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Sun, 13 Aug 2017 21:53

Featured postPeople's Congress of Resistance Manifesto to be released Tuesday!Posted by Anonymous · August 04, 2017 4:36 PM

"Without a revolutionary vision, change will not take a revolutionary direction. Resistance will remain rudderless, an exercise in activism for its own sake"

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Source: The Last Refuge

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:27

The Daily Caller is reporting that Hope Hicks will be named as Communications Director. Most people familiar with the 2015 campaign origin will remember Hope Hicks as one of the very original members of the small campaign team.

(Via Daily Caller) Hope Hicks will be named the new White House communications director, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.

President Trump has offered the job to Hicks and she has accepted the position, according to a White House insider. Hicks has been close by Trump's side since the early days of the campaign and is one of his most trusted staffers. She has been serving on the press team in more of a behind-the-scenes role as the director of strategic communications.

The communications director position has been open since President Trump fired Anthony Scaramucci in July, just ten days after the Mooch took over the position from former press secretary Sean Spicer. Trump ditched Scaramucci shortly after he decided to bring on Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly as his new chief of staff. (link)

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 13:16

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FBI insiders said it is unlikely leaders of the radical groups that clashed in demonstrations turned deadly in Charlottesville, VA will face prosecution.

Why?

FBI said they have already identified several federal informants who participated in the mob-like riots over the weekend in Virginia. The FBI is also now working those sources to piece together the events from Charlottesville, sources said.

But FBI agents have deemed the newly-minted investigation dicey, having to navigate separate agreements with embedded intelligence assets while trying to pinpoint responsibility for the violence.

Late Saturday, the Justice Department announced the federal probe. The investigation, spearheaded by the Richmond, VA FBI field office, was launched after an Ohio man drove his car through a crowd of demonstrators killing one woman and injuring dozens.

The FBI has Intel assets implanted in several white supremacy sects, as well as the radical ANTIFA group, according to federal law enforcement sources who spoke to True Pundit.

The FBI sources said it is unlikely an asset would be charged for stoking violence in Virginia if for instance that asset had or was providing valuable information on another domestic terrorism case.

''We wouldn't do a solid informant for this,'' one FBI insider said.

The word ''do'' here pertains to indict.

Federal law enforcement sources said that attitude would be different if the two Virginia State Police troopers who died were killed as part of the demonstrations. The troopers perished after they lost control of a State Police helicopter which was leaving Charlottesville, according to NTSB records.

One FBI insider said the Bureau is somewhat handcuffed in an investigation like this. How can you charge someone who might be linked, the FBI insider asked, when you've been paying them for months or longer?

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:29

The chaotic events of the day were quickly declared an unlawful assembly and, eventually, a state of emergency. The slated speakers never made it to the stage.

The event demonstrated an unprecedented level of planning and coordination among organized hate groups from across the far-right ideological spectrum. Representatives from groups often at odds with one another such as Vanguard America, Identity Evropa, League of the South, Traditionalist Worker Party, National Socialist Movement, and more gathered at Emancipation Park (formerly Lee Park) to protest the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee.

PayPal, one of the world's largest online payment processors, was integral in raising money to orchestrate the event. Organizers, speakers, and individual attendees relied on the platform to move funds in the run up to the ultimately deadly event.

Despite the company's Acceptable Use Policy explicitly banning ''the promotion of hate, violence, [and] racial intolerance,'' the following organizers and attendees were allowed to utilize PayPal's surface before and after the events in Charlottesville.

Jason KesslerJason Kessler organized the Charlottesville Unite the Right protest on the heels of a previous organized march and torchlit rally that garnered media attention after images emerged of white nationalists surrounding a statue of Robert E. Lee in Emancipation Park.

Although Kessler did not plan ''Charlottesville 1.0,'' he saw the event as the perfect opportunity to gain widespread attention for his one-man crusade against Charlottesville's Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who Kessler has decried as a ''black racist.''

Kessler was central in the organization and coordination of the rally. After securing a permit for the event, Kessler attended several demonstrations in Charlottesville including one that resulted in his arrest for failure to obey an officer's commands. Kessler made the rounds on numerous far-right podcasts in order to hype his unity rally and to coordinate what would become the largest far-right gathering in over a decade.

Kessler utilized his PayPal, jason@unityandsecurity.org to secure funds for the event, including a planned after-party that was canceled when the venue was tipped off to the nature of the event. Refunds for that are scheduled to be made available through an account under the email address, CVilleRefunds@gmail.com.

Richard SpencerRichard Spencer is one of the most public and prominent members of the racist Alt-Right, perhaps known best for his ''exuberant'' toast at last year's National Policy Institute (NPI) gathering that resulted in stiff-armed salutes and an eruption of ''Sieg Heils.''

Spencer operates a network of far-right publications, websites, and ''think tanks'' including NPI, AltRight.com '-- founded after he abdicated his role as editor of Radix Journal, a white nationalist blog '-- and the HL Mencken club, which Spencer was heavily involved in from its inception in 2008.

Spencer's role in Charlottesville 1.0 generated immense press attention and controversy and was crucial in galvanizing support from the far-right for the second, deadly rally, where Spencer was given top-billing among its list of speakers.

He collects donations on PayPal with accounts tied to the National Policy Institute and AltRight.com.

Identity EvropaNathan Damigo founded Identity Evropa in 2016. The group focuses its activism on college campuses including its signature campaign, ''Operation Siege.'' Known primarily for plastering white nationalist flyers and stickers on campuses and later publicizing their actions on social media, IE members were among the most visible in Charlottesville.

Damigo has become one of the most recognizable faces of the Alt-Right, frequently appearing alongside Richard Spencer '-- including in Spencer's Monday press conference about the events that unfolded in Charlottesville. His profile rose significantly on the right after images surfaced of him punching a 95-pound antifa protester in the face during a rally in Berkeley, California, last April.

He was arrested during the Charlottesville event for refusing to vacate Emancipation Park following Virginia State Police declaring the assembly unlawful.

Identity Evropa collects PayPal donations with an account named Identity Evropa, Inc.

League of the SouthThe League of the South (LOS) is a militant secessionist neo-Confederate organization that has shifted from its 1994 founding as a soft engine of Lost Cause apologia started by a group of fringe academics to a virulently racist group intent on bringing about a second Civil War by capitalizing on racial strife in America.

Founder Michael Hill was slated to speak at the Unite the Right rally. Although he was unable to take the stage due to the state of emergency declared after fights broke out at Emancipation Park, Hill still found a platform for his views by leading the LOS's ''Southern Defense Force'' through crowds of counter-protesters, brawling with anyone they encountered.

Members of the League were filmed punching a woman and dragging her rearward into their ranks to be set upon by multiple men and viciously beating a black man with sticks in a nearby parking garage.

Although the LOS was previously banned from PayPal, founder and president Michael Hill has circumvented this through the use of his own PayPal account, james.hill120651.

Michael Tubbs, the League's chief of staff and Florida chairman, was among those filmed during the parking garage beating. His chapter collects funds through the account neflos@net-host.net.

Christopher CantwellChristopher Cantwell is the host of Radical Agenda, a podcast the far-right libertarian-turned-fascist hosts from his home-state of New Hampshire.

Cantwell has described his views as something he developed ''between blackouts,'' an amusing anecdote which belies the harsh escalation of racist rhetoric that Cantwell has exhibited after being removed from platform after platform for his increasingly caustic diatribes against blacks, jews, and ''non-white immigrants.''

Cantwell has frequently advocated for violence on his show and exhibited a temperament that can only be described as volatile. Thus it came as no surprise when on Friday, August 11, the day before Unite the Right began, Cantwell was among those involved in a parking lot dispute at a Charlottesville-area WalMart where someone is reported to have pulled a gun.

Photography from the rally featured numerous shots of Cantwell brawling with counter-protesters. One now-infamous photograph shows Cantwell spraying a man in the face with pepper spray during a confrontation.

Cantwell collects donations for Radical Agenda through the PayPal account Doitallconsulting.com.

Augustus InvictusAugust Invictus (Austin Gillespie), a listed headliner at Unite The Right, has become a fixture on the Alt-Right speaking circuit. The former candidate for senate for the Florida Libertarian Party is best known for his botched slaughter of a goat and subsequently drinking its blood.

Invictus dabbles in academic racism, frequently referencing the intellectual inferiority of black people; violent misogyny; and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, such as the existence of ''no-go zones,'' the widespread implementation of sharia law, and that there are roving gangs of Muslims attacking and raping white people. He has also refused to acknowledge that the Holocaust took place.

He is currently the Sergeant at Arms for the American Guard and second in command of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, the most violent faction of Gavin McInnes's Proud Boys.

His writings live at The Revolutionary Conservative where he collects PayPal donations under the email address, revcononline@gmail.com.

The Right StuffThe Right Stuff (TRS) is a virulently anti-Semitic and racist website founded by Mike Peinovich in 2012 that hosts many of the Alt-Right's most popular podcasts. It's flagship program, The Daily Shoah, is one of the most influential programs on the far-right and one of the primary information distribution points for organized racism. Peinovich was a headliner at the Unite the Right event.

Among the site's audience are the ''TRS Confederates,'' a group of TRS listeners and posters from southern states who set up their own affiliated website and podcast network, ''Identity Dixie'' as a PR maneuver in the wake of Peinovich's doxing.

Having learned from Peinovich's example, the hosts of many of the TRS affiliated podcasts attempt to avoid doxing by using pseudonyms, such as Musonius Rufus and Silas Reynolds of Identity Dixie.

Another TRS-offshoot network, Alternative Right Coalition (ARC) Media, features podcasts like ''Salting the Earth,'' hosted by the pseudonymous Caerulus Rex, a Charlottesville organizer. Rex solicits funds through the PayPal account caerulus.rex@gmail.com.

Among the organizers of IdentityDixie's first real-life meeting are Michael Cushman, a former National Alliance member, and Brad Griffin, of Occidental Dissent.

The TRS Confederates's flagship blog, ''Rebel Yell'' '-- described as a ''southern nationalist podcast of the Alt-Right'' '-- hosted Jason Kessler, Unite The Right's organizer, on a segment of their show, and hosts podcasts by Kentucky LOS chairman Spencer Borum, who was seen viciously assaulting a woman during the rally.

Other podcasts on the site espouse far-right sentiments while promoting racist content from across the fringes of the far-right blogspace.

Individuals bearing a variant of the neo-Confederate ''Southern Nationalist'' flag emblazoned with Identity Dixie's logo, a white magnolia flower, were present among members of the Nationalist Front, a coterie of far-right groups responsible for some of the most heinous violence in Charlottesville this weekend.

The TRS Confederates collect donations with a PayPal account linked to the email address, trsconfed@gmail.com.

Patriotic FlagsPatriotic Flags is an online merchandise retailer run by Kyle Rogers, a past-member of the LOS and the former web-master of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a group cited by Dylann Roof as instrumental in his radicalization in a web-manifesto.

Rogers sells a variety of far-right flags and banners, including the neo-Confederate ''Southern Nationalist'' flag, the flag of Rhodesia '-- which Roof wore on his jacket in a widely circulated photograph '-- and various Confederate flags. The site features a photograph of Matthew Heimbach, one of the principle organizers and planned speakers at the Unite the Right rally, as its product illustration for one shirt.

Various other flags on display at Unite the Right are available on Rogers' website.

Rogers is also apparently one of the primary vendors for sale of the official League of the South uniform shirt, a black polo emblazoned with the ''Southern Nationalist'' flag, which many members can be seen wearing in footage from the Charlottesville rally. Many LOS members plugged Rogers' website in discussions about ''building kit'' for the rally.

Rogers himself bragged about purchasing three riot shields in the runup to the event and can be seen in footage from the rally.

Patriotic Flags uses PayPal as its primary payment processing platform.

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:33

'–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹ '–'‹

''Racism is evil,'' declared Donald Trump on Monday, ''and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.''

OK, ''declared'' may be too strong a word for what we heard from the president. ''Stated'' is perhaps a better descriptor. ''Read out'' might be the most accurate of all. Trump made these ''additional remarks'' with great reluctance and only after two days of intense criticism from both the media and senior Republicans over his original remarks blaming ''many sides'' for the neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. The words were not his own: they were scripted by aides and delivered with the assistance of a teleprompter. The president reserved his personal, off-the-cuff ire on Monday for the black CEO of Merck, not for the white fascists of Virginia.

Much of the frenzied media coverage of what CNN dubbed ''48 hours of turmoil for the Trump White House'' has overlooked one rather crucial point: Trump doesn't like being forced to denounce racism for the very simple reason that he himself is, and always has been, a racist.

Consider the first time the president's name appeared on the front page of the New York Times, more than 40 years ago. ''Major Landlord Accused of Antiblack Bias in City,'' read the headline of the A1 piece on Oct. 16, 1973, which pointed out how Richard Nixon's Department of Justice had sued the Trump family's real estate company in federal court over alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act.

''The government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals 'because of race and color,''' the Times revealed. ''It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.'' (Trump later settled with the government without accepting responsibility.)

Over the next four decades, Trump burnished his reputation as a bigot: he was accused of ordering ''all the black [employees] off the floor'' of his Atlantic City casinos during his visits; claimed ''laziness is a trait in blacks'' and ''not anything they can control''; requested Jews ''in yarmulkes'' replace his black accountants; told Bryan Gumbel that ''a well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market''; demanded the death penalty for a group of black and Latino teenagers accused of raping a jogger in Central Park (and, despite their later exoneration with the use of DNA evidence, has continued to insist they are guilty); suggested a Native American tribe ''don't look like Indians to me''; mocked Chinese and Japanese trade negotiators by doing an impression of them in broken English; described undocumented Mexican immigrants as ''rapists''; compared Syrian refugees to ''snakes''; defended two supporters who assaulted a homeless Latino man as ''very passionate'' people ''who love this country''; pledged to ban a quarter of humanity from entering the United States; proposed a database to track American Muslims that he himself refused to distinguish from the Nazi registration of German Jews; implied Jewish donors ''want to control'' politicians and are all sly negotiators; heaped praise on the ''amazing reputation'' of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has blamed America's problems on a ''Jewish mafia''; referred to a black supporter at a campaign rally as ''my African-American''; suggested the grieving Muslim mother of a slain U.S. army officer ''maybe '... wasn't allowed'' to speak in public about her son; accused an American-born Hispanic judge of being ''a Mexican''; retweeted anti-Semitic and anti-black memes, white supremacists, and even a quote from Benito Mussolini; kept a book of Hitler's collected speeches next to his bed; declined to condemn both David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan; and spent five years leading a ''birther'' movement that was bent on smearing and delegitimizing the first black president of the United States, who Trump also accused of being the founder of ISIS.

Oh and remember: we knew all of this before he was elected president of the United States of America. He was elected in spite of all this (yet another reminder that ''not all Trump supporters are racist, but all of them decided that racism isn't a deal-breaker'').

A supporter wears a shirt with a confederate flag as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va., June 10, 2016.

Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Some had hoped that Trump would be moderated by office; there was much talk of a presidential pivot. It was all utter nonsense and wishful thinking from lazy commentators who have found it difficult to cover, and call out, a president who regularly traffics in racially charged rhetoric while surrounding himself with an array of race-baiting advisers. Since entering the Oval Office, Trump has appointed Steve Bannon '-- former executive chairman of Breitbart News, which has stories tagged 'Black Crime' '-- as his White House chief strategist, and Jeff Sessions '-- who was once accused of calling a black official in Alabama a ''nigger'' '-- as his attorney general; he has claimed, without a shred of evidence, that millions of immigrants ''voted illegally'' for Hillary Clinton; and, perhaps most shocking of all, he has publicly and repeatedly belittled Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has claimed Native American heritage, as ''Pocahontas.''

This is Racism 101 from a sitting U.S. president. And it is the stark and undeniable truth, and key context, that is missing from much of the coverage of the political fallout from Charlottesville. Journalists, opinion formers, members of Congress, and members of the public continue to treat Trump as they would any previous president '-- they expect their head of government to come out and condemn racism with passion, vigor, speed, and sincerity. But what do you do if the president is himself a long-standing purveyor of racism and xenophobia? What then? Do you still demand he condemn and castigate what is essentially his base? Do you continue to feign shock and outrage over his lack of shock and outrage?

Yes, the U.S. has had plenty of presidents in recent decades who have dog-whistled to racists and bigots, and even incited hate against minorities '-- think Nixon's Southern Strategy, Reagan and his ''welfare queens,'' George H.W. Bush and the Willie Horton ad, and the Clintons and their ''super-predators'' '-- but there has never been a modern president so personally steeped in racist prejudices, so unashamed to make bigoted remarks in public and with such a long and well-documented record of racial discrimination.

So can we stop playing this game where journalists demand Trump condemns people he agrees with and Trump then pretends to condemn them in the mildest of terms? I hate to say this, but it is worth paying attention to the leader of the Virginia KKK, who told a reporter in August 2016: ''The reason a lot of Klan members like Donald Trump is because a lot of what he believes, we believe in.''

So can we stop pretending that Trump isn't Trump? That the presidency has changed him, or will change him? It hasn't and it won't. There will be no reset; no reboot; no pivot. This president may now be going through the motions of (belatedly) denouncing racism, with his scripted statements and vacuous tweets. But here's the thing: why would you expect a lifelong racist to want to condemn or crack down on other racists? Why assume a person whose entire life and career has been defined by racially motivated prejudice and racial discrimination, by hostility toward immigrants, foreigners, and minorities, would suddenly be concerned by the rise of prejudice and discrimination on his watch? It is pure fantasy for politicians and pundits to suppose that Trump will ever think or behave as anything other than the bigot he has always been '-- and, in more recent years, as an apologist for other bigots, too.

We would do well to heed the words of those who have spent decades studying this bizarre president. ''Donald is a 70-year-old man,'' Trump biographer David Cay Johnston reminded me in the run-up to his inauguration in January. ''I'm 67. I'm not going to change and neither is Donald.''

Top photo: White nationalist demonstrators walk into the entrance of Lee Park surrounded by counter-demonstrators in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017.

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 02:19

After President Donald Trump inflamed the national debate over monuments to the Confederacy on Tuesday, telling reporters that white supremacists willing to use deadly violence to defend a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville included some ''very fine people,'' the City of Baltimore removed four statues honoring the defenders of slavery in the early hours of Wednesday.

Witnesses to the late-night operation, which was completed by 5:30 a.m. local time, shared images and video of workers removing the statues, including a massive one of Lee and Stonewall Jackson in Baltimore's Wyman Park Dell.

Baltimore's mayor, Catherine Pugh, was spotted overseeing the operation just before 3 a.m. by Alec MacGillis, a Pro Publica reporter.

Pugh told The Baltimore Sun that her decision to act quickly was partly an effort to avoid the kind of violence sparked by neo-Nazi protests in Charlottesville, where an antiracist protester, Heather Heyer, was killed by a white supremacist.

A mayoral commission appointed by Pugh's predecessor had recommended last year that the statues of Lee and Jackson be removed, along with a monument to Roger Taney, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the notorious Dred Scott decision in 1857, ruling that African-Americans could not be American citizens.

Both of those monuments were removed overnight, along with one dedicated to Confederate women and another honoring Confederate soldiers and sailors, which had been doused in blood-red paint over the weekend.

Pugh acted after activists had vowed to destroy the monuments if the city delayed any longer.

Officials in Durham County, North Carolina, were less inclined to share the viewpoint of antiracist protesters, arresting a 22-year-old woman accused of helping to topple a Confederate statue there, and charging her with rioting and vandalism.

Trump's intemperate defense of the white supremacists at a news conference in Trump Tower on Tuesday was widely condemned, but seemed to delight his neo-Nazi supporters, including David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, and Richard Spencer, who coined the term ''alt-right'' to rebrand white supremacy.

Trump's latest defense of white supremacists reminded many close observers of his career that his father, Fred Trump, was reportedly arrested at a KKK rally in Queens in 1927.

Top photo: Workers removed a monument to Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from Wyman Park in Baltimore early Wednesday morning.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:11

Protesters in Durham, N.C. toppled a statue called the Confederate Soldiers Monument on Aug. 14, as they chanted, "The people united shall never be defeated." (Reuters)

A crowd toppled a bronze Confederate statue in front of a county administrative building in Durham, N.C., on Monday evening, as throngs of ''anti-fascist'' groups gathered there days after white nationalist-fueled violence turned fatal in Virginia.

Derrick Lewis, a reporter from the local CBS affiliate WNCN, posted a video to Twitter at 7:15 p.m. showing the statue crashing to the ground in front of the old Durham County Court House during what organizers billed as an ''emergency protest.''

[Recounting a day of rage, hate, violence and death in Charlottesville]

With a strap tied around the neck of the statue, protesters spat, kicked and gestured at the mangled figure after its base was ripped from the granite block.

The statue, which depicts a uniformed and armed Confederate soldier, stood atop an engraved pedestal that read, ''In memory of 'the boys who wore the gray.' '' It was erected in 1924 and stood 15-feet tall, according to a memorial database. One side of the granite pedestal depicts a Confederate flag.

''The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments,'' Gov. Roy Cooper (D) said via Twitter on Monday evening. A 2015 state law prohibits the removal of any ''object of remembrance'' on public property that ''commemorates an event, a person, or military service that is part of North Carolina's history'' without legislative approval.

Groups at the rally included members of the Triangle People's Assembly, Workers World Party, Industrial Workers of the World, Democratic Socialists of America and the anti-fascist movement, the Herald Sun reported.

''Charlottesville and racist monuments across the country are the result of centuries of white supremacy,'' Alissa Ellis, a member of Workers World Party Durham branch that was a participant in the Charlottesville protests, told the Herald Sun. Her group mobilized members on Facebook to attend the Durham event.

[White nationalist Richard Spencer leads torch-bearing protesters defending Lee statue]

A Durham County Sheriff's Office spokesperson referred questions from The Washington Post to the county's public information office. A request for comment was not immediately returned.

Protesters have targeted the Durham monument before. The statue was spray-painted with a message reading ''Black lives matter'' in 2015.

On Saturday, white nationalists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members clashed with protesters at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The fringe groups gathered to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Protesters cheered as they tore down a Confederate monument in Durham, N.C. on Aug. 14. (Stacy Ballantyne Murphy/Facebook)

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) said at a news conference Saturday that he had a message for ''all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth.''

During the rally, a car plowed into the crowd, killing Heather Heyer, 32, and injuring 19 others. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, the alleged driver of the vehicle, has been charged with second-degree murder, hit and run, and three counts of malicious wounding. A former teacher described Fields as a Nazi sympathizer.

Read more:Police officers in two states accused of mocking Charlottesville violence

Watch: Charlottesville counterprotesters shut down a white nationalist's news conference

In the wake of Charlottesville protests, a Kentucky mayor wants to remove Confederate statues

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:11

In the wake of Charlottesville, the progressive lawmaker is calling for the removal of the most contentious statue in Philly.

Frank Rizzo statue | Photo by Jared Brey

Our nation is more engaged than ever in debate surrounding the monuments we choose to honor.

The stunning violence in Charlottesville, Va. this past weekend was spurred (among other things) by white supremacists fighting to keep a statue of the Confederacy's top general. Following the rally, officials in Tennessee and Florida announced plans to remove similar monuments. On Monday night in Durham, N.C., dozens of protesters toppled a Confederate statue, then pummeled and spit on the crumpled figure as it lay on the ground.

Philly's no stranger to this discussion '' for years, we've grappled with calls to remove our front-and-center statue of Frank Rizzo, the notorious former mayor and police commissioner whose legacy includes enacting brutish law enforcement polices that targeted people of color.

On Monday, Councilwoman Helen Gym called for the city to remove the statue.

''Charlottesville should have us all listening,'' Gym told Philadelphia magazine on Tuesday. ''It's time for the statue to come down.''

Rizzo's statue has stood 10-feet-tall outside City Hall since 1998, seven years after his death. To many, his statue serves only as a reminder of the scars he left on the city's African-American community and police force, first as police commissioner in the late 1960s and then as mayor in the '70s.

Gym is far from the first to push for the statue's removal '' about a year ago, activists with Black Lives Matter created a petition to remove the monument, calling Rizzo a ''racist demagogue.'' They rounded up more than a thousand signatures and prompted protests (including one that saw a K.K.K. hood on the statue's head). But vehement Rizzo fans, including his own grandson, pushed back and created their own petition to keep the statue.

In the national debate, many who fight for the preservation of contentious monuments act as if they're champions of history, often citing the importance of remembering our past '' both good or bad. But Gym doesn't see it quite that way.

''Statues and memorials are not about leaving a path frozen in time,'' Gym said. ''It's about who we choose to honor and what values we seek to project today.''

Gym and others who oppose Rizzo's statue cite his tainted tenure, including his decision to raid and strip search a group of Black Panthers in front of news crews, multiplereports that he casually and openly called black people the N-word, his advice to ''vote white'' when pushing for a change in city charter so he could serve a third term as mayor, and other infamous Rizzoisms.

''In Philly, the wounds of racism still exist,'' Gym said. ''We have to be serious about healing. Frank Rizzo is living large in the center of our city.''

Gym said she and other officials have been discussing the statue and that she's interested in initiating a public process to take it down.

City spokesperson Lauren Hitt said it's a discussion the city is ready to have.

''We need to figure out the proper forum for that conversation in a serious, structured way, but now is the right time,'' Hitt said.

Philly residents are already talking.

Follow @ClaireSasko on Twitter.

Be respectful of our online community and contribute to an engaging conversation. We reserve the right to ban impersonators and remove comments that contain personal attacks, threats, or profanity, or are flat-out offensive. By posting here, you are permitting Philadelphia magazine and Metro Corp. to edit and republish your comment in all media.

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:09

A Charlottesville police officer has come forward to express his anger at being told to ''stand down'' by the city mayor during violent clashes between protestors. He also claims the protests, which pitched ''white supremacists'' against members of Antifa, were ''set up'' to further the agenda of the elites.

''We [Charlotesville police] were ordered to bring the rival groups together. As soon as they were in contact with each other, we were told to stand down. It was outrageous. We weren't allowed to arrest anyone without asking the mayor first. We weren't even allowed to stop the driver as he sped away.''

''The event was being set up as far back as at least May and it went like clockwork.''

Michael Signer, the mayor of Charlottesville, ordered police to stand down during the most chaotic and destructive period of the protests '' despite police protests against the orders.

''We wanted to do our job and keep the peace. But these mother******s in charge really want to destroy America.''

Fox News reporter Doug McKelway was on the scene in Charlottesville and he backs up the police officer's claims.

''I can say, havig been in Emancipation Park from early on that morning, that what I saw with my own two eyes confirms what this law enforcement source told us. At least from all visible apearances. We saw people coming out of that park who had headwounds, who were bleeding from the head, people walking into that park with bats, with sticks '-- you saw what they were wearing '-- helmets, body armor, they had come '-- and this pertains to both sides '-- they had come to do damage.. you cannot help but notice from that video that police had been more pro-active, they could have potentially calmed this thing down to some degree.''

Michael Signer is a Virginia Democratic activist with close ties to Barack Obama and John Podesta. Before landing the Charlottesville mayor job he previously worked closely with Podesta at the Center of American Progress and worked with him again on Barack Obama's State Department Transition Team.

The New World Order, led in the United States by elite operatives Obama, Podesta, Soros, Clinton and company, are pulling out all the stops to create division through chaos and destruction. Crowds of paid protestors and useful psychopaths are being sent into pitched battle against one another to sour the mood of the nation and further divide us all.

They are manipulating and controlling newsworthy events in order to maintain power and control over the public, and to swing public opinion.

Deep state operatives

The man accused of being a neo-Nazi and murdering a woman by deliberately driving into her during protests in Charlottesville is in reality a supporter of Hillary Clinton and member of Antifa in receipt of funding by George Soros.

White supremacist and 'Unite the Right' leader, Jason Kessler, has been exposed as a supporter of former President Obama and the a hardline member of far-left Occupy movement.

When did he change his political leaning? According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (an organization that is certainly no friend to Conservatives), Kessler revealed his political transformation around November 2016, the same month Donald Trump won the presidential election.

If you think that is suspicious, wait until you learn about the other actors in this enormous set-up event.

First man on the scene

Brennan Gilmore was ''on the scene'' and was the author of the first viral tweet about Charlottesville. He was later interviewed by MSNBC. He was presented as an accidental witness. But who is he really?

Gilmore worked in Africa as a State Department foreign officer under Hillary Clinton. The New York Times mentioned this ''coincidence'' '' and then later deleted it. Brennan Gilmore was also involved with the Kony hoax in 2012, and he is currently Chief of Staff for Tom Perrielo, who is running for Governor of Virginia and received $380k from George Soros.

So the first man on the scene, whose tweet went viral, and who was later interviewed on mainstream news as a witness, just happened to be a State Department insider with a long history of involvement in psy-ops? If you think this isn't fishy, how about this '' since the Charlottesville protests and his appearance in the media, his information was suddenly removed from State Department websites.

The elites know we are onto them, and they are trying to cover their tracks. They can censor Google and social media and close down accounts, but they will never be able to stop us sharing information and speaking to each other.

Baxter DmitryBaxter Dmitry is a writer at Your News Wire. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear.Email: baxter@yournewswire.com

Follow: @baxter_dmitry

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Archived Version

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:24

MATTHEW HEIMBACH

Matthew Heimbach

Born in 1991, Matthew Heimbach is considered the face of a new genera­tion of white nationalists. He is a regular speaker on the radical-right lecture circuit.

While a history student at Towson University in Maryland, he founded the White Student Union and organized a student night patrol with flashlights and pepper spray to counter what he described as a ''black crime wave.'' In 2012, ''race realist'' Jared Taylor spoke to the White Student Union at Heimbach's invitation. Taylor is the founder of the white nationalist New Century Foundation.

After Towson graduated in 2013, his White Student Union was folded into the Traditionalist Youth Network, a new white nationalist orga­nization cloaking itself in ''traditionalism'' that was founded by Heimbach and his father-in-law, Matthew Parrott. In late 2014, Heimbach assumed a leadership role in the League of the South as the neo-Confederate hate group's training director.

Uninhibited and raw in his rhetoric, Heimbach has suggested that African Americans could find a homeland in the South or ''areas like Detroit,'' char­itably adding: ''[W]e don't have to be antagonistic towards them.'' He has also said that we ''shouldn't give up California just yet. Because it truly is beauti­ful in terms of weather, but it's full of Mexicans and that's sort of a problem.''

MIKE ENOCH

Mike Enoch

If you can stomach the ugly bigotry, Mike Enoch's website, The Right Stuff, is a prim­er for some of the lingo used by neo-Nazis and the alt-right. From ''niggertech'' (mediocre, gaudy ob­jects) to ''ovenworthy'' (anything improved by im­mediate incineration) to the ''echoes'' meme (put­ting triple parentheses around the names of people online suspected of being Jewish), it can be found on The Right Stuff.

Raised in a New Jersey suburb, Enoch, whose real name is Mike Peinovich, produces a podcast, The Daily Shoah, in which he rails against Mus­lims, establishment conservatives and Jews. The podcast, which has reportedly garnered as many as 100,000 regular listeners, allowed Enoch, who is in his 30s, to be considered one of the most influen­tial purveyors of alt-right propaganda. The online magazine Salon described Enoch as someone who ''routinely cracked jokes about killing Jewish peo­ple and forcibly deporting Muslims and people of African descent.''

When anti-fascist activists alleged in January 2017 that his wife was Jewish, The Daily Shoah co-host ''Bulbasaur'' tweeted that Enoch belonged in a gas chamber himself. Enoch appeared months later at an alt-right rally in Washington, D.C., as a speaker and railed against the Jews. ''When you talk about Jewish privilege, which is objectively provable, we can prove it,'' he said. ''Who's in control of the Fed­eral Reserve Bank? Who's in control of the media? Who's in control of our foreign policy? Jews. We know that it's Jews.''

ANDREW ANGLIN

Andrew Anglin

Born in 1984, Andrew Anglin is the founder of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer, the na­tion's leading extremist website, which aptly takes its name from the gutter Nazi propaganda sheet known as Der St¼rmer. True to that vintage, Anglin is infa­mous for the crudity of his language and for mobiliz­ing his online troll army to harass perceived enemies.

Anglin grew up in Ohio and was radicalized after discovering the work of Texas radio show host Alex Jones, one of the most prolific conspiracy theorists in contemporary America.

Created as a ''news'' site, the Daily Stormer en­courages online trolls and a militia for a coming race war. The website, which has established 31 physical chapters in the United States and more in Canada, has been designated a hate group by the SPLC.

Those who have posted on the website include Dylann Roof, who massacred nine African Ameri­cans in Charleston in 2015. Among Anglin's favorite trolls is ''Weev,'' the pseudonym of Andrew Auern­heimer, who has hacked printers on university cam­puses to unleash a flood of swastikas and white su­premacy fliers.

In December 2016, Anglin joined Richard Spen­cer and Mike Enoch (pseudonym for Mike Peinovich) on a radio show in which they referred to themselves as ''The First Triumvirate.'' The move was a bid for unity among three leaders of the frac­tious alt-right. Following the high-profile doxing of several hosts from The Daily Shoah, one of the alt-right's most popular radio programs, Anglin took to the Daily Stormer to take up for Peinovich after it was alleged that his wife is Jewish.

In 2017, the SPLC, along with its co-counsel, filed suit in federal court against Anglin for orchestrat­ing a harassment campaign that relentlessly terror­ized a Jewish woman and her family with anti-Se­mitic threats and messages. The lawsuit describes how Anglin used the Daily Stormer to publish ar­ticles urging his followers to launch a ''troll storm'' against the family, which received more than 700 harassing messages.

NATHAN DAMIGO

Nathan Damigo

A 30-year-old former Marine corporal, Nathan Damigo started the group ''Iden­tity Evropa'' after reading the work of former KKK chief David Duke while serving five years in prison for armed robbery. His group, whose fliers have ap­peared at dozens of campuses across the country as part of its ''#ProjectSiege,'' is a reimagining of the defunct National Youth Front, the youth arm of the white nationalist American Freedom Party, which Damigo also led. Members must be of ''European, non-Semitic heritage.''

Identity Evropa was founded in March 2016. It hit the ground running just months later over the July Fourth weekend, when supporters posted fliers pro­moting ''European identity and solidarity'' in 17 cit­ies. Addressing a class at Cal State Stanislaus, Damigo called himself an ''identitarian'' '' a reference to a rac­ist European movement '' and rejected terms like ''rac­ist'' and ''supremacist'' as ''anti-white hate speech.''

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Archived Version

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:23

With college students returning to class in the coming weeks, the SPLC released a new guide today that advises them on how to respond when speakers associated with the growing white nationalist, or ''alt-right,'' movement, appear on campus.

In recent months, numerous campuses have been rocked by student protests sparked by the scheduled appearances of alt-right figures such as Richard Spencer and Milo Yiannopoulos.

The alt-right activity is part of a larger surge in campus organizing and recruitment by white nationalists. Now, the movement is seeking to capitalize on the publicity and momentum it gained amid its strong support of the Trump campaign.

Some of the recent protests, at Berkeley and elsewhere, have attracted far-left activists known as anti-fascists and have turned violent, igniting a debate over freedom of speech on campus.

In its new publication '' The Alt-Right on Campus: What Students Need to Know '' the SPLC advises students to avoid direct confrontation with alt-right speakers and their supporters, many of whom are young white supremacists eager to engage in street fighting with students and anti-fascist protesters.

The guide is a project of the SPLC on Campus program, which currently has chapters at 30 colleges across the country.

''The rise of the alt-right has left many students deeply concerned about hate on campus and asking what they can do to make a difference,'' said Lecia Brooks, SPLC director of outreach. ''This guide provides answers. It not only shows students how to respond to a possible alt-right event, but how to inoculate your campus against such extremism before these speakers appear on campus.''

In addition to offering step-by-step instructions for students to counter the movement's influence, the guide explains the racist ideology of the alt-right and profiles its leaders.

As the guide explains, public universities that have a policy allowing student groups to host outside speakers cannot legally bar alt-right speakers except under the most extreme circumstances. The SPLC urges students to hold alternative events that celebrate diversity, inclusion and cultural awareness. In addition, they should speak out against hate and encourage university administrators to issue statements condemning the views of alt-right speakers.

SPLC President Richard Cohen testified in June before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the obligation of universities to uphold not only the First Amendment rights of controversial speakers but to speak out against hate and bigotry.

''We need to fight speech that threatens our nation's democratic values with speech that upholds them,'' Cohen said in his oral testimony. ''It's an obligation that university officials have and one that everyone in public life, starting with the president, has as well.''

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:04

A group of protesters who want the body of an alleged Ku Klux Klan leader removed from their city have broken the soil over the grave.

The campaigners claim it has taken officials in Memphis, Tennessee, too long to exhume Nathan Bedford Forrest - who was a lieutenant general in the Confederate States Army.

They also want the statue of the soldier on a horse on the burial site to be removed. The rebel cavalryman, who died in 1877, has been buried in the city's Health Sciences Park since 1904.

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A group of protesters started digging up the grave of Confederate general Nathan Beford Forrest in Memphis

The activist shoveled a patch of earth out of the grave, saying they were unhappy with a lack of progress by lawmakers to have the memorial to Bedford Forrest removed

The city's mayor, AC Wharton, began a push to remove the body and statue in the wake of the church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, but needs approval from several branches of government before he can take action.

Members of the protest group, who call themselves the Commission on Religion and Racism, removed only a small patch of grass from the park, but threatened to return with heavy machinery to tear down the wartime symbol.

Isaac Richmond, the group's leader, told local station WREG: 'If he's gone, some of this racism and race-hate might be gone. We got a fresh shovel full, and we hope that everybody else will follow suit and dig him up.

'We are going to bring the back hoe, the tractors and the men with the equipment to raise Bedford Forrest from the soil of Memphis.'

Forrest's statue, in the Health Sciences Park of Memphis, Tennessee. It could be taken away if efforts by city lawmakers are successful

Forrest has been honored all across Tennessee, but in recent years places bearing his name have been renamed - including the park in which he is buried

Forrest is said to have been an early KKK member and reportedly its first Grand Wizard

The move outraged a spokesman for Forrest's family, who said the act was vandalism and that the protesters had broken the law.

One man even drove some 270 miles to replace the turf after being dismayed by footage of the digging.

The Memphis city council has already approved a resolution to remove the statue and dig up the body, which was moved to the park from a private cemetery in 1904.

However, a recent state heritage law prevents any more memorials to historical figures from the Civil War from being renamed without approval from a government commission, which could prevent the statue from being moved.

Forrest, a lieutenant general in the Confederate States Army, has memorials in his name across Tennessee, including a bust in the state capitol, a high school and a building at Middle Tennessee State University.

The park in which he is buried was also called Forrest Park until it was renamed in February 2013.

Mayor AC Wharton has led calls to stop honoring Forrest, saying he belongs to a 'despicable period'.

Last month he told a news conference: 'These relics, these messages of this despicable period of this great nation, it's time for those to be moved.'

'This is a monument to a man who was the avowed founder of the organization that has as its purpose the intimidation, the oppression of black folks'.

Isaac Richmond, center, said the protest group would return with heavy machinery unless the statue was removed by the government

Forrest is thought to have been the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, which was formed after the Confederate surrender in 1865.

In later life he denied all membership of the organization, but has still been heavily associated with it.

There have been moves elsewhere in Tennessee to remove memorials of Forrest.

According to NPR, officials at the state capitol are considering throwing out a bust of the general.

Local officials in Nashville asked the state department of transportation to plant trees to cover up a private memorial to Forrest which is visible from the I-65 freeway, but had their request turned down.

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Archived Version

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:01

Published time: 15 Aug, 2017 09:56

US regulatory filings show George Soros is still investing in options that will profit him only if the stock market they are linked to declines in value.

Read more

Soros Fund Management held put options on PowerShares QQQ Trust, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, iShares Russell 2000 ETF as of June 30. Each is an exchange-traded fund that tracks a broad US stock market index. The bet is worth $1.8 billion. Soros stands to profit only if the stock market falls.

Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros Fund Management, said the company would not comment on the filing.

In January, Soros said "it's impossible to predict" US President Donald Trump's actions, but he was nonetheless sure the market would plunge.

Soon after the election, Soros lost over $1 billion by taking a short position on the market. While Soros called Trump a "would-be dictator," and predicted uncertainty and a sell-off after his win, the markets have rallied significantly.

The US S&P500 index is up over 10 percent this year, the Nasdaq is up 18 percent, and Dow Jones is up over 11 percent.

Soros is best known for making a fortune on his short play against the British pound. On 16 September 1992, Soros' $10 billion short position on the pound forced the Bank of England to withdraw Sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) after it was unable to keep the currency above its agreed lower limit in the ERM.

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Archived Version

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:52

The left-wing SPLC is often partisan and overzealous in targeting hate groups, lumping legitimate conservative organizations together with actual extremists. Therefore its identification of Kessler's left-wing roots is significant.

The SPLC notes:

Rumors abound on white nationalist forums that Kessler's ideological pedigree before 2016 was less than pure and seem to point to involvement in the Occupy movement and past support for President Obama.

At one recent speech in favor of Charlottesville's status as a sanctuary city, Kessler live-streamed himself as an attendee questioned him and apologized for an undisclosed spat during Kessler's apparent involvement with Occupy. Kessler appeared visibly perturbed by the woman's presence and reminders of their past association.

The report goes on to say that Kessler's right-wing views only became public in November 2016, though he himself says his change from left-wing extremist to right-wing extremist began in 2013, when a PR executive made a racial joke about Aids on her way to Africa, and found when she landed that she had lost her job in the ensuing backlash.

In related news, reports emerged Monday that James Alex Fields, Jr., the 20-year-old who plowed his car into a left-wing counter-demonstration in Charlottesville, killing one and injuring several others, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a boy and had been given antipsychotic drugs. It is not clear if he is still taking them.

Occupy Wall Street was a radical left-wing movement that began in 2011 in Manhattan and spread throughout the globe. It was committed to the destruction of the capitalist system, and included violent and extremist elements that waged confrontations with police in the fall and winter of 2011-2. President Barack Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Media Matters for America, and other Democrats nevertheless embraced the Occupy movement.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named one of the ''most influential'' people in news media in 2016. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Photo: file

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Archived Version

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:03

White supremacist and 'Unite the Right' leader, Jason Kessler, was once reportedly a supporter a former President Obama and the Occupy movement.According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (an organization that is certainly no friend to Conservatives), Kessler revealed his political transformation around November 2016, the same month then candidate Donald Trump won the presidential election.

Southern Poverty Law Center reports:

Rumors abound on white nationalist forums that Kessler's ideological pedigree before 2016 was less than pure and seem to point to involvement in the Occupy movement and past support for President Obama.

At one recent speech in favor of Charlottesville's status as a sanctuary city, Kessler live-streamed himself as an attendee questioned him and apologized for an undisclosed spat during Kessler's apparent involvement with Occupy. Kessler appeared visibly perturbed by the woman's presence and reminders of their past association.

Kessler himself has placed his ''red-pilling'' around December of 2013 when a PR executive was publicly excoriated for a tasteless Twitter joke about AIDS in Africa.

Regarding the incident, Kessler stated '''... so it was just a little race joke, nothing that big of a deal, she didn't have that many followers, she probably didn't think anybody was gonna see it,''

Regardless of Kessler's past politics, the rightward shift in his views was first put on display in November, 2016 when his tirade against Wes Bellamy began.

On Sunday, a violent leftist mob shut down a press conference by white nationalists Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler outside of Charlottesville City Hall.

The mob reportedly chased Spencer and Kessler back to their waiting vehicles.

Happening soon: Unite The Right press conference with Jason Kessler and Richard Spencer on the mall in #Charlottesville near City Hall pic.twitter.com/MkIED2Txfh

'-- Janet Weinstein (@Janet_Weinstein) August 13, 2017

Picture's of protesters in front of Richard Spencer's Alexandria City apartment during the sidewalk sale! #RejectHatepic.twitter.com/BDWaxsa2TO

'-- Rebellious Jezebel (@MaggieSkitty) August 13, 2017

Doug McKelway reported from Charlottesville.

Doug said Antifa did not show up or it would have been more violent today.

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Archived Version

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 16:55

A merica has cancer.

On Saturday, a crowd of alt-right white supremacists, neo-confederates, and Nazi sympathizers marched in Charlottesville, Va.; they were confronted by a large group of protesters including members of the Marxist Antifa '-- a group that has time and again plunged volatile situations into violence, from Sacramento to Berkeley. There's still no certain knowledge of who began the violence, but before long, the sides had broken into the sort of brutal scrum that used to characterize Weimer-era Germany. The two sides then carried the red banner and the swastika; so did the combatants on Saturday.

Then a Nazi-sympathizing alt-right 20-year-old Ohioan plowed his car into a crowd of protesters, killing one and injuring 19. The president of the United States promptly failed egregiously to condemn alt-right racism; instead, he opted for a milquetoast statement condemning ''hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides.''

The Left leapt into action, declaring Trump's statement utterly insufficient '-- which, of course, it was. But they then went further, declaring that Antifa was entirely innocent, despite Antifa's launching into violence against pro-Trump marchers in Seattle over the weekend, as they have in Sacramento and Berkeley; berating New York Times journalist Sheryl Gay Stolberg for having the temerity to report that ''the hard left seemed as hate-filled as the alt-right''; and suggesting that all conservatives were, at root, sympathizers with the Nazi-friendly alt-right.

And so here we stand: On the one side, a racist, identity-politics Left dedicated to the proposition that white people are innate beneficiaries of privilege and therefore must be excised from political power; on the other side, a reactionary, racist, identity-politics alt-right dedicated to the proposition that white people are innate victims of the social-justice class and therefore must regain political power through race-group solidarity.

None of this is new, of course. The Left has engaged in identity politics since the 1960s and engaged in heavy violence in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The white-supremacist movement has been with us since the founding of the republic. But both movements had been steadily shrinking until the last few years.

Now they're growing. And they're largely growing in opposition to one another. In fact, the growth of each side reinforces the growth of the other: The mainstream Left, convinced that the enemies of social-justice warriors are all alt-right Nazis, winks and nods at left-wing violence; the right, convinced that its SJW enemies are focused on racial polarization, embraces the alt-right as a form of resistance. Antifa becomes merely a radical adjunct to traditional Democratic-party politics; the alt-right becomes merely a useful tool for scurrilous Republican politicians and media figures.

Three factors led to this self-reinforcing growth loop.

First, increasing political polarization.

President Obama allowed the politics of racial fragmentation to fester on his watch; he repeatedly trafficked in broad generalities about American racism. Obama focused incessantly on the specter of white bigotry: ''the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives,'' embedded in our collective DNA. In response, an identity politics began creepily infusing the Right, with some white people embracing the mold cast upon them by the Left, creating a soft racial solidarity in backlash. This, of course, only strengthened the Left's views of white privilege, which in turn strengthened the Right's views of white victimhood.

The second factor was media malfeasance.

Left-wing media '-- and ''objective'' media '-- saw an advantage in highlighting the antics of racists such as Richard Spencer and David Duke. Focusing on the racist alt-right allowed the media to draw the convenient conclusion that the alt-right was a growing force in Republican politics that had to be fought through support for Democrats. Meanwhile, the media cast a blind eye toward Antifa's violent Weimer-style rioting in Sacramento and Berkeley.

In response, right-wing media began tut-tutting the alt-right as victims of Antifa and focused exclusively on Antifa as a nefarious force; they also responded to the Left's disgusting attempts to lump in the Right with the alt-right by accepting a broader, false definition of the alt-right that could include traditional conservatism. They even bought into the shameful rebranding of the alt-right as defenders of Western civilization by shills such as Milo Yiannopoulos. That rebranding provided a convenient way of fighting the Left: ''If the Left is calling us alt-right, that's just because they hate that we stand for Western civilization!''

Antifa becomes merely a radical adjunct to traditional Democratic-party politics; the alt-right becomes merely a useful tool for scurrilous Republican politicians and media figures.

Finally, there's political convenience.

Obama's repeated references to American racism weren't his only sin. He repeatedly shunned opportunities to tamp down leftist racial radicalism. He made excuses for riots in Ferguson and Baltimore. He used the shooting of Dallas police officers by a radical black activist as an opportunity to lecture Americans about the evils of racist policing. He knew that his political support came in large measure from SJWs, and he cultivated them.

Meanwhile, on the right, Trump did the same. During the campaign, he ignored opportunity after opportunity to break with the alt-right. He refused to condemn the KKK on national television; he refused to condemn his supporters' sending anti-Semitic messages to journalists; he hired as his campaign strategist Steve Bannon, a man who openly celebrated turning Breitbart into a ''platform for the alt-right.'' Trump saw the alt-right as convenient allies, his meme-making ''deplorable'' friends on the Internet. They reveled in both his unwillingness to condemn them and his willingness to share their work.

And so here we are. The mainstream Left has been increasingly suckered into walking hand-in-hand with the SJWs while ignoring the most egregious activities of Antifa; the mainstream Right has been increasingly seduced into footsie with alt-right associates while feigning ignorance at the alt-right itself.

That's why Charlottesville matters: not only because we saw destruction and terror, but because if all Americans of good conscience won't do some soul-searching and move to excise the evil in their midst, that evil will metastasize. There is a cancer in the body politic. We must cut it out, or be destroyed.

READ MORE:

Two Blocks from the Culture War

The Roots of Left-Wing Violence

Gangs of Berkeley: The Pathetic Delusions of the 'Antifa'

'-- Ben Shapiro is the editor in chief of the Daily Wire.

Adam,

Holy shit.

I'm 29 (Old Millennial) and I work with a ton of 23-30 year olds, old and young Millennials alike. Most are leftists, and can't fathom that I see two sides to this weekend's story (one group had a permit to assemble, mind you...) Although those on the right tend to agree with my, what I thought were centrist-constitutional, views.

I have been very judiciously bringing up this past weekend's events and the response is terrifying. What most of my colleagues will tell you is:

"I'm all for free speech, but you have to draw the line somewhere!"

I heard that quote more than once from people in my office and it terrifies me. Despite me literally pulling out my copy of the US constitution and asking them where the word hate' is in the 1st, they stuck pretty strongly to their opinion that some speech is not protected. When pressed nobody could define where that line should be drawn though...

I thought the 1st was the one we could all agree upon!?

I did, though, use your 2nd amendment argument, that if we're so unhappy with the protections offered then we need to amend the constitution to reflect our new society. That's a tough one to argue against, and shows people that they may be a bit absurdist in their thinking.

Thought you would like a report from the front lines. Millennials are more likely to give up the most important value to western culture than I ever thought possible. All because of some Nazis... Scary stuff.

Take care

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Sun, 13 Aug 2017 20:06

The black jeep had slammed into a parked saloon in a quiet suburban street, just beside a house having a yard sale. Inside were two middle-aged people who looked like corpses.

Their eyes were closed, their mouths wide open, their bodies slumped together in deathly embrace. The man's head was tilted backwards while the woman at the wheel lay across his shoulder. A syringe lay between her legs, and another was on the dashboard.

It was a grotesque scene. A couple of drug addicts so desperate to get their fix that they had injected right outside their dealer's house '' and were then hit instantly by the effects of a deadly new synthetic opioid many times more powerful than heroin that is flooding the streets of America.

The police swung into action. Such scenes are wearily familiar in the country's overdose capital. 'C'mon girl,' said one officer as he syringed Narcan '' a drug that counters opioids '' into the slumped woman's nose. 'Here she comes. Wake up, little Suzy.'

Pictured: Drug addicts so desperate to get their fix that they injected outside their dealer's house and crashed into a parked saloon in a quiet suburban street. An officer syringes Narcan '' a drug that counters opioids '' into the slumped woman's nose

Her eyes opened and she looked at me. 'What's going on?' she whispered. You could almost see her brain start to function.

Then came panic as she recognised police, followed by terror when she saw her partner laid out on the verge where he had been dragged by officers. It was an astonishing scene: from near-death to walking '' and even asking for her purse '' in less than five minutes.

But her 40-year-old partner was less lucky: he was rushed to hospital after 12 shots of Narcan failed to revive him, a common occurrence as this toxic new tide of opioids '' drugs derived from opium and now more commonly man-made versions '' takes a grip.

Witnesses said another passenger ran from the crash scene. 'They'll find her dead tomorrow,' said deputy sheriff Andy Teague after searching nearby streets. 'Or maybe she'll access an empty house, overdose there and they won't find her body for six months.'

Such incidents are all too familiar in Dayton, Ohio. For this town, celebrated as the home of the Wright Brothers and birthplace of aviation, is now the epicentre of a horrific epidemic ripping apart families and communities.

The statistics are extraordinary. Last year there were at least an estimated 59,000 drug deaths across America '' a toll greater than those from guns, car crashes or AIDS at the peak of its epidemic. This drains $80billion from the economy.

Most casualties are white, male and middle-aged; many are middle-class. Overdoses are already the biggest killer of Americans under 50.

Yet this year the number of dead could double as the frighteningly strong man-made drugs flood the market '' just as they are in Britain, where they have also started to kill scores of users.

First came fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, followed by carfentanil, which is used to tranquillise elephants and is 10,000 times more potent than morphine. Just a single grain can kill.

Now an array of new opioids made in Chinese and Mexican laboratories are arriving on the streets.

Pictured: The victim after being revived by police. Her partner was not so lucky and had to be rushed to hospital after his overdose

One estimate predicts 650,000 Americans will die after taking these drugs in a decade '' more than the population of central Manchester.

Last week President Donald Trump bowed to pressure and declared a national emergency, ensuring extra resources on the front line.

Montgomery County in Ohio, which includes Dayton, is currently thought to have highest rates of deadly overdoses in America.

It is expecting 800 drug deaths this year '' more than triple its 2015 tally. The 420 already logged easily exceeds last year's total.

Fatalities include an airline pilot and his wife, babies who have simply touched the drugs, infants given them by addicts, teenagers and students, parents and pensioners.

Dealers have also died from toxic inhalation while chopping up supplies. And three nurses had to be given Narcan after losing consciousness when treating an overdose patient on Thursday,

As I discovered during my visit to Dayton, this cruel and corrosive epidemic is devastating society in what was once a prosperous manufacturing town and home to a major car plant. And it has alarming consequences for the future.

'This is sucking us dry,' said Phil Plummer, the Dayton-born sheriff of Montgomery County. 'The police are overwhelmed, the courts are backlogged, the jails are overflowing, the coroner has run out of room '' and it is getting worse.

'I spoke to a girl in jail who was about 21 and her mum put a needle in her aged 14. Now her mum is dead and the girl has a bad habit. It's incredible to see this in Dayton.'

I went on patrol with his colleague Andy Teague, who told me that six years ago he had never seen a heroin overdose. In contrast, there were 12 overdoses on his patch during our four hours together, highlighting the explosive nature of this tragedy.

'You are never far from opioids in this town,' he told me after dealing with the car-crash couple. 'That is an everyday occurrence now. We are in a war because the drug is taking lives, destroying families, and wrecking communities.'

Soon after setting off, we stopped at a burned-out house where we disturbed a woman injecting her fix. Teague went in first, holding his handgun with a torch attached in front of him. Amid the mess we instantly saw drug paraphernalia.

On a table was a big pile of crystal meth, enough for hundreds of hits. There was also a syringe filled with liquid, a rubber tube for a tourniquet, and opioid prescription pills scattered across the floor.

'I would guess they have just stolen that meth since there is so much. I've never seen that much lying around in one place outside a bust,' said Teague.

Dealers and users often mix opioids with drugs such as crystal meth and cocaine. Police told me that two free hits of these drugs are sometimes given away with marijuana to snare new customers; alternatively, it gets tossed though open car windows at petrol stations as a promotional tool.

First came fentanyl, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, followed by carfentanil, which is used to tranquillise elephants and is 10,000 times more potent than morphine

Addicts usually do not have a clue what they are buying: heroin, fentanyl or worse. Astonishingly, such is their desire to 'chase the dragon' of deeper highs, dealers find deaths among their clientele attract new buyers since they demonstrate stronger drugs on sale.

There is so much around it sells for just $5 (£3.85) a hit. Part of the problem is Dayton's superb transport links that once led to it being called 'the crossroads of America' but now create an efficient distribution hub for dealers.

But for all their efforts, police seize only an estimated three per cent of drugs. 'We've taken 70 lb of fentanyl off the streets this year and affected the trade hardly at all,' said Plummer. 'The cartels make more than Walmart yet we can't afford a new police car.'

In the struggling suburb of Drexel, we met Wanda, a grandmother claiming to be clean after more than a decade of drug abuse. 'I've seen so many people die,' she said. 'I got sick of sticking needles in myself, of crying every day. My kids were begging me to stop.'

She said she was terrified of fentanyl, which was first developed in the 1960s as an anaesthetic but is now snorted, smoked or injected by addicts. 'I've never seen a drug do what this one can do,' she added. 'It's real bad '' it is tearing people apart. I'm scared '' I feel death all around me.'

I asked how many of her immediate neighbours used opioids. She counted the handful of houses, then told me eight of them. Back in the patrol car, Teague queried if Wanda had really quit, not least because she was still in bed at 1.45pm.

Yet while confessing to frustrations of constantly reviving addicts, even being met with fury for ruining their high, Teague believes police must keep responding.

'Every life matters,' he said. 'And sure, maybe I'll respond to someone 40 times in six months '' but it might be that 40th time that makes them change their way of life.'

At Dayton's Children's Hospital, one or two infants under five are rushed in every week needing treatment for opioid overdoses. Some of the drugs are ingested accidentally, others deliberately given by adults. Hundreds of babies are being born as addicts.

'It is alarming because there are so many ways that this is detrimental to their health,' said paediatrician Kelly Liker. This includes a greater chance of high-risk behaviour in adulthood, threatening to continue the cycle of despair and degradation.

Foster-care systems are being swamped, with so many children orphaned or taken from addicted parents. State officials also told me there was emerging evidence of an upsurge in behavioural problems in schools from children raised in chaotic homes.

At the coroner's office, staff scan the Dark Web to detect newly designed drugs. 'It usually takes about a month and a half before we start seeing the deaths [from the new drug],' said county coroner Kent Harshbarger (pictured in the morgue)

At the coroner's office, staff scan the Dark Web to detect newly designed drugs. 'It usually takes about a month and a half before we start seeing the deaths [from the new drug],' said county coroner Kent Harshbarger.

His team had just confirmed the first fatality from one new variant. Harshbarger took me into his morgue, filled with racks of bodies in bags and the stench of death. 'If this was a terror attack every resource on the planet would be thrown at what is happening,' he said.

So what caused this tragic tsunami of destroyed lives? It is rooted in pharmaceutical firms pushing opioids on prescription as pain relief to millions of people.

As demand grew, unscrupulous doctors opened 'pill mills' to churn out prescriptions, the drugs often sold on illegally. When states finally cracked down, addicts turned to cheaper heroin that Mexican gangs were flooding on to the streets of small-town America.

Now there is a new wave of younger addicts moving almost straight on to opioids since the drugs have lost their stigma.

Some local officials also argue that people started self-medicating in distressed communities where unemployment is high and wages are low.

Perhaps it is significant that Montgomery Country switched from almost three decades of voting Democrat to backing Donald Trump last year.

Yet the crisis has spiralled so far out of control that some firms cannot find skilled staff clean enough to work with machinery.

Angelia Erbaugh, president of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, told me that three-quarters of applicants potentially suitable for manufacturing jobs fail drug tests.

'Every employer says the same,' she said. 'One told me last week that he walked outside at lunchtime and a temporary employee was shooting up in her car, on her first day at work.'

The profits from the drugs are huge: fentanyl costing $2,000 from China can sell on Ohio's streets for $2 million.

'It's a great business model,' said Mike DeWine, the Ohio Attorney General. 'You get someone hooked for $10.'

But there is a fightback. States such as Ohio are suing the pushers in pinstripe suits, communities are banding together and families are setting up self-help groups.

I went to an impressive gathering of 110 people, set up by a mother whose daughter used heroin. There I met Justin Schmitt, an athletic-looking 33-year- old who was attending with his mother. Yet at the start of this year he was taking heroin six times a day and was almost six stones lighter.

The profits from the drugs are huge: fentanyl costing $2,000 from China can sell on Ohio's streets for $2 million

Schmitt told me he had blown $60,000 on the drug and had seen nine friends from school go to the grave early. He added: 'I finally gave it up because I could not live my life that way any longer. My son could not even look at me.'

In Kettering, a professional suburb of Dayton that looks like a Hollywood cliche of Middle America with its smart houses, neat lawns and fluttering flags, the number of opioid deaths is set to double this year.

'This is not just about an unemployed, homeless person shooting up in an alleyway. There are kids in blue blazers, people you meet here in the street,' said the mayor, Don Patterson. 'We need to help them and treat them.' He admitted that communities such as Kettering had struggled to come to terms with the terrifying scale and speed of this crisis '' then issued a chilling warning to other nations.

'No one is safe,' he said. 'Everybody had better get ready for this because it is coming to you.'

Police in Britain have just revealed 60 deaths in eight months from fentanyl '' fewer than the number dying each month in this blighted county in Ohio. Yet Dayton offers a grim warning: this lethal epidemic can explode from nothing with devastating consequences.

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 06:31

and the toll was almost certainly higher last year.' Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

O f all the people Donald Trump could blame for the opioid epidemic, he chose the victims. After his own commission on the opioid crisis issued an interim report this week, Trump said young people should be told drugs are ''No good, really bad for you in every way.''

The president's exhortation to follow Nancy Reagan's miserably inadequate advice and Just Say No to drugs is far from useful. The then first lady made not a jot of difference to the crack epidemic in the 1980s. But Trump's characterisation of the source of the opioid crisis was more disturbing. ''The best way to prevent drug addiction and overdose is to prevent people from abusing drugs in the first place,'' he said.

That is straight out of the opioid manufacturers' playbook. Facing a raft of lawsuits and a threat to their profits, pharmaceutical companies are pushing the line that the epidemic stems not from the wholesale prescribing of powerful painkillers - essentially heroin in pill form - but their misuse by some of those who then become addicted.

The amount of opioids prescribed in the US was enough for every American to be medicated 24/7 for three weeks''

In court filings, drug companies are smearing the estimated two million people hooked on their products as criminals to blame for their own addiction. Some of those in its grip break the law by buying drugs on the black market or switch to heroin. But too often that addiction began by following the advice of a doctor who, in turn, was following the drug manufacturers instructions.

Trump made no mention of this or reining in the mass prescribing underpinning the epidemic. Instead he played to the abuse narrative when he painted the crisis as a law and order issue, and criticised Barack Obama for scaling back drug prosecutions and lowering sentences.

But as the president's own commission noted, this is not an epidemic caused by those caught in its grasp. ''We have an enormous problem that is often not beginning on street corners; it is starting in doctor's offices and hospitals in every state in our nation,'' it said.

'This is an almost uniquely American crisis.' Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesOpioids killed more than 33,000 Americans in 2015 and the toll was almost certainly higher last year. About half of deaths involved prescription painkillers. Most of those who overdose on heroin or a synthetic opiate, such as fentanyl, first become hooked on legal pills.

This is an almost uniquely American crisis driven in good part by particular American issues from the influence of drug companies over medical policy to a ''pill for every ill'' culture. Trump's commission, which called the opioid epidemic ''unparalleled'', said the grim reality is that ''the amount of opioids prescribed in the US was enough for every American to be medicated around the clock for three weeks''.

The US consumes more than 80% of the global opioid pill production even though it has less than 5% of the world's population. Over the past 20 years, one federal institution after another lined up behind the drug manufacturers' false claims of an epidemic of untreated pain in the US. They seem not to have asked why no other country was apparently suffering from such an epidemic or plying opioids to its patients at every opportunity.

With the pharmaceutical lobby's money keeping Congress on its side, regulations were rewritten to permit physicians to prescribe as many pills as they wanted without censure. Indeed, doctors sometimes found themselves hauled before ethics boards for not supplying enough.

It's an epidemic because we have a business model for it. Follow the money

Unlike most other countries, the US health system is run as an industry not a service. That gives considerable power to drug manufacturers, medical providers and health insurance companies to influence policy and practices.

Too often, their bottom line is profits not health. Opioid pills are far cheaper and easier than providing other forms of treatment for pain, like physical therapy or psychiatry. As Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia told the Guardian last year: ''It's an epidemic because we have a business model for it. Follow the money. Look at the amount of pills they shipped in to certain parts of our state. It was a business model.''

But the system also gives a lot of power to patients. People coughing up large amounts of money in insurance premiums and co-pays expect results. They are, after all, more customer than patient. Doctors complain of patients who arrive expecting a pill to resolve medical conditions without taking responsibility for their own health by eating better or exercising more.

In particular, the idea has taken hold, pushed by the pharmaceutical industry, that there is a right to be pain free. Other countries pursue strategies to reduce and manage pain, not raise expectations that it can simply be made to disappear. In all of this, regulators became facilitators. The Food and Drug Administration approved one opioid pill after another.

The Food and Drug Administration approved one opioid pill after another.

As late as 2013, by which time the scale of the epidemic was clear, the FDA permitted a powerful opiate, Zohydro, onto the market over the near unanimous objection of its own review committee. It was clear from the hearing that doctors understood the dangers, but the agency appeared to have put commercial considerations first.

US states long ago woke up to the crisis as morgues filled, social services struggled to cope with children orphaned or taken into care, and the epidemic took an economic toll. Police chiefs and local politicians said it was a social crisis not a law and order problem.

Some state legislatures began to curb mass prescribing. All the while they looked to Washington for leadership. They did not get much from Obama or Congress, although legislation approving $1bn on addiction treatment did pass last year. Instead, it was up to pockets of sanity to push back.

Last year, the then director of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden, made his mark with guidelines urging doctors not to prescribe opioids as a first step for chronic or routine pain, although even that got political pushback in Congress where the power of the pharmaceutical lobby is not greatly diminished.

There are also signs of a shift in the FDA after it pressured a manufacturer into withdrawing an opioid drug, Opana, that should never have been on sale in the first place. It was initially withdrawn in the 1970s, but the FDA permitted it back on to the market in 2006 after the rules for testing drugs were changed. At the time, many accused the pharmaceutical companies of paying to have them rewritten.

Trump's opioid commission offered hope that the epidemic would finally get the attention it needs. It made a series of sensible if limited recommendations: more mental health treatment people with a substance abuse disorder and more effective forms of rehab.

Trump finally got around to saying that the epidemic is a national emergency on Thursday after he was criticised for ignoring his own commission's recommendation to do so. But he reinforced the idea that the victims are to blame with an offhand reference to LSD.

Real leadership is still absent '' and that won't displease the pharmaceutical companies at all.

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 02:28

A little more than a month ago, the Justice Department expanded its use of Civil Forfeiture to include Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their ideological War on Drugs and War on Terror. Now we can add a secondary front to this covert attack on cryptocurrencies in a hidden mandate that was part of Congress's bill to enlarge sanctions against Russia.As Coinivore reports, the bill requires the governments to develop a ''national security strategy'' to combat the ''financing of terrorism and related forms of illicit finance.''

Governments will be further required to monitor ''data regarding trends in illicit finance, including evolving forms of value transfer such as so-called cryptocurrencies.''

According to the bill, an initial draft strategy is expected to come before Congress within the next year, and will see input from U.S. financial regulators, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.

The bill calls for:

''[A] discussion of and data regarding trends in illicit finance, including evolving forms of value transfer such as so-called cryptocurrencies, other methods that are computer, telecommunications, or internet-based, cybercrime, or any other threats that the Secretary may choose to identify.''

Interestingly enough, Coindesk reports, ''the new bill echoes another submitted in May as part of a wider Department of Homeland Security legislative package.'' That measure, as CoinDesk reported at the time, calls for research into the potential use of cryptocurrencies by terrorists.

Like the DHS bill, the new sanctions law doesn't constitute a shift in policy, but rather indicates that Congress is taking steps to explore the issue more closely. -Zerohedge

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:42

There have never been so many childless politicians leading Europe as today. They are modern, open minded and multicultural and they know that "everything finishes with them". In the short term, being childless is a relief since it means no spending for families, no sacrifices and that no one complains about the future consequences. As in a research report financed by the European Union: "No kids, no problem!".

Being a mother or a father, however, means that you have a very real stake in the future of the country you lead. Europe's most important leaders leave no children behind.

Europe's most important leaders are all childless: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron. The list continues with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan L¶fven, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

As Europe's leaders have no children, they seem have no reason to worry about the future of their continent. German philosopher R¼diger Safranski wrote:

"for the childless, thinking in terms of the generations to come loses relevance. Therefore, they behave more and more as if they were the last and see themselves as standing at the end of the chain".

Living for today: Europe's most important leaders are all childless, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) and Mark Rutte (right), Prime Minister of the Netherlands. (Image source: Minister-president Rutte/Flickr)

"Europe is committing suicide. Or at least its leaders have decided to commit suicide", wrote Douglas Murray in The Times. "Europe today has little desire to reproduce itself, fight for itself or even take its own side in an argument". Murray, in his new book, entitled The Strange Death of Europe, called it "an existential civilisational tiredness".

Angela Merkel made the fatal decision to open the doors of Germany to one million and half migrants to stop the demographic winter of her country. It is not a coincidence that Merkel, who has no children, has been called "the compassionate mother" of migrants. Merkel evidently did not care if the massive influx of these migrants would change German society, probably forever.

Dennis Sewell recently wrote in the Catholic Herald:

"It is that idea of 'Western civilisation' that greatly complicates the demographic panic. Without it, the answer would be simple: Europe has no need to worry about finding young people to support its elderly in their declining years. There are plenty of young migrants banging at the gates, trying to climb the razor wire or setting sail on flimsy boats to reach our shores. All we need to do is let them in".

Merkel's childless status mirrors German society: 30% of German women have not had children, according to European Union statistics, with the figure rising among female university graduates to 40%. Germany's Minister of Defense, Ursula von der Leyen, said that unless the birth rate picked up, the country would have to "turn the lights out".

According to a new study published by the Institut national d'(C)tudes d(C)mographiques, a quarter of European women born in the 1970s may remain childless. Europe's leaders are no different. One in nine women born in England and Wales in 1940 were childless at the age of 45, compared to one in five of those born in 1967.

French politician Emmanuel Macron has rejected French President Fran§ois Hollande's assertion that, "France has a problem with Islam". He is against suspending the citizenship of jihadists, and keeps insisting, against all evidence, that Islamic State is not Islamic: "What poses a problem is not Islam, but certain behaviours that are said to be religious and then imposed on persons who practice that religion".

Macron preaches a sort of multicultural buffet. He speaks of colonialism as a "crime against humanity". He is in favor of "open borders", and for him, again against all evidence to the contrary, there is no "French culture".

According to philosopher Mathieu Bock-Cot(C), the 39-year-old Macron, who is married to his 64-year-old former teacher, is the symbol of a "happy globalization freed of the memory of the French lost glory". It is not a coincidence that "Manif Pour Tous," a movement that fought the legalization gay marriage in France, urged voting against Macron as the "anti-family candidate". Macron's slogan, "En Marche!" ("Forward!"), embodies the globalized (C)lites who reduce politics to an exercise, a performance.

That is why Turkish leader Erdogan urged Muslims to have "five children" and Islamic imams are urging the faithful to "breed children": to conquer Europe. Islamic supremacists are busily building a clash of civilizations in Europe's midst, and they depict their Western host countries collapsing: without population, without values, and abandoning their own culture.

If you look at Merkel, Rutte, Macron and others, are these Islamic supremacists so wrong? Our European leaders are sleepwalking us to disaster. Why should they care, if at the end of their lifespans Europe will not be Europe? As Joshua Mitchell explained in an essay, "'finding ourselves' becomes more important than building a world. The long chain of generations has already done that for us. Now let us play".

Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.

(C) 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 02:08

A top national attorney in consultation with U.S. attorneys confirmed to Big League Politics that special counsel Robert Mueller and members of his team can be formally disbarred for waging the ''Russia'' case against President Donald Trump. Mueller and his associates have glaring conflicts of interest in the case concerning Trump.

Mueller's team is tainted not only by partisan political donations and activities, but by direct relationships with former clients like Hillary Clinton, who is integrally involved in most of the possible evidence in this case. These conflicts clearly violate American Bar Association guidelines.

Hillary Clinton colluded with the Russians in selling them our uranium. Clinton handpicked Mueller to give a sample of uranium to the Russians, and Mueller subsequently flew to Moscow, according to publicly available documents.

Don Trump Jr.'s meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer, a showbiz manager and others '-- in which the adoption-related Magnitsky Act was discussed '-- is the only thing resembling evidence that the mainstream media has been able to find. But that meeting is tarred with Clinton connections. According to Wikileaks, a Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman said that ''With the help of the research team we killed a Bloomberg story trying to link HRC's opposition to the Magnitsky bill to a $500,000 speech that [Bill Clinton] gave in Moscow.'' Radio host Andrew Wilkow said that Clinton took $500,000 from Sberbank, a Russian bank represented by the Podesta Group that also happens to be a client of Natalia Veselnitskaya's law firm (Veselnitskaya is the Russian lawyer who met with Don Jr.).

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and the DNC accuse the Russians of hacking their emails, despite evidence to the contrary, which provides further Clinton involvement in the case and further conflicts for Mueller's Clinton-linked team.

Mueller's 13-member Dream Team is comprised of anti-Trump stalwarts including three Democratic Party donors, legal representatives for Hillary Clinton during her email scandal, and vociferous anti-Trump tweeter Preet Bharara, who was fired by Trump from his position as a U.S. Attorney within the Department of Justice. These conflicts of interests, especially pertaining to Clinton, make it necessary for some members of the team to recuse themselves. If they don't, they can be disbarred.

The American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Standards for the Prosecution Function make clear that Mueller's team is in violation of standards, according to the top national attorney. Here are the relevant sections (emphasis added):

''A prosecutor should not use other improper considerations, such as partisan or political or personal considerations, in exercising prosecutorial discretion. A prosecutor should strive to eliminate implicit biases, and act to mitigate any improper bias or prejudice when credibly informed that it exists within the scope of the prosecutor's authority.

(b) A prosecutor's office should be proactive in efforts to detect, investigate, and eliminate improper biases, with particular attention to historically persistent biases like race, in all of its work. A prosecutor's office should regularly assess the potential for biased or unfairly disparate impacts of its policies on communities within the prosecutor's jurisdiction, and eliminate those impacts that cannot be properly justified.''

''Standard 3-1.7 Conflicts of Interest

(a) The prosecutor should know and abide by the ethical rules regarding conflicts of interest that apply in the jurisdiction, and be sensitive to facts that may raise conflict issues. When a conflict requiring recusal exists and is non-waivable, or informed consent has not been obtained, the prosecutor should recuse from further participation in the matter. The office should not go forward until a non-conflicted prosecutor, or an adequate waiver, is in place'...''

''(c) The prosecutor should not participate in a matter in which the prosecutor previously participated, personally and substantially, as a non-prosecutor, unless the appropriate government office, and when necessary a former client, gives informed consent confirmed in writing.

(d) The prosecutor should not be involved in the prosecution of a former client. A prosecutor who has formerly represented a client should not use information obtained from that representation to the disadvantage of the former client.''

''(f) The prosecutor should not permit the prosecutor's professional judgment or obligations to be affected by the prosecutor's personal, political, financial, professional, business, property, or other interests or relationships. A prosecutor should not allow interests in personal advancement or aggrandizement to affect judgments regarding what is in the best interests of justice in any case.''

''g) The prosecutor should disclose to appropriate supervisory personnel any facts or interests that could reasonably be viewed as raising a potential conflict of interest. If it is determined that the prosecutor should nevertheless continue to act in the matter, the prosecutor and supervisors should consider whether any disclosure to a court or defense counsel should be made, and make such disclosure if appropriate.''

''(j) The prosecutor should promptly report to a supervisor all but the most obviously frivolous misconduct allegations made, publicly or privately, against the prosecutor. If a supervisor or judge initially determines that an allegation is serious enough to warrant official investigation, reasonable measures, including possible recusal, should be instituted to ensure that the prosecution function is fairly and effectively carried out. A mere allegation of misconduct is not a sufficient basis for prosecutorial recusal, and should not deter a prosecutor from attending to the prosecutor's duties.''

The conflicts of interest are everywhere.

Peter Strzok, who oversaw the Hillary Clinton email investigation for the FBI and interviewed Hillary Clinton, is on Mueller's team.

Clinton donor Jeannie Rhee, who represented the Clinton Foundation and also Hillary Clinton during the email investigation, is on Mueller's team.

Aaron Zebley, who repped Clinton aide and key email-scandal figure Justin Cooper, is on Mueller's team.

Andrew Weissmann defended the federal government's surveillance rights in a panel discussion at the George Soros-funded New America Foundation, is also an Obama donor.

Preet Bharara, the man who prosecuted conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza and was a leading contender to be Hillary Clinton's theoretical Attorney General, was fired by the Trump administration, presenting another conflict of interest that he seems to have no intention of hiding.

How about Mueller himself?

CIA and NSA whistleblower Dennis Montgomery identified former FBI director Mueller as having overseen a secret surveillance program that spied on Trump's phone calls for years. The alleged program, created during the Bush administration and run by Obama intelligence officials John Brennan and James Clapper, is detailed on 47 hard drives that Montgomery and his lawyer turned over to the FBI, which James Comey buried. Montgomery is suing Obama, Brennan, Clapper and others in a case before D.C. District Court Judge Richard Leon. This case is being watched closely by insiders on both sides of the Russia probe.

Mueller also helped stonewall the Obama administration's ''investigation'' of its own IRS targeting scandal.

As Big League Politics reported, Mueller has formed a political team with his friend, fired FBI director James Comey, and the current FBI director Andrew McCabe to work together against President Donald Trump. But Mueller and Comey are not the ringleaders. Surprisingly, it's McCabe.

An inside source told Big League Politics that McCabe is ''running the show,'' and ''he's the key.''

''Mueller and McCabe are assembling a better political operation than Hillary had in the campaign. The trio of Mueller/McCabe and Comey are all creatures of the swamp,'' the source explained. ''Any Republican who thinks this isn't a political operation and isn't geared toward impacting 2018 and beyond is absolutely nuts.''

''I think McCabe is the most politically savvy given how he navigated the controversy with his wife's campaign donations and the Clinton investigation,'' the source continued.

McCabe took over when Comey got fired and quickly set up the team's power play. McCabe said that Comey did not get fired from the FBI for performance issues. That sets up the premise for a potential obstruction of justice move by the McCabe-Mueller-Comey trio.

FIGHT BACK. LIKE BIG LEAGUE ON FACEBOOK

by Patrick Howley | Sun 23rd, 2017 5:07 am EST

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 02:21

Julian Assange told a U.S. congressman on Tuesday he can prove the leaked Democratic Party documents he published during last year's election did not come from Russia and promised additional helpful information about the leaks in the near future.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who is friendly to Russia and chairs an important House subcommittee on Eurasia policy, became the first American congressman to meet with Assange during a three-hour private gathering at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been holed up for years,

Rohrabacher recounted his conversation with Assange to The Hill.

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''Our three-hour meeting covered a wide array of issues, including the WikiLeaks exposure of the DNC emails during last year's presidential election,'' Rohrabacher said, ''Julian emphatically stated that the Russians were not involved in the hacking or disclosure of those emails.Pressed for more detail on the source of the documents, Rohrabacher said he had information to share privately with President Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpIntel CEO becomes third exec to leave Trump council after CharlottesvilleRupert Murdoch urged Trump to fire Bannon: reportProtesters descend on Trump Tower as president returns homeMORE .

''Julian also indicated that he is open to further discussions regarding specific information about the DNC email incident that is currently unknown to the public,'' he added.

U.S. intelligence has insisted it has solid proof '-- which it has not made public '-- that Russia was behind last year's election hacks that embarrassed Democrats, including unflattering revelations about nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonOPINION | Tomi Lahren: The left politicizes tragedy '-- as usualHunting for the real Trump on CharlottesvilleNew Trump campaign emails show efforts to set up Russia meetings: reportMORE and her campaign chairman John Podesta.

Assange has suggested in the past that Russia wasn't the source of his leaked information. Tuesday marked the first time he has engaged with a U.S. lawmaker.

Assange has been living at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012 after seeing diplomatic asylum. He rose to prominence after publishing thousands of sensitive U.S. diplomatic and military documents that included leaks related to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The Wikileaks is a controversial figure; a hero to supporters who argue his leaks unveiled critical information about the evils of U.S. military and foreign policy, and a villain to critics, including many GOP lawmakers, who argue the leaks jeopardized national security.

Rohrabacher's visit with Assange, as a result, is likely to be controversial with many of his collagues.

Rohrabacher said he had information he planned to carry back to Trump when he returned to the United States, including a request that the WikiLeaks organization be given a news media seat inside the White House press room.

''Julian passionately argued the case that WikiLeaks was vital to informing the public about controversial though necessary issues. He hoped that Wikileaks '-- an award winning journalistic operation '-- might be granted a seat in the White House press corps. As a former newsman myself I can't see a reason why they shouldn't be granted news status for official press conferences,'' he said.

As for other information to be given to the president, Rohrabacher said: ''We left with the understanding that we would be going into further details in the near future. The rest of the message is for the president directly and I hope to convey it to him as more details come in.''

Rohrabacher said the meeting occurred with Assange, his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, and a businessman named Charles Johnson in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

''Unbeknownst to me I am the first member of Congress to visit there with Mr. Assange,'' he said.

The lawmaker also said Assange appeared in good health, allaying concerns his time in asylum at the embassy had taken a toll.

''Contrary to what the fake news media has alleged Julian seemed in good health and committed to his principles,'' he said.

Trump has at times praised Assange, and used a Fox News interview this year with the Wikileaks founder to cast doubt on Russia's involvement in the DNC leak.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:02

Nina Marsh a,Dirk Scheele a,Justin S. Feinstein b, c,Holger Gerhardt d,Sabrina Strang e,Wolfgang Maier f, g, andRen(C) Hurlemann a, f, 1aDivision of Medical Psychology, University of Bonn Medical Center , 53105 Bonn, Germany;bLaureate Institute for Brain Research , Tulsa, OK 74136;cOxley College of Health Sciences, University of Tulsa , Tulsa, OK 74104;dCenter for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn , 53012 Bonn, Germany;eDepartment of Psychology, University of L¼beck , 23562 L¼beck, Germany;fDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Bonn Medical Center , 53105 Bonn, Germany;gGerman Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Helmholtz Association , 53175 Bonn, GermanyEdited by Bruce S. McEwen, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, and approved July 10, 2017 (received for review April 7, 2017)

SignificanceIn the midst of rapid globalization, the peaceful coexistence of cultures requires a deeper understanding of the forces that compel prosocial behavior and thwart xenophobia. Yet, the conditions promoting such outgroup-directed altruism have not been determined. Here we report the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment showing that enhanced activity of the oxytocin system paired with charitable social cues can help counter the effects of xenophobia by fostering altruism toward refugees. These findings suggest that the combination of oxytocin and peer-derived altruistic norms reduces outgroup rejection even in the most selfish and xenophobic individuals, and thereby would be expected to increase the ease by which people adapt to rapidly changing social ecosystems.

AbstractNever before have individuals had to adapt to social environments defined by such magnitudes of ethnic diversity and cultural differentiation. However, neurobiological evidence informing about strategies to reduce xenophobic sentiment and foster altruistic cooperation with outsiders is scarce. In a series of experiments settled in the context of the current refugee crisis, we tested the propensity of 183 Caucasian participants to make donations to people in need, half of whom were refugees (outgroup) and half of whom were natives (ingroup). Participants scoring low on xenophobic attitudes exhibited an altruistic preference for the outgroup, which further increased after nasal delivery of the neuropeptide oxytocin. In contrast, participants with higher levels of xenophobia generally failed to exhibit enhanced altruism toward the outgroup. This tendency was only countered by pairing oxytocin with peer-derived altruistic norms, resulting in a 74% increase in refugee-directed donations. Collectively, these findings reveal the underlying sociobiological conditions associated with outgroup-directed altruism by showing that charitable social cues co-occurring with enhanced activity of the oxytocin system reduce the effects of xenophobia by facilitating prosocial behavior toward refugees.

At this time, we are witnessing one of the largest movements of refugees since the end of World War II (1, 2). Ongoing conflicts, persecution, and poverty in the Middle East and Africa have continued forced displacement of more than 65 million people since 2015 (2). Accommodating the large influx of migrants not only challenges the humanitarian capacities of European countries but also requires their native populations to adjust to rapid growths in ethnic diversity, religious pluralism, and cultural differentiation. However, the impetus to adapt to changing social ecosystems is susceptible to considerable interindividual heterogeneity (3). Resistance to this transition often goes along with xenophobic sentiment (4), and as a consequence, recent elections in Europe have favored populist candidates who have openly expressed xenophobic attitudes toward refugees (5). However, at the same time, volunteer work for migrants in the hosting countries has reached all-time highs and is estimated to exceed 1.6 million hours per month in Germany alone (6). In the face of growing tensions over differences in ethnicity, religion, and culture (3), there is an urgent need for devising strategies for helping foster the social integration of refugees into Caucasian societies.

As a result of evolutionary selective processes, humans possess a genuine propensity to contrast ingroup members (''us'') from outgroup members (''them'') (3). This dichotomy is adaptive, as ingroup members could not have survived and reproduced without altruistic cooperation [i.e., the goodwill and reciprocity of other ingroup members (7, 8)]. Only recently has neuroscience begun to dissect the biological components of altruistic cooperation and identified oxytocin (OXT), an evolutionarily conserved peptide signaling pathway originating in the mammalian hypothalamus (9), to be a key modulator (10). These insights could be gained because intranasally administered OXT (OXTIN) penetrates the brain (11 '‡' ''13) and alters measures of neural and behavioral response (14). Specifically, OXTIN has been revealed to enhance social cooperation (15), generosity (16), and empathy (17, 18); to induce an altruistic response bias away from nonsocial toward social priorities (19); and to reinforce parochial preferences for outgroup hostility and ingroup centricity (20, 21). Consistent with the latter are findings from field studies of wild chimpanzees showing that heightened endogenous release of OXT correlates with greater ingroup cohesion during intergroup conflict (22). Furthermore, OXTIN facilitates social norm conformity (23 '‡' ''25). Social norms, and personally costly sanctions against defectors of these norms, an inclination defined as altruistic punishment, may have evolved to protect ingroup biases from erosion through selfish motives (26 '‡' '‡' ''29).

The biblical parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25''16:17) describes an ethical maxim of helping strangers who have fallen in need. As such, it not only captures the essence of altruistic behavior by emphasizing the personal costs of selflessness toward others but also represents a formidable example that norm-enforced altruistic cooperation is by no means limited to the ingroup, but can even extend to outgroup members in ways neither precisely understood nor systematically researched. Here, we hypothesize that normative incentives co-occurring with enhanced activity of the OXT system exert a motivational force for inducing altruism toward strangers even in the most selfish and xenophobic individuals. To specifically test this hypothesis, the present study was devised to examine social norms, administered in the presence vs. absence of a norm-enforcing treatment with OXTIN, for their efficacy to promote altruistic responses in subjects scoring high on a xenophobia inventory (Xi).

Experiment 1To this end, the rationale of Experiment 1 was to generate normative cues for altruistic responding toward refugees, on the basis of an incentivized donation task framed in the context of Europe's refugee crisis (Materials and Methods). This paradigm was composed of 50 authentic case vignettes briefly describing the personal needs of poor people, half of which were portrayed as refugees (outgroup) and half as natives (ingroup), respectively. The personal needs comprised those elements the United Nations has defined as minimum standards for leading a safe and dignified life (30); that is, access to food, adequate housing, or participation in social and cultural life (31, 32). Assignment of cases to ingroup vs. outgroup frames was balanced across participants to rule out systematic bias. Subjects were endowed with EUR 50 and could donate a maximum of EUR 1 to each case, leaving them the rest (EUR 0''50) as personal payoff. Before testing, subjects' prejudicial attitudes toward refugees was assessed by measuring their individual Xi index (33) (Materials and Methods). In Experiment 1, a total of 76 healthy female (n = 53) and male (n = 23) undergraduate students (mean age ± SD, 21.2 ± 3.0 y) completed the donation task. For the purpose of generating an altruistic norm, subjects were assembled in a lecture hall, enabling reputation pressures to prompt potential donors to respond more generously. Indeed, results show that participants contributed more than 30% of their endowment. Interestingly, the donations devoted to refugees were 19% higher (EUR 8.03 ± 6.74) than those to natives [EUR 6.71 ± 6.86; t(75) = 5.35; P < >d = 0.19]. This bias indicates an altruistic preference for the outgroup and was lowest in Xi high scorers (r = ''0.34; P < href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/08/08/1705853114.full#F1">Fig. 1A). An additional analysis including gender as a between-subject variable showed that neither the donations to natives and refugees nor the outgroup bias (donations to refugees minus donations to natives) was influenced by gender (all P '‰¥ 0.86).

Fig. 1. The sociobiological conditions that reduce the effects of xenophobia by facilitating prosocial behavior toward refugees. (A) In Experiment 1 (n = 76), altruistic donations for the outgroup were lowest in those scoring high on the Xi index (scores ranging from 1 = low to 10 = high). (B) In Experiment 2, an independent sample of 107 male participants received OXTIN (n = 51) or placebo (n = 56) before the donation task. OXTIN promoted a 68% (outgroup) and an 81% (ingroup) increase in the donated sums. (C) Based on the subjects' Xi scores from the 7-item scale of the realistic threat inventory, the sample was median-dichotomized (n = 54 Xi low scorers; n = 53 Xi high scorers). Xi low scorers who received OXTIN (n = 26) more than doubled their donations to both groups, whereas the peptide did not induce generosity in Xi high scorers (n = 25). (D) Pairing OXTIN with peer-derived norms in Experiment 3 prompted Xi high scorers to increase their outgroup-related donations by 74%. OXTIN + Norm, intranasal oxytocin paired with a peer-derived norm; PLCIN + Norm, intranasal placebo paired with a peer-derived norm. Error bars indicate the SEM. #P = 0.056; *P < >P < >Experiments 2 and 3Experiments 2 and 3 were carried out within the same randomized controlled trial and involved an independent sample of 107 male participants (mean age ± SD, 24.1 ± 3.2 y). Before testing, their prejudicial attitudes toward refugees were measured by the Xi index (33). Subjects self-administered a 24-IU dose of OXTIN or placebo (PLCIN), which was instructed and supervised by a blinded experimenter in accordance with the latest standardization guidelines (34). Subsequently, subjects were placed alone in separate test cubicles and tested on the donation task established in Experiment 1 (Fig. S1). Based on the subjects' Xi index, the sample was median-dichotomized, resulting in n = 53 Xi high scorers and n = 54 Xi low scorers. A repeated-measures analysis of variance with the between-subjects factors treatment (OXTIN, PLCIN) and Xi index (low, high), the within-subjects variable ''frame'' (ingroup, outgroup) and the donated sums as a dependent variable yielded main effects of treatment [F(1,103) = 4.64; P = 0.03; η2 = 0.04], Xi index [F(1,103) = 13.51; P < >η2 = 0.12], and frame [F(1,103) = 24.70; P < >η2 = 0.19]. Specifically, OXTIN promoted generosity toward both the outgroup [OXTIN, EUR 4.41 ± 5.73; PLCIN, EUR 2.62 ± 3.00; t(73.90) = 2.00; P = 0.05; d = 0.40] and the ingroup [OXTIN, EUR 3.62 ± 5.44; PLCIN, EUR 1.99 ± 2.58; t(69.88) = 1.94; P = 0.06; d = 0.39], evident in a 68% (outgroup) and an 81% (ingroup) increase in the donated sums (Fig. 1B). Furthermore, we detected an interaction of frame and Xi index [F(1,103) = 12.15; P < >η2 = 0.11]; that is, irrespective of OXTIN treatment, Xi low scorers' contributions were 31% larger for the outgroup than for the ingroup [t(53) = 4.99; P < >d = 0.22], which replicates the outgroup favoritism observed in Experiment 1. As expected, this outgroup bias was absent in Xi high scorers, whose donations were not significantly different between the two frames [ingroup, outgroup; t(52) = 1.43; P = 0.16; d = 0.09]. An additional interaction of treatment and Xi index [F(1,103) = 5.43; P = 0.02; η2 = 0.05] reflects the inefficacy of OXTIN treatment alone to induce generosity in Xi high scorers (all P values > 0.75), whereas the peptide more than doubled the contributions of Xi low scorers to both the outgroup [t(34.52) = 2.40; P = 0.02; d = 0.68] and the ingroup [t(31.20) = 2.37; P = 0.02; d = 0.68; Fig. 1C].

Fig. S1. Task design of Experiment 2. Given are corresponding examples of ingroup and outgroup case vignettes presented in Experiment 2. In total, the task consisted of 50 such vignettes briefly describing the personal needs of poor people, half of whom were framed as refugees (outgroup) and half of whom were framed as natives (ingroup), respectively.

To address the question of whether administration of a peer-derived altruistic norm in addition to OXTIN could augment altruistic responses in Xi high scorers, the task was reiterated in Experiment 3, with the exception that this time, each case presentation also included information about the average contribution choices of all their male and female peers enrolled in Experiment 1 (Fig. S2). A repeated-measures ANOVA with ''norm'' (present, absent) as an additional within-subject variable revealed a three-way interaction among treatment, Xi index, and norm [F(1,103) = 5.51; P = 0.02; η2 = 0.05]. Not surprisingly, deviation from the norm was relatively low for Xi low scorers due to their distinct altruistic tendency displayed in Experiment 2, which is consistent with a trend-to-significant effect of norm administration in PLCIN-treated subjects [outgroup, t(27) = 1.73 (P = 0.095; d = 0.34); ingroup, t(27) = 1.87 (P = 0.07; d = 0.35)] and no effect at all in OXTIN-treated subjects (all P values > 0.40). Intriguingly, application of OXTIN in conjunction with the altruistic norm prompted Xi high scorers, who had been resistant to either of these interventions alone (all P values > 0.64), to increase their outgroup-related donations by 74% [EUR 3.11 ± 3.37 with norm vs. EUR 1.79 ± 2.14 without norm; t(24) = 2.61; P = 0.02; d = 0.47; Fig. 1D]. This effect was weaker for the ingroup [EUR 2.46 ± 2.93 with vs. EUR 1.51 ± 2.00 without norm; t(24) = 1.81; P = 0.08; d = 0.38]. The facilitation of altruism observed in Xi high scorers becomes even more obvious when relativizing the donated sums to those obtained in Experiment 1; relative to this 100% benchmark, donations in Xi high scorers climbed from 23% to 38% as a consequence of pairing OXTIN treatment with the peer-derived altruistic norm.

Fig. S2. Task design of Experiment 3. Given are corresponding examples of ingroup and outgroup case vignettes presented in Experiment 3. In contrast to Experiment 2, the vignettes contained normative incentives (i.e., participants were additionally informed about the average sums their peers had donated in Experiment 1 for each case).

DiscussionAs mentioned earlier, the parable of the Good Samaritan describes a highly influential ethical maxim of helping outgroup members who have fallen in need, and has attained paramount political significance in the African-American civil rights movement (35). However, as yet, the social and biological conditions promoting such outgroup-directed altruism have not been determined. Here, we show that enhanced activity of the OXT system paired with charitable social cues can help counter the effects of xenophobia by fostering altruism toward refugees. These results are especially important in the light of evidence that even a minority of selfish noncooperators (Fig. 1C) may suffice to force the majority of altruists to defect, resulting in a rapid decay of altruistic cooperation within a population (7). Therefore, selfish motives impose an impending threat to altruistic cooperation (27). Here, we demonstrate that normative incentives co-occurring with elevated activity of the OXT system exert a motivational force for inducing altruistic cooperation with outsiders, even in those individuals who refuse to do so in the absence of such exogenous triggers. Since their selfless behavior only emerged as a result of OXT-enhanced social norm compliance, it is extrinsically motivated. However, even intrinsically motivated (i.e., self-generated) forms of altruism may build on internalized social (e.g., parental) norms and engage endogenous OXT signaling. Consistent with previous observations that OXTIN increases generosity per se (16, 36), we found a generalized increase in donations toward both the outgroup and the ingroup (Fig. 1B). However, this effect was mainly driven by the higher donations of the Xi low scorers (Fig. 1C), and therefore is in line with evidence emphasizing a sensitivity of OXTIN effects to person- and context-dependent factors (19, 37, 38). Whereas previous studies have focused either on the efficacy of ingroup norms as a potential means of stabilizing altruistic cooperation (28) or on the facilitating effects of OXT signaling on social conformity (23, 24), none have combined both interventions to enhance social norm adherence. Here, we provide evidence that a xenophobic rejection of refugees can be reversed by coupling enhanced activity of the OXT system to a normative incentive for cooperation with peers; neither intervention alone was sufficient to alter selfish responses in Xi high scorers, illustrating the relative resistance of outgroup rejection to exogenous modification.

Unfortunately, open and latent xenophobia continue to be a major challenge for European democracies. Since foraging societies were afflicted by intergroup conflict at all times, a strong inclination to categorically differentiate between ingroup (''us'') and outgroup (''them'') members may have conferred evolutionary advantages (39). Warfare may even have catalyzed cultural selection, as the dominant groups have forced their social preferences and norms on the defeated groups (7, 27). Our results raise the question of whether higher levels of xenophobia could be associated with a reduced sensitivity to others' distress, irrespective of their group membership. This may explain why the Xi high scorers in our sample did not exhibit an altruism bias to either group. It should be emphasized, though, that the measured Xi scores represent relatively typical levels of xenophobia within the general population. Based on the heterogeneity of xenophobic attitudes within certain groups and regions (40, 41), future research with a focus on the extreme ends of xenophobia is needed to provide a more nuanced understanding of the effects of OXTIN on outgroup-directed altruism. Furthermore, given that OXTIN can produce sexual-dimorphic effects (42, 43), we cannot extrapolate our findings to women. Clearly, future studies are warranted to explore the relationship between the effects of OXTIN on outgroup-directed altruism and a wider array of person- and context-dependent factors, including sex, age, and self-report measures of xenophobia.

In contrast to previous studies, which have used OXTIN to illustrate a contribution of OXT signaling in parochial altruism, especially under circumstances of intergroup conflict (20, 21), we demonstrate that enhanced activity of the OXT system facilitates social norm compliance, thus inducing altruism toward outgroup members even in the most selfish and xenophobic individuals. Given evidence indicating that social group activities with peers, such as singing in a choir (44), are associated with elevated endogenous OXT release (45), our findings suggest that greater focus should be placed on enabling positive social encounters among citizens of hosting countries that communicate a prosocial norm; that is, by affirming and emphasizing the benefits of ethnic diversity, religious pluralism, and cultural differentiation. This may include the promotion of balanced and informed media reporting, the integration of refugee themes to the curricula of schools and universities, or the organization of events that involve the general public and bring communities together by promoting sustained experience- and information-sharing on the situation of refugees (46). The effect of solutions combining selective enhancement of OXT signaling and peer influence would be expected to diminish selfish motives, and thereby increase the ease by which people adapt to rapidly changing social ecosystems. More generally, our results imply that an OXT-enforced social norm adherence could be instrumental in motivating a more generalized acceptance toward ethnic diversity, religious plurality, and cultural differentiation resulting from migration by proposing that interventions to increase altruism are most effective when charitable social cues instill the notion that one's ingroup shows strong affection for an outgroup. Furthermore, UNESCO has emphasized the importance of developing neurobiologically informed strategies for reducing xenophobic, hostile, and discriminatory attitudes (47). Thus, considering OXT-enforced normative incentives in developing future interventions and policy programs intended to reduce outgroup rejection may be an important step toward making the principle of social inclusion a daily reality in our societies.

Materials and MethodsOur study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Bonn, and was carried out in compliance with the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants gave written, informed consent.

Experimental Design.The altruistic donation task, which was framed in the context of Europe's refugee crisis, included 50 authentic case vignettes in total. Each of the 25 ingroup case vignettes had a corresponding outgroup counterpart (Fig. S1). The descriptions presented in the vignettes were composed in a standardized manner to keep them identical regarding formal criteria such as style, word count, and format. Each individual was introduced by his/her name, age, place of birth, country of origin, and personal need. The selection of home countries for the outgroup frame was based on reports published in 2015 by the European Commission, documenting conflicts, persecution, and poverty in the Middle East and Eastern Europe as the major drivers of forced migration to the European Union (48, 49). Personal needs comprised those essential elements the United Nations has defined as minimum standards for leading a safe and dignified life (30); that is, access to food, adequate housing, or participation in social and cultural life (31, 32). All 50 case scenarios were balanced in terms of age and sex of the needy persons and were presented in random order. The participants read and completed the donation task at their own pace. Subjects were endowed with EUR 50 and could donate a maximum of EUR 1 to each case, leaving them the rest (EUR 0''50) as personal payoff, if the lottery ticket, which they drew on completion of the donation task, had a number on the inside (chance of winning: 10%). Furthermore, subjects were informed that all their donations were subtracted from this endowment of EUR 50.

Procedure and Participants.Experiment 1.In Experiment 1, a total of 76 healthy female (n = 53) and male (n = 23) undergraduate students (mean age ± SD, 21.2 ± 3.0 y; Table 1) completed the donation task. The rationale of Experiment 1 was to generate normative cues for altruistic responding toward refugees. For this purpose, subjects were assembled in a lecture hall. Using a paper''pencil version of the altruistic donation task, the participants were instructed to indicate the exact amount of their donation for each case vignette on the forms, which were later collected by the experimenter. By design, this experimental setting enabled reputation pressures due to social interactions among peers, such that the sums donated in Experiment 1 were higher than those from Experiments 2 and 3, in which we eliminated social interaction.

Table 1. Demographics, personality traits, and attitudes (Experiment 1, n = 76)

Experiments 2 and 3.For Experiments 2 and 3, a new group of participants was invited to sign up for the experiment via the online database hroot (50) of the BonnEconLab. A total of 127 healthy male volunteers enrolled in the double-blind, randomized, parallel-group trial design and self-administered a dose of 24 IU (three puffs per nostril, each with 4 IU; Novartis) of OXTIN or PLCIN 40''45 min before the start of the donation task. The placebo solution contained the identical ingredients except the peptide itself. The study comprised a screening session in the morning and an experimental session in the afternoon. Screening entailed the exclusion of current or past physical or psychiatric illness (including drug and alcohol abuse), as assessed by medical history and the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (51). To control for possible pretreatment differences, we assessed anxiety traits with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (52), depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory (53), early social adversity with the Childhood-Trauma-Questionnaire (54), and autistic-like traits with the Autism-Spectrum-Quotient (55). Furthermore, we assessed cooperative and altruistic attitudes based on the subjects' social value orientation (56), as well as empathy with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (57) and their susceptibility to external (dis)approval with the Social Desirability Scale (58). In addition, the subjects were asked to indicate their personal income and donation behavior during the last year. There were no a priori differences between the OXTIN and PLCIN groups for Xi low and high scorers (Tables 2 and 3). Moreover, subjects were naive to prescription-strength psychoactive medication and had not taken any over-the-counter psychoactive medication in the preceding 4 wk. Participants were asked to maintain their regular sleep and waking times and to abstain from caffeine and alcohol intake on the day of the test session. During testing, a total of 20 participants (OXTIN: n = 10; PLCIN: n = 10) could not complete the donation task due to technical issues. Thus, the final analyses were performed on data from 107 participants (mean age ± SD, 24.16 ± 3.2 y).

Table 2. Demographics, personality traits, and attitudes in the OXT and placebo group for Xi low scorers (Experiments 2 and 3)

Table 3. Demographics, personality traits, and attitudes in the OXT and placebo group for Xi high-scorers (Experiments 2 and 3)

During Experiments 2 and 3, each participant was seated alone in front of a computer screen in a separate test cubicle that was closed off with curtains, while being exposed to the same donation task and instructional primes as established in Experiment 1. This experimental setting eliminated any interactions with peers or the experimenter. To exclude potential confounding influences of sex differences, we compared OXT effects between male participants, rather than between men and women. Participants performed two runs of the donation task. In Experiment 2, participants had no further information than that they could donate some, none, or all of their money with a maximum of EUR 1 for each case vignette (Fig. S1). In Experiment 3, the same sample of participants was additionally informed about the higher average donations made by their peers in each scenario (e.g., ''Your peers previously donated EUR 0.50'') (Fig. S2). The scenarios of the donation task were presented with the software Qualtrics. Participants were asked to indicate their donation by moving a slider placed under each scenario. By varying the starting positions of the slider, each choice required a similar effort.

Xenophobia index.In a separate screening session, we evaluated xenophobia by measuring the attitudes toward refugees based on an adapted assessment instrument developed by Schweitzer and colleagues (33). Adaptions encompassed the wording; for example, ''Australian refugee'' was replaced by ''German refugee.'' The assessment instrument contained two inventories, in which participants indicated how strongly they associate refugees with realistic and symbolic threats. In our analyses, we focused on the realistic threat inventory, which includes seven items and has good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.83). This decision was based on previous evidence indicating that realistic threats (e.g., perceived threats to economic interest, social status, or health), rather than symbolic threats (e.g., perceived threats to morals, values, or beliefs), more robustly predict perceptions of xenophobia (40, 41, 59). The realistic threat scale items encompass different threat perceptions; for example: ''Refugees are not displacing German workers from their jobs'' or ''Refugees have increased the tax burden on Germans.'' Responses were coded on a 10-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (''I strongly disagree'') to 10 (''I strongly agree''). All items were recoded such that higher values reflected greater feelings of perceived realistic threats. The term Xi index, which we used for subsequent analyses, refers to a subject's mean score achieved on the realistic threat inventory.

Statistical Analysis.Demographic, neuropsychological, and behavioral data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 24. Quantitative behavioral data were compared using mixed analysis of variance and post hoc t-tests. Pearson's product-moment correlation was used for correlation analysis. Eta-squared and Cohen's d were calculated as measures of effect size. For qualitative variables, Pearson's χ2 tests were used. All reported P values are two-tailed if not otherwise stated, and P values of P < >All relevant data are stored on a server of the Division of Medical Psychology at the University of Bonn Medical Center and are available for research purposes on request by contacting R.H.

AcknowledgmentsThe authors thank two anonymous referees for their generous comments. This research was supported by a grant from the German Science Foundation (to R.H. and D.S.; HU 1202/4-1 and BE 5465/2-1).

FootnotesAuthor contributions: N.M., D.S., and R.H. designed research; N.M., H.G., and S.S. performed research; N.M., D.S., and R.H. analyzed data; and N.M., D.S., J.S.F., H.G., S.S., W.M., and R.H. wrote the paper.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1705853114/-/DCSupplemental.

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Discord, a fast-growing free chat service popular among gamers, said today that it had shut down ''a number of accounts'' following violence instigated by white supremacists over the weekend. The service, which lets users chat with voice and text, was being used by proponents of Nazi ideology both before and after the attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia. ''We will continue to take action against Nazi ideology, and all forms of hate,'' the company said in a tweet.

Discord declined to state how many servers had been affected, but said it included a mix of old accounts and accounts that were created over the weekend. Among the affected servers was one used by AltRight.com, a white nationalist news site. The site's homepage includes a prominent link to a Discord chat which is now broken.

The company said it does not read private messages exchanged on its servers. Members of those groups reported messages in the chats for violating Discord's terms of service, the company said, and it took action. ''When hatred like this violates our community standards we act swiftly to take servers down and ban individual users,'' the company said in a statement. ''The public server linked to AltRight.com that violated those terms was shut down along with several other public groups and accounts fostering bad actors on Discord. We will continue to be aggressive to ensure that Discord exists for the community we set out to support '-- gamers.''

Discord has been criticized in the past for being slow to act against noxious accounts. Earlier this year, Gizmodo found the service was being used by groups that existed primarily to promote abuse and dox people.

Discord's announcement came the same day that neo-Nazi site The Daily Stormerwas banned first by GoDaddy and later by Google, where it had attempted to register.

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:44

The Justice Department served a warrant for the IP addresses, visitor logs, contact information, emails, and photos of more than a million people that visited an anti trump website. Buzz60

This file photo taken on August 12, 2017 shows US President Donald Trump speaking to the press about protests in Charlottesville at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Photo: Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO '-- In the digital age, there apparently is no place to hide.

For weeks, the Justice Department has demanded a web-hosting service hand over the IP addresses of more than 1.3 million visitors to a web site that organized protests of President Trump's inauguration. Additionally, it requested contact information, email and photos of thousands of people.

The DOJ filed the motion July 20 against disruptj20.org, a self-described group of activists who planned "mass protests to shut down the inauguration of Donald Trump," according to DreamHost, the Los Angeles-based web host that is legally fighting the government's request.

In its filing, the government claims disruptj20.org "was used in the development, planning, advertisement and organization of a violent riot" on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Violence and clashes with the police erupted in the nation's capital that day as bands of protesters, some wielding crowbars and hammers and throwing bricks and trash containers, broke off from the peaceful protests as President Trump was sworn into office. The violence resulted in 217 arrests for rioting, injuries to six police officers and smashed store windows, ATMs and cars.

More:217 arrests, 6 officer injuries during inauguration protests

It's not clear what information the Justice Department is seeking about those involved. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia declined further comment.

Law enforcement agencies frequently seek information on users and activity from tech companies, which often fight these requests when they view the demands as too large or too broad.

In this case, the Justice Department's suit is notable for its size and the fact that it seeks information on any visitor to the site.

DreamHost, which filed arguments opposing the DoJ's request on Aug. 11, called it "a strong example of investigatory overreach and a clear abuse of government authority" in a blog post Monday. The two sides are scheduled to attend a hearing in Washington, D.C., court on Friday.

"Typically, the government issues subpoenas to (DreamHost and other web services)," says Raymond Aghaian, author of the brief supporting DreamHost. "What is not common is requesting information about visitors to web sites... about political content... and free speech."

"This is problematic," says Aghaian, a former federal prosecutor who says he has never seen such a request. "There are tremendous privacy issues."

The filing, which includes a search warrant, has sparked a wave of protest from privacy advocates, who call it "chilling" and an effort by the government to intimidate online platforms that allow dissent.

"Web services are often contacted for narrowly-tailored actions against 10 to 15 people for criminal activity, but this is particularly odd," says Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at Center for Democracy & Technology, a nonprofit organization that advocates for privacy and security online.

"This is clearly an act of intimidation to punish platforms to allow dissent; it is antithetical to free speech," Hall says.

Representatives from disruptj20.org were not immediately available for comment. In January, Samantha Miller, a key organizer around the #DisruptJ20 group, told USA TODAY "it's our role and the role of any people of conscience to try to disrupt his inaugural and have a massive show of resistance."

One of the site's visitors, who did not attend the inauguration, said he visited for information. "There was no call for violence or social unrest on the site," says Tom Wellborn, 49, an information-technology worker in Haddonfield, N.J.

Meanwhile, activists online are posting photos and names to "out" white supremacists who participated in Saturday's deadly Charlottesville, Va., march on Saturday.

"Bigotry thrives on silence," Logan Smith, organizer of @yesyoureracist, a Twitter account -- it has about 375,000 followers -- on which he identifies facists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups, told MSNBC.

Follow USA TODAY's San Francisco Bureau Chief Jon Swartz @jswartz on Twitter.

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2x1KY1z

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:06

With waves of migrants fleeing the United States, the Canada Border Services Agency says that as many as 1,200 asylum seekers are waiting to be processed at the border crossing in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que.

Patrick Lefort, the CBSA regional director general for Quebec, said Lacolle border agents can process up to 230 migrants per day.

"It's a very demanding humanitarian operation," said Lefort, adding that staff has been brought in from all over the country to handle the growing number of asylum seekers showing up at the Lacolle border crossing.

Before the surge of people crossing into Canada, Lefort said agents were handling about a dozen asylum claims daily.

Most are Haitian nationals, many of whom have been living in the U.S. for years but who now fear deportation when the temporary protection status the U.S. granted Haitians after the 2010 earthquake expires next January.

Lefort said temporary accommodations for the asylum seekers have greatly improved in the last few days, but the next step is to double the capacity of the tent village the Canadian military has been setting up at the border.

"We are in the stage of planning to add capacity so we can provide shelter or housing to a larger number of migrants," said Lefort.

Asylum seekers line up to receive boxed lunches after entering Canada from the United States at Roxham Road in Hemmingford, Que., (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

The camp, which is able to accommodate up to 500 people, was set up Wednesday to handle the influx of asylum seekers '-- many of them arriving at an unofficial crossing on Roxham Road in nearby Hemmingford, Que.

Lefort said that up to 250 people are now crossing at Roxham Road each day.

The modular tents have floors, lighting and heating. Soldiers are still present, as construction of the camp is still underway.

The Canadian Red Cross is to take over logistics of running the tent village by providing beds, food, hygiene kits and medical help to the migrants waiting to be processed.

Along with providing those necessities, the Red Cross is also helping asylum seekers contact relatives, to let them know they are alive and safe.

On the American side of the border, two U.S. citizens arrived with a carload of drinks and snacks that they were hoping to hand out to migrants on their way to the Canadian border.

"We want these families to remember an act of kindness before they go into Canada, from this country," said Vermont resident Priscilla Maddox, adding she was "embarrassed" by the situation.

"We want their last memory to be one of kindness and not of fear," said her friend Wendy Doan. "This is not my America."

The Canadian Red Cross is now in charge of the logistics at the temporary camp for asylum seekers set up near the Lacolle border crossing. (Radio-Canada)

A growing number of migrants have also been taken in at different temporary shelters in Montreal, including at the Olympic Stadium, as they wait for claims to be processed.

The Quebec government said as of Thursday, 2,440 people were being housed in Montreal.

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:31

A family of asylum-seekers from Haiti approach the border at St-Bernard-de-Lacolle from Champlain, N.Y., on Aug. 7, 2017. Charles Krupa / The Associated Press

There has been one topic on Marleine Bastien's Sunday morning radio show in Miami for the last four weeks: Canada.

As hundreds of Haitians continue to stream into Quebec through irregular border crossings every day, still more, at home in Miami, are asking themselves whether they should risk being deported when their legal status in the U.S. expires in January or follow the same well-beaten path.

''Oh my lord, it's all people talk about,'' says Bastien, the executive director of Fanm Ayisyen Nan Miyami ( Haitian Women of Miami). ''They say, 'I still don't know what to do' and they break down crying. It's hard for people '-- what do you tell a parent who has children in school, owns their own home and has a business here? What do you tell them to do? Pack up your bags?''

Bastien and others in Miami, home to the largest Haitian community in the U.S., are trying to inform their compatriots that it may be easy to get into Canada, but not so easy to stay.

''It is premature for them to leave when they have legal status '-- because they are legal (in the U.S.) '-- and they don't know what to expect in Canada,'' Bastien said in an interview with the Montreal Gazette on Monday. ''It's not like Canada will allow everyone to stay. They have to go through the political asylum process, and from what I understand it's not automatic '... I want them to be well-informed. Then they have the freedom to do what they want.''

Only about 50 per cent of Haitian asylum-seekers have been granted refugee status in Canada in the last few years based on a fear of persecution or threats to their lives. And since March, when special protection for them was lifted in Canada, some 296 Haitian nationals have been deported '-- 19 to Haiti and 277 to the U.S.

But Haitians from as far as Miami continue to arrive in Canada via Roxham Rd. in Quebec, prompting the Canadian army to erect more tents to shelter up to 1,200 asylum-seekers stuck at the Lacolle border while their security checks are completed.

Some 1,200 people are currently being held under CBSA control in tents and trailers at the Lacolle border post.

As of Sunday, there were also 2,785 mostly Haitian asylum-seekers living in temporary shelters in and around Montreal, including at Olympic Stadium and the old Royal Victoria Hospital, and at a new shelter that opened in Havre Providence, a former retirement home in Boucherville.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau, who visited the tent camp at Lacolle on Sunday, said the federal government is also making efforts to discourage Haitians in the U.S. from leaving the country, primarily through the 13 Canadian consulates in the U.S.

They are reaching out to communities to warn people of their real chances of being accepted as refugees while stepping up interviews in U.S. media outlets to dispel the myth of the Canadian Eldorado.

Bastien, concerned for a few Haitian individuals who have reportedly been detained by Homeland Security in upstate New York on their way to the border, said the Haitians are a test case for all the people in the U.S. whose Temporary Protected Status is set to expire.

They include an estimated 50,000 Haitians who either arrived in the U.S. since the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 or had already been living in the U.S. with no legal status in 2010. The TPS holders have 27,000 U.S.-born children.

There are also 57,000 Hondurans whose TPS is set to expire in January and 195,000 Salvadorans whose TPS is set to expire in March.

A report released in January by the Center for Migration Studies said between 81 and 88 per cent of the TPS population from those three countries are part of the workforce '-- compared with 63 per cent of the total U.S. population '-- and together have 273,000 children who were born in the U.S.

Bastien says her group and others will continue to lobby Congress and press the Trump administration to extend the TPS or, better yet, find a permanent solution to allow TPS holders to stay. During his election campaign, Donald Trump declared himself the best friend of Haitians, she said.

''Whether you vote for me or not, I really want to be your biggest champion,'' Trump said in October.

''We are hopeful Trump will do the right thing for those who have lived here and are part of our community with such deep roots in this country '-- they are as American as apple pie,'' Bastien said, adding some Salvadorans have been in the U.S. for more than a decade. ''They are asking them to leave everything they've built behind.''

csolyom@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/csolyom

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:40

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The Sun, A News UK CompanyAll Football

LOVE DRUG Academics note that people tend to be more 'altruistic to family and friends than to perfect strangers' - but think they know how to change this.

By Jasper Hamill

15th August 2017, 12:14 pm

Updated: 16th August 2017, 10:25 am

WESTERN people become more charitable to migrants when fed the "love hormone" oxytocin and exposing them to peer pressure, German scientists have claimed.

Researchers from the University of Bonn said that humans tend to be generally kinder to friends and family than strangers.

Getty Images

Overloaded boats crossing the Mediterranean have become a symbol of the migrant crisisBut this natural tendency can be overridden by getting humans to take oxytocin and then setting up a "social norm" which pushes people into accepting migrants.

"The combined enhancement of oxytocin and peer influence could diminish selfish motives," said Professor Rene Hurlemann from the department of psychiatry.

"Given the right circumstances, oxytocin may help promote the acceptance and integration of migrants into Western cultures."

The suggestion that Westerners should be given drugs to make them more welcoming to foreigners is likely to be hugely controversial.

Millions of migrants and "refugees" have poured into Europe in recent years, with people now attempting to cross the Mediterranean on jetskis after paying up to £3,000 per person.

Angela Merkel recently told Donald Trump she "wishes" she hadn't opened Germany's borders to refugees, while the billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates said Europe was at "breaking point".

From left: Professor Ren(C) Hurlemann, Dr Holger Gerhardt, Nina Marsh and Dr Dirk ScheeleThe crisis claimed more than 5,000 lives last year and the death toll for 2017 passed 1,000 by April.

So could oxytocin be used to change some European's attitudes and encourage them to accept their new neighbours?

Yes, Hurlemann said.

His team assessed 100 people's attitudes to migrants and gave them 50 euros which could be donated to locals or refugees.

In the first control experiment, experts found that Germans were more generous to migrants than locals.

GET THE HUG BUG Seven ways to boost the hormone oxytocin that helps you fall in love and lose weight "We were surprised that the participants in the first experiment donated around 20 per cent more to refugees than to local people in need," said Nina Marsh from Professor Hurlemann's team.

Half of the participants were then given oxytocin, which made people who already had a favourable attitude to migrants give more money - but did not change the attitude of people who had a negative outlook on migration and did not make them hand over more cash.

But when people who hed anti-immigration views were given the love hormone and shown how much cash others had given, they become significantly more generous.

"Now, even people with negative attitudes towards migrants donated up to 74 per cent more to refugees," Nina Marsh added.

The research suggests that people could be made to be more generous to migrants through a combination of oxytocin and peer pressure.

However, it is not clear that the population of a European country would accept being drugged in a bid to help them accept massive social change.

LOVE IS THE DRUG Human 'love hormone' oxytocin helps strangers to form emotional bonds, scientists discover

FIRE AND ICE Largest volcanic region in the world is discovered under the South Pole, say scientists

SLEEP FACTZZZ Scientists claim people should sleep naked for these six reasons - including boosting sperm count

FLYING HIGH People who drink energy drinks are 'more likely to get hooked on cocaine and abuse alcohol', study reveals

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:52

Here is what you need to know about ransomware: software that locks down your files and demands payment to release them. (Sarah Parnass,Dani Player,Daron Taylor/The Washington Post)

Merck, a U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant, was among dozens of businesses affected by a sprawling cyberattack Tuesday, with victims across the globe facing demands to hand over a ransom or have their computer networks remain locked and inaccessible.

The widespread intrusion that hit the New Jersey-based drug company was similar to a massive ransomware attack last month that deployed a virus dubbed WannaCry. Merck also has a European presence, with an office in Ukraine, where many of the ransomware attacks were concentrated.

The extent of the Merck hack is not yet known.

Merck employees arrived at their offices Tuesday morning only to find a ransomware note on their computers. The company confirmed via Twitter soon afterward that ''its network was part of a global hack.''

Employees were told to get off their computers and go home, said one scientist who works at a Merck lab in New England. ''Some people looked like they had their hardware wiped '-- it just shut down the whole network site,'' said the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak on the record.

All U.S. offices of Merck were affected, she said. ''Without computers these days you can't do anything,'' the employee said. As a scientist, her instruments are connected to a computer, her data is stored on central servers, and the safety data sheets are all online. ''There's not much you can do without access,'' she said. ''It's one thing to have our laptop be corrupted. We're really hoping that all the data [in the central servers] is protected. But we don't know that.''

She said employees at her office were informed over a public address system, and people spread the word to colleagues by cellphone. Employees were told to call a number used for snow emergencies to find out whether they should report to work Wednesday. Beyond the inconvenience of not being able to work, the employee said she fears that critical information tied to Merck drug research could be lost.

Merck didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tuesday's attack utilized a virus similar to one known as Petrwrap or Petya, security researchers said, and exploits a vulnerability discovered years ago by the National Security Agency.

''The emergence of Petya and WannaCry really points out the need for a response plan and a policy on what companies are going to do about ransomware,'' said Mark Graff, chief executive of Tellagraff, a cybersecurity company. ''You won't want to make that decision at a time of panic, in a cloud of emotion,'' he said.

For companies that choose to pay the ransom, Graff said there is no guarantee that the people behind the attacks will make good on their word. ''Even if you are paying the ransom, you are dealing with crooks,'' he said. ''Plus the ethical quandary: Every time somebody pays, it gives the criminals more reason to go off and hurt more people.''

DLA Piper, a multinational law firm with an office in Washington, was also hit by the ransomware, according to a statement on its website.

Hamza Shaban covers tech news for The Washington Post. Prior to joining The Post, he worked at Buzzfeed, where he covered tech policy for the past two years, writing about antitrust, free speech, surveillance, cybersecurity and the tension between privacy and security interests.

Follow @hshabanEllen Nakashima is a national security reporter for The Washington Post. She focuses on issues relating to intelligence, technology and civil liberties.

Follow @nakashimae

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 06:49

This file image released by HBO shows Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister in an episode of "Game of Thrones."

AP

NEW YORK -- Hackers continue to pester HBO, but didn't release any material related to the network's hit show "Game of Thrones" in their latest leak.

The hackers, who broke into HBO's computer network and have been doling out stolen information for the past several weeks, released more unaired episodes, including several of the highly anticipated return of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which debuts in October.

The latest dump includes Sunday night's episode of "Insecure," another popular show, and what appear to be episodes of other lower-profile shows, including "Ballers," the unaired shows "Barry" and "The Deuce," a comedy special and other programming.

The network acknowledged the hack in late July, and the thieves have been dribbling out stolen video and documents since then while demanding a multimillion-dollar ransom.

Play Video

CBS This Morning Behind the "sophisticated" HBO hackThe FBI is reportedly investigating a recent cyber attack on HBO. The leak included a "Game of Thrones" script and un-aired episodes of "Ballers"...

They have leaked "Game of Thrones" scripts , sensitive internal documents like job offer letters and a month's worth of emails from a programming executive. But the intrusion has so far fallen well short of the chaos inflicted on Sony when the studio was hacked in 2014.

Still, the criminals may be holding on to more damaging data -- both intellectual property, like unaired programming, and sensitive personal information of HBO employees -- that they can use as leverage to try to get money from HBO, said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan.

"It's kind of like kidnap and ransom and torture," she said. "Eventually HBO may have to give in."

In an emailed statement Sunday, HBO said it's "not going to participate" in what it described as attempts to generate attention by dropping "bits and pieces of stolen information." The company added that it was not in communication with the hackers. It has said previously that it doesn't believe its email system as a whole was breached.

(C) 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 02:19

See related documentsResolution 1743 (2010) Final version

Author(s): Parliamentary Assembly

Origin - Assembly debate on 23 June 2010 (23rd Sitting) (see Doc. 12266, report of the Committee on Culture, Science and Education, rapporteur: Mr Mogens Jensen; Doc. 12303, opinion of the Political Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr Hancock; Doc. 12305, opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Rafael Huseynov; and Doc. 12304, opinion of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, rapporteur: Mrs Memecan). Text adopted unanimously by the Assembly on 23 June 2010 (23rd Sitting). See also Recommendation 1927 (2010).

1. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that Islamic radicalism and manipulation of religious beliefs for political reasons oppose human rights and democratic values. At the same time, in many Council of Europe member states, Muslims feel socially excluded, stigmatised and discriminated against; they become victims of stereotypes, social marginalisation and political extremism. The Assembly is deeply concerned about Islamic extremism as well as about extremism against Muslim communities in Europe. Both phenomena reinforce each other.

2. The Assembly recalls that Islamism is the view that Islam is not only a religion but also a social, legal and political code of conduct. Islamism can be violent or mainstream and peaceful, but in both cases it does not accept the separation between religion and state, which is a fundamental principle of democratic and pluralistic societies. The Assembly also recalls that discrimination against Muslims is unacceptable and must be combated. A great majority of European Muslims share the principles at the basis of our societies and it is essential to fight against Islamophobia, which stems mainly from lack of awareness and from negative perceptions associating Islam with violence. Failing to address these issues, many European governments pave the way to the rise of extremism.

3. Muslims are at home in Europe where they have been present for many centuries, as the Assembly noted in its Recommendation 1162 (1991) on the contribution of the Islamic civilisation to European culture. Islam, Judaism and Christianity '' the three monotheist religions '' share the same historic and cultural roots and recognise the same fundamental values, in particular the paramount value of human life and dignity, the ability and freedom to express thoughts, the respect for others and their property, and the importance of social welfare. Those values have been reflected by European philosophies and have been included in the European Convention on Human Rights (''the Convention''; ETS No. 5).4. Article 9 of the Convention guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the right to manifest one's religion or belief, either alone or in community with others, in public or in private, in worship, teaching, practice and observance. Article 10 of the Convention enshrines freedom of expression, including the right to express religious or philosophical views or oppose and criticise them. Both freedoms constitute the necessary requirements for a democratic society. However, they are not absolute and may be subject to limits imposed under strict control. Moreover, in accordance with Article 17 of the Convention, they must not be abused for the destruction or undue limitation of any of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention.

5. The Assembly has already stressed the importance of reconciling these two freedoms in its Resolution 1510 (2006) on freedom of expression and respect for religious beliefs, as well as its Recommendation 1805 (2007) on blasphemy, religious insults and hate speech against persons on grounds of their religion. The Assembly firmly condemns death decrees and threats against people who criticise Islam or political views linked to Islam. It regrets, however, the initiatives taken by a number of United Nations member states that have resulted in the Human Rights Council adopting resolutions on action against defamation of religions, and in particular Islam, as this strategy constitutes a threat to freedom of expression.6. Recalling its Recommendation 1804 (2007) on state, religion, secularity and human rights, the Assembly emphasises that democratic standards require a separation of the state and its organs from religions and religious organisations. Governments, parliaments and public administrations that democratically reflect and serve their society as a whole must be neutral towards all religious, agnostic or atheist beliefs. Nevertheless, religion and democracy are not incompatible, in particular as religions may play a beneficial social role. Member states should therefore encourage religious organisations to support actively peace, tolerance, solidarity and intercultural dialogue.7. The Assembly notes with concern, however, that some Islamic organisations active in member states have been initiated by governments abroad and receive financial support and political guidance from those governments. The objectives of such organisations are hence not religious. National political expansion into other states under the disguise of Islam should be brought to light. In keeping with Article 11 of the Convention, member states can limit the activities of such organisations on condition that such limitations satisfy the requirements set forth in paragraph 2 of Article 11. Therefore, member states should require transparency and accountability of Islamic as well as other religious associations, for instance by requiring transparency of their statutory objectives, leadership, membership and financial resources.

8. As the Assembly indicated in its Recommendation 1774 (2006) on the Turkish presence in Europe: migrant workers and new European citizens, member governments and parliaments as well as the Council of Europe must give priority to fostering the social inclusion of Muslims and other religious minorities. The many efforts undertaken by member states to better integrate migrants are to be commended, but this integration is often still far from reality, in particular with regard to Muslim migrants. Thus, the Assembly invites member states to be proactive in dealing with social, economic and political inequalities.9. The Assembly calls on member states to effectively address the social and economic exclusion of Muslims and other minorities in Europe '' including through the adoption, implementation and regular monitoring of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, policies and practices to protect them from the day-to-day discrimination they face and to ensure better access to legal remedies when their rights have been violated.

10. While organisational structures of Muslim communities in member states are desirable in order to facilitate contacts with governmental and administrative bodies, member governments and parliaments should also seek to establish direct political contacts with Muslims as equal citizens. Such direct contacts could be facilitated, for example, through public hearings at local and regional levels as well as through regional and national discussion platforms on the Internet. Referring to Recommendation 170 (2005) of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe on intercultural and inter-faith dialogue: initiatives and responsibilities of local authorities, the Assembly calls on national parliaments to ensure that local authorities in their countries have the necessary legal, administrative and financial frameworks for local activities intended to foster social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.

11. It is necessary that persons belonging to a minority culture in their country do not isolate themselves and do not attempt to develop a parallel society. Thus the Assembly calls on the representatives of the Muslim communities to encourage intercultural dialogue and fight against divisions which would otherwise lead to societal frictions and conflicts. Recalling its Resolution 1605 (2008) and Recommendation 1831 (2008) on European Muslim communities confronted with extremism, the Assembly invites Muslims, their religious communities and their religious leaders to combat any form of extremism under the cover of Islam. Islam is a religion which upholds peace. Muslims should be the first to react with dismay and opposition when terrorists or political extremists use Islam for their own power struggle and thus disrespect the fundamental value of human life and other values enshrined in Islam.12. The Assembly deplores that a growing number of political parties in Europe exploit and encourage fear of Islam and organise political campaigns which promote simplistic and negative stereotypes concerning Muslims in Europe and often equate Islam with extremism. It is inadmissible to incite intolerance and sometimes even hatred against Muslims. The Assembly calls on member states to pursue political action in accordance with General Policy Recommendation No. 5 (2000) of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) on combating intolerance and discrimination against Muslims. It reiterates that it is for the member states to reject political statements that stir up fear and hatred of Muslims and Islam, while complying with the stipulations of the Convention, in particular Article 10.2.

13. The Assembly also remains concerned at policies and practices '' by both national as well as regional and local authorities '' that discriminate against Muslims and at the danger of the abuse of popular votes, initiatives and referenda to legitimise restrictions on the rights to freedom of religion and expression which are unacceptable under Articles 9 and 10 of the Convention. In this context, the Assembly is particularly concerned about the recent referendum in Switzerland and urges the Swiss authorities to enact a moratorium on and repeal as soon as possible, the general prohibition on the construction of minarets for mosques.

14. Recalling its Resolution 1464 (2005) on women and religion in Europe, the Assembly calls on all Muslim communities to abandon any traditional interpretations of Islam which deny gender equality and limit women's rights, both within the family and in public life. This interpretation is not compatible with human dignity and democratic standards; women are equal to men in all respects and must be treated accordingly, with no exceptions. Discrimination against women, whether based on religious traditions or not, goes against Articles 8, 9 and 14 of the Convention, Article 5 of its Protocol No. 7 and its Protocol No. 12. No religious or cultural relativism may be invoked to justify violations of personal integrity. The Parliamentary Assembly therefore urges member states to take all necessary measures to stamp out radical Islamism and Islamophobia, of which women are the prime victims.15. In this respect, the veiling of women, especially full veiling through the burqa or the niqab, is often perceived as a symbol of the subjugation of women to men, restricting the role of women within society, limiting their professional life and impeding their social and economic activities. Neither the full veiling of women, nor even the headscarf, are recognised by all Muslims as a religious obligation of Islam, but they are seen by many as a social and cultural tradition. The Assembly considers that this tradition could be a threat to women's dignity and freedom. No woman should be compelled to wear religious apparel by her community or family. Any act of oppression, sequestration or violence constitutes a crime that must be punished by law. Women victims of these crimes, whatever their status, must be protected by member states and benefit from support and rehabilitation measures.

16. For this reason, the possibility of prohibiting the wearing of the burqa and the niqab is being considered by parliaments in several European countries. Article 9 of the Convention includes the right of individuals to choose freely to wear or not to wear religious clothing in private or in public. Legal restrictions to this freedom may be justified where necessary in a democratic society, in particular for security purposes or where public or professional functions of individuals require their religious neutrality or that their face can be seen. However, a general prohibition of wearing the burqa and the niqab would deny women who freely desire to do so their right to cover their face.

17. In addition, a general prohibition might have the adverse effect of generating family and community pressure on Muslim women to stay at home and confine themselves to contacts with other women. Muslim women could be further excluded if they were to leave educational institutions, stay away from public places and abandon work outside their communities, in order not to break with their family tradition. Therefore, the Assembly calls on member states to develop targeted policies intended to raise Muslim women's awareness of their rights, help them to take part in public life and offer them equal opportunities to pursue a professional life and gain social and economic independence. In this respect, the education of young Muslim women as well as of their parents and families is crucial. It is especially necessary to remove all forms of discrimination against girls and to develop education on gender equality, without stereotypes and at all levels of the education system.

18. Female genital mutilation under the pretext of Islamic or other customs should be considered as a crime as it violates the right to physical and moral integrity of all individuals and especially of girls. Member states must do their utmost to put an end to this crime and provide practical help to children and their parents, including in particular through education. The Assembly recalls in this context its Resolution 1247 (2001) on female genital mutilation.19. The Assembly accordingly urges member states to take every step to prevent and combat all forms of oppression or violence undergone by women and, in particular, as part of the negotiations for the future Council of Europe convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, to support the provisions enabling women irrespective of their origin or status to have access to protection, prevention and rehabilitation facilities.

20. Stereotypes, misunderstandings and fears with regard to Islam are typical symptoms of a widespread lack of adequate knowledge among non-Muslims in Europe. Similarly, many Muslims in Europe lack adequate knowledge of Islam let alone other religions, which can make them vulnerable to ''Islamism'' as a religiously disguised form of political extremism. In this context, the Assembly recalls its Recommendation 1720 (2005) on education and religion and calls on member states to ensure that knowledge about Islam, Judaism and Christianity is taught at school and through lifelong education.21. Teaching about religions should be supported by member states, to raise public awareness of the common origin and values of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and their impact on modern European humanism. Institutions of higher education and research in Europe should provide Islamic studies in order to educate religious scholars, teachers and leaders and distinguish Islam from Islamism. The Assembly is confident that most European Muslims accept a common approach reconciling Islam with democratic values, human rights and the rule of law; indeed, many have done so for a long time.

22. The Assembly also welcomes the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue prepared by the Council of Europe during the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue in 2008 as well as other activities by the Committee of Ministers in this field. Member governments should use the White Paper in their related national action, including in schools and educational institutions.

23. It is important to create synergies with other international organisations in this respect. Therefore, the Assembly invites the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations to co-operate more closely with the Council of Europe, in particular by setting up joint programmes of action. In this context, the Assembly invites the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to seek additional funding for such activities through member states and facilitate reciprocal secondment of staff between the two organisations.

24. The Assembly invites the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) and the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) to work with the Council of Europe on combating Islamism and Islamophobia or other religious discrimination as well as on promoting the respect for universal human rights. ISESCO and ALESCO can be particularly important in ensuring that their members respect the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of the United Nations.

25. In this context, the Assembly regrets that some member governments of ISESCO and ALECSO have adopted national legislation based on an interpretation of Sharia law or have pursued national policies which are in conflict with the ICCPR and the ICESCR: imposing severe penalties or even the death penalty on persons wishing to adopt a religion other than Islam is incompatible with Article 18 (2) ICCPR; imposing severe sanctions on, or passing public death decrees against, persons who have criticised Islam is incompatible with Article 19 of the ICCPR; calling for a ''holy war'' or violence against other countries or their citizens and glorifying terrorists as ''holy martyrs'' is incompatible with Article 20 (2) of the ICCPR; educating children to hate or fight persons of faiths other than Islam is incompatible with Article 13 (1) of the ICESCR.

26. Contacts between Muslim and non-Muslim Europeans and Muslims in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia should be facilitated, in particular among young people, students and teachers. The Assembly invites, therefore, the European Youth Forum to expand its activities in this field. Co-operation between educational and cultural institutions as well as cities around the Mediterranean Basin should be supported, for instance in the framework of the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region (ETS No. 165) and the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities (CETS No. 106).

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Archived Version

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 19:34

Een bijeenkomst in 2015 in Utrecht voor vluchtelingen uit Eritrea Nieuwsuur

Vluchtelingen die sinds 2015 in Nederland zijn, komen nog altijd moeizaam aan werk. In dat jaar kwam een recordaantal vluchtelingen uit Syri en Eritrea naar Nederland. Zij moesten vaak lang wachten op een huis en een inburgeringscursus. Pas daarna kwam het zoeken van werk aan de orde.

Sinds 2016 zet de landelijke Taskforce Werk en Integratie Vluchtelingen zich in om duizenden migranten sneller aan werk en uit de bijstand te halen. Dat gaat in samenwerking met de gemeenten, maar het schiet nog niet erg op.

Het ministerie van Sociale Zaken en de Sociale Diensten kunnen overigens nog niets zeggen over de resultaten van de inspanningen. Het eerste voorlopige overzicht komt op zijn vroegst eind dit jaar.

'Als ik niet werk, heeft mijn leven geen zin.'Duizenden migranten die in 2015 naar Nederland kwamen, komen moeilijk aan werk. Toch zijn er ook succesvolle initiatieven.

Een van de gemeenten die nieuwkomers bij de arm nemen en naar werk begeleiden, is Zeist. Die gemeente heeft een eigen aanpak bedacht: deze zomer konden kandidaten op een banenmarkt kennismaken met werkgevers als de Triodos Bank, Remia en BAM.

Het Zeister schoonmaakbedrijf Augias meldde zich om vijftien mensen te helpen aan een baan, een werkervaringsplek of een interne opleiding. Voor ge¯nteresseerden was er vandaag een voorlichtingsdag. Daarbij werd ook duidelijk gemaakt dat de Regionale Sociale Dienst taallessen voor de nieuwkomers verzorgt, om hun kansen op de arbeidsmarkt te vergroten.

Wethouder Marcel Fluitman van Zeist beklemtoont dat zo'n aanpak nodig is om te voorkomen dat nieuwkomers erg lang thuis zitten. "Hoe langer dat duurt, hoe moeilijker het wordt om weer een baan te krijgen op het niveau waarop de mensen werkten voordat ze naar Nederland kwamen."

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Source: The Last Refuge

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:21

During an afternoon announcement with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, President Trump announced the launch of section 301 trade investigations into China's business practices for theft of U.S. technology and violations of U.S. intellectual property rights.

Perhaps the most overlooked portion of the remarks from President Trump happened as he sat down to sign the Presidential Memorandum authorizing the official investigation:

'...This is only the beginning folks. This is only the beginning'...For approximately 30 years China has been engaged in a unidirectional trade war against the United States of America; facilitated and enabled by both Democrats and Republicans who have been purchased by multinational and corporate lobbyists to block any effort to defend our U.S. interests. The biggest victims have been U.S. middle-class workers.

Today, for the first time in modern U.S. history, a singular President stood up and began what will be an arduous process of fighting back, defending the U.S. economy and balancing the rights of U.S. workers and companies with ''fair'' and ''reciprocal'' trade.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides the United States with the authority to enforce trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open foreign markets to U.S. goods and services. It is the principal statutory authority under which the United States may impose trade sanctions on foreign countries that either violate trade agreements or engage in other unfair trade practices. When negotiations to remove the offending trade practice fail, the United States may take action to raise import duties on the foreign country's products as a means to rebalance lost concessions. (LINK)

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:15

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Source: The Last Refuge

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:24

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis release a joint Statement/Op-ed discussing North Korea and accountability. However, against the backdrop of visible diplomacy the joint statement is more about terms, than accountability.

Note a pointed subtlety. Secretary Tillerson lays down the terms to China; while Secretary Mattis lays down the terms to North Korea.

WASHINGTON '' The U.S., its allies and the world are united in our pursuit of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

In the past few months, multiple illegal North Korean ballistic-missile and ICBM tests'--coupled with the most recent bellicose language from Pyongyang about striking the U.S., Guam, our allies and our interests in the Asia-Pacific region'--have escalated tensions between North Korea and America to levels not experienced since the Korean War.

In response, the Trump administration, with the support of the international community, is applying diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea to achieve the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a dismantling of the regime's ballistic-missile programs. We are replacing the failed policy of ''strategic patience,'' which expedited the North Korean threat, with a new policy of strategic accountability.

The object of our peaceful pressure campaign is the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. has no interest in regime change or accelerated reunification of Korea. We do not seek an excuse to garrison U.S. troops north of the Demilitarized Zone. We have no desire to inflict harm on the long-suffering North Korean people, who are distinct from the hostile regime in Pyongyang.

Our diplomatic approach is shared by many nations supporting our goals, including China, which has dominant economic leverage over Pyongyang. China is North Korea's neighbor, sole treaty ally and main commercial partner. Chinese entities are, in one way or another, involved with roughly 90% of North Korean trade. This affords China an unparalleled opportunity to assert its influence with the regime. Recent statements by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as other regional and global voices, have made clear the international community holds one view regarding North Korea's provocative and dangerous actions: They must stop. Pyongyang must stand down on those actions.

China has a strong incentive to pursue the same goals as the U.S. The North Korean regime's actions and the prospect of nuclear proliferation or conflict threaten the economic, political and military security China has worked to build over decades. North Korea's behavior further threatens China's long-term interest in regional peace and stability.

If China wishes to play a more active role in securing regional peace and stability'--from which all of us, especially China, derive such great benefit'--it must make the decision to exercise its decisive diplomatic and economic leverage over North Korea.

Our diplomatic approach also proceeds through the United Nations. The Security Council's recent unanimous vote imposes new sanctions on North Korea and underscores the extent to which the regime has chosen to isolate itself from the international community. This vote, which also had Russia's support, reflects the international will to confront the North Korean regime's continuing threat to global security and stability.

We urge all nations to honor their commitments to enforce U.N. Security Council sanctions against North Korea and to increase diplomatic, economic and political pressure on the regime, specifically through the abandonment of trade, which finances the development of ballistic and nuclear weapons. The U.S. continues to consolidate international unity on the North Korean issue through increased engagement at the U.N., at regional diplomatic forums, and in capitals around the world.

While diplomacy is our preferred means of changing North Korea's course of action, it is backed by military options. The U.S. alliances with South Korea and Japan are strong. But Pyongyang has persistently rebuffed Seoul's attempts to create conditions whereby peaceful dialogue can occur, and has instead proceeded on its reckless course of threats and provocation. As a result of these dangers, South Korea's new government is moving forward with the deployment of U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense against the threat. We commend South Korea's decision to deploy this purely defensive capability.

Installing Thaad launchers on the Korean Peninsula and conducting joint military exercises are defensive preparations against the acute threat of military actions directed against the U.S., our allies and other nations. China's demand for the U.S. and South Korea not to deploy Thaad is unrealistic. Technically astute Chinese military officers understand the system poses no danger to their homeland.

Absent China using its influence to show the world how a great power should act to resolve such a well-defined problem as North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range missile capability, others in the region are obliged to pursue prudent defensive measures to protect their people. China's Security Council vote was a step in the right direction. The region and world need and expect China to do more.

The U.S. is willing to negotiate with Pyongyang. But given the long record of North Korea's dishonesty in negotiations and repeated violations of international agreements, it is incumbent upon the regime to signal its desire to negotiate in good faith. A sincere indication would be the immediate cessation of its provocative threats, nuclear tests, missile launches and other weapons tests.

The U.S. will continue to work with our allies and partners to deepen diplomatic and military cooperation, and to hold nations accountable to their commitments to isolate the regime. That will include rigorous enforcement of sanctions, leaving no North Korean source of revenue untouched. In particular, the U.S. will continue to request Chinese and Russian commitments not to provide the regime with economic lifelines and to persuade it to abandon its dangerous path.

As always, we will embrace military preparedness in the defense of our homeland, our citizens and our allies, and in the preservation of stability and security in Northeast Asia. And we will say again here: Any attack will be defeated, and any use of nuclear weapons will be met with an effective and overwhelming response.

North Korea now faces a choice. Take a new path toward peace, prosperity and international acceptance, or continue further down the dead alley of belligerence, poverty and isolation. The U.S. will aspire and work for the former, and will remain vigilant against the latter. (LINK)

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:42

While global stock markets breathed a sigh of dip-buying relief today that the world did not end, North Korea just ratcheted up the rhetoric one more time with state media reporting the North Korean leader is "being briefed on the Guam attack plan" today, adding that "if a second Korean War breaks out, it would inevitably be a nuclear war."

According to the state run KCNA news agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "examined the plan for a long time" on Monday during his inspection to the command of the Strategic Force. North Korea said last week that it will finalize by mid-August its detailed plan to fire four intermediate-range ballistic missiles around Guam and report it to its leader for approval.

As KCNA notes, the North Korean leader received a report from his army on its plans to strike the area around Guam and said "he will watch the actions of the United States for a while longer before making a decision."

According to the WSJ interpretation of this oddly-worded report, the "North Korean leader has decided not to launch a threatened missile attack on Guam" but warned that he could change his mind ''if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions.''

As a result, the report "could help dial back tensions that had spiraled last week following an exchange of threats between North Korea and U.S. President Donald Trump."

North Korean state media said in its report Tuesday that Mr. Kim had made his decision not to fire on Guam after visiting a military command post and examining a military plan presented to him by his senior officers.

Then again, the alternative to that wording would have been for KCNA to say that Kim had decided to launch an attack on Guam, forcing him to do so, which would hardly have achieved any desired outcome.

In any case, trading desks quickly absorbed the WSJ's interpretation of the KCNA announement as suggestive of conflict de-escalation, and have sent the USDJPY surging by 50 pips in a broad risk-on, stop hunt triggering move, which has also sent gold sliding.

Also, while Kim said he had decided not to launch the attack on Guam "yet", he advised the U.S. ''to take into full account'' whether the current standoff was to its benefit. He also said it was incumbent on the U.S. to ''stop at once arrogant provocations against the DPRK and unilateral demands and not provoke it any longer."

Yet Kim ultimately left the ball in Trump's court, saying "the United States should first make the right decision and show through actions if they wish to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and prevent a dangerous military clash," Kim was quoted by KCNA.

Finally, the report contained the usual dose of pleasantries: Kim said that ''if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the [North] will make an important decision as it already declared." The N.Korean leader also added that the planned launch could still be carried out at any moment, and said that such a strike would be a ''most delightful historic moment'' that would ''wring the windpipes of the Yankees and point daggers at their necks.''

Full KCNA report:

Pyongyang, August 15 (KCNA) -- Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un inspected the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army (KPA) on Aug. 14.

He waved back to enthusiastically cheering service members and posed for a picture with them.

He went round historical mementoes and data displayed at the Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism Study Hall.

Going round them he looked back with deep emotion on the great leadership feats of the brilliant commanders of Mt. Paektu, recorded on every page of the history of the KPA Strategic Force displaying its might with the strength unprecedented in the world as a powerful strike service, symbolic of the dignity and power of Korea.

Then he listened to General Kim Rak Gyom's decision on the Strategic Force's plan for an enveloping fire at Guam at the command post. He examined the plan for a long time and discussed it with the commanding officers in real earnest.

He praised the KPA Strategic Force for drawing up a dose and careful plan as planned and intended by the Party and examined the firing preparations for power demonstration.

After listening to the commander of the Strategic Force that it is waiting for the order of the Party Central Committee after rounding off the preparations for the enveloping fire at Guam, he said with great satisfaction that the spirit of Hwasong artillerymen is very high and he was freshly determined, seeing by himself the combat preparedness and the sky-high spirit of the Hwasong artillerymen of the large combined unit.

He said that the U.S. imperialists caught the noose around their necks due to their reckless military confrontation racket. adding that he would watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees spending a hard time of every minute of their miserable lot.

He said that he wants to advise the U.S., which is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula into the touch-and-go situation. running helter-skelter. to take into full account gains and losses with clear head whether the prevailing situation is more unfavorable for any party.

In order to defuse the tensions and prevent the dangerous military conflict on the Korean peninsula. it is necessary for the U.S. to make a proper option first and show it through action. as it committed provocations after introducing huge nuclear strategic equipment into the vicinity of the peninsula, he said. adding that the U.S. should stop at once arrogant provocations against the DPRK and unilateral demands and not provoke it any longer.

He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity. testing the self-restraint of the DPRK. the latter will make an important decision as it already declared. warning the U.S. that it should think reasonably and judge properly not to suffer shame that it is hit by the DPRK again.

He said that if the planned fire of power demonstration is carried out as the U.S. is going more reckless, it will be the most delightful historic moment when the Hwasong artillerymen will wring the windpipes of the Yankees and point daggers at their necks, underlining the need to be always ready for launching to go into action anytime once our Party decides.

Looking round a military training school and gymnasium. he called for firmly establishing Juche in education and steadily improving the quality of military training and thus preparing all the artillerymen of the large combined units to be fighters capable of waging campaign of brains. who perfectly mastered the modern military science and technology, the enemy's changed war methods and Korean-style war methods against them.

He underscored the need to certainly establish the system of reeducating commanding officers and technicians of the Strategic Force in line with the modernization and upgrading of ballistic rockets.

Going round the supply service facilities of the large combined unit including the dining hall of sub-unit, he took warm care of the solders' life as their real father would do.

He enjoyed a performance given by the art squad of the large combined unit at the solders hall.

He expressed satisfaction over the good performance given by members of the art squad through numbers vividly representing the operational mission and features of the Strategic Force and desire, thoughts and feelings of the Hwasong artillerymen. and gave precious teathings for performance.

The Strategic Force has a very important position and duty in carrying out the strategic plans of the Workers' Party of Korea. he said, stressing the need for the Strategic Force to firmly establish the monolithic leadership system, command and management system of the Supreme Commander over the nuclear force and further complete the Juche-oriented rocket strike methods.

Giving teachings of great trust that he remains confident thanks to the KPA Strategic Force reliable treasured sword guaranteeing the everlasting future of the country and nation, he expressed expectation and belief that all the officers and men of the Strategic Force would bring about a fresh turn in rounding off combat preparations, bearing in mind the important mission they have assumed before the Party, the country and the people.

The officers and men of the KPA Strategic Force. who received great trust from him, were firmly determined to score the final victory in the standoff with the U.S. by scorching with super strong strike the targets in south Korea. Japan. operational area in the Pacific and the U.S. mainland. flying the sacred red flags of the Party and flags of the supreme commander at every matchless launching pad once he gives an order.

Separately, KCNA issued a report titled "The US Wants To Kill Itself"

Pyongyang, August 14 (KCNA) (via Google Translate)

The U.S. Defense Department on August 11 announced that the U.S.-south Korea joint military drill Ulchi Freedom Guardian would start on August 21 as scheduled.

It declared it would send nuclear carrier strike groups, nuclear strategic submarine and other war hardware to the Korean peninsula in advance and dispatch 12 F-16 fighters and huge armed forces to the U.S. bases in south Korea for the drill.

Shortly ago, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. forces and the south Korean chief executive had phone talks over the joint military drill.

It is clear what does the start of large nuclear war drill mean under the worst situation on the Korean peninsula.

No matter what rhetoric they let out about "annual, regular and defensive drills", they cannot cover up the danger of a war outbreak.

If any accidental case would be sparked, though unwanted, it would never avert a war.

What matters is that when a second Korean war breaks out, it would be a nuclear war.

The DPRK has already declared in the statement of its government that it would not hesitate to use any form of ultimate means.

The U.S. should think twice about the consequences.

The Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army announced that it would finally complete the plan for enveloping fire at Guam until mid August and report it to the commander-in-chief of the DPRK Nuclear Force and wait for his order.

The nuclear force of the DPRK is strong in its guts and no one can guess its muscle as the flight trajectory of medium-to-long ballistic rocket Hwasong-12, firing data and the correct hitting-point are made public at home and abroad.

Within three days after the publication of the statement of the DPRK government, nearly 3.5 million youth and students and working people volunteered to join or rejoin in the Korean People's Army. This fact clearly shows the will of the Korean people to finally conclude the standoff with U.S.

If the U.S. goes reckless by wielding a nuclear stick before its rival armed with nukes despite the repeated warnings of the DPRK, it would precipitate its self-destruction.

We are watching every move of the U.S.

And finally, here are the three dates when NKorea risk could spike:

Tomorrow is the National Liberation Day of the Koreas (both North and South). In South Korea, markets are closed.August 21-31 is when South Korea and the US hold a joint annual military exercise. As we reported over the weekend, satellite photos suggest North Korea may be preparing a submarine launched ballistic missile test, as it did two days after the start of last year's joint drill.September 9, the anniversary of the founding of North Korea: Last year North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear bomb test on this day.We await President Trump's "Kelly-apporved" response.

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Source: The Last Refuge

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:12

CTH will not be part of the insufferable media narrative that China and North Korea are detached and independent; that nonsense is just plain silly. Beijing's old communist guard tells Kim Jong-un what he can and cannot do.

That said, Beijing flinched. Kim Jong-un takes finger off trigger. It appears Guam has nothing to worry about for the moment.

SEOUL (Reuters) '' North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un received a report from his army on its plans to strike the area around Guam and said he will watch the actions of the United States for a while longer before making a decision, the North's official news agency said on Tuesday.

''The United States, which was the first to bring numerous strategic nuclear equipment near us, should first make the right decision and show through actions if they wish to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula and prevent a dangerous military clash,'' Kim was cited as saying in the report by KCNA.

The North's leader ordered the army should always be fire-ready should he make a decision for action, the report said. (read more)

Here's the transcript [Translated] as broadcast by Pyongyang KCBS Newscast:

Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un inspected the Command of the Strategic Force of the Korean People's Army on Aug. 14.

He waved back to enthusiastically cheering service members and posed for a picture with them.

He went round historical mementoes and data displayed at the Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism Study Hall.

Going round them, he looked back with deep emotion on the great leadership feats of the brilliant commanders of Mt. Paektu, recorded on every page of the history of the KPA Strategic Force displaying its might with the strength unprecedented in the world as a powerful strike service, symbolic of the dignity and power of Korea.

Then he listened to General Kim Rak Gyom's decision on the Strategic Force's plan for an enveloping fire at Guam at the command post.

He examined the plan for a long time and discussed it with the commanding officers in real earnest.

He praised the KPA Strategic Force for drawing up a close and careful plan as planned and intended by the Party and examined the firing preparations for power demonstration.

After listening to the commander of the Strategic Force that it is waiting for the order of the Party Central Committee after rounding off the preparations for the enveloping fire at Guam, he said with great satisfaction that the spirit of Hwasong artillerymen is very high and he was freshly determined, seeing by himself the combat preparedness and the sky-high spirit of the Hwasong artillerymen of the large combined unit.

He said that the U.S. imperialists caught the noose around their necks due to their reckless military confrontation racket, adding that he would watch a little more the foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees spending a hard time of every minute of their miserable lot.

He said that he wants to advise the U.S., which is driving the situation on the Korean peninsula into the touch-and-go situation, running helter-skelter, to take into full account gains and losses with clear head whether the prevailing situation is more unfavorable for any party.

In order to defuse the tensions and prevent the dangerous military conflict on the Korean peninsula, it is necessary for the U.S. to make a proper option first and show it through action, as it committed provocations after introducing huge nuclear strategic equipment into the vicinity of the peninsula, he said, adding that the U.S. should stop at once arrogant provocations against the DPRK and unilateral demands and not provoke it any longer.

He said that if the Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean peninsula and in its vicinity, testing the self-restraint of the DPRK, the latter will make an important decision as it already declared, warning the U.S. that it should think reasonably and judge properly not to suffer shame that it is hit by the DPRK again.

He said that if the planned fire of power demonstration is carried out as the U.S. is going more reckless, it will be the most delightful historic moment when the Hwasong artillerymen will wring the windpipes of the Yankees and point daggers at their necks, underlining the need to be always ready for launching to go into action anytime once our Party decides.

Looking round a military training school and gymnasium, he called for firmly establishing Juche in education and steadily improving the quality of military training and thus preparing all the artillerymen of the large combined units to be fighters capable of waging campaign of brains, who perfectly mastered the modern military science and technology, the enemy's changed war methods and Korean-style war methods against them.

He underscored the need to certainly establish the system of reeducating commanding officers and technicians of the Strategic Force in line with the modernization and upgrading of ballistic rockets.

Going round the supply service facilities of the large combined unit including the dining hall of sub-unit, he took warm care of the solders' life as their real father would do.

He enjoyed a performance given by the art squad of the large combined unit at the solders hall.

He expressed satisfaction over the good performance given by members of the art squad through numbers vividly representing the operational mission and features of the Strategic Force and desire, thoughts and feelings of the Hwasong artillerymen, and gave precious teachings for performance.

The Strategic Force has a very important position and duty in carrying out the strategic plans of the Workers' Party of Korea, he said, stressing the need for the Strategic Force to firmly establish the monolithic leadership system, command and management system of the Supreme Commander over the nuclear force and further complete the Juche-oriented rocket strike methods.

Giving teachings of great trust that he remains confident thanks to the KPA Strategic Force, reliable treasured sword guaranteeing the everlasting future of the country and nation, he expressed expectation and belief that all the officers and men of the Strategic Force would bring about a fresh turn in rounding off combat preparations, bearing in mind the important mission they have assumed before the Party, the country and the people.

The officers and men of the KPA Strategic Force, who received great trust from him, were firmly determined to score the final victory in the standoff with the U.S. by scorching with super strong strike the targets in south Korea, Japan, operational area in the Pacific and the U.S. mainland, flying the sacred red flags of the Party and flags of the supreme commander at every matchless launching pad once he gives an order.

Accompanying him were KPA Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong So, director of the KPA General Political Bureau, and Kim Jong Sik, vice department director of the C.C., the Workers' Party of Korea. (link '' and Additional SOURCING)

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Source: Veterans Today

Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:13

__________

TeleSUR

China Impose Bans on Imports from North Korea

''On August 15, a full ban on imports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, seafood from North Korea is introduced,'' the ministry said in a statement.

On Monday, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced that it would impose a partial goods ban on North Korea. Additionally, import applications of products from The North will be halted from September 5.

''On August 15, a full ban on imports of coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore, seafood from North Korea is introduced,'' the ministry said in a statement.

However, products which arrive at Chinese ports prior to the ban will be allowed to enter the country.

Chinese companies will be able to use North Korea's Rason port to import coal from other countries, pending approval from a committee established under the UN Security Council resolution 1718.

These restrictions will likely affect their economy, over time, because China is the largest trading partner of North Korea.

In April, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said trade increased between the two countries in the first quarter by 37.4 percent, despite sanctions on North Korean coal, which is its top earner.

U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly urged China to increase economic pressure on North Korea or face sanctions of their own.

Restrictions imposed by the United Nations Security Council have caused mounting tension, especially since the economic squeeze from the United States in response to North Korea's July's ballistic missiles launches.

The new Security Council sanctions are expected to cut their annual export revenue by $1 billion.

Related Posts:The views expressed herein are the views of the author exclusively and not necessarily the views of VT, VT authors, affiliates, advertisers, sponsors, partners, technicians, or the Veterans Today Network and its assigns. LEGAL NOTICE - COMMENT POLICYPosted by GPD on August 14, 2017, With 16 Reads Filed under Investigations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:50

Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. (Syrian Presidency via AP) BEIRUT '-- Among the postings on what might have been the Facebook page of James Alex Fields Jr., the driver of the car that killed a counterprotester at the right-wing demonstrations in Charlottesville on Saturday, were images of far-right favorite Pepe the Frog, swastikas and a baby portrait of Adolf Hitler, according to BuzzFeed.

Perhaps more surprisingly, there also reportedly was a picture of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in full military uniform, inscribed underneath with the word ''undefeated.''

Screen shots of the now-inaccessible profile were widely circulated on social media Saturday and Sunday, although the account's authenticity could not be confirmed. But the apparent fascination with Assad would fit a more general link between the far right and the Syrian regime that has grown increasingly pronounced in recent months and played a role throughout the weekend's white nationalist rally in Virginia.

Assad's politics '-- and those of his father before him '-- have historically been associated more with the left than the right. His late father, President Hafez al-Assad, was the closest Middle East ally of the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. The son has enjoyed the stalwart support of international leftists throughout his attempt to crush the six-year-old rebellion against his rule.

In recent months, however, Assad has also become an icon for the far right, whose leaders and spokesman have heaped praise on the ferocity with which he has prosecuted the civil war, his role in fighting the Islamic State and his perceived stance against Muslims and Jews.

That Assad's harsh methods have resulted in tens of thousands of civilian casualties seems only to have enhanced his stature. In a video posted on Twitter, three men who participated in the Charlottesville protests hailed Assad's use of barrel bombs to subdue communities that turned against him. One is wearing a T-shirt that says: ''Bashar's Barrel Delivery Co.''

Barrel bombs are crude, cheaply made explosive devices that are tipped out of aircraft without any form of targeting, and their use has killed thousands of civilians in Syria.

In the streamed live video, the men defend Assad.

''Assad did nothing wrong,'' said alt-right social-media activist Tim Gionet, who is also known as ''Baked Alaska'' on Twitter and YouTube.

''Barrel bombs, hell yeah,'' he can be heard saying in the same video.

Assad's emergence as a popular hero for the right appears to have followed a series of tweets in March by the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, in which he lavished praise on the Syrian president, describing him as an ''amazing leader'' '-- and more.

Other right-wing leaders have long expressed their support for the Syrian president and clearly hoped that President Trump, who made flattering comments about Assad on the campaign trail, would strike up an alliance with him. Such hopes were also based on the backing Assad has received from some far-right politicians in Europe. France's Marine Le Pen, for example, has said that keeping Assad in power is ''the most reassuring solution.''

After Trump ordered the U.S. military to bomb a Syrian airfield in response to a chemical attack in northern Syria, numerous right-wing commentators expressed their dismay on Twitter. Shortly after the attack, right-wing protesters opposed to the military intervention, led by white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, faced off against a group of anti-fascist protesters outside the White House.

Although Trump has continued to refuse to directly back Assad, even calling him ''truly an evil person'' in an April TV interview, the far right's apparent fascination with seeing the Syrian president hold on to power has persisted.

The far right's love affair with Assad might not be entirely unpredictable. His Baath Party is fiercely nationalist and ethnocentric, focused on the promotion of Arab identity. One of the few political parties permitted by his regime and one of his staunchest supporters in the war is the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which drew the inspiration for its logo from the swastika.

Noack reported from London.

Liz Sly is the Post's Beirut bureau chief. She has spent more than 15 years covering the Middle East, including the Iraq war. Other postings include Africa, China and Afghanistan.

Follow @LizSlyRick Noack writes about foreign affairs and is based in Europe.

Follow @rick_n

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:14

British banking giant Barclays is planning to adopt a new system to improve credit card security, based on encryption technology used by the Nazis during World War II.

According to the British daily The Telegraph, inventors David Taylor and George French based their design on Engima, a coding machine invented at the end of World War I and used by the Nazis from the 1930s onward to encrypt messages by producing different combinations of numbers at various intervals, leading to constantly changing codes. Taylor and French, along with Barclays, have secured a patent for the invention.

A spokesman for Barclays told The Telegraph that the bank is ''constantly looking at ways of tackling fraud and protecting customers'' and therefore has backed ''an innovation that would see a CVV code that changes dynamically put onto a physical card, in order to tackle online purchasing fraud.''

The spokesman added that there is currently no timetable for the technology's release to Barclays customers.

Currently, the three-digit card security code number '-- commonly known as a CVV '-- located on the back of credit cards serves as the primary form of credit card security.

But CVV has numerous vulnerabilities, including being prone to what are known as guessing attacks, in which hackers try to figure out the code by trying different possibilities on thousands of websites simultaneously.

The new technology will feature a keypad on the credit card, in which cardholders will enter a PIN number that will generate a number of different codes. These ciphers will be produced at changing times by an internal timer in the credit card and will be seen next to the signature strip, The Telegraph reported.

The card security code, also known as the CVV, circled in red. (CC BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons)

In addition to removing the CVV number, the new credit cards will not need PIN card readers. Other new features to be included are a contactless payment chip, as well as wi-fi or Bluetooth, according to The Telegraph.

The Enigma machine was widely used the Nazis to send encrypted messages during World War II. With trillions of possible combinations, its codes were considered impregnable.

However, following on earlier breakthroughs by Polish intelligence services, in 1939 a British team led by Alan Turing at Bletchley Hall finally managed to break the Enigma machine codes, giving the allies an inestimable advantage over the Nazis.

It is widely believed that cracking the Enigma shortened the war by several years and saved millions of lives.

AP contributed to this report.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:14

S econd World War cipher technology is being built into tiny processors to develop the next generation of ultra-secure bank cards.

The concept behind the design of Nazi military coding machines such as Enigma will be used to replace the existing three-digit CVV security number, which is currently found on the back of credit and debit cards.

Instead, cards will include a device that generates a frequently changing number to wrong-foot fraudsters.

The innovation is being hailed as the biggest shake-up in the field since the introduction of chip and pin in 2004.

These systems put yet another obstacle in the way of criminalsProfessor Alan Woodward, University of Surrey

I nventors David Taylor and George French have secured a patent for the technology, which Barclays plans to adopt.

Second World War encrypted communications worked on the basis of ever-changing ciphers, some of which codebreakers like Alan Turing successfully cracked, gifting Allied commanders a wealth of intelligence.

In a similar vein, Barclays customers will tap their PIN into a keypad mounted on the card which will create a range of security ciphers.

The codes will be generated at a timed interval by a tiny clock and appear next to the signature strip.

As well as replacing the static CVV number, which was first used 20 years ago but is now seen as a security weakness, the new technology also signals the end of PIN-entry card readers.

Other features in the smart card include a contactless payment chip and either a wifi aerial or Bluetooth.

P rofessor Alan Woodward, a cyber-security expert at the University of Surrey, said: ''Barclays are trying to have technology that could display several different codes for different situations.

''These systems put yet another obstacle in the way of criminals.''

Banking fraud affected 20,255 people and cost around £755 million last year, according to Financial Fraud Action UK.

Hackers commonly target the CVV code by launching so-called distributed guessing attacks, by spreading attempts to guess the code across more than 1,000 websites in just one or two seconds.

The current static three-digit system is also vulnerable if merchants store the numbers after taking payment.

A spokesman for Barclays said: ''We are constantly looking at ways of tackling fraud and protecting customers.

''This patent was filed in support of an innovation that would see a CVV code that changes dynamically put onto a physical card, in order to tackle online purchasing fraud.''

He added, however, that it was not possible to predict when the technology would be ready for customers to use.

Contactless card payment technology has opened up a new avenue for fraudsters.

Last year researchers for the consumer group Which? Found that cheap and widely available card scanners were able to ''steal'' key card details from which were then used to pay for goods.

Contactless cards are supposed to mask personal data from such devices.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 12:07

While the recent surge in far-right violence in the US bears a striking resemblance to the situation in post-Maidan Ukraine, it gets strikingly different coverage in the MSM and entirely different reactions from Western politicians.

Same Nazi symbols, torchlight parades '' different coverageThe 'Unite the Right' rally, which was held in Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday night and Saturday, attracted all sorts of far-right activists protesting the city's plans to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from a local park.

The removal of the monument was approved in April, but the process was stalled due to multiple lawsuits.

Demonstrators at the march carried tiki torches, chanted Nazi slogans, including ''Sieg Heil'' and ''Blood and Soil,'' gave Nazi salutes, and carried various symbols associated with Nazi Germany, such as swastikas, black suns, and runes.

In general, the event received accurate coverage in the Western mainstream media, which described the protesters as ''neo-Nazis'' and ''white supremacists,'' while indicating their use of Nazi slogans and symbols.

The neo-Nazi torchlight processions which are frequently held in post-Maidan Ukraine, however, have received vastly different coverage in the Western media '' though more often than not, they are completely ignored. Ukrainian far-right activists hold marches each year on January 1, marking the birthday of WWII-era Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, who is hailed by many as a national hero.

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A 2015 march, for example, received some coverage in the western media, but the neo-Nazi elements of the event were entirely watered down.

The far-right marchers in Ukraine were described in neutral terms: ''nationalists'' who chanted ''patriotic'' slogans, and carried torches and ''red and black nationalist flags.'' While the Ukrainian ''nationalist'' flag '' which represents the 'Blood and Soil' ideology '' originated in Nazi Germany and was also used in Charlottesville, it was not exposed and condemned as it was in the media coverage of the Charlottesville events.

Other neo-Nazi symbols in the Kiev march also managed to elude mainstream media coverage.

While the article admits that Bandera ''was the ideological patron of resistance fighters who fought alongside invading German forces during World War II,'' it also describes him as an ''anti-Soviet insurgent branded by Moscow as a Nazi collaborator.''

Response to far-right violenceThe clashes and car ramming attack in Charlottesville, which left one person dead and dozens injured, prompted swift reactions and triggered a state of emergency in the city. Following the clashes between far-right activists, counter-protesters, and police, the gathering was declared unlawful and was broken up.

''All the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth,'' Governor Terry McAuliffe said at a news conference.

The mayor of the city, Mike Signer, condemned the car ramming incident as ''a clear terrorist attack with a car used as a weapon.''

US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, also called the incident an act of terrorism.

''Anytime that you commit an attack against people to incite fear, it meets the definition of terrorism,'' McMaster said. ''What you see here is a criminal act against fellow Americans. A criminal act that may have been motivated '' and we'll see what's turned up in this investigation '' by this hatred and bigotry, which I mentioned we have to extinguish in our nation.''

The violent Ukrainian Maidan ''revolution'' in late 2013 to early 2014 received a different reaction from Western politicians.

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When the standoff between far-right militants and riot police turned violent, all of the blame was pinned on then-President Viktor Yanukovich.

The first clashes in early December 2013 were depicted as cruel oppression against ''peaceful protesters,'' and the rioters were praised as ''brave Ukrainians.''

''We are delighted that so many Ukrainians are braving the cold to protest their president's abrupt decision to withdraw from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union,'' Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt, said in a joint statement, praising the anti-Russia stance of the Maidan uprising and completely overlooking the violent far-right elements of the movement.

''Violence and intimidation should have no place in today's Ukraine,'' then-spokeswoman for the US State Department Jen Psaki said, urging Kiev to respect the rights of Ukrainians for their ''free expression,'' and effectively condemning the rather weak attempts of Yanukovich to curb the violence.

Who has the right to be anti-Nazi?President Trump has found himself in hot water over the events in Charlottesville for not specifically condemning the far-right activists. Trump's statement regarding the ''egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides,'' was branded in the media as ''extremely unpresidential'' and not forceful enough.

''No doubt the thousands of counter protesters included a fringe of hard-left losers, such as the 'antifa' thugs who seem to relish armed conflict. But the vast bulk of them had nothing to do with 'hatred, bigotry and violence': You don't have to be any kind of radical to be anti-Nazi,'' an editorial in the New York Post reads.

Demands to explicitly condemn intentional acts of violence, however, did not apply to the bloodshed in Ukraine.

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The tragic events in Odessa on May 2014 '' when far-right militants shot and burned alive 48 people in a trade union building '' did not receive any unified international condemnation. Those killed were described in the Western media as ''pro-Kremlin activists,'' and their murderers were called ''Kiev supporters.''

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was visiting the US during the events in Odessa, used it as an opportunity to threaten Russia with new sanctions for the alleged destabilization of Ukraine, while somehow ignoring the neo-Nazis committing the crimes. The current Charlottesville unrest, despite striking similarities, received strong condemnation from Merkel.

''The scenes at the right-wing extremist march were absolutely repulsive '' naked racism, anti-Semitism and hate in their most evil form were on display,'' Merkel's spokesman told reporters. ''Such images and chants are disgusting wherever they may be and they are diametrically opposed to the political goals of the chancellor and the entire German government.''

The probe into the Odessa events has been stalling for the three years, despite publicly available footage and photos showing the actions of the far-right militants, gunshot wounds on the bodies of the victims, and other evidence of the massacre, while the Western media still describes the well-documented events as the ''Russian version.''

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:45

North American slave revolts1526San Miguel de Gualdape(Spanish Florida, Victorious)

c. 1570Gaspar Yanga's Revolt(Veracruz, New Spain, Victorious)

1712 New York Slave Revolt(BritishProvince of New York, Suppressed)

1730 First Maroon War(British Jamaica, Victorious)

1733 St. John Slave Revolt(DanishSaint John, Suppressed)

1739 Stono Rebellion(British Province of South Carolina, Suppressed)

1741 New York Conspiracy(Province of New York, Suppressed)

1760 Tacky's War(British Jamaica, Suppressed)

1787 Abaco Slave Revolt(British Bahamas, Suppressed)

1791 Mina Conspiracy(Louisiana (New Spain), Suppressed)

1795 Pointe Coup(C)e Conspiracy(Louisiana (New Spain), Suppressed)

1791''1804 Haitian Revolution(FrenchSaint-Domingue, Victorious)

1800 Gabriel Prosser(Virginia, Suppressed)

1803 Igbo Landing(St. Simons Island, Georgia, Suppressed)

1805 Chatham Manor(Virginia, Suppressed)

1811 German Coast Uprising(Territory of Orleans, Suppressed)

1814-1816 Battle of Fort Negro(Spanish Florida, Suppressed)

1815 George Boxley(Virginia, Suppressed)

1816 Bussa's Rebellion(British Barbados, Suppressed)

1822 Denmark Vesey(South Carolina, Suppressed)

1831 Nat Turner's rebellion(Virginia, Suppressed)

1831''1832 Baptist War(British Jamaica, Suppressed)

1839 Amistad, ship rebellion(Off the Cuban coast, Victorious)

1841 Creole case, ship rebellion(Off the Southern U.S. coast, Victorious)

1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation(Indian Territory, Suppressed)

1859 John Brown's Raid(Virginia, Suppressed)

Nat Turner's Rebellion (also known as the Southampton Insurrection) was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, during August 1831.[3] Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, the largest and deadliest slave uprising in U.S. history. The rebellion was put down within a few days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months afterwards. The rebellion was effectively suppressed at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, 1831.[4]

There was widespread fear in the aftermath of the rebellion, and white militias organized in retaliation against the slaves. The state executed 56 slaves accused of being part of the rebellion. In the frenzy, many non-participant slaves were punished. Approximately 120 slaves and free African Americans were murdered by militias and mobs in the area.[1][2] Across the South, state legislatures passed new laws prohibiting education of slaves and free black people,[5] restricting rights of assembly and other civil rights for free black people, and requiring white ministers to be present at all worship services.

Nat Turner's background [ edit] Nat Turner was an African-American slave who had lived his entire life in Southampton County, Virginia, an area with predominantly more blacks than whites.[6] After the rebellion, a reward notice described Turner as:

5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 pounds, rather "bright" [light-colored] complexion, but not a mulatto, broad shoulders, larger flat nose, large eyes, broad flat feet, rather knockneed, walks brisk and active, hair on the top of the head very thin, no beard, except on the upper lip and the top of the chin, a scar on one of his temples, also one on the back of his neck, a large knot on one of the bones of his right arm, near the wrist, produced by a blow.[7]

Turner was highly intelligent and learned how to read and write at a young age. He grew up deeply religious and was often seen fasting, praying or immersed in reading the stories of the Bible.[8] He frequently had visions, which he interpreted as messages from God. These visions greatly influenced his life. For instance, when Turner was 21 years old he ran away from his owner, Samuel Turner, but returned a month later after becoming delirious from hunger and receiving a vision that told him to "return to the service of my earthly master".[9] In 1824, while working in the fields under his new owner, Thomas Moore, Turner had his second vision, in which "the Saviour was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and the great day of judgment was at hand".[10] Turner often conducted Baptist services, and preached the Bible to his fellow slaves, who dubbed him "the Prophet".

Turner also had an influence over white people. In the case of Ethelred T. Brantley, Turner said that he was able to convince Brantley to "cease from his wickedness".[11] By the spring of 1828, Turner was convinced that he "was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty".[9] While working in his owner's fields on May 12, Turner "heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first".[12]

In 1830, Joseph Travis purchased Turner and became his master. Turner later recalled that Travis was "a kind master" who had "placed the greatest confidence in" him.[12] Turner eagerly anticipated God's signal to start his task of "slay[ing] my enemies with their own weapons".[12] Turner witnessed a solar eclipse on February 12, 1831, and was convinced that this was the sign for which he was waiting. Following in the steps of the late Denmark Vesey of South Carolina, he started preparations for a "rising" or rebellion against the white slaveholders of Southampton County by purchasing muskets. Turner "communicated the great work laid out [for me] to do, to four in whom I had the greatest confidence" '' his fellow slaves Henry, Hark, Nelson and Sam.[12]

Rebellion [ edit] Turner had originally planned for the rebellion to begin on July 4, 1831, but had fallen ill, pushing the date back until August 22.[13] Turner started with several trusted fellow slaves, and ultimately gathered more than 70 enslaved and free blacks, some of whom were mounted on horseback.[14] On August 13, 1831, an atmospheric disturbance made the sun appear bluish-green. Turner took this as the final signal, and began the rebellion a week later on August 22. The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they encountered.

As muskets and firearms were too difficult to collect and would gather unwanted attention, the rebels used knives, hatchets, axes, and blunt instruments instead of firearms. Historian Stephen B. Oates states that Turner called on his group to "kill all the white people".[15] A contemporary newspaper noted, "Turner declared that 'indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they attained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm.'"[16] The group spared a few homes "because Turner believed the poor white inhabitants 'thought no better of themselves than they did of negroes.'"[15][17]

The rebels spared almost no one whom they encountered, with the exception of a small child who hid in a fireplace among the few survivors. The slaves killed approximately sixty white men, women and children[15] before Turner and his brigade of insurgents were defeated. A white militia with twice the manpower of the rebels and reinforced by three companies of artillery eventually defeated the insurrection.[18]

The Rebecca Vaughan House is the last remaining intact building in Southampton County at which owners and their families were killed in the Nat Turner Insurrection.[19]

Retaliation [ edit] Within a day of the suppression of the rebellion, the local militia and three companies of artillery were joined by detachments of men from the USS Natchez and USS Warren, which were anchored in Norfolk, and militias from counties in Virginia and North Carolina surrounding Southampton.[18] The state executed 56 blacks and militias killed at least 100 blacks.[20] An estimated 120 blacks were killed, most of whom were not involved with the rebellion.[1][2]

Rumors quickly spread among whites that the slave revolt was not limited to Southampton, and that it had spread as far south as Alabama. Fears led to reports in North Carolina that "armies" of slaves were seen on highways, had burned and massacred the white inhabitants of Wilmington, a black-majority city; and were marching on the state capital.[15] Such fear and alarm led to whites' attacking blacks across the South with flimsy cause''the editor of the Richmond Whig, writing "with pain", described the scene as "the slaughter of many blacks without trial and under circumstances of great barbarity."[21] Two weeks after the rebellion had been suppressed, the white violence against the blacks continued. General Eppes ordered troops and white citizens to stop the killing:

He [the General] will not specify all the instances that he is bound to believe have occurred, but pass in silence what has happened, with the expression of his deepest sorrow, that any necessity should be supposed to have existed, to justify a single act of atrocity. But he feels himself bound to declare, and hereby announces to the troops and citizens, that no excuse will be allowed for any similar acts of violence, after the promulgation of this order.[22]

In a letter to the New York Evening Post, Reverend G. W. Powell wrote that "many negroes are killed every day. The exact number will never be known."[23]

A company of militia from Hertford County, North Carolina, reportedly killed 40 blacks in one day and took $23 and a gold watch from the dead.[24] Captain Solon Borland, who led a contingent from Murfreesboro, North Carolina, condemned the acts "because it was tantamount to theft from the white owners of the slaves".[24] Blacks suspected of participating in the rebellion were beheaded by the militia. "Their severed heads were mounted on poles at crossroads as a grisly form of intimidation."[24] A section of Virginia State Route 658 remains labeled as "Blackhead Signpost Road" in reference to these events.[25]

Aftermath [ edit] The rebellion was quashed within two days. In the aftermath of the revolt, officials tried forty-eight black men and women on charges of conspiracy, insurrection, and treason. In total, the state executed 56 people, banished many more, and acquitted 15. The state reimbursed the slaveholders for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 120 black people were killed by white militias and mobs.[1][2]

Turner eluded capture for two months but remained in Southampton County. On October 30, a white farmer named Benjamin Phipps discovered him in a hole covered with fence rails. A trial was quickly arranged; On November 5, 1831, Nat Turner was tried for "conspiring to rebel and making insurrection", convicted, and sentenced to death.[26] When asked if he regretted what he had done, Turner responded, "Was Christ not crucified?"[13] He was hanged on November 11 in Jerusalem, Virginia. Turner's corpse was flayed, beheaded and quartered.[27]

After Turner's capture, a local lawyer, Thomas Ruffin Gray, wrote and published The Confessions of Nat Turner: The Leader of the Late Insurrection in Southampton, Virginia. The book was the result both of Gray's research while Turner was in hiding and of his conversations with Turner before the trial. This document remains the primary window into Turner's mind. Because of the author's obvious conflict of interest as the attorney for other accused participants, historians disagree on how to assess it as insight into Turner. In 1967, William Styron drew from Gray's work in writing his novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize.

Legal response [ edit] In the aftermath of the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion, dozens of suspected rebels were tried in courts called specifically for the purposes of hearing the cases against the slaves. Most of the trials took place in Southampton, but some were held in neighboring Sussex County, as well as a few in other counties. Most slaves were found guilty, many were then executed. Some of those found guilty were transported outside the state but not executed. Fifteen of the slaves tried in Southampton were acquitted. [28] Moreover, some owners of slaves who were killed during the rebellion or its immediate aftermath sought compensation from the legislature; all their petitions were rejected.[29]

The following spring in Richmond, the Virginia General Assembly debated the future of slavery in the state. While some urged gradual emancipation, the pro-slavery side prevailed. The General Assembly passed legislation making it unlawful to teach slaves, free blacks, or mulattoes to read or write, and restricting all blacks from holding religious meetings without the presence of a licensed white minister.[30] Other slave-holding states across the South enacted similar laws restricting activities of slaves and free blacks.[31]

Some free blacks chose to move their families north to obtain educations for their children. Some white people, such as teachers Thomas J. Jackson (later to be famous in the American Civil War as Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson) and Mary Smith Peake, violated the laws and taught slaves to read. Overall, the laws enacted in the aftermath of the Turner Rebellion enforced widespread illiteracy among slaves. As a result, most newly freed slaves and many free blacks in the South were illiterate at the time of the end of the American Civil War.

Freedmen and Northerners considered the issue of education and helping former slaves gain literacy as one of the most critical in the postwar South. Consequently, many northern religious organizations, former Union Army officers and soldiers, and wealthy philanthropists were inspired to create and fund educational efforts specifically for the betterment of African Americans in the South. Although Reconstruction legislatures passed authorization to establish public education for the first time in the South, a system of legal racial segregation was later imposed under Jim Crow laws, and black schools were historically underfunded by southern states.

See also [ edit] References [ edit] ^ abcd Breen 2015, p98, 231 ^ abcd Breen 2015, Chapter 9 and Allmendinger 2014, Appendix F are recent studies which review various estimates for the number of slaves and free blacks killed without trial, giving a range of from 23 killed to over 200 killed and Breen notes on page 231 that "high estimates have been widely accepted in both academic and popular sources". ^ Frederic D. Schwarz "1831: Nat Turner's Rebellion," American Heritage, August/September 2006. ^ Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission Staff (July 1973). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Belmont"(PDF) . Virginia Department of Historic Resources. ^ Gray-White, Deborah; Bay, Mia; Martin Jr, Waldo E. (2013). Freedom on my mind: A History of African of American. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013. p. 225. ^ Drewry, William Sydney (1900). The Southampton Insurrection. Washington, D. C.: The Neale Company. p. 108. ^ Description of Turner included in a $500 reward notice in the Washington National Intelligencer on September 24, 1831. ^ Aptheker (1993), p. 295. ^ ab Gray (1831), p. 9. ^ Gray (1831), p. 10. ^ Gray, Thomas Ruffin (1831). The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrections in Southampton, Va. Southampton, Virginia: Lucas & Deaver. pp. 7''9, 11. ^ abcd Gray (1831), p. 11. ^ ab Foner, Eric (2014). An American History: Give Me Liberty. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 336. ISBN 9780393920338. ^ Aptheker, Herbert (1983). American Negro Slave Revolts (6th ed.). New York: International Publishers. p. 298. ISBN 0-7178-0605-7. ^ abcd Oates, Stephen (October 1973). "Children of Darkness". American Heritage. 24 (6). Retrieved July 17, 2016 . ^ Richmond Enquirer, November 8, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 299. Aptheker notes that the Enquirer was "hostile to the cause Turner espoused." p. 298. ^ Bisson, Terry. Nat Turner: Slave Revolt Leader. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2005. pp. 57''58 ^ ab Aptheker (1993), p. 300. ^ Lynda T. Updike and Katherine K. Futrell (June 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Rebecca Vaughan House"(PDF) . Virginia Department of Historic Resources. ^ Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301, citing the Huntsville, Alabama, Southern Advocate, October 15, 1831. ^ Richmond Whig, September 3, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301. ^ Richmond Enquirer, September 6, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301. ^ New York Evening Post, September 5, 1831, quoted in Aptheker, American Negro Slave Revolts, p. 301. ^ abc Dr. Thomas C., Parramore (1998). Trial Separation: Murfreesboro, North Carolina and the Civil War. Murfreesboro, North Carolina: Murfreesboro Historical Association, Inc. p. 10. LCCN 00503566. ^ Marable, Manning (2006), Living Black History ^ Southampton County Court Minute Book 1830''1835, pp. 121''23. ^ Gibson, Christine (November 11, 2005). "Nat Turner, Lightning Rod". American Heritage Magazine. Archived from the original on April 6, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2009 . ^ Alfred L. Brophy, "The Nat Turner Trials", North Carolina Law Review (June 2013), volume 91: 1817''80. ^ Brophy (2013), pp. 1831''1835 ^ Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion (1992), p. 78 ^ Lewis, Rudolph. "Up From Slavery: A Documentary History of Negro Education". ChickenBones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes. Retrieved September 5, 2007 . Sources [ edit] Herbert Aptheker. American Negro Slave Revolts. 5th edition. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1983 (1943).Kim Warren, "Literacy and Liberation," Reviews in American History Volume 33, Number 4, December 2005, Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University PressVirginia Writers' Program, Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion, Richmond, VA: Virginia State Library, reprint, 1992. ISBN0-88490-173-4.Further reading [ edit] Digital Library on American Slavery, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2015.Herbert Aptheker. American Negro Slave Revolts. 5th edition. New York, NY: International Publishers, 1983 (1943).Herbert Aptheker. Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion. New York, NY: Humanities Press, 1966.Alfred L. Brophy. " "The Nat Turner Trials" North Carolina Law Review (June 2013), volume 91: 1817''80.Patrick H. Breen. The Land Shall Be Deluged in Blood: A New History of the Nat Turner Revolt. New York: Oxford Univiersity Press, 2016.Patrick H. Breen. "Nat Turner's Revolt: Rebellion and Response in Southampton County, Virginia Ph.D. dissertation, University of Georgia, 2005.Scot French. The Rebellious Slave: Nat Turner in American Memory. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. 2004.William Lloyd Garrison, "The Insurrection," The Liberator (September 3, 1831). A contemporary abolitionist's reaction to news of the rebellion.Walter L. Gordon III. The Nat Turner Insurrection Trials: A Mystic Chord Resonates Today (2009). ISBN978-1-4392-2983-5.Thomas R. Gray, The Confessions of Nat Turner, the Leader of the Late Insurrections in Southampton, Va. Baltimore, MD: Lucas & Deaver, 1831. HTML edition at Project Gutenberg.Kenneth S. Greenberg, ed. Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.Nat Turner Project: A Digital Archive of historical sources related to Nat Turner and the Southampton County slave revolt of 1831 Natturnerproject.orgKinohi Nishikawa. "The Confessions of Nat Turner." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 497''98.Stephen B. Oates, The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1990 (1975). ISBN0-06-091670-2.Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.William Styron. The Confessions of Nat Turner. New York, NY: The New American Library,Inc., 1966.Sharon Ewell Foster. The Resurrection of Nat Turner, Part One, The Witness, A Novel (2011). ISBN978-1-4165-7803-1.The Nat Turner Project, a digital library of primary and secondary sources related to the Nat Turner Slave Rebellion

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Source: Turkish Digest

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 03:09

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week launched a fresh barrage of criticism and warnings at banks, charging that they are making unfairly large profits during a time of economic strain.

More:Erdogan Warns Turkish Banks

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 21:48

If you have a medical marijuana card, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says that you can't buy a gun.

The court ruled 3-0 on Wednesday that a ban preventing medical marijuana card holders from purchasing firearms is not in violation of the Second Amendment, the Associated Press reports. There are nine western states under the appeals court's jurisdiction, including Nevada, where the case originated.

A lawsuit was filed in 2011 by Nevada resident S. Rowan Wilson after she tried to purchase a gun for self-defense and was denied based on a federal ban on the sale of guns to users of illegal drugs. Though marijuana has been legalized in some places on a state-by-state basis, it remains illegal under federal law. The court maintained that drug use "raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated."

Wilson claimed that she doesn't actually use marijuana, she simply obtained a card to show her support for its legalization. The appeals court agreed with guidelines from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that firearms sellers should assume that medical marijuana card holders use the drug.

Chaz Rainey, the attorney representing Wilson, said that he plans to appeal the decision. "We live in a world where having a medical marijuana card is enough to say you don't get a gun, but if you're on the no fly list your constitutional right is still protected," he told the AP. He argued that there should be more consistency in how the Second Amendment is applied.

Alex Kreit, marijuana law expert at the San Diego's Thomas Jefferson School of Law, expects that this ruling won't be the last we see of the issue. He told the AP that the ruling may be challenged by people who use medical marijuana who will argue "that they shouldn't be lumped with other drug users in terms of concerns about violence."

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:22

Imagine a world in the not-too-distant future where every human on the planet serves as an autonomous, intelligent sensor system and voluntarily opts into the construct for free? Well welcome to the latest cyborg phenomenon called ''chipping.''

What is ''Chipping''?In its current instantiation, people pay around $300 to have a tattoo artist or other body modification professional insert a small capsule under their skin '' typically between the thumb and index finger. The device, about the size of a grain of rice, is an RFID tag and enables its human host to open doors, unlock computers, or even pay for goods and services.

It's still early days and there are many concerns regarding privacy and security but it's hard to imagine this going away. Wouldn't it be great to simply swipe your hand to whisk through long lines at the airport or purchase that candy bar you're craving in the vending machine? The convenience is just too alluring.

So will we all chip ourselves?Think of all of the possibilities if >7B people were networked into a massive wireless sensor system that could detect all sorts of internal and external environmental conditions '' temperature, humidity, light, radiation, air quality, acceleration, position '' the list is endless. It would be one of the most powerful IoT systems the world has ever known.

Throw in a little AI/ML magic and its predictive capabilities will be amazing and further bridge the physical and digital divide. The Internet will no longer simply be a sea of faceless humming servers and web pages. It will come alive in the truest sense of the word.

And the embedded sensors don't have to simply monitor the natural environment. They can understand your body chemistry and alert you (and medical professionals) to anomalies in serum levels and blood counts; providing an omnipresent early warning system for sickness and disease. They will be able to discern the effectiveness of prescribed drugs in real-time, make diet recommendations on the fly, and tell you what foods you should eat for maximum performance '' whether that's a highly competitive sporting event or just a run-of-the-mill day at the office. No longer will we have to guess or ''get lucky'' when it comes to health, fitness and wellbeing.

Yes, privacy advocates and security professionals will have a field day predicting the dire ramifications of this new world but it won't stop our relentless march toward it. Blockchain technologies, unbreakable encryption, miniaturization, remote charging, and other techniques yet to be invented will win out ultimately.

The benefits of an always-on society simply outweigh the downsides.

We already embed microchips into our most beloved pets to help us find them if they get lost. When do you think we will start chipping children at birth? Many of you may bristle at that thought but it wouldn't surprise me if the practice were commonplace in 10-20 years.

Let's face it '' humans are the perfect sensors. We're rechargeable, self-correcting, mobile, long lasting, and smart by default.

It won't be long before the IoT systems we build directly integrate people into the solution. In some ways we already have but the humans are sitting behind keyboards or swiping on touch screens. The ultimate man machine interface is just around the corner. Strange and exciting times indeed'...

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:15

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 7, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Pedestrians walk along Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. U.S. stocks rose from a six-week low amid an increase in deal activity as traders assessed the outlook for the presidential election and interest rates in the world's largest economy. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 1, 2016 in New York City. As Wall Street continues to feel election uncertainty, the Dow Jones closes fell more than 100 points. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. U.S. stocks fluctuated amid payrolls data that bolstered speculation the economy is strong enough to weather higher interest rates, while investors remained wary before the looming presidential election. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Friday, Nov. 4, 2016. U.S. stocks fluctuated amid payrolls data that bolstered speculation the economy is strong enough to weather higher interest rates, while investors remained wary before the looming presidential election. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 01: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on November 1, 2016 in New York City. As Wall Street continues to feel election uncertainty, the Dow Jones closes fell more than 100 points. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., on Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. U.S. stocks rose from a six-week low amid an increase in deal activity as traders assessed the outlook for the presidential election and interest rates in the world's largest economy. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:13

The technology required to enable fully autonomous cars is not here yet. You'll get no argument from us on that point.

Despite the loftiest of wishes from companies like Uber and Tesla, for now autonomous cars can't seem to stop running red lights...which is a slight issue. And that says nothing about the societal transformation required to fully adopt such technology which will likely span a generation. Let's face it, just like grandma refused to adopt the e-commerce revolution, there are certain people who will simply never trust a computer to drive them around.

All that said, it is inevitable that, at some point in the future, autonomous vehicles will be the norm. And, when that day comes, it will undoubtedly wreak further havoc on a U.S. job market where 95 million people have already decided they would rather sit at home than look for a job...at least according to a new study from the U.S. Commerce Department.

According to the study released last week, nearly 4 million jobs in the U.S. could be completely eliminated by autonomous vehicle technology while closer 16 million will be radically transformed.

The expected introduction of autonomous, or ''self-driving,'' vehicles (AVs) promises to have a potentially profound impact on labor demand. This paper explores this potential effect by identifying the occupations most likely to be directly affected by the business adoption of autonomous vehicles.

In 2015, 15.5 million U.S. workers were employed in occupations that could be affected (to varying degrees) by the introduction of automated vehicles. This represents about one in nine workers.

We divide these occupations into ''motor vehicle operators'' and ''other on-the-job drivers.'' Motor vehicle operators are occupations for which driving vehicles to transport persons and goods is a primary activity, are more likely to be displaced by AVs than other driving-related occupations. In 2015, there were 3.8 million workers in these occupations. These workers were predominately male, older, less educated, and compensated less than the typical worker. Motor vehicle operator jobs are most concentrated in the transportation and warehousing sector.

Other on-the-job drivers use roadway motor vehicles to deliver services or to travel to work sites, such as first responders, construction trades, repair and installation, and personal home care aides. In 2015, there were 11.7 million workers in these occupations and they are mostly concentrated in construction, administrative and waste management, health care, and government. Other-on-the-job drivers may be more likely to benefit from greater productivity and better working conditions offered by AVs than motor vehicle operator occupations.

So which professions will be hit the hardest? Well, the Commerce Department says that 65% of the most obvious job losses will likely come from the long and short-haul commercial delivery businesses.

Of course, the direct driving job losses say nothing about the 2nd-derivative losses that will also inevitably come. For instance, consider our post from almost exactly one year ago in which we argued that autonomous cars could double the capacity utilization of passenger vehicles thus cutting a 'normalized' auto SAAR in half (see: Ford Announces Plans To Self-Destruct Starting In 2021).

So what do we mean when we say an autonomous car pretty much ensures Ford's demise? To be clear, we're not specifically targeting Ford...the whole auto industry is in serious trouble when truly autonomous driving arrives. Below is a little math to help illustrate the point.

Right now there are roughly 250mm light-duty passenger cars on the road in the U.S. (that's about 1 car per driving age person, btw, which is fairly astounding by itself). American's travel roughly 3 trillion miles per year in aggregate which which means that each car travels an average of 12k miles per year. Now if you assume the average rate of travel is 45 miles per hour then you'll find that each car is implied to be on the road for an average of about 45 minutes per day. That's a capacity utilization of about 3% (see table below for quick math).

A 3% capacity utilization ratio is, needless to say, fairly terrible. We don't imagine too many CFOs would model capital allocation decisions based on a 3% capacity utilization for fixed assets. That said, individuals are forced to underwrite car purchases to a 3% capacity utilization because they have no choice. People have to get to work and 100% reliance on public transit options as just not feasible for most people in this country.

That is, until the arrival of completely autonomous vehicles. The problem with mass transit is that people still need a car to get back and forth to the train station or bus stop. The problem with Ubers/Taxis is that they're expensive for daily use due primarily to the labor overhead that's built into your per mile rate. But fully autonomous vehicles solve both those problems. Now, people will have the option of a vehicle at their beck and call without having to fund the upfront capital cost of a purchase and/or the per unit human capital costs inherent in taking an Uber. In other words, the per mile rental rate of a fully autonomous car should be competed down to a level that provides an adequate return solely on the cost of the vehicle...no wages, no benefits, none of the typical hassles associated with employing people. Or, said another way, taking an Uber is going to get really freaking cheap.

But the best part is that capacity utilization with fully autonomous cars can skyrocket driving per unit costs even lower for passengers. For example, when you drive to work right now your car sits there all day until you drive home. In the autonomous car world, that car will drive you to work then go pick up multiple other people to do the same thing. Now, if capacity utilization doubles from just 3% to 6% all of sudden half the number of cars are required in the US which means annual SAAR goes from ~17mm to ~8.5mm...which means Ford and GM likely find themselves in another bailout situation.

And, if you're making half the cars, guess how many people you need to make them?

Oh well, at least there's always that McDonalds job to fall back on...oh wait...

The full Commerce Department study can be viewed here:

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:27

woensdag 16 augustus 2017, 5:30Als het aan Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) ligt, verdwijnt de herenfiets uit het straatbeeld.

Simpelweg omdat het rijden op een stalen ros met stang te veel onnodige verkeersgewonden oplevert, pleit de veiligheidsclub samen met jongerenorganisatie TeamAlert voor nog maar (C)(C)n soort rijwiel: de uniseks fiets.

Deze fiets, zonder hoge stang, moet het aantal gewonden na een fietsongeluk terugdringen. 'žUit Zweeds onderzoek met crashtests blijkt dat herenfietsen gevaarlijker zijn dan rijwielen met een lage instap'', zegt Jos(C) de Jong van VVN.

'žZo raakt het hoofd bij een valpartij eerder de grond dan bijvoorbeeld de schouder of heup, omdat de bestuurder van een herenfiets meer voorovergebogen op de fiets zit.''

LEES VERDER:Heren van de stang gejaagd; VVN pleit voor 'genderneutrale' fiets

Meer artikelen in Nieuws

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:54

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 11:50

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Source: Washington Free Beacon

Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:33

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 04:11

I find it interesting that Chinese TV is more interested in NAFTA renegotiation than most U.S., Canada or Mexico media. Against the backdrop of China exploiting NAFTA as a backdoor into the U.S. market we accept this disparate level of interest is not accidental. China is specifically the ''third party dumper'' mentioned by Robert Lighthizer.

The negotiations can have as many as six rounds; each round lasting 5 days; two rounds in each nation, over the course of three months, with each round tackling a different economic sector.

It is also entirely possible they could also end sooner, much sooner.

The introductory remarks by Trade representatives from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. can be considerably enlightening for those who review the transparent political agendas behind the trade discussions. I have a spidey sense these first round negotiations might not even make it to Sunday.

In the video below it is interesting to watch Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, outline her priorities (also here in more detail). Ms. Freeland gives her remarks in English, Spanish and French. If you can watch Freeland without A.) Laughing hysterically, or B.) punching your TV/Computer screen, well, you're Job.

Through Ms. Freedlan's leadership '' Canada is focused on ensuring a ''progressive trade agenda''. She is demanding a focus on LGBTQ, and specifically transgender rights in the trade deal, in addition to cultural sensitivity aspects, and climate change. Go figure.

Remarks begin at 04:50 of video with a quick housekeeping set up by Robert Lighthizer.

'...Ms. Freeland remarks begin at 06:00 .

'...Mr. Guajardo remarks at 12:45 and

'...Ambassador Lighthizer at 17:50 .

.

The Mexicans are already offended, and it's only the opening remarks:

Tough, rude opening statement on #NAFTA today by Lighthizer, a breach of traditional protocol for host country, some on the Mexican side say https://t.co/6CNhfLY3OL

'-- Jos(C) D­az-Brise±o (@diazbriseno) August 16, 2017

And now you know why Canada desperately wants to keep the Chapter 19 dispute settlement clause. '' EXPLAINED HERE ''

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 03:23

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 02:09

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZLEZ: We begin today's show in Durham, North Carolina, where a crowd of activists toppled a Confederate statue in Durham on Monday, just two days after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The crowd of activists shouted "We are the revolution," as a college student named Takiyah Thompson climbed up a ladder, looped [a rope] around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse and then pulled the statue to the ground as the crowd erupted in cheers.

PROTESTERS : We are the revolution! No cops, no KKK , no fascist U.S.A.! No cops, no KKK , no fascist U.S.A.!

AMY GOODMAN : On Tuesday, Takiyah Thompson was arrested on two charges of felony inciting a riot and three misdemeanor charges'--injury to personal property, injury to real property and defacing a statue. She spoke in Durham just before she was arrested.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : I think what we did was the best way, and not just the best way, but the only way, because the state and the Klan and white supremacists have been collaborating. Right? So what we did, not only was it right, it was just. I did the right thing. Everyone who was there, the people did the right thing. And the people will continue to keep making the right choices until every Confederate statue is gone, until white supremacy is gone. That statute is where it belongs, right? It needs to be in the garbage, incinerated, like every statue'--every Confederate statue and every vestige of white supremacy has to go.

AMY GOODMAN : Takiyah Thompson, speaking in Durham, North Carolina. Shortly after she spoke, she was arrested, given a $10,000 unsecured bond. She was released last night, heads to court this morning. But just before she does, she joins us here on Democracy Now! Takiyah Thompson is a student at North Carolina Central University and a member of Workers World Party, Durham branch.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Takiyah. I know you're under enormous pressure as you head to court for'--after being arrested for climbing a ladder, looping a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument and pulling down the statue. Talk about why you engaged in this, and exactly what you did.

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : OK. I participated in a march and a rally. And I decided to climb to the top of the Confederate soldiers statue and put the rope around its neck and throw the rope down to the crowd. And the crowd could decide if they wanted to pull it down or not. And I did this because the statue is a symbol of nationalism, and it's a symbol of white nationalism. And the type of white nationalism I'm talking about is the type of white nationalism that is sending me death threats on Facebook. I'm talking about the type of white nationalist that, you know, has killed a woman in a protest. We're talking about the type of white nationalism that would drive a car at high speeds into a crowd of women and children. And I think vestiges of that, and I think anything that emboldens those people and anything that gives those people pride, needs to be crushed in the same way that they want to crush black people and the other groups that they target.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And, Takiyah, could you talk about how the events in Charlottesville influenced you or affected you, especially, obviously, the stunning symbols of those marches with torches on Friday night through the campus of the University of Virginia?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : Well, when I look at Charlottesville, I look at Durham, North Carolina. I look at Richmond, Virginia. I look at Atlanta. I look at Georgia. I look at Stone Mountain. I look at the entirety of America and American history. And I know that Charlottesville is Durham, North Carolina. Charlottesville is America. The sentiment that was expressed in Charlottesville is part and parcel of what built this country. And I know that Charlottesville can erupt anywhere.

AMY GOODMAN : Can you talk about what happened when you were arrested, Takiyah? Where did they take you? You now had to post'--cover $10,000 bond?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : Right. Being arrested was in and out. I think the powers that be knew that if I wasn't released in a timely manner, that, politically, that would not be a good move for them. So, I was in and out very quickly. As soon as I got there, people inside were recognizing me, so I know that they knew that, with the climate and the situation in the city, that they had to release me.

AMY GOODMAN : You're charged with felony inciting a riot, three misdemeanor charges'--injury to personal property, injury to real property and defacing a statue. Your answer to those charges?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : The sheriff, Andrews, and the establishment want to make a political prisoner of me, and they want to make an example of me. And they want to scare people, and they want to scare black people, and they want to scare people of color, and they want to scare people who are reclaiming their agency. And they can't, as we have seen. I haven't been keeping up with the headlines, but listening to the headlines from today, you can't keep your foot on people's neck forever. And people are going to rise up, as we're seeing throughout this country. We're seeing the rise of white nationalism, and we're seeing the rise of actual resistance. And I'm not talking about writing your senator. I'm not talking about casting a ballot in a voting booth. I'm talking about voting with your actions. And people are doing that right now.

JUAN GONZLEZ: I want to turn to President Trump speaking Tuesday at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP : Are we going to take down statues to George'--how about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him?

REPORTER : I do love Thomas Jefferson.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP : OK, good. Are we going to take down the statue? Because he was a major slave owner. Now, are we going to take down his statue?

JUAN GONZLEZ: Takiyah, what are you'--what's your response to the president equating the actions that have been occurring now with the'--with taking the statues of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : I think he knows what he's doing. I don't know how to'--I'm not sure how to express how I feel about that, but I feel as though the people will decide. And we live in a representative democracy. And our representatives are supposed to enforce our will. And when our representatives fail to enforce our will, then the people are left with no choice but to do it themselves. So, in this instance, I can't really speak to whether or not people want statues of whoever removed, but if the people do, then the people will do it, and the people will find a way.

AMY GOODMAN : Takiyah, you're certainly not alone in wanting statues taken down. Just today in the headlines, members of the Congressional Black Caucus have revived calls to remove all the Confederate monuments from the halls of Congress. People were protesting in places like Memphis, Tennessee, a large crowd linking arms, surrounding a monument of the former Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In fact, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate soldier, the monument to him in Charlottesville is what's at the core of the controversy here, that they're taking it down, said he did not believe in Confederate monuments. But Democratic Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, your governor, initially tweeted racism is "unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments." On Tuesday, he unequivocally said the statues must come down. And this is what he said.

GOV . ROY COOPER : Unlike an African-American father, I'll never have to explain to my daughters why there exists a monument for those who wished to keep her and her ancestors in chains. Some people cling to the belief that the Civil War was fought over states' rights. But history is not on their side. We can't continue to glorify a war against the United States of America, fought in the defense of slavery. These monuments should come down.

AMY GOODMAN : So, your governor is saying these monuments should come down. You just took one down. He says, though, there's a better way. Your response, Takiyah?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : I'm going to let the governor breathe for now. I'm glad he made that statement. And'--

AMY GOODMAN : Did he make that statement after you took the monument down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : I'm sorry, could you'--what was that?

AMY GOODMAN : Did he make that statement after you took that monument down?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : Yes, yeah, yeah. My problem with his initial statement was that he's like, you know, "There's no place for racism," and then he goes on to say, "But there's a better way." And if there was a better way, we wouldn't have been waiting almost a hundred years to do that. And like I've been trying to reiterate over and over again is that there is no "but" when we're talking about racism, right? There is no "but" when we're talking about people's right to life and people's right to not be psychologically attacked with these dehumanizing images. So, there's only a right side and a wrong side. But I'm glad he did release that statement, and I'll let him breathe.

AMY GOODMAN : Takiyah, I know you have to go right now to court, but I want to ask you: The effect that Bree Newsome and her act two years ago in South Carolina, when she shimmied up the flagpole of the Confederate flag on the grounds of the South Carolina state Capitol and took down the Confederate flag, what kind of effect that had on you in your actions this week?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : Well, earlier this week, I spoke to some news, and they asked me like what was I thinking when I was going up the steps. And my response was that as I was going up the steps, I was thinking about the history of like black nationalist organizing and black nationalist struggle and black struggle, and I was thinking about my ancestors, and included in that is Bree Newsome. I could not have'--you know, she created a model of possibility for me. And I was thinking about her. I was thinking about people who believe in people's power and the power that they have within themselves. I was thinking about people like Kwame Ture. I was thinking about people like Ella Baker, organizers, grassroots people, who give power to the people and let them decide.

AMY GOODMAN : And finally, Takiyah, Heather Heyer is being buried today. There is a memorial for her, a major memorial, in Charlottesville. She was on the streets, killed by the white supremacist who plowed his crowd [sic] into the anti-fascist protesters'--plowed his car. What are your thoughts about Heather today, a white ally in this struggle?

TAKIYAH THOMPSON : My thoughts about Heather's murder is that it's a tragic death, especially to be killed so violently and so brutally. My condolences to her family. May she rest in power. And I won't stop fighting, and the people won't stop fighting, against people who did this, right? And we're not fighting against hatred, right? We're fighting against an ideology. We're fighting against a system, right? When you create a pseudoscience to prove your superior'--superiority to the world, we're talking about more than just hate, right? We're talking about something a lot bigger than that. Of course this ideology is rooted in hate, but we're talking about systems, systems of government'--right?'--systems of disenfranchisement. And that's what we're fighting against. And we won't stop until we have equality and we have justice.

AMY GOODMAN : Takiyah Thompson, I want to thank you for being with us. Takiyah now heads to court. She's a student at North Carolina Central University. She climbed up a ladder this week, after the Charlottesville attack, looped a rope around the top of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse, pulled the statue to the ground.

This is Democracy Now! When we come back, Bree Newsome joins us from Charlotte, North Carolina. Stay with us.

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 01:52

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan Gonzlez.

JUAN GONZLEZ: President Trump is facing widespread criticism for his latest comments on the deadly white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Speaking at Trump Tower Tuesday, Trump said the violence was in part caused by what he called the "alt-left."

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP : OK, what about the "alt-left" that came charging at'--excuse me. What about the "alt-left"? They came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? What'--let me ask you this: What about the fact they came charging'--that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do. So, you know, as far as I'm concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day. Wait a minute, I'm not finished. I'm not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day.

REPORTER : Mr. President, are you putting what you're calling the "alt-left" and white supremacists on the same moral plane?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP : I'm not putting anybody on a moral plane. What I'm saying is this: You had a group on one side, and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs, and it was vicious, and it was horrible, and it was a horrible thing to watch. But there is another side. There was a group on this side'--you can call them the left, you've just called them the left'--that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that's the way it is.

AMY GOODMAN : President Trump's comments were widely decried. Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney tweeted, "No, not the same. One side is racist, bigoted, Nazi. The other opposes racism and bigotry. Morally different universes," unquote. Earlier this week, Cornel West appeared on Democracy Now!. He painted a very different picture of Charlottesville than President Trump, saying anarchists and anti-fascists saved his life.

CORNEL WEST : Absolutely. You had a number of the courageous students, of all colors, at the University of Virginia who were protesting against the neofascists themselves. The neofascists had their own ammunition. And this is very important to keep in mind, because the police, for the most part, pulled back. The next day, for example, those 20 of us who were standing, many of them clergy, we would have been crushed like cockroaches if it were not for the anarchists and the anti-fascists who approached, over 300, 350 anti-fascists. We just had 20. And we're singing "This Little light of Mine," you know what I mean? So that the'--

AMY GOODMAN : "Antifa" meaning anti-fascist.

CORNEL WEST : The anti-fascists, and then, crucial, the anarchists, because they saved our lives, actually. We would have been completely crushed, and I'll never forget that.

AMY GOODMAN : To look more at the anti-fascist movement, known as antifa, we're joined by Mark Bray, lecturer at Dartmouth College. His new book, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.

First, pronounce it for us, Mark, and then talk about antifa.

MARK BRAY : Yes, well, it's pronounced on'-tee-fah. The emphasis is on the first syllable, and it's pronounced more on than an, so on'-tee-fah. It's commonly mispronounced. But antifa, of course, is short for anti-fascist.

And, you know, President Trump's comments that the alt'--quote-unquote, "alt-left" and alt-right are equivalent moral forces is really historically misinformed and morally bankrupt. The anti-fascist movement has a global history that stretches back over'--about a century. You can trace them to Italian opposition to Mussolini's Blackshirts, German opposition to Hitler's Brownshirts, anti-fascists from around the world who had traveled to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War. More recently, modern antifa can largely trace its roots to the anti-fascist movement in Britain in the '70s, and the postwar period more generally, that was responding to a xenophobic backlash against predominantly Caribbean and South Asian migration, also to the German autonomous movement of the '80s, which, really, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, had to respond to a really unprecedented neo-Nazi wave'--unprecedented in the postwar period, of course.

And then, in the United States, we can look at anti-racist action in the 1980s, 1990s and the early 2000s, which took some of these methods of confronting neo-Nazis and fascists wherever they assemble, shutting down their organizing and, as they said, going where they go. Today, in an article I wrote for The Washington Post called "Who are the antifa?" I explain this and show how today's antifa in the United States are really picking up the tradition where these groups left off. And their movement has really accelerated with the unfortunate ascendance of the alt-right following President Trump.

The other minor note I want to make before we continue is that antifa is really only one faction of a larger movement against white supremacy that dates back centuries and includes a whole number'--there are a whole number of groups that fight against similar foes, sometimes using the same methods, that aren't necessarily anti-fascists. So, it's important not to subsume the entire anti-racist movement within this sort of one category.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And, Mark Bray, in your book'--and I want to quote a few lines from it'--you say, "Most people have an 'all-or-nothing' understanding of fascism that prevents them from taking fascists seriously until they seize power. ... Very few really believe that there is any serious chance of a fascistic regime ever materializing in America." And I'm wondering about that and the importance of understanding that concept of yours, for those who are looking at what's happening today in America.

MARK BRAY : Right. So, the way people understand fascism, or the way they've been taught about it, is generally exclusively in terms of regimes. So, the thought goes, as long as we have parliamentary government, we're safe. But we can look back to the historical examples of Italy and Germany and see that, unfortunately, parliamentary government was insufficient to prevent the stop'--to prevent the rise of fascism and Nazism, and actually provided a red carpet to their advance. So, because of that reason, people think of fascism in terms of all or nothing, regime or nothing.

But we can see in Charlottesville that any amount of neo-Nazi organizing, any amount of a fascist presence, is potentially fatal. And, unfortunately, Heather Heyer paid the price for that. So that's partly why anti-fascists argue that fascism must be nipped in the bud from the beginning, that any kind of organizing needs to be confronted and responded to. Even if, you know, people are spending most of their time on Twitter making jokes, it's still very serious and needs to be confronted.

AMY GOODMAN : Can you'--can you talk about'--I mean, very interesting, during the South Carolina protests against the white supremacists, there were flags of Republicans in Spain fighting Franco.

MARK BRAY : Right. So, one of the most iconic moments in anti-fascist history is the Spanish Civil War, and, from an international perspective, the role of the International Brigades, brave anti-fascists who came from dozens of countries around the world to stand up to Franco's forces. Franco had the institutional support of Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy, whereas the Republican side really only had support of the Soviet Union, which, as I discuss in my book, had a lot of problematic aspects to it. So, if we look at the role of the International Brigades, we can see that anti-fascists view their struggle as transnational and transhistorical. And so, today, if you go to an anti-fascist demonstration in Spain, for example, the flag of the International Brigades, the flag of the Spanish Republic is ubiquitous. And these symbols, even the double flags of anti-fascism that people will frequently see at demonstrations, often one being red, one being black, was originally developed as a German symbol, which, in its earliest incarnation, dates back to the 1930s. So, it's important to look at antifa not just as sort of a random thought experiment that some crazy kids came up with to respond to the far right, but rather a tradition that dates back a century.

JUAN GONZLEZ: You also talk, in your examples, of other countries, not only the period of the 1930s and '40s, but more recent periods, in England in the '80s, and in Greece, as well, even more recently, and the importance of direct action by anti-fascists to nip in the bud or to beat back the rise of fascist movements.

MARK BRAY : Right. So, part of what I try to do with my book, Antifa, is draw certain historical lessons from the early period of anti-fascist struggle that can be applied to the struggle today. One of them is that it doesn't take a lot of organized fascists to sometimes develop a really powerful movement. We can see that recently with the rise of Golden Dawn, the fascist party in Greece, which, prior to the financial crisis, was really a tiny micro-party and considered a joke by most. Subsequently, they became a major party in Greek politics and a major threat, a violent, deadly threat, to migrants and leftists and people of all stripes across Greek society. This was also true back in the early part of the 20th century, when Mussolini's initial fascist nucleus was a hundred people. When Hiller first attended his first meeting of the German Workers' Party, which he later transformed into the Nazi Party, they had 54 members. So, we need to see that there's always a potential for small movements to become large.

And one of the other lessons of the beginning of the 20th century is that people did not take fascism and Nazism seriously until it was too late. That mistake will never be made again by anti-fascists, who will recognize that any manifestation of these politics is dangerous and needs to be confronted as if it could be the nucleus of some sort of deadly movement or regime of the future.

AMY GOODMAN : I wanted you to talk, Mark Bray, about the presence of Stephen Bannon and Sebastian Gorka and Stephen Miller in the White House and what that means to antifa, to the anti-fascist movement.

MARK BRAY : Right. Well, the other side of it is it's not just about how many people are part of fascist or neo-Nazi groups. It's also about the fact that far-right politics have the ability to infiltrate and influence and direct mainstream politics. And we can see that with the alt-right. The alt-right is not really actually a lot of people in terms of numbers, but they've had a disproportionate influence on the Trump administration and certain aspects of public discourse. So, the presence of Bannon and Gorka and Miller in the White House really just gives some sort of a hint as to why it is that Trump yesterday basically said there are good people on both sides of this conflict, that Friday night, when there were neo-Nazis wielding torches in Nazi style and they attacked nonviolent UVA student protesters, that he said, "Oh, well, you know, these are good people."

So, part of it is the organized street presence, but, as we saw, by confronting the organized street presence in Charlottesville, this created the question of just how bad these people are, because'--you played earlier, Mitt Romney condemned the fact that there could be blame ascribed to both sides. Well, prior to Charlottesville, that was the dominant media narrative. Most mainstream media was saying, "Oh, well, we have, quote-unquote, 'violence' on both sides. Hands up. Who's to say who's right or wrong?" But by confronting this, by putting it in the spotlight, by shining a light on what these people really think, it's shifted the public discourse and pushed back the ability of some of these alt-right figures to try and cloak their fascism.

JUAN GONZLEZ: And what do you say, for instance, to those who maybe are opposed to the viewpoints of the white nationalists and white supremacists, but also attempt to condemn any attempts to shut them'--shut them down or not allow them to speak? Or'--and, obviously, the American Civil Liberties Union fought for the right of the Charlottesville'--the white nationalists to have their rally in Charlottesville.

MARK BRAY : Right. Well, the question of how to combat fascism, I think, always needs to come back to discussions of the 1930s and 1940s. So, clearly, we can see that rational discourse and debate was insufficient. Clearly, we can see that the mechanisms of parliamentary government were insufficient. We need to be able to come up with a way to say, "How can we make sure never again?" By any means necessary, this can never happen again. And the people back there who witnessed these atrocities committed themselves to that.

So the question is: OK, if you don't think that it's appropriate to physically confront and to stand in front of neo-Nazis who are trying to organize for another genocide now, do you do it after someone has died, as they just did? Do you do it after a dozen people have died? Do you do it once they're at the footsteps of power? At what point? At what point do you say, "Enough is enough," and give up on the liberal notion that what we need to do is essentially create some sort of a regime of rights that allow neo-Nazis and their victims to coexist, quote-unquote, "peacefully," and recognize that the neo-Nazis don't want that and that also the anti-fascists are right in not looking at it through that liberal lens, but rather seeing fascism not as an opinion that needs to be responded to respectfully, but as an enemy to humanity that needs to be stopped by any means necessary?

AMY GOODMAN : This is Part 1 of our conversation, Mark Bray. We'll do Part 2 and post it online at democracynow.org. Mark Bray is the author of a book that is coming out in the next few weeks called Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. He is a lecturer at Dartmouth College.

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 22:59

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 11:45

2017-08-15T15:58:26-04:00 https://images.c-span.org/Files/5d9/1502827644.jpg President Trump delivered a statement on infrastructure policy. Afterward, he answered questions from reporters on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the previous weekend. When asked why he waited two days to condemn specifically white supremacist groups and Nazis, he responded ''before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.'' He also criticized so-called alt-left groups and said there was ''blame on both sides'' President Trump delivered a statement on infrastructure policy. Afterward, he answered questions from reporters on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the'... read more

President Trump News Conference President Trump delivered a statement on infrastructure policy. Afterward, he answered questions from reporters on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the previous weekend. When asked why he waited two days to condemn specifically white supremacist groups and Nazis, he responded ''before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.'' He also criticized so-called alt-left groups and said there was ''blame on both sides'' close

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 10:02

Correspondent Elle Reeve primarily follows white nationalist leader Christopher Cantwell throughout the 22-minute piece. Interspersed throughout are interviews with ex-KKK leader David Duke prominent white nationalists Robert Ray and Matthew Heimbach, and counter-protesters like Charlottesville locals and members of Black Lives Matter.

Most heart-wrenchingly, there is footage of the driver who killed Heather Heyer while she was crossing the street and the horrifying aftermath '• the wailing in the streets, the passersby covered in blood that is not theirs, the shocked faces.

Reeve also takes us into Cantwell's hotel room, his bed covered in weaponry, where he tells us he anticipates even more violent protests.

This account of Charlottesville, from the inside, is a raw and unfiltered look at America today. And it is truly terrifying.

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:41

A total of 247 U.S. army personnel are suspected to have taken their own lives between January and SeptemberThis compares to 222 combat deaths in Afghanistan to October 22CNN founder claims it's time to put war and conflict behind us and 'start acting like civilized, educated human beings'By Helen Pow

Published: 16:48 EDT, 25 October 2012 | Updated: 17:00 EDT, 25 October 2012

CNN founder Ted Turner says he thinks it's 'good' that U.S. soldiers are committing suicide in large numbers because it highlights how humans are 'born to love and help each other, not to kill.'

The 73-year-old media mogul made the controversial remarks during an appearance on the TV station's 'Piers Morgan Tonight' last Friday, shortly after the army's latest figures on troop suicides were released.

The data shows that more army personnel have taken their own lives this year than have died in combat in Afghanistan.

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Army suicides: CNN founder Ted Turner, pictured, has claimed that military suicides are positive because they highlights how humans are 'born to love and help each other, not to kill'

Referring to the startling figures, Morgan says to Turner: 'That's shocking isn't it?'

But Turner doesn't agree, and almost goes as far as to say army suicides are 'terrific.'

'Well, what -- no, I think it's -- I think it's good, because it's so clear that we're programmed and we're born to love and help each other, not to kill each other, to destroy each other,' he says. 'That's an aberration. That's left over from hundreds of years ago. It's time for to us start acting enlightened.'

Earlier in the interview, Morgan asks Turner's view on foreign policy, and whether he believes America should continue to be the world's policeman.

'I don't think we should need one,' Turner replies. 'I think we should use courts the way we do in civilian life. It's time to put war and conflict behind us and move on, and start acting like civilized, educated human beings.'

Controversial: The 73-year-old media mogul, pictured right, made the controversial remarks during an appearance on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' last Friday

Even before not-yet-released data from October, the number of suicides among active and reserve army personnel this year has surpassed the number of combined military combat deaths from January to October 22, according to CNS News.

A total of 247 U.S. army personnel are believed to have taken their own lives between January and September this year, army data shows. This compares to 222 deaths from 'hostile causes' in Afghanistan.

The figures, collated by the Brookings Institution, show an extra 40 troops were killed by 'non-hostile causes' while on deployments in the country.

This means their deaths were not caused by the Taliban, insurgency forces or Afghan forces.

The latest army statistics, released last Friday, show 15 active duty soldiers are suspected of killing themselves last month alone. The same number of potential suicides was recorded in August.

'Every suicide in our ranks is a tragic loss for the Army family, adversely affecting the readiness of our Army,' Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, said in a Department of Defense release.

Suicides: A total of 247 U.S. soldiers are suspected to have taken their own lives between January and September this year, army data shows

Combat killings: The high number of suicides compares to 222 deaths from 'hostile causes' in Afghanistan between January and October 22

'I am asking soldiers, family members, Department of the Army civilians, neighbors, and friends to look out for each other and reach out and embrace those who may be struggling,' he said.

'Recognize the warning signs such as substance abuse, relationship problems, and withdrawal from friends and activities and use available resources to help yourself or others. Our actions can save lives.'

For the year up to September, 146 potential suicides were recorded among active-duty army personnel and an additional 101 possible suicides were recorded for troops not on active duty.

Marine Corps commandment James Amos said the problem wasn't confined to the army and that all armed services were experiencing a 'tough year' when it came to suicides, according to CNS.news.

'Even with the attention of the leadership, I think all the services this year are feeling it,' Amos said.

'I guess what I would tell everybody here is there is, through no shortage of great effort and leadership on the part of all the services to try to abate this, but this year, I think, is going to be a tough year for all the services.'

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Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:18

By now, most of the world has heard of the hacker group, ''Anonymous''. They have previously been responsible for hacks of government websites, websites of large corporations and even ISIS. Today, however, they have decided to declare war on white supremacists, in what they are referring to as ''Operation Domestic Terrorism''.

In doing so, they have released a rather frightening video threatening white supremacists around the country, especially those who took part in what they refer to as ''The Battle of Charlottesville''. The 6-minute-plus video, seen below, shows some of the horrific clips recorded from the Charlottesville march as a computer voice-over outlines their plan of attack.

As you can see, they also directly attack President Trump for failing to single out these white supremacists, saying:''We are angry, angry because there is an administration in the White House that has sold its moral or ethical obligation to represent the citizens of the United States in exchange for individuals who believe themselves to be superior to those who do not look like them or follow their sadistic ideologies. Anonymous has made it clear that it will not stand by as this bigotry continues to perpetuate. We are taking a stand against an intolerant evil that must be crushed.''

The video goes on to specifically target certain known white supremacists including Andrew Anglin, the founder of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, which has had it's domain registration banned from the likes of GoDaddy and Google following articles which attacked the woman who was brutally murdered in Charlottesville.

Anonymous' threats toward Anglin were downright frightening: ''If you value your life, Mr Anglin, you will need to flee the country. We will find you, we promise,'' Anonymous stated.

Others who were specifically named included white supremacists David Duke, Jason Kessler, and Richard Spencer.

''To everyone else who shares the white supremacist ideology, and that includes the likes of Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler, and David Duke, you are not safe,'' Anonymous stated. ''The blood of Heather is on your hands. And you will pay for it in blood.''

Most of the time when you hear about hackers, they are viewed in a negative light, but in this instance it appears as though Anonymous is on the good side of the fight, fighting for the freedom and equality of all human beings. With this said, however, we never condone threats of violence toward anyone, and this video seems to be taking things too far.

What do you think about ''Operation Domestic Terrorism''? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 22:28

Episode Info: Sam talks to white people '-- and only white people '-- about Charlottesville. This episode: UVA history professor Grace Hale, NPR's Sarah McCammon, and developmental psychologist Amy Roberson Hayes, plus some calls to our listeners. Email the show at samsanders@npr.org and follow Sam on Twitter @samsanders.Read more >>

Episode Info: Sam talks to white people '-- and only white people '-- about Charlottesville. This episode: UVA history professor Grace Hale, NPR's Sarah McCammon, and developmental psychologist Amy Roberson Hayes, plus some calls to our listeners. Email the show at samsanders@npr.org and follow Sam on Twitter @samsanders.Read Less

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 13:09

Paris Dennard already appeared for one heated debate on CNN today, but he returned later to face off with Cornel West for a discussion about President Trump and Charlottesville. It was quite the collision.

As West talked about his participation in the counter-protests, he eventually blasted Trump for having no ''moral credibility'' and fueling racial division across the country. Anderson Cooper followed this by asking Dennard about why Trump has a recurring tendency to avoid directly condemning his white nationalist supporters until he's forced to do so under political pressure.

As Cooper and Dennard debated Trump's response to Charlottesville and his support from white supremacists, West interjected that Dennard was ''checkmated'' by the facts, and Trump is a lier. When West invoked the death of Heather Heyer and accused Dennard of defending Trump ''in order to keep his job,'' the sparring match promptly began.

Here's a rough transcript of the cross-talk:

Dennard: Dr. West, please don't insinuate that I wasn't raised correctly, and please don't insinuate when you don't have the facts about who employs me.

West: ''If you're going to lie, you're going to lie for the president. He's lying.''

Dennard: ''Dr. West, I am not employed by Donald Trump. I'm not employed by the White House. I have'...''

West: ''Then why are you defending a liar? Why defend the liar in general?''

Dennard: I'm not defending a liar.

West: ''He's lying when he said he didn't know about David Duke.''

Dennard: ''Well I don't know that to be true'...''

West continued to decry Trump for his ''neo-fascist sensibilities'' and fueling hostility against minority groups. Dennard, for his part, continued to applaud Trump for taking a strong stance and expanding on his initial ''many sides'' address on Charlottesville.

Watch above, via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

'-- '--

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Tue, 15 Aug 2017 02:35

Hundreds of white nationalists took to the streets over the weekend to protest the removal of a Gen. Robert E. Lee statue. But members of a controversial opposing group, known as Antifa, also showed up to condemn hate and racism.Here's a closer look at Antifa protesters, who have become more visible in the past year.

Antifa is short for anti-fascists. The term is used to define a broad group of people whose political beliefs lean toward the left -- often the far left -- but do not conform with the Democratic Party platform. The group doesn't have an official leader or headquarters, although groups in certain states hold regular meetings.

Antifa positions can be hard to define, but many members support oppressed populations and protest the amassing of wealth by corporations and elites. Some employ radical or militant tactics to get their message across.

Scott Crow, a longtime Antifa organizer, says the "radical ideals" promoted by Antifas are starting to be adopted by liberals. "They would never have looked at (those ideals) before, because they saw us as the enemy as much as the right-wingers."

The majority of Antifa members don't fall into a stereotype. Since the election of President Donald Trump, however, most new Antifa members are young voters.

How did the group start?

The exact origins of the group are unknown, but Antifa can be traced to Nazi Germany and Anti-Fascist Action, a militant group founded in the 1980s in the United Kingdom.

Modern-day members of Antifa have become more active in making themselves known at public rallies and within the progressive movement, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at the University of California, San Bernardino.

"What they're trying to do now is not only become prominent through violence at these high-profile rallies, but also to reach out through small meetings and through social networking to cultivate disenfranchised progressives who heretofore were peaceful," Levin said.

Where do they protest?

Members have been spotted at high-profile, right-wing events across the country, including Milo Yiannopoulos' appearance at the University of California, Berkeley in February. They also protested President Trump's inauguration in January.While it can be difficult to distinguish Antifa activists from other protesters, some members dress head to toe in black. Members call this the "Black Bloc." They also wear masks to hide their identities from the police and whomever they are protesting.

Why are they controversial?

The group is known for causing damage to property during protests. In Berkeley, black-clad protesters wearing masks threw Molotov cocktails and smashed windows at the student union center where the Yiannopoulos event was to be held.

Crow said members use violence as a means of self-defense and they believe property destruction does not equate to violence.

"There is a place for violence. Is that the world that we want to live in? No. Is it the world we want to inhabit? No. Is it the world we want to create? No. But will we push back? Yes," Crow said.

Levin said Antifa activists feel the need to partake in violence because "they believe that elites are controlling the government and the media. So they need to make a statement head-on against the people who they regard as racist."

"There's this 'It's going down' mentality and this 'Hit them with your boots' mentality that goes back many decades to confrontations that took place, not only here in the American South, but also in places like Europe," he added.

White nationalists and other members of the so-called alt-right have denounced members of Antifa, sometimes calling them the "alt-left." Many white nationalists from the Charlottesville rallies claimed it was the Antifa groups that led the protests to turn violent.

Peter Cvjetanovic, a University of Nevada, Reno, student who attended the Virginia protests over the weekend, said he believes the far left, including Antifa, are "just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than the right wing could ever be."

"These are people who preach tolerance and love while at the same time threatening people with a different political ideology. We go to our rallies and they harass us and attack us but they held theirs and we ignore them. You don't see right-wing protests get like this," Cvjetanovic told CNN affiliate KRNV.But Crow said the philosophy of Antifa is based on the idea of direct action. "The idea in Antifa is that we go where they (right-wingers) go. That hate speech is not free speech. That if you are endangering people with what you say and the actions that are behind them, then you do not have the right to do that.

"And so we go to cause conflict, to shut them down where they are, because we don't believe that Nazis or fascists of any stripe should have a mouthpiece."

CNN's Sara Ganim contributed to this report.

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:34

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Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:32

Merck's chief executive, Kenneth Frazier, resigned from American Manufacturing Council led by Donald Trump in a strong rebuke to the U.S. president over his response to a violent white nationalist rally in Virginia. Fred Katayama reports.

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Merck's chief executive, Kenneth Frazier, quit president Donald Trump's American Manufacturing Council Monday. He took that action over Trump's response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. Frazier wrote in a post on Merck's Twitter account: "America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal." During the rally, a Nazi sympathizer drove a car into a crowd, killing one person and injuring 19 others. Overall, more than 30 people were injured in separate incidents. Two state police officers died in a helicopter crash after helping quell the unrest. Frazier's departure added to the many voices from both parties, Democrats and Republicans, saying that Trump waited too long to address the violence. They also blasted him for not condemning white-supremacist marchers widely seen as responsible for brutality. Trump responded to Frazier's resignation tweet on the same medium an hour later. He said: "Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!" Under pressure to take a stronger stand against right-wing extremists, the White House issued a statement on Sunday. It said Trump condemns "all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred, and, of course, that includes white supremacists, Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi, and all extremist groups."

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Source: Washington Free Beacon

Mon, 14 Aug 2017 22:26

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Source: Washington Free Beacon

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Sun, 13 Aug 2017 21:54

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Fresh off the release of the People's Congress of Resistance manifesto "Society for the Many: A vision for revolution," check out this new promotional video which highlights all the social struggles, historical and present, that will be reflected in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 16-17.

(If you haven't yet read the manifesto, check it out here.)

This video will be a great organizing tool for those planning on coming to the People's Congress of Resistance. This weekend, there will be People's Congress of Resistance events in New York City, Asheville, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, among others, where the Manifesto will be presented and discussed. Distribute the Manifesto and organize an event in your area.

Get involved!

Register today for the Sept. 16-17 People's Congress of Resistance.Donate to support a student or person with a fixed income, who otherwise would not be able to come to D.C.Find housing options, including discounted hotels and hostels, for the People's Congress here.Want to volunteer? Follow this link!

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Thu, 17 Aug 2017 03:50