Reader’s Links for September 22, 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

109 Replies to “Reader’s Links for September 22, 2020”

  1. TITLE: 2 Aides For Ilhan Omar Challenger Lacy Johnson Shot, 1 Killed

    – Two campaign aides for Lacy Johnson, a Republican seeking to unseat Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), were shot in Minneapolis in broad daylight this week, including a 17-year-old boy.

    The teenager was rushed to the hospital, where he died a short time later from his wounds, a Minneapolis police spokesman said.

    Officials haven’t officially identified the deceased but his family and school named him as Andre Conley.

    “My nephew Andre did not deserve this,” Conley’s aunt, Fatemah Green, said at a vigil for the boy on Wednesday night, KARE 11 reported. – READ MORE…

    https://truepundit.com/2-aides-for-ilhan-omar-challenger-lacy-johnson-shot-1-killed/

    https://truepundit.com/2-aides-for-ilhan-omar-challenger-lacy-johnson-shot-1-killed/

  2. The big question is were they stalked and shot because of their jobs or were they targets of opportunity? Given today’s political climate both are likely answers.

  3. A nation state that considers the state as God, and is looking to have the hole world submit to it. And im not talking about china. This is where I think we are headed. I hope some contributors here can use this filter when looking at world events. This is a state that in its past was considered a Fascist state and so it is a concern of this site.

    Year 2015:

    ” Pope: Let us not “confuse the ‘common good’ with ‘prosperity’”

    ” In his speech, Francis spoke about the importance of “distributive justice”, that is the need for wealth to be distributed, as a condition for social peace. ”

    ” “The common good, on the other hand,” the Pope continued, “is much more than the sum of individual interests. It moves from “what is best for me” to “what is best for everyone”.

    https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2015/07/09/news/pope-let-us-not-confuse-the-common-good-with-prosperity-1.35240209

    2019
    ” Pope Francis: ‘The common good has become global'”

    “Pope Francis called on nations to work toward a global common good Thursday, particularly in confronting climate change, human trafficking, and nuclear threats.”

    ““In the current situation of globalization not only of the economy but also of technological and cultural exchanges, the nation state is no longer able to procure the common good of its population alone,” Pope Francis told the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences May 2.”

    “The common good has become global and nations must associate for their own benefit,” Francis said, noting that some nations today have “a spirit of opposition rather than cooperation.”

    ” Pope Francis said that when a “supranational common good” is clearly identified, as in the case of climate change or human trafficking, it necessitates a special legal authority capable of facilitating solutions.”

    https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-the-common-good-has-become-global-93364

    July 27, 2020
    ” VACCINE EQUITY AND CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES FOR THE COMMON GOOD”

    ” WASHINGTON, DC – As researchers race to create safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19, it is essential to thoughtfully consider how to ethically develop, and equitably distribute them.

    “Effectively addressing the global health crisis requires a coordinated response by business, government, community leaders and health care providers to ensure that vaccines and treatments are safe, effective and available to all. To accomplish that, we in Catholic health care believe that the principles of Catholic Social Teaching offer a just framework for an equitable solution. These principles, shared by many people of goodwill, are the Dignity of the Human Person, the Common Good, Solidarity, Subsidiarity and the Preferential Option for Vulnerable Persons.”

    ” COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, low-income communities, persons with pre-existing health conditions, and racial and ethnic minorities.”

    ” We learned from the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 that serious problems occur if no consensus is reached on the principles and structures for the just distribution of vaccines. Pharmaceutical companies cannot produce vaccines quickly enough to meet initial worldwide demand during a pandemic, resulting in global economic competition that favors wealthier nations over the developing world.[1] The result is that, initially, powerful nations control the distribution of limited supplies. While recognizing that financial investments are essential for the development of effective vaccines, any that are developed should be considered the inheritance of the entire human community, rather than a specific country or company.[2] It is unjust to perpetuate a system where persons who have the greatest need are denied vital, lifesaving resources by a privileged few.”

    ” With these experiences and the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in mind, we offer the following guidelines to address the obstacles to a fair and just distribution of vaccines.”

    “4. Vaccines should be equitably distributed with priority to those at most risk
    Once there is assurance that safe vaccines are available, distribution should first consider populations identified as most at risk for suffering negative health outcomes from COVID-19. At-risk populations will vary from place to place.

    In many areas, we know that elderly, racial and ethnic minorities bear the greatest burdens. State and local officials, in conjunction with health care providers and community leaders, should identify which populations are most at risk in their jurisdictions, and they should act to protect them.

    The Common Good requires the maintenance of essential services for the well-being of the community. Therefore, there may be a necessity for prioritization of front line health and essential service workers so that our health care system remains able to continue to provide treatments in the midst of this pandemic.[4]”

    “5. Efforts to develop and distribute effective vaccines should emphasize the principle of Solidarity
    The global pandemic requires working together, domestically and internationally, to achieve a common purpose. Through strengthening and supporting existing international organizations and frameworks for collective purchasing and distribution, we can help to ensure that all people have access to the vaccine while minimizing global and domestic competition which drives up prices for limited supplies. ”

    “6. Consistent with the principle of Subsidiarity, the distribution of effective vaccines should involve local communities
    Local governmental entities, health care providers, non-profit organizations, religious and community leaders must work in partnership to build trust and ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. These partnerships are critical for meeting local needs, building vaccine awareness and protecting individuals and communities who are often neglected or forgotten.”

    https://www.chausa.org/newsroom/news-releases/2020/07/27/vaccine-equity-and-catholic-principles-for-the-common-good

    Aug. 4, 2020 (America The Jesuit Review)

    “Who goes first? The ethics of distributing a Covid-19 vaccine.”

    ” We are in the midst of a global health crisis that already has inflicted a significant humanitarian and economic toll on the United States. For now, we must try to contain the spread of Covid-19 through physical distancing and face-covering. But we will reach another turning point when a vaccine to prevent the disease has been developed. As the Catholic Health Association of the United States said in a July 27 statement, “it is essential to thoughtfully consider how to ethically develop and equitably distribute” a vaccine. (See a list of the C.H.A.’s guidelines below.)”

    “A persistent anti-vaccination minority in the United States, along with many people’s unwillingness to adopt simple measures to prevent spreading the virus, underscores the challenges ahead. A vaccine program is concerned with the health of the community, and that should be important for any Christian.”

    ” Americans often focus on individual health, but vaccines are essential for our health, for the good for the community.”

    “So once a vaccine is developed, how should we distribute it? The obvious answer is that everyone should receive it. But given the delays and long lines for Covid-19 testing, we can imagine the potential for chaos once a vaccine becomes available. We will need a strategy.”

    “Humans are essentially social animals, whose well-being is dependent upon a vibrant and healthy community. We see evidence of this in the anxiety and depression affecting so many during the stay-at-home orders enacted to fight the pandemic. Americans often focus on individual health, but vaccines are essential for our health, for the good for the community.”

    “Until we have enough for general distribution, prioritizing who receives a vaccine dose will require a concerted effort among government and health officials. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an advisory panel have developed a preliminary plan for distributing the vaccine. There must also be procedures for ensuring compliance by manufacturers and by state and local health agencies.”

    “It is important to begin vaccine distribution with the first responders and those on the front lines of health care, since they are both most at risk and are doing a great service for others.”

    “In line with the C.D.C. recommendations, it is important to begin vaccine distribution with the first responders and those on the front lines of health care, since they are both most at risk and are doing a great service for others. To restart the economy, we should then think about workers who cannot work remotely, like factory or warehouse employees, but who provide essential services. After that, we should prioritize workers who are in close proximity to large numbers of people (like teachers). Then the vaccine should be targeted to those who are vulnerable to Covid-19 because of pre-existing conditions and the elderly. A more controversial option would be to expedite distribution of the vaccine in populations, like Blacks and Hispanics, who have had higher rates of Covid-19 infection.”

    “After these priorities are met, we can move toward procedures for universal distribution.”

    “Of course, particularly in the United States, there will be those who will not want to be vaccinated, just as there are those who refuse to wear face coverings in public and argue for “the right to be left alone.” But we should remember that public health cannot be solely concerned with the rights of the individual. You need not be sick to be a spreader of Covid to others, and we do not know how long one can spread the disease.”

    “We can respect free choice, but choices have consequences. Those who refuse to take precautions against Covid-19, from wearing a mask to getting a vaccination when it becomes available, not only put themselves at risk but also risk the health of others. Health care does not fall neatly into the spheres of public and private behavior.”

    ” Furthermore, we do not have an unlimited supply of medical supplies like hospital beds and ventilators, and the cost of treatment is borne by others either in the community or in an insurance pool. And those who are being given priority access to the vaccine have a special obligation; essential workers should be required to get the vaccine or risk losing their jobs.”

    “Though a Covid-19 vaccine should not be compulsory for everyone, we need to hold responsible those who refuse to take medically necessary precautions, and specifically who refuse a vaccine. For example, it would be appropriate to deny them beds or ventilators should they get sick as a consequence of knowingly engaging in risky behavior.”

    “The Covid-19 outbreak is a reminder to Americans that health care cannot be understood completely as a private good and that in solidarity with others, each of us has a responsibility to work for a common purpose. This is a public health crisis, and we need to understand a potential vaccine as an obligation for oneself and for society.”

    https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/08/04/who-goes-first-ethics-distributing-covid-19-vaccine

    Vatican

    286. Public authorities have the duty to ensure that, for reasons of economic productivity, citizens are not denied time for rest and divine worship. Employers have an analogous obligation regarding their employees.[616] Christians, in respect of religious freedom and of the COMMON GOOD of all, should seek to have Sundays and the Church’s Holy Days recognized as legal holidays. “They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect and joy, and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society”.[617] “Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord’s Day”.[618]

    http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html#Rest%20from%20work

    Sept 4, 2020 The Jesuit Review

    Pope Francis: The pandemic has ‘given us a chance to develop new ways of living.’

    The coronavirus pandemic “has given us a chance to develop new ways of living,” Pope Francis said in a message released by the Vatican on Sept. 1 in which he reiterated his call to “limit global average temperature rise” below 1.5 degrees Celsius and for “the cancellation of the debt of the most vulnerable countries in recognition of the severe impacts of the medical, social and economic crises they face as a result of Covid-19.”

    Pope Francis also advocated the strengthening of “national and international legislation to regulate the activities of extractive mining companies and ensure access to justice for those affected,” especially Indigenous communities. He said they must be “protected” from “corporate misconduct,” particularly of multinational companies.

    The pope said the Covid-19 pandemic has “in some ways, given us a chance to develop new ways of living.” Indeed, “already we can see how the earth can recover if we allow it to rest: the air becomes cleaner, the waters clearer, and animals have returned to many places from where they had previously disappeared.”

    He said: “The pandemic has brought us to a crossroads. We must use this decisive moment to end our superfluous and destructive goals and activities and to cultivate values, connections and activities that are lifegiving. We must examine our habits of energy usage, consumption, transportation and diet. We must eliminate the superfluous and destructive aspects of our economies and nurture life-giving ways to trade, produce and transport goods.”

    He emphasized these issues in a message for the sixth World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation that begins today and ends on Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, around the time he is expected to issue a new encyclical on human fraternity.

    He welcomed this year’s theme chosen by the ecumenical family, “Jubilee for the Earth,” because 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, which began in the United States in 1969.

    Pope Francis recalled that in the biblical tradition “a Jubilee is a sacred time to remember, return, rest, restore and rejoice.” He developed his message around these five verbs.

    First, he said, a jubilee is “a time of grace to remember” that “we exist only in relationships: with God the Creator, with our brothers and sisters as members of a common family, and with all of God’s creatures within our common home.”

    A jubilee year is also “a time to rest,” Francis said. He recalled that “God set aside the Sabbath so that the land and its inhabitants could rest and be renewed.” But, he noted, “our constant demand for growth and an endless cycle of production and consumption are exhausting the natural world.” He underlined the pressing need “to find just and sustainable ways of living…without destroying the ecosystems that sustain us.”

    Moreover, he said, a jubilee year is also “a time to restore the original harmony of creation” and “to re-establish equitable societal relationships, restoring their freedom and goods to all and forgiving one another’s debts.”

    Moreover, he said, nations should ensure that the recovery packages “be focused on the common good and guarantee that global social and environmental goals are met.”

    Speaking of the “need to restore the land,” Francis insisted that “climate restoration is of utmost importance, since we are in the midst of a climate emergency” and “are running out of time.”

    He said it’s necessary “to do everything in our capacity to limit global average temperature rise under the threshold of 1.5°C enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement, for going beyond that will prove catastrophic, especially for poor communities around the world.”

    He appealed to all nations “to adopt more ambitious national targets to reduce emissions, in preparation for the important Climate Summit (COP 26),” which will be held in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. His message is of particular relevance to the United States, the only major power to have withdrawn from the Paris Accord.

    “Biodiversity restoration” is also necessary, Francis said. He urged governments “to support the U.N. call to safeguard 30 percent of the earth as protected habitats by 2030 in order to stem the alarming rate of biodiversity loss.” He appealed to the international community to work together to guarantee that the Summit on Biodiversity (COP 15) in Kunming, China, next October, “becomes a turning point in restoring the earth to be a home of life in abundance, as willed by the Creator.”

    Quoting St. John Paul II, he denounced “this corporate misconduct” as a “new version of colonialism” that “shamefully exploits poorer countries and communities desperately seeking economic development.” He advocated stronger national and international legislation “to regulate the activities of extractive companies and ensure access to justice for those affected.”

    https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/09/01/pope-francis-covid-19-pandemic-climate-change-cancel-debt

    Climate Sunday launches across Britain and Ireland!
    Sep 4th, 2020

    Marking the start of the annual season of Creationtide, the Climate Sunday initiative begins this weekend with local churches across Britain and Ireland holding climate-focused services to explore the theological and scientific basis of creation care and of action on climate, to pray and to commit to action.

    With the climate crisis accelerating and greater public support for a green recovery post COVID-19, there has never been a more crucial time for UK churches to come together to pray and act on the climate crisis. Over 700 churches registered before the year-long initiative has begun, so the organisers are hoping that there will be thousands of local Climate Sundays, with congregations from every denomination and tradition.

    The culmination of the campaign will be a national Climate Sunday event in Glasgow on Sunday, 5th September 2021, to celebrate the commitments made by churches at local level over the previous year. We will also present the UK government with the combined commitments and calls, which all local churches have made, to show our political leaders that they have our support for acting boldly, justly and compassionately on this issue.

    The Climate Sunday initiative, organised by CTBI’s Environmental Issues Network (EIN), is the UK’s largest joint project planned by UK Churches on Climate Change, with formal backing from CAFOD, Christian Aid, Tearfund, The Salvation Army, A Rocha UK, Operation Noah, Climate Stewards, Eco-Congregation Scotland, Eco-Congregation Ireland, Green Christian, the Church of England, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Baptist Union of Wales, the United Reformed Church, The Church of Scotland, Cytûn (Churches together in Wales), the Union of Welsh Independents and the Church in Wales.

    Bishop of Salford, Bishop John Arnold, the bishop responsible for the environment for the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, said: “We need to recognise the damage we’re doing to the environment and our failure to look after our brothers and sisters in our common home. “In a post-pandemic world, the Climate Sunday project is an excellent opportunity for Catholic parishes in England and Wales, as well as our ecumenical brothers and sisters, to understand responsibility to heal our planet and to pray and act in response to the climate emergency.”

    The Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Reverend Nicholas Holtam, the bishop responsible for the environment for the Church of England, said: “Although our focus has been shifted from climate change in recent months by the challenges of responding to COVID-19, the climate crisis has not gone away, and the driest May since records began is a timely reminder of this. Climate Sunday will be a brilliant resource to help Church of England parishes understand and respond to the climate crisis. As we work out the actions we need to take to cut our carbon emissions every year to reach net zero emissions by 2030, Climate Sunday will motivate, encourage and inspire our churches to keep going on this journey.”

    Mary Sweetland, Chairperson of Eco-Congregation Scotland, an ecumenical charity supporting 500 Scottish churches of all denominations in environmental activities, said: “We need to take action as Christians who care for God’s creation, tackling the climate emergency with urgency now and for future generations. When we welcome thousands from around the world, online or in person to COP26, we can all demonstrate that we are taking action and leading by example in our own church and across the UK. We all share a unique opportunity in the year ahead for transformational change, taking practical steps to change our own behaviour and calling on governments to agree global action when they gather in Glasgow. Climate Sunday helps link this directly with our spiritual life, focusing local churches on the environment in worship, prayer and action.”

    The chief executive of A Rocha UK, Andy Atkins, who is also the chair of the coalition, said: “With the climate crisis accelerating and the UK due to host the COP26 climate talks in November 2021 in Glasgow, we believe the time has come for all churches across the UK to pray about and act on the climate crisis, as we have done in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” “Our vision is to leave a lasting legacy of thousands of UK churches better equipped to address this critical issue as part of their normal discipleship and mission; and to make a very significant contribution to civil society efforts to secure adequate national and international action at the COP26 conference.”

    Church congregations can register to participate in Climate Sunday by visiting: http://www.climatesunday.org, which has service resources for a range of traditions.

    https://www.indcatholicnews.com/news/40379

    Climate Sunday
    AUGUST 28, 2020 BY WEB EDITOR

    Local churches are encouraged to hold a local Climate Sunday any time during a one-year period starting on 6th September (the first Sunday in the annual season of Creation Time/Season of Creation).

    Free resources will be provided to suit every tradition and style of worship.

    During their local Climate Sunday, churches are invited to do one or more of three things:

    Climate service: Hold a climate-focused service, to explore the theological and scientific basis of creation care and action on climate, to pray, and to commit to action.
    Commit: Make a commitment as a local church community to taking long term action to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions.
    Call: Join with other churches and wider society by adding its name to a common call for the UK government to take much bolder action on climate change in this country in advance of COP26, and to strengthen its credibility to lead the international community to adopt a step change in action at COP26. The culmination of the campaign will be a national Climate Sunday event on Sunday 5th September 2021, to share church commitments and pray for bold action and courageous leadership at COP26.
    Climate Sunday has been organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) with support from charities including CAFOD, Christian Aid, Tearfund, A Rocha UK, and Operation Noah.

    https://ctbi.org.uk/climate-sunday/

    Slow Sunday: The simple solution to global warming
    Sept 17, 2009

    Using Sunday as a day of rest and renewal would be good for our personal health as well as the health of the planet

    legislate and cap the carbon emissions. Matters are urgent. We have to act now, without any delay. The power of public opinion and citizen action will have a strong impact on the climate conference taking place in Copenhagen.

    One thing we can easily do to achieve this goal: we can declare Sunday to be a fossil fuel-free day or a low-carbon day or at least an energy-saving day. We can start this week, this month or in 2010. We can start individually and collectively. The long journey to cut carbon dioxide emissions can start in the here and now.

    Not long ago Sunday used to be a day of rest, a day of spiritual renewal, a day for families to come together, but we have changed Sunday from a day of rest to a day of shopping, flying and driving. However, in the context of excessive carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which are bringing catastrophic upheavals, we can and should restore Sunday to a day for Gaia, a day for the Earth.

    There will be no great hardship in cutting down all non-essential and non-urgent use of fossil fuels for one day a week. We can easily close supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations. We can reduce our mobility to the bare essentials and without harming the economy in any way.

    We can enjoy Sunday once more with our family and friends. We can engage in gardening, writing, painting, walking, baking bread or simply spending time in contemplation. This will be good for our personal health as well as for the health of the planet. We will have time for our friends, time to play with our children and time for the family. At a stroke, we can reduce 10% of our carbon emissions into the atmosphere by making Sunday a low-carbon day and at the same time make ourselves healthier and happier. So, let us make Sunday a day of rest and renewal rather than a day of travel and toil.

    Global warming or climate change is only a symptom of our deep-seated desire to consume, consume and consume. The external problem of carbon emissions is connected with the internal problem of desire. If we stay in the rat-race 24 hours, seven days a week, we are bound to pollute our inner space as well as the outer space. Speed is the curse of modern civilisation. The solution to global warming is simple: slow down. Slow is beautiful. Even if we cannot slow down every day, at least slow down on Sunday. If you are a Christian then Slow Sunday should be natural to you, if you are a Muslim make Friday your low-carbon day, if you are Jewish then Saturday can be your day to save energy, if you follow a secular way of life then choose your own carbon-free day. At least on Sunday we can be citizens rather than consumers.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/cif-green/2009/sep/17/low-carbon-sunday

    Pope connects Sunday keeping with a better environment
    (I believe this is from 2015, no date on page that I saw)

    Pope Francis delivered his encyclical on the environment this morning.

    “The Earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth”, he said in his encyclical called “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home “.
    Acknowledging that the environment is getting worse, Pope Francis is addressing this message to “every person living on this planet” and urges us to make improvements for the environment. President Barack Obama commended this message fully!

    Toward the end, the Pope connects the environment with Sunday keeping:
    “On Sunday, our participation in the Eucharist has special importance. Sunday, like the Jewish Sabbath, is meant to be a day which heals our relationships with God, with ourselves, with others and with the world. Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, the “first day” of the new creation, whose first fruits are the Lord’s risen humanity, the pledge of the final transfiguration of all created reality. It also proclaims “man’s eternal rest in God”.168 In this way, Christian spirituality incorporates the value of relaxation and festivity. We tend to demean contemplative rest as something unproductive and unnecessary, but this is to do away with the very thing which is most important about work: its meaning. We are called to include in our work a dimension of receptivity and gratuity, which is quite different from mere inactivity. Rather, it is another way of working, which forms part of our very essence. It protects human action from becoming empty activism; it also prevents that unfettered greed and sense of isolation which make us seek personal gain to the detriment of all else. The law of weekly rest forbade work on the seventh day, “so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your maidservant, and the stranger, may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12). Rest opens our eyes to the larger picture and gives us renewed sensitivity to the rights of others. And so the day of rest, centred on the Eucharist, sheds it light on the whole week, and motivates us to greater concern for nature and the poor.”

    https://www.empowermissions.org/pope-connects-sunday-keeping-with-a-better-environment/

    Bloomberg
    Israeli Proposal to Make Sunday Day of Rest May Benefit Retail
    Calev Ben-David and Alisa Odenheimer
    5 July 2011, 17:01 GMT-4

    Israel’s government is examining a proposal to shift the weekend to the western Saturday and Sunday, a step that may benefit financial markets and retail and leisure companies.

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week appointed Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council, to look into the implications of changing the weekend from Friday and Saturday. The proposal would make Friday a half-day of work. Many in Israel use Friday to prepare for the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown. Working and traveling is forbidden on the Sabbath according to Jewish law and most stores and many restaurants are closed for the Sabbath.

    “The main creator of jobs in Israel today is not the manufacturing sector but trade and services,” said Uriel Lynn, president of the Israeli Chambers of Commerce. “If Sunday is a full holiday when people can go out with their families to shop and enjoy themselves, it will create more jobs in trade and services.”

    The proposal’s main advocate is Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom, who says financial markets would benefit from being coordinated with the major Western economies rather than Israel’s Muslim neighbors, who mostly have a Friday and Saturday weekend. Opposing the measure is Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, who says it is important for Jews and Muslims to have Friday off and civil service expenses would increase on Sunday if it were a day off.

    The proposal would also affect the almost 17 percent of Israel’s population that is Muslim.

    “Many Muslim countries in the world have moved to a Sunday weekend,” Shalom told Channel Two television when asked if a Sunday shift would be fair to Muslims who would have to work on Friday, the Islamic prayer day. “Globalization is important and they want to be connected to the world.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-07-05/israeli-proposal-to-make-sunday-day-of-rest-may-benefit-retail

    Crisis Magazine
    JUNE 17, 2020

    Bring Back the Blue Laws
    CASEY CHALK

    In the United States on the seventh day of the week, trade and industry seem suspended throughout the nation; all noise ceases. A deep peace, or rather a sort of solemn contemplation, takes its place. The soul regains its own domain and devotes itself to meditation.

    Alexis de Tocqueville wrote these words in his 1835 masterpiece of political and social analysis, Democracy in America. During America’s finally-abating coronavirus quarantine, our nation, at least outwardly, seemed to have gained a more noiseless, contemplative, revivifying spirit. Now, in the terrible wake of murder, protests turned arsonous riots, and looting, not so much. Nevertheless, Americans in those early quarantine days—after the haze of their Netflix-binge had evaporated—woke up with a surprised appreciation for what earlier generations had considered normal: Sunday laws, otherwise known as blue laws. As America returns to normality, we should consider these laws and their manifold benefits afresh.

    Acknowledging the rewards of the Sabbath are not limited only to Christians like Pope Francis, who in a 2018 interview declared: “One day of the week. That’s the least! Out of gratitude, to worship God, to spend time with the family, to play, to do all of these things. We are not machines.”

    Now, with a few anomalous holdouts, Sundays are more or less indistinguishable from other days. Some counties still prohibit the sale of alcohol on Sunday. Some Florida counties prohibit the sale of sex toys on Sunday. Among other curiosities, horse racing and car dealerships are closed in Illinois.

    Many European nations never abandoned Sunday trading restrictions, and their economies have managed just fine. Indeed, keeping stores open on Sunday disproportionately favors big retailers at the expense of mom-and-pop businesses. In Poland, the 2017 Sunday trading ban was “about helping small family stores, but also about letting people who are effectively forced to work on Sundays be free,” said President Andrzej Duda. Since the ban’s introduction, Duda has noted, more families have engaged in outdoor activities, and the domestic tourism industry has benefited.

    America, for the sake of its own emotional and spiritual welfare—for the sake of its own sanity—needs to restore the blue laws.

    There was a time, surprising as it may be, when Amazon did not deliver on Sunday, and Americans somehow survived. There was a time when citizens had to do their shopping at the hardware store on a weekday, or early Saturday morning, in order to complete their home projects.

    To preempt accusations of “theocracy,” I am not advocating mandatory church-going (though it wouldn’t be the worst idea), but rather simple restrictions on which businesses remain open on Sunday. Political and cultural leaders could “opt-out” of things like social media: as de Tocqueville rightly notes, leaders who set the standard should “act every day as if they believed in it themselves.”

    Blue laws may limit “freedom,” but only the freedom to limitless consumption. If promulgated in a prudent and focused way, they can cultivate virtue, strengthen neighborliness, and protect small businesses. Most importantly, they can help promote prayer and peace—now, when America needs them most.

    https://www.crisismagazine.com/2020/bring-back-the-blue-laws

    The Daily Beast

    Trump Campaign Adviser Jenna Ellis: Separation of Church and State Is a Liberal Lie
    CONGRESS SHALL MAKE A LAW
    Andrew Kirell
    Senior Editor
    Updated Jul. 28, 2020 3:42PM ET Published Jul. 28, 2020 2:36PM ET

    The notion that the United States observes a separation of church and state is a lie, according to President Donald Trump’s senior campaign legal adviser.

    “The left is going to tell you there’s this separation of church and state, and that’s just nowhere in the Constitution, nowhere in American law,” Jenna Ellis declared Monday evening during a Zoom event hosted by Asian Pacific Americans for Trump. “That’s nothing that our founding principles ever, uh, derived whatsoever.”

    The concept of a firewall between church and state authorities, Ellis claimed, is a mere “twisting a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Church that was simply talking about the three tiers of authority that God himself ordained—the church government, the civil government, and the family government.”

    Such an interpretation of Jefferson’s 1802 letter—which the Supreme Court affirmed in 1879 as an “authoritative declaration” of the First Amendment clause prohibiting government entanglement in religion—has long been a key argument of conservative Christian leaders seeking to end the separation, which serves as the basis for America’s historically pluralistic society. But it’s not altogether common for a top official of a presidential campaign to so forcefully adopt such a position and it’s further proof that Trump—hardly an observant man himself—has strategically allowed his presidency to become a vessel for the religious right.

    Ellis has made such an argument before. In late April, while reacting to local bans on church gatherings amid the coronavirus pandemic, she argued that “‘separation of church and state’ is a myth perpetuated by liberals to pretend morality and religion cannot be part of government.”

    During Monday evening’s remarks, Ellis advanced her argument against the separation of church and state by invoking and defending the president’s now-infamous walk from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for a Bible-holding photo op—which was made possible by police tear-gassing a crowd of peaceful protesters—as a valiant stand against those who forsake religious authority.

    “As faith-based Christians and pastors and faith leaders, we need to be telling truth about protecting and preserving religious freedom in our country… and especially protecting and preserving the church’s authority in our society,” she said. “And so that’s what President Trump so remarkably with his walk from the White House over to St. James [sic] Church.”

    She concluded: “For him to go out and hold up that Bible in front of the church and acknowledge that religious liberty prevails in America like no other society and nation that ever existed in the face of the Earth—that is what our freedom is all about.”

    Constitutional scholars and political activists have long grappled with the lines of demarcation between church and state in America, with the consensus view being that there are boundaries to government involvement in religious promotion and affairs.

    “While the literal words ‘wall of separation between church and state’ don’t appear in the Constitution, the concept of church-state separation certainly does,” Americans United for Separation of Church and State has written in response to the religious-right argument against a firewall. “If you doubt that, just read the writings of Jefferson, James Madison and generations of U.S. Supreme Court justices tasked with interpreting and applying the Constitution. We’re gonna take their word for it.”

    For Ellis, the comments before the Asian Pacific Americans for Trump gathering are merely the latest in a long string of provocative utterances and eyebrow-raising moves. She was hired by the Trump campaign late last year and almost immediately became a favorite surrogate of the president’s because of her relentless and bombastic jeremiads against his impeachment—even taking her pro-Trump fervor to the Kremlin-funded network RT, which U.S. intelligence agencies have long considered a Russian propaganda outlet.

    But as The Daily Beast previously reported, Ellis has generated outrage for her tirades against the LGBT community and Muslims.
    Following the 2015 mass shooting at Orlando gay nightclub Pulse, which left 49 people dead, she wrote an opinion piece, headlined “Two Wrongs Do Not Make an LGBT Right,” decrying how the massacre had led to increased acceptance of homosexuality. “I’m disappointed conservatives are acquiescing to the LGBT agenda,” Ellis wrote. “Let me be clear—the Orlando shooting was absolutely terrible and tragic. But the response to this tragedy should not be embracing and advocating for gay rights.”

    Elsewhere, Ellis has promoted the harmful anti-gay “conversion therapy,” declared that HIV infections in gay men was simply “God’s moral law,” and claimed that Islam is “not American.”

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-campaign-adviser-jenna-ellis-says-the-separation-of-church-and-state-is-a-liberal-lie?ref=scroll

    The New Indian Express

    Strict action against Sunday lockdown violators

    The city police have made elaborate security arrangements for the Sunday lockdown.

    BENGALURU: The city police have made elaborate security arrangements for the Sunday lockdown. A senior police officer said that strict action will be taken against those violating the norms. All flyovers will be closed and KSRTC, BMTC, autorickshaws and cabs will not be allowed. Grocery shops, medical stores, milk stalls and other emergency services will be allowed to remain open. City roads will be barricaded like how it was done during Lockdown 1.0 and 2.0, he said.S Murughan, Additional Commissioner of Police (East), said that all policemen, including those from KSRP, CAR and traffic division, will be deployed for patrolling. Violators will be booked under NDMA Act.

    Another police officer said, “We will keep an eye on those moving around the city and gather all details. Policemen above 55 years will not be deployed as per the commissioner’s instructions. Also, many policemen are out of duty as they have been infected by Covid.”

    In all, 48 areas across the city have been sealed.
    City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted “The lockdown begins at 8pm on Saturday and concludes at 5AM on Monday. Respected Citizens, just stay at home and don’t ask for exceptions as this is being done in everybody’s interest. Heavens wont fall if you postpone by a day. Pls exercise self discipline and cooperate”.

    What’s allowed?
    Grocery stores, vegetable and fruit shops, meat stalls
    Medical stores, hospitals and other medical services
    Petrol pumps and ATMs
    What’s not allowed ?
    Public gatherings
    Salons and business establishments
    Industries, factories and public transport

    https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2020/jul/05/strict-action-against-sunday-lockdown-violators-2165555.html

  4. ‘The Germans’ Never Existed – According to ‘German’ Newspaper

    Hey guys, I was surprised to learn that me and my ancestors never existed.
    That is at least what the online newspaper Welt.de claims.
    Of course this is a rhetorical trick where they can claim that they only mean that the stereotypical German did not historically exist, or that Germans were always a very diverse groups with many tribes.
    Everybody knows that, however. Why do they not write that then?
    Why do they always phrase it like that and why is it only towards Europeans that this kind of rhetoric is used?

    • Next thing, they will be saying that Germans are actually Khazars. (That us supposed to be sarcastic. This is the ancestry accusation when people want to deny connection to the Holy Land.) My point is that other groups are hit by this rhetoric.

  5. Will another lockdown lead to an economic depression? There are a growing number of articles asking this question. They cite growing debt and flawed unemployment numbers. Often they overlook the fact that our economies were in a state of crisis last autumn, before the Wuhan flu was unleashed on the world. They also, inadvertently, include most of the data points to successfully argue we are already in an economic depression but don’t know it because our governments are artificially propping us up with money printing.

    This onion is fat with layers.

    The other morning I walked with my four-legged German friend, Baron Von Fetch, past the local Covid-19 testing facility at 7 am. It is a hockey rink. It had two human streamers stretching out, north and south, into the parking lot and into the soccer field.

    The radio says cases are spiking. Ontario Premier Ford is talking rock-hard about mask and distancing regulation violators. He calls them stupid. He is sure the “second wave” is imminent.

    But, but, what about people who carry fragments of harmless Covid RNA that render their tests positive? What about all the false positives even without these fragments? What about faulty stats of deaths with, and by? How about calming irrational fear in the population instead of pumping fear up? To this end, why not make crystal clear to the people the difference between active, real cases, and harmless viral residue? Is Ford pumped up by his earnest vigilance over a pandemic we are forever “…In The Middle Of…”, or has he become pumped up over power? If he is still a conservative then I’m Mary Poppins.

    This virus has given the world carte-blanche for misbehavior and malfeasance. Every supply-chain interruption, delayed dental appointment, suspended court case, or flat tire repair is blamed on pandemic. This includes everything in between, too.

    Can any reasonable person cast an eye on the Dem’s behavior, Antifa, Soros, Agenda 21 documentation, or their regional politicians and not suspect that an irrational perpetuation of the pandemic is, possibly, very rational depending on which layer of the onion it serves?

    https://lockdownsceptics.org/lies-damned-lies-and-health-statistics-the-deadly-danger-of-false-positives/

    • Not my take, but I meet otherwise reasonable people every week who believe that PT’s actions have caused the virus to spread, ineptly endangering Americans. These people can’t wait to vote him out. Specifically, what bothers them (teacher, attorney, medical office manager) is the lack of consistency around mask-wearing to mitigate spread.

      Sometimes I think that PT gets fed false information to make him look bad.

      • I’m sure that’s true. Also that over time people don’t know what correct information is, or that it changes as they learn more. Its an impossible position.

      • Infectious disease specialists figured aerosol transmission from the get-go. They couldn’t determine relative particle size or the R-naught till more info was available [outside the PRC], but aerosol was a safe bet.

        It surprised everyone that WHO, CDC guidelines zeroed in on fomites, rejecting the collective wisdom of the ISFID “informal community”.

        Who figured ~ be on the safe side, while data on morbidity/mortality remain a mystery ~ treat it like Ebola ~ hide, emerge with full hazmat only

        Aerosols are scary: they elicit primitive responses to unseen threats that are probably encoded in our DNA. People panic, and that’s dangerous: witches, jews-poisoning wells, china-bioweapons, what-have-you.

        Public health functionaries seek to control the people, only indirectly and secondarily the disease circulating amongst them.

        Discourage witch-&-jew burning, toilet-paper hoarding, Dow crashing.

        So they withheld the potential air-you-breathe info to prevent panic. Respirator-masks were simply unavailable and impractical to recommend to the general public.

        Messaging on masks has been about ratcheting up or down compliance to authority. Authority that’s ever more detached from legitimacy.

    • How can that be? President Xi just said:

      WATCH: China President Xi’s full speech at U.N. General Assembly
      PBS NewsHour – September 22, 2020

    • Corrupt MSM, the propaganda arm of Corporate Global. The faucet or pipe from the Sewer/Swamp.
      Like boiling frogs, we didn’t realize it till we were cooked.

  6. Trump calls COVID-19 the ‘chinavirus’ at 75th annual UNGA

    The US President Donald Trump has attacked China during his pre-recorded remarks during the 75th annual United Nations General Assembly, calling the country the source of the coronavirus scourge.

  7. I posted a comment this morning around 6am and I see it has been removed. Has anyone else had that happen to them? Maybe something went wrong on my end or I broke a rule?

    • I have not removed any comments today or in the recent past from anyone.
      Some addresses don’t get through and if you change your name on every post the firewall might stop you if its teh same IP as other names.

      • Thanks vlad, I thought it must be my end. I use the same name everytime. It showed it posted this morn after I hit “post comment”. Can it be pulled by whoever over sees or runs the website you use? (wordpress is what I mean) I’ll try again later.

        • I had to sort it out on the wordpress site, needed to confirm old comments I guess. A few tests worked. Thanks again vlad for the info.

  8. Washington Post – Secret CIA assessment: Putin ‘probably directing’ influence operation to denigrate Biden

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top aides are “probably directing” a Russian foreign influence operation to interfere in the 2020 presidential election against former vice president Joe Biden, which involves a prominent Ukrainian lawmaker connected to President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, a top-secret CIA assessment concluded, according to two sources who reviewed it.

    On Aug. 31, the CIA published an assessment of Russian efforts to interfere in the November election in an internal, highly classified report called the CIA Worldwide Intelligence Review, the sources said. CIA analysts compiled the assessment with input from the National Security Agency and the FBI, based on several dozen pieces of information gleaned from public, unclassified and classified intelligence sources. The assessment includes details of the CIA’s analysis of the activities of Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach to disseminate disparaging information about Biden inside the United States through lobbyists, Congress, the media and contacts with figures close to the president.

    “We assess that President Vladimir Putin and the senior most Russian officials are aware of and probably directing Russia’s influence operations aimed at denigrating the former U.S. Vice President, supporting the U.S. president and fueling public discord ahead of the U.S. election in November,” the first line of the document says, according to the sources.

    The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Treasury Department have identified Derkach as a Russian agent, but it has not been publicly reported that the CIA, NSA and FBI believed Putin may be personally directing the campaign. Derkach has denied working on behalf of Moscow.

    The CIA assessment described Derkach’s efforts in detail and said that his activities have included working through lobbyists, members of Congress and U.S. media organizations to disseminate and amplify his anti-Biden information. Though it refers to Derkach’s interactions with a “prominent” person connected to the Trump campaign, the analysis does not identify the person. Giuliani, who has been working with Derkach publicly for several months, is not named in the assessment.

    The CIA, NSA and FBI all declined to comment, but none of the three agencies disputed any of the details of this reporting. Details about the intelligence used to form the assessment have been withheld at the agencies’ request to protect sources and methods. The White House also declined to comment.

    On Sept. 10, following calls from Democratic lawmakers, the Treasury Department sanctioned Derkach, alleging that he “has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services.” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a Sept. 10 statement that “Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world.” The Treasury Department stated Derkach “waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election,” which he did by releasing edited audio tapes and other unsupported information that were then pushed in Western media.

    On Aug. 7, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a statement from National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina that named Derkach as part of a Russian effort to “denigrate” Biden by “spreading claims about corruption — including through publicizing leaked phone calls — to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party.

    Last week, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray referred to Evanina’s statement in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee without referring to Derkach by name. Wray said the FBI was tracking “very active efforts” by Russia “to both sow divisiveness and discord, and I think the intelligence community has assessed this publicly, primarily to denigrate Vice President Biden.”

    Trump responded to Wray by saying he was bothered the FBI director didn’t talk about China’s interference. ODNI has also reported that China and Iran are attempting to interfere in the U.S. political process. Trump has also personally promoted the anti-Biden information Derkach is peddling. On Aug. 18, Trump retweeted a since-banned Twitter user who posted part of a purported 2016 audio tape Derkach released this year of Biden speaking with then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

    The tapes Derkach released appear to show Biden linking loan guarantees to the ouster of then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin, who was accused of corruption. Giuliani, who met with Derkach in Kiev in December and in New York this year, has claimed the tapes show Biden was working to protect his son Hunter, who at the time was on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma. The released tapes show no such connection.

    Giuliani has admitted Derkach provided him materials as part of Giuliani’s quest to prove wrongdoing by the Bidens and his contention that the Ukrainian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election on the side of the Democrats, including by sharing evidence of corruption implicating Trump’s second 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Manafort was later convicted of tax and bank fraud related to his Ukraine work. Derkach published some of these materials on a public website he created.

    Derkach told Politico in July that he passed along packets of materials to several lawmakers and White House officials. He said he notified Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) about the material. Johnson, Grassley and Graham have denied they received information from Derkach. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has declined to comment on whether he received materials from Derkach. Democratic leaders wrote to Wray in July to demand a briefing based on concerns that members of Congress were being used to launder information as part of a foreign interference operation.

    Johnson has launched an investigation into Biden and Burisma, the results of which could be released as early as this week. The State Department provided Johnson with more than 16,000 pages of information for his investigation months ago, but only shared those documents with Congress on Friday, following a subpoena by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.).

    After meeting with Derkach in December, in the middle of Trump’s impeachment proceedings, Giuliani tweeted that U.S. aid to Ukraine might face a “major obstacle” if the Ukrainian government didn’t resolve his concerns about corruption. Giuliani and Derkach’s allegations against Biden were covered extensively by the One America News Network, which sent a correspondent with Giuliani to Kiev. In February, Giuliani interviewed Derkach on YouTube, where Derkach alleged that U.S. aid to Ukraine was misspent.

    Even though Derkach is a former member of a pro-Russian party who attended the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow, Giuliani has consistently defended his relationship with Derkach. Following the Treasury Department’s announcement sanctioning Derkach, Giuliani told the New York Times he had “no reason to believe [Derkach] is a Russian agent,” but added, “How the hell would I know?”

    Engel told me he is not surprised to learn that parts of the intelligence community have concluded Putin is directly trying to help Trump’s election campaign, again. But he called on the administration to publicly release these findings.

    “What’s most infuriating is that the administration seems to be doing everything it can to hide the facts from Congress and the American people,” he said. “The president seems to be trying to turn the entire executive branch into an arm of his reelection campaign, dangerously politicizing foreign policy and intelligence.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/22/secret-cia-assessment-putin-probably-directing-influence-operation-denigrate-biden/

    • ~ denigrate denigrate denigrate ~
      Do they figure they'll get the BLACK Vote?
      Will my commuter get cooties-by-proxy for reading a WaPoo-sourced article?!

  9. Italian Football Referee De Santis and His Fiancee Stabbed to Death in Their House (sputniknews, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/europe/202009221080533283-italian-football-referee-de-santis-and-his-fiancee-stabbed-to-death-in-their-house/

    “De Santis, who became a referee in 2017, worked during 130 matches in Serie D and Serie C (the fourth and the third divisions of Italian football).

    Referee Daniele De Santis and his fiancee Eleonora Manta were stabbed to death in their house in Lecce, Italy, La Reppublica newspaper reported on Monday. According to preliminary reports, several people witnessed a man running from the site of the incident with a knife.

    “I am shocked by this tragedy”, the head of the Italian referee association Marcello Nicchi told Gazzetta. “We still know very little about the case. The thing I can say is that we are in close contact with the family and with all the people in the section [of the association].”
    The police have already launched an investigation, but there has not been any official statement about the identity of the suspect.”

  10. Leftists Protest New Migrant Camps – Want Even More Generous Housing for Illegals (breitbart, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/22/leftists-protest-new-migrant-camps-want-illegals-get-more-generous-housing/

    “Leftist campaigners protest plans to establish migrant camps in Wales — because they want them to receive more luxurious housing, free education, and paying jobs instead.

    The Penally Army Centre near the village of Tenby is one of several sites where the government is looking at establishing open accommodation for migrants as they continue to stream across the English Channel in unprecedented numbers, as the current practice of housing them well-appointed hotels becomes increasingly controversial.

    Of the proposed Penally camp, BBC Wales reported on September 15th that they had “been told all 250 asylum seekers would be men and would be free to move around the area while their claims are dealt with.”

    This has caused some concern among residents, but a recent protest by the so-called Stand Up to Racism West Wales campaign centred not on the potential impact on local people or the government’s failure to halt the Channel crisis — but on the fact that the camp accommodation is not generous enough to migrants.

    “We believe that refugees should be treated with the dignity that they deserve and offered decent housing, education and jobs,” the leftist campaign declared in a public statement.

    “Forcing people into military bases and camps to live a ‘living hell’ is degrading, dangerous and potentially disastrous,” they said — a description of barracks accommodation which may raise eyebrows among military servicemen and veterans, who were or are expected to submit to under military discipline and without the conveniences or freedom to come and go as they please which will be extended to migrants.

    The Labour-led Welsh government — roughly equivalent to a U.S. state executive, but where the “governor” (first minister) is selected by the regional legislature rather than the public — also complained that the central government “didn’t consult the local community, local services or us about their plans to use a military base in Wales for asylum seekers.”

    While this appeared to be a tacit acknowledgement of local people’s concern, even anger at the prospect of large numbers of idle young males being deposited in their communities, the left-wing executive went on the say that “We believe people fleeing war and conflict deserve the best possible start in a new country. We must do better.”

    This suggests that their issues with the planned migrant camps are closer to those of Stand Up to Racism, and that they still want to take migrants but give them even more generous treatment.”

  11. ‘I’d Rather Gouge My Eyes Out’: Dozens of Tory MPs Reject Unconscious Bias Training: Report (breitbart, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/22/dozens-conservative-mps-will-reject-unconscious-bias-training-report/

    “Some 40 Conservative MPs are reportedly planning to refuse to take Black Lives Matter-inspired ‘unconscious bias training’, while reports claim that parliamentary staff have been encouraged to make confessionals about their “privilege”.

    The rebels are said to come from the eurosceptic European Research Group (ERG) and the “Common Sense Group” of MPs who accuse the House of Commons authorities of pandering to a far-left agenda.

    “I would really rather gouge my eyes out with a blunt stick than sit through that Marxist, snake oil crap,” said one, according to a Monday report in The Times.

    Ben Bradley was the first Conservative MP to publicly break ranks, writing last week that he would refuse to do the ‘Value Everyone Training’, a voluntary course in exposing and addressing alleged ‘unconscious bias’, a fashionable turn of phrase that has taken root in mainstream politics following months of destructive protests and pressure from the far-left Black Lives Matter.

    Mr Bradley is known for his outspoken views on progressive ideology, having previously challenged the existence of “white male privilege” and cancelled his BBC television licence after it promoted a podcast that was racist towards white women. He was quoted in The Times as saying that the course would perpetuate “the kind of nonsense language that we keep hearing around things like the Black Lives Matter agenda”.

    He was joined by Tom Hunt MP, who said: “Whoever is pushing this forward now is trying to pander to the woke agenda — I won’t be. I don’t think the vast majority of my constituents would want me to waste two hours on a pointless unconscious bias session that will have no effectiveness whatsoever.”

    “It would be far better to spend time helping constituents than be lectured by someone who’s being paid a lot of money to tell you you’re an awful human being,” said MP Alexander Stafford.

    Meanwhile, The Telegraph reported on Sunday that white parliamentary staff are being encouraged to “acknowledge their privilege” and “internalised racism” on an internal online work message board which was set up following the Black Lives Matter protests.

    One such message seen by the newspaper said that “as a white woman I acknowledge my privilege and continue to educate myself”.

    “I am a white man and from that privileged position I now see that I can’t ever fully understand the relentless impact of racism,” another message read.

    Another woman felt the need to confess: “I am a white, privately educated, middle-class female.”

    Other critical race theory-inspired material was shared on the digital wall, including a “pyramid of white supremacy”, which included remarks that pointed to racism such as that “we all belong to the human race”.

    “Lynching” and “genocide” were at the apex of the pyramid, with staying “apolitical” was at the bottom — echoing the BLM belief that “silence is violence” and equal to condoning racism.”

  12. All this COVID news, some news stories get lost in the shuffle.

    Kitchener South / Hespeler, Ontario MP Marian Tabbaras, 35, whose name used to be thrown around – – he would make a great “ Justice Minister “,was arrested back in early April, in Guelph, Ontario. He spent Easter weekend in jail, charged with assault, break and entering to commit an indictable offence and criminal harassment.

    Once the charges were public knowledge:

    Sometime in June, 2020, Deputy PM, Chrystia Freeland said she was “disappointed” that the liberal party wasn’t informed by Marwan Tabbara, that he was facing several criminal charges after investigations and allegations of sexual assault.

    Tabbara “stepped back” from caucus 2 month After his arrest.

    The CBC, yes the CBC reported the alleged victim, a woman, reported harassment to the party a number of times in 2015. Senior officials in both the Party and the Government were aware of these claims.

    Next court date, Friday, September 25th.

  13. UN agencies urge “fresh start” for EU’s failed asylum policy (abcnews, Sep 22, 2020?
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/agencies-urge-fresh-start-eus-failed-asylum-policy-73167401

    “Two U.N. agencies on Tuesday appealed to the European Union to set aside years of divisive debate over the best way to manage migrants and refugees and make a “fresh start,” as Brussels prepares to unveil a major overhaul of Europe’s failed asylum system…”

  14. Pakistan says Afghan cross-border fire kills soldier (abcnews, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pakistan-afghan-cross-border-fire-kills-soldier-73163028

    “Pakistan’s military on Tuesday said a soldier was killed in the country’s northwest by fire from across the Afghan border, a sign of increasing violence in an area that until recent years served as a base for Pakistani and foreign militants.

    The attack late Monday hit a border security post in Bajur district, a former tribal region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The military statement said the shooting came from the Afghan side of the frontier and provided no further details.

    The brief statement said Pakistan “has been consistently raising the issue for border management on other side to avoid use of Afghanistan soil against Pakistan.”

    The two sides often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along the porous frontier, which stretches 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) across rugged mountainous terrain…”

  15. europravda – EU migration chief vows new pact will stop overcrowded refugee camps

    Euronews spoke to the EU’s home affairs chief, Ylva Johansson, ahead of a new migration pact being announced on Wednesday.

  16. Extremist violence causes food shortages in north Mozambique (abcnews, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/extremist-violence-food-shortages-north-mozambique-73165812

    “The escalating extremist insurgency in northern Mozambique has displaced 310,000 people, creating an urgent humanitarian crisis, the World Food Program said Tuesday.

    The rebels have recently stepped up attacks in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province, seizing the strategic port of Mocimboa da Praia, which they have held for six weeks. Clashes between the extremist fighters, aligned with the Islamic State group, and government forces have caused massive numbers of local residents to flee their homes and fields.

    The conflict has killed more than 1,500 people since it began in 2017 and the increased violence this year has caused widespread upheaval across the area.

    “We are deeply concerned about the unfolding humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado where conflict and violence have left people without access to food and livelihoods,” Antonella D’Aprile, the World Food Program’s representative for Mozambique, said Tuesday.

    “The growing insecurity and poor infrastructure have meant that reaching out to people in need has become harder and now with COVID-19 the crisis becomes even more complex,” she said.

    The threat of hunger has grown in Mozambique’s north as entire communities have lost access to food and income, warns WFP. Crisis levels of food insecurity are expected to continue into next year, according to the region’s Famine Early Warning Network.

    Cabo Delgado province already had Mozambique’s second-highest rate of chronic malnutrition with more than half of children under 5 chronically malnourished and any additional shocks could rapidly worsen the situation, especially for women and children, said WFP.

    “The situation is extremely volatile and dangerous, but we managed to locate large numbers of the displaced and distribute food to about 200,000 people last month. We hope to reach close to 300,000 people this month,” Lola Castro, WFP’s director for southern Africa told The Associated Press. “Families have lost everything and need food urgently.”

    Many communities have fled to small islands along Mozambique’s Indian Ocean coast and others have gone to remote inland areas. WFP is working with Mozambique’s government and other aid agencies to get food and supplies the displaced using boats and trucks and soon it hopes that airplanes and helicopters will be available, said Castro.

    Such a large-scale emergency operation was not in the budget and WFP is appealing to its donors for funds to keep delivering food to the hungry.

    “We need $4.7 million per month to feed the most vulnerable,” said Castro. “We need the funds to purchase food for distribution.”

    Access and communication have been cut off to the area surrounding the rebel-held port of Mocimboa da Praia and surrounding towns, including Palma, she said. United Nations security teams are trying to open communications with the rebels in order to negotiate access to hungry communities, she said.

    Atrocities have been committed by both the rebels and government forces, according to human rights groups, but WFP’s workers and operations have not been targeted.

    Amnesty International has released videos in the past month that appear to show government troops torturing and killing several people in northern Mozambique. One video showed troops shooting a woman in the back more than 30 times and another showed a uniformed man killing a civilian by cutting his throat. The government denied the videos are genuine, Amnesty insisted that its analysis of the videos shows that government troops carried out the violent abuses.

    Although hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, there are not massive camps of displaced people. Instead, many of the displaced have been taken in by local residents in safer areas, said Castro.

    “We are seeing poor families opening their homes and their meager resources to help the displaced,” said Castro. “It is quite remarkable how these people, who have so little themselves, can offer such hospitality. Everybody is sharing what little food they have. When we see such generosity, it is a responsibility for us to help them all.””

  17. (Richard: JE is on a roll, this is another one that is well worth the time it takes to read it. She lays out why we must push forward with the nomination and fight for our freedom. She also spells out why any type of a deal with the Dems is worthless. She correctly states that we aren’t gong into a revolution we are in a revolution. She doesn’t say that the kinetic phase of the revolution is about to increase into open warfare on hte streets of the big cities. Probably because she doesn’t think this warning is necessary.)

    The day after Trump’s full Iran ‘deal’ reversal, new ‘Iran deal’ proposed — on Supreme Court
    By J.E. Dyer September 22, 2020

    e noted it on Saturday evening when the Trump administration announced that full sanctions on Iran were being reimposed, effective immediately. The timing was 19 September 2020 at 8:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time in the United States, which translates to midnight – the beginning of Sunday, 20 September – on the Universal Time clock (what is traditionally known as Greenwich Mean Time, or “Zulu” time).

    The Trump State Department, under Mike Pompeo, wanted it to be clear we were losing no time. Sanctions were back, in the first minute after midnight on the promised day of 20 September. The sanctions-lifting granted by Obama under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of 2015 was dead.

    As President Trump has been saying since 2015, that’s because the JCPOA is a lousy “deal.” All it ever did was allow every aspect of Iran’s nuclear program to continue, by protecting it from both sanctions and military interdiction. The JCPOA constrained us – the United States, and to some extent Israel – in meaningful ways. It did not constrain or restrain Iran in any way the Iranian regime couldn’t get around.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/09/22/the-day-after-trumps-full-iran-deal-reversal-new-iran-deal-proposed-on-supreme-court/

    • Democrats likely to pack Supreme Court if they take power
      By Hans Bader September 21, 2020

      Democrats are likely to pack the Supreme Court with progressives when they take power, by expanding the size of the Supreme Court. That’s true regardless of whether President Trump manages to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court created by the recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

      As NPR notes, even before Justice Ginsburg’s death, several Democratic Senators “said they were open to the idea” of packing the Supreme Court, “including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kamala Harris of California, now the vice presidential nominee.”

      In 2016, progressives argued that the Senate has a duty to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court, and that its refusal to confirm President Obama’s nominee was a reason for Democrats to pack the Court in the future. Now, they argue that the Senate has a duty to keep Justice Ginsburg’s seat vacant, and that filling it would be yet another reason to pack the Supreme Court.

      The NPR story quotes progressive academics making both of these inconsistent arguments simultaneously:

      https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/09/21/democrats-likely-to-pack-supreme-court-if-they-take-power/

      (Richard: If they take over it is likely that they will do this no matter what happens with the nomination to fill RBG’s seat.)

  18. DAILY MAIL –Backlash over PM’s SIX MONTHS of curbs: Tories and businesses warn Boris will ‘destroy jobs and personal wellbeing’ as he brings in army to help enforce sweeping new rules to send UK back to WFH, roll out 10pm pub curfews and fine mask flouters £200

    Prime Minister Boris Johnson today unveiled his latest proposals to crackdown on the spread of coronavirus
    Mr Johnson held Cobra meeting this morning and then set out plans in a statement in the House of Commons
    Prime Minister is imposing a 10pm curfew on all pubs, bars and restaurants in England from this Thursday
    Also ditching Government’s back to work drive with ministers now encouraging people to work from home
    Mr Johnson said police will now be able to draw on military support to boost enforcement of Covid rules
    Fines for breaking rule of six and for failing to wear a face covering in mandatory settings increased to £200

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8759693/Boris-Johnson-announces-new-measures-tackle-spread-coronavirus.html

  19. DAILY MAIL –Nicola Sturgeon BANS Scots from visiting each other in their own homes from TOMORROW as she reintroduces a tougher lockdown than Boris Johnson has put in place in England

    Scots will be banned from visiting each other in their own homes from tomorrow, Nicola Sturgeon said today as she reintroduced stringent lockdown rules.

    The First Minister said that a ‘high proportion’ of new cases in the country were linked to transmission within private homes where social distancing and ventilation were more difficult than outdoors or public buildings.

    She spoke to MSPs at Holyrood minutes after Boris Johnson has unveiled new lockdown measures in England, saying that his steps did not go far enough and her advice was that it ‘will not be sufficient to bring the R number down’ north of the border.

    Addressing reports that measures in Scotland could be in place for up to six months, the First Minister said she hoped that would not be the case.

    She told MSPs: ‘It is certainly the case, until scientific developments such as a vaccine change the game in the battle against Covid-19, it will have an impact on our lives.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8760239/Nicola-Sturgeon-BANS-Scots-visiting-homes-TOMORROW.html

  20. Coronavirus pandemic: 156 nations join WHO-led global plan for vaccine, US and China absent

    A total of 156 countries have joined the global COVAX scheme intended to ensure fair distribution of supplies of future vaccines against Covid-19, an alliance led by the World Health Organization said on Monday.

    • DAILY MAIL _ Professor Lockdown stands by doomsday forecast that sent Britain into lockdown: Warning of half a million deaths was an ‘underestimate’, admits Neil Ferguson

      Professor Neil Ferguson was a member of SAGE until dramatic resignation in May
      Imperial College epidemiologist said he was not in favour of lockdown to begin
      Original prediction of 510,000 UK deaths didn’t account for hospital overload

      One of Britain’s top Covid-19 experts has stood by his prediction that half a million people could have died without a lockdown.

      Professor Neil Ferguson, a former adviser to the Government before he resigned after breaking lockdown rules to meet his married lover, said his early model was actually an ‘underestimate’.

      Work he produced alongside colleagues at Imperial College London suggested that if no action was taken to slow down coronavirus, at least 510,000 people could have died.

      https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8759609/Professor-Lockdown-stands-doomsday-forecast-sent-Britain-lockdown.html

    • Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on why they ignored Prof. Neil Ferguson’s model

    • Andrew Neil interviews Anders Tegnell – a second wave and what Sweden got right | SpectatorTV

      ( 22min 48 )

      Andrew Neil interviews Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist. He asks what the country has got right in its response to coronavirus, whether a second wave is coming, and if the UK can learn from his approach.

  21. Chinese virologist Li-Meng Yan speaks to WION’s Palki Sharma Upadhyay | Wuhan Whistleblower | WION

  22. Democrats Promise Retaliation if Trump Fills Ginsburg Seat;Japan’s Direction With Presidential Shift

  23. SEPTEMBER 22 2020 – Ayn Qana – LEBANON
    =========================================
    Video of Explosion in South #Lebanon at this hour, in town of Ayn Qana.

    Early reports indicating gas station but now pointing to Hezbollah weapons depot:

    https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/status/1308394748659593222

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

    WATCH: A Hezbollah weapon warehouse just exploded in Southern Lebanon.

    They claimed it was a gas station. Yeah right. Even Lebanese people don’t buy these lies. Hezbollah Lebanon

    https://twitter.com/HananyaNaftali/status/1308406670909943814

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

    South Lebanon explosion in Ain Qana was at a Hezbollah arms depot, caused by technical error.

    At least 4 dead.

    https://twitter.com/LebaneseProblem/status/1308400467911770117

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

  24. Man Disguised in Islamic Veil Opens Fire on Paris Street (breitbart, Sep 22, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/09/22/man-disguised-islamic-veil-opens-fire-paris-street/

    “A man disguised in an Islamic hijab opened fire on the streets of Paris’s 12th arrondissement on Friday evening, in which investigators believe was a targetted attack.

    The attack took place in the Lachambeaudie Square just before 10 pm and saw a man in a hijab run across the square while carrying a revolver pistol and opening fire several times before running away from the area.

    While no one was injured, several bullets ended up in various shops located in the square including a shisha bar and a pub. One bullet was lodged in the metal shutter of a tobacconist, which had just closed for the day, Le Parisien reports.

    Witnesses to the shooting said the man hid his face using an Islamic veil and a local cafe manager said people panicked after the shots, running in all directions.

    Investigators say that after looking at CCTV footage, they have determined that the attacker was not firing at random and that he was targetting someone specifically. The man targetted by the shooter had not spoken with police at the time of the report.

    Investigators think that the attack was a gang-related settling of accounts as a similar case took place in the 11th arrondissement just days prior in which two men had shot another man several times. In both cases, the shooters fled on scooters.

    The use of the Islamic veil as a disguise for criminals has not been limited to France. There have been cases of terrorists in Afghanistan using it as a disguise as well as in the UK in 2007 when Yassin Omar wore a full-face veil the day after he attempted to bomb the London Underground as he escaped the city.

    While France has banned the full-face Islamic veil for a decade, Senator Jacqueline Eustache-Brinio, the author of a report on radical Islam released this year, said that many neighbourhoods and areas of the country do not enforce the law.”

  25. Spain: Two arrested for inciting Christchurch-inspired attack

    Spanish Police arrested two people in Pobla de Cervoles, Lleida, and El Campello, Alicante, on September 11, for inciting hatred and calling for attacks inspired by the massacre that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, as seen in footage published on Tuesday.

    Police discovered the detainees were gathering an armed community of white racists, and posted messages on social media calling for a terrorist attack inspired by the 2019 Christchurch massacre in New Zealand.

    The two men are accused of the crimes of inciting hatred against various groups of foreigners and of glorifying racist terrorism, in what is considered the first investigation carried out in Spain for glorifying white supremacist terrorism.

  26. WION Dispatch: Taiwan president praises pilots who intercepted Chinese jets
    15,128 views
    •Sep 22, 2020

  27. Egypt’s Sisi committed to ridding Libya of militia, regional interference
    https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2020/09/23/egypt039s-sisi-committed-to-ridding-libya-of-militia-regional-interference

    “Egypt is committed to helping Libyans “rid their country of armed militias and terrorist organizations, and put an end to the blatant interference of some regional parties,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

    Libya descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since 2014, it has been split, with an internationally recognized government controlling the capital, Tripoli, and the northwest, while military leader Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi rules the east.

    Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey.”

  28. Russia Vows Military Cooperation With Iran After UN Arms Embargo Ends
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/09/22/russia-military-cooperation-iran/

    “Russia said Tuesday it will develop military cooperation with Tehran after a United Nations arms embargo on Iran expires next month, despite US efforts to block arms deals.

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this month that Washington would prevent Iran from purchasing Chinese tanks and Russian air defense systems as the UN arms embargo expiration approaches.

    “New opportunities will emerge in our cooperation with Iran after the special regime imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 expires on October 18,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, told the Interfax news agency. “The amount of this cooperation and the areas in which it will develop is a separate question,” he added.

    He said any agreements with Iran would have “nothing to do with the unlawful and illegal actions of the US administration, which is trying to intimidate the entire world.”

    The embargo on conventional arms shipments to Iran is set to expire next month after the United States failed to win support for a new UN resolution.

    The Trump administration says it is “snapping back” virtually all UN sanctions on Iran lifted under a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran negotiated by former President Barack Obama.

    Trump pulled out of the deal with fanfare in 2018, but Pompeo argues that the United States is still a “participant” in the deal — with the right to impose sanctions for violations.

    The legal argument has been rejected by almost the entire UN Security Council, with European allies of the United States saying the priority is to salvage a peaceful solution to Iran’s nuclear program.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in Moscow on Thursday.”

  29. Swiss Prosecutors Seek Prison for Qatar’s Al-Khelaifi, Valcke in FIFA Corruption Trial
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2523446/swiss-prosecutors-seek-prison-qatar%E2%80%99s-al-khelaifi-valcke-fifa-corruption-trial

    “Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday called for Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari president Nasser Al-Khelaifi and former FIFA number two Jerome Valcke to face prison for alleged corruption in the allocation of World Cup TV rights.

    The prosecution called for a 28-month sentence for Al-Khelaifi, who is also president of beIN Media, and three years for Valcke as their trial in the Swiss town of Bellinzona moved into its final days, the Swiss agency Keystone ATS reported.

    This is the first time prison sentences have been requested in a European court in trials relating to the multiple scandals in world football, although former officials from the Americas have received jail sentences in the United States.

    The Swiss Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona has been trying Valcke on two charges related to his quest for money to maintain what Federal Prosecutor Joel Pahud called a “spendthrift” lifestyle.

    Al-Khelaifi was included in the first charge. The public prosecutor’s office said Valcke sought the Qatari’s help in the summer of 2003 to buy a luxury villa in Sardinia, at a time when beIN, a Qatari-owned broadcaster, was negotiating the extension of its media rights in North Africa and the Middle East for the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

    The public prosecutor said Al-Khelaifi acquired the house for five million euros ($5.85 million), via a company that was transferred almost immediately to the brother of one of his close collaborators, before it was made available to Valcke.

    The two men said the deal was a “private” arrangement, unrelated to the contract concluded by beIN with FIFA in April 2014.”