Reader’s Links for December 25, 2020: Merry Christmas to all our readers

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

100 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 25, 2020: Merry Christmas to all our readers”

  1. “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”
    https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%209%3A1-2&version=NIV

    God of the Dead or God of the Living
    By what Authority are you forgiving?
    Was John a Prophet or merely a man?
    His Way is repentance, inner freedom of Man.
    https://biblehub.com/mark/12-30.htm

    Merry Christmas, and goodwill to all gnashing sinners of pride everywhere!

  2. https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/bowhunter-mountain-goat-alaska-world-record

    Call me a left-wing bleeding-heart communist-sympathizing pinko, but I do not get and have never gotten the logic behind this type of “trophy hunting”. I’ve never understood what gives people the right to go out and discover the most “magnificent” specimen they can of a particular species, then “harvest” the thing in the name of sportsmanship. I’m afraid it always looks like murder in the first degree to me. Animals are people with paws and hooves. And they always make it sound as if they’re doing the world a great service when they shoot “the most magnificent” leopard out of a tree just because it sets records and makes the hunters feel important. Like I said. I just don’t get it. It always looks like plain old murder to me – like something you should go to jail for doing…

    • Personally I feel the advantage of civilization is that animal husbandry makes hunting unnecessary and we can leave the rest of nature alone except where it represents a real threat.

      Here is a flip side.

      In Canada, if you suddenly see a lot of missing cat posters in a neighbourhood, there is a decent chance its because environment Canada decided to reintroduce Fishers to an area. Fishers will eat cats, small dogs and unattended babies.

      https://facesmag.ca/the-most-dangerous-animals-ever-spotted-in-ottawa/

      • What keeps the natural population of species in check if the predators have been restricted. Only hunting. Do you like seeing animals starve and suffer?
        Isn’t animal husbandry as cruel?

        • You beat me in posting about population control, left unchecked the population will grow to the point the animals are eating all of the ground cover including the food crops for man. They will get the point something like Mad Cow will set in and wipe out almost all if not all of the herd in the over populated areas. Hunting is the best way to keep the herd size down, and it doesn’t cost the government any money, in fact it brings money into the States that is they used to preserve other non game species.

          The hunters are doing more for the survival of all of the wild animals then the people who vilify them.

          • I don’t know about you but when I see a magnificent animal standing there in all its glory the first thing that pops into my head isn’t the desire to kill it. I know about all that population control stuff but I’m just saying I don’t get the urge to shoot a beautiful animal when I see it. I didn’t say anything else. I’m not putting down people who hunt. I’m just saying I honestly can’t understand why anyone would want to shoot an amazing wolf or elk just to get the trophy…

            I generally admire skilled hunters, though, and I eat meat like a beast…

            Merry Christmas, one and all…

            • You are a city boy, not a country boy in the country community hunting is still part of the culture and the desire is to be the best in your community. The large trophy rack is a sign that you are a good hunter, personally (when I was young enough to stand the weather during deer season) I wanted a younger animal with tender meat.

      • Outdoors cats are the no. 1 destroyers of the environment. Government confirms it. That is why many municipalities now prohibit outdoor cats.

        Cats: they kill up to 200,000 wild birds per year in Canada. When living in an ecosystem, they kill frogs, snakes… Their feces contaminate everything from creeks to soils. And they reproduce unchecked. I know people, always ladies, who feed packs of roaming cats.

        Cats are not native to our environment. The colonizers (settlers) introduced them.

        Thus, I don’t feel too bad about disappearing cats.

        I don’t hate cats. But they must be treated like dogs. They are indoor pets and must be walked on a leash.

          • I once had a bird named Freddie. We became pals. One day he escaped and flew outside. I thought he was a goner. I ran out and found him standing on the peak of the roof. I held out my hand and called his name. He flew back to my shoulder. I’ve liked birds ever since Freddie, so much so I won’t get another until the time is right.

            Cats are fine for cat people. Personally, I never saw much in them. Birds and dogs, though, are the cat’s meow!

            • Birds are loving.
              A parrot or myna, life-long bond. Cockatoos get jealous, attack a human rival. Acts as a duena for your daughter; boyfriend has to keep his distance.

              My mother’s myna went after her sheltie out of jealousy. Left a scar on his face, poor thing.

  3. Al Jazeera supports a Muslim Brotherhood-connected MP in dutch parliament:

    https://twitter.com/AJEnglish/status/1342064268284461064
    “We, the undersigned, reject the racist, Islamophobic attacks against Bouchallikht, a progressive MP candidate in the Netherlands.” — writes @MaliaBouattia
    , for #AJOpinion https://aje.io/vvq84

    GoV has an expose on this woman:
    https://gatesofvienna.net/2020/11/the-muslim-brotherhood-in-the-netherlands/

    The situation is actually much worse, she’s been photographed marching in a swastika-waving anti-Israel protest for example.

  4. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/12/how_islam_deified_tribalism.html

    How Islam deified tribalism
    By Raymond Ibrahim
    Aside from its religious veneer, Islam can easily be defined and understood by one wholly areligious word: tribalism — the bane of any democratic or pluralistic society.

    The fact is, the entire appeal of Muhammad’s call to the Arabs of his time lay in its compatibility with their tribal mores, three in particular: loyalty to one’s tribe, enmity for other tribes, and raids on the latter to enrich and empower the former.

    For seventh-century Arabs — and later tribal peoples, chiefly Turks and Tatars, who also found natural appeal in and converted to Islam — the tribe was what humanity is to modern people: to be part of it was to be treated humanely; to be outside it was to be treated inhumanely. This is no exaggeration: Muslim philosopher Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) described the Arabs of his time (let alone those from Muhammad’s more primitive era eight centuries earlier) as “the most savage human beings that exist. Compared with sedentary people they are on a level with wild, untamable animals and dumb beasts of prey. Such people are the Arabs.”

    Muhammad upheld the dichotomy of tribalism, but by prioritizing fellow Muslims over blood relatives. Thus, in his “Constitution of Medina,” he asserted that “a believer shall not slay a believer for the sake of an unbeliever, nor shall he aid an unbeliever against a believer.” Moreover, all Muslims were to become “friends one to the other to the exclusion of outsiders.”

    Hence, the umma — an Arabic word etymologically connected to the word “mother” and which signifies the Islamic “Super-Tribe” that transcends racial, national, and linguistic barriers — was born, and its natural enemy remained everyone outside it.

    The Islamic doctrine of al-wala’ wa’l-bara’ (“loyalty and enmity”), which Muhammad preached and the Koran commands, captures all this. The latter goes so far as to command all Muslims to “renounce” and “disown” their non-Muslim relatives — “even if they be their fathers, their sons, their brothers, or their nearest kindred” — and to feel only “enmity and hate” for them until they “believe in Allah alone” (Koran 58:22 and 60:4; see also 4:89, 4:144, 5:51, 5:54, 9:23, and 60:1). These verses are in reference to a number of Muhammad’s close companions, who renounced and eventually slaughtered their own non-Muslim relatives as a show of their loyalty to Allah and the believers. One slew his father, another his brother. A third — Abu Bakr, the first caliph — tried to slay his son, and Omar, the second caliph, slaughtered several relatives. (For more, see the nearly sixty-page treatise “Loyalty and Enmity” in The Al Qaeda Reader.)

    Hence, the jihad was born. As only two tribes existed — the Islamic umma in one tent and the dehumanized tribes of the world in another — Muslims were exhorted to attack and subjugate all these “infidels” in order to make their Super-Tribe supreme.

    In short, tribalistic blood ties were exchanged for religious — that is, Islamic — ties.

    This dichotomized worldview remains enshrined in Islamic law’s, or sharia’s, mandate that Dar al-Islam (the “Abode of Islam”) must battle Dar al-Kufr (the “Abode of Infidelity”) in perpetuity until the former subsumes the latter.

    It also explains why tribal societies other than the Arabs also gravitated to and found Islam appealing.

    For example, in the Turks’ oldest epic, The Book of Dede Korkut (based on oral traditions), the newly converted Turkic tribes engage in pagan practices either frowned on or banned by Islam: they eat horse meat and drink wine and other fermented drinks; and their women are, in comparison to Muslim women, relatively free. Only in the context of raids on the “infidel”—which comes to replace “tribal outsider”—are echoes of Islam evident in their lives. “I shall raid the bloody infidels’ land, I shall cut off heads and spill blood, I shall make the infidel vomit blood, I shall bring back slaves and slave-girls” is a typical pre-battle boast. “They destroyed the infidels’ church, they killed its priests and made a mosque in its place. They had the call to prayer proclaimed, they had the invocation [or shahada] recited in the name of Allah Almighty. The best of the hunting-birds, the purest of stuffs, the loveliest of girls … they selected” is a typical account of these new Turkish converts’ pious exploits.

    Otherwise, Islam is absent from their lives. Although the Persian and Arab establishment was originally unimpressed by Turkish piety, they praised the new converts because they “fight in the way of Allah, waging jihad against the infidels” (which, then and now, always went a long way to exonerate otherwise un-Islamic behavior).

    It was the same for those Mongols who embraced Islam. As Ricoldo of Monte Croce (d. 1320) once observed, “the Tartars had adopted Islam because it was the easy religion, as Christianity was the hard one.” Whereas Islam complemented their preexisting tribal way of life, Christianity only challenged it.

    So it is that Muhammad’s most enduring contribution to world history is that, in repackaging the tribal mores of seventh-century Arabia through a theological paradigm, he also deified tribalism into a sort of hyper-tribalism, causing it to outlive its historic setting and dramatically spill into the modern era. Whereas many world civilizations have been able to slough off or at least temper their historic tribalism, for Muslims to break with tribalism is to break with Muhammad and his laws — to break with cardinal Islamic teachings.

    Hence the notorious resistance to assimilation in the West, the creation of enclaves and clannish no-go zones, the incessant subversive activities of groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR, and the sporadic flare-ups of terroristic activities and hate crimes.

  5. Merry Christmas to Vlad, Eeyore, and everybody who contributes to the site and comment section!

      • I’m always glad to see you, Sassy.
        We think alike on women. (So does our own Oz-Rita.)

        Your coverage of the Giles Jaunes was heroic. I would’ve been able to keep the faith if you didn’t keep bringing them here each week.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~
        To all, Merry Christmas!

  6. Nashville explosion: Huge blast rocks major US city – ‘Glass and steel everywhere’ (express, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1376728/nashville-explosion-police-latest-news-updates-tennessee

    “A MASSIVE explosion has rocked the US city of Nashville, with claims of “glass and steel everywhere” and reports that the building involved has since collapsed.

    Fire crews were called to 166 2nd Avenue North at 6.45am local time. WKRN reporter Elizabeth Lane tweeted: “Lots of first responders headed downtown. Not sure what’s going on.” Jason Steen, the Editor of @ScoopNash, posted: “Large explosion in downtown Nashville “heavy structural damage”.. evacuting lofts @ 2nd/Commerce – per Nashville Fire radio traffic – some walking out on their own – glass and steel ‘EVERYWHERE’.”

    He added: “A structure is on fire downtown – searching for victims ongoing – several people walked out of upper residences on their own.

    “Preparing for multi-casualty incident, triage being staged on-site.

    “Building is “devastated”, vehicles on road are burning, NFD is about to extinguish them with water from Engine 9 – most human injuries so far are non-life-threatening.”

    Mr Steen cited Nashville Fire Department as suggested between 20 and 30 people had been, with most human injuries so far are non-life-threatening.

    Several vehicles in the road were also on fire, he added.

    He suggested the building had collapsed as a result of the blast, with firefighters haveing retreated from the scene with all personnel accounted for.

    Mr Steen also posted that a branch of the Hooters restaurant chain in 2nd Avenue was also on fire.

    One user commented on Mr Steen’s Twitter feed: “We felt it waaay out in South Nashville, near OHB…. it was MASSIVE.”

    Another added: “We felt it in Mount Juliet.”

    An MFD statement said: “There is an incident involving an explosion. This is an active scene.

    “Metro Nashville Police Department and Nashville Fire Department are on the scene.

    “There are no additional details to provide at this time.”

    Metro Nashville Police Department

    Nashville, in the US state of Tennessee, is famous for being the centre of the country music scene.

    (THIS IS A BREAKING STORY – MORE TO FOLLOW)”

    • Police: Explosion in Nashville on Christmas Morning Was Intentional

      Katie PavlichKatie Pavlich| @KatiePavlich|Posted: Dec 25, 2020 10:25 AM

      Police: Explosion in Nashville on Christmas Morning Was Intentional
      An RV exploded in downtown Nashville Friday morning and after an initial investigation, local police say it was intentional. Beforehand, police saved lives by moving people out of the area after responding to the suspicious vehicle. The building where the RV exploded has been hollowed out. Federal law enforcement is on the scene and the FBI has taken the lead. President Trump has been briefed on the situation.

      A witness explained the scene to the Associated Press.

      Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background and cries of people in great distress ring in the background. A fire is visible in the street outside. McCoy said the windows of his home were entirely blown out.

      “All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would have been horrible,” he said.

      “It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he told The Associated Press.

      “There were about four cars on fire. I don’t know if it was so hot they just caught on fire, and the trees were all blown apart,” he said.

      The explosion severely damaged surrounding buildings. At least three people were taken to a local hospital.

      This post has been updated with additional information.

    • Why am I thinking ANTIFA?
      It is not Islamic because no Infidels were targeted.
      The attack will be listed under White Extremist category.

      • We weren’t thinking Antifa when you wrote because all of the facts weren’t out then, the warning before the explosion is a fingerprint right out of the 1960s and 1970s terror campaigns in the US and Europe. This was a warning that if we don’t let Biden steal the election more attacks will follow. Antifa and their masters must think Trump has a good probably a real good chance of winning this fight or they wouldn’t have set off the bomb. If they though Biden has it locked they would have waited until after the inauguration when they would become the Stasi.

        No matter who is sworn in Antifa has shown what they are going to be doing.

      • Read the things I have posted below and on the thread about the explosion, the tactics are straight out of the Urban Guerrilla Warfare manual that was used by the Weather Underground in the 1960s. If Trump is sworn in this will be the first of many terror attacks, if Biden is sworn in Antifa becomes the Stasi.

  7. Man Spits at French Police Officers, Calls Them ‘Dirty Whites’ (breitbart, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/25/man-spits-french-police-officers-calls-them-dirty-whites/

    “A man in Montpellier, France, spat at police while claiming to have the Chinese coronavirus, calling the officers “dirty whites”.

    The incident took place at around 6:40 pm at the Comédie tram station on Sunday. Police were called to the location to investigate reports that a man was harassing passengers. When police arrived to determine if the suspect were intoxicated, he immediately became violent.

    The 31-year-old grabbed one of the officers by the neck and spat in the face of another while telling them he had coronavirus, Metropolitain reported this week.

    He then called the third officer a “dirty white man” and yelled at police that he was a member of the Kouachi family, referencing the two brothers who killed a dozen people at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in the January 2015 terror attack.

    After being brought into custody the man kept insisting his last name was Kouachi, but officers later identified him as he was already known to police. He also attempted to dismiss some of his comments as “humour”…”

  8. France Facing New Wave of Ultra-Conservative Migrants from Afghanistan (breitbart, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/25/france-facing-new-wave-ultra-conservative-migrants-afghanistan/

    “France faces a new wave of asylum seekers from Afghanistan, with many coming from conservative areas and some openly supporting groups like the Taliban.

    Over the last five years, the number of Afghans arriving in France has increased fivefold from just over 2,100 asylum seekers at the height of the migrant crisis in 2015 to nearly 10,000 reaching in the country last year.

    According to a report from Le Figaro, Afghan migrants made up 90 per cent of the 3,500 residents of a makeshift migrant camp in the north of Paris that authorities dismantled just weeks ago.

    “While waiting for their asylum application to be considered, or after a refusal, many traffic cigarettes or drugs in an attempt to meet their needs,” a police source told the French newspaper.

    While previously many of the Afghans coming to France were political refugees from urban areas, the latest migrants arriving are mostly Pashtuns from rural villages along the border with Pakistan, a Taliban stronghold area. Many are simply economic migrants, looking for a better life.

    According to researcher Karim Pakzad, the new migrants “are radicalised. They are imbued with a very conservative, very retrograde Islam, where violence against women is considered normal.”

    “They are often in favour of the Taliban. For them, it is unthinkable, for example, to caricature the Prophet Mohammed,” he added.

    The showing of cartoons of Mohammed was the cited motivation for the Chechen teen refugee, Abdoullakh Anzorov, to kill teacher Samuel Paty in October, beheading him in the street.

    Just weeks after Paty’s murder, an Afghan teen was indicted in Marseille after praising the terrorist attack, saying he would have done the same as the Chechen terrorist.

    “Thousands of Afghan refugees go from one country to another, living in hiding, with no hope of improving their situation. This way of life is a time bomb for France and Europe,” Mr Pakzad said.

    Afghan migrants have been involved in many violent crimes in France in recent years, including an incident in a suburb of Lyon last year when a 33-year-old Afghan man stabbed one person to death and injured nine others outside a subway station.

    Earlier this year, a 20-year-old Afghan man admitted to beating a pro-migrant activist to death while the 63-year-old was sleeping in his home.”

    • Afghan migrants are the absolute pits. From 2017:

      I’ve Worked with Refugees for Decades. Europe’s Afghan Crime Wave Is Mind-Boggling.
      Afghans stand out among the refugees committing crimes in Austria and elsewhere. Why?

      …[T]hey are motivated by a deep and abiding contempt for Western civilization.

      To them, Europeans are the enemy, and their women are legitimate spoils, as are all the other things one can take from them: housing, money, passports. Their laws don’t matter, their culture is uninteresting and, ultimately, their civilization is going to fall anyway to the horde of which one is the spearhead. No need to assimilate, or work hard, or try to build a decent life here for yourself—these Europeans are too soft to seriously punish you for a transgression, and their days are numbered.…

      http://nationalinterest.org/feature/ive-worked-refugees-decades-europes-afghan-crime-wave-mind-21506?page=show

  9. Explosion hits gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai, no casualties (abcnews, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/explosion-hits-gas-pipeline-egypts-sinai-casualties-74906188

    “An explosion at a key natural gas pipeline in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai Peninsula caused a fire but no human casualties, a senior official said.

    North Sinai Governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said the explosion took pace late Thursday in el-Arish, the provincial capital. In a statement, he said the explosion will not affect the pipeline’s supply to el-Arish’s residential areas or an industrial zone in central Sinai.

    An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the blast, Shousha said…”

  10. Afghan army: 2 officers killed by roadside bomb in north (abcnews, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghan-army-officers-killed-roadside-bomb-north-74906379

    “At least two Afghan army officers including a battalion commander were killed Friday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the northern Balkh province, the military said.

    Hanif Rezaie, a spokesman for the army in the country’s north, said Capt. Mohammad Qasim Paikar and another officer were killed and two other soldiers were wounded in the explosion, which took place between Balkh and Char Bolak districts.

    The attack was the latest amid relentless violence in Afghanistan even as Taliban and Afghan government negotiators hold talks in Qatar, trying to hammer out a peace deal that could put an end to decades of war…”

      • Ma Deuce, roughly 100 years in service and unless we manage to build the SF blaster it will remain in use for another 100 years. John Moses Browning was a real great gunsmith.

        The Browing 30 and 50 cal machine guns

        The BAR squad automatic weapon

        The 1911 hand gun

        Most of the design work on the Browning High Power, he died before he finished the design

        Quite a few shotguns and a bunch of rifles most of which never wen into production because Winchester was afraid to put them into productin.

  11. Lin Wood claims courts are compromised, explains why; Lawsuit to block 5 states’ electoral votes

    • https://news.walla.co.il/item/3407363&prev=search&pto=aue
      (google translate) Reports in Syria – At least six people killed in an Israeli attack in the center of the country -State television reported that echoes of explosions were heard in the Masyaf area, and the official news agency in Damascus attributed this to Israel. According to the Syrian Center for Human Rights, the operation attacked pro-Iranian militias near the Center for Scientific Research, using missiles launched from the Lebanese coast.

    • https://13news.co.il/item/news/politics/security/syria-1183270/
      (google translate) The official Syrian news agency reported last night (Friday) that Israel was attacking in the Masyaf area in the suburbs of Hamat, near Damascus. As a result, the air defense systems were activated and managed, according to the report, to intercept most of the Israeli missiles. At this stage it is not known what the purpose of the attack was and whether there were any casualties. The IDF did not respond to reports.

    • (continued from https://13news.co.il/item/news/politics/security/syria-1183270/ ) The Syrian Center for Human Rights reported that six people without Syrian citizenship were killed in the incident, but it is still unclear whether they are Revolutionary Guards soldiers or pro-Iranian militia operatives. There are also deaths with Syrian citizenship, with the death toll expected to rise, as there are many wounded in critical condition.

    • Lebanese media published video recordings of the moment the rockets were fired from the Israeli battleships, off the coast of Tripoli.
      It is not the first time that the Assad forces’ sites in Masyaf have been exposed to Israeli bombardment, but it is striking that the targeting today was carried out by Israeli battleships, not by the warplanes.
      Meanwhile, “The Associated Press” reported that Israeli planes flew very low over parts of Lebanon early Friday, terrifying residents on Christmas Eve, and some reported seeing missiles in the sky of Beirut.

      https://archive.is/wmipQ saved from article at https://www.alsouria.net/

      • (cont.) [Reads more like Israeli news, but this is a Syrian site.]
        The “Scientific Research” facility in Masyaf specializes in the installation of chemical weapons, long-range missiles and artillery shells.
        The Defense Laboratory of Operational Research is located near the village of “Deir Mama” in the outskirts of Masyaf. Its experts were previously from North Korea. However, since 2010 it has specialized in artillery manufacturing and has been working on research, and since that time it has been supervised by Iranian experts.

    • http://saidagate.com/Home/BlogDetails/27935 (The Syrian military intercepted all the missiles above Lebanon) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=180678307078725 (in Arabic, but it sounds like you can hear him trying to identify and count which plans are Israeli and which are Syrian.)

      https://twitter.com/basselaridi/status/1342241014904455172 (sound and video of missiles over Beirut)

      https://twitter.com/Ali04130086/status/1342242563005276165 [claims] We heard three strikes in Baalbek, where were they struck

    • Babak Taghvaee – The Air War @TheAirWar ·Dec 24

      #BREAKING: At-least six F-16D/Is of #Israel Air Force targeted factories which produce Ballistic missile parts for #Syria’s Ballistic Missile Production facilities in #Safita, #Tartous. They used Delilah cruise missiles which the #Syria Air Defense Force tried to shoot-down.

      Watch a 57E6-E interceptor missile launched by a Pantsir S1E of #Syria Air Defense Force getting self-destruct after failing to hit a Delilah cruise missile launched by the #Israeli F-16D/Is at #Safita’s outskirt, #Tartus.

      Watch the moment of launch of a surface-to-air missile by #Syria Arab Air Defense Force at the incoming Delilah cruise missiles of #Israel Air Force at #Safita’s outskirt, #Tartus minutes ago.

      Another victory achieved by #Israel Air Force at the Christmas night. The heart of #Syria’s Ballistic Missile Industry was targeted between #Safita & #Masyaf near #Tartus tonight. This video shows the facility burning after the Delilah cruise missiles hit it minutes ago.

      The first video that was released on social media about this airstrike of #Israel Air Force at #Masyaf shows participation of exactly four F-16D fighter jets of 109 “The Valley” Squadron from #RamatDavid. They launched their Delilah cruise missiles somewhere in east of #Beirut.

      Satellite images released by @ImageSatIntl prove that the #IsraeliAirForce’s airstrike at the #IRGC run Ballistic Missile Production Facility of #Syria in #Masyaf has been successful. Multiple installations for production of warheads & solid-fuel rocket motors are destroyed.

      https://twitter.com/TheAirWar/status/1342260088585805824

      • Heshmat Alavi @HeshmatAlavi
        #Syria’s state media reports Israeli airstrikes in central Hama province near the town of Masayaf

        The general area around Masyaf, which is also believed to have a major #Iran’ian presence, has reportedly been targeted by Israel many times in the past.

        Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in #Syria since 2011 against moves by #Iran to establish a permanent military presence in the country & efforts to transport advanced, game-changing weapons to terrorist groups in the region, principally Hezbollah.

        https://twitter.com/HeshmatAlavi/status/1342359467845971970

    • The police are reporting that the explosion was an intentional act.

      Was it an Islamic terrorist act?

      Antifa?

      Insurance related?

    • The explosion damaging the bars makes is sound like and Islamic act but it could be an insurance scam.

    • (Richard: This information is a game changer, I don’t remember any Islamic Terror attacks where a warning was given. I do remember a lot of left wing terror attacks in Europe and the US in the 60s and 70s where warnings were given. This warning probably means that this was an attack by one of the Dem militias trying to scare Congress, a warning to not accept and challenge or contest to the election. The problem is if you give in to an extortionist like this where and when are you going to stop giving in to extortion?.)

      Before Nashville Christmas Day Explosion: Police
      By Tom Ozimek
      December 25, 2020 Updated: December 25, 2020
      biggersmaller Print

      Nashville police were able to usher people to safety before an explosion rocked downtown Nashville on Christmas morning in what authorities are calling a deliberate act, while a warning message was broadcast urging people to evacuate moments before the blast.

      Officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department carried out door-to-door and apartment-to-apartment checks and managed to get people to safety shortly before the blast, according to statements made at a press conference.

      There was a loudspeaker warning people to clear the area before the massive blast, according to a Metro Nashville Police spokesperson and surveillance footage.

      “All buildings in this area must be evacuated now,” a voice could be heard in the video. “If you can hear this message, evacuate now,” the warning continued, before the blast occurred.

      https://www.theepochtimes.com/warning-message-broadcast-before-nashville-christmas-day-blast_3632650.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-25-3

    • (Richard: The actions here are straight out of the MO of the Weather Underground in the 1960s, early on they went out of their way to avoid injuring or killing anyone. Later on they were willing to kill police but still tried to avoid killing civilians. A probable recording of gunshots played loudly to wake people up and then the warning for 30 minutes or longer about the bomb telling people to evacuate.)

      Witnesses report hearing gunshots, warning before vehicle explosion in downtown Nashville

        • If I were a PRC operative, I would provide cell phones to those who want to destroy capitalism, maybe credit card numbers, and I would do so in a way that the recipient felt comfortable with–perhaps claiming to be from a failed candidate of some sort. If only Project Veritas could run a honey pot for this, but it seems as though it would be too dangerous.

  12. Biden Meddles with Donald Trump’s Middle East Legacy at his Peril
    Con Coughlin
    5-6 minutes

    President Trump’s Middle East legacy is not only impressive — it has completely redefined the landscape of the region from the chaos and conflict that prevailed when Mr Obama left office. Nowadays, the momentum in the region is moving towards peace, not conflict, as was so often the case during Mr Obama’s presidency. Pictured from left to right: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump, Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan at the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords at the White House on September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16866/biden-trump-middle-east

  13. French Interior Minister Calls for Heightened Security at Churches over Christmas (breitbart, Dec 25, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/25/french-interior-minister-calls-for-heightened-security-at-churches-over-christmas/

    “French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has called for significantly strengthened security measures to be enacted at churches across the country over the Christmas holiday.

    Darmenin made the request for extra security to the regional and departmental prefects across the country, saying in a memo that he wanted to see a “significant” strengthening of security measures, which will include soldiers as part of the anti-terror Operation Sentinel.

    “Thank you for ensuring maximum visible mobilization of our security forces in the immediate vicinity of churches and temples in this period of high risk of attack,” the minister wrote in a memo on Wednesday, French magazine L’Obs reports.

    Since the Nice church attack in October that saw three people murdered by a Tunisian illegal immigrant, France’s national security alert system, Vigipirate, has remained on its highest level and this will continue through the Christmas period.

    Minister Darmanin also called on the prefects to “identify the most sensitive sites, to know the places and times of the ceremonies and thus define the protective measures to be implemented in order to reassure Christians.”

    Since the start of the month, the previous 30-person limit for churches as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s coronavirus lockdown measures was lifted after the French Council of State said the measures were disproportionate, but some restrictions still remain in place, such as a requirement to separate families by at least two empty chairs between them.

    The restrictions were lifted following large protests at various churches around the country in November that saw hundreds gather, demanding to be allowed to engage in worship.

    Some priests went on to defy the restrictions with the archbishop of Lille Laurent Ulrich labelling the restrictions “arbitrary, discriminatory and unrealistic” and telling priests under him to welcome people to their churches.”

  14. Harsh Revenge for Assassination of Gen. Soleimani on Agenda: IRGC General
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/12/25/2417946/harsh-revenge-for-assassination-of-gen-soleimani-on-agenda-irgc-general

    “Deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Quds Force said a “harsh revenge” for the assassination of Lt. General Qassem Soleimani will be definitely taken, regardless of the two more slaps that the US would receive in the face for the murder.
    Speaking to reporters on Friday, Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi pointed to the recent remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei about the slaps that the US has received from Iran so far for the assassination of Lt. General Soleimani and the two more slaps it will get in future.

    The major funerals of Martyrs Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and the retaliatory missile attack on the US military base of Ain al-Assad were the two slaps that the US has receive in the face from Iran, the general noted, saying the next two slaps are the US’ software defeat in the region and the expulsion of American forces from the region.

    “Those are only slaps, while the harsh revenge will be taken,” General Hejazi added, warning those who ordered and perpetrated the assassination attack that the Islamic Republic decides how and when to take revenge according to the situation.

    In a meeting with the family of Gen. Soleimani on December 16, Ayatollah Khamenei paid tribute to the late commander as “a hero of the Iranian nation and the Islamic Ummah”, underlining that the “revenge will be taken on those who ordered the murder and those who carried it out”.

    “Of course, these severe slaps are different from taking revenge. Because revenge must be taken on those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who did it. And this revenge will certainly be taken at the right time; although, as a dear one said, ‘Soleimani’s shoe is more valuable than the head of his murderer’,” the Leader said…”

  15. Iranian Defense Minister Hopes for World Peace in Christmas Message
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2020/12/25/2417858/iranian-defense-minister-hopes-for-world-peace-in-christmas-message

    “Defense Minister of Iran Brigadier General Amir Hatami expressed hope for global peace and a world free from violence in a message to his foreign counterparts.

    In a message on Friday, Brigadier General Hatami congratulated his foreign counterparts in various countries on the birth anniversary of Jesus Christ (PBUH) and the beginning of the new Christian year of 2021.

    The Iranian defense minister also wished that the human community would get rid of the coronavirus pandemic.

    He further expressed hope that the teachings of the divine prophets would help promote justice, peace, and friendship and result in a world free from violence and terror.

    Christmas is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by millions of people around the world.”

  16. Arab Coalition Says Houthi Mine Hit Ship in Red Sea
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2703416/arab-coalition-says-houthi-mine-hit-ship-red-sea

    “The Saudi-led Arab coalition announced on Friday that a mine, planted by the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen, struck a commercial cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.

    In a statement, the coalition said the vessel suffered minor damage.

    No casualties were reported.

    The coalition noted that the terrorist Houthis have increased their planting of mines in the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait, warning that such acts are a threat to international marine navigation and shipping lanes.”

  17. Haftar Urges LNA to ‘Drive out’ Turkish Forces from Libya
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2703336/haftar-urges-lna-drive-out-turkish-forces-libya

    “Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Khalifa Haftar called on his fighters to “drive out” Turkish forces backing the Government of National Accord (GNA), as talks drag on to end long-running war in the oil-rich nation.

    “There will be no peace in the presence of a colonizer on our land,” Haftar said, in a speech to mark Libya’s 69th anniversary of its independence on Thursday.

    “We will therefore take up arms again to fashion our peace with our own hands… and, since Turkey rejects peace and opts for war, prepare to drive out the occupier by faith, will and weapons,” Haftar said.

    Turkey’s help with military advisers, materiel and mercenaries helped the GNA push back Haftar’s forces from the gates of Tripoli earlier this year.

    Haftar spoke after Ankara’s parliament this week adopted a motion extending the deployment of soldiers in Libya by 18 months.

    “Officers and soldiers, get ready”, Haftar said, calling out to hundreds of soldiers on parade in a military barracks in the eastern port city of Benghazi.

    A ceasefire signed in October under the aegis of the UN, and generally respected, has allowed the rival parties to return to the negotiating table.”

  18. Democrats Back Biden’s ‘Unconditional’ Return to Iran Nuclear Deal
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2702531/democrats-back-biden%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98unconditional%E2%80%99-return-iran-nuclear-deal

    “A letter backing President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to return to the Iran nuclear deal without any new conditions has garnered 150 signatures from House Democrats.

    “We strongly endorse your call for Iran to return to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States to rejoin the agreement, and subsequent follow-on negotiations” says the letter, which concluded its signature-gathering phase on Wednesday and is set to be sent to Biden.

    According to them, the diplomatic path endorsed by Biden to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is the most effective. They added that the nuclear deal provides the required framework to achieve this goal.

    Further, they suggested lifting some of the sanctions imposed on Iran.

    In their letter, the Democrats accused the Trump administration of failing to contain Iran’s destabilizing activities, which has in turn increased the threat of conflict erupting in the region.

    The lawmakers stressed that rejoining the nuclear deal would provide the required international support to exert pressure on Tehran.

    They noted that Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region, such as supporting terrorism, developing ballistic weapons, violating human rights and detaining political prisoners, are all matters that call for coordinated international diplomacy.

    The signatories include officials who enjoy close ties to Israel and the Israeli lobby in Washington (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which opposes the rejoining of the nuclear pact without wide amendments and strict conditions.”

  19. Erdogan Says Turkey Wants Better Ties with Israel
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2702971/erdogan-says-turkey-wants-better-ties-israel

    “President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turkey would like to have better ties with Israel, adding that talks at intelligence level continued between the two sides.

    The two countries have had a bitter falling out in recent years, despite strong commercial ties, expelling ambassadors in 2018. Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.

    “We are having issues with people at the top level,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul after Friday prayers.

    “If there were no issues at the top level, our ties could have been very different,” he said, adding that Israel’s policies on Palestine were “unacceptable”.”

  20. Saudi Arabia: 2,799 expat engineers with fake certificates face prosecution
    https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-arabia-2799-expat-engineers-with-fake-certificates-face-prosecution-1.76104441

    “Dubai: 2,799 expatriate engineers in Saudi Arabia are facing prosecution for forging their certificates, local media reported.

    Engineer Farhan Al Shammari, secretary-general of the Saudi Council of Engineers, said that expats from different nationalities are facing prosecution after their engineering and technical certificates were found to be forged. They will be referred to authorities concerned to taking legal action against them.

    He noted that the council has been working for years to track down unqualified cadres who hold forged certificates and illegally entered the engineering and technical professions. “This is in line with an advanced plan to eliminate those who practice the profession without the required qualifications in technical and professional jobs that needed the highest levels of credibility and quality,” Al Shammari said…”

  21. Boko Haram kills 11 in Christmas Eve attack
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/10/397547/World/Africa/Boko-Haram-kills–in-Christmas-Eve-attack.aspx

    “Boko Haram jihadists killed at least 11 people, burnt a church and seized a priest on Christmas Eve in Nigeria’s restive northeast, local sources told AFP Friday.
    Security agencies had in recent days warned of an increased risk of attack during the holiday season.

    Fighters in trucks and motorcycles stormed Pemi, a predominantly Christian village in Borno state Thursday, shooting “indiscriminately” and setting buildings on fire, said Abwaku Kabu, a militia leader.

    In many parts of Nigeria, communities have resorted to armed vigilantes or militias, who work alongside the army, for self-defence.

    “The terrorists killed seven people, burnt 10 homes and looted food supplies that were meant to be distributed to residents to celebrate Christmas,” Kabu said.

    “Four more dead bodies have been found in the nearby bushes by search and rescue volunteers,” local community leader Ayuba Alamson said Friday. “This has moved the death toll to 11.”

    The number of dead could rise as villagers fled to the bush and some people are still unaccounted for.

    The assailants, who drove from the group’s nearby Sambisa forest enclave, looted medical supplies from a hospital before setting it ablaze, the militia leader said, adding they also burnt a church and abducted a priest.

    The village is located only 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Chibok, where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls six years ago.

    In a separate raid on Thursday, gunmen attacked another Christian community in Garkida in the neighbouring Adamawa state, looting drug stores and food supplies before torching homes, residents told AFP.

    There were no reports of casualties.

    Nigeria’s security agency had earlier this week asked Nigerians “to be extra vigilant and report strange movements.”

    President Muhammadu Buhari in a statement Thursday “reiterated the promise of his administration to remain unyielding in confronting the Boko Haram insurgency as well as other forms of criminality.”

    The 78-year-old urged citizens to volunteer “intelligence/information on activities of armed bandits, insurgents and other criminal elements within their communities in order to put an end to this blight.”

    The decade-long conflict in Nigeria’s northeast has killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million from their homes, according to the United Nations.

    Violence has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting regional countries to form a military coalition to fight the jihadist groups.”

  22. Hafiz Saeed jailed for over 15 years in another case
    https://tribune.com.pk/story/2277365/hafiz-saeed-jailed-for-over-15-years-in-another-case

    “Convicted in yet another case, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced on Friday chief of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed to 15 years and six months imprisonment, according to Express.

    Besides sentencing Saeed, ATC Judge Ijaz Ahmed Buttar also handed down punishments to Hafiz Abdul Salam, Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Ashraf and Yahya Mujahid to 15 years and six-month imprisonment, whereas a six-month imprisonment was handed down to Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki.

    According to the details released by the proscribed outfit, those convicted would also have to pay a fine of Rs200,000 each.

    Verdicts of three cases against Hafiz Saeed have already been pronounced, whereas several others against JuD leaders are pending with the ATCs.

    On November 19, an ATC convicted Hafiz Saeed and three others in two separate terror-financing cases.

    The court handed down 10 years and six-month imprisonment each to Saeed, Malik Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid, besides six months imprisonment to Abdul Rehman Makki.

    The court also forfeited property possessed by Saeed, besides imposing a fine of Rs110,000 on him.

    ATC-I Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta conducted the proceedings and handed down the sentences on charges mentioned in the FIR numbers 16 and 25 of 2019, registered and investigated by Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

    The CTD had registered the cases against the convicts under Section 11-N of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. It was alleged that the convicts committed terrorism financing by managing assets of a proscribed organisation, and helped raise funds.

    It is pertinent to mention that Saeed has been behind bars since July 2019.

    On September 17, it was reported that the government has frozen 964 properties belonging to JuD and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). This was told by the interior ministry to the Senate.

    In response to Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed’s query, the ministry told the upper house of parliament that 907 of the frozen properties belonged to JuD and 57 to JeM.

    Moreover, this year on June 11, the US State Department welcomed the indictment of four leaders of the JuD, on charges of terror financing.

    An anti-terrorism court in Lahore had indicted Makki and three other leaders of the JuD. Makki and other suspects had pleaded not guilty and decided to face the trial.

    “Welcome Pakistan’s indictment on June 9 of 4 leaders from Jamaat ud Dawa, a front organization of the LeT terrorist group,” the US Department for South and Central Asian Affairs had said in a tweet from its official handle.”

  23. Pakistan issues notices to Google, Wikipedia
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistan-issues-notices-to-google-wikipedia/2088807

    “Pakistan on Friday issued notices to Google and Wikipedia for “diseminating sacrilegious content”.

    In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said they have been receiving complaints regarding “misleading search results” about Islam and an unauthentic version of the Quran uploaded on Google Play Store.

    “Being a matter of very serious nature, PTA has approached Google Inc with the directions to immediately remove the unlawful content,” PTA said.

    According to the PTA, they have also received complaints regarding caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.”

  24. New Poll Tells Biden Supporters How Country Really Feels
    POLITICAL MEDIA, INC
    2 minutes

    Via Trump Train News:

    A new poll from Rasmussen shows that around half of the country believes that the election was stolen from President Trump in one form or the other.

    According to Town Hall:

    A new poll from Rasmussen showed that roughly half the country thinks the election was stolen from Trump in some way. Even with the Trump campaign being unable to successfully argue mass fraud in the courts based on what they thought was solid evidence, half the country still thinks there was fraud (via Rasmussen):

    Most voters say this year’s unprecedented level of mail-in voting was largely successful and continue to think President Trump should concede the presidential race. Republicans, however, strongly believe Democrats are likely to have stolen the election.

    The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think mail-in voting worked well for the most part. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree and say it led to unprecedented voter fraud in this election. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

    Forty-seven percent (47%) say it’s likely that Democrats stole voters or destroyed pro-Trump ballots in several states to ensure that Joe Biden would win.

    Rasmussen also reports that:

    Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans say it’s Very Likely the Democrats stole the election, a view shared by 17% of Democrats and 28% of voters not affiliated with either major party.

    https://thehollywoodconservative.us/articles/new-poll-tells-biden-supporters-how-country-really-feels