Reader’s Links for June 19, 2020

Daily Links Post graphic

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

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

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

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

About Eeyore

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

44 Replies to “Reader’s Links for June 19, 2020”

  1. SCANDAL: German Gov’t Officials Intentionally Placed Foster Children with Pedophile Ring—for THIRTY YEARS
    BY MEGAN FOX JUN 19, 2020 1:23 PM EST

    (Image from Pixabay)
    A shocking report out of Germany says that government agencies intentionally placed homeless children with a widespread and influential pedophile ring for decades.

    Starting in the 1970s psychology professor Helmut Kentler conducted his “experiment.” Homeless children in West Berlin were intentionally placed with pedophile men. These men would make especially loving foster parents, Kentler argued.

    A study conducted by the University of Hildesheim has found that authorities in Berlin condoned this practice for almost 30 years. The pedophile foster fathers even received a regular care allowance.

    Helmut Kentler (1928-2008) was in a leading position at Berlin’s center for educational research. He was convinced that sexual contact between adults and children was harmless.

    Berlin’s child welfare offices and the governing Senate turned a blind eye or even approved of the placements.

    The outrage became public when victims came forward. Since then, researchers at Hildesheim University have tirelessly tracked down victims and conducted interviews, finding a vast pedophilia network that included educational institutions, child welfare offices, and the Berlin Senate. According to researchers, pedophilia was “accepted, supported, [and] defended.”

    Kentler was never prosecuted because of the statute of limitations, which also prevented the victims from getting compensation for their suffering. German lawmakers are reversing that restriction to help the victims.

    The researchers found that several of the foster fathers were high-profile academics. They speak of a network that included high-ranking members of the Max Planck Institute, Berlin’s Free University, and the notorious Odenwald School in Hesse, West Germany, which was at the center of a major pedophilia scandal several years ago. It has since been closed down.

    Breitbart News reported on the research from Hildesheim University.

    The 57-page report, which was published this week, found that a “network of actors in the Senate administration and institutions of educational reforms during the home reform of the 1970s tolerated the establishment of shared apartments and foster homes for paedophile men”.

    A man with a criminal record for child abuse, referred in the report as Fritz H., was able to rape and abuse at least nine children that were given to him as foster children under the government-backed scheme. Despite the extreme warning signs, Berlin youth welfare officers consistently chose him as a foster father to children, who were often six or seven years old.

    The abuse committed by Fritz H. was carried out from the 1970s until 2003, according to the local newspaper Berliner Zeitung.

    The report specifically pointed to the Pedagogical Centre in Berlin as the main coordinating institution of the scheme, though added that the policy was likely to have extended throughout the whole country.

    Breitbart did some digging on Kentler and found horrific viewpoints on child rape.
    The director of adult education at Pedagogical Centre was Helmut Kentler (1928-2008), a social scientist, who argued that sex between adults and children was a crucial part to healthy sexual development, saying that “in some cases almost something like a gentler form of social work”.

    A popular figure in Germany’s sexual revolution in the 1960s, Kentler often authored ‘expert’ reports for the Berlin Senate and his books on ‘sexual liberation’ were bestsellers at the time. Indeed, Deutsche Welle notes how the change in attitudes towards child sexuality in Germany at this time was part of the 1968 revolution that swept Europe and worked to throw aside all tradition and conventional wisdom, including the idea that children should not have sex with adults.

    Kentler wrote a book called Eltern Learned Sexualerziehung, which, translated, means “Parents Learn Sexual-Education.” It shows a parent bathing naked with children and is still for sale on Amazon. The report also said there are over 1,000 files the university has not been allowed to access and researchers believe its in an effort to keep the names of high-profile pedophiles a secret.

    The report did point to three former Social Democrat Berlin senators — the Senator for School and Education Carl-Heinz Evers, the Senator for Youth and Sports Kurt Neubauer, and the Senator for Labour and Social Affairs Kurt Exner — for having a particular “hand” in the scheme.

    At least one member of the Green Party is pushing for transparency and exposure of the criminal child rapists involved in the pedophile ring.
    Marianne Burkert-Eulitz of the Green Party — which itself pushed for the legalisation of “consensual” sex between children and adults in the 1970s — accused the Senate of slow-walking an investigation into the network out of fear of political backlash if other prominent politicians are revealed to have been involved.

    She said that “there were and are networks, they still exist”, adding that it may not be easy for political parties to admit culpability in the scandal “but it has to be done”.

    This scandal comes on the heels of the Italian “Angels and Demons” scandal that rocked several Italian towns and included mayors, doctors, and social workers in the criminal operation that took children from loving families through the power of the state and gave them, in some cases, to pedophiles. The Independent had that story, which included falsifying reports on parental abuse while social workers and doctors took part in electric shock torture of children.

    Italian police have arrested 18 people, including a mayor, social workers and psychologists for allegedly “brainwashing” children into believing their parents had abused them, in a scheme to take them away from their families and sell them to foster parents.

    Authorities in the central Italian city of Reggio Emilia revealed how a network of carers allegedly used hours of psychotherapy sessions and electroshocks to convince children their parents had sexually abused them and “alter their memory ahead of the trials”, Italy’s Ansa news agency reports.

    They then allegedly sold the children on to friends and acquaintances in a scheme worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

    The investigations, codenamed “Angels and Demons”, started in the summer of 2018 after police received a series of reports of wrongdoing that initially proved false.

    The 18 arrested include Andrea Carletti, mayor of Bibbiano, a town of about 10,000 near Reggio Emilia, as well as politicians, doctors, social workers and psychologists.

    There is a pattern where child welfare services keep showing up in these stories of sex-trafficked children. The U.S. State Department recently reported that sex-trafficking is directly linked to our foster care system. Even with this information, the state continues to give child welfare offices more power, not less, over children and families. One particularly horrific case, where a little girl known as Baby Devani was burned over 80% of her body and sexually abused, blew open a scandal revealing that CPS in Arizona gave multiple foster children to a child porn ring leader. Not one government agency involved in this outrage was ever held accountable.

    • Extremely disturbing!

      I can’t believe there’s a statue of limitations on such crimes either. I’d better not write what I’d like to do to such people.

  2. In the alternate universe – outside the Net – John Doe looked around the quiet street. He stopped outside a mid-nineteeth century shul and admired its gothic beauty.

    “what are you doing out here!”
    A man in a black brimmed hat, black jacket and pants, with hanging tong-curled tassels aside a large unkempt beard, came out taking his photograph on his phone.
    “I was admiring the building,” John flustered, realizing as a goy he would be seen as a threat at these times. He could have been a buck, cuck or a suck, for all this man could have known – the soulless who hate-and-lust for a sense of life.

    John apologized, and thanked the man for taking his picture, saying that he had to do everything wise to not be sucker-punched. He bade his leave, and was glad his better neighbors would be safe.*

    Meanwhile, in Netsville: https://youtu.be/sxWl6eQmTZc

    *Based on a true story.

    • Now, the reaction to a “Karen,” is to insult these women who come out to stand up for her neighborhood, to keep to the principles and guidelines for all to be better off, that all she does is ask – maybe rattled to bolster courage – but you, with a centered spirit knew that right? And gracefully and kindly thanked her, to recognize this fear, to respect them as women who cannot fight you, but brave enough to stand up for others. To not show her up on and public media and call her out, right? Right.

    • “…realizing as a goy…” means in that moment, the person who doesn’t know you, sees you as ‘the other,’ through their own echo-chamber of a religiously taken-over brain. John Doe by putting himself in the other person’s tiny shoes, he had compassion. He did not see himself as a goy, or a skin color, or defined by his sexual incontinence. For to walk around as this man’s Goy Lives Matter, would have put a shudder up his spine for the slavery and power he would have just handed over, to only aspire to be king of a plantation in return.

  3. Britain, France, and Germany Oppose US Effort to Re-Impose Sanctions Against Iran (sputniknews, Jun 19, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202006191079666033-britain-france-and-germany-oppose-us-effort-to-re-impose-sanctions-against-iran—joint-statement/

    “The statement comes following discussions between the European signatories to the deal on the future of the JCPOA agreement amid heightened tensions with the United States, which withdrew from the accord in 2018.

    The UK, France, and Germany are opposed to US attempts to re-impose all UN sanctions against Iran as it would have adverse effects on the United Nations Security Council, the joint statement said. “We would not support such a decision, which would be incompatible with our current efforts to preserve the JCPOA”, the foreign ministers of the three countries said in a joint statement following their talks in Berlin. The policy of maximum pressure on Tehran will not help resolve differences with Iran, they said in the joint statement.

    The development comes amid heightened tensions between the remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal and the Trump administration, which withdrew the US from the accord in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports, its principal source of revenue.

    Last week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the US withdrawal from the accord was the root cause of the crisis, while Russia said that the Trump administration’s politically motivated campaign against Iran should be condemned by the international community and called Washington’s attempts to determine the future of the JCPOA agreement after leaving it “ridiculous and irresponsible”.

    Moscow’s statement was echoed by the European Union’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell, who said that the White House can’t use its former membership in the deal to try to impose an embargo on the Islamic Republic.

    The lifting of the UN arms embargo on Iran was one of the key provisions of the nuclear deal, which was signed by Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, and Tehran in 2015. Under the agreement, the restrictions imposed on Iran should be lifted five years after the deal comes into effect, meaning that the embargo will expire in November, weeks before the US presidential election.

    Iran warned that it would leave the nuclear deal and quit the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if UN sanctions are re-imposed.

    In May, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged to “exercise all diplomatic options” to extend the UN ban, while US Special Representative for Iran Bill Hook threatened to issue an automatic snapback of the embargo.

    Experts say the development might not only torpedo the JCPOA agreement, which took years to negotiate, but also threatens the future of the United Nations Security Council.

    “We are not going to get another sanctions resolution at the UN Security Council for a generation, if ever. If you’re never going to get compliance from other states, it will be a choose-your-own-adventure—and nobody will do it”, said Richard Nephew, who was the lead sanctions expert on the US negotiating team with Iran during the Obama administration…”

  4. One Dead in Toronto Shooting, Possible Suspects Flee From Scene, Police Say (sputniknews, Jun 19, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202006191079666602-one-dead-in-toronto-shooting-possible-suspects-fled-from-scene-police-say/

    “Police have responded to calls about multiple shots fired on St. Clarens Ave in Toronto, followed by reports of multiple victims, law enforcement said in a statement.

    According to the statement, one person succumbed to their injuries, while two men were “fleeing in a 4 door sedan (possible suspects involved)”.

    Police have closed St. Clair Avenue W from Lansdowne Avenue to Dufferin Street, with a heavy police presence at the site, the statement reads.

    An alleged video from the shooting scene has been published online.

    In May, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government is banning 1,500 types of assault weapons effective immediately.

    The move by the Trudeau government followed the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history, which left 22 victims dead. Some of the weapons used by the assailant, identified as Gabriel Wortman, are now classified as prohibited, according to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair. However, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have said that most of the weapons used in the deadly rampage were acquired illegally in the United States.

    MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW”

  5. Twitter Permanently Blacklists British Conservative Katie Hopkins (breitbart, Jun 19, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/06/19/twitter-permanently-blacklists-british-conservative-katie-hopkins/

    “Twitter permanently blacklisted the account of Katie Hopkins, a British conservative commentator who had over 1 million followers prior to her ban. The company claims the deverification of her account and the subsequent ban are based on “hateful conduct.”

    A Twitter spokeswoman confirmed that Hopkins has been permanently banned in an email to Breitbart News, accusing her of “hateful conduct.”

    “Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our Rules are broken,” said the spokeswoman. “In this case, the account has been permanently suspended for violations of our Hateful Conduct policy.”

    Hopkins previously faced a temporary suspension from the social media platform following pressure on Twitter from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the same far-left British organization that assisted NBC’s recent hitpiece against The Federalist and ZeroHedge, which resulted in Google pulling ad revenue from the latter and threatening the former with the same.

    The British nonprofit’s purpose appears to be to smear conservative and right-wing news sources. As previously reported:

    Google took action after it was contacted by agenda-driven journalists at NBC, who presented the company with research from a leftist nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, that smears a number of conservative websites including Breitbart News, and calls on digital advertisers to financially blacklist them.

    The nonprofit falsely claims that Breitbart News promoted the Obama “birther” theory, citing as “evidence” a Breitbart story that explicitly rejects the theory. As purported evidence of Breitbart’s “hate,” the nonprofit also links to a recent piece recommending Americans buy guns and ammunition to protect themselves amid violent riots.

    It is currently unclear if CCDH played any role in the permanent blacklisting of Hopkins’ account.

    Twitter’s justification for the previous, temporary suspension of Hopkins’ account was the same as the one it used for the current ban: “violating the site’s hateful-conduct policy which bans the promotion of violence or inciting harm on the basis of race, religion, national origin or gender identity.”…”

  6. Suspect confesses in carnival performer’s killing
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/16/suspect-confesses-carnival-performers-killing
    A 26-year-old asylum seeker suspected in the death of 56-year-old carnival performer Frank Schrijen from Boxmeer confessed to killing Schrijen, but denies that it was murder. The young man said that he was in the performer’s house, but that he got into the situation unintentionally and had no intention to kill Schrijen, was revealed during a hearing in the court in Den Bosch on Tuesday, AD reports.

    Schrijen was found dead in his upstairs apartment in the center of Boxmeer on March 1. He had been killed by violence, the police quickly determined. The 26-year-old man was later arrested in a home in Gilze, where he was staying at the time, though he is registered as a resident of the asylum center in Echt.

    The Public Prosecution Service suspects the man of “intentionally and premeditatedly” murdering Frank Schrijen on February 26. Though the prosecutor added that this is a provisional suspicion and may later be changed to manslaughter. According to the prosecutor, the investigation is in its final stages. She expects it will be done in August.

    The suspect has made multiple statements about Schrijen’s death, but did not want to cooperate in the final interrogation, the prosecutor said. The man’s mental state is being evaluated by experts. The suspect will remain in custody for the time being, the court ruled.

    Schrijen was considered a celebrity in the carnival world. According to AD, he was known to have many different sexual contacts with other men, regularly inviting young men to his home.

  7. Swim instructors prosecuted for 11 y.o. refugee’s drowning
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/17/swim-instructors-prosecuted-11-yo-refugees-drowning
    Two swimming instructors will be prosecuted for the drowning of an 11-year-old Adonay Berhe during a swimming lesson in Lemmer on February 6. They will be charged with “death by negligence committed in the exercise of their profession”, the Volkskrant reports.

    The boy, a refugee from Eritrea, was one of a group of pupils from primary school De Cocon in Balk, who went to swimming pool Ny Suderse in Lemmer for their first swimming lesson on February 6. Adonay was found at the bottom of the pool after the lesson.

    The swimming instructors “did not notice that the boy went underwater and died,” a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution service said to Leeuwarder Courant. “They are to blame for this mistake.”

    This fatal accident is similar to another incident in 2015, when a 9-year-old girl from Syria drowned during a swimming lesson in Rhenen. Three employees involved in this lesson were later sentenced to 60 hours of community service for involvement in the child’s death.

  8. UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATION Part 2 – TEENAGE POLITICAL EXTORTION RING
    video – 17 mins 53 secs
    On the surface, the Sunrise Movement is group of peaceful young activists fighting for a “Green New Deal”. On a deeper level, they are a gateway to radicalization teaching young activists how to exploit tragedy, including one’s own victimization, for political gain.

  9. FAUCI: AMERICANS “DON’T BELIEVE SCIENCE”
    includes audio – 1 min 20 secs
    Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, has just suggested Americans don’t believe science. Fauci also said people should believe him and trust him, because of his long track record of always speaking the truth, through six administrations. Eric Worrall
    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/06/19/fauci-americans-dont-believe-in-science/

  10. BLACK TRUMP SUPPORTER: DEFUNDING POLICE IS ‘A DEATH WISH’
    video – 54 secs

  11. ‘Jihadi wives have taken refuge in Syrian villa,’ lawyer confirms
    https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/06/jihadi-wives-have-taken-refuge-in-syrian-villa-lawyer-confirms/
    Around 15 Dutch jihadi women have escaped from a prison camp in northern Syria and taken refuge in a villa in Idlib, the women’s lawyer has confirmed to the Telegraaf. According to Dutch security service AIVD figures, some 35 women who had joined the caliphate from 2014 were being kept at the al-Hol and al-Roj prison camps. A number of the women at al-Hol are now said to have escaped to Idlib, allegedly with the help of smugglers, to await a chance to cross the border with Turkey. That border is currently closed but if they do make it across, they can appeal to the Dutch embassy and possibly return to the Netherlands. The AIVD and the justice ministry are not commenting on the story and it is unclear exactly how many women got away, and how many children are with them. André Seebregts, the women’s lawyer told the paper that women had escaped ‘out of desperation’. ‘Many women fear that as their children grow up, the Kurds will see them as a threat, take them away and lock them up in prison. That is why they left,’ he said. If the women manage to reach the embassy, the Netherlands will have to take them back, the paper said. They will then be arrested on arrival and stand trial.

    Earlier Seebregts and the women tried to get a court decision to force the Dutch government to bring 23 women and their 56 children back but it came to nothing. The return of jihadi wives and their children is contentious. Justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said at the time that the safety of Dutch officials would be at stake if they were to travel to northern Syria to bring the women and their children back. The Dutch want a local tribunal to decide the fate of the women. Calls to bring back children under six without their mothers have been rejected by the VVD and CDA coalition parties.

  12. Tony’s Chocolonely director arrested over BLM graffiti
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/18/tonys-chocolonely-director-arrested-blm-graffiti
    Henk Jan Beltman, director of chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely, was arrested for vandalism on Thursday morning. A mural of a Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate bar holding a sign reading ‘Black Lives Matter’ was spray painted on the Beurs van Berlage building in Amsterdam, near a statue of Jan Pieterzoon Coen.

    There’s a Tony’s Chocolonely superstore in the Buers of Berlage building. The statue of Jan Pieterzoon Coen is near the entrance. The Tony’s Chocolonely team find that inappropriate. “We don’t think the statue should go away, but that people should know who this man was,” Tecla Schaeffer of Tony’s Chocolonely said to NL Times. “We wanted to make clear that he is a controversial man.”

    “At Tony’s Chocolonely we believe that we should treat each other with respect,” Beltman said to Het Parool shortly after his release from custody. “Jan Pieterzon Coen was one of the largest slave traders in our history, which must be indicated with such a statue. We cannot rewrite history and I am normally not fond of graffiti, but with this action I hope to keep the social debate going.” The little mural was painted on the building at around 7:00 a.m., with the help of a graffiti artist that Beltman will not name, he said.
    “We stand for equality and we see that there is a lot of inequality in the world and the [Black Lives Matter] demonstrations emphasize that,” Schaeffer said to NL Times, adding that the chocolate company also made a statement at the protests. “This is a social statement, which has now been removed by the Beurs van Berlage, which is also a social statement.”

    According to Schaeffer, Beltman discussed the action with some of the staff beforehand. “Fortunately, Mr. Beltman is free again, which was a bit stressful. He took all the blame on himself as director of the company.”

    The Beurs will not be pressing charges at this stage. “Because they want to talk to us,” Schaeffer said.

    Since the start of this new wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, triggered by the fatal arrest of George Floyd in the United States, multiple statues of controversial figures around the world have been vandalized. In Rotterdam last week, a group of activists left graffiti on the statues of Piet Hein and Pim Fortuyn and on the Witte de With art center

  13. Terrorism suspect arrested in Dutch refugee center
    https://nltimes.nl/2020/06/19/terrorism-suspect-arrested-dutch-refugee-center
    Police in the Netherlands arrested a 24-year-old Syrian man on Tuesday at a reception center for people seeking asylum in the country. The man was accused of involvement in a terrorist organization, and was taken into custody in Balk, a village in Friesland about 25 kilometers west of Heerenveen.

    “The investigation into the man, who applied for asylum in the Netherlands in December 2018, started with information from the [Immigration and Naturalization Office],” the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said. Several data storage devices were seized from his room at his temporary residence, the OM stated. He was remanded into custody on Friday for two weeks while the investigation into his case continues.

    “He probably participated in the Islamic group Ahrar al-Sham in Syria in 2015 and 2016.”

    The Salafist-Jihadist group operates is not officially categorized as a terrorist organization in the Netherlands, though two connected court cases in Rotterdam last year determined otherwise. When asked by members of parliament last year to explain the lack of a terrorism designation, Ministers Stef Blok (Foreign Affairs) and Ferd Grapperhaus (Justice and Security) said that it was largely because Ahrar al-Sham does not operate outside of Syria, and thus there has been little international support to apply the designation to them.

    To land on the Dutch terrorism list, an organization must use violence or support the use of violence in achieving its goals, have an anti-Dutch or an anti-Western agenda, and commit or plan to commit attacks in the West. “Ahrar al Sham does not meet these criteria,” the ministers said last November.

  14. CNBC – WHO: Coronavirus enters ‘new and dangerous phase’ as new cases hit record high

    “… the pandemic is accelerating …”

  15. the gateway pundit – John Kerry Warns of Revolution if Trump Re-Elected

    […]Kerry made the remarks Friday morning in a virtual Copenhagen Democracy Summit appearance with former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen who was also the former prime minister of Denmark and Australian reporter Ryan Heath with Politico.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/06/john-kerry-warns-revolution-trump-re-elected/
    ===================================================
    the washington examiner – John Kerry: Trump victory could provoke a revolution

    Former Secretary of State John Kerry raised the possibility that a victory by President Trump could provoke a revolution in the United States, claiming that Republicans have a history of denying voting rights to Democratic voters.

    “If people don’t have adequate access to the ballot, I mean that’s the stuff on which revolutions are built,” Kerry said during a virtual appearance at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit. “If you begin to deny people the capacity of your democracy to work, even the Founding Fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, we have an inherent right to challenge that. And I’m worried that increasingly, people are disaffected.”

    Kerry implied that such chicanery contributed to his defeat in 2004 and former Vice President Al Gore’s loss in 2000, maintaining that this pattern unfolded recently in Georgia — an apparent reference to Stacey Abrams’s defeat in the state’s 2018 gubernatorial race. That history, as he views it, undermines U.S. claims to Western leadership.

    “We’re not meeting the standard that we ought to be meeting, so I’m deeply concerned about protecting the vote,” he said.

    Kerry didn’t mention Republicans explicitly, but he maintained that there was a history of “certain officials of a particular party purposefully [making] it difficult for the other party to vote where they control those matters.” He predicted that Trump would lose handily but warned that Republicans would “pull out every stop” in the closing weeks of the race.

    And yet, Kerry remains optimistic about the outcome. “I’m going to continue to believe this election will not be close, we’ll have a mandate in America,” he said. “And if it is close, we’ll just have to deal with whatever the circumstances are at that time. Hopefully, we’ve laid enough groundwork, the legal barrier, that we will be well prepared.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/john-kerry-trump-victory-could-provoke-a-revolution

  16. Qatar Emir’s Brother Accused of Ordering Murder, Going on Drug Binges
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2343026/qatar-emirs-brother-accused-ordering-murder-going-drug-binges

    “The brother of Qatar’s emir has ordered his staff to kill Americans on US soil and personally beat his chauffeur to death in Qatar, according to a federal civil lawsuit filed in Massachusetts this week.

    Britain’s The Daily Mail, which has exclusively obtained a copy of the lawsuit, said the allegations are against Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

    The court papers, filed by six American former staffers of the Sheikh, claim he went on days-long sleepless “binges”, ordered two of his US staff to kill people and among others threatened to kill staff himself.

    One of the plaintiffs, Ramez Tohme, the son of Michael Jackson’s last manager Tohme Tohme, claims in the lawsuit that the Qatari prince threatened to kill him, saying “you can call your father and tell him that you are going to be buried in the desert.”

    Tohme, 33, claims the Sheikh kidnapped him and kept him prisoner in Doha for days, attempted to frame him for a crime and had him thrown in jail, said The Daily Mail.

    Another of the plaintiffs, Oak Ridge Tennessee-based Terry Hope, worked for Sheikh Khalid’s car racing team, Al Anabi Racing.

    In the lawsuit he claims that between 2010 and 2012 the Sheikh ordered him to murder his rival, the then owner of the American Drag Racing League and the owner’s wife, four times.

    Hope, 54, claims the Sheikh told him he “would be financially ‘set up’ for the rest of his life” if he performed the contract killings, but he refused.

    Hope claims that in 2016, while working for Sheikh Khalid in Doha, the prince drove out to the desert and beat his chauffeur to death in front of him.

    “The more that the chauffeur pleaded, the more aggressive Defendant Khalid beat him,” Hope claimed in his lawsuit, recounting the alleged murder that he says he saw from just a few feet away.

    “Plaintiff observed Defendant Khalid to pull out his pistol, grab the chauffeur by the back of the head, and place the pistol in the chauffeur’s mouth,” the former racing team member claimed.

    “Plaintiff observed Defendant Khalid to then strike chauffeur in the back of the head, observed the chauffeur to fall limp, observed the chauffeur’s chest to cease rising, and the chauffeur to eventually become lifeless.”

    The Daily Mail has previously revealed the claims of one of the plaintiffs, ex-US Marine Matthew Pittard, that the royal told him to kill two people, and the Sheikh later threatened to kill him after he refused.

    Sheikh Khalid hired Pittard, 46, in 2017 as his security director and soon after made the illegal request, the documents claim.

    “In approximately late September of 2017 and November of 2017, in Los Angeles California, Defendant Khalid asked Pittard to murder a male and female who Defendant Khalid viewed as threats to his social reputation and personal security,” the legal filing said.

    “Pittard refused to execute these unlawful requests.”

    The Sheikh’s legal team, lawyers for his US company and the Qatari embassy did not respond to repeated requests by The Daily Mail for comment.”

  17. Fugitive Iranian Judge Found Dead in Romania
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2343351/fugitive-iranian-judge-found-dead-romania

    “A fugitive Iranian judge sought by Tehran for alleged corruption was found dead after apparently falling from a hotel room in Bucharest, Romanian police said Friday.

    The police said an investigation was under way after a foreign national aged 52, who they identified as Gholamreza Mansouri, was found in the early afternoon.

    It was not clear if he had fallen or been pushed from his sixth-floor room.

    Mansouri had been arrested last week in the Romanian capital and was placed on probation for a month pending an Iranian extradition request.

    Mansouri was wanted in his homeland over alleged corruption within the country’s judicial system amid reports he accepted 500,000 euros ($530,000) in bribes.

    Reporters Without Borders meanwhile has accused him of torture and crimes against humanity following the 2013 detention of 20 journalists in Iran. It filed a complaint with federal prosecutors in Germany last week, urging that Mansouri be investigated.

    The group had said at the time it believed Mansouri was “probably currently in Germany for medical treatment” and demanded his “immediate arrest.”

    German prosecutors confirmed Wednesday they were looking into the complaint, and Reporters without Borders said it had now filed a second complaint with Romanian authorities after learning Mansouri had slipped away from Germany already.

    Mansouri had denied the allegations. He said last week in a video statement that he left Iran for unspecified medical treatment and that coronavirus travel restrictions prevented him from returning to face the charges.

    It was not clear when Mansouri traveled to Romania, but Iran’s judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Esmaeili, said June 13 that Mansouri had been arrested there and was expected to be returned to Iran “in the following days.”

    Earlier this week, journalist rights groups and Iranian dissidents urged Romania to not deport Mansouri, saying he should be prosecuted in Europe for ordering the mass arrest of reporters while serving as a judge in Tehran.

    According to Romanian authorities, Mansouri had been released from custody but kept under “judicial control,” during which he was banned from leaving the country and was obliged to present himself to authorities at their request.

    Mansouri is best known for ordering the mass arrest of the reporters in 2013 toward the end of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s time in office.

    But in 2012, he also banned the reformist Shargh daily newspaper and detained its editor-in-chief over a published cartoon that authorities deemed insulting to those who fought in the Iran-Iraq war.”

  18. UN nuclear watchdog calls on Iran to open suspected sites to inspectors
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/un-nuclear-watchdog-calls-iran-open-suspected-sites-investigation

    “The UN’s nuclear watchdog has called on Iran to open two of its nuclear sites to international inspectors as they could still be hosting undeclared nuclear material or traces of it.

    The 35-member Board of Governors for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution, the first of its kind since 2012, on Friday after two reports from the agency said that the sites could still contain trace amounts of nuclear material.

    The two sites in question do not relate to the passage of the nuclear agreement in 2015, but trace back to Iran’s alleged activities in the early 2000s.

    The resolution, which was submitted to the board by France, Germany, and Britain and was opposed by China and Russia, “calls on Iran to fully cooperate with the Agency and satisfy the Agency’s requests without any further delay, including by providing prompt access to the locations specified by the Agency”.

    Iran has slammed the resolution, with its foreign ministry saying the country has complied with the international watchdog…”

  19. Passing along a word of greeting and reassurance from fellow contributor yucki whose computer is on the fritz and in the shop for a spell waiting for a new part.

  20. Iraq: Muslim scholars say prisoners being tortured
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200619-iraq-muslim-scholars-say-prisoners-being-tortured/

    “The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq accused the Iraqi government and Shabak militia Thursday of torturing prisoners in jails in Nineveh governorate, Anadolu reports.

    “Detainees in the government’s and militia’s prisons in Iraq are subjected to heinous crimes that go against human nature,” the association’s general secretariat said in a statement.

    “A report issued Wednesday by the Iraqi Center for Documentation of War Crimes revealed extensive human rights violations that are systematically taking place in intelligence prisons in Nineveh governorate at the hands of intelligence agents and the militia, known as the Shabak militia,” the statement added.

    There has been no comment from the Iraqi government…”

  21. Turkey to set up more bases in northern Iraq
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200619-turkey-to-set-up-more-bases-in-northern-iraq/

    “Turkey is planning to establish more temporary military bases in northern Iraq, according to a senior official who told Reuters it will ensure border security.

    The report yesterday comes amid an increase in air strikes carried out by Turkey against Kurdish PKK terrorist targets in the Iraqi Kurdistan region. Ankara carried out two separate operations against the PKK on Sunday and Tuesday in retaliation for what it says are a rise in militant attacks on Turkish army bases along the border. Yesterday, Turkish forces struck more than 500 alleged PKK sites with F-16 jets, drones and howitzers as part of the operation codenamed “Claw-Tiger” in the Haftanin region.

    The unnamed Turkish official confirmed that Ankara started operations after talks with the Iraqi authorities in order to neutralise the PKK from its borders and target the group’s logistical capabilities.

    “The plan is to establish temporary base areas [to] prevent the cleared regions from being used for the same purpose again. There are already more than 10 temporary bases there. New ones will be established,” the source said…”

  22. Turkey ready for fast reconstruction in conflict-torn Libya, official says
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200619-turkey-ready-for-fast-reconstruction-in-conflict-torn-libya-official-says/

    “Turkey is ready to rapidly start rebuilding conflict-torn Libya, a senior Turkish official said on Friday, after President Tayyip Erdogan’s senior deputies visited Tripoli this week to discuss cooperation on energy, construction and banking, Reuters reports.

    Turkish support has helped the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) reverse a 14-month assault on Tripoli by Khalifa Haftar’s eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) that is backed by Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

    A Turkish delegation including the foreign and finance ministers met GNA officials on Wednesday for talks Ankara said aimed to bring about an end to fighting…”

  23. One Turkish soldier dies in clash with Kurdish rebels
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/372535/World/Region/One-Turkish-soldier-dies-in-clash-with-Kurdish-reb.aspx

    “One Turkish soldier died on Friday in clashes with “terrorists” from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the operation area in northern Iraq, the defence ministry said in a statement.

    Turkey launched an air and ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq on Wednesday, calling it Operation Claw-Tiger.

    The defence ministry said the Turkish soldier was wounded “in clashes with terrorists in the Operation Claw-Tiger area” and died in hospital later, without providing details where exactly the clashes were.

    The militants’ targets across the border came under “intense” Turkish fire, it added.

    The Turkish military regularly carries out operations against PKK hideouts in southeast Turkey and its rear bases across the border.

    The PKK, which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is banned as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies.

    Turkey’s latest operation has drawn protests from Baghdad which demanded Ankara immediately halt its assault in northern Iraq.”

  24. Moroccan Police in El Jadida Foil Irregular Migration Attempt to Europe
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/06/306377/moroccan-police-in-el-jadida-foil-irregular-migration-attempt-to-europe/

    “Moroccan police arrested 23 candidates for irregular migration, including 22 men and one woman, in El Jadida on Friday, June 19.

    Police arrested the migrants, who were planning to reach European coasts through irregular migration, at the city’s beach.

    Those apprehended were planning to migrate through an artisanal vessel, a statement from the General Directorate of National Security.

    The migrants were in possession of two marine engines and 20 plastic jerry cans containing 400 liters of gasoline.

    The arrested migrants were subject to a preliminary investigation to determine the circumstances of the case. Research and investigations are ongoing to arrest the instigators of the irregular migration operation.

    The operation is part of Morocco’s efforts to combat irregular migration and human trafficking.

    The arrest comes just after Morocco’s Royal Navy rescued 93 sub-Saharan migrants in the Mediterranean during the night between June 17-18.

    Morocco foiled a total of 74,000 irregular migration attempts in 2019.

    The 2019 DGSN report said police arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 criminal networks that traffick people.

    DGSN operations against irregular migration resulted in the arrest of 27,317 would-be irregular migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality. Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without the required documents.”

  25. At least one dead, eight injured in grenade attack on Ehsaas centre in Karachi
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2246002/1-least-one-dead-eight-injured-grenade-attack-ehsaas-centre-karachi/

    “At least one person was killed and eight others injured on Friday after an unidentified motorcyclist threw a hand grenade at the Ehsaas programme centre in Karachi’s Liaquatabad area.

    The grenade injured nine persons who were immediately rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, however, one succumbed to his injuries.

    Immediately after the attack, Rangers arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area to traffic, while police personnel and Rangers collected evidence.

    According to the rescue team, the injured have been identified as Saleem, Roshan Ali, Zeeshan, Faizan and Sabir.

    Sindh Governor Imran Ismail took notice of the attack and ordered a detailed report from Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Mahar.

    The province’s governor said it is the responsibility of the police to provide security to the Ehsaas centre and no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.”

  26. Germany: Investigation into deadly police shooting in Bremen
    https://www.dw.com/en/germany-investigation-into-deadly-police-shooting-in-bremen/a-53870938

    “Police in the northern German city of Bremen have launched an internal investigation after officers shot a man, who later died in hospital.

    Police in Bremen said an investigation was underway after a man was fatally shot during a police operation in the city’s Gröpelingen neighborhood; they referred the case to the public prosecutor on Friday, a day after the incident.

    The deceased was a 54-year-old man of Moroccan nationality, according to local media.

    The leader of Bremen’s police union, Lüder Fasche, on Friday defended the actions of the officers involved in the operation. He said the man was shot after attacking an officer with a knife, citing a video circulating on the internet as evidence that the officers had acted appropriately.

    He said officers had initially tried in vain to verbally resolve what Bremen police described as a “suspected psycho-social crisis.”

    The Bremen police have stressed that initial media reports that the operation was linked to an apartment eviction were false. Police also appealed to members of the public and media not to share the video.

    Fasche said the incident should not be conflated with the “recent social discussions” about police violence that have followed the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd by a white officer in the US.

    The vice president of the Bremen police, Dirk Fasse, said he was concerned that an individual had died during a police operation.

    “My thoughts go out to the relatives and colleagues who were exposed to this stressful situation,” said Fasche.”

  27. twitter UN Geneva @UNGeneva

    UN #HumanRights experts express profound concern over a recent statement by the US Attorney-General describing #Antifa and other anti-fascist activists as domestic terrorists, saying it undermines the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly in the country.

    https://twitter.com/UNGeneva/status/1274007783864627201

    =============================================

    UN experts greatly troubled over labeling antifa as domestic terrorists

    Experts for the United Nations have expressed great concern over the labeling of antifa members as “domestic terrorists.”

    “International human rights law protects the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism said Friday. “It is regrettable that the United States has chosen to respond to the protests in a manner that undermines these fundamental rights.”

    The denouncement came in response to a statement made by Attorney General William Barr late last month while riots were breaking out across the country.

    “It is time to stop watching the violence and to confront and stop it. The continued violence and destruction of property endangers the lives and livelihoods of others and interferes with the rights of peaceful protesters, as well as all other citizens,” he stated.

    Barr concluded, “The violence instigated and carried out by antifa and other similar groups in connection with the rioting is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly.”

    The same day, President Trump tweeted, “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization.”

    This controversy comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died in Minneapolis late last month after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes. In response, protests and riots have been occurring in cities across America.

    On Wednesday, Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, pleaded with the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate the issue of police brutality in the U.S.

    “The way you saw my brother tortured and murdered on camera is the way black people are treated by police in America. You watched my brother die. That could have been me. I am my brother’s keeper. You in the United Nations are your brothers’ and sisters’ keepers in America, and you have the power to help us get justice for my brother, George Floyd,” he said.

    The U.N. has already begun debating the issue and will continue to do so.

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/un-experts-greatly-troubled-over-labeling-antifa-as-domestic-terrorists

    ===========================================================

    UN experts decry US rhetoric on designation of terrorist groups

    GENEVA (19 June 2020) – UN experts* today expressed profound concern over a recent statement by the US Attorney-General describing Antifa and other anti-fascist activists as domestic terrorists, saying it undermines the rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly in the country.

    “International human rights law protects the right to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. “It is regrettable that the United States has chosen to respond to the protests in a manner that undermines these fundamental rights.”

    Following nationwide demonstrations that began after police in Minneapolis killed African American George Floyd, US Attorney-General William Barr warned that alleged violence carried out by Antifa and other movements “is domestic terrorism and will be treated accordingly”.

    While no legislative action has yet followed Barr’s statement on 31 May 2020, Ní Aoláin said “the loose use of terrorism rhetoric undermines legitimate protests and dampens freedom of expression in the United States, which has been a hallmark of US constitutional values, and a beacon far beyond its shores”.

    Echoing the unease expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding structural race discrimination in the US, particularly in the realm of policing, the Special Rapporteur said that regulating protests and violence through the lens of counter-terrorism may only sharpen divisions and accentuate tensions, fuelling further human rights violations. The experts strongly recommend that violent elements among peaceful protesters be dealt with fairly and in accordance to due process under existing penal law.

    Ní Aoláin urged the US to take a human rights-based approach in their response to protests and violence and avoid the misuse and misappropriation of the language of terrorism.

    “Unless it does, the Government risks cheapening grave crimes that fall under the rubric of terrorism and failing to fulfil fundamental obligations to ensure counter-terrorism measures are fully compliant with international human rights law.”

    https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25980

  28. BREITBART – Twitter Permanently Blacklists British Conservative Katie Hopkins

    Twitter permanently blacklisted the account of Katie Hopkins, a British conservative commentator who had over 1 million followers prior to her ban. The company claims the deverification of her account and the subsequent ban are based on “hateful conduct.”

    A Twitter spokeswoman confirmed that Hopkins has been permanently banned in an email to Breitbart News, accusing her of “hateful conduct.”

    “Keeping Twitter safe is a top priority for us – abuse and hateful conduct have no place on our service and we will continue to take action when our Rules are broken,” said the spokeswoman. “In this case, the account has been permanently suspended for violations of our Hateful Conduct policy.”

    Hopkins previously faced a temporary suspension from the social media platform following pressure on Twitter from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the same far-left British organization that assisted NBC’s recent hitpiece against The Federalist and ZeroHedge, which resulted in Google pulling ad revenue from the latter and threatening the former with the same.

    The British nonprofit’s purpose appears to be to smear conservative and right-wing news sources. As previously reported:

    Google took action after it was contacted by agenda-driven journalists at NBC, who presented the company with research from a leftist nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, that smears a number of conservative websites including Breitbart News, and calls on digital advertisers to financially blacklist them.

    The nonprofit falsely claims that Breitbart News promoted the Obama “birther” theory, citing as “evidence” a Breitbart story that explicitly rejects the theory. As purported evidence of Breitbart’s “hate,” the nonprofit also links to a recent piece recommending Americans buy guns and ammunition to protect themselves amid violent riots.

    It is currently unclear if CCDH played any role in the permanent blacklisting of Hopkins’ account.

    Twitter’s justification for the previous, temporary suspension of Hopkins’ account was the same as the one it used for the current ban: “violating the site’s hateful-conduct policy which bans the promotion of violence or inciting harm on the basis of race, religion, national origin or gender identity.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/06/19/twitter-permanently-blacklists-british-conservative-katie-hopkins/

  29. Tom Fitton predicts ‘chaotic’ Election Day: ‘We may not know who won for weeks’

    Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton tells FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs that Election Day this year ‘will be chaotic’ and it’s possible Americans ‘may not know who won for weeks.’