RISING CHINA vs USA

The Biden administration faced its first China test this week and flunked it. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began the meeting by lecturing China that its action in Xinjiang and Hong Kong were “threatening the rules-based order that maintains global stability.” China responded by immediately breaking the rules of the very meeting – in which opening remarks were supposed to be limited to two minutes – to launch into a lengthy harangue about America’s “human rights violations” and racism. Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi engaged in an 18-minute tirade against the US moral standing in the world.

“China has made steady progress in human rights, and the fact is that there are many problems within the United States regarding human rights, which is admitted by the U.S. itself as well,” Yang said.

All this would be humiliating enough, but team Biden made it even worse by not standing up for the United States against China’s outrageous accusations. In fact, Blinken’s people agreed to the premise that America is a deeply flawed country that needs to be made “more perfect” through progressive policy. As it turns out, when your administration preaches critical race theory and spends its energy deploring white privilege, it’s hard to turn around and defend yourself against foreign tyrants who accuse your country of being racist.

It was always going to be a struggle to build the multilateral coalition to put pressure on China that Biden promised on the campaign trail. But what happened in Alaska has probably assured that the plan will fail. Who is going to look to U.S. leadership after watching our diplomats get bullied by China on our home turf?  (Breitbart Business Digest, 3/19/2021)

“Beijing is not apologetically but proudly Communist. It believes its system has been proven superior in this century. It does not believe in an equality of ideologies, religions or peoples. It openly rejects American democracy as a failed and failing system . . .”   (Patrick Buchanan, 3/12/2021)

• More fundamentally, Beijing is . . . trying to divide the world along racial lines and form a global anti-white coalition . . .
• Deng Xiaoping, Mao’s mostly pragmatic successor, counseled China to “hide capabilities, bide time.”   Xi, however, believes China’s time has come in part because, he feels, America is in terminal decline.
• Xi is serious. In January, he told his fast-expanding military it must be ready to fight “at any second.”   That month, the Party’s Central Military Commission took from the civilian State Council the power to mobilize all of society for war. Militant states rarely prepare for conflict and then back down.  (Gordon Chang, Gatestone, 3/22/2021)

CHINA’S ROLE IN MYANMAR

Over the weekend, protesters demanding the return of democracy in Myanmar burned down and looted Chinese-owned businesses in Yangon, the country’s main city. China’s embassy then asked the junta to restore order. In a few hours, the generals obliged: soldiers killed scores of demonstrators, and martial law was declared.

The anti-China riots add a fresh international dimension to Myanmar’s political crisis. The protesters are angry not only at the military rulers, but increasingly at China’s thinly veiled support for the junta. This backlash is a big test for Beijing. As a rising global power and regional heavyweight, is China going to simply look the other way as its interests in Myanmar literally go up in flames?

China’s stakes in Myanmar. China has always been upfront on what it wants from its southern neighbor: a piece of its natural resources and waterways. Beijing wants the generals to restart long-shelved plans for a controversial hydropower dam to generate electricity for China, which locals fear will damage the environment and force thousands to relocate. Beijing is likewise hungry for Myanmar’s rare earth metals (production has dropped significantly since the coup, which probably influenced Beijing’s recent threat to stop exporting rare earths to the US.)

China also needs Myanmar to continue building a natural gas pipeline linking China’s Yunnan province to the Kyaukpyu deepwater port in Myanmar’s Rakhine state to gain access to the Indian Ocean, where China is competing for maritime supremacy with India.   (Gzero Signal, 3/16/2021)

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EU & CHINA

The EU is joining the United States’ sanctions policy against China, thus imposing – for the first time since 1989 – coercive measures on the People’s Republic. Yesterday’s decision includes entry bans and freezing the assets of four Chinese government officials and an institution and is expected to be formally adopted by the EU foreign ministers next Monday. At the same time, new US sanctions are coming into effect, imposed by the Biden administration yesterday on 24 high ranking Chinese officials. If, and how Beijing will react remains unclear. With its last counter-sanctions it had made it more difficult for some top politicians of the Trump administration to assume lucrative posts in the private sector. The new wave of transatlantic sanctions is part of an offensive à la Trump, pursued by the USA, not only to include new economic sanctions but also to increase political and military pressure. The German government participates by deploying a frigate in the South China Sea.  (German Foreign Policy, 3/18/2021)

EU & RUSSIA

In the run-up to next week’s EU summit, Berlin is calling on the EU to modify its policy toward Russia.  This was indicated in a report on an internal meeting in Brussels and a “non-paper” from Germany circulating within the EU.  According to the report, at a meeting last week with several top officials of the EU External Action Service, the German EU Ambassador to Russia, Markus Ederer, advocated enhanced cooperation with Moscow in selected areas. Already earlier, a German non-paper circulating within the EU promoted closer cooperation on climate change, particularly on the use of hydrogen power, despite continued EU sanctions. Whereas the German need to import hydrogen will grow considerably in the coming years, Russia possesses great potential for producing hydrogen from natural gas and from wind power. Work on initial projects has already begun, with Berlin’s support. It has been noted that, in the future, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline could be converted for importing hydrogen.   (German Foreign Policy, 3/16/2021)

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GEORGIA MASSAGE PARLOR SHOOTINGS

The Biden Administration is blaming the shootings at Georgian massage parlors a “hate crime” in spite of the fact that the police have found no evidence to suggest that.  Additionally, the 21-year-old perpetrator is himself saying that the murders were not racially motivated, that they were the result of a sex addiction.  

Another factor that suggests no hate crime is that two of those murdered were white; six were of Asian origin.

So, why do they want to escalate the shootings into a hate crime?   This, on the same day that China accused the US of hate filled policies toward minorities, to take the spotlight off their own human rights failings.

Naturally, hate crimes fit the narrative, that everything that’s bad in our society is the result of “white supremacy.”   Again, the perpetrator has said nothing of a racial nature.   

Biden’s proposed solution?   To open the borders, allowing in more foreign nationals, thereby exacerbating racial tensions.  Smart!

Rather, the US should learn from Asian countries: most countries in Asia do not allow ethnically different people to enter their countries and become citizens.  India, a pro-western democracy, only grants citizenship to people of ethnic Indian descent.   Pakistan takes in only Muslims.   Even Singapore and Japan are strict, keeping most people out.  But when the US or any western nation has restrictions, we are called “racists.”  Go figure.

One western nation is waking up.  Denmark, one of the most liberal countries in the world, is not allowing people from non-western nations to live in certain areas of the country.  This is to keep Muslims, Africans and Asians from forming ghettoes.  There is recognition that ethnic groups do not want to assimilate.  Instead, they keep to themselves and form ghettoes which become “no go” areas, where the police are kept out.  

Other nations seem to understand the truth and wisdom revealed in Acts 17:26:  “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”


We need a national discussion on this, where everybody should be totally free to express themselves.

Another mass shooting took place in Boulder, Colorado, on Monday.   Once again, President Biden responded by calling for a ban on guns.   Not addressed was the issue of immigration – the shooter was from Syria.   Once again, it shows the need for a discussion on the subject.   Also interesting was Vice President Kamala Harris’ niece who tweeted that the shooter was captured by the police because he was white.  When she found out he was a Muslim, she withdrew the comment!  Only the victims were white.

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SHOULD ANYTHING BE OFF LIMITS FOR DISCUSSION?

• The fact that we even have to ask these questions demonstrates the precarious state of freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas in the cancel culture….
• Professors are being fired for private discussions of grades and race. Students are terrified of expressing politically incorrect views, especially about race, sex, sexual orientation and even politics. Even silence is not always an option.
• There are several exceptions to this cancel culture rule. You can say almost anything negative about Jews, as evidenced by the recent Grammy awards, during which three overt anti-Semites were honored. These bigots did not even try to disguise their anti-Semitism behind the facade of anti-Zionism.
• There has never been a time when respectful and nuanced debate has been more needed, especially about race and other taboo subjects – taboo unless you toe the line of political correctness.  (Gatestone, 3/20/2021)

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CULTURAL FACTORS

“Sex workers have a 45 to 75 percent chance of being assaulted on the job, with transgender and migrant sex workers and sex workers of color having a higher chance of harm. At the same time, we can’t turn to the police in distress when the very fabric of our labor is illegal. We are everyday people:  your teachers, nurses, makeup artists, mothers.” (Victoria Gagliardo-Silver, The Independent, 3/19/2021)

Sweden:  Crime Prevention Council blames Swedish women for the fact that Muslim migrants commit the most rapes (Jihadi Watch, 3/13/2021)

Australia: Two women arrested for planning female genital mutilation of two-week-old baby  (Robert Spencer, Jihadi Watch, 3/12/2021)

“In a statement, WA Police said they believed the genital mutilation was planned as part of cultural beliefs.” Which culture, exactly, WA Police? Why don’t you dare specify? We are constantly told the opposite by propagandists in the West, but the reality is that female genital mutilation (FGM) is justified in Islamic law. (JW, 3/12/2021)

BRAINWASHING AMERICAN CHILDREN

Whistleblower Editor David Kupelian explains the underlying power-play aimed at America’s children: “The Marxist poison that has long plagued America’s colleges and universities is now spilling out and – under cover of “anti-racism training” – revolutionizing public schools across the country. Millions of children are being taught to hate their own country, to feel guilty over crimes they didn’t commit, and to abandon the values that made America the greatest, most prosperous, and least racist nation on earth.”   (Brainwashing America’s next generation 3/16/2021)

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COMMENTS ON HARRY AND MEGHAN

“You know, I disagree with you on constitutional monarchy … I think it’s one of the least worst systems you can live under and one of its advantages is that it diminishes the importance of politicians, which I think actually is very helpful in today’s society,” Mark Steyn explained.   (3/10/2021)   Steyn is a Canadian who grew up under Canada’s constitutional monarchy.  He now lives in New Hampshire and is a regular contributor to Fox News.

An Australian MP (Member of parliament) has suggested that Meghan married the wrong prince.   Finding that she will never be Queen, she left the royal family.   Maybe her ambitions do not end there.  There has been speculation that she may run for President.   She has been in conversation with leading Democrats.  If she succeeds, she will have the opportunity to wreck the two most important institutions in the western world – the British monarchy and the US presidency.

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QUESTIONABLE COVID BAILOUT

Hundreds of billions of dollars, for example, are earmarked to bail out bankrupt states, i.e. the ones who chased away their most valuable taxpayers with nonstop vitriol and exorbitant tax rates… and who imposed the most severe lockdowns and business closures.

This is particularly interesting because those lockdowns have now been proven to be completely ineffective.

Even the New York Times gets it; the paper published an article over the weekend acknowledging that Covid rates in the state of Florida, which has been ‘open’ for several months and never imposed a statewide mask mandate, are lower than many states which have severe lockdown orders.

So, basically, the Covid bill is nothing more than a bailout for the states which torpedoed their economies with ineffective and unconstitutional public health policies.

The next ‘infrastructure’ bill will likely be just as wasteful . . . and dishonest in its intentions.  (Sovereign Man, 3/16/2021)

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FACTS ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD

George Floyd was not choked to death. He was not asphyxiated. He was not killed by Chauvin’s knee on the side of his neck. An autopsy showed Floyd’s neck muscles were not even bruised.

Floyd died when his heart stopped.  Yet, he was already suffering from an enlarged heart with constricted arteries, one of five of which was 90% blocked and two others were 75% blocked.
An autopsy found heavy concentrations of fentanyl in Floyd’s system and traces of methamphetamines. If Floyd had collapsed and died in the street while being wrested into the squad car, his death would have been attributed to a drug overdose and a bad heart.   

Also, a videotape of the minutes prior to Floyd’s being put on the pavement, his neck under Chauvin’s knee, shows Floyd crying, repeatedly, “I can’t breathe,” while resisting the two rookie cops trying to put him in the patrol car.   (PB 3/16/2021)

George Floyd’s family was awarded $27 million as compensation.  The family of a white male killed by police in my area was awarded $2.9 million.   This man had no history of criminality, unlike George Floyd.   We could conclude from this that white lives don’t matter!

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The controversy between the EU and Great Britain over access to Covid-19 vaccines is escalating. The persistent EU campaign against the vaccine by AstraZeneca (headquartered in Cambridge) has already provoked considerable anger in the UK. Brussels’ threat to withhold future vaccine supplies from Great Britain is further exacerbating tensions. Recently, the EU ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office by British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. Brussels, on the other hand, has launched legal proceedings against London over a breach of the Brexit deal’s Northern Ireland Protocol.  While political tensions are rising, economic ties are diminishing – apparently a long-term trend. Experts forecast that overall UK trade with the EU could fall by about a third by 2030. At the same time, the UK is rapidly expanding its economic ties to Asia – and plans to shift the focus of its foreign policy to the “Indo-Pacific.”   (The Week, 3/22/2021)

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TO THE POINT

• 118 women were murdered in the UK last year.  This month, the murder of a 33-year-old woman by a policeman has stunned people in London.  A big and peaceful demonstration was held which was handled badly by police trying to enforce Covid restrictions.  It has been suggested that the increasing numbers of woman getting murdered may be linked to pornography, which often depicts violence against women.   Advertising sells products – might not porn sell people on violence against women?

• UK Army numbers to be cut — The British Army is expected to shrink by about 10,000 soldiers as the military continues to modernise, with robots, drones, and cyber warfare taking their place. Some tanks and aircraft will also be retired but the government said there would be “more ships, submarines and sailors”. Numbers in the regular Army will be reduced to about 70,000 soldiers.  (The Week, 3/22/2021)

• Jong-un’s sister warns US — The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has warned the US not to “cause a stink” if it wants peace. Kim Yo-jong also criticised the US and South Korea for conducting joint military exercises. Pyongyang has yet to acknowledge Joe Biden’s arrival in the Oval Office, however, the US president is nonetheless preparing to set out his Korean policy. Relations between the two nations remain tense due to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.  (The Week, 3/16/2021)

• Dozens shot in Niger — At least 58 people have been killed in Niger after attacks near the border with Mali. Armed men opened fire on four vehicles that were bringing people back from a market. Although no group has claimed responsibility, the BBC says two jihadist campaigns are under way in Niger – one in the west near Mali and Burkina Faso, and another in the south-east on the border with Nigeria.  (The Week, 3/17/2021)

• More Dead Sea scrolls found — Archaeologists in Israel have discovered two dozen Dead Sea scroll fragments from a remote cave in the Judean Desert. In the first such find in nearly 60 years, more than 20 bits of parchment were found. Researchers also discovered a six-millennia-old skeleton of a child and a basket thought to be the oldest in the world, dating from more than 10,000 years ago.  (The Week, 3/17/2021)

• Meat linked to dementia — Eating processed meat could increase your risk of dementia, according to scientists at the University of Leeds. They studied data from 500,000 people and found that a 25g serving of processed meat a day, equivalent to one rasher of bacon, is associated with a 44% increased risk of developing the disease. The report said “lower intakes of unprocessed red meat could be beneficial for health.”   (The Week, 3/22/2021)

• Mohamed Allal bases his case on the claim that the iron for the Eiffel Tower came from Algeria, but this isn’t true, it came from Lorraine. But the pursuit of victimhood status, and the favors that come with it, pushes all inconvenient facts aside. (Jihadi Watch, 3/16/2021)

• My latest in PJ Media:  All the Boston Marathon jihad murderer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev did was murder three people; why is everyone being so mean to him? Young Tsarnaev is suffering, and he wants you to feel his pain: CBS Boston reported Wednesday that he has filed a hand-written lawsuit claiming that he has been mistreated in prison . . .     (Robert Spencer, 03/15/2021)  

• Syria says convoy of 45 US trucks loaded with military equipment just entered the country from Iraq –- The claim comes from a hostile source, the Assad government, but it isn’t at all farfetched. In December, I wrote an article entitled: “Here We Go: Swamp Rats Start Laying the Groundwork for Sending U.S. Troops Into Syria.” And in January, I wrote an article entitled: “Back to the Endless Wars: US Military Convoy Enters Northeast Syria.” Then . . .    (Robert Spencer, 03/15/2021), https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0xNjQyNTU1ODE2MzcwMjQ3MTQwJmM9ZTduNCZlPTE5MjgmYj01NDkzMjkzMjkmZD1hMnkzczJh.7_sIyUjCDbJNz5wZVUG81i7fivKBMDyN7-pEVQFrt74)

• Pakistan:  Christian serving life for blasphemy gets death sentence as life sentence was ‘repugnant’ to Islam –A new illustration of the contradiction between what many Muslim leaders say and the grim reality.  “Pakistani Christian serving life for blasphemy gets death sentence,” by Kamran Chaudhry, UCA News, March 12, 2021: A Pakistani court has given the death sentence to a Christian previously jailed for life after being convicted of sending text messages . . .     https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0xNjQyNTU1ODE2MzcwMjQ3MTQwJmM9ZTduNCZlPTE5MjgmYj01NDkzMjkzMzgmZD11MW40ejBj.44pN0FXKuvtiP-NEuKqB_W2Bg04asAiNfLeskzTdZeA

• UK:  Labour to provide training on ‘Islamophobia’ — “Islamophobia” is a propaganda term that is used for two unrelated phenomena: vigilante attacks against innocent Muslims, which are never justified, and honest analysis of the motivating ideology behind jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women and others. The goal of this conflation is to inhibit such analysis and intimidate people into thinking it’s wrong . . .     (https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0xNjQyNTU1ODE2MzcwMjQ3MTQwJmM9ZTduNCZlPTE5MjgmYj01NDkzMjkzNDcmZD14OHU5bzZ6.IqsTy0twWEoBo4i6s66kExVENYwOzVHcmWb2INq83w0)

• Kashmir’s Grand Mufti: Quran teaches brotherhood and rejects all forms of violence  — Nasir-ul-Islam is banking on the general public having no idea of the existence of Qur’an verses such as these:   “Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies…” (8:60)  “When your Lord was revealing to the […]     (https://click.mlsend.com/link/c/YT0xNjQyNTU1ODE2MzcwMjQ3MTQwJmM9ZTduNCZlPTE5MjgmYj01NDkzMjkzNTYmZD1jNGQ2eTZj.BBryqTei97qFLDWdpuD4FwJUfug9wyyvAaLwJXa7dZ0)

• Algerian journalist demands that France return the Eiffel Tower to Algeria — Mohamed Allal bases his case on the claim that the iron for the Eiffel Tower came from Algeria, but this isn’t true, it came from Lorraine. But the pursuit of victimhood status, and the favors that come with it, pushes all inconvenient facts aside.

• Uganda: Imam sends men to rape three female relatives of church pastor because imam’s wife became Christian –Imagine the outcry if the roles were reversed, which would never happen and should never happen. But the international media will take no particular notice of this, as it doesn’t fit the narrative that Muslims are always and everywhere victims, and Christians are white racists and colonialist oppressors. “Pastor’s Relatives Raped after Imam’s Wife Turns . . .  (JW, 3/16/2021)

CCP BIGGEST VIRUS OF ALL

(Mike Thompson copyright 2020, USA Today)

“The Chinese Communist Party “is the biggest and most serious virus of all . . .   The CCP represses and manipulates information to strengthen its hold on power.  It is time to recognize the threat the Chinese Communist Party poses to all humanity.” — Chen Guangcheng, blind Chinese dissident, now a refugee in the US.  (Asia news April 27, 2020)

Bloomberg News is said to censor articles that might anger China and expose Xi’s personal wealth. And the European Union just softened criticism of China in a report on disinformation about the pandemic… It looks as though free thought is more valued among China’s daring dissidents than in many corners of the West.

To paraphrase Leon Trotsky: You may not be interested in China, but China is interested in you.    (Gatestone, 5/17/2020)

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EU UNHAPPY WITH CHINA

The Western Balkan states, including Serbia, should publicly acknowledge the EU’s support in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU demands in the final declaration at its Zagreb Western Balkan Summit last Wednesday. The summit had been preceded by harsh criticism of Chinese aid deliveries to Serbia, which have aroused strong resentment in Berlin and Brussels.    EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell accused Beijing of waging “a struggle for influence” with its “politics of generosity.”   For years, Germany and the EU have been trying to counter the growing influence of other powers in the Southeastern European non-EU countries.   This pertains to the Turkish, Russian and Chinese cultural and military policies and their economic activities.   The EU dominance over the Western Balkan countries’ economy has only drained these countries of billions of euros and rendered their recovery impossible.   This is why they are turning also to China.  (German Foreign Policy 5/18/2020)

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UK:   Sunak warns of ‘severe recession’ and ‘more hardship’

Rishi Sunak (Britain’s Finance Minister) has forecast that Britain is facing a “severe recession, the likes of which we haven’t seen” and warned that it is “not obvious there will be an immediate bounceback.”   Following a sharp rise in unemployment benefit claims, the chancellor told a Lords committee that there is “no doubt there will be more hardship to come.”  (The Economist, 5/20/2020)

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WHO INVESTIGATION

Member-states of the World Health Organization unanimously agreed to set up an independent inquiry into the covid-19 pandemic. The “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” will look at the WHO’s own role in the crisis.   America, in particular, has been critical of the inter-governmental organization.   Its boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the inquiry would start “at the earliest opportunity.”

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OPPOSITION TO LOCKDOWNS GATHERS PACE

(Direct quote from The Economist)  ” IN MORE THAN 30 of America’s 50 state capitals angry crowds have been gathering to protest against stay-at-home orders.  Buoyed by tweets from President Donald Trump encouraging them to “liberate” their states, some even compare their elected officials to the Nazis.   A few among them toting assault weapons are dressed incongruously in Hawaiian shirts.  They might seem almost comical were it not for the fact that, in the fetid corners of the internet, such beachwear is recognized as the uniform of the extreme right.

“The spreading of conspiracy theories is central to the extreme right’s activities.   Some claim the virus is a hoax.  Others blame the Chinese, the Jews or even Bill Gates.  Some claim that the federal government is using the virus as a pretext to confiscate weapons and enforce “medical martial law.”   Extremists also spread more familiar conspiracy theories, decrying 5G networks and vaccinations, which help introduce the uninitiated to their ideology.

“A closer look at the far right’s beliefs helps explain why extremists have been energized by America’s new reality.

“The most familiar of these is white supremacy.  Its adherents exploit the virus’s geographical origins to drum up racial antipathy towards Chinese people.  Anti-semites have been accusing Jews of deliberately spreading plagues ever since the Black Death, and covid-19 gives them a chance to reuse the template.  The supremacists thus use fears about “white genocide” to argue for closed borders and eventually a white ethno-state.  “Open borders is the virus,” declares one protest sticker placed on road signs.”  (The Economist, 5/20/2020)

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DURBAN: CORRUPTION IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Hunger and starvation in Durban                                                       Allegations are flying thick and fast as some desperate eThekwini residents wait for the delivery of food parcels, one of the brutal consequences of government’s draconian and extended Covid-19 lockdown.  (by Des Erasmus, 12 May 2020, Daily Maverick ) 

[ eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality created in 2000, that includes the city of Durban, South Africa and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.  The majority of its 3,442,361 people speak Zulu.  It was formed from seven formerly independent local councils and tribal land. ]

Hunger — and more particularly the very real fear of starvation — has roused already elevated suspicions in some of the province’s rural areas, where peering through a curtain at midnight and seeing “food being delivered at that time” has led to allegations of theft and mismanagement of the parcels by councillors.  What the lockdown has revealed is that it is ordinary citizens who are stepping up to place food on the plates of the province’s distressed.   And allegations about councillors who milk the lockdown to ensure they are able to “buy support” for next year’s local government elections in order to keep their seats.   But just how deep and real this problem is, is difficult to uncover.   Even the South African Police Services couldn’t provide clarity.

Nevertheless, perceived or real, over the course of the weekend and into Monday, Daily Maverick received several calls from eThekwini residents accusing councillors of distributing food to friends and family.   One such call involved the “peering through the window” scenario in Ward 94 of eThekwini Metro, which includes the areas of KwaMakhutha and Ensimbini, just west of the seaside suburb of Amanzimtoti.   “The councillor was seen handing out food parcels at about midnight on Saturday to people who were her friends and family.   One lady went to collect parcels and was turned away,” a resident, who asked not to be named for fear of repercussions, told Daily Maverick.

(https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-05-12-hunger-and-starvation-in-durban/)

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CONTROVERSY IN GERMANY OVER HUAWEI

In the wake of the most recent US devastating blow launched at Huawei, demands are again being raised in Berlin to exclude the Chinese company from setting up Germany’s 5G networks.  Huawei should not have an opportunity in Germany, insists Norbert Röttgen, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag.  The government’s current draft for a revised version of the IT security law, in principle, does not exclude the participation of Chinese companies but includes an ambiguous clause (“trustworthiness test”) that could be applied against them.  While the discussion is continuing in Berlin, the Trump administration announced that, in the future, chip manufacturers anywhere in the world, using specialized US equipment must obtain a special US government license to supply Huawei.  Experts estimate that should this directive be implemented – which would subjugate key sectors of the world’s economy to US control – nearly 90 percent of Huawei sales would be threatened.   Subsequently, German companies would also suffer damages.   (German Foreign Policy, 5/19/2020)

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WIFE BEATING ADVICE FROM QATARI OFFICIAL

Dr. Ahmad Al-Farjabi, a shari’a expert from the Qatari Ministry of Religious Endowments, said in a May 6, 2020 interview on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) that Muslims are not the only people who beat their wives and that when a man suspects his wife might turn out to be rebellious, he should take the measures prescribed by the Quran, the third of which is beating his wife.   Dr. Al-Farjabi added that even Western psychologists have said that wife-beating is “inevitable” for women who had been beaten while they were growing up and for women who have no respect for their husbands.  He said that these kinds of women must be “subdued by muscles,” and that some kinds of women “may be reformed by beating.”   Al-Farjabi also said that he has even heard from women at his lectures that it is preferable to beat one’s wife than to allow her to ruin the home and lose her children.  (MEMRI 5/18/2020)

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NUREMBERG CODE FORBIDS VACCINES WITHOUT CONSENT

The Nuremberg Code  (1947) is a set of research ethics and principles for human experimentation created as a result of the Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War, when the notorious doctor’s experiments where supposed to have come to an end.

It established a set of guiding principles for the Right of the patient to be informed of their medical treatment options and to give their consent before any medical treatment could be performed.

It feels now more than ever that the mass experimentation on humanity is under way once more with enforced vaccines looking an inevitable thing for anyone that wants to do anything.   But know your rights and be better prepared.

The Nuremberg Code is one of the most influential documents in the history of clinical research

Code 6 also states:   The risks should never exceed the benefits.  According to Article 6 of the Unesco 2005 statement on Bioethics and Human Rights.

Article 6, section 1:   Any preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic medical interventions is only to be carried out with the prior, free and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information.   The consent should, where appropriate, be expressed and may be withdrawn by the person concerned  at any time and for any reason WITHOUT DISADVANTAGE or prejudice. (caps mine)

Alan Dershowitz:  State has right to ‘plunge a needle into your arm’
Contends Constitution grants government power to forcibly vaccinate individuals.

Harvard Law School emeritus professor Alan Dershowitz claimed in an interview that the government has a constitutional right under the 10th Amendment to forcibly vaccinate a citizen to curb the spread of a contagious disease.   “Let me put it very clearly, you have no constitutional right to endanger the public and spread the disease, even if you disagree.   You have no right not to be vaccinated, you have no right not to wear a mask, you have no right to open up your business,” he said.   The interviewer, Jason Goodman, interjected, asking if the famed constitutional scholar was saying that if the government decides “you have to be vaccinated, we have to be vaccinated.”   “Absolutely,”  Dershowitz replied. “And if you refuse to be vaccinated, the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor’s office and plunge a needle into your arm.”

>>MORE:  (https://www.wnd.com/2020/05/alan-dershowitz-state-right-plunge-needle-arm/)

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BEHIND THE SCENES OF FRANCO-GERMAN RECOVERY FUND
by Katya Adler, BBC Europe editor, 19 May 2020

After a shambolic, acrimonious display at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the EU’s main players are now on a mission to demonstrate that the European dream is not dead or dying.  To prove that solidarity, common values and a unity of purpose are, in fact, the order of the day.

The German and French leaders were notably absent: the relationship between them tetchy – with France pushing for the EU’s richer countries (including Germany and excluding itself) to take on and share the coronavirus-related debt of the countries of the south.  But what did we see on Monday?   Hey presto: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron jointly proposing a recovery fund to help the weakest EU economies get out of a post-covid slump to the tune of €500bn ($545bn; £448bn).  In EU political terms this is huge. Chancellor Merkel has conceded a lot.   She openly agreed with the French that any money from this fund, allocated to a needy EU country should be a grant, not a loan.   Importantly this means not increasing the debts of economies already weak before the pandemic and financially excruciating lockdown, such as those in southern but also central and eastern Europe.  President Macron gave ground too.   He’d wanted a huge fund of a trillion or more euros.   But a trillion euros of grants was probably too much for Mrs. Merkel to swallow on behalf of fellow German taxpayers.  The resulting compromise:    win-win for the two leaders.  They hope.    . . . I’d say the battle over the EU recovery fund is only just beginning.

 >>MORE:  (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52717232)

Crisis in Europe:   von der Leyen’s audacious bid for new powers
Commission president must bridge bitter divides over EU plan to rebuild the economy
by Sam Fleming, Jim Brunsden and Michael Peel in Brussels
(Financial Times, 18 May 2020)

Ursula von der Leyen delivered a stark message to the EU’s commissioners on Thursday evening at their first in-person meeting for many weeks.   She told her socially distanced colleagues that they had an opportunity to forge a viable reconstruction plan for a European economy ravaged by the coronavirus crisis.   But they had precious little time at their disposal and only one shot to get it right. One important detail was tellingly absent from the commission president’s private presentation in a windowless room in Brussels’ Berlaymont building:   the hugely divisive question of the size of the recovery fund which she will shortly propose.

Ms. von der Leyen is planning an audacious bid for new powers as she seeks to put her institution at the centre of efforts to revive the European economy, asking member states for unprecedented latitude to raise funds in the markets.   But the former German defense minister faces the central test of her short presidency as she seeks to bridge bitter splits within the EU over the plan.

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FRANCE:   MACRON LOSES MAJORITY

Seven Members leave the La République en Marche group. The French President Macron’s party thus has 288 seats – one less than the majority.(May 19, 2020, Der Spiegel)  

The party of French President Emmanuel Macron loses its majority in parliament.   Seven MEPs from La République en Marche (LREM) left the group and joined the Ecologie Démocratie Solidarité (Ecology, Democracy, Solidarity) group that was founded on Tuesday.

Macron’s party LREM now has only 288 votes in the people’s representation.   A majority require 289 seats.   When Macron took office in 2017, LREM had 314 MPs.   There’s Dissatisfaction with Macron’s business-friendly policies.

(https://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/frankreich-emmanuel-macron-verliert-die-mehrheit-im-parlament-a-ad851480-9158-4c2a-9d45-b059b71da91f)

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DANGER TO FUTURE FOOD SUPPLY

BEE POPULATIONS ARE IN DECLINE ALL OVER THE WORLD =  To bee or not to bee:  International Bee Day highlights plight of pollinators
90% of world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least partly, on animal pollination, along with over 75% of world’s food crops, 35% of agricultural land.

Bees have gotten a bad press — the truth is that they rarely sting.  What they do do is sustainably pollinate a third of the plants needed for a stable, healthy, human diet.   There is no alternative to bees and no logic to seeking an alternative.

In the US, beekeepers lost an estimated 40.7% of their managed honey bee colonies between April 2018 and April 2019, according to the most recent loss and management report issued by the Bee Informed Partnership: https://beeinformed.org/

<Main Article> https://www.timesofisrael.com/to-bee-or-not-to-bee-international-bee-day-highlights-plight-of-pollinators/

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1927 BOMB REMAINS WORST SCHOOL ATTACK IN US HISTORY

May 18th, 1927, 45 people including 38 children were killed in Bath Township, during the deadliest school attack in U.S. History.

“He asked himself I don’t know why I lived.” said Wendy Marrison, granddaughter of a survivor.    Wendy Marrison’s Grandpa, Dean was a student at Bath Consolidated School and was only 11 years old when it happened.

93 years ago, Andrew Keyhoe was a school board member at the time.   Police say he hid nearly 500 pounds of dynamite throughout the school, something he planned for months.

“It was the last day before summer break and as the kids were going into school Mr. Keyhoe was there greeting him.   He actually said to the kids this is your last day, my Grandpa thought that’s a nice greeting, later on, he realized that was a warning.” said Wendy Marrison.

At 8:45 A.M., hours before their summer vacation was set to begin.

The explosion happened.

“He was on the first floor and he got buried under all this rubble.  He was the very last one to be pulled out.   When they pulled him they couldn’t find a pulse, so in his words “I was put in the dead pile.”   One of his neighbors saw his toe move and they all started yelling he’s alive he’s alive!” Marrison added.

Dean did survive the attack and went on to live a good life.  He passed away in 2006 at the age of 92.   Wendy wasn’t alive when it all happened, but she wants to make sure that people never forget.

“We need to honor the ones who survived and the ones who didn’t.” Marrison said.    (WLNS 6, Bath Township, Lansing, Michigan)

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Danish Bible that removed Israel ‘not antisemitic’ argues columnist The Danish Bible society took too many liberties with the translation but, Mosaic Magazine’s Philologos argued, was not antisemitic in its motives.

Far from being antisemitic, a new Christian Bible translation which omits or replaces the word “Israel” in many places within the text affirms the link between Israel and the Jewish people, a columnist for Mosaic Magazine has argued.

The translation, titled Bible 2020, released earlier this year by the Danish Bible Society, came under scrutiny toward the end of April when readers noted that numerous references to “Israel” had been replaced or removed. In some places the word had been replaced with “the Jews,” “the Jewish people,” or even “the people,” whereas in others the translation was made more universal, such as the re-rendering of Psalm 121:4 from “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps,” to “He who takes care of us will not fall asleep, no he is not sleeping.”

According to analysis by the Bible Society in Israel, the word “Israel” appears only twice in the Bible 2020 version of New Testament rather than the more than 60 times it appears in the Greek from which it was originally translated.   The Old Testament has been less altered, but while the word appears 2,521 times in the Greek, it has been rendered as such 2,316 times in the Danish translation, a reduction of around 9%.

Defending their translation, the Danish Bible society said in a statement:   “In The New Testament the word ‘Israel’ has been translated into ‘the Jewish people,’ ‘the Jews,’ or ‘the people’ because when the Greek text uses the word ‘Israel’ it is referring to a people with whom God has a special relationship – Jacob’s descendants.   However, for the secular reader, who does not know the Bible well, ‘Israel’ could be referring only to a country.  Therefore the word ‘Israel’ in the Greek text has been translated in other ways, so that the reader understands it is referring to the Jewish people.”

However, many were unconvinced.

The Jerusalem Post columnist Liat Collins wrote of the translation: “Instead of making sure that readers understand the connection between Israel, the Jews and the Land of Israel of the Bible, they preferred to make an artificial separation.

“Taking a charitable approach, it’s possible to say that the Danish Bible translators did not see their changes as a political act, more an act of political correctness – trying to include all.   But clearly something was lost in translation, as is evident to someone who reads the Bible in the original Hebrew.   As B’nai Brith International tweeted: “… this surreal revision causes confusion and worse: whitewashing of history, identity, and sacred scripture.””

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TO THE POINT

• Dozens of companies around the world are working on vaccines.  Experts say the world will need more than one, because demand will outstrip the production capacity of any single manufacturer.  Official remarks:  President Trump said he had been taking hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that experts have warned could cause dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities in coronavirus patients, as a preventive measure.   He said he had no symptoms of Covid-19.  (NY Times).
• Aussies subservient to Chinese — AUSTRALIA lacks courage to appropriately deal with China in the wake of the Coronavirus “cover-up” warns Liberal Party senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.   Addressing parliament this week the NSW-based senator said it was critical for Australia to plan for reparations and to “decouple” from China.  (Politico, 5/20/2020)
• It is understood that due to his own experience with the coronavirus, the British PM believes ending obesity will help Britain in its fight against Covid-19 – a battle that will require blood, toil, tears and sweat.  And also, knowing Johnson, bicycles.  (The Week, 5/15/2020) Boris Johnson is an impassioned fan of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.   But his own war, as it turns out, will not be waged against Nazis but against fat.
• “Even without laptops and swimming pools, and on a fraction of what government schools spend today, Americans were a surprisingly learned people in our first hundred years.”  (“The Myth that Americans were poorly educated before mass government schooling,” Lawrence W. Reed, The Epoch Times, 5/14/2020).
• Headline in Lansing State Journal:   “Mid-Michigan’s catastrophic flooding adds to state’s pandemic woes” (5/21/2020).   Michigan is the third worst hit state from the coronavirus.
• CAR BUMPER STICKER:   My car gets three weeks to the gallon!

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AFTER THOUGHT

There have been more articles warning about a “second” civil war.

By my calculations, it would be the third civil war.   The Revolutionary War was also a civil war.   As John Adams wrote, the country was divided three ways, those Loyal to the Crown, those rebelling and those who couldn’t spell Crown!

Not counting this as a civil war overlooks a reality in American history, which is still pertinent today, in the time of corona.

The country is divided.

A Canadian Member of Parliament summed it up quite well a few years ago.  In explaining the difference between the US & Canada, he said, in Canada they have four different parties who all have a different approach to any problem.   The Canadians discuss the problem until consensus is reached.  In the US, the two parties take opposing positions and head for the barricades.

Perhaps it’s something in the DNA of Americans.  Or something in our breakfast cereals.

The fact is that we are divided again – on a virus of all things!  There are those who believe everything the government tells us; and those who reject everything.

In this sense, it resembles the first civil war (1775-83).   Then, on the one side you had people who were against authority and on the other those who upheld authority.

Then as now.

It would be ridiculous to have a civil war over a virus, but it’s just one more issue that continues to divide the country.

As Abraham Lincoln said prior to the War Between the States,  “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”   He was quoting from Mark 3:25.

MR   

THE INVASION SPEEDS UP

CBS News reporter Mireya Villarreal appeared to be stunned when Arizona Border Patrol agent Fernando Grijalva told her that the crisis at the border was the worst that he has seen in decades. (From article by Carlos Garcia, The Hendersonville Tribune, January 25, 2019)

In its lead editorial Wednesday, The New York Times called upon Congress to amend the National Emergency Act to “erect a wall against any President, not just Mr. Trump, who insists on creating emergencies where none exist.”

Trump “took advantage” of a “loophole” in the NEA, said The Times, to declare “a crisis at the border, contrary to all evidence.”

The NY Times news desk, however, apparently failed to alert the editorial page on what the top story would be that day.

“Record Numbers Crossing to U.S., Deluging Agents” was the page-one headline.  The NY Times quoted Kevin K. McAleenan, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection:   “The system is well beyond capacity, and remains at the breaking point. … This is … a border security and a humanitarian crisis.”

Reporter Caitlin Dickerson explained what is behind CPB’s alarm: “The number of migrant families crossing the Southwest border has once again broken records, with unauthorized entries nearly double what they were a year ago.”

She continued, “More than 76,000 migrants crossed the border without authorization in February, an 11-year high … newcomers continue to arrive, sometimes by the busload, at the rate of 2,200 a day.”

Only if one believes in open borders is this not an emergency, not a crisis.   Consider the budgetary impact alone of this invasion.
(“Can Trump stop the invasion?” by Pat Buchanan, 3/8/19)

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A BETTER APPROACH TO NORTH KOREA

• American leaders have been wrong.   The best way to get what we want from North Korea, whether it be “denuclearization” or anything else, is to reverse decades of Washington thinking and raise the issue of human rights loudly and incessantly.   The same is true with regard to North Korea’s sponsor and only formal ally, the People’s Republic of China.
• Kim Jong Un knows how inhumane his rule is — he has, after all, had hundreds of people executed — so if we do not talk forcefully about, say, Otto Warmbier, Kim will think we are afraid of him.   If he thinks we are afraid of him, he will see no reason to be accommodating.   It is unfortunate, but outsiders cannot be polite or friendly.
• It is time to let Kim know that America no longer cares about how he feels or even about maintaining a friendly relationship with him.   That posture, a radical departure from Washington thinking, is both more consistent with American ideals and a step toward a policy that Kim will respect.

(Gatestone, Gordon Chang, 3/12/19)

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IRAN:   EXECUTIONS OF CHILDREN

• The list of unspeakable human rights violations committed by Iran’s regime is lengthy; however, by far the most disturbing seems the cruelty enacted against children.
• Now is the time for the EU to halt its appeasement policy with a regime that does not hesitate to flog people — publicly, as a message to others — torture any citizen they choose to target, enact cruel punishments such as amputation without a fair trial, and execute children just starting their lives.   These are acts that should be condemned — not condoned through the pursuit of appeasement policies, moral depravity and raw greed.

(Majid Rafizadeh, Gatestone, 3/8)

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NOT MY FAVORITE

More than three hundred years after Queen Anne’s death, it’s suddenly been revealed that she was a lesbian.

According to the movie “The Favourite.”

The movie does not make much of the fact that she must have had a close relationship with her husband, Prince George of Denmark and Norway, with whom she had seventeen children.   Not one of the children survived her.

Queen Anne is generally considered a good monarch on both sides of the Atlantic.   The movie revolves around her close friendship with Sarah Churchill, an ancestor of Winston Churchill.   They had a falling out in 1711.   Sarah was replaced by Abigail Masham, Sarah’s cousin, as the queen’s best friend.

The suggestion that she was a lesbian has no basis in fact.   Whatever next?   We’ve already “learned” that Abraham Lincoln was gay; are we about to find out that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were more than just friends?   Or that Winston Churchill, on his nights off from saving the world from fascism, doubled as a drag queen?

It’s time for us all to boycott Hollywood and switch to Bollywood movies, already seen around the world by far more people than anything out of Hollywood.   The movie “Kashmir” was the first ever musical about terrorism, and was far more credible than “The Favourite!”

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ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES CRASH

I was deeply saddened to hear of the terrible accident Sunday, in which an Ethiopian Airlines flight crashed, killing all 157 people on board.

It brought back many memories of Ethiopian Airlines.   For many years, it was the only reliable airline crossing east to west in Africa. We often used it when flying from Ghana to Cameroon and back.

It did, however, have a reputation for being late. This was typical of most African airlines at the time.

On one occasion, I remember arriving at the airport in Douala, Cameroon, with my wife and three children.   As we approached the airport we could see a flight taking off.   Inside the airport terminal building, we were proudly informed by an Ethiopian Airlines official that this time, instead of being late, the flight had departed two hours early!

We spent an extra three days in Cameroon!

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BREXIT UPDATE

It really couldn’t be a bigger mess!

The British parliament rejected Mrs. May’s second proposed “deal,” and followed it up with a vote to not leave the EU without a “deal.”   By doing the latter, they have rejected the vote of the people who want to leave.   This smacks of a deliberate last minute attempt to stop Britain from leaving the EU.

There are only two weeks to Brexit, which is written into law. However, if the law is altered to allow more time, Brexit may not happen.   The EU has already said that Britain can delay departure as long as it likes.   To do this, all 27 member countries would have to vote approval.   Nigel Farage, the man behind Brexit, has already asked friends in Poland and the Czech Republic, to vote down the Extension, which would well and truly leave Britain trapped.

This would leave Britain in an even worse state than before the 2016 referendum.   Still trading with the EU, with no voting rights and no freedom to maneuver.   And no rebates, either – so membership will cost more.

Who would join this club?

President Trump this morning said that a second referendum on the issue would not be wise.  America seems to be sending a clear signal that it wants Britain to leave; maybe to weaken the EU.

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CHRISTIAN STREET PREACHING PUNISHED

Being a street preacher can be a thankless business.  Since moving to Britain from Nigeria nine years ago, 64-year-old Oluwole Ilesanmi has toured the country reading aloud from the Bible, spending hours outside train stations, urging people to see the light.   Sometimes he makes a convert; most of the time his preaching falls on deaf ears. Last month, it resulted in him being arrested.

Saturday 23 February began like a typical day for Ilesanmi.   He went to Southgate tube station in north London and preached for a few hours.   His spiel included a disobliging reference to Islam, which seemed to rile a passer-by.   To Ilesanmi’s surprise he was then accosted by the man.   A woman who filmed the incident says she feared Ilesanmi was about to be attacked:   ‘The man had his forehead to the preacher’s forehead.   He looked like he was about to knock him out.’

It seemed that Ilesanmi was the victim.   But he was accused of Islamophobia, and then the police arrived.   The video — since viewed millions of times online — shows what happened next. Ilesanmi was arrested, handcuffed and one of the officers snatched his Bible away.   When Ilesanmi objected, the policeman responded by saying:   ‘You should have thought about that before being racist.’

‘When they took the Bible off me I felt so enraged,’ Ilesanmi tells me. ‘They couldn’t do that to the Koran.   They dare not do that to the Koran.   The policeman wanted to even throw the Bible on the floor.’

That was just the beginning of his humiliation.   He was then bundled into a police car and driven off.   When he asked where he was being taken, he was told:   ‘Somewhere where you can’t get back to preach.’ That turned out to be Wrotham Park, five miles away on the outskirts of London, where the cops let him out of their car.  ‘De-arrested,’ the police later called it.   Ilesanmi, without any cash, was at a loss as to how to get home until an elderly man took pity on him and paid for a bus ticket.     (Tom Goodenough, Spectator, 3/16)

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 A third of British billionaires have moved to a tax haven 

by Paul Morgan-Bentley, Head of Investigations | Billy Kenber, Investigations Reporter | Louis Goddard, Data Team, March 7, 2019 * The Times, London

A third of British billionaires have moved to tax havens after an exodus over the past decade, a Times investigation has found.

They are among 6,800 Britons controlling 12,000 UK firms from low-tax jurisdictions.   The Exchequer is denied billions a year but many of the bosses still reap the benefits of British assets.

Some have bankrolled political parties while living offshore as successive governments have failed to enact a law passed in 2009 that would have banned large donations from anyone resident abroad for tax purposes.   Many have been awarded honors or hold titles, with at least one viscount, one baron, six knights and one dame among the billionaires.

(The Times, 3/7/19)

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FRANCE

“Macron hates the yellow vests and wants them to vanish.   He wants to win European elections and needs the Muslim vote.  He knows perfectly well who the anti-Semites are today, but will not attack them.   He needs them.   He attacks [only] those who are dangerous to him. ” — Éric Zemmour, French author, February 19, 2019.

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QUESTION

“You (and many COG’s) teach that Manassah separated from Ephraim.   But doesn’t this assume everyone in the U.S. colonies came from an Ephraimite (British) background?”

No.  It doesn’t assume that.   The country was started by people of Ephraimite descent and has Anglo-Saxon institutions.   They are still there, even though the majority of people may not be Ephraimites.