June 30, 2017

USA: Famous Muslim Athlete Who Claimed Visa Denied By Trump Ban, Who Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer Helped To Get Into The US, Arrested For Sexual Assault Of 12-Year-Old Girl.

National Post, Canada
written by WaPo staff
March 3, 2017

CHANDIGARH, India — An Indian athlete who overcame a visa denial with the help of U.S. lawmakers and a local mayor to attend the World Snowshoe Championship in New York has been arrested on charges of the abuse of a minor.

The details of the alleged incident are sketchy, but the parents of the girl involved said it happened on Monday and reported the matter to local authorities, according to a report from the local newspaper, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

The athlete’s coach said he is innocent.

Muddasir Mir, the president of the SnowShoe Federation of India, confirmed the arrest of Tanveer Hussain and said that the next court hearing is set for Monday.

It was a long journey for Indian snowshoe champion Hussain and his coach to the World Snowshoe Championships in Saranac Lake, New York last weekend.

The pair were initially denied visas to travel to the U.S. in the chaotic days following the Trump administration’s travel ban, but with the help of Saranac’s mayor and — according to Mir — the office of Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, the American Embassy in New Delhi reversed their decision Feb. 17 and allowed them to travel to the competition. They arrived Feb. 23.

After their ordeal, Hussain and coach Abid Khan were given a hero’s welcome in the bucolic town in the Adirondacks, besieged by locals offering congratulations and free lodgings at the Porcupine Inn, a heritage lodge that in the snow looked like a “fairy tale scene from a movie,” Khan said in a Facebook post.

The “fairy tale” came to an unhappy conclusion Thursday, when Hussain, 24, was arrested and charged with felony sexual abuse and child welfare endangerment.

Hussain hails from the Indian side of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is predominantly Muslim. He is considered one of India’s best snowshoe competitors and placed in the top 50 at the World Snowshoe Championships last year in Italy, Mir said. He failed to place in the top 100 this time.

Although India is not one of the seven countries that was part of the initial travel ban, Hussain and Khan had alleged they were victims of it when their first attempt at procuring visas to travel to the United States were turned down in late January, the first business day after Trump’s travel ban was put in place.

Khan told the BBC that an employee at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi told them they were being rejected because of “current policy.”

U.S. officials said at the time that the denial was not connected to the travel ban. An embassy spokesman said they were preparing a statement for release later in the day.

The pair left Kashmir on Feb. 15 to be re-interviewed by embassy officials in New Delhi in an effort to overturn their earlier denial, Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau, a key supporter of the men, explained in a Facebook post. They provided marriage certificates, property deeds, testimonies from employers and evidence of “past world travel without mishaps,” Rabideau said.

Mir had said that the visa would not have been issued without the “personal efforts” of Schumer and New York’s other Democratic senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. On Saturday, Schumer celebrated Hussain’s “rock star” welcome in a Facebook post, saying that the United States is “still a country that welcome athletes from across the globe to compete in our stadiums, our snow-covered fields and everywhere in between.”

During their time in Saranac Lake, Hussein and his coach were honoured with a special reception by the mayor and also gave a talk about Kashmir at Saranac Lake Middle School, where students had waged a letter writing campaign on their behalf.

“Pack your bags. Next year you are coming to Kashmir,” Hussain told them, according to one of Khan’s Facebook posts.

“I absolutely say it’s an unfortunate situation both for the community there in the U.S. who supported us, and the federation,” Mir said. “We have full faith in the American law and as there is a court proceeding going on that is going to be my only comment.”
FrontPage Mag
written by Daniel Greenfield
March 9, 2017

Another young victim of the Left’s war against common sense immigration security.

When Tanveer Hussain and Abid Khan weren’t allowed into the United States, they blamed President Trump. So did the media outlets that covered the story. The controversial Democrat mayor of Saranac Lake reached out to fellow New York party members Senator Charles Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. They leaned on the local embassy and Hussain and Khan were waved through.

“Still a country that welcomes athletes from across the globe,” Senator Schumer’s statement read. The statement, shared on Hussain’s Facebook page, declared, “So proud of the town of Saranac Lake for their efforts and their open hearts.”

Below it was a photo of Tanveer Hussain surrounded by Saranac Lake Middle School students. The seventh graders had been drafted to write letters to Schumer and Gillibrand on Hussain’s behalf.

“We came in and talked to a small group of kids. I said, ‘This is bothering me. Is it bothering anyone else?’” Amy Jones, their teacher, had insisted.

There’s no way to know if it bothered the children, but it bothered Amy Jones. And before long the children were enlisted in the campaign to bring Hussain to America. The campaign worked. And now here he was. Mayor Clyde Rabideau moderated the session with the children and the accused abuser.

Abid Khan, Hussain’s coach, talked to them about Kashmir. He told them that Kashmir was just like Saranac Lake. “Pack your bags. Next year, you are coming to Kashmir,” he said.

Later Hussain’s brother would explain one difference between Saranac Lake and Kashmir. “In Kashmir, we have a tradition of showing love to children,” he said.

Kashmir’s idea of showing love to children was very different than that of Saranac Lake. Tanveer Hussain would be charged with molesting a 12-year-old girl who was a student at the school. Based on her age there is a high probability that she had been one of the children writing letters on his behalf to Schumer and Gillibrand. One of the children smiling cheerfully in the photos with the alleged Muslim abuser.

The adults who led her community should have protected her. Instead they betrayed her.

When Abid told Mayor Clyde Rabideau that his visa had been denied, he was furious. “This will not stand. Do not give up! We will do all we can,” he assured Khan.

The transcript appeared on the Facebook page of Saranac Lake Trustee Rich Shapiro. Mayor Clyde Rabideau created a GoFundMe campaign that raised $1,625 for Hussain and Khan’s travel expenses and had provided regular updates and encouragement for the fundraiser. Now all mentions of Hussain have vanished from the mayor’s page. But Hussain’s page still shows him with his arm around his benefactor.

After Hussain was arrested for abusing a little girl, Shapiro bailed him out and hosted him at his house.

Shapiro is a vocal opponent of President Trump. President Trump had tried to keep the likes of Hussain out of America. The president had tried to protect a little girl in Saranac Lake from being molested.

Rich Shapiro instead tried to protect Hussain from being photographed by putting his hands in front of the camera. And that too is the choice we all face. Some of us protect little girls. Others protect the likes of Hussain.

"I think it could have provided an opportunity for cultural enrichment for our local community," Jim Tucker of Paul Smith's College had objected when Hussain’s visa was denied.

Tucker was one of those thanked for their help in getting Hussain into this country. And Tucker would go on defending Hussain even after everything that happened.

It’s hard to give up on your cultural enrichment.

The welcome wagon for Hussain’s brand of cultural enrichment had been rolled out as soon as he arrived. Fred Mazzeo, the owner of the Porcupine, a local inn, picked them up at the airport and hosted them. He took a selfie with them in the car on the way from the airport.

"That's SL mojo and that is the kind of mojo that makes SL special," Mayor Clyde Rabideau cheered.

The inn was where the Muslim guest allegedly repaid the generosity of the people of Saranac Lake by molesting one of their daughters. It takes a special kind of mojo to do that.

A special reception was held by the mayor. Restaurants offered them free meals. The locals of Saranac Lake were eager to get their picture taken with him. Even after Hussain was arrested, some continued to defend him and to blame the little girl.

Abid Khan, Hussain’s coach, has been the loudest in smearing the victim. He described the little girl as a “nutcase”. He claimed that “there was no contact at all” and that since Hussain didn’t speak English, he couldn’t be expected to know that the 12-year-old girl was a minor.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise ran Khan’s attack on a young victim of child abuse. Then it penned an editorial in support of having brought Hussain to this country.

“We urge our friends, neighbors and other readers to return to holding their heads high and setting a good example for their children, as Saranac Lakers did with the kindness and generosity they showed to Hussain and countryman.”

What better way could there be of setting a good example for our children than by bringing foreigners over to molest them? And then running their smears against the victim?

The excuses are all too familiar from Rotherham where the authorities also took the side of the abusers over the victimized girls until the outrage at the atrocities could not be suppressed any longer.

In New York, there were excuses, but no apologies from the offices of Schumer or Gillibrand. Nor were there any from the local authorities.

“We have a compassionate community that understood the importance of allowing Tanveer the opportunity to race here, and a great local effort allowed that to happen and it was the right thing to do at the time,” Mayor Clyde Rabideau said.

How can the right thing be the thing that leads to the sexual abuse of a little girl? Such are the inscrutable mysteries of allowing people into the country who were meant to be kept out.

But you can’t make a social justice omelet without destroying some children.

Bringing Hussain and Khan to America made some people feel good about themselves. Their narcissistic do-goodery led to the alleged abuse of a little girl, traumatizing her, her parents and her family members. It led to a criminal matter that will cost the locals a significant amount of money.

That’s the price we pay when we ignore common sense and let the wolf into the henhouse.

“It’s a tumultuous time for people traveling to the U.S., particularly from countries that are Muslim,” Rabideau had complained.

“A blanket ban is wrong,” Abid Khan had groused. “We are peace loving persons and want to spend our life playing, enjoying and in harmony.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand whined in her memoir that she had been called “chubby”. What happened to that little girl because of her intervention was far worse than a wealthy and powerful politician being called a mean name at the gym.

Senator Schumer wept when he denounced President Trump’s plan to keep America safe. He had no tears to spare for the little girl molested because of his intervention on behalf of her Muslim abuser.

"Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight,” he intoned. There were no tears running down the green copper façade of the statue overlooking Manhattan. There were real tears running down the face of a little girl in a village west of Lake Placid.

The left thrives on its moral narcissism. It parades around its false spectacles of victimhood. But its policies leave behind real victims. When the left fought against President Trump’s common sense immigration security reforms, a little girl in a village in New York became one of its many victims.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 3:21 PM 0 comments

USA: Anti-Trump Communist Arrested For Jewish Community Center Bomb Threats Made Across America; He's A Hillary And Bernie Supporter. Democrats Refused To Condemn His Actions.

Breitbart News
written by Matthew Boyle and Adelle Nazarian
March 3, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the U.S. Senate Democratic leadership team, has thus far refused to condemn a supporter of his who is in FBI custody facing charges for alleged involvement in a string of anti-Semitic threats nationwide.

Breitbart News can exclusively confirm that a spokesman for Sanders, Josh Miller Lewis, is personally aware of the fact that one of the Senator’s supporters is in FBI custody on charges relating to the string of anti-Semitic threats nationwide. When news broke early Friday that Juan Thompson, a Sanders voter who was formerly a reporter with The Intercept who was terminated for pushing fake news and fabricating sources, was arrested, Breitbart News reached out to Sanders’ office for comment.

The first comment-seeking email to Sanders’ office was sent at 11:28 a.m. Eastern on Friday morning. It included an attachment, a screen grab of Thompson’s Tweet from last summer admitting he voted for Sanders. The email asked if Sanders would condemn Thompson with the revelation that Thompson is in FBI custody for alleged connection to and involvement with dozens of bomb threats against a hundred Jewish Community Centers, schools, and museums nationwide. Miller Lewis, the deputy communications director in Sanders’ U.S. Senate office, replied asking for a link to the Tweet.

“Do you have a link?” Miller Lewis wrote back to Breitbart News’s request for comment.

Breitbart News sent him a link to Thompson’s Tweet and gave Sanders all day to respond. Breitbart News followed up with Miller Lewis at 1:35 p.m., 3:59 p.m., 5:49 p.m., and 5:52 p.m. asking whether Sanders will condemn the alleged anti-Semitic actions by Thompson. He has not responded to any of those inquiries. A quick scan of Sanders’ Twitter accounts—both his campaign account and his official Senate account—shows no mention of his supporter Thompson or any condemnation of the threats. There is no statement on Sanders’ campaign website and no statement or mention of the matter on his U.S. Senate website either.

Sanders is hardly the only Democrat who has gone silent on the matter. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer’s spokesman Matt House has not responded to any request for comment, and it is unclear if Schumer has made any public statements. His official Twitter account has no mention of this matter, nor does his campaign Twitter account. His U.S. Senate website does include a statement applauding the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for granting an emergency waiver to Jewish Community Centers to help track down the people responsible, a statement he released on Friday, but it does not include any reaction whatsoever to Thompson’s arrest.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill has also not responded to questions about whether Pelosi has condemned Thompson for his alleged anti-Semitism. Her Twitter account shows no Tweets about it and there is nothing on her website. The same goes for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—whose spokeswoman Lacey Rose has not responded to a Breitbart News request for comment.

“We knew about this this morning and no Democrats have spoken out condemning this terrible human being. I find it shameful that there hasn’t been an outcry from the Democrats, many of whom have been accusing Trump of having inspired these anti-Semitic attacks,” Mort Klein, the president of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)—the oldest pro-Israel group in the United States, founded back in 1897—told Breitbart News in a phone interview. He went on:
Now we see it is a Trump hater who has perpetrated some of these acts showing at this point we have no evidence this was a Trump supporter—it was quite the opposite. With the arrest of this person, we see that this is not someone who was inspired by Trump towards hatred, towards committing these anti-semitic acts, it was actually someone who was antagonistic towards Trump inspired by President Trump’s adversaries. Just as the Democrats were demanding Trump respond to these attacks, which he has done in a very powerful and strong way, the Democrats should be condemning this supporter of the Democrats and hater of Trump. They should be responding of course, and condemning this man. I’ll tell you: It is painful to me to see the Democrats are silent at this point.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, in announcing the charges against Thompson, confirmed the Twitter account in which he Tweeted nasty things about Trump and his support for Sanders was in fact Thompson’s account. Thompson was taken into custody by the FBI in St. Louis on Friday and is due to appear in court in Manhattan in New York City soon. “Today, we have charged Juan Thompson with allegedly stalking a former romantic interest by, among other things, making bomb threats in her name to Jewish Community Centers and to the Anti-Defamation League,” Bharara said in his statement.

Interestingly, all of this came after Sanders attempted to tarnish President Trump and White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon—the former executive chairman of Breitbart News Network—with this string of anti-Semitic activities. Just days ago, Sanders told J Street that Trump and Bannon needed to condemn anti-Semitism—something they both have done very forcefully.

“I hope very much that President Trump and his political adviser Mr. Bannon understand that the entire world is watching, that it is imperative that their voices be loud and clear in condemning anti-Semitism,” Sanders said.

Klein, of ZOA, told Breitbart News that Sanders’ silence proves he does not care about doing the right thing and stopping anti-Semitism as much as he does about scoring political points. Klein said of Sanders’ and other Democrats’—specifically Warren’s, Pelosi’s and Schumer’s—silence:
It makes it clear that all their criticism of Trump is simply political partisanship, not a genuine concern about attacks on Jewish institutions and Jewish cemeteries. It makes it clear at this point that this may well be political partisanship as opposed to genuine concern about Jewish people and anti-Semitism. What it shows is they care more about gaining political benefits than they do about condemning anti-Semitism. This indicates they have a greater concern for what benefits them politically than they do about their concerns about anti-Semitism and Jew hatred. That’s the message it sends to me. It happened this morning. They should have responded already. It happened this morning. That’s plenty of time.
At this point, Klein said, it’s already too late for the Democrats to show they care, as they went after Bannon by falsely accusing him of being anti-Semitic with much more force than they have done about a Sanders-voting former reporter for The Intercept who was fired for printing fake news. In fact, their complete silence about Thompson proves everything is all political and not about stopping anti-Semitism, he says.

“I think the Democrats have now shown that they’re really embarrassed and horrified that this is a fellow Democrat who has enmity for Trump who committed these acts, as opposed to somebody who is supportive of Trump—which is what so many of them were saying,” Klein said. “Why aren’t they going after this unquestionable anti-Semite with the same type of viciousness they falsely accused of anti-Semitism, Steve Bannon?”

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 2:58 PM 0 comments

TURKEY: Islamic President Erdogan Seizes 50 Christian Churches And Monasteries, Declares Them Turkish State Property. 😠 Islam Did The Same In Sudan And Other Nations They Conquered.

PLEASE KICK TURKEY OUT OF NATO.
Jihad Watch
written and shared by Robert Spencer
Wednesday June 28, 2017

As Turkey continues its Islamization under Erdogan, it becomes increasingly hostile to Christians and Christianity. This fact should give pause to the fond and foolish purveyors of “Muslim-Christian dialogue” and Christian “outreach” to Muslims, but it won’t.

“Erdogan Seizes 50 Syriac Churches and Monasteries, Declares Them Turkish State Property,” by Patrick Poole, PJ Media, June 27, 2017:

The Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) has seized control of at least 50 Syriac churches, monasteries, and cemeteries in Mardin province, report media sources from Turkey…

The Turkish-Armenian daily Agos reports:

After Mardin became a Metropolitan Municipality, its villages were officially turned into neighbourhoods as per the law and attached to the provincial administration. Following the legislative amendment introduced in late 2012, the Governorate of Mardin established a liquidation committee. The Liquidation Committee started to redistribute in the city, the property of institutions whose legal entity had expired. The transfer and liquidation procedures are still ongoing.

In 2016, the Transfer, Liquidation and Redistribution Committee of Mardin Governorate transferred to primarily the Treasury as well as other relevant public institutions numerous churches, monasteries, cemeteries and other assets of the Syriac community in the districts of Mardin.

The Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation appealed to the decision yet the liquidation committee rejected their appeal last May. The churches, monasteries and cemeteries whose ownerships were given to the Treasury were then transferred to the Diyanet.

Inquiries of the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation revealed that dozens of churches and monasteries had been transferred to the Treasury first and then allocated to the Diyanet. And the cemeteries have been transferred to the Metropolitan Municipality of Mardin. The maintenance of some of the churches and monasteries are currently being provided by the Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation and they are opened to worship on certain days. Similarly, the cemeteries are still actively used by the Syriac community who visits them and performs burial procedures. The Syriacs have appealed to the Court for the cancellation of the decision.

“We started to file lawsuits and in the meantime our enquiries continued” said Kuryakos Ergün, the Chairman of Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation. Ergün said they would appeal to the court for the cancellation of nearly 30 title deed registries.

Included in the seizure is the 1600-year-old Mor Gabriel Monastery:

Foundation of Mor Gabriel Monastery, filed a court case at the Civil Court of First Instance in Mardin against the registration of title deed records in the name of Treasury.

In the petition filed to the court it has been noted that the properties subject to the court case had been, since ancient times, under the possession and ownership of the Foundation and the significance of Mor Gabriel Monastery has been underlined; “Its history dates back to the 4th century AD. The Monastery is one of the oldest monasteries in the world which is still active and is one of the most ancient religious centers of Syriacs and the entire world with its history of more than 1600 years.

Midyat Syriac Deyrulumur Mor Gabriel Monastery Foundation had been established on the basis of the imperial order of Sultan Abdülmecid Han during the Ottoman Empire in “1267 Islamic calendar (1851/1852 Gregorian calendar) and its status was redefined, became a legal entity, on the basis of the Foundations Law of 13.06.1935 with no 2762.

The Foundation had been recognised as “a religious community foundation” on the basis of a Regulation issued in 2002 by the Directorate General of Foundation and was included in the List of Religious Community Foundations drafted same year. Foundations that I’m not included in this list are in not recognised as religious community foundations.”
CBN News
written by Staff
April 18, 2017

By weakening Turkey's democracy, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ensured the continued erosion of conditions for Christians, Jews and other religious minorities in the Muslim majority nation.

If the referendum, narrowly approved by voters stands, Erdogan will gain executive, legislative and judicial powers. Serious allegations of voter fraud have been launched by international monitors and his political opponents have already vowed to appeal the vote.

"There are hundreds of cases of ballot box stuffing. What's even more scandalous is the Supreme Council of Election changed the rules of counting over an hour into the counting which is always an embarrassing smoking gun for the government," Dr. Aykan Erdemir tells Beltway Buzz.

Erdemir is a Muslim Turk who served in Turkish Parliament from 2011 to 2015. He's dedicated his career to defending minority rights and religious freedom in Turkey. He's now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

"If he manages to steal this referendum and go forward with the changes I think we'll see more of this reckless one man rule. We will see a further erosion of checks and balances, rule of law, due process. It's terrible news for the academics and journalists and civil servants and faith leaders who are already in prison or who have been purged," Erdemir says.

Faith leaders like American Pastor Andrew Brunson. He's been jailed since October, swept up in a terrorism investigation, but never formally charged.

"Unfortunately Pastor Andrew Brunson is now a pawn, kind of a trump card in Erdogan's hand There's absolutely no rule of law, no due process in that case, it's a completely bogus case and I think Erdogan has no reason to respect rule of law and due process," Erdemir says.

During his victory speech, Erdogan accused the West of a "crusade" which alluded to the ancient battle between Christianity and Islam.

"So he's again using this kind of belligerent clash of Islam versus Christianity. It's the battle of the cross versus the crescent rhetoric and you can imagine if you are a member of Turkey's Jewish or Christian communities you will feel very threatened because you are a citizen and technically on paper you have the same rights as Turkey's majority Muslim population, but you have a president who continues to single you out and portrays you as kind of the fifth column, the traitors in Turkey and this is basically paving the way, not only through crack downs in courts, but for hate crimes," Erdemir says.

The referendum is being challenged by Erdogan's political opponents. Regardless it wasn't the clear mandate he wanted and now he's set his sights on another proposition for Turkish voters: whether or not to bring back the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004.

"He [Erdogan] knows firsthand that the magic formula in a majority Muslim country is incitement, religious incitement, and I'm really concerned in the days to come if Turkey goes forward with Erdogan's proposal for a second referendum on death penalty we could see further reprisals against Turkey's minority faith leaders," says Erdemir.

Turkey is a strategic American ally. Although European countries have held off congratulating Erdogan on his referendum win citing grave concerns over election fraud, President Donald Trump bucked the western trend. Monday he called Erdogan to "congratulate him on his recent referendum victory".

Other congratulatory calls to Erdogan include non- state actors with ties to terrorism, Qatar and Azerbaijan.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 2:39 PM 0 comments

TAIWAN: Taiwan Offers Medical Treatment To Cancer-Stricken Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo After Prison Officials Granted Him Medical Parole, In A Move Likely To Rile Beijing.

Yahoo News
written by AFP staff
Wednesday June 28, 2017

Taipei - Taiwan said Wednesday that it was willing to offer cancer-stricken Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo treatment after prison officials granted him medical parole, in a move likely to rile Beijing.

The offer came a day after China rejected criticism over its treatment of Liu, as the United States urged Beijing to give the paroled activist freedom to move and choose his own doctors.

Liu's lawyer Mo Shaoping revealed on Monday that the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate had been hospitalised after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May.

The writer, now 61, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for "subversion" after spearheading a bold petition for democratic reforms.

Lawyer Mo told AFP that people on medical parole usually cannot leave the country, but if he was treated as a "special case" it would be possible for him to seek treatment abroad, according to Chinese law.

Taiwan said it would "welcome" Liu for treatment at a time when relations with Beijing have worsened dramatically under China-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen.

China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be reunified.

But the self-ruling island has developed its own democratic political system and has become home to some activists fleeing China.

"We urge Beijing to immediately release Liu and let him choose wherever he wants to receive treatment," said Chiu Chui-cheng of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's top policy-making body on China.

"We welcome Liu if he chooses Taiwan and we will provide him with the best medical care possible. Taiwan has very good expertise treating liver diseases," Chiu told AFP.

Chinese dissident Wang Dan, a Tiananmen protest leader who lives in exile in Taiwan, said that he has contacted Germany's foreign ministry in the hope the country would take Liu for treatment, as it has a hospital famous for treating liver cancer.

The new US ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, said on Wednesday he would like to see Liu treated abroad.

Human rights groups have also called on Chinese authorities to give Liu the chance to seek treatment elsewhere.

Ties between Taiwan and China have deteriorated rapidly since Tsai took the reins last year.

Beijing has stepped up pressure on her government, from luring away the island's diplomatic allies to arresting a Taiwanese activist on "subversion" charges on the mainland.

China has cut off all official communication with Taipei and has upped military drills while Taiwan is developing home-grown defence systems in response to what it sees as a growing threat.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 2:22 PM 0 comments

JAPAN: Sony Is Opening A Vinyl Factory In Japan Because Of Rising Demand. 👏😊👍

The Independent, UK
written by Roisin O'Connor, Music Correspondent
Friday June 30, 2017

Sony is continuing to invest in the resurgence of vinyl by opening its own record-pressing plant in Japan.

The Japanese arm of the label announced that the plant will be opened in March next year to copy with the country's overwhelming demand.

It will mark the first time Sony has manufactured records in almost 30 years, after Sony Music Japan closed its in-house pressing production in 1989.

Vinyl sales reached a 25-year high in 2016, and companies around the world have been rushing to capitalise.

HMV opened its vinyl-focused store in Shibuya, Japan, almost two years after sales began to show strong growth, while supermarkets including Sainsbury's and Tesco began selling vinyl after LP sales rose by 800% in 2015.

In April this year a report showed that consumers seem to be finding a balance between classic records they want to re-visit on vinyl, and new releases that they listen to first on streaming services.

Among the 10 biggest-selling records of the year so far were Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, Legacy by David Bowie, Ed Sheeran's third album Divide, and Human, the debut album by Rag'n'Bone Man.

The Independent ​recently spoke with experts who told us what they expected from both physical and digital sales for 2017.

Sulinna Ong, VP of Artist Marketing at Deezer's HQ in London, explained that vinyl is "something special, something tangible".

"Vinyl is almost like a memory of an event, as well as having it to stream," she continued. "It's a reminder of something that you've experienced, that lives on. They're very much complementary."

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 2:17 PM 0 comments

WORLD: Facebook Hires Thousands To Launch Crackdown On 'Hate Speech'. Facebook Is Shutting Down Atheist And ex-Muslim Groups In Alarming Numbers. Islamic Sharia Law.

Washington Examiner
written by Sean Langille
Tuesday June 27, 2017

Facebook announced Tuesday it will add thousands of employees in an effort to eliminate what it deems "hate speech" on people's pages.

The California-based company said in a blog post Tuesday it will be hiring an additional 3,000 people to its community operations team, with the aim of deleting nearly 66,000 posts deemed to be offensive each week.

"Our current definition of hate speech is anything that directly attacks people based on what are known as their 'protected characteristics' — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity, or serious disability or disease," said Richard Allan, Facebook vice president of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said in the blog post. "There is no universally accepted answer for when something crosses the line. Although a number of countries have laws against hate speech, their definitions of it vary significantly."

The company rejected the idea that it is trying to censor what their users post, and said failing to remove content that other users feel is offensive would not be "living up to the values in our Community Standards."

"When we remove something you posted and believe is a reasonable political view, it can feel like censorship. We know how strongly people feel when we make such mistakes, and we're constantly working to improve our processes and explain things more fully," Allan added.

Facebook has been under fire following the posting of several violent videos over the past year, including live broadcasts of multiple murders and suicides.

"These reviewers will also help us get better at removing things we don't allow on Facebook like hate speech and child exploitation. And we'll keep working with local community groups and law enforcement who are in the best position to help someone if they need it — either because they're about to harm themselves, or because they're in danger from someone else," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in May.
HeatStreet.com
written by Masha Froliak
May 9, 2017

Yesterday, Facebook restricted and then shut down the public pages of Ex-Muslims of North America (24k followers) and Atheist Republic (1,6 million followers) –groups that advocate secularism and provide support to “apostates” (people who leave Islam and who often face persecution).

In fact, the ex-Muslim group claims that for the last several years, Facebook has been continuously blocking groups like it. The ex-Muslims have written an open letter to the social media giant, calling on it to “to stop exercising intellectual persecution” against atheist and ex-Muslim organizations and to “whitelist” such vulnerable groups from organized false flagging attacks.

On Monday, Muhammad Syed, the president of the Ex-Muslims of North America took to Twitter to report that the Facebook pages of Ex-Muslims and Atheist Republic were restricted (and the next morning shut down) “in violation of Facebook’s community standards”. No details were given as to what standards were violated. On Tuesday, after appealing the case, both groups were able to regain full access to their pages.

Syed believes the pages had been targeted in coordinated attacks by Muslim fundamentalists using “simple and effective” Facebook flagging tools to report that pages falsely for standards violations. Facebook, Syed said, isn’t doing enough to protect “groups vulnerable to malicious attacks”.

In the open letter to Facebook, which was revealed to Heat Street, Syed pressures the social media company to take measures to improve its reporting mechanisms and to protect ex-Muslim groups.

“Ironically, the same social media which empowers religious minorities is susceptible to abuse by religious fundamentalists to enforce what are essentially the equivalent of online blasphemy laws. A simple English language search reveals hundreds of public groups and pages on Facebook explicitly dedicated to this purpose – giving their members easy-to-follow instructions on how to report public groups and infiltrate private ones,” Syed writes.

The Atheist Republic group has been shut down 4 times in the last two years, Syed says, and then reinstated. He adds that attacks of this nature are not new and there are there are hundreds of Facebook accounts that are working to shut down atheist and ex-Muslim public pages in an organized effort. Facebook, he alleges, is doing nothing about it.

“Arab atheists, Bangladeshi secularists, and numerous other groups have been under attack for years, as religious conservatives in the Muslim world learn to abuse Facebook’s reporting system to their advantage. Early last year, multiple atheist and secularist groups were targeted with mass, coordinated infiltration and reporting – leading to the closure of many groups. These groups were eventually restored, but only after a lengthy and sustained effort by organizers to draw public attention to the issue,” he explains.

In his letter to Facebook, Syed, with the help of the Arab Atheist Network, compiled a list of groups that have been targeted in coordinated flagging attacks and shut down by Facebook in the last several weeks. At least nine other groups have been abused with Facebook’s reporting tool.

Syed, who was raised in Pakistan, believes that ex-Muslims are among the most persecuted groups in the world and that online platforms like Facebook are the “last refuge” for many atheists and secularists in the Muslim world.

“Many of these groups are not simply pages – they are communities in which atheists who are abandoned by those around them find comfort, support and emergency assistance in case of persecution or abuse. The closure of these groups means the loss of these vital resources for the isolated and vulnerable,” Muhammad tells Heat Street.

The letter urges Facebook to create a “whitelist” for groups and pages that are vulnerable to such attacks and asks to penalize accounts that repeatedly abuse its reporting tools.

In the meantime, as Heat Street reported, in March Facebook kowtowed to officials in Pakistan and removed “blasphemous” content insulting Islam within the country. In this instance, Facebook had no problem with censoring freedom of speech on its platform.

Other atheist groups shut down by Facebook in the course of a month:

A Science Enthusiast (750,000 members)

Mufti News (25,000 members)

Arab Atheist Network (23,500 members)

Arab Atheist Forum and Network (9,200 members)

Radical Atheists without Borders (23,500 members)

Arab Atheist Syndicate (11,000 members)

Arab Atheist Syndicate, backup (5,000 members)

Humanitarian Non-Religious (32,000 members)

Human Atheists (11,000 members)

Arab Atheists Forum and Network (6,400 members)

Mind and Discussion (6,500 members)

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:29 PM 0 comments

NIGERIA: Nigerian Spy Chief Suspended After $43 MILLION In Cash Found In Lagos Apartment By Anti-Corruption Investigators.

Sky News
written by Russell Hope
Wednesday April 19, 2017

The head of Nigeria's national intelligence agency has been suspended after $43m (£34m) in cash was found in an empty flat in the capital Lagos.

The country's president, Muhammadu Buhari, has ordered an inquiry after the dollar haul, along with £27,800 and 23.2m naira (£94,000), was discovered by anti-corruption investigators.

The economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) said it seized the "humongous" amount of money in an apartment in Ikoyi, an upmarket area of the city.

Ayo Oke, director-general of the NIA, has been suspended during a two-week investigation into how the agency acquired the money and whether it did so legally.

The cash, in sealed plastic wrappers, was hidden in filing cabinets and behind hidden panels in a wardrobe.

It was discovered by EFCC officials after a tip-off that a woman involved in "suspicious movement of bags in and out of a particular apartment in the building".

"She comes looking haggard, with dirty clothes, but her skin didn't quite match her appearance, perhaps a disguise," said the EFCC statement, quoting an anonymous source.

In a separate development, Mr Buhari, who took office in May 2015 promising to crack down on corruption, also suspended a senior civil servant over the use of funds intended for handling a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.

An investigation has been launched into contracts awarded under the presidential initiative on the north east, where 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency, are in dire need of food.

A three-man committee headed by vice-president Yemi Osinbajo is to conduct both investigations.

Last week, the EFCC lost a key battle as a Lagos court lifted an order freezing $5m (£6.4m) in a bank account operated by Nigeria's former first lady Patience Jonathan, prompting ministers to insist the anti-corruption campaign was on track.

But the main opposition party has accused Mr Buhari of conducting a political witch-hunt because many of those arrested and charged in the war on corruption are opposition party members or served in the previous administration.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:19 PM 0 comments

June 29, 2017

WORLD: Daughter Of Prominent Islamic Scholar Faces Backlash For Posting Photo Without A Hijab On Facebook.

NY Times
written by Zainab Salbi
April 14, 2017

Maysoon Al-Suwaidan is known for being a poet, a TV personality and the daughter of Tareq Al-Suwaidan, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member in Kuwait who has written many books, delivered numerous public speeches and appeared in TV interviews on Islamic subjects ranging from discussing the Quran to stories of the Prophet Mohammed. Like many daughters of Islamic scholars, Al-Suwaidan always embraced the headscarf. She traveled the world with it, she obtained her masters degree from Georgetown University with it, and she conducted her poetry TV show while wearing it. But late last year she posted a photo of herself on her Facebook page without the hijab, commenting that “I left to India in search of God away from any religion or sect and discovered that the biggest hijab between God and I is the hijab of people.” The literal translation of hijab in Arabic is partition used in many references including the head covering of women.

Al-Suwaidan’s statement continues explaining how she “let go of all that she inherited of hijab (partition) in her mind, and she started her search for God from the beginning.” She ends her statement musing about how “these beliefs, conflicts, judgments, and masks seem far away from her” after her experience in India.

Her decision to publicly announce her removal of the hijab and how she ultimately found God in India after all of her explorations of God in her own culture and region, including her visit to Mecca, unleashed a series of attacks on her and her father — especially by Muslim Brotherhood members and other religious groups. And it also opened a discussion of a much suppressed tension in the Middle East.

Most attacks are related to her lack of a right to take off her hijab. Some cursed her decision, some called her an infidel. Some of her fans expressed disappointment that she would reject the veil. Others appealed to her father, urging him to impose his will and enforce her wearing of the hijab. Meanwhile, some congratulated Al-Suwaidan for her courage to express her opinion publicly and acting in her truth rather than in societal expectations of her.

Salah, a commenter on her Facebook page said, “Maybe the issue is not with Islam but how Muslims are implementing Islam these days.” Raja, another commenter said, “ I feel bad and sorry for her losing of her way. It is not right to call her an infidel but we should pray for her to find her way back.” And Melanie remarked that Al-Suwaidan “is impolite and had risk[ed] her father’s reputation. Do what you want in your life but you dont’ need to do it publicly.”

The debate over the hijab is as contentious in the Middle East these days as it is in the Western world. The widespread phenomenon of embracing the hijab happened more with younger women throughout the 1990s and 2000s rather than the previous generations, members of which mostly did not take on the hijab. One widespread phenomenon is that of daughters taking on the hijab and their mothers then following suit. It was embraced for many reasons including political identity, a return to more religious traditions, and often for social reasons, including pacts of girlfriends or freedom of mobility hijab brings in the public sphere.

It helped that female public figures, from major Egyptian movie stars to well-respected anchors of Al Jazeera Arabic, have embraced the hijab in the last 10 to 15 years, making it even more popular with younger women in the region. However, the discussion of whether the hijab is a fundamental pillar of Islam or it simply related to freedom of decision has become the source of great tension in the region.

Many Muslim women who are not wearing the hijab are complaining that their rights and freedom of choice is being judged and they face tremendous pressure to wear it. Some are appealing to women who are wearing it to defend the rights of women who chose not to wear it just as they asked for their rights to wear it to be respected. Some who do embrace the hijab express a desire to take it off, but worry if they do so, they will be attacked and shunned by society. And some are keeping it on for strategic reasons as they believe it will have more public appeal in society and will ultimately enable their work and other functions.

Al-Suwaidan is about the first public figure to take off the hijab with a statement about the freedom in the search for God beyond any traditions and norms. She has pushed many sensitive buttons with her public decision but also triggered much needed public discussion on the role of Islam in people’s lives today. For now, she is the recipient of many attacks, but some have also come out to defend her right. Maybe this will pave a new path of discussion on Islam, women and how the religion is seen in Arab cultures today.

Last week at Tina Brown’s Women in the World New York Summit, I moderated a panel on Islam and, inevitably, the topic of the hijab came up and was hotly-debated between Zineb El Rhazoui, a journalist whose colleagues were killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack, and Samia Hathroubi, a French Muslim activist. Watch a highlight from that panel below and to see the full discussion, click here.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 9:39 AM 0 comments

CANADA: Most Canadians Favour Values Test For Immigrants, While 23 Per Cent Think Muslims Should Be Banned: poll

National Post
written by Staff
March 13, 2017

Three Canadians out of four believe immigrants to this country should be tested for “anti-Canadian” values, a survey conducted for Radio-Canada suggests.

The findings of the survey, carried by the CROP polling for the French-language service of the CBC, indicate that despite criticism from the media and within political circles, the controversial position taken by Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch that immigrants be tested for an appreciation of “Canadian” values has traction with 74 per cent of Canadians. Inside Quebec, support for testing immigrants stood at 75 per cent.

The poll also suggests that 60 per cent of Canadians — and 67 per cent of those polled in Quebec — believe immigrants should put aside their own cultures and adopt that of Canada once they settle here.

The online survey of 2,513 respondents — 1,024 of them in Quebec — was conducted between Jan. 27-30, a time frame that in a grim coincidence includes the Jan. 29 attack on a Quebec City mosque that left six worshippers dead.

The poll also suggests that nearly one out of four Canadians (23 per cent) would favour a ban on Muslim immigration to this country, a level of support that rises to 32 per cent in Quebec.

While the survey found that 46 per cent of Canadians believe that immigrants make Canada “a better place to live” and 33 per cent of respondents didn’t believe the presence of newcomers had any bearing on the issue, the poll suggests clear trends of a lack of comfort with Muslim immigrants.

Despite most Canadians approving of Canada’s decision to welcome Syrian immigrants (60 per cent Canada/58 per cent Quebec) Muslim immigrants polled lowest with Quebecers on the question of which groups were best integrated into Canadian society, garnering 42 per cent compared with 72 per cent for Jewish immigrants, 82 per cent for Haitians, and 87 per cent for Asians.

Interestingly, the same question posed to Quebecers before the mosque attack found only 38 per cent per cent felt Muslims were well integrated into Quebec society, a number that rose to 44 per cent in the wake of the shootings.

Meanwhile, most respondents (51 per cent Canada/57 per cent Quebec) felt the presence of Muslims in this country made them somewhat or very worried about security.

And in a finding that is sure to stoke the embers of the identity debate in Quebec, the poll suggests that while most Quebecers (65 per cent) don’t believe wearing religious symbols in public should be banned, 66 per cent believe such a ban should apply to educators, 76 per cent believe religious symbols should not be worn by persons in authority and 67 per cent believe such a ban should apply to all public servants.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 5:17 AM 0 comments

CHECHYNA: Muslim Chechyna Opens First Concentration Camp For Homosexuals Since Hitler. 😧😠 Why? Because This Is Islam. Not The Lies Told To LGBT Community. :/

Jihad Watch
written and shared by Robert Spencer
April 10, 2017

They’re not killing them outright: they must be moderates. The Qur’an contains numerous condemnations of homosexual activity: “And [We had sent] Lot when he said to his people, ‘Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds? Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people.’…And We rained upon them a rain [of stones]. Then see how was the end of the criminals.” (Qur’an 7:80-84)

Muhammad specifies the punishment for this in a hadith: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘Whoever you find doing the action of the people of Loot, execute the one who does it and the one to whom it is done.’” (Sunan Abu Dawud 4462)

More on this story. “Chechnya opens world’s first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler’s in the 1930s where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death,” by Thomas Burrows, MailOnline, April 10, 2017:

Chechyna has opened the first concentration camp for homosexuals since Hitler, where campaigners say gay men are being tortured with electric shocks and beaten to death.

It comes after it was claimed 100 gay men had been detained and three killed in Chechnya last week.

A report by Novoya Gazeta said authorities had set up several camps where homosexuals are killed or forced to promise to leave the republic.

One of the camps is reportedly at the former military headquarters in the town of Argun.

Svetlana Zakharova, from the Russian LGBT Network, told MailOnline: ‘Gay people have been detained and rounded up and we are working to evacuate people from the camps and some have now left the region.

‘Those who have escaped said they are detained in the same room and people are kept altogether, around 30 or 40. They are tortured with electric currents and heavily beaten, sometimes to death.’

One of those who escaped told Novoya Gazeta that prisoners were beaten to force them to reveal other members of the gay community.

Another prisoner who fled said that before being incarcerated in one of the camps, he had been forced to pay bribes to Chechen police of thousands of rubles every month in order to survive.

Now the regime had taken another step against gays by creating these camps, the survivor said.

Alexander Artemyev, from Amnesty International in Russia, told MailOnline: ‘We can only call on the Russian authorities to investigate the allegations. Homosexuals in Chechyna are treated very harshly and prosecuted daily and they are afraid to talk about it.

‘They either have to hide or leave the republic. We are keeping in touch with the LGBT network that helps people in Russia to find shelter. The problem is people there cannot talk about it as it puts their lives and those they speak to, in danger. This is the main issue we are facing in Russia and the main challenge.’

Ekaterina Sokirianskaia, Russia project director for the International Crisis Group, told MailOnline: ‘The story is very much developing…victims are escaping.’

Tanya Lokshina, from Human Rights Watch in Moscow, said: ‘For several weeks now, a brutal campaign against LGBT people has been sweeping through Chechnya.

‘These days, very few people in Chechnya dare speak to human rights monitors or journalists even anonymously because the climate of fear is overwhelming and people have been largely intimidated into silence.

‘Filing an official complaint against local security officials is extremely dangerous, as retaliation by local authorities is practically inevitable.

‘It is difficult to overstate just how vulnerable LGBT people are in Chechnya, where homophobia is intense and rampant. LGBT people are in danger not only of persecution by the authorities but also of falling victim to “honour killings” by their own relatives for tarnishing family honour.’

Last week Novoya Gazeta said Chechen police had rounded up more than 100 men suspected of being gay and killed three.

It claimed that among those detained were well-known local television personalities and religious figures.

President Razman [sic] Kadyrov, who is a key ally of Vladimir Putin, allegedly ordered the clampdown, although officially his regime denied the arrests claiming ‘it is impossible to persecute those who are not in the republic’.
Jihad Watch
written and shared by Robert Spencer
April 14, 2017

“’It is obvious to us that this resolution is pushing religious fanatics to massacre journalists,’ said Novaya Gazeta’s editorial board.”

Yes. Specifically, Islamic jihadists.

When have you ever heard Jewish or Christian clerics, cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd of 15,000, calling for “retribution” against anyone? Yet moral equivalence allegations abound.

“Novaya Gazeta: Religious leaders encourage retaliation against journalists at Grozny mosque meeting,” Novaya Gazeta, April 14, 2017:

The newspaper Novaya Gazeta has urged the Russian government to respond to calls for retaliation against journalists voiced, the editors claim, by Islamic theologians in Chechnya on April 3.

The meeting in the central mosque of Grozny was convened in connection with the publication of Novaya Gazeta’s article on the persecution of homosexuals in the Chechen Republic. According to the publication Grozny-Inform, 15,000 people attended the meeting.

Meeting participants adopted a resolution in which they declared that the Novaya Gazeta journalists had “insulted the centuries-old foundations of Chechen society and the dignity of Chechen men,” as well as their faith. “We promise that the true instigators will be subjected to retribution, wherever and whoever they are, without statute of limitations,” the resolution read.

“It is obvious to us that this resolution is pushing religious fanatics to massacre journalists,” said Novaya Gazeta’s editorial board.
NBC News
written by Mary Emily O'Hara
Tuesday June 27, 2017

Congress passed a bipartisan resolution on Tuesday condemning anti-LGBTQ persecution and violence in Chechnya.

House resolution 351 was introduced on May 23 by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who has an out transgender son and is a frequent advocate for LGBTQ rights. Ros-Lehtinen is also a member of the House LGBT Equality Caucus.

The resolution calls on the Russian Federation to investigate and halt the reported state violence against gay and bisexual men in Chechnya and asks the United States government to "demand the release of individuals wrongly detained."

After the resolution passed, Ros-Lehtinen had strong words for the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We will continue to stand united with the LGBT community and shine a bright light on these atrocities, which are encouraged by the evil Putin regime in Russia, in order to help ensure that those who are responsible for these crimes are held to account for their despicable actions," Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.

Other members of the House LGBT Equality Caucus celebrated the passage on Tuesday.

“I’m proud that the House passed this strong resolution condemning the recent violence targeting gay men in Chechnya. Now, it’s critical that we do more to ensure those fleeing horrific violence can relocate somewhere safe,” LGBT Caucus Co-Chair Rep. David Cicilline, Democrat of Rhode Island, said. “This is an important step, but there is much more work left to be done.”

On Twitter, the LGBT Equality Caucus called on President Donald Trump to follow its lead.
The House resolution comes nearly three months after the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta first reported that members of Chechen law enforcement were targeting gay and bisexual men. According to reports gathered by journalists and the Russian LGBT Network, an advocacy nonprofit, roughly 100 LGBTQ men were initially captured by authorities and taken to a detention center where they were beaten and tortured — sometimes to death.

Men who escaped the reported anti-LGBTQ persecution campaign in Chechnya fled to Russia, telling reporters and human rights organizations the harrowing details of the abuses they'd faced at the hands of what they believed were police and the military.

"They dragged me out of the car, started to beat me, humiliate me," said a Chechen man named Ilya in an interview with French news agency Agence-France Presse (AFP). "They were saying that I was a f****t, a gay person and that such people shouldn’t exist in Chechnya."

As the news spread, the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations issued statements condemning the reported violence and calling on Russia to investigate.

Now, the House LGBT Equality Caucus wants the White House to take action.

"It is now up to President Trump, Secretary of State Tillerson, and our United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley to follow through on the consensus of the House," LGBT Equality Caucus Vice Chair Rep. Alan Lowenthal said, "and bring as much domestic and international political pressure as possible on the Russian government to rein in these deplorable human rights violations.”

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 3:33 AM 0 comments

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