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.
Good. Now don’t let anyone steal the technology!
https://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israels-Defense-Ministry-announces-breakthrough-in-laser-technology-613568
Communist Chinese efforts to convert profits from slave labour and credit creation to spread global power and influence:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/global-chinese-financing-is-fueling-megaprojects/
China is trying to extent its power around the world through buying the countries, the problem they are having is lack of enough hard currencies to pay for their projects. Their economy is weak and needs a massive amount of hard currencies to help them survive. The problems they are facing:
1) The Trade War which is reducing their exports both to the US and to the rest of the Western World.
2) Hong Kong with a lot of nations reducing imports or imposing sanctions because of the treatment of the protesters.
3) The virus in their hog population that has caused (depending on which press release you want to believe) some where between one third and one half of the Chinese pork population to be killed and burned.
4) The Chinese over spending on the Belt and Road programs that are years some times decade from generating any return on investment.
5) The banking crisis caused by the Chinese Government owning over 51% of all banks, this made it easy for high ranking CCP officials to borrow massive amounts of money (smuggle out of the country usually to either Canada or the US) and never pay the money back. This crisis has extended to the Shadow Bank system (unofficial system with no connection to the CCP) which loans money to people the official system won’t at higher rates then the official system. not as high as the US loan sharks but still higher the the official banks.) This crisis has been made worse by the Hong Kong protests which is causing investors to look to other Far Eastern nations to invest their money in.
It wouldn’t take much to collapse the Chinese economy, when the Soviet economy collapsed their government collapsed and was replaced by the current Dictatorship. During hte 1960s the Chinese economy was rapidly approaching collapse and Mao started the cultural revolution. Xi may do the same thing if the Chinese economy collapses, or there may be enough social pressure he doesn’t dare attack the population. His inability to crack down on the Hong Kong protesters shows his and the CCPs current weakness but when/if the collapse occurs will the CCP go quietly into the night or will they decide to tear everything down in a doomed attempt to hang on to power?
Just because it’s such a cool site. Northern light limits, sun spot activity, radiation exposure in flight, all kinds of neat stuff:
https://www.spaceweather.com/
If that picture was larger it would make a cool wall paper.
Some nights you can watch the lights dancing for hours, they shoot over my house and then retract, only to come back stronger and the colour is breath taking.
Who do you voodoo? Where are the feminists to bring this to the world’s attention? Nothing like African enrichment to spice the mosaics, but no chicken hearts in our melting pots, please:
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15398/europe-nigerian-mafia
Self: if Nancy Pelosi does not present the articles of impeachment to the Senate by midnight Sunday (if my math is right), they will become legally null and void.
According to the procedures in place, she only has so long to pass the articles to the Senate. If she does not do it by the deadline, it is as of impeachment had never occurred.
This is something to watch.
Pelosi was forced into the impeachment procedure against her better political instincts. Is this her way to nullify the whole effort? Get the publicity against Trump without the implications of the impeachment trial exoneration in the Senate?
To say nothing of the Biden/Kerry/Pelosi Jr./Romney involvement/scandal, which would be bound to come out in the Senate trial…will she let the impeachment articles lapse, to protect her son (among others)?
Or, will she cave and file at the last minute…
Something to keep an eye on.
BEIRUT (AP) — Unidentified planes struck targets in Syria near the border with Iraq on Friday, killing eight Iran-backed Iraqi militiamen, Syrian activists and two Iraqi officials said, an attack that comes amid soaring tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the planes targeted positions belonging to pro-Iran militias in the Boukamal area, near the border with Iraq. The Britain-based organization, which documents the war in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said the planes struck, among other targets, weapons depots and vehicles belonging to the militias.
An Iraqi security official and another official, from the Iran-backed Iraqi militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, said warplanes targeted two vehicles carrying missiles on the Syrian side of the border. The strike was most likely carried out by Israeli warplanes, they said but offered no evidence.
The Israeli military has no immediate comment. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on the Syria bombing, which comes at a time of high tension between Iran and the U.S.
https://apnews.com/d9d191169191364bbfbe7f0224ea91b9?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP
Germany: Dangerous Islamist released from prison because court sent a letter too late
In December 2018 the Frankfurt Regional Court sentenced the Islamist Bilal G. to three and a half years in prison – now he has apparently been released from prison.As the newspaper “Frankfurter Rundschau” reports, the 30-year-old has been at large since Thursday evening. His lawyer, Seda Basay-Yildiz, said: “Mr. G. is initially released on formal grounds because the Regional Court failed to deliver the verdict to his lawyers in due time – that is what we reprimanded.The lawyer wanted to appeal against the judgement to the Federal Court of Justice, but for this she needed a written version of the copy of the judgement. As the daily “Frankfurter Rundschau” further writes, it took the Regional Court more than five months to deliver the letter to Basay-Yildiz.According to the law, however, a decision on a person in custody must be made as quickly as possible. Bilal G. has now been in prison for one year and ten months and is accused of aiding and abetting a serious act of violence that endangers the state.He is said to have helped a student to travel to Syria to join Islamist fighters. The teenager was killed shortly afterwards.
More:
https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2020/01/germany-dangerous-islamist-released.html
Muslim Terrorist Was Responsible For Attack on UK Prison Officers at High Security Jail – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 10, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/uk/202001101077999274-muslim-terrorist-was-responsible-for-attack-on-uk-prison-officers-at-high-security-jail—reports/
“In recent years there have been numerous reports warning that inmates in British prisons are being converted to radical Islam while behind bars. Last month a Muslim terrorist killed two people at London Bridge after being released from jail.
Two Muslim inmates were reportedly behind an attack on five prison officers at Whitemoor high security prison in Cambridgeshire.
The prisoners, who were reportedly wearing fake suicide vests, slashed one of the officers in the face when he unlocked their cell on Thursday morning.
The BBC and Sky News claimed one of those involved in the incident was Brusthom Ziamani, 24, who was convicted in 2015 of preparing an act of terrorism.
The trial heard he had planned to behead a British soldier and admired the pair who were convicted of killing and decapitating Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013.
Her Majesty’s Prison Service issued a statement saying: “Five members of staff at HMP Whitemoor attended hospital following a serious assault on an officer by two prisoners on 9 January. The incident was quickly resolved by our brave staff and our thoughts are with the injured officers at this time.
“We do not tolerate assaults on our hardworking officers and will push for the strongest possible punishment. We have referred the incident to the police and it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
The Metropolitan Police have reportedly taken over the investigation from Cambridgeshire Police because they are the lead force in the country for counter-terrorism.
The BBC claimed the second inmate was serving jail time for an unspecified violent offence and had converted to Islam in prison.
The jury at Ziamani’s trial heard he had used the internet to research army cadet bases.
Ziamani was 18 when he was arrested by police in 2014 in a joint operation by Scotland Yard and MI5.
He was jailed for 22 years but his sentence was reduced slightly on appeal.
?Whitemoor, which is located in the flatlands of the Cambridgeshire countryside just outside the town of March, houses more than 400 Category A and B prisoners.
Many of the Category A prisoners are convicted murderers and terrorists who are serving long sentences.”
Two Indian Army Porters Killed in Ceasefire Violation by Pakistan Along Line of Control (sputniknews, Jan 10, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/india/202001101077998050-two-indian-army-porters-killed-in-ceasefire-violation-by-pakistan-along-line-of-control/
“India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads since February 2019, when 40 Indian security personnel were killed in a suicide bombing attack in Kashmir. A Pakistan-based terror group claimed responsibility for it. In August, India revoked the special status of Kashmir, sparking outrage from Pakistan.
Two Indian Army porters were killed and two more sustained injuries in mortar shelling by Pakistan along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Gulpur sector of the Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. The firing is still underway between India and Pakistan.
One of the porters died on the spot, while the other one succumbed to the injuries in hospital. Porters, who form the logistical backbone for troops, are deployed along the Line of Control facing Pakistan.
Jammu-based defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand said: “On Friday, about 1.15 pm, Pakistan initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing small arms and shelling with mortars along the LoC in Sunderbani sector”.
The heavily militarised Indo-Pakistani border has frequently witnessed cross border exchanges of fire between the two armies, causing mainly civilian casualties on both sides.
The two nuclear-armed nations have accused each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire agreement over 3,000 times to date this past year. In the last week, there was persistent artillery fire across the border, causing several civilian injuries on the two sides.”
“JAW DROPPING line for Trump rally…”
by Kane – January 10, 2020
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/jaw-dropping-line-for-trump-rally/
Trump in rare form… by Kane – January 10, 2020
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/comedian-trump-in-rare-form/
Excellent, Thank You EB
Iran CLEARS debris from plane crash site after accusing US of inventing ‘big lie’ that they shot the jet down and insisting Tehran will ‘handle’ black box data (dailymail, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7872337/Iran-accuses-big-lie-missile-claims.html
“Iran has cleared up the crash site where a passenger jet came down two days ago and said today it wants to handle the black box data itself – after denying the West’s ‘big lie’ that an Iranian missile shot down the plane.
The debris of the Boeing 737 has been removed from the crash site near Tehran before Ukrainian investigators have even arrived, sparking fears of a cover-up.
Tehran says it is ‘opening’ the flight recorders today but has indicated it will not allow the US government to analyse their contents.
Washington and its allies believe that the plane was shot down by two Iranian missiles which were launched just minutes after the airliner took off.
It is feared that Iranian forces may have mistaken the passenger plane for a military jet, hours after Iran launched missile strikes on US bases in Iraq.
Iran, which claims the crash which killed 176 was caused by a technical failure, has accused the West of ‘psychological warfare’ as it denied the claims today.
‘It is unfortunate that the psychological operation of the US government and those supporting it are adding insult to the injury of the bereaved families and victimising them for certain goals by propagating such fallacies,’ government spokesman Ali Rabiei said.
‘No one will assume responsibility for such a big lie once it is known that the claim had been fraudulent,’ he was quoted as saying by Press TV.
The crisis forced Western planes heading to Tehran to turn around in mid-air last night, with many airlines now avoiding Iranian airspace.
America’s Federal Aviation Administration had banned US airlines from flying over Iran just hours before the crash, potentially saving American lives from a misdirected shoot-down.
Visiting the crash site today, CBS reporter Elizabeth Palmer said ‘virtually all pieces of the plane’ had been removed with no security around the site and scavengers now scouring the remaining debris.
Bulldozers were seen at the crash site just hours after the plane came down and it is feared that evidence could have been compromised.
Ukraine says its investigators have been granted permission to look for missile fragments, but they were nowhere in sight by the time the debris was removed…”
Hanukkah stabbing suspect is indicted on five more hate crime charges in New York for ‘storming into a rabbi’s home and attacking people with a knife’ (dailymail, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7871769/Hanukkah-stabbing-suspect-indicted-five-hate-crime-charges-New-York.html
“A federal grand jury handed up hate crime charges Thursday against the man accused of stabbing five people with a machete during a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City.
The indictment charges Grafton Thomas with five counts each of attempting to kill victims based on their religion and obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon.
Thomas, 37, also faces state charges in the December 28 attack inside the home of a rabbi in Monsey, NY. He is being held without bail on the federal charges.
‘We now allege that he did this with the intention of targeting his victims because of their religion,’ Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a news release. ‘Thomas faces life in prison for his alleged violent acts of prejudice and intolerance.’
A message was sent to Thomas’ defense attorney, Michael Sussman, seeking comment. Sussman has said Thomas had a long history of mental illness. He has requested Thomas undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
Authorities have said they found a blood-stained 18-inch (45-centimeter) machete in Thomas’ car, along with a knife smeared with dried blood and hair. They also said Thomas had handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references and recently used his phone to look up information on Hitler and the location of synagogues.
One of the men wounded in the machete attack remains in serious condition. His family has said he may have permanent brain damage.
Thomas is accused of storming into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg, a prominent Hasidic Jewish leader in a predominantly ultra-Orthodox community of Monsey, New York, and attacking guests gathered there for a Hanukkah celebration.
Thomas allegedly took out a machete and started stabbing and slashing people in the home packed with dozens of congregants.
The five victims suffered serious injuries – including a severed finger, slash wounds and deep lacerations.
The most gravely injured is reported to be a 72-year-old man who suffered machete blows to his head, leaving him partially paralyzed, comatose and breathing on a respirator.
Josef Neumann, a father-of-seven children from New York, sustained a ‘fractured skull’ and had been ‘sliced through his neck’.
Authorities said Thomas fled by car to Manhattan, where he was arrested later that night.
Thomas’ attorney, Michael Sussman, has said his client’s actions were likely an expression of psychosis rather than bigotry.
Thomas was arrested within two hours of the attack. When police pulled his car over in Manhattan, he allegedly had blood all over his clothing and smelled of bleach but said ‘almost nothing’ to the arresting officers.
Authorities say they discovered a blood-stained 18-inch machete and a knife smeared with dried blood and hair in Thomas’ car after the attack.
The stabbings, which occurred on the seventh night of Hanukkah, came amid a series of violent attacks targeting Jews in the region that have led to increased security, particularly around religious gatherings.
An attorney retained by the alleged attacker’s family, Michael Sussman, said Thomas had been hearing voices and may have stopped taking psychiatric medications recently.”
Iran is ‘one or two years’ away from getting a nuclear weapon if Tehran continues to violate the 2015 accord, France warns (dailymail, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7872535/Iran-one-two-years-away-getting-nuclear-weapon-France-warns.html
“Iran is close to developing its own nuclear weapons, France’s foreign minister warned today.
Jean-Yves Le Drian said if the regime carried on violating the 2015 deal restricting its weapons programme then it could become a nuclear power in just ‘one or two years.’
Tehran has been gradually breaching aspects of the deal since President Donald Trump walked away from it in 2018 and imposed crippling economic sanctions.
Speaking ahead of an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers, Le Drian said: ‘If they continue with unravelling the Vienna agreement, then yes, within a fairly short period of time, between one and two years, they could have access to a nuclear weapon, which is not an option.’
But he insisted the accord ‘is not dead’ and said it was essential to salvage it during an interview with French radio station RTL.
Iran has threatened to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels and abandon all limits on its nuclear programme since the killing of Qassem Soleimani by the United States.
Iran’s most serious breach so far had been to enrich uranium to 20 per cent – the maximum level at which it can be considered purely for energy use.
But after Trump’s drone strike against Soleimani in Baghdad the regime threatened to expand its programme much further.
‘Iran’s nuclear programme no longer faces any limitation in the operational field’, the Iranian government said in a statement on Sunday night.
Under the deal, Tehran had pledged to reduce its nuclear capacities for several years, including by capping its enrichment of uranium at 3.67 per cent, far below the more than 90 per cent required for a nuclear weapon.
Once a country enriches uranium to around 20 per cent, scientists say the time needed to reach 90 per cent is halved.
Iran continues to insist that it is not seeking a nuclear weapon.
This week, Trump called on Britain, France and Germany to join him in withdrawing from the nuclear agreement which many analysts see as effectively dead in the water already…”
EU foreign ministers gather in Brussels to salvage Iran deal (abcnews, Jan 10, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eu-foreign-ministers-gather-brussels-salvage-iran-deal-68191220
“European foreign affairs ministers and the NATO secretary general are gathering in Brussels for an emergency meeting during which they are expected to reiterate their support for the nuclear deal brokered with Iran.
Despite calls from U.S. president Donald Trump to break away from the deal, which is aimed at preventing Iran from getting atomic weapons, the European Union remains committed to the treaty amid an escalation of tensions in the region.
Iran struck the deal in 2015 with the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China. It has, however, been damaged by U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally abandon it in 2018, triggering sanctions that have badly hurt Iran’s economy.
Iran has gradually rolled back its commitment to the accord and the recent exchange of hostilities between Iran and the U.S. has dealt further blows to the pact. After its top general, Qassem Soleimani, was killed in a U.S. drone attack, Tehran announced it would no longer respect limits set under the deal on how many centrifuges it can use to enrich uranium.
Speaking on French radio RTL ahead of the meeting, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian continued to insist the accord “is not dead” and said it’s essential to salvage it. Blaming the U.S. decision to withdraw, Le Drian said Iran could get access to atomic weapons within “one or two years” if the deal continues to lose its substance.
In a phone call with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, U.K. Prime minister Boris Johnson also reaffirmed his support for the treaty, and the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said this week the deal is “today more important than ever.”
Borrell has invited Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to Brussels for talks, but a date for his visit has yet to be set
The Council of EU foreign ministers will also assess the crisis in war-torn Libya, and will be briefed by NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. The council said in a statement it will be “focusing on ways to deescalate tensions in the region.”
Speaking to German broadcaster n-tv, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said “the door has been opened” to talks about conflicts in the region, not just Iraq and Iran but also Syria and Yemen. He reiterated Germany’s position that the fight against IS in Iraq needs to continue.”
South Carolina Fires Back on Gun Control
Stolen Dresden jewels offered for sale on the dark web (telegraph, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/10/stolen-dresden-jewels-offered-sale-dark-web/
“Historic jewellery stolen in a spectacular robbery at a Dresden museum last year has been reportedly offered for sale on the dark web.
Irreplaceable antique jewellery estimated to be worth as much as €1bn (£850m) was feared lost after it was stolen from the city’s Green Vault museum in November in what is believed to be the biggest jewel heist since the Second World War.
But an Israeli security company claims two of the missing items have now been offered to its investigators for €9 (£7.6m).
They include the famous “Dresden White”, a 49-carat diamond of exceptional purity that is the most valuable missing item.
The CGI Group said its investigators were offered two of the missing items in an online chat.
“All information was given to the Dresden public prosecutor’s office in real time,” Zvika Nave, the company’s CEO said.
The German authorities have not commented on the claim, and it is not clear how seriously the alleged offer is being taken.
“At the moment we cannot report anything new in the investigation,” said a spokesman for German prosecutors.
It was feared the baroque jewellery was too famous to sell intact and that the robbers would break it up so diamonds and other precious stones could be sold individually.
But the Israeli investigators were reportedly offered a breast-star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle intact.
It is not clear if the shoulder-piece containing the Dresden White is being offered intact.
The CGI Group says its investigators were offered the items in an online message via the dark web, an unregulated part of the internet that is only accessible with specialised software and is used by criminals to avoid detection.
“We have the Dresden White diamond and the star of the Polish White Eagle. These items are left and will be returned for a price,” a portion of the message published by Germany’s Bild newspaper reads.
“Please note we will not negotiate….You will not find us, don’t bother.”
The message offered the two items for €9m (£7.6m) — considerably less than they are worth. The Dresden White alone is estimated to be worth more than £9m.
It demanded the money be paid in Bitcoin. Transfers of the online cryptocurrency are much harder to trace than conventional payments.
A spokesman for the Dresden state art collections said the museum has “no knowledge of the stolen items being offered for sale”.”
Israeli investigators?
Uh.
Germany’s Moral Choice
https://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=189935&sec_id=189935
Man appears at Old Bailey charged with murder of Omani student stabbed to death for expensive watch (telegraph, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/10/man-appears-old-bailey-charged-murder-omani-student-stabbed/
“An Omani student was killed in an “extremely violent” robbery outside Harrods over his expensive watch, a court heard.
Badir Rahim Alnazi, 23, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this morning charged with the murder of 20-year-old Mohamed Abdullah Al Araimi.
He was attacked near the luxury department store in Knightsbridge in December.
The court heard Alnazi allegedly killed the King’s College politics and economics student after attempting to rob him of a watch “worth up to £120,000″….”
LIVE IN TAIWAN 2: Fighting for Freedom
Criminalising Opinions is Tyranny
Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening to Kill President Trump in Facebook Video (breitbart, Jan 9, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2020/01/09/man-arrested-for-allegedly-threatening-to-kill-president-trump-in-facebook-video/
“A man in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was arrested Saturday after he allegedly threatened to kill President Trump in a Facebook live video.
Chauncy Lump, a 26-year-old security guard, reportedly made the threats after the president announced Friday that Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. led airstrike, according to the New York Daily News.
“He killed my leader, and I have to kill him. I am ready for Donald. I am ready,” he said, according to the criminal complaint filed by Secret Service Agent Lucas White.
A Facebook employee reported the video to authorities a few minutes after it went live Friday on a page titled “BlackMan Vs America.”…”
John Kerry Complains Donald Trump Ruined Iran Deal (breitbart, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/10/john-kerry-complains-donald-trump-ruined-iran-deal/
“Former Secretary of State John Kerry complained Thursday that President Donald Trump was ruining everything he and former President Barack Obama achieved with the Iran deal.
“He put his disdain for anything done by the last administration ahead of his duty to keep the country safe,” Kerry wrote in a mournful 1,000 word op-ed for the New York Times. The former secretary of state is currently supporting former Vice President Joe Biden for president and campaigning for him in Iowa.
Kerry argued the Iran nuclear deal was working, but Trump threw it all away, which only empowered Iran’s Quds Force Commander Qasem Suleimani.
“There were no missile attacks on United States facilities. No ships were being detained or sabotaged in the Persian Gulf,” he wrote about the state of the Middle East under the deal. “There were no protesters breaching our embassy in Baghdad. Iraq welcomed our presence fighting ISIS.”
Kerry even praised Iran’s response after they detained 12 American sailors in 2016, thanks to the “foundation of diplomacy” laid by the Obama administration.
“In 2016, we defused deep disagreements with Iran over prisoners and averted conflict when American sailors inadvertently entered Iranian waters and were detained by Iranian forces,” he wrote.
Kerry accused Trump of alienating American allies in the Middle East and acting “recklessly” without a strategy.
“We have been left with an incoherent Iran and Iraq policy that has made the region more dangerous and put Americans at greater risk,” he wrote.
Kerry praised former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis for arguing in favor of the agreement and criticized current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for supporting the president.
The former secretary of state warned of a repeat of the Iraq war or Vietnam under Trump, warning young Americans were frightened about dying in an upcoming war with Iran.
“Our diplomacy should not be defined by bluster, threats and brinkmanship, tweets or temper tantrums, but by a vision for peace and security addressing multiple interests of the region,” he wrote.”
Logan Act – Logan Act – Logan Act – Logan Act –
Against a Democrat!! Dream on.
Vatican Foreign Minister: Migration Has Always Been ‘Good for Humanity’ (breitbart, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2020/01/10/vatican-foreign-minister-migration-has-always-been-good-for-humanity/
“The Vatican’s foreign minister said this week that “history is made of migrations” while insisting that migration has always been a good thing for humanity.
Speaking at a conference titled “Building Europe Together” at the University of Strasbourg, the Holy See Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, said that migrants are “our brothers and sisters who seek a better life far from poverty, hunger, exploitation, and the unjust distribution of the resources of the planet, which should be divided equally among all.”
“In the history of peoples, migration has always been a good for humanity,” the archbishop stated. “Over the past centuries, there have been migrations linked to conquests, but also to deportation. The occupations have always resulted in a multitude of victims and devastation. Civilizations and cultures have often been wiped out and new ones built.”
“The fact remains that history is made of migrations,” he said. “And migrations are also part of our contemporary and modern history; they affect in particular many countries of our dear Europe.”
The archbishop said it is critical to address the problems in migrants’ countries of origin, in order to stem the conflicts and violence that drive people to leave their countries.
The goal of immigration should not be “assimilation” in the sense of a renouncement of one’s identity in order to assume the identity of the host country, he said, but nor should immigrants close themselves off from their new surroundings. The goal should rather be a reciprocal enrichment between the various “worlds” that migration brings into contact.
A danger exists, however, of creating “an amorphous society, deprived of ideals” based on the lowest common denominator, the archbishop said.
“There is also the very real danger that the phenomenon of migration will take place in a savage manner and become a breeding ground for human trafficking, the exploitation of the migrants themselves and their recruitment into criminal groups,” the archbishop said.
Speaking at the same conference, Father Fabio Baggio, the undersecretary of the Vatican’s Migrants and Refugees Section, praised the U.N.’s two Global Compacts, one on “safe, orderly and regular migration” (GCM), and the other on refugees (GCR).
The Vatican is convinced that “the two Global Compacts represent a historic advance in our shared responsibility to act in solidarity in favor of people on the move, especially those who find themselves in very precarious situations and those forced to leave,” he said.
Moreover, welcoming migrants “means offering broader options for migrants and refugees to enter destination countries safely and legally,” he said.”
German Cardinal Criticized for Church Donations Made to Migrant NGOs (breitbart, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/immigration/2020/01/10/german-cardinal-criticized-for-church-donations-made-to-migrant-ngos/
“Leading German Cardinal Reinhard Marx has come under fire for donating €50,000 of Catholic Church funds to United4Rescue, a coalition of NGOs engaged in migrant sea rescues.
In an open letter published Thursday, Stephen Brandner, deputy federal spokesman for the populist Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party, asked whether the president of the German Bishops’ Conference had received approval from the church community to donate €50,000 to an organization that encourages people smuggling.
“According to media reports, you have donated 50,000 euros from your archbishopric’s funds for a proposed vessel of the ‘United 4 Rescue’ alliance,” the letter begins. “I am interested in the reasons for this decision and the extent to which it was coordinated within the religious community.”
The parliamentarian also requests “information about whether and to what extent you donate from your private funds (your monthly payments from tax funds should be considerable) for this purpose, since it seems to be a matter of personal concern to you.”
“Why do you also use archdiocese funds? Are there no more important tasks? You are also welcome to give me information about which projects you also support from your private and bishopric funds,” he writes.
“I wonder whether my church taxes, which I have been paying in significant amounts for some 30 years, will be used for this purpose,” he continues, “even though I am not willing to support traffickers and it is my belief that the use of so-called ‘rescue boats’ means that more and more people embark on the life-threatening route across the sea to Europe, where they hope for a better life.”
“How can you advocate supporting an incentive system that often leads to deaths and considerable tensions in our society?” he concludes.
The United4Rescue alliance is backed by the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), which recently announced its intention to send its own rescue ship to the Mediterranean.
Another MP from the AfD, Johannes Huber, wrote on Twitter: “Marx misappropriates €50,000 from church tax money. In so doing, he is supporting the business of traffickers.”
According to the archdiocese of Munich-Freising, funds for the donation came from a special part of the archdiocesan budget earmarked for the cardinal to donate to charitable causes.”
French Department Reveals 80 Percent of Minor Migrants Are Really Adults (breitbart, Jan 10, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/10/french-department-reveals-80-percent-of-minor-migrants-are-really-adults/
“The French department of Côte-d’Or has revealed that of the over 500 migrants claiming to be minors who arrived at the department in 2019, just 20 per cent of them were actually underage.
The department, which contains the city of Dijon, stated that it received 523 foreigners who claimed to be minors in 2019 and that examinations revealed that only around a hundred were the age they claimed to be, Le Bien Public reports.
President of the departmental council of Côte-d’Or François Sauvadet, along with secretary-general of the prefecture of Côte-d’Or Christophe Marot and Dijon public prosecutor Eric Mathais, signed a new agreement that will see all future migrants who claim to be underage subjected to tests that will have their fingerprints and photographs collected.
“The objective is to identify young people who are involved in child protection under good conditions, and to prevent a person from trying their luck in several departments,” President Sauvadet said.
France had had problems with migrants attempting to falsely claim to be underage to receive preferential treatment for years with police even busting a network of migrants, primarily from the Ivory Coast, who helped create fake documents to fool French authorities in 2018 and cost taxpayers a million euros.
Last year, a migrant attempted to claim to police in the commune of Angoulême in south-west France that he was 16 years old until officers conducted a background check that showed the man, who claimed to be from Mali, was actually 47 after his fingerprints were connected to a passport he had used to enter Spain.
Figures released by the Assembly of French Departments (ADF) in September revealed the cost of unaccompanied minor migrants to the French taxpayer, stating that the French pay two billion euros a year for the estimated 41,000 minors currently living in France, with each migrant costing the state 50,000 euros.”
Berlin Wall artist Kiddy Citny paints new peace mural in Sheung Wan for Hongkongers
Iran denies downing plane, says West should share evidence
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran on Friday denied Western allegations that one of its own missiles downed a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed outside Tehran, and called on the U.S. and Canada to share any information they have on the crash, which killed all 176 people on board.
Western leaders said the plane appeared to have been unintentionally hit by a surface-to-air missile just hours after Iran launched around a dozen ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Iraq to avenge the killing of its top general in an American airstrike last week.
“What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane,” Ali Abedzadeh, head of Iran’s national aviation department, told a press conference.
https://apnews.com/379c8159af4bdd7b5504fecc202d5398
Greece: 13 injured in chase of suspected migrant smugglers (abcnews, Jan 10, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greece-13-injured-chase-suspected-migrant-smugglers-68191885
“A car carrying migrants who had crossed into Greece from neighboring Turkey crashed into another vehicle following a high-speed chase across the north of the country early Friday, leaving 13 people injured, police said.
The car, with 12 people inside, failed to stop for a check on the main highway near the northern town of Kavala just after midnight, police said. The ensuing police chase ended in the city of Thessaloniki about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away, when the vehicle ran a series of red lights and crashed into a passing car.
Ten men from Bangladesh, some of whom had been hidden in the trunk of the car, and two men from Syria were transported to hospital, as was the Greek driver of the other car. The Syrians were treated and released and were arrested on suspicion of migrant smuggling. The Greek driver was also released, while the 10 Bangladeshi men remained hospitalized with light injuries, police said.
Thousands of people continue to enter Greece from Turkey, either from the coast to nearby Greek islands or through the land border in far northeastern Greece, despite European efforts to stop migrant flows. Most hope to make their way to more prosperous northern European countries.”
100,000 gun owners to fight new Virginia bans: ‘We’re not the problem’
Some 100,000 Virginia gun owners who have rallied at county and town meetings for “gun sanctuaries” on Thursday began “bombarding” state Democratic lawmakers eager to use their new majority in Richmond to push through new restrictions and bans.
“Now it’s time. Now we’re going to melt down their phones, explode their inboxes on their email. We’re going to bombard them more than they’ve been bombarded,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is leading the gun sanctuary movement.
On Thursday, he issued an “alert” to supporters to start lobbying lawmakers in Richmond against gun control. He said that the new anti-gun laws from Democrats are “pouring in like a waterfall.”
Later this month, his group is also organizing its annual “lobbying day” that is expected to draw dozens of buses full of supporters from around Virginia as well as from 13 states as far away as Texas, Florida, and Connecticut.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/100-000-gun-owners-to-fight-new-virginia-bans-were-not-the-problem
Reminder: After 9/11, Biden Wanted to Send $200 Million to Iran
Vice President Joe Biden, fresh off attacking Republicans for writing an open letter to the Iranian regime, is pushing for $1 billion in new aid to Central America.
Reminder, in autumn of 2001, right after the 9/11 attacks, Joe Biden wanted to send $200 million to the Iranian regime.
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-campaign-spot/reminder-after-911-biden-wanted-send-200-million-iran-jim-geraghty/
HAMMER: The War Powers Resolution Is, And Always Has Been, Unconstitutional
By Josh Hammer
DailyWire.com
Congressional Democrats, who seemed
willfully naiveblissfully unaware of then-President Barack Obama’s rather expansive interpretation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 during his strategically disastrous 2011 operation to oust Libyan strongman Muammar al-Qaddafi, suddenly seem to care an awful lot about constitutional norms and separation of powers principles again.Intellectual inconsistency much?
Specifically, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House of Representatives is debating today whether to congressionally impose War Powers Resolution limitations upon President Donald Trump’s unilateral ability to ratchet up militancy with the Islamic Republic of Iran. In their crusade to hamstring the president’s conduct of his foreign policy vis-à-vis the jihadist Iranian regime, House Democrats have even found some libertarian-leaning Republican allies.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-the-war-powers-resolution-is-and-always-has-been-unconstitutional
IT BEGINS: Chronic TDS Patients Blame Downed Ukrainian Flight on Trump
News just broke regarding the Ukrainian passenger plane that was shot down in Tehran this week, killing all 176 people on board. Iran refused to hand over the black box from the flight, sparking suspicions over their potential involvement, and now the Pentagon believes as much. According to Fox News, the plane “was shot down by mistake by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, Pentagon officials told Fox News.” Those dead include 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians, and 11 Ukrainians, among others.
Iran is responsible, but do you have an ounce of doubt that liberals will find a way to blame President Donald Trump for it? Of course not – and they already have.
Here’s just a sampling of the craziness on display:
https://bongino.com/it-begins-chronic-tds-patients-blame-downed-ukrainian-flight-on-trump/
Can Iran afford war? These 6 charts shed some light
Iran attacked U.S. targets this week after the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an American airstrike, leaving some investors questioning if the situation would lead to war.
Officials from both countries have said they’re not seeking an all-out war. Many geopolitical experts said Iran — more than the U.S. — cannot afford to get drawn into war. That’s partly due to the Islamic Republic’s weakened economy after years of punishing sanctions.
To be clear, updated data on Iran’s economy from official sources is not readily available.
Here’s a look at six charts that might shed some light on the state of the Iranian economy.
Economy in recession
International sanctions to rein in Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear program have for years crippled the country’s economy.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/us-iran-conflict-charts-show-state-of-iranian-economy-amid-sanctions.html
(Richard: Iran is another example how propaerly applied and enforced sanctions can bring a nation to its knees. Trump is fighting WWIII using soft economic power when he can and military force when he must, this combination is bringing Iran and China to the brink of collapse and we are waiting for their economies to collapse to discover what they willd o when this happens.The Soviet Union collapsed without much violence, Iran isn’t following that example and China may not, especially if they think the collapse was deliberately engineered.
CNN – Iranian ambassador: US putting a knife to our throat with sanctions
U.S. government details new sanctions against Iran
Necessary, but insufficient.
Give it time, the way things are going the Iranians will take the Dems advice and hit us again, then Trump will take out several more big wigs in Iran. One or two more hits and the Iranian regime will collapse.
Lawmakers across the nation prepare for battle over abortion
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 6:58 AM PT — Friday, January 10, 2020
State lawmakers nationwide are gearing up as a slew of abortion measures are expected to land in the Supreme Court. One America’s Tali Letoi takes a closer look ahead.
https://www.oann.com/lawmakers-across-the-nation-prepare-for-battle-over-abortion/
Iran to download plane black box after missile blamed for crash
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Friday it wanted to download black box recordings itself from a Ukrainian airliner that crashed, killing all 176 people aboard, after Canada and others said the plane was brought down by an Iranian missile, probably by mistake.
Iran, which has denied the Boeing 737-800 was downed by a missile, said it could take one or two months to extract information from the voice and flight data recorders. It said it could ask Russia, Canada, France or Ukraine if it needed help.
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Tehran also said the probe might take one or two years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he could not rule out a missile strike but this had not been confirmed. Kiev has said its investigators wanted to search the crash site for any debris of a Russian-made missile used by Iran.
https://www.oann.com/france-others-line-up-to-probe-plane-crash-in-iran-blamed-on-missile/
Iran TV shows flight recorders from crashed plane
Iran: Boeing crash site near Tehran empty, wreckage removed
Footage filmed on Friday shows the site where a Ukrainian airliner crashed, near in Tehran on Wednesday, is now empty.
Several vehicles and locals can be seen on site, although investigators and emergency services appear to have left and virtually all wreckage from the crashed plane has been removed.
A diplomatic spat over the causes of the crash is now underway.
Western leaders said an Iranian missile caused the downing of the Boeing 737-800, possibly in error. Iran denied that a missile strike from its air defence systems was responsible.
At Least Ten Killed in Mosque Bomb Attack in Southwest Pakistan – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 10, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/asia/202001101078002213-at-least-ten-injured-in-mosque-bomb-attack-in-southwest-pakistan—reports/
“The explosion reportedly rocked the mosque during Friday evening prayers, The Washington Post cited local police as saying.
One police officer and eight civilians were killed in a blast that rocked a mosque near the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province of Pakistan, on Friday evening, police told The Washington Post.
The explosion also injured at least 11 worshippers. No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack yet.
Local Police Chief Mohammad Ajmal told the media outlet that the death toll could go up, as some of the injured are in critical condition.
Days earlier, two servicemen died when a roadside bomb attack targeted a paramilitary force car in Quetta.
The attack was claimed by an offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban – Hizbul Ahrar.”
It’s NYE and all the tards come out to play with fireworks:
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7823265_298ef00d
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7817065_bd5506e3
This one’s from 2018, graphic:
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7473703_e366bbde
Germany: Turkish-Islamic Union to train imams abroad for first time
The Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) will train imams in Germany for the first time.
The occasion was marked at a ceremony in Dahlem, North Rhine-Westphalia, on Thursday.
The programme will begin with 12 female and 10 male students, all of whom needed a theology degree from a German of Turkish university in order to enrol.
DITIB is one of the largest Islamic organisations in Germany, responsible for 857 mosques and nearly 1,100 imams.
Previously religious teachers were trained in Ankara and sent to Germany from Turkey.
ANTISEMITIC DISCOURSE REPORT 2018
To print report – 66 pages – https://cst.org.uk/public/data/file/6/0/Antisemitic%20Discourse%20Report%202018%20WEB.pdf
CST’s Antisemitic Discourse Report covering 2018 is released today. Its study of the Labour antisemitism controversy is a timely reminder of the weight of offence that caused the Jewish communal leadership to hold the unprecedented Enough is Enough demonstration in March last year; and what subsequently caused Labour to be formally accused of institutional antisemitism. Given the Discourse Report’s content, it is somewhat ironic that it had to be delayed due to the 2019 General Election being called, as publication would have risked CST breaking electoral and charitable guidelines. Antisemitic Discourse means antisemitism that occurs in politics, media, sport and other public settings. CST’s report covers both actual antisemitism and issues that impact on it and British Jews. The 2018 report goes well beyond the Labour antisemitism controversy. Other sections include antisemitism from other political parties and in the Brexit debate, university campuses; social media, football, Gilad Atzmon, Katie Hopkins and Baroness Jenny Tonge. The report also includes polling information on antisemitism and summaries of initiatives that opposed antisemitism during the year.
https://cst.org.uk/news/blog/2019/12/30/antisemitic-discourse-report-2018
EU FREE MOVEMENT – ECONOMIC IGNORANCE OR IMPERIALIST MALICE
“Without the free movement of people, you cannot have the free movement of capital, goods and services” says the New European President Ursula von der Leyen in reference to Brexit. What extraordinary ignorance of economics and trade! The whole purpose of the free movement of goods, services and capital is to make the (often forced, culturally alienating and high cost) movement of people unnecessary. But of course the main aim of the EU has never been free trade and prosperity but the imperial ambition of a single “country called Europe”. In such an end state the more upheaval and movement of national populations, the less homogenous the states, the less valid their governments – the better it is for the credibility of the conquering Superstate. Far fewer British workers have technical and vocational qualifications than in our major competitors and it has worsened since Blair opened our borders first to more non-EU labour, then all East Europeans because it is far easier for corporations to recruit from abroad than to train young Britons – not least because if they are no longer required they are able to “go home”! Blair claimed that we needed more immigrants to fill 600,000 vacancies. Four million immigrants later there are still over 700,000 vacancies! So when the UK leaves the EU this month we can begin to repair the damage that that imperialist, corporatist, mass unemployment, socially degrading, culturally alienating superstate has done to the UK http://freenations.net/46-years-of-destructive-eu-membership/ The rest of Europe will have to learn by our example. Rodney Atkinson
http://freenations.net/eu-free-movement-economic-ignorance-or-imperialist-malice/
MUSLIM BOASTS OF FOOLING JURY INTO CLEARING HIM FOR ONE JIHAD ATTACK – IMMEDIATELY PLOTS ANOTHER
The jury can be forgiven for being so easily fooled. For years now, the British government and media have systematically deceived the public about the nature and magnitude of the jihad threat, insisting that Islam is a religion of peace and only racist, bigoted “Islamophobes” think otherwise. They doubtless figured that poor Mohiussunnath Chowdhury had a spell of anger over “Islamophobia” and was now over it and would resume his place among the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims. Robert Spencer
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/01/uk-muslim-boasts-of-fooling-jury-into-clearing-him-for-one-jihad-attack-immediately-plots-another
SECRETARIES POMPEO AND MNUCHIN ANNOUNCE SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN
video – 4 minutes 52 seconds
ISRAELI ARAB REVEALS THE LEFT’S BIGGEST SECRET
video – 4 minutes 2 seconds
he Israeli Arab in this video Abdul Abed El Rachman talks about how the Left uses Arabs for their own benefit. They want to see the humiliated and downtrodden Arab so that the Arab will ask for their help. And then the Left uses that image for the public and blames Israel. But Abul tells the truth about Israel. Israel is a beautiful and wonderful country. Leah Rosenberg
https://israelunwired.com/israeli-arab-reveals-the-lefts-biggest-secret/
ISRAEL’S FINAL WARNING TO ITS ENEMIES
video – 1 minute 51 seconds
The IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Aviv Kochavi, said it multiple times: “We will strike forcefully.” Israel has had enough of the terrorism. Not only will they strike those attacking, but they will strike all other groups and countries involved in perpetrating the terrorism. Leah Rosenberg
https://israelunwired.com/israels-final-warning-to-its-enemies/
ISRAEL: IRAN’S MISSILES AND ITS EVOLVING “RINGS OF FIRE”
To print report – 15 pages – https://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/169-MONOGRAPH-Rubin-Iranian-Missiles-web.pdf
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s warning on the emergent Yemen-originating missile threat corresponds to Iran’s modus operandi of surrounding its foes with missile “rings of fire” and will enable Tehran to complete the missile encirclement of the Jewish state as a step toward its eventual demise. Israel must do its utmost to confront this new strategic threat by establishing an alert system and defense capabilities against Yemen-originating cruise and ballistic missiles, whatever the cost. Uzi Rubin
https://besacenter.org/mideast-security-and-policy-studies/iran-missiles-rings-of-fire/
An ‘accidental’ shootdown of the Ukrainian airliner doesn’t really make sense … but OK
By J.E. Dyer January 10, 2020
The strongest characteristics of the recent series of untoward events in Iraq and Iran are the following:
1. Trump brought off an outcome (for the moment) that confounded everyone’s complacent preconceptions, and vindicated no one’s doctrinal certainties about security policy and the use of force.
2. The “information” environment for the events has been remarkable for its incoherence – not because of the administration in the White House, but because it’s so obvious that the other contributors to the information stream (the news media, general and specialty pundits, politicians from outside the administration) don’t have a common view of what’s going on. Indeed, it’s more than that: they insist on diverging views.
These two features of the whole episode are far too big as topics to try and treat in one sitting. But they make important context for looking briefly at one of the events in question: the shootdown of the Ukrainian airliner during the Iranian missile attack on 7 February.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/01/10/an-accidental-shootdown-of-the-ukrainian-airliner-doesnt-really-make-sense-but-ok/
Mother of woman killed by illegal alien accuses sanctuary city mayor of protecting suspect
By LU Staff January 10, 2020
Remember Oakland, Calif., Mayor Libby Schaaf? A better question is whether Libby Schaaf will ever forget Madisyn White Carroll. Then again, it’s hard to know what’s in the mind of a person whose claim to fame is having tipped off illegal aliens about a raid ICE was planning.
One of the criminals who benefited from Schaaf’s alert is Roberto Martinez, Madisyn White Carroll’s murderer. According to Fox News, Carroll, 19, was shot to death in a road rage incident last month after she and Martinez got into a fender bender.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/01/10/mother-of-woman-killed-by-illegal-alien-accuses-sanctuary-city-mayor-of-protecting-suspect/
MEMRI – Hamas MP Sheikh Salem Salameh: George Washington Killed Indians Because They Were Muslims
… it is inconceivable to Muslims that there are other Muslims who recognize and normalize relations with Israel.
He said that this constitutes betrayal of God, of Islam, and of the Muslims, and that Palestine and Jerusalem are Islamic land belonging to all the Muslims in the world.
He claimed that U.S. President Washington had warned the Muslims and killed Native Americans because they were Muslims who had mosques.
In addition, Sheikh Salameh said that the U.S. passes rulings that allow the Jews to kill the Palestinians.
Fight breaks out at Toronto vigil for Iran plane crash
Bloomberg – U.S. Probes If Russia Is Targeting Biden in 2020 Election Meddling
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are assessing whether Russia is trying to undermine Joe Biden in its ongoing disinformation efforts with the former vice president still the front-runner in the race to challenge President Donald Trump, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
The probe comes as senior U.S. officials are warning that Russia’s election interference in 2020 could be more brazen than in the 2016 presidential race or the 2018 midterm election.
Part of the inquiry is to determine whether Russia is trying to weaken Biden by promoting controversy over his past involvement in U.S. policy toward Ukraine while his son worked for an energy company there.
Trump was impeached by the House and faces a trial in the Senate over his pressure on Ukraine’s president to investigate Biden, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, as well as an unsupported theory that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election.
A Kremlin strategy to undermine Biden would echo its work in 2016, when American intelligence agencies found that Russia carried out a sophisticated operation to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton and ultimately help Trump, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive matter.
A signature trait of Russian President Vladimir Putin “is his ability to convince people of outright falsehoods,” said William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, while declining to comment on whether U.S. intelligence is investigating a possible Russian campaign to undermine Biden.
“In America, they’re using social media and many other tools to inflame social divisions, promote conspiracy theories and sow distrust in our democracy and elections,” Evanina said in a statement. “As we look ahead to 2020, one thing I can guarantee is they’ll keep up their influence campaigns and utilize new vectors of disinformation.”
Russian operations this year represent a continuation of interference in the U.S. and other countries that’s been going on for years as Putin tries to undermine and destabilize western democracies, said John Demers, head of the Justice Department’s national security division.
”I don’t think we were tested in 2018 in the way that we’re going to be tested in 2020,” Demers said, also without commenting on whether agencies are investigating if Russia is targeting Biden. Putin has scoffed at assertions of Russian interference in other nations’ elections.
It isn’t clear how far along intelligence and law enforcement officials are in probing a possible Russian disinformation drive against Biden and how formal the effort is. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.
“Vladimir Putin has interfered in our elections before and it’s no surprise he’s doing so again to prop up President Trump,” said Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates.
It’s a delicate issue for U.S. agencies because they came under criticism for being too slow to react to and publicize what Russia was doing in 2016.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to discuss specifics but said its 2019 assessment of Russia still stands.
‘Aggravating’ Tensions
“Russia’s social media efforts will continue to focus on aggravating social and racial tensions, undermining trust in authorities, and criticizing perceived anti-Russia politicians,” according to that assessment. “Moscow may employ additional influence toolkits — such as spreading disinformation, conducting hack-and leak operations, or manipulating data — in a more targeted fashion to influence US policy, actions and elections.”
Russia’s campaign interference in 2016 resulted in a multiagency investigation that led to a highly classified intelligence assessment, part of which was made public in January 2017. Trump has questioned the finding of Russian meddling and has asserted that government agents biased against him conducted a “witch hunt” into whether his campaign conspired with Russia.
The potential for Russia to spread falsehoods — and to develop increasingly sophisticated techniques to do so — is one of the bigger concerns that U.S. officials have as the 2020 election approaches, Demers said.
”It’s possible that you will see the creation of false documents,” Demers said. “They could be mixed in with real information, which would make it very difficult to discern the difference. I worry about that as the next evolution of some of their means.”
Officials also expect Russia to continue trying to hack organizations, release embarrassing information and carry out malign social media operations.
Leading the Charge
There’s a big difference in 2020 that’s working to the Kremlin’s advantage. In 2016, Russia had to hack documents, covertly leak them and manufacture a social media operation to damage Clinton.
This time around, the narrative about Biden and Ukraine is already well-publicized and being advanced by Trump, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the president’s Republican allies in Congress.
“Biden is to 2020 what Clinton was to 2016,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI agent who has been tracking Russia’s foreign influence operations.
“The difference is that you have Trump in the White House who is also leading that charge and also trying to dig up dirt in Ukraine,” said Watts, who’s now a distinguished research fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Another difference compared to previous years is that the Kremlin is much more overt in carrying out its influence operations. Russia has been openly promoting the controversy over Biden and Ukraine, feeding information back into the U.S. where there is an audience that’s receptive to it, Watts said.
Russia has been using its state-run media RT and Sputnik News to selectively promote favorable and unfavorable information about presidential candidates, according to an analysis by the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Foreign Influence Election 2020.
Biden received the most negative coverage by the outlets through December, according to the analysis. The references were overwhelmingly related to impeachment proceedings against Trump, his role in Ukraine as vice president and his son, Hunter, according to the analysis.
Michael Bloomberg, who announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in November, also had one of the highest percentages of unfavorable coverage. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
‘Great Narrative’
“If you want to watch and understand what they want and how they view things in the world, they’re doing it very publicly,” Watts said. “When you watch just how they speak publicly, they’re very clear that, yes, a second term of Trump would be great.”
“Going all the way back to May they were talking about Biden-Ukraine very heavily,” he said. “It’s a great narrative for them.”
Russia has a history of staging cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns in Ukraine, where it annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs armed separatists in the eastern part of the country.
The Justice Department exposed Russia’s interference in the 2016 election through public indictments of operatives who hacked Democratic organizations, leaked information damaging Clinton and used social media to sow divisions.
A major challenge for the U.S. in 2020 will be deciding when to speak out about Russia’s interference.
“The other thing that we continue to think through is public messaging,” Demers said. “When you know something, when do you talk about it and how do you talk about it in a way that doesn’t amplify its power? That’s just a real challenge, and it’s going to happen in real time.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-10/u-s-probes-if-russia-targeting-biden-in-2020-election-meddling
Rabbi: Americans May Carry Guns to Synagogue on Sabbath for Self-Defense
HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky says Americans can carry guns to the synagogue on the Sabbath for self-defense.
Yeshiva World News reports that the question was specifically framed around having “armed guards” at synagogues, due to an increase in antisemitic incidents.
Harav Chaim spoke against posting guards but made clear that worshipers could carry firearms to the synagogue if the purpose was saving life.
The question was followed by asking if it is allowable to carry guns to synagogue even if a threat against worshipers is only potential, rather than “immediate.” Harav Chaim said it is allowable.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/08/rabbi-jews-can-carry-guns-to-synagogue-on-sabbath-for-self-defense/
Keep score on shitte militias as they bite the dust:
https://twitter.com/rafsanchez/status/1215299996431634435
2020 Taiwan Election: A Strategic Rebalance for America; a Historic Opportunity for Taiwan
COMPULSORY VACCINATION: THE GRAND CHAMBER OF THE ECHR WILL DECIDE
The ECLJ has neither competence nor pretension to rule on the value or the inappropriateness of vaccines in general and does not encourage the refusal of vaccines. However, it seems that the goal sought by compulsory vaccination can be achieved through less restrictive measures which are more respectful of the fundamental rights and freedoms of parents. It is up to the Grand Chamber of the European Court to decide.
https://us10.campaign-archive.com/?u=567507fce24ff5f4d84cc3e33&id=9cdffac07f
+
PETITION: ECHR/VACCINES: ESTABLISHING LIMITS ON STATES’ POWER
On January 6th, 2020, the compulsory vaccination issue was brought to the most solemn formation of the ECHR. This eagerly awaited judgment will then set a precedent in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Support the observations of the ECLJ by signing this petition to ask the European Court to:
? Establish clear limits to the power of the State with regard to compulsory vaccination
? Reject the general and absolute nature of compulsory vaccination
? Consider that the aim sought by compulsory vaccination can be achieved through less restrictive measures which are more respectful of the fundamental rights and freedoms of parents.
https://eclj.org/conscientious-objection/echr/vaccination-obligatoire–pour-une-limitation-du-pouvoir-de-letat