Reader’s Links, January 18, 2020

Daily Links Post graphic

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

77 Replies to “Reader’s Links, January 18, 2020”

  1. Simpsons actor Hank Azaria to stop voicing Apu
    7:20 pm today
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    The voice actor who plays the Indian character Apu in The Simpsons has said he is stepping down from the role, following years of controversy.

    No captionThe character Apu has been accused of reinforcing racial stereotypes. Photo: ABC News
    White actor Hank Azaria has performed the voice of the Indian convenience store owner since the character was created in 1990.

    But the character has been accused of reinforcing racial stereotypes.

    It was not immediately clear if Apu would get a new voice or be dropped from the cartoon.

    “All we know there is I won’t be doing the voice anymore, unless there’s some way to transition it or something,” Azaria told the website SlashFilm.

    “We all made the decision together… We all agreed on it. We all feel like it’s the right thing and good about it.”

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/407619/simpsons-actor-hank-azaria-to-stop-voicing-apu

  2. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday that she had signed an anti-infiltration bill into law, which aims to curb Chinese influence in the self-ruled island’s politics, amid objections from Beijing.

    Tsai, who was re-elected to a second term in a landslide victory over the weekend, told an impromptu press conference at the Presidential Office that she had signed the Anti-Infiltration Act into law earlier on Wednesday, emphasizing that her government is against infiltration, but not against exchanges.

    Despite a boycott by opposition parties, the legislature, controlled by Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, passed the bill on Dec. 31 last year, the last day of the legislative session.

    The bill was proposed by the DPP after a self-proclaimed Chinese spy confessed last year to Australian authorities that he helped funnel money into Taiwanese elections.

    The new law empowers government agencies to ask law enforcement to investigate an individual, group, or organization suspected of engaging in conduct that results in damage to national sovereignty or democratic institutions if the conduct is directed, funded or supervised, by or on behalf of a foreign principal.

    https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/01/675371e8786e-newly-re-elected-tsai-signs-taiwans-anti-infiltration-bill-into-law.html

  3. Project Veritas: Wall Of Shame #307 WaPo’s Dave Weigel’s MEGA Retraction that PV Portrays Subjects “Untruthfully”

  4. WATCH: Arab clans get into a mass brawl in a German courtroom

    A criminal trial in Essen ended on Friday with a mass brawl in the courtroom. The police and judiciary had been forewarned, because the trial was about violent crimes committed by young Arab men whose families are fighting a feud – unfortunately not on the Arabian peninsula, where they belong, but in the Ruhr area. After the court had given the judgements, the crowd beat each other up. Even a massive police presence in the courtroom did not stop them from expressing their contempt for the German constitutional state, which they perceived as weak.Nadine Becker, a court reporter from the channel RTL, who was present, is stunned: “I have been a reporter for a long time, but I have never seen what I witnessed during this trial. Rioting and shouting, no sign of respect for the German legal system.”Will one of the rioters be deported? Of course not! Will the family clans involved be encouraged to leave our country as a whole? This is not even possible in Merkel-Germany! The criminal proceedings were related to violent crimes. The defendants, aged 16 to 21 years, were sentenced to juvenile prison and will go to prison for one to three years. They had lured an Arab from an enemy family to a schoolyard, ambushed him there and brutally beat him up. During this they recorded a mobile phone video, which had a large number of viewers on Youtube.Nothing special in this country, of which every year around 100,000 natives get so fed up that they emigrate.
    More:
    https://searchlight-germany.blogspot.com/2020/01/watch-arab-clans-get-into-mass-brawl-in.html

    • Bild plus, so it’s behind a paywall.

      Are there any other articles for this? Video maybe?

      I’ve visited Cologne a few times, because it was on the way (train hub), or for the museum. It’s a lively place, shame it has gone this way.

  5. A Central American migrant caravan traveling through Guatemala to the southern border of the United States was forced to return to Honduras in an effort that was funded and partially administered by the U.S. government, according to a report.

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Guatemala worked with national police to apprehend approximately 300 migrants in a group that left Honduras on foot earlier this week, the Associated Press reported Friday. Guatemalan law enforcement said the U.S. paid for the three buses used to take the hundreds back to Honduras, signaling a new level of American involvement in blocking migration from the region.

    The group of migrants was apprehended by ICE and Guatemalan police in the Guatemalan town of Cinchado, just miles from the Honduran border. The group was told by Guatemalan officials at the site that they had to bring proper documents with them that were required to pass through the country. ICE did not respond to a request for comment on its involvement.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/us-ice-agents-and-guatemalan-police-bus-caravan-members-back-to-honduras

  6. Car Bomb Targeting Turkish Contractors Explodes Near Mogadishu, Somalia – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/202001181078070846-car-bomb-targeting-turkish-contractors-explodes-near-mogadishu-somalia—reports/

    “The explosive device reportedly went off in Afgoye, some thirty kilometres outside of the Somali capital, police told Reuters. There are no immediate reports of casualties due to the incident.

    A car bomb has exploded in the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, targeting a group of Turkish contractors, Reuters reported citing sources from the police.

    Law enforcement told the media outlet that an explosive-laden car rammed into a place where Turkish engineers and Somali police were having lunch.

    Police officer Nur Ali from Afgoye, where the incident occurred, was quoted as saying that it was too early to know the number of casualties.

    No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

    An eyewitness told Reuters that he had heard a huge blast and seen casualties being carried from the scene but he could not make out whether they were dead or wounded…”

  7. In April 1979, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over Iran; months later 52 American diplomats and citizens, as well as citizens of other nations, were kidnapped and held hostage for 444 days in the US Embassy in Tehran.
    While a majority of Americans stood firmly for the hostages and against their kidnappers, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a self-proclaimed Trotskyist revolutionary party, took the opposite position and insisted that the hostages were CIA agents, according to the Daily Beast.
    Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined SWP in 1980 and served as a presidential elector in Vermont, advocating for the party’s candidates who ran on a platform that defended Iran’s keeping the hostages, the website reported. At a rally, SWP’s presidential candidate Andrew Pulley condemned “anti-Iranian hysteria around the US hostages.”

    https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Bernie-Sanders-joined-a-party-that-supported-Iran-during-hostage-crisis-614524

  8. Iran plane crash: Iran refuses to hand investigation black boxes of downed Ukrainian plane (express, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1230079/Iran-plane-crash-latest-black-box-boeing-flight-Ukraine-shot-down-Iran-news

    “IRAN has refused to hand over the black boxes of the striken Ukrainian International Airlines jet that military forces shot down by mistake.

    Tehran has refused to hand over the data from the downed jet previously, but leaders have renewed its refusal to hand over the black boxes this morning, Arab News report. Officials from Canada, Ukraine, the US and the UK have stressed the need to examine the data from the flight in order to figure out exactly what happened. It comes after Iran admitted last week to shooting down Flight 757 just hours after it launched at dozen missiles at US military bases in Iraq.

    The Iranian regime had initially denied shooting down the plane and killing all 176 passengers on board.

    It admitted to firing the missile after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian and allied officials had credible intelligence of a strike.

    Iranian authorities said the plane had been struck after it had been mistaken for a “cruise missile” during heightened tensions with the US.

    Since then a major question surrounding the crash is how and why the missile was fired.

    Yesterday Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has defened the country’s armed forces for mistakenly shooting down the plane.

    He said the Revolutionary Guard – the elite unit responsible for the disaster – “maintained the security” of Iran.

    The ayattollah tried to rally support as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time since 2012.

    He called or “national unity” and said Iran’s “enemies” – a clear refeence to Washington and its allied – had used the plane crash to overshadow the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike.

    He said: “Our enemies were as happy about the plane crash as we were sad.

    “[They were] happy that they had found something to question the Guard and the armed forces.”

    Nationals from Iran, Canada, Sweden and the UK were killed in the plane crash, that was travelling to Kyiv from Tehran on January 8.

    More to follow…”

  9. ‘With it being Asians, we can’t afford for this to be coming out’: Police chief admitted force ignored sex abuse by grooming gangs for 30 years for fear of stoking racial tensions (dailymail, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7901731/Police-chief-admitted-force-ignored-sex-abuse-grooming-gangs-30-years.html

    “Sex attacks on young girls by Asian grooming gangs were ignored by police for fear of stoking racial tensions, a damning report has ruled.

    A chief inspector from Rotherham was found to have admitted South Yorkshire Police force turned a blind eye to the harrowing cases of abuse, which he referred to as ‘P*** shagging’.

    This was despite acknowledging the horrors against underage white girls had been happening for three decades.

    The unnamed senior police officer said: ‘With it being Asians, we can’t afford for this to come out,’ according to the Times, which has seen an advanced copy of the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s five-year investigation.

    The probe, code-named Operation Linden, upholds six complaints against South Yorkshire Police from one of the child victims of sexual exploitation.

    Her father told the newspaper: ‘She’d been missing for weeks and he [the chief inspector] was talking as though she was an adult doing it of her own free will.

    ‘He said it had been going on for 30 years and that in his day they used to call them ‘P*** shaggers’. I told him she was a child and this was child abuse.’

    Between 1997 and 2013, more than 1,400 youngsters in the Rotherham area were abused by gangs of males, who were almost all of Pakistani heritage…”

  10. Swedish Police Chief: Despite Full Prisons, Shootings Remain High (breitbart, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/18/swedish-police-chief-despite-full-prisons-shootings-remain-high/

    “Swedish National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg has admitted that despite large numbers of weapons seizures and full prisons, the rate of shootings in Sweden remains high.

    Thornberg, who was also formerly chief of the Swedish Security Service (Sapo), said that police must “get better at their work” to tackle the problem of gang violence, claiming that children as young as eight were running drugs and helping criminal gangs in the multicultural city of Malmo, broadcaster YLE reports.

    “Prisons are full in Sweden, detention centres are full, institutions are full, SiS institutions for minors are full. Yet, there are about the same number of shootings, even though the police take more weapons and drugs than we ever did,” Thornberg said.

    He added that many young gang members in vulnerable areas, also known as no-go areas, do not expect they will live past 25 to 30 years old, saying: “They see peers who have gold chains and weapons and cars, and they look up to them. Some do not expect to get older than 25 to 30 years. It is awful if the youth does not have faith in the future.”

    The police head went on to describe the results of the ongoing Operation Rimfrost, a police operation to tackle violent gang crime, saying that within six months, police had made 450 arrests and seized 15 to 230 kilos of drugs, 45 weapons, three kilos of explosives, and one million Swedish krona (£80,640/$105,345) in cash.

    When asked about the reasons why Sweden has seen such a surge in shootings, bombings, and general gang crime, Thornberg said most of the crime comes from vulnerable areas. He said: “It is escalating all the time. It is ultimately about drugs, it is about quick money, it is about ignoring society and democratic values.”

    Sweden has seen a large surge in explosions in 2019 with a Crime Prevention Council (BRÅ) report claiming at least 236 explosive incidents, while others have questioned the figures, stating that some explosions may have been reclassified and the real figures could be even higher.”

  11. Turkey’s Erdogan: Europe must back Libyan govt in Tripoli (abcnews, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkeys-erdogan-europe-back-libyan-govt-tripoli-68368676

    “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the European Union to support the internationally recognized Libyan government in Tripoli ahead of a summit in Berlin.

    In an article published on the Politico website Saturday, Erdogan said European leaders “ought to talk a little less and focus on taking concrete steps” in the conflict-torn North African nation…”

  12. EU on alert: Protests break out in Germany and Ireland amid anger at Brussels regulations (express, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1230126/EU-Protests-Germany-Ireland-Merkel-Varadkar-farmers-environment-agriculture-latest

    “PROTESTS have erupted in Germany and Ireland in the last 48 hours amid fury at restrictive EU regulations on the environment and agriculture – prompting farmers to blockade main roads with tractors in both EU member-states.

    Berlin and Dublin were ground to a halt in the past 48 hours amid growing outrage at EU regulations. Furious agricultural workers and farmers shut down roads across both Germany and Ireland in fear that environmental regulations are hurting their jobs. Thousands of farmers took part in the protest in Germany, as several hundred tractors blockaded main roads in Bavaria, Baden Württemberg and Bremen, as well as the German capital.

    The Berlin mayor, Michael Müller, recognized that it was a “burden for Berlin,” but “the farmers have their point of view”.

    He added that locals would “have to tolerate” the upheaval.

    The rallies coincided with Berlin’s Green Week, a food and agricultural fair which starts on Friday, which has often attracted huge waves of protests in recent years.

    Farmers across Europe are increasingly alarmed about the future of the agricultural and environmental policy, following the EU’s £852bn Green New Deal policy.

    In the past two months, similar agricultiural protests have broken out in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

    On Friday, German protesters said they were fed up with new animal welfare and restrictions on the use of pesticides to protect insects, among other things.

    The farmer’s collective Land schafft Verbindung (LSV), or Land Creates Connection, has led the movement against the tightening regulations.

    Placards accompanying the tractors read: “Don’t forget that farmers feed you,” “No farm, no food, no future” and “We are fed up!”

    Earlier this week, in Ireland, about 60 tractors and dozens of other vehicles were involved in 24-hours of action, disrupting traffic in the centre of Dublin.

    The Individual Farmers of Ireland said a better beef price was needed to help sustain rural Ireland amid fears over Europe’s agricultural industry.

    The group said it “wanted to leave its mark”.”

  13. Nearly One-in-Five French Newborn Boys Have Muslim or Arabic First Names (breitbart, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/01/18/neary-one-five-french-newborn-boys-have-muslim-names/

    “According to French political scientist Jérôme Fourquet, the number of newborn males with Arabic or Muslim first names has increased from just one per cent in 1960, to 19 per cent today.

    Fourquet noted that the decline in the French birthrate — there were 70,000 fewer children born in 2019 than in 2014 — has led to the growth of Arabic-Muslim names among newborns. He added that “sustained migratory flows, particularly since the beginning of the 2000s”, has also contributed to the trend, Le Figaro reports.

    “The study of the prevalence of types of first names among newborns makes it possible in particular to aggregate the strength of legal and illegal migratory flows, because, with some exceptions, all children born on French soil are registered with INSEE [France’s national statistics bureau], even if their parents are illegal,” he added.

    To combat the declining birthrate, Fourquet did not advocate the German model of mass migration but said that France should not “lock ourselves into a binary alternative between natalist policies or the use of immigration”.

    “If Germany has favoured immigration, it is because the retirement age is already very high and the unemployment rate is at its lowest (3.5 per cent). France could play on these two levers and in particular on the unemployment rate to significantly increase the number of contributors, before resorting to additional immigration,” he said.

    Demographic shifts have also been observed among religious groups in France, with a report released last year showing that there were now as many practising Muslims in the 18- to 29-year-old demographic as practising Roman Catholics.

    The demographic changes in France have led to several theories regarding the phenomenon including the theory of the “Great Replacement” by French author Renaud Camus.

    Often dismissed as a conspiracy theory, Camus has claimed that Western elites — the “Davocracy”, named after the participants of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — view people as interchangeable things, rather than human beings, for the sake of profit and ideology.

    A survey released in February of last year suggested that as many as one-quarter of the French population subscribed to the theory that “elites” were using mass migration to replace European populations.”

  14. Lebanon protest: Beirut in chaos as riot police block every exit after bank attacks (express, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1230194/Lebanon-protest-latest-Beirut-government-police-army-parliament-banks-finance

    “PROTESTERS in Lebanon have attempted to storm the Government buildings in the capital, as riot police try to disperse them with water cannons and tear gas, with dozens injured in clashes with officers.

    Pictures from downtown Beirut show the streets engulfed in smoke, as police attempt to disperse the protests. Riot police had erected barbed wire barricades to prevent protesters from reaching Government buildings, but the activists are attempting to force their way through. Tear gas and water cannons are being used by the police to try and disperse them, as the protests turn increasingly violent as the “week of rage” continues.

    Today marks the 94th day of protests in Lebanon, as people have become increasingly fed up with they are calling a “corrupt and inefficient” government.

    Protests became increasingly violent this afternoon, as activists clashed with police in the streets.

    The protesters were caught on camera throwing stones and other objects at police, after weeks of excessive force by security forces.

    It comes after protests vandalised several banks in the city’s central Hamra neighbourhood overnight, after two nights of violent anti-government demonstrations…”

  15. Dozens Killed in Houthi Attack on Saudi Coalition Training Camp in Yemen – Reports (sputniknews, Jan 18, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202001181078073498-dozens-killed-in-houthi-attack-on-training-camp-in-yemen—reports/

    “Yemen has been locked for years in an armed conflict between government forces led by President-in-exile Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the armed Houthi opposition faction. Despite a peace accord signed in Stockholm in 2018, tensions have reportedly been escalating in recent months.

    The Yemeni Houthis pounded a military training base in the Yemeni city of Marib on Saturday with missiles, killing at least 30 coalition servicemen, according to Saudi media.

    The military installation is reportedly located in al-Meel area. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility or confirmed the allegation.

    Earlier this month, the Houthis reportedly launched a ballistic missile at a Saudi-led coalition military base located in the southern province of Dhalea, killing 10 soldiers.

    The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis, at Hadi’s request, since March 2015.

    The conflict in Yemen, the poorest nation in the Middle East, has been described by the United Nations as the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis, with nearly 80 percent of the population of 24-million currently in need of aid and protection.”

  16. Brief scuffles at Guatemala-Mexico border as migrants try to cross
    Roberto Ramirez
    3 MIN READ

    TECUN UMAN, Guatemala (Reuters) – Scuffles briefly broke out on the Guatemala-Mexico border on Saturday morning as a group of several hundred mostly Honduran migrants pressed forward to cross, only to be pushed back by Mexican security forces.

    Scores of people who entered Guatemala from Honduras in recent days have been arriving at the Mexican border, with the bulk of them still advancing in a larger caravan, testing the resolve of Mexico to heed U.S. demands to contain migrant flows.

    President Donald Trump has threatened to hurt Mexico and Central American countries economically if they allow large groups to reach the U.S. border, and the latest exodus from Honduras has been accompanied by U.S. border agents.

    Guatemalan authorities say around 4,000 people have arrived in the country in the last few days, the biggest surge since Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador signed accords with the United States that increase pressure on them to deal with migrants.

    After waiting on a bridge at the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman, some migrants began pushing and shoving before being driven back by Mexican security officials, who shut the border crossing and sought to calm the group.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-guatemala-mexico/brief-scuffles-at-guatemala-mexico-border-as-migrants-try-to-cross-idUSKBN1ZH0GT?utm_source=reddit.com

  17. Trump EXPOSES Democrats For The UNTHINKABLE

    This is how corrupt the Democrats are.

    According to Breitbart News, President Donald Trump stated that Democrats were purposely helping former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential primary by delaying the Senate impeachment trial.

    “They are rigging the election again against Bernie Sanders, just like last time, only even more obviously,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

    “They are bringing him out of so important Iowa in order that, as a Senator, he sit through the Impeachment Hoax Trial,” Trump added.

    “Crazy Nancy thereby gives the strong edge to Sleepy Joe Biden, and Bernie is shut out again,” Trump wrote. “Very unfair, but that’s the way the Democrats play the game.” You can read the full article here.

    https://dcalert.com/2020/01/18/trump-exposes-democrats-for-the-unthinkable/

    Richard: This may be why they are delaying things, they know that Trump isn’t going to be kicked out of offfice and are trying to rig primaries so Biden will be their nominee rather then one of the open socialists that are running against him. I have seen other speculation like this including some that says they are trying to force a brokered convention so they can bring in someone they think will have a better chance of winning. Inclucing one theory that after Biden is nominated he resigns and forces a brokered choice on the Dems. Personally I think they are just trying to run Biden and that the Crazy wing of their party is going to try and burn down the nation when Bernie doesn’t get the nomination.

  18. Media Portraying Annual VCDL Lobby Day as Violent, Racist Gun Owners Ready to Fight

    After almost every high profile shooting, the still-unidentified perpetrator is always reported to be a crazed right wing NRA life member who married his sister and has a stars and bars sticker on his car. Until he’s not. Until the facts inevitably come out and he’s almost invariably revealed to be a mentally disturbed wacko who everyone knew would do something like that one day.

    Now, in the run-up to Monday’s annual Virginia Citizens Defense League Lobby Day at the Virginia capitol in Richmond, law-abiding gun owners who object to the legislature’s headlong push to limit their Second Amendment rights are being portrayed as violent insurrectionists, racists, white supremacists and Nazis.

    Media reports are happily conflating a few keyboard commandos and some fringe actors bent on stirring up violence with America’s gun owners as a whole. A group that is the most law-abiding cohort in the population.

    This portrayal by most of the media serves the purpose of justifying not only Governor Ralph Northam’s “emergency” firearms ban in the Richmond Capitol Square area, along with the legislature’s drive to ram through as many gun control restrictions as they can before facing the voters again.

    https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/media-portraying-annual-vcdl-lobby-day-as-violent-racist-gun-owners-ready-to-fight/?utm_source=wideopen&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wos_daily&utm_content=%5B%5Brssitem_title%5D%5D

    Richard: I am not sure how much we can trust the author, he is calling the Oath Keepers a violent right wing extremist group.He is also trying to down play the purposed gun control legislation.

  19. Trump Jumps In On Virginia Gun Control Push Ahead of VCDL Lobby Day Rally

    President Donald Trump took aim at Virginia Democrats and their push to stiffen the state’s gun laws, saying that the U.S. Constitution was under attack just as thousands of armed militia members began arriving in Richmond for a Monday gun rally.

    Trump doubled down with his support of gun enthusiasts in the state, which Hilary Clinton won in 2016 and where Democrats took full control of the state legislature for the first time in a generation in November, as candidates made passing stronger gun control laws a central campaign theme.

    “Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia,” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter Friday night, referring to the amendment in the Bill of Rights that gives Americans the right to keep and bear firearms. “That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away.”

    https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/trump-jumps-in-on-virginia-gun-control-ahead-of-vcdl-lobby-day-rally/?utm_source=wideopen&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wos_daily&utm_content=%5B%5Brssitem_title%5D%5D

    • Read the comments, some of them are quite good and others need to learn what they are talking about.

  20. According to acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Matthew Albence, New York City’s radically left-wing “sanctuary city” policies just killed a woman — and unless these policies are reversed, more American men, women, and children will wind up paying the price.

    That woman, 92-year-old Queens resident Maria Fuertes, was allegedly raped and killed earlier this month by Reeaz Khan, an illegal alien who was arrested in November for allegedly beating up his father but then released right back onto the streets.

    “ICE officials said that, at the time [of Khan’s November arrest], the city didn’t cooperate with a detainer request to hand Mr. Khan over to their custody so he could be deported,” The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

    Albence provided confirmation during a press conference Friday.

    Listen to some of what he said below:

    “Make no mistake. It is this city’s sanctuary policies that are the sole reason this criminal was allowed to roam the streets freely and end an innocent woman’s life,” he said.

    “All you need to do is call us before you release them. A phone call, one simple phone call, and Maria Fuertes would be alive today. These are preventable crimes people, and most importantly preventable victims.”

    Albence added that of the 7,526 “detainers” that have been rejected by NYC officials, roughly 200 were for suspected murderers.

    He also put out a fugitives list containing “suspected illegal immigrants from Nigeria, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Guinea, Spain, and El Salvador” who’ve been released despite being arrested for “assault in the first, second and third degrees, attempted robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, gang assaults and other violent offenses,” according to Fox News.

    https://www.bizpacreview.com/2020/01/18/ice-fights-back-issues-list-of-fugitive-illegal-immigrants-sanctuary-ny-city-has-released-877122

  21. Judge Smacks Down Transgender Pronouns, Says They’re a Courtesy, Not a Right for People Before the Court
    By C. Douglas Golden
    Published January 18, 2020 at 8:30am
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    You can get yourself into an awful lot of trouble these days for the mere act of living in reality. Such is the case of Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

    Duncan is a Trump appointee, one who was savaged by the left during his confirmation hearings because they said he couldn’t rule fairly in cases involving LGBT individuals, in large part due to the fact he once represented a school board fighting against a transgender student who wanted to use the bathroom of their choice.

    He finds himself again at the center of a controversy regarding whether transgender identity and pronouns are a right in the legal system as opposed to a courtesy.

    In an advisory opinion Wednesday, as The Hill reported, Duncan said that it was “convention,” not “binding precedent,” for the courts to refer to a transgender-identifying litigant by their chosen gender pronouns.

    The case involves Kathrine Nicole Jett, a transgender biological male.

    Read More
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    Jett, back in 2012, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges when he was legally known as Norman Varner.

    Jett wanted the court records updated to reflect the fact he had a different name. He also wanted all gender pronouns in the paperwork to be changed to “she/her.”

    A lower court ruled that Jett had no claim given that there was no “defect” in the original paperwork, considering that he was legally referred to as Norman Varner at the time of the crimes.

    In his majority opinion, Duncan called Jett’s efforts to have his gender pronouns changed in court records a “quixotic undertaking.”

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    “No authority supports the proposition that we may require litigants, judges, court personnel, or anyone else to refer to gender-dysphoric litigants with pronouns matching their subjective gender identity,” Duncan’s opinion read.

    “But the courts that have followed this ‘convention,’” he added, “have done so purely as a courtesy to parties.”

    https://www.westernjournal.com/judge-smacks-transgender-pronouns-says-courtesy-not-right-people-court/

  22. Cops get involved when Ezra visits the Antifa, BLM protest outside Tommy Robinson event in Denmark

  23. Alex Jones Joins The Pink Pussy Hat Brigade – and actually got the pussy marchers to chant along with him…

  24. How five members of Joe Biden’s family got rich through his connections
    By Peter SchweizerJanuary 18, 2020 | 3:02pm | Updated
    Enlarge Image
    How five members of Joe Biden’s family got rich through his connections
    Former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden (right).REUTERS
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    Political figures have long used their families to route power and benefits for their own self-enrichment. In my new book, “Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite,” one particular politician — Joe Biden — emerges as the king of the sweetheart deal, with no less than five family members benefiting from his largesse, favorable access and powerful position for commercial gain. In Biden’s case, these deals include foreign partners and, in some cases, even U.S. taxpayer dollars.

    The Biden family’s apparent self-enrichment involves no less than five family members: Joe’s son Hunter, son-in-law Howard, brothers James and Frank, and sister Valerie.

    When this subject came up in 2019, Biden declared, “I never talked with my son or my brother or anyone else — even distant family — about their business interests. Period.”

    As we will see, this is far from the case…

    https://nypost.com/2020/01/18/how-five-members-of-joe-bidens-family-got-rich-through-his-connections/?utm_source=reddit.com

  25. NBC News: It May Be Illegal to Vote for President Trump and the Government Should Take Action
    Posted at 3:45 pm on January 18, 2020 by Bonchie

    NBC News: It May Be Illegal to Vote for President Trump and the Government Should Take Action

    Yes, this could easily be a headline from the Babylon Bee. No, it’s not a parody.

    If you are reading this and plan on voting for President Trump, you may be breaking the law according to NBC News. Go lawyer up I guess.

    Andy Grewal
    @AndyGrewal
    “Racist voting is not just immoral, but illegal. The government has the ability, and the responsibility, to address it.” ?https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-voters-motivated-racism-may-be-violating-constitution-can-they-ncna1110356?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

    Opinion | Why Trump voters motivated by racism could be breaking the law
    Republicans and Democrats alike have been unwilling to reprimand voters or to hold them accountable. But racist voting isn’t an accident.

    nbcnews.com
    44
    2:05 PM – Jan 17, 2020
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    54 people are talking about this
    We’ll get into the legalities in a second, but even on the surface, you’ll be shocked to learn that “racist” voting constitutes basically everyone who voted for Trump according to the standards laid out in the article.

    https://www.redstate.com/bonchie/2020/01/18/nbc-news-it-may-be-illegal-to-vote-for-trump/

  26. US sanctions Iran IRGC general, alleging he ordered protest crackdown
    https://thedefensepost.com/2020/01/18/iran-irgc-sanction-mahshar-hassan-shahvarpour/

    “The U.S. government on Friday imposed sanctions on Brigadier General Hassan Shahvarpour of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accusing him of overseeing a massacre of protestors during nationwide anti-government demonstrations in November 2019.

    “General Shahvarpour was in command of units responsible for the violent crackdown and lethal repression around Mahshahr,” Brian Hook, the U.S. State Department’s top official dealing with Iran, said during a January 17 press briefing in Washington.

    The New York Times reported that IRGC forces pursued and killed between 40 and 100 people hiding in a marsh amid demonstrations in the southwestern city of Mahshahr. A provincial official later said 148 people were killed in the city over the five days of protests.

    The demonstrations spread across Iran in response to a government hike in fuel prices on November 15.

    Hook said the U.S. concluded Shahvarpour’s role based partly on anonymous tips received by Iranian citizens. The U.S. has sanctioned eight other Iranian officials and two judges in response to the November crackdown.

    Estimates of the number people killed during the protests vary widely. The United Nations has said some 208 people were killed, while Amnesty International has said the death toll was at least 304. Both organizations have reported thousands of arrests and alleged torture of detainees.

    Hook said in December that more than 1,000 Iranians were killed in the uprising, though he later suggested the number was not verified.

    The U.S. is engaged in a “maximum pressure” campaign to isolate Iran economically and politically after the Trump administration withdrew from 2015’s landmark international Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Tehran.

    Iran’s oil exports, a primary source of government revenue, have plummeted since President Donald Trump’s administration threatened to sanction any government or entity attempting to buy it.

    Hook said Friday the administration’s efforts have been “successful at weakening the regime” and its proxy forces. “We should expect to see an enormous budget deficit this year,” Hook said.

    The U.S. accuses Iran of destabilizing the Middle East by supporting local militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as backing the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war.

    Washington has also accused Iran of exploiting a concession in the JCPOA in order to expand its ballistic missile program. The nuclear deal does not currently include any provisions related to missiles.

    The U.S. military killed IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad earlier in January.

    Iran responded by launching ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq housing American military personnel, though no one was reported killed.”

  27. Kurdish-Shiite Dispute over US Troops Ends their ‘Historic Alliance’ in Iraq
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2088461/kurdish-shiite-dispute-over-us-troops-ends-their-%E2%80%98historic-alliance%E2%80%99-iraq

    “Statements by officials in Baghdad and Erbil have revealed a severe disputes between the federal government and Kurdish authorities over ending the deployment of American forces in Iraq. The differences appear to have put the final nail in the coffin of the so-called “historic alliance,” struck years ago between Shiites and Kurds against the regime of late ruler Saddam Hussein…”

  28. Haftar forces block Libya oil exports, raising stakes for Sunday’s Berlin peace summit
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/haftar-forces-block-libya-oil-exports-raising-stakes-berlin-peace-summit

    “Forces loyal to eastern Libya military leader Khalifa Haftar blocked oil exports from the war-ravaged country’s main ports on Saturday, raising the stakes on the eve of an international summit aimed at bringing peace to the North African nation.

    The move to cripple the country’s main income source was a protest against Turkey’s decision to send troops to shore up Haftar’s rival, the head of Tripoli’s UN-recognised government, Fayez al-Sarraj.

    It comes ahead of Sunday’s conference in Berlin that will see the United Nations try to extract a pledge from world leaders to stop meddling in the Libyan conflict – be it through supplying troops, weapons or financing.

    “All foreign interference can provide some aspirin effect in the short term, but Libya needs all foreign interference to stop. That’s one of the objectives of this conference,” UN Libya envoy Ghassan Salame told AFP in an interview.

    He said on Saturday that he hoped but “could not predict” whether eastern oil ports would be reopened soon, Reuters reported.

    Oil export terminals across eastern and central Libya were shut by tribesmen allied with Haftar. Diplomats see the closures as a power play aimed at ramping up pressure ahead of the peace conference.

    The presidents of Russia, Turkey and France as well as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are to join the talks, held under the auspices of the UN.

    Haftar and Sarraj are also expected, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas confirmed on Saturday, ahead of the first gathering of such scale on the conflict since 2018.

    After months of combat that has killed more than 2,000 people, a ceasefire took effect on 12 January, backed by both Ankara and Moscow, which is accused of supporting Haftar.

    Still, Saturday’s blockade raised fears over the conflict…”

  29. Syria’s Assad raises penalty on foreign-currency use to seven years hard labour
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrias-assad-raises-penalty-foreign-currency-use-seven-years-hard-labour

    “Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday increased the punishment for transactions in foreign currencies to seven years hard labour, the presidency said, as the Syrian pound has plummeted in recent weeks.

    A new decree raised the “penalty for anybody who deals in anything other than the Syrian pound for payments, or any kind of commercial transaction”, it said.

    The punishment was increased from as many as three years detention to seven years hard labour, as well as a fine, the presidency said in a statement, according to AFP. Alongside the use of foreign currencies, the punishment will also be applied to transactions paid in precious metals, it said.

    The Syrian pound has dropped to 1,200 to the dollar on the black market in recent weeks, despite an official exchange rate fixed at 434 to the greenback. Before Syria’s civil war broke out in 2011, the rate stood at 47 pounds to the dollar.

    International sanctions against Syria, damage to the country’s industry from the fighting, and panicked Syrians sending their money abroad have pushed the currency down sharply during the conflict, now almost into its ninth year, Reuters said earlier this week.

    Syrians are also alarmed by record hikes in key staples such as sugar and rice, while blackouts in government-held areas have increased amid fuel shortages.

    Pro-government economists blame the economic crisis on international sanctions against Damascus. They also say the devaluation has been exacerbated by a liquidity crisis in neighbouring Lebanon, which has long served as a conduit for foreign currency into government-held areas of Syria. The Financial Times has reported that 80 percent of wealthy Syrians kept their money in Lebanon.

    “The Lebanese crisis closed a major door for Syria to get dollars,” said a former Syrian banker who requested anonymity told MEE.

    Iran is believed to have deposited hundreds of millions of dollars in the country’s depleted reserves that stood at $17bn before the civil war, according to bankers familiar with the Syrian sector, Reuters reported.

    These injections of money, from spending on Iran’s proxy militias to oil deliveries that defied sanctions and credit lines for import of consumer goods have prevented an even steeper fall in Syria’s currency, bankers say.

    “Tehran’s support has been a lifeline and kept us on our feet,” said Abdul-Laif al Mardini, a Syrian banker.

    Still, Abdurrahman Mustafa, chairman of the Temporary Government formed by the Syrian opposition, told Anodolu: “The regime’s external debt has exceeded $200 billion. The fact that production is extremely low, the regime’s foreign currency reserves have run out and the current debt situation has played a huge role in this sharp decline.”

    Mustafa has previously drawn attention to the fact that monthly salaries in the regions under government control have decreased to about $50.

    On Saturday, Assad also increased fines for circulating information that seeks “to undermine confidence in the strength of the country’s currency”, the presidency said.”

  30. Iraqi army confirms withdrawal of foreign forces
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200118-iraqi-army-confirms-withdrawal-of-foreign-forces/

    “Spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Abdul-Karim Khalaf, revealed the mechanism for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq, pointing out that the US has not yet set a date for the withdrawal of its forces.

    Khalaf announced in statements on Friday, that the Iraqi government submitted a request to the United Nations for the withdrawal of international forces combating Daesh, according to a memorandum sent by the former foreign minister, Ibrahim Al-Jaafari.

    Khalaf also stressed that Iraq will not have any financial and political commitment, as a result of these forces’ withdrawal from its territories.

    He explained that the Iraqi authorities issued an order on 3 January prohibiting the flight of aircrafts of the international coalition in its airspace.

    Accordingly, the radar signal was withdrawn from these forces. “However, these forces have gone beyond their duties and carried out bombings of foreigners and Iraqis, which necessitated the Foreign Ministry to summon the US ambassador to Baghdad to denounce this behaviour.”

    Khalaf confirmed that Iraq is a member state of the international coalition. He insisted that any movement at the level of air sorties through Iraqi airspace take place only after the approval of the local government, which he states: “Has recently been surprised by the air strike carried out by US aircrafts in Qa’im, resulting in the deaths and injuries of 90 victims from the support forces of the Iraqi army, under the pretext of targeting an armed faction in the region.””

  31. Greek politician likens Haftar to Serbian war criminal
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200118-greek-politician-likens-haftar-to-serbian-war-criminal/

    “A Greek opposition party leader has likened Libya’s renegade commander Khalifa Haftar to former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, a convicted war criminal.

    This came after Haftar visited Athens on Friday and met with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias.

    “Athens today hosted Libyan warlord Haftar. An own goal for Greek diplomacy- similar to that in the 90s when the gvt led by Mitsotakis-snr embraced Karadži?. How did we get here? It all began with the Tsipras-Netanyahu-Exxon unholy alliance to drill for oil & gas in the E. Med,” Yanis Varoufakis, who is a former finance minister, wrote on Twitter…”

  32. Al-Azhar grand imam says ‘Human Fraternity’ document is solution for humanity’s problems during meeting with French bishops
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/359777/Egypt/Politics-/AlAzhar-grand-imam-says-Human-Fraternity-document-.aspx

    “Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the world’s most prestigious seat of Sunni Islamic learning, and Chairman of the Muslim Council of Elders, said the document of “Human Fraternity is a safe way out of the problems of the East and West.

    El-Tayeb’s statement came during his meeting on Saturday with a delegation of the French bishops responsible for reviving the path of the Holy Family.

    “We [Egyptians] have the right to be proud of the journey of the Holy Family and the Virgin Mary which led many people to Egypt to learn about its details,” said El-Tayeb, stressing that Egypt was, and still is, a blessed land, visited by prophets and messengers such as Jesus, Moses and Abraham.

    “The Human Fraternity Document,” the grand imam said, “that I signed with my brother Francis, and which enthroned a whole year of hard work and sincere efforts by Al-Azhar and the Vatican, is considered a safe way out of human problems in the East and West.”

    El-Tayeb praised the establishment of the Higher Committee for implementing the Objectives of the Human Fraternity Document, saying “it is a positive step for human fraternity.”

    The first meeting of the higher committee took place at the Vatican in the presence of Pope Francis in September 2019.

    The delegated French bishops said they were happy to meet with the grand imam, expressing their appreciation of his efforts for the sake of humanity and the consolidation of the culture of dialogue and coexistence.

    They also affirmed that “the openness and good relationship between the two largest religious institutions in the world [Al-Azhar and the Vatican], will reap the good fruits of the world and benefit all believers everywhere.””

  33. Kashmiris will turn AJK into graveyard of Indian army if attacked: Masood
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2140001/1-kashmiris-will-turn-ajk-graveyard-indian-army-attacked-masood/

    “Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has warned India against attacking AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan saying “the valiant people of this region will not only turn the liberated territory into a graveyard of the Indian Army, but they will also disintegrate India itself”.

    He was referring to the belligerent statements of Indian leadership against Pakistan while addressing a ceremony held to mark the first martyrdom anniversary of Lance Naik Atif Nazir in Mond, a small town of AJK, on Saturday.

    The AJK president also condemned the provocative statement of India’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat wherein, he for the first time admitted having ‘de-radicalisation’ camps in his country to “re-educate” the Kashmiri children.

    “Indian Hindu fanatic outfit may kill these children in detention. Therefore, the United Nations and international community should take notice and ensure safe release of illegally detained Kashmiri children,” he added…”