Contributor’s links for Aug. 18, 2019

Daily Links Post graphic

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

68 Replies to “Contributor’s links for Aug. 18, 2019”

  1. A Reverend and Apostle
    Flogging a dead life:
    The Father of the Hustle
    Sky-Party for the wife.

    Law and The Impossible
    Truth and Lovers’ knife
    Fate or Lucky Oracle
    They prayed to God each night.

    Piled between their tussle
    Which Path should they ignite?
    Elijah sent his muscle
    Taking Mo’ to the fight.

    The Tin Man heard a tinkle
    Strawman some insight
    Lion found the buckle that
    Unlocked their Pride of Right.

    https://youtu.be/i7JeOxxfSZE

  2. Macron Govt Claims It Doesn’t Know Why Suicides Are Rising Among French Police (breitbart, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/18/macron-govt-claims-it-doesnt-know-why-suicides-are-rising-among-french-police/

    “Three riot police officers, a police commander, a police academy teacher – all are among eight French police officers who have killed themselves recently. That makes 64 so far this year – and the number just keeps on climbing.

    Deaths by suicide for French police now outnumber deaths in the line of duty. The protectors need protecting, say police unions, which are demanding more help to stop the problem.

    Those who choose to end their lives are from everywhere in France and of all ages, many with young children. The latest death came Wednesday in the Ardeche region in southeast France. Why they step across what one police union calls the “thin blue line” remains a question that French authorities have so far been unable to answer.

    A parliamentary inquiry made public in July lists a multitude of reasons for the stress and despair among French police, including overwork since a series of terrorist attacks that started in January 2015 and the weekly, often extremely violent, anti-government protests since November by the yellow vest movement seeking more economic and social justice. It does not single out any one reason.

    “Given the situation today, 2019 could be the worst in the last 30 years,” said Denis Jacob, head of the Alternative Police CFDT union.

    A Senate report last year said the French police suicide rate was 36 per cent higher than the rate for France’s general population, but also uncovered no single reason behind the suicides.

    “We don’t have an understanding” of why, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner conceded in April as he announced yet another prevention plan, the third minister in a row to do so, underlining authorities’ failure to solve the public health problem.

    Significantly, Castaner acknowledged that police suicides must not be considered “external to work,” and seen as only the result of personal problems. And National Police Director Eric Morvan broke a taboo, sending a letter to all officers encouraging them to talk “without fear of being judged” and saying discussing distress “is never a weakness.”

    While psychological trauma, including encounters with violence, is a risk factor for suicide, there are 10-15 factors that can feed the “acute crisis” which leads to taking one’s own life, Catherine Pinson, a psychologist in charge of the police support service, told the Senate inquiry.

    The “hypervigilance” of police in the face of potential terror attacks is a clear stress factor that keeps police in their “bubble” even at home, Amelie Puaux, a psychologist with the support service, told the French senators.

    And the 2016 deadly attack on a police couple in front of their small child at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris, dramatically impacted police officers fearful for their families, she said. Some moved, changed services or resigned to protect their loved ones.

    Sebastian Roche, a research director at the National Center for Scientific research who specializes in comparing police systems, says there are simply no studies to understand the causes of the French suicides or impact studies to evaluate prevention measures, which he calls a “huge weakness” within the Interior Ministry.

    He doesn’t believe that PTSD – with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – is at the root of the problem, noting the dip in police suicides in 2015 when deadly Islamic State attacks in France began in January and culminated in November with the Paris massacres that left 130 people dead.

    “All of a sudden, their mission made sense,” he said by telephone. “The population judged them as useful.”

    French citizens applauded police as heroes during that stretch in 2015. That image lost its shine over time, then collapsed, as French police matched exceptionally violent yellow vest anti-government protests with harsh containment tactics that maimed some protesters.

    At one point, yellow vest protesters, picking up on the suicide wave , even chanted “Kill yourselves! Kill yourselves!” at lines of police.

    While suicide among police is a problem in many countries, France’s rate appears exceptionally high.

    In the U.S., with a population five times that of France, 167 officers died by suicide in 2018 and 111 so far this year, according to Blue H.E.L.P., a Massachusetts-based organization devoted to preventing police suicides. A U.S. suicide prevention bill signed into law in July will also supply funds for support.

    In Italy, a fellow European nation slightly less populous than France, 31 officers have killed themselves this year, according to the police support group Cerchioblu. Britain’s Office for National Statistics counts 21 to 23 police suicides a year between 2015 and 2017, but unlike in France, most British police do not have guns.

    The French parliamentary reports laid out a kaleidoscope of deficiencies within the security forces that can eat away at morale and feelings of self-worth, from distant superiors fixated on numbers of arrests to the 23 million hours of unpaid overtime officers had worked as December 2018, according to the parliamentary inquiry.

    A lack of equipment and dilapidated police stations and living quarters were also cited. In the Paris region, the inquiry found it “wasn’t exceptional” to find five officers sharing a cramped living space or for some to be sleeping in their cars.

    The government pledged to launch a platform of psychologists operating 24/7 by June, but say now that won’t be ready until September.

    A hotline is available, but Jacob is among those who think that an emergency number alone won’t solve the French police suicide problem. His union wants police to have access to independent psychological services, not those run by the government, so that seeking help – now widely perceived as a failure – can be discreet. Unions also want deeper investments and a structural overhaul.

    Jacob said, despite the arrival of female police officers, a French police officer still “has the image of a macho. He doesn’t cry. He doesn’t suffer. He’s tough. To admit you suffer is to admit you have weaknesses. It’s still taboo with us.”

    An officer also risks losing their gun if a psychologist deems the firearm a risk, a development that takes the officer out of the field and holds up their problems for all to see, he said.

    “It’s a vicious circle,” a police officer who for 20 years sacrificed family life for work recounted on LCI TV, months after pulling himself away from killing himself.

    “One night you go home, look around and it’s empty,” he said. “I was tired. I took my gun and put it in my mouth.”

    Yet looking at a photo of his daughter and thinking of bodies he’d removed from suicide scenes stopped him.

    “No, I don’t have the right” to kill myself, he said.”

  3. Greece: Orthodox Bishop Resigns After Conviction for ‘Hate Speech’ (breitbart, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/18/greece-orthodox-bishop-resigns-conviction-hate-speech/

    “The Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta, a fiery conservative Greek Orthodox bishop known for criticizing, often in intemperate terms, those who he believed acted in a “non-Christian” or “non-Greek” way, including gays, migrants, and politicians, has resigned.

    Amvrosios, 81, announced his resignation Sunday at Mass. He has served in the diocese of Kalavryta, in southern Greece, since 1978.

    The Metropolitan achieved notoriety for his support of the far-right, anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party. Earlier this year, his pronouncements against gays led to his being sued and convicted by a local court of hate speech. He was given a seven-month suspended sentence.

    Last year, he declared that a deadly wildfire near Athens was God’s punishment for the “atheist” left-wing Greek prime minister at the time, Alexis Tsipras.”

  4. French Teen Tortured with Blowtorch to Genitals over Drug Dispute (breitbart, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/18/french-teen-tortured-with-blowtorch-to-genitals-over-drug-dispute/

    “A 16-year-old boy has claimed to be the victim of brutal torture after receiving third-degree burns to his arms and genitals in what is believed to be a drug gang-related crime.

    The teen was dropped off at a hospital in Marseille on Tuesday by two unknown individuals who left the young man naked on the ground in front of the hospital and fled the area, Le Parisien reports.

    Doctors say the 16-year-old suffered severe burns to the genitals and arm and noted that his face was also very swollen. “The boy said that these injuries were inflicted by these two men with a blowtorch,” a source told Le Parisien.

    Police say that the boy was arrested only days prior in Micocouliers, north of Marseille, and that the torture attack could be related to the settling of accounts between rival drug traffickers.

    Investigators also note that the motivation for the attack could have been to send a message to those who may be in large debt to traffickers or those who talk to the police. They added that a formal investigation into charges of torture has begun.

    The case is just the latest incidence of brutal violence connected with the illegal drug trade in France as gang crime is seen as one of the main causes of a surge in homicide cases across the country.

    In the first three months of this year alone the country saw 248 murders, a rise of 16 percent from the previous three months.

    Another particularly brutal so-called settling of accounts took place in Paris last year when a Sri Lankan migrant was scalped and had his arm cut off in a restaurant, being attacked by other Sri Lankans.

    Some criminal gangs in France are also heavily armed as evidenced by several raids in recent years that have turned up military-grade firearms, including a raid in 2017 where police in the Paris suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis discovered an anti-tank bazooka.”

  5. Italy’s Salvini tells ship with 107 migrants to go to Spain (abcnews, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/italys-salvini-tells-ship-107-migrants-spain-65040902

    “Seeking to end a humanitarian crisis, Spain says a Spanish rescue boat with 107 migrants in the southern Mediterranean can sail to Spain and disembark its passengers in Algeciras.

    Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Sunday told the Open Arms ship to leave Italian waters and go to Spain. Salvini contends that Open Arms is anchored off the southern island of Lampedusa “just to provoke me and Italy.”

    The boat’s crew says conditions on the ship are “miserable” 17 days since it rescued people off Libya. Six EU countries say they’ll take the migrants in, but Salvini hasn’t let the ship dock.

    The Open Arms didn’t immediately say if would go to Spain, several days’ sailing away. The group says Salvini is using the 107 migrants for “xenophobic and racist propaganda.””

  6. Libya’s coast guard intercepts 57 Europe-bound migrants (abcnews, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/libyas-coast-guard-intercepts-57-europe-bound-migrants-65040533

    “Libya’s coast guard says it intercepted 57 Europe-bound migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast.

    Spokesman Ayoub Gassim says that a wooden boat carrying 53 Ethiopian migrants, including 17 women and nine children, and four Egyptian migrants was stopped on Saturday off the coastal town of Zawiya. The town is about 48 kilometers, or 30 miles, west of the capital, Tripoli.

    He says the migrants were given humanitarian and medical assistance before being taken to a detention center in Zawiya.

    Libya’s coast guard says it has intercepted 577 migrants at sea so far in August.

    Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed Moammar Gadhafi. It has emerged as a major transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to Europ.”

  7. Germany: Greta’s #FridaysForFuture movement now with support of the Salafists+++
    On August 8, the well-known Islamist Salafist Bernhard Falk, who calls himself Muntasir Bi-llah, published a video calling on Muslims to join the #FridaysForFuture movement. He is pleased that the movement is fighting against capitalism and the system, and he praises the large number of students who are also active during their holidays for #FFF. In the video above he calls on Muslims to support the #FridaysForFuture movement and advises Muslims shortly thereafter not to befriend the Kuffar.Falk is known to the police as a left-wing extremist terrorist and has spent 13 years in prison for attempted murder in four instances and explosives crimes. He has been living in Dortmund since his release in 2008 and is now known as Muntasir bi-llah in Salafist circles.
    More:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/08/germany-gretas-fridaysforfuture.html

  8. Massive Bangladesh slum fire leaves 10,000 people homeless (telegraph, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/18/massive-bangladesh-slum-fire-leaves-10000-people-homeless/

    “At least 10,000 people were left homeless after a huge blaze destroyed most of a slum area of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.

    The fire swept through the crowded slum of Mirpur and destroyed thousands of homes, most of them poorly constructed from rudimentary materials.

    Officials said that the fire broke out in the early hours of Saturday and left around 2,000 mostly tin shacks in smouldering ruins. The ultimate number of people without homes could rise as high 50,000…”

  9. ‘Media Is An Enabler In These Mass Shootings’—Hunter Pollack, Brother of Parkland Shooting Victim

  10. Media Is An Enabler In These Mass Shootings’—Hunter Pollack, Brother of Parkland Shooting Victim

  11. Germany: Kosovo Albanian kills two people in train station+++

    Two people were murdered at the train station in Iserlohn ( North Rhine-Westphalia ) on Saturday afternoon using a kitchen knife. The two victims of these murders had a two-month-old baby with them that the perpetrator had overlooked.
    A cruel bloody deed on Saturday afternoon killed two people at Iserlohn railway station: a 32-year-old Kosovo-Albanian woman and a 23-year-old Afghan man, both from Bergisch-Gladbach, were murdered. The two victims had a two-month-old girl in a pram with them who survived the crime – the perpetrator overlooked the toddler in his rampage.
    The police assume the double murder was a family dispute. According to police, the 43-year-old Kosovo-Albanian perpetrator comes “also from Bergisch-Gladbach”, the Iserlohn police said in the evening, without providing any further information for “reasons of investigation”. The stabber lurked for his two victims at 2.20 p.m. and started his deadly attack near platform 2.
    While the woman was murdered in the multi-storey car park, the body of the male victim was lying on the platform of Platform 2 near the bicycle shed – completely shocked eyewitnesses from an arriving train were escorted by police from the scene.
    More:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2019/08/germany-kosovo-albanian-kills-two.html

  12. Rival rallies as Hong Kong’s divisions deepen

    Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong democracy activists kicked off a weekend of fresh rallies on Saturday in a major test for the movement following criticism over an airport protest earlier this week — and as concerns mount over Beijing’s next move.

    The new marches came as thousands of pro-government supporters — many waving Chinese flags — gathered in a park to condemn their opponents and support the police, a stark illustration of the polarisation now coursing through the city.

    Ten weeks of demonstrations have plunged the international finance hub into crisis, with communist-ruled mainland China taking an increasingly hardline tone, including labelling the more violent protester actions “terrorist-like”.

    Democracy activists are billing the weekend rallies as a way to show Beijing and the city’s unelected leaders that their movement still enjoys broad public support, despite increasingly violent tactics deployed by a minority of hardcore protesters that have cast a shadow.

    https://news.yahoo.com/rival-rallies-hong-kongs-divisions-deepen-100523296.html

  13. How China’s propaganda machine is whitewashing Hong Kong protests and rallying mainlanders against pro-Democracy movement

    Three days after Fu Guohao was beaten by Hong Kong protesters and tied to an airport trolley, the Chinese mainlander emerged triumphant from hospital to a small crowd of supporters.

    Outside the building in a town on the edge of Hong Kong about a dozen people waited wearing red T-shirts with the message: “I support Hong Kong police, you can hit me now”.

    The scenes from the airport earlier in the week showing Mr Fu being detained by angry masked demonstrators were a gift to the propaganda machine in China that now labels protesters “terrorists”.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/17/chinas-propaganda-machine-whitewashing-hong-kong-protests-rallying/

  14. Hong Kong protest tensions heat up in Australia
    Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/hong-kong-protests-australia-university-students-one-china-11817492

    SYDNEY: Hundreds of pro-Beijing demonstrators marched through Sydney on Saturday (Aug 17) in response to a growing number of rallies in support of the Hong Kong protests as tensions between the two groups increasingly flare in Australia.

    They marched through the city chanting “One China”, waving the Chinese flag and holding placards saying “Stop riots end violence in Hong Kong”.

    “There has been a lot of violence and violent protests in Hong Kong,” Sydney-based lawyer and rally organiser who asked only to be called Zhao told AFP. “And Hong Kong people have suffered from that and we want to voice our call for peace and order in Hong Kong.”

    Police had to escort a lone supporter of the Hong Kong protests from the Sydney event, after he was set upon by a mob of angry demonstrators.

    Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/hong-kong-protests-australia-university-students-one-china-11817492

    https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/hong-kong-protests-australia-university-students-one-china-11817492

  15. (Richard: Maryland is a gun control state and Baltimore is a gun control city)

    Baltimore deputy police commissioner, wife robbed at gunpoint

    BALTIMORE — Police say one of Baltimore’s newest deputy police commissioners and his wife were robbed at gunpoint.

    The Baltimore Sun reports that Deputy Commissioner Daniel Murphy and his wife were approached by four men in an SUV at about 9 p.m. Friday near Patterson Park.

    Police say the men announced it was a robbery, showed a gun and fled with a wallet, a purse, cash and multiple cellphones.

    Police say no one was injured.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/18/daniel-murphy-baltimore-deputy-police-commissioner/

  16. Portland ‘ground zero’ for protests between right, left-wing
    By GILLIAN FLACCUS2 hours ago

    PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Hundreds of far-right protesters and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators swarmed downtown Portland, Oregon, on Saturday for a long-hyped rally that attracted President Donald Trump’s attention and resulted in at least 13 arrests.

    Police seized metal poles, bear spray and other weapons and closed bridges and streets to try to keep the rival groups apart. They were largely successful. Six minor injuries were reported.

    “This was a dynamic event with demonstrators frequently moving from one part of the city to another,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said at an evening news conference.

    https://apnews.com/423e0ee1018942a59e218a800b30b59f

  17. Portland demonstrations declared a ‘civil disturbance,’ police make multiple arrests

    FOX 12 Staff

    PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – Large crowds of demonstrators gathered in Portland on Saturday, as had been expected for weeks.

    By late Saturday afternoon, the situation had been declared a “civil disturbance” by police.

    Crowds began forming on both sides of the Morrison Bridge by 11 a.m. Groups then marched through the streets in the hours that followed.

    Police estimated 1,200 people participated in Saturday’s demonstrations. Multiple arrests were made as the day went on.

    TriMet altered service on MAX Orange and Yellow lines.

    Police said Naito Parkway was quickly shut down between the Morrison and Hawthorne bridges as the rallies started Saturday morning, before reopening around noon. The Hawthorne Bridge and other downtown roads had been preemptively closed earlier Saturday morning.

    https://www.kptv.com/news/large-crowds-of-demonstrators-march-in-portland-police-make-multiple/article_19eea86c-c11d-11e9-967f-ef34795aed80.html

  18. Far-right rally in Portland met by anti-fascist protesters
    President Donald Trump tweeted about the demonstration, saying there is consideration to labeling Antifa an “organization of terror.”

    A rally of far-right groups was met by a large counterdemonstration in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday.

    Fears that the showdown would turn violent prompted some downtown businesses to close and led to a massive police presence. At least 13 people were arrested, according to Lt. Tina Jones of the Portland Police Bureau.

    Six people, including one who was hospitalized, reported minor injuries during the day, police Chief Danielle Outlaw said at news conference.

    There were also six “use-of-force” events by officers, she said, mostly involving “take-downs” of suspects, and no one was injured.

    The dueling demonstrations garnered national attention, including from President Donald Trump, who tweeted earlier Saturday in reference to self-described anti-fascists, some of whom are known collectively as antifa, “Major consideration is being given to naming ANTIFA an “ORGANIZATION OF TERROR.” Portland is being watched very closely. Hopefully the Mayor will be able to properly do his job!”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/far-right-rally-portland-met-anti-fascist-protesters-n1043646

  19. (Richard: When you read articles or watch videos about this remember NK is a Chinese puppet. China is having massive economic problems as well as the political problems of the Hong Kong Protests. This is why they are having Kim launch missiles to try and draw attention away from Hong Kong. There is a good chance that the Pak threat to nuke India was made on Chinese orders in another attempt to draw attention away from Hong Kong.

    Top North Korea, China generals huddle in Beijing

    BEIJING — Top military leaders from North Korea and China have recommitted themselves to strengthened exchanges between their armed forces during a meeting in Beijing.

    The meeting Saturday came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test-firing of an unspecified new weapon, seen as an attempt to pressure Washington and Seoul over nuclear negotiations and joint military exercises.

    The official Xinhua News agency says Zhang Youxia, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, met Kim Su Kil, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army.

    Zhang said China’s military wanted closer communication to “promote cooperation and mutual support, so as to contribute to the consolidation and development of bilateral relations and regional peace and stability.”

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/18/north-korea-china-generals-meet-beijing/

  20. Red light cameras undermine rule of law

    Speed and red-light cameras are the bane of many motorists. A modern idea made possible by technology, they have been installed in at least 24 states. Although these cameras are a revenue boon for governments across the nation, their intrusion into daily life is disturbing and their constitutionality is dubious.

    Specifically, use of these cameras could violate the Sixth Amendment. The Confrontation Clause grants criminal defendants the right to be confronted with the witnesses against them. Since it is a camera and not a person who witnessed the offense, such violations generally cannot be considered a criminal offense. The ticket is issued to the owner of the vehicle, not to the person driving it, leaving a lack of certainty as to the identity of the offender.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/457790-red-light-cameras-undermine-rule-of-law

  21. Former IC IG: Hillary probe plagued by mysterious tails on investigators, leaks possibly by Clinton-linked attorney
    By Daily Caller News Foundation August 18, 2019

    The Intelligence Community Inspector General — whose office performed some of the most important work on the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server — suspected someone on his team was leaking information, Senate testimony shows. His counsel was tied to the Clintons.

    The suspected mole is now working for the Trump administration in at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), according to the testimony.

    After returning from the State Department, an ICIG investigator noticed a Jeep that began tailing him and his colleagues and even rummaging through recycling, according to testimony in a Senate report by GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa released Wednesday.

    Trending: Philly’s Soros-backed DA was on phone offering ‘bullsh** deal’ to cop shooter during standoff

    ICIG Charles McCullough, an Obama nominee, said he was eventually pushed out of federal service under pressure from California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and others.

  22. Jihadi Jack: ISIS terrorist stripped of UK passport as Justin Trudeau goes ‘berserk’

    ISIS terrorist ‘Jihadi Jack’ has been stripped of his UK citizenship sparking a furious diplomatic row with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.

    Jack Letts, 24, had dual citizenship with the UK and Canada before he left to fight for ISIS in Syria. Before venturing to Syria, Letts had declared himself an “enemy of Britain” but following his capture by Kurdish authorities, he has since asked to return to the UK. However, according to the Daily Mail, the Home Office has striped the ISIS terrorist of his UK citizenship.

    The move to strip him of his UK passport was one of the last actions sanctioned by Theresa May.

    In the wake of that decision, Letts is now the responsibility of the Canadian Government with one Whitehall insider saying, “It’s Canada’s problem now”.

    Although no country is allowed to make a citizen stateless, due to his Canadian nationality, the Government can, therefore, sanction the removal of his UK passport.

    The Government’s action has since sparked fury from the Canadian Government.

    A diplomatic source within the Canadian Government has insisted that they have “gone beserk” because he had “very little to do with Canada”.

    Such is the anger within the Canadian Government that Whitehall officials have suspected that Justin Trudeau’s administration will take a hardline stance on a post-Brexit deal with the UK.

    Despite Boris Johnson now in power, Home Office sources have stated that new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, had backed the decision.

    An insider said: “It is Priti’s job to keep the country safe and she will do whatever is in her power to keep terrorist fighters out of the UK, including depriving dual nationals of their British citizenship when it is legal to do so and the intelligence shows there is a threat.”

    Lett’s parents, Sally Lane and John, had sent £223 to their son while he was in Syria.

    As a result of that, both were found guilty at the Old Bailey in June of funding terrorism and have been given 15 months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months.

    A Home Office spokesman added: “Decisions on depriving a dual national of citizenship are based on substantial advice from officials, lawyers and the intelligence agencies and all the available information.

    “This power is one way we can counter the terrorist threat posed by some of the most dangerous individuals and keep our country safe.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1167041/ISIS-news-Jihadi-Jack-Letts-news-latest-Brexit-news-Syria-Middle-East-news-Justin-Trudeau

  23. At least 63 killed, scores injured in blast at Afghan wedding in Kabul

    A powerful suicide explosion has torn through a wedding hall in the Afghan capital, killing 63 people & injuring over 180 others

  24. https://pjmedia.com/faith/methodist-university-hires-a-muslim-chaplain/
    It is all fine and good to rail against Islam but… The real problem is our societies’ invitation to Islam. There is absolutely NO reason to hire a Muslim “Chaplin” at a Methodist University. If you are something other than Methodist and need some kind of religious guidance seek it in your local faith community. The fault lies with the Methodists that thought this virtue signaling a good idea. It is also a slap in the face of devote Methodists that tithe in part to support Methodist education.
    Islam will fill a void and there clearly is a void in today’s Christianity.

  25. Report: NY University Gender Studies Department Publishes Paper Saying Milking Cows Is Like Sexual Abuse

    The journal of one New York university’s Women’s and Gender Studies program has published a paper that insists that milking cows is comparable to “sexual abuse,” “emotional trauma related to pregnancy,” and “nonconsensual hormone treatments,” according to Celine Ryan, writing for Campus Reform.

    The paper, “Readying the Rape Rack: Feminism and the Exploitation of Non-Human Reproductive Systems,” was included in Dissenting Voices, published and edited by the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the College at Brockport State University of New York.

    Ryan notes that the author, an intern for Brockport’s Women’s Studies Department, asserts that she must discuss the “under-researched” “feminist aspects of animal agriculture,” adding, “the same way women’s health has been at stake for years, a dairy cow’s reproductive system has been poked and prodded.”

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/50693/report-ny-university-gender-studies-department-hank-berrien?utm_source=cnemail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=081819-news&utm_campaign=position4

    • When watching the videos about the Hong Kong Protests remember the article I posted above about how the wealthy people in Hong Kong are moving their money out of Hong Kong and China. That tells you what the big money people are thinking and what they think is coming.

  26. South China Sea Latest News: Japan Returns From A Long Sleep, Horrible Nightmare for China Begin

    • Interesting, here is a question, if/when China collapses whot will happen then? Will some strong man arise to hold all of China as one nation or will it break into several smaller nations?

      Will the neighboring nations remain behind the current borders or will they move in and try to seize portions (possibly large portions) of China?

      What will happen to the Client States of China? (North Korea and Pakistan spring to mind)

      What will happen to all of the ports that China has purchased the right to manage?

      What will happen to the New Silk Road railroad?

    • This video is 2 years old but with the Japanese converting their helicopter carriers to carry F35s it is something to keep in mind. China can’t take the US Navy but is now facing the US a rearmed Japan and the Indian Navy. All of this while their economy is sinking faster then the Titanic did.

  27. BREITBART – Court: German Populists Can Only Field 30 Candidates in Regional Election

    The Saxony Constitutional Court has ruled that the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) will only be allowed to field 30 candidates in next month’s regional election.
    The court ruling comes after a previous ruling by the Saxony election authority last month which stated that irregularities during the candidate selection process voided the selection of the majority of the party’s nominees, Die Welt reports.

    While the decision means the party will not be able to field their full list of 61 candidates in the election, it is a victory of sorts for the party as the election commission had previously declared that just 18 candidates would be allowed to participate in the vote.

    The election commission had previously taken exception to the party holding two separate events to select the candidates, claiming that only the first party congress was valid and that the method of candidate selection had also changed between the two events.

    The judges of the Constitutional Court ruled that the election commission move was “not compatible with the Saxon electoral laws” and added that the motion to only allow the AfD 18 candidates was “clearly unlawful”.

    Jörg Urban, leader of the AfD in Saxony, announced on Friday that he would be challenging the restriction on candidates after the election, saying, “What happened here is a very dramatic process. This is because a breach of law has taken place.”

    The Saxony AfD leader also said he would pursue criminal charges against members of the election administration and would look into similar charges against members of the Saxony Interior Ministry.

    Several polls show the AfD in second place to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), often by only two or three percentage points, with a Civey poll conducted in late July showing the AfD at 25.4 percent to the CDU at 27.1 percent.

    Across all of Eastern Germany, the AfD leads all parties, including the CDU, according to a poll released earlier this month.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/08/18/court-german-populists-can-only-field-30-candidates-in-regional-election/

  28. Switzerland Mulls Checking Phones and Laptops of Migrants Seeking Asylum (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201908181076580579-switzerland-checking-phones-asylum-seekers/

    “Debate has been going on for many months about examining newcomers’ smartphones and computers when carrying out background checks and verifying identities. Advocates of the measure insist that it could be a useful tool, as many arrive in Switzerland without any documents, while opponents argue that this is a violation of privacy.

    The State Political Commission of the Swiss National Council has started working on legal changes that would allow the migration authorities to seize information from smartphones and other data storage devices belonging to people seeking asylum in Switzerland. The move was proposed by Swiss lawmaker Gregor Rutz.

    “When an asylum seeker arrives in Switzerland and applies for protection, he must cooperate. This includes informing where he is going, where he has come from and why he is applying for asylum. We have found that 80% of newcomers arrived undocumented. One does not know where many have come from or who they are”, he said, pointing out that many do not want to provide information about this, so the authorities need to have a tool to find this out.

    As was revealed last week, the Swiss migration authorities conducted voluntary check-ups of data storage devices from November 2017 to May 2018. Spokesman for the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) Daniel Bach confirmed the information, first published by the Tamedia outlet, which cited an internal report on the pilot project. The experiment showed that in 15 percent of the 565 recorded cases, officials had managed to retrieve useful information about the migrants’ identity or travel route.

    As the SEM spokesman, cited by Switzerland’s news agency SDA, said, the results of the experiment show that the evaluation could “provide important additional information on the origin and identity of the asylum seekers as well as their route”. He pointed out that the migrants had voluntarily given their devices for checks and were guaranteed that their data was protected.

    However, the aid group Swiss Refugee Agency (SFH) sharply criticised the project, calling it constitutionally questionable and suggesting that it is unclear whether the authorities might use the data for purposes other than verification.

    The Swiss migration authorities have pointed out that asylum seekers could be interested in providing officials with information that could substantiate their claims. At the same time, Daniel Bach noted that three-quarters of migrants seeking protection in Switzerland cannot prove their identity with documents.”

  29. Former Al-Jazeera reporter Mohamed Fahmy warns of political Islam in France

    Fahmy, CEO of The Investigative Journal (TIJ), urged French President Macron to rid France of political Islamist institutions

    Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al-Jazeera English journalist who was jailed in Egypt on terrorism charges in 2013, said in a statement on Sunday that political Islamist institutions in France are now operating like a Trojan horse, moving quickly and seriously to spread radical Islam in French cities, towns, and villages.

    Fahmy’s statement, released accompanying a report titled ‘The Fight Against Islamist Radicalisation in France’ in the London-based The Investigative Journal (TIJ), said the report aims to ring alarm bells about the proliferation of radical political Islamist movements, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, in France and the role they play in spreading extremist Islamist thoughts in France.

    “The French government should wake up to the reality of what is going on inside French Islamic communities, since the radical Trojan horse has been able to infiltrate French villages, towns, and cities,” said Fahmy.

    “Unless French politicians, officials and legislators move very quickly, a new generation of home-grown terrorists will be able to commit new atrocities like the ones which shocked the world and broke the heart of the French people in the past few years.”

    Fahmy said that French President Emmanuel Macron should take the initiative himself to stem the tide of political Islamist movements in France.

    “The report issued by the TIJ shows that the Muslim Brotherhood has gone a long way in radicalising French society and that President Macron should move to fight this radical Islam in France before it is too late,” said Fahmy, adding that “President Macron should also move to disseminate France’s modern and moderate version of Islam which helps Muslims integrate into French society and heals the wounds of the past.”

    “But the first step to meet this objective is to rid France of Muslim Brotherhood institutions and expel its leaders from the country,” said Fahmy.

    Fahmy said the TIJ report is based on varied and important sources and that it was prepared by an international journalist who has won media awards for his investigative reports.

    The 21-page report was written by Taha Siddiqui, an award-winning Pakistani journalist who fled to Paris, France after narrowly escaping an armed abduction in January 2018. Siddiqui has reported for The New York Times, The Guardian, France 24, Al-Jazeera, Christian Science Monitor, The Telegraph, Arte, among others, and won the Prix Albert Londres in 2014 for his documentary on polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    According to the TIJ report, the Muslim Brotherhood, a political Islamist movement designated as a terrorist organisation in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Russia, is heavily involved in using NGOs licensed by the French government as cover to spread their version of extremist Islam inside France.

    “The London-based International Office of the Muslim Brotherhood provides generous financial assistance to different French NGOs, and helps the leaders of this group take control of these NGOs,” said the report.

    “Topping the list of these NGOs that have close links to the Muslim Brotherhood are the Union des Oranisations Islamiques de France (UOIF), Musulmans de France (MDF), and Conseil Francais du Culte Musulman (CFCM),” said the report, which also shows in detail how these NGOs have become the Muslim Brotherhood’s arms in spreading radical Islam in France.

    Siddiqui interviewed Mohamed Louizi, a former MDF associate who gives details on how the MDF is being used by the Muslim Brotherhood to spread its agenda of radical Islam in France.

    Louizi believes that the organisations that have Brotherhood influence and similar radical ideologies include the grand mosques in Bordeaux, Mulhouse, Reims, Le Havre, Decines-Chrpieu, Grenoble and Marseille.

    “They are everywhere in French towns and villages and are keen to spread their radical ideologies,” said Louizi.

    Zineb El-Rhazoui, a Moroccan-born advisor to President Macron on French Islamic organisations, also told Siddiqui that the Muslim Brotherhood is a major motivator of radical Islam in France and that they are operating through local affiliates including the MDF.

    “Also in recent years, Turkey and Qatar have become two countries that are trying to get influence through different Islamic NGOs in France,” said Siddiqui, adding that she and a team of volunteers have recently started collecting information on radical speeches by Islamic thinkers in France and are sharing this information with the government.

    “There is a general agreement among French officials that Islamic organisations in France need to be closely monitored, especially when it comes to the ideology they espouse and the financial resources they receive,” said El-Rhazoui.

    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/343976/Egypt/Politics-/Former-AlJazeera-reporter-Mohamed-Fahmy-warns-of-p.aspx

  30. Turkey’s Intelligence Agency Illegally Dispatched Arms to Syrian Jihadists

    A trove of secret documents and classified court cases obtained from confidential sources reveals Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamist government illegally sent thousands of trucks loaded with heavy arms and ammunition to support jihadist groups fighting in Syria via the Turkish–Syrian border.

    Turkey’s actions signalled its intentions to plant an Islamist proxy government to replace the Bashar al-Assad regime, adding fuel to the eight-year conflict with its Arab neighbor that began with disputes over the Arab Spring uprising, subsequently amplified by Syria’s internal conflict.

    […]

    https://investigativejournal.org/turkeys-intelligence-agency-illegally-dispatched-arms-to-syrian-jihadists/

    https://investigativejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ABDULLAH-2-REPORT.pdf

  31. US Has ‘Brought All Its Might to Battlefield’ With Iran – IRGC Commander (sputniknews, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201908181076581216-us-has-brought-all-its-might-to-battlefield-with-iran—irgc-commander/

    “Hossein Salami, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite sector of the country’s armed forces, on Sunday slammed the United States as arrogant, saying that the non-spiritual US has brought “all its forces” to fight against the Islamic republic.

    “The Global Arrogance [Western countries led by the US], a power unparalleled in human history, has mobilized all its forces. America is the greatest power in all aspects, and this power has brought all its might to the battlefield with the Islamic Revolution in Iran”, Salami said at the 9th Malek Ashtar festival, cited by the Mehr news agency.

    Salami also noted, cited by Mehr, that the Americans are acknowledging that their leaders have no origins and are empty-minded and non-spiritual. In spite of this, the Islamic Republic of Iran – although it lacks economic and media power – when it moves, it strikes fear in the heart of those selfsame ‘arrogant’ powers…”

  32. Hundreds of Bahraini Prisoners on Hunger Strike over Rights Abuses: Report (tasnimnews, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/08/18/2078196/hundreds-of-bahraini-prisoners-on-hunger-strike-over-rights-abuses-report

    “More than 600 Bahraini political prisoners are now on hunger strike to protest ill-treatment at Bahrain’s notorious Jaw prison, a report said.

    Over 400 inmates started an open-ended hunger strike on Sunday morning, joining 196 others who had began refusing food a short while earlier on Friday, Press TV reported.

    They are also voicing solidarity with 15 political prisoners who are being held incommunicado at Jaw prison and who initiated the hunger strike campaign on Thursday.

    Bahraini detainees complain about harassment during family visits, saying that they are prohibited from practicing their religious rituals in jail while being subjected to beatings, psychological pressure, and the confiscation of their belongings.

    In a letter delivered to the Bahraini media, Hasan al-Ghsara, one of the 15 political inmates said that the group had decided to refuse food after spending two years in “systematic isolation” at Jaw prison.

    He said that the prisoners were held under “harsh conditions,” and particularly faced “the denial of basic rights guaranteed in accordance with international and local laws.”

    Bahraini authorities, he said, subject the prisoners to “psychological torture” and put them under a “monitoring process” in violation of their privacy.

    “We have been placed under strict security restrictions in private rooms without being giving rational reasons for that; we suffer from clear discrimination,” read the letter. “We are not treated like the rest of the prisoners. We have been placed in rooms where we are prevented from freely practicing our religious rituals.”

    Since February 2011, Bahraini people have been regularly holding peaceful protest rallies, demanding that the Al Khalifah family relinquish power and let a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

    They have also been complaining against widespread discrimination against the country’s Shiite majority.

    Manama has responded to the demonstrations heavy-handedly. The authorities have detained rights campaigners, broken up major opposition parties, revoked the nationality of several pro-democracy activists, and deported those made stateless.”

  33. Turkish Lawyers to Boycott Ceremony at Presidential Palace (aawsat, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1861936/turkish-lawyers-boycott-ceremony-presidential-palace

    “Dozens of bar associations representing lawyers from provinces across Turkey, including the largest cities, have said they will boycott an annual ceremony for the judiciary because it will take place at the presidential palace.

    Many said holding the ceremony in a location related to the presidency signals a lack of separation of powers.

    The independence of Turkey’s judiciary has been hotly debated in recent years, especially since a crackdown on the judiciary and other state bodies following the July 2016 abortive coup and after the country switched to an executive presidential system in June last year.

    The European Union says Turkey’s judicial independence and the principle of separation of powers have been eroded since 2014 and that judges and prosecutors have come under increasing political pressure.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party have repeatedly said the judiciary is independent and makes its own decisions.

    At least 42 bar associations including those for Istanbul and the capital Ankara said they would not attend the event on September 2 because they believe the ceremony should take place at the Supreme Court building, not the presidential palace…”

  34. Turkish authorities seize 330 migrants attempting to cross to Greek island (memo, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190818-turkish-authorities-seize-330-migrants-attempting-to-cross-to-greek-island/

    “Turkish authorities have seized a total of 330 migrants attempting to cross to the Greek island of Lesbos, officials said on Sunday, says Reuters.

    The coastguard in the Kucukkuyu area of the western Canakkale province said it had conducted seven operations to pick up migrants trying to make the crossing since Saturday evening.

    The migrants seized were Afghan, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi nationals, it said, adding that the number attempting to cross to Lesbos had surged recently and that 699 people had been seized since August 10.

    Mediterranean arrivals into the European Union, including migrants making the longer and more perilous crossing from north Africa to Italy, totalled 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in 2016 and over a million in 2015, according to UN data.

    Numbers declined sharply since 2015 after Turkey, in exchange for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in European Union aid and a promise to ease visa restrictions for Turks, began to exert more control on migrants trying to cross to the EU via its territory.

    Yet many still attempt the short but perilous sea trip and Turkey remains one of the main launch points.”

  35. At least 4,000 arrested in ‘sweeping’ Indian crackdown on Kashmir (alaraby, Aug 18, 2019)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/8/18/india-detains-thousands-in-kashmir-arrest-campaign

    “Thousands of people have been detained in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Indian-administered Himalayan region of its autonomy two weeks ago, government sources said.

    At least 4,000 people have been arrested and held under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a controversial law allowing authorities to jail someone for up to two years without charge, a magistrate told AFP on condition of anonymity.

    Most of the people detained have been moved to prisons outside of Kashmir, the magistrate said, explaining that prisons in the area had “run out of capacity”.

    The figure of 4,000 was compiled by the magistrate using a satellite phone to communicate with colleagues across the region and collate their figures, he said. Authorities have refused to provide an official tally of how many people have been detained…”