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Former Russian ISIS recruit credits orthodox priest with helping her find 'inner harmony'


RT
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 19:18 UTC
Varvara Karaulova
© Ruptly
Former Moscow university student Varvara Karaulova, who has just been released following her conviction for attempting to join ISIS terrorists in Syria, said an Orthodox Christian priest helped her to find inner harmony in jail.

Karaulova was sentenced to four-and-a-half years behind bars by a court in December 2016, but her lawyer secured a parole release earlier in April.

In a brief interview with RT shortly after she left the prison in the city of Vologda, 460km north of Moscow, Karaulova said that her freedom hasn't yet sunk in, and that "it's a lot to grasp" for her. The young woman legally changed her name to Aleksandra Ivanova as her case unfolded, but she now says she can hardly associate herself with the new identity.

Karaulova said that she talked a lot to an Orthodox priest who helped her find "inner harmony" while she was serving her sentence. "Appreciate your loved ones. Appreciate what you have. Even if it seems insignificant, it is significant. But you have to pay a high price to understand this," she said as she fought back back tears.
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Handcuffs

Man arrested for allegedly setting church on fire twice

Anthony Rivas
ABC News
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 01:14 UTC
Burnt church pews
© April Gamiz/The Morning Call via AP
Burnt pews following a fire in Bethlehem, Pa., that broke out at Iglesia Pentecostal De Bethlehem Church on April 23, 2019.
Police in Pennsylvania have arrested a suspect in connection to two separate arson fires at the same church earlier this week.

Wilmer J. Ortiz Torres, 43, was arrested Friday and charged with arson, burglary and criminal trespass in the two fires that occurred between Tuesday and Thursday at the Iglesia Pentecostal de Bethlehem, police said in a statement.

The first of the fires erupted on Tuesday just before midnight. Police said that "it appears an individual entered the sanctuary area of the church and intentionally started the fire."

Although the fire had already burned itself out by the time firefighters arrived, heavy smoke could be seen emanating from the building and firefighters had to vent the building to allow the smoke to escape. There were no injuries reported and the damage appeared to be due mostly to smoke, soot and heat.
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Arrow Up

First Amendment win: Texas judge blocks enforcement of anti-BDS law


RT
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 18:04 UTC
American support Palestinians
© Reuters / Hannah McKay
A Texas judge has blocked enforcement of a law forbidding state employees and contractors from boycotting Israel, declaring that the measure threatens to "manipulate the debate through coercion rather than persuasion."

Calling the law "an impermissible content- and viewpoint-based restriction on protected expression" that "imposes unconstitutional conditions on public employment [and] compels speech for an impermissible purpose," US District Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the "plaintiffs' BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] boycotts are inherently expressive conduct" protected under the First Amendment and delivered a temporary injunction, barring Texas from enforcing the provision.

Reminding the state of Texas that "the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular" is "to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation - and their ideas from suppression - at the hands of an intolerant society," Pitman reserved special scorn for state attorneys' emphasis on the fact that 25 other states also have anti-BDS laws or executive orders on the books and the legislature's near-unanimous passage of the 2017 law, calling the deference to groupthink a "weakness."

Comment: Despite overwhelming efforts by AIPAC and the US government, the tide appears to be finally turning against unconditional support for Israel. Last year a federal court ruled that a similar law in Kansas designed to punish people who boycott Israel was an unconstitutional denial of free speech. The judicial decision definitively declared those efforts - when they manifest in the US, to be a direct infringement of basic First Amendment rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

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Pistol

Uber passenger shot dead by 'companion,' gunman at large


ABC News
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 06:14 UTC
Police respond to a shooting

Police respond to a shooting in Harris County, Texas, April 26, 2019.
An Uber passenger was shot dead by a "companion" on Friday, sparking a manhunt for the gunman in the Houston area, authorities said.

The shooting unfolded when the driver picked up the male victim, who went to sit in the rear passenger side of his SUV, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference.

Then a "companion" of the victim, instead of getting into the car, "immediately began opening fire into the backseat where his companion was," Gonzalez said.
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Red Flag

Gallup quietly admits 'fundamental flaws' in decades of data: Revised unpublished poll shows most Americans do NOT sympathize with Israel

Grant Smith
Antiwar.com
Wed, 17 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
Americans protest support Israel
Pollster Gallup admitted on March 28 that three decades of polling data contain fundamental flaws "well beyond what we would attribute to normal sampling error."

Gallup's admission centers on its high-stakes question of whether Americans have greater sympathy for Israelis or for Palestinians. Gallup loudly trumpeted that Americans "increasingly sympathized with Israel in recent years." U.S. based Israel affinity organizations and the Congressional Research Service long used Gallup sympathy polls to claim that most Americans support giving most of the US foreign aid budget to Israel.

Gallup attributes its sudden admission of error to "an analysis of [Gallup] World Affairs surveys and other surveys conducted at about the same time indicate this is not the case."

Gallup's reevaluation may have been triggered by more than its own polling and cited polling done by CNN and Pew Research. In both 2018 and 2019 IRmep paid to field Gallup's precisely worded polling question through the highly accurate Google Surveys representative polling service. The analysis of results, published at Antiwar.com on March 13, 2019 and April 29, 2018, found that contrary to Gallup results the majority of Americans do not sympathize more with Israelis "in the Middle East situation."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Activist group claims UK doctor and pharmacist became Nazi-style torturers for ISIS in Syria

Larisa Brown
Daily Mail
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 17:14 UTC
Issam Abuanza
© PA
NHS doctor Issam Abuanza who deserted his wife and two children in Sheffield to join Islamic State in Syria.
Two British health workers who sneaked into Islamic State territory carried out 'Nazi-style' medical experiments on prisoners, Syrian witnesses claim.

Issam Abuanza, 40, a former NHS doctor who left behind his wife and two children in Sheffield when he travelled to Syria in 2014, was appointed the terror group's 'health minister', the British Government believes.

Abuanza, now thought to be hiding in caves near the village of Baghouz, carried out such brutal torture on his victims that even IS fighters opposed it.

He appointed Mohammad Anwar Miah, also 40, a former pharmacist from Birmingham, who helped him remove organs from detained prisoners, the Syrian witnesses claim.

The body parts were either transplanted into injured jihadis, passed on to middle men who sold them on the black market to fund terror, or put in the cells of prisoners to frighten them, it is alleged.
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Propaganda

Serbian foreign minister says country is stable despite protests, decries Western media's biased reporting


RT
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 16:46 UTC
protests serbia
© Reuters/Djordje Kojadinovic; Marko Djurica
Left: Anti-government demonstrators protest in Belgrade Right: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's campaign rally "The Future of Serbia" in Belgrade
In spite of protests calling for the ouster of President Aleksandar Vucic that are likely backed by Western countries, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic tells RT's SophieCo that his government remains strong and stable.

Dacic's claims come as Serbia appears to be at a political crossroads. Between rampant speculation that Belgrade might recognize its breakaway province of Kosovo and Vucic's insistence on staying the course on EU membership, his government had found itself under criticism from all sides of the political spectrum.

Comment: Serbia problems have deep roots in the tug of war between the Empire and those who would defy it:

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Car Black

Sunnyvale, CA police: Car rampage suspect targeted victims based on race and Muslim faith


CBS SF Bay Area
Fri, 26 Apr 2019 16:54 UTC
Isaiah Peoples

Isaiah Peoples
The Army vet who served in Iraq targeted eight people to intentionally run down with his car on a Sunnyvale street because he believed they were Muslims, Sunnyvale police said Friday.

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Chief Phan S. Ngo said evidence pointed to the startling revelation involving Isaiah Peoples' motive behind his Tuesday night rampage.

"Based on our investigation, new evidence shows that the defendant intentionally targeted victims based on their race and his belief that they were of the Muslim faith," Ngo said. "We understand that you will have many questions based on this announcement. However, we will not be releasing further information for now."

Peoples was officially charged with eight counts of attempted murder - four of the counts with special allegations - during a brief court appearance Friday. He will return to court on May 16th to enter a plea and could face life in prison if convicted of the crimes.
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Arrow Down

Strasbourg police unleash batons and tear gas on Yellow Vests protesters marching toward EU parliament


RT
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 15:40 UTC
yellow vests strausbourg
© AFP / Patrick Hertzog
Protesters dodge tear gas canisters near the EU parliament in Strasbourg.
Yellow Vest protesters have marched on the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, prompting police to deploy tear gas. The demonstrators have also swarmed several TV stations, demanding better coverage of their movement.

The 24th consecutive weekend of demonstrations saw more than 5,000 protesters take to the streets across France, including 2,600 in Paris, according to Interior Ministry figures, which the Yellow Vests have often questioned in the past.

In Strasbourg, tear gas filled the streets as police struggled to keep hundreds of demonstrators away from the EU Parliament buildings. Police have blocked roads and bridges, and clashes have broken out between heavily armored riot control officers and masked protesters.


Comment:

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SOTT Logo Radio

MindMatters: The Great Peterson Vs. Žižek Debate: Ideological Slugfest or Meeting of the Minds?

Elan Martin, Harrison Koehli, Corey Schink
Sott.net
Sat, 27 Apr 2019 00:00 UTC
zizek peterson
© SOTT.net
What happens when two of the biggest and best known minds in the Western world decide to come together under one roof and publicly debate one of the most contentious and divisive of all political ideological issues - Capitalism Vs. Communism - and which one confers happiness to the greatest number of people? Well that's exactly what Jordan Peterson and Slavoj Žižek did recently much to the delight, disgust or confusion of many thousands. How would Žižek defend Communism? How would Peterson take it apart? Would there be rancor between these two intellectual giants - who both ostensibly fall squarely on either side of the fence? Or could they accommodate each others' points of view in a coherent and respectful manner? Join us this week on MindMatters as we share our reactions to their truly great discussion and point to its virtues, its values and its deficiencies - as well as how it excelled in defying many expectations.


Running Time: 01:00:15

Download: MP3 - 55.2 MB

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