Reader’s Links for February 7, 2020

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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

106 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 7, 2020”

  1. Sweden’s Largest Party Lashes Out as ‘Mudslinging’ Museum Portrays Them as Nazis (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202002071078252925-swedens-largest-party-lashes-out-as-mudslinging-museum-portrays-them-as-nazis/

    “In a matter of several decades, the Sweden Democrats have propelled themselves from obscurity to a vantage point in the Swedish parliament.

    The Swedish Democrats in Norrköping have chastised the City Museum for placing a photograph of the local party board as part of an exhibition on Nazism and filed a police report.

    The exhibition in question is called “Collaborationism and Resistance”. The Norrköping board of the Sweden Democrats picture featured under the subheading “Nazism in Norrköping then and now”, where it is placed together with articles on neo-Nazism.

    “This is totally unacceptable, that they display our board in a way that links it to Nazism” Sweden Democrat group leader in Norrköping Darko Mamkovic, who reported the incident, told Swedish Radio. Every Sweden Democrat featured in the exhibition intends to file a report of their own.

    “Enough is enough. Today I have notified the police of the Social Democrats’ propaganda machinery,” Mamkovic tweeted.

    The Norrköping City Museum retorted that the exhibition has been checked by lawyers, and that the Sweden Democrats were also invited to participate. Acting museum director Maria Modig welcomed a review but stressed she doesn’t think they have done anything illegal.

    “This the lowest I’ve seen; trying to link 30s-era Nazism with the Sweden Democrats today is pure madness. I cannot interpret the idea that my board has anything to do with swastikas and atrocities such as Nazism as anything other than mudslinging”, Mamkovic told national broadcaster SVT.

    For the time being, the picture of the Sweden Democrats’ board has been removed from the exhibition, which runs until 31 January 2021. The museum had previously increased security because of the exhibition’s content, SVT reported.

    The Sweden Democrats are a national-conservative anti-immigration political party founded in 1988 and self-described as social conservative with a nationalist foundation. Under Jimmie Åkesson, who has led the party since 2005, it has developed from a fringe party to a parliamentary heavyweight. In late 2019, the Sweden Democrats polled as Sweden’s largest party in several consecutive surveys, including by national broadcaster SVT and the newspaper Aftonbladet.

    Despite their electoral successes, the Sweden Democrats are routinely branded “racist” and “neo-Nazi” by their opponents and the press. None other than Sweden’s Social Democrat Stefan Löfven called them a “Nazi party with racist roots”, only to backtrack later. Still, the Sweden Democrats are shunned by the political establishment and have yet to enter a government coalition.

    Ironically, the Social Democrats, who have been at Sweden’s helm for the most part of the 20th century, openly cooperated with Nazi Germany, supplying Hitler with iron ore. During the 20th century, Sweden also carried out tens of thousands compulsory sterilisations on eugenic, medical and social grounds, lasting until 1975 and largely coinciding with the Social Democrats’ rule.”

  2. US Awards $420Mln in Aviation Contracts to Support AFRICOM (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/military/202002071078249616-us-awards-420mln-in-aviation-contracts-to-support-africom/

    “Three defence contractors won a combined $420 million to provide helicopters and support for the US military mission in Africa, the Defence Department said in a press release.

    “Construction Helicopters Inc., Howell, Michigan, has been awarded… $168,964,521 for continued rotary- and fixed-wing airlift support services, including passenger, cargo, casualty evacuation, personnel recovery, airdrop, and limited door-to-door services to US Africa Command”, the release said on Thursday.

    Berry Aviation and Erickson Helicopters won the other two contracts worth $157.8 million and $93.6 million, respectively.

    All three contracts will operate from 2 February 2020 to 1 February 2021, the release added.

    US Africa Command is one of the newest of the Pentagon’s 13 areas of command, having only been established in 2007.”

  3. Interesting article in the Spectator by a former prison governor on the state of British prisons:
    (not sure if this link will work)
    https://www.spectator.co.uk/2020/02/terror-cells-how-britains-prisons-became-finishing-schools-for-extremists-2/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WEEK%20%2020200208%20%20Fisher%20%20AL&utm_content=WEEK%20%2020200208%20%20Fisher%20%20AL%20CID_1e6727d5369c3ca39eaf73f8539e8d95&utm_source=CampaignMonitor_Production&utm_term=Terror%20cells%20our%20prisons%20are%20fuelling%20radicalism%20not%20fighting%20it

  4. India arrests top Kashmiri leaders under controversial law (abcnews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/india-arrests-top-kashmiri-leaders-controversial-law-68818853

    “Indian authorities have arrested two former top elected officials of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir under a controversial law that allows authorities to imprison someone for up to two years without trial, officials said on Friday.

    Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah were arrested as their six-month-old detention ended Thursday, a top civil administrator and top police officers said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

    They were among thousands of people detained when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of semi-autonomy and statehood, downgrading them into two federal territories last August.

    Since, they had been held under house arrest under a preventive custody law that allows authorities to detain people who are feared might commit offenses for up to six months.

    On Thursday, Prime Minister Modi gave indication of their arrest when he said in Parliament that the two leaders had in the past made statements that could incite unrest in the region.

    Modi cited Mehbooba Mufti accusing India of cheating Kashmir last summer. He said Omar Abdullah had remarked that ending Kashmir’s autonomy would cause an earthquake that would separate Kashmir from India , though there is no indication Abdullah made any such statement.

    “Some people here complain some leaders have been incarcerated. Mehbooba Mufti said, ‘’Kashmir made a mistake by joining India’. Are you justifying such kind of speech?” Modi said in Parliament.

    Omar Abdullah’s father, Farooq Abdullah, was the first pro-India politician arrested under the Public Safety Act, under which rights activists say more than 20,000 Kashmiris have been detained in the last two decades. They are considered pro-India as they never supported Muslim-majority Kashmir’s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.

    They are the top leaders of the National Conference, the party that has governed the Indian-controlled Kashmir for decades since India and Pakistan won independence from British colonialists in 1947 and soon began fighting over control over Kashmir, a Himalayan region spread over both countries. Farooq Abdullah, also a former top elected official of Jammu and Kashmir, is an 82-year-old member of India’s Parliament.

    Mufti, 60, heads the People’s Democratic Party, which was a coalition partner of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the region for nearly two years after the 2016 state elections. Mufti headed the coalition government.

    Two former state lawmakers and party leaders, Ali Mohammed Sagar of the NC and Sartaj Madani of the PDP, also were detained under the controversial Public Security Act on Wednesday.

    India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir which is divided between the nuclear-armed rivals by a cease-fire line. Both sides claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.

    Amnesty International has called the Public Safety Act a “lawless law,” and rights groups say India has used it to stifle dissent and circumvent the criminal justice system, undermining accountability, transparency and respect for human rights.

    On Friday, the main opposition Congress party slammed the government’s decision.

    “Shocked and devastated by the cruel invocation of the Public Safety Act against Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and others,” said P. Chidambaram, a top party leader.

    “Detention without charges is the worst abomination in a democracy. When unjust laws are passed or unjust laws are invoked, what option do the people have than to protest peacefully?” Chidambaram tweeted.

    Modi’s government sent thousands of additional Indian troops last August to the Kashmir Valley, already one of the world’s most militarized regions, when it revoked Article 370, the constitutional provision that had given Kashmir some measure of self-rule.

    It cut telephone communications, cell coverage, broadband internet and cable TV services for the valley’s 7 million people. It has been gradually restoring limited communications in the region.”

  9. Switzerland: Three schoolgirls were sexually assaulted in the street by a gang of asylum seekers – A father coming to their aid is beaten up and threatened with a gun

    he young woman smiles, but the tears in her eyes mean something completely different. Her father is trying to calm her down. “It’s terrible what we’ve been through. Everyone should know what happened,” he tells the newspaper BLICK. Four days ago, his daughter was molested and harassed by two Albanians and an Algerian. When he tried to help his daughter, he was beaten and threatened by the three rejected asylum seekers! The attack happened last Friday, just before 8:00 am. Sandra M.* (15 years old) walks after school with two 16-year-old friends to the Lago shopping centre in nearby Konstanz in Germany: Then they wait for the bus in Kreuzlingen in the Swiss canton of Thurgau at Bärenplatz square. It doesn’t take long, when the girls are approached by three men. They are athletic, have short black hair, a full beard and they speak broken English and Italian. “But that first impression changed quickly. The men became pushy and wouldn’t let us leave.”There were almost no passers-by. No one is there to aid the girls. “They tried to separate us so that we could not help each other,” reports the student. “At Migros, they pushed us into a corner. One of them grabbed my bottom. When a friend of mine escaped, a man chased her. I shouted out loud: ‘Stop! “Stop it! When the bus finally passes, a girlfriend of the girls was inside and spotted them. She asks the driver to let her off. She screams out loud: “I’ve seen that guy before today. He has a gun. Run away!” The four of them run away and flee to a bar. Sandra phones her father to pick her up. “On the way home, we passed the train station. My daughter recognized the guys there and we stopped”, tells Peter M.* (59 years old). He gets out of the car and addresses the men. “They immediately became aggressive and attacked me,” says the Kreuzlinger. One pushes Peter M. towards the car. A second kicked him in the stomach, followed by a hard blow to the head. “Then someone pressed a gun to my chin,” he says. The daughter had to watch everything. «I was afraid for my father. I called the police. Then I saw the gun. I screamed into the phone. He has a gun, he has a gun! After that the mobile phone line was dead. “Father and daughter are in shock after the attack. “I only go out of the house when I have to,” says Sandra M. The father also suffers from the attack. “I can’t forget the gun pointed at me.” “Father and daughter are in shock after the attack. “I only go out of the house when I have to,” says Sandra M. The father also suffers from the attack. “I can’t forget the gun pointed at me.” Particularly reprehensible: Even when the police arrive and want to arrest the trio, one of the three men pulls out his gun again. The police must fire a warning shot! Marco Breu, media officer at the Thurgau public prosecutor’s office: «The 25-year-old Albanian threatened the police officer with a pistol from close proximity. In this acute threat situation, the policeman shot towards the man. The man is in custody. The 29-year-old Albanian has received a penalty order and is now in detention pending deportation. The 19-year-old Algerian was reported for violating the Aliens Act and is back in the asylum center.
    More:
    https://medforth.blog/2020/02/07/switzerland-three-schoolgirls-were-sexually-assaulted-in-the-street-by-a-gang-of-asylum-seekers-a-father-coming-to-their-aid-is-beaten-up-and-threatened-with-a-gun/

  10. Exclusive – Iranian Persecuted Christians: Majority of Iran Supported Soleimani Airstrike (breitbart, Feb 6, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/02/06/exclusive-iranian-persecuted-christians-majority-of-iran-supported-soleimani-airstrike/

    “Iranians who fled the Islamic Republic after facing persecution and prison sentences for their Christian faith said in remarks to Breitbart News this week that the majority of people in Iran support President Donald Trump’s decision to eliminate Iranian terror chief Qasem Soleimani.

    Soleimani, a major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was the head of Iran’s Quds Force and responsible for its foreign terrorism strategy. U.S. officials have confirmed that he pioneered the use of roadside bombs in Iraq and Syria to kill and dismember American soldiers. Trump ordered an airstrike on Soleimani in January after a pro-Iran mob attempted to storm the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

    Breitbart News asked two of the women if Trump’s policies toward Iran were helping the people there, and specifically persecuted Christians.

    “I think the Trump administration’s policies toward Iran [are] absolutely helping,” Maryam Rostampour told Breitbart News. “If you ask the majority of Iranians they support President Trump and his policies toward Iran.”

    “After President Trump came into office you see a lot of standing and supporting the Iranian people,” Rostampour said, adding that remarks from Trump or Secretary State Mike Pompeo supporting Iranians and their fight for freedom “is very encouraging for the Iranian people.”

    “I support one hundred percent [Trump’s] policies, especially the killing of General Soleimani,” Rostampour said. “The majority of Iranians believe that he was a terrorist. Not only in the countries of the region but also he was responsible for killing thousands of people in Iran.”

    She said many of those inside Iran who were killed were protesters who had no weapons but stood up against the regime nonetheless.

    “That’s why we believe the international community, the United States, European countries need to stand with the Iranian people because this is their basic human rights,” Rostrampour said. “They want freedom. They are tired of this regime.”

    “And, honestly, it’s so frustrating to see that the media in the West just spreading the Iranian regime’s propaganda instead of standing for what is right,” she said.

    Rostampour said in recent months some 1,500 people have been killed and thousands more thrown into prison for blasphemy and many of those receive death sentences.

    “But when we look at the Western media you don’t hear about the suffering of the Iranian people,” she said. “That’s why we appreciate what the Trump administration is doing … standing for the Iranian people and supporting human rights.”

    Dabrina Bet Tamraz said she believes Trump’s policies toward Iran have “raised awareness,” especially about the lack of religious freedom in Iran.

    “We have not experienced such publicity and focus on religious freedom, especially within the country of Iran,” Bet Tamraz told Breitbart News.

    Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh are Christian converts from a Muslim background. Evangelism is illegal in Iran, but the two women were devoted to spreading the gospel and handed out 20,000 copies of the New Testament.

    In 2009, they were arrested and spent almost nine months in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. They co-wrote a book about their experience, Captive in Iran.

    The women said that they believed they survived their incarceration because so many people around the world prayed for them and made their plight known. And many people sent letters expressing their support.

    Although hundreds of letters poured into the prison, they never saw any of them. But in the end, they realized even that was part of God’s plan when prison guards — who did see the letters — asked questions like, “What does it mean when people say Jesus is their Shepherd?”

    “Then we realized the letters weren’t for us, but for them,” Maryam said.

    Dabrina Bet Tamraz is the daughter of Iranian Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, who led a church in Iran until 2009. In 2017, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for “acting against national security by forming home churches, attending seminars abroad, and proselytizing Zionist Christianity,” according to a Family Research Council biography. In 2018, Dabrina’s mother, Shamiram Isavi, was sentenced to five years in prison on similar charges, and her brother, Ramiel Bet Tamraz, was sentenced to four months in prison for “spreading Christian propaganda.” All are still waiting to hear about their appeals.

    The women took part on Wednesday in a panel discussion at FRC in Washington, DC, about the Iran regime’s ongoing persecution of Christians.

    The women also reported that Iran has the fastest growing Christian underground church in the world.

    As Breitbart News reported, Soleimani was not just an Iranian military leader:

    Soleimani, a major general and the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, was responsible for Iran’s terrorist operations abroad, particularly against the United States. He was believed to have coordinated a significant number of human rights atrocities in Syria in defense of dictator Bashar al-Assad and was in charge of organizing terrorist activity in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Latin America, among other areas.

    He prioritized the use of roadside bombs to injure and kill American soldiers in battlefields like Iraq, where Iran largely controls the government in Baghdad and its proxy forces on the ground.”

  11. ‘Black Studies’ Prof: British Empire Worse Than Nazi Germany, ‘Whiteness’ a ‘Psychosis’ (breitbart, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/07/black-studies-prof-slams-whiteness-british-empire-worse-hitler/

    “Britain’s first professor of “Black Studies” has said the British Empire did “far more harm” than Hitler’s Germany, and branded “whiteness” a “psychosis”.

    Kehinde Andrews, of Birming City University’s School of Social Sciences, made the comments during a debate on Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy’s proposal to rename Britain’s national honours, which bestow people with post-nominals such as MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) and OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire).

    “[I]n the 21st century 60 per cent of British people believe the Empire was a force for good,” Andrews scoffed during his appearance on the show, hosted by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.

    “This is like saying because the Nazis built motorways we should celebrate them.”

    Pressed by Morgan on whether he was genuinely equating the British Empire with the Third Reich, Andrews doubled down: “You’re right. There is no comparison. The British Empire did far more harm to the world for a far more sustained period of time.”

    The publicly-funded academic was also disparaging of “whiteness”, deflecting accusations of racism by claiming that “Whiteness is not just for white people, there also Asian people black people who purport the psychosis of whiteness.”

    In the face of a public backlash for his comments, Andrews took to social media to double down on his position.

    “Yes, Whiteness is a psychosis,” he insisted.

    “Much respect to [Professor Carol Anderson] for the excellent White Rage. First stop on my reading our for the #PsychosisOfWhiteness book.”

    Elsewhere, he added: ‘The British Empire lasted far longer, did more damage and in many ways paved the way the Nazi’s [sic] and their genocidal ideology.

    “We do no favours to the victims of the Holocaust by pretending otherwise. If we forget the past we are likely to repeat it .”

    On February 7th he appeared to go even further, sharing a tweet from Timothy Kaldas of the Washington D.C.-based Tahrir Institute suggesting that “What [Piers Morgan] can’t forgive Hitler for isn’t the crime itself, crime against man…it’s the crime against the white man, humiliation of the white man & fact he applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then were reserved for Algeria’s Arabs, India’s coolies & Africa’s blacks”.”

  12. Migrant Arrested for Home Invasion of Former French President (breitbart, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/07/algerian-migrant-arrested-attempted-robbery-home-former-french-president/

    “An Algerian migrant has been arrested by police in Paris after breaking into a house owned by Julie Gayet, the partner of former French President Francois Hollande.

    Police were alerted to a break-in at the home of the couple at around 6 p.m. on January 26th. Ms Gayet travelled to a local police station to report the incident, with Hollande dispatching his personal security officer to help investigators, Le Point reports.

    Investigators said that the Algerian migrant forced a door but could not enter the interior of the house and ended up smashing a window on the first floor to enter the building, which has been largely vacant due to renovation work.

    On January 28th, police arrested the 19-year-old Algerian, who had previously been known to police for a robbery that occurred in the 6th arrondissement of Paris in early January.

    While he was ordered to be deported, this order had been suspended due to an appeal.

    A day later, the Algerian was placed into Paris police custody and charged with attempted burglary and placed in pre-trial detention. He is again set to be deported at the end of any sentence he receives.

    Former President Hollande, who left office with an abysmal polling rating, served as French leader during the height of the migrant crisis in 2015 and was blasted by Nigel Farage in October of that year for his policies during the crisis. The Brexit campaigner labelled the Socialist leader a “pipsqueak” to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    Hollande, who had promised to clear the notorious “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais, went as far as demanding the British take in migrants from the camp to help clear it.

    The city of Paris has seen a surge in robberies and violent crime in recent years, with a report released in October claiming that some areas of the city saw a 70 per cent rise in violent robberies in 2019.”

  13. Home Office Bureaucrats Accused of Burying Report on Ethnicity of Grooming Gang Rapists (breitbart, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/07/home-office-bureaucrats-accused-burying-report-on-ethnicity-grooming-gang-rapists/

    “Home Office bureaucrats have been accused of burying a report on the ethnic background of grooming gang rapists announced in 2018.

    The report was commissioned by Sajid Javid — then Home Secretary, now Chancellor of the Exchequer — in 2018, with the Pakistani-heritage Muslim MP saying it made him “feel angry” that such a disproportionate number of grooming gang rapists came from his community, and that they had “disgraced our heritage”.

    The Home Office later said the review would remain internal, however, supposedly due to operational sensitivity, and Javid was accused of having essentially shelved it.

    Now his successor as Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is reportedly being met with “obfuscation” and “given the run around” by departmental bureaucrats as she attempts to find out what has become of their investigation.

    “I have no idea why, but it has consistently felt like Home Office officials deliberately avoid ministers clear instructions for research when it comes to grooming gangs,” commented Sarah Champion, a Labour MP who has pressed the issue of grooming gangs for some time, and was sacked from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow government for daring to say that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.”

    “The Home Office ministers and the former Home Secretary [Javid] have all stated to me that the department will carry out research into perpetrators of gang-related child sexual exploitation,” Champion said of the current impasse.

    “Still we have nothing. It appears civil servants in the Home Office believe if they ignore requests into grooming gang data for long enough, ministers will just move on to a different topic.

    “I think they might be shocked by the persistence of Priti Patel on this issue.”

    Sources told the Huffington Post that Patel was “not best pleased” with officials in her department, who are seen as “not being completely upfront” about the issue. She is said to be insistent on seeing the results of the report for herself, even if they are not revealed to the public.

    Independent research by think tank Quilliam has previously indicated that some 84 per cent of groomers are South Asian origin men.

    “We were promised a review of sorts by the then home secretary and then when it didn’t surface, we were told it was for internal use only,” commented Nazir Afzal, a former Crown prosecutor who led some of the early cases against grooming gang when the authorities were finally forced to act on the scandal.

    “Now it seems nobody can find it, he added.

    “It’s victims that constantly get let down by the failures of those in authority.”

    Afzal wants the report released because, in his view, its absence is being “exploited by the far right”.

    Because of his background and work on grooming gang cases, Afzal is often wheeled out by the mainstream media outlets who neglected the issue for years as an authoritative voice ont the subject — but he has previously tried to play down the religious and ethnic dimensions of the large-scale sexual exploitation of overwhelmingly non-Muslim, usually white girls by overwhelmingly Mulsim, usually Pakistani-origin men as non-existent or minimal.

    In 2014 he suggested that while the ethnic profile of victims and perpetrators “is what it is”, Asian-origin men were vastly overrepresented in the offender statistics in large part because “Pakistani men, Asian men, [are] disproportionately employed in the night-time economy” — cab drivers, takeaway owners and workers, and so on — and that brings vulnerable seeking “transport” and “food” in contact with the “very small minority” of night-time economy workers inclined towards sexual abuse.

    “There is no religious basis for this. These men were not religious,” Afzal insisted — but victims vehemently disagree.”

    • To avoid a cursing or receive a blessing.
      This emptiness crying out to be filled.
      No male or female, by plead or confessing
      Will trap the spirit those god-willed.

  15. Report: Swedish Govt Had Low Priority To Deport Failed Asylum Seekers (breitbart, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/07/report-swedish-govt-had-low-priority-to-deport-failed-asylum-seekers/

    “A report from the Migration Studies Delegation (Delmi) has claimed that the Swedish government has made deporting failed asylum seekers a low priority.

    The Delmi report examined cases of migrants who were refused residency or refugee status between 199 and 2018 and found that 45 per cent of the cases led to police becoming involved because the migrants had either disappeared or had to be forcibly removed from Sweden, Nyheter Idag reports.

    Another 44 per cent of the cases saw the migrants leave Sweden voluntarily, while nine per cent had their deportation orders cancelled.

    Delmi found that those who required deportation were given a low priority by the government despite various promises from politicians.

    “Within both the Police and the Swedish Migration Board, the two authorities that are going to execute cases, the deportation issues are regarded as an ‘odd activity’, not really in line with the core mission, or what the staff would prefer to do,” the report states.

    The authors of the report also note that the many chances for migrants to appeal deportation orders has led to migrants and government officials not treating deportation orders as the final say in many cases saying appeals, “send signals through the system that a no is not always a no.”

    The report comes just days after a member of the Swedish parliament belonging to the Left Party encouraged Swedes to hide migrants who were at risk of deportation from law enforcement officials.

    Left Party MP Daniel Riazat wrote on Facebook, “My message to all who can: Hide a refugee. If it becomes illegal. Hide two! It’s called Civil Courage and Humanity!”

    Earlier this year, a member of the ruling Social Democrats was arrested after a Swedish newspaper discovered that he had helped facilitate illegal migration into the country, selling passport documents for as much as 3,000 euros for adults and 2,000 euros for children.”

  18. UK crime: Public ‘losing faith in police’ and not reporting crimes (express, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1239181/UK-crime-police-reporting-crimes-watchdog

    “VICTIMS have given up reporting certain crimes as they believe the police will be unable to help, the official watchdog has warned.

    A report published today said the public are losing faith in the criminal justice system because the chances of offenders being caught are so slim.

    Just one in every 13 crimes recorded ended up with a suspect being charged in the year to March 2019.

    HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr suggested people have realised some forces do not have the capacity to deal with certain crimes, such as burglaries, and have given up ­reporting incidents.

    He said: “I think these levels of volume crime resolution are corrosive for the long-term relationship between the public and police.

    “If you are the victim of a minor burglary or minor assault or car crime, I think people have now got to the stage where their expectations are low and the police live down to those expectations because they simply don’t have the capacity to deal with it.

    “There are some worrying trends. Domestic abuse, sexual assault, where victims are no longer supporting the prosecution, is a more complex and worrying issue.

    “But I think, particularly in the volume crime area, the public has rumbled that the police capacity to deal with this is extremely limited.

    “There are some strikingly low ­figures about car crime resolution, meaning most of the public simply give up reporting it because the chances of anything positive happening are so slim.”

    Following an inspection of all 43 forces in England and Wales, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary identified Cleveland, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia as the worst-performing forces for investigating crimes.

    The report – entitled Divergence Under Pressure – also highlighted ­differences with investigating digital evidence from victims’ mobile phones, computers and other devices, which cannot be used while awaiting examination.

    It said the best-performing forces take a few months to return items, but it can take 18 months for victims to get their phones back from the worst-performing Northamptonshire force.

    Mr Parr said: “Our assessments show that policing across England and Wales is largely in good shape.

    “But we cannot ignore that forces are providing services under the twin pressures of rising demand and falling resources. And these pressures have not fallen equally across police forces.

    “Some forces have risen exceptionally well to the challenge. But this generalisation misses some noticeable differences between police forces and the service they provide.

    “This has resulted in some members of the public receiving very different services provided by their local force, depending where they live.”

    The report also warns plans to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers will not solve all of the problems facing forces. It said increased numbers will only benefit efficient forces, which know what skills newcomers need.”

  19. Turkey Deploys Special Forces to Observation Posts in Idlib – Reports (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202002071078255005-turkey-deploys-special-forces-to-observation-posts-in-idlib—reports/

    “Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that agreements relating to Syria’s Idlib and the area east of the Euphrates did not work.

    Turkey is moving its special forces to observation posts in the Idlib de-escalation zone, the Anadolu media outlet reported.

    “A convoy of 150 trucks with special forces, military equipment and ammunition reached the Syrian border of the southern Turkish province of Hatay, from where it will proceed to Syria,” according to Anadolu.

    Earlier, five Turkish soldiers and three civilians were killed in the province following Syrian army airstrikes, according to Ankara…”

  20. British Family Doctor Given Life Sentence for 90 Sex Assaults on Women and Girl Patients (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/uk/202002071078255343-british-family-doctor-given-life-sentence-for-90-sex-assaults-on-women-and-girl-patients/

    “A British doctor used the example of Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, who had a double mastectomy after being told she had an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer in 2013, to point out the dangers of the disease in order to justify his sexual assaults.

    A family doctor has been given three life sentences by a court in London after being convicted of 90 sex assaults on female patients.

    Manish Shah, a general practitioner in Romford, east London, assaulted 23 women and a 15-year-old girl and carried out invasive examinations for his own gratification.

    The Old Bailey heard he used the instances of actress Angelina Jolie and British reality TV star Jade Goody – who died in 2009 – as examples of the dangers of breast and cervical cancer in order to justify his sexual assaults…”

  21. UK ‘Keyboard Warriors’ Ran Jihadi Website Which Called on Children to Make Bombs (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/uk/202002071078254978-uk-keyboard-warriors-ran-jihadi-website-which-called-on-children-to-make-bombs/

    “The Authentic Tauheed website was run by volunteers between 2012 and 2014. The website published transcriptions of speeches headed “No peace with the Jews” and “Declaration of War.”

    Two British men who ran a terrorist website which transcribed speeches which praised al-Qaeda and Daesh* are being sentenced on Friday, 7 February.

    Mohammed Kamali, 31, and Mohammed Ahad, 38, published sermons by Islamic preacher Sheikh Faisal, who was convicted of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred in 2003.

    The website – which was set up by Faisal in Jamaica – praised Daesh and called on children as young as 12 to make bombs.

    Counter Terrorism Police are reminding the public to remain vigilant and always report anything suspicious as two men await sentencing for publishing terrorism-related material on an extremist website.

    Among the speeches they transcribed were ones in which young Muslims were urged to wage violence and kill “kuffars” (non-believers).

    Kamali, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, and Ahad, from north London, face long jail sentences after being convicted of dissemination of a terrorist publication.

    The pair came to the attention of the police in 2016 when a 20-year-old woman was investigated after she shared terrorism-related documents on the website and on a linked Facebook page. She was convicted in 2017 for dissemination of a terrorist publication.

    Counter-terrorism detectives identified Kamali and Ahad as administrators of the Authentic Tauheed website.

    Both were arrested on 1 March 2017 and a search of their homes led to the discovery of digital media devices which confirmed they were the website administrators.

    Detective Superintendent Will Chatterton had a special message for Islamist ‘keyboard warriors’: “I hope this sends a clear message to those thinking about engaging in such warped, criminal behaviour whilst hiding behind a computer screen – we will identify you, we will find you and ultimately, we will bring you to justice.”

    Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal – who was born Trevor Forrest and converted to Islam – was convicted in 2003 in Britain of soliciting murder and stirring up racial hatred.

    After his release from prison he moved to Jamaica and ran the Authentic Tauheed website, on which he preached that “Islam does not mean peace.”

    At Kamali and Ahad’s trial, prosecutor Matthew Brook said Faisal’s speeches would be uploaded by the pair.

    Mr Brook said the speeches “would have been understood by some of their readers as encouraging them to join ISIS (Daesh) or to fight violent jihad.”

    He said: “The speeches spoke of violent jihad and how boys or girls and how boys or girls aged 12 could participate as they could make IEDs (improvised explosive devices).”

    Commander Richard Smith, from the Metropolitan Police, said: “The capture and conviction of these two peddlers of harmful, extremist material was as a direct consequence of that network. We quickly identified the two offenders in different parts of the UK as online publishers of toxic ideologies which promoted terrorism and encouraged its readership to join Daesh in Syria.”

    *Al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/”Islamic State”) are terrorist organisations banned in Russia and other countries.”

  22. Shamima Begum Loses Appeal Against Stripping of Her Citizenship (sputniknews, Feb 7, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/uk/202002071078255358-shamima-begum-loses-appeal-against-stripping-of-her-citizenship/

    “In February 2019 Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her citizenship using powers which don’t require a criminal charge or conviction. Her lawyers argued that this decision was unlawful because it left her stateless and languishing in a refugee camp in Syria.

    Shamima Begum, the former schoolgirl who travelled to Daesh*-controlled territory in Syria when she was 15 years old, has lost the first stage of her citizenship stripping case at the Special Immigration and Appeals Commission (SIAC). SIAC hears national security related cases (often in secret and with evidence) and those that relate to depravation of citizenship (also known as de-nationalisation).

    Begum left the country with two other 15 year old friends, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana, the latter of which was reportedly killed in an airstrike in 2016. All three girls attended Bethnal Green Academy in East London before traveling to join the Islamist terrorist group in February 2015.

    Born and raised in the UK as a British citizen Begum is of Bangladeshi ancestry though it is disputed whether she holds citizenship from the country. In February 2019 then Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped Begum of her citizenship, using powers granted to him by parliament.

    At the time she was deprived of her citizenship Begum was hoping to return to the UK with her newborn baby, which has since died in a Syrian refugee camp, where she remains to this day.

    Under international law it is illegal for a state to make anybody stateless and her lawyers have argued that that is what has happened. But SIAC rejected the argument that Begum has been made stateless arguing that the 20-year-old can travel to Bangladesh. The court did recognise that the process of citizenship stripping was not fair given her inability to properly challenge the decision.

    “We accept that, in her current circumstances, [Begum] cannot play any meaningful part in her appeal and to that extent, the appeal will not be fair and effective”, the SIAC judgment says according to The Guardian.

    But the judges went on to say that the power used was nonetheless legal because parliament had explicitly made it so.

    SIAC’s judgement said that Begum effectively holds, or is otherwise entitled to, Bangladeshi citizenship by way of her ancestry. Bangladesh does not permit its citizens to hold dual citizenship and Bangladeshi law requires a person to apply to retain any citizenship (that they may hold by ancestry), by the age of 21 or they will lose it.

    In 2019 the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister said that Begum would not be permitted into the country and her lawyers have claimed she is at risk of “death, inhuman or degrading treatment” if she is forced to go to Bangladesh or if she is forced to remain in Syria in.

    The Home Office has refused to comment on the decision other than to express their pleasure over it as Began may appeal SIAC’s decision.

    *Daesh, also known as ISIS/IS/Islamic State, is banned in Russia and many other countries as a terrorist organisation.”

  24. (CNN)The White House announced Thursday evening that Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of terror group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in an airstrike in Yemen.

    CNN reported last week that the US conducted a strike targeting Rimi, who led the terror group’s franchise based in Yemen that has repeatedly expressed interest in conducting attacks targeting the United States, a US official said. The Pentagon did not comment when asked at the time about the report.
    The US government had offered a $10 million reward for information on Rimi.
    The news comes following several other successful US military efforts to remove high profile Middle Eastern leaders. President Donald Trump ordered a US airstrike in January that killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, and in October, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a nighttime raid conducted by US forces on his compound in northern Syria.
    While not on the same level as Baghdadi and Soleimani, the death of the leader of AQAP is still a significant moment. Rimi had been a US target since early in Trump’s tenure. Rimi was a target of a January 2017 raid on an al Qaeda compound in Yemen that led to the first US military combat death under the President, a senior US military official told CNN at the time.
    Rimi taunted Trump and condemned the operation in an 11-minute recording days after the raid, saying that “the new fool of the White House received a painful slap across his face.”
    Rimi’s “death further degrades AQAP and the global al-Qa’ida movement, and it brings us closer to eliminating the threats these groups pose to our national security,” the White House said in a statement Thursday. “The United States, our interests, and our allies are safer as a result of his death. We will continue to protect the American people by tracking down and eliminating terrorists who seek to do us harm.”
    Rimi, formerly AQAP’s military chief, reportedly became the group’s leader following a 2015 drone strike that killed Nasir al-Wuhayshi. Rimi issued a video soon afterward calling supporters to attack the United States, urging that “all of you must direct and gather your arrows and swords against it.”
    Many observers have considered AQAP among the most dangerous, if not the most dangerous, branch of al Qaeda since its formation in 2009. The group claimed responsibility for the 2015 attack on the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 people, though experts could not confirm the group was behind the attack.
    The US has sought to prevent al Qaeda from exploiting the chaos of Yemen’s civil war to establish a haven, but the number of US military strikes has declined sharply over the last few years.
    The US military carried out 131 airstrikes in Yemen in 2017 and conducted 36 strikes in 2018, nearly all of them targeting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Last April, the US military carried out a series of six airstrikes in Yemen targeting the al Qaeda affiliate there.
    UPDATE: This story has been updated with additional information about Rimi.
    CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Barbara Starr, Zachary Cohen, Euan McKirdy, Eli Watkins and Ryan Browne contributed to this report.

    PAID CONTENT

  27. Containment of novel coronavirus ‘probably not possible’ and outbreak may become ‘pandemic’: Expert

  34. Treasury complies with GOP Senate inquiry, hands over highly confidential info on Hunter Biden, report says

    The Treasury Department complied with a Republican-controlled Senate inquiry into Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and handed over highly sensitive financial records and “evidence of questionable origin,” a report on Thursday said.

    Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been a favorite target for President Trump and other Republicans who use him as an example of an extreme case of crony capitalism. He once held a $50,000-a-month job with Ukrainian gas giant, Burisima Holdings while his father served under then-President Obama. His father was tasked with handling Ukraine policy at the time.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/treasury-complies-with-gop-senate-inquiry-hands-over-highly-confidential-info-on-hunter-biden-report-says

  35. EXCLUSIVE: Joe Biden’s brother Frank owes dead man’s family $1 MILLION for 80mph car crash – but has never paid a cent in 20 years and the Democratic candidate did NOTHING to help

    Joe Biden’s brother is a scofflaw who is defying paying almost $1 million in compensation to the family of a young single father killed in a horrific car crash more than 20 years ago, DailyMail.com can reveal.

    Frank Biden has failed to pay a dime to the family of Michael Albano despite having defaulted on a lawsuit filed against him for the death, our investigation uncovered.

    And even though Albano’s orphaned daughters pleaded more than a decade ago with Joe – then a senator – for help recovering the money from his brother it was to no avail, telling them he had ‘deep sympathy’ but his brother was penniless.

    Since then Frank Biden has reportedly earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from a series of positions that appear to trade heavily on his family name – but Joe appears to have done nothing to persuade him to pay his debts.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7908559/Joe-Bidens-brother-Frank-owes-1-million-dead-mans-family-2020-Democrat-did-help.html

  36. Report: Iowa caucus results are still flawed

    According to reports, there were still problems with the final results in the Iowa caucus, following a disastrous delay in the state’s vote count. The final results were released Thursday night, showing former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) neck-and-neck with 26.2 and 26.1 percent of the votes.

    As the results trickled in amid a so-called “quality control” check, the New York Times published an analysis, which found there were multiple inconsistencies in the vote count. Namely, in some precincts the candidate who received the most final alignment votes did not receive the correct amount of state delegate equivalents.

    In other cases, candidates lost votes between what was called the first alignment votes, which is who voters supported heading into the caucus. Additionally, candidates lost votes between the final alignment votes, which should have been impossible according to the states rules.

    While the errors were not profound enough to warrant speculation of favoritism for a single candidate, the legitimacy of the results may come into question because Sanders and Buttigieg were within 0.1 percentage point from each other. Despite the uncertainty, Sanders decided to declare victory in Iowa.

    “In a election with voter turnout of approximately 180,000 people and with eight strong candidates competing, a victory margin of some 6,000 votes is pretty decisive,” he stated.

    https://www.oann.com/report-iowa-caucus-results-are-still-flawed/

  37. Death of Chinese coronavirus doctor sparks online anger at government

    BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A Chinese doctor reprimanded for warning against a “SARS-like” coronavirus before it was officially recognised died of the illness on Friday, triggering online expressions of anger at the government and fuelling suspicions of censorship.

    The death of Li Wenliang, 34, came as Chinese President Xi Jinping told the United States that China was doing all it could to contain the virus after earlier assuring the World Health Organization (WHO) of full openness and transparency.

    https://www.oann.com/china-virus-toll-jumps-past-500-as-more-cases-found-on-cruise-ship-off-japan/

  38. New ‘bombshell’: Fox News has briefing book impugning network’s own sources on Ukraine
    By J.E. Dyer February 7, 2020

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/02/07/new-bombshell-fox-news-has-briefing-book-impugning-network-sources-on-ukraine/It has been interesting to watch the reaction on social media in the last few hours (i.e., Thursday evening, 6 February 2020) as word filters out that a Fox News briefing book derides the work of high-profile sources like John Solomon, Victoria Toensing, and Joe diGenova.

    On one side, social media users are responding with cynical assumptions that the allegations about the Fox News sources must be true.

    On the other side, users are assuming this is another false alarm from the leftosphere that will be found to have no substance.

    Neither side seems much interested in finding out what’s actually going on.

    Latest: Cartoon bonus: It was all BS

    That’s understandable. Finding out what’s actually going on has gotten harder in the last decade, as the mainstream media have gone further and further down the path of spinning narratives rather than reporting events. This isn’t an “always and everywhere” trend, but it’s marked enough to make sensible people doubtful, a priori, about much of what we hear and read.

  39. THOUGHTS about the CVirus: Where is XI JINPING?

    The Chinese people have been wondering about Chairman Xi Jinping. The guy is known for his daily appearances and his attachment to camera attention.

    Rumors abound. He hasn’t been seen for quite some time. Some 8 days ago, I saw a photo of him with a few other officials, all wearing masks while on a small stage, purportedly in Wuhan. Many Chinese people thought it was a double of himself.

    Some think he might have caught the CVirus while others are saying he took refuge somewhere on a small island.

    – Had the government listened to this doctor and acted in time, the outbreak could have been contained.

    – This crisis led to an admission of guilt. It’s unprecedented in the Chinese government to admit they did anything wrong.

    – But China’s most powerful governing body said that there were ‘shortcomings and difficulties’ in its response to the outbreak.

    – Xi Jinping knows its a mess which is why he’s missing in action. He doesn’t want to be the face of this failing response.

    – Xi Jinping might hide until it’s all over, but he will certainly feel the political fallout it matters get out of hand. In fact, he could already be looking at the first casualty.

    – A report by news agency Reuters says that China might delay the annual meeting of Parliament.

    – Club this situation with the slowdown in the Chinese economy, and the growing dissent – Xi Jinping’s troubles could start to look a lot bigger.

    https://www.wionews.com/opinions-blogs/wion-edit-wuhan-virus-crisis-xi-jinping-missing-in-action-279288

  40. HUNGARY – Migrants demand entry into EU

    About 200 hundred migrants, including children, gathered Thursday at Serbia’s border with Hungary to demand to be allowed entry into the European Union country.

    Braving freezing evening weather and biting winds, the migrants camped at the Kelebija border crossing, blocking traffic.

    Wrapped in blankets or sleeping bags, many migrants were lying or sitting on the ground, holding their personal belongings close by.

    Dozens of children shouted “Open borders” while some of the migrant banners read “we are refugees, not criminals” or “we are running from war, not hunger.”

    The border crossing was closed to traffic.

    Hungary has erected two rows of wire fences at the border to prevent their entry.

    + comments on the YT page

  41. USA: Buttigieg calls to end “transgender military ban” in New Hampshire rally

    Candidate for Democratic presidential nominee Pete Buttigieg held a campaign rally with his supporters in Merrimack, New Hampshire on Thursday.

    Choosing the American Legion premises as the location, Buttigieg addressed the veterans, speaking on the issues of the military.

    “We need to ensure that someone who will put their lives on the line in the service of this country but is undocumented will not be deported,” Buttigieg said adding “we also need to recognise that the diversity of our Armed Forces is a part of its strength. That’s why we now need to stamp out any form of white nationalism rearing its ugly head in the military.”

    The candidate for Democratic Presidential nominee also called for “immediately ending the transgender military ban imposed by somebody who avoided serving when it was his turn.” Buttigieg stressed that “If you can do a good job in uniform, we will support you.

  42. Switzerland: WHO denounces “stigma” related to coronavirus

    World Health Organization (WHO) officials called on member states to take action against stigma related to the novel coronavirus, during a briefing for member states in Geneva on Friday.

    “I think the bigger point here is to ensure that some of the actions, some of the reactions internationally, it is the responsibility of us all to ensure there is no stigma associated with this disease, and the unnecessary, unhelpful profiling of individuals based on ethnicity is utterly and completely unacceptable and it needs to stop,” said Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme Dr Michael Ryan.

    The briefing also saw a discussion related to WHO’s assigning the interim name of 2019-nCOV (novel coronavirus) acute respiratory disease to the virus. “We thought it very important that we provide an interim name so no location was associated with the name. I’m sure you have seen many media reports that are still calling this, using the name Wuhan or using China,” said WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove. “We wanted to ensure that there was no stigma associated with this virus. And so we’ve put out an interim name.”

    Van Kerkhove also said that in preparation for a global research meeting on coronavirus on February 11-12 “the global community around clinical management will be meeting to discuss the research needs to better care for patients infected with novel coronavirus.”

    The Coronavirus outbreak has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Chinese health officials said that the death toll has reached 630, with more than 30,000 infected in China alone.

  43. channel 4 – Dozens more infected with Coronavirus on cruise ship – as David and Sally Abel explain

    British couple David and Sally Abel are being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan, where the deadly coronavirus has now spread to over 60 people.

    A friend who they dined with nearly everyday on the ship has contracted the virus and was taken to hospital.

    Despite the possibility of catching the infection, they remain calm and positive, telling Jackie Long: “We can either crash and crumble or we can face it.”

    The Diamond Princess cruise ship was placed under quarantine when it approached Yokohama on Monday evening.

    • CBC – ‘Extremely scary’: Canadian stuck on quarantined cruise ship growing fearful as coronavirus spreads

      More than 40 new cases of coronavirus have been reported on a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan, bringing the total to 61.

      Trudy Clement, a Canadian aboard the Diamond Princess, says she and her husband are fine so far, but “we don’t know what’s going to happen.”

  46. Virginia legislature passes Virginia Values Act, transforming state anti-discrimination law
    By Hans Bader February 7, 2020

    Both houses of the Virginia legislature passed the Virginia Values Act yesterday. Media coverage of the bill has focused on the fact that it will add sexual orientation and gender identity (transgender status) to state laws against discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. As the media note, this is the first time a state legislature in the south has enacted such a ban.

    But media coverage has virtually ignored how the bill will change other aspects of state law, in ways that are far more significant in economic terms. The bill will create major risks for business owners. It will also make the state’s business climate less inviting for companies considering whether to relocate to Virginia. It will do this by changing the ground rules for discrimination lawsuits in general, not just for lawsuits alleging discrimination by LGBT people, who are expected to file only a small minority of the lawsuits brought due to this bill.

    For example, the Virginia Values Act contains no protections against groundless or unreasonable lawsuits: It doesn’t allow employers to obtain their attorneys fees when such lawsuits are brought to shake down an employer over a meritless claim (unlike most anti-discrimination statutes, which contain such language either in their attorney-fee provisions, or in judicial interpretations of them, allowing the employer to obtain its fees when a worker brought a lawsuit proven to be groundless or unreasonable, as opposed to just unsuccessful).

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/02/07/virginia-legislature-passes-virginia-values-act-transforming-state-anti-discrimination-law/