Headscarves enter French election fray as Muslim women confront Le Pen, Macron

Muslim headscarves took centre stage in France’s presidential campaign on Friday as both finalists in a tightly contested April 24 run-off were confronted by women in headscarves who asked why their clothing choices should be caught up in politics.

France is home to western Europe’s largest Muslim population and many Muslims feel the presidential campaign has unfairly stigmatized their faith.

Far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who trails the incumbent in the polls, has said she will ban headscarves in public and fine women who flout the ban.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", France, Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West, Marine Le Pen

Apple’s Earth Day Initiative Demonizes Carbon-Free Nuclear Power

Apple launched its 2022 Earth Day initiative Thursday with $1 for every Apple Pay transaction until the environmental holiday on April 22 donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an explicitly anti-nuclear group.

“WWF has a vision for the future which phases out the use of fossil fuel and nuclear in the share of energy use across the globe,” reads a 2003 position paper from the non-profit outlining a stance maintained nearly 20 years later.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Corporate Social Justice Warriors", Green-Scam

The left is warping America’s view of itself

As progressive causes dominate the media, a poll found huge overestimates of the number of black, gay and trans people

American ignorance is always an easy target. But my compatriots’ misconceptions about the US illustrated by a recent YouGov poll aren’t merely comical. They’re telling.

On average, the respondents estimate that 41 per cent of their countrymen are black, when the real figure is 12 per cent. More astonishingly, black Americans believe that 52 per cent of the country is also black. Respondents think America’s population is 29 per cent Asian (true: 6 per cent), 39 per cent Hispanic (true: 17 per cent), and 27 per cent Native American (true: 1 per cent). Those guesstimates add up to an arithmetically impossible 136 per cent (but then, no one ever loses money betting on the lousiness of Americans’ mathematical skills) — and that includes zero white people. The headline on this survey might have read: “Americans believe whites in the US have been subject to total genocide and don’t seem especially bothered”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Identity Politics", USA

10 wounded in shooting at South Carolina mall, police say

Ten people were struck by gunfire and two others were injured in a shooting at a South Carolina mall Saturday afternoon, police said.

Columbia police said at least one person opened fire at the Columbiana Centre after an apparent isolated conflict between a group of armed people.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Mass Shooting"

Conrad Black: How the West will be won in Ukraine

When Russia invaded Ukraine seven weeks ago, I wrote in this space that if Russia succeeded in crushing Ukraine as an independent state and strangling it as an aspiring democracy, in addition to a tragedy for Ukraine, it would be a terrible setback for the West. The egregious and vastly over-decorated chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, predicted that Russia would occupy Kiev within three days. If this had occurred, it would have been the first roll-back of western civilization since the early days of the Second World War. And when added to the terrible self-inflicted fiasco of the economic shutdown of the western world at the start of the pandemic, and the impending surrender of the West to the nuclear military ambitions of Iran, it would have announced a much clearer and stronger trajectory of western decline than global warming (which has contributed to Western decline also, as we inflict terrible economic hardship on ourselves to reduce carbon emissions on the basis of insufficient knowledge of what we are fighting).

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"

Drawing New Lines – The White House enacts a new rule to crack down on “ghost guns.

This week, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) finalized a rule tweaking a number of firearm-related regulatory definitions. The rule targets legitimate problems, including that privately made “ghost guns” have played an increasing role in gun crime lately. It also draws attention to how vague the federal laws in this area are, giving presidential administrations great discretion to rewrite the rules as they see fit.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inGun Control, Gun Rights

Douglas Todd: Trudeau’s crackdown on real-estate investors won’t work. Here’s why.

Justin Trudeau’s government snagged the headlines it wanted last week when it was widely reported the budget would impose a temporary ban on foreign investors snapping up more of Canada’s over-priced real-estate.

The headlines made the federal Liberals look aggressive, and even a bit patriotic, in their apparent determination to combat offshore speculation in Canadian housing.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

‘Detest me with moderation,’ Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP) — The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 asked Friday for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to “detest me with moderation.”

For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about what happened Nov. 13, 2015 in the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. After his trial opened last year, he had a few outbursts of extremist bravado, but for months he refused to answer most questions.

Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy testimony that at times contradicted earlier statements. His words at times prompted angry outbursts from the public.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Islamophobia", Islam, Islam and violence, Islamization of the West

Tackling the Iranian Regime’s Nuclear Threat

If we closely examine the Iranian regime’s nuclear file, it reveals that no deal will stop the ruling mullahs of Iran from pursuing their nuclear ambitions.

A few years after the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic appeared to make the advancement of a nuclear program a top item on its agenda after consolidating power in 1984. In the decade after, the Islamic Republic began its nuclear program with the help of some intermediaries such as Russia, China and Pakistan.

At the time, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, acknowledged that Pakistan assisted Tehran. He pointed out “I do have information that some years ago, through intermediaries, we received pieces for centrifuges”. According to the United States intelligence, A.Q. Khan, who was known as “the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb”, sold expertise and equipment to North Korea, Libya and Iran, and made more than $50 million.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inIran

What is the thin blue line and why is it so hotly contested in Calgary

The thin blue line patch causing controversy among the Calgary Police Service and its oversight body has a long and complicated history, appearing in various iterations at different times of policing over the past century.

The image features a blue line across a background, often a black and white flag for the country it appears in. The Calgary police commission recently issued a directive for officers to no longer wear the symbol on their uniforms citing negative perceptions of it, particularly among marginalized communities. In response, the Calgary Police Association said its members would not oblige.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Depolicing"

North Korean hackers target gamers in $615m crypto heist – US

The US has linked North Korea-backed hackers to a massive cryptocurrency heist worth $615m (£469m) from players of the popular online game Axie Infinity last month.

Players can earn crypto through game play or trading their avatars.

The hack is likely one of the biggest ever to hit the crypto world.

US officials say they linked the breach to a group called “Lazarus”, believed to be controlled by North Korea’s primary intelligence bureau.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBitcoin, North Korea

Loss of Moskva strikes serious blow to Russian military’s prestige

As Russian media and officials struggled on Friday to explain the sinking of the country’s Black Sea flagship, it was clear that the loss of the cruiser and an untold number of its estimated 510 crew was a blow to Vladimir Putin’s war plans and his military’s prestige.

From the beginning, the Russian government tried to play down what had happened. At first its defence ministry claimed an accident had caused a fire onboard. Then the ministry said the damage had been contained and the ship was being towed to port in Sevastopol. Finally, late on Thursday, the ministry announced that the ship had sunk in “stormy seas”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"