Anger Over Corruption Puts Ukrainian Comic Ahead in Presidency Race

The greater the corruption - the more desperate the response

Chris Brown · CBC News

Effigies of some of Ukraine's best-known politicians hang under a bridge near Kyiv's Maidan Square recently.

(Corinne Seminoff/CBC)

The effigies of some of Ukraine's most prominent politicians that were hung by the neck recently under Kyiv's Millennium bridge are a stark indication of the ferociousness of the politics here and that public admiration for the victors can be fleeting.

As someone who plays a fictitious president on a TV show — as well as an aspiring presidential candidate in real life —  that reality doesn't appear lost on Volodymyr Zelensky.

In the latest episode of his wildly popular program Servant of the People, Zelensky's character — a teacher who took power on a vow to fight corruption and stand up for the little guy — ends up getting thrown in jail by the powerful forces he opposes.

Fans of his show can take comfort both in knowing that his stay in the fictitious TV jail was a relatively short one and also that in the real world, the 41-year-old comic's political success is no joke.

Ukraine has an interesting cast of contenders running for its upcoming presidential election. None more so than the front-runner, 41-year-old actor/comedian Volodymyr Zelensky. He may have started out as a long shot, but quickly rose to the top on the back of popular discontent with the political class. 2:39

Practically every poll in the final days of the campaign suggests the political novice with zero electoral experience could finish with the most votes in Sunday's national presidential vote.

"I do believe that Zelensky has high chances," said Kostyantyn  Fedorenko, a Kyiv-based political analyst with the Centre for Euro-American Co-operation.

"If his voters come out on election day, he is very likely to become president."

Polls suggest comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, who plays Ukraine's president on TV, is leading the country's

real-life presidential race. (CBC)

Indeed, the first exit polls released after the vote showed Zelensky winning the first round with 30.4 per cent of the vote. Incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, who's running for a second term, was in second place with 17.8 per cent of the vote.

While Zelensky has surrounded himself with a team of political veterans, his campaign has been anything but orthodox.

He has largely let his TV persona communicate to voters about his platform and ideals. He has also shunned large political rallies and granted few interviews. Instead, he has waged his campaign on Instagram, YouTube and through appearances at his own comedy shows, where he mocks and ridicules his competition.

"Why Zelensky?" pondered 41-year-old IT worker Kostiantyn Didkovskyi, when approached by CBC in Kyiv. 

"I can say I don't see any alternative. Our country has reached the limit. It feels like there's no other way," he said in reference to the deeply embedded culture of corruption in Ukraine.   

"I'm sure [his team] will make this victory not for themselves but for the country. He's the only one who thinks about the country, not himself."

Earlier this week, Berlin-based Transparency International, a watchdog group that monitors global corruption, called the situation in Ukraine "grim."  It noted that last year, the head of one of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies was caught up in a scandal over trying to tip off some of the very people his agency was investigating.

Poroshenko has been hobbled by near-continuous revelations about dodgy procurement and government contracts involving him and his family members.

His longtime rival and two-time former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who served time in jail on corruption charges, is also running for president.

There's a powerful belief here that Ukraine's economic progress has been hobbled by the country's elite, who enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else.

Political analyst Kostyantyn Fedorenko believes Zelenskiy has high chances of receiving the most votes on Sunday. (CBC)

"It's in the Ukrainian mentality that you enter the political elite and you steal," said Fedorenko, the political analyst.   

He said there have been significant reforms under Poroshenko but many Ukrainians remain unconvinced the changes are meaningful.

"Unfortunately, the anti-corruption institutions that were established with the will of the West are not functioning as well as they should," said Fedorenko. "On the one hand, there have been many high-profile [court] cases about corruption, but on the other it has been impossible to get anyone in prison."

Global significance

Ukraine is geographically and politically at the nexus between Europe and Russia, and its political choices carry a disproportionate significance for its neighbours — and its many Western supporters, including Canada.

"Its critically important," Fedorenko said of NATO's ongoing support for Ukraine militarily and for the other democracy- building activities that NATO members are contributing to.

"Supplies [and support] from Canada and the United States are of critical importance."

More than 100 election monitors from Canada arrived in Ukraine last week, headed by former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy.

Canada's military also recently extended its training mission in the country's west. As part of NATO, Canadian trainers have helped thousands of Ukrainian soldiers upgrade their skills and combat readiness.

A poster of two-time former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko greets passers-by in Maidan Square.

(Pascal Dumont/CBC)

In many ways, this election is a referendum on how far Poroshenko has been able to take Ukraine since the dramatic events of 2014.

The Maidan uprisings saw the overthrow of pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych and a dramatic swing away from Russian influence. Russia responded with its annexation of the Crimean peninsula and began fuelling a separatist insurgency in Ukraine's eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Canada is among the many countries that responded with political and economic sanctions against Russia, measures that have gradually been increased over time.

To be clear, Western leaders promised Mikhail Gorbachev when the Iron Curtain came down that NATO would not recruit Russia's neighbours. They lied! NATO has been actively recruiting Ukraine to the point of supporting, if not provoking, the Maidan uprising and the coup against the elected government. That Russia responded by securing Crimea and its naval base at Sevastopol should hardly have been a surprise.

'Do not expect us to give up'

In spite of Poroshenko's troubled tenure, he's been able to point to leadership against Russian aggression as one of his positives. "Mr Putin, do not expect us to give up," he told a fired-up election rally at the campaign's mid-point.

While fighting in eastern Ukraine continues — with 11,000 dead and counting — Poroshenko said he has succeeded in solidifying Ukraine's military position and has made full NATO membership one of his medium-term goals.

Zelensky, on the other hand, has downplayed his lack of experience, and demurred on any suggestion that he's not qualified to take on Russia's president.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko holds a rally in Kyiv. He said he is the only Ukrainian leader who can

stand up to Russia's Vladimir Putin. (CBC)

"I don't need that kind of experience," he said in a brief conversation with Radio-Canada. "I think all I need is to be a decent person and have the professional experience of a [business] manager."

Yikes! Sounds just a tad naive.

Fedorenko, the political analyst, said Zelensky's mostly under-40-year-old supporters don't appear overly worried about his sparse resume.

"Many of Zelensky's voters are protest voters — and kind of similar to Trump voters in that [the U.S. president] represents an anti-establishment alternative for the people."

Big money

For all of Zelensky's pretense about being an ordinary man of the people, critics accuse him of being backed by money from oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who owns the TV station that broadcasts his show.  

Ukrainian social media posts are full of speculation from people who believe Kolomoisky will be exercising the real power behind the scenes if Zelensky wins.

Tymoshenko draws much of her support from older Ukrainians and is dangling a bump in pensions as part of her campaign. Her rivalry with Poroshenko dates back decades and she's accused him of waging a campaign of dirty tricks against her.

Those accusations include that Poroshenko has tried to sabotage her campaign by running a candidate with a similar name as hers so as to create confusion on the official voting paper.

Although a total of 39 candidates will be on the ballot Sunday — a record-breaking number — the final hours of the contest will likely focus on the fight between Poroshenko and Tymoshenko for second place.

If no candidate gets 50 per cent of the vote in Sunday's Ukrainian election, a run-off vote will be held April 21.

(Pascal Dumont/CBC)

If no candidate gets 50 per cent of the vote on Sunday, then the top two finishers will go on to a run-off ballot on April 21. 

For all the smears and accusations, the fact that a post-Soviet state such as Ukraine is even having a competitive election is significant.

Last year, next door in Russia, Putin ran virtually unopposed.

Court Kicks CAIR Out of San Diego School District

The Islamization of America takes a giant step backward

CAIR founder and executive director Nihad Awad (Photo: Allison Shelley/Getty Images)

In a landmark case, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been forced out of the San Diego Unified School District.

A lawsuit was brought against the district for partnering with CAIR and allowing the Islamist organization to run a discriminatory, unconstitutional propaganda program in its schools.

The court agreed with this assessment.

The program in question gave Muslim students special privileges and gave CAIR the power to change the district curriculum to make sure Islam was looked upon more favorably.

Students and parents were made to watch biased videos, CAIR officials were allowed to teach students and teachers about Islam and students were trained “how to become allies with Muslims students.”

The program, which began in April 2017, was based on false evidence that, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s electoral victory, Muslim students were subjected to “Islamophobic” bullying. However, state records indicated there was no evidence of such bullying in the district’s schools.

The court ruled that the program was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause by favoring one religious group over another and mixing government with religion.

Under the terms of the ruling, the school district is required to permanently drop the program and prevented from allowing CAIR to be involved in school activities in the future.

Further, school officials must correct the pro-Muslim student bias and disproportionate emphasis on Islamic history in its curriculum, which were both instituted through the program.

The court further gave the following guidelines to the schools:

“Educators should treat each religion with equal respect, with the time and attention spent discussing each religion being proportionate to its impact on history.”

“Educational material on religious subjects must be neutral and may not be presented in a manner that promotes one religion over another.”

“Educators or other staff sponsoring guest speakers at District events must ask them not to use their position or influence on students to forward their own religious, political, economic or social views and shall take active steps to neutralize whatever bias has been presented.”

“Guest speakers from religious organizations are not permitted to present to students on religious topics.”

National strategy

“This is a tremendous victory, because CAIR intended this plan to be a pilot program for a nationwide rollout,” said Daniel J. Piedra, executive director of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF), the organization which brought the suit against the school district.

The FCDF said that other school districts similarly affected by CAIR are Seattle Public Schools, Minneapolis Public Schools, Cajon Valley Unified School District and Gilroy Unified School District.

“This settlement agreement will serve as a warning to politically correct school boards nationwide to think twice about partnering with CAIR,” said Charles LiMandri, chief counsel for FCDF.

LiMandri called the court’s decision a “victory against radical Islamic indoctrination in America’s schools.”

OK, it's certainly Islamic indoctrination, but to call it 'radical' at this level is a little excessive.

The FBI and the Justice Department have both banned CAIR as an outreach partner because of its Islamist agenda and ties to Hamas and terror funding.

In 2007, the U.S. government labeled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing the Hamas terrorist group.

In November 2014 CAIR was designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.

CAIR was listed by the U.S. government as being among “individuals/entities who are/were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.” The Palestine Committee was a secret body set up by the Brotherhood to advance the Brotherhood/Hamas agenda in America.

A secret meeting of the committee held in Philadelphia in 1993 was wiretapped by the FBI. Nihad Awad, co-founder and executive director of CAIR participated in that meeting where members agreed that a new “neutral” entity for influencing U.S. policy and opinion was agreed upon.

Awad founded CAIR the following year.

CAIR must be eradicated from the school districts mentioned above, but also, and especially, from American universities where they foment antisemitism.

Brunei’s Law Mandates STONING TO DEATH of Gays & Adulterers

Not a sound so far from Mainstream Media as Islam displays Sharia

Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam ©  Global Look Press / Zheng Huansong

A harsher version of penal code, which includes sharia-based punishments for things like adultery and same-sex relations, is to come into force next week in Brunei. The ‘human rights defenders’ in Washington, however, are silent.

Brunei, a tiny Muslim-majority absolute monarchy located in Southeastern Asia is about to put into force the last amendment to its criminal code as part of a reform initiated back in 2014. The renewed code, which is aimed at reflecting Islam’s tenets of morality and punishment for those who break them, will include caning and even stoning to death of Muslims, who are found guilty of adultery, sodomy and rape.

The government wanted to roll in the new laws in stages, but put the process on pause after international public outcry over the milder phase one, which included fines and jail terms for offenders, but not corporal punishment. Last week a rights group reported that Brunei quietly announced earlier this year the date, when the harsher version of the code would come into force: April 3.

“We are trying to get pressure placed on the government of Brunei but realise there is a very short time frame until the laws take effect,” Matthew Woolfe an Australia-based founder of the group, the Brunei Project, told Reuters. “It took us by surprise that the government has now given a date and is rushing through implementation.”

Homosexuality was outlawed in Brunei even before the 2014 reform and in fact since colonial times, with jail sentences of up to 10 years possible. If its government goes ahead with the plan, the nation will become the first in Asia to allow punishing gay people by death. At the moment only a handful of nations like Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen have such provisions in their law.

The news has horrified some international rights groups. Amnesty International, in particular, decried the introduction of “cruel and inhuman penalties” and called on the world to “urgently condemn Brunei’s move to put these cruel penalties into practice.”

However, the US has so far stayed conspicuously silent on the issue. Washington, which actively develops economic ties with the oil-rich nation while regularly holding annual naval drills with a particular focus on maritime security in the South China Sea, has not yet issued a single statement on the latest developments in Brunei.

And neither did London, which also enjoys “close ties” with its former protectorate. Although, one could hardly expect any damning statements from the US aimed at the Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. The man, who recently described the amendment of the penal code as “a great achievement,” has traditionally enjoyed warm relations with the White House, which were sometimes marked by some extraordinary gifts like jewelry worth $71,468 presented to the former first lady, Michelle Obama, by the Queen of Brunei back in 2013.

However, such a situation would probably surprise no one. The fact that another of Washington’s major allies – Saudi Arabia – also punishes same-sex relations by death – alongside adultery, apostasy and blasphemy – never stopped the US from striking billions-worth of deals with Riyadh.

The recent scandal over the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which resulted in global fallout for the Saudis, failed to change the attitude of the White House and the Pentagon to Riyadh.

In theory, Iran-style crippling sanctions of its exports would swiftly change the mind of the Brunei government on whether stoning gays is a good idea. But considering how selective Western powers are in using this tool against nations accused of human right violations, one shouldn’t expect such a development anytime soon.

Sharia is a natural evolution of countries where Islam is in the majority. Where Islam is a significant minority, it is just a matter of time before it becomes the majority. Much higher birth rates and the use of democratic countries own laws and social programs against them make Muslim domination inevitable. And yet, most European countries are completely blind to the obvious.

New Evidence Indicates Cross-Sex Hormones Trigger Major Heart Problems

For some time I have been complaining that gender transitioning of prepubescent children is a form of child sex abuse. But this study seems to show that it is also child abuse as it significantly threatens the life and well-being of young adults who have transitioned from their biological sex.

The transgender activist lobby is ever vigilant to suppress research findings that conflict with their claims, or at least to intimidate dissident researchers into silence. This occurred recently when Dr. Lisa Littman of Brown University published a study suggesting a psychological rather than physical basis for Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD)—when a teenager suddenly decides he or she is actually of the opposite sex.

Appropriately cowed, Brown quickly withdrew publicity for the study. But more research on related issues is seeping out, and activists may find themselves in a game of whack-a-mole that greatly compromises their credibility.

One medical intervention provided by physician allies of the transgender lobby is off-label administration of puberty blockers to children so their bodies won’t experience the normal maturation process. But this treatment has already been exposed for its dangerous side effects and irreversibility. Now the other primary non-surgical intervention—administration of cross-sex hormones (estrogen to gender-dysphoric boys, testosterone to gender-dysphoric girls)—is coming under scientific fire.

In January, researchers from the Netherlands published a study finding that therapy with cross-sex hormones can substantially increase the risks of acute cardiovascular events like heart attacks, strokes, and deep vein thrombosis. The study followed 2,517 men who were transitioning to a female appearance, with a median age of 30 and an average of nine years on hormone therapy, and 1,358 women who were transitioning to a male appearance, with a median age of 23 and an average of eight years on therapy. Their incidences of cardiovascular events were then compared to those of the general population. The numbers were startling.

The transgendering men suffered:

more than twice as many strokes as women (29 versus 12) and 

nearly twice as many as non-transitioning men (29 versus 16). 

They suffered more than five times as many deep vein clots as women (73 versus 13) and 

4.5 times as many as non-transitioning men (73 versus 16). 

They suffered more than twice as many heart attacks as women (30 versus 13).

As for transgendering women, the researchers found no statistical differences with respect to strokes and deep vein clots. But these women suffered almost four times as many heart attacks (11 versus 3) as did non-transitioning women.

This isn’t the first study to find a connection between CVEs and gender-dysphoric people who have undergone hormone therapy. For example, a 2018 study from George Washington University found that “trans people appear to have an increased risk for myocardial infarction and death due to cardiovascular disease.”

Time To ‘Explore Their Identity,’ But At What Cost?

Jane Robbins

One of the puberty blockers frequently administered to girls who identify as boys (female-to-male, or FtM) is called Lupron. Lupron belongs to a class of drugs called gonadotrophin hormone-releasing (GnRH) agonists and is used to suppress estrogen production, thereby delaying the physical changes of puberty in a pre-pubescent female patient.

The argument is that this will give the girl more time to “explore her identity,” an easier path to physical transitioning before her body matures, and a chance to decide if she wants to pursue more serious measures such as cross-sex hormones and surgery. (More on that later.) The first claim is that Lupron is safe. But thousands of patients who have been treated with Lupron for non-sex-related conditions would disagree.

Lupron was originally Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved to treat prostate cancer, but it’s now routinely prescribed for other conditions such as endometriosis and “precocious puberty” — i.e., puberty that begins too early (generally considered under age eight for girls, under age nine for boys). Many of these patients have experienced extreme side effects that shattered their health and their lives, including severe joint pain, osteoporosis, compromised immune systems, and mental health issues such as severe depression and even suicidal ideation. The FDA has received 24,000 reports of adverse reactions, about half of which the agency has deemed serious.

Lupron manufacturer AbbVie has been fighting lawsuits over the drug for years. In one case pending in federal court in Illinois, 60-year-old Terry Paulsen claims she has endured severe medical problems related to receiving two injections of Lupron for endometriosis 14 years ago. “My body is on fire,” she said. “My joints have arthritis everywhere.” Since her Lupron treatment, Paulsen has suffered not only constant pain but strange rashes, severe osteoporosis, and multiple surgeries.

In another lawsuit, gynecologist David Redwine testified as an expert witness about the adverse effects of Lupron he has observed over 31 years of medical practice. Noting that Lupron’s suppression of the pituitary-gonadal system may affect a body’s immune response, Redwine concluded that the plaintiff in that case suffered extreme bone density loss and other symptoms as a result of being administered Lupron beginning at the age of 17.

Many Patients Suffer From Lupron-Related Side Effects

Tragically, many other young patients have endured similar adverse effects. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on a younger patient’s trauma after receiving Lupron treatment for precocious puberty. Now 22, Brooklyn Harbin was injected with Lupron at the age of 10, and soon found herself in such severe pain that she ended up a wheelchair while still in fifth grade.

Dr. Ken Sinervo, an Atlanta-area gynecologist who specializes in endometriosis surgery, reports having seen many women suffering memory loss and joint pain after Lupron treatment. He was quoted as warning that “Lupron or any of the similar types of medications should never be used in someone under the age of 21.”

But of course, all gender dysphoric patients who might be placed on Lupron to delay puberty are years younger than 21. Plus, there’s a serious added danger to using Lupron merely to stop normal puberty in a gender dysphoric child. Such treatment is “off label,” meaning the FDA hasn’t approved the drug for this purpose, nor is there reliable research showing the safety of such use.

Are Lupron’s Effects Really Reversible?

Despite all these warning flags about administering these drugs to healthy children, ideologues such as Dr. Stephen Rosenthal (who receives federal tax dollars to produce research supporting transgender-affirming treatment) see no problem with this experimentation. Rosenthal declares himself a “firm believer” in using GnRH agonists to stop normal body development in gender-confused children.

Rosenthal also insists that the effects of Lupron and other such drugs are “100 percent reversible,” a claim the true believers at WPATH support. Is this true? Mounting evidence suggests the answer is no.

The thousands of complaints about Lupron, mentioned above, show that many adverse side effects can be long-lasting, if not permanent. But even in a patient who doesn’t suffer those effects––that is, when the drug simply delays puberty without causing additional harm––the effect may not be fully reversible.

Reversibility must be considered from both a physical and a psychological perspective. Physically, a particularly problematic result is the direct effect on the pituitary gland. Redwine, the expert witness on the dangers of Lupron mentioned above, cited a study of impaired pituitary function: “The most important finding of this review comes from study M84-042. The study provides the evidence that 62.5% of patients [treated with Lupron for endometriosis] had not regained baseline estrogen levels by one year after stopping Lupron.”

In other words, the effect on the pituitary was not reversible for the majority of those patients. 

Endocrinologist Michael Laidlaw also warns that bone density may never recover from use of puberty blockers

Outgrowing Dysphoria Naturally

If this weren’t enough reason for parents to refuse such treatment for their minor children, Laidlaw says that “what parents should find truly terrifying is the psychological effect of this medication.” 

Under the traditional treatment for gender dysphoria, which involves “watchful waiting or pursuit of family and individual psychotherapy,” between 80 and 95 percent of adolescent patients outgrow their dysphoria naturally.

In other words, only 5 to 10 (20?) percent of those children remain dysphoric and go on to request further treatments. But a major study of dysphoric children who were administered puberty blockers found that 100 percent went on to request cross-sex hormones.

Why would a child whose normal puberty is short-circuited be more likely to move on to radical treatment with cross-sex hormones and perhaps surgery? Laidlaw attributes this phenomenon to “a very strong psychologically addictive component to this medication, so that once children begin taking these blockers, they never leave the road of high-dose synthetic hormones and irreversible surgeries.”

ACPeds agrees, offering a theory grounded in neuroscience and social science:

There is an obvious self-fulfilling nature to encouraging a young child with GD to socially impersonate the opposite sex and then institute pubertal suppression. Purely from a social learning point of view, the repeated behavior of impersonating and being treated as the opposite sex will make identity alignment with the child’s biologic sex less likely. This, together with the suppression of puberty that prevents further endogenous masculinization or feminization of the entire body and brain, causes the child to remain either a gender non-conforming pre-pubertal boy disguised as a pre-pubertal girl, or the reverse. Since their peers develop normally into young men or young women, these children are left psychosocially isolated. They will be less able to identify as being the biological male or female they actually are.

ACPeds concludes: “A protocol of impersonation and pubertal suppression that sets into motion a single inevitable outcome (transgender identification) that requires lifelong use of toxic synthetic hormones, resulting in infertility, is neither fully reversible nor harmless.”

Rosenthal, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, and the other medical ideologues who plow ahead with these therapies haven’t refuted these concerns. They seem to simply ignore them. That such behavior is allowed by the medical establishment, and even funded by federal tax dollars, is a travesty. 

Can we sink any lower than to sacrifice children to political ideology?

Jane Robbins is an attorney and a retired senior fellow with the American Principles Project in Washington DC. She is a graduate of Clemson University and the Harvard Law School.

Our children are, as always, voiceless, as adults find myriad ways to abuse them. Prepubescent gender transitioning will be judged as utterly insane by future generations and by God. 

Criticizing Sensationalism Over Science Gets 40yr Professor Fired

Why do the majority of scientists believe in anthropogenic global warming?

Because those who don't get fired.

Professor Peter Ridd challenges James Cook University sacking

Former James Cook University climate scientist Peter Ridd outside the Federal Court Brisbane.

He claims he was unfairly dismissed from his job for publicly voicing his opinions on climate change.

Picture: Liam Kidston.

CHARLIE PEEL
JOURNALIST

Lawyers acting for sacked James Cook University professor Peter Ridd say the university sought to turn its disciplinary process into a “star chamber” after he publicly criticised the institution and one of its star scientists over claims about the impact global warming had on the Great Barrier Reef.

Professor Ridd, who worked at the university for 40 years, has challenged the dismissal in the Federal Court, saying the university breached its own enterprise agreement which allowed all staff to express controversial or unpopular views.

The physics professor’s lawyers say the Townsville-based university, which is renowned for its marine science expertise, dismissed Professor Ridd in 2018 for breaching its code of conduct.

But they argue that the code was secondary to the enterprise agreement.

Barrister Stuart Wood said his client had every right to criticise his colleagues and the university’s perceived lack of quality assurance processes.

The first alleged breach of the code occurred in April 2016, when Professor Ridd emailed a journalist to allege that images given to the media by the Australian Institute of Marine Science and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority were misleading.

Sensationalism not science

Professor Ridd said the images of bleached coral reefs near Stone Island, off the coast of Bowen in north Queensland, were misleading because they showed poorly affected corals, which were selected over nearby healthy coral and used to show “broad scale decline” of reef health.

Many years ago I worked with an hydrologist who was furious at a very famous Canadian scientist who took the erosion of a particular and unique watershed and applied it to all of British Columbia. It was sensationalism over science.

Field technicians working for Professor Ridd took photos in the same vicinity as the bleaching pictures supplied by the university and GBRMPA which showed “spectacular coral living there”.

Professor Ridd told the journalist in the email that the use of the pictures was “a dramatic example of how scientific organisations are happy to spin a story for their own purposes”.

He also said his colleague Professor Terry Hughes, the head of JCU’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, would “wriggle and squirm” when asked to explain the discrepancies in the images.

“Mr Ridd said the photos being used were not, in his view, an accurate representation of what was going on at the site,” Mr Wood said.

“The complaint was that there should be much more care taken when representing the photos to ensure the story is not based on sensationalism but on science.”

Professor Ridd was sceptical of the photos and warnings around the health of the reef, which had undergone extensive bleaching, because his own academic work had shown coral health was not affected by sediment runoff or increased water temperatures, as claimed by other scientists

After receiving a warning from the university, Professor Ridd was censured again in November 2017 after appearing on Sky News and making similar claims about the lack of quality assurance processes on coral reef science.

At one stage Professor Ridd was told he could not even discuss the proceedings with his wife, leading Mr Wood to compare the proceedings to a coercive “star chamber”.

After a third alleged violation of the code of conduct, Professor Ridd was sacked in April 2018.

Mr Wood said there was no argument that his client attacked the integrity of his colleagues and the organisation, but that this was not in breach of the enterprise agreement.

He said Professor Ridd offered Professor Hughes a public apology for the phrasing of his complaint, not the subject matter, but Professor Hughes rejected the apology.

The hearing is expected to continue for three days.

Terror Suspect Arrested in Austria for Trying to Sabotage High-Speed German Train

By Clyde Hughes

An unnamed Iraqi male was arrested by Austrian authorities in connection with failed terror attacks on railways

in Germany late last year. Photo by Andrew Bone/Wikimedia Commons

UPI -- Austrian authorities arrested a 42-year-old Iraqi man in Vienna in connection with failed terror attacks on railways in Germany late last year.

Prosecutors accused the unnamed man, arrested Monday, of being an Islamic State sympathizer and attempting to sabotage high-speed trains.

In October, a high-speed train hit a steel cable stretched across the tracks between electrification masts on the Nuremberg-Munich line in Germany, Bavarian State Criminal Police Office said Wednesday.

The driver's cab of the train was damaged but police found no other injuries.

Investigators found what was described as a threatening note written in Arabic nearby. Police discovered damaged overhead wires in Berlin as well as a note in Arabic and a flag of the Islamic State militant group in December.

Vienna prosecutors said that the suspect was a father of five and a migrant who was granted refugee status 20 years ago. Authorities said the suspect praised several Islamist terror attacks on social media, including the 2016 truck attack in Nice, France, that killed 86 people.

A local media report said he called for revenge in the March 15 New Zealand attack in which a right-wing suspect is alleged to have killed 50 worshipers at two Christchurch mosques.

The Austrian arrest follows raids Saturday in Germany where authorities arrested 10 people on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack using a car and guns. The suspects in that case ranged in age from 20 to 42 and included some German citizens.

"They are believed to have agreed to carry out an Islamist, terrorist attack using a vehicle and guns that would kill as many 'non-believers' as possible," Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement at the time.

Former Russian Minister Detained Over Massive Embezzlement, May Face 20 Years in Prison

Corruption is Everywhere - You Better Believe in Russian Politics

FILE PHOTO: Mikhail Abyzov © Sputnik / Iliya Pitalev

Former Russian minister, Nikolay Abyzov, who only left the cabinet last year, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) over accusations of organizing a criminal group to embezzle 4 billion rubles (around $15.5 million).

The investigators believe Abyzov and his accomplices obtained the money by swindling the shareholders of two major energy companies in Russia’s Novosibirsk Region. The funds were then transferred abroad through offshore firms, which the ex-minister was a beneficial owner between 2011 and 2014.

The actions of the criminal group that Abyzov “organized and headed” have jeopardized the energy security and stable economic growth of several Russian Regions, the Investigative Committee said.

The probe against the 46-year-old is head by the top branch in the Investigative Committee, which only deals with high priority cases, with the assistance of the FSB.

Abyzov is charged with organizing a criminal group, with the offense carrying a prison term of up to 20 years, under Russian law. The investigators say they’ll ask the court to put him in custody.

A source told Interfax that the ex-minister was recently living abroad – in Italy and the US – and the FSB “operatives had to lure him to Russia.” He didn’t elaborate on how the detention happened.

The ex-ministers’ lawyer, Aleksandr Ansis, told the media that his client "categorically refuses to acknowledge his guilt."

Maybe it's just the translation, but that sure sounds like a curious way of stating his innocence.

Abyzov began his business career in the 1990s and occupied key positions in several of the country’s largest energy companies, including Unified Energy System of Russia and E4 Group. He’s one of the richest people in the country, with Forbes estimating his wealth at $600 million last year.

He joined the Russian government in 2012 under Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and maintained the ministerial post until May 2018. The man oversaw the functioning of the Open Government, a new approach which was introduced to make the Russian state more transparent and allow the authorities to discuss its initiatives with the society.

This just gets more hilarious by the line.

Vladimir Putin was informed of Abyzov’s case in advance, Kremlin press-secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said.

Medvedev’s office also said that the PM was aware of the situation, but pointed out that Abyzov is being investigated “for the activities that aren’t related to his work as a government member.”

Of course, no-one in the government would ever be guilty of corruption!!! 

Are Thousands of British Pakistani Kids Going to Jihad Summer Schools?

And is Britain paying for their 'education'?

By ABUL TAHER FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

A secret Government report has warned that more than 3,000 British children are being taken to Pakistan each year and enrolled in extremist summer schools.

The chilling Home Office study says courses at madrasas teach a 'glorified version of jihad', according to a source.

Officials fear some youngsters will be radicalised and return to the UK with a warped ideology and pose a terrorism risk.

'It is highly likely that this education in Pakistan, even for short periods of time, increases the risk of exposure to extremism for British-Pakistani children,' the source told The Mail on Sunday.

Could this be contributing to the fact that second generation Muslims in the UK tend to be more devout (read radical) than their parents? Although, I suspect that second generation Muslim immigrants have little or no experience of actually living in a Muslim country, like their parents, and, so, actually believe it's a good thing.

Denial: Students are seated at Pakistan’s Jamiatul Uloom Ul Islamia madrasa

- the report identified this madrasa as among three of concern

'Enrolment at madrasas poses the greatest risk of exposure to more serious forms of religious extremism.'

Two of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, enrolled on madrasa courses in Pakistan a year before they launched their deadly attack in 2005, which killed 52.

But the security services have established that some Pakistani parents take their children back to their native homeland during summer holidays under the pretext of visiting extended family.

In reality, they sign them up for lessons at some of Pakistan's estimated 20,000 madrasas.

Summer camps! Only instead of playing and learning social skills they are brain-washed into hating and prepared to kill infidels. How lovely!

Is this where Pakistani men learn to have such respect for little British girls?

The report says some of those madrasas receive funds raised in Britain and that UK-based imams have established seminaries in their ancestral homeland.

It identifies three madrasas of concern – the Darul Uloom Haqqania (DUH) madrasa in the remote Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region bordering Afghanistan; the Jamia Binoria in Karachi and Jamiatul Uloom Ul Islamia in Azad Kashmir.

Each has denied involvement in extremism. The DUH madrasa has previously been labelled the 'University of Jihad' because former students include Asim Umar, an Al Qaeda leader, and it awarded an honorary doctorate to the former Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

There are also fears that British taxpayers may have inadvertently provided it with funds.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, which controversially handed a £2.2 million grant to the madrasa in 2016, will have received £283 million from Britain to help boost education when a ten-year project ends in 2020.

A satellite image shows a remote madrasa near Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan

Denying any involvement with extremists, the madrasa's chief Maulana Hamid ul Haq said: 'If you ask questions about the 'Taliban', 'Taliban' is a term used for students so we call all students 'Taliban'.

If some of the students turn violent or extremist, then what can we do? We have nothing to do with it.'

The Jamia Binoria madrasa has been accused of adopting a 'pro-jihadi and anti-Western stance' and has reportedly enrolled foreign students. However, an official said British students no longer attended and the madrasa had no involvement in extremism.

The British founder of the Jamiatul Uloom Ul Islamia madrasa, based in Mirpur, also denied any links with terrorism. Haji Bostan, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, said no British students had enrolled and that no form of extremism was taught.

And I'm sure he wouldn't lie! He's a Muslim!

A Department for International Development spokesman said: 'All funds for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are for agreed purposes. It does not include funding for madrasas.'

But it certainly frees up funds for madrasas!

Good grief! Britain is paying for the radicalization of it's own citizens who will come back and attack them. Islam really has this all figured out, don't they. 'We're going to rape and kill Brits and get them to pay for it!'

Erdogan: Christianity’s Iconic Hagia Sophia Might Be Active Mosque Again

Is Erdogan the Abomination of Desolation?

Once the very centre of Christianity, the first church on this site was built by Constantine the Great. But in 404, John Chrysostom was exiled by another Emporer's wife. Riots ensued and the church was burned to the ground. 

Another church was erected in 415 by Theodosius II, but a revolt in 532 resulted in it being burned down. Within weeks, Justinian I began planning the Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) which stood as the largest building in the world for nearly a thousand years. 

The Ottomans turned it into a mosque in the 15th century and Attaturk secularized it in 1935 turning it into a museum. President Erdogan is a devout Muslim and, so, it was just a matter of time before it was profaned again.

FILE PHOTO © AFP / Yasin AKGUL

Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia, originally a Byzantine Christian church, might be turned into a mosque again – a potential back-down from the legacy of Turkey’s secular government that turned the site into a museum in 1935.

“This is not unlikely,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a live interview with Turkish television on Monday, adding, “We might even change its name to Ayasofya Mosque.”

The Hagia Sophia became a museum under Turkey’s secularist government back in 1935, but “we may as well take a step and change that,” he said.

Erdogan hinted that the change in status would benefit tourists. “Tourists come and go at the Blue Mosque. Do they pay anything?” he asked, referring to another popular site in Istanbul. “Well, we will do the same with the Hagia Sofia.”

The Hagia Sophia was first built as a church by the Byzantine Empire in the 6th century and served as the main Orthodox Christian church. Following the conquest of Constantinople, now Istanbul,  by the Ottomans in 1453, it was immediately converted into a mosque.

It was the world’s largest cathedral surpassed only in the 16th century by  the Catholic Seville Cathedral was erected in Spain and later by St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican. 

The idea of turning the Hagia Sophia into an active mosque has been around for several years. Some high-ranking politicians and Muslim clerics suggested that the place be opened to worshippers, triggering backlash in Greece, Turkey’s historic rival.

That aside, in 2016, the traditional Muslim call to prayer, the adhan, was chanted from a prayer room, not from inside the historic landmark.

In 2015, thousands of worshippers performed a morning prayer in front of the Hagia Sophia on the 562nd anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople.

Matt 24:14-16

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

"Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

Is it possible this refers to Erdogan standing in the Hagia Sophia? It's a remote possibility, but, it could be the signal that Turkey will invade Israel. Perhaps he will announce the invasion from the pulpit just as the invasion is happening. 

Senior Russian Orthodox Priest Calls Sex Affirmation Surgery a Crime

© Sputnik / Vladimir Astapkovich

A senior Russian cleric has criticized gender reassignment surgeries and called for the criminal prosecution of parents who teach their children that they can choose their gender.

I agree! If a child is encouraged to 'change' their biological sex, that is a form of child abuse, IMHO. These children need help, but sex reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, etc., will almost certainly do more harm to a child than good. Trans people have extremely high rates of attempted suicide.

“Such surgeries are, in my opinion and in the opinion of the church, a crime against God,” Metropolitan Hilarion, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church’s external relations department, said in an interview.

He explained that the church doesn’t recognize a person’s “new” gender after sex affirmation surgery.

Hilarion reiterated that the Russian Orthodox Church “will never recognize such lifestyle as normal… when children from the cradle are being taught that there is a biological gender and a gender they can choose.”

The cleric stressed that parents who plant these ideas into their children’s head should be criminally prosecuted.

According to Hilarion, a child should wait until full legal age to decide "if they want to stay as God created them" or change their gender. 

In 2017, the Russian Orthodox church criticized a law introduced in Greece, allowing gender reassignment surgeries for teenagers as young as 15.

In Russia, sex affirmation surgeries are permissible for citizens aged 18 and above, if they are diagnosed as transsexuals.

According to experts, transsexualism is a rare condition that may affect 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 100,000 cases.

ISIS is Only Mostly Dead - What to Expect Next

Discovered files reveal IS plans to launch revenge attacks in Europe, Syria – reports

FILE PHOTO: A Kurdish SDF fighter fires on ISIS positions in Syria, 2015 © REUTERS / Rodi Said

SDF militia have cleaned out the last ISIS stronghold in Syria at Barghouz. Many ISIS fighters melted silently into crowds elsewhere in Syria and beyond. What will they do now? The leaders, what's left of them, have a plan, only their plan was captured by the Kurds.

As the last remnants of Islamic State’s ‘caliphate’ is dealt a severe blow on the ground, sleeper cells from the group are already planning devastating revenge attacks in Europe and Syria, recently discovered files reveal.

The documents, obtained by the Sunday Times, show that Islamic State operatives are supporting jihadists to plan fresh attacks in European cities, while sleeper cells within Syria have formed hit-squads to assassinate its enemies.

The cache was contained in a hard drive dropped by an IS sleeper cell during a firefight with local forces in the Syrian desert in February. Attesting to its authenticity, the paper said the files contained the types of meticulous detail that have become a hallmark of the group’s record keeping and bureaucracy. Lists of fighters’ names and allotted weapons were joined by budget spreadsheets and payments to fighters and their wives. Others lament the lack of availability of suicide bombers and vehicles for use as car bombs.

However, more startling are letters from a senior IS leader who goes by the name Abu Taher al-Tajiki, claiming he has fighters willing to conduct operations “far away from the Islamic State” and would be in touch with them to “carry out the operations.” To facilitate these attacks, he requests the setting up of a Bureau of Foreign Relations for the Department of Operations in Europe.

Just a couple days ago German police arrested 10 Salafist Muslims preparing for a major attack to kill lots of Germans. Whether the arrests were linked to this event or not, whoever knows is not likely to say.

Other letters addressed to group leaders in Iraq and Syria by al-Tajiki proposes the establishment of what he calls “crocodile cells,” called such to represent IS killers who hide beneath the surface before attacking. Their missions would involve “killing the enemies of God and taking their money.” Online hackers and technicians were also available for missions without the need for weapons.

Al-Tajiki had planned to present the plan to the group’s elusive head, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but this didn’t go ahead after a go-between was killed.

News of the plans comes as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claimed victory over the so-called caliphate’s last remaining pockets in Syria on Saturday. The victory comes following months of efforts to oust the last remaining IS holdouts along the Euphrates.

However, the Syrian government remains skeptical of Washington’s claim that the jihadist group has been defeated militarily following several previous claims of victory over the group by US President Donald Trump. Speaking on Friday, Syria’s UN envoy warned that terrorists were hiding within the Rukban refugee camp, located in a US-protected zone near the Jordanian border.

Rukban Refugee Camp, Syria