimize need for foreign labor. I wish them well!

  5. A Cleveland hospital has fired a resident after anti-Semitic comments and threats to give the Jewish people “the wrong meds” surfaced on social media.

    Lara Kollab was identified as the fired employee behind the comments. She worked as a supervised resident at the Cleveland Clinic from July to September, Cleveland.com reported.

    “She is no longer working at Cleveland Clinic. In no way do these beliefs reflect those of our organization. We fully embrace diversity, inclusion and a culture of safety and respect across our entire health system,” the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement posted online.

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/ohio-hospital-fires-resident-after-her-threat-to-give-jews-wrong-meds-surfaced

  8. Horror as girl raped in broad daylight outside shopping centre (express, Jan 2, 2018)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1065905/burnley-rape-burnley-news-new-years-day-charter-walk-centre

    “A TEENAGE girl was raped near a shopping centre on New Year’s Day, police have said.

    The 14-year-old was attacked by an unknown man who approached her at the bottom of the steps close to the Charter Walk shopping centre car park in Burnley, Lancashire. Police said the man approached the girl at about 9am on Tuesday morning. He is described as in his 30s or 40s, with short dark curly hair, a short beard and tanned skin.

    He was wearing dark clothing and left the shopping centre in the direction of Church Street.

    The teenager is being supported by specially trained police officers.

    Police issued a statement saying this type of incident is “rare”.

    Detective Inspector Tim McDermott said: “We would like to reassure the public that incidents of this type are rare and we have a number of officers working on the enquiry…”

  9. Migrants crossing English Channel are not ‘genuine’ asylum seekers, Sajid Javid suggests (telegraph, Jan 2, 2018?
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/02/former-immigration-chief-accuses-sajid-javid-politicising-channel/

    “Sajid Javid has questioned whether migrants crossing the English Channel are “genuine” asylum seekers. The Home Secretary suggested that they should have claimed asylum in France rather than risking their lives to come to the UK.

    During a visit to Dover he told Sky News: “A question has to be asked: if you are a genuine asylum seeker why have you not sought asylum in the first safe country that you arrived in?

    “Because France is not a country where anyone would argue it is not safe in any way whatsoever, and if you are genuine then why not seek asylum in your first safe country?”

    More than 100 migrants have either made it to the UK or been intercepted at sea since Christmas Eve. The Home Office…”

  10. Afghan officials say Italian adviser survives rogue attack (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-officials-italian-adviser-survives-rogue-attack-60114252

    “Afghan officials say an Italian military adviser escaped unhurt after a rogue border policeman opened fire on his armored vehicle in western Afghanistan’s Herat province, not far from the border with Iran.

    Gelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, says the adviser was inside his armored vehicle after finishing a meeting Wednesday with Afghan officials when the gunmen opened fire, wounding a female police officer before being shot dead by nearby police.

    A senior police official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the incident, said the adviser was an Italian national.

    No one has taken responsibility for the attack but Taliban insurgents routinely urge serving Afghan security forces to attack NATO personnel in Afghanistan, mostly as advisers.”

  11. Qatar Airways acquires 5 percent stake in China Southern (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/qatar-airways-acquires-percent-stake-china-southern-60114356

    “Qatar Airways says it now holds a 5 percent share in China Southern Airlines, helping expand the Gulf carrier’s reach in one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.

    Qatar Airways Group said Wednesday the acquisition of additional shares of China Southern supports its overall investment strategy. The Mideast carrier has a 49 percent stake in Air Italy, nearly 10 percent in Cathay Pacific and LATAM Airlines Group, and a 20 percent investment in International Airlines Group — the holding company for British Airways among others.

    China Southern Airlines is a member of SkyTeam, an alliance that includes Delta, KLM, Air France and others.

    Despite losses off its revenue last year due to a boycott from neighboring Gulf states, Qatar Airways maintains it is the “world’s fastest growing airline.””

  12. Fighting among rebels in northern Syria kills dozens (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fighting-rebels-northern-syria-kills-dozens-60115032

    “Two days of fighting in rebel-held parts of northern Syria killed dozens of people as al-Qaida-linked militants press their offensive against Turkey-backed rebels, a war monitor and activists said Wednesday.

    The new wave of fighting comes after President Donald Trump’s abrupt announcement in mid-December that he was withdrawing 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria and Turkish threats to carry out a military operation against Kurdish fighters.

    With their offensive, the al-Qaida-linked fighters are trying to cut off Turkey-backed fighters in the northern enclave of Afrin from those in the northwestern province of Idlib, amid concerns that Turkey might make a deal with Russia at the expense of the extremists, said Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

    “They are trying to say we are present and no one should ignore us,” he said of the al-Qaida-linked fighters.

    The al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee and the Turkey-backed Nour el-Din el-Zinki group blamed each other for triggering the fighting, the worst in nearly three months..”

  13. Hackers are spreading Islamic State propaganda by hijacking dormant Twitter accounts (techcrunch. Jan 2, 2019)
    https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/02/hackers-islamic-state-propaganda-twitter/

    “Hackers are using a decade-old flaw to target and hijack dormant Twitter accounts to spread terrorist propaganda, TechCrunch has learned.

    Many of the affected Twitter accounts appeared to be hijacked in recent days or weeks — some longer — after years of inactivity. A sudden shift in tone or the language used in tweets often gives away the hijack — usually a single tweet in Arabic, sometimes praising Allah or retweeting propaganda from another account.

    Twitter has suspended most of the accounts we reviewed, but some remain active.

    The recent resurgence in hijacked accounts appear to be hackers exploiting Twitter’s legacy lack of email confirmation. Twitter made steps to prevent the automated creation of new accounts in June by requiring new accounts to be confirmed using an email address or phone number, but many older accounts remain unconfirmed.

    But while dormant Twitter accounts are never deleted, the email addresses that were used to create them either never existed in the first place, or expired long ago. As such, many older Twitter accounts can be easily hijacked by creating the email address used to initially register the Twitter account.

    “This issue has been around for a while but no one really knew and took advantage of it,” said a hacker and security researcher known as WauchulaGhost, who researches and disrupts the online activities of the so-called Islamic State.

    “Now, we have Islamic State supporters that have figured it out,” he said…”

    • This may be quite optimistic. We know there is the possibility that the U.S. Fed is deep state and may be used to bring PT down.

  15. Netflix drops satire episode critical of Saudi Arabia

    Washington (AFP) – Netflix has removed an episode of a satirical comedy show from its service in Saudi Arabia over its criticism of the kingdom, following a legal request by officials in Riyadh.

    The move was widely denounced by rights groups including Amnesty International, which said it risks facilitating a crackdown on freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia.

    In the episode of “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” the American-born Muslim lashed out at the kingdom after the October killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

    He specifically criticized Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and was also critical of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.

    “We strongly support artistic freedom worldwide and removed this episode only in Saudi Arabia after we had received a valid legal request — and to comply with local law,” a Netflix spokeswoman said in a statement Tuesday.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/netflix-drops-satire-episode-critical-saudi-arabia-164703467.html

  16. Outrage after Netflix pulls comedy show criticising Saudi Arabia

    Standup Hasan Minhaj had mocked official accounts about fate of Jamal Khashoggi

    Netflix has taken down an episode of a satirical comedy show critical of Saudi Arabia in the country after officials from the kingdom complained, sparking criticism from Human Rights Watch, which said the act undermined the streaming service’s “claim to support artistic freedom”.

    It comes three months after the brutal killing of the Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi – which US senators have blamed on the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – and as the war in Yemen continues to devastate the country.

    The American comedian Hasan Minhaj was critical of the Saudi heir in an episode of the standup show Patriot Act, delivering a wide-ranging monologue mocking the Saudis’ evolving account of what happened inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul in October, when the journalist was killed.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/jan/01/outrage-after-netflix-pulls-comedy-show-criticising-saudi-arabia

  17. Trump ushers in 2019 saying ‘calm down and enjoy the ride,’ amid new year challenges
    Alex Pappas
    By Alex Pappas | Fox News

    President Trump ushered in 2019 in characteristic fashion — with a tweet expressing supreme confidence in himself, contempt for the “fake news media” and optimism for the country.

    The famously teetotaling commander-in-chief proved he wasn’t nursing a New Year’s hangover with the early morning missive, his second of the freshly-minted year. The first was a message praising former adviser Sebastian Gorka, who has a book out.

    “Happy new year to everyone, including the haters and the fake news media!” the president tweeted. “2019 will be a fantastic year for those not suffering from Trump derangement syndrome.”

    Trump added, “Just calm down and enjoy the ride, great things are happening for our country!”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-ushers-in-2019-saying-calm-down-and-enjoy-the-ride-amid-new-year-challenges

  18. Report: One in Five Austrian Residents Born Overseas (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/02/report-one-five-austrian-residents-born-overseas/

    “A study released by the Austrian Integration Fund has revealed that as many as 20 per cent of Austria’s residents were born overseas and more than half of them come from non-EU countries.

    The study, entitled “Federal States — Statistics on Migration & Integration,” showed that the majority of foreign-born residents live in the Austrian capital of Vienna with a total of 36 per cent of the city’s population being born overseas, Kronen Zeitung reports.

    Turks and Serbians make up the largest migrant communities in Vienna with the district of Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus having the largest migrant population with around half of residents coming from a migrant background.

    Vienna also has large populations of Syrians and Afghan nationals with 23,000 Syrian migrants and 17,600 individuals originally from Afghanistan.

    The report also examined integration and found a high number of school pupils did not speak German as their primary language. Across Austria, the number who spoke another language was just over a quarter but in Vienna the rate was much higher at around 50 per cent with some schools having a proportion as high as 82.3 per cent.

    Unemployment among both native Austrians and foreigners has dropped overall, but there remains a disparity between the native and migrant unemployment rates with native Austrians seeing a rate of 7.5 per cent while 12.5 per cent of foreign nationals were unemployed.

    Similar statistics have been observed in Sweden where the unemployment numbers between natives and migrants are even starker. According to a report released in 2018, the native unemployment rate dropped from 3.9 to 3.6 per cent while the migrant rate remained much higher at 19.9 per cent.

    In the heavily migrant-populated Swedish city of Malmö, the unemployment rate is double the Swedish average.

    While the conservative-populist coalition government in Austria has managed to increase deportations of criminal migrants by 36 per cent under Freedom Party (FPÖ) Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, migrant crime rates remain high.

    According to the Interior Ministry, around one in every two criminal suspects in Vienna come from migrant backgrounds.”

    • They don’t count people not looking for work.

      So after you factor out almost all tardish women, and students of any age (how many “unaccompanied minors” aged 18-40), what’s the REAL unemployment rate?

  19. Austria Withdraws Support from EU Army Project (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/02/austria-withdraws-support-eu-army-project/

    “Austria’s defence minister has said his nation will not be involved in the developing pan-European army, a pet project of leading globalists like Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, saying the continent should concentrate on cooperation, not integration.

    The comments from populist-right Freedom Party defence minister Mario Kunasek comes just weeks after French president Macron caused concerns among NATO allies by calling for a EU army to protect the continent from the United States, among other identified threats.

    Speaking with the Austria Press Agency about achievements made by Austria during its now-completed possession of the rotating EU presidency and the future of European defence, Kunasek said Austria could not be part of a single EU army with a “command, a uniform, a leadership.”

    Indeed, if the EU pushed through a single army regardless Austria would not “play” along, Kunasek saying the nation “will not be there.”

    Europe needs “security and defence policy worthy of the name. But that is not comparable to a EU army… What we do not need is a large, closed formation of an army, but more cooperation,” said Kunasek.

    Instead of integrating European armed forces into a single body, European leaders should look to cooperate more and utilise what strong defence structures already exist — such as NATO.

    The minister said: “We all say yes to good, common structures, joint missions, joint exercises, cooperation and joint financing fund, but no to an EU army, as the citizen may imagine.”

    “Many EU countries are NATO members. It would be illogical to build duplication. There will be strong cooperation with NATO in the future, but if we are serious about the EU, we need to think about common defence.”

    The creation of a pan-European army was once dismissed as a febrile nightmare of British Eurosceptics, who heralded its coming as a clear sign of European integration that was working to subordinate the nations of Europe to a single federal superstate…”

  20. Richard: Pay attention to what this man is saying, he is telliing u s the direction he and the Dems want the US to move. Also remember Trevor Loudon and his statement that if the US falls to the Marxists the entire world will fall.

    Cuomo Vows New York Will Lead Nation With Progressive Agenda
    “We will make history and New York will move forward, not by building a wall, my friends, but by building new bridges,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said

    Sounding like the presidential candidate he insists he is not, Gov. Andrew Cuomo unleashed an energetic attack against President Donald Trump’s policies Tuesday, pledging New York will lead the nation forward with the most progressive agenda in state history.

    The Democrat began 2019 and his third term with the inaugural address on Ellis Island, saying “America’s only threat is from within.”

    Cuomo said that within the first 100 days of his new term, he will propose “the most progressive agenda this state has ever seen, period.”

    “We will make history and New York will move forward, not by building a wall, my friends, but by building new bridges,” he said, apparently making a reference to the political fight over a wall on the Mexican border.

    https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Governor-Andrew-Cuomo-Inaugural-Ellis-Island-Speech-Third-Term-NY-503773581.html

  21. Brazil’s Bolsonaro assumes presidency, promises big changes

    BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil’s president Tuesday, taking the reins of Latin America’s largest and most populous nation with promises to overhaul myriad aspects of daily life and put an end to business-as-usual governing.

    For the far-right former army captain, the New Year’s Day inauguration was the culmination of a journey from a marginalized and even ridiculed congressman to a leader who many Brazilians hope can combat endemic corruption as well as violence that routinely gives the nation the dubious distinction of being world leader in total homicides.

    A fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, the 63-year-old longtime congressman rose to power on an anti-corruption and pro-gun agenda that has energized conservatives and hard-right supporters after four consecutive presidential election wins by the left-leaning Workers’ Party.

    Bolsonaro was the latest of several far-right leaders around the globe who have come to power by riding waves of anger at the establishment and promising to ditch the status quo.

    “Congratulations to President @jairbolsonaro who just made a great inauguration speech,” Trump tweeted. “The U.S.A. is with you!”

    https://www.apnews.com/8ecbfe809f0f409f98e969424f44db01

  24. Richard: Yesterday I posted some videos about how weak the Chinese Economy is, this threat to Taiwan is a sign that the CCP is getting desperate. Red China needs a massive influx of hard capital to survive, Taiwan has that capital in the form of many successful businesses. Red China is trying to scare Taiwan into giving investing enough in Red China to keep the CCP in power. What is scary is that this is happening at the time when the Dems are getting desperate and will oppose any action President Trump will take. The CCP may decide (low probability but still possible) that the Dems will keep the US military from doing anything it they invade Taiwan.

    A more confident China threatens military force in Taiwan, holds up Hong Kong as a model

    Chinese leader Xi Jinping has issued a new threat to use military force in Taiwan as Beijing intensifies efforts to achieve unification with the self-governing democratic region, holding up Hong Kong as a model for Taipei.

    In a major address on Wednesday, Mr. Xi promised economic gifts to Taiwan if it places itself under Beijing’s rule, saying “with the great motherland’s support, Taiwan compatriots’ welfare will be even better, their development space will be even greater.”

    What China calls “reunification” should happen peacefully and Beijing would protect Taiwan’s freedoms, Mr. Xi said, specifically pointing to the Hong Kong model of “one country two systems” as a Taiwanese solution.

    It was a notion that Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen immediately rejected Wednesday amid concern that Mr. Xi is directing what Lai I-chung, who chairs the International Cooperation Council of Taiwan think tank, called a “major policy change.”

    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-a-more-confident-china-threatens-military-force-in-taiwan-holds-up/?cmpid=rss

  25. AFP – Cuba celebrates 60 years of revolution

    Cuba, long a source of inspiration for leftist Latin American governments, celebrates the 60th anniversary of its revolution facing increasing isolation in a region dominated by a resurgent right.

  26. Former NY Times editor rips Trump coverage as biased

    A former executive editor of the New York Times says the paper’s news pages, the home of its straight-news coverage, have become “unmistakably anti-Trump.”

    Jill Abramson, the veteran journalist who led the newspaper from 2011 to 2014, says the Times has a financial incentive to bash the president and that the imbalance is helping to erode its credibility.

    In a soon-to-be published book, “Merchants of Truth,” that casts a skeptical eye on the news business, Abramson defends the Times in some ways but offers some harsh words for her successor, Dean Baquet. And Abramson, who was the paper’s only female executive editor until her firing, invoked Steve Bannon’s slam that in the Trump era the mainstream media have become the “opposition party.”

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-n-y-times-editor-rips-trump-coverage-as-biased

  28. Gene Balk / FYI Guy

    ‘Seattle-ization’? American cities fear what’s happened here

    How’s this for irony? While we’ve been worried about Seattle becoming the next San Francisco, it turns out other cities have been worried about becoming the next Seattle.

    That’s right. “Seattle-ization” is a thing now, at least according to a New York Times article published last week. It’s described as “a particularly dire diagnosis,” and characterized by high housing costs and tech wealth, a combination that’s thoroughly transformed the city in an alarmingly short span of time.

    Even in New York City, apparently, some folks are terrified that the planned Amazon campus there could turn the place into “Seattle on steroids,” according to Vice Magazine.

    It’s a little unsettling to find out we’ve become other cities’ worst-case scenario. But it’s also understandable, when you consider not just how expensive Seattle has become, but how quickly it happened.

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/seattle-ization-american-cities-fear-whats-happened-here/

    • Excellent videos at the website. It gives day-by-day clips starting from one year ago at St. Kilda’s beach (in Oz), then fast-forwarding to the recent past and covering the buildup to this latest New Year’s in Melbourne.

      Someone, ANYONE, please download the following vid stat! It’s that rare thing, someone willing to speak the unvarnished truth.

  34. MEMRI TV – Uyghur Scholars on Muslim Brotherhood TV: China Is Worse than America and the Jews

    • Typical tardish projection piece for an unsophisticated audience. Not like polished sisters al-Jaz, Turk-TV, Middle East Monitor, etc. (They’re the ones that are scary. Even readers at VTB have quoted their rubbish.)

      Transparent lie: quotes Prez Xi, “China will eliminate tards by such-&-such a date.”

      Prez Xi talks like a Panda. He’ll act like a Dragon, but the panda-mask is fixed in place. Tardish tribal chieftains are the ones who run their mouths

  35. MEMRI TV -Sheikh Al-Musawi, Head of Shiite Waqf in Iraq: Christians Celebrate Christmas with Depraved Acts

    Sheikh ‘Alaa Al-Musawi, who is the head of the Shiite Islamic Endowments in Iraq, said during a sermon that was uploaded to the Internet on December 25 that the non-Muslim monotheistic traditions and holidays, such as Christianity and Christmas, have been completely distorted, and that Jesus was not born on January 1 as the Christians claim.

    He also criticized Christians for participating in depraved acts such as drinking alcohol, singing, and mixing of the sexes during Christmas celebrations.

    He further criticized Muslims who have been influenced by these “shameless and corrupt” celebrations and who imitate the West by buying trees and toys.

  37. Pakistan army says it shot down India drone over Kashmir (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-army-shot-india-drone-kashmir-60120085

    “Pakistan’s military says it has shot down a second Indian spy drone in two days flying in Pakistani airspace over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

    In a statement, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor says Pakistani troops downed the drone Wednesday along the Line of Control that divides the Pakistani- and Indian-controlled portions of Kashmir.

    Authorities say Pakistani troops retrieved the wreckage of the Indian drone. Pakistan’s military also reported shooting down a drone from India on Tuesday.

    There has been no comment from India.

    Kashmir is split between Pakistan and India, both of which claim the territory in its entirety and have fought two wars over it since their independence from British rule in 1947.”

  38. Turkey detains IS suspects, including 2 wanted by France (abcnews, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-detains-suspects-including-wanted-france-60118051

    “Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have detained 12 suspected Islamic State militants, including two women who are wanted in France.

    Anadolu Agency reported on Wednesday that the suspects were detained during police raids in the northwestern province of Bursa earlier this week. The group includes French citizens of Syrian or Algerian descent who settled in Bursa after allegedly carrying out unspecified “acts” on behalf of IS in Syria, the news agency said.

    Anadolu says five of the suspects will be deported. Its report didn’t name the women sought by France.

    Turkish police detained dozens of suspected Islamic State group followers in the final days of December. IS claimed responsibility for a gunman’s Jan.1, 2017 attack at an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people, most of them foreigners.”

  39. Home Secretary Attacked by Pro-Immigration Charities After Questioning Motives of Boat Migrants (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/02/home-secretary-attacked-pro-immigration-charities-questioning-motives-boat-migrants/

    “The British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has invited the anger of pro-migration activists by suggesting boat migrants coming across the English Channel are not genuine refugees, because they are already in a safe country before coming to the UK…

    The comments triggered instant outrage from migration activists who were widely quoted in the British press attacking the home secretary trying to dissuade would-be migrants from putting their lives at risk in the English Channel, the busiest shipping lane in the world.

    The Guardian, which also slammed Javid for calling the Channel boat migrants “illegal migrants”, reported several such voices including Refugee Council boss Dr Lisa Doyle.

    The advocate said: “The 1951 refugee convention acknowledges that refugees may enter countries through irregular routes and should not be penalised for this… The outcome of an asylum application cannot be pre-judged, irrespective of how that person reached the country.

    “It’s a shame that the home secretary seems to need reminding that seeking asylum is a right and the UK has an obligation to assess claims fairly and grant protection to those who need it.”

    Labour’s Stella Creasy accused Javid of pretending to “play tough for votes”.”

  40. ANDREW SCHEER in REGINA

    “Mr. Scheer continued to sidestep and not answer the question about what his government would do if elected next October,” said Elliott in a statement issued after Scheer’s talk. “All he gave us today was a lot of smoke and mirrors.”

    All he gave us today was a lot of smoke and mirrors.
    – Jim Elliott, Council of Canadians

    Photo in link. What a strong looking leader!

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/andrew-scheer-carbon-tax-1.4962938

  41. London Man Repeatedly Stabbed in Stomach, Day After Two Fatal Stabbings (breitbart, Jan 2, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/01/02/london-man-fighting-life-being-repeatedly-stabbed-stomach/

    “A man in Blackheath has been repeatedly stabbed in the stomach after two other Londoners were stabbed to death on New Year’s Day.

    Police were called to Corelli Road in the south London borough of Greenwich at just before 6am on Wednesday morning following reports of a stabbing, reports the Evening Standard.

    The man, believed to be in his 30s, was taken to hospital and is in critical condition. Scotland Yard have said that no arrests have been made, and investigations are ongoing…”

  42. Do Democrat Voters Care That Their Policies Kill?

    U.S.A. – Here is a contradiction. Democrats say they care for the underprivileged. In reality, we see the policies adopted by the Democrat party actually hurting the underprivileged. Sometimes these Democrat policies go so far as to kill the underprivileged. As examples, shouldn’t we see Democrat voters shouting for reforms given the failure of our existing welfare programs, our marriage laws, and our system of immigration, yet these programs are championed by Democrat politicians. Do Democrat voters really care?

    We want people who are injured or ill to have enough to eat. We want them to have a place to live. We inadvertently created a welfare system where some people choose not to work. Being compassionate, we increased our taxes to pay for them. Between the incentives not to work and the higher taxes to pay for welfare, we ended up with more poor people, not fewer as we intended. How can we say that welfare works when it gives us more poor unemployed people rather than fewer?

    Democrats say we simply need even more money for welfare payments. Do Democrat voters care about the poor, or do Democrats care about feeling like they care?

    We don’t want a widow or an abandoned mom to live on the street. We want her to have the means to take care of her children. It felt compassionate when we enacted government programs that gave money to single women if they got pregnant. We even gave them more money for each child they had. Did that save the family?
    Source: Ammoland

    https://gundynamics.com/articles/do-democrat-voters-care-that-their-policies-kill

  44. California’s Gov. Brown Slams Rural Voters for Not Wanting Higher Taxes

    “You won your gas tax fight,” noted host Chuck Todd, “but rural Californians didn’t like it.”

    And well they shouldn’t have, since the new gas tax is especially hard on those who don’t have ready access to public transit. It’s no big deal to hike gas prices for residents who live in major metropolitan areas; they can take the bus or the trolley if they don’t want to fill up their cars. But for rural Californians who have no choice but to drive their own vehicles – Californians who are often working on a much tighter budget to begin with – it’s a punishing form of liberalism.

    But Brown didn’t care about any of that. He simply dismissed rural voters as being out-of-touch simpletons who would need to eventually get with the program.

    “No, they don’t,” Brown agreed. “They don’t like a lot of things. They voted against housing bonds, they voted for the Republican Cox who didn’t even make 40 percent. There is the same divide in California as in America. The red is different than the blue, and it is associated definitely with rural areas.”

    http://www.conservativefreepress.com/politics/californias-gov-brown-slams-rural-voters-for-not-wanting-higher-taxes/

  46. The 5 greatest threats to national security in 2019

    We are growing more prosperous, and new technologies, medicines, and ideas are making our lives better. Still, the world remains dangerous. Here are five top threats to America in 2019.

    1) A conflict with China over the South China Sea
    Although President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China have a good personal relationship, tensions between our two nations are significant and growing. Aside from any economic developments, there is real potential for a military conflict between the U.S. and China in 2019. If conflict breaks out, it will almost certainly focus on the South China Sea. Determined to construct an imperial empire based on control of sea lanes and to attain a veto over the political choices of his neighbors, Xi is exerting an aggressive military posture. While the U.S. is challenging these efforts with increasing naval and air patrols through the contested areas, a miscalculation or Chinese escalation could lead to a broader conflict. It is crucial to note here that Xi is determined to see China lead a new post-American international order. He will not back down easily, nor shy from risks.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/the-5-greatest-threats-to-national-security-in-2019

  47. Tuberculosis, flu, infections rampant as the number of sick migrants surge at border

    Border authorities are referring 50 people a day for urgent medical care, including tuberculosis, flu and even pregnant women about to give birth, a top official said Monday, saying it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen before.

    Most of those in need of care are children, and a staggering 28 percent are under age 5, having been dragged along for the trip by parents who in many cases are hoping to use the children as a shield against speedy deportation from the U.S.

    The numbers were released after a full review was done of all children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection in the wake of two illegal-immigrant children who died in U.S. hospitals in December.

    CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said most of those needing help were ill when they arrived at the border, and some appear to have made the initial decision to leave even while ailing.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/31/number-sick-kids-soars-border/

  48. Next Caravan Rising
    Organizing in Honduras – while Congress sleeps.
    January 2, 2019
    Matthew Vadum

    Another large caravan of would-be illegal aliens is forming down in Central America with the intention of moving north to demand jobs and government benefits, according to media reports.

    The formation of this new army of migrants drives home the point that a border wall at the lengthy, porous U.S.-Mexico boundary is urgently needed. The failure to move forward with wall construction sends a message to the world that America is a weak country that lacks the moral fiber and political will to defend its national sovereignty. Not building the wall also provides would-be border jumpers extra incentives to enter the United States unlawfully.

    The new caravan is estimated at 15,000 people and is reportedly planning to leave Honduras on Jan. 15.

    “They say they are even bigger and stronger than the last caravan,” Irma Garrido, a member of Reactiva Tijuana Foundation has been quoted saying.

    Thousands of Central American migrants from previous cara

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272419/next-caravan-rising-matthew-vadum

  49. Dem Gov Who Helped Union Steal Money from Family Members of the Elderly and Disabled to Run in 2020
    January 2, 2019
    Daniel Greenfield

    If there’s a Democrat anywhere in America, elected or unelected, who hasn’t announced that he’s running for the White House in 2020, he or she has proven impossible to find. Every single Democrat official is running. Even though there’s no point and no hope. But there’s ego.

    There are too many people announcing bids for the White House. Here’s another one of them.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/272433/dem-gov-who-helped-union-steal-money-family-daniel-greenfield

  50. Yes, Elizabeth Warren is Hillary Clinton
    January 2, 2019
    Daniel Greenfield

    Edward-Isaac Dovere is the hack that certain Dem pols and their people go to for sympathetic coverage and puff pieces. So he was bound to do one on Elizabeth Warren. The Atlantic piece is a Edward-Isaac Dovere classic full of soft toned hushed empathy and talking points framed as analysis. And, as usual, the headline tells you exactly why this piece exists and which talking points it’s meant to seed.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/272427/yes-elizabeth-warren-hillary-clinton-daniel-greenfield