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.
Sea-Watch 3 captain calls for EU action on migrants rescues (abcnews, Jul 18, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sea-watch-captain-questioned-italy-aiding-migrants-64409494
“A German humanitarian ship captain who eluded an Italian effort to block her from docking at an Italian port with migrants onboard has called for the European Commission to do its best to avoid new political standoffs.
Carola Rackete, captain of the Dutch-flagged Sea-Watch 3, was questioned by Italian prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Agrigento on Thursday for allegedly aiding illegal immigration.
Rackete was arrested June 29 for entering the Italian port of Lampedusa, ignoring a block imposed by far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. She was also accused of hitting an Italian border police boat as she disembarked 40 migrants who were rescued off Libya and spent over two weeks at sea in a political standoff.
A judge overturned the arrest three days later, saying the captain had acted to save lives.
But Rackete is still under investigation for entering Italian waters despite a direct order for him not to do so.
“I’ve been very happy to be able to explain all the details of the rescue operation carried out on June 12,” Rackete said.
“I hope that the European Commission, after the election of the new parliament, will do its best to avoid this kind of situation and that all the countries will accept migrants saved by civilian rescue ships,” she added.
Rackete’s lawyer, Alessandro Gamberini, told reporters that after her arrest was overturned, she is free to go back to Germany. Rackete hasn’t said whether she has decided to remain in Italy for now.
Gamberini also said that criminalizing people for saving human lives at sea is an act of “irresponsibility.”
Salvini has pushed a tough stance against illegal migration, closing Italian ports to humanitarian boats. He blames them for aiding human traffickers by rescuing migrants who try to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
Earlier Thursday, EU interior ministers including Salvini gathered at an informal meeting in Finland, which took over bloc’s rotating six-month presidency earlier this month, to discuss migration issues and the EU’s asylum policy.
Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for migration and home affairs, said member states had agreed to “practical solidarity solutions” in recent weeks, referring to the fact that a small group of EU countries that have accepted to take migrants from embarking ships.
“The current situation of uncertainty does not benefit anyone, it only creates tensions (among EU member states),” Avramopoulos said in a joint news conference with the Finnish Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo in Helsinki.
“While fighting smuggling and preventing irregular arrivals remains our priority, we cannot leave migrants at sea while we look for solution,” Avramopoulos said. “The challenges of sea arrivals are not — and cannot be — the sole responsibility of just a handful of member states,”
Both Avramopoulos and Ohisalo said the EU is now seeking an undisclosed “temporary solution” to tackle the crisis — a scheme that is be discussed in detail by EU interior ministers in Paris later this month.
“That will be the first step,” Ohisalo said. “We need action now. There’s no time to wait.””
owerful Lessons from History: Adams on Strength, Rand on Fifth Columnists
by Lawrence Kadish
July 18, 2019 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14555/history-lessons-john-adams-ayn-rand
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Shareowerful Lessons from History: Adams on Strength, Rand on Fifth Columnists
by Lawrence Kadish
July 18, 2019 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14555/history-lessons-john-adams-ayn-rand
President John Adams has something to say to students this fall but it is unlikely he will be given the chance.
Across the United States, this summer will be used by educators to convene conferences on curriculum, classroom content and study guides to present to students in September. Likely absent from most of their agendas will be a comprehensive study of the most seminal event in the last century — World War II — which continues to define the world we live in, our geopolitical borders, our society, the role of technology and America’s leadership role around the globe.
Social studies teachers will be the first to admit despair. In many school districts, a single 45-minute period is all that is offered in the course of an entire class year for the study of this global conflict, Gloria Sesso, chairperson of the Long Island, N.Y. Committee for the Social Studies, told Gatestone.
Forty-five minutes would not even begin to cover how the Nazis took a bigoted beer hall boast and made it into mass murder on an industrial scale, much less understand the origins and consequences of World War II. (A recent survey revealed that 22% of millennials had never heard of the Holocaust.)
Adams, the nation’s second President, understood that studying history, and specifically conflict between nations, would give us the means of avoiding the next battle, conflict between nations and of protecting our shared future. In a letter to his wife, Abigail, he wrote:
Victor Davis Hanson On ‘The Squad’: “revolutionary carnivores are rarely sated”
The Democratic Party bears little resemblance to the themes Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton embraced in the 2008 primaries.
The parameters of marriage — “between a man and woman,” in Obama’s words — have now transmogrified beyond gay civil unions to legal gay marriage to transgendered fixations.
Obama once protested that he was no king who could open the border and grant amnesties by fiat. Yet his view of immigration has metamorphosed well beyond Dreamers into Democratic candidates going into Mexico to escort aliens unlawfully into our country — and 500 sanctuary jurisdictions in which federal immigration law is all but null and void.
In a nanosecond, Betsy Ross’ iconic colonial flag, which once emblazoned the backdrop of the 2012 Obama inauguration, has become a racist icon.
ObamaCare has abruptly morphed into “Medicare for All” — including illegal aliens, eligible as soon as they cross the border.
https://www.libertybugle.com/victor-davis-hanson-on-the-squad-revolutionary-carnivores-are-rarely-sated/
President Trump announced today that the USS Boxer has destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after it came within 1,000 yards of the ship and ignored stand down orders.
The President said:
https://bongino.com/breaking-uss-boxer-destroys-iranian-drone-after-it-ignored-stand-down-orders/
State Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) Swore to Apparent Falsehoods in Court — While Divorcing Her Alleged Brother
Minnesota state Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-60B) is the presumed frontrunner for the MN-5 House seat being vacated by Rep. Keith Ellison (D). The seat is safely Democratic; Hollywood progressives, local party officials, and Minnesota media have all but scheduled the August 14 primary as her coronation. Their enthusiasm is rooted in Omar’s identity: she is a photogenic, hijab-wearing Muslim who entered the United States as a Somali child refugee.
Likely because of this, however, Omar’s media and party supporters have been aggressively uninterested in a disturbing allegation about Omar with legal ramifications: that in 2009, she seems to have married her brother. That allegation has been public for nearly two years without Omar addressing its specific foundations.
Newly uncovered evidence — exclusively published below — adds another allegation: Ilhan Omar has since signed off on apparent falsehoods, under penalty of perjury, during her 2017 divorce from the man in question: Ahmed Nur Said Elmi.
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/state-rep-ilhan-omar-d-mn-swore-to-apparent-falsehoods-in-court-while-divorcing-her-alleged-brother/
Democrats Admit to CNN’s Tapper: ‘The President Won This One’ — ‘Squad’ Hurting the Party
“The president won this one,” said an unnamed Democrat politician of President Donald Trump’s “showdown” with the Democrat “Squad” of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashia Tlaib (D-MI), according to claims made by CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday.
Trump’s implicit criticisms of Omar — describing the Somali immigrant-turned-politician as an America-hating antisemite — triggered a broad partisan Democrat coalescence around her and other “Justice Democrats” in the aforementioned squad. High unfavorability ratings among Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib amounted to a political win for Trump, according to Tapper’s claims.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/07/17/democrats-admit-to-cnns-tapper-the-president-won-this-one-squad-hurting-the-party/
Rebel Media Reporter Brings Jumbotron Truck Featuring ‘The Squad’ Refusing to Denounce Antifa to DNC HQ (VIDEOS)
Rebel Media reporter Keean Bexte brought a “No Hate” jumbotron truck playing videos of “The Squad” to the Democratic National Committee headquarters in DC, urging all politicians to condemn Antifa and terrorism.
The Democrats were not too pleased with the truck playing videos of their politicians and attempted to kick Bexte off the sidewalk by their building.
Bexte has been confronting lawmakers on Capitol Hill and asking them to condemn the attacks, which all of the freshmen far-left congresswomen have refused to do.
The truck, which will be driving around DC all day on Thursday, featured him grilling Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley — and their refusal to condemn last week’s attack on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, Washington, by an armed Antifa activist. The attacker used the same wording as “The Squad” of freshmen lawmakers, including calling the facility a “concentration camp.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/rebel-media-reporter-brings-jumbotron-truck-featuring-the-squad-refusing-to-denounce-antifa-to-dnc-hq-videos/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
House Democrat Says Trump ‘Politically Brilliant’ For Targeting ‘The Squad’
Avatar by Joseph Curl July 18, 2019 56 Comments
n the midst of intra-party fighting among Democrats, President Trump jumped in to bash “the Squad” for their anti-American rhetoric.
Some immediately thought the president had blundered, but in reality he succeeded in forcing the entire party to defend its most extreme members — Reps. Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan or Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts.
“The President won this one,” one Democratic lawmaker in the House told CNN. “What the President has done is politically brilliant. Pelosi was trying to marginalize these folks, and the President has now identified the entire party with them.”
Another Democrat said Trump outplayed them by setting the agenda.
“We need to focus on the issues that got [Democrats] here: jobs, health care … instead of the issues the President brings up deliberately. Anything that takes away from bread-and-butter issues is playing into his hands,” said the lawmaker.
JUST IN: Federal Judge Denies Jeffrey Epstein Bail – Cites Flight Risk, Danger to Public
A federal judge on Thursday denied bail to wealthy sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein who sought to be released from custody on a $100 million bond.
Epstein’s lawyers asked that he be kept in his $77 million Manhattan mansion with an electronic trafficking device as he awaited his trial.
Epstein was arrested two weeks ago and indicted on one count of conspiring to commit sex trafficking.
Judge Richard Berman, a Clinton appointee said on Thursday that Epstein is a flight risk and a potential danger to the public so he denied him bail.
Federal prosecutors argued on Monday during the bail hearing that Epstein was a flight risk.
Federal prosecutors said on Monday that a fake passport listing Saudi Arabia as a residence along with “piles of cash” and “dozens of diamonds” were found in Epstein’s home safe along with a trove of lewd photos of women. One of the girls in the trove of photos was found to be a minority at the time the photo was taken.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/just-in-federal-judge-denies-jeffrey-epstein-bail-cites-flight-risk-danger-to-public/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
(Richard: During the Cold War I heard rumors about armed border clashes between the two but a full out war between them hasn’t happened since the late 1800s)
Expect a War Between Russia and China in the 2020s
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Notwithstanding the seeming friendship between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin, and the growing congruence of both countries’ interests in undermining the US-led international order, relations between Russia and China remain at their core as brittle and prone to mutual suspicion and distrust as they have in the past. It is not unreasonable to expect that that underlying animosity will erupt into violence in the relatively near future.
During his state visit to Russia earlier this month, President Xi Jinping of China effusively hailed President Vladimir Putin of Russia as his “best friend and colleague.” Putin, not to be outdone, replied by affirming his personal respect for Xi, and suggested that Sino-Russian relations have progressed not only to an “unprecedentedly high level” in recent years, but are now increasingly based on a “truly comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction.”
But whatever Putin means by “strategic interaction,” and despite the undeniable progress in Sino-Russian relations over the past decade, it is easy to fall into the trap of exaggerating what some fear is an emerging Sino-Russian “axis” in world politics. Notwithstanding the Xi-Putin friendship and the growing congruence of both countries’ interests in undermining the US-led international order, relations between Russia and China remain at their core as brittle and prone to mutual suspicion and distrust as they have in the past.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/expect-war-russia-china/
Richard: Interesting, if the predictions are correct (they probably are) then if the US can avoid falling apart China and Russia are going to strengthen our position in the world.
Given the shared border, the near parity in military power and the shared hunger to become the biggest and baddest nation on earth a smart President will be able to play one against the other and hopefully prevent any military action between the two from going nuclear.
A day or so ago I wrote about ho sabotage of the “Belt and Road” rail line could be repaired quickly. This is still true but if Russia is the one doing the sabotage they can hit several locations at the same time and delay the trains that way. Delays in the trains will hamper the commercial advances the Chinese would be making and used properly could turn the tide of battle in any military conflict.
Don’t expect any military action in the near future but keep this prediction in mind when the Chinese start having problems in their move towards Europe.
I Love Ilhan Omar
Why Haven’t We Been Back to the Moon?
The Congresswoman for Somalia
U.S. Warship Destroys Iranian Drone in the Strait of Hormuz (breitbart, Jul 18, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/07/18/u-s-warship-destroys-iranian-drone-in-the-strait-of-hormuz/
“President Donald Trump says a U.S. warship destroyed an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
Trump says it’s the latest “hostile” action by Iran. He’s calling on other countries to condemn what he says are Iran’s attempts to disrupt the freedom of navigation and global commerce in the strategic waterway in the Persian Gulf region.
Trump says the USS Boxer took defensive action after the drone closed to within 1,000 yards of the warship and ignored multiple calls to stand down.
The president says the drone threatened the safety of the American ship and its crew.
Iran recently shot down a U.S. drone that it said was flying over Iran. Trump called off a planned retaliatory airstrike at the last minute.”
U.S. shoots down Iranian drone. John Batchelor with Sebastian Gorka on AMERICA First
Trump Has “Won This One,” Democrats Angry And Defeated According To CNN
Majority Of Mexicans Want Illegal Immigrants Deported
Trans Activist Gets SPECIAL RIGHTS, Not Equal Rights | Lindsay Shepherd Ban
Manitoba wants to attract Quebec civil servants worried about clothing law
WINNIPEG—The Manitoba government is planning to recruit civil servants from Quebec who are concerned about a new law in the province banning religious symbols.
Manitoba has a shortage of bilingual civil servants, Premier Brian Pallister says, and will send letters to Quebec professional organizations, colleges and other entities to invite public-sector workers to move west.
“We think that there may be people in Quebec right now who want to come to a province where we don’t have clothing police, where their freedoms will be respected and their rights will be respected,” Pallister said Thursday.
The Quebec law prohibits teachers, police officers and other public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols.
Critics say it unfairly targets Muslims, Sikhs and other religious minorities. Quebec Premier Francois Legault has said the law helps ensure secularism in the workplace and is supported by a majority of Quebecers.
Pallister raised his opposition to the law at a meeting of Canada’s premiers in Saskatoon earlier this month, although it was not part of the formal agenda and was not included in the communique issued by the premiers after the meeting.
Pallister said the letter to Quebec organizations will be finalized soon and will be made available publicly.
“I’m not trying to hide the fact that I disagree with Bill 21, and I’m not going to try to hide the fact that we’re going to use the threat of it to serve the needs of the people of Manitoba, and to give opportunity to people who feel at all concerned about that particular bill,” he said.
The Quebec law was a campaign promise by Legault and took effect last month. It is being challenged in court by a national Muslim organization and a civil liberties group.
A Quebec Superior Court judge rejected their application Thursday to suspend the law until the court case can be heard.
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/07/18/manitoba-wants-to-attract-quebec-civil-servants-worried-about-clothing-law.html
Tommy Robinson Goes To Prison Again! – Ex Police Officer Speaks Out Again
Nigeria: Islamic State fighters attack Jakana military base after deadly ambush (thedefensepost, Jul 18, 2019)
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/07/18/islamic-state-attack-jakana-nigeria-ambush/
“Islamic State militants attacked a military base in Jakana town in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state after ambushing a military vehicle nearby and killing the six soldiers aboard, two military sources told AFP Thursday.
Heavily-armed Islamic State West Africa Province fighters opened fire on a patrol vehicle on Wednesday, July 17 near Jakana, which is around 40 km (25 miles) west of Borno state capital Maiduguri, killing all the soldiers on board.
“We lost all six soldiers in the ambush, including a colonel,” said the first of two military sources, who both spoke on condition of anonymity.
The soldiers were on their way to Maiduguri from Damaturu, the capital of neighboring Yobe state, when the militants attacked around 5:20 p.m. local time (1620 GMT), said the source.
“The gun truck the soldiers were driving in was destroyed,” the second source said.
Following the ambush the insurgents attacked a military base just outside Jakana in seven technicals – pickup trucks fitted with machine guns, also known as gun trucks in Nigeria – engaging troops in an hour-long battle, the sources said. The attack was repelled by soldiers at the base, with ISWAP fighters abandoning weapons and one vehicle as they fled.
Nigeria’s Sun News outlet, which first broke news of the raid on Jakana on Wednesday, said the attack began at around 6:30 p.m. and that scores of residents had fled into the bush.
The army has not officially confirmed the attacks, and ISIS has not yet said that ISWAP fighters were responsible…”
Rotherham grooming gang: The child rape brothers given £500k in legal aid
THREE “pure evil” brothers have received up to £500,000 in legal aid after raping children in Rotherham – while dozens of their victims have yet to receive any compensation.
Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain – known as Mad Ash, Bash and Bono – formed a violent, gun-toting, drug-dealing gang. They pleaded poverty despite running a petrol station, takeaways and an egg farm that supplies supermarkets, alongside owning a number of properties.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed they were awarded £370,000 in legal aid for their costs in the 2016 crown court trial.
This does not include other magistrates hearings and family court battles which experts say could tot up to £100,000 more. Survivors last night called the payout “outrageous” and “immoral”.
One top solicitor revealed that of the 86 victims he represents, 70 have not yet received any compensation payout. Dozens of others have received sums as low as £2,000.
The Hussain brothers, who poured petrol over their victims, are said to have “owned” the South Yorkshire town for more than 10 years.
Some girls were just 11 years old when they were raped, tied up and tortured and passed between abusers.
Ringleader Arshid, 42, was jailed for 35 years, Bannaras 19 years, and Basharat was given 25 years.
Sammy Woodhouse, 34, one of their 50 victims, said: “This is completely outrageous and immoral. “They have probably received 25 per cent more money than what the survivors of their abuse have had in total as compensation.
“Something needs to be put in place to stop these people just laughing at the system and milking the taxpayer dry.”
Former youth worker Jayne Senior MBE, who helped expose the scandal, said: “I’m totally shocked and horrified.This is terrible.
“These rapists and abusers are pure evil but they’ve had almost half a million pounds spent on them, yet these poor girls get nothing.
“It feels like the judicial system is not set up to protect victims of some of the most horrendous crimes of abuse, torture and trafficking this country has ever seen.”
Sammy added: “Perhaps if they had been forced to pay for their own defence it might have made them question even taking it to trial.
“Instead they are able to get a free payout to have a trial defence, launch appeals and take it as far as they can – at absolutely no cost to themselves.”
She said the Hussain family had “loads of businesses”. “Surely they could have afforded their own lawyers?” she added. “But I guess they probably put everything in other people’s names. It’s a disgrace.”
Sammy, who gave birth to a son after being raped by Arshid and is fighting social workers’ attempts to allow the rapist access to the now 17-year-old child, also slammed “public servants at the police and council” who “failed” to do their jobs.
She said: “Because they didn’t do what they were paid to do and ignored what was going on they have now landed the public with paying all these legal fees for these men. It’s completely outrageous.
“The only people laughing in all this are the lawyers.”
Jayne Senior agreed, adding: “If we’d have listened to these girls all those years ago, the court cases would not have cost this much. All the evidence was there decades ago. They have also had to relive the abuse time and again because of the brothers’ not-guilty pleas.
“They have property in this family which the Government should go after. Why are they not instigating the Proceeds of Crime Act to recover this money? These men should be punished more for trying to lie their way out of the crimes.
“These girls deserve this money and should not be fighting for it. It’s about time we think about protecting them and not the perpetrators.
“Many of these survivors are involved in other legal cases trying to fight for their children back amongst other things and have no access to legal aid.
“You can be the biggest criminal in the world and still get legal aid while these girls are fighting to get compensation.
“Their criminal record reduces the amount of money they are awarded.
“These survivors are having to fight for every single penny in compensation for the abuse they went though. That fight could go on for years.”
Solicitor David Greenwood revealed just 16 of his 86 cases have been finalised.
He said: “There are about 70 girls still waiting for compensation.
“Everyone is entitled to representation but the way in which they conducted their defence – and I blame the perpetrators – was an insult to the girls. There was so much evidence it was overwhelming and I fail to understand how they could get away with it.
“They wasted a lot of money trying to defend themselves.”
John O’Connell, of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said nobody should be denied justice because of their financial situation. “However, if there are cases where wealthy individuals are cheating the system to claim payments, that is completely unacceptable. Authorities must do all they can to make sure those who can pay for their own defence do so, otherwise those in need of help are missing out,” he said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Anyone facing a crown court trial is eligible for legal aid subject to a strict means test.
“Without proper legal representation a defendant might argue that their trial was unfair and any conviction they received could be quashed.”
It is the nature of the crime that these friends and gang mates behave utterly selfishly. Their only thought is for their own gratification as they exploit vulnerable, often intoxicated, young girls to pay debts or earn favours.
Such is life in this small but growing underclass in our cities.
After hearing of the crimes perpetrated on ordinary young girls in Rotherham nothing comes as a shock.
The news that the Hussains ripped through more than £300,000 in legal fees doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. It is another indicator of their disregard for anyone around them. They knew there was a wealth of evidence against them. They knew they would be found guilty.
But either out of spite for the girls who had to relive the abuse in open court or an utter disregard for the taxpayer, they tried to get away with their hideous crimes. Only Bannaras had the good sense to plead guilty and save us all a few bob.
Many of the young women who want to achieve justice through the civil justice system are being let down again. A series of appeals in the past two years has put cases on hold and brought uncertainty as to whether they will even be compensated and thereby have a chance at a decent start in life.
Some have had to wait five years and the legal wrangling continues. Some of these very deserving clients will receive no compensation from the council or police, despite their litany of failures. This scourge of our cities and our youngsters will continue until we find a way to educate and nurture the young men who entertain the idea that it’s OK to give young girls alcohol and to rape them.
Some say this is a crime committed by young men of Pakistani Muslim heritage yet there are other ethnic groups involved – and that includes whites.
One common denominator is the lack of decent jobs or positive interests. Building self-esteem for young men might be a solution and introducing the idea of respect for women would help society.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1155103/rotherham-grooming-gang-scandal-brothers-legal-aid-victims-sammy-woodhouse-child-sex-abuse
Iran Rejects West’s Accusation of Human Rights Abuse in China (tasnimnews, Jul 18, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/18/2057125/iran-rejects-west-s-accusation-of-human-rights-abuse-in-china
“Iran’s mission to the United Nations denounced the instrumental and political use of human rights by the West and strongly rejected the “unacceptable” practice of certain Western countries towards China…”
Persian Gulf A Hell for US: IRGC General (tasnimnews, Jul 18, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/07/18/2057117/persian-gulf-a-hell-for-us-irgc-general
“The American forces come under intense psychological pressure whenever they enter the Persian Gulf and consider the area as a hell, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said…”
Canada: ‘I didn’t hear anyone shouting send him back’ says Tusk at EU-Canada summit
Justin Trudeau, Donald Tusk asked about safeguards against ‘populist’ governments
the rebel –Canadian diplomats in India built marshmallow, spaghetti towers after Trudeau trip
Iran state TV shows seized tanker days after UAE-based vessel vanishes
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has released footage showing the seizure of a ship “smuggling fuel” in the Persian Gulf.
The vessel bears the name of the UAE-owned tanker that recently vanished in the Gulf.
The footage shows several Iranian boats circling the tanker, apparently forcing it to stop.
Another video was captured from the ship’s deck, showing details of the vessel.
Argentina Brands Hezbollah Terrorist Organization, Freezes Assets (aawsat, Jul 18, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1818896/argentina-brands-hezbollah-terrorist-organization-freezes-assets
“Argentinian authorities designated Hezbollah, which it blames for two attacks on its soil, a terrorist organization on Thursday and ordered the freezing of the Lebanese party’s assets in the country.
The announcement coincided with a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as Argentina marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died.
Argentina also blames Hezbollah for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people.
The nation’s Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri’s government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack.
Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the people who now face charges, and denies any involvement.
The unit ordered the freezing of assets of members of Hezbollah and the organization. The designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group was the first by any Latin American country.
“At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the move.
The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the US, the European Union and several other nations.
Last year, Argentina froze the assets of 14 members of the Barakat Clan, an extended family that officials say has close ties to Hezbollah.
US and Argentine officials say Hezbollah operates in what is known as the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where an illicit economy funds its operations elsewhere.
The financial impact on Hezbollah will likely be insignificant because it has other sources of funding, said Seth Jones, director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
“What the administration is hoping is that even taking little bites out of the apple right now may end up being significant in the long run if they can continue to freeze assets of organizations like Hezbollah in a range of different countries,” Jones said, according to AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Macri for the designation from Jerusalem.
“It is time the entire enlightened world understands the grave danger Iran and Hezbollah pose. It is time the entire world stand up against it,” Netanyahu said.”
Turkish Defense Firms Set to Lose Billions after F-35 Removal (aawsat, Jul 18, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1818931/turkish-defense-firms-set-lose-billions-after-f-35-removal
“Turkish defense companies helping to build F-35 stealth fighter jets are set to lose work worth billions of dollars after Washington said it was removing Turkey from the program over its purchase of a Russian missile defense system…”
Fifteen Migrants Killed in Southeastern Turkey Bus Crash (aawsat, Jul 18, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1818551/fifteen-migrants-killed-southeastern-turkey-bus-crash
“A minibus crash in southeast Turkey Killed fifteen migrants and injured 20 others on Thursday, a local governor said.
The minibus carrying the migrants went off the road and rolled into a ditch in the province of Van.
Footage from the scene showed the minibus in the ditch, with the casualties laid out on the side of a road Reuters reported…”
Pence calls on Saudi Arabia to release imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi (mee, Jul 18, 2019)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/pence-calls-saudi-arabia-release-imprisoned-blogger-raif-badawi
“Mike Pence has called on Saudi Arabia to release imprisoned blogger Raif Badawi, in a rare critique of the Gulf kingdom’s crackdown on dissent by a senior member of the Trump administration.
The US vice president, speaking at a religious freedom conference in Washington on Thursday, said the Saudi government should release Badawi.
Pence named the Saudi blogger – who was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for insulting Islam in his online writings – among a handful of others he said have been detained for their religious views…”
Nigerian mafia clan busted (ansa, Jul 18, 2019)
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/07/18/nigerian-mafia-clan-busted_36c0473f-c767-4668-b45e-4cde1c92c004.html
“A Nigerian mafia clan that allegedly controlled a big chunk of the drugs and prostitution markets in Piedmont and Emilia Romagna was busted by Turin and Bologna police in twin operations on Thursday.
Among those arrested were the heads of the so-called Maphite Cult, which initiated members with burning rituals as well as running sex workers with voodoo rites, keeping ties with other mafias and controlling the drugs flow.
The clan was run according to the rules of their ‘Green Bible’ whose commandments included the ‘Mario Monti’ norm on recycling money to countries of origin, police said.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini hailed the bust.
“Maxi-operation against the Nigerian mafia, so much for those who denied its existence. Thanks to the police and investigators. We don’t need this kind of immigration. Ports closed, jails open!,” he tweeted.”
Troubled ties as US kicks Turkey out of F-35 programme
https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/troubled-ties-as-us-kicks-turkey-out-of-f-35-programme-1.65295599
Toll rises to 3 in attack on Turkish diplomat
https://gulfnews.com/world/mena/toll-rises-to-3-in-attack-on-turkish-diplomat-1.65298301
Violators of burka ban to be fined €150 (Netherlands)
https://nltimes.nl/2019/07/18/violators-burka-ban-fined-eu150
Past Epstein ties may expose worst royal family scandal yet
Royal scandal brewing over Jeffrey Epstein’s relationship with Prince Andrew; ‘American Predator’ author Maureen Callahan weighs in on the scandal
DAILY MAIL – Parents are encouraging children as young as three to change gender without consulting specialists, experts warn
Dr Bernadette Wren said parents are researching the subject on internet forums
In 2018, 2,590 children were referred to Gender Identity Development Service
Referrals to English specialist clinic for children almost doubled in four years
[…]Some children are starting school with a new name and gender identity after ‘socially transitioning’ – without teachers having been told.
[…]Dr Wren cited the example of a five-year-old whose name was changed from Billy to Ellie by his parents because ‘he was always at his happiest when he could wear a dress’.
Billy insisted his body was wrong wanted it ‘fixed’. Dr Wren said: ‘He was deeply unhappy and asked his mother to take him to the doctors to cut his willy off.’
[…]The parents are now waiting for Ellie to turn 12 when they expect the clinic to provide hormone blockers, believing that anything less would be ‘unthinkable and cruel’.
Children can be given puberty blockers on the NHS from the age of 12 and sex-change hormones from the age of 16.
[…]Parents do want the best for their kids.’
[…]around 45 per cent of initial referrals lead to physical treatment such as hormone injections.
[…]The clinic, which has a two-year waiting list, has come under fire for ‘rushing’ children into potentially irreversible medical treatment.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7258767/Parents-encouraging-children-young-three-change-gender-without-consulting-specialists.html
the gateway pundit Senators Cassidy, Cruz Introduce Resolution Calling For Antifa to be Designated as a Domestic Terrorist Organization
“Antifa are terrorists, violent masked bullies who ‘fight fascism’ with actual fascism, protected by Liberal privilege,” said Dr. Cassidy. “Bullies get their way until someone says no. Elected officials must have courage, not cowardice, to prevent terror.”
“Antifa is a terrorist organization composed of hateful, intolerant radicals who pursue their extreme agenda through aggressive violence,” said Senator Cruz.
[…]
The full text of the resolution:
Title: Calling for the designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.
Whereas members of Antifa, because they believe that free speech is equivalent to violence, have used threats of violence in the pursuit of suppressing opposing political ideologies;
Whereas Antifa represents opposition to the democratic ideals of peaceful assembly and free speech for all;
Whereas members of Antifa have physically assaulted journalists and other individuals during protests and riots in Berkeley, California;
Whereas in February of 2018, journalist Andy Ngo was intimidated and threatened with violence by protestors affiliated with Antifa;
Whereas on June 29, 2019, while covering demonstrations in Portland, Oregon, journalist Andy Ngo was physically attacked by protestors affiliated with Antifa;
Whereas employees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (referred to in this preamble as “ICE”) were subjected to doxxing and violent threats after their social media profiles, phone numbers, and home addresses were posted on the Internet by left wing activists;
Whereas according to the Wall Street Journal, an ICE officer was followed by left wing activists and “confronted when he went to pick up his daughter from summer camp”, and another “had his name and photo plastered on flyers outside his home accusing him of being part of the ‘Gestapo’”;
Whereas the ICE office in southwest Portland, Oregon, was shut down for days due to threats and occupation by Antifa members;
Whereas Rose City Antifa, an Antifa group founded in 2007 in Portland, Oregon, explicitly rejects the authority of law enforcement officers in the United States, and Federal, State, and local governments, to protect free speech and stop acts of violence;
Whereas Rose City Antifa rejects the civil treatment of individuals the group labels as fascists, stating: “We can’t just argue against them; we have to prevent them from organizing by any means necessary.”; and
Whereas there is no place for violence in the discourse between people in the United States, or in any civil society, because the United States is a place where there is a diversity of ideas and opinions: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate—
(1) calls for the groups and organizations across the country who act under the banner of Antifa to be designated as domestic terrorist organizations;
(2) unequivocally condemns the violent actions of Antifa groups as unacceptable acts for anyone in the United States;
(3) expresses the need for the peaceful communication of varied ideas in the United States;
(4) urges any group or organizations in the United States to voice its opinions without using violence or threatening the health, safety, or well-being of any other persons, groups, or law enforcement officers in the United States; and
(5) calls upon the Federal Government to redouble its efforts, using all available and appropriate tools, to combat the spread of all forms of domestic terrorism, including White supremacist terrorism.
more:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/senators-cassidy-cruz-introduce-resolution-calling-for-antifa-to-be-designated-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/
Tucker Carlson does a segment on the allegations surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) marital history
https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1152029751449550848/video/1
curious
Under no circumstances may a child 15 or younger (an unaccompanied minor) cross the border alone.
Passengers 17 years old and younger traveling alone may not cross the US-Canadian border regardless of ID or notarized letter, unless accompanied by another passenger who is at least 18 years old.
The Canada Border Services Agency and US Customs and Border Protection Department are very concerned about the safety of children crossing the border. The following applies to any situation where a passenger under 18 years old is not crossing the border accompanied by both parents:
If one or both parents are not accompanying the child, bring a letter from any parent or legal guardian not present giving permission to cross the border. (If part of an organized group, see below for the requirement.) Include addresses and phone numbers.
If one parent is deceased, a copy of the death certificate will minimize questions and delay.*
Parents who share custody of their children should carry copies of the legal custody documents.*
https://www.amtrak.com/planning-booking/tickets-id-safety-security/crossing-us-canadian-border.html