[Majorityrights News] Trump will ‘arm Ukraine to the teeth’ if Putin won’t negotiate ceasefire Posted by Guessedworker on Tuesday, 12 November 2024 16:20.
[Majorityrights News] Alex Navalny, born 4th June, 1976; died at Yamalo-Nenets penitentiary 16th February, 2024 Posted by Guessedworker on Friday, 16 February 2024 23:43.
[Majorityrights Central] A couple of exchanges on the nature and meaning of Christianity’s origin Posted by Guessedworker on Tuesday, 25 July 2023 22:19.
[Majorityrights News] Is the Ukrainian counter-offensive for Bakhmut the counter-offensive for Ukraine? Posted by Guessedworker on Thursday, 18 May 2023 18:55.
Posted by DanielS on Monday, 08 August 2016 04:06.
TNO, “Nonwhite Invasion of Europe Unabated,” August 6, 2016 by TNO:
The nonwhite invasion of Europe has continued unabated this year, and the first six months has already seen over 230,000 Third Worlders cross the Mediterranean Sea—more than last year at this time.
This figure is also more than the total number of nonwhites who invaded Europe in all of 2014.
According to that paper, at least 230,000 nonwhites have crossed the Mediterranean Sea in the first half of 2016—about 20,000 more than the number who invaded Europe in the same period last year.
Nearly 160,000 of the invaders came over the Aegean Sea to Greece, while 71,000 landed from Tunisia and Libya into Italy. In July 2016, at least 20,000 nonwhites landed in Sicily alone.
This figure was only slightly down from the June tally, when 22,500 landed in Italy, which was a 25 percent increase on the figures for May.
The Bayern Kurier article pointed out that the “Operation Sophia” mission launched by the European Union’s border agency Frontex, in cooperation with naval units from various EU states, was acting as an “invitation” and not a deterrent.
The paper said that the “search and rescue” missions being run off the Libyan coast were in fact making it easier for the nonwhites, because most of them were now only traveling around 40 kilometers (24 miles) before being picked up and taken to Italy.
This is “shortening the route across the Mediterranean, making illegal immigration even easier,” the newspaper added.
Furthermore, the article said, the invaders “come almost exclusively from black Africa: Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia.”
Posted by DanielS on Saturday, 06 August 2016 05:57.
Visegrád Post, “Czechia does not want to end up like France or Germany”, 5 August 2016:
A recent poll conducted by CVVM revealed that 62% of Czechs are against welcoming any “refugee” and 34% would accept the country to welcome some of them, but only until the end of the conflict in their homeland that made them flee.
In answer to the German European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger, who reproached to Czechia her refusal of the compulsory quotas of migrant relocation (we are talking about people who entered illegally in Europe and we know nothing about them except they are in a vast majority young Muslim men), President Miloš Zeman wanted to put it on the record, through his spokesperson:
“I say it once again to Mr. Commissioner by speaking clearly: we do not want any refugee in Czechia, whether on the basis of the compulsory quotas or through a so called voluntary mechanism for redistribution. Our country simply does not want to take any risk regarding terrorist attacks like the ones that took place recently in France and Germany. By welcoming migrants, one is breeding ground for such barbaric attacks”.
Originally published in French on Nouvelles de France.
Posted by DanielS on Friday, 05 August 2016 09:27.
Visigard Post, Theresa May on visit to Poland and Slovakia about Brexit:
EU – On Thursday, July 28, Theresa May [met with] Slovakian Robert Fico and Polish Beata Szydło for Brexit negociations, as a lot of their citizens have jobs in the UK and these countries are already skeptical about EU membership.
The British Prime Minister is open-minded about the agreements that could be made between UK and the European Union. EU members as Poland and Slovakia would like to keep UK as an EU economic partner, and more than that, they are truly concerned about the rights of their citizens in UK, as British Prime Minister is concerned about her own citizens in EU, so negociations are open.
When May met Italian Matteo Renzi in Rome she declared about these negociations that “The only circumstances in which that would not be possible would be if the rights of British citizens living in other EU member states were not guaranteed. But I hope that this is an issue that we can address early on.”
According to policy analyst Pawel Swidlicki “Poland specifically, but more generally Eastern Europe, sees Brexit as an opportunity to put Brussels in its place.”
Posted by DanielS on Thursday, 04 August 2016 16:26.
“It was the result of ‘mental health issues’, and a spontaneous attack, victims selected at random - no indication of radicalization or terrorist motivation”....no racial motives. The significance of the incident’s location was ignored.
The attack occurred in the late Joe Cox’s district
Courtesy Jez Turner: Breaking! Somali stabbed people at the site of the makeshift memorial to Jo Cox!
Placards, cards, flowers and messages to Jo Cox adorned the railings at this (south-east) corner of Russell Square. I walked past on Saturday night and counted about 20 or so items tied to the railings by the entrance to the gardens here with one big one saying ‘‘Jo Cox not forgotten’‘, and even late at night tourists would stop and read them. Look at the map of the incident on this BBC article! - Jez Turner
LONDON (AP) — A Norwegian-Somali teenager went on a knife rampage through London’s Russell Square, a hub for students and tourists, fatally stabbing an American woman and injuring five other people.
Police said Thursday that it wasn’t terrorism — but in a city on edge after a summer of attacks elsewhere in Europe, both authorities and London residents initially responded as if it were. Police flooded the streets with extra officers and mobilized counterterror detectives before saying the shocking burst of violence appeared to have been “triggered by mental-health issues.”
Police officers used a stun gun to subdue the 19-year-old suspect at the scene of the stabbings late Wednesday, among busy streets lined with hotels close to the British Museum.
“Terror in London” ran the headline in the Mail Online, one of several media outlets to speculate that the attack was an act of terrorism. Police initially said terrorism was “one line of inquiry being explored.”
But hours later Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said “we have found no evidence of radicalization or anything that would suggest the man in our custody was in any way motivated by terrorism.”
He said detectives from the force’s murder and terrorism squads had interviewed the suspect, his family and witnesses and searched properties.
“We believe this was a spontaneous attack and the victims were selected at random,” Rowley said.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said “there is no evidence at all that this man was motivated by Daesh” — another name for the Islamic State group — or similar organizations.
Rowley said the suspect, whose name hasn’t been released, is a Norwegian of Somali ancestry — though police don’t consider that “relevant to the motivation for his actions.” Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service said he had left the Scandinavian country in 2002, when he was a small child.
The name of the dead woman, thought to be in her 60s, hasn’t been released. U.S. Ambassador Matthew Barzun confirmed she was American, tweeting: “Heartbreaking news that a U.S. citizen was killed in #RussellSquare attack. My prayers are with all the victims and their loved ones.”
Two Australians, an Israeli, an American and a British citizen were wounded, none with life-threatening injuries.
While knife crime is a regular occurrence in London — there have been two other blade killings this week — the scale and randomness of the rampage rattled nerves. It came just days after authorities warned the British public to be vigilant in light of attacks inspired by the Islamic State group elsewhere in Europe.
Student Megan Sharrock, 18, looked out her window and saw someone lying on the sidewalk under a blanket.
“There was like two rivers of blood running away from the person so we thought, yeah, someone has been killed,” she said.
“It’s really shocking, (a) scary world we live in to think that could happen,” she said. “That could happen to anyone, just walking down the street.”
Helen Edwards, 33, who lives in the area, came out for a walk and found it thronging with armed police near. In a city with vivid memories of the deadly July 7, 2005, bomb attacks on public transport — two of which struck near Russell Square — she immediately suspected that an attack had occurred.
“There is always that thing in the back of your mind,” she said. “You live with that threat of terrorism or other crimes in the back of your mind. It wasn’t a huge shock I guess.”
The response to the attack is complicated by the frequent overlap between terrorism and mental illness. Many “lone wolf” attackers have a history of mental-health problems, including a Syrian who blew himself up in the German town of Ansbach last month and a Somali man who was sentenced to life this week for trying to behead a London Underground passenger.
Emily Corner, a researcher at University College London who studies the links between mental illness and terrorism, said every incident of major violence now sparks the same debate: “Are they a terrorist or are they mentally ill?” In some cases, the answer is both, though Corner stresses that most terrorist attackers are not mentally ill, and most people with mental illness are not violent.
The Russell Square attack came within hours of an announcement by London police that they were putting more armed officers on the streets to bolster public confidence in the wake of recent attacks in Europe.
Posted by DanielS on Thursday, 04 August 2016 13:01.
Mika Brzezinski: Don Black says that she looks like “a bird”
A thought occurs to me in contrast to my long standing position in deference to “the wisdom of the body for its tens of thousands of years of evolution by contrast to social judgment.”
I usually like to take the side of the “abnormal” because, like everybody, I have witnessed ignorant bullying of certain nonstandard types by crassly subjective people - those oblivious to the fact that others may object to the complete dismissal of what really are other valid values (perhaps even necessary from an ecological standpoint) and aesthetics - a recent example: Don Black saying Mika Brzezinski “looks like a bird.” That’s his stupid opinion. I admit that his wife, Chloe, is hot - still, it is a bit weird that she was Duke’s wife first. And I must object as Mike Brezinski is a pretty lady too.
Chloe Hardin-Duke-Black (whatever), here with Duke. She’s definitely cute, too.
I still maintain the wisdom of the body as a correct bias and a correct basis for social critique - especially with regard to bodily shapes, forms, functions that really cannot be helped. And I am on the record as saying that women with big noses and flat chests can be beautiful as well - even though these things can be “helped.” I had a girlfriend who was flat chested and she was quite fine to me. Neither she nor other flat chested women should have breast implants, nor should most women who have bigger noses have nose jobs - there is a such thing as ugly big, but more often such a thing as elegant, impressive, big noses. I hate it when people take the position that “a woman cannot look that way” (when in fact, they can sometimes look better than women with big boobs and small noses). But a contrasting position occurs to me with regard to fat - and the “fat shaming” which I suspect that the YKW are lobbying against.
It is valid too, to an extent, to object to getting heavy handed with fat shaming, along with other arguments against the tyrannical regularity of certain types presented as normal and beautiful - viz., in respect to the fact that it is truly a bit harder for some people, especially as they get older, to stay thin. Another side to it has unfolded before me - though not really a side which in this case that I had been fully against anyway and which would have been discovered if anyone had questioned me.
I just completed an 8 day fast. No food. Plenty of water. Coffee (sorry, I know the pro’s and cons, not going to stop it); vitamins and minerals: vitamin D, Zinc, Omega 3 with B6, Magnesium, Vitamin C pellets); and my one caloric indulgence - over the course of the 8 days, I had a total of 5 small cups of tomato juice.
I did some exercise also - went pretty easy, only pushing myself in a few moments, overall doing slower, steadier activity - like walking. I like doing exercise that gets me somewhere or something done - shoveling a ditch that I need fits the bill - so I did some of that too.
Kardashian - somehow not hard to resist
It wasn’t a really big surprise but it was a little surprised to find myself fatter than I thought that I would still be after this. I don’t look very fat, but I do look like the guy who is perhaps confident, if not a bit too comfortable with himself - more comfortable than I really am in that regard. However, I will not be fat, even if my body does not sense that yet. This is where I am getting to a semi-interesting realization that I had today. Even after having finally eaten 3 ounces of steak, 4 ounces of chicken (with pieces of garlic in it), a cup of blackberries, a half kilo of cherries, an apricot, an avocado, beansprouts, a red and a yellow bell pepper, a small red hot chili pepper, a small amount of coleslaw, a small amount of beet salad, and a half a head of broccoli…
I am not really surprised to find my mind more fixated on food and my brain signaling, “tasty food,” “eat” - even more than when I was in the midst of the 8 day fast - because that is what happened last time that I fasted. My body is saying, “boy, wasn’t that steak tasty” mmm and “that avocado, yum.”
However, I am not starving. My gut is not issuing hunger pains. I believe that these are secondary signals long evolved from the time when food might not be available in days to come, so my body encourages me (and I will now say) a bit stupidly, and not wisely, to eat more and even get fat for the possibility that I may not have access to food in the near future. In these episodes, my body and its biology are “stupider” than my conscious mind and society.
My conscious mind does know that I will be eating again before long - I will fast again tomorrow but then have a modest meal on Saturday and then eat on alternating days until I get to the weight I want, at which point I will figure out a maintenance diet and regime.
But especially when you are NOT starving, not nutrient deprived, will not be, then you know that your body’s sending faint warning signals against these things - necessary and wise though these signals are to have in place - can and should at this time be overridden by conscious intelligence; an intelligence which connects with the social patterns which keep telling me: “hey, you don’t look so bad - but your stomach is sticking out.”
I also have observed that the first thing women instinctively look at is the top of my stomach - (not that I am necessarily trying to pick them up, but I don’t like having social engagement cut off as abruptly as that, either) that seems to be a place by which they can intuitively gauge your age: too old if the top part of your stomach is protruding—probably because its harder for older people to stay thin and that’s a typical indicator.
Jennifer Lopez - a Whitish looking face and a ghetto booty: I can live without it.
Anyway, so while the “fat shaming” can be overdone, it can be underdone as well - and that is a case where conscious and social wisdom can, at times, be wiser than the “wisdom of the body.”
But that’s the thing - people on the right don’t realize that the YKW (as usual) are exaggerating good social positions and critiques beyond all reason in order to make them didactic.
Quoting myself: one evening in McSorley’s Old Ale House, a TV talk show crew came in with a lesbian couple (black and White woman) who were asking men’s opinion as to whether the White girl should get breast implants since she thought that would please her black girlfriend. I was asked my opinion by the production crew. I answered that in particular, “I rather like flat chested women, so my opinion is particularly biased against breast implants for that reason for starters; but there were more reasons to be against it than that; including as part of a more general stance against bodily alteration - I believe that given that our bodies have evolved over tens of thousands of years, that they are bound to be wiser, smarter if you will, than our conscious decision making and should be given the benefit of the doubt against our anxieties and against popular consensus; rather, we should try to learn what our bodies have to teach us about our interface with the social ecology and bring our corporeality to bear in social critique if necessary, rather than the other way around - bending to what may well be a popular fad against the better wisdom of our evolution.” I was told by the couple that my answer was good and they asked me to sign a release; but the bartender, yes that one, asked, “what was that ‘stuff’ you were saying? I don’t think that was what the TV producers were looking for.” I suppose that he was right and that my opinion was not aired.
The men arrived during morning mass in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, a working-class town near Rouen, northwest of Paris, where the 85-year-old parish priest, Father Jacques Hamel, was leading prayers
Knife-wielding attackers interrupted a French church service, forced the priest to his knees and slit his throat on Tuesday, a murder made even more shocking as one of the assailants was a known would-be jihadist under supposedly tight surveillance.
Church in St. Etienne
As the attackers came out of the church shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is Greatest”) they were shot and killed by police..
“They forced him to his knees and he tried to defend himself and that’s when the drama began,” Sister Danielle, who escaped as the attackers slayed the priest, told RMC radio.
“They filmed themselves. It was like a sermon in Arabic around the altar,” the nun said.
Three other worshippers were held hostage until the assailants were killed, one of them was badly wounded during the attack.
Forward, “5 Reasons Tim Kaine Will Be the Jewiest Vice President Pick for Hillary Clinton,” 22 July 2016:
Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton’s pick for Vice President, somewhat to the chagrin of the Democratic Party’s left wing and the — somewhat premature — excitement of Wikipedia. He has one of the longest records of service in politics among the people on Clinton’s shortlist, going back to his 1997 election as the mayor of Richmond, Virginia.
Kaine has also been a friend to the Jewish community for about as long as he’s been in public service. During his various campaigns, Kaine has repeatedly reached out to the Jewish community, conducted interviews with Jewish leaders and spoken about America’s relationship with Israel.
“He made himself very available to the Jewish community,” said Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “He took the Jewish community very seriously as a constituency,” even though it only represented a small portion of the Virginia electorate.
But Kaine is connected to the Jewish community in several other ways, as well. Here are five facts about Tim Kaine’s relationship to Judaism and Israel.
1. He supports a two-state solution even when others don’t.
Kaine is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Middle East, Central Asia and terrorism, and held the chairmanship of the committee for two years. In March, he signed a letter, along with twenty-six other senators, urging President Obama to continue his support for the two-state solution. His predecessor as chairman of the subcommittee on the Middle East and terrorism, Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, didn’t sign the letter.
Kaine’s decision to skip Bibi Netanyahu’s speech in Congress in March 2015 was also widely noticed throughout Washington. It was a clear message: Kaine did not agree with the timing of the talk, and Netanyahu’s perceived political motivations for delivering it before the Israeli elections.
“I’m not dumb, I knew not going to the speech might make some folks mad with me — there would be a political price, but I felt so strongly as a matter of principle that this was done in an entirely inappropriate way,” Kaine told the Forward.
Ron Halber, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said that it would be “a foolish mistake” to interpret Kaine’s move as being in any way unsupportive of Israel.
“He is keenly aware of the security challenges” in the region, Halber said.
2. He’s a religious Catholic, so he understands the imperatives, and difficulties, of observance.
Kaine is a dedicated, practicing Catholic who represents the Democratic party at the Senate’s weekly prayer breakfast on Wednesdays. He is also a member of a “reflection group,” along with six other senators, that holds faith-centered discussions. Though he does not personally agree with abortion, he sees a woman’s right to make decisions about her body as an important right, and does not support anti-abortion legislation. As a Catholic he’s used to being viewed as an outsider by white Protestants.
When Kaine found himself living in D.C., away from his wife, he decided to write a bible commentary on weeknights.
“He could’ve chosen to find other ways to address his loneliness that were either chemical or social in nature,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, the executive director of the Interfaith Alliance. “But he spotted the opportunity for deeper social reflection into a piece of scripture that particularly spoke to him.”
3. He brought hummus to Virginia.
During his time as the governor of Virginia, Sabra built the what is reportedly the world’s largest hummus factory outside Richmond, capable of producing 8,000 tons of hummus a month. Kaine was apparently directly involved.
“He’s the man who brought Sabra hummus to Virginia,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, the Executive Director of Interfaith Alliance. According to Moline, Kaine “wooed” the company to set up shop in his state.
Kaine authorized $350,000 from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to help bring the project to fruition, beating out two other states for the privilege of being at the heart of American hummus production.
4. He’s hosted a Passover Seder — multiple times.
In 2006, during his first year as governor of Virginia, he hosted the first ever Passover Seder in the governor’s mansion. He is apparently part of a group of friends that rotates hosting the Seder each year, and that year it happened to be his turn. It also wasn’t his first time hosting — his home had been a slot in the rotating group for several years before his election.
5. He played “Yente,” matchmaking for Rabbi Jack Moline’s daughter.
Moline’s daughter and son-in-law met while working on Kaine’s campaign for governor of Virginia in 2005.
“If he hadn’t run for governor, I wouldn’t be a grandfather,” said Moline.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced her vice-presidential running mate by text to supporters today. She will unveil U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, formally tomorrow.
Virginia’s Kaine is a centrist pro-Israel choice who should please moderate Jewish voters as Hillary’s No. 2.
“He’s not going to appeal to the Bernie Sanders voters. He’s a centrist,” Ron Halber, executive director of the Greater Washington JCRC, told the Forward. Halber has forged a relationship with Kaine both as governor and as senator.
Kaine might offer some ammunition to Israel hawks as an early endorser of the Iranian nuclear deal, and like her he chose to skip Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress.
5 Questions for Tim Kaine on Israel
But as a middle-of-the-road-Democrat and a co-sponsor of Iran-related legislation, Kaine made choices that, when it came to the nuclear deal, drew attention in the pro-Israel community.
“I’m not dumb, I knew not going to the speech might make some folks mad with me — there would be a political price,” Kaine told the Forward shortly after. “But I felt so strongly as a matter of principle that this was done in an entirely inappropriate way.”
Kaine, who has also served as head of the Democratic National Committee, has visited Israel several times and has supported the funding of Iron Dome systems and the U.S.-Israel Strategic Partnership Act. Halber noted that he was a “very good friend” of the U.S.-Israel partnership, but he added that if chosen as vice president, he may want to see movement on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. “His social background and his sympathy to the oppressed will likely make him want to see a solution,” he said, “but he will also support defending Israel in the U.N. and expanding the relationship.”
Kaine is a member of a small group of senators who participate in a biweekly reflection group organized by the Faith and Politics Institute.
“I had many, many personal deep conversations with him, and he is genuinely a friend of Israel,” said Rabbi Jack Moline, one of the group’s moderators. Moline believes that much of Kaine’s worldview was shaped during his work as a Jesuit missionary in Honduras. “It had an immense influence on his understanding of the need to make the world a better place.”
In Virginia, Kaine hosted the first Passover Seder in the governor’s mansion.
Before entering the U.S. Senate the well-liked Kaine had been the mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia and chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Kaine, 58, is a fluent Spanish speaker after serving as a missionary in Honduras, and his presence on the ticket could help Clinton in Virginia, a heavily contested swing state.
Another senator, Cory Booker of New Jersey, along with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were among the final contenders.
The announcement had been expected. The Wall Street Journal, citing Democrats familiar with the search, had said she was likely to make the announcement on Friday and Kaine was believed to be the pick.
Clinton, a former secretary of state, will be formally nominated as the party’s presidential candidate at next week’s Democratic convention in Philadelphia. Her choice of Kaine as running mate could provide an early signal about her plan of battle against Trump.
Picking Kaine, a veteran mainstay of the Democratic establishment with plenty of governing experience, emphasizes her message that Democrats will offer a serious, steady alternative to the unpredictable Trump after the chaotic Republican convention that closed on Thursday.
Booker, a charismatic rising star in the party, would have given her candidacy a jolt of energy as Clinton enters the three-month grind of the general election. Booker, 47, would have been the first black vice president and his help might still be vital to boost turnout among young and African-American voters.
Other potential contenders on Clinton’s short list included U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a liberal favorite, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Hispanic Cabinet members Julian Castro and Thomas Perez.—With Reuters
This article was updated at 8pm EST to reflect Hillary Clinton’s announcement of her running mate.
Last summer, the Migrant Crisis in Europe brought about unexpected change for many native Europeans. Many accepted refugees from Syria with open arms at first, but were dismayed to find in many cases, this altruism was not returned. Reports of rape, violence, theft, and other heinous acts involving these migrants, who are mostly military age males, have made their way across the globe. While many of us are aware of the situation in Europe, there is little we can do to help the native Europeans who now have their towns and cities occupied by people who possess a completely different view of the world, of life itself. In addition to this, the migrants were thought to be refugees from the war in Syria, but as soon as the gates were open- thousands upon thousands of migrants from across North Africa fled into Europe. Before Modernity and the advent of man’s transformation from Homo Sapien to Homo Economicus, civilization was based upon two factors: language and religion. The incompatibility of these factors will lead to cultural clashes, regardless of the “keep calm and carry on” rhetoric of our cosmopolitan elites. Working Europeans who cannot afford to jump on a jet to their summer home in Dubai need a way out. They didn’t ask to be replaced - their governments have done this to them. Let’s take in the refugees of the refugees.