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.
https://youtu.be/TZ0jBWuSikk
I’ve listened to John Williams now for over 10 years. He runs an outfit called Shadowstats that generates alternative economic stats to those published by government. Rock-solid guy.
Mueller’s testimony riddled with shaky moments, incomplete answers
Levin: Mueller should not have accepted special counsel job
Democrats tweet their heartbreak over Mueller hearing
Twitter Enraged as Ilhan Omar Said Americans Should Be ‘More Fearful of White Men’ than Terrorists (sputniknews, Jul 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/us/201907251076353107-ilhan-omar-americans-should-be-fearful-white-men-terrorists/
“In a 2018 interview that has recently gone viral, Democrat Ilhan Omar responded to a question about the fears “some people have of “jihadist terrorism” by saying Americans should be “more fearful of white men.”
In the interview, Al Jazeera host Medhi Hasan said some Americans feel justified in fearing Islam out of their own safety, before listing a number of radical Islamic terror attacks. Omar dismissed the suggestion, claiming there is much more harm coming from white males across the country.
“I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country,” she replied. “And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe – Americans safe inside of this country – we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.”…
This isn’t the first time Omar has been criticized for making controversial statements. She has been publicly challenged on quotes about Al Qaeda and the 9/11 terror attacks, most specifically when she appeared at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) fundraiser earlier this year and described the carnage from September 11th as, “some people did something,” causing outrage from US President Donald Trump, who accused her of showing compassion for terrorists.”
Yemen’s Rebels Say Carried Out Drone Strikes on Saudi Military Base – Reports (sputniknews, Jul 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907251076352978-yemen-rebels-drone-strikes-saudi-military-base/
“The Yemeni Houthi rebel movement had conducted drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid military base, located near the Yemeni border, media have reported, citing the Houthis’ representative.
Almasirah broadcaster reported, citing the Houthi’s spokesman, that the drone strikes were aimed at combat jets and ammunition warehouses. The targets have been “hit with high precision,” according to the reports.
The Saudi-led coalition has not yet commented on the Houthis’ claims.
Last month, Saudi Arabia’s air defence forces intercepted two drones launched by the Houthis on its military airbase on the southern border.
Both the rebel movement and Saudi Arabia, leading the coalition, are sides to violent military conflict in Yemen. The coalition supports the Yemeni government, fighting against the rebels.”
At Least 7 Killed, 21 Wounded in Attack Against Gov’t Employees in Kabul (sputniknews, Jul 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/201907251076353876-at-least-5-killed-10-wounded-in-attack-against-govt-employees-in-kabul/
“At least five people were killed and 10 others wounded when a blast rocked a bus carrying employees of the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum in the capital city Kabul on Thursday, an Interior Ministry spokesman said.
“As a result of today’s explosions in Kabul, seven people have been killed and 21 more have been wounded”, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, Wahidullah Mayar, said. “Five women and a child are among those killed”.
The Afghan government has condemned the bombing, calling it senseless and inhumane.
“Another senseless and inhumane attack on civilians in Kabul today that took innocent lives”, Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, wrote on Twitter…”
“BREAKING: Clinton Pal Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in His Jail Cell After Possible Suicide”
by Jim Hoft – July 24, 2019
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/breaking-clinton-pal-jeffrey-epstein-found-injured-in-his-jail-cell-after-possible-suicide/
“Logical thinking… solitary? No?”
Radio Patriot – July 25, 2019
https://radiopatriot.net/2019/07/25/logical-thinking-solitary-no/
“Very interesting…”
Radio Patriot – July 25, 2019
https://radiopatriot.net/2019/07/25/very-interesting/
Soaring violence epidemic sees police quit a record levels (express, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1157421/police-quitting-britain-violence-crime-epidemic
“RECORD numbers of police quit last year as Britain’s violent crime epidemic soared, the Daily Express can reveal.
Home Office figures showed 2,175 officers left as the number of stabbings, violent attacks, robberies and sex crimes rose.
Incoming prime minister Boris Johnson has vowed to hire 20,000 more officers to tackle gangs, thugs and thieves terrorising communities.
Yesterday, a Home Office report said more than 17,500 boys aged 14 carry a knife or weapon.
Shadow policing minister Louise Haigh, a former special constable, said: “Officers have gone above and beyond to fill the growing gaps, but they’ve paid a high price.
“As many as 24,000 are suffering with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] at any one time and almost half with high stress. Is it any wonder so many are making the heartbreaking decision to leave the job they love?
“Our police simply haven’t been valued.”
In 2018/19, 2,175 officers – 1.76 per cent – left voluntarily, up 180 from 1,995 the previous year.
Home Office figures showed the number of voluntary resignations rose annually from 2011, when 1,391 officers quit, to 2,035 in 2016/17. The previous record was in 2006, when 2,150 left.
Officer numbers have plummeted by more than 21,000 since 2010, standing at 123,171 in March.
Police Federation chief John Apter said a friend and “fantastic officer” was resigning as “his heart is no longer in it, his passion for the job he loved has gone”.
Officers “feel let down by government, or the job itself, they feel undervalued, vilified and in some cases they are just broken”, he added.
The Daily Express has told how more than a third of forces miss recruitment targets amid concern at the quality of applicants.
A knife crime epidemic has seen 43,500 offences in the past year – up eight per cent in 12 months.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said 16 of England and Wales’ 43 forces missed recruitment targets by more than 25 per cent.
Reasons given by initial applicants included “personal reasons, change of mind and finding alternative employment”.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Police funding has increased by more than £1billion this year, including council tax and money to tackle serious violence.””
United Nations Slams Sweden For Arresting too Many Children (breitbart, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/25/un-slams-sweden-underage-arrests/
“The United Nations has criticised Sweden for an increase in children being detained, as statistics from the Swedish prosecutor’s office have revealed.
In Sweden, the detainment of a minor is generally only used when no other solutions are available to the authorities but despite this, there has been a rise in the number of arrests followed by detainment over the last year, Sveriges Radio reports.
The Ombudsman for Children (BO) says that they hope the situation will change, noting a report which stated: “When we met children in 2013, they were isolated for 22 or more of the 24 hours of the day; that is to be equated to torture according to the UN.”
Youth Prosecutor Sara Stolper told Sveriges Radio: “In cases where an arrest is needed, it is precisely in cases where there is a young person who can influence the investigation, then there is often no alternative to guaranteeing that a person does not contact fellow suspects or witnesses.”
Sweden has seen several high profile criminal cases involving underage suspects, including that of a 15-year-old Afghan migrant who was found guilty of attempted murder in December last year.
The Afghan teen was sentenced to a year in juvenile care to be followed by deportation after he requested to be allowed to return to his native Afghanistan.
A 2018 study from the Swedish Work Environment Authority also revealed that Swedish schools have become rife with violent crime. The study found that between 2012 and 2017, violent incidents in primary and secondary schools had doubled.
In the first ten months of 2018 alone, the study found 544 reports of violent incidents compared to 474 for the period during the previous year.
Last month, it was revealed that the Swedish government would be increasing the pay for teachers working in so-called “vulnerable areas”, commonly referred to as no-go zones.
The increase in “danger pay” is designed to encourage teachers to work in the areas which have higher crime rates and unemployment rates than the national average.”
Historian Unearths Evidence that Istanbul Directed Armenian Genocide (breitbart, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2019/07/25/historian-unearths-evidence-that-istanbul-directed-armenian-genocide/
“Between 1914 and 1923, during and after World War I, hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Turkey were systematically rounded up and murdered. Thousands more were forced to flee their homes. Some estimates put the death toll at more than 1.5 million.
Now, researchers say newly discovered documents suggest the Armenian genocide was both sanctioned and assisted by leaders of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul.
The fact that the Armenian genocide happened is well-accepted within academic circles. However, the Turkish government has continued to deny the culpability of their predecessors.
“The Armenian diaspora is trying to instill hatred against Turkey through a worldwide campaign on genocide claims ahead of the centennial anniversary of 1915,” Turkey’s president, Recep Erdogan, said in 2015. “If we examine what our nation had to go through over the past 100 to 150 years, we would find far more suffering than what the Armenians went through.”
Erdogan’s sentiments aren’t without the support of the vast majority of the Turkish population. As the New York Times reported in 2015, a poll conducted by the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul research organization, fewer than one in ten Turks believe the government should label the atrocities genocide and apologize.
“Turkish government officials continue to use the same argument, the argument that the Ottoman government never had the intent,” Taner Akçam, an Armenian genocide expert and history professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, told UPI. “They accept that there were casualties and some massacres, but they claim the Ottoman government was not able to control the remote areas and that some Kurdish tribes or bandits or some other group, they committed these kinds of crimes.”
What was missing, Akçam said, was a “smoking gun” linking the atrocities to the Ottoman government. That’s exactly what Akçam found.
“This new evidence is a major blow against Turkish denialist arguments,” Akçam said.
His discovery suggests the genocide was indeed carried out on periphery, not by rogue agents and bandits, but by provincial governors. These governors were in communication with and assisted by leaders in Istanbul.
“This shows the radicalization process started in the provinces,” Akçam told UPI.
The evidence, a series of telegrams transcribed, decoded and signed by Turkish officials, was discovered among a slate of new documents released into the Ottoman archive, a collection of historical documents in Istanbul, organized by the government and made available to researchers.
The newly discovered letters feature the first unambiguous use of the terms “extermination” and “annihilation” by Ottoman officials, both among the provinces and in Istanbul. Analysis of the signatures confirmed several of the transcribed telegrams were authored by Bahaettin ?akir, head of the para-military Special Organization and one of the architects of the Armenian Genocide.
Though the plan to exterminate all of the Armenians living in Turkey began as a provincial idea, the new evidence suggests Istanbul was eventually convinced to back the genocidal approach.
In addition to the documents retrieved from the Ottoman archive in Istanbul, Akçam also discovered similar letters — transcribed telegrams — that were used as evidence in tribunals organized by the postwar Ottoman government.
“There were 63 different trials and more than 200 defendants,” Akçam said. “The materials from these court procedures went missing. Government officials never made these court proceedings available to researchers.”
Researchers only knew about these tribunals from reports written by daily newspapers in Istanbul. A few of the verdicts were also published by the Ottoman government. But some of the documents from these tribunals ended up in the private archive of a Catholic priest in Armenia.
Among the tribunal documents, Akçam found transcribed telegrams using the same coding system — a series of Arabic letters and numerals to represent words and suffixes — found among the letters unearthed from the Ottoman archive.
“I went to the Ottoman archive, I discovered that this four digit coding system was the same for both sets of telegrams,” he said. “The authenticity cannot be disputed, this was the major discovery.”
The transcribed telegrams provided further evidence of communication between those carrying out the genocide in the provinces and military and political officials in Istanbul, including messages that Akçam characterized as “killing orders.”
As to why these revealing documents were publicly released by a government intent on denying its predecessors culpability, Akçam guesses officials simply didn’t read them thoroughly. The documents in the archives were summarized by officials before being released, and the summaries of the newly discovered telegraphs mention nothing of the details relating the Armenian genocide.
Akçam said his discoveries, summarized in the Journal of Genocide Research, will further solidify the truth of the Armenian genocide. It’s a truth he hopes will soon be accepted by the Turkish government.
According to Akçam, the genocide has implications for the political situation in modern Turkey.
“Turks and the Turkish government has the same problems today with Kurds as the Ottomans had with Armenians in the past,” he said. “Armenians were making demands for legal and social equality. The Kurds are making similar demands today.”
As a result, Akçam said, the Kurds have been labeled as a security threat and the Turkish government has attempted to suppress these democratic demands.
“Without acknowledging historical wrongdoings, Turkey cannot establish a democratic future,” Akçam said.
According to the historian, reconciling with the record of the Armenian genocide is essential for improved relations between Turkey and its neighbors.
“Speaking regionally, if you continue this policy of denialism, this means you have the potential to repeat the same policy against your neighbors,” Akçam said. “This is why many of Turkey’s neighbors consider the Turkish government a security threat. Without reconciling history, peace will not be achievable in the region.””
In one of the Boris Johnson videos, he meets his Turkish cousin and a Turkish historian. The narrator claims that it was difficult to find someone in Turkey willing to speak about PM Johnson’s ancestor because he was more secular than Ataturk. I can’t find the video again. I wonder if this Akçam is the same historian.
My bad. Akçam is in the US.
Migrant doctors in German hospitals can’t read or write, Muslim student nurses don’t want to work – many patients have already died because of this+++
I am in conversation with a young woman, 30 years old, who has a 4-year-old son who is attending a nursery. The young woman works as a nurse in a Catholic hospital in North Rhine-Westphalia. I cannot mention her name here in order to avoid reprisals which would be possible because of her employer.She tells me this:
In the above mentioned hospital there would not be a single German doctor anymore. One foreign doctor could demonstrably not read … For example: the doctor comes to the nurse’s room, stands in front of the medicine cabinet and says he needs the medicine Otriven. Since the young woman had just cleaned up the medicine cabinet a few hours ago, she knew that the Otriven was at eye level. She told him and he searched and looked. He nevertheless told her once again that he wanted Otriven, continued searching and became nervous because he noticed that the young woman was watching him. He grabbed a drug, and it was the right one. But according to the young woman, the correct grip was more of a random grip than definitely identified. He didn’t have to search at all, it was right in front of his eyes. His colleagues suspected that he had memorized everything he had to know. The administration and management of the hospital knew that he could not read. The colleagues had complained that there was a danger of infusions, medicines, etc. being confused. So far, no action had been taken because he had not made a mistake.The young woman further reported that at least one knife victim had been brought in every weekend during the last six months, and that there were knife attacks among each other. The immigrants were also aggressively demanding, impudent, rude and disrespectful. The situation as a whole was intolerable. All those who come are without exception infectious, partly contagious. They would be unkempt, partly covered with abscesses and scabies, which is still the most harmless of the proven diseases. The nursing staff isolate them immediately and only enter the sickrooms with protective clothing. The entire hospital staff had been sworn to secrecy.Moreover, there would only be Muslim nursing students there who would not and do not want to work, but who would know and enforce their rights as soon as they were criticized or asked to work.When I asked her if she thought that something would change when patients died because of the doctors’ lack of language skills and medical expertise … .. she replied that patients had already died but nobody noticed what was going on.
Read more:
https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/07/migrant-doctors-in-german-hospitals.html
Another Day by Day Cartoon that is a bulls eye
https://www.daybydaycartoon.com/
https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=18144
Once Again for the Cheap Seats… There Was No Obstruction
Migrants Accuse French Border Police of Racism (breitbart, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/25/migrants-accuse-french-border-police-racism/
“Migrants who have been forced back across the Franco-Italian border have claimed French police have been treating them poorly and have even accused officers of racism.
While many in France have praised migrant transport captain Carola Rackete, including the city of Paris which gave her a medal and a large cash prize, migrants on the Franco-Italian border claim French authorities are anything but welcoming, newspaper Il Giornale reports.
The newspaper spoke to several migrants along the border including a man named Hamid who said police had forced him back across the border into Italy while insulting him saying: “When the French police understood that I am Algerian, they started insulting me in Arabic.”
“They told me ‘Fuck your mother’. They are racists,” Hamid added.
A report from the Association nationale d’assistance aux frontières pour les étrangers (National Borders Assistance for Foreigners/Anafé) also accused the police of racism stating that train “passengers are subdivided and selected on the basis of ‘external’ signs, such as skin colour, ‘smell’, clothing”.
“They ask for the documents only to people with physical traits that may suggest that they originate from African or Middle East countries,” they added.
Il Giornale spoke with a man named Daren who lives in the border town of Ventimiglia who was detained by French police simply because he looked like he might be a migrant. “I live in Ventimiglia with my family I was just going to do a concert. I’m a singer,” he said.
The reports come after the paper noted in October of last year that French police were driving across the border into Italy and dumping migrants into the town of Claviere.
At the time, populist Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini slammed the actions of French police saying: “What happened to Claviere is an unprecedented offence against our country.”
Over the weekend, Salvini wrote a letter to French interior minister Christophe Castaner, stating that Italy would no longer take in all the new migrant arrivals to Europe saying: “The choices made only in Paris and Berlin are enough, Italy is no longer willing to accept all immigrants arriving in Europe.””
The Mueller Hearings Were an Unmitigated Disaster for the Democrats
“TRANS” PREDATOR Jessica Yaniv + Normalizing PEDOPHILIA
The TRUTH about how Tommy is surviving in jail
Border Crisis: Broken Asylum Laws, Drug Cartels, & Child Exploitation—Rep. Chip Roy [WCS Special]
(Richard: There is a 50-50 chance it was attempted suicide or attempted murder. He knows a lot about a lot of powerful people in the government and in the private sector)
Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in NYC Jail Cell After Possible Suicide Attempt: Sources
Epstein was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck, sources said and investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happenedAccused pedophile and wealthy Manhattan financier Jeffrey Epstein was found injured and in a fetal position inside his cell at a New York City jail, according to sources close to the investigation.
Epstein, who is being held in Metropolitan Correctional Center during his trial for conspiracy and sex trafficking, was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck, two sources told News 4. Investigators are trying to piece together exactly what happened, saying details remain murky.
Two sources tell News 4 that Epstein may have tried to hang himself, while a third source cautioned that the injuries were not serious and questioned if Epstein might be using it as a way to get a transfer.
A fourth source said an assault has not been ruled out, an
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Jeffrey-Epstein-Found-Injured-in-NYC-Jail-Cell-After-Possible-Suicide-Attempt-or-Assault-Sources-513174311.html
REVEALED: Jeffrey Epstein splashed out $18M for a SECOND Caribbean island in 2016 where work continues on compound despite cease and desist orders, $2.1M in fines and pedophile’s incarceration
effrey Epstein is the owner of not one, but two islands in the Caribbean, having more than doubled his property holdings in January 2016 when he paid $18 million for Great St James.
That 162-acre property is located next to Little St. James, the 71.5-acre island he purchased in 1998 for $7.95 million.
Epstein has big plans for the latest addition to his already sizable real estate portfolio, with a schematic obtained by Suzanne Carlson of The Virgin Islands Daily News showing his plans to build a massive compound on the property.
Epstein’s plans for Great St. John include a barge dock, two homes, cottages, an amphitheater, gardens, a marine electrical cable, solar array and generator, storage building, security building, work shed, machine shop, and an ‘underwater office and pool.’
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7282441/Jeffrey-Epstein-paid-18M-SECOND-Caribbean-island-building-compound-prison.html
Jeffrey Epstein Visited Clinton White House Multiple Times in Early ’90s
ays after Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest on sex-trafficking charges in New York, Bill Clinton distanced himself from the high-flying financier and convicted sex offender. The former president owned up to just six encounters with Epstein, starting in 2002: four flights on the billionaire’s private jet, a single trip to his Harlem office, and one “brief visit” to his New York apartment, all with staff and security detail in tow.
Now, a Daily Beast investigation has uncovered ties between Epstein and the Clinton administration that date back to the president’s earliest days in the White House, casting doubt on the oft-circulated narrative that the two only began associating after Clinton left office.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jeffrey-epstein-visited-clinton-white-house-multiple-times-in-early-90s
Britain sends warships to escort tankers the strategic Strait of Hormuz
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Britain has begun sending navy ships to accompany vessels traveling through the narrow Strait of Hormuz following the seizure of a British-flagged tanker by Iranian forces.
In a statement, Britain’s Department of Defense said that “the Royal Navy has been tasked to accompany British-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz, either individually or in groups, should sufficient notice be given of their passage.”
HMS Montrose, a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, became the first navy ship to offer an escort overnight on Wednesday into Thursday in the narrow waterway, Sky News reported on Thursday, citing shipping industry sources.
Britain made the decision just days after the seizure of the Stena Impero by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, a British-flagged tanker, as it as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.
Iran subsequently claimed that the Stena Impero was passing through the wrong channels of the strait and had also turned off its signals for longer than allowed.
https://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Britain-sends-warships-to-escort-tankers-the-14128080.php
ROCKET MAN North Korea launches two ‘short-range missiles’ in show of defiance to Donald Trump
KIM Jong-un tonight launched two short-range military missiles in a shocking show of defiance to Donald Trump.
Military leaders in neighbouring South Korea say the surprise launch took place in the Wonsan region in east of the rogue state.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9578494/north-korea-launch-missile-trump/
U.S. warship sails through strategic Taiwan Strait
WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Wednesday it sent a Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China, a move likely to anger China during a period of tense relations between Washington and Beijing.
Taiwan is among a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.
China on Wednesday warned that it is ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self-ruled island.
The warship sent to the 112-mile-wide (180-km) Taiwan Strait was identified as the Antietam.
“The (ship’s) transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said in a statement. “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows,” he added.
http://news.trust.org/item/20190724231118-bnkf4
Lets take a look at what is happening around the world:
1) Turkey is rattling their saber over Cyprus.
2) Iran is rattling their saver over the Straits of Harmoz (sp?)
3) China is putting in a Naval base in Cambodia that faces the Bay of Thailand and is close enough to the Straits of Malacca that they can project power into and in case of war shut down that important sea channel where so much of the Far Eastern trade is shipped through.
3.1) If China gains even semi control of the Malacca Straits it will hamper any effort of the US to help Taiwan if China invades.
4) North Korea launches two missiles.
5) Russia and China fly strategic bombers near to South Korea and at least one airplane (probably the air control plane not the open war plane) entered into South Korean air space.
6) The Dems are in a panic because of the failure of Mueller to frame President Trump. They are still raising hell and are going to spend all of their time trying to block everything he does.
How much of the mess above is coincidence and how much is coordinated action?
How close to collapse is the Chinese economy?
How bad is the Russian Economy?
How close to collapse is the Iranian economy?
Beijing strikes ominous tone, saying military could intervene in Hong Kong
BEIJING —
The latest protests in Hong Kong appear to have touched a nerve in Beijing, where officials and state media have escalated rhetoric against the pro-democracy movement, accusing the United States of interference and ominously affirming the People’s Liberation Army’s ability to intervene at the Hong Kong government’s request.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said at a news conference Wednesday morning that the protests on Sunday were “intolerable.”
“Some radical protesters’ actions challenge the authority of the central government and the bottom line of ‘One Country, Two Systems,’” Wu said, adding that the ministry would follow Article 14 of Hong Kong’s Basic Law.
“One Country, Two Systems” is China’s way of referring to its administration of Hong Kong, under which it is part of China but allowed to maintain some degree of autonomy. Article 14 states that the Chinese government’s military forces stationed in Hong Kong will not interfere in local affairs unless the Hong Kong government requests assistance “in the maintenance of public order” or for disaster relief.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-07-24/beijing-strikes-ominous-tone-saying-military-could-intervene-in-hong-kong
(Richard: I forgot Hong Kong and the social unrest in China when I was asking questions. How much of the Hong Kong unrest has spread to the mainland?)
Nuclear talks in doubt as North Korea tests ballistic missiles, envoy cancels trip
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea test-fired two new short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, South Korean officials said, its first missile test since its leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to revive denuclearisation talks last month.
South Korea, which supports efforts by North Korea and the United States to end years of hostility, urged the North to stop acts that are unhelpful to easing tension, saying the tests posed a military threat on the Korean peninsula.
https://www.oann.com/north-korea-fired-unidentified-projectile-from-around-wonsan-south-korea-military/
6. Eighty eight more days of Justine, then no party status.
French ‘flyman’ falls into sea trying to cross English Channel on hoverboard
Franky Zapata’s flying start came to an abrupt end some 11 miles into his journey across the English Channel when he fell into the water.
DOVER, England — An inventor’s attempt to cross the stretch of water between France and England on a hoverboard ended in failure Thursday after he plunged into the sea.
Franky Zapata’s flying start came to an abrupt end some 11 miles into his journey across the English Channel when he fell into the water after stopping to refuel, according to Stephane Denis who helped organize the attempt.
The former jet ski champion was not injured but will not attempt to cross the Channel again on Thursday, Denis said. He is expected to try it again soon.
Zapata’s bid to cross the approximately 22 mile st
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/french-flyman-falls-sea-trying-cross-english-channel-hoverboard-n1034341
President Trump: Mexico could send more troops to the southern border
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 6:15 AM PT — Thursday, July 25, 2019
While speaking to reporters Wednesday before leaving for a trip to West Virginia, President Trump said Mexico could send more troops to the U.S.–Mexico border. This possible addition comes after the over 20,000 soldiers already sent by the country in an effort to curb illegal immigration.
President Trump explained how this has already made a difference in the amount of migrants being apprehended at the southern border:
https://www.oann.com/president-trump-mexico-could-send-more-troops-to-the-southern-border/
NYPD officers doused with water amid culture of disrespect for cops pushed by Democrats
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:35 AM PT — Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Some people are blaming Mayor Bill De Blasio for the recent attacks on cops in New York City.
One America’s Kara McKinney has that report.
https://www.oann.com/nypd-officers-doused-with-water-amid-culture-of-disrespect-for-cops-pushed-by-democrats/
When watching videos like this remember that the goal of the left is to make the Western Nations ungovernable, there are reports of people quitting the police forces in record numbers because of the harassment like this.
The fewer the police the easier for the left wing militias to take over the cities. Of course this only works in the States with heavy handed gun control laws. In the States that believe in the Second Amendment the left wing militias are going to run into a lot of trouble.
Cartoon of the Day: Designated Hitter
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/07/25/cartoon-of-the-day-designated-hitter/
House Democrats caught pushing fake news about Mueller testimony
By Daily Caller News Foundation July 24, 2019
House Democrats’ official campaign arm spread misinformation in a fundraising blast about former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony Wednesday.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) falsely claimed that Mueller testified that he would charge President Donald Trump with obstruction of justice if he weren’t president.
During his morning testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller appeared to agree with Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu, who asserted that Mueller’s office didn’t charge Trump with obstruction because of Department of Justice policies against indicting sitting presidents.
Latest: Schiff: Pro-impeachment Democrats feel ‘stronger’ after Mueller hearing
But Mueller corrected the record when he began his afternoon testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee — well before the DCCC’s misleading email blast.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/07/24/house-democrats-caught-pushing-fake-news-about-mueller-testimony/
If Senate Bill 1273 passes, you could be fined $15K for sharing memes on social media
By Guest Editorial July 25, 2019
Here we go, America!
Whether you share an “LOL cat” or a picture of AOC trying to use a garbage disposal, it won’t matter. If someone holds a copyright to the image, he can take you to court and you can be forced to pay up to $15,000 … if the bill passes.
Via Copyright Alliance:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/07/25/if-senate-bill-1273-passes-you-could-be-fined-15k-for-sharing-memes-on-social-media/
The Mueller hearing exposes why there had to be a special counsel
By J.E. Dyer July 25, 2019
Robert Mueller did not have a good day in the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. The Washington Post gamely went with a strategy of praising his appearance with faint damns, but it had to be a tough slog to come up with that much.
The defining moment was probably when Mueller stated that he was “not familiar with” Fusion GPS, the political operations firm behind the Steele dossier that drove the narrative of Russiagate.
That was a point Mueller would have to sink himself with – along with his 22 months of work – regardless of why he said it. If he was lying, or if he was telling the truth, either way he blew up everything connected with his “investigation” and report.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/07/25/the-mueller-hearing-exposes-why-there-had-to-be-a-special-counsel/
Put your thinking cap on before you read the article above, she spells out how the “Mueller” probe was a coup attempt from word one and that there are so many suspicious occurrences that only the willfully blind can see anything besides an attempt to illegally unseat a duly elected President. This attempted coup has done massive damage to the US and possibly has set the precedent of an investigation into every Presidential Election because the losing side refuses to accept the fact that the people didn’t want their candidate as President.
We have entered into a new era of governance in the US with the possibility of a future of semi regular coup attempts. The future spreads out in directions with a peaceful return to what the Founding Fathers wanted being the least likely.
Joe diGenova: The public got to see Mueller’s incompetence
Pray they are right about what is going to come out, it won’t stop the left from violence but it will force the Deep State and their allies to do their jobs because they don’t want to get lumped into the group that goes to jail.
Over 100 Feared Dead in Large Shipwreck Near Libyan Shore – Report (sputniknews, Jul 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907251076359371-over-100-feared-dead-in-large-shipwreck-near-libyan-shore—report/
“Libya, which has been in a state of civil war since 2011, has been struggling to beat armed gangs and criminal groupings which have the advantage of the chaos.
Reuters reported Thursday, citing a spokesman for the UN refugee agency UNHCR that up to 150 people could have died in a shipwreck off the Libyan coast.
?The day before, Libya’s coast guard said that it intercepted around three dozen Europe-bound migrants off its coast and took them to a detention centre.
Despite the ongoing civil war, Libya is a hub for migrants, many of whom try to reach Europe in boats.”
Human trafficking gang based in East Sussex sentenced (BBC, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-49099719
“Gang members who trafficked people from the Middle East into the UK have been sentenced.
A two-year investigation uncovered a network specialising in the illegal movement of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan region.
Eleven people were sentenced following trials at Woolwich Crown Court.
They were convicted of offences including conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration and money laundering.
The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit said the gang would use contacts across the UK, Europe and Asia to move people to a holding point, often in south-eastern France.
They were then taken by taxi to Belgium, where they would be hidden within lorries heading to the UK by ferry.
Police said the victims would travel either in the lorry cab, on top of the cab in the wind deflector, or underneath the trailer on a pallet shelf.
If they were detained in the UK, they would immediately claim asylum and be released to family members, who had paid the organised crime group between £8,000 and £10,000 per individual.
The ringleaders of the operation were 33-year-old Alan Hoger and 34-year-old Goran Ahmed, both from East Sussex.
Hoger and Ahmed, who are both Kurdish, had set up operating bases in Hastings and St Leonards but had a nationwide network of customers, money launderers and criminal associates in Bolton, Nottingham, Devon, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hull.
‘Exploited vulnerable people’
Police said Hoger boasted of being a millionaire to his friends and laundered his profits from the organised crime group back to the Kurdistan region.
He was convicted after a trial and jailed for 10 years, while Ahmed was also found guilty and jailed for eight years.
Lorry drivers Cristinel Samson, 50, and Ionut Cornila, 27, were jailed for five years and four years respectively.
Det Ch Insp Steve May said: “This gang took advantage of their links to the Middle East to exploit vulnerable people for financial gain, with no concern about putting their lives in danger. Their only concern was their profit margins.”
Those convicted are:
• Alan Hoger, 33, of Kenilworth Road, St Leonards-On-Sea, East Sussex: found guilty of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and conspiracy to convert criminal property, and jailed for 10 years
• Goran Ahmed, 34, of Farley Bank, Hastings, East Sussex: found guilty of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and conspiracy to convert criminal property. Jailed for eight years
• Cristinel Samson, 50, of Grimstone Avenue, Folkestone, Kent: found guilty of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK, and jailed for five years
• Ionut Cornila, 27, from Romania: found guilty of five counts of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and jailed for six years
• Mohammed Rasul, 30, of Church Road, Ashford, Kent: found guilty of two counts of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and jailed for three years
• Neyaz Hamasaid, 34, of Stour Street, West Bromwich, found guilty of one count of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and jailed for three years
• Arie Ali, 27, of Ashton Rise, Brighton: found guilty of one count of conspiracy to assist in unlawful immigration to the UK and jailed for three years
• Bakhtyar Mohammed, 46, of Netherfield Road, Bolton: found guilty of one count of conspiracy to convert criminal property and sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years
• Kveta Conkova, 31, of Kenilworth Road, St Leonards-On-Sea, East Sussex, was found guilty of one count of converting criminal property and sentenced four imprisonment.
• Alan Salam, 34, of The Rookery, Eastbourne, East Sussex: found guilty of converting criminal property, perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to pervert the court of justice. Jailed for four years and three months
• Susan Mohammed, 36, of The Rookery, Eastbourne, East Sussex: found guilty of perverting the course of justice and jailed for four months
• Kaiwan Ali, 36, of Dryden Street, Nottingham, and 37-year-old Ari Ako, of the same address, were both found guilty of perverting the course of justice and will be sentenced on 12 August.”
New Govt ‘Islamophobia’ Adviser is HOPE Not Hate Imam Who Said Boris ‘Legitimised Hatred’ (breitbart, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/25/new-govt-islamophobia-adviser-is-hope-not-hate-imam-who-said-boris-legitimised-hatred/
“An imam appointed as an adviser on defining “Islamophobia” in one of the last acts of Theresa May’s administration has accused Boris Johnson of having “legitimised the hatred that exists towards Muslim women”.
Qari Asim, claimed as a board member and trustee by the far-left HOPE Not Hate organisation which has received funding from billionaire plutocrat George Soros, made the accusation against Johnson in the wake of a column in which the Tory said the burqa made wearers resemble “bank robbers” and “letter boxes” — but should not be banned, as it is in many other countries.
“Boris Johnson’s comments have fanned the flames of Islamophobia,” the cleric insisted in late 2018, going on to claim there had been incidents of Muslim women in face veils being called “letter boxes” and that one woman in Bristol had been told to remove her veil by a bus driver — “So there are incidents that are already happening because I think what Boris Johnson has done [is] he’s legitimised the hatred that exists towards Muslim women who wear [face veils].”
Asim’s social media output on Twitter also includes a number of Johnson-critical posts, including one reading “Boris Johnson’s Facebook page hosts hundreds of #Islamophobic comments after #burqa row” along with an article with a similar headine, and another sharing an article by far-left Guardian journalist Gary Younge titled, ‘Boris Johnson’s white privilege: imagine he was a black woman’.
Theresa May’s decision to appoint the imam to such an influential position shortly before her departure has been speculated in some quarters to be a deliberate jab at her successor, with the conservative Spectator magazine’s Mr Steerpike wondering “if the appointment of Qari Asim has more to do with Boris Johnson than ‘tackling burning injustices’ or the good of the country.”
“Is it possible that May was unaware of her new Islamophobia chief’s public distaste of Boris?” the pseudonymous gossip columnist asked readers.
“Or is it more likely that she was instead sending a parting shot at the next leader of the country?”
Italian Police Bust Migrant Drug Dealers Working From Asylum Centre (breitbart, Jul 25, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/07/25/italian-police-bust-migrant-drug-dealers-asylum-reception-centre/
“Italian carabinieri conducted a large scale raid at a migrant reception centre and found at least six migrants using the centre as a base to sell drugs.
The raids, titled Operation Capolinea, occurred in the port city of Agrigento on Wednesday and lasted for a few hours as carabinieri officers arrested the six young men, all from North African backgrounds, Il Giornale reports.
The investigation began several weeks ago when parents were alarmed by a number of drug dealers operating in front of local schools where their children were enrolled as pupils.
Investigators tracked down the drug activity to a bus terminal, finding that many of the drugs had been trafficked from the Sicilian capital of Palermo by bus. Prosecutors say the migrants, along with a local drug dealer, were turning over as much as 500,000 euros from their drug sales.
Populist interior minister Matteo Salvini commented on the raid and successful arrests saying: “Thanks to law enforcement and investigators in the fight against drugs, crime, and the business of immigration in every city. The fun is over.”
The raid comes only weeks after police in the Italian capital of Rome busted a drug network operating out of a local church in the Torre Angela area.
Five migrants from Africa were arrested during the operation, with investigators claiming the migrants attempted to hide at least two pounds of heroin.
Interior minister Salvini has been outspoken about migrant drug traffickers, stating in April: “A Pakistani ‘asylum-seeker’ has been arrested, caught in Pesaro by the police with 180 doses of heroin! DISGUSTING! All-out war on death dealers! #zerotolerance, get these delinquents OUT of Italy!!!”
Italy is not the only country to see a rise in drug dealing migrants. In the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, police expressed concerns as far back as 2017 that asylum seekers were taking over the local illegal drug trade.”
Ep. 1030 The Democrats Are In Tears. The Dan Bongino Show 7/25/2019.
UN Singles Out Israel as World’s Only Violator of Women’s Rights; Iran, Saudi Arabia & Yemen Among the Voters
https://unwatch.org/no-joke-un-singles-out-israel-a-worlds-only-violator-of-womens-rights-iran-saudi-arabia-yemen-among-the-voters/?fbclid=IwAR3GT48QabPPxEHBC5OmDf2QawDIOAK4OX5LX_UE7fBIlDK0uGaWJRwHECs
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among members of the UN’s 54-nation economic and social council, a principal organ of the world body, who voted to single out and condemn Israel yesterday as the only country in the world that violates women’s rights.
The Jewish state was harshly and repeatedly condemned in a resolution, adopted 40 to 2 with 9 abstentions and 3 absent (see breakdown below), for allegedly being the “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society.”
Netherlands’ most wanted fugitive hiding in Dubai: report
https://nltimes.nl/2019/07/24/netherlands-wanted-fugitive-hiding-dubai-report
Why Ridouan Taghi is the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands
https://www.tellerreport.com/life/–why-ridouan-taghi-is-the-most-wanted-criminal-in-the-netherlands-.SyYQJVOJE.html
More on this guy:
https://nltimes.nl/tags/ridouan-taghi
SPAIN – At second vote in Congress, Pedro Sánchez fails to form government
The impossibility of reaching a governing deal between the Socialist Party and Unidas Podemos has today taken Spain a step closer to another general election, the fourth in as many years
Acting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez failed to earn the trust of parliament on Thursday at a second investiture vote, meaning that he will not, for now, be able to form a new government. The candidate for the Socialist Party (PSOE) received 124 affirmative votes, 155 against and 67 abstentions.
Sánchez was backed by his own 123 lawmakers and by one representative from a small regional party in Cantabria, the PRC. The Popular Party (PP), Ciudadanos (Citizens), the far-right Vox, Junts per Catalunya, Navarra Suma and Canaries Coalition voted no. There were abstentions from Unidas Podemos, Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Compromís, Catalan Republican Left (ERC) and Bildu.
Negotiations between the PSOE and left-wing Unidas Podemos continued right down to the wire today, but the two groups were unable to come up with a governing deal. The clock will now start ticking for another potential investiture vote in September, but if that also comes to nothing, Spain will head toward fresh elections in November. It would be the fourth time that Spaniards have been called to the polls to choose a government in four years, and the fifth election held this year alone. […]
https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/07/25/inenglish/1564043857_784379.html
Spygate Scandal: After Mueller’s Testimony, Will There Be Accountability?—Sebastian Gorka
UN Singles Out Israel as World’s Only Violator of Women’s Rights; Iran, Saudi Arabia & Yemen Among the Voters
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among members of the UN’s 54-nation economic and social council, a principal organ of the world body, who voted to single out and condemn Israel yesterday as the only country in the world that violates women’s rights.
The Jewish state was harshly and repeatedly condemned in a resolution, adopted 40 to 2 with 9 abstentions and 3 absent (see breakdown below), for allegedly being the “major obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement, self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society.”
[…]
YES: Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mali, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, South Korea, Russia, St. Vincent, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Yemen.
NO: United States and Canada
ABSTAIN: Brazil, Cameroon, Germany, Jamaica, Mexico, Romania, Togo, Ukraine, and United Kingdom
https://unwatch.org/no-joke-un-singles-out-israel-a-worlds-only-violator-of-womens-rights-iran-saudi-arabia-yemen-among-the-voters/
Mueller Testimony A DISASTER For Democrats, “Trump Must Be Gloating In Ecstasy”
Kindergarten streicht Schweinefleisch für alle Kinder
Aufregung in Leipzig: Zwei Kindergärten verbieten den Kindern nun Schweinefleisch und Gummibären – aus Rücksicht auf muslimische Kinder.
Leipzig. Laut Berichten der deutschen “BILD” sollen über 300 Kinder von den strikten Speiseplänen betroffen sein. Die Leitung der Konfuzius-Kita, sowie die Leitung der Rolando-Toro-Kita gaben einen Erlass heraus, der Schweinefleisch und Gummibärchen verbietet. „Aus Respekt gegenüber einer sich verändernden Welt werden ab dem 15. Juli nur noch Essen und Vesper bestellt und ausgegeben, die Schweinefleisch-frei sind“, wird in dem veröffentlichten Schreiben der Kita-Leitungen argumentiert.
Nur zwei muslimische Mädchen
Unter den 300 Kindern, die von dem Verbot betroffen sind, sollen sich laut “BILD” nur zwei muslimische Mädchen befinden, auf die durch dieses neuerliche Vorhaben Rücksicht genommen werden soll. Einer der Kita-Leiter spricht unter anderem von “Seelenheil” der Kinder: “Auch wenn es nur eine Familie wäre, die das Seelenheil ihres Kindes aus religiösen Gründen durch unreines Schweinefleisch beeinträchtigt sieht, setze ich diese Neuerung jetzt durch.”
Eltern kündigen Protest an
Zahlreiche Eltern der von dem Schweinefleisch-Verbot betroffenen Kindern kündigten bereits Proteste an. Auch aus der Politik kamen bereits negative Stimmen: Die deutsche Ernährungsministerin Julia Klöckner (CDU) zeigte sich ebenfalls nicht erfreut: “Es sollte eine ausgewogene Auswahl geben. Auch für diejenigen, die Vegetarier sind oder kein Schweinefleisch essen. Aber alle anderen für die Essgewohnheiten anderer, die auch mal gerne Schweinefleisch essen, in Mithaftung zu nehmen, ist nicht förderlich für ein gedeihliches Zusammenleben.”
https://www.oe24.at/welt/weltchronik/Kindergarten-streicht-Schweinefleisch-fuer-alle-Kinder/389827673
https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/regional/leipzig/leipzig-news/leipzig-kita-streicht-schweinefleisch-fuer-alle-kinder-63468492,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html
Palestinian Authority Decides to Suspend All Agreements Signed With Israel – Report (sputniknews, Jul 25, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201907251076361788-palestinian-authority-decides-to-suspend-all-agreements-signed-with-israel-report/
“PNA President Mahmoud Abbas has stated at a leadership meeting in Ramallah that a committee will be established to determine how to implement the decision.
The Palestinian Authority will suspend all accords signed with Israel, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday, local media report. The statement comes after recent news of Palestinian homes being demolished in East Jerusalem.
According to the report, the decision will come into force on Friday and a special committee will be formed to determine how it should be implemented…”
Turkish Radio & Television – TRT – Egyptian minister says critics abroad should be ‘sliced up’
Egypt’s Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram says in an event in Canada that anyone abroad who speaks against Egypt should be “sliced up.”
Turkish Radio & Television – TRT – Egyptian minister says critics abroad should be ‘sliced up’
Egypt’s Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram says in an event in Canada that anyone abroad who speaks against Egypt should be “sliced up.”
“Omar Pens NYT Op-Ed Likening Trump To a Racist Demagogue” by Jennie Taer – July 25, 2019
https://saraacarter.com/omar-pens-nyt-op-ed-likening-trump-to-a-racist-demagogue/
“My Pillow founder Mike Lindell calls out ‘horrific’ Ilhan Omar, says he’s open to political run”
by Calvin Freiburger – July 25, 2019
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/my-pillow-founder-mike-lindell-calls-out-horrific-ilhan-omar-says-hes-open-to-political-run
“President Trump Impersonator John Di Domenico | The Eric Metaxas Radio Show”
Published on Jun 21, 2019
My Pillow @ 22:46… 🙂
Turkish Radio & Television – TRT -The impacts of gendered anti-Muslim discrimination
Muslims have been facing increased discrimination since 9/11, but women who look visibly Muslim have been particularly vulnerable to hate crimes.
Here is what you need to know about gendered anti-Muslim discrimination.
AFPravda – 100-year-old German grandmother enters politics
German great-grandmother Lisel Heise’s ambition to enter politics crystalised a few years before her 100th birthday, when organisers of a public hearing cut off her microphone.
Heise, who retired from teaching school 40 years ago, was arguing for the reopening of an outdoor pool.
“When I started out, some people really didn’t want to listen to me apparently — they even pulled the plug!” she said, still stunned by the impudence.
“The kids really give me hope. There is a tendency in politics to favour the car industry and that’s counterproductive.
It’s great that the youth aren’t just waiting for the grownups to do something.”
“Now people from around the world are coming to talk to me. Who’s laughing now?”
What changed was Heise’s election, against the odds, to the town council of Kirchheimbolanden in southwestern Germany just weeks after she embarked on her second century on the planet.
It was no accident that the pool galvanised Heise, given two issues close to her heart: young people and public health.
Those concerns have also dovetailed in another pet cause: climate protection.
The remarkably spry Heise says she has taken inspiration from the Fridays for Future youth protest movement.
“The kids really give me hope. There is a tendency in politics to favour the car industry and that’s counterproductive,” she said.
“It’s great that the youth aren’t just waiting for the grownups to do something.”
Bundles of energy
Heise, who takes daily walks through the quaint old town of Kirchheimbolanden, population 8,000, is part of a groundswell of seniors unwilling to sit out their dotage on the sidelines of public life.
“A politician needs to have a vision and think logically but also humanistically.
The Omas Gegen Rechts (Grannies Against the Right) action group fighting extremism launched in Austria in 2017 and has since expanded to Germany. It regularly rallies elderly women, drawing on the lessons of history to stand up to racism.
Heise’s political career began in earnest earlier this year when a town council member, Thomas Bock, 59, saw her as a potential ally.
“She’s got a strong character and bundles of energy,” he said.
Bock said the fact that most middle-aged Kirchheimbolanden natives had had Heise as a teacher when they were young was also a distinct advantage.
“Everyone respects her,” Bock said.
Heise lives a short walk from the site of the former synagogue, where a mature tree and a memorial now stand, in the sprawling house she once shared with her parents.
Widowed four years ago after more than seven decades of marriage, she now lives there with one of her four children and an adult grandson. She has eight great-grandchildren.
Heise regularly entertains visitors in her sitting room, which is filled with books including a prominently displayed volume of photos of Barack Obama.
“A politician needs to have a vision and think logically but also humanistically,” she said.
US President Donald Trump, whose ancestors came from the nearby village of Kallstadt, is “turning the world upside down”, she said.
“I’m ashamed his grandfather is from here.”
Heise stays physically and mentally fit working in her flower garden and watching political talk shows.
Cafe owner Sepandar Lashkari, 44, said Heise had been one of his first customers when he opened for business a few years ago and they’ve been close friends ever since.
“A lot of people have become more politically active because of her,” he said. “She inspires young and old in a really positive way.”
https://www.gulftoday.ae/lifestyle/2019/07/25/100-year-old-german-grandmother-enters-politics
Families of ISIS adherents to sue Australia over repatriation (thedefensepost, Jul 25, 2019)
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/07/25/australia-isis-families-lawsuit/
“Australia faces a lawsuit aimed at forcing the government to repatriate Islamic State fighters’ wives and children from a Syrian refugee camp, lawyers for their families told AFP on Thursday, July 25.
The threat of a lawsuit comes the same day as parliament passed legislation to prevent Australian citizens who have fought for ISIS from returning home for up to two years under so-called “temporary exclusion orders.”
Lawyers for the Australia-based families of nearly 30 women and children currently held in Syria’s Al-Hol camp said the firm was preparing to refer their case to the Federal Court in coming days.
Sarah Condon, of the Melbourne law firm Stary Norton Halphen, said the government had a legal obligation to protect Australian civilians abroad and called for a timeframe for the extraction of the families living in conditions she described as “increasingly volatile and dangerous.”
“The urgency therefore arises from the hellish conditions of the camp, and the psychological damage that is caused to children when they are being indefinitely detained,” Condon told AFP…”
Islamic State says Bengal affiliate planted Dhaka bombs (thedefensepost, Jul 25, 2019)
https://thedefensepost.com/2019/07/25/isis-bombs-dhaka-bangladesh/
“In the third incident in three months after two years of apparent inactivity, Islamic State claimed its fighters were responsible for two bombs targeting police in the Bangladeshi capital this week, although the devices were identified and dealt with before they could do any harm.
Police recovered two bombs – both with seven small butane gas canisters taped to them – in Dhaka on Tuesday, The Star reported officials from the Bomb Disposal Unit of the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit as saying.
A traffic police officer told The Star that a carton was found outside the traffic police box at Khamar Bari intersection at around 1700 and, thinking it may belong to a colleague, a police officer brought it inside.
The Star published an image of the Khamar Bari device.
“When no one claimed it, we thought it was a container of biscuits. We opened it around 7 p.m. and saw the cans tied with tapes,” the officer said.
The device was destroyed at around 0300 in a controlled explosion by the bomb disposal team.
The second bomb was discovered hidden inside a thick polythene packet near the traffic police box at Paltan intersection around 22:45, The Star reported. It was destroyed in a controlled explosion two hours later.
“Local militant groups, which were active earlier, might be behind the incident,” Inspector General of Police Mohammad Javed Patwary said.
ISIS framed the incidents as a success, claiming in a statement that fighters from its Bengal affiliate had placed explosive devices at the two police checkpoints, and their explosions had caused “material damage.”…”
Shin Bet Breaks Up Iranian Espionage Network in Israel (aawsat, Jul 25, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1828886/shin-bet-breaks-iranian-espionage-network-israel
“The Shin Bet intelligence agency said Wednesday that it busted an Iranian espionage network that aimed to recruit operatives in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip “for the benefit of Iranian intelligence.”
The Shin Bet cooperated with Israeli police, the army and other security bodies in this regard.
According to a statement issued by the agency, the network was based in Syria under Iranian guidance and was led by a Syrian operative nicknamed ‘Abu Jihad.’ It attempted to recruit people via preliminary contacts based on fictitious Facebook profiles and later messaging apps.
“Using social networks to recruit people is a method known to intelligence elements including those affiliated with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. The affair joins other recent events in which terrorist elements (including those from Hamas and Hezbollah) have established contacts with Israeli Arabs and Palestinians over the internet in order to recruit them for intelligence gathering and terrorist activity,” revealed the statement.
The Shin Bet added that those who have been recruited were asked to collect information on military bases, sensitive security installations, VIPs, police stations and hospitals, in order to prepare targets for terrorist attacks in Israel at the behest of Iran.
The statement went on, “The internet activity was identified and monitored by the Israeli intelligence community at the outset by closely monitoring both the handlers abroad and people in Israel and West Bank who expressed willingness to cooperate with them.
Beginning in April 2019, an extensive operation was launched against operatives in Israel and the West Bank including several Israeli citizens who are suspected of having been in contact with Iranian operatives.
The Shin Bet said that the investigation revealed the connection with the Syria-based handlers developed to the level of passing information and directives to carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli targets, both civilian and military.
However, “the operations have shown that the absolute majority of Israeli citizens refused to cooperate with those who contacted them,” the Shin Bet added.”
Houthis Endorse Compulsory Service for Students (aawsat, Jul 25, 2019)
https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1829021/houthis-endorse-compulsory-service-students
“Yemen’s Houthi militias have approved a draft law to introduce compulsory military service for school and university students.
Observers said that the introduction of the service is aimed at compensating the shortage in the number militants, and to maintain the coup and the Wilayat al-Fakih rule.
Official Houthi sources revealed that the coup cabinet chaired by Houthi head of government Abdul Aziz bin Habtoor adopted the new bill on Wednesday.
It was submitted by Minister of Education Yahya al-Houthi, the brother of the group’s leader.
The Houthis claimed that the bill aims to benefit from the capabilities of Yemen’s youths and offer them the chance to serve their country in addition to developing their sense of responsibility in the community…”