THAT's LIFE...

[Elizabeth]

http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/31/gunmen-in ... n-7041058/

Gunmen dressed in clown and ghost masks opened fire with automatic weapons at clubbers at a rave in London.


Gunmen in Halloween masks open fire at rave in Leyton with automatic weapons | Metro News

[Elizabeth]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/268286/ ... greenfield

"Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.
Earlier this year, a final settlement was reached in the war on the NYPD’s counterterrorist Islamic surveillance. The Manhattan courtroom where the lawfare effort to dismantle the NYPD’s ability to stop terrorist attacks was heard is blocks away from the site of the latest Islamic terrorist attack in New York.
Walk two blocks down to City Hall. And then head down Chambers to the West Side Highway. That’s where the terrorist attack that killed eight people ended when an NYPD officer shot the terrorist. If he had kept going down the West Side Highway, instead of crashing into a school bus, he would have eventually been within attack range of the 9/11 Memorial. And maybe that was his original plan.
But his message was very clear. He shouted it as he left the truck with which he murdered 8 people.
“Allahu Akbar”. These were the last words on the Flight 93 flight recorder. Mohamed Atta had advised his fellow 9/11 hijackers to, “Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because it strikes fear in the hearts of the infidels.”
Sayfullo Saipov, the Muslim terrorist who carried out the latest attack, was just listening to Atta’s advice. The 16th anniversary of the attacks has passed, but the hatred of Allah’s killers burns as hot as ever.
And the attack carried clear echoes of 9/11.
Saipov had listed an address in Paterson, NJ. Paterson, known to the locals as ‘Paterstine’ for its sizable Islamic community, is where the PLO terror flag flies over City Hall and where Islamic terrorist sympathisers celebrated after their compatriots murdered thousands on 9/11.
Paterson is also where 6 of the 9/11 hijackers lived.
The terrorist reportedly rented the truck used in the attack in Jersey City. That’s where the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center rented the van they used in the attack. And Jersey City was where some of the terrorists lived. And it’s where Muslims were caught celebrating the September 11 attacks.
The attack by the Muslim settler from Uzbekistan was almost identical to previous Car Jihad attacks in Europe. Right down to using a fake firearm. But New York City had avoided the non-stop terror wave that engulfed Paris and other European cities thanks to the hard work of the NYPD.
But every time the NYPD broke up an Islamic terror plot, the media and its leftist allies would howl that the racist police had entrapped another innocent mentally ill Muslim. When the Newburgh Four plotted to bomb synagogues in the Bronx, the media was in their corner. HBO even aired The Newburgh Sting, a piece of propaganda whitewashing the terrorists. The revisionist documentary played at the Tribeca Film Festival. And Tribeca is the site of the latest Islamic terrorist attack.
Linda Sarsour, the leading Islamic activist on the left, defended Ahmed Ferhani, who had also plotted to blow up a synagogue, and Shahawar Matin Siraj, who was convicted of plotting to blow up a Manhattan subway station, as victims of NYPD entrapment.
But it’s hard to think of a NYPD or FBI terror bust in New York that the media didn’t undermine. The Nation and the Guardian led the lynch mob. But soon CBS, The Atlantic and the New York Times joined in. All the Muslim terrorists that the NYPD had stopped were really immature and easily manipulated young men. The plots had been invented by paid informants. And it didn’t stop there.
For the last four years, the ACLU and other pro-terror groups had waged an effective lawfare campaign to cripple the NYPD’s counterterrorism. And they succeeded. The NYPD’s ability to send informants into mosques was handicapped. New York cops were now required to consider the “impact” of informants on mosques after Islamist groups claimed that their presence discouraged mosque attendance. The approvals required made it much harder to use one of the more effective terror prevention tools.
The Demographics Unit, one of the most important big picture intel tools for the NYPD, was shut down. But that wasn’t enough. Even when the NYPD agreed to a settlement, Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. insisted that it didn’t go far enough to protect “law-abiding Muslims and believers in Islam who live, move and have their being in this city.”
Sayfullo Saipov moved his being and the truck it was in over the bodies of New Yorkers leaving tire tracks over corpses. The Manhattan attack, like every Islamic attack before it, could have been stopped. But the NYPD’s hands had been tied. And the left had done the tying. It defended every Islamic terrorist that the NYPD had arrested. And prevented the NYPD from investigating mosques and radicalisation.
Now it has what it really wanted. Dead Americans. And it has their blood on its manicured fingers.
The Uzbeki Islamic terrorist had listed an address in Paterson, New Jersey. The NYPD had come under attack for conducting surveillance in New Jersey. One of the targets was a mosque in Paterson. Other targets were in Jersey City. That was where Saipov allegedly rented the truck used in the attack. The Uzbeki Muslim terrorist also links back to Florida. The media has largely ignored or tried to cover up the string of Islamic terrorist attacks linked to Florida, from the Pulse Massacre in Orlando, to the latest Islamic terrorist plot to bomb the Dolphin Mall on Black Friday.
Sayfullo Saipov had come here in 2010. In that short amount of time he managed to amass criminal records in Pennsylvania and Missouri for traffic offenses. After stints in at least three other states, he went on a killing spree that took eight lives and wounded as well as traumatised countless others.
Dem leaders in New York are already rolling out the standard messages urging everyone to go back to life as usual. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack “cowardly”. But the attack wasn’t cowardly. It was vicious and murderous. It’s Bill de Blasio and the other politicians who crippled the NYPD because they were afraid of political pressure from Linda Sarsour and CAIR who are the real cowards.
They are cowards with blood on their hands.
The New York media’s first response after the attack was to try and blame road rage. Before long, you will see it running the standardised “Muslims fear backlash” stories that are a staple of every effort to sweep the latest Islamic terrorist attack under the rug along with the blood and the bodies.
Islamic terrorists like Sayfullo Saipov are able to do what they do because they have a long list of collaborators like the ACLU, Democrat politicians, Federal judges and the mainstream media.
While law enforcement fights a desperate battle to stop the next Saipov, the men and women tracking the terrorists know that if they get their man, the media will make them the villains. Just ask the good people who brought down Ahmed Ferhani, James Cromitie, Shahawar Matin Siraj and so many others.
Sane societies celebrate those who risk their lives to keep them safe. The leftist culture machine does everything it can to destroy them and to aid the Islamic butchers who run over pedestrians for Allah.
The way to stop the next Saipov is to untie the NYPD’s hands.
After every shooting, the left insists that anyone who opposes gun control wants people to die. But guns don’t hop off the shelf and shoot people. And trucks don’t run over pedestrians on their own.
Islamic terrorists drive them into crowds, over pedestrians and cyclists, in London, Nice, in Berlin, in Jerusalem and in New York City. And leftists who refuse to stop them might as well be behind the wheel.
Leftists who would rather control the police than the Islamic terrorists want people to die.”


The David Horowitz Freedom Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 55089 Sherman Oaks, CA 91499

http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/31/multiple- ... g-7043654/

Eight people have been killed and at least nine others are injured after a van mowed down pedestrians and cyclists in downtown Manhattan.

[Elizabeth]

http://www.gopusa.com/?p=32657?omhide=true


"The Supreme Court will hear arguments in early December on a baker who refused to make a cake for a same-sex “wedding,” citing religious objections. But this case is much bigger than a cake.
In 2012, two homosexuals visited Masterpiece Cake Shop in the Denver area to order a wedding cake. Shop owner Jack Phillips said he couldn’t provide that cake, a decision that led to the Colorado Civil Rights Commission and state courts ruling the baker violated state law by discriminating against the homosexuals. After a series of appeals, the case is now going before the U.S. Supreme Court. Arguments will be heard December 5.
“The question before the Court is whether the Constitution provides a constitutional right to discriminate based either on religion or on artistic freedom, in violation of long-standing laws that apply to businesses that are open to the public,” said James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a media call Monday.

Staver
But Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, argues this case is about free speech.
“This is government coercion at its worst,” he says. “This is the government trying to force an individual to use their artistic and expressive talents to promote a message with which, in this case, Jack Phillips disagrees based on sincerely held religious convictions.”

Staver recalls that the Supreme Court once ruled against the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their objections to saluting the U.S. flag.
“As a result, different kinds of temples and places of meeting were burned,” he continues. “Then the Supreme Court, embarrassed by its decision, came back a couple years later and found that the government cannot coerce a message with which the person disagrees; and therefore allowed them to opt-out of the mandatory Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of class time in the public schools.”

Jack Phillips (Colo. baker)Staver believes that was the correct decision – and the same decision that the Supreme Court should reach in the case involving Jack Philips and Masterpiece Cake Shop.
“The government should not force any individual, whether they’re an artistic cake baker, florist, or any other person engaging in speech – that’s what the issue is here – to present a message that is contrary to their values and their conscience and, in this case, their religious convictions,” the attorney concludes.

More than just a cake
Friend-of-the-court briefs have been filed on behalf of the LGBT community and Jack Phillips. Among those filing in support of Phillips are Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in Arizona and the Memphis-based Center for Religious Expression (CRE).

Scruggs
“There’s no license to discriminate going on because Jack doesn’t discriminate at all,” states ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs. “He welcomes all people of all different statuses, of all different characteristics. He serves all people, including people from the LGBT community. He just can’t promote a message that violates his faith.”
As a way of comparison, the attorney suggests that a web-design studio owned by lesbians shouldn’t be forced to create a website criticizing same-sex marriage. “So we’re all seeking a kind of neutral playing field in this respect,” he adds. “Ironically, it’s the ACLU and groups like this who are really seeking to single out and compel people to go against the core of what they believe and who they are.”
CRE attorney M. Anthony Mangini explains why the case is much bigger than a cake.
“There’s been a suggestion that it’s just a cake, that it doesn’t really express a message – and in fact, the ACLU kind of suggests that the message couldn’t really be the reason that Jack Phillips denied them because the gay couple hadn’t yet explained what message they wanted on the cake,” he says.
“But the fact of the matter is it was a wedding cake for a gay wedding,” Mangini points out, “and the entire reason that people seek out designers to custom-design wedding cakes – rather than going out and buying one from Costco – is because [designers] put their artistic talent in it and show that the wedding that it’s celebrating is worthy of celebration, that it’s something valuable. And that’s just not something that Jack can necessarily promote with his artistic talent.”
Just as minority and civil rights organisations have spoken out against Phillips, some two dozen minority and civil rights organizations have voiced support for the Colorado baker. “They recognise the fact that the right to speak, the right to exercise your religion really is a fundamental right in the American experience,” says ADF attorney Scruggs.
In September, the U.S. Justice Department filed a brief in support of Phillips; and last week, Trump administration attorneys asked the high court for permission to argue on behalf of Phillips."

[Elizabeth]

"Some American slaveowners and abolitionists started a movement in 1816 and founded American Colonization Society. Some white southerners were uncomfortable with having freed blacks in their areas because it would upset the social balancing act that it took to keep slave submissive. Some freed slaves were willing to take on a new life in the motherland so they volunteered to board the ships to start the resettlement along the Pepper Coast, or modern day Liberia. The people who choose to emigrate were mostly mulatto, protestant Christians. They imagined making a western style life in their colonies. They intermarried amongst each other and became an ethnic group referred to as Americo-Liberians. Because of their higher education level, they looked down on the native tribes in their territories and even had some violent confrontations with them. They started colonies like Mississippi-in-Africa, Edina, and Maryland. These colonies became counties when in 1847 Liberia gained its independence from the US, becoming the first independent republic in Africa, and the only country at the time to be run by blacks. They struggled to mix with the locals as the various town chiefs across the territories felt their power and authority being usurped by these newcomers. Many of the freed slaves who went to Liberia were not able to take the intense monsoon and the diseases like malaria. So some died while others adapted. However, the Americo-Liberians held the reins of the political power in the country, forming a tightly knit elite. There were also some Caribbean settlers who arrived, especially after a recruitment mission to the island of Barbados. Eventually, all the colonies and annexed territories were integrated into Liberia, and it took on the shape that we now see it in today. Although the native tribes that lived in Liberian territory were 95% of the population, they didn't become birthright citizens until 1904. They had been following the U.S.' lead on the majority of their political issues, even basing their constitution and flag off that of the U.S."

[Elizabeth]

Sweden is becoming a war zone with twelve bombings in twenty-four days

In a couple of decades, we'll be looking at an Islamic Caliphate in Western Europe.

[Joel]

Detective: Kitsap Co. mom admits to strangling son to death on Halloween after praying on it

KITSAP COUNTY, Wash. — A central Kitsap County mother who allegedly admitted to strangling her son to death on Halloween after praying about it will be charged with first-degree murder.

The charges against Amber Jones, 47, were amended Friday from second-degree murder.

James’ 9-year-old boy, Ryan Rosales, died of “obvious homicidal violence.” James was arrested Tuesday, Kitsap County sheriff’s deputy Scott Wilson said.

Court documents say Ryan's mother had called 911 earlier in the week complaining she thought she was being followed by people in cars and airplanes.

The documents also said Ryan's father placed another call to 911 Tuesday morning telling dispatchers he discovered his son's lips were blue and had red spots all over his face.

Here's the account of what happened according to court documents obtained by Q13 News:

Ryan Rosales' father was taking a shower around 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday. When he got out, he smelled gas.

The father went into the kitchen and found all four burners on the stove were on with the caps taken off. He confronted James, who denied turning on the gas. He noticed scratches on her neck.

The father then opened the windows of the home to vent the gas. He went to check on his son and give him a kiss, and noticed the boy was cold to the touch and unresponsive. The father called 911 and began CPR.

Paramedics were unable to revive the boy, and he died at the scene. Medics thought something was suspicious and deputies were called to the home in a rural area outside Silverdale near Wildcat Lake.

"This was a situation that needed to be turned over to detectives because there was just something about the situation that did not look right," said Wilson.

James was detained and taken to the sheriff's office in Port Orchard for questioning. Detectives said she had cloves of garlic, two lighters and a small vial of "holy water" at the time. She told the detective she used the water to "say a prayer for my baby."

Detectives said there were writings on the wall including the words: "Harvest," "Spaywar," "Greed kills," "sex trade," "God is coming," "No pedo," and "Michael=Devil." James told detectives she had been watching conspiracy videos on YouTube related to politics and chemtrails, and thought she was being followed.

Investigators decided to take her to a nearby hospital for a mental evaluation and treatment of injuries to her neck.

"While at the hospital and unsolicited by Deputy Trout, Amber told Deputy Trout that she needed to save her son from people that were after us, needed to protect him. She had described (the boy) as the best kid in the world. She stated she had prayed, thought about it, cried and then put her hands around his throat so he couldn't breathe any longer. Amber then asked Deputy Trout, how do I explain to someone why I just ... killed my kid? What is a good explanation of that? I killed my ... kid. Deputy Trout state Amber did not cry or have any tears."

James told a mental health worker that she received the red mark on her left hand when her son fought back.

Court documents also say James had taken medication for anxiety but she didn't have any diagnosis for other mental health disorders.

The 47-year-old mother is being held in Kitsap County Jail. Bail was initially set at $1 million. James made her first court appearance Wednesday afternoon, her next court appearance is scheduled for Friday.

Mental illness

Tragedies like these leave many wondering, how did this happen? Didn’t anyone notice this behavior? And why didn’t anyone intervene or ask for help?

A group of local health professionals is taking a proactive approach to the topic of mental illness by teaching people how to identify and respond to those struggling.

CHI Franciscan Health is spearheading the eight-hour class, hoping to make it as commonplace in as CPR training.

That’s why medical professionals are really pushing everyone, not just first responders, to educate themselves on how to step in before it’s too late.

“Most mental illnesses, if you can catch them early before things get bad, they can absolutely be helped. So this is really critical and can have a huge difference in somebody’s life and can have a huge difference in our community,” says Monet Craton of CHI Franciscan Health.

The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office also has protocols in place for responding to calls involving people who are mentally ill, often times, that is already a crisis situation.

[Elizabeth]

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/p ... _xLIDyL2-4_

Public open house begins this week for the Cedar City Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Visitors will have several weeks to go inside the temple for a guided tour of the main rooms, including the baptistry, an instruction room, a sealing room, the celestial room and the bride’s room.

[Joel]

Jesus Punched Jedi in the Face, Saith the Police

Woe unto a Star Wars cosplayer, for a man dressed like Jesus decked him with a punch to the face, saith police. It happened early Wednesday around 3 a.m. in Dundee, Scotland after a Halloween party at the Dundee University Student Association headquarters, according to The Independent. And the victim, clothed as a Jedi knight, did fall to the ground, breaking his ankle to shivers as the vessels of a potter, saith cops. He required succor from a hospital.

Blessed are those who leave the scene of the crime: for investigators cannot find them. Police seek Jesus. Verily, they ask witnesses to contact them about the Lord’s whereabouts. They describe him as mid-20s, about 5’10” fall, featuring a “medium build, with long brown hair, a beard, and wearing long robes as a fancy dress costume.”

Neither God nor the Jedi Council could be reached for comment.

[Joel]

[Elizabeth]

"Porn sites often feature hotel rooms. The operators rely on the anonymity of a hotel room when live-streaming porn or make filthy movies.
But what’s worse, is that hotel rooms are used for sex trafficking. Women and children are displayed and sold online. Usually from hotel rooms. Well, now there’s something you can do to help detectives trying to identify a hotel room from all the millions across the world. If you have a smart phone with a camera, you just download this app and snap four photos when you first enter your hotel room (There’s nothing to identify you at this point.)
The TraffickCam app — which is free and available for iPhone, iPad and Android — allows you to upload pictures of your hotel room, where they are then matched to a database used by law enforcement. This can help the police identify where trafficked children are.
“You just enter your hotel room, and your room number. You take four pictures, and you submit them to the website,” Washington University Researcher and TraffickCam developer Abby Stylianou explains. Since its creation, TraffickCam has acquired over 1.5 million photos of hotels around the world.
Will you add to their database?"
http://www.selfreliancecentral.com/2017 ... 2INSOMNIA3

.

[Elizabeth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hP6mbAh9U


Ann Coulter ► There's nothing good about diversity.

[Elizabeth]

Book of Mormon Central just put out a new video on the plates. Joseph Smith claimed he translated the Book of Mormon from a set of golden plates that were given to him by an angel named Moroni. After the translation was completed, however, Joseph reported that he returned the plates to the angel. Because of this they are unavailable for examination today. Is there any evidence that the plates actually existed, or must believers accept Joseph Smith's account strictly on faith? Who were the three and eight Witnesses whose testimonies have appeared in the Book of Mormon since 1830? And did anyone besides the official witnesses see the angel or physically encounter the plates? This video explores the history behind the witnesses to the Book of Mormon and explains why their combined testimony strongly indicates that Joseph Smith did in fact possess plates "with the appearance of gold" which he translated by the gift and power
of God

https://youtu.be/Mm-AXJNXiB8

They also add three links:

What kind of ore did Nephi use to make the plates?
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ ... the-plates

Why were there three witnesses?
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ ... -of-mormon

Who are the few who are permitted to see the plates?
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/ ... the-plates

Not a Book of Mormon Central project, but an article written by one of its contributors that is interesting is Nephite History in Context 1: Jerusalem Chronicle. It can be found here:

http://www.studioetquoquefide.com/2017/ ... salem.html

[Elizabeth]

http://www.selfreliancecentral.com/2017 ... MAXBOUNTY4

"This young lady has it down! She can draw, rack, clear, and perform several tactical reloads by the book.

She's learning how to do it right."

[Joel]

[Joel]

[Joel]

[Elizabeth]

THE BROMBERG MASSACRES: GENOCIDE OF ETHNIC GERMANS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwxLIILoaso

THE BROMBERG MASSACRES: (((GENOCIDE OF ETHNIC GERMANS))) - YouTube

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/292171094546034379/

[Elizabeth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 6W7kpnHkIo

Cockatiel singing to 2 week old boy.

[Joel]

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federa ... /case.html

[Elizabeth]

http://www.wnd.com/2017/11/u-s-europe-c ... rth-rates/

"Corcoran said. “It has been drummed into the heads of American college girls since the early 1970s that we should only have two children because of the growing world population. But who never listened to this propaganda? Pretty much all of the Third World and the Islamic world.”
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa:
"Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."
Globalists can’t have it both ways: Encouraging family planning, more women climbing the career ladder and having fewer children, then complaining about the aging population and smearing the reputations of everyone who balks at the idea of seeing their city, their state, their nation transformed into an Islamic enclave."
.

[Joel]

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an exorcism investigation at the county jail after a nurse was accused of performing it on an inmate.

[Joel]

Police: Armed robber was "experiencing 'the spirit of God'" at Mesa QT

MESA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) -
A Mesa man is facing nearly a dozen charges, most of them felonies, after allegedly robbing a convenience store while “experiencing ‘the spirit of God.’”

Police say Brandon Scott Piacitelli, 38, had a loaded handgun in his waistband when they arrested him on Monday, Nov. 6. They also found a second handgun, a semi-automatic rifle and several loaded magazines in his vehicle.

According to the probable cause for arrest statement, Piacitelli told a woman to run in the parking lot of the QuikTrip convenience store at University Drive and Ellsworth Road last Monday.

“’Don’t ask questions. Just run,’” he said, according to court documents.

“Video surveillance footage showed the defendant enter the convenience store, and recklessly brandish a handgun,” the arresting officer wrote. “According to multiple witnesses, the defendant said someone was ‘going to die,’ as he was waving the handgun around.”

Police say Piacitelli got into his car and left the scene only to return a short time later. He quickly sped away again “driving erratically and recklessly through a residential area and near an occupied school ….”

Officers were able to detain Piacitelli.

“The defendant repeatedly made spontaneous statements about how he was experiencing the ‘spirit of God,’ and that someone was going to meet God today,” according to court documents. “He also said he was going to ‘repent today,’ and he was ‘going to show us how [to repent].’ He said the devil was in his backyard, and he had been recording himself dancing around in his backyard for four days, losing sleep.”

Police said Piacitelli continued talking to them after they read him his Miranda rights. The arresting officer said Piacitelli told him about his Facebook posts.

“…[He] told me, ‘The whole world’s waiting to see my next post,’” according to the probable cause statement. “He said, ‘I’m just trying to prove who has the spirit of God,’ and ‘I’ve been doing nothing but trying to stuff the evil down inside of me … I just unleashed a huge bag of truth on this world …like nobody’s ever seen.’”

Police said Piacitelli described the reaction of the people inside the store with him as “bedaffled.”

“’I was just trying to save everybody’s life, and I was acting like a maniac back there,’” Piacitelli said according to court paperwork.

Piacitelli is facing three counts each of kidnapping and aggravated assault, as well as one count each of first-degree burglary, disorderly conduct and unlawful flight from law enforcement.

In addition to indicating that Piacitelli might have mental health issues, court documents also cite a 2004 arrest for disorderly conduct and marijuana possession.

It would be interesting if we could see brain scans of his brain when he described feeling the spirit:

The neural circuitry involved in feeling religious experiences has been identified. Brain regions associated with reward lit up when devout Mormons said that they were "feeling the Spirit". The brain areas that responded included reward circuits that respond to romantic love, appreciation of music, cocaine and methamphetamines.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/ ... 16.1257437

[Elizabeth]

http://www.gopusa.com/?p=33436?omhide=true

"New York Times did its part to promote racial harmony, running a piece headlined, “Can My Children Be Friends With White People?”
The piece, by law professor Ekow Yankah at Yeshiva University in New York, argues whites can’t be trusted, aren’t reliable friends and ignore “centuries of exclusion and robust evidence of continuing racism.”
Yankah talks about how his 4-year-old son was trying to “clarify how many people can be his best friends,” but “even a child’s joy is not immune to this ominous political period.”
There were questions in his house about the political violence in Charlottesville last spring.
“Some people hate others because they are different,” the father told the son, “lamely.” But a “childish but distinct panic enters his voice. ‘But I’m not different.'”Yankah writes that real friendship is not just a feeling or the ability to share a beer. It is impossible without the ability to trust others, “without knowing that your wellbeing is important to them.”
“History has provided little reason for people of color to trust white people in this way, and these recent months have put in the starkest relief the contempt with which the country measures the value of racial minorities.”
America is “transfixed” now on solving the opioid crisis, Yankah says, but “when black lives were struck by addiction, we cordoned off minority communities with the police and threw away an entire generation of black and Hispanic men.”
We still talk about joblessness in poor neighborhoods in terms of “bad choices and personal responsibility,” Yankah wrote. But when swaths of white people find themselves out of work, “we get an entire presidential campaign centered on globalization’s impact on the white working class.”
And that means trouble.
“Even the nerve of some rich or visible African-Americans to protest that America, in its laws and in its police, has rarely been just to all has been met with howls of a president who cannot tolerate that the lucky and the uppity do not stay in their place.”
Yankah says Trump supporters are “practiced at purposeful blindness,” starting from Trump claiming before he ever ran for office that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. This was an electoral tactic, ginned up by the Clintons to battle Obama in the 2008 Democrat primaries, but it has become a symbol on par with Klan robes for some.
“That his political life started with denying, without evidence, that Barack Obama is American – that this black man could truly be the legitimate president – is simply ignored,” he writes. Trump’s apologists “deny there is any malice whatsoever in his words and actions … and dismiss any attempt to recognize the danger of his wide-ranging animus as political correctness.”
So the verdict is in for Yankah and, unfortunately, for his young sons who are about to be carefully taught to embrace racism.
“As against our gauzy national hopes, I will teach my boys to have profound doubts that friendship with white people is possible,” Yankah wrote. “When they ask, I will teach my sons that their beautiful hue is a fault line. Spare me platitudes of how we are all the same on the inside. I first have to keep my boys safe, and so I will teach them before the world shows them that this particular brand of rending, violent, often fatal, betrayal.”
Teaching your boys hate and distrust will not help them, but it doesn’t seem Yankah can do it any other way.
“It is impossible to convey the mixture of heartbreak and fear I feel for him,” Yankah writes of his son. “Donald Trump’s election has made it clear that I will teach my boys the lesson generations old, one that I for the most part nearly escaped. I will teach them to be cautious, I will teach them suspicion, and I will teach them distrust. Much sooner than I thought I would, I will have to discuss with my boys whether can truly be friends with white people.”

[Elizabeth]

"Parents are in a position of protection and care, and when their children no longer fall under that umbrella, situations can go south very quickly.
One family in North Tonawanda, New York, is desperately searching for their daughter. Marissa McGary, the girl in question, never returned from a friend’s house earlier this week.
She was last seen on Sunday, when she was supposed to go on a walk after visiting a friend. She left around 10 p.m.
When it got late and she never returned, concerns started rising. Her friends and family haven’t seen her since.
Marissa is currently 15 years old, around 140 pounds, and 5-foot-4. Those who saw her last believe she was wearing dark clothing and white shoes.
While her parents are understandably distraught over their daughter’s safety in general, her mother is also worried because this is not the first time Marissa has acted out. She also ran away when she was 13. A little over a year ago, she disappeared on a Wednesday night. Fortunately, she was found near Niagara Falls, and had suffered no harm.
Her family fears that this new disappearance might have something to do with an online connection. Her mother received some questionable texts on Tuesday that she believes may imply her daughter is not acting on her own.
Marissa’s father, too, has his suspicions. On Tuesday he called his daughter, and she answered the phone.
During the call, he recognized Marissa’s voice, but he also heard a voice in the background that was unfamiliar. It sounded to him like there was a man with Marissa, coaching her on what to say.
Alarmed, the worried dad asked if he could talk to the speaker. He was met with silence, and the call was ended.Authorities were able to link the call to a location in Salamanca, about an hour and a half drive from North Tonawanda. Police there are also looking for her.”

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[Joel]

Guo Wengui sits in self-imposed exile in a $68 million apartment overlooking Central Park.

The billionaire Chinese property tycoon has been waging a media war against his homeland’s government. Guo says he’s trying to stamp out corruption and graft, but China accuses him of the very same thing.

Since January, Guo has taken to YouTube and Twitter making corruption allegations against top Chinese officials. Some of them have been disproven, some can’t be proven, but some have turned out to be accurate. Guo cites the retirement of China’s anti-corruption czar, Wang Qishan, as his most recent victory. Guo alleged Wang and his family made millions in mysterious business dealings. Wang did not respond to the allegations and was never investigated nor charged.

China issued an arrest warrant for Guo but does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S., which has shown no interest in detaining him. Guo, for his part, is hoping the U.S. will grant him asylum and says he can be of use to the Trump Administration. The White House hasn’t commented on Guo’s case but his position as a dissident who may have access to insider information may make him a useful bargaining chip.