Contributor’s links for June 8, 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 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

98 Replies to “Contributor’s links for June 8, 2019”

  1. Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul put a lot of on the line this week and dropped a bomb on national television about the Obama Deep State.

    During an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar, Paul reacted to reports that former CIA Director John Brennan has not had his security clearance revoked as President Donald Trump ordered.

    Trump ordered Brennan to have his security clearance revoked because he played a big role in Russian collusion conspiracy theories as the CIA director and leaked anti-Trump info to the media.

    Paul argued that Obama’s Deep State loyalists are protecting their own and refusing to carry out an order given by Trump.

    Keilar asked: “What do you think about this recent New York Times story that Brennan still has his security clearance? This was such a big, I guess, promise of the president, demand of the president. He said he was going to pull it, and he still that is.”

    Paul was not happy about that and said it greatly concerned him that Deep State loyalists are undermining Trump to protect Brennan.

    Well, this is what worries me. People talk about the Deep State. Now, the Deep State is actually protecting their own and not listening to the president’s orders.

    I was sitting in the White House when President Trump said, I want his security clearance taken, and I saw the order given. I saw the chief of staff was there, not current chief of staff, the previous chief of staff.

    And if they are working against the odds of the president, that really does disrupt our country, does disrupt a representative democracy where the president makes a decision, and if someone is countermanding that, I think we need to get to the bottom of that. And I hope President Trump will say, who is countermanding my orders. I said get rid of his clearance.

    And I do think Brennan has been a partisan. And I think Brennan also abused his office in developing the Trump investigation. I think it was done under false pretenses and done for political reasons.

    https://nworeport.me/2019/06/08/watch-rand-paul-risks-it-all-drops-bomb-about-obama-deep-state-that-will-terrify-you/

  2. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — The University of Alabama gave back a philanthropist’s $26.5 million donation and took his name off the law school Friday, a week after he called on students to boycott the institution over the state’s new abortion ban.

    Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr., a 70-year-old Florida real estate investor, said he has no doubt the board of trustees acted in response to his remarks, and he complained that the state of Alabama is only reinforcing its reputation as “the land of the backward,” full of “hicks.”

    University officials emphatically denied the decision had anything to do with Culverhouse’s stand on the abortion law and said it was prompted instead by his attempts to dictate how the money should be spent. They did not elaborate.

    Culverhouse’s pledge, announced in September, was the biggest contribution ever made to the university. In return, the law school was renamed the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law.

    Within minutes of the trustees’ vote, a maintenance crew had removed his name and the university had wired him a $21.5 million refund of the money he had already given the university toward fulfilling his pledge.

    https://www.birminghamtimes.com/2019/06/university-of-alabama-rejects-26m-gift-after-abortion-flap/

  3. Former ISIS fighter says group sought to infiltrate U.S. through porous southwestern border Dems, RINOs refuse to protect
    Posted on June 8, 2019 by usafeaturesmedia in Border Security, Current Events, Executive Branch, Homeland Security, Intelligence, National Security, President Donald Trump // 0 Comments

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    By Jon Dougherty

    One thing POTUS Donald Trump’s detractors and political enemies in the media never take into consideration when he makes statements about the insecure nature of the U.S.-Mexico border is the fact that he receives daily briefings from U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security — information that the general public will never hear and isn’t entitled to hear, for the purposes of operational security.

    So when the president says something like, ‘Hey, there are terrorist elements trying to get through our southern border,’ it’s a safe bet he’s been told that by our intel agencies and DHS (which, by the way, has its own intelligence branch).

    As reported last week by Fox News, a newly published study and report quoted former ISIS operative Abu Henricki, a Canadian citizen with dual citizenship with Trinidad, who told the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism that the terror organization asked him to travel to the U.S. through Mexico in order to carry out “financial attacks.”

    “They were going to move me to the Mexican side [of the US southern border] via Puerto Rico. This was mastermind[ed] by a guy in America. Where he is, I do not know,” Henricki said. “That information, the plan came from someone from the New Jersey state from America. I was going to take a boat [from Puerto Rico] into Mexico. He was going to smuggle me in.”

    https://thenationalsentinel.com/2019/06/08/former-isis-fighter-says-group-sought-to-infiltrate-u-s-through-porous-southwestern-border-dems-rinos-refuse-to-protect/

  4. An Ohio jury on Friday slapped Oberlin College with an $11.2 million damages penalty for siding with three black students who had claimed they were victims of racial profiling after they were caught shoplifting in 2016, a report said.

    The liberal arts college must pay the massive compensatory damages award to the family-owned Gibson’s Bakery, where the three students had been arrested for attempting to steal or buy alcohol with a false ID.

    The arrests were met with massive protests by students and faculty at the school.

    During the protests, the Dean of Students, Meredith Raimondo, drew up a flyer, claiming Gibson’s had a history of racial profiling, the Chronicle-Telegram reported.

    The flyer also urged students to boycott the bakery, the Chronicle-Telegram reported.

    The students pleaded guilty to the attempted theft in 2017 and admitted in court they were not racially profiled.

    https://nypost.com/2019/06/07/oberlin-college-fined-11m-in-bakery-racial-profiling-case/?utm_source=reddit.com

  5. James Comey’s memos have always lived in a weird place in the Trump-Russia invesgitative saga. They are essentially the chief cause of Robert Mueller’s appointment, as the leaking of them is cited by Comey himself as a push for a special counsel. An innocuous comment about Michael Flynn in one of hte memos, which ended up going absolutely nowhere, was the primary evidence of “obstruction” early on and served as the buttress for Mueller’s appointment.

    Never mind that the numbers work out in such a way that at least one of the released memos was done so illegally. Being held accountable when it comes to classified material is for suckers and military members, not virtuous defenders of freedom like James Comey.

    Late yesterday, a judge ordered the memos to be further unredacted in response to a FOIA request.

    https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2019/06/08/judge-just-ordered-fbi-release-james-comeys-memos/

  6. Lawsuit Originally Filed By James Damore Will Proceed To Discovery
    JOHN SEXTONPosted at 8:41 pm on June 7, 2019

    James Damore was fired by Google back in August 2017 after he wrote a memo suggesting the predominance of male engineers at the company was partly the result of innate differences between men and women rather than discrimination. In January of 2018, Damore filed a lawsuit alleging the company discriminated against whites, males, and conservatives. Today a judge denied Google’s third attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed. From the San Jose Mercury News:

    https://hotair.com/archives/2019/06/07/discrimination-lawsuit-james-damore-filed-google-will-proceed-discovery/

  7. Riace (Italy) (AFP) – The sign reading “Riace, land of welcome” still hangs in the small town, but its dream of migrant integration is over after the far-right’s “Italians first” election victory.

    The new mayor of the one-time “global village” in southern Italy’s rural Calabria elected on May 26 with the support of Matteo Salvini’s anti-migrant Lega party, Antonio Trifoli, has so far left the sign up.

    “We will welcome refugees again,” he told AFP.

    “But we can’t have 500 to 600 asylum seekers in a town with 1,500 residents,” said the former town policeman.

    Trifoli was first on the independent “Riace reborn” list, backed by the Lega, whose supporters provided many of the 41.8 percent of the 1,103 votes he won.

    Until just a few years ago, the Lega was a separatist party at the other end of the country which sneeringly referred to southerners as “bumpkins” or worse.

    “The problem is that we had too many migrants and we lost the spirit of openness there was initially,” said Trifoli.

    “A whole economic system developed with the migrants, but without making the village dynamic again… The model destroyed itself,” he said.

    Former mayor Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano encouraged migrants and refugees to come to the village to counter a gradual decline of inhabitants and workers and show how migrant integration could be done.

    But now he is no longer even a member of the town council after his left-backed list lost in the elections, and he has been barred from the town.

    Lucano is due in court next week to face charges including that he failed to put to tender a garbage collection contract that went to a migrant-linked cooperative.

    https://news.yahoo.com/italys-migrant-model-town-riace-veered-far-023230500.html?soc_src=hl-viewer&soc_trk=tw

  8. Another Former Republican State Senator Found Dead with Gunshot Wound for Second Time in 2 Days
    Senator Jonathan Nichols’ death comes just two days after former Arkansas state senator Linda Collins-Smith was found dead, also with a gunshot wound

    By Joelle Goldstein June 08, 2019 12:13 AM
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    For the second time in two days, another former state senator has been found dead inside their home.

    On Thursday night, former Oklahoma state senator Jonathan Nichols was discovered dead inside his Norman, OK residence from an apparent gunshot, according to a press release from Norman Police Department.

    Authorities found Nichols, 53, who served as a Republican senator for 12 years, after receiving a call that somebody had been shot inside of the home.

    https://people.com/crime/former-state-senator-found-dead-gunshot-second-time-2-days/

  9. Military judge says Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher is now guaranteed shot at parole if convicted after prosecutors were caught spying on emails of his defense lawyers in murder case
    Judge penalized prosecutors on Friday by reducing max penalty in the case
    Chief Eddie Gallagher will now have chance of parole if convicted of murder
    Military judges have broad discretion on penalties in court martial cases
    The judge rebuked prosecutors for spying on the defense team’s emails
    Took the rare step of removing the prosecutor accused of misconduct
    Gallagher is set to go to trial June 17 on murder and attempted murder charges
    He is accused of killing ISIS militant in Iraq after taking him prisoner

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7117923/Judge-refuses-toss-war-crimes-case-misconduct-claims.html

    • Danielle Stella is running in 2020 against Jihad Barbie, Ilhan Omar.

      Whew! For a moment there, that looked like Danielle Steele. I think some voters would rather commit sepuku than vote for either one.

  10. Sweden’s first openly lesbian bishop has kindled strong feelings with her statements; many believe she has betrayed their Christian values.

    Eva Brunne, the bishop of Stockholm in the Church of Sweden, has sparked strong reactions by saying that she has more in common with Muslims than with the so-called Christian right.

    While discussing various religions’ attitudes towards human dignity in Swedish Radio’s “People and Faith” programme, Eva Brunne stressed that all people are equally valuable as all have been created by God.

    “Democracy and human dignity are interrelated, and I think that democracy is better off with diversity, because then we all have to think about what people we are and who we are living with. In fact, we all have the same value, even if we do not speak the same language, pray to God in the same way or look the same. We will live in one country together,” Brunne said.

    Brunne argued that the concept of Christian values has been kidnapped by populists.

    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201906041075601453-swedish-bishop-islam-christianity/

  11. The Mueller report is turning out to be as truthful as the Steele dossier.

    A DOJ court filing shows that the FBI actually began spying on Michael Flynn in January 2016 rather than December 2016 as the FBI and the Mueller report maintain.

    Thursday’s filing shows that Flynn had contact with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in both December 2015 and January 2016. Within days of Flynn’s January phone call to Kislyak, the spying began.

    During Flynn’s January 24, 2017 FBI interview, he told agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka about these contacts. Although a redacted copy of the 302 report was released last December, Flynn’s remarks about his early contacts with Kislyak only appear on the unredacted 302 which was included in Thursday’s DOJ court filing. (The 302 can be viewed here.)

    Now we know why this information was redacted.

    Flynn told Strzok and Pientka that he had “met with Kislyak at the Russian Ambassador’s residence next to the University Club prior to traveling to Russia in December 2015.” This visit is described in the 302 as a “courtesy call.” Flynn was scheduled to speak in Moscow at a Russia Today (RT) event about Middle East issues for which he was paid $45,000. He sat next to Putin at the dinner. The 302 indicated that “Flynn received an appropriate “threat briefing” from U.S. officials before attending.”

    Flynn told the agents that he called Kislyak in January 2016 upon hearing of the death of “former GRU Director Igor Sergun’s death in Lebanon…to express his condolences” and note that Sergun was “someone the U.S. could work with.” Sergun died Jan. 3, 2016.”

    Fox News’ Gregg Re reports that several days after Flynn’s phone call to Kislyak, it became known that Flynn was informally advising the Trump campaign. FBI informant Stefan Halper “sprang into action” to spy on him. (Halper also contacted other members of Trump’s campaign including Carter Page, George Papadopoulos and Sam Clovis several months later which was disclosed in May 2018.)

    https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/06/08/doj-court-filing-shows-yet-another-discrepancy-mueller-report-reality/

  12. Jeremy Corbyn is dropping the idea of social mobility as a goal for the next Labour government, saying he would instead create a “social justice commission” with the power to audit policy.

    In a shift being billed by Labour strategists as the rejection of 40 years of political consensus, Corbyn said on Saturday that pursuing social mobility “has failed, even on its own terms”.

    Speaking at a Labour education event in Birmingham, the party leader vowed to replace the idea that the brightest, most talented young people must have the opportunity to succeed, with a demand that all children be allowed to flourish.

    “For decades we’ve been told that inequality doesn’t matter because the education system will allow talented and hard-working people to succeed whatever their background. But the greater inequality has become, the more entrenched it has become,” he is expected to say.

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/08/jeremy-corbyn-to-drop-social-mobility-as-labour-goal?CMP=share_btn_fb

  13. Rudolph W. Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, taunted a reported Democratic investigation into his work abroad, including a planned Ukraine trip to influence a probe into presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden’s son, Hunter.

    “If they want to come after me, I gladly accept it, because we could just make the Biden stuff bigger news,” Mr. Giuliani said in The Daily Beast report. “Do it! Give me a chance to give a couple speeches about it and hold a press conference. I’d love that.”

    “I hope they do investigate me for that because I would resist … and go on a rampage,” he added. “I’ll tell them I won’t comply unless you investigate Biden first!”

    In May, Mr. Giuliani said he would be traveling to Ukraine soon to encourage the newly elected Ukraine government to investigate relationships between Hunter Biden and a wealthy Ukrainian gas company owner.

    “We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do. There’s nothing illegal about it,” Mr. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, told The New York Times at the time.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/7/giuliani-taunts-potential-dem-investigation-into-h/

  14. Tom Quiggin
    ?

    @TomTSEC
    Follow Follow @TomTSEC
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    Greetings from Alberta.

    It appears that @AndrewScheer throwing Michael Cooper under the bus may be the beginning of a “walk away’ movement for Conservatives in Alberta. Quite shocking to hear comments from attendees at events.

    https://twitter.com/TomTSEC/status/1137228746417590272

  15. Iran Says Selling Oil Through ‘Unconventional’ Means (aawsat, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1758606/iran-says-selling-oil-through-unconventional-means

    “Iran is keeping up oil sales through “unconventional” means to circumvent US sanctions, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in an interview published Saturday.

    “We have unofficial or unconventional sales, all of which are secret, because if they are made known America would immediately stop them,” he said.

    Zanganeh declined to give details on Iran’s oil exports, saying he would not disclose figures until sanctions were lifted…”

  16. Gargash mocks Qatari media fabrications (gulfnews, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/gargash-mocks-qatari-media-fabrications-1.64477513

    “Dubai: UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash Saturday mocked Qatari-funded media for false reports, after one outlet claimed he was visiting Sudan.

    He expressed astonishment at what he called “fabrications” by the Qatari platforms, including the Middle East Eye. “They propagate my presence in Khartoum. I’m currently in the Bratislava forum in Slovakia,” Gargash said in a tweet.

    “They are hooked on false news. May God spare Sudan their spring,” he added, in a reference to the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolts that saw several countries sliding into anarchy.

    Gargash’s critical remarks come days after the second anniversary of a bitter dispute between Qatar and Gulf neighbours.

    In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt broke off diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar over its support for extremist groups.

    The quartet has set several conditions to mend ties with Qatar, including the Doha’s severance of links with militant and terror groups.

    Doha has refused the conditions, saying they violate its sovereignty.

    On Friday, Gargash urged Qatari rulers to conduct a “frank revision” of their policies and adopt a new approach to end the crisis with the Gulf and Arab countries.”

  17. State-sponsored terrorism is biggest threat, Modi says (gulfnews, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/state-sponsored-terrorism-is-biggest-threat-modi-says-1.64477174

    “Male: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said state-sponsored terrorism is the biggest threat to the world and dealing with terrorism and radicalisation marks the biggest challenge before global leaders.

    Addressing the Maldives parliament, the People’s Majlis, Modi also called for openness and balance in the Indo-Pacific region.

    “Terrorism is the biggest challenge not only for a country or a region but the entire world. No day goes by when terrorists do not strike. They do not have bank accounts but still they have no dearth of money. Where do they get this money from, who gives them. State sponsorship of terrorism is the biggest threat,” Modi said.

    He said a mistake was being made by making a distinction between a good terrorist and a bad terrorist.

    “This is an artificial divide. It has gone too far. All forces who believe in humanity, should come together. Dealing with terror and radicalisation is the biggest challenge for global leadership,” Modi said.

    The PM also called for holding a global conference in a time-bound manner to discuss these challenges and said if there was a delay, the “coming generations will not forgive us”.

    India accuses Pakistan of indulging in cross-border terrorism.

    Stressing that India was committed to strengthening its deep friendship with Maldives, Modi said that the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy was a priority for his government.

    Earlier, the Maldives government conferred on Modi its highest honour for foreign dignitaries — ‘Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen’. Modi received the award at a ceremony held at the President’s office in Male.

    According to a statement, the award was a recognition of the many services Prime Minister Modi has performed to cement the longstanding, amicable ties between India and the Maldives, and for the assistance the Indian government continues to provide to the Maldives under Modi’s stewardship.

    The award has earlier been given to the Duke of Edinburgh Earl Mountbatten in 1972, President of South Korea Chun Doo Hwan in 1984, Commonwealth secretary-general Shridath Ramphal in 1989, Saudi Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in 2009 and President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas in 2013 among others.”

  18. US carrier in Persian Gulf region sends clear signal to Iran
    The Associated Press
    AP8 Jun 2019223
    ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (AP) — Under a starry sky, U.S. Navy fighter jets catapulted off the aircraft carrier’s deck and flew north over the darkened waters of the northern Arabian Sea, a unmistaken signal to Iran that the foremost symbol of the American military’s global reach is back in its neighborhood, perhaps to stay.

    The USS Abraham Lincoln , with its contingent of Navy destroyers and cruisers and a fighting force of about 70 aircraft, is the centerpiece of the Pentagon’s response to what it calls Iranian threats to attack U.S. forces or commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf region. In recent years, there has been no regular U.S. aircraft carrier presence in the Middle East.

    U.S. officials have said that signs of heightened Iranian preparations to strike U.S. and other targets in the waters off Iran as well as in Iraq and Yemen in late April emerged shortly after the Trump administration announced it was clamping down further on Iran’s economy by ending waivers to sanctions on buyers of Iranian crude oil.

    The administration went a step beyond that on Friday, announcing penalties that target Iran’s largest petrochemical company.

    On Saturday the Lincoln was steaming in international waters east of Oman and about 200 miles from Iran’s southern coastline. One month after its arrival in the region, the Lincoln has not entered the Persian Gulf, and it’s not apparent that it will. The USS Gonzalez, a destroyer that is part of the Lincoln strike group, is operating in the Gulf.

    Rear Adm. John F. G. Wade, commander of the Lincoln strike group, said Iran’s naval forces have adhered to international standards of interaction with ships in his group.

    https://www.breitbart.com/news/us-carrier-in-persian-gulf-region-sends-clear-signal-to-iran/

  19. Turkey says it has ‘neutralized’ 43 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq (reuters, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-iraq-security/turkey-says-it-has-neutralized-43-kurdish-militants-in-northern-iraq-idUSKCN1T90A7

    “Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday a total of 43 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had been “neutralized” as part of an operation Ankara launched in northern Iraq 13 days ago.

    The Turkish military launched what it dubbed “Operation Claw” in northern Iraq’s Hakurk region on June 27 with artillery and air strikes followed by operations by commando brigades.

    The PKK militant group is based in northern Iraq, notably in the Qandil region to the south of Hakurk. Ankara said the operation aimed to destroy shelters and caves used by the PKK and “neutralize” its members – a term it commonly uses to refer to deaths, but also to those wounded or captured.

    “43 PKK terrorists have been neutralized as part of Operation Claw, which has continued successfully for 13 days in the Hakurk region of northern Iraq,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

    It said 53 mines and improvised explosive devices had been destroyed and 74 caves and shelters used by the PKK made unusable, adding that it had also seized weapons and ammunition belonging to the militants.

    Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said the operation would continue in the region until “the last terrorist is neutralized”.

    The PKK insurgency in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey began in 1984 and more than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and United States.

    Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third largest in parliament, has said such operations create crises and that tens of similar operations in the past have not produced a solution.

    Separately, two PKK members, one of whom was on Turkey’s wanted list, were “neutralized” in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir province, as well as five others in the eastern Tunceli province, the Interior Ministry said.

    Another PKK member was arrested in Diyarbakir at a traffic checkpoint, the local gendarmerie said.”

  20. How Italy’s migrant model town Riace veered far-right (thelocal, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://www.thelocal.it/20190608/how-italys-migrant-model-town-riace-veered-far-right

    “The sign reading “Riace, land of welcome” still hangs in the small town, but its dream of migrant integration is over after the far-right’s “Italians first” election victory.

    The new mayor of the one-time “global village” in southern Italy’s rural Calabria elected on May 26th with the support of Matteo Salvini’s anti-migrant Lega party, Antonio Trifoli, has so far left the sign up.

    “We will welcome refugees again,” he told AFP.

    “But we can’t have 500 to 600 asylum seekers in a town with 1,500 residents,” said the former town policeman.

    Trifoli was first on the independent “Riace reborn” list, backed by the Lega, whose supporters provided many of the 41.8 percent of the 1,103 votes he won.

    Until just a few years ago, the Lega was a separatist party at the other end of the country which sneeringly referred to southerners as “bumpkins” or worse.

    “The problem is that we had too many migrants and we lost the spirit of openness there was initially,” said Trifoli.

    “A whole economic system developed with the migrants, but without making the village dynamic again… The model destroyed itself,” he said.

    Former mayor Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano encouraged migrants and refugees to come to the village to counter a gradual decline of inhabitants and workers and show how migrant integration could be done.

    But now he is no longer even a member of the town council after his left-backed list lost in the elections, and he has been barred from the town.

    Lucano is due in court next week to face charges including that he failed to put to tender a garbage collection contract that went to a migrant-linked cooperative.

    German director Wim Wenders made a documentary in 2010 featuring the leftist mayor and Riace’s refugees, but Lucano was last year placed under house arrest for allegedly setting up fake marriages to help foreign women stay in the country after their asylum applications were rejected.

    The debacle came after a populist coalition formed by Salvini, the country’s hardline anti-immigrant deputy prime minister who also holds the interior ministry portfolio, and Luigi Di Maio’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) formed a government in June last year.

    The shops and workshops previously occupied by migrants are now shuttered.

    The village’s historic streets are largely deserted, with funereal music occasionally punctuating the silence.

    Colourful, multi-ethnic murals can still be seen on walls, testimony to the experiment that took place here and the hopes for migrant integration it spawned in Italy and beyond, before it failed amid alienated locals and allegations of fraud.

    “Here, we need order and discipline,” said agricultural engineer Claudio Falchi, a Milan native who moved here 25 years ago.

    Three years ago he became Lega leader in Riace.

    “They were fighting among themselves, they didn’t want the crucifix, or the creche,” Falchi said of the migrants.

    “It’s not racism, it’s just that this is our home. We welcome them and then they make problems.”

    Locals are reluctant to talk about the past or discuss the predicament of the village, which, like so many in Calabria is seeing its youth leave in search of work as the elderly slowly die off.

    “People wanted things to change. After 15 years of talking only about welcoming and refugees, they got tired,” said mayor Trifoli.

    “Taking in refugees gave Riace prestige around the world but its inhabitants lost interest.”

    Over the years the town took in around 6,000 migrants, opened shops and workshops and even launched its own currency stamped with the heads of Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King.

    But that model of tolerance and inclusion has disappeared.

    “Almost everyone has gone. There aren’t even any more children,” said Daniel, a 37-year-old Ghanaian, in perfect Italian.

    The Lega was the big winner in last month’s European parliamentary elections, taking more than 34 percent of national votes.

    On the southern island of Lampedusa, where many migrants arrived after making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean, the Lega won more than 45 percent of votes.”

  21. Africa battles high rates of suicide, depression (DW, Jun 8, 2019)
    https://www.dw.com/en/africa-battles-high-rates-of-suicide-depression/a-49114146

    “Many African countries are struggling with high suicide rates for which there is no simple explanation. However, one thing is evident: There is a lack of professional help and comprehensive research into the causes.

    Hiram Chomba is a psychotherapist — a very passionate one. He spares no effort to reach patients in remote rural communities. Sometimes he rides a motorcycle; sometimes he catches a matatu, one of Kenya’s shared minibuses.

    Chomba lives in Embu, a small town close to the capital, Nairobi. For four years, he has been working for Befrienders Kenya helping people who suffer from depression and suicidal thoughts.

    He also provides support for those frequently in contact with people who have a mental illness: “At the moment I am focusing on training parole officers, who have many encounters with suicidal people.”

    Kenya: ‘A real crisis’

    “The figures are worrying. In Kenya, this is already a real crisis,” he says. Citing a report from the Kenyan Ministry of Health, Chomba says that four people die from suicide every day in the eastern African country.

    According to the World Health Organization (WHO), however, Kenya is not the only African country struggling with high rates of suicide. In Nigeria or Ivory Coast, the figures are even higher than in most European countries, the US or China, with more than 15 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants per year.

    Chomba fears that the official figures in Kenya are only the tip of the iceberg; he believes there is no reliable data on the country’s suicide rate.

    “In Kenya, mental health is not considered a priority, and there is little access to trained workers,” he says, pointing out that there are only 100 psychiatrists for a population of around 45 million, and even fewer psychologists.

    Men more at risk

    Chomba’s organization set up a free psychological counseling center in Nairobi. It is mostly women from the inner-urban parts of the city who seek help at the facility. However, Chomba says that nationwide, the majority of those affected are men.

    Chomba says one of the contributing factors to the psychological problems that many people are experiencing is social change. He is certain that the “disintegration of traditional culture has contributed to the rise in suicide rates.”

    He believes that economic development has led to the demise of traditional norms and customs. He also says that social and cultural expectations — especially of men — have changed. According to him, the African proverb “I am because we are” is losing its importance in modern African societies.

    Information against stigmatization

    Alcohol abuse, an early warning sign of depression, is also widespread. “We want to work against that. We are in contact with local businesses, religious leaders, politicians, tribal elders and the police,” says Chomba.

    He and his fellow campaigners are using initiatives aimed at informing people. Education helps to tackle the stigma attached to depression and assists relatives, neighbors and colleagues in better identifying the symptoms of suicidal tendencies.

    Megan Vaughan, professor of African History and Health at University College London, shares the view that depression and suicide are often still taboo topics in Africa. However, she says that the recognition of depression as an illness is growing there.

    She says that an example of this is in South Africa, where the HIV crisis brought the issue of mental health more into the public focus, and professional psychological counseling services are no longer a rarity. “In the past, it was the elders who gave advice. But young people need other forms of help that are better suited to their circumstances,” Vaughan told DW.

    ‘Never just one reason’

    Vaughan also believes that social upheaval is a reason for the high suicide rates: “Life is changing fast — in Africa as well. Urbanization is increasing at a rapid pace. People no longer live in village structures and family ties,” though she adds that she believes this explanation alone to be too simplistic.

    According to the historian, suicide is not something new in Africa, but were also an occurrence in traditional African societies. “There is never a single reason why people commit suicide — and that applies to all regions of the world,” she says.

    Vaughan wants to see more extensive research on depression and suicide in Africa in order to draw definite conclusions and to be able to tailor prevention strategies accordingly.

    For Chomba too, the need for action is urgent. The lack of awareness of mental illness continues to motivate him to travel to communities to educate people.

    “I too have lost relatives through suicide,” he says. “We must act sooner.”…”

  22. Man accused of creating the ‘drunk’ Pelosi video says he feels violated

    Shawn Brooks, the man who was doxxed by a Daily Beast reporter, opens up to Fox News’ Jesse Watters about what action he plans to take after being falsely accused of creating the ‘drunk’ Pelosi video.

  23. the gateway pundit – Attorney General Barr Hints at His Dangerous Position as AG Overseeing Deep State FBI at this Point in History

    US Attorney General Barr spoke at a ceremony at the FBI academy. He hinted at the dangerous situation he is in as Attorney General at this time in history.
    Barr started his presentation by stating –

    “As we’ve been watching the coverage of June 6, 1944 D-Day, I had the thought that my arrival this time felt a little bit, I think, like jumping into Sainte-Mère-Église on the morning of June 5, trying to figure out where you could land without getting shot.”

    Barr’s comments about the reality of getting shot at received no reaction from the crowd.
    ===========================================
    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1137339744013209601
    ===========================================
    Americans want justice. We’ve seen too many Deep State crimes committed under the Obama Administration. We’ve watch a gang of criminals led by Obama and Hillary Clinton attempt to prevent candidate Trump from winning the 2016 election and then work tirelessly to remove him from office.

    It is not out of line to want to see these people locked up. It’s demanding that criminals be arrested and put behind bars. It’s demanding justice!

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/06/attorney-general-barr-hints-at-dangerous-position-as-ag-overseeing-deep-state-fbi-at-this-point-in-history/