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.
Report: Royal Navy Faces Down Iranian Forces 115 Times (breitbart, Sep 2, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/09/02/report-royal-navy-faces-down-iranian-forces-115-times/
“The Royal Navy warship HMS Montrose has faced 115 confrontations with Iranian forces in the Gulf since the start of July, it was revealed on Monday night.
The hostile watercraft have tried to “intimidate” the Type 23 frigate and sent aggressive radio messages as it sought to discharge its duties escorting maritime trade through the disputed waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
The ship’s commander said Iranian personnel mocked the ship after she failed to prevent the seizing of the UK-flagged Stena Impero tanker six weeks ago.
Commander Will King, 41, told the Times newspaper the Iranian military had “heavily” tested HMS Montrose almost daily with fast attack craft and drones deployed as close as 200 metres to “intimidate” his ship. Tehran harboured “a continuous intent to disrupt or interfere with UK interests in the area”, he said.
Commodore Dean Bassett, the most senior Royal Navy officer in the Gulf, told the Times Britain is to increase its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in response to the constantly evolving nature of the hostile threats.
He said: “In the last couple of months we’ve seen a dramatic change to the security in the area.”
The 33-kilometre (22-mile) wide Strait of Hormuz provides the eastern entrance and exit point into the Gulf and runs between the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
One-fifth of all global crude exports passes through the narrow strait between Iran and Oman.”
London Mulls Sending Drones to Persian Gulf Amid Escalation of Tensions With Iran – Reports (sputniknews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/world/201909021076701251-london-mulls-sending-drones-to-persian-gulf-amid-escalation-of-tensions-with-iran—reports/
“The crisis escalated last month when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Tehran would proceed with reducing its obligations under the nuclear deal, stating that European countries must protect the Islamic Republic from US sanctions.
According to Sky News, the United Kingdom is considering sending drones in order to help Royal Navy warships escort UK-flagged tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.
Commodore Dean Bassett also told the broadcaster that Iran poses a direct threat to British merchant vessels and noted he wouldn’t rule out the use of military force if necessary…”
India to Deploy Newly Formed Integrated Battle Group Along Pakistan Border (sputniknews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/military/201909021076701568-india-to-deploy-newly-formed-integrated-battle-group-along-pakistan-border/
“The Integrated Battle Group (IBG) is a brand new war fighting concept that includes cross-border strike capability mooted by the Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat last December. The decision to deploy the elite group comes against the backdrop of worsening relations between the two nuclear-armed countries.
The Indian Army has decided to deploy a newly restructured army battalion specialising in conducting cross border strikes near the Pakistan border in next few months, Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said.
“The international border portion of Jammu and Kashmir will see reorganisation first followed by others, making the Indian Army a leaner and meaner fighting unit”, General Rawat said while adding that the restructuring of the Indian Army’s combat potential will happen “selectively from sector to sector”.
The Indian Army’s “Land Warfare Doctrine 2018” promulgates capability enhancement and mentioned the creation of 10-12 integrated battle groups to enable deterrence along its western borders.
“All forces shall be applied as Integrated Battle Groups, with equipment profile matched with envisaged role and exploitation potential, to provide greater flexibility in force application”, the document reads.
Each IBG would be larger than the existing 3,000 personnel-strong brigades, but smaller than a 10,000-strong division. It would be headed by a two-star officer.
“Our response along the Western Front will be sharp and swift with the aim of destroying the centre of gravity of the adversary and securing spatial gains”, the document reads.
As per the plan, Indian Army will employ “composite” IBGs comprising a mix of five to six battalions to execute conventional combat operations for “greater flexibility in force application”.
The 1.3 million-strong Indian Army has deployed most of its strength and capabilities along the western border and the deployment has been increased since the February dogfight when the air forces of the two nuclear-armed nations were involved in a fight after the Indian Air Force carried out a non-military aerial strike and allegedly destroyed terror infrastructure in Balakot inside Pakistan.
Relations between the two countries have further deteriorated since the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and revoked the special status of the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan claimed that the decision is in direct violation of the Simla Agreement 1972, while India said that the decision to revoke the region’s special status is an internal matter. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Islamabad will teach a “lesson” to New Delhi on this decision.”
Pakistan Minister Says Islamabad Could Nuke Targets in India (sputniknews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/military/201909021076702112-pakistan-minister-says-islamabad-could-nuke-targets-in-india-/
“After setting a ‘likely’ date for full-blown war, Pakistan’s Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has now warned India of area-specific nuclear attacks with tiny atomic bombs. Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have intensified since New Delhi revoked special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The minister affirmed the time for a “final freedom struggle has come”, and the war with India will be the “last, this time”.
Rashid Ahmed claimed Pakistan possess 125-250-gram nuclear bombs, which can hit and destroy things as per his country’s wishes. He also warned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to avoid a war lest it proves to be the “last” between the two nuclear-armed nations.
“Dialogue is possible if India takes a step towards resolving the Kashmir issue as per the United Nations resolutions. If war is imposed on Pakistan, India would be divided into 22 parts,” the Pakistan minister added.
Ahmed has been known for making controversial remarks in the past. Last week, he predicted a full-blown war with India could occur around November amid reports of troop deployments near the Indian border.
The Army Chiefs of the two nuclear-armed nations have visited troops of their forward posts in last three days and vowed to reply appropriately in the case of any provocations by the enemy.
Last Tuesday, Pakistan moved hundreds of its troops and elite commandoes close to the Line of Control (LoC), a 450-mile long military line that serves as a de-facto border separating the disputed region of Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Sources said the deployment indicates India’s western rival is preparing for a “short term conflict”.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have intensified since New Delhi amended Article 370 which had granted Jammu and Kashmir special status. Kashmir has been a bone of contention between the two countries since they gained freedom from British colonial rule in 1947. Both govern it in parts but claim it in full.”
Pakistan: Thousands attend Karachi protest in solidarity with Kashmir
Protesters braved the pouring rain in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday to condemn India’s decision to strip the region of its autonomous status and demand a military action to end Kashmir’s lockdown.
The ‘Azadi Kashmir March’ which was called on by the Jamaat-e-Islami party, saw protesters assemble on the Shahrah-e-Faisal boulevard carrying banners and flags and chanting.
Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami party and Member of Pakistani Parliament Siraj ul Haq addressed the protesters while calling on the Pakistani government to remove the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto borderline between the Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir and revoke the Simla Agreement which had seen the borderline form in 1972.
“The ‘Simla Agreement’ is dead, that kind of agreement is unacceptable. I demand that the government removes the border,” said ul Haq who demanded a concrete military plan in combatting the lockdown.
Indian-administered Kashmir has been on lockdown since August 5 when India stripped the region of its autonomous status, imposed a curfew and shut down all communications. The move angered Pakistan which responded by cutting off diplomatic and economic ties with India.
Tunisian National Guard Head, 3 Terrorists Killed in Shooting on Algeria Border – Reports (sputniknews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/africa/201909021076702270-tunisian-national-guard-head-3-terrorists-killed-in-shooting-on-algeria-border–reports/
“Tunisian National Guard’s head and three militants were killed on Monday morning during a shooting in the country’s Kasserine region that borders Algeria, the Tunisian radio Mosaique FM reported.
The incident took place in the Haydrah border area, according to the radio station.
“Guard units have been following these terrorists for 10 days, and it’s still continuing,” a spokesman for the Tunisian national guard, Husam al-Din al-Jabali, said, as cited by Shems FM.
The broadcaster added that the terrorists tried to get into the Kef mountains toward Kasserine’s mountain area.”
CANADA: JU$TIN TRUDEAU ARROGANTLY BRAGS ABOUT BRIBING THE MEDIA
video – 27 seconds
Is this a fake? I can’t believe Trudeau would actually say that in public.
Canadians is this real?
1,500 asylum-seekers being transported to Greek mainland (abcnews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/1500-asylum-seekers-transported-greek-mainland-65337005
“About 1,500 asylum-seekers were being transported from Greece’s eastern Aegean island of Lesbos to the mainland Monday as part of government efforts to tackle massive overcrowding in refugee camps and a recent spike in the number of people arriving from the nearby Turkish coast…”
GREECE […]- Activist Arash Hampay reports that several people were kicked out of the train from Larissa station in Athens to Malakasa, because they did not have a ticket. “Before they could travel for free,” he said.
[…]
https://medium.com/are-you-syrious/ays-daily-digest-29-8-19-tuzla-is-16-months-without-major-help-150a3d4622f4
GREECE – Moria refuggee camp on Lesbos
Total of 546 migrants arrive on Greek island of Lesbos in the space of only an hour
Greece: Hundreds of migrants moved from Lesbos camp to mainland
Hundreds of migrants were seen boarding a passenger ship in the port city of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday, as part of government efforts to tackle overcrowding in the island’s migrant camp.
Moria, Europe’s largest migrant camp located on Lesbos, reportedly hosts more than 11,000 people, which is almost four times its capacity.
A total of 1,500 people are expected to be moved to northern Greece by the end of the day, with the first ship carrying 635 migrants setting sail in the morning and the second vessel carrying around 900 people departing in the evening.
The transfer is part of government measures announced late last week, following a recent spike of migrant arrivals on Lesbos.
Those ferries look pretty sea worthy to me. How about instead of bringing the “refugees” to mainland Greece you just point the boat to
Turkey,,,
OK, we’re here. Everyone get off!
Stunned fisherman films 16 ‘illegal migrants’ abandoning their boat on Ibiza coast before scrambling up a cliff as Spain continues to see influx of arrivals from North Africa (dailymail, Sep 2, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7419029/Stunned-fisherman-films-16-illegal-migrants-abandoning-boat-Ibiza-coast.html
Patrick Buchanan on Boris, Trump, Salvini et al, and the massive protests of our day:
https://buchanan.org/blog/let-them-howl-boris-137447
Migration commissioner calls on EU countries to step up resettlement
Dimitris Avramopoulos urged member states to take in refugees evacuated from Libya in particular.
Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos has called on EU member states to resettle more vulnerable refugees from camps in third countries.
Speaking to German newspaper Die Welt, Avramopoulos urged EU countries to take in refugees evacuated from war-ravaged Libya to Niger in particular, given Niger’s limited capacity to host them.
“I call on all member states to step up their resettlement efforts and implement their commitments to take in refugees as soon as possible,” he said, adding: “It’s necessary to conduct more emergency evacuations from Libya.”
Following an EU-African Union summit in 2017, Niger began to accept evacuated refugees from Libya. Rwanda has also offered to take in evacuees, which Avramopoulos welcomed.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, 14 countries — including 10 EU member states — have pledged some 6,600 resettlement places for those evacuated from Libya to Niger as of August. But resettlement has progressed slowly, NGOs reported earlier this year.
“We must make resettlement a priority if we want to support partner countries that have taken in refugees,”Avramopoulos said. “That’s also important to provide refugees who want to go to Europe with safe routes, so that they no longer have to fall back on dangerous and illegal sea and land routes.”
He added that overall, some 35,000 refugees had been resettled to the EU from third countries over the past two years.
“This is more than ever before,” Avramopoulos said. “But we must not become complacent. Resettlement should become the most important route to entering the European Union for those in need of protection.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/migration-commissioner-calls-on-eu-countries-to-step-up-resettlement/
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.
Hungary: “Migration must be kept outside Europe’s borders”
The security of European people is paramount, the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Sunday, commenting on the stabbings in Lyon the previous day. Migration, he said, must be kept outside of Europe’s borders.
“We sympathise with our French friends in these hours of grief and pain, and trust that this despicable attack does not claim any more victims,” Szijjarto said in a statement wishing the injured a full recovery.
“Hungary’s position is clear: life in Europe must not be allowed to develop such that we fear for our lives when standing at a bus stop, in street market or at concert because some people living in Europe want to destroy us,”he said.
An attacker stabbed to death a 19 year-old man and injured nine others in a Lyon suburb on Saturday. French channel BFM reported that the attacker was Afghan born in 1986.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/09/hungary-migration-must-be-kept-outside-europes-borders/
French prosecutor: Knife attack suspect in ‘psychotic state’
PARIS — An Afghan man was in a “psychotic state” and on drugs during a stabbing in France that killed one person and injured eight others, but investigators haven’t found any terrorist ties, a regional prosecutor said Sunday.
A psychiatric evaluation of the man in custody for Saturday’s attack revealed he was experiencing “paranoid delirium,” prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet said.
The suspect reported he “heard voices” telling him to kill, according to Jacquet. A 19-year-old man died after being stabbed with a knife in the attack outside a subway station in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne.
Passers-by surrounded and apprehended the assailant before police arrived, according to the prosecutor. He thanked them.
“Their courageous, responsible intervention was decisive,” Jacquet told reporters.
A witness broadcaster BFMTV identified as Sofiane described trying to help people who were stabbed and rounding up others to go after the attacker.
The man from Afghanistan in custody has been living in a French center for asylum-seekers, and held a temporary French residency card, Jacquet said. The suspect was first recorded in France in 2009, and subsequently traveled to Britain, Italy, Germany and Norway before returning to France in 2017.
After the stabbings, the suspect gave “incoherent” accounts and three different dates of birth to police, Jacquet said. The man was not publicly named.
The suspect was not on any radicalism watch list, Jacquet said.
Officers searched the suspect’s residence as part of the investigation, and “nothing was found showing any kind of radicalization,” he said.
The suspect had no police record or record of psychiatric problems, the prosecutor said. He was found with two knives but no other weapons.
Two of the eight people injured remained hospitalized. French police initially said nine people had injuries but the prosecutor said the total was eight. The reason for the discrepancy was unclear.
Villeurbanne Mayor Jean-Paul Bret said the man held is the only person suspected of wielding the knife.
The mayor also called anti-migrant politicians “shameless” for seizing on the stabbings to push their views.
French far right leader Marine Le Pen tweeted after the attack that “lax migration policy” threatens France’s security.
The attack raised concerns because France remains on alert after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.
https://nypost.com/2019/09/01/french-prosecutor-knife-attack-suspect-in-psychotic-state/
Hong Kong students boycott classes in protest
Thousands of Hong Kong students boycott classes on first day of school to protest
Germany: East German state elections had ‘only one winner: The AfD’ says co-leader Meuthen
Alternative for Germany (AfD) party co-leader Jorg Meuthen said that Sunday’s elections in Brandenburg and Saxony had “only one winner: The AfD,” while speaking at a press conference in Berlin on Monday.
The far-right party surged to second place in both east German states in Sunday’s regional elections, winning 27.5 percent of the vote in Saxony and 23.5 percent in Brandenburg.
Meuthen said the results proved that the AfD was not a protest party, stating “No we are not a protest party, on the contrary we have a fully developed programme for every policy area and with these we are ready. We have evidently made authentic and believable election promises, the results of which are clear.”
The European Parliament member also drew a comparison between his party’s success and the rise of Italy’s League party.
“The League, previously known as The League North, also set in motion a change and since then they have been able to garner support in the whole of Italy. Now of course, they are the dominant political party in Italy,” he said.
“This is the direction in which we are going, the difference being that the change with us is not a spreading out from a base in the North of the country, but rather from the East,” he added.
Despite the AfD’s electoral success they are not expected to go into government in either of the two states, as all other parties have already ruled out working alongside them.
Germany: Potsdam residents react to AfD’s success in Brandenburg elections
Potsdam residents commented on the results of the Brandenburg state elections on Monday, which saw the rise of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) to the second place, with Social Democratic Party (SPD) winning the elections and Christian Democrats (CDU) coming third.
Many residents expressed their concern about the results and the AfD success in particular, though some added that if the AfD had managed to get that many votes, this result should be respected.
“I’m disappointed that the AfD got so many votes and some also from my generation,” Potsdam resident Veronika Maier said.
Another local added that people need to start “reacting”, fearing that the AfD could come to power in future.
AfD got 23.5 percent of votes in Brandenburg, with SPD maintaining its position as the strongest party with 26.2 percent.
The election results in Brandenburg mean that any coalition which excludes the AfD would have to be made up of at least three parties, setting the stage for a likely protracted period of negotiations between the SPD and other parties.
Germany: Dresden locals react to AfD surge in Saxony state elections
Residents of Dresden, the capital of the eastern German state of Saxony, expressed mixed reactions towards the latest state election results on Monday.
“SPD was punished for their crappy politics with 8 percent, they are the fifth strongest force in Saxony now. The CDU did win, however the AfD is at their heels. And that is a dangerous tendency,” Bernd a resident of Dresden said.
Commenting on the unprecedented surge of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Nadine Scherman, a student and a resident of Dresden said “Of course it is disappointing that the AfD secured so many votes. Although as a student of the TU I am not confronted with a lot with differing views, and there is relatively high agreement among my study colleagues regarding who to vote for.”
Another Dresden resident Maria Hablitzer said “I am an AfD supporter. That’s why I am happy about them being so strong,” adding that Germans’ general disappointment with the current state of affairs had likely led to the results.
“It’s pretty good, but there are still madmen who vote for the Greens. What did they achieve? [Closing of coal mine Jaenschwalde] – that says it all. How many hundreds of jobs disappeared? That’s the Greens, only hot air,” said another local.
CDU maintained its position as the east German state’s strongest political party winning 33.1 percent of the votes in Saxony while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged into second place achieving its best state-level election result with 27.5% percent of the votes.
The Social Democratic Party (SPD) tumbled from 3rd place to 5th, taking only 7.4 percent of the vote. At the same time ‘Die Linke’ saw their support crater as they fell from 18.9 percent of the vote, and second place in 2014, to 10.3 percent and third place this year.
Anti-government protesters create turbulence at Hong Kong airport
Thousands of Hong Kong school pupils boycott classes, join protests
Hong Kong police brutality and growing disorder | DW News
Hong Kong: Students boycott classes after weekend of protests & violence
8,273 views
China May Not Be As Strong As You Think
631,057 views
Friedman isn’t one of my favorite economists but he is good. The video is 3 years old but the general economic situtation in China has worsened during that time. Many people have said that India and China consist of several First World Cities Surrounded by Third World Nations..
Here are some things he doesn’t go into.
1) China is a command economy that exists by stealing the technology from the West and then building products to export to the west. Even the CCP admitted that they were in a recession before the Tariffs were slapped on, now that the tariffs are on all of the Chinese exports the recession is much worse.
2) Watch the video about what the average pay for the Chinese workers, now I want you to tell me how China can transition to an internal consumption economy? No command driven economy has ever succeeded as a consumption economy. This is because command driven economies don’t have the flexibility to adapt to changing consumer tastes and the upper echelon in the stratified economies don’t like innovation and change because that puts their positions at risk.
3) Chinese’s only source of hard currency is their exports, when we (the Us) doesn’t buy the Chinese exports are lessened by some where between 1/3rd to 1/2. With an incredibly poor working class and little to no flexibility China is unable to adapt to the new reality and in trouble.
Look at Saudi, they were King of the Mountain until the US became energy independent and their export income was cut6 drastically. They are now trying to fight a surrogate war with Iran while converting to a production economy rather then an oil economy.
4) Internal social unrest. The people who aren’t in the big cities (and most of those who are in the big cities) are upset that the vast majority of the money from the exports are going to CCP members and the Oligarchs (most of which are CCP members) Combine this with the separatist movements in Tibet, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Hong Kong.
5) China stopped arming the artificial Islands. China was going to arm all of the artificial Islands but stopped after arming one in the Spratly Islands. They stopped arming the Islands when the recession struck.
6) China has stopped production of the floating nuclear power plants they were going to place at all of the artificial Islands.
You’ve got me convinced.
But if Xi feels his Mandate of Heaven is threatened, he’s capable of Mao-scale massacres.
Hong Kong: Students skip school to protest after one of the most violent week-end in three months
Hong Kong students rally peacefully after weekend violence
ONG KONG (Reuters) – Thousands of Hong Kong university and school students boycotted class and rallied peacefully for democracy on Monday, the latest acts of defiance in an anti-government movement that has plunged the Chinese-ruled city into crisis.
The boycott followed a weekend marred by some of the worst violence since unrest escalated more than three months ago, with protesters burning barricades and throwing petrol bombs, and police retaliating with water cannon, tear gas and batons.
https://www.oann.com/hong-kong-on-edge-after-weekend-of-clashes-airport-disruption/
“Jawed Santani, 20, appeared at a two-day hearing in a heavily fortified courtroom in Amsterdam, where he faces two attempted murder charges with the aim of committing an act of terror.
‘I came to the Netherlands to protect my prophet,’ he told the judges in reference to the August 31 incident last year that sent midday commuters into a panic and left two severely injured victims.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7419419/Afghan-stabbed-two-tourists-Amsterdam-says-went-protect-Prophet-Mohammed.html
The Truth About Comey’s Trump Tower Meeting
Ocasio-Cortez leads Dem candidates to embrace anti-labor policies
U.S. Unleashes Military to Fight Fake News, Disinformation
(Bloomberg) — Fake news and social media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense Department is launching a project to repel “large-scale, automated disinformation attacks,” as the top Republican in Congress blocks efforts to protect the integrity of elections.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants custom software that can unearth fakes hidden among more than 500,000 stories, photos, video and audio clips. If successful, the system after four years of trials may expand to detect malicious intent and prevent viral fake news from polarizing society.
“A decade ago, today’s state-of-the-art would have registered as sci-fi — that’s how fast the improvements have come,” said Andrew Grotto at the Center for International Security at Stanford University. “There is no reason to think the pace of innovation will slow any time soon.”
https://news.yahoo.com/u-unleashes-military-fight-fake-134326896.html
Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘fixer’ who ran major modelling agency vanishes ‘like a ghost’
EXCLUSIVE: Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel, 72, denied any wrong-doing in connection to Jeffrey Epstein, but now he has disappeared like a “ghost”
A millionaire model agency boss thought to have vital evidence about the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal has vanished.
Investigators who want to interview Frenchman Jean-Luc Brunel, 72, say he is a “ghost who has disappeared without trace”.
It is understood enquires are being made in Brazil, the US and Europe.
French prosecutors have opened their own inquiry into the crimes of American financier Epstein, 66.
The convicted paedophile, a friend of Prince Andrew, committed suicide in jail on August 10 while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
Brunel, who helped found the New York model agency MC2 and is credited with finding supermodels such as Christy Turlington, has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/jeffrey-epsteins-fixer-who-ran-19122659
Governments Shut Down the Internet to Stifle Critics. Citizens Pay the Price.
September 2, 2019 12:58 pm
ENM NEWS
12 Comments
HARARE, Zimbabwe — When Zimbabwe turned off the internet during a recent crackdown, Obert Masaraure, a prominent government critic, had no way of knowing when it was safe to emerge from hiding.
He waited one day, then another. On the third day he broke cover, hoping that a wave of arrests had come to an end.
He was seized at home by soldiers 12 hours later.
“If I had been connected,” Mr. Masaraure said, “maybe I would have got information that it wasn’t safe to be out there.”
Internet shutdowns have become one of the defining tools of government repression in the 21st century — not just in Zimbabwe, but in a growing number of countries, mainly in Asia and Africa, that are seeking to quash dissent.
The shutdowns do more than stunt the democratic process. They can batter whole economies and individual businesses, as well as drastically disrupt the daily life of ordinary citizens, turning the search for mobile service into a game of cat and mouse with the police and driving people across borders just to send emails for work.
https://www.enmnews.com/2019/09/02/governments-shut-down-the-internet-to-stifle-critics-citizens-pay-the-price/
Two million face statelessness as India publishes citizenship list
Almost two million people in northeast India were left facing statelessness on Saturday after they were excluded from a citizenship list aimed at weeding out “foreign infiltrators”, in a process the central government wants to replicate nationwide.
A total of 31.1 million people were included in a National Register of Citizens (NRC), but 1.9 million were deemed ineligible, according to an official statement. A large chunk of those excluded were expected to be Muslims.
Shahibul Haque Shikdar, a Muslim college teacher, was distraught after two of his children made it to the list but he was left out.
“Even my father’s name is there in the final NRC but I have been left out,” the 39-year-old told AFP.
Assam has long seen large influxes from elsewhere, including under British colonial rule and around Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence when millions fled into India.
https://news.yahoo.com/two-million-face-statelessness-india-publishes-citizenship-list-054050276.html
Special Report: Hong Kong leader says she would ‘quit’ if she could, fears her ability to resolve crisis now ‘very limited’
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said she has caused “unforgivable havoc” by igniting the political crisis engulfing the city and would quit if she had a choice, according to an audio recording of remarks she made last week to a group of businesspeople.
At the closed-door meeting, Lam told the group that she now has “very limited” room to resolve the crisis because the unrest has become a national security and sovereignty issue for China amid rising tensions with the United States.
https://www.oann.com/special-report-hong-kong-leader-says-she-would-quit-if-she-could-fears-her-ability-to-resolve-crisis-now-very-limited/
Beto announces which guns gun owners will be forced to sell if he is elected
By Joe Newby September 2, 2019
Over the weekend, Democratic presidential hopeful Robert Frances “Beto” O’Rourke unveiled his latest strategy to prevent further gun deaths in the U.S. In the wake of the horrific mass shooting in Odessa, Texas, the former congressman made it known that he would henceforth be selling t-shirts emblazoned with the message “This is f*cked up,” explaining on CNN, “If we don’t call it out for what it is, if we’re not able to speak clearly.”
This is but the latest solution to mass shootings Beto has proposed. In mid-August, he said that as president he would implement a mandatory buyback program for so-called “assault weapons,” a euphemism that refers to guns liberals find scary.
On Sunday, he revealed exactly which guns he would require law-abiding Americans to relinquish to the federal government.
“A reporter asked Beto in Charlottesville how he’d reassure people afraid the gov’t would take their assault weapons away,” Buzzfeed’s Molly Hensley-Clancy wrote on Twitter.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/09/02/beto-announces-which-guns-gun-owners-will-be-forced-to-sell-if-he-is-elected/
TURKEY – ISTANBUL – Three arrested on child sexual abuse charges in Istanbul Quran school
An Istanbul prosecutor’s office has arrested three men accused of sexually abusing at least six children at a Quranic studies boarding school in the city’s Ümraniye district.
The arrest of the school’s staff members follows an investigation launched by the Istanbul Anadolu Chief Prosecutor’s Office after the children filed a complaint, Cumhuriyet newspaper reported on Sunday.
While six children filed the complaint, reports indicate there are over 20 victims in total at the F?k?h-Der Association, which runs an unlicensed boarding programme, it said.
Statements by the alleged victims include detailed accounts of repeated rape, sexual misconduct and unlawful restraint, Cumhuriyet said.
The prosecutors have asked for up to 50 year prison sentences for the three suspects.
https://ahvalnews.com/arrests/three-arrested-child-sexual-abuse-charges-istanbul-quran-school
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.
https://twitter.com/mustafahos/status/1168275720294080512
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EDaMj1RWwAAwuBY.jpg
On Labor Day, remembering union violence in America
By Jeff Dunetz September 2, 2019
omething usually not discussed on Labor Day weekend is the violence and thuggery which has always been part of the union movement. The history of the labor movement in the U.S. is littered with extremists who use violence to get their way.
At the beginning, the violence was directed outward, toward the government, management, or the police who were using violence themselves to destroy the labor movement. As the movement matured, the abuse became directed inward, targeted toward keeping the rank and file “in line,” going after replacement workers, or sabotaging the particular company under siege.
Union thuggery/violence has also become a political weapon, attacking members of the public who may disagree with the progressive-socialist politics championed by union management.
To show the evolution of union violence, here are a few of the many examples of violence committed by Big Labor.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/09/02/on-labor-day-remembering-union-violence-in-america/
Man stabbed tourists in Amsterdam ‘to avenge Muhammad cartoon contest’
A man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam’s central station has told a court he wanted to avenge far-right politician Geert Wilders’s decision to hold a competition for cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Jawed S. travelled by train from his home in Germany to Amsterdam where he attacked two people standing by an information desk before he was overpowered by police. S., a 20-year-old Afghan refugee who had been granted permission to stay in Germany, appeared in a high-security courtroom in Amsterdam on Monday charged with two counts of murder with terrorist intent.
While S. refused to name Wilders in person, he made clear that the contest was the motive for his journey. ‘Why did you give that dirty pig the opportunity to insult our prophet?’ he said. ‘I came to the Netherlands to defend my prophet. I wanted to kill dishonest and cruel people.’
Wilders had cancelled the competition the previous day following several days of violent protest in Pakistan, inspired by the hardline Islamic party TLP. Foreign affairs minister Stef Blok made plain he disapproved of the contest but said banning it would violate freedom of expression. In previous hearings S. said he had no regrets about his actions and was prepared to die ‘a martyr’, but on Monday he added: ‘If I’d known they were tourists I wouldn’t have touched them.’ The victims are due to give evidence to the court on Tuesday, after which the prosecution will submit its sentencing demands.
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2019/09/man-stabbed-tourists-in-amsterdam-to-avenge-muhammad-cartoon-contest/
=========================================================
Suspect in Amsterdam CS attack wanted to kill “cruel, unfair” people for insulting Islam
Jawed S., the 20-year-old Afghan man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station last year, came to the Netherlands to “kill unfair and cruel people”,he said during the first day of his trial at the high security court in Amsterdam on Monday. “That was the intention with which I came to the Netherlands to protect my prophet. You gave the pig the space to express himself like that”, S. said, according to AD reporter Cyril Rosman’s live tweets from the courtroom.
With “pig” S. referred to PVV leader Geert Wilders, was clarified after some discussion in the court room. For clarity, the court asked S. to refer to Wilders by name, but he refused. “I don’t respect him. You can assume that every time I say pig, I mean him”, S. said. The ‘you’ that gave Wilders the space to express himself, according to S., is the Dutch State.
S. stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station on August 31st last year. One suffered a spinal cord injury that may leave him paralyzed for the rest of his life, the other suffered severe damage to the nerves in his arm and required emergency surgery. A police officer noticed S. shortly before he committed his attack and called in backup. Three officers took him down within seconds after he started stabbing the tourists. The police shot him in the lower body to incapacitate him. The man is facing two counts of attempted murder charges, and three counts of threatening a police officer.
The two tourists were in Amsterdam Central Station with their significant others, traveling to Germany for a wedding. They were standing at the information desk when S. attacked them from behind. In a statement that the judge read in court, one victim described feeling a hard blow. It felt like his legs were frozen and he collapsed, the victim said.
When asked why he attacked the American tourists, S. said: “That’s your fault because you didn’t do anything.” He repeatedly blamed his actions on the Dutch State, because the Netherlands did not stop Wilders insulting his faith. According to S., the Netherlands does not care about the victims – because the Netherlands did not stop Wilders, these people are now seriously hurt, he argued. “Why don’t you leave my religion alone? Explain that to me.”
The court again asked S. about the victims, and he said that it was not his intention to stab those specific victims. “My mistake was to attack people who were not from the Netherlands.” The judge asked if he wanted to attack Dutch people, but S. did not answer. “You did say that you didn’t mind that the victims came from the Unites States, because that is also an enemy of your faith?” the judge asked, and S. said that was correct.
When asked about threatening the police officers, S. acknowledged that he threatened them with his knife, which he said he did not buy or “peeling potatoes”, according to the AD reporter. “I didn’t have the chance to do anything to the police officers, if I had the chance, I would have. I would have stabbed them with my knife”, S. said. He added: “You are spoiled, you very quickly see something as a threat.”
Experts from the Pieter Baan Center, where S. was sent for psychological examination, could not get a clear picture of S.’s mental health. Like he did in court on Monday, “he kept repeating certain topics”, the experts said. They also could not get contact with the man’s family and colleagues. “We suspect he has psychiatric issues, but can make no conclusions”, the experts said. The experts spoke of “clear, strong Islamic radicalization”, but could not determine whether S. has an actual mental disorder.
“I sometimes found the conversations scary” a Pieter Baan Center expert said in the court. “No normal communication. He kept repeating the same things, the same sentences. That is not normal. A certain rigidity.”
https://nltimes.nl/2019/09/02/suspect-amsterdam-cs-attack-wanted-kill-cruel-unfair-people-insulting-islam
DAILY MAIL – Afghan ‘who stabbed two American tourists’ at Amsterdam train station says he travelled to Holland ‘to protect the Prophet Mohammed’ and ‘kill unfair and cruel people’
Jawed Santani, 20, appeared at a two-day hearing in heavily fortified courtroom
Was in Amsterdam, where he faces attempted murder charges for 2018 attack
‘I came to the Netherlands to protect my prophet,’ Santani told the judges today
Two US tourists were injured in the attack inside the Dutch capital’s busy station
An Afghan man suspected of stabbing two American tourists last year at Amsterdam’s Central Station has told judges he travelled to the Netherlands ‘to protect the Prophet Mohammed’.
Jawed Santani, 20, appeared at a two-day hearing in a heavily fortified courtroom in Amsterdam, where he faces two attempted murder charges with the aim of committing an act of terror.
‘I came to the Netherlands to protect my prophet,’ he told the judges in reference to the August 31 incident last year that sent midday commuters into a panic and left two severely injured victims.
‘I was planning to kill unfair and cruel people, those who make it possible for the Prophet Mohammed to be insulted,’ national news agency ANP quoted him as saying.
Santani previously mentioned anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders, and his knife assault came a day after the far-right MP announced he was cancelling moves to stage a cartoon competition to caricature the Prophet Mohammed.
Wilders pulled the plug on the competition at the time saying he wanted to ‘avoid the risk of making people victims of Islamist violence’.
Asked what Santani planned to achieve with his action, he told judges ‘I wanted to defend my religion and make it clear that my religion should be left alone.
‘If you don’t do that, you should be prepared for these kind of actions,’ he said.
Two American tourists were seriously injured in the lunchtime attack inside the Dutch capital’s busy station next to its historic city centre.
Police reacted quickly, shooting Santani in the lower body before arresting him.
One victim remains in a wheelchair with a severe spinal cord injury, while a second man was stabbed in the right chest and arm, according to reports.
‘Due to nerve damage this man still has very little as well as and tingling feeling in his arm,’ the ANP said.
The hearing continues on Tuesday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7419419/Afghan-stabbed-two-tourists-Amsterdam-says-went-protect-Prophet-Mohammed.html
A man is in custody after several pipe bomb-like devices were discovered along a Labor Day parade route in New Jersey that Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and first lady Tammy Murphy were scheduled to attend, NJ.com reported,
A suspect was reportedly detained on Monday after police found “over half a dozen” devices on his property that was near the town of South Plainfield’s parade route, leading officials to abruptly cancel the festivities.
Dan Bryan, a spokesman for the governor, told the outlet that both the governor and his wife were set to participate in the parade.
A senior law enforcement official with the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness told NJ.com that the devices were discovered during a separate investigation but officials canceled the parade “out of an abundance of caution.”
There has reportedly been no direct threat made against the parade or the governor.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/459629-suspect-in-custody-after-explosives-found-near-labor-day-parade-route
“Infowars Reporter Sits Down With Mainstream Hong Kong Journo To Discuss ChiCom Threat” Greg Reese – Published on September 1, 2019
Greg Reese interviews Harminder Singh
@ 39:40… – MTR Station – Backstory
“Apologies, confusion amidst all the information from the chaos tonight.
This was corrected to be residue from a fire extinguisher used by passengers to fight off a middle age man who was attacking ppl with a hammer.
Police instead used pepper spray on civilians.”
Denise Ho (HOCC) – August 31, 2019 – Twitter
https://twitter.com/hoccgoomusic/status/1167850948057694209
New CPRC Research: How a Botched Study Fooled the World About the U.S. Share of Mass Public Shootings: U.S. Rate is Lower than Global Average
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/08/new-cprc-research-how-a-botched-study-fooled-the-world-about-the-u-s-share-of-mass-public-shootings-u-s-rate-is-lower-than-global-average
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law in July that requires all presidential candidates on the state’s primary ballot to release their tax returns for the preceding five years. But a constitutional amendment passed by California voters in 1972 may prevent that law from being enforced.
The new law, SB 27, applies to all candidates, but was aimed at Trump, who has not yet released his tax returns. It would not prevent him from appearing on the general election ballot in California, but its backers argued that it would be an important precedent that could put new pressure on the president.
However, critics argued that the new law was unconstitutional, based on legal precedents that struck down extra requirements for the office of president that went further than the simple prescriptions in Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
https://www.breitbart.com/2020-election/2019/09/02/sf-chronicle-california-constitution-may-bar-tax-returns-law-aimed-at-trump-proposition-4/
CBC – Toronto police investigate anti-Muslim graffiti on Etobicoke park sign
Mayor John Tory condemned the graffiti, calling it ‘abhorrent’
Toronto police say “offensive” graffiti written on a sign in an Etobicoke park is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
A man walking a dog in Dennis Flynn Park on The West Mall, near Burnhamthorpe Road and Highway 427, discovered the graffiti on Sunday morning, according to police.
“The anti-Muslim graffiti found in Dennis Flynn Park is abhorrent and an example of religious hatred that must absolutely be condemned,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory said in a tweet.
Tory added that his office, Deputy Mayor Stephen Holyday and Toronto parks and recreation staff worked to remove the graffiti right away.
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, said officers are trying to obtain fingerprints from the sign and are canvassing the area for possible witnesses.
She added it was a priority to have the graffiti covered. “It is that offensive,” she said.
The graffiti called for the genocide of Muslims.
No charges have been laid and no suspect description was available, but Douglas-Cook said the charge would be public mischief with a possible hate bias.
Mike Yakhni, the man who discovered the graffiti, said in a tweet he called the city as soon as he saw the “disgusting stuff.” Then he said he blocked out the offensive words.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/dennis-flynn-park-toronto-police-anti-muslim-graffiti-sign-1.5267436
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=
Anti-Muslim graffiti found on Etobicoke park sign
Toronto Police say they are investigating after a park sign was apparently vandalized with hateful anti-Muslim graffiti.
Const. Allyson Douglas-Cook says officers were called to Dennis Flynn Park in the Etobicoke area Sunday morning.
She says the investigation is in its early stages and no suspects have been identified.
Mayor John Tory released a statement calling the vandalism “abhorrent” and saying he condemns the message of “religious hatred.”
He tweeted that the city would be cleaning up the sign immediately.
https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/anti-muslim-graffiti-found-on-etobicoke-park-sign
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.
Etobicoke man covers up hateful graffiti in Dennis Flynn Park
+ video
An Etobicoke man took matters into his own hands and covered up hateful graffiti after discovering it at Dennis Flynn Park on Saturday morning.
Mike Yakhni was walking his dog through the park near The West Mall and Burnhamthorpe Road at around 7:30 a.m. when he saw that someone had written a message disparaging Muslims on a sign welcoming visitors to the grounds.
“It is terrible. This park is great, it is always busy with kids here and families come with their barbecues and just set up,” he said.
Yakhini said that vandals have left different markings on the signs in the park before but nothing that rose to the level of hate speech, at least to his knowledge. .
He said that the vandalism is disheartening to see, especially on a sign that is right next to a busy playground.
“It is tough to see. It is no good for the kids,” he said.
Police investigating incident as hate crime
Police arrived at the park at around 11 a.m. on Sunday and began an investigation. They are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.
Speaking with CP24 on Saturday morning, Etobicoke Centre Coun. Stephen Holyday said that parks staff are also on scene and will be removing the message from the sign as soon as possible.
“This is just wrong. It is offensive to the people who were targeted in the message but also just to anybody of any religion or any race who reads that. I just hope the perpetrators are caught and this type of thing doesn’t happen again,” he said.
Holyday said that the vandalism is “disappointing to see” but “doesn’t reflect in any way the viewpoints of the people of Etobicoke Centre or the City of Toronto at large.”
In a statement provided to CP24 on Sunday afternoon, Mayor John Tory called the message left on the sign “abhorrent and an example of religious hatred that must absolutely be condemned.”
“Deputy Mayor Holyday, my office and parks staff are working to clean this up right away and police are investigating,” he said.
Yakhini said that after seeing the message he called 311 to alert city officials of the vandalism and then went to his home nearby to get tape to cover up the message.
https://www.cp24.com/news/etobicoke-man-covers-up-hateful-graffiti-in-dennis-flynn-park-1.4573852
Indonesian security forces open fire on Papuan protesters
Indonesian security forces can be seen opening fire in Papua as protesters stand nearby, holding their hands in the air.
Protesters say six people were killed in the confrontation, and more than a dozen injured, during a peaceful demonstration that had occupied the regent’s office in the middle of Deiyai city.
Papua police say one protester was killed and that security forces opened fire only after being attacked
Toronto police are looking for a man they allege is connected to a sexual assault at a public swimming pool over the weekend.
Police said a girl was swimming at a public pool with her friends in the Albion Road and Kiping Avenue area in Etobicoke on Sunday.
A man approached the girl and sexually assaulted her, police said. After the initial assault, the man continued to follow the girl around the facility.
Police describe the suspect as being about five-foot-eleven with a skinny build and black hair.
Investigators are asking anyone with information to contact them or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers.
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2019/09/02/etobicoke-pool-sex-assault/
Wozniak: Time To Split Up Apple, Other Tech Monopolies
Profile picture for user Tyler Durden
by Tyler Durden
Sun, 09/01/2019 – 12:45
1
SHARES
TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says it’s time to break up big tech monopolies – including Apple, Facebook and Google. According to The Woz, these tech titans are abusing their powers to crush companies in other markets.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-31/wozniak-time-split-apple-other-tech-monopolies
“Very chill dude gets robbed at gun point (clip)…”
Posted by Kane – September 1, 2019
A man from St. Louis was caught on CCTV with a priceless reaction to an armed robbery. While everyone else was squatting and cowering on the floor, this defiant, unfazed patron took a swig from a soft drink can before pulling out his cellphone and staring at the screen. When the armed robber pointed a rifle at his face, the man just lit a cigarette and kept talking. No one was injured at the scene. The gunman remains at large.
UPDATE
According to local station KSDK, the gunman showed up to Behrmann’s Tavern and ordered patrons and staff to the ground and asked them to hand over their cash and cellphones.
“I said not another punk trying to pull a punk move,” Tovar said. “I’m so tired of people in south city trying to muscle their way in with firearms or bad attitude or some kind of aggression. I wasn’t gonna comply.”
The man left the bar with $300 from the cash register, according to reports.
“I wasn’t really concerned,” Tovar told the station. “I just had a really good feeling he wasn’t out to harm anybody. He just wanted drug money.”
KSDK reported that Kevin Moore was arrested and charged in connection to the robbery. Authorities said Moore has a history with convictions for assault, robbery, and weapons possession.
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/column-1/the-chillest-dude-getting-robbed-ever/
Video Link:
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1167599089619472385
September 2, 2019
As Boris Johnson amasses strength, strange things start to fall into place
By Monica Showalter
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has shown some phenomenal political nerve in first shutting down parliament, and then insisting on party discipline on penalty of expulsion from the wets and wobblies in his Tory Party who’d rather drag the Brexit farce out to keep Britain caged within the EU just a little longer. He’s got his eyes on the prize, knowing that it’s his job to ensure that Britain can leave the European Union as British voters demanded. Like President Trump, he means to keep his promises.
What’s vivid now is that a whole lot of things he probably didn’t expect — and had nothing to do with — are starting to fall into place for him from the outside.
One we know about is that Johnson’s Tories have started to soar in the polls. I wrote about that a few days ago here.
But there’s more, way more.
How’s this for ‘betcha didn’t see this coming?’
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/09/as_boris_johnson_amasses_strength_strange_things_start_to_fall_into_place.html
PENN HILLS, Pa. – An Amber Alert was issued after a toddler was abducted in Penn Hills on Saturday, according to police. A woman was charged Monday in connection with the case as the search continues for the little girl.
THE ALLEGED ABDUCTION
Police said Nalani Johnson is a black female with a light complexion and will be 2 years old in September. She has short, curly, black hair and brown eyes and was wearing a black shirt and a skirt with floral design and black sandals. Police said she goes by the nickname “Mooh.”
>>RELATED: AMBER ALERT: What we know about abducted toddler Nalani Johnson
https://mediaweb.wpxi.com/photo/2019/09/01/Penn%20Hills%20Nalani%20new%20pic%20from%20PSP_1567352314738.jpg_16248087_ver1.0_320_240.jpg
Johnson was last seen at the intersection of Bryant and Clay drives in the Penn Hills Borough at about 5 p.m. Saturday, according to police.
>>RELATED: AMBER ALERT: Search underway in Westmoreland Co. for abducted toddler
Police said the girl was abducted by Sharena Islam Nancy, a 25-year-old Indian American female with black hair and brown eyes.
https://www.wpxi.com/news/top-stories/amber-alert-woman-charged-family-asking-for-public-to-help-search-for-abducted-toddler/981361467
Looting, violence spread in South Africa’s major cities (abcnews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/looting-violence-spread-south-africas-major-cities-65342269
“Looting and violence spread across several neighborhoods in South Africa’s major cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg on Monday, after a spate of overnight attacks that appeared to target foreign-owned shops.
At least 50 shops were looted and burned early Monday in the southern Johannesburg suburbs of Malvern and Jeppestown. Police fired rubber bullets at looters as burnt cars were stranded in the roads as violence grew.
Officials dismissed reports that the ongoing attacks were xenophobic and that foreign-owned shops were targeted in the violence, insisting they were opportunistic crimes.
“Xenophobia is just an excuse that is being used by people to commit criminal acts,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told the media on Monday afternoon. “It is not xenophobia, but pure criminality.”
Cele said the government’s first priority was to deploy more police officers to the affected areas.
Police arrested 41 people for the violence in Johannesburg, while 8 others were arrested in Tembisa township, east of Johannesburg, and one person arrested in the capitol Pretoria, police said.
On Monday, a pamphlet circulating on social media, seen by The Associated Press, encouraged South Africans to chase foreigners out of their communities.
The pamphlet, attributed to a group called the Sisonke Peoples Forum, accused foreigners living in South Africa of selling drugs and stealing jobs, both common refrains during the regular flare-ups of violence against foreigners in the greater Johannesburg area in recent years.
Monday’s violence follows similar incidents in Pretoria last week, in which protest led by taxi drivers saw several foreign-owned shops looted and torched.”
Climate Change/Weather Change – What a Beautiful Thing
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/500hPa/orthographic=20.12,-62.51,1712/loc=21.611,-65.429
Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html
“…coffee, mugs, t-shirts, towels, magnets, etc.”
Creepy.
An expression of the tortured soul that was Vincent Van Gogh – on your kid’s lunchbox?
Iraq suspends US-funded TV station for 3 months over program (abcnews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/iraq-suspends-us-funded-tv-station-months-program-65343416
“Iraqi authorities have suspended the license of a U.S.-funded TV station for three months after airing a program on alleged corruption within Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite religious establishments.
The investigative report that was aired last week on Alhurra reported that senior religious figures are benefiting from businesses as a result of their connections with the state.
The report triggered an outcry on social media with some politicians demanding that the station’s offices in Iraq be closed down.
The Communication and Media Commission, the country’s media regulator, demanded Monday a public apology from Alhurra and suspended its work for three months.
In a statement, Alhurra described its report as “fair, professional and balanced” and said it had given ample opportunity for those mentioned in the report to respond.”
Large blast heard in Afghan capital, hours after U.S. envoy briefs president on ‘deal in principle’ with the Taliban (abcnews, Sep 2, 2019)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/large-blast-heard-afghan-capital-hours-us-envoy-65344599
“Large blast heard in Afghan capital, hours after U.S. envoy briefs president on ‘deal in principle’ with the Taliban.”
reuters – EU’s Oettinger welcomes prospect of ‘pro-European’ government in Italy
BERLIN (Reuters) – European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, a member of Chancellor Merkel’s conservatives in Germany, welcomed on Thursday the prospect of a new, pro-European government taking office in Italy, saying it was a good development.
Brussels was ready to “do everything to make the job of the new Italian government easier when it takes office and SO TO REWARD IT,” Oettinger told SWR radio.
On Wednesday, Italy’s 5-Star Movement and the opposition Democratic Party said they would try to form a coalition, setting aside years of hostility to avert a snap election and ease economic uncertainty.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-politics-oettinger-idUSKCN1VJ0NB
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.
Forbes –Why The EU Should Still Be Worried About Italy
The European Union has spent the summer battling with Brexit and grappling over economic growth.
But one worry may be crossed off the concern list for now: Italy.
A pact between the center-left Democratic Party (PD) and the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) was agreed this week with the mild-mannered Giuseppe Conte returning as prime minister.
Though the deal is not yet closed.
The move came after the former coalition, made up of M5S and the far-right League collapsed after League leader Matteo Salvini pulled his party from the coalition, plunging the country into three weeks of turmoil.
Salvini’s gamble was to trigger a snap election and profit off his party’s big win in May’s European Parliament vote.
‘A Vicious Loop’
Italy is one of the founding members of the EU and the third-largest economy.
The EU’s budget commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, said the alliance was “great news” for Italy and the bloc.
While the EU can breathe a sigh of relief the government crisis is on its way to being solved, some analysts say the new coalition could be over before it even really begins.
On August 30, M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said his party would only agree to the coalition with PD if it complied to a series of demands, such as reducing the number of parliamentarians and consenting to a new law to clamp down on migrants sea rescues.
“It’s not a particularly coherent government and no key issues, such as the banking system and productivity, will be addressed,” said Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of Teneo Intelligence.
“It’s a vicious loop,” Piccoli said, regarding shaking up Italy’s finances.
Italy’s budget has been slammed by the EU for not meeting its fiscal rules. The new coalition must quickly draft a 2020 budget, or else VAT will rise from January, unless the government can find $26 billion elsewhere.
“We must immediately get to work and draw up a budget to avert the VAT hike, protect savers and offers solid prospects for economic growth and social development,” Conte said.
The EU will try to give Italy some fiscal flexibility, fearing the new alliance collapses and Salvini makes a comeback.
‘A Government Born Overnight in Brussels’
The League leader has taken a hard line on migration, often turning charity rescue boats away from Italy’s ports, and has made the headlines for his criticism of the EU.
On August 30, Salvini accused Brussels and Berlin of conspiring to scrap his party from government. “They won’t get rid of Salvini and League ballbreakers so easily,” Salvini said. Salvini, who is still interior minister, is now calling on his supporters to hold and participate in marches across Italy.
In a Facebook announcement, he called it “a day of mobilization for those who don’t want a government born overnight in Brussels.” Salvini’s party has proved popular with Italians, who voted the League to the top of the EU parliament polls with 34% of votes, compared to M5S who received 17%.
“Part of this new government will work to address issues and topics that used to belong to Salvini’s sphere of action,” said Giuseppe Volpe, a political analyst at Cui Prodest.
“Criticizing the EU, the zero-tolerance immigration policy and public safety are usually felt as important issues for Italians as largely demonstrated by recent and previous polls.”
Volpe warned that if the new government fails to successfully address those issues, the electorate will vote for other parties that claim they do. Conte will now need to ensure PD and M5S set aside their differences by next week to form the government and pick their cabinet.
Italy has seen 65 governments in the space of 73 years.
If history repeats itself and the new alliance fails, the EU could have even bigger worries in the shape of a Salvini return.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pascaledavies/2019/08/31/why-the-eu-should-still-be-worried-about-italy/
ITALY – M5S online vote on govt with PD Tuesday
Conte expected to return to Mattarella Wed night
ANSA) – Rome, September 2 – An online vote by grass-roots members of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement on forming a government with the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) will take place from 09:00 to 18:00 Tuesday, the M5S said Sunday.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio said Monday the fate of the possible new government will be decided by the vote on the Rousseau platform. M5S Senate Whip Stefano Patuanelli said Monday that if the response is no then premier-designate Giuseppe Conte will have to tell President Sergio Mattarella that his government-formation bid has failed.
Conte is expected to go and see Mattarella either on Tuesday evening, or more probably, on Wednesday evening, when he will ‘drop his reservations’ on forming the new government if a deal has been made.
The new government would replace that between the M5S and the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League party, on which League leader and outgoing interior minister Matteo Salvini pulled the plug on August 8 citing M5S inaction.
A big hurdle facing a deal is the PD’s insistence on a change from Salvini’s policy of denying Italian port access to NGO migrant rescue ships.
M5S leader Luigi Di Maio has said the M5S will not disown the last government’s policies in this area.
But PD leader Nicola Zingaretti on Sunday called for two ships that had been banned from entering Italian waters, the Mare Jonio and the Alan Kurdi, to be allowed to land their total of 44 migrants.
On Monday a third ship, the Eleonore, started heading for Sicily and Salvini vowed to keep it out.
But the Eleonore docked at Pozzallo – while the Mare Jonio was given permission to land at Lampedusa. Another obstacle to a government deal is Di Maio’s insistence on keeping the deputy premier’s job.
The PD said Sunday the new government should dispense with deputy premiers altogether, solving the problem.
On Monday Zingaretti told Conte that a “radical” change was needed from the last government’s closed ports policy led by Salvini.
The Alan Kurdi is is still engaged in one of the standoffs with Salvini that have boosted the League leader’s poll numbers.
But amid the high-profile standoffs with the NGOs, lower-profile so-called ‘ghost landings of migrants directly from north Africa, not picked up by NGO ships, have been continuing apace.
“What is happening in these hours in the Mediterranean, amid continuous landings on our coasts and inhuman bans, confirms that the immigration policies of the last few months have not solved anything,” said Zingaretti.
“I once more ask premier(-designate) Conte to immediately tackle the situation of persons blocked at sea in conditions of humanitarians emergency and, obviously, we continue to ask that we should gear up for a radical turnaround in the policies on these issues.” The PD’s likely government partner in the M5S have said they will not change Salvini’s policies.
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/2019/09/02/m5s-online-vote-on-govt-with-pd-tuesday_0c3d8604-46e9-4e2e-9916-daadf0f772df.html
General Flynn’s Attorney Sidney Powell Petitions Court to Hold Mueller Gang in Contempt and Kicked Off Case!
General Flynn has a real fighter in his attorney Sidney Powell and she is rightfully demanding the Mueller gang be held in contempt. Powell is right no matter what the far left New York Times‘ ‘Russia Collusion’ reporters say.
General Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell filed a BOMBSHELL motion in his case on Friday night per investigative reporter Will Chamberlain from Human Events. The Deep State Mueller gang are finally being outed for the crooks that they are and the crimes they committed by Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/09/general-flynns-attorney-sidney-powell-petitions-court-to-hold-mueller-gang-in-contempt-and-kicked-off-case/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
“WORLDThe Investigative Journal Launches Unprecedented Talk Show in NY, Drops Bombshell Revelation About Turkey’s Support for ISIS in Syria”
by Adelle Nazarian – Published on September 2, 2019
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/the-investigative-journal-launches-unprecedented-talk-show-in-ny-drops-bombshell-revelation-about-turkeys-support-for-isis-in-syria/
Video Link:
https://investigativejournal.org/video/turkey-supports-isis-and-al-qaeda-in-syria/
NASA admits climate change caused by shifts in Earth’s solar orbit, not SUVs and fossil fuels
Ethan Huff, News Target
[Ed. – Not scientific enough for the party of science.]
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/09/02/nasa-admits-climate-change-caused-by-shifts-in-earths-solar-orbit-not-suvs-and-fossil-fuels/
NASA admits that climate change occurs because of changes in Earth’s solar orbit, and NOT because of SUVs and fossil fuels
For more than 60 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has known that the changes occurring to planetary weather patterns are completely natural and normal. But the space agency, for whatever reason, has chosen to let the man-made global warming hoax persist and spread, to the detriment of human freedom.
It was the year 1958, to be precise, when NASA first observed that changes in the solar orbit of the earth, along with alterations to the earth’s axial tilt, are both responsible for what climate scientists today have dubbed as “warming” (or “cooling,” depending on their agenda). In no way, shape, or form are humans warming or cooling the planet by driving SUVs or eating beef, in other words.
But NASA has thus far failed to set the record straight, and has instead chosen to sit silently back and watch as liberals freak out about the world supposedly ending in 12 years because of too much livestock, or too many plastic straws.
In the year 2000, NASA did publish information on its Earth Observatory website about the Milankovitch Climate Theory, revealing that the planet is, in fact, changing due to extraneous factors that have absolutely nothing to do with human activity. But, again, this information has yet to go mainstream, some 19 years later, which is why deranged, climate-obsessed leftists have now begun to claim that we really only have 18 months left before the planet dies from an excess of carbon dioxide (CO2).
The truth, however, is much more along the lines of what Serbian astrophysicist Milutin Milankovitch, after whom the Milankovitch Climate Theory is named, proposed about how the seasonal and latitudinal variations of solar radiation that hit the earth in different ways, and at different times, have the greatest impact on earth’s changing climate patterns.
https://www.newstarget.com/2019-08-30-nasa-admits-climate-change-not-caused-by-suvs-fossil-fuels.html