Portugal: Search for Madeleine McCann Renewed

Madeleine McCann

Based on a request by German police, Portuguese police are searching the area of a dam in the southern Portuguese region of Algarve for the remains of Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old English girl who disappeared in that area in 2007 while her family was vacationing in Portugal. No trace of her has ever been found. The case has attracted worldwide attention.

A German citizen, Christian Bruckner, who is currently in a German prison for the rape of a 72-year-old woman (in Portugal), was residing in the area at the time of the girl's disappearance. He is the principal suspect in her disappearance. 

The search is drawing a lot of publicity in Europe. The below article from today's Publico (Portugal) is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.publico.pt/2023/05/23/sociedade/noticia/policias-cara-tapada-mergulhadores-procuram-vestigios-maddie-barragem-arade-2050690

The Maddie Case

Police with faces covered and divers search for traces of Maddie at the Arade Dam.

In Algarve, German police follow the trail of one of their fellow countrymen, arrested for the rape of an elderly woman. The "film" repeats itself 16 years after the child's disappearance.

By Idalio Revez

May 23 2023, 13:09

Caption: The searches for traces of Maddie began with a request from German authorities.

The scene repeats itself. Judicial Police and German authorities conduct searches at the Arade Dam (Silves) in an effort to (investigate) what could be the latest clue in solving the Maddie case- the English girl who disappeared from Praia da Luz 16 years ago.

The operation is being carried out under the observation of the English police, but it is the German investigators who are most visible in front of the media circus that is set up around the reservoir, with a water level much lower than would be normal for the time (of year).

Christian Bruckner, serving a sentence of seven years in a prison in Oldenburg for raping a 72-year-old woman, in Portugal, is the link that led to Judicial Police to reopen this process, upon request of the German authorities. The searches for what may be the biological remains of Maddie are concentrated in a location next to the dam where Bruckner lived in a trailer park.

Dozens of journalists rushed to the location, especially Portuguese television channels, but also Spanish, German, and English, with more than one team to cover the event. "Searching for something," but not known what.

The only certainty is that this is another police attempt to add to an investigation in which millions of euros have been spent-and which remains without any conclusion. In 2008, Attorney Aragão Correia paid investigators out of his pocket to conduct searches at the location. What was found at the time were animal cadavers and garbage.

The German police make a point of showing their presence. The investigators don't even let you see their eyes. Passing in front of the journalists in all-terrain vehicles, black caps on their heads and dark glasses.

TV cameramen, prevented from getting near the location where the operation is being carried out, north of the dam, spread out in the hills of the range to capture possible discoveries on land or in the sea.

The operation is being supported by a group of divers from emergency rescue of Silves and by elements of the GNR (National Republican Guard). In contrast to the Germans, what is noted in the Portuguese authorities is an attitude of discretion, typical of one who has seen this "film" several times. The Judicial Police predict that the searches can last two or three days, without revealing more details.

A Message From Ticketmaster Today

I received this today from Ticketmaster. 

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Our Misgendered State Department

"I need counseling."

Russia is on the march.

China is on the march.

Iran is on the march.

Meanwhile, at the US State Department, under Secretary of State Tony Blinken, our striped-pants diplomats are getting counseling because they have been........

Misgendered.

 https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/05/bidens-state-department-coddles-fragile-employees-with-counseling-to-cope-with-being-misgendered/

 ". . . Those upset by the misgendering are encouraged to contact the State Department’s Employee Consultation Service “to speak to a professional counselor.”

One Fine Day at Hunter College

Hunter College is one of those 4-year indoctrination centers whose bucolic campus (above) is located in New York City. It's basically a factory churning out mostly leftist oddballs. Now The College Fix is reporting that an adjunct art professor named Shellyn Rodriguez got all bent out of shape because a group of students set up a pro-life table on campus. So what did she do? Just like any good Hunter  professor, she cursed out the students and tossed their materials off the table.

It was all captured on video.

https://www.thecollegefix.com/hunter-college-adjunct-professor-trashes-students-pro-life-display-fing-propaganda/

Speaking of oddballs and misfits. Rodriguez not only has the full support of the local pro-abortion students, but the local chapter of the Palestine Solidarity Alliance!

*Update-5/23/23: Things got much worse the following day. When a New York Post reporter showed up to ask questions of Rodriguez, she reportedly threatened him with a machete. The College Fix now reports that Rodriguez has been relieved of her duties at Hunter College.

French Interior Minister Warns US About Islamist Terror Threat

Hat tip Gates of Vienna and Vlad Tepes

Gerald Darmanin

Gerald Darmanin, the French Interior Minister, wrapped up a 2-day visit to the US by warning that for Europe and France, the major threat is coming from Islamist terrorism. Darmanin fears a resurgence is coming with France hosting major international events in the coming two years.

As critical as I have been of Darmanin and the Macron government in general, it seems that the interior minister is waking up to the reality. I note that during his visit he met with Alejandro Mayorkas and Deputy AG Lisa Monaco. I can only wonder how Darmanin could light a fire under those two.

At least, Darmanin realizes (albeit belatedly) that the major threat to public safety is not any notion of "white supremacy", or climate change, rather it is Islamist terrorism. Too bad our current administration cannot see that. Hopefully, Darmanin will succeed in ensuring close collaboration between our law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Domestically, it is hoped that France and the rest of Europe will attack the root of the problem which lies in its insane immigration, asylum, and judicial policies.

The below article from Le Figaro dated May 20, is translated by Fousesquawk.

https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/a-new-york-darmanin-s-alarme-d-une-reprise-en-europe-d-une-menace-terroriste-islamiste-20230520

In New York, Darmanin is alarmed over a "resumption" in Europe of an "Islamist terrorist" menace

By Le Figaro with Agence France Presse

Posted May 20, 2023 at 05:56, updated 8 hours ago.

Caption: The French Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin

The minister of interior has asked the American government to strengthen its anti-terrorist cooperation before the Paris Olympics in 2024.

The French Minister of Interior, Gerald Darmanin, on a visit to the US, expressed alarm Friday over a "resurgence" of the "Islamist terrorist " menace in Europe and asked the American government to reinforce its anti-terrorist cooperation.

"We have come to remind them that for the Europeans and for France, the primary risk is Sunni Islamist terrorism and that anti-Terrorist collaboration between the intelligence services is absolutely indispensable," Gerald Darmanin stressed during an interview with Agence France Presse in New York. And," at a time when the Americans, perhaps, have a more national view of disputes-white supremacism, repeated shootings, conspiracy, they must not forget that for us in Europe, the primary menace appears to be Sunni terrorism," the French minister insisted.

Gerald Darmanin completed his 2-day trip to Wahington, New York, and the UN, after boosting police and legal cooperation between France and the US, provided for in a 2016 agreement for the fight against terrorism and major crimes. He met with Deputy Attorney General, Lisa Monaco and the Secretary of Homeland  Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, then visited the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. In New York, he met with the NYPD Chief, Keechant Sewell, to discuss the maintenance of public order and security at major international events, citing the Olympic Games -2024 in Paris (26 July-11 August 2024)., the Rugby World Cup (8 September-28 October 2023) and the visit of Pope Francis to Marseille on 23 September.

"The threat resumes"

In this context, but without invoking precise dangers, Gerald Darmanin affirmed that, 
"the risk is resuming as to Islamist terrorism" which would again target France and its European neighbors. He pointed to "an internal danger of persons without networks who, becoming radicalized, go on to taking action within a few hours, a few days....  Someone who takes a knife, goes into a bakery, and kills people". And "there is the external risk, people organized outside (of France), who come to France to carry out an attack like the one at Bataclan," in Paris on 13 September 2015.

Gerald Darmanin also deplored the "departure of the Americans from Afghanistan," and that of France from the "Sahelo-Saharan Strip," the "reconstruction of Daesh cells (Islamic State group) in the Levant, who make up these external dangers within the perspective of large events that France is organizing (represent) moments of important risks of terrorist attacks."

Muslim Brotherhood in Sweden (15)

The below translation of a recent article by the conservative Swedish site, Nyheter Idag, is the latest in our series of translations from original European articles regarding the Muslim Brotherhood in various European nations. It is the 15th such translation from Sweden and is written by Johannes Nilsson.

The below article concerns the Ibn Rushd Study Association, which has been identified in numerous previous translation from Swedish sources as an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sweden. An employee of the association in  Malmö reportedly sent an email to the city and reportedly threatened a riot of the city did not come up with sufficient grant money to help sponsor a Muslim religious festival.

The below article is translated by Fousesquawk. We were unable to translate the original article from Sydsvenskan since it was subject to a subscriber block.

 https://nyheteridag.se/ibn-rushd-anstalld-polisanmald-av-malmo-stad-efter-bidragsgral-gatt-over-gransen/

Friday, May 12, 2023

Ibn Rushd employee reported to police by city of Malmö after grant dispute: "Went over the line"

Caption: Moorish Pavilion in Peoples' Park,  Malmö

An employee of the Ibn Rushd Study Association has been reported to the police by the city of  Malmö after he threatened a riot in a grant dispute for a Muslim festival, Sydsvenskan reports.

It concerns the city of  Malmö's contribution to the Eid festival that Ibn Rushd has organized  in People's Park since 2011 with economic support from the city of  Malmö since 2013.

This year, no festival is organized because of a reduced contribution from the city of  Malmö. Now correspondence between the city of  Malmö and an employee of Ibn Rushd has led to a police report, Sydsvenskan writes. 

Instead of the Eid festival that is celebrated at the end of April, Malmö and Ibn Rushd planned to cooperate on a celebration of Muslims' second largest holiday, Id al-Adha, which this year falls at the end of June.

But it was difficult to come up with a grant amount, and in an email from the employee, he wrote that there are people who would start a riot if the festival did not take place. He also wrote that it should not be interpreted as a threat, and that 20,000 people wanted to have a festival and not a riot.

The city of  Malmö reported the email from the employee to the police after the city's lawyers judged that parts of the email could meet the criteria for an illegal threat.

"Although we maintain a cool and neutral attitude to the email, we feel that trust for us as decision-makers can be damaged. Therefore, it is very important that we get an outside opinion," says Per-Erik Ebbeståhl, head of security for the city of  Malmö.

From the city of Malmö's side, it is the individual employee who is considered responsible for the email and not the Ibn Rushd Study Association..

"Unfortunately, he has gone over the line for what is acceptable," says Per-Erik Ebbeståhl to Sydsvenskan.

Ibn Rushd states that the employee has been suspended from his work.

"This communication is in no way representative of the organization. This is an employee who has received support and help, " says Malin  Noyen, district chief for Ibn Rushd to Sydsvenskan.

Switzerland: Dieudonné Called to Testify for Tariq Ramadan in Geneva Rape Trial

Tariq Ramadan

Dieudonné

For several years now, Tariq Ramadan, Swiss intellectual, Islamic activist, and grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood has been dogged by rape accusations from several women in France and Switzerland. In 2018, he spent several months in pre-trial detention in France. The charges against him are still pending. Meanwhile, he is on trial in Switzerland based on a woman's accusations that he raped her in his Geneva hotel room in 2008. Today, Le Matin (Switzerland) is reporting that Ramadan's defense is calling French comedian, Dieudonné, as a witness to counter the accuser's claims.

I have no opinion of Ramadan's guilt or innocence. My only comment is that Dieudonné has a history of anti-Jewish statements in France.

The below article from Le Matin is translated from French by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.lematin.ch/story/dieudonne-attendu-au-proces-pour-viol-de-tariq-ramadan-a-geneve-307948174176

Dieudonné expected at rape trial of Tariq Ramadan in Geneva

The defense of Islamic scholar, Tariq Ramadan, who has been on trial since Monday for rape -which he denies- has called the controversial humorist, Dieudonné, to come and testify Tuesday.

The plaintiff, present in the courtroom during all the arguments on Monday, should also speak on Tuesday for the first time before the criminal tribunal, where this case has attracted the French press and crowds.

Converted to Islam, the Swiss plaintiff, who chose the assumed name of "Brigitte" to protect herself from threats, was 40 years old at the time of the (alleged) facts. She claims that the Islamic scholar subjected her to brutal sexual acts accompanied by blows and insults on the night of October 28, 2008, in a hotel room in Geneva. She filed a complaint in 2018.

The defense wanted to call Dieudonné, a relative of the plaintiff,  because his name appeared in an anonymous letter received by the tribunal. He reportedly was confided in by "Brigitte" concerning a consensual relationship with Tariq Ramadan. "He will bring his contribution to the manifestation of the truth," Dieudonné's lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot told Agence France Presse.

"To bring  Dieudonné as a witness based on an anonymous letter that surfaced 15 days before this hearing in a case that has been going on 5 years, which is neither dated, nor signed, and it is not known who wrote it, is a completely pathetic process that says a lot about the fact that Ramadan is out of arguments," the plaintiff's attorney, François Zimeray, told reporters.

During the hearing, "Brigitte" asked to be separated from Tariq Ramadan by a screen so as not to see him during a trial that for her, "is a test and not therapy," according to Attorney Zimeray. She said during the investigation that she made the acquaintance of the Islamic scholar during a book signing a few months before the facts in question, then having seen him again during a conference in September. That was followed by an increasingly intimate correspondence on social media.

Tariq Ramadan affirmed Monday that he wanted "to fight" against "the lie and the manipulation". The Swiss intellectual, a charismatic and controversial figure in European Islam, risks between two to ten years in prison. The verdict is expected on May 24. "There are multiple contradictions between what has been said and what is in the file," Attorney Zimeray stressed.

Sexual coercion

The prosecution's final argument should take place at the end of the afternoon and the defense's final argument on Wednesday.

Tariq Ramadan claims that he never told the plaintiff that he would be in Geneva on the evening in question and maintains that it was she who proposed a coffee and invited herself to his hotel room. He admits having embraced her before ending the (encounter). According to the indictment, however, he is guilty of having committed "rape three times" during the same night and "sexual coercion".

Tariq Ramadan, now 60, is (facing) a trial in France for similar acts. A PhD from the University of Geneva, where he wrote a thesis on the founder of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, who was his grandfather, Tariq Ramadan has been a professor of contemporary Islamic studies at Oxford University in the United Kingdom and visiting professor in numerous universities in Morocco, Malaysia, Japan, and Qatar. In France, he is suspected of rapes committed between 2009 to 2016 on four women, an issue that triggered his fall in 2017. 

The Paris Prosecutor's Office has requested his referral in July before a criminal court. It is up to the investigating judges in charge of the investigation to order a trial or not. The French case earned him more than nine months in pre-trial detention in 2018, from which he was released in November of the same year, remaining since then under judicial control. He is restricted to residing in France but benefits from special authorization to leave French territory to return to Switzerland.  

*Update: May 24. Today, Ramadan was acquitted of rape charges in Geneva.

The Durham Report

                                         FIRED

FIRED

 The Durham Report has finally come out. As expected, we are getting dueling reactions from the news media. While Fox News describes it as devasting, the other cable news channels (CNN and MSNBC) are dismissing it as a flop. Here is my take. (I have read the executive summary (pp 7-19) but not yet the entire report.

While no new indictments have been issued and no recommendations for reform within the DOJ and FBI have been made (since they are supposedly already put in place), the report is daming as to the FBI and its operation called Crossfire Hurricane. As we basically already knew (except for CNN and MSNBC), the FBI used unverified and ultimately false information alleging that former President Trump (then-candidate Trump) was working with the Russians to win the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. Relying on the now-discredited Steele Report  (which was ultimately commissioned and paid for by the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign), the FBI obtained a FISA court order to conduct electronic surveillance on Carter Page, who was working for the Trump campaign. The FBI alleged (incorrectly) that Page was a conduit to the Russians. 

According to the Durham Report, the FBI disregarded virtually every accepted practice of verifying sources of information and rushing to judgment in an effort to destroy Trump, in a manner quite the opposite from how they conducted the Hillary Clinton email investigation. People like Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok came in for particular criticism, as well they should have. 

The FBI top leadership acted in a manner antithetical to how any law enforcement agency in a democracy should act. What these people attempted to do was use their positions as top FBI officials to sway the outcome of a presidential election. Yes, I am disappointed that the Durham investigation didn't result in more successful prosecutions (2 acquittals and one guilty plea by FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith). That said, the news media can pooh-pooh this all they want. CNN and MSNBC can trot out their disgraced "legal analysts" (McCabe and Strzok), to criticize Durham all they want. They both are an embarrassment to these so-called news outlets. Every time they appear on these networks speaks volumes about the credibility of CNN and MSNBC. Nothing they say can change the fact that McCabe and Strzok were fired from the FBI. They are disgraced former FBI agents. (Strzok is now an adjunct professor at Georgetown University-an embarrassment for that institution as well.)

If reforms have been instituted within the FBI to prevent future scandals of this nature, that is a welcome development. However, what is also needed is a change of culture in the FBI. For too long, they have believed that they are superior to other law enforcement agencies and that they can do things their law enforcement counterparts cannot do. 

The lesson of the Durham Report is that law enforcement should never be weaponized for political purposes. That is precisely what happened here. 

DeSantis' Bold Move Against DEI in Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has just provided another reason why he is my preferred choice to run for president in 2024. He has just moved to end state funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in Florida public universities. The below article is from The College Fix.

 https://www.thecollegefix.com/desantis-signs-law-to-defund-and-eliminate-colleges-dei-programs/

This is a bold move on DeSantis' part. I hope he will move aggressively to sell it to minorities in Florida.

I saw this DEI in action during my years teaching part-time at the University of California at Irvine (1998-2016). All it does is divide students and staff by race, religion, and national background. It has worked to the deficit of students not belonging to the favored (non-white) groups. That includes Jews since DEI is solidly on the side of the pro-Plaestinian students like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the various chapters of the Muslim Students Association, who regularly organize protests against the Jewish state of Israel, whose destruction they support.

DEI is not for everybody no matter what they claim.

I have written many times about how protesters disrupting pro-Israel events at UCI made the Cross Cultural Center (CCC) their staging area and debriefing area after the fact. I should note here that the CCC pre-dated the establishment of a DEI office at UCI, but the philosophy is the same.

DEI accepts the notion currently in vogue in academia, that all whites are basically racist and oppressors. In spite of anti-Semitism being the world's oldest hatred, Jews get little to no consideration from the DEI crowd. They are basically considered (super) privileged whites. In this perceived universal support for the Jewish state of Israel, they are seen as oppressing Palestinians. In short, the is very little in DEI that brings people together other than using principles like intersectionality to unite various minorities against whites and Jews in arguing that all the problems in the world can be tied to the US and Israel.  America is a country founded on slavery and Israel is a Nazi-like state according to the narrative. In general, Western Civilization is something that needs to fade away if not be brought down.

And they call it Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

I applaud Governor DeSantis' action. He has the courage most of his Republican colleagues lack.

University of Virginia: Asian-Caucasian Relationships

University of VIrginia

Today I came across an interesting article in Campus Reform about a professor (Sylvia Chong) who cautioned Asians, particularly Asian females, from dating Caucasians. Naturally, she delved into the "intersectionality" aspect, which merely confuses things even more There was also a reference to capitalism as if that had anything to do with it.

As a white male who grew up with many Japanese-Americans, lived in Thailand for three years, and dated many Asian/Asian-American women in my bachelor days, I have some definite thoughts here. First and foremost, these white male-Asian female relationships exist mostly because there is a mutual attraction between the two. There is nothing wrong with that. They exist among other groups. As for exploitive relationships, I don't think this pairing is any worse than any other pairing including couples of the same ethnicity. In every race, there are men who treat their women well or badly.

I also think, given our history, we should be very careful in advising one group of people they should not marry or have relationships with any other group. Everyone in every society should be free to choose their partners. In some parts of the world, this is not possible. In addition, in many Asian countries today, women who have relationships with Caucasian men are looked down upon. Even when I was in the US Army in Germany in the 1960s, Germans looked down on women who socialized with GIs.

These are prejudices we need to move past.

Aruba: Reporting on Van Der Sloot Extradition(Cont)

Joran van der Sloot

As we reported earlier, Aruba is following the news of Joran van der Sloot's extradition process from Peru to the US. Van der Sloot is the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba. Today's article in the Aruban Papiamentu-language daily, Diario, is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://diario.aw/categories/noticia/general/abogado-di-joran-van-der-sloot-ta-teme-cu-merca-lo-trece-acusacionnan-adicional

Joran van der Sloot's lawyer fears America will bring additional charges 

May 15, 2023

Lima: After the extradition to America of a Dutch citizen, Joran van der Sloot (36), was approved without there being a court hearing, his Peruvian lawyer fears that prosecutors in America are thinking of adding additional charges.

In Peru, attorney Maximo Altez told the press yesterday that he has no confidence in the American judicial system. This is the lawyer who was the one who defended him in the criminal trial for the murder of Stephany Flores in a hotel room in 2010 and who (Van der Sloot) fled to Chile. Van der Sloot is also a principal suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005. For the murder of Stephany Flores,  he received a sentence of 28 years in prison from the court in Lima in 2012.

According to attorney Altez, he senses that America will want to add additional charges of homicide on top of those already existing for extortion and wire fraud. The lawyer complained on the weekend that he still has not been able to talk to his client, in spite of the unexpected news of his extradition underway.

"We are not fighting for the innocence of Joran, we are fighting that they respect his rights," said attorney Altez, and for that, he is asking that he (Van der Sloot) get his day in court in Peru to defend himself.

America requested the extradition of Joran, originally, not for the murder of Holloway, but rather on charges he tried to extort the mother in the sum of $250,000. For that, according to attorney Altez, they are not seeking justice, rather they are seeking vengeance.

Last Tuesday, the government of Peru approved extradition. The arrangement will be temporary. After the court case in America related to the 2010 charge of extortion and wire fraud, Joran van der Sloot will be sent back to Peru to complete his sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores and a separate charge of drug trafficking in prison. Currently, his release is scheduled for June 2038. 

If convicted in America, he will be sentenced to a federal prison. If Joran plans to fight extradition, his attorney, Altez will file a petition of "habeas corpus" to oppose this.

This will temporarily freeze the extradition. The attorney knows this will be a very high hill to climb to win the battle. And he also believes that right now, in a way, Joran is being tried in the press.

Meanwhile, there is information that Joran van der Sloot is seeking a divorce from Leidy Figueroa, whom he married while incarcerated in the prison. When they married, Leidy Figueroa was 7 months pregnant.

Now the woman is (tired) since she learned that Joran was trafficking drugs in prison, with the help of another couple. Yet another headache for Joran these days.

 

 

 

 

    

  

    

  

The Plight of Dutch Farmers

 Hat tip RAIR USA, Gates of Vienna, and Vlad Tepes

I am cross-posting a brief article by Gates of Vienna featuring a video we translated. Rob Roos is a Dutch politician in the European Parliament. In this video clip, he speaks out against the EU policies that are driving Dutch farmers out of business, all in the name of climate change and reducing nitrogen levels.

https://gatesofvienna.net/2023/05/rob-roos-stop-the-agenda-2030-utopia/