Contributor’s links post for April 30, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

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 must use it while we can.

About Eeyore

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

159 Replies to “Contributor’s links post for April 30, 2019”

  1. ‘Killer’, 21, ‘boasted in raps of stabbing rivals after butchering a 19-year-old in a tit-for-tat revenge attack’ (dailymail, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6977109/Killer-21-boasted-raps-stabbing-rivals-butchering-19-year-old.html

    “An alleged killer boasted in raps of stabbing rivals after taking part in a tit-for-tat revenge attack on a teenager, a court has heard.

    Kareem Lashley-Weekes, 21, and a 16-year-old boy are accused of hunting down and ‘butchering’ 19-year-old Hasan Ozcan on February 3 last year.

    The pair were allegedly part of a ‘close knit team’ from Dagenham, east London, which was prepared to use violence to settle a score with a group from a nearby Barking estate…”

  2. DAILY MAIL – Subway removes ham and bacon from nearly 200 stores and offers halal meat only after ‘strong demand’ from Muslims

    185 branches across UK and Ireland now sell halal-only meat
    Halal refers to objects or actions permissible under Islamic law
    Pork is forbidden and while other meat can be eaten, it must be sourced, slaughtered and processed according to strict rules
    Subway said all halal meat served in its branches has come from animals that were stunned before being slaughtered
    Halal-only menu is in response to ‘strong demand’ from Muslim customers

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2616576/Subway-removes-ham-pork-nearly-200-stores-strong-demand-Muslims-eat-Halal-meat.html

    • If it is stunned before slaughter it is not halal,boycot subway.

      • Stupid, transparent lies. They figure they can get away with anything. Imagine how they comply with regulations for handwashing facilities and toilets.

    • Only muslims can be employed in this ritual-slaughtering of animals.
      Halal Certification pays towards new mosques.

      Think of this as Food Aid.

      Whenever you see (or don’t see-don’t ask) the halal sign, you are making the world a fairer place.

  3. Turkey: 1 soldier killed, 3 wounded in Kurd attack in Syria (abcnews, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-soldier-killed-wounded-ypg-attack-syria-62725685

    “Syrian Kurdish militants carried out an attack Tuesday in a Turkish-controlled region in northern Syria killing a soldier and wounding three others, Turkish officials said.

    The Defense Ministry said the attack by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, occurred in the so-called “Euphrates Shield region,” which Turkey and Turkish-allied Syrian opposition forces cleared of Islamic State militants in a cross-border operation in 2016.

    The ministry did not provide further details but said Turkey’s military responded by striking at YPG targets in the area. Pro-Kurdish media said Turkish troops retaliated by shelling. It was not immediately known if the retaliatory strikes resulted in casualties…”

  4. Lawsuit says man from Somalia’s been detained over 2 years (abcnews, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/lawsuit-man-somalias-detained-years-62729663

    “A federal lawsuit says an asylum seeker from Somalia has been detained for 2 ½ years without a bond hearing and should be released.

    Acting on behalf of Mahamed Ahmed-Cali, the ACLU of New Hampshire on Friday sued the heads of the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and Enforcement and Removal Operations, as well as a county corrections department.

    The lawsuit says Ahmed-Cali presented himself at the port of entry in San Diego in 2016 and was detained. He’s been transferred to immigration detention facilities in six states.

    Ahmed-Cali was one of 92 Somalis who sued the U.S. government after they sat shackled on an airplane for two days in an aborted deportation in 2017. The case was dismissed.

    Messages were left at the federal agencies seeking comment.”

  5. 25 people killed in Boko Haram attack on Nigerian village (abcnews, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/25-people-killed-boko-haram-attack-nigerian-village-62728104

    “Victims’ relatives say suspected Boko Haram extremists attacked a village in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 25 people who had just returned home from a wedding.

    Rebecca Malgwi says two of her brothers-in-law were killed in the attack on Kuda-Kaya village in Adamawa state on Monday night.

    She says the attackers went from house to house. She says many people could not escape because the shooting came from all directions.

    Former local government official Yahaya Muhammed confirms that 25 people were killed.

    While there is no immediate claim of responsibility, Boko Haram is known for attacking villages in the area. The insurgent group is also active in neighboring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.”

  6. FBI Investigating Antifa For Plotting To Buy Guns From Cartel For ‘Armed Rebellion’

    The FBI is investigating anti-fascist activists for an alleged plot to buy guns from a Mexican cartel in order to “stage an armed rebellion” at the southern border, according to an unclassified document obtained by The Chicago Tribune.

    The FBI document, from December of 2018, warns of militant antifa activists planning to “disrupt security operations” at the U.S.-Mexico border. The group allegedly planned to buy guns from a Mexican cartel associate known as Cobra Commander, in order to “stage an armed rebellion at the border.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/29/fbi-antifa-plot-armed-rebellion-cartel/

    Richard: While it is possible to purchase large quantities of firearms on the black-market I don’t know how easy it would be to purchase some military grade firearms in large numbers. Also the drug cartels are suppose to have either large quanities of weapons and/or contacts where more can be purchased.

    I am torn on this report because this report fits with the future actions of antifa that I see occurring. On the other hand that means I have to be careful in believing the report, I don’t want to believe a false report just because it sounds like what antifa and other left wing groups will do.

    • Richared: There is more info in this article.

      FBI Investigating Antifa For Plotting To ‘Stage An Armed Rebellion’ With Guns Purchased From Mexican Cartel

      The FBI has been collecting information on Americans who have been helping the migrant caravans heading to the US-Mexico border, and is now investigating an alleged plot by “anti-fascist activists” to purchase weapons from a Mexican drug cartel.

      The San Diego Union-Tribune received the unclassified FBI report from a source wishing to remain anonymous. The paper confirmed the investigation is ongoing with two additional law enforcement sources.

      The investigation stems from a December 2018 scheme by the cartel to sell the weapons to activists. The man at the center of the investigation is Ivan Riebeling, described in the report as a “Mexico-based cartel associate known as Cobra Commander.” The report claimed the activists sought to “stage an armed rebellion at the border,” the paper reported.

      https://www.dailywire.com/news/46567/fbi-investigating-antifa-plotting-stage-armed-ashe-schow

    • On the other hand that means I have to be careful in believing the report, I don’t want to believe a false report just because it sounds like what antifa and other left wing groups will do.

      Good on you, Richard. Observer’s bias can waste even prime intelligence.

      PS: It’s this sort of impartiality that strengthens your own credibility and the reliability of your findings. As with many of the best Conservative video presenters, openly disposing of reportorial bias while providing hard documentation creates an informational environment that’s double or treble as conducive to connecting the dots.

      Content which exercises that intellectual linking faculty—as in: neuronal, synaptic, and dendritic pathway vitalization—aggregates knowledge in ways that separately-presented or even mildly slanted coverage (especially combined with modern editing) makes, essentially, impossible.

  7. The Media Cheers Government Censorship of the Internet
    What the media’s response to Sri Lanka’s social media shutdown says about its real agenda.
    April 30, 2019
    Daniel Greenfield

    After Muslim terrorists murdered hundreds of Christians, the Sri Lankan government responded, as it had during clashes between Muslims and Buddhists last year, by shutting down social media.

    The Sri Lankan government’s justification for the shutdown was that “false news reports” were being spread through social media. This excuse closely echoed the argument that the media in the United States had been making in its push for censoring Facebook after Trump’s victory to fight “fake news”.

    If anyone thought that the media would react critically to a foreign government that ranks near the bottom in press freedom silencing social media, including citizen journalists, they were very wrong.

    “Sri Lanka Shut Down Social Media. My First Thought Was ‘Good.’” the headline of a New York Times op-ed blared. “Sri Lanka social media shutdown reveals Facebook’s Achilles’ heel,” the Washington Post echoed. The theme of both major media pieces was that social media was dangerous and that government shutdowns of free expression might be necessary to keep people safe from “extremism”.

    “Good, because it could save lives. Good, because the companies that run these platforms seem incapable of controlling the powerful global tools they have built. Good, because the toxic digital waste of misinformation that floods these platforms has overwhelmed what was once so very good about them,” Kara Swisher of Recode ranted in her Times op-ed defending Sri Lankan government censorship.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273601/media-cheers-government-censorship-internet-daniel-greenfield

    • Like the Sri Lankan govt is so ultra-responsible.
      Yeah, when they ignored the most precise warnings from multiple foreign intelligence agencies.
      Shame.

  8. Stacey Abrams is Saying She Won Because Dems Don’t Care About Elections or Facts
    April 29, 2019
    Daniel Greenfield
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    The New York Times has a high-profile article touting loser Stacey Abrams. It’s titled, “Why Stacey Abrams Is Still Saying She Won.”

    Let me save you the trouble.

    Abrams is saying it for two reasons.

    1. The Democrats no longer care about election results. They always assume that any election they won, no matter how, is legitimate. And any race that they lost was stolen from them. This was why they rejected the wins of both Bush Jr. and Trump. This is now the new normal.

    2. The Democrats also don’t care about facts. In an atmosphere choked with conspiracy theories, where Russian bots hack Facebook and somehow change election outcomes, claiming, as Abrams does, that something happened is just as good.

    Russia hacked the election. The moon landing was faked. 9/11 was an inside job. The FBI keeps framing Muslims. Hillary Clinton was sabotaged to prevent the truth about Area 51 from getting out. (Yes, that’s an actual conspiracy theory out there.)

    Click below for the rest of the article

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/273620/stacey-abrams-saying-she-won-because-dems-dont-daniel-greenfield

  9. Getting Down with the Democrats
    California Democrat boss Eric Bauman “forcibly performed oral sex” on male staffer, lawsuit alleges.
    April 30, 2019
    Lloyd Billingsley

    Democrat staffer William Floyd charges that former California Democrat Party boss Eric Bauman, 59, “forcibly performed oral sex on him several times.” Floyd, 28, is suing the 59-year-old Bauman over sexual harassment, assault, battery, negligence and civil rights violations.

    Bauman forced Floyd to submit to oral sex two other times, the April 24 lawsuit suit contends, and Bauman once told Floyd “if you cross me, I will break you.” It wasn’t the first brush with such allegations for the New York-born Bauman. Though not a household name across the nation, the accused sexual abuser is a major player in the Democrat Party.

    According to a 2004 bio, Bauman is a “Registered Nurse with graduate education in Health Care Administration,” and founder of the firm Consultants in Nursing Services Administration.

    Bauman became a member of the California Democratic State Central Committee and the California Democratic Party Executive Board and “held leadership positions in both of President Clinton’s campaigns and Vice President Al Gore’s campaign. Bauman backed SB 562, a “single-payer” bill he said would make California a “healthcare sanctuary” state.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/273605/getting-down-democrats-lloyd-billingsley

    • Playing the victim,when he should have given this creep a good smack in the mouth?

  10. Developing: Military Coup Underway in Venezuela – Maduro Regime Fires Tear Gas at Guaido Protest (VIDEO)

    On Tuesday morning Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido called on the the military to rise up and oust the Socialist Maduro regime.

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1123200850430656512

    https://twitter.com/i/status/1123204403027116032

    The AP reported:

    Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó took to the streets with activist Leopoldo Lopez and a small contingent of heavily armed soldiers early Tuesday in a bold and risky call for the military to rise up and oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro.

    “I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers,” said Lopez, who had been detained since 2014 for leading anti-government protests. “Everyone should come to the streets, in peace.”

    Lopez said he has been freed from house arrest by members of the military responding to an order by Guaidó, whom the U.S. and dozens of other governments recognize as Venezuela’s rightful leader.

    As he spoke on a highway overpass, troops loyal to Maduro sporadically fired tear gas from inside the adjacent Carlota air base as the crowd of a few hundred civilians, some of them brandishing Venezuelan flags, scurried for cover.

    The crowd was growing as people sensed what could be their strongest opportunity yet to overthrow the government after months of turmoil that has seen Maduro withstand an onslaught of protests and international pressure with the support of the top military command and allies such as Russia and Cuba.

    https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1123195316591894528

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/04/developing-military-coup-underway-in-venezuela-maduro-regime-fires-tear-gas-at-guaido-protest-video/?utm_source=TGPemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:553016019&utm_campaign=Auto%20Send%20from%20The%20Gateway%20Pundit%20on%20April%2030,%202019%20at%2011:06:06%20AM

  11. INSIDER LEAK: COMEY WILL BE THE FIRST TO FALL! BARRY’S ROGUE FBI/CIA FISA ABUSE STARTED IN 2012!

    • Pay attention to this video, Joseph diGenova is on it saying that the use of the FBI to spy on US citizens in 2012. Things are coming out that are going to shake DC to its foundations.

      Combine this report with the reports that antifa is buying military firearms for a rebellion on the Southern Border. Then add in the other data points that have come out over the last couple of years and look at the picture they paint.

  12. German Intelligence Issues Taboo-Breaking Report on Muslim Antisemitism

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The German Agency for Domestic Security recently published a report on Muslim antisemitism in the country – a development that is unprecedented not only for Germany but for all of Europe. The report makes clear that Muslim antisemitism is a major problem in Germany. At long last, Muslim antisemitism in Germany has been officially detailed for the public.

    The German Agency for Domestic Security (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz) recently published a 40-page report entitled “Antisemitism in Islamism.” Never before has any European intelligence agency published a report on Muslim antisemitism. This report is a major break with the German past. It is the first official publication by a national body that exposes in reasonable detail the antisemitism originating in parts of the country’s Muslim community.

    The report’s title doesn’t quite reflect its content. It was likely considered unacceptable – from a political correctness point of view – to give the report the more accurate title “Antisemitism and Islam.” In many (not all) of the quotes below, the word “Islamist” should be replaced by the word “Muslim.”

    The report defines Islamism as a form of political extremism among Muslims that aims to eliminate democracy. Antisemitism is one of its essential ideological elements.

    https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/german-intelligence-muslim-antisemitism/

  13. Sri Lanka bans all face coverings for ‘public protection’ after bomb attacks

    NR: There is so much to be learned and so little time in which to learn it. As last Easter taught us: Failure is not an option. Some data points:

    The Arab–Israeli Conflict –

    MICRO: Paleostinian terror attacks
    MACRO: Global jihad

    The 9-11 Atrocity –

    MICRO: Catastrophic damage to America’s economy
    MACRO: Socioeconomic drag effect upon all of humanity

    Communist China’s Xinjiang province –

    MICRO: Forced Sinicization of Muslim autonomous region
    MACRO: Worldwide de-Islamization and containment policy for all Muslims

    Paris, France –

    MICRO: Invasion brings profound loss of priceless cultural patrimony
    MACRO: Global Cultural Genocide

    Sri Lanka –

    MICRO: Banning symbols of political Islam to achieve valuable risk reduction
    MACRO: International legislation universally halting all Muslim migration

    The World –

    MICRO: Nation-by-Nation neutralization of the Islamic threat
    MACRO: Failed national-level efforts result in simple nuclear annihilation of Islam

    Each of these previous examples deserves a full-page monograph detailing the specifics involved. This abbreviated outline represents one of the most humane possible outcomes and, lastly, all that eventually can be expected from a surviving world. Nuclear obliteration being a late-phase quick fix (by any number of already antagonized parties) if there is insufficient Western determination to survive right now.

    Conservative projections indicate that delaying implementation by only ten years easily could DOUBLE the eventual Muslim fatalities (including any collateral loss of life from preceding global containment phases). If immediate containment measures are not implemented, THAT TEN-YEAR FORECAST COULD GYRATE BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.

  14. Richard: Here is a clear example of the decline of the west, a Professor at a top University says guns have “magic” that turns good people evil. We are headed into a Dark Age that will be very brutal.

    Dartmouth professor: ‘Magic’ of guns can turn good people evil

    A professor of anthropology from Dartmouth College claims the mere presence of a gun, especially if one makes physical contact with it, can transform a good person into a bad one.

    Chelsey Kivland, who studies “street politics, insecurity, and social performance in contemporary urban Haiti,” makes use of an anecdote from that country in the Pacific Standard to establish a larger point about firearms: Three individuals who had owned a certain Smith & Wesson .38 Special all ended up being shot and killed … and not by that particular gun.

    Community members attributed the deaths to “maji” — magic — which in Haiti means “an unethical use of spiritual power.”

    “To many,” Kivland writes, “the men died because the occult forces they had been using for unethical gain had ultimately turned against them—opening them up to conflict and failing to protect them.”

    Lest you guffaw at the notion that, yes, magic is behind all of this, well, then you’re racist:

    https://www.thecollegefix.com/dartmouth-professor-magic-of-guns-can-turn-good-people-evil/

    Richard: How weak minded to you have to be to think that an inanimate object can make people do things?

      • How weak minded to you have to be to think that an inanimate object can make people do things?

        Both of you could not be more wrong. There’s inanimate objects that tempt me to react physically all of the time.

        • Eyesore buildings
        • Cars blasting (c)rap “music”
        • Mr. Chau’s fast food outlets
        • Really crappily designed ANYTHING
        • Every Pontiac Aztek ever built
        • Tract homes
        • Thomas Kinkade prints
        • Single use ANYTHING
        • Avocado-colored appliances
        • Really Loud Motorcycles & Cars
        • Billboards
        • Robo Dialers
        • Atomic Powered Corkscrews

  15. Democrats Seek Bank Records on Personal Shopping of Entire Trump Family, Trump’s Lawsuit Says
    BY PETR SVAB
    April 30, 2019 Updated: April 30, 2019 Share

    President Donald Trump, three of his children, and seven of his companies filed a federal lawsuit on April 29 against Deutsche Bank and Capital One Financial Corp. to block the banks from complying with congressional subpoenas that seek the family’s banking and financial records.

    The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of New York, contended that demands for records by Democrat-controlled House committees have no legitimate or lawful purpose and are so broad they would include transaction records on the Trump family’s personal shopping.

    “The subpoenas were issued to harass President Donald J. Trump, to rummage through every aspect of his personal finances, his businesses, and the private information of the President and his family,” the lawsuit stated.

    It also stated that the Democrats hope “they will stumble upon something they can expose publicly and use as a political tool against the President.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/democrats-seek-bank-records-on-personal-shopping-of-entire-trump-family-trumps-lawsuit-says_2900677.html

  16. Jews simply must arm themselves. Now.
    Josh Hammer, Daily Wire

    [Ed. – Call to arms]

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/04/30/jews-simply-must-arm-themselves-now/

    HAMMER: Jews Simply Must Arm Themselves. Now.

    According to a 2005 American Jewish Committee (AJC) study, American Jews are among the least likely of all American demographic groups to arm themselves: “Only 13 percent of Jewish households contain firearms (vs. 41 percent for non-Jews),” AJC reported, “and just 10 percent of Jews personally own a gun (vs. 26 percent for non-Jews).” Similarly, according to a 2018 AJC survey of American Jewish opinion, a whopping 70% of American Jews believe that gun control is more important than protecting the rights of gun owners — compared to a mere 25% of Jews who believe the opposite is true.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/46528/hammer-jews-simply-must-arm-themselves-now-josh-hammer

    • Not just Jews but everyone who wants a fighting chance to stay alive and free in the coming war.

      • For sure not just Jews. A free people must be armed. An unarmed people do not have rights, they have privileges that can be arbitrarily and selectively revoked by the people who do control those who are armed.

        But a special plea to Jews to get with the damn program and get armed is not unreasonable. Jewish people can be as stubborn as anyone when it comes to issues like gun control. There is a reason so many died in WW2. And the ones who did die and the ones who left or fought back, or in extremus, the ones who escaped from Sobibor, had a moment of reality and did what needs doing.

        As it appears that Jews are in the front lines at times of those targeted for persecution or worse, a special plea to arm is rational. But Im with you Richard.

        An unarmed public are not a free people. They are a kind of slave dependent on politeness and the good character of their masters for a fair shake at things.

        Its at the point now in many Western countries that merely to hold opinions that go against government policies on central issues to democracy like Immigration and so on has become a crime, and if not a crime, something that can ruin your life and or reputation.

        Crazy, Soviet like times.

        https://youtu.be/LfAQYcsZXYw

    • The quote the author is trying to use is:

      God created all men equal, Judge Cold and Colonel Bowie made them that way.

      • Jewish people can be as stubborn as anyone when it comes to issues like gun control.
        http://jpfo.org

        Jews or Jew-ish?
        The majority of the Jews in the world today live in Israel. Tell me about stubborn.

  17. Trump claims media is rigging Democratic primary for Biden

    By KATIE GALIOTO

    04/29/2019 11:28 AM EDT

    President Donald Trump on Monday suggested the Democratic primary is being rigged to favor Joe Biden, blaming the media for the former vice president’s front-runner status.

    “The Media (Fake News) is pushing Sleepy Joe hard,” Trump said in a tweet. “Funny, I’m only here because of Biden & Obama. They didn’t do the job and now you have Trump, who is getting it done – big time!”

    https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/29/trump-media-biden-2020-1291895

  18. Poor Friendless Erdo?an

    by Burak Bekdil
    April 30, 2019 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14118/erdogan-friendless

    “World leaders hail Erdo?an on local vote win,” the news headline ran, referring to the outcome of Turkey’s local elections on March 31. They laboriously ignored that President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an’s Islamist AKP party lost in all of Turkey’s three biggest cities — and for the first time in 25 years in Ankara and Istanbul. They were nevertheless able to find one element to hail regarding Turkey’s strongman. But, “world leaders?”

    Here is the full list: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairman Milorad Dodik, former Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bakir Izetbegovic, Guinean President Alpha Conde, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

    Those gentlemen are “world leaders,” according to Erdo?an’s propaganda machinery.

    In reality, with the exception of Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Venezuela’s troubled man, Nicolás Maduro, Erdo?an is increasingly friendless.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14118/erdogan-friendless

  19. Finland Cozies Up to Iran

    by Kenneth Sikorski
    April 30, 2019 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14162/finland-iran
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    There is a special saying in Finland describing a person’s naïvety: it is called being “blue-eyed”. Unfortunately, there is not a saying that describes the same trait for an entire political class.

    Successive Finnish governments could be accurately described as extremely “blue-eyed,” especially during the last decade or so in their relations with Iran.

    Part of the problem seems to lie with Finnish politicians, who seem truly to believe that having a dialogue — any dialogue — regardless of who is on the opposite side of the table, is better than having no dialogue at all. So you can easily end up with the equivalent of a businessman trying to reach an agreement with Al Capone, while each holds completely different assumptions about the underlying terms of an agreement, including whether agreements are even meant to be kept.

    This kind of approach in international politics is not without its pitfalls. It is bound to be capitalized on by the less scrupulous. When it comes to states such as Iran, “the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism,” you simply cannot deal with them as you would with Finland’s immediate neighbors. Doing so would most likely come at too high a high cost.

  20. Islamic State recognizes new Central Africa Province, deepening ties with DR Congo militants (thedefensepost, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/04/30/islamic-state-new-central-africa-province/

    “On April 18, Islamic State claimed its first attack in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Not only did it strike in a new location, but ISIS attributed the attack to an entirely new province, Wilayat Central Africa. Before this claim and even before the fall of the jihadist group’s ‘caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria, there was evidence of growing ties between ISIS and the DRC-based militant group Allied Democratic Forces. Just how lasting this new province will be remains to be seen.

    In video released by al-Furqan media on April 29, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in his first appearance for five years, is seen handling documents about some global affiliates, including one entitled “Wilayat Central Africa.”

    The April 18 claim issued through the Amaq propaganda agency said that ISIS fighters had killed and wounded several Congolese soldiers in an attack on the town of Kamango, near the border with Uganda. This was followed by a statement from Nashir News Agency and another from Amaq saying “Soldiers of the Caliphate” had attacked an army base in Bovata, around 5 km from Kamango, killing three Congolese soldiers and wounding five.

    The Nashir claim attributed this attack to “Wilayat Central Africa,” the first such claim for this province. However, a Central African province was previously mentioned by Baghdadi in an August 2018 speech, meaning ISCAP had existed for almost a year before ISIS first publicly attributed an attack to the wilayat.

    Reuters reported the attack killed two soldiers and a civilian, and that it had been carried out by the ADF, a Ugandan-led but DRC-based militant group mainly operating in the eastern North Kivu province.

    The ADF was founded in 1995 with a stated goal of overthrowing the Ugandan government, but has since drifted to carrying out attacks and massacres in DRC against military and civilian targets. The ADF did have Islamist roots, with many of its leaders and early members coming from Uganda’s Salifist movments, but the extent to which religion is important to them has been unclear.

    Issue 179 of ISIS’s weekly Al-Naba newsletter released on April 25 claimed a second attack by ISCAP, saying fighters killed three soldiers and wounded another in the Butembo area four days earlier.

    Al-Naba also published the first known image of ISCAP. Around 15 militants are present in the picture, standing in a circle with their hands together in the center. This pose appears similar to one often made by militants when pledging allegiance to Baghdadi, for example the recently published pledge by Sri Lankan suicide bombers and one from Saudi Arabia, so the picture could be a still from a bayah video.

    The militants are armed with a variety of weapons identified for The Defense Post by Calibre Obscura, including FN MAG and Type 80 general purpose machine guns, and Type 3 AK-47 and AKM assault rifles. A PG-7V warhead which appears to have a hole in it can also be seen. Tents and buildings in the background suggest the picture could have been taken at the edge of the militant’s camp.

    That the ADF would have carried out the attack is not surprising – much of ISIS’s expansion around the world has come from working with local militant groups, which establish ties with ISIS and pledge allegiance to Baghdadi. If the bayat is accepted, they become an ISIS affiliate, and some later become official provinces. Examples include Boko Haram becoming Islamic State West Africa Province, various militant groups in the Philippines and Indonesia evolving into Islamic State East Asia Province, and Ansar Beit al-Maqdis becoming Islamic State Sinai Province.

    Not every ISIS affiliate becomes an official province. Tunisia has been an active ISIS affiliate for years but has only ever remained an affiliate, never being designated a full wilyat. This could suggest ISIS sees greater potential in ISCAP.

    There is evidence ISIS has repeated this model with the ADF. Several signs point to the building of tentative ties between them before the creation of ISCAP.

    A book published by the Islamic State’s Office of Research and Studies, which produces texts espousing the group’s ideology, was found on the body of a dead ADF militant in February 2018.

    A report by the Congo Research Group published in November 2018 suggests the ADF has undergone a radicalization with a “shift in the rhetoric employed by the movement, from a war against the Ugandan government to a broader struggle for Islam.”

    Part of this shift included adopting the name Madina at Tauheed Wau Mujahedeen (the City of Monotheism and Holy Warriors) as well as a flag incorporating elements used by many jihadist groups including ISIS. The Congo Research Group argued the ADF was “making a tentative attempt to align itself with other militant Islamist groups.” This attempt appears to have succeeded with the inclusion of “Central Africa Province” in the Baghdadi video….”

  21. The Dark Side of DNA Testing | Genealogy, Ancestry and My Heritage | America Uncovered

  22. US Working on Listing Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist (aawsat, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1701806/us-working-listing-muslim-brotherhood-terrorist

    “The Trump administration is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, the White House said on Tuesday.

    “The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email, according to Reuters.”

  23. Egypt Hands Life Sentence to Senior Muslim Brotherhood Figure (aawsat, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1702121/egypt-hands-life-sentence-senior-muslim-brotherhood-figure

    “An Egyptian court handed life sentences to Hassan Malik, a leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, as well as his son Hamza and five others on Tuesday on terrorism charges and for “harming the national economy.”

    The charges were based in part on a search of Malik’s home in which Muslim Brotherhood documents were found that allegedly outlined plots against the state, a judicial source told Reuters.

    The source said the documents outlined plans to damage Egypt’s economy by manipulating the value of the Egyptian pound against the dollar. They also said the documents described plans to attack armed forces, police and tourists and that they incited the use of violence to overthrow the government.

    The court found the main defendants guilty of “plotting terror acts targeting military and police forces as well as the tourism sector, including European and Russian visitors,” another official told Agence France Presse.

    Malik, a businessman, was in court for the trial, dressed in white prison garb, while his son Hamza and five other Brotherhood defendants were tried in absentia.”

  24. Sargon of Akkad and the Dirty Smear Merchants, Vegan Feminist ‘Man Tax’ Cafe is Kaput!

  25. Muslim Brotherhood blacklist: Trump’s push threatens Muslim Americans (mee, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/muslim-brotherhood-blacklist-trumps-push-threatens-muslim-americans

    “As Donald Trump works to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, advocates in the United States say such a move will have serious implications for Muslim-American communities across the country.

    Some say the designation may “jeopardise” the rights of Muslim Americans and boost Islamophobia.

    It would also signal “another effort to call Muslims out and associate them with political violence”, said Sally Howell, a professor of Arab American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

    The US president is working to blacklist the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist group, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing administration officials, including a White House spokeswoman.

    The designation would debilitate the group’s ability to operate internationally and open up individuals in the US who are linked to the Islamist movement to prosecution on various charges, including providing material support to a terrorist group.

    Already, Muslim-American organisations and politicians are often called out for purported links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Blacklisting the movement would open up these groups to greater scrutiny from the federal government and legitimise hate against Muslims, Howell said.

    “To put this label ‘terrorist organisation’ on a group that has a very complex history serves no purpose,” said Howell, who has studied the crackdown on Muslim-American charities and civil rights groups after 9/11.

    “All it does is stigmatise and single out the Muslim community in a strange, unnatural, ahistorical way that jeopardises many, many Muslim-American institutions,” she told Middle East Eye.

    Groups targeted
    One such institution may be the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which describes itself as the country’s “largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation”.

    Right-wing commentators and politicians have long accused CAIR of being a part of the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Despite having dozens of chapters across the US and regularly hosting officials and cooperating with mainstream organisations, anti-Muslim activists have smeared politicians for associating with CAIR.

    In 2014, the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR and the Muslim American Society, another US-based advocacy group, as terrorist organisations, placing the groups in the same category as al-Qaeda and Boko Haram militants.

    That same year, the UAE and Saudi Arabia – themselves Islamic theocracies – also designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
    Abbas Barzegar, director of research at CAIR, said he is “confident” that the designation will not go through because the administration’s legal justification for it “has no standing”.

    “The Muslim Brotherhood is simply a social movement. It is simply an 80-year-old network of organisations and ideas that are very different and very vast,” Barzegar told MEE.

    “And so, the idea of designating an entire section of society, and an entire transnational social movement, as a terrorist organisation doesn’t even make sense.”

    Barzegar said he is counting on the Pentagon and State Department to be “smart enough” to reject the decision.

    But if it does go through, he vowed that CAIR and other Muslim groups will push back against it.

    “If and when something like this were to happen, the American-Muslim community is well-prepared through first and foremost its legal advocacy. We will defend American-Muslim rights – our institutions, our individuals, our families – against this kind of smear tactic,” Barzegar said.

    “So we will fight back. We will fight back in the media. We will fight back in politics. And we will defend ourselves according to the constitution of the United States.”

    The Brotherhood
    Ultimately, a move by the White House to blacklist the Brotherhood would further align Trump’s policies with those of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, which have all aggressively repressed the Islamist group.

    The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in 1928 by Egyptian Islamic scholar Hassan al-Banna. Despite its transnational charter, its main branch remains in Egypt, where it was banned after the 2013 coup.

    The organisation says it is committed to peaceful activism. It also has politically active offshoots participating in elections in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Tunisia and Morocco.

    In Egypt, the Brotherhood won the first freely held presidential election in the country’s history in 2012. But President Mohamed Morsi was toppled a year later in a coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who went on on to become president.

    Since then, Sisi has embarked on a widespread campaign of repression, jailing more than 50,000 activists, censoring all forms of criticism against his government, and executing hundreds of people.

    During a recent visit to Washington, Sisi lobbied Trump to blacklist the Brotherhood, the NYT reported on Tuesday.

    Indeed, Trump’s push to blacklist the Brotherhood echoes his previously expressed admiration of the Egyptian president and depiction of political Islam as inherently violent.

    The cozy relationship between the two leaders also is fuelling human rights abuses in the North African country, experts told MEE last month.

    At the time, Dalia Fahmy, a political science professor at Long Island University, said that Trump is actively supporting repression in Egypt.

    “I actually don’t think Trump is turning a blind eye; I think what Trump is doing is actually supporting it,” she told MEE.”

  26. Turkish citizen loses UAE life sentence appeal for terrorism (alaraby, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/4/30/turkish-citizen-loses-uae-life-sentence-appeal-for-terrorism

    “UAE’s Supreme Court upheld a life sentence against a Turkish citizen for promoting Islamist groups in Syria and transferring funds out of the Gulf state, state media reported.
    The supreme court in Abu Dhabi upheld the life sentence of the 49-year-old Turkish citizen for “launching an extensive campaign on a Facebook account named ‘Ali Ozturk Mehmet’ without getting an official permit” to promote “the ideologies of the two terrorist groups and sending them funds through money transfer companies in the UAE”, the state news agency WAM said.

    According to the indictment, cited by the news agency, the man was found guilty of “colluding” with former Al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham, two radical groups in Syria.

    An Arab man was also found guilty of setting up and managing accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp “under the pseudonym ‘Abu Mohamed Al Adnani’ with the intent of promoting the fanatic ideologies of the Islamic State group”, WAM said.

    The Turkish national was first accused by prosecutors of colluding with terrorist groups in Syria and was found guilty of fundraising activities in the UAE for the two groups.

    The ruling, handed down late on Monday, comes less than two weeks after Turkey arrested a UAE citizen suspected of playing a role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October in Istanbul…”

    • Market forces are starting to move, the investors are going to either jump ship or scream at the You Tube Board of Directors.

  27. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood says it will continue ‘peaceful’ work regardless of Trump moves (reuters, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-muslimbrotherhood-reaction/egypts-muslim-brotherhood-says-it-will-continue-peaceful-work-regardless-of-trump-moves-idUSKCN1S62FY

    “CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday it would continue to work in line with “our moderate and peaceful thinking” regardless of moves by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to designate it a foreign terrorist organization.

    The White House said earlier that Trump was acting following a request from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief in 2013 engineered the removal of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi, a senior Brotherhood figure, and a subsequent crackdown on its supporters.

    “We will remain … steadfast in our work in accordance with our moderate and peaceful thinking and what we believe to be right, for honest and constructive cooperation to serve the communities in which we live, and humanity as a whole,” the Brotherhood said in a statement on its official website.

    “The Muslim Brotherhood will remain stronger – through God’s grace and power – than any decision.”…”

  28. Journalist gunned down near DI Khan (tribune, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1962884/1-journalist-gunned-near-di-khan/

    “A journalist was shot dead in Paroa, a small town near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday.

    Police said unidentified assailants opened fire on Amanullah Gharoka, a journalist associated with a local news agency, when he was travelling to Lunda, a village of Paroa tehsil.

    While he died on the spot, the attackers fled the scene unchallenged…”

    • This video is talking about some very scary tech:

      When they manage to make a dino out of a chicken they will have a small omnivorous dino. Also what is going to happen when the same thing is done to the much larger birds?

      What is going to happen when scientists like those in China start working on the human genome?

      • By then they’ll be busy picking lice out of each other’s hair. Again.
        Tower of Babel Syndrome kicks in: there are limits.

        • I made a Mt. Rushmore out of my mashed potatoes once. When the Red Chinese start churning out creative geniuses with their DNA lego I’ll be the first to applaud. Then tech theft will reverse. But I’m not holding my breath.

  29. EU should decide if it wants Turkey: Foreign minister (aa, Apr 30, 2019)
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-should-decide-if-it-wants-turkey-foreign-minister/1466154

    “The EU should decide whether it wants to see Turkey in the union or not, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday.

    “If the European Union doesn’t want to have us, they have to give the decision,” Cavusoglu told a news conference after the 4th Visegrad Group (V4)+Turkey Foreign Ministers Meeting in Slovakia.

    “But it’s not only about the reform, or it’s not only about the benchmarks or criteria that Turkey can meet or Turkey has not met,” he said.

    Turkey has repeatedly complained of political hurdles, discrimination and double standards standing in the way of its joining the EU.

    During the meeting, Cavusoglu, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto exchanged views on Turkey-EU relations and discussed recent international developments.

    Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005.

    But negotiations stalled in 2007 due to the objections of the Greek Cypriot administration on the divided island of Cyprus as well as opposition from Germany and France.

    Cavusoglu said Turkey has a population of 82 million, which he said would give the country the highest number of seats at the European Parliament than any other country if Ankara were an EU member.

    “Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country. So, if the EU is a religious club, that’s fine. If the EU does not want to share anything, including power with another country or member state, that is also fine. The membership is a still strategic goal for us,” he said.

    Cavusoglu said following the March 31 local polls, Turkey is ready to negotiate any chapter and meet any conditions and the standards.

    “Now, the reform is a priority for Turkey, but we should avoid political obstacles, he added.

    S-400 missile defense purchase

    Speaking on a deal with Russia to buy S-400 missile defense systems, Cavusoglu said Turkey had had an urgent need to acquire such systems.

    “For at least decade, Turkey has tried to purchase such systems from its allies, including the U.S.,” he said.

    Recalling a remark by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg who has said any NATO ally can buy defense systems from any country.

    “If we can buy [it] from our American allies or from France or from Italy, we will, of course, do that. Otherwise we have to buy [it] from somewhere else.”

    Washington has balked at Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400s.

    U.S. officials have suggested Turkey buy the U.S. Patriot missile system rather than the S-400, arguing it is incompatible with NATO systems and is a threat to the F-35 fifth-generation stealth aircraft.

    Turkey responded it was the U.S. refusal to sell it Patriots that led it to seek other sellers, adding that Russia offered a better deal, including technology transfers.

    Rising of far-right in Europe

    On the rise of extreme-right in Europe, Cavusoglu the far-right ideologies or political parties were a threat to every value the EU cherished.

    “They are Islamophobic. They are racist, they are xenophobic. They are anti-immigrant, they are against all core European values, and they are against the European Union itself,” he underlined.

    “Therefore, this is not only a concern for Turkey or the others. It should also be a concern for all the EU member states or and the European countries,” he added.”

    • ‘Turkey’s EU process being blocked politically’ (aa, Apr 30, 2019)
      https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/-turkeys-eu-process-being-blocked-politically-/1466530

      “Turkey’s accession process to the EU is being blocked politically, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said on Tuesday.

      “Turkey’s EU accession process is being blocked politically. We advocate the removal of this obstruction. Thus, Turkey will have the opportunity to show they could fulfill the required conditions,” Lajcak told a news conference after the 4th Visegrad Group (V4)+Turkey Foreign Ministers Meeting in Slovakia.

      During the meeting, Lajcak, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, and Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz exchanged views on Turkey-EU relations and discussed recent international developments.

      “Turkey which is a NATO member and has accession negotiations with the EU is an important ally. Turkey plays a key role for ensuring stability and security at the region. The security of the region is very important for Europe,” Lajcak said.

      Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005.

      But negotiations stalled in 2007 due to the objections of the Greek Cypriot administration on the divided island of Cyprus as well as opposition from Germany and France.

      – ‘EU should show respect towards Turkey’

      Szijjarto, for his part, stressed the importance of cooperation with Turkey on fighting against terrorism.

      “We respect and cherish Turkey’s efforts to stop the migratory flow and to fight against terror,” Szijjarto said.

      “Whenever Turkey is on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council Meeting there are countries speaking against their membership,” Szijjarto said, adding: “Playing such kind of games with Turkey is not fair. This is a signal of disrespect towards Turkey.”

      “Instead of showing disrespect and playing games we should be able to build a relationship with Turkey which is based on the strategic partnership, mutual interest and mutual benefit.”

      “European Union should show respect towards Turkey because our security starts with Turkey because of the migration and terrorism issue,” he added.

      Szijjarto also urged EU to build a strategic partnership with Turkey due to the fact that “Turkey is going to be one of the top ten economies of the world very soon and it has the second largest army of the NATO.”

      Top Czech diplomat Petricek thanked Cavusoglu for attending the meeting and highlighted good relations between Turkey and Czech Republic on energy and culture.

      Meanwhile, Przydacz underlined that developments in the Middle East and the Black Sea could not be negotiated without Turkey. He particularly drew attention toward rising tension in Libya.”

  30. Turkey’s AK Party: U.S. move against Muslim Brotherhood would damage democracy in Middle East

    ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party said on Tuesday that if the United States designated the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, it would hamper democratization efforts in the Middle East and serve militant groups like Islamic State.

    The White House said on Tuesday President Donald Trump was working to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, a step that would bring sanctions against Egypt’s oldest Islamist movement.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked Trump to make the designation, which Egypt has already done, in a private meeting during an April 9 visit to Washington, a senior U.S. official said, confirming a report in the New York Times.

    Omer Celik, spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party, said such a decision by the United States would “undoubtedly yield extremely wrong results regarding stability, human rights, basic rights and freedoms in countries of the Islamic world”, he said.

    “At the same time, (Trump’s move) is the biggest support that can be given to the propaganda of Daesh,” he said, referring to Islamic State.

    Despite being NATO allies, Turkey and the United States are currently at loggerheads mainly over their opposing interests in Syria and Ankara’s plans to buy Russian missile defenses.

    Relations between Ankara and Cairo have been strained since the Egyptian military, then led by Sisi, ousted President Mohamed Mursi, a senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

    The Muslim Brotherhood has close ties with Turkey’s AK Party and many of its members have fled there since its activities were banned in Egypt. It says it is an entirely peaceful organization.

    Egypt’s Brotherhood said on Tuesday it would continue to work in line with “our moderate and peaceful thinking” regardless of moves by the Trump administration.

    Egyptian authorities under Sisi have jailed thousands of its followers and much of its leadership, including Mursi.

    The Brotherhood says it is a non-violent movement and denies any relationship to violent insurgencies waged by al Qaeda and Islamic State militants.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-muslimbrotherhood-turkey-idUSKCN1S62JX

  31. Turkey building separation wall in Syria’s Afrin (ansamed, Apr 30, 2019)
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/turkey/2019/04/30/turkey-building-separation-wall-in-syrias-afrin_0a42afb3-44ae-4189-89ca-acc8a6c8c4cf.html

    “The Turkish army is reportedly building a separation wall in northwestern Syria, dividing the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, controlled by Ankara, from the bordering area of Tell Rifaat, which is instead in the hands of Syrian regime forces and its Russian allies. Reports were from sources on the ground, confirming news appearing in recent days in regional media.

    The sources that ANSA spoke to via telephone are in Afrin, where Turkish military forces and local allied Syrian opposition groups operate. The sources say that the separation wall is being built along a road that is the de facto border between the zone controlled by the Turks and their allied forces and the one under Syrian regime and Russian forces. At the moment the wall stretches for a few dozen kilometers, from Maryamayn to Kimar, passing through Jalbul.

    At the beginning of 2018, Turkish forces conducted a military campaign, occupying the area. Hundreds of thousands fled from about 300 towns now under the control of mainly Syrian Arab militias supported by Turkey. Syrian government forces and their Russian allies control part of the Tel Rifaat corridor, which connects the city of Aleppo and Afrin.”

  32. “Protestors gather outside the New York Times building over Netanyahu cartoon”
    Scootercaster – Published on April 29, 2019

    • That’s the wrong video, that’s the “Up Next” video.
      And Shephard Smith with the New York Times’ logo is an ….

      “Protestors gather outside the New York Times building over Netanyahu cartoon”
      Scootercaster – Published on April 29, 2019