The Other Mind-Blowing Testimony Today - Justin Trudeau is in Deep Trouble

While Michael Cohen was sabotaging Donald Trump's Presidency, Canada's Justin Trudeau was being lambasted in a Parliamentary Committee by his ex-Attorney General. Both are astonishing stories. You can read about the USA mess just about anywhere; here is the mind-blowing Canadian story that could bring down Justin Trudeau.

The story has to do with one of Canada's largest engineering companies, SNC-Lavalin. It was charged last year with paying bribes to Muammar Qaddafi for a construction contract in Libya. The decision was made to prosecute SNC-Lavalin on corruption charges.

The problem here becomes very political. SNC-Lavalin is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and employs thousands of people in Quebec and across Canada. If found guilty, the punishment would restrict SNC-Lavalin from bidding on any Canadian Government contracts for 10 years. They could continue to bid on international contracts but the Canadian suspension would certainly result in a lot of jobs lost, many of them in Quebec. I believe the company may have threatened the government that it might pull out of Canada completely.

Quebec is the centre of the Liberal Party's world. It usually wins a lot of seats in that province, and without it, cannot win enough seats to form a national government. Trudeau and the Prime Minister's Office is keenly aware of the dangers with a federal election due in October. So, what does he do? He, and at least 10 other people from the PMO, the Privy Council, and Ministry of Finance begin to twist the arm of Jody Wilson-Raybould.

Jody Wilson-Raybould (JWR) was appointed Attorney General of Canada with great fanfare, being a woman, and an  indigenous woman. Trudeau chose his cabinet very carefully, based on their sex, colour, sexual persuasion, and religion. 50% women, lots of Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and who knows what - but definitely no Christians, and several gay people. 

JWR was one of two indigenous people in the cabinet, the other had to resign for sexual improprieties. 

I have long complained that the cabinet was based on appearance and that some very capable and talented people were overlooked because they happened to be white men. But it must have come as quite a shock to Trudeau to find that one of those women is principled, excruciatingly honest, and has a high degree of integrity. 

After dozens of attempts to persuade her to break the law and interfere in the judicial process, he finally shuffled her out of the Attorney-General's office and demoted her to a lesser ministry. She did not take that well, at least if you are a Liberal. She decided to resign from cabinet and either she, or someone close to her, leaked the story that she had been improperly influenced by senior people to interfere in the legal system for the benefit of SNC-Lavalin and, of course, the Liberal Party.

Trudeau flat out denied the story but the pressure was on from opposition parties to hold inquiries. The Justice Committee was the first to bite, but immediately restricted the guest list to people who had nothing to do with the affair. One reporter on Twitter reported it something like this: The committee investigating the fox and the hens is restricting testimony to the mouse and the rusty old shovel.

JWR stood in the House of Commons and expressed her desire to testify, but claimed she was restricted by solicitor-client privilege as well as cabinet privilege. After some considerable pressure, Trudeau released her from those privileges and allowed her to speak. She spoke this afternoon and it was stunning.

CBC:

Wilson-Raybould said she was contacted by 11 officials in the Prime Minister's Office, the Privy Council and Finance Minister Bill Morneau's office on the matter when she served as justice minister and attorney general.

"For a period of four months from September to December 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the attorney general of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with SNC-Lavalin."

Wilson-Raybould said she was "hounded" by various officials through phone calls, meetings and text messages.

'Veiled threats'

"Within these conversations there were express statements regarding the necessity of interfering in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential of consequences, and veiled threats if a DPA was not made available to SNC-Lavalin," she said.

The very fact that JWR was demoted in cabinet would seem to verify that she was not just threatened but the PM made good on those threats.

I have always thought that if Trudeau were leader of an autocratic country, that he would be a brutal dictator.

She chronicled a series of meetings, including one with Trudeau and Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick on Sept. 17, 2018. She told him that she had made a decision not to overturn the decision from the director of the Public Prosecution Service Kathleen Roussel to proceed with criminal prosecution against SNC-Lavalin.

The prime minister cited potential job losses and the possible move by the company, and asked her to "help out." The clerk then made the case for a DPA and reminded there was an election coming in Quebec.

"At that point, the prime minister jumped in, stressing that there is an election in Quebec, and that, 'I am an MP in Quebec, the MP for Papineau,'" she recounted. 'I was quite taken aback."

At that point, Wilson-Raybould said, she posed a direct question to Trudeau while looking him straight in the eye, asking if he was politically interfering with her role and her decision as the attorney general.

"I would strongly advise against it," she told the committee she warned Trudeau, who responded, "No, no, no, we just need to find a solution."

Apparently, allowing justice to take its course was not a solution!

This is a huge problem for Justin Trudeau and his very Liberal Party, as opinion polls are already showing a downward trend. It also puts the newly appointed AG in a nasty position - interfere with the judicial system or lose the next election. If he does choose to interfere, it may well cost the very Liberal Party the next election anyway.

Trudeau has inspired a lot of left-leaning people. They have faith that he is one of the people most likely to save the planet from global warming, from war, and from nationalism. Finding out that he is a hypocrite, on top of several stupid stunts he has pulled, hits the faithful very hard. But he is first and foremost a politician and winning the next election is the most important thing. So important that he is willing to pressure others to break the law and act in a manner not fit for a minister in the government of Canada.

This is also a problem for Canada's mainstream media. They are head-over-heels in love with Trudeau and his very Liberal Party and are loath to bring meaningful criticism against him. For instance - last December, when the CFO of Huawei was arrested in Vancouver on a USA warrant, Trudeau answered complaints from China by lecturing them on the fact that Canada is a nation of laws and there is no political interference in those laws. He said that a few times. He said that while he was pressing JWR to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. The MSM seems to have conveniently forgotten that.

Expect lots of personal attacks in the MSM against JWR as they try to mitigate the disaster on the very Liberal Party.

The VICE File: Dick Cheney Declassified - National Security Archive

By Tom Blanton and Nate Jones

National Security Archive

Washington D.C., February 22, 2019 – The movie VICE, nominated for eight Academy Awards including the best picture Oscar, shows on screen several documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Those documents relate to then-Vice President Dick Cheney’s meetings with oil company lobbyists discussing potential drilling in Iraq. But at least a dozen other declassified records deserve screen time before Sunday’s Oscars show, according to the National Security Archive’s publication today of primary sources from Cheney’s checkered career.

The documents show how Cheney built a rap sheet for drunk driving and arranged draft deferments in the 1960s, pitched in on President Gerald R. Ford’s unsuccessful veto of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1974, helped undermine investigations of CIA scandals in 1975, excused President Ronald Reagan’s Iran-contra misdeeds in 1987, mistakenly distrusted Gorbachev and slowed the end of the Cold War in 1989, promoted the global hegemon role for the U.S. in 1992, hid his work with oil companies in 2001 to set energy policy, endorsed torture and warrantless surveillance in the 2000s, played a leading role in trashing Iraq and the Middle East from the Iraq invasion in 2003 to the present, mysteriously went whole days at the White House without his Vice President’s office generating any saved e-mail, and presented a danger to civilians whether they were armed or not by shooting his hunting partner in 2006.

His slowing of the end of the Cold War was, I believe, nothing to do with misjudging Gorbachev, but everything to do with not wanting the Cold War to end. It was Deep State madness and it continues today.

See also:

Sy Hersh and a Brief History of Deep State and American Covert Operations

Common themes emerge from the documents, including Cheney’s long-standing commitment to defending and expanding presidential power, especially on national security matters, a predilection for the “dark side” in CIA operations from the scandals of the 1970s to the War on Terror, and his disastrously wrong foreign policy judgment. Cheney explained his intellectual history to reporters in 2005 by saying, “Watergate and a lot of the things around Watergate and Vietnam both during the ’70s served, I think, to erode the authority I think the president needs to be effective,” and went on to cite the Iran-Contra congressional committee minority report published below.

The documents posted today provide fascinating context for some of Cheney’s most famous moments. After 9/11, on September 16, 2001, Cheney told NBC’s Tim Russert, “We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful.” Just before the invasion of Iraq, on March 16, 2003, Cheney told Russert that when the United States goes in, “we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.” The vice president was adamant: “to suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don’t think is accurate. I think that’s an overstatement.” Cheney’s message proved to be far from correct. According to a December 2014 Congressional Research Report entitled, “The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11,” the United States spent an estimated $815 billion on the Iraq War, including military operations, base support, weapons maintenance, training Iraq security forces, reconstruction, foreign aid, embassy costs, and veterans’ health care, while more than 4,410 Americans were killed in action and 31,957 wounded in action during the fighting in Iraq.

The documents can be viewed on the NSA web site.

National Security Archive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The George Washington University
Website The National Security Archive

The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive is an investigative journalism center, open government advocate, international affairs research institute, and is the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside the federal government.[1] The National Security Archive has spurred the declassification of more than 10 million pages of government documents by being the leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), filing a total of more than 50,000 FOIA and declassification requests in its nearly 30+ year history.

IDF Soldiers Get 6 Months Jail Time Over Beating Handcuffed & Blindfolded Palestinians

This story comes from RT which is definitely antisemitic as are most of its readers.

Why I include it here will be obvious at the end of the article.

© Reuters/Mussa Qawasma

Two of the five Israeli soldiers accused of severely beating restrained Palestinian prisoners have reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors. They’ll be demoted in ranks and get six and a half months in jail.

The soldiers are the first of the five belonging to the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion to admit to beating a father and his teenage son who remain in Israeli custody without charges. While the plea agreement will help them avoid more serious charges of aggravated assault, they will still face six and a half months in prison and a demotion.

Negotiations are ongoing regarding charges against the remaining three soldiers whose detention has been extended until Wednesday. Two of the five are also being charged with obstruction of justice for attempting to collaborate their stories beforehand.

The Israeli soldiers were arrested on January 10, days after allegedly striking their Palestinian prisoners “with slaps, punches and bludgeons while they were handcuffed and blindfolded, causing them serious injuries,” the IDF said.

According to the indictment, the soldiers’ removed the teenager boy’s blindfold and forced him to watch his father being beaten. The father’s injuries were so severe he was unable to be interrogated and had to be hospitalized. The teenager also sustained serious heads wounds and significant swelling to his face.

A video of the incident revealed the soldiers joyfully laughing as the prisoners are being beaten while they cry out for help.

The two Palestinians were detained in a wave of arrests after a shooter killed two members of the IDF soldiers’ battalion in December. Prosecutors believe the beatings were motivated by revenge.

No doubt they are right about that.

The Truth Is:

This is an amazing example of Israeli intolerance of inhuman behaviour, even by its own forces at a time of such violence. This action of justice could never have happened in the Palestinian territories. Palestinian soldiers torturing Israelis would be heroes, not criminals; they would be rewarded, not jailed. Yet, it is Israel that receives the condemnation in the international press. 

‘Syria is Awash with Illegality’: UK Hid SAS Involvement in Syria to Avoid Being ‘Allied to US’

A British soldier demonstrates anti-terrorist tactics © AFP / Leila Gorchev

The UK doesn’t want to be seen deploying special forces with the likes of the US, an ex-UN chief told RT, suggesting Syria is awash with “illegality,” after the British MoD admitted its personnel are active in the war-torn nation.

Despite British MPs voting in December 2015 for ‘approved airstrikes only’ in Syria, the Ministry of Defence’s admission came after a freedom of information request relating to the death of SAS soldier, Sergeant Matt Tonroe, who was killed in March last year.

Former UN chief & humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Hans-Christof von Sponeck, suggested that the UK does not want to give the impression it is “allied to the US” in Syria because of past ventures into Iraq and Afghanistan, which do not play well with the British public.

The Truth Is:

SAS involvement is never made known or, apparently, given approval by Parliament. Nor does it seem to be restricted by Parliament. 

Asked whether the US is essentially driving these decisions to deploy special forces on the ground, and not the UK, von Sponeck replied: “Of course,” but added that the Turks were also highly influential when it came to ground-force deployment.

Special forces serviceman Tonroe was killed along with two US soldiers fighting Islamic State in Syria, the Times reported. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence has ostensibly argued that any British ground forces operating in Syria act as if they were a soldier of the nation they’re embedded with.

“British forces embedded in the armed forces of other nations operate as if they were the host nation’s personnel, under that nation’s chain of command,” the ministry said.

Historian and journalist Mark Curtis has taken to social media to highlight the fact that British military personnel are embedded with US military commands around the world. He argues that not enough is being made public on the matter.

Mark Curtis✔
@markcurtis30
 UK military personnel are embedded in various US military commands. Hardly anything is public on this.  https://bit.ly/2SXFJ2p   https://bit.ly/2Ef2i8O   https://bit.ly/2tDCqOJ 

Former head of the British Joint Forces Command, Sir Richard Barrons, has suggested that numerous countries have been conducting “proxy assistance” in Syria without explicitly declaring direct involvement in military operations.

There are so many different factions and different secret operations groups working is Syria that it is virtually impossible to know who's side anyone is really on. Europe and the USA need to get out of Syria completely, not just the regular troops.

I'm convinced major military commanders are constantly looking for a place to practice their trade. 

Britain to Blacklist Hezbollah in Its Entirety as a Terror Group

UK home secretary says Shiite militia’s political arm is no longer distinguishable from its already-banned military wing; Israeli FM welcomes move, calls on UN to follow suit

By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks on June 29, 2018. (YouTube screenshot)

The United Kingdom on Monday moved to outlaw the Lebanese organization Hezbollah and recognize it in its entirety as a terror group, the British government said in a statement.

The powerful Iran-backed Shiite terror group is part of a new government announced recently in Lebanon. While the cabinet is headed by Saad Hariri, the Western-backed Sunni politician who has held the job since 2016, Hezbollah made significant gains at the expense of the largest Sunni party and now controls three government ministries.

Hezbollah has a decades-long history of conflict with Israel, including the bloody Second Lebanon War in 2006, and its leader Hassan Nasrallah regularly threatens to target Israel with thousands of advanced missiles that can reach all major Israeli cities.

Hezbollah’s military wing had already been banned in Britain as a terror group, but its political wing was not.

“Hezbollah is continuing in its attempts to destabilize the fragile situation in the Middle East – and we are no longer able to distinguish between their already banned military wing and the political party,” Home Secretary Sajid Javid said Monday. “Because of this, I have taken the decision to proscribe the group in its entirety."

Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid leaves after attending a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London, September 24, 2018.

(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

“My priority as Home Secretary is to protect the British people,” he added. “As part of this, we identify and ban any terrorist organization which threatens our safety and security, whatever their motivations or ideology which is why I am taking action against several organizations today.”

The move was welcomed by Israel’s foreign minister, who called for the United Nations to follow suit.

“I would like to praise the British government on the decision to recognize the entire Hezbollah organization as a terrorist organization,” Israel Katz wrote on Twitter.

“In my upcoming meeting with the UN secretary-general in New York next week I will stress that the UN institutions should take a similar resolution.”

A draft order will be laid in parliament on Monday, and, if approved, will go into force on Friday. It blacklists Hezbollah along with Ansar ul Islam and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), two groups that are active in northwestern Africa.

“We are staunch supporters of a stable and prosperous Lebanon,” said Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. “We cannot however be complacent when it comes to terrorism – it is clear the distinction between Hezbollah’s military and political wings does not exist, and by proscribing Hezbollah in all its forms, the government is sending a clear signal that its destabilizing activities in the region are totally unacceptable and detrimental to the UK’s national security.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt leaves 10 Downing Street in London on November 14, 2018.

(Tolga AKMEN / AFP)

“This does not change our ongoing commitment to Lebanon, with whom we have a broad and strong relationship,” Hunt added.

The leader of the British Labour opposition party has famously referred to Hezbollah and the Palestinian terror group Hamas as his “friends.” He has since apologized for the remark.

A ban on Hebzollah would outlaw the flying of its banners at events such as the annual Iranian-inspired Quds Day rallies in London.

Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri earlier this month indicated that his new government would allow Hezbollah to keep its weapons, which, since its war against Israel in 2006, it has frequently used since to threaten Israel.

Not that he actually has the power to remove their weapons. They would blow him up, like they did his father.

Hariri said that Lebanese citizens have the right to “resist Israeli occupation and repel its aggression,” in reference to the terror group’s right to keep its weapons.

Under UN Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon committed to disarming the Iran-backed terror group.

US President Donald Trump’s administration and others have expressed concerns about Hezbollah holding three cabinet posts and called on the new government to ensure that group is not supported by the ministries’ resources.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to combat Israel. It has been Iran’s most successful investment abroad, serving as the Islamic Republic’s arm at Israel’s doorstep.

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, speaks during a press conference, in Beirut, Lebanon, November 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

The group dominates the political and military landscape of Lebanon and possesses tens of thousands of trained fighters, as well as an array of sophisticated armaments. Its intervention in Syria on the side of President Bashar Assad also expanded its influence and reach in the region.

At home, Hezbollah remains the unrivaled armed force, also making significant political gains along with allies in the last parliamentary elections. This positioned the group to secure three ministerial posts in the new government, including the powerful Health Ministry, which has one of the country’s largest budgets.

The Truth Is:
Hezbollah's power and influence in Lebanon and the region continues to grow. Like Iran, their benefactor, they seem to be singly focused on destroying Israel. This madness can only have one conclusion.

Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, welcomed the British move and said he would “continue to lead the fight to have Hezbollah recognized as a terror organization by the Security Council and recruit the international community against a group that is an arm for Iran’s aggression.”

Corruption is Everywhere - But in the Upper Echelons of the EC?

EC reacts to news of criminal file opened on Frans Timmermans: Romanian authorities have no jurisdiction

Posted by: Victor Lupu  in POLITICS, TOP NEWS 

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas has said on Thursday, referring to the file opened with the special section for investigating offenses in the justice system against EC Vice-President Frans Timmermans (photo) and European Commissioner Vera Jourova , that Romanian authorities have no jurisdiction on such issues, ziare.com informs.

“The European Commission has learned from the press that the Romanian authorities have launched a criminal investigation against several officials of the Commission, for their activity. Although we do not comment on national judicial matters, we would like to remind the Romanian authorities they have no jurisdiction in such matters. All European Commission officials, in official positions, are subjects to the Court of Justice of the European Union and are under the protection of the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities in the Treaties, accepted by all Member States, including Romania. We should remind that the EC representatives have expressed yesterday serious concerns on the situation of the rule of law in Romania,” Margaritis Schinas said.

On Wednesday reports said that prosecutor Adina Florea has registered a criminal file on the name of Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, with the special section for investigating offenses in the justice system, following a complaint filed by a website close to PSD – ‘Lumea justitiei’ (luju.ro), digi24.ro informed.

The section has received a criminal complaint from Lumea justitiei (luju.ro) concerning several high ranking European and Romanian officials: Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission; Vera Jourova, European commissioner for Justice; Augustin Lazar, Prosecutor General of Romania and Angela Cristea, the head of the EC Representation in Romania.

The complaint also targets those who have edited the latest Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) report released on November 13, 2018.

All of them should be summoned for hearings, luju.ro reads. According to the source, they are charged with setting up an organized criminal group, abuse of office, forgery and release of false information. The denouncement was filed on January 30, 2019.

Luju.ro reads that the European officials could be investigated by the special section, as the Criminal Code, article 10, paragraph (1) reads that ‘the Romanian criminal law is enforced for offenses committed abroad by a foreign citizen or by a person without citizenship, against the Romanian state, against a Romanian citizen or against Romanian legal persons.’

Is EC protecting its authority, or are the protecting criminals?

Cold War is Good for Business: US Contractors Rejoice at the New Red Scare

©  Getty Images / PhotoQuest; © REUTERS

US politicians and media peddling scary stories about Russia and China may have a more pedestrian motive than defending 'American values and way of life' – a return to the halcyon days of the Cold War and the Pentagon gravy train.

If there's one thing mainstream Democrats and Republicans agree upon, it's that Russia and China are the new global threat, ready to pounce at the first sign of a week spot in American defenses to topple the benevolent US dominance of the globe.

If there's another – never on the record, of course – it's that war is good for business. Not actual war, what the Pentagon calls 'kinetic military action', as that would be destructive. 

Actually, I don't think the word 'destructive' is a concern to the military industrial complex. There must be real kinetic military action in order to keep the inventory of death moving.

The ideal conditions for the political class in Washington is the bygone Cold War, when it could funnel billions of dollars in taxpayer money to defense contractors, with these corporations repaying the largesse with hefty contributions to politicians.

With a military budget of $717 billion in 2019 – which is about four times that of China and 15 times that of Russia ( I have my doubts about that) – Washington war hawks are still lamenting how the "underfunded" US military could lose the next war against either. There's only one way to avoid that – spend more.

F-35: Pie in the Sky

As the US aggressively asserted the right to intervene anywhere around the world, Russia and China began rebuilding their air forces and augmenting them with new-generation warplanes. For the US Air Force and the aerospace industry, this was like the answer to three decades of prayer.

Lockheed finally had the justification for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which produced the first prototype in 2006. There were only two tiny little problems with the F-35: nobody could get the plane to actually work as intended, and it was incredibly expensive. The total lifetime program cost was estimated at $1.5 trillion in 2015 dollars, the bulk of which would be for "operations and sustainment."

The most expensive Pentagon project to date is plagued by some of the most expensive problems – but while Lockheed Martin could not make the F-35 actually work as advertised, it did manage to spread its production over 45 US states, ensuring the program is almost impossible to kill politically. Powerful Republican senators have thrown their weight behind the F-35, warning the Pentagon against taking funding away from it in favor of a simpler F15X update proposed by Boeing.

Lucrative digital battlegrounds

The looming shadow of the 'Russian hacker', infiltrating (not really) American political parties and power grids, has spurred the push for cyber security – and the contracts to go with it.

Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), a program that seeks to provide the US military with secure cloud services, has attracted big tech with its $10 billion contract – which Amazon now seems increasingly likely to win, thanks to its reported inroads with the US administration. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was unapologetic, saying the US is a "great country" that "needs to be defended." Executives at the other two big-name contenders – Microsoft and Google – were equally enthusiastic, with the Microsoft president vowing to give all the tech the company creates to the "ethical and honorable" US military.

Rank-and-file employees, however, were up in arms. Those at Microsoft penned an open letter saying they had joined the company hoping the tech they create would not "cause harm or human suffering." Employee outcry at Google caused it to drop JEDI altogether, despite company leadership's enthusiastic support.

Artificial Intelligence

The for-profit patriotism at Amazon and Microsoft is bound to be rewarded with even more contracts in the coming years, because the Pentagon believes it has some catching up to do with Russia and China when it comes to artificial intelligence. The DoD's first AI strategy, while loose on wording, clearly outlines who the main adversaries are.

The known investment figures are relatively minor so far – as far as Washington's gargantuan defense budgets go. For example, in July 2018, IT consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded an $885 million to work on AI programs over the next five years, and the Pentagon requested $93 million in 2019 for Project Maven – which aims to develop algorithms for automatic analysis of drone footage. Google was working on that one, but now says it won't renew the contract due to disastrous employee backlash – even though backing out means losing on potentially bigger IT-related defense contracts to come.

With Trump just recently ordering a boost in AI development for the sake of American dominance, those contracts are certain to keep rolling in in the foreseeable future.

Naval friction

The US answer to Russia venturing into the Arctic was to reestablish the 2nd Fleet – created in 1950 as a Cold War-era check on Soviet activity in the Atlantic and disbanded by the Obama administration in 2011 to cut expenses. Apparently, no expense is too much when the threat of Russian submarines is – according to 2nd Fleet chief Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis – "real," and Russians seek to tap the resources the US wanted for itself and its allies.

The US Navy also needs to keep up its "freedom of navigation operation" at the Chinese shores, and "rebuilding" the fleet is one of Trump's staple defense promises. As an example of the accelerated – and rewarding – build-up, the Navy signed a contract worth a whopping $14.9 billion with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls for two Ford-class aircraft carriers. In another throwback to the good old days, this is the first time since the 1980s more than one of these has been commissioned simultaneously.

A Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear powered aicraft carrier under construction ©  Reuters / Ricky Thompson / US Navy

The two ships will replace aging ones, keeping the number of active dedicated carriers in the US service at 11 – while China has two, and Russia one.

The final frontier

Another Trump staple, the Space Force, is shaping up to be a fount of profit for the enterprising contractor, though the new branch of the US military is still in the early stages of its creation.

While no deals have been made with the Space Force specifically in mind, there is profit to be had in it for companies like Lockheed Martin. In 2018, Lockheed was contracted to create three satellites that can survive counter-space weaponry, for $2.9 billion – and as America's "adversaries are training forces and developing technology to undermine our security in space," as Trump put it, more of that is bound to come.

Military Industrial Complex (Deep State)

Way back in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower – who commanded US forces in Europe during WWII – warned in his farewell speech about the dangers of a "military-industrial complex" dictating government priorities and foreign policy. 

He spoke from experience: the 'Red Scare' of the 1950s had already driven the US into an arms race based on the 'bomber gap' and 'missile gap' favoring the USSR – both of which turned out to be entirely imaginary.

"We were doing things we didn't need to do. We were building things we didn't need to build. We were harboring fears we didn't need to harbor," President Lyndon Johnson told a gathering in 1967.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As I have been saying for several years now, the military industrial complex has a vested interest in maintaining a state of war, or, at least, a threat of war on one or more fronts, in order to keep their destructive inventory moving, and in order to fund the creation of even more deadly forms of weaponry. 

This is the main factor contributing to America's financial resurgence in the last couple years. It is, however, ultimately dangerous and destructive, and it is an astonishing waste of money that could be used so easily elsewhere to make the world a better place, rather than a more frightening one. 

For instance, if American resources were spent wisely in Central and South America, there wouldn't have to be a half million children in Brazil prostituting themselves because it's the only way they can get something to eat. Improved economies in Central America might reduce the power of criminal gangs that run the streets of their cities. It would also greatly reduce the number of migrants trying to make their way into the USA making a wall unnecessary.

I suspect that Jesus Christ is not amused by the astonishing amount of time, money and energy being used for the sole purpose of making wealthy people wealthier. I also believe there will be a reckoning.

Brussels Cries ‘Conspiracy’ Over Hungary’s Ads Showing Smiling Soros Behind EU Immigration Agenda

At least Brussels has the right word even if it is wrongly applied

Detail of Hungarian government poster depicting George Soros and Jean-Claude Juncker

©  Facebook / Magyarország Kormánya

A new media campaign by the Hungarian government accuses globalist billionaire George Soros and the EU of pushing open-borders policies. Brussels indignantly dismissed the campaign as a conspiracy theory and fake news.

Billboards with the images of Soros and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tell Hungarians that Brussels officials “are launching experimental immigration projects with African countries; want to introduce mandatory settlement quotas; want to reduce financial assistance for countries opposed to migration,” that last part specifically referring to Hungary.

Further accusations appeared on the government of Hungary’s Facebook page, which says the EU wants to impose settlement quotas, weaken EU members’ border protections and make immigration easier.

The EU Commission rushed to outright dismiss the ad campaign, calling it a conspiracy and “fake news,” without going into detail in addressing Budapest’s concerns.

“It is shocking that such a ludicrous conspiracy theory has reached the mainstream to the extent it has. There is no conspiracy, Hungarians deserve facts, not fiction,” spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday. The facts, according to Schinas, are that the EU has “zero plans” for humanitarian visas, while member states get to decide on the level of legal migration.

On the other hand, Brussels has repeatedly clashed with Budapest over Hungary’s immigration policy – or rather, its refusal to support the open-borders approach ushered in by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015. Time and again Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has rejected EU demands to admit migrants, building a fence with Serbia and even EU member Croatia in order to secure his country’s border.

Last week, Orban proposed a program of subsidizing Hungarian birthrates, arguing that “We need Hungarian children” rather than immigrants.

Meanwhile, Soros has openly advocated immigration as the solution to Europe’s dwindling birthrates, and berated Hungary and other “populist” members for endangering the survival of the EU, comparing it to the Soviet Union circa 1991.

Soros immigration advocacy is mostly in favour of Muslims fleeing Muslim countries because most of them are not fit to live in. So, Soros, Merkel, and the EU invite them to Europe which will go a lot farther toward destroying the EU than closing Hungary's borders could ever come close to. Globalization will completely destroy European culture.

With elections for the European Parliament scheduled for May, Orban’s Fidesz party does not hide the desire to have the anti-migration bloc become a majority.

euronews✔

@euronews

 #RawPolitics | “Our target is after the European Parliament elections the anti-migration approach will be the majority in all [of] Europe.”

Hungary’s foreign minister has insisted that citizens of the country living elsewhere in the European Union are “not migrants”.

However, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs denied that the latest campaign is related to the upcoming election, saying it was aimed solely at informing Hungarians.

C'mon Zoltan, everything is about the elections!

Juncker, his vice-president Frans Timmermans, and EU commissioner in charge of Brexit Guy Verhofstadt pointed to the campaign as yet another reason to expel Fidesz from the European People’s Party (EPP) bloc, currently the majority in the supranational body.

“I don't think the conservatives in Hungary represent Christian democratic values in any way,” Juncker said on Tuesday. “There is no overlap at all between Mr. Orban and me ... so I am of the opinion that his place is not in the European People's Party."

Guy Verhofstadt✔

@guyverhofstadt

 This is a disgrace. What will the @EPP do now, @ManfredWeber? After a shameful campaign against @judithineuropa and myself, Orbán now slanders the EPP President of @EU_Commission. #ExpelFideszhttps://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-launches-campaign-targeting-jean-claude-juncker-george-soros/ …

Hungary launches campaign targeting Jean-Claude Juncker

Commission president, along with Hungarian-American George Soros, are focus of new anti-Brussels drive.

This is not the first time Orban has accused the Hungarian-born Soros of seeking to undermine Budapest’s policies. One such billboard campaign, in July 2017, was even accused of anti-Semitism. This prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step in, with a statement that criticism of Soros is legitimate and not anti-Semitic.

Last summer, Hungary passed the 'Stop Soros' law, outlawing aid to illegal immigrants and cracking down on pro-immigration NGOs that were by and large funded by the billionaire. As a result of the law, Soros’s Open Society Foundation packed up its operations in Hungary, and the Central European University he funded moved to Austria.

There goes Austria!

Italian Senate Blocks Criminal Case Against Deputy PM Salvini

By Danielle Haynes

Prosecutors sought to charge Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini with kidnapping.

File Photo by Massimo Percossi/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- An Italian Senate committee voted Tuesday not to allow a criminal case against Matteo Salvini, interior minister and deputy prime minister, for preventing migrants from disembarking from a docked rescue ship over the summer.

The immunity committee declined prosecutors' request to bring charges against Salvini for kidnapping. Officials in Catania sought to prosecute him for refusing to allow the migrants from disembarking from the Diciotti rescue ship for five days in August.

The far-right League Party leader called for immunity against the charges, saying he was working in the best interests of Italians when he issued the order to prevent the ship from docking.

"I would have accepted any response, aware of the fact that what I'm doing and we're doing we do so [for] the benefit of our country," Salvini said.

"For me, first comes the defense of borders and the security of my people and so I worked calmly yesterday and I work calmly today."

Eventually, the Catholic church, Ireland and Albania agreed to receive the mostly Eritrean passengers.

Coalition partner Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement, offered support to Salvini and said his order was on behalf of the government as a whole.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Five Star Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli were also put under investigation for rejecting the migrants.

This case was either a political or ideological abuse of the Italian justice system in order to stop Salvini from doing what he was elected to do. I'm glad the Senate Committee stood up for him and would hate to think of what might have happened had they not. 

Egyptian YouTuber Ignites Internet Firestorm after Leaving Islam, Denouncing ‘Racism’ In It

Then, after losing all his followers, changed his mind

FILE PHOTO: Al Azhar mosque, Cairo © Reuters / Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Social media fallout has followed Shady Srour’s Facebook post where the Egyptian YouTube star announced he was leaving Islam, citing how the “racism and cruelty” of its adherents had almost led him to suicide.

“I left Islam because of racism and cruelty in the hearts of people who are supposed to believe in God but in fact, they are a bunch of insincere hypocrites,” 24-year-old Srour wrote in a post on Friday, blaming his former religion for the excessive cyberbullying which almost cost him his life late last year.

Over the weekend, the status generated over 100,000 comments and was shared across social media, with most reactions divided between staunch support and harsh opposition.

The most popular comment on the status came from another victim of bullying, TV presenter Sherif Madkour, who wrote that Srour didn’t truly understand Islam, advising him to “ignore people with shallow minds, be yourself and trust your beliefs,” adding “God be with you.”

Srour eventually backpedaled from his comments in a YouTube video where he made it clear that the bullies he had called out were not true Muslims, and that Islam itself hadn’t played a role in the hatred he had experienced.

No, I think you were right the first time!

aya 🇹🇳
@prsnlaya
 Shady Srour is one of the middle east's most prominent youtubers. Even my little cousins follow his content. He announced leaving islam and in one day his entire fanbase turned against him

Hence, the backtracking

However, he also expressed surprise at how his post had generated a massive number of threats from hard-liners enraged by the comedian’s decision to publicly insult their religion.

سارّة أسامة
@SaraOsamaYassin
 It’s not like Shady Srour, or whoever else got cyber bullied will change after people massively mock them, except for the worse. Cyber bullying is a crime. You directly or indirectly participate in an irreversible damage in the victim’s life. Please, stop.

Last October, Srour posted a video claiming that extensive cyber-bullying had left him considering suicide. That post immediately went viral, some believing it showcased the dangers of online bullying, while others accused Srour of attention-seeking. His post on Friday was his first public comment on the incident since.

With nearly 4.5 million followers and hundreds of millions of views, Srour is one of YouTube’s top earners in the region. His case has highlighted a growing trend of Egyptians turning against Islam, many suggesting the religion has played a role in the social chaos plaguing the country.

Mainstream News Networks Refuse to Cover Senate’s ‘No Russia Collusion’ Report

The massive demonization of Russia by western countries

is beginning to unravel

but not if Mainstream Media can help it

AFP/Brendan Smialowski

The same networks that spent 2,202 minutes of collective airtime to push the Russia Collusion Media-Hoax are refusing to cover the Senate Intelligence Committee bipartisan report, which found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Media Research Center (MRC) did the research and found that between January 21, 2017, and February 10, 2019, “ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, and the NBC Nightly News [spent] 2,202 minutes on the Russia investigation [, which] accounted for nearly 19 percent of all Trump-related reporting [, and now] none of those three shows have even mentioned the investigation since NBC’s report came out on February 12.”

The same is true elsewhere on the left-wing networks.

“Neither CBS This Morning nor NBC’s Today have even acknowledged this new information from Senate investigators since the news broke on February 12,” MRC reports. “ABC’s Good Morning America briefly touched on it in a news brief totaling less than one minute on February 13.”

What’s especially fascinating is that NBC’s Ken Dilanian broke the original news of the Senate report, and NBC is still refusing to cover the story.

The reasons for this are quite obvious: the media know a reckoning is on the horizon, and they are buying time in the hopes of finding a way to wriggle out of it.

Anyone with even a lick of sense knew from the beginning that the Russia Collusion Media-Hoax was a hoax. Not only is the whole idea of it preposterous; everything involving Russia and the Trump campaign points to the opposite of a conspiracy. Look at the Trump Tower meeting. If there was a conspiracy between Trump and the Kremlin, why was Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, needed as an intermediary to set up the meeting?

If there was all this collusion between Trump and Putin, why was Michael Cohen left to send proposals to blind email addresses regarding the proposed Trump Tower deal in Moscow?

Even the stuff we are told is the most “sinister” proof of collusion points in the opposite direction.

But that is not what the media have been telling us for the last two years.

Rather, again and again and again, they have promised that Watergate is right around the corner, that the other shoe is about to drop (and please ignore the fact that the first shoe has yet to drop); have told us not to worry because the aberrational nightmare, the virus in the system, the national mistake that is President Trump is about to be removed.

For two years the media have been selling the Resistance a bill of goods and have gone so far as to manufacture a mountain of fake news to keep these suckers on the hook.

So, no, they are not going to cover a bipartisan report that debunks their hoax, especially one as detailed as this one, that involved two years, 200 interviews, and a gazillion documents.

MSM is not interested in the truth, only in pushing their agendas.

Italian Interior Minister Faces Kidnap Charges for Refusing Migrant Ship

By Nicholas Sakelaris

The Five Star Movement will vote Monday whether its leader and interior minister Matteo Salvini should stand trial on kidnapping charges. 

(UPI) -- Italian interior minister and senator Matteo Salvini could lose his legal immunity if his own party decides Monday he should face trial on kidnapping charges.

The kidnapping accusations stem from an order Salvini gave in August to hold 150 migrants aboard an Italian coast guard ship for five days. His party, the League, is part of the populist Five Star Movement, an anti-establishment group that seeks to root out corruption in Italy.

The Five Star Movement was set for an online vote among members Monday to see if Salvini should stand trial. Italy's full Senate would have to vote to lift his immunity, as his position exempts him from prosecution.

The Five Star Movement has asked its members to support Salvini, saying his actions were signed off by the government collectively.

"It is an unprecedented case because never in the past has the judiciary asked parliament to authorize a trial for a minister who had acted in the performance of his duties," the group posted on its website.

Salvini has defended himself against the potential charges and has even seen his popularity rise despite the controversy.

"They can do whatever they want," Salvini said, referring to his party. "What I did, I did to defend the safety of citizens, and if necessary I'd do it again."

The online poll asks if Salvini was justified in the decision last summer. A "no" vote favors prosecuting Salvini while a "yes" vote rejects a trial.

The ship was docked at the Catania port for five days while Salvini sought help from other European Union countries who could take in the mostly Eritrean passengers. Eventually, the Catholic church, Ireland and Albania agreed to receive the migrants.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Five Star transport minister Danilo Toninelli were also put under investigation this week for rejecting the migrants.

Obviously this is politically motivated and there should be consequences for abuse of the judicial system. Refusing to allow illegal migrants to vacate a ship in port is something that happens all the time. It happened to thousands of Jews in WWII all over the world.

Politically Uber-Correct Sweden Prosecuting Pensioners, Welcoming ISIS

by Judith Bergman, Gatestone Institute

Perhaps the Council of Europe considers Åberg's successful efforts of turning in fellow Swedes to the police for perceived thought crimes an example that other European countries should emulate?

The pensioner explained during questioning, "I was angry when I read about how it worked with immigrants and how they avoid punishment for everything they do. They get acquitted, though they steal and do other things. It is unfair that those who commit gross crimes can go free...." The pensioner said that she would not have written what she did, had she known that it was illegal. She evidently labored under the misconception that she was still living in a democracy. In January, she was sentenced to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner ($443). She lives on a monthly pension of only 7,000 Swedish kroner ($775).

Swedish authorities clearly cannot -- or will not -- prosecute or convict the jihadists whom they so generously welcome to the country; yet they have no qualms charging and prosecuting harmless elderly pensioners. One might add that a culture that respects the human rights of returning ISIS fighters more than that of the elderly women who are afraid of them, is all but done.

While the Swedish Security Service is assuring the public that it will do "even more" to limit the growth of

terrorist environments in Sweden, the Swedish government is exacerbating the problem by welcoming

returning ISIS jihadist fighters back into the country. (Image source: iStock)

"Violence-promoting Islamist extremism currently constitutes the biggest threat to Sweden," according to a January 15 press release from the Swedish Security Service (Säpo). "The level of the terror threat remains elevated, a three on a five-point scale. This means that a terrorist act is likely to occur," said Klas Friberg, head of Säpo.

"In order to meet the threat from terrorism, the Security Service will in future work even more strategically to limit the growth of extremist environments. It may be about dealing with [omhänderta] persons who constitute a security threat or, in cooperation with other authorities, working harder to ensure that these individuals are prosecuted for other crimes - or have their opportunities cut."

While Säpo is assuring the Swedish public that it will do "even more" to limit the growth of terrorist environments in Sweden, the Swedish government is exacerbating the problem by welcoming returning ISIS fighters back into the country. Approximately 300 people left Sweden to fight for ISIS and it is estimated that approximately 150 Swedish ISIS fighters have returned to Sweden. Approximately 50 of those who didn't return were killed.

The head of Säpo, in January, had described returning ISIS fighters as "broken people who have been traumatized by their experiences" and said that Swedish society has to "play a big role in re-integrating them". 

Swedish law does not allow the security services to take all necessary measures against returning ISIS fighters, even though a relatively new law, meant to address the problem of terrorists in Sweden, was adopted in 2016. The law does not allow authorities, for example, to seize or search the mobile phones and computers of returning ISIS fighters, unless there is a concrete suspicion of a crime, according to Fredrik Hallström, deputy head of Säpo's unit for "ideologically motivated actors." Furthermore, according to Hallström, the authorities do not know whether the returning fighters constitute a danger or not to Swedish citizens: "It is also difficult to answer because the assessments we make can change".

Many of the ISIS fighters took their families, including small children, with them when they joined ISIS. A Swedish-speaking family who had travelled to join ISIS had made a home movie, recently aired by the Swedish media, about their life of jihad. In one scene, the mother is practicing her shooting, while father helpfully explains to the children, "Now we will look at mommy when she is doing jihad". The home movie also shows the wife shooting off her gun while gleefully exclaiming, "That was cool!" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the greatest").

In another scene, the father can be seen getting ready to go out and kill, while telling his young son and his toddler daughter about how he stole a walkie-talkie from an "infidel" whom he had shot through the head and killed. The little boy explains to the father how to best use the ammunition for his assault rifle and asks to come along, but the mother tells him that his father still thinks he is "too young". The narrator of the film explains that many children of such ISIS families have returned to Sweden with their families and attend Swedish kindergartens and schools. The family in the movie is one of them. Swedish local authorities, however, do not know how many children have returned. According to a poll that Swedish Television channel SVT conducted among Swedish municipalities, Swedish municipalities are only aware of 16 adults and 10 children, out of 150 returnees.

Already in June 2017, the head of Säpo at the time, Anders Thornberg, told Swedish media that the country was experiencing a "historical" challenge in having to deal with thousands of "radical Islamists in Sweden". (As late as 2010, there were 200 jihadists in Sweden, according to Säpo). Thornberg also mentioned that his organization was receiving around 6,000 intelligence tips a month concerning terrorism and extremism, compared to an average of 2,000 a month in 2012.

Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, Swedes only feel more and more insecure in their own country. Four out of 10 women are afraid to walk outside freely, according to the new National Safety Report, published by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande Rådet or Brå).

"Almost a quarter of the population chooses a different route or another mode of transport as a result of anxiety about crime and one-fifth avoid being active on the Internet due to concerns about threats and harassment," according to Brå.

"Among women aged 20–24, 42 percent state that they often opted for another route or another mode of transport, because they felt insecure and worried about being subjected to crime. The corresponding proportion among men in the same age group is 16 percent... The degree of activity on the internet can also be affected by concerns about being subjected to crime. About every fifth person, regardless of gender, states that during the past year he has often refrained from posting anything on the Internet out of concern for becoming exposed to threats or harassment".

"Social media is an increasingly important forum for public discussion. If a fifth of the population feel that they do not dare to express themselves on the net for fear of being subjected to crime," said Maria Söderström from Brå, "then it can be a democratic problem".

Fear of threats and harassment is not all that is causing Swedes to feel that expressing themselves on the internet is something to avoid. Many who have voiced "wrong" opinions on the internet have been charged by Swedish authorities for "incitement against an ethnic group" -- a crime punishable under Swedish law. The "democratic problem" that Söderström describes, therefore, is twofold: the fear of threats and harassment from others, and the fear of prosecution from the state.

Big Brother Aberg

The organization believed to be largely responsible for these charges, at least since 2017, is "Näthatsgranskaren" ("The Web Hate Investigator"), a private organization founded in January 2017 by a former police officer, Tomas Åberg, who apparently took it upon himself to identify and report to the authorities Swedish individuals whom he and his organization decide are committing thought crimes and "inciting hatred" against foreigners. Åberg recently boasted that he had filed 1,218 reports with the police in 2017-2018 alone and that out of 214 charges, there had been 144 judgments. "Many are [still] awaiting charges" he wrote on Twitter.

Last November, the Information Society Group, an organization under the Council of Europe, invited Åberg to be a keynote speaker at its regional conference, "Addressing hate speech in the media: the role of regulatory authorities and the judiciary," in Zagreb. The conference examined "how hate discourse is regulated in different member States of the Council of Europe focusing on the specific role and work of national regulatory authorities, the judiciary and media self-regulatory bodies". Perhaps the Council of Europe considers Åberg's successful efforts at turning in fellow Swedes to the police for perceived thought crimes an example that other European countries should emulate?

Swedish taxpayers contributed 1.5 million SEK ($165,000) to Åberg's efforts in 2017 and 2018. Most of it, according to the Swedish news outlet Fria Tider, apparently goes towards paying Åberg's salary.

In November, Åberg's efforts led to the conviction of a 70-year-old woman for writing the following post, as a comment on an article about the violence of Muslim men against women, in a Facebook group, 'Stand up for Sweden': "Aren't we in Sweden or have we transformed the country into a damn Muslim monster?" The woman was then called in for questioning at a police station -- this would be the same Swedish police that does not have enough resources to investigate rape cases. There, she explained:

"I have been provoked by various headlines and by 'Cold Facts' [investigative journalism TV program] that they have burned and beaten their wives. I am wondering if it will be like that in Sweden, too, and it makes me upset"... I am opposed to them being nasty against women. We have so many Muslims coming. I must have meant that they are abusing women".

For an elderly woman to be concerned about the physical safety of women in Sweden, the government of which in 2016 declared itself "feminist" is, it seems, unacceptable to Swedish authorities. While returned ISIS fighters who might have raped, pillaged, tortured and murdered to their heart's delight are welcomed back to Sweden and can go on with their lives -- or plot terrorism against Swedes -- elderly Swedish women may not utter a word about their fear of such men or indeed their ideology. Chief Prosecutor Lars Göransson at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Gävle chose to prosecute the 70-year-old for "incitement against an ethnic group". In November, the woman was found guilty and sentenced to a fine of 4,800 SEK ($530).

Another result of Åberg's efforts was the January conviction of a 78-year-old woman who was charged for having written on Facebook, among other things, that Muslims are "bearded" and "ghosts". The woman became upset when she read about immigrants who commit serious crimes against the elderly and get away with low or no punishment. After Åberg had reported the woman, who apparently is poor and suffers from ill-health after a stroke and a lung disease, the prosecutor chose to charge the pensioner for six posts that she had written on Facebook. Among them the following: "Yes, all Muslims should be expelled from the country, we do not want them here. A lot of bearded men who scare the children".

The pensioner explained during questioning:

"I was angry when I read about how it worked with immigrants and how they avoid punishment for everything they do. They get acquitted, though they steal and do other things. It is unfair that those who commit gross crimes can go free. People knock down older people and take money from them".

The pensioner said that she would not have written what she did, had she known that it was illegal. She evidently labored under the misconception that she was still living in a democracy. In January, she was sentenced to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner ($443). The woman lives from a monthly pension of only 7,000 Swedish kroner ($775).

"Even an indirect reference to nicknames or other offensive terms about race or immigrants in general is covered by the law against incitement against an ethnic group and is punishable," wrote Judge Jon Jonasson in his judgment.

Swedish authorities clearly cannot -- or will not -- prosecute or convict the jihadists whom they so generously welcome to the country; yet they have no qualms charging and prosecuting harmless elderly pensioners. One might add that a culture that respects the human rights of returning ISIS fighters more than that of the elderly women who are afraid of them, is all but done.

Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.