www.independent.co.uk

Glenn Beck and other Conspiracy Theorists #conspiracy #crackpot #dunning-kruger #magick #quack #wingnut independent.co.uk

Conservative conspiracy theorists are apparently convinced that an upcoming emergency broadcast is going to turn everyone with a Covid-19 vaccine into zombies.

According to a few "theories" floating around on social media, the EAS system will supposedly trigger something in the Covid-19 vaccines — maybe "nanoparticles" according to one believer — to nefarious ends. Many of the posts and videos spreading fear about the call claim it will activate graphene oxide in the Covid-19 vaccine. The only problem being that graphene oxide is not in the Covid-19 vaccines.

The "what" of the conspiracy is what seems to be most in discussion. Some have theorised that it will awaken a dormant Marbug virus in the vaccinated, leaving them to suffer with Ebola like symptoms before it "sadly turn[s] some of them into zombies."

Like any good post-2020 conspiracy theory, the EAS conspiracies incorporate a bunch of other popular theories to maximize its potential adoption.

The same woman who predicted zombies were coming noted that the EAS test would be conducted using "5G," which — along with the Covid-19 vaccine — has long served as a boogeyman in conspiracy circles.

Some users have suggested wrapping their phones in tin foil — a conspiracy classic — or hiding them in microwaves or faraday cages ahead of the test. One Reddit user even claimed his landlord sent out a complex-wide message informing his tenants that he planned to shut power off to the entire building for three hours in the middle of a work day to protect against any adverse effects.

In right-wing media personality Glenn Beck's world, the call actually won't interact with the Covid-19 vaccines at all, but instead suggests that global nuclear war is imminent.

"FEMA is conducting a nationwide emergency alert system test on Wednesday. Russia is also conducting emergency tests this week to prepare for nuclear blasts," Mr Beck said. "That’s JUST a coincidence though, right? Nothing to worry about, right???"

What Mr Beck failed to mention is that federal law mandates the EAS must be tested once every three years. The last test was on 11 August, 2021, so the test seems unlikely to be a novel event that was cooked up in response to Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

Ted Cruz #pratt #wingnut independent.co.uk

“I’m pissed at these over and over and over again, if they’re indictments, it’ll be the fourth indictment of Donald Trump” Mr Cruz, who lost the Republican nomination for president to Mr Trump in 2016, said. “This is disgraceful. Our country’s over 200 years old. We’ve never once indicted a former president, or a candidate or a leading candidate for president and this is Joe Biden and this is the Democrats weaponizing the justice system because they're afraid of the voters.”

Elon Musk and fentasyl #elitist #racist #sexist independent.co.uk

Over the weekend, Elon Musk appeared in a Twitter post to endorse the idea of taking the right to vote away from people without children

The billionaire Tesla co-founder replied “Yup,” to a series of posts from Twitter user @fentasyl, which argued “democracy is probably unworkable long term without limiting suffrage to parents”

The exchange came as Mr Musk continued his recent run of interacting with right-wing figures on the social network

The posts from fentasyl themselves were a response to a previous post from Mr Musk

On Saturday, in the comments under an Islamophobic nonprofit’s video, where commenters insinuated that single white women were turning France into a majority-Muslim country, Mr Musk claimed, “The childless have little stake in the future”[…]
These opinions are hardly surprising for Mr Musk, who has long expressed concerns about declining birth rates in the US and the lack of “smart” people having enough children, views which critics have argued are verging on eugenicist

Andrew Edwards #elitist #racist independent.co.uk

A Conservative councillor has been suspended after he was allegedly recorded saying "all white men should have a Black slave"

Andrew Edwards, who represents the ward of Haverfordwest on Pembrokeshire County Council, is also claimed to have said black people are "a lower class than us white people"

The Welsh Conservatives confirmed on Thursday that Mr Edwards has been suspended by the party while an investigation is carried out. He has also referred himself to the Public Services Ombudsman

In the recording, first published by news site Nation.Cymru, a man's voice can be heard saying: "Nothing wrong with the skin colour at all

"I think all white men should have a black man as a slave or a black woman as a slave, you know

"It's nothing wrong with skin colour, it is just they're a lower class than us white people, you know."

Other members of the council reportedly identified Mr Edwards as the man speaking after they were sent the audio[…]
In his statement published on Wednesday, Mr Edwards said: "I am aware of such serious allegations being made against me. This is why I have self-referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for an independent evaluation

kedeshah #conspiracy #mammon independent.co.uk

Bakhmut has been increasingly surrounded for some time, but the Russians never seemed to advance very much, so the battle dragged and drags on. It seemed absurd they did not just push the Ukrainians out, as the Russians have more missiles, more artillery, more firepower, plus able to bomb the position relentlessly but it did not.
The Wagner group let the cat out of the bag, informing the world it could have joined the sided of the surrounding cauldron creating complete encirclement, and thus destroying what military was left isolated.
So why?
The answer is too simple, they left the door open for the Ukrainian military into Bakhumt so they could fight the Russians, and all the Russian had to do was to annihilate them as they continuously advanced into what is described as the Russian meat grinder. The life expectancy of a new troop in this theatre is 4 hours. Why go chasing the enemy when it presents itself for artillery decimation?. Putin stated clearly exactly Why and How he was going to conduct this SMO. To eliminate the threat, de-Nazify – simple to comprehend.
So exterminating the military – problem solved – Ukraine has been instructed to commit suicide by their US and NATO masters. There are several of these meat grinders where between 500-1000 Ukrainian troops die every day. There are now 80,000 new fresh troops ready to defend Bakhmut, so it might take a months or more to eradicate what the Russian regard as a threat unless they get bored that is.

JK Rowling #transphobia independent.co.uk

Speaking on the latest episode of podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, released on Tuesday 14 March, the author said that she had been aware of the backlash she might receive from fans of her work over her views on gender and trans rights.

“When I first became interested in, and then deeply troubled by, what I saw as a cultural movement that was illiberal in its methods and questionable in its ideas, I absolutely knew that if I spoke out, many people who love my books would be deeply unhappy with me,” she said.

“I knew that, because I could see that they believed that they were living the values I had espoused in those books. I could tell that they believed that they were fighting for underdogs and difference and fairness. And I thought it would be easier not to.

“I knew that this could be really bad and it has been bad personally, it has not been fun, and I have been scared at times for my safety and, overwhelmingly, for my family’s safety.”

She continued: “Time will tell whether I’ve got this wrong. I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long and I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side, and I believe, absolutely, that there is something dangerous about this movement and that it must be challenged.”

…

When asked what she would say to people who claim she’s become like the villains in her books, Rowling said: “I would say that some of you have not understood the books. The Death Eaters claimed, ‘We have been made to live in secret, and now is our time, and any who stand in our way must be destroyed. If you disagree with us, you must die.’ They demonised and dehumanised those who were not like them.

“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious, misogynistic movement, that has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society.

“I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless, so I’m afraid I stand with the women who are fighting to be heard against threats of loss of livelihood and threats to their safety.”

State Representative Rob Harris (R) and 21 other South Carolina State Representatives #fundie #wingnut independent.co.uk

In South Carolina, Republican lawmakers are contemplating making a change to the state’s criminal code that would punish a person who gets an abortion with the death penalty

The bill, called the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, would amend the state’s code of laws, redefining “person” to include a fertilised egg at the point of conception, affording that zygote “equal protection under the homicide laws of the state” – up to and including the death penalty

Representative Rob Harris wrote the bill and so far it has attracted 21 co-sponsors to date

The bill, however, provides an exception for pregnant women who underwent abortion “because she was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or great bodily injury”

It also provides an exception if the procedure is needed to avert the death of a mother “when all reasonable alternatives to save the life of the unborn child were attempted or none were available”[…]
In addition, the proposed bill does not provide an exception for rape or incest. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina said on the House floor last week that “to see this debate go to the dark places, the dark edges, where it has gone on both sides of the aisle, has been deeply disturbing to me as a woman, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape”

Charlie Kirk #wingnut #conspiracy #homophobia independent.co.uk

Charlie Kirk has called for a “midterm hero” to post bail for the suspect charged with a brutal hammer attack that left House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul with a fractured skull

“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out,” a smirking Mr Kirk said on his podcast on Monday

“Bail him out and then go ask him some questions”[…]
Some Republicans, Maga media figures and Elon Musk have [url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/paul-pelosi-donald-trump-jr-meme-joke-b2214236.htmlspread baseless conspiracy theories[/url] that Mr DePape and Mr Pelosi were somehow romantically involved, despite strenuous denials from law enforcement.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins rejected lies being spread about the attack, confirming in comments on Sunday that Mr DePape’s target was the Democratic speaker

Mr DePape’s unhinged online rants echoed many Maga talking points, and friends said he had become increasingly radicalised in recent years

“Why is the conservative movement to blame for gay schizophrenic nudists that are hemp jewelry makers breaking into somebody’s home or maybe not breaking into somebody’s home?” asked Mr Kirk

Mr Kirk added that he thought the attack was “awful, it’s not right”, before going on to compare the incident to crime in San Francisco and Chicago

Revolutionary Court of Urmia, West Azarbaijan, Iran #homophobia #transphobia #enbyphobia #fundie #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Two Iranian LGBT+ activists who vocally challenged gender norms are facing possible execution, alarming advocacy organisations across the world and prompting outcry from their supporters

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, 31, and Elham Choobdar, 24, are widely known as advocates of LGBT+ rights who were living in northwestern Iran

On Sunday, a notorious hardline revolutionary court in the northwestern city of Urmia reportedly sentenced the two to death on religiously motivated charges of “corruption on Earth”, for “spreading” homosexuality, propagating Christianity, and making contact with hostile foreign media

A news agency associated with Iran’s judiciary confirmed that the two had been placed on death row, but said they had been charged with “deceiving women and young girls and trafficking them to one of the countries of the region”

No evidence has been publicly released[…]
While little is known about Choobdar’s case, Sedighi-Hamadani has for months been the focus of efforts by activists and advocacy groups, including Amnesty International, which has described her as an “Iranian gender-nonconforming human rights defender”

The activist, a mother of two who is also known as Sareh, was reportedly arrested last October by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard while allegedly trying to cross into Turkey[…]
Legal experts are baffled at how a border-crossing charge that normally carries a fine of less than $200 (£174) somehow expanded into a death penalty case[…]
Citing no evidence, pro-regime social media channels have accused Sedighi-Hamadani of trafficking hundreds of Iranian women and girls and forcing them into sex work abroad

In April, the Revolutionary Guard-affiliated news outlet Tasnim published a propaganda video about the activist, accusing her of gambling and financial crimes, and mocking the campaign to have her released

Alabama State Legislature #transphobia independent.co.uk

Alabama’s state legislators gave final approval to a bill that could imprison doctors for up to to a decade for prescribing medical treatments to transgender youth.

The bill criminalising gender-affirming care for transgender people younger than 19 years old is the first in the US to make healthcare for young transgender patients punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Senate Bill 184 prohibits doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender youth, though Alabama health care providers have repeatedly told legislators that such surgeries were not performed on minors in the state.

The legislation – which passed the state House on 7 April following its passage in the Senate earlier this year – also prohibits “a nurse, counselor, teacher, principal or other administrative officials at a public or private school” from “encouraging or coercing a minor” to withhold from a parent or guardian whether their “perception of his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”

Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn #fundie #wingnut independent.co.uk

Disgraced former Donald Trump aide Michael Flynn has sparked outrage by saying that the US must have only one religion

Mr Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, called for a single religion on stage at the “Reawaken America” conference in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday night – an event featuring a flurry of Trump loyalists and anti-vaxx doctors

“If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion," he said

"One nation under God, and one religion under God”

Mr Flynn faced an instant backlash for his comments with critics saying he “hates the constitution” and warning about history repeating itself with the Holocaust
[…]
At the “Reawaken America” tour, Mr Flynn also branded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “Pontius Pilate” – the Roman official who ordered Jesus’ crucifixion – and called Steve Bannon’s indictment for contempt of Congress an "abuse of freedom of speech”

“I just did a media hit with Tucker Carlson for his show this evening and we talked about this nonsense going on with what I call the insurrection crucifixion and Nancy Pelosi is the Pontius Pilate,” he said

“She’s the Pontius Pilate. This is a crucifixion of our First Amendment, freedom to speak, freedom to peacefully assemble

Unnamed QAnon believers #conspiracy #crackpot independent.co.uk

Conspiracy theorist group QAnon hit a bizarre milestone on Tuesday, when its supporters gathered for what they believed would be the return of the late JFK junior – who, they postured, would be running on an imagined 2024 ticket with former President Donald Trump

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Junior’s plane was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean more than 22 years ago in a crash that killed him
[…]
A bizarre theory has emerged suggesting that the accident was just a ruse to fake his death and that he will re-emerge – perhaps as early as next month – to join a reinstated President Donald Trump as his VP
[…]
And those devotees gathered on Tuesday for what they expected would be a dramatic revelation at the AT&T Discovery Plaza in Dallas – but was in fact more of a damp squib. When JFK junior unsurprisingly failed to make an appearance, people in the crowd suggested he would in fact make an appearance at a Rolling Stones concert later that day
[…]
The story goes that after faking his death, Kennedy returned two decades later to help Mr Trump drain the swamp. First he supposedly appeared as Q himself (or close to Q) with the “Q drops” of cryptic information. Then, he was to have revealed himself in 2019, to replace Mike Pence on the president’s 2020 re-election ticket, or maybe the 2021 “reinstatement” (supposedly scheduled for 13 August – although there is no mechanism for reinstating a former president), or maybe the 2024 campaign
[…]
The theory appears to have emerged from an April 2018 Q drop resurfacing a pre-Q era theory in which JFK Jr’s 1999 plane crash was orchestrated by the Clintons, supposedly to prevent him running for the New York Senate seat later won by Hillary Clinton

comite espartaco #conspiracy #moonbat #racist independent.co.uk

It's funny how Barnier is proposing suspending immigration from outside the EU and allowing immigration from within the EU to continue, while Boris's plan is the reverse.

That is because these 'anti-immigration' policies are being implemented by the same people that implemented the 'immigration' policies. In reality the oligarchies will not renounce to the free importation of labour, as they have found in it a magic silver bullet to dominate and destroy their working classes. The truth is that we are defenceless, at the mercy of these victorious elites. That was the importance of having a PROPER socialist Labour Party, but most people has surrendered. They will hit us from inside the EU or from outside it. As they find fit.

The British Government #psycho #wingnut independent.co.uk

Immigrants to be stripped of right to challenge deportation using judicial review

Government accused of ‘grave injustice because the Home Office regularly gets decisions wrong’

Immigrants and refugees will be stripped of the right to challenge deportation orders in the High Court, under a new crackdown to speed up “removals”.

A Judicial Review Bill will overturn a Supreme Court ruling – nearly a decade ago – which allows tribunal decisions to be put forward before the court.

The government admits it does not know the success rate, the Queen’s Speech stating: “We are investigating how many of these cases result in a successful outcome for the claimant.”

It has briefed Tory-friendly papers that the crackdown is to stamp out “hopeless claims that have already been adjudicated by tribunal judges which frustrate removals at the last minute”.

But the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) attacked “a grave injustice, not least because the Home Office regularly gets decisions wrong”.

“People seeking protection in the UK deserve to have their voices heard, and their claims calmy and fairly assessed,” said Minnie Rahman, the organisation’s campaigns director:

“These plans will deny refugees rights and status and leave many more people in limbo as government’s asylum return deals with third countries appear completely mythical.”

Nazek Ramadan, director of Migrant Voice, said: “The government’s plans mean that a significant number of those who would have won their claim in the High Court could be deported.

“The government is taking legal rights away from people who need protection - with individuals deported to countries where they are at risk of harm or persecution. What does this say about us as a country?”

Pontins Management #racist independent.co.uk

Boris Johnson has denounced as “completely unacceptable” a blacklist of Irish surnames drawn up by Pontins to keep supposedly undesirable guests out of its holiday camps.

An investigation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that the company had been using the blacklist as part of a policy of refusing bookings by Gypsies and Travellers to its holiday parks.

Responding to the case, detailed in an EHRC report published today, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This is completely unacceptable. No-one in the UK should be discriminated against because of their race or ethnicity.”

The EHRC said that by declining to provide its services to guests of a certain race or ethnic group, Pontins was “directly discriminating on the basis of race” and had “breached the Equality Act”, which recognises Gypsies and Travellers as distinct racial groups.

Discriminatory practices included:

- Monitoring calls and refusing or cancelling bookings made by people with an Irish accent or surname;

- A blacklist of Irish surnames, published on its intranet page, entitled ‘undesirable guests’ and requiring staff to block any potential customers with those names from booking.

- Using a ‘no commercial vehicles’ policy to exclude Gypsies and Travellers from its holiday parks.

EHRC executive director Alastair Pringle said: “It is hard not to draw comparisons with an ‘undesirable guests’ list and the signs displayed in hotel windows 50 years ago, explicitly barring Irish people and Black people. Banning people from services based on their race is discrimination and is unlawful. To say that such policies are outdated is an understatement.”

Golden Calf Award

CPAC attendees #wingnut independent.co.uk

image

A golden statue of Donald Trump, wearing shorts in the print of the US flag and carrying a wand, has caused a stir on Twitter since a video of it being wheeled into the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) conference surfaced on the social networking site.

A Bloomberg reporter shared footage of staff at the conservative conference wheeling a golden statue of the former US president across the conference floor.

Voices in the background can be heard saying “awesome” and “that is so cool” in reaction to the golden model of Mr Trump. Others laugh and someone chants: “Four more years!” In reference to a chant popular with Mr Trump’s supporters when he was America’s president.
[...]
Launched in 1974, the annual CPAC conference calls itself the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world.”

On Sunday, it will welcome Mr Trump onto its stage to give his first post-White House speech.

Tim Boyd #elitist #wingnut independent.co.uk

The mayor of a city in Texas reportedly wrote a Facebook post telling residents it was not the government's job to care for them during trying times, telling them "the strong will survive and the weak will parish [sic]" as an unprecedented winter storm leaves millions without power.

[...]

"Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!!" Mr Boyd said in his post. "No one owes you are [sic] your family anything; nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times like this! Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!!"

He then complained that residents were looking for a "hand out" and told people they should have been personally prepared to deal with catastrophic circumstances like the massive winter storm that struck the region, leaving Texans in some areas without heat in single digit temperatures.

"I'm sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout! If you don't have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and provide water for your family," he wrote.

Mr Boyd then accused people of being "lazy" because they are waiting for their power to come back on. He did not offer suggestions as to how individual people could restore Texas's failed power grid amid the devastating storm.

Sharon Thomason #racist independent.co.uk

A Conservative council candidate who sent a message to a Jewish Labour MP about the “Aryan race” will no longer be standing for the party.

Sharon Thomason, who was to contest a seat on Warrington Borough Council, tweeted “Keep the Aryan race going…” at Charlotte Nichols on 29 February last year.

In another post from the summer Ms Thomason had suggested building a statue of Enoch Powell, who gave the infamous “rivers of blood” speech in 1968.

Local council leader Russ Bowden criticised the comments as “disgusting and inexcusable conduct”, while Ms Nichols herself said they gave “a feel for the calibre of candidates [the Conservatives are] selecting locally”.

The Conservative Party said it had taken action “swiftly and immediately” to remove the candidate.
[…]
Ms Thomason had made the comments in response to a tweet by Ms Nichols noting that Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds were expecting a baby.

Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy) #conspiracy #wingnut #psycho independent.co.uk

One of Donald Trump’s fiercest supporters, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, went to a meeting at the White House with notes suggesting “martial law if necessary”.

The notes, captured by a photographer as Mr Lindell entered the Oval Office on Friday, come after Mr Lindell tweeted then deleted calls for the president to “impost martial law” in the seven battleground states that won the election for Joe Biden.

The page is curved and not fully visible, but the heading is titled something like “[illegible] taken immediately to save the [illegible] constitution.

It references a “cyber” attorney and “Kraken” attorney Sidney Powell, while recommending “Kash Patel to acting CIA”.

“Insurrection Act now as a result of the assault on the… martial law if necessary upon the first hint of any…”, it read.

“… foreign interference in the election trigger [ineligible] powers. Make clear this is China/Iran.”

Alex Jones #wingnut #psycho #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has told a Trump rally that president-elect Joe Biden will be removed "one way or the other" leading to calls for the Secret Service or FBI to investigate him for attempting to incite violence.
[…]
“The system is publicly stealing this election from the biggest landslide and the biggest political realignment since 1776,” Mr Jones said during a speech.
[…]
He said: "We will never back down to the Satanic paedophile, globalist New World Order and their walking-dead reanimated corpse Joe Biden, and we will never recognize him".

He then turned his attention to the FBI investigation of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia, before referencing a recently-revealed Department of Justice probe into Hunter Biden's taxes.

"President Trump had zero connection to Russians. No proof. Four years of investigation. With the Bidens, it's open and shut," Mr Jones said.

"So I don't know who's going to the White House in 38 days but I sure know this - Joe Biden is a globalist and Joe Biden will be removed one way or another."
[…]
Violence erupted on the streets of DC following the rally. Four people were taken to hospital with stab wounds, DC fire spokesman, Doug Buchanan, said.

Stewart Rhodes #wingnut #conspiracy independent.co.uk

The largest militia group in the US will refuse to recognise President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s duly elected leader when he is sworn in on 20 January 2021.

The Oath Keepers, an armed right-wing organisation that boasts tens of thousands of members with law enforcement and military backgrounds, was one of several groups to demonstrate in Washington over the weekend at the “Million MAGA March” in support of Donald Trump, whom news networks project has lost the 2020 election.

“I think about half this country won’t recognise Biden as legitimate. They won’t recognise this election,” Stewart Rhodes, who founded the Oath Keepers, told The Independent on Saturday in the nation’s capital.

“What that means is that everything that comes out of his mouth will be considered not of any force or effect, anything he signs into law we won’t recognise as legitimate. We’ll be very much like the founding fathers. We’ll end up nullifying and resisting,” Mr Rhodes said.

Lang Holland (Police Chief of Marshall, Arkansas) #wingnut independent.co.uk

When this is over and Trump is president for 4 more years. Do not got to sleep. Do not forget what these Marxist Democrat bastards have tried to do. When you see one in public get in their face do not give them any peace. Throw water on them at restaurants. Push them off sidewalks. Never let them forget that they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei #sexist #fundie #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Iran’s Supreme Leader claims gender equality is 'Zionist plot' aiming to corrupt role of women in society

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a meeting of religious speakers that Iranians should resist feminist ideas and instead hold the Prophet Mohamed’s daughter Fatimah as their ideal. “Making women a commodity and an object of gratification in the Western world is most likely among Zionist plots aiming to destroy the society,” he said, according to a translation on the Shia Muslim leader’s official website.

“Today, Western thinkers and those who pursue issues such as gender equality regret the corruption which it has brought about.”

Khamenei claimed that men and women are equal in the “ascendance of spiritual positions, the power of leadership, and the capability to lead humankind”, but that some tasks for women “collapse and humiliate” their primary roles as housewives and mothers. A report by the government-controlled Mehr news agency said the Supreme Leader “expressed hope that views of those who raised similar [gender equality] issues inside Iran were not based on the Western misconception”.

Iranian religious leaders frequently cast pushes towards gender equality as part of conspiracy by the West or enemy “Zionists” in Israel.

Bart Claes #wingnut #transphobia independent.co.uk

Belgium’s first transgender politician to be appointed as the country’s deputy prime minister has been attacked by the far-right just days after being sworn into office. Petra De Sutter was formally appointed in her new role last weekend, making her the highest-ranking transgender politician in Europe. But although her appointment was applauded by many for breaking new ground, it has not pleased everybody, including critics in the regional parliament of her native Flanders in northern Belgium.

Bart Claes of the Flemish Interest party posted on Facebook that De Sutter “wants to destroy and replace all cornerstones of our Western civilization". Claes also claimed in a tweet that De Sutter was “the personification of cultural Marxism”. The remarks were immediately criticised. De Sutter's party colleague, Bjorn Rzoska, decried attempts to “dehumanize her". And Liesbeth Homans, speaker of the Flemish parliament said she found Claes' comments “extremely reprehensible”, while at the same time defending free speech. Claes, however, would not back down and took to Facebook again to claim that: “I don't see the problem. I said that a transgender… is a transgender."

Katie Miller #wingnut #racist #psycho independent.co.uk

Mike Pence's spokesperson sent to child migrant detention centre 'to become more compassionate' - but reportedly said: 'It didn't work'

Ms Miller's interview appears in new book examining Trump administration's child separation policy

Vice President Mike Pence's spokeswoman Katie Miller said the US Department of Homeland Security sent her to a child migrant detention centre so she would build empathy for the children who had been separated from their parents housed there.

"But it didn't work," she said, according to the author of a new book on the Trump administration's 'zero tolerance' family separation policy.

Ms Miller reportedly made the comments during an interview with Jacob Soboroff, who was conducting research for his book Separated. Mr Soboroff read the excerpt from his book containing the anecdote on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show.

Ms Miller is married to Stephen Miller, Donald Trump's senior policy adviser and the architect of the president's immigration agenda. Before joining Mr Pence's team, Ms Miller worked as a spokeswoman for the DHS. During that time, the DHS was overseeing the separation of children from their parents when immigrants were attempting to cross the border.

"My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids I'll think about the separations differently. But I don't think so ... DHS sent me to the border to see the separations for myself — to try to make me more compassionate — but it didn't work," she reportedly said.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday that Ms Miller denied making the remarks.

“She said those quotes are not true, as described in the book," Ms McEnany told reporters. "There's no greater ally of the Cuban community than President Trump. He loves the Cuban community."

Mr Soboroff, who visited the detention centres as well, said he was shocked by Ms Miller's comments.

"It didn't work? I will never forget what I saw. Seriously. Are you a white nationalist? I asked, exasperated," Mr Sobroff said, reading from his book.

"No, but I believe if you come to America you should assimilate," Ms Miller replied. "Why do we need to have a 'Little Havana?'"

Mr Trump eventually ended the family separation policy in June 2018.

The US Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general issued a report that claimed children who were detained in the camps under Mr Trump's separation policy were suffering from acute psychological trauma.

"According to program directors and mental health clinicians, separated children exhibited more fear, feelings of abandonment, and post-traumatic stress than did children who were not separated," the report said.

Subhoban Rana and Kunja #fundie #psycho independent.co.uk

A man who was out on bail after being jailed for committing a human sacrifice has been arrested for killing his 12-year-old sister to appease a Hindu goddess of war, according to local reports.

Police in Odisha state, India, have said the man, Subhoban Rana, confessed to killing his sister Janani to gain favour with the goddess Durga just days after he was let out of prison on bail for a similar crime.

Janani had left home with her 28-year-old brother on 24 December and did not return.

Her family then filed a missing person report at the local police station, although villagers reportedly suspected the brother due to his arrest for a human sacrifice in 2018.

“After he confessed to his crime, we arrested him and took our team to a forest where we recovered the girl’s headless body,” Madkar Sandeep Sampat, the police superintendent for the Balangir district, said.

Mr Sampat added that Rana had been arrested with a man called Kunja for sacrificing the latter’s nine-year-old nephew in October 2018.

Uganda government, President Yoweri Museveni and Minister Simon Lokodo #homophobia #psycho independent.co.uk

Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals.

The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks.

The government said the legislation would curb a rise in “unnatural sex” in the east African nation.

“Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that,” the country’s ethics and integrity minister, Simon Lokodo, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.”

Mr Lokodo said the bill, which has the support of the country’s president, Yoweri Museveni, will be reintroduced in parliament in the coming weeks.

He said it was expected to be voted on before the end of the year.

The minister was optimistic the bill would pass with the necessary two-thirds of members present, he said, as the government had lobbied legislators ahead of its reintroduction.

Uganda’s constitutional court overturned the law – formerly known as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it includes the death penalty – on a technicality in 2014.

Stephan Balliet #wingnut #racist #sexist #psycho #conspiracy independent.co.uk

The neo-Nazi who murdered two people in a marauding shooting attack in Germany has been named as Stephan Balliet.

The 27-year-old German man is suspected of storming a synagogue in Halle on Wednesday and shooting a female passerby, before attacking a nearby Turkish kebab shop where a man died.

Balliet broadcast a live video of the attack on the Twitch streaming platform and published an antisemitic and racist “manifesto” online, echoing the Christchurch terrorist and other recent far-right attackers.

He repeatedly called himself a “loser” in the footage for failing to break into the synagogue or kill more people, after his homemade gun repeatedly jammed.

The livestream stopped after Balliet dumped the helmet-mounted camera and his car while fleeing Halle, before hijacking a taxi and being arrested following a crash around 10 miles south of the city.

[...]

A source told Reuters that Balliet had done military service, which was compulsory in Germany at the time, but received no special training.

Balliet’s livestream and online documents seen by The Independent suggest he was deeply embedded in online forums, gaming culture and had a fascination with Japan.

He called himself a “weeb”, denoting an obsession with Japanese culture, and an “anon” – the term used to describe users of 4chan, 8chan and other imageboards that were used by previous mass shooters to share manifestos.

One of three documents Balliet posted online before the attack was entitled “manifesto” in Japanese and included an image of a sexualised anime “cat-girl”.

The tongue-in-cheek message said that readers could get a free cat-girl or “waifu” if they “kill at least one Jew”.

The document, written in English, called for “discontent white men” to murder Jews, non-whites, communists and “traitors”.

[...]

The document said he aimed to inspire attacks by “other suppressed whites” by livestreaming his attack, kill as many “anti-whites” as possible, and that he would wear protective clothing and aimed not to die.

It included a score sheet of “achievements” for the attack, including numbers of kills and methods, but few were met.

The documents appear to have been originally posed on the Kohlchan website, which is a predominantly German-language “chan” imageboard whose name translates as “cabbage chan” or “nonsense chan”.

Balliet said he had “originally planned to storm a mosque or an antifa ‘culture’ centre” which he thought would be less secure than the synagogue targeted.

But he claimed his ultimate target was Jews, after declaring his belief in conspiracies including the “Zionist-occupied government” theory.

Speaking in English at the start of his livestream, Balliet said he was a Holocaust denier and said he believed feminism was ”the cause of declining birth rates in the west”.

David Parnham #psycho #racist independent.co.uk

A white supremacist behind the “Punish a Muslim Day” campaign has been jailed for 12 and a half years.

David Parnham, who called himself “Muslim Slayer” and sent packages containing fake anthrax, is to serve his sentence in hospital until he is well enough to be transferred to prison.

The Old Bailey heard the 36-year-old had launched several waves of malicious letters targeting mosques, the Queen and politicians including David Cameron and Theresa May.

He admitted offences including soliciting murder, encouraging crime, bomb and noxious substance hoaxes and sending letters with intent to cause distress.

In early 2018, a series of typed “Punish A Muslim Day” letters were sent out to encourage violence on the date of an American white supremacist’s birthday.

The letters claimed Europe and North America was being “overrun” by Muslims and contained a makeshift scorecard for attacks ranging from pulling off women’s headscarves to acid attacks, torture, bombing a mosque and “butchering” Muslims with guns, knives and vehicles.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC said Parnham had been suffering from an autistic spectrum disorder but rejected the suggestion he was psychotic at the time of the offences.

“You have yet to appreciate the seriousness of what you have done and seem to want to return to the community at the earliest opportunity to live with your parents,” he told the court on Tuesday.

Parnham’s failure to appreciate the harm he caused to the Muslim and wider community meant the risk of reoffending was greater, the judge said.

The court heard that although no violence was linked to the campaign, it sparked widespread fear in Muslim communities across the UK after being received by politicians including the then home secretary, Sajid Javid.

Marco Bonifazi, Marie Bonifazi, Massimiliano Mecozzi #quack independent.co.uk

The parents of a seven-year-old boy who died from an earache after they treated it only with homeopathic medicine have been found guilty of his manslaughter.

Marco and Marie Bonifazi failed to give antibiotics to their son Francesco when he was diagnosed with a common infection in the central Italian town of Cagli.

Instead, the pair saw a homeopath who “underestimated” the seriousness of the illness, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.

The youngster fell into a coma and died from encephalitis on 27 May 2017 – three days after his original diagnosis.

His parents were given a three-month suspended sentence.

Massimiliano Mecozzi, the homeopathic doctor who consulted on the case, will go on trial in September.

Prosecutors accuse him of negligence, inexperience and "having underestimated the typical clinical picture of a highly serious local infection, prescribing a therapy based on homeopathic medicines in spite of the recrudescence of symptoms”.

They also say he failed "to prepare any diagnostic analysis and avoided prescribing the necessary antibiotic therapies suitable for the treatment of the pathology".

Speaking after the parents' hearing, Francesco’s maternal grandfather said that the couple did not have a problem with conventional medicine but had resorted to homeopathy because they feared their child had been taking too many antibiotics after a series of illnesses.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah #fundie independent.co.uk

Brunei bans Christmas: Sultan warns those celebrating could face up to five years in jail

Anyone found illegally celebrating Christmas in Brunei could face up to five years in prison, according to a reported declaration by the Sultan of the tiny oil-rich state.

Brunei introduced its ban on Christmas last year over fears that celebrating it "excessively and openly" could lead its Muslim population astray.

Christians and others can celebrate Christmas, but must do so in private and have to first alert the authorities.


Local Islamic religious leaders have promoted the ban, warning that adopting the trappings of Christmas is tantamount to imitation of another faith, prohibited in some interpretations of Islam.

Officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs have also reportedly visited local businesses to ensure they are not displaying Christmas decorations, including Santa hats and banners with Christmas greetings.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who has ruled the former British colony for nearly 50 years, introduced the ban on Christmas in 2014, the same year Brunei adopted a stricter penal code, based on Islamic sharia and including punishments such as stoning and amputation.

The Christmas ban is justified under the new laws - the punishment for celebrating Christmas is a fine of $20,000 or up to five years in prison, or both.

The ban has encountered some resistance - the social media campaign #MyTreedom, which encourages Christians and other in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran to post images of themselves celebrating Christmas, includes several contributions from Brunei residents.

At least 65 per cent of Brunei's 420,000-strong population are Muslims.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah #fundie independent.co.uk

LGBT+ people to be stoned or whipped to death in Brunei under new sex law

Amnesty International condemn ‘heinous’ rules introduced as part of Sharia reforms in tiny kingdom

Brunei is set to permit the stoning and whipping to death of LGBT+ people under a series of reforms to its penal code that are attracting international condemnation.

New laws due to come into effect next Wednesday will see the tiny kingdom become the first nation in southeast Asia to impose the death penalty for those found engaging in same-sex intercourse.

Homosexuality was already illegal and carried a long jail sentence in Brunei. However, the country is in the process of introducing a Sharia Law-style system for criminal punishment.

Human rights groups have denounced the move, including Amnesty International, which described the new punishments as “heinous” and “inhumane”.

It said same-sex relations would become a capital offence that could be carried out by whipping or stoning.

Amnesty warned other new laws would permit amputation as a punishment for robbery or theft – a sentence that would also be carried out on children.

“Some of the potential ‘offences’ should not even be deemed crimes at all, including consensual sex between adults of the same gender,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, a Brunei researcher for the organisation.

“Brunei must immediately halt its plans to implement these vicious punishments, and revise its penal code in compliance with its human rights obligations.

“The international community must urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.”

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who rules Brunei by absolute monarchy, first introduced measures under the Sharia Penal Code in 2014, imposing fines or jail terms for offences such as pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.

However, laws targeting LGBT+ people were shelved following international protests, including a boycott of the Sultan’s exclusive Beverly Hills Hotel in California.

But it appears the monarch will now implement the legislation, which he has in the past said should be regarded as “special guidance” from god.

Around two thirds of the oil-rich nation’s 417,000 inhabitants are Muslim, while it is also home to significant Christian and Buddhist communities.

There has been no vocal opposition to the new rules in Brunei, where public criticism of the Sultan and his policies are extremely rare.

The country has long been known for conservative policies such as banning the sale of alcohol and it already issues caning as a punishment under secular laws for several crimes including immigration offences.

Menon #racist independent.co.uk

Re: India only has enough ammunition to supply troops for ten days

I just read the trash written by one Maria Abi-Habib an obvious falistini in love with Pakistan. Maybe even an ISI agent. Who knows!! In any case an india hater. I would like to tell that uneducated uncultured woman (I am told she lives in India and enjoys Indian hospitality but love her uncultured terrorist cousins of Pakistan and hates India) a few facts
1. She need not worry about Indian armed forces’ capabilities but should worry about the possible dismantlement of her terrorist friends across the border and how many minutes’ammunition her brothers have got.
2. She does not realise that there was ongoing asymmetric warfare going against India by a failed nation of terrorists (her brothers) for decades thanks to the bastardy of Britain.
3. Because of our culture, (unlike her and her ilk), we tried to reason with pkistan and did all we can without success.
4. Pakis thought it was a weakness and continued and India now has said thus far and no further. We bombed the hell out of a terrorist camp. There were 300 phones active there before the attack and now none.
5. The Paks tried to retaliate and were sent off by IAF. The MIG-21 shot down an F-16. Poor woman does not seem to have understood its impact. As for “vintage” nature of MIG-21 these are the aircraft that achieved 5-1 kill against American F-16s at Cope India.
6. I also suggest that you speak to REAL lawmakers and not to idiots who got a seat because of progeniosis. I am sure, being what she is, she will have neither the wherewith all or ability to get into a debate.

this whole paper is aligned with discrediting India

This is just a british rag that is still upset that they can no longer loot India and is offering aid to UK because it is now worse than a third world Country so they have Arab slaves and Arab women with no intelligence ranting against India. Ask her a simple question "how many minutes’ fuel and ammunition her terrorist brothers have"?

India is playing a double game with America.India is still very close to Russia.It buys most of its arms from Russia.India is breaking American sanctions on Iran by trading in local currencies.India is also buying oil from Venezuela where America.

The handle itself show that this is a fake ID in all probability that of a Pakistani. There is no free game like what Pakistan is used to play. We have told America that we will not be cutting our defence ties with Russia and America is also welcome to trade with us. Similarly we have told the United States of America that we are not going to cut of the Irani and supply of oil. These were our conditions and it was accepted by the United States of America. We are not, unlike Pakistan, going with a begging bowl to anybody and everybody and then cheating them. Where are you next going to go to beg for money? Within a week Baluchistan will rise up. Iran will attack the terrorist facilities. Afghanistan will lay claim to North West Frontier province now called Khyber Paktunwa. MQM will rise up in Karachi. India will take over POK and Khyber Paktunwa. Then what will remain of Pakistan? Think.

James Greene #fundie independent.co.uk

A Donald Trump supporter reportedly armed with a gun barged into a Texas library in an attempt to stop a drag queen reading books to children.

James Greene was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after refusing to leave Houston’s Freed-Montrose Library, but claimed he was detained for being a "white Christian" and accused staff of satanism.

He had entered the building to protest against Drag Queen Storytime, a programme of events in which performers read children’s stories to families.

The conservative radio host has previously been banned from the library for filming children during similar demonstrations.

Footage filmed by Mr Greene and posted on YouTube shows him remonstrating with police officers as they ask him to leave the building. Another clip shows him being handcuffed in the libary’s car park.

“We have a bunch of homosexuals that are molesting children,” he is heard telling officers. “They are doing it with your help.”

Outsmart, a Houston LGBTQ magazine, reported that officers took a concealed firearm off Mr Greene as they detained him.

Islamic CPC officials #fundie independent.co.uk

China passes law to ‘make Islam more compatible with socialism’ amid outcry over Muslim abuse

Beijing unveils plans aimed at ‘sinicisation’ of religion within four years, fuelling concerns over crackdown on Uighur minority

China has announced plans to make Islam “more compatible with socialism”, amid growing fears about a crackdown on the country’s Muslims.

Beijing is to introduce measures aimed at “the sinicisation” of the religion within four years, state media reported.

The move is likely to fuel concerns about re-education camps in China’s Xinjiang region, where a million or more Uighurs and other Muslim minorities are believed to be held.

On Monday, Beijing said it would allow United Nations officials into the far western region if they followed proper procedures. UN officials should also “avoid interfering in domestic matters” and adopt an objective and neutral attitude, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said.

The UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, said last month her office was seeking access to verify “worrying reports” of centres that Amnesty International has said are being run like “wartime concentration camps”.

China, which denied the existence of the camps until October last year, has claimed it is detaining people guilty of minor crimes and that inmates are “grateful” to have been sent to the “vocational education centres”.

But former internees have alleged torture and said they were forced to learn Chinese Communist Party propaganda, swear loyalty to the party, and denounce Islam. There have also been reports of detainees being made to eat pork and drink alcohol, acts forbidden by their religion.

In a sign the crackdown on Muslims could spread to other regions, Beijing announced on Sunday that Islamic organisations in eight provinces had “agreed to guide Islam to be compatible with socialism and implement measures to sinicise the religion”.

Muslim groups from Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan, Yunnan and Qinghai had discussed a five-year plan for the “sinicisation of Islam” at a seminar in the Chinese capital, according to the state-run Global Times.

The plan was “not about changing the beliefs, habits or ideology of Islam but to make them compatible with socialist society”, Gao Zhanfu, vice-dean of the Beijing-based China Islamic Institute, told the newspaper.

But the World Uyghur Congress, an exile organisation, said Beijing was using sinicisation to erase Islam from China.

It added: “Practising Islam has been forbidden in parts of China, with individuals caught praying, fasting, growing a beard or wearing a hijab — facing the threat of arrest.

“As we have seen in the camps and in China’s treatment of Uighurs, ‘sinification’ is total assimilation and religious persecution.”

In August, a UN human rights panel said it had received credible reports that a million or more Uighurs and other minorities were being held in what resembled a “massive internment camp” in Xinjiang.

In a rare move, a group of 15 western ambassadors in Beijing, spearheaded by Canada, have sought a meeting with the top official in the region, Communist Party boss Chen Quanguo, for an explanation of alleged rights abuses.

Beijing has launched an increasingly active publicity campaign to defend its actions in Xinjiang in the face of an outcry from activists, scholars, foreign governments and UN rights experts.

In the past two weeks, the Chinese government has arranged for diplomats from 12 non-western countries to visit the region, as well as organising a trip for a small group of reporters, including to three re-education camps.

In the centres, Uighur students were seen learning in Mandarin about the dangers of extremist thought. They also sang and danced for reporters, including a rendition in English of “If You’re Happy and You Know it, Clap Your Hands”.

Some cultists #fundie independent.co.uk

Naked family who kidnapped neighbours ‘to save them from Armageddon’ avoid jail

Group whipped into shared hysteria believed they needed to take drastic actions because the apocalypse had arrived

A naked family who kidnapped their neighbours thinking they were saving them from the end of the world have walked free from court after a judge attributed the incident to a bizarre shared psychotic episode.

Judge Jacqueline Schaffter said the three offenders did not mean to cause their victims harm when they forced them into their car before driving off at break-neck speed during an incident November last year.

The court heard the group had whipped each other into hysteria taking part in marathon sessions of applied kinesiology, an alternative medicine claimed to diagnose various illnesses by testing the strength of muscles at a home in Alberta, Canada.

Following several days in which they barely ate and repeatedly engaged in muscle testing, the two women, a man and two teenagers, who all cannot be named for legal reasons, became convinced the apocalypse was imminent.

“It will always remain difficult for us to fully understand,” Ms Schaffter told a courtroom in the small city of Leduc on Thursday, the Toronto-based Globe and Mail reported.

“The accused all believed on the day in question that Armageddon had arrived.”

The family, who were all Jehovah’s Witnesses, began to see and hear demons after several days locked together the house, the court was told.

They eventually came to the conclusion the end of the world was taking place and decided to act to save their neighbours with such haste, four of the group did not bother putting clothes on before rushing out of the house.

Completely naked, the family then drove their SUV through their garage door before crashing it through the gate at a neighbour’s property.

They grabbed the victims – a man, his adult daughter and her six-week-old son – forcing the man into the boot of the car and putting the woman and her child in the back passenger seat.

As the car sped through red lights on the way to a nearby town, the group forced their captives to chant “Jehovah” repeatedly, the court heard.

The neighbours were able to escape the car as it slowed before jump into a passing truck. However, the family rammed the vehicle, causing their SUV to swerve into a ditch.

Everyone involved in the incident escaped unharmed, but when members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police attended, the family refused to leave their vehicle, continuing to chant.

Officers said the group displayed extreme strength and all three adults had to be shocked with a Taser several times before they could be detained.

The court heard the incident had been out of character for the family, who had no prior record of offending.

The judge accepted a joint recommendation from defence and prosecution lawyers in the case and handed the group a one-year, non-custodial sentence followed by two years of probation.

They were ordered to refrain from muscle testing in the future and receive counselling.

Unknown CPC officials #fundie independent.co.uk

One million Chinese people 'move into Muslim homes to report on Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs'

'Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbour in Arabic with the words ‘Assalamu Alaykum’? That would need to go in the notebook," says Dr Darren Byler

Uninvited, more than one million Han Chinese people have reportedly moved into the homes of Uighur Muslim families to report on whether they display Islamic or unpatriotic beliefs.

Sent to homes in Xinjiang province by the Chinese government, American anthropologist Darren Byler said they were tasked with watching for signs that their hosts’ attachment to Islam might be “extreme”.

The informants, who describe themselves as "relatives" of the families they are staying with, are said to have received specific instructions on how to get them to let their guard down.

As devout Muslims would refuse cigarettes and alcohol. this is seen as one way of finding out whether they were extreme.

“Had a Uighur host just greeted a neighbour in Arabic with the words ‘Assalamu Alaykum’? That would need to go in the notebook,” said Dr Byler, in research published by Asia Society's Centre on US-China Relations. “Was that a copy of the Quran in the home? Was anyone praying on Friday or fasting during Ramadan? Was a little sister’s dress too long or a little brother’s beard irregular?”

As many as a million Uighurs are thought to have been rounded up and placed in "re-education’ centres", in what China claims is a clampdown on religious extremism.

Those who have spent time in them, have however claimed that they were forced to undergo an intensive indoctrination programme, urged to renounce Islam and instead heap praise on the Chinese Communist Party.

One former inmate claimed Muslim inmates were forced to eat pork and drink alcohol.

Dr Byler said more than a million Chinese civilians, who refer to themselves as "relatives", were assigned to the homes of Muslims for a series of week-long stays in 2017.

His claim appeared to be confirmed in the Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, which reported that more than 1.1 million people paired up with 1.69 million ethnic minority citizens in China by the end of September this year.

They often focus on families of those who have been detained in the "re-education" centres.

China was also said to be trying to prevent people from fasting during Ramadan in Xinjiang last year.

According to the World Uighur Congress (WUC), officials in the region ordered all restaurants to remain open and a series of measures were put in place seemingly designed to prevent people observing the holy month.

Chinese authorities have also been accused of putting Uighur children and those from other ethnic minority groups into state-run orphanages across the western Xinjiang region, even if their parents were not dead, as some one million adults in their families were sent to internment camps.

Dilxat Raxit, of the exile World Uighur Congress, has also claimed officials in Xinjiang warned them that they must surrender religious items such as the Quran or face “harsh punishments”.

Labour Party members #racist independent.co.uk

The Metropolitan Police is to investigate a number of Labour members over potential antisemitic hate crimes.

Specialist officers will look into whether party members broke the law when making a series of offensive comments about Jews.

Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner, said she would ask hate crime experts to investigate after being presented with evidence of Labour members appearing to call for Jews to be murdered.

She told LBC: "We take hate crime very seriously.

"If somebody makes an allegation to us, absolutely we will take it seriously, we will scope it, we will see if a crime has taken place.

"I will pass this to my experts to deal with. We'll see if a crime has been committed."

It comes after the radio station was handed a dossier of antisemitism cases that were considered by Labour's disciplinary Disputes Panel.

They show people thought to be Labour members making a series of highly offensive comments about Jews.

In one post, a member wrote: "We shall rid the Jews who are a cancer on us all."

Referring to Jewish people as "devils" and suggesting the Red Sea would be an "ideal destination" for them, they added: "No need for gas chambers anyway as gas is so expensive and we need it in England."

Another person called for a Jewish MP to "get a good kicking".

A third wrote: "One cannot understand the state of the world without understanding Jewish power, and one cannot understand the nature of Jewish power until one understands the nature of Jewish thinking."

And a sitting Labour councillor was accused of inflicting "ten years of hell" on a child, including calling him "Jew boy".

Khaled Al-Saqaby #fundie independent.co.uk

Allah's blessing upon you. Welcome to our show, which will deal with wife beating. I am aware that this issue is a thorny one, which contains many hazards, but Allah willing we will cross this bridge safely.

I believe that the problem arises when husbands do not understand how to deal with disobedience. Some women disobey their husbands and make mistakes with them, and their husbands think this is due to inadequate discipline. Allah said "As for those on whose part you fear disobedience - advise them." This is the first step in disciplining one's wife.

First, remind her of your rights and her duties, according to Allah.

Then comes the second stage - forsaking her. Here, too, some husbands make mistakes, which might exacerbate the problem even further. For example, if the husband leaves his bed and goes to another house, everybody knows that there is a problem. The point of forsaking her in bed is to discipline the wife, and now to wear your dirty laundry in public. Allah said "Forsake them in bed," which means you should stay in bed with her, but turn your back to her, or else sleep in a separate bed in the same room. By the way, as a woman once told me, this is the most ingenious way to discipline a wife. If the husband leaves the room, it is easier for her than if he remains with her but if he turns his back, or he sleeps on the floor while she sleeps in the bed, or vice versa.

Then comes the third stage - the issue of beating. We have to understand that the aim is to discipline, not to vent one's anger. The necessary Islamic conditions for beating must be met. The beating must not be performed with a rod such as this one [3' x 1" stick]. Nor should it be with a headband, which some husbands use, or with a sharp object, which, I'm sad to say, some husbands use. It should be done with something like the sewak tooth-cleaning twig. Ibn Abbas said that she should be beaten with a sewak like this one or with a hankerchief, because the goal is merely to make the wife feel that she was wrong in the way she treated her husband.

Seth Welch and Tatiana Fusari #fundie independent.co.uk

A 10-month old girl died of malnutrition and dehydration after her Christian parents allegedly refused to seek medical help for religious reasons, fear of child services and a lack of trust in medical services.

Seth Welch and Tatiana Fusari, both 27, have been charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse in the death of their daughter, Mary.

Welch called the emergency services last week and the child was not breathing when deputies arrived at their home in Michigan's Solon Township, which sits to the north of Grand Rapids, the Kent County sheriff’s office said.

The child was found with sunken eyes and cheeks and a lack of pulse, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy ruled the cause of death was malnutrition and dehydration due to neglect by adult caregivers.

The couple admitted their daughter had been skinny and underweight for at least a month, an affidavit alleged.

They did not seek medical help for religious reasons, fear of having Child Protective Services called and a lack of trust in medical services,” according to court records.

Footage taken in Kent County Court shows their shocked reaction as the judge tells them they could face life in prison without parole, if convicted of felony murder.

Welch’s jaw fell open and Fusari sobs as the judge reads out the charges.

The pair, have two older children together, aged two and four, are being held without bond and court records do not list lawyers who can speak on their behalf.

Child Protective Services have filed a neglect case against the parents involving their two eldest children.

Welch has posted about Child Protective Services, a distrust of doctors and religious beliefs on Facebook. He called doctors “priesthoods of the medical cult” and spoke in one video post about refusing to get his children vaccinated.

“The righteous shall live by faith. It’s God who is sovereign over disease and those sorts of things and, of course, ultimately deaths,” he said.

The couple return to court on 20 August and could face life in prison without parole if convicted of felony murder.

Gholam Ridha Jalali #conspiracy independent.co.uk

Iranian general blames water shortages on Israel 'stealing rain from clouds’

[...]

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander has accused Israel of exacerbating the Islamic republic’s water shortage problems by “stealing the rain” from clouds that pass over the Mediterranean Sea.

The negative impacts of climate change were the “unnatural result of foreign influence”, civil defence organisation head Brigadier General Gholam Ridha Jalali told an audience at an agricultural conference in Tehran, citing unnamed Iranian scientific research centres.

Israel and an unnamed other country were cooperating to extract moisture from weather systems as they moved over the Mediterranean, he said, thus making clouds “barren” by “stealing the rain and snow” which is not reaching Iran’s highlands as it should.

The comments were picked up by semi-official Iranian news agency Isna and Tasnim News, as well as Israeli media.

The commander’s remarks were quickly disputed by the director general of Iran’s official meteorological organisation, however, who told the Iranian Students' News Agency it was impossible for any country to steal rain or clouds.

[...]

Jalali's theory has been voiced in the past by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who in a 2012 speech also linked Iran’s environmental problems to colonisation and “the enemy destroying the clouds moving towards our country”.

TinmanofTN #conspiracy independent.co.uk

You Brits could never understand Trump or his supporters because we are free men. You are but slaves to your communist overlords and their mu$lim foot soldiers. We are proud of our nation and our God. We will restore western civilization, we will free our loyal and brave cousins from their miserable bondage.

Q-anon is real, the independent however is a fake news propaganda out let. Those of you cowards who have betrayed your own people and handed them into the hands of our ancient enemy's will pay the ultimate price. I will see to it personally.

Tamara Pletnyova #racist independent.co.uk

World Cup 2018: Russian politician urges citizens not to 'fornicate' with foreign football fans

The chariman of a Russian parliamentary committee has urged Russians to abstain from sex with foreign fans arriving for the World Cup.

Tamara Pletnyova, who heads the Family, Women and Children Affairs committee in the lower house of parliament, told the Govorit Moskva radio station that such behaviour was likely to lead to single parent families.

“There will be girls who meet men, and then they will give birth. Maybe they will get married, maybe they won’t. But the kids will suffer, just like they suffered [after the 1980 Mosco Olympics].”

Ms Pletnyova claimed her comments were not motivated by nationalism, but suggested it was better if children were born from parents of the same race.

“It is one thing if the parents are of the same race; quite another if they are of different races,” she said. “We should give birth to our own children.”

Frances Naggs and other Jeremy Corbyn supporters #conspiracy independent.co.uk

More than 2,000 supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have backed an open letter suggesting a Jewish-organised protest against antisemitism in the Labour Party was the work of a “very powerful special interest group”.

The open letter, posted to Mr Corbyn, claimed the organisers of Monday’s demonstration had used their “immense strength” to “employ the full might of the BBC” in order to launch an “onslaught” against the Labour leader.

The event was organised by Jewish community groups the Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council.

The letter claims the organisers had sought to use their “history” and ”influence” to “dictate who the rest of us can vote for or how we vote”.

It comes as Mr Corbyn battles to respond to allegations he has failed to adequately address antisemitism among his supporters.

The letter was posted on the “We Support Jeremy Corbyn” Facebook group and was “liked” by more than 2,000 of the group’s followers. Almost 1,000 commented asking for their names to be added to the text.

Coming the day after Monday’s protest, it states: “Yesterday we witnessed the full onslaught of a very powerful special interest group mobilising its apparent, immense strength against you.

“It is clear this group can employ the full might of the BBC to make sure its voice is heard very loudly and clearly. It is a shame not every special interest group can get the same coverage.”

It adds: “But, and it is a very big BUT, we live in a democracy, a one member one vote democracy and no special interest group, regardless of their history or influence, can be allowed to dictate who the rest of us can vote for or how we vote.”

It was posted by a user named Frances Naggs, who said they were a Labour Party member in the Staffordshire Moorlands constituency. The Independent has approached the leader's office for a comment.

The news came as an ally of Mr Corbyn was forced to resign as chair of a key Labour disciplinary panel after a leaked email revealed she had argued that a council candidate who claimed the Holocaust was a “hoax” should not be suspended from the party.

‘Mad’ Mike Hughes #fundie independent.co.uk

Flat-earther blasts off in homemade rocket in bid to reassure himself world is shaped 'like a Frisbee'

'I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket'

A self-taught rocket man who believes the earth is flat blasted himself 1,875 feet into the air, in an effort to reach orbit and reassure himself the world is shaped "like a Frisbee".

‘Mad’ Mike Hughes, who has been likened to cartoon character Wile E Coyote, propelled himself off the ground in a homemade rocket on Saturday before a hard landing in the Mojave Desert.

The 61-year-old limo driver said he was fine – apart from his aching back – after the launch near Amboy, in California.

“I'm tired of people saying I chickened out and didn't build a rocket,” he said after being checked out by paramedics.

“I'm tired of that stuff; I manned up and did it.”

Mr Hughes worked on overhauling his rocket in his garage for months before the launch on Saturday, which was given the go-ahead by Albert Okura, who owns Amboy.

He converted a mobile home into a ramp and modified it to launch from a vertical angle so he would not fall back to the ground on public land.

It looked like Saturday might be another in a string of cancellations, given the wind was blowing and his rocket was losing steam.

But some time after 3pm (Pacific Daylight Time), and without a countdown, Mr Hughes’ rocket soared into the sky.

He reached a speed he estimated to be around 350 mph before pulling his parachute.

The limo driver was dropping too fast, though, and had to deploy a second one.

He landed with a thud and the rocket’s nose broke in two places like it was designed to do.

“This thing wants to kill you 10 different ways,” said Mr Hughes, who had an altimeter in his cockpit to measure his altitude.

“Am I glad I did it? Yeah, I guess. I'll feel it in the morning. I won't be able to get out of bed.”

“At least I can go home and have dinner and see my cats tonight,” he added.

The launch is said to have lasted three to four minutes, with the rocket landing about 1,500 feet from the ramp.

And it isn’t the first time Mr Hughes has built and launched a rocket: he is reported to have travelled 1,374ft into the air in Arizona in 2014 before collapsing and taking three days to recover.

Some naysayers have posted things like "He'll be fine" with a picture of Wile E Coyote strapped to a rocket.

"I hope he doesn't blow something up," retired Nasa astronaut Jerry Linenger said as Hughes' plans captured widespread attention. Mr Linenger orbited the globe more than 2,000 times during four months in 1997.

"Rocketry, as our private space companies found out, isn't as easy as it looks," he added.

Hughes often sparred with his critics on social media leading up to the launch, through Facebook comments and a 12-minute video addressed to his doubters

"My story really is incredible," he said.

"It's got a bunch of story lines — the garage-built thing. I'm an older guy. It's out in the middle of nowhere, plus the Flat Earth. The problem is it brings out all the nuts also, people questioning everything. It's the downside of all this."

The self-taught rocket man has always maintained that his mission is not to prove that the Earth is flat.

“Do I believe the Earth is shaped like a Frisbee? I believe it is,” he said. “Do I know for sure? No. That's why I want to go up in space.”

In the future Mr Hughes wants to build a ‘Rockoon’ – a rocket that is carried into the atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and lit – which would take him about 68 miles up.

He revealed he also planed to run for governor.

various TERFs #fundie independent.co.uk

FEMINISTS JOIN MEN-ONLY SWIM IN PROTEST OF PROPOSED LAW TO ENABLE PEOPLE TO SELF-IDENTIFY AS MALE OR FEMALE

Female activists took a group of male swimmers by surprise on Friday evening when they attended a men-only swim session wearing just swimming trunks and pink swimming caps.

Amy Desir, 30, was one of the two women to gain access to the South London pool session as part of a protest against proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act that would enable men and women to choose their own gender.

Both women explained their attendance to staff at Dulwich Leisure Centre by saying they “identified as male” and subsequently had the right to be there.

They also used the male changing rooms before going into the session and were later asked by an elderly man if they realised this was a male-only session.

Their actions form part of a nationwide campaign formed on Mumsnet called #ManFriday which encourages women to “self-identify” as men every Friday in protest of the proposed amendments to gender laws that would enable people to self-identify as men or women.

“The aim of the group is to raise awareness among men of the misogynistic and homophobic pro-self-ID policies that are allowing men to appropriate women’s spaces, services and positions,” Desir told The Independent.

“Most men either aren’t aware of the issue or don’t think it has anything to do with them.”

There are currently 91 women taking part in #ManFriday, revealed the mother-of-two, all of whom self-ID as men every Friday to access men-only spaces.

“We don’t change anything about our appearance, or pretend to be in the process of transitioning, just state that we are men.”

Desir and her fellow campaigners are concerned that the proposed legislation would enable predatory men to abuse women in single sex spaces by self-identifying as female.

“We want to challenge the idea that sex and gender are interchangeable and for organisations to use the lawful exemptions in the Equality Act to protect the rights, safety, dignity and privacy of women,” Desir added.

“We also want women’s organisations to be consulted on proposed changes to the law.”

Desir has launched an online petition calling for these concerns to be considered; it currently has more than 5,700 signatures.

various commenters #fundie independent.co.uk

Comments RE: Feminists join men-only swim in protest of proposed law to enable people to self-identify as male or female

(annabella77)
The trans movement rides on the back of the gay rights movement, appearing to be progressive whilst actually being totally regressive - it is misogynistic and homophobic to say that if you have feminine traits then you must be a woman, and vice Verda

(minagiller)
It is especially funny to watch the row in the Labour Party about this as ex-men invade women's only short lists.

(Monica Vieira)
Yes, it's so funny isn't it. I hope women see how much fun men are having with all of this. This will radicalize a lot of feminists and in the end women will have the last laugh.

(Johart)
So you're a misandrist. At least admit it rather than hiding behind feminism. Got dumped did you?

(Happytravelling)
Sunday Politics was a joy. Watching Labour representatives try to pretend when Milne and Corbyn tried to pretend Russia were not to blame for the attack in Salisbury they were really saying Russia was to blame.

Then, that women's short lists could contain those who self identified but was a problem. Then one of the panelists gave the helpful suggestion that one solution would be to get rid of the women's own list and choose based on merit.

(Monica Vieira)
If the choice was based on merit, males wouldn't be the majority of representatives, dear.

"one of the panelists gave the helpful suggestion that one solution would be to get rid of the women's own list"

Yes, the end goal of all of this is to destroy everything that women have fought for, like women's shortlists that only exist because of the historical discrimination against women in politics (and society in general).

Good luck with that.

(George__costansa)
we are getting to the point of the circle where feminists are realizing they are different to men. and need different treatment and protection... eventually theyll be demanding to stay at home doing embroidery. ... not that i am saying that would be better.... but they will never be satisfied.

(minagiller)
Feminism and identity politics are disappearing up their own ridiculous rear ends.

Hilarious to observe.

(SJW_Skeptic)
Love the way this is all men’s fault. The feminist lobby has pushed for “transgender” rights past the point of logic and to the point of absurdity. Now the predictable results are happening they don’t like the results. Lucky it isn’t getting gender equality in conscription laws just prior to a major war where the government wants cannon fodder.

(roughgouge)
Have these Self identification nutters ever heard of Perverts?

(busterahmed)
Those that believe in science understand that, apart from cases of genital ambiguity, a very rare condition, most cases of 'trans' are just wish-fulfillment.

(mark anthony)
I totally agree with them but I was not under the impression that it was men driving the law forward . It is transsexuals who want to claim what they see as their rightful pace in society who are demanding a law change and in this day of political correctness who is to deny them

(mynamewhocares)
Strange that they view the law from a purely female point. is that not sexist?

(Monica Vieira)
Men only see things from a male point. Are you complaining about equality? :)

Men are having fun watching women's sports being destroyed by males who claim to be women and females on testosterone who claim to be men but are not allowed to play against men (yes, this is happening too).

Men don't care about anything unless it affects them. What I really want is to see feminists doing stunts that actually harm men.

So if you think that women standing up for themselves is sexist, GREAT. Get used to it.

Mahmoud Abd Al-Halim #fundie independent.co.uk

An atheist has been kicked off a live TV show in Egypt after the host accused him of being “confused and unreliable” and being in need of psychiatric treatment.

Mohammad Hashem was presenting his reasons for being an atheist on Alhadath Alyoum TV when host Mahmoud Abd Al-Halim told him he was being “inappropriate”.

Former deputy sheikh of Al-Azhar, Mahmoud Ashour, who was also on the programme, agreed, telling him: “Look dear Mohammad, you need psychiatric treatment. Many young people today suffer from mental illnesses due to material or mental circumstances.”

Mr Al-Halim then asked Mr Hashem to leave, saying: “We cannot promote such destructive ideas...you set a very bad example for the Egyptian youth.

He added: “I advise you to leave the studio and go straight to a psychiatric hospital.”

Blasphemy is illegal in Egypt, and arrests are routinely made if people insult or defame Islam under the country’s strict religious laws.

Lawmakers are reportedly considering outlawing atheism altogether.

“The phenomenon [of atheism] is being promoted in society as freedom of belief, when this is totally wrong,” Amro Hamroush, head of Egypt’s Parliament’s committee on religion, said when he introduced the bill in late December

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