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.
Beautiful picture of God’s house.
Hagia Sophia will always be God’s house.
Paganism will always remain
To Glorify Man when doing the same:
The Father, The Son and Holy Ghost
Sent into buildings that love them most.
Allah, Muhammad, Qu’ranic Sharia
Once for a Savior: now Merciful Fear
No more Jesuses, no more Prophets
Which is more evil? What next to appear?
Gold will they worship with envy of Man
The People’s Republc, the Final-Year Plan?
Or how about Gayness, most Worshipful Seer
All Souls removed, and heaven’s ban.
There are children outside.
Are you going to cage their minds to this?
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.
Instead a ton of weight is put on their backs.
Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
ACTS 7:48-51
And on the “funny” side of things;
?Suicide Hotline: How can I help you?
?Hillary: Yes, I’d like to place an order.
John Wick 4
?Suicide Hotline: The same as before?
?Hillary: Yes. With Hot Sauce.
COVID19 PCR Tests are Scientifically Meaningless
Though the whole world relies on RT-PCR to “diagnose” Sars-Cov-2 infection, the science is clear: they are not fit for purpose
https://off-guardian.org/2020/06/27/covid19-pcr-tests-are-scientifically-meaningless/
It’s better being unimportant, I think. When you don’t take yourself too seriously, like the NYT or other big shots do, maybe your thinking is less clouded by the ego that comes with knowing the weight your words carry. The NYT is something like that desert money train in the old Western held up by banditos.
You, being the glorious New York Times, have your version of the truth, and the bandits have theirs. You have conquered your universe by selling people fiat that passes as truth, so you know a thing or two about what it looks like. In fact, it turns out you even got hooked on the stuff you were peddling, it was so good. Turns out you’ve been soft selling communism for years. Shame on you. Every dealer knows he doesn’t do his own junk. How’s that for truth.
Turns out in the end you were hooked on junk all along. You passed on the clearest, most obvious truth and chose the junk. What a difference there is between clever, and right. Banditos only want the gold, you can keep your paper.
Now you’ve found the banditos have their truth, too, and it’s brutal. It is also vulgar, violent, simple and direct. But is this not the only kind there is when finally it confronts us? Always fresh and a little shocking. Like cold water. Like aha! Or uh-oh. It’s better than clever because it’s the real deal and you can tell it.
Bandits don’t care how they catch that Freedom train so long as they do. Me? I’m a guttersnipe for truth. Sometimes I hit, sometimes I miss. –No big deal ’cause my name is Nobody so who cares. See that? No question mark at the end of who cares. That’s because I’m not asking, I’m telling. I’m a bandito. I don’t need no steenkin’ question marks (thick Mexican accent). Jus’ gimme the gol’, gringo.
In his own way, the most powerful man I know is an old friend of mine. He’s a junky. He’s shamed himself so many times after hitting new lows so many times. His answer to all of it, now, when he is sober, is a wry, world-weary, sweet humour. There is nothing bitter in him, nothing mean. You can’t pull him down more than he has, himself. His strength is in his stripped-naked self. There’s nothing more anyone can do to him. Desperado.
I’ve heard tell some truth snipers can take the eye out of a crow from two miles. That’s some sweet shootin’. I wonder if the NYT has hit rock bottom. No question mark required.
Some guys will do anything for a date:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCoaubtAtBe/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading
OT/ Johnny-
I’m getting the same response as you about HCQ.
That it’s around, but it doesn’t work, or probably doesn’t work, but – uh, well – uh – (By people who advocated it two months ago!)
I was told I won’t get the Wuhan, unless I go out or let IT come in. I’m at peak risk for sub-lethal (at best) complications.
But now I hear X-rays must be done next week, and probably more medi-excursions down the line. Beginning to look less “elective” every day.
So I ask, “What about the peak risk thing?”
– “Oh, they’ll be really careful.” I’m not reassured.
– “What about my HCQ?”
– “We’ll talk about it IF – G-d forbid – ”
Talk about it after I'm symptomatic, then wait days for results. It'll be too late. My living-will says: No ventilators. Contact the chevra kadesha.Thanks for getting back,Yucki. It doesn’t add up at all. PT would not lie to us on this. And what about those doctors who swear by it? And Turkey and who knows where else? Anyhow, hang in there. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.
There’s definitely a shortage of the stuff in this country.
(WHO’s been hoarding it? WHERE??)
iwantiwantiwantThat’s partly why I’m dubious about the claims that the filthy Turk is passing it out like candy. India surely isn’t selling it to him.
https://twitter.com/Paul_Zilio/status/1283737847413997568/photo/1
All you Trudeau fans… Click on this.
TORONTO SUN – LILLEY: WE Charity listed real estate holdings worth $43.7 M in 2018
In 2012, Craig Kielburger challenged school kids across the country to help change the world with the smallest of donations, the penny.
“There is nothing more impactful I can see the penny doing,” Kielburger told the crowd at the We Day in Toronto. Sharing the stage that day with celebrities such as Martin Sheen, Al Gore and Justin Trudeau, Kielburger asked young people to save their change to save the world.
By the end of the 2013 school year, $1.4 million was raised from more than 3,000 schools across the country. They were told they would be helping to give people clean drinking water; I wonder how those children would feel knowing they were donating to a charity that was about to become a major player in real estate.
Since that penny campaign in 2013, WE Charity has gone from listing $10.8 million in real estate holdings to $43.7 million reported to the Canada Revenue Agency in 2018, just five years later.
Yet even that staggering growth doesn’t tell the whole story for Kielburger Inc.
WE Charity’s headquarters at the corner of Queen St. E. and Parliament St. — just east of Toronto’s downtown core — is the anchor building for the massive pile of real estate that WE and its affiliated organizations have purchased.
It consists of 15 parcels of land owned by four different WE organizations – WE Charity, ME to WE Asset Holdings Inc., ME to WE Foundation and Imagine 1 Day International Organization.
These organizations are all part of what I call Kielburger Inc., the collection of charities, foundations and businesses that all have Craig and Marc Kielburger at their core. These affiliated organizations have not only bought up the south side of Queen St. — from Parliament to Berkeley Sts. — they’ve also bought up several properties on the north side of Queen St. and several on Berkeley, as well.
It’s a strange situation for four organizations that are supposedly distinct each buying buildings and plots of land near each other. From the publicly available records, WE Charity has spent at least $23.1 million buying up real estate in that area, ME to WE Asset Holdings has spent $8.5 million, the ME to WE Foundation has spent $4.1 million and Imagine 1 Day has spent $2.9 million.
In total, that is $38.7 million buying up real estate in one up and coming Toronto neighbourhood. All from charities or businesses who have pledged to help the poor in the developing world.
Visiting the area, locals did confirm that they have heard rumours a redevelopment is in the works but nothing concrete. Several people with experience in land development looked at the real estate collection and told me it looked like it was being assembled for a condo play.
As for WE’s plans, it’s all rather vague.
In December 2018, the organization announced that it wanted to launch the WE Social Entrepreneurship Centre, a 41,000-sq.-ft. facility dedicated to helping budding business leaders under the age of 35. That still leaves plenty of room for a condo tower or two.
I asked WE straight up if they have plans to redevelop and if they had met with or been in discussion with builders or developers. They directed me to an article on their entrepreneurship plans.
“These plans however, were put on pause when the COVID-19 pandemic began and we have not yet made a decision on next steps for the project,” WE said in an emailed statement.
In a separate email, WE defended their actions in buying significant amounts of real estate.
“Through the purchase of real estate, WE Charity has avoided substantial office leasing or rental costs, enabling it to spend additional funds on projects rather than administrative costs,” the statement read.
“WE Charity estimates the net overall savings of owning its office space versus leasing/renting at approximately $1.2M annually.”
As for where the money comes from, WE insists that the buildings the charity buys are paid for with money from targeted donors and supporters, not money from youth fundraising or program funds.
That explains the WE Charity landholdings but not the holdings of ME to WE Asset Holdings, ME to WE Foundation or Imagine 1 Day.
As I have reported before, while legally separate, these are all closely tied organizations all built around the Kielburger empire.
It appears that one man, Victor Li, who Charity Intelligence says is CFO of WE and ME to WE, oversees the financials for at least two of the organizations (WE did not answer our question asking it confirm that Li is CFO of both entities).
If there are problems with “blurred lines” and “donor confusion, as charity watchdog group Charity Intelligence has found, then these co-ordinated real estate purchases don’t do anything to clear the air.
Is WE an independent charity or part of a larger complex of groups built around Craig and Marc Kielburger? After reviewing their structure and their landholdings, it is getting more difficult to say they are truly independent, more like just another part of Kielburger Inc.
The Players
WE Charity — Formed in 1995 as Free the Children by Craig and Marc Kielburger to end child labour and provide aid in the developing world. The organization is active in schools across the country and host WE Day events at arenas and stadiums from coast to coast drawing tens of thousands of school children who learn how they can get involved. Operating budget last year, $65 million.
ME to WE Asset Holdings Inc. — A holding company owned by ME to WE which is the privately-held company owned by Craig and Marc Kielburger. They run a business to support WE Charity by running the for-profit travel agency that books trips for WE supporters, they also sell merchandise to with the ME to WE branding and run training seminars and camps in the Toronto area.
ME to WE Foundation — Set up in 2018, very little has been filed publicly about the organization in Canada or the United States. Their 2018 filings with the Canada Revenue Agency show just $22,945 in total revenue and $65,545 in expenses, 81% of which went to administration. In January 2019, the foundation bought 329 Queen St. E. for $2.6 million from a numbered company owned by Fred and Theresa Kielburger, the parents of the brothers. It was the same amount the company had paid to purchase the property eight months earlier.
Imagine 1 Day International — Originally set up as a separate charity, the organization has in effect merged with WE Charity. Despite claims to be distinct, it is “operated through a common Board of Directors with WE Charity.” In 2016, the organization owned no land or buildings in Canada and, after partnering with WE in May 2017, spent $2.9 million later that year buying a building next to WE’s headquarter.
The land they transferred in Kenya
WE Charity admits to having land in several countries they operate in but trying to get details on one transaction in Kenya earlier this year has proven difficult. Despite clear questions to WE’s PR team, questions around ownership, any monies exchanged in the transfer and the nature of the transfer remain unanswered.
In January 2020, nine different properties were transferred from Free the Children’s Kenyan operations to an organization called WE Education for Children Ltd. The properties included two high schools, a college, a hospital, a women’s empowerment centre as well as two farms and two houses.
I asked WE about the transaction and didn’t get much in the way of a response. Here is the exchange verbatim.
1. What was the total monetary value of the transaction in Canadian currency?
These transactions involved infrastructure for humanitarian programs that provide free services to the community in the rural regions of Narok County in Kenya. They include secondary schools, a community garden, a hospital, a community education centre and a college. In all cases, WE Charity Canada transfers funds on an annual basis to operate these projects.
2. Who owns or controls WE Education for Children Ltd. and where is it based?
WE Education for Children Ltd. was established with the objective to meet Kenyan legal requirements for property ownership of agricultural land and to establish a legal trust with WE Charity Canada as the beneficial owner of the humanitarian projects. This is certified by respected legal counsel in Kenya and a formal trust documents which were established with the two trustees.
So, no answer on how much, if any money, changed hands and no answer on who is behind WE Education for Children — just that it is a legal entity. They did provide documentation showing the transaction and the new owners pledging to hold the land in trust for WE Charity but the names of those who signed the documents were blacked out.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/lilley-we-charity-listed-real-estate-holdings-worth-43-7-m-in-2018
CBC – WE Charity announces structural review after student grant controversy
WE Charity has announced a structural review following a controversy over being awarded a $900-million contract by the federal government.
The charity says it will “return to its roots” and focus on international development work.
Ontario man killed by police after altercation over refusing to wear a mask
A 73-year-old Ontario man was shot and killed by police shortly after an altercation at a Minden, Ont., grocery store because he refused to wear a mask.
Sky News – Shamima Begum can return to UK
Shamima Begum who travelled to Syria to join so called ‘Islamic State’ can return to the UK to challenge the removal of her citizenship.
British Court Allows Daesh Bride Shamima Begum to Return to the UK (sputniknews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/uk/202007161079901338-british-court-allows-daesh-bride-shamima-begum-to-return-to-the-uk/
“The ruling has forced the UK government to backtrack on a decision to deny relocation assistance to the former Daesh* recruit, as well as allow her to return to British courts to fight a decision to revoke her citizenship, UK media reported on Thursday.
UK judges ruled on Thursday that London schoolgirl Shamima Begum would be allowed to return to the United Kingdom to appeal a decision to strip the ‘ISIS bride’ of her UK citizenship.
“I consider that Ms Begum’s claim for judicial review of the decision of SIAC [Special Immigration Appeals Commission]… succeeds,” Julian Flaux, Court of Appeal judge ruled on Thursday.
Ms Begum’s court victory comes after a lengthy battle to return to the UK after she left in 2015 to join Islamic State along with two other schoolgirls.
Begum, 20, had her citizenship stripped by the UK Home Office under then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid over national security concerns after being found housed at a refugee camp in 2019, according to UK media.
The court ruling added that Begum, 20, had been denied a fair hearing as she could not appeal her case from the al Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria, following similar arguments from her defence at the Court of Appeal last month.
“Ms Begum has never had a fair opportunity to give her side of the story. She is not afraid of facing British justice, she welcomes it. But the stripping of her citizenship without a chance to clear her name is not justice, it is the opposite,” Daniel Furner, Begum’s solicitor said in a statement.
The news comes after the Daesh recruit told courts that Downing Street’s decision to revoke her citizenship was illegal as it would leave her stateless under international law. Ms Begum could only receive Bangladeshi citizenship via her mother.
Begum’s History With ISIS Fighters
The news comes after a SIAC tribunal ruled in February that the UK government’s decision to strip Begum of her citizenship was lawful, stating she had been “a citizen of Bangladesh by descent”.
Ms Begum told UK media that she was “just a housewife” after joining Islamic State, where she married Yago Riedijk, a Dutch rebel, and later left Raqqa in January 2017 after losing two children and a third child in 2019.
“When my citizenship got rejected, I felt like my whole world fell apart right in front of me. You know, especially the way I was told. I wasn’t even told by a government official. I had to be told by journalists,” she told ABC News in an interview in February, despite making unapologetic comments about joining the terrorist organisation to the Times last year.
She told the Times that she had “no regrets” about joining Islamic State and that severed heads from hostages “didn’t faze” her at all.
But speaking to Sky News, she said that she had been aware of beheadings and jihadi executions but was “okay with it”, stating she heard that “Islamically that is allowed”.
She also confirmed in previous comments that she still backed the rape and murder of Yazidis, a religious minority in northern Syria and Iraq.
Reports from anti-Daesh activist Aghiad al-Kheder also found that Ms Begum had brandished automatic weapons and shouted at Syrian women for wearing brightly coloured shoes while serving as a member of Daesh’s morality police.
According to the University of Birmingham, roughly 800 British citizens travelled to the caliphate to fight for Islamic State, with a total of 5,000 European citizens estimated to join the ranks of the terrorist organisation. The European Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) estimates that 45 percent of all British jihadi fighters have returned to the UK.
*Daesh (aka Islamic state/ISIS/ISIL) is a terrorist group banned in Russia”
Former Met Police chief believes Shamima Begum deserves fair trial
Former Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu believes Shamima Begum should be allowed to return to the UK to challenge the deprivation of her British citizenship and sees the decision as right.
Ms Begum – one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria to join the so-called Islamic State group (IS) – travelled to Syria in February 2015 and lived under IS rule for more than three years before she was found, nine months pregnant, in a Syrian refugee camp in February last year.
Britain in the cross-hairs: China carrying out MASSIVE infiltration attack on UK (express, Jul 16, 2020)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1310322/China-news-war-UK-infiltration-Chinese-communist-party-Mareike-Ohlberg
“BRITAIN is most at risk of being victim of an infiltration attack by China, a leading expert on the Chinese Government has warned.
Mareike Ohlberg, co-author of a book on the inner-workings of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), claimed China is capable of exerting influence over senior UK officials more successfully than any other European nation. The claims were made in a book titled “Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World”.
Ms Ohlberg, senior fellow in the Asia Program at the policy think-tank the German Marshall Fund, said attempts to groom leading UK figures in business and politics were at an advanced stage.
She said at a Henry Jackson think tank event: “There has been a tremendous amount of work in getting elites over to the CCP side.
“To me, the UK has always stood out for the very advanced stage of elite capture compared to other European countries.”
Her bombshell book claimed a crack squad of operatives had been tasked with conducting the groundwork on officials.
These operatives have reportedly met with a number of world leaders including former UK Prime Ministers.
Ms Ohlberg claimed one of the ways China has attempted to influence the UK was by offering jobs in Chinese firms to former Government workers.
The academic warned the influence of China could increase in a post-Brexit Britain.
MS Ohlberg said: “Until last year, it was incredibly rare to hear anyone in the establishment challenge the golden era consensus that if post-Brexit Britain is to succeed it absolutely needs China.”
Matthew Henderson, from the Henry Jackson Society and a former British diplomat in Beijing, said: “China had locked on to the way the British establishment works.
“China is basically replicating that. It has found vanities, it has found greed, it has found a sense of cosiness, people who like wearing funny robes and hats and free trips to China.”
The claims come at a time when the UK is ceasing to cut international ties with China.
Boris Johnson angered China on Tuesday after it was announced Huawei was banned from the powering UK’s 5G network.
The Prime Minister ordered a U-turn on a decision made in January and told telecoms firms to remove equipment from Chinese firm Huawei by 2027.
The ban came after a Government-ordered review found the security of Huawei’s equipment could not be guaranteed because of US sanctions – something the firm denies.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying warned the ban “will only hurt the UK’s own interests”.
She added: “This is a big world and the UK is just a small part of it.
“Without any evidence the UK under the pretext of risks which don’t exist at all cooperated with the US to discriminate, oppress and exclude Chinese companies in violation of the principle of market economy and free trade. This breaches the UK’s promises.””
VOA – WHO: ‘Coronavirus May Get Worse and Worse and Worse’
+ comments on the YT page
VOA – Presidential Polls Give Biden Wide Lead on Trump
+ comments on the YT page
VOA – Funeral for Muslim Sect’s Spiritual Leader Draws Thousands to Sulaymaniyah
Spiritual ceremony of that sect ( FEB 2018 )
Priti Patel accused of ‘fake news’ by French MP over claims France is failing to turn back Channel migrants (telegraph, Jul 16, 2020)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/16/priti-patel-accused-fake-news-french-mp-claims-france-failing/
“Priti Patel was embroiled in a war of words with the French on Thursday as she was accused of “fake news” over her claims France was failing to turn back Channel migrants.
Pierre-Henri Dumont, a Republican MP for Calais, said her claim to MPs yesterday that her claim the French were failing to turn back illegal migrant boats even when they were just 250 yards from their shore was not true.
“We are stopping boats. It’s fake news to say we are not,” Mr Dumont told the BBC’s Radio Four Today programme.
He said he was “surprised” at her comments given that she “seemed really impressed” with the resources the French were deploying to prevent migrants crossing when she visited Calais on Sunday.
“It is a bit surprising…”
‘The Invasion Continues’: 90 More Boat Migrants Brought Ashore at Dover, as Patel Blames France (breitbart, Jul 16, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/07/16/90-more-boat-migrants-brought-ashore-dover-patel-blames-france/
“Home Secretary Priti Patel has sought to cast the blame for the illegal boat migrant crisis in the English Channel on her French counterparts for refusing to turn back boats just yards off the coast of France, as nearly 100 migrants successfully reached British shores.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, an estimated 90 illegal boat migrants were taken from the English Channel and brought ashore at the Port of Dover by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the British Border Force after attempting the perilous journey from France.
Since the beginning of the year, over 2,658 illegal migrants have officially been brought ashore, a figure that will increase after Wednesday’s landings, according to the Daily Mail.
This is compared to 1,890 arrivals for the whole of 2019.
Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage lamented that the “the invasion continues”, claiming that “90 taken into Dover already. A boat has landed on the beach at Hastings, and 30 or more illegal migrants are on the run.”
In a virtual meeting of the Home Affairs Committee, Home Secretary Priti Patel admitted that there is a “major, major problem with these small boats”. Ms Patel said that she has had “difficult discussions with my French counterpart, even looking at interceptions at sea, because currently, the French authorities are not intercepting boats at sea”.
The Home Secretary said that the British government aims to “break this route” for illegal boat migration, saying that the only feasible solution is to intercept and return migrant boats to France.
“We want to break this route, we want to make this route unviable, and in my view the only way we can do this is by intercepting and returning the boats back to France,” Patel said.
“And by that I mean boats that are just 250 yards away from the French coast,” she noted, adding: “I feel there could be stronger enforcement measures on the French side and they have heard that from me.”
When questioned by the committee if French immigration authorities have the legal power to intercept boats in French territorial waters, Ms Patel said: “That’s absolutely right, and that is what we are working to achieve, right down to sharing legal advice, legal guidance in terms of maritime laws.”
A set of non-binding international maritime laws — which state that ships can only intervene if the given consent from the illegal — has been used as an excuse by the French, as well as by Priti Patel herself, to justify why migrants have not been immediately returned to France.
The French government has not only refused to intercept migrant boats but has been caught actively escorting illegal migrants across the Channel into British territorial waters, where they were filmed handing over migrants to the British Border Force by Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in May.
The excuse of international maritime laws did not stop former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott from successfully shutting down illegal boat migration to Australia. Under his policy of Operation Sovereign Borders, which was introduced in 2013, boat migrants were intercepted at sea and brought back to their country of origin or brought to off-shore asylum processing centres in third countries.
“You’ve got to be firm to be fair, you’ve got to be tough to be kind in the end, and the kindest thing you could do is to close down the people-smuggling trade. That means as soon as you come across a people-smuggling boat, you stop it and take it back to the place from where it came,” Mr Abbott said in June.”
BBC Report Urges Mass Migration in Response to World ‘Fertility Crash’ (breitbart, Jul 16, 2020)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/07/16/bbc-fertility-crash-mass-migration/
“First world countries must respond to a “jaw-dropping” crash in fertility by totally opening their borders to unlimited mass migration, according to “experts” interviewed by the BBC.
Falling fertility rates are “a success story” because they mean more women are in work and are not having children, according to a report by the BBC published on Wednesday.
It is shocking, however, that lower fertility rates will result in 23 countries, including Spain and Japan, seeing their populations drop by more than half by 2100, Professor Christopher Murray told the state media organ.
“That’s a pretty big thing; most of the world is transitioning into natural population decline,” the researcher said, adding: “I think it’s incredibly hard to think this through and recognise how big a thing this is; it’s extraordinary, we’ll have to reorganise societies.”
“You might think this is great for the environment. A smaller population would reduce carbon emissions as well as deforestation for farmland,” says the BBC, which has been promoting a “child-free” life to British women for decades as “liberation” and as a means to “save the planet”.
But “who pays tax in a massively aged world?” the state broadcaster asks, going on to tell readers that there must be a massive population transfer from Africa to the first world to make up for a deficit of babies.
“Countries, including the UK, have used migration to boost their population and compensate for falling fertility rates,” asserts the BBC, neglecting to mention that third world migration has been a huge net drain on the British treasury.
To support this argument, the broadcaster speaks to mass migration enthusiast, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar from University College London (UCL), who said: “If these predictions are even half accurate, migration will become a necessity for all nations and not an option.
“To be successful, we need a fundamental rethink of global politics. The distribution of working-age populations will be crucial to whether humanity prospers or withers.”
This sentiment — that mass migration will be mandatory — was echoed in the article by Professor Murray, who told the BBC: “We will go from the period where it’s a choice to open borders, or not, to frank competition for migrants, as there won’t be enough.”
Noting projections that the population of sub-Saharan Africa is set to treble to over three billion people by the end of this century, he argued that “global recognition of the challenges around racism are going to be all the more critical” in the coming years, stating that large numbers of African migrants and their descendants will be present in “many more countries”.
In addition, the BBC uses the article to stress that first world countries should not try to increase the fertility rate of their native populations, stating that “researchers warn against undoing the progress on women’s education and access to contraception”.
The article quotes Professor Stein Emil Vollset, who said: “Responding to population decline is likely to become an overriding policy concern in many nations, but must not compromise efforts to enhance women’s reproductive health or progress on women’s rights.”
While subcontracting the process of human reproduction abroad is increasingly the model for many developed and European nations, there are exceptions which suggest other ways are possible. Central European nation Hungary — led by national conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and directed by pro-family families minister Katalin Novák — has been actively pursuing pro-child policies with the object of stabilising the nation’s population without resorting to wholesale importation of humans.
The policies include financial support and tax relief for families and intend to make women having the children they already wanted financially viable, rather than a burden. The policies seem to be working, too: Breitbart London reported earlier this year that the nation saw a 5.5 per cent rise in fertility in just 12 months under the new scheme.
Commenting on the purpose behind the scheme, a Hungarian government spokesman had earlier told Breitbart London that: “Europe is at a crossroads. Western Europe seeks to address the problem of demography with simple solutions which only offer short-term success, but convey catastrophic consequences in the long run.
“What we need is not numbers, but Hungarian children: we’re not seeking to sustain an economic system, but Hungary, the Hungarian nation and Hungarian history; we want to encourage the continuation of our families for several generations.”
The United Kingdom could pursue similar schemes, but for now, the government sees getting as many women working as possible as an objective, while the British tax system punishes single-income families where the mother stays at home to care for children.
Criticising this ‘mum tax’, motherhood campaigner Alena Kate Pettitt — known for her vocal advocation of real families in the British mainstream media, often facing hard criticism from the left for doing so — told Breitbart London: “This country relies on the strength of the family, the basic building block of our communities. The fact that we increasingly cannot afford to simply birth, raise first-hand, or even sustain a future generation throws our misguided priorities into a very harsh light.
“The government wants women to go to work, leaving parents relying on paid childcare and ever-longer school hours. Many families would rather keep the money spent on services that they could provide for themselves. Why encourage parents to outsource what should be the happiest years of their lives when they have the means to provide for a family themselves — or would, were it not for the tax system unfairly advantaging families where both parents work?””
More Scientism.
Video: “EXCLUSIVE: London’s Ex ‘Deputy Mayor’ Adopts Chinese Name To Push CCP Propaganda, ‘Hopes China Breaks American Domination’”
by Natalie Winters – July 14, 2020
https://thenationalpulse.com/news/ex-deputy-mayor-john-ross-pushes-ccp-propaganda/
Video Link
The Zelenko Protocol
https://www.thezelenkoprotocol.com/
“Live Discussion with Dr. Zelenko and COVID-19 | Zelenko Protocol | Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc”
Dr. Yo – July 14, 2020
“THERE’S A CURE FOR COVID-19 AND WHY YOU SHOULDN’T TRUST FAUCI AND GATES”
ThrivetimeShow – July 16, 2020
https://www.bitchute.com/video/aoAuZ8fm3PGb/
Video: Senator Bob Hall – July 15, 2020
I visit with a group of ‘boots-on-the-ground’ medical doctors who are successfully treating patients in this battle with COVID-19. Listen as these medical doctors tell you what they have learned about early intervention medical treatment and why they are no longer afraid of COVID-19. We can shift our strategy to that of early intervention medical treatment of those who are infected and the medically vulnerable.
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorBobHall/videos/305111243951303/
Iranians unite in Twitter protest over planned executions of 3 protesters (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/iranians-unite-twitter-protest-planned-executions-protestors/story?id=71806414
“Iranians from a variety of political, economic and cultural backgrounds — lawyers, teachers, footballers, artists, students, activists — joined together in an unprecedented Twitter storm, sharing the hashtag #DoNotExecute to protest the judiciary upholding the death sentences of three men arrested after last year’s nationwide protests.
Saeed Tamjidi, 28, Mohammad Rajabi, 26, and Amirhossein Moradi, 26, were apprehended after the November uprising following a spike in fuel prices. Hundreds were killed and thousands were injured in the crackdown on the unrest.
“The unjust death sentence for November protesters is to create an atmosphere of fear and horror. But #DoNotExecute proves that no one is scared. It is rather a hidden anger,” Javad Heydarian, an Iranian journalist, tweeted.
Two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi also objected, writing on Instagram: “Don’t make the sorrowful lives of Iranians even more bitter.”
Another demand among many Twitter protesters, ensuring lawyers had a fair opportunity to defend their clients.
Mostafa Nili, a lawyer for Rajabi and Tamjidi, complained that he had no access to his clients’ cases, even at the appeals court.
“Every time we would go to the Supreme Court, we were told that the case had not been registered there. And, now, the decision of the primary court has been upheld without letting us have any right to defend,” Nili said in an interview with Shargh Daily on Saturday.
With the online campaign and related hashtags trending on Twitter Tuesday night, some media outlets speculated about the possibility of retrial for the three men.
According to the Fars News, an agency affiliated to the conservative party in Iran, “The head of the judiciary ordered a retrial for three death offenders, and the execution of the sentence has been practically stopped.”
However, the news was quickly denied by Mehdi Keshtdar, head of Mizan, the official news agency of the judiciary. He said the head of the judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, issued no such order.
The contradiction left those following the case confused and frustrated. Meanwhile, hardliners who support the execution started their own campaign with the hashtag #DoTheExecution.
“They have been arrested in the middle of an armed robbery during the riots, and there have been clips on their cellphones of setting banks and offices on fire. And execution is the sentence for ‘moharebeh’ – waging war against God,” Sadegh Nikoo, a conservative journalist, tweeted.
Nili said there isn’t enough evidence to support the claims against his clients.
“Protesting and rioting are totally different. All of the three [men] insist that they have not taken any action of sabotage, setting fire or rioting and they have merely objected to the high prices,” Nili said. “Even sabotage punishment is not execution.”
After outrage spread on Twitter, lawyers for the three accused men said they finally gained access to their clients’ cases.
Hosein Taj, Moradi’s lawyer, confirmed that he read his client’s case on Wednesday in an interview with the moderate semi-official Ensaf News Agency.
“I believe there are problems in the formalities of the case,” he said. “Our clients were practically deprived of the presence of their lawyers.”
However, Taj expressed hope that the result of the case may change, adding: “We have filed a request to put the implementation of the sentence on hold, and we will submit an appeal request in a few days.”
Adding fuel to the fire were tweets from President Donald Trump.
“Executing these three people sends a terrible signal to the world and should not be done!” Trump tweeted, in part.
While some opposed to the executions welcomed Trump’s commentary, many found it to be little more than political grandstanding given U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Mehdi Mahmoudain, an Iranian reformist and a former journalist who himself has been jailed for criticisms of the system quoted Trump’s tweet and added: “Mr. Trump, Let those people address the I.R. and ask #StopExecution who do not have the blood of the Iranian nation on their hands. Your cruel and dishonorable sanctions have endangered the lives of thousands of Iranian citizens. Mr. President, please #ShutYourMouth.””
Minorities under attack as PM pushes ‘tolerant’ Pakistan (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/minorities-attack-pm-pushes-tolerant-pakistan-71813116
“It’s been a tough month for religious minorities in Pakistan, and observers warn of even tougher times ahead as Prime Minister Imran Khan vacillates between trying to forge a pluralistic nation and his conservative Islamic beliefs.
A Christian was gunned down because he rented in a Muslim neighborhood in northwest Peshawar, not far from the border with Afghanistan.
Another Christian, pastor Haroon Sadiq Cheeda, his wife and 12-year-old son were beaten by their Muslim neighbors in eastern Punjab and told to leave their village. The attackers screamed “you are infidels.”
An opposition politician was charged this week with blasphemy after declaring all religions were equal. A senior political figure, allied with the government and backed by Islamic extremists, stopped construction of a Hindu temple in the capital Islamabad.
Analysts and activists blame an increase in attacks on an indecisive Khan. They say he preaches a vision of a tolerant Pakistan where its religious minorities thrive as equals among an overwhelming Muslim majority. They say that at the same time he cedes power to extreme Islamic clerics, bowing to their demands and turning to them for the final say, even on matters of state.
“Imran Khan no doubt wants a more tolerant Pakistan, wants more accommodation for minorities, but the problem is he nullifies all of this by empowering extremist elements, so much so that it seems they can dictate to the state,” said Zahid Hussain, analyst and author of two books that track militancy in the region.
Phone and text messages left with Khan’s spokesman were not immediately returned.
The spokesman for Khan’s religious affairs ministry, Imran Siddiqui, dismissed complaints that minorities have reason to be concerned. He said in every religion there are “aggressive” clerics but neither Pakistan nor the prime minister were unduly pressured by them.
Still, Khan’s list of concessions to the radical religious is lengthy.
When the coronavirus first emerged as a threat, Khan refused to shut down a gathering of tens of thousands of Islamic missionaries from across the globe. It wasn’t until they had reached Pakistan that he ordered it canceled.
When Saudi Arabia closed its mosques and made the historic decision to cancel the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj to the faithful outside its borders, Pakistan refused to close its mosques after religious clerics vowed to take to the streets.
Khan hadn’t been in office more than a few months when he buckled to extremists and fired a minority Ahmadi Muslim from his economic commission despite his stellar qualifications.
He also drew criticism when he stood in Parliament earlier this month and called 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden a “martyr.” A frequent guest to Khan’s residence in Islamabad is cleric Maulana Tariq Jameel, who on national TV blamed the pandemic on women who danced and dressed scantily.
When his political ally and speaker of the Punjab Provincial Parliament Pervez Elahi denounced the construction of a Hindu temple in the federal capital as being against Islam, Khan turned to the Council of Islamic Ideology to let it decide if public money can be used for its construction. Khan had promised $600,000 for its construction.
Khan isn’t the first politician to walk a religious tightrope in Pakistan. Successive military and democratically elected governments have buckled to the pressure of Islamic extremists, who critics say terrorize with their ability to bring impassioned mobs on to the street.
“It’s the fear of the establishment as to what they can do. They can cause mayhem across Pakistan,” said human rights activist Tahira Abdullah.
Khan, like governments before him, has tried to present an image of Pakistan as a country that protects its minorities. He even allowed visa-free access for Sikhs from enemy India to visit one of their holiest of sites in Pakistan.
But Amir Rana, executive director with the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, said the initiatives have been mostly symbolic, not structural.
“They don’t have the political courage or political capital to challenge the radical religious elements who target the religious minorities,” said Rana.
Fear haunts the family of Nadeem Jordan, the Christian man who was shot and killed because he rented in a Muslim neighborhood in Peshawar. Investigators say the gunmen have fled but also say they stalk Nadeem’s family, threatening his brother-in-law.
“They say ‘we will teach you a lesson.’ They say ‘you don’t belong here.’ We are always afraid,” said Nadeem’s mother-in-law, Elizabeth Lal. She was shot in the arm during the attack in early June. Her left arm is shattered, with the bullet still lodged in her limb.
Pastor Cheeda, who was beaten along with his wife and son, alleges that a large parcel of land on which he was going to build a Christian school was stolen with the help of local police. The powerful in the village said Christians weren’t welcome there.
“We have sympathies of some local Muslims, but these people are so powerful that even local Muslims can’t dare to help us.”
In the case of the Hindu temple, fatwas were issued and extremists took to social media to warn the faithful that it would be blasphemy to support the temple.
Yet a council of clerics stood in support of the temple giving Lal Malhi, a Hindu minority Parliamentarian with Khan’s Pakistan Insaf (Justice) party solace, even as the temple walls lie in ruins, destroyed by extremists.
But the most vulnerable of Pakistan’s minorities are Ahmadis, They are reviled by many mainstream Muslims because they believe a prophet after Muhammad arrived more than 100 years ago by the name of Ahmad. In Pakistan it is illegal for Ahmadis to call themselves Muslim.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom declared Pakistan a “country of particular concern” in its 2020 report released last month because of its treatment of minorities.
The report said Pakistan would have to end a ban on texts and publications of Ahmadis if it wants to get off the commission’s watch list as well as re-examine the cases of many non-Muslims and Muslims facing blasphemy charges.
Nadine Maenza, a commission member, said Pakistan “still has a long way to go toward reaching the prime minister’s stated vision of a more tolerant Pakistan.””
Turkey convicts German newspaper reporter of propaganda work (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-convicts-german-newspaper-reporter-propaganda-work-71816854
“A Turkish court convicted a correspondent for Germany’s Die Welt newspaper Thursday of engaging in propaganda in favor of Kurdish rebels and sentenced him in absentia to more than two years and nine months in prison.
However, the court acquitted German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel of charges of sedition and propagandizing for the network of a Turkish cleric whom Ankara accuses of masterminding a failed military coup in Turkey four years ago.
The court also called for two new criminal investigations into Yucel for alleged insults to Turkey and to its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Yucel was arrested in Istanbul as part of a vast government clampdown in the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt and charged with propaganda on behalf terror groups, including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. He was held in pretrial detention for a year and has since returned to Germany.
His case led to a diplomatic crisis with Germany, which accused Turkey of conducting “arbitrary arrests” of German citizens suspected of links to the PKK or the network led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.
“This is a political verdict, just as the whole story of my arrest was politically motivated,” Yucel wrote in an article published on Die Welt’s website shortly after the ruling. He said the decision once again illustrated the “miserable” state of the rule of law in Turkey.
Yucel said “I was arrested because I did my work as a journalist. I regret nothing about that. And sooner or later, a court will establish that.”
“Of course an acquittal would have been not just legally mandatory but also a relief,” he wrote. “But ultimately I don’t care about this verdict — it also has no practical effects.”
Yucel’s lawyer, Veysel Ok, told the Associated Press that he would appeal the verdict at a higher court. He also complained that the court had ignored a decision by the Constitutional Court, Turkey’s highest court, that said Yucel’s year-long detention was an infringement of his rights.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has labeled Turkey one of the world’s top jailers of journalists. The Journalists’ Union of Turkey says at least 76 journalists and media sector workers remain behind bars.
The Turkish government says the detentions are not based on the journalists’ work and that most stand accused of terror-related offenses.”
Decades of Abuse | Berlin authorities placed children in care of paedophile for 30 years – study
For decades young boys had been placed in the foster care of paedophile men in Germany.
A study conducted by Hildesheim University adds that ‘the authorities either ignored evidence of abuse’ or were ‘complicit in letting it continue’.
China issues severe flood warnings while Xi Jinping never appears; US targets CCP; Biden quotes Mao
China is now extracting heavy taxes from Hong Kongers. The message is simple – leave the country
[Exclusive] Former Weibo Editor Exposes the CCP’s Shady Censorship Practices |China | Epoch News
November’s election to decide future of U.S. economy
Whereabouts of Chinese Top Leaders Unknown; Residents Trapped By the Floodwaters for 72 hrs
China issues severe flood warnings while Xi Jinping never appears; US targets CCP; Biden quotes Mao
the gateway pundit – Facebook Appoints Corrupt Mueller Prosecutor As “Content Policy Chief”
In a stunning move, Facebook announced yesterday that they have hired former lead Stone prosecutor and Mueller witch-hunt conspirator Michael Marando to be their “Chief Counsel” who will be in charge of setting content guidelines.
During the pre-trial jury selection process, Marando and Judge Amy Berman Jackson tried to arrest this GP journalist for exposing the blatant jury bias unfolding as the jurors were evaluated and selected in the early days of Stone’s November trial in 2019.
[…]Marando’s hire comes after a years long investigation into Stone and this Gateway Pundit reporters social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram, where they deemed our proclaiming Roger Stone’s innocence and then pushed for his pardon or commutation. Facebook’s investigation, lead by the Soros funded research company Graphika, deemed this content to be “inauthentic” and “misinformation.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/facebook-appoints-corrupt-mueller-prosecutor-content-policy-chief/
Canadian Navy to drop term ‘seaman’ in favour of gender-neutral titles
The Royal Canadian Navy is looking to chart new waters by dropping the term “seaman” when referring to its most junior sailors and replacing it with something more gender-neutral.
Navies around the world have used the terms “ordinary seaman,” “able seaman,” “leading seaman” and “master seaman” for decades and in some cases centuries.
But Cmdr. Deborah Lynn Gates says those terms are being replaced in Canada as the navy, which is short hundreds of sailors, works to become more diverse and inclusive.
She says it is also aimed at making sure the navy’s most junior members feel safe and proud of their ranks and profession, acknowledging the double entendre associated with the term “seaman.”
Members of the navy as well as the public at large will be able to vote online on two alternatives starting Friday, with both variants substituting “sailor” in place of “seaman” in different ways.
While the plan to drop the term has already prompted some backlash on social media, Gates says the navy wants to show both Canadians and its sailors that it is a modern and progressive organization.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7184152/canadian-navy-seaman-gender/
“TGP’s Joe Hoft “The Man Who First Exposed the COVID-19 Hoax” says NY Gov Cuomo “Should be Investigated and Looked at for Murder” on Infowars (VIDEO)”
By Joe Hoft – July 16, 2020
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/tgps-joe-hoft-man-first-exposed-covid-19-hoax-says-ny-gov-cuomo-investigated-looked-murder-infowars-video/
“The Science is Conclusive: Masks and Respirators do NOT Prevent Transmission of Viruses”
Dr. Denis G. Rancourt, PhD – April 20, 2020
https://www.sott.net/article/434796-The-Science-is-Conclusive-Masks-and-Respirators-do-NOT-Prevent-Transmission-of-Viruses
“Everything most important about COVID in 15 minutes – Denis Rancourt zoom talk to community group”
DenisRancourt – July 2, 2020
“Captain America sends message to Wyoming boy who saved his little sister (awesome)…”
By Kane – July 16, 2020
https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/captain-america-sends-message-to-wyoming-boy-who-saved-his-little-sister-awesome/
“Chris Evans sending real Captain America shield to bridger walker, boy who saves his sister from dog”
Around The World – July 16, 2020
Russian Foreign Ministry Has Information US Forces Train Militants Near Syria’s At Tanf (sputniknews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/world/202007161079905338-russian-foreign-ministry-has-information-us-forces-train-militants-near-syrias-at-tanf/
“There is information that US forces, which occupy the “security zone” around Syria’s At Tanf, train militants, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“There is information that those occupying the ‘security zone’ around the settlement of At Tanf — we are talking about the Americans — train and supply weapons to the militants of illegal armed groups Magavir al-Saura, this is done for sabotage actions in other parts of Syria,” she said.
According to Zakharova, in the areas of illegal US presence in Syria, the terrorists “are not only not eliminated, but, on the contrary, they are encouraged to continue their activities.””
Powerful Explosions Rock Ammo Dump of US-Backed Militia in Northeast Syria, Report Says (sputniknews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202007161079905045-powerful-explosions-rock-ammo-dump-of-us-backed-militia-in-northeast-syria-report-says/
“The oil-rich eastern Syrian provinces of al-Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor have been rife with tensions in recent months amid competing claims for control by the Damascus government, the US-allied majority Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Turkey-backed militants, and remnants of the Daesh (ISIS)* terrorist group.
Several explosions rocked SDF facilities including an ammunition dump in the city of al-Hasakah, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) has reported, citing local civilian sources.
The initial blast was said to have taken place at around 8 pm Wednesday in the neighbourhood of Mesherfeh in the city’s western outskirts, with several more explosions said to have followed shortly thereafter.
Sources said the blasts led to the tightening of security in the city, including low-altitude helicopter flights over al-Hasakah.
It’s estimated that as many as 10 militiamen were wounded.
Al-Mayadeen TV reported that one of the explosions targeted the SDF’s regional headquarters.
No group has taken responsibility for the blast, although Kurdish activists suspect a Turkish drone may have been involved…”
Armenian Foreign Ministry Slams Baku’s Threat to Bomb Nuclear Plant as Breaching Int’l Law (sputniknews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://sputniknews.com/world/202007161079906021-armenian-foreign-ministry-slams-bakus-threat-to-bomb-nuclear-plant-as-breaching-intl-law/
“Azerbaijan’s threat to carry out an airstrike on the Armenian-based Metsamor nuclear power plant (NPP) is in violation of international law, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday, calling upon Baku to publicly denounce threats like that.
Earlier in the day, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargyakhly said that Armenia should beware that Baku has the necessary equipment to conduct a precision strike against the Metsamor NPP.
“The actions threatened by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan are a flagrant violation of the International Humanitarian Law in general and the First Additional Protocol to Geneva Conventions in particular. Such threats are an explicit demonstration of state terrorism and genocidal intent of Azerbaijan,” the Armenian ministry’s statement read.
The ministry emphasized that such statements by Azerbaijan were “a menace to all the peoples of the region, including its own people.”
“We strongly condemn the nuclear threats voiced by Azerbaijan, which demonstrate absolute absence of responsibility and sound judgement from this particular member of the international community. Azerbaijan must publicly denounce such threats at once,” the ministry said.
Clashes broke out in the border area that separates Armenia’s Tavush province and Azerbaijan’s Tovuz region this past Sunday. The escalation is in its fourth day now, a reasonable distance away from the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where the two sides have waged war for decades.
Azerbaijan has by far reported 11 troops killed as a result of armed hostilities, while Armenia has reported four fatalities.”
Is Russia helping Armenia build nuclear weapon capability?
Indonesia jails 2 police in acid attack on graft official (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesia-jails-police-acid-attack-graft-official-71821571
“An Indonesian court on Thursday sentenced two elite police officers to 18 months and two years in prison for attacking a senior anti-corruption investigator with acid, in a verdict slammed by rights groups and anti-graft activists.
Novel Baswedan, a leading investigator at the Corruption Eradication Commission, known by its Indonesian abbreviation KPK, was almost blinded when two men on a motorbike threw acid at him as he left dawn prayers at a mosque in April 2017.
The attack drew condemnation across Indonesia, which suffers from endemic corruption. KPK, seen as one of the few effective institutions in the nation of more than 270 million people, is frequently under legislative attack by lawmakers who want to reduce its powers.
A panel of three judges in North Jakarta District Court delivered the verdict after a trial that was held remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The two members of an elite police mobile brigade, Rahmat Kadir Mahulette and Ronny Bugis, were arrested in December on the outskirts of Jakarta almost three years after the attack.
The indictment said the motive for the attack was personal and not related to Baswedan’s position as a corruption investigator, and prosecutors argued that the defendants did not intend to throw acid on Baswedan’s face, just his body.
Mahulette, who was found guilty of throwing the acid at Baswedan, was sentenced to two years in jail, while Bugis, who allegedly drove the motorbike in the attack, was given 18 months’ imprisonment.
Prosecutors had recommended only one-year sentences for each of the defendants. They were widely criticized by anti-corruption activists and international rights groups for not seeking the maximum penalty of 12 years’ imprisonment for premeditated attacks that cause permanent disability.
Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid called for a new independent investigation into the attack.
Baswedan investigated police corruption and was also leading the probe into a case in which 80 people, mostly officials and legislators, and several companies allegedly used the introduction of a $440 million electronic identity card system in 2011 and 2012 to steal more than a third of the funds.
Senior Golkar party politician and former Speaker of Parliament Setya Novanto was sentenced in April last year to 15 years in prison for coordinating the $170 million theft of public money.
After the attack, Baswedan underwent months of medical treatment of his damaged eyes in Singapore. He criticized the police investigation of his case because no one had been arrested when he returned to work in 2018, 16 months after the attack.
He doubted that the defendants were the real attackers, saying they did not fit their description.
“Many say that this trial is like a theatrical performance. I also believe that,” Baswedan wrote on Twitter ahead of the verdict Thursday, “With many oddities and problems, what do you want to expect? Instead, it proves that Indonesia is a dangerous place for people who want to fight corruption.”
The attack underlined the country’s challenges in fighting graft and threatened the credibility of President Joko Widodo, who won a second term after campaigning for clean governance.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, ranked 85th out of 180 countries in the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International.”
UN official: Catastrophe looming from oil tanker off Yemen (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/official-catastrophe-looming-oil-tanker-off-yemen-71809381
“The U.N. environment chief said Wednesday that “time is running out” to avert an environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe from a deteriorating oil tanker loaded with 1.1 million barrels of crude oil that is moored off the coast of Yemen.
Inger Andersen told the U.N. Security Council that an oil spill from the FSO Safer, which hasn’t been maintained for over five years, would wreck ecosystems and livelihoods for decades.
“Prevention of such a crisis from precipitating is really the only option,” she said. “Despite the difficult operational context, no effort should be spared to first conduct a technical assessment and initial light repairs.”
Houthi rebels, who control the area where the ship is moored, have denied U.N. inspectors access to the vessel so they could assess the damage and look for ways to secure the tanker by unloading the oil and pulling the ship to safety. But the rebels recently signaled they would approve a U.N. mission to the ship, according to the U.N.
Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press last month show that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, causing damage to pipes and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. Experts say maintenance is no longer possible because the damage to the ship is irreversible, according to an AP report June 26.
The U.N. humanitarian affairs chief, Mark Lowcock, said a leak in the tanker in May “brought us closer than ever to an environmental catastrophe.”
He expressed skepticism about last week’s Houthi offer to allow a U.N. mission to the ship. He recalled that the Houthis announced a similar initiative in August, only to cancel it on the night before the planned visit.
“We have, of course, been here before,” he said, urging the rebels to “take steps that will spare millions of their fellow citizens from yet another tragedy.”
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels control western Yemen’s Red Sea ports, including Ras Issa, 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from where the FSO Safer has been moored since the 1980s. They are at war with the internationally recognized government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the United States.
The Japanese-built tanker was sold to the Yemeni government in 1980s to store up to 3 million barrels pumped from oil fields in Marib province before it was exported. The ship is 360 meters (1,181 feet) long with 34 storage tanks.
The U.N. environment program chief, urged the international community to come up with a response plan should an oil spill occur. The tanker could release four times more oil than the notorious Exxon Valdez disaster did, off Alaska in 1989, she said.
“Time is running out for us to act in a coordinated manner to prevent a looming environmental, economic and humanitarian catastrophe,” Anderson said.”
Minister: No investors for Lebanon’s ailing power sector (abcnews, Jul 16, 2020)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/minister-investors-lebanons-ailing-power-sector-71821159
“Lebanon’s worsening economic crisis, which culminated with the tiny nation defaulting on its debt this year, is making it increasingly difficult to attract investors for the country’s ailing electricity sector, the energy minister said Thursday.
This in turn makes it harder to reform the state-run sector as required by the International Monetary Fund and also for international donors to provide Lebanon with financial assistance, Raymond Ghajar said. Still, he said the government is working on reforming the highly subsidized sector and has made important steps in that direction recently.
Ghajar spoke to The Associated Press Thursday amid an electricity crisis that has plunged much of the country in darkness, adding to the gloom of a deepening economic and financial crisis in the country…”
This is in Pakistan apparently. Men get slapped around for not wearing face masks:
https://www.dumpert.nl/item/7950439_6faef787
The canned laughter tells me this is a pakistani reality show or something like that.
Anthony Brian Logan: Smithsonian Black History Museum ATTACKS “Whiteness!”
At approximately 11:16 mark, he reads that the exhibit list ‘property rights’ as a characteristic of whiteness that ought to be eliminated.
No wonder that the Marxists are trying to destroy policing!
(Richard: China is going to pay a steep price for the CCPs actions, sadly the rest of the world will have to pay for not distrusting the CCPs announcments.)
Chinese health official now admits ‘unknown pneumonia more deadly than coronavirus’ that is ‘sweeping’ Kazakhstan is actually ‘likely to be Covid-19’
A Beijing health official has admitted that the ‘unknown pneumonia’ said to be sweeping across Kazakhstan is actually ‘likely to be Covid-19’.
The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan had claimed the pneumonia outbreak ‘is more deadly than the novel coronavirus’ before the leading disease-control expert challenged the country’s own warning on state TV.
A British expert has also told MailOnline that the cases from Kazakhstan are likely to be undetected Covid-19 infections.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8508129/Unknown-pneumonia-said-deadlier-coronavirus-sweeping-Kazakhstan.html
I bet we’re in for a really severe flu season.
We depend on global surveillance, and sometimes China doesn’t play fair. We’ll have to hope So. Korea or Singapore can pick up the right strains, but without the volume samples from China, it’s tough.
Deutsche Bank hit with $150 million penalty for relationship to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
New York state financial regulators said Tuesday that they have slapped Deutsche Bank with a $150 million penalty “for significant compliance failures” in the bank’s dealings with accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, a now-dead investor, as well as with two client banks.
The New York State Department of Financial Services said that Deutsche Bank, which agreed to the payment under a consent order, “failed to properly monitor account activity conducted on behalf of the registered sex offender despite ample” public information about Mr. Epstein’s earlier criminal misconduct.
The big settlement comes days after Epstein’s alleged procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, was arrested on federal charges that accuse her of helping him get access to and groom underage girls so he could sexually abuse them.
The state said it was the first enforcement action by a regulator against a financial institution for dealings with Epstein.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/07/jeffrey-epstein-case-deutsche-bank-fined-150-million-penalty-for-relationship.html
A Plan To Hand Out Vaccines Based On Race
A federal committee is considering pushing Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans to the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines, ahead of whites. A COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by year’s end but not in sufficient quantity to vaccinate over 300 million Americans. Frontline health care workers and national security personnel will be top priority, but after that, who comes next?
Dr. Jose Romero, who chairs the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, wants minority groups to get favored treatment. Gates Foundation cofounder Melinda Gates likewise is pushing for Blacks to get vaccinated right behind health care workers, and “from there, people with underlying health conditions, and then people who are older.”
Americans need to speak up, before such a plan is adopted. If the virus surges, getting the vaccine could mean the difference between leaving your house safely or being shut-in, or even the difference between life and death. Making race a factor is unjustified by medical science, and will inflame the racial hostilities already roiling the nation.
If Black Americans were more vulnerable because of race, as they are with sickle cell anemia, there would be a medical argument for racial preferences. But scientific data show no direct causal connection between race and COVID-19 deaths. In fact, COVID-19 death rates are lower in Africa, though that may reflect sparse data.
https://www.gopusa.com/a-plan-to-hand-out-vaccines-based-on-race/?omhide=true
Teens beat up young mother, kick toddler in the face in extremely disturbing video
Police say all suspects have been taken into custody
Shiver
A disturbing video being widely circulated on the internet shows a group of alleged teens assaulting a young woman and even kicking her toddler in the face outside an apartment complex in Brooklyn, Illinois.
https://www.theblaze.com/news/teens-beat-up-mom-kick-toddler?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200715Trending-TeensBeatChild&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News
States
23-Month-Old Boy Dies After Being Repeatedly Punched in the Face by Attacker in Chicago
Don’t expect Black Lives Matter to protest this.
A Chicago toddler is dead after being severely beaten by a person who battered the 23-month-old kid’s face, and a suspect has been brought into custody for the heinous crime.
Michael Robinson, 23, has been charged with first-degree murder following the death of 23-month-old Antwun Gayden. Following his injuries, Gayden was transferred to the Comer Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
“It’s bad enough that there’s kids getting shot, now we got kids being beat,” neighbor Lance Lee said to WGN 9. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Trending: LEAKED AUDIO: Joe Biden Laughs with Former Ukrainian President about Sabotaging Trump’s Campaign in 2016
The Cook County medical examiner’s office determined that Gayden died as a result of the abuse that allegedly occurred at the hands of Robinson. He is expected to be arraigned in court sometime today.
Big League Politics has reported on how crime is spiking in Chicago amidst the backdrop of widespread rioting and a call for police to be defunded and removed:
https://bigleaguepolitics.com/23-month-old-boy-dies-after-being-repeatedly-punched-in-the-face-by-attacker-in-chicago/
Two Killed in ‘Terrorist’ Attack in Western Iran
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/07/16/terrorist-attack-western-iran/
“Two people were killed and one wounded in a “terrorist” attack by “counter-revolutionary groups” in Iran’s western province of Kurdistan, the IRNA state news agency reported on Thursday.
The three “were helping locals during the difficult days of fighting coronavirus before being targeted by terrorist groups” on Wednesday night, the agency quoted a Revolutionary Guards statement as saying.
They were a resident, an official with the prefect’s office and a member of Iran’s Basij militia, it added, without naming them.
The attack took place near the village of Bolbar, the statement said, without specifying which group was responsible.
For much of the past 40 years, Iran has been battling Kurdish militants who use bases in neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan to stage attacks against the Guards and state institutions inside the country.”
Basij is the counterpart to the Gestapo.
Not real popular anywhere.
‘Influx of Foreign Fighters’ in Central African Republic: UN Report
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/07/16/foreign-fighters-central-african-republic/
“UN experts charged with monitoring the arms embargo in the Central African Republic cited on Wednesday an “influx of foreign fighters” into the country ahead of elections later this year.
The annual report said a “series of clashes was… fed by arrivals of foreign fighters and weaponry, mainly from Sudan.”
“Regional arms trafficking also continued through other routes,” it added, calling for the Central African Republic, Chad, and Sudan to “strengthen their efforts to combat the escalation in the flow of arms and foreign fighters” into the country.
One of the world’s poorest and most unstable nations, CAR spiraled into bloodshed after former President Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013.
Fighting has since forced nearly a quarter of the country’s 4.5 million people to flee their homes, and rival militia groups control most of the country.
A presidential election is due in December 2020.
“The prospect of elections represented an additional incentive for armed groups to maintain and extend their control over territory,” said the UN report which will serve as the basis for renewing the arms embargo, in place since 2013.
Two predominantly Fulani armed groups seek to extend their territory to maximize taxation of seasonal herders, it added.
“The Union pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC), led by Ali Darassa, and Retour, reclamation et rehabilitation (3R), led by Abbas Sidiki, expanded their areas of control,” it said.”
New clashes dash hopes of end to fighting on Azerbaijan-Armenia border
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/7/16/clashes-resume-on-azerbaijan-armenia-border
“New clashes erupted Thursday on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia following a day-long lull, dashing hopes of a rapid end to a flare-up in fighting.
At least 16 people on both sides have been killed since clashes erupted on Sunday between the ex-Soviet republics, who have been locked for decades in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s southwestern separatist region of Nagorny Karabakh.
Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the territory in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives, though the recent fighting broke out on a section of the two countries’ shared border far from Karabakh.
The fighting is centred on the northern regions of Tovuz in Azerbaijan and Tavush in Armenia, and local villagers told AFP they feared for their lives…”