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.
Elder of Ziyon picked up this tidbit from Middle East Monitor:
A court in Tripoli on Wednesday sentenced four Palestinians to prison terms ranging from 17 to 22 years over their alleged links to Hamas.
The four defendants were accused of “setting up a secret foreign organisation on Libyan territory, arms possession and conspiring against state security.”
The Palestinians were arrested on 6 October 2016 from their homes in the capital, Tripoli, and were taken to an unknown destination.
The four Palestinians used to work for a technology company in the capital, Tripoli.
The detainees’ families expressed their “fear that they would be handed over to Israel via a third party” appealing to all concerned bodies to help release them.
Western far-leftists are more supportive of Hamas than Libya!
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2019/02/libya-jails-palestinians-suspected-of.html
Marco Rubio’s twitter on Venezuela is worthy.
https://twitter.com/marcorubio
@marcorubio
12h12 hours ago
Trolling Maduro with rogues’ gallery, before-&-after: Noriega, Gaddafi.
Very well-respected Swedish-Israeli journalist attacked by pro-Maduro guerrillas:
“Annika Rothstein says she hopes her recounting of the violence against her ‘can help the world see what Venezuela is suffering under’”
JTA — Jewish political writer and journalist Annika H. Rothstein was one of several journalists to be attacked and robbed on Venezuela’s border with Columbia.
Rothstein, a native of Sweden, was detained by paramilitary guerrillas sympathetic to embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-journalist-attacked-by-pro-maduro-guerrillas-near-venezuelan-border/
Seth Frantzman discusses Middle East After ISIS
Latest: Russia’s Lavrov hints that Russian military police could be deployed to “safe zone” on border, which in theory could be amenable to Turkey, the Syrian regime and maybe the SDF also; but surely this is *not* the outcome the US and other allies (many NATO) have in mind
So here you have an example of Russia putting forward an idea that likely can’t work, primarily filling the vacuum that the US has threatened to leave behind in easter Syria. In the end Russia, Turkey and Iran are seeking to fill it. The USS strategy is still lacking clarity.
https://twitter.com/sfrantzman/status/1099617478198681600
Latest Russian statement on Syria indicates Russia is growing closer to Ankara; says that Russia may determine some Kurdish groups are “extremist” in Syria, and accuses Kurds of being encouraged by US to “move to areas populated by Arabs”; no mention of Afrin of course.
The language here is important. Russia never says that “ARAB” groups are “extremist”, it is careful not to use sectarian/ethnic language, in this accusation singling out “Kurds” there is a new Moscow line. For instance Moscow has never used similar terminology regarding Afrin etc
https://twitter.com/sfrantzman/status/1099650307162886146
………
Putin is going to screw the Kurds.
Says US encouraging “move to areas populated by Arabs”?! This is where Kurds have lived for over millennia!
Important piece:
THE FAILURES OF THE WAR ON ISIS – ANALYSIS
A final battle against ISIS illuminates the failures of the war to destroy it.
https://www.jpost.com//Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/Analysis-Everything-that-went-wrong-with-the-war-on-ISIS-581654
Madge, my manicurist, told me that even the most stubborn ISIS infestations can be cured by just a few daily applications of Arc Light carpet bombing.
(T = 00:04:38)
That is one way to plow the fields, and to turn towns into open fields.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272923/bad-ideas-make-bad-progressive-policies-bruce-thornton
Bad Ideas Make for Bad Progressive Policies Why redistributionist ideas relentlessly build disaster. NB Complete copy as it was impossible to précis.
Behind the stark melodrama of our political conflicts lies the progressive consensus: The collective use of power to pursue various policy aims depends on technical knowledge and science. But this view itself depends on certain contestable modern ideas about human nature and behavior that are matters not of science, but of ideas found in philosophical speculation. Policy–the aims collectively we should pursue and how–reflects ideas, not technical knowledge. And all ideas, good or bad, assume some vision of what humans are and what they should do as members of a political community.
The philosophical roots of different policies, then, account for their conflicts with other policies, which cannot be adjudicated by science. Yet for over a century, progressives have fancied themselves the heirs of scientific advances that have rendered the wisdom of tradition and faith obsolete. Democrats believe they are the “brights,” the sophisticated thinkers free of irrational beliefs and the subjection to outmoded traditions that characterize conservatives.
Barack Obama, for example, entered office vowing to “restore science to its rightful place,” implying that his predecessor just “made stuff up,” a phrase he used recently in South Africa in a subtle dig at Donald Trump. Our partisan disputes over policy reflect this unearned assumption of certainty on the part of the left, and explains their passionate hatred of those who oppose them. To progressives, such people are irredeemable flat-earthers resisting the progress of knowledge in order to serve evil ends like defending their racist and sexist “privilege.”
Yet on the level of ideas that reflect notions of human nature, the self-styled “brights” on the left are often the slaves of some defunct intellectual or outdated received wisdom, not the sober, rational followers of scientific facts. And those bad ideas lead to bad policies
Take the perennial progressive “crisis” of income inequality. Much of what progressives mean by “social justice” comprises eliminating gaps between wealthier Americans and everybody else. Any disparities represent the injustices of capitalism and the tax system designed to benefit the rich. Statistics are marshalled that prove this disparity and give this ideological trope a veneer of science. For example, today the richest 0.1% owns 19% of the nation’s wealth, three times as much as in the 1970s. To correct this “injustice,” the Democrats’ “Green New Deal” proposes a 70% tax rate on income over $10 million. Other proposals include Bernie Sanders’ to reduce the personal estate-tax exemption from $11.4 million to $3.5, along with other changes such as taxing capital gains as ordinary income. Elizabeth Warren has called for a “wealth tax,” 2% on those with a net worth over $50 million, and 3% on assets over $1 billion.
These tax-policy proposals are just the latest examples of the usual Democrat mantra of “making the rich pay their fair share.” Critics have copious evidence from past history that these schemes will not achieve their aim of equalizing incomes. Since Warren G. Harding, reducing the marginal tax rate on income produces more revenue, while increasing it reduces revenue and harms economic growth. America’s tax system, moreover, is already one of the most progressive of the advanced economies. As the Wall Street Journal writes, “In 2018, the top 0.1% of earners got 7.7% of all pretax income, but they paid 13.3% of all income taxes, according to the Tax Policy Center. The bottom 60% of households got 26.7% of pretax income and paid 14% of taxes.” And as European economies demonstrate, if you want more revenue, you have to tax the middle class, where the bulk of the money is. This means regressive taxes like the Value Added Tax that hits the poor and working class.
But for progressives this policy of soaking the rich is not one born of empirical evidence or even mathematics. Indeed, the facts undermine these policy prescriptions. For one thing, the rich simply don’t have enough money to pay for all the left’s utopian aims. Even if the government confiscated the $2.4 trillion of America’s 540 billionaires, the amount would cover a bit less than half of this year’s $4.4 trillion budget. Confiscating the total worth of the Fortune 500 companies, $22 trillion, would barely cover the $22 trillion (and still climbing by the minute) of U.S. debt. The data used for decrying income inequality are also misleading: they leave out the value of government transfers to individuals, for example, and look at a single year rather than tracking incomes over time, which would show people moving in and out of the upper quintiles of wealth; from 1982 to 2012, 90% of the Americans on the Forbes 400 wealthiest list had fallen off.
This failure to recognize capitalism’s dynamism and its power to create more wealth is a constant mistake made by its critics. It is astonishing to hear Eileen Appelbaum of the Center for Economic and Policy Research say, “It’s just become so obvious and clear that if the wealthy can suck so much out of the economy, there’s just not so much left for everybody else.” This reflects a medieval view of wealth as fixed, like land and precious metals, rather than recognizing capitalism’s ability to create new wealth and distribute it more widely. That’s why between 1990 and 2017, global GDP rose from $23.4 trillion to $80.1 trillion, and a billion people escaped poverty. It’s also why Americans who aren’t rich and are the presumed victims of income inequality live a material existence superior to that of the King of Spain in the 16th century. .
Despite all their technocratic pretensions, the progressives’ policy proposals are not about empirical evidence and mathematics. Fixing “income inequality” is about an idea, one as ancient as Athenian democracy, and still at the heart of every collectivist political philosophy: radical egalitarianism. This is the notion, as Aristotle defined it, that “those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal.”
Disparities in wealth, visible to all, are thus particularly insulting to free democratic citizens. Indeed, in his discussion of factions and their dangers, James Madison identified “the various and unequal distribution of property” as the “most common and durable source of factions,” and “those who hold, and those who are without property, have ever formed distinct interests in society.” The radical solution to this conflict, as we see clearly in the Green New Deal, is the greater confiscation of wealth through punitive tax rates, and the wider distribution of revenue to those with less––a policy that has been tried and failed numerous times.
Dig even deeper, and we find questionable beliefs about human nature as the foundation of these bad ideas. The central doctrine of the left is determinism: humans are what they are because of biological, social, or economic determinism, material forces that distort their otherwise benign nature. Dysfunctional behaviors once believed to result from bad character, a lack of virtue, and destructive choices now find their causes in the environment. If some people have less than others, it’s because of unjust social and economic institutions. Remove such impediments, and the bulk of people would end up roughly equal.
This idea doesn’t come from empirical observation of humans over time. What experience shows is that industry, virtue, talent, character, and sheer luck are not equally distributed. Moreover, determinism ignores the reality of free will, the unpredictable, often mysterious power of humans to choose their actions, including ones destructive to themselves and others. Ignoring all these permanent characteristics of human nature leaves only a crude quantitative equality that as Plato explained is unjust because it ignores qualitative differences. Justice means matching rewards to virtues and character, and giving less to those lacking them. This is certainly the standard that our radical egalitarians acknowledge when it comes to professional sports or entertainment, or to advancement in their own careers.
Finally, 2500 years of observation of human behavior provides ample empirical evidence that given a flawed, free human nature, radical egalitarianism is doomed to fail. That’s why all attempts to institute egalitarianism in a culture end up requiring brutal violence to even out the disparities of talents and abilities in order to create the equality of misery, as we see in the horrors of Russia’s Bolsheviks, China’s Cultural Revolution or Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge atrocities.
Modern conservatism in the postwar period has tried to return political debate to these foundational principles and ideas, but increasingly has been handicapped by the progressives’ success in instituting big government redistributive programs justified in part by notions of egalitarianism, economic determinism, and class resentment. Conservatives have had to accept the permanence of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ’s Great Society programs, often themselves expanding programs and benefits. This accommodation to progressivism explains its continuing power and resilience. It exploits the universal human desire to get something for nothing and avoid accountability for freely chosen actions and behaviors. And it promises to do away with the iron law of humanity’s tragic existence, the reality that failure and suffering are non-negotiable constituents of who we are.
And that’s why politicians usually pay a political price for bringing up voter responsibility for many of our problems. Remember how Mitt Romney was savaged for his comment in 2012, made privately but leaked to the media, about the 47% of “takers” who comprise a natural constituency for redistributionist Democrats? This statement of obvious fact merely reinforced the Democrats’ caricature of him as a heartless capitalist indifferent to the sufferings caused by an unjust economic system. Such distortions are clichés that turn up in every election, unleashed against even those Republicans, like George W. Bush, whose “compassionate conservatism” accepted many of the premises of progressive ideology.
For all our rote calls for sober and judicious discussion of the issues, and for basing our political decisions on rational analyses, this state of affairs will continue. The ideas that lie behind policy are passionately held, akin to religious beliefs in this increasingly secularized world. And people always will look out for their own interests. The Founders understood these realities of human nature, and so crafted a government that balanced them one against the other, rather than trying to make something straight from the crooked timber of humanity.
Their political order has held for over two hundred years. But as economist Herb Stein said, if something can’t go on forever, it won’t. Our debt, deficit, and unfunded entitlement crises––created by progressive redistributionist ideas accepted by both parties–– are relentlessly building to disaster. When that dam breaks, the Founders’ brilliant architecture, one that civil war, world wars, and depression could not ruin, will face its most dangerous test
Outrage as Muslim Woman in Veil Seen on Swedish Town’s Welcome Ad (PHOTO, VIDEO) (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/viral/201902251072708314-sweden-hijab-welcome-ad/
“Gävle municipality has explained a veiled woman on its welcome sign as a token of the town’s “great diversity”. A subsequent journalistic investigation however, revealed her ties to a local mosque, whose leader reportedly glorified Daesh* and even tried to raise funds for the terrorists.
The Swedish town of Gävle has placed a Muslim woman in a veil on its digital advertising billboard in order to welcome visitors, the Swedish news outlet Nyheter Idag reported. The billboard is located at the northern entrance to Gävle.
Johan Adolfsson, communications manager in Gävle municipality explained that the woman on the sign is “one of Gävle’s many Muslim women”, stressing that her appearance on the welcome sign emphasised the town’s “great diversity”. According to Adolfsson, 120 languages are currently spoken in Gävle.
However, this diversity push has caused a backlash from politicians and ordinary Swedes alike, including people of immigrant decent, whom the veil was meant to represent.
At the beginning, some Swedish web users couldn’t even believe their eyes and claimed that the hijabi welcome sign was photoshopped in order to create a stir. However, a video uploaded by a local man showed that it is indeed real.
Sweden Democrat MP Roger Hedlund, who is part of Gävle City Council, is highly critical of the ad for what it represents. He argued that a garment that for many women implies oppression and a lack of freedom shouldn’t be legitimized in any way.
“One should think what this is signalling. Some indeed use this garment, the hijab, voluntarily. But not everyone. This a garment that for millions of women around the world represents a lack of freedom”, Hedlund said, as quoted by Nyheter Idag.
His fellow Sweden Democrat Ghazal Saberian was also inflamed by the welcome sign she interpreted as a sign of obsession with political Islam.
“Has it ever occurred to you that at this very moment there are women imprisoned in Iran and whipped for simply taking off the veil? Have you ever thought that women are stoned to death in Saudi Arabia for taking off the veil?” Saberian wrote on Facebook, wondering why the authorities and the media keep bombarding the public with images and messages of oppression of women.
Christian Democrat Soheila Fors shared a message from a local non-hijab wearing Muslim woman.
“A Gävle woman wrote to me. ‘I am a Muslim but go without a veil. My sister in Iran is in jail for taking her veil off. Here, the municipality advertises with a hijabi. Why not use us regulars? Don’t they understand that the poster recognises and accepts the hatred and persecution against us? Sincerely, Zohre'” Fors wrote on Facebook.
Adolfsson retorted that the woman chose to wear the hijab herself in accordance with her wishes and as part of her self-identification. He also stressed that she was chosen as an “ambassador of Gävle”.
The news outlet Samhällsnytt reported that Gävle’s “new poster girl”, 32-year-old Suzan Hindi, had connections with the Gävle mosque (also known as al-Rashideen mosque) that was previously reported to be a stronghold of radical Islam. According to Samhällsnytt, Suzan’s spiritial leader imam Abu Raad reportedly praised Daesh and even tried to raise money for the terrorists.
Following the revelation, many Swedes took to social media to vent their indignation, demanding the municipality backtrack and apologise.
“I shudder when I see women with the Islam uniform. Sad that Sweden has become an Islamic country and that Norway is on its way to achieving the same goal”, a Norwegian user wrote.
Another user urged Sweden’s neighbours Norway and Finland to build a wall, calling it an “investment with fantastic results”.
“Isn’t it strange that it seems impossible to find a Muslim who is not an extremist?” yet another user tweeted.
“Time and again we see how the veil on children is getting normalised”, another user wrote, citing a summer job ad with a girl in a hijab.
?Gävle is the largest town in Gävleborg County north of Stockholm and has around 75,000 inhabitants.
Sweden currently has no comprehensive ban on Islamic garments, such as the hijab, the burqa or the niqab. However, individual employers may prohibit employees from wearing religious, philosophical, and political symbols during working hours. By contrast, police and firefighters are allowed to wear the hijab.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS/Islamic State) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries”
“The Swedish town of Gävle has placed a Muslim woman in a veil on its digital advertising billboard in order to welcome visitors, the Swedish news outlet Nyheter Idag reported.”
Oh no, not again! My evil fraternal twin sister, wicked, bad, naughty Elsa! She has been lighting up our town’s electronic billboard, which, I just remembered, is veil-shaped. It’s not the first time we’ve had this problem.
[facepalms while stirring meatballs]
Oh, wicked, bad, naughty, evil Elsa! Oh, she is a naughty person, and she must pay the penalty — and here at Slott Mjältbrand på Gävle, we have but one punishment for lighting up the veil-shaped billboard. You must tie her down on a bed and spank her!
Yes, a spanking! A spanking!
Rice U. researchers unveil Internet of Things security feature
Rice University integrated circuit (IC) designers are at Silicon Valley’s premier chip-design conference to unveil technology that is 10 times more reliable than current methods of producing unclonable digital fingerprints for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
NR: Please read very carefully between the lines. The real meaning of that previous statement is: Whatever current IoT security protocol being used is TEN TIMES LESS robust than this latest cyber-veeblefetzer.
Rice’s Kaiyuan Yang and Dai Li will present their physically unclonable function (PUF) technology today at the 2019 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), a prestigious scientific conference known informally as the “Chip Olympics.” PUF uses a microchip’s physical imperfections to produce unique security keys that can be used to authenticate devices linked to the Internet of Things.
NR: This sounds a lot like some sort of solid state steganography* based upon the device’s electro-structural contours. A possible example of this comes from manufacturing bulk semiconductor memory devices.
* For an intriguing primer on steganography, please refer to the book, Pattern Recognition, by groundbreaking inventor of Cyberpunk lit, Sci-Fi author, William Gibson. Personally, it’s difficult to recall ever having read anything from his pen that’s been less than eminently satisfying.
Even in relatively high yield wafer batches, out of every million bits on a finished ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) storage device there will be several dozen or hundred defective individual cells (a failure rate of <0.001%). These dropouts are anticipated by designers and entire spare rows or columns of matrix border the active area.
Using simple fuse-link technology, overvoltages are applied to, first electrically open-circuit (i.e., disconnect) defective sections, then link up to extra data blocks that are artificially given that same memory map address. In a multi-gigabyte flash drive, the head count of these defects might approach one million in total.
(See: https://media.kingston.com/pdfs/MKF_283.1_Flash_Memory_Guide_US.pdf)
Creating a unique digital fingerprint for each device could involve something so simple as using a numerical map of all the defect sites as some sort of prime factorization encryption key. Only in the case of a hard defect (e.g., a scratch or particle on the lithographic photomask) would specific batches all share a common fault. Even then, no to two devices from within that same lot would have identical ancillary in situ failures. Pop quiz tomorrow.
Considering that some experts expect Earth to pass the threshold of 1 trillion internet-connected sensors within five years, there is growing pressure to improve the security of IoT devices.
Just for grins, let’s generously round up (i.e., almost double) Earth’s population to a whopping ten billion people. That “1 trillion internet-connected sensors” still works out to a conservative average of some ONE HUNDRED TRANSDUCERS PER LIVING PERSON.
Unlike country folk, urban dwellers with be immersed in a much denser sensing environment that includes everything from ordinary inductive loops for traffic control to ultrasonic intruder motion detectors. None of which accounts for all the extra layers of LAN, WAN, WiFi or mobile device I/O that would push per capita device counts in First World cities towards THOUSANDS OF SENSORS FOR EACH PERSON.
Answering machines, baby monitors, pagers, home surveillance systems, iWatches, Fitbits, smart doorbells, electronic pet fences all trace the evolution of now-ubiquitous sensing technology. Almost any imaginable electrically powered device can be evolved (or surreptitiously converted) into an IoT node.
Connect this entire shooting match to a massively integrated broadband I/O Expert System, then plug it into a nationwide DNA database inside DoJ archives, and watch personal privacy vanish faster than Michael Jackson’s original skin color.
Is Milo making a comeback?
A Message From Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Most excellent find, JB! Thank you, sir. May I have another, sir?
Milo commits an unforgivable—as in: Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200. And go straight to hell kind of unforgivable—comedic gaff at time point – 00:01:40 when he busts out laughing at his own (admittedly brilliant) “surname” joke.
However, all is forgiven because it may well prove that Yianoppoulis has missed his supreme calling as a humorist. Being a gay man, he very definitely has the most to lose and, reciprocally, the most comedy gold to mine out of this evilly glinting Islamic Mother Lode.
Clearly, Milo has taken whatever ridicule that was directed at him early in life and, lemons into lemonade-style, learned to fashion from it some wickedly ridiculous barbs. His role as flamboyant picador in this modern Counterjihad picaresque is a respectable model for the entire LGBTQXYZ Pronoun-Sensitive Cult of Victimhood™.
Ironically (as ho-hum usual), it’s an example that most of them would gladly follow … but only right after going all Jonestown.
Tommy Robinson’s BBC Panodrama Documentary
“Each day… on the issues that concern this site. …Islam… various forms of leftism… communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism… snuffing out… classical liberalism… since the time of Socrates.”
Rationalism:
“a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.”
“Religion” = Induced fear from the Far Far Left (Example: National Socialism, Islam. Controlled by Muhammadism. Temple Fortresses everywhere. Run by invert-alpha males. Left-brains infantiled, right-brains malformed).
“Emotional Response” = Induced fear from the Far Left. (Example: Socialism. Controlled by Communism. Surveillance cameras everywhere run by invert-alpha females. Left-brains malformed, right brains infantiled).
Muslims beat their own children for submission to the vengeful Allahbaba.
Socialists isolate their own children for capitulation to the watching and pouncing Mamababa.
The Establishment. How they got there a the bridges they burn behind them.
Talk to a muslim about Music
No joy to found in this schtick
Attached – the Socialist Addict
Explaining their Purpose Of Dick.
The Left Brain: a means to be sick
Stupid Females soiled for a quick.
The Right Brain: romances the wick
Mistress-Identity along with the fix.
Possessed: that is Black-Magic
God-Nature their Imprinting-Stick
Boasts Tautological Slick
Claiming each Purpose for Dick.
Infants nursed on a surfeit
Of Teachers starving their Pick
A Slave-Name comes out of the Closet
With Pronouns to Legally Stick.
What if I said
When you’re dead
Far beyond what Left-Brains hear.
And told instead of
Heaven’s Dread;
You would believe in Fear.
Or if I spoke
Honey and Yolk
The rich must pay for gear.
The world is broke
Unless you soak:
“Survive the next five years”
These tricks they play
Hate Hearsay
Our Freedoms disappear.
Offended Day
Month Replay
Our Children’s minds decay.
Our children’s minds revere.
Allahbaba = KEEPER!
[grumble, grumble, why din’t I think of that, grumble, grumble]
Venezuelan Forces Use Live Bullets on Protesters and Burn Two Aid Trucks
Isn’t this pretty well covered by the term, “Negative Optics”?
As long as he has Iran, Russia and China backing him he doesn’t care about optics, he cares about staying in power so he can 1) loot his country of more money and 2) creating all sorts of trouble in the Americas.
This is how you troll a TERRORIST
What passes as academia nowadays:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/02/the-university-of-michigans-juan-cole-and-the-anonymous-troll-the-troll-responds
I wont post excerpts as you really must read the whole post to see the lunacy of the “academic” left in action. I wonder how mathematics will cope when they try to leftify it? 1+1 1 when using white numerals? The mind boggles. It isn’t just the lack of logic and scholarship involved thanks to leftist brainwashing but the faecal quality of the humans given such positions mostly because of their politics or race or whatever trendy leftist identity then in vogue as opposed to actual intellect and academic quality. These fellows will throw you out of lectures and even try to have you banned from courses if you dare debate them in public within a lecture containing absolute garbage and woe betide you if you give a correct reply but one which does not fit into his/her view.(once lost 20% instantly because of this despite numerous citations backing it up and the swine would not remark while the dean refused to become involved)
“I wonder how mathematics will cope when they try to leftify it?”
This happened ages ago. Ever with the hors d’oeuvres, fresh from their smouldering barricades, French revolutionaries sought to implement metric time with a correspondingly practical metric calendar.
Then, with France’s bâton passed their way, the 1897 Indiana House of Representatives attempted to enact House Bill #246. It allowed for several values of pi ranging from a “close-enough-for-government-work” approximation of 3.2 to a cardinal 4 (as a sop to anal retentives).
Far more fearful than legislative meddling is when the scientists themselves collude in this Hellacious Exponentially Laughable Leftification (HELL). Just recently, it was only rigorous peer review that managed to flag a pre-publication paper claiming to prove that 2 + 2 = 5 (but only for extremely large values of two).
The post omitted one line totally as the “less than” and “greater than” symbols did not sit thus totally destroying the point which was that black numerals gave greater than 2 and white figures less than 2 in agreement with the current attitude towards whites
‘Biblical’ locust plague set to hit Egypt
EGYPT is set to be hit by a plague of “biblical” locusts, it has been warned.
A locust outbreak of so-called “biblical proportions” is spreading through Africa, from Sudan and Eritrea, along both sides of the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has warned.
And the huge swarms have generated comparisons to one of the 10 plagues of Egypt.
The biblical phenomenon, described in the Book of Exodus, said God delivered the plagues upon Egypt after the pharaoh refused Moses’ demand to set free enslaved Israelites.
Keith Cressman, the UN’s locust expert, warned: “The next three months will be critical to bring the locust situation under control before the summer breeding starts.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/761648/locusts-Egypt-biblical-UN
China says hopes world provides ‘constructive’ help to Venezuela
BEIJING (Reuters) – China hopes that the international community can provide “constructive” help to Venezuela based on respect for the country’s sovereignty, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after Venezuelan troops repelled foreign aid convoys.
Violent clashes between security forces and a U.S.-backed opposition attempt on Saturday to bring aid into the economically devastated country left almost 300 wounded and at least three protesters dead near the Brazilian border.
The United States has threatened new sanctions and Brazil has urged allies to join a “liberation effort
https://www.oann.com/china-says-hopes-world-provides-constructive-help-to-venezuela/
MEMRI – Wife of ISIS Fighter: Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi Ordered Women to Leave So the Men Could Focus on Jihad
A reporter from Alan TV (UAE) interviewed a woman leaving ISIS-controlled Al-Baghuz, Syria.
The woman, who was wearing a full veil, said that she is the wife of an ISIS fighter who is sometimes an “infiltrating commando” and sometimes a “regular fighter,” and who sometimes “bombs the enemies of Allah.”
The woman explained that ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has ordered all the women to leave Al-Baghuz so that the men could focus on Jihad and instate shari’a law.
She also said that nobody knows exactly where Al-Baghdadi is currently located.
The interview aired on February 24, 2019.
BELGIUM – Order of Physicians: “Don’t issue virginity certificates”
The Belgian doctors’ organisation Order of Physicians has asked Belgian doctors no longer to issue virginity certificates. In such certificates doctors confirm that a woman is still a virgin and hasn’t yet had sex. Demand for such certificates is high in Brussels and Antwerp.
he Order no longer wants doctors to perform virginity tests and issue certificates. The Order’s spokesman Prof Michel Deneyer: “A clinical examination cannot show with certainty whether somebody is a virgin or not. Such certificates also throw up ethical and deontological issues. It’s an infringement of a woman’s intimacy. It also infringes the principle of equality because nobody can show whether a man is a virgin.”
Gynaecologist Katrien De Maeyer of Sint-Monica Hospital in Deurne near Antwerp: “I’m asked up to ten times a year to issue such a certificate. I tell my patients I’m against such certificates. It’s only seldom I issue one. I provide a certificate to show that they went for a check-up. That’s often sufficient!”
The Order of Physicians is following WHO practice. The WHO has called for action to stop virginity certificates.
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/02/25/order-of-physicians-don-t-issue-virginity-certificates/
========================================================
[…]Dans cette déclaration, l’OMS souligne que la pratique “a été documentée” en Afghanistan, au Brésil, en Egypte, en Inde, en Indonésie, en Iran, en Irak, en Jamaïque, en Jordanie, en Libye, au Malawi, au Maroc, en Palestine, en Afrique du Sud, au Sri Lanka, au Swaziland, en Turquie, au Royaume-Uni et au Zimbabwe.
Des demandes de tests ont également eu lieu en Belgique, au Canada, aux Pays-Bas, en Espagne et en Suède.[…]
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/violences-faites-aux-femmes/belgique-les-medecins-ne-delivreront-plus-de-tests-de-virginite_3206723.html
EU, Arab League to Scale Up Efforts on Border Protection – Tusk (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/world/201902251072725399-eu-arab-league-border/
“The European Union and the League of Arab States (LAS) have agreed to boost joint work on border control, put an end to smuggling and human trafficking, President of the European Council Donald Tusk has stated.
“Leaders also agreed to cooperate and coordinate on a number of security and border control issues… On border control and fight against irregular migration, we will scale up our joint efforts to prevent people smuggling, eradicate trafficking in human beings and combat those who exploit vulnerable people”, Tusk said at a press conference.
Tusk added that the European Union and the Arab League would work together to tackle causes of extremism and would increase the effort to “combat the movement of foreign terrorist fighters” across borders. The European Council’s president stressed that all support to violent extremists should be cut off…”
Terrorists Shell City in Hama Killing 1 Civilian, Injuring 5 Others – Reports (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201902251072725461-hama-syria-terrorists-shelling-civilian-casualties/
Turkish Prosecution Orders Arrest of 100 Military Members Over Gulen Ties (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019?
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201902251072724073-turkey-arests-gulen-ties/
“The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office said Monday it had ordered the arrest of a hundred military personnel over suspected links to a cleric blamed for the 2016 failed coup.
Prosecutors issued a written statement saying there were 67 active duty military members ranking up to a major among the suspects, including three captains and 43 lieutenants, as well as an Imam.
Turkish authorities have been investigating a secret network loyal to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who, in turn, denies any role in the attempt to depose President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
More than 50,000 people have been arrested since the crackdown began in summer 2016 and over 160,000 have been laid off on accusations of being involved in the alleged Gulenist conspiracy.”
Yemeni Prime Minister Blames Houthis for Attacks in Violation of Peace Treaty (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201902251072719599-yemen-houthis-attack-violation/
“Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalek Saeed has accused the country’s rebel Houthi movement of violating the peace treaty by carrying out heavy weapon attacks in regions located far from the front line.
“The Yemeni government regards any talks as a true basis for securing peace… While the political process has been resumed, and the peace treaty has been signed… Houthi rebels carry out violent attacks, involving heavy weapons and tanks, in the Hajjah region, located far from the front line”, Saeed said at the 40th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
He slammed Houthis for maintaining a siege of the region and preventing locals from receiving food and medication.
“The global community and certain human rights organisations remain silent about Houthis’ attacks on peaceful regions located far from the front line, which is not a proper message for Yemeni residents. This is not an optimal way to inspire armed groups to seek peace”, Saeed added…”
CANADA -ALBERTA – MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY – New ablution stations open to Muslim students and employees
Two new ablution stations to enable Muslims to perform the required cleansing ritual before prayer were celebrated at an event in the Office of Campus Equity and Meaningful Inclusion (CEMI) Wednesday. Muslims are required to wash their hands, face and feet ? a practice called ‘wudu’ in Arabic ? for daily prayers.
Khaula Bhutta, human rights advisor with CEMI, said before the ablution stations opened late last fall people had to use the sinks in public washrooms, which was awkward and uncomfortable. It was also difficult not to get water on the floor when they tried to wash thoroughly, which made it a safety hazard.
“This is about inclusion. This is an opportunity to showcase to the community, to different groups, that we are trying our best to create spaces where people feel safe, respected and where barriers are removed. We have a duty to provide these facilities under Alberta’s Human Rights Act.”
“It shows support for our prayers, for that ritual,” explained Assad Chaudhary, a second-year business student and president of the Muslim Students’ Affiliation. “It’s a huge milestone and step forward on campus in supporting and accepting the identity of students.”
Chaudhary says it is a relief to students to no longer have to explain the cleansing ritual in public bathrooms and to be able to prepare for prayer in a solemn, thoughtful way. “Some students may not feel comfortable enough to explain their faith to others. This respects their privacy and their own thoughts during wudu, which is also a form of prayer.”
Interfaith coordinator Greg Veltman estimated there are 300 to 400 Muslim students at MRU, and about 100 students regularly use the stations, which are also open to Muslim employees.
The stations are located close to the University’s Meditation Room (W201). “It was really important to be practical,” Bhutta explained. “Most of the time when students take time out to pray they only have a few minutes between classes. They’ve got very busy schedules, and a lot of them are also working. The stations had to be easy to find and near the meditation space.”
At the opening celebration, Mount Royal president David Docherty spoke of the need the stations fill. “I am so pleased we have these spaces for students, employees and visitors,” he said. “They are more than physical spaces. They speak to what is important — what we value here in the Mount Royal community. With these spaces, we are saying — loud and clear — you belong here.”
Bhutta said the project required a lot of consultation within the University and beyond to take into account the needs of the students, costs, best practices and design considerations. Facilities Management was heavily involved in the planning and led the construction. Students were consulted on the proposed designs and their input was used, such as ensuring the ablution stations were accessible to people with reduced mobility, with adjustable seating and lower soap dispensers and faucets. The door signage includes braille.
“Students told us Mount Royal is making them feel they belong here,” Bhutta said. “It’s great to see students use the stations.”
https://www.mtroyal.ca/AboutMountRoyal/MediaRoom/Newsroom/inclusive-spaces-feb-2019.htm
The Mantra of Femaled-Zombies, otherwise known as
the Office of Campus Equity and Meaningful Inclusion
https://youtu.be/9Ux6iOjXKsg
The juxtaposition of the musselma on her prayer mat with the Meditator for Enlightenment… but wait, phew she is only being Mindful. The first is to practice submission for becoming an autonomous slave to the imam, the second is how to focus on fitting alongside with others. Both outraged by anyone detached pointing out their hypnosis for bypassing the soul.
Satanic Verses book burning RETURNS in Bradford 30 years later after Rushdie’s fatwa (express, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1092203/bradford-news-the-satanic-verses-30-years-later-bbc-documentary
“A FURIOUS man set on fire a copy of the controversial novel The Satanic Verses in Bradford 30 years after the book burning demonstration in the Yorkshire town.
The publication of the novel in 1988 sparked a wave of outrage in Tehran, Iran, where the Islamic state perceived Sir Salman Rushdie’s book offensive towards Islam. Months later, in 1989, the Iranian Government issued a fatwa, a ruling on a point of Islamic law, for blasphemy against anyone involved in the publication of the book. This move forced Sir Salman into hiding for a decade, indirectly caused the death of 59 people and fuelled a series of violent protests, including the notorious book burning demonstration in Bradford.
The scene was widely criticised and journalist Robert Winder said it evoked “images of medieval, not to mention Nazi, intolerance”.
Despite Tehran said it no longer supported the fatwa in 1998, there are still people in the British city with strong feelings against The Satanic Verses, according to a BBC documentary.
As a BBC journalist was carrying around a copy of the book to interview people for this week’s episode of ‘The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On’, a man snatched the hardback from his hand and set it on fire.
Another one said the TV crew had entered a “Muslim, Prophet ghetto”.
A Pakistani religious scholar, Tahir Mohmood Ashrafi, insists there is still much anger surrounding the novel.
Claiming the author is “hated as much as he was back then”, he said: “People can’t protest consecutively for 30 years.”
The documentary also argues a British man was behind the fatwa.
While the death threat itself was launched by late Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the BBC is now claiming Kalim Siddiqui, director of Britain’s pro-Iranian Muslim Institute, was the person demanding it in the first place, as he visited the Iran shortly before the fatwa.
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a journalist working at the New Statesman at the time the threat was issued, claimed the fatwa would have not been issued if Mr Kalim hadn’t made the trip.
She said: “I knew because I interviewed both of them.
“Kalim was adamant till he died that he did go and he did what he did and it was the right thing to do.”
The book burning demonstration in 1989 helped shape a negative and caricatural image of Muslims, according to the documentary’s presenter, Mobeen Azhar.
He also said it made Muslims a target of far-right extremist movements.
Matthew Collins, a former leader of the National Front turned anti-racist campaigner, claimed membership of the far-right movement rose by 40 percent over the death threat against Sir Rushdie.
He said: “We’d never heard of Muslims. We didn’t know what Islam was.
“We weren’t there to defend Salman Rushdie because he wasn’t white anyway, we didn’t like him.””
“Satanic Verses book burning RETURNS in Bradford 30 years later after Rushdie’s fatwa”
Yes, but this time it’s the saffron enrobed set who are all hot and bothered over Salman’s latest tell-all, “Fatso: The Story of Buddha”.
PS: Although, as Alice might cry, “Seriouser and seriouser!”
Wherever they burn books, they will also burn people at the end.
— Heinrich Heine*
* “Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.”
‘I want to inspire British girls not to make the same mistakes’: Jihadi bride Shamima Begum NOW insists she is truly sorry as she pleads for a second chance to return home to the UK from her tent in a squalid refugee camp (dailymail, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6740383/I-want-inspire-British-girls-not-make-mistakes.html
THE TRAUMA FLOOR – The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America
The panic attacks started after Chloe watched a man die.
She spent the past three and a half weeks in training, trying to harden herself against the daily onslaught of disturbing posts: the hate speech, the violent attacks, the graphic pornography. In a few more days, she will become a full-time Facebook content moderator, or what the company she works for, a professional services vendor named Cognizant, opaquely calls a “process executive.”
For this portion of her education, Chloe will have to moderate a Facebook post in front of her fellow trainees. When it’s her turn, she walks to the front of the room, where a monitor displays a video that has been posted to the world’s largest social network. None of the trainees have seen it before, Chloe included. She presses play.
The video depicts a man being murdered. Someone is stabbing him, dozens of times, while he screams and begs for his life. Chloe’s job is to tell the room whether this post should be removed. She knows that section 13 of the Facebook community standards prohibits videos that depict the murder of one or more people. When Chloe explains this to the class, she hears her voice shaking.
Returning to her seat, Chloe feels an overpowering urge to sob. Another trainee has gone up to review the next post, but Chloe cannot concentrate. She leaves the room, and begins to cry so hard that she has trouble breathing[…]
[…]Writing utensils and paper are also not allowed, in case Miguel might be tempted to write down a Facebook user’s personal information. This policy extends to small paper scraps, such as gum wrappers. Smaller items, like hand lotion, are required to be placed in clear plastic bags so they are always visible to managers.
[…]“Autistic people should be sterilized” seems offensive to him, but it stays up as well. Autism is not a “protected characteristic” the way race and gender are, and so it doesn’t violate the policy. (“Men should be sterilized” would be taken down.)
[…]Here is a racist joke. Here is a man having sex with a farm animal. Here is a graphic video of murder recorded by a drug cartel. Some of the posts Miguel reviews are on Facebook, where he says bullying and hate speech are more common; others are on Instagram, where users can post under pseudonyms, and tend to share more violence, nudity, and sexual activity.
[…]Miguel is very good at his job. He will take the correct action on each of these posts, striving to purge Facebook of its worst content while protecting the maximum amount of legitimate (if uncomfortable) speech. He will spend less than 30 seconds on each item, and he will do this up to 400 times a day.
[…]When Miguel has a question, he raises his hand, and a “subject matter expert” (SME) — a contractor expected to have more comprehensive knowledge of Facebook’s policies, who makes $1 more per hour than Miguel does — will walk over and assist him.
[…]At the Phoenix site, Muslim workers who used wellness time to perform one of their five daily prayers were told to stop the practice and do it on their other break time instead, current and former employees told me. It was unclear to the employees I spoke with why their managers did not consider prayer to be a valid use of the wellness program. (Cognizant did not offer a comment about these incidents, although a person familiar with one case told me a worker requested more than 40 minutes for daily prayer, which the company considered excessive.)
[…]Chloe has experienced trauma symptoms in the months since leaving her job. She started to have a panic attack in a movie theater during the film Mother!, when a violent stabbing spree triggered a memory of that first video she moderated in front of her fellow trainees. Another time, she was sleeping on the couch when she heard machine gun fire, and had a panic attack
more :
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona
Americas Libres: Carapace of socialism cracking
By J.E. Dyer February 24, 2019
Nicolas Maduro wants badly to cling to power in Venezuela, but I don’t think he’s going to. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning, said he’s confident that the Venezuelan people “will ensure Maduro’s days are numbered.” That looks increasingly likely, as multiple nations in the region have backed the interim government proclaimed by National Assembly President Juan Guaido, and the world got a load this weekend of Maduro’s vicious determination to forcibly deny food and aid to his own desperate people.
Recall that the presidential election in May 2018 was plagued by widely acknowledged “irregularities,” and assessed by serious observers to have been heavily manipulated by Maduro. There are good reasons to conclude he is not a validly elected national leader, and that he needs to step down and let Guaido and the National Assembly administer an interim process to reestablish the rule of law in Venezuela and chart a way forward.
Recall also that Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, have maintained their rule by using Cuban-organized thugs against the people, a regime-backing armed force numbering in the thousands (including tens of thousands of Cubans). When Pompeo spoke on CNN of the collectivos attacking Venezuelans along the border this weekend – unarmed people trying to bring in the aid convoys waiting in Colombia – he was referring to these Cuban-backed and organized thugs.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/02/24/americas-libres-carapace-of-socialism-cracking/
https://twitter.com/i/status/1099374679788322816
https://twitter.com/i/status/1099391630224879618
It looks like it is going to be the Cuban trained and possibly led gangs and the Russian mercs against the people. Individual soldiers and police are deserting to join the people but so far I havn’t hear about any large unit deseration.
Madero is probably on his way out, the problem is that he still has forces enough to cause major causalities to the civilians.
Iranian woman ‘is sprayed in the face with tear gas by undercover morality police for refusing to wear a hijab’ (dailymail, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6743199/Iranian-undercover-morality-police-sprays-woman-tear-gas-refusing-wear-hijab.html
“An Iranian woman has been sprayed in the face with tear gas after going outside without a hijab, campaigners say.
Video of the altercation shows the woman arguing with a man – believed to be an undercover morality officer – about the country’s oppressive religious regime.
The woman can be heard calling the man ‘blind’ and ‘ill-fated’ for following the government, before he turns around to confront her…”
The world has become more peaceful and despite wars in Syria and Middle East fewer people are dying in armed conflicts, scientists say (dailymail, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6743223/The-world-peaceful-fewer-people-dying-armed-conflicts-scientists-say.html
“The world has become a more peaceful place with fewer people dying in armed conflicts, scientists have claimed.
Experts from Norway’s Peace Research Institute Oslo examined statistics from ‘all possible’ wars, the countries involved, and how many people were killed.
Research director Håvard Mokleiv Nygård suggested the Korean War in the early 1950s may have been a ‘breaking point’ signalling a change in the number of people killed in battle.
‘The wars after the Korean War (1950–1953) have killed a quarter as many people as the wars before the Korean War,’ he said.
‘The change after this breaking point is an indication that the world has become a more peaceful place,’ adding Nygård, whose researchers work alongside statisticians at the University of Oslo.
Nygård said ‘extensive use of statistics’ was used by the institute, which aims to find out why war happens, how war develops and what steps can be taken to halt conflicts.
He added: ‘The distribution of the number of people dying in war does not follow any normally distributed curve. There are many wars in the middle of the curve with a certain number of killed and few wars on the curve’s extremes, with few or many killed.
‘Wars can erupt that kill a great many people. An example is the Second World War. A Third World War can also occur, in principle, with 150 million killed.’
The findings come despite the fact battles are still raging on a number of fronts in war-torn Syria.
Last year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said about 511,000 people had been killed in the Syrian war since it began in 2011.
In December it was reported that more than 60,000 had been killed in two years in Yemen, another country ripped apart by war.”
Norway’s PEACE Research Institute OSLO examined statistics…
• Oslo and peace.
• Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!ISIS commander code-named ‘Prince of Battles’ because of the large number of assaults he took part in, is captured in Iraq (dailymail, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6743035/ISIS-commander-code-named-Prince-Battles-captured-Iraq.html
“An ISIS commander known as the Prince of Battles because of the number of attacks he took part in has been captured in Iraq, local media reports.
The terrorist was arrested on Sunday in western Mosul having fled to Iraq from Syria, where ISIS is staging its last stand.
He ‘was involved in several fights against security forces in Anbar province’ which sits along the border with Syria, Iraq’s Alghad Press agency reported…”
ISIS commander code-named ‘Prince of Battles’ because of the large number of assaults he took part in, is captured in Iraq
Well, that certainly explains all of the electrical arcing and bloodcurdling screams I’m hearing in the background.
Isil magazines discovered by traffic police on man’s phone during investigation into minor car crash (telegraph, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/02/25/isil-magazines-discovered-traffic-police-mans-phone-investigation/
“Gruesome terror manuals were discovered on the phone of a driver by traffic police who were investigating the cause of a minor road accident.
Officers had confiscated the device from Fahim Adam, 32, as he lay in hospital after his Audi car ploughed into a wall, to see if he was texting at the time of the crash.
Unexpectedly, they found two editions of the Isil propaganda publication “Rumiyah” which gave Jihadists tips on how to carry out random “lone wolf” knife attacks to ensure “maximum terror”.
The material encouraged readers to find the best type of knives, the best locations to attack victims and the best places to use the knives on a human body, as well as how to credit their attacks to the Islamic State.
Also on his phone was evidence that Adam had seen Isil videos, which showed former soldiers being hanged and beheaded.
At Manchester Crown court, Adam, of Blackburn, Lancs was jailed for 30 months after he admitted possessing documents useful for terrorism.
The court heard the investigation began in November 2017 after Adam was hurt after he lost control of his vehicle and crashed whilst out in his hometown.
Prosecutor Catherine Farrelly said: “Lancashire Police seized his mobile phone to ascertain if it had contributed to that accident and it was seized from his bedside when he was visited in hospital the following day.
“It was subject of analysis which revealed material which gave cause for concern, including he had access to Islamist extremist material and the matter was referred to the Counter Terrorism Unit.”
Miss Farrelly added: “Other material was recovered from the defendants phone which demonstrated the defendant had the mindset interested in acts of terrorism.
“One edition included articles about murderous attacks on Western Countries including Australia.
“In September 2017 he conducted searches which presented images of IS executions. There were also searches of ‘Jihadology’ and police also recovered a four page document glorifying of the Nice terror attacks. A further document called “Criticism of Democracy” was downloaded and advised against Western democracy in favour of Sharia Law.”
Adam who had previously made attempts to delete some of the material gave no comment in police interview. His lawyer Jonathan Page said: “This was someone being locked into a world that involved accessing material, but doing nothing with it.””
I’ve got copies of all those magazines on my hard drive.
Plus all the documentation I downloaded from Clarion and PJ-Media. Oodles of islamofauxic, rayciss, blah-blah.
I couldn’t take my computer to be serviced in Canada or most of Europe. I’d be at risk of arrest transiting airports abroad. Just think of it…
Iraq to try IS detainees, including 13 French nationals (abcnews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraqs-president-paris-discuss-french-detainees-61293798
“All Islamic State group militants who committed crimes against Iraq will be put on trial, including 13 suspected French militants who have been transferred to Iraq from Syria, Iraq’s president said Monday.
Iraqi President Barham Saleh said during a two-day visit to France that the French citizens were handed over from Syria, where troops with U.S.-led coalition forces detained them. The 13 will be prosecuted in accordance with Iraqi laws, he said.
“Anyone who is accused of committing crimes against Iraq, against Iraqi installations and against Iraqi personnel, we definitively are seeking them,” Saleh said. “And seeking to try them, of course.”
At a news conference with Saleh, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would not identify the French citizens nor comment on their cases. He said it’s Iraq’ sovereign decision to decide whether the alleged militants should face the criminal justice system in the Mideast country.
An intelligence official said the Iraqi government has 13 French IS militants in custody after they were transferred from Syria a month ago. An Iraqi security official confirmed the report Monday and said the militants will be put on trial for crimes committed inside Iraq.
There were no details on their identities. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations…”
Report: UK to Ban Iran-Backed Hezbollah Terrorist Group (breitbart, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2019/02/25/report-uk-to-ban-iran-backed-hezbollah-terrorist-group/
“The Iran-sponsored Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah will this week be banned from the UK in its entirety, under a plan by Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph, Home Secretary Mr. Javid believes the ban is “long overdue.” He first mooted the possibility of the ban last June, as Breitbart News reported.
Subject to Parliament’s approval, from Friday when the order comes into effect, being a member, or inviting support for Hezbollah will be a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:
My priority as Home Secretary is to protect the British people. As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organisation which threatens our safety and security, whatever their motivations or ideology which is why I am taking action against several organisations today.
Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilase the fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party. Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety.
Hezbollah is an illegal, anti-Semitic group, designated as a terror organization in its entirety by the Arab League, Bahrain, Canada, France, Israel, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States.
But the European Union, as well as the United Kingdom, maintain a difference between the group’s military and political wings, seeking only to proscribe the former.
This loophole in British law has allowed participants in the annual Al-Quds Day march through central London to wave the Hezbollah flag unchallenged, featuring an assault rifle.
The Telegraph noted that Mr. Javid’s plan, “…follows warnings by MPs that the UK had created a false distinction by proscribing the military wing of the group but failing to outlaw its political side.”
According to the article, an MP well-versed with the plan to ban Hezbollah said: “It has been worked on for some time and is now imminent – and long overdue. It was a curious anomaly not to proscribe Hezbollah’s political wing as well given that such a range of other countries had made a similar decision. In the current climate, it is a really strong signal that we won’t tolerate celebrations of terrorism and antisemitism on the streets of the UK.”
Members of Congress in the United States have urged the E.U. to designate all branches of Hezbollah as a terror group, after several Hezbollah parliamentarians in Lebanon were caught on camera calling for terror against Israelis.
There are currently 74 international terrorist organisations proscribed under the UK Terrorism Act 2000, alongside 14 organisations connected to Northern Ireland proscribed under separate legislation.”
AOC defends Rashida Tlaib’s profane Trump impeachment outburst: She used a ‘boo-boo’ word
By Rusty Weiss February 25, 2019
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s penchant — and passion — for using childlike locutions, like tippy-top, was on display again last week when she was asked to comment about fellow freshman Rashida Tlaib’s own language. Specifically she was asked about Tlaib’s off-color description of the president as a “motherf*cker.” AOC’s reaction? “Rashida got into a little bit of trouble for saying a boo-boo word.”
A “boo-boo” word?
The — er, “synonym” — came up during her appearance on Showtime’s new talk show, “Desus & Mero,” where she was equally unfazed by one of her host’s dropping an MF bomb.
Rep. Ilhan Omar was also on the show, and she, too, was asked to react to Tlaib’s inappropriate language. Like Ocasio-Cortez — who advised Tlaib in an email “not to worry about it, I mean who cares?” — Omar defended the Tlaib’s gutter mouth by using whataboutism:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/02/25/aoc-defends-rashida-tlaibs-profane-trump-impeachment-outburst-she-used-a-boo-boo-word/
Which is the scarier thought, that she is really this stupid and childish with handlers or that she is playing dumb?
If there’s one thing that the Left’s Nanny State mentality promotes, it’s infantilizing people. Multigeneration welfare families, Affirmative Action, Lowest common denominator programming and academic curriculum, the soft bigotry of lowered expectations, snowflakes, trigger-maidens from safer space, the Pronoun-Sensitive Cult of Victimhood™, let me NOT count the near-infinitude of ways PoMo Progs level humanity down to the realm of Interchangeable Parts.
Please rest assured that it’s not only Newspeak (i.e., Politically Correct speech) that curtails thought and expression. Reducing communication to the level of baby talk is just another triumph of the lowest common denominator (see: Inclusive or, the latest buzzword, Intersectional). This will continue unimpeded until even ultra-PoMo English professors bridle at the linguistic carnage.
To close, here’s a solid explanation of why I cherish the “proper naming of things.” I used it as my editor’s preface for a book that included biographies of the Founding Fathers (and all of the Constitution’s signatories).
A man who deliberately inflicts violence on the language will almost certainly inflict violence on human beings if he acquires the power. Those who treasure the meaning of words will treasure truth, and those who bend words to their purposes are very likely in pursuit of anti-social ones. The correct and honorable use of words is the first and natural credential of civilized status.
— Paul Johnson, Enemies of Society
Egypt’s leader says Europe cannot ‘teach us’ about rights (abcnews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/egypts-leader-europe-teach-us-rights-61296953
“Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi defended on Monday his country’s widely-criticized human rights record and warned the nations of Europe not to lecture the Arab world.
In a fiery speech after a summit of European Union and Arab League leaders, el-Sissi said that Europe is prosperous and does not understand the concerns of many Arab countries that are struggling to prevent conflict from tearing them apart.
“You are not going to teach us about humanity,” he told reporters after the issue was raised at a news conference. “We have our own sense of humanity, values and ethics, and you have your own idea of humanity and ethics, and we respect it. Respect our values and ethics, as we do yours.”
“This city, through one terrorist act, could be turned into a ghost city,” el-Sissi said. Egypt’s tourism industry was hard hit after a bomb downed a Russian passenger plane flying out of Sharm el-Sheikh airport in 2015.
El-Sissi was applauded after his remarks, prompting European Council President Donald Tusk to say: “I really appreciate how enthusiastic your media are. It’s impossible in Europe to have such a reaction. Congratulations.”
No concerns about human rights in Egypt — or any of the other 48 countries — were raised publicly in Sharm el-Sheikh, even amid an unprecedented crackdown on dissent and a recent spike in executions. At least 15 people have been put to death this year.
The summit statement made no general appeal for human rights to be respected.
“No one in particular talked about one country or another, or the practices in one country or another,” Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters.
But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker insisted that “it is not true that we did not talk about human rights.” Juncker said the issue was raised behind closed doors in bilateral meetings between leaders. But he did not name any country.
The meeting, held under tight security, was offered by the Europeans to el-Sissi in October in part to secure Egypt’s help to stop people seeking sanctuary or jobs in Europe from leaving northern Africa.
A similar summit was granted to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2015 — then later billions in aid for refugees in Turkey and other incentives — to persuade him to help halt the flow of well over a million migrants into Europe.
Mired in a deep political crisis over their inability to stem migrant arrivals or share the burden with countries like Greece, Italy and Spain, the Europeans want the Egyptian coastguard to patrol the waters off lawless Libya and take migrants back to the African mainland.
The summit was held weeks after Egyptian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to extend presidential term limits for el-Sissi that could see him remain in power until 2034, part of a package of constitutional amendments that would further enshrine the military’s role in politics.
Human Rights Watch says the amendments would undermine judicial independence and expand executive powers that are already being abused in Egypt. The group says over 15,000 civilians, including children, have been referred to military prosecution in Egypt.
Rights researchers broadly agree that Egypt holds tens of thousands of political prisoners — mostly Islamists but also some secular liberals.”
Egypt’s leader says Europe cannot ‘teach us’ about rights
For the first, only, and possibly very last time this duplicitous POS is being honest. El-Sissi is merely recognizing an already well-known fact when he defies Europe (or anyone else for that matter) to teach Egypt any-stinking-thing about rights.
Perhaps when that pyramid infested Islamic outhouse-masquerading-as-a-cosmopolitan-tourist-trap emerges from its Olduvai phase, then some productive instruction might begin. All the same—as is so often the case with Islamic $h!thølés everywhere from Indonesia to Gambia and all points in between—even those who most compassionately teach lessons to Muslims invariably will require a 2 x 4.
Burkina Faso says its forces have killed 29 extremists (abcnews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/burkina-faso-forces-killed-29-extremists-61294240
“Burkina Faso’s armed forces say defense and security forces killed 29 extremists in an operation last week in the country’s east.
Armed forces spokesman Col. Karim Ouili said late Sunday the combined actions of special forces by land and air on Feb. 19-20 took place in the localities of Kompienbiga, Kabonga and a touristic hunting area. He said weapons, ammunition and other materials were also seized.
Burkina Faso has seen a major increase in extremist attacks in the past few years. The threat, which initially came from the northern Sahel region, has shifted into the forested east near the border with Niger.
The government recently declared a state of emergency in 14 provinces of seven regions.
Burkina Faso is part of the G5 Sahel regional counterterror force.”
Introducing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the comic book
By Ben Bowles February 25, 2019
Nope, you have not accidentally switched the channel to The Onion. The Hill reports with a straight face that a new comic book featuring the lowest-information individual ever to stalk the halls of Congress “as a ‘butt-kicking’ political superhero” is in the works.
But wait, there’s more. The full title of the comic — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and The Freshman Force — appears to herald the presence of Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib in some of AOC’s adventures.
The organization behind the product, Devil’s Due Comics, is responsible for another series based on a far-left political “hero,” “Barack the Barbarian.”
The first issue of the AOC series, due out May 15, is to be titled “New Party: Who Dis?” a reference to Ocasio-Cortez’s typically juvenile and out-of-touch reaction in January to veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman’s expressed hope that she is not the future of the Democratic Party.
While a comic book starring Ocasio-Cortez seems redundant, it bespeaks a frightening trend within the hard Left and low-information voters, many of whom take her and her ideas seriously. An Axios/Survey Monkey poll released in January found that nearly 75% of Democrats would consider voting for her if she were old enough to run.
That’s nothing to laugh at.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/02/25/introducing-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-the-comic-book/
Richard: Click thru and read the rest of the article.
If this doesn’t scare you nothing will, 75% of the Democrats polled said they would consider voting for here if she was old enough.
The US is in big trouble when the left has lowered the level of education and the ability to use critical thought to the point where 75% of the people polled would consider voting for a horrifying joke like Red Cortez.
The left is openly talking about starting a civil war with targeted assignations, they think they can win a civil war. Their delusions are based on the fact that they life in echo chambers on both coasts and never talke to people who disagree with them. They believe their on propaganda bout the right because they never knowingly talk to conservatives.
Reality is about to kick their doors in and force them to live in the real world, a world they have little knowledge of and one they are probably afraid of.
PRESS-TV – French demo rejects Macron’s anti-Zionism ban
Afghan women fight for right to exercise outdoors
A group of burqa-clad Afghan women are fighting for the right to train and exercise freely outdoors.
Afghanistan cricket Team praying
Some of these are good
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Memes
DAILY MAIL – Iranian woman ‘is sprayed in the face with tear gas by undercover morality police for refusing to wear a hijab’
Video shows woman confronting undercover morality officer, campaigners say
Pair can be seen arguing about the Iranian regime before talk turns physical
Man pulls a bottle of tear gas from his bag before spraying it in the woman’s face
Argument started because woman went outside without a hijab, activists said
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6743199/Iranian-undercover-morality-police-sprays-woman-tear-gas-refusing-wear-hijab.html
Labour Councils Sack Immigration Control Officers After Pressure from Open Borders Left (breitbart, Feb 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/02/25/labour-remove-immigration-control-left/
“Labour councils have been removing embedded immigration officers amidst pressure from open borders campaigners, who say officials are putting illegal migrants off accessing taxpayer-funded welfare.
Lewisham is one of a number of local authorities to make the move, reports The Guardian, with Labour mayor Damien Egan having vowed to turn the south-east London borough into one of sanctuary for illegal immigrants.
A report from self-styled migrant rights group Project 17 complained that the presence of Home Office immigration officers was deterring illegal immigrant “families” from seeking taxpayer-funded welfare and services, Egan said removing the officials embedded in the council would serve “to reassure vulnerable migrants that Lewisham will support them”.
“It is now time for Theresa May to scrap her government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy which has done so much to scapegoat and harm migrants, and to give councils the funding they need to support their communities,” he told The Guardian.
A spokesman for the council, whose website periodically brags about its moves to invite “record number[s] of refugees” to the borough, admitted that the officers were sent to Lewisham to ease mounting costs “of millions of pounds in supporting residents with irregular immigration status”.
The officers, who Project 17 slammed for offering voluntary return packages to illegal immigrants as they demanded state handouts, were embedded in nine London boroughs along with a number of local authorities elsewhere in the country, according to a report in the Financial Times last October.
London’s Labour-run Southwark and Haringey councils have now ditched their agreements with the Home Office, as Project 17 urged local authorities across the country to remove embedded immigration officials, who the group blast for having a “chilling effect on families that need to approach the council for support”.
While the government’s so-called hostile environment policies, which consist of requiring checks to individuals’ entitlement to access public services, enjoy the support of a large majority of the population, open borders activists — abetted by an overwhelmingly pro-mass migration mainstream media — have repeatedly succeeded in watering safeguards down with accusations of “racism”.
A report published by Migration Watch in September revealed that the UK’s illegal immigrant population is growing by 70,000 each year — an annual net rise near equivalent in size to the regular British Army.
Noting that the scale of illegal immigration was “considerably worse than the government admits and [that] very little is being done about it”, the migration policy watchdog called on the Home Office to reject pressure from open borders campaigners to dismantle checks on the problem and instead get serious about deporting individuals who have no right to live in the country.”
Assad Meets Rouhani in First Visit to Iran Since the Start of Syrian War (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201902251072729440-assad-rouhani/
“Syrian President Bashar Assad during his working visit to Tehran on Monday discussed with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani bilateral relations and the outcome of the Sochi summit of guarantor countries on Syrian conflict settlement, Assad’s press service reported.
According to the press service, Assad and Rouhani expressed satisfaction with the level of Syria-Iran relations and agreed to continue coordination of actions at all levels.
“Rouhani stressed that Tehran will continue to provide Syria with everything necessary to complete the fight against terrorism and start rebuilding the country,” the press service said in a statement.
“Rouhani informed Assad about the results of the meeting of the guarantor countries in [Russia’s Black Sea resort of] Sochi, the sides agreed on achieving the desired progress in order to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria, its independence and sovereignty, and eliminate terrorism throughout its territory,” the statement said…”
EU Working on Common Position on Trials for Returning Jihadists – Belgian Gov’t (sputniknews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201902251072727788-jihadists-trials-europe/
“The Belgian prime minister’s office and diplomats are currently working with French, German, UK and Dutch officials to develop a common position on the fate of their nationals who went to fight on behalf of terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq, Belgian government spokesman Frederic Cauderlier told Sputnik on Monday.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said earlier in the day that people who left their home states to fight for jihadist groups in Syria or Iraq should be trialled mostly in the countries where the crimes were committed, adding that an international legal procedure could be instituted to deal with foreign terrorist fighters.
“The Belgian PM’s services and our diplomatic services are of course talking now to the French, German, British and Dutch authorities, to try to define a common position on the trial and return of jihadists, but we have not come to an agreement yet on the trials that will have to take place, or the location where they could take place,” Cauderlier said.
Speaking about the repatriation of jihadists’ children, the spokesman said those aged under 10, who have family links in Belgium, would be able to benefit from the Belgian diplomatic and consular services, while in case of those aged 10 and above, it will be “a case by case operation for spouses and children.”…”
Greek police find 4 children, 3 adults hidden in truck (abcnews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greek-police-find-children-adults-hidden-truck-61300000
“Police in northern Greece say they found seven migrants — four of them children — hidden in a furniture truck whose driver allegedly had been paid to take them from Turkey to Germany.
The police force in Thessaloniki said the people on the truck were from Syria and Iraq, and the driver allegedly received 1,500 euros ($1,700) for each of the seven passengers.
The agency said the truck was stopped Monday on a secondary road near the northern town of Edessa. Police think the truck driver, a 41-year-old man from North Macedonia, was avoiding major highways to reduce the risk of being stopped.
He was arrested on suspicion of people-smuggling.
While thousands of migrants enter Greece illegally every year, few attempt the long-haul journey from Turkey to destinations in Europe.”
The Latest: Nigeria opposition rejects election results (abcnews, Feb 25, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-nigeria-counts-votes-observers-hit-delays-61295400
“Nigeria’s leading opposition party is rejecting the presidential election results being announced by the electoral commission as “incorrect, thus unacceptable.”
Party chairman Uche Secondus accuses ruling party agents of hacking into the electoral commission’s server and manipulating results. The ruling party hasn’t publicly responded.
President Muhammadu Buhari so far has won six of Nigeria’s 36 states, while challenger Atiku Abubakar has won the territory that includes the capital, Abuja.
At stake is Africa’s most populous country and largest economy. Final results are expected Tuesday or Wednesday.”