Cassandra Wilson
Philharmonie, Munich, Germany 2015
Friday, May 31, 2019
Israeli Flag Burned At KKK Rally…By The Counterprotesters
Israeli Flag Burned At KKK Rally…By The Counterprotesters
Someone posted a series of photos on her Facebook site showing people in the counterprotest area first attempting to burn an Israeli flag, then tearing it and stomping on it.
“I was shocked to see that,” Stathes said. “I saw some counterarguments (in the comments) as to why they might have done that, but at the same time it’s totally unacceptable. It made me feel sick.”
According to Stephanie Hausner, deputy director of the Israel Action Network of Jewish Federations of North America, Students for Justice in Palestine equates Zionists and the KKK as fascists. Native American rights activist Corine Fairbanks of Dayton took the series of photos, which have been widely circulated on social media.
Fairbanks posted them at her Facebook page just before the end of the rally and counterrally, with the heading: “More Allies, and Palestinian Relatives, wanting to burn flag – FREE PALESTINE!! Deport the KKK.”
Jen Mendoza, with the Cincinnati Palestine Solidarity Coalition, is a friend of Fairbanks. Mendoza is shown in the images wearing sunglasses and attempting to set the Israeli flag on fire with a cigarette lighter.
And how did the counterprotesters come to burn an Israeli flag? In an interview with The Observer, Mendoza said the incident occurred after she saw three young men with an Israeli flag and entered into what she described as a confusing discussion with them.
“And so recognizing the state of Israel as being of the same ideology (as) American capitalist imperialist settler colonialism, and seeing that flag on our side (counterprotesters area) was jolting,” Mendoza said of her reaction at the sight of the Israeli flag.
“One of them said that he was from Israel. And then the other two boys looked Arab,” she added.
“The other kid, he was the one doing a lot of the talking, he made comments about God giving them the land, and at that point I was like, ‘Well, you’re on the wrong side of this fence if that’s what you believe.’” Mendoza said that after the conversation went on and he said “some extremely Zionist, racist things,” he asked her if he should throw it on the ground and stomp on it.
She told him she’d be happy to burn it for him. “And then he flipped and was like, ‘Yeah, let’s burn this flag right now,’” Mendoza added, “and he helped tear it apart — and then he told us that he was doing a social experiment to find out where people really stood on fascism. And then he began chanting ‘Free Palestine.’”
Think about how messed up this is. At a rally against people who hate Jews, a hater impersonates an Israeli with the sole purpose of riling up the crowd against Israel. And it works.
Teacher Jailed For 6 Years For Drugging Fellow Teacher With MDMA and Raping Her, Goes To Mosque To Pray While Waiting For The Drug To Take Effect
Teacher Jailed For 6 Years For Drugging Fellow Teacher With MDMA and Raping Her, Goes To Mosque To Pray While Waiting For The Drug To Take Effect
A teacher has been jailed for six years after drugging a woman’s hot chocolate and then sexually assaulting her. Junaid Iqbal-Wahid had taken his victim on a drive and when they stopped for a toilet break, the 28-year-old laced the woman’s drink with MDMA.
Whilst she drank the contents of the hot chocolate, he went off to pray at a nearby mosque, before returning to the vehicle. Within minutes the woman became unwell and begged him to take her to hospital. The pair were platonic friends and a judge stated that Iqbal-Wahid had ‘taken advantage of her’.
During her ordeal the victim – a devout Muslim who was hoping to marry another man – was kept in the vehicle for up to five hours before she was allowed to seek treatment.
Canada: Fuel Tanker Truck Hits Air Canada Plane THREE TIMES, Driver Charged, Name Not Released
Five Hurt After Fuel Truck Hits Plane At Pearson AirportDo you agree Canadians deserve more information about this incident from our Public Safety Minister? Even if it was just an accident — how did such a bad driver get put in charge of a fuel truck at Canada’s biggest airport? pic.twitter.com/1jPSSRWrO6— Senator Linda Frum (@LindaFrum) May 30, 2019
Five people were taken to hospital early Friday after a fuel truck collided with a plane on a tarmac at Toronto Pearson International airport. According to The Canadian Press, the Jazz flight with 51 people on board was headed for Sudbury, Ont., but turned around because of bad weather.
Shortly after 1:30 a.m., the plane was taxiing back to the gate and was struck by a fuel truck. Police say the plane was hit three time and five people – the pilot, co-pilot and three passengers – were treated for minor injuries.
Viktor Oban and Jordan Peterson Meet Together, Agree Illegal Immigration Is "Dangerous"
Both the Hungarian prime minister and Canadian academic are known to be staunch opponents of the uncontrolled illegal migration that has been pouring into the EU since 2015.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met with Canadian University Professor Jordan Peterson, who was attending the Brain Bar Festival in Budapest, on 30 May to discuss an array of topics. Namely, the two discussed the acute issue of illegal immigration, agreeing that it is both “unnecessary and dangerous”, Hungary today reported, citing Orban’s Assistant Under Secretary Havasi Bertalan.
Orban and Peterson also discussed contemporary political correctness, which in their opinion has made “sensible public discussions” virtually impossible. The two reportedly agreed that political correctness had been invented by a “small, ideologically driven group”.
Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson first shot to fame after refusing to use special pronouns for transgender people, but later became known as a professor with views often at odds with the mainstream, especially when it comes to free speech. He is renowned as a steadfast critic of political correctness, hard-line feminism, Marxism, and post-modernist narratives.
Mueller Is A Liar
A sitting President can indeed be indicted.
Found via a simple Google search which pulled up in the first 10 hits Can the President Be Indicted? A Long-Hidden Legal Memo Says Yes (New York Times, 2017):
Found via a simple Google search which pulled up in the first 10 hits Can the President Be Indicted? A Long-Hidden Legal Memo Says Yes (New York Times, 2017):
WASHINGTON — A newfound memo from Kenneth W. Starr’s independent counsel investigation into President Bill Clinton sheds fresh light on a constitutional puzzle that is taking on mounting significance amid the Trump-Russia inquiry: Can a sitting president be indicted?To date, I've neither read nor heard a refutation of Mueller's related statement given on May 29, 2019.
The 56-page memo, locked in the National Archives for nearly two decades and obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, amounts to the most thorough government-commissioned analysis rejecting a generally held view that presidents are immune from prosecution while in office.
“It is proper, constitutional, and legal for a federal grand jury to indict a sitting president for serious criminal acts that are not part of, and are contrary to, the president’s official duties,” the Starr office memo concludes....
[...]
As Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel in the latest inquiry, investigates the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia and whether President Trump obstructed justice, the newly unearthed Starr office memo raises the possibility that Mr. Mueller may have more options than most commentators have assumed....
TRUMP: "Big League Statement" Forthcoming, "We Are Going To Be Doing Something Very Dramatic On The Border"
"Probably today, a major statement on the border," the president said while leaving the White House for his trip to deliver the annual commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy. "This is a big league statement but we are going to do something very dramatic on the border."GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
French Rapper from Cameroon Calls to “F**k France” and Chokes White Girl to Death in New Music Video
The video is still playing on YouTube while conservatives and Trump supporters continue to be banned and de-monetized.GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
AND THEN THERE'S THIS:
PITTSBURGH, PA: Black Suspect Beats Up, Throws Man Onto Train Tracks ‘Because He Was White’
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Educators In NYC Told To Associate Objectivity And Individualism With ‘White Supremacy’
NYC Chancellor of Schools Richard Carranza mandated training intended to purge Department of Education employees of the implicit biases endemic to whiteness https://t.co/02WTahSKLU pic.twitter.com/BfDBetCngz— Wesley Yang (@wesyang) May 21, 2019
MILLENARIAN THINKING LEADS TO HELL, NOT TO HEAVEN
Every once in a while, people start believing that the end of days is near and that if we don’t all repent immediately that end will be very bad. Almost always they are wrong.
It’s hard not to notice that we’re in a bit of a millenarian moment right now. That’s true even if climate change is a genuine problem that will need, in one form or another, to be addressed. The way Members of Congress flocked to AOC’s “The world is going to end in 12 years” Green New Deal was truly astonishing. Who would have thought that anyone would jump to support a policy that reads like it was cooked up by a college sophomore on a binge weekend?
And don’t get me started about Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenager who is leading the children’s crusade against global warming in Europe (and being treated like a sage by European leaders).
If it looks and sounds like millenarianism, it is millenarianism.
Not every society has managed to pull itself back from the brink. Consider the fate of the mid-19th century Xhosa people of Southeastern Africa. Their “prophetess” was Nongqawuse–a teenage girl who was the Greta Thunberg of her day. She led her people to ruin.
One day in April or May of 1856, she went down to the river to do her chores. When she returned, she said that she had encountered the spirits of several of her ancestors who told her that her people must destroy their crops and kill their cattle. In return, the sun would rise red on February 18, 1857, and the Xhosa ancestors would sweep the British settlers from the land and bring the Xhosa fresh, healthier cattle. (Some of their cattle had been suffering from a lung ailment, which may or may not have been brought by the British settlers’ cattle. Millenarianism is often arises in response to a real problem.)Nongqawuse’s story struck a chord with some. It started gaining momentum.
Stunningly, Sarhili, the Xhosa chieftain, agreed to do exactly as she urged. Over the next year, a frenzy occurred in which it is estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 cattle were killed and crops destroyed. Historians sometimes call it the “Great Cattle Killing.”
But on February 18, 1857, the sun rose as usual. It was not red. And the Xhosa ancestors did not show. But the Xhosa people had destroyed their livelihood. In the resulting famine, the population of the area dropped from 105,000 to less than 27,000. Cannibalism was reported. Following Nongqawuse’s advice was a calamity of staggering proportions for the Xhosa people.
Like Nongqawuse, climate millenarians tell us that the sun will soon rise red over the land. Well, maybe. But already the models that gung-ho climateers have relied upon have been proven wrong. The intense period of warming that Al Gore predicted would arrive soon never came to pass. Yet we are repeatedly told that it’s still coming. In the meantime we are urged put the brakes on our use of energy–the very thing that makes the modern world possible–to avoid antagonizing the spirits of our ancestors … I mean in order to avoid climate disaster.
There are two more parallels to the Great Cattle Killing that are worth pointing out. First, Nongqawuse’s urgings did not come out of nowhere. Some of the cattle were indeed sick. The problem is that her proposed course of action was utterly disproportionate to the problem, just as the Green New Deal and other “the end is near” proposals are disproportionate given the state of our knowledge about climate. Second, some historians believe that the Great Cattle Killing was in part motivated by class animosity. The Xhosa people had been losing ground to white settlers for years, and some members of the tribe blamed their more prosperous members. Cattle were a status symbols, and initially at least, the burden of their destruction seemed to be something that would fall disproportionately upon elites. The cattle were, in effect, the big carbon footprint of their time.
We don’t need Sarhilis in Congress. For the record, I should point out that he perished in the famine.
Trump-Russia's Turning, and the Knives Are Out
Now that the Russia collusion allegations have evaporated, the long knives are out and President Trump’s antagonists are watching their backs. They have moved from accusing him of treason to pushing revisionist narratives that try to shift the blame for the debunked probe onto others.
This effort is expected to accelerate following Trump’s decision Thursday to empower Attorney General William Barr to declassify CIA, Pentagon, and Director of National Intelligence documents as necessary to access “information or intelligence that relates to the attorney general’s review” of the Russia probe. In other words, he’s gaining the authority needed to investigate the investigators.
CIA sources immediately objected in the New York Times that assets’ lives would be at risk, stunting Langley’s ability to recruit. Perhaps. But the argument is a bit shopworn, raising the question whether intelligence managers are looking to protect their agents and sources, or aiming to protect themselves.
There are a growing number of indicators that the leading players in the 2016 election drama are turning on one another, making a mad dash for the lifeboats to escape being dragged under with the political Titanic that is Christopher Steele and his dossier.
These are many of the same people who had been eager to exploit the dossier, that collection of memos paid for by the Clinton campaign and supposedly sourced from Russia. Once treated like the Rosetta stone of collusion, the Steele documents now seem even to Trump antagonists more like the Howard Hughes diaries.
A "former CIA official” has told Fox News that two of Trump’s most high profile accusers – former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Director of the CIA John Brennan – didn’t want anything to do with Steele’s opus. It was former FBI Director James Comey, the source said, who was pushing to use the dossier in the official Intelligence Community Assessment, issued in the final days of the Obama administration.
Having failed at that, thanks to Clapper and Brennan’s diligence (or so the story goes), Comey went rogue and confronted President-elect Trump with the salacious highlights produced by Steele. Even the peripheral players are doing their best to shift blame. Former FBI General Counsel James Baker – who is under criminal investigation for leaks – recently went on the Skullduggery podcast to assert that he and other bureau officials were “quite worried” that Comey’s meeting with Trump would look like a page out of J. Edgar Hoover’s playbook – invoking the legendary FBI director who stockpiled damaging information to blackmail politicians.
Would Comey be wrong to interpret Baker’s comments as an offer to testify against his former boss in exchange for a deal on the leaks investigation? Comey has no shortage of adversaries, partly because old rivals he thought he had dispatched — such as former Attorney General Loretta Lynch — are back in the mix, and he is possibly sensing his vulnerability. It was in June 2017 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee that Comey tossed Lynch under the proverbial bus. Now she’s showing she can climb out from under the motor coach and dust herself off.
In September of 2015, Lynch and Comey were preparing to testify on Capitol Hill and expected to be asked about the Hillary Clinton email probe — code-named the Midyear Exam — which at that point had not been officially acknowledged.
“I wanted to know if she [Lynch] would authorize us to confirm we had an investigation,” Comey told lawmakers. “And she said yes, but don't call it that; call it a 'matter.' And I said why would I do that? And [Lynch] said just call it a ‘matter.’”
Comey says he reluctantly went along with Lynch’s demand, even though it gave him “a queasy feeling.” He worried “that the attorney general was looking to align the way we talked about our work with the way a political campaign was describing the same activity, which was inaccurate.”
Lynch pushed back against the notion she had twisted Comey’s arm. In April 2018 she told NBC’s Lester Holt that she didn’t remember the meeting the way Comey described it, and that the FBI director had raised no objections. But now that the questions about officials’ behavior regarding the 2016 candidates has become a fraught topic, those officials are taking stronger stands to defend themselves. Comey continues to leave little wiggle room in his portrayal of the conversation with Lynch.
In a December 2018 closed-door congressional interview, Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) asked him to confirm “the fact that the attorney general had asked you to refer to this investigation as a matter, correct?”
“That is correct.” Comey said.GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
But, Allah IS Gay: Police Steal "Allah Is Gay" Sign
Would they steal a "God is Gay" sign? A "Hashem Is Gay" sign?
No.
They only do this because THEY ARE AFRAID OF MUSLIMS.
Anti-Semite accused of beating French Jewish woman to death will not face trial
A leading French Jewish organization said on Friday that it had “learned with consternation” that the man accused of murdering Jewish pensioner Sarah Halimi in April 2017 will not face a criminal trial.
In a statement carried by the Jewish publication Alliance, the BNVCA — a Paris-based group that works with victims of antisemitic attacks — said that the investigating magistrate in the Halimi case had concluded that the murderer, Kobili Traore, was heavily intoxicated on marijuana when he committed the killing, and mentally unfit to stand trial.GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
Ramadan Rioting In The Netherlands
10 Minute mark:🆘‼👮♂️🔥 #Netherlands: Allah is watching...and wants to see violence. At the Pegida-Netherlands event of the Dutch citizens & patriots in #Eindhoven, the usual suspects once again showed that they & their religion are not compatible with Western values. by blocked @OnlineMagazin pic.twitter.com/zFDajiQy4b— The Backup of OnlineMagazin (@Fake_Ljaschko) May 27, 2019
Millie Fontana: Missing a Father on The Other Side of The Rainbow
This woman tells her story of not having a father, while growing up the child of a Lesbian couple.
Turkey Venerates Its Violent Conquest of Christian Territory with Conversion of Hagia Sophia to a Mosque
It’s official: Turkey plans on converting the Hagia Sophia museum—for centuries, one of Christendom’s grandest basilicas—into a mosque.
Although President ErdoÄŸan often tells Western/secular media that his decision is a sort of tit for tat—now a response to Israel’s treatment of Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa mosque, now a response to European resistance to more Muslim migrants—the true significance behind his desire to transform Hagia Sophia came out in March 31, 2019.
After reporting that “Turkey's president has recited an Islamic prayer in the Hagia Sophia, a historic Istanbul landmark that has become a symbol of interfaith and diplomatic tensions,” AP added that ErdoÄŸan also dedicated his prayer to the “souls of all who left us this work as inheritance, especially Istanbul's conqueror.”
He is not alone in his desire to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque as a way of venerating its jihadi conquerors; more than 97 percent of Turks surveyed said they want to see Hagia Sophia turned into a mosque, not because there is a dearth of places to pray—as of 2010, there were 3,000 active mosques in Istanbul alone—but to revel in the glory (that is, gory) days of jihad, and honor its practitioners.
To quote Salih Turhan, head of the Anatolian Youth Association, a group that annually organizes mass demonstrations around Hagia Sophia: “As the grandchildren of Mehmet the Conqueror, seeking the re-opening Hagia Sophia as a mosque is our legitimate right.”GO READ THE WHOLE THING.
Monday, May 27, 2019
For Memorial Day 2019
[With thanks to Warren, who called my attention to the cited essay below]
Some appropriate reading for Memorial Day and worth pondering....
From Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery by Tom Cotton, published in Hillsdale College's Imprimis (April/May, 2019):
Memorial Day is not really about store sales and cookouts.
Rather, Memorial Day is a solemn commemoration of our fallen military across the centuries.
Pause, remember, reflect.
 |
| [about "Flags In" at Arlington National Cemetery] |
Some appropriate reading for Memorial Day and worth pondering....
From Sacred Duty: A Soldier’s Tour at Arlington National Cemetery by Tom Cotton, published in Hillsdale College's Imprimis (April/May, 2019):
Every headstone at Arlington tells a story. These are tales of heroes, I thought, as I placed the toe of my combat boot against the white marble. I pulled a miniature American flag out of my assault pack and pushed it three inches into the ground at my heel. I stepped aside to inspect it, making sure it met the standard that we had briefed to our troops: “vertical and perpendicular to the headstone.” Satisfied, I moved to the next headstone to keep up with my soldiers. Having started this row, I had to complete it. One soldier per row was the rule; otherwise, different boot sizes might disrupt the perfect symmetry of the headstones and flags. I planted flag after flag, as did the soldiers on the rows around me.Read the entire essay HERE.
Bending over to plant the flags brought me eye-level with the lettering on those marble stones. The stories continued with each one. Distinguished Service Cross. Silver Star. Bronze Star. Purple Heart. America’s wars marched by. Iraq. Afghanistan. Vietnam. Korea. World War II. World War I. Some soldiers died in very old age; others were teenagers. Crosses, Stars of David, Crescents and Stars. Every religion, every race, every age, every region of America is represented in these fields of stone.
I came upon the gravesite of a Medal of Honor recipient. I paused, came to attention, and saluted. The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor. By military custom, all soldiers salute Medal of Honor recipients irrespective of their rank, in life and in death. We had reminded our soldiers of this courtesy; hundreds of grave sites would receive salutes that afternoon. I planted this hero’s flag and kept moving.
On some headstones sat a small memento: a rank or unit patch, a military coin, a seashell, sometimes just a penny or a rock. Each was a sign that someone—maybe family or friends, or perhaps a battle buddy who lived because of his friend’s ultimate sacrifice—had visited, honored, and mourned. For those of us who had been downrange, the sight was equally comforting and jarring—a sign that we would be remembered in death, but also a reminder of just how close some of us had come to resting here ourselves. We left those mementos undisturbed.
After a while, my hand began to hurt from pushing on the pointed, gold tips of the flags. There had been no rain that week, so the ground was hard. I asked my soldiers how they were moving so fast and seemingly pain-free. They asked if I was using a bottle cap, and I said no. Several shook their heads in disbelief; forgetting a bottle cap was apparently a mistake on par with forgetting one’s rifle or night-vision goggles on patrol in Iraq. Those kinds of little tricks and techniques were not briefed in the day’s written orders, but rather got passed down from seasoned soldiers. These details often make the difference between mission success or failure in the Army, whether in combat or stateside. After some good-natured ribbing at my expense, a young private squared me away with a spare cap.
We finished up our last section and got word over the radio to go place flags in the Columbarium, where open-air buildings contain thousands of urns. Walking down Arlington’s leafy avenues, we passed Section 60, where soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were laid to rest if their families chose Arlington as their eternal home. Unlike in the sections we had just completed, several visitors and mourners were present. Some had settled in for a while on blankets or lawn chairs. Others walked among the headstones. Even from a respectful distance, we could see the sense of loss and grief on their faces.
Once we finished in the Columbarium, “mission complete” came over the radio and we began the long walk up Arlington’s hills and back to Fort Myer. In just a few hours, we had placed a flag at every grave site in this sacred ground, more than two hundred thousand of them. From President John F. Kennedy to the Unknown Soldiers to the youngest privates from our oldest wars, every hero of Arlington had a few moments that day with a soldier who, in this simple act of remembrance, delivered a powerful message to the dead and the living alike: you are not forgotten.
*****************************************************************************
The Thursday before Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery is known as “Flags In.” The soldiers who place the flags belong to the 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, better known as The Old Guard. My turn at Flags In came in 2007, when I served with The Old Guard between my tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Old Guard is literally the old guard, the oldest active-duty infantry regiment in the Army, dating back to 1784, three years older even than our Constitution....
[...]
No one summed up better what The Old Guard of Arlington means for our nation than Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey. He shared a story with me about taking a foreign military leader through Arlington to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Sergeant Major Dailey said, “I was explaining what The Old Guard does and he was looking out the window at all those headstones. After a long pause, still looking at the headstones, he said, ‘Now I know why your soldiers fight so hard. You take better care of your dead than we do our living.’”
Memorial Day is not really about store sales and cookouts.
Rather, Memorial Day is a solemn commemoration of our fallen military across the centuries.
Pause, remember, reflect.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Jon Voight: 'President Trump Is the Greatest President Since Abraham Lincoln'
Late Friday night, Hollywood actor Jon Voight lavished praise on President Donald Trump in two short Twitter videos. The actor said Trump has made "every move correct," that the nation is "witnessing triumph," and that Trump is "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln." While Hollywood seems determined to demonize the president, this hyperbolic defense of Trump is refreshing, but it is far too early to judge Trump's presidency in this way, much less compare it to Lincoln's.
"People of the Republican Party, I know you will agree with me when I say our President has our utmost respect and our love. This job is not easy, for he’s battling the left and their absurd words of destruction," Voight began. "I’ve said this once and I’ll say this again, that our nation has been built on the solid ground from our forefathers and there is a moral code of duty that has been passed on from President Lincoln."
"I’m here today to acknowledge the truth. And I’m here today to tell you my fellow Americans that our country is stronger, safer, and with more jobs because our president has made his every move correct," the actor added. "Don’t be fooled by the political left because we are the people of this nation that is witnessing triumph. So let us stand with our president."
He then declared, "Let us stand up for this truth that President Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln. God bless America, and may God continue to guide this nation. Much love."
Voight was entirely right to point out that the left uses "absurd words of destruction" against Trump, accusing him of everything from obstruction of justice to treason. Indeed, the president has been charged with inciting "hate," he has been blamed for the actions of terrorists who despised him, and he has been the subject of an assassination fantasy featured in The New York Times.
However, many of the actor's claims went too far. First, while America is "witnessing triumph" economically, even the most ardent pro-Trump sycophant should admit that our nation's politics is embroiled in nasty partisan vitriol. A culture obsessed with attacking Trump — either in The Handmaid's Tale or through protest after protest — is not healthy. Demands for Trump's resignation and impeachment are rampant.
By all means, Trump has achieved things Republicans — and all Americans — should cheer, from tax reform to expansions of religious freedom to cutting burdensome regulations to reversing the disastrous Iran Deal to standing with Israel to restoring the biological meaning of "sex" in federal law. His reforms have likely boosted the currently booming economy.
The true horrors of Barack Obama's presidency are still unraveling today. His social experimentation with transgender identity has helped spread confusion and medically dangerous redefinitions of sex. Iran has been breaking the conditions of the Iran Deal, just as news broke that the Obama administration secretly sent money to Iran. The results of "spy gate," the Obama administration's decision to spy on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, are slowly coming out.
It is possible that future Americans will look back on Donald Trump as a great president, but barring some absolutely horrific turns of events, he will never be faced with the daunting task of reuniting a country riven apart by civil war. With all respect to the current president, I don't think he will have the opportunity to become as great as Abraham Lincoln, and I think that is a very good thing for the country.
In an age of hyperbole, it makes sense that Jon Voight would go too far in praising Trump. He probably felt the need to balance out the ridiculous hyperbole of liberals slamming Trump as a fascist or a Nazi. Even so, that does not make this actor right. If Trump will be as great as Lincoln, Americans won't truly know for at least a decade. Let's have some perspective in these turbulent times.
Farage: ‘No No to BoJo’.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage is attempting to force a real fight within the Conservative Party rather than allowing them to crown Boris Johnson as they did with Theresa May.Brexit Party leader and arguably once again the most influential political figure in Britain Nigel Farage has warned today that Conservative Party favorite Boris Johnson cannot be trusted with the leadership of the party and therefore the premiership of the nation.
Johnson, who is leading the Conservative Party would-be leadership pack, has also previously had praise lavished upon him by President Donald Trump, who is also close to Farage.
But Johnson has not always felt as warmly about the U.S. President in return.
“…the only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.” – Boris Johnson.Speaking in 2015, then Mayor of London offered a stinging rebuke to then candidate Trump over the latter’s comments about London areas “that are so radicalised that police are afraid for their own lives”.
Speaking at the time, Johnson hurled insults at the would-be President. He said: “Donald Trump’s ill-informed comments are complete and utter nonsense.
“As a city where more than 300 languages are spoken, London has a proud history of tolerance and diversity and to suggest there are areas where police officers cannot go because of radicalisation is simply ridiculous.
“I would welcome the opportunity to show Mr Trump first hand some of the excellent work our police officers do every day in local neighbourhoods throughout our city.
“Crime has been falling steadily in both London and New York – and the only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.”
Soon after, Johnson – aka ‘BoJo’ – did a political 180, leaning into the Brexit campaign, joining up a parallel organization to that of Nigel Farage and his then UK Independence Party.
“Yet when it came to walking the walk, a few months later Boris strolled through the division lobby and voted for Mrs May’s vassalage deal.” – Nigel Farage.But even so Johnson has been unreliable.
He is known to have written two articles for Britain’s national newspapers: one urging the country to vote leave, and the other urging them to vote to remain in the European Union.
His current girlfriend – Carrie Symonds – is a left-liberal obsessed with social justice causes, and who starred in some strange, satanic, occult performances in college.
Writing in the Sunday Express newspaper today, Farage urges people, especially the Conservative Party, to look twice at Johnson:
“Last November, Boris denounced May’s non-withdrawal deal as ‘about as bad as it could possibly be’ and warned it would reduce the UK to a ‘vassal state’.
“That was what many of us wanted to hear.
“Yet when it came to walking the walk, a few months later Boris strolled through the division lobby and voted for Mrs May’s vassalage deal.
“Never mind turkeys voting for Christmas, this was more like Spartacus voting for slavery.
“Now Boris pledges that the UK will definitely leave the EU on October 31, ‘Brexit deal or no deal’. But why should we trust him to keep his word?
“Why should we believe that a parliament packed with two-faced hypocrites and political cardsharps will suddenly turn into a paragon of honesty when the clocks strike midnight on October 31?”
Johnson also drew a cacophony of boos and jeers at the big Brexit Party rally in London on the Tuesday evening before the European Parliamentary elections in Britain.His comments echo my own, from Friday’s Human Events article about the future of Brexit. I wrote two days ago:
At this point, the favorite appears to be Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London.
If the Conservative Parliamentary Party chooses Boris, Gove, or any of the other majority of centrist neoliberals, they can kiss a majority in the House of Commons good bye for good.
But Johnson – when mentioned at the Brexit Party’s big rally in London on Tuesday – was booed, not cheered.
Right-leaning and eurosceptic voters in the United Kingdom know him as a liberal who was a pretty poor mayor, and who has been deeply unreliable on all matters conservative.
As Fraser Nelson wrote in the Telegraph: “The truth about Boris Johnson is that he’s a pro-immigration social liberal who fits comfortably in the one-nation Tory tradition.”
And Johnson was also known for having no strong feelings either way on the referendum result. He simply hitched his wagon to the best side for his own prime ministerial aspirations: Leave.
In bringing this to people’s attention now, Farage both sews discord within the Conservative Party ahead of its leadership campaign, and sets himself up as the kingmaker of the piece.If the Conservative Parliamentary Party chooses Boris, Gove, or any of the other majority of centrist neoliberals, they can kiss a majority in the House of Commons good bye for good.
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Another California judge blocks border wall construction
suppose this was inevitable. As construction is slated to being on several sections of border wall, both new and existing structures requiring upgrades, a judge has issued a preliminary injunction to prevent certain DoD funds from being used for this purpose. The ACLU brought the suit (how this is a civil liberties case remains a mystery) and once again they found a judge in northern California to deliver the ruling. And just to complete the hat trick, yes… the judge is once again an Obama appointee. (CNN)
The basis for this decision seems sketchy at best. In his ruling, the judge specifically mentions situations where “Congress declines the Executive’s request to appropriate funds.” But that’s not what’s happening here, so I’m not sure what the judge is talking about. It’s true that Congress declined to appropriate new funding for the border wall in the last budget negotiations. That’s their right so that new money was not made available. But this is money that Congress already appropriated for the Department of Defense in previous budgets.
Once the military funding was appropriated, it’s pretty much up to the White House and the Department of Defense as to the specifics of where, when and how it’s spent. Also, as we discussed here previously, there are specific exceptions under federal law that allow for DoD funds to be used for construction projects within a certain distance of the border. The declaration of a national emergency only strengthens that ability.
If this injunction is thrown out on appeal, we really need to ask what’s going on with some of these judges, particularly the ones in the San Francisco / Oakland area. (This judge’s court is in Oakland.) Are they ruling on the basis of existing law or just looking to throw a wrench in the works and score a political victory for the Democrats? We’ve danced around this discussion over the border wall for long enough. It’s time to start building.
suppose this was inevitable. As construction is slated to being on several sections of border wall, both new and existing structures requiring upgrades, a judge has issued a preliminary injunction to prevent certain DoD funds from being used for this purpose. The ACLU brought the suit (how this is a civil liberties case remains a mystery) and once again they found a judge in northern California to deliver the ruling. And just to complete the hat trick, yes… the judge is once again an Obama appointee. (CNN)
A federal judge on Friday night blocked President Donald Trump from tapping into Defense Department funds to build parts of his US-Mexico border wall.For the time being, other DoD funds not covered by this injunction will have to be shuffled around so the project can move forward anyway, at least until the appeals can be heard. The border sections in question are located in Arizona and Texas.
In a 56-page ruling, Judge Haywood Gilliam, a Barack Obama appointee in the Northern District of California, blocked the administration from moving forward with specific projects in Texas and Arizona “using funds reprogrammed by DoD under Section 8005 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019.”
Friday’s ruling does not prevent the Trump administration from using funds from other sources to build the projects in question.
The basis for this decision seems sketchy at best. In his ruling, the judge specifically mentions situations where “Congress declines the Executive’s request to appropriate funds.” But that’s not what’s happening here, so I’m not sure what the judge is talking about. It’s true that Congress declined to appropriate new funding for the border wall in the last budget negotiations. That’s their right so that new money was not made available. But this is money that Congress already appropriated for the Department of Defense in previous budgets.
Once the military funding was appropriated, it’s pretty much up to the White House and the Department of Defense as to the specifics of where, when and how it’s spent. Also, as we discussed here previously, there are specific exceptions under federal law that allow for DoD funds to be used for construction projects within a certain distance of the border. The declaration of a national emergency only strengthens that ability.
If this injunction is thrown out on appeal, we really need to ask what’s going on with some of these judges, particularly the ones in the San Francisco / Oakland area. (This judge’s court is in Oakland.) Are they ruling on the basis of existing law or just looking to throw a wrench in the works and score a political victory for the Democrats? We’ve danced around this discussion over the border wall for long enough. It’s time to start building.
"American Taliban," Detainee #001 in the War on Terror, Released Today -- Early
As many have said, if Johnny Lindh had been prosecuted properly and gotten the Traitor's Bounty, we wouldn't be talking about this.
I question this kind of unseriousness when you're fighting a war in which you are ordering young men to die -- are you serious about this, or not?
Because if you're not really all that serious, then let's just do some cruise missile and B-2 strikes.
Why are we sending young men to die for something you don't have moral confidence about?
But Bush -- and Comey, who by the way was a communist when younger -- did not have moral confidence in his actions, apparently, and so Johnny Lindh was spared.
And now he'll be out on the streets.
By the way: He's continued to engage in Jihadist activities in prison, translating jihadist writings, for example.
He's out early on "good behavior."
That "good behavior" included Lindh sending handwritten letters to NBC in 2015 praising ISIS.
Ah yes, I remember that. Obama was so outraged by that he briefly interrupted a golf game to bloodlessly talk about it and then play through.
As many have said, if Johnny Lindh had been prosecuted properly and gotten the Traitor's Bounty, we wouldn't be talking about this.
I question this kind of unseriousness when you're fighting a war in which you are ordering young men to die -- are you serious about this, or not?
Because if you're not really all that serious, then let's just do some cruise missile and B-2 strikes.
Why are we sending young men to die for something you don't have moral confidence about?
But Bush -- and Comey, who by the way was a communist when younger -- did not have moral confidence in his actions, apparently, and so Johnny Lindh was spared.
And now he'll be out on the streets.
By the way: He's continued to engage in Jihadist activities in prison, translating jihadist writings, for example.
John Walker Lindh was captured as an enemy combatant by American and British special forces after a four-day long firefight at a Qala-i-Jangi, a prison camp in Afghanistan that housed hundreds of Taliban prisoners. After a revolt from the Taliban prisoners, American CIA Agent Johnny Spann was killed -- he was the first American causality in Afghanistan during the War on Terror. Hundreds of Northern Alliance soldiers and Taliban prisoners were also killed during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi.
Walker was brought back to the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison for "supplying services to the Taliban" and for "carrying an explosive." He is not believed to have been directly involved in the murder of agent Snapp, and to this day he claims he never fired a weapon while serving under the Taliban.
He's out early on "good behavior."
That "good behavior" included Lindh sending handwritten letters to NBC in 2015 praising ISIS.
In one of four letters sent to the Los Angeles NBC station, KNBC, Lindh responded to a reporter’s question of whether ISIS represented Islam, according to NBC News. "Yes, and they are doing a spectacular job," Lindh wrote in the February 2015 handwritten response, NBC4 Los Angeles reported. "The Islamic State is clearly very sincere and serious about fulfilling the long-neglected religious obligation of establishing a caliphate through armed struggle, which is the only correct method."
These comments came after ISIS publicized videos showing the beheading of numerous American journalists in 2014, according to NBC News.
Ah yes, I remember that. Obama was so outraged by that he briefly interrupted a golf game to bloodlessly talk about it and then play through.
France: President Macron Confirms Lyon Explosion is ‘Attack’, Eight Injured
Lyon newspaper Le Progress reports French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke of an attack about the explosion, remarking; “There was an attack in Lyon… there are no fatalities. There are wounded, so I obviously want to have a thought for the wounded, their families.”
The President was joined in his comments by populist political rival Marine Le Pen: “I give my full support to the wounded in an explosion in Lyon, the light will have to be shed on the circumstances of this terrorist attack.”
Lyon Mayor Denis Broliquier said: “certainly, it was a device intended to hurt, it was an explosive device… I was warned by several direct witnesses. The explosive device was in a bag, deposited by a man, filmed by the CCTV of the city of Lyon.”
The Paris terrorism police have launched an investigation into the blast, confirming the government considers it to have been a probable terror attack.
At least eight are reported injured after a blast ripped through a street in Lyon, France Friday afternoon. French President Emmanuel Macron has called the incident an “attack”.
The suspected parcel bomb detonated on Victor-Hugo Road in Lyon, south-east France around 1730 eastern Europe time (1130 ET) and is reported to have been a package stuffed with “nails, screws, bolts”. The eight injured, which includes an eight-year-old girl, are reported to have sustained light injuries.Lyon newspaper Le Progress reports French President Emmanuel Macron, who spoke of an attack about the explosion, remarking; “There was an attack in Lyon… there are no fatalities. There are wounded, so I obviously want to have a thought for the wounded, their families.”
The President was joined in his comments by populist political rival Marine Le Pen: “I give my full support to the wounded in an explosion in Lyon, the light will have to be shed on the circumstances of this terrorist attack.”
Lyon Mayor Denis Broliquier said: “certainly, it was a device intended to hurt, it was an explosive device… I was warned by several direct witnesses. The explosive device was in a bag, deposited by a man, filmed by the CCTV of the city of Lyon.”
The Paris terrorism police have launched an investigation into the blast, confirming the government considers it to have been a probable terror attack.
Here's a novel idea. How about instead you start cracking down on the anti-semites/
Jews warned against wearing kippah in Germany
Berlin (AFP) - Germany's government commissioner on anti-Semitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah cap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks.
"I cannot advise Jews to wear the Kippah everywhere all the time in Germany," Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group.
In issuing the warning, he said he had "alas, changed my mind (on the subject) compared to previously."
Klein, whose post was created last year, cited "the lifting of inhibitions and the uncouthness which is on the rise in society" as factors behind a rising incidence of anti-Semitism.
"The internet and social media have largely contributed to this -- but so have constant attacks against our culture of remembrance."
And he suggested police, teachers and lawyers should be better trained to recognise what constitutes "clearly defined" unacceptable behaviour and "what is authorised and what is not".
His comments came just weeks after Berlin's top legal expert on anti-semitism said the issue remains entrenched in German society.
"Anti-Semitism has always been here. But I think that recently, it has again become louder, more aggressive and flagrant," Claudia Vanoni told AFP in an interview, adding the problem was "deeply rooted" in German society.
Anti-Semitic crimes rose 20 percent in Germany last year, according to interior ministry data which blamed nine out of ten cases on the extreme right.
Vanoni said the proliferation of online platforms that allow people to express extremist views without inhibition while hiding behind screens had fostered the rise in cases.
The arrival in parliament of the far-right AfD, whose leaders openly question Germany's culture of atonement for World War II atrocities, has also contributed to the change in atmosphere, as has the arrival of more than a million asylum seekers, many from Muslim countries such as Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq.
Klein said that while the far-right was to blame for the vast majority of anti-Semitic crime, it was apparent that some Muslims were also influenced by watching certain television channels "which transmit a dreadful image of Israel and Jews".
Because when you are against their agenda or speak uncomfortable truths...
EU anti-fraud body considering investigation into Nigel Farage
Former UKIP leader allegedly received gifts worth £450,000 from insurance tycoon and Brexit campaigner Arron Banks.
OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud agency, is in the process of determining whether to open a formal investigation into allegations that British politician Nigel Farage received £450,000 from a businessman.
The U.K.'s Channel 4 News program reported last week that Farage had received gifts worth £450,000 from insurance tycoon Arron Banks, a co-founder of the Brexit campaign group Leave.EU.
"We are aware of the press reports and public statements on the matter," a spokesperson for OLAF told POLITICO. "As a general rule, OLAF analyses incoming information of potential investigative interest according to standard procedures," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson noted that the body analyzes whether there is sufficient suspicion of fraud, corruption or any illegal activity affecting the EU's financial interests, and whether the issues falls within the investigative policy priorities of OLAF."It is only after such an initial assessment, which is currently ongoing, that OLAF decides whether or not to open an investigation," OLAF said. The initial assessment "does not mean that the individuals in question are guilty of any wrongdoing," it added. "OLAF fully respects the presumption of innocence."
The European Parliament has already decided to open its own investigation over into the Euroskeptic MEP and former UKIP leader over allegations that he failed to declare the gifts.
Farage, whose Brexit Party is expected to make big gains in the European election, has denied any wrongdoing.
US orders new troops to Middle East to counter Iran 'threat'
Washington (AFP) - The United States said it was deploying 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East to counter "credible threats" from Iran in a move denounced by Tehran on Saturday as "a threat to international peace".
"Increased US presence in our region is very dangerous and a threat to international peace and security and must be confronted," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the official IRNA news agency.
The escalation of the US military presence follows a decision in early May to send an aircraft carrier strike force and B-52 bombers in a show of force against what Washington's leaders believed was an imminent Iranian plan to attack US assets.
And it comes as the Trump administration is planning to bypass congressional restrictions to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, a close US ally and Iran's arch-enemy in the region.
"This is a prudent response to credible threats from Iran," acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Friday.
President Donald Trump, who approved the deployment, called it "protective."
"We want to have protection in the Middle East," Trump told reporters as he prepared to set off on a trip to Japan.
"We're going to be sending a relatively small number of troops, mostly protective," Trump added. "It'll be about 1,500 people."
- Fighter jets, missile battalion -
The new deployment includes reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets and engineers. Six hundred of the personnel belong to a Patriot missile defense battalion that had its deployment in the region extended.
Pentagon officials said the move was necessary after multiple threatening actions and several small-in-scope attacks in May by Iranian forces, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, and "proxy" forces.
Those include a rocket launched into the Green Zone in Baghdad, explosive devices that damaged four tankers in Fujairah near the entrance to the Gulf, and a Houthi drone attack against a Saudi oil installation.
Iran has denied involvement in any of the attacks.
"Americans make such claims to justify their hostile policies and to create tension in the Persian Gulf," Zarif said.
The initial threat came at the beginning of May, according to Rear Admiral Michael Gilday, director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff.
The US caught the IRGC attempting to covertly deploy "modified dhows capable of launching cruise missiles," he said, referring to small traditional boats.
"We view this as a campaign," Gilday told reporters.
The moves "are all part of a dangerous and escalatory strategy by Iran to threaten global trade and to destabilize the region."
- 'Highest levels' -
"We believe with a high degree of confidence that this stems back to the leadership of Iran at the highest levels, and that all of the attacks... have been attributed to Iran through their proxies or their forces," Gilday said, citing still-secret US intelligence.
US officials said the aim of the deployment was both to extend greater protection to the 70,000 US forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and to deliver a message to Iran to refrain from attacks.
"We think that through a combination of a very measured deployment of assets as well as public messaging, we are again trying to underscore that we are not seeking hostilities with Iran," he said.
Gilday said the US moves have had some impact. When Washington first learned of Tehran's alleged intent to launch attacks, it delivered a stern warning to Tehran "within hours" through an unnamed third party.
Since then, the threat of the missile-bearing dhows appears to have subsided.
- 'No strategy' -
However, the Trump administration continues to draw criticism that it has not clearly shown the need for an escalation.
Members of Congress were also angered that Trump was overriding their block on delivery of lethal weapons to the Saudis.
"More tactics with absolutely no strategy," tweeted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.
"All that is happening now is escalatory move after escalatory move. Trump has ZERO plan for how this ends, and that should scare the hell out of everyone."
But Pentagon officials stressed that the US does not seek war with Iran.
"We do not see these additional capabilities as encouraging hostilities. We see them as defensive in nature," said acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Katie Wheelbarger.
"Our policy remains an economic and diplomatic effort to bring Iran back to the negotiating table to encourage a comprehensive deal that addresses the range of their destabilizing behavior in the region."
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