Reader’s Links for December 28, 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

59 Replies to “Reader’s Links for December 28, 2020”

    • That is interesting.

      Why was someone filming the explosion? Why was someone filming the Portland murder of the Patriot Prayer member?

      OT but not really, What do the Vegas shooting in 2017, the Portland Murder and the Nashville explosion have in common? All have an expendable fall guy dying and being blamed for the crimes.

    • “The 37-year-old was charged with murder with enhancements for elder abuse and a religiously motivated hate crime, the police press release stated. The victim’s identity has not been provided, but police said he was a Hispanic male and Catholic.”
      https://heavy.com/news/jesse-martinez-covid-death/

      Once, (when Western laws were about justice and not keeping the peace where there is no peace), accusations of murder had their motivations to be proven in the courts.

      But now, guilty before being proven innocent: “Elder Abuse!” “Hate Crime!” Governments destroying its citizens with false accusations.

      Motives surpass any crimes under Communism: “Thought Crime!” “Looked decadent!”

      Murders committed without blame. From the trees of Good and Evil.

      “Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.”
      https://www.xavier.edu/jesuitresource/online-resources/prayer-index/catholic-prayers#:~:text=us%20from%20evil.-,Hail%20Mary%2C%20Full%20of%20Grace%2C%20The%20Lord%20is%20with%20thee,and%20to%20the%20Holy%20Spirit.

      Held innocent, when confronted by “Blasphemy.”

      “When the apostle heard what she had said he said, “Who will rid me of Marwan’s daughter?” `Umayr b. `Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and that very night he went to her house and killed her. In the morning he came to the apostle and told him what he had done and he [Muhammad] said, “You have helped God and His apostle, O `Umayr!” When he asked if he would have to bear any evil consequences the apostle said, “Two goats won’t butt their heads about her”, so `Umayr went back to his people.”
      https://www.answering-islam.org/Muhammad/Enemies/asma.html

      Truly, the Fascists will one day say to all the Socialists amongst us, ‘we are just like you.’

  1. Malian Army Inflicts ‘Heavy Casualties’ on Unknown Militants Attacking Northern Village (sputniknews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://sputniknews.com/africa/202012281081585077-malian-army-inflicts-heavy-casualties-among-unknown-militants-attacking-northern-village/

    “Malian security forces have neutralised several unidentified gunmen raiding a village in the country’s north, not far from the border with Burkina Faso, the army has said.

    “The #FAMa [Malian Armed Forces] inflicted heavy casualties on unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles. These terrorists had made an incursion, in the morning of Sunday, December 27, 2020, at around 10:00 a.m. [10:00 GMT], in the village of #Kerekara,” the military tweeted late on Sunday.

    The unknown militants attacked the locality not far from the town of Koro and carried away cattle. However, the military retrieved the abducted animals and took them to the Koro town.

    A total of six perpetrators were neutralised by the army, which also seized their weapons. No casualties occurred among the security forces.

    The incident comes a day after the army reported it had eliminated ten jihadists in the same region last Thursday, as the latter assaulted a military convoy.

    The Islamist insurgency in the West African nation has been rocking the country’s north since 2012, initiated as a separatist uprising.

    The Malian authorities have been struggling to obtain full control over territories taken by jihadist militant groups ever since.”

  2. Seven Daesh suspects arrested in central Turkey (yenisafak, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/seven-daesh-suspects-arrested-in-central-turkey-3557545

    “Seven people with suspected links to the Daesh/ISIS terror group were arrested in central Turkey on Monday, according to security sources.

    Local gendarmerie forces in the Kayseri province raided five addresses in the Kocasinan district to arrest the suspects, all from Syria, said the sources who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    The terror suspects, who entered Turkey illegally, were last active in Syria’s Azaz city between 2011-2015.

    In 2013, Turkey became one of the first countries to declare Daesh/ISIS a terrorist group.

    The country has since been attacked by Daesh/ISIS terrorists multiple times, with 315 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks and four armed assaults.

    In response, Turkey launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.”

  3. Saudi women’s rights activist sentenced to nearly 6 years (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/saudi-womens-rights-activist-sentenced-years-74931044

    “One of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights activists was sentenced on Monday to nearly six years in prison under a vague and broadly-worded law aimed at combating terrorism, according to state-linked media.

    Loujain al-Hathloul’s case, and her imprisonment for the past two and a half years, have drawn criticism from rights groups, members of the U.S. Congress and European Union lawmakers.

    Al-Hathloul was among a handful of Saudi women who openly called for the right to drive before it was granted in 2018 and for the removal of male guardianship laws that had long stifled women’s freedom of movement and ability to travel abroad.

    State-linked Saudi news outlet Sabq reported that al-Hathloul was found guilty by the kingdom’s anti-terrorism court on charges including agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, using the internet to harm public order and and cooperating with individuals and entities that have committed crimes according to anti-terror laws. She has 30 days to appeal the verdict.

    A rights group called “Prisoners of Conscience” that focuses on Saudi political detainees said that al-Hathloul could be released as early as the end of March 2021 based on time served. She has been imprisoned since May 2018 and 34 months of her sentencing will be suspended.

    The judge ordered her to serve five years and eight months in prison for violating anti-terrorism laws, according to Sabq, which said its reporter was allowed inside the courtroom during Monday’s session.

    Sabq reported that the judge said the defendant had confessed to committing the crimes and that her confessions were made voluntarily and without coercion. The judge said the verdict was issued in the presence of the prosecutor, the defendant, a representative from the government’s Human Rights Commission and a handful of select local media representatives.”

    • “…anti-terrorism court on charges including agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, using the internet to harm public order and and cooperating with individuals and entities that have committed crimes according to anti-terror laws.”

      ‘A woman is an adult female’ is a Socialist crime.
      https://youtu.be/XT21x1NHJVw

      Fascists hate Nurture, Communists hate Nature
      Telling the world how to be
      Down from the Fall
      Up and be Tall
      Oh, what a pair from the Tree.

      • The fact that communism and fascism HATE nature, is maybe the most important thing about them that no one seems to get.

        Thanks PC.

        • They also hate God, everything stems from that. They create their own god: the collective, the state. The individual, nature, marriage, family, don’t count. Everything is justified for the cause. Communism and fascism are substitute religions for the real thing.

        • “The fact that communism and fascism HATE nature, is maybe the most important thing about them that no one seems to get”.

          Fascism eulogies Nature, and Communism eulogies Nurture.

          They hate both equally, but by hijacking one and rejecting the other they are able to create a halal-haram of Nature-Nurture and Nurture-Nature respectively

          Hypnosis based on lies – black is white and white is black -their good is evil and their evil is false-accusation – and death to you if you suddenly snap out of it.
          https://youtu.be/HwhB5uCaj3Y

          Mono brains on tramlines.

          Good:
          1. God’s Nature is a 4,000 year old planet. God over Moses/Jesus/Muhammad, M/J/M over male, male over female, female over children, children over the animals and everyone not of their Race, Creed and Beliefs. They love their Nature. And Nurture is evil because it alters the true faith.

          2. State’s Nurture. Equal outcomes. Personality over State, State over female, female over children, children over male. They love Nurture. And Nature is evil because it endows talents and introduces unfairness.

          Evil:
          1. Blasphemy. (Nurture: live in the present).
          2. Hate Crimes. (Nature: A woman is an adult female).

          “The fact that communism and fascism HATE nature, is maybe the most important thing about them that no one seems to get”

          Their redefinition of Nature.

        • So what is Nature-Nurture?

          Nature: Love your god with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This is all we can ever know. Our interface with reality.

          Nurture: Forgive seventy times seven times. Stay objective. Especially to those who don’t know they don’t know. Our engagement with fossilising minds.

          Be happy. And Safe driving out there.

  4. Attacks across Afghanistan kill 4 (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/attacks-afghanistan-kill-74931267

    “At least four people were killed in separate attacks across Afghanistan on Monday, officials said, raising further concerns about the fate of peace talks that have been suspended until at least next month.

    No one claimed responsibility for the attacks, and a local Islamic State affiliate opposed to the peace process has continued to regularly target civilians and Afghan security forces. The IS militants have even clashed with the larger and more well-established Taliban.

    The Taliban have halted their attacks on U.S. and international forces but continue to target Afghan security forces even as the insurgents have held talks this year with the U.S.-backed government.

    The Taliban attacked a police district headquarters in the western Farah province early Monday, killing one policeman and wounding three others, according to Mohibullah Mohib, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

    He said the attack began when a suicide bomber was shot by police. His vehicle exploded, however, and then gunmen opened fire. He said at least four insurgents were killed and eight others were wounded.

    In the eastern Ghazni province, two employees of the provincial revenue agency were shot and killed, according to Ahmad Khan Serat, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.

    In the eastern Khost province, a roadside bomb killed a member of the security forces and wounded two other people, including a provincial council member, according to Kafel Rayan, head of the provincial council.

    In a separate development, three Afghan senators have been arrested on bribery charges in the northern Balkh province, said Jamshid Rasooli, a spokesman for the attorney general.

    He said in a statement released Monday that the three, who were arrested the day before, were suspected of taking bribes amounting to $40,000. Afghanistan consistently ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world.”

  5. Turkish lawmakers pass bill monitoring civil society groups (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkish-lawmakers-pass-bill-monitoring-civil-society-groups-74924462

    “Turkey’s parliament approved a law Sunday that would increase government monitoring of civil society groups, which rights groups have warned would violate the freedom of association.

    Newly introduced articles on associations and foundations, included in the bill on “Preventing Financing of Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction,” allow the annual inspection of nongovernmental organizations, ostensibly to combat terrorism financing.

    The law also lets the interior ministry replace members of associations if they are being investigated on terrorism charges and gives it the power to suspend activities with a court order. It also allows courts to block access to online donation campaigns without permits.

    The bill, proposed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, passed with the votes of the party and its nationalist allies.

    Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws are broad and have led to the jailing of politicians, journalists, civil society activists and thousands of others.

    Nearly 680 civil society groups signed a declaration against the bill, saying it would limit their ability to raise funds and organize while putting them under ministry pressure. They said the law violates the Turkish Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of association.

    “Turkish prosecutors regularly open terrorism investigations into people for peacefully exercising rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement before the vote.

    The rights group warned the law would “widen the scope for the Interior Ministry to restrict the activities of any organization and individuals engaged in them.”

    The law would also apply to international civil society groups operating in Turkey.”

  6. Each year 1,000 Pakistani girls forcibly converted to Islam (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/year-1000-pakistani-girls-forcibly-converted-islam-74930532

    “Neha loved the hymns that filled her church with music. But she lost the chance to sing them last year when, at the age of 14, she was forcibly converted from Christianity to Islam and married to a 45-year-old man with children twice her age.

    She tells her story in a voice so low it occasionally fades away. She all but disappears as she wraps a blue scarf tightly around her face and head. Neha’s husband is in jail now facing charges of rape for the underage marriage, but she is in hiding, afraid after security guards confiscated a pistol from his brother in court.

    “He brought the gun to shoot me,” said Neha, whose last name The Associated Press is not using for her safety.

    Neha is one of nearly 1,000 girls from religious minorities who are forced to convert to Islam in Pakistan each year, largely to pave the way for marriages that are under the legal age and non-consensual. Human rights activists say the practice has accelerated during lockdowns against the coronavirus, when girls are out of school and more visible, bride traffickers are more active on the Internet and families are more in debt.

    The U.S. State Department this month declared Pakistan “a country of particular concern” for violations of religious freedoms — a designation the Pakistani government rejects. The declaration was based in part on an appraisal by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that underage girls in the minority Hindu, Christian, and Sikh communities were “kidnapped for forced conversion to Islam… forcibly married and subjected to rape.”

    While most of the converted girls are impoverished Hindus from southern Sindh province, two new cases involving Christians, including Neha’s, have roiled the country in recent months.

    The girls generally are kidnapped by complicit acquaintances and relatives or men looking for brides. Sometimes they are taken by powerful landlords as payment for outstanding debts by their farmhand parents, and police often look the other way. Once converted, the girls are quickly married off, often to older men or to their abductors, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

    Forced conversions thrive unchecked on a money-making web that involves Islamic clerics who solemnize the marriages, magistrates who legalize the unions and corrupt local police who aid the culprits by refusing to investigate or sabotaging investigations, say child protection activists.

    One activist, Jibran Nasir, called the network a “mafia” that preys on non-Muslim girls because they are the most vulnerable and the easiest targets “for older men with pedophilia urges.”

    The goal is to secure virginal brides rather than to seek new converts to Islam. Minorities make up just 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million people and often are the target of discrimination. Those who report forced conversions, for example, can be targeted with charges of blasphemy.

    In the feudal Kashmore region of southern Sindh province, 13-year-old Sonia Kumari was kidnapped, and a day later police told her parents she had converted from Hinduism to Islam. Her mother pleaded for her return in a video widely viewed on the internet: “For the sake of God, the Quran, whatever you believe, please return my daughter, she was forcibly taken from our home.”

    But a Hindu activist, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of repercussions from powerful landlords, said she received a letter that the family was forced to write. The letter claimed the 13-year-old had willingly converted and wed a 36-year-old who was already married with two children.

    The parents have given up.

    Arzoo Raja was 13 when she disappeared from her home in central Karachi. The Christian girl’s parents reported her missing and pleaded with police to find her. Two days later, officers reported back that she had been converted to Islam and was married to their 40-year-old Muslim neighbor.

    In Sindh province, the age of consent for marriage is 18 years old. Arzoo’s marriage certificate said she was 19.

    The cleric who performed Arzoo’s marriage, Qasi Ahmed Mufti Jaan Raheemi, was later implicated in at least three other underage marriages. Despite facing an outstanding arrest warrant for solemnizing Arzoo’s marriage, he continued his practice in his ramshackle office above a wholesale rice market in downtown Karachi.

    When an Associated Press reporter arrived at his office, Raheemi fled down a side stair, according to a fellow cleric, Mullah Kaifat Ullah, one of a half-dozen clerics who also performs marriages in the complex. He said another cleric is already in jail for marrying children.

    While Ullah said he only marries girls 18 and above, he argued that “under Islamic law a girl’s wedding at the age of 14 or 15 is fine.”

    Arzoo’s mother, Rita Raja, said police ignored the family’s appeals until one day she was videotaped outside the court sobbing and pleading for her daughter to be returned. The video went viral, creating a social media storm in Pakistan and prompting the authorities to step in.

    “For 10 days, the parents were languishing between the police station and government authorities and different political parties,” Nasir, the activist, said. “They were not being given any time… until it went viral. That is the real unfortunate thing over here.”

    Authorities have stepped in and arrested Arzoo’s husband, but her mother said her daughter still refuses to come home. Raja said she is afraid of her husband’s family.

    The girl who loved hymns, Neha, said she was tricked into the marriage by a favorite aunt, who told Neha to accompany her to the hospital to see her sick son. Her aunt, Sandas Baloch, had converted to Islam years before and lived with her husband in the same apartment building as Neha’s family.

    “All Mama asked when we left was ’when will you be back?’” remembered Neha.

    Instead of going to the hospital, she was taken to the home of her aunt’s in-laws and told she would marry her aunt’s 45-year-old brother-in-law.

    “I told her I can’t, I am too young and I don’t want to. He is old,” Neha said. “She slapped me and locked me up in a room.”

    Neha told of being taken before two men, one who was to be her husband and the other who recorded her marriage. They said she was 19. She said she was too frightened to speak because her aunt threatened to harm her two-year-old brother if she refused to marry.

    She learned of her conversion only when she was told to sign the marriage certificate with her new name — Fatima.

    For a week she was locked in one room. Her new husband came to her on the first night. Tears stained her blue scarf as she remembered it:

    “I screamed and cried all night. I have images in my mind I can’t scratch out,” said Neha. “I hate him.”

    His elder daughter brought her food each day, and Neha begged for help to escape. Although the woman was frightened of her father, she relented a week after the marriage, bringing the underage bride a burqa — the all-covering garment worn by some Muslim women — and 500 rupees (about $3). Neha fled.

    But when she arrived home, Neha found her family had turned against her.

    “I went home and I cried to my Mama about my aunt, what she said and the threats. But she didn’t want me anymore,” said Neha.

    Her parents feared what her new husband might do to them, Neha said. Further, the prospects of marriage for a girl in conservative Pakistan who has been raped or married before are slim, and human rights activists say they often are seen as a burden.

    Neha’s family, including her aunt, all refused to talk to the AP. Her husband’s lawyer, Mohammad Saleem, insisted that she married and converted voluntarily.

    Neha found protection at a Christian church in Karachi, living on the compound with the pastor’s family, who say the girl still wakes screaming in the night. She hopes to go back to school one day but is still distraught.

    “At the beginning my nightmares were every night, but now it is just sometimes when I remember and inside I am shaking,” she said. “Before I wanted to be a lawyer, but now I don’t know what I will do. Even my mama doesn’t want me now.””

  7. Democrats Applaud Trump for Signing Relief Bill, Drum Up Support for $2,000 Checks
    By Tom Ozimek
    December 28, 2020 Updated: December 28, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    Democrats on Capitol Hill applauded President Donald Trump’s signing of the $2.3 trillion funding measure that?includes?$1.4 trillion?for government?funding? through next September and $900 billion for pandemic relief, while drumming up support for the $2,000 stimulus checks the president, and others, have called for.

    “The signing of the bipartisan, bicameral coronavirus relief legislation is welcome news for the fourteen million Americans who just lost the lifeline of unemployment benefits on Christmas Weekend, and for the millions more struggling to stay afloat during this historic pandemic and economic crisis,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement late Sunday.

    Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), a former senator and current chairman of the House Ethics Committee, praised Trump’s decision to sign the bill in a tweet, while calling for more relief.

    “Thankful that President Trump signed the relief bill, but I am still concerned we have not done enough to assist Americans through this crisis,” Deutch wrote. “Congress should return next year ready to work on additional relief.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/democrats-applaud-trump-for-signing-relief-bill-drum-up-support-for-2000-checks_3634599.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-1

  8. Joe Biden’s looming disaster | TheHill
    Grady Means, opinion contributor
    6-8 minutes

    Pity Joe Biden. He is the dog that finally caught the bus and he is soon to be political roadkill. While he celebrates his victory in the Electoral College, powerful forces already are engaged to doom him and his presidency. His two central problems are that he has set the wrong expectations and that his policies will not work in the current domestic and international political, economic and military environment.

    The only message in his “I’m-not-Trump” political campaign was that President TrumpDonald TrumpNew York Post editorial board calls on President Trump to ‘start thinking’ about Georgia runoffs instead of overturning election Loeffler, Perdue praise Trump for signing COVID-19 relief legislation after uncertainty Trump signs .3T relief, spending package MORE made a mess of domestic and foreign policy and that Biden would fix all of that. The deadly trap is that Trump did very well on many key measures and Biden inevitably will do much worse, creating a failed Biden presidency.

    His Day One issue of COVID-19 already is a loser. Researchers developed vaccines in record time, under Trump’s direction, and are rolling them out. The complex issue of distribution now goes to Biden. Any significant number of deaths among the vulnerable communities of nursing homes, the elderly in general, minorities, and those with pre-existing conditions will fall solely on Biden’s team. Similarly, sustained economic damage resulting from lockdowns will fall on Biden and Democratic officials.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/530342-joe-bidens-looming-disaster

  9. Macron Gave French Muslims Two Weeks to Renounce Political Islam, But Little Progress Made Six Weeks On (breitbart, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/12/28/french-muslims-resisting-end-of-political-islam-foreign-influence/

    “Muslim groups were given two weeks to sign on to a “Republican values charter” by French President Macron after a series of terror attacks, but six weeks later the groups have yet to agree on and finalise a signed document.

    The charter called on Muslim groups to rejected political Islam and reject anti-Semitism, homophobia and other issues frequently observed among those who subscribe to ultra-conservative and radical ideologies of Islam.

    The charter refers to political Islam as “the political and/or ideological currents commonly referred to as Wahhabism; Salafism; the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood; and more generally any local movement, transnational or international that aims to use Islam to establish a political doctrine,” Le Journal du Dimanche reports.

    Three Muslim groups rejected this definition of political Islam, however. One of these, Musulmans de France, is said to have close ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

    Another draft of the charter was created by the Turkish-linked Millî Görü?, one of the largest Islamic groups in Europe, which operates in several countries within the European Union.

    The first draft was also leaked to the French media and led Franco-Egyptian Muslim activist Marwan Muhammad to call on Muslim groups to reject the charter saying on Twitter, “I invite all mosques, associations and imams to whom there is still a minimum of dignity not to sign this charter, which is nothing less than an act of alienation.”

    Mr Muhammed became the executive director of the Collective Against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) in 2016. Following the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty by a radical Islamist Chechen refugee in October, Presiden Macron ordered the dissolution of the CCIF along with several other Islamist-linked groups.

    The CCIF executive director has also been accused of having ties to Islamists himself, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Other issues have caused conflict with the groups including a debate over apostasy or individuals leaving Islam, which according to the religion is a crime, with some Muslim-majority states such as Iran making leaving Islam punishable by death.”

  10. Bangladesh sends 2nd group of Rohingya to isolated island (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/bangladesh-sends-2nd-group-rohingya-isolated-island-74933663

    “Officials in Bangladesh sent a second group of Rohingya refugees to an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal on Monday despite calls by human rights groups for a halt to the process.

    More than 30 buses carrying about 1,500 refugees left their camps in Cox’s Bazar district on the way to the island, a government official involved with the process said.

    The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the refugees will stay overnight in a temporary shelter in the southeastern city of Chattogram and are expected to reach Bhasan Char island on naval vessels on Tuesday at noon.

    The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that more than 1,500 Rohingya refugees left Cox’s Bazar voluntarily under government management.

    Authorities say the refugees were selected for relocation based on their willingness, and that no pressure was applied on them. But several human rights and activist groups say some refugees have been forced to go to the island, located 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the mainland.

    The island surfaced only 20 years ago and was not previously inhabited. It was regularly submerged by monsoon rains but now has flood protection embankments, houses, hospitals and mosques built at a cost of more than $112 million by the Bangladesh navy.

    The island’s facilities are designed to accommodate 100,000 people, just a fraction of the million Rohingya Muslims who fled waves of violent persecution in their native Myanmar and are currently living in crowded, squalid refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district.

    Authorities sent a first group of 1,642 Rohingya to the island on Dec. 4 despite calls for a halt by human rights groups.

    International aid agencies and the U.N. have opposed the relocation since it was first proposed in 2015, expressing fear that a big storm could overwhelm the island and endanger thousands of lives.

    The United Nations also voiced concern that refugees be allowed to make a “free and informed decision” about whether to relocate. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the government to cancel the plan.

    An influential Cabinet minister and general secretary of the governing party, Obaidul Quader, said Monday that the international community is opposing the relocation illogically.

    Quader said in a news conference that the Rohingya are being moved to the island because their repatriation to Myanmar has been delayed.

    He said refugees who were earlier taken to Bhashan Char have expressed satisfaction. “But some international organizations and media are saying the Rohingya were forcibly shifted, which is not true,” Quader said.

    About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to Bangladesh after August 2017, when Myanmar’s military began a harsh crackdown on the minority group following an attack by insurgents. Security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and burning thousands of homes.

    Bangladesh has attempted to start sending refugees back to Myanmar under a bilateral agreement, but no one was willing to go.

    The Rohingya are not recognized as citizens in Myanmar, rendering them stateless, and face other state-sanctioned discrimination.”

  11. Rebels attack villages in northern Nigeria, killing 10 (abcnews, Dec 28, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rebels-attack-villages-northern-nigeria-killing-10-74934864

    “Attacks by gunmen suspected to be from Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadist rebels have killed at least 10 people in Borno state in northern Nigeria, according to local residents.

    The attackers hit four villages, according to the Borno state government which confirmed the attacks but put the casualty figure at three dead.

    However, residents said at least 10 people were killed.

    The first attack was on the town of Azare, where insurgents hit government offices and burned down a police station. Heavy gunfire was heard as soldiers fought the attackers.

    A soldier, officer and a local self-defense fighter were killed in Azare, residents said.

    Another attack was on Shaffa, said resident Ibrahim Buba, who said he spent the night hiding in the nearby bush area. He said his uncle, a friend, and five others were killed in the attack .

    The governor of Borno state, Babagana Zulum visited Shaffa and other villages on Sunday.

    The attackers targeted schools, shops and places of worship in four villages, according to a statement by the governor’s spokesman, Isa Gusau.

    “Thousands of bags of farm products recently harvested by farmers were looted by the insurgents who also emptied shops and market stalls,” the statement said. “The governor inspected all destroyed property and ordered the immediate reconstruction of property which includes a police station, market stalls and others.”

    In Shafa, the governor commended efforts to protect the village by the head of the local defense unit. The governor ordered six patrol vehicles and other surveillance equipment to replace those pillaged by the suspected jihadists.

    The attacks on these villages are the first in years in the southern part of Borno state.”

  12. GOP Lawmaker Sues Pence to Give Him ‘Exclusive Authority’ to Overturn Election Results
    By Jack Phillips
    December 28, 2020 Updated: December 28, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) filed a lawsuit against Vice President Mike Pence in a bid to overturn the election results, asking a court to give Pence “exclusive authority” to decide which Electoral College votes should be counted on Jan. 6.

    According to the lawsuit (pdf), Pence has a role in the upcoming Jan. 6 Joint Session of Congress to count all 50 states’ Electoral College votes. Gohmert’s lawsuit, which was filed against Pence in his capacity as vice president, is asking a federal judge to strike down the 1887 Electoral Count Act, asking the judge to grant Pence the authority to overturn the election results in favor of President Donald Trump.

    Gohmert’s lawsuit is claiming that any action taken by Pence on Jan. 6 to certify the Electoral College results to secure a win for Joe Biden will be fraudulent. Gohmert is furthermore asking Judge Jeremy Kernodle, an appointee of Trump, to determine that Pence is authorized to pick GOP electors who cast votes for Trump during the Joint Session of Congress.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/gop-rep-sues-pence-to-give-him-exclusive-authority-to-overturn-election-results_3634980.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-3

  13. ‘Dozens’ of House Members to Challenge Electoral College Results, Rep. Brooks Says
    By Jack Phillips
    December 28, 2020 Updated: December 28, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), the Republican leader of a plan to challenge Electoral College votes on Jan. 6, said that “dozens” of House members are going to sponsor a measure to object.

    “There are dozens in the House of Representatives who have reached that conclusion that I have; we’re going to sponsor and co-sponsor objections to the Electoral College vote returns,” Brooks told Fox News on Dec. 28.

    The move, which must occur during the Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, requires a member of the House and a member of the Senate to carry out. So far, Sen.-elect Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has suggested he might join Brooks and the other GOP House lawmakers. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has suggested he might as well. Neither Tuberville nor Paul has made public statements affirming the effort.

    Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-Ky.) has said that he thinks the effort led by Brooks is doomed to fail regardless of who joins.

    Meanwhile, Brooks said in the Fox interview that it isn’t clear whether any Republican senator will take part in the challenge.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/rep-mo-brooks-dozens-of-house-members-joining-jan-6-electoral-college-challenge_3634659.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-2

  14. ormer Military Intelligence Officer: Nashville Bombing ‘Chilling’ and Unusual
    By Zachary Stieber
    4 minutes

    The way the Christmas Day bombing in Nashville was carried out was both chilling and atypical, a former military intelligence officer said.

    “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 38 years in law enforcement, where an individual who wants to bomb an area actually notifies potential victims to clear the area,” retired Lt. Steven Rogers, a former FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force member, told NTD.

    “So clearly, this individual did not want to kill people. He wanted to minimize the loss of human life.”

    A suspect, later identified as Anthony Quinn Warner, parked a recreational vehicle in downtown Nashville outside an AT&T facility early Dec. 25 before beginning to broadcast a warning of an impending explosion, giving police officers who responded to a shots-fired call time to evacuate people in the area. The explosion was major, but no one other than Warner died, and few injuries were reported.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/former-military-intelligence-officer-nashville-bombing-chilling-and-unusual_3635010.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-4

  15. Trevor Loudon: Communist Organizations Influence Groups Mobilizing Voters Who Lean Democrat
    A Virginia Organization Registered and Sent to Polls Hundreds of Thousands of New Voters: Loudon
    By Ella Kietlinska and Joshua Philipp
    December 28, 2020 Updated: December 28, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    Communist organizations in the United States organize groups that systematically target potential voters who rarely vote such as minorities, low-income workers, young people to encourage them to vote for Democrats. These groups register them for voting and provide transportation to polling stations, said Trevor Loudon, author, and filmmaker.

    While it is legal to provide voter registration services, some voter registration groups work with foreign actors such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Loudon said in an interview on The Epoch Times’ investigative documentary.

    There are communist organizations in America that owe allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party, one of them is Liberation Road and its subgroup called Left Roots, the Communist Party USA, and others, Loudon said.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/trevor-loudon-communist-organizations-influence-groups-mobilizing-voters-who-lean-democrat_3632215.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-5

  16. Rep. Gooden Urges Texas Senators to Challenge Electoral College Result
    By Jack Phillips
    December 27, 2020 Updated: December 27, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    A Republican member of the House of Representatives from Texas says he is going to object to the certification of Electoral College results on Jan. 6 and is urging both of the state’s U.S. senators to join him.

    “I’m Lance Gooden. I am proud to be the U.S. Congressman for Texas’ 5th Congressional District,” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) wrote on Dec. 26. “I am also proud to stand with @realDonaldTrump by OBJECTING on January 6th. I call on every fellow member of Congress to do the same. RT!”

    In a follow-up tweet, Gooden called on Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) to join him in objecting to the vote-counting of certain key states’ electors.

    “We have an obligation to fight for the millions of Texans who have been disenfranchised by the CORRUPT Democrat counties in AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, & WI,” he wrote to the two Texas senators, referring to counties in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, respectively. “Join me in OBJECTING on January 6th. Fight!” he wrote.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/gop-congressman-urges-texas-senators-to-challenge-electoral-college-vote-on-jan-6_3633704.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2020-12-28

  17. Biden doesn’t know time of day … literally
    By Ben Bowles December 28, 2020

    It’s not that president-elect Joe Biden won’t give you the time of day (unless of course you ask about the federal investigation of his son Hunter). It’s that he can’t give you the time of day. That’s because he isn’t sure of it himself.

    This became evident once again on Dec. 23 when he held a brief press conference to announce his nominee for Secretary of Education. He began by gravely intoning, “I heard there was a sighting of a sleigh and Santa Claus. He’s been circling around to see what he’s going to do.” Then it was on to business. He wished those assembled a good afternoon before realizing it was still morning and corrected his salutation.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2020/12/28/biden-doesnt-know-time-of-day-literally/

  18. Why Do People Have a Problem With Me Selling Performance Face Masks With Pro 2A Messaging?
    56,236 views
    •Dec 28, 2020

  19. Supreme Court Requires Lower Courts to Exclude Illegal Aliens From Census Count
    By Matthew Vadum
    December 28, 2020 Updated: December 28, 2020
    biggersmaller Print

    Following its ruling earlier this month that allowed the Trump administration to remove illegal aliens from the 2020 Census count, the Supreme Court on Dec. 28 threw out two lower court decisions that went the other way, that barred the government from eliminating that population from the process of allocating congressional seats and Electoral College votes that officially determine the presidency.

    In the cases Trump v. Useche from Maryland and Trump v. City of San Jose, California, the Supreme Court vacated the judgments of the lower courts, sending the cases back to those courts “with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.”

    The unsigned order didn’t explain why the court acted at this time, but referenced its 6–3 decision on Dec. 18 in Trump v. New York.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-requires-lower-courts-exclude-illegal-aliens-from-census-count_3635425.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-28-6