Contributor’s links for Aug. 28, 2019

Posted on by

(Sorry it is late today, long difficult day yesterday)

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

80 Replies to “Contributor’s links for Aug. 28, 2019”

  3. Deux policiers de Montréal ont été roués de coups par un groupe de personnes dans la nuit de vendredi à hier, aux abords de la place Émilie-Gamelin, a appris Le Journal.

    Ils étaient en civil et avaient fini leur quart de travail au poste de quartier 21 situé tout près, selon nos informations.

    Dans des vidéos que Le Journal a pu consulter, on voit l’un des policiers échanger avec trois personnes avant d’être poussé au sol brusquement, sur la rue Sainte-Catherine Est, pendant que son collègue s’approche du groupe.

    Les deux agents sont ensuite roués de coups de pied et de poing par au moins six individus.

    Insultes
    L’un d’eux reçoit quatre coups de pied, tandis qu’il est allongé sur le côté, au sol.

    Des insultes sont criées pendant l’agression.

    « Police en civil ! Tu t’es fait craquer. […] You fucking bitch ! You’re not tough now [maudite salope, tu n’es pas fort maintenant] », lance un homme qui a filmé la scène.

    https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2019/08/25/deux-policiers-en-civil-attaques-a-montreal-1

  4. JIHADI KARMA ISIS fighter killed by drone bomb he was operating after it ran low on battery and flew back
    EXCLUSIVE
    Stephen Moyes
    25 Aug 2019, 22:30Updated: 26 Aug 2019, 16:35
    AN ISIS terrorist blew himself up when the drone bomb he was operating ran low on battery — and flew back.

    The idiotic killer was targeting allied forces after the Battle for Mosul in northern Iraq.

    An Isis terrorist blew himself up when the drone bomb he was operating ran low on battery — and flew back (file photo)
    2
    An Isis terrorist blew himself up when the drone bomb he was operating ran low on battery — and flew back (file photo)Credit: Bertalan Feher
    He had customised his weapon to carry plastic explosive and planned to detonate it by troops based in the city.

    But his plan backfired because he had forgotten to sufficiently charge the device.

    Civilian drones — as weaponised by ISIS — automatically ‘boomerang’ back to their point of launch when they start to run out of power.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9797095/isis-fighter-killed-by-drone-bomb/?f

    • New Tech Lets Israel Take Over Hostile Drones, Reuse Them Against Enemy

      Israel has developed anti-drone technology that can seize control of enemy unmanned aerial vehicles and land them anywhere.

      “The system that we developed can detect hostile drones at a range of up to three and a half kms. [about 2 miles] and take control of about 200 drones at the same time,” said Asaf Lebovitz of Skylock, one of the Israeli companies that developed the technology.

      “We have the ability to disrupt communications between the drone and its operator, and then to remotely take control of it and land it to check what it’s carrying and whom it belongs to.”

      [Sorry, it's Haaretz. I accessed it elsewhere.]
      https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-new-tech-lets-israel-take-over-hostile-drones-reuse-them-against-enemy-1.7762981

  6. Like all Western European countries who’ve taken in large numbers of Middle Eastern and North African Muslim migrants, Denmark has had a difficult time stopping these non-Western migrants from ghettoizing. They’ve had an even more difficult time getting them to work.

    Former Danish migration minister Inger Støjberg said, “If you no longer need our protection and your life and health are no longer at risk in your home country, and specifically in Somalia, you must, of course, return home and rebuild the country from which you came from.”

    Since 2017, Denmark’s Immigration Service began carrying out comprehensive reviews of ‘refugee residence permits’ and has revoked the residency permit of nearly 1,000 Somali migrants.

    On top of that, the Danish parliament has also approved a new policy will see criminal migrants relocated to an uninhabited island before they are deported. The idea behind this policy seeks to limit the spread of Migrants.

    https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/08/denmark-migration-minister-instructs-somali-muslims-to-return-home-and-rebuild-the-country-from-which-you-came/?noworldorder

  7. Ilhan Omar had a secret affair with my husband ‘for a year,’ wife claims as she sues to divorce radical Democrat’s $250,000 aide – but Congresswoman says she is STILL married to her husband
    Ilhan Omar, 37, is accused of having an affair with aide Tim Mynett by his now estranged wife Dr. Beth Jordan Mynett
    DailyMail.com revealed earlier this month that Mynett, 38, had been seen getting up close and personal with Omar
    He was seen dining and holding hands with her at a secluded Italian restaurant in Playa Del Rey, California in March
    Now Beth Jordan Mynett, 55, says in divorce documents that he told her in April that he and Omar were ‘romantically involved’ and he was ‘in love’ with her
    She voiced her fears that her husband’s affair could have been going on for the past year in the nine-page divorce filing obtained by DailyMail.com
    DailyMail.com revealed in July that Omar had split with her husband Ahmed Hirsi, the father of her three children, although the date of the split is unknown
    Despite being named in the Mynetts’ divorce proceedings Omar continued to dodge questions about her tangled private life, denying she had separated
    Mynett is a campaign fundraising expert, having previously worked for Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison as his national finance director
    Omar’s campaign paid Mynett’s company – E Street Group – more than $250K in consulting fees and travel expenses in a year

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7399825/Ilhan-Omars-married-aide-affair-Democratic-congresswoman-told-wife-LOVED-her.html

    • Once again the predictions of doom and gloom that assume a steady state in national and world affairs, given the state of flux the nation is in right now it is much safer to assume that the state of flux will get worse over the next years and probably decades.

      • Makes him feel superior.
        After all, a prophet of Gloom-&-Doom will always make accurate predictions => sooner or later we’ll all be dead.
        The End.

        (The immortality of the soul isn’t factored into this materialist accounting.)

  12. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will deliver Brexit. Katie Hopkins with Jennifer Horn on AMERICA First

  15. COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) has styled himself as a champion of press freedom, tweeting last October: “The press is not the enemy of the people but the best defense against tyranny.”
    It is now August, and with his poll numbers falling in the Democratic presidential primary, O’Rourke has decided that he is entitled to abuse members of the press who cannot be relied upon to provide favorable coverage.

    O’Rourke’s campaign ejected this Breitbart News reporter from a speech at Benedict College, a historically black college, on Tuesday afternoon.

    This reporter was standing along the side of a lecture hall in the basement of the Henry Pinder Fine Arts Humanities Center, waiting for the event to start, together with roughly 200 students and college staff members. Other news outlets had set up cameras in the back of the room.

    Several minutes after the 3:00 p.m. event had been scheduled to begin, a staff member in a Beto O’Rourke t-shirt approached this reporter and asked what outlet I represented. Upon reading the press credential on my chest, he put a hand on my shoulder and said, cheerfully, “Oh, hey. All right.”

    A few minutes later, before the event began, a campus police officer approached this reporter and motioned for me to accompany him to the back of the room, adding that I should bring any property I had with me. In the hallway outside, he informed me that I was to leave.

    A different member of the O’Rourke campaign staff, who said his name was “Steven” and would not give a last name, said that I was being ejected because I had been “disruptive” at past events.

    This reporter has covered two O’Rourke events. The first was at a protest outside a shelter for migrant teens in Homestead, Florida, in June; the second was at the College of Charleston “Bully Pulpit” lecture in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday evening. At no point was there any disruption whatsoever.

    https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/08/27/beto-orourke-ejects-breitbart-news-reporter-from-event-at-historically-black-college/

  16. China’s Potential New Trade Weapon: Corporate Social Credits
    Program will reward or punish companies for their behavior, but foreigners worry Beijing will use it to impose political orthodoxy on international firms

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-potential-new-trade-weapon-corporate-social-credits-11566954901

    BEIJING—After five years, China is putting the finishing touches on a sweeping new system to punish and reward companies for their corporate behavior. But foreigners worry that, amid the continuing U.S.-China trade dispute, Beijing will use its new corporate “social credit” system as a weapon against international businesses.

    While Beijing’s better-known plans for a social-credit system for individuals have stirred privacy concerns, a parallel effort to monitor corporate behavior would similarly consolidate data on credit ratings and other characteristics, collected by various central and local government agencies, into one central database, according to China’s State Council. The system is set to fully start next year.

    • Foreign firms unprepared for China’s ‘life-or-death’ rating system: chamber

      Foreign businesses in China are ill-prepared for the tough sanctions and constant surveillance demanded by a social credit system to be rolled out this year, a European business group warned Wednesday.

      Under this new system for ranking businesses, both foreign and domestic companies will be required to install surveillance cameras in their premises and share the data with the government.

      They will also be rated on their tax record and compliance with a range of existing laws, including customs or environmental regulations.

      Those who violate rules will be placed in “blacklists” and subjected to “immediate and severe punishments”, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China said in a report published Wednesday.

      https://news.yahoo.com/foreign-firms-unprepared-chinas-life-death-rating-system-111744283–finance.html

    • Is ‘social credit’ coming to the US? Report claims score systems similar to China’s are being used increasingly by Silicon Valley companies

      Social score systems popular in China are being increasingly adopted by western companies like Airbnb and Uber.

      According to a report from Fast Company, an array of companies now use social credit systems — which assign people scores based on personal profiles or attributes — to dictate everything from whether one can enter a bar to if they’re allowed to use certain apps.

      While the idea may sound Orwellian, it has already gained traction in China, where a government-run social score system can be the difference between a good and bad credit score.

      In extreme cases, those who have been given a bad enough score are forbidden from using public transit, leaving the country, or being hired for some jobs.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7396975/Is-social-credit-coming-Report-claims-systems-like-Chinas-used-Silicon-Valley.html

  17. Muslim Rep. Ilhan Omar’s made quite a splash around the scandals-in-politics circuit with her anti-Semitic comments, anti-Semitic innuendos and past blatant anti-Semitic tweets and social media messages.

    So splashy, in fact, a whole host of Republicans in Alabama just passed a resolution to have her removed from Congress.

    “Rep. Omar has engaged in rhetoric that explicitly runs counter to American values and patriotism,” the resolution passed a few days ago in Alabama read. “Omar has a disturbing record of using anti-Semitic language that includes alleging Jewish money is used to buy American influence regarding its policy toward Israel.”

    And then there was that whole whispered thing about her alleged marriage to her brother — “Did Ilhan mar marry her brother?” Politifact wrote in July, a few months after Snopes covered the same, “Did U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar Marry Her Brother?”

    Now there’s a new topic to talk up, courtesy The New York Post: adultery allegations.

    “A Washington, DC, mom says her political-consultant husband left her for Rep. Ilhan Omar, according to a bombshell divorce filing,” the newspaper reported. “Dr. Beth Jordan Mynett says her cheating spouse, Tim Mynett, told her in April that he was having an affair with the Somali-born U.S. representative.”

    Tim Mynett’s worked for Omar in the past, as well as for Keith Ellison, the former congressman from Minnesota.

    The Mynetts separated in April.

    “The parties physically separated on or about April 7, 2019, when Defendant told Plaintiff that he was romantically involved with and in love with another woman, Ilhan Omar,” court documents state, The Post reported.

    Omar, meanwhile, separated from her husband recently, as well.

    And the money trail shows Tim and Omar have a tight professional bond, at least. Omar, according to The Post, paid Wynett roughly $230,000 of campaign funds for consulting, communications and travel.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/27/ilhan-omars-alleged-adultery-troubles-would-seem-o/

  19. Since 2004, Gallup has conducted a monthly party affiliation poll party. They ask voters, “In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat or an independent?” Results from a November 1-6, 2016 poll showed that 31% of voters identified as Democrats, 27% as Republicans and 36% as Independents. A recently conducted poll indicates a significant shift in those numbers. Currently, 27% of voters consider themselves to be Democrats, 29% as Republicans and 38% as Independents.

    What to make of the 4% plus in those identifying as Democrats? Did half of these voters make the switch to the Republican column and the other half to the Independent column? That would account for the two point increase in those two categories.

    Also, while there have been many fluctuations along the way, a glance at the number of those who identify as Democrats show those figures peaking between October 2018 and February/March 2019. The results ranged between 30 and 35 during those months. A major drop to 26% was seen following the release of the Mueller report and it has failed to recover.

    Conversely, those calling themselves Republicans dipped in January of 2019 to a low point of 25%.

    A comparison of what was going on in Washington at that time vs. now explains these changes.

    https://www.redstate.com/elizabeth-vaughn/2019/08/25/gallup-fewer-voters-identify-democrats-today-november-2016-heres/

  22. National-Security Concerns Threaten Undersea Data Link Backed by Google, Facebook
    U.S. firms and Chinese partner have sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into Los Angeles-Hong Kong cable project

    U.S. officials are seeking to block an undersea cable backed by Google, Facebook Inc. and a Chinese partner, in a national-security review that could rewrite the rules of internet connectivity between the U.S. and China, according to people involved in the discussions.

    The Justice Department, which leads a multiagency panel that reviews telecommunications matters, has signaled staunch opposition to the project because of concerns over its Chinese investor, Beijing-based Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co., and the direct link to Hong Kong the cable would provide, the people said.

    Ships have already draped most of the 8,000-mile Pacific Light Cable Network across the seafloor between the Chinese territory and Los Angeles, promising faster connections for its investors on both sides of the Pacific. The work so far has been conducted under a temporary permit expiring in September. But people familiar with the review say it is in danger of failing to win the necessary license to conduct business because of the objections coming from the panel, known as Team Telecom.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/trans-pacific-tensions-threaten-u-s-data-link-to-china-11566991801

  24. Doorbell-camera firm Ring has partnered with 400 police forces, extending surveillance reach

    The doorbell-camera company Ring has quietly forged video-sharing partnerships with more than 400 police forces across the United States, granting them access to homeowners’ camera footage and a powerful role in what the company calls America’s “new neighborhood watch.”

    The partnerships let police automatically request the video recorded by homeowners’ cameras within a specific time and area, helping officers see footage from the company’s millions of Internet-connected cameras installed nationwide, the company said. Officers don’t receive ongoing or live-video access, and homeowners can decline the requests, which are sent via emails that thank them for “making your neighborhood a safer place.”
    Related Stories

    The temporary city built for Burning Man is visible from space
    Her death was ruled an overdose. Cops say her husband spiked her cereal with heroin.
    A 180-lb. battery was stolen out of a Prius in Pac Heights

    The number of police deals, which has not previously been reported, will likely fuel broader questions about privacy, surveillance and the expanding reach of tech giants and local police. The rapid growth of the program, which launched last spring, surprised some civil-liberties advocates, who believed fewer than 300 agencies had signed on.

    https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Doorbell-camera-firm-Ring-has-partnered-with-400-14383981.php

  25. Brexit: Queen consents to suspension of parliament for five weeks – live news
    Government will prorogue parliament in September, with Queen’s speech on 14 October

    Full report: Suspension could prevent attempts to block no-deal Brexit
    Q&A: What is prorogation and why is Boris Johnson using it?
    Tom Kibasi: Boris Johnson wants a ‘people v parliament’ election

    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/aug/28/spending-review-set-for-next-week-fuels-election-speculation-live?fbclid=IwAR1aESQycXc-UfhdkHDEF-dAPkeSTBUfuePLpkizkAE0f_JeOGcV3A1-d4Q

  26. Mainland Chinese Sneak Into Hong Kong’s Protests—to Support the Cause
    A minority of Chinese citizens in the city take risks to support freedoms unavailable to them at home

    HONG KONG—On June 16, a 24-year-old female graduate student with the family name Chen donned a black T-shirt, grabbed a surgical mask in case she needed to hide her face, and joined a massive march against further erosion of the city’s freedoms by China.

    That much was standard procedure for many of the estimated two million people who took to the streets that day. What set her apart was her Chinese passport.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/mainland-chinese-sneak-into-hong-kongs-proteststo-support-the-cause-11566986403

  27. STOPTOBER The Queen agrees to let Boris Johnson shut down Parliament and thwart Corbyn’s anti-Brexit plot

    THE Queen has approved Boris Johnson’s bombshell request to suspend Parliament and stop Jeremy Corbyn’s plans to block No Deal Brexit.

    Her Majesty met with the Privy Council today at Balmoral and an order was greenlit to prorogue Parliament from any date between September 9 to October 14.

    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/9811352/the-queen-agrees-to-let-boris-johnson-shut-down-parliament/

  28. Inside Beijing’s Toolbox to Crush Hong Kong

    The Chinese Communist Party is betting it won’t have to send tanks to end the revolt. It’s got the cops, surveillance, and even a replacement “international city” in the works.
    Brendon Hong
    Published 08.28.19 5:31AM ET

    SHENZHEN/HONG KONG—For more than two weeks, rows of armored vehicles have been parked outside and within the walls of a stadium in Shenzhen. A contingent of the People’s Armed Police, a paramilitary force that specializes in riot control and security matters, has been stationed within the sporting ground. The Global Times, one of the Chinese government’s state-run media outlets, says that the security forces are there for drills. Yet as unrest in Hong Kong escalates with every passing weekend, and occasional episodes that remind Hong Kongers of the 1989 military crackdown at Tiananmen Square, it’s natural to wonder: is Beijing about to send in its own forces, maybe even the PLA—the People’s Liberation Army?

    Military intervention ahead of October 1—the 70th National Day for China—would be massively embarrassing for Beijing. A massive military parade may have been being planned for China’s capital, but flexing actual military muscle in Hong Kong would mean the Chinese Communist Party acknowledging that its proxies in the city don’t have a grip on the populace. And while already dealing with Donald Trump’s trade war, the CCP likely would face new international sanctions just as it did after 1989.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-beijings-toolbox-to-crush-hong-kong-3

    • Hong Kong protesters denounce Cathay Pacific for firing cabin crew

      HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hundreds of people protested in Hong Kong on Wednesday to denounce Cathay Pacific Airways for dismissing crew taking part in or supporting anti-government rallies that have swept the Chinese-ruled city for weeks.

      The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) switched the protest venue, originally planned to be outside the airline’s airport headquarters, Cathay City, to the central financial district after police refused permission.

      https://www.oann.com/hong-kongs-cathay-pacific-warns-against-protest-outside-its-premises/

  30. The Socialists Will Help Put Donald Trump in the White House
    Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren won’t redistribute their votes.
    August 28, 2019
    Daniel Greenfield

    Bernie Sanders has a curious function in Democrat primary battles. He’s the fractious candidate whose radical cult of personality prevents the weak party nominee from facing a true primary challenge.

    History might have been different if Hillary Clinton had faced a real primary challenger. Instead there was Bernie, a mumbling socialist who helped elect Trump by pushing Hillary and the Dems to the Left.

    But Hillary was probably never going to attract a serious primary challenger. That’s not at all true now.

    There’s one man who deserves the credit for Joe Biden hanging on to the lead despite holding a Guinness Book of World Records streak for the most gaffes emitted in the shortest amount of time.

    And it’s not Joe. It’s Bernie.

    https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274642/socialists-will-help-put-donald-trump-white-house-daniel-greenfield

  31. John Kerry’s son cut business ties with Hunter Biden over Ukrainian oil deal

    John Kerry’s stepson rushed to play damage control at the State Department after his business partner Hunter Biden cut a deal with an oligarch-owned Ukrainian gas company in 2014, according to internal State Department correspondence obtained by the Washington Examiner.

    The correspondence adds to the questions about Biden’s business activities, which have dogged the 2020 Democratic primary campaign of his father Joe. Hunter Biden’s long history of drug and alcohol abuse, which contributed to his divorce and his dismissal from the Navy Reserve, has also attracted unwelcome publicity for the Democratic front-runner.

    An email released to the Washington Examiner shows that Biden’s decision to join the board of Ukraine’s Burisma Holdings sparked immediate concern within his inner circle about the political optics. Biden’s father Joe — now vying for the 2020 Democratic Party nomination — was then vice president and overseeing the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy.

    At the time, Hunter Biden, now 49, and Christopher Heinz, the stepson of then-Secretary of State John Kerry, co-owned Rosemont Seneca Partners, a $2.4 billion private equity firm. Heinz’s college roommate, Devon Archer, was managing partner in the firm. In the spring of 2014, Biden and Archer joined the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that was at the center of a U.K. money laundering probe. Over the next year, Burisma reportedly paid Biden and Archer’s companies over $3 million.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/john-kerrys-son-cut-business-ties-with-hunter-biden-over-ukrainian-oil-deal

  34. Do or Die Brexit

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XhrbTruly bizarre CNN plan for Dems’ ‘climate crisis’ town hall: Symptom of a DNC tug-of-war?
    By J.E. Dyer August 28, 2019

    There have been stranger television events, no doubt. Twenty years ago, when a lot of cable services still had several channels available for local paid broadcasting, I can remember running across guys with garage bands promoting their brands for three or four hours, interspersing musical interludes of varying quality with talky segments whose lame inanity you actually felt kind of bad for laughing at. It was clear these young fellows fondly imagined themselves to be recording an epic documentary. Admittedly, the aged 1970s-era plaid sofas in the garages were often a nice touch.

    (As an aside, I did get a kick on occasion out of televised city commission meetings, in particular the zoning and residential regulatory hearings. Now and then there’d be a pony-tailed attorney arguing passionately for why some property owner needed to keep the 80-year-old tree that was buckling his neighbor’s driveway to the point of unusability, with an arborist in tow who kept repeating the same three sentences no matter what questions were posed to her by glazed-eyed commissioners. Good times.)

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/08/28/truly-bizarre-cnn-plan-for-dems-climate-crisis-town-hall-symptom-of-a-dnc-tug-of-war/

  35. Yemen’s Houthis Announce Fresh Drone Strikes on Saudi Arabia (sputniknews, Aug 28, 2019)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201908281076663918-yemens-houthis-announce-fresh-drone-strikes-on-saudi-arabia/

    “Yemeni Houthis announced on Wednesday they had attacked military positions in southwestern Saudi Arabia with armed drones.

    “Air forces are carrying out attacks with drones towards Jizan and Najran”, the Houthi spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Sarei, said.

    The attacks on a military target in Najran and a Saudi army camp in Jizan killed and injured multiple soldiers, he claimed.

    For weeks, the Houthi movement routinely launches drones toward Saudi Arabia, which has been providing air support to Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its fight against Houthis since spring 2015.

    On 17 August, a drone attack by the Houthi movement on a Shaybah oil field controlled by Saudi Arabia caused a fire at a gas plant. In response, the Saudi-led coalition targeted Houthis’ position in northern Yemen.

    The tensions in Yemen’s temporary capital are underway amid the continuing violent conflict between the government forces and the Houthi movement, which has brought the country on a brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.”

  36. Any Islamic scholars of today should remember Sayyid Qutb said: “The struggle between the Believers and their enemies is in essence a struggle of belief, and not in any way of anything else. The enemies are angered only because of their faith, enraged only because of their belief.
    This is not a political or an economic or a racial struggle; had it been any of these, it’s settlement would have been easy, the solution of its difficulties would have been simple. But essecentially it was a struggle between beliefs—either unbelief of faith, either JAHILIYYAH or ISLAM.
    This is why the leaders of the polytheist of Mecca offered the Messengar of God— Pease be upon him—wealth, kingship and worldly things against only one thing: that he give up the struggle of belief and settle with them in this affair. Had
    he accepted — May God forgive us for saying this—what they asked of him, no difference whatsoever would have remained between them and him.
    Indeed, this was a question of belief and a battle of belief. the Believers ought to be certain of this, whatever be the declaration of their enemies. they are the enemies only because of their belief—“only because they believe in God, —and because they purify for Him alone their obedience and submission.
    The enemies of the Believers May wish to change this struggle into an economic or political or racial struggle, so that the believers become confused concerning the true nature of the struggle and flame the belief in their hearts becomes extinguished. The Believers must not be deceived, and must understand that this is a trick. The enemy, by changing the nature of the struggle, intends to deprive them of their weapon of true victory, the victory which can take any form, be it the victory of the freedom of spirit as was the case the Believers in the story of the Maker of the Pit, or dominance in the world—as a consequence of the freedom of spirit —as happened in the case of the first generation of Muslims.
    We see an example of this today with the attempts of CHRISTIANS to try to deceive us by distorting history and saying that the Crusades were a form of imperialism. The truth of the matter is that the latter-day imperialism is but a mask for the crusading spirit, since it is not possible for it to appear in the true form, and it was possible in the Middle Ages. The unveiled crusading spirit was smashed against the rock of the faith of Muslim leadership which came from various elements, including Salahuddin the Kurd and Turan Shah the Mamluk, who forgot the differences of nationalities and remembered their belief, and were victorious under the banner of Islam.
    “They were angered with the Believers only because they believed in God, the All-Powerful, the All-Praiseworthy.”
    Almighty God spoke the truth, and the treatcherous deceivers are liars!

  37. “Those who believe fight in cause of God, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of rebellion”.

    “La Ilaha I’ll Allah”. — “There is is no deity except Allah”.

  38. What Will China Do with the Hong Kong Protests?

    by Lawrence A. Franklin
    August 28, 2019 at 4:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14783/hong-kong-protests

    Protests in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (SAR) — which began in early June with demonstrators denouncing a proposed law to permit the extradition of SAR residents to the mainland to be tried in Chinese Communist courts — have entered their 12th week and show no signs of abating. If anything, they are becoming increasingly strident, with calls for the resignation of Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s administration, among other broadening demands . The unfolding events present the Communist Party leadership in Beijing with a serious dilemma: to quell the protests with military force or wait until they die down.

    According to a recent analysis in Bloomberg:

    • Italy’s Conte might be back at helm with Salvini shut out

      ROME — Italy’s populist 5-Star Movement formally asked the nation’s president Wednesday to give caretaker Premier Giuseppe Conte the mandate to try to form a new coalition government in a bid to forestall an election that could put right-wing nationalist Matteo Salvini in power.

      Movement leader Luigi Di Maio said he informed President Sergio Mattarella that the 5-Stars had reached an agreement on a potential coalition with the opposition Democratic Party, an archrival.

      Many analysts have said a government made up of such bitter political foes wasn’t likely to last long, in all probability only delaying the election Salvini wants to snag the premiership for himself.

      Conte resigned a week ago after Salvini’s League party, the 5-Stars’ previous governing partner, bolted from their long-squabbling coalition. Di Maio said he told the president the Movement’s deal with the Democrats called for “Conte to again be premier and try to form a new government.”

      Referring to a tweet on Tuesday by U.S. President Donald Trump praising Conte, Di Maio said: “Trump’s endorsement yesterday shows that we’re on the right path.”

      Mattarella must decide if an unnatural alliance between the anti-establishment 5-Stars and the centre-left Democrats can produce a viable majority in the Italian Parliament, where Conte would have to win a vote of confidence in both chambers to again be premier.

      Di Maio brushed off skeptics who have questioned how the 5-Star Movement could agree to partner with a right-wing party last year and one on the left now.

      The Movement is “post-ideological,” Di Maio said. “There no longer exist arrangements on the left and the right but only solutions.”

      If Mattarella isn’t convinced Conte can lead a productive government with staying power, he can call a fall election.

      The presidential palace said Conte has been asked to come speak with Mattarella on Thursday morning.

      Salvini scorned the prospect of a Democratic-5-Star coalition, saying it wouldn’t hold up because “the only glue is hatred of the League.”

      Echoing what many analysts have said, Salvini predicted a short life for any government Conte manages to cobble together. He predicted that a national election would come “in six months, a year” and result in the League’s triumph.

      Earlier Wednesday, the leader of the Democratic Party described acquiescing to 5-Star Movement demands for another Conte premiership as being in Italy’s best interests to keep the League out of the government.

      Party leader Nicola Zingaretti told reporters that he informed the president that because the 5-Stars were the biggest party in Parliament, the Democrats would back the movement’s choice for premier.

      “We love Italy and we believe that it’s worthwhile to try this new experience,” Zingaretti said. “In complicated times like those of today, to avoid the responsibility of having the courage to try is something we cannot and do not want to allow.”

      In an apparent reference to Salvini, who as interior minister cracked down on immigration and along with other League leaders accused migrants of fueling crime, Zingaretti added: “We intend to put an end to the season of hate, rancour and fear.”

      Zingaretti had originally insisted that the wisest course is to put the choice for the next government in the hands of voters. But a powerful party faction led by former Premier Matteo Renzi has lobbied vigorously for a coalition deal with the 5-Stars.

      Little has been revealed on how the pro-European Union Democrats would govern in a coalition with the 5-Stars, who resent EU influence on national policies. The Democrats sharply criticized the anti-migrant line of Conte’s government championed by Salvini.

      Conte is a lawyer who, while officially non-partisan, has been openly sympathetic with the 5-Stars. The Movement championed him to head Italy’s first all-populist government, in coalition with another unnatural ally, Salvini’s League, in June 2018.

      https://www.kamloopsmatters.com/national-business/italys-conte-might-be-back-at-helm-with-salvini-shut-out-1662401

    • CNN – Italian parties strike deal for new government in blow to Salvini

      (CNN)Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and the center-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) agreed on Wednesday to form a new coalition government and avoid snap elections which could favor Matteo Salvini’s far-right League Party.

      The two parties entered coalition talks, despite being political enemies, after Italy’s former ruling alliance — made up of M5S and the League Party — collapsed following months of infighting.

      Hoping to seize on his rise in popularity, Salvini pushed for new elections in recent months, saying that the alliance between his hardline League and the Five Star Movement no longer held a parliamentary majority.
      However, Salvini’s plan inevitably backfired as he was sidelined from the ruling alliance by the M5S and PD on Wednesday night.

      Nicola Zingaretti, the head of PD, said Wednesday that the coalition is a “real turning point” for Italy and stressed that it was “not just a handover of power.”
      “We love Italy and we believe that it is worth trying this experiment,” Zingaretti told reporters.

      M5S and PD leaders told Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella that Giuseppe Conte should lead the new government once again. Conte had resigned as prime minister last week, effectively averting a no-confidence vote tabled by Salvini.
      Mattarella’s spokesman, Giovanni Grasso, said Wednesday evening that Conte had been invited to meet with the President on Thursday morning. Conte is expected to be given the mandate to form a new government.

      Matteo Salvini hoped to seize on his rise in popularity and pushed for new elections in recent months, but it ultimately backfired.

      “The only thing that unites them (M5S and PD) is their hatred of the League,” Salvini said bitterly as he addressed reporters on Wednesday evening.
      “The truth is that 60 million Italians are being held hostage by 100 parliamentarians who are dead scared of losing their seats.”

      According to M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, the deal still needs to be approved by party members in an online vote — which should take place before the end of next week.

      The backdrop

      In a speech last week, Conte slammed Salvini for what he described as a lack of statesmanship, and said his decision to force a vote could bring about institutional and financial uncertainty.

      “Asking citizens to vote every year is irresponsible,” Conte added.
      Salvini took the microphone immediately after Conte finished his speech in the Senate, saying that he would “do what I did all over again,” adding: “I am a free man. I am not afraid of the judgment of Italians.”

      He said he wanted to offer Italians a “future of growth and prosperity.”
      Salvini also defended his policies on Europe and immigration, which caused the coalition to fall apart. “Are we or are we not a sovereign country, free to protect its borders, its beaches!” he said.

      Salvini later tweeted: “We’ll see if anyone has made arrangements, if someone wants to govern. The alternative? The vote.”

      Why the government fell apart

      Conte, a law professor who had never held political office prior to his appointment, became prime minister in June 2018, the compromise choice to lead a populist coalition government between the League and Five Star Movement, whose leaders campaigned on anti-immigrant and euroskeptic platforms in their push to power.

      While Conte nominally held the most powerful office in Italy, the driving forces in his administration have been the leaders of those two parties that secured the most votes in the March 2018 election. But their coalition fell apart this month over disagreements on key policies.
      Those disputes reached fever pitch last week, as the two parties engaged in a bitter political standoff over a migrant ship that was stranded off Italy for 19 days.
      Earlier in August, tensions between the two parties rose after a split vote over a planned high-speed rail link between Turin in Italy and Lyon in France, a project that the League favored.

      The turmoil comes at a difficult time as Italy’s parliament must approve and present its draft budget to European Union leaders in Brussels by mid-October.

      https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/28/europe/italy-democratic-party-five-star-movement-coalition-intl/

  40. It looks like Matteo Salvini just got relegated.

    The leaders of Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement reportedly struck an agreement with the center-left Democratic Party to form a new government Wednesday. The new coalition will allow Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who had previously announced his resignation following over Salvini’s calls for snap elections, to remain at his post.

    Salvini, who serves as both Italy’s deputy prime minister and interior minister, and his anti-migrant League party, will likely be sidelined by the new deal, which had been in a power-share with Five Star since the spring of 2018, only to see the relationship fracture. Still, Salvini and the League remain popular in Italy, as polls suggested the League would win enough seats to govern outright, or at least alongside a smaller, right-wing party, in the case of new elections.

    https://theweek.com/speedreads-amp/861754/matteo-salvini-ousted-after-italys-five-star-movement-strikes-deal-centerleft

  44. Ihan Omar Accused Of ILLEGAL Payments To Secret Lover, State Republicans DEMAND Her Expulsion

  48. Nigeria: ISWAP blamed for killing construction workers in Wajirko (thedefensepost. Aug 28, 2019)
    https://thedefensepost.com/2019/08/28/nigeria-iswap-construction-workers-wajirko-borno/

    “Insurgents on Tuesday, August 27 shot dead 11 construction workers in northeast Nigeria, a militia leader and resident told AFP.

    They said Islamic State West Africa Province fighters fired on the workers as they were laying fiber optic telecom cables in Wajirko village, which AFP placed around 150 km (93 miles) from Borno state capital Maiduguri.

    “The insurgents came in the morning and opened fire on the workers, killing 11 and injuring many,” militia leader Mustapha Karimbe told AFP.

    He said the victims were locals contracted as casual laborers by a telecom firm.

    “The attackers had warned the laborers to stop working on laying the cables but they ignored the warning because they needed money to feed their families,” Karimbe said from the town of Biu, around 50 km away.

    Those injured were taken to a hospital in the town of Damboa, he said…”

  49. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest becomes longest in city’s history as it reaches 80 days