RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://spectator.us/europe-continent-high-vis-jackets/

The ‘yellow vest’ protests against President Emmanuel Macron that swept through Paris and other French cities last month have evoked overwhelming sympathy: 77 percent considered them justified, according to a poll for Le Figaro.

Even after Macron offered a budget-busting package of concessions to appease his critics, it was hard to silence the lacerating self-examination one undergoes after a soured romance: God, what was I thinking? Today, France’s café-goers wonder aloud how they could have voted so overwhelmingly two years ago for a president whom they disliked and disagreed with even at the time.

The simple answer is that Macron was running against Marine Le Pen, whose party, now called the National Rally, is a haven for the global economy’s déclassés. The more complicated answer is ‘Condorcet’s paradox’, named after the 18th-century marquis, philosopher, legislator, abolitionist and theorist of probability. Condorcet demonstrated that in any election that involves at least three people, as French multi-round contests do, the public’s real preference can be impossible to determine. People might like Mr Smith better than Mr Jones, Mr Jones better than Mr Brown, and Mr Brown better than Mr Smith — leaving the majority feeling cheated.

This May’s European elections, set to pit Macron’s Brussels-defending ‘establishment’ against the ‘ferment’ of Le Pen and various men-on-the-street, are a good bet to be the kind of election Condorcet would recognize. A recent poll found 30 percent of the public think well of Le Pen and 69 percent think ill of her. You might consider such numbers unimpressive. But in the present climate they make Le Pen the most popular major politician in the country, with twice the support Macron has.

Le Pen is skeptical of immigration, and European politics is still mostly about immigration. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and the most successful politician in Europe right now, is successful because he stopped the trafficking of African migrants in their hundreds of thousands from the Maghreb to the shores of Sicily. The traffickers have since moved their operations west, egged on by the grandstanding mayors of Spain’s coastal cities. Thus was the Spanish socialist party (PSOE) ousted from its impregnable-looking stronghold in Andalusia a few weeks ago. A new anti-immigration party, Vox, took 11 percent of the vote.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13376/european-court-human-wrongs

One might also wonder where, in the European Convention on Human Rights, “feelings” are mentioned. Following the court’s logic, would it be appropriate to cover the windows of steakhouses not to hurt the feelings of animal activists? Or only if they threatened to riot? Is the new ruling just a capitulation to extortionistic threats of violence?

The supposition seems to be, “If you had just kept quiet, these bad things (fill in the blank) would not be happening.” It is both a false premise — the “bad things” might have happened anyway, as they did, for example, when the Bataclan Theater in Paris or the Brussels airport were attacked — and it is a demand for enforced self-censorship. Moreover, who gets to decide who is accountable? Who watches the watchers?

How soon will the public be asked to stop other activities — drinking alcohol, men and women dancing together, ringing church bells, art that depicts the human image, separation of religion and state, and equal justice under the law for women, to name just a few — that also might hurt “religious feelings?”

Will the ECHR’s Grand Chamber — the only authority that could reverse the decision — correct this treacherous path?

October 26 marked a historic day for Ireland, where citizens, in a national referendum, overwhelmingly voted to repeal the country’s blasphemy law.

Blasphemy remains a serious offence in many parts of the world, in some Muslim countries even requiring the death penalty.

More astonishing is that even some European countries are criminalizing “defamation of religion”.

Recently, an actor was detained in Spain for failing to appear in court where he would face the accusation of “having insulted God and the Virgin Mary”.

The outcome of the Irish referendum will entail a modification of the Irish Constitution, which states in Article 40.6.1:

“The publication or utterance of blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter is an offence which shall be punishable in accordance with law.”

https://edwardcline.blogspot.com/2019/01/britains-islamic-demise-part-two.html

Here is the second part of Soeren Kern’s “Multiculturalism and the Transformation of Britain in 2018” for The Gatestone Institutefrom January 1st.

March 24. Seven men — Assad Hussain, 37, of Oxford; Kameer Iqbal, 39, of Oxford; Khalid Hussain, 38, of Oxford; Kamran Khan, 36, of Bolton; Moinul Islam, 41, of Oxford; Raheem Ahmed, 40 of Oxford; and Alladitta Yousaf, 48, of Oxford — were found guilty by Oxford Crown Court of grooming and sexually abusing teenage girls, aged between 13 and 15, “on a massive scale.” The gang was convicted of more than 20 offenses including rape and indecent assault.

March 27. Umar Ahmed Haque, a 25-year-old religion teacher from London, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 25 years for preparing terrorist acts. He had planned to use guns and a car bomb to hit 30 targets including Big Ben in London. Haque also showed Islamic State beheading videos to 16 children at the Ripple Road Mosque in Barking, London. Mr. Justice Haddon-Cave said Haque groomed children to join a “mini militia,” unbeknownst to their parents who had paid for after-school classes at the mosque.

March 28. The supermarket chain Sainsbury’s apologized after a customer service officer, responding to a question about whether it sold non-halal Easter eggs, repliedthat all of its eggs were halal. That statement quickly generated anger on social media, with one Twitter user posting a picture of Easter eggs accompanied with the text: “Remember, boycott halal eggs. Don’t give in. Use Thornton’s.” Sainsbury’s later wrote: “Apologies my colleague gave out the incorrect information. None of our own brand chocolate eggs are halal certified. Really sorry for any confusion caused.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/yellow-vest-leader-arrested-signaling-crackdown-on-protests-11546523102

French authorities arrested a key “yellow vest” protester for organizing an unauthorized demonstration, signaling a crackdown on a movement that has upended the agenda of President Emmanuel Macron.

Police held Eric Drouet on Wednesday evening near the Champs-Élysées, the glitzy avenue that has become a magnet for protests by the yellow vests—or gilets jaunes—over the past two months. He was leading a commemoration of yellow vests who have died since the movement began, mainly hit by cars inadvertently as they protested at roundabouts around the country.

A truck driver from the Parisian suburbs, Mr. Drouet had created a Facebook page that sparked the antigovernment protests in November.

“The arrest and detention of Mr. Drouet is completely unjustified and arbitrary,” Mr. Drouet’s lawyer said in a statement Thursday.
The ‘yellow vest’ protests have become a national movement against President Emmanuel Macron and his government.

The coming weeks will test whether Mr. Macron’s government can stop the protests, which have slowed the French economy and are undermining his plans for a free-market overhaul of the country. Participation waned during the holiday season, but yellow vests are organizing new demonstrations this Saturday in Paris and elsewhere that appear set to attract thousands of people.

Hundreds of protesters continue to camp out at roundabouts across the countryside.

The first protest on Nov. 17 drew more than 250,000 people. While participation has fallen steadily since—dipping below 100,000 on recent weekends—the intensity of the demonstrations escalated sharply in early December. Rioting and clashes with police left some of the most upscale neighborhoods of Paris dotted with burning cars and shattered storefronts. Police have arrested thousands of protesters, straining the French justice system.

The government has struggled to contain the grass-roots movement, which has no organized leadership and has refused to declare demonstrations to the authorities as required by French law.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/03/iranians-willing-risk-lives-fleeing-france-britain/

Given the reaction in some quarters, over the past few weeks it’s at times felt as if no democracy has faced such a Persian threat since ancient Athens fought the battle of Marathon. Obviously the situation on the Channel is serious and we shouldn’t be complacent about border security. But the number of illegal migrants, purportedly Iranians, attempting to sail across to the UK has been small – and far lower than the huge numbers of legal migrants that arrive from the EU each year over which we have no control.

There has been another reaction, however: incredulity. To a certain type of Remainer, it is unimaginable that anyone would seek to cross the Channel to make their way to Britain. And yet here they are, hundreds of people trying to escape from France.

Migration was such a big issue in the referendum because our society’s flexibility and our economy’s strength have made us a magnet. Macron talks about getting France “on the move”, but its brutal level of youth unemployment is a reflection of the bureaucratic blocks to enterprise and job creation that have long hindered growth.

An entrepreneurial Iranian – or Frenchman – has a better chance of making it here than in any other European country. Our language is an attraction, too. Migrants, if they don’t speak it already, regard learning English as more useful than picking up Italian or Greek.

It’s a separate question whether we want them to come, but it is interesting that so many of these migrants claim to be Iranian. Accounts of what is wrong in Iran tend to focus on the intolerance of the Islamic Republic towards Christians and other minorities, its restrictive policies towards women, and its authoritarian clerical regime.

However, what really threatens the Ayatollahs is their failure to kickstart an economy stifled by cronyism. President Rouhani was presented as a fresh face who would reinvigorate the economy. Now he looks more like an Iranian Macron, responsible for a makeover without substance.

https://jamieglazov.com/2019/01/03/glazov-gang-when-islamophobe

This new edition of The Glazov Gang features Dr. Charles Jacobs,
President of Americans for Peace and Tolerance.

Dr. Jacobs sheds light on When “Islamophobes” Free Muslim Slaves, and also on the curious phenomenon of “racists” freeing black slaves.

Don’t miss it!

Also make sure to watch Dr. Jacobs and Ilya Feoktistov, Executive Director of Americans for Peace and Tolerance, focus on Newton’s Anti-Semitism Problem, where they tackle the question: Why exactly are American children being given a Saudi education about the Middle East? (The clip above is taken from this entire episode below).

And tune in to our 5-Part Series with Dr. Charles Jacobs where he covers:

[1] Saudi Curriculum in American High Schools,
[2] Confronting Islamic Indoctrination in American High Schools, [3] Leftist Rabbis Endanger Jewish Community,
[4] Racist Arabs’ Black Slaves in Sudan and Mauritania
and
[5] Farrakhan’s Shameful Stance on Slavery.

See all 5 episodes below!

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13497/china-sovereign-state

The trend of Chinese ruler Xi Jinping’s recent comments warns us that his China does not want to live within the current Westphalian system of nation states or even to adjust it. From every indication, Xi is thinking of overthrowing it altogether.

Beijing now thinks it can, with impunity, injure Americans. In the first week of May, the Pentagon said that China, from its base in Djibouti, lasered a C-130 military cargo plane, causing eye injuries to two American pilots.

The laser attack in the Horn of Africa, far from any Chinese boundaries, highlights Beijing’s unstated position that the U.S. military has no right to operate anywhere and that China is free to do whatever it wants anyplace it chooses. And let us understand the severity of the Chinese act: an attempt to blind pilots is akin to an attempt to bring down their planes, and an attempt to bring down planes is an assertion China has the right to kill.

“I hear prominent Americans, disappointed that China has not become a democracy, claiming that China poses a threat to the American way of life,” Jimmy Carter wrote on the last day of 2018 in a Washington Post op-ed. That claim, Carter tells us, is a “dangerous notion.”

There is nothing more dangerous than a notion from the 39th president, even on China. China, despite what he said, threatens not only America’s way of life but also the existence of the American republic. Chinese ruler Xi Jinping has, in recent years, been making the extraordinary case that the U.S. is not a sovereign state.

The breathtaking position puts China’s aggressive actions into a far more ominous context.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/syrian-christians-plead-for-no-fly-zone-to-protect-only-hope-for-our-long-term-survival/

A coalition of Syrian Christian political and military groups issued an appeal today to Christians around the world to back their call for a quickly established no-fly zone over northeast Syria to protect the region’s religious minorities from Turkish invasion.

The plea was signed by the Syriac Military Council, the Syriac National Council of Syria, European Syriac Union, American Syriac Union, and Syriac Union Party of Syria, and comes on the heels of the SMC — the Christian unit within the multi-ethnic, multi-sectarian Syrian Democratic Forces that has cleared regional territory of ISIS — warning that Christians in Syria are “at risk of extinction” at the hands of Turks after U.S. withdrawal.

The Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian Christian coalition of groups represented in today’s request said they “urgently need protection from Turkey’s threats to invade and ‘cleanse’ our territory from Christianity, religious freedom, and democracy.”

“U.S. President Donald Trump’s sudden decision to withdraw U.S. troops leaves us powerless and open to be destroyed by either Turkey or other regimes scrambling to see our demise in the vacuum this will create,” they said. “Turkey is threatening us daily in the local media to invade and kill us. They are calling us ‘infidels.’ When Turkey was allowed to enter Afrin by the West, Turkey committed war crimes and ethnic cleansing against the religious minorities. All the Christians had to flee the area as Turkey’s jihadi troops conducted door to door searches to hunt the Christians down to kill them and destroyed all of Afrin’s churches. They had to flee with nothing, and take refuge in the area that Turkey is now threatening to invade: north and east Syria.”

The Christian coalition added that “when President Trump gave Turkey’s Recep Erdogan the permission to replace the U.S. forces this means Turkey will crush the multi-religious democracy that is happening in north and east Syria.”

“It alone is an island of religious freedom, decentralized and representative government, and is the only hope for our long-term survival as Middle Eastern Christians.”

The SDF alliance of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian/Syriac Christians, and other ethnic minorities was founded in October 2015 and is about 70,000 strong. Equality is a core value of the SDF: the successful battle to rout ISIS from their declared capital, Raqqa, was commanded by Rojda Felat, a Kurdish woman, and the SDF spokesman, Kino Gabriel, is a Christian with the Syriac Military Council.

The Syriac Christian alliance stressed that they “know what it means to live under the Ottoman Empire’s Caliphate,” with a “collective memory of the Ottoman’s ‘special treatment’ of Christians” including laws that made them second-class citizens, the jizya “extortion taxes,” oppression, “persecution, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.” CONTINUE AT SITE

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/

The great communicator with the deep sense of history at his very best, paying tribute in Brazil to Christian evangelicals, and reiterating Israel’s close friendship with Christianity in a world where so many Christians are imperilled.

“My wife Sara and I are delighted to be with you in Brazil.

We have no better friends in the world than the Evangelical community, and the Evangelical community has no better friend in the world than the State of Israel.

If you are a Christian in the Middle East, there’s only one place where you are safe. There’s only one place where the Christian community is growing, thriving, prospering. That’s in the State of Israel. Because everywhere else, if you’re a Christian, you have to be very careful, or you have to leave. Not in Israel. You are pour brothers and our sisters and we protect the rights of Christians as we protect the rights of all religions.

But this isn’t only a matter of justice, and it’s not only a matter of value. It’s a matter of the deepest sympathy in recognizing our common traditions, our common heritage.Israel and Jerusalem are one. And Jerusalem, from the time of King David, 300 years before King Hezekiah, was the capital of our people, has remained the capital of our people, and will remain the united, eternal capital of the Jewish people for all time. You don’t need this reminder because you know our history, and you know our common roots.

Our histories are intertwined, our faith is intertwined, our values are intertwined. And so every time that we dig with a shovel in our land, we find ancient synagogues or ancient churches. And sometimes we don’t even have to dig.

And when you come to Israel today, you see a country that welcomes you as brothers and sisters. You see a country that values religious freedom. You see a country that is pride of our past and carries our values to the future. You see a country where the ideal was that every person is born in the Image of God. This is the original idea of equality, in the ancient world, thousands of years ago.

These are the values that produced our modern civilization. And they’re anchored in the faiths that we hold dear. These are also the faiths, the values that create the future. Israel is seizing the future. We now have an opportunity in Brazil to seize it together. President Bolsonaro says, ‘We are brothers,’ he says. We are brothers, and we are going to seize the future together.

You know that President Bolsonaro’s first name in Hebrew is Yair, which is also the name of our son. But Yair means something in Hebrew: He who brings light. And I think that we have now an opportunity together to bring a lot of light to the people of Brazil and the people of Israel. This is an alliance of brothers.

So I want to invite all of you next year in Jerusalem. I want to invite all of you to come to Israel, next year, it’s only two days away. We shall welcome you with all the love and warmth that we reserve for family. You are part of our family and we are part of yours.

I look forward to seeing you in Jerusalem, my brothers and my sisters.”

https://pjmedia.com/trending/asylum-seekers-rampage-through-german-town-injuring-12/

The Bavarian town of Amberg is in shock after a group of asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iran rampaged through the city Saturday night. Four attackers aged 17 to 19 randomly beat exiting passengers at the train station, and then moved to the city center to continue their rampage.

According to reports, the attackers shouted “kafir” (a derogatory term meaning “non-Muslim,” “unbeliever”) and “n*****” at some victims.

In all, 12 victims ranging from ages 16 to 42 needed medical attention. A 17-year-old victim was treated for severe head wounds.

German authorities announced that at least two of the attackers have already had their asylum claims rejected, and that at least one should have already have been deported. This has prompted German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer to demand changes to deportation laws, as Deutsche-Welle reports:

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said asylum-seekers who commit violent crimes must leave the country, after a group of apparently drunken teenagers attacked a dozen people in the Bavarian town of Amberg.

“If existing laws are not sufficient, they must be changed,” Seehofer told Wednesday’s edition of Germany’s Bild newspaper. “The events in Amberg are very troubling. This is excessive violence, which we cannot tolerate.”

Seehofer — the leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) party, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats — said that he would make suggestions to the federal government. Seehofer had already made similar proposals in mid-December for the beginning of this year.

…

The accused are currently being held in pretrial detention on charges of causing dangerous bodily harm. CONTINUE AT SITE