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.
EXCLUSIVE: Newly Released FBI Document Dump Shows Hillary Had Two IPads But Only Turned Over One to FBI!
Hillary Clinton did not hand over one of her iPads requested by the FBI in their investigation related to her email abuse in 2015. This was uncovered from documents released by the FBI late last week.
FOX News reported late last month –
U.N. Accuses Netherlands of ‘Islamophobia’ over Burqa Ban (breitbart, Oct 8, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/08/u-n-accuses-netherlands-of-islamophobia-over-burqa-ban/
“A Dutch ban on the wearing of face-covering garments such as the burqa which came into place in August has “no place” in a tolerant society, a U.N. representative said Monday.
Tendayi Achiume, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on racism, said the ban reflected a wider “consolidation of Islamophobia” in the Netherlands.
As Breitbart News reported, the Dutch ban took effect in August, 14 years after it was first mooted by Dutch populist Geert Wilders. The new legislation makes it illegal to wear face coverings in public buildings and on transport.
“From now on the wearing of clothing which covers the face is banned in educational facilities, public institutions and buildings, as well as hospitals and public transport,” the Dutch interior ministry said in a statement reported by AFP. Failure to abide by the law could result in a fine of €150 (£137/$167).
Denmark banned the burqa outright in 2018, while Austria banned it in 2017, Bulgaria and Latvia in 2016, and Belgium in 2011. There are also partial and regional bans in Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and Spain as part of a wider pan-European pushback against the restrictive garment.
Despite the burqa being more and more widely banned, the Netherlands has now been singled out for special mention by the U.N.’s representative.
“This law has no place in a society that prides itself in promoting gender equality,” Achiume said in a report on Monday after a week-long fact-finding trip to the Netherlands.
“The political debate surrounding the adoption of this law makes plain its intended targeting of Muslim women, and even if this targeting was not the intent, it has certainly been the effect.””
Liar Adam Schiff tells Reporters Accusations of Obama Admin Spying on the Trump Campaign a “Conspiracy Theory” (VIDEO)
Liar Adam Schiff Says the Accusations of Obama Admin Spying on the Trump Campaign a “Conspiracy Theory”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/liar-adam-schiff-tells-reporters-accusations-of-obama-admin-spying-on-the-trump-campaign-a-conspiracy-theory-video/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
HUGE UPDATE: Pelosi and Schiff Updated House “Impeachment Process” on August 12, 2019 – The Same Day as Whistleblower Complaint Received!
OUTRAGEOUS! The House Impeachment Rules were updated on August 12, 2019 – this is the exact same day that Pelosi’s Democrats claimed they first received their whistleblower’s report!
The Conservative Treehouse reported that the House “Impeachment Process” memo was updated on August 12, 2019 –
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/coup-update-pelosi-and-schiff-updated-house-impeachment-process-on-august-12-2019-the-same-day-as-whistleblower-complaint-received/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=daily
Canada: Albertans spearhead ‘Wexit’ movement
BBC News October 8, 2019
[Ed. – Even our even-tempered neighbors to the north. We’ve reported on the quixotic separatist gig in Alberta before, but “Wexit” is a bigger deal involving multiple western provinces. The original Albertan movement was about joining the U.S., but Wexit doesn’t necessarily seem to have that goal.]
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/08/canada-albertans-spearhead-wexit-movement/
Wexit: Why some Albertans want to separate from Canada
By Robin Levinson-King BBC News, Calgary, Alberta
As talk about climate change in Canada heats up and construction on pipelines grows cold, frustrated Albertans have breathed new life into old regional grudges and the western separatist movement.
With plenty of cattle, oil and conservatives, Alberta has sometimes been called the “the Texas of Canada”.
That nickname has a pejorative ring, but it hints at the deep cultural divide between the prairie province and its neighbours.
The term “western alienation” is often used to describe the feeling amongst those in Canada’s western provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and British Columbia – that the rest of the country looks down on them, ignores them and does not have their best interest in mind.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49899113
Eh? People, apparently sane, float idea of Alberta Province leaving Canada, joining U.S.
Peter Skurkiss, Am. Thinker February 2, 2019
[Ed. – As is so often the case, it’s the oil and gas, stupid. Still, I don’t think this one is going anywhere.]
REad more at https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/02/02/eh-people-apparently-sane-float-idea-of-alberta-province-leaving-canada-joining-u-s/
the gateway pundit – MUST SEE: Spain’s Populist VOX Party Leader Kicks Off Campaign with AMAZING SPEECH (Video)
Spain’s Populist VOX Party Leader, Santiago Abascal (the Spanish Trump), kicked off the November Election campaign with a stunning speech to a packed stadium.
The energy is with the people — and away from the criminal elites
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SPAIN’S POPULIST VOX PARTY KICKS OFF CAMPAIGN WITH TRUMP LIKE CROWDS!
This past Sunday in the working-class district of Carabanchel, Spain’s Vox party held a rally reminiscent of the size and energy of a stadium packed by Trump supporters in Madrid’s Palacio de Vistalegre pavilion.
The event titled ‘Vistalegre Plus Ultra’ was the Vox Party’s kick off to their election campaign for the Spanish general elections on November 10th.
During his 33 minute speech, the leader of the populist party, Santiago Abascal, passionately addressed the 14,000 supporters, “We want the power to protect Spain from its enemies. From the enemies of unity who want to break our country. From the enemies of liberty who want to impose their trendy gags.“
https://rairfoundation.com/spains-populist-vox-party-kicks-off-campaign-with-trump-like-crowds/
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https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/must-see-spains-populist-vox-party-leader-kicks-off-campaign-with-amazing-speech-video/
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Spain’s Populist VOX Party Kicks Off Election Campaign With Trump Like Crowds
Christophe Castaner est auditionné à l’Assemblée nationale sur l’attaque à la préfecture de Paris
Christophe Castaner : “L’imam dont on parle (…) a fait l’objet d’une ‘obligation de quitter le territoire français’ qui n’a pas été exécutée (…) Depuis (…) il a été décidé de lui accorder un titre valable parce qu’il a un enfant et qu’il s’est marié.”
1min 18 video :
https://twitter.com/LCP/status/1181627955719626753
Arrivée des cercueils des quatre policiers tués à la préfecture de police
Attaque de la préfecture : Mickaël Harpon avait accès à tout selon un policier
Pour combattre “l’hydre islamiste”, Macron veut bâtir “une société de la vigilance”
…afin de mieux détecter les signaux faibles de radicalisation.
Syrian observers: 24 hours after Trump announcement, Turkey strikes in Iraq, not Syria
Tzvi Joffre, Jerusalem Post October 7, 2019
[Ed. – This doesn’t mean Turkey won’t strike in Syria. But the incentive structure for everyone changed as soon as the U.S. stopped guaranteeing the Kurdish safe zone in northern Syria. It’s not actually surprising that Erdogan hasn’t rushed in. We can bet the phone line between Ankara and Moscow is on fire right now.]
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/07/syrian-observers-24-hours-after-trump-announcement-turkey-strikes-in-iraq-not-syria/
Syrian sources claim Turkey attacked in Iraq, not Syria
The attacks come after the US announced that it would withdraw from Syria as Turkey prepares for a military operation to create a “safe zone” in northern Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights denied a report by Syrian state news agency SANA earlier on Monday evening claiming that Turkey had conducted airstrikes in Syria against the Syrian Democratic Forces. According to the SOHR, the airstrikes hit targets in Iraq.
A White House official stated later on Monday night that the US has not seen any signs of a Turkish operation in Syria yet, according to Steve Herman, a reporter from Voice of America news.
https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Turkey-attacks-Kurds-SDF-in-Iraq-Syria-as-US-withdraws-604010
Jonathan Spyer:
The lessons from northern Syria
The statement on northern Syria released Sunday by the White House press secretary appears to clear the way for the long-anticipated Turkish invasion of northeast Syria. It represents a disaster for the Syrian Kurds and a not entirely unexpected betrayal by the US of its main allies in the fight against ISIS. The decision has implications for Israel, too, on both the tactical and strategic levels.
On the tactical level, if a Turkish invasion of Kurdish-controlled northeast Syria is launched, this will have the likely effect of delivering a large part of northeast Syria into the hands of the Assad regime and its Iranian allies. This is because the Syrian Kurds, if faced with a choice between Assad or the Sunni jihadi forces currently fighting under the Turkish flag, will choose the former.
Assad and the Iranians will suppress all independent Kurdish political and cultural activity. But they will almost certainly not carry out wholesale ethnic cleansing of Kurdish populations.
The Turks and their Sunni Islamist allies cleansed 200,000 Kurds from their homes in the Afrin Kurdish enclave, which Turkey destroyed in January 2018. The Kurds, with good reason, believe that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans a similar fate for the Kurds of the northeast. So they are likely to fight to hold the Turks back in the north for as long as possible while arranging a rapid surrender to Assad to enable the Syrian regime to take control of the areas further south.
The result: Syria east of the Euphrates, currently an American protectorate and a barrier against Iran and ISIS, will be divided up between the Turks/ Islamists in the north and Assad/the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the south. The southern part would then form part of the famous Iranian “land bridge” to the Mediterranean, Lebanon, and the Quneitra Crossing (Syria’s border with the Israeli Golan Heights).
On a strategic level, the American move confirms that the current US administration is not interested in heading an alliance of regional forces against Iranian expansionism or Sunni political Islam, as some had fondly believed.
Rather, the administration, like its predecessor, is in the business of managing imperial decline (albeit with very different rhetoric from that of the Obama administration). This will be a lesson well learned by both allies and enemies of the US in the Middle East.
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-lessons-of-betrayal-in-northern-syria/
ANALYSIS: Trump creates a new war zone in Syria
Pro-Assad, Russian forces prepare to face Turkish forces as US withdrawal clears way for new conflict.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/269895
The new new world order
The end of the post-cold war world order is on display with the ‘Might Makes Right’ actions of countries that have successfully challenged US global hegemony. That was clear with Turkey’s decision to launch an operation into eastern Syria, where the US is operating with the SDF, and also other decisions, such as how China, India, Saudi Arabia and Russia are rising to the challenge of an increasingly multi-polar world. The ‘new world order’ of George Bush sr gave away to “pre-emption” and Obama and Trump’s view of the role of the US in the world. The result is a new new world order.
In this discussion Seth Frantzman sheds light on world affairs today.
I wish the people talking about what is happening and what is coming would stop and do a little research into economics and the role they play in world events.
Obama deliberately doubled the US National Debt to cripple the following Presidents, this has to a very large extent tied Trumps hands by limiting what he can spend on the little wars that the left got the US into. Trumps business knowledge has let him maneuver China and Iran into positions where both are limited by their own economic problems. Also his threat to destroy Turkey’s economy if they move on the Kurds is one that should be worrying Erdogan.
During the Cold War the Soviets got everyone to sign treaties promising not to use food as a weapon (no starving your enemy into submission). The left in the west then expanded on this to limit economic pressure to sanctions that for the most part weren’t enforced. Now Donald Trump is using his business and economic knowledge, knowledge that he long ago internalized, to put massive economic pressure on China and Iran.
The pressure on China is working much better then the vast majority of economists are willing to admit. The signs showing this are 1) the way the mainland hasn’t used military force against Hong Kong. 2) the way China cancelled the $5 Billion dollar gas production program with Iran. 3) The sales of US Bonds, those are a very important part of China’s revenue, the interest from those bonds has kept China afloat for a long time. Every time you hear someone in the Media talking about how China is selling US Bonds to give the US the finger laugh. China is selling the US Bonds because they need hard currencies and the only other liquid asset that they could sell is their stocks of precious metals. If they start selling precious metals even the western mouthpieces that China has bought will be unable to spin as good for China.
Yucki knows more about the economic woes in Iran but I do know that things are bad enough that there is massive internal pressure on the Iranian government, the Revolutionary Guard and the Mullahs.
Both China and Iran are trying to last long enough to see the 2020 elections which they hope will remove Donald Trump and let them go back to being parasites on the rest of the world.
Trump is doing what he can with what he has and is doing much more then anyone is willing to admit.
The man is right about their being smoke signals of the coming war, a war that I have seen building since 1992. A war that will create a much different international order and will destroy all of the existing treaties that we call international law.
Seth Frantzman:
SMOKE SIGNALS IN THE NEXT MIDDLE EAST WAR
Iran’s attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields was a warning to Israel in an escalating regional war
https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/292246/next-middle-east-war
Stalin Had Gulags, Turkey Has Courts
by Burak Bekdil
October 8, 2019 at 5:00 am
From 1936 to 1938, the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin brutally executed his “Great Purge,” a more innocent name for the wholesale liquidation of “enemies of the state.” The slaughter targeted, among others, Communist Party and government officials, journalists, academics, peasants, Jews, teachers, generals, members of the intelligentsia and many others. “Better that 10 innocent people suffer than one spy get away,” said Nikolai Yezhov, chief of the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs). “When you chop wood, chips fly.” In 1932, Stalin launched a war for the “Sovietization” of Russia. Seven decades later, Turkey’s Islamist strongman and president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, launched his war to “Islamize” Ataturk’s modern, secular Turkey.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, five countries are the world’s top jailers of journalists. At the top of its list is Turkey, leaving behind China, Eritrea, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Of the 172 reporters being held in those countries, 163 were detained without charge or for offenses classified as “anti-state” — the same crime for which Stalin jailed and exiled Russian dissidents. Erdo?an’s witch hunt is still going at full speed.
At the beginning of September, a prominent Turkish opposition official was sentenced by a court to nine years and eight months in prison for insulting Erdo?an and “engaging in terrorist propaganda” for tweets posted as early as 2012 and beyond. Canan Kaftanc?o?lu, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s Istanbul branch, was also accused of “insulting the government and public servants and inciting hatred and enmity.” All of the charges against her were based on tweets posted years ago. But why was she sentenced now?
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14914/stalin-gulags-turkey-courts
A Tale of Two Coups
by Andrew Ash
October 8, 2019 at 4:00 am
There appears to be a curious symmetry connecting both the blocking of Brexit, and the continued attempts to bring down a free and fair American election. The same or different types of “deep state” involved on either side of the Atlantic is debatable, but the repeated attempts at a coup d’état against both the American President and the British Prime Minister have a lot in common, not least the desire to thwart the openly expressed wishes of the US and British electorates.
2016 was the year of the unexpected outcome — twice. Against all the odds — and against the wishes of the biased mainstream media — Britain voted to leave the European Union, and in the United States, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States. Both events took the “establishment” by surprise, if not horror. Both events have been the subject of continuous attempts to overturn those results by any means possible, no matter how odious or even undemocratic.
The similarities are legion: These attempted coups were the first time that the results of a legitimate American presidential election and a British democratic referendum have been the subjected to concerted bids to upend them. In both instances, an establishment instigated attempted coups d’état, neither of which would look out of place in a third world dictatorship.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14963/tale-of-two-coups
America’s Good Intentions in Syria Have Led to This Dismal Outcome
Recent U.S. policy in Syria, from the moment that former U.S. ambassador Robert Ford showed support for Syrian protesters in 2011, has been one of good intentions that were mismanaged through conflicting policies. This week it led to the decision to withdraw. A new crisis will unfold in eastern Syria, an area that, liberated from ISIS, has seen too much war and where the people are just beginning to reconstruct their lives.… The larger context is that the U.S. has been seen as abandoning one group after another in Syria, reducing American influence in Syria and the region….
How did the U.S. get here?…
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/us-withdrawal-syria-how-good-intentions-led-to-dismal-outcome/
Tass:
Iraqi Kurdistan urges Russia to help Kurds in Syria
TASS, October 8. The authorities of the Iraqi Kurdistan have called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to ensure security of Kurds in Syria, the Rudaw news agency reported on Tuesday citing a statement put forward by the administration of head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and former president of the autonomous region Masoud Barzani.
The party head “expressed his worries regarding the future of Kurds in Syria to the Russian Foreign Minister and asked that Russia play its role in case of any event or change to prevent further suffering and pain of the Kurdish people in Syria,” the statement reads.
On Monday, Lavrov held a meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and further contacts were agreed. Masoud Barzani is a son of Kurdish national hero Mustafa Barzani and the father of Iraqi Kurdistan Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and President Nechirvan Barzani.
https://tass.com/world/1081947
Russian-Chinese Cooperation Is Not As Temporary As You Think
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Many believe the Russian-Chinese partnership, which functions across a variety of economic and political spheres, is only temporary. But Moscow’s disenchantment with the West, and the redirection of its foreign policy toward Beijing and beyond, is rooted in Russian historical thinking. The disagreement between Russia and the West is a full-scale geopolitical separation.
The most popular topic in modern geopolitics these days is probably the budding relationship between Russia and China. Articles on the subject are produced regularly, almost all of them concluding that Russia is only temporarily siding with China. It is just a matter of time, these articles claim, until disagreements between the two powers become inevitable.
These articles miss the fact that Moscow’s move away from Europe is rooted deeply in Russian history. It goes back much further than the Ukrainian crisis, which triggered Moscow’s recent troubles with the West.
The Russian-Chinese partnership is built around their common animosity toward the US. Both have been confronted by the US and have taken actions that go against Washington’s worldview, which favors a division of the Eurasian landmass among multiple powers and the maintenance of control over the world’s oceans.
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/russia-china-cooperation/
How Erdogan Backed Trump Into a Corner on Syria
The U.S. president has essentially conceded that he has no power to deter Turkish aggression against the Kurds.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-07/u-s-withdrawal-from-syria-erdogan-backed-trump-into-a-corner
Remember Bloomberg is part of the destroy Trump movement so decide how trustworthy this article is with that fact in mind.
Masoud Barzani
@masoud_barzani
Received Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister today where we spoke of several salient topics including the latest developments in Iraq and Syria.
https://twitter.com/masoud_barzani/status/1181302508658003968
zero hedge – Trudeau Rumored To Be In Talks To Suppress Potentially Career-Ending Sex Scandal
Somehow, the Liberal Party has managed to minimize the blowback from Justin Trudeau’s ‘blackface’ scandal, and with two weeks to go until election day, is still well within the margin of error in most polls.
But there might be another scandal in the works. According to a report in the Buffalo Chronicle, the party is doing everything in its power to suppress a sex scandal involving Trudeau and the daughter of a wealthy Canadian businessman who Trudeau reportedly may have become involved with when she was a student at West Point Grey Academy, a prestigious private school where Trudeau worked as a substitute teacher in his 20s.
The Chronicle’s sources claim that political observers had been anticipating an expose in Saturday’s Globe and Mail. However, it appears Trudeau and his people have gotten to the woman, and are in the process of negotiating an NDA. The woman is being represented by counsel, and is reportedly being offered monetary compensation.
Trudeau worked as a substitute teacher at the private school from 1999 until an abrupt departure in June 2001. It has long been rumored that Trudeau had improper relations with female students while working at the school, though nothing has ever been substantiated.
The prime minister was briefly embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal after being accused of “groping” a reporter back in 2000. Trudeau swiftly acknowledged that he was wrong and apologized for groping the reporter.
But a sex scandal involving a potentially underage student would likely end his political career.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trudeau-rumored-be-talks-suppress-potentially-career-ending-sex-scandal
To all my friends here:
~~~ G’mar chatima tova ~~~
Inscribed in the Book of Life, sealed sundown tomorrow.
A happy, healthy final sealing for you and your loved ones.
New Year, 5780
~~~ Shanah tova ~~~
fondly, yWhite House announces it will not comply with impeachment inquiry
Britain’s Vichy Parliament Surrenders to Darth Merkel
Inside Hong Kong’s vandalised MTR stations
Chinese linked companies targeted during Hong Kong protests
Chinese military could step in if violence in Hong Kong escalates further: Carrie Lam
Singapore Prime Minister: I feel very sorry for the situation which Hong Kong is in
Nigel Farage interviews… Stepping Up: Ron Liddle on Brexit
https://youtu.be/weAruOCjMRc
On the frontline: Turkish troops prepare to enter Syria
sky news – Turkish ambassador exclusive: ‘Our actions won’t be influenced by Trump’
Sky News sits down with the Turkish ambassador to the UK to state how Trump will not influence their actions with his twitter account.
Problems now arise with Turkey and the US/UK viewing Kurdish forces in wildly different lights.
Turkey saying they are terrorists and the US and UK viewing them as allies in the fight against ISIS.
Turkey: Military convoy advances towards Syrian border
Turkish military vehicles were filmed advancing towards the Syrian border near Akcakale, Sanliurfa province, on Thursday.
Footage shows people watching the convoy pass by and holding Turkish flags.
Ankara said on Tuesday that preparations for a military operation against the US-backed Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria were complete. On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ Turkey’s economy if Ankara does something ‘off limits.’
US troops were seen driving through the region on Monday after Washington announced the withdrawal of 50 forces from the border area.
Syria: US base deserted in Tel Arqam as troops withdraw
A deserted US military base in Tel Arqam, near Ras al-Ain, was filmed on Tuesday, after the US commenced an operation to pull out its troops from the region.
The withdrawal of US forces came ahead of what Turkey calls a military operation to create a ‘safe zone’ in northeastern Syria. Ankara said on Tuesday, that preparations for the offensive were complete.
US forces were seen driving in the area on Monday after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed the pullout.
https://buffalochronicle.com/2019/10/07/trudeau-is-rumored-to-be-in-talks-with-an-accusor-to-suppress-an-explosive-sex-scandal-that-may-force-him-from-office/
From the Buffalo Chronicle of all sources.
One comment says the only way to get accurate reporting is from an American source, because the Canadian press is paid for. This about sums it up for me. This isn’t the first example, either.
Awww Johnny, Justine just likes to be “stimulated “. SHHHHH
Whistleblower had ‘professional’ tie to 2020 Democratic candidate
In an Aug. 26 letter, the Intelligence Community’s inspector general, Michael Atkinson, wrote that the anonymous whistleblower who set off the Trump-Ukraine impeachment fight showed “some indicia of an arguable political bias … in favor of a rival political candidate.”
A few weeks later, news reports said the whistleblower’s possible bias was that he is a registered Democrat. That was all. Incredulous commentary suggested that Republicans who were pushing the bias talking point were so blinded by their own partisanship that they saw simple registration with the Democratic Party as evidence of wrongdoing.
“Give me a break!” tweeted whistleblower lawyer Mark Zaid. “Bias? Seriously?”
Now, however, there is word of more evidence of possible bias on the whistleblower’s part. Under questioning from Republicans during last Friday’s impeachment inquiry interview with Atkinson, the inspector general revealed that the whistleblower’s possible bias was not that he was simply a registered Democrat. It was that he had a significant tie to one of the Democratic presidential candidates currently vying to challenge President Trump in next year’s election.
“The IG said [the whistleblower] worked or had some type of professional relationship with one of the Democratic candidates,” said one person with knowledge of what was said.
“The IG said the whistleblower had a professional relationship with one of the 2020 candidates,” said another person with knowledge of what was said.
“What [Atkinson] said was that the whistleblower self-disclosed that he was a registered Democrat and that he had a prior working relationship with a current 2020 Democratic presidential candidate,” said a third person with knowledge of what was said.
All three sources said Atkinson did not identify the Democratic candidate with whom the whistleblower had a connection. It is unclear what the working or professional relationship between the two was.
In the Aug. 26 letter, Atkinson said that even though there was evidence of possible bias on the whistleblower’s part, “such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern ‘appears credible,’ particularly given the other information the ICIG obtained during its preliminary review.”
Democrats are certain to take that position when Republicans allege that the whistleblower acted out of bias. Indeed, the transcript of Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a public document, for all to see. One can read it regardless of the whistleblower’s purported bias.
Nevertheless, Republicans will want to know more about the origins of the whistleblower complaint, especially given the unorthodox use of whistleblower law involved. There is more to learn — like who the Democratic candidate is — before Republicans will say they know enough about what happened.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/whistleblower-had-professional-tie-to-2020-democratic-candidate
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DOJ probing potentially serious allegations against Mueller
British boss who ‘racially abused’ Muslim female employee ordered to pay her thousands in compensation (alaraby, Oct 8, 2019)
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2019/10/8/boss-who-racially-abused-muslim-woman-pays-%C2%A322-5k-compensation
“A British Muslim woman of Pakistani origin has been granted a payout totalling over £22,500 after enduring 3 and a half years of racist and Islamophobic abuse from her company’s director.
Miss Noreen, of Pakistani origin, worked as a recruitment consultant for Peterborough-based agency RecruitmentFinder Ltd. from 2013 until she was made redundant in 2017, according to court documents from Bury St Edmunds employment tribunal.
Miss Noreen, 27, was at the brunt of regular derogatory and abusive comments over both her race and religion from her boss, identified in the documents as Mr P Clarke.
Mr Clarke complained to Miss Noreen about “You P*kis”, and called her fasting during the holy month of Ramadan a “lot of bollocks to me”.
Read more: World Hijab Day promotes visibility, not meaningful progress
Even the food she brought from home was remarked upon by Mr Clarke, who referred to everything, including a pasta dish, as “curry”.
Mr Clarke said she looked like a “curry muncher” and also made derogatory comments about her weight, according to the tribunal documents.
Miss Noreen reported the comments became worse for the last 18 months of her employment, after she pointed out to Mr Clarke she had placed more staff in recruitment than he had.
At this point he stopped paying her the bonuses and fuel allowance she was entitled to.
Mr Clarke also made comments about Miss Noreen’s job security which made her fear for her job to the point where she stopped taking the holiday leave she was entitled to, taking only Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Monday.
Mr Clarke’s threats made Miss Noreen too fearful to act on or report his abusive behaviour.
After she was made redundant, Mr Clarke did not pay her any of her entitled holiday pay or redundancy pay, which along with the missed fuel and bonus payment totalled around £15,000.
Miss Noreen was also awarded £7,500 compensation for discrimination she suffered in the workplace.
Women who wear headscarves face particular discrimination in the workplace, while young Muslims feel forced to work “10 times as hard” as their white counterparts to get on in their jobs, according to a report by The Guardian.
Discrimination and lack of cultural awareness in the workplace means young British Muslims are unable to reach their full potential at work, according to a 2017 report by the Social Mobility Commission.
Only 6 percent of Muslims are in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations, according to the UK’s 2011 census.”
zero hedge – ‘WikiLeaks Of Covert Arms’: Investigation Reveals UK Shell Companies Served As US Weapons ‘Rat Line’ Into Syria
Starting in 2017 we featured a series of reports on the work of investigative journalist Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who after authoring a bombshell report for Sofia-based Trud Newspaper, was interrogated by Bulgarian authorities and fired from her job as a correspondent for the outlet.
She had uncovered a massive covert weapons shipment network to terror groups in Syria via diplomatic flights originating in the Caucuses and Eastern Europe under the watch of the CIA and other intelligence agencies based on uncovering leaked emails, flight logs, and weapons purchasing receipts.
As Forbes reported at the time, the issue of Western sourced weapons and state funds covertly diverted to ISIS as part of efforts to back “rebels” fighting Assad in Syria was briefly taken up by the Council of Europe, based in part on Gaytandzhieva’s own fearless investigations and being fired for the original report.
Forbes had detailed in an unprecedented instance of a major mainstream US media paying attention to the scandal:
On January 23, 2017, a motion for a resolution on European weapons and funds for Daesh was tabled at the Council of Europe by Mr Pieter Omtzigt MP and others. It received support from several members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (the Assembly). The motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only the 48 parliamentarians who signed the motion.
In a surprising admission for the establishment publication, Forbes continued to emphasize the “clear chain of supply” of weapons from European states to ISIS militants in Syria:
The recent motion for the resolution makes clear that the mere fact that the weapons were produced in Bulgaria or Romania does not imply the states as cooperating with Daesh. However, there exists a clear chain of supply that cannot be neglected. The motion further refers to a case of a Bulgarian journalist and whistleblower, Ms Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, who, after uncovering such weapon trafficking, was allegedly dismissed from her job.
Though the Council of Europe motion did not make much headway, and with the illegal weapons pipeline across Eastern Europe and the Balkans continuing, as more recent investigations of Gaytandzhieva reveal, her work was vindicated by similar reports in such mainstream outlets as Foreign Policy, Buzzfeed, Wired, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).
Since then, the investigative journalist and weapons trafficking expert has founded a monitoring and research site called Arms Watch, which can be described as a ‘WikiLeaks of covert arms trade’ of sorts, given the vast leaked documentation published there on covert US weapons shipments being channeled to the Middle East via the Balkans.
It defines its mission as involving “independent investigative journalists, war correspondents and volunteers” who “track weapons, governments that fuel wars, and document war crimes” — and features dozens of explosive leaked documents and emails exposing continuing covert arms shipments to bad actors in the Middle East.
Most recently Arms Watch published emails exposing how British shell companies were used as cover for a US government program to arm militants in Syria, called in internal memos ‘Task Force Smoking Gun’.
Years after the height of the CIA billion dollar program ‘Timber Sycamore’, and after the US Department of Defense ‘Train and Equip’ program, more and more details of the nuts and bolts of covert aid to jihadists in the Levant are falling into place.
This includes the following, as documented in one of Arms Watch’s latest reports:
New leaked documents expose for the first time a secret US Special Operations Command unit code named Task Force Smoking Gun. It has been deployed in Croatia since 2017 and tasked with diverting tons of arms and ammunition from Europe to Syria.
Recently I anonymously received explosive documents about arms deals between the US Government and the Serbian state owned-arms manufacturer Krusik, including contracts, e-mails, internal memos, photos, delivery schedules, and packing lists of weapons with lot numbers and their buyers. Among the leaked documents I also received scanned passports of arms dealers and government officials from the US. They have visited Krusik to buy weapons for the Pentagon Train and Equip program for militants in Syria.
The “tons of arms and ammunition” had the close involvement and coordination of a British ‘middle-man’ of sorts, in the form of a British broker using front companies.
Founder of Arms Watch, Dilyana Gaytandzhieva, in a previous Bulgarian television report from Aleppo documenting an illegal arms ‘rat line’ from the US and Europe into Syria.
Citing a leaked email allegedly from a British arms dealer, the report continues:
“We have received the attached list of items for the US Government. The request is for USG Special Operations Command, end user Iraqi Ministry of Defence (via Kuwait)”, writes a British arms dealer, Lynn Timckle, director of the UK-based Imber Enterprises Limited in a leaked e-mail to the Serbian arms manufacturer Krusik. The e-mail dated 21 January 2016 includes the US Government list of weapons that need to be purchased from arms factories across Eastern Europe.
The exhaustively documented story, including related emails, flight logs, passports, and weapons End User Certificates can be viewed at Arms Watch.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/wikileaks-covert-arms-investigation-reveals-uk-shell-companies-served-us-weapons-rat
Leaked documents show how the U.S., Gulf countries ship weapons to terrorists
on this page :
http://dilyana.bg/leaked-documents-purport-to-show-how-the-u-s-gulf-countries-ship-weapons-to-terrorists/
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US Task Force Smoking Gun smuggles weapons to Syria: Serbia files (Part 2)
on this page :
http://dilyana.bg/us-task-force-smoking-gun-smuggles-weapons-to-syria-serbia-files-part-2/
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Islamic State weapons in Yemen traced back to US Government: Serbia files (part 1)
http://dilyana.bg/islamic-state-weapons-in-yemen-traced-back-to-us-government-serbia-files-part-1/
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Spain Arrests Moroccan ‘Terrorist’ for Allegedly Targeting Spanish Official (mwn, Oct 8, 2019)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2019/10/284222/spain-moroccan-terrorist-allegedly-targeting-spanish-official/
“Spanish police arrested a Moroccan born suspect on October 5 in Madrid for alleged manufacturing of explosives.
On October 8, Spanish news outlet El Mundo shared new evidence from the investigation carried out upon the arrest of the Moroccan suspect.
The news outlet reported that the 23-year old alleged terrorist was plotting attacks against the Spanish Minister for Justice, Dolores Delgado.
El Mundo reported that the suspect was planning attacks in several Madrid Metro stations and public spaces in Madrid.
Legal sources quoted by the Spanish news outlet said that the suspect had a list of possible targets.
The police seized a notebook in which the name of the Spanish acting Justice Minister appeared regularly.
The suspect, who was born in Tetouan, in northern Morocco, has Spanish citizenship…”
US effectively shuts off Turkey from NE Syria airspace (hdn, Oct 8, 2019)
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-effectively-shuts-off-turkey-from-ne-syria-airspace-147240
“The U.S. military has effectively shut Turkey off on Oct. 7 from the air space in northeastern Syria, taking a series of actions that reduce the possibility that Turkish jets could support a planned military operation there.
Pentagon spokeswoman Carla Gleason told reporters the Combined Air Operations Center has removed Turkey from the anti-ISIL coalition’s air tasking order, the means by which it coordinates the flights of partner nations operating in the theater, and halted Turkey’s access to surveillance information.
She stopped short of saying that the air space has been shut down to Turkey, but noted “if you’re not on the air tasking order, it’s really hard to coordinate flights in that area.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper was in contact with President Donald Trump regarding Turkey’s planned operation in northern Syria, a Pentagon official said on Oct. 7.
Esper was also in touch with State Secretary Mike Pompeo, new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, and National Security Advisor Robert O’Rien, the official told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
“U.S. does not endorse Turkish action. The secretary of defense will be in touch with affected allies, partners and [Capitol] Hill today,” said the official.
He also said the U.S. pulled troops in the security mechanism area between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn in the north.”
Denmark against EU agreement to distribute refugees: minister (thelocal, Oct 8, 2019)
https://www.thelocal.dk/20191008/denmark-against-eu-agreement-to-distribute-refugees-minister
Daesh Suicide Bombers Attack Kurdish Military Positions in Raqqa, ‘Clashes Still Ongoing’ – SDF (sputniknews, Oct 9, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201910091076992690-daesh-suicide-bombers-attack-kurdish-military-positions-in-raqqa-clashes-still-ongoing—sdf/
“According to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), at least three Daesh suicide bombers on Wednesday attacked its military positions in Syria’s Raqqa.
The SDF stressed in a statement that the Daesh* terrorists took “advantage of an imminent Turkish invasion”, adding that “clashes still ongoing”. The SDF has not provided further details including casualties or damage inflicted by the terrorist attack…”
the gateway pundit – Former CIA Station Chief: Attempted Coup Against President Trump Looks Like CIA Operation Led by John Brennan (VIDEO)
In an exclusive interview with RAIR Foundation USA retired CIA Station Chief Brad Johnson claims the attempted coup against Donald Trump looks like a CIA operation.
Johnson even suggests that former CIA Chief John Brennan is behind it.
Brennan added, “This is the last big gasp so they’re pulling out all the stops. You can see who the desperate people are… We just saw former CIA Director John Brennan out on national news saying, “Please anybody else out there who can be a whistleblower please step forward. Nows the time.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/former-cia-station-chief-attempted-coup-against-president-trump-looks-like-cia-operation-led-by-john-brennan/
Erdogan Aide Vows Turkish Offensive in Syria ‘Shortly’, Urges YPG Fighters to Defect (sputniknews, Oct 9, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201910091076992995-erdogan-aide-vows-turkish-offensive-in-syria-shortly-urges-ypg-fighters-to-defect/
“Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed a military operation in northern Syria in the coming days, after Washington announced it would pull military assets out of the region.
Erdogan’s communications director, Fahrettin Altun, said in a column published Tuesday by The Washington Post that Erdogan and US President Trump had agreed to “transfer the leadership of the counter-Daesh campaign” to Ankara, offering that Turkish forces “together with the Free Syrian Army, will cross the Turkish-Syrian border shortly”.
Altun gave a choice to Kurdish fighters remaining in the region who are thought to be at risk from Ankara’s attack.
“It remains to be seen whether YPG militants will agree to the change in the campaign’s leadership. Indeed, they have two options: If they are genuinely interested in fighting Islamic State* [Daesh], they can defect without delay. Or they can listen to their commanders, who say that they will fight the Turkish forces — in which case we will have no choice but to stop them from disrupting our counter-Islamic State [Daesh] efforts”, Altun said, according to The Washington Post.
The Turkish president’s communications director did not specify a concrete timeframe for the promised invasion.
Turkey views the Kurdish forces as a threat to national security and has repeatedly threatened to launch an incursion into northern Syria as a means of forcing them out of the area.
In August, Washington and Ankara announced that they had agreed to create a joint operations centre to coordinate and manage the establishment of a safe zone in northeast Syria.
Should a safe zone be created, YPG would have to remove its forces and weaponry from the area.
The Turkish Defence Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that Ankara had completed preparations for its military incursion. A statement was issued shortly after Turkish airstrikes reportedly destroyed two bridges at the Samalka checkpoint on the border between Syria and Iraq. The Samalka checkpoint is controlled by Arab-Kurdish units of the SDF.
The United States, meanwhile, has started to withdraw its troops from the area. The White House stated it would not “support or be involved in” Turkey’s upcoming operation.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria – the de-facto autonomous region – is ready for talks with Damascus as Turkey’s operation looms, according to earlier statements by top official Badran Jiakurd.
The Syrian government has repeatedly urged the Kurds to join a dialogue and has slammed their reliance on US forces illegally operating in the country.
A senior SDF commander, Mazloum Kobani Abdi, told NBC on Monday that Kurdish-led forces do not rule out backtracking on their pro-US stance and joining with Syrian President Bashar Assad to fight a Turkish military offensive in the north of the Arab republic.
*Daesh (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State) is a terrorist organization banned in Russia and many other countries.”
London Has Become a Terrifying Place
the dailywire – Trump Bans Chinese Companies For Abuse Against Muslims
The Trump administration, which has been branded as “anti-Muslim” by critics from the first few days of Donald Trump’s presidency, took a significant step this week in defense of Muslims in China.
On Monday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that it has imposed a trade blacklist on 20 Chinese public security bureaus and eight surveillance-related tech companies for their role in “human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”
In a press release Monday, the Commerce Department announced that the Bureau of Industry and Security of the Department of Commerce is adding 28 Chinese governmental and commercial organizations to its blacklist “for engaging in or enabling activities contrary to the foreign policy interests of the United States.”
“This action constricts the export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to entities that have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in China’s campaign targeting Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR),” the release explains.
“The U.S. Government and Department of Commerce cannot and will not tolerate the brutal suppression of ethnic minorities within China,” Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement. “This action will ensure that our technologies, fostered in an environment of individual liberty and free enterprise, are not used to repress defenseless minority populations.”
As reported by Politico Monday, the United Nations says that the Chinese Communist Party has “placed more than 1 million Uighur Muslims in internment camps.”
“The additions include the XUAR People’s Government Public Security Bureau, 19 subordinate elements, and eight commercial entities,” the release details. “Located in XUAR and throughout China, these entities have all been implicated in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance.”
Citing Section 744.11(b) of the EAR, the press release notes that the Entity List “identifies persons or organizations reasonably believed to be involved, or to pose a significant risk of being or becoming involved, in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
In response to the administration’s actions, China blasted the U.S. for meddling in its affairs and vowed to continue to defend its sovereignty.
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Reuters provides a brief profile of a few of the companies included in the “potentially crippling” blacklist:
Hikvision, with a market value of about $42 billion, calls itself the world’s largest maker of video surveillance gear.
SenseTime, valued at around $4.5 billion in a May 2018 fundraising, is one of the world’s most valuable AI unicorns while Megvii, backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba, is valued at around $4 billion and is preparing an IPO to raise at least $500 million in Hong Kong.
The other companies on the list are speech recognition firm iFlytek Co, surveillance equipment maker Zhejiang Dahua Technology, data recovery firm Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co, facial recognition firm Yitu Technology and Yixin Science and Technology Co.
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The administration’s action was reportedly months in the making and comes amid continued trade talks between Trump and the Chinese government, with the U.S. planning to impose hundred of billions in tariffs on Chinese imports this month.
The Trump administration was almost immediately branded as “anti-Muslim” as a result of the so-called “Muslim travel ban,” Executive Order 13769 (“Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States”), issued on January 27, 2017, just days after Trump’s inauguration.
The so-called “Muslim ban” lowered the cap on the number of refugees to be admitted for the year to 50,000, suspended the refugee program for four months for review, and blocked admission of refugees from seven terror-risk countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (countries likewise listed as high-risk by the Obama administration). After severe backlash for supposedly “targeting Muslims,” the short-lived order was superseded two months later by Executive Order 13780.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-bans-chinese-companies-for-abuse-against-muslims