Reader’s Links for August 27, 2020

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

99 Replies to “Reader’s Links for August 27, 2020”

  1. Facebook has ‘blood on its hands’ over Kenosha shooting, rights group says
    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/kenosha-shooting-facebook-muslim-rights-group

    “A Muslim civil rights organisation accused Facebook of having “blood on its hands” after a militia group reportedly used the social media platform to issue a “call to arms” for a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that resulted in the deaths of two people.

    On Tuesday, Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old, killed two people and seriously wounded another during a protest after the weekend police shooting of African American Jacob Blake.

    Muslim Advocates said in a statement on Thursday that the gunman had “answered a call” from the Facebook page of Kenosha Guard, a militia group that has now had its account suspended.

    Citing the website The Verge, Muslim Advocates said that at least two people had warned Facebook regarding the militia groups’ page, but the company had failed to take any action.

    Facebook has said that the company’s investigation produced no direct links between the shooting and the Kenosha Guard accounts.

    “We’ve designated this shooting as a mass murder and have removed the shooter’s accounts from Facebook and Instagram,” a Facebook representative said.

    “At this time, we have not found evidence on Facebook that suggests the shooter followed the Kenosha Guard Page or that he was invited on the Event Page they organized.”

    Still, Madihha Ahussain, Muslim Advocates’ special counsel for anti-Muslim bigotry, said in the statement that “Facebook has blood on its hands.”

    “For years, Muslim Advocates has repeatedly warned Facebook that its event pages were being used by militias and hate groups to organise violence and threaten people. And for years, Facebook has failed to stop it.

    “The horror in Kenosha shows us the deadly consequences of Facebook’s deliberate inaction.”

    ‘Chose to look the other way’
    Rittenhouse, a fan of President Donald Trump and Blue Lives Matter, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide on Wednesday after allegedly shooting and killling Anthony Huber, 26, and Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, during Tuesday’s protest of Blake’s shooting.

    Blake, who was shot seven times at point-blank range by a police officer, is now paralysed and suffering from other injuries, according to family attorneys.

    The shooting triggered widespread protests in Kenosha, as well as boycotts from several American sports teams. It has also furthered calls for systemic change within the policing system, in addition to calls to defund and abolish the police.

    Ahussain said that if Facebook had taken down the event page, the deaths may have been prevented, but it “chose to look the other way yet again”.

    “Before any more people are threatened by armed bigots and any more lives are lost, Facebook must finally take responsibility for the horror it continues to enable and stop militias and hate groups from using its platforms to organize hate.”

    Muslim Advocates has long accused Facebook of being complacent in combatting hate groups on its platform.

    “For more than five years, Muslim Advocates has repeatedly warned top Facebook officials, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, that the company’s event pages were being used as an organising tool for hate groups,” the organisation said.

    “To date, Facebook has yet to enact a policy that would stop their event pages from being used as organising tools for white nationalist, anti-Muslim groups. And, as a result, lives have been lost.””

  2. Saudis intercept Houthi missile launched towards Najran
    https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudis-intercept-houthi-missile-launched-towards-najran-1.1598566539646

    “The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Thursday it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched towards the city of Najran.

    The statement, carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA, added the missile was launched in a way to target civilians…”

  3. Bahrain: 3 Future Bank officials get 5 years for money laundering
    https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-3-future-bank-officials-get-5-years-for-money-laundering-1.1598566129367

    “Bahrain’s High Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced three Future Bank officials to five years in prison each and fined them $1 million (Dh3.67 million) in the latest of a series of money-laundering cases by the Central Bank of Iran and other banks, Bahrain News Agency reported.

    The court also slapped $1 million fines on the Central Bank of Iran and the other banks implicated in the wide money-laundering scheme, General Advocate Nayef Youssef Mahmoud said.

    The total of fines imposed on the Iran Central Bank, other Iranian banks, and the three Future Bank officials in seven cases reached $47 million. The court also ordered the confiscation of the illegally transferred money that reached $13 million.

    The Public Prosecution had previously announced that its investigations had revealed that the Central Bank of Iran planned to launder billions of dollars through the Future Bank that was established in Bahrain and controlled by two Iranian banks, Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran, to pass suspicious financial transactions in favour of Iranian entities, mainly the Central Bank of Iran, in violation of laws and regulations.”

  4. Morocco Arrests 3 For Irregular Migration, Human Trafficking Near Kenitra
    https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2020/08/316678/morocco-arrests-3-for-irregular-migration-human-trafficking-near-kenitra/

    “Morocco’s police arrested three suspects for organizing irregular migration and human trafficking in Mehdia, near Kenitra, on Wednesday.

    The three suspects, including a woman, allegedly have links with a criminal network active in organizing irregular migration and human trafficking, the General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) reported.

    Police arrested the suspects aged 23 and 49 in the region of Kasba in the suburbs of Kenitra.

    Preliminary investigations said that the defendants were coordinating with 25 sub-Saharan candidates for irregular migration.

    The network intended to transport the migrants irregularly from the local coasts.

    Police carried out searches that enabled security services to seize a traditional fishing boat at the port of Mehdia.

    Security services suspected the traffickers planned to use the boat for irregular migration.

    Morocco’s government has intensified efforts to combat undocumented migration within its borders.

    The country’s crackdown on human trafficking enabled police to arrest hundreds of suspects linked to undocumented migration.

    The 2019 annual report from the DGSN said security services arrested 505 organizers of undocumented migration involved in 62 criminal human trafficking networks.

    Police also arrested 27,317 would-be migrants, including 20,141 of foreign nationality. Moroccans represented 26% of those arrested trying to migrate without documents.

    In 2019, Morocco’s government announced that the country’s services foiled over 74,000 undocumented migration attempts.”

  5. Reports of “reinfection” have been mostly inaccurate. The presumed “second positive” turned out to be a function of testing flaws: dead viral particles taken for active, infectious virus. False positives.

    NOW there are several credible reports of reinfection in Hong Kong, Belgium, and Wisconsin. Lab evidence that shows significant alteration in the virus to count as a second infection.

    More findings like these could blow vaccine hopes out YEARS.

    The whole premise of vaccination is based on:
    #1 – either “one and done” (e.g. measles)
    #2 –or a series at intervals, formulated according to prevalent strains of circulating virus.
    Coronavirus is #2, like influenza, where immunity is partial and limited in duration.

    How "partial"? How frequent the "boosters"?

    The goal of vaccination here is more modest: accurate surveillance targets the principle strains; the vaccine formula aims to diminish severity of illness, or prevent infection altogether.

    Note: I get a flu shot every year and try to convince my nearest and dearest to do the same.

    It won’t ever be perfect: A strain eludes detection and isn’t included in the formula; some are just more tricky than others; populations differ in latent immunity in ways not entirely predictable. (See https://www.statnews.com/2018/01/08/flu-virus-h3n2/ )

    Potential reinfection with the Wuhan coronavirus is a RED FLAG. In each case the genome has to be sequenced, immunity of the individual evaluated. The virus might have mutated within the person infected. Does that start a new chain of transmission?

    Other respiratory infections come and go. Is a second bout with this one worse than the first? How much cross-immunity can we anticipate for strains of the Wuhan coronavirus?

    These questions can’t be answered yet. It’s absurd to promote hopes of “universal” immunity. Just as foolish to argue about it. Don’t argue over projections of future indignities.

    Confront your oppressors for genuine oppression, genuine violations of your rights. Information warfare distracts you from the fight that counts.

  6. Man arrested for beating wife
    https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2020/08/27/man-arrested-for-beating-wife_d9656a6f-e397-4b77-82fe-861d1d255b34.html

    “A man was arrested for allegedly beating his wife in Modena on Thursday.
    The 27-year-old Tunisian man allegedly beat his new wife for a year breaking several of her bones.
    He also threatened her with her life, police said.
    The man allegedly acted out of a desire to have “total control over the woman”, police said.
    He allegedly kicked and punched the victim and also used a knife, police said.
    “His violent conduct engendered in the victim a well-founded fear for her life”, said police.
    She fled for her life in July”

  7. Migrants: Bosnia, clashes in reception centre in northwest
    http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/bosniaherzegovina/2020/08/27/migrants-bosnia-clashes-in-reception-centre-in-northwest_0b5308f9-4855-4183-8416-5c087b9f80c5.html

    “A major clash between migrants broke out late Wednesday evening in the migrant reception centre in Bihac in northwest Bosnia-Herzegovina at the border with Croatia, and police had to intervene to put down the riot.

    According to Serbian media, gunshots were heard, likely fired by a police officer to defend himself from a knife attack by one of the migrants.

    About 150 refugees participated in the clashes, and several were wounded.
    The situation is currently under control, but tension remains high across northwestern Bosnia-Herzegovina, where about 10,000 migrants are currently crowding the Balkan Route in an attempt to cross in any possible way into Croatia and continue towards countries in Western Europe.

    The local Bosnian population has been protesting for weeks against violence, intimidation, and thefts by migrants, and the locals say they no longer feel safe in their own homes.”

  8. Berlin teacher headscarf ban is illegal, rules top court
    https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-teacher-headscarf-ban-is-illegal-rules-top-court/a-54722770

    “The ruling is the latest in a long-running legal battle brought by a Muslim woman who was banned from teaching in the city. Some lawmakers are now calling for Berlin’s controversial neutrality act to be changed.

    Germany’s Federal Labor Court on Thursday ruled that a blanket ban on teachers wearing headscarves in schools in the capital city Berlin was unconstitutional.

    The court decision was the latest in a case brought by a Muslim woman who was unable to work as a teacher in state schools in the city because she wore a headscarf.

    The woman had been “discriminated against because of her religion,” the court ruled.

    What was the case?
    The woman initially brought a case to the lower Berlin-Brandenburg labor court after she was told — following a job interview — that she would not be allowed to teach in Berlin if she continued to wear a headscarf.

    Teachers in the city were banned from wearing headscarves under the Berlin’s neutrality act that forbids civil servants from wearing religious clothing and symbols.

    The lower court ruled that headscarves could only be banned if there was a concrete threat to peace at school. In November 2018, the court ordered the city-state Berlin to pay the woman €5,159 ($6,098) in compensation.

    Then lawyers on behalf of Berlin appealed the ruling by the Berlin-Brandenburg labor court, citing the neutrality act.

    Thursday’s ruling was the last stage in the ongoing lawsuit with the federal labor court siding with the lower court’s decision.

    Both courts referred to a 2015 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court that ruled that a general headscarf ban at public schools was illegal.

    What was the response?
    Berlin’s Senator of Justice Dirk Behrendt called on Twitter for the law to be changed: “The conflict about the neutrality law should not be allowed to be carried on the backs of the women concerned.”

    “In a multi-religious society, it must be about what one has in their head and not on their head,” he added.

    Bernhard Franke, head of the Federal Anti-Discrimination office also welcomed the ruling and called for the neutrality law to be revised to avoid future conflict of interest.”

  9. Morrocan migrant’s prison sentence cut in half despite pepper spraying and robbing elderly women in Belgium
    https://rmx.news/article/article/morrocan-migrant-s-prison-sentence-cut-in-half-despite-pepper-spraying-and-robbing-elderly-women-in-belgium

    “A Moroccan migrant convicted for assaulting and robbing at least seven elderly woman in the cities of Ostend and Knokke in Belgium has had his sentence reduced from four years to two years in prison by a Belgian court.

    Faical E. along with his companion Hamza Z., were active along the Belgian coast robbing elderly women in May 2017, Belgian news portal HLN reported.

    The men targeted women at seaside resort areas, with prosecutors stating that the men also pepper sprayed one woman in the eyes during a brutal robbery.

    “Each time they stole goods consisted of jewelry, wallets or a handbag,” said the prosecuting attorney. “Some victims fell during the robberies and were injured.”

    After investigating video footage and collecting other evidence, Belgian police arrested 31-year-old Faical E. and 33-year-old Hamza R., with both determined to be of Moroccan descent.

    They originally traveled to Belgium from Germany with a rented car with the specific purpose to rob older women along the Belgian coast.

    In November 2017, the trial of the duo took place, resulting in Hamza Z. to be sentenced to 37 months in prison, but Faical E. did not show up and authorities said he disappeared.

    Faical E. was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison, but recently the man was located in Germany, arrested, and transported back to Belgium for sentencing in August of this year.

    His attorney requested an acquittal on his behalf, which he did not receive, but his prison sentence was halved from four to two years.”

  10. How one Islamist migrant has cost German taxpayers over €5 million and counting
    https://rmx.news/article/article/how-just-one-islamist-migrant-has-cost-german-taxpayers-over-5-million-and-counting

    “The German state has spent over €5 million guarding just one Syrian migrant in the small German village of Bitterfeld, with the man believed to be such a serious terrorist threat that he has required a 24/7 police presence for the last three years.

    His presence in the village, located in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, has left inhabitants presented with a bizarre sight almost every day. When the 19-year-old Syrian Ayman N. wants to go shopping in town, four plainclothes police officers must follow him with two vehicles a few meters apart.

    He is not allowed to leave his accommodation any further than the supermarket and all his movements are tracked with an electronic ankle cuff on his leg.

    According to data obtained by German news outlet Magdeburg Volksstimme, 95,000 man-hours have been accumulated by officers guarding the Syrian man. At an hourly rate of €52 per civil servant, that amounts €5,000 every day and over €5 million in total. The staggering figure does not even include vehicle costs or other material resources, as this data is not yet included in the overall tally.

    Massive police resources for just one man
    Four officers are currently required for surveillance per shift, which amounts to 12 officers per day, with most of them coming from the German city of Magdeburg.

    This bizarre situation has been in place since 2017, with critics of the arrangement pointing to it as another cost of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to allow over one million migrants from the Middle East and Africa to enter Germany in 2015 and 2016. The fact that police resources are being devoted to the man to the exclusion of other issues has infuriated German police unions.

    Police union representative Uwe Bachmann speaks of an “extremely unfortunate situation” regarding Ayman N.

    “We cannot watch him forever. This permanent monitoring ties up forces that are urgently needed elsewhere,” echoed Peter Meißner, who serves as the head of Association of German Police Officers (BDK).

    The stated reason behind the extreme surveillance is the young man’s designation as an active Islamist terrorist threat. He is currently waiting for his trial to continue before the Berlin Supreme Court.

    Instructions on how to manufacture a Kalashnikov
    In August 2017, the Halle district court initiated surveillance of Ayman N. based on the belief that he was “preparing for a serious, state-endangering act of violence”.

    The ISIS sympathizer, who entered the country as a refugee listed as an unaccompanied minor in autumn 2015, lived in the Osternienburger Land until January 2017 and made contact with like-minded people on the Internet.

    According to the prosecution, he obtained instructions for the manufacture of an AK 47 (Kalashnikov) assault rifle and also asked in a chat about where to obtain weapons as well as asking about how to make an explosive suicide belt. Furthermore, the Syrian confessed to an undercover constitutional protection officer that he was planning “something bigger”, including an attack in Berlin.

    Ayman N. presents a severe security risk
    After the third day of the closed hearing in September 2017, the regional court declared that it was no longer responsible for Ayman N. and referred the case to the Berlin Regional Court based on new allegations regarding his membership in a foreign terrorist group.

    However, the Berlin Court of Appeal also temporarily suspended the proceedings after the fourth day of hearings in December. Court spokeswoman Lisa Jani said that “follow-up investigations were still required”

    The general public prosecutor in Naumburg is now responsible for the case, and says the around-the-clock “surveillance” is required given the threat-level of the Syrian migrant.

    The German Interior Ministry refuses to comment on the case.”

  11. What a crazy world we live in. I live in a quiet area, remote, and tonight there are low flying helicopters, police cars everywhere, and we are being to lock our doors and stay in. Damn why did I decide to have so many big windows, and no drapes. LOL. I guess I will break a wine bottle, and get out my clever.

  12. Terrible story: Two teenage boys raped and tortured for ten hours, then forced to dig their own grave and stabbed in the legs before being buried alive without clothes.

    Only one Swedish website identifies the two arrested: an 18- and a 21-year old as Iranian and the other is an Arab. H/T to https://www.fdesouche.com/1417411-suede-deux-garcons-violes-et-tortures-par-un-iranien-et-un-arabe-puis-enterres-vivants-sauves-par-un-passant

    “Bei den beiden Tatverdächtigen, die sich mittlerweile in Haft befinden, soll es sich um einen Iraner und einen Araber handeln.”

    https://www.krone.at/2219120

    https://freewestmedia.com/2020/08/28/swedish-boys-tortured-raped-and-buried-alive-by-immigrants/