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.
Jussie Smollett Charges Dropped; ‘His Record Has Been Wiped Clean’
Less than two weeks after “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about a hate crime, prosecutors have dropped charges in the case.
Cook County prosecutors agreed to drop the charges against Smollett at an unscheduled hearing in the case Tuesday morning. Smollett will forfeit the $10,000 bail he posted after his arrest.
“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,” the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office stated in an email.
Sources tell CBS 2 that CPD Superintendent Eddie Johnson is furious and that he received no notification about the charges being dropped. CBS 2 is told that he will speak after the police graduation taking place.
Smollett’s spokesperson said his record would be “fully expunged.”
“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him. Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgement,” spokeswoman Anne Kavanaugh stated in an email.
“Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong. It is a reminder that a victim, in this case Jussie, deserves dignity and respect. Dismissal of charges against the victim in this case was the only just result.
“Jussie is relieved to have this situation behind him and is very much looking forward to getting back to focusing on his family, friends and career.”
A judge also granted a motion to seal the case.
More details are expected soon, after an unscheduled emergency hearing Tuesday morning.
Smollett was accused of falsifying a police report, and lying to police. Each of the 16 counts against him covers various alleged acts that Smollett falsely described to the officers–including that he was hit by two men, that they yelled racial and homophobic slurs and poured a chemical on him.
Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told police he was attacked as he was walking home around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. He claimed two masked men – one of them also wearing a red hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical on him.
Police said, in reality, Smollett had paid Ola and Abel Osundairo to stage the attack.
CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar has reported Smollett also directed the brothers to buy the noose at a hardware store and the hat and masks at a store in Uptown. Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said police have the check.
Police said the two brothers wore gloves during the staged attack, and did punch Smollett, but the scratches and bruises on Smollett’s face most likely were self-inflicted.
Police at the time said the attack was a publicity stunt because the actor was upset about his pay on the show.
Smollett has denied all the allegations.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/03/26/jussie-smollett-charges-dropped/
Smollett, attorneys speak after charges dropped
the gateway pundit – HUGE! Former Michelle Obama Aide Reached Out to State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Before Charges Were Dropped Against Liar Jussie Smollett
The Chicago Police Union want a federal investigation into Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s handling of Smollett’s case after text messages revealed she was communicating with Jussie Smollett’s relatives and supporters about their concerns over his case.
A Smollett family friend named Tina Tchen sent Kim Foxx an email saying, “Hi Kim – I sent an email to your work address I think as well. I wanted to give you a call on behalf of Jussie Smollett and family who I know. They have concerns about the investigation. I am on an 8 am flight to nyc but please call me before then. I land about 1015 Chicago time. My cell is [redacted]. Many thanks!”
Tina Tchen is Michelle Obama’s former aide!
In one text exchange with a Smollett relative, Kim Foxx is reassuring them she spoke to the superintendent and asked for a favor. “I’ll keep you posted, “Foxx said in text. “Omg this would be a huge victory,” the Smollett relative said in response. “I make no guarantees, but I’m trying.” Foxx replied.
Read more text messages exchanged between Kim Foxx and Smollett’s relatives and supporters here.
Kim Foxx later recused herself from the case.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/huge-former-michelle-obama-aide-reached-out-to-states-attorney-kim-foxx-before-charges-were-dropped-against-liar-jussie-smollett/
Chicago mayor, law enforcement react to Jussie Smollett case
Egypt calls for BBC boycott over ‘biased coverage’ (memo, Mar 26. 2019)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190326-egypt-calls-for-bbc-boycott-over-biased-coverage/
“Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) has called on Egyptian academics and intellectuals to boycott the BBC until the global broadcaster apologises for “biased coverage” against President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. “The BBC promotes the lies of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group,” claimed the SIS in a statement issued on Sunday. It demanded that the news site should issue a formal retraction of an article posted on the corporation’s Arabic website about renewed social media protests against Al-Sisi’s government.
The SIS further objected to the fact that three videos used in the article were taken from two Turkey-based television presenters, who it accuses of being affiliated to Islamist groups. The statement claimed that the article’s reports of protests against Al-Sisi were fabricated to paint the government in a negative light.
“This violates universal professional codes of conduct, as the BBC’s Cairo office with its dozens of correspondents nationwide should have tried to actually investigate whether the content of these videos was authentic,” insisted the SIS. “The BBC’s failure to take this necessary step before publishing the article seems intentional in order to legitimise the allegations of media outlets affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organisation.”
Officials at the SIS also claimed that the article was biased against the President of the Republic, citing the fact that details of the protests against him took up 16 lines of the article, while statements by his supporters were covered in only six lines.
The SIS said on Sunday that it would summon the broadcaster’s regional head to its headquarters. The BBC’s Cairo bureau chief Safaa Faisal told AFP that her office was “aware of the complaint now and we will engage positively.”
In March 2018, the Egyptian authorities slammed the BBC for another damning report entitled “The Shadow Over Egypt” which included interviews with families of alleged victims of torture and enforced disappearances. The report highlighted the case of a young woman, Zubeida, whose mother told of her repeated abduction and rape by security forces.
Later, a woman who alleged to be Zubeida appeared on an Egyptian TV show denying the content of the BBC article. Her mother was subsequently arrested and charged with spreading false news; her two lawyers, including the head of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, were forcibly disappeared.
At the same time, a lawsuit filed by lawyer Mohammed Hamed Salem also sought to have the BBC’s offices closed, claiming that the story was an attempt to destabilise the country and deliberately distort Egypt’s image. However, in June last year, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters rejected the petition, saying it had no jurisdiction to close the Egypt branch or withdraw the broadcaster’s licence.
Rights groups accuse President Al-Sisi’s government of a sweeping crackdown on journalists and dissent. Scores of news agencies have been closed down, and hundreds of reporters have been arrested, accused of attempting to destabilise the country.”
Algeria army chief demands Bouteflika be declared unfit to rule (afp, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/algeria-army-chief-demands-bouteflika-be-declared-unfit-rule-doc-1f35kx5
“Algeria’s army chief called Tuesday for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to be declared unfit to govern, following weeks of mass protests demanding the ailing leader step down.
The move would potentially clear the way for elections to be organised in the coming months unless the president recovers…”
Scott Adams, the Dilbert guy, is a trained hypnotist, master persuader and prior to being 100% cartoonist, he was a negotiator for a big tech company. He has predicted Trump’s victory and even though he considers himself left of Bernie Sanders politically, he loves Trump and analyzes his decisions – and accurately predicts his future actions.
In the first half of this video, he explains the Golan Heights recognition by Trump as part of Israel and how this is one of the many actions that he takes that may pave the way towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Very interesting indeed.
British woman reveals how her mother ‘ironed her breasts’ when she was 13 to make her ‘ugly so no one will admire me’ (dailymail, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6851215/Calls-breast-ironing-awareness-taught-British-schools.html
BREITBART – Wikipedia Editors Paid to Protect Political, Tech, and Media Figures
A report in Huffington Post recently revealed the case of Wikipedia editor Ed Sussman, who was paid by media clients such as NBC and Axios to help diminish critical material. Paid editors operating in a similar manner to Sussman have worked on behalf of CNN contributor Hilary Rosen and the CEOs of Reddit and Intel, among other clients.
Other conduct by Sussman not covered by the Huffington Post shows him authoring fluff pieces for NBC executives and getting his proposed changes approved by another paid Wikipedia editor.
The report by Ashley Feinberg detailed former journalist Ed Sussman’s work as a paid Wikipedia fixer for clients such as Axios, NBC, and Facebook. Sussman did this work through the firm WhiteHatWiki, which he argues follows Wikipedia policies. Sussman disclosed his paid editing on Wikipedia and ostensibly worked within the rules by having other editors approve proposed changes.
However, Feinberg’s article noted several of Sussman’s requests involved removing or watering down potentially damaging material about clients, even when citing sources considered reliable on the site. Such removals would appear to violate Wikipedia’s neutrality policy, which states:
All encyclopedic content on Wikipedia must be written from a neutral point of view (NPOV), which means representing fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias, all of the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic.
In one example Feinberg cited, Sussman requested changes to the page of Axios journalist Jonathan Swan regarding a false report he made last September claiming Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was resigning. A line noting the incident in Swan’s article was replaced with a paragraph hyping that Swan was “the first to report” Rosenstein’s offer to resign, despite the offer being refused. Sussman backed this spin with a New York Times article treating the incident as a failure of the Axios reporting model, a fact not mentioned in Sussman’s proposed edit.
Many of Sussman’s approved changes to the pages of his clients engaged in this subtle spin and cherry-picking. Changes to the NBC News page defended the network’s refusal to air Ronan Farrow’s story, subsequently published by The New Yorker, on the sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, despite the very sources cited being more critical and Farrow’s own criticism of the network’s refusal to air the story. Feinberg identifies similar spin in Sussman’s portrayal of NBC’s handling of sexual assault allegations against the network’s own Matt Lauer.
Not all of Sussman’s work for NBC was noted in Huffington Post’s report. Feinberg mentions Sussman worked on NBC News chairman Andrew Lack’s page, but he also created the initial draft of the page, which another editor approved in its entirety. Sussman’s article notes Lack became NBC chairman amidst controversy over anchor Brian Williams, who was caught lying about his experiences during the 2003 Iraq War. His article did not mention the close relationship Lack had with Williams as noted in one of the article’s cited sources. Lack reportedly even advised Williams during the controversy and lobbied on his behalf with executives.
President of MSNBC Phil Griffin also benefited from Sussman’s intervention as a short article on Griffin prominently noting his description of the cable news network as the “place to go for progressives” was expanded in line with a proposal by Sussman. In the new version, the only mention of the channel’s political persuasion involved Griffin disputing claims of a partisan bias at the outlet.
Feinberg’s reports about Sussman’s bludgeoning style, such as proposing extensive changes difficult to review and peppering various editors with requests to act on his proposals, is not abnormal for paid editors. Another paid editing firm that has exhibited similar practices is Beutler Ink, run by long-time editor and Wikipedia blogger William Beutler. Beutler has been engaged in paid editing for over a decade, having previously worked for New Media Strategies on behalf of clients such as Disney and Koch Industries. His more recent paid editing has been at his eponymous firm and includes work for several figures in government and media.
In 2016, he had the page on CNN contributor Hilary Rosen changed to remove mention of aggressive tactics she pursued against file-sharing while head of the RIAA, despite repeatedly citing a Wired article detailing them. His only reference to criticism Rosen faced during her tenure was mentioning she received death threats and had to hire security. A section on her LGBT advocacy was also added, which ended up being the second-longest on her page. Controversies involving her role as a PR consultant at Democrat-affiliated SKDKnickerbocker, who paid Beutler, were greatly trimmed and watered down.
SKDKnickerbocker also hired Beutler to help with the article on then-ambassador to Hungary under Obama, Colleen Bell. His proposed changes were largely implemented and toned down criticism of her appointment while touting her work as ambassador with a particular emphasis on her criticism of Hungarian President Orban’s policies on refugees. Bell’s appointment had been criticized due to her role as a bundler for Obama and another ambassador who faced this criticism, Robert Mandell, also hired Beutler. He proceeded to have information about the amount Mandell raised for Obama replaced with the smaller amounts Mandell personally donated.
Another client of Beutler’s was Brian Krzanich, the CEO of Intel, whose page Beutler got changed to burnish his progressive credentials. His article previously focused mostly on controversy over a fundraiser for Trump held at his home. Krzanich was not the only CEO client of the firm. One employee of Beutler’s firm got the page on Reddit CEO Steve Huffman changed to hype his role in redesigning the site after stating he joined at a “particularly difficult time” for the site. The changes also downplayed Huffman contradicting Reddit’s long-time free speech stance despite citing a source that noted numerous high-level company figures, including former CEO Yishan Wong, previously acknowledged this stance.
One pattern of Sussman’s Wikipedia behavior that Feinberg mentioned and Beutler also demonstrated was a tendency towards canvassing editors or groups to get them to act favorably on his requests then repeatedly going back to them for more support. Like several requests from Sussman, Beutler’s requests for assistance tended to be geared towards eliciting sympathy for his efforts and bias editors in favor of his position. Using notifications that would bias discussion in their favor would, as Feinberg suggests, go against Wikipedia guidelines.
Their commonalities also extended to the occasionally questionable choice in assistance. One of Sussman’s requested changes on Swan’s page was implemented by someone who was also a paid editor and that Sussman specifically requested. He sought the same editor’s help with the NBC article. Beutler in his efforts sought help on the Rosen and Mandell articles from editors who had worked for the United States government, which they both disclosed as potential conflicts of interest.
Wikipedia’s policies do not ban paid editors from approving the proposals of other paid editors provided they are not working for the same client. In a case last year, Wikipedia’s Arbitration Committee, akin to a Supreme Court, sanctioned two long-time editors after one had his paid edits approved by the other despite both working for the same paid editing firm. Neither were banned for these practices, not even from further paid editing.
Many Wikipedia editors are resistant to paid editing, but the practice is generally tolerated so long as editors disclose their affiliation and get their edits approved by other editors as Sussman and Beutler have done. As such response from Wikipedia to Feinberg’s piece has been dismissive, suggesting the activities complied with the rules. Concerns are focused more on paid editors who do not disclose their affiliation, which violates the site’s Terms of Use and has sometimes allegedly involved elements of extortion and fraud.
Just as with Wikipedia’s supposed reliability against fake news, rules permitting disclosed paid editing presume the unpaid amateurs on the site will be able to effectively analyze and evaluate the edits of well-compensated professionals. However, even undisclosed paid editors frequently slip past Wikipedia’s ad hoc methods of detection. The site’s effectiveness at constraining bias introduced by paid editors is thus not much greater than its ability to constrain its rampant political bias.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/03/26/wikipedia-editors-paid-to-protect-political-tech-and-media-figures/
Belgium: Students march for climate law in Brussels
Hundreds of young people marched through Brussels on Tuesday, calling on the government to take action on climate change.
The demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as “Act now” and “Climate law now,” among others.
They chanted slogans, demanding amendments to Article 7bis of the Belgium constitution, which would bind the country’s government to commitments made under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
You bloody well pay for it then,and when the one world government is paid for and every-one is impoverished,they will shit on you too,these children ,these affluent brats have no right to a say until they have bought a piece of the action in an adult world,where they might discover democracy.
Aside: you must admit that Alex Jones was right about the frogs. Studies have shown conclusively that the birth control residue estrogens are entering the water supply, feminizing men, and – indeed, turning the frogs gay.
Anyhow – that is not the point of this video – the hypocrisy in the treatment he received vs how the lying MSM is not being held accountable for their collusion conspiracy theory is.
VOA – Women in Christchurch Continue Wearing Headscarves in Support of Muslim Community
…. role models for the world
Rapes back on the menu boys!
Seems like they are letting the Smollett hoaxter is being let off the hook on the local charges…Cook County – where the DA is Kamala Harris’s buddy. Yes, the same Kamala Harris that co-sponsored the anti-lynching bill hours after Smollett’s hoax.
MEMRI TV – Blindfolded Fruit Ninja – Lebanese Internal Security Forces Demonstrate Sword Slashing Skills
In a demonstration by Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF) that was aired by OTV (Lebanon) on March 22, 2019, a blindfolded ISF member used a sword to cut fruits and vegetables that were held in the mouths and on the necks and heads of other ISF members.
MEMRI TV – Yemeni Academic Dr. Arwa Al-Khattabi: ISIS Represents Islam; We Must Discuss This Honestly
On March 16, 2019, BBC Arabic (U.K.) hosted a debate about extremism and Islam.
Dr. Makram Khouri-Machool, the director of the Cambridge-based European Centre for the Study of Extremism, said that most Muslim societies are peaceful and that Islam should not be accused of extremism.
He said that there had been no killing of Arab Christians in the Middle East until American and Western occupation.
Dr. Arwa Al-Khattabi, a Yemeni expert in European and German history, said that ISIS represents Islam and that it has attempted to implement it by the book without distorting, changing, or adding anything.
She said that Arabs and Muslims must discuss the matter honestly and take responsibility for what is happening in the world rather than act like victims and blame others.
Here’s one case in which the murdered Christian was attributed to a Jewish cabal.
https://www.memri.org/reports/damascus-blood-libel-1840-told-syrian-defense-minister-mustafa-tlass
Islamist Terrorist group in Denmark tries to intimidate crowd by yelling Allah Akhbar
Ep. 944 Exonerated: Part 2. The Dan Bongino Show 3/26/2019.
Hogwashed: A Sullen John Brennan Suggests He May Have Received “Bad Information” On Collusion
A somber looking John Brennan suggested on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday that “bad information” may be to blame after more than two years of being dead wrong about Trump colluding with Russia.
Brennan – the former director of the CIA – was so convinced of Trump’s collusion that he penned an angry Op-Ed in the New York Times after his security clearance was revoked, titled: “President Trump’s Claims of No Collusion Are Hogwash.”
The article starts off with a picture of the very patriotic looking Brennan swearing in before some testimony we’re sure was truthful – unless he had bad information of course.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-03-26/hogwashed-shaken-john-brennan-suggests-he-may-have-received-bad-information
Clapper: Obama Ordered The Intelligence Assessment That Resulted In Mueller Investigation
Posted By Ian Schwartz
On Date July 24, 2018
Back to Videos
Clapper: Obama Ordered The Intelligence Assessment That Resulted In Mueller Investigation
Posted By Ian Schwartz
On Date July 24, 2018
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper revealed in an interview last week that if not for President Obama asking for an intelligence community assessment that “set off a whole sequence of events” we would not have the Mueller investigation. Clapper, a CNN contributor, said the effects of that intel assessment “are still unfolding today.”
“One point I’d like to make, Anderson, that I don’t think has come up very much before, and I’m alluding now to the President’s criticism of President Obama for all that he did or didn’t do before he left office with respect to the Russian meddling. If it weren’t for President Obama, we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set off a whole sequence of events which are still unfolding today, notably, special counsel Mueller’s investigation,” Clapper said Wednesday on CNN.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/07/24/clapper_obama_ordered_the_intelligence_assessment_that_resulted_in_mueller_investigation.html
Translation: Obama ordered the attempt to fix the election for Hillary and is behinbd the coup against the duly elected President. Investigations are already going on and more will be ordered, brace yourself for a very bumpy ride and the Dems turning violent.
He’s still a craven liar. A traitor to his oath.
The Russians Have Landed Planes Full Of Troops, Military Advisers In Venezuela
wo Russian Air Force planes carrying around 100 members of the Russian military and a handful of strategic advisers landed in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, in a shockingly overt demonstration of support from Vladimir Putin’s government for embattled socialist president Nicolas Maduro.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/45083/russians-have-landed-planes-full-troops-military-emily-zanotti?utm_medium=email&utm_content=032619-news&utm_campaign=position3
Host hilarious speech ever!
Raegan on a velociraptor, Star War references – must see!
Obama administration under fire over Mueller report
Democrats Board Buses on Capitol Hill to Go Meet with Obama After Failed Coup Attempt
Democrat lawmakers boarded buses on Capitol Hill on Monday to go meet with Barack Obama.
Obama warned freshman Democrats to be wary of their far left sucicidal policies.
Democrat darling Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and her New Green Deal would bring America to its knees in only a few years. And most Americans are not too crazy about taking a bus to Hawaii.
The Fallout from the Mueller Report
The dire urgency for an investigation into the investigation.
March 26, 2019
Bruce Thornton
“Mountains struggle to give birth,” the Roman poet Horace wrote, “and a ridiculous mouse is born.” After 675 days, $25 million,19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, 500 interviews, 2,800 subpoenas, and 500 search warrants, Special Counsel Mueller’s “dream team” comprising Democrat partisans, as Reddit called it, has confirmed what at least half of Americans already knew from common sense and public information: the Trump campaign did not “collude” with Russia to steal the election from Hillary Clinton.
More serious than its puny findings, however, is the import of the investigation’s creation in the first place. The president justifiably feels vindicated by the report, and conservatives are no doubt savoring the schadenfreude from witnessing the Dems’ bitter tantrums of disappointment. But the corruption of our public institutions that the investigation and report bespeak is no laughing matter, and will continue to produce toxic fallout as we head for the 2020 presidential election and beyond.
First, the media have graphically confirmed that they are hired publicists for the progressive Democrat party rather than neutral reporters of fact. The last two years have been the culmination of a process that began with the biased and selective reporting on Viet Nam and Watergate, continued with the demonizing of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, and made a quantitative leap with the coverage of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and two terms. The media’s “slobbering love affair” with Obama, as Bernie Goldberg put it, threw off all the last vestiges of even the pretense of the media’s objectivity and professional ethics, and made clear they were rank ideologues choosing sides.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273270/fallout-mueller-report-bruce-thornton
EU Says Europe ‘Ideal Refuge’ for Migrants Fleeing ‘Poverty, Climate Change’ (breitbart, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/26/eu-europe-ideal-refuge-migrants-poverty/
“Europe will be an “ideal refuge for asylum seekers and migrants” in a world where “climate change and global poverty” will drive increasing numbers of poor people to seek better lives elsewhere, according to an EU policy briefing.
The “unprecedented arrival of refugees and irregular migrants” seen during the crisis of 2015 exposed a need for Brussels to reform the bloc’s policies on “asylum, external borders and migration”, according to the EU Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS).
In a ‘policy podcast’ titled “Delivering For Citizens: The Migration Issue”, the EPRS said Brussels has set out on “a process of reform aimed at rebuilding … [these] policies based on four pillars”, which include “addressing the root causes” of illegal — referred to as ‘irregular’ — migration and “dismantling smuggling and trafficking networks”.
Imposing a “strong” asylum policy on countries across the whole bloc was another of the so-called pillars, along with “saving lives” and “providing more legal pathways for asylum seekers and more efficient legal channels for regular migrants”.
Despite mention of “securing the external borders” and “improving returns” of illegal migrants, it is clear from the EPRS podcast and its related “complete briefing” on EU migration policy that Brussels has no intention of stemming massive migrant flows from the third world.
“Europe, due to its geographic position and its reputation as an example of stability, generosity and openness against a background of growing international and internal conflicts, climate change and global poverty, is likely to continue to represent an ideal refuge for asylum-seekers and migrants,” both the report and the podcast assert.
That Brussels is preparing for increased migration from the Global South is “reflected in the growing amounts, flexibility and diversity of EU funding for migration and asylum policies inside as well as outside the current and future EU budget,” they add.
“Migration is a macro-critical policy issue on a global scale” which requires a “global solution” involving measures to “counterbalance the decline or stagnation in population growth” in first world countries, according to the EU document.
Contrary to Brussels’ public claims to be working to tackle mass migration, and its attacking as a “conspiracy theory” a recent Hungarian campaign warning Eurocrats seek to increase migrant flows to the bloc, the policy report proclaims there is an “urgent need to replace irregular migratory flows, which have caused so much suffering and extreme human rights violations, with legal channels for migration”.
“As European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in his State of the Union speech in 2017, ‘Irregular migration will only stop if there is a real alternative to perilous journeys,’” it notes.
With polls showing up to two thirds of sub-Saharan Africa’s 1.1 billion population — which is projected to more than double to 2. 5 billion by 2050 — want to move to EU nations or the U.S., it is unclear how Juncker and others in Brussels could believe illegal immigration could be stopped by introducing “legal pathways” unless these were unlimited in number, essentially amounting to a policy of completely open borders.”
UK: Teachers Need Training to Spot Breast Ironing Abuse, Says Union (breitbart, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/03/26/uk-teachers-need-training-spot-breast-ironing-abuse-says-union/
“A union has called for teachers to be trained on spotting signs of breast ironing and for awareness of the issue to be taught nationally in schools.
Joint president of the National Education Union Kiri Tunks has called for teachers, particularly physical education teachers, to be trained on spotting signs of the mutilation, reports the BBC.
The barbaric West-African origin practice entails the rubbing of hot stones on a pubescent girl’s breasts in an attempt to stop them from growing, causing physical and psychological damage to the victim, with practitioners believing the ironing will prevent unwanted sexual attention from men.
The issue has come to the fore in recent years in the wake of the FGM scandal in the UK — an abusive practice introduced by Muslim and African migrant communities — where despite there being thousands of reported cases only one person has been convicted of FGM under a 30-year-old law.
The calls came as the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show aired a special programme on Tuesday, relaying the stories of a number of women of West African heritage who were subjected to the abuse, often by family members including mothers and sisters…”
Found some interesting RT articles. They were new to me, apologies if repost:
‘Hunt’ for Germans: Police union head slams migrants who attacked people before New Year’s Eve
https://www.rt.com/news/448023-migrants-hunt-germany-police-union/
It is wrong that an incident is called “a ‘hate-fueled hunt’ only when it comes to crimes committed by some far-right extremists,” Rainer Wendt, the head of the German police union, told Bild daily as he called on the German government to take a clear stand on a recent incident. On December 29, several migrant youths attacked passers-by at random on the streets of the southern German town of Amberg.
While police are still investigating the case and providing no details on the suspects’ motives, Wendt was apparently eager to share his own thoughts on the issue. “I will name you the motive: it is deep contempt for our state and for the people who live with us,” he told Bild.
The incident, which provoked such an angry reaction from the police union chief, took place on December 29. Four migrants aged between 17 and 19 and coming from Iran and Afghanistan, went on a rampage near the railway station in Amberg, assaulting and beating people seemingly at random. It was later established that all the assailants were drunk. The scuffles left 12 people injured.
Video:
https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/1081113709815218177
Saudi Arabia on Course for Record Number of Executions in 2019 (sputniknews, Mar 26, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201903261073566392-saudi-arabia-record-number-executions-2019/
“With 43 people already executed in Saudi Arabia in the first few months of 2019, the kingdom is well on its way to setting a new record for the greatest number of executions in a year, according to reports…”
Afghan refugee accused of repeatedly raping 11yo in Germany could avoid trial as he was underage
https://www.rt.com/news/454330-germany-afghan-rape-girl-free/
An Afghan asylum seeker, who has been accused of repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl in Germany, could be set free as his lawyer maintains the refugee was younger than 14 at the time of the incident and cannot be tried.
The Afghan teenager, identified only as Mansoor Q, is suspected of raping the German girl on several occasions in April and May 2018, together with other asylum seekers. According to the prosecution, Mansoor and an Iraqi, identified as Ali Bashar, who is also on trial over a separate rape and murder case, first assaulted the victim near a supermarket in Erbenheim, a borough of the west German city Wiesbaden.
It is alleged Mansoor Q. once again attacked and raped the same girl together with Bashar’s underage brother in a wooded area in Wiesbaden soon after the first attack. According to the prosecution, the victim was also previously raped by Bashar, 22, in late April 2018, when he locked her in his room in an asylum shelter.
However the Afghan may avoid trial as his lawyer told the court he has evidence his client was under 14 – the age of criminal responsibility in Germany – at the time of the alleged attacks.
Mentally unstable cleaver-wielding African migrant walked free in Berlin after 107 arrests
https://www.rt.com/news/443916-migrant-107-arrests-berlin/
A migrant from Ghana, notorious for his shoplifting sprees and violent outbursts, was arrested 107 times in Berlin, but none of them stuck. He even walked free after threatening to hack a woman with a meat cleaver.
For years, a 59-year-old man known as Bismark B. made a living out of stealing from supermarkets in central Berlin. He would show up “three to four times a week” to steal food, a store employee told local media. Witnesses also said that he often grabbed the most expensive items and kept a journal of the things he stole.
Bismark B. racked up 107 arrests, but was released each time because he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
In November 2017, the man threatened a female store employee with a meat cleaver. “He suddenly kicked me in the chest. If a customer wouldn’t have defended me, he would have beaten me,” the woman said.
The incident got him arrested again, but even after that violent outburst, he was let go. Five months later, Bismark B. was caught trying to steal seven bottles of shower gel from a drugstore. He resisted and threatened to kill the store’s employees as they tried to apprehend him.
The court has finally opened a case to decide whether to put Bismark B. in a mental institution.
In a similar case, a migrant from Africa had more than 540 criminal proceedings opened against him and was allowed to walk free in Frankfurt. Since the man had no documents, the authorities didn’t know his country of origin and couldn’t deport him.
Trump Stops Taxpayer-Backed Mortgages for Illegal Aliens
How Democrats are taking the economy hostage to protect illegal aliens.
March 26, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
When Barack Obama implemented his unilateral amnesty for illegal aliens who claimed to have entered this country before the age of sixteen, the illegally amnestied illegals qualified for many benefits.
One of these were FHA loans.
FHA loans are government-backed mortgages meant for poorer Americans unable to qualify for normal mortgages. Democrat abuse of the FHA helped lead to the Great Recession and in the years afterward, FHA insured loans hit losses of $70 billion. By 2012, the FHA was $16 billion in the hole and had to be bailed out. The delinquency rate for FHA loans is still more than three times higher than normal loans, and depending on the period, have hovered between 8% and 14%. Time to bring in the illegal aliens.
When Obama illegally implemented DACA, a program exempting certain illegal aliens from government action, they were also allowed to apply for FHA loans. How many illegal aliens obtained FHA loans?
In December, a letter from three Senate Democrats claimed that HUD barred “approximately 800,000 individuals approved for DACA from FHA-insured mortgage loans”. This refers to the total number of DACA illegal aliens and it’s unknown how many of them have obtained FHA loans in past years.
Ellie Mae’s millennial tracker estimated that the average size of an FHA loan to millennials is $186,454. Potential exposure to illegal alien mortgages could then climb as improbably high as $150 billion.
It’s unknown how many illegal aliens have taken out FHA loans, but some media stories have cited loan officers for whom illegal alien FHA loans represent a significant percentage of their business.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273245/trump-stops-taxpayer-backed-mortgages-illegal-daniel-greenfield
VIDEO Caught on CCTV: Priest stabbed during mass in Montreal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1SCYT2-R4Y
Montreal priest stabbed during mass, hospitalized – police
https://www.rt.com/news/454491-montreal-priest-stabbed-during-mass/
The suspect ran at Father Claude Grou from the back of the rectory and injured him with a sharp weapon, Céline Barbeau, director of communications for the oratory, told the media.
The incident happened during mass and was captured on a livestream, Barbeau said. The police said Father Claude received “light” injuries of his upper body.
Police were called to the scene at about 8:40am local time. By the time they arrived, the attacker had already been restrained by the oratory security staff, Caroline Chèvrefils, the spokesperson for the Montreal force, said.
The same cr@p in France:
Catholic churches in France vandalized, set on fire & smeared with excrement (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
https://www.rt.com/news/454472-arson-vandal-french-catholic-church/
Catholic churches in France are being targeted with arson attacks, vandalism, desecration of holy statues, and the destruction of the Eucharist. The attacks have been happening since the start of the year.
Democrats Created the Russiagate Monster, They Won’t Be Able to Leave It
March 26, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
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Here’s Speaker Pelosi and Dem leaders proposing to once again pivot away from impeachment.
But the rest of the Washington Post story is, predictably, about other Democrats vocally pushing Russiagate.
The Dems have a two-fold problem.
1. Most Americans don’t care about the Russia stuff.
2. A core part of the Dem base cares about almost nothing else. That includes the media, which is making a ton of money from spreading Russiagate conspiracy theories.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/273275/democrats-created-russiagate-monster-they-wont-be-daniel-greenfield
Capitalism vs. Socialism
Women’s March Leader Blames “Jewish Establishment” for NZ Mosque Shooting
March 25, 2019
Daniel Greenfield
Just when you thought that the shameless exploitations of the mosque shootings in New Zealand had reached their peak, the Women’s March, that cozy den of Farrakhan fans, finds a new low.
That’s to say that if you criticize anti-Semitism by Linda Sarsour and Rep. Omar, you have Muslim blood on your hands.
It’s the same argument that Chelsea Clinton was hit with, courtesy of BuzzFeed.
Let’s backtrack for a little context on Bob Bland and the takeover of the Women’s March.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/273267/womens-march-leader-blames-jewish-establishment-nz-daniel-greenfield
Richard: I wonder how much this cost him?
BREAKING! All Charges Dropped In Jussie Smollett Case – Record Expunged
March 26, 2019 By Kristie McDonald
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CHICAGO (CBS) — Less than two weeks after “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty to 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about a hate crime, prosecutors have dropped charges in the case.
https://www.libertybugle.com/breaking-all-charges-dropped-in-jussie-smollett-case-record-expunged/
WSJ: Time for Obama Admin to Account for ‘Historic Abuse of Government Surveillance Powers’
Wall Street Journal assistant editor James Freeman and Sen. Rand Paul are on the same page: the Mueller report confirms it is now time for the Obama administration to account for its flagrant abuse of the surveillance powers of the federal government.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/25/wsj-time-for-obama-admin-to-account-for-historic-abuse-of-government-surveillance-powers/
Pope Francis Tells Rome Mayor to ‘Welcome and Integrate’ Migrants (breitbart, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2019/03/26/pope-francis-tells-rome-mayor-to-welcome-and-integrate-migrants/
“Pope Francis traveled to Rome’s city hall Tuesday, encouraging the mayor and her staff to be welcoming toward migrants and anyone who wants to make his home in the capital.
“Rome, over its nearly 2,800 years of history, has been able to welcome and integrate different populations and people from all over the world, belonging to the most varied social and economic categories,” the pope told Mayor Virginia Raggi in his prepared address, “without canceling their legitimate differences, without humiliating or crushing their respective peculiar characteristics and identity.”
“This city has welcomed students and pilgrims, tourists, refugees and migrants from every region of Italy and from many countries of the world,” he said.
In order to live up to its history, Francis said, Rome must be “a beacon of civilization and a teacher of welcome,” holding onto the wisdom “that is manifested in the ability to integrate and to make everyone feel a full participant in a common destiny.”…”
Russiagate was not a zero-sum game
By Howard Portnoy March 26, 2019
Although House Democrats, foolishly in my opinion, have announced they will move forward with their own probes into Donald Trump’s putative collusion with Russia to sway the 2016 election, the game is for all intents and purposes over. To the extent that there can be a winner in a prolonged and at times acrimonious public audit of a U.S. president, his family, and his confidantes, it is Donald Trump. But the victory is pyrrhic, at best. “The president,” Jack Shafer somewhat ironically notes at Politico, “is not a crook,” to which, if I were Trump, I would say, “Thanks — for nothing.”
A new Hill-HarrisX survey poll out yesterday finds that 54% of Americans now say they’re open to re-electing Trump. That’s rare good news from a survey for this president, but it’s tempered by the bitterness of all that he and his associates have been forced to endure over the past two years. Imagine how much higher his polling numbers might be today if the media had focused their attention on all the good he has done in his first two years rather than on some trumped-up charge.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/03/26/russiagate-was-not-a-zero-sum-game/#!/back
Beto O’Rourke: If Mueller report is not made public, America may not survive another year
Michelle Moons, Breitbart March 26, 2019
[Ed. – A little hyperbole from Skateboard Boy, who still stubbornly insists there was collusion.]
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/03/26/beto-orourke-if-mueller-report-is-not-made-public-america-may-not-survive-another-year/
Beto O’Rourke: If Mueller Report Is Held, America May Not See 244th Year
Democrat 2020 candidate Robert “Beto” O’Rourke warned from the campaign trail in South Carolina Friday night there may not be another year of America if the Mueller report is not made public.
“Republicans and Democrats should do whatever they can to make sure their constituents, the American people, can read that report, form their own judgement, make their own decisions, and that the truth comes out,” O’Rourke said at a campaign stop in South Carolina Friday.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/23/beto-orourke-if-mueller-report-is-held-america-may-not-see-244th-year/
BREAKING: Justice Department sides with court ruling Obamacare unconstitutional
Peter Sullivan, The Hill March 26, 2019
[Ed. – The good news just keeps coming.]
Justice Department sides with court ruling ObamaCare invalid
The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday announced that it is siding with a district court ruling that found the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.
The move is an escalation of the Trump administration’s legal battle against the health care law.
The DOJ previously argued in court that the law’s pre-existing condition protections should be struck down. Now, the administration argues the entire law should be invalidated.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/435759-justice-department-sides-with-court-ruling-obamacare-invalid
Ivy League Jihad: Nearly 70% Of Brown University Undergrads Vote For Boycott of Jews
This reminds me of the officers of the Einsatzgruppen, Hitler’s SS. The brownshirts were special elite SS mobile formations tasked with carrying out the mass murder of Jews, communist functionaries, and others deemed unfit to live by the Nazis. The Einsatzgruppen officers were carefully selected by SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei as well as chief of the Reich Main Security Office Reinhard Heydrich from the best educated. They were “men of letters.” Three of the four commanders held a doctorate, whilst one was a double PhD.
https://gellerreport.com/2019/03/brown-boycotts-jews.html/
“The Einsatzgruppen officers were carefully selected by SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Polizei as well as chief of the Reich Main Security Office Reinhard Heydrich from the best educated.”
Few will ever acknowledge that, after accompanying Einsatzgruppen squads in “field operations”, Himmler was so thoroughly shaken (and saw the deep trauma among his execution teams), that the death camps were constructed to protect genocidal Nazis from any pangs of conscience.
After all, doing the job yourself is always so much messier.
Five Democratic presidential candidates ready to restart Iran deal
Of course they are. President Obama’s radical JCPOA was high treason. It guaranteed that the Islamic Republic of Iran would have the ability to produce nuclear weapons in roughly a decade’s time. President Trump was right to withdraw the United States from the deal.
https://gellerreport.com/2019/03/democratic-candidates-iran.html/
Israel Prepares for War After Jihad Rocket Hits HOME Deep Inside Israel, Wounding Family of 7
Targeting schools and homes is the hallmark of jihad war. Crushing this savage, genocidal force is painfully overdue. It has to happen, best under Trump. The signing of the Golan sovereignty executive order is happening in about an hour, with Trump and Netanyahu.
https://gellerreport.com/2019/03/israel-prepares-for-war-after-rocket-hits-central-israel-home-wounding-family-of-7.html/
Yucki is this the multi front war you said Israel is expecting?
Geller goes over the top.
BuzzFeed on the right.
Bad enough as it is. Worse than her usual unseemly: pushing it to the extreme, lusting for Jewish blood to be spilled for her headlines.
Despicable.
Democratic Senator Tom Udall Announces Retirement
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., announced Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2020 – vacating a seat he’s held since 2009 and ending a career in Washington that spans decades.
Udall, 70, a member of one of the American West’s most prominent political families and cousin of former Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, said in a statement that he plans to use his final years in the Senate to tackle the “three real crises” facing the country.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sen-tom-udall-announces-he-wont-seek-reelection-in-2020
Trump Blames Officials ‘Very High Up’ In Obama Administration For Russian Collusion Debacle
President Trump on Tuesday said the investigation into whether he or members of his campaign colluded with Russians to sway the outcome of the 2016 election began on orders from officials “very high up” in the Obama administration.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/trump-blames-officials-very-high-up-in-obama-administration-for-russian-collusion-debacle/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20March%2026,%202019%20at%2003:06:06%20PM
Top Chicago Cop Slams Prosecutors For Dropping Charges Against Smollett ‘They Brokered a Deal in Secret to Circumvent Judicial System’ (VIDEO)
Crooked Chicago prosecutors dropped the charges against hate hoaxer Jussie Smollett on Tuesday.
Chicago police are furious over state’s attorney Kim Foxx’s decision to drop all charges against Jussie Smollett.
Smollett reached a deferred prosecution deal and the judge sealed his case!
https://twitter.com/i/status/1110598562335723520
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/top-chicago-cop-slams-prosecutors-for-dropping-charges-against-smollett-they-brokered-a-deal-in-secret-to-circumvent-judicial-system-video/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20March%2026,%202019%20at%2003:06:06%20PM
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Furious After Hoaxer Smollett Walks: “How Dare He!… A Whitewash of Justice” (VIDEO)
Despite the evidence against Jussie Smollett the Cook County State’s Attorney dropped ALL 16 CHARGES against Smollett on Tuesday!
Smollett left the court today and LIED, telling reporters racist, homophobic Trump supporters beat him in a cold Chicago street.
This afternoon even Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel condemned the Cook County Attorney’s decision to release Smollett.
Rahm told reporters this was a “whitewash of justice.”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1110601496750710784
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/mayor-rahm-emanuel-furious-after-hoaxer-smollett-walks-a-whitewash-of-justice-video/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20March%2026,%202019%20at%2003:06:06%20PM
Blackwash.
The Hill NPC MEDIA DIED ON
Ok I have suspected BPS was antisemitic for some time now but this video solidified it for me.
He told 2 lies to demonize Trump and Jews. A package that goes together quite often in antisemite circles.
He said “Trump hasn’t built a wall or done anything for free speech but just did things for Israel” or something very close to that.
In fact President Trump tied college funding to free speech and there is miles and miles of wall built and being built. And his actions for Israel are symbolic. he moved the embassy and agreed that Golan was theirs.
So at this point I think we can safely say, once he starts lying about Donald Trump, that he is an antisemite.
He’s right there with Ann Coulter and Rand Paul.
fehRand Paul: You can’t obstruct justice when there wasn’t a crime
Obama admin intelligence officers under fire for Trump investigation
“The Most Moronic Director the CIA Ever Had.” Donald Trump, Jr. on AMERICA First
Who speaks for Islam in the Middle East, new study asks (mee, Mar 26, 2019)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/who-speaks-islam-middle-east-new-study-asks
“Their names are well known and their words carry weight depending on who’s listening.
To Muslims in the Middle East, Qatar-based Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi; Rached el-Ghannouchi, co-founder of the Islamist Ennahdha party in Tunisia; Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanon’s Hezbollah; and Egyptian preacher Amr Khaled are leaders in their own right.
But how much trust do individual Muslims have in these leaders’ holds on religious authority? How much power do these figures actually wield? And more broadly, who speaks for Islam in the Middle East?
A new study by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy has attempted to answer these questions.
To do it, the study’s authors gauged the public’s opinion towards religious leaders across a dozen countries in the region and mapped the channels that link average Muslim citizens to various actors who claim to hold religious authority, from mainstream Islamists and Salafists, to state-affiliated officials and scholars, to jihadis and Sufis.
Islamic authority has always puzzled United States policymakers because it is non-hierarchical and decentralised – with the exception of some hierarchy in Shia Islam – so the study was carried out in part to make recommendations for US officials.
A. Kadir Yildirim, a Middle East fellow at the Baker Institute in Houston, Texas, who oversaw the study, says the time has never been better to delve into Islamic religious authority in the region.
In fact, it’s imperative, he said last week during an event at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, “when religious actors play an increasingly prominent role in the Middle East and the religion-politics nexus appears to have gained greater traction”.
Mapping religious authority in the region is no easy task, however, said Yildirim.
12-country survey
Accordingly, the study’s authors conducted a 12-country public opinion survey, asking about 16,500 respondents their views on 82 religious leaders.
The survey polled half of the 24 Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East, posing questions to members of the public in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the UAE.
In addition to identifying six prominent religious leaders in each country, the poll also included questions about seven transnational religious figures.
The results painted a picture of a complex religious space that reflected Muslims’ nuanced approach towards religion and its relationship with politics, explained Yildirim.
The findings on the popularity and religious influence of Islamist actors varied across the region, but in most countries polled, these figures carried notable approval.
For example, in Iran, where 2,032 people were polled, more than 50 percent said they approved of Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader.
In Morocco, where close to 3,000 people answered the survey, close to half of the respondents said they trusted Mohammed IV, the country’s king, who explicitly claims religious authority as Amir al-Mumineen (Commander of the Faithful), according to the study.
But while some respondents agreed with the religious leaders’ statements, in some cases they disavowed them once they were told who said them – if they generally held that person in disregard.
The poll asked respondents directly about their level of trust and approval of these religious figures. They also asked some questions indirectly – due to the sensitive topics discussed – to make the statements, not the leaders, the main focus, Yildirim said.
The study’s findings also showed that state-affiliated religious figures enjoyed widespread trust and approval among respondents, contrary to the surveyors’ expectations.
The survey also found that these figures wielded the most influence in countries where religion is a key element of national identity, such as Iran, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
But there was a caveat: Support was conditional on the figures using a nonpartisan approach to religion.
“Jordanians [for example] are highly religiously observant and endorse some role for Sharia in the country’s constitution, but at the same time there does seem to be a public consensus against any mixing of religion with partisan politics,” said Scott Williamson, a PhD candidate at Stanford University and a Graduate Research Fellow at the National Science Foundation.
“For instance, Jordanians really don’t want religious officials or mosques influencing voters’ choices and elections,” Williamson said.
Extremist discourse
The most concerning finding in the study, however, Yildirim said, is that “extremist religious discourse has a sizeable audience”.
The respondents shunned extremist figures like Islamic State (IS) group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi when asked directly. But support for al-Baghdadi’s views was high when respondents were asked to respond to his statements – without his name being revealed.
Support was particularly high in Tunisia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco – countries from which large numbers of citizens have left to join IS in Syria.
Based on their findings, the study’s authors made several recommendations for US policymakers, including a call for a long-term strategy in Syria to achieve social reform and address major issues that feed extremism.
They also said that policymakers should look to state religious leaders who have considerable influence and could boost reform efforts in the realms of education, women’s rights and democratisation.
This was the case in Jordan and Tunisia, for example, where such policies led to changes in inheritance laws and family planning.
Citing Tunisia as an example, the study’s authors said Islamists could play either the role of spoiler or driver of reforms, just as the ruling Ennahdha party did in the aftermath of the Jasmine Revolution.
State actors’ limitations
Indeed, while it’s important to engage state actors, “it’s essential to understand their limitations … since their authority is by no means absolute”, said Courtney Freer, a fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), whose work focuses on Arab Gulf states.
Freer said “the rise of the Sahwa movement in the 1990s and more recently in 2011” in Saudi Arabia is a good example of this.
The Saudi Islamist movement heavily criticised American intervention in the Gulf and called for greater democracy and political reforms in the kingdom.
The movement was once “by far the largest and best organised non-state group, with arguably hundreds of thousands of members … [whose] mobilising capacity is huge”, according to Stephane Lacroix, an assistant professor at Sciences Po and the author of Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Saudi Arabia. The group has since been sidelined.
Freer also noted that “state-linked authorities who were once considered more widely influential across borders no longer wield the influence they once did”.
“I think [this] is most clearly evidenced by the overwhelmingly negative endorsement we saw regarding the Grand Imam of al-Azhar,” she said, referring to the study’s finding that only 26 percent of respondents in Saudi Arabia trusted Ahmed El-Tayeb, even though al-Azhar is Sunni Islam’s oldest seat of learning and an important institution for Islamic religious doctrine.
In the end, the Baker Institute study presents an opportunity to devise foreign policy that can better address issues such as extremism and violence, its authors concluded.
But it’s crucial not to limit engagement with religion and religious figures in the Middle East simply along the lines of extremism, cautioned Yildirim.
“Religion permeates various aspects of life in societies across the Middle East,” he said.
“Reducing it to extremism and extremist violence alone compromises the ability of the US foreign policy to engage with a much larger population and a broader set of issues.””
“Cultural Marxism” Trends on Twitter