Two Years Later, Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Gao Zhisheng is Still Missing

And Beijing wonders why Hong Kong is making such a stink

Gao Zhisheng's book

(Photo: ChinaAid)

ChinaAid

(Yulin, Shaanxi—Aug. 14, 2019) It has been two years since the brother of the prominent Chinese human rights lawyer and Noble Prize nominee Gao Zhisheng arrived at the attorney’s apartment in Shaanxi province for a visit on Aug. 13, 2017, only to discover him gone. 

For 23 days, his supporters assumed him kidnapped by authorities, much like he had been several times before. In reality, however, the officials were searching relentlessly, finally crossing the border into the neighboring Shanxi province and finding him with two sympathizers, Shao Zhongguo and Li Fawang, who had smuggled him out of his home in order to free him from the watchful eyes of the authorities. He had lived under the surveillance for three years, following his 2014 release from prison.

Human Rights Activist Slowly, Torturously Destroyed by Chinese Government - Aug 2014

Upon discovery, Gao immediately vanished into police custody, and Shao and Li were criminally detained.

Since then, the outside world has heard little information about Gao. Sometime after his disappearance, Beijing officials claimed they had him in secret custody within the Chinese capital, but no one has been able to verify their claim. Likewise, Gao’s family does not know where he is being held, and he has not been allowed to consult with lawyers.

Chinese law dictates that it is illegal for prisoners to be held for more than six months without a charge, and Gao has now been held for four times that amount, constituting a severe violation of rule of law.

Gao’s previous arrests and disappearances all stem from his human rights work, and he describes the horror he faced in his piece “Dark Night, Dark Hood, and Kidnapping by Dark Mafia.”

During the three years Gao lived in his apartment, he secretly penned Unwavering Convictions, a book which describes atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party. ChinaAid smuggled the book out of China and published it with the Carolina Academic Press and the American Bar Association. The book, which has been translated into English, can be purchased at the above link.

Because of the mounting pressure against their family, Gao’s wife and children fled to the United States in 2009.

This is why Hong Kong is fighting so hard to refuse China the right to try Hong Kong criminal cases on mainland China. There is no respect of their own laws, legal decisions are more often political, and innocent people just disappear for years. I fear for Hong Kong as I believe China is in crouch mode, ready to spring at the first opportunity. Escalating violence will provide that opportunity. 

Marine Dad Sues for Being Banned from School Property After He Objected to Islamic Indoctrination of Daughter

War on Christianity in the Schools of America

Thomas More Law Center Files Federal Lawsuit On Behalf of Marine Dad Banned from School Property After He Objected to Islamic Indoctrination of Daughter

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, yesterday afternoon, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of former Marine, John Kevin Wood, and his wife, Melissa, who refuse to allow their teenage daughter to be subjected to Islamic indoctrination and propaganda in her high school World History class.  The lawsuit was filed against the Charles County Public Schools, the Board of Education, and the Principal and Vice-Principal of La Plata High School located in La Plata, Maryland.

The Woods’ daughter was forced to profess and to write out the Shahada in worksheets and quizzes.  The Shahada is the Islamic Creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”  For non-Muslims, reciting the statement is sufficient to convert one to Islam.  Moreover, the second part of the statement, “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,” signifies the person has accepted Muhammad as their spiritual leader.  The teenager was also required to memorize and recite the Five Pillars of Islam. 

Charles County Public Schools disparaged Christianity by teaching its 11th grade students, including the Woods’ daughter, that: “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”

Unfortunately, that is probably true.

The Charles County Public Schools also taught the following:

“Islam, at heart, is a peaceful”

“To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”

The Koran states, “Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

Islam has been involved in 600 wars in its 1400 year existence. 95% of all terrorists are Muslim. Where Muslim migrants have landed in Europe - crime rates have soared dramatically.

Allah is not the God of Judaism and Christianity. 

Proverbs 31:10-31 - A good woman manages her own affairs. A righteous woman is not invisible and doesn't need permission to leave the house.

Read the two exhibits containing Student worksheets here.

The sugarcoated version of Islam taught at La Plata High School did not mention that the Koran explicitly instructs Muslims “to kill the unbelievers wherever you find them.”  (Sura 9-5)

When John Kevin Wood discovered the Islamic propaganda and indoctrination of his daughter, he was rightfully outraged.  He immediately contacted the school to voice his objections and to obtain an alternative assignment for his daughter.

The Woods, as Christians, believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and our Savior, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, and that following the teachings of Jesus Christ is the only path to eternal salvation.  The Woods believe that it is a sin to profess commitment in word or writing to any god other than the Christian God.  Thus, they object to their daughter being forced to deny the Christian God and to her high school promoting Islam over other religions.   

The school ultimately refused to allow the Woods’ daughter to opt-out of the assignments, forcing her to either violate her faith by pledging to Allah or receive zeros for the assignments.  Together, John Kevin Wood, Melissa Wood, and their daughter chose to remain faithful to God and refused to complete the assignments, even though failing grades would harm her future admission to college and her opportunities to obtain college scholarships.

Adding insult to injury, in an effort to silence all pro-Christian speech in her school, La Plata’s principal, without a hearing or any opportunity to refute the false allegations against him, issued a “No Trespass” notice against John Kevin Wood denying him any access to school grounds. 

Wood served 8 years in the Marine Corps.  He was deployed in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and lost friends to Islamic extremists.  A few years later, Wood responded as a firefighter to the 9-11 Islamic terrorist attack on the Pentagon.  Wood witnessed firsthand the destruction created in the name of Allah and knows that Islam is not “a religion of peace.”  The school prevented John Kevin Wood from defending his daughter’s Christian beliefs against Islamic indoctrination, even though as a Marine, he stood in harm’s way to defend our nation, and the Charles County Public Schools.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented: “Defendants forced Wood’s daughter to disparage her Christian faith by reciting the Shahada, and acknowledging Mohammed as her spiritual leader. Her World History class spent one day on Christianity and two weeks immersed in Islam. Such discriminatory treatment of Christianity is an unconstitutional promotion of one religion over another.”

Thompson added, “The course also taught false statements such as “Allah is the same God worshipped by Christians, and Islam as a “religion of peace. Parents must be ever vigilant to the Islamic indoctrination of their children under the guise of teaching history and multiculturalism.  This is happening in public schools across the country.  And they must take action to stop it.”   

The Woods’ lawsuit seeks a court declaration that Defendants violated their constitutional and statutory rights, a temporary and permanent injunction barring Defendants from endorsing Islam or favoring Islam over Christianity and other religions, and from enforcing the no trespassing order issued against John Kevin Wood.

Read entire Federal Complaint here.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

Danish Climate Body Wrongly Reported Greenland Heat Record

The DMI last week reported a record temperature of up to 4.7C

at the Summit station on Greenland

But a quality check confirms no record was set

Photo: Christian Brøndum/Scanpix

The Local news@thelocal.dk

Denmark's national climate body has admitted it wrongly reported record warm temperatures on the centre of the Greenland ice sheet last week, in what it called "good news from a climate perspective".

The Danish Meteorological Institute, which has a key role in monitoring Greenland's climate, last week reported a shocking August temperature of between 2.7C and 4.7C at the Summit weather station, which is located 3,202m above sea level at the the centre of the Greenland ice sheet, generating a spate of global headlines. 

But on Wednesday it posted a tweet saying that a closer look had shown that monitoring equipment had been giving erroneous results. 

"Was there record-level warmth on the inland ice on Friday?" it said. "No! A quality check has confirmed our suspicion that the measurement was too high." 

By combining measurements with observations from other weather stations, the DMI has now estimated that the temperature was closer to -2C. 

"You could say that this is good news from a climate perspective," Herdis Damberg, one of the Institute's meteorologists told Danish state broadcaster DR. "There are probably a lot of people wiping their foreheads saying that it's pretty good that it wasn't four degrees." 

The institute believes that snow had caused poor ventilation around the thermometers at the site, wrongly boosting the temperature. 

The record temperature ever recorded at Summit is 2.2C, which was reached in both 2012 and 2017. But -2C is still unusual at the station. 

"It's not a record, but -2C is still warm," Damberg said. "It was the heat that lay around Europe that moved up to Iceland and on to Greenland." 

Ruth Mottram, a climate scientist at the institute, told The Local that the revised temperature figure did not affect the institute's estimate that the ice cap lost a record 12.5bn tons of ice in just 24 hours last week, which triggered headlines across the world. 

"This does not alter our ice melt figures at all," she said in an email to The Local, pointing out that while the temperature measurement was taken at about 2m above the ice, her group was "largely interested in the surface temperature". 

The ice melt estimates also did not use the temperature measurements at all, she explained, but was instead based on a "surface energy balance model" which takes into account "all of the sources of incoming and outgoing energy". 

Summit Stn, Greenland

Chinese Scientists Warn of Global Cooling Due to Solar Cycle

Lead scientist now more worried about cooling than warming

Since it is unlikely that Chinese scientists are influenced by either the oil industry or the climate hysteria, this report should be taken seriously

South China Morning Post

Research sheds light on 500-year Chinese climate cycle and suggests global cooling could be on the way.

A team of Chinese researchers says a period of global cooling could be on the way, but the consequences will be serious. Photo: Xinhua

A new study has found winters in northern China have been warming since 4,000BC – regardless of human activity – but the mainland scientists behind the research warn there is no room for complacency or inaction on climate change, with the prospect of a sudden global cooling also posing a danger.

Little to do with Greenhouse gases

The study found that winds from Arctic Siberia have been growing weaker, the conifer tree line has been retreating north, and there has been a steady rise in biodiversity in a general warming trend that continues today. It appears to have little to do with the increase in greenhouse gases which began with the industrial revolution, according to the researchers.

Lead scientist Dr Wu Jing, from the Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the study had found no evidence of human influence on northern China’s warming winters.

“Driving forces include the sun, the atmosphere, and its interaction with the ocean,” Wu said. “We have detected no evidence of human influence. But that doesn’t mean we can just relax and do nothing.”

Moon Lake, a small volcanic lake hidden in the deep forest of China’s Greater Khingan Mountain Range, where

a team of scientists spent more than a decade studying the secrets hidden in its sediments. Photo: Baidu

Wu and her colleagues are concerned that, as societies grow more used to the concept of global warming, people will develop a misplaced confidence in our ability to control climate change. Nature, they warned, may trick us and might catch us totally unprepared – causing chaos, panic, famine and even wars as the global climate system is disrupted.

There are already alarming signs, according to their paper, which has been accepted for publication by the online Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.

Wu and her colleagues spent more than a dozen years studying sediments under Moon Lake, a small volcanic lake hidden in the deep forests of the Greater Khingan Mountain Range in China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. They found that winter warming over the past 6,000 years had not been a smooth ride, with ups and downs occurring about every 500 years.

Their findings confirmed an earlier study by a separate team of Chinese scientists, published by online journal Scientific Reports in 2014, which first detected the 500-year cyclical pattern of China’s summer monsoons and linked it to solar activity.

The 2014 research, which drew on 5,000 years’ worth of data, suggested the current warm phase of the cycle could terminate over the next several decades, ushering in a 250-year cool phase, potentially leading to a partial slowdown in man-made global warming.

Wu said the latest study, with 10,000 years’ worth of new data, not only helped to draw a more complete picture of the 500-year cycle, but also revealed a previously unknown mechanism behind the phenomenon, which suggested the impact of the sun on the Earth’s climate may be greater than previously thought.

According to Wu, the variation in solar activity alone was usually not strong enough to induce the rapid changes in vegetation the research team recorded in the sediment cores of Moon Lake. Instead, the scientists found the warming impact was amplified by a massive, random interaction between surface seawater and the atmosphere in the Pacific Ocean known as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

As a result of the research findings, Wu said she was now more worried about cooling than warming.

Can a Political Move to the Right in Guatemala Slow Migration to the USA

Guatemala elects conservative Alejandro Giammattei president

By Darryl Coote

Alejandro Giammattei (C) of the Vamos party and the party's candidate for vice president Guillemo Castillo (2-R)

celebrate victory during the preliminary election results at a press conference in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on Sunday.

Photo by Esteban Biba/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- Guatemalans elected conservative Alejandro Giammattei as their next president, according to the South American country's Electoral Tribunal.

"Thanks, Guatemala!" Giammattei said in proclaiming his election victory on Twitter. "The confidence they placed in me will be the engine to continue our journey through a different Guatemala. Today, I become the top public servant of the nation and together, with the whole country, we will work to make the government that you deserve."

With 95 percent of the vote counted, the Electoral Tribunal announced Sunday that Giammattei of the right-wing Vamos Party had received 59 percent of the presidential run-off vote to beat out three-time runner-up and former first lady Sandra Torres of the center-left National Unity of Hope Party. She earned 41 percent of the vote.

Only 40 percent of the country's 8 million registered voters cast ballots in the election, a drop from 56 percent in 2015.

The drop is partially a reflection of voter apathy and a lack of confidence and trust as outgoing president and former comedian Jimmy Morales, who was ushered to the country's helm on a wave of public anger against corruption that forced President Otto Perez Molina to resign, has come under the scrutiny of a United Nations-backed commission for illegal campaign financing.

Giammattei, 63, will also be taking over the country as it deals with a massive surge of residents fleeing for the United States.

Guatemalan refugees are one of the main groups reaching the United State's southern border seeking asylum, an issue that has dogged President Donald Trump since his inauguration and has only worsened in the last several months following on-month increases in the number of people reaching the border and mass criticism against his administration's policies concerning the treatment of migrants, particularly children, once they make it to the United States.

The issue of asylum seekers to the United States has seen the Trump administration exert influence over countries such as Guatemala in an attempt to stem the flow of refugees, which signed a "safe third country" agreement with the United States in late July under the threat of tariffs.

However, Giammattei, the former chief of the nation's prison system, has opposed the unpopular deal signed in by his predecessor. He also ran on a platform that included building an "economic wall" through job creation to prevent the need for citizens to flee the country.

"We will focus on the construction of a different Guatemala," he said Sunday while proclaiming himself president-elect, the Washington Post reported.

Once inaugurated, Giammattei has the power to nullify the deal, which has been blocked from implementation by the country's highest court with a provisional injunction.

Trump's response needs to be some partnering with Guatemala to greatly improve their economy. This is morally the right thing to do since the USA fleeced Central America of most of its natural resources for at least a century. It's the only logical way to reduce migration to the US, but, I fear, Trump will bully them into implementing the safe third country deal or make their economy even worse.

The Farhud: The Massacre that Ended Iraq’s 2,600-Year-Old Jewish Community?

BY EMANUEL MILLER

Honest Reporting

Arab nationalists raise knives in the air during the Farhud

The unprovoked massacre of Jewish men, women, and children in Baghdad in 1941 known as “The Farhud” is perhaps the most significant event in the final chapter of the history of Iraqi Jewry. Read on to learn more about the episode, and make sure to check out this article describing how and why the Jewish community in Iraq came to an end.

Up until midway through the 19th century, the Iraqi Jewish community was one of the oldest continuous communities in the world and the oldest such community outside of Israel, with a proud history spanning over 2,600 years. Today, fewer than ten Jews remain in the country. 

While there are many reasons for the decimation of this community, one event in particular stands out: The Farhud, the unprovoked massacre of Jewish Iraqis by their fellow compatriots in a frenzy of nationalist, pro-Nazi rage.

A Brief History of the Jewish Community in Iraq

The experiences of the Jewish people in Iraq over history were varied, with periods of persecution and horrific attacks, as well as times of relative calm and somewhat tolerable conditions. Although there had been numerous instances of violence against Jews during their long history in the land under various regimes, including pogroms, decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues in Iraq, and occasional forced conversion to Islam, by the end of the 19th century, conditions were significantly better, although still far from perfect.

Under centuries of Islamic rule, Jews were subjugated and classified as dhimmi (‘protected person’) and were required to pay taxes, sometimes exorbitantly high. Failure to do so could result in death, or the death of a community representative. As the Ottoman empire began to crumble, however, reforms introduced led to Jews receiving a greater degree of equality, a process hastened by the subsequent era of British colonialism.

During the 19th century, Baghdad emerged as a strong Jewish and economic center as the influence of the Jewish families of Aleppo, who had dominated the Jewish communities of the Middle East over the previous century, waned. The Iraqi Jewish population grew so rapidly that by 1884, there were 30,000 Jews in Baghdad. By 1900, the number had risen to 50,000, with Jews representing over a quarter of the city’s total population.

From 50,000 to 10 in one century. That is a hostile environment! Please go to Honest Reporting for the rest of this article. 

Corruption is Everywhere - According to Malaysia, Even in Goldman Sachs

Malaysia charges 17 current & ex-Goldman Sachs bosses with looting of country's wealth fund

FILE PHOTO: The Goldman Sachs stall on the New York Stock Exchange © Reuters / Brendan McDermid

Malaysia has extended pressure on Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs, filing criminal charges against 17 current and former directors of the bank’s subsidiaries over alleged involvement in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal.

Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny for its role in helping to arrange $6.5 billion through bond offerings for Malaysian state fund, the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The fund is at the center of one of the biggest financial scandals of all time, and is now being investigated for money laundering.

In the filings issued on Friday, Malaysian Attorney General Tommy Thomas said the executives mentioned in the document should be held responsible for the US bank’s role in the scheme. The prosecution wants to seek custodial sentences and criminal fines for the accused, “given the severity of the scheme to defraud and fraudulent misappropriation of billions in bond proceeds, the lengthy period over which the offenses were planned and executed.”

Each charge carries a maximum jail term of 10 years and a penalty of at least 1 million ringgit ($239,000), according to Reuters.

The list includes 17 people who were in charge of three Goldman Sachs subsidiaries between May 2012 and March 2013, during which the alleged fraud took place, according to the attorney general. Richard Gnodde, who leads the bank’s international business in London, as well as Canadian business executive Michael Evans, a former Goldman Sachs Asia chief who is currently the president of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, were among those charged on Friday. British banker Michael Sherwood, former vice chairman of the Wall Street firm, is also on the list.

The latest case adds to last year’s accusations, when Malaysian authorities filed charges against three Goldman Sachs units and two ex-employees. Kuala Lumpur is seeking $7.5 billion in compensation from the bank.

The US investment bank has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming it fell victim to the previous corrupt Malaysian government. Commenting on the latest accusations, Goldman Sachs said the charges were misdirected and promised to “vigorously” contest them.