Contributor’s links post for April 15, 2019

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

161 Replies to “Contributor’s links post for April 15, 2019”

  1. Interview: Ex-Afghan Warlord Says ‘No Doubt’ Pakistan ‘Supports’ Taliban (rferl, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.rferl.org/a/afghanistan-gulbuddin-mujahideen/29881053.html

    “Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of Afghanistan’s most notorious former warlords, said there is “no doubt” neighboring Pakistan supports the Afghan Taliban.

    In an interview with RFE/RL in the Afghan capital on April 14, Hekmatyar also expressed hope that talks scheduled this week between the Western-backed Kabul government and the Taliban could prove a significant step towards ending the war.

    U.S. and Afghan officials have long accused Pakistan of providing safe havens for the militants, a claim rejected by Islamabad.

    Hekmatyar forged close ties with Pakistan’s shadowy military establishment and its notorious spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), a relationship that was built during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when the mujahideen commander was one of the main beneficiaries of Pakistani and CIA money and weapons.

    “Pakistan has an interest in Afghanistan’s political affairs,” said Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-e Islami militant group signed a controversial peace accord with the Kabul government in 2016. “Pakistan is supporting the Taliban. There is no doubt about it.”

    Hekmatyar said Pakistan now sees the war in Afghanistan as “more harmful” than beneficial to its interests, especially because of a crippling financial crisis and growing international pressure on Islamabad to clamp down on the Taliban.

    Washington has said Pakistan is playing a positive role in the ongoing U.S.-Taliban peace talks in Qatar that are aimed at ending the nearly 18-year war.

    U.S. and Taliban negotiators have held several rounds of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, culminating in the basic framework of a potential peace deal in which the militants would prevent international terrorist groups from basing themselves in Afghanistan in exchange of a withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

    That framework deal is dependent on a political settlement among Afghans, including the Kabul government, the Taliban, and opposition figures.

    The Taliban long refused to talk with Kabul, calling it a U.S. “puppet,” although Kabul has said a government delegation will meet the Taliban for introductory talks in Doha on April 19.

    Hekmatyar is a member of the Reconciliation Leadership Council, a new council led by President Ashraf Ghani, that will appoint negotiators for the April 19-21 talks with the Taliban, create their mandate for talks, and oversee their work.

    The council is composed of both current and former senior government officials and leaders of political parties and opposition groups.

    The 69-year-old said he hopes the council will bridge chronic divisions among the political elite over peace talks with the Taliban, but warned that Kabul should not sideline powerful opposition figures from the process.

    “Peace should not be monopolized,” said Hekmatyar, a candidate in the presidential elections scheduled for September. “Peace is a national issue. An agreement requires us all to engage honestly and unconditionally.””

  3. NR: Jordan Peterson rehabilitates one of the English language’s most maligned words (something I’ve been screaming about for decades).

    • Thanks NR for posting this short clip.
      And yes, the word discriminate has been much abused.

      • “And yes, the word discriminate has been much abused.”

        You are most welcome, Babs. “Discriminate”, like “judgement” and “ego”, are terms so embedded into English that the only way of “un-defining” them is by attributing truly base connotations to these terms where none previously existed.

        It’s bad to discriminate! Except when you’re trying to figure out what color the traffic light is.

        NOTE: — Traditional RYG stop signals used to be strung horizontally across intersections until it turned out that colorblind drivers could not properly discriminate (there’s that icky word!) between red and green lamps. After that, vertically configured illuminated controls were mandated. —

        Who am I to judge? How about when you “judge” whether or not to enter a cab with a drunken hack or cross the street in front of a fast moving dump truck … is that a bad thing?

        Why is ego so important?!? People without egos routinely prove to be among some of the most gullible and dangerous “sheeple” ever born.

        Full stop.

        It’s why I so often rant about the proper naming of things. This butchering of language is just one or two steps away from slaughtering people. Here’s two closing quotes that, by now, may be familiar to some:

        Wherever they burn books, they will also burn people at the end.

        — Heinrich Heine

        And …

        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

  4. THE BEST documentary on golodomor/hlodomor/the intentional genocide of Ukraine/Russian farmers I have EVER come across. Rings true and brings up aspects not brought up by other documentaries….and I speak as a great-grand-child of people labelled as ‘kulaks’!

    • Sorry – very wrong link – bad migraine, not operating at full capacity, please excuse…proper link:

      • LOL! And I’m watching these animal clips thinking to myself “What am I supposed to deduce about the Ukrainian famine?
        I know X puts up some very worthwhile info…”
        Thanks X, you made my morning!!!

          • “I think the title “Animals Being Jerks” works for both videos.”

            Blast your eyes, Johnnyu! That retort was on my lips all the while I was composing my first reply.

              • “HA! Snooze ya lose!”

                This time’s the glove’s on the other foot! Let’s see where you manage to fit in, “a well-hamburgered, panic-stricken airline passenger who was slowly reviving from a weapons-grade hangover”, in your daily scribbling.

                So there!

                PS: Just for you, Johnnyu, another priceless little vignette from David Zucker. Ah, for the good old days back when people were still allowed to express opinions.

    • “THE BEST documentary on golodomor/hlodomor/the intentional genocide of Ukraine/Russian farmers I have EVER come across. Rings true and brings up aspects not brought up by other documentaries….and I speak as a great-grand-child of people labelled as ‘kulaks’!

      Thank you, Xan. This clip’s one helluva a way to start a day, but there you have it. The Holomodor is an atrocity that’s yet to receive the sort of disinfecting sunlight that it both deserves and will forever show Stalin as the genocidal, power-mad ghoul he always was.

      For several years now, I have been spreading awareness about this human (and environmental) atrocity whenever I list to people all the death tolls of Socialist states. While I know a lot of what was shown in the film, I did not know it in such proper historical order.

      As always, context can be everything, especially so for history and ideology. Lenin and his diabolical familiars were like black pearls strung together on a choker cinched around the necks of uncooperative Russians.

      “As many inspectors as as farmers”, reminds me very little of an old engineering maxim about documentation.

      Cohn’s Law: The more time you spend in reporting on what you are doing, the less time you have to do anything. Stability is achieved when you spend all your time reporting on the nothing you are doing.

      So did the USSR’s insane bureaucracy cripple itself. According to legend, it was easier to ship in spare parts and ammunition for the machine guns of Marine embassy guards than it was to get spare parts for the Ambassador’s copy machine.

      Imagine an inverted power pyramid like the Soviet Union (one which utterly relied on triplicate forms for individual thumbtacks) being terrified of reprographic technology. The paperwork overhead alone handicapped this monster from square one.

      Well, I’m past the 100 word mark and that last wisecrack is making my pet Trowel of Cosmic Irony antsy for a stroll. Whilst I rummage about for the leash, here’s two last things:

      As with so many of the great postings at VTB, just this one post has triggered (imagine enjoying being triggered) an entire essay about prototypical propaganda and how human genius transcends temporal situations with tools that, all too often, exceed the capacity of man’s present moral dimensions.

      Atomic weapons are one of these technologies and—as too many are finding out to their immense woe—(and like any fine amoral tool held in corrupt hands), the Internet is proving another. This digital utensil is one whose powers of control overwhelm the moral compunction of what can only be called a bunch of greedy shithead scumbags a pack of predatory parasites currently parading about as a self-anointed aristocracy called “The 1%.

      To close, a lot of modern human life tends to aggravate ancient human responses. Chief among them is WAR the “flight or flight” syndrome. In turn, this perceived condition of peril (genuine or not) causes the body to undergo adrenaline release.

      A key feature of the epinephrine tide is its vasodilator properties which assure good blood supply to key bodily areas like the brain. Problems start when, after a period of prolonged tension, the blood vessel walls lose their turgor and partially collapse.

      Although this temporary constriction usually does not initiate vascular occlusion, it can markedly decrease blood flow to the brain and cause what are more commonly known as headaches. While migraines have other specific pathologies unrelated to this adrenaline mechanism, there still may be some benefit derived from an old first aid trick.

      NOTE: — I’ve used this method with fair success at 40,000 feet while treating a well-hamburgered, panic-stricken airline passenger who was slowly reviving from a weapons-grade hangover returning from his month-long bender in Thailand. —

      To wit: Take some crushed ice and wrap it in a washcloth. Place the entire meghilla into a plastic bag and drape that around your neck like some Hawaiian Dendrobiums. This will help your brain’s principal circulatory vessels regain their vascular tone and resume full functionality.

      Ice + Washcloth + Bag + Neck = Possibly Faster End to Migraine

      I hope this helps and, again, thank you.

      NR

          • The term “LOL” doesn’t express the snort that scrumped outta my shnauze. Yes, banana baaad.

            • “Yes, banana baaad.”

              Will the two of you stop monkeying around with your Newspeak and get back to work already?!?

              And leave that last double-stuffed (high yaller) Golden Oreo for me, will ya!!!

      • Take some crushed ice and wrap it in a washcloth. Place the entire meghilla into a plastic bag…

        I say this gently, dear Norse:
        ! MALAPROP alert !
        meghilla or megillah
        A story, not a substance.

        Megillah comes from the word “Scroll” (pl. Megillot), one of the 5 Scrolls in the Hebrew Scriptures. These are: Song of Songs, Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther.

        The Book of Esther is commonly called the Megillah.
        Slang usage: megillah, a detailed and tedious story.

        • “ In Ashkenazi communities, the Berakha of Lishmowa’ Meghilla is substituted.”

          Hell, I’m not even up for a good rhubarb. Fuggedaboutit.

          Thank you anyway, yucki.

    • This is sickening, the leftest who support this evil should be exiled to some island in the middle of nowhere and allowed to rot.

      • “This is sickening, the leftest who support this evil should be exiled to some island in the middle of nowhere and allowed to rot.”

        In a rare difference of opinion, I must disagree with you.

        By now, it’s more than a little clear that, from top to bottom, humanity hasn’t a £ü¢kïñg clue about the suffering which is intrinsic to all Culturally Marxist Socialism.

        Much like how Red China is irreparably raping out its own environment in the name of economic dominance: So is it far better that yonder Latin American $h!thølê slides over the event horizon rather than, let’s just say, Mexico.

        Propaganda’s tragically insane power over the functionally illiterate continues to obscure historic abortions like the USSR and Communist China. Well beyond mere insanity is the likelihood that not even a complete and total meltdown of the PRC would stop Socialists from screeching, “It just hasn’t been done right, yet!”

        This probability indicates that no-£ü¢kïñg-body has truly gotten a big enough snootful of this evil quite yet. Let these Caracan diableros immolate another few million in front of the primetime cameras until people really get their fill.

        If Trump and his appointed successor can stay at the helm just long enough to let a few more of these tyrannous Socialist and Islamic cesspits go tits up, there might be a chance for civilization to survive.

        HERE’S THE CORKER: By every observable metric, the world is headed towards millions of deaths (many of them avoidable) due to Political climate change. Global warming or cooling will NEVER be able to kill so many millions with the speed that Socialism openly promises to do.

        It will be shown that advances in easily proliferated, light combat weapons have the ability to make last century’s World War death tolls look like a walk in the park. This simple fact added to the brutal violence of zealots, presages multiple, concurrent genocidal tyrannies at total ease with indiscriminate slaughter of their own kind and others.

        Either way, MILLIONS ARE GOING TO DIE. Again, only willful and intentionally spread ignorance make this avoidable loss of life so inevitable.

        Since that is most assuredly the case, let Communist China and Venezuela (along with their neighboring dominoes) be the Mutt and Jeff poster kids for this generation’s introductory class to Social Engineering. Better that these collectivist cesspits sink into eons of darkness, than allowing the lamp over America’s Golden Door to flicker and die.

  7. BREXIT BETRAYAL TREACHERY OR OCTOBER REFORMATION
    video – 22 minutes 51 seconds
    Mini Documentary covering the recent delay in implementing Brexit to a new deadline of October 31st 2019. The video includes a brief exploration of England’s political history through Magna Carta and the English Civil War courtesy of and with full permission from Sceptered Isle Productions. The video’s primary focus is to inform the public on the real issues behind the present political crisis in Britain. Nicholas Szkiler

  10. THE BUSINESS OF CANCER [CANCER RESEARCH UK]
    video – 71 minutes
    Journalist and Broadcaster Sonia Poulton explores cancer in the UK. She talks with scientists, surgeons, doctors, politicians, academics, campaigners, industry insiders, authors and those on the frontline: the patients, themselves.

  12. ****HOW ISLAM IS INFILTRATING AMERICA’S LAST LINE OF DEFENSE Phil Haney
    video – 36 minutes 21 seconds

  13. WHY DEMOCRATS ARE SO DANGEROUS
    Who riots and demands that our freedoms and rights be cut back? Who wants the First Amendment curbed? Who is it that wants the Second Amendment abolished? Who wants carbon energy abandoned in twelve years? Who wants mothers to have the right to kill their babies before and after birth? Who fights against any public display of faith and Christianity and can’t even decide if God exists? Who wants biological laws revised? Who allows men, pretending to be women, to use women’s rest rooms? Who is it that demands open borders that would destroy our national sovereignty, spread disease and crime? Who is fighting to do away with the Electoral College that would effectively eliminate the voices of the majority of states in the selection of president? Who wants illegal aliens to vote? Who wants to confiscate wealth and distribute it along racial lines? What Democrat says stupid things to Black voters like ‘Vote for a Republican and they’ll put you back in chains?’…back in chains? It was Democrats that put people IN chains. Who wants socialism, a system, despite Democrat propaganda, that has never been successful in any country and has killed millions? As of this writing there are eighteen Democrat presidential candidates. Every one endorses each of the deranged positions above. Democrats are dangerous. They will say anything to win an election. They have run out of ideas, so they are content to just force open everyone’s pocket and distribute the contents to any supporter who will vote for them. They neither share in our founding fathers’ dream nor believe in it. They are dangerous because they are a dying party. [Not unlike the UK Conservative and Labour parties!] Ray DiLorenzo
    https://canadafreepress.com/article/why-democrats-are-so-dangerous

  14. CHRISTIANS SHOULD ADVOCATE FOR THE CRIMINALIZATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY
    God ordained the civil government for a purpose — and the purpose is to bear the sword of justice (Romans 13). The practice of homosexuality in a society is most certainly an act of injustice to which the sword of righteousness should be brought to bear upon. It doesn’t just affect those who practice it, it affects children involved in these families that are torn apart, it affects society through the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and it affects the mental stability of those who witness such perverse behaviors. Christians should be as adamant about stopping homosexuality as they are about murder and other destructive behaviors. Jeff Maples
    https://reformationcharlotte.org/2019/04/13/christians-should-advocate-for-the-criminalization-of-homosexuality/

  15. ALMOST 100 ABORTION CLINIC WORKERS SEEK TO LEAVE INDUSTRY AFTER SEEING PRO-LIFE MOVIE ‘UNPLANNED’
    One percent of the abortion workers in the United States, after getting one look at them being portrayed on film,” he said, “have decided to change their lives … and what they do for a living. In an interview earlier this year with Faithwire, Konzelman said “Unplanned” was made “for such a time as this,” noting the series of pro-abortion bills that have passed state houses across the U.S. in recent months. “We couldn’t have foreseen the rapid developments that are suddenly coming to a head,” he said, “but we serve a God who could, and did.” Tre Goins-Phillips
    http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2019/april/almost-100-abortion-clinic-workers-seek-to-leave-industry-after-seeing-pro-life-movie-lsquo-unplanned-rsquo

  16. CANADA: SO I GOT A LETTER FROM THE RCMP ABOUT THE MOSQUE SHOOTING…
    video – 10 minutes 3 seconds

  17. RASMUS PALUDAN PROTEST LEADS TO MAJOR RIOTS – CAR BOMBS – IN COPENHAGEN
    video – 9 minutes 22 seconds
    This is a major event. Rasmus Paludan, Danish lawyer and journalist, went out to protest Islam and leftism as he frequently does, and a car bomb was set off with threats to set of another, ANTIFA came out and attacked police, and tires were burned. The city of Copenhagen declared an emergency.
    https://bit.tube/play?hash=QmPp4GQniQcZ1kaXADpf4cisNH8Ld3ML6xeME5jfwvGmQX&channel=251530

  18. LIBYA: QATAR SUPPLYING MISURATA TERRORISTS AGAINST UN SECURITY COUNCIL AND THE WORLD
    The criminal state of Qatar has flown into Misurata, military hardware, planes and mercenary pilots to support the terrorist militias against the Libyan people. Where is mother Russia? Where is Egypt? Past time to stop this criminal support of terrorists against Libya by the terrorist states of Qatar and Turkey. Qatar has been stealing oil and wealth from Libya since 2011, they want to continue their rape of Libya. WHERE IS THE WORLD?? WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?? JoanneM
    http://libyanwarthetruth.com/qatar-supplying-misurata-terrorists-against-un-seurity-council-and-world

    • So I clicked on that link and now they all show, but they don’t play. I have refused to accept YouTube’s terms of service, so it could be due to that. But before I could view the videos if linked.

  20. French-Made Weapons Reportedly Used in Yemen War, More Arms to Be Delivered (sputniknews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201904151074138622-french-amde-weapons-yemen-war-report/

    “Reporters accuse the French government of concealing information about the deployment of these weapons – including battle tanks, artillery, helicopters, and fighter jets – against the civilian population.

    Journalists claim to have uncovered the “massive use” of French-made weapons in war-torn Yemen through a leak of secret military documents.

    Radio France and investigative reporters from the NGO Disclose say they have obtained a classified 2018 report about French arms sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which form part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi militiamen in Yemen since 2015.

    The paper was allegedly compiled last September by France’s military agency DRM and handed over to President Emmanuel Macron and other cabinet-level officials. It apparently contains a list of all French weapons deployed in Yemen by the two Arab monarchies.

    “These include Leclerc battle tanks, long-rod penetrator ammunition, Mirage 2000-9 fighter jets, COBRA counter-battery radar systems, Aravis armoured troop-carrying vehicles, Cougar and Dauphin helicopters, CAESAR truck-mounted howitzers,” reads a statement on Disclose’s website.

    The journalists went on to claim that some of the French-made weapons are being used in combat operations in Yemen, including in civilian zones. Specifically, two French-made warships — a missile-launching corvette and a warfare frigate — are said to be taking part in the naval blockade of Yemen, as per the report…”

  22. Head of Libyan Gov’t’s Anti-Terrorist Service Injured in Bomb Blast – Source (sputniknews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/201904151074139895-libyan-government-of-national-accord-bomb-blast/

    “The head of the counterterrorism service at the Interior Ministry of the Libyan Tobruk-based government, backed by the Libyan National Army (LNA), has been injured in a car bomb blast in Benghazi, a source in the ministry told Sputnik.

    “A bomb-laden car has exploded in Sidi Khalifa near the eastern entrance to Benghazi. [The explosion] was targeting the head of the counterterrorism service at the Interior Ministry,” the source said.

    According to the source, the injured official has been transported to a hospital, and his condition is stable…”

  23. New Zealand Sends Special Forces to Syria to Rescue Daesh Hostage (sputniknews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/201904151074138018-daesh-syria-new-zealand-nurse-hostage-abduction/

    “Details of the kidnapping of Louisa Akavi had been kept under wraps until the International Committee of the Red Cross appealed on Sunday for news about the 62-year-old nurse and two Syrian drivers kidnapped with her in October 2013.

    Breaking its silence on the case, the independent aid agency identified the three kidnapped as Akavi and Syrian drivers Alaa Rajab and Nabil Bakdounes. New Zealand revealed Monday that it had dispatched a special forces unit to Syria to search for Louisa Akavi who was abducted by Daesh* some six years ago…..

    “We call on anyone with information to please come forward. If our colleagues are still being held, we call for their immediate and unconditional release.”

    According to the New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, information about the kidnapping had not been previously released for fear that any publicity would place them at greater risk, however, it was believed Akavi was still held by Daesh and there were ongoing operations to locate.

    “This has involved members of the NZDF (New Zealand defense force) drawn from the Special Operations Force, and personnel have visited Syria from time to time as required,” Peters said.

    This non-combat team was specifically focused on locating Louisa and identifying opportunities to recover her.”The New York Times has reported the Red Cross has reason to believe she is alive, because at least two people described seeing her in December at a clinic in Sousa, and believed it was likely Akavi’s nursing skills that kept her alive, because of her usefulness to Daesh as it came under heavy attack.”

  24. India, Pakistan Exchange Heavy Fire Along Border After Brief Respite (sputniknews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/asia/201904151074142683-india-pakistan-exchange-fire/

    “The last one and a half months has seen some 513 ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC), a de-facto border between India and Pakistan. There was a lull in the firing for a brief period in the past few days but clashes have reportedly resumed.

    New Delhi (Sputnik): Indian and Pakistani troops have once again exchanged fire along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Rajouri district of the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    “The heavy exchange of mortar and small arms firing took place at about 0815 hrs local time in Nowshera sector of Rajouri,” a government official told journalists.

    On Friday, four Indians, including a girl, were injured due to shelling in forward areas of the Swajin sector of Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir state.

    Last week, the Indian Army claimed that it had registered at least 513 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir since mid-February.

    Tensions between the neighbours escalated after the Pulwama terrorist attack in which at least 40 Indian soldiers were killed on 14 February. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and the Indian government accused Islamabad of harbouring and sponsoring the Islamist terrorist outfit…”

  25. Sweden Threatens EU States With Sanctions Over Immigration (sputniknews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201904151074137362-sweden-immigration-sanctions/

    “Sweden embraced immigration and is undergoing a rapid change in the demographics of its population; now Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has threatened to sanction others who don’t share the same attitude.

    Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is ready to impose sanctions on EU countries that oppose the reception of refugees, such as Hungary.

    “Yes, I am ready to do this,” Löfven said in an interview with the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, addressing the possibility of sanctions. “Because sooner or later we have to take joint responsibility for receiving migrants. One, two or three countries cannot bear it, we need to help with this.”

    “If they are not ready to take responsibility, then it will come at a cost, it will not be possible to receive EU funds in the same way as today,” Löfven continued. “Hungary is one of the countries that gets the most. It is unacceptable that the country that received the most support from the EU said: ‘No, we do not take responsibility for immigration’.”

    Löfven stressed his readiness to put his foot down and stressed that several other countries are prepared to follow suit.

    Finally, Löfven expressed hope that the EU will be able to work out a common immigration policy, which clearly isn’t the case now.

    Löfven has long urged for the fair distribution of migrants, calling on fellow EU members to pull their weight. Several East European nations, such as Poland and Hungary, have rejected the notion that they must receive asylum seekers from other EU countries.

    During Europe’s migrant crisis, Sweden emerged as one of the most generous EU countries. In 2015 alone, during the peak of the crisis, a record 163,000 asylum seekers arrived in Sweden, a nation of 10 million. Following this record, the highest per capita in Europe, Sweden has been taking in over 20,000 asylum seekers per year.

    Hungary, a similar-sized country, has effectively opposed non-white immigration, which has landed Budapest on a collision course with Brussels. While over a quarter of the Swedish population have an immigrant background, Hungary remains 93 percent Hungarian.”

  28. Teenager is ‘burned alive by a gang of attackers’ at her school after accusing her headteacher of rape in Bangladesh (dailymail, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6923609/Teenager-burned-alive-gang-attackers-school-accusing-headteacher-rape.html

    “An 18-year-old student has died after she was allegedly set on fire by a gang – after refusing to withdraw attempted rape claims against the head teacher of her school.

    Nusrat Jahan Femi was doused in flammable liquid and set alight on the roof of her school in Dhaka, Bangladesh, according to reports.

    She died five days ago in Dhaka Medical College Hospital with 75 per cent burns to her body but relayed details of the attack to her brother as protests erupted across Bangladesh.

    The principal, Siraj-ud-Daula, has been in jail since the end of last month because of the claims from the girl that he attempted to rape her in his office, yet police say he ‘instructed’ the attack.

    Police said 13 people, including two girls, were involved in Nusrat’s killing.

    Forces arrested eight people in connection with her death and announced that a teacher was among those allegedly involved.

    Police Bureau of Investigations chief Banaj Kanti Majumdar said several people including one defendant visited the principal in jail days before the attack.

    The brutal scene took place minutes before Nusrat was due to take an Arabic exam, her brother told local media…”

  30. Richard: Here is the solution to the rejection issue in transplanted organs.

    Israeli scientists ‘print’ world’s first 3D heart with human tissue
    A team of Tel Aviv University researchers revealed the heart, which was made using a patient’s own cells and biological materials.

    On Monday, a team of Tel Aviv University researchers revealed the heart, which was made using a patient’s own cells and biological material. Until now, scientists have successfully printed only simple tissues without blood vessels.

    “This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers,” said Prof. Tal Dvir of TAU’s School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, and the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, who was the lead researcher for the study.

    He worked with Prof. Assaf Shapira of TAU’s Faculty of Life Sciences, and Nadav Moor, a doctoral student. Their research was published in Advanced Science.

    Heart disease is the leading cause of death among both men and women in the United States. In Israel, it is the second largest cause of death (after cancer). In 2013, heart disease accounted for about 16% of the total number of deaths in Israel, according to the Health Ministry.

    https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-scientists-print-first-3D-heart-586902

  31. ‘White male titans’ of classical music are putting young people off the art form, Royal Albert Hall director claims (telegraph, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/14/white-male-titans-classical-music-putting-young-people-art-form/

    “The “White male titans” of classical music are putting young people off the art form, the Royal Albert Hall director has claimed.

    While Mozart, Beethoven and Bach are all household names, female composers and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are much less celebrated, according to a new survey.

    Young people are also suffering from a lack of access to the genre because of the poor levels of music education in the UK, says Lucy Noble, artistic and commercial director at the Royal Albert Hall.

    Ms Noble said the issues surrounding arts education need to be addressed if gender parity in the industry is to be achieved.

    New data released by the Royal Albert Hall indicates the top 10 classical composers most recognised by Brits are male.

    Mozart (recognised by 70 per cent), Beethoven (70 per cent) and Bach (60 per cent), topped the list, in a survey of 1,000 adults.

    In comparison, female composers had significantly lower recognition, with Fanny Mendelsshon, Clara Schumann and Hildegard von Bingen known to just 30 per cent, 17 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.

    The Hall says the relative lack of awareness around Fanny Mendelsshon’s work may be explained by the fact that much of her music was published under her more famous brother Felix’s name.

    Ms Noble said: “History has left us a legacy of great classical composers – Mozart, Bach and Schubert to name a few.

    “But we must make sure that young people are exposed to not just these white, male titans, but women, and that those from minority backgrounds are recognised too.”

    She also pointed to a lack of education as the reason Britons are more likely to recognise a male composer than a female one.

    Ms Noble told the Press Association: “With modern day composers, it needs to start with the grass roots.

    “And if people aren’t getting into music and having the music education that they require in the first place, then that in a way comes before the gender equality part.

    “So what is happening is this divide being created between people with the knowledge, and who can afford it, being able to give their children access to music.

    “But for people who don’t have the know-how or can’t afford to pay for private lessons, and the schools aren’t delivering that really important music education, then what hope have they actually got? The opportunities just aren’t there for them at all.”

    Asked whether this was widening the gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged, she said “absolutely” and that diversity is a difficult topic.

    Ms Noble added: “People who come from a more challenged background – whether that is financial challenges or other challenges – are not going to have the opportunities that the people who are more wealthy and have the opportunities do.”

    She said schools need to “step up” to make sure everyone has access to music, but that organisations like the Royal Albert Hall also have a role to play.

    The Hall offers opportunities off the stage for young women through its apprenticeships programme and Young Producers initiative.

    Its education & outreach programme reached more than 215,000 participants last year, working with schools, young people and the community, as well as other charities such as Music for Youth.”

  32. The U.S. Is Losing a Major Front to China in the New Cold War

    (Bloomberg) — A swathe of the world is adopting China’s vision for a tightly controlled internet over the unfettered American approach, a stunning ideological coup for Beijing that would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago.

    Vietnam and Thailand are among the Southeast Asian nations warming to a governance model that twins sweeping content curbs with uncompromising data controls — because it helps preserve the regime in power. A growing number of the region’s increasingly autocratic governments watched enviously the emergence of Chinese corporate titans from Tencent Holdings Ltd. to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. — in spite of draconian online curbs. And now they want the same.

    The more free-wheeling Silicon Valley model once seemed unquestionably the best approach, with stars from Google to Facebook to vouch for its superiority. Now, a re-molding of the internet into a tightly controlled and scrubbed sphere in China’s image is taking place from Russia to India. Yet it’s Southeast Asia that’s the economic and geopolitical linchpin to Chinese ambitions and where U.S.-Chinese tensions will come to a head: a region home to more than half a billion people whose internet economy is expected to triple to $240 billion by 2025.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-wins-allies-vision-ideological-210000131.html

  33. Lammy Demands Illegal Migrant Amnesty, Says Comparing Brexit Tories to Nazis ‘Not Strong Enough’ (breitbart, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/15/lammy-demands-illegal-migrant-amnesty-comparing-erg-tories-nazis-not-strong-enough/

    “Labour’s David Lammy has insisted that comparing the Brexit-supporting European Research Group (ERG) to the Nazis “wasn’t strong enough” and suggested the BBC should deplatform them, shortly after demanding an amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants.

    Lammy, a Minister of State for Culture in the Tony Blair era, is a fanatical anti-Brexiteer, having pleaded “Wake up. We do not have to do this. We can stop this madness through a vote in Parliament” just days after the vote to Leave the European in 2016.

    Challenged on previous comments “comparing the ERG to the Nazi party” on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Lammy was unapologetic, replying, “Andrew, I would say that that wasn’t strong enough.”

    “Let me just me clear, I’m an ethnic minority,” emphasised the London MP, who is a strong proponent of racial identity politics.

    “We have, in the ERG, in Jacob Rees-Mogg, someone who is happy to put on his web pages, the horrible, racist, [Alternative for Germany] party… that’s Islamophobic and on the far right,” he accused, referring to a tweet in which Rees-Mogg referenced a speech by the leader of the German populist party in which she accused the EU of acting in bad faith in the Brexit negotiations.

    “Never will I back off on this,” Lammy declared. “And the BBC should not allow this extreme, hard-right fascism to flourish,” he exclaimed.

    Attempting to inject balance into the conversation, the presenter countered: “Well, these are elected Conservative MPs”.

    “I don’t care how elected they were, so was the far right in Germany!” Lammy shot back.

    “They’re often elected, often giving a cover for the thugs on the ground, and I’m afraid when people are experiencing rising hate and extremism in this country, we must not concede ground, we must fight it and call it out for what it is!”

    Rees-Mogg, for his part, offered a characteristically mild reply to the Labour MP, saying only, “I feel sorry for Mr Lammy, comparing a Parliamentary ginger group with an organisation and creed that killed six million Jewish people makes him look foolish and his comments unbalanced.”

    “It damages his reputation,” he added.

    Lammy, however, has simply continued to double down, responding directly to Rees-Mogg in a tweet accusing him of making “dinner plans… with groups who want to repatriate black Britons” and vowing “I will never relent from fighting the extremism you both represent and legitismise [sic].”

    The fiery exchange took place shortly after Lammy demanded a general amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants in the left-wing New Statesman, which has recently been under fire for getting conservative philosopher Sir Roger Scruton kicked off an unpaid post on an architecture commission after publishing a hit piece interview.

    “If you read the tabloid press, you would be forgiven for thinking that there are millions of people living without status, but the numbers are probably closer to 600,000,” Lammy claimed, before suggesting that extending legal status to them would result in some sort of financial windfall as they began paying tax and National Insurance contributions.

    However, David Wood, a former Director General of Immigration Enforcement, has estimated that there are in fact “probably over a million foreigners here illegally”, who are exploiting the healthcare system and other public services with relatively little interference from the authorities.”

  34. Pakistan watchdog decries forced conversions, curbs on media (abcnews, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-watchdog-decries-forced-
    conversions-curbs-media-62401751

    “An independent rights watchdog on Monday raised concerns about incidents in Pakistan of forced conversions and marriages of girls from the country’s minority Hindu and Christian community to Muslim men.

    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in it annual report said lawmakers need to pass effective legislation to end the practice — the extent of which remains unclear. It said around 1,000 cases of forced conversion of Hindu and Christian girls were reported just in the southern Sindh province last year. In some cases, it said the girls were recovered on court orders, but the situation in general remained appalling.

    “Unfortunately, no authentic data is available on forced conversions” and marriages in Pakistan, the report said.

    Ghazi Salahuddin, a senior member of the watchdog, said Pakistani media have also faced “unprecedented curbs” in the previous year. However, he did not answer a direct question when asked whether the army was behind imposing such curbs on the press.

    The 335-page “State of Human Rights in 2018,” released in the capital, Islamabad, is considered a report card of sorts on Pakistan, where Hindus, Christians and Sikhs and Ahmadis are tiny minorities.

    The rights overview came out less than a week after a Pakistani court allowed two sisters from the Hindu community to live with their Muslim husbands, rejecting allegations from their parents saying their daughters were abducted and forcibly married.

    The case of the sisters from the southern Sindh province drew the attention of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who ordered a government probe.

    The investigations concluded the girls were 18 and 19 and that they were not forced to change their religion.

    Joseph Francis, a senior member of the watchdog group, said the abduction of Hindu and Christian girls for conversion and marriages was now a common thing in the southern Sindh and eastern Punjab provinces.

    The report said minorities “continued to face harassment, arrest or even death for simply living their lives in accordance with their beliefs in Pakistan in 2018.”

    The report also expressed concern over what it says was the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, where around 70 people have been lynched since 1990 on charges of insulting Islam.

    It said 40 people were currently on death row or serving a life sentence after being convicted on charges of blasphemy.

    The report touched on last year’s release of Aasia Bibi, a 54-year-old Christian woman who was freed by the Supreme Court after eight years on death row for blasphemy. For her safety, she has been living in an undisclosed location under tight security. She had initially hoped to join her daughters in Canada, where they have been granted asylum.

    Bibi’s case has brought international attention to Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which carries a death sentence.

    There have been widespread complaints that the law is used to settle scores and intimidate religious minorities, including Shiite Muslims.”

  36. Italian police arrest gang who broke victims’ limbs with iron and concrete to make false insurance claims (telegraph, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/15/italian-police-arrest-gang-broke-victims-limbs-iron-concrete/

    “Italian police have arrested more than 40 members of a gang that allegedly scammed insurance pay-outs by breaking the limbs of poverty-stricken ‘volunteers’ with iron weights and chunks of concrete.

    The 42 people, including a lawyer who was allegedly in on the fraud, were arrested by police in Palermo and Trapani in Sicily on Monday.

    Investigators discovered at least 50 cases, including one in which the victim, a Tunisian migrant, was inadvertently killed after having several of his limbs broken.

    “At a certain point it seems that he wanted the beating to stop because it was so painful, but to continue they gave him a dose of crack and he died of a cardiac arrest,” said Rodolfo Rupert, the head of the Palermo flying squad.

    “Despite that, they took him to a roadside and attempted to pretend that he had been involved in a traffic accident so they could file an insurance claim.” He described the gang’s methods as “horrific”.

    The gang allegedly recruited struggling migrants, drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless people, promising them a large share of any successful claim.

    In reality, the victims were fobbed off with as little as €400 for a broken arm and €300 for a broken leg.

    They often had to spend weeks or months on crutches or in wheelchairs.

    The alleged perpetrators are accused of grievous bodily harm, extortion, insurance fraud and money laundering.

    They allegedly injured their victims and then placed them alongside damaged vehicles on the side of roads.

    Specially-coached fake witnesses would recount the “accidents” to the emergency services when they arrived at the scene.

    The operation was code-named Tantalus, after a Greek mythological figure who was punished for eternity by being made to stand in a pool of water that he could never drink, beneath a fruit tree which he could never reach.

    The gang used blocks of cement or 20kg body-building weights to fracture legs and arms, sometimes offering the victims anesthetic but often not.

    The arrests were a follow-up to a similar operation last summer, when the authorities arrested 12 people in Palermo, who were also accused of breaking victims’ bones in order to claim insurance pay-outs.

    Among those arrested in August was a nurse who allegedly provided painkillers for the victims.

    The latest arrests were the result of information gleaned from three of the people apprehended last summer.”

  37. “Being a Good Little Taxpayer is NOT Patriotic!”
    ThePatriotNurse – Published on April 14, 2019

  40. RT – Cleaning Management: How Clinton’s private server was wiped

    Assange should answer for what he has done – according to Hillary Clinton.

    However, newly released FBI documents – obtained by conservative activist group ‘Judicial Watch’ – suggest she and her team also have things to answer for…

    • Strange that the worlds press can turn up for this disaster,but not for a yellow vest protest.

  44. LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Police and fire crews have responded to reports of an explosion at the Port of Los Angeles.

    The incident occurred on Terminal Island below the Vincent Thomas Bridge. Authorities say no one was injured. One person had been evaluated by paramedics.

    According to the fire department, there was a fire following the explosion that involved one big rig that has been knocked down.

    Authorities are examining a nearby apartment building that had broken windows, the fire department said.

    https://abc7.com/reported-explosion-at-port-of-los-angeles/5251277/

  45. Prowler, 25, crept into a university student’s bedroom and raped her as she slept after the halls of residence security door was left wedged open (dailymail, Apr 15, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6924181/Prowler-raped-student-warned-faces-lengthy-prison-sentence.html

    “A prowler raped a university student in her bedroom whilst she slept during freshers’ week after sneaking into the halls of residence through a door left wedged open.

    Sultan Mohammed, 25, attacked the woman just after 5am in her room at the Colchester campus of the University of Essex in October last year.

    He managed to get into the block through an insecure door and attacked his victim as she slept, before she woke and pushed him off her.

    She tried to take a picture of Mohammed before he fled from her room and then bravely filmed herself describing the shocking events which had just taken place.

    The victim, who cannot be named, contacted a friend and campus security staff were alerted.

    Mohammed’s finger prints were found on a window at the university and he was arrested and charged with rape…”

  46. Twitter is now censoring news reporting that corporations don’t like:

  47. Black Pigeon Speaks on Trump’s epic troll exposing the Democrats hypocrisy, weaponization of illegal migration:

  48. In early April, a man was arrested after making a threatening phone call to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office. Also, around that same time, a woman was arrested for sending a white powder to Senator Susan Collins’ office. The Collins letter claimed that it was coated in ricin and declared, “Good luck to you Susan, in the next life.” Another letter implied that it had a fatal dose of anthrax inside.

    After the senator’s husband opened the letter, hazmat teams went to the house. Her husband and the dog, a lab named Pepper, had to be quarantined. A screening system was set up at the local post office where employees also feared being exposed to hazardous materials. The attacker is allegedly a member of the leftist Green Party who was angry about the senator’s vote to confirm Justice Kavanaugh.

    The same media outlets that have behaved as if Rep. Omar might be killed at any moment because she received a threatening phone call have showed very little interest in a potential anthrax or ricin attack on a senator. And the media, which helped whip up the hysteria over Kavanaugh and Collins, has accused President Trump of incitement for merely quoting Omar’s hateful words about 9/11.

    This wasn’t even the first fake ricin attack targeting Republican senators over Justice Kavanaugh.

    Two staffers working for Senator Ted Cruz were hospitalized after a package with a white powder was sent to his office in the fall of 2018. Around that same time, traces of ricin were detected on an envelope sent to the White House and addressed to President Trump. The media showed less interest in an attempt to assassinate the President of the United States than in a threatening call to Omar’s office.

    Speaker Pelosi urgently claimed that she had worked “to ensure that Capitol Police are conducting a security assessment to safeguard Congresswoman Omar, her family and her staff.” Where was Pelosi’s concern when Republican House members were being threatened and physically assaulted.

    Despite Pelosi and the media’s implications, threatening calls to members of the House are routine.

    They’re usually ignored because they keep happening to Republicans.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273476/why-does-rep-omars-life-matter-more-republicans-daniel-greenfield

  49. The head of the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational headquarters (FOH) has admitted that as a result of failing to upgrade the country’s military, Norway would not be able to defend itself in an attack.
    Speaking to Norway’s state broadcaster NRK, Lieutenant-General Rune Jakobsen said, “If there is an attack in the classical sense, then we do not have the robustness that is necessary [to defend ourselves].”

    “The most serious issue is the size of the land,” Lt Gen Jakobsen said. “Reactivity, robustness, and endurance in all branches of defence are too low, and to be concrete: The army is too small in relation to the tasks it has and what is expected of Norway and in NATO.”

    Lt Gen Jakobsen said in his assessment that Norway needs two new warships, two new submarines, and a better plan for the transition from old to new materiel in the Air Force.

    Norway, which shares a land border with Russia, was criticised by U.S. President Donald J Trump last year for “lack[ing] a credible plan to spend two per cent of its gross domestic product on defence.”

    Described by President Trump as NATO’s “eyes and ears” in the north, the oil-rich Nordic country spent 1.56 per cent of GDP on defence in 2018 — down from 1.61 in 2017. Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told reporters in response to the president’s statement that “Norway is committed to the two percent goal in NATO” and will meet it by 2024.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/04/15/nato-member-norway-admits-it-cannot-defend-itself/

  50. The number of anti-religious attacks against Jews and Christians in France continues to rise, while attacks against Muslims are at their lowest for 9 years.

    According to a group that studies hate crime attacks against Christians, February was the worst month for attacks on Christian churches since they began collecting data.

    Other public Christian symbols have also been targeted, including summit crosses on mountaintops and public statues of Jesus and the Virgin Mary, which have been decapitated or destroyed.

    A deliberate attack on the Saint-Sulpice church in Paris which caused nearly a million euros in damage was reported by the mainstream media as a ‘brief fire’ in which no one was hurt.

    https://summit.news/2019/04/15/france-attacks-against-jews-christians-continue-to-rise/