Reader’s Links for January 9, 2021

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

50 Replies to “Reader’s Links for January 9, 2021”

  1. Cameroon Says Boko Haram, Separatists on Offensive (voanews, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroon-says-boko-haram-separatists-offensive

    “Cameroon said Saturday that at least 22 people, including four soldiers, were killed in two Friday morning attacks – one by Boko Haram fighters on its northern border with Nigeria and the other by separatists fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the country’s western regions. Officials warn of a new wave of violence and killing they say is being prepared by the separatists and Boko Haram terrorists.

    Midjiyawa Bakari, governor of Cameroon’s Far North region, says there was general confusion in the town of Mozogo when militiamen warned civilians about Boko Haram suicide bombers from neighboring Nigeria in their midst.

    He said some scared people fled into the bush, where they always go for safety, but many Nigerian suicide bombers were already hiding there. He said 11 civilians were killed on the spot when bombers detonated explosives. He said three were shot by the terrorist group in Mozogo, a town in Cameroon’s Mayo Sava administrative unit.

    “Yesterday (Friday) we got an attack of Boko Haram in Mayo Tsanaga Division. Fourteen people died,” said Bakari. “We have been instructed by the hierarchy to extend a message of condolence and we condemn this act of Boko Haram and all measures will be taken with our vigilant committees [militias], who are working day and night alongside our forces to secure our populations.”

    Bakari said the wounded were rushed to hospitals in Mozogo and the neighboring town of Mokolo. He said the military had been deployed in Mozogo to secure Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria’s Borno state, an epicenter of Boko Haram activity.

    Cameroon government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi in a release said heavily armed Boko Haram fighters have infiltrated villages around Mozogo and called for vigilance.

    The release also says separatist fighters attacked a military post at Matazen at the western entrance to the English-speaking North-West, region killing four soldiers and two civilians. Two civilians died while being rushed to hospitals….”

  2. Coronavirus vaccines sending hundreds to ER, according to US gov’t reporting system. Seventeen people have had a ‘life threatening’ reaction to the COVID-19 shot. Two reactions were so bad they led to a ‘permanent disability.’ January 8, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – The list of people who have visited emergency rooms after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is in the hundreds and those who have suffered adverse reactions is over 1,000, according to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

  3. Sweden Still Confounds the World With its Sensible CV Management
    Taking a look back over the last 10 decades, he shows that Sweden’s COVID-19 outbreak is of a very similar order to many of the flu epidemics that the country has experienced, and is hundreds of times lower than the Spanish flu of 1918 which, unlike Covid, had a median mortality age possibly as low as 40 (certainly less than 60) and included many infants in its grim toll. Which is not the case with Covid, with an average mortality rate of over 80.

  4. From 6pm tonight, Friday 8 January, until 6pm Monday 11 January people in the local government areas of Brisbane, Moreton Bay, Ipswich, Redlands and Logan will be required to stay at home except for the following reasons:

    Shopping for essentials, food and necessary supplies
    Medical or healthcare needs, including compassionate requirements
    Exercise with no more than one other person, unless all from the same household
    Providing care or assistance to an immediate family member
    Work, or volunteering, or study if it is not reasonably practicable to work or learn remotely
    Child custody arrangements
    Legal obligations
    Visit for end of life
    Attend funeral or wedding in line with restrictions
    Masks will also need to be worn everywhere in those local government areas except if people are at home.

  5. Ontario police chief in Florida on “personal property-related business matters”

    Chief Stephen Tanner of Halton Region police services traveled out of the locked-down province of Ontario to Florida, allegedly to take care of personal business.

    According to a report by the Toronto Star,

    Tanner confirmed to the Star Friday that he is currently in Florida on “personal property-related business matters,” and that he sought and obtained permission for the trip from the chair of the Halton police board, Oakville Mayor Rob Burton.

    Global News reports that the mayor was fine with the arrangement:

    Oakville Mayor Rob Burton, who is the chair of the Halton police board, told Global News in a statement that he was in fact was notified in advance by the Chief that he would be travelling to the U.S. “to tend to a property matter.”

    “I had no objection. Chief Tanner continues to have my full confidence,” Burton said in his statement.

    “The chief leads our police service in an exemplary manner and will continue to do so.”

    Tanner is one of many Ontario authorities, including a member of Ontario’s COVID advisory table, who evaded harsh new lockdown measures in the province by heading to warmer climates around the Christmas break.

  6. Iran, Pakistan and Khalistan in Canada: Foreign agendas are playing out in Parliament

    Happy New Year! I’m sure most of you spent New Year’s in your home with family, while our politicians were vacationing abroad after scolding us to stay home, the vaccine remaining in the freezer while our seniors continue to die.

    Our politicians are asleep at the wheel for more than one reason. Meanwhile, there is an international turf war underway in Canada, which they refuse to acknowledge.

    If you recall, in December 2017 the Jewish philanthropist couple, Honey and Barry Sherman, were found dead in their Toronto home. Police at first said there was no foul play. It was only after the rest of the Sherman family and the Jewish community lobbied long and hard, that any in-depth analysis was undertaken and a forensic pathologist hired by the couple’s family ruled that their deaths were a double murder.

    Last year, two Iranians mysteriously died, and police said there was nothing suspicious about it. Iranian activists in Canada believe this was the work of the IRGC — the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.

    In December, Karima Baloch, a young activist from Pakistan, died in Toronto and police said they did not believe there to be any suspicious circumstances. However, Ms. Baloch had recently received anonymous threats warning that someone would send her a “Christmas gift” and “teach her a lesson”. The Baloch Human Rights Council of Canada rejects the findings of the Toronto police that Karima killed herself and have demanded an independent inquiry into her death.

    Law enforcement likes to deal with cut and dry textbook cases, a bit like when we played ‘cops and robbers’ as kids. They don’t like a complicated scenario, so I’ll tell you what the scenario is.

    IRGC involvement in Canada
    ISI (Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence) presence in Canada
    The Khalistan (Sikh separatist) movement in Canada

    Politicians go by lobbies.

    If you look at the current structure of Canadian politicians, you will easily figure out that certain politicians are not really concerned about Canadian issues, but choose to be dictated to by the IRGC, ISI and other countries’ agendas playing out in our Parliament.

  7. Dominion Voting files $1.3 billion defamation suit against Sidney Powell
    Dominion Voting Systems has filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion dollars in damages following Powell’s claims that the company was responsible for election fraud.

    Dominion says that Powell spread “wild” and “demonstrably false” allegations, including that the company played a central role in a plot to steal the 2020 election from President Trump.

    Powell claimed for weeks that Dominion was established with money from the socialist government of Venezuela to enable ballot stuffing and other forms of vote manipulation and that it was used to rig the election for former Vice President Joe Biden. Powell’s claims were rejected by multiple courts and election officials but gained traction with President Trump and his supporters.

    The 124-page complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia alleges that Dominion’s reputation and resale value were heavily affected by a “viral disinformation campaign” that Powell mounted to “financially enrich herself, to raise her public profile, and to ingratiate herself to Donald Trump.”

    The lawsuit also includes her law firm and Defending the Republic, an organization she created to solicit donations to support her attempts at contesting the election.

    According to the lawsuit, Powell made more than three-dozen public statements about the company and continued to attack it even after local, state, and federal officials rejected her claims. Powell claimed that Dominion’s voting system was created in Venezuela for the purpose of rigging elections for former Venezuelan despot Hugo Chavez.

    Powell also accused the company of bribing Georgia Republicans to win a contract with the state and promised to tweet a video of Dominion’s founder saying he could “change a million votes, no problem at all.”

    She did not produce the video.

    Speaking to the Washington Post, Dominion CEO John Poulos says that the lawsuit aims to clear his company’s reputation through a full airing of the facts about the election.

    “We feel that it’s important for the entire electoral process,” said Poulos. “The allegations, I know they were lobbed against us .?.?. but the impacts go so far beyond us.”

    Dominion claims that it has spent more than $565,000 on security for its staff since the election and has sent retraction demands or document preservation letters, which are precursors to lawsuits, to more than 20 individuals and entities, including Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, as well as news organizations like Fox News, News Max, One America News and the Epoch Times.

    Dominion did not rule out a lawsuit against President Trump, its attorney Thomas A. Clare stated, “We’re going to follow this wherever the evidence leads us.”

  8. ‘Dystopian’ ‘Big Tech Tyranny’: House Republicans React to Twitter Suspension of Trump

    House Republicans expressed outrage after Twitter permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, and Google and Apple moved to remove the conservative social media app Parler from their stores.

  9. VIDEO: Police Barred Doors From Outside, Locked Trump Supporters in DC Hotels

    Video footage shot in the nation’s capital appears to show a group of Trump supporters being locked inside their hotel by Metropolitan Police officers following Wednesday’s protests against the certification of electoral votes on Capitol Hill.

  10. McConnell Reportedly Circulating Impeachment Plans As Twitter, Big Tech Unperson Trump

    Media reports indicate that soon-to-be-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is circulating plans to impeach President Donald Trump, even as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and virtually all other big tech websites work to remove the President from their platforms.

  11. Undeniable Proof Antifa Infiltrated US Capitol, Initiated Siege

    As mainstream media laughs at the concept of Antifa militants embedding themselves into the group of Trump supporters marching in the nation’s capital on Tuesday, more proof of these infiltrators emerges.
    According to a New York Post law enforcement source, “At least two known Antifa members were spotted among the throngs of pro-Trump protesters at the Capitol on Wednesday.”

    The source claims the left-wing agitators disguised themselves as Trump supporters, but were spotted in surveillance footage by police who recognized the individuals from participating in New York City protests.

    A known BLM activist was even spotted at the event, according to Antifa expert and activist Andy Ngo.

  12. US sanctions prominent Iraqi politician over rights abuses (abcnews, Jan 8, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-sanctions-prominent-iraqi-politician-rights-abuses-75138612

    “The U.S. Treasury on Friday imposed sanctions on a prominent Iraqi politician and security official, accusing him of serious human rights abuses.

    The Treasury said Falih al-Fayyadh stands accused of “directing and supervising the killing of peaceful Iraqi demonstrators” in 2019 and must be held accountable.

    He is the chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella of mostly Shiite militias, including powerful Iran-backed groups, and served as national security advisor. The umbrella group was formed in 2014 to counter the Islamic State group, following a fatwa from Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani.

    There was no immediate comment from al-Fayyadh….”

  13. Albania rescues 50 Syrian migrants heading for Italy by boat (abcnews, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/albania-rescues-50-syrian-migrants-heading-italy-boat-75148833

    “lbanian military and police ships saved 50 Syrian refugees trapped by bad weather as they tried to reach Italy by boat, police and local media reported Saturday.

    A police statement said that, in collaboration with Italy’s financial police, on Friday evening they found the packed inflatable boat at the Vjosa River delta, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the capital, Tirana, where it had been blocked for about three hours due to high waves in the Adriatic Sea. No one was believed to be missing.

    Two decades ago, the route was regularly used by local traffickers to take poor Albanians to Italy.

    The Balkanweb.com media portal said the 50 Syrian migrants, including women and children, were found after one of them called police to say the boat was stuck due to bad weather and an engine problem. Sixteen migrants, including three children, were hospitalized.

    The migrants allegedly had paid up to 2,000 Euros ($2,450) each for the illegal transport toward Italy. Police did not find the traffickers.

    Albania, a NATO member since 2009 and hoping to launch EU membership negotiations soon, cooperates with the European border agency Frontex to control its southern borders with neighboring Greece, from where most of the migrants arrive.

    Though it has not been a major transit route for migrants through Europe so far, small groups have tried crossing it.”

  14. Bosnians Demand EU Help After Migrants Stab Local Man Near Border (breitbart, Jan 9, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/09/bosnians-demand-help-for-homeless-migrants-after-two-stab-local-man/

    “Bosnians have called for help from the European Union as tensions escalate between migrants and locals after a camp burned down near the border with EU member-state Croatia.

    Hundreds of migrants, some claiming to come from “occupied Kashmir”, have been left without shelter after the destruction of the Lipa migrant camp near the town of Biha? late last month. Now, many migrants lack proper protection as winter approaches in the Muslim-majority country, which borders the European Union.

    While the EU has promised cash to help the migrants, some allege that local officials pocket the money for themselves. Tensions have also risen between migrants and people in the town after two Moroccans stabbed a local, German tabloid Bild reports.

    Following the camp’s destruction, a number of migrants have been living in abandoned houses in Biha?. While some media have claimed the stabbing victim tried to extort money from the two Moroccans who attacked him, the victim’s cousin said he simply wanted to clarify something with the men.

    “I wanted to help these people. We used to have war, and I know what it’s like. But Europe should now send them to another country. We don’t even have a good life here yet,” the victim’s cousin said.

    “The money that Europe has sent is pocketed by politicians. It doesn’t reach the migrants. There’s corruption at every step,” he added.

    A local woman named Zeyna filmed the aftermath of the attack and said: “‘I’m scared. I haven’t slept since. It looked like a horror movie.”

    “It’s a mess here. Migrants are causing problems. Something like this has never happened here. The IOM [International Organization for Migration] and the government must solve this,” she added.

    The media in Bosnia has criticised the IOM after documents allegedly revealed that at least €70,000 meant for the new camp had been diverted.

    The UN body, meanwhile, claimed the entire accusation was a campaign by the local cantonal prime minister to deflect criticism away from his handling of the issue.”

  15. Twitter bans Trump; Apple threatens Parler, demands ‘moderation plan’; *UPDATE* Google Play Store drops Parler – Liberty Unyielding
    J.E. Dyer
    5-7 minutes

    Twitter bans Trump; Apple threatens Parler, demands ‘moderation plan’; *UPDATE* Google Play Store drops Parler

    Apple CEO Tim Cook testifies (remotely) to the House Judiciary Committee in 2020. C-SPAN3 video, YouTube

    [Since this went to post I’ve seen that Google Play has already banned the Parler app. Apple is likely to follow shortly. – J.E.]

    Those of us who have been warning about how fast the forces arrayed against freedom will act are being proved right on Friday, 8 January 2021.

    President Trump was kicked off Twitter permanently today, after being banned from Facebook and Instagram as well. Twitter cited the 6 January riot at the U.S. Capitol, using the theme that Trump incited it.

    Apple is now using the same theme to demand that Parler, the micro-blogging site gaining in popularity as Twitter de-platforms and represses the speech of users, submit a “moderation plan” if it wants to remain available in the Apple app store.

    https://libertyunyielding.com/2021/01/08/twitter-bans-trump-apple-threatens-parler-demands-moderation-plan/

    • Marcus can you find this video on Bitchute or anywhere?

      Rudy Giuliani Common Sense video, episode 101. on U Tube about what happened on January 6 in Washington, DC. it disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. Video showing MAGA supporters preventing Antifa from breaking windows at the Capital and also MAGA supporters forming a line to protect the police from the radicals.It appears the left was well prepared with a police escort to the front of the line, lots of tools for climbing walls, pipes, glass breaking tools, etc. The Capital police appeared to just let them through the barricades. A real setup, a trap, and the MAGA folks just walked right in to it.

  16. Capitol Riot Aftermath: Domestic Terrorism and Impeachment? | America Uncovered
    33,747 views
    •Jan 9, 2021

  17. Warning China, India to fast track the deployment of nuclear missile that can hit Beijing

  18. Donald Trump defied all theories and thumb rules and it was unbearable for the Deep State

  19. https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2021/01/did-you-hear-one-about-ratcliffe-report.html?m=1

    X22 report notes visually the word manipulation in the past certification rules, and the ones Pence used. The view is at about the 18:00 minute to 22:00

    The Hundred-Year Marathon, in which he tells of China’s long range plan to take over world dominance, starting in 1949

    million or so people at this rally. If it had been a true riot we

    https://www.thecut.com/2021/01/pramila-jayapal-surviving-capitol-riots.html

  20. PLA men will now be controlled with remote controls. And this is not a metaphorical statement

  21. China’s tech alliance w/ ex-communist nations; Authorities restrict heat amid freezing temperatures

  22. Lindsey Graham is ‘more determined than ever’ to strip tech companies of legal protections after Twitter bans Trump

    “The Ayatollah can tweet, but Trump can’t.”

    Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that he was “more determined than ever” to strip tech and social media companies of legal protections under Section 230 after the president was banned permanently from his Twitter account.

    POLL: Do you want to go back to 2020?

    Twitter announced on Friday that they had banned President Donald Trump from his account over concerns that his tweets were inciting violence. Supporters of the president accused the popular social media platform of political bias.

    Graham took to his Twitter account to decry the action and call for Section 230 to be rescinded. The law protects some tech companies from legal repercussions over speech posted to their platforms by third parties.

    “Twitter may ban me for this but I willingly accept that fate: Your decision to permanently ban President Trump is a serious mistake. The Ayatollah

    https://www.theblaze.com/news/lindsey-graham-twitter-trump-230?utm_source=theblaze-breaking&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=New-Trending-Story_WEEKEND%202021-01-09&utm_term=ACTIVE%20LIST%20-%20TheBlaze%20Breaking%20News

  23. Nikki Haley Likens Trump Twitter Ban to Act of Chinese Communist Party
    By Zachary Stieber
    3 minutes

    Social media companies banning President Donald Trump is something the Chinese Communist Party would do, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley said Friday.

    “Silencing people, not to mention the President of the U.S., is what happens in China not our country,” Haley wrote in a tweet.

    Twitter announced earlier in the day that it was permanently removing Trump’s account, which had been active since before he took office in 2016. The company claimed his recent tweets were inciting violence.

    Trump in response accused Twitter of “banning free speech” and coordinating “with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me—and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me.”

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/nikki-haley-likens-trump-twitter-ban-to-act-of-chinese-communist-party_3650028.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-01-09-1

  24. 3 Pakistani Christians Charged with Blasphemy for Alleged Quran Burning (breitbart, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2021/01/09/3-pakistani-christians-charged-blasphemy-alleged-quran-burning/

    “Pakistani police have charged three young Christians with blasphemy after local Muslims purportedly found burned pages of the Quran, the Christian Post reported Saturday.

    Police from the Punjab Province arrested Azeem Mehmood on December 25 and then arrested Abbas Gulshan and Irfan Saleem on December 29.

    The three Christians were formally charged with blasphemy on December 30. Mehmood, who is a member of the Pakistani Army, was sent to judicial custody while the other two Christians were released on bail.

    On Christmas day, a large number of police interrupted a procession at the local United Presbyterian Church in the village of Kotli Muhammad Sadique, saying they had received a complaint that someone had burnt pages of the Quran near some Christian homes. There are about 40 Christian houses in the vicinity.

    Local Muslims claimed they had found in the area the burned pieces of a blue letterbox, which had been installed on the wall to collect pages containing verses of the Quran.

    That same day, a “large angry mob of Muslims from surrounding villages” gathered in Kotli Muhammad Sadique, demanding the immediate arrest of all Christians, the Christian Post stated.

    Nasir Saeed, U.K. director of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS-UK), said his group’s Pakistan-based team had interviewed the families of the three men and were convinced of their innocence, adding that the men were likely accused because of personal grievances.

    “It is very sad that blasphemy continues to be used as an easy tool to settle personal scores and grudges against Christians and other religious minorities,” Saeed said. “Unfortunately, Pakistani society has become more intolerant than ever before.”

    Local Christians believe police tortured a Christian named Ilyas Masih to force him to confess to having seen the faces of the three Christians in order to arrest them.

    Elsewhere in Pakistan, on the day after Christmas, a Christian pastor named Raja Warris, from the Charar area of Lahore, was also arrested on charges of blasphemy after allegedly posting comments on social media critical of Islam.

    A Muslim mob reportedly gathered outside Warris’s home and threatened to behead him and set fire to Christians’ homes unless the police arrested him, leading to hundreds of Christians fleeing Charar.

    Warris was formally charged on December 27 and if convicted, could face up to ten years in prison for committing “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.”

    “Pakistan’s blasphemy laws must not be misused to justify mob violence,” said William Stark, the regional manager of International Christian Concern in regard to the case. “Too often these laws have been a tool in the hands of extremists seeking to stir up religiously motivated violence against minority communities.”

    Pakistan’s blasphemy law is often misused for personal revenge, and it contains no provision to punish someone who falsely accuses another of blasphemy.

    In an address at the United Nations General Assembly last September, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the universal outlawing of criticism, mockery, or other expressions deemed offensive to Muslims.

    Khan called for the creation of an international day against “Islamophobia,” asserting that the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic had “accentuated” discrimination against Muslims.

    The week before, a Pakistani court sentenced a 37-year-old Christian man from Lahore, Asif Pervaiz, to death for allegedly sending “blasphemous” text messages, which the man denied.

    Pervaiz’s lawyer declared that Pervaiz never spoke ill of Islam but, rather, politely rejected his boss’s demands that he convert to the faith.”

  25. Indonesia jet carrying 62 goes missing on domestic flight (abcnews, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesian-airliner-loses-contact-domestic-flight-75148832

    ” A jet carrying 62 people lost contact with air traffic controllers minutes after taking off from Indonesia’s capital on a domestic flight on Saturday, and debris found by fishermen was being examined to see if it was from the missing plane, officials said.

    Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Sriwijaya Air’s Flight SJ182 was delayed for an hour before it took off at 2:36 p.m. The Boeing 737-500 disappeared from radar four minutes later, after the pilot contacted air traffic control to ascend to an altitude of 29,000 feet (8,839 meters), he said.

    The airline said in a statement that the plane was on an estimated 90-minute flight from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province on Indonesia’s Borneo island. The plane was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members, all Indonesian nationals, including six extra crew for another trip.

    Sumadi said a dozen vessels, including four warships, were deployed in a search-and-rescue operation centered between Lancang island and Laki island, part of the Thousand Islands chain just north of Jakarta.

    Bambang Suryo Aji, the National Search and Rescue Agency’s deputy head of operations and preparedness, said rescuers collected plane debris and clothes that were found by fishermen. They handed the items over to the National Transportation Safety Committee for further investigation to determine whether they were from the missing plane.

    A commander of one of the search-and-rescue ships who goes by a single name, Eko, said that fishermen found cables and pieces of metal in the water.

    “The fishermen told us that they found them shortly after they heard an explosion like the sound of thunder,” Eko was quoted by TVOne as saying, adding that aviation fuel was found in the location where the fishermen found the debris.

    Aji said no radio beacon signal had been detected from the 26-year-old plane. He said his agency was investigating why the plane’s emergency locator transmitter, or ELT, was not transmitting a signal that could confirm whether it had crashed.

    “The satellite system owned by neighboring Australia also did not pick up on the ELT signal from the missing plane,” Aji said.

    Solihin, 22, a fisherman from Lancang Island, said he and two other fishermen heard an explosion around 30 meter from them.

    “We thought it was a bomb or a tsunami since after that we saw the big splash from the water after the explosion. It was raining heavily and the weather was so bad. So it is difficult to see around clearly. But we can see the splash and a big wave after the sounds. We were very shocked and directly saw the plane debris and the fuel around our boat,” he said.

    Tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed that Flight SJ182 lost more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) of altitude in less than a minute, about four minutes after takeoff.

    Sriwijaya Air President Director Jefferson Irwin Jauwena said the plane was airworthy. He told reporters that the plane had previously flown to Pontianak and Pangkal Pinang city on the same day.

    “Maintenance report said everything went well and airworthy,” Jauwena told a news conference. He said the plane was delayed due to bad weather, not because of any damage.

    It was raining at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport when the plane took off for Pontianak, around 740 kilometers (460 miles) away.

    Television footage showed relatives and friends of people aboard the plane weeping, praying and hugging each other as they waited at airports in Jakarta and Pontianak.

    Chicago-based Boeing said on its Twitter feed that it was aware of the incident. It said it was closely monitoring the situation and “working to gather more information.”

    The twin-engine, single aisle Boeing 737 is one of the world’s most popular planes for short and medium-haul flights. The 737-500 is a shorter version of the widely used 737 model. Airlines began using this type of plane in the 1990s, with production ending two decades ago…”

  26. Pakistan’s Anti-terrorism Court Asks Police to Arrest JeM Chief Masood Azhar by Jan 18 (news18, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://www.news18.com/news/world/pakistans-anti-terrorism-court-asks-police-to-arrest-jem-chief-masood-azhar-by-jan-18-3266405.html

    “An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has asked the Counter Terrorism Department of Punjab Police to arrest banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar by January 18 in a terror financing case, a court official said on Saturday.

    The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala issued an arrest warrant against Azhar in the terror financing case instituted by the CTD in the previous hearing on Thursday.

    “ATC Gujranwala judge Natasha Naseem Supra during the case hearing on Friday directed the CTD to arrest JeM chief Masood Azhar by January 18 and present him in the court. In case of failure (to arrest him), the court may begin proceedings to declare him a proclaimed offender,” a court official said on Saturday.

    Azhar is facing charges of terror financing and selling jihadi literature…”

  27. (Richard: The Dems are very afraid of Donald Trump, they are doing everything they can to prevent him from running for President in 2024.)

    Nancy Pelosi Just Went Over President Trump’s Head – She Called The Pentagon To Deny Trump’s Nuclear Access
    Adam Casalino
    3 minutes

    Nancy Pelosi Just Went Over President Trump’s Head – She Called The Pentagon To Deny Trump’s Nuclear Access
    What’s Happening:

    This week was loaded with intense moments. Plenty of people will be talking about it. And we all try to make sense of it in the coming weeks.

    I think it’s safe to say most Americans just want things to calm down. As we get perspective, maybe things will get better.

    But it doesn’t seem that some share that sentiment. And that includes old Nancy Pelosi. The Democrat—who has long held a low opinion of the president—thinks we about to see the end of the world.

    So, she just tried to jump over the White House.

    From CNBC:

    https://thepatriotjournal.com/pelosi-trump-head-pentagon-deny/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=pjnewsletter

  28. Jack ‘Uncle Horse’ Ma Is a Bad Bet
    Gordon G. Chang
    7-9 minutes

    If Jack Ma’s business empire can be broken up—and that is what’s happening—all foreign investment is at risk of confiscation. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images)

    Ma Yun, until recently China’s richest individual, is in detention in a Chinese cell, is in hiding in China, is “embracing supervision” from the ruling Communist Party, or is in Singapore after having evaded Chinese authorities. One observer even argues Ma’s disappearance, the object of intense speculation in China and elsewhere, is nothing more than a ruse.

    Which version of the truth is true? Take your pick.

    Facts are scarce. Jack Ma, as Ma is known outside China, possesses one of his country’s most famous faces and evidently loves the limelight, but he has not been seen in public since the last day of October, vanishing soon after criticizing state bankers.

    Ma’s disappearance suggests deep troubles in China’s financial circles and almost certainly problems in top Communist Party leadership ranks.

    On October 24, Ma criticized China’s state bankers at a high-profile event, the Bund Summit in Shanghai.

    In his most publicized comment, Ma highlighted the excessive reliance of state bankers on collateral for lending. He called their thinking out-of-date.

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16932/jack-uncle-horse-ma-is-a-bad-bet

  29. It Was a Stunt: Senate Republicans Never Intended to Save Trump’s Presidency

    Revolver, a conservative website, makes the case that Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz never intended to expose the massive voter fraud in the presidential election when they vowed to refuse to certify the Electoral College vote. The Senators failed to call out the Democrats’ dramatic expansion of early voting and ballot harvesting that were used to steal the election. Nor did they call out Joe Biden’s victory as illegitimate. The 10-day audit requested by the Senators did not allow enough time for an investigation, and nothing could have come from it. They were grandstanding and risked nothing. Ultimately, there is no one coming to save President Trump by making a real effort, as none want to risk professional ruin, criminal prosecution, or violence. -GEG

  30. National Power Blackout Plunges Pakistan Into Darkness, Air Force Reportedly on Red Alert (sputniknews, Jan 9, 2021)
    https://sputniknews.com/world/202101091081716677-national-power-blackout-plunges-pakistan-into-darkness-air-force-on-red-alert/

    “According to reporters on social media, NTDC transmission lines have apparently tripped. While the authorities are trying to establish the cause of the outage, Pakistanis rushed to social media providing conspiracy theories as an explanation.

    A massive power outage was reported in Pakistan on Saturday, plunging the whole country into darkness with simultaneous blackouts.

    Pakistani Energy Minister Omar Ayub said on Twitter that the blackout was due to a sudden frequency drop in the national power distribution system. the authorities were trying to run the Tarbela power station to restore the power supply, adding that he was overseeing the situation himself.

    The light went out in most cities, including the largest Pakistani city of Karachi, as well as Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, the capital of Islamabad, Sialkot, Sahiwal, Gujranwala, Peshawar and Bahawalpur.

    According to Abid Qaiyum Suleri, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, the blackout occurred due to a broken 500KV power transmission line. A large coal plant went down triggering a chain reaction across the whole country.

    Social media posts showed Pakistan’s many sprawling urban territories in darkness, with many users expressing concern over patients on life-support and other critically important electricity-dependent services.

    “All teams have reached their respective stations… Federal Minister for Power, Petroleum and Natural Resources Omar Ayub is himself supervising the restoration work,” Omar Ayub said as quoted by The Express Tribune.

    Information Minister Shibli Faraz suggested that the blackout came as a result of a technical fault in the system of the autonomous National Transmission & Despatch Company.

    Meanwhile, netizens have alleged that a military strike could follow the massive outage, asking everyone to “be ready”. However, no official statement has been made in that regard. Another report said air forces in neighbouring India and Iraq were also placed on high alert.”

  31. Turkey concerned about Saudi sending F-15s to Greek island of Crete
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210109-turkey-concerned-about-sending-saudi-f-15s-to-greek-island-of-crete/

    “Greek media reports about Riyadh’s intention to send F-15 aircraft to the Souda military base on the Greek island of Crete has raised concerns in Turkey, as reflected in the reactions of local media.

    The Greek City Times reported the news of joint military exercises between Greece and Saudi Arabia in the near future. Thus, Haberler newspaper spoke about a “threat to Turkey” and indicated that the Saudi F-15 aircraft will be flown by Greek pilots.

    On the other hand, Turkish newspaper Zaman only reported news of the manoeuvres and a plan to send Saudi fighter jets to Greece as part of military cooperation between Riyadh and Athens, in light of the tension in the Eastern Mediterranean and the alliances resulting from this in recent months.

    Greece and Greek Cyprus have conducted several military manoeuvres since last summer in the Eastern Mediterranean “in cooperation with its allies against Turkey,” according to Zaman newspaper.

    Athens also concluded a 20-year military cooperation agreement with Tel Aviv, worth $1.68 billion. Zaman said that Greek media reports claimed that Saudi Arabia will send a number of F-15 fighters to the Souda base in Crete, as ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. This is due to Greece’s concerns over Turkey’s movements in the region, especially with the increasing tensions between the two countries in the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean.

    Greece decided to ally with Saudi Arabia after engaging the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, France, the US and Israel in the same alliance.

    Zaman mentioned that the Saudi Kingdom has the third-largest fleet of F-15 aircraft worldwide, after the US and Japan.”

  32. Security Official Detained Over Illegal Sale of Weapons to Taliban: Dykundi
    https://www.khaama.com/security-official-detained-over-illegal-sale-of-weapons-to-taliban-dykundi-776655/

    “According to local officials in Daikundi, a provincial security member has been arrested on suspicion of selling government ammunition and weapons to the Taliban.

    Reports indicate, that security officials confirmed the arrest of the man for selling security forces’ ammunition and weapons to the Taliban.

    The detainee is said to have had two Kalashnikov assault rifles, a pistol with three magazines and 40 rounds of ammunition, 16 rounds of rocket shells, 240 rounds of rockets, two laptop computers, 266 rounds of Kalashnikov assault rifle, and 13 rounds of mortar shells, a hand grenade and a grenade launcher, a mortar, 4 tactical vests, 8 magazines, 5 belts, a two-way radio device (COM) and a vehicle were obtained from the militants.

    A local official, who did not want to be named, blamed the perpetrator used to sell these defense tools to Taliban militants in the Paato area of Dykundi province.

    Dykundi is situated in the heart of Afghanistan, the province is one of the insecure regions in the country wherein the Taliban are active.”

  33. President Erdo?an urges self-criticism for Western world
    https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/president-erdogan-urges-self-criticism-for-western-world-161503

    “The Western world should self-criticize over democracy, rights and freedoms, the Turkish leader said on Jan. 9 in the wake of the recent Capitol riots in the U.S.

    President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said that those who cannot stand even the implication of terrorism had tried to prevent Turkey from fighting against terrorists.

    “We have seen the examples of them a couple of months ago in France. We also witnessed similar reactions over recent events in the US. All these developments make the Western world subject to a sincere self-criticism of democracy, rights and freedoms.

    “All these developments make it necessary for the Western world to criticize itself in terms of democracy, rights and freedoms. If this self-criticism is not made and the understanding of justifying itself despite wrongdoings as we saw in the past, it means that the world has come to a new crossroad,” Erdo?an said.

    His remarks came when he addressed the launching ceremony of a new bridge in the country’s southeast via video link.

    On Wednesday, supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump protesting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win clashed with police, eventually breaching the Capitol building and making their way to the Senate floor.

    At least five people died after the mob breached the building, including one woman shot by Capitol Police.

    The grim scenes are an unprecedented stain on the U.S.’ peaceful transfer of power.

    Erdo?an said many recent events in Europe and the U.S. revealed once again the double standards adopted against Turkey.

    He also said that Turkey has been following the measures implemented by countries that have been accusing Ankara of being unable to operate democracy and restricting rights and freedoms, in the first threat they have faced.

    The president stated that those who oppose Turkey’s efforts to place social media channels where human rights and freedoms are violated the most in the country on a legal basis have started to perform “the most primitive examples of censorship.”

    He also said that the same countries are making disproportionately harsh interventions to suppress the actions of marginal groups which disturb the peace of the society and mean an open attack against the state and the law.

    There will be more need for new common values based on fairness, equity and sustainability that will embrace the whole of humanity and go beyond the distinctions such as origin, color, belief and culture, Erdo?an emphasized.

    He said that they hope that the global political and economic order, for which restructuring has become inevitable with the COVID-19 pandemic, will be shaped within this framework, and added that Turkey is in an effort to both advocate the idea and implement it in the region and around the world.”

  34. 2 Daesh/ISIS suspects arrested in Turkish capital
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/2-daesh-isis-suspects-arrested-in-turkish-capital/2104099

    “Two Daesh/ISIS terror suspects planning a major attack in Turkey were arrested in the capital Ankara, a security source said.

    The two Syrian nationals were arrested in an operation by teams of the National Intelligence Organization and gendarmerie in the capital’s Yenimahalle district, said the source, requesting anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

    The suspects, identified only the initials M.E.H and M.H., worked for the Daesh/ISIS terror group in Syria’s Deir ez-Zour region and were involved in several attacks on civilians, the official said.

    Turkish intelligence was monitoring the individuals as part of efforts against the terror group’s network in Ankara, the source added.

    Initially living in an abandoned building, they changed their location in a failed bid to evade authorities, but were soon tracked down in a container house, the official said.

    Turkish authorities have determined that the suspects were in contact with Daesh/ISIS terrorists in Syria, and organizational documents and digital materials were also found at their location, according to the source.

    The investigation will be expanded, the official added…”

  35. Turkey neutralizes 2 more YPG/PKK terrorists in Syria
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkey-neutralizes-2-more-ypg-pkk-terrorists-in-syria/2104115

    “Turkish forces neutralized two more YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

    Commandos neutralized the terrorists as part of continuing efforts to prevent terrorist infiltration into the Operation Peace Spring area, the ministry said on Twitter.

    Turkish authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured…”