Reader’s Links for May 9, 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

116 Replies to “Reader’s Links for May 9, 2020”

  1. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7951293/Bill-Gates-Predicted-Coronavirus-Like-Outbreak-2019-Netflix-Documentary.html

    Strange strange: “In a 2019 Netflix documentary, billionaire Bill Gates predicted a killer virus could originate in China’s wet markets to rapidly infect the world

    In what now appears to be an eerie premonition of future events, the Microsoft tycoon warned in an episode of the Netflix ‘Explained’ series that the world was ill-prepared to deal with a global pandemic.

    In the series aired late last year Mr Gates had warned of the likelihood of a virus breaking out in one of China’s wet markets – exactly like the one in Wuhan where this new outbreak of Coronavirus is believed to have originated.”

  2. Arizona: Muslim Students Threaten to Kill Prof for Suggesting Islam Is Violent
    BY ROBERT SPENCER MAY 08, 2020 2:14 PM EST

    This will teach those Islamophobes that Islam is a religion of peace: a professor is facing death threats for suggesting otherwise. Nicholas Damask, Ph.D., has taught political science at Scottsdale Community College in Arizona for 24 years. But now he is facing a barrage of threats, and his family, including his 9-year-old grandson and 85-year-old parents, is in hiding, while College officials are demanding that he apologize – all for the crime of speaking the truth about the motivating ideology behind the threat of Islamic jihad worldwide.

    Damask, who has an MA in International Relations from American University in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, says he is “to my knowledge, the only tenured political science faculty currently teaching in Arizona to write a doctoral dissertation on terrorism.” He has taught Scottsdale Community College’s World Politics for each of the 24 years he has worked at the school.

    Professor Damask’s troubles began during the current Spring semester, when a student took exception to three quiz questions. The questions were:

    Who do terrorists strive to emulate? A. Mohammed
    Where is terrorism encouraged in Islamic doctrine and law? A. The Medina verses [i.e., the portion of the Qur’an traditionally understood as having been revealed later in Muhammad’s prophetic career]
    Terrorism is _______ in Islam. A. justified within the context of jihad.
    Damask explained: “All quiz questions on each of my quizzes, including the ones in question here, are carefully sourced to the reading material. On this quiz, questions were sourced to the Qur’an, the hadiths, and the sira (biography) of Mohammed, and other reputable source material.” And indeed, the three questions reflect basic facts that are readily established by reference to Islamic texts and teachings and numerous statements of terrorists themselves.

    Despite this, the student emailed Damask to complain that he was “offended” by these questions, as they were “in distaste of Islam.” Damask recounted: “Until this point, notably, the student had expressed no reservations about the course material and indeed he said he enjoyed the course.”

    Damask sent two lengthy emails to the student responding to his complaints, but to no avail. A social media campaign began against Damask on the College’s Instagram account. Damask notes: “An unrelated school post about a school contest was hijacked, with supporters of the student posting angry, threatening, inflammatory and derogatory messages about the quiz, the school, and myself.”

    At this point, College officials should have defended Professor Damask and the principle of free inquiry, but that would require a sane academic environment. Scottsdale Community College officials, Damask said, “stepped in to assert on a new Instagram post that the student was correct and that I was wrong – with no due process and actually no complaint even being filed – and that he would receive full credit for all the quiz questions related to Islam and terrorism.”

    On May 1, Damask had a conference call with Kathleen Iudicello, Scottsdale Community College’s Dean of Instruction, and Eric Sells, the College’s Public Relations Marketing Manager. Damask recalls: “I was not offered to write any part of the school’s response, and there was no discussion of academic freedom or whether the College was even supportive of me to teach about Islamic terrorism. The very first point I made with them on the call (and virtually the only input I had) is that I insisted that the College’s release was to have no mention of any actions to be required to be taken by me personally, I was very clear about that.”

    Predictably, Iudicello and Sells ignored that. They issued an apology to the student and to the “Islamic community,” and stated on the College’s Instagram page that Damask would be “required” to apologize to the student for the quiz questions, as the questions were “inappropriate” and “inaccurate,” and would be permanently removed from Damask’s exams.

    Damask also had three phone calls with Iudicello, who gave him a bracing introduction into today’s academic funhouse world, where if someone is offended by the truth, it’s the truth that has to be deep-sixed. “During one call with Iudicello,” Damask recounts, “she stated that my quiz questions were ‘Islamophobic,’ that before continuing to have any further class content on Islamic terrorism I would likely need to meet with an Islamic religious leader to go over the content, and that I would likely need to take a class (perhaps at Arizona State) taught by a Muslim before teaching about Islamic terrorism.”

    “The irony here,” says Damask, “is that literally during this phone call, I and my wife were tossing socks and jammies and our nine-year-old grandson’s toys into a suitcase to get the hell out of the house because of the death threats made by Islamic commenters on the College’s Instagram page.”

    College officials took no public notice of the fact, but the posts on its Instagram page discussing the incident had begun to fill up with threats against Damask, including these statements: “if he is still around I suggest the students take action to make sure he isn’t”; “drop the professor’s address I just wanna talk”; “what’s the instructor’s name and address, I just want to say ‘hi’”; “I wish everything bad on these kuffar” [unbelievers]; “I hope he suffers.”

    According to Damask, “there are literally hundreds of posts like this. There have been death threats, at least one call for a school shooting, and at least one call to burn down the school. Again, all of these threats are still on the College’s Instagram page.” When he asked school police to shut down the social media posts in light of these threats, they told him the posts were being monitored. Yet the threats were not taken down.

    On Sunday night, the school sent Damask the apology that he was to make to the offended student. It is full of the expected embarrassing groveling: “I know,” Damask is supposed to inform the student, “a simple apology may not be enough to address the harm that I caused but I want to try to make amends.” He promises the student: “I will be reviewing all of my material to ensure there’s no additional insensitivities.” (Apparently politically correct academics cannot be bothered to internalize basic rules of grammar.)

    “It goes without saying,” says Damask, “that I will not apologize for anything, that it is perfectly appropriate to discuss Islam, Muhammad, the Quran, the hadiths and any other matter related to Islamic terrorism. Incidentally: there has been no official complaint, no due process for me, just a mad scramble by the school to appease Islam.”

    Damask’s introduction to the new Leftist academic world in which identity trumps truth has been bitter. “The College,” he says, “has displayed an appalling lack of respect toward my rights; it has essentially engaged in defamation by terming my course material inaccurate, insensitive and that I have violated the College’s values; has denied my civil rights through waiving any and all due process procedures; violated my First Amendment rights by demanding I make an apology to the student; and violated my First Amendment and civil rights by demanding I alter my course material. Further and perhaps worse, I believe the school has effectively encouraged and permitted these threats to be made against me when the school could have immediately put a stop to them, which is tantamount to allowing mob threats against me.”

    It’s a terrible story, but there is one silver lining: at least we all know now that Islam is a religion of peace.

    https://pjmedia.com/culture/robert-spencer/2020/05/08/arizona-muslim-students-threaten-to-kill-prof-for-suggesting-islam-is-violent-n389324

  3. Islamic Religious Community of Austria: teacher of Islam publicly calls for the hanging of opposition members

    While the chairman of the Islamic Religious Community of Austria (IGGÖ), Ümit Vural, uses social networks primarily to collect donations for his mosques, his religion teachers quite unabashedly spread their real ideas to the public.

    Selçuk Ö., an Islamic religion teacher appointed by IGGÖ, posts his views on the Internet without any timidity:In addition to the hateful comments against the alleged “Nazi Austria” and the fear that Muslims “are the next ones to die in Hitler’s gas chambers and end up as soap”, there are a lot of anti-Semitic postings on the page of the self-proclaimed “dialogue appointee”.Selçuk Ö. took the cake ten years ago with a cartoon in which a man with a crooked nose, Star of David and sidelocks rubs his hands in front of a smoking gas chamber, apparently full of Palestinians.The teacher comments below: “The Gaz(a) Chamber continues its incessant work, a fascinating caricature!”
    More:
    https://medforth.blog/2020/05/09/islamic-religious-community-of-austria-teacher-of-islam-publicly-calls-for-the-hanging-of-opposition-members/

    • The only “authority” they know is called “cutting off hands in case of theft” in the Quran.

    • The only “authority” they know is called “cutting off hands for theft” in the Quran.

  5. Another great video by Paul Weston.
    Paul Weston – Coronaphobia 2: Death Rate Perspectives

  6. Brawl of peace in train station of Maarheze, the Netherlands,. These are clearly refugees, this is 1.5 km from a refugee shelter.
    https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7907309_c44faee3

    Note that there is a lockdown, and only people with “essential jobs” are expected to use public transport.. I doubt these guys qualify.

    • Typical scene of the oh so “enriching” multi-criminal society, which is imposed on the West without permission of its citizens. Although everyone knows this horror from daily life, the msm-gaga citizen vote the same traitorous “politicians” each term of office again.

  7. FIRP. My invention of this morning and I haven’t even had toast.

    Now that the wheels of justice are finally grinding the grist they should, in the case of the PT coup, the Left screams like a stuck pig. “Abuse of power, interference, Flynn’s exoneration is blatent corruption…blah, blah, blah…”

    No it isn’t, said Tucker Carlson this week. It’s just the opposite. This is what the fix looks like.

    Of course, we here know this. But the Left’s little trick of trying to flip truth around is getting so damn tired it’s about time we start spotting and dispatching it every time we see it. The problem is that correcting this flip usually takes many words, considerable information, and energy. (ie. the Flynn case) It is a very effective, damaging device that amounts to little more than a turn of phrase. Again, the flip here is saying the exhoneration of Flynn shows systemic rot, when just the opposite is true. It shows the system can still work. The flip does not and cannot deal in details, because this will be self-defeating. The flip, in fact, may be the primary tool of the rot we suffer.

    Look at this:
    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5561944

    Hockey players in a group chat speak badly of others, allegedly, and lose their careers.

    The business end of this article quotes a woman who says these young (white) men have abused their power. What power? Where? The words she uses are the kind of passive-aggressive mulch that means nothing unless the person listening has an axe to grind. In this case it’s the CBC. More specifically, it uses pathos to darken the ethos of the group, or a conjured, disingenuous emotional baton to club like baby seals a group of young men whose conversation no one really cares about.

    The only abuse of power in this example is by social justice snowflake tyrants ruining the lives of others. Our cowering is their reward. In another example, the whole University of Ottawa hockey team was suspended in recent years because of an alleged sex scandal involving the team members and young women. Only after the players challenged their blanket condemnation in court was the truth revealed that not all of these young men had behaved badly.

    When I was a kid and tried to little-white-lie my way out of trouble, or was disrespectful, I got a slap, or the belt. I remember every single instance to this day. And I would say I was being no more, or less clever than what our modern snowflake does today except it’s all dressed up in the fancy fabric of “social injustice”.

    Flip, Invert, Reverse, Project (FIRP). Sounds like a drum beat, doesn’t it? Whatever it is it’s something most children have learned to do by the time they’re seven years old. In a different example, people with disabilities such as dyslexia, or victims of abuse, incorporate FIRP all the time as a coping mechanism. It can appear to be narcissism, but they’re just trying to survive. I’ve seen it. Yet, here we have Western civilization being brought to its knees by a rhetorical device used thousands of times a day, at varying levels of magnitude, because it’s easy to use but involves work to counter. Your wife or husband can use it when you’re arguing. Yes, it’s disingenuous, but so what.

    When I lied as a child and got swatted, my parents were probably too tired, or were finally reacting to something they’d watched me do five times before they reacted. And the fact is I knew why I was getting it without them wasting a whole lot of words to explain things. They saw through me like I was crystal clear.

    We may not have the kind of swift justice my parents had at their disposal when I was acting a little too clever for my own good, but I think we can improve at pointing out this common leftist weapon.

    If the FIRP cannot stand up to scrutiny, then perhaps it should not require the lifting of heaven and earth to expose it. Maybe we should be using our common sense smell test to see what looks or sounds wrong. The FIRP won’t be far away, and will always be about transfering power. Listening to Justin Trudeau speak may be the motherload of FIRP. The fencing off of parks in springtime is FIRP by using the specious excuse of the Corona virus simply to exert more control.

    Like the muscle memory in a well-executed judo throw, or tricky guitar lick, maybe we can get better at identifying FIRPs when we see them.

    • Johnny, I am older than dirt, have dyslexia, I never thought of it as a disability. I have read that people with dyslexia have an extra sense. In my case I find I have more common sense than most. I have never been a fearful person, I remain calm in scary situations, I have an excellent memory, can write backwards with both hands and seem to be able to know an insincere person immediately.
      I do use “FIRP” when driving, I remember I stay to the left of the Center line. I do not “see dead people” but I do amuse family and friends by writing them a letter backwards. LOL

      Politicians I have loved at first meeting: Robert Stanfield, Bill Davis, Flora McDonald

      Politicians I have not loved: John Tory, Patrick Brown, Justine Trudeau, Father Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland

      • Thanks ET. Strangely, I can also write backwards but I don’t think I’m dyslexic. I knew a guy once who tried to hide and evade his dyslexia, and the fact he couldn’t write, by using the survival skills I eluded to above. I could see it as plain as the nose on his face. But his was maybe a fairly extreme case…

  9. Trump’s new battle with China: CCP fights back on push for virus investigations|Crossroads|Joshua

  10. China vaccine scandals; Coronavirus follows CCP ties; Chinese media suggests shocking way to curb US

  11. Mask factories close down in China |CCP Virus |COVID-19 |Coronavirus | Epoch News

  12. Who Is the Biggest and Most Deceptive Social Media Influencer? – Zooming In Glance

  13. Media darling Cuomo mishandled COVID-19, killing thousands

    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo forced nursing homes to take in people with coronavirus, killing thousands of people. But the media don’t care. As The New Republic notes, “If a media darling has emerged during the coronavirus crisis, it’s Cuomo.”

    Around 5,000 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in New York nursing homes. Cuomo’s administration forced nursing homes to take in people infected with COVID-19. That caused the virus to spread like wildfire in densely-populated, understaffed senior facilities. Cuomo said it was “not” his “job” to help them get the protective equipment to handle the sick people they were forced to accept. As a result, COVID-19 spread to other nursing home residents, many of whom died.

    Yet Cuomo has received fawning coverage from the media. The governor, The New York Times’s Ben Smith wrote, “has emerged as the executive best suited for the coronavirus crisis.” Journalist Carl Bernstein told CNN — where the governor’s brother Chris is an anchor — that Gov. Cuomo has demonstrated “real leadership of the kind the president of the United States should have provided to the American people throughout this crisis, but hasn’t.”

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/05/08/media-darling-cuomo-mismanaged-covid-19-killing-thousands/

  14. I don’t know whether Gates is in principle only supporting things that are worthy of promotion in order to cause damage on the other side and to push through a sick “agenda” at the same time. But I do know that the fundamental legal principle of proportionality is being massively violated here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportionality_(law)

  15. Can we head off an election nightmare with widespread voting by mail in battleground states

    Earlier this week, a depressing economic prognosis linked on the Drudge Report concluded: “A whole lot more pain is on the way, and it is going to shake our nation to the core.”

    That forecast also describes my election night nightmare: contested presidential race results with neither candidate willing to concede. The discord is triggered by delays and system failures while county and city election officials work tirelessly, processing the largest number of mail-in ballots in U.S. history.

    The nightmare spans election week with “reports” alleging vote-by-mail “irregularities” in a handful of swing states too close to call. Then, on Friday, Nov. 6, in dueling press conferences, both President Trump and former Vice President Biden declare victory. Chaos ensues. Armies of lawyers are mobilized along with the National Guard, and then … fortunately, my alarm clock interrupts the bedlam.

    Is my nightmare detached from reality? Or will a late-fall COVID-19 “second wave outbreak” shift the electorate from in-person to mail-in voting on a scale that could wreak havoc on our democratic process?

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/05/08/can-we-head-off-an-election-nightmare-with-widespread-voting-by-mail-in-battleground-states/

  17. Ethiopian Military Admits Downing Aid Plane in Somalia Over Suicide Attack Fears (sputniknews, May 9, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/202005091079255179-ethiopian-military-admits-downing-aid-plane-in-somalia-over-suicide-attack-fears/

    “A plane carrying relief aid was downed in Somalia by Ethiopian troops who confused it with a militant aircraft on a suicide mission, media said Saturday.

    Ethiopia’s Sector III Force Commander of the African Union mission, battling al-Shabaab militants, said in a letter to the regional bloc that the plane flew suspiciously and did not respond to radio calls, according to The Standard, a Kenyan daily.

    “The troops concluded that the aircraft… was trying to find a target to make suicide in the base camp due to movement now and then over the FOB”, the letter read.

    Ethiopia admit to shooting down Kenya’s cargo plane on Monday.

    AU’s Sector 3 Force Commander’s report say;

    “The troops suspected that the aircraft was a suicide attacker and seeking a target to attack..the African Express Type E-120 was shot down by our force.”…

    The commander defended the troops’ actions, saying planes were to approach the base from the east, while the Kenyan plane flew in from the west. It flew over the airstrip close to the ground and even “tried to land on ZU 23 crew”.

    The Kenyan plane with a crew of five crashed on Monday after it was hit by a missile near the Ethiopian Forward Operating Base in the town of Berdale in the southern Bay region.”

  18. Zarif Urges UN to Hold US Accountable for Quitting Nuclear Deal (sputniknews, May 9, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202005091079255056-zarif-urges-un-to-hold-us-accountable-for-quitting-nuclear-deal/

    “Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in an attempt to hold the United States accountable for the withdrawal from the nuclear deal two years ago.

    “The United Nations should have immediately considered the issue of US responsibility, holding its government accountable for the consequences [of the withdrawal] that are a clear violation of the UN Charter and international law”, the Iranian Foreign Ministry quoted the letter on the occasion of the US exit anniversary.

    According to Zarif, the time has come for the UN Security Council to guarantee compliance of all parties…”

  19. Analysis of cellphone location data in high-security area of Wuhan virology lab that studied coronavirus in bats indicates it shutdown in October after a ‘hazardous event’ (dailymail, May 9, 2020)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8302739/Cellphone-location-data-analysis-Wuhan-virology-lab-suggests-hazardous-event-October-shutdown.html

    “Documents analyzing cellphone location data are said to show that a high-security laboratory studying coronavirus in Wuhan was shut down in October, according to a new report.

    NBC News reported that US spy agencies are reviewing the document – a private analysis obtained by the news company’s London-based verification unit – which claims that there was no cellphone activity in a high-security area of China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology between October 7 and October 24, 2019.

    The report, which was based on commercially-available cellphone location data – indicates that there might’ve been a ‘hazardous event’ in that area between October 6 and October 11.

    The report does not provide direct evidence of a shutdown at the lab or any proof that the coronavirus originated from the lab.

    Despite no conclusive proof existing, some – including Trump administration officials – believe that the Wuhan lab, which was conducting studies on coronavirus in bats, could be the source of COVID-19, virus that has caused the current pandemic.

    The document suggests that if there was a shutdown in the lab’s high-security area, it could be proof that the coronavirus might’ve accidentally emerged from the lab.

    However, there has been no confirmation of a shutdown at the lab and intelligence analysts had previously been unable to confirm a similar theory, senior officials told NBC News.

    Despite this, the document suggests that the coronavirus pandemic actually began ‘earlier than initially reported’ and ‘supports the release of COVID-19 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.’

    The document also appears to account for only a small number of cellphones that one would expect to be located in a facility that employs hundreds of people.

    It’s unclear who put together the document.

    A US official who has looked at the document told NBC News that the report’s data ‘looks really weak to me and some of the conclusions don’t make sense.’

    US officials also said that US intelligence agencies had previously received other reports based on publicly-available cellphone and satellite data, also suggesting that there had been a shutdown at the lab.

    But, those agencies later decided that the reports were ‘inconclusive’ after being unable to confirm the shutdown based on reviews of overhead imagry and their own data.

    The Wuhan virology lab is said to be a collection target for multiple US intelligence agencies, due to being a high-security facility that studies dangerous pathogens, run by an adversary nation.

    As such, intelligence agencies routinely gather mobile phone signals, overhead satellite imagery and communication intercepts coming out of the lab.

    US officials told NBC News that they are now going back to examine the data collected in October and November 2019, searching for signs that there might’ve been an anomaly there.

    NBC News reported that congressional intelligence committees have been given copies of the document…”

  20. Ten boats with record 150 migrants intercepted in English Channel (express, May 9, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1279941/Ten-boats-150-migrants-intercepted-English-Channel-Border-Force-Priti-Patel

    “A RECORD 150 migrants crammed into 10 tiny dinghies were intercepted in the English Channel as they attempted to make an early morning crossing yesterday.

    They were taken ashore by Border Force vessels after being spotted near Dover.

    Despite Home Secretary Priti Patel vowing to tackle the problem, 1,065 migrants have already made the perilous crossing this year.

    People-trafficking gangs have been taking advantage of calm conditions to smuggle huge numbers of people into Britain in recent days.

    Before yesterday the most for a single day was 102 in February. The first week of May saw 76 people landing. In April, 523 people crossed the busy Dover Strait shipping lane.

    Nearly 700 people had reached Britain’s shores since the coronavirus lockdown before yesterday’s total was counted.

    Border Force lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter were launched after yesterday’s alarm was raised.

    A drone from Lydd airport in Kent was also used to spot the migrants. The first dinghy, which was packed with about 50 people, was picked up at around 2am.

    A calm Channel, good visibility and a full Moon made conditions perfect for an attempted crossing.

    It is understood Ms Patel has asked France to take responsibility for migrant vessels – even if they reach British waters.

    In return UK taxpayers will foot the bill for more patrols on the French coast.

    Officials believe returning boats to France rather than escorting them to British ports will do more to undermine people smugglers.

    Immigration minister Chris Philp said: “We are all working night and day to dismantle and arrest the criminal gangs who trade in people smuggling.”

  21. Chechen Migrant Drags French Policeman Over 60 Feet to Escape Virus Check (breitbart, May 9, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/09/chechen-drags-french-policeman-over-60-feet-to-escape-virus-check/

    “A Chechen migrant was arrested in the commune of Montereau-Fault-Yonne after dragging a police officer 60 feet with his vehicle while trying to escape a Wuhan coronavirus lockdown checkpoint.

    The 30-year-old Chechen national was intercepted by police in the Montereau industrial area and asked for his ID and driving licence after being pulled over by officers. The man was unable to produce either document and was told by a policeman leaning through his window he would be going to the police station.

    Instead, the Chechen turned his ignition key and accelerated, with the police officer being dragged along for sixty-five feet and another officer on the scene narrowly missing being hit, Le Parisien reports.

    After hitting a mound of earth, the Chechen migrant attempted to escape on foot and entered a disused warehouse in the industrial area. Officers called for reinforcements who encircled the warehouse and eventually arrested the 30-year-old.

    Following his arrest, the Chechen claimed he did not live in the area and was visiting family members. He is now under investigation for violence against a police officer, driving without a license along, and several other charges. He is not expected to be tried until January of next year, however.

    The incident is just the latest act of anti-police violence during the Wuhan coronavirus lockdown in France…”

  22. Italian Nurse on Coronavirus Frontline Raped by Illegal Migrant After Her Shift (breitbart, May 9, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/05/09/italian-nurse-on-coronavirus-frontline-raped-by-illegal-migrant-after-her-shift/

    “An Italian nurse working on the frontline against the Chinese coronavirus was brutally sexually assaulted by an African migrant after finishing her shift and heading to her home.

    The attack took place in the southern city of Naples last Sunday after the woman left work and was waiting for a bus to arrive to take her to her home to the town of Avellino.

    The 48-year-old medic said she was forced to wait an hour for the bus due to the reduced travel during the coronavirus lockdown, and was alone with no-one else around, newspaper La Repubblica reports.

    The nurse said the Senegalese migrant spotted her and “climbed over a fence and came towards me. I was immediately afraid, he looked threatening. He grabbed my arm. I immediately thought of a robbery. So, to save myself, I gave him the bag. ‘Take everything, there is money’, I said.”

    “He said: ‘I don’t want your money, I have it.’ Then he yanked me and threw me on the ground. I saw my cell phone fly away, he ripped my jacket off me. I understood that it was over for me,” she said.

    “He kept saying: ‘ Let me do what I want or I’ll kill you. Stand still and don’t scream. ‘ He was not a man, he was a beast that for forty-five minutes was on me,” she said.

    Eventually, the nurse’s bus arrived and the driver helped the victim. Police arrived and arrested the attacker.

    Senator Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s most popular party, the League (Lega), reacted with anger to the case on Twitter, saying: “While the government plans a huge amnesty for 600,000 irregular immigrants, this happens in Italy … Shame. Italians come first.”

    A report released by the Italian Interior ministry in December of last year suggested that nearly half of the rape cases in Italy, 42 out of every hundred, involve a migrant attacker.”

  23. 20 former Albanian judges, prosecutors accused of corruption (abcnews, May 9, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/20-albanian-judges-prosecutors-accused-corruption-70587105

    “Albanian prosecutors filed corruption charges Friday against 20 former judges and prosecutors who previously were fired after a vetting process that checked their anti-corruption and professional standards.

    A statement from the Special Prosecution Against Corruption, or SPAK, said the charges included abuse of post, deceit and hiding illegally owned property or income.

    The SPAK itself will proceed against 10 of the former judges, who served on the Supreme or Constitutional courts. The 10 other defendants formerly worked in district courts or prosecution offices and will be prosecuted by district prosecution offices in the capital and two other cities.

    The defendants’ names were not made public.

    Conviction on such charges can bring up to eight years in prison.

    Earlier this year a former prosecutor general also was charged with hiding illegally owned property…”

  24. Libya gov’t warns of escalation after attacks near embassies (abcnews, May 9, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/libya-govt-warns-escalation-attacks-embassies-70585401

    “The head of Libya’s U.N.-supported government on Friday warned of an escalation in the battle for Tripoli after rockets struck near foreign embassies in the capital, drawing sharp condemnation from the European Union and United Nations.

    The Tripoli-based health ministry said an attack late Thursday killed at least three civilians and wounded four others when rockets struck near the perimeter of the Italian ambassador’s residence in the crowded neighborhood of Zawiat al-Dahmani. Earlier on Thursday, five civilians were reported killed in shelling of two other city neighborhoods.

    The U.N. again raised alarm that ordinary Libyans are bearing the brunt of an increasingly deadly siege by eastern-based forces under the command of Khalifa Hifter, calling the actions “despicable” and “a direct challenge” to peace efforts.

    In the attack on Zawiat al-Dahmani, two policemen guarding a Libyan government building died, along with a civilian who happened to be on the street, said the ministry’s spokesman, Amin al-Hashemi. Four more civilians suffered shrapnel wounds, he said, including a medic with the Libyan Red Crescent.

    The European Union denounced the assault “in the strongest possible terms,” saying Friday that such indiscriminate strikes “run counter to the respect for human life and international humanitarian law.”

    The U.N. Mission in Libya said it was documenting the violations to share with the International Criminal Court.

    The U.S. Embassy echoed the concerns, urging the warring sides to focus their efforts on combating the coronavirus pandemic.

    Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj’s office said he spoke with the ambassadors of Italy and Turkey on Friday to ensure they were unscathed by the attack.

    Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for Hifter’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, denied they had violated international law, saying the forces have always sought to shield diplomatic sites from the violence of their siege. He accused unspecified “terrorists” of trying to turn international public opinion against Hifter’s campaign…”

  25. Militants increasing attacks on Burkina Faso mines (abcnews, May 9, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/militants-increasing-attacks-burkina-faso-mines-70594316

    “Jihadists burst into the gold mine where Moussa Tambura worked in Burkina Faso, forbidding everyone from smoking and drinking. It wasn’t long before the men returned and leveled the place to the ground.

    “They attacked the site, killed people and burned houses,” said Tambura, 29, clenching his fists.

    He was able to find work again after fleeing to Bouda, another town in country’s north that still has small-scale mining. Still, he struggles to provide for his family since his new job isn’t as lucrative as his old one.

    Jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization have been overrunning gold mines like Tambura’s one by one as they try to gain control of Burkina Faso’s most lucrative industry. The extremists are then collecting a “protection tax” from communities living around the gold mines and also forcing the miners to sell them the gold exclusively, which is then smuggled and sold across the border in places like Benin, Ghana or Togo.

    The violence already has shuttered many small mines across the volatile north and the government also has tried to shut down other small-scale mines in the east so that they can’t be used by extremists to finance more attacks.

    Mining Minister Oumarou Idani has called the measure a necessary step in the “fight against terrorism.” But some of the remote sites continue running anyway as they escape the reach of the national government in Ouagadougou, other officials and analysts said.

    Some are warning too that the government’s strategy to cut off the flow of money from the east may also backfire, as unemployed miners falling deeper into poverty could become more sympathetic to the jihads’ recruitment messages of marginalization.

    “You’re opening up the gates to push people to the terrorists,” said Oumarou Ganemtore, secretary for the National Union of the Artisanal Miners Association of Burkina Faso.

    “How do you expect these guys to make a living. What will they do? Where will they go?”

    Some 1.5 million people are believed to be working in small scale mines across the country, according to government estimates. Many of them are young and know the surrounding area well, making them ideal recruits, analysts say.

    The mines are more than just a source of revenue and new members for the jihadists — they are also being used as hideouts, said Desire Nikiema, a local mining consultant who works in the region.

    “Terrorists can hide in the mines and be anonymous and collect information about the area and feed it back to their networks,” he said.

    Prior to onset of the COVID-19 crisis here in March, Burkina Faso had become the fastest growing gold producer in Africa and the fifth largest on the continent, according to a February report by the German-based research group GLOCON. The official $2 billion figure last year though mostly counts gold coming from a few industrial mines.

    The country is also believed to have as many as 800 other small-scale mines, where the gold is then smuggled and sold illegally. Burkina Faso’s government has estimated that this illicit market is producing more than $400 million worth of gold a year.

    Jihadists already have seized control of at least 20 such sites in eastern Burkina Faso, according to Mahamadou Savadogo, a regional analyst who has done research with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. And their presence there is growing too, he said, as the army conducts fewer operations amid the COVID-19 crisis.

    Burkina Faso already had been described as “locked in a perilous downward spiral” by International Crisis Group before the emergence of coronavirus. Now they are fears the virus and changes in the mining industry could make things even worse. Already some 850,000 people have become internally displaced amid the conflict, according to U.N. figures.

    Jonas Hien, program director for the Organization for the Reinforcement of Development Capacities, a local aid group focused on human rights, said a further spike in unemployment could make that situation worse as out-of-work miners migrate in search of income.

    Since his previous site shut down, Issa Tambura has joined the night shift crew at the Bouda mine. There already are too many workers there during the day.

    “Before (the violence) the only thing you knew was that if you worked hard you would get money,” he said. “But right now people with guns can pop up at any time and mess up the place, and we’re scared.””

  27. Putin commemorates 75th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany

    Russian President Vladimir Putin lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the Kremlin Walls on Saturday, May 9 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

    After the wreath-laying ceremony, the president will deliver a speech to the nation, followed by Russia’s Air Force staging an air show over the capital

  28. CREEPY as HELL – Video

    SINGAPORE – A four-legged robot will be patrolling Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park to remind people of safe distancing measures starting from Friday (May 8).

    Called Spot, the robot will assist with safe distancing efforts at parks, gardens and nature reserves managed by National Parks Board (NParks) and at parks managed by town councils.

    https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/robot-reminds-visitors-about-safe-distancing-measures-in-bishan-ang-mo-kio-park

    The pilot trial is jointly conducted by NParks, and the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG).

  29. Greece: Plexiglass dividers installed on Santorini beaches amid COVID-19 crisis

    A beach bar owner on the iconic Santorini island has become creative by developing plexiglass dividers and adopting new hygiene measures, hoping tourists will be allowed back to the renowned black sand beach of Perissa, where they are located. The new measures have been introduced in a bid to keep coronavirus at bay, as seen in footage from Friday.

    ?”We wish that this construction will not stay in the future, we do not want that, but if it’s necessary and we need to keep something like this for people’s safety,” said Demilmar’s owner Charlie Chahine.

    Currently travel bans and the lockdown of the tourism industry are measures taken across the globe in an attempt to halt the spread of COVID-19. Greece, which relies heavily on tourism, is expected to be hit particularly hard financially, in what experts have said is the “deepest recession in EU history.”

    According to the latest data published by the Johns Hopkins University, Greece reported 2,691 coronavirus infection cases and 150 related deaths.

  30. Greece: Migrants relocated from Lesbos to mainland amid COVID-19 concerns

    Over 66 migrants were relocated from the island of Lesbos to Aiani in Kozani region on mainland Greece on Friday.

    The arrival of migrants who are of Somali origin were coordinated in a way as to circumvent the protest of the locals. They arrived in three separate buses and were accommodated at a local hotel.

    “We don’t have anything against those people, but we don’t know if they are healthy, we don’t know anything, where they are from, why they came here, no briefing at all,” said President of Aiani local community Vavliaras Asterios amid COVID-19 concerns.

    “They were fighting with the kids, they were taking pictures of the girls. Do you understand? It is difficult to have them in the village,” added a local.

          • Wrong link above, but not important. Plato believes in his old Greek Gods, Nietsche says “God is dead”. He says gods are a method of deception to keep people away from freedom.

            He himself believes the world is basically hostile and evil. Plato is optimistic but a pure gesitig being. Nietzsche says that he who has no body is dead.

            • “gesitig” = geistig

              Plato urges perfection through renunciation. Nietzsche says there is no life after death.

            • I agree with both in part. I believe in a life before death, and that what we do affects us. Buddhism goes beyond European philosophy.

              • In the end, every human being must build his philosophy, tailored to his body like a methaphysical tailor-made suit.

                • The tailor-made suit must fit his soul shape. In a supermarket of offers.

                • Swiss girl wants to become a “monk” https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/050297-000-A/zen-for-nothing/

                  Hidden in the mountains of Japan lies the Zen monastery Antaiji. Zen is above all the art of meditation. A young woman sets out to learn it, in order to immerse herself in monastic life here for a few months. She meets herself. An interplay that makes Werner Penzel’s pictures and the soundtrack by Fred Frith and Ayako Mogi a haunting experience.
                  Mindfulness and meditation are currently highly valued by stressed-out people and a booming advice industry. But Zen has a long Buddhist tradition, and zazen, the art of meditation, actually requires only time and practice. To learn it, Swiss actress Sabine Timoteo sets off for the Zen monastery Antaiji, hidden in the mountains of Japan. And after a journey that takes her past the industrial landscapes of Osaka and Kobe to the west coast, she climbs the long stone stairs through the dense forest up to the monastery. Life in the monastery is characterized by clear, centuries-old rules down to the smallest detail. During the meals taken in silence the chopsticks are used in a certain way and in connection with the three lacquered wooden bowls. Bowing requires mental presence and sitting in the meditation hall in front of the empty wall requires overcoming physical pain until the muscles have also become accustomed to the new posture. The young woman is ready to dive into the monastic life and philosophy of the Zen master Kodo Sawaki. She gets used to the many rules to be observed, getting up in the dark, the sweaty work in the rice fields or while cutting wood in the forest. She learns, laughs and cries together with the other Zen practitioners from all over the world, the nuns and monks and with Abbot Muho, who was born as Olaf Nölke in Berlin. She encounters herself and the surprises of everyday life – an interplay that Werner Penzel with his magnificent pictures and Fred Frith and Ayako Mogi with their soundtrack give a haunting rhythm to.

                  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muh%C5%8D_Noelke

  31. Venezuela: 31 accused of failed invasion participation, another 22 detained

    Venezuela’s general prosecutor Tarek William Saab announced on Friday in Caracas the processing of 31 people and the request for the arrest of another 22 for their alleged participation in the failed maritime invasion in the country.

    During a press conference at the headquarters of the Public Ministry, Saab said that “a total of 31 people involved, including mercenaries and support teams, are already under Venezuelan justice at this time.”

    The general prosecutor also stated that the participation of the United States government “has been evident, unfortunately,” and demanded “an end to the aggressions” from Colombia and the United States.

    The chairman of the Venezuelan attorney general’s office also said that arrest warrants had already been requested against Venezuelan citizens Juan Jose Rendon and Sergio Vergara, and against US citizen Jordan Gaudreau.

    Last Sunday, a maritime ‘invasion’ into Venezuelan territory was thwarted by government forces. Among those detained were at least two US citizens who were acting as alleged private military officers for the American company Silvercorp.

  32. Experts reject excuse give by women’s defense fund for refusing to back Biden accuser
    By Daily Caller News Foundation May 9, 2020

    A prominent legal defense fund established to support women alleging sexual harassment said it can’t assist Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade because its charitable status would be at risk if it spent money related to candidates for public office.

    But experts questioned the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund’s rationale. They said that such a restriction would give a free pass to politicians by barring their accusers from receiving financial assistance for legal fees from charitable organizations that would otherwise offer support.

    And the 501(c)(3) charitable organization that operates Time’s Up, which was established in the wake of the #MeToo movement, has spent a considerable amount lobbying within the halls of Congress, records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/05/09/experts-reject-excuse-give-by-womens-defense-fund-for-refusing-to-back-biden-accuser/

  34. Obama said in private call ‘rule of law is at risk’ in Flynn case: Rpt

    Yahoo News reports Former President Obama’s phone call relating to Gen. Michael Flynn; reaction from Kevin Brock, former assistant director of intelligence for the FBI.

  36. ‘Critical Shortcomings’: French Foreign Spy Agency Angry at Poor Job Applicants, Report Claims (sputniknews, May 9, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/military/202005091079257206-critical-shortcomings-french-foreign-spy-agency-angry-at-poor-job-applicants/

    “DGSE, France’s equivalent to the US Central Intelligence Agency or UK’s MI6, is tasked with procuring secret political, military and economic information from foreign targets, and over the past decade has almost doubled in size.

    France’s primary foreign intelligence agency, Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure, has expressed frustration with the poor quality of applicants to its vacancies, as it struggles to expand its staff by 20 percent, the Times reported. In 2008, it employed fewer than 4,500 people – by 2019 that figure had swelled to over 7,000, with many thousands of operations officers serving secretly abroad.

    According to the report, last year, DGSE announced it planned to grow its personnel further, to 8,500 by 2022, and launched an unprecedented recruitment campaign, with recruiters dispatched to University job fairs across the country for the first time, and major ad campaigns launched on and began advertising its job vacancies online, on YouTube, LinkedIn and elsewhere.

    In response, the agency received a deluge of applications – 400, for just 14 advertised positions. Of those vacancies, 10 required advanced knowledge and understanding of foreign affairs and geopolitical developments, while two sought candidates with logistical and administrative expertise, and the remaining two fluency in Arabic.

    However, as of May only 12 of the vacancies have been filled – for as DGSE has now revealed, the quality of hopeful spies was abysmal, the report noted. Candidates’ grasp of geopolitics and espionage alike was said to be “markedly limited”, spelling and grammatical errors rampant, and “critical shortcomings” identified in a vast number of areas – some candidates even appeared for interviews severely under-prepared, their level of knowledge “unacceptable for someone wishing to join the ranks of the DGSE”….”

  37. UN Chief Calls for Social Media To Censor ‘Racist. Misogynist, Ageist, and Harmful’ Memes

    United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres shared his thoughts on social media censorship and free speech on Friday, suggesting that all content he doesn’t like should be unilaterally removed as part of “an all-out effort to end hate speech globally.”
    In a bizarre tirade that tackled subjects such as memes that poke fun at the elderly, “ethno-nationalism,” and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories,” Guterres argued that the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a “tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering.”

    Guterres listed several negative side effects of the virus and ensuing lockdown, such as “disproportionate effects on certain communities, the rise of hate speech, the targeting of vulnerable groups.”

    The secretary general made the claim that foreign migrants “have been vilified as a source of the virus, and then denied access to medical treatment,” adding, “anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred.”

    Guterres then moved on to the topic of “contemptible” internet memes: “With older persons among the most vulnerable, contemptible memes have emerged suggesting they are also the most expendable. And journalists, whistleblowers, health professionals, aid workers and human rights defenders are being targeted simply for doing their jobs.”

    Guterres demanded that social media “remove racist, misogynist and other harmful content,” and called on schools to install “digital literacy” programs in their curriculum.

    “Extremists are seeking to prey on captive and potentially despairing audiences,” the secretary-general announced. The solution, according to Guterres, should be an “all-out effort to end hate speech globally.”

    In related censorship news, Facebook appointed a left-wing professor who negatively referenced the President’s son to its content review “Supreme Court,” which will tell Facebook what posts should be removed from the platform:

    This week, Facebook released the list of 20 people who will serve on its Oversight Board and decide what memes and news articles should be removed for breaking Facebook’s “Community Guidelines” on hate speech and misinformation.

    Amongst the various controversial personalities on the list, which includes journalists, professors, activists, and former government officials including an ex-director general of the Israeli Ministry of Justice, is left-wing activist professor Pamela Karlan.

    Karlan, who describes herself as a “snarky, bisexual Jewish woman,” previously made headlines last December when she brought up up President Donald Trump’s son Barron as a punchline during the failed impeachment hearings.

    The Stanford Law professor infamously went on a tirade about “straight, white, sons of the patriarchy” during a speech at the 2006 American Constitutional Society convention, stating, “we have more reason than they do to love America. The rich, pampered, prodigal, sanctimonious, incurious, white, straight sons of the powerful do pretty well everywhere in the world, and they always have.”

    Karlan added, “But what about us? Snarky, bisexual, Jewish women who want the freedom to say what we think, read what we want, and love who we do.”

    Facebook has previously stated that it will follow all recommendations of the “Supreme Court” Oversight Board as long as those recommendations are not “illegal.”

    https://nationalfile.com/un-chief-calls-for-social-media-to-censor-racist-misogynist-ageist-and-harmful-memes/

  39. I’m pretty sure that this is going on, one way or the other, in almost all our Countries around the World with the aim for a eventual Authoritarian World Government.

    Germany,
    Exclusive to Tichy’s Einblick: “One accusation could be: The state has proven itself to be one of the largest fake news producers in the corona crisis.”

    Exklusiv auf TE: „Ein Vorwurf ko?nnte lauten: Der Staat hat sich in der Coronakrise als einer der gro?ßten fake-news-Produzenten erwiesen.”
    https://www.tichyseinblick.de/daili-es-sentials/exklusiv-auf-te-ein-vorwurf-koennte-lauten-der-staat-hat-sich-in-der-coronakrise-als-einer-der-groessten-fake-news-produzenten-erwiesen/

    Controversial study from the BMI Part 2: Massive internal criticism of the Robert Koch Institute and the federal government

    Brisante Studie aus dem BMI Teil 2: Massive interne Kritik an RKI und Bundesregierung
    https://www.tichyseinblick.de/tichys-einblick/brisante-studie-aus-dem-bmi-teil-2-massive-interne-kritik-an-rki-und-bundesregierung/

  40. “I will not take the Gates Vaccine. I will not bow down to jack-booted globalists. I will question the corrupted public health industrial complex & its financial conflicts of interest. I will use my platforms to share silenced views of whistleblowers & dissidents. #FightTheCensors”
    Michelle Malkin – May 9, 2020 – Twitter
    https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1259171624164577282

  42. “Dr. Jane Orient Discusses COVID-19 Treatment with Mayor Rudy Giuliani”
    AAPS – May 5, 2020

  43. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING! — Testimony Reveals Deep State Spy Joseph Mifsud Is Member of the Clinton Foundation

    Joseph Mifsud is connected to the Obama Spygate Scandal after presumably setting up George Papadopoulos and General Flynn in London.

    We knew he was close to Hillary Clinton and even dined with her in 2016.
    Now we know Mifsud was a member of the Clinton Foundation.

    In March 23 we reported that the Mueller gang blamed George Papadopoulos for withholding information that ended up preventing the government from investigating Mifsud leading to their letting him go.

    TRENDING: CROOKED OBAMA PANICS! Deep State Reporter Isikoff Releases His “Leaked” Call – Former President’s Fingerprints All Over Attempted Coup and More Documents Are Coming!

    On page 193 of the Mueller report, the Mueller gang claimed that Popadopoulus’s false statements impeded the FBI’s investigation into Joseph Mifsud who was interviewed in a hotel lobby a month later on February 10, 2017. The Mueller gang next referred to the Papadopoulos case rather than an FBI 302 in their report. This happens for Mifsud even though for everybody else, there is an FBI 302 created with a description of what was said to the FBI. In fact, the Mueller report never references any FBI302 for Mifsud. And it gets even more interesting….

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/changes-everything-testimony-reveals-deep-state-spy-joseph-mifsud-member-clinton-foundation/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=weekend

  44. What A Sociopath! Crooked Ilhan Omar Just Got Caught Raising Money for a Minnesota Food Store and Pocketing the Cash

    She’s only been in Congress for one term and already this woman has been caught in numerous scandals including immigration fraud, marrying her brother and funneling money into her lover’s consulting firm!

    Now we can add one more crime to the list.
    Via David Steinberg.

    Ilhan Omar asked for donations this week to help feed Minnesota Food Store.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/sociopath-crooked-ilhan-omar-just-got-caught-raising-money-minnesota-food-store-pocketing-cash/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailyam&utm_content=weekend

  45. China’s history of “fake vaccine” scandals reason for concern | NTD

  49. Trump’s new battle with China: CCP fights back on push for virus investigations|Crossroads|Joshua

  50. Wuhan Virus Lab Quietly Deletes Photos to Avoid Responsibility | CCP Virus | Coronavirus | COVID-19