Osama bin Laden's Son and Heir Hamza bin Laden is Dead – Report

©  FBI

US officials claim Washington has intelligence that the son and possible successor of Osama bin Laden has been killed, NBC reports. As of yet, the officials have provided few additional details.

Three US officials who requested anonymity told NBC that Hamza bin Laden – son of terror leader and founder of al-Qeada Osama bin Laden – has been killed. The circumstances of his death, or whether there was American involvement, are not clear.

Hamza bin Laden gave his last known public statement to the al-Qaeda group’s media arm in 2018, threatening Saudi Arabia with attack and calling for the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy, but has not been heard from since.

According to former FBI agent and counter terrorism expert Ali Soufan, Hamza was “being prepared for a leadership role in the organization his father founded,” and would likely be looked on favorably by the “jihadi rank-and-file” were he to take on that role.

Born around 1989 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Hamza has been wanted for some time by the FBI for ties to terror groups. He was thought to travel frequently between Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Iran, according to the FBI. Hamza was also reportedly married to the daughter of a senior al-Qaeda leader, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who operates under the alias Abu Muhammad al Masri. Abdullah is wanted for his role in embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.

The FBI had offered a reward of up to $1 million for information that would lead to Hamza’s whereabouts.

I'm guessing the body of Hamza would be sufficient information to collect the reward?

Hamza’s father, Osama bin Laden, helped to found al-Qaeda, the Islamist militant group notorious for the 2001 September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Osama was killed in a US Navy SEAL raid in 2011 while in hiding in Pakistan.

Was Viktor Yuschenko Actually Poisoned? - Ukrainian Prosecutor Says 'No'

Poisoning that shaped 15 years of Ukraine politics

never happened – prosecutor on Yuschenko case

While this story comes from RT, I reproduce it here because there were questions,

even in the Washington Post, as far back as 2014, as to whether Yuschenko's poisoning

really happened

Viktor Yuschenko in 2001 (left) and after the alleged poisoning in 2004 (right)

©  Reuters/YK/AS/CLH;  REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

Former president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko was not poisoned during the 2004 campaign, Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor said in an interview, casting fresh doubts on the narrative shaping Kiev politics for the past 15 years.

At the time, Yushchenko led a Western-backed coalition against the incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, whom they accused of being “pro-Russian.” His disfigurement from what he called dioxin poisoning led to an outpouring of popular support and street protests, later dubbed the ‘Orange Revolution.’ Under that pressure, the Ukrainian supreme court annulled the run-off election Yanukovich had won, delivering Yushchenko the presidency after a revote.

Investigators found no evidence of poisoning

This week, however, the deputy Prosecutor-General and chief military prosecutor of Ukraine since 2014, Anatoly Matios, revealed in an interview that his investigators found no evidence of a poisoning.

Speaking to the Politeka online host Andrey Palchevsky, Matios said that he had asked Colonel Igor Nikolaevich Kozlov,  who had investigated the case, about what he found. 

Tell me, was there poisoning or not? He said “No, there was no poisoning.”

This contradicts the statement made in January by Matios’s boss, Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko, who maintained that Yushchenko had been poisoned, but “it was still unclear by whom.”

According to the official story, Yushchenko had attended a dinner with several leaders of Ukraine’s security service SBU in Kiev on September 5, 2004. He fell ill soon afterwards and was hospitalized in Austria on September 10. Blood tests showed a significant concentration of TCDD, a dioxin poison found in Agent Orange. 

Various Ukrainian officials have cast doubts on the story ever since, pointing out that Yushchenko never allowed a second blood test that would confirm the results, and speculating that the original test was tampered with. Yushchenko has since made a near-complete recovery. 

His government was not so fortunate. Its policies proved unable to deliver on the promises of economic prosperity, made the endemic corruption worse and fueled nationalism and intolerance between Ukraine’s diverse communities. Eventually, Yushchenko fell out with his coalition partner Yulia Tymoshenko, who went on to lose the 2010 election to Yanukovych. The former president went from widespread popularity to obscurity, with his party getting less than 2 percent of the parliamentary votes in 2012.

Using the same methods as the original Orange Revolution, another coalition of opposition politicians was assembled in 2013 to pressure Yanukovych into abandoning a free trade pact with Russia for a restrictive trade deal with the EU. The protests, backed by the US and several EU powers, escalated into street violence and culminated in a violent coup in February 2014. 

The coup government then tried to crush dissent with military force, leading to the separation of Crimea and the ongoing civil war between Kiev and the two eastern provinces, Donetsk and Lugansk.

US Private Military Companies Plunder Syrian Oil Facilities — Russia’s General Staff

The US has been training up to 2,700 militants near al-Tanf base

in Syria, the Russian General Staff stated

Russian Ministry of Defence, Moscow

Does anyone have the nerve to ask the government,

or the US media, if this is factual?

MOSCOW  /TASS/. US private military companies numbering over 3,500 personnel are plundering Syrian oil facilities under the cover of the international anti-terror coalition’s aircraft, Head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Department Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a Defense Ministry press briefing on Monday.

"Aside from training militants, the US structures in Syria are involved in plundering oil facilities and deposits in the area across the Euphrates that belong to the legitimate Syrian government. Lately, US private military companies have been observed to actively beef up their personnel. Today, the mercenaries of the private military companies in Syria exceed 3,500 people," the Russian general stressed.

Specifically, the US military structures have organized the production and sale of Syrian oil from the Conaco, al-Omar and Tanak oilfields located east of the Euphrates River, the Russian general pointed out.

"A criminal scheme of Syrian crude cross-border deliveries is in effect. Actually, Syrian national wealth is being plundered," Rudskoi stated.

A considerable part of revenues from the hydrocarbon smuggling is spent on maintaining illegal armed formations, bribing sheikhs of tribal unions and instigating anti-government sentiments, according to the Russian general’s data.

"All this activity by US private military companies is conducted under the cover of the international anti-terror coalition’s aviation. In actual fact, this is smuggling business seized by the Americans from the IS [the former name of the Islamic State terrorist organization outlawed in Russia]," Rudskoi explained.

The US incessant deliveries of armament and military hardware to the area across the Euphrates also cause concern, the Russian general added.

"In exchange for assistance in oil smuggling, the United States is beefing up both Kurdish and Arab formations with arms and they subsequently use them against each other," Rudskoi said, adding that "all these factors are only exacerbating the situation in the war-torn region."

Training of militants

The US military are training up to 2,700 militants from different groups at the al-Tanf base in Syria, according to Rudskoi.

"Within the 55-km zone around al-Tanf, US instructors are training a large armed formation, Magavir al-Saura, and some small militant groups for the so-called Army of Arab Tribes. The militants’ total numerical strength is 2,700 men," the Russian general reported, providing footage obtained from drones.

A part of the militants trained at the al-Tanf base is being airlifted by US combat helicopters beyond the Euphrates, the Russian general added.

"The most trained saboteurs are being delivered to the territories controlled by the government troops to destabilize the situation and prevent the strengthening of the Syrian government’s positions there," Rudskoi commented.

The basic goals of the militants trained by the US military instructors are to carry out subversive operations, destroy Syrian oil and gas infrastructure facilities and conduct terrorist attacks against government troops, he pointed out.

"Such groups have been spotted in the areas of the communities of al-Suwayda, Palmyra and Abu Kamal," the Russian general specified.

The US military base near the settlement of al-Tanf is located at the junction of the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. It also embraces the 55-km zone around the town.

Rex Murphy: The Yaniv Outrage has Left Canada, Rightly, the Laughing Stock of the World

The silent passing over of this story is journalistic cowardice, the fear of offending the passing pieties of militant progressivism

Progressivism is a new-speak term for far-left

Jessica Yaniv, a transgender woman in B.C., has filed over a dozen human rights complaints against businesses

she alleges discriminated against her on the basis of gender identity. Courtesy Jessica Yaniv, @trustednerd

Rex Murphy

A friend of mine recently went to his local garage, claimed he was a re-conditioned ’79 Chevy Nova and asked them to do a timing check on the carburetor and rotate his tires. They said they wouldn’t because he didn’t have a carburetor, or tires, and they only worked on “cars.” He is off now to the local human rights tribunal (after a stop for spare parts at Canadian Tire).

The strange, ominous and creepy case before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is reverberating around the world. This is the case of the person, variously identified on the Internet as Jonathan or Jessica Yaniv, who has mounted a campaign to force unwilling cosmeticians to do a “Brazilian Wax” on their still very present testicles and penis. Yaniv has filed complaints against them all.

As I wrote last week, these are all women, some immigrants, and on the economic and cultural margins — 16 in total, according to most accounts. At least one, originally from Brazil, has had to close her small business. All have been under intense duress, and the vexatious complainant is notably hostile to immigrants (social media posts by Yaniv, then identifying as Jonathan, are remarkably insulting to newcomers to Canada). Some have paid Yaniv $2,500 dollars to lay off, while others equipped themselves with lawyers, at their own expense, had the complaints dropped.

It is a very disturbing case — and for more reasons than the harassment of these women. It raises questions not only about the human rights tribunal but about many of the main organs of Canadian journalism.

The latter first: The Times of London has a story on it, a popular Irish radio show talked to Yaniv (angry about the questions, Yaniv hung up, but only after telling the host she was capable of getting pregnant). A far continent away, The Australian gives a full account of the story. Hundreds of other serious and widely followed news sites and blogs in Canada, the U.S., and abroad have done the same.

This is not a local story. And when tweet-master Ricky Gervais fired off this projectile of compressed lucidity, the matter had the Twitter equivalent of an Apollo liftoff: “It is a woman’s right to say ‘I don’t wax testicles. On a man or a woman.’ End of discussion. No sexism. No homophobia. No transphobia.” The world is listening to this squalid tale.

Is it not Canadian news that the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is giving this apparently aggressive and eagerly litigious person such specialized and respectful attention?

   

From my perspective the core of the story is not Yaniv, whom, from what I have read, presents as opportunistic, cruel and delusionally self-entitled, who manipulates the ever-changing fixations of identity and gender politics for (a) notoriety, (b) possible gain, and (c) some delight in pushing and insulting hard-up people, especially Asians and newcomers (see last week’s column) as a very questionable personal amusement.

Where is this yarn — outside the National Post and Toronto Sun — in the large media of this country? CTV, CBC, The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star? Silence. (The Post Millennial has covered the story, as has Blaire White, herself a transgender woman — she posted her work on YouTube.) Perhaps the TV networks have an excuse. After all you cannot expect to have a full seven hours live on the comatose Mueller hearings and cover the Trump presidency every 15 minutes, and still serve up a story of harassment of immigrants and very strange and creepy behaviour out of Vancouver. (Were Trump to tweet on the matter, of course, the panels would be endless, righteous outrage infinite.)

Is it not Canadian news that the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal is giving this apparently aggressive and eagerly litigious person such specialized and respectful attention? At the same time as 16 women are going through what must be to them a frightening, perplexing and tormenting legal grinder? Why are the Canadian media not at least reporting on what they are going through?

Is it simply because even the word “transgender” is kryptonite to the brave media who are always otherwise anxious to write and broadcast “truth to power”? The silent passing over of this story is journalistic cowardice, the fear of offending the passing pieties of militant progressivism.

As to the Tribunal, is it simply enough — see mocking epigraph above — for someone to walk into its offices, self-declare “I am a trans woman and I can’t get my scrotum waxed,” and have them take on the case? Is that truly all it takes?

Did the tribunal’s members think maybe if 16 — 16! — women unanimously turned Yaniv down, the problem was more likely with the would-be customer, not the provider? Did they consider the upheaval in their lives as solemnly as they presided over this transparently noxious, trivial, illogical and indulgent complaint?

In my column last week, I lamented the Tribunal’s lack of common sense. This week I ask where’s their sense of human sympathy, compassion for the newcomer — and to use one of their most-beloved terms, for the marginalized? The woman from Brazil has lost her income while Yaniv enjoys the publicity.

People do not choose to wax other people’s genitals for love of the craft. They are poor. They likely want to provide for their children so those children will never have to face the unpalatable chore of tending to other people’s privates, male or female, privates. These selfless people, who condescend to this work are, properly considered, moral heroes. Parents who do what all great parents have done, work for the good of their children. But now they are “defendants” in a Canadian court, accused of being transphobic bigots.

Of Yaniv’s other alleged activities, I will not disturb your stomachs with full recount. But if you can combine a fixation on tampons and very young girls, texting young girls with child pornography pictures, proposing all-nude swims for 12-year-olds and you can easily compose it for yourself.

There are people who might actually need the protection of a rights tribunal. But not the bullying and troubled being who wants their privates barbered under force of law.

Canada is a laughing stock in half the world over this cruel and transparent farce.

National Post

It seems to me that these women have a case to take to the Human Rights Council, the same council Yanis appealed to, or maybe a law-suit. But they would need the support of a right-wing NGO to be able to challenge this PCMadness in court. Perhaps the Human Rights Council's myopic views need to be challenged in a higher court.

Why 'LGBT-Free Zones' are on the Rise in Poland

Far-left backlash in a far-right country

Nationalist ruling party calls 'LGBT ideology' a 'threat'

amid growing number of Pride marches

CBC Radio 

On stickers distributed in weekly conservative magazine, Gazeta Polska, this week, the phrase 'LGBT-free zone'

circles a rainbow with a cross through it. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)

Activists in Poland say so-called LGBT-free zones across the predominantly Catholic country point to efforts by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to stoke anti-LGBT sentiment ahead of a parliamentary election this fall.

Local media reports suggest that across Poland, more than two dozen cities and towns — some led by PiS members — have declared their regions LGBT-free zones in recent months. The majority are situated in the historically conservative southeastern part of the country.

While the declarations are not enforceable, activists say they signal a targeted effort to exclude LGBT residents.

"It's a statement saying that a specific kind of people is not welcome there," said Ola Kaczorek, co-president of the Warsaw-based Love Does Not Exclude Association.

The number of supposedly LGBT-free regions has grown since Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski signed a declaration in February supporting sexual and gender diverse communities in that city, Kaczorek said.

Ola Kaczorek, second from right, waves a flag during the pride parade in Warsaw,

representing Love Does Not Exclude Association. (Love Does Not Exclude Association)

Officials of the nationalist PiS party, which won a majority in 2015 running on an anti-immigration platform, have been vocal in their opposition to LGBT rights. Activists say that with migration to Poland slowing significantly since 2015, the party is looking for a new group to target.

Because a political party has to have people to demonize in order to win an election.

At a rally ahead of European Parliament elections in May, PiS president Jaroslaw Kacynski told a crowd that "LGBT ideology" was a "threat" to Polish society.

"They are not saying LGBT+ people are a threat, but they're saying that LGBT+ ideology is a threat," said Kaczorek. "Then people who are taking part [in pride marches] are not seen as humans, but as a part of some kind of ideology … [and] that is terrifying for some people."

Violence at pro-LGBT march

On July 20, advocates took to the streets of Białystok, a city in the Law and Justice party stronghold Podlasie Voivodeship, for the region's first-ever Pride march, and were met with violence from conservative and religious protesters. 

Białystok is considered an LGBT-free zone, according to a map plotted by LGBT advocacy group Lambda Warsaw.

Protesters chanted slogans, including 'God, honour, motherland', and burned a rainbow flag, at the first-ever

Pride march in Białystok, Poland on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

Video from the event shows firecrackers exploding throughout the crowd and homophobic chanting from a group of men burning a rainbow flag.

"I have never seen anything like that before," said Małgorzata Mróz, a 20-year-old University of Warsaw student who travelled to join the march.

"People shouted at me that I'm a bitch, that I should die," she said adding that counter-protesters threw rocks and bottles at LGBT advocates. 

It's been just this great grassroots movement

that's been growing and expanding

- Ola Kaczorek

Both Mróz and Kaczorek told Day 6 there wasn't enough of a police presence.

Police arrested 25 people following the attacks, according to a Reuters report.

While the Polish government did not respond to a question about accusations that they support anti-LGBT sentiment, they did address the violence in Białystok.

"In Poland, there is no acceptance of behaviours slighting the rights of other persons," said Elżbieta Witek, the minister of the interior and administration, in an emailed statement to Day 6.

Małgorzata Mróz, 20, covers her mouth after tear gas is dispersed during the first-ever Pride march in Białystok, Poland, on July 20. The protest became violent when conservative and religious counter-protesters intercepted the march. (Agata Kubis/Submitted by Malgorzata Mroz)

But while the country's Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski told private broadcaster TVN on Sunday that LGBT people shouldn't be excluded in Poland, he questioned the intent of pride marches.

"These kinds of marches... awaken resistance"

Education Minister Dariusz Piontkowski

"These kinds of marches, initiated by groups that are trying to force through their non-standard sexual behaviours, awaken resistance ... it's worth considering if such events should be organized in the future," he said. 

Mróz, who grew up in Częstochowa, organized a pride march in the small, southern city last year. There was no violence like that in Białystok, but the march was unwelcomed.

"Częstochowa is also my city," she said. "I will be there because it's my place and I have a right to be there."

Church and state

Ahead of last weekend's events in Białystok, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda opposed the march, in a statement, calling it "foreign" to the region. Wojda also expressed "gratitude" for those who "defend Christian values."

According to 2016 numbers from Statistics Poland, more than 90 per cent of Poles identify as Roman Catholic.

"The church has a huge influence on people and it's a great outlet if someone wants to use it — and the ruling party is using it because lots and lots of people are regularly going to the church," Kaczorek said.

Though Kaczorek believes the Law and Justice party will win a second term in an election to be likely held in October, she has hope the LGBT community's activism will pay off.

Participants attend the city's first Pride march in support of the LGBT community in Bialystok, Poland, on July 20. (Agnieszka Sadowska/Agencja Gazeta via Reuters)

When Gazeta Polska, a conservative weekly magazine, included stickers emblazoned with the words "LGBT-free zone" in Wednesday's issue, a Polish judge ordered a ban on distributing the stickers any further Thursday.

Kaczorek believes if the ruling party continues to oppose LGBT rights, it will encourage the community to fight back. 

This year, there were more than 20 pride marches across Poland's 16 voivodeships.

"It's been just this great grassroots movement that's been growing and expanding — and there are new young people in smaller towns that don't want to migrate to bigger cities," Kaczorek said.

"They want to show themselves in their local communities and do something to show that we are here; we are everywhere. We are normal everyday people."

Why do Catholics and most Christians have a problem with LGBTQ ideology? Is it because God called it an abomination? Is it because He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and a couple other small cities because of their sexual license? Does it have to do with their Pride Parades, which are often obscene and yet tolerated by police and parents of small children? Is it because God hates 'pride' in any form? 

There should be absolutely no tolerance for violence against gays and lesbians and trans. But neither should they be flaunting their stuff in the face of God and man. As the Education Minister said, 'These kinds of marches... awaken resistance.'

A little common sense and modesty would go a long way toward peace and coexistence.

War on Christianity - Google: 'Christian' Banned as Keyword on YouTube; 'Muslim' OK

Unacceptable content? YouTube ad policy bans keyword ‘Christian’

© Reuters / Dado Ruvic

When the founder of a Christian veterans group tried to upload a YouTube ad for his organization, he received an odd rejection, informing him the keyword “Christian” was no longer acceptable under the site’s ad targeting policy.

Chad Robichaux, founder of the Mighty Oaks Foundation, a charitable group that helps veterans overcome wartime trauma, took to Twitter with a screenshot detailing his encounter with the tech giant.

So one of the keywords to boost the ad was the word ‘Christian,’ which we use regularly. The ad was denied specifically because of the use of the word ‘Christian.’

Chad Robichaux

@ChadRobo

 We ran a @YouTube ad for our veterans ministry outreach for those  in need & it was denied for the word “Christian”.  Insane! #Censorship should terrify every American; conservative or liberal, Christian or Muslim. This bias is a dangerous course for America. @MightyOaksFDN

“This is the first time we'd seen this,” Robichaux told Faithwire in an interview. Within hours of Robichaux’s post, YouTube attempted to explain the situation in a tweet of its own.

“We know that religious beliefs are personal, so we don’t allow advertisers to target users on the basis of religion,” the Google-owned platform said. “Beyond that, we don’t have policies against advertising that includes religious terms like ‘Christian.’”

The veteran fired back, arguing the company’s statement was demonstrably false and that he had used the same keyword in previous ads without problems “for years.” Moreover, he claims when he tried running the same ad but with the keyword “Muslim” instead, there was no issue.

TeamYouTube✔

@TeamYouTube

Replying to @ChadRobo and 2 others

We know that religious beliefs are personal, so we don’t allow advertisers to target users on the basis of religion. Beyond that, we don’t have policies against advertising that includes religious terms like “Christian”.

Chad Robichaux

@ChadRobo

We ran the exact same ad with the keyword “Muslim” & it was approved but “Christian” was not. Additionally, we’ve ran ads with the keyword “Christian” for years. This year alone we had 150,000 impressions on that word in our ads. As per your support line this is a new restriction

“We’ve ran ads with the keyword ‘Christian’ for years. This year alone we had 150,000 impressions on that word in our ads,” Robichaux responded, adding “We ran the exact same ad with the keyword ‘Muslim’ & it was approved but ‘Christian’ was not.”

After speaking with Google’s help desk, however, Robichaux was told the policy was new. Google has yet to comment publicly on the matter.

Presidential Hopeful, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Sues Google Over Account Suspension

By Nicholas Sakelaris

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, is suing Google over allegations that it targeted her advertising account

right after the first presidential debate. Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is suing Google over complaints that the search engine censored her presidential campaign by suspending her advertising campaign for several hours last month.

The Hawaiian Democratic representative said in a statement that the suspension came shortly after the first debate when Gabbard was one of the most-searched Democrats. She also alleges that Google's algorithms send her campaign emails to spam folders at a disproportionately high rate.

"In the hours following the first debate, while millions of Americans search for info about Tulsi, Google suspended her search ad account [without] explanation," the campaign said. "It is vital to our democracy that big tech companies can't affect the outcome of elections."

Gabbard is polling about 1 percent in a crowded field of more than 20 Democrats. Her complaint in the lawsuit said Google didn't offer a good explanation for the account being suspended on June 27 and 28.

"Throughout this period, the campaign worked frantically to gather more information about the suspension," the complaint reads. "In response, the campaign got opacity and an inconsistent series of answers from Google."

Google spokeswoman Riva Sciuto said Gabbard's brief suspension was triggered by "large spending changes" that are in place to prevent fraud and protect users.

President Donald Trump hosted a presidential summit earlier this month to discuss bias in social media.

There may be other candidate that are much more popular, some that are more glib, some may even be more clever in some ways, but there is no-one in the race as intelligent and honest and unencumbered as Gabbard. Is there a conspiracy to keep her out of the race? Have the Dems already decided who will win the leadership contest. Is Gabbard the new Sanders in the DNC?

Historian Unearths Evidence that Istanbul Directed Armenian Genocide

New documents suggest the Armenian genocide was both sanctioned and assisted by leaders of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul

By Brooks Hays

Armenian civilians, escorted by armed Ottoman soldiers, are marched to a nearby prison.

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

(UPI) -- Between 1914 and 1923, during and after World War I, hundreds of thousands of Armenians living in Turkey were systematically rounded up and murdered. Thousands more were forced to flee their homes. Some estimates put the death toll at more than 1.5 million.

Now, researchers say newly discovered documents suggest the Armenian genocide was both sanctioned and assisted by leaders of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul.

The fact that the Armenian genocide happened is well-accepted within academic circles. However, the Turkish government has continued to deny the culpability of their predecessors.

"The Armenian diaspora is trying to instill hatred against Turkey through a worldwide campaign on genocide claims ahead of the centennial anniversary of 1915," Turkey's president, Recep Erdogan, said in 2015. "If we examine what our nation had to go through over the past 100 to 150 years, we would find far more suffering than what the Armenians went through."

Erdogan's sentiments aren't without the support of the vast majority of the Turkish population. As the New York Times reported in 2015, a poll conducted by the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, an Istanbul research organization, fewer than one in ten Turks believe the government should label the atrocities genocide and apologize.

"Turkish government officials continue to use the same argument, the argument that the Ottoman government never had the intent," Taner Akçam, an Armenian genocide expert and history professor at Clark University in Massachusetts, told UPI. "They accept that there were casualties and some massacres, but they claim the Ottoman government was not able to control the remote areas and that some Kurdish tribes or bandits or some other group, they committed these kinds of crimes."

What was missing, Akçam said, was a "smoking gun" linking the atrocities to the Ottoman government. That's exactly what Akçam found.

"This new evidence is a major blow against Turkish denialist arguments," Akçam said.

His discovery suggests the genocide was indeed carried out on periphery, not by rogue agents and bandits, but by provincial governors. These governors were in communication with and assisted by leaders in Istanbul.

"This shows the radicalization process started in the provinces," Akçam told UPI.

The evidence, a series of telegrams transcribed, decoded and signed by Turkish officials, was discovered among a slate of new documents released into the Ottoman archive, a collection of historical documents in Istanbul, organized by the government and made available to researchers.

The newly discovered letters feature the first unambiguous use of the terms "extermination" and "annihilation" by Ottoman officials, both among the provinces and in Istanbul. Analysis of the signatures confirmed several of the transcribed telegrams were authored by Bahaettin Şakir, head of the para-military Special Organization and one of the architects of the Armenian Genocide.

Though the plan to exterminate all of the Armenians living in Turkey began as a provincial idea, the new evidence suggests Istanbul was eventually convinced to back the genocidal approach.

In addition to the documents retrieved from the Ottoman archive in Istanbul, Akçam also discovered similar letters -- transcribed telegrams -- that were used as evidence in tribunals organized by the postwar Ottoman government.

"There were 63 different trials and more than 200 defendants," Akçam said. "The materials from these court procedures went missing. Government officials never made these court proceedings available to researchers."

Researchers only knew about these tribunals from reports written by daily newspapers in Istanbul. A few of the verdicts were also published by the Ottoman government. But some of the documents from these tribunals ended up in the private archive of a Catholic priest in Armenia.

Among the tribunal documents, Akçam found transcribed telegrams using the same coding system -- a series of Arabic letters and numerals to represent words and suffixes -- found among the letters unearthed from the Ottoman archive.

"I went to the Ottoman archive, I discovered that this four digit coding system was the same for both sets of telegrams," he said. "The authenticity cannot be disputed, this was the major discovery."

The transcribed telegrams provided further evidence of communication between those carrying out the genocide in the provinces and military and political officials in Istanbul, including messages that Akçam characterized as "killing orders."

As to why these revealing documents were publicly released by a government intent on denying its predecessors culpability, Akçam guesses officials simply didn't read them thoroughly. The documents in the archives were summarized by officials before being released, and the summaries of the newly discovered telegraphs mention nothing of the details relating the Armenian genocide.

Akçam said his discoveries, summarized in the Journal of Genocide Research, will further solidify the truth of the Armenian genocide. It's a truth he hopes will soon be accepted by the Turkish government.

According to Akçam, the genocide has implications for the political situation in modern Turkey.

"Turks and the Turkish government has the same problems today with Kurds as the Ottomans had with Armenians in the past," he said. "Armenians were making demands for legal and social equality. The Kurds are making similar demands today."

As a result, Akçam said, the Kurds have been labeled as a security threat and the Turkish government has attempted to suppress these democratic demands.

"Without acknowledging historical wrongdoings, Turkey cannot establish a democratic future," Akçam said.

According to the historian, reconciling with the record of the Armenian genocide is essential for improved relations between Turkey and its neighbors.

"Speaking regionally, if you continue this policy of denialism, this means you have the potential to repeat the same policy against your neighbors," Akçam said. "This is why many of Turkey's neighbors consider the Turkish government a security threat. Without reconciling history, peace will not be achievable in the region."

Recent Warming Over the Past 100 Years is Not Part of a Natural Process, Studies Find

As this blog is dedicated to finding the truth, I often present both sides of an argument. This is an interesting argument for anthropogenic climate change. I have always proposed that man is contributing to global warming but not to the degree that climate change alarmists are hysterically claiming. I hope to hear some counter-arguments to this article.

Periods of warming and cooling were regional and not global

Nicole Mortillaro · CBC News 

Heat waves, droughts, floods and other climatic events are poised to increase as a result of global climate change.

Several new studies have concluded that the warming over the past 100 years has been truly widespread,

particularly when compared to climate events over the past 2,000 years. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

Earth's natural cycles can't account for the recent warming seen over the past 100 years, new research suggests.

In one of three new studies published in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience, researchers found that previous periods of climate change such as the Little Ice Age and the Medieval Warming Period were regional and not a global phenomenon.

In contrast, the warming that has occurred over the past century has been far-reaching and global in nature.

"In this paper, what we do is look at climate over the past 2,000 years — and traditionally the understanding of climate over this period is that there were globally coherent periods of climate variability," said Nathan Steiger, co-author of the paper and an associate researcher at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. "But what we show is that these periods are not globally coherent, as previously thought."

In order to obtain a robust sampling of data around the world, the researchers used 700 records obtained from trees, ice, coral, sediment and more.  

In the case of the Little Ice Age, the researchers found that different parts of the planet experienced changes at different times.

The central and eastern Pacific regions experienced their coldest temperatures in 2,000 years during the 15th century. But in northwestern Europe and southeastern North America, the coldest temperatures occurred during the 17th century. For everywhere else, it occurred during the 19th century. 

The cold period that became known as the Little Ice Age in Europe and North America was not a global phenomenon, researchers say. The coldest 50-year period of the last millennium occurred at different times in different regions.

(University of Bern)

In contrast, the warming we are seeing today spans 98 per cent of the planet.

Their study only went as far as the year 2000, but nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since then, with the past five years being the warmest.

Those who question or disagree with scientific evidence pointing to anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change often cite Earth's natural cycles as one of the reasons for the planet's recent warming. The Little Ice Age is most often presented as evidence of part of this natural cycle.

But, Steiger said, "internal variability [doesn't] explain the coherence that we see for the contemporary warming."

Agreement

In a second study, researchers examined Earth's rate of surface warming — the global mean temperature — and its drivers. They found that the rate of warming over periods of at least 20 years was fastest during the late 20th century.

This map illustrates the location of climate data sets which were used to reconstruct global temperatures

over the last 2,000 years. (NASA, edited by Raphael Neukom)

"We find that at pre-industrial times … major volcanic eruptions were the major drivers of temperature fluctuations," said co-author Raphael Neukom, a scientist at the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern. But external forces such as variations in the sun's output did not have "a significant influence" on temperatures.

The sun is also often used by climate skeptics as an external driving force responsible for climate change.

The third paper also concluded that volcanoes played a role in climatic upheaval in the past.

It's this agreement between the three separate studies that the teams of researchers believe is an important indicator of the climate state the planet is currently experiencing.

Modern global warming is a global phenomenon, the authors of the studies conclude. The warmest 50-year period

of the last 2,000 years occurred on more than 98 per cent of Earth’s surface in the 20th century. (University of Bern)

"The basic conclusion is that what's happening today is anomalous, and we understand why it's anomalous — it's not a mystery," said Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist and director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who was not involved with the study. 

But, he said, while the findings may not be entirely new, it's encouraging to have the new research to support other studies, and to offer it up to people who are "grasping at straws to avoid" dealing with climate change.

"This is really like a triple underlining of the fact that what's happening now is unusual in a multi-centennial context and maybe in a much larger context," Schmidt said. "And people have to deal with that."

Steiger said his team expected to find warming across the globe but were surprised at the extent.

"There's a lot of evidence for humans causing the contemporary warming. From our perspective, what we were most interested in is the past explaining the past, and how we understand the past, and then contrast it with the [present]," Steiger said. "There's so much evidence out there anyway. We didn't need to put the nail in the coffin."

Turkish Court Acquits 3 Journalists of Supporting Terrorism: 2nd Blow to Erdogan in a Month

Controlling the media is a necessary part of the strategy of any autocrat. Recep Tayyip Erdogan certainly was heading in that direction, but this decision toward free speech in journalism, and the election of a non-Erdogan supporter as mayor of Istanbul, may have thrown a monkey wrench into his plans for a Turkish caliphate.

By Clyde Hughes

Onderoglu and two others were found not guilty in Turkey Wednesday of supporting terrorism.

Photo by Sedat Suna/EPA

(UPI) -- A Turkish court acquitted three journalists Wednesday on charges of producing propaganda for a terrorist organization in connection with a 2016 incident.

Erol Onderoglu, Ahmet Nesin and Sebnem Korur Financi were prosecuted by Turkish officials after they took over the position of guest editors at Ozgur Gundem, a pro-Kurdish newspaper.

The 13th High Criminal Court cleared them of charges that included inciting the committing of crimes, praising crime and criminals, and conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization.

Onderoglu, a member of Reporters Without Borders, said in a statement that the court victory should be a benefit for all journalists prosecuted for doing their jobs.

"I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who supported us during this trial," Onderoglu said. "This fight for all of our unjustly prosecuted or imprisoned colleagues continues."

RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire, the secretary-general for Reporters Without Borders, warned that Onderglu will face a second trial in November.

"Erol Onderoglu's acquittal is an exceptional victory for justice and press freedom in a country where both are being trampled on every day," Deloire said. "Our deep relief is tinged with bitterness because our correspondent will be on trial again in four months' time.

"The way this historic press freedom defender is being harassed is a deep injustice. We, therefore, urge the Turkish judicial system to demonstrate the same good sense that it showed today and to quickly abandon this new prosecution," he continued.

Turkey and its Kurdish population, which makes up about 15 to 20 percent of the country's residents, have long been at odds. The Turkish government has labeled some organizations that support the Kurds and Kurdish independence as terrorist organizations.

The crackdown on the journalists came a month after a failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government in July 2016.

Women Taking Over the EU - 2 of The Most Powerful Women in the World

European Commission elects Ursula von der Leyen

first female president

By Danielle Haynes

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is a member of the center-right European People's Party. File Photo by Ron Sachs/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- The European Commission on Tuesday elected Ursula von der Leyen, of Germany, to be the first woman to lead the bloc in its 61-year history.

Von der Leyen replaces outgoing President Jean-Claude Juncker, whose five-year term comes to an end in October. The German defense minister earned 383 votes, nine more than the absolute majority required.

The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union.

Van der Leyen has been heavily criticised for the significant deterioration of the German military. She was nominated by Frau Merkel. One wonders if it was a joke?

Nigel Farage was horrified at her election, calling her fanatical, communist, and devoted to centralization of power in the EU.

Christine Lagarde resigns from International Monetary Fund

To Lead European Central Bank

By Danielle Haynes

Christine Lagarde will take on her new duties with the European Central Bank in November. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

(UPI) -- International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde submitted her resignation Tuesday to take on a new role as president of the European Central Bank.

The French economist replaces outgoing ECB President Mario Daghi, who completes his eight-year term in October.

Legarde seems to have done a credible job leading the IMF. She has been listed in the top 5 most powerful women in the world for at least 5  years now. It will be interesting to see if she can work with Van der Leyen.

Spectacular Irony - Duterte Outlaws Misogynistic Behavior

Duterte outlaws misogynistic behavior,

despite long history of public rape jokes

But with one loop-hole, just for him

File photo: © REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Outspoken Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill penalizing public sexual harassment ranging from cat-calls and wolf-whistles, to persistent telling of sexual jokes – for which he himself is famous.

Duterte signed the so-called Safe Spaces Act in April but, for unknown reasons, the legislation wasn’t publicly released until Monday.

Among the offending acts for which perpetrators will now be liable are:

intrusive gazing

cursing,

misogynistic acts,

the use of sexual slurs,

persistent telling of lewd jokes both in public and online.

In addition, the law targets those who expose themselves in public or engage in “groping or any advances, whether verbal or physical, that is unwanted and has threatened one’s sense of personal space and physical safety.”

Public spaces like bars, restaurants and cinemas will now be required to install clearly visible warning signs in addition to hotline contact information to report any offences. 

Senator Risa Hontiveros, the main author of the bill, called it a “massive victory” which allowed people to “reclaim our streets from sexual harassers and gender bigots.”

Under the new law, punishments for unseemly behavior range from small fines to imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense. Foreign violators will be deported after paying their fine or serving their sentence.

Duterte himself has been excoriated by women’s groups and political opponents throughout his presidency for a slew of crude jokes, often involving rape. 

The women’s rights political party, Gabriela, described him in a scathing assessment as “the single most brazen violator of the law’s intent with his staple macho-fascist remarks.”

It looks like many will be watching like hawks in case Duterte breaks any of the stringent new rules himself. However they’ll be wasting their time as a spokesman said on Tuesday that the new law “does not apply” to the president.

“When he cracks jokes, it is intended to make people laugh, never to offend,” Salvador Panelo said, adding that Duterte respects women and is never lewd.

60 Hospitals in Romania Won’t Do Abortions as More Doctors Refuse to Kill Babies

 Abortion backlash in Romania

And they haven't even seen 'Unplanned' yet

INTERNATIONAL   MICAIAH BILGER  

BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Romania has one of the highest abortion rates in all of Europe, but a growing number of doctors in the country are refusing to abort unborn babies.

EU Observer reports 60 of the 189 hospitals in the country (about 30 percent) will not abort unborn babies because of their doctors’ moral or religious objections.

“The law does not oblige us to do this, as it is a service on request, and we can accept or not,” said Robert Danca, manager of Cuza Voda hospital.

Abortions are legal in Romania for any reason up to 14 weeks, without even required counseling or waiting periods, according to the report. While public hospitals must provide abortions by law, doctors may refuse under Romanian conscience protection laws.

Reporters with The Black Sea publication recently contacted all the public hospitals in the country to ask if they do abortions. The investigation found that 60 would not.

One doctor, Daniela Chiriac, told the news outlet that she quit doing abortions seven years ago at the Municipal Clinical Emergency Hospital in Timisoara because she now believes they are a sin.

“I thought that if I could avoid a sin, then I should do it,” she said. “There are many patients who ask me to recommend someone else and I refuse, because it is also a sin.”

According to the report:

Individual doctors in Romania have the right to refuse to perform abortions.

The 2016 professional code for medics outlines that any doctor can decline to provide services if it affects their professional independence or moral values, or contravenes their professional principles.

These “conscience-based refusal” laws are common in most European countries – but when every doctor in a hospital invokes them, women find their access to healthcare faces restrictions.

Human rights lawyer Iustina Ionescu argues that any woman refused an abortion by her local hospital could sue, drawing a distinction between individual doctors and the healthcare provided.

“The doctor might not be held responsible,” she says, “but ‘the unit’ is a service provider covered by the healthcare law, and does not have such an explicit provision. I would say it is illegal for the healthcare unit to refuse, but we would need [to bring] a case.”

Abortion activists are pushing to overturn conscience protections for these reasons. Some now argue that doctors should be forced to abort unborn babies, even if it goes against their religious or moral beliefs. Earlier this week in America, Democrats in Congress voted against several measures to strengthen conscience protections for medical workers who oppose the killing of unborn babies.

In Romania, some politicians are working to combat the high abortion rate with pregnancy support programs. According to the report, MP Matei-Adrian Dobrovie proposed providing state funding to pregnancy resource centers that provide support to mothers and babies. He said Romania has the second highest rate of abortions per live birth in the European Union.

“These centers exist in other countries, such as the United States, and in Romanian legislation they are not regulated,” Dobrovie said. “I proposed to the ministry of labour that these centers should be included and the occupation of assistant and counselor in the pregnancy crisis to be included in the social services.”

Bless you MP Debrovie. May the hearts of other legislators be so inclined.